Markan Throne

  Tahena snuggled deeper into her blankets, now quite content to do what Sandev had asked of her. A decent man and a good commander led them. She could work with him. She watched Neptarik wander back into the camp.

  "Donulya, it is time to wake!" he called, in his clear, high voice. "The sun will soon be up."

  ***

  Tahena checked their backtrail from Marka.

  She used only part of her mind, a skill known as mental projection. It used much less energy than physical projection and had always been far safer to use than the rather more common ethereal projection. It needed only a little of the Gift, which would bother Neptarik less; the boy seemed to know when she just thought about using the Gift. She had used mental projection to contact Sandev, still in Marka.

  Now Tahena used her mind to probe along the path they had taken from Marka, looking at the ground they had passed. At the same time, she remained fully aware of everything going on in the camp.

  Balnus prepared breakfast as she shifted on the uncomfortable ground. Aware the Gift flowed, Neptarik had fled to the far boundary of the camp, for once not pestering his owner for choca.

  Tahena knew what – or rather who – to look for and still hoped the City Guard had not sent him. Unlikely; he had been unemployed too long and would relish a chase.

  She knew Captain Crallin disliked bounty hunters, claiming they were more interested in bounty than justice, but there were exceptions.

  Crallin might hesitate over it, but he often gave work to Sallis ti Ath and the bounty hunter would probably push himself forward. He would never give up.

  Hope grew the nearer her search came to their campsite. Everywhere they had rested along the way, every campsite, and their route showed no sign of pursuit. She increased speed, joy turning to elation as she found nothing out of place. Either they hadn't sent him or she had thrown him off the scent.

  She reached a place where she had used The Gift to throw their trail in a different direction. An old trick, but often the most effective. Even against him.

  Tahena's mind brushed against another and she snatched away from the contact. She prayed that her intrusion stayed undetected. No doubt who she had touched. Deep inside, she'd known they would send him. She sat straighter and eyed the breakfast handed to her by Balnus.

  "When we finish eating, we ride," she said.

  "What's wrong?" Kelanus looked up from his meal.

  Both men stared at Tahena.

  "He's on our trail," replied Tahena. "After us." Her dark eyes fixed on Kelanus. "After you."

  "Who's after us?" Kelanus glanced at Balnus, who gave a small shrug.

  Neptarik wandered back into the camp, sensed the undercurrent and gave all three humans a concerned look.

  "He never gives up once he has the trail," she continued. "He once followed someone for a year before bringing him to face justice."

  "But who is he?"

  "His name is Sallis ti Ath."

  "All right. Who's Sallis ti Ath?"

  Tahena stared at Kelanus in consternation. "In Marka, mothers use his name to frighten misbehaving children. The authorities turn to him when they need to track someone they can't hunt themselves and he always successfully completes commissions. He's skilled with weapons, among other things."

  "Here, you have two men skilled with a sword," smiled Balnus. "We'll be safe from this Sallis ti Ath."

  "You don't understand. The Gift flows strongly in him. He can kill using it. You'll not be able to fight him."

  "You say he is after us." Kelanus did not ask how Tahena could possibly know, but accepted her word.

  The southern woman nodded. "He'll catch us in a week or so, unless we ride hard. Trouble is, he'll realize that our pace is faster and increase his own accordingly. He'll push hard to catch up."

  Neptarik heard every word and looked from human to human, his silvery gray eyes wide and earpoints bolt upright. He hummed no tunes now.

  Tahena sensed the sylph's fear, even if he refused to show it. She smiled and hoped she looked reassuring. "Sallis ti Ath does not harm the innocent."

  Neptarik glanced at his owner and Tahena realized that the sylph did not want Balnus to see his concern.

  "Will he use the Gift to catch up?" asked Kelanus.

  Tahena laughed. "We're not just conduits for the Gift. It uses an incredible amount of energy and doesn't come from nowhere. He'd die from exhaustion long before reaching us. He won't catch us in the next couple of days, but he'll be stamping on our heels before long."

  "Can we beat him to Cadister?" asked Kelanus.

