T. S. Church

Return to Canifis

PROLOGUE

“So we agree then? You will provide me with the horses and men?”

Sulla sat with his back to the ruined wall, the light from the fire reflected in his blind left eye, his face hideously scarred. Six months of flight and hiding had thinned his once muscular body. His clothes were torn rags, the soles of his boots flapped loose, his hair had grown down to his shoulders, and a wild beard covered his face, which irritated his scarred flesh in the hot weather.

If I only had hands to scratch the mites! But she has denied me even that.

“We will indeed,” the man replied. “Although I would feel better if you had a hand I could shake.” The bandit leader smiled to his men, fifteen in all, who laughed at the joke. Sulla said nothing-he had endured far worse than cheap japes, as the ragged cloths tied about each of his wrists testified.

“Don’t worry, my friend, you can trust me,” the man continued. “I may be an outlaw, but Leander the thief always keeps his word.” The bandit stroked his short moustache, his eyes greedy.

“Very well,” Sulla said. “At dawn I will lead you to the treasure that shall be your payment, but now I must sleep. I am not as strong as I used to be.” He stretched out on the ground as best he could-and winced at the pain it caused.

Sulla closed his eyes to rest, yet he only feigned sleep. Instead, he slowed his breathing, and after a long stretch of silence the bandits began to murmur to one another. As they did, he listened carefully.

He could pick out Leander and his lieutenant, Barbec, speaking in low voices. Leander said something which made Barbec gasp.

Have they realised who I am? he wondered.

Soon after, he heard the scrape of a knife being sharpened across a whetstone.

He had taken a tremendous risk in walking into Leander’s camp alone. Jerrod had advised him against it, and he knew the werewolf would not be far away. It amazed him how close the creature could get to his prey before being detected-close enough that it was always too late for his victims. He was probably less than a stone’s throw away, even now, watching Sulla’s back.

The knife finished scraping across the whetstone.

Perhaps he means to cut my throat with it? Sulla mused, yet still he didn’t move. Have they guessed who I am? No doubt the Kinshra have offered a reward for my capture, and a description to go with it, for I know them well. Didn’t I lead them once, against her?

Sulla gritted his teeth at the thought of Kara-Meir and their last confrontation, when she had fought him in single combat and had severed both his hands.

It would have been a hundred times kinder to kill me, and you knew it. You knew it!

Suddenly Sulla felt his right hand clench into a tight fist.

He forced himself to breathe calmly. It wasn’t the first time he had endured such ghostly feelings from hands that he no longer possessed. For the last six months every day had been a trial for him. Without hands it was impossible to eat or ride or fight. He had become entirely dependant on his werewolf friend, Jerrod.

It made him… uncomfortable.

Together they had fled and then hidden, until, with agonizing slowness, Sulla grew strong enough to walk again. Eventually, they ventured out to the north, into The Wilderness, hoping to hide themselves in that lawless realm while they planned how best to revenge themselves upon those who had defeated them.

Nevertheless, they had done well together. Jerrod still had those who aided him on his journey, yet Sulla could tell that the werewolf feared his master, who twice had appeared to him, offering him council in The Wilderness-although Sulla had seen and heard nothing when it had occurred. Each time the information he had given them had saved them from certain death, so Sulla had asked no questions.

And that is how I know you are coming after me, Kara-Meir. You, Gar’rth, and that barbarian priestess. You are so near. Soon, we shall start our journey south, to Varrock, to complete this plan of Jerrod’s undead master. And I will be there to see it.

He dreamt, as he had on a thousand other occasions, of what he would do to Kara-Meir and her friends if ever they came under his power again.

I will be there to see it!

Leander the thief watched as his men sweated from the work, but made no move to assist them.

The ground was hard from the dry summer. They had travelled east all morning to reach their destination-a parched plain where only sickly-coloured vegetation grew. Farther south, the land undulated in a series of long wide barrows until their view was finally barred by a small range of hills. Beyond that, Sulla knew, was Varrock.

“Can’t they dig any faster?” he demanded. The thief just stared.

“I would ask you to help,” he said, “only I don’t think your handiwork would be of any use.” He smiled at his taunt.

Suddenly a cry from one of the bandits silenced them. The man drove his spade into the ground, where it struck a metallic surface with a loud clang. All attention turned to where he stood.

“Dig it out!” Leander commanded. The men dug furiously before dragging a box from the earth. Leander knelt by the lock, examining it intently.

“You’ll need the key,” Sulla advised.

Leander smiled and pulled an object from his pouch.

“Be patient my mysterious friend, and see how a genuine thief deals with such a simple barrier.” Deftly, he inserted his pick and listened, carefully teasing the teeth of the lock.

Seconds later, it gave a satisfying click and fell open. As Leander’s men cheered, Barbec moved to Sulla’s side, and the fallen warlord noted how the man’s hand gripped his sword.

As I anticipated…

Leander lifted the lid of the box, his eyes widening as he perceived the thick wad of paper inside. He turned his head and opened his mouth to speak, when suddenly he gave a cry and jerked his hand away from the lock, his face grimacing in pain.

“It’s a poisoned needle,” Sulla explained calmly. “Its effects are immediate, and the pain will drive you mad within hours.”

“Kill him!” Leander screamed, leaping to his feet and furiously massaging his arm.

Barbec drew his blade and held it to Sulla’s throat.

Sulla didn’t move as he stared at him with quiet malice. Barbec hesitated.

No sign of weakness. If you are weak, you die. When he spoke, his voice was calm, his words measured.

“If you spare me I can make you all rich, for only I know the true value of what is contained in those parchments,” he said. “Kill me, and you shall have nothing.”

Barbec looked back to Leander. The thief had collapsed onto his knees and was writhing in agony. While the men stared at their leader, a figure emerged from the shadows and stood silently behind them.

Perfect timing.

“Need I add that I will spare your lives?” Sulla asked as a low growl emerged from the newcomer. The bandits spun, and several cried out in fear as the hirsute figure neared.

“A w-w-werewolf!” one of them stammered.

Several of his fellows drew their blades and held them out. But none dared advance on the creature.

“Do nothing, for he is my associate,” Sulla said. “From Morytania. His name is Jerrod. Put away your rusted weapons-none of them can harm him. They will only serve to make him angry, and if that happens, you will not live out the day.”

“What do you want from us?” Barbec asked. He was a short bald-headed man with a nose that looked as if it had been broken a number of times, and he spoke in a low grumble.

“We shall go to Varrock,” Sulla replied. “It is a big enough city to hide in, and with the contents of this box we will make ourselves rich.”

The men hesitated.

Finally, Barbec decided for them.

“We’ll come with you… Sulla.”

So you do know me! With that realisation came anger-that news of his defeat had spread so far that even in The Wilderness, simple bandits dared to mock him.

“How long have you known?” he demanded.

“Since we made the agreement.” Barbec looked to Leander once, and licked his lips uncertainly. “Leander wanted to sell you to the Kinshra, but I thought we should first see the treasure.” His eyes fell on the box. “What’s in there anyhow?”

Sulla laughed.

“These parchments contain important information, but they are written in an old Kinshra code, and only I can decipher them.” He turned to face the men, who still clustered away from the werewolf. “For now that is all you need to know. Now, get the horses ready!”

The men moved to obey, while Jerrod reached for Leander. As he did so, the thief drew a knife in trembling hands, and found his tongue.

“It hurts!” he gasped, dropping his knife as Jerrod dragged him a short distance away.

“As I knew it would,” Sulla said gleefully. “Alas, it is a temporary poison that only lasts a single day. An old woman prepared it for me when I was still part of the Kinshra knighthood.” Briefly, he wondered what had become of the sybil who had served him so well, but swiftly he shook off such sentiment. He crouched and moved in close to the thief, nodding in the direction of the knife that lay on the ground.

“That is the easiest way to end your pain, my duplicitous friend,” he sneered.

“What is in the box?” Leander stammered.

Sulla leaned down to speak privately his ear.

“When I was in the Kinshra I made copies of certain secret documents. These documents contain sensitive information concerning a number of wealthy people and their organisations, from here all the way to Kandarin. In diplomacy, the Kinshra often have to persuade influential people to aid their cause, and blackmail has proved a most effective tool.” He stood again. “Now I have that tool. And I will use it.”

“The Kinshra will kill you for it!”

“They would kill me anyway, if they could. Meanwhile, I can have a little fun wrecking their spy networks-for a small profit-can’t I?” He looked into the distance. “I think I will start in Varrock. There is wealth there, wealth owned by people whose names appear in those documents.”

With that, Sulla brought his boot into Leander’s chin with a sharp crack. The thief’s head jerked, and he slumped into unconsciousness.

“Why don’t we kill him?” Jerrod whispered.

“No,” Sulla said. “We need his men’s loyalty, at least for now, and killing him might be too much for them to stomach. Besides…” He looked warily around him. “Lone travellers don’t last long out here-especially unconscious ones.”

A moment later, with Jerrod’s aid, Sulla clambered into a saddle. The werewolf stepped away and pulled his cloak about him, hiding his face as he returned to his human form. Once he had done so, he climbed up behind Sulla. He never rode alone-no horse would tolerate it, and he was as uncomfortable with the beasts as they were with him.

“We ride south to Varrock-if we make haste, we can be there in time for Midsummer,” Sulla said. “Our destination is an estate to the east of the city. The owner has lands that range from the River Salve to the edges of the city itself. There I will send a message to an old acquaintance of mine, the leader of the Phoenix Gang.”

And then, as darkness fell across The Wilderness, and creatures far more terrible than Jerrod stirred, they rode south toward more civilised lands, leaving Leander the thief to his fate.

1

It was well past midnight when the two men strode through the deserted streets. Theodore stifled a yawn, and his companion noted the sign of fatigue.

“What in Saradomin’s name inspired you to wear your armour to Lady Anne’s party, Theodore?” he inquired. “It’s no surprise that you are tired, after such a long evening.”

“I knew that I could not be asked to dance in my armour, Father Lawrence,” the young squire replied, stifling another yawn. “It provided me with the one excuse I could think to contrive.

“And it worked,” he added with a satisfied nod.

“Lady Anne is a most generous hostess,” the older man replied, peering intently at his friend’s shadowed face. “And she is a beautiful woman.”

“I would not have expected to hear that, coming from you,” Theodore said wryly. “Surely, a priest of Saradomin should have interests that are perhaps more… celestial?”

The old priest shook his head and laughed, mirroring his companion’s good humour. Father Lawrence’s clean-shaven face displayed the burden of years and just a passing familarisation with the sin of gluttony. His red nose and cheeks were a symptom of the Varrock ale he had consumed earlier that night, at the behest of the selfsame Lady Anne.

“I say it only to tease, Theodore,” he admitted. “As a squire in the service of the Knights of Falador you and I are similarly barred from the pleasures of a hearth and a home.” He nodded his head, as if to acknowledge the presence of a greater authority. “It is the vow we must all take, those of us who enter Saradomin’s service.”

“Perhaps you could kindly explain that to Lady Anne, then,” Theodore responded, a hint of irritation edging into his voice. “For six months now, she has repeatedly made unwanted advances, ever since my arrival here.” He glanced at the stars and exhaled. “And I do not trust her. She schemes as easily as you and I might breathe the night air.”

“She is a young woman of high birth, Theodore,” the priest said. “Consider it from her point of view. What better match to make than a hero of the war in Asgarnia? And her schemes are not malicious.” He paused as they approached the centre of the large square that stood to the south of King Roald’s palace. Theodore sensed a change in his friend’s mood.

“You are still only a squire, Theodore,” Father Lawrence continued. “As peons, you vow to serve your order, but it is only when you become a full knight that you commit yourself irrevocably to Saradomin and your mission.” His eyes were bright, in contrast to the shadows cast by the torches that ringed the square.

“What are you suggesting, Father Lawrence?” Theodore asked, his tone harsher than he had meant it to be.

“I am not suggesting anything, Theodore,” the old man answered hastily. “Everyone has heard stories of the war, and of its heroes. Of the passions that gripped those who fought together to defeat the invading forces.”

Theodore laughed, then stopped suddenly as the sound echoed off the walls of the square.

“I see,” he said, lowering his voice. “You think I refuse Lady Anne because I am in love with another? I suppose there may be an element of truth in it, but even if that is the case, it doesn’t matter. I am committed to my order. I took my vow, and I expect to reinforce it with a new one when I become a knight.”

Father Lawrence said nothing as he regarded the fountain at the square’s centre. It was a tribute to the River Salve and the safety only the legendary waterway could ensure. The fountain was a large pool over which a cross-shaped bridge had been built, the paving laid out from north to south and east to west. Where the two paths met-not quite in the centre-there stood four austere statues rising from the waters, armed as knights and ready for war. At the base of each a thin stream of water cascaded out.

Theodore sensed unease in the priest, as if he was withholding something.

Does everyone in Varrock know? he wondered. Am I really such an open book? After a moment of silence, he spoke again.

“It has been my life’s dream to become a knight, Father Lawrence,” he said. “I have fought and killed and carried out all my duties to the best of my ability. As for Kara, it was a message from our friend Arisha that actually informed me of her plan.” At that, the priest glanced in his direction.

“And you fear for her safety?”

“Who wouldn’t?” Theodore replied. “She pursues her enemies into The Wilderness, with only Gar’rth and Arisha to help her. She is a genuine warrior, Father Lawrence, but I fear for anybody who ventures north into that land.

“They say even the gods have abandoned it,” he added.

The old man shook his head as he ran his hand over his hairless cranium.

“You first came to me to confess your doubts weeks ago, Theodore,” he said, “and I have kept your confidences. I know the conflict that carrying out your duty has caused in you: you obeyed orders that endangered Kara.” Father Lawrence pointed to the fountain that stood before them, and the figures standing in the water.

“They knew their duty as well.” He indicated the nearest statue, representing a tall man of lean muscle with a grim expression carved onto his stone face. “That one there is Tenebra, who was the King’s heir at the time he went to war. He was just twenty, only slightly older than you, when he led his father’s nation against Lord Drakan. His three brothers make up the remaining statues-Bran, Hywell and Henry. None of these men returned from the battle at the River Salve, and the fifth and youngest son inherited the crown. Poor Tenebra, from what I recall, there weren’t enough of his remains to be recovered.”

Theodore regarded the statue.

“I suppose you’re suggesting that duty will lead to a short and unhappy life.” Theodore grinned. “Nevertheless, I do my duty here as a diplomat of the Knights of Falador, though I admit the role is making me feel lazy and entirely too comfortable.” He smiled wryly as he thought back over the evening’s events. “No, romance is not for me-that is a sacrifice with which I will have to live. I have made my choice Father Lawrence.”

“And what a noble sacrifice it must be Theodore!” Father Lawrence answered sarcastically. “Well, I know your friend William would welcome Lady Anne’s attention, so he at least will be pleased to know of your decision.” Then he lowered his voice, serious once again. “But to be a knight of Saradomin is to be respected by soldiers and kings far beyond Falador and the borders of Asgarnia. Here in Varrock and the realm of Misthalin, young men queue up to follow you and train for your order, to test their mettle. In your diplomatic role you have recruited and trained hundreds of candidates, and many more will follow. Indeed, so proud are the citizens of Varrock that we have even paid for their armour, white, like your own. It is-”

Suddenly the priest stopped and stared. He knelt and examined a portion of the fountain wall.

“Look here.” Father Lawrence’s voice had lost all trace of warmth. Theodore knelt at his side. At the base of one of the statues was a painted mark. What he had thought at first was an act of vandalism was evidently something more.

It was the image of an owl, with its wings spread and its head turned fully behind it.

“I have seen several of these images in my time in Varrock,” Theodore noted. “But what are they? What do they mean?”

“It is the symbol of vigilance, Theodore. We in Varrock are barely more than a day’s travel from the holy river. Being so close to such a powerful evil, we must always be watchful. Some whisper that the Society of Owls protects Varrock from Lord Drakan’s minions, that its followers venture into Morytania itself. It is a Varrock folklore, I fear, and in times of worry citizens are apt to scrawl the sign above doorways and upon walls to give one another confidence.”

“In times of worry?”

Father Lawrence stood, his face drawn.

“There is nothing to concern you, Squire Theodore,” he said. “Let us leave it at that. It is late, and you should return to the palace, while I find my way back to my church and to bed.”

The two men shook hands and made to part. As they did so, a passing black cat with a red collar arched his back and hissed aggressively.

Instinctively Theodore turned, following the cat’s gaze.

Something large flew overhead, in a westerly direction. He caught a glimpse of immense leathery wings and was reminded instantly of a bat.

“Did you see that?” he cried. “What was it?”

But Father Lawrence was already moving, running to the western side of the square.

“Follow me Theodore. We must act quickly!”

And in his hand, Theodore saw the four-pointed silver star that was the symbol of their shared god, Saradomin.

The two men arrived shortly at a street of tall grey-stone town houses that stood in neat, three-storey serried ranks which bespoke of commerce and wealth.

“There! The tailor’s house. Did you see?” Father Lawrence hissed. “It went in there. The top window.”

Theodore didn’t hesitate. He drew his sword as he ran, and by the time he reached the door he could hear the screams. It was a woman’s voice.

The door broke inward as he crashed against it. It was a stout barrier, and he winced as pain lanced through his shoulder. Quickly he cast the feeling aside and climbed the stairs. Above him, he could see weird shadows convulsing in the candlelight. A woman screamed again.

Saradomin give me speed!

He reached the top of the stairs as the shattering of glass sounded. It was followed by a wail.

“You can’t take her!” a man shouted as Theodore burst into the topmost room. He scanned the room in a second, taking in the chaos in the nursery, the desperate tailor and his wife and the thing they both fought against.

He had faced werewolves and goblins, as well as human foes of every shape and size. Yet all his experience had not prepared him for the creature that met his eyes in that room. Huge horned wings protruded from its shoulders, each like a curved shield the height of a tall man. On their underside they looked like those of a bat, but on the outside they were covered by a thick leather skin, tough enough to fend off the tailor’s attacks. But the thing beneath the wings was what paralysed Theodore.

He had the impression of a female, lost under a dark hirsute body. The face was like a bat’s, its nose a wide snout above a long mouth tipped with fangs and revealing a thin, whip-like tongue. But it was its eyes that held him. Orange flames burned in the pupils, sweeping across them all with an unnatural hatred.

It stared, its gaze baleful.

“Give me my daughter!” the tailor demanded, wielding a broken wooden chair leg that was utterly ineffective as a weapon. He smashed it against its wing as the monster stepped back and knelt in preparation to jump, and at that moment Theodore caught sight of a baby clutched in its arms, grasped by long fingers each ending with an inch-long talon.

Its arm snapped out and raked the tailor’s face.

The man dropped his club and pressed his hand over the wound, screaming as blood ran through his fingers. His expression shifted from rage to pleading.

“Please don’t take her,” he cried. “Please.”

That released Theodore from his paralysis. He ran forward, raising his sword, but the tailor’s wife leapt into his path, forcing him to twist his weapon to one side to avoid skewering her.

“She is needed,” the creature said, its voice animalistic and unnatural. “You will not be parted for long. Soon we will all share in his darkness.”

Theodore pushed the mother aside and brought his sword arm around in a wide sweep, intending to sever the creature’s legs. But already it had jumped back, quicker than he could have believed, diving through the window and out into the night.

Shouts echoed up from the street outside, followed by the twang of crossbows and the hiss of bolts slicing through the air.

The squire caught a last glimpse of the creature, flying quickly eastward above the uneven rooftops of Varrock. On the street below he could make out the yellow tabards of the city guard, accompanied by a number of men in black-leather armour. Curious citizens were being herded into doorways and instructed to return to their homes and draw their curtains.

“My daughter. She’s gone, gone.” The tailor’s wife wept upon the bed as Father Lawrence appeared in the door frame. “Why do you not speak? My husband…” She reached in his direction, but seemed rooted to the spot.

Theodore sheathed his sword and approached the tailor. The man had fallen backward, and his hand still covered his face.

“Don’t touch him!” Father Lawrence commanded. “There is more here than you know.”

The priest advanced and pulled the man’s hand away. The tailor said nothing, and didn’t resist.

Very quickly Theodore saw why.

“Gods!” He shook his head and stepped back instinctively, for the man’s face had turned black around the wound the creature had inflicted. As they watched, the tailor uttered an agonized rattle of breath, convulsed, and lay still.

The tailor’s wife let out a howl of utter anguish and ran to the dead man.

“Theodore, don’t let her touch his wounds!” Father Lawrence shouted.

Quickly the squire grabbed her and held her, ignoring her blasphemies, threats and pleas as he sought to keep her away from her husband’s body.

“Saradomin will care for him,” he said, trying to sound reassuring and knowing that he failed utterly. “I promise you.”

“And what of my daughter?” she demanded, choking back sobs of anger. “Where’s your god now? The city is doomed. We are all doomed. The time of the prophecy is upon us and there is nothing anyone can do.”

Theodore could not think of a suitable reply. As he restrained her he heard a host of feet trampling up the stairs. A body of the black-clad men he had seen in the street crowded into the room, a tall man, also in black, at their head. Theodore thought he had seen him before, at the palace.

The squire felt the man’s eyes fall on him, his gaze was cold. Then he addressed his men.

“Get the woman downstairs and into the cart,” he barked, his eyes still on Theodore. “You know where to take her. Handle the body of her husband with extreme caution,” he looked at the dead man, “and respect. Then board up the windows and doors and leave the mark of the plague upon the lintel.”

His men carried out his orders quickly and efficiently. One of them unwound a black silk sheet which they used to wrap the tailor’s corpse. It was bound at both ends and he was carried swiftly from the room.

“What’s going on?” Theodore demanded. “I know you-I’ve seen you around the court. Who are you?”

“Theodore, this is the Lord Despaard,” Father Lawrence said. The man in black offered the squire no greeting. Instead, he took off his gloves and adjusted the cloak that was secured about his neck by a silver chain.

Finally, Lord Despaard spoke.

“I know you too, Theodore Kassel,” he said grimly. “I know of the famed knights and I know well your own reputation. They say you are a god-fearing man.”

Theodore nodded. He was conscious of Lord Despaard’s soldiers, who had returned to the room in number. Two of them went to the window, which they began to board up, while the others surrounded him in a loose circle.

“My Lord Despaard,” Father Lawrence said earnestly, “Squire Theodore can be relied upon to keep the peace. He need not be imprisoned like the rest.”

Like the rest?

Theodore’s hand found his sword hilt.

“Imprisoned? What’s going on here?” he demanded.

“I know that as a hero of the war and a respected ambassador of the knights you have the ear of many nobles in Varrock,” Lord Despaard said coldly. “But these are matters in which you have no power, and none will aid you, should it come to that.”

Father Lawrence’s hand fell onto Theodore’s shoulder.

“Heed his words, my young friend. You must do as he says.”

Despaard spoke again.

“I command you to keep silent about what occurred here tonight,” he said. “If you do not then you will be… detained, as others have, to prevent panic from spreading.”

“What is happening, Lord Despaard?” the squire asked, making little effort to hide the anger in his voice.

“This is not a question of fighting an enemy armed with a sword, as you are used to,” the man replied. “These are the doings of Morytania, which we must fight as best we can.”

Theodore’s eyes narrowed.

“I have fought enemies from that land, as well, Lord Despaard.”

The nobleman gave a quick look of surprise.

“Then you should know that we fight for a greater good,” he said. This time his voice carried a hint of respect. “I haven’t just fought invaders from Morytania, I have been to Morytania. That land leaves its mark on those who walk there.”

Despaard walked to the window, and as he passed his men stood aside. One of the shutters had yet to be boarded up. He opened it to look out across the rooftops.

“Can you feel her, Theodore? Can you hear her?” He stared, as if his eyes could pierce the darkness. “I can, sometimes, when she is near, when she comes to Varrock to feed.”

“I have felt a presence similar to hers before,” Theodore answered, looking into the faces of the men nearby. They were hard men, he saw, soldiers who existed only for their secret war. “Last year in Asgarnia a werewolf named Jerrod crossed the River Salve and killed several people.”

But I will not tell you any more.

“Then you and I may have more in common than you think, squire of Asgarnia.” Despaard turned from the window, which was quickly nailed shut. “But for now, take your hand off your sword and return to the palace. If you refuse, then I shall have my men escort you.” He raised his right hand to reveal a ring on his finger. Theodore saw it bore the insignia of a black owl, resting on a ruby background, with its wings spread and its head turned around. He breathed out deeply to conceal his surprise, and looked furtively to Father Lawrence, who was standing too far away to see it for himself.

“This ring of office grants me whatever power I need to fulfil my obligations,” Despaard said in a tone that once again had become coldly matter-of-fact. “Now go.”

Theodore pursed his lips.

“I shall do as you bid,” he responded, “but covering up this evil will not make it go away.” At that he left the room hastily, aware of Father Lawrence following closely behind him.

They made their way back to the main square. Theodore said nothing at first, for the priest obviously knew far more about the creature than he had let on.

Finally, he could keep quiet no longer.

“How many others have there been, Father Lawrence?” he demanded through gritted teeth. “How long has this been going on?”

The old man bowed his head and remained silent for a long moment as they walked briskly.

“There is no other way, Theodore,” he said. “You do not understand.”

“Then explain it to me.” The squire’s back ached horribly after his exertion. He groaned slightly as he stretched as best he could in his armour. The priest glanced at him with concern.

“Do you wish to sit down perhaps? You are clearly in pain.”

“It’s a war wound, Father,” Theodore replied quickly. “A Kinshra knight bested me in single combat in the final hours of the siege. He would have killed me if Castimir hadn’t intervened with his magic.” He winced again. “My back has never been right since, but now I am more concerned with what is happening here. A baby was kidnapped tonight.” The memory of it caused him to shudder.

Father Lawrence ran his hand over his tonsured head before he spoke.

“There have been kidnappings, and there have been killings. This creature-what we call the Wyrd-has been plaguing our city for about eight months. Sometimes it will be a farm hand in the eastern countryside. That was how it all began. People disappearing, their bodies found mutilated. Then it was children, stolen from their beds at night, some never found. It is Lord Despaard’s unenviable job to take the relatives of the victims and make certain they cannot spread a panic throughout the city.”

Theodore stared at him in amazement.

“Would they not understand?” he asked finally. “Morytania has plagued your realm for centuries. Surely this is just the latest in a long line of horror that you have had to deal with from Lord Drakan?”

Father Lawrence laughed bitterly.

“What do you know of the High Priest of Entrana, Theodore-of the man known as Leo the Fifth?”

The squire was silent for a moment before he replied.

“Leo was the High Priest of Saradomin a century ago,” he said. “Famous for his prophecies…”

“Aha! Let me stop you there,” the priest said, holding up a hand. “Yes, exactly. He was famous for his prophecies, and that is the problem. Do you know what his final prophecy was?”

Theodore shook his head. He had little faith in prophecies, preferring to focus his attention on tasks he could perform with his own two hands-aiding the poor and hungry, defending Asgarnia from those who would do it harm, and opposing the followers of Zamorak. Living his life to be an example to others. In his experience, prophecies rarely came true, and were the work of charlatans.

Father Lawrence spoke again.

“It goes something like this,” he said. “Five score shall pass and a creature of death shall haunt the land, and in its wake, the true King will come. When he crosses the river, the lands will be one. One King for one kingdom. A kingdom of the living and of the dead.

“He uttered that prophecy on his deathbed, it is said-almost a century ago. Whether or not he actually spoke those words matters not in the least-it is believed across the land, and the coming of this killer has been enough to cause Varrock to begin to tear itself apart. That is why Lord Despaard is ensuring there can be no witnesses left after seeing this Wyrd.”

“Yet he let me go.”

“He did,” the priest replied. “You are not a peasant, Theodore. You are one of us. And you will keep the silence, for what else is there to do? Now, I must away to my church, for tomorrow I will ride out to the estate of Draul Leptoc to give what little comfort I can to those poor individuals Lord Despaard is holding.” He pulled his cloak more tightly around him. “Goodnight Theodore.”

He extended his hand, and only after a long moment did Theodore take it.

The squire watched as Father Lawrence left the square, and as he turned to take in a last view of the fountain, he was surprised to see a young woman standing in the shadows.

How long has she been there?

She watched him, carefully, and Theodore could see by her expression that she was afraid. She had the look of high birth, for her dark hair was brushed and her skin was without any blemish, yet her clothes were that of a lady’s servant. He moved to approach her.

“You are a Knight of Falador?” she asked.

“I am Theodore, a squire of the knights,” he corrected. “Is anything amiss?”

“I know the reputation of the Knights of Falador, and I have heard of you before for your conduct in the war. It is said you fought bravely and with honour.”

“I did my duty as best I could.” Theodore stopped some distance away from her. “Have we met before?”

“No, Theodore, we have not,” the woman replied, straightening somewhat. Her voice became stronger, louder as she spoke. “As I said, I know your order, yet I am puzzled. By you.” Suddenly she was shouting. “What kind of squire would help the authorities of Varrock kidnap innocent people?”

“But I haven’t…”

Before he could finish his sentence the woman drew back and hurled a stone toward him. He raised his arm only just in time to prevent it from striking his face.

By the time he had recovered, she was but a shadow fleeing to the south of the square.

“You are wrong!” he cried as she vanished into the darkness.

Shaking his head in anger and confusion, Theodore suddenly felt very tired indeed.

2

It was afternoon, and a grey light shone through the high windows of the palace’s great hall. The sweat on Theodore’s clothes was cold against his skin after the exersion of overseeing the training of twenty recruits for the knights.

The squire shook his head bitterly as he approached the grand staircase. Although the knights had triumphed in the siege of Falador, the cost had been tremendously high. He hadn’t been present when his order had been betrayed and surrounded by Sulla’s forces, where nine out of every ten men had died. Even now, it was something he found impossible to even imagine.

Afterwards, as a hero of the siege and a squire of the knights, Theodore had been sent to Varrock to recruit promising young men and replenish the ranks. Many responded to the call, and he had found a handful of promising candidates. By putting them through the paces they would encounter as peons, he weeded out those who would not pass muster.

“Squire Theodore!” a familiar voice called. He turned to see a young man only a few months his senior descending the stairs with great care. He was dressed as a nobleman of Varrock, yet his slight frame gave him a scholarly air-that of someone unused to physical exertion. His short black beard and moustache were neatly trimmed, for those who maintained a presence in the Varrock court were expected to be well-presented. Accordingly, his black cloak, trimmed in otter fur, was pinned by a silver brooch in the shape of a fox, the symbol of his house.

“Lord William.” Theodore greeted the friend who had acted as his guide in Varrock. William was honest and unpretentious, despite his noble background. He was intelligent, too, devouring history and keeping abreast of the latest news.

“You have a matter of great import to deal with,” William said. “One that requires all of your diplomatic talent, Theodore.” He paused and peered at his friend. “Just what are you going to tell Lady Anne?” he probed. “She wishes to dance with you at the Midsummer Festival, and everyone is waiting for news of Kara-Meir. You have told me repeatedly that she promised to be here by Midsummer for your reunion, yet still she is not here. The city can’t wait much longer.”

Theodore stared at the floor and shook his head.

“She hasn’t written to me for months, William. I know Ebenezer, Doric and Castimir are all coming, and should be here either today or tomorrow, but about Gar’rth and Kara I am still unsure.” He avoided William’s questioning stare. He knew his friend wished him to elabourate, yet he did not wish to do so. Kara’s long silence had both hurt and angered him, and he didn’t wish to admit such weakness-not to anybody.

“In that case, Lady Anne is seizing her chance,” William said after a moment. “She wishes to dance with the dashing knight who has refused the many fair maidens of Varrock. Your reluctance has made people think this Kara-Meir must be very special indeed.”

Theodore smiled at William’s jest. Yet he knew it was true. He had lived in the palace at Varrock for six months, an honoured guest feted as a hero. He had participated in hunts on the King’s own chase, and jousted with the greatest warriors of the realm.

But more than ever he missed Kara.

None of the noblewomen he had met could equal her. His aloofness had given him a reputation as a truly noble knight, and his chaste demeanour had marked him as an impossible challenge which none of the ladies at court seemed able to resist.

“She is special,” Theodore admitted, “as you shall see if she comes.”

At once he knew he had made a mistake.

“If she comes?” William’s face darkened. “I thought she had promised?”

“She did promise. But the last I heard of her she had ventured into The Wilderness.”

William exhaled in despair.

“Gods! Why would she go there? I’ve heard people say she promised never to fight again after claiming Sulla’s hands?”

“She gave up her quest for vengeance, but she never promised to stop fighting.” Theodore took two strides up the staircase. “I will let you know if I hear anything new,” he said, glad to end the conversation.

Only minutes later, he was finishing his wash when someone forced the door to his chamber open. It was William again.

“She is here, Theodore! Kara-Meir is here!”

At last!

Theodore’s heart raced. He felt such relief that she had arrived. Quickly he wiped the water from his face, hiding his smile with his towel.

“She is at the Flying Donkey Inn,” William continued. “If we hurry we can be there within half an hour.”

“We shall ride,” Theodore said, his hand gripping William’s arm in eagerness. “Soon you will see why she is special, William.”

“I know she is touched by the gods, Theodore.”

The two friends ran to the stables. As they rode out through the courtyard Theodore noticed palace guards chatting with great animation. He was struck by how the mere mention of Kara’s name had lifted the spirits of the men.

Theodore and William left their horses with a member of the city guards, for the crowd outside the inn was too dense for them to pass on horseback. A dozen of the guards, clad in yellow tabards worn over their chain mail, kept a wary eye to ensure that things did not get out of control.

Suddenly, a voice shouted from the second floor window of the inn, and a man waved for attention.

Quickly, the crowd hushed.

“Kara-Meir is here,” he called. “But she has travelled far, and is exhausted. She will spend tonight at the Flying Donkey, and already has retired for the night. Tomorrow afternoon she will appear at this very window, to speak to you before heading to the palace to attend the Midsummer festivities. There will be nothing more to see today, however.” With that he closed the shutters.

The crowd gave a collective groan and broke up.

How strange that Kara would arrive, yet send no word, Theodore thought, a sense of disquiet clawing at the back of his neck. And even more so that she would allow such a fellow to speak for her.

The disappointed populace quickly returned to their homes, allowing Theodore and William to make their way inside.

“Why didn’t she come to the palace?” William asked as Theodore ascended the stairway.

“I don’t know,” Theodore replied. “But I intend to find out.”

“Hold it!” a heavy-set man prevented Theodore from climbing any farther. “This whole floor has been given to Kara-Meir.”

“I am Squire Theodore, of the Knights of Falador,” he said. “I am Kara’s associate.”

The man looked back over his shoulder to the innkeeper, who stood on the landing above. Theodore recognised him as the man who had addressed the crowd.

“Your name is known to us Squire Theodore,” the innkeeper said, “but Kara-Meir has left very specific instructions…” He looked at once embarrassed and emboldened. “She doesn’t want to be disturbed… by anyone.”

Theodore opened his mouth to speak, but found he couldn’t form the words. His stomach felt as if it was being squeezed by an invisible hand.

“But this is Theodore!” William protested. “He is the man who saved Kara-Meir’s life, and fought with her at the siege of Falador!”

The innkeeper looked uncertain. After a moment he seemed to arrive at a decision.

“Wait here,” he said, disappearing from the landing.

Theodore listened for Kara’s voice, but the sounds rising from the main room of the tavern made it impossible to hear anything else. After a few moments the man returned, the expression on his face unreadable.

“I have told her you are here,” he said. “But she is very tired. She has asked you to return tomorrow.”

“What about her companions-Gar’rth? And Arisha?” Theodore said finally. “Are they also unavailable?”

The innkeeper shook his head.

“I know of no such persons. She is alone, aside from a street urchin she has employed as her servant.”

What could have caused them to separate?

“Has she been injured?” Theodore asked anxiously. It didn’t make any sense for Kara to behave in such a way, and the more he thought about it, the more the fact that Gar’rth and Arisha were missing concerned him. Had only Kara survived their trip into The Wilderness?

“She seems in perfect health,” the innkeeper answered. “You may write her a message from downstairs if you wish. Ask Karl for paper and ink. I shall see she gets it.”

The squire stood there, frozen, wrestling with the urge to push past the heavy-set man who barred the way. This was so unlike the Kara he knew, yet given the tension that had existed between them, to force the issue might only make matters worse. As he wrestled with his thoughts, a hand appeared on his shoulder.

“Come, Theodore,” William said, disappointment thick in his voice. “Let us get a drink, and you can write your letter. We can return tomorrow.”

Theodore nodded, allowing himself to be led to a table. Yet no matter how he considered what had happened, it simply didn’t make sense.

“I shall get you a strong drink, Theodore. A dwarven stout I think, imported from Falador. That will help you regain your composure.” The squire watched absently as his friend approached the waitress who stood near the kegs, being careful not to come into contact with any of the other men who clustered nearby. Not all of the townspeople had returned to their homes, and the news that Kara had taken a room here had brought in far more customers than usual.

A man approached, following William’s direction, and without saying a word deposited a pen, paper, and a bottle of ink on the table. Before the squire could acknowledge him, the man-Karl, no doubt-hastened away.

“Dwarven stout, Theodore, as promised.” William looked warily at the pint in his hand, and he must have spotted Theodore’s questioning look. “I’ve never had one before either. Not sure if I will again, but, as the saying goes, everything once!”

He took a tentative sip, and screwed his face up.

“Yes, just the one I think,” he said finally, before retreating to walk amongst the patrons, giving Theodore privacy to write his message.

At first he didn’t know what to write. There was little enough paper, and he had to be conservative with his words.

If I wrote what I really wanted to say, I would need a book!

The more he considered it, the more absurd the idea became. So he wrote a simple greeting, voicing his hope that Kara was well, and promising to return the next day. He was tempted to add, “with a representative of the King,” but decided against it. Instead he just signed it.

He read back over his words. Everything he wanted to say was there, save perhaps for the most important thing, something he had lain awake imagining over the many nights since he had last seen her.

The squire took a drink of his stout and, like his friend, grimaced accordingly. He wasn’t taken with drinking, despite the temptations that were a constant result of his diplomatic status, and he knew this foul liquid would not soon convince him to change.

After a few moments, however, he discovered that it did give him confidence. So he took another gulp, and before long he had drained his tankard. Then he reached again for the pen and paper.

I’ll do it!

She knows anyhow. I know she does.

Theodore wrote a final line. When he read through it again, he knew he didn’t need a book to say what he had so clearly stated.

He gestured to William before darting back up the staircase to hand his sealed letter to the same man who had barred his advance previously.

Finally, when he returned, William was seated at their table, drinking much more freely now. Standing opposite him was the same young man who had delivered the ink a moment before.

“This is Karl,” William explained. “He works here. He saw Kara today. Thought you might want to hear what happened. Go on Karl.”

Theodore returned to his seat and sipped another stout which William had brought for him. There was no seat for Karl.

“Begging your pardon sir,” he stammered to Theodore. “She told everyone who she was. She stood on that table near the kegs and said she was Kara-Meir, the saviour of Falador and that she had come to Varrock at the King’s request for the Midsummer Festival. Some people laughed at her and called her a liar, and then… well sir, she proved herself so to speak.”

Theodore shuddered involuntarily.

“What do you mean?”

“She held her scabbard up, sir. There was a blue ribbon tied to the hilt of the sword which prevented it from being drawn, or so she said. It was her promise to a man called Bewler or something…”

“Bhuler.” Theodore corrected. “His name was Bhuler.”

Karl nodded and Theodore saw that he didn’t dare contest the statement.

“Go on,” the squire prompted.

“Anyhow sir, she said to prove herself we could either fetch you from the palace sir, which we weren’t inclined to do being as it were a fair way away, or let her prove it to us. We cheered her on, and men asked her to prove who she was, and… erm… she did.”

“How did she do so, Karl?” William asked him with a mischievous smile. “You’re going to like this Theodore!”

“She drew a knife and threw it at a boy, sir.”

“She did what?”

“Threw it at a boy. A small boy who was standing right next to me. Before anyone realised it, she hurled the knife and we all jumped back. But she’s Kara-Meir you see. She didn’t miss!”

Karl laughed in the manner of someone sharing some private joke.

Saradomin give me patience!

“What didn’t she miss?” Theodore demanded before taking a long drink to prevent himself from saying anything that would demean his order.

“The boy was holding an apple, sir, and the knife went straight through it! Never seen anything like that in all my life sir! Straight into it. Ah, the juice was flowing on the lad’s fingers as he nearly fainted at the shock of it. Well, after that no one doubted her! We lifted her up on our shoulders and led her out into the street and then back into here-everybody was celebrating.” Suddenly Karl’s face darkened. “Varrock needs a hero, sir. I know you’re a visitor here, but there’s something going on…”

Theodore felt William stiffen at his side.

“Just get on with the story,” the nobleman instructed.

“Aye sir. Well after that, she said it was only right that those who had money to spend on drink could spare some for those that had nothing. She said that was how it was in Falador now, after the war, the rich giving money to help the poor. Like you hear in the ballads sometimes, sir. You know what I mean?”

Theodore nodded.

Incredible. Kara asking for money? Unbelievable.

He froze in his seat, a sudden realisation chilling him.

The message! Gods! Who have I passed that onto?

“Well, anyhow,” Karl continued, not appearing to notice Theodore’s sudden discomfort, “she passed a sack round and people put their money in, even me, what little I could afford. She said she would give it out to the needy tomorrow, before the Midsummer Festival. We was all proud at that.”

“And then?”

“And that’s it, sir. After that, after we had filled the sack, she went upstairs where she remains now, with the boy she took as a servant.”

“What did she look like Karl?”

“Oh, she was Kara-Meir sir, no doubt. Blonde hair to her waist, slim, pale skin.” Karl hesitated, scratching his head. “Well, sir, you should know what she looks like…”

William spat his stout out in sudden glee, laughing.

Theodore’s hand smacked down on the tabletop, silencing those nearby.

“Indeed I do know what she looks like, Karl,” he said more loudly than he had intended. Then in a more controlled voice, he continued. “I am trying to ensure that it’s the same person.”

“Who else could she be, knight?” a drunken man shouted. “No one else can be that skilled with a weapon. And do you know…” He staggered forward, launching himself toward their table. “We do need a hero. Karl is right. Varrock needs a hero who can help us. Not men like you, with your coats and your buttons and your… your titles.”

The man flicked his arm toward William, who was far enough away to be out of danger, and yet as he did so the young nobleman fell back from his chair, striking the wall behind. He looked terrified.

“William! You are safe. Calm yourself,” Theodore said, standing quickly to put himself between the two men. The drunk backed away, a look of surprise on his face.

“I didn’t mean anything by it, sirs,” he mumbled, aware that he committed a serious offence. “Please sir. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

The drunk began to weep as the yellow tabards of the city guard closed in.

“No,” William said in an even tone, and then again, louder. “No-it’s all right. No harm was done.” He scanned the room, then turned to his friend. “Come Theodore, let us return to the palace. Didn’t like the stout, anyway.”

He followed William out into the street, leaving behind a room shocked into silence, to where their horses had been secured under the watchful eye of a city guard.

“What was all that about, William?” Theodore demanded. “You dragged me from the inn, leaving me with unfinished business, acting like a…” He wanted to say coward, but he held his tongue at the last second. But it was already too late.

“A coward, Theodore? Isn’t that what you wanted to say?”

Theodore turned his head to avoid William’s gaze.

“Isn’t it?” William pressed.

“Yes, William,” Theodore admitted. “I am sorry, but it is.” Even as he spoke, however, he knew that he was wrong. This is not the way a knight of Falador would behave.

“I have heard it all my life,” William said. “Since I was old enough to understand the word and the insult it carries. My father said it often enough. My mother attempted to hide me from it, to tell me that I was ‘different to others.’ Either way, I came to realise that both were unhappy with me-the one told me so, the other simply tried to hide the fact.”

William smirked, and Theodore shivered when he saw his friend’s face, for it was a mirthless visage, one filled with contempt and self-loathing.

“Still, they were both disappointed in me,” he continued. “Their only child. The heir to a proud family of Misthalin who have counted generals and chancellors amongst their ancestry. Now, I am all that remains of their line.” Theodore saw the tears spring into his eyes as his voice broke.

“I have no love for your god, Theodore. I think you know that. I attend the services of course, as does everyone in the court of Varrock, but I cannot bring myself to worship him.”

Theodore frowned.

“What’s Saradomin got to do with this, William?”

The young noble pulled a silk handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his tears away.

“Do you believe people are cursed, Theodore?” he asked suddenly. “Through no fault of their own?” He gave a deep breath and took the reins of his horse in hand as he mounted.

“You are being silly, William,” Theodore answered. “I know you. You are not cursed-you are a good person. And I was wrong to expect you to be someone you are not.”

William laughed bitterly.

“A good man? Theodore, I am not a good man.” He rode a short distance forward before reining his horse in as the squire mounted his own mare.

“I wished to be a good man, Theodore,” William said, a little louder now to cross the short distance. “I still wish to be one. Every day. If I had my choice I would wish to be born as you were-strong, healthy, able-minded and bodied.” He twisted his mouth in a bizarre grin. “But the gods rarely grant our wishes, Theodore. Always they find ways of corrupting that which we want most of all.”

William turned and with a sudden shout he flicked his reins, galloping north toward the palace at a dangerous pace.

* * *

It had been years since the old man had last seen Varrock. He had been born there nearly sixty years ago, leaving only after his wife had died in childbirth and his children had died of smallpox.

Twenty years ago, Ebenezer thought. Time enough for heroes to be born, and for some even to become legend.

“We could stop, if you like?” the old man’s companion said. There was a tender note in the dwarf’s voice that was seldom heard, but which Ebenezer had come to know well.

“I made a vow that I would never return to Varrock,” Ebenezer said. “I made it after burying my family. I decided to travel the world in the name of science, to combat dogmatic religion.”

The dwarf sat in silence by the old man’s side as the wagon stopped. Ebenezer glanced over the horses’ heads to the city in the east. The sun was losing its warmth, and the final leg of their journey had taken longer than expected. He hadn’t realised how difficult it would be for him to return.

“But time mellows all men’s rage,” Ebenezer continued, brushing his hand across his white hair. “The vow doesn’t seem so important any more. Come, Doric, let us press on. I would like to be at the palace in time for supper.”

He goaded his horses on, and the wagon rolled forward.

“I wonder whether Castimir will be there already,” Doric said, laughing suddenly.

“I, too, am eager to see our young friends. I find as I get older that the company of youth is more rewarding. Although I am worried about Gar’rth,” he said. “And Kara.”

Doric nodded.

“Kara can take care of herself, Ebenezer. It was she who rescued Theodore and me from Jerrod in Falador.”

You are right, my good friend. Kara-Meir can take care of herself. I just hope she hasn’t had to take care of Gar’rth.

The bells from Father Lawrence’s church, situated not far to the east of the palace, chimed the eighth hour of the evening as Theodore and William led their steeds onto the great square.

William had grown increasingly pensive since reining his horse in a few minutes from the inn, and Theodore knew his anger had turned to embarrassment. Perhaps, he thought, it would be best not to press him. Whatever he feels, he will likely tell me in time.

To that end, he persuaded William to dismount and walk with him back to the palace. But by the time they entered the square, it was Theodore who had apologised.

“I am sorry, William,” he said earnestly. “Kara’s actions defy reason-any that I can identify at least, and it angers me.”

William accepted the apology with a nod, but as he made to reply the sound of a man riding swiftly from the west caught their attention. It was Lord Despaard entering the square. The Varrock noble gave the squire a cold stare as he rode through the palace entrance, and Theodore bowed in return, once again conscious of the tension between them.

“Who is Lord Despaard?” he asked. “He claims to know me, and I’ve heard it said that he has tremendous influence, yet none have ever elabourated to explain how that influence is exercised.” And if the things he does became known, Theodore mused silently, would they be considered the actions of a man, or a monster?

William looked suddenly secretive.

“Some say he leads men into Morytania. He is apparently one of the few who has seen Meiyerditch, the capital of that realm, and lived to speak of it.”

“Has he ever fought a werewolf?” Theodore asked, allowing himself a moment of pride. Then he thought the better of it. But William responded.

“If he genuinely does cross the holy river, then likely so. People say his father died in Morytania years ago, and that it is his hatred of that place that drives him on.”

“Do you think he has anything to do with this secret society people keep talking about? The Society of Owls?” How much does William really know? “I’ve heard rumours of innocent citizens, abducted from their homes, all in the name of the law. Could these rumours be true?” As I know them to be, based on the evidence of my own two eyes, he added silently.

“Oh come, Theodore,” William said. “I have been at court for several years now. There are often rumours of things crossing over the Salve. But abducting our own people? That’s too much even for the wildest of rumour-mongers. Although…” William lowered his gaze, and looked uncertain.

“Now that you mention it, I have heard some outlandish whispers of a strange creature that is preying on children in the east, where only farmers live. A vampire or gargoyle or some such.” He looked up again. “Could that be what Karl and the drunken man were referring to?”

I have seen her William! Theodore wanted to say so much, but only at the last minute did he remember Lord Despaard’s forceful words as he was told to keep the conspiracy of silence. The less the young nobleman knew, the safer he would be. And another thought clawed at the back of his mind.

I cannot trust anyone at court.

“Look about you, William,” he said sombrely. “It is the height of summer, and yet the square is nearly deserted. I tell you there is something wrong, and the people of Varrock know it. They are afraid.”

But William said nothing, looking to the west of the square to where a weather-beaten wagon drawn by two horses rolled to a halt. A white-haired old man with a whiter beard climbed down from the seat, a dwarf at his side.

Theodore laughed, his changed demeanour planting a look of surprise on William’s face.

“What is it?” the nobleman asked. “Do you know them?”

“They are two old friends, William.” Two old friends who I know I can trust.

With an excited grin the squire ran forward.

One hour later, Ebenezer sat near the fire, smoking his pipe. Nearby Doric bathed his feet in a tub of hot water, sighing as he soothed his aching limbs.

Theodore had found a room for his friends on the first floor of the palace, tucked away from the busy goings-on that continued during all hours-for although it was the home of King Roald, the palace was also the centre of government for the city of Varrock and the country of Misthalin. Having been introduced to the newcomers, William had been gracious enough to allow them some time to catch up, and had left the three friends together.

“So tell me, Ebenezer,” Theodore began, “what has happened in Falador since I departed? I have been eager for news.”

The old man took his pipe from his mouth and sighed.

“The damage that was done in the siege has been repaired,” he said. “The walls have been strengthened, and the dwarfs have opened their mining guild in the east of the city. Life continues for the citizens much as it did before the fighting, and the knights are held in higher regard than ever for the sacrifices they made in the war.”

Doric winked at Theodore, and gestured.

“Haven’t you noticed Ebenezer’s new surcoat?” the dwarf asked.

“It looks more expensive than your previous garment,” Theodore observed. “When last I saw you, you had been asked to find a way to drain the moat around the castle and retrieve the valuables the people had cast into the waters, in the effort to prevent the invaders from claiming them. Has this made you a rich man?”

“It has,” Ebenezer confessed. “And in the process, my reputation as an alchemist has reached new heights. After the fighting was over and the repairs begun, Sir Amik granted me the resources to construct just the thing that was needed to complete the task. Crowds gathered to see the monstrosity that my friends and I had built.”

Doric shook his head.

“You should have seen their faces, Theodore!” the dwarf said. “When Ebenezer lit the fires and fed the boiler with coal and wood, and the beam at the top began to rock on its fulcrum, powering the pump. The citizens were amazed. The steam engine drew nearly ten gallons of water from the moat each minute. It must have been the first time in its history that it was drained, for a great many objects were recovered that didn’t match any descriptions offered by the citizens.”

“And my work was well rewarded,” Ebenezer said. He gave a satisfied smile and returned his pipe to his mouth, exchanging a knowing glance with his travelling companion.

“And what of you Doric?” Theodore asked.

“I remained in Falador for nearly two months, helping the dwarfs under Commander Blenheim strengthen the walls and open the mining guild, and I also pursued my claim against those who burned my cabin. The magistrates ruled in my favour, and the guilty were ordered to help rebuild what they had destroyed.”

The old dwarf stirred his feet in the steaming tub.

“That was enough for me, for I was not looking for revenge. And those who had done the damage admitted their ignorance and offered me their assistance and their friendship, both of which I accepted.” He looked furtively to Ebenezer. “And I have done something else, something which has taken me some time and no small expense. Something which will be a gift to my friends.”

With that, Doric yawned.

“Well?” Theodore prompted.

The dwarf gave a low laugh.

“All in good time,” he said. “When we are all gathered.”

“Very well Doric, you may keep your secrets,” Theodore said. “William has had rooms prepared for you both, here in the palace. All your needs will be met during your stay, for as companions to Kara-Meir you are honoured guests.”

The alchemist and the dwarf exchanged wary looks.

“Have you had any news of Kara?” Doric asked.

Theodore lowered his gaze to the floor.

“Apparently she is here, in Varrock,” he answered, unable to keep the bitterness from his voice. “But Gar’rth and Arisha are not.”

Ebenezer took the pipe from his mouth. Doric frowned in worry.

“They went into The Wilderness together,” Theodore continued angrily. “It might be that only Kara returned. And she has refused to see me.”

For a time no one spoke. Both of Theodore’s friends knew how he felt about Kara, and how hurt he must have been by her refusal.

Doric lifted his feet from the tub, water splashing onto the flagstones. He was about to speak when a commotion sounded outside in the passageway, of men running and giving commands in anxious tones.

Suddenly William burst into the room.

“There’s been a killing, Theodore!” he shouted. “They are no longer just rumours-the creature has entered the city!”

Theodore rode hard to the south of the city, to where the poorer inhabitants dwelt. Doric clung to his waist with his eyes shut, yet the mare easily outpaced William’s gelding. Even Ebenezer-had he decided to accompany them from the palace-could have outpaced the young nobleman on his horse.

But William is fearful, Theodore realised. I have never noticed it so acutely before. Even walking down stairs he is always unnaturally careful. And his behaviour at the inn today. His fear!

Thoughts of his friend evaporated as he saw a crowd gathered before him in the darkened street. Some held lanterns, and in the light he saw Lord Despaard and his black-clad men, already present. The yellow-cloaked city guard helped them in keeping order. He also saw Father Lawrence, the old priest at the head of the crowd, his four-pointed silver star held before him as he invoked Saradomin’s mercy.

As Theodore reined his mare in and dismounted he saw the anxious looks of the citizens. One was vomiting into the gutter.

The crowd surrounded a merchant’s house that had seen more prosperous times. Following their gaze, Theodore looked up and saw that upon the slanted lead roof lay a dead body-that of a man whose collar was wrapped about an iron peg that held the tiles in place, his feet hanging over the edge into empty space.

And down the side of the house’s grey wall ran a red streak.

Theodore himself felt suddenly nauseous. He had been in battle before this, and had seen all the horrors of men mutilated and dying, but this was different somehow.

This is a spectacle.

“But how did it get up there?” a man cried out. “How was this done?”

“This is nothing human!” someone else added.

Instantly the crowd bristled with a collective anger. Quickly, Lord Despaard’s men took up discreet positions, preparing to subdue the mob should it turn violent.

Lights shone from the opposite rooftop, illuminating the corpse.

All eyes were fixed upon the hideous sight. The man’s throat had been torn out, and his abdomen-revealed to the onlookers through his torn shirt-had been viciously clawed.

“Gods! All that blood,” William moaned from Theodore’s side, having left his horse with the squire’s mare. The noble staggered on his feet, unable to take his eyes off the red streak that seemed so similar to an arrow on the dirty grey stone.

“I’ve got you, William,” Theodore said, reaching out as his friend swayed. Doric assisted him.

“Here, have some of this, lad,” he said, offering William his hip flask. “It’s stronger than water but it’ll do the trick.” The dwarf peered again at the rooftop. “And when you’re done, pass it back. Think I’ll need some too.” William nodded as he took a generous swig before coughing violently.

“Look to the left of him-look!” someone shouted. “There’s writing!”

The lanterns above shifted to follow the anonymous instruction.

And there it was. Written in the man’s blood.

“What does it say? What does it say?” cried an onlooker.

“Pay it no mind,” Lord Despaard shouted in reply. “It is designed to cause fear in all of us, and we cannot allow it to do so.” His words silenced the crowd, but then someone spoke up again, his voice heard by all.

“It says, ‘I am coming.’”

Pandemonium erupted as everyone spoke at once, every other person asking his neighbour what such a message could mean. Some wailed in fear, others cursed loudly. Theodore, seeing William regain his calm, moved away quickly and approached Lord Despaard.

“We can’t conceal this, Lord Despaard,” he said. “This Wyrd…”

“Just you remember your promise to me, boy,” the man in black replied angrily. “This is my business, and has been since before you were born. Now go back to the palace and enjoy a dance with a pretty girl, or a glass of wine-I care not. But keep the silence, or so help me I will have you returned to Falador in chains!” Hearing the exchange, Father Lawrence stepped up.

“You must do as he says, Theodore,” the priest said. “As must I. There is a survivor, a child, a witness in fact.” The old man lowered his voice. “I will take her to the others, and care for her as best I can with my meagre skills.” He hastened off toward a group of black-cloaked soldiers stood in a loose circle. Meanwhile, Lord Despaard’s eyes never left Theodore.

“You know far more than I would like,” he said. “But I trust you. I know your reputation for honesty and I know that your word is your bond. Everyone who would know confirms it. But do not interfere in my business.” Despaard followed in Father Lawrence’s footsteps as Doric appeared at his side.

“Come, Theodore,” the dwarf said. “We can do nothing here. Who ever this murderer is, it’s the duty of the guards to bring him to justice.”

Theodore smiled grimly and shook his head.

“Not he, Doric, she. And not human,” he muttered. “I shall explain when we return to the palace.” Together they headed back to their steeds. Theodore mounted his mare and helped Doric up behind him. As he did so he turned in his saddle, suddenly aware that he was being watched.

“You!” he cried suddenly.

It was the woman who had hurled the stone at him the night before. She held his gaze for a long second as a crowd of people bustled between them. Finally, she shook her head in disgust before vanishing into the masses.

Doric witnessed the exchange.

“Is there some reason we should go after her?” Doric asked.

“No, Doric,” the squire answered. “Her only crime is that she knows the truth.”

With an uneasy feeling, he turned his horse and rode away. William followed at his own speed.

Have I forfeited the obligations of my order in my promise to keep the silence? Theodore wondered silently. I must ask Saradomin for guidance in this matter.

Perhaps, indeed, she knows more of the truth than I.

Theodore’s doubts were interrupted by a nudge from Doric.

“So tell me what you know,” the dwarf instructed as they left the crowds behind them and rode out of earshot of anyone save William. “Tell me of this woman. This inhuman woman.”

Ebenezer was sleeping in his chair, his spectacles fallen to his chest, when Theodore and his two friends got back.

“It was a tiring journey to Varrock,” Doric explained softly, in an effort not to disturb the alchemist. “Even for me, and we are meeting King Roald tomorrow. Perhaps it is best if we got some rest so we can present ourselves in our best possible light, and be neither weary nor frayed?”

“I will ask a servant to escort you to your rooms, master dwarf, if you care to wake your friend,” William offered. He peered outside and gestured to a man who waited nearby.

Gently, Doric shook Ebenezer’s shoulder. The old man awoke with a sharp intake of breath.

“Oh-ho! You’re back,” he said groggily. “What time is it?”

“It’s half past ten,” Doric said, looking at the intricate clock that hung above the fireplace. “Although it feels a lot later. I for one need rest. Lots of fresh air and being bungled about on a wagon is enough for me. Now I know how a potato feels on its way to market. Come on, alchemist!”

Ebenezer stood delicately. As he did so a book slipped from his lap and onto the cushion.

“A history of the lives of the kings of Varrock?” William said as he picked it up. “Well, that’s enough to send anybody to sleep.”

“Oh, yes. I found it on the shelf over there. I remembered my childhood when I was forced to learn all their names from the Battle of the Salve down to the present day.” The alchemist smiled sorrowfully. “I must have had a better memory then than now, I fear. I had forgotten the names of the four princes who were lost at that battle.” He shook his head. “Never mind. It is ancient history. Now, what happened in Varrock tonight? Were your fears justified?”

Theodore nodded.

“They were. Another slaying. I don’t know how many there have been so far, but this time the killer left a message-and it was more public than any so far.”

“Tell me about it, while we find my bedroom.”

“We must not talk too freely, my friend,” William cautioned. “This knowledge is prohibited in Varrock by the highest authority.”

“I will tell you, when we get you to your room,” Doric said. “Theodore told me all on our return to the palace.” The dwarf took the alchemist’s arm and led him from the room, following the servant, while Theodore moved to extinguish the lights.

“Are you going to bed Theodore?” William asked, rubbing his own eyes and yawning.

“Not just yet,” the squire answered. “I think I will spend a moment in the chapel, in prayer. Will you join me, to ask for guidance in this matter?”

William shook his head.

“No. I am sorry Theodore. I find the chapel to Saradomin a very cold place indeed. I am aware of its importance to your order of course, but I prefer the guise of the roguish nobleman. Goodnight, good knight!”

The nobleman walked toward the door, then turned before leaving, his eyes holding Theodore’s for several seconds.

“I am sorry about my outburst at the inn today, Theodore,” he said earnestly. “Truly I am. Please believe me when I say that I will always be your friend.” He closed the door behind him quickly, preventing Theodore from replying.

After a moment of careful thought, the squire extinguished the final candle and left the room to make his way through the dim corridors of the great palace and to the cold chapel upon the second floor.

There, alone with his doubts, he knelt in prayer.

3

The yak stopped dead.

Its youthful owner gave an exasperated grunt and tugged on its lead from his position in the saddle of his horse. Reluctantly the yak took a few steps, and then stopped again, snorting in disagreement with its master.

“But we’re nearly there!” the blue-robed wizard argued, gesturing east toward Varrock. They were only a half hour’s journey away, and he was eager to enjoy a soft bed for the first time in several nights. Even in the last few moments of twilight, he could see the grey walls of the city beckoning him. Torches were lit at regular intervals along the parapet. Somewhere from the west, a bell rang out. He counted the carillon’s cry.

Was that ten, or eleven? Probably ten, for the light is not yet gone.

He sighed and tugged the yak’s lead again, while urging his horse on.

Neither animal moved this time.

“Oh, come on!” he cried.

The yak stared dolefully at him.

“If you don’t move, I’ll turn you into an ass,” he threatened. “How would you like that?”

The yak didn’t move.

“Could you really do that?” a voice called from the left, under the trees.

The startled wizard dropped his right hand to the pouches that were fastened to his belt. Something chinked, sounding like a number of pebbles being jostled together.

“Who’s there?” he demanded.

A dark figure moved under the boughs, and the wizard thought he detected the faint sound of… jingling? Quickly he grabbed the wooden staff which was secured at his horse’s flank. Deftly he undid the straps and raised its knotted tip. A red glow sprang forth and illuminated the scene, basking the shadowy stranger in comfortable warmth.

Startled, the wizard arched his back.

It was a jester, dressed in a red and black, close-fitting outfit. He held a sceptre in his hand and wore a three-pointed hat upon his head, bells jingled at the end of each of his three liliripes. His age was hard to guess, he seemed neither young nor very old. He was tall and skinny and his long legs reminded the wizard of the storks that frequented the shore near the Wizards’ Tower.

The outlandish character bowed, and as he did so he tripped. Head over heels he went, landing directly before the unamused gaze of the critical yak.

The wizard laughed involuntarily. That earned him a comical frown.

“It’s not nice to laugh at someone else’s misfortune,” the jester chastised, clambering to his feet as a second figure stepped into the red light. Uttering a small cry, the wizard swung the glowing tip of the staff in the direction of the newcomer.

It was a goblin. He carried a broken-tipped spear and sported ill-fitting chain mail that was too big for his small frame. As he moved, the dented bronze helmet he wore slipped down over his eyes. The creature gave a strangled gurgle in his confusion, and righted the helmet.

“Do not fear him,” the jester said. “He lives by the roadside, and begs off strangers.”

“I do not fear him,” the wizard replied, his composure regained. “From the look of him, he’s certainly not a fighter. But he should be careful not to make a nuisance of himself, for if he does, most likely he shall be slain.”

“He knows,” the jester replied, his expression serious. “But that is neither here nor there, my friend. Travellers of your order are rare indeed these days.” He paused, and his expression lightened. “Would you perhaps join us for a late supper? I’ve roasted a chicken over a fire.”

He’s certainly a friendly fellow, the wizard mused. Then he glanced in the direction of the walls, which the darkness had reduced to little more than a black outline.

“I would like to get to the palace soon,” he admitted, “for I have spent three nights under the stars.” The wizard eyed the yak. “Thanks to him!”

“Then we shall eat first,” the jester insisted, “and then I will take you to the palace, for I am heading there as well. But tell me, what is your name, wizard of Saradomin?”

The wizard dismounted stiffly. His legs ached after hours of riding.

“My name is Castimir,” he answered. “And you?”

“Castimir? The companion to the famous Kara-Meir? Then you must be a friend of Theodore’s.”

“I am.”

“My name is Gideon Gleeman. Jester to King Roald Remanis the Third,” the fellow said, extending his hand. “I am honoured to make your acquaintance.”

“Yours is a fitting name for a man whose trade is laughter.” Castimir smiled and took the jester’s hand in his own, content to spend a few more hours under the stars-as long as it was in good company.

It was an hour before midnight when Castimir entered the city. He led his horse, while the jester led the yak, for despite the wizard’s offer he had not dared to mount the beast. The yellow-clad guards at the gate knew Gleeman well, and when they saw Castimir’s blue robes they smiled broadly. It seemed to the wizard that their expressions were somehow hopeful.

“Did the Tower send you?” asked the first. “Have you come to stop the creature?”

Creature?

Despite his confusion, Castimir nodded purposefully.

“I help wherever I am able,” he replied, trying not to sound as uncertain as he felt. “But I come at the invitation of Squire Theodore, of the Knights of Falador.”

The guard who had spoken looked angrily aside. His friend bit his lip, as if summoning his courage.

“We don’t need knights,” he spat. “Not even those who come from Falador. Only magic can help us-”

“That is enough!” came the command from the parapet above. “Let them pass.”

The two guards parted and let them through, and they walked onward, passing those few individuals who were still abroad on the city’s darkened streets. In the light of the torches, Castimir caught the looks they gave him.

They are all afraid here, he observed. Even the guards. Whatever plagues them, they think that I may be able to provide some sort of salvation. I can see it in their eyes.

It was a look that made Castimir wince every time he saw it, for to him it represented betrayal. Few knew the vital truth that lay behind the wizards, and the reasons they were so few in number.

How they would panic, if only they knew. And how our enemies would rejoice! Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, he spoke casually.

“I would have imagined Varrock to be a busier place,” he commented. “Even at this hour.” Before them, to the north of a great square, stood the palace of King Roald Remanis the Third, its large walls surrounding two immense baileys that lay to the east and west of the fortified main building, where a single tall tower rose up into the night. “Why are so few out and about this fine evening?”

“Tomorrow is the Midsummer Festival,” Gleeman explained as they approached the guardhouse. The jester turned his head aside and continued. “No doubt folk are busily making preparations, and saving their strength for the celebration.”

He’s avoiding my stare, Castimir noted.

“I myself have been preparing for some days now,” the jester added. “Far away from the hustle and bustle of the palace.”

“And what will you do?” Castimir inquired. “For the celebration, that is.”

“Tight-rope walking, acrobatics, and more,” Gleeman replied with a flourish. “And my own flavor of magic. For example…” He opened his hand to reveal several of the pebble-like runes that were so precious to the wizard.

My runes! Castimir’s hand darted to his pouch. That’s impossible.

“Where did you get those?” he cried in alarm. “Give them back!”

“I took them while we ate,” came the reply. “Your dagger, too.” The jester spoke without a hint of guilt, sounding pleased that his skill had inspired such a vehement response. Without any hesitation, he returned the objects to their rightful owner. “The baubles are very pretty, my friend, and ever so rare.”

“Rare indeed and every one precious,” Castimir snorted, frowning and checking the rest of his pouches-as well as his deep pockets. Nothing more seemed to be amiss, and his good humour began to return. “How did you accomplish such a feat?” he asked.

“Sleight-of-hand, my friend,” the jester said whimsically. “Sleight-of-hand.”

Gleeman summoned the captain of the palace guard, and within a few minutes Castimir was standing in front of a short man with a belligerent face.

This is a man who takes his duty seriously. He looks as if he has no love for strangers.

“You are expected?” the man, Captain Rovin, asked him brusquely.

“I am, sir. Here is my invitation.” He handed the captain a letter with the royal seal of King Roald clearly displayed. Theodore had sent such invitations out to all his friends, promising them rooms at the palace for the several days surrounding the Midsummer Festival. Captain Rovin looked at it quickly and nodded.

“This seems in order,” he acknowledged. “A room has been set aside for you. Your friends have already retired to their quarters. A servant will stable your beasts and a maid will show you the way.” Suddenly the captain’s face turned grimmer, and when he spoke again, he did so in a cold tone. “It is not often we get heroes staying at the palace, and we are busy enough here as it is without pandering to the needs of arrogant youths. Perhaps, just maybe, we can find a use for you in Varrock.”

With that he turned away.

Castimir bristled at the deliberate slight.

Not so fast.

“Only if I think such use is worthy of me, Captain Rovin,” he replied loudly, so all could hear. “But regardless, a wizard still needs to sleep, and to eat, and to bathe-especially those of us who are famous. So if you will be so kind, I think I will take my leave of you now.

“Goodnight!”

The young wizard nearly missed breakfast, so unwilling was he to stir from the comfort of the soft bed. It was only when Doric threatened to split his door asunder did he finally dress and join his friends.

“You are pale, Castimir,” Theodore said as soon as he saw him.

“I have spent too long indoors, Theodore, at the Wizards’ Tower.”

“And you are late, Castimir,” Ebenezer taunted. “Could you not magic yourself here, or is that beyond your meagre capabilities?”

Castimir smiled, for he, like the alchemist, enjoyed their banter over which discipline was more important, that of science or magic.

“My tardiness is entirely the fault of my yak,” the wizard protested. “Arisha sent him to me after the war, but the summer weather is too hot for him. You know how stubborn he is.”

His greeting was curtailed when he spied the food on offer before him. Many of the palace’s inhabitants had already eaten, for it was the day of the festival and preparations were still to be finalised, which necessitated an early start for most. Nevertheless, there was still a feast to be consumed, and he dug in with great enthusiasm.

In between mouthfuls, Castimir told of what he had been doing since their separation in Falador, six months before. His reputation as one of Kara’s companions had made his position in the Wizards’ Tower uneasy. Older and more powerful sorcerers were jealous of his fame, and yet they knew how important it was that their order maintained a visible presence amongst the common folk of the human kingdoms. Castimir’s renown had given them exactly the excuse they needed to remove him from their presence, and he found himself being pushed toward a diplomatic role.

“But is that not what you always wanted?” Ebenezer asked. “To travel and see the world?”

“Yes, but it means I will not be kept aware of the goings on in the Tower,” he replied. “And it will cause me to forego any additional training I might have received, and that does not bode well for my future.”

“What of the spell books of Master Segainus?” Doric said, his voice lowered. “Have they yielded anything of interest?” Segainus was a master wizard who had died on the ramparts of Falador, and his diaries had fallen into Castimir’s possession. Such knowledge, he knew, could be very dangerous in the hands of one as inexperienced as he, yet he guarded it jealously.

“I have spent many hours poring over Master Segainus’s books,” Castimir admitted. “So many hours that I think I now know them by heart. I even used some of his theories in my thesis, though carefully, so they could not be identified as such. In truth, however, I fear I may have been too ambitious-some of his diaries contain text written in an ancient language that is unknown to me. Even the libraries of the Tower have provided no clues.”

He fell silent in order to focus on his meal, but his mind wandered over the books that had become his prized possessions. One phrase, scrawled in a margin, plagued him day and night, and refused to make sense.

Will the Dark Lady and her order be able to help?

Nothing in his studies had shed any light on the identity of Segainus’s “Dark Lady,” and more than one of his fellow wizards had dismissed the phrase as the ramblings of an old man past his prime. Yet Castimir had refused to do so.

Suddenly aware that his friends were waiting for him to continue, he looked up from his rapidly diminishing breakfast and grimaced.

“Indeed, I fear I might have failed my thesis,” he confessed. “If that is so, I will be required to submit another next year, and for now must remain an apprentice. While I am here, I am to meet a representative of the Tower in Varrock. Aubury is his name. He has been tasked to judge my work, and will tell me if I have passed… or not.”

The group looked up as William entered the chamber, and Theodore introduced Castimir.

“I have been asked to act as host to your friends, Theodore,” the young noble said, and he turned to face them all. “Will you accompany us to see Kara-Meir this morning?”

“So she is here?” Castimir said. “Is Arisha with her?”

“Neither Arisha nor Gar’rth are in Varrock.” Theodore lowered his gaze. “And Kara refused to see me last night.”

Castimir froze, his appetite souring instantly.

“Not here? But they went with Kara to The Wilderness.” He paused to remember. “Arisha sent me letters, and there was no word of them parting. Both of them went…”

“We don’t know anything definite yet, Castimir,” Doric said slowly, reaching out so his hand was resting on the wizard’s shoulder. “No one has spoken to Kara.”

Theodore nodded.

“In fact, I am far from convinced that it is her.” The squire described the behaviour that had caused him to doubt the identity of the woman in the inn. “It seems so unlike her.”

“But today we shall go and confront her,” Ebenezer declared. “If it is Kara-Meir, we must see how she fared in The Wilderness, and determine whether she needs our help.”

Theodore stood.

“I cannot come with you,” he said bitterly. “I have to ensure that my candidates are prepared for the festival. But I hope you have better success than I.” The squire gave a curt nod and left to attend his duties, while William offered to guide them to the Flying Donkey Inn, there to answer the riddle that was Kara-Meir.

A crowd stood outside the Inn, although the promised appearance by Kara-Meir was still some hours away. The sun had risen and the heat, made all the more stifling by anticipation, was causing visible discomfort, Castimir noted.

“I had no idea she was so famous,” he said, still seated on his horse to better peer over the heads of the masses.

“She has been the most discussed subject at court since the day of Theodore’s arrival,” William informed him. “Stories of her-and of you, her companions-are told daily.”

“And exaggerated no doubt,” Doric said with a grunt of laughter. “The way these things are told no doubt I am a giant by now!”

“What do they say of Gar’rth?” Ebenezer asked cautiously.

I hadn’t considered that, alchemist, the wizard mused. Exactly what do the minstrels say of our friend?

“He is the least known of your group,” William admitted, “and I was hoping you might tell me something that would give me an advantage over the other nobles. The tales generally agree that he is immensely strong, and never speaks. He is a mysterious warrior whom Kara rescued from certain death.”

Ebenezer mumbled something under his breath. When the alchemist went silent, William continued.

“With all of your group, it is impossible to separate what is real from what is not,” he said. “The things I know about you come from Theodore, and they are precious few. All he would say about Gar’rth was that he is from a foreign land, and speaks none of the common tongue.” He paused for a moment, as if carefully considering his next words. “Tell me, is there any bad blood between them?”

“Bad blood between Gar’rth and Theodore?” Castimir said as Doric and Ebenezer exchanged looks. “No, nothing nearly so strong as that. But there is a rivalry, of sorts.”

And her name is Kara.

William looked to each of the friends in turn. They all gave a brief nod, as if satisfied by the answer.

William knows Theodore well, Castimir surmised. No doubt he has guessed the truth.

“And as to the question of where Gar’rth is from, we are all unsure, since we do not speak his language, and cannot ask him.” Castimir inclined his head thoughtfully. “I believe he may be from the southern isles, brought here by a merchant vessel.”

That will suffice much better than the truth, he thought to himself. Especially here in Varrock, so close to Morytania.

A murmur sprang up from the front of the crowd, and Castimir craned his neck to locate the cause.

“Aha! Here we go,” William said, pointing. “A royal messenger is approaching the door.”

The messenger was accompanied by yellow-clad guards on either side, and together they forced a path through the packed throng. As they went, an expectant hush fell over the crowd. Castimir watched as the man was met at the door by the innkeeper.

The two figures conversed for a moment before the messenger forced his way inside, pushing past the innkeeper, whose face displayed signs of distress.

Something is wrong here, the wizard realised.

And he wasn’t alone. Those nearest the messenger began to speak rapidly. Each turned to pass on what had been heard, and what started as an excited whisper spread contagiously from one person to the next, leaving in its wake a growing crescendo of angry shouts.

“What’s going on?” William called down to a guard. The nobleman goaded his horse aside, away from the increasing agitation of the crowd.

The answer came from a torrent of voices that grew so loud that the guard’s answer was lost. The sound of breaking glass told the wizard that the riot had begun.

“She’s vanished!” came the shout, and it quickly became a chorus. “She and the boy she took as her servant. And they’ve taken the money with them!”

The nobleman turned his horse and cantered away to escape the angry crowds. Castimir and his friends followed his lead. As they rode north to safety, two dozen of the city guard, tightly grouped and armed with wooden clubs, pressed into the crowd.

When they had reached a safe distance, William reined in his horse and peered back at the slowly dissipating chaos.

“Well,” he said as the others joined him. “What an auspicious start to the day. This will no doubt be a Midsummer Festival to remember. But we must return to the palace, for the King will want news of this, and to know the reason why it has happened.”

As will Theodore, Castimir added silently.

The great square was teeming with people by the time Castimir and his friends returned to the palace. But unlike the angry mob they had just left, this was the beginning of a celebration. They made their way slowly through the sweating throngs of jugglers, fire-eaters and a hundred other entertainers, with a palace guardsman pushing the people aside to make them a path.

Like many of the buildings in Varrock, the palace was built of the grey stone that was quarried from the pits to the south and west of the city. It was immense, and Castimir-approaching it for the first time in daylight-was impressed by its sheer presence.

First they passed through the outer wall, a barrier which rose three times the height of a tall man and was wide enough for three men to stand abreast. The gates were wide open this day and inside the wall, on a road which was flanked by trees on either side, hundreds of citizens enjoyed the revels. Numerous colourful tents had been erected in the wide baileys that stood to the east and west of the castle, also enclosed by the outer wall, and the air was filled with the sound of a dozen different instruments-from hornpipes to lyres-and a hundred different smells-from sausages spitting in fat to the pungent scent of beer warmed in the sun.

Their journey delayed by the celebrating masses, it took them some time to reach the inner wall, as sturdy and as tall as the first. Here, the palace guards were arrayed in a line to make sure that no one could enter the castle without their leave. They parted when they saw William riding at the head of the small group, and with some amusement Castimir noted the sour face of Captain Rovin glaring down at them from above.

King Roald’s watchdog.

His levity waned however, when he noticed-standing back from the merlons in the wall-at least two dozen bowmen.

A watchdog with teeth, it seems.

Within the inner wall there lay a paved courtyard where the party dismounted, and eight broad stone steps spanning the entire front of the castle led them to a squat double door set back under an overhanging roof, supported by two rows of three pillars each to its right and left. Hanging at either side of the entrance was a yellow-faced shield with two embossed grey swords, crossed at the centre, reflecting the sunlight that came from the south.

No doubt polished daily by some lowly minion in military service. Probably by one of Theodore’s new recruits for the knights.

The thought caused Castimir to smile again as William led them through the double doors and down a hallway toward the throne room, off to the right of the main staircase. The nobleman paused once to commandeer a servant.

“Have Squire Theodore meet us in King Roald’s throne room at once,” he instructed. “No delay. He will be found with his men, probably butchering another legion of straw dummies in the gymnasium. Tell him we have news of Kara. Tell him she has fled-with the money-and caused a riot.” As the man ran to carry out William’s instruction, they continued on their way.

How strange that he still thinks it could have been Kara-Meir at the tavern, the young wizard thought, but he kept his tongue. If he knew her as we do, he would harbour no such misapprehensions.

They continued on their way, and negotiated several illogical twists and turns that wound through the immense interior, no doubt designed to confuse any attacker, and moments later the party found themselves in the throne room of King Roald Remanis the Third. It was a narrow room, constructed of a lighter grey stone than was used elsewhere. Yellow banners hung above the heads of the audience who stood along the room’s edges, clear off the yellow carpet that by royal decree was only ever occupied by the subject the King was addressing. The banners’ white fronds tempted Castimir, who in a moment of madness had to stop himself from leaping up to seize one.

At the southern end of the room, on a square marble dais, sat the monarch himself upon his yellow-cushioned throne. From the entrance the figure of the King seemed small, surrounded by a nimbus of pale light that streamed in from the high windows behind and above his throne.

To Castimir, it all seemed very divine-too much so, in fact.

Charlatan! he thought bemusedly. You’ve placed the throne so the sun is behind you. There is no magic here.

As they watched, and waited, the wizard’s eyes crept over the audience. He felt their stares upon him, for he was dressed in little more than his blue robe, the very same one he had travelled in. With a conscious glance at his friends, he suddenly realised that both Ebenezer and Doric were more formally dressed, both attired as wealthy merchants. Such clothes befit men who occupied but a single rung beneath the nobility on the social ladder.

I slept late. He shrugged. And I didn’t expect to be presented to a king.

Nonetheless, he felt uncomfortable-ever more so as the crowd in front diminished and the party moved forward. Before him nobles pledged allegiance to their King, as they did every Midsummer, upon the longest day of the year, repeating the words given them by an austere priest who wore Saradomin’s four-pointed star embroidered on his black frock.

Fitting for a realm whose enemy lives in a land of darkness.

One person in particular caught his attention as they approached the front. A tall, lean man, with streaks of white in his dark hair stood a slight distance behind the throne. He was dressed in black cloth decorated with intricate silver stitching, and when he moved slightly, the wizard noted that the stitching was in the odd shape of an owl, with its head turned behind it.

He is a man who is used to the shadowy work of government, Castimir guessed. Every monarch needs a knife in the dark, or a little something extra in the wine. He felt the man’s eyes upon him. It was an unnerving experience.

“Lord Despaard, again,” he heard Doric whisper.

And then it was William’s turn to step onto the yellow carpet and kneel before the monarch.

