Return to Canifis

white hair and a long gaunt face. His thick sideburns ran to his chin, and when he opened his mouth the wizard noted his teeth were pointed.

He is one of them, a werewolf, I think. Or is he a vampire?

“Georgi will guide you. He is a werewolf, and he has been appointed to be my valet. Follow him, and you cannot go wrong.”

Gar’rth shook the jester’s hand, and then turned to face them all.

“I have given you each a gift, also. Theodore is now a rich man, as are you all now. Castimir, I have included Ebenezer’s spyglass in your belt pouch. I know he would like it back. The contents of Albertus’s saddlebags are in my possession, however-they are too heavy for you to carry back.”

Gar’rth stepped toward the door and gestured.

“Georgi, lead them to the Barrows beyond the city’s walls. Vanstrom and Doric will be there to meet you, if you hurry.” He turned to Castimir and gave a knowing smile. “And Arisha waits with them. So don’t delay!”

“Come, we cannot be upon the Barrows when it gets dark,” Georgi muttered as he turned in the doorway and led them on. “Not even us. Come on!”

Castimir turned back one last time as they rounded a corner in the corridor. He stared through the double doors to see Gar’rth, standing alone, looking after them. Then the shadows closed in upon him, hiding him from view, and the doors were slammed shut by some unseen force.

May the gods watch over you, my friend.

“She is waking. Be careful, Theodore, mind her head on the stone.”

Kara heard Castimir’s voice as Theodore grunted. She felt a cold wind blow on her face, and then hard stone under her feet and against her back.

“Where are we?” she murmured.

I am exhausted. My arms and legs feel empty.

“We are leaving Castle Drakan, Kara,” Gideon’s voice explained. “Gar’rth negotiated our release, and we are hastening to meet Lord Despaard.”

Kara opened her eyes. Her back was to a stone parapet, her head below the merlon. Looking down she saw a dark courtyard with roofed buildings cramped together. As the wind changed, she wrinkled her nose in disgust at the smell that wafted upward.

Poverty and despair. The smell of hopelessness.

“Gideon? Then you and Albertus are safe?”

“We are, Kara,” the jester confirmed. “Though Albertus is barely conscious, and his mind is fragile.”

Kara looked at Albertus. The old man was still, asleep on his litter, his face too pale.

“Where is Gar’rth?” she asked, a dread cold gripping her stomach. Whoever sent Jerrod after him isn’t going to let him walk away again.

But I might be wrong…

Their silence indicated otherwise.

“Where is he?” she asked again. To her, her own voice sounded brittle. “Just tell me.”

“I am sorry, Kara,” Theodore said. “The condition of our release-and of our lives-was that he remain behind. He made his choice, and there was nothing any of us could do to change that.”

“Why didn’t he speak to me before we left?” she demanded. “Why couldn’t you wake me?”

Theodore and Castimir shared a glance.

“Tell me!” she snapped angrily.

“He woke me first, Kara,” the knight said. “It was a magical sleep over which he seemed to have some command. We buried our differences and parted on good terms. He said he wouldn’t wake you, for fear of being unable to part with you if you protested.”

“Nothing more?”

I know you haven’t told me everything, Theodore. You are a hopeless liar.

“Nothing more, Kara,” he said. She didn’t entirely believe him, but Theodore didn’t offer to elabourate.

“We cannot wait for long,” a harsh voice muttered.

“We will be here a moment only, Georgi,” Theodore said. “I just want to see what they are building.” A brief silence, then he said. “Castimir, you have Ebenezer’s spyglass?”

To her right she saw the wizard fumble in his belt pouch and pass the golden cylinder to the knight.

“What do you see Theodore?” Castimir said after a minute.

“They are building something of wood. A great ribbed structure, not unlike a ship’s mast. It’s a bridge of sorts.”

Kara peered in that direction for the first time. Three huge contraptions were arrayed in various stages of completion. They looked like wheeled carts, each wide enough for twenty men to walk abreast, each over a hundred yards in length. Toward the front of each, level and on opposing edges, were two tall wooden triangles. From the top of those descended thick chains.

“I think he’s right,” Gideon whispered.

“I think the idea would be to line the contraption up in front of a ravine, and then use beasts or men to pull on the chains,” Theodore said. “This looks to winch up the upper layer, and once it is winched high enough, they can lower it or drop it across the gap.”

The knight turned away from the embrasure and put his hands flat together. He held them horizontally.

“This is the contraption as it is now,” he said, “more or less, without the wooden triangles. Now, when they force the winches up, the upper level folds over.” He raised his left hand slightly, still joined to his right at the palm but now with an inch wide gap between the tips of his fingers. “Then it is simply a matter of pulling further to raise the bridge to its apex and then letting it fall to the other side.”

“But why would this Black Prince need bridges? What ravine has he to cross?” Gideon asked.

“Not a ravine, Gideon,” Kara offered with a grim certainty. “A river. The Salve.”

“But that’s impossible,” Gleeman responded. “The barrier-”

“Come on!” Georgi shouted again. “We need to move. We haven’t long till nightfall and no sane man would walk the Barrows then. Even the Vyrewatch avoid it.”

“Gar’rth gave us his word we would not be detained,” Theodore said in reply.

Georgi shook his head. “His word is worth less than nothing in the Barrows, for no power controls them!”

Kara felt chilled at their guide’s words.

They moved quickly after that, across stone bridges and down stairwells as the daylight faded. Finally, when the last burning embers lit the western horizon, Georgi halted.

“We are here,” he said. “This is as far as I go. There is still time, if you hurry. Head west, between the Barrows, but do not delay, and do not stop-no matter what you see do not stop.”

Then he was gone, back the way they had come.

A shadow moved from the west, a man running. As he saw them he gave a cry, and Theodore drew his sword while Castimir readied his runes.

“It’s Vanstrom!” Kara hissed. “The man in the cage.”

And if he’s alive then perhaps Pia and Jack are too?

The man ran up and stopped. He spoke with a fearful agitation.

“Come,” he said. “We must go. Right now. This place isn’t safe after dark.”

“Wait, Vanstrom. What of Pia and Ja-”

“They are safe, Kara-Meir. But we cannot linger here. Come on!”

Now Theodore took Castimir’s place with Albertus, and the wizard jogged alongside Kara, gripping some runes in one hand. The knight questioned their new guide.

“What is this place?” he asked. On both sides, small mounds surrounded them. Ill-coloured grass covered the hillocks, growing long and twisted, as if poisoned from below the earth. For a reason she couldn’t explain, Kara felt trapped.

“It is the Barrows,” Vanstrom hissed, as if that explained everything. Even though she ran, she felt the warmth seep from her limbs into the ground.

“This is unnatural,” Theodore said behind her. “No matter how hard I run, I grow colder.”

“We must go faster,” Vanstrom said urgently. “It is not far now.”