The creature looked far too small to be the beast who called himself Slither—it was hardly a quarter of his bulk—but I remembered that my father had once told me how, by using dark magic, a haizda mage could change his size. Peeping through the curtains when he visited our farm, I had seen some evidence of this, for the beast had indeed seemed to vary in size from day to day. I also remembered the huge eye that I had glimpsed through the chink in the curtain when Slither had visited the house after my father’s death. I had assumed that it was the work of my own imagination, inspired by terror. But what if it really had been the beast? Could he really make himself that big? If so, he could surely also shrink.
But if this body was Slither’s, then who had done this to him? How had he come to drown in this bath? Suddenly I thought I saw the beast’s left foot twitch very slightly, and stepped closer.
Was he still alive? If he was, one part of me wanted to push him under the water and drown him. Nothing could please me more, and he was helpless now. I would never get a better chance than this to finish him off. But it wasn’t possible. We were in a dangerous place, inhabited by more of these beasts. Without his protection, all three of us would die here.
So, without further thought, I knelt close to the water and, leaning across, grasped him firmly by the scruff of the neck.
Even as I did so, I saw something moving very rapidly through the water toward my hand; instinctively I released my burden and withdrew. It was a small black snake with three vivid yellow spots on top of its head. I had seen snakes in the fields, but never one as striking as this.
I watched it undulate away, moving more slowly now, but it was hard to see through the steam. Knowing that it might circle back at any moment, I wasted no time and now gripped the beast with both hands—at the base of the neck and low on his back—entwining my fingers in his fur. Come on! I said to myself. And I tensed and pulled upward with all my strength.
The bath was full almost to the brim, but even so I found it difficult to haul the creature out of the water. I made one final effort and managed to drag him up onto the side of the bath, where I knelt, trembling with exertion. Again the scream came from beyond the door, and this time I was quite sure that it was the cry of Susan in torment.
“Please! Please!” she cried out. “Don’t do that! It hurts so much. Help me! Please help me or I’ll die!”
My throat constricted in anguish. I couldn’t bear the thought of one of these creatures hurting her.
Slither had promised to protect us; he was bound by that promise—without him, we were completely at the mercy of the other inhabitants of the tower. But when I looked down at the bedraggled body, it displayed no sign of life at all, and I was filled with utter despair. Again there came a cry of pain and terror from Susan. In response, filled with anger at the hopelessness of everything and the pain of my sister, I began to beat Slither’s body with my fists. As I did so, water oozed out of his mouth and formed a small brown puddle beside his head.
The color of the liquid gave me an idea. I suddenly realized that there was, after all, one more thing that I could do, one final way in which he might possibly be revived.
Blood! Human blood! My father had once said that was the main source of Slither’s power.
Quickly I got to my feet and went over to the door where the beast’s long black coat hung. There I stooped and picked up the saber that had once belonged to my father and carried it back to where the creature lay. Kneeling down, I turned him over.
My eyes swept upward from his toes, noting with distaste the tangled forest of black fur. His mouth was open and his tongue lolled sideways over his teeth, hanging down almost as far as his left ear. The sight of him disgusted and repelled me.
Nervously, anticipating the pain, I positioned my arm just above Slither’s mouth and, taking the saber, made a quick cut into my flesh. The blade had been sharpened and sliced into my inner arm more deeply than I had intended. There was a sharp pain and a stinging sensation. And then my blood was falling like dark rain into the open mouth of the beast.
CHAPTER V
I MUST FEED!
IT was my fifth sense, that of taste, which drew me up out of that dark pit into which I had fallen. My mouth was full of warm, sweet blood.
I choked and spluttered but then managed to swallow, and the rich liquid slid down into my belly, restoring me to life. My olfactory sense returned next. The inviting odor of the blood of a human female filled my nostrils. She was very close and was full of the same delicious blood that even now was filling my mouth.
The next sense to return was touch. It began with pins and needles in my extremities, which quickly became a fire, so that it felt as if my whole body were burning. It was then that my aural senses suddenly functioned once more, and hearing someone weeping, I opened my eyes and stared up in amazement at the figure of Nessa, who was crouching over me, tears running down her face. I saw the saber gripped in her right hand. My mind was sluggish, and for a moment I thought she meant to strike me with it.
I tried to bring up my arms to defend myself, but I was too weak and couldn’t even manage to roll away. But to my surprise she did not cut me. I lay there staring up at her, trying to make sense of what was happening.
Slowly I began to understand why she was holding the sword, finally linking its sharp edge to the blood falling toward me from the deep cut on her inner arm.
Then, as my memory returned, I recalled Nunc’s treachery . . . the bite of the water snake. I had died. Or so it had seemed. The blood was still falling into my mouth, but there was less of it now. I swallowed again, then reached up, trying to seize Nessa’s arm so that I could draw it down to my mouth. I needed more blood, but I moved too slowly, and with a look of disgust, she snatched her arm out of reach.
By now the blood had done its job, and I managed to roll over and rise up onto my knees, shaking myself violently like a dog so that water droplets scattered in all directions. My mind was working faster now. I was beginning to think. Beginning to realize the enormity of what Nessa had done for me.
