World's End (17 page)

As his air was cut off, Eric couldn't help agreeing with the Arch's assessment: he was definitely no lord, and this was a pathetic way to die. He freed his hand and struck as hard as he could at the grey robes pressing in. It made no difference to them.

Then the whole castle seemed to shiver. There was a crunching, splitting noise. The floor near Eric's feet erupted into pieces of tile, marble and plaster. The gripping hands released him. Suddenly he could breathe again. Scattering grey robes fell and rolled across the floor, their faces vacant even as Hauf barrelled among them, tearing them apart in just a few seconds.

The castle trembled again, seemed to heave and convulse with sickness. The Arch Mage fell into a wall, his shocked voice crying: ‘A dragon? You brought a dragon
here
? Aziel, make him dismiss it … you've no idea the danger …'

The castle floor tilted, knocking him into the wall. It tilted until the floor became the ceiling. All of them fell heavily, all but Hauf, whose claws dug in and held him secure above them. His growl was louder than the quake's rumble. He took slow deliberate steps across the ceiling until he was directly over the Arch's head.

The Arch Mage struggled to his feet, clutched the staff, pulled a deep breath inside himself. Great winding spires of magic drew into him. They puffed up his body, made it bloated, his skin stretched. His head and face grew large, his lips hung open. With a great huffing noise,
hoom
, his mouth poured many-coloured fire at the ceiling above. Waves of violent colour splashed all through the hall.

Eric dived at Aziel entirely from instinct, without time to think that Vyin's charm might protect them both. It seemed a shell of clear air formed about them, deflecting the Arch Mage's colourful fire. The grey robes' bodies were blasted from existence.

On and on the Arch's desperate fire went, his body now a conduit converting the raw airs into refined destructive power. There may have been better things to cast, had he the time to think. Had he known a dragon would come, he'd have used magic to escape, just as he'd escaped Vous so many times. He'd not have tried to fight it. In that moment, however, he was shocked: the two young ones had spoken truly. The dragons
had
sent them. For an instant, all became clear to him: I did their work all along. The dragons used me. Now they discard me, as I discarded so many generals and mayors. As I tried to discard Vous …

Hauf, part dragon, part golem with skin of stone, did not care for spell craft, least of all the spells of men. The colours of the Arch's fire poured into Hauf like water down a black ditch. The Arch, spent and almost burned out by his own casting, dropped his staff and fell on the shaking floor. Foul smoke poured out of him. Heavy as a mountain Hauf dropped down upon him, bones breaking with his weight. The Arch Mage cried out, joyously welcoming his death.

But again he'd misjudged. Hauf took one of the Arch's horns in his mouth. Slowly he twisted his head sideways, pulled until the horn broke off and came loose with a thread of brackish fluid. The Arch's body twisted, thrashed. Hauf set a paw down to still him, took the other horn in his mouth, pulled it free and spat it away. Still the castle roiled and shook itself. ‘Aziel,' gasped the Arch Mage.

‘Do I slay him, Firstborn?' said Hauf in his voice of stone.

‘He may stay,' she said, struggling to stand on the shaking floor. Her necklace glowed with silver light. ‘Shift your form now, Avridis.'

‘Obey the firstborn,' Hauf commanded.

Black smoke poured into the hall as the Arch Mage shifted to his animal form. The silver light of Aziel's necklace beamed through the smoke to show a bird, black like a crow but larger. It writhed and thrashed, one broken wing under Hauf's front paw.

‘In this form, you will stay,' said Aziel in a voice that was not entirely her own. Purple light flickered in her eyes. ‘I shall find a cage for you. You will be fed and given water. And you will know what it means to be caged, as I was caged, under your care. Caged, like those who sent us here to rule, and whose wishes you defied. Word of what befell you shall be spread so others know we truly are firstborn of the Favoured peoples, Favoured by the dragons, Lord and Lady of Levaal North.'

The castle shook harder yet. Eric slid into the wall.

‘Call off the dragon,' Aziel yelled to him.

‘How? Hauf! Leave us. Your work's done here.'

Eric could not hear his own voice above the castle's rattling; but Hauf turned to him and lowered his head. He said, ‘You may call on me twice more. Then I am free.' Hauf collapsed
into a pile of black stones. Within a minute, the castle ceased its convulsions and went still. The black bird hobbled and squawked, mournful sounds. It stumbled towards the window but could not hop up to the sill. It held aloft broken, mangled wings. Its one eye gleamed red, sad and angry. At last it was clear Avridis understood.

Eric ran from that hall, not knowing where he went, or even why he ran. The light that had shone in Aziel's eyes and the cold power in her voice went through his mind. Suddenly he felt like an animal whose foot had come down very close to a trap, one that would have closed if he were arrogant enough to accept the dragons' offer and declare himself lord. His encounter with Shilen loomed in his mind too: the visions of Earth destroyed, his familiar streets buried in ruin.

