Winter Warriors (2 page)

The empty shelves and lack of personal belongings showed that the man who had built the cabin had chosen to move on. Nogusta wondered why. The construction of the cabin showed a neat man, a patient man, not one to be easily deterred. Nogusta scanned the walls. There was no sign of a woman’s presence there. The builder had been a man alone. Probably a trapper. And when he had finally left—perhaps the mountains were trapped out—he had carefully laid a fire for the next person to find his home. A considerate man. Nogusta felt welcome in the cabin, as if greeted by the owner. It was a good feeling.

Nogusta rose and walked out to where his horse was patiently waiting. Removing the empty feedbag, he stroked his neck. There was no need to hobble him. The gelding would not leave this place of shelter. The stone chimney jutted from the wooden wall of the cabin here, and soon the fire would heat the stones. “You will be safe here for the night, my friend,” Nogusta told the gelding.

Gathering his saddlebags, he returned to the cabin and heaved the door back into place, wedging it against the twisted frame. Then he pulled a chair up to the fire. The cold stones of the hearth were sucking almost all the heat from the fire. Be patient, he told himself. Minutes passed. He saw a wood louse run along a log as the flames licked up. Nogusta drew his sword and held the blade against the wood, offering the insect a way to escape. The wood louse approached the blade, then turned away from it, toppling into the fire. “Fool,” said Nogusta. “The blade was life.”

The fire was blazing now, and the black man rose and removed his cloak and shirt. His upper body was strongly muscled and heavily scarred. Sitting down once more, he leaned forward, extending his hands to the blaze. Idly he twirled the small, ornate charm he wore around his neck. It was an ancient piece, a white-silver crescent moon held in a slender golden hand. The gold was heavy and dark, and the silver never tarnished. It remained, like the moon, pure and glittering. He heard his father’s voice echo down the vaults of memory: “A man greater than kings wore this magick charm, Nogusta. A great man. He was our ancestor, and while you wear it, make sure that your deeds are always noble. If they remain so, you will have the gift of the third eye.”

“Is that how you knew the robbers were in the north pasture?”

“Yes.”

“But don’t you want to keep it?”

“It chose you, Nogusta. You saw the magick. Always the talisman chooses. It has done so for hundreds of years. And—if the Source wills—it will choose one of your own sons.”

If the Source wills …

But the Source had not willed.

Nogusta curled his hand around the talisman and stared into the fire, hoping for a vision. None came.

From his saddlebag he took a small package and opened it. It contained several strips of dried salted beef. Slowly he ate them.

Adding two logs to the fire, he moved to the bed. The blankets were thin and dusty, and he shook them out. Away from the blaze he shivered, then laughed at himself. “You are getting old,” he said. “Once upon a time the cold would not have affected you this way.”

Back at the fire once more, he put on his shirt. A face came into his mind, sharp-featured and with an easy, friendly smile. Orendo the Scout. They had ridden together for almost twenty years, serving first the old king and then his warrior son. Nogusta had always liked Orendo. The man was a veteran, and when one gave him an order, one knew it would be carried out to the letter. And he had a heart. Once, several years back, Orendo had found a child lost in the snow, unconscious and half-dead from the cold. He had carried him back to camp, then had sat with him all night, warming blankets and rubbing the boy’s frozen skin. The child had survived.

Nogusta sighed. Now Orendo was on the run with two other soldiers, having murdered a merchant and raped his daughter. She, too, had been left for dead, but the knife had missed her heart, and she had lived to name her attackers.

“Don’t bring them back,” the White Wolf had told him. “I want them dead. No public trials. Bad for morale.”

Nogusta had looked into the old man’s pale, cold eyes. “Yes, my general.”

“You want to take Bison and Kebra with you?” asked the general.

“No. Orendo was Bison’s friend. I’ll do it alone.”

“Was Orendo not your friend also?” said Banelion, watching him closely.

“You want their heads as proof that I killed them?”

“No. Your word is good enough for me,” said Banelion.

That was a source of pride to Nogusta. He had served
Banelion now for almost thirty-five years—almost all his adult life. The general was not a man given to praise, but his men served him with an iron loyalty. Nogusta stared into the fire. It had been more than a surprise when Orendo had betrayed him. But then, Orendo was being sent home. Like Bison and Kebra and even the White Wolf himself.

