The Twilight Herald

by Tom Lloyd

  ‘What happened here?’ she murmured through cracked lips. She looked startled, blinking against the light and wary of the ruined Land she’d awakened to. Jackdaw saw incomprehension in her eyes and realised she didn’t even know where she was.

  ‘War, and the cruelty of Gods,’ Venn answered distantly, not even bothering to look at her. The woman shrank towards Ilumene when she heard the coldness in Venn’s voice and he immediately put a comforting arm around her shoulders. She leaned gratefully into his body, bigger even than hers, not noticing the bloody lattice that covered the back of his hand.

  ‘What happened here is nothing for you to worry about,’ Ilumene repeated. ‘It’s all over now. A new dawn has come.’

  ‘Who are you?’ she whispered. ‘How did you find me?’

  ‘All that matters is that you’re safe now,’ he said, stroking her hair.

  The woman’s face twisted. Jackdaw realised she was trying to smile at her rescuer. Breath of Vellern, she’s forgotten how to smile.

  ‘Can you tell me your name?’

  The woman thought for a moment then blanched and shook her head.

  ‘You’ve forgotten it?’ Ilumene asked, adding comfortingly, ‘That’s of no matter. We’ll find you a new name; the most beautiful name there is.’ Ilumene sounded so benevolent Jackdaw could scarcely believe this was the same man who’d awakened him just before dawn by punching him in the face. He probed a tooth with his tongue; yes, it was still broken; it hadn’t been a dream.

  ‘Are you going to take me with you?’ she asked uncertainly. It was strange to see such vulnerability from someone who looked as if she was a mercenary, but if she could not remember her own name, she doubtless had no memory of her years of fighting too. It looked to Jackdaw like Ilumene’s brutal appearance was causing her to hesitate -as it damn well should; run, you fool, run from him! -but there was a hopeful innocence to her weathered and battered face. He could see she was desperate to believe any promise of protection against this blasted world in which she found herself.

  ‘Of course we are,’ Ilumene replied, and then gestured towards the object she was still clutching to her stomach. ‘Come now, you have had a terrible time and you will be weak for a while yet. Would it not be easier if my friend carried your burden?’

  The former Harlequin hadn’t moved towards her, but he was watching her with rapacious intent.

  She pulled the book closer to her chest and shook her head. The movement created a faint cloud of dust and Jackdaw realised her hair was not actually grey, just covered in ash. ‘It is mine,’ she whispered hoarsely.

  ‘As you wish,’ Ilumene said gently, ‘but can you tell me what it is? So I know best how to help?’

  ‘I—’ The woman looked up at him for a moment then hunched protectively over the book. The wrapping had slipped a little, but still Jackdaw couldn’t make out the words on it. He thought it looked unremarkable, just a plain leatherbound work like the dozens in the monastery library. ‘It’s my treasure,’ the woman said finally.

  ‘Treasure and ashes,’ Venn said suddenly.

  She looked up fearfully as Ilumene chuckled beside her and brushed her sleeve, raising another cloud of dust. She coughed and spluttered, but never let go of the book.

  The phrase banged around the inside of Jackdaw’s head; had he heard it before? It sounded like the sort of hateful pronouncements Rojak had come out with from time to time; was this all still part of the minstrel’s final plan?

  ‘They were burned,’ she replied, holding out her fist. Jackdaw saw she was gripping a piece of scorched paper in it and he frowned: the cellar hadn’t been touched by fire, so why had a book been burned? ‘All burned except this one,’ she went on, ‘all but my treasure.’

  Jackdaw’s stomach tightened into a knot. Abbot Doren had fled with the monastery’s books, as well as the Crystal Skull entrusted to their care. It looked as if the senile old bastard had tried to burn the books, as if they had been part of what they were after when the Skull of Ruling sat in his possession. He stopped. Had they?

  Ilumene nodded as the woman opened her hand and let the remains inside flutter down to join the other ash at her feet. He cocked his head sideways so he could see the book’s cover and made a small sound of approval.

  Jackdaw couldn’t stop himself this time. ‘This was all about a book?’ he asked, incredulous. He squinted at the cover himself, and this time made out an embossed symbol, partly obscured by the girl’s hand. There was a pair of entwined initials above it, a pair of Vs, maybe, indicating the book had belonged to a nobleman once.

  ‘This is no mere book,’ Ilumene said, answering the question, much to Jackdaw’s amazement. ‘This contains the writings of a madman.’

  ‘I betrayed my God for a book?’ he asked in a daze.

  ‘Indeed,’ Ilumene said with satisfaction, taking the lady’s hand and starting to lead her away from the cellar steps, ‘a book - or a journal, to be precise: the journal of Vorizh Vukotic.’

