The Crippled God

The berserk rage is almost upon her. She is moments from killing me. By the Wolves, see what she is! ‘The Shield Anvil, sir, shall not question-’

‘I will bless us, Mortal Sword, in the name of a just cause. Make your cause just. I plead with you, before all these witnesses — before our brothers and sisters — make this cause just! ’

The sword scraped. The iron sank down, vanished into the scabbard. The fires in her eyes suddenly ebbed. ‘So we are divided,’ she said. ‘We are driven apart. The crisis I have feared is finally upon us. The Adjunct spoke of betrayal.’ Her cold eyes scanned the crowd. ‘My children, what has befallen us?’

Captain Ikarl, one of the last veterans among them, spoke. ‘Mortal Sword. Two sides of an argument can make the complicated seem simple, when it is anything but simple. A third voice can offer reason, and indeed wisdom. We must acclaim a Destriant. To bridge this divide, to mend this wound.’

She cocked her head. ‘Sir, do you voice the doubt of many? Do my brothers and sisters question my leadership?’

He shook his head, but there was no telling what that negation referred to. ‘Mortal Sword, we are sworn to the Wolves of Winter — but without a Destriant we cannot reach them. We are severed from our gods and so we suffer. Krughava, daughter of Nakalat, do you not see how we suffer?’

Shaken, her eyes bleak, she regarded Tanakalian once more. ‘Shield Anvil, do you counsel betrayal of the Adjunct Tavore?’

And so it is laid bare. At last, it is laid bare. He raised his voice, forcing himself to remain firm, calm, revealing no hint of triumph. ‘The Wolves howl in the name of war. Our worship was born in the snows of our homeland, in the winter’s cruel, icy breath. We came to honour and respect the beasts of the wild, the wolves who shared the mountain fastnesses, the dark forests, with our kind. Even as, in our early days, we hunted those very beasts. We understood them, or so we liked to believe-’

‘These words are unnecessary-’

‘No, Mortal Sword. They are necessary. They are, in fact, vital.’ He eyed the others — all had gathered now, a silent mass. Five thousand. Brothers, sisters all. You hear me. You will hear me. You must hear me. ‘We find ourselves divided, but this crisis has waited for us, and we must face it. A crisis created by the Mortal Sword’s vow to the Adjunct. We shall face it. Here. Now. Brothers, sisters, we have looked into the eyes of the beast — our chosen wildness — and in bold presumption, we proclaimed them our brothers, our sisters, our kin.’

Voices cried out — angry, harsh with denial. Tanakalian raised his hands, held them high until silence returned. ‘A presumption,’ he repeated. ‘We cannot know the mind of a wolf, no more than we can know the mind of a dog, or a dhenrabi of the north seas. Yet we took upon ourselves the most ancient of gods — the Lord and Lady of the frozen winter, of all the beasts, of the world’s wildness. We vowed ourselves to a House — a Hold — where we do not belong-’

The protests were louder this time, reluctant to die away. Tanakalian waited. ‘But war, ah, we knew that well. We understood it, in a manner no wolf of the forest could. Was this to be our cause, then? Were we to be the sword of the wilds, the defender of wolves and all the beasts of forest, sea, plain and mountain?’ He faced Krughava. ‘Mortal Sword?’

‘The earliest sentiments whispered of such things,’ she replied, ‘as we all know. And we have not gone astray, sir. We have not.’

‘We have, Mortal Sword, if we continue to follow the Adjunct, if we stand beside her in this war she seeks. At last, it is time for me to speak of Destriant Run’Thurvian’s final warning, uttered to me moments before his death, hard words, accusing words, even as he denied my embrace.’

The shock was palpable, like thunder so distant it was not heard, but felt. A tremble in the very bones. And all that comes, all that now rushes towards us …

Krughava’s eyes were wide and he could see her confusion. ‘Tanakalian — he refused you?’

‘He did. He never approved of me — but you could hardly have been unaware of that. He must have worked on you, I think, day and night, undermining your decision to make me the Shield Anvil. And when he died, his fears and doubts took root in you.’

The look she was giving him was one he’d never seen before.

Ikarl asked, ‘Shield Anvil, tell us of the Destriant’s warning.’

