Banewreaker

  “General,” he croaked, pitching forward.

  “Freg!”

  In the dying wash of light, Tanaros crouched beside the Gulnagel and rolled him onto his back. He spread his hands on the broad expanse of the Fjel’s torso, feeling for the beat of his sturdy heart. There was nothing. Only dry hide, harsh and rough to the touch. The heart that beat beneath it had failed. Freg’s chipped grin and empty eyes stared at the desert sky. Tanaros bowed his head. The other Gulnagel murmured in tones of quiet respect, and Fetch ducked his head to preen, picking at his breast-feathers.

  Thrown free by Freg’s fall, Speros stirred his limbs and made a faint noise.

  “Water,” Tanaros murmured, extending one hand without looking. A severed drought-fruit was placed in it. He tipped it and drank; one swallow, two, three. Enough. He placed it to the Midlander’s parched lips. “Drink.” Water spilled into Speros’ mouth, dribbled out of the corners to puddle on the dry earth. Tanaros lifted his head and gazed at the watching Gulnagel. “What are you waiting for?” he asked them, blinking against the inexplicable burn of tears. “It’s water. Drink! As you love his Lordship, drink.”

  Stripping the plants, they hoisted drought-fruit and drank.

  It was a mighty stand, and an old one. The plants seldom grew in pairs, let alone three at once. The Yarru must have told stories about such a thing. There was enough water here to quench their thirst, enough water here to carry. Tanaros fed it in slow sips to Speros until the Midlander’s eyes opened and consciousness returned, and he shivered and winced at the cramps that gripped his gut. Under starlight he scanned the remaining Fjel with a fevered gaze, and asked about Freg. His voice sounded like something brought up from the bottom of a well.

  Tanaros told him.

  The Midlander bent over with a dry, retching sob.

  Tanaros left him alone, then, and walked under the stars. This time he did not brood on the red one that rose in the west, but on the thousands upon thousands that outnumbered it. There were so many visible, here in the Unknown Desert! Arahila’s Gift against the darkness, flung like diamonds across the black canopy of night. Nowhere else was it so evident. There was a terrible beauty in it.

  It made him think of Ngurra’s calm voice.

  It made him think of Cerelinde, and her terrible, luminous beauty.

  It made him think of his wife.

  Alone, he pressed the heels of his hands against his closed lids. Her eyes had shone like that at the babe’s birth. Like stars; like diamonds. Her eyes had shone like that when he killed her, too, glistening with terror as his hands closed about her throat. And yet … and yet. When he sought her face in his memory, it was that of the Lady of the Ellylon he saw instead. And there was no terror in her eyes, only a bright and deadly compassion.

  “My Lord!” he cried aloud. “Guide me!”

  Something rustled, and a familiar weight settled on his shoulder, talons pricking through his undertunic. A horny beak swiped at his cheek; once, twice. “Kaugh?”

  “Fetch.” It was not the answer he sought, but it was an answer. Tanaros’ thoughts calmed as he stroked the raven’s feathers; calmed, and spiraled outward. “How did you know to find me, my friend? How did you penetrate the barrier of my thoughts? Was it the Dreamspinner who taught you thusly?”

  “Kaugh,” the raven said apologetically, shuffling from foot to foot.

  An image seeped into Tanaros’ mind; a grey, shadowy figure, lunging, jaws open, to avenge an ancient debt. Always, there were her slain cubs, weltering in their blood. A sword upraised between them, and Aracus Altorus’ face, weeping with futile rage as her weight bore him down, halfglimpsed as Tanaros wheeled his mount to flee and the Lady Cerelinde’s hair spilled like cornsilk over his thighs. The Grey Dam of the Were had died that day, spending her life for a greater gain.

  “Ah.”

  Ushahin’s words rang in his memory. Do you know, cousin, my dam afforded you a gift? You will know it, one day.

  “Yes, cousin,” Tanaros whispered. “I know it.” And he stroked the raven’s feathers until Fetch sidled alongside his neck, sheltering beneath his dark hair, and remembered the broken-winged fledgling he had raised; the mess in his quarters, all the small, bright objects gone missing. And yet, never had he known the raven’s thoughts. A small gift, but it had saved lives. On his shoulder, Fetch gave a sleepy chortle. Tanaros clenched his fist and pressed it to his heart in the old manner, saluting the Grey Dam Sorash. “Thank you,” he said aloud. “Thank you, old mother.”

