Order advised. ‘Particularly not here on the waterfront.’
‘i’ve hired some bodyguards, Order. Can you ask around and
find out if there’s a fast ship leaving for Zenga in Cammoria in
the next week or so?’
‘Why would anybody want to go to Zenga?’
‘I grew up there, and I’m homesick,’ Krager replied with a
shrug. ‘Besides, I’d sort of like to grind a few faces – all the
people who said that I’d come to no good end while I was
growing up.’
‘Did you happen to come across a fellow named Ezek
while you were in Natayos?’ Order asked. ‘I think he’s a
Deiran.’
‘The name rings a bell. I think he was working for the fellow
who ran the tavern.’
‘I sent him down there,’ Order explained, ‘him and the other
two – Col and Shallag. They were going to see if they could join
Narstil’s band of outlaws.’
‘They may have, but they were working in the tavern when
I left.’
‘It’s none of my business, but if you were doing so well in
Natayos, why did you leave?’
‘instincts, Order,’ Krager replied owlishly. ‘I get this cold little
feeling at the base of my skull, and I know that it’s time to run.
Have you ever heard of a man named Sparhawk?’
‘You mean Prince Sparhawk? Everybody’s heard of him. He’s
got quite a reputation.’
‘Oh, yes. That he does. Anyway, Sparhawk’s been looking
for an opportunity to kill me for twenty years or so, and that’s
the sort of thing that puts a very fine edge on a man’s instincts.’
Krager took another long drink.
‘You might want to give some thought to drying out for a
while,’ Order advised, looking meaningfully at Krager’s tankard
of Arcian red. ‘I run a tavern, and I’ve learned to recognize the
signs. Your liver’s starting to go on you, my friend. Your eyeballs
are turning yellow.’
‘i’ll cut down once I get out to sea.’
‘I think you’ll have to do more than just cut down, Krager.
You’re going to have to give it up entirely if you want to go on
living. Believe me, you don’t want to die the way most drunkards
do. I knew one once who screamed for three straight weeks
before he finally died. It was awful.’
‘There’s nothing wrong with my liver,’ Krager said truculently.
‘It’s just the funny light in here. When I get out to sea,
I’ll space out my drinks. I’ll be all right.’ His face had a haunted
expression, however, and the mere mention of giving up strong
drink had set his hands to trembling violently.
Order shrugged. He had tried to warn the man. ‘It’s up to
you, Krager,’ he said. ‘i’ll ask around and see if I can find a ship
that’ll get you out of Prince Sparhawk’s reach.’
‘Soon, Order. Soon.’ Krager held out his tankard. ‘in the
meantime, why don’t we have another?’
Ekrasios and his party of Delphae reached Norenja late in the
afternoon on a murky day when heavy clouds hung low over the
treetops and there was not a breath of air moving. Ekrasios took
his boyhood friend, Adras, and crept forward through the tangle
of brush and vines to the edge of the clearing to survey the ruin.
Thinkest thou that they will offer resistance?’ Adras asked
quietly.
‘That is difficult to predict,’ Ekrasios replied. ‘Anakha and his
companions have advised that these rebels are poorly trained.
Methinks their response to our sudden appearance will depend
on the character of their officers. Better that we leave them a
clear path to the surrounding forest. Should we encircle them,
deSperation will impel them to fight.’
Adras nodded. ‘They have made some effort to repair the
gates,’ he said, pointing at the entrance to the city.
‘The gates will pose no problem. I will instruct thee and our
companions in the spell which doth modify the curse of edaemus.
Those newly-made gates are constructed of wood, and
wood is as susceptible to decay as is flesh,’ He looked up at the
dirty grey clouds. ‘Canst thou make any estimate as to the time
of day?’
‘No more than two hours until dusk,’ Adras replied.
‘Let us proceed then. We must find yet another gate to provide
means of escape for those whom we would confront this night.’
‘And if there be none other?’
‘Then those who would escape must find their own way. I
am reluctant to unleash the full force of the curse of Edaemas.