The king wanted the old men culled, the same old men who had fought for his father, saving the Drenai when all seemed lost, the same old men who had invaded Ventria, smashing the emperor’s armies. Paid off and retired. That was the rumor. Orendo had believed it and had robbed the merchant. Yet it was hard to believe he had also taken part in the rape and attempted murder of the girl. But the evidence was overwhelming. She said that not only had he been the instigator of the rape, it had been he who had plunged the knife into her breast.

Nogusta stared moodily into the fire. Had the crime shocked him? A good judge of men, he would not have thought Orendo capable of such a vile act. But then, all those years ago he had learned what
good
men were capable of. He had learned it in fire and blood and death. He had learned it in the ruin of dreams and the shattering of hopes. Banking up the fire, he moved the bed closer to the hearth. Pulling off his boots, he lay down, covering himself with the thin blankets.

Outside the wind was howling.

He awoke at dawn. The cabin was still warm. Rising from the bed, he pulled on his boots. The fire had died down to glowing embers. He took a long drink from his canteen, then put on his cloak, hefted his saddlebags, and went out to the gelding. The back stones of the hearth were hot, the temperature in the lean-to well above freezing. “How are you feeling, boy?” he said, stroking the beast’s neck. The gelding nuzzled his chest. “We’ll catch them today, and then I’ll take you back to that warm stable.” Back in the cabin he put out the remains of the fire, then laid a fresh one in its place, ready for any other weary traveler who came upon it. Saddling the gelding, he rode out into the winter woods.

*     *     *

Orendo stared gloomily at the jewels—purple amethysts, bright diamonds, red rubies—sparkling in his gloved hand. With a sigh he opened the pouch and watched them tumble back into its dark interior.

“I’m going to buy a farm,” said the youngster Cassin. “On the Sentran Plain. Dairy farm. I’ve always loved the taste of fresh milk.” Orendo’s weary eyes glanced up at the slim young man, and he said nothing.

“What’s the point?” countered Eris, a thickset bearded warrior with small dark eyes. “Life’s too short to
buy
hard work. Give me the whorehouses of Drenan and a fine little house high on the sixth hill. A different girl every day of the week, small, pretty, and slim-hipped.”

A silence grew among them as each remembered the small, pretty girl they had murdered back in the city of Usa. “Looks like we’re clear of snow today,” Cassin said at last.

“Snow is good for us,” said Orendo. “It covers tracks.”

“Why would anyone track us yet?” asked Eris. “No one saw us at the merchant’s house, and there’s no roll call until tomorrow.”

“They’ll send Nogusta,” said Orendo, leaning forward to add a chunk of wood to the fire. It had been a cold night in the hollow, and he had slept badly, dreaming awful dreams of pain and death. What had seemed a simple robbery had become a night of murder and shame he would never forget. He rubbed his tired eyes.

“So what?” Eris sneered. “There’s three of us, and we’re not exactly easy meat. If they send that black bastard, I’ll cut his heart out.”

Orendo bit back an angry retort. Instead, he rose and stepped toward the taller, heavier man. “You have never seen Nogusta in action, boy. Pray you never do.” Stepping past the two younger men, Orendo walked to a nearby tree and urinated. “The man is uncanny,” he said over his shoulder. “I was with him once when we tracked four killers into Sathuli lands. He can read sign over rock, and he can smell a trail a hound would miss. But that’s not what makes him dangerous.” Orendo continued to urinate, the water coming in
slow, rhythmic spurts, sending up steam from the snow. He had endured trouble with his bladder for over a year now, needing to piss several times a night. “You know what makes him dangerous?” he asked them. “There is no bravado in him. He moves, he kills. It is that quick. When we found the killers, he just walked into their camp and they were dead. I tell you, it was awesome.”

“I know,” came the tomb-deep voice of Nogusta. “I was there.”

Orendo stood very still, a feeling of nausea flaring in his belly. His water dried up instantly, and he retied his leggings and turned very slowly. Eris was lying flat on his back, a knife through his right eye. Cassin was beside him, a blade in his heart. “I knew they’d send you,” said Orendo. “How did you find us so fast?”

“The girl lived,” said Nogusta.

“I thank the Source for that,” Orendo said with a sigh. “Are you alone?”

“Yes.”

The black man’s sword was sheathed, and there was no throwing knife in his hands. It does not matter, thought Orendo. I don’t have the skill to best him. “I’m glad. I wouldn’t want Bison to see me now. Are you taking me back?”

