feet. Killed a second. The grey one tore the throat out of the third. Then it just stood there. I knew it wasn’t going to attack me. No idea how I knew. We stared at one another, then it gave a cry of pure anguish and ran. Then I heard what was going on here, so I returned.’
‘You think it was Orastes?’ asked Diagoras.
‘I don’t know. I can’t think of any other reason why it would have saved me. I’m going to find him.’
‘Find him?’ echoed Diagoras. ‘Are you insane? You can’t be sure it even intended to rescue you. These are not thinking creatures, Druss. They’ll lash out and kill at the slightest provocation. Maybe they were just fighting over who got to eat your liver.’
‘Maybe,’ agreed the axeman. ‘I need to know.’
Diagoras swore. Then he took a deep breath. ‘Listen to me, my friend. If it is Orastes there’s nothing we can do for him. You said the Old Woman made that clear. Once these poor devils are melded it cannot be undone.
So what will you do? Keep him as a pet? Shem’s balls, Druss! This is not something you take for a walk and throw a stick for.’
‘I’ll take him to the temple. Maybe they can… bring Orastes back.’
‘Oh, I see. That’s all right then,’ said Diagoras, his voice angry. ‘So, let me get this clear. Our new plan is to capture a werebeast, find a temple which may or may not exist, then ask the priests to heal a tumour, and unmeld a wolf and a man? And all this before the two of us attack a fortress and despatch a couple of hundred warriors and rescue a child?
Have I left anything out?’
‘I am hoping they can raise the dead,’ said Skilgannon. Diagoras looked at him and blinked.
‘Is this a jest of some kind?’
‘Not to me.’
‘Ah, well then… I shall ask for a winged horse and a golden helm that makes me invisible. I’ll fly over the fortress and rescue the child without anyone seeing me.’
‘They can do amazing things,’ said Jared, stepping forward. Nian moved alongside him, taking hold of the sash at Jared’s belt. ‘I know this.
We have been there before.’
‘You’ve seen the temple?’ put in Skilgannon.
‘I don’t remember much of it,’ said Jared. ‘Our father took us there when we were very young. No more than three years old.’
‘Were you sick?’ asked Diagoras.
‘No, we were healthy enough. But we were joined at the waist. Born that way. Our mother died in childbirth. The surgeon cut us from her dead body. We were freaks. I don’t remember much of those early years. But I do remember being stared at, laughed at, pointed at. All I recall of the temple was a woman with a shaved skull. She had a kind face. Her name was Ustarte. One morning I awoke, and Nian was no longer joined to me.
He was lying beside me, and we were both bandaged. I recall the pain from the wound.’
For a moment there was silence, then Diagoras spoke. ‘I have seen your scars, and they tell me the priests at the temple must have cut your flesh in order to separate you. That was an incredible feat.’ He swung back towards Druss. ‘But they cannot cut Orastes clear of the wolf. They have become one. If they could separate one from the other without slicing flesh they would have done that with the brothers.’
‘On the other hand,’ put in Skilgannon, ‘Orastes and the wolf were joined magically. Perhaps that magic can be reversed. We won’t know until we get the beast to the temple.’
Diagoras looked around the group. He saw Garianne sitting on a rock close by. ‘You haven’t offered anything,’ he said, careful to avoid framing a question.
‘We would like to see Ustarte again,’ she said.
At that moment Rabalyn groaned. Druss knelt beside him. ‘How are you feeling, laddie?’
‘Can’t breathe through my nose, and it hurts.’
‘It’s broken. Can you stand?’ Druss helped the boy to his feet.
Rabalyn swayed slightly, then righted himself. He looked around. ‘Did we beat them off?’
‘Aye, we did,’ said Druss. ‘Stand still and lean your head back.’ Reaching up, Druss clamped his fingers to the boy’s misshapen nose, then gave a sharp twist. There was a loud crack. Rabalyn cried out. ‘There, it’s straight now,’ said Druss, patting Rabalyn on the back. Rabalyn groaned and staggered away, falling to his knees and vomiting.
‘Always good to see the gentle touch,’ observed Diagoras. ‘So how do we capture Orastes?’
‘I’ll go and find him,’ said Druss. ‘The rest of you wait for me here.’
‘It would be folly to go alone, axeman,’ said Skilgannon.
‘Maybe so, but if we go in a group Orastes will avoid us. I think some part of him still recognizes me as a friend. I might be able to reach him.’
‘There is sense in that. However, there are still more of the beasts out there, Druss. The group can remain behind, but I’ll go with you.’
Druss stood quietly, thinking. Then he nodded.
‘You want me to stitch that cut in your back before you go?’ asked Diagoras.
‘No, the blood will help draw Orastes to me.’
‘Oh, good plan,’ said Diagoras.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE MOON WAS HIGH AND BRIGHT AS THE TWO WARRIORS
TRUDGED UP the hillside. Skilgannon glanced at the axeman. Druss looked tired and drawn, his eyes sunken. Skilgannon himself was weary, and he was half Druss’s age. They walked in silence for a while, coming at last to a rocky outcrop close to a high rock face, pitted with caves.
‘My guess is they are in there,’ said Druss.
‘You want to go in?’
‘Let’s see what transpires.’ Druss slumped down on a boulder, and rubbed his eyes. Skilgannon looked at him.
This Orastes means a lot to you?’
‘No,’ said Druss. ‘He was just a fat boy I knew back at Skein. I liked him, though. He should never have been a soldier. I was amazed when he survived. War is a curious beast. Sometimes it will swallow the best and leave the worst alone. There were some great fighters at Skein. Cut down in their prime. I’ll give Orastes his due, though. He stood his ground.’
‘No more can be asked,’ said Skilgannon.
‘You’ll get no argument from me. I didn’t see him many times after that.
His father died and he became Earl of Dros Purdol. Another role to which he was not suited. Poor Orastes. A failure in almost everything he ever did.’
‘Everyone is good at something,’ said Skilgannon.
‘Aye, that’s true. Orastes was a fine father. He adored Elanin. Just to see them together made the heart soar.’
‘And the wife?’
‘She left him. I’d like to say she was a bad woman, but my guess would be that Orastes was a poor husband. I suppose that she must have regretted leaving her child. Hence she stole her back while Orastes was away from Purdol. That would have torn him apart.’
A slight breeze whispered across the rocks. Upon it Skilgannon could smell the rancid scent of fur. Druss was right. The beasts were close.
Constantly alert, his eyes scanning the rocks, he sat beside the axeman.
‘So, Orastes came to Tantria and sought help from the Old Woman. And she betrayed him. Tell me, why did