  "Perhaps." Tahena held his gaze until he turned his attention to Balnus and Neptarik.

  "Let's get breakfast over with and go," he said.

  They did not need the extra encouragement of Tahena's nod.

  ***

  Sallis ti Ath watched his fire as he ate breakfast. Steadily gaining on his target, he felt moderately pleased with his progress. After touching the blanket Kelanus had used in his prison cell, he could "see" everywhere the man had been. The niggle in the back of his mind would remain until he finally touched his prey. Now safely tucked away in his saddlebag, Sallis had carefully memorized the warrant for Kelanus's re-arrest. Now well clear of Marka, Sallis could see the trail as clearly as if his quarry had left footprints emblazoned with his name. The nearer he came, the brighter that trail grew.

  Someone with the Gift – or perhaps a sorcerer – traveled with Kelanus. His own tracking skills warned him of yet another man and a sylph. Why a sylph should be with them initially confused him. Then he thought of the scouts employed by Marcus Vintner and puzzlement evaporated. He wondered which of them was the sorcerer, or possessed the Gift. After all, sorcery had been used in the murder of Branad Vintner. Perhaps the real killer fled with Kelanus. He would assume sorcerer until shown different.

  There had been several clumsy efforts to throw him off the trail. This quarry had ridden along rivers, ridden on parallel paths and even cut across country in a futile attempt to escape. Last night, he had stumbled across an attempt to deceive him that had used either the Gift or sorcery.

  He had originally suspected that Kelanus might head for Calcan and the relative safety of Marcus Vintner's lands. The fugitives had wisely angled south to avoid the Key, but their route then turned east. This reinforced his suspicion. Kelanus intended fleeing to Calcan.

  Then, a split in the trail. One headed east, the other pointed south. One must be false, yet both burned equally brightly in his mind. But one shimmered slightly more than the other. Experience had taught him to identify false trails. He must go south.

  There would be more attempts to throw him. Further false trails – and he knew there would be more – would confirm he still followed the real track.

  Sallis ti Ath knew rather less about Kelanus than he liked, but what he did know gave him little confidence to predict the man. He wasn't going home, for Frodger lay in the far north, close to the permanent ice and snow. Neither would he direct a course for part of the late Branad Vintner's empire, now united in name at least with Marcus Vintner's lands.

  Kelanus headed south.

  A small frown furrowed Sallis's brow. What lay south for a man like Kelanus? The Imperial Republic might welcome a man with Kelanus's skills, or perhaps someone else wanted to carve a new empire for himself. He had not heard of anyone after a general to command an army of conquest, but such vacancies appeared regularly.

  But Sallis must capture Kelanus and return him to face trial in Marka. He might even be innocent, but juries determined a man's guilt, not Sallis.

  His head came up, all senses questing. Something brushed against the outer edge of his awareness, a momentary touch of minds.

  As if someone watched him.

  He didn't bother looking around, nobody would be out there. Someone – Gifted or sorcerer he could not tell – had attempted to spy. His prey now knew who hunted him.

  Sallis ti Ath tsked. He preferred the element of surprise, and now
he must take more care. But the outcome was inevitable. He always caught his quarry.

  ***

  "I don't like it."

  Kelanus stared at Tahena in the gathering dusk. They had ridden as hard as they dared all day, with only one short break at noon, more to rest the horses than people. Neptarik had not found a decent campsite, a failure he seemed to blame on himself. Now on the outskirts of a small town, Tahena suggested spending the night at the nearby farm. She argued a farm beat a camp for comfort. Kelanus looked unimpressed.

  "You say this Sallis ti Ath is after me, so it's probably unwise to stay at a farm or inn," Kelanus continued.

  "Sallis will question whoever we stay with, but that is all. You're the one who needs fear him, not any innocents," retorted Tahena. "He knows how to find us and how far ahead of him we are. We've got nothing to lose enjoying a little comfort."

  "I still don't like it."