“My Lord William de Adlard, you were not expected to offer homage to me this morning,” King Roald said. “For you have duties in guiding our famous guests in the day’s event.” The King’s voice echoed from the narrow walls, strong, clear. Castimir was close enough now to view him properly. His frame was hidden under a ceremonial vermilion robe boasting soft ermine edges, but the wizard guessed he was of lean build. His narrow face displayed a short brown beard and moustache, and upon his head he wore his golden crown, with a bright red gem set in its centre, as big as Castimir had ever seen.

“But since you are here,” the King continued, “I will take what is given to me by God. I will accept your pledge to me in Saradomin’s name.”

Castimir saw the priest step onto the yellow rug, standing deliberately between the King and the kneeling William in what was supposed to form a spiritual bridge between the men. As the man spoke the words that scores of others had echoed that very morning, William repeated them.

“I pledge my blood and my life. I pledge my sons and daughters. I pledge all my worldly possessions and passions to keep King Roald Remanis the Third in good health upon the throne. I make this pledge under the eyes of Saradomin-”

William coughed suddenly. Then he hesitated.

A woman in the audience giggled behind Castimir.

“This is not the time for levity, Lady Anne,” King Roald chastised the woman who Castimir turned to see for the first time. She appeared to have only just come in. He could not avert his eyes.

She was beautiful. In fact, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

She can’t be real. Try as he might, he could not stop himself from staring. Women like her only exist in fairy tales, and live in towers assailed by knights and guarded by dragons. Or is it the other way round?

The blonde-haired woman caught his gaze and smiled. It was anything but demure. Her tongue curled between her white teeth as her blue eyes sparkled.

Castimir gurgled. To his relief, William continued.

“…My true god. The infinite and everlasting to whom all deceits are known.” His voice ceased, and the young wizard turned toward the front of the room again, feeling a red flush come to his face.

“I accept your allegiance Lord William de Adlard,” the King said. “Now you may rise, and tell me why you have come here when your duties did not necessitate it. Although I am glad my subjects are so loyal.”

“Even one who is remiss in his duty to Saradomin,” the priest muttered caustically, stepping back from the yellow rug.

William stood and bowed his head, to the laughter of the court.

“Please Master Raispher,” King Roald said. “Today is a day of celebration for all my realm. It is the longest day of the year, when the powers of our enemy across the river are at their weakest.” He turned his gaze again. “Now William de Adlard, explain yourself.”

The nobleman laid out the circumstances of Kara-Meir’s appearance the previous night, of how she had persuaded others to hand her money, and of how she had disappeared. The jovial atmosphere of the court grew frosty as his tale progressed, and finally, when it ended with an account of the dispersal of the rioters, silence fell while they awaited the King’s response.

In the silence, booted feet could be heard approaching.

It was Theodore, still wearing the practice armour he had donned for putting his recruits through their paces. His fair hair was in disarray, his face flushed and his breathing fast.

“My noble friend Theodore. Approach,” King Roald ordered. William bowed quickly and stepped away from the yellow carpet as Theodore stepped on. The squire’s heavy footfall became muted as he advanced down the centre of the narrow room. He bowed in front of the throne, and the King gestured for him to stand upright.

I don’t like the look on the King’s face, Castimir mused.

“Now then, young squire, how do you explain Kara-Meir’s presence, and the larceny she has perpetrated?” King Roald asked.

“I don’t think it is her at all,” Theodore answered, his expression resolute. “My King, Kara is not interested in wealth. She has rich friends who owe her their lives. She could simply ask any of them for money, rather than commit this subterfuge. There are others here today who will tell you the same.” Theodore gestured toward Castimir, with Ebenezer and Doric standing behind.

A voice sounded from the crowd.

“Kara should hang.” It was Lady Anne, speaking quietly to one of her coterie. “Such a crime is punishable by death.” The whisper fell in a moment of silence, and in the narrow room it was clearly heard by all.

Or maybe it was meant to be heard, Castimir thought as all eyes turned toward the young woman. She lowered her head, seemingly ashamed, and yet even that action was so artfully exaggerated it seemed to pour scorn on any apology.

“So you seek to usurp the position of my judges, Lady Anne?” King Roald asked. “It is a role that hardly befits a lady.” He gave an amused sigh. “Although perhaps you are thus eminently qualified.”

The court rippled with polite laughter, and if Castimir expected her to be angered by the King’s riposte, he saw at once it wasn’t so, for she even gave a curtsey to the throne.

Shameless, he thought with a mixture of amazement and admiration. She’s absolutely shameless. And quite clearly a favourite of the King.

Theodore however shot her an impatient stare as the King spoke once more.

“Nevertheless, Kara-Meir gave her word to be here for the Midsummer Festival, and that is today,” he said. “Yet still we wait. Tell me Theodore, have you heard from her? Has she made clear her intentions?”

Castimir saw Theodore hesitate. He knew the squire had heard nothing from Kara, for it had been Arisha who had forwarded word of her plans. He looked quickly behind him to Doric and Ebenezer, to ask their advice, and as he did so the motion caused him to step forward.

A sharp intake of breath caught his attention, followed by several more.

He turned and saw angry gazes from the members of court who were aligned along the opposite wall, facing him.

He felt the blood drain from his face.

“Do you approach me without my leave?” the King declared.

Castimir glanced down.

His foot was upon the yellow rug.

“Well?” the King continued. “Speak, wizard.”

Theodore gave him a resigned glare and stepped back, clearing his way. Casitimir moved forward.

“My name is Castimir, my King,” he mumbled.

Speak louder. You are a wizard, he thought furiously. A famous one, at that. Not a mouse in a room of cats. Marshalling his wits, he raised his head and spoke again.

“I am a wizard of Saradomin who fought at Kara’s side in the unrest in Asgarnia last year,” he said. “She and two others have undertaken an expedition into The Wilderness in pursuit of an evil that remained at large after the siege of Falador.”

A murmur ran around the chamber.

“Two others?” someone said.

“Just the three of them?” another voice added.

“Into The Wilderness, you say?” the King asked, standing in surprise. “Such recklessness borders on madness. For how long have they been gone?”

Castimir looked back to Theodore, and when he spoke, though still clear, his voice was lower than before.

“They have been gone too long, my King. My last communication from them clearly stated that they intended to be here in time for today’s celebrations. Truth be told Sire, their absence makes me fear for them.”

“A fear I share, Castimir. As do we all,” King Roald said. “Yet I suppose we must trust that Kara-Meir is indeed as skilled as the tales say she is.” He turned to address the crowd. “In the meantime, anyone claiming to be her must be brought to the palace immediately, by force if necessary, and presented to Theodore or his companions for identification. Now I will take my private council.”

With that he stepped down from the marble dais and exited through a door to his left, followed by Lord Despaard and two others. The first, an ancient man, was hidden under a black fur coat, the other was an elderly nobleman with sharp features that reminded Castimir of a hawk. Only when they had gone did the audience break up, to swarm throughout the narrow chamber in a buzz of voices, a hundred feet crumpling the yellow rug-for now the King had left its power had gone.

Castimir’s heart beat quicker as Lady Anne approached Theodore.

“So the King takes guidance from the librarian Papelford and the Lords Despaard and Ruthven,” she said. “Perhaps I should be included amongst such august company? Don’t you think so, Theodore?”

As she teased the squire, Castimir sensed Theodore’s anger build. He knew his friend as few others did. But the squire mastered his irritation.

“Good day, Lady Anne,” he said brusquely. “I have work to do, and time is running short.” He turned and gave a nod to his friends as he left the throne room.

From the look on Lady Anne’s face, if the insult had meant to wound, it had failed.

“He can be a bore, can’t he?” she said to no one in particular. “But I suppose that’s what makes him such a challenge.” Moving in their direction, she skipped by Castimir, ignoring him entirely as she put her arm through William’s. “Now William de Adlard, I want you to do something for me. When Theodore finishes his morning drill with his young men, I want you to lead him by the galleries. I will be waiting.”

“And why should I do this thing?” William asked, making no attempt to hide his own irritation.

“Because if you do as I say, I will put a good word in for you to Lady Caroline.”

Castimir saw Lady Anne’s spell work its magic.

“Would you?” the young noble said. “That’s very thoughtful of you.” Then, as he realised what he had said, his face wrinkled in a frown. “But what do I tell Theodore?”

Lady Anne gave that smile again. Castimir wasn’t sure, but he thought a part of it was aimed in his direction. He heard Doric huff behind him.

“You are both men,” she said blithely. “Men talk about things. I am sure you will think of something. I shall wait at the Salve gallery from midday until one o’clock. Don’t fail me, or Lady Caroline will be so disappointed that she may never talk to you again. I am very good at making things up William, a fact that could work to your advantage. Or not!”

With that she swept herself from the room.

“Come along, Castimir,” Ebenezer said with a cunning grin. “I think you need some air, and I know just where we can get it.” The alchemist turned to the noble who had been their guide. “Don’t worry William, I think we can find our own way. And I appreciate that you have greater priorities now.”

4

“Welcome my friends, to my home,” Ebenezer said. “Here, I am sorry to inform you, you are likely to meet more of my scientific friends.” The alchemist ignored Castimir’s sour expression and looked at the house he had left many years before.

Over twenty years before. More time than Castimir has been alive!

The dark oak door had been nicely varnished, while the white adobe walls-rare in a city built mainly from grey stone-had been recently repainted. To him, the whole townhouse looked fresher than he had ever remembered it being.

“It’s a big house, Ebenezer” Castimir said. “I’m surprised that you and your science cronies haven’t blown the roof off.”

Doric glared at him and shook his head slowly. The young wizard looked suddenly uneasy.

“It is all right, Doric,” the alchemist said in a good-natured tone. “Time has mellowed my pain.” Then he looked back at the structure. “My friends and I used to gather here to discuss the latest developments of architecture and engineering, chemistry and astronomy. Here, Castimir, you would have been the heretic.” He gave the wizard a smile. “But a welcome one nonetheless. Now, let us see who is in.”

He banged the knocker against the door. Almost immediately it was opened an inch. A woman peered through the gap, her round face and grey hair showing symptoms of her age. But her eyes sparkled with a formidable intelligence and, Ebenezer thought, force of will.

After all these years, can it be?

“Sally? Sally is that really you?” he said, peering at her closely through his glasses.

The woman remained silent for a moment, then suddenly she broke into laughter.

“Ebenezer! We’ve been waiting for you, Albertus and I! Your house is just as you left it.” The door was pulled open and Sally charged out to embrace him. Then just as suddenly she stepped back.

“Let me look at you!” Her eyes ran over the yellow waistcoat and blue jacket that he wore under his old travelling cloak. She stared at the golden fob watch that Lord Tremene had given him in Falador, in gratitude for all he had done in the war. Suddenly, her eyebrows rose quizzically.

“Surely this isn’t the same cloak you left Varrock with, all those years ago?”

Ebenezer laughed, feeling a happy tear appear in the corner of his eye.

“It is, Sally. The very one you hurled over my back as I promised never to return. It’s the one item of clothing that I have never parted with, even though the rest of my clothes are far too expensive, and hand-made by the tailors of Falador.”

Sally laughed again and looked past him, to Doric and Castimir.

“When he left Varrock, with his wagon full of rocks and chemicals, he sat out here in the road in the pouring rain, drenched. It was all I could do to force the travelling cloak on him, for it once belonged to my husband.”

Your husband… Ebenezer thought. I had forgotten Erasmus, and that is certainly no way to remember a friend. Have I really grown so old?

He felt more tears gather and threaten to spill over the lip of his eye. Yet somehow, he didn’t mind.

“It’s true,” he said with a tremulous voice. “I would have died of a chill if you hadn’t given it to me all those years ago, Sally.” He coughed and regained his composure. “Indeed, I have often thought that I wouldn’t have even made it to the home of the barbarian tribes, only a few days west of here.”

A silence fell, in which the two old friends stared at each other.

How you have changed Sally. You have replaced your beauty with dignity and grace, yet I am more glad for your kind heart.

But how have I changed in your eyes?

Finally, Sally spoke.

“Welcome home, Ebenezer, my dear, dear friend. Welcome home.”

“It was Eloise’s fifty-first birthday three weeks ago, Ebenezer. Albertus and I went to lay flowers by her grave. Your annuity has kept it in good shape since you left Varrock. She and the children rest well under the tree you planted next to them.”

The ash tree? Was it ash, or willow? How Eloise hated the children getting the sun on them. That was why I planted it there.

“Thank you for doing so, Sally. Your sister would be happy if she knew.”

“If she knew? So your travels have not yet persuaded you of the existence of the gods or an afterlife?” Sally laughed and he saw her look to Doric and Castimir, who sat opposite-somewhat stiffly, he thought, uncomfortably so. Castimir laboured with a biscuit, chewing slowly and deliberately, while Doric lit his pipe.

“Come Sally, our mawkish talk is making my friends uncomfortable,” he said, hoping to lighten the mood. “Although I feel I must answer your question, for that was a tradition of our debates, was it not? A question asked had to be answered. Yes, I believe in the gods. I think I always did. But I just don’t believe they care for mortals. I have seen too much ill in all areas of the world to think otherwise.”

“That I can believe,” she answered. “You don’t have to go far these days to prove such a hypothesis, alas.” Her voice trailed off, and Ebenezer saw the looks of his friends grow interested.

“What is happening in Varrock, Sally?” he asked. “What is this Wyrd that keeps taking people?”

Sally took a sip of her tea, avoiding his stare.

Ebenezer was content to wait.

“I first heard of it some months ago,” she said slowly. “Farmers from the east said that children had been taken from their beds at night, and devoured. Later on it started happening to adults, to farm hands. Strong young men who would fight a wolf, if it threatened.”

She lowered her cup.

“But it’s been said no one ever fought this thing,” she continued. “It kills with absolute impunity. Always in the night. Some have seen it, or so they say. It has been described as a giant bat, with fangs that drip blood, or poison. Some people say it is a woman. It has taken indiscriminately-men, women, children, the old and the young. Some vanish never to be seen again, other times remains are found, but still no one has an answer to stop it. Some say it has taken over a hundred souls since it first arrived in our lands.”

One hundred!

“What you say matches Theodore’s description to the letter,” Doric growled.

“Then it is true?” Sally asked.

Ebenezer nodded. “Theodore confronted her two nights ago. She took a tailor’s child and killed the father. Her talons are poisoned, he believes. She also slew a man last night and left his body on public display, with a message written in his blood. The message read, ‘I am coming.’ Theodore thinks it was her, anyhow.”

“‘I am coming,’” Sally repeated with a shiver. “It’s not just this that is scaring people, however. Have you heard of the prophecy of the High Priest of Entrana, made a century ago upon his death bed?”

“Theodore mentioned it in his explanation,” Doric said. “Something about a true king returning.”

Sally nodded. “That is what makes people afraid. They think it is Drakan, and that soon he will cross the Salve and take Varrock. Others believe it is tied to the legend of Arrav and the Necromancer. This Wyrd seems to me to be a thing from Morytania.”

“That is what Theodore believes,” Ebenezer agreed.

Sally shook her head.

“I haven’t seen Theodore since he first came to Varrock with your request for the steam engine.” Her expression relaxed. “I would have liked to have seen it working.”

“It worked better than we could have hoped,” the alchemist replied. “And speaking of science, what else do you have to show me? Your recent letters have mentioned phosphorous.”

“Ah, phosphorous is the least of our efforts. We have had some success in our experiments with the Kinshra’s black powder, but for that you must be patient. Albertus Black will be here shortly, and I know he is excited to show you what new inventions we have come up with. Only when he is here, and you have both shared a drink, will I unlock the door to the wine cellar.”

“That sounds like a very good idea,” Doric said. “I favour a strong red myself.”

Sally laughed.

“Then you are out of luck, master dwarf, for the wine cellar holds no wine. It is where Albertus and I carry out our research.”

Doric gave a brief curse and rolled his eyes-to the amusement of his friends-when suddenly the front door opened with a loud bang.

“That is him now,” Sally said in excitement. “Albertus is here!”

Albertus Black was a white-haired old man only three years older than Ebenezer. His sideburns crept down his face and met at his chin, where they ended in a short, ill-kept beard. Age had withered him to the extent that he was barely taller than Doric, no more than chest height compared to Castimir, and when he shook hands with Ebenezer, the alchemist was startled by how frail his old friend appeared to be.

“I am glad you have come back, Ebenezer,” Albertus said. “I had hoped to sit with you again for a time, and to talk about the past.”

“Not you, as well?” Sally chided. “We’ve already been over Eloise and her grave. We’ve even talked about the disappearances and killings that plague Varrock.”

“Oh, please!” Albertus said with sudden vigour. “She does go on, doesn’t she? Often I thought it would have been best if I had gone with you twenty years ago. It would have saved me years of nagging. No wonder poor Erasmus died so young.” He sat at the table, next to Castimir, and eyed the wizard with a hint of suspicion. “Do you know young man, I am only twenty years old? Yet look what she has done to me!”

Sally laughed and scolded him for a fool.

“If your bones weren’t so brittle, you would be out, Albertus Black!”

“So you don’t believe in this creature then?” Doric asked cautiously. “The one that is doing the killing?”

“No,” Albertus said without hesitation. “It is the imaginings of peasants drunk on cider or religion. Possibly it is a contamination in the wheat-sometimes that can happen with ergot. And if that is the case, coming at a time when this ridiculous prophecy is talked of and spread about, then is it any surprise that a fearful figure grips the imagination of a folk weaned on legends of vampires and werewolves from over the river? No, it is all stuff and nonsense, and would never stand up to the scrutiny of a scientific mind.”

“You remind me of when I first met Ebenezer,” Castimir said, turning to his friend. “Didn’t we argue about the gods? You believed that Saradomin, Zamorak, and Guthix were all elements of the same god. You are fortunate Theodore didn’t declare you a heretic.”

“I believed that they were like fingers on the same hand,” Ebenezer explained. “Although I have seen much since that time, only six months ago.”

Near enough to make me reconsider my opinions, perhaps.

“I too believe they aren’t as people say they are,” Albertus huffed. “Since time immemorial we have listened to High Priests of Entrana as they lay down laws that govern our lives, setting calendars and dictating marriage ceremonies. And, of course, collecting money from the masses. I have never been to Entrana, but I expect the Holy Isle is a wealthy place indeed!”

“So what do you believe in?” Castimir asked politely.

“Science. Theories to test and then to predict. Let me show you.” The old man struggled to his feet and approached the cupboard that stood against the far wall. From inside he took a copper globe with a pump protruding from the bottom. Gently, he laid it on the table, wheezing from the effort.

“Now, master dwarf or wizard, would one of you be so kind as to use the pump?”

Castimir stood and did as the old man asked. He did so until he had gone red in the face and sweat dripped from his brow.

“That is quite enough. Now, you have just pumped out the air that was inside this hollow globe, creating a vacuum. I believe that not even two horses could pull the two halves of this globe apart.” He peered at them, amusement in his eyes. “Try it.”

Ebenezer watched as Doric and Castimir did so. Once, when Doric spied a small plug, Albertus interrupted. “Not yet, master dwarf. Try using strength alone.”

Sally shook her head.

“It is impossible, Albertus. Show them how it’s done.”

The white haired old man bent over the copper globe and gripped the plug.

“Listen” he said as he pulled it aside. The sound of air passing through the gap filled the silence. Then, with a slight twist of his hand, he pulled the globe apart, and it fell into two neat halves.

“And what does that mean?” Castimir asked.

Albertus frowned.

“It means that the atmosphere that we breathe exerts a pressure.” He peered upward and waved a hand toward the ceiling. “It means we live at the bottom of an ocean of air and gasses. You see, the weight of the atmosphere presses the two halves together when there is a vacuum inside. However, when I remove the plug, as demonstrated, the air inside becomes the same as the air outside, the pressure is balanced, and it becomes extremely easy to separate them. I plan to show it to the King this very afternoon.”

Ebenezer caught sight of Castimir’s bewilderment.

“Well, perhaps you can show us something a little more practical,” he proposed. “Something that my sorcerer friend will appreciate. How about this phosphorous?”

“Yes. More practical and more fun,” Albertus said excitedly. “Come along!”

The small party followed Sally to the door that led to the wine cellar, where she made a great show of fiddling with her keys while the grandfather clock announced midday. Finally the lock parted and they descended into a stone room with arched ceilings, where tables, barrels, and all manner of glass-shaped beakers and tubes were arrayed. To one side was a furnace, and to another was a separate chimney.

Albertus opened another cupboard while Ebenezer looked on with great interest.

This is home to me. I recognise these smells and instruments.

“Here it is,” Albertus announced. “Just a small sample of phosphorus the light-giver. Stand back.” He held out a small stoppered tube containing a white powder. He approached a table, first filling a jug of water from a barrel nearby. Then he spilled the powder onto a dry cloth.

In seconds a pale smoke rose. It was followed by a flash of light as the cloth caught fire.

Ebenezer saw Castimir’s eyebrow rise in interest.

“That could be magic,” the wizard said. “Truly.”

“But it isn’t.” Albertus smiled as he doused the cloth in water. “It’s science. Now, is there anything else you would like to see?”

“Sally said you had experimented with black powder taken from the Kinshra weapons,” Ebenezer said. “Can we see those?”

Albertus smiled even more broadly as he returned to the cupboard.

“Here.” He held a metal tube up for their inspection. A fuse protruded from its top, and Ebenezer heard Castimir breath in sharply.

“But I don’t think we will do a demonstration down here,” Albertus warned, returning the explosive to its proper place in the cupboard. “For obvious reasons.”

5

When they finished training, as they did every morning, the twelve recruits made certain their equipment was cleaned and maintained. This was the part of the daily ritual Theodore’s men hated most of all, for there was no glory or excitement to be had in such a menial job.

But Theodore ignored their complaints as he too removed and cleaned his armour. The hard work and the duties of his mission helped to distract him from the nagging worry over Kara and her continued absence.

These men hope to become squires, and then maybe knights. And if a knight can’t look after his blade or check the rings of his mail, then he won’t be a knight for long.

However, he could see that the recruits were making a special effort today, for the Midsummer Festival was an opportunity for them to show off in a punishing melee fought against Varrock’s finest knights. The reputation of the order of Falador was at stake, and it lent new vigour to their efforts.

“Hamel, make certain the men drink enough water before we drill,” Theodore instructed a young man who stood nearby. “We might be standing under the sun for some time, and I would hate for any of them to lose consciousness.”

Hamel, a boy of sixteen, nodded enthusiastically. When he had first come to Varrock, Theodore’s biggest problem had been the sheer number of young men who wanted to become knights. Very quickly he had learned that he could not do everything himself, and so he had appointed Hamel as his aide. The boy could never be a knight, for his foot was clubbed. It had been ridiculous for him even to attempt to become one, and yet his dedication and his intelligence had impressed the squire.

After he had told the boy that his dream was impossible, Hamel had sat down and wept. But then Theodore had told him the story of Bhuler, who had also been denied his dream of knighthood, yet he had served Saradomin better than any knight in living memory. More so even than Sir Amik Varze himself.

When offered the opportunity to serve in his own way, Hamel had thrown himself into the task, and had never again questioned his fate. Since then, he had proved invaluable to Theodore.

They know now, these boys, he thought, watching his charges. They know that what goes on behind the armour, the organisation and the discipline, are a thousandfold more important than the strength of the steel or the sharpness of a blade.

“Squire Theodore,” Hamel said in his thick country accent. He nodded to the gymnasium’s entrance, where Theodore caught sight of William.

“Thank you, Hamel. Dismiss the men-though make sure they know that we are to meet here at two o’clock.”

William advanced with a faint smile on his lips, as though trying to appear natural.

He’s up to something.

“I know that look, William,” Theodore said guardedly. “You’ve some mischief afoot.”

“Oh, come, Theodore,” his friend protested. “That’s too cruel. Although Lady Anne was most distressed at your treatment of her in the throne room this morning.”

Ah-hah!

“She’ll live,” Theodore countered. “Somehow I suspect that if I hurled her into a pit full of vipers, it would be they who would crawl out first.”

“Now that really is cruel! But just so long as you didn’t throw Lady Caroline in with her, then I wouldn’t raise a hand to stop you.”

So that’s it.

“What is your plan this time?” he asked with a hint of amusement.

“Not mine, this time, Theodore. It’s Lady Anne who has a plan.” He paused, and looked uncomfortable. “She is waiting for you, right now. She wants you to partner with her tonight at the King’s dance.”

Not again. How obvious must I really make it to her?

“Very well,” he said. “Where is she?” A look of relief swept across William’s face.

“She’s waiting near the main staircase. Come, if we go via the galleries we will avoid her.”

“Thank you, William,” he said. “That would save me an uncomfortable moment. Lead on.”

“Don’t worry Theodore,” William said, flashing a smile. “What ever are friends for?”

The galleries of King Roald’s palace housed dozens of tapestries and paintings from many eras of Varrock’s history. They occupied the floor above King Roald’s throne room, and were scattered in numerous alcoves in the warren of passages.

Within his first week, Theodore had discovered the true value that lay in these galleries-they were very useful if you wished to avoid meeting anybody waiting on the floor below. True, it took longer to go up one of the many discreet stairways to the floor above, and to cross the castle via the winding maze of corridors, but it usually guaranteed secrecy.

The galleries were also frequented by youngsters of the noble houses, who used them for meetings of a more illicit nature.

Theodore followed William up a stone spiral staircase to emerge near the portrait gallery commonly considered the most boring of all in the palace’s collections, and hence far less likely to have visitors. It was an ideal path.

“I need your advice Theodore,” William said quietly as they progressed toward the southern end of the palace.

“With what?” the squire asked in equally muted tones. Austere and wrinkled faces of Varrock’s royal line stared down at him as they walked.

“Lady Caroline,” the young noble began. “She is pleasant enough to me, but I am at a loss of how to take it further. I am not a strong man, Theodore, as you know, so I cannot hope to impress her with any martial skill. In fact, violence scares me. I don’t know what to do,” he struggled finally, stopping near the entrance to the Salve gallery.

Through the door, in a dimly lit chamber, Theodore caught a glimpse of horrifying scenes depicting the events leading up to the battle of the River Salve. The undead of Morytania, led by the vampire Lord Drakan, had sought to cross the river and overrun the forces of the living. It was a gory chronicle.

“Have you tried poetry?” Theodore suggested lamely. “That seems to work in the romance tales.”

“Poetry?” William nearly choked. “I don’t want to torture her.”

Somewhere a clock chimed, signalling midday. Suddenly William turned, looking into the dark recesses of the Salve gallery.

His alertness made Theodore wary.

“What are you looking for, William?” he asked.

“Probably for me, Theodore.” Lady Anne’s voice carried along the length of the gallery. Suddenly, even the portraits of Lord Drakan’s undead seemed far less frightening.

Betrayed! I have been lured into a trap.

“William!” he hissed as the nobleman stepped briskly away, his expression one of uncontrollable mirth.

“Most men would be jealous, Theodore,” William said laughing. “Make the most of it-I would,” he added.

“But your price is less ambitious, de Adlard, and may I say probably far wiser, as well,” Lady Anne said. “I spoke to Lady Caroline this morning. She is so looking forward to a dance with you this evening. Who knows, before winter we might even have a wedding to bring joy to the small folk. So, run along and prepare yourself. I advise a brief rest, followed by a lot of red meat. Good for your energy, and from what Lady Caroline said, you might well need it. To dance, of course.”

Theodore debated whether to run, but decided that it would be far beneath his dignity.

Too late, he felt Lady Anne’s arm slip around his own.

I wonder if this is how a ship feels when it’s being boarded?

How stupid he had been! William’s giggling faded as the nobleman disappeared toward the nearest stairwell, no doubt planning to raid the pantries on Lady Anne’s orders.

“You have the advantage, my lady,” he said, resigning himself to the moment. “What do you plan to do with it?”

“I belong to one of Misthalin’s wealthiest families, Theodore,” the young woman said, her lips uncomfortably close to his ear. “My ailing father lives in the country halfway to Lumbridge, my mother is dead due to circumstances that even today make some suspicious, and I have no brothers. Like William, I am the last of my line.”

“Then perhaps you should marry him?” Theodore suggested, trying to sound glib.

“William?” she replied scornfully, then adjusting her tone. “I think not. He is a good man, in his own limited way, but he is no knight. He does not have the respect of the court in any meaningful way. No, Lady Caroline is the very best he can hope for. Trust me Theodore, they are a good match, and I know that she harbours a genuine affection for him. Truly, there actually is a possibility of a wedding.

“Ah, Lady Caroline,” she continued with a dramatic wave of her hand, “my meek little lamb.” She glanced at Theodore. “Although I’ve known many lambs who were considerably less meek.”

“You mock too much, my lady,” he responded. “Is there anything you take seriously?”

“Of course. But if I were to confide that to you, then you would only laugh. You have a heart of stone, Theodore. Incorruptible, yes, and I fear incapable of love, as well.”

She stopped, removed her arm from his, and very slowly walked around to face him. For a long moment she said nothing. The daylight shining through the windows fell upon her face. Her eyes sparkled.

Was that a tear I saw?

“Am I so wicked Theodore?” she asked, and the words sounded earnest. “Am I so detestable that you cannot even be civil to me? Is it because of the rumours of my mother, of her sympathy for Zamorak’s worshippers, whom she protected from persecution?”

Her voice rose in barely restrained anger, causing him to respond.

“No, Lady Anne,” he sighed, “I don’t believe you are wicked at all. And you are certainly not detestable. And it’s got nothing to do with your mother’s history. It’s just…”

It’s Kara, he finished silently. If anything happened between us, I would have betrayed her.

“I am a Knight of Falador, Lady Anne. My love is duty. I can have no other.”

“But you have not denied me either, Theodore. Because of that, I have refused the Kandarin ambassador’s son tonight, so I think I deserve an answer.”

Suddenly she curtseyed, and remained in that position before Theodore’s startled gaze.

“Don’t make me beg, Theodore,” she whispered. Her voice cracked slightly. “Please don’t make me beg.”

The woman is impossible. His thoughts were in chaos. And she is beautiful.

He gazed down at Lady Anne for several seconds. Her blonde hair was plaited down her back in Varrock’s fashion. She wore a diamond ferronniere upon her forehead, which complemented her perfect blue eyes. Her smooth skin was deliciously pale. He remembered a romantic verse he had once heard where a maiden’s skin had been described as being like shards of captured moonlight.

Was that what the bard had been singing about? he wondered. It can’t have been too different.

“Very well, Lady Anne,” he conceded. “You shall have your dance.”

I have waited for you Kara, and you didn’t even write to me.

Her blue eyes fastened onto his. He had expected them to possess a triumphant shine, but there was nothing save honest relief.

“Thank you, Theodore,” she said humbly. “Thank you.”

She rose slowly and looked to the nearest of the pictures on display.

“I understand that this afternoon you and your men are to be involved in a melee?” she asked.

Theodore nodded.

“We are. Against the finest knights of Varrock.”

“You are aware that Lord Hyett will be fighting against you?”

Theodore caught his breath. Lord Hyett, known as the Black Boar due to the tusked beast on his family crest, had taken an irrational loathing to Theodore since the squire had first arrived in Varrock. He was a dangerous opponent, as big and ill-tempered as his nickname implied. Yet Theodore had unhorsed him in their only competition.

“I will look for him then. I have beaten him before, and I can do so again.”

“Just remember, Theodore, Lord Hyett is vulnerable on his left side. His ankle is weak and his vision is apparently blurred in his left eye. In fact, you would do me a favour by humbling him and claiming his armour, as is the victor’s right. He has designs above his station, if you understand what I mean. Intentions. Unwelcome ones.”

Seize the Black Boar’s armour? Theodore was appalled at the thought. The Knights of Falador do not claim the property of others, even in such a contest.

“I will do what I can, Lady Anne.”

Lady Anne smiled innocently, but to Theodore her eyes were anything but.

“But enough of Lord Hyett, Theodore.” Her gaze wandered back to the tapestries on the wall. “I used to come here when I was a young girl,” she said. “I used to imagine participating in the battles, or being the princess in the paintings. My mother used them to teach me the history of Misthalin, for they tell a chronicle from beginning to end. We start with the painting of Avarrocka, the village that would become Varrock. In this gallery, all of Misthalin’s history is illustrated up until the tapestry depicting the battle of the River Salve.”

“I would like to see that,” Theodore said earnestly. He had grown up with tales of the war against Morytania and its climax upon the banks of the sacred river. Lady Anne, enthused by his interest, directed him to a tapestry hung in a prominent position. It was illuminated by the sun’s rays, streaming through a small window near the ceiling, giving it a slightly supernatural aura.

“It’s smaller than I imagined it to be,” he said after a moment.

“It is small, but it is incredibly detailed. See here, the five princes of Varrock who rode to battle.” Lady Anne pointed to the bottom left corner. “Only the youngest returned. King Roald can trace his lineage back to that one, nearly a thousand years ago.”

“How old is the tapestry?” Theodore asked, thoroughly engaged now.

“It’s over nine hundred years old, and was made by those who witnessed the battle itself,” she said. “This is the original. Some say it should be kept elsewhere, to prevent decay.”

“You do not agree?” he asked, knowing by her voice that she didn’t.

“This is real history, Theodore, a link to our past. Every time I see it I feel as if I understand my place in the world a little better. As if I understand what those who came before me had to fight, and of the hardships they endured so that we could enjoy a better future.”

She is absolutely sincere, he thought curiously. I had no idea…

Theodore laughed, and she looked confused.

“Here I thought your only interests were matchmaking and courtly mischief.”

Then it was her turn to smile.

“Well, don’t tell anyone, Theodore,” she said, her eyes sparkling. “I wouldn’t want my reputation to be damaged.”

They examined the tapestry for several minutes, standing close together. When she moved closer still, Theodore made no effort to move away. And when her arms wrapped around his neck and pulled his head down to hers, he made no attempt to resist.

It was only when a servant discovered them that they broke their embrace, and as Theodore left the gallery, alone, his head faint from excitement, he no longer felt he had betrayed Kara.

6

Pia awoke slowly. Her eyelids were heavy, and slow to open. Her body ached as painfully as she could ever recall and she felt utterly exhausted. She wanted nothing more than to fall back into sleep.

But as she stirred she felt the cloth tied over her eyes, so tightly that her head throbbed with pain, and the rope in her mouth that prevented her from crying out. On her first breath she gagged, an overpowering stench of apples covering her skin and clothing. It was instantly recognisable.

Someone nearby laughed cruelly.

“She’s awake,” another said.

She sat up and tried to move her hands, but found they were bound together at the wrists. Her feet were likewise restrained.

Ropes! Not ropes.

She struggled as hard as she was able, until the cords were burning her skin.

Finally, and to the laughter of her onlookers who were too numerous for her to count accurately, she fell back to the ground, exhausted.

“Straven wanted you dead, you know. He gave you to us.” She heard a man’s voice that she didn’t recognise, yet his words brought back a memory.

For she had only seen Straven that morning, an hour before dawn.

Now I remember. It’s all coming back.

Straven. The thief master of Varrock, in charge of the Phoenix Gang. She had first met him only a week ago, when she and her brother had proposed their plan to him, and he had given his permission for them to carry it out. Then, after making more money than they had ever possessed, they had tried to run. She had been taken within the first hour, and then she had been beaten. But what of her brother?

Jack! Did they capture you, too? Oh, gods…

“It’s true, you do look quite like her,” the man continued. “You could be a younger sister, two or three years maybe. You’re a head shorter than her, though, and little more than a rag doll. Your eyes are different, too. Straven didn’t tell me how much you conned from that crowd at the Flying Donkey, but when he caught you trying to run with his share, he wanted to roll you down a steep hill in a barrel of apples. Apparently that’s one of his ways of dealing with disloyalty. The severity of the treachery determines the height and inclination of the drop. Some are dropped in the River Lum, whereas particularly vile offenders have been sealed in their barrels in his cellar, with apples enough to last them a month.”

She felt someone’s breath on her face. As the man laughed, she felt his spittle on her cheek. She grimaced, and he laughed again.

“I am told that the smell when they are brought out is truly horrendous. I believe only one man has ever survived a full month, and he was mad and so near death that they cut his throat as a mercy.

“I am telling you this so you understand your position. Straven gave you to me after my messenger persuaded him that I could use you. He put you in a half-filled barrel of apples, and you were brought to me in a cart from the city.”

I am not in Varrock, then? Where am I?

“So you have a choice, thief. You are uniquely placed to help me get my revenge.” There was a pause before he continued. “I don’t know how yet, but there will be a way to use you to my advantage.”

She felt hands at the back of her head, untying the knot to the cord in her mouth. It fell loose and she gave a desperate gasp.

But she didn’t try to scream. She knew how pointless that would be.

“Where is my brother?” she said urgently. “Where is Jack? Did Straven take him, too?”

“Your brother? I know nothing of him,” the voice spat. A moment later, it continued. “Keep her ankles and wrists bound for now, and give her a bath. She smells like a rotting orchard.”

She was picked up roughly and carried a short distance. She knew from the sound of footsteps that she was inside a building-a spacious one, though she couldn’t guess any more.

“The water’s cold,” a man taunted as she was dropped into a shallow trough. She gasped as the freezing liquid engulfed her, and water filled her mouth. Her arms beneath her, she fought to push upward and get her mouth above the surface. Finally she succeeded, coughing and retching to the sound of laughter and applause.

“No! Wait! Please!” she shouted as a hand forced her head beneath the water again.

Where it remained. Firm. Unmoving.

This is it. I’m going to drown. At least it’s not from a rope. Never a rope around my neck.

Jack! Please gods, send someone to take care of him.

Suddenly the hand was ripped away and she burst upward, panting and retching once more.

“I said wash, not drown!”

“It was only a joke, Su-” A loud shout cut the man off.

The men argued as she forced herself over the side of the trough-feeling her way to the ground where she coughed up water and shivered uncontrollably-but she had not the strength to pay attention to their words. Then the voices stilled and she realised that something else had entered the room.

It’s like they are afraid.

“He has paid us what we asked,” a strange new voice growled. It reminded her of an animal. “The noble was not at his estate. He is on business in Varrock, but his steward had orders to pay.”

“He is rich enough,” said the man whose voice she had first heard. “He will pay to keep us silent. You see, men-you follow me and I promise you we will be comfortable by the winter. This is only the first noble I plan to blackmail. There is a great deal more information at my disposal. And remember, in case any of you get ambitious, I am the only one who can read the documents.

“Now, take our guest and put her in the cellar, for we have decisions to make.”

The girl knelt as two men grabbed her from each side and dragged her a short distance.

“Kick that bale out of the way, Owen. I can’t get to the trapdoor.”

A hay bale-am I in a barn? That would make sense, with the trough.

The blindfold slipped, and she found she could see a sliver of light if she stared down toward her feet. As her eyes grew accustomed to the shade she saw ears of wheat.

So it is a barn. I am out of Varrock, but where?

“Untie her legs, Owen,” a new voice said. “I can’t drop her down the ladder.” When her bonds were loosened she had the urge to lash out. But she resisted.

These men won’t hesitate to hurt me, she realised, perhaps even kill me. I will have to wait for a better opportunity, and learn what I can.

She caught sight of the trapdoor. On top of it she seemed to see a black image, faded with age. For some reason it reminded her of a bird with its wings spread and its head turned the wrong way.

“Down you go!” Rough hands pushed her into place. She felt her way backward down the short ladder, her hands grasping tentatively, one foot testing each rung. No one came after her, and so sure were her captors that they even left the trapdoor open. She listened breathlessly from the bottom of the ladder, the voices faint.

“If we need to go to Varrock we should go by the southern road,” the bestial voice said.

“That will take hours. The eastern road is quicker.”

“My master has told me that the eastern road is… watched.”

Master? Who is this man?

She needed to see, to find out who was holding her prisoner. As the men talked she struggled furiously with her blindfold, teasing it only slightly upward. And in the darkness of the cellar, that was next to useless.

“Can you still hear this song you keep going on about?” a man said sarcastically, to the guffaws of a few others. “It must sound terrifying, if it can scare a werewolf!”

What? A werewolf? She froze, straining to hear what was said next. Werewolves don’t exist. Surely it must be a nickname?

“It’s here,” the growling voice said in anger. “I have heard it since we first came into Misthalin.”

With growing urgency she tried once more to prise her blindfold loose. It was an impossible task with her wrists bound as they were. As she sank to her knees in frustration, breathing heavily from her exertion, her foot kicked the side of a wooden object.

Craning her head back, she could just make out a cupboard.

Why would that be down here?

She grasped the handle and attempted to open it. But it was locked.

Lucky Straven didn’t strip me when he beat me and sealed me in that barrel.

Quickly she reached down to her boot. Her fingers tore at the sole, and came away with a thin metal strip and two pieces of wire. She knelt at the lock, feeling for it with her fingers.

All those years of training in the dark. Thorn would be proud of me. And Ginny and the others, for I was the best. No hangman’s rope for me.

The voices carried on above her, but she was concentrating too hard to listen. It could have been a minute, or five, but finally the lock gave in to her teasing.

And when the cupboard fell open, she knew her luck had changed.

“So Jerrod, Barbec, and I will return to Varrock via the southern road,” said the voice of the man who commanded the group. “Until I return, you will have to keep a low profile here. I will, of course, be taking my box with me, as I am sure you will all understand.”

“How do we know you won’t run?”

“I have been running for the last six months, and I weary of it. We need to establish a secure headquarters, and I need men who I can trust to do what is needed. Now that you have seen the rewards I can deliver-and you know you can’t run from Jerrod-I believe you are such men.” He paused, and when no one objected he continued. “For the moment, our fates are intertwined.”

From her position, peering over the rim of the trapdoor, the girl watched. The view of her captors was obscured by the three hay bales that rested between them. She shifted the two-bladed dagger she had found in the cupboard. It felt heavy in her grasp.

I could go now, she thought, not entirely convinced. They are all standing together, away from the entrance. If I could make it to cover then I would be safe.

She tensed her legs in preparation for a fast run. The distance to the open barn door was unobstructed, so there was no chance of her escaping unseen. Outside, the sky was overcast.

“And what do we do while we wait?” countered the bandit.

She didn’t wait for the man’s answer. She jumped up, running as soon as her foot touched the floor.

When she was halfway to the door, she was noticed.

“Jerrod! Get her.” She glanced over her shoulder. A bearded man in a black cloak commanded as a small army of men rose in pursuit.

Didn’t know there were so many!

She made it to the door as something heavy landed behind her.

So quick. Impossibly quick.

She spun instinctively as her nearest pursuer snarled. The two-pronged knife darted out before her in a desperate, unthinking lunge.

“No!” she shouted as her attacked side-stepped at the very last moment. He wore a cloak that obscured his features, and something about him froze her blood. Behind him, she saw how the other men had stopped and looked on. They were grinning.

It’s as though this is a show.

I’ll give them a show!

“Give her a scare, Jerrod,” a man without his nose roared. “Show her your pretty face from under that hood.”

They laughed as the man called Jerrod jumped back a step, giving her room to wield the dagger.

“But I want her unhurt, Jerrod,” said the man in black. “She could still be useful to us, once you’ve quenched that fire in her.” The man who spoke-she realised he was their leader-strode to the front of the group. His face, when it emerged from the gloom of the barn and into the dim light of the overcast sky, made her gasp.

His left eye was a pale opal, blind of sight, while the right was bereft of mercy. His thin ragged hair fell to his shoulders, framing a face that was scarred beyond any she had seen.

Yet the torments didn’t end there. When he thrust his arms from his cloak, she saw the two bandages that were tied to the stumps where his hands had once been.

“Unhurt,” the man said again.

The figure in the hood growled in response. He advanced a step, crouched, his arms outstretched to seize her knife hand.

“Go on girl,” the noseless man goaded. “Prick him at least with your little dagger.”

“I’ll bet you a gold piece that she doesn’t get near him, Velko.” The speaker was a pale-faced man with a mole at his forehead.

“You’re on, Owen,” Velko replied. “Go on girl-if you fail, you will have lost me money. And I will be forced to cut it out of your flesh.”

He had barely finished his sentence before she leapt, thrusting her knife arm out as she carried her entire body forward in a lunge.

And if her enemy had been quick before, he was slow now. Her knife slashed the loose cloth at his wrist and went through. She felt the tip of the longer blade stab something beneath.

When she pulled it back, she saw that its tip was black.

But blood isn’t black. It’s red. It must be the light.

The figure howled. Not a human yell of pain but something else, like the cry of an animal in agony. As he jumped back, the men behind fell silent in shock.

“It burns!” Jerrod roared. His head tilted back and for the first time she could see the face under the hood.

And when she did, she dropped the dagger with a cry of fright. Her will to fight vanished.

For it was an inhuman face that stared at her. Jerrod’s eyes were blood red, his jaw hideously swollen and his teeth too long to be anything natural. Quickly he jerked the hood back into place.

“Get her,” the scarred man ordered, before she could run. He stepped forward and put his foot on her dagger as his men seized her arms. “Tie her to the ladder.”

Her heart calmed as she was bound. But even the hated presence of the rope wasn’t enough to clear her head of that hideous face.

“Well, Jerrod. What happened?” the scarred man asked as Owen picked up the weapon.

Jerrod pushed the hood back again from his face and she braced herself for the terror that was certain to grip her. But when she saw what was revealed, she gave a gasp of surprise. For he looked human. Gone were the red eyes and distended jaw, and now he sat on a hay bale, pale-faced, retching.

“Get that dagger away from me,” he mumbled to Owen, who backed away. “It’s a wolfbane blade, cursed by Saradomin. I cannot concentrate while it is near. Get it away from me!”

Jerrod stood and swayed like a drunken man, lurching from the barn. Velko climbed down into the cellar, and she heard a surprised whistle.

“She’s good,” he called up. “She opened the cupboard somehow.”

Good, she thought silently. Show them your worth. If they think you are useful they will keep you alive.

“I picked the lock,” she said softly. “I’m a thief after all-just like the rest of you.”

“Wrap the dagger up Owen,” the scarred man instructed. “I will take it with me. But you, little girl… you have proved yourself more resourceful than I had thought. You will not be harmed so long as you don’t try to run. I will return here in a day or two, and by then I expect I will have thought of a good use for you.” He advanced and fixed her with his opal-clouded eye.

Can he see me with that thing?

“What is your name, thief?”

She breathed deeply before answering, to ensure that her voice sounded strong.

It was all my parents left me with. It will not be mocked. It will not be whispered.

“It is Pia,” she said. “My name is Pia.”

Be bold, Pia. You have nothing to lose now.

Her chin jutted forward.

“And you?” she demanded.

The man laughed, slowly at first, and then with a hint of madness.

“Who am I?” he responded. “Who am I? You impersonated Kara-Meir, so surely you know her story. I have heard it spread throughout The Wilderness. About her and her friends, and their victory at Falador. Who do you think I must be then? Who else in all this world would have such cause to hate her that he would spare you in case you might be useful? Who has lost both hands to that wretched she-devil in single-combat?”

He leaned in closer, his foul-smelling breath disgusting her.

“You tell me who I am.”

The man was hissing now, spitting into her face.

Pia closed her eyes in sudden panic.

Of course, she thought. How could I not know?

“You are Sulla,” she said.

And this time, her voice did not sound so confident.

“Can we trust Sulla?” Velko asked his fellow outlaws.

“Not much choice, is there?” came the answer.

It was two hours since Sulla had left them and the men all looked tired. Pia was tied to the wooden ladder that led up to the gambrel. She was aware of the increasingly hostile looks the men gave her. She said nothing in an attempt to avoid provoking them.

She knew that she would have no other opportunity to escape. There were fifteen outlaws in all, armed with dirks, axes and swords. Even if she could free herself from her bonds, there was always someone watching. None dared to risk the anger of their leader-and the creature he commanded.

The shadows had darkened inside the barn. The only light came from a single lamp that was set well away from the dry hay. Outside, the sky was still overcast and the gloom was increasing.

After a time, resignation gave way to quiet desperation.

My only chance is to knock over the lamp, then escape in the darkness.

Unnoticed by her captors, she strained at the rope about her wrists, hoping that the old flax fibres would soon give.

My brother is out there-he needs me.

Finally, one of her captors spoke, putting a voice to the fears of his friends.

“What worries me is that we’re all wanted in Varrock,” Owen said.

“If we’re caught we’ll hang,” added another. “We lived in The Wilderness for a reason, and that’s ‘cause we have bounties on our heads. Every one of us.”

The flax rope gave way with a sudden snap. Pia took her opportunity and dived for the lamp.

“Get her!” Velko shouted.

A man moved to bar her way, but she ducked between his legs, her arm extended, knocking the lamp over. Someone closed the door to the barn. At the same time the lamp smashed.

The room went dark. She felt the man’s hands seize her legs. Pia kicked viciously, but the man held her tightly.

“Help me subdue her!” the outlaw roared.

Velko, she thought.

Someone nearby drew a sword.

Who would risk a blade in the darkness?

“Open the door to let in some light!” Velko cried, his hand around Pia’s throat.

A sword swung near the door. A man sighed as he fell.

“What’s happening?” someone shouted.

“I’ve heard enough,” a new voice, a woman’s voice, said. “I know you are all outlaws and murderers.” The calm coldness of the words brought no reply. “If you surrender now you will live to face trial in Varrock.”

Who is this? No one can fight if they can’t see.

“You speak boldly for a lone girl,” Owen said in the darkness.

Pia heard the outlaws ready their weapons.

Another sound came from the darkness, this time from the right of the barn. It was the sound of a sword tip puncturing leather armour. Pia imagined the blade severing internal organs and cracking the man’s spine.

She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes as the man screamed. The sound ended with a gurgle, followed by that of a sword being pulled from the body.

Shhhhhk.

“Rush her,” Velko shouted.

I must help her. She is my best chance to escape Sulla.

“There are fifteen of them,” she yelled as Velko squeezed her throat.

“You shut up!” he roared. She choked and thrashed, preventing him from cutting off her breath entirely. But he was stronger than she, and if he found a better grip…

“Only twelve now,” the newcomer said from the left of the barn. Somehow, she had moved through the line of men, who clamoured with confusion.

She is like a ghost.

Thinking they had located her now, the thieves turned and charged, and the sound of full battle erupted.

The outlaws, fighting in the darkness, stabbed at the air and confused each other, while the assailant herself fought silently, the only noise being her blade as it parried and stabbed.

“My arm!” A man cried.

Shhhhhk.

Another screamed as he was disembowelled.

A third yelled as he hacked at a shape in the darkness, striking the wood of the beams. Pia heard the solid thud of his axe as it found a body.

“You’ve killed your friend,” the woman said. “And you have lost your weapon.”

“No! No!”

Shhhhhk.

Then came a lull in the fighting, and no one dared speak, lest they be found by this ruthless assailant. The sound of men panting in fear filled the darkness.

Finally, the silence was ended by the woman’s voice.

“Surrender. Please. You will be taken to Varrock as prisoners.”

“That would mean our deaths,” someone replied.

“Then you leave me no alternative.” The voice came from a different place again, though there had been no trace of movement.

What magic does she possess?

“We’ll take our chances with you,” Velko shouted, “rather than with the hangman.”

“So be it.” The woman’s voice was followed by the sound of someone scrambling up the ladder to the loft, followed by a moan of desperation from several feet above the combatants.

“Please…” the man stuttered. “Please…”

There was a swooshing sound ending with the thunk of a blade-most likely an axe-as it embedded itself in flesh and cracked bone. The man above gave a brief sigh as his body fell crashing through the rungs of the ladder.

Pia felt warm drops fall upon the back of her neck, and her stomach heaved.

Above her, Velko cursed.

“She can see us,” someone said. “Open the doors…”

The girl heard the desperate survivors run toward the barn door.

“It’s been wedged shut,” one cried, tugging frantically.

Each cry was punctuated by the sound of another death.

“Just smash it open! Get some light.”

“Help! Help me!”

A man stumbled as Pia heard a hay bale overturn. He screamed as he fell.

“No. No.” It was Owen’s voice. He ran from the door, toward her. “Kill the girl, Velko, kill her.”

Pia heard Velko pull a knife from its sheath, but instead af cutting her throat he thrust it wildly forward. She heard it crack against a rib and sever the flesh and muscle beneath.

“Velko… Gods… it’s me…” Owen’s voice transformed into a choking gurgle as he collapsed in front of them.

She felt Velko above her, felt him shake in the darkness, his spirit destroyed, his fear absolute.

“Please,” he said. “I surrender… Please…” He wept and she felt his grip relaxing. Finally he fell to his knees.

Pia crawled away, her hand slipping on the liquid that covered the wooden floor. It had a metallic smell that was sickly sweet.

“I won’t kill you,” the woman said coldly, her breath calm as if she had felt no exertion in slaying fourteen violent men.

“But you…” A hand gripped Pia’s wrist. “You have caused me no small amount of trouble. And it nearly cost you your life, impostor.”

She was dragged toward the door. There was the sound of a bar of some sort being pulled aside, and at the same time there came a knocking on the wood, followed by a voice from outside.

Another woman!

“Is it done?” the voice asked.

“It is.”

Another plank was removed on the outside, the door was opened and dim light flooded in.

“Wait for me outside,” Pia’s liberator commanded, her features hidden under her hood. Without waiting for an answer, the mysterious woman turned back into the barn.

The daylight made Pia squint. As she blinked, she spied a dark-haired young boy waiting anxiously nearby, a worn brown-leather satchel hung across his chest. His bare feet were red with dried blood, cut as if he had been running over stony ground, and his face was so pale and his body so thin he looked as if he was about to fall from exhaustion.

My brother! Alive.

“Jack! I thought Straven had taken you. I thought… I thought you were dead.”

Pia broke into tears as she ran forward, crushing him in her arms. Her brother hugged back, his pale lips quivering with emotion.

“I saw them take you, Pia,” he said. “I saw Straven and his men and what… what they did to you, and I hid, Pia, I hid, as you always told me to do if ever you were taken. I saw them put you in the barrel and I followed them in their wagon from Varrock out to here. My feet hurt but I couldn’t abandon you…”

“Oh, Jack. Where are your shoes?”

“I lost them when we hid from Straven, Pia. I’m sorry.”

“Shhhh, it’s alright-don’t be sorry.” She smoothed his hair. “Be happy. We are alive. Remember Jack, always remember, never a rope for us.”

Pia shielded her brother from the open barn door, not daring to look inside where the floor was slippery with death. Suddenly she felt weak.

I have come so close to losing everything. It could so easily be my blood in there.

“But Pia, listen to me!” Jack said forcefully as she staggered against his smaller frame. Heroically, he tried to hold her up. “Pia, we are rescued now, for they came after us. She was angry at our trick, and so she came after us!”

“What are you talking about, Jack?”

I am so tired now, so dreadfully tired.

“Who else can see in the dark like her?” he said. “You’ve heard the tales. It’s her.”

Apprehension dawned in that second as her cloaked liberator left the barn, Velko shuffling in front of her as a captive. The hood was pulled back now, and Pia saw the long blonde hair tied in a ponytail that reached to her waist. Her skin was tanned from long days under the open sky. A crimson stain was splashed across her cheek.

But it was her eyes that held Pia most of all. Dark, angry pools, and Pia knew then that no matter what tricks she used, no matter how good an actress she was, she could never, ever impersonate the spirit that burned within them.

She swallowed once.

“Kara-Meir,” she gasped.

* * *

“Please my lady. Please let me go.” Velko wept. “They will hang me if I go back to Varrock.”

Kara shook her head as she walked over to a rain barrel that stood near the door. For Pia, it was like looking at an older version of herself, and she saw now how she had been able to fool everyone so successfully. Kara splashed the turbid water onto her cheek and cleared the bloodstain away. Then she washed her hands. Pia saw her purse her lips, and wondered whether she was contemplating Velko’s plea.

“I can help you my lady, my goddess,” he continued. “So beautiful you are, too much to be without mercy.” Velko knelt and began again to weep, making a great show of his misfortune.

“Stop,” Kara’s companion said. “It’s pitiful.” She was a black-haired woman in blue robes, tall and athletic, as if she had grown up with a man’s martial training. Yet her blue eyes were calm and observant. “Pia does not weep, and she has as much to fear in Varrock as you do.” At the sound of her own name, Pia tensed.

She’s right. If I am sent to Varrock I will hang too. She glanced around, considering for a moment her chances if she ran, for Kara had not restrained her. But she realised that she was just too tired.

“But I can help you!” Velko wailed. “I know things that will interest you. Things about a certain man who you chase. And his dog.”

You will not get away with this Velko, Pia thought grimly. I know about them, as well!

“He means Sulla and Jerrod,” she shouted abruptly, causing the two women to turn in her direction. “They were here only two hours ago.”

Someone cursed behind them. A third person emerged from the barn-a tall man wearing a hooded grey cloak and loose woollen garments. His face was sharp-featured and hard, his skin darker than most in this part of the land. His almond-shaped eyes were fierce, and his gaze was restless.

He’s not from this realm, she thought, as she realised that the sensation he evoked was strangely familiar. Not here, nor even so far as Kandarin.

Kara’s eyes remained fixed on Pia as she spoke coldly.

“Can you track them Gar’rth? Or is the impostor lying again?”

The man shook his head and when he spoke Pia knew for certain he was not from any land she knew. His accent was strange, and the words of the Common Tongue did not come easily to him.

“No. Too much blood,” he rasped. “The scent is lost.”

Pia shook her head.

“They were here. I swear it.”

“She tells the truth kind mistress-we have been hiding here for two days now,” Velko added. “Jerrod returned today from some errand in the east, and then he and Sulla and another of our party called Barbec returned to Varrock. By the southern road.”

“Again we miss them by bad luck alone,” Kara spat grimly.

“So it seems,” the blue-robed woman said. When she brushed her hair back Pia saw that she wore a small silver tiara. Her cold eyes settled on Velko first and then shifted to Pia. “Tell me-you and Pia both-of what you know.”

“You waste your time, Arisha.” Gar’rth interrupted angrily. “I can find no scent of them.”

Pia felt Jack nudge her discreetly, and he murmured in her ear.

“It was Gar’rth who tracked me all the way from the Flying Donkey in Varrock. I don’t know how he did it, but they caught me when I had decided to return to the city for help.”

“They were here. Both of them,” Velko persisted. “But it ain’t bad luck that’s allowed them to escape you. I know, you see. I travelled from The Wilderness with them after Sulla took charge of our band, after he tricked Leander, which is something I didn’t think I would live to see.” The bandit stood and laughed eerily. “They have help, you see. Jerrod has visions.”

“What visions?” Gar’rth demanded.

Was that fear in his voice?

“I don’t know. But twice in The Wilderness he told us how to avoid trouble. The first time was the very afternoon we left Leander behind. A group of Kinshra horsemen, about two dozen, would have run straight into us if we hadn’t followed Jerrod’s instructions.” Velko laughed. “They must have found Leander though. I wonder what they did with him?”

“We saw them,” Arisha said. “They did have someone with them, but they were too far away for us to identify them. Whether this was Leander or another captive, I cannot say.”

“He’s had dealings with them before. Perhaps they spared him. Perhaps he’s bargained with them for what he knows about Sulla. You see, I know a bit more, as well.”

Pia felt Velko’s eyes fall upon her. The mutilated man drew a hand across his throat in a clear warning to remain silent.

Sulla’s blackmailing, she knew. That is what he wants to trade.

“These visions of Jerrod’s concern me,” Kara said. “I never knew he could do that. Did you?” She looked to Gar’rth, who shrugged.

“Maybe Lord Drakan is helping him. From Morytania. Guiding him.”

“But why now?” Arisha asked. “Why not six months ago?” Kara motioned, and the three companions strode back next to the barn to converse in secret. Pia saw Gar’rth shrug again, and shake his head. Finally, Kara sighed.

“Arisha, Gar’rth, find out from Velko the names of his dead companions,” she said resignedly. “I don’t think we can catch up with Sulla-he’ll be in Varrok now, and we are already late. I promised Theodore we would be there for the Midsummer celebration.”

“Do you have paper, Kara?” Arisha said. “For the names?”

Suddenly Pia felt Jack move at her side.

“I have some, in my bag,” he said eagerly. “You can have it if you would like?”

Jack took the parchment from his bag and handed it to Arisha.

“Where did that come from Jack?” Pia asked her brother.

“You gave it me at the inn. It was the message that was passed on by the innkeeper.”

Pia gasped.

From the squire, Theodore, who so nearly ruined my plan.

Arisha took it and read the first line. Coldly, her blue eyes fell on the siblings.

“Explain this,” she said. “It is addressed to Kara.”

“What? What is it?” Kara strode back from the barn and took it. Her eyes passed over the short message and then fell back to Pia. “It’s from Theodore. You must have read this.”

“I…” Pia looked at the ground. “Neither of us can read,” she admitted.

“What does it say?” Gar’rth asked, his eyes narrowing visibly.

Kara looked at him steadily.

And coldly.

“He is most concerned with you and Arisha. He received Arisha’s letter telling him that we had gone into The Wilderness, and he wonders why neither of you are with me.”

“Is that all?” Gar’rth said.

“He also writes how worried he is that we are pursuing Jerrod, even all three of us.”

“Nothing else?”

“Nothing else, Gar’rth.” Kara folded the paper and put it in her satchel.

Suddenly Velko laughed, and he nodded in Pia’s direction.

“Jerrod? You should ask her about him. You cut him, didn’t you, girl? You made him bleed his black blood.” At his words, a look of absolute surprise appeared on the faces of Kara-Meir and her two companions.

“You cut him?” Gar’rth said. “How?”

“I found a dagger in the cellar. A two-bladed one. There is a cupboard there, and I used the knife to cut my bonds, and when I tried to run, Jerrod caught me.”

“And you are still alive? That is a miracle,” Kara said.

“Something happened to him, to Jerrod,” Velko offered. “The dagger made him ill.”

Kara’s eyes fell eagerly upon Pia.

“Show me.”

The girl led Kara back into the barn, but when the smell of blood hit her she wobbled. She felt Kara’s hand steady her.

“Take a moment,” she said calmingly. “It is a horrible sight, even to me, and I have fought in many battles.”

“I have never killed anyone before, Kara,” Pia responded. “How can you do it? They say you killed a hundred men in the siege of Falador.”

But Kara-Meir said nothing.

“And how could you see them, in the dark?” Pia asked as she recovered.

“I grew up with the dwarfs under Ice Mountain,” Kara explained. “My younger years were spent in very dark places. My eyes became attuned to see in such.” She gave Pia another moment to steady herself. “Now, are you ready?”

Pia nodded and found her way to the cellar. Stepping off of the ladder, she moved to the cupboard, where six of the two-bladed daggers still sat on a shelf.

“I heard someone say that Jerrod was a werewolf, Kara,” she said. “Is that true? Do such things truly exist?”

“It is true, Pia. Jerrod is a dreadful enemy, and I don’t understand how you could wound him with such a weapon as this.” Kara examined one of the daggers in detail.

“I saw his face, Kara,” Pia replied. “It was horrible. But then I saw it a few seconds later, and it was human. I thought I was imagining it. He said the dagger was cursed by Saradomin. Even being close to it seemed to make him sick.”

“Interesting, Pia.” Kara said. “Very interesting.” She sniffed the blade, and then, with a wary look up the ladder into the barn, as though she didn’t want to be seen, she tucked one of the knives into her satchel. Then, after a moment of consideration, she took four of the remaining five and did likewise.

“Tell no one of this, Pia. No one. Do you understand?”

“Yes. But Kara, what will happen to me?” Her voice was pleading. “And Jack? He has done nothing wrong. Please Kara, he’s not even nine years old.”

Kara pursed her lips.

“You committed a robbery, Pia, although it seems as if you lost all you gained when Straven caught you.” Pia frowned and Kara saw her look. “Jack told us everything he knew when we found him, bleeding and exhausted on the road. But as for you I have not yet decided what to do. Now, come on.”

“Wait, Kara. We are alone here, and I trust you, for you had no reason to come to my rescue after I abused your reputation,” she said, and she paused a moment to remember. “Sulla has a plan-it was what Velko is keeping to tell you in exchange for a pardon. He’s extorting money from a noble with documents that only he can understand. He said the noble was the first of many.”

“So Sulla becomes a common thief,” Kara said scornfully. “He was a warlord when I first encountered him, and since then I have reduced him to scraping a living. When I next meet him, Pia, I will do what I should have done six months ago. I shall make him a corpse.”

When they emerged into the daylight they found Jack trying on some new boots. Gar’rth had taken them from one of the corpses, the one with the smallest feet, and Jack smiled, despite the fact that even these were plainly too big.

“I have the names of Velko’s friends, Kara,” Arisha said. “Gar’rth found a scrap of parchment on one of the bodies, and that was enough for me to write them down.”

“Very good,” Kara said. “Then let us start our walk back to Varrock. We should still be in time to enjoy the Midsummer Festival, and at least now we can present King Roald with the gift of justice.”

Never a rope!

The thought echoed through Pia’s mind the nearer they came to Varrock. From the east, the land was pastoral, where dry stone walls divided it into the fiefdoms of influential noblemen.

“It’s a fertile country,” Arisha mused. “But it is quiet. I know my people of the tribes would find life pleasant here.”

Velko laughed derisively from the front of their small group. Of the captives, only he was bound. Pia saw that his subservience had vanished, to be replaced by anger now that his pleas for mercy had been ignored.

“So you are a barbarian?” he asked. “This is the east, woman. Nothing here now except open country all the way to the Salve. That’s why few live here. Even your uncivilized race surely has stories of what goes on across that river.”

“My uncivilized people don’t hang others,” Arisha replied. “The most common punishment for all crimes save murder is for the offender to be ostracised. Perhaps, in the few hours that remain to you, you should dwell on which of our societies is truly the more uncivilised.”

Velko mumbled under his breath. Pia could see that the barbarian’s words had chilled him. And she shared the feeling.

They paused to rest in the shadow of a tall yew tree. Velko began to weep again, shaking his head, as if refusing to believe that he’d been captured.

Perhaps his mind is going.

She took Jack’s hand and moved farther away from the thief. She had seen men hanged before, and knew the sudden burst of strength they could possess when faced with the gallows.

As she sat down, closer to Gar’rth and Kara, she saw that the heroine’s eyes rarely left her prisoner.

“I am unwell, Kara,” she heard Gar’rth say bitterly. “I feel light headed and I cannot smell anything, anything at all! It’s as if I’ve lost my sight.” He lowered his hood to reveal his face, pale and drawn. He breathed deeply, and every time nature made a sound his head would dart toward its source as if in paranoid surprise.

Kara shifted her satchel as she stepped away from him. Her dark eyes found Pia, and held her gaze.

She’s giving me a warning.

“Perhaps you should take Velko on ahead,” Kara suggested to her companion. “We have been tracking Sulla for nearly a month now, and we may be close to locating him. And besides…” Kara lowered her voice, looking at Velko briefly. “I want to separate the prisoners. I want to see if there is anything Pia can add to Velko’s account, to be sure we know everything. Don’t go too far ahead though, not beyond sight.”

Gar’rth nodded and stood. He lifted the bound man to his feet with a slight grunt of effort and led him in the direction of Varrock.

“I have never seen Gar’rth ill before,” Arisha said. “Not since the monastery.”

“He is his own man now, since the exorcism,” Kara replied. Still, her words were spoken with some doubt.

“Please Kara,” Pia said now that Velko was out of earshot. “What will you do with us? I know I committed a fraud. I admit it. But it was that or die. And I have told you everything I know.”

Kara lowered her head doubtfully.

Pia pressed on.

“We are not wicked people, Kara. I have never killed anybody. I have taken care of Jack since we were young, when our parents died. Last year we left Ardougne in Kandarin and since then we found our way here. If we didn’t steal, we would have starved to death!”

Hot tears sprang to her eyes.

“Kara?” Arisha asked as Pia’s vision blurred. She felt Jack’s hand on her shoulder. “What do you propose to do with them?”

A silence fell as Pia cleared the moistness from her eyes. When she could see again she saw Kara looking at her and Jack with a frustrated glare. Quickly, Kara looked to Gar’rth, and then back at them.

“I don’t know,” she admitted finally. “Velko will certainly be handed over to the Varrock guard. By his own admission, he has offended enough to warrant hanging. But you two…” She peered at them for a long moment. “I don’t know. I don’t want to be responsible for hanging children.”

Pia felt her face brighten.

Thank you Kara. Thank you!

“But then, I cannot let you go either. I have given mercy to those who should have been killed, and other lives have suffered because of it. Mercy to the likes of Sulla and Jerrod is a death to others, and each is a burden to my conscience.” She turned to her friend. “You know what they did to that man who found his way to the monastery, Arisha. And what they did to the rest of his party who were less fortunate.”

Arisha frowned and lowered her head.

“The point is, Pia, I don’t know you,” Kara said. “I don’t know what else you have done. Therefore I cannot let you go free. Even if I did that, you would only thieve again. I just don’t know.”

“They are still just children Kara,” Arisha said. “Children in need of a guide. You should think about the futures you can offer them-either death at the end of a rope, or a life under your tutelage.”

Kara looked startled and turned away, her brow creased in puzzlement.

“I saw the look on your face after you killed the men in the barn, Kara,” Arisha continued. “And Gar’rth and I have talked frequently since our journey began. You are changing. You are not so violent as before, since you defeated Sulla. If you had someone to look after, it would benefit you as much as them.”

Pia saw Kara’s face darken.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she demanded, anger in her voice. “I just slew fourteen men!”

“Fourteen men who deserved it. Fourteen men who refused your offer of mercy. You did it, but you didn’t like doing it. And now you can offer these two young thieves the chance of a better life.”

“The laws of Misthalin are not mine to make or withhold, Arisha,” Kara countered. “I cannot dare to claim as such. And nor can you.”

When Arisha spoke again, Pia heard a condescending note in her voice.

“I am reminded of a girl I saw once who rode into my village. She had stolen a horse to get there, all the way from Falador. That certainly would have been a hanging offence if subsequent events hadn’t turned out the way they did.” The barbarian woman looked west, to where Gar’rth walked with his prisoner. “And Gar’rth’s own history is not so different from Pia’s. He stole to survive, and had he found someone without Ebenezer’s humanity he, too, would have been hanged.”

“That was different…” Kara began.

“How?” Jack chirped innocently.

Kara remained silent, staring at the young boy. Then she shrugged.

“Very well, Arisha. You are right. As usual. Pia and Jack will return to Varrock with us.” The two dark eyes fell on Pia. “I shall take your case to the King himself, and if he accepts-and provided there are no other serious crimes you have committed-you will both enter my service. Neither of you will ever steal anything again.”

Jack grinned, and Pia forced a smile to her face.

No other serious crimes, she thought. How long then before I am found out, until I have to run again?

But for now, Pia hugged her brother tightly.

Never a rope!

7

Castimir’s face burned and his head ached.

He wore the ceremonial robes of his order, heavier than his normal garments, with wide cuffs and uncomfortable shoulder pads. Gone were the unsightly pouches on his belt, although he still kept a few runes in his pocket. He had learned painfully never to be without them.

Though they are not easy to get at, he mused irritably. It’s not at all practical, nor comfortable.

He stood with several of the off-duty palace guards and soldiers of Misthalin who had insisted that he join them in a drink of fellowship. They had been joined by Gideon Gleeman, the jester Castimir had met on the road to Varrock. All around them clusters of revellers drank and chattered and laughed.

As the church bell to the east chimed four times, he shaded his eyes with the flat of his hand and looked up to the palace’s easternmost outer wall. Upon the parapet, built up from the stone and protruding forward on wooden scaffolding in order to extend its width, was a purple-coloured canopied box, overlooking the bailey. In its foremost rank was a high yellow chair which Castimir knew was meant for King Roald. Already many nobles had gathered, and he noted Lord Despaard seated next to the man Lady Anne had named as Lord Ruthven.

I have only had two drinks, yet in this heat it is enough to make me feel drunk. I must sit down, get in the shade, and have some water.

He strode forward, making for the score of guards who stood in a line below the royal box. As an honoured guest of King Roald, he-like his friends-had been offered prominent seats from which to better experience the festivities.

“Come come, Castimir!” The jester’s voice pierced the hubbub of the crowds. “You’re not getting away quite so soon. Here, have another…”

Gleeman’s words provoked a cheer from the nearby listeners.

“You drink it for me, Gideon,” the wizard said as cheerfully as he could manage. “I need to be on my best behaviour today. As you can see, I am even dressed up in my ceremonial attire.”

“But I cannot. I dare not,” the jester said in mock seriousness. “I am to dance upon a high rope this afternoon. Would you have me fall and break my neck? Now, mighty wizard, you would be doing your new friends a dishonour by refusing them another toast.”

Castimir’s new friends groaned loudly to emphasise the jester’s point.

Yet beneath their drunken ramblings, they are afraid, Castimir knew. These slayings and kidnappings have them worried, and already today I have heard more mention of this prophecy that has everyone whipped into a frenzy.

Suddenly another player entered the fray.

“He cannot participate, Gideon,” William de Adlard said as he strode forward. “His presence is required by royal decree. Come, Castimir, before these wicked men lead you astray.”

The wizard bowed quickly-to the cheers of the party-and followed William through the boisterous throng. They passed a myriad of entertainments and once, when a fire-breather risked charring them, Castimir lifted his staff threateningly. From its knotted tip a red glow reached outward in all directions, warming those in its glare. Humbled, the fire-breather bowed and backed away, to the laughter of his spectators.

The guards parted for them at the bottom of the scaffold, and they ascended the stairs to the parapet. Castimir’s stomach rumbled.

“I am hungry, William,” he said over the din. “Do I have time to eat?”

But his question went unheard as the crash of metal and the neigh of a horse signalled the end of another joust. Men and women cheered as Castimir followed William’s gaze to the lists.

“That is the last for now, until the King comes,” William commented. Suddenly he paled. Looking down from their elevation, they could clearly see the fallen knight over the heads of the crowd below. Blood ran from the armoured man’s throat, for his enemy’s lance point had splintered and penetrated his leather gorget. Still he held his shield, its crest a silver sword on a dark background. From all sides men rushed to help him as the ladies of court looked on with blanched faces.

Castimir caught sight of Lady Anne. She alone looked unmoved by the man’s injury. Suddenly she laughed and Castimir saw her speak, her circle of friends craning their heads to listen. One of them, a pretty, dark-eyed girl with a gap between her two front teeth, gasped and covered her mouth with her hand, while others stifled inappropriate giggles.

It made Castimir feel slightly unwell.

When he turned back, he saw how William’s gloved hands gripped the wooden rail, and he noted the nobleman’s sickly face.

“Are you all right, Lord William?” the wizard asked.

“It’s these jousts, Castimir. Theodore participated in them when he first came to Varrock, much to his credit. Today, however, he has decided to play at melee with the most dangerous men in the realm.”

“You do not care for such sport?”

William’s eyes focused grimly on the injured man.

“That man will likely die today, Castimir,” he said. “Such a wound I doubt will heal, and Sir Prysin will have lost his first born for no reason other than pride. It is no sport. It is the play of madmen.” Then he gathered himself. “But come, the King will arrive shortly and we must be in our places for him.”

From the purple-draped box the view was very different. Smells and sounds rose up to tease Castimir’s aching stomach. Smoke and cooking, musicians and singing, all the happy mayhem of a grand revel. But not all was festive, for along the ramparts and on the turrets of the palace towers the wizard could see dozens of archers.

It must make the nobles feel rather safe up here, he supposed. If the crowd began to riot, they could flee along the walkways to the safety of the palace as King Roald’s archers turned each reveller into a hedgehog. They could even close the gates to prevent them from escaping back out into the city.

Shaking off such thoughts, Castimir looked for Theodore. His eyes crept to the far side of the bailey, where a stage had been built against the inner wall of the palace, on which the popular play The Betrothal of Glarial was being performed. Not far from the stage he recognised Theodore by his squire’s armor. A group of his men-all in white-were preparing themselves to fight against an equal number of Varrock’s finest knights, their weapons blunted to avoid fatalities.

Good luck my friend. Make us all proud.

He gazed up from the bailey to the southern parapet, where a small group of women stood, fussed over by Father Lawrence. Castimir had been introduced to him that afternoon.

He behaves like an anxious hen.

“I see you have spied the debutantes,” William said, nodding in their direction. “They are mostly women of high birth who have come of age and are to be introduced to society, though a few are of merchant families and lesser gentry. I am told it is a very nervous occasion for them all.”

Castimir peered at them. One, a dark-haired woman with high cheekbones, clearly seemed fraught. She wore a red toque and an olive-green dress, her headpiece making her stand out from the others. William saw her, as well.

“Poor girl is probably embarrassed,” he said. “She will earn the contempt of her peers if they think she is trying to upstage them.” He smiled before looking back toward where Lady Anne was seated. Castimir saw how she gave him a subtle nod.

“So you led Theodore into her clutches, Lord William,” Castimir said with a smile.

Theodore, you are too noble to know how lucky you are.

“I am ashamed to say that I did betray our friend, Castimir.” William smiled wickedly. “Lady Caroline is there, standing behind Lady Anne, as always. She has dark hair and a gap between her teeth. Do you see her?”

“I do.”

“Is she not worth a little treachery?”

Castimir laughed. “I think so, Lord William.”

“Then I shall go to see if Lady Anne has really made good her promise,” he said, his voice betraying a hint of nervousness. “Good day, my friend, I shall see you shortly.”

As William left, Castimir became aware of a man sitting down on the chair next to him.

“Interminable robes, these,” the newcomer said in good humour as the wizard turned to greet him. Then, his voice lowered. “I think they are deliberately designed so we wizards can’t use our runes while wearing them, you know. Don’t you agree?”

Castimir’s attention sharpened. He saw the narrow grey beard, the thinning hair, and a green-tinted monocle that the man held to his right eye-and he noted, too, the man’s robes, similar to his own in design but differing in colour. Where his were blue, the newcomer’s were grey, emblazoned with yellow sigils.

“Are you Layte Aubury, sir?” Castimir asked hesitatingly.

“Indeed I am. And you are Castimir.” The man held out his hand, which Castimir took firmly. “Pleased to make your acquaintance. I have heard many things about you from our master, Sedridor, just this morning in fact. Most of them good.” His eyes narrowed and he looked Castimir full in the face. “But not all.”

Not all?

“Forgive me, sir, but I don’t understand,” Castimir said. “As far as I am aware, I have conducted myself appropriately. If I have erred, please tell me.”

Can he know? Can the Tower know about Master Segainus’s diaries and spell books and of how I kept them to myself?

He felt his face go red.

“I saw you drinking earlier, Castimir, with the clown.”

“Gideon Gleeman? We shared a drink, yes…”

“That is not quite appropriate. Gideon himself is not a problem- he is in fact a respected man at court. But not the other fellows he was with. To them, you are a wizard, young man. That means you must be more than they.”

Castimir said nothing. He felt suddenly embarrassed.

“I have lived in Varrock for many years. More than I would like to admit, anyhow,” Aubury continued. “I am a Master of the Tower, and my role here is to ensure that our order is properly represented in Misthalin and in the court of King Roald. It is absolutely vital that we have the crown’s support. We cannot allow that to be jeopardised by any unnecessary or uncouth fraternisation. Wizards must be held in awe by the common folk. We cannot be seen drunk or boisterous or prideful. You know this.” Aubury’s eyes narrowed. “And you know why.”

Because our power is an illusion, Castimir answered silently. Because we don’t know how to replenish our runes, and they are fast running out.

“I do know why, of course,” Castimir replied instead, biting his tongue.

“Good. That’s good.” Aubury spoke in the manner of a teacher encouraging a wayward pupil. “And I have news for you, Castimir. News I think you are expecting?”

Castimir felt his stomach curdle in nervousness.

“My thesis? Did I pass?”

His fingers pressed themselves into the wood of his staff. His heart thundered in his ears and head.

“You have passed. Congratulations. You are no longer an apprentice.”

Castimir sighed volubly.

Thank the gods!

“But you didn’t pass well,” Aubury continued. “It was a very close affair, indeed. In fact, you were the last in your class of five. The tutors thought the subject matter too complex for one of your years. Your inexperience showed.”

Castimir’s relief turned to sudden anger.

“Inexperience?” he said. Realizing he had spoken loudly, he lowered his voice. “But I’ve done more than most do in their entire lives!”

“I know,” Aubury conceded. “But some fear it has made you arrogant. You have time enough not to rush things, Castimir. And nonetheless, you passed, and I have here the token of your new office.”

He produced a long thin box, which Castimir recognised immediately.

“My new wand,” he remarked drily. “I lost my apprentice wand when I was in Kandarin.”

“And this is a teacher’s wand,” Aubury told him. “Sent to us from our desert-dwelling colleagues in Al-Kharid. Please try not to lose it.”

Castimir took the box with care. He had never really liked wands, for they were limited in their use, but they did help a wizard concentrate his spells. Even so, he favoured his staff over a wand, for at least the staff could be used as a weapon, should his magic fail or his runes run out.

Then the thought of his thesis brought the riddle back into his mind.

“Master Aubury, have you ever heard of the Dark Lady?”

The older man thought for a moment.

“It could be a name for the daughter of Lord Drakan of Morytania, though her existence is only legend. Other than that I do not know. Why do you ask?” Suddenly Castimir realised that he might have spoken too quickly, and revealed more than he had intended. But as he struggled to come up with a plausible reply, Aubury spoke again. “Ah! Your friend Theodore is about to begin his melee.”

They looked across the bailey to the enclosure, a raised wooden structure a man’s height with heavy ropes strung along each side. The eleven men under Theodore’s command climbed the steps to the space within. It was not entirely free of obstacles, for two wooden spokes sat in the centre, with enough room for several men to fight between. They helped to keep the contest more interesting for the onlookers.

Behind Theodore’s group came twelve more men, their armour blackened to distinguish them from their opponents. At their head was a huge fellow in black-dented armour with tusks protruding from his helm. Castimir feared him instinctively.

He’s bigger than Sulla! Theodore, be careful.

“That’s Lord Hyett, the Black Boar,” Aubury said seriously. “The strongest knight in Varrock, if not all of Misthalin. Let us hope Theodore knows how to hunt boar-for his own sake.”

