“Yes.”
“He did the same for me when I asked him. You think they really can rip a man’s hearts out with their bare hands?”
“I’ve known Old Ones who could do a lot worse.”
“Let’s hope they are not visiting their kinfolk down there then.”
Brandon tugged the reins and the big warhorse moved on. Kormak followed him down the slope and into Elderdale. He was going to have to pay that Keep a visit.
The chill wind could not take away the stink of the sewer trenches. There were plenty of people about in the muddy streets. Hungry eyed men watched them pass. One or two shouted a greeting to Lucas that he returned with a wave of his hand. They looked only slightly less likely to put a knife in his back than the others, and Kormak guessed that counted for friendship in this place.
A few shopkeepers shouted to the Tinkers from their storefronts, asking what they had brought, seeking news from the south. Javier answered amiably. Aisha kept out of sight. Not a few people studied the wolf trotting behind the wagon uneasily.
Kormak studied the buildings as they passed. Most of them were made from rocks piled on rock in the old drystane fashion. The gaps in the stonework were padded with mud or grass. Some of the roofs were turf. Most of the buildings had little verandahs or causeways made of stone outside them. It was an oddly civilised touch. Folks clearly wanted some sort of barrier between their homes and businesses and the mud in the street.
They passed a house on whose verandah a group of scantily clad women lounged. They waved at Kormak and Brandon and greeted Lucas by name. He smiled back at them and said he might be over that evening. They told him to bring his friends.
Eventually, they drew up in front of a large stone building with a clear view of the Keep. Two beautiful inhuman figures were painted on its sign, smiling benevolently down at the viewer. Two less beautiful and much harder looking men with clubs stood by the door. They too greeted Lucas by name and ushered him into the shadowy interior.
Inside the air smelled of cheap liquor and tobacco and dreamdust. A very dark-skinned man stood behind the bar, chatting with a man big enough to make Brandon or Kormak look small. At first glance he seemed more ogre than human, and when he turned to stare at them, the impression was reinforced. He had only one eye. The other had been scooped out. His face was scarred and his nose was broken and his ears had been cropped. He raised a hand that might have enclosed Kormak’s head in greeting. Lucas responded with no great enthusiasm.
“What can I get you gentlemen?” the dark man asked.
“We’d like meal, Shade, and rooms for the night,” said Lucas.
“Separate or altogether?”
“Me and these two men will sleep together. The Tinkers will have their own room. The wagon will be parked in the courtyard.”
“Just like usual,” said Shade. “Take the rooms at the top of the stair. You can stow your gear there. No one will trouble you. And the grooms will look after your horses.”
“Your grooms know anything about warhorses?” Brandon asked.
“Don’t reckon they do,” Shade replied. “You want to see to it yourself.”
“Might be best. Might be best if he’s kept apart from the other horses as well.”
“As you say,” said Shade. “I’ll make sure they know that.”
Brandon went off to see to his steed. The Tinkers stowed their wagon, leaving Kormak and Lucas at the bar with Shade and his giant friend. The dark man looked at Kormak.
“You a Guardian?” he asked. “I always heard they carry their swords that way.”
“I am,” said Kormak.
“I hope you’ve not come looking for the Twins,” he said. “Your life is likely to be very short if you have.”
Kormak shrugged. “I am not looking for them. I am looking for someone else.”
Shade tilted his head to one side. Something in the way he did it reminded Kormak of Shae. It was a very wolfish gesture. He was clearly trying to work out how he could profit by the situation.
“The man I am looking for has been opening barrows,” Kormak said. “Tomb wights have been getting out.”
“Nothing’s come out of the Cursed Lands recently,” said Shade.
“He was doing it south of here, not north. Hungerdale was attacked among other places.”
Shade licked his lips. He took down a flask from the shelf and poured a drink for himself and Kormak and Lucas. He drank first. “That’s not a good business. Why would anybody want to do that?”
“Who knows why sorcerers do anything?”
“Your man is a mage then and he’s up to dark things? He won’t be the first to come through these parts. Place attracts them. Most go north into the Cursed Lands. Most never come back. The wights get them, I reckon. That’s what happens when you tamper with barrows up there.”
“If a sorcerer was sufficiently powerful, he could go into a barrow and a wight could not touch him.”
“You would know more about that than me, Guardian.”
“You heard anything about such a one passing through? He’d only be a few days ahead of us.”
“As a matter of fact, I have,” said Shade. “He was up in the Keep with the Twins.”
“Maybe I should go up and ask them why…”
Shade smiled. His teeth were very white and they reminded Kormak of fangs. “None of my business what you do as long as you can pay your score.”
The room would have been small for one person. It was cramped for all three men and their gear.
Brandon looked at it, sniffed, and said, “We could have got a room each.”
“Be a lot more money,” said Lucas, “and you might not like what happened to you here if you got a room on your own.”
Brandon nodded. “A lot easier to rob a man on his own.”
“Or cut his throat,” Lucas said. “And make the body vanish.”
