The Bonehunters

  'Modest relevance,' the demon said. 'I would tell you a tale, brother. Early in the clan's history, many centuries past, there arose, like a breath of gas from the deep, a new cult. Chosen as its representative god was the most remote, most distant of gods among the pantheon. A god that was, in truth, indifferent to the clans of my kind. A god that spoke naught to any mortal, that intervened never in mortal affairs. Morbid. The leaders of the cult proclaimed themselves the voice of that god. They wrote down laws, prohibitions, ascribances, propitiations, blasphemies, punishments for nonconformity, for dispute and derivations. This was but rumour, said details maintained in vague fugue, until such time as the cult achieved domination and with domination, absolute power.

  'Terrible enforcement, terrible crimes committed in the name of the silent god. Leaders came and went, each further twisting words already twisted by mundane ambition and the zeal for unity. Entire pools were poisoned. Others drained and the silts seeded with salt. Eggs were crushed. Mothers dismembered. And our people were plunged into a paradise of fear, the laws made manifest and spilled blood the tears of necessity. False regret with chilling gleam in the centre eye. No relief awaited, and each generation suffered more than the last.'

  L'oric studied the demon at his side. 'What happened?'

  'Seven great warriors from seven clans set out to find the Silent God, set out to see for themselves if this god had indeed blessed all that had come to pass in its name.''

  'And did they find the silent god?'

  'Yes, and too, they found the reason for its silence. The god was dead. It had died with the first drop of blood spilled in its name.'

  'I see, and what is the relevance of this tale of yours, however modest?'

  'Perhaps this. The existence of many gods conveys true complexity of mortal life. Conversely, the assertion of but one god leads to a denial of complexity, and encourages the need to make the world simple. Not the fault of the god, but a crime committed by its believers.'

  'If a god does not like what is done in its name, then it should act.'

  'Yet, if each crime committed in its name weakens it... very soon, I think, it has no power left and so cannot act, and so, ultimately, it dies.'

  'You come from a strange world, Greyfrog.'

  'Yes.'

  'I find your story most disturbing.'

  'Yes.'

  'We must undertake a long journey now, Greyfrog.'

  'I am ready, brother.'

  'In the world I know,' L'oric said, 'many gods feed on blood.'

  'As do many mortals.'

  The High Mage nodded. 'Have you said your goodbyes Greyfrog?'

  'I have.'

  'Then let us leave this place.'

  ****

  Filiad appeared at the entrance to the smithy, catching Barathol's attention. The blacksmith gave two more pumps of the bellows feeding the forge, then drew off his thick leather gloves and waved the youth over.

  'The High Mage,' Filiad said, 'he's left. With that giant toad. I saw it, a hole opening in the air. Blinding yellow light poured from it, and they just disappeared inside it and then the hole was gone!'

  Barathol rummaged through a collection of black iron bars until he found one that looked right for the task he had in mind. He set it on the anvil. 'Did he leave behind his horse?'

  'What? No, he led it by the reins.'

  'Too bad.'

  'What do we do now?' Filiad asked.

  'About what?'

  'Well, everything, I guess.'

  'Go home, Filiad.'

  'Really? Oh. All right. I guess. See you later, then.'

  'No doubt,' Barathol said, drawing on the gloves once more.

  After Filiad left, the blacksmith took up the iron bar with a set of tongs and thrust the metal into the forge, pumping one-legged on the floor-bellows. Four months back, he had used the last of his stolen hoard of Aren coins on a huge shipment of charcoal; there was just enough left for this final task.

  T'lan Imass. Nothing but bone and leathery skin. Fast and deadly, masters of ambush. Barathol had been thinking for days now about the problem they represented, about devising a means of dealing with them. For he suspected he'd meet the bastards again.

  His axe was heavy enough to do damage, if he hit hard enough. Still, those stone swords were long, tapered to a point for thrusting. If they stayed outside his reach...

  To all of that, he thought he had found a solution.

  He pumped some more, until he was satisfied with the white-hot core in the heart of the forge, and watched as the bar of iron acquired a cherubic gleam.

