The Night of the Swarm

stone arches. But that was not what concerned Hercol. There was a clearing before the structure where no trees grew, and beside the clearing was an abyss. It was the chasm, of course: perhaps two hundred feet wide, and far too deep for them to dream of seeing the bottom from where they stood. The aqueduct leaped over the chasm in a single span, with no arch to support it, and as it crossed it rose much more steeply than elsewhere along its length, joining the opposite cliff some fifty feet higher than it began. The Water Bridge. Clearly ancient, it might once have been beautifully carved. Now the knobby protrusions along its sides were blurred and indistinct: dragons or leopards, serpents or vines. At its foot, across the chasm, rose a crumbling tower. On the tower’s battlements sat a large, black bird.

Right at its centre the bridge was mortally cracked. The fissure stretched halfway across the water chute, and where it began whole stones had fallen away, leaving a gap some eight feet wide. Above the crack the chute was filled with rushing water to a depth of several feet, but nearly all the water passed out through it, gushing straight down into the gorge and fringed by immense beards of ice.

Thaulinin was correct: the structure was built for water, not people. But beneath the water chute there did, in fact, run a kind of footbridge, accessed by a staircase leading down from the edge of the cliff. Pazel felt ill at the very sight of that footbridge. It was about two feet wide and suspended between V-shaped struts that descended from the underside of the water chute. No rails ran between the struts. The water gushing through the crack poured right over the footbridge, and from that point all the way back to the travellers’ side of the chasm the narrow platform lay sheathed in ice.

Sudden movement along the opposite cliff. Pazel jumped: it was Dastu. The older youth had been sitting on a rock, so still that Pazel’s gaze had swept right past him. Now he walked slowly, idly along the edge of the chasm. Then he shot a glance at the bird.

The party fell back. The faces of the others were ashen. ‘Two watchers, Thaulinin,’ said one of the selk. ‘The eagle cocked its head at the human youth, just as the youth looked up at the eagle. They are in league.’

‘And surely not alone,’ said Valgrif. ‘What is the matter with that boy? I tell you I do not like how he behaves.’

‘You don’t know the half of it,’ said Neeps. ‘So that was an eagle? I’ve never heard of black ones.’

‘They have long been my family’s playthings,’ said Prince Olik. ‘They are hunters, bred for strength and endurance — and keenness of eye.’

‘Ramachni,’ said Pazel. ‘What if that mucking bird’s woken? What if it sees us and flies right to Macadra?’

‘Then your quest fails, and your world soon after,’ said Ramachni. He looked at Hercol and seemed about to say more, but something in the swordsman’s gaze made him save his breath. Hercol understood, and Pazel felt he did too. The bridge was held against them. Possibly by unseen enemies. At the very least by one that could flee and sound the alarm.

Realizing that they had to get out of sight at once, the party retreated to the nearest cistern, which was also filled with ice. The roof was partly collapsed, and to keep out of sight from the air they had to huddle in the shadows by the opposite wall.

‘Now,’ said Ensyl, ‘you must let the ixchel earn their keep. Valgrif might pass for a common wolf at other moments, but any creature seen approaching that chasm is sure to raise suspicions. Myett and I will not be seen, however. Let us go and watch the bridge awhile, and see what else we may discover.’

‘My lady,’ said Prince Olik, ‘those eagles spot creatures your size from a thousand feet.’

‘But not ixchel,’ said Myett. ‘We have been hiding from birds of prey as long as we have from humans, if not longer. Besides, the deadliest foe is the one whose face you never see. If that eagle takes to the air we will bury ourselves beneath the pine needles, or the snow. I was unforgivably careless when I let the eagle from Ularamyth catch me in its talons. That will not happen again.’

Hercol sighed. ‘We cannot go back, and we dare not go on before we learn just what we are up against. I do not like it, my ladies, but I think we must accept your offer. Go then, and take twice the care as ever you did in the streets of Etherhorde.’

