men that he recognized from the old days when his family held this castle. These were rogues and bandits that had crawled out of the hills.
“You men upon the walls,” Fallion shouted. “I am Fallion Sylvarresta Orden, heir to Gaborn Val Orden, and rightful lord of this realm. I bid you to join in helping restore peace and prosperity to the land.”
He looked toward Lord Hale, and shouted “Fire!” as he made a pulling motion with his fist.
None of the archers fired upon Warlord Hale. But then Fallion hadn’t expected that they would.
Hale laughed in derision, looked right and left toward his archers. At his glance, the men stiffened, drew their bows to the full. His patience was at an end, Fallion could see. He was tired of playing.
In apparent resignation, Fallion said, “If your men won’t obey my command, perhaps the heavens will.” He raised his hand a second time and shouted “Fire!”
He let go of some the energy that had been stored in him, sent it questing behind him, used it to heat the torches so that they all flared up in an instant.
He gathered that heat and sent it racing through the air. The torches sputtered out as a dozen ashen war bows suddenly superheated and burst into flames. The well-oiled strings and the lacquer made perfect fuel.
At that instant, Fallion’s friends scattered, and Fallion drew a wreath of smoke about him, just in case any of the archers had the presence of mind to try to fire one last shot with the flaming bows.
A couple did, muttering curses as the arrows flew. But the sudden flames had spoiled their aim, and the worst that happened was that a fiery arrow blurred past Fallion’s shoulder.
Lord Hale barely had time to register his surprise. Perhaps he had not seen the unnatural gleam in Fallion’s eye, or perhaps he had not recognized it as the mark of a flameweaver. Too late he saw his mistake.
Fallion reached into the sky, sent his energy out and used it to gather motes of light from the heavens, as if trapping flies within a web.
From horizon to horizon the skies went black. Then he drew the light toward him in a fiery funnel, an infernal tornado that dropped white hot into his palm.
For half an instant, he let the fire build, and then hurled it toward Warlord Hale.
The fireball struck, hitting the warlord’s oily skin, his clothes, and Hale shrieked and tried to bat the flames away. But Fallion only intensified them, sent energy streaming into him so that as an outer layer of hair or skin or fat burned, steam rose from the inner layers, drying them until they caught flame too, then the layer below took fire.
It happened quickly, a few seconds at most, but Fallion burned the man, turning him into a fiery pillar of blackened ash and pain.
Only his eyes Fallion left untouched, so that Hale’s men might see the horror in them.
Lord Hale flailed about, shrieking, and then just staggered over the wall and dropped into the moat like a meteor, where his carcass sputtered and fumed in the water.
The guards all dove for cover, lest Fallion target one of them next.
Cheers arose from the commoners that Lord Hale had kept as his slaves in the castle, and suddenly there was the pounding of feet on stairs as some of them began rushing the guards, intent on taking vengeance for years of abuse.
Fallion and those outside the castle could do little now except wait for the drawbridge to open.
He peered at the bridge, and a Seal of the Inferno blossomed in his mind, a fiery wheel, striking him like a blow.
It seems so near, he thought. The seal must be nearer than I imagined.
He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, trying to clear his vision.
There were screams and the clash of arms coming from the castle. He worried for the peasants who were giving their lives in this battle.
He did not like the brutality, but he could not deny the people their well-deserved vengeance.
They hunger for it, Fallion thought, and by the Powers, after the horrors that I’ve seen, I’d like my fill of it myself.
TAKING COUNCIL AT TWILIGHT
Better to die a fair death than to live as a wyrmling.
Dogs can talk, Alun knew, and right now, Wanderlust was telling him that she smelled a wyrmling.
Oh, a hound doesn’t speak in words, but their bodies can tell you volumes.
Wanderlust stood with her muzzle pointed down a dank trail in the deepest shadows of a swamp, growling far back in her throat. Her tail did not wag, as it would if she only smelled a stag or a bear. Instead, her flanks quivered nervously, and the nub of her tail was as steady as a stone.
She turned and looked back at him, imploring with her eyes, asking what to do. If the wyrmling had been near, she’d have taken small leaps backward while peering in its direction. No, the trail was hours old.
“Leave it,” Alun whispered, gripping his short spear. “We’ve got better things to do.” He pointed to Daylan Hammer’s prints in the mud.
After accepting the honor of the hunt, Alun had gone to his room and retrieved his leather boots and a light spear. He took no armor, no heavy steel, sacrificing safety for speed. Daylan Hammer was small, but it was said that he could run with the speed of three men.
Catching the immortal’s scent had not been hard. Alun had simply gone to the barracks where Daylan slept and stuck Wanderlust’s muzzle into his bed. From there, the hound easily tracked him through the woods, even though Daylan rode on horseback.
Alun had to race to keep up all morning, but at no time had Daylan Hammer ever gotten more than two or three hours ahead of him.
As Madoc had predicted, Daylan Hammer had broken off from the hunt early. He’d ridden south of the castle for nearly ten miles, through the rocky Hallow Hills and down into the swamps beneath. Then he’d left his horse when the muck got too thick, and set off on foot.
He was traveling fast. Even in a mire he could outrace a commoner, it seemed, especially one who had to worry about making any noise that might alert his quarry. Alders and willows raised their leafy branches all around, and Alun had to make sure not to step on fallen twigs.
Fortunately, Alun had figured out where Daylan Hammer was going. There was a hill not a mile ahead, a small rise where, in some distant past, the ancients had raised a sand-stone tower. Large images had been carved into the inner walls of the stone-likenesses of six beautiful women; thus it was called the Tower of the Fair Ones. Though the wind and rain had ravaged the outer ramparts, the women were still there today, safe and protected. Legend said that it once had been the home to a wealthy merchant who kept his daughters under strong guard, safe from the attentions of ill-bred suitors
In fairer times, it had been a popular retreat for lovers.
Alun hurried along through the brush, with Wanderlust silently urging him on. She had never been one for barking much, and Alun had taught her not to bark at all when on the trail of an outlaw.
Because the ground was soft and he did not want Daylan Hammer to know that he was being followed, Alun took his path parallel to the hero’s track. As the ground rose, cover became dense. Blackberry bushes tangled among a few evergreens and fern thickets. The water in the nearby swamps was warm, for much of it came from hot springs and geysers high on Mount Luciare, and was diverted through the castle to heat it, even in winter. Because of this, the plants here had an easy winter, and were larger and lusher than in the valleys nearby.
When Alun finally spotted the old tower rising above the woods, he halted. He was only a hundred yards off, and he could see Daylan Hammer there with his back to Alun. The immortal had leaned a log against the tower, which was only about forty feet high, and now was climbing the log, using it to scale the tower wall.
Alun retreated beneath the low branches of an evergreen for cover and lay in the shadows with one arm resting around Wanderlust to keep her quiet.