She had given me her blood. And that human blood had strengthened my shakamure magic, counteracted the effects of the snake bite and drawn me back from the edge of death. But why had she done it? And why was she here and not still locked in the cell?
“My sister. Someone’s hurting my sister, through there. Help her, please!” Nessa begged, pointing to the door on the other side of the bridge. “You promised we’d be safe. . . .”
I heard another sound then. It was the distant whimper of a girl, and it came from behind the door to Nunc’s private quarters.
“She’s been taken in there!” Nessa continued, her voice growing more frantic. “And where’s Bryony? Some awful women threw me in here and locked the door. I have just saved your life, so you owe me now! Help us, please!”
I stood shakily and raised my tail. With it, I sensed Nunc and knew why Susan had cried out. He was drinking her blood. I was outraged that Nunc should flout Kobalos customs and avail himself of my property like this. But I was also filled with a sense of debt to Nessa. She was right: I owed her my life.
It was strange to acknowledge such a thing. A human female was nothing. Within the city of Valkarky, she was just property. So why should I feel this way? What if it truly were skaiium, the softening of my predatory nature? Such a thing would indeed be terrible to bear.
I turned to face Nessa. I would kill Nunc and harden my nature again in the process. Nothing was more important.
“Give me the blade!” I commanded, simultaneously blowing myself up in size so that I was a head taller than the girl.
Weeping now, Nessa held it out toward me. Her hand was shaking, but I saw that the blood had almost ceased flowing from her left arm and was beginning to coagulate. Rather than taking the blade then and there, I turned my back on the girl and went to get my coat and boots.
I pulled the boots on first, lacing them up carefully, then fastened the straps across my shoulder
s and chest, checking that the short blades were correctly positioned in the two scabbards. Next I drew on my coat, realizing as I did so that the three keys had been removed. As I fastened all thirteen buttons, Susan cried out again from beyond the door.
“Please! Please hurry!” begged Nessa.
But I knew that it was important to avoid undue haste. Despite my anger, I must move with caution, choosing my moment and striking only when the occasion permitted. Nunc was alone with the girl, but there might be up to three score warriors quartered below the tower, ready to defend their high mage.
“So who brought you here?” I asked, buckling on my belt. “Not Kobalos warriors?”
“No. They were women.”
“How many?”
“There were five of them.”
I held out my hand for the saber. So the purrai had brought Susan to Nunc so that he could drink her blood very slowly, savoring every sip. No doubt he had a different type of pleasure in mind for when he dealt with Nessa, because she was too skinny and her blood would be thin. He would have used her for blade practice, attempting to cut her as many times as possible without killing her. Eventually she would have died of shock and blood loss. By now I was certain that the child, Bryony, would already have been given to the warriors to prepare for the feast.
I felt better. I was stronger, but not yet strong enough. More blood would help. I knew that the most sensible course of action would be to take it from Nessa by force, but something within me resisted that alternative. Then I remembered the snake!
I went over to the edge of the bath and knelt down, immersing my hand in the steaming water.
“Be careful!” Nessa exclaimed. “There’s a snake in there!”
“That I know to my cost, little Nessa. It was responsible for putting me in the position you luckily found me in. Now it is the snake’s turn to suffer!”
I’d probably been bitten by the small black snake known as a skulka, greatly feared because its bite induces a swift paralysis. It has the advantage for an assassin in that the presence of its venom in the blood is almost impossible to detect afterward. Its victims become helpless the moment the poison has entered their bloodstream. Then they die in agony. No doubt Nunc had developed his immunity by gradual exposure to the toxin—the creature was probably his familiar.
My tail was standing erect on my back, and more accurately than eye or ear, it told me precisely where the snake was. It was undulating swiftly toward my hand now.
But just as the skulka opened its mouth, fangs ready to strike, I moved quickly and snatched it out of the water. I held it aloft, gripping it below the head so that it could not bite me. Then—to horrified gasps from Nessa—I bit off its head and spat it out into the water before sucking the blood from the body.
There wasn’t anywhere near enough, so I tore off another piece of snake and began to chew it carefully. The foolish girl struggled to control her disgust. Couldn’t she see that I did what was necessary in order to save her sister? As I swallowed the flesh, Susan cried out from beyond the door once again.
I turned and smiled at Nessa. “Be patient, little Nessa. I need strength. If I am weak, all of us will die.”
Only when I’d finished eating the whole snake did I cross the narrow bridge and approach the rusty iron door. As I expected, it was unlocked, so I pulled it open and stepped into a narrow passageway that ended in a single door. This I also opened and, with Nessa close on my heels, I stepped boldly into Nunc’s private quarters.
This spacious room functioned as the study, private armory, and bedroom of a Kobalos high mage and, as such, was a curious mixture of the spartan and the luxurious. Upon the bare flags stood a large ornate oaken desk, its edges embellished with the finest silver of a type I recognized immediately. It was Combe-quality silver, seized fifty-three years earlier in a daring guerrilla raid deep into that human territory, far to the south. Nunc’s exploits were well known. He had achieved much but was known to be egotistical, and he had worked to ensure that his fame spread.
