The Legend of Broken

he asks, “Aye? And who leads this ‘rebellion,’ Linnet?”

Appearing more reluctant than ever, Akillus says, “Perhaps it will be better if you question this man yourself, Sentek …”

“I am questioning you, Akillus,” Arnem replies, quietly but darkly. “Who leads this ‘rebellion’?”

“He says—” And finally Akillus simply utters the words. “He says that it is Lady Arnem, Sentek. Supported by veterans from throughout the district, in addition to — well, in addition to your eldest son.”

This news, again, does not come as such to Visimar; but Niksar draws back in no little shock. “Sentek Arnem’s wife and son? Hak—this is nothing but malicious gossip, being spread by members of the Guard.”

“Such were my thoughts, Niksar,” Akillus replies. “But the boy does not seem to have been in the Guard long enough to have quite become—infected by their behavior.”

“But — Sentek! The Lady Isadora and Dagobert?” Niksar questions, bewilderment in his every word. “What can have led them to such actions?”

Arnem himself is far too confused to make any reply; and so it is for Visimar to say, “If I am not mistaken, they have been left no choice, faced with just the sort of death and disease that we have seen, and having now heard still more of …”

“Aye, Sentek,” Akillus answers. “The cripple is right about that much. They say that plague is loose in the district, and that, when Lady Arnem’s appeals for help to Lord Baster-kin and the Grand Layzin went unanswered, rebellion was the result.”

“Such — would not be a unique cause of such events,” Niksar says, still puzzling with the report, but at the same time provoking a scowl from Arnem, who tries to maintain the evenness of his voice, even as he answers with no little anger:

“It would be unique if it involves my family, Niksar …” The young aide can only swallow hard; and then, working hard to regain his full composure, Arnem continues, “But let us leave this subject, for now, until we have this Guardsman before us. What of the rest of this business? Dispatching a khotor of Baster-kin’s own men into the Wood — he gave you no further details of what lay behind this action?”

“He gave us such details as he believes he knows,” Akillus replies. “Which were precious few. The most important being that the men from the city and the patrols on the Plain together rushed headlong across the Fallen Bridge, apparently, as soon as the khotor arrived. Which means, it would seem, at night.”

All the faces of Akillus’s audience darken: for such would be almost inconceivably foolish arrogance. “Nay,” Arnem whispers. “Even the Guard cannot have been so stupid.”

“But were, it seems,” Akillus replies. “You can imagine the result. The force was cut to pieces by the Bane, and their wounded, along with their dead, thrown to the mercies of Hafften Falls and the Ayerzess- werten; although most of those wounded had their suffering ended by the dauthu- bleith before their bodies were thus dispensed with.”

“Sentek,” Niksar asks, both genuinely bewildered and attempting to repair some of the ire brought out of his commander by his last remark. “What can it all mean?”

“I am not in the least certain, Reyne,” Arnem replies, “and I suspect that we shall all remain uncertain, until we have a chance to question this Guardsman. And so — lead us to him, Akillus, and then get to my tent, and tell the officers that this evening’s council will be delayed some little time. Or perhaps longer …” Arnem looks ahead in the darkening evening. “For I fear this story may take some time to tell …” The sentek is about to spur the Ox on up the incline of the Plain, when Akillus says:

“There is yet another fact that I suspect you will find accounts for this man’s terror, Sentek.” Arnem pauses, and Akillus rides up beside him. “Although it is a difficult tale to credit. He claims …” And once more, Akillus finds it difficult to choose his words carefully.

“Well?” Arnem demands. “Out with it, Akillus.”

“Yes, sir,” the scout replies, finally dispensing with any attempt at tact: “Apparently, last evening, while looking for any trace of his comrades, the Guardsman came across a most extraordinary sight lit by the Moon: the First Wife of Kafra, sister to the God-King himself, moving north toward Broken through the Plain — without a stitch of clothing upon her, and leading a large male Broken bear by a golden cord. The animal behaved as if it were no more than an obedient dog. The lad said that he knew her features because the Guard has sometimes been called upon to accompany her out of the city and down the mountain.”

Arnem looks to each of his companions in turn, finding comprehension only in Visimar’s face. “It is indeed possible, Sixt Arnem,” the cripple says. “For my master maintained that he knew only one person who could so enthrall such beasts — and my master, you must recall, was an expert in understanding those same creatures. But the sister of the God-King Saylal — Alandra, she was called — had a more mysterious, even unsettling, ability to reach them.” Visimar clearly knows more of this tale, but he withholds it, waiting for a time when he will be able to speak to Arnem alone.

As for the sentek, he has turned his face up to the sky. “Kafra’s stones,” he murmurs. “What is happening, in this place …?” Suddenly, Arnem spurs his great mount forward: “Well — we shall not find out here,” he says, urging the others on, obviously desperate to learn what lies behind the incredible stories that he has heard — and how much danger his own family is truly facing …

3:{iv:}

Caliphestros, Ashkatar, and the Bane foragers

at last reach Okot …

It is without doubt true that the sight of the legless sorcerer Caliphestros riding into the Bane town of Okot on the shoulders of the famed white panther who had long roamed the mountains southwest of Okot, inspiring both respect and fear in the tribe of outcasts, would ordinarily have caused astonishment bordering on panic in the central square. But their arrival in Okot on this occasion, however, had been preceded a full half-day by Ashkatar’s messengers, who had already warned the tribe that the plague that had struck their people was not the result of magic or a curse inflicted by the Tall, but was a poison contained in the water of the wells on the northern side of the community. This warning had almost immediately arrested the progress of the disease, and even lessened its terrible impact. No secret had been made of the fact that it was Caliphestros who determined the details of this problem and its solution — although, as the old man insisted on saying from the moment he reached even the most outlying parts of Okot, there were no divinations or visions involved in his calculations, but rather purely scientific investigations. Such was an explanation that was difficult for many Bane to understand, although most in the town remained grateful, whatever the degree of their comprehension; it was not until the returning heroes and their guests made their way through the crowds gathered at the town’s center and entered the Den of Stone to meet with the Groba, as well as with the Priestess of the Moon and her attending Lunar Sisters and Outragers, that they were met with anything like stern or skeptical questioning.

Ashkatar led the way through the long, dark stone passageway, with its carved reliefs of important moments in Bane history, which Caliphestros paused to admire: not for their accuracy, in every case, but for the skill of their execution. Veloc, meanwhile, used the time to quietly urge Heldo-Bah not to rouse the ire of the Priestess of the Moon, a sentiment echoed by Keera, who rejoined her friends only when she had made certain to quickly dash to her parents’ home after first arriving in Okot. There she had discovered to her wild joy that all of her children were well or recovering, little Effi having been reunited with her brothers, Herwin and Baza, after the boys were released from the Lenthess-steyn following a quick recovery — a recovery made possible by the information brought by Ashkatar’s runners.

“Beautiful carvings, are they not, Lord Caliphestros?” Ashkatar asked the old man, indicating the walls of the passageway.