Should necessity compel me to it, however, I will not shrink
from that stern duty. Should they flee, well and good. Should
they choose to stay and fight, we will do what we must. I do
assure thee, Adras, that when tomorrow’s sun rises, none living
shall remain within the walls of Norenja.’
‘Good God!’ Berit exclaimed, peering over the edge of the dry
gully at the huge soldiers in close-fitting armor running westward
across the sun-baked gravel. ‘They’re monsters.’
‘Keep your voice down,’ Khalad cautioned. ‘There’s no way
of knowing how good their ears are.’
The strange, bestial soldiers were larger than Atans, and their
burnished steel breastplates fit their torsos snugly, outlining
each muscle. They wore helmets adorned with fanciful horns
or wings, and the visors of those helmets were individualized,
evidently forged to fit each warrior’s face. They ran westward
in a sort of ragged formation, and their hoarse gasping was
clearly audible even at this distance.
‘Where are they going?’ Berit demanded. ‘The border’s off in
the other direction.’
‘That one who’s trailing along behind the others has a broken-off
javelin sticking out of him,’ Khalad replied. ‘i’d say that
means that they’ve come up against Tikume’s Peloi. They’ve
already been to the border, and now they’re coming back.’
‘Back to where?’ Berit was baffled. ‘Where can they go? They
can’t breathe here.’
Khalad cautiously poked his head above the rim of the gully
and squinted out across the rocky desert. ‘They seem to be going
toward that cluster of hills about a mile to the west.’ he paused.
“just how curious are we feeling today, Berit?’
‘What have you got in mind?’
‘This gully comes down out of those hills, and if we follow it
and keep our heads down, they won’t see us. Why don’t we
drift off toward the west? I’ve got a strong feeling that we might
find out something important if we tag along behind those
fellows. ‘
Berit shrugged. ‘why not?’
‘That’s really not a very logical answer, Berit. I can think of a
half-dozen reasons why not.’ Khalad squinted at the panting
soldiers lurching across the desert. ‘Let’s do it anyway, though.
For some reason, I think we should.’
They slid back down into the gully and led their horses along
the dry watercourse toward the west.
They moved quietly along the bottom of the wash for about
a quarter of an hour. ‘Are they still out there?’ Berit whispered.
‘i’ll look.’ Khalad carefully climbed back up the steep bank to
the rim of the gully and eased his head up far enough to look.
Then he slid back down again. ‘They’re still staggering toward
the hills,’ he reported. ‘This gully starts getting shallower on up
ahead. Let’s leave the horses here.’
They crept along, crouched over to stay out of sight, and as
the gully started to run uphill, they found that they were forced
to crawl on their hands and knees.
Khalad raised up slightly to look again. ‘They seem to be
swinging around behind that other hill,’ he said quietly. ‘Let’s
slip up to the top of this ridge and see what’s back there.’
The two of them crawled out of the now-shallow wash and
slanted their way up to the ridge-line to a point from which they
could see what lay behind the hill Khalad had pointed out.
It was a kind of shallow basin nestled down among the three
hills that heaved up out of the surrounding desert. The basin
was empty. ‘Where did they go?’ Berit whispered.
‘That basin was the place they were making for,’ Khalad
insisted with a puzzled frown. ‘Wait. Here comes that one with
the javelin in his belly.’
They watched the wounded soldier stumble into the basin,
half-falling and rising again to drag himself along. He raised his
masked face and bellowed something.
Khalad and Berit waited tensely
Then two other soldiers emerged from a narrow opening in
the side of one of the hills, descended to the floor of the basin,
and half-dragged their injured comrade back up the hill and on
into the mouth of the cave.
‘That answers that,’ Khalad said. ‘They ran across miles of
open desert to get to that cave.’
‘Why? What good will it do them?’
‘I haven’t got a clue, Berit, but I still think it’s important.’
Khalad stood up. ‘Let’s go back to where we left the horses. We
can still cover a few more miles before the sun goes down.’