  Situated on the very edge of the town, the farm looked prosperous. The area seemed to have been overlooked by outlaws, or perhaps there were enough young men to defend the place. It looked peaceful and beautiful. Low rolling hills surrounded the town and this farm looked to be the biggest for milas around. Some fields boasted grazing goats, sheep and cattle, another had pigs and boar. Many more were under cultivation, with the soil recently turned and planted. The first green shoots had already pushed themselves into the light. Tahena noticed an orchard to one side of the buildings. The track ran past the farmhouse.

  The fields were deserted, but they saw several humans chatting in the farmyard, and patches of blue showed where sylphs mixed with the rest. As the strangers approached, everybody turned to look. Kelanus noted they watched in curiosity and not fear. These people had never dealt with raiders.

  Black and brown dogs hurtled up to them, barking furiously and sending Neptarik scuttling up his owner's horse in a blue blur. The dogs turned aside before the horses could trample them, but continued to bark until the humans dismounted.

  Neptarik stayed on the horse, even after the dogs quieted. They sniffed at the humans, tails wagging.

  Tahena knocked at the farmer's door moments later, ignoring Kelanus's arguments. When the farmer – a ruddy-faced individual who appeared to be cheerful all the time – answered, Tahena quickly explained what she wanted.

  Kelanus and Balnus, obviously fighting men, sat silently on their horses, while Neptarik inspected the farm. All the buildings were of an unusual brown stone and the sylph counted a shippon and three barns, not to mention a large stable and smaller houses for the farm workers to live in.

  Small children ceased their play to stare, aware that their parents also stared. Men and women dressed in woolens watched the small party in silence. Infertile sylphs stared at Neptarik in wonder, earpoints twitching. Seeing them tickling the dogs' ears, setting tails wagging, the scout felt a stab of shame at his reaction.

  Neptarik's eyes again looked towards the fields. This man farmed everything. No wonder he looked so cheerful. The sylph's attention suddenly turned to the farmer.

  "Whose is this lad?" asked the farmer, beaming jovially at Neptarik.

  "Mine," grunted Balnus.

  "You can sleep in the second barn and stable your horses there for free, so long as I can borrow him for the night."

  Neptarik's earpoints jerked upright and his eyes widened. What did this man want of him? Having been around soldiers most of his life, he knew how filthy some humans could be and he felt wary of this man's motive.

  A couple of the human women laughed.

  "Why?" Balnus's voice carried menace. He also harbored suspicions.

  "Male sylphs are rare up here," explained the farmer. "I've got three young females and no males to breed with 'em. Maybe something will come of tonight and maybe not. Either way, that second barn's empty, so you can sleep in it."

  Neptarik's earpoints went so high that Tahena thought they might snap off. The sylph probably thought he had reached heaven.

  Slowly, the human farmworkers returned to their business and the visitors were ignored. The children resumed their play. Only the infertiles continued to stare at the newcomers.

  "Can I see these females?" asked Balnus.

  "Can I?" muttered Neptarik. Best to be safe. Ugly sylphs were rare, but a boy had to be sure.

  The farmer leaned back into the farmhouse. "Kelewan, Iwnan, Ewkinan!"

  In moments three sylph females arrived, smiling shyly at the visitors and making eyes at Neptarik. The scout made eyes right back: four pairs of earpoints slanted forwards and twitched in mutual interest. The females were of an age, not obviously related to each other and gave the male sylph long looks. All three were sleek, properly looked after and well proportioned. The omens were good.

  "I think you've got yourself a deal," growled Balnus, after a glance at his sylph, who ignored his master in return.

  Tahena nodded at the farmer, but she looked unimpressed. "We accept your terms," she said. "Which barn is it?"

  "When do we get started?" asked Neptarik, between smiling at the three girls.

  "Can't wait, can you?" Balnus sounded sour. He turned to his companions. "He always was a terrible womanizer."

  Neptarik hummed the first line of 'Human Hypocrite'.

  "Perhaps you should get him married," suggested Tahena. "Male sylphs need the security of a wife. And sylph wives are good at keeping their husbands in order. Especially when there's two of them to bully him in the right direction." She sniffed. "I sometimes think that human males need –" She broke off and grinned uncertainly at her two companions.