“I take your point.” Brandon walked over to the door. It had a bar that fell into a latch but it would be easy enough to slide a knife through and lift it. Kormak walked over to the window. It had no glass, only shutters that opened inwards with iron bars outside. He wondered whether that was to keep someone out or keep the guests in. Had there not been Old Ones in town he would have suspected the latter first and foremost. As it was he reckoned it was a toss-up between the two possibilities.
He could see the Keep on the rock from here if he looked up. He studied the stone, trying to see if there was any easy way to climb up it. He wondered if it would really come to that. He hoped not. He suspected that the lair of the Twins would be better protected than it appeared. The Old Ones were masters of potent magic. It was in their nature. They used it as naturally as men used their hands and feet.
As he watched, he saw the massive figure of Shade’s cyclopean henchman walking up the roadway towards the entrance of the Keep. He strongly suspected that he was bringing word of the new arrivals.
He settled down. They would be having visitors soon enough, he reckoned.
The loud banging on the door stopped only when Kormak opened it. Shade stood there along with his giant friend and a smaller man in the livery of a noble’s servant. Behind him, he heard Brandon and Lucas move. They had their weapons close at hand.
“What do you want?” Kormak asked. Shade stared at him and his giant companion seemed ready for violence. What was going on here, Kormak wondered.
“I have come from the Keep, Sir Kormak,” said the servant. “You are invited to present yourself to my master and mistress.”
“When?” Kormak asked.
“This evening if it pleases you, milord. They are most anxious to meet you. They would have you dine with them.”
“I will be there.” Kormak said. The servant bowed and went off down the stair. The tension seemed to go out of Shade and his bodyguard. Kormak stared at them and they looked right back at him.
“The Twins are not refused,” Shade said, as if in answer to a question Kormak had not asked. “Not in Elderdal
e anyway.”
“You came with him to explain that to me, did you?” Kormak said.
“We did, Guardian. We did.”
“I’d never figured you for anyone’s lackey,” Kormak said to Shade. The dark man just smiled. It was a menacing smile.
“We all end up doing things we never thought we would,” he said. “Here in particular. As you may well find out.”
“You’re not really going to go up there on your own are you?” Brandon asked. He took another sip of the mountain whisky and looked at the rest of the tavern’s clientele. They were just starting to wake up or filter in. They were rough looking men with knives on their belt, and stubble on their jaws. Miners in on a spree or those who made their living preying on them in one way or another.
“Why not?” Kormak said. “This is their town and things might go badly for us if I refuse.”
“Don’t tell me you are scared?” Brandon asked. He sounded as if he hoped Kormak would say yes.
“Let’s just say I think a certain wariness is in order,” Kormak said. He took a sip of the whisky himself. It burned going down but it warmed him.
Some girls had joined the miners at the other table now. One or two of them were throwing glances his way. Some of the men with them had noticed. There was the possibility for trouble of another sort here if he was not careful.
“And still you’re going up there?” Lucas said. “Impressive. Stupid. But impressive.”
“If anyone here knows what we need to know, they do,” Kormak said. “And I will find out if they have been up to anything.”
“You think they are the ones you are looking for?” Lucas asked.
“An Old One was flying over the village the night Hungerdale was attacked. I’d say it’s possible they were involved one way or another…”
“You think the sorcerer Shade mentioned visiting them is the same sorcerer you’re chasing?”
“Yes.”
“It would be an odd coincidence if there were two mages on the loose up here, wouldn’t it?” said Brandon.
“What would he want with the Twins?” Lucas asked.
“That’s what I hope to find out,” said Kormak.
“They say wizards make pacts with the Old Ones.”
“They do,” Kormak said. “Sometimes they bind them as well. There are spells that can be used to do so.”
“That why he is going to see them?”
“He’s a mage and a powerful one. He is probably confident in his ability to deal with them.”
“If he can deal with the Twins, he can probably deal with you too,” Lucas said.
Kormak shrugged. “I’ve met a lot of magicians. I am still here.”
Lucas laughed. “What the hell is this southerner after anyway? It can’t be anything too good if he wants to talk with the Twins about it.”
“We’ll know soon enough,” said Kormak. At least, he hoped they would.
CHAPTER TEN
THE RAIN DROVE down as Kormak walked up the winding path to the Keep. The road was narrow and followed a ridge-line. No more than a couple of people could walk it abreast. A horseman would need very strong nerves. One misstep would send rider and steed toppling down the long, rocky slope into the town below, most likely with a broken neck for both.
Small rivers of rainwater ran down between the stones. Kormak’s boots squelched as he walked. Up ahead, he could see a light over the gate. It was not made by any torch or lantern. Not in this weather. There was definitely magic involved in that yellowish-green flicker of illumination.
Overhead something winged moved in the drizzling darkness. It seemed like a bird but its outline was vague in the rain and the mist. It was larger than any bird Kormak had ever seen, body as big as a man, wingspan gigantic.
He reached the gate. He was about to reach out and ring the bell hanging there but it opened. The servant he had met in the inn waited, cowled against the weather. He bowed and gestured for Kormak to step within. They crossed a rain-slick courtyard, splashing through puddles, then entered the Keep proper. It was warm inside and dry and, in spite of himself, Kormak was glad to get out of the rain.