  Vengeance. Loyalty. Sacrifice.

  Such were the lodestones by which his existence was charted, and if it was not the answer he sought, it was answer enough. Thrusting away the thoughts that plagued him, Tanaros turned back toward the drought-eaters, walking slowly, the raven huddled on his shoulder.

  There were not enough stones to build a cairn, so the Fjel were digging. Shadows gathered in the mouth of the grave. Dim figures looming in the starlight, the Gulnagel glanced up as he entered the encampment, continuing without cease to shift mounds of dry sand and pebbles. Tanaros nodded acknowledgment. No need for speech; he knew their ways.

  The unsteady figure of Speros of Haimhault labored alongside them. “Lord General,” he rasped, straightening at Tanaros’ approach.

  “Speros.” He looked at the fever-bright eyes in the gaunt face, the trembling hands with dirt caked under broken nails. “Enough. You need to rest.”

  The Midlander wavered stubbornly on his feet. “So do they. And he died carrying me.”

  “Aye.” Tanaros sighed. The raven roused and shook its feathers, launching itself from its perch to land on the nearest drought-eater. “Aye, he did.” Casting about, he spotted his helmet amid the rest of his armor. It would hold sand as well as water, and serve death as well as life. One of the Gulnagel grunted, moving to make room for him. “Come on, then, lads,” Tanaros said, scooping at the grave, filling his helmet and tossing a load of sand over his shoulder. “Let’s lay poor Freg to rest.”

  Side by side, Man and Fjeltroll, they labored beneath Arahila’s stars.

  IT WAS ON THE VERGES of Pelmar, a half day’s ride outside Kranac, that the Were was sighted. Until then, the journey had been uneventful.

  The forest was scarce less dense near one of the capital cities, but the mounted vanguard had been moving with speed since leaving Martinek’s foot-soldiers behind, weaving in single-file columns among the trees. If she had not despised them, Lilias would have been impressed at the woodcraft of the Borderguardsmen. Plains-bred they might be, but they were at ease in the forest. The Ellylon, of course, were at home anywhere; Haomane’s Children, Shaped to rule over all Lesser Shapers. Although they acknowledged him as kin-in-waiting and King of the West, even Aracus Altorus treated them with a certain respect. Always, there was an otherness to their presence. Grime that worked its way into the clothing and skin of Men seemed not to touch them. The shine on their armor never dimmed and an ever-willing breeze kept their pennants aloft, revealing the delicate devices wrought thereon. Under the command of Lorenlasse of Valmaré, the company of Rivenlost rode without tiring, sat light in the saddle, clad in shining armor, guiding their mounts with gentle touches and gazing about them with fiercely luminous eyes, as if assessing the world of Urulat and finding it lacking.

  In some ways, she despised them most of all.

  And it was an Ellyl, of course, who spotted the scout.

  “Anlaith cysgoddyn!” It was like an Ellylon curse, only sung, in his musical voice. He stood in the stirrups, one finely shaped hand outflung, pointing. “Were!”

  She saw; they all did. A grey, slinking figure, ears flattened to its head, ducking behind a thick pine trunk. Once sighted, it moved in a blur, dropping low to the earth, fleeing in swift, leaping bounds. Patches of sunlight dappled the fur on its gaunt flanks as it lunged for deeper shadow.

  Aracus Altorus gave a single, terse order. “Shoot it!”

  “Wait!” Lilias cried out in instinctive protest, too lat
e.

  A half dozen bowstrings twanged in chorus. Most were Ellylon; one was not. Oronin’s Bow sounded a deep, anguished note, belling like a beast at bay. This time, it shot true against its maker’s Children. The same fierce light that suffused the eyes of the Rivenlost lit the Archer’s face as she turned sideways in the saddle, following her arrow’s flight with her gaze. Its path ended in a howl of pain, cut short in a whimper. The underbrush rustled where its victim writhed.

  “Blaise,”Aracus said implacably. “See what we have caught.”

  “Stay here,” Blaise muttered to Lilias, relinquishing the reins of her mount and dismounting in haste.

  Since there was nowhere to go, she did. With a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, she watched as he beckoned to other Borderguardsmen, as their dun cloaks faded into the underbrush. And, sitting in the saddle, she watched as they tracked down their prey and brought him back.