‘Note everything you see, however trivial it appears,’ said Ramachni. ‘Above all, heed the fine instincts of your people. If they tell you to flee, do so at once, even if you think yourselves perfectly hidden. Some means of detection require neither eyes nor ears.’

‘We have no wish to die,’ said Ensyl. Then she looked at Myett and winced, as though regretting her choice of words. But Myett just smiled grimly. ‘No,’ she said, ‘not even I wish for death any longer. Let us go.’

They took a long look at the sky, and then darted back along the trail towards the chasm, moving like a pair of swift white spiders from one snowbank to the next.

This time Pazel found the waiting almost unbearable. He could not even pace: the ice was too slippery, and the cistern too small. An hour passed, possibly longer. Neda looked at him and tried to smile. Thasha’s eyes were distant, in that worrying way he knew.

Then suddenly Ensyl and Myett burst back into the cistern, and the news spilled out. ‘Hrathmogs!’ said Ensyl. ‘At least six of the creatures, maybe more. And three dlomic warriors with the Bali Adro sun and leopard upon their shields.’

‘Their leader is one of the dlomu,’ said Myett. ‘He wears a fell knife at his waist. It is a Plazic blade, like the one Vadu used against us on the Black Tongue. The dlomu and the hrathmogs came out of the rocks and spoke together, then slipped back out of sight.’

‘So it is an ambush,’ said Big Skip.

‘And a Plazic warrior in command,’ said Thaulinin grimly. ‘I should have known Macadra would send one of them. They are dying very quickly, and she no longer trusts them with command of her armies. Some have turned on her — on the Ravens, and even your family, Prince Olik — but the lesser blade-keepers she still controls, and uses for special tasks.’

‘Such as searching for Ularamyth,’ said one of his men.

Thaulinin nodded. ‘We must beware of that man. If he has come this far, then the blade has not yet crippled him. He may still be able to draw on its power.’

‘There are dogs with them,’ said Myett. ‘Great red animals that slavered and growled. Their jaws looked as powerful as those of horses, but full of canine teeth.’

‘Worse and worse,’ said Prince Olik. ‘Those are athymar eight-fangs, the same creatures that chased me west of Masalym.’

‘They are abominations,’ said Valgrif, his lip curling back with rage. ‘They were bred for killing and rending, and have no minds for anything but death.’

‘Is there more to tell?’ asked Lunja.

‘Yes,’ said Ensyl. ‘We think there is something inside the tower. The door faces away from the cliffs, so we could not see inside. But they all glance at it oddly, and approach the door with caution. And the black eagle is woken, or the cleverest bird I ever saw. It sat upon the battlements listening to their speech, as though it understood every word.’

‘And the boy?’ asked Ramachni.

‘Dastu is one of them — or that at least is what anyone would think, to see how they look at one another. He does not cringe before them, or show any special deference, although he keeps his distance from the dlomu with the Plazic knife. He is still there, and so is the eagle.’

Now the debate began in earnest. No one suggested turning back: that would be to abandon the Chathrand for ever, along with any hope of crossing the Ruling Sea. But how to go forward? Pazel thought of how they had charged Arunis in the Infernal Forest, armed mostly with sticks. That had been terrifying but comprehensible: the mage had been their only foe, and they had simply crossed the ground to him at a run. Now they were facing many foes — and the worst of them might be the bridge itself.

‘We have to fell that bird, right?’ said Mandric. ‘So why not start with a good spray of arrows?’

‘We would be hazarding the whole of the quest on those shafts,’ said Prince Olik. ‘and I do not like the odds, my good man. We would be shooting a great distance, at a small, swift target, and worst of all, through the blasting winds over that chasm. Still, I do not see a better choice.’

‘What of your powers, mage?’ said Cayer Vispek, his tone almost accusing. ‘You could kill the bird with a single charm, could you not?’

‘I might,’ said Ramachni, ‘and indeed I will try, if there is no other choice. But to kill with a word is no small