On the far wall hung shields, axes, spears, and blades of many types, some very exotic, and beneath them stood a large table covered with maps and piles of papers, held in place by large blue agate paperweights.
The rooms in my ghanbala tree also contain artifacts that are pleasing to look upon, but rather than this ostentatious display of maps and weapons, they represent my own interests: jars of herbs, ointments, and preserved fauna and flora that add to my knowledge of the natural world and are useful to my magic.
Here the walls were paneled so extensively that not a trace of stone was visible; some were carved with representations of warriors in full combat armor, including the last king of Valkarky, who had been slain by an assassin.
I spotted Nunc, with Susan in his grasp, his teeth embedded in her neck. By now the girl was unconscious, and it was Nessa who suddenly screamed behind me, alerting the high mage to the threat I posed.
He released the child immediately and leaped back. As Susan crumpled to the floor, he seized a huge spear from the wall and brandished it aloft, directing it toward me. He had dressed formally in preparation for the feast, and was unfortunately wearing expensive chain-link armor that I judged thick enough to deflect a blade. But he had intended to eat, not fight, and thus his head and throat were bare and vulnerable to sharp steel.
“Lord Nunc!” I cried, my voice filled with anger. “You have something of mine, and now you must return it!”
As I spoke, I lifted my tail so that it stood up at my back and would give me early warning of my enemy’s intentions. It was fortunate that I did so. There had been no visible indication that Nunc would attack—not even a twitch or the tensing of muscles—but by way of answer he hurled his spear directly at my head. As I have said, my tail had already alerted me to this, and I was prepared. As the weapon sped toward me, I moved just one part of my body: I raised my arm and, using the broad flat of the saber’s blade, skillfully deflected the spear so that it struck the wall close to the door and crashed harmlessly to the stone flags.
Susan opened her eyes then and managed to kneel up on the floor, her eyes staring wildly at the scene about her. The moment she began to scream, Nunc ran over to the far wall, seized a saber and a shield, and turned to face me.
He was evidently strong: the muscles of his torso, although somewhat thickened about the midriff, bore testament to his daily training in martial skills.
I myself had trained daily when younger, before I became a haizda mage. But now my hunting kept me fit, and I preferred to rely on my instincts in battle rather than follow the routines of a high mage.
It might be that Nunc was some way past his prime, but he would still be dangerous, and I was aware that my ordeal in the water had taken its toll on my own stamina. Thus I could not endure a long struggle here. To win, I must finish Nunc off quickly.
With my left hand, I undid the top three buttons of my coat and reached inside, withdrawing a short blade. Now, brandishing two blades, I moved round the desk and began to advance slowly toward the mage.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nessa running toward Susan. I thought that she was rushing to comfort her sister, but then, to my astonishment, she picked up the spear that lay on the floor and charged straight at Nunc.
As the spear shattered against his shield, he used the latter like a club, swinging it sideways against the girl. It struck her on the shoulder and sent her flying into the paneled wall.
I saw my advantage. Nunc had made the mistake that would kill him. Taking the opportunity presented by Nessa’s wild charge, I had followed close and swift upon her heels, and now, with a sweep of my saber, I cut Nunc’s throat.
Seeing my approach, he had tried to bring the shield back across to cover his body, but he was too late. Such was the speed and force of my blow that his head was almost severed. As he fell to the stone flags, I put my own saber and dagger aside and sank onto my knees beside the dying high mage.
I must feed. His blo
od represented strength. It promised a chance to escape from the fortress.
As the blood pumped from Nunc’s neck, I fed greedily, drinking down the hot sweet blood in huge gulps, feeling the life force filling my body with new strength.
CHAPTER VI
THE SHAIKSA ASSASSIN
WHEN I’d finished, I stood up and belched loudly. Better out than in!
By now Nessa was back on her feet, holding her shoulder and grimacing with pain. I had been impressed by her bravery—her actions had made it easier for me to defeat Nunc. Her face was pale and I could see her trembling, but apart from a little bruising she would no doubt make a full recovery. Purrai were very resilient. I smiled at her, but she just stared back, an expression of horror and revulsion on her face. So I licked my lips, went back into the bathhouse, and knelt down beside the water. I bent over until I was almost touching its steaming surface, then, with both hands, began to sluice the blood off my face and hair.
As I finished, Nessa and Susan, arm in arm, came into the chamber behind me. I turned to face the two sisters and smiled again. But they looked at me as if I had done them harm rather than saving them from certain death. Of course I had to make allowances for their condition. In addition to her damaged shoulder, one side of Nessa’s face was badly grazed. She must have hurt it when Nunc dashed her aside with his shield. And Susan was extremely pale; she had been drained almost to the point of death.
“I’ll get clothes for both of you,” I said. “Sensible purrai clothes to keep you alive in the blizzard. Then we’ll leave this place.”
Susan opened her mouth, but no words came out. She was shaking all over after her experience with Nunc. But Nessa looked angry and determined.
“What about Bryony?” she demanded.
“Of course, Nessa, I’ll get clothes for her too. But now we must escape this fortress. If you are to have any hope of life, you will do exactly what I say.”
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