He went down flights of steps to the lower levels, still full of adrenaline. It did not make sense that the castle seemed to be in order; furniture, objects and the rare servant should have been a wreck, if indeed the castle had physically turned itself on its head at Hauf's appearance. Was it possible the quake had been limited to that single hallway?

He paused for breath before a window looking out onto the Great Dividing Road. Without much thought he took Hauf's amulet and drew his hand back to fling it out into the air. At that moment he noticed four unusual figures moving about among the dead Vous-things strewn on the lawns: a drake, a half-giant and two men.

Faul and Case he recognised at once. ‘Loup, is that you?' he called.

It was indeed Loup with them. The folk magician climbed aboard the red drake. Its wings thumped the air and brought it skywards. Eric called to Loup again until he'd located the right window. Case's growl was happy as he hovered in the air outside it. Eric reached out, stroked his nose, got his hand licked and a whiff of breath he could have done without.

Case thrust his head through the window. Loup climbed off his back onto the sill, while with many grunts and growls Case pushed himself through the space slightly too small for him. Part of the window frame broke away. Below, Faul and Lut marched up the same steps through which Eric and Aziel had come.

‘That Arch still here?' said Loup. ‘Give you trouble? I ain't got a mind to fight him, but Faul does. Grumbled about what she'd do to him all the way here.'

‘He's dead now, Loup.'

‘Dead?'

‘Well, incapacitated at least.'

‘Vous killed him, eh? I knew that'd happen.'

Wearily Eric recounted the tale, showed Loup the amulet. Loup murmured to himself, worried, as he examined it. ‘Dragon-make, this. But then you knew that already. Far too interested in our petty doings, are those great beasts. Whatever they told you, Eric, it comes back to them getting out of their cages and
that's all.
When they're out, none but them know what comes next.'

‘Loup, they say Aziel and I own the castle now. That we rule it.'

Surprising him, Loup grabbed him by the shoulders, his
gnarled hands gripping hard. ‘Listen to this. We may love our dogs and goats. We tie em in the yard for their own good, or we kill em when it suits. Maybe we improve their lot on the whole, or maybe we don't. But I'll tell you this just once. I think you're a twit half the time … you should've never flown north like you done, nor gone through the door at all, but I respect you.
You
choose. Choose for others or for yourself, but either way,
you
choose. And not cos the dragons wish it upon you. I can see in your eyes you only half believe all this is real. But real it is, and this choice matters. I'll be right here advising ye, if ye wish it, whatever Queen Aziel has to say.'

Aziel's voice called from the floor above theirs, seeking him. ‘And there's your queen now,' muttered Loup. ‘Listen. You know her heritage, lad. You know she was born with lordship in her veins. I'll not tell ye what to do, but you could be of service to the rest of us. All of us. You could keep her restrained! Dull her fangs, cos she'll grow long ones when she's on that throne, and use em too, you mark me saying it. Power may not do her well at all, lad. Does most men ill who wield it, even ones who don't assume they got a right to it. Keep an eye on her. That's the best thing you could do,
if
you decide you'll take this job.'

Loup grabbed Eric's wrist, the one which held the amulet. He peered at it suspiciously. The metal was still warm – it had grown warm when Eric summoned then banished Hauf. ‘Can't fathom this,' Loup murmured. ‘It does more'n just summon that dragon you speak of. Casting something about you now, but I can't see it nor fathom what it does. It's not too distant from what Aziel wears, but hers is mightier. Heed this: don't keep calling that dragon to help you. Not unless it's that, or death. No dragon's made to be a man's pet and helper. They
even begrudge our use of drakes, it's said. I'd wager Hauf broke some law among his kind, and was bound this way in punishment. To be a man's pet, that's worse than death to that prideful kind! When Hauf gets free of you, he'll bite out your throat.'

‘Loup, I don't want to be any king or lord. I don't know what I want. I was going to toss the amulet away.'

‘No! No, no! Powerful thing like this left to chance will seek out those wanting power. Remember: wizards cast spells, aye, but spells cast wizards too! Not always, but often. This thing isn't casting you, but it might cast the next who has it. You already took it as your own. That's like taking an oath. Ill comes, great ill, if you break it.'

‘YOU, PILGRIM!' Faul's voice boomed, making Loup and Eric jump, and Case's head rear back so fast it hit the wall. Faul strode in, boots thumping on the castle floor as if it were her own front porch. Lut scrambled in behind her, a short-sword in hand.

‘Hi,' said Eric.

‘Afternoon,' said Lut, nodding.

‘THAT FOOL AVRIDIS. I'LL KICK HIS HEAD ACROSS THE REALM, WHATEVER TRICKERY HE TRIES TO WEAVE. BRING HIM HERE!' She smashed one great fist into the other.