The Keep was eerily silent. Normally in a place this size there would have been numerous servants and retainers. Here there was only this one silent man, a shadow slipping along among shadows. Kormak was reminded of the barrows the tomb wights had inhabited. This place had something of the same inhuman atmosphere despite the warmth.
The servant stood aside with a bow. Kormak passed him, stepping to one side; his back was against the wall so he was in no easy position to have a dagger put in it. He did not expect violence but it never hurt to be careful.
The room was empty but there was a table covered in platters full of bread and cheese and meats. There were places set for three. Over each was a chandelier which glowed with a steady unwavering light. Whatever those chandeliers held, it was not candles or a lantern of any sort. There was no fire but the place was warm anyway.
Around the walls were many tapestries. All of them had the sheen of the work of the Old Ones, too delicate to have been woven by human hand. They depicted scenes of strange rites in dark woods, the hunting of beasts that many would have considered mythical, and landscapes that had been seen by no human eye. It was not that they depicted another world, Kormak thought. They might have been the local lands seen with senses other than human, filtered through a sensibility that was alien indeed.
In one corner was a suit of armour forged from a silvery black metal that Kormak was certain was not iron. It had been made for someone both taller and slimmer than a human. In its gauntlet hands was a long blade, lighter and much more fragile-looking than anything a man would carry. The weapon looked like it would break in the first passage of blows with a normal sword. Kormak knew that such was not the case.
The servant entered the room and moved forward in a crouch that now seemed somehow less than human. He bowed and indicated a chair.
“The Master has just risen, and will be down at his leisure. He takes some time to waken fully after he has rested. The Mistress wished to change into something more suitable for greeting you. Please be seated while you wait.”
Was there a hint of mockery in the servant’s voice? There certainly seemed to be in the emphasis he placed on the word change. Kormak thought of the bird-like form he had seen soaring above him. He wondered too at the way he was being made to wait. In a human lord, not being there to greet an invited guest would have been an unconscionable rudeness but he knew that the Old Ones did not think as men did about such things. They had a different sense of the flow and value of time.
There was laughter like the tinkling of silver bells. Kormak looked up and beautiful pale-skinned woman stood in the door. She had the fey loveliness of the Old Ones. One of his hosts had arrived.
Kormak rose and bowed formally as he had been taught a lot time ago in the monastery at Mount Aethelas. The Old One responded with a gracious nod of her head. She walked slowly into the room. The dress she wore caught the light and shimmered. Its colour seemed to change as she moved but it hugged her form tightly. She was breathtakingly beautiful in a willowy way. Her face was triangular with high cheekbones and enormous eyes. Her hair was dark and lustrous.
“I give you greetings, Guardian of the Dawn,” she said. She tilted her head to one side and studied him with a look that was frankly appraising.
“I give you greetings, Child of the Moon,” Kormak replied. She gestured for him to be seated and took a seat herself. Somehow the servant was there to put it into place behind her.
“My brother will be here shortly,” she said. “It is his unfortunate habit to rise later and later these days. In the meantime I shall do my best to keep you amused. I am Tarina.”
“I am Kormak.”
“I know that name. You are quite famous among my kindred, Sir Kormak.”
“That could mean many things, not all of them flattering.”
“Please, let us not be tiresome. Y
ou are known for many reasons. Your skill with that rather fearsome blade. Your heroism in your war with the orcs. Your connection with the Prince of Dragons.”
“That is a very tactful way of putting it.”
“He is one of whom the Moonsingers chant. They think you will be his masterpiece.”
“You think that what he does is a form of art? It’s an interesting way to look at murder and the breaking of the Law.”
“He was once a mighty chieftain of the Eldrim,” Tarina said. “He hates your people for all they have done to ours.”
“There are causes for hatred on both sides. He has given many.”
“You of all people have reason to feel that, I know. But he was not always thus. Once he was the brightest and fairest of all those who walked in Our Lady’s light. He was known for his kindness and good humour and his charity. Then the Solari came and brought war and fear and death to the lands we ruled.”
“All of those things existed for the Old Ones before the coming of Lightbringers.”
“That is truth. But the Solari were the first humans to truly oppose us. For some of us, it was…refreshing. For others it was a tragedy. It was such for the Prince of Dragons. His kindred were all slain by your knights and priests. His children put to death by your inquisitors. His groves were all burned so that one of your Lords could take his land. He swore a mighty oath that he would have vengeance and the Shadow heard him. It gave him power. It made him terrible. Since then he has fought his war with your kind.”
“An interesting definition of war, to slay innocent villagers and leave one child alive.”
“He is twisted. It is true. It seems Fate has played the joke on him now. It is often the way. If you live long enough, you always see it. Our Lady loves irony.”
“Joke?”
“He spared you. You have become a Guardian, possibly the most dangerous in a millennium. If he kills you, it will be war unto the death with your Order, and they are merciless and implacable. They will not stop until he is dead.”