  He was slung between them like a hunter’s quarry, a Borderguardsman attached to each outspread limb. It was a pathetic sight, a Were stripped of all his shifting glamour. The haft of a yellow-fletched arrow protruded from the right side of his narrow, hairy breast. His chest heaved with each shallow breath, the wound burbling. Where they passed, crimson droplets of blood clung to the pineneedles.

  “Phraotes!” Lilias whispered.

  The one-time Were ambassador was panting. He hung in his captors’ grip, jaws agape. His amber eyes, meeting hers, rolled. There were foam and blood on his muzzle. “Sorceress,” he gasped. “It seems, perhaps, I should not have fled.”

  Aracus Altorus raised his eyebrows. “You know this creature?”

  “Yes.” A tide of anger rose in her. “Yes!” she spat. “I know him, and I know he has done you no harm! He is the Grey Dam’s ambassador to Beshtanag, O King of the West, and he brought to me the news that his folk would do nothing to oppose your passage. Nothing.” Lilias drew a breath. “What harm has he done you now, that you would slay him out of hand? Nothing!”

  “Lilias,” Blaise said. One of four, he maintained a cruel grip on Phraotes’ right foreleg, keeping the Were’s hairy limbs stretched taut. “Enough.”

  “What?” she asked sharply. “No, I will speak! For a thousand years the Were dwelled in Beshtanag in peace. What do I care for your old quarrels?” She stared at the faces of her captors, one by one. “What did he care? Is there to be no end to it?” Against her will, her voice broke. “Will Haomane order you to slay everything that lives and does not obey his command?”

  For a moment, they stared back at her. The Ellylon were expressionless. Blaise’s face was grim. Fianna, the Archer of Arduan, turned away with a choked sound. Aracus Altorus sighed, rumpling his red-gold hair. “Sorceress—” he began.

  “We were attacked,” a soft voice interjected; an Ellyl voice. It was Peldras, of Malthus’ Company, who alone among his kind traveled in worn attire. He gazed at her with deep sorrow. “I am sorry, Lady of Beshtanag, but it is so. Blaise and Fianna will attest to it. On the outskirts of Pelmar, in deepest night, the Were fell upon us. Thus was Malthus lost, and the Bearer, fleeing into the Ways of the Marasoumië. Thus did one of our number fall, giving his life so that we might flee.”

  “Hobard of Malumdoorn,” Blaise murmured. “Let his name not be forgotten.”

  “Even so.” Peldras bowed his head.

  “Phraotes?” Lilias asked in a small voice. “Is it true?”

  “What is truth?” The Were bared his bloodstained teeth. “A long time ago, we made a choice. Perhaps it was a bad one. This time, we were forced into a bad bargain. Yet, what else was offered us? Perhaps you made a bad bargain. I am only an ambassador. I would be one to this Son of Altorus did he will it.”

  Aracus frowned. “Do you gainsay the testimony of my comrades? Your people attacked Malthus’ Company under cover of night, unprovoked. A valiant companion was slain, the wisest of our counselors was lost, the greatest of our hopes has vanished. You have shown no honor here, no remorse. Why should I hear your suit?”

  “Why not?” The Were’s head lolled, eyes rolling to fix his gaze on him. “It was a favor extracted by threat, nothing more. We failed; it is finished. We did not make war upon you in Beshtanag, Arahila’s Child. The Grey Dam fears the wrath of Satoris Third-Born, but Haomane’s is more dire. We seek only to be exempted from the Shapers’ War. Yea, I feared to approach in good faith, and I have paid a price for it. Will you not listen before it is paid in full?”

  Angry voices rose in reply; in the saddle, Aracus Altorus held up one hand. “Set him down.” He waited while Blaise and the others obeyed. Phraotes curled into a tight ball and lay panting on the pine mast. His ears were flat against his skull and the shaft of the arrow jerked with each breath, slow blood trickling down his grey fur, but his visible eye was watchful. The Were did not die easily. Aracus gazed down at him, his expression somber. “There remain many scores between us, not the least of which is Lindanen Dale. And yet you say you are an ambassador. What terms do you offer, Oronin’s Child?”

  With a sound that was half laugh, Phraotes coughed blood. His muzzle scraped the loam. “The Grey Dam is dead; the Grey Dam lives. Though she carries her memories, the Grey Dam Vashuka is not the Grey Dam Sorash.” One amber eye squinted through his pain. “What terms would you accept, King of the West?”

