among his warriors.
He stood and grinned at his assembled Wolfen.
‘So, mighty warriors, it looks like we may at last have a worthy foe to fight. We now know their shape, but we need to know their mind. Send the scouts immediately — they are to report back in two days. In the meantime, to all my generals, I command you to assemble your Wolfen warriors, and be ready to march after we have learned a little more from the field.’
The Wolfen bowed and banged their fists against their chests, and then headed for the large double doors that had been thrown open — each of them glaring at the clay giant as they passed by it.
Grimvaldr called softly to the last of them, ‘Karnak, wait a moment.’
The tall, heavily scarred warrior stopped and turned. The king strode around the table and took his friend’s arm. He nodded up towards the snarling figure. ‘What say you, son of the House of Karnak — could they be real?’
Karnak grunted. ‘I have heard talk of a race of terrible creatures from the far dark lands. Things that look like Slinkers, but are more powerful and brutish, and a hundred times more deadly. Do I think they are real? Who else could bring down our warriors so easily?’
The king sighed and stared off into the distance. ‘I have also heard those tales of the dark and unknown lands of the giants. I thought… I had hoped they were little more than legends… just like the rumoured sightings of the Old Ones every few generations. But we saw one, didn’t we, my friend?’
Karnak raised his eyebrows. ‘Two myths, seeming to take flesh at the same time, and the Panterran hordes pushing into our lands — do you believe there could be a connection?’
‘The Old Ones reappearing at the time of our greatest need? It is the oldest of our prophesies.’ He stared up into the clay figure’s snarling face. ‘And we have faced monsters before. Valkeryn has stood for a thousand years, and it will it stand for a thousand more.’ He turned back to Karnak. ‘I do not fear these giants… and I do not fear the Panterran hordes… but I pray that the two are not in league with each other.’
Chapter 13
I Also Like Sandwiches
Arn woke with a jolt. Everything was blackness; reaching up, he felt the bandages still over his eyes. He called out. ‘Hello?’
There was no answer. He waited a few moments, and then called out again — still silence.
He patted the soft bedding around him. He felt refreshed, and as the air was cool on his face he guessed he had slept for many hours, or perhaps he was deep inside some large building, away from the sunlight.
His hand went once again to his bandages; just as he began to tug at them, he heard the grating of steel on wood, and the sound of a heavy door creaking open. Footsteps. ‘Eilif?’
He continued to pull at his bandages.
A hand stopped him. ‘Be still. I am Morag, and with me is Birna. We’ve been sent to get you cleaned up, and to bring you food.’
The hand travelled down his arm and took his hand, placing it on a tray on his lap. Arn’s hunger flared in the pit of his stomach, and his fingers immediately felt around a plate what he hoped was food. ‘Thank you… Ah, what is it?’
Morag spoke again, ‘Meat, fruit, and even some raw fish that Eilif said you liked.’ He felt hands checking his hair, feeling its texture, or perhaps looking for any passengers he might have picked up,
‘Thank you.’ He lifted a slice of meat and sniffed it — it smelled like dried beef and he pushed it into his mouth, already watering in anticipation. It was delicious. ‘Yum. I also like sandwiches.’
There was silence, and Arn guessed the word probably made no sense to them, or they called it something completely different. ‘You know; it’s where you put the meat inside some bread.’ He waited — still nothing. He thought he understood why. ‘Okay, bread is where you get the tiny seeds of wheat and crush them to powder… Err, wheat is like a long type of grass… Anyway, then you mix in some water, salt and oil, until it’s a soft doughy paste.’ The hands left his head, and he waited in silence for a few moments more. For all he knew, they were probably all carnivores anyway; what would they know about bread? ‘Well, you bake it before you eat it — it’s really nice.’
He tucked more food into his mouth, and decided to change the subject. ‘Where’s Eilif?’
This time it was Birna who spoke. ‘She is bathing and getting dressed. She must meet with the king… and you have also been granted an audience. So you will need to be bathed and dressed also.’ The hands returned to his head.
Arn kept chewing, thinking over what he had just been told. Bathed? His hand went to his waist. His jeans, or what was left of them, had been removed, and he was naked under the sheets.
‘Ah, my pants?’ He felt about on top of the bedding that was, thank heavens, still covering him.
Birna laughed. ‘They were rags, sir… in pieces. We’ve kept all the items you carried, and while you slept we had your sizings taken, and sent to the tailor. New clothes will be here shortly.’ There was more laughing, and then, ‘Do you get cold?’
‘Huh, cold?’ Arn turned in the direction of the question.
‘I mean, without fur.’
Arn laughed. ‘No, not really — not with clothes anyway. So, no, we humans don’t need fur.’
Birna was persistent. ‘But… you still have patches of fur on your head, and we saw, lower down, that…’
Arn pulled his blankets higher as Birna finished inspecting his scalp. ‘Clean — good. We can never be too careful after coming into contact with those dirty Slinkers; they’re covered in all sorts of horrible vermin.’
He felt Morag’s breath against his ear as she leaned near to him. ‘I’ve never actually seen one, a Slinker. Are they as ugly as they say?’
Arn remembered the flat face, the needle-like teeth, and yellow slitted eyes. And then the claws digging into his flesh. ‘Yes, both inside and out, I’m afraid. They’re not very nice… creatures.’
He sat in silence, thinking for a moment, then felt a weight on the bed next to him. It was Birna, he decided, as she took the plate from his hand. A piece of fruit was held to his lips. He bit into it, and raised his eyebrows — it was soft like melon, but tasted like apple and banana all in one.
‘Wow, that’s nice.’ He took the bowl. ‘I can do that, but thank you anyway.’ If they know of fruit, then maybe they aren’t total carnivores after all. He was relieved at the thought.
‘Yes sir, but you must eat.’ The weight lifted from the bed. ‘We’ll be back shortly to take you to your bath.’
‘Okay. And it’s Arn. Call me Arn.’
A short time later, Arn was led down a cool corridor. He could smell stone, burning candles, and the floor under his bare feet felt cool and cobbled. He was desperate now to pull off his bandages, as there was so much that was fantastically new. Not being able to see it made him more impatient and anxious by the minute.
On leaving the bedroom, he had draped one of the blankets over his shoulder and wrapped it around his waist, Roman toga style, out of modesty. Even though physically they were quite different animals, and he thought he shouldn’t really care, he couldn’t help feeling awkward at being naked in front of them. Maybe he was worried he’d freak them out… or that they’d make fun of him.
After all, he still remembered the way Morag and Birna — and Eilif before them — had scrutinised him. He pulled the blanket tighter as it started to slip. The intelligence in Eilif’s eyes, her humour and vulnerability; he found it hard to think of her as not being just like him.
Suddenly he smelled her familiar cinnamon scent, and detected the soft padding footsteps of her approach. He felt her take his arm.
‘Enjoy your food?’ she asked. ‘It wasn’t easy getting the fish — no one here even likes the smell.’
Arn turned to her and smiled. ‘Yes, thank you. But you’ll be pleased to know that fish is not part of my everyday diet.’
‘Good. I’d hate to think you were part Slinker. I mean, your face is flat enough.’ She squeezed his arm, and he felt, rather than heard, her laughing. There was silence for a few seconds as they walked, and even though he
