‘Run,’ said Case, yanking off the necklace. He was lurching along slowly and wincing with each step. Sharp, reaching tree branches scratched and cut them both. They did not even notice the darker shapes standing here and there among the trees as they went.
Then Case’s feet caught on something and he fell forwards, sliding on his belly for a moment and rolling down a slope in the ground. Eric skidded to a halt and helped him up, but Case was in no shape to run further; he clutched at his knee and grimaced. They had put enough distance between them and the war mage that it couldn’t be seen through the trees, but suddenly Eric became aware of something
Its feet were shaped like tree roots, balancing it on knife-sharp points digging into the dirt. Two arms so long their dagger tips scraped the ground were for the moment motionless, the creature bent over in a crouch from its waist. The whole body looked to have been wound from threads of muscle like dark unreflective glass. Spikes of varying length covered it. A huge mane spread behind it in a fan of long needles. Its face bore misshaped eyes like shards of obsidian embedded deep above a large half-canine, half-human jaw, filled with long curved teeth the same colour as its skin.
Though it faced them, nothing in its face indicated recognition of their presence. The mouth seemed twisted and frozen into the shape of an inhuman smile. Its only movement was the occasional bending of its spikes, one or two slowly curling then going still. Lalie’s words echoed in Eric’s head loud as an alarm:
Case, who lay on the forest floor clutching his knee, had just seen the creature. ‘Shit,’ he said with a humourless chuckle. ‘That’s done us. Luck can’t hold forever. You go. Run. I can’t.’
Eric went to pick him up, but could barely manage the weight. Case let his backpack drop to the ground. ‘There’s another one, further down,’ said Case. ‘Can just make it out down there. Two more, over yonder. Don’t go that way.’
Eric’s eyes never left the Tormentor but still it didn’t move. He dragged Case backwards away from it, and still it was motionless, until Eric’s feet caught on the uneven ground and they both toppled over.
There was a sound like a wire fence being shaken as the long thin needles of its star-shaped mane rattled. The creature sprang to life as though roused from sleep. Its head swung slowly their way. No change came to its face, locked still in that frozen alien smile. One hand clumsily rose, pointed at them, and then it came, its awkward stiff gait covering ground quickly with long strides.
In panic, Eric tried to run, but suddenly it was impossible to move fast. He felt that he was being sucked towards the Tormentor as though by a powerful current. Everything about him slowed down, from his heartbeat to the way sounds stretched out, dreamlike: crunching undergrowth, Case’s voice speaking too slowly to understand, the sound like slowed-down tape. He slowly craned his neck to see the thing reach for him with its long knife- fingers. One hand for him, one for Case. It moved very slowly now too, something almost beautiful in the sight, and in the way each slow deliberate second drew out, promising death still some distance away but inevitably coming. They were pulled towards its stretching arms like people sliding down hill.
The spell was broken with a cracking sound and a flash of fire. The hand reaching for Eric was severed neatly at the wrist with a burst of searing heat, enough to burn some of his hair. Time caught up, seeming far too fast as he crawled away from the creature, dragging Case with him along the dead leaves and scratching fallen branches. There was another cracking noise, another wave of scorching heat, and the Tormentor’s other arm split and dropped. It swung round in one big exaggerated motion, no reaction on its face, still locked in a smile. Little fires burned on the ground around both severed limbs.
A little way away from it, the war mage crouched low, teeth bared in a look of amazing savagery, the tips of its horns already blackened and smoking. It quickly stuffed a handful of stiff grass into its mouth, swallowed, then lunged forwards, another wave of shimmering heat spreading through the space between it and the Tormentor, which began stalking towards it. There was a noise like a whip cracking, then the Tormentor’s head split and shattered like a rock struck with massive force, shards of its head thudding heavily to the ground. Its feet propelled it two more steps then it stopped still.
‘A servant,’ the hoarse voice of the war mage. Heat emanated from it in pulsing waves. Thick smoke trailed from the tips of its horns and it panted for breath. Eric saw a great twister-shaped plume of disturbed magic bending and swaying high, high into the sky, and more of them stretching from each other spot where the war mage had cast its spells.
Slowly, the Tormentor’s stiff body toppled backwards and fell. Its hands still twitched and grappled. Case and Eric looked at each other. There was a long silence, just the Tormentor’s severed hands still clutching at the ground, disturbing the leaves, and the sound of the war mage chewing undergrowth and twigs, its eyes flickering round the woods.
‘A servant,’ said Eric. ‘I see.’
‘I guess,’ said Case with a shrug, ‘he’s OK by me.’
55
‘There’s something weird about this,’ Eric muttered. ‘Why have they sent it after us?’
‘It’s nuts. No offence if you can hear me, buddy,’ he said to the war mage. It locked its cat-yellow eyes on Case and he took an involuntary backwards step. Heat still emanated from its body though many minutes had passed. Foul-smelling smoke curled off its blackened horns. Case stamped out the small fires starting near the Tormentor’s severed hands. The pieces of its broken head showed no sign of interior organs: they were like cleaved stone.
‘I think our new friend used up a lot of juice to kill that thing,’ said Eric. ‘If another one starts moving, or a bigger one arrives, it might cook itself right away.’ To the war mage, ‘Can you handle many more of those?’
It clawed at the air in some gesture they couldn’t interpret.
‘That a yes or a no?’ said Case.
It skipped towards him and croaked, ‘Horse’s hooves. Ticks and fleas. Fleas and ticks.’ Its head tilted back and its mouth opened to the sky as it gave the curdling scream Eric and Case had both heard before, then cocked its head, waiting, it seemed, for an answering call. If one came, the war mage alone heard it. ‘Are you calling for help?’ said Eric.
‘A servant,’ it said tiredly. ‘Heat.’
The war mage approached the Tormentor’s corpse, its clawed feet finding careful purchase between spikes on the dead creature’s chest. Some of the spikes still moved. It poked the body with its staff, gripped a spike and with a hissed breath and a strain that made its arm shake, wrenched the spike free, cutting its hand badly in the process. All this, apparently, to see whether the spike was suitable for eating, for it poked the tip experimentally in its mouth, bit down, cut its gums, then threw the undamaged spike away. Blood spilled through its lips, into its beard, but it seemed not to notice.
The war mage cocked its head. ‘A threaded course is narrow,’ it said. ‘Rival comes. Running fast. I’ve purpose, too much heat besides, to
As Eric had guessed, they soon came to the river again. He didn’t think there was much point trying to talk to the war mage, but: ‘How are we meant to cross? Is there a bridge near?’
It ignored this and grabbed Case under his arms. Alarmed, he reached for the gun before remembering Eric now had it. His legs cycled the air as the war mage jumped, sailed lightly over the river, bore him across to the far bank and set him gently down. It then flew back, grabbed Eric in rough, coarse hands and jumped him across too, seemingly untroubled by the weight, despite him wearing a pack. Case said, ‘With your leave, whatever your name is, we’re hungry and sore. Is it safe for us to stop a while and eat?’
Again the war mage gave no answer, just raked at the floor with its long toes like bird’s feet as though in irritation, and crouched down low to munch the undergrowth. The heat arising from its exertions slowly faded. Its horns had almost resumed their normal dull yellow, and no longer gave off smoke.