The marshal sounded the gong, and Theodore leapt forward. The smell of leather, already wet with his sweat, dominated his senses inside the claustrophobic helm.

Through his visor’s two eye-slits, he saw the nearest of his enemies. But his thoughts were of his charges.

Don’t panic, men, he willed. Remember what I told you. They may be the best knights in Varrock but they fight as individuals, not as a group. But we will fight as one. And we will win.

He was conscious of the pounding of armoured feet behind him, following his lead. A vicious knock caught his shield, but it was a tourney, and in such events only blunted weapons were used. Still, he knew that there were often fatalities in such a contest.

In he crashed, the sword wielded in his right hand landing squarely upon the head of his opponent. At his side a whitearmoured gauntlet drove a shield into his enemy’s side, forcing the man off balance and causing him to fall onto his back.

A cry erupted from the crowd.

That’s it! Together we target them, one at a time.

But the man on the enclosure floor still hadn’t yielded-to be the first to do so would be a sign of weakness. So Theodore knew he had to be ruthless. Once the first had given in, others would find it easier to do so.

He swung his blunted tourney sword down, intending to smash the man’s sword hand.

It never made it.

With a roar a hulking shadow filled Theodore’s visor. He caught sight of a black boar on a red shield as it smashed his weapon aside and bludgeoned into him.

Such strength, he thought, his mind reeling. The man is a giant.

Now it was his turn to stagger as his new foe bellowed.

“No knight of Varrock will fall before those of Falador!”

The crowd cheered as the Boar closed the gap. Theodore saw the sweep of his sword as it came in. Lord Hyett wielded a broadsword in just his right hand, though most men would have been forced to use both.

Instinctively Theodore swung his wooden shield up. But the broadsword cut through the lower half, and as it was withdrawn the crowd gasped and cheered, and Theodore saw how the blade glinted.

That is no tourney blade, he realised grimly. It still has an edge. And the Boar means to use it!

He stepped back as the Boar came on. Once more, however, his men heeded his instructions. Three went forward as one. The man on Theodore’s left parried the Boar’s blade and pushed his arm wide, while the man on his right hacked at the red shield.

Leaving Theodore to deliver as hard a blow as he could muster. He brought his sword over his shoulder and cleaved down. Metal rang out against metal as the blade smashed against the Boar’s helm and slid off to impact upon his shoulder.

The crowd drew breath as the Boar staggered, his knees giving slightly and Theodore remembered Lady Anne’s advice.

Attack him from his left. His eye is blurred and his ankle is weak.

Theodore ducked low and lunged with his blade at Lord Hyett’s kneecap. A blow connected with his shoulder and he fell forward, gasping in sudden pain, his lunge only managing a passing hit on the Boar’s leg greave.

But then the fighting opened up, and it was each man against another. Through his eye-slits, Theodore saw that still no one had yielded. He parried a thrust with his damaged shield, feeling it splinter under the impact. A second hack carried its remnants from his wrist entirely.

As he stood, his teeth gritted, the red shield of the Boar swallowed his view. He ducked as Lord Hyett’s sword flashed an inch from his gorget.

That could have killed me if it had struck.

Theodore went cold.

Maybe that is his intention. Here it will look like an accident. I humiliated him when I unhorsed him in the lists, and he is probably aware that Lady Anne and I…

A man in white armour came to Theodore’s rescue, his blow careening off the Boar’s chest plate.

Theodore stumbled backwards, painfully aware of the jeering crowds.

Castimir held his hand to his face. It was terrible to watch. He turned his head and winced when Theodore lost his shield, and he prayed when the giant advanced, hoping that Theodore might save himself. He sighed in relief when one of the squire’s men came to his rescue and gave him time to regain his balance.

The wizard saw William’s eyes upon him. The young noble pursed his lips and shook his head grimly.

Theodore isn’t finished yet, Lord William, he responded silently. He’s been through worse. Give him a chance.

Castimir remembered Lady Anne, and the dismissive laugh she had given after Sir Prysin’s eldest had been so gravely injured. He looked for her now.

To his surprise, the expression she wore was very different.

She looks afraid, he realised. Could she really be so attached to Theodore?

“The first man has yielded!” someone yelled from nearby, under the canopy. Castimir turned back to see that it was in fact two men who had left the enclosure, one wearing the white armour of Falador and the other the black of Varrock.

His eyes fell on Theodore. He gasped as he saw his friend rush in again to confront the strongest knight in Varrock.

Theodore’s saviour broke under the Boar’s relentless blows. The white-armoured man collapsed as his legs buckled, his weaponless hands palm up to show that he had yielded. Blood dripped from under his visor as the Boar gave three heavy blows with his edged sword, ignoring the surrender.

Theodore’s world went red.

Leading with his shoulder, he cannoned into the Boar’s legs from his enemy’s left. He felt the man stagger and then with a heave the squire sent him flying face down.

A sword smashed against his head as he crouched, but he ignored the blow, instead leaping forward to where he thought the Boar must be. He felt a man’s armoured body beneath him, face down, and with a shout he thrust his sword under his helm, pulling it back as he held the edge to the man’s throat.

“Yield!” he commanded as a roar arose from the spectators. “Yield or I swear I will cut your throat.”

The Boar swore in reply, his hand snaking toward his own sword, which had fallen from his grasp when the squire had barrelled into him.

Theodore increased the pressure on the blade, but too late he saw a Varrock knight appear beside him. This one wielded a heavy wooden mace, and Theodore knew he had to avoid it at all costs. With a cry, he rolled free as the mace sailed by.

But it was not a disaster. For his roll had taken him to within range of the Boar’s own weapon. He dropped his own tourney blade in exchange for his enemy’s, gripping the broadsword in both hands. At the same time he lashed out with his foot, his heel connecting with Lord Hyett’s helm with a satisfying crash that snapped one of the Boar’s tusks.

Now I have the edge, he thought. Your edge-and we will see what you think of that.

“He nearly had him!” Castimir shouted to anyone who cared to listen. “Come on, Theodore. Finish the brute off.”

And in fact, I thought you were about to kill him.

From his viewpoint the wizard could easily see the whole enclosure. At least five of the knights were down. From one- the man who had saved Theodore-the ground was soaked with blood. Six more yielded and left the enclosure to join the two who had already retired.

Which gave Castimir cause to smile, for now Theodore’s men had the advantage. Now, it was six against five.

“Come on Theodore,” he muttered. “You don’t need to be a hero today. Your men are doing you proud.”

Theodore fell as a man’s black gauntlet wrapped around his neck and pulled him backward. The Varrock knight fell beneath him, and as he landed Theodore thrust backwards with his elbow with as much force as he could muster.

He heard the man gasp through his visor.

Up! Up! Seize the advantage and force him to yield!

The squire made it to his knees and with both hands swung Lord Hyett’s sword, not bothering to stand, not daring to waste a single second that might endanger his advantage. The edged blade severed the top of the man’s finger and sent his weapon flying from the enclosure to the excited whoops of the crowds.

“I yield! Gods I yield!” the man roared as he crawled to the ropes to be dragged from the enclosure by the waiting stewards.

Theodore stood wearily, his body lurching from one side to the other. The weight of the weapon further threatened his balance.

I am exhausted. Can’t keep going for much longer.

But he knew that his enemies must be in a similar state, and in a rare moment of calm he had a chance to survey the enclosure.

We are winning! he realised then. We are two men up, six against four. But I need air, I need to breathe.

He opened his visor, thanking Saradomin for the wind that blew against his sweat-drenched face. He watched as Lord Hyett batted a man aside, still with his dented red shield. As the man fell, Theodore staggered forward to his aid while about him the four Varrock knights confronted five opponents.

The Boar had his back to him, yet somehow the knight turned in time to avoid a wild slash that would have smashed against the back of his head. Unbalanced again, Theodore staggered from exhaustion, drinking in great gulps of air, his visor still wide open. He stumbled to one side, crashing against one of the great wooden wheels used to divide the ground in the enclosure.

On the man came. Even now, the giant still possessed the strength to run and thrust. He was wielding the wooden mace which Theodore had only just avoided a moment before.

I am not sure if I can do it again! Too tired.

“You are mine, Falador,” Lord Hyett gritted. “You are mine.”

He swung the mace as Theodore collapsed, sliding backward alongside the wheel. His back throbbed with pain. He desperately attempted to parry, but the tip of the heavy sword went agonisingly wide.

Still, he kept himself out of the Boar’s reach.

“Open your visor, Lord Hyett,” he challenged, not entirely knowing why he did so. “Let me look you in the face.” Perhaps he could goad the man into making a mistake.

There was no reply, and Theodore had suspected he would be too canny to give in to such an obvious tactic. Behind him, on the opposite side of the wheel, a man screamed as the sound of armour crashing to the floor was drowned out by cheering shouts.

I don’t care if we win this match or not, he admitted to himself. Saradomin, just give me the chance to avenge myself against this murderous creature.

The Boar roared as he charged in, his red shield held before him in his left hand, the mace raised overhead in his right.

He is weak on his left.

His eye and ankle.

The squire leapt forward, hoping to catch his foe by surprise. His foot lashed out, connecting perfectly with Lord Hyett’s left ankle. Something crunched as Theodore’s foot came away.

The Boar screamed.

He tottered forward, the mace wavering as he fell.

And at the same time, Theodore thrust his sharpened blade upward, both hands driving the sword tip into the breastplate of his enemy.

The blade pierced the metal and sheered through the flesh beneath. Theodore felt the familiar sensations of horror and fascination as his blade struck home-the soft flesh, the sinewy muscle, and the hard but brittle bone beneath. The sword glanced upward as it ricocheted off the Boar’s breastbone and deeper into his body.

Red blood pumped from his wound as the immense man fell atop Theodore, yelling in pain.

The squire took a delicious elation in the man’s screams. He knew it was wrong to do so-that Saradomin as the god of peace would condemn him-but today he didn’t care. He had beaten an enemy who had come to kill by treachery. Lord Hyett was nothing but a murderer.

Theodore stood, breathing heavily, aware that the Boar was gravely injured.

The crowd was silent. No one had beaten this man in a melee for at least a decade. Looking behind him, over the wheel, he saw that two of his own men still stood, a single Varrock knight between them who sensibly yielded rather than face them both.

Labouring with the effort, Theodore pulled the blade out in a single movement, trying hard to block out Lord Hyett’s groans. Then he held the red sword up, and as he did so the crowd roared. He swayed uncertainly as his name echoed around the bailey, his vision blurred, his mouth parched and his heart thundering.

“Do you hear that, Lord Hyett? It is my name they cry now. Mine. Your subterfuge and trickery have failed.” He lowered the sword, and stared at it. “Normally, it is not the way of my order to take a fallen foe’s property, and had you fought with honour I would not do so. But today I shall.”

Theodore raised his voice as he staggered backward from the fallen knight. Already marshals and stewards were entering the enclosure to attend to those who had been injured and to offer what aid they could-a certain sign the contest was ended.

“By the right of victor, in all the traditions of Varrock and her long history,” the squire announced loudly, “I claim my right to disarm you. Your armour is mine. As is your blade!” He raised the sword into the air again and the crowd responded, shouting even louder.

Theodore allowed himself to be helped from the enclosure by the stewards. He insisted that they first aided those who had fallen, and made sure he was the last of his men to leave the arena. Then he found his way to Philip, the man who had fallen under the repeated blows of the Boar.

When the man’s visor was pulled back, Theodore saw that his face was caked in blood.

“Philip?” he said. “Can you hear me?”

Incredibly the man smiled and nodded.

“It looks far worse that it is,” he said weakly.

“We won, Philip. And without you I would have fallen. Thank you.”

“But the Boar? What happened to him?”

One of the stewards shook his head.

“His is the worst wound here today,” the fellow said, a hint of awe tingeing his words. “Squire Theodore may have killed him.”

“Oh,” Philip said. “Good.” His eyes found Theodore’s. “His was no tourney blade, sir. He came out here to kill.”

“I know, Philip. I took it from him, and made sure he knew it.”

Afterwards, with the cheers of the crowd ringing in his ears, he found his way to a small tent set aside for the fighting knights, where Hamel poured cool water over his head and helped him remove his armour. Somewhere outside, members of the crowd laughed, and he heard the spectators daring the jester Gideon to run along a rope.

Then Theodore slumped in his seat, exhausted, and without intending to do so, he fell asleep.

When he awoke Hamel was still there. Outside the sound of trumpets was blaring and the crowd had fallen silent.

“The King has entered the box, sir,” Hamel explained as he finished bandaging Theodore’s wounds and applying salve to his bruised flesh. “How is your back, sir?”

“It is numb,” Theodore muttered. All of him was numb, and suddenly cold. The signs of fatigue. He wrapped his arms around his body and shivered.

“Drink this, sir,” the boy said, holding out a cup. “It is a beef soup. It should help you recover your strength.”

Theodore did as he was asked. He was too tired to even think.

But after what seemed like hours he stood and dressed himself in his white tunic with the four-pointed star of Saradomin stitched into its chest in silver thread. Hamel guided him from the tent, escorting him to the King’s box. As he made his way up the wooden steps, the crowd erupted in cheers, and he caught sight of Lady Anne.

She gave him a long look and smiled-not the sarcastic smile she so often teased him with, but something that Theodore thought was more akin to admiration, supplication almost. Very deliberately she dropped her handkerchief in a gesture of surrender.

Then the spectators closed in on him, and this time it was Castimir who rescued him. There were too many hands to shake and questions to be answered, and Theodore was too tired to do so. The wizard forced his way through the press and led him to a seat a healthy distance from the admiring courtiers.

“Thank you, Castimir,” he said. “If I fall asleep, nudge me.”

The wizard smiled as Theodore closed his eyes, content to listen to the world around him rather than participate in it. Even Kara and the mystery of her whereabouts did not agitate him for now, for he was simply too tired to care.

“…but we gnomes have our own science, master alchemist. Albertus’s vacuum chamber is a handsome gimmick, I don’t doubt, but are you aware of the demonstration made last year at this grand occasion by an esteemed cousin of mine, the able Master Peregrim?”

“Albertus was kind enough to write of it in his letters to me.” Ebenezer’s voice cut through to Theodore’s addled mind. “Tell me, Ambassador Fernook, has there been any news of his whereabouts since that time?”

Castimir laughed suddenly and Theodore opened his eyes to look curiously at the gnome ambassador. He knew Fernook, for the gnome was popular in King Roald’s court. He wore the traditional deep-green clothing of his people. The diminutive being was less than waist-high to Theodore, yet he made up for it with his personality.

“This is no laughing matter, master wizard,” the gnome said angrily. “Master Peregrim was demonstrating a hybrid hot air balloon, kept aloft by heat and phlogisticated air. It is a technology of which you humans have no conception. Many of Varrock’s nobles took an interest, amongst them Lord Despaard who wished to examine its potential for reconnaissance over The Wilderness… and elsewhere.”

“Tell me in detail of it,” Ebenezer begged. “Albertus only gave the barest description of it in his letter.”

The ambassador gave a broad smile, happy to share the achievements of his people. “It was a huge balloon with a gondola that hung beneath it, large enough to carry twenty people, I should say. Each day for a week Master Peregrim would ascend from the bailey with bold men and women eager to view the city from above.” The gnome’s face grew dark. “It was always tethered to the ground, of course, for only a fool or a lunatic would dare make a flight without a safety winch to bring it back down.”

“And which was he ambassador?” Ebenezer asked tentatively.

“Neither. He was just unlucky. Very, very unlucky.” The gnome shook his head. “He took off from here a year ago today, as he had done for the preceding days, to test his contraption before risking others in it. But the line broke from its knot on the balloon and very quickly he was carried away. Carried away to the east where he vanished across the Salve into… that place. I do not expect we shall ever hear anything of our intrepid balloonist again.”

“I am sorry ambassador,” Castimir said. “Truly I am. I had no idea of his fate.” His words were sincere, and Theodore saw the suddenly shamed look in his friend’s eyes.

You laugh too quickly for a diplomat, Castimir, he mused. If you are to take on the role the Wizards’ Tower has asked of you then you will have to learn patience and to treat every word as if it was a trap.

The conversation ended as whispers of excitement rippled through the occupants of the royal box. Theodore saw a King’s messenger kneeling before the monarch, who was standing, reading a letter in absolute concentration. Captain Rovin appeared at his side, grim-faced as ever.

A silent moment passed during which the tension was so great that Theodore wondered if a foreign nation had announced its intention to declare war on Misthalin. Then the King’s expression changed to one of excitement.

“Bring her to me!” he shouted. “Immediately.”

Can it be?

The King’s messenger stood and waved. The signal was repeated and passed on, out of the sight of the onlookers. After a few moments, as murmuring grew, an escort of yellow-clad soldiers of the city guard marched forward with a small group clustered in their middle.

“She’s here,” someone whispered amongst the crowd.

“Can it be true?” another asked. “Has she really come?”

“That’s what the messenger said.”

“It is her. It’s Kara-Meir!”

Theodore’s blood froze. His vision blurred slightly, whether from a thankful tear or from his earlier combat he could not tell.

“Is it her Castimir?” Ebenezer asked. “My eyes are not so young as yours.” Doric walked to the box’s edge to see for himself.

Theodore wiped the moisture from his eyes and looked again. At the centre of the yellow escort were six figures. The first was a man whose hands were bound before him. Behind him came a boy and a blonde-haired girl, ushered forward by three cloaked figures who came last.

“That could be Kara’s younger sister, if she had one,” Castimir observed.

As they neared, Theodore saw that the man at the front was missing his nose.

“Well, Kara-Meir, you have come,” King Roald called. “As you promised you would.”

Two of the three cloaked figures pulled their hoods back.

And Theodore grinned.

“It’s her!” Doric said. “She seems unhurt!”

“And Arisha, as well. Thank the gods.” Castimir gasped.

Behind him, Theodore sensed a movement.

“So that is Kara-Meir?” Lady Anne whispered in his ear. “She is pretty, in a certain peasant sense no doubt, but she does remind me of a wild cat. I suppose some men’s tendencies lean that way, however. If they are low-born.”

Theodore didn’t answer, for Kara began speaking.

“I have come, and I know that I am later than I promised,” she shouted up. “But I bring you the impostor, Pia, and her accomplice who tricked many good people out of their money by using my name. And I bring you also a wanted felon from The Wilderness who had taken shelter in a barn to the east of Varrock. I have provided your messenger with a list of his associates, who now lie slain and untended. Fourteen of them.”

The crowd gasped, and then clapped wildly.

It is your gift Kara, Theodore thought. You have always been able to win people’s hearts.

Eventually, the King held up his hand for silence, which the crowd granted with some reluctance.

“Captain Rovin tells me that these fourteen outlaws are wanted for serious crimes, each with a considerable bounty on their heads. You claim that you and your companions dispatched all of them? Three against fifteen, including your prisoner?”

Kara-Meir smiled now, her own urchin expression filled with mischief.

“No, Sire… and captain,” she said. “I accounted for them alone while my friends prevented any from escape.”

A murmur ran through the crowd, and someone clapped at the reply that left Captain Rovin speechless. King Roald laughed.

“Even my best knight would have been hard-pressed to accomplish such a feat.” Theodore felt the monarch’s eyes turn on him for a second. “But you must come up here-you and your friends-and tell us of your adventures. Come, we will have music, we will have celebration! Take the prisoners to the dungeons, for they will be dealt with later.”

The crowd responded to his commands with yet more cheering as Kara ascended the wooden steps, followed by Arisha and now, as they neared, Theodore saw for certain that the tall hooded man was indeed Gar’rth.

My friends. All safe and well. Thank Saradomin.

A guard seized the girl Pia, and she cried out.

“Please Kara. You know we are not bad people!”

The crowd laughed gleefully.

“You promised.” At that, Kara turned to the monarch.

“Sire, may I ask that you not separate the girl and her brother?” Kara spoke loudly, so all could hear. “They should remain together, and I would appreciate it if they were kept away from this fugitive. I also wish to speak to you about their fate, for they are little more than children, and I think I can offer the crown a suitable bargain for their disposition.”

“She does not lack for boldness, this wildcat of yours,” Lady Anne said softly, a touch of irritation in her voice. “Coming here and presuming to bargain with a King whose lineage goes back over a millennia. Very bold indeed.”

“Kara knows what she is doing, Lady Anne,” he replied without anger.

“The justice of Varrock is not usually open to negotiation,” King Roald said, though his mood still seemed light. “However, in consideration of your reputation and the honesty of your friend, Squire Theodore, and of the gift of justice that you have delivered here today, we shall hear what you offer, and consider it with a generous heart.”

He saw Kara look toward him and nod in greeting, and suddenly he felt Lady Anne move close behind him. Very close indeed.

Too close. An obvious ploy to state her intention to Kara.

If Kara noticed, she gave no sign, and turned aside to sit on an empty chair at King Roald’s side. Quickly, both Arisha and then Gar’rth were presented to him and dismissed, for the monarch’s attention was entirely held captive by Kara.

As Arisha approached, Castimir advanced to meet her. Theodore caught her smile as they drew together in a long embrace.

“Well, Gar’rth, you are looking well.” Ebenezer’s first words to their friend were hesitant.

Can he now speak the common tongue? Theodore wondered. If he can, there is much I would ask him. When Gar’rth responded, it was plain how far he had come.

“Ebenezer, I am happy to see you. I have learned your language since Falador, thanks to the monks of the monastery. And with Arisha’s help.”

“Then we must sit and speak, Gar’rth,” Doric said. “For I have much to ask you, as I know we all have.”

“Some of your questions must wait,” Gar’rth replied. “I will answer those in private. Alone. But Arisha will tell you of The Wilderness.”

Gar’rth gave Theodore a long look, his dark eyes settling on Lady Anne next to him. He frowned slightly. Lady Anne laughed.

“Your friend is not from these parts, is he?” she said. “We must welcome him to Varrock, Theodore. Tell me, where do you hail from?”

For a cold second no one spoke.

“He comes from the southern islands, Lady Anne,” Castimir answered quickly. “You have heard of Gar’rth, have you not?”

“As I have heard of you all, save this young woman.” Her blue eyes focused on Arisha, who spoke without hesitation.

“My name is Arisha,” she said. “I am a priestess of the tribes to the west of here, across the River Lum.” She bowed gracefully, and Castimir beamed.

“A barbarian? I have known people from your tribes before, yet I cannot recall one ever as civil as yourself-nor so beautiful.” Before Arisha could reply, Lady Anne nodded in the direction of King Roald. “Ah, it appears that I am needed by His Majesty. I suspect I will be asked to find Kara and yourself something appropriate to wear for tonight.” She took two steps before turning back again. “I am so looking forward to our dance, Theodore.”

Suddenly it felt as if the eyes of all of his friends were upon him.

The occupants of the royal box thankfully left them alone, and very quickly news was shared and questions posed.

“It was at the monastery of Saradomin when we first heard word of Sulla and Jerrod,” Arisha explained. “An injured man was brought to us from The Wilderness, and he identified them. We set out some weeks ago, travelling northward in pursuit.” She shivered. “Everyone hears tales of The Wilderness, but it is a land of desolation beyond anything I would have imagined. Often, for miles and miles, day after day, there is nothing that grows there. Nothing thrives. It seems as if nature herself has given up in that land.

“On at least two occasions we missed them by misfortune alone.” Arisha and Gar’rth shared a look. “Or at least we thought it was misfortune. But we now believe that Jerrod is receiving help. It may be from his master.” She smiled grimly. “We do not know why he is doing so now, and didn’t before. We may never know. But Jerrod and Sulla are now in Varrock.”

What? Why? Theodore opened his mouth to give voice to his questions but Doric and Castimir both spoke first. Arisha put her hands up for calm.

“We don’t know why, though Pia told Kara that Sulla plans to blackmail wealthy individuals with some coded documents he has in his possession. It is dangerous of them to come here, yet they have taken that risk. We informed the city guard this afternoon, although we didn’t tell them the truth about Jerrod. That is a decision that should be made by the King and his councillors.”

“But I don’t understand,” Ebenezer said thoughtfully. “How is this Pia girl linked to Sulla?”

Arisha shook her head.

“She isn’t. The fraud she committed was of her own initiative, but she grew greedy and attempted to run without paying the gangs their dues. They sent her to Sulla as an amusing gift, aware she resembled Kara. When we first entered Varrock, this morning, we heard stories that ‘Kara-Meir’ was already here, and then later of the fraud she had committed. Kara insisted that we hunt the imposter down. Gar’rth tracked them from the Flying Donkey Inn, and this led us to Jack, who had followed his sister’s abductors.

“By the time we arrived at the barn they were using as a hideout, Sulla and Jerrod had left.”

“Can you track Sulla, Gar’rth?” Doric asked.

Gar’rth shook his head.

“No. Not in a crowded city, without a trail to follow. Not with Jerrod, who knows how to mask himself.”

Suddenly Theodore stifled a yawn. The relief at seeing his friends in good health had given him a momentary burst of energy, but it was not enough to keep him going for much longer. As he did so, William approached, and was introduced to Arisha and Gar’rth.

“Ah, Theodore,” the young noble said, “I am sorry to interrupt your well-earned reunion, but I am afraid your presence is required by King Roald.”

Theodore yawned again as he stood. His body ached in protest and, as ever, his back burned from his old wound.

“He’s been boar-hunting,” William explained to Arisha, who noted his fatigue. Before she could ask for an explanation, he turned to the squire. “Now, come along.”

William led Theodore quickly forward as the trumpets sounded. The squire saw King Roald stand, and he saw Kara’s smiling face.

“Come on, Sir Theodore. It’s time.” William muttered so quickly that Theodore thought he had imagined the words.

“What did you call-?”

But William pushed him before the King and stepped back as the trumpets ended their cry. Then the King spoke.

“Squire Theodore, of the Knights of Falador, kneel,” came the command

He did so, his legs stiff and heavy.

What is happening here?

He cast his eyes sideways to where he could just see Kara’s beaming face. Her dark eyes were filled with pride.

Is that all there is? he wondered. Pride and honest friendship? No chance of anything more?

Then he saw the vermilion cloak of King Roald swish gently as the monarch moved above him. Suddenly he felt the light tap of a thin blade upon his right shoulder, and then again upon his left.

What is he doing?

He looked to Kara again, and suddenly the look on her face made sense. Elation mixed with fear and, inexplicably, a sense of loss.

This is where I forsake all worldly passions.

King Roald’s voice sounded above him. He was a messenger ordained by god.

“Rise, Sir Theodore Kassel, Knight of Falador. And let all who stand here this day bear witness to his ascension.”

Knighted by a King of Misthalin! Few of my order have ever had such an honour! But where is the oath?

Sir Theodore stood as the crowd exploded with cheers. Trumpets sounded, and Kara jumped up to wrap her arms around him, her lithe body crushed against his in the press.

His mind went numb. He was aware of a thousand clapping spectators, of the trumpets that drowned them out, of Castimir, standing nearby under the canopy, shouting wildly.

He felt the tears tug at the corner of his eyes.

King Roald raised his hand, and the crowd fell quiet. Then he turned to the object of their celebration.

“I received a diplomatic missive from Sir Amik Varze, just yesterday,” he revealed, “asking me to elevate you as is my right as a close ally of your order. He offers you his congratulations, and bade me tell you that thanks in part to you, the Knights of Falador have renewed their numbers. Of course, you have yet to take the oath to Saradomin, but even I cannot ask that on behalf of your order. That is for Sir Amik himself to do when you next return home.”

The cheering resumed as the King sat. Kara let him go and he found himself thrust forward, hands landing on his shoulders, arms, and back in a happy torture for his bruised flesh. He saw Lady Anne appear before him, he felt her lips brush against his face in a brief kiss to which the crowd cheered, and then he was free once more, exhausted and elated.

“Well done, indeed, Sir Theodore,” William congratulated, having waited for the crowd to disperse before offering his compliments.

“Thank you very much, Lord William.” Theodore smiled to Father Lawrence as the priest made his way past, leading the young and nervous debutantes to be introduced to the King. The newly minted knight’s vision was still blurred from his emotion, and as he wiped the tears away he saw a woman with a red toque and high cheekbones walk quickly by, an unusual look upon her face. She wore a green gown.

Was that a look of fear? he wondered. Was she afraid of me?

Then Theodore’s world went cold.

Gods! I know her. She is the woman who insulted me on the square, who saw me last night when we found the body hanging from the roof. What is she doing here?

He stood, his heart racing.

King Roald. He might be in danger.

Theodore stumbled forward, pushing William out of his path. His action drew the attention of the guards and public alike.

“What are you doing?” William asked, the shove placing an expression of betrayal on his face. But Theodore ignored him and called out.

“Wait! My King, wait!”

The court went silent. No one moved.

“Speak, Sir Theodore,” King Roald ordered, an edge of anger in his voice.

At his side, Theodore saw how Kara’s hand tightened on her sword hilt.

“It is this woman, Sire.” He approached the woman in the green dress, and pointed. “You.” As he drew near he saw that she was panting heavily, as if panic was not far away.

“Ellamaria?” Father Lawrence queried. “What of her?”

“Why does she go alone around the city? For I have seen her there the last two evenings, under suspicious circumstances.”

His words caused a murmur to spread through the crowd. Two of Captain Rovin’s men appeared before the King, and two more, Theodore noted, appeared behind him.

“Is that a crime?” Ellamaria demanded, but her voice betrayed fear, and her lip was shaking. “No, the crime is that people are vanishing and being murdered. But is it a crime to ask why? Is it a crime to confront a conspiracy of silence, orchestrated by the very highest in the realm?” Her voice grew louder, and she wiped away tears. Suddenly she turned on Lord Despaard and pointed at him with a look of hatred. “You! You are the one! You are the one who takes people and paints the mark of the plague over their doors. I have seen you do it!”

“This woman is drunk, or mad,” Despaard shouted angrily. “Remove her!”

No one moved.

Someone in the crowd shouted in anger.

“She’s right,” they said. “It happened just last night!”

“And last week,” another cried. “An entire family, gone!”

In an instant the cries that had celebrated Theodore’s knighthood had turned to anger and fear. An apple disappeared into the royal box behind the King’s head, hurled from the bailey and striking the makeshift wooden structure with a loud thump.

Emboldened, Ellamaria shouted over the din, and those nearby stopped to listen.

“They are held at Draul Leptoc’s estate,” she said. “I have been there. I have seen it!”

“Saradomin forgive me,” Father Lawrence muttered, his head in his hands.

The crowd booed and yelled as other things were thrown. A tomato struck Theodore on his chest, leaving a red stain upon his white tunic, and a rock narrowly missed his head.

“The woman is right!” someone in the crowd yelled. “There is a plague upon this city!”

“The curse of Morytania is upon us. Our sins have doomed us all.”

“The true king is coming.”

Captain Rovin leaned down toward the King and spoke into his ear.

“Never!” the King replied angrily. “I will not order my archers to shoot on my own people.”

“Then confront them, my King” Kara said calmly. “Confront them and promise to hear their concerns. You must buy time.”

King Roald pursed his lips as he stood. He advanced to the wall’s edge and held his hand up. An apple core struck his golden crown.

But still he remained until no more missiles were thrown. Finally the crowd fell silent, and all eyes were upon him.

“I will hold a council,” he announced. “A parliament, as is the right of the covenant between the lords of Varrock and her peoples. Tomorrow morning we shall debate and decide what to do. Until then, this Midsummer Festival is ended.”

The crowd remained silent as the King spun and stalked along the northern wall back to the palace, many of the courtiers following in his wake.

They have tasted the barest power of the mob, Theodore realised. And they are afraid.

Lord Despaard remained behind, and he turned toward the source of the confrontation.

“Arrest her,” he instructed the guards nearest Ellamaria.

“On what charge?” she countered, but much of her confidence had fled.

“Treason,” he gritted. “Disrupting the public peace. Witchcraft. Any charge will do.” Two of the guards stepped up beside her and grasped her arms roughly. A little too roughly, Theodore thought.

As she was led away she cast a look back at him.

“I go to my prison knowing I have done right,” she said. “I will sleep well this night, Sir Theodore. But I wonder if you will do the same?”

And suddenly, his knighthood tasted slightly bitter.

8

“We haven’t time to send for Thessalia, with the dance only hours away, so we shall go to her. It really is most unladylike, but there is no time for an alternative.”

Surrounded by an escort of mounted guardsmen, Lady Anne led Kara through the palace at a swift walk to where a carriage was waiting.

“I have sent a messenger to tell her we are coming.” Suddenly, as she lifted her foot onto the step, she turned and looked at Kara with a frown. “Do you really need to bring your sword?”

Perhaps you are afraid? Kara wondered. That suits me well enough.

“I haven’t even had time to change from my travelling clothes, Lady Anne. Nor have I had time to bathe or rest since my arrival in Varrock this morning. I haven’t even had a chance to speak to my friends since you whisked me away from the festival.”

“There will be time for that later,” Anne said. Kara thought she detected a note of anger in her voice. “And I am doing you a favour Kara-Meir. If you want to attend the dance tonight looking like a… a woodcutter’s daughter, then that will be to your disadvantage.”

Woodcutter’s daughter? An interesting phrase.

Kara stepped up and sat opposite her on the plush cushions. She saw how Anne’s face ran coldly over her mud-stained leggings.

I wonder if I have left a mark?

I do hope so.

A second young woman climbed inside and sat at a respectful distance. She still wore the same happy smile that she had when Anne had commanded her to come with them. Kara noted a prominent gap between the dark-haired girl’s front teeth, which made her smile far more pleasing.

“What do you think Thessalia will be able to do with her, Lady Caroline?” Anne asked their companion.

“I’m sure I don’t know,” Caroline replied, then she turned to Kara. “You have fine skin, Lady Kara. It is too tanned to be of fashionable tastes, but everyone knows you have been travelling in The Wilderness-”

“She is no lady!” Anne scolded sharply. Caroline bowed her head, and Anne turned to their companion, a practiced look of contrition on her face. “I mean no offence Kara, but here in Varrock tradition is what keeps our city in order. Everyone knows their place. You do understand?”

Yes I do. I most certainly do you spiteful-

The carriage shuddered violently as it jerked into motion, interrupting her thoughts.

Something in Kara’s eyes must have told Anne to calm her tongue, and instead she turned to Caroline, who sat nervously, looking out of the window as the carriage drove onto the square and through the crowds.

“Did I tell you that Lord de Adlard wishes to dance with you this evening, Caroline?” Anne asked lightly.

The younger woman-probably no more than seventeen- blushed and smiled involuntarily.

“No, you hadn’t mentioned it.” Suddenly she frowned slightly, and her voice wavered when she spoke. “What do you think people will say?”

“William de Adlard is not the most prestigious name in court, Caroline, that is true. But his is an old name, and although he may be a godless man, with no belief in Saradomin, and a man with no martial ambitions, you must remember that his grandfather was chancellor for a time, and an able one too, I believe.”

Kara saw Caroline’s dark eyes dip doubtfully.

“But is he not a little… dull?”

“That is to be commended, my dear sweet lamb,” Anne laughed.

Kara grimaced, hiding her eyes under her hand.

I am tired. I killed fourteen men today, and yet only now is it that I feel… unclean. It wasn’t like this before. Not in battle.

“How is that commendable?” Caroline asked.

“It means he’s a safe man. It means he would make an excellent husband.”

Kara dropped her hand in time to see Anne’s blue eyes widen in emphasis.

“Oh. Oh!” Caroline covered her mouth with embarrassment. “Oh…”

No one spoke again and the carriage continued its slow journey. Eventually it came to a stop at a two-storey grey-stone building at the south of the square. Green-tinted stained-glass windows gave the building an expensive look. Outside, guarding the door, stood a wide-shouldered man with a heavy wooden cudgel. On the lookout for thieves, Kara guessed.

Perhaps he will mistake me for Pia? That could be interesting.

“Come along, Kara. And stop grinning like that.” Anne looked at her with visible distress. “It’s… unnerving. The carriage and escort will wait for us.”

“It would have been quicker to walk,” Kara commented.

Caroline tittered behind her. Anne just stared for a moment, then spoke.

“That would not do,” she said icily. “You have much to learn if you wish to be a lady in court, Kara-Meir, very much.”

The door to Thessalia’s Fine Clothes led into a small passageway where a second door, stouter than the first, stood ajar. Inside stood a thin old woman with greying hair, and behind her waited a second woman-younger, with obvious similarities. Her hair was straight and blonde, her body thin and tall, her straight back and demeanour the sign of rigorous training.

Mother and daughter, Kara realised.

“Ah, the kind Thessalias,” Anne remarked as she led the way into the room. Kara stepped after her, her hand resting naturally upon her sword hilt. The chamber was large and square, with a multitude of dressed mannequins off to one side, and drawers filled with fabrics stacked all the way to the ceiling on the other.

“I hope you will be pleased with your gown for tonight, my lady,” the older Thessalia said, bowing quickly to Anne. Behind her, the daughter offered a curtsey which Anne acknowledged with a smile.

“I know it will be perfect, Madame Thessalia,” she said to the older woman. “Now, I need you both to turn your talents to this young woman. The King requires that she be well-presented at tonight’s dance.”

Madame Thessalia examined Kara with her piercing grey eyes, making her feel uneasy. She hummed to herself as she did so, taking her time. Every so often she would glance to one of the mannequins, and then back again. Sometimes she would shake her head and make a disappointed clucking sound with her tongue. Once she even wrinkled her face up, as if she had witnessed a dreadful accident.

“No, that won’t do,” she mused to herself. Kara caught sight of Anne’s face in one of the many full-length mirrors. She couldn’t be certain, but she believed the noblewoman was smirking. Then the older woman spoke.

“With such a short notice it will be a rather rushed job I am afraid, my lady,” Madame Thessalia warned. “Many of my best gowns have been sold already for tonight, of course.”

“Perhaps she should bathe first, mother?” the younger Thessalia said innocently. “I can ask Rupert to prepare the tub upstairs.”

Anything to get me away from those eyes, Kara thought. “I think that is an excellent idea,” she said aloud. “I haven’t had a chance to bathe, and I would like to do so. Now.”

The mother nodded and the daughter led Kara upstairs. The rest of the group followed.

Surely they are not going to watch me bathe, as well?

“I am sorry to have to inform you of some bad news, Lady Anne,” Kara heard Madame Thessalia say behind her.

Hopefully you’ll have left a pin in her gown.

Kara found herself smiling again. She turned to deliver the most unnerving grin she could summon. Her efforts were rewarded as Anne looked quickly away.

“Yes,” the dressmaker continued, “I am afraid that one of my suppliers-a tailor-passed away very suddenly.” She hummed uncomfortably. “It seems as if he and his family fell to the plague. I believe his wife has been isolated. It means that the mink gloves you ordered won’t be ready on time.”

Kara didn’t hear Anne’s response as she turned the corner in the stairs and emerged into the bathing room. Green light, filtered through the stained-glass windows, gave the room a natural ambience. Comfortable chairs were arrayed in the manner of a private lounge, and an unfamiliar yet attractive fragrance caused her to breathe in deeply. Upon each side of her, the room was broken up by two wooden screens. Behind the one to her left she heard the splash of water being emptied from a bucket into a bath.

“Rupert?” the younger Thessalia called. A young man appeared from behind the bathing screen. “The lady will take her bath now. Go and fuel the stove.”

Rupert bowed nervously and disappeared down the stairs as the daughter took Kara’s satchel from her shoulder and placed it carefully on a three-legged stool beneath the window.

“Remove your clothing and take your bath,” she instructed. “Go behind the screen if you wish to be modest.”

Anne settled upon the nearest chair, inspecting the cushion before she did so. She shot Kara a look of impatience. To her right sat Caroline, who occupied herself by looking over an open drawer of dyed fabrics.

Am I boring you ladies?

Caroline looked up, and she gasped.

“Oh!”

For Kara was swiftly undressing. She had thrown her cloak down onto the stool, quite deliberately draping it over her satchel. Her shirt followed, and then she reached for her leggings.

“Oh,” Lady Caroline said again, covering her mouth. “Oh, gosh…”

Anne’s eyes met Kara’s coldly as she dropped her leggings onto her shirt. There was nothing left for her to remove. She held only her sword, still in its scabbard.

“Modesty is only a fool’s pride, Lady Anne,” she said lightly. “It is the first casualty when you hunt murderers in The Wilderness for weeks on end,” she added with relish. “I have bathed in lakes and rivers under the sun and stars while my friends kept an eye out for enemies. Now I will take my bath, and I will take my sword with me, for I don’t like leaving it out of reach. It’s a habit of mine.”

The tub was enormous, and Kara sank into the hot water gratefully. She rested her hands on the copper rim. Steam rose from the surface and condensation dripped from a fogged mirror that hung on the wall to her immediate right, above a slate shelf. Next to the tub sat a small stool. She could feel the heat rising from below, for Rupert, downstairs, would be piling wood into a stove that would keep the water warm.

I just hope he knows how much wood to put in, or else I will boil. Despite that, the water felt wonderful on her skin.

The older Thessalia was saying something beyond the screen, but Kara didn’t catch it. Her daughter made a remark, and then Anne replied with a sharp tone. As ever, Caroline giggled. Kara could imagine the dark-eyed pretty girl with her hand over her mouth again.

The conversation ended as one or both of the Thessalias opened drawers and lifted cloth from cupboards. Basking now in the warmth, Kara was content to let them get on with it. Her muscles needed a soak, and she had looked forward to a bath for some days now.

She peered at the slate shelf below the mirror. A dozen bottles with granules of varying colours were lined up, ready for use. Kara didn’t know whether to eat them or pour them into the water. She picked up one with a red colour and a cherry scent, and suddenly she had a vision of running out into the room after smearing it around her mouth and face, grinning insanely and holding her sword aloft, waving it at Anne.

How she would scream.

Suddenly and quite uncontrollably, she laughed. Then she ducked her head below the water to silence herself. But when she resurfaced she found Caroline standing over her.

“Is everything well?”

Kara pushed her wet hair back from her face.

“Quite well, thank you,” she said. “Although… could you tell me which of these you would… recommend?” Kara pointed to the shelf lined with the confusing lotions. Caroline smiled knowingly.

“Any and all,” she advised, smiling meekly. She pointed to the bottle Kara still clutched in her hand. “I like that one, the cherry scent.” She lowered her voice and leaned forward. “Although Lady Anne thinks it’s too strong. She thinks a lady should be subtle in her fashions.”

“Well, then,” Kara replied with sudden glee, her voice also low, “something about Lady Anne reminds me of the wrong end of a horse. I agree with you. Cherry it is.”

Caroline gaped in shock at Kara.

Then she covered her mouth-with both hands this time, as if just one wasn’t enough to still the laughter that threatened to overwhelm her. After a moment, she regained control.

“You… you mustn’t talk like that,” she gasped.

Kara didn’t reply. Instead, she poured the red lotion into the water and mixed the bath with her hand. A strong scent was carried upwards in the steam. Kara gave a sigh of contentment.

“That is a good choice, Lady Caroline,” she said, resting her head on a soft cushion-like sponge that had been provided for her comfort.

“Can I stay for a moment?” Caroline asked.

It would be useful to have a friend tonight. I have a feeling that Anne might try some mischief at the dance.

“Yes, I would be glad of the company,” Kara said genuinely. “Tell me of events that have been taking place here in Varrock. I have been in The Wilderness and away from civilization for so long that there is much I don’t know.”

“Where should I start?” Caroline said as she pulled up the stool.

“About these murders and disappearances,” Kara suggested. “That sounds interesting.” She sniffed at several new lotions as Caroline told her about the prophecy of the High Priest of Entrana, given a century earlier, and of the rumours that were spreading through the streets of the city. She told Kara about the secret society whose symbol was an owl, and how more and more of the symbols were appearing in the oddest places. Much of her information was gossip, Kara deduced, though she knew Caroline’s account of Ellamaria’s accusation was accurate, since she had been there to witness it herself.

Still, if there have been as many deaths as she indicates, it is a wonder the city isn’t tearing itself apart. And Morytania is believed responsible. We must be careful, my friends and I.

Gar’rth most of all.

She was brought from her reverie by a question.

“Did you really kill all those men?” Caroline asked, her voice almost a whisper. “All fourteen of them, on your own?”

“I did,” Kara replied. “It was dark in the barn, though. They couldn’t see.”

Caroline hesitated. Kara saw her confusion, and continued.

“I grew up with the dwarfs under Ice Mountain, after my family were butchered by Sulla and his Kinshra,” she explained. “You learn to see in the dark there. Your eyes grow used to it.”

Although since leaving the mines I find it harder to see so well. Perhaps I am losing that gift, after spending so much time on the surface.

“I wish I could do that,” Caroline said. “But why did you never kill Sulla? In all the songs you bested him in single combat after destroying his army, after you killed a hundred men in battle. Are the tales true?”

You are filled with questions, Lady Caroline, Kara realised. I would be foolish to think you simple. She laughed to hide her suspicion, yet it was not entirely forced, for Caroline was open to the point of naivety and Kara found it delightfully easy to talk to her.

“I am not sure I ever killed a hundred men,” she replied. “Doric said later that he counted thirty or so of my enemies, but I don’t remember.” She looked Caroline in the eyes. “And I am glad I don’t.”

Though that is a lie. I do remember those who begged for mercy before I killed them. I offered them the same mercy they offered their victims-like my family.

None at all.

“Is everything well in there?” Madame Thessalia called with a voice that was more impatient than concerned. Kara replied that it was, then turned back to Caroline.

“As for Sulla, I had spent my whole life-over ten years- dreaming of the day I would kill him. I tried to do so, and my anger very nearly killed me.” She saw the eagerness in the girl’s eyes, and continued. “Fortunately, my father’s Ring of Life whisked me to Falador, where I was found by Theodore and the knights and nursed back to health. Finally, after learning things I had never suspected about my father, I found a sense of home. When the war came, and I had Sulla at my mercy, I spared him to honour a promise to a very brave man-the kindest one I have ever known.”

“The knight Bhuler?” Caroline squeaked.

“Yes,” Kara said in surprise. “You have listened to the songs and tales, haven’t you?”

The girl nodded enthusiastically.

“After the war I went north to a monastery which had been burned by Sulla’s forces. It was near to my village, and I had a memory of being taken there to be blessed by Saradomin when I was very young.” Kara splashed water in her face to hide her tears. “I don’t remember the time before Sulla. Or very little of it. I cannot remember my parents’ faces, nor do I know my mother’s name.”

Suddenly she grew angry, and grabbed the sponge from behind her head.

“I don’t even know my name!” she gritted. “Sulla prevented me from learning it by burning the monastery’s records when he held me prisoner. Unless the great library on Entrana ever received a copy of the monastery’s books then I will never know.” She twisted the sponge in frustration.

Then she noticed how Caroline shied away from her anger.

“I am sorry, Caroline,” she said. “I have lost so much that in all honesty, I envy the milkmaid her life or the seamstress hers. Death and war are not subjects for great songs or tales. Everyone expects so much of me now. I just don’t know what to expect for myself.”

A moment of silence fell between them. Kara stirred the water idly below her chin.

“I am sorry, Kara,” Caroline said. “I didn’t know you had lost so much, though I know what it is like to live a life governed by the expectations of others. My parents are looking to marry me off to some young man of an appropriate family, to the scions of great households, a match made for economy rather than love.” She looked at the floor. “At least for you there is an escape. I am trapped here.”

“But what of this Lord William?”

Caroline dared to smile briefly before a sharp voice called out from behind the screen.

“Lady Caroline! Come here please.” It was Anne calling.

“Do you see what I mean?” Caroline said as she stood and wiped her hand over her dark eyes.

Was that a tear?

Kara said nothing as she was left alone again.

Kara left the bath with some reluctance as a small clock chimed. She dried herself with a woollen towel and made her way slowly around the screen, silently delighting in Anne’s commands for her to hurry.

“Try this on,” the noblewoman instructed. “We all think it is best for you.”

Kara saw the gown on offer. The dress reminded her of a plum, its bulbous bottom ballooning out about her feet, far wider below the waist than above.

I won’t know how to walk in such a thing!

“Come along,” Anne said impatiently. “There is no time left for delay.”

Kara cast her eye to the stool to where her old clothes had been folded neatly.

Did they search my satchel? I have no way of knowing if she saw Theodore’s letter.

Anne followed her gaze and then looked back at her face.

She is unreadable. She considered for a moment. Time to bait the trap.

“Have you seen much of my friend Theodore, Lady Anne?” she asked. “Lady Caroline and I were just talking about him. You and he seem to have grown very close.” Caroline let out a little gasp, but said nothing.

Kara allowed herself to be helped into the gown as she spoke. Madame Thessalia tightened the garment at her back and Kara lost her breath.

Anne remained silent for a full minute as she watched Kara being dressed. Finally she spoke.

“He is a very fine knight, Kara,” she said coldly. “Today he bested Varrock’s most accomplished warrior, Lord Hyett, the Black Boar. It has saved me from any more of the man’s advances, and Theodore knows how grateful I am.”

Kara struggled to answer as both Thessalias fussed about her, forcing her to stand straight to better shape the gown. It was very low-cut in the front, she thought.

“Are you sure this is acceptable?” Kara asked Caroline, who nodded shyly before looking to Anne, perhaps to seek her permission. “It has a yellow ribbon on. Isn’t that the King’s colour?”

“Not exclusively so,” Anne said.

“And you don’t think it too… revealing?” Kara asked.

“It is the only dress left that suits your figure,” Madame Thessalia replied. After a moment she and her daughter finished their efforts, and stood back to assess the results.

“Well, that fits at least,” Anne said as she approached the older Thessalia. “Take it off, Kara, and we will return to the palace to prepare together.” She took her purse and dropped five coins into the old woman’s hand.

“My lady?” Madame Thessalia asked.

Anne looked at Kara, her eyes narrowing.

“That is a bonus,” she said. “I am very happy with my dress for this evening, and if things go as well as I expect, then I will pay you some more.”

I have missed something here.

Madame Thessalia bowed her head in respect.

“You are our very best and most generous patron, my lady.”

“But as I was saying Kara-Meir-” Anne spoke with a sudden relish, and Kara prepared herself. “-Theodore may be a knight, but he is also a man. A very good man in fact. Very good. And ever so eager to please.”

Kara went cold inside as Anne gazed at her in triumph. She forgot the dress in an instant.

Oh, Theodore.

The atmosphere in the carriage was tense as they journeyed back to the palace. Occasionally Kara would see Anne look at her with a superior smile. Caroline, for her part, stared always out of the window. When they arrived, Anne gestured to a man who was waiting for them.

“This servant will guide you to your room, Kara-Meir,” she said. “A chamber has been put aside for you in the palace’s guest wing, and your packs from your horses have already been sent up. You will be expected back down here in the Great Hall for nine. It would be most embarrassing if you were late, for you are a guest of honour.”

Kara followed the servant up the great staircase, while another came behind, carrying the dress that Anne had picked out for her.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she has found me room in the stables.

Her thoughts were so turbulent that when the servant stopped outside of a closed door, she nearly walked straight into his back.

“These are the very best guest quarters, my lady.” The man swung the door inward. A cosy anteroom led off through an arch to a larger space. “Three rooms-a bedroom, living room, and a dressing room.” He hesitated suddenly. “I was asked to find a servant for you. I know your friends have been appointed valets to help them, but apparently you have your own? Lord William de Adlard told me so. In fact, he asked me to tell you that he will be coming to see you shortly.”

“Who is Lord William?” Kara said, thinking quickly of the many faces she had seen in the royal box. She couldn’t recall being introduced to him, yet she knew his name from Anne’s scathing assessment in the carriage.

“He is a friend of Squire-” The servant coughed. “Forgive me, my lady. Of Sir Theodore’s.”

“Is he an honest man?”

“I really shouldn’t comment, my lady. But I do believe so.”

The second servant left her dress in the cupboard as the first man bowed.

“If you need anything else, my lady, the bell rope will call us.”

Once they had left, Kara lay down on her bed, dropping the satchel beside her.

Don’t let yourself get lazy, she told herself. Weapons first. Always they come first. With a sigh she got up and dug through her saddlebag to find a whetstone. Then she took her satchel off the bed and examined the daggers she had taken from the barn.

Could they really have cut Jerrod?

But her questions died when she saw Theodore’s letter, the paper’s edge protruding from inside the leather satchel.

She read it again. There could be no mistaking what the knight had said.

And yet it appears he has made his choice, she thought. What does he really want or expect now?

Someone banged a fist on the door to her quarters.

Kara hid Theodore’s letter back in her satchel before answering.

“Kara-Meir,” said a hard man with an angry face. “I have some property that belongs to you, by order of the King. Two items. Each of poor quality.”

The man stepped aside to reveal Pia and Jack. The boy gazed at her hopefully. Pia looked sullenly to the floor.

“I have also added up your bounty,” the man declared. “It will pay adequately for the money these two took off the people yesterday. That was, after all, your offer to the King?”

Kara nodded.

“That is correct. See to it that it gets to the right people… Captain?” She paused.

“Captain Rovin, Kara-Meir,” the angry man said, seeing her expression. Then he bowed stiffly. “These people are your servants now. It would not do for them to be caught stealing again.” He turned and exited. “Good evening.”

Kara ushered the two inside.

“So neither of you can read?” she asked. They both nodded their heads. “Can you cook? Can you sew?”

Jack nodded and smiled.

“I can sew. Look.”

He tore a false front from his shirt. It was stitched on only one side, like a door with a hinge. Behind it, upon his body, was a board of some sort with thick padding behind that ran from his chest to his belly.

“What is that for?” Kara asked.

“Show him, Pia. Come on!”

“I don’t have my knife any more, Jack,” Pia sighed. “Straven took it.”

“I still have the duplicate,” Jack replied.

The girl stood angrily as the boy handed her a thin blade with a weighted hilt.

She hates me, Kara guessed. She hates me for saving her and putting her in my debt.

Pia walked to the far end of the centre room, leaving Jack still in the antechamber, his cork board displayed. She spun and with a grunt drew her arm back and hurled the knife. It spun, end over end, and landed straight in the cork. At the same instant, Jack folded his false front across, hiding it beneath.

The boy was smiling.

“I’m not sure I understand,” Kara said tentatively.

Pia tutted angrily.

“I pretended to be you. Therefore I needed to demonstrate my skill with a weapon. We rehearsed this often. Jack would play as an urchin, and with a duplicate knife he would stab an apple a few minutes before we performed. I would then throw my knife into his board and he would hide it, holding the apple up. In a crowded room, with him at the front, it worked perfectly.”

Kara laughed.

“That’s very resourceful. Perhaps we can learn from each other-”

Her words ended as another fist banged on the door. She moved to open it.

It was a young man with dark hair and a trimmed beard and moustache, expensively attired in a black cloak trimmed with otter fur and pinned at his shoulder with a silver brooch. He wore black gloves and underneath the cloak he wore a black velvet shirt. Unlike many nobles she had seen, he had no sword strapped to his side. The brooch, she noted, was in the shape of a leaping fox.

Behind him stood a much older man in blue and red finery.

Elegant. Elegant and harmless.

The first man bowed.

“My lady Kara-Meir,” he said. “My name is Lord William de Adlard. I am a friend of Theodore’s-or Sir Theodore, as it is now, of course. Ah!” His eyes fell on Pia and Jack. “I see Captain Rovin arrived ahead of me. He does so enjoy spoiling everyones’ fun.” She gestured and he stepped into the room. “I have been tasked with looking after you and your… friends, and to see that you have everything you need to make yourselves comfortable.” He looked warily at Pia and Jack, then turned to her and continued.

“But there is another matter I need to speak of.” He motioned to his companion. “Come, ambassador.”

The second man entered, wheezing. He was old and overweight.

“Let me introduce Sir Cecil. He is the ambassador to West Ardougne.”

Behind her, Kara heard Pia gasp. The fat man’s eyes fell on her immediately, and he spoke sternly.

“There is no easy way of saying this, Kara-Meir, but these two are wanted in my city. I recognised Pia’s accent when she cried out at the festival this afternoon, and knew that only very few people would undertake such a long journey unless they had to. And I am afraid your journey was one of necessity, was it not, Pia? For you will hang if you ever return to Kandarin. Hang for murder.”

Pia gasped and fell to her knees.

Jack ran to her and placed his arms around her.

“It’s not true! It’s not!” he shouted bitterly. “Pia didn’t kill anybody!”

“I have a description of both of you and a warrant for your arrest. You must be sent back to Ardougne to face trial. Justice must be done.”

“Justice? King Lathas’s justice?” Pia wept. “There is no justice there.”

“Speak ill of your King again and I will have you flogged!”

“Not here you won’t,” Kara said suddenly. “How dare you come here and make demands? These people are my property now, given to me by the King of this land-not yours.”

“But they were never his to give, Kara-Meir. They are King Lathas’s serfs. And one of them is a murderess, the other an accomplice.” The ambassador turned. “I didn’t believe you had so little respect for justice, Kara-Meir. But mark my words, we will talk of this again. And soon.”

Lord William pursed his lips as the ambassador turned on his heel and vanished down the hallway.

“This has been badly handled,” he admitted. “Sir Cecil can be prickly but I fear he may also be right. I do not think you can protect them, Lady Kara.”

“I am no lady, Lord William. Kindly stop referring to me as such. My name is Kara.”

She ran her hand over her face and growled in anger. Pia had told her at the barn that she had never killed anybody before.

And I believe her. The look on her face when she saw the dead bodies. Thief, yes-murderess, I doubt.

“Jack, you and Pia can sleep in my room tonight, on the floor,” she said as gently as she could. “Go now, and try and find rest. But remember, both of you-I will help you if I can.”

Lord William shook his head doubtfully and made to leave.

“Wait a moment, Lord William,” she said. “I would like a private word with you.” She closed the door behind the noble and waited until Pia and Jack had disappeared into the bedroom. “Can you tell me, honestly, what Theodore’s relationship is with Lady Anne?”

The young man stretched his face into an apologetic smile, and then back, perhaps believing it wasn’t at all appropriate.

“She wants him, Kara-Meir,” he admitted. “That’s the truth of it I fear, and what she wants, she usually gets.”

“Wants him? Or has already had him?”

Lord William blushed.

“I couldn’t be sure, Kara. They had a meeting in the galleries, a traditional place where people wish to meet unseen. But that was only this morning. And I don’t think… no… I really don’t think that’s what happened.”

The young nobleman backed toward the door, his face a deepening red.

“I should go now. Things to do.”

Kara watched him retreat, and a slight smile played upon her face.

So, they met only today, she mused. Perhaps Lady Anne feels her hold is weak, being so recent. She was relieved, and yet she wondered if she had any right to feel so. She hadn’t seen Theodore for months, and he was a famous knight at a court of ambitious young women. Had she any right to be jealous?

Especially since I never wrote to him. Perhaps I have lost him.

Kara sighed, and then cursed. She had forgotten to ask Lord William to send a maid to help her dress. Panic gripped her suddenly. She ran to the door and drew it back, to see if he was still near.

But instead it was a woman who approached. A maid of declining years.

“Lady Kara?” the maid asked stiffly.

Kara nodded.

“Lady Kara, my name is Lucretia. I bring compliments from my mistress, Lady Caroline. She has asked me to assist you in preparation for the dance. She has also asked me to tell you that you should arrive a few moments before the time you were advised.” The woman blinked once. “No doubt Lady Anne is playing one of her funny tricks again. She’s a lady only in name, that one. It is unfortunate my mistress associates so closely with her. Now, come along, for we haven’t much time.”

Kara flashed her most brilliant smile.

Lady Caroline. I am in your debt.

9

The Great Hall was a long rectangular room with a very high ceiling. At its southern end was a raised stage where King Roald and his most favoured subjects sat and ate, while below everyone else stood.

On the western side of the hall were great arched windows, stained with the yellow colouring of King Roald’s pennant, admitting the evening sunlight in a bright dazzle. In alcoves on all sides torches chased away shadows, while on tabletops and in chandeliers candles added to the celebration of light. On the eastern edge of the room, two large fire pits cooked pigs and boars on spits, and barrels of ale and wine were supported on a wooden scaffold. Above them, on a balcony, an orchestra played a lively tune that seemed contrary to the serious faces of the King’s closest advisors, who were already discussing the monarch’s promised parliament.

From his position on the stage, seated between Castimir and Ebenezer, Gar’rth watched the sea of well-dressed nobility below. No women were yet present, for their entrance was kept back for the ninth hour, only minutes away now.

“I am nervous for Kara,” Castimir said, looking warily in the direction of an older man who sat at their table some distance away, a green-tinted monocle clutched in his right eye. He was dressed in robes similar to his own, but of grey, not blue.

He is nervous, Gar’rth mused. That man is of the Tower as well, and very senior. And Castimir has not been honest with his masters.

He peered around the room irritably. There were too many people here, too many smells filling his senses, and far too much noise for him to think clearly.

He felt Ebenezer’s hand rest on his arm.

“Are you well Gar’rth?” the alchemist asked quietly. “I see you are drinking beer.”

“Yes.” He detected the old man’s concern easily, so Ebenezer probably meant it to be obvious. “So is Theodore… and Doric, and Castimir. And so are you,” he challenged, his tone harsher than he had meant it to be.

Ebenezer frowned and looked away, and Gar’rth felt a stab of guilt in his stomach. Castimir lowered his drink and gazed at him in concern. Doric, sitting across from them on a raised chair, did likewise. Theodore, sitting near the King himself, was too far away to notice.

Are they so afraid of me that I cannot even celebrate with them? My friends?

“I am sorry, Ebenezer,” he said. “I will only have one. I have been… better recently.”

“Good-it’s not a good idea to drink too much,” the old man cautioned. “Not here. Not when you are so unfamiliar with your surroundings.”

Gar’rth nodded and stood.

“I need air. The smells, the noise here.” He shook his head. “Too much.”

“I’ll come with you, I think,” Castimir said, glancing quickly at the old man in the grey robes who returned the stare with a raised eyebrow.

They descended the steps from the stage and found themselves in among the press of people. Gar’rth felt hands and elbows brush against him as he forced his way to the door which led out onto a terrace overlooking the western bailey.

I hate it here. These people are all so false.

A man barred his way and for a moment Gar’rth was surrounded, pressed in from all sides. Different odours assailed him-the grim decay of a man’s breath illustrated by rotting teeth, the sweat-coated body of another, and the artificial sickly sweetness of fragrance. He heard Castimir call to him from somewhere behind, but the wizard’s words were lost as the orchestra played faster and louder than before.

Then a woman shouted in sudden fear.

And above it all, he could smell blood. Fresh blood.

He couldn’t concentrate. A man pushed him in the back and as he gasped he was free of the crowd. A shape moved next to him, black and red, the scent of blood overpowering.

The woman screamed again.

Suddenly he was face to face with a wolf’s head on a man’s body. An obscene sight made worse by a man’s cackle from behind the wolf’s dead eye sockets.

“Gar’rth! Come on!” Castimir was at his side. The wizard took his hand as the jester with the wolf’s head leapt into the air and cackled again and for the first time Gar’rth saw the sick pantomime in full. A young maiden, dressed in white, ran through the crowds and onto the stage, shrieking with exaggerated gestures, while the wolf pursued her in a game of chase.

“What’s that about?” Castimir asked as the woman shrieked again, barely evading the jester’s groping hand to the laughter of the onlookers. They were near the western door now, and from the terrace beyond, their question was answered.

“It is a tradition,” said a pale-faced man with a hooked nose. “A wolf is killed on this day every year and its head is paraded around upon the jester’s shoulders as he pursues a maiden, pretending to be a werewolf. The maiden escapes, of course. A pity real life is different, for Morytania does not lose those victims it hounds.”

The speaker peered at them through narrow, cold eyes.

“Ah, Lord Ruthven isn’t it?” Castimir said as he bowed.

The man nodded. Gar’rth felt those eyes rest on him.

“You both know something of Morytania,” he said. “And of werewolves also, I believe?”

Gar’rth froze. He caught Castimir’s panicked eye.

“I know that Jerrod is in Varrock, with Sulla,” Lord Ruthven continued. “Kara-Meir told the King this afternoon. You have fought the werewolf before, have you not?”

“We have,” Castimir said. “He was at the monastery, east of Ice Mountain-and before that in Falador, where Kara wounded him.”

“Did your magic not work against him?”

Castimir nodded grimly.

“It did, but the werewolf took my runes. Without them I am powerless.”

“Ah, the runes!” Lord Ruthven lowered his voice. “There are too few of them now. Too few wizards, as well.”

Gar’rth saw a flicker of surprise pass over Castimir’s face, then the wizard and the nobleman exchanged a knowing look before Ruthven continued.

“Nonetheless, with or without magic, Jerrod must be hunted and slain. Werewolves and creatures from Morytania are given no quarter in Misthalin.”

Castimir glanced at Gar’rth, who remained silent, determined not to react.

I have known that for a long time. It is the same in Asgarnia as well.

An enticing breeze flowed in from outside, and Gar’rth breathed in deeply to clear the pollution of the hall from his senses. The bailey was populated with yew trees and grasses, an oasis of nature in the city of men. It was a relief.

He breathed in again, and this time he sensed the newcomer before he saw him. Clean robes and soap differentiated Lord William’s scent from most others.

“The ladies are about to enter,” the young man said. “Come. It would not do to miss them.”

Gar’rth followed Castimir back to the stage as the double doors to the north were opened. All eyes fell on Kara-Meir as she entered the Great Hall. She walked at the front of the column of women, her dress ballooning outward from below her waist, a yellow cloak hanging from a golden chain about her throat. Her waist-length hair had been ornately styled in curled plaits, with a yellow ribbon tied at its apex.

Behind her, Gar’rth saw Lady Anne, whose jaw was firmly set.

“I would have thought it would have been Lady Anne leading the girls,” Lord William mumbled to Castimir, who gave a smile. “It is so unlike her to follow in second place.”

A red rose leaf caught in Kara’s hair, thrown by one of the many young children of noble birth who were too young to participate in the dances. They lined the way to the stage, carrying small buckets and raining red and white leaves upon the women.

“Why do they do that, with the rose petals?” Castimir asked.

“It’s a symbol of summer, and with it, fertility, I imagine,” Lord William replied. “Ah! There is Lady Caroline, standing behind Lady Anne and next to your friend Arisha.”

“You should go and throw a rose petal over her,” Castimir advised.

Lord William laughed.

“I will do just that, Castimir,” he said. “Excuse me.” The nobleman gave a last grin as he hastened down the steps.

Their happiness is strange to me, Gar’rth thought as they arrived at their table.

“Arisha looks nice, Castimir.” He heard Doric say. Gar’rth looked to their barbarian friend. Among all the women, Arisha stood out, for she was dressed according to the customs of her people, and not the court of Varrock. Her arms, legs and midriff were exposed, for she wore a leather brassiere and short brown skirt. Her wrists and neck displayed elegant jewellery, and as ever she wore her silver tiara in her now-straightened black hair.

“But have you seen what Kara-Meir is wearing, Lord Despaard?” Gar’rth heard someone say not far away. The speaker was a shrivelled old man in a great black-bearskin fur. “The yellow cloak and ribbon? I am not sure if the King will be amused.”

“It has been over a year since she died, Papelford,” came the response. “It is important for the realm that he moves on. A Queen must be found, an heir needs to be born. If Kara-Meir has acted knowingly, then I applaud her boldness. If not, then it is a fortunate reminder.”

Gar’rth saw now that many people spoke to one another, their eyes all on Kara, some in puzzlement, one or two in open disbelief. And the King himself stared also, his face impassive.

Kara-Meir approached the stage as the orchestra ended their play. In the silence, the King stood.

“Kara-Meir, you will be seated at my side,” he said. “Your dress is an appropriate one for this time of year, and yet it bears a familiarity that is painful to me. You are aware of this, are you not?”

What game is this, Kara?

She climbed the steps, holding her dress carefully. Behind her, Lady Anne followed, her eyes burning wildly, a smile ill-disguised on her lips.

“I am aware of it, my King,” Kara replied. “Lady Anne was kind enough to explain to me how the last young lady who wore yellow was a favourite of yours. But she also explained how such a dress would serve to remind you of happier times, and she insisted that I wear it.”

Kara turned back to Lady Anne and gave a polite curtsey as the other woman looked on in amazement.

“I would not dare to presume-” Lady Anne stammered.

“Lady Anne,” Kara interrupted, “I arrived in Varrock this morning with no sense of style or fashion. Everything I wear today is entirely to your credit.” Her eyes flashed angrily. “And to yours alone.”

Someone laughed suddenly from below, and the tension relaxed. King Roald extended his hand and Kara took her seat at his side. Above, the orchestra commenced with a new tune.

She is angry, Gar’rth observed. Lady Anne hides it well but she is burning now.

The wolf-headed jester appeared at the base of the stairs. He gave a howl and charged up, where he danced around the simmering woman, assaulting with comical gestures as if intent on devouring her.

But Lady Anne remained still.

“It will take more than a wolf to humiliate me, Gleeman,” she said caustically.

“Ah, no doubt!” he responded. “But at least my ugliness is only skin deep.” There were gasps, and the room rippled with laughter as Lady Anne took a half-hearted swipe at him as he ducked nimbly aside. Then, with a suddenly delicious smile, she found her seat near Theodore.

As the music changed, a dance began on the floor in front of the platform. A circle of women stepped to the open area, joined hands, and danced in a round, while Gideon Gleeman disposed of the wolf’s severed head, then tumbled and jumped and leapt in their midsts, encouraging them with his acrobatics. Lord William successfully ambushed Lady Caroline, drenching her in a rain of rose petals while lutes and harps and voices provided a merry accompaniment.

Doric drank and talked with Lowe, the King’s fletcher, Castimir spent his time talking to Arisha, and Ebenezer fell into animated conversation with the merchant Draul Leptoc, explaining his steam engine and the role it had played following the war.

After the circle dances came the private ones. Gar’rth noticed Lady Anne’s look of triumph as she lifted Theodore’s hand in hers and led him to the floor. Kara shared a brief dance with King Roald.

Only I remain alone.

Gar’rth left the table and found his way into the crowd below the stage. At one point a young woman fell against him with a delightful cry, peering up at him, only to turn aside quickly when she saw his face.

Fear, he thought. They fear me. Even my friends. They all fear me. Do these people secretly know that I am different?

Gar’rth moved to the terrace door again, and this time continued outside. The sky was dark now. He took a deep breath at the terrace’s edge. The scent of nature, imprisoned in the walls of the palace, comforted him. He heard a voice behind, and he knew his privacy would not last.

I don’t want to talk now.

Not to anyone. Not even Kara.

He stepped back into the shadows, against the wall. Only a yard away a young man ran out, leading a woman by the hand. Quickly they ran down the terrace steps and disappeared into the darkness of the bailey.

But the night held no secrets from Gar’rth. He watched them find a spot below a yew tree, far enough from the hall to be private in their eyes. He tried to look away, but could not.

Suddenly his anger grew. There could never be anyone like that for him, not here.

He turned to the door as the old man Papelford appeared before him. The man’s scent was of old books. Behind him came Lord Despaard.

“Excuse me,” the old librarian muttered as both men passed him and walked some distance away, talking in low voices. “Not much farther Lord Despaard. I am not so young any more.”

“I just want to be sure we cannot be heard, Papelford.”

Gar’rth turned back to the balustrade, deliberately moving away from the two men who now stood at the farthest end of the terrace, out of the reach of the torchlight.

“Don’t be so paranoid Lord Despaard,” the old man whispered, though his voice was still clear to Gar’rth. “He can’t hear us. Not from that distance. No one could.”

Gar’rth smiled.

“This heroine, Kara-Meir,” Papelford said cautiously. “Do you think she knew to wear that dress? She risked the King’s wrath to do so.”

“I sense the hand of Lady Anne involved here, Papelford. Perhaps she sought to embarrass Kara-Meir, but it appears the King was more tolerant than she believed.” He glanced in Gar’rth’s direction. “But tell me, what did you really want to speak about out here?”

“It is my apprentice.”

“Reldo?” There was genuine surprise in the nobleman’s voice. “He is perfectly suited for this work, surely. His memory is incredible, he can recall anything he’s ever read. He is from a good and trusted family. He’s-”

“All of that and more Lord Despaard. Yes, I know. But he asks too many questions about what we do. He’s guessed half the truth, I am sure of it.”

“That is not an issue. In fact, it was an inevitability, if he was doing the job properly. You are an old man, Papelford. We need someone in the archives who can be trusted. Reldo is good at what he does.”

Papelford made a noise that reminded Gar’rth of a bird choking.

“He’s not good. I want him moved.”

Lord Despaard sighed.

“I will talk to Lord Ruthven about it,” he said. “The Society of the Owl needs a good and trusted archivist, more now than ever- with these killings and the approach of the prophecy.”

The two men fell silent for a moment.

“Tell me, old friend, do you really believe it will come true?” Lord Despaard sounded weary.

“I don’t know,” Papelford responded. “But who could claim to be a truer king than King Roald? His line goes back at least a thousand years.”

“I hope you are right.”

A new tune started from inside the hall, and a poet began to speak.

“Ah, the ‘Ballad of Tenebra and Ailane’,” Papelford muttered. “Come, this tragedy is a favourite of King Roald’s, for it reminds him-as well as the rest of us-of what his family have suffered at the hands of Morytania. Although he needs no reminding, not after this creature murdered his fiancee.”

Murdered his fiancee?

“The kingdom need not know that,” Lord Despaard warned as the two men walked back into the light of the torches. Gar’rth turned, feigning surprise.

They said nothing as they vanished into the hall, and Gar’rth was left alone.

He stood on the terrace for several minutes, half-listening to the ballad, before he caught a familiar scent behind him.

“Arisha,” he said without turning.

The barbarian priestess approached him, her booted feet crunching the gravel.

“I saw you leave,” she said. “You’ve been gone some time.”

“Yes.”

“Are you all right, Gar’rth?”

“I don’t like it here, Arisha. I am afraid.”

“You?” She didn’t attempt to mask her surprise. “Afraid of what? Jerrod won’t…”

Gar’rth gave a harsh laugh.

“Not Jerrod, Arisha. I am afraid of…” He paused and shook his head. “I have run from one place to another, then another. I can’t keep running.”

He looked at her, and felt a sudden anger when he saw her eyes widen in sympathy.

“Then speak to Kara, Gar’rth,” she said. “Tell her how you feel.”

“She knows, Arisha.”

“No she doesn’t,” the barbarian replied. “She suspects, but she does not know.”

Gar’rth shook his head again.

“She would say no,” he said grimly. “She knows what I am.”

“And she knows who you are, as well. She knows the good you’ve done at her side.” Arisha fell silent, and Gar’rth saw her shiver. “It is cold out here,” she said after a moment. “Will you come inside with me?”

“Yes,” he said. He looked her straight in the eye, and he thought he saw her blink nervously. “But not because I feel the cold. I rarely do.”

Inside the hall, the ballad was ending and had given way to more raucous behaviour. From his position near the door Gar’rth saw a small crowd gathered around a table, cheering. He noted Lady Anne looking on, watching from the stage.

The crowd around the table jostled slightly, revealing two men engaged in an arm wrestle.

“It’s Theodore,” Arisha murmured with a slight smile.

Gar’rth watched the contest with interest before the crowd hid the contestants from view. Someone gave a cry and then another man shouted in victory as half the crowd cheered and the rest groaned.

“Sir Theodore loses! It seems not even the finest warrior in Varrock can beat Sir Frey.” The crowd parted and Gar’rth saw Theodore stagger up and massage his right hand. The knight’s opponent was a much larger and older man, with arms thick and powerful like a blacksmith’s.

I could beat him, Gar’rth thought. I would be able to do so easily.

Arisha noted his hesitation.

“Come along, Gar’rth. Let us return to the stage.”

They got only halfway up the steps before Lady Anne stopped them.

“Oh, Gar’rth,” she said sweetly. “Would you care to escort me outside for some air on the terrace? You are the only one of Kara’s companions I have yet to speak with.” She pointedly ignored his silent frown.

“I am afraid Castimir requires his presence, Lady Anne,” Arisha cut in sharply.

“Castimir can wait,” Gar’rth said, anger edging into his words. “The hall, inside, too much noise,” he explained. “Outside is better.”

He felt Arisha’s concerned stare as Lady Anne put her arm through his.

They are not my keepers. I am not an animal, he thought as she led him back toward the terrace yet again.

“I can tell that you do not enjoy these occasions,” Lady Anne remarked. “I understand that. You are not from Misthalin, and our ways must seem strange to you.” They were outside now, in the cool air, alone. “And I have also seen the way you look at Kara-Meir.”

Gar’rth shook his head slowly.

Lady Anne laughed.

“Oh, don’t be so coy!” she said. “Your feelings for her are obvious.” Her blue eyes fixed Gar’rth’s back pupils. “And so are Theodore’s.” She turned her back on him and waited. But he did not reply. Instead, a man’s voice coughed gently, and Gar’rth turned to see a youth waiting nearby.

“Lady Anne,” the boy said. “Forgive my interruption, but I bring a message from Lord Hyett.”

“Oh,” her voice was flat. “Where is it?”

“I have been asked to relay it to you in private, Lady Anne.”

“Oh, how tiresome. Does the Black Boar have time enough to waste on me, rather than make his peace with whichever god he believes in? Very well.” She turned to him briefly. “Excuse me Gar’rth.”

He bowed awkwardly as Lady Anne strode to the opposite end of the terrace. As with Lord Despaard and the librarian Papelford, their hushed voices were clear to him over such a distance.

“Lord Hyett begs you to see him, Lady Anne.”

“I will go tomorrow to pay my respects.”

“He will be dead by then,” came the reply. “Sir Theodore gave him a heinous wound.”

“Well, good for Sir Theodore,” Lady Anne hissed coldly. “I have never liked your master. He is a brute. The Black Boar can go to his grave pining for me, for all I care. Go and tell him that, and tell him that I will think of his last hours with relish.”

“Lady Anne, please, have compassion to a man who has only ever deSired your love.”

She laughed.

“Don’t be a fool, boy,” she scolded. “The Black Boar was a monster in life. It is an open secret that he worshipped Zamorak, just as he was known to work with the Kinshra in their patrols in The Wilderness. He was an evil, evil man who sought to reclaim his lands by marriage and murder. His first two wives died horribly-and he then attempted to marry me. No doubt I would have died also. No. I am glad Sir Theodore has killed him. It has saved me the job.”

Lady Anne stepped toward Gar’rth. She stopped once and spoke again, this time without any attempt at privacy.

“Be sure to tell that to Lord Hyett, as I dance and enjoy myself tonight in the company of better men. And tell him I smiled when I said it. Smiled and laughed.”

As if to illustrate she gave a laugh that reminded Gar’rth of breaking glass. The youth bowed his head and ran quickly away into the darkness of the bailey. Lady Anne turned back.

“You must forgive me, Gar’rth,” she said. “It is news of Lord Hyett, the knight Theodore fought. He is not expected to live out the night.” She smiled happily. “As you can probably tell, I have no fondness for him. Theodore’s wound is a just one, and long overdue.”

She rested her hands on the balustrade.

“But what were we talking of? Oh, yes. Theodore and Kara. He wrote her a letter, you see. One that I read-quite by accident I assure you.”

Now it was Gar’rth’s turn to laugh. Lady Anne looked suddenly hurt, though he couldn’t tell if it was sincere.

“It was!” she protested. “I knocked her satchel over when she was bathing, and a strange dagger fell out of it. When I put it back I found a letter to Kara from Theodore. I know it was wrong, Gar’rth, but I couldn’t resist… what are you frowning for?”

“Which dagger?” he demanded. “Kara carries none in her satchel.” He knew that for certain, from their time in The Wilderness.

“It was a strange one, with two blades.” She waved her hand. But that’s not important-” She continued, but he didn’t hear her now.

The same dagger that Pia used to cut Jerrod, he knew with growing certainty. It must be! That was why I felt so ill on our journey to Varrock! Exactly as Velko said Jerrod suffered, I suffered too.

Fear and anger twisted themselves up in Gar’rth’s stomach as he doubled over, holding the balustrade, his face hidden in shadow. He breathed deeply, gasping, and felt fire burn his skin.

Not now!

He saw Lady Anne’s shadow move closer.

“Gar’rth, what is it?” she asked, confusion in her voice. “Shall I get help?”

Her scent was suddenly far more real than before.

Stronger, more tempting.

He felt her hand on his shoulder and he turned to see her, his face in the torchlight.

Lady Anne gasped when she saw him.

“Your eyes!” she said. “What’s wrong with you?” But she didn’t wait for an explanation. Instead, her face more pale than before, she fled back into the hall, leaving Gar’rth alone again.

He felt his tears on his face, and his skin went suddenly cold.

Why didn’t you tell me, Kara? You are a friend to me, more than a friend.

The fever subsided.

He breathed in deeply.

“Gar’rth?” It was Arisha’s voice now. Somehow he hadn’t picked up her scent.

“I am all right, Arisha,” he said angrily. “I don’t need you, or Kara or Ebenezer to keep watching me.”

“I saw Lady Anne come back into the hall,” Arisha replied. “She was afraid, I think.”

Gar’rth laughed.

“Perhaps you should be more careful,” she advised.

Does she know about the dagger also? Has she kept the secret from me?

“More careful?” He laughed again. “Perhaps I’ve been too careful.”

He turned and strode purposefully into the hall, Arisha following.

“Gar’rth! What are you doing?” There was a panic in Arisha’s voice-fear that he had never heard before. Not even in battle.

It made him feel powerful.

He strode over to the seated Lord Frey. The old noble gave him a grin.

“You wish to wager boy? I sent your Sir Theodore packing. Nearly snapped his wrist.”

“I am no Sir Theodore,” Gar’rth growled, and the man raised an eyebrow.

“Gar’rth you mustn’t,” Arisha told him sternly. Someone laughed.

“Listen to the barbarian, if you wish to keep your money,” an anonymous man joked.

Gar’rth dropped his belt pouch on the table. Lord Frey overturned it and then gave a gasp. For it was a gem, worth a small fortune.

“I won’t take your money, boy,” he said, looking up. “Not this. It is too much. I will not risk bad feeling between us over such a contest.”

“Very well,” Gar’rth countered. “Then we play without betting.”

Gar’rth put the gem back in his pouch and returned it to his belt before driving his elbow onto the tabletop. Lord Frey stared bemused as the cries of the onlookers grew louder. Finally, he nodded.