Loup explained what had happened.

‘THEN LISTEN, MAN-KING. READ THE SIGNS ABOUT THE LAND! YOU'VE NO ARMY. THE CITIES DO! AND MEN LOVE WAR. THE NEAREST CITIES MAY BE DEAD, ALL STARVED OUT, PLAGUED WITH TORMENTORS, I'VE NO NOTION. BUT HIGH CLIFFS, TANTON, YINFEL AND OTHERS: THEY'VE MEANS TO SEIZE THIS PLACE, AND YOU NO MEANS TO HALT THEM! THEY'LL COME, WHATEVER YOU CLAIM THE DRAGONS DECREE. BE GLAD THE MAYORS ARE DISTRACTED WITH THEIR OWN STRIFE, AND BY
BUSINESS AT WORLD'S END. DISTRACTED … FOR NOW! THE DAY THEY LEARN THE CASTLE IS RIPE TO TAKE IS THE DAY THEY RIDE HERE, THINKING THIS PLACE HOLDS THE SECRET TO POWER, RULE, GODHOOD AND MORE NONSENSE BESIDES. YOU NEED HELP. I CAN GIVE IT, BUT NOT FOR FREE.'

‘I'm listening, Faul.' Indeed his ears rang.

‘THERE ARE A THOUSAND OF MY PEOPLE IN THE UNCLAIMED LANDS. I'LL NOT SAY WHERE LEST WE ONE DAY NEED TO HIDE AGAIN. BUT IT IS CLOSE ENOUGH TO BEAT THE CITIES HERE.'

Loup spluttered, lost for words.

‘SURPRISED? OF COURSE IT'S TRUE. EVEN STRAGGLERS OF MY KIND THINK THEMSELVES THE LAST ONES LEFT! NOT SO. A THOUSAND AND TWELVE ELDERS, MORE IF THEY'VE BRED. KNOWING THAT LOT, THEY WILL HAVE DONE! THEY DEPARTED TO THE UNCLAIMED LANDS THE SAME DAY THE BOUNTIES BEGAN. I'VE A MOUNTAIN'S SOUL, NOT TO BE SHOVED, SO I STAYED PUT, TO BE EYES AND EARS FOR THE REST. AWAITING THE DAY AVRIDIS OR VOUS FELL. THE DAY HAS COME. I'LL SEND WORD. LUT KNOWS WHERE THEY HIDE. GO, LUT! GET A STEED FROM BELOW AND RIDE.'

Lut nodded, turned to leave, but Faul – with as much speed as Eric had seen in any half-giant – rushed to block his path. She picked him up over her head and planted a long noisy kiss on his face. A big red welt had already risen from forehead to cheek by the time she set him down. ‘WATCH FOR ELEMENTALS. BIRDS SAY THE FIRE ONES ARE ACTIVE OF LATE.'

‘Shall do. G'bye,' said Lut. Down the steps he went, not wiping her spit from his face.

‘A WEEK OR TWO, MAN-KING. LUT RIDES FAST AND MY FOLK CAN MARCH FAST. SURVIVE THAT LONG AND YOU'LL HAVE YOUR ARMY. NOT GREAT IN NUMBER, BUT A FAIR BEGINNING. NO
CITY WILL TROUBLE YOU WHILE WE SAY SO. I'LL NAME OUR TERMS FOR THIS BEFORE YOU AND THE QUEEN.'

‘Whatever terms you want are fine with me,' said Eric. ‘Aziel's upstairs, looking for a cage for her new pet bird.' He climbed aboard Case and whispered in the drake's ear. Case clambered up on the window sill then out into the air outside.

‘Where to now, lad?' said Loup nervously.

‘Anywhere. I'm going for a ride. By the way, Loup, how'd you like to be the new Arch Mage?'

Loup sputtered. ‘What?'

‘I know you're not the most powerful wizard. But I don't know much about magic. You can at least teach me about it. Job's yours, if you want it. See you later. Go, Case.'

‘O no, you don't.' Loup ran for the window, jumped out into the air and clutched onto Case's tail just as the drake began to fly away. In surprise, Case burped fire. Exasperated, Eric reached out a hand to help Loup onto the drake's back.

Of all the things Far Gaze despised – and the list grew daily – having to use any kind of combat magic in human form was foremost. The airs' lingering foreign pollution had filled his body with a queasy, lasting sickness. If the mayor's men came at him again, he thought he would prefer to wear a few sword wounds than cast to fight them.

The man with broken ribs coughed, then shrieked in pain. It was some compensation. Far Gaze rode behind them like a herdsman. The men sensed his mood well enough and they hardly dared speak. City men like these who didn't study magic closely had little idea of its limits – they probably assumed he could set them all aflame with just a thought or two. He would let them think so at least until they reached the tower. When things calmed, he would try to re-establish some trust, for Tauk would honour no debt to someone who'd become an enemy.

