With a glance at the bed, she
picked up the lamp beside her and went to investigate. The
corridor's cold floor chilled her bare feet, and she hesitated
outside the kitchen door, listening. Faint scraping and grunting
sounds came from within, sending shivers down her spine. She
considered rousing another healer in case whatever lurked in the
kitchen was dangerous, then mustered her courage and pushed the
door wide.
Four rock howlers turned sharp,
feral eyes upon her and froze in the act of plundering the pantry.
The light from the banked hearth rimed their red fur, and a pot of
flour spilt like snow across the floor. One crouched beside it,
scooping it into his mouth. His black, dog-like face was almost
completely white with flour, and his mouth was stuffed full. Two
others munched raw potatoes, while the fourth had his hand in a jar
of honey.
For a breathless moment no one
moved, then the floury howler bared his teeth and advanced in a
threatening manner. Tallis stood frozen, certain that she should
run but unable to move. The rock howler flattened its ears and
cringed, whimpering, and the other three cowered. Released from the
spell, Tallis turned to run and fetch help, but collided with
something exceedingly hard and recoiled with a gasp.
Bane stood in the doorway, his
eyes chips of ice as he surveyed the howlers. He rubbed his chest
where the flame of her lamp had licked his bare skin during their
collision, for, although he had donned his shirt, he had not
fastened it. The fire had not burnt him.
"Thieves," he said.
Tallis glanced
back at the howlers, noticing that they were emaciated, their ribs
visible through their thick red pelts. They continued to eat with
desperate hunger, two of them now shovelling flour into their
mouths. Bane stepped around her to confront the creatures,
which
cowered and whined,
stuffing food into their mouths at a faster rate. Knowing that they
were about to be chased from their feast, they seemed determined to
get as much food into their stomachs as they could, and she pitied
them. Afraid that Bane was going to burn them to a crisp, Tallis
grabbed his shirt.
"Wait. Do not hurt them. They
are hungry."
"I know that," he said. "And if
they are not stopped we all will be."
"No, we have enough to
share."
Tallis jumped when one of the
rock howlers spoke clearly in a gruff, raspy voice.
"Lord, we hunger. We have no
food. All is dead."
She had not thought that rock
howlers could speak, and found the rasping words oddly
chilling.
Bane turned to her. "Rock
howlers do not eat meat. You cannot possibly feed them all; there
are hundreds, maybe thousands of them. They will starve
eventually."
"Then send them back to their
homes. Surely they will find food there?"
"I doubt it. Almost all the
vegetation is dead now."
"They may have stores."
The floury rock howler made a
soft fluting sound. "We do."
"The Black Lord's demons will
hunt them," Bane said.
Tallis nodded. "But some will
survive, especially if they split up. If they stay here, they will
all starve."
Bane turned back to the howlers,
who continued to stuff food into their mouths even as they watched
him fearfully. The one with the honey jar sucked the sticky
sweetness from his hand, then stuck it in the pot again.
The Demon Lord shrugged and
addressed the rock howlers. "Leave tomorrow then. Return to your
warrens."
The four prostrated themselves.
"Thank you, Lord," one rasped.
"Take some food," Tallis told
them. "And tomorrow we will bring you more for your journey."
The howlers' eyes flicked to her
in surprise and sudden hope, and Bane snorted. "They eat a
lot."
"We will give them what we
can."
"Do not make
promises you cannot keep,
healer. Your Elder Mother may not be so
generous."
"She will."
Bane frowned at the thieves.
"What do the others eat?"
"Our people starve. The others
eat the dead," the floury howler said.
Tallis' eyes widened in shock,
and her stomach heaved. "Goddess."
Bane smiled. "I thought as much.
At least you will not have to feed them too."
She gulped. "What will they do
when they run out of bodies?"
"Kill the injured, sick and
weak."
"That is horrible."
"They are hungry." He shot the
howlers a hard glance. "Get out."
With a soft scurry of paws, the
howlers vanished through the window at the far end of the kitchen,
several potatoes and the pot of honey vanishing with them. Bane
yawned and ran a hand through his hair, then returned to his room,
Tallis padding behind him.