“Fine, boy. Fine. I don’t know what you wish to prove, but you have your game.”

Lord Frey grabbed hold of the table edge with his free hand and brought his other arm onto the surface, mirroring Gar’rth’s actions.

“You ever done this before, boy?” Lord Frey asked.

Gar’rth simply nodded.

“Then you know the technique.” He nodded again. “Good luck.”

“Stop humouring him, Lord Frey! The boy’s arrogance has earned him a lesson.”

Gar’rth looked to the stage and saw Lady Anne watching him fearfully. His behaviour had not gone unnoticed by his friends, either. Theodore and Kara were also staring anxiously, and Ebenezer, Doric, and Castimir were already walking down the steps toward him…

Lord Frey suddenly gave a push.

Gar’rth’s arm lurched backwards before he corrected it, slanting at an angle.

The crowd yelled.

“You are a strong one, boy.” Lord Frey grinned. “I’ll give you that.”

And so are you, Gar’rth realised. Maybe more than I. He gritted his teeth as he summoned his strength. He felt his bones creaking under the strain.

But slowly-near imperceptibly-Lord Frey’s arm was pushed back.

Yet the older man laughed.

“By the gods, boy, it’s been long since I’ve had a match with such as you. Maybe if I were younger…” He breathed in deeply, most likely in preparation for a final attempt to force Gar’rth’s arm back.

But Gar’rth would show no mercy. Not today.

He was waiting for the push when it came. His arm was like steel.

“That’s impossible,” Lord Frey moaned as the crowd shouted and clapped. Gar’rth added to the pressure, and the old man’s wrist snapped back onto the tabletop. There was a tremendous yell from the onlookers. Lord Frey rubbed his arm and looked at Gar’rth with a mixture of respect and concern.

As Gar’rth stood, he was aware of that look-of every eye upon him. He saw Theodore’s face, noted Kara’s sudden fear, and then he saw Ebenezer, marching toward him with black thunder all over his features.

“Outside,” the alchemist ordered in a cold fury. “Outside. Now.” Gar’rth nodded, but Ebenezer’s anger couldn’t wipe away the sense of accomplishment.

It was worth it. They know who is the stronger now.

Kara knows it.

Theodore knows it.

Gar’rth nodded and turned on his heel, back toward the terrace that seemed his constant destination for the evening.

“What in Saradomin’s name do you think you were doing?” The old man’s face was an angry bright red, his eyes wide behind his glasses.

Gar’rth didn’t reply.

“Answer me, Gar’rth!”

Booted feet crunching the gravel underfoot were the signal that Theodore and Kara had joined them. He was alone with his friends. Their faces wore concerned masks. Castimir’s hand was in his pocket, Doric stood with his arms crossed, Arisha looked on sympathetically, and Kara and Theodore waited patiently for an explanation.

“I just… I don’t like this. Here.”

None of his friends moved, or said a word.

But are they really my friends? He wondered silently. Kara has hidden things from me, Theodore sees me as a rival, and whose side would the others take? Finally Ebenezer spoke again.

“That’s no excuse. You cannot endanger yourself by such foolishness. You’re-”

“I’m different,” Gar’rth gritted. “I know. I know I am.”

“Gar’rth, what’s wrong?” Kara asked. “It’s clearly something more than just not liking this place.”

Gar’rth laughed as his eyes watered.

“You ask me that?” he said. “You? You have kept secrets, Kara, from me.”

Kara shook her head.

And now she tries to deny it.

“A dagger,” he continued. “The one Pia hurt Jerrod with. You took it. You didn’t tell me.”

Kara’s face fell, and in a suddenly triumphant moment Gar’rth knew he was right.

“I know why,” he said. “You don’t trust me.” He turned to look at them all, one after the other. “None of you do.”

He could feel the tears on his cheeks now.

“Easy lad,” Doric said. “That’s not true. We’ve fought side by side. I trust you the same as I trust Kara and Castimir.”

Gar’rth ignored his words.

I will hurt them now if I can.

“And Theodore, Lady Anne read your letter to Kara. She told me. The letter Kara has in her satchel.”

Theodore exhaled, and avoided Kara’s stare.

“You didn’t tell me you had that, Kara,” the knight said after a moment. She didn’t reply, and her eyes showed anger and confusion.

Gar’rth lowered his head and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. As he did so a strange song sounded from the palace, an odd tune which defied his attempt to imagine what person would sing it.

“I trust you Gar’rth,” Kara said finally. “I really do. There is no way I would have ventured into The Wilderness with you if I did not.”

“That’s true,” Arisha added. “You know it is Gar’rth. Our lives were in your hands on a dozen occasions, at least. You’ve never let us down.”

“And you saved my life on the glacier, Gar’rth,” Doric said. “When I was out cold-I’ve never forgotten that.”

“All things I have done for you,” Gar’rth snapped. “But what have you done for me?”

“Have I done nothing for you, Gar’rth?” Ebenezer said in a whisper, and at the sound of his voice, Gar’rth’s anger died in sudden humiliation. “Is that what you truly believe?”

Guilt and shame twisted their ice-cold hands in Gar’rth’s stomach.

He’s right. I’ve acted like a fool.

But then the anger returned.

“No! That’s not…” His words were a growl now. “You are right. But…”

He couldn’t think straight. The sounds coming from the hall wouldn’t let him.

“What is that singing?” he demanded.

Theodore shared a look with Castimir, who shrugged.

“There is no singing,” the wizard said. “The music in the hall has stopped.”

But to Gar’rth, it only seemed closer now-as if from somewhere high up above.

“But I hear it,” he protested. “Singing. A strange song-do none of you hear it? Have you gone deaf?”

Suddenly Theodore’s eyes widened.

“Of course,” the knight said urgently. “Castimir, run and get Lord Despaard. Tell him I think the Wyrd is here. We must arm ourselves at once.”

“I’ll get my sword,” Kara said as she followed Castimir back into the hall, holding her skirt up to avoid tripping over it.

“Gar’rth, can you follow the song?” Theodore asked.

He listened carefully, turning his head from side to side.

“It is strange, Theodore,” he said tentatively. “Not just a song. I can feel it. Yes. Yes, I can follow it.”

“Then find her,” Theodore said. “And don’t let her touch you. Her claws are poison. And don’t touch anyone else who gets scratched also, for the poison can spread.” He spun, speaking over his shoulder. “I must get my sword.”

The knight vanished. Only Arisha, Doric, and Ebenezer remained.

“I am sorry Ebenezer. Truly,” Gar’rth said quietly. “I am scared of what will happen.”

“We can talk later, Gar’rth.” Ebenezer said, with a gentle smile.

He is the father I never had. That smile which showed me such kindness when he found me. How could I have doubted him?

“Tomorrow,” Ebenezer continued. “When we have all day to ourselves. Then we can talk. But now we need to track this creature. Lives are at stake.”

Gar’rth nodded.

“Thank you.”

The song grew closer, but it was still from above.

“Up,” Gar’rth pointed as Lord Despaard and Castimir ran from the hall. “She is there. Above.”

10

Ebenezer wheezed when he was only halfway up the great staircase. Doric, a few steps ahead, gave him a concerned look.

Gar’rth and Lord Despaard had already reached the top, where they were waiting and listening. Arisha was further ahead, searching the shadows of the passages beyond. The nobleman held up one hand for silence. His other, Ebenezer saw, was on his sword hilt.

Below him stood Castimir, his right palm filled with the mysterious pebble-like runes with various coloured engravings upon their surface. The wizard gave a curse as one with a yellow symbol fell between his fingers and bounced on the step before careening down into the hall below.

At the top of the staircase, Gar’rth craned his head.

“I have heard her before,” Lord Despaard said in a whisper as Ebenezer rested his arm on the bannister a few steps below. “But never clearly enough to consider tracking her.” Ebenezer saw four armed men appear at the foot of the great staircase. Their leader drew his sword.

“Come on!” he shouted.

“Quiet, Captain Rovin,” Lord Despaard called sharply. “I don’t want to scare her off. She’s near. I can feel her now.”

“I knew I should have brought my axe,” Doric huffed. “How long will it take Kara and Theodore to get their weapons?”

“I don’t know-though I think Castimir’s runes will be of more use than cold steel,” Ebenezer replied, looking down the steps to where the wizard stood, sorting the stones into different groups in his palm. “Maybe more than cold adamant even.”

“But I don’t have many on me, Ebenezer,” Castimir said, looking up. “Not in these robes. More are in my room, in my belt pouches.”

A few moments later, Captain Rovin’s men reached them, moving quietly. Then, from the great hall, King Roald himself emerged.

“What’s going on Despaard?” he demanded.

“It is her, Sire. Gar’rth can hear her, and now so can I.”

The monarch’s face paled.

“Here. In my palace?” He grabbed an attendant by the shoulder. “Get me my sword. Now. I will have her head tonight.”

Suddenly, Gar’rth sprang forward.

“Follow him!” the King shouted from below.

Ebenezer threw himself forward, his legs burning from the effort, his heart pounding so hard that his chest ached.

“And someone find Aubury!”

Gar’rth had already vanished into the darkness by the time the alchemist reached the summit of the stairs. Castimir ran past him, one hand balled around his runes while the other held his robes to prevent him from stumbling.

Wait Gar’rth, wait! Ebenezer pleaded silently. You don’t know what it is. Wait for the guards! He saw Doric ahead as the first of the guards ran past. Somewhere in the flickering torchlight of a passageway he saw Gar’rth disappear around a corner, followed by Lord Despaard with his sword now drawn.

The King ran past. Ebenezer followed the sound of feet stamping on stairs, and as he reached the end of the passageway he saw the guardsmen climbing another staircase.

The servants’ quarters. That is where we are going! High up!

Ebenezer gasped as he followed the party, finally emerging into a hallway three flights above. The men had gathered ahead of him, King Roald with them, and Gar’rth in their midst. Arisha, Castimir, and Doric were nearby.

“Well?” King Roald demanded. “Where is she?”

Gar’rth held up his hand for silence, just as a crash of glass and a scream sounded from a room nearby. At once men cried out and Gar’rth ran. Ebenezer lost sight of him behind the guards as they rushed at a door, hurling themselves against it even as a woman screamed again.

“It’s bolted!” Captain Rovin shouted.

“Stand back,” Castimir yelled as he pointed his right hand at the door. A small collection of his runes melted and then evaporated in his hand as the guards jumped aside.

I have never seen this spell used, Ebenezer realised. From the floor at Castimir’s feet a column of yellow light spilled upward, and a great ball of heavy rock and earth materialised. The alchemist felt a rush of heat and as the light vanished the earth ball flew forward and shattered the wood. An instant later, Gar’rth was there, his strong hands pushing through the broken slats to force the bolt aside.

A final scream was cut short as Gar’rth pushed the door wide, a guard leaping past as he worked to free his hand from the wooden slats.

Don’t cut yourself, Gar’rth. Not here. Not in front of these people.

The hand came free as a second guard leapt through the doorway. Inside, Ebenezer heard a man scream and caught sight of a bat-like wing flash past the doorframe.

Gar’rth forced his way inside, the remaining guards close by.

“Castimir. We need you,” Doric called to the wizard who was standing a few paces behind him. Castimir shook his head grimly.

“I haven’t many runes,” he said. “Enough for only one or two spells and then…”

But then the way was clear.

King Roald charged in, Lord Despaard behind him, urging him caution. Ebenezer had seen the monarch’s face-anger and hatred had conquered all thought and reason. As he followed, he saw the creature that had plagued Varrock.

Two guards fought it, slashing at it with their swords, their blows seemingly ineffective against its calloused wings, which were like two unbreakable shields. Two more bodies lay motionless on the floor, and in a second Ebenezer saw their black faces twisted in death. Gar’rth was crouched away to his right, clutching at his chest, sweating profusely, and behind him was a dead nurse, her body fallen across a baby’s cot as she sought to protect the child even in death. The infant gave a cry as its chubby little arm flailed beneath the corpse.

As the wings parted the thing advanced, and Ebenezer caught sight of the bat-like face with its wide snout and elongated jaw. He froze as its eyes held his, two orange pits of malice. There was nothing human about it.

“Castimir!” he cried as the guards stepped backward.

“I’m here, Ebenezer,” the wizard said, sounding calm, his right hand extended toward the Wyrd.

But whatever magic he had planned to cast, the creature acted first. Its lower jaw dropped grotesquely and its narrow tongue coiled backwards as it screamed. The sound was hideous.

On and on it went, assailing their ears and forcing them to their knees.

Ebenezer’s vision blurred as dizziness swept over him. He saw Castimir at his side, curled up in ball, his runes forgotten. Lord Despaard, too, had fallen over Doric, and the King’s crown had fallen from his head as the monarch pressed his hands to his ears in agony.

Suddenly the cry ended, leaving a pounding inside Ebenezer’s head and a sickly feeling in his stomach. His vision still blurred, he saw what appeared to him like two of the creatures move forward, quickly running their talons across the faces of the guards nearest them, and then leap toward the blurred figure of Captain Rovin, his ears bleeding from its cry.

He blinked and the figures merged into one again. The Wyrd thrust its arm forward, attempting to cut Rovin with its talons. The man screamed and ducked as he swung his sword from a kneeling position. Ebenezer saw it retreat, cautious now.

“Run, my King!” Captain Rovin called.

“King? King of nothing,” it said, its voice was as inhuman as its song. “Soon he will come, and the lands of the living and the dead will be one, as was foretold. Now I will take this child.”

The Wyrd crouched in preparation for a leap.

Captain Rovin readied his blade, one foot in front of the other to steady himself.

But then Gar’rth stood and howled a challenge.

The creature looked at him for the first time, and froze in its tracks.

“You live?” it said. “Impossible!” Before it could say any more, Gar’rth charged forward.

“Get the child clear,” Ebenezer shouted. “That’s what she wants.”

Arisha leapt over him as Gar’rth tackled the Wyrd. The creature raked its claws across his back and Gar’rth screamed as dark blood soaked his clothing.

No, the alchemist cried inwardly. Please, no!

He saw Arisha take the baby and run to the door. He saw Castimir stand, his runes ready. He saw the fear on the faces of King Roald and Captain Rovin-but they were looking at Gar’rth now. He saw Lord Despaard reach for a dagger on his belt, an unusual one with a two-pronged blade.

He saw Gar’rth’s eyes turn entirely black and his skin turn grey as the change began.

Without thinking he ran forward to Gar’rth, to cover him up and to protect him as he had done before, to succeed where he had failed with his own children.

“No, Gar’rth, no,” he pleaded. “Not here! You must not-”

Suddenly the Wyrd’s wing turned and rushed toward his face, and he felt it crash against his forehead. He had the sensation of falling from a great height, and when he landed a cold numbness spread from his thigh, and something wet blinded his right eye.

But he felt no pain as the darkness descended.

After all, we have tomorrow Gar’rth. We all have tomorrow to talk.

Then everything will be made right.

Tomorrow.

11

Castimir saw Ebenezer collapse as he readied his runes. He knew he only had one chance.

“By the gods,” King Roald cried out from in front of him. “Gar’rth! He’s not human.”

Gar’rth’s face had changed entirely. His jaw had distended horribly, his nose had flattened and was now wide across his face in a wolfish snout. His shoulders, too, had become wider and black hair covered the backs of his suddenly long hands that now resembled paws.

“He’s one of them, Sire!” Captain Rovin shouted. “He’s a werewolf.”

Castimir saw the devastating effect of the captain’s cry on men already afraid. Lord Despaard leapt in front of the King with his two-pronged dagger held before him as the guards dropped back, leaving the two creatures to their fight. Only Captain Rovin remained in front, yet even he was stunned into hesitation.

The Wyrd tore at Gar’rth’s head as the youth continued his change.

He can’t protect himself. He will be killed unless I act.

“He’s not the enemy,” Castimir yelled. “It’s her-stand aside!”

But his words were lost in the din as Lord Despaard advanced and brandished the dagger toward both combatants, now locked in a deadly embrace.

Suddenly Gar’rth stumbled as Despaard neared. His grip on the Wyrd slackened and she shook him off.

“The dagger!” Gar’rth roared in Despaard’s face as the Wyrd turned to confront the two men. Castimir heard Doric shout. The dwarf bowled into Despaard and hurled him off his feet, propelling the nobleman away from Gar’rth, the two-pronged dagger still clutched in his hand.

“Majesty, you must listen to me,” Castimir shouted. “Gar’rth is not the enemy!”

Taking advantage of the chaos, the Wyrd jumped to the window, but before she could launch herself into space a renewed Gar’rth grabbed her right wing. She attempted to fight him off, but the werewolf was stronger. His knee crashed against her spine, and at the same time he pulled her wing back and grabbed her around the neck with his other arm, forcing her down.

You’ve got her Gar’rth!

“Sire,” Castimir cried. “We can take her alive.”

Either Rovin hadn’t heard through his tortured ears that were still dripping blood, or he didn’t care. The captain staggered forward and drew his arm back, in preparation for a lunge.

No… No!

Only too late did Gar’rth perceive his presence, yet whether Rovin was aiming for the werewolf or the Wyrd, Castimir couldn’t say. The man’s desperate thrust missed the werewolf by a finger’s width alone, yet it forced Gar’rth to relinquish his hold on the Wyrd who batted him free and leapt back to the window before launching herself through the shattered glass and out into the darkness.

Now all eyes turned to Gar’rth. From every side, the men of King Roald’s guard closed in. Castimir saw now that Despaard was free of Doric, and the dwarf was being held back by two men.

“You are an enemy of our realm,” Despaard said as he advanced, the dagger held before him. “Your kind have only one fate this side of the river.”

Gar’rth knelt, suddenly a pitiful sight. He hid his face under a paw and when he looked up again it was more human than before. It seemed to Castimir that the dagger was somehow countering his friend’s lycanthropy.

“Consider this a mercy,” Rovin grunted as he stepped forward and raised his sword above his head.

No. I will not allow this. I am a wizard of the Tower and I still have a spell or two left. Castimir breathed calmly and concentrated on the man’s sword. The runes melted in his hand.

Suddenly Rovin screamed and dropped his weapon. As it landed the hilt hissed, and glowed red hot.

“You protect him, wizard?” Despaard demanded. “A werewolf?” Rovin stared at his burned hand, aghast, then peered at Castimir with utter hatred in his eyes before fleeing from the room. Now the guards fell back, and Castimir could see their uncertainty.

Fighting a werewolf is one thing, but will they dare turn on a wizard? Be strong. Call their bluff.

“I do,” Castimir replied. He stepped forward and made his way to Gar’rth’s side, saying a silent prayer as the guards stood back to let him through. “And I will do so again if I must. Gar’rth is my friend who fled his homeland. He is not like others of his race, and has proved that many times.”

It was King Roald who responded.

“You have lied to us! You and your friends,” he spat angrily. “How dare you knowingly bring such a creature into my realm. He is evil.”

“No, he is not, Sire,” Doric said. The guards let the dwarf go and slowly he made his way to Ebenezer’s side. “And we must all remember that it is thanks to him that we managed to confront this Wyrd tonight, saving a child. We might have captured her, too, if the prejudice of your lords hadn’t blinded them.”

Castimir stood in front of Gar’rth now, relieved to see his humanity return. Still, he saw how weak his friend was, how the sweat poured off his skin, and how he shivered.

“Ebenezer?” Gar’rth whispered.

“He lives, but he needs a doctor,” Doric said, kneeling next to the fallen man. He turned to face the monarch. “And now King Roald, you must decide what to do. Will you truly murder Gar’rth, the man who came so close to giving you the Wyrd? To do so, you will have to go through me.”

“He is no man!” Despaard spat.

Theodore appeared at the doorway, his sword drawn. Behind him came Kara, armed only with her hunting knife, her face wild, and Castimir saw the wizard Aubury at the front of several guards. At the very back stood Arisha, holding the rescued baby in her arms.

There is no way I can fight them now. No way at all. The young wizard turned to face the King again.

“Just grant him time, your majesty, please…” he begged. “As Doric said, he nearly captured the Wyrd tonight, coming as close as any in your realm have come. Surely, surely that must weigh in his favour.”

King Roald turned and looked into Gar’rth’s eyes for a long moment. Then he spoke.

“His fate is yet to be decided,” he said. “But I will not kill him tonight, nor will anyone in my service, for what you say is true. But he will be imprisoned until a decision is made.”

“And what of the wizard, Sire?” Despaard demanded, sheathing his sword as if to give his words emphasis. “He threatened us, and injured Captain Rovin.”

Castimir felt Aubury’s eyes upon him. He could feel his anger.

Surely he will understand. I acted in the best traditions of the Tower, for truth and honour.

The guards placed Ebenezer onto a litter and lifted him carefully. Doric remained at his side.

“Take the alchemist to his room,” King Roald instructed. “And get Father Lawrence to have a look at him. As for the wizard, Captain Rovin has endured far worse injuries in the course of his duties. It is a case best left to Aubury and the Tower.”

Castimir saw Aubury bow to the monarch, then turn to stare icily at him as the guards carried Ebenezer from the room, followed by the dwarf.

“Yes, majesty,” Aubury agreed. “That would perhaps be best. I will consult with the Tower, but first I would speak with Castimir myself.”

“There is one more thing, Sire,” Kara said. All eyes turned to her. “Pia and Jack have vanished from my room tonight. They took my sword, and left a severed rope on my bed. I think I know why they have run, but I would like them brought back alive and unharmed.”

A guard knelt at King Roald’s feet and deftly picked up the fallen crown. The monarch took it with a sigh.

“It is a heavy crown, this,” he said, and the anger was gone from his voice. “The wearer must wield a conscience as cold as the gold it is made from, at times.” He stared at Kara wearily. “My men will be combing every street and alley of Varrock tonight, searching for the Wyrd. I will instruct them to do as you ask, to find your wayward servants. But know this-I cannot forget that you and your friends brought Gar’rth into my realm, knowing what he is. You saw fit to keep the truth from me, and it is a capital offence.”

His sword sheathed, Theodore approached Gar’rth, who still crouched, and helped him to his feet, letting Gar’rth lean on him.

“How do you feel?”

“It’s the poison,” Gar’rth answered, his voice little more than a croak. “It burns, but I will live.” Nodding, the knight turned to face the King.

“I can vouch for him, my liege,” Theodore said. “I thought as you do when I first met him and discovered his heritage. But I was wrong. And to demonstrate my faith in my friend, I will spend the night in his company, locked up with him.”

King Roald stared hard at Theodore.

“Very well,” he replied. “As you wish.”

“Thank you, Theodore,” Gar’rth murmured as the knight led him toward the door. “Thank you.” As they passed, Gar’rth turned to Castimir. “And thank you, Castimir. Thank you for your faith in me.” The further he moved from the two-pointed blade, the stronger his voice became.

Castimir nodded and made to follow, but Aubury stopped him. The King left the room, followed by the rest. It was only when they were alone-save for the dead-that Aubury did speak.

“You fool, Castimir,” he spat angrily. “Have you any idea of what you have done? You threatened a King of Misthalin and his lords! Do you have any idea, any idea at all, of what that will mean for your future?”

Aubury wiped a hand across his brow as Castimir felt the blood rush to his face.

“I protected a friend,” he protested. “A man who has fought at my side, and who needed help. What’s wrong with that?”

Aubury laughed in surprise as Castimir felt his eyes water.

“You are more foolish than I had imagined,” he responded. “If you think that will help you. You threatened the monarch of a powerful realm, and on whose support our order depends. It is politics we play at now, Castimir, and very rarely magic.

“I will consult with the Wizards’ Tower tonight,” he continued. “But you should prepare yourself. It may be that your days of wearing the blue robes are finished even as they have begun.”

Castimir felt as if he had been stabbed. His heart ached, and he lowered his head to hide his tears.

It is not fair!

“Go and get some sleep, Castimir,” Aubury said. “We will talk of this tomorrow, after King Roald’s parliament.”

12

Theodore supported Gar’rth as they left the room. His friend’s inhuman strength had left him, and Gar’rth felt like a ragged doll on Theodore’s arm. Several guardsmen accompanied them, though they held back, despite the fact that the werewolf was now too weak to walk unaided.

“You must try to walk,” Theodore said as Gar’rth winced from the battering his body had taken in the melee. “You cannot lean on me all the way.”

Gar’rth tried to stand unaided, but his legs shook violently, and Theodore caught him before he fell.

“I’m sorry, Theodore,” he said. His voice was hoarse. “It is the… blade. It is nearby, and its effects weaken me even now.”

They reached the top of the stairs, where more guards awaited them, and descended with an escort in front and behind. Their progress was even more difficult on the steps. Theodore motioned to one of the guardsmen.

“You there, will you help me?”

“No, Sir Theodore,” the man said, his sword half-drawn. “We would help you, of course, but not your… friend. Not one of them.”

Before Theodore could respond, Gar’rth staggered, and he nearly lost his grasp, forcing the group to stop.

“Wait a moment,” Theodore said as struggled to regain his balance. “Let us pause here while you get your strength back.”

Gar’rth sat on the step as the guards waited. Above them, Theodore saw Lord Despaard, standing at the doorway, looking down impassively. He drew back his cloak and Theodore saw he held a two-pronged dagger at his side.

“I cannot smell anything, Theodore,” Gar’rth muttered, his hands over his face. “And my hearing… there’s a rushing, and everything is so faint.”

“Get used to it,” Lord Despaard advised. “I know how vulnerable that must make one of your kind feel. To us, it would be like losing our sight. But you should use this occasion to know that men are not so weak as you might have thought, nor without weapons against the savagery of your race.” The nobleman took a step down toward them. Theodore saw the cold anger etched on his face.

“You should fear us Gar’rth,” he continued. “It must be a new experience for you.”

“Leave him be, Lord Despaard,” Theodore said, striving to keep his voice calm and without anger. “You have misjudged him. In time, he will prove himself. I guarantee it.”

Lord Despaard smiled grimly and gave a snort.

“It is you who have misjudged him, knight. I don’t doubt that now he is as you say. But it cannot always be so. One day-perhaps soon-he will change. It is his heritage.”

The nobleman descended until he stood only an inch from Theodore’s face. Gar’rth folded in on himself as the blade came closer. Despaard spoke in a harsh whisper.

“And when he does show his true nature-as he will-who do you think he will go for? Castimir, with his sorcery? You, with your strength and armour? No. It will be Kara. You know it, and he knows you know it. They are animals Theodore, and it would take a blind man not to see how he feels about her.” He gave Gar’rth a quick look. “It is a feeling that can never be reciprocated, and his frustration will have only one possible outcome. In time, he will turn on her.”

Theodore shook his head, but couldn’t bring himself to answer.

For it would be a lie if I told him I had never had similar thoughts.

Despaard stepped past them and descended the staircase until he was lost to sight.

Finally, Gar’rth took a deep breath and stood, his legs swaying- but less so.

“Could you hear what he said, Gar’rth?” Theodore whispered.

“No,” Gar’rth said wearily. “But I think I can walk now.”

Theodore instructed his friend to grip his shoulder for support. They went quicker than before, for Gar’rth’s steps were surer and more purposeful now. Despite their progress, however, it seemed like an eternity before they were in the palace’s dungeons. The only light came from a torch carried by one of the guards, and each barred alcove was too dark for any occupants to be seen. Lord Despaard waited for them at the open gate to a cell. Inside, guards had quickly arranged two rudimentary beds and had left a large jug of water for each of them. Otherwise, it was a bleak stone chamber.

As Gar’rth sat down, a guard placed an iron cuff around his wrist, attached to a chain that was anchored to the wall. Then the torch was placed in a sconce. Opposite, in a similar cell, Theodore saw the woman who had accused him of complicity at the Midsummer Festival, still attired in her green dress. She stared at him in grim silence through the iron bars of her gate.

This will prove to be an interesting evening. I am exhausted, and now I will have to contend with this harridan.

“You should go to see Ebenezer, Theodore,” Gar’rth said. “I would like to, but…”

“I will do so now, and then I will return.” He put his hand on the werewolf’s shoulder. “I won’t be long, my friend.”

Theodore left the prison, and the iron gate was locked behind him. His last view of Gar’rth as he left the dungeon was of him sitting up in his bed, his back against the wall, lit by the soft glow of a flickering torch, his head bent low in deep thought.

Could he really turn on Kara?

It was a question for which he couldn’t find an answer as he headed to Ebenezer’s room.

Ebenezer lay in his bed, his head bandaged, his face pale and his breathing shallow.

At his side, on a stool, sat Doric. The dwarf held the old man’s hand tightly in one of his own while using the other to wipe the alchemist’s face with a damp cloth. Behind him stood Arisha, her head bowed, while Castimir sat on a chair and fidgeted with several runes. Kara was beside him, still dressed in her gown.

“How is he?” Theodore asked after watching them for a long minute. Had it been any other of us we would be awake now, he thought. Perhaps laughing and joking, but not Ebenezer. He is too frail.

Kara shook her head as Doric looked toward him, his face drawn with worry.

“His blood still flows, and he breathes still,” the dwarf said. “But at his age…”

Castimir ran his hand through his hair as he bit his lip. Theodore recognised his friend’s frustration.

“Guthix offers him no aid,” Arisha said sorrowfully. “I fear the alchemist’s atheism is known to Him.”

I fear you are right, Arisha, the knight mused. I was always uncomfortable with Ebenezer’s attitude toward the gods. Now, when he needs them most, will they answer? He jumped as Castimir cried out angrily.

“There is nothing any of us can do!” He lurched to his feet. “My magic is worthless here!” The wizard hurled his runes to the floor, where they clattered loudly across the flagstones.

“Castimir,” Arisha said severely. “What does that accomplish?”

“I’m sorry,” the wizard replied. “I am. It’s just it…” He breathed deeply. “It’s Aubury. He said my actions in protecting Gar’rth from Captain Rovin might end in my expulsion from the Wizards’ Tower. And now this-he may never awaken-everything I do seems to go wrong.”

“We all have our problems,” Arisha said. “But I think we should put them aside for tonight. We all owe our lives to Ebenezer. If it hadn’t been for him, none of us would ever have escaped the monastery. Let us not trouble his dreams with our own burdens.”

A brief silence fell. Castimir knelt to retrieve his runes, while Kara nodded and Doric returned Ebenezer’s hand to the bed and wiped his head once more with the damp cloth before returning it to a bucket at his feet.

“Have Sally and Albertus been informed of Ebenezer’s injuries?” Theodore asked as he advanced to the bed.

“A messenger has been sent,” Doric replied as he knelt to retrieve one of Castimir’s precious runes. “They have been asked to come here tonight to keep him company. But what of Gar’rth?”

Theodore felt all eyes turn upon him.

“He is in the dungeon. He accepts his situation, and is being held in as comfortable conditions as we could hope for. I will return to him after I leave here.”

“What do you think the King will decide?” Kara asked. “Will he really want to have him put to death?”

“It would be foolish for him to decide so,” Doric said gruffly. “Gar’rth is the nearest anyone’s come to catching the Wyrd. Killing him would solve nothing.”

Tell that to Lord Despaard, Theodore responded silently.

“He would be within his rights to do so,” he said instead, warily.

“What?” Kara stood, nearly toppling her chair. “Theodore, you almost sound as if you agree with him.” Her voice rose to close to a shout.

“Of course I don’t!” he answered quickly. “But this is Varrock, not The Wilderness. You’ve seen what the servants of Drakan do here. The horrors that cross the river from Morytania, despite the barrier. Can you blame people for being so fearful?”

The door opened before anyone could reply. It was Father Lawrence, and his face was red. The elderly priest gave a sharp breath as he entered.

“I have just come from my church,” he wheezed as he approached the bed. “And I have brought what help I may.” He held up a bag for their inspection and as he opened it Theodore caught the strong scent of herbs. Father Lawrence set a gnarled pale root upon the bed and then peered into his bag again. When he withdrew his hand the second time, the knight saw that he held a green leaf with a toothed edge.

“A limpwurt root, and a tarromin leaf,” Kara said, and the Father nodded.

“It is, although the leaf is a little grimy, I am afraid.”

The priest dipped his fingers into the jug at Doric’s feet and cleaned the leaf between his thumb and forefinger.

“Now I will need a vial of clean water and-”

“A knife to cut the limpwurt root. I find that the tenderest parts of the root work best,” Arisha said as she moved to the priest’s side.

He looked at her with an expression of surprise.

“You know your herbs, young lady,” Father Lawrence said as the two set to work.

Theodore, however, shared Doric’s look of slight bewilderment.

“They are making a potion for Ebenezer,” Kara explained. “Tarromin and limpwurt can revitalise an exhausted man.”

“But too much can be fatal,” Father Lawrence cautioned. “Too much of the limpwurt root can cause the person’s heart to fail. It all depends on our patient. Ebenezer is elderly, so I’ll only give him a little to start with.”

“Very well,” Theodore said, and he turned to leave. “Good luck. Let me know if there is any change in his condition. But for now, I must return to Gar’rth.”

The knight took his leave and made his way once more into the dungeons of the palace.

When the gate was locked behind him, he saw that Gar’rth had fallen asleep. The shackle that was still clasped about his wrist showed that the guards were not taking any chances.

There is so much I would ask you, now we are alone. About your history, about your people beyond the river and why you ran.

About Jerrod.

But mostly I would wish to know about Kara. You spent so long with her in The Wilderness…

It was only when he removed his boots and sat on his bed did he notice a man, a vague shadow just beyond the range of the torchlight, peer through the gate.

I wish I had Kara’s vision. She would see him with ease.

“Who are you?” Theodore asked quietly, so as to not disturb his friend.

“I am here by Lord Despaard’s order,” the man said. “To keep an eye on your friend.” He drew a dagger, and in the torchlight Theodore could see its two blades glint.

“He won’t be any trouble,” the knight replied.

The man laughed.

“You are right,” he said. “He won’t be. Not if he’s wise. You should know, Knight of Falador, that it is most likely that he will be sentenced to death. No matter what the judgement, he will not be allowed to remain at large.”

With that, the man took a seat on a low stool and stretched his legs out.

“Are you of the Society of the Owl?” Theodore asked, forcing himself to remain calm. But the man didn’t answer. Instead, it was Ellamaria-in the opposite cell-who spoke.

“I think he is,” she said. “He arrived just after you left and took a look at your friend, but I knew him, for I have seen him before. He was one of the men who was at the tailor’s house. The same night you were there, covering up the truth.”

Theodore bowed his head and sighed angrily.

“That’s not true,” he said after a moment. “You are mistaken.”

Ellamaria laughed from the darkness of her cell.

And now she taunts me.

“Ignore her, Sir Theodore,” the onlooker advised. “Like all peasants she doesn’t know what’s good for her,” the man sneered. “She’s broken the King’s sumptuary laws, wearing clothing that is far above her station, as if she were the daughter of a duke.”

“I never knew my father,” Ellamaria declared.

The man laughed.

“Typical peasant. They are like sheep, although sheep are more useful. Sheep don’t go around wearing others’ clothing.” The speaker turned aside and glared down into Ellamaria’s cell. “Sheep don’t hang, Sir Theodore.”

Ellamaria gasped in the shadows.

“Hang?” she said.

Her tormentor laughed viciously as Ellamaria choked.

“Enough!” Theodore hissed. He cast a brief look at Gar’rth who slept soundly, undisturbed by their conversation. “Leave the girl alone. I don’t approve of what she did but I don’t approve of your conduct either. What is your name?”

The man didn’t reply.

“I will have it from you or from Lord Despaard himself come tomorrow. It will be easier on you if you tell me now.”

The man growled from beyond the torchlight.

“It is Simon, Sir Theodore.”

“Then leave us in peace, Simon. I will watch Gar’rth tonight, and if my word is good enough to satisfy your King then it is certainly enough to satisfy you. Now leave us.”

Simon retreated, his footsteps fading into the darkness.

“Thank you, Sir Theodore,” Ellamaria whispered.

Has she been crying? he wondered. Perhaps only now does she appreciate the consequences of her actions.

“But please, Sir Theodore, will I… Will I really hang?”

“Not unless you have committed another crime I am unaware of. Kara-Meir broke the King’s sumptuary law this night, and there is no charge against her.” Theodore shook his head. “No, Ellamaria, Simon was just tormenting you. People don’t hang for breaking such laws, but there will very likely be a punishment for near inciting a riot.”

He heard her gasp in the darkness.

“But it was the right thing to do, Sir Theodore. Do you not believe that? I acted to correct an injustice. Isn’t that what you knights do?”

Her words injured Theodore.

“I do not make or pass judgement on the laws of King Roald, Ellamaria. That is not my place-”

“But you are a knight! A Knight of Falador. In every tavern from here to Kandarin they sing tales of the order’s love of justice. And you, Sir Theodore, are one of their most famed members.” Her voice broke suddenly and she wept. “That was why I was so angry at you, that night when I followed you from the tailor’s house. I believed in you, I thought you would help me. But then I saw how you left the house, and let those men carry on their work…”

Her words were lost in her sobs.

Is this really what I’ve become? he thought. Is this what I wanted, all those years ago? A knight should inspire not despair, but hope.

“But what about you then?” he asked quietly. “Who have you lost to this creature?”

“My own kin have suffered at the Wyrd’s hands. My aunt and uncle vanished one night, their children as well. I was working at the Blue Moon Inn when it happened. Like others, they were taken on the King’s command. I begged the authorities to help at first, and I was nearly imprisoned for my troubles. All that was left for me to do was to try and find them myself.”

She choked again.

“I don’t even know if they’re alive.”

Theodore gritted his teeth.

“Please, Sir Theodore, what will happen to me? Will Lord Despaard burn me for a witch? Will I be beheaded for treason? How will they make me disappear?”

“You took a tremendous risk, Ellamaria,” he said. “Truly, I don’t know. But I will ask the King to act with mercy.”

They spoke no more that night, and Theodore lay awake for a long time, considering her words. And finally when he did sleep, it was uneasy and unsatifying, despite his physical exhaustion.

13

Kara fumed silently as she studied the multitude of faces assembled in the round chamber. Her mind was in turmoil.

Theodore had relayed his account of Simon in the prison, and of his certainty relating to Gar’rth’s fate.

They can’t really mean to execute Gar’rth, she told herself. There is no justice in that!

Her mind also wrestled with the disappearance of Pia and Jack-still there was no sign of them. Could she have done something differently-something that would have caused them to stay?

But there is nothing I can do for them now. The city guards have orders to look for them, and I am faced with more pressing matters. She forced the loss of her sword from her mind with difficulty, aware that she would very likely never see it again.

She sat on the front bench, between Theodore and Doric-a place reserved for honoured guests of the King, or so she had been told. From there she faced the King’s vacant throne, elevated upon a dais which stood-in turn-upon a stage where the monarchy’s nobility sat. Above her, on all sides save behind the King, numerous balconies rose in three tiers, all packed with the curious faces of every class of citizen in Varrock. The parliament was, Theodore had explained to her, a means of hearing the city’s concerns, of showing them that something was being done.

Across the aisle sat the influential traders and craftsmen of Varrock. Kara saw Albertus seated at their front. She had met him only briefly-that morning-as he had arrived with Sally to see Ebenezer. The man’s eyes were dark with worry.

Her attention returned to the stage. Among the noble peers Kara recognised Lord Despaard and a few half-remembered persons from the dance the evening before. Lord Ruthven, with his aquiline features and constantly moving eyes, was there, and behind him sat the jester, Gideon Gleeman, along with the King’s religious advisor, the man with a strange name that Kara couldn’t immediately recollect. His fanaticism inspired an instant revulsion in her.

“That’s Aeonisig Raispher,” Theodore told Castimir, somehow reading Kara’s thoughts. “He’s a Saradominist who advises the King. And that old man nearby in the black coat is Papelford, the King’s archivist. Next to him is his apprentice, Reldo.”

“Where is Lord William?” Doric growled, keeping his voice low. “I don’t see him there.”

“Lord William isn’t deemed important enough to sit upon the stage today,” William said wryly as he took his seat behind them. “I am not a part of this.” The young man sat behind Kara, smiling slightly too much, his fingers caressing a leaping silver fox upon its chain.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” he said. Kara noted how his eyes turned upwards, to look to the ladies gallery where the wives and daughters of the nobility sat to watch the proceedings. She saw Lady Anne sitting at the front of the balcony, and as she looked, the young woman’s eyes rested coldly upon her before moving to Theodore. Very pointedly, Kara paid Anne no heed, and instead found herself staring at Lady Caroline, who sat a short distance from her friend.

Enjoy the show, Anne. Let’s hope King Roald doesn’t rush things too much. I wouldn’t want your uncertainty to be so quickly ended.

Suddenly Lady Caroline waved, and Kara heard Theodore chuckle.

“I think that wave was meant for you, William.”

“I can but hope, Theodore,” the noble replied. “The dance last night was an outstanding success, I think.”

At least someone feels that way, Kara thought bleakly. Castimir muttered something uncharitable. He had been in a foul mood all morning, ever since he had been forced to leave Ebenezer’s bedside to attend the parliament. Arisha had remained by the alchemist’s side, in the company of Father Lawrence and a shocked Sally.

Ignoring the wizard’s mumblings, Theodore spoke.

“Where were you last night, William?” he asked. “You missed a great deal.”

“So I have heard tell. Gossip around the palace says that you interrupted the Wyrd from kidnapping a child, and nearly captured her. Word has it that Gar’rth was injured.” He lowered his eyes and the smile faded. “I have, of course, heard about Ebenezer, as well. I am very sorry to hear of his injuries.” Then he glanced around. “Where is Gar’rth, anyhow, and Arisha?”

Don’t you know Lord William? Don’t you know that he awaits the King’s decision as to whether he lives or dies?

“Arisha is with them,” Kara said quickly. “She wished to remain behind to tend their wounds.”

A horn blew as a door near the stage was opened. The parliament stood as King Roald entered. He was followed by the wizard Aubury and escorted by Captain Rovin, whose sword hand was wrapped in a white bandage. She saw him frown in their direction.

“Next time I should heat his helm,” Castimir muttered angrily, eliciting a surprised glance from William. “Then he would have a real reason to scowl so.”

“His ears have stopped bleeding at least,” Doric observed.

The King sat, and Aeonisig Raispher and Papelford shared a glance, then exchanged a nod before the religious advisor finally pointed to his apprentice.

Next to the ancient archivist, a nervous Reldo stood.

“Lords, Ladies, citizens of Varrock,” he began, his voice timid, “I have been asked by representatives of the monarchy to relay the following information to you in order to reveal what is being done about the terror that holds our city in its grip. This is what His Majesty promised you yesterday, and it is his intention to deliver on that promise.” The young man’s eyes fell to the paper in his hand as he began to read.

“For at least the last six months, near a hundred people have been reported as missing or have been found slain. The great majority of these attacks have been out to the east, among the rural communities not far from the River Salve. Many have been found mutilated and partially devoured.” That brought a gasp from the galleries. “Others have not been found at all. In many cases writing has been left at the scene, although in some instances, wherein the body was found by illiterate village folk, the existence of these messages cannot be confirmed.”

Reldo coughed before continuing. Kara took the opportunity to study the faces of the citizens standing in the balconies above her.

They are still willing to listen, to give their King a chance, she observed. Let us hope there is no more deception. If there is even the hint of such then the crowd will riot, and this time there are no walls to protect us.

“More recently, the attacks have commenced in Varrock itself. It was at this point it was decided that something needed to be done to prevent a panic. Therefore, Lord Despaard acted with the best interests of the realm at heart. The dead were removed and interred, and the witnesses detained to ensure their silence.” There was an angry grumbling at that. “The mark of the plague was placed upon the door to each house to explain why the family had been removed from the city.

“We confess to you now, upon instructions from His Majesty, that there has been no plague in Varrock this year. The people have no cause to fear it at this time.”

Kara watched as many heads nodded in understanding. The grumbling subsided, and a faint ripple of agreement sounded from above.

They have accepted it then. But where do we go from here?

Reldo continued.

“We do not know why this Wyrd is terrorizing the people. There seems to be no pattern to her actions that we can discern, although attempts are still being made to do so. As of this day, six children are missing, along with several adults. There may very well be others whose disappearance has not been reported to us. However, despite all this, there is hope.” He paused to add emphasis to the words. “Last night, for the very first time, the authorities came close to capturing this creature as she sought to take another child.”

A gasp of interest echoed around the chamber, and someone shouted a blessing on the King.

Reldo waited for the commotion to quiet before he carried on.

“Last night there were deaths, and injuries, but the child was saved. And the Wyrd itself was injured. Perhaps significantly.”

Smiles and expressions of relief appeared on the listeners’ faces. Some clapped and whooped.

They need a victory, these people. They have lived in fear and ignorance under the shadow of an inhuman terror, not knowing its true nature, and to hear she’s been hurt can’t fail to lift their spirits.

“However, the creature is still at large, and she is still dangerous. We must not forget that. Only this morning another body was found, of a young girl known to the city guard as Catspurse, her heart…” He stopped and composed himself. “Her heart and organs missing, her body savaged as if by a wild beast.”

Silence fell as Reldo returned once more to the paper he had been given to read.

“We have no doubt as to the Wyrd’s origins-she is indeed from Morytania.” Reldo paused and looked quizzically at Papelford. The old man frowned and waved with his hand. The apprentice hesitated briefly before continuing.

“It is the belief of… it is the belief of the monarchy that the presence of the Wyrd has something to do with the High Priest’s prophecy.”

I don’t think you believe that Reldo.

Reldo sighed as Papelford muttered angrily to him, the words lost in the murmurs of surprise that ran around the galleries. Aeonisig Raispher stood suddenly and shouted in order to silence the mutterings of the onlookers.

“We can have no doubt that it is so!” he proclaimed. Reldo frowned and buried his face in the paper, deliberately avoiding the advisor’s gaze. “The words of the High Priest of Entrana, uttered on his death bed a century ago, cannot be refuted. They are fact.

“Absolute fact.” He peered angrily around the room, as if daring anyone to contradict him. Kara saw Reldo shake his head as the crowd muttered uncertainly now.

“It seems as if we have a sceptic,” Doric said.

“Reldo is always sceptical,” William said from behind them. “He and I have debated the prophecy before. He doesn’t believe it was foretold by the High Priest of Entrana. He says the only records of it appeared in Varrock’s own library a century ago.” William lowered his voice. “He actually thinks it was written at the behest of the King of that time, to rally his people and to provide a united front against a shared enemy. In hindsight, it was a very foolish thing to do, as we now know due to the panic it’s causing.”

Theodore shook his head.

“Then how do you explain the Wyrd, William, appearing now to leave these messages all over Varrock?”

Before he could reply Albertus Black staggered to his feet and raised his right hand. As he did so, the crowd fell silent again.

“I must thank the monarchy for being so forthright with its information,” he said, his voice strong and clear. “I am certain it has eased many troubled minds present in this room. But as a representative of the people, I have some questions that have remained unanswered. To begin, will those who have been detained now be released? And can the monarchy confirm that the victims of this creature have received a proper burial?”

Chatter erupted in the balconies. Black sat back down, and Reldo looked suddenly uncomfortable as he gazed toward Lord Despaard, who in turn looked to King Roald.

The King nodded once and Despaard stood.

“They shall be released,” he announced. “But in answer to your second point…” He looked back to the King who pursed his lips and nodded again. “The bodies will be returned as soon as possible.” A clamour arose that indicated the audience’s dissatisfaction with his words.

That’s done it, Kara knew. People can tolerate many grievances, but if you dishonour the dead, Lord Despaard…

Albertus Black stood again in an attempt to calm the growing clamour. People booed and shouted angrily. Captain Rovin, standing next to the throne, half-drew his sword with his bandaged hand.

“Quiet! Please… we must have silence!” Albertus’ words were barely audible to Kara as the angry display continued.

“You don’t represent us,” someone shouted down at him. The man’s words were cheered as Albertus Black’s expression showed the pain they caused him. At his side, the wealthy traders and craftsmen peered in concern at the masses gathered above them.

Suddenly Kara sensed movement at her side. Theodore stood up and raised his hands. When the crowd ignored him, he walked from the bench and stood in front of the stage, his hands open.

What are you doing, Theodore? This is not our business.

“Quiet,” he shouted, then he repeated it louder as the crowd convulsed. “Quiet!”

“You cannot claim to represent us either, knight,” someone else called down as the shouting subsided.

“You are right,” Theodore called back. “I cannot. And I do not. But I think I know who you might be satisfied with.” The knight looked to Albertus Black and his well-dressed cohort. “You have berated those who traditionally represent you, and yet someone must. Is that not the way the King’s parliament works? An appointed representative of the people must be selected to air their concerns to the crown?”

Kara saw the sweat bead on his brow.

“Who do you suggest, Sir Theodore?” Aeonisig Raispher asked. “Who has the backing of the people, if these distinguished gentlemen no longer have it?”

Theodore looked briefly to the King. Kara found the monarch’s face unreadable.

“I suggest that the woman Ellamaria be brought here,” Theodore said.

And finally an expression crossed the King’s face-one of surprise.

“She has risked a considerable amount,” Theodore continued. “By her actions-and hers alone-do we convene here today.” In the stunned silence Theodore turned to address the balconies. “She is a representative free of any political goals. Her actions on your behalf have earned her a prison cell.”

After a moment, an answer came.

“She is still not one of us!” someone cried. “She hasn’t suffered like us!”

Suddenly King Roald stood. His face was taut, his eyes fierce.

“Suffered like you?” he spat out in a cold rage. “Suffered? I have suffered at the hands of this creature. I have lost something that was as dear to me as any you could have lost.” He stepped forward from his throne as Lord Despaard moved to intercept him.

“My lord you must not-”

“It must be said, Despaard,” the ruler said, brushing aside the objection. “My people doubt me.” He turned again to face the onlookers. “I am their King! They will doubt no more.” He stepped to the very front of the stage and glared angrily at the balconies above him.

“Lady Elizabeth never died from falling from her horse, as was told to the kingdom at the time. She was murdered by the Wyrd. She was its first victim.”

His words shocked the chamber into silence.

Behind her, Kara heard William breathe out.

“By the gods,” he whispered. “Lady Elizabeth, the King’s wife-to-be, murdered.”

The dress I wore, Kara suddenly realised. What must the King have thought?

King Roald continued. “The truth of her death is as follows: we were riding from a hunting lodge on the Eastern Chase. Lady Elizabeth got ahead of me, and when I caught up to her I found the Wyrd standing over her body, her face already black in death. I do not know why the monster didn’t try to slay me before she vanished, but a guard in my service touched her wounds first, and he too was dead within a moment. So, people of Varrock, when you think that you and you alone are the victims of this creature, know that you are not. The woman I loved was taken from me.”

The King looked to Captain Rovin and then across to Theodore, still standing below the stage.

“Bring Ellamaria from the dungeon,” he ordered coldly. “I accept Sir Theodore’s recommendation. I shall return when she is here.”

With that King Roald left the chamber through the door he had entered, followed by Despaard and Rovin. Theodore returned to his seat.

For a long time, no one made a sound.

Ellamaria entered the chamber in the company of two guards. As she did so the crowd gave a sudden cheer, and Kara saw her eyes widen. Theodore made to intercept her, and they spoke quietly.

“She looks like her, you know,” William remarked to no one in particular.

“Who?” Kara asked him.

“Ellamaria,” he said. “She resembles Lady Elizabeth.”

Theodore rejoined them as the young woman was led across the aisle to Albertus and the leading citizens of Varrok.

“What did you tell her, Theodore?” Kara said. If Anne is as inquisitive as I, then no doubt she will feel the knives turning in her stomach now.

She looked to where Anne was seated, and gave her best urchin smile. Anne raised her eyebrow and looked away.

“She occupied the cell across from where Gar’rth was imprisoned, and told me her story last night,” Theodore explained. “She isn’t a bad woman at all, rather she has suffered greatly. She lost her family to the Wyrd, and has asked for my help in gaining the King’s pardon. I think this should help.” For just a moment he looked satisfied with himself. “The guards who brought her here have told her all that’s happened, so it’s up to her now.”

King Roald entered again to the sound of a horn, and at once everyone stood. Only when he was seated on the throne did the parliament follow suit.

All save one, for Ellamaria had been left without space on the bench.

Struggling to his feet, Albertus Black offered her his place.

“Keep your chair, sir,” she said, “for you look as if you have more need of it than I.”

William guffawed in laughter. The merriment was shared by the onlookers, and even King Roald smiled slightly. Albertus, looking suddenly lost, sat back down in a daze.

Despaard moved forward and spoke.

“We all know what has been happening,” he said grimly. “The question we must answer now is what are we going to do about it. The King will offer a generous reward to anyone who can lead us to the Wyrd, more to the person who can track down and kill the creature, and even more if she can be taken alive.

“But besides that, what more can we do?”

Albertus Black shuffled to his feet once more.

“Indeed, there is the question of the Wyrd’s purpose. Why is she here? What does she seek to accomplish with her reign of terror? I know the thoughts of the prophecy are worrying to many. I myself don’t have such certainty in it…”

Kara saw Reldo nod in approval.

“…but I feel certain that we must somehow divine her role. She is not just a creature that has escaped the bounds of the holy river, and now feasts on our people. The words she has left about this prophecy tell us that she is more. The question is simply, in what way?”

Papelford, the King’s ancient archivist, forced himself to his feet. His breath was laboured, and he leaned on a thin ash stick that he held at his waist. When he spoke, Kara had to concentrate to hear, for his voice was feeble and wavering.

“She is Lord Drakan’s servant,” he said with conviction. “She is sent to prepare for his coming. The prophecy is nigh, and she must be located if we are to have any hope of preventing it.”

Reldo shook his head, and as Papelford sat down the young man leapt up.

“I must… respectfully disagree with my master,” he said, looking as if he expected retaliation. “All the references to this prophecy- without exception-are written by men who lived a hundred years ago here in Varrock, not Entrana. There is no evidence at all that the High Priest ever spoke those words.”

Papelford dropped his head and put his hand over his eyes.

“And yet the Wyrd still kills, and leaves hints of the coming,” Lord Despaard protested. “How do you explain that? You cannot separate the two.”

Reldo pursed his lips and twisted his head to one side. After several seconds of silent thought he shook it and sat back down, his face bitter.

“What about an invasion?” Gideon Gleeman piped up from behind Raispher. “Why don’t we make the first move?” His words were greeted with claps and cheers. King Roald shook his head as Raispher stood and replied.

“That is impossible,” he snapped angrily. “We cannot invade them-nor they us. So say the Edicts of Guthix, laid down under Saradomin’s guidance when the river was blessed a millennia ago.”

“That’s Raispher for you,” William commented drily. “Most people would say that Guthix is the most powerful god, but not him. Saradomin conquers all, apparently.”

Kara saw Theodore frown.

He’s right though, Theodore, she thought. This Raispher is a fanatic-even more so than you and the knights. But she didn’t say it aloud.

“Yet if we cannot invade, can’t we at least send someone into Morytania to determine the truth?” Ellamaria advanced toward the stage as she spoke, arms held wide, looking to the balconies above.

She is a performer, Kara observed, and a good one. She knows how to address the crowd. Ellamaria let the silence last a moment more before continuing.

“Can we not at least send an embassy of sorts across the river?”

Lord Despaard looked quickly to Lord Ruthven, and then to the King. Suddenly Papelford stood.

“It is possible to do so,” the archivist said. “I have read of it in the histories of our realm. There is such a thing as the blood mark, and it is said that whoever bears this mark shall pass unmolested through Lord Drakan’s realm. But we would need to verify this somehow. Never in living memory has there been an attempt to send an emissary from Varrock.”

Ellamaria glowered in frustration as she spoke again.

“But surely there is someone who has been to Morytania? Is there no one who can help us now?”

Kara stood.

She hadn’t intended to, but suddenly she found herself on her feet. All eyes turned to her, and she felt King Roald’s gaze upon her as she marshalled her thoughts.

They will only execute him otherwise.

“There is one man, my King, who can help us here,” she said. “Only one who has unique experience of Morytania and who would be willing to help us. He is loyal, Sire. I trust him implicitly. So, too, can Varrock.” Her eyes swept across the faces in front of her. “You know of whom I speak-he will help. He is the only one who can.”

She sat back down as the parliament digested her words.

“You may have condemned him, Kara,” Theodore hissed angrily. “He ran away from there. What if he has no wish to return, even if King Roald decides to send an embassy across the river?”

“At least in this way he is useful to Varrock, Theodore,” she argued. “The King won’t be so hasty to execute him now. It gives him a chance.”

Kara’s speech had lit a fuse of questioning. The onlookers cried from the balconies, demanding the identity of the mysterious individual and even William, sitting behind them, couldn’t contain his curiosity. But his questions were lost in the din.

“We can have faith in Kara-Meir,” Ellamaria shouted, but to no avail. It was only when the King stood that silence once again fell over the chamber.

“Kara-Meir’s words have persuaded me,” he said. “There is truth in what she has said, and a good sense that cannot be denied. I will meet with her friend in private, along with my most trusted councillors.

“This parliament is ended.”

14

Gar’rth could feel the poison still in his body, but he was stronger now, slightly recovered from the scratches the Wyrd had given him. Yet his wrist was still bound to the wall, and the pain he felt told him that there was a two-pointed blade nearby.

He had woken for the first time that day when Theodore had left him, the knight advising him to be cautious of a man named Simon, who had been charged with watching over him.

Gar’rth’s throat was parched and when he spied Theodore’s near-full water jug, he said a silent thank you to the knight. Still, even as he drank, he knew water wouldn’t assuage the hunger that cramped his stomach.

“So you are finally awake, werewolf,” a man’s voice said from the darkness beyond the gate to his cell.

“I am,” he said. “I am hungry.”

The man laughed, and the sound had a sadistic element to it.

“Your kind are always hungry, wolf. If I had my way I would chain you in a cage and leave you to starve in Varrock’s main square, to be jeered at by children and taunted by maidens. It is no less than you deserve.”

“What have I done?” Gar’rth asked. “I don’t know you. Are you Simon?”

“I am.”

A tall man stepped forward into the light of the torch. Gar’rth saw his black-leather armour, rugged face and perceived at once the two-pronged dagger he held. It made him feel nauseous, and he sat down again, for fear he might lose consciousness.

“A wolfbane dagger,” Simon said as he rattled it across the bars. “One of the very few weapons that gives me and my friends power over your ilk. Would you be angry to know that I have killed your race before? On three occasions.”

He rattled the dagger across the bars again, and the sound made Gar’rth wince.

“Please,” he said. “Please, I am… not like them.”

“Lord Despaard told me of your history. He told me how you would say something like that. The tragedy is that you might actually believe it, but your kind cannot deny your nature. Soon- or maybe not so soon, but one day nonetheless-you will change. The blood lust will become too strong.” He leaned closer and peered through the bars. “It would be better to kill you now. Better for you, and for us.”

Simon held his dagger in a tight grasp. As Gar’rth watched, he reached for a key on his belt.

“Don’t,” Gar’rth said. “Please… just wait.”

I can’t fight him. Not now, not with that dagger.

Suddenly Simon laughed and sheathed his weapon.

“I am not going to kill you. Not yet. My orders are just to watch.”

The man disappeared back into the darkness, leaving Gar’rth in silence. A cold sweat erupted from his pores. He cursed himself for being so weak, both in spirit and strength.

Would Kara ever have pleaded like that? he thought with shame. Would Theodore? Did Doric or Castimir do so when Jerrod beat them mercilessly?

Simon returned carrying a chunk of raw meat on an iron plate. He placed it on the ground at the edge of the cage and watched as Gar’rth scrambled forward to get it, the shackle on his wrist barely allowing him reach. It was the first thing he had eaten since being injured by the Wyrd.

“It’s only animal meat, I am afraid,” Simon said with a grin. “Lord Despaard wouldn’t let you eat any prisoners, even the one you and Kara-Meir brought in. He’s to hang this morning, by the way, in case you are interested. In fact, you might well be joining him.”

The guard vanished back into the darkness as Gar’rth’s appetite died.

They won’t let them hang me. None of them will. Not my friends.

But then his fear turned to anger. He hurled the iron plate against the bars of the gate. It clattered loudly in the darkness and the only reward for his hatred was a chuckle from his guard.

“That’s good, wolf boy. It’s good that you’re afraid.”

“I’ve done nothing wrong!” Gar’rth shouted back.

Simon only laughed again.

“You were born wrong, boy,” he replied. “It’s that simple.”

Gar’rth felt tears on his face, a rage against the injustice of his situation. Where was Kara? Where were Theodore and Castimir? Why weren’t they here for him?

Have they really done it? Have they abandoned me, finally?

He felt the urge to change, to become a wolf and revenge himself upon all humankind. But the urge ended with a convulsion in his throat. He staggered and fell and rolled upon the ground, upsetting the jug of water as his mouth foamed.

“I’ve seen it before,” his tormentor said. “You want to change, but you can’t. That’s one of the talents of these little daggers. They stop you from doing so.”

Finally Gar’rth gave a roar that only sounded feeble, before lapsing into a violent fit of coughing. His vision blurred as Simon laughed again, and Gar’rth tried to stand, but was too weak to do so.

He wept.

He had tried so hard to prove to his friends that he was different from the others of his race, and now he was condemned by prejudice alone.

Where are they-where are my friends?

Suddenly the door to the dungeons swung open as booted feet descended the three short steps. Gar’rth blinked away the moisture from his eyes to see Theodore and Kara in the company of a dozen guards.

Why do they need the guards? Have they come to take me to my death? Then he found his voice.

“Kara, you must help me,” he said. “Please, they mean to hang me…” But before she could reply, Captain Rovin spoke from behind the small group.

“Unchain him,” he ordered. “Have him shackled, just in case. Both his hands and his feet.”

“Kara? Theodore?”

“It is all right Gar’rth,” Kara said, reaching out to him through the bars, her hand on his arm. “No one will harm you. I have the word of the King himself. He wishes to talk to you-that is all. We will be with you all the time.”

“It’s true,” Theodore said. The knight looked at the conditions of the cell, his eyes taking in the upturned water jug and the remnants of Gar’rth’s meal which lay upon the ground. “Captain Rovin, I demand an explanation. My friend has been mistreated since I left here.”

Rovin gave a shrug.

“There are no friends of yours being held here, Sir Theodore. Only enemies of the realm.”

“You know what I mean, Captain,” Theodore said icily as the gate was opened and Gar’rth’s wrists were shackled together, followed by his legs. “Simon has abused my friend.”

“I’m sorry, Sir Theodore. Since last night I don’t hear so well. Did you say Simon?” Rovin gave an uncharacteristic and very false smile. “There is no Simon I know of, Sir Theodore.” Over their heads, Gar’rth could see that his tormentor had gone.

“Never mind that, Theodore,” Kara said. “Let’s just get Gar’rth out of here.”

Gar’rth staggered forward, his legs chained together at his ankles. Kara and Theodore stood either side of him, their arms around him, supporting him.

“We must hurry,” Rovin commanded. “We can’t keep the King waiting.”

Thank you my friends. Thank you.

As Gar’rth ascended the steps and saw daylight for the first time since his imprisonment, his strength returned. He followed Rovin through the palace, and noted how guards stood in front of doors and along corridors, barring any servant or courtier from seeing his shackles.

“The King wants your advice,” Kara told him as they went. “He wants to know about the blood marks that foreign emissaries have used to enter Morytania unharmed.” As they approached a doorway guarded by two men with familiar faces-men who had been present when the Wyrd had wounded him and who knew his heritage-Kara leaned forward to whisper in his ear.

“Please, Gar’rth,” she said, her voice urgent. “You must prove your worth to King Roald, otherwise he will not have a reason to keep you alive.”

He gave a nod as they entered the long throne room with its white walls and yellow banners. At the southern end, below the stained-glass window, the King sat on his yellow-cushioned throne, the morning light shining behind him. Gar’rth saw Castimir and Doric standing to his right, while facing them across the aisle were Despaard and Ruthven, with the old man Papelford before them. The librarian’s hard eyes followed Gar’rth as he approached, studying him intently.

Perhaps he’s only ever read of werewolves in books.

Gar’rth turned his head as he approached the throne and he noticed a small door he had not seen before, discreetly set in the stonework. At its side, leaning against a pillar, stood his black-clad tormentor from the dungeon, one hand resting on his scabbard. Simon never took his eyes off Gar’rth.

The small door opened and Aubury the wizard entered, followed by Arisha. The mage stood at the front of the King’s dais, his hands clenched around his runes, as if ready to cast a spell.

Do they really fear me so much? he wondered. Even shackled, am I still so dangerous?

He turned his head to look behind and noted the familiar guards who had been present the night before. Everyone in the room knew his secret.

“How is Ebenezer?” Doric said to Arisha as the priestess joined his friends at the King’s side. Arisha nodded.

“He is recovering,” she said, and the words caused a wave of relief to sweep over Gar’rth. “But slowly. Until he wakes I cannot be sure. Guthix still refuses to aid him.”

King Roald also heard, and he turned his attention to the prisoner, leaning forward on the throne.

“Just as he will refuse to aid you, Gar’rth, should you lie to me here, today,” he said. “The wizard Aubury will tell me if you offer a falsehood. His magic is powerful.”

Gar’rth saw Castimir frown.

Could he really do that? Castimir has never said anything of such magic.

He bowed his head to the throne before he spoke.

“I will not lie, Sire,” he promised.

“Good,” King Roald said, sitting back. “Soon we will be joined by others who do not know your true nature-some of the leading members of my parliament. We here all know of your curse, so I would take this opportunity to ask you if you know about the blood mark that some say allow men to pass unharmed through Morytania. Help us, and it will help you in your cause.

“Does such a thing exist?”

“The blood mark is true, my King,” Gar’rth replied, “But I have never seen one. There are other ways though. A respected member from Canifis, an elder perhaps, can give his protection to outsiders. This is done for gypsies and traders who visit.”

“How do we make the blood mark?” King Roald asked.

Gar’rth felt his brow crease as he recollected the tales of his youth.

“In our stories it is simply a cut on the hand to make you bleed. That tells Morytania you are an outsider. Then the wound must be bathed in water from the Salve.”

Papelford nodded.

“That is similar to the descriptions offered in the texts I have,” he remarked sagely. “Although a priest of Saradomin or Guthix must bless the wound.”

“But would the blood mark work, Gar’rth?” Despaard asked. “Would it be respected?”

“Yes. It is death to break it. More than death.”

“Would it protect you, Gar’rth?” Kara said. “If you had to return.”

So that is it! he thought as understanding dawned. Am I to be sent home, to save them from the bother of executing me? Is that all the clemency I am offered, after near capturing the Wyrd for them? He pushed back his mounting anger.

“I don’t know,” he said. “In Canifis it would, but… not against Him.”

“Who?” King Roald asked, angrily now.

“Lord Drakan, my King.”

Gar’rth’s reply chilled the air. No one spoke for some time. Lord Despaard shared a concerned look with Lord Ruthven, and the King rubbed his hand across his face in uncertainty.

“We believe it is Lord Drakan who wants Gar’rth returned,” Kara explained finally. “He sent the werewolf Jerrod to bring Gar’rth back, just a few months before the unrest in Asgarnia. No one knows why Gar’rth is of such interest, but to send him back, and force him to face such an enemy, would be inhuman, my King.”

“She is right,” Captain Rovin said. “Better to offer him a clean death now.”

“And yet we are plagued by this Wyrd,” the King said, still stroking his chin. “We need answers, Gar’rth, and the most sensible suggestion so far has been to send an embassy across the river to at least open a dialogue with Drakan’s regime. In your opinion, can this be done?”

Gar’rth nodded.

“The vampires rule Morytania. In Canifis, our lord is Malak, a powerful vampire, maybe even a relative of Lord Drakan’s. He would respect an embassy.”

“Then I must ask you simply-will you go?” King Roald spoke cautiously. “Will you lead an embassy from Misthalin into Morytania, to act as their guide?”

“That is suicide!” Kara protested angrily.

“It is death if he stays,” King Roald replied. “A quick, clean death to be sure but death nonetheless-I have no alternative.” The King stood briskly. “What say you werewolf? Will you go, or is today to be your last day?”

What choice is that?

“You don’t know what you ask,” he said aloud.

“Or maybe you don’t know what you fear,” Papelford interjected. “If Lord Drakan was really so obsessed with you, then how was it you were able to escape at all?”

Gar’rth could give no answer. The librarian continued.

“And do you know that he is after you?” the old man probed. “Why do you believe so?”

“Jerrod told me,” Gar’rth said, suddenly uncertain. “He was sent to bring me back.”

“But why?” Papelford asked. “Why would he go to that length, if you were just to be killed? Surely Lord Drakan could have arranged that far sooner, if that was his true purpose? It might be that you won’t be harmed at all. Have you thought of that?”

Not in Morytania, old man. There is magic and darkness there that make death just a whispered dream to many.

But Gar’rth shook his head and said nothing in reply.

“You have told us the blood mark will protect you, Gar’rth. That is enough for me.” King Roald said. “You either go, and take your chances in your homeland, or you die here.”

“That is murder,” Kara hissed.

“And I would do it again and again, a thousand times over, if it meant my realm was kept safe,” King Roald said icily. “Your choice, Gar’rth. I will have your answer. Now.”

Gar’rth lowered his head.

There is no choice. None. I escaped Morytania before, so perhaps I can do so again.

“What if I come back?” Gar’rth said, looking King Roald in the eye. “What if I go into Morytania and succeed? Will you let me live in your kingdom?”

King Roald looked to Lord Ruthven. The pale-faced noble nodded and spoke.

“If His Majesty permits it, Gar’rth, you shall live within the borders of my estate, to the east of Varrock. It is a sparsely populated land, being so near the river, and there you can remain for the rest of your natural life.”

“But you must remain there only,” the King added. “You will not be allowed into any towns or villages, and I forbid you to take a wife. I cannot have your curse passed down to plague my people in the future. And you should know that your presence will be tolerated, but not welcomed.”

Gar’rth stared at Kara, who looked away uneasily. He noted how Theodore shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other.

Then that is it.

When Gar’rth spoke, he did so slowly, his voice unwavering.

“Very well, my King,” he said. “I shall guide your embassy.”

“Good. Now there remains one last task. You must swear fealty to me and all my descendants. I would have your oath, Gar’rth.”

Gar’rth gritted his teeth and nodded again.

First I am forced into helping them, now I must pledge my allegiance to him. Truly I am trapped.

“Repeat the words after me,” Lord Ruthven said to him, and Gar’rth complied.

“I swear by Saradomin that I will never bear arms against the rightful King of Misthalin or his descendants. That I will give my blood and my life to ensure the throne is safe from usurpers and assassins. That I will do all in my power to safeguard the King’s heirs…”

“…and uphold the King’s will,” he concluded with grim finality.

“Very good,” King Roald said. Then he turned to the leader of the guards. “Unchain him, and prepare to call in the representatives of the people.”

Gar’rth’s shackles were removed from his wrists and ankles. The King dismissed Simon, though Gar’rth was certain he would wait nearby. When he stood, no longer a prisoner, the doors were opened and several people entered.

At their head Gar’rth recognised the white-haired old figure of Albertus Black, Ebenezer’s friend whom he had met only very briefly on the day of the Midsummer Festival. Walking at the tiny man’s side, and towering over him as if she was a queen, was Ellamaria. He opened his mouth in surprise.

She will see me. She will guess that something is amiss.

Her eyes paused on him and he saw her frown slightly, then she gave a sudden smile and turned to curtsey the King.

I can smell her now. With a stone wall between me and the wretched wolfbane, my powers are returning.

He took the opportunity to explore his olfactory environment, feeling at once far less vulnerable than he had before. Such was his concentration that he ignored what the speakers were debating, focusing on their scents instead.

Lord Despaard, leather, metal and sweat. Ellamaria, flowers and subtle perfume, the same as that used by Lady Anne. Papelford with his smell of books and mustiness. Doric, always with the scent of the earth.

Finally he turned his attention to the discussion.

“An embassy is more than acceptable to us,” Albertus Black was saying. “And I am glad to know that Lord Despaard has volunteered to lead such a mission. But who else will go?”

A silence was left hanging after the old man’s question.

“I will go,” Kara said. “Gar’rth and I have shared many dangers. We have travelled through The Wilderness together. I will not abandon him now.”

Kara, you don’t know what you say!

But before he could protest, Doric spoke.

“Then I suppose we will both be going?” The dwarf said to Theodore.

“We will, if the King permits,” the knight replied. “Now that we are back together, I would not wish to split our company again.”

“And I will accompany them,” Arisha said. “As a priestess of the barbarian peoples seeking experience of the world, it seems right to do so, for an account of Morytania would be precious to my tribe.”

“Then I shall go also,” Castimir stared at Aubury as he spoke. The older man said nothing, but Gar’rth could sense the animosity between them. Finally, Aubury gave a slight nod.

“I will permit that,” the wizard said. “It is right that you should travel with your friends, although we have much to discuss before you leave.”

“My friends,” Gar’rth said loudly, “Please. You must not do this. Morytania is a… different land. I don’t want any of you to come.”

“If any wish to reconsider, then they may do so, now,” King Roald said.

Don’t be so stubborn!

“We are decided,” Kara said. “We are coming with you Gar’rth.”

“That is appropriate,” King Roald observed. “But who shall go for Varrock? Lord Despaard will lead the expedition-that is already decided. Such a mission must represent Misthalin as a whole. It is not one of war, and someone must go to administer the blood mark. Would you be willing to go Papelford, or would this task be more suited to your apprentice who can better undertake the journey to Paterdomus?”

“I am too old for such a journey, Sire,” Papelford said bitterly. At his side, Reldo smiled.

“I will go, my King,” the apprentice archivist said. “I will gather what books I need and accompany the embassy to Paterdomus.”

“That makes sense. But Reldo, this needs to be right. There can be no margin of error.” The King looked around the chamber. “Now, who else for Misthalin?”

Albertus Black gave the King a sideways look.

“I would go,” the old man said meekly. “I haven’t many years left to me-I don’t need to be a seer to know that. And as Ebenezer has yet to regain consciousness, I feel it my duty as his friend to fill his place. As many of you know I, too, am a scientist, and I have studied many things in my life, but the tales of the land beyond the river have intrigued me since I was young. I would dearly like to see how different it is to everything I know here.”

Despaard shook his head.

“Your motives are honourable, but you are too old for this expedition.”

“That is surely a fact in my favour?” Albertus replied. “As King Roald has said, this is not a military adventure. This is an embassy to petition Lord Drakan to withdraw his creature and to return those taken by her. And as an old man, I have less to lose than a young one, Lord Despaard. If I fall, then at best I have lost only a few short years that remain to me.”

King Roald nodded.

“I will accept your offer. Now, at least one other must go. Someone important at court but who can’t be threatening in any way…” The King leaned down to his guard and whispered in his ear.

But Gar’rth heard every word.

“Bring me the fool,” he said, and the guard departed.

Only when Gideon Gleeman appeared before them, attired in his black-and-red chequered shirt and leggings, did Gar’rth understand.

“I need your services, Gleeman,” the King said. “I need a man of importance at court to escort my royal seal. It can’t be a military man, for that is too confrontational, and this is a diplomatic mission. Will you go into Morytania with Lord Despaard and his expedition?”

The jester’s face paled.

“You want me to go to Morytania?” he replied. “Are you sure, Sire?”

The King nodded, and the jester’s eyes ran over the court.

“Usually I am the joker,” he muttered. “But I will go, if I am required, though I am neither strong nor brave, and the only sword I ever wielded was a wooden one.”

“Then it is settled,” Despaard said. “We will leave at the earliest opportunity, and will make for Lord Ruthven’s manor, halfway between here and Paterdomus, where we will attempt our crossing. I shall go and make our arrangements now.”

The council broke up, and Gar’rth suddenly found himself among his friends.

“You are foolish to come with me,” he said, trying in vain to hide his smile.

Grimly, he followed his friends from the throne room. As he passed through the doors a familiar and unwelcome sensation made him look over his shoulder. It was Simon, grinning horribly.

Even giving my word isn’t enough. If they doubt mine, then should I doubt theirs? If I do return from Morytania, will it be a sword or a noose that awaits me?

“I have been asked to accompany you,” Simon said. His hand was on his dagger, which was tightly sheathed. “For your own protection, of course.”

Gar’rth said nothing, and as he continued on, he was aware of Simon’s steps echoing his own.

15

Castimir left the throne room as quickly as he dared, knowing Aubury’s eyes were on his back.

If he wishes to lecture me again, then he will have to catch me first!

He ascended the grand staircase in the company of his friends, for they all had much to do before the embassy departed.

Ebenezer was still in his bed when they entered the room. Sally was sat beside him, her face drawn and tired.

“He hasn’t stirred at all since you left him this morning,” she said to Arisha, who put her hand on the old man’s shoulder and closed her eyes in concentration. For a moment she remained still, yet very quickly she pursed her lips and gave a sigh.

“I am sorry,” she said. “Guthix is unyielding. He refuses to help.”

Castimir nodded and turned his head aside, eager not to add his own disappointment to the frustrated gazes of his friends.

“Do not blame yourself-Father Lawrence says the same of Saradomin, Arisha,” Sally replied. “You have done all you can. Now it is up to Ebenezer.”

“Where is Father Lawrence?” Kara asked quietly, looking at the old man’s ashen face.

“Sir Prysin’s heir is near death,” Sally told them. “He was grievously wounded in the lists at the festival. His father has demanded that a priest of Saradomin attend him, as is his right.”

“Then it must be up to you to care for our friend, Sally,” Theodore told her gently. “We are all to go with Lord Despaard on an embassy to Morytania. We leave very soon, probably today.”

Sally gasped in surprise.

“All of you?”

“Albertus also, Sally,” Arisha confided. “I am sorry.”

The small woman looked in danger of choking on her disbelief.

“Albertus? Into Morytania?” The words died in her throat when she saw the serious looks of the companions. After a moment, Castimir turned his attention back to the alchemist on the bed.

“Perhaps it would be best if we each wrote him a note, for when he wakes,” he suggested. “I shall write one to explain the situation. He will know that we had no choice.”

“I shall, too,” Gar’rth said. “As best I can. There is much I need to thank him for.”

So Castimir moved to the small desk that stood in the corner of Ebenezer’s room and quickly scrawled a note, explaining Gar’rth’s impossible predicament and how it was only right that they go with him under the auspices of the blood mark. He rolled the parchment up and moved to allow his friends to prepare their own messages. While they did so, he said a silent prayer.

Saradomin keep you, old friend. I will miss you at my side on the dangerous road. But as he embraced Sally tightly at the door, then departed from the room, he couldn’t help but feel that perhaps Ebenezer would be far safer than any of them.

The wizard then made his way to his own quarters, and when he opened the door he was dismayed-and somewhat angered-to find Layte Aubury sitting on the edge of his bed, waiting.

Not here! Not on my bed!

“We need to have a talk, Castimir,” the wizard said as he stood, adjusting his monocle. “Here, in private.”

Another lecture. Another threat. Will there ever be an end to it? But I need to appear busy. I cannot let my true fear give me away.

“Very well, Master Aubury. I am yours for the next few minutes, and as did Gar’rth, I promise not to lie. I have to say, however, that I do believe he saw through your ruse.” Castimir walked to the window and pretended to look out.

“My ruse?” Aubury smiled. “Perhaps. But it may be worth your while not to doubt your betters so much, young man.”

Aubury sighed.

“Nevertheless, I did as I said I would do. I have spoken to the Tower about your actions last night.”

Castimir’s heart leaped.

“And?” he said anxiously. “I acted for the best… you know I did.”

To his surprise, Aubury’s face softened.

“I am sorry, Castimir,” he said. “You are a good wizard. But you are young, you are inexperienced-”

“Yet I have fought in battles other wizards can only imagine,” Castimir protested loudly. “I have helped win wars. I am not inexperienced-”

“You are young and you are foolish,” Aubury gritted. “You are arrogant and naive! You think because you’ve ridden to war you know more than the rest of us about living magic.” He laughed mockingly. “The greatest of our order may no longer walk the world at large, but be under no illusion, Castimir-their powers are vast indeed. Their counsel is sought by Kings, their will works in ways often unperceived, protecting us from dangers that harken to other realms, dangers you cannot comprehend.” Aubury calmed and shook his head. “No, Castimir. There is much indeed you don’t know.”

The older man sighed and again adjusted his monocle.

“As I said, you are a good wizard, Castimir,” he continued. “But you have acted rashly. You want too much too soon. There are those in the Tower who wish to expel you, immediately, but I have calmed their anger and-whether you believe it or not-I spoke on your behalf. They have granted your wish to go on this adventure. And be under no doubt, this quest to Morytania is no small undertaking. Your friends will need you, and if it proves a success then your rashness will be forgotten.

“When you return, you will report back to the Tower and tell all you have learned,” he concluded, and then he took a single step toward the door, where he paused.

“Ah, I have nearly forgotten the most important reason for my visit. Here…” He gave Castimir a small leather satchel that was weighted with runes. “Try to bring some of them back. You know how rare they are.”

Aubury stopped at the door and gave a last look back.

“Good luck,” he said. “Keep your runes, your wand and your staff close to you, always.”

“Thank you, Master Aubury. I will.”

The door closed, and Castimir was left alone.

Perhaps he is not so ferocious as he appears.

And perhaps I have grown too used to my fame.

The footsteps faded outside the door and Castimir moved quickly to his bed. He pulled back the blanket in a single move and gave a cry of relief when he saw the book where he had left it that morning in his haste to attend the parliament. It was Master Segainus’s diary.

Could Aubury know, though? How could he suspect that he had been sitting on Segainus’s diary. If he did, I would be expelled from the Tower in an instant.

He picked it up and flicked through the worn pages to where his leather bookmark waited. Beneath the bed, he knew, were the other volumes of the deceased Master’s works.

Yet as he read he suddenly grew cold.

I read part of it last night, after the excitement with the Wyrd. But I am sure I didn’t leave the marker on this page…

Or did I?

Castimir felt the chill grow in his stomach. He had been too tired to remember where he had left it, but a sneaking doubt gnawed his innards.

Has Aubury seen it? Did he move the bookmark?

If he did, if he knows I stole these books, then my expulsion will no longer be in any doubt.

It was a question he couldn’t answer.