‘Betrayal. He said she would force us to betray our gods — I could not be certain of whom he spoke. The Adjunct?’ He faced Krughava. ‘Or our very own Mortal Sword? It was difficult, you see, for his dislike of me proved an obstacle. That, and the fact that he was dying before my very eyes.’

‘You speak truth,’ Krughava said, as if astonished.

‘Mortal Sword, do not think I do not love my brothers and sisters. Do not think I would stand here and lie. I am the Shield Anvil, and for all Run’Thurvian’s doubts — for all your doubts, Krughava — I hold to my duty. We are divided, yes. But what divides us is so fundamental that to put it into words could strike one as absurd. Upon the side of the Adjunct, we are offered a place among mortals, among humans — flawed, weak, uncertain in their cause. Upon the other side, our covenant of faith. The Wolves of Winter, the Wolves of War. The Lord and the Lady of the Beast Hold. And in this faith we choose to stand alongside the beasts. We avow our swords in the name of their freedom, their right to live, to share this and every other world. The question — so absurd — is this: are we to be human, or are we to be humanity’s slayers? And if the latter, then what will come of us should we win? Should we somehow lead a rebellion of the wilds, and so destroy every last human on this world? Must we then fall upon our own swords?’

He paused then, suddenly drained, and met Krughava’s eyes. ‘Run’Thurvian was right. There will be betrayal. In fact, in choosing one side, we cannot but betray the other. Mortal Sword, you set your sword down before the Adjunct. But long before that moment you pledged that selfsame weapon in the name of our gods. No matter how strong the sword’s forging,’ he said, ‘no weapon can long withstand contrary pressures. It weakens. It shatters. No weapon has ever bridged a divide, and once drawn, a sword can only cut. For all the virtues of iron, Mortal Sword, we are flesh and blood. What awaits us, Krughava? Which path shall you lead us upon? Shall it be to your personal glory, there at the Adjunct’s side? Or shall it be in the name of the gods we are sworn to serve?’

She reeled at his words, seemed unable to speak.

The virtue of iron, woman, is that when it strikes, it strikes true! He faced the crowd. ‘Sisters! Brothers of the Grey Helms! There are many gods of war — we have crossed half this world and we cannot deny the thousand faces — the thousand masks worn by that grim bringer of strife. We have seen mortals kneel before idols and statues — before the likeness of a boar, a striped tiger, or two wolves. We have heard the cries upon the battlefield.’ He paused and half smiled, as if remembering. ‘The field of battle, yes. By those beseeching cries alone, we might imagine that the greatest god of war is named Mother.’ He held up his hands again to stay his listeners. ‘I meant no disrespect, dear kin. I speak only to find what sets us apart — from all those other blood-soaked cults. What do they seek, there in violent battle, those savage faiths? Why, they seek death — the death of their enemies — and if death must come to themselves, then they pray it is a brave one, a glorious one.’

He strode past Krughava, was pleased to see her step aside, and faced Ikarl and the others: scores of faces, eyes fixed upon him now, eyes that slipped over the Mortal Sword as if she had ceased to exist. He could not believe the suddenness, the sheer immensity of this usurpation.

She was fatally weakened. There in the Adjunct’s command tent. She sought to show none of it, and hid it well indeed. Yet all I needed to do was prod, just once. And see what has happened.

Tavore, your denial broke Krughava, and Krughava was a woman for whom trust was everything. How could I have not heard the splintering of her spine? Right then and there? How could I not have understood the moment when she grasped the notion of strategy, of tactics, and made bold her renewed zeal? It was … desperate. No matter. ‘But we are not the same as the others. We are not simply one cult of war among many. It is not glory we seek — not in our name, at least. It is not even the death of our enemies that so gladdens us, filling our drunken nights with bravado. We are too sombre for such things. It is not in us to swagger and bluster. War, my brothers, my sisters, is the only weapon we have left.

‘To defend the wilds. I tell you, I would defy Run’Thurvian’s last words! Betray the Wolves? No! Never! And the day of our battle, when we stand free upon the corpses of our fellow humans, when we have delivered once more the wildness upon all the world, well, then I shall bow to the Wolves. And I shall with humility step aside. For