  Now Ilumene was finally talking, Jackdaw was determined to find out as much as he could. ‘The vampire? But he’s insane.’

  ‘Among other things,’ Ilumene conceded, ‘but does that not strike you as strange? He is a man cursed with sanity by Death himself, like his siblings, and yet, unlike his siblings, he goes insane. As a mage, tell me, what sort of power could overcome Death’s own curse?’

  Jackdaw looked blank. ‘What power? I know none, bar Death’s own.’

  ‘There was a time,’ Venn said softly, ‘when creator and destroyer walked across the Land hand-in-hand, when they commanded the dust at their feet and the air above.’

  ‘Creator -you mean Life, Death’s bride? But she died at the Last Battle, and Aenaris was buried with her. Not even with her sword could the Queen of the Go—’ Jackdaw stopped abruptly, a look of horror sweeping across his face. He gaped at Ilumene, who gave him a broad smile in return.

  Clutching his hands to his chest, Jackdaw wheezed, ‘Death’s magic? Death’s own weapon? But Termin Mystt was broken during the battle, it was destroyed . . .’

  ‘Not exactly,’ Venn said, nodding towards the book as the woman, her eyes wide, clutched it even tighter. ‘Not at all, in fact, but history is written by the victors, who tell what they choose to tell.’

  ‘How can you, of all people, say that?’ Jackdaw asked, still shaking. ‘You were a Harlequin, a teller of the past -a teller of the truth!’

  ‘Exactly so,’ Venn replied, a nasty gleam in his eye, ‘and I tell you truthfully: Termin Mystt drove a Yeetatchen maid insane when she touched the hilt during a feast in Lord Death’s honour. The Key of Magic is so powerful that it will twist the mind of anyone who touches it - and that was what drove Vorizh Vukotic mad. He stole the sword in desperation, trying to undo the curse on his family.’

  ‘You’re hunting Termin Mystt,’ Jackdaw said dully, overwhelmed. ‘And this book will tell you where he hid it?’ A small spark of anger flared inside him and he pointed at the woman holding the book. ‘What about her? Are you going to kill her to take the book from her?’

  The woman gave a whimper of fear and shrank from Ilumene.

  Jackdaw waited, shivering, for Ilumene to smash his fist into the woman’s face, but the man from Narkang only laughed.

  ‘But of course not,’ Ilumene said gently to the woman, ‘not when you’re with child. I was sent to protect you both.’

  ‘A child? But how do you know?’

  ‘It has been foreseen,’ Venn intoned, ‘and when your child is born, you will gift him your treasure.’

  ‘Him? It’s a boy?’ she asked. ‘I wanted a girl . . . I think I had a little girl, once—’

  ‘A boy,’ Ilumene said with certainty, ‘and one who will grow to be a prince. He will build you a palace of ivory.’ He smiled at her, his arm around her shoulder, and urged her to start walking.

  Her steps hesitant, she passed Jackdaw, who was still frozen with shock.

  ‘A boy?’ he echoed hoarsely. ‘A princ
e?’

  ‘A new dawn, a new Land,’ Ilumene called cheerfully over his shoulder.

  ‘Oh Gods,’ Jackdaw breathed as a cold presence swept over him.

  ‘Gods,’ said the shadow softly, ‘will soon have no place in this Land.’

  DRAMATIS PERSONAE

  Aftal, Voss -High Priest of Nartis in Tirah

  Ajel, Lord -Yeetatchen nobleman, father of Xeliath

  Alterr -Goddess of the Night Sky and Greater Moon and member of the Upper Circle of the Pantheon

  Amavoq -Goddess of the Forest, patron of the Yeetatchen and member of the Upper Circle of the Pantheon

  Amber -nickname of a Menin major in the Cheme Third Legion

  Anarie -Goddess of Calm Glades, an Aspect of Amavoq

  Ansayl, Jachen, Major - Farlan officer assigned to the rangers

  Antern, Count Opess -advisor to King Emin

  Aracnan -immortal wanderer of unknown origin

  Aryn Bwr - battle name of the last Elven king, who led their rebellion against the Gods. His true name has been excised from history

  Atro -Lord of the Farlan tribe before Lord Bahl

  Azaer -a shadow

  Bahl -Lord of the Farlan tribe before Lord Isak

  Belarannar -God of the Earth and member of the Upper Circle of the Pantheon

  Bern, Jopel -High Priest of Death in Tirah

  Beyn, Ignas -member of the Brotherhood

  Bohreq (The Herdfather) -Aspect of Vrest, God of Beasts

  Breytech -a Chetse trader

  Brohm -a thug from Scree

  Burning Man, the - one of the five Aspects of Death known as the Reapers

  Carel (Carelfolden), Marshal Betyn -Farlan nobleman and commander of Lord Isak’s Personal Guard