  ****

  'We now follow the snake, which takes us to a gather camp on the shores of a black grain lake, beyond which we traverse flat-rock for two days, to another gather camp, the northernmost one, for all that lies beyond it is both flowing and unfound.'

  Samar Dev studied the elongated, sinuous line of boulders on the ledge of bedrock below and to their left. Skins of grey and green lichen, clumps of skeletal dusty green moss, studded with red flowers, surrounding each stone, and beyond that the deeper verdancy of another kind of moss, soft and sodden. On the path they walked the bedrock was scoured clean, the granite pink and raw, with layers falling away from edges in large, flat plates. Here and there, black lichen the texture of sharkskin spilled out from fissures and veins. She saw a deer antler lying discarded from some past rutting season, the tips of its tines gnawed by rodents, and was reminded how, in the natural world, nothing goes to waste.

  Dips in the high ground held stands of black spruce, as many dead as living, while in more exposed sections of the bedrock low-lying juniper formed knee-high islands spreading branches over the stone, each island bordered by shrubs of blueberry and wintergeen. Jackpines stood as lone sentinels atop rises in the strangely folded, amorphous rock.

  Harsh and forbidding, this was a landscape that would never yield to human domination. It felt ancient in ways not matched by any place Samar Dev had seen before, not even by the wastelands of the Jhag Odhan. It was said that beneath every manner of surface on this world, whether sand or sea, floodplain or forest, there was solid rock, twisted and folded by unseen pressures. But here, all other possible surfaces had been scoured away, exposing the veined muscle itself.

  This land suited Karsa Orlong. A warrior scoured clean of all civil trappings, a thing of muscle and will and hidden pressures. While, in strange contrast, the Anibar, Boatfinder, seemed an interloper, almost a parasite, his every motion furtive and oddly guilt-laden. From this broken, rock-skinned place of trees and clearwater lakes, Boatfinder and his people took black grain and the skins of animals; they took birch bark and reeds for making baskets and nets. Not enough to scar this landscape, not enough to claim conquest.

  As for her, she found herself viewing her surroundings in terms of trees left unharvested, of lakes still rich with fish, of more efficient ways to gather the elongated, mud-coloured grains from the reed beds in the shallows — the so-called black grain that needed to be beaten free of the stalks, gathered in the hollow of the long, narrow-boats the Anibar used, beaten down with sticks amidst webs and spinning spiders and the buzz of tiger-flies. She could think only of resources and the best means of exploit­ing them. It felt less and less like a virtue with every passing day.

  They continued along the trail, Boatfinder in the lead, followed by Karsa who led his horse by the reins, leaving Samar Dev with a view of the animal's rump and swishing tail. Her feet hurt, each step on the hard stone reverberating up into her spine — there had to be a way of padding such impacts, she told herself, perhaps some kind of multi-layering technology for boot soles — she would have to think on that. And these biting flies — Boatfinder had cut juniper branches, threading them through a headscarf so that the green stems dangled in front of his forehead and down the back of his neck. Presumably this worked, although the man looked ridiculous. She contemplated surrendering her vanity and following suit, but would hold out a while longer.

  Ka
rsa Orlong was undertaking this journey now as if it had become some kind of quest. Driven by the need to deliver judgement, upon whomsoever he chose, no matter what the circumstances. She had begun to understand just how frightening this savage could be, and how it fed her own growing fascination with him. She half-believed this man could cut a swath through an entire pantheon of gods.

  A dip in the trail brought them onto mossy ground, through which broken branches thrust up jagged grey fingers. To the right was a thick, twisted scrub oak, centuries old and scarred by lightning strikes; all the lesser trees that had begun growth around it were dead, as if the battered sentinel exuded some belligerent poison. To the left was the earthen wall of a toppled pine tree's root-mat, vertical and as tall as Karsa, rising from a pool of black water.

  Havok came to an abrupt halt and Samar Dev heard a grunt from Karsa Orlong. She worked her way round the Jhag horse until she could clearly see that wall of twisted roots. In which was snared a withered corpse, the flesh wrinkled and blackened, limbs stretched out, neck exposed but of the head only the lower jaw line visible. The chest area seemed to have imploded, the hollow space reaching up into the heart of the huge tree itself. Boatfinder stood opposite, his left hand inscribing gestures in the air.