The next morning, she made her
report to Elder Mother, explaining what had caused the mess in the
kitchen. When she finished, Ellese rose and went to stare out of
the window at the blackened landscape that brooded under the
roiling clouds, illuminated by the glow of the distant volcano and
occasional flashes of lightning. Ash still fell in a whispering
rain, blanketing everything with greyness.
"So, you pity these creatures,
yet you cannot forgive Bane, although what they did was worse."
"They cannot be blamed. They
only did as he ordered."
"And he obeyed the Black Lord."
Ellese sighed. "I am loath to give those monsters our food, but you
are right, we must."
"Thank you, Mother."
"You will oversee its
distribution."
"Yes, Mother."
"Ask Bane to help you. The
others will try to take it. We do not want a war breaking out
between them."
"Yes, Mother."
Ellese turned and nodded,
dismissing her.
Some of Martal's soldiers
volunteered to carry the bags of flour and potatoes out of the
temple, where hundreds of rock howlers waited. As soon as the men
dumped the bags, the howlers rushed to tear them open and devour
the flour. Tallis watched in dismay as they fought over the food,
clawing at each other and shrieking, trampling much of the precious
flour into the ash. Bane had not yet made an appearance, and her
shouted orders fell on deaf ears. Worse, the trolls and goblins
approached, muttering darkly as they watched the howlers feed. The
men carried bags of potatoes out and dumped them on the ground, and
half the howlers raced to rip them open. At least the potatoes
would not be wasted in the ash, but the melee ensured that only the
strongest ate.
A small, skinny howler staggered
from the fracas and collapsed, exhausted, keening in a high, nasal
whine. Tallis had not expected this. She had thought they would
carry the food with them and eat it on the journey, or at least
divide it up equally amongst themselves. Desperate to at least
distribute it fairly, she tried to wade into the mob and fetch some
for the weak howler and others like him, thinking the howlers would
let her. Many dirty hands ejected her forcibly from the fray with
as little consideration as they had shown the weaker members of
their species. She stumbled back and sat down in the ash, jarring
her tailbone. The trolls and goblins shuffled closer, their eyes on
the feeding howlers, their lips wet with drool.
"No!" Tallis shouted. "It is not
for you, only for them!"
The trolls and goblins growled,
and she cast a desperate glance at the temple, where several
healers watched with patent disapproval, and the men bearing the
next load had stopped. Tallis turned back to stare at the sea of
dark people that surrounded the temple, for whom the food that was
available would be less than a mouthful each. If they entered the
fray it would be a disaster, and bloodshed would be inevitable. The
howlers made up only a fraction of the army, and even for them the
food was pitifully little. The trolls and goblins advanced
menacingly now, closing in on the two squabbling knots of
howlers.
They halted,
their eyes focu
ssing on
something behind her, and from their expressions she knew who it
was. Bane strode past her, and the dark army retreated, except for
the howlers, who seemed oblivious to everything but the food they
so desperately needed. The Demon Lord halted beside one of the
struggling groups, and those on its outskirts spotted him, sidling
away.
"Stop this," he said.
The bulk of the combatants
froze, watching him as they munched the food, while others moved
away, their cheeks stuffed with potatoes and flour. Those who had
not managed to reach the food gazed at Bane hopefully.
He turned to Tallis. "Tell them
what you will. They will obey now."
Tallis stood up, brushing ash
from her robe as she addressed the howlers. "Each of you take one
potato and a handful of flour, then go and wait over there. Those
who have already eaten go there now."
Tallis indicated an area away
from the trolls and goblins, and some of the howlers moved away
from the food, shooting her dark looks. A troll stepped forward and
bowed to Bane.
"Lord, we hunger too."
Bane glared at him, making him
cower. "You will eat the dead, as you have been doing. They do not
eat meat, they take nothing from you, and you will take nothing
from them."
"Foul meat, Lord," the troll
whined.
"But food nonetheless. Hunt, if
you have no stomach for it."
"The game is gone, Lord."