  Cerdin -God of Thieves

  Certinse, Knight-Cardinal Horel -Commander of the Knights of the Temples, younger brother of Suzerain Tildek, Farlan by birth

  Certinse, Cardinal Varn -Farlan cleric. Third son of the Tildek Suzerainty, younger brother of Suzerain Tildek, Knight-Cardinal Certinse and Duchess Lomin

  Certinse, Duke Karlat -Farlan nobleman, ruler of Lomin, grandson of Suzerain Tildek

  Cetarn, Shile -a Narkang mage in the employ of King Emin

  Cetess, Pirlo -an artist native to Scree, one of King Emin’s agents

  Chalat -deposed Lord of the Chetse

  Charr -deceased Lord of the Chetse, Krann to Lord Chalat

  Chirialt, Dermeness -Farlan mage

  Chotech, General -Chetse general of the Knights of the Temples

  Coran -white-eye bodyguard of King Emin

  Corci, Prior -see Jackdaw

  Corlyn, the -traditional name adopted by the head of the Farlan’s priest branch of the Cult of Nartis

  Cytt, Lord -deceased Menin white-eye Krann

  Daughters of Meqao -minor Aspects of Amavoq

  Death -the Chief of the Gods

  Dedev, Borl -Farlan ranger assigned to Lord Isak’s Personal Guard

  Derl, Major Parr -soldier from Canar Thrit, member of the Knights of the Temples

  Dev, General Chate -Chetse general and Commander of the Ten Thousand

  Disten, Cardinal -Farlan cleric, once a legion chaplain

  Doranei, Ashin -a member of the Brotherhood

  Doren, Abbot -Abbot of an island monastery and High Priest of Vellern, God of Birds

  Dupres, Syen - Farlan servant, steward to Suzerain Foleh

  Echat, Tachrenn Chor -Chetse legion-commander of the Ten Thousand

  Echer, High Cardinal -Farlan cleric, leader of the cardinal branch of the Cult of Nartis

  Ehla - the common name Lord Isak is permitted to use for the witch of Llehden

  Elierl, General Brinn -deceased Farlan general, once commander of the Lomin armies

  Endine, Tomal -mage in the employ of King Emin

  Eperal -Aspect of Ilit

  Erizol (the fire-raiser) -Shaman from an extinct tribe in the Elven Waste, now a Raylin mercenary

  Erwillen (the High Hunter) -Aspect of Verllern, God of Birds, and Aspect-Guide of Abbot Doren

  Farlan, Kasi -Farlan prince during the Great War, in whose image white-eyes were created and after whom the lesser moon was named

  Fedei, Wisten -the Seer of Ghorent

  Fernal -a Demi-God living in Llehden

  Fershin, Horman -Farlan wagon-driver, father to Lord Isak

  Flitter -Raylin mercenary

  Foleh, Suzerain Shoqe -Farlan nobleman

  Fordan, Suzerain Karad -Farlan nobleman

  Galasara -Elven poet from before the Great War

  Gaur, General -hybrid warrior from the Elven Waste, general of the Menin armies and advisor to Lord Styrax

  Gort, General Jebehl -general of the Knights of the Temples

  Grast, Deverk -former Lord of the Menin

  Great Wolf, the - one of the five Aspects of Death known as the Reapers

  Grepel of the Hearths -Aspect of Tsatach

  Haipar the shapeshifter -Raylin mercenary of the Deneli tribe from the Elven Waste

  Headsman, the - one of the five Aspects of Death known as the Reapers

  Helras -Farlan monk

  Herald of Death -Aspect of Death

  Hobble -Farlan monk

  Ial -Aspect of Ilit

  Ilit -God of the Wind, patron of the Litse tribe and member of the Upper Circle of the Pantheon

  Ilumene -a former member of the Brotherhood

  Introl, Tila -advisor to Lord Isak

  Ironskin, Tachos -Raylin mercenary of Chetse origin

  Isak -Lord of the Farlan, Chosen of Nartis and Duke of Tirah

  Jackdaw (Prior Corci) -former monk of Vellern

  Jeil -Farlan ranger assigned to Lord Isak’s Personal Guard

  Jesters, the -Demi-Gods and Raylin mercenaries, sons of Death

  Karkarn -God of War, patron of the Menin tribe

  Kehla (of the Dawn Light) -an Aspect of Tsatach

  Kelet, Sir Veyan -Farlan nobleman and Ascetite

  Kels, Abbot -Farlan cleric, head of an abbey in Saroc

  Keneg -Menin soldier of the Cheme Third Legion

  Kenn, Shuel -Merchant from Scree and Farlan agent

  Kerin, Swordmaster Orayn -Commander of the Swordmasters and Knight-Defender of Tirah