  'This toppled but recently,' Karsa Orlong said. 'Yet this body, it has been there a long time, see how the black water that once gathered about the roots has stained its skin. Samar Dev,' he said, facing her, 'there is a hole in its chest — how did such a thing come to be?'

  She shook her head. 'I cannot even determine what manner of creature this is.'

  'Jaghut,' the Toblakai replied. 'I have seen the like before. Flesh becomes wood, yet the spirit remains alive within—'

  'You're saying this thing is still alive?'

  'I do not know — the tree has fallen over, after all, and so it is dying—'

  'Death is not sure,' Boatfinder cut in, his eyes wide with superstitious terror. 'Often, the tree reaches once more sky­ward. But this dweller, so terribly imprisoned, it cannot be alive. It has no heart. It has no head.'

  Samar Dev stepped closer to examine the body's sunken chest. After a time she backed away, made uneasy by something she could not define. 'The bones beneath the flesh continued growing,' she said, 'but not as bone. Wood. The sorcery belongs to D'riss, I suspect. Boatfinder, how old would you judge this tree?'

  'Frozen time, perhaps thirty generations. Since it fell, seven days, no more. And, it is pushed over.'

  'I smell something,' Karsa Orlong said, passing the reins to Boatfinder.

  Samar Dev watched the giant warrior walk ahead, up the opposite slope of the depression, halting on the summit of the basolith. He slowly unslung his stone sword.

  And now she too caught a faint sourness in the air, the smell of death. She made her way to Karsa's side.

  Beyond the dome of rock the trail wound quickly downward to debouch on the edge of a small boggy lake. To one side, on a slight shelf above the shoreline, was a clearing in which sat the remnants of a rough camp — three round structures, sapling-framed and hide-walled. Two were half-burnt, the third knocked down in a mass of shattered wood and torn buckskin. She counted six bodies lying motionless here and there, in and around the camp, one face-down, torso, shoulders and head in the water, long hair flowing like bleached seaweed. Three canoes formed a row on the other side of the trail, their bark hulls stove in.

  Boatfinder joined her and Karsa on the rise. A small keening sound rose from him.

  Karsa took the lead down the trail. After a moment, Samar Dev followed.

  'Stay back from the camp,' Karsa told her. 'I must read the tracks.'

  She watched him move from one motionless form to the next, his eyes scanning the scuffed ground, the places where humus had been kicked aside. He went to the hearth and ran his fingers through the ash and coals, down to the stained earth beneath. Somewhere on the lake beyond, a loon called, its cry mournful and haunting. The light had grown steely, the sun now behind the forest line to the west. On the rise above the trail, Boatfinder's keening rose in pitch.

  'Tell him to be quiet,' Karsa said in a growl.

  'I don't think I can do that,' she replied. 'Leave him his grief.'

  'His grief will soon be ours.'

  'You fear this unseen enemy, Karsa Orlong?'

  He straightened from where he had been examining the holed canoes. 'A four-legged beast has passed through here recently — a large one. It collected one of the corpses... but I do not think it has gone far.'

  'Then it has already heard us,' Samar Dev said. 'What is it, a bear?' Boatfinder had said that black bears used the same trails as the Anibar, and he'd pointed out their scat on the path. He had explained that they were not dangerous, normally. Still, wild creatures were ever unpredictable, and if one had come upon these bodies it might well now view the kill-site as its own.

  'A bear? Perhaps, Samar Dev. Such as the kind from my homeland, a dweller in caves, and on its hind legs half again as tall as a Teblor. But this one is yet different, for the pads of its paws are sheathed in scales.'

  'Scales?'

  'And I judge it would weigh more than four adult warriors of the Teblor.' He eyed her. 'A formidable creature.'

  'Boatfinder has said nothing of such beasts in this forest.'

  'Not the only intruder,' the Toblakai said. 'These Anibar were murdered with spears and curved blades. They were then stripped of all ornaments, weapons and tools. There was a child among them but it was dragged away. The killers came from the lake, in wooden-keeled longboats. At least ten adults, two of them wearing boots of some sort, although the heel pattern is unfamiliar. The others wore moccasins made of sewn strips, each one overlapping on one side.'