  Neptarik ignored Tahena.

  The farmer led them to a clean, dry barn, with plenty of straw and places to settle both horses and humans. Kelanus nodded in approval as he inspected it and agreed with Tahena's comment that even this beat sleeping in the open air. The building kept out the thin wind and felt delightfully warm.

  "And you come with me," said the farmer to the sylphs.

  Balnus followed the four sylphs, to ensure his own was properly catered for. The females looked as eager as Neptarik.

  Tahena and Kelanus quickly relieved the horses of their saddlebags and tack. Between them, they checked all hooves, clearing out anything that did not belong there, and curried the horses with handfuls of straw. Once satisfied, they led the animals to divisions that were the next best thing to proper stalls.

  As Balnus still had not returned, they fed the horses and laid out their blankets on the upper level of the barn. They insulated the floor with plenty of straw, and trod it down to make it less prickly.

  Tahena thanked the farm sylphs who brought warm washwater and, when they showed no signs of leaving, showed them the door. Even then, they peered inquisitively around the door to stare wide-eyed at Kelanus. Whenever spotted by one of the visitors, the blue faces at the door would disappear momentarily.

  Noise drifted into the barn from outside but, as dusk deepened, more and more of the children were called inside. Other farm noises began to settle and quieten down, except for a dog that could not resist barking at anything and everything.

  "I still don't like this," muttered Kelanus.

  "What are you afraid of?" laughed Tahena. "That we'll get soft and want this every night?"

  "Two things to consider," replied Kelanus. "It's obvious there have been no raids here. The town's probably too big for raiders to attack, but this farm is far enough out to be a target. The longer it's been left alone, the more likely it is that it will be raided. The other is the danger we might be putting this farmer in."

  "I told you, Sallis –"

  "I know, I know; he doesn't harm innocents. But is Sallis ti Ath the only one behind us? What if someone else, not quite as nice, is also after us?"

  "I only detected ti Ath."

  "You were only looking for ti Ath."

  Tahena nodded. She hadn't considered anyone else might be following them. The thought of a sorcerer, of a demon worshipper, with Sallis's talent frightened her. Of course,
that someone else might not be human at all, an even more terrifying prospect.

  She stared when Balnus returned.

  "They've not even got a guard out," said the soldier. "All peaceful here, from the looks of things. Just about everybody's gone to bed now."

  Kelanus grunted. "How's Neptarik?"

  "The beggar's landed on his feet again," chuckled Balnus. "Not only has he got three nubile wenches to spend the night with, but –" he looked around the barn and shook his head "– his accommodation is a sight better than this, too."

  ***

  The log slipped sideways and almost escaped the fire, sending gleaming sparks scurrying skywards. As tree sap crackled and spat, Sallis ti Ath scowled at the fire wishing he had used fewer pine logs. He had collected the wood absent-mindedly, thinking of his prey as he worked. He had made no headway at all today, with Kelanus still as far ahead this evening as last night. Which meant that the party ahead had increased its pace. They knew – or had guessed – who chased them.

  Deciding that the fire would not rage out of control or shower him with sparks as it died down, Sallis wrapped himself in his blanket. He still waited to see if the unknown Gifted would make another attempt to find him. He had prepared for the intrusion this time; whoever touched his mind would get a nasty shock next time they tried. Just enough to frighten, not harm. Though if a sorcerer, he deserved more than a fright.

  A noise out of the night brought all his senses fully alert. He listened for the noise to be repeated, aware that any animal would shy away from the fire. Somebody – and unlikely to be alone – waited in the darkness for the fire to die down and for Sallis to sleep. He doubted they had good or honorable intentions. His hand reached out and grasped his sword.

  Listening for what felt like hours brought results. Three men surrounded his small camp. His horse remained silent, meaning the three out there were good at being stealthy. Unfortunately for them, Sallis ti Ath was better.

  Not a twig snapped and no sound except light breathing.

  Definitely three.