Bane frowned. "Do as I say."
The troll scuttled away, and the
rest retreated. The howlers took food and moved away as they had
been instructed, enviously watching the others collect their share.
Now that order had been restored, the soldiers brought another load
of food and dumped it on the ground to be ripped open and shared
out amongst the weaker howlers. They wolfed it down before joining
their fellows, undoubtedly because it would have been stolen from
them otherwise. A bag of sour green cider apples was greedily
snatched up, and several loaves of stale bread were ripped apart
eagerly. All the howlers showed signs of starvation, but so did the
trolls and goblins. Tallis pitied them, silently praying that the
Lady would save them and bring them into the light.
Bane soon grew bored with the
proceedings and vanished into the abbey, but, despite his absence,
the feeding continued in an orderly manner. When the howlers had
consumed the last of the food, they headed for the forest. All that
remained of their meagre feast were torn bags and a trampled area.
Every trace of flour was gone, along with a good deal of ash.
Fury flashed in the Black Lord's
eyes as he frowned down at the crouching earth demon. The news of
Bane's easy triumph enraged him, and its manner did not tell him
whether or not the Demon Lord was still injured, although his
continued existence made Arkonen suspect that he was healed. The
wound had certainly looked fatal when Bane had received it. He
dismissed the demon and paced around his temple, various ideas
presenting themselves, only to be rejected. Sending demons to
terrorise and slaughter the populace would have no effect on the
Demon Lord, who cared nothing for them. Since threats to the girl
would not lure him out, not many options remained. Arkonen could
send a mortal assassin to the temple, but he doubted that a mere
man would succeed in killing Bane.
The possibility of opening a
Gateway and sending an army of his worshippers from the Old Kingdom
occurred to him, but if Bane offered them mercy, the Chegdhin would
undoubtedly go over to his side too, and there were not many of
them left, anyway. If his dark army had only succeeded in snuffing
out the Holy Fire, the temple grounds would have ceased to be
hallowed and the healers would have been at his demons' mercy. Bane
might have been able to protect some of them, but most would have
perished, and Bane would have nowhere to hide.
Arkonen walked to the massive
doorway and gazed up at the black clouds, above which the sun
shone, and, somewhere in its ethers, the Lady's realm hung like a
shining jewel. That was his next goal, once the destruction of the
Overworld was complete and Bane defeated.
"I will find you, Lady of
Light," he promised. "I shall conquer your realm too, and you will
bow to me. You will walk in darkness with me, and I shall be your
master. You will spend the rest of eternity as my slave. So shall
you pay for what you did to me. Bane cannot defeat me. He is but a
weak human, not worthy to be your weapon. A foolish choice,
Lyriasharin. He will fail."
He paused, as if expecting an
answer, then smiled and re-entered the temple.
Mirra lay curled in the corner
of the rune room, shivering. Her jaw was clenched to stop her teeth
from chattering, and she barely clung to sanity. The horror that
crept up her arm tore at it, shredding the serenity she had always
possessed. Her peacefulness was being stripped from her, baring the
bones of her mind and the inner fears she had not known resided
there, hidden under a thick blanket of faith.
Nothing seemed
certain
anymore. The doubts
that had plagued her when Bane had broken the seventh ward seemed
trivial now. Did the Lady truly love her? Would the Goddess let her
perish in this blighted place, her soul corrupted by the foulness
that crept through her blood? Would she be cast down into the
Underworld to dwell amongst demons, a servant of the Black Lord?
The doubts gnawed at her, becoming certainties. Bane was not going
to rescue her. He cared nothing for her. Why should he, when she
was just an insignificant girl, and he was a god?
Her fingers slid over the cold,
hard scales that sheathed her arm to the elbow, an oily sheen on
their shiny blackness. Something slowed its progress up her arm to
a crawl, and it was not her power, for she had none. All that
remained then was her last shred of faith, a thin and weak thing
now, yet she sensed that if she gave it up, she would be
transformed in the blink of an eye. That in itself was enough to
make her cling to it with as much fervour as she could muster, for
she did not want to become a monster.