With a silent curse he gathered his belongings and made his way toward the stables to prepare his yak and horse for the journey ahead.

As Theodore left Ebenezer’s bedside, his mind was already building a list of all he had to do in the short time available. He knew his first duty, and that was to see to his candidates.

He found Philip sitting up in his bed, his head wrapped in a bandage with a dried-brown stain upon his forehead. He was tended to by the knight’s own unofficial squire, Hamel.

The youth moved to leave, but Theodore put his arm on the young man’s shoulder. “Wait, Hamel-I need to speak to you, as well.” Then he turned back to the wounded man.

“Sir,” Philip acknowledged.

“How are your injuries, Philip?” the knight asked. “I am glad to find you awake.”

“The Black Boar’s bite wasn’t as severe as it felt.” Philip smiled weakly. “How is Lord Hyett?”

Theodore shook his head.

“No one has said anything, as yet, but from what I saw of the wound, he is unlikely to live.” The knight breathed out. “I didn’t mean for him to die, in truth, but when I saw what he did to you…”

“Justice was done, sir,” Hamel muttered.

“Yes, yes, I think it was. But that is not why I am here.” He looked at Philip, then at Hamel. “I am leaving, and shortly. I will send word to Sir Amik Varze of my intention, for I am to accompany an embassy into Morytania.”

Neither of his two charges spoke, but both paled noticeably.

The fear inspired by that realm is a magic in itself.

“Hamel,” he continued quickly on. “I would ask you to go to Falador for me, to deliver a message to Sir Amik’s own hand. Can you do that?”

“Me, sir? Go to Falador?” The youth’s excitement had him flustered. “Yes sir, of course. I will leave today.”

“Good,” Theodore replied. “Now be about your duties while I write my letter to Sir Amik.”

There was a desk in the room, and he moved to it in silence. Within moments, his quill was scratching the parchment, and it was the only sound. He didn’t have the time to write in code, and in truth, he did not deem it necessary.

Who will come to take my place? he wondered. Will they perhaps send Marius?

The thought made Theodore smile. Theirs was a friendship that had been forged as others had died, for many of their own friends had fallen to Sulla’s army, lured into a trap by treachery. He and Marius had been among the few squires to survive the war.

He had just finished writing when he heard a small group of men gathering outside Philip’s room.

It was Hamel, he knew. He had assembled the candidates for a final farewell, and now they entered. Theodore handed his aide the letter, and looked at the familiar faces with a feeling of pride. He was even prouder when he noted that none were without bruises from the tourney-all upon the front of their bodies, not on their backs.

They didn’t run or cower. They took the Boar’s beating head on, and we prevailed.

He was about to speak, to congratulate them all, to tell them how proud he was, when the door at the end of the passageway opened.

It was Lady Anne.

“Excuse me gentlemen,” he said as they perceived her.

As he left them he was certain he could feel their smiles behind him.

“So,” Lady Anne said as they found their way up a flight of stairs to the gallery level. Memory of their last time there made Theodore’s heart race quicker. “You are to go to Morytania,” she said, and she nodded to the tapestry depicting the fall of the four princes at the battle of the Salve.

“How did you know I was going with the embassy?” he asked.

Lady Anne gave a smile devoid of humour.

“I am good at finding things out, Theodore,” she said coldly. “And you sought to leave me without saying goodbye?”

“No, my lady,” he said hesitantly. “It has all happened so fast-”

“Or is it Kara-Meir?” she said furiously. “Now that she has returned to you, and you have had your fun with me…” Her voice cracked and she turned angrily away.

“Lady Anne, that is not true.” His hands were on her shoulders and gently he turned her around to face him. “It has nothing to do with Kara. It is my sense of duty that impels me to go, duty to my friends and to Saradomin-”

“Saradomin,” she spat. “You’re a fool, Theodore. A fool.”

She broke away from him and once more turned her back.

So be it, he decided reluctantly.

“Lady Anne, I wish to part on good terms. I have much to do and my time is short.”

She didn’t reply.

Saradomin take you then!

“Goodbye, my lady,” he said bitterly.

Theodore turned toward the stairs and cursed under his breath.

“Wait, Theodore,” she said softly. Her tone caused him to hesitate. “Just promise me one thing.” She ran over to him and looked up into his face. Her tearful blue eyes sparkled like dewy sapphires. “Just promise me you won’t be brave, Theodore.” Suddenly she balled her fist and beat it against his chest. “Don’t you dare to be brave!”

And then she fled, running from the gallery.

Theodore breathed deeply.

I haven’t time for this. I can’t go after her, much as I would like to.

He forced himself to remain impassive. After a moment, and with another look at the tapestry of the four long-dead princes of Varrock, he left for the armoury.

Kara remained behind as Castimir and then Theodore left Ebenezer’s bedside to prepare themselves. She had arrived in Varrock with very few belongings, and although she knew she could ready herself for another journey in only a short time, she was painfully aware that she no longer possessed her own precious sword, thanks to Pia. The young girl had also stolen one of the wolfbane daggers.

“Gar’rth,” she said, after composing her own short letter to Ebenezer, with its promise to look after the werewolf especially. “I must find myself a sword. I will go to the armoury and see Captain Rovin. Will you be all right here?”

“I’ll be here for a while anyhow,” the dwarf told her. “Gar’rth can wait with me. We’ll meet you in the bailey.”

The werewolf nodded from his seat at Sally’s side. He had already written a letter of his own, without any help from Sally or Kara, or from Simon who waited silently outside the door.

Arisha taught him well, she thought as she made her way to the palace armoury. It won’t be long now before he can write as well as any noble’s son.

“I knew you would come,” Captain Rovin said when she arrived. “Take your pick of these available weapons.” The man pointed to a rack along one wall, where numerous swords were arrayed.

“What of the wolfbane daggers I took from the barn?” Kara asked. “I think we should each take one with us, only I would not want them to impede Gar’rth.” She noted his look of surprise. “It would limit his value to us in a way that would not be wise.”

Captain Rovin shook his head with a grunt.

“I was not aware that you had them,” he said with a combination of irritation and admiration. “You can take them in splitbark sheaths-that should prevent the silver blades interfering with your friend. But they are valuable. The bark is cut from trees in that realm, and they are fashioned by the Wizards’ Tower. I will have a man attend to that shortly.” He stared at her intently. “Where are they?”

“They are in my room, in my satchel next to my bed.”

At least Pia left me that. Suddenly angry at the thought of the theft, Kara took the nearest sword and gave it a quick swing, gauging its weight and balance.

“No,” she said.

She returned it and took another, trying out several different thrusts, followed by a hack and then a sudden block. This one, too, was returned to the rack.

And so it went. It was only on her twelfth attempt did she find one that satisfied her. Even so, her face must have reflected her uncertainty, for one of Rovin’s men spoke up.

“Could we not ask Sir Prysin for his blade,” he suggested. “The sword Silverlight?”

Rovin ran his bandaged hand through his hair.

“No, not even on a good day,” he said firmly. “And today is a particularly unfortunate day for him. His heir is very likely to die.”

Nonetheless, the name Silverlight had caught Kara’s attention.

“What is its history?” she asked the guard, putting the sword down before attaching its sheath to her belt.

“Silverlight was used-” the young man began.

“-In legend. Never forget that,” Rovin interrupted.

“Yes, sir. Sorry.” He turned to Kara and continued. “Legend has it that Silverlight was used by Sir Prysin’s ancestor to save Varrock from a demon. It is a sword famed in song from the dales of Lumbridge to The Wilderness sentries. But the present Sir Prysin is very protective of it.”

“It has never been out of its cupboard, not in many a year,” Captain Rovin said harshly. “Tell me Kara-Meir, what was your own blade’s name?”

“I never named it. The dwarfs, who gave me shelter as a child, don’t often name their weapons. They consider the weapon an extension of the body, of the warrior himself, rather than a separate being.” She looked at the blade she had chosen. “Does this sword have a name?”

Captain Rovin smiled grimly.

“It does. It was wielded by one of my predecessors, many years ago, and it is aptly named for the man’s duty to his monarch. It is called Kingsguard.”

Kara sheathed it slowly as Theodore entered the armoury. She could tell by his demeanour that something was amiss.

He is angry at something.

The knight nodded to them, and didn’t speak as he gathered his own blade and checked his armour. Behind him she saw his aide, the boy Hamel.

“I have some news for you, Sir Theodore,” Captain Rovin said respectfully. “The Black Boar died earlier today, no more than an hour ago. Lord Hyett leaves a six year-old son, and as he is under the age of the majority his estates-if you could call them that- will now pass to the crown. Well done.”

Kara saw Theodore’s face blacken.

“It is not a victory I am proud of, Captain Rovin. Nor one I was looking for.”

Rovin laughed.

“You should be glad of it, though,” he said frankly. “The Black Boar was an evil man. There are rumours-and I must say they are only rumours, as far as I know-that he even rode to war alongside the Kinshra against Falador last year, in the guise of a Kinshra knight. No, you should spare no sympathy for him, nor his son. For the boy’s life will be better without the influence of his father. And likely longer, too, I dare say. If you ask anyone about Lord Hyett, and they speak truthfully, you will only hear ill of him. Long has he been a thorn in King Roald’s side.

“So I say again, well done.”

Rovin left the armoury with the guard in tow then, and Kara watched as Theodore gathered his equipment.

“Take the armour to the horses, Hamel,” Theodore said. “I won’t ride in it.”

“Yes, sir. The others are readying your mare.”

“Good. That will save me time.”

The clubfooted young man left with Theodore’s breastplate and helm, and for a moment they were left alone. The knight strapped his sword belt around his waist.

“Are you ready, Kara?”

“I am, now that I have a sword.”

“I am sorry,” he said, “about Pia and Jack and the theft. I know how much Master Phyllis’s blade meant to you.” He straightened his back and grimaced, then reached over his right shoulder with his left hand and probed gently.

“They ran because they thought I couldn’t protect them, Theodore,” Kara replied. “Pia is wanted for murder in Ardougne, and Sir Cecil said he wanted them sent back to face trial. Little wonder that they bolted.”

“You can’t protect them from that, Kara,” Theodore said slowly. “If they are accused then they must face trial, the rule of law and justice-”

“King Lathas’ justice, Theodore,” she countered. “He is no King Roald, nor is he any Sir Amik Varze. Need I remind you of your master’s honour and dedication to law?”

She saw his face twist uncomfortably.

“No, you need not,” he said defensively. He shook his head and took a breath. “Oh, enough, Kara. I am sorry for what happened, of course I am-”

“Three innocent people died, Theodore, because of his, and your, idea of justice. Among them your own peon, Bry-”

“You go too far, Kara,” Theodore said coldly. “Not a day goes by when I don’t ask for Saradomin’s forgiveness for my failure. But I won’t stand here and be beaten with that stick. Not any more.”

She let it drop, but it still preyed on her thoughts.

It was your order that endangered me, Theodore. And you were a participant in that deceit.

Neither spoke again, and after a moment Theodore strode from the armoury, leaving Kara alone.

She cursed under her breath.

I still haven’t forgiven him for that. I don’t think I ever will be able to, even though I know he acted under orders from Sir Amik.

From far off, the bells of Father Lawrence’s church rang the first hour of the afternoon. Kara gripped the hilt of her sword and left the armoury to gather with the embassy. She hadn’t meant to wound Theodore so, but part of her was savagely happy that she had.

A few minutes later she walked out into the bailey where the group was assembling. A collection of horses and mules were being laden with supplies. She saw Doric clapping his hands in joy in response to something that his companion had said. It was someone she vaguely recognised from the dance. The King’s fletcher, a man called Lowe. Not too far away, standing on his own, was Gar’rth, sorting his pack. Kara noticed that even here Simon was keeping a watchful eye.

Doric noticed her gaze and waved her over.

“I was keeping this as a surprise,” the dwarf said with a wink. “Ah, Theodore, you will want to hear of this, too, for it was what I hinted at the first night I was in Varrock. The thing that took me many hours of hard labour.”

Lowe smiled as Kara watched Theodore approach. The knight gave her only the briefest of glances as Doric held an arrow up for their inspection.

“Look at the tip, my young friends.”

Kara leaned forward and saw green-tinted light reflect off the metal’s surface.

“It’s adamant,” she observed. “You’ve forged adamant-tipped arrows!”

Theodore gave a slight smile as he took a second one from the dwarf to inspect more closely.

“It was Ebenezer’s idea,” Doric said. “Remember those adamant bars that you helped me cart all the way from my burned cabin to Falador, Theodore? The ones you thought would give your mare a heart attack? Well, I melted one of them down last month and Lowe here kindly fitted them for me. Fletching isn’t a skill with which I have any experience, truth be told.”

“Doric told me of your adamant blade and the injury it did to Jerrod, Kara-Meir,” Lowe said in a deep voice. “It was the least I could do, fixing these dozen arrows for you, and Lord William paid me generously. With luck, they will pierce wolf flesh soon enough.” The fletcher looked to Doric quickly and Kara saw the dwarf nod. “And I have this for you also.” Lowe reached to the horse at his side and took a longbow from its flank. It was taller than Doric himself. The bow had attracted the attention of several onlookers, and now Gar’rth strode toward them.

“That is a fine bow,” Theodore said. “It will take a strong man to draw it.”

“It is a yew composite bow, with a coating of tallow to protect it from the weather,” Lowe explained. “Would you care to try it?”

Theodore took the bow and drew back the flax string with obvious difficulty.

“Let Gar’rth try it,” Doric said, waving him forward.

“He is no stranger to the bow,” Kara said. “I taught him how to shoot in The Wilderness.”

Responding to the dwarf’s wave, Gar’rth stepped over and took the composite bow from Theodore. He drew the string back in a single easy move.

“That would fell any werewolf,” Lowe promised. “With Doric’s adamant arrows, you need have no fear of such demons. Make sure you bring back a few pelts!”

Gar’rth released the string with a grim look at Lowe. The smile had frozen on Doric’s face, and Theodore pursed his lips. Not far away, Simon grinned. Lowe frowned, aware he had spoken amiss, but not entirely sure of exactly how.

“Thank you, Lowe,” Kara said quickly. “With luck we won’t have to use it at all. This is, after all, a diplomatic mission.”

The unfortunate man bowed and left.

“I will take the bow and the arrows on my mare, if you like,” Theodore volunteered. Gar’rth nodded and handed the bow across as the knight returned to his horse, which stood among three busy young men who checked straps, saddle packs and horseshoes.

“I am sorry, Gar’rth,” Kara said quietly. He nodded, accepting her sympathy.

The bailey was busier now. Albertus Black arrived from Ebenezer’s town house. He rode upon a horse with a pack mule behind him. Seeing him, Kara heard Castimir sigh in exasperation as he readied the packs upon his yak.

“So we have another alchemist now,” the wizard chided. “Have you brought any sodium, Albertus? Or that phosphorous? That one could be useful in dark places.”

“I have brought those and more,” Albertus replied excitedly. “And several of our black-powder tubes. That will wake Lord Drakan, if our embassy does not stir him.”

“Be careful what you wish for old man,” Despaard cautioned. “I would be happy for Lord Drakan to remain still for many years to come, yet this Wyrd is proof he is already stirring.”

“But it isn’t proof that he is, for certain,” Albertus said. “We don’t know enough about the Wyrd to form an accurate hypothesis.” Kara didn’t hear how-or if-the argument progressed, for she caught sight of Arisha, leading her horse into the bailey.

“One of the blacksmiths has reshod our horses, Kara,” Arisha told her. “Yours is still in the stables but will be ready very soon.”

“I will get it, Arisha,” Kara told her friend. “I am ready to go now, anyhow, as soon as Captain Rovin brings us the wolfbane daggers. He has offered us splitbark sheaths so they won’t incapacitate Gar’rth.”

Arisha nodded and led her horse on as Kara walked to the stables. She approached the terrace they had stood upon the night before, at the dance, meaning to head south, directly past it to the inner courtyard. She was nearly there when a sudden movement above its short balustrade caught her eye.

It was Lady Caroline. As Kara watched, Lord William stepped out behind her and put his arms around her waist, drawing a squeak and a smile from her.

Lord William and Lady Caroline? She smiled inwardly. Lady Anne has met with success again. Kara waited until their two voices faded as they vanished back inside again. Then, at a fast walk, she made her way to the stables, found her horse, and led him quickly back to the bailey.

When she returned she found Reldo in a heated discussion with Papelford, the old man insisting that his apprentice should take certain books with him on the journey. Nearby stood Gideon Gleeman, his long face fraught with worry, the King’s Seal held tightly in his hands, while at the entrance to the bailey waited Despaard and Ruthven, both men impatient to get underway.

“I want to be at my manor before dark,” Lord Ruthven shouted to everybody. “It will mean a supper for us if we can do it, and a bed for the night.”

“I am ready,” a young monk in brown robes said. Kara saw the four-pointed star dangle from a necklace. His tonsured head was burned by the sun, yet he showed no discomfort. “My pilgrims have prepared their wagons and they will follow us tomorrow. It should be enough to ensure that Paterdomus is supplied till winter.”

“I am glad you are travelling with us, Drezel,” Despaard said. “The Pass of Silvarea can be treacherous on occasion.” The monk Drezel gave a slight bow in his saddle as another horse trotted through the entrance to the bailey. On it rode Lord William.

“May I accompany the embassy to Paterdomus, Lord Despaard?” he asked. “It is, after all, my duty to ensure that Kara-Meir’s companions have all they need while in Varrock.”

Lord Despaard glared at the younger man. When he didn’t answer, Kara saw Lord William turn his gaze toward her.

“Do you find my company so unpleasant, Kara-Meir?” he asked sweetly.

Kara smiled.

“Not at all,” she replied. “I would be glad to have you with us on the road, and I know my friends would be too.”

“Just don’t go getting lost or left behind,” Despaard said, impatiently. Kara found it amusing. “We cannot afford time to pander to the vagaries of a dilettante.”

But Lord William replied at once.

“I can assure you, Lord Despaard, this dilettante is more than capable of pandering to his own vagaries.”

Despaard nodded grimly and looked about the bailey carefully.

“Very well. Then let me do a head count. There are nine of us in the embassy itself, with Lord Ruthven and Drezel to act as our guides as far as Paterdomus. Reldo also, of course. And an escort of twelve trusted men.” He caught Kara looking at him. “My rangers,” he explained, “including Simon. Twenty-four of us in total.”

Lord William coughed, his expression slightly wounded.

“Don’t you mean twenty-five?”

Despaard turned away without a reply. A short time later he ordered the embassy to mount. With their escort, they rode forward, preceded by a contingent of the palace guard who were to accompany them through the city. As they drew near the gate, Kara happened to cast her eye back to the palace, and became aware of someone staring at her.

She saw Lady Anne, standing in a window on the second floor. Her hand was pressed to the window pane.

Quickly Kara turned away, to concentrate on the road ahead.

Theodore has not seen you, Lady Anne, and I will not tell him. I wonder if you will go to bed cursing my name?

But as the gate neared Kara glanced upward again. Anne was still there. This time, their eyes met. “Please” she mouthed. The gate was only seconds away, and once they were through, the window would no longer be visible.

Kara turned away with a wicked smile that instantly made her feel guilty.

No! No I will not ride off like this. I will not sink to her level.

“Theodore,” she said gently, pointing up with her hand.

He turned sharply in his saddle and followed her gesture. Kara saw Anne’s face brighten as Theodore waved.

And then they rode through the gate, and Lady Anne was gone.

“Thank you, Kara,” Theodore said. “You could have said nothing. She and I parted on… awkward terms.”

“I am sorry to hear that, Theodore. Truly.”

And it is true. I am.

16

The day had thus far been foul.

The Midsummer Festival had ended as they entered Varrock through the southern gate, on the cart which had brought Pia in her barrel to the barn. As soon as they arrived in the city, Jerrod had whispered to him that they were being followed. Cautiously, Sulla had spied their shadow-a young girl, probably no more than twelve years old.

That’s how the gangs operate. Children take the risk for their elders, and swing for them if they are caught.

The cart owner-a man named Bareak who posed as a fur trader, but who in reality worked for Straven, the leader of the Phoenix Gang-had separated from them in the south of the city, among the squalor and the poor. He left behind the briefest of messages.

“Come to the Blue Moon Inn tomorrow, after midday. Straven will be there.”

From that moment on, as they wandered Varrock, Jerrod carrying the heavy case of documents as if it was empty, the young girl kept her eye on them, likely unaware that Sulla knew of her presence.

Although I wouldn’t have if I didn’t have Jerrod here, with his hunter’s nose.

She was still there now, some hours after the sun had gone down.

They had taken meagre shelter in an alley, among the dregs of Varrock. Sulla was roused from an uneasy sleep when a dozen guardsmen ran by, and across the city the harsh sound of men shouting could be heard. It passed quickly, but from that moment on sleep was even more elusive.

Just as he managed to doze, Jerrod’s voice dragged him back.

“I have news,” the werewolf said. “Important news.”

Sulla was angry and he was cold. He shivered in his torn cloak and tried to pull it tighter across his shoulders, fumbling with his wrists as he did so. Next to him slept Barbec, snoring gently and blissfully unaware.

Jerrod crouched, perched on the case.

“What is it?” Sulla hissed.

“Something is wrong, Sulla,” came the growled response. “Wrong in Morytania.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have just had a message from… someone. Not my master, but someone more powerful and far, far older.”

“Older than Drakan?”

Jerrod shook his head. And Sulla knew he was afraid.

“I don’t understand it,” the creature continued. “It was a woman, Sulla. She told me about the Wyrd. She told me where it is.”

What?

“Tell me,” Sulla demanded. If I could deliver this creature to King Roald then I would become a hero, able to demand anything I wished.

“She’s in the lumberyard, Sulla, to the northeast of here. That’s her hideout. The woman wants me to destroy her. But I don’t understand it. This is not my master speaking.”

“So who will you obey?”

“I will obey her, Sulla. She knows things, she is older than the one who sent me. She told me her name. It is one we fear to speak in Morytania. She is Vanescula, Lord Drakan’s own kin.”

“But I thought you were sent by Drakan himself.”

“I thought so, too. That’s what I was led to believe. But Vanescula is even more powerful than the being who sent me, so it can’t have been Lord Drakan. No, I must have been tricked. That’s how the vampires work their games, Sulla.” The werewolf growled in anger and clenched his fists.

So there are conflicting masters in Morytania, Sulla mused silently. And I know now where the Wyrd makes her lair.

“Very well,” he said after a moment’s deliberation. “Tell me Jerrod, is the girl still nearby?”

Jerrod sniffed the air and nodded.

“Good. She has something I want. Come!”

“The embassy left Varrock through the east gate an hour ago,” the man with the thin moustache told Sulla. He then pursed his lips in thought, ran his right hand through brown hair that was flecked with silver at the sides, and reached into the small bag that lay on the table between the two men.

“Kara-Meir and her friends went with them,” he added. “I saw them go.”

The man withdrew his hand to reveal a rounded pebble poised between two fingers. He turned it over and dropped it onto the table.

Sulla grinned when he saw the white markings on its surface.

“An air rune? That’s a point to you, Straven. So you have fifteen to my eighteen. And the death rune is among the three remaining.”

“Your turn,” the thief master replied. “Will you hold? Or will you risk it?”

Sulla shook his head and grinned behind his wild beard.

“I am ahead, and there is a one in three chance that you will pull out the chaos rune. Only then can you beat me. No, I’ll hold.”

Sulla saw Straven’s lip curl slightly in frustration, and he followed his opponent’s eyes as they settled on the item that sat at his side on the bench. Wrapped in a damp cloth, it dripped a brown liquid onto the wood and its smell reminded Sulla of a butcher’s shop. Straven gave a look of distaste. Very quickly, his eyes moved on, to pass over the Blue Moon’s customers.

From their position by the window, Sulla followed his gaze.

How many of them are your men, Straven? What are you waiting for?

It was early afternoon and the tavern was crowded, with at least two-dozen unfamiliar faces half-hidden in the fug of pipe smoke. The only man he recognised there was the gang-master’s own man, the fur trader Bareak, who had given him the message the day before.

Straven reached into the bag once more. Without pause, he withdrew his hand and dropped a single pebble on the tabletop. It was marked with salmon coloured lines stretching outward toward its edge.

Sulla laughed.

“A mind rune! Two points for you. I am still ahead by one. Now there is an even chance of victory or defeat, Straven. Only two runes remain, chaos and death. It’s a choice that reminds me of my own life up to this moment.”

“As I was saying,” Straven responded, “I watched Kara-Meir leave with the embassy. I am amazed that such a slight girl could have bested you in single combat. It makes no sense.”

Sulla shrugged.

“Much about her does not,” he admitted. “She even wounded my companion, and that’s no small feat in itself.”

“Ah, your companion. You’ve spoken highly of him, but he remains very elusive. From the moment you entered Varrock, Bareak had my footpads follow you, and yet you evaded them.” Straven looked Sulla in the eye, and continued cautiously. “I can’t recall anyone having done that before, not even that thief from Kandarin, the one who tried to run with my money. It unnerves me. And I don’t like being unnerved.”

His hand rested on the small bag which now only held two runes.

Is this the moment, Straven? Sulla wondered. Is this when you spring your trap and hand me over to the King? Or are you really unnerved by Jerrod and the ease with which he can vanish from sight?

He glanced subtly at a man who sat by himself. Jerrod was covered in a cloak he had stolen from a beggar the previous night. He had entered the inn an hour before Sulla, and had sat patiently by himself, watching and waiting.

“Come, Straven,” Sulla said amiably. “You have made a great deal of money from me in the past. When I was a senior member of the Kinshra, you worked for me a great deal, even though I could just as easily have used the Black Arm Gang.

“As I could now,” he added, leaning forward.

Straven’s eyes narrowed.

“Don’t threaten me, Sulla,” he hissed quietly. “I have a dozen men in here right now. Within a half hour you could be trussed up and given to King Roald. Or worse. I could send you back to the Kinshra to suffer a slow death.”

Sulla smirked.

“And I have only Barbec, who waits outside in the street.”

“What of your mysterious companion. Is he here now, with us?”

Sulla shook his head.

“I won’t give everything away to you, Straven. But I will give you this-for your time and for a promise of a second meeting. Take my purse from my belt.”

Straven leant over and did as he asked. Without waiting for permission the gang-master loosened the cord and peered in. Sulla saw an eyebrow lift in surprise.

“The gem is yours, Straven. But there are more to come if you do as I request. Many more-it will be well worth your time.”

Request! he raged inwardly. Six months ago I made demands. A dark side of him wanted to laugh at his own fall.

Instead, he waited, watching intently.

“It had better be,” Straven said, “for I could profit a great deal from turning you in.” He licked his lips and glanced around the room. “What do you want?” he asked finally.

“A hot bath would be nice,” Sulla responded. “A shave and a haircut, too. A place to hide for a while. And…” He held up his arms, his wrists still wrapped in bandages.

“…new hands.”

Straven nodded.

“The first requests can easily be accomplished. I can’t help with the hands, however. You might need a wizard or a cleric for that, or even an engineer to fit some artificial appendages.”

“That would suffice for now,” Sulla agreed. “Something with sharp edges, so I can indulge my interest in pain.” He grinned, and noticed how the man squirmed uncomfortably. “I have a lot of pain to give. Six months worth of agony.

“But I don’t need you to arrange any of those things,” he continued. “And I wouldn’t want you to know where I plan to make my lair. The lure of Kinshra gold-or your duty as a citizen to your monarch-might outweigh your word to me. I want something else. I want asylum.”

Straven’s eyes went wide.

“What?” he said loudly. He glanced around, then leaned in and continued in a low voice. “You? The King would never grant it! You’ve too many orphans to your name-”

“Such as Kara-Meir?” Sulla countered. “I orphaned her, you know.” He waved his stumped wrists in the air. “She and her fellow victims have had their revenge on me, haven’t they?”

But Straven remained unmoved.

“No, Sulla. I have no way of contacting the King or his advisors, and you have nothing to offer them, even if I could.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure of that, Straven. Perhaps I have little to offer, but what of my companion? The one who evades your footpads with such ease?”

“Go on.”

“Jerrod is his name. Few know anything about him, though that may already have changed, thanks to Kara-Meir’s intervention in the barn. Regardless, he is a… man of unique value.”

Sulla leaned over to whisper.

“Jerrod is from Morytania. He is a werewolf.”

Straven gasped and pulled back.

“You keep ill company, Sulla,” he hissed.

“I am glad you realise that. Believe me when I tell you that he could find you wherever you hide in this city. Even if you were guarded by your best men, he would find you and eat your organs as you watched. I’ve seen him do it.

“But he knows things, too,” Sulla continued. “He knows about the Wyrd, Straven. His master can contact him from beyond the River Salve. It happened only last night, as we spent the night in an alleyway among the dregs, when Jerrod was asked to apprehend her.”

Straven’s face broke into confusion.

“Apprehend her? I don’t understand,” he said. “Why would he want her captured, if she is doing his bidding?”

Sulla smiled again.

“My question exactly. Interesting isn’t it? Something is afoot in Morytania, something that the King would give half his treasury to understand.” He paused for effect. “So here is what I want you to do. Find me fighters, Straven. I want you to recruit the most capable mercenaries Varrock has to offer. Men who are unafraid of The Wilderness and who will work under my command. Only a handful, but promise them they will be rewarded, for I intend to catch the Wyrd and give her to the King.”

“I know of four individuals, perhaps more, who will suit your needs, Sulla. Will that suffice? I think I can have them ready in three nights’ time.” Straven spoke carefully, eager to please, and Sulla knew he had the man in his grip. “Where shall we meet you?”

“Outside the city, to the east under the gallows tree. In three nights, just two hours before dark. Tell them to be ready for a ride. And I will need a horse for myself.”

Straven nodded and made ready to stand, but Sulla stopped him.

“Two more things before you leave, Straven. First, I have something for you. It’s the object on the bench next to me. Take it.”

Straven looked doubtful. He reached down, and grimaced as his fingers felt the damp cloth. He looked at Sulla warily, but the man with the ruined face only smiled a horrible smile.

“Perhaps you had best finish the game first,” he said. “Will it be chaos and victory-or death?”

The gang-master shot him a puzzled look as he reached into the bag and pulled out the first pebble his fingers touched. He held it up.

“So it’s death, Straven,” Sulla said mirthlessly, looking at the white skull painted on the stone. “You have lost. Now take my gift.”

Straven looked hard at the damp cloth again.

“Don’t worry, you keep it, Sulla,” he said stiffly.

“Take it, Straven. I brought it for you.” His eye hardened and he stared grimly at the gang-master. “Consider it a warning.”

Straven took it up in his right hand. He pulled the cloth aside, and instantly turned away.

“Gods!” he said, and he gagged. “What is it?”

Sulla smiled.

“Don’t you recognise young Catspurse when you see her, Straven? It’s all that remains of the young footpad who trailed us. It’s her heart. Jerrod ate her other organs as she died, and she did so horribly. He especially relishes the liver for some reason. Didn’t I say I had watched him do it? Perhaps you thought I was being theatrical, but now you know better.”

“She was only twelve!”

“Oh, don’t pretend that you care, Straven. You use children, to rob on your behalf, and are fully prepared to let them be punished in your place. How many other Catspurses have died because of you?”

“They know the risks… but this is…” Straven shook his head.

“Quite so. It’s monstrous. Like Jerrod. Like me.” Sulla stood. “Three nights’ time then, under the gallows tree. We will be watching for any deceit on your part. And just remember, you have a heart, too. And a liver. It is Jerrod’s favourite.”

17

For a long time, the land through which they passed was densely overgrown, branches and vines clawed at them constantly, and their progress was slow.

Finally they entered a lush wildflower meadow with a treeline on the other side. Pia, dishevelled by hours of travelling, sighed deeply. It had been a hard journey for all of them. The horse staggered beneath her, equally exhausted.

“Can’t we rest now, Pia?” Jack asked from his perch in front of her. He peered up at the sun, which lay directly overhead “We have travelled all night and morning. Please Pia, let us stop for a moment.”

Pia craned her head back over her left shoulder, to the west. She listened intently.

Nothing.

Nothing save the breeze among the trees.

Yet she felt unsure.

I don’t know anything about this land, she thought, studying the distant treeline. I don’t know how far we have come from Varrock, or if there are any settlements left to hide us.

Her ignorance made her angry. She had grown up in a city, in a place of crowds and shadows where it was easy to hide. Out here, in the country, she felt exposed and afraid.

But I will not show it. For Jack’s sake, I must be strong.

“Very well, Jack,” she said. “I think we can take the time-”

A horn blew from the west.

Jack gasped, and glanced around frantically. He turned to her.

“Pia?”

She tightened her grip on the horse’s reins. The horse was fast when it needed to be-it had proved that when they had fled from Varrock the night before. Even now, even so exhausted from the trip carrying both of them, its head rose determinedly in response to Pia’s pull.

The horn sounded again.

She felt Jack shiver.

“Who are they Pia?” he asked desperately. “Do you think they are after us?”

Before she could reply, the bay of hounds fought its way against the breeze to her ears. It was a sound that made her heart stop and her stomach ice-cold.

They are not far away. Perhaps only a few minutes.

“Pia? What will we do?”

“What we always do, Jack.” She dug her heels into the horse’s flank and goaded it onward with a savage pull of the reins. “We run.”

The mare broke into a loping gallop. Pia’s legs ached horribly and she grimaced with every passing yard.

“We need to hide,” Jack said. “There.” Her brother pointed toward the treeline that rose before them. It was the only place they could hide now, for they had left cover behind.

She directed the horse as best she could, as the horn sounded again. The bays of the pack grew louder until they seemed to come from all sides. After what seemed like an eternity, they reached the edge of the forest and again fought their way into the foliage. Thin branches whipped her face and hands and she heard Jack cry out in pain as the sting of a thorn cut her bare cheek, drawing blood, then raked across her face, as well. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth.

“Pia. Stop!” Jack shouted.

She opened her eyes as the horse neighed in alarm and stopped abruptly. They were at the top of a steep bank that led down to a fast-flowing river. Across the straining water the opposite bank was hidden in the shadows of a wild forest.

“Is this the River Salve?” Jack asked, his voice low.

If it was, then it fell short of her expectations. Even in her homeland there were legends of the holy river. Some had even said it glowed with a white light, and that its waters could cure any wounds or illness.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t think so.” She nodded to the opposite bank. “That doesn’t look like the land of the undead does it?” But even as she said it, she felt unsure.

Jack didn’t reply.

Again the horns sounded and the hounds bayed.

If I am caught I will hang now for certain, she thought desperately. And Jack will too. We have stolen a horse of the King’s stable, and we have stolen a hero’s sword.

Pia drew the adamant blade an inch from its scabbard. Its green-tinted metal caught the midday sun. She made up her mind.

“Do you think the horse can swim across, with us on her back?”

Jack shook his head.

“I don’t know, Pia,” he answered. “But even if it can, should we go? What if that is Morytania?” She sensed her brother’s fear, and tried to pretend the same thought hadn’t crossed her own mind. She made her decision.

“We’ll cross over, Jack, so long as the horse can bear us,” she said firmly. “Then we’ll turn south and cross back after a few hours. If that is Morytania, then we won’t be there for long.”

She didn’t wait for her brother’s objections. She kicked with her heels. After a few moments of dancing around uncertainly, the horse started down to the water’s edge, treading its way carefully.

But then she stood and waited. Pia cursed and dug her heels into the animal’s flanks.

Still the horse refused to move.

“Zamorak curse you,” she spat as the hounds bayed behind them, closer now. Somewhere over her right shoulder she heard a man shout.

They are probably in the meadow, just before the trees. They will be on us in seconds.

Desperation forced her hand. She drew the wolfbane dagger she had taken from Kara’s satchel and stabbed it into the horse’s behind.

The animal neighed and shot forward, its speed catching Pia by surprise. She dropped the dagger in her haste to steady herself as she gripped the reins and held tightly. They plunged into the river. Brown water fumed at their sides as the horse ploughed ahead. A dog barked loudly and frantically behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and saw several of the pack break through the undergrowth at the top of the bank.

When she turned back to face the front, she saw to her surprise that they were already half way across the river. The horse showed no sign of slowing.

Pia grinned suddenly.

“Never a rope for us, Jack,” she asserted. “I hope Kara understands the message we left.”

Jack didn’t reply. She knew he was still angry at her for stealing Kara’s sword, but she wouldn’t let that dampen her spirits now. They had escaped once again.

“Come back!” a man shouted behind her. “For the love of Saradomin, Pia, come back!”

The man’s panicked voice caused Pia to look over her shoulder again. She felt the horse rise beneath her as the its hooves found firm ground.

There were a half-dozen men gathered on the opposite river bank, clad in black-leather armour. Two or three of them were gesturing wildly, beckoning her to return.

Do they take me for an idiot?

“Don’t be a fool, girl!” another shouted, waving to her. “It’s not too late.”

“If I go back I die,” Pia shouted angrily. “My brother, too. We will take our chances-”

“But there are no chances in Morytania,” the first man yelled. “Please. Please, come back to us, Pia. Kara-Meir has asked that you be returned unharmed. The King will honour his pledge to her.”

“You don’t know what you are doing, girl,” a third man cried.

The horse broke from the water now and Pia couldn’t reply. She tightened her legs on the horse’s flank as the animal clambered wearily up the steep bank, water running off of it in long, thin rivulets.

She looked back at her pursuers. They were arguing, their arms gesturing wildly. They stopped, and one of the men put an arrow to his bow.

“Pia?” Jack said gently. He leaned back into her, as if trying to make himself small.

It seemed to happen in slow motion. The man sighted his arrow toward her and loosed.

The black-feathered arrow missed her by a scant yard, passing in front of her face.

“Pia, we must run!” Jack said in panic.

“You said you wanted us unharmed!” Pia shouted in anger. Already the man was reloading, and she saw how others reached for their bows.

“It is better for you, Pia,” the first man shouted. She couldn’t be certain, but it seemed as if he was afraid. “It is better for you to die now, before you go any farther.”

They mean to kill us. They really do. It was not a warning shot.

Pia shouted and slapped the horse’s neck, pulling the reins and digging in her heels as she forced the animal away from the bank. Arrows snapped past them and overhead, but none found their mark, and within a minute of riding, when she turned back, the river had vanished from sight in the deep undergrowth.

The sounds of their pursuers were lost, as well.

As if they were never there.

Although she was determined to keep track of the river, and cross it again after they had travelled a safe distance, within an hour Pia was lost.

She didn’t dare say anything to Jack for fear of making him afraid. The sun was obscured behind a veil of green fog that grew denser as they travelled, and the woods gave way to a swampy marshland. At its edge, Pia halted and dismounted for the first time in many hours. Her body protested in agony, and in an effort to spare her brother the same she helped him from the horse as gently as she was able. His inner thighs were coated in sweat and dried blood from where the jolting of the horse had chafed his skin. She had no doubt her own legs were in a similar condition, yet she refused to look.

“We will rest here, for an hour or so,” she told him. “Let the horse get her breath back.”

“And then we start south?” Jack asked. His voice was low. “We can’t be more than two miles from the river now.” Her brother spoke in a hushed whisper, as if afraid to offend some dreadful observer. He peered around them, into the mist. But there was no movement, no sound.

Pia nodded.

“Then we start south and cross back over the river a few miles downstream.” She gave her brother her most roguish smile. “We did it, Jack. We did it again. We survived.”

I haven’t the heart to tell him that I’m hopelessly lost. Nor that I lost the dagger that kept Jerrod so afraid.

The thought of the werewolf caused her to glance around, but the fog seemed impenetrable. They seemed so vulnerable here, intruders in a place that would never forgive their trespass. Pia shivered.

“Perhaps we should start for the south now,” she muttered. “I don’t like it here.” The horse fidgeted, as if sharing her anxiousness.

“Do you think they followed us across the river?” Jack’s face was doubtful.

“Maybe,” she replied. But she really didn’t think so.

It is not them I fear.

She ran her hand across her face and looked down. It came away with a bloody smear. She remembered the thorn that had cut her cheek in their rush to the river bank. Still it hadn’t dried.

The iron smell seemed to hang in the stale air, impossibly strong.

“Pia. Look.”

She looked to where he pointed across the swamp. In the hazy distance she thought she saw something. It looked like a cloaked figure, but as quickly as she spotted it, the fog rose up from the black waters that separated them, and obscured it. She strained to find it again, but the green mist hid the horizon from view.

She felt her stomach tighten.

“Pia… Pia I’m frightened.” Jack turned to look at her. “I want to go back. I want to go back to Kara and I want to tell her I’m sorry. Please, Pia. Please. Can we go back?”

We made a mistake coming here. A dreadful mistake.

“Get on the horse, Jack. Now.”

Suddenly she shivered. She breathed out as her brother did as she had instructed, and she placed her hand on the hilt of Kara’s sword.

What would she do here?

Pia was cold now-unnaturally so. Her hand shook on the sword hilt, her grip weak.

“Come on, Pia. Get up.” Muted though it was, Jack’s voice cut through her fear. Quickly she clambered into the saddle behind him. The horse snorted once, its body steaming from her exertion. Clearly the creature was exhausted.

From her vantage point, Pia looked back to the swamp. The green mist faded slightly, and she could see the place where the figure had stood. There was no sign of it now.

Jack was looking, too.

“Did you see him?” he asked.

“I thought I did,” Pia said, “but only for a second. I think it was a man. It doesn’t matter though. We’re going now.”

She turned the horse, and guided it forward, not sure of the direction she was going. Her route followed the firmer land that lay at the swamp’s edge.

Time seemed meaningless in that fog, and she didn’t know how long it had been before they heard a sound-like a man coughing-as it echoed across the dim expanse. Pia froze and she felt Jack stiffen. Her skin crawled uncontrollably.

There across the mire stood a diminutive figure, his arms draped around the gnarled form of a dead tree, his face hidden behind the decaying bark. As Pia stared she saw that saw it was an old man, with skin as white as milk. His clothes were torn rags through which she could see his ribs, and arms that were devoid of any muscle. She had seen people like that before, beggars who starved in the winter.

“Don’t let him see us, Pia,” Jack hissed. “Please. There’s something not right about him.”

The man coughed again, and as he did so he moved, his head sliding out from behind the bark.

“Gods.” Jack breathed. “Ride, Pia. Please. Ride!”

But she couldn’t move. She told her legs to do so, to dig her heels into the horse’s side, but they refused. She was frozen, the burning red eyes of the man looking into hers.

The horse neighed.

“Pia!” Jack cried, louder now,

The hair on the man’s head was torn out in great clumps. When he coughed and opened his mouth she saw that half his tongue was missing. He coughed again, and this time his jaw hung open, wider than nature had designed. Or it might have been a laugh, and Pia saw him give what she thought could be a leering smile.

His arms uncoiled from the tree and he moved toward them. His speed was unnatural.

“Pia!”

She had never seen anything so perverse, so wrong. The old man with a skeletal body leapt the first pool that separated them, a jump that even a young man in peak condition could never have accomplished.

Impossible. Still she remained transfixed.

The man opened his mouth wider as he charged toward them. He was as fast as a horse, she realised suddenly.

“Pia,” Jack cried, wriggling in her lap and turning to peer up at her. “Do something!”

Finally Jack’s voice broke her fear, and she kicked the horse into action. The horse bolted forward suddenly, as if it had been similarly frozen in fear. She looked behind, and on it came-for now she knew it wasn’t human-and it was gaining, its arms outstretched. She looked forward again, panic rising inside her.

When she looked back again, the skeleton creature was so close. She faced forward again and closed her eyes. But the tears came, and she couldn’t stop them.

No, no, no no no nononono…

She felt something hard grab her thigh and out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of white as the thing’s hand slipped off her body. Her skin felt frozen where it had been touched.

Jack cried out in terror.

Pia leaned forward, ignoring the sound.

The horse reared suddenly and kicked backward. Pia heard a sound like a breaking twig, and she dared to turn to look.

The thing was there. Right behind her, its hand gripped around the horse’s rear leg. It pressed its face forward, into the horse, its mouth biting…

The horse bucked again as a torrent of blood gushed into the thing’s face. This time Pia lost her balance.

She fell from the horse.

Jack screamed as the horse bucked again. As she fell, Pia saw its hoof smash against the attacker’s temple. It was a blow that would surely have felled a giant. And it was enough to send the creature sprawling back, into the mire.

Pia gasped as her heart pounded. She watched in a daze as the thing vanished beneath the surface of the swamp, and the horse bolted with Jack holding on desperately, his arms wrapped around the frantic animal’s neck. And then he was lost from sight in the swirling green mists.

She tried to rise, but again her limbs refused to obey her commands. Minutes passed-or were they hours? Somewhere far away she heard Jack scream again and the horse whinny loudly. Then both sounds were cut short.

No! But still she remained frozen.

There was the sound of movement-of something being dragged. A form was thrust down to the earth at her side, so that she could see it without needing to turn her head. It was Jack, his face ash grey, his eyes unseeing.

Above her stood a figure wrapped in a black cloak. Behind him stood another.

She tried to speak, but no words came.

“You have trespassed into our realm, human,” the thing said, but still she couldn’t see his face, obscured in darkness and mist. “You were lucky to escape the ravenous, but that is as far as your fortune goes. Your horse is dead. It’s flesh food for Canifis. As you will soon be.”

Canifis! It’s a werewolf, she thought, her mind racing. The dagger…

The figure pushed its cowl back, and its eyes gleamed with malice and hunger. There was no wolf-like snout. No fur covered its face.

But within its horribly distended jaw, the unnatural light of the swamp glinted off two sharp and pointed fangs.

18

Gar’rth was miserable as they rode from the bailey and across the palace’s courtyard.

There the column turned south and rode down the tree-lined avenue to the palace’s outer wall. Once through the gate came the great square, with its four statues watching over the frothing pool, where a line of yellow-tabarded guards kept the way clear for Lord Despaard’s embassy.

And as they rode out, the people cheered. Some shouted out to Kara, others blessed King Roald, while other, bolder voices offered helpful suggestions as to what to do to Lord Drakan by applying sharp-edged weapons to various parts of the dark lord’s anatomy.

“I’m not even sure if Drakan has one of those,” Lord William said thoughtfully, raising a brief smile from those who heard.

As they rode east through Varrock and finally out of the city itself onto the King’s Road, Simon never left Gar’rth’s side.

This is worse than the dungeons. At least there we were separated by bars.

Shortly before the crossroads, when the city of Varrock was more than a mile behind and hidden from view by an army of willows and oaks, Gar’rth breathed deeply.

At least I am away from the city now, with its foul smells. Out here, I can take full advantage of the wild aromas.

He did so, and then he stopped suddenly, coughing.

Kara saw his distress.

“What is it, Gar’rth?”

“Something nearby. A familiar scent. A man. A dead one.” He gave another sniff. “Not long dead, either.”

The column stopped to hear him.

“It’s probably just Theodore, in need of a bath,” Lord William said, but no one laughed. Nor did they question Gar’rth’s observation, causing the young noble to frown in puzzlement. Reldo did likewise.

They don’t all know about me, Gar’rth realised. I should take more care in future.

Suddenly the silence was broken as Lord Ruthven laughed from the head of the column.

“The boy plays tricks upon us, Lord Despaard,” the hawk-like man said loudly. “He knows that we approach the crossroads. Come. Let us hasten on, and the answer to this riddle will no longer be left … hanging.”

The column continued, and as they journeyed to the northeast the scent grew.

I am right. A man has been killed here, and very recently. And it was at the crossroads that he was proved right.

A hanged man’s body dangled from the branch of a sprawling oak tree. It twisted in the afternoon breeze as a crow, perched in the branches above, cawed at the embassy, staking its claim. The man’s hands were bound behind his back and as the body twisted to face them. Kara gasped.

It’s Velko! Gar’rth realised.

The outlaw was missing one eye. The fatted crow high in the branches stretched its wings as a man might stretch his arms after a satisfying meal.

“You recognise him, Kara-Meir?” Despaard asked.

“I do,” she replied grimly. “One of Sulla’s band.”

“May Saradomin have mercy on his soul,” the cleric Drezel said earnestly.

“It is a dreadful waste of life,” Albertus bemoaned.

“He was hanged this morning,” Ruthven told them. Gar’rth saw him stare at the corpse in contempt. “And with luck we will soon have Sulla himself by the neck. How I would dearly like to see him swing from the gallows tree.”

Lord Ruthven wants Sulla badly. I wonder why?

Theodore and Kara shared a confused look, no doubt thinking the same.

Meanwhile, the elderly noble goaded his horse on and the column advanced once more. Despaard waited at the side of the road as the column passed, rejoining it only when Gar’rth drew level with him.

“When we get to Lord Ruthven’s manor tonight, I want you to tell the embassy your history in Canifis. It will be useful for us to know before we cross. I tell you now so you will have time to compose your thoughts.”

With that he was gone, galloping back to the head of the column, his going attracting the attentive gaze of their companions.

At his side, Simon gave a narrow grin.

And Gar’rth noted how even now, his hand still rested on the hilt of his wolfbane dagger in its curious bark sheath.

Darkness fell an hour before they neared Lord Ruthven’s manor, but the absence of light meant little to Gar’rth. As they approached the manor house, set on a small hill and surrounded first by a circle of dense thorn and hazel, and then by a shallow moat that had turned the ground to a black marshland, he couldn’t fail to detect the rotting stench that the combination of a hot summer and stagnant water produced.

It is not unlike Morytania, he thought at first, before reconsidering. No. Only superficially, as a painting resembles life. Here, the dead remain still.

They rode up through the gatehouse, where a single man stood beneath a burning torch that illuminated Lord Ruthven’s symbol upon a banner that hung nearby. Gar’rth caught sight of the sun at its centre, standing behind two pale moons and underlined by a silver sword.

“Lord Ruthven’s family’s banner,” Reldo commented at Gar’rth’s side. “Symbolizing his role as a guardian of the Salve, standing between life and death. His family have had that for centuries.”

“My lord,” the gatehouse keeper said to Ruthven. “We received word of your passage a few hours ago via a King’s pigeon. The great hall has been prepared, as per your instructions, and the servants have been asked to leave the manor for you and your guests tonight.”

“Thank you, Ralph. We will go to the great hall now and take our supper.”

“But there is something you should know, my lord. Several men arrived a few hours ago, among them the master of hounds from King Roald’s own household. They tracked a fugitive and her brother east, to the river.” The man lowered his voice, but Gar’rth heard what he had to say. “The fugitives crossed the river my lord, the girl Pia and her brother.”

Ruthven spared Kara a glance, and saw that she had heard.

“Then they are likely already dead. I am sorry Kara-Meir. Your servants have erred most dangerously.”

“There is a chance they might live,” Gar’rth said. “If they find their way to one of the human villages hidden in the swamp.”

“It will be a hard life, and one without luxury if they have,” Despaard observed.

But better than no life at all. Or a hanging death, for that matter.

Kara said nothing, but her dark thoughts were visible on her face.

The column made its way through the gatehouse, passing several small farm buildings that constituted a small community housed under Lord Ruthven’s protection. Pale faces gazed out of shadowed doorways and mothers grasped children as the column rode by. Some even made the sign of Saradomin as they passed.

Their fear is palpable. Living within a half-day’s travel of the river, it is no small wonder.

“They offer us their blessing,” Despaard explained when they halted before the manor, with its pointed dovecote and squat church tower. “The people here know about us, and they are aware that we travel across the holy river. Lord Ruthven’s estates are on the front line in our secret war, and these people help as best they can.”

Gar’rth followed his friends through to the great hall, where a generous supper awaited them on a long table with fourteen seats. Of the dozen black-clad soldiers who escorted them under Lord Despaard’s direction, only Simon sat at the table. Roast pig turned on a spit, summer fruits and cheeses and fresh bread were offered up on wooden platters, yet despite the abundance, there was little conversation and no merriment. They were watched by the rest of Despaard’s men, for the usual servants had been dismissed for the evening.

“You don’t like bread?” Simon asked Gar’rth with an amused smile as the werewolf flicked the bun to one side of his plate. “Nor fruits?”

Gar’rth shook his head.

“Bread makes me sick.”

“A meat-eater then,” Simon replied. “I hope you can digest cooked meat, or else you will go hungry.”

“Leave Gar’rth alone,” Kara said frostily. “He is the best hope we have of succeeding in this mission. Varrock’s own efforts have been woefully lacking so far, a fact you had best remember.”

“He is guarding your friend, Kara-Meir,” Despaard said through a mouthful of honeyed bread. “By King Roald’s own command.”

Gar’rth saw how Lord William and the jester Gleeman looked uncomfortable, casting him inquisitive looks.

I wonder if they suspect?

Never mind, soon enough they will know.

After a strained silence that followed, Gideon Gleeman spoke.

“I see you have a minstrels gallery, Lord Ruthven. Are we to have music tonight?”

Lord Ruthven gave the jester a cold stare.

“The gallery has not been used for many years, fool. Not since my wife perished in agony, cursed by Drakan’s servants.” He looked to the painting above the crackling fireplace, and Gar’rth saw a younger version of the lord standing behind a young woman holding a babe in her arms. “And now I am the last of my line.”

Nothing more was said.

Very soon the supper was ended, and Lord Despaard turned his eyes to Gar’rth.

“It is time,” he said. “Time you told us all of your history, so everyone here will know the truth.”

Gar’rth nodded briefly.

“Very well,” he said. “I have prepared myself on the ride here. I will speak as best as I am able.”

19

At last. We will finally learn of Gar’rth’s history.

Theodore waited with intense curiosity. Castimir gave him a quick look of excited anticipation as their friend haltingly began to speak.

“Most of you know me. What I am.” Gar’rth looked to William and Gideon Gleeman. “I am a werewolf, from Morytania.”

“By Saradomin,” Drezel uttered fearfully, only to be silenced by a glare from Lord Despaard.

William raised his eyebrows and looked quickly at Theodore, who nodded his head slowly. Reldo’s face paled. Albertus lowered his goblet quickly. The jester’s hands gripped the table, but when no one else moved he relaxed.

Theodore saw Doric grin in the Gleeman’s direction.

“I escaped from Morytania months ago. You should all know that I have never taken an innocent life. That means Zamorak does not rule in here.” Gar’rth beat his chest with his clenched right hand, indicating his heart.

“I was different from others of my race. I was never trusted by them.” He paused to gather his words. “I was ten years old, I think, when I found out why. It was my parents. They were werewolves who had been sent to serve at Meiyerditch and Castle Drakan itself some years before I was born. Those who do so and survive are treated with suspicion, and not trusted.” Gar’rth took a drink of water and closed his eyes as he gathered his thoughts.

“That was no honour,” he laughed bleakly. “Many who go never return. Those who are sent are usually the losers in a game of chance, for none offer themselves up to serve such a master. Death offers no release there.

“But my parents were not chosen by chance. It is said the Lord Malak himself came to my mother in the night, ordering them both to leave the following day. Malak… may the Gods curse him!”

Gar’rth shook his head and gritted his teeth in anger.

“They say he corrupts the very earth he walks upon, that living grasses die from his passing. He is not one of my people. Malak is a vampire lord who commands the town of Canifis and the werewolf race. He is hated there, and he is feared-feared as no human lord can ever be. Legend says he is thousands of years old, that he fought in the God Wars and helped found Morytania. In Canifis, he decides who lives and who dies. He governs absolutely, and can overturn any decision made by the elders. It is even said that if you dream ill of him, he will know.”

So the magic of Drakan’s kin is true, then.

Theodore reached to his sword and drew comfort from its cold hilt.

Gar’rth breathed deeply before continuing.

“But whatever the truth, Malak sent my parents to Castle Drakan before I was born. Several years later, only my mother returned to Canifis, with me as an infant. My father, an elder, was killed only a few months before I was born.

“It was the thought of him-murdered on a vampire’s whim- that started my path to rebellion. I was ten when I first asked my mother about Castle Drakan, for by then I had heard the stories the other children whispered about me. She refused to speak of it, and we grew apart, for the memories were painful to her.

“When I was thirteen, her brother came and took an interest in me. His name was Jerrod. He was a hunter, and would spend weeks away from Canifis trading with gypsies-” Gar’rth looked at the table suddenly and avoided their stare.

I know what he will say. We have all suspected it.

“Sometimes he brought human children and slaves to Canifis, sold by the gypsies.”

The cleric Drezel groaned and took his silver star in his hand. Reldo watched, transfixed, his eyes never leaving Gar’rth’s face. Gideon Gleeman looked once to the remains of the pig on the spit and grimaced.

“I am sorry for what happened to them. But that year everything changed for me. My friends and I were forced to witness the blooding of those a few years older than we were. Malak carried it out, and each of them had to drink innocent blood and swear to Zamorak.

“They were different after that. They were cruel and enjoyed the pain of others. Yet my friends and I were terrified by what we had seen, as was intended by Malak, to prepare us for our own blooding, to make us strong.

“That night, I took an oath. I promised to escape. My mother knew I was different from others, and it made her hate me.” Gar’rth shook his head and wiped his hand across his face.

“She hated me,” he said quietly. “On the night she died, she said I was a curse on her, and when she was gone, Jerrod hated me more, blaming me for her death. That was when he took over my care.”

“Care?” Doric growled. “That is hardly the word I would use.”

Gar’rth smiled for a moment.

“You are right, my friend. Jerrod thought me weak. He often beat me, and told me how soon I would undergo my own blooding. He found amusement in that.

“But my blooding was put back. I was slower developing than my friends. Some said it was the curse of Meiyerditch, that my birth there had affected me somehow. In Canifis, being different makes you an outcast. Jerrod grew angrier, his punishments harsher, and I watched again as my friends underwent their blooding and gave themselves to Zamorak.

“Then I was alone in Canifis, so I decided it was time to fulfil my oath. I planned my escape, over many months.

“Jerrod helped me, though accidentally. He regularly took me with him on his hunts, forcing me to run until I collapsed, at first, before I grew strong enough to keep up with him and then to run faster than him. And he taught me the secret routes around Canifis. Ways used by the hunters, through swamps and marsh known to very few. In tormenting me, he had given me a strength beyond many of my race, and knowledge of secret ways which would allow me to escape.

“After several weeks, I crossed the Salve far to the south of here, forced to do so as Jerrod very nearly caught me. The power of the river prevented him from crossing, but it was no hindrance to me, for, as the monks found, I am still an innocent, untainted by Zamorak. Then I believed I was free, until some weeks later, when I caught his scent among the farming communities and woods.”

“That would be Lumbridge,” Ruthven said. “Last year we trailed a beast that crossed the river, and followed it there, where we lost the trail. That must have been Jerrod.”

Gar’rth nodded.

“Then I must thank you. He would have caught me if you hadn’t pursued him. I used all the tricks I knew to lose him. I followed rivers, I double-backed over many miles and long days and tried to hide in crowds. As the winter closed in, I turned west and north, before I found my way to Taverley and into the arms of Ebenezer. I was exhausted then. I could not have gone farther, and without his help I would have died. Or worse.”

Gar’rth took another draught of water.

“But Jerrod could not keep his discipline. I know that he murdered a young mother and her child south of Falador, and Theodore himself discovered the wreck of the gypsy caravan after he killed three more. How many others he slaughtered, before and since then, I don’t know, but their deaths haunt me.”

Gar’rth gave Kara a long look. In return she nodded slowly.

She has travelled with Gar’rth after the war. Theodore mused. She and Arisha will know all this already. He felt a sudden stab of jealousy.

“But I know this also,” Gar’rth continued. “To leave him alive is a death sentence to others. That is why we followed him into The Wilderness. He must be found. He must be destroyed.”

“That will be Varrock’s task now,” Lord Despaard said. “For all his evil, Jerrod is only one individual. Our task is more important, dealing with Morytania, and the unknown.”

Albertus Black slumped suddenly, waking to catch himself with a stir.

He is too old for this. He should not be coming.

“We have travelled far today,” Ruthven said with a sidelong glance at the old man. “And we have another journey tomorrow. I think we should all find our beds.”

Those at the table rose as a distant chime sounded.

“It is midnight,” Ruthven observed grimly as he listened. “And that is an eastern bell, for the wind heralds from Morytania tonight. Should any of you have cause to venture outside, do not go beyond the gatehouse. It will be guarded. And when you do rest, lock your windows and keep your weapons close at hand, for such winds have carried far worse than stale air.”

Theodore saw Doric roll his eyes.

“We aren’t even in Morytania yet,” the dwarf said with ill-disguised contempt. “Surely we are safe on this side of the river, dark or day, wind or no wind.”

Ruthven shook his head bitterly.

“There are those who think so. I was once one of them, yet I paid for that arrogance with everything I loved in life. Now all that remains to me is vengeance.”

Outside the manor house, but still within easy reach of the torch that burned above the doorway, Doric lit his pipe. Theodore watched the dwarf’s nose wrinkle in sudden delight at the smell. It was comforting to him, as well.

“Well, what’s on your mind squi-” Doric growled and corrected himself. “-Sir Knight?”

Theodore grinned hesitatingly. He still wasn’t used to it either.

And after wanting it for so long, since I was a boy.

Is it all I thought it would be? Something seems to be missing now. So much has happened in such a short space of time.

“I am worried,” he said, “about Albertus. Do you not think he is too frail to take part in this journey?”

“He’s a younger man than I by thirty winters,” Doric sighed, scuffing at the ground with his right foot as if kicking a nagging doubt. “But this is not a fight we are going to. It is a diplomatic mission.” He grunted softly and whispered. “At least I hope it is, anyhow.”

“It’s not just him I worry about, Doric. I am still worried about Ebenezer…”

“There was nothing any of us could do for him in Varrock, squire,” Doric said, making no effort to correct himself this time. “Better to be here, with your friends, by their side when they need you. Here, we can make a difference.”

“I hope so, Doric. I hope so.”

Somewhere beyond the gatehouse and near the moat, a goose honked several times. A duck replied with a high-pitched squawk of its own, as if they were two neighbours arguing.

“Do they have birds in Morytania?” Doric asked quietly.

Theodore shook his head.

“I don’t think so. Gar’rth never mentioned them.”

“Ah, but I am glad I know his tale now. Long have I wanted to understand his history.” Doric took the pipe from his mouth. “And Ebenezer would wish to know also. Might we ask Reldo to write down Gar’rth’s account of his past, so that it can be relayed to Varrock for when he wakes?”

“Yes. I will do that tomorrow,” Theodore agreed. “He can complete it at Paterdomus if necessary. It would good for Ebenezer to know what we have heard from Gar’rth’s own account, and William can take it back to the city when he returns.”

Doric nodded and remained silent.

“Are you afraid Doric?” Theodore spoke quickly, fearing he would falter unless he rushed the words. “I am, of what we will find in Morytania.”

Doric took the pipe from his mouth and beat it gently against his palm.

“Me, too. I think we all are. Especially Gar’rth himself. Lord Despaard’s man sticks to him like a second shadow. Perhaps they suspect he will run.”

The dwarf gave the knight a long look.

“What would you do if he did?” Doric asked quietly. “If you knew he was going to go tonight, with Kara?”

No! They won’t make it. Not with all of Misthalin in pursuit. Kara is too hot-headed.

“Are they planning that?” Theodore asked with a gasp. “Truly, Doric, are they going to do so?”

The dwarf shook his head.

“Kara suggested it to me on the journey here. Arisha and I talked her out of it, I think.”

“And what did Gar’rth wish to do?”

“Kara didn’t mention it to him. He was watched too closely. She thinks that if he goes back to Morytania, he will die.”

“Gar’rth doesn’t believe so, though,” Theodore said, but he knew he sounded uncertain. “And he knows better than any of us.”

Doric sighed.

“That is what I told her. The blood mark should be his guarantee, but she didn’t believe so-not against Lord Drakan.”

“That’s the real riddle behind all of this,” the knight said. “Why is Gar’rth wanted so much?”

The two friends fell into silence. From the moat, the goose and the duck exchanged a final insult before they too fell quiet.

It’s like a calm. A calm before a storm.

They stood a moment longer, enjoying the night, looking up at the clear sky away from the light of the torch, before they turned inside and made their way to their beds.

Theodore could not find sleep-Doric’s words plagued him.

It was shortly after the chimes sounded again, far off, muted by distance, and no more than four or five bells, that he heard another sound, the sound of a footstep in the passageway outside.

It’s her. I know it is.

He stood in silence, grimacing as his shoulder ached. He had kept the latch lifted on his door, so it would not give him away should he need to enter the passageway undetected.

She can’t be so foolish as this. I will confront her, quietly. If Despaard finds out, then she will be sent back to Varrock as a prisoner.

The door opened as silently as he hoped it would.

In the dim light, a shadow moved.

“Kara?” Theodore whispered.

The shadow stopped and turned, and then stepped closer.

It was Arisha.

“I know who you are watching for, Theodore. But she promised me she would not run. Not until Paterdomus at least. Once there, we will hopefully be able to test the power of the blood mark and see if it holds.”

“And if it doesn’t? Do you run then?”

“I shall do as my conscience dictates, Theodore. Goodnight.”

She vanished, leaving him alone and feeling oddly guilty.

He ground his teeth in silent anger and returned to his room.

And this time, he closed the latch behind him.

They left early, riding in a northerly direction before the sun was up. Theodore was tired from lack of sleep, and they had only been going a few hours when Simon gave a curse.

“It’s my horse,” he said angrily as the eastern horizon was drenched in a shade of pink which grew lighter by the moment. “There’s something wrong with him.”

The column halted as the man dismounted. Theodore rode near to see for himself.

“His breathing is irregular,” Simon muttered as the animal gave an excited neigh. “That is unlike him,” he commented, stepping back to avoid a kick from a rear leg. They waited several minutes, Despaard becoming increasingly impatient, as the man tried to persuade his steed to rejoin the column.

“We have a long ride today,” Drezel observed. “We cannot afford delays. We are still not far from Lord Ruthven’s manor, but there are few places along the road ahead where we will find shelter and aid. If the animal can’t go on, you should turn back.”

“He will come,” Simon shouted grimly. He mounted once more and glared at Gar’rth. “You’ll not lose me that easily, wolf.”

They continued on until midday, by which time it was obvious that something was wrong. And not solely with Simon’s horse. Four other animals that belonged to Lord Despaard’s men slowed and then stopped altogether.

“They are unwell,” one of the men observed. “My lord, these animals won’t make it to Paterdomus tonight.” He gave them a careful look. “Maybe not anywhere else, either.”

Ruthven cursed.

“We don’t have spare steeds for the men. They will have to turn back and take the animals with them.”

“You would reduce our escort by half?” Despaard asked.

“Is that safe?” Gideon Gleeman stammered.

“My lords,” Drezel intervened, “I have travelled this route many a time. The road from here-through the Mountain Pass of Silvarea-is rarely plagued by bandits, or anything else. Many pilgrims travel this route without a guard, so I think we shall be safe so long as the daylight holds. It is the darkness on the mountain road that is more dangerous, and no escort will alleviate that.”

“Very well,” Despaard said. “We will stop for lunch now. Then those with the failing horses will have to return home.” The column dismounted while three of the escort kept a loose lookout from a hillock at the road’s eastern edge. Theodore noted instantly how exhausted Albertus Black was, and knew he wasn’t alone in thinking so.

“You should rest Albertus,” Arisha told him as she helped him find his seat on a tree-stump.

“It’s my old bones is all, Sally,” he said wearily.

Theodore saw the amused smile on Arisha’s face.

“Sally isn’t here, Albertus. She is in Varrock. With Ebenezer.”

The old man made a gruff apology as he leaned his head back against the tree. Within a short moment he was asleep.

“He is not well,” Arisha confided to her friends a short while later. “Sally told me so before we left. That is one reason why he insisted upon coming.”

“A last adventure?” Kara sighed angrily. “We can’t protect him, though. If things go wrong in Morytania, then our swords-”

“Will be next to useless anyhow,” Doric interrupted. “It is Castimir’s magic in which we should have more faith against the forces of Lord Drakan. Besides, we go to parley, not to fight.”

Castimir nodded.

“Doric’s right, Kara. With luck we shouldn’t have to fight at all. Although thanks to a canny suggestion by Arisha, no longer will I make the mistake of keeping my runes in one place, where they can easily be taken from me the way Jerrod did at the monastery. Watch.”

Theodore saw him flick his wrist and a weighted paper, twisted at both ends, slipped from the inside of his voluminous sleeve, directly into his right hand. He pulled the paper apart and revealed three of the pebble-like runes inside.

“Arisha stitched pockets into my sleeves and at the top of my boots,” the wizard explained. “This way it will be highly unlikely that I will be disarmed as easily as last time. If we meet Jerrod again, then I will make certain of him.”

After lunch, Ruthven addressed the seven men whose horses showed the worst signs of illness. Among them was Simon, who cast the werewolf an angry look.

“Have my steward check their bedding and feed,” he instructed the men as they parted. “It might be that some poisonous plant has got into their food.” With that, the column continued onward.

“If it happens to our animals, then we will be left alone in the Pass of Silvarea.” Gideon Gleeman said as they rode on.

“Troll country is it?” Doric asked eagerly.

“No,” Drezel informed him sharply. “There are no trolls there, as you will see shortly.”

Theodore found himself riding alongside Lord William. The young man looked uncomfortable, and his face was pale.

Is he afraid even here?

The noble must have seen Theodore’s concerned look, for he responded with a wan smile.

“I am not used to riding for so long. Hurts the thighs,” he said, and sighed.

“Perhaps you should have gone back with the escort,” Theodore suggested. “You could be in Varrock shortly, back with Lady Caroline.”

William grinned, and when Kara rode alongside them she gave the nobleman a knowing look.

“She is a nice lady, William,” Kara said. “It will be a lucky man who wins her. And I would like to offer her my thanks, for she saved me some embarrassment at the dance by sending her maid to help me dress. Although I saw her on the day we left, on the terrace, I didn’t have time to stop.” She flashed her smile. “She looked very happy on that terrace, Lord William.”

Kara urged her horse on and rode to join Gar’rth near the front of the column. William gulped.

I have missed something there.

They rode on as William gazed elsewhere.

“So you and Lady Caroline…” Theodore said.

William lowered his face, and Theodore saw how he had gone red.

So it’s true!

“Say no more, William,” he said with a smile. “I can guess the rest.”

Up ahead, Ruthven was urging them to quicken their pace. It was afternoon, and the land had changed. The verdant green of the woods had given way to harder ground, and before them- rising like two gateposts set for giants-stood the entrance to the Mountain Pass of Silvarea. It was a daunting place, devoid of colour and life.

“Hard to think anyone would fight a war over this, isn’t it?” William said at Theodore’s side as they entered the pass. The pinnacles of the mountain tops were so high that the valley floor was near-permanently in shadow, save at midday when the sun was directly overhead, and that had passed some hours since. So they rode in a grey twilight, the cool air and the echoes of their voices upon the rock faces made Theodore think they were in an otherworldly realm.

“This is the Pass of Silvarea,” Drezel explained, his voice heard by all in the stifling quiet. “Legend tells that a battle was fought here between Morytania and Misthalin in a war that lasted a hundred years. Nothing lives here now, save one old man who scavenges bones for a living. He has been doing that since before I ever came here, the poor mad fool.”

Suddenly Doric gave a shriek. Theodore turned in his saddle to see the dwarf lean precariously to one side as a black shape vanished into the shadows. Castimir was by him in an instant, steadying him before he fell.

“What was that?” Ruthven shouted angrily.

“It was a bat!” Doric replied defensively. “A huge one. Came right for me.”

“For the love of Saradomin,” Ruthven cursed. “If you shout like that in Morytania, then the embassy will be short-lived indeed.”

“Not all creatures are what they seem,” Gar’rth warned. “Especially here, so close to the river.”

Drezel nodded.

“You are correct. And bats perhaps more so than others. Is it not true, Gar’rth, that the more powerful of the vampire race can turn themselves into a bat or a wolf?”

Gar’rth shook his head.

“I do not know. But they are powerful.”

“If they are that powerful, then how come they haven’t crossed the Salve in such a guise?” Doric asked. “Why not fly over?”

“The holy barrier that separates our world from theirs is best viewed as a sphere,” Reldo said. “The river is just one side of it, so you could imagine it towering into the sky and maybe deep beneath the earth.” The young librarian smiled sourly, and looked at Gar’rth. “I have been reading up on all things to do with Morytania. That is my job-to read histories and accounts of your land and try and see if they are true. There is much in the library in Varrock that isn’t, however. Such as that accursed prophecy,” he finished bitterly.

“Papelford believes it,” Ruthven told him. “And the Wyrd seems to, as well.”

Reldo lowered his gaze sullenly and whispered under his breath so quietly that only Theodore, nearby, heard him.

“Papelford’s a selfish old fool.”

Then Kara spoke.

“Tell us of the vampires, Gar’rth. What are they really like?”

“Time is nothing to them,” he replied. “Their plans span human lifetimes, but they become bored…”

“They have no ambitions,” Despaard added when Gar’rth hesitated. “They do not age, so if any were to study magic, for example, and possessed the will to persevere for centuries, then they would, inevitably, become as great as any sorcerer who has ever dwelt on this world. But, in truth, it must be a miserable existence, and they would likely forget all of their education after a century or two.”

“Oh, no. No, I disagree,” Albertus Black said. “Think what I could do, or what Ebenezer could do, if we had centuries to practise and perfect our science, to experiment and theorise and experiment again? Every field of discovery would be laid bare for the good of all peoples.”

“You would lose your ambition my friend,” Ruthven warned bitterly. “It is our mortality that defines us-it gives our human lives meaning and impetus. Not so if centuries become mere weeks or hours. What joy would you take in a summer afternoon or the simple blossoming of a flower? To you, these would pass by without notice. It would be but a pale shadow of your current existence, albeit a far longer one.”

Albertus made to reply, but the look on Ruthven’s face, suddenly angry, seemed to persuade him otherwise. After a moment, Theodore turned to Reldo and Lord William, and when he spoke he did so in an undertone.

“Tell me about Lord Ruthven,” he said. “He mentioned last night that his wife died in agony at the hands of Lord Drakan’s servants. Is that true?”

William nodded quickly.

“It is. The Gaunt Herald, many believe,” he said grimly.

“The Gaunt Herald?” Theodore asked.

“There is a legend,” Reldo continued, “going back centuries, of how a herald of a King of Misthalin displeased his monarch. The man was executed in an offering to Morytania. He was sent across the river to appease Drakan and his ilk. It is said that he appears to offer you your heart’s deSire, in exchange for something monstrous. In many tales that is the child of the victim, or the murder of an innocent…” He looked over his shoulder furtively. “Did you see that painting in the great hall above the fireplace? The one with the woman and child?”

Theodore nodded.

“That was his wife, before her illness, and the baby was Lord Ruthven’s daughter,” Reldo continued. “I have heard some whisper that one winter, many years gone, when Lady Ruthven lay ill, something came to visit him. People say it was the Gaunt Herald, on his horse of bones. He is supposed to be a hairless man of immense height, dressed in a black robe, his skin stretched so tightly he wears a permanent horrible lear. Others say that to see him is death-”

“Hardly very practical for a herald,” William mocked gently.

Reldo ignored him.

“No one knows what he offered Lord Ruthven. Some say it was the crown of Misthalin, or wealth to restore his family’s respect and influence, while others say it was his wife’s life, and no one knows what was asked in exchange. But whatever the truth of it, his wife did die. She died horribly.”

William and Theodore exchanged a look.

“Well?” the nobleman prompted.

“I have read an account of her last day, given by her Ladyship’s maid before she died. She dictated it to Papelford some years ago. Of course, he believed it to be the ravings of a mind strained by age. But nonetheless… the wife’s illness worsened. The account says it was a terrible affliction, and that at the end of it black maggots burst from her body to consume her, as punishment for her husband’s refusal to deal with the Gaunt Herald.”

“And what happened to the child?” Theodore asked.

Reldo gave a mirthless grin.

“I don’t know. Lord Ruthven has no children now. It might be she was the price asked for by the Gaunt Herald, and that the lord refused. You have to understand, Sir Theodore, that every man in the Society of the Owl has lost someone they loved to the lord beyond the river, or that is what palace whispers say. I am not yet a member myself.”

“Do you hope to be, if you have to lose those you love?” the knight asked.

“In my position as librarian and archivist, Sir Theodore, I should be exempt from that entry requirement. I believe Papelford was, years ago, and though we don’t get along he can’t doubt my ability. I can remember every book I have ever read, chapter and verse. It is Saradomin’s blessing.”

“We all have the blessing of the gods upon us, one way or the other,” William said darkly.

“And who has Lord Despaard lost that has turned him into such a man?” Theodore asked. Reldo shook his head.

“He has been doing his job since before I was born, Sir Theodore. I do not know his story.”

A cry went up from the head of the column as they rounded a bend in the pass. It was Drezel’s voice, raised in a cheer.

“There is Paterdomus,” the cleric said, pointing to the east. In the distance, framed on both sides by the valley walls, a land of trees and bare low hills drenched in evening sunlight extended all the way to a great black cathedral on the river’s western bank, its single tower taller than any Theodore had seen. Beyond that lay a realm in shadow, without feature, as if an artist had first painted the horizon and then smudged it to obscure any sense of detail.

“Paterdomus. I can feel its power,” Arisha said in awe. “This is what protects the Salve. This is Saradomin’s great work for our age.”

“And long may it continue,” Drezel said. “But now we must hasten, if we are to arrive before midnight, for a soft bed awaits each of you.”

He led the column forward, their eagerness to end their journey renewed now that their destination was in sight.

They rode down into the woodland, east along the King’s Road, and for an hour the tower of Paterdomus disappeared behind the trees and the low bare hills. In the darkness under the boughs, it was hard to see very far ahead.

Suddenly Theodore went cold.

If Kara means to run with Gar’rth, then surely this is the place. It’s dark to us, which would not bother them, and there is barely an escort now, since the horses fell ill.

He hastened forward on his mare and drew alongside Arisha.

“Kara promised not to run until Paterdomus,” he said. “That was what you said.”

The priestess nodded in the twilight.

“Are you certain they do not mean to do so now? It would be easy for them-with the escort halved.”

Arisha smiled wickedly.

What is so funny?

“Did you notice those blue plants that grew in the bailey in the King’s palace, Theodore-the ones with five petals?”

“No,” he replied. “What has that got to do with anything?” He felt his face flush in anger.

“I told you I would do what my conscience dictated. Those plants were lupins. I took many of their seeds before we left. Here, can you see them?”

She held her hand close to his face. Theodore could just make out a light coloured collection of round seeds.

By Saradomin! What has she done?

“What are you saying, Arisha?”

“They can be fatal to horses, but I only gave their mounts a small handful, coated in honey, before dawn. My people understand animals and plants Theodore, and we know what makes them ill. Not all the escorts’ steeds have been affected, and those that have been will recover very soon.”

“You… but why?”

Theodore felt his head spin.

“If they wish to go, then I have given them better odds,” she said. “I have done my duty by them.”

“Do they know?”

“Kara might. She knows something of plants herself, but I haven’t told them.”

Theodore looked down the column to where Gar’rth and Kara rode. They were barely visible in the darkness.

“You know how impatient she is,” he gritted. “You may have condemned them both!”

His hand fell to his sword as he galloped up the pathway to Kara’s side.

“What is it?” Albertus asked, suddenly alarmed.

I cannot accuse them of planning to run-not yet. Not in front of everyone else.

“Gar’rth, can you smell anyone?” he asked. “I thought I saw someone in the darkness off the road,” he lied. “We must be sure we all remain together.”

He stared hard into Kara’s face.

“We cannot have people wandering from the path,” he added.

He saw Kara frown slightly.

“Theodore is right,” Gar’rth said, much to the knight’s surprise. “There is someone nearby. But in front, not behind.”

“Unless there is more than one,” Despaard said as he drew his sword quietly.

“They might be pilgrims hiding from us,” Drezel commented loudly.

“Drezel? Is that your voice I hear?” A man called from farther down the road, to the east.

“It is I,” the monk called back. “Is that you, Martin?”

A monk appeared on the road, leading a mule behind him. Despite the gloom, Theodore saw Drezel smile as the man’s face drew close enough to be seen.

“Martin, what are you doing upon the King’s Road at this hour? It is not always safe.”

“I have come alone,” Martin said. “We received word of your arrival by pigeon from Varrock this morning, and with it news for your friends. Where is Kara-Meir and the Knight Theodore? For it concerns Ebenezer.”

“Here!” Kara shouted. “Tell me what word of him?”

“He has woken, but only briefly. However, his nurses are hopeful now. The message says he woke for the first time for an hour before slipping back into sleep, and that when he spoke he did so lucidly. It seems his mind is still his own, thanks be to Saradomin.”

“Now there’s a small mercy,” Castimir whispered with relief. At their side Doric gave a joyful cheer.

“Then come!” Drezel commanded. “This blessed news is an augur of good fortune for the dark road ahead. We cannot be more than an hour from Paterdomus now.”

The column surged ahead, and Theodore made sure he rode at Kara’s side, separating her from Gar’rth.

Let them think what they may, he decided. This is to ensure their own safety, to prevent them from acting stupidly.

It is not a symptom of my jealousy.

20

Kara remained silent for the short distance that remained, and refused to talk to Theodore.

His jealousy is obvious, she fumed. I put aside my conflict with Lady Anne, it is his turn to do so now. We have far more important things before us.

The ride was even quicker than Drezel had promised, and as the dusk deepened into night and the air grew cold against her skin, they crested the final hillock on the King’s Road to face the enormity of Paterdomus.

The temple of Saradomin rose above them into the darkness, its upper reaches impossible to see. A black edifice of towering strength that had long provided the first line of defense against the horrors that lay across the river.

Kara shared a glance with Gar’rth, and she felt Theodore’s gaze upon her.

But Gar’rth shook his head near imperceptibly, and Kara loosened the grip on her reins.

“Can you prepare the blood mark tonight?” Despaard asked Reldo as they approached the great wooden doors.

“I can, my lord,” the archivist replied. “Though I would be grateful of something to eat first.”

“You shall have it my friends,” Martin said from the head of the column as he dismounted from his mule. “The monks have been working since they received news of your journey. There is fresh bread, cheese, soups, roasted poultry and even wine.” The young man approached the door and banged the heavy knocker several times.