  Kitar -Goddess of Harvest and Fertility, member of the Upper Circle of the Pantheon

  Lady, the -Fate, Goddess of Luck

  Lahk, General -Farlan white-eye, commander of the forces in Tirah

  Larat -God of Magic & Manipulation, member of the Upper Circle of the Pantheon

  Larim, Shotein -Menin white-eye mage, Krann to Lord Salen and Chosen of Larat

  Lecha, Tachrenn Erach -Chetse legion-commander of the Ten Thousand

  Leferna, Priata -member of the White Circle, leader of the uprising in Tor Milist

  Legana -Farlan devotee of the Lady, employed as an assassin and spy

  Lehm, Suzerain Preter -Farlan nobleman

  Lehm, Countess Rais -Farlan noblewoman

  Lesarl, Chief Steward Fordan -principal advisor to the Lord of the Farlan

  Leshi -Farlan Ascetite soldier

  Leteil, Lord -white-eye Lord of the Yeetatchen tribe and Chosen of Amavoq

  Luripp, Count Aras -nobleman from Scree

  Macove, Count Perel -Farlan nobleman and member of the Brethren of the Sacred Teachings

  Malich, Cordein -deceased necromancer from Embere

  Mariq, Shan - Farlan battle-mage

  Matak Snakefang -Raylin mercenary

  Mayel -a novice from Abbot Doren’s monastery, native of Scree

  Mehar, Lieutenant Garap -aide to General Gort of the Knights of the Temples

  Meqao (Hunter of the Silent Wood) -Aspect of Amavoq

  Mihn ab Netren ab Felith -failed Harlequin, now friend of Lord Isak

  Mikiss, Koden -Menin army messenger

  Mistress -Raylin mercenary

  Mochyd, High Chaplain -Farlan cleric. High Chaplain of the Farlan, head of the Chaplain branch of the Cult of N
artis

  Morghien - a drifter of Embere descent, known as the man of many spirits

  Nai -manservant to Isherin Purn, the necromancer

  Nartis -God of the Night, Storms and Hunters. Patron of the Farlan tribe and member of the Upper Circle of the Pantheon

  Nelbove, Suzerain Atar -Farlan nobleman

  Nerlos, Suzerain Jai -Farlan nobleman

  Nostil, Queen Valije - Aryn Bwr’s queen, first owner of the Skull of Dreams

  Nostil, Prince Velere - Aryn Bwr’s heir, first owner of the Skull of Ruling

  Ortof-Greyl, Colonel Harn -member of the Knights of the Temples

  Panro -Zhia Vukotic’s manservant

  Portin, Prior -Farlan cleric, prior of an abbey in Saroc

  Purn, Isherin -Menin necromancer once apprenticed to Cordein Malich

  Quistal, General -Centaur tribal chief and general of the Menin armies

  Rojak - Minstrel originally from Embere, first among Azaer’s disciples

  Roqinn -Farlan white-eye cleric, High Priest of Belarannar in Tirah

  Salen -Menin Lord of the Hidden Tower and Chosen of the God Larat

  Saljin Man, the -daemon sent to plague the Vukotic tribe

  Saroc, Suzerain Fir -Farlan nobleman and member of the Brethren of the Sacred Teachings

  Sebe -member of the Brotherhood

  Seliasei -minor Aspect of Vasle that now inhabits Morghien

  Selsetin, Suzerain Pelan -Farlan nobleman

  Shalstik -Elven oracle who predicted the return of the last king

  Shandek -a criminal from Scree

  Shart -Menin soldier of the Cheme Third Legion

  Sheln, Brother-Captain Tanao -a member of the Brethren of the Sacred Teachings

  Shinir -a Farlan Ascetite agent

  Shotir -God of Healing and Forgiveness

  Shyn -criminal from Scree

  Siala, Mistress Fora -ruler of Helrect and Scree, member of the White Circle

  Soldier, the - one of the five Aspects of Death known as the Reapers

  Spider -crime-lord of Scree

  Styrax, Kastan -white-eye Lord of the Menin and Chosen of Karkarn

  Styrax, Kohrad -white-eye son of Lord Styrax

  Styrax, Duchess Selar -white-eye mage, wife of Lord Styrax and mother of Kohrad

  Tael, Sergeant-at-Arms -Farlan soldier

  Teviaq -Demi-God, Raylin mercenary and daughter of Amavoq