The tower was not far when a sight halted the horses in their tracks well before the men saw it. A man on horseback was facing towards World's End. A large man, too large in fact to
be
a man. There was a golden haze about him, rippling the air like the lapping of disturbed pond water. One of the men gasped, whispered something, kissed the chain about his neck.

Tauk drew his blade and raised it. His nervous horse pawed the ground. ‘Say your name,' Tauk cried.

The stranger turned his head their way. ‘Do you not recognise him, Mayor?' said Vade breathlessly. ‘Here is my patron Spirit.'

‘Valour!' the other men exclaimed together.

The Spirit's words fell heavy about them: ‘Is Nightmare close?'

‘We saw him far to the east, Valour,' said Tauk, quickly sheathing his sword.

Valour said, ‘A dragon is close. I claim this foe. He is not yours. Have you seen him?'

‘We have, Valour. He flew past here.'

The light of Valour's eyes was piercing and cold. It fell upon Far Gaze. ‘Have you seen the dragon?'

‘I battled the dragon you speak of,' said Far Gaze, desperately trying to recall what lore he knew of this Spirit. ‘For many days, I battled it. That was long before you named it as your foe.'

Valour's gaze stayed upon him a while longer. ‘That is well. You are to remain here. It is to war I ride.'

Far Gaze remembered what Blain had said of the Pendulum's swing, of the dangers of great powers crossing World's End. If Valour crossed, something mighty would come into the north. Was it up to him, then, to argue with a god? To tell a god not to do what it wished to do? He wiped sweat from his brow, took a deep breath. ‘Valour. What of the Pendulum swing? If you cross World's End, will not things of your great stature cross back?'

Valour said, ‘Things transpire beyond ken of Spirit, of dragon, of man.' Slowly his head turned back towards the south. ‘War strikes hot blades to their new shape.'

‘We shall join you!' Tauk cried. Tears of joy were in his eyes, the other men's too.

‘I know that you shall,' said Valour. ‘Weapons, you shall have.' The men's swords sparkled and grew hot. Frantically they drew them, tossed them away. The blades fell on the grass, dissolved into sparkling misty light which quickly vanished. New blades were in their holsters. ‘Armour, you shall have,' said Valour. There was the rattle and chime of chain mail as new armour wrapped around the men's bodies. It gleamed with bright silver light.

Joyous, they whooped, spurred their mounts to him. ‘Your arm is well,' said Valour to Tauk. ‘Your body is healed,' he said to the man with broken ribs. ‘Your steeds are refreshed, and ready. You men are fed, and well, and ready to ride with me to war.'

Far Gaze saw the debt he'd endured so much for slipping away. ‘Heal me also, I ask you,' he said. ‘Heal me of the sickness these foolish men caused me, and give me your blessing, Spirit. I battled your foe, a dragon. It was a foe beyond me, but I fought with courage. You know I speak the truth.'

Tauk glared at him, but Valour did not react. Across the boundary of World's End, a group of the new peoples – the haiyens – stood among curls of mist, watching them. The Spirit's steed took two strides towards them before it halted.

Valour turned his head, looking back behind as if he'd heard something in the distance.

‘Does something trouble you, Spirit?' said one of Tauk's men.

‘For what do we wait?' cried Tauk, eyes gleaming with battle lust. ‘Lead us on!'

‘My witness,' said Valour. His great steed took a few slow wheeling steps then dashed north with great speed, kicking up a huge plume of dust behind it.

The mayor's men tried to follow. Their steeds ran faster than
horses naturally run, but not fast enough to keep the god in sight. Far Gaze went on his way to the tower, bitter to have lost his indebted mayor – for now at least – but glad to be alone. He felt too sick right now to shift into wolf form, but suspected that the next time he did, he might just stay that way.

So, that was Valour. Sword drawn, eager for war. Meting out blessings just for men who craved battle. How much easier would life have been for Far Gaze if he had been a man like them? He felt like weeping. A mage's true place was to guide others past dangers they scarce understood. Men such as those, demanding and bellowing, blades drawn to swing at any moment. He saw it now: the schools of magic were right to withdraw their services from humankind, to live aloof and away from them. They'd been
right
!

Alas for him, it wasn't long before Tauk and his men returned. Their weapons were drawn again and the light of battle was still in their eyes. ‘You are our captive,' Tauk announced. ‘Will you fight us now, brave mage? Now that the blessing of our patron Spirit is in our blood?'

‘I never wished to fight you.'

‘I dismiss your claim of debt,' said Tauk.

Far Gaze sucked his teeth. ‘That choice will end poorly. Are you sure that is your wish?'

‘Ha! Bind his hands. None of your cheek now, mage. I'll not gag you, but I'll cut your wolf tongue out. Bind him! We ride. The tower is close.'