“We must try to make contact with Morytania tonight,” Despaard said grimly. “We cannot waste a moment.”

Reldo nodded.

“We must test the blood mark, before the embassy proceeds,” he said as several monks appeared in response to Martin’s summons.

“Then I will cross the river first to see if it works,” Gar’rth said.

“No, Gar’rth,” Albertus stated as he was helped from his steed by the monks. “It must be a valid test. The recipient must be… human.” The werewolf peered at him for a moment, then nodded.

The remaining escort took care of the animals as the embassy advanced slowly and with aching legs up the steep flight of black stone steps, then through the enormous doors. Across the cavernous interior stood an altar to Saradomin, larger than any Kara had ever seen. Even Theodore seemed impressed.

To one side, under the great stone arches that bordered the nave, a long table with a white cloth had been set up, illuminated with silver candles and laden with the food Martin had promised.

“Many of our order are in Varrock,” Drezel told them as the group was invited to sit and eat. “They will arrive in a day or two with enough supplies to see us through the winter. When the snows come, Silvarea is impassable.”

“This must be a lonely vigil,” Doric muttered as he took his first drink from his goblet of wine.

“It has been known to drive men mad,” Drezel noted with a sigh. “There was a time, according to our records, when serving at Paterdomus was regarded as an honour among the youth of Misthalin. Boys would come here, too young to shave, and they would leave as men, having learned to face their fears and to serve their god with honour.”

Lord William raised a critical eyebrow before hiding his expression behind his wine goblet. Drezel shook his head sorrowfully.

“I fear Paterdomus has been long neglected by rulers and the people alike. For many, the danger from The Wilderness has surpassed the threat from Morytania. Yet that is a serious lapse of judgement. Few are we who guard the east now.”

Kara finished her first goblet of wine in silence, she was too tired to talk now. As she buttered her bread, she watched Reldo finish wolfing down his food, then stand and step to the altar. The young man read to himself from a leather-bound book, and then examined a silver knife intently, before turning his attention to a silver chalice the monks had provided that stood upon the altar.

She had only taken her first spoonful of soup when Reldo looked up excitedly.

“I think I’m ready,” he announced. “Who wishes to test it?”

“So quickly?” Ruthven asked sceptically. “You must be certain it is correct.”

“It is a simple enough ward, in truth,” Reldo explained. “A slight cut on your palm to draw blood, which is then washed in Salve water and blessed by a monk of Saradomin. It serves to demonstrate that the bearer is human, an outsider and that they are to be protected by Saradomin’s blessing.” He handed Drezel a piece of parchment.

“Are you certain it will work, Reldo?” Kara asked. “At the Parliament you had your doubts.”

Reldo smiled sheepishly.

“Usually it is the other way around Kara-Meir. I am often the one who is accused of believing in legends rather than fact, but Papelford gave me this book before we left Varrock. He keeps his own library, you see, one that I am not yet allowed to view.” The archivist shook his head irritably. “It is what he regards as my apprenticeship. I am only permitted to catalogue the works in the palace library, help ascertain their true origin, and build an index of subjects for quicker reference. It is tiresome work.”

“Which books does he keep in his own library?” Castimir asked with interest.

“Proper books,” Reldo replied. “Books that are known to be valuable in the war against Morytania. Not the waffle I am forced to wade through-”

“Enough!” Despaard commanded from the head of the table. “Papelford has toiled for more years than you have drawn breath Reldo. He can be abrasive at times, and highly defensive of his library, but you know how old he is. I doubt he will be with us for too much longer, and then a new archivist will be needed.” He fixed the young man with his dour stare. “Someone who understands the basics, Reldo, someone who knows the books and remembers what he reads.

“You would do well to prove yourself.”

Reldo turned away, embarrassed.

“So who will test the blood mark?” Ruthven asked.

There was a brief pause.

“I would not object,” Albertus said. “I am old, yet I am human. If it goes awry, then I have the least to lose.”

“That is noble indeed,” Ruthven said. “But I would rather send someone who has a decent chance of escape, someone younger. What I propose is this-”

“Just outside the temple there is a bridge to the other side of the river. The bridge is hallowed ground. Once upon it, the tester will be safe. Whoever chooses to test it will step onto the opposite bank… and wait.

“Then we shall see how Morytania responds. The bridge will only be a few steps away.”

“Wait for Morytania to respond? What if no one answers? You could be doing the same thing every night for months,” William observed.

“There is a gong upon the eastern terrace that overlooks the bridge from above,” Drezel replied. “We can sound that to draw their attention.” The monk shook his head. “I have to say that no one has sounded that gong for many a year. Here, we like the silence, for it cannot be wise to draw the attention of the dead to the living. Nonetheless, who will go to test the blood mark?”

An awkward silence fell as the party thought on Drezel’s words. Kara saw Theodore look to her briefly, his eyes calm, as if he was reaching the conclusion of a long thought. She saw him turn to Despaard, drain his goblet, and prepare to speak.

“I will go,” Kara announced, pre-empting Theodore’s words. “I am fast enough-probably more so than anyone else here.”

“And I shall be behind you, Kara,” Drezel said. “I have crossed before and know what to expect, and I am a fast runner, as well. But we must be cautious, for if the ravenous appear, then I doubt the blood mark will offer any protection.”

“The ravenous?” Arisha asked.

“They are vampires who have been driven mad by their hunger,” Drezel explained. “Often they are so old they have forgotten all language and identity, and have been abandoned by their masters to starve in the swamps. They are rarely seen this far north, yet we should still be cautious.”

“Then the rest of us will watch from the terrace above the bridge,” Despaard said. “The escort has bows and arrows and will cover you as best they can. You just be ready to run, Kara, not to fight. Remember that, no matter what you feel out there.”

Quickly, ignoring the desperate looks of Theodore and Gar’rth, she stepped to the altar and held her right hand out to Reldo. The archivist held it in his clammy grip, the silver knife hovering above her palm.

“This might hurt a little…” he said as he made a small cut. Kara watched unmoved as a tiny red line grew in strength. Reldo then washed her hand in water poured from the silver chalice.

“Now, Drezel, you must bless the mark. Call upon Saradomin to guard her.”

The monk took her hand and did as Reldo said. He spoke in a language unknown to Kara, and as she turned to her friends she saw that Theodore was speaking in a similar tongue, his eyes closed in concentration.

“It is the language of the priests of Entrana, Kara-Meir,” Reldo whispered. “Some believe it was the language that Saradomin himself spoke when he lived among us, and that he prefers to hear prayers made in his tongue. I know a little of it myself, as does Sir Theodore, as you would expect of a knight of Falador.”

After a bare minute, Drezel finished.

“Let us hope Saradomin heard my prayer,” he said as he led Kara eastward to where a double door was revealed, hidden behind a heavy tapestry.

…or else this might be a short embassy indeed, she added silently.

She could tell by the dust kicked up from the tapestry that the doors had not been opened for a long time. When they were opened inward, a cold blast of air raced through from the outside. Kara shivered as Drezel led her out onto a narrow bridge-so narrow that two people would struggle to pass each other. At waist height an iron railing ran along the bridge’s edge. The land beyond was hidden in gloom, even to her eyes, yet it was no more than twenty yards away. Below, in a deep ravine, the sound of rushing water could be heard.

“It’s a long drop,” Kara observed.

“This bridge is strengthened by more than stone, Kara-Meir. This is the narrowest stretch of the river. Have faith.”

I have chosen Guthix over Saradomin, Drezel. I just hope he’s listening.

With a deep breath, Kara stepped onto the bridge. Overhead the rattle of a bolt being drawn back told her that her friends watched from above.

“Don’t go far beyond the bridge, Kara,” Doric called down.

“I shall sound the gong five times, Kara,” Martin called.

BONG.

The eerie sound seemed slow to Kara’s ears, as if the air through which it travelled tried desperately to hush it.

BONG.

“Come Kara. Let us go,” Drezel said behind her.

BONG.

She was halfway across when the darkness of the opposite bank began to clear. The shadows were unnaturally deep, as if there was something there, rather than the simple interruption of light. At the bridge’s end lay a small clearing from which extended a narrow road running eastward. Beyond that, the land was covered in dense foliage which hid the road as it rounded a bend to the north.

BONG.

There is little room for error here, she observed. If there is an enemy in the undergrowth, then I will have only seconds to avoid it.

BONG.

Then there was only silence, for the pounding of her heart made her deaf to any other sound. There was no rushing of water from below, no encouragement from behind her. There was nothing.

Kara took a breath and waited for a moment more to allow her eyes to adjust. Finally, she took the last step that carried her onto the bank, into Morytania.

The air was different. It tasted stale to Kara, and reminded her of mouldy bread. She felt as though she was a different country, as if she had travelled very far very quickly, for it was cold here, whereas it had been summer in Misthalin.

“Speak, Kara. Declare you intention,” Drezel called from behind her. She knew he was barely an arm’s length away, on the bridge, yet the sound seemed to come from a great distance.

“My name is Kara-Meir.” She tried to shout but her voice was faint. She took a deep breath and started again.

“I am Kara-Meir. I am here at the behest of King Roald the Third of Misthalin. I wear the blood mark, which the inhabitants of your realm have in times past honoured. My companions and I seek an audience with Lord Drakan.”

The trees nearby swayed in response, but there was nothing more.

For a long moment Kara waited.

“Is that it then?” she asked. “Are we to be ignored?”

Still, only the trees swayed.

“Very well, then,” she said. “I shall return tomorrow.”

Kara turned her back on Morytania.

She saw Drezel’s face break into fear as something crashed through the foliage behind her, something man-sized and hungry.

Gods!

Her heart pounded and a cold icicle ran up her spine. Never had she felt such fear. Something whipped overhead, a noise like tearing fabric.

“Run, Kara, run! In the name of Saradomin, run!” Theodore’s voice carried over the river.

She ran, not daring to look back, toward the thin sliver of light that poured out from the open doors.

It’s too far away!

Whatever it was snarled behind her, and something brushed against the back of her neck, but then her foot landed on hard stone and even as her legs gave way beneath her, she knew she was safe. She clutched at the iron railing as Drezel’s hand grabbed her shoulder.

“You are safe, Kara-Meir,” he breathed. “You are safe. Look now, if you will, at what sought your blood.”

Kara looked back over her shoulder.

Undead eyes stared back from only two yards away, at the bridge’s end. It looked to be a pale-faced man, with shoulder-length hair, great clumps of which were missing. It was clothed only in a ragged knee-length shirt. An arrow pierced its shoulder. It was a shot that would have sent any mortal creature reeling. But its red eyes remained fixed on Kara, as if it had not even noticed the arrow.

“Is that…?”

“It is one of them, the vampires.” Drezel nodded as he helped Kara to her feet. “One of the ravenous. They exist only to drink blood-they have no other purpose. You must beware, for they are faster and stronger than any human. Such creatures will not respect the blood mark.”

“I have never felt such a fear as that,” she confided to Drezel. “Not even when I first saw Sulla. I have fought in battles, I have killed men and have been near death myself. But nothing was as frightening as that.”

I was so scared I didn’t even reach for a weapon! I’ve never done that. Never.

“There is nothing like fear of the undead,” Drezel explained. “It is something you never grow used to. But still… I have never seen one so close to the river before. We might very well have to destroy it, or else it will pose a risk to the embassy.”

Drezel guided her back over the bridge toward the doorway. Inside she saw Theodore and Gar’rth waiting, the knight armed with his sword, Gar’rth holding Lowe’s bow notched with an adamant-tipped arrow.

“Was that your shot, Gar’rth?” Kara asked him. But the werewolf shook his head grimly and nodded to Despaard.

“It was mine,” the nobleman said. “I have had long and painful cause to be good with a bow. Even so it was a risky shot, and one I would not care to make again. Besides, with the ravenous, such weapons are next to useless.”

Kara gripped him by the shoulder.

“It probably slowed it down though. Another second and-”

She shook her head, afraid to dwell on what might have been.

“Are you certain we are safe here Drezel?” Theodore asked as the monk closed the doors.

“I am surprised a knight of Saradomin questions his god’s power,” the monk replied. “Yes, we are safe here. The blessing has lasted for more than a millennia. It will not falter now.”

“Are you so sure?” Lord William said. “I saw him step onto the bridge, when you had your backs turned and everyone else had come down to meet you.”

Drezel shook his head. “You are mistaken, my lord. There is no way Saradomin would permit that.”

“I tell you I saw it!” Lord William snapped suddenly. “Maybe Saradomin isn’t as strong as you would like us to believe. Perhaps the prophecy is true, after all.”

“My lord,” Reldo responded immediately. “The prophecy is not true. I am certain it was composed by Papelford’s predecessors a century ago, for it does not appear in any texts save those of Varrock.”

“Never mind about the prophecy,” Despaard said. “Did the blood mark actually work? Can we tell if it did?”

Drezel shook his head.

“We cannot. We shall have to try again tomorrow.”

“Then I suggest we all get some sleep,” the nobleman said. “We have had a very long day, and it looks as if we might have another one tomorrow.”

“Very well,” Drezel agreed. “Rooms have been prepared upstairs. In previous centuries they were intended for the royal family, but none have visited Paterdomus for many years. The last time was when King Roald came as a young man.”

As the embassy and its escort dispersed to follow the monks to the sleeping cells, Lord William took Theodore by the arm, his face earnest.

“I know what I saw, Theodore,” he said urgently. “I tell you it was on the bridge!”

“We are safe here, William,” Theodore replied. “Drezel said so, and he has been here for several years without incident.”

“I hope you are right, Theodore,” William said stiffly, his eyes falling on Kara.

He is sincere, she realised. And afraid.

“Ah, you worry too much,” Doric said as he patted William on the back.

Unprepared, William jumped suddenly.

“Don’t touch me!” he said angrily. “Just don’t touch me…” The nobleman calmed himself, gave a sigh, and fingered his silver brooch.

“I am sorry, Doric,” he said. “I am. Please, forgive me, but I am very tired. I am not used to such long rides. I shall go and take a wash. Goodnight.”

At least I’m not the only one with fraught nerves, Kara thought as she followed Martin up the stairs. She was aware of Theodore behind her.

“Kara, we need to talk,” the knight said gently as she entered the room offered her by the monk. Gar’rth waited in the passageway, his escorts nearby.

Even now they don’t trust him, she observed. And neither does Theodore. I know him too well.

“What about?” she asked bluntly.

“About you and Gar’rth, Kara. I-”

“There is nothing to say, Theodore.” Kara cut him off. “And it is childish and stupid, this obsession of yours.” She nodded to Gar’rth in the passage. “And so is his.”

“It is not that, Kara!” Theodore protested angrily before stepping forward and lowering his voice. “I know you were planning to run today, both of you. I am surprised you didn’t after what Arisha did to the horses.”

“Arisha? What did she do?” Kara frowned at him. “She has nothing to do with this, Theodore. It was my decision-and Gar’rth’s. I will not leave a friend to face certain death. But he has made his choice, Gar’rth has decided to stay. He will not run, and nor will I, which is what you are really worried about.”

Theodore drew a sharp breath and his eyes grew cold.

I have hurt him, she knew. Yet I am glad of it. He thinks it his duty to watch me, as if I am a possession. He has always thought like that, ever since he found me. Always judging, always protecting.

“You think ill of me, Kara,” he said finally. “You are wrong.”

Theodore left the room, his hand across his face. Kara exhaled loudly, frustrated, her sudden elation turned to anger and guilt.

We are all tired. And afraid. It makes everyone ill-tempered. I need to sleep.

She reached into her satchel and pulled out two pieces of a broken golden ring with a diamond still whole at the break. It had been her father’s most precious gift to her, for it was his Ring of Life, that had spent its power sending her to Falador, even as her life ebbed away.

She knew she would sleep better with it by her side.

21

Theodore’s eyes widened and he dropped his sword with a cry. His hand closed around his throat as blood flowed unchecked from his rendered flesh, a crimson jet shooting down over his white breastplate.

“Kara…” He fell to his knees, too weak to fight.

Gar’rth turned his attention away from the dying man and back to Kara. She crawled away from him, her adamant sword broken as his feet.

“No,” she said. “Theodore.”

Gar’rth reached down and took Kara by the hair as she screamed. She lashed out, kicking and punching, but her strength wasn’t sufficient to fight back. When she finally stopped, it was his turn.

And when he had finished, the girl that was Kara-Meir, heroine of Falador, lay still on the ground, her blood mingling with the mud, her breathing slow and weakening by the moment.

Gar’rth revelled in the power. He had never felt its like before. Then he turned as the scent of blood threatened to drive him into a frenzy.

They were all there.

My keepers!

Castimir’s corpse lay with Arisha’s head on his chest, her face even more pale in death than it had been in life. Doric’s head was sickeningly twisted, his neck broken. Theodore had slumped back into the mud as his torn throat had allowed his life to flow away, a life haunted in its final moments by the image of the ferocious attack on Kara.

And then his gaze came to rest on Ebenezer. Suddenly the blood lost its sweet smell, his frenzy died, and a great weight settled upon him.

“No!” he cried in spite of himself. “No, I won’t, I didn’t…”

And a voice replied.

“But you will, Gar’rth. You will-and soon.”

He awoke with a cry, drenched in sweat, his heart bruising his ribs. As he yelled one of his guards stood, his hand on the wolfbane dagger at his belt.

“No. No…” Gar’rth gasped. “It was a dream. Just a dream…”

But it was so real.

He could even smell the blood that had stained his hands. Gradually the sensation passed.

Then a cry from outside in the passageway roused the remaining escort. Fists pounded on doors as people ran back and forth shouting. Drezel burst into the room.

“We have an answer! Morytania has answered us,” the monk said over the din. All of the escorts leapt up, and the group followed him to the eastern balcony-the one that overlooked the bridge where Kara had stood only a few hours before.

It was dawn. The sun rose from the east above the blurred landscape that lay beyond the river. It was a blood-red circle that coloured the dawn pink, and although Gar’rth had slept for several hours he felt fatigued and fearful.

That dream. What I did to Kara… and the voice.

He saw the worn faces of his friends, who seemed similarly sapped, and wondered what this meant for their mission. Then he heard Martin’s voice, and turned to listen.

“A mist came up in the night, covering the eastern bank entirely,” he said. “When it broke a few moments ago, as the sun rose, it was as you see it now.”

A skeleton lay impaled upon the bank, at the exact spot where Kara had stood. The stake was large, waist-height, and made of a pale wood.

“It is the ravenous that attacked Kara,” Drezel observed. “It wears the same clothing.”

“But where is the message?” Theodore asked groggily, rubbing his eyes to see more clearly.

Martin gave a nervous cough.

“When I first saw it I ran half-way across the bridge to see. There is a note clutched in the hand of the skeleton, though I could not bring myself to retrieve it. Surely it means that our attempt has been answered, one way or another. Doesn’t it?”

“We need to know for certain,” Gar’rth said. “I shall get it.”

“Then I shall call the blood mark upon you,” Drezel said firmly. “We cannot take unnecessary risks. Reldo, we must act quickly.”

I don’t know if it will have any effect, but it’s best to be cautious, he thought.

Nobody tried to argue, and as they left the balcony Gar’rth was aware that Kara was staring at him in an odd fashion.

Is the guilt of my dream so obvious?

As the swift ceremony was performed, it seemed to him that it was not solely Kara who looked at him askance, but the rest of his friends, as well. But before there could be any questions, he was ready, and he made his way rapidly to the bridge. He advanced to the very end, his right hand held up.

I am being watched now, he knew. Their scent is plain upon the breeze. Werewolves.

“I have the blood mark,” he shouted in the language of his people. “I demand safe passage. I seek an answer to the request of King Roald of Misthalin, who seeks a diplomatic-”

“You have that assurance, Gar’rth,” a voice said in the darkness. “And your answer has been given. It lies in the hand of one who broke its terms. Take it, if you dare set foot in your homeland.”

“You have given me the assurance I need,” Gar’rth said as he stepped out, crouching, ready to leap back to the bridge. He bent quickly and withdrew the note from its skeletal grasp. Somewhere in the darkness, concealed in the foliage, came malicious laughter.

“Don’t be too long in your consideration, boy. Our master won’t wait.”

And then Gar’rth ran-back across the bridge, to Paterdomus-to where his friends waited.

If they are still my friends.

Lord Despaard took the note as Gar’rth re-entered the temple. The nobleman read it quickly before staring up at the expectant gathering. Reldo stroked his beard, Theodore gripped the pommel of his sword. Castimir toyed idly with his runes.

“Well?” Doric huffed.

“They have agreed to meet us,” Despaard said. “We are to cross as soon as we are able, within the next few hours.” The nobleman looked warily to Gar’rth. “And it is signed by Malak himself. Come, we must prepare.”

Many of the escort vanished as the embassy-all save Kara-stood before the altar and Reldo administered the blood mark on each of them. As they stood together, Gar’rth knew he had to take the opportunity.

“Kara, I am frightened,” he said.

“So am I,” she replied.

“Not of Morytania, Kara,” he continued. “Of myself. I had a nightmare last night…”

“I had one also. So did Theodore, Arisha, Castimir and Doric. We spoke of it very briefly while you were across the bridge. It was the same for all of us. You killed us all, Gar’rth, and then you…” Kara turned her grim face away from him.

It’s as if she is ashamed of me.

“I had it too, Kara,” he said. “I woke up screaming. Ask my guards, if you doubt me.”

“I don’t doubt you, Gar’rth,” she said angrily. “I’ve never doubted you,” she continued, more softly. “And don’t you ever start to think like that. It was a dream-that is all.”

“But a dream we all shared?” he replied. “There is more to it than that. What did Castimir say?”

Kara shook her head.

“If it was magic, he has never experienced anything like it, nor heard of such a thing save in legends and fairy tales.”

“But I have heard of such magic before,” he said. “In Canifis, where we are the vampires’ playthings. Sometimes they would send the entire town the same dream. It led to anger and suspicion, and even bloodshed, all to the advantage-or for the amusement- of the masters.”

“It makes your people easier to control, Gar’rth,” Kara said. “If you can’t trust your neighbour, then you are unlikely to rise up in rebellion alongside of him.”

“But what if it’s more than that?” he asked, keeping his voice low. “What if it’s a warning, a portent to tell me that I cannot escape what I am? I have tried hard, Kara-you know it. But maybe it is something I cannot accomplish. Maybe I am meant to embrace him.”

Please tell me you think I am wrong, Kara. I need to hear those words.

But Kara just gazed at him sympathetically and said nothing. The awkward silence was ended as the embassy gathered their equipment together and checked their packs. Their horses were brought from the stables, led across the nave, and all was ready.

Nine of us. Myself, Kara, Theodore, Castimir, Doric, Arisha and Albertus Black, along with Despaard and Gleeman. Varrock is hardly risking much in this embassy. But will any of us return?

As they moved to leave, there was only time to offer a handshake to those that remained behind, and most were done in grim silence, for it was not the time for idle pleasantries. Gar’rth passed them all. Lord Ruthven, Reldo, Drezel, a collection of monks led by Martin, all gave him a cursory farewell, until he reached Lord William.

“Go with my blessing, Gar’rth,” William whispered, leaning forward to embrace him. “You and I are not so different, you know, born with a nature that sets us apart from others, and that forces us to act sometimes against our will. I know you are not an evil man, so I wish you good fortune. If you cross the river again, then you can count on my friendship.”

And then he stepped back to greet Castimir, leaving Gar’rth with no time to reply to the unexpected sentiment. Still his mood was sour, for Lord William’s kind words were the only warm ones in an otherwise cool farewell.

They have what they want. I am gone, no longer King Roald’s problem. And he has been cunning, ensuring that Kara came with me. He knows I will not desert her. He has used her life to guarantee my obedience.

Theodore took the reins of his mare and led it toward the bridge, followed by Castimir leading his yak and horse, the rest falling into line behind them in order to negotiate the narrow crossing.

“Are we certain this is safe?” Gideon Gleeman said as he led his horse to the opposite side.

“As much as it can be,” Despaard replied. “Malak has given his word.” Nevertheless, his hand was clenched around the hilt of his wolfbane dagger.

Gar’rth sniffed the air.

“We are being watched now. I can smell them.”

“Is it a vampire?” Albertus Black asked with excitement.

“No. Vampires give off no scent. It is one of the reasons why my people fear them so much. No. It is my kin. Several of them.” He saw the unease ripple through the group and several hands fell to their daggers.

He looked back to Paterdomus. Upon the balcony he saw those that had travelled with them, Lord William and Lord Ruthven, Reldo and Drezel. Of their escort, all but Drezel would be travelling back to Varrock within the hour.

“Well,” Doric remarked bitterly after a moment’s silence. “Is this how Morytania treats its guests?”

“No.” A gravelly voice said from beyond the darkness. The foliage crashed as something moved toward them. A cowled man, tall and lean, stepped onto the road. “Usually we eat them.”

22

Castimir clutched his runes as he stepped back in preparation to conjure a ball of fire. They began to heat in his grasp.

Even as he raised his arm, the bush broke as several more figures surrounded the embassy from every direction save the way they had come.

“Wait,” he heard Gar’rth shout. “We are protected.”

Ambush and trickery! We were fools to have trusted this.

Arisha leapt to his side and grabbed his arm.

“No, Castimir. Not yet.”

The first cowled man stepped forward.

“So you are. So you are,” he said. “And we will not harm you, unless you break the conditions of our parley. That means you must cease your spells, wizard.” Castimir fidgeted as their eyes locked. “Any attack on us, either by magic or steel, unless provoked, will end your immunity. I need not tell you what that means for you if you are within our realm.”

Castimir relaxed his concentration and the runes in his hand cooled. Slightly behind him stood Gideon Gleeman, both feet back on the bridge.

“I have the King’s Seal,” he stammered. “It demonstrates that we are agents of the King himself, and that our will must be respected.”

The cowled man laughed, a deep and inhuman growl.

“Your will? Oh, that’s good, that is. That’s very funny. Very funny indeed.” He walked toward the jester, who scurried backward. “I wonder if Master Malak will laugh so much?”

“But I wonder if you dare tell him, Imre,” Gar’rth said as he stepped toward the man. Castimir saw that they were of equal height. Gar’rth had always been the tallest of their group, a head taller than either him or Theodore. Now the two stood so close as to be butting heads.

“So Gar’rth chooses to return to us,” Imre said scornfully. “And of his own free will.”

I would hardly call it that, Castimir mused.

Imre lowered his cowl to reveal a human guise. His head was shaven, whilst a small beard ended his narrow face in a point. But it was his eyes to which Castimir was drawn. Greedy and hungry, and very, very dark.

“You are a coward and a traitor, forfeiting our ways,” he said to Gar’rth coldly. “I am surprised that Jerrod was not able to bring you back sooner.”

“Jerrod,” Doric spat contemptuously. “He was lucky to escape with his life! He fled from us, leaving two fingers and his ear behind. And in battle he was beaten by a knight of Falador. You’re lucky we abide by the rules of the embassy, else I’d be stitching a new fur coat, wolf.”

“Calm yourself, Doric,” Despaard commanded. “This is not the way for an emissary of King Roald to speak.”

Imre moved closer and towered over the dwarf.

“Listen to your master, dwarf,” he growled. “We will honour the blood mark, for we have our instructions. However, I have never eaten one of your race before. Should your embassy fail, and your lives become unnecessary, I shall take great pleasure in consuming you. And I shall do so slowly. A leg first, then an arm…”

As he spoke, his voice became distant, as if he was savouring an imaginary meal. He glanced around, his eyes rested on Kara and Arisha. He crouched, and Castimir stepped between them.

“Unless we are provoked,” the wizard warned. “Your own words, Imre. Your flesh will burn as easily as Jerrod’s, and his burned quite nicely.”

“So Jerrod is dead?” Imre asked.

“He lives,” Theodore replied. “But he is an outlaw now, wanted in Asgarnia and Misthalin. He murdered women and children when they were alone and unprotected.”

Imre laughed.

“That sounds like Jerrod. So the legends are true. Such prey is common in the lands across the river. Perhaps Jerrod will never return.”

“Jerrod will be destroyed,” Theodore said angrily. “His crimes are unpardonable.”

“Are you the knight who defeated him?” Imre asked, looking at Theodore’s white-polished armour with a pained expression.

“It was a better man than I,” Theodore said.

“I thought so,” Imre sneered, and then he turned his back on the knight. “But come, we are expected in Canifis.”

“How long will the journey take?” Albertus asked, clambering into his saddle.

“That depends on how fast you ride and how quickly you tire, old man. Without a stop we can do it in a day.”

The embassy rode east upon the road, following Imre and several other werewolves who ran ahead and alongside. The land seemed to be plunged in permanent gloom, and Castimir could not see any great distance. The very shadows seemed to be living things, willing to move only with the greatest reluctance.

The flora was strange to him, as well. Ferns far larger than any he had ever seen. And the fungi, growing from tree stumps, with their purple and pink caps dotted with black spots, made his stomach queasy.

They say fungi grow upon dead things. So I suppose it makes sense that they would be everywhere here.

Castimir blinked and focused his eyes as a faint white shape, seen at the very limit of his vision, rose upward from the ground and vanished into the darkness.

Anywhere else it would be my imagination, but not here.

“Kara?” the red-headed wizard called quietly. “Did you see that? A white shape drifting upward.”

She shook her head.

“Not then. But I have seen what you describe. I am not sure what they are.”

“They are everywhere,” Gar’rth told them. “Since the start of our journey. To a human’s eyes-even yours Kara-they will be barely visible.”

“What are they, boy?” Doric called from behind.

Was that fear in the dwarf’s voice? Castimir wondered. I wouldn’t blame him, for this is a fearful place. Yet the possibility that even Doric could be afraid unsettled him.

“They are ghosts,” Lord Despaard said from the head of the column. “They will not harm you so long as you don’t disturb them.”

Imre looked at Despaard for a long minute before speaking.

“You speak as if you have been here before,” he said. “Is this so?”

Despaard looked into Imre’s eyes without flinching.

“That is correct,” he said. “Several times. Once even so far as Meiyerditch.”

“You are fortunate the Vyrewatch did not seize you,” Imre remarked. “Humans are not allowed outside the walls.”

“Then humans live there?” Gleeman asked in sudden interest. “In our stories, gypsy travellers kidnap children from Misthalin and bring them here to be used for sacrifices. But if you have a whole city of humans, then surely that is unnecessary.”

Imre laughed.

“There are humans in Meiyerditch, although the conditions in the ghettos are barely adequate to sustain life as you know it. The Vyrewatch take who they want, when they want. No, a human from outside Morytania, who has grown up with health and clean air, is worth a hundred such bland souls.”

“But the vampires take werewolves, as well,” Gar’rth said. “That is why human children are sold by gypsies from across the river, so the werewolves can offer them in their place.”

Imre didn’t reply, but it was plain to Castimir that Gar’rth’s words pained not only him, but all their escort.

So the werewolves are victims, as well.

They spoke no more until they reached a bridge spanning an ill-looking stream. Here Imre paused.

“We will rest here for an hour,” the werewolf said. “Remember, do not drink from the spring, and do not wander beyond the escort. The ravenous will attack you if they get your scent, and the blood mark means nothing to them.”

Castimir saw Lord Despaard shake his head as he dismounted.

“Will they be this far north?” the nobleman asked.

Imre shrugged.

“It would be unusual, but not impossible. There was one at your temple this morning, after all. I have never known them to travel so close to the river before though.”

“Then what has changed?” Theodore asked as he lowered himself onto a fallen log, carefully testing it in his weighted armour.

“This is Morytania,” Imre snarled. “Nothing changes. Ever.”

The werewolf and his companions spread out in a wide and uneven circle, some to the east of the river across the bridge.

Probably as much to avoid conversation as to guard us better.

Castimir tethered his yak to a sapling which stood alone and far enough away from the ill-looking fungi that grew nearby. His friends did the same with their steeds, and Albertus’s mule. He wondered whether he should take the time to consult Master Segainus’s books, to see if they contained any insights into the land of the dead. His thoughts were stalled when he saw Albertus stagger after sliding off his horse. The old man groaned and would have fallen had not Gar’rth grasped him under the arm and guided him to sit alongside Theodore.

The knight gave the old man a look of concern and handed him a water skin. Albertus sipped quietly, his face pale.

We have ridden hard and far in the last three days. It has been too much for him. Far too much.

“Let us have some food,” Doric said eagerly as he rummaged inside his steed’s packs. “Cured meats and bread with cheese, and a skin of wine. That would satisfy even the ravenous, I shouldn’t doubt!”

“Fool,” Despaard said angrily. “Do not speak so lightly of such things. They are creatures driven mad by their hunger, tormented for centuries…”

He stopped short, and turned his back on the dwarf.

An awkward silence fell as Kara and Arisha sat down opposite Theodore. Gar’rth remained standing, as if unwilling to relax despite the loose perimeter the werewolf guards maintained. Doric made a grim face but said no more as he handed out the rations to his friends. Castimir took his with a grateful nod and sat beside Albertus, the old man on the verge of sleep.

“Tell me, Lord Despaard, if you will,” he asked. “What has made you hate Morytania so? Reldo told me on the journey here that everyone in your society has lost a loved one to this realm.”

The grim man looked around the group quickly and grunted.

It is hard for him. He is a man who has put up barriers between himself and the world.

“Reldo talks too much for an apprentice,” Despaard replied. Suddenly he smiled mirthlessly. “But it is true-or very nearly true-that most of us have lost people to the undying one. For me, it was my father. It happened long ago, and I was only a boy of fourteen winters.”

“I am sorry,” Theodore said. “It must be hard for any son to receive word of-”

Lord Despaard laughed, cutting him off.

“Sir Theodore, you amuse me. More so as it is not your intention. I never received word of my father’s death. No. I saw it. Here, in Morytania.”

He took a bite of his bread and chewed quickly, shaking his head.

“It was winter, the worst Misthalin had seen in decades,” he continued. “So cold the Salve had frozen over. The peasants were starving. Neighbour turned on neighbour and some had taken to dressing up as wolves to take by force or fear what food remained. In some cases, where no food was available, they would take the children of the villagers.”

“Children?” Castimir said in disbelief.

“Aye, children, master wizard,” Despaard said. “It is apparent to me that you have never starved before. It drives good men mad, and turns the lawful into savages.” He looked Castimir long in the eye and the wizard felt a chill creep down his spine. “Cannibalism. That is what they resorted to when there was no food available. So it was that my father set out with two-dozen of his men, the best of his house. I went with them, for as heir to his titles and land I had to see that justice was done against such evil. We trailed them for miles, and we crossed the frozen river. Some told my father that we should turn back, that we had gone too far, but by then it was already too late.”

No one spoke as Lord Despaard took a deep swig from his wine skin.

“He was adamant that justice be done. So we followed them. I don’t know how far we went, but it seemed like many long miles in that snow. Eventually we found him, or he found us.”

“He?” Doric asked.

“One of the ravenous, Doric. He stood at the crest of a frozen hill before a dead black tree in as bleak a landscape as you can imagine. We thought it was a man and called out to him to ask if he had seen our quarry, and only when we drew closer did we realise it was one of them, and that our wolf-skin wearing foe had already been found and devoured.

“Our scout cried a warning but it was too late. There were dozens of them, charging upon us from all directions. My father’s horse was dragged to the ground and his weapon was useless against the vampire. From my horse I shot it, but my arrow went wide. My father’s last look at me was one of contempt, as if I was to blame, as if I had put that arrow in him, instead.”

Despaard grunted bitterly and shook his head, then he emptied his wine skin in a final gluttonous swig.

“Then how did you get out?” Kara asked gently as he wiped his hand over his mouth.

“There was a man, an excellent man. Thomas his name was. He had served my family from before my birth.” Despaard shook his head. “The ravenous had us. They were all around us as those with horses tried to flee, among them Thomas and me. He led my horse, for I am not ashamed to admit that after seeing my father slain, my nerve was lost.

“Thomas guided me out, but there were too many of them. It is the way they move that makes them so fearful-jaunting, as if they were puppets in the hands of a mad master… they were just so fast. They caught up with us, even on our horses. Then Thomas cursed me and ordered me to ride west, to the river, and he charged into their midst. He cut his wrist with his own blade to draw them to him with the scent of his blood.”

Despaard sighed and shook his head.

No one else spoke. Castimir looked at the man in a new light.

What a burden that must be, to have someone give their life for yours, to live up to the memory of that sacrifice every day.

“His sacrifice gave me time to escape, although even as I crested the river bank a ravenous attacked me, dragging me down onto the frozen surface. The screams it made were terrible as the ice cracked under it and the water consumed it, boiling without heat. I have never heard a man make such a sound. But that day I was set upon my course.

“I have left the lands and titles to my younger brother for he has a family and an heir, while I do not. Just my Society of the Owls.”

Theodore’s mare neighed suddenly. Castimir looked briefly at the animals, tethered together on the sapling. His yak snorted and kicked at the ground.

Ill-tempered beast! Just you mind my books.

“And since we have come to know each other so well,” Despaard continued, turning back to face the group, “You may like to call me by my first name. Titles are all well and good beyond the river, where men… and women should know their place. But not out here, not when your life depends upon the person sitting next to you. Here, titles are forgotten.

“My name is Reinhard Despaard now.”

Albertus Black sat up with a sudden start, causing Castimir to spill a thimble’s worth of wine.

Has he seen a ghost? Out here that’s quite possible.

“Hmm… I drifted off there for a moment,” the old scientist mumbled, then he yawned and pulled his black coat about him.

“I suppose we should get ready to move on,” Kara said. “Imre will be-”

“Something is wrong!” Gar’rth shouted. He sniffed the air and looked to the north, his gaze following the stream.

As if on cue, Imre howled from the east, across the bridge. In an instant his human face was gone, replaced by his true one as he charged toward them.

“Arm yourselves!” Theodore shouted as the rest of their escort exploded into motion, a dozen werewolves running at them from all directions as the perimeter they had formed contracted.

Doric drew his wolfbane dagger, and Castimir saw Gar’rth wince at its proximity. Arisha’s pale face was suddenly blanched with fear.

“Why?” she said. “Why now? Why here would they betray us?”

I will protect her, even if I have to make the same sacrifice Thomas made for Despaard.

The horses neighed in terror and strained at their tethers. Horrified, Castimir watched as the sapling was uprooted and the horses bolted past him. Behind him he heard Albertus scream, and Gar’rth shouted a warning. He turned to see the nearest werewolf, only a single stride away.

No time! The horses distracted me!

Gods just make it quick for her.

But the werewolf leapt past him, ignoring him entirely as it pursued the fleeing animals.

Castimir turned back to where they had sat just a moment ago. Gar’rth restrained Albertus’s horse as it fought desperately to be free of him. A short distance away, Albertus Black himself lay unmoving. Arisha and Kara were crouched above him and his head rested in Gideon Gleeman’s lap.

The werewolves were chasing after their steeds, yet already the animals were through the perimeter, his yak and Albertus’s mule among them.

My books! he thought frantically. The knowledge of Master Segainus is in those saddle packs.

“Help me!” Gar’rth roared. “We are under attack.”

Castimir looked at the horse that fought to free itself from Gar’rth. Above it the very air seemed to shimmer, as if a wave of heat rose from the ground.

But there is something there. Something moving with a purpose.

The air condensed as a vague figure grabbed at their packs. Theodore ran toward it with a shout. He struck out and his sword seemed to pierce the form. The blade slowed slightly, as if it had penetrated something, but a second later it was repelled.

“Castimir, your magic!” Gar’rth yelled.

The runes were already in his hand. He saw Despaard seize Theodore and drag his friend aside as the pebbles melted into the familiar viscous fluid before their inevitable evaporation. His hand burst into flame as he directed the fire to strike their attacker.

The ball of fire burst above the horse as something shrieked horribly. The air shimmered and the man-like image floated away, to the north, following the stream.

For a moment, the horse fought on, but Gar’rth was resolute.

At least we still have one steed.

A glance at Albertus and he knew they would need it. He lay still, Arisha praying at his side, Gideon shaking his head grimly.

“A horse ran him down,” Kara explained as Castimir approached. “That is what the werewolves were doing. They were trying to stop the horses from escaping.” She looked down the road to the west. Only two of the animals had been caught. Imre, standing nearby, turned toward them.

“My yak is gone then,” Castimir said. “Blasted, thrice-cursed animal!” he snapped. “And with it my fire staff and my books.” His heart beat furiously in his chest. His stomach felt tight and icy cold.

“I’m sorry, lad,” Doric growled from his side. “But you still have your runes?”

“I… Yes, I have them on me. But the books! If the yak doesn’t come back, they will be lost.”

“It won’t come back,” Imre said flatly. “If you are lucky the animals might make it back to Paterdomus.”

Castimir noticed then that Doric had mud all over his front.

“What happened to you?”

“I only just got out of the way of the horses,” he explained. “Tried to get to Albertus…”

“How is he?” Theodore asked as he came up with Gar’rth, the horse led by the werewolf’s strong arm.

Arisha shook her head as she opened her eyes.

“I doubt your prayers will work here, priestess,” Imre snarled. “This is Morytania, where Saradomin will find it hard to hear your plea.”

“You are wrong, Imre,” she replied. “I serve a power greater than Saradomin and greater, too, than Zamorak, for I follow Guthix.”

Imre sneered but held his tongue, and Castimir noticed how Theodore also remained silent.

You have learned diplomacy indeed, friend knight. A year ago you would have argued.

“He has more faith than Ebenezer,” Arisha told Theodore. “But not a great deal more. Still, Guthix has granted him some small succour. Be careful Gideon, make sure you don’t move his neck.”

The jester nodded and remained still. Albertus gave a slight groan and opened his eyes.

“Gleeman?” he rasped. “What are you doing?”

“Keeping your head still while Arisha works out how badly injured you are,” the jester replied.

“You were run down by a horse,” Arisha said. “Now, can you move?”

The old man gave a nod and raised his arm. Slowly, stiffly, he sat up.

Thank the gods. He seems to be in one piece at least.

“I can stand, I think,” Albertus said, and Gideon gently helped him to his feet.

“Then you will ride on one of the remaining horses,” Theodore told him. “Come, we should get him ready.”

“Where is my mule? It carried most of my equipment.”

“It has bolted with the others,” Theodore explained.

“Oh. Oh, that is a shame. Still, I have one or two surprises in my horse’s packs.”

Despaard helped the knight as they led the old man to his beast, the horse that Gar’rth still held. Two others had been recovered by the werewolves-the ones that had been ridden by Gar’rth and Kara.

Castimir watched their efforts with a growing sense of worry.

Three horses left. Not much in the way of rations or weapons on them. Most of our packs are gone, and I am left with just my runes, and of course my new wand. How Morytania will quiver against that!

He sighed bitterly and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he saw Arisha beside him. She put her hand on his shoulder, and for an instant he wanted to shrug it off, to tell her that his loss could not so easily be lifted.

But it was only for an instant.

“What are you thinking Castimir?” she asked.

“I was just wondering about my yak,” he said grimly. “And whether it would be tasty. One day I hope to find out.” He smiled manically. “One day very soon.”

Arisha squeezed his shoulder and smiled, and suddenly everything did seem slightly better.

“You shouldn’t joke about food,” Gar’rth warned. “Our rations are near gone now.” The werewolf wrinkled his nose in disgust as he turned back to the horse’s flank. Doric, standing in front of him, looked up in sudden alarm.

“What’s that smell?” Gar’rth asked, looking at the dwarf with suspicion.

“It’s not me!” the mud-caked Doric fumed.

But it was among them now. Strong, pungent, rotting. Castimir swallowed and stepped back in disgust.

“It’s coming from the saddlebags,” Gar’rth said. He lifted the flap and at once the smell strengthened. Gar’rth turned away as Doric drew out a wrapped parcel which contained their rations. The wrapping was withered and black with mould, as if it were weeks old. As Doric tore it open to examine the contents, a cry of disgust went up from his friends.

Imre laughed.

“That is what the ghast wanted,” he said. “They are the spirits of those who have starved to death in the swamps. They rot whatever food they find. You are fortunate that not all your rations have gone to waste. I sensed it before it appeared, as did your beasts, no doubt. That is what made them run.”

“Throw it away!” Kara shouted, retching from the smell. “Or give it to Castimir to burn.”

Doric ran a short distance from the road and hurled it into the stream.

“We don’t have much food left,” Theodore said after a quick examination.

“And now you have lost your horses we cannot afford the time to rest!” Imre snarled. “Our arrival in Canifis will be later than expected, and Malak does not like to be kept waiting. We must go on.”

“How far?” Doric asked.

“Several hours now, on foot,” Imre replied. “So we had best make haste.”

“Then we will ride in shifts on the remaining horses,” Despaard said. “Kara and Arisha first. We will swap after two hours.”

I’m already aching and tired from the journey so far. And now we must walk. What an ignominious entry to Canifis for our proud embassy.

Looking down, Castimir placed his right foot in front of his left, and then his left foot in front of his right. It was, he knew, a sight he would become used to.

23

“Blast the horses, blast the ravenous, and blast but my legs hurt,” Doric grumbled.

It’s strange, Gar’rth thought. He takes a hard blow to the head without complaint, but force him to walk and he ends up in a foul mood.

The werewolf looked at his companions. They had been walking for eight hours since the ghast had attacked, and all of them were tired. Castimir’s face was red with effort, his robes drenched in sweat. Theodore, wearing his armour, was worse off still. Yet the knight refused to abandon it, as Imre had suggested. He gazed out at the world through glazed eyes, his breath a continuous pant.

Lord Despaard and Gideon Gleeman kept the pace without a grumble, and Kara and Arisha still looked fresh.

They are used to it. In The Wilderness such walking was a regular occurrence.

The worst by far was Albertus. He seemed to have deteriorated since Arisha’s prayer, and was always on the verge of unconsciousness. Several times he tottered in his saddle, threatening to fall, so Theodore walked alongside his horse, ready to steady him.

It was a mistake bringing him. He won’t be leaving Morytania.

Gar’rth’s gloomy thoughts were interrupted by a cry from Imre. To the east, a plume of smoke rose into the green-tinted sky, the smell of fire growing as they neared. It was the first sign they were nearing Canifis.

It looks and smells exactly as it did when I left it. Unchanged, the way the vampires keep their realm.

“Are those cooking fires?” Castimir asked.

Imre shook his head.

“We rarely cook any food. Sometimes we may heat a soup or a drink, but meat is our staple diet.”

“What meat is it?” Arisha asked hesitantly. “What animals live here?”

“Our meat comes from Meiyerditch. It is one of the ways the vampires control Canifis. Often we add to our rations by our own hunts.” Imre pulled aside his cowl to reveal his human face, his needle-like teeth glinting in the gloom of Morytania’s evening.

Gar’rth felt his nervousness grow as they crossed a small footbridge that spanned a green mire. Imre’s escort surrounded him, like bodyguards.

Will I have need of them? Did my old friends pay for my flight? Did the brothers Fyodor and Dmitri suffer for it?

He shook his head. They hadn’t been his friends-not in any real capacity. Not like Kara and Theodore and Castimir.

Still, if anything happened to them, then I am to blame.

Lanterns supported on poles thrust into the marshy ground illuminated the wooden town in an eerie light. Many of the buildings were erected on stilts, suggesting the settlement suffered from regular flooding, and unnaturally large green mushrooms grew by the side of many buildings. As the embassy entered Canifis, Imre directed them to the town’s centre, where a field of trampled yellow grass acted as the central meeting point for the inhabitants.

“Why would you live here?” Gideon Gleeman murmured.

“It is as safe a place as you will find in Morytania, from our point of view,” Imre replied angrily. “There are only two entrances, for Canifis is an island in the swamp. One way is the road on which we came, and there is another road to the northeast, that leads farther into Morytania.”

There are other ways, Imre. Jerrod taught me those secret paths on our hunts.

Still, Gar’rth stayed silent, unsure of whether Imre-as one of Canifis’s hunters-knew of places in the mire where a crossing could be made.

“Why do you need lanterns?” Doric asked curiously. “Werewolves can see perfectly well in the dark.”

“We spend most of our time in our human form,” Imre answered. “It is more practical, for it allows us to master our passions, which would otherwise make civilized society impossible. In such form we cannot see as well in the dark. Likewise, the children of my kin have abilities no different from a normal human child, so the lamps are mostly for their benefit.”

You are not telling them everything, Imre. There are things we fear in Morytania, the darkness not least.

Gar’rth lowered his voice and told them what Imre hadn’t.

“The most powerful vampires can manipulate the darkness itself. The lamps are present to keep the shadows at bay, for fear that the rulers of Morytania might decide to amuse themselves at our expense. It has been done before.”

Imre only snarled in response.

As they approached, a crowd gathered in the town centre.

They are still as I remember. Ragged and hungry, a people enslaved. If only King Roald could see them like this. Then he might actually pity us.

The onlookers peered at the embassy with hatred. Some advanced toward Gar’rth, their intention violent, only to be sent fearfully away by Imre’s words.

“They are under Master Malak’s protection,” he warned. But for one woman that was not enough.

“You,” she cried, pointing directly at Gar’rth. “Traitor! Your cowardice cost me my sons, Dmitri and Fyodor. They had been your friends. Malak took them, both of my boys! He took them because of you.”

I didn’t know! That was not my wish!

She made to run at Gar’rth, her human face changing in a single second into that of a wolf, her eyes blood-red and vengeance-filled.

“Back!” Imre yelled, and his guards restrained her. “It will mean your death if you continue. Or worse. At least your sons died quickly, and now find rest in the Great Forest.” He fixed his eyes on Gar’rth. “The inn is near. Roavar has orders to feed and keep you. Go now. Lead your friends. I will follow shortly.”

Gar’rth nodded, unable to take his eyes from the wailing woman who had sunk to her knees, still in wolfish form. He remembered her sons-two strong youths who had been his friends, until their blooding had forced them into Zamorak’s arms.

Silently, and suddenly remorseful, he led his companions to the inn, the crowd following at a distance. As he went, he heard the coil of a thick leather strap, followed by Imre’s words.

“You have insulted the embassy of Misthalin.” The woman begged, her pleas an agony to Gar’rth. “Silence!” Imre shouted. “You know it is better this way, that we punish you. If Malak wished to do so…”

“We would all suffer for it,” one of his guards finished.

Imre’s words provoked a fresh weeping, and as the embassy hastened on, none of them looking back, they heard the leather strap smack across the woman’s flesh. Gar’rth shuddered, and he saw at once that he wasn’t alone.

“It is not our business Kara, Arisha,” Theodore said. “We cannot interfere.”

Thank you, Theodore. I didn’t have the strength to say that, for am I not responsible?

The woman’s cries were silenced as the horrific sound was repeated.

Again, and again, and again.

Gar’rth ran ahead of the embassy, the sounds of her suffering a terror to him. He reached the door of the two-storey building and fled inside, his hands pressed over his ears, the scent of the woman’s blood taunting him.

“So you’ve come back then?”

A large man with a prominent moustache spoke in the werewolf language from behind a long table that served as a barrier between the inn’s kitchen and the dining area. They were alone, and Gar’rth’s confusion must have been visible on his face.

“Master Malak has ordered the inn to be put at your disposal while you remain in Canifis. No one else will be allowed in. Your friends will be safe here, and treated well. Master Malak has even sent cattle for them.”

“Will I be safe, Roavar?” Gar’rth asked the innkeeper.

The man shrugged.

“That will be up to Master Malak,” he replied. “And Him.”

Him. The lord of Morytania. What does Lord Drakan want of me?

Of all the people he knew, only Gar’rth’s mother had ever seen Drakan. But to her dying day she had refused to talk about her time in Meiyerditch.

“Why was Jerrod sent across the river after me?” he asked the innkeeper. “As a town elder you, if anyone, will know.”

Roavar shook his head.

“I don’t know,” the man replied. “Master Malak told Jerrod to go, and he did so. Even you with your soft heart should know that we don’t ask when told.”

The door opened behind Gar’rth and Theodore entered, followed by the rest of the embassy, Albertus supported between Gideon and Castimir. They set him down on the nearest stool where he slumped forward onto the table. Roaver greeted them without a hint of welcome.

“There are rooms upstairs,” he said. “The inn has been reserved for you. No harm will come to you here.” He peered at Albertus intently. “Strange,” he muttered. “It is rare to see one so old in Canifis.”

“I noticed that,” Kara said. “There are children and infants out there in the crowd, but there are no old people. Where are they all?”

You shouldn’t ask so many questions, Kara!

“I am as old a wolf as you are like to see,” Roavar answered as he filled a jug of beer from a barrel. He set it on a tray and carried it across to the largest table, about which the embassy gathered. “When a man or woman is too old to be of any use to the town, then they are killed. Our race is not a wealthy one. We don’t make tools, we don’t manipulate metals, we don’t create art or literature. We just exist to serve, and we cannot afford to waste resources.”

“You kill your old people?” Gleeman said as Imre entered the inn. Gar’rth noticed that his cuffs were damp with black blood.

“Aye. Either that or they willingly go to Castle Drakan for the blood tithes,” Roavar explained. “Our race is extremely long-lived. It’s not unusual for us to live for several generations of men, as I myself have already surpassed. Yet our young are rare.”

“To survive in Morytania you must be strong,” Imre added with a cautious look to the embassy. “When old age comes to us, death is a blessed reprieve from such an enfeebled state.

“And remember, death is a far better option than undeath.”

Gar’rth turned to the nearest window-one that faced north onto the town’s centre. Through the cloudy glass he could just make out the crowd of people who had followed them. They stood, eerily silent, watching.

Half of Canifis must be gathered here.

He saw young mothers with weak children stand at the forefront of the crowd. Among them, one held a baby that was too ill to cry, its frailty obvious.

Kara was at his side, and soon the entire group looked out.

“What a poor people,” Doric said quietly. “Those children are starving.”

“And yet we can do nothing,” Lord Despaard advised.

Kara flashed him an angry glare.

“We can try to help, can’t we? Perhaps ask Malak-”

“No, Kara. Lord Despaard is right.” Theodore’s tone was soft but forceful. “We are a diplomatic mission. If we start interfering in Canifis’s governance, then we will have erred, no matter how unpalatable that governance is.”

Imre nodded, his eyes hungry as he looked at Kara.

“The knight speaks truthfully, woman,” he said. “Interfere in such a way and you will break the conditions of your embassy.” His eyes remained fixed on her. “I for one would find that quite welcome, for I would relish the chance to show you the skills of a real werewolf, and not a soft-heart.” He darted a look at Gar’rth.

“Have you taken care of our animals, as I asked?” Theodore interrupted sharply. “It would be unfortunate if Master Malak were to hear that they had been mistreated in any way.”

Imre growled and said nothing, then hastened to the door, pausing only as long as it took to cast a last look at Kara and Arisha. Neither woman flinched.

Yet they are scared. They have not forgotten the dream, and here in Canifis it could so easily become a reality, if we make but the tiniest mistake.

“One moment, Imre,” Lord Despaard called. “When are we to make the journey to Mieyerditch? How long are we to wait here in Canifis?”

Imre cringed slightly.

“Master Malak has left instructions that you are to wait here. He will send for you if he wishes to see you. Now my men shall find a place to secure your animals, for we don’t have stabling.”

The werewolf vanished, and the embassy was left alone. Through the window they could see the guard surrounding the inn, most likely to prevent any from getting too close.

“What a dreadful place,” Castimir said, watching as their steeds were led away.

Gar’rth smiled without humour.

“Welcome to Canifis,” he said bitterly.

24

Ebenezer dreamed.

From far away he heard Eloise’s voice telling him about the children, of how happy they were, of how proud she was of him. He stretched out and found himself in bed.

His bed, from many years ago.

He felt a weight rest on his chest and he breathed in the familiar lavender smell of Eloise’s freshly washed hair. She had always liked lavender.

“The children will have a sister to play with very soon,” she whispered. “I think to call her Sally, after my sister.”

“What if it’s a boy? Could we call him Erasmus, after Sally’s husband? Should we?”

“It will be a girl,” she replied. “I know it. She will grow up in a happy household and you can continue with your tinkering. And we will grow old together in comfort. There isn’t much more one can ask than that.”

Growing old. Together.

But I am old, aren’t I?

He sat up in bed, gently moving her head aside. The familiar cramps in his muscles were gone. He stood up easily, no stiff ness in his legs. The bone didn’t click in his hip. It had been a long time since that had happened.

Then he caught sight of himself in the mirror.

He was younger. His beard was dark with the vigour of youth, absent yet of any silver or white. His hair was characteristically dishevelled, but long ago he had given up trying to impose any control on it.

Tall, lean, with a face that rejoiced in the small happinesses of life. A face that had been made to laugh. That was what Eloise had said when they first met. He studied himself in the mirror with approval mingled with growing despair, for he knew all this would be gone when he awoke. He realised Eloise was speaking.

“…will be Gar’rth,” she concluded.

Gar’rth? That’s an odd name for a girl!

But no. Gar’rth comes later. After you and the children are… dead.

With him will come Castimir, Kara, Theodore and Doric and the war and the siege. I am in no rush to experience that again. No, let us take our time, Eloise, let us enjoy these moments again. Please.

He turned in his bed. This time the cramps in his muscles were there, returning to remind him that they were still very real, and that Ebenezer was indeed old.

It might have been minutes or hours or days later, he did not know. His head ached and he was aware of a dim light that he couldn’t escape. Voices filtered through to him-kind voices, and he was content to sleep for a while longer in the knowledge that he was safe.

But then it came to him.

Gar’rth, covered in blood, vicious, violent. He felt a sudden pressure around his neck as the werewolf squeezed and his old bones cracked under the force of that inhuman grasp.

Another dream. But this one different, more real.

Somewhere far away he heard Kara scream, and the triumphant howl of a werewolf.

Then it faded, and quickly, as if he had heard it muffled through a closed door and had decided to move on, rather than open it and face what was inside.

There is always tomorrow Gar’rth. We can talk then.

Instead, he opened his eyes.

The face of an elderly woman stared back. A familiar face, so like Eloise.

“Ebenezer?”

“Sally?” he said. “What happened?” The last thing he remembered was the Midsummer Festival. He had argued with Gar’rth and then the youth had run off to chase the Wyrd.

She hit me, I think.

“You were injured by the Wyrd,” Sally confirmed. “You have been asleep now for nearly a week, on and off. You have woken twice before, and talked coherently. Do you remember that?”

Ebenezer shook his head.

“No. No, I don’t.”

“Well, try and stay awake now,” she responded. “Father Lawrence said head injuries are nasty things and can have strange effects. He has helped tend you, along with Ellamaria and Lucretia, Lady Caroline’s maid. The King has even been to see you, although I think it was also because of his deSire to see Ellamaria.”

The words meant little to Ebenezer. His head ached and he struggled to sit upright.

“Where is Gar’rth?” he asked. “I remember now… he changed.” He went cold and turned sharply to Sally. “They know, don’t they? They know about Gar’rth.”

“Calm yourself, old friend,” she said gently. “I have told you this before, when you woke the first time. We talked for an hour then, and you seemed quite lucid. Evidently you have forgotten.” Sally sighed. “I do not know what you mean about Gar’rth, but he is no longer in Varrock. Nor are the rest of your friends. They have gone to Morytania as part-”

Ebenezer made a high-pitched wheezing sound. Her look kept him from speaking, though, and she continued.

“As part of an embassy, Ebenezer. To seek peace-not to fight. They will be there by now. They left the day after your injury, and Albertus went with them. They even left messages for you, which you read the first time you woke.

“They are on the floor by your bedside. Do you wish to read them again?”

He shook his head.

“No,” he replied, struggling to remain calm. “Not yet. I have no recollection of waking before. Perhaps my mind is damaged.”

Gods don’t let that be so! Please, if you are listening now Saradomin, grant me the use of my faculties.

“I do not think so, Ebenezer,” she said. “Father Lawrence thinks it is a concussion and that you will recover in due course. Do you feel well enough to stand?”

Whether I feel well enough is besides the point. I won’t lie here like a decadent prince while my friends ride into danger. I must help, in any way I can.

He summoned his strength and twisted his legs from the bed onto the stone floor.

Muscle cramp, as expected. Hip joint clicking. All is well then, no changes there.

He thrust himself forward and tottered for a moment. His head ached, and the world about him spun slowly, as if he had had too much ale.

At least if I were drunk, I would have an excuse.

Somehow he held. He straightened his back and winced at the familiar twang of muscle.

Then, with an exaggerated flair and a smile that would have made Eloise proud, he raised his arms above his head, as if he were a giant awakening from an age-long slumber.

Back world! The Alchemist has returned!

He gave a wicked chuckle and took a step forward.

It will take more than a bat-winged horror to stop-

His left knee buckled, and he fell forward into Sally’s waiting arms. Gingerly, she pushed him back to his bed, where he sat with a flushed face.

“I shall find you a walking stick,” she said matter-of-factly. “Wait here, you silly old fool.” She smiled as she left him alone to think.

If I can’t march off to war, then I might as well unleash my greatest weapon.

He began to organize his thoughts.

Where do I start?

The Wyrd has killed a great number of citizens from all walks of life. She has kidnapped several people, children mainly, targeting some for a specific purpose. Those like the child Gar’rth was trying to save. The creature wanted her in particular.

And the tailor’s child, which Theodore failed to save.

Ebenezer sighed and put a hand to the back of his head. The bandages there were stiff and he was glad he didn’t have a mirror to hand.

Why? Why that child? There has to be a reason there.

The door banged open and Sally returned with a walking stick, her face in shock. Behind her Ebenezer could see Captain Rovin and Father Lawrence, and the blanched face of Lady Caroline.

Something is wrong.

“What is it?” he asked, a cold dread making him nauseous.

“We have just received word from Paterdomus,” Captain Rovin said. “I am afraid it is bad-several horses of the embassy, including Albertus’s mule and Castimir’s yak, have returned of their own accord, riderless. Drezel sent word by pigeon yesterday, and he thinks we should assume the worse. King Roald has sent command to The Wilderness garrisons to move to the east, for fear that this incident might provoke Morytania into futher action.”

No. This can’t be. Not with Gar’rth and Kara.

This isn’t right.

Ebenezer felt his eyes water. He groaned on the bed.

“Please,” he said, his voice broken. “Please leave me. I need some time. Just a little time.”

But it will take more than that. They were my friends.

He hid his face in his hands and didn’t hear the door close. But when he looked up a short time later, he found only Sally remaining.

She was crying.

How utterly selfish of me! She has lost Albertus, too.

“I am sorry, Sally. I am so sorry.”

She nodded and sat by his side, her head on his shoulder.

Sometime later, a knock at the door disturbed them. Ebenezer looked through blurred eyes as a man in a wizard’s robes stepped into the room.

“I do not know if you remember, but my name is Layte Aubury,” he said softly. “I am sorry to intrude on you like this, but I feel it necessary to tell you that all is not lost. Castimir, at least, lives still, and I believe he is unharmed.”

Sally rubbed her eyes.

“How can you know that?” she asked.

Aubury lowered his gaze briefly to the floor before raising his head again.

“I have been in contact with the Wizards’ Tower. In light of the message from Paterdomus, I asked them if they could discern news of Castimir. They have informed me that he is alive and unhurt. Thus far.”

Wizards and their magical ways, the alchemist fumed. Confound them all.

“But how?” Sally asked again. “So soon. I don’t understand.”

Aubury gave Ebenezer a long look. The alchemist saw how his hand dipped to the wand at his belt, and how he brushed it with his fingers.

“Magic exists that allows people to travel vast distances in the blink of an eye, Sally,” Ebenezer explained. “You know I once tried out as a wizard, years ago. I know that certain spells exist but such power was far beyond me.”

Aubury nodded.

“It is not a spell for the novice,” he said. “But just as individuals may travel long distances, so too can we commune. And that is what we have been doing. I have asked for Castimir’s yak to be sent on to Varrock, for it is not appropriate that his belongings may fall into the hands of someone who is not of our order.

“Castimir is alive, and it may well be that his comrades are also.”

Sally’s face lit up. Ebenezer’s heart raced.

Then there is hope still. And now is the moment when all our efforts must be put to the task.

Now.

“Thank you, Layte, for your consideration,” he said, his voice firm. “It has lifted my spirits. Now I must go and help where I am able. Please inform me if the situation… changes.”

* * *

Ebenezer’s sudden energy was turned to exasperation at the very first hurdle.

A palace guardsman refused to allow him an audience with the King. His pleas were for nothing, and with an angry turn he found himself walking hesitatingly into the eastern bailey, where only a few days before, the Midsummer Festival had been held.

There was no sign of the celebration now.

That seems like so long ago. And my body feels every minute of it.

He gripped the walking stick tightly, aware that he couldn’t manage without it. Once, he stumbled and cursed loudly as he guided himself down onto a step in a slow ignominious landing. He sat in the late afternoon sunlight, gritting his teeth.

And now Varrock refuses my help. All my fame, all my experience, for what? They see me as a tired old man who is in everyone’s way.

He hacked at a stone in anger, and as it flew across the ground a shadow fell across his face.

“Ebenezer?” said a female voice.

He couldn’t see her face, for the sun was behind her shoulder, blinding him.

This is all I need…

“I am,” he replied brusquely, wondering if he could reach her ankles with the stick.

“I know Sir Theodore. He is a good man,” the woman said. “My name is Ellamaria. I helped tend your injury as you lay abed. Tell me, is there any news of the embassy?”

Yes. And it’s all bad.

He mastered his frustration and marshalled his thoughts.

“There is some news,” he said with a sigh. “And it isn’t good. Some of their steeds returned in a panic to Paterdomus, without their riders. But there is still cause for hope. Castimir the wizard is alive, according to the Tower, which bodes well for the rest. However, there is nothing definite.”

She nodded in the sunlight, and then sat down on the step at his side. When her face was out of shadow, Ebenezer saw her clearly. She was an attractive woman, with long dark hair and high cheekbones.

He exhaled in an exasperated huff.

“I should have gone with them,” he said angrily, aiming his stick at a stone and missing it by a good margin.

“And what could you have done, had you been there?”

“Sometimes just to be there is enough. It was like that at Falador.”

“I have heard others tell of your part in Falador-in the siege, commanding your levies. They held the breach that night. They saved the city and the lives of all its citizens.” She peered at him intently. “You, master alchemist, were key to the victory.”

Ebenezer laughed bitterly.

“And now look at me. Only six months ago I was the saviour of Falador, apparently. Now I am turned away from the King by a simple guard, my words ignored without even being heard.”

He growled angrily and swung again at the stone, this time leaning forward. He overextended himself, however, and his leg slipped on the step. He fell to the one below with a grim snarl and a half-uttered expletive.

But Ellamaria seemed not to notice.

She hides her laughter well.

Then when she spoke, Ebenezer knew he had misjudged her.

“Sir Theodore showed me kindness in the dungeon that night,” she offered. “If you think you can help them in any way, and Varrock itself, then you must allow me to do you a service, for I am to see the King tonight. Privately.”

“Ah.” He felt himself blushing. “Oh, my.”

“It is nothing salacious,” she assured him, this time with a hint of amusement. “But a man of your reputation cannot be ignored. I feel that everything that can be done must be done.”

Her eyes took on a steely look, and her voice was determined. “I believe Varrock to be in danger. I believe in this prophecy, and any help we can have we would be wise to accept.” She stood quickly and gazed down at him.

“Goodbye, master alchemist. You shall hear from me tomorrow. Until then, you must be patient.”

She stood and left him alone on the steps. But somehow, he felt, a great victory had been won.

The morning came and went. Lucretia brought Ebenezer breakfast in bed, and as he ate the thick porridge flavoured with the King’s own honey, he realised just how famished he was.

“Don’t eat too much too quickly. Your body isn’t used to it just yet.” Lucretia warned him. Lady Caroline’s maid had already cleaned his wound and examined his injured forehead with a critical eye. Satisfied, she now sat opposite him as if she were guarding a dangerous felon.

He tried to move, to get up and walk, but the maid forced him back. When she heard that Sally had let him out the day before, she was angry.

“You could still faint,” she fumed. “If that happened outside, then your head would most likely hit a stone and not a pillow! I’ll have none of that. You must remain here for the time being.”

“I will not!” he protested. “I have work to do. I have-”

“You have to rest,” she insisted. “You are not twenty-five, old man.” Lucretia glared at him, and he hid behind his porridge bowl. Silently, he wished that Sally would return, rather than deciding to spend the day at home.

Her concern for Albertus is still very raw. But it didn’t improve his situation.

Trapped by a ghastly harridan. What an end for the saviour of Falador!

And so it continued all morning, to the extent that Lucretia even confiscated his walking stick, and made him promise not to move from his bed.

“Unless I have the King’s permission,” he replied. At that she had screwed up her face and acquiesced with the barest of nods.

By afternoon, the King’s permission still hadn’t materialised. Lucretia began to smile from the side of her mouth.

“Too much light could hurt your eyes,” she said. “Best we close the curtains.”

And now I lie in a dark cell, taunted by the sounds of life just beyond my reach.

Accursed woman!

The light began to wane, and Lucretia reopened the curtains to reveal a cloud-laden sky. As Ebenezer peered at the coming storm, the door fell open and in walked Lord William de Adlard.

“I have just returned from Paterdomus,” the young man said solemnly. “I am glad to see you so well, master alchemist. Your friends were overjoyed when they heard that you had woken. It gave the embassy a good omen…”

His voice trailed off.

“They could well use it, if they have lost their steeds,” Ebenezer said. “But there is still cause for hope. The Wizards’ Tower believes that Castimir still lives, and that he is unharmed. Therefore, I would be remiss in my duty to them if I did not help where I could.”

“And where can you help, sir?”

He saw Lucretia purse her lips.

Just another tiresome old man? Is that what you think of me?

Well, not yet.

“I need to investigate the Wyrd. She is after something specific, and we must find out what that is.”

Lord William shrugged, and looked doubtful.

“The Wyrd is just a mindless killer from Morytania,” he said. “A rampant beast, and a dangerous one-”

“Who targets specific individuals,” Ebenezer interjected. “Who leaves us messages on rooftops. No, there is a purpose here. And we must discover what it is.”

Lord William nodded as the door opened again. It was Reldo. The archivist was still attired in his riding clothes, his boots muddy from his journey. In his hand he held a parchment.

“I have been asked to help you, master alchemist,” he said, and there was a look of satisfaction in his eye. “Papelford is up in arms about it, and he refuses to cooperate.” He smiled suddenly. “That might give us more freedom, in truth.”

Ebenezer gave a devilish smile.

So the young man is enthusiastic. And he has an aim now-to outdo his master.

Lucretia screwed her face up again.

“Pray tell me who asked this of you, Reldo?” she demanded.

“The King himself asked me to spare what time I could. I should say now that I suspect they will be generous hours indeed, since Papelford seems to wish me to vanish entirely. It makes my apprenticeship… awkward.”

Ellamaria, I owe you my thanks.

“Very well, then,” Ebenezer said. “We shall start with what we know. Hard facts only. We need a list of the victims.”

Reldo smiled.

“I might be able to better that, sir,” he said. “The bodies have been interred in the palace crypts, on the advice of Papelford himself. That was the only place large enough to keep them. It was one of Lord Despaard’s little secrets, but it has become public- secrets are very difficult to keep in these times of fear and gossip. Shall I ask Lord Ruthven if we can see them?”

The alchemist felt his stomach roil.

That is a great deal more than I wanted. But I must be brave. I am not a useless old man just yet.

“Very well,” he replied, “though most will be skeletons by now. Ask him, and we shall begin.”

Somehow, that almost sounded decisive. Reldo must have thought the same thing.

“But before I ask him, sir, I offer you this. It is my account of Gar’rth’s history of his life in Morytania. Doric asked me to write it down for you so that you might have his own words to hand.” He handed over a parchment. “Now, if you will excuse me, I must seek Lord Ruthven.”

The young man left, followed by William and Lucretia. Ebenezer stared at the document he held in his hand, still rolled tightly.

So many answers to questions I have pondered for months. And he might already be dead.

Or worse.

Slowly he unrolled the parchment and began to read.

Two hours later, standing in the dimly lit tunnel stairwell that led to the crypt beneath the palace, Ebenezer wasn’t feeling quite so bold.

A single glance at the faces of those gathered around him told him that he he wasn’t alone.

Lord William stood away from the small group, a few steps above. On the step next to the alchemist stood Lord Ruthven, his eyes closed in despair as Papelford harangued him.

“I do not need these interruptions, Ruthven,” he spat. “My work is vital at this hour, vital to us all, and here I am dragged from my studies by the whim of an interfering old man.” He gazed at Ebenezer balefully. “What do you think you can do that we haven’t already done?”

“The key to this is in the victims, Papelford,” the alchemist said firmly. “Lord Despaard was so busy covering up the attacks that he barely catalogued the dead and missing.”

“That was my job!” The archivist complained bitterly. “Yet it very soon became apparent that there is no pattern, if that’s what you hope to identify.”

“It is,” Ebenezer persisted. “I will take up where you left off.” He stepped toward the great iron-clad double door, then turned suddenly back. “If, as you say, it is such a waste of time, then I will be the one who is wasting it, and not you. You will have ample time to do what really matters in your studies. Now the key, if you please.”

He saw Reldo standing behind his master, grinning wickedly.

“I sincerely hope you know what you are about Ruthven. Logic and reason are no guard against the magic that afflicts us,” Papelford uttered.

“Ebenezer has the King’s confidence,” the nobleman replied.

“And this young popinjay?” Papelford queried, nodding to Lord William.

“He accompanied the embassy, and he knows about, Gar’rth,” Lord Ruthven said. “He can be trusted. Now, open the door.”

“Very well. Prepare yourselves.”

The two guards stood to one side. Ebenezer saw them ready their weapons uneasily.

Papelford inserted the key in the lock and twisted it. The metal gave a shriek as the iron doors fell open. From the cavernous gloom, vague shapes appeared as the guards advanced with their torches held aloft, their swords half-drawn.

“There is no smell,” Lord William muttered at his side. The young man had readied a handkerchief to ward off the odour. “Surely, if there are dead bodies, the smell would be awful.”

Papelford smiled grimly.

“Go in, and you will see why. But be careful not to touch the corpses.”

They advanced carefully. The torches lit up the vast crypt and Ebenezer could see that dozens of extra tables had been pushed into whatever space was available among the stone sarcophagi of previous generations. Each had a white cloth thrown over it, hiding the bodies that lay beneath.

“There,” Papelford said, pointing to one that had been placed slightly apart from the rest. “That one is the first. It is the body of the King’s beloved, slain several months ago.”

Ebenezer followed Papelford slowly across the crypt.

With one swift move he pulled the cloth back.

By the gods!

He was staring at Ellamaria, or so it seemed at a quick glance. The face was pale, dead, the skin still smooth. She was dressed in white, and around her neck was a scarf that he could see hid a wound. Aside from that, she looked as if she was sleeping.

There was no sign of decomposition.

“You see now why Lord Despaard could not release the bodies to their loved ones,” Papelford explained. “Had you been at the Parliament you would have seen the disquiet that caused.”

“I don’t understand,” he muttered.

“Try another,” Papelford said, victory in his voice. “This one.” He pulled aside the cloth, and Ebenezer saw a man’s body with its throat torn out and its stomach slashed. Beside the wounds, the man looked as if he, too, was asleep. “He’s been here a few months.”

A few months? But that’s impossible.

“I see by your expression, alchemist, that you are already as baffled as the rest of us. That’s right-many of these persons have been dead for months.” Papelford looked Ebezener in the eye. Lord William gagged in sudden revulsion. Reldo whispered under his breath, his face the very picture of fear. Ebenezer shook his head.

“But they… they haven’t even begun to-”

“That’s right,” Papelford cut him off. “They have been dead for months, and yet they are not rotting. Not a one of them. When they are first attacked by the Wyrd the skin around the wound erupts black and hideous but in all these cases, after a few hours, the rot recedes and they are left like this.

“Explain that, if you can.”

25

Sulla watched the small group approach, and gave a satisfied sigh.

He had spent four days hiding outside Varrock, just within sight of the gallows tree and its decaying corpse, waiting for Straven’s men. He strained to see. There were four of them in total, with several horses and a cart. On the back of the wagon was a red flag, confirming their identity.

“That’s the signal I told Straven to use,” he said.

“Are you sure we can trust them, Sulla?” Jerrod asked. “They are a day late. Won’t they as likely hand you in as help us?”

That remains to be seen, my friend. But the reward for the Wyrd easily outweighs any reward for my capture. Of course, if the men were greedy, Sulla mused, they might attempt both, and he might find himself hanging from the tree after all.

“We stick with the plan for now,” he said. “Once the Wyrd is in our power, then you will return to Varrock and contact Barbec. I will use your existence to stave off any execution, for if I will be the only person who knows where you are, so the King will be unlikely to dispose of me.”

It is the only insurance I have.

“And what if the mercenaries decide to hand you over?”

“Then you will have to intervene, my friend. I have sent a message to Captain Rovin of the King’s Guard. He is expecting me to turn myself in within a week. I have only hinted that I will bring a gift for Varrock, yet he won’t dare dream that it is the corpse of the Wyrd.” He shifted his position and glanced at Jerrod. “You can still hear her can’t you? Her song?”

Jerrod nodded.

“She is close. In the lumberyard or nearby.”

Sulla nodded, and turned again to look at the four newcomers.

The group had neared now. He could see them clearly. A huge man rode up front, a warrior bigger than Sulla had been at his peak, before Kara-Meir had left him the wreck of a man he now was. Behind him rode a dwarf, an axe strapped across his wide back.

But it was the other two who made Sulla curse.

One was a clean-shaven young man in a black surcoat. He rode delicately, with a fine short sword about his waist. His black-gloved hands stemmed from thin wrists and weak-looking arms.

He’s of no use to us. The boy looks like a dandy. What was Straven thinking sending him?

And as for the last, Sulla could only gape.

It was a woman, in her mid-thirties. He recognised her as a mage by her black tunic, and he was instantly distrustful.

“Straven sends me a fop and a rogue wizard,” he mused to Jerrod. I wonder if she can magic me a new pair of hands. Is there any magic in the world that can do that?

“That is not so stupid, Sulla,” the werewolf cautioned. “Creatures from Morytania are often more vulnerable to magic than steel.”

“Huh. The Wyrd is vulnerable to a strong arm. We know that, if what your master said is true about her injuries. And I distrust wizards. I don’t understand them.”

Jerrod grinned.

“Nothing to understand Sulla. Take their runes and they are as powerless as children.” He turned to leave. “I will scout around, to make sure that they haven’t brought anyone else with them.”

“A sensible plan. We have waited longer than we planned for them, so they can wait a little longer before I reveal my presence.”

The werewolf vanished into the undergrowth. Sulla watched the party wait for more than an hour. He saw the black-clad dandy produce a pocket watch and look at it in frustration, then speak to his companions, but the words were lost over the distance.

Once, he took a drink from his flask, carefully using his wrists to guide it to his mouth. Even so, it was a messy affair, with water escaping the seal of his lips and pouring down his neck and back into his pack. Quickly, he checked the select documents he had taken with him from his box, to make certain they were not soaked. They weren’t-they were still useful to him.

Barbec can guard the box in Varrock. Even if he runs with it, he won’t be able to understand the code, and he fears Jerrod too much to betray us.

Even so, the cream of the papers are here, with me.

He gave a cautious grin at his own paranoia. So far, it had never let him down.

Jerrod emerged behind him.

“There is no one following,” he said. “So far it seems as if Straven has kept his word.”

“Then you hide here while I call them over. Anything goes wrong, you come running.”

As he broke from his cover the body of the hanged man turned in the wind.

It is as if he is beckoning me to join him.

Close up, the mercenaries were more impressive. The big man at the front wore a leather jerkin that left his arms bare. He looked down at Sulla with distaste. He snarled once, showing gold-capped teeth. He rode toward Sulla, stopping when he was within ten yards of him and dismounting in one easy move.

Even so, he stood as high as his horse.

“My name is Greagor, but I’m known as Behemoth,” he spat, his hand on the coiled whip at his belt. The weapon was made of silver and had black bands along its length. “You are Sulla?”

“I am,” Sulla said. “I am your employer, and might I remind you, you are a day late.” He shook his head angrily. “Who are the rest of you? I am happy with you and the dwarf, but the dandy and the mage less so.”

“We are a company,” the dwarf replied as he rode up. “It’s all or none. We are famed in The Wilderness, employed by His Majesty on tasks that carry us far from civilised lands, and we use less than civilised means to survive and do the job. And that is why we are a day late, we were detained in that pitiless place. You will have no cause to doubt us.”

That remains to be seen.

“My name is Axanamander,” he continued. “They call me the Mad Axe.”

“I have heard of the Mad Axe,” Sulla replied. “Your name and deeds have been known to the Kinshra for many years. You have served our lord well.” He bowed his head in deference, and as he looked up he saw the dwarf awkwardly do the same.

“My name is Mergil,” the dandy said, riding forward. “And you are right to assume that I do not possess the gift of strength or steel, nor of magic and fell sorcery. My humble skills are more earthly.” He reached into the saddlebag of the horse he led behind him, producing a yellow liquid in a vial. “I am an expert with potions and plants. I am a botanist, in truth, and originally I employed my three esteemed colleagues to travel with me through The Wilderness while I harvested the flora there. In time, my talents were proved beyond debate, and I joined their number.”

“There are none better than him at what he does,” the giant growled. “He can brew potions to speed or slow your heart, to flush your muscles with energy, or to make you sleep. More than once he has saved each of our lives from rotting wounds. And when he’s not travelling with us, he’s marrying rich widows who all seem to die within a year, quite naturally.” The man gave a golden grin to Mergil, who bowed his head to one side and smiled slyly. “What is it now Mergil, number three?”

“It is,” the dandy admitted. “A rich young widow who drank something that made her love me. In a few months she will drink something else, alas, poor sweet girl, and I will inherit everything.”

So, a self-confessed poisoner.

The raven-haired woman in the cart shot Sulla an angry glare.

“You told Straven you wanted someone who could get the job done. That is us. Don’t complain.”

“And who are you then, mage?”

“My name is Turine. I practise my art with the full knowledge of King Roald’s government, and by extension the Wizards’ Tower itself.”

“Then you aren’t a rogue mage?”