  'Overlapping? Ridged — that would improve purchase, I think.'

  'Samar Dev, I know who these intruders are.'

  'Old friends of yours?'

  'We did not speak of friendship at the time. Call down Boatfinder, I have questions for him—'

  The sentence was unfinished. Samar Dev looked over to find Karsa standing stock-still, his gaze on the trees beyond the three canoes. She turned and saw a massive hulking shape pushing its forefront clear of bending saplings. An enormous, scaled head lifted from steep shoulders, eyes fixing on the Toblakai.

  Who raised his stone sword in a two-handed grip, then surged forward.

  The giant beast's roar ended in a high-pitched squeal, as it bolted — backward, into the thicket. Sudden crashing, heavy thumps—

  Karsa plunged into the stand, pursuing.

  Samar Dev found that she was holding her dagger in her right hand, knuckles white.

  The crashing sounds grew more distant, as did the frantic squeals of the scaled bear.

  She turned at scrabbling from the slope and watched Boatfinder come down to huddle at her side. His lips were moving in silent prayers, eyes on the broken hole in the stand of trees.

  Samar sheathed her dagger and crossed her arms. 'What is it with him and monsters?' she demanded.

  Boatfinder sat down in the damp mulch, began rocking back and forth.

  ****

  Samar Dev was just completing her second burial when Karsa Orlong returned. He walked up to the hearth she had lit earlier and beside which Boatfinder sat hunched over and swathed in furs, voicing a low moaning sound of intractable sorrow. The Toblakai set his sword down.

  'Did you kill it?' she asked. 'Did you cut its paws off, skin it alive, add its ears to your belt and crush its chest in with your embrace?'

  'Escaped,' he said in a grunt.

  'Probably halfway to Ehrlitan by now.'

  'No, it is hungry. It will return, but not before we have moved on.' He gestured to the remaining bodies. 'There is no point — it will dig them up.'

  'Hungry, you said.'

  'Starving. It is not from this world. And this land here, it offers little — the beast would do better on the plains to the south.'

  'The map calls this the Olphara Mountains.
Many lakes are marked, and I believe the small one before us is joined to others, further north, by a river.'

  'These are not mountains.'

  'They once were, millennia past. They have been worn down. We are on a much higher elevation than we were just south of here.'

  'Nothing can gnaw mountains down to mere stubs, witch.'

  'Nonetheless. We should see if we can repair these canoes — it would be much easier—'

  'I shall not abandon Havok.'

  'Then we will never catch up with our quarry, Karsa Orlong.'

  'They are not fleeing. They are exploring. Searching.'

  'For what?'

  The Toblakai did not answer.

  Samar Dev wiped dirt from her hands, then walked over to the hearth. 'I think this hunt we are on is a mistake. The Anibar should simply flee, leave this broken land, at least until the intruders have left.'

  'You are a strange woman,' Karsa pronounced. 'You wished to explore this land, yet find yourself made helpless by it.'

  She started. 'Why do you say that?'

  'Here, one must be as an animal. Passing through, quiet, for this is a place that yields little and speaks in silence. Thrice in our journey we have been tracked by a bear, silent as a ghost on this bedrock. Crossing and re-crossing our trail. You would think such a large beast would be easy to see, but it is not. There are omens here, Samar Dev, mors than I have ever seen before in any place, even my homeland. Hawks circle overhead. Owls watch us pass from hollows in dead trees. Tell me, witch, what is happening to the moon?'

  She stared into the fire. 'I don't know. It seems to be breaking up. Crumbling. There is no record of anything like that happening before, neither the way it has grown larger, nor the strange corona surrounding it.' She shook her head. 'If it is an omen, it is one all the world can see.'

  'The desert folk believe gods dwell there. Perhaps they wage war among themselves.'

  'Superstitious nonsense,' she said. 'The moon is this world's child, the last child, for there were others, once. She hesitated. 'It may be that two have collided, but it is difficult to be sure — the others were never very visible, even in the best of times. Dark, smudged, distant, always in the shadow cast by this world, or that of the largest moon — the one we see most clearly. Of late, there has been much dust in the air.'