“No. You will remain here, with your friends.”

Orendo nodded. “Seems a shame to end a friendship this way, Nogusta. Will you take back our heads?”

“The White Wolf told me my word was good enough.”

Orendo felt a trickle of hope. “Look, man, I was only the lookout. I didn’t know there was going to be murder. But it happened. There are enough jewels in that pouch to give us a life … a real life. We could buy a palace with them, you and me.” Nogusta shook his head. “You could just tell them you killed me. And keep half the jewels.”

“That is what I will tell them. For you will be dead. You were not the lookout,” Nogusta said sadly. “You raped the girl, and you stabbed her. You did this. You must pay for it.”

Orendo moved to the fire, stepping over the bodies of his companions. “They were sending me home,” he said, kneeling
down and pulling off his gloves. The fire was warm, and he held his hands out to it. “How would you feel? How does Bison feel?” He glanced up at the tall warrior. “Ah, it is different for you, isn’t it? The champion. The blade master. You’re not quite as old as us. No one’s told you you’re useless yet. But they will, Nogusta. The day will come.” He sat down and stared into the flames. “You know, we had no intention of killing the merchant. But he struggled, and Eris stabbed him. Then the girl ran in. She had been sleeping, and she was wearing a transparent shift. I still can hardly believe it happened. The room went very cold. I remember that, and I felt something touch me. Then I was filled with rage and lust. It was the same for the others. We spoke about it last night.” He looked up at Nogusta. “I swear to you, Nogusta, that I believe we were possessed. Maybe the merchant was a sorcerer. But there was something evil there. It affected us all. You know me well. In all the years we have fought together I have never raped a woman. Never.”

“But you did three nights ago,” said Nogusta, moving forward and drawing his sword.

Orendo lifted a hand. “If you will permit me, I will do the deed myself.”

Nogusta nodded and squatted down on the other side of the fire. Orendo slowly drew his dagger. For a moment he considered hurling it at the black man. Then the image of the girl came to his mind, and he heard her voice begging for life. Swiftly he drew the sharp blade across his left wrist. Blood flowed instantly. “There is a bottle of brandy in my saddlebag. Would you get it?”

Nogusta did so, and Orendo drank deeply. “I am truly sorry about the girl,” said the dying man. “Will she recover?”

“I don’t know.”

Orendo drank again, then tossed the bottle to Nogusta. The black man took a deep swallow. “It all went wrong,” said Orendo. “Never put your trust in kings. That’s what they say. It was all so glorious in those early days. We knew where we were. The Ventrians invaded us, and we fought back. We knew what we were fighting for.” Blood was pooling on the
snow now. “Then the boy-king convinced us we should invade Ventria to force the emperor to end the war. No territorial ambitions, he said. Justice and peace were all he wanted. We believed him, didn’t we? Now look at him! Emperor Skanda, would-be conqueror of the world. Now he’s going to invade Cadia. But he has no territorial ambitions. Oh, no … the bastard!” Orendo lay back, and Nogusta moved around the fire to sit alongside him. “You remember that boy I saved?” asked Orendo.

“Yes. It was a fine deed.”

“You think it will count for me? You know … if there is a paradise.”

“I hope so.”

Orendo sighed. “I can’t feel the cold now. That’s a good thing. I’ve always hated the cold. Tell Bison not to judge me too hard, eh?”

“I am sure that he won’t.”

Orendo’s voice was slurring, then his eyes flared open. “There
are
demons,” he said suddenly. “I can see them. There are demons!”

He died then, and Nogusta rose, collected the pouch of jewels, and walked to his horse.

He glanced up at the sky, which was blue, clear, and bright. Not a trace of cloud.

Stepping into the saddle, he gathered the other three mounts and headed back for the city.

There were demons in the air over the city of Usa, shroud-pale and skinny, their talons long, their teeth sharp. Ordinary eyes could not see them, and they seemed to pose no threat to ordinary folk.

Why, then, are they here? thought Ulmenetha. Why do they hover close to the palace? The large priestess pushed her thick fingers through her short-cropped blond hair. Rising from her bed, she poured water into a bowl and washed her face. Refreshed, she silently opened the connecting door and stepped through into the queen’s bedroom. Axiana was asleep, lying on her back, one white slender arm curled around a
satin pillow. Ulmenetha smiled. Only a few years before that arm had, in the same manner, cuddled a stuffed toy—a woolen lioness with only one glass eye.