Turine laughed scornfully. Sulla felt his anger grow.

“I am,” she said haughtily. “Yet Misthalin needs those like me. The Wizards’ Tower does little or nothing these days. When something needs doing, Varrock calls on us renegades. Of them I am the most feared. I am surprised you haven’t heard of me?”

Oh Turine, I have heard of you. They say you walk the abyss, and converse with devils, enjoying the favours of its foul denizens while godly men fear what you have offered them in return. You are reputed to converse with animals and conjure creatures to do your bidding. I have heard all your tales, and little do I believe them.

Still, you might be useful.

“Mages are of little importance to me,” Sulla said, “unless you can give me two new hands.” He knew the answer she would give and she didn’t let him down. It was a non-committal shake of her head, as if she might be able to do as he asked, but thought it too troublesome.

It is like the tales she spins about herself. Impossible to disprove.

“Huh,” he responded. “Not unexpected. But we have more pressing-and more profitable-matters at hand, for the Wyrd is nearby, toward the lumberyard. My associate can track her as no other can. That is what gives us our advantage.”

“Your associate?” Mad Axe muttered. “You mean your werewolf.”

It is good they know, and good that they are unafraid. Although a bit of fear would have been helpful.

“Indeed so,” he replied. “He is with us now, watching. Jerrod!”

The werewolf appeared from the undergrowth only a few yards to Turine’s left. Sulla saw with satisfaction the fear grow on her face as she fumbled with her runes. Behind him, Behemoth’s horse neighed.

If he had been in earnest, she would be dead by now.

“No surprises, Sulla,” Behemoth shouted. “We haven’t any for you. Straven thinks you are too valued a customer to lose, so he isn’t playing you false.”

Sulla laughed.

“I would be a fool to trust his word wouldn’t I?” He turned serious. “And would any of you really follow a fool?”

Their silence gave him his answer.

“Very well,” he said, “let us begin while we still have the daylight.”

* * *

Jerrod had scouted the lumberyard for a second time. When he came back, Sulla breathed in relief.

I am vulnerable without him. And they fear him, even though they hide it well.

“She is there, Sulla,” Jerrod said. “Hiding in the eastern end of the warehouse”

“It’s a fitting place for her to make her lair,” Behemoth said. “This place is rarely used, for rumours say it’s haunted.”

“It is,” the Mad Axe grinned. “By her.”

The wooden building was large and silent. It looked close to ruin, and the fading afternoon sun contrasted the deep shadows eerily. Gaping holes appeared among its slatted sides, big enough for a man to squeeze through. The roof was little better.

“What if she chooses to run, rather than fight?” Turine asked. “Can we catch her?”

“Can you fly mage?” Sulla spat back. “Now, let’s get ourselves ready.”

Mergil stripped off his surcoat and fastened a leather-studded jacket across his chest. He made certain his sword drew freely in his scabbard, and then he picked several potions from his saddlebags, slotting them into custom-made leather rings in his belt. Both the Mad Axe and Behemoth downed a small vial each of yellow potion, chinking their glasses together as if in celebration and grimacing from the taste. The Mad Axe, Sulla noted, had two weighted bolos on his belt that held his chain mail against his bulging stomach.

Behemoth loosened his whip.

“Surely we want to take her alive?” Mergil suggested, his hand holding a glass bottle in which a green fog swirled. “If I break this near her, it should be enough to put her to sleep.”

Sulla saw Jerrod curl his lip and shake his head.

“Too much of a risk,” he said.

“Hmm. I’ll try it anyhow. The reward for a living prisoner is far greater.”

Turine nodded and examined her runes.

“If we try to take her alive, then I will snare her with my magic. That should give you time, Mergil. You know how we do it.”

The mercenaries nodded as one, and Jerrod looked to Sulla again.

“Very well, then,” Sulla said. “Jerrod will lead us in.”

The werewolf moved in absolute silence, guiding them west. They passed through a hole in the low wooden stockade that surrounded the lumberyard, and sprinted quickly across the open ground. The rest followed.

“Is everyone ready?” Sulla hissed as they entered the building through a rotted door. In the shadows, the mercenaries nodded, and he was just able to make out their movements.

A fitting place for a winged-ghoul to live, he noted. And me with two stumps instead of hands, completely unarmed. Strange that I don’t feel afraid.

“I can hear her,” Jerrod whispered. “She in the eastern end of the building.”

“Then we must spread out,” Sulla ordered, and he turned to the dwarf. “Go forward to draw her out, then we can come in to support you.”

The dwarf faced Sulla in the darkness, but he couldn’t make out his expression.

No doubt it is an ugly one, though.

“I will go,” he replied grimly, “if Jerrod comes with me. We can both see in the dark better than the rest of you.”

For a moment Jerrod didn’t reply. Then, when he did, Sulla knew he had made the change into his wolf form.

“Very well,” he growled.

Then they were gone, merging into the shadows ahead, impossible for Sulla to see with his single functioning eye.

“We should go forward, to close the gap,” Behemoth advised. Without waiting for an answer, the big man followed, and was swallowed by the shadows.

Dividing us nicely. Idiot!

He started forward himself, aware of Mergil and Turine beside him. His foot banged a crate, loud in the darkness, and his heart jumped. He felt the sweat erupt on his brow.

Scared of a jiggling crate! How Kara-Meir would laugh.

The fear had him now. He was afraid of the dark. He wore no armour and he carried no weapon, and not for the first time that vulnerability haunted him without mercy.

Yet I had to come in with them. To make sure it goes right.

He took another deep breath when the Mad Axe screamed from ahead of them. He heard Jerrod howl, and then something inhuman gave a loud wail, sapping his will and making him stagger. His legs were close to buckling when he heard Jerrod roar.

Turine ran forward, followed by Mergil. The poisoner flicked the thick cover off his lantern and the shadows gave way to a sickly light.

Behemoth lay on the ground, unmoving. Sulla saw his face covered in blood and then, as Mergil moved and the light swayed, the face vanished in shadow. Now the lantern swung upward, to illuminate the combat.

Jerrod was fastened upon the thing’s back, crushing her wings to her sides with his powerful arms, his jaws biting at her shoulder and head, ripping and tearing. As she staggered, Sulla caught sight of her for the first time, the shining orange eyes and her wide nose above the long mouth tipped with fangs.

She leapt backward and Jerrod’s grip broke.

Quickly she turned and scraped her talons across his face.

“Your runes, Turine! Now!” Sulla shouted as the Mad Axe charged in. The dwarf screamed in his native tongue and his axe arced forward. In the light Sulla saw the Wyrd’s right hand fly clear of her wrist, black blood spraying the yellow sawdust at her feet.

Turine held out her hand as the Wyrd screamed. Sulla felt the air at his side compact as the sound of a dense and invisible object flew past him. The Wyrd doubled over suddenly as the magic wind slammed into her stomach, forcing her to her knees.

“Snare her!” Mergil shouted as the lantern moved and the scene was briefly lost in shadow. It returned when Mergil placed it on the floor, and Sulla saw that Behemoth had moved his arm.

So he’s alive then. That’s a shame. He’s the most troublesome of them all.

Perhaps I can stamp on his throat and crush the life out of him.

Before he could move, Mergil entered the fray, hefting his green fogged bottle. The Mad Axe thrust his weapon forward again, and Sulla saw that he meant to distract their target while the poisoner readied himself.

But then Turine stepped sideways. The light was blocked off, and when it returned Behemoth was standing.

The Wyrd can’t win now. Not with Jerrod at her back and these three before her.

He dared a smile.

But then his smile vanished.

The hulking form of Behemoth seized Mergil by the throat. Turine screamed in anger, shouting at him to move, but instead Mergil’s body went limp and he dropped the bottle at the Mad Axe’s feet.

It broke and the green fog spread out. The Mad Axe gave a gasp as his weapon fell from his hands. He staggered and then dropped to his knees before collapsing face down into the sawdust.

Then Behemoth turned to face him. Behind, Jerrod leapt once more upon the Wyrd and Sulla saw them fall to the ground.

“Oh no. Oh no.” Turine whimpered as Sulla looked back to Behemoth again. His eyes were glassy and featureless, glowing with a faint blue pallor. His head shook slowly from side to side, his flesh unnaturally pale. The wound on his forehead had stopped bleeding, and a vicious black scab covered it.

He’s one of them now.

“Behemoth?” Turine whispered. “Can you hear me?”

“He’s dead you stup-”

Sulla didn’t have time to finish as Behemoth lurched forward with surprising speed, his arms outstretched, his golden teeth bared in a bestial frenzy. He heard Turine scream as she was pushed aside and then the lantern was kicked over and the darkness returned.

Sulla ran.

He heard Turine scream again, and he turned once to see the two pale blue orbs that had once been Behemoth’s eyes, close behind.

It’s after me!

He staggered over a crate and crashed to his knees.

Hands grabbed his neck and squeezed.

Sulla pushed backward, forcing his attacker off his feet for the briefest moment before falling down on top of him. He heard something break under his back, a dull wet sound and a crunch of bone.

Not mine. I’m unhurt. But is it enough?

He leapt up and away from Behemoth. All was darkness, and there was no sign of motion.

He grinned madly.

“I’m Sulla. Sulla! I brought Falador to her knees! Do you think one of your horde is going to be-”

Two blue orbs shot open at his feet. He heard the figure snarl.

He bolted again, but now he was closer to the perforated wall of the building. Now dull daylight gave him a chance to see.

The thing came on, limping now. Sulla could see a nail protruding from the back of Behemoth’s head, and a splinter of wood dug into its calf.

Think. Slow it down. Then kill it… again.

He reached the wall as it drew near, its eyes fixed on him. Its mouth was bloody now, its tongue bitten off at the end. Sulla dodged to one side and threw his weight into three crates that stood one atop the other. They shook violently, tottered, and then collapsed onto his pursuer.

But still it pushed upward through the wreckage, now with a dozen sharp splinters protruding from its front. Still it came on.

He ran again, reaching the door. Then outside, to the horses. Desperation drove him on, his heart pounding as he mounted his steed in a clumsy sprawl, so hastily as to nearly fall from the saddle the very second he had gained it, his arms about the beast’s neck. The animal gave a neigh of fear, for Behemoth was out now, in the open, staggering forward.

Right into my path.

Sulla knew this was his only chance.

He balanced himself precariously, his feet in the stirrups, the rein in his mouth, his handless wrists upon his horse’s neck.

He drove his heels into the horse’s flanks and they bolted forward.

The giant made no attempt to avoid the charge. The horse struck him with all its speed and weight, smashing the creature aside. Sulla cheered as the rein slipped from his mouth.

Yet still, impossibly, it clawed at the earth, dragging its broken body toward him.

“Persistent to the point of folly,” Sulla snarled, dismounting.

He looked to the building, which was now silent.

Do I dare go back in? Did Jerrod win? Or has the Wyrd made more of these things?

Suddenly the horse at his side staggered. For the first time Sulla saw the claw marks on its chest and shoulders that Behemoth must have made when he had been run down.

He has passed the poison on. Will the horse become like him?

The thought made his mind up for him. He gave a last look at Behemoth, crawling desperately toward him still, and then he turned and approached the building.

A sound came from within. It was the sound of a cleaver severing sinew and bone. It was followed by a grim laugh.

Jerrod.

Sulla entered cautiously, vulnerable in the darkness.

But I saw her scratch Jerrod. What if he’s like Behemoth now, too? There would be no chance to avoid such a creature.

The grim laugh sounded again.

But such creatures don’t laugh. Do they?

He found Jerrod in the darkness. The faintest scattering of afternoon light was just enough for him to see the outline of the werewolf before him. There was no sign of the Wyrd, but he could tell there was no small tangle of limbs upon the floor, too obscure to make out in detail.

Jerrod turned at his approach.

“We did it, Sulla,” he said. “Or I did. And just look at what we’ve done.” Jerrod laughed again.

“What do you mean?”

Jerrod rarely laughs so much. And it is not a sound I like.

“I mean I’ve been played for a fool. From the very start. My master has appeared to me, and I am cursed now. If I ever return to Morytania I will be tortured for years beyond reckoning for interfering with his plans.”

“But you were asked to do this,” Sulla said.

“Yes, but by another,” he growled. “I am sure now of two things, Sulla. The first is that it was not Lord Drakan who sent me, as I mistakenly believed. The second is that there is division in Morytania. Regardless, I can never return to my homeland.” Sulla saw Jerrod move to the side of the building. Suddenly he swung an object in the darkness, and Sulla saw that it was the dwarf’s axe. It smashed its way through two planks and let in a ray of daylight.

“I can never go home now,” Jerrod said again, his red eyes narrowing as he looked behind him. “Look Sulla.”

Sulla followed his gaze and he saw why.

The Wyrd’s severed head stood propped upon a crate, her eyes open but now without their orange flame. Sulla turned to face his one true ally.

“Then let us make a new home for you this side of the river, my friend,” he said. “Thanks to the Wyrd, we will have asylum, and with it wealth and influence. And perhaps-if Kara-Meir should ever return-our revenge.”

The Mad Axe groaned from the shadows. Mergil, too, moved slightly. Sulla looked back to where he had left Turine. She was on her knees, her hand pressed against her head where a clot of blood stained her face. Red blood. She looked at him in a daze.

She is not one of them.

“Let’s get the survivors to the cart and make our return to Varrock,” he said. And then, whispering, he spoke again. “We’ll have to burn Behemoth. He’s still crawling around outside.”

Jerrod nodded and left with the dwarf’s axe, to carry out his dreadful task.

Sulla saw Turine’s eyes follow the werewolf through the building. He sensed the fear in her, and smiled as he saw her discomfort.

“So what do I do with you, Turine?” he said airily. “I could feed you to Jerrod. That way all the glory would be mine.” He smiled. “No, I think not. Not today.”

“You… you won’t kill us?” Turine asked.

So there is still power to my reputation, he observed. But there is a time and a place for mindless violence.

Sulla shook his head.

“No,” he said. “Behemoth was poisoned by the Wyrd. He went mad, but he is our only casualty.” There is no need for her to know the whole truth about the Wyrd’s contagion. It might be very valuable later on, when I am a prisoner of King Roald’s. Anything extra for me to bargain with will be necessary. “We, however, are going to be greeted as heroes in Varrock, where I will present myself to the King. In the days and weeks to come, I will need people who I know can be trusted. I have spared your lives, Turine. You know my reputation. And you know what Jerrod is.

“You know how very, very easily that decision could have been different,” he added. “All I expect is loyalty. If ever I have need of you in the future, I expect my mercy to be repaid. Do I have your word?”

The smell of burning reached him from outside.

“You have it,” she replied, “…Lord Sulla.”

Lord Sulla? How long has it been since anyone called me that name with such respect?

“Good,” he said. “Now get up. I need your help in getting our comrades onto the cart.”

26

The smell of cooking evoked mixed feelings in Kara’s mind. She had finished her first plate of bacon and eggs with toast provided by Roavar, yet now-as the werewolf host prepared food for Theodore and Doric-she shook her head and looked to the window again.

It isn’t right. They are not enemies of mine. And even if they were, would I let their children suffer so?

For through the window, barely visible through the murk upon the glass, Kara could still see the crowd. They had been there when she first came down for breakfast, just as they had been the night before, and possibly all through the night itself.

Women and children only now. No men among them.

The women held their silent children in their arms, naked babies thin and obviously very ill. And yet not one of them said a word.

And that makes it more painful still. I would rather that they howl and charge the door and try to take the food from us rather than stand there in silence and wait.

“I had no idea things were so bad for your people, Gar’rth,” she said as he followed her gaze. “I feel very sorry for them.”

Roavar grunted as he set places for those who hadn’t yet eaten.

“They don’t want your pity, woman,” he said. “They want meat. They want food for their babes who haven’t strength enough to cry. If you really want to help them, then all you have to do is to walk through that door and offer yourself up.”

“That’s not what I was thinking,” Kara said angrily.

Castimir, sitting nearby, screwed his face up as he sipped nettle tea.

“I’m not surprised you ran away, Gar’rth,” he murmured grimly as he lowered his mug. “With tea like this, and such amiable hosts, it’s a wonder this inn isn’t favoured by more travellers.”

Careful Castimir, Kara thought. Roavar’s hearing far surpasses our own.

Sure enough, the old werewolf turned angrily. He lowered his fists onto the table before Castimir and glowered.

“Did you say something, human?” he demanded. “Are the accommodations not to your liking?”

Kara drew her sword an inch in its scabbard. Roavar saw her and bared his teeth.

“Enough of this,” Gar’rth said. “Roavar, you mistake Castimir’s humour. It would be a shame for Malak to know it.”

Roavar sneered and returned to the kitchens.

Kara watched Castimir thoughtfully. On the walk to Canifis he had frequently grumbled about the loss of Master Segainus’s books, but now his humour seemed to have returned, although grimmer than before.

His jokes have lost their fun and now he aims to hurt. No good can come of it.

Outside it was a green-tinted morning, for the sky above the vast swamps of Morytania was polluted by the gasses of Mort Myre. It seemed to Kara that they were abiding in a sickly twilight.

“Often it is worse than this,” Roavar said grimly, causing her to jump. She hadn’t heard him as he returned with Theodore’s breakfast. “Sometimes the gasses from the swamp can kill. Last month we found a dead child who had wandered out on a hot day, when they are most pungent. The whelp’s face was turned black from the fumes.”

Lord Despaard joined them, the penultimate member of the embassy to appear.

“Is Albertus not eating?” he asked as he sat, looking out of the windows, too. Kara wasn’t sure if she saw him smile savagely.

“He is still asleep,” Arisha said. “I thought it best to let him gather his strength in preparation for any journey we might have to make.”

Gideon Gleeman, sitting next to her, frowned slightly.

“Wish I’d done the same,” he muttered as he finished his tea. “Not used to riding. Legs aching as if I had been hung upside down for a week. And I didn’t sleep well at all. Bed comfortable enough, but I just didn’t feel safe.”

Doric grunted and nodded his head.

Kara felt the same, and with the thought of sleep came memory-of a dream. Of a white-faced visitor who had come to her, and stood over her. The memory unnerved her.

Still, it wasn’t so bad as my dream of Gar’rth.

“We might be here for some time, though,” Theodore said. “Who knows how long it will be until Malak honours us with a visit.”

Roavar made an angry sound in the kitchen.

Yet all they could do was wait.

For Theodore the morning passed quickly. He busied himself with any small task he could find. Situating himself in a corner of the common room, he unpacked their saddlebags and with some alarm reviewed their diminished rations.

I will need to replenish these. I shall ask Roavar if he has anything suitable for us. For if we need to run, we won’t get far without food.

Next, he polished his armour, and then oiled his sword, making sure Roavar saw him do it.

They will judge us by how we act. Castimir is doing us all a disservice with his petulance. We cannot give them any sign that we are weak or divided.

He gave the wizard a long look as his friend stirred his tea with an angry frown on his face. Castimir caught his look, and smiled suddenly, as if thinking he’d been caught committing a minor transgression.

His sulking will pass, Theodore thought. I have seen it before. Arisha will drag him out of it, or Doric.

Midday came and went.

The sun, even at that hour, was thwarted by the fumes from the swamplands. He stood beside Roavar and Gideon with the door wide open, and could feel the heat carry in on the fitful breeze. Imre saw them standing there, and advanced, his face haggard.

“He sent word, last night,” the werewolf said. “Master Malak. He will be here soon, in Canifis.”

“Is the sunlight a problem for him?” Theodore asked steadily. I will not let myself be accused of insulting our hosts.

Imre shook his head and laughed.

“No. His kind have only one problem in this land-deciding what to do with their time. It’s a problem that has caused my race no small amount of trouble.”

“The daylight here has no power over a vampire, especially one of his age and strength,” Roavar added in a whisper. “The gases from the swamps dilute it. Others, such as the ravenous, do hate it, but I have never seen any destroyed by it.”

“What about the other legends?” Gideon asked curiously. “Does garlic ail them? Holy water and signs? Silver blades perhaps?”

Imre gritted his teeth in annoyance.

“You are an amusing fool, to dare ask such questions.” Then he turned away and went back to his guard. Even at this hour, there were women and infants standing just beyond the perimeter that had been established, staring hungrily toward them.

“You would do well not to ask such things,” Roavar told the jester. “It implies that the masters have weaknesses. They do not. Believe me, they do not. And they would not enjoy the suggestion that they do.”

The werewolf shut the door then. Gar’rth appeared behind them as they sat down at the nearest table.

“Roavar hides the truth,” he whispered. “We tell tales where the vampires have such weaknesses. No one knows for certain, though. No one’s ever tested their accuracy.”

“They do have such weaknesses,” Despaard said bitterly. “We all know that things can escape from Morytania, like water dripping through a sieve. The barrier weakens them, yet they can penetrate it. That is the reason the Society of the Owl was formed, to keep watch on such fiends.”

“Tell me of the Society,” Gar’rth urged. “Is it true you have fought my kin? Simon told me he had killed three werewolves before.” Gar’rth’s face darkened. “Though he hates me, so I don’t know if he spoke truly.”

Despaard nodded.

“He spoke truly. Simon is a man driven by hatred for your race, Gar’rth. As are many of us in the Society.” The noble’s face fell. “Many of us who cross the river have lost loved ones to Morytania. If such is the case, revenge is all we live for now.”

“Father Lawrence told me the owl represents vigiliance. It sounds to me as if the symbol should have been a sword instead,” Theodore remarked. “Revenge is driven by passion. Surely the Society should have nobler aims.” Suddenly he found Kara’s eyes upon him.

“You don’t understand revenge, Theodore,” she said grimly. “Sometimes, it is something that needs to be done.”

Despaard nodded his agreement.

“Kara-Meir speaks the truth of it. But we are more than that, Sir Theodore. We do bring hope to the people of Varrock. You may have noticed the symbol of the owl that is scrawled on doorways and walls-these are not done by us. It is the common folk of Varrock who do it, for they have heard of us through folklore and rumour. In times of strife, such power is not to be underestimated.

“If a man can reassure his neighbour, then surely that is a good thing.”

“I would rather have a strong wall and a hundred trained men at my back,” Theodore replied. “We had thousands of people in Falador during the siege, and yet many of them disappeared as the Kinshra came on. Morale isn’t a defence on its own. It needs to be backed by steel and skill.”

Despaard noddded again.

“And that is where we have failed. We couldn’t give the people of Varrock such visible demonstrations, and even the King’s word will not convince them forever.” He shook his head and drained his tea with a grimace. “No, the Society is old, stretching back hundreds of years. And it is one that has remained hidden, only spoken of in taverns amid hearsay and suspicion. Perhaps it is time for more openness in our war-”

A great uproar erupted outside. Theodore and Kara stood quickly, their swords drawn in an instant. Castimir’s face went white in fear.

“Do they come for us?” Doric asked, readying his axe.

“No. Not for us,” Gar’rth uttered. “We have no cause to fear. Wait here!”

The werewolf ran toward the door, pulling it open before vanishing into the sickly fog.

As Theodore followed, he heard Roavar roar from the kitchen:

“You cannot interfere,” he shouted. “You must not!”

Gar’rth heard Roavar’s words as he leapt forward into the mist, but he knew what the uproar meant. It was cheering.

He heard a girl’s scream from his right, where a large square-metal cage stood, out of view of the inn. He had seen it before in Canifis, many times before he had fled, and the sight of it-large enough for twenty men to be crammed inside-made him shiver. He heard Imre laugh maliciously from nearby, and he saw at once that the discipline of their guard had vanished, that they now ran as wolves alongside their neighbours.

We do not need their protection any more, Gar’rth knew. He is here. I can feel it. Malak!

The werewolves parted as he approached, allowing him to see the cage and its contents. As he did so, he slowed to a stop, taking in the scents of the prisoners to be certain his eyes had not deceived him.

It can’t be. Not here!

But it was. Their scents were familiar to him.

Kara appeared alongside him, her hand on her sword, glancing from right to left.

“Don’t look, Kara,” he hissed. “You must return to the inn. There is nothing we can do for them.”

Kara gave a gasp as one of the occupants turned to face them. Behind her, Theodore gaped in disbelief and Castimir uttered a curse. Despaard pursed his lips and angrily shook his head while

Gideon Gleeman looked on in silence.

Doric, coming last, gave a groan.

“There is nothing we can do for them, Kara. You must realise that,” Gar’rth repeated, insisting.

He looked back to the cage, and one of the three occupants recognised them. She gave a stifled cry as she rushed to the bars, her young face white and terrified.

“Please, Kara! Please. You must help us. You promised you would never abandon us…”

Pia collapsed to her knees alongside Jack. Her brother stared outward, his eyes glassy and unseeing. The man behind them, the only other prisoner, pulled them back, away from the bars.

“Stay back, Pia. Do not go near the sides,” he pleaded. “The werewolves might not be able to resist you. Keep away!”

“How Pia? How?” Kara rasped.

Gar’rth placed his hand on her shoulder and attempted to turn her away.

She shrugged him off angrily.

“No!” she cried. “I gave you my word I would help if I could. I mean to do it,” she spat, her rage manifesting itself in angry tears.

“You can do nothing…” the man inside said. He was tall, his black hair dishevelled and grown long, his beard unkempt. Wild and angry in appearance but his voice suggested something more noble beneath. “Pia and Jack were captured in Morytania, after crossing over from the blessed realm. She has told me a story of a King in Varrock, and of great armies and nations across the river. That tale has confirmed what my people have always dreamed of, of a realm beyond the power of the vampires, free of the tyranny of the tithes.

“That is why you must on no account intervene on our behalf. You must not endanger yourselves. Your very existence is enough to raise the spirits of my oppressed brethren, once they find out you are here. That is a joy that will help them resist for a hundred years.” The man’s darting eyes fixed on Kara. “Promise me you won’t attempt to help us. Please. Our lives are finished now.”

Pia wailed and hid her face in her hands. Jack stared dumbly out at them.

The boy is terrified beyond reason.

“I will not!” Kara yelled. “I gave them my promise before they entered this land. I am of an embassy sent here by the highest authority. My word will count for something.”

Do not deceive yourself, Kara.

“This man is right, Kara,” Despaard said. “We can do nothing, and we must not attempt to try. If we do, then our protection becomes forfeit and we will be lost. And if the embassy fails, how many more lives in Misthalin will follow?”

“Listen to him, Kara,” Theodore said softly. “I don’t like it either, but he’s right.”

She stared at Gar’rth.

“Please Gar’rth…” she whispered. “There must be a way.”

She wants me to say otherwise. But I cannot.

“I’m sorry, Kara. Lord Despaard and Theodore are right.”

Behind them, Imre laughed scornfully, his joy echoed by others who perceived Kara’s tearful face.

“But at least we may stay here for a while, at their side,” Doric suggested. “It may be some small comfort in this dark place.”

“Thank you, my friends,” the prisoner said, “but you must not. The werewolves are too dangerous now their blood is up and their hunger stirred. I doubt even if your protection would keep you safe.”

“What is your name?” Despaard asked warily. “You speak bravely my friend. Tell me, are you one of them? Are you one of the Myreque?”

The man smiled suddenly and leaned as close to the bars as he dared.

“I am one of those you speak of, my friend. One of the few,” he said, his voice low. “It is apparent that you are no stranger to this cursed land.” He looked quickly at the werewolves and thrust his right hand through the bars. Despaard took it firmly.

“As to my name, it is Vanstrom. Vanstrom Klause.”

Castimir watched as Vanstrom Klause stood back from the bars and breathed deeply. The wizard clutched his hand about his runes, taking a small measure of comfort from their presence. But he did not seek to use them.

His own worries were forgotten now as he gazed at the three condemned souls, and no possible witticism could in any way alter his black mood. A quick look at Doric told him the dwarf was of the same mind.

“Then we should go,” Theodore said grimly. “Vanstrom is right. It is no longer safe for us out here, and there is nothing we can do if we stay.”

A moment Theodore, Castimir thought. Just a single moment for Kara. Give her that!

But Kara just shook her head. Her hand gripped one of the bars as if she wished to rip it away, her blonde hair hid her face from the wizard’s view.

No one moved, and Theodore looked about him in concern. The furor around them was growing more chaotic.

“Did you not hear me?” the knight asked. “We have to leave here. Now.”

“You go, Theodore,” Kara said coldly. “I will remain for a while.”

Gar’rth gritted his teeth at her side. Castimir saw how his eyes were unnaturally black.

“Theodore is right, Kara. We should go.” Gar’rth’s voice was a growl.

Castimir looked over his shoulder as a cry went up from one of the spectators. The pack had edged closer, their proximity unnerving him, but now they leaped back and some even turned and vanished into the green mist.

“Gar’rth, what is going on?” he asked, surprised to see his friend’s face pale and his lips curled back in a snarl.

Is he changing?

Why?

“Gar’rth?”

“He is here,” the werewolf growled. His inhuman face made Castimir shiver.

I can’t forget the dream, Gar’rth. The one we all shared. Nor what you did in it, to me, to Arisha, especially to Kara.

But then all such thoughts were cast aside. A pale mist drifted toward them. It formed into a tall column and deposited quickly into a solid form of a cloaked man.

Kara gave a gasp as she turned to see.

Gar’rth fell to his knees.

Castimir sensed the man’s power as a wave of coldness that chilled his bare skin. The newcomer’s face was an unblemished white, reminding Castimir of a polished alabaster sculpture. It was topped with silky black hair that narrowed to a point on his forehead. His eyes were an animal yellow, like the Wyrd’s but even more calculating and malicious.

Unwillingly, he felt himself begin to kneel.

“Malak,” Despaard murmured from behind him. Castimir shook his head and straightened his back, fighting the urge to kneel or flee.

So this is a Lord of Morytania.

“You have returned, Gar’rth,” Malak said, his voice clear and powerful. “And of your own free will, bringing with you enemies of our lord. People have been executed for crimes a thousand times less severe than yours, wolf. Yet you will be spared, for I have given my word to your embassy.”

Malak made a single sweeping gesture with his hands and from around him the very shadows moved, abandoning their positions and racing to merge behind him. Very quickly they grew in shape and volume, forming a throne of blackness upon which he sat.

How did he do that?

Malak looked at Castimir with obvious amusement.

“You are a wizard. I have always thought it very arrogant of humans, to label themselves as such, for your command over nature has never been more than rudimentary at best. So dependent on your runes. It is quite… pitiful.”

“Master Malak,” Kara said firmly. “I speak with the voice of the King of Misthalin. These two youngsters are under my protection. I demand their instant release.”

How can you dare to make demands of such a being, Kara?

Casimir shook his head, his sudden anger at Kara’s impertinence fading. Why he should have felt that way, he had no idea.

Malak was unmoved.

“The werewolves are starving,” he said. “Your chattels entered Morytania unbidden, of their own accord. They will die tonight.”

“But my lord Malak, is there nothing we can offer in their place?” Gideon Gleeman spoke quickly, and with reverence. “May we not offer a trade, perhaps?”

Clever jester. But what would you offer?

“The fool speaks with a surprising tongue,” Malak smiled, his lengthened teeth dropping down over his lower lip. “But really, look about you. Does it appear as if these creatures can afford to give their food away?”

Castimir looked behind him as Malak nodded. He saw a woman with a silent infant in her arms, watching the three prisoners with hungry and desperate eyes.

He’s right. These wretches cannot spare anything. Least of all food.

“But we can offer more than these three humans,” Theodore said boldly, following the jester’s lead. “Our steeds would feed more of your people than the prisoners. Surely you are gaining more from such a bargain.”

Malak laughed cruelly.

“These requests will not be entertained. You have nothing to offer in their place. Horse flesh is no substitute for the tenderness of youth. Would you be satisfied with nettle broth instead of steak? No. Tonight, the prisoners will die.

“But I sense the truth of what you speak, Kara-Meir. These two were your property in the unholy land across the river. Their belongings will be returned to you shortly. Roavar will see to that. I have respected your embassy, but now I must know of its purpose.”

He leaned forward and locked eyes with her.

“What is it the King of Misthalin wants?”

Despaard stepped forward.

“He requests the return of those unlawfully taken from his lands. He wishes this creature we call the Wyrd to be destroyed, withdrawn, or better still to be handed to us for punishment. And finally, he wishes to have the assurance from Lord Drakan that the prophecy foretold by the High Priest of Entrana will in no way be acted upon.”

Malak remained silent for what seemed an interminable time.

“Very well,” he whispered silently, rising from his throne of shadows. “I know you have come to this land with the King’s Seal to prove your status, but I will not require that from you. I will take these requests to my master. In the meantime, you must all remain in Canifis.”

The shadows that composed his throne drifted apart, falling rapidly back.

Incredible, Castimir marvelled. What would I have to do to gain such power? Think what I could do with it.

“You should put these three from your mind, Kara-Meir,” Malak told her. “If you attempt to rescue them, you will violate the terms of your embassy and your lives will be forfeit, in ways you cannot imagine.”

Malak’s body shimmered and then the details of his being began to fade. The folds in the robes of his cloak blurred and the colours merged into a subfusc blandness. His face lost its detail. Soon, his solid form sublimated into a pale mist, vanishing on the breeze.

Castimir felt as if a foot had been taken off his chest. He breathed easier, and was aware of a cold sweat upon his skin.

I felt myself agreeing to everything he said. Was I alone in that, or were the others affected likewise?

He shook his head, aware that Kara was talking to Pia, aware of Theodore interrupting her angrily, and of Gar’rth and Despaard joining in on the Knight’s side.

Suddenly, a snarl silenced them all.

It was Imre. Behind him walked Arisha, with Albertus leaning on her arm. The old man looked older than when Castimir had seen him last, paler and weaker, his skin more wrinkled than before.

“I wanted to… wanted to come with you.” Albertus’s voice was faint and slurred. “Have I… have I missed anything?”

The old man’s presence surprised them all, and a brief silence fell. Then it was shattered.

“Help us! Please help us!” Pia shouted. “Please, you can’t leave us here.”

Vanstrom Klause pursed his lips and shook his head.

“You have to go,” he said to them. “Now. Your friends are right, Kara-Meir. There is nothing you can do for us. I thank you for trying, but we three are dead. When the time comes you must not interfere. If you do, you will suffer a far worse fate than death. It will be an eternity of suffering.” Vanstrom pressed his face as close to the bars as he was able.

“And you should know, our lives have not been wasted. We will be dead soon, but our sacrifice will mean many others will live. Promise me, promise me you won’t interfere.”

Kara took Pia’s hand in her own. Castimir could see her body shudder as she wept. Doric lowered his face in shadow and Arisha, moving among them with Albertus still on her arm, put her free hand upon her friend’s shoulder.

“I promise,” Kara said finally. “I promise I won’t interfere. Pia, I’m so sorry.”

“No!” Pia yelled angrily, wrenching her hand away from Kara’s as if she had been burned, her face a mask of rage. “You promised us, Kara! You promised you would help us! You promised…”

Suddenly Kara broke away and ran. Castimir leapt aside as she fled toward the inn, its outline barely visible through the swirling mists. Pia shouted after her.

“You promised us, Kara! You gave your word! Please… please don’t leave us. Please!” She grabbed the bars and shook with all her strength, yet the metal was unyielding.

And Jack, behind her, stared blankly ahead as if they were all strangers.

It is the gaze of a person waiting to die.

Now Pia turned to those who remained.

“Sir Theodore, you must help us,” she pleaded. “You cannot permit us to be murdered here-”

“I’m sorry, Pia,” he said. “There is nothing any of us can do.” The knight turned and strode away quickly, back to the inn.

Cold, Theodore. Very cold.

“Please don’t go. Just don’t leave me here…” Pia’s voice had faded now to a whimper, her voice hoarse from shouting. Tears ran down her face as she collapsed against the bars.

“It is too hard a burden for one so young,” Vanstrom murmured.

Arisha handed Albertus over to Gideon Gleeman. The jester steadied the old man as the priestess knelt before the girl.

“I will remain here with you, Pia,” she promised. “Come, let us pray together, in this dark place. And you also, Jack-come to me here where I can hold you.”

Castimir felt his eyes water. A quick look at his companions informed him he wasn’t alone. Lord Despaard stared angrily into space, Gar’rth clenched and unclenched his fists, his face human once more, while Doric shook his head slowly. Albertus Black’s eyes were blurred, his tears faint on his pale skin.

Arisha took the siblings through the bars and kissed each one on the forehead. She held them very tightly and Pia’s wailing subsided. Even Jack seemed more animated at her touch.

How does she have the strength to keep giving? Even here.

“The rest of you should go back,” she told them over her shoulder. “There is nothing you can do here, and it might become increasingly dangerous as the werewolves grow bolder. Can I rely on your protection, Imre?”

The werewolf looked at her with hatred. Castimir clutched the runes in his hands in readiness.

“You can,” he said finally. “Malak has said that none of you shall be hurt by my people. My guard will keep you safe.”

“Then I shall remain also,” Castimir said, feeling Arisha’s stare bore into him. “You should not be alone, Arisha, and my powers are perhaps most effective to safeguard you here.”

“Very well,” she said. “But the rest of you must leave.”

Doric patted Arisha on the shoulder and strode away, muttering in his own language and shaking his head angrily.

Only Gar’rth hesitated now.

“You should speak to Kara, Gar’rth,” Arisha told him. “Theodore and she will no doubt find an argument in their discussions, but he is right. This time.”

“I will not be far away,” the werewolf said, then he turned and followed the rest of them.

And they were left alone.

How many from the Tower can say they have stood in the centre of Canifis, guarding a Guthixian priestess as she performs last rites?

None, he mused, save me.

Then Castimir gritted his teeth, angry at himself as he saw Jack’s glassy gaze.

Today wasn’t a day for him to feel proud.

27

Kara sat on the stairs, in full view of the group, with her knees drawn up and her head bowed.

She had stopped crying, and now she just felt empty inside. Occasionally she would raise her head and find Theodore looking at her. At first he had been frosty, now he tried to smile, offering her sympathy.

That made her feel worse.

Give me your anger, Theodore. That I could cope with, that I would expect. But what I detest is pity.

Gar’rth had been no better. She had expected him to understand, but he had sided with Theodore from the outset. Despaard had gone so far as to tell her not to be so naive.

The truth is that they are right. I know it. I knew it since the moment I saw Pia in there. There really is nothing I can do.

Absolutely nothing.

This realisation came as no comfort when she recalled Pia’s face, and the agony as she had pulled her hand away.

“Can’t we offer them an exchange?” Albertus asked from the other side of the inn, his voice loud in the tense silence. He stood behind a chair, his hands gripping the backrest and his filmy eyes staring through the window panes. Outside, the leaping shadows and occasional howl reminded them they were in a town of werewolves.

“I tried that,” Gideon told him. “They wouldn’t accept the horses.”

“No… no.” Albertus shook his white head. “I meant something else. I mean, one of us for them.”

What!

No one spoke. Kara looked at the old man for a long minute. He seemed sincere.

“Is it such a foolish suggestion?” Albertus said, perceiving their scrutiny. “Take me for instance, for it was myself I was proposing to offer in exchange. I am old, far older than even their tender years combined. And the truth is… the truth is I haven’t been well. Not for some months now. In fact, I don’t expect to see another summer.”

The door opened and Arisha entered, followed by Castimir. The two must have sensed the atmosphere and its source, for they looked at Albertus.

“So,” Arisha said gently. “Have you told them?”

The old man nodded.

“Told them what?” Castimir asked.

“I am very ill, Castimir. I will likely be dead before the year is out. It was one of the deciding factors that made me join this embassy, to see the land of the dead before my soul made its way here. Now I have seen it, I am… I am scared, truth be told. Scared that I have lived a life without religion, without faith. Will I end up here, forever?

“So you see, this is my last chance to achieve recognition in Saradomin’s eyes. My life for theirs. It will save me, and it will save them.”

“It is madness,” Despaard whispered. “And it is too late now. Malak has gone. I doubt the werewolves could make such a choice of their own accord.”

Gar’rth nodded.

“Lord Despaard is right. They couldn’t do so.”

“And would they accept it anyhow?” Theodore added. “It seems as if Malak and the elders delight in the pain this causes us.”

Albertus nodded silently, his eyes fixed on the dark shapes that ran about in the fog. The howls and activity outside grew louder, and somewhere a loud drum began to beat.

“It won’t be long now,” Gar’rth said.

“Imre told us to come inside,” Arisha told them. “He felt it was unsafe for us to remain near the cage any longer. May Guthix help them…”

The sounds of the celebration continued for what seemed like an eternity. Kara pressed her hands over her ears, but she could not block it out.

Coward, Kara-Meir! You are a coward.

“No,” Kara said. “No, I have to see.” She stood and ran to the door. As she opened it, a huge shadow blocked her way. She gave a gasp of surprise, her sword halfway from its scabbard before she recognised it as Roavar.

“Lower that blade, Kara-Meir,” he growled. “I come at the bidding of Malak. He has asked that your belongings be returned to you. Come.”

Kara followed the elder from the inn. Behind her came the rest of the group-all save two, for Gideon remained behind with Albertus.

“Roavar. Please,” she said, fighting to push back despair. “Please, is there nothing I can offer you for their lives? Money? Food? Perhaps regular trade with Misthalin to improve your peoples’ lives?”

“Malak has decreed it,” he replied flatly. “No words you know can change his mind.”

He walked quickly then. They followed him as he went south and then east down narrow dirty streets. After a few minutes’ travel they arrived at a squat building, the door locked securely.

“We do not value gold or jewels as do you humans, and any we find on our travels are kept here for our trade with various individuals. The prisoners’ possessions were put here, as well.”

“The House of Artefacts,” Gar’rth whispered at her side. “I have never seen inside.”

Roavar produced a key and inserted it in the lock. The mechanism gave a loud click, and the door swung open to reveal a cavernous dark interior.

“Come inside, but wait near the door while I find the lantern.”

He went inside and was momentarily lost to the darkness. Kara took several steps into the gloom, the rest behind her. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could just make out odd piles of vague shapes, and shelves stacked with books and other less recognisable objects.

The elder gave a cry as a dull light illuminated the room.

By the gods!

Castimir gasped, or it might have been Theodore or Doric or even Despaard-she could not tell, but it was a suitable expression for the sight that greeted them. The room was huge, stretching far beyond the weak light cast by the lantern. Piles of gold coins the height of a man were scattered unevenly about, as if they had been placed there as an afterthought. There were rubies, too, along with sapphires and diamonds and a hundred other glittering stones that Kara had no name for.

Swords ranging from the most ornate to the most simple iron blades lay propped carelessly against the nearest wall. Close by were bows and arrows, crossbow stocks, maces, axes and weapons made entirely of bone. Stacked on several rows of shelves were bound books, their parchment bleached with age.

“This is incredible,” Castimir whispered in awe.

“I doubt even King Roald can match such wealth,” Despaard uttered.

“How have you come by all this?” Doric asked, his eyes rolling in their sockets as he examined one gem after another.

Roavar grunted.

“We have little use for such things, and Morytania is an ancient realm and a vast one. Its reputation has kept human treasure seekers from plundering our lands, and over many centuries our people have found and gathered such trinkets.”

Castimir gasped again, pointing to an open chest at the foot of the bookshelves.

“You have runes. You have thousands and thousands of runes.” The chest was full, and the small objects were spilling over the edge and onto the floor. Then he realised that there was more than one.

The werewolf nodded as he knelt in a shadowed corner to retrieve an unseen object.

“I could spend the rest of my life here, cataloguing this property,” the wizard said. He ran forward, peering into the chests at the runes and then at the bookshelf nearest him. “This is amazing, truly so. If I could take these runes back to the Tower we would be a great order ag-”

Castimir froze, his mouth open in shock.

“What is it?” Kara called, reaching for Kingsguard and coming to join him.

“This book. What is this book?” He pointed to a particular tome among many on the bookshelf, level with his eyes. On its spine Kara could make out a curious symbol that possessed no meaning for her. Castimir reached and withdrew it amid a cloud of dust.

“They are ancient volumes written in a forgotten language,” Roavar said with a shrug, standing. Castimir lifted the cover and read for a single moment, his face draining of colour.

“Well?” Arisha asked him impatiently.

“It’s one of them,” Castimir whispered excitedly. “It has the same symbols used in Master Segainus’s works. I must have it. I must!”

Roavar turned suddenly, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the wizard. Kara saw for the first time the items he had retrieved from their hiding place, beyond her sight.

Is that it? Is that really it?

It was her adamant sword, along with her travelling satchel that Pia had taken from her room in the palace. Quickly, she advanced and took them from the werewolf.

Meanwhile, Roavar growled at Castimir. The wizard closed the book quickly, but kept hold of it.

“How much for this book, written in a forgotten language?” he asked.

“This isn’t a marketplace, fool,” the werewolf snapped. “Put that back-”

A woman’s scream froze Kara to the spot. Seconds later more screams followed, voices full of fear and anguish. Without hesitation Roavar bounded past to the door, looking left and right, to find the source of the commotion. Swiftly the group followed him outside.

“Is it Pia?” Kara asked.

“No,” Gar’rth said. “No, it is too early for her. This is something else.”

Flames sprang up to the north. To the west, behind the inn, a second orange glow could be seen.

“Fire!” Theodore shouted. “Canifis is burning.”

“Is this your doing?” Roavar roared into the knight’s face. “Do you realise what will happen to you if you break the conditions of your embassy? Do you?”

“It is not us,” Despaard replied. “I swear it.”

“Then go back to the inn, and remain there,” Roavar barked as he shut and locked the door behind them. Kara held her sword in her hand, the sword that Master Phyllis had made for her.

Our fortune has shifted at last. There is an opportunity now.

And as they headed west, toward the inn, Kara saw in the dim light Castimir’s triumphant grin, and the book he held against his chest as he ran.

28

Gar’rth could hear the angry roars of his people building to a fearful climax as more fires were lit.

“What’s going on Gar’rth?” Theodore asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied. They reached the corner of the last building before the inn, and he raised his hand for them to stop. Tentatively he looked out.

Fires were burning on all sides of the village now. To the north he could see a yellow glow above the buildings, to the south- nearer-he could hear the crackling of flames as they consumed wood. To the east, the roof of the House of Artefacts itself had been set ablaze. From all directions came the smell of smoke, the sound of wails. In the glow of the flames he could see his kin doing their best to fight the growing inferno, using buckets of water in a battle they were obviously losing.

“It must be an attack of some sort,” he said finally. “There is no other explanation.”

But who would attack Canifis like this? he wondered. The vampires would use more subtle and horrific ways.

He gave the signal with his hand and ran across the small stretch of open ground to the inn. As they neared, Doric swore in his own language.

For the door had been smashed open. Albertus Black and Gideon Gleeman were nowhere to be seen.

Kara charged up the stairs to the first floor. Castimir looked for any disturbance to the saddlebags. Despaard searched the kitchen and the rest of the ground floor, while Arisha kept watch near the door.

“They are not upstairs,” Kara announced from the stairway.

“Can you track them, Gar’rth?” Theodore asked after a quick survey of the inn. The knight had buckled his sword belt about his waist, and Gar’rth noted the wolfbane dagger at his hip.

“Two of Albertus’s explosives are missing,” Castimir reported.

Gar’rth crouched closer to the ground near the door and examined the scents.

They both left this way. Instantly he was outside, edging forward, testing the air.

Toward the cages, he realised. Fear gripped him. Albertus, what have you done?

He stood as his friends gathered around him.

“Albertus left first. Gideon followed sometime after, for his scent is stronger, as if he stood here for a moment before deciding which way to go. This way…” He pointed toward the cage, and Theodore groaned.

“But is this safe?” Castimir asked. “Are the terms of our embassy forfeit now?”

“Castimir makes a good point,” Despaard said. “We don’t know what is happening. We should go back to the inn, gather our supplies, and make ready to flee Canifis at once.”

He is right, Gar’rth reflected. If the werewolves believe these fires to be of our making, then Albertus and Gideon will be dead already.

“Then you go back,” Kara told the nobleman. “I will go to Pia and Jack. If our embassy is forfeit, then I have nothing to risk in freeing them.”

“I’ll come with you, Kara,” Theodore said. He looked to the wizard. “We could use your magic, Castimir.”

The mage nodded, and the three stood separate from the group.

“I’ll come, too,” Doric said.

“I will not,” Arisha told them. “Despaard speaks wisely. I will go with him to the inn to gather our supplies.”

“Two minutes, Kara,” Despaard said. “Don’t risk your lives if you can’t get to them. Come back to the inn and we’ll find a place to hide until we can better understand what has happened today.” He peered at her intently. “Good luck.”

Kara nodded.

“Two minutes is enough,” she said. “Come on!”

Gar’rth led them quickly and stealthily, from shadow to shadow, west to east. The smoke from the fires caused his eyes to water and burned his lungs.

“Gar’rth,” Kara hissed in warning. “We are seen!”

A cloaked figure rushed out of a doorway nearby. In its right hand was a bucket of water. It stopped when it saw them and gave an angry shout, its red eyes narrowing in hatred.

A woman. She was young and beautiful. She leapt forward, discarding her burden in her haste to be upon them. He shouted out in their werewolf tongue for her to stop, and he was aware of Kara, in between them, readying her sword.

No! There is no need for this!

“Kara!” Gar’rth shouted. “Wait!”

He watched Kara step forward as the werewolf leapt upon her. Kara dropped to one knee, ducking her attacker’s wildly flailing arms. And then her sword darted upward in a single deadly thrust.

“No, Kara-no!”

The werewolf female gave a surprised gasp as she rolled free from Kara’s blade. She came to rest at Gar’rth’s feet, her eyes staring into his as she changed back to her human form. She reached out to him and he took her hand.

Her black blood flowed from a wound near her heart. She would be dead very soon.

“I’m sorry,” Gar’rth said in their language. “I’m so sorry.”

She pulled herself up with the last of her strength. Her once beautiful face now pale and grey. And then she spoke a single word.

“Traitor,” she said, spitting into his face. Her eyes closed and she fell limply back to the earth stained in her black blood.

“Well done, Kara,” Theodore said with obvious relief. “She would have killed us.”

“Well done?” Gar’rth repeated, his voice breaking. “Well done? You killed a woman, Kara. You killed a woman who had a bucket of water in her hand.”

Something inside Gar’rth snapped. He leaped up and pushed Theodore back, the force of his blow sending the knight flying.

“She had done nothing!” he cried. “Nothing!”

“She attacked us, Gar’rth,” Kara responded, her words betraying uncertainty.

She knows she is wrong, he thought. And yet she won’t admit it.

“She’s right, lad,” Doric growled. “She came at us first. Kara had no way of knowing what she would do.”

Theodore stood, his face a mix of surprise and anger. His hand dropped to the dagger at his belt, the wolfbane blade. He drew it quickly.

Gar’rth stepped back.

“So this is it?” Gar’rth said warily. “It’s what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it, Theodore.”

I can feel its power from here. Even now, in late afternoon, the world is a darker place already, no smell, fewer sounds, my limbs heavy.

“Don’t make me use it, Gar’rth,” Theodore said. “But I need to know I can tru-”

The dagger shot from Theodore’s hand and flew through the air.

It landed in Castimir’s waiting palm.

“Enough,” the wizard said firmly. “Now. Both of you.” His eyes were different, a steely glare that Gar’rth had never seen on him before. In his other hand he held a set of runes.

“We can discuss this later,” Castimir continued. “We have no time left now. Lord Despaard will be leaving very soon-if he hasn’t already. A woman has been killed today, but bickering about it won’t help her, and it certainly won’t help us.

“Even if it wasn’t before, we can now presume our embassy is most definitely forfeit,” he continued. “Our lives are in danger every second we delay. So let us make the most of what we have left. Let us at least try and save Pia and Jack. Gar’rth, you lead on. I will come behind you. Theodore, you watch our backs.”

Gar’rth paused for a moment, then nodded and moved to comply. The wizard gave the knight an angry glare and followed.

Kara followed behind Castimir. The woman’s blood had dripped onto her hands, and for some reason she couldn’t bring herself to wipe it off.

She attacked me. I acted in self defense. Still, she did not feel better in any way.

Ahead of her, Gar’rth raised his hand again.

“I can see the cage,” he said flatly, “but it is empty.”

Kara ran to his side to see for herself. The clearing around the cage was deserted. The door was open, the padlock hanging loose in the latch. To the north, a house was burning uncontrollably and in the distance, at the farthest extent of visibility through the fog and the smoke, Kara could see black shapes running to and fro, trying to combat the fires.

Reassured, she turned to look at the cage once more.

“There are no remains,” she said, hope flaring inside her. “Is that usual?”

Gar’rth shook his head.

“No. Come on.”

They ran forward, Gar’rth close to the ground, sniffing the grass. Kara jumped into the cage itself, staring through the bars at all points of the compass before examining the ground.

“They were here, but they went this way…” Gar’rth pointed to the northeast.

“Here,” Doric said, holding the padlock up. “There are faint scratches on the surface. It might be that Pia picked it.”

“Pia, or perhaps Vanstrom,” Gar’rth replied. “He seemed to be unafraid when we spoke to him. Maybe he knew that this attack was going to occur. Perhaps it is a diversion to get him out.”

“Gar’rth!” Theodore said urgently. “Look.” The knight pointed to a small figure, a boy, who stood over the woman’s dead body. As soon as Kara saw him, he began to scream.

To him, I am no better than Sulla.

“Get him, or he will give us away,” Castimir urged.

Doric was the closest, and he ran forward, with Gar’rth following behind. In only a few yards the werewolf had overtaken the dwarf. The boy turned to run, intending to put a house between them, and Doric altered course accordingly to cut him off.

“It’s too late. We’ve been seen,” Theodore yelled. “Quickly, get into the cage. It’s our only hope.”

Several powerful figures appeared and charged Gar’rth down. Some ran on two legs, their faces monstrously distorted in a hybrid mix, while others ran on four and in the shape of large wolves. The first leapt into him, forcing him to the ground. A wolf took his arm in its maw and bit him savagely, and Kara lost sight of Gar’rth as he rolled with his two attackers. Four others ran by, heading directly for the cage.

Theodore closed the gate and snapped the padlock shut as the first of them crashed against the bars.

“What about Doric?” Castimir whispered. “Kara, he has to leave us.”

Kara nodded. She looked, and saw that the dwarf had ducked behind the house and now waited in the shadows, his dagger drawn.

There is nothing he could do. Even with a wolfbane dagger, there are too many of them now. She shouted out in the language of the dwarfs, certain there was no one among their attackers who could understand.

“Run, Doric,” she called. “Get back to Lord Despaard. Get out of here.”

The dwarf lifted his hand in acknowledgement. Then, with a final look back, he vanished into the smoke-filled village. As he disappeared from sight, the werewolves circling the cage turned away and joined in the assault on Gar’rth.

“What about Gar’rth?” Theodore asked.

“I could risk a spell,” Castimir said. “But at that range, and with such movement…”

Gar’rth was outnumbered by six to one. Two held him by the arms as a third heaped blows into his unprotected face. A fourth kicked him violently from behind.

“They will kill him soon, Castimir,” Kara said. She winced with each blow they gave him, and fearfully she imagined the damage done to his face and body.

Come on, Castimir!

The wizard was concentrating, and she didn’t speak for fear of upsetting his spell.

The runes in his hand evaporated as tongues of fire appeared in his hands. She felt her face flush from the sudden heat as Castimir threw his hands forward. The fire covered the distance in the blink of an eye and caught Gar’rth’s nearest attacker in the back as he readied himself to kick Gar’rth once more.

They were lost to Kara’s sight as the fire seemed to burst in all directions. The werewolves howled and fled, running to the safety of the shadows. The one who had delivered the merciless kicks was now aflame.

Only Gar’rth remained, lying still upon the ground.

“Get up, Gar’rth!” she screamed. “Come to us!”

“I can’t keep them at bay forever, Kara,” Castimir said, breathing deeply, his face sweating. “He is too far away for me to be sure of my accuracy.”

But Gar’rth rose to his knees, swaying unsteadily.

“Come to us, Gar’rth,” Theodore called.

The werewolf crawled toward them, agonizingly slowly. A stone was hurled at him from the shadows, and Kara saw that they were surrounded now by scores of enemies. It missed by a wide margin, but she knew more would follow.

“Hurry, Gar’rth. You must come quickly.”

The werewolf staggered to his feet and veered to his left and then his right, then half-fell toward them. Finally, as stones clattered among the bars above them, he lurched so that his back was propped up against the side of the cage. Kara put her arms around him, holding him up. His clothes were wet, his face battered, his eyes swollen and lips cut. Black blood covered his chest, and his head lolled back onto Kara’s arm.

Theodore winced. Castimir shook his head grimly.

“Kara… Kara…” the werewolf said.

“Shhh. Don’t try to speak, Gar’rth,” she whispered.

Look at what they have done to you. Your own people.

She couldn’t prevent the tears when they came. They dripped onto Gar’rth’s forehead and ran in little bloody rivulets down his face. But still she refused to let go-refused to let him fall to the ground.

While all around them, the werewolves gathered.

“They are coming, Castimir, no more feints.” Theodore stood close to Kara, his sword ready. From all sides the werewolves charged, too many too count.

If I am surrounded, I suppose I can attack in any direction, Castimir realised with grim humour. Runes melted and dissipated in his hands. Fire flew from his fingers, striking and burning the oncoming terrible mass that approached from the east, forcing the attack to withdraw. Several of his enemies fell, rolling in the dirt, as the others turned and fled back into the gloom, beyond his range.

“I’m not sure if I can do that again,” he said, staggering back against the bars, his heart crashing against his ribs. He sank to the floor of the cage and watched as those he had burned picked themselves up and retreated, one still aflame. Two others lay still, one a burning corpse for certain.

“I don’t see what they hope to gain by such a frontal assault,” Theodore mused.

You haven’t had to do anything save watch out for stones, Castimir thought. “They might be seeking to exhaust me,” he said, unable to keep the sarcasm from his voice. “Once I am done, they will be able to attack at their leisure.”

Theodore nodded.

“How many runes do you have?”

“Enough to fend off a few more charges like the last. But I could do with a rest.”

He felt his eyelids drop, and as they did he noticed that a calm had descended where only moments ago there had been the clamour of chaos. When he opened them again, he saw a single werewolf walk from the west, approaching the place where Kara held Gar’rth. He held a white cloth in his hand, and waved it for a moment before he shouted.

“I seek to parley,” the newcomer called. He was a big wolf with light-grey hair, his clothes tight about his bestial appearance. He took another step forward.

One of the town elders then. Talk as long as you may, for I will be glad of the rest.

“Then you and you alone may advance,” Theodore replied.

Castimir remained seated, his back to the farthest edge of the cage, opposite the advancing werewolf. Kara stood in front of him, while Gar’rth-miraculously still conscious-watched him from outside the bars.

“A young woman of child-bearing age was slain before her son’s eyes,” the newcomer said. “Her loss is felt by all of Canifis. We demand justice. Hand over her murderess, and the rest of you will be dealt with mercifully.”

“You cannot trust him,” Gar’rth mumbled.

“We are sorry for your loss,” Theodore replied. “But we acted in self defense. The woman attacked us. We will not hand over our friend to be killed.”

“Don’t be a fool, knight,” the elder hissed angrily, hurling the cloth to the ground. Castimir looked to his right and left. His head ached and his vision swam, but he could see that the werewolves had advanced.

They are getting ready for a charge. But what are they waiting for?

Kara and Theodore faced the newcomer steadily. Gar’rth, leaning against the bars, faced him also.

Castimir went cold.

The east. No one is watching the east!

He heard the sound as soon as he dived away from the bars. A clawed hand shot through and tore at the satchel that held the runes Aubury had given him. A second hand aimed to claw his throat.

“Kara!”

She reacted before he had finished speaking her name, stepping over him and stabbing with her adamant blade. Castimir heard a growl and a cry, followed by the drenching patter of liquid bursting from an artery. The hand on his satchel went limp.

He looked up to see Kara, her arms and cheek covered in black blood. Beyond the bars, the body of his assailant fell silently to the ground outside.

Kara spat in disgust.

“You come to us in the guise of parley while your assassin sneaks up on us,” Theodore fumed. “Go now, and don’t bother to return. Your words are meaningless, your guarantees fraudulent, and your promises empty.”

It was one of the bodies. One of the werewolves must have advanced with the rest, and then pretended he was dead, only to sneak up on me when the elder advanced.

I have to be more careful in the future.

“We should stay away from the bars if we can,” Kara warned. “Who knows what they will try next.”

When the next attack came, it wasn’t a charge or a deceit, but something they couldn’t fight. A wall of smoke drifted on the breeze. In the distance, Castimir could see the werewolves arranging the fires to shroud their prison in smoke.

“I didn’t know werewolves liked their meat smoked,” he joked, coughing.

For the first time in what felt like days, he saw Theodore smile.

“Can you conjure a wind to blow this aside?” Kara asked, her eyes watering.

“I am not fond of wind or air magic, but I think it would serve us best now.” He readied the runes he needed for his spell. There were four of them, one with a skull etched upon its surface, a death rune. The other three had a primitive white depiction of the air element.

They melted in his palm, the sensation reassuring. Then, when he felt his hand grow heavy, he pushed it forward. A compact ball of air, powerful enough to topple a strong man, rent a hole in the wall of smoke.

But it bought them only a few moments reprieve.

“How often can you do that?” Theodore asked him.

“Not often enough, Theo. Not nearly often enough. But perhaps if I aim it closer to home it might work better.”

He conjured the wind again, and this time he directed it toward the ground. The breeze hit him as it burst upon the grass, a cool wind escaping in all directions. He tried it twice more, but each time the smoke moved in quicker than before.

Soon they were all bent double, crouching under the smoke.

“Water… I should use water,” he wheezed. “Perhaps I can douse their fires.”

This time, when he thrust his arm forward, a great globe of water flew from his hand, vanishing into the darkness beyond.

It was greeted by vicious laughter.

“Is that the best you can do, wizard?” The voices mocked from all sides now. “Our fires are too numerous for you to extinguish.”

And then the drums started. A steady beat, marching around and around the cage as the smoke only grew denser.

“We will… we will have to run,” Kara coughed violently. “Can you melt the lock?”

Castimir shook his head. He was exhausted. His robes clung to his body, soaked from his sweat.

“We wouldn’t get a hundred yards, Kara,” Theodore said, his eyes watering, his tunic held against his face to try and prevent the smoke from getting into his lungs.

All this magic and I still can’t save us!

“I’m sorry, Kara,” he said. “Theodore, I’m sorry. And you Gar’rth, I’m sorry… sorry for you as well…”

And Arisha-especially you.

“At least we won’t feel anything,” Theodore murmured. Castimir saw the knight’s grip slacken on his sword as he fell face down at the centre of the cage. Kara looked at him and smiled sweetly. She sat behind Gar’rth still, unwilling to be parted from him.

Then Castimir was too weak even to cough. His vision swam again and he saw the world darken.

29

They headed south, into the vast swamps.

Pia’s feet sunk ankle deep into the mire as they went, Jack behind her, holding her arm with both his hands.

Still he won’t speak. Not since our capture.

She gritted her teeth and fought her exhaustion before taking another step.

“Come on, Pia. We have a long way to go before night falls,” Vanstrom said from in front of her.

“You knew that Canifis was going to be attacked,” she spat at him. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

It would have given me hope. It would have given Jack hope too.

Vanstrom gave a tight-lipped grin.

“You could have been spies. The vampires use them often enough. Come on now, and no more talking. We must be silent.”

On they trudged, for how long Pia couldn’t say. She stared at her mud-caked boots, and sought not to trip and fall. As they continued, she gradually realised that she could hear more noise than just the heavy trudging sounds of the three of them-the splashing became louder and louder. And there was something else…

Looking up, she saw that their ranks had swelled to nearly a dozen individuals. They were armed with bows and clad in black cloaks, their faces coated in a foul-smelling paste. She covered her nose against the stench.

“You should get used to that smell,” growled a man who saw her distaste. “It confuses their noses. Prevents the wolves from tracking us. Now, you will have to wear it, too.” They reached firmer ground, a small island in the swamp, and the group spread out to watch every approach. Some sat down, taking the time to rest.

Two of them moved forward and applied a black, mud-like paste to her face, rubbing it into her hair. Pia was too tired to resist, and she saw that her brother was being subjected to similar treatment. One of the men who seemed to lead the small band held out a handful of the stuff, gesturing for her to take it.

“Rub it under your arms, as well, and on your legs,” he instructed. “We have time now, so do it properly.”

The group waited in silence upon the narrow island, with its small trees and some dense bushes. Vanstrom talked in a low voice with the leader, and every so often Pia saw their eyes fall upon her.

Perhaps they will help us, she thought. But can I trust them? Or will they be like Kara-Meir. No. I can trust Vanstrom. What he did for me in cage saved me from madness.

Pia curled her lip back as she thought of her abandonment. Part of her fought against it, for she knew in truth that there was nothing Kara could have done for her. Yet she had fled so quickly.

Arisha is a true heroine. She sat out there with me. I won’t ever steal from a Guthix priest again.

She caught Vanstrom smiling at her, and without thinking she smiled back. Without his presence in the cage, she knew, she would have been overwhelmed by fear.

He was kind to me, and to Jack.

Suddenly there was movement at one tip of the island.

“Karnac, someone is coming,” a man warned. The group fell silent instantly. Bows and swords were readied as the black group hid as best they could, waiting.

A minute went by, and then another. Pia fought the urge to speak.

Finally she heard them. A small group, trudging through the mire.

“Karnac!” a man called, his voice strangely calm.

“I’m here.” The leader of the band stood and waved his hand. “How many of you are there? Did you get them out?”

“Only three, I am afraid. The rest of the outsiders went back into the village.”

Karnac cursed.

“Then there is nothing we can do for them now. They must trust to whatever gods they believe in. Come onto the island, but beware, there is deep water to your left side.”

The newcomers stepped into sight for the first time. Pia let out a sigh of relief when she saw Arisha, and Jack bounded toward her, hugging her tightly, yet still silent. Behind her were the man she recognised as Lord Despaard and the dwarf Doric.

“At least you are safe,” Doric growled to her. “Kara went to look for you. I left them trapped in your cage, surrounded by werewolves.” He dipped his head. “I returned to the inn and caught up with Despaard and Arisha as they were guided out by these strangers.”

The dwarf shook his head in despair, and clasped his axe.

“She has got out of worse spots,” Arisha said.

“Aye.” Doric nodded, but Pia could see in his eyes that he didn’t fully believe it.

“What are your names, strangers? The spirit woman told us you would come and that we had to rescue you from Canifis,” Karnac said. “She often guides us with her gift. Without her none of us would be alive now.”

“I am Lord Despaard, of Misthalin. Advisor to King Roald the Third. These are my companions, Doric the dwarf, and Arisha, priestess of the barbarian peoples. Tell me, do you have word of two other of our embassy, one a tall thin man and the other an old man?”

Karnac shook his head.

“No, they have not been seen by our spies.”

Lord Despaard pursed his lips.

“Then I think it safe to assume that they are gone.”

Arisha nodded as Doric gripped his axe tightly, fire in his eyes.

“But we are not free of Canifis just yet,” Karnac warned. “My men have planted many false trails in all directions from the town. If there is pursuit, it will most likely be led astray. Still, I would like to be sure. We will remain here for a few moments more.”

Pia sunk down at Arisha’s side. As she did, others of the group moved to distribute the foul-smelling paste among the newcomers. Even Lord Despaard accepted it, though with a look of disgust, and as he applied it he talked quietly with Vanstrom and Karnac, the two asking the nobleman one question after another.

“Will Kara be all right?” Pia asked hesitatingly.

Arisha smiled slightly.

“I don’t know, Pia,” she replied. “I just don’t know.”

Something in her tone told Pia that the woman did not wish to speak of her friends, so she decided to hold her tongue.

She offered me kind words when I needed them most. Yet I can’t find the words to offer her. Pia lay down next to Arisha, and she must have slept for a time because she was woken suddenly by urgent whispers.

“Something is coming!”

“It’s one of them!”

“Ready… we must be ready.”

Something stepped onto the island, something inhuman and powerful. Pia caught sight of the broad shoulders and matted hair that covered its body.

It was a werewolf.

Karnac’s men leapt from their places. Two arrows whistled forward as the creature leapt to one side.

“Ready!” Karnac’s voice called out of the shadows. Three men jumped forward, forming a rough line before their one enemy. Arisha stood, her hand on her dagger.

“I can smell your fear,” the monster taunted. “How many of you are there?”

The werewolf’s eyes found Arisha. He laughed again.

“How fitting. So the embassy’s barbarian hides in the swamps,” he snarled. “Your friends are captured. You, however, will be mine now that you have broken the conditions of the blood mark. I will tell the wizard how you suffered so…”

Doric jumped up from nearby, his mouth widening in a smile.

“Imre?” he said with a strange delight. “It is you. Good.”

The werewolf laughed even louder now as Doric walked to the front of Karnac’s three men. Casually, the dwarf readied himself.

“If you fellas would give me some room to swing my axe, then Imre and I will be about our business.”

The men looked at each other curiously before stepping backward, still maintaining their line. Despaard moved behind the dwarf, his hand on the hilt of his dagger. Doric spat on his hands.

He’s insane, Pia thought uncomprehendingly. He’s utterly mad. Then the dwarf spoke again.

“Well, Imre? Do you feel up to it?”

“I told you before that I have never eaten dwarf, so this will be a new experience. I will keep you alive as I devour you, one limb at a time, so before you die I can tell you how you compare with a human child-”

Imre coughed suddenly. He swayed unsteadily and put his hand to his head.

Doric took his opportunity. The dwarf ran in without a sound, and thrust the flat head of his axe into Imre’s stomach. Pia had expected the werewolf to avoid it, yet she found herself gasp in delight as he doubled over with a pain-filled grunt.

“That ought to stop your boasting, I think,” Doric remarked.

The werewolf growled in real anger now, his right hand flailing out with deadly speed. His claws rattled across the dwarf’s helm, but Doric stepped in close again, his axe swinging inward.

This time, the haft crunched against the inside of Imre’s left knee. As the werewolf howled in pain, the dwarf pulled his axe toward him, the lower edge of his blades tripping his opponent in a neat move.

“Reckon I could have broken your kneecap there,” Doric said. “No doubt painful. Take a minute if you like. Get your breath back.”

“You… you taunt me!”

“Aye. I suppose I do.”

The werewolf came to his feet and jumped forward, but Pia saw how clumsy he was, how ill-timed and even she, without any experience in combat, saw how easy it would have been for the dwarf to take advantage of it.

And Doric did so. His axe darted forward, a short stab that smashed Imre’s fingers into twisted shapes. The werewolf howled and kept moving. But Doric side-stepped, bringing the flat of his weapon against the same kneecap he had damaged a moment before. This time the crunch of bone was unmistakable.

Imre collapsed in a heap.

Doric held his axe over the werewolf’s head.

“And I once told you I wanted a new coat, Imre.”

The axe went up.

“Wait!” It was Arisha. She advanced quickly, although Pia noted that she stopped a good distance from the wounded werewolf. She stared directly at him.

“I will ask Doric to spare your life, if you swear to do something for us.”

“Arisha, what are you-” Doric began, but she held up a hand to cut him off.

“If you promise us, on the very name of your god, to help our friends in any way you can, then you will leave here alive.”

Imre spat at the dwarf and tried to move away. Doric gave a wicked chuckle and rammed his booted foot down upon the werewolf’s chest.

“I don’t know, Arisha,” he said doubtfully. “I really want that fur coat. The swamp’s a cold place at night.”

“What is to be, Imre?” the priestess asked. “Death, or your promise upon the name of Zamorak that you will do all you can to help our friends, with the aim of returning them to safety. I warn you, he will know of your word, just as he will know of your deeds if you dishonour your promise. And you will promise not to tell any of your kind-or even Malak himself-of our presence here.”

“Come on, Imre, you cur. I grow cold waiting.” Doric lifted the axe menacingly.

“Very well,” the creature gritted. “You have my promise. I swear on Zamorak himself that I will do all in my power to aid your friends, with the aim of returning them to safety. And I will keep silent about your presence here.”

Doric removed his foot.

Imre sat up and scowled.

Finally, he stood and limped from the island. He gave a last look back at Doric before vanishing into the swamp.

“How did you do that, Doric?” Karnac asked. “I thought he was going to kill us all but you bested him by yourself, and with ease. How?”

Doric shared a look with Lord Despaard and Arisha. The nobleman nodded and Doric revealed a familiar two-pronged dagger. He explained its origins, then sheathed it quietly.

The onlookers gazed at the three strangers in wonder.

“Well, I am glad of it,” Karnac said, and he looked longingly at the weapon. “But it is time we were moving. We must reach Hope Rock before midnight. Come.”

And with that, Pia forced herself to stand, her caked boots an unwelcome reminder of the journey ahead.

Pia lost count of the miles and the hours. She lost count of how many times she stumbled and fell, of how many times Jack staggered behind her, or of how many times Arisha pulled them up and encouraged them to walk ahead of her.

The land was against them, too.

From the island they set off through another swamp where what seemed to be an old road, long since broken into stepping stones, made their way less treacherous. Once, they had to wade across a foul-smelling river, their belongings held over their heads. The water had risen to Pia’s chin, and although told not to drink anything she was sure she had swallowed a mouthful or more.

For Doric it was even worse. Lord Despaard waded through with the dwarf upon his back, and Vanstrom did the same for Jack.

“If you tell anyone of this, Despaard, especially that wizard,” Doric said from his perch, “then I will likely have to kill you.” The lord nodded solemnly.

When they emerged from the other side they found their bodies covered with black leeches, each the size of Pia’s thumb. She cried out in disgust, and it took them several minutes to remove the wretched creatures.

Her brother remained silent throughout.

But at least Canifis is behind us now.

She kept her eyes on him, for she could tell that he was weak and exhausted, hungry and cold. They all were.

“Never a rope, Jack,” she said. “Not us. Not for you or me.”

“What does that mean, Pia?” Arisha asked. “Why do you say that?”

Arisha had lasted the journey better than most. She had swum across the river, her clothes bundled above her to keep them dry, and although she was obviously tired, she did not seem exhausted like the others. Now, her dark hair was slick, the silver band that held it more brilliant than usual, and her blue eyes shone in a face that was reddened from exertion-a face that had been challenged but not beaten.

Pia’s respect for her had only grown, and she responded to the question.

“We were born and raised in East Ardougne. We were thieves. There, ‘never a rope’ is a saying. You are trained as a thief by one of the guild-masters. You trust your brothers and sisters absolutely, and you can never steal from them. If you betray them, it is certain death. The rope is what we are taught to fear-the hangman’s noose. Any other death is to be welcomed, for it means you didn’t get caught by Lathas’s Justice, and you haven’t told on your brothers and sisters. Anything else is a death with honour.”

Arisha looked at her curiously.

“So you think anything other than hanging is an honourable death?” she asked.

“To hang you have to be caught,” Pia explained. “If you are caught by the Justice you will be tortured into telling on your brothers and sisters. Therefore, we are told it is a dishonourable way to die. That it is the way of cowards and traitors.”

“You have been told that by wicked men who would use you,” the priestess said, “to ensure that you are so afraid of hanging that you would throw yourself into an army of swords rather than give yourself up. It keeps them safe.”

She turns what I say into questions and uncertainties. But there is something in her words…

“I don’t know,” Pia whispered, embarrassed by her ignorance. “I don’t understand.”

“The world is not just, I’m afraid,” Arisha said. “Even an honourable person can hang. That does not undo the good work they have done in life.”

Ahead, Karnac called a halt and stared into the distance.

“There it is,” he said. “Hope Rock.” He pointed south, to a mesa that stood above the swamp like a pointed finger, barely visible in the darkness. “That is our home. It is a natural fastness surrounded on all sides by water.

“Come, if we make haste we will be there within a few hours.”

Pia’s energy returned with every step she took. Now that she could see their destination, her will to be there powered her on. It was the same for Jack, as well, and the party as a whole moved more quickly.

A boat waited for them at the edge of a still body of black water. In the darkness behind them, through the swamp, several lights came and went.

“Marsh lights,” Karnac commented. “We all thought they were ill spirits before he came from the west and told us otherwise. Now we know they are a natural phenomenon.”

“Who came?” Lord Despaard asked.

“You will see soon enough. Now, the people from Misthalin will go in the first boat with me. In we get!”

Pia didn’t like boats or water. In Ardougne, in the winter- when traders and merchants were scarce-she had been forced on occasion to work the river, hacking out ice blocks with her brothers and sisters to earn what little they could. It had been cold, painful work, and once she had seen something in the water, something big.

Things live beneath the waves, she thought to herself. Horrible things.

She looked at the black waters and sat Jack down beside her in the middle of the boat, as far from the sides as possible. It was cold on the water-colder than on land. Then as the oars beat their steady rhythm in the rowlocks and the boat moved forward, she closed her eyes.

She only opened them when they ground to a halt on a beach of oily gravel. There, at the bottom of the sheer rock, a lift awaited them.

“Don’t be scared, little Pia,” Doric said, his eyes scanning the heights above them. “It is safe. I am sure of it.” Yet when they were in the lift and it began to move upward, the dwarf closed his eyes and gripped his axe tight.

I am not the only one who is afraid. And he even bested a werewolf.

When they finally arrived at the top, they were greeted by a group of people, nearly twenty in all, dressed in rags, their eyes shining with hunger and their bodies unwashed.

They look at us as if they’ve never seen another human before.

“It is a time of miracles,” a gaunt woman muttered from the rear of the onlookers. “Small folk drop from the sky, and visitors cross the river from the west to make war on the undying. Blessed be these days, for change is coming.”

Karnac led them to a small fire close by that gave little warmth. The inhabitants closed around them in a ring, as if fearful they would vanish if they lost sight of them. It made Pia nervous. She took Jack’s hand and sat down with Arisha on one side and Vanstrom on the other.

“Are you all part of the Myreque, like Vanstrom?” Lord Despaard asked.

“We are,” Karnac confirmed. “We fight the Undying Ones any way we can, and we seek a way out of this dreadful realm. We escaped from the ghettoes of Meiyerditch, nearly two years ago. I led over two hundred of us out then. Now we are less than thirty.”

He waved the onlookers back, and for the first time Pia got a good look at their home.

The summit of Hope Rock was a plateau, its edge a ring of rising stone that reminded Pia of a castle’s battlements. This natural wall rose to the height of three men, keeping the plateau hidden from view save from directly above. Against the circle’s inner wall, natural ridges and outcroppings, supplemented with crude wooden beams and scaffolding, provided a means of reaching its top. Below, at the circle’s base, Pia noticed a dozen caves from which people ducked in and out.

But it was the contraption at the far end of the plateau that made her gape. A great swathe of canvas was delicately rested across much of the plateau’s area. Nearby stood a squat metal object in a small wicker frame. It reminded Pia somehow of a stove.

“What is that?” Doric asked suspiciously.

“That is the balloon,” Lord Despaard answered with a sudden grin. The nobleman dashed forward. “Master Peregrim? Master Peregrim are you here?”

Pia spied a diminutive figure appear from beneath the balloon’s voluminous folds. He looked no bigger than Jack, yet when he stepped forward she saw how wizened his face was behind a grey wisp of beard.

A gnome.

“Lord Despaard? By the gods! It is you!” When he spoke, his voice was high-pitched and his speech fast. He grabbed Lord Despaard’s hand and shook it firmly in his own. “Have you come here to liberate us from this dreadful place? Can that be true?”

“It is not, Master Peregrim. I am as much a fugitive as you are now.”

The gnome’s face fell as Lord Despaard explained their situation, and many of Hope Rock’s inhabitants listened with interest. When he finished, he looked carefully toward Master Peregrim.

“But tell me, friend, of your own adventure. In Varrock we had given up all hope of seeing you again.”

The gnome shook his head and sat down.

“I came down in the swamp, only a few miles from here. My wicker basket that I used to carry people up was lost, smashed to pieces on impact. I have managed to salvage enough of it to secure the burner beneath the balloon, but there is not nearly enough to build a place for everybody else.”

Doric’s eyes widened. “Then you mean to fly out?” His words nearly choked him.

Master Peregrim nodded. “It is the only way. We cannot walk through the swamps. Karnac and his group have already tried that when they first fled the ghetto. There were two hundred of them then. Now there are less than thirty.”

“What about a boat?” Arisha suggested. “Isn’t that a possibility?”

Karnac shook his head. “Many have thought it a better idea than the gnome’s balloon. But the swamp to the west is unnavigable. It would be impossible to do it.”

“Yet how can this work?” Doric asked. “How does it fly?”

Pia heard the disbelief in his voice.

“I have seen it work, Doric,” Lord Despaard said. “In Varrock it rose from its tether each day and carried at least twenty people aloft on each occasion. But that made use of what what was described to me as a gas called hydrogen-”

“I prefer the term phlogisticated air if you please,” the gnome said with a wave of his hand. “But yes, we do need this gas, and happily there is enough left in the burner’s containers to inflate the envelopes as well as to heat the air. Of course, once I have inflated the balloon I will leave the empty containers behind. There is no point in carrying dead weight.”

Doric shared an uncertain look with Arisha.

“Hydrogen is lighter than air,” Lord Despaard explained further. “When the balloon was in Varrock, Master Peregrim would fill envelopes in the top of the balloon with this gas. Combined with heat from the burner, which also uses hydrogen as a fuel, the air inside the balloon would warm and provide lift.”

Doric nodded blankly.

“And how do you steer it?”

Lord Despaard sighed.

“You don’t. It floats on the winds. The trick is to find a wind going in the direction you want.”

“I see you are a doubter, master dwarf,” the gnome squeaked in amusement. “But I came here in this balloon, and I intend to fly out in it, as well-carrying the people of Hope Rock with me. It can be done. We will make our ascent within the next few days, and we will do so at dawn when the air is cold. The warm air inside the balloon will lift us upward, and once we reach a certain height the wind will carry us west, to Misthalin.”

“But like you said only a moment ago, you have lost the wicker basket to carry people. How will you get around that?” Doric dared a smile.

He’s afraid of this idea, Pia realised. Heights scare him, and he intends to add as much doubt as he can to its success. She shivered. I don’t blame him either.

The gnome grinned suddenly.