  “Son of Altorus!” There was a stir in the ranks, and the gilded bee of Valmaré fluttered on its pennant as Lorenlasse rode forward, glittering in his armor, to place a peremptory hand on Aracus’ arm. “Dergail the Wise Counselor died through the treachery of Oronin’s Children,” he hissed, “and Cerion the Navigator was lost! The Lady Cerelinde would be your bride if they were not faithless. You may forget, but we remember. Will you treat with them and be a fool?”

  Plain steel sang as Blaise Caveros unsheathed his sword. “Unhand him.”

  Finely chiseled Ellyl nostrils flared. “What manner of villain do you take me for, traitor-kin?” Lorenlasse asked in contempt. “Our way is not yours. We do not slay out of misguided passion.”

  “Enough!” Aracus raised his voice. “Blaise, put up your sword. My lord Lorenlasse, abide.” He sighed again and rubbed his temples, aching beneath the Soumanië’s weight. “Would that Malthus was here,” he muttered. “Sorceress!”

  Lilias glanced up, startled. “My lord Altorus?”

  “Advise me.” He brought his mount alongside hers and looked hard at her. “You know them; you have made pacts with them, and lived. I do not forget anything, but I have erred once in mistaking my true enemy, and innocent folk have died. I do not wish to err twice. Are the Were my enemy?”

  “No.” She shook her head. “They wish only to be let alone.”

  “Whence Lindanen Dale?”

  He was close, too close. Their horses’ flanks were brushing. His presence crowded her, yet there was no room to shrink away on the narrow path. Lilias swallowed. “It was your kinsmen slew her cubs. Do you not remember?”

  “I was not born.” His face was implacable.

  “Faranol,” Phraotes rasped. “Prince Faranol.”

  “Yes.” Lilias drew a shallow breath, wishing Aracus would give her space to draw a deeper one. He was close enough that she could smell him, the tang of metal and the sharp odor of human sweat. This urgency, the exigencies of mortal flesh, pressed too close, reminded her too keenly of the limits that circumscribed her win existence, of her own aching, aging body. “Faranol of Altoria slew the offspring of the Grey Dam Sorash. A hunting party in Pelmar. Surely you must know.”

  “Yes.” Because he did not need to, he did not say that Faranol was a hero to the House of Altorus. “I know the story.”

  “Hence, Lindanen Dale,” she said simply.

  “So.” Aracus’ fingertips pressed his temples. “It is a cycle of vengeance, and I am caught up in it by accident of birth.” With a final sigh he dropped his hands and cast his gaze upon the Were. “You are dying, Oronin’s Child. What power have you to make treaties? Why should I believe y
ou?”

  Lying curled upon the ground, Phraotes bared his bloody teeth. “We have walked between life and death since the Glad Hunter Shaped us, blowing his horn all the while. Death walked in his train as it does in yours. We are a pack, son of Altorus, and our Shaper’s Gift lies in those dark corridors. Though Oronin’s Horn now blows for me, the Grey Dam hears me; I speak with her voice. Ushahin-who-walks-between-dusk-and-dawn is banned from our company. The fetters of old oaths are broken, we are despised in Urulat, and Oronin has raised his hand against us this day. New oaths may be made and honored. What will you, King of the West?”

  “Sorceress?”

  His eyes were wide, demanding. Demanding, and trusting. For the first time, Lilias understood why they had followed him; Man and Ellyl alike. The knowledge made her inexplicably weary. “For so long as the Grey Dam Vashuka endures,” she said, speaking true words to him, “the Were will abide by what bargain you strike. I have no other counsel.”

  “It is enough.” He nodded. “Thank you.”

  Something in her heart stirred at his thanks. The mere fact of it made bile rise in her throat. Lilias looked away, not watching as Aracus left her side. He dismounted, walking away a small distance. Others followed, raising voices in argument: gilded Ellylon voices, the deeper tones of the Borderguard, the pleading voice of the woman Archer. Lilias glanced across the backs of milling, riderless horses. Aracus listened to the arguments without speaking, his broad shoulders set, his head bowed under the useless weight of the Soumanië. She wondered if they would regret having sworn their fealty to him this day. There was a twisted satisfaction in the thought.

  “He’ll do it, you know.”

  Glancing down, she saw Blaise standing beside her mount, gathering its reins in his capable hands. “Do what?”