Pilgrim by Sara Douglas

persuade his men to silently uplift the poles that supported the shade overhead and, keeping the

cloths in position, move very slowly and carefully to the north-east.

―We will get above Zared‘s forces,‖ he whispered to Jaspar to spread among the men,

―wait for him to move on, and then we can make a run for Carlon.‖

Trying to move while keeping the shade cloths steady overhead was no easy task. Three

hundred of the men carried the poles, the others led the horses. The night-time terror spread all

about them, but it did not infiltrate under the shade.

Askam had smiled in satisfaction. He was acting, he was being bold, and it would win

him the day yet.

After several hours movement they heard the sounds of a distant battle.

―See!‖ Askam cried. ―You did well to come with me! Zared and his men die, while we

are safe.‖

The men nodded, reassured, and they kept moving north-east until well after daybreak.

Then Askam had them roll up the shade cloth and remount their horses.

―We ride!‖ he cried, ―west then south-west for Carlon!‖

They rode for the rest of the day, keeping a sharp watch for any signs that they were

about to encounter Zared‘s force. But Askam had led them several leagues to the north, and

if— if, for all had heard the sounds of the terrible battle—Zared still commanded anything

resembling a force, then it would be moving to the south of them. Having only four hundred men, Askam found it considerably easier to dismount and manoeuvre the shade cloth into

position than did Zared and his massive force, so Askam rode the periods between dawn and

mid-morning, mid-morning and mid-afternoon, and then between mid-afternoon and dusk. Thus

Askam covered far more territory than Zared, but he was also angling slightly more south than

he realised.

They rode until they were an hour away from dusk, and Askam started to look for a likely

spot to camp in this arid, cold wasteland, although it all looked uniformly inhospitable.

Jaspar, riding at his right, lifted slightly out of the saddle and tried to shade his eyes from

the setting sun they rode into.

―My Prince? There is a depression ahead. A small valley perhaps.‖

A small valley? Here? Well, who knew what the winds had blown out. Or maybe it

housed one of the small streams that fed the Nordra.

Askam peered into the sun. It was about a half-hour‘s ride away. ―Good. We will camp

there. At least it will provide us with some shelter.‖

They spurred their horses faster, wanting to reach the camp site as fast as possible.

As they neared, Askam waved his men back to a trot, and then a halt as they stood at the

rim of the valley.

Valley was too grand a word for this depression. About twenty paces deep and ten wide,

it stretched for about a league north-south.

Askam shrugged. It was shelter.

He waved the men forward, and they turned their horses onto the faint path that led down

the eastern slope of the depression. The floor was sandy, and gave way alarmingly in places, but

it would suffice for the night, and they could not afford to ride any further.

―Set up camp,‖ Askam ordered.

As dusk settled about them, pestilence raged. Then terror swept in at pestilence‘s heels,

and the men huddled underneath their shade cloth, trying to catch what sleep they could.

The horses shifted, nervous.

Askam jumped out of his doze as a horse snorted and half-reared. Damn! Would they

never grow used to the Demonic Hours? Their mounts would be worn out before they got

halfway to Carlon.

Askam cursed, and rolled over, drifting back to sleep.

The sentries posted at the borders of the square of shade remained alert, but their eyes

tended to be averted from the landscape outside, for there terror and horror raged, and they

feared that even by looking on it, it might yet infect them.

Thus they did not see it when great lumps and forms arose out of the sandy soil about

them.

The badger had been busy. After his failed attempt at Zared‘s force, he‘d decided to lay a

trap…a trap into which Askam had inadvertently blundered. Among his force the badger had set

the burrowing animals to work, digging out great traps under the sandy floor of the depression.

There he had secreted the most violent and crazed of all his command.

Attack at night, and silently, and maybe they would escape whatever enchantment had

defeated them previously.

The badger realised this smaller force was not the one he‘d wanted to trap, but he also

saw its possibilities, and as night moved in he‘d changed his mind about his method of

attack—and the results he wanted to see.

A score of scrawny and scratched men and women crawled closer to the square of shade.

Among them writhed a dozen small children, as well three infants barely able to crawl. Almost a

thousand poultry, eight hundred rabbits and hamsters, and six-score cats crept with the mad

humans.

All wanted to taste blood. But all had very strict instructions not to kill. Just to drag.

Behind this first wave of attack came the pigs and cows and sheep, ready to charge in

once the first wave had created its terror.

The sentries, alert, still kept their eyes averted from the terror of the night, and thus it was

that the first they knew of the attack was when hands and paws and claws and beaks reached out

from the darkness of the night and snatched their ankles.

The men cried out, waking their companions, but their cries cut off suddenly.

They had been dragged out from the shade and into the terror of the night. For a heartbeat

they thought they were safe, and then terror such as they had never imagined forced its way

down their throats and between the spaces of eye and eyelid, and tunnelled its way into their

bodies. The men‘s minds did not snap immediately. The terror let them feel it, feel how it enjoyed feeding on the spaces within their bodies, before it finally let its full force explode

through their minds. The men screamed and writhed, voiding themselves on the sand, some

snapping the delicate bones of fingers and wrists as they scrabbled for an escape, any escape.

But there was no escape. The terror finished its work, and when it was done, the men

stood, shaking almost uncontrollably.

Their minds were gone. They had been consumed, and now these men turned their

swords and eyes back to the squares of cloth, their loyalty now belonging to the badger, not

Askam.

Askam, as everyone else, had leapt to his feet, appalled by the screaming. ―What…what

happened?‖

Suddenly there was a frightful wail outside, and a wall of appalling creatures rushed the

square. Some were cut down the instant they met the swords of the men, but most were not, and

they dragged and clawed and chased men out from under the protection of the shade.

―Gods!‖ screamed Jaspar as an ox seized his collar in his teeth and pulled him towards

the night. ― Askam! They mean to drag us outside. ‖

Askam could no longer reply. He was already outside, lying on his back, staring at the

stars overhead.

Completely mad.

Within a space of only minutes, the entire force of four hundred men lay twitching under

the stars, their minds a ghastly thick soup of madness, pain, and gleeful whispering voices.

The brown and cream badger trotted triumphantly among the victims. He had lost a few

of his command, yes, but they had now been replaced by four hundred men and horses, all

relatively intact and capable of obeying his every command.

There was a whisper of feathers overhead, and the hiss of satisfaction. At last! The

beginnings of a true army for their masters. Soon the entire landmass of Tencendor would ring to

the booted footsteps of an army swaying to the battle songs of madness.

26

The Hall of the Stars

― Sicarius! ‖ Azhure cried, unable to believe the Alaunt were running. ― Sicarius! ‖

But none of the hounds paid her any heed. Within moments they had disappeared from

sight.

She looked at Axis, her eyes stricken.

―We will manage without them,‖ he said, and squeezed her arm briefly.

She nodded, and turned her eyes back to the cloud that was slowly advancing toward

them.

―There must be somewhere to hide—‖ Caelum began, turning his horse about in tight,

anxious circles, but his father interrupted.

―Hide. Where? This tunnel is bare of any secret spaces. Captain. Arrange your men

behind me. Azhure, take Caelum, and ride as fast as you can. Get him out, at least.‖

She nodded, silencing Caelum‘s protests with a curt wave of her hand.

―Be careful,‖ she whispered to Axis. ―Come back to me.‖

He grinned for her, although the effort cost him dearly. ―I have not battled through all