‘I smelled cooked meat…’ the lean Wickan continued.
‘I only smell your foul breath,’ Tolat said.
The Adjunct raised a hand. ‘Save it. Rest. I’ll take first watch.’
Suth could barely hold himself erect; he lay down immediately, wondering what this Adjunct was made of to have run him into the ground — and then stand watch!
He was nudged awake what seemed the next instant. It was still dark, though close to dawn. Everyone was tense; Tolat was readying her bow while keeping the weapon down amid the grass. ‘Something’s up,’ she breathed. Suth did not move because he immediately saw the Adjunct standing at the edge of the field.
‘What is it?’
‘Don’t know. He just woke us, walked off.’ She continued readying her gear. ‘It’s like he’s listening.’
Squinting, he saw how the man clutched his blade, head cocked, before he came jogging back.
‘I shouldn’t have come. I’ve attracted… attention. We have to go.’
‘What is it?’ Newhorse asked.
‘Just run.’
Suth set off as best he could but he hadn’t recovered from yesterday’s exertions. None of them had; their pace was much reduced. Only the Adjunct seemed unaffected. He often ran ahead, scanning the hillsides while the day brightened around them. A few farmers and herdsmen worked the fields. All fled when they caught sight of them. It appeared that some sort of evacuation had been imposed upon the population, but not all had complied.
Then Suth caught sight of shapes shadowing them through the fields: low, loping. Hounds. A great pack of beasts. Even as Suth saw them the Adjunct shouted, pointing to an outcrop of rock. They swerved, making for it. Charging the formation, the five set their backs to the thrusting rock face. The hounds burst from the fields all about them, closing. They came snarling, and Suth saw how foam lathered their mouths, their eyes rolling, white all round.
‘Rabid!’ he yelled, certain.
‘Ancients take them!’ Tolat answered and she snapped out her bedroll, wrapping it round an arm.
Suth had no time; he’d lost the chance to follow suit. He and the Wickans drew their long-knives. The Adjunct unwrapped his bright curved blade. The animals leapt upon them. Suth used his blades to parry slashing claws. Loi went down almost right away, missing a lunge and falling screaming. The hounds closed over him at once and his cries were cut off instantly. They flinched in, closing upon each other, pressed their backs to the cliff wall. Tolat chanted some sort of war song as she stabbed, rammed her blanketed arm into open maws. Newhorse stabbed as well, using the point to force the hounds away. Suth followed suit. The Adjunct waded in using the tulwar blade one-handed, a long-knife in the other, taking the fight to the hounds. They lunged but he met them full-on, severing heads, limbs, torsos. Two clamped their teeth into him, an arm and a leg; he swung the gleaming tulwar to sever their heads.
Then the animals suddenly ran, yelping, skittering and falling in their desperation to flee. The four stood still, listening, only their harsh breaths sounding in the night. Suth felt his limbs quivering their anticipation… some thing was coming. They could all feel it.
Argent flame burst to life in a pillar of roaring, blinding, coruscating power. Suth flinched away. He covered his eyes with an arm, squinting. He could just make out a shape within the searing brilliance, a woman’s outline.
The Adjunct struck a ready stance, weapons raised.
‘Greetings, Outlander,’ a woman’s voice whispered, jarringly sweet in tone, yet coiling with venom. ‘The stink of that sorceress bitch is upon you. Where came you by this blade of yours? Was it a gift… from her?’
Suth could barely stand: the voice itself hammered at him like blows. It gnawed at his thoughts like acid.
The lashing flames drew closer yet the Adjunct did not retreat. ‘Who are you, man? What land are you from? There is a strangeness in your blood. I smell it. Perhaps… I should taste it…’ Suth shouted a useless warning as high above a lash of flames whipped up to come slashing down. The Adjunct did not wait for it. He rolled forward into the pillar, swinging his bright blade two-handed across the maelstrom.
A blast like an eruption of Moranth munitions blew Suth backwards off his feet. He rolled tumbling to strike the stones at the base of the outcrop and lay dazed.
Suth did not think he’d lost consciousness. He remembered staring at the overcast sky watching snowflakes come floating down to tangle in his eyelashes. He blinked his eyes, rubbed an ear where ringing deafened him. Groaning, he levered himself to his feet. Gods, that reminded him of the blasts that took the wall of Aamil. He staggered forward to find the Adjunct. He found Tolat with him, his head on her lap.
‘Is he alive?’ Suth asked, or thought he did; he couldn’t hear his own voice.
She shrugged, mouthed something.
‘We have to get out of here!’
She stared up at him, uncomprehending. He mimicked picking up the Adjunct and moving. She nodded, then pointed behind him. He turned, alarmed, but it was Newhorse limping up. Blood gleamed down his torn shirt. Suth motioned to the man’s wound; Newhorse pointed to Suth’s head. He touched gingerly at his numb temple and came away with a smear of blood. Damn stones!
The Adjunct’s scabbard was empty. Suth cast about and eventually found the blade lying amid burned stalks. It still smoked. Using a fold of leather, he picked it up and shoved it back into its scabbard. Had he killed this ‘Lady’ they were all going on about? Probably not.
He and Tolat carried the Adjunct while Newhorse scouted ahead as best he could. It took them a day and a night to reach the Ancy, and there they were defeated. They could not cross. All they could do was stay hidden and keep watch for any foraging or scouting parties on the far side of the river whose attention they could attract.
The Adjunct never really recovered. He babbled in a foreign tongue, sweated and shivered in some sort of fever. Eventually Tolat, who could at least claim to have swum before, argued she should go ahead for help. Suth and Newhorse agreed that was better than waiting to be seen. So before dawn Tolat waded out into the frigid Ancy and pushed off, disappearing from sight amid the chop and froth of the swift current. Suth collected some water and returned to the copse where they hid from any Roolian patrols.
*
It just so happened that Devaleth was up already when word reached her that one — one! — of the Adjunct’s party had finally returned. She went as swiftly as she could to the High Fist’s tent. Had it been an ambush by Roolian scouts? Had they been detected by the Moranth? Or was it this new mage she’d been sensing? Somehow the man could act without raising the Lady’s ire. All along something had bothered her about sending Kyle; the prospect had troubled her but she hadn’t spoken up during the meeting. Now she wondered.
A guard raised the opened flap and she saw the female scout, soaked to the bone, standing before the High Fist. Fist Rillish sat to one side, pale but intent.
‘By the gods, let the woman sit!’ Devaleth burst out before thinking.
‘I’d rather stand, thank you, High Mage,’ the woman managed, her voice a croak.
‘As you choose, Tolat,’ said Greymane. Aside, to an aide, he said, ‘You have that?’
‘Yes, sir. A copse a few hours north. They should see us.’
‘Only one squad should approach the river,’ Greymane warned. ‘We don’t want to attract any attention.’
‘Sir!’ gasped the scout Tolat, wavering on her feet.
‘Yes?’
‘That’s just what the Adjunct said, sir. Attracting attention… that he did… attract…’
Devaleth took the woman’s arm; she peered at her confused, her eyes glazed. Her weight shifted on to Devaleth, who grunted, suddenly having to support her. Two other aides took Tolat from the mage and carried her out.
‘Of course,’ breathed Rillish from his chair. ‘I should have seen it… that sword of his. It must have attracted the- Her attention.’
Greymane turned on the man. ‘So only now you think of that, Fist Rillish Jal Keth.’
‘Sir!’ Devaleth called out, dragging the High Fist’s attention from Rillish. ‘We all missed that. If anyone is to blame, it is me. I should have foreseen it.’
For the first time Devaleth felt the full force of the High Fist’s furious ice-blue gaze and she was shaken by