“When Karnac’s people first settled here, they tried to fish. But the things that swim in the swamps are not edible, save for the wretched snails that are all we’ve eaten for the last few months.” He gave a sour grimace. “But the nets they made have proved their use as a substitute for the wicker basket. We are stitching them to the bottom of the balloon itself right now. That will allow people to tie themselves on.”

Tie themselves on? Pia shuddered again.

“It’s the only way,” Karnac said firmly. “We are so few now and we can’t evade our enemies much longer. We could perhaps last another six months at most.

“No,” he said again, as if to convince himself. “This is our only chance, and we need to leave as soon as we can. The ravenous have been growing in number recently, which would make any trek to the west impossible, and increases our danger here on a daily basis.” He exhaled suddenly. “But it is strange, for their master seems to be forcing them to the northwest, and they move with a purpose they’ve never shown before. No, flying out is our only option.”

Silence fell, and when no one had spoken for several long moments, some of the citizens of the plateau edged forward. Among them a young woman with a swollen belly, and behind her a gaunt man who likely was the father of her unborn child.

“Can you tell us about the place you come from?” the woman asked, desperation and wonder mixing in her words. “Master Peregrim has told us much already, but we never tire of hearing the tales of such a realm.” The man was smiling inanely, and Pia noticed he was close to crying. For the briefest moment she thought he might be a simpleton.

Arisha spoke.

“I will tell you of Misthalin, and of the lands beyond the holy river,” she said. “Come, sit around the fire, and I will tell you of a line of Kings that goes back for more than a thousand years, of knights and castles, of deeds good and fair, of heroes and wizards.”

“She will tell a good story, I know it,” the pregnant woman said with a smile.

“My people tell many stories,” Arisha said. “We do not often write them down, so where I come from, to tell a story is a skill, and an important one among my kind. Now, let me begin with a very recent one, and a true tale as well. It begins in a storm, with a white castle and a beautiful girl who is found bearing dreadful wounds…”

Pia saw Doric smile, but the crowd listened intently to the priestess’s words, never once interrupting. After a short while, the dwarf stood and went with Lord Despaard and Master Peregrim to examine the balloon, and as Arisha continued, with the introduction of a young knight named Theodore, she felt her eyelids grow heavy and finally close.

She woke, cold, with Jack sleeping at her side. In front of her the fire had gone out. Someone had draped a blanket across them.

She sat up and grimaced as her muscles protested. Her ankles felt fragile, as if they might break, and her knees ached when she pulled her legs in closer to her body. Her back hurt, too.

How many miles did we walk on our journey? And was it yesterday or today? Her belly ached with hunger, and she had trouble recalling the last time she had eaten.

She must have slept through the night. The sky above was dark, though across the horizon, to what she supposed must have been the east, a purple light painted the clouds.

This is the first time I have seen the sky through the gas of the swamps. At ground level, even the stars are hidden from the inhabitants of this realm.

She left Jack and walked stiffly to the rim of stone, ascending upon one of the wooden scaffolds. At the top she found Vanstrom, alone and silent, staring to the east. He sat in a shallow trench that was cut into the rock, a natural seat. Without asking, she took her place at his side.

“Do you think the balloon will work?” she said after a moment.

Vanstrom shook his head.

“I don’t know,” he said, sighing deeply. “I suggested that we build a boat instead. Easier by far. But Karnac and the others believe the swamp to be unnavigable. Perhaps he’s right. Regardless, the balloon nears completion, so soon we will know if it works. I pray that it does.”

She shivered suddenly, for up here the breeze ran unchecked.

“You are cold,” he said.

“I am not,” she countered.

“You must be. You wear rags for clothes and you fell asleep as the fire died. It was all I could do to find you and your brother a blanket.”

He held his arm out to her.

“Come. Sit closer. Together we can watch the sun rise. It will be warmer then, but not by much. Never in this land.”

Pia moved closer to him and leaned her head upon his chest. She felt his heart beat within him. She sensed his arm move behind her and hold her tightly.

It was a feeling she never wanted to forget.

“I never thanked you for what you did for us in Canifis,” she said. “You kept us alive in that cage. I think I would have gone mad if you hadn’t been there. But you never told me why you were there in the first place.”

Vanstrom smiled grimly.

“We discussed it as you slept, Despaard, Karnac, Arisha and I. She is a good woman that one. Clever. But no, I was captured making my way back from Meiyerditch. We have friends there you see. Others like us who fight against our undead masters. I went back into the ghettoes at Karnac’s request to see if any had been left alive after we fled two years ago. Fortunately there were some. Not many, but enough.”

“Enough for what?”

Vanstrom sighed.

“The vampires who rule this realm are not like the ravenous. They are clever, their plans long-winded beyond the comprehension of any man. Often their methods will seem directly contrary to their aims, which makes it far harder for us to predict and counter them. But we do what we can.”

“So you fight against him?” she asked incredulously. “Even in my homeland we had tales of Lord Drakan.”

“He is the mightiest of their race,” Vanstrom agreed. “And the most mysterious by far. No one I know has ever seen him. But it is the Black Prince who most concerns us now. He is not Drakan, nor is he Drakan’s son, as we originally thought. But he is terrible, nonetheless. He can compel the very shadows to do his will, and it is against him that we currently wage our silent war. It is he, I believe, who commands the ravenous, but to what purpose we don’t yet know. So that is what we search for, information and knowledge and anything else that can help our cause.”

“And what if you fly out? Will you fight from beyond the river?”

Vanstrom looked at her tenderly.

“I am not sure if I wish to go with them, Pia. Karnac wants to fly out soon, within only a few days. It has taken us a long time to repair the balloon and stitch the nets.”

Pia thought about what he had said.

And if he remains, what will I do? After a moment, she spoke.

“Would you… would you think it mad of me if I said that I would like to remain here, too, if you don’t go?”

Vanstrom laughed. The sound was like claws thrust into Pia’s stomach.

“Now that is real madness,” he said. “Why would you wish for such a thing, girl?”

“There is nothing for me except death if I go back. I am accused of a murder I didn’t commit. At least here I have a chance-”

He shook her loose and stood quickly.

“There is no chance here, Pia. And think of your brother. There is no possibility of a long life, even an unhappy one!” Vanstrom was angry now. “Do you have any idea what the ghettoes are like in Meiyerditch? Do you? Parents have their children taken from them. People are rotated from one quarter to the next, like a field left to fallow, and the blood tithes must be met to feed our masters. No, Pia, there is so much you don’t know, and your wish to remain here is one made in ignorance.

“If they fly, you go. It is that simple.”

Tears welled up in her eyes, and she began to sob. Vanstrom ran his hand through his hair and growled.

“Please, Pia, don’t cry,” he said after a moment.

“If I go back, I die,” she said. “I know I will.”

He sat down by her side and once more put his arm around her.

“Look,” he said softly. “The sun is rising. Let us sit here together, upon this rock, and watch the dawn.”

Pia clutched Vanstrom tightly. The tears in her eyes blurred the pink horizon. Slowly, unstoppably, even by the evil of that land, the blood-red sun rose.

And somehow Pia felt safe.

It was full daylight when they descended to the plateau. Men were working furiously at the windlass, raising the lift as fast as they were able. Two others stood on an outcropping, their bows drawn, covering whoever was being brought up.

Vanstrom darted forward and craned his head over the edge.

“Who is it?” Pia heard him ask.

“It is Harold,” Karnac said. “He was supposed to wait near Canifis to watch our retreat. Whatever news has brought him here must be important indeed.”

The lift appeared beyond the edge. A single man was inside, looking utterly exhausted.

“It is the Vyrewatch,” Harold called as he stepped onto the plateau. “I have seen them. In Canifis. They took the prisoners and flew east with them.”

“How many prisoners?” Arisha asked, pushing herself forward.

“I couldn’t be sure, but at least six,” he said.

“Was there an old man among them, and a lanky one?” Despaard asked.

Harold shook his head.

“I don’t know. There was a woman with blonde hair, a man in white, and a man in a blue robe, but of the others I couldn’t tell.”

Kara definitely, perhaps Theodore, and the wizard who stood behind Arisha when she prayed with us.

“They were alive then?” Arisha said eagerly. “You know this?”

The man nodded.

“But only just, for the werewolves had covered the village with smoke. Had it gone on much longer, then they would have died. I think they were alive, for they were carried with care by their captors, two creatures carrying each prisoner.”

“But carried where?” Doric growled.

“Meiyerditch. It has to be,” Vanstrom answered. “But the question is surely a simple one. What will we do?”

“Do?” Harold muttered. “What can we do?”

“I will go after them,” Doric stated. “Alone if necessary.”

“It won’t be necessary,” Arisha said. “You know that, Doric.”

“This is insanity,” a listener spat. It was one of the men who had rescued them. “We have risked too much for you to go and get yourselves caught. And you know too much about our plans.”

“They will be dead by now, or as good as,” said another. “Besides, Meiyerditch is a vast place. Finding them would be an impossible task. Bringing them out from under Drakan’s eye even more so. You will only add yourselves to his tithes.”

“But this is to rescue Kara-Meir!” countered the man who had listened so closely to Arisha’s story. “We cannot abandon her. Nor the wizard!”

“Those are just stories-”

“True stories,” Doric hissed angrily. “She is famed across the river.”

“We should help her,” the listener said again. “She has risked so much for others.”

Did Arisha know that her stories would have this effect? Pia wondered silently.

Karnac listened to the exchange without speaking, then he stepped to one of the caves, where a woman sat with a blindfold across her eyes.

“What say you, spirit woman?” Karnac asked. “It was on your advice that we attacked Canifis, to rescue Vanstrom, and you told us the embassy would be there. If it wasn’t for your powers to pull creatures from the spirit plane then our escape from Meiyerditch would have been impossible. What is your counsel now?”

The woman leaned on a thin stick, her back bent, her mouth toothless. With her other hand she caressed a simple necklace of odd-looking discs. Some were gold, others red and green and a few were blue. Pia had never seen their like before.

“Long ago I saw that outsiders would come to our aid,” the spirit woman said, her voice coarse. “Without them, we shall all perish. With them, some will live. But not all.”

A silence fell as everyone wrestled with their thoughts.

“So Drakan has Gar’rth now,” Arisha said softly. “But for what purpose?”

“Is it Lord Drakan?” Pia interrupted. “Or is it this Black Prince, perhaps?”

“Doesn’t matter to me,” Doric said. “I will go and discover their fate. I will need a guide however. Vanstrom?”

The bearded man nodded.

“As the spirit woman said, this is a time of miracles. This dwarf bested a werewolf hunter. No one here has ever seen that done before. So I will come with you.”

“I will come, as well,” Lord Despaard said. “I was leader of this ill-fated expedition. It isn’t right for me to remain behind.”

I will not be left here!

“Then I will come as well-”

“No, Pia,” Arisha said. “You will remain behind.” Vanstrom nodded.

“But I owe it to Kara.”

“Perhaps,” Vanstrom said, “but it would ease my fears if you stayed here, Pia. And you must prepare, for when we return, we must flee this land.” He leaned down, his face a hand’s width from hers. She could feel his breath. “Please, Pia,” he said softly. “It would mean so much to me, knowing you were safe. And Jack needs you, too.”

“Very well,” she said reluctantly. “I will remain here.”

How could I have offered such, planning to leave Jack here?

They were talking now, among themselves, laying out times and routes and what to take with them, but to Pia it was a jumble of words with little sense. She found her way to Jack’s side and sat next to him.

“Will you speak to me little brother? Please?”

Jack looked at her blankly.

“No?”

She cursed angrily and turned away.

Suddenly, something grasped at her torn shirt. She turned to see Jack tugging at her gently, a strange smile on his face. Without a word he lay his head down on her lap, as he had done so many times in their flight from Kandarin.

He still needs me at least.

And that was a comforting thought.

30

Ebenezer gripped his walking stick and lowered himself onto the chair. He blinked away the spots that darkened his vision, as they did more often since his injury, and drew a deep breath.

I shouldn’t feel so bad, he mused. The investigation is making progress, though to what end I cannot yet tell. Perhaps Papelford was right. Logic is not enough when it comes to magic.

He turned in his chair to examine the board that stood beside him. He’d had it brought to his room the day he had started his task. Two maps were pinned to it, one of Varrock itself, and the other of the neighbouring portion of Misthalin. On both were small dots of red paint to mark the Wyrd’s murders, complemented by green marks for those who had gone missing and remained unaccounted for.

Nearly a hundred lives are represented there. From all strands of society.

His eye followed the dots from the Eastern Chase, where a red mark represented the area where the King’s love, Lady Elizabeth, had fallen. As he journeyed west toward Varrock the dots grew in number. A milkmaid here, a shepherd there, a missing child from a farm. The points seemed like a hand, stretching from Morytania directly to Varrock on an east to west path. Few and far between were any in the north or the south.

He glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece above the fire. Sally would be here any moment with her news, and at the same time he expected Reldo and Lord William. The three had become his eyes now that he had trouble even walking down a flight of stairs, and each had been given their tasks that morning.

But the Wyrd is not just a mindless killer. It wanted the servant’s daughter Felicity specifically. If Gar’rth hadn’t tracked the Wyrd then another innocent would have been taken. But why Felicity? What was so different about her that she was needed especially?

Sally arrived a minute early. She gathered her breath before speaking.

“The tailor’s wife verified Sir Theodore’s story,” she said triumphantly. “The Wyrd said that the babe was needed, but not for what. The mother could not think of any reason why.”

“So there was nothing unusual about her?”

Sally shook her head.

“She was normal in every way save for a birthmark upon her chest. She cried like all babies do, she was no different.”

“That is what the mother of the child Gar’rth saved said when I spoke to her yesterday,” he said. “Yet the Wyrd wanted her especially-the child’s name is Felicity.” He nodded to the board and Sally followed his gaze. “The green dots are missing people who are believed to have been taken by the Wyrd, yet no bodies were found. There are nine of them. Six of those are children, of approximately the same age as Felicity and the tailor’s daughter, all under eight months old. The other three are adults, two men and one woman. I am tempted to discount them. They may well be victims of the Wyrd who were simply never found.”

The door opened suddenly and a breathless Reldo entered, followed by Lord William.

“We have done as you asked,” William wheezed. “The farm with the two abductions. The Wyrd took the first-born son one night, and the second night she returned and took his brother. The first-born’s remains were found on the morning of his brother’s abduction.”

“So she could have made a mistake with the first one, and gone back to kidnap the second,” Ebenezer suggested. “Tell me, Lord William, did either child have anything that set them apart from others? Especially the second child, the one who is still missing.”

“There was nothing,” William replied.

“And there was nothing unusual in their behaviour,” Reldo added.

“But what about any marks upon them?” Sally asked. “The tailor’s daughter had a birthmark upon her chest.”

Birthmarks? Ebenezer thought, suddenly angry. A monster comes from across the river and steals children with birthmarks. Is that the best link we can come up with? How Papelford will jeer.

“We need more than blasted birthmarks,” he said irritably.

Sally stood abruptly. Ebenezer felt her cold stare.

“Very well,” she said quietly as she left the room. He saw the accusing stares of his two young accomplices.

“Well, we do… don’t we?” he asked in a conciliatory tone.

Take command. Quench their doubt. Impress them with your strength. Inspire them.

“Let us return to the beginning then,” he said firmly. Take command. “The Wyrd left hints of this prophecy-that I know you don’t believe in Reldo-but let us assume for the moment it is true.” Quench their doubt. “We know she comes from Morytania. Therefore, if she is working toward this prophecy, then the Salve must be involved somehow, as it bars that land from ours.” Impress them with your strength.

He stood suddenly.

“Therefore, can these murders and kidnappings be in any way linked to the holy river itself?” He felt a triumphant smile on his face. Inspire them.

Then his knees buckled. His grip on his walking stick slipped and his wrist twisted in pain. As the black dots shot holes in his vision he stumbled and fell awkwardly back into his chair. He wheezed painfully.

Inspire them.

But the laughter he expected never came. Lord William’s face was ashen.

“I remember now,” the nobleman said in little more than a whisper. “I was on the terrace, overlooking the Salve when Kara went across to test the blood mark. When she came back everyone else went downstairs to greet her, but I waited and watched the ravenous that tried to kill her. It stepped onto the bridge, which was supposed to be impossible. Drezel made it quite clear that he thought me mistaken, but I wasn’t. I know what I saw,” he said firmly.

“You mean the Salve isn’t as strong as you thought it was?” Reldo asked.

“It doesn’t matter what I think of it, but Drezel was wrong about it. The ravenous walked upon the bridge-which Drezel said was impossible, so perhaps the Salve is being affected somehow.”

Could there be a link here? Is that what this is about? For the prophecy to be true the Salve would have to be circumvented somehow.

He was about to speak when a great cheer went up from outside.

“What is it?” he asked Reldo who stood nearest the window.

“I don’t know, but there is great deal of celebrating.”

Could it be that word has come of the embassy? Have they perhaps escaped?

The cries grew louder as Ebenezer staggered to his feet. Lord William took his arm and together they left the room as quickly as his aged limbs would allow.

Moments later, with Reldo ahead of them, they stopped at the top of the great staircase. Below, a throng of yellow-clad soldiers surrounded a man who was dressed in little more than rags, his grey shoulder-length hair dishevelled, hiding his face. Yet when he raised his arms Ebenezer saw that both his hands were missing.

No. No, that can’t be him. Not here.

“I am Sulla,” the beggar roared in triumph, his head thrown back. Ebenezer saw the scarred face he had seen only once before, in the heat of combat at Saradomin’s monastery. “I have brought King Roald the greatest of gifts. I have slain the Wyrd.” Someone taunted him from below but Sulla laughed. The yellow-clad guards forced their way through the press, dragging Sulla with them. “I am a hero now,” he shouted. “A hero!”

The madman’s words faded as he was taken forward in the direction of the dungeon.

“It’s true,” someone in the crowd yelled. “The body is outside in a cart. This man Sulla really has done it.” Ebenezer could not believe what was being said.

What is happening to the world, when a man like that enters Varrock a hero?

Outside, the bells of Father Lawrence’s church began ringing out in victory.

“Do you wish to go downstairs?” Lord William asked.

Ebenezer shook his head.

“No thank you. I wish to return to my bed. I fear I must be experiencing a nightmare of sorts, and I would prefer to be there when I wake.”

With a grumble, he turned himself about and made his way back to his room, a great deal slower than when he had left.

If it was a nightmare, then Ebenezer couldn’t wake from it. Hours later his mind was still too fraught to focus on the murders, and no small part of him wondered if it was even necessary any more.

If Sulla had slain her, then what would be the point?

He has beaten us today. My friends are imperilled in a foreign land, and Sulla has done what they couldn’t. He has won.

Lord William appeared at the door.

“Captain Rovin wants to know if you wish to talk to Sulla,” he stated politely.

“Why?” he said without thinking, and the young lord turned to leave.

But I do have questions for him, in fact. A lot of questions.

“Wait, William,” he said, motioning. “I do wish to see him. It was just unexpected.”

The young man helped him up, and together they began their journey.

“Where has Reldo got to?” the alchemist asked.

Inspire. Quench the doubt.

Sally has deserted, and Reldo is gone, and now one of our greatest enemies turns up a hero. Truly something to be added to the history books.

“Reldo is examining my suggestion about the link with the Salve. He is not convinced that even with the Wyrd dead, the danger is passed.”

“So she is dead then?” Ebenezer asked. “Sulla did it?”

“She is most definitely dead,” William acknowledged. “Her head sits atop a spike on the palace wall even now, and a host of people throng the square to cheer Sulla’s name.” Lord William gave him a sidelong glance. “I am afraid people have very short memories. Personally, I won’t cheer him in any way.”

“But he did do it? You are sure of that?”

“He led a band of mercenaries, apparently. They are well-known names in Varrock. But it was his instigation and plan.”

He continued as they moved down the corridor.

“Sulla is no longer in the dungeons,” he explained. “He has been moved to his own apartments. Lady Anne has been charged with seeing to it that he has everything he needs for now.”

Everything he needs? He should be hanging from the gallows tree.

“Here we are,” Lord William said as they neared a half-open door. Outside two guards waited, and Ebenezer saw more at either end of the corridor.

He is still a prisoner, then. That at least is something.

“…I will need a wife soon. You look rich. And of high birth. Think I’ll take you.” The words were spoken with a disgusting arrogance and were followed by a sick laugh.

“I wonder how Lady Anne will react to that?” Lord William said with a slight smile.

“Hopefully she’ll cut off his-”

“Or I might take your friend, perhaps,” Sulla continued. “The one with the gap between her pretty teeth.”

“Right!” Lord William strode in so quickly that Ebenezer nearly lost his balance. The beggar Sulla had become looked at them with interest reflected in his one good eye. His lank hair was unclean, his beard a mess, and he stank.

He has fallen far indeed. Gone is much of his strength.

Lady Anne sat near the window, and she spoke quickly, as soon as they entered.

“Ignore him, Lord William,” she implored him. “He has been hurling abuse at anyone within range, ever since coming here.” The blonde woman fixed Sulla with her blue-eyed stare. “It is either impressively bold for a man who will very likely hang, or unbelievably stupid. I haven’t decided which yet, though by the minute I am more inclined to the latter.”

“The people won’t permit it,” Sulla sneered. “I declared myself to Varrock upon entering the city. I told them I had the King’s word when I gave them the body. And besides, I know things.” His eye focused on Lord William, and Ebenezer saw the young man stiffen. “Lots of things. Lots of dirty little secrets.”

“Such as Jerrod, and his location?” the alchemist said. “Where is your werewolf? I have some unfinished business with him.”

The look of surprise on Sulla’s face was quietly gratifying.

“Come closer, old man. You are familiar to me. Have we met?”

“Only once, and then for a very short time, thankfully. I knocked you from your horse at the monastery of Saradomin. I left you clambering about in the mud, crawling aside to avoid being trampled. I see you have fared little better since then.”

Sulla exhaled, and said nothing for a long minute.

To him I really am a wizard, I suppose. The Kinshra hate magic, and Sulla is no exception. I can use that to my advantage.

“You are the alchemist,” Sulla said finally. “You made the water boil and flame, and scared my horses.”

“I could do it to your blood as well, Sulla. It is not a nice way to die.”

Let us see if he will believe that.

Sulla made a half sneer.

“What do you want then? Jerrod is my insurance policy. He remains at large until I am convinced of King Roald’s intentions-until the King grants my asylum. My werewolf has given his word not to harm anyone until then.”

Ebenezer laughed.

“That will certainly put the King’s mind at rest,” he said sarcastically, then his eyes narrrowed. “But tell me of how you caught the Wyrd. How you found her and what she did. We need to know.”

Sulla gave his horrific smile.

“She died. Jerrod hacked her head off. She didn’t speak or plead or bargain.”

He is going to be of no help. I cannot expect him to be-not until he has the King’s word that he won’t be harmed, and that his asylum has been granted.

Ebenezer sank into a chair opposite his enemy. Lord William remained standing, his eyes focused on Sulla.

“How did you get those scars?” the nobleman asked.

“They were a gift from my father, when I was a boy. He said it was to make me special in the eyes of Zamorak. Now, pour me more wine.”

Lord William did so. Ebenezer could sense the interest in the young man.

“Isn’t that a belief belonging to the Charred Folk?” Lord William said.

Sulla nodded, his look of surprise obvious.

“You are well read,” he replied. “It is. I was chosen by my father to be their next leader. On the day of my birth my mother was slain and I was baptised in her blood. When I was older, years later, I swore with my screams-as the hot mask was lowered onto my face-that I would take pleasure in the pain of others, that I would carry the banner of Zamorak to all corners of the world.” Lord William held the wine up to Sulla for him to drink. He did so eagerly, spilling drops onto his chest.

Lady Anne tutted in disgust.

“Who are the Charred Folk?” Ebenezer asked.

“They are a chaos-worshipping people in the far north, in The Wilderness,” Lord William replied. “I am unsure of their origins, but I think they were exiled by the church of Zamorak for their violence, for they followed the ways of the Chaos Priest Lungrim. Years ago his teachings were thrown out by the more tolerant Zamorak worshippers, although the Kinshra often used them in their wars.”

Ebenezer noticed how Lady Anne looked at Lord William with wide-eyed interest.

Is she just surprised, or is there something more there?

“You know the history of Zamorak’s church well, boy,” Sulla said. “That is a surprise. But you are wrong on one important detail. The Charred Folk no longer live in the far north. The last of their tribe died in chains in the mines of Ice Mountain, when I was a captain in the Kinshra. You see, after I was scarred by my father I took my revenge. I slew him and the priest who carried out the ceremony, and I burned their place of worship. Years later, I returned with my soldiers and enslaved the lot.” Sulla grinned at Ebenezer hideously. “That was a good day.

“So you see alchemist, that is why I am as I am. Had you been born in my place, and lived, would you have been any different? The pain of others is like food to me. I can feel it. I need it.” He leaned back in his chair and nodded to Lord William. The young man raised the goblet again for Sulla to drink. He did so eagerly, then pushed aside the vessel with one severed wrist. “But I know you can’t understand that. To you I am a monster. That was what I was born to be.”

I have heard enough of this braggart.

“You can try and justify yourself to me for all your remaining days,” Ebenezer said. “Others have suffered and have turned out well. Kara-Meir for one. Gar’rth for another-”

Sulla laughed.

“Kara-Meir? Don’t joke old man. She loves the pain of others. I know that well enough. On the retreat from Falador, as I lay weak and near-death, I heard men tell tales of her actions on the battlefield. She killed without mercy, without pity. You should not hold her up as a paragon or you will be disappointed. She is a killer, like me.

“And as for Gar’rth? He won’t be coming back from Morytania. Whoever it was who sent Jerrod all the way into Asgarnia to bring him back won’t let him go, now that he’s returned. None of your precious embassy will. You are all that is left of your pitiful little band, and soon old age will put you out of your misery.”

Ebenezer wanted to roar, to jump at Sulla and tear at his scarred face with his hands. But his satisfaction could not be realised. He only gritted his teeth

It was Lady Anne who reacted. She grabbed his goblet of wine from Lord William and splashed it in Sulla’s face.

“How dare you!” she cried. “They went out of service, in the name of the King, and…” Her words trailed off, and she ran to the hallway. Ebenezer struggled to follow with Lord William on his arm.

“Come back, little princess,” Sulla roared drunkenly, wiping the wine from his eyes with his wrists. “I have need of the wife I was promised!” His laughter followed Ebenezer out of the room.

The alchemist caught up with her in the corridor. His face felt flushed, his heart raced and his head ached. The black spots holed his vision again.

“I should return to my room,” he said. “Please, Lady Anne, be careful with Sulla. He is cunning and will seize on any weakness.”

“I will return soon,” Lord William told her. “And don’t let Lady Caroline within sight of him. What were you thinking?”

“She came of her own accord,” Lady Anne said, sounding wounded. “She wanted to see him-” Suddenly her voice broke and she wept. “I am sorry, William. I asked her to help me. I have heard that the embassy’s horses returned, and many believe them to be lost. I can’t help but think of Theodore.”

Lord William sighed.

“I am sorry as well, Lady Anne. I didn’t realise you felt for him so strongly. I will return soon to help you, for Sulla will not be an easy guest. And as for Lady Caroline, it is right that she helps in the affairs of state in these trying times. But if it can be done, please keep her away from that wretch.”

“Do not give in to despair, Lady Anne,” Ebenezer told her softly. “The wizard Aubury told me that Castimir still lives, and that he is unharmed. That likely means the others are, too.”

Her face brightened slightly.

“Thank you,” she said, clutching at his arm. “Thank you.”

“Come back, my princess!” Sulla called from inside the room. “Your lord and master needs you.”

Lady Anne swore quietly, turned, and entered the room again, while Ebenezer was half-dragged back to his chambers. As soon as he was seated Lord William vanished again, leaving him alone.

He is worried about Lady Caroline. I can understand that. I was worried about Eloise whenever she was out of my sight.

I am so tired. Tired of it all.

He must have slept, for when he opened his eyes he saw Sally standing before him, a curious look upon her face.

“Guess where I have been,” she instructed him.

“I know that tone of voice, Sally. Your sister had it, too. I don’t approve.”

She folder her arms angrily.

“I have been to see Felicity and her mother. It took most of the day to convince her, but I think I am right.”

“Well… good for you,” he said, curiosity taking hold. “What have you found?”

He reached across for his water and put the goblet to his dried lips.

“Felicity has a strange birth mark, as well. On her chest. Above her heart.”

Ebenezer fumbled the goblet in his hand. It drenched his shirt and he cursed savagely.

Inspire them. Quench their doubt. Be strong. It’s gone well so far!

“So what do you want to do?” he mumbled humbly.

“What any scientist does when trying to validate their theories. Expand our sample group. I want to check with the families of the other missing children. I want to see if they, too, had birthmarks over their hearts.”

“Very well. Do it. Send a rider to the farm the Wyrd attacked twice. Lord William is worried about Sulla’s intentions toward Lady Caroline, so he won’t go. Reldo is busy with his books. And I am too tired.”

Sally gave him a victorious look as she left.

Birthmarks! I suppose it’s better than nothing.

31

“Wake up, Gar’rth. Wake up.”

He stirred. His heart beat faster as he turned from his back onto his side. For some reason he was afraid of opening his eyes.

Instead, he inhaled through his nose, now somehow free of the choking smoke that had burned his lungs and throat. It took him a moment to realise that his body was free from pain.

Am I healed? And are my friends safe?

Kara…

“Wake up. Wake up. Wake up…”

Finally, he relented. He opened his eyes and sat up.

There is no point in pretending any longer.

Gar’rth looked for the speaker but if he was there the youth could not see him. Every piece of furniture, the drawers, the walls, the bed and the very sheets he found wrapped around him were black, as if they had been made from the shadows themselves.

Opposite him, a wide deep bathtub of black stone stood against the far wall.

But it was the bed itself that caused his eyes to widen in surprise.

This is opulence on a scale that I have never seen before.

Gar’rth threw off his sheet and stood, naked and cold. A dim light shone through the one small window, reminding him of a forest in the twilight, a dark place made darker still by the dilution of the sun.

As he stepped toward it a motion on his periphery made him gasp. He leapt back suddenly, crouching and ready to defend himself, only to see his reflection act likewise in a long mirror that stood facing him.

The bruises are gone, the cuts vanished. I have been healed somehow.

How long have I been here?

And why am I alive?

He struggled to remember what had happened in Canifis. There had been flames and smoke and he had been beaten-he recalled that, and yet now he stood, free of pain and injury. He found it impossible to reconcile.

Was that a dream? What happened in Canifis?

He went to the window, determined to discover where he was, hoping it would answer some of the questions that made him so uneasy.

Below lay a vast city, stretching to the horizon, divided by immense black walls that were far higher than anything he had seen in Varrock-or even in Falador. A green smog hid the detail. He thought he saw tiny figures dressed in grey rags trudge through the shadows. Wherever he looked it was the same. Not a tree, not a park, no colour of life. It seemed to him as if the whole city with its black walls and black buildings had been designed to inspire despair and sap all hope.

It looked as though it was late morning or early afternoon. The sun was high, and yet it gave no warmth. Farther away, to what he thought must be the south, great columns of black smoke rose into the green-tinted sky.

Industry and misery. But where is the master of this horror? And what does he want me for?

“Some might say it’s beautiful,” said a voice, “if they were mad or wicked beyond any mortal reckoning. Here, in this castle, we have both such inhabitants.”

Gar’rth spun around to see an elderly man with a thin build holding a silver tray. The door was open behind him, and as he stepped forward Gar’rth sniffed the air.

“We share the same talents, you and I,” he said. “I am like you, Gar’rth.”

As the man walked forward Gar’rth found himself unable to speak. He had so many questions to ask. So many that he did not know where to start. The newcomer spoke first.

“My name is Georgi. I knew your parents, Gar’rth, served by their side, seeing to the whims of our masters-in particular the Black Prince himself. I was proud to have known them.” The old man put the tray down without making a sound, taking delicate care to ensure that it was so, as if fearful of making any noise. “Here, under the eye of such a master, we shared danger every day. I learned to trust those at my side in such a place. As will you.”

Georgi’s craggy face was framed by his white hair, which ran down in two thick sideburns all the way to his chin. When he spoke, Gar’rth saw that his teeth were pointed.

“Where am I?” he said after a moment of silence. “And my friends-”

“You are safe in Castle Drakan. Your… friends from beyond the holy river are also safe. You were brought here, together, on the Prince’s instructions, carried by the Vyrewatch. You will see them soon, but now you must eat and dress.”

Suddenly Gar’rth remembered his nakedness. In his curiosity, he had forgotten it entirely. He took a step to the bed, to wrap himself in one of the black sheets, when the old werewolf held up his hand.

“You are to dress in these,” he told him, pointing to a neatly folded pile of clothes that lay upon a closed chest at the end of the bed. “And you should wash and shave, also. I shall bring you a bowl of water and a razor. Should you require anything, just pull the bell rope above your bed. But you cannot leave this room. Not yet.

“Please, for the friendship I had with your parents-and especially your mother-do not try to do so.” With that he turned to leave.

“Wait! Wait! I must know, why am I here? Why does Lord Drakan need me? And tell me, tell me please of my father.”

Georgi shook his head.

“I do not know such things, Gar’rth. And you would do well not to wonder about them. They are not our concern. But as for His Majesty, I have never seen him, and I have lived here for many years. It is not he who wanted you. It is the Black Prince.”

The servant left and the door swung shut behind him, as soundlessly as it had opened, leaving Gar’rth alone and with more questions than he’d had before.

Over the next few hours, Georgi appeared several times, coming and going in quick succession, bringing with him copper jugs of hot water with which he filled the bath and washbowl. He did not speak, and the unanswered questions gnawed at Gar’rth’s mind.

Alone again, he ate and bathed and dressed without a thought to what he was doing, for his mind was occupied always by the uncertainty of his captivity and of what Georgi had told him before.

He has told me only enough to keep me guessing.

Even a closer inspection of his surroundings gave no help. He knew he was in a tower, for the wall with its single window was curved. His clothes were black finery, a jerkin as soft as any material he had ever felt, a brooch of white gold to hold his black cloak across his throat.

The image in the mirror was not one he liked.

The man standing there is soft, pampered…

He ran his hand over his smooth chin. It was not a sensation he was used to.

Finally, he pulled the red cord that hung over his bed, and somewhere from far away he thought he heard a bell ring.

Within moments, Georgi came.

“I am ready,” Gar’rth said. “When will I see my friends again?”

“The Black Prince wishes to see you, Gar’rth. I will take you to him now, but first I think you should know more of your situation. You walk upon the edge of a knife here. We all do. A stray step is all it takes for our lives to be forfeit. The Black Prince is bad enough, but worse still is Vanescula Drakan.

“Have you heard of her?”

“I think so,” he replied. “Is she Lord Drakan’s daughter?”

Georgi shook his head.

“She is his sister. And there are none worse than her. Not Malak, not her brother Ranis, perhaps not even Lord Drakan himself, and certainly not the Black Prince. They play their games against one another, entertaining themselves with the lives of humans in the ghettoes, as well as those like your parents and me. We are all pawns to them, pawns in a game where death is no finality.

“Can you imagine what that means? There can be no escape for us.”

The old werewolf shook his head and looked at Gar’rth curiously.

“And you will be in very real danger here. These corridors may seem empty, but the darkness itself is a slave to their will, as much as you or I. She especially uses it to smother the life from her victims. or to tear the flesh from their bones, and she-Vanescula-will hate you Gar’rth. You must be careful.”

Gar’rth frowned.

“Why? Why would she hate me so much?”

“Because you are a favourite of the Black Prince. There is no other reason than that.” He ignored Gar’rth’s questioning stare. “Like I said, it is a game to them, and a favoured pawn of one is a particular enemy of another. Here, might is right, Gar’rth. There are no other laws.

“Now, come on,” he said, gesturing toward the door. “We cannot keep the Black Prince waiting.”

Georgi led Gar’rth from his chamber and down a wide spiral stair. On the floor below they emerged into an immense library, every wall lined with shelves twice as high as any man, filled with books. Two windows permitted the dimmest light, which fell upon the ashes of a large fire that had clearly not been lit in a long time.

Gar’rth had never read a book himself, aside from those that Arisha and the monks of the monastery had used to help him learn the common tongue, and the sight of the collection made him gasp.

“I suppose it is impressive, in its way,” Georgi said. “There are books here written in unknown languages from a race long extinct. I think only the Black Prince himself has ever read them.”

“But there are thousands of books,” Gar’rth intoned. “Tens of thousands. How long would it take?”

“The Black Prince is a vampire, Gar’rth. Time is his ally. A year passes for him as a minute to you or I. He might have read each book ten times or more.”

“Who is the Black Prince?”

Georgi smiled.

“Your mother and father both worked for him, and they… told me stories about their service to him.” Suddenly he stopped, and Gar’rth saw the conflict on his face.

“When I was young I was told that my father was killed here,” Gar’rth said, “in the service of a vampire nobleman. Was it him, Georgi? Was it the Black Prince who did it?”

“I didn’t witness your father’s death, Gar’rth,” the old man said. “but I saw what it did to your mother, poor creature.”

“Then why do you serve them so, if they are such terrible masters?”

“It is not a choice we are free to make, Gar’rth,” Georgi answered. “You cannot refuse them. Yet there are rewards, as well. They can make you dream such dreams that you would never wish to wake. Still, now is not the time to talk of such things, for we will spend many long hours together in the future, and I will explain all I am able to.”

Dreams so wonderful that you wouldn’t wish to wake?

Can they do the same with nightmares?

The valet resumed his pace and they left the library though the opposite end.

Castimir would love that room. He would never want to leave. And from what Georgi says, it may be that I will have time to spend time there, as well.

They passed through a large circular room with four double doors on opposite sides. Two of them were open. Everywhere the stone was black.

“Here. He waits for you by the pool.”

“The pool?”

“He watches it every day. Through it he can see the doings of many people, and spy on their most guarded secrets. That is how he knows about Varrock. That is how he perceived your coming. Go. I will wait here for you.”

Georgi pointed, and Gar’rth stepped through the open double doors. The room was large but it was darker than any of the others, and full of shadows. At its centre-at the very darkest point- stood a man, behind and above a circular pool of still water.

So this is the one behind it all. This is the vampire who sent Jerrod after me, the one who has wanted me for so long.

Why?

Try as he might, Gar’rth could not see much in this blackness. Yet he sensed the figure’s attention as it shifted from the water to him.

“Come forward,” a voice commanded.

It is the same voice as woke me from my sleep. I couldn’t resist it then.

Nor could he resist it now. He stepped forward to the pool’s edge, a stone lip that rose a short distance from the flagstones.

“Closer, Gar’rth. Come closer.”

He dared not speak, nor refuse. He wanted only to obey. Quickly, he walked around the pool’s edge. And as he neared the black figure in the midst of the shadows, he did not feel afraid. Instead he felt… happiness? Elation?

I am elated. This man knows so much about me.

“I have all the answers you seek, and more-infinitely more,” the voice said. “I can teach so very, very much. Far more than anything Kara-Meir or those human friends of yours.

“I can tell you, for example, that your embassy has wasted its time. The children you seek are not in Morytania. They never have been. And even now the Wyrd is dead. Her head sits on a spike upon the walls of Varrock’s palace.

“You see, even the embassy itself was only a feint to achieve my purpose. The purpose of bringing you to me.”

“What?” Gar’rth said, finding his voice. “I don’t understand. You sent the Wyrd to lure me back?”

The figure in the black robes turned. Gar’rth was close enough now to see his face. He looked to be a man in his late thirties, his black hair swept back, lined with grey and white at the edges. Behind the dark eyes Gar’rth saw a deeper shade, a bright red that could not be concealed, that told him the true nature of the thing before him.

Yet still he wasn’t afraid.

“No, the Wyrd had tasks of her own to complete. She came close, but your own intervention on the night of the dance and the betrayal of your uncle-at Vanescula’s command-led to her death before her work was done. Therefore I must send another.”

Jerrod betrayed him?

The figure turned back to the pool.

“Tell me, Gar’rth, what do you see here?”

He looked into the still waters.

“Nothing. Nothing but the barest ripple.”

“Then perhaps you have no empathy for magic.” The man sneered slightly, and exhaled. “Still, that can be rectified in time, and time is what we have in plenty. Let us try again. Grasp my hand, and think. Think of King Roald, perhaps.”

Gar’rth held his hand out slowly. Quickly the man took it. Coldness crept up his wrist and into his arm, and yet the grip was so strong that he couldn’t have broken it if he had tried.

“Look, Gar’rth. Think of King Roald, and look.”

The dark colour of the water faded and the ripples took form. Quickly, a half recognisable image of the King appeared. Gar’rth gasped, and the image vanished.

He felt the grip tighten on his hand.

“In time I will teach you to do this properly. I have spent many, many lifetimes watching the lives of others, from their births to their deaths. It has showed me just how weak humans are, just how malleable they can be. King Roald, for instance, lusts as much as the basest born peasant. I have seen it-how he deSires the woman Ellamaria. Such weakness.”

“Why are you revealing this to me?”

“Because it will make your choice easier, Gar’rth. It is a mere demonstration of the power I will grant you. Think of Kara now, for that emotion should be powerful in you.”

Instantly the waters changed. A room appeared. Alone on a settee lay Kara, asleep, breathing gently. Behind her, Gar’rth saw Theodore and Castimir in a similar state, and nearby he was relieved to see the slumbering forms of Albertus Black and Gideon Gleeman.

“If you want her, then I will give her to you,” the man said, his voice compelling, seductive. “Now. Here, in this place, you can possess her more fully than any man ever possessed a woman across the river.”

“Her love is worthless if it is forced from her,” Gar’rth responded, suddenly angry.

The man laughed and let go of Gar’rth’s hand. The image faded immediately.

“You must truly have feelings for her, to act so nobly. But her fate, and that of your friends, rests entirely in your hands.”

“What do you mean?”

“Their belongings are all here. They are yours, for your friends won’t be able to take them. Their horses from Canifis, their possessions, and they themselves will be yours if you want them to be.” He peered intently. “Tell me truthfully, Gar’rth, have you never thought of taking Theodore’s life, in front of Kara’s eyes? To show her how strong you really are? Here, you could do that.”

You know I have!

“He is my friend,” Gar’rth replied, but somehow the words seemed feeble.

“Your friend?” the dark man said. “He hates what you are, Gar’rth. You know it. He fears you, as well, as they all do. Even Kara. If it were otherwise, would she have taken the wolfbane dagger without telling you?”

He knows everything.

“You don’t answer me because you have thought so before. Still, they are your friends, and I will respect that. The choice you have is a brutally simple one. If you submit to me, I will tell you of your history, and of your future, too. Your friends may go freely across the river and return home.”

“And if I don’t?”

“They will live in torment, forever, as has no other since the time of the God Wars. Believe me when I tell you that death will be but a dream to them. And in the end, you will submit to me, for there will be no alternative.”

What choice is that?

“King Roald offered you a similar choice, did he not, before you swore to serve him?” He looked deeply into Gar’rth’s eyes. “You should never have left Morytania, Gar’rth. This is your place. This is your home.”

“And my friends will be allowed to leave Morytania, unmolested?”

The man nodded.

“I will not try to stop them. I cannot make promises on behalf of others, of course, but they should be able to accomplish it. Already Vanstrom and the rebel Karnac near the Barrows. They will be here within a day. Time enough for you to make your choice. I shall even wake them before you go, so you can part from them cordially. And if you wish to help them further, then you may give each one a pouch filled with the most precious gems. None of them will want ever again.

“Tell me, Gar’rth, has a more reasonable offer ever been made?”

“You are offering no choice at all.”

“That is true,” the man admitted without hesitation. “But the lives of your friends are in your hands. Their welfare is entirely dependent upon you.”

“Then you know I will accept it. You know I have to.”

The man smiled.

“Very good, Gar’rth. Very good. You made the wise choice. Your friends will live, and likely prosper, and though you might never be with them again, you will be able to watch them whenever you want. Believe me, there are worse decisions people must make in this world.”

Gar’rth gritted his teeth, and clenched his hands.

“I said I accept, and I will,” he hissed. “But I want to write a letter, for Kara to open when she crosses the river. I could not stand to hear her voice, now that my mind is made up. And to Ebenezer, as well, for I owe him much.”

“Ah, the alchemist,” the dark man said. “You will be glad to know he is now back on his feet. I have seen him in the company of others in my pool. But now that you have accepted, I will tell you the truth of your life, and of why you are so important.

“Then you may write your letters, and if you want you may dictate them to Georgi, for I know how limited your skill is in their language. You can tell your friends whatever you wish them to know.”

32

“Theodore? Can you hear me, Theodore?”

The knight opened his heavy eyelids. He breathed deeply, and there was no trace of smoke in his lungs, no prickly fire that wanted to make him cough and wheeze. Still, he could smell it on his clothes, and on the clothes of Castimir, who lay next to him, asleep.

Or is it something worse than sleep?

He prodded the wizard with his hand. Castimir sighed, mumbled incoherently, and remained still.

“He is safe and unharmed, Theodore.” It was Gar’rth’s voice. “All our friends are.”

He could see the werewolf standing in the shadows of the darkened room with black walls and black furnishings. About him, on several large settees, lay the rest of the embassy. To his surprise, this included Albertus Black and Gideon Gleeman. The scientist lay motionless on a litter, as if someone had prepared him for a journey. Only Lord Despaard, Doric, and Arisha were absent.

“Good,” he breathed out, and his breath fogged the air. It was cold here. “How long have I slept for?”

“Nearly two days,” Gar’rth replied. “I want to talk to you, Theodore, before I wake the others.” Gar’rth strode forward and Theodore felt his brow crease in surprise. He was no longer dressed in his hood, cloak, and loose-fitting garments. Now he was attired in black trousers, with a black doublet covered by a jerkin inlaid with mysterious silver symbols. A black cloak hung from a metal brooch that lay across his throat. He had washed and shaved, and now he stood as fine as any prince the knight had seen.

Gar’rth stepped over to Kara’s side. She lay alone on a settee. The werewolf removed his right glove and gently clasped her cheek in his hand, caressing her skin lightly.

Is that what you choose to talk of now, Gar’rth? Or have you changed more than your dress?

Have you joined with Him, with Zamorak?

“She is very beautiful, isn’t she?”

Theodore made no answer. Instead, he stood stiffly.

“I know you think so. We both do. We both love her. But only one of us can have her.”

So this is it, then. The truth of it.

Slowly, he reached for his sword and drew it out an inch.

The werewolf smiled, his white teeth shining in the gloom.

“I know what you think of me. You have always thought so. You fear me. The others do, too. I had the same dream you had that night at Paterdomus. It frightened me, as well.” He sighed and put the glove back on. “But I have made my choice now, Theodore, and there is nothing you can do about it, I am afraid.”

“What choice?” Theodore asked warily.

“You can have her.”

What?

The words stopped Theodore dead.

“I don’t understand.”

“As far as she is mine to give, she is yours-and here, in this place, I could possess her absolutely. Whether she loves you or not, I do not know. But I have one request.

“When you return to Misthalin, you will do two things for me. You will give her a letter, but not before you are across the river. Secondly, take care of her, Theodore. If you do not marry her yourself then make sure she finds a good man, a dull one who is happy with his lot. In time she will put aside her sword and cease her wanderings. Make sure she has everything she can possibly need. I have eased the way. On your belt is a pouch. It holds jewels that are larger than any you will find in Varrock. You are a very rich man now. Use that power wisely.”

Gar’rth turned to a table nearby. On its surface Theodore saw two sealed envelopes.

“This is the one for Kara,” Gar’rth said. “This one you will deliver to Ebenezer in Varrock. You will be relieved to know that he is much improved since when we left him, although I doubt very much I will see him again.”

“How do you know that, Gar’rth?” the knight asked. “And what do you mean?”

He has changed. In only two days since we fought side by side in Canifis, his whole being is different.

“I have met my master, Theodore. The man who wanted me back. Papelford was right. I haven’t been harmed at all, and already I have learned so much.”

Gar’rth handed him the envelopes, sealed tight.

“Is it Lord Drakan?”

“No. It is another. He calls himself the Black Prince, but that is no longer important.”

“No longer important? What about our mission? What about the Wyrd?”

Gar’rth laughed.

“The mission was a lie from the start, Theodore. Of course, we didn’t know it then. The Wyrd herself is no longer a problem for Misthalin, I believe. And as for the missing victims, they have never been in Morytania at all. King Roald must seek elsewhere for them, though I do not know where.

“But like I said,” he continued, “I will likely never see Ebenezer again. For I cannot come with you, Theodore. This is my goodbye. It is a trade. I have to remain here, voluntarily, for you to go free. The alternative would be your deaths.”

Theodore gritted his teeth. He had suspected something like this since he had seen Gar’rth’s new attire, but he had hoped otherwise.

“Our escape will be desperate,” he said. “And unlikely.”

“You have my word that you will not be attacked, Theodore. Although I would advise you to go as quickly as you can.”

Your word, Gar’rth? How is Morytania possibly bound by that?

“I will never see her smile or laugh or cry again,” Gar’rth murmured as he leaned down to Kara’s face. Gently, as if afraid to wake her, he kissed her forehead. Then he turned. “I shall wake the others now. You will have to carry Albertus, for his recovery is doubtful. Doric and Arisha are nearby with Lord Despaard. They have a boat which will carry you west.” He stroked Kara’s hair. “But I shall not wake her. I don’t think I could stand to hear her voice now that my decision is made.”

“Wait, Gar’rth, before you go,” Theodore sheathed his sword and approached the werewolf. He thrust his hand out. “I have always feared what you are, Gar’rth. That is no lie.” His voice broke and his vision blurred. “But the man you were when you fought at my side, when you went with Kara into The Wilderness-there are few better. I am sorry now of my jealousy of you.”

Gar’rth nodded and took Theodore’s hand in his.

“I have learned much from our time together, Theodore. Make sure you tell Ebenezer that. Together, you showed me what friendship was. I never had that before, and I will never forget that. Never.”

They embraced, Gar’rth’s strength bruising Theodore’s flesh.

“Just look after her, Theodore. Promise me you will?”

“I will, Gar’rth. I will.”

Castimir awoke with the smell of smoke in his nostrils. He coughed reflexively, and as he did so he sat up.

What happened?

Opposite him, Gideon Gleeman was looking equally confused, and behind him, on a black settle lay Kara, unmoving. At the jester’s side, lying on a litter, Albertus Black moaned.

“We haven’t long,” Gar’rth said. “You must go. Now.”

Go where? Where are we? And why is it “you” and not “we”?

“Castimir, can you help Gideon carry Albertus?” Theodore said. “I’ll take Kara.”

The wizard rushed to help Gideon as Theodore hefted Kara over his shoulder with a grunt. Only Gar’rth remained unmoving.

He’s not coming. He means to send us away and remain.

“Gar’rth, you can’t stay here,” he said. “They will force you to give yourself to Zamorak if you do… won’t they?”

“I do not know, Castimir. They have not done so yet, but I have made the choice that matters, perhaps the last free choice I ever will make. You are to go free, back to Misthalin, but the price of your freedom is that I stay behind. That is why I haven’t woken Kara. She would not understand that there are some forces it is impossible to fight.”

“But… but…” He didn’t know what to say. Gar’rth’s position was an impossible one.

“I have already spoken to Theodore about it, Castimir. He will tell all on your way back.” Gar’rth clasped Castimir in a great hug and the wizard saw his friend’s eyes water. “This is the only way, Castimir. The only way.

“And you should know that it is not just your lives for which I have made this exchange. Here, I can help, really help. On your way you will see how the wretches of the ghettoes live, of their misery and fear. If I can do anything at all to help them, then it will be worth doing. Go now, but go with the knowledge that we still have a chance to make a better world for some. He will guide you.”

Castimir turned to where Gar’rth gestured. Through an open set of double doors stood a thin elderly man with white hair and a long gaunt face. His thick sideburns ran to his chin, and when he opened his mouth the wizard noted his teeth were pointed.

He is one of them, a werewolf, I think. Or is he a vampire?

“Georgi will guide you. He is a werewolf, and he has been appointed to be my valet. Follow him, and you cannot go wrong.”

Gar’rth shook the jester’s hand, and then turned to face them all.

“I have given you each a gift, also. Theodore is now a rich man, as are you all now. Castimir, I have included Ebenezer’s spyglass in your belt pouch. I know he would like it back. The contents of Albertus’s saddlebags are in my possession, however-they are too heavy for you to carry back.”

Gar’rth stepped toward the door and gestured.

“Georgi, lead them to the Barrows beyond the city’s walls. Vanstrom and Doric will be there to meet you, if you hurry.” He turned to Castimir and gave a knowing smile. “And Arisha waits with them. So don’t delay!”

“Come, we cannot be upon the Barrows when it gets dark,” Georgi muttered as he turned in the doorway and led them on. “Not even us. Come on!”

Castimir turned back one last time as they rounded a corner in the corridor. He stared through the double doors to see Gar’rth, standing alone, looking after them. Then the shadows closed in upon him, hiding him from view, and the doors were slammed shut by some unseen force.

May the gods watch over you, my friend.

“She is waking. Be careful, Theodore, mind her head on the stone.”

Kara heard Castimir’s voice as Theodore grunted. She felt a cold wind blow on her face, and then hard stone under her feet and against her back.

“Where are we?” she murmured.

I am exhausted. My arms and legs feel empty.

“We are leaving Castle Drakan, Kara,” Gideon’s voice explained. “Gar’rth negotiated our release, and we are hastening to meet Lord Despaard.”

Kara opened her eyes. Her back was to a stone parapet, her head below the merlon. Looking down she saw a dark courtyard with roofed buildings cramped together. As the wind changed, she wrinkled her nose in disgust at the smell that wafted upward.

Poverty and despair. The smell of hopelessness.

“Gideon? Then you and Albertus are safe?”

“We are, Kara,” the jester confirmed. “Though Albertus is barely conscious, and his mind is fragile.”

Kara looked at Albertus. The old man was still, asleep on his litter, his face too pale.

“Where is Gar’rth?” she asked, a dread cold gripping her stomach. Whoever sent Jerrod after him isn’t going to let him walk away again.

But I might be wrong…

Their silence indicated otherwise.

“Where is he?” she asked again. To her, her own voice sounded brittle. “Just tell me.”

“I am sorry, Kara,” Theodore said. “The condition of our release-and of our lives-was that he remain behind. He made his choice, and there was nothing any of us could do to change that.”

“Why didn’t he speak to me before we left?” she demanded. “Why couldn’t you wake me?”

Theodore and Castimir shared a glance.

“Tell me!” she snapped angrily.

“He woke me first, Kara,” the knight said. “It was a magical sleep over which he seemed to have some command. We buried our differences and parted on good terms. He said he wouldn’t wake you, for fear of being unable to part with you if you protested.”

“Nothing more?”

I know you haven’t told me everything, Theodore. You are a hopeless liar.

“Nothing more, Kara,” he said. She didn’t entirely believe him, but Theodore didn’t offer to elabourate.

“We cannot wait for long,” a harsh voice muttered.

“We will be here a moment only, Georgi,” Theodore said. “I just want to see what they are building.” A brief silence, then he said. “Castimir, you have Ebenezer’s spyglass?”

To her right she saw the wizard fumble in his belt pouch and pass the golden cylinder to the knight.

“What do you see Theodore?” Castimir said after a minute.

“They are building something of wood. A great ribbed structure, not unlike a ship’s mast. It’s a bridge of sorts.”

Kara peered in that direction for the first time. Three huge contraptions were arrayed in various stages of completion. They looked like wheeled carts, each wide enough for twenty men to walk abreast, each over a hundred yards in length. Toward the front of each, level and on opposing edges, were two tall wooden triangles. From the top of those descended thick chains.

“I think he’s right,” Gideon whispered.

“I think the idea would be to line the contraption up in front of a ravine, and then use beasts or men to pull on the chains,” Theodore said. “This looks to winch up the upper layer, and once it is winched high enough, they can lower it or drop it across the gap.”

The knight turned away from the embrasure and put his hands flat together. He held them horizontally.

“This is the contraption as it is now,” he said, “more or less, without the wooden triangles. Now, when they force the winches up, the upper level folds over.” He raised his left hand slightly, still joined to his right at the palm but now with an inch wide gap between the tips of his fingers. “Then it is simply a matter of pulling further to raise the bridge to its apex and then letting it fall to the other side.”

“But why would this Black Prince need bridges? What ravine has he to cross?” Gideon asked.

“Not a ravine, Gideon,” Kara offered with a grim certainty. “A river. The Salve.”

“But that’s impossible,” Gleeman responded. “The barrier-”

“Come on!” Georgi shouted again. “We need to move. We haven’t long till nightfall and no sane man would walk the Barrows then. Even the Vyrewatch avoid it.”

“Gar’rth gave us his word we would not be detained,” Theodore said in reply.

Georgi shook his head. “His word is worth less than nothing in the Barrows, for no power controls them!”

Kara felt chilled at their guide’s words.

They moved quickly after that, across stone bridges and down stairwells as the daylight faded. Finally, when the last burning embers lit the western horizon, Georgi halted.

“We are here,” he said. “This is as far as I go. There is still time, if you hurry. Head west, between the Barrows, but do not delay, and do not stop-no matter what you see do not stop.”

Then he was gone, back the way they had come.

A shadow moved from the west, a man running. As he saw them he gave a cry, and Theodore drew his sword while Castimir readied his runes.

“It’s Vanstrom!” Kara hissed. “The man in the cage.”

And if he’s alive then perhaps Pia and Jack are too?

The man ran up and stopped. He spoke with a fearful agitation.

“Come,” he said. “We must go. Right now. This place isn’t safe after dark.”

“Wait, Vanstrom. What of Pia and Ja-”

“They are safe, Kara-Meir. But we cannot linger here. Come on!”

Now Theodore took Castimir’s place with Albertus, and the wizard jogged alongside Kara, gripping some runes in one hand. The knight questioned their new guide.

“What is this place?” he asked. On both sides, small mounds surrounded them. Ill-coloured grass covered the hillocks, growing long and twisted, as if poisoned from below the earth. For a reason she couldn’t explain, Kara felt trapped.

“It is the Barrows,” Vanstrom hissed, as if that explained everything. Even though she ran, she felt the warmth seep from her limbs into the ground.

“This is unnatural,” Theodore said behind her. “No matter how hard I run, I grow colder.”

“We must go faster,” Vanstrom said urgently. “It is not far now.”

The golden stretch of light to the west had gone now, and with the darkness came the smell of death, rising up from the ground. The terrible coldness made Kara’s limbs feel icy and stiff.

Suddenly Castimir cried out.

Upon the summit of the nearest barrow stood a ghostly figure, holding an immense axe. A purple haze surrounded it. The apparition remained still, while the scent of death gradually became overpowering.

“It’s them!” Vanstrom yelled. “It’s the Brothers. Don’t stray from the path or you will be lost.”

They will kill us! They will take us! We can’t fight this!

Kara sprinted. She fled past Castimir, ignoring him as he dropped his runes in fear, her only need was to be away from that place. Never had she felt like this-not even on the icy island as Sulla pursued her. It was all she could do not to curl up and bury her face in her hands. Behind her she heard Theodore stumble, but she dared not turn around. Even her adamant sword, suddenly in her hand, seemed heavy, as if it tried to slow her down.

Leave it. Leave it behind and run, just run! But somehow still she gripped it.

“Kara! Where are the others?”

Doric’s gruff voice cut through her fear. She felt tears cold on her face, her breath came in gasps, and her heart pounded so hard she felt faint. Suddenly she saw that there were no more Barrows ahead of her, that she was free.

“Behind…” she stammered. “They are coming.”

The cold disappeared suddenly, and clinging warmth rushed in to replace it.

She turned to look back. Theodore was there, his face ashen, still with Albertus carried between him and Gideon, the jester with his eyes closed. Castimir ran at their side, his hands shaking, breathing quickly. Vanstrom came last.

“What was that place?” she murmured. “I have never felt the like.”

“Nor I,” Theodore agreed.

“It is the undead,” Vanstrom told them, wheezing. “The Barrow Brothers. Ancient warriors buried here so long ago that their origins are unknown to us. In Meiyerditch we tell legends of them. Some claim there is an immense treasure horde buried below, or magical halls in which the Brothers wait until the day they will be called. Until that time, they wander the Barrows, looking for living beings to take as their servants.”

Kara breathed deeply. The fear had gone now. She saw Doric look over her shoulder in confusion.

“Where is Gar’rth?” the dwarf asked anxiously.

She shook her head. Theodore looked troubled.

“He isn’t coming,” the knight explained. “It is the price for our freedom, Doric. But he was safe when we left him, and he didn’t seem frightened at all.”

Please don’t be angry, Doric, Kara said silently. I haven’t the strength left.

The dwarf gritted his teeth and bowed his head, and quietly he whispered something in his own language. But Kara knew what it meant.

“May Guthix protect him for his sacrifice,” he said, “and may we live our lives worthy enough to do his memory proud.”

Behind the dwarf two men emerged. Both were haggard and yet tough looking, clearly they weren’t strangers to hardship.

“Karnac, Harold,” Vanstrom nodded in greeting. “We are all here. Come, let us go to the boat without delay.” He turned to Kara. “Your friends Despaard and Arisha are guarding it.”

Kara sat in the bow, staring silently ahead.

For nearly an hour no one had spoken, and the stillness was broken only by the creaking strain of the oars in the rowlocks and their faint flash and dip in the stagnant black water. Ahead of her in the gloom, the view seemed forever unchanged and she could vaguely see twisted trees that stood half-submerged in the swamp on both sides. If there was a current, as Vanstrom suggested, she couldn’t make it out. The foetid air was suffocating, given form by the green mist that rose before them.

Was there anything I could have done, or said, to make him change his mind? Was there anything Theodore could have done, or Castimir?

She blinked away tears that she hid from her friends and turned to look back over her shoulder. Immediately behind her sat Castimir and Arisha. Even in shadow, she could tell that the wizard’s face was grim and resigned, and she knew his thoughts ran similar to hers. Behind them lay Albertus, his eyes half-closed. At his side sat Gideon, his face downcast. Then came the rowers-Despaard and the man called Harold, labouring away under the watchful guidance of Vanstrom, who half stood and half crouched above them. Behind him was Theodore and then Doric, the dwarf watching for any signs of pursuit from the stern.

“How are you feeling, Kara?” Arisha asked softly.

“I just wish I’d had the chance to say goodbye,” she said. “That is what I am most sorry for.” Arisha nodded, and Kara knew she understood.

“Gar’rth made the decision,” Castimir said. “He thought to spare you the pain of parting.”

Arisha must have seen something in her expression.

“I think we all know what he was always afraid to tell you, even when we spent all that time together in The Wilderness. Often, when you slept and he sat watch over us, I saw him and the way he watched over you. He loved you, Kara, because the feeling you inspired brought out the best in him. It saved his humanity and kept his werewolf heritage in check. He told me so himself, several times on our travels.”

“And now we have failed him,” Kara said miserably. “Had he told me then what he felt, about me, about his heritage, I would have done more to prevent him from coming back here.”

But I knew it. I knew how he felt. I was just too stubborn to say anything to him. Too stubborn, and too afraid.

“It might be that coming back here isn’t such an ill fate for him,” Arisha murmured. “He is from this land after all, and it now seems certain he will not be executed.”

“But what if he is forced to yield to Zamorak, Arisha? He won’t be able to resist the likes of Malak, and he will lose all that made him good.”

“It is what he is,” the priestess replied gently. “At least he should live.”

“She is right, Kara-Meir,” Despaard grunted from his position at the oar. “If he had somehow returned with us now, or had he remained in Misthalin, eventually he would have succumbed to his passions. And had he done that-and had you lived to see it-then it would have been far harder for you to bear.”

But he would not have done so. Not if he had spoken to me earlier and I had told him how I felt…

She faced forward and gritted her teeth angrily.

But did I love him?

The conversation ended and silence fell. The world passed by in a dreamlike state.

“There is one thing I would like to know, Gideon,” Arisha said behind her. “What happened to you two? We thought the werewolves had taken you.”

Kara shook herself from her thoughts and listened as the jester answered.

“It was Albertus,” Gleeman said. “He tricked me. When the fires started up he asked me to go upstairs to his room for some medicine, and when I was gone he ran out of the inn and attempted to exchange his life for Pia and Jack. He took with him two of his explosives, which he tried to use when the werewolves turned on him. I found him injured and beaten.

“After I was taken, I was told that his actions violated the terms of the embassy and that our lives were forfeited then.” The jester sighed. “We were taken by Roavar and kept by him until Malak and his Vyrewatch came for us. Then we slept, and awoke alongside the others.”

“You… you saved me, Gleeman,” Albertus moaned faintly. “You saved me… you killed that wolf…”

“Hush, old friend,” the jester said softly. “I did nothing.”

“No… no, you used magic Gleeman… it was magic…”

Kara turned to see the jester shaking his head affectionately, holding the old man’s hand. Gideon looked up and shared a tight smile with her.

“Sleep, Albertus,” Arisha advised him. “Save your strength.”

The old man nodded and lowered his head to the pillow. At once his eyes closed and he started to snore gently.

“He is confused, I am afraid,” Gideon whispered. “Perhaps he recalls your magic Castimir and attributes it to me?”

But the wizard said nothing, and no one spoke for some time after that. The swamp was a haunted place in the night, and Kara felt its animosity grow as they progressed, stroke by stroke, hour after hour.

The sooner we are out of here the better.

33

Pia returned to the groove atop the circle where she and Vanstrom had watched the dawn rise, yet it was too cold, even with her blanket, for her to find sleep. That, and she missed him too much.

I want to be the first thing he sees when he returns. I will look to the east, across the waters, and watch for him. And when he comes I will run to him and hold him and never let him go again.

Now, the east was pink again. The sun was rising. It was too young to warm her still-aching limbs, but she imagined Vanstrom was below her again, her head resting on his chest. Her hand brushed against the bottom of the groove, and came away with a fistful of earth.

She watched for an hour longer, glad of the sunlight on her face and arms. Below her, she could hear the people of Hope Rock busy at work. She knew they were preparing to leave.

Tomorrow morning at dawn. That is when we go, regardless of whether Vanstrom and Arisha have returned. But if they haven’t come back, then I will remain.

Master Peregrim was fussing as the gnome supervised the metal device he called the burner being put into place. Vanstrom had explained to her that he had retrieved it from his first balloon-the one that had carried him across the river-and how it would provide the heat needed to lift them into the sky.

It’s insane. Man was not meant to fly. If Zamorak had meant it to be so, he would have given us wings.

She became aware of several angry glares cast toward her. Everyone on the plateau was busy. Even the blind old creature they called the spirit woman was pulling on a rope, with Jack behind her, obeying the instructions of a young man, whilst the few children of the settlement ran about with handfuls of cordage.

Everyone was helping.

Everyone but me.

Embarrassed, she climbed down the scaffolding and stood by Jack, to help heave the heavy burner into place.

“You brother is gifted, Pia,” the old woman said once they had finished. “We are blessed that you came to us.” But before she could explain further, a cry went up from the lookout above the windlass on the northern side of the circle. It was the pregnant woman who cried out.

“I see a boat,” she called over. And then, a moment later she added, “It’s them! It’s them! And they have brought others!”

The work was forgotten as everyone crowded to the top of the circle to watch the boat draw near. When the rowers finally heaved into the small lagoon, Vanstrom waved and shouted.

Pia saw Kara-Meir, too, but it didn’t look as if she was pleased about their rescue. Her companions all wore the same expression.

Yet they are alive, she said, peering from one to the other. All of them, I think. It was only when they drew closer that she counted, and realised that one of their number was missing. It is the tall one-the frightening one.

Still, Pia couldn’t restrain her excitement at seeing Vanstrom again. As soon as the group was lifted to the plateau she ran to his arms, uncaring of what others might think.

“I knew you would come back…” she said breathlessly. “I knew it… I knew it.”

The bearded man embraced her for barely a second before pushing her gently aside. Yet she saw his smile and the shine in his dark eyes, and she was certain they were meant for her alone.

“How long until we can make our flight, Peregrim?” Karnac called from behind.

“We will be ready at dawn tomorrow,” the gnome answered, “but we have a great deal of work to do before then. The envelopes have yet to be filled and-”

“Then let’s be about it,” Karnac ordered briskly, cutting him off.

“But remember-no fires, no naked flames on the plateau,” the balloon master added. “The hydrogen is flammable. If it lights, the whole thing will burn.”

“With us tied in the nets, too,” Doric whispered. Pia saw Kara exchange a look with Theodore and Castimir. Their doubt was clearly evident.

“It’s the only way,” Harold said. “The swamp to the west is impossible to navigate. To the north lies Canifis, and in the south a great number of ravenous lie in wait.”

“How is it supposed to work,” Theodore mumbled. His lips barely moved. Pia thought his face looked frozen.

He’s not the only one who thinks this is a stupid idea.

“Simple really… It’s all very simple,” Albertus said tiredly from the litter. “The gnome’s burner heats the air inside the balloon. This causes it to rise. The hydrogen gas is lighter than air. The combination of both will give the balloon enough buoyancy to float away on the winds.”

“And just how do we land?” Gideon asked incredulously.

“I would imagine that once we are across the river, the gnome will release the warm air gradually, and the balloon will sink.” Albertus looked as if he was adding figures in his mind. “How far… how far is the river from here?”

“I don’t think it can be more than thirty miles,” Despaard said.

“Then as long as the winds favour us, we won’t have to be aloft for long… not at all. Only a few hours perhaps,” Albertus whispered hopefully. “Indeed, it could work.”

“It will work,” the spirit woman said. “Some of us will live to see Misthalin.”

“We will travel south first,” Master Peregrim informed them. “Then we should catch a westerly wind that will carry us across the river and away from this dreadful place. But you are right, my old friend-only a few hours at most.”

“And you’ve done this before?” Kara asked hesitatingly.

Master Peregrim bit his lip.

“Yes,” he said. “Once. And that was by accident.”

“By the gods,” Doric swore. “He’ll have us in Kandarin.”

“Well, at least that’s over the river,” Castimir murmured.

But Pia could tell their unease was shared by many.

Pia shared in many of the tasks throughout the remainder of the day and through the night itself. It seemed to her that Karnac was deliberately keeping everyone busy, as if keeping them occupied would somehow allay their fears of the suicidal flight to come.

At one point, she found her way into the honeycombed interior of Hope Rock, sent to gather two crude quivers filled with equally crude arrows. As she made her way back to the plateau, she heard voices coming from the darkness from a passageway on her left, hidden around a corner. The first speaker she recognised immediately, for it was Vanstrom.

“We have no other way,” he said. “You know that.”

“I would sooner go back and face Drakan and this prince than attempt this flight. It is madness made real Vanstrom. You know it is.”

Pia stopped. She didn’t recognise the other voice.

“Yet the gnome has done it before,” Vanstrom persisted. “He came from the west. He can carry us out. All of us.” She heard him spit in the darkness. “But if you want to take your chances with the undying one, then go and do so-and go now, before you dishearten the others.”

“It is too late for that, Vanstrom,” the man said bitterly. “Tonight, I am going to confront Karnac once and for all. I should have done it when we first left Meiyerditch two years ago. He’s led us from one disaster to another!”

“Don’t be a fool, Hereward. If you do this, then none of us will escape.”

“Don’t touch me, Vanstrom.” Something hard and metallic scraped on leather.

A knife. He has pulled a knife on Vanstrom.

“You’re not one of us, Vanstrom. You never have been. Coming and going from Meiyerditch. Escaping from Canifis. That’s too many lucky breaks.”

Pia heard a scuffle, then Hereward cursed and Vanstrom gasped, but it was as if both sounds were curiously muted.

No! Vanstrom was fair and kind to me.

She shot around the corner into the narrow passageway. The quivers fell at her feet, the sound making a clattering echo in the hard stone walls of the place. She heard Hereward gasp and she saw him turn, the glint of a knife catching the torchlight above.

“Wh-” he began.

And then she was on him, her fingers like claws, her teeth biting and ripping on his arm. She felt him stagger under her weight as he punched her with his free hand and then she heard a noise like two stones smashing together.

Hereward’s body went limp beneath her, sinking to the ground as if he were a puppet without strings. Above him, Pia saw Vanstrom, outlined under the light. In his right hand he held a rock, a black stain upon it, his eyes wild.

“Pia. Get up. Move,” he said. “Get out. Get out. Now.”

She stood quickly, stumbling once. Her hand pressed against something soft and wet in the darkness beneath her and a nauseating smell rose up, making her gag.

“Get up and get out,” he repeated. “Go to our place. I will finish up here.”

“I was trying to help! He attack-”

“I know, but I can take care of myself. Now, go. Tell no one of this, and clean your hand before you leave here.”

“My hand?” She lifted it to the light and saw that it was stained in blood-and something else. Something else that looked like scrambled egg.

“I cracked his skull open, Pia. Now, go.”

Something in his voice and the look in his eyes made her grow cold. She took the quivers up in her arms and without knowing why, she ran-first to the subterranean well where she washed herself, and then up to the surface, to deposit her burden before Kara and Theodore, who were busy distributing the weapons they would take with them.

No one noticed her as she climbed the scaffolding back to the groove in the rock, they were all so busy below as the balloon gradually took shape. No longer was it a flat canvas with a loose net hanging at its base, but rather it looked like an upturned garlic bulb. Down each side of the balloon there hung a primitive rope ladder that led up to the top. The nets for the passengers were stitched to the balloon’s canvas near its bottom, a few yards hanging below it into empty space.

She watched it for a moment, and then when she was alone her thoughts turned to Hereward. She drew her knees up to her chin and thought of what she had done.

I am a murderess now, she thought frantically. I deserve to be hanged.

She didn’t know how long she sat like that, but when she looked up again the now familiar and still wondrous sight of the pink horizon was there.

“It will be dawn soon. Time for us to fly.”

Vanstrom. He stood over her.

“What did you do with-”

“It doesn’t matter. It is too late for anything to interfere now. Soon, we will leave this place, and all that we did here-all the ugly little things that we had to do to survive. They will be like nightmares. And nightmares cannot hurt us, can they, Pia?”

Vanstrom sat behind her, his strong arms around her shoulders, holding her.

Restraining her.

Frightening me.

“Can they, Pia?”

“No… no…”

Vanstrom pushed forward suddenly. And Pia panicked.

He means to kill me, too.

She twisted in his grasp. Her foot slid outward, toward the edge, her leg bent. The edge of the rock was right behind her, disappearing into a hundred-yard drop that ended in the shallows of the lagoon.

No chance.

Pia lost her balance.

“Please… no please…”

Vanstrom’s hand shot out. He seized her wrist and pulled her back.

“By the gods, girl, what do you think you are doing? Sit quiet and be still.”

She looked into his eyes and felt his arms press about her, as if he was afraid she might try to pull away.

“I… I don’t know… I… I’m sorry.”

The words stumbled out of her mouth in a near whisper.

“You’re crying. You’re scared,” he said. “Scared of me and of what we’ve done. But we did the right thing, Pia. You did the right thing. Hereward tried to kill me, and if he had succeeded he would have ended the hopes of everyone here.” He went silent for a long moment, and then spoke again. “Tell me, what do you think of Albertus Black?”

She shook her head in confusion.

“Albertus? What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Did you know that he went to offer his life in exchange for yours, Pia, and for Jack’s? That that was what finally ended the embassy’s protection? He was injured when he did so, according to Gleeman. When you return to the plateau, Pia, take a long look at that dying old man. He offered his life in exchange for yours. He may well end up giving it, for I cannot see him living for much longer.

“Should he die, then it will be your duty to live a good life, Pia. So when you go back down there, look him in the eye and know what he offered to do for you and your brother. Don’t make his sacrifice worthless by throwing away the chance he has given you.

“Do you understand?”

Pia nodded, though she was not certain.

“Come, Pia,” he said. “Let us wait here together for a few minutes more, and watch the dawn. It won’t be long now.”

Suddenly a great roar went up from behind them. Pia looked down onto the plateau and saw the balloon jerk upward. Down below, the gnome’s burner was expelling an orange flame. The balloon tugged upon the two ropes at each end, lifting the device gently from the ground, and it was buffeted by the wind.

“It’s ready!” Master Peregrim shouted out. “Now we need a few volunteers to man the top. People who are good with bows.”

Pia saw several volunteers step forward. Castimir was pushed forward by Arisha, and both Kara and Theodore were chosen. Lord Despaard and Harold also.

“Where are they going to go?” she asked.

“On top of the balloon we have added a wooden platform. The plan is to have several archers up there in case anyone should try to prevent our escape. Do you see those ropes at the balloon’s sides, the ones that go from the ground to the top?”

Pia looked and gave a nod.

“Watch then, as each of your friends is raised to the top.”

Kara was the first to go. Pia watched as she strapped a harness over her shoulder. The rope was then pulled through it. At a signal, several people heaved on the end of a second line. Kara was wrenched into the air, using her hands and feet to push against the balloon’s surface as she was lifted. Soon she rounded the bulbous top and emerged standing in the centre. She gave a shout and very quickly Theodore was lifted up after her.

“We should go down,” Pia whispered.

“Wait,” Vanstrom murmured. “Something’s wrong.”

The inhabitants of Hope Rock had split into two groups. Argumentative voices could be heard, and very soon fingers were pointing and waving.

“What’s going on?” Pia asked.

“They don’t want to go,” Vanstrom observed. “Some of them think it’s suicide.”

Pia saw Arisha step forward, to stand between the two groups, but even her presence wasn’t enough to halt the discord. Someone called out for Hereward, another for Karnac, and in the morning light Pia saw the sun-kissed glimmer of drawn daggers.

“They will kill each other-and all of us-unless this madness is stopp-”

Vanstrom froze.

“What’s wrong?” she said. “What’s happening?”

“Did you hear that? From the north I think.”

Vanstrom ran across the top of the circle toward the lift. It had been raised and the windlass locked, as it was whenever it wasn’t in use. The pregnant woman who stood watch there had been drawn to the argument.

“By the gods, it’s them,” Vanstrom murmured, his face pale. “They have found us at last.”

“What?” Pia asked, her fear growing. “What is it? I don’t see anything?”

“Listen girl, listen. On the wind. Do you hear?”

Pia fell silent and angled her head to the north. The wind rushed by, causing a faint roaring, but then, over that, there was a growing howl.

It can’t be. Not here.

She listened again, and once more heard the cries.

Vanstrom was already moving. Pia ran after him, down the wooden scaffold and into the midst of the angry mob.

“It is too late for us now!” he roared. “Listen! Listen to the wind, all of you. Can you not hear them? Can you? They are upon us now. Listen!”

Some spat derisively at him, but the majority listened.

And sheltered from the wind by the rock wall, as Pia’s heart smashed in her chest and her ears thrummed to its beat, she heard the sound again.

It was howling. The howling of wolves. The werewolves of Canifis had found them.

“We have no time!” Karnac shouted. “We must leave now. Now.”

The howls had settled the issue. No one argued. Instead, in a barely organised rush they heaved the last volunteers to the top platform and then clambered into the nets that were fastened around the base of the balloon. The old and infirm were tied in, and Pia found herself in between Albertus Black and the spirit woman, her brother at the woman’s side. Pia was thankful that no one did a head count, and once, when Karnac mentioned Hereward, Vanstrom intervened neatly, telling him that Hereward had volunteered to come last. When Vanstrom strapped himself in not far from her, she saw his knowing gaze.

I am glad he is close to me. He gives me strength.

“Prepare to cut the mooring lines,” Master Peregrim shouted as he leaned down to his burner. A blast of orange flame roared into the central cavernous body of the balloon, lifting it suddenly. Someone near shouted in surprise and another in alarm.

This is suicide, she thought desperately, trying to avoid panic. This is absolute suicide. Pia’s stomach heaved as the balloon bounded up and down on its tethers. She wound the netting around her arm all the tighter. The ground was too far below to risk jumping now.

“The stern is free,” a voice cried.

Immediately the balloon angled upward, the bow still tethered.

“Werewolf!”

Pia looked to the north as the balloon twisted on its last tether. She could just see a cowled figure, standing where the windlass was.

Somehow it must have climbed up!

The werewolf howled and charged forward. She heard Master Peregrim scream for help as the attacker neared, and she saw how obscenely vulnerable the gnome was, still hovering just a few feet from the ground on his burner.

Help him! Someone do something!

A blue missile smashed into the creature’s shoulder from above. The werewolf sprawled backward, whimpering as it grabbed its shattered limb and ran back several steps.

“You got him, Castimir!” she heard Kara shout.

But the werewolf turned again, and Pia knew it would not make such an easy target this time.

“Cut the bow line! Cut the line!” Master Peregrim bellowed.

Vanstrom Klause ducked through the netting. Pia saw him clamber to the bow and draw his knife.

Be careful. For the love of the gods, be careful.

The werewolf zigzagged now, weaving its way closer to the burner, jumping aside to avoid a second of Castimir’s blue missiles. When it exploded upon the ground, Pia saw it was composed of water which splashed harmlessly at their enemy’s feet.

But now Pia knew the werewolf was hidden from Castimir’s view by the shape of the balloon. There would be no more magic to save Master Peregrim now.

She heard the burner roar again from below and the balloon leapt upward. Vanstrom gave a shout from the bow and fell into empty space.

Pia went cold.

“No!” she screamed.

Vanstrom’s hands shot out, seizing the rope, breaking his fall. He wrapped his legs around the line, his face a grimace.

“Help him, someone help him! Please help him!” Pia screamed as she felt her eyes water.

Vanstrom looked back at her and nodded, just once.

And then he slid to the ground.

Through her blurred eyes Pia watched as the werewolf turned to attack him. She saw Vanstrom shout, though she did not hear the words, for her heart drowned out all other sounds.

He drew his dagger across the line and cut it in one strike.

Then the balloon rocked and shot upward, and Hope Rock was just a blur below.

34

Everywhere people screamed.

Kara gritted her teeth as her stomach leapt, the balloon rocking from side to side now it was free from its tethers. She gripped the platform’s rail with both hands, relief flooding through her when she felt the taut line she had tied about her waist and which secured her and the others on the platform to the balloon. Castimir, standing next to Arisha on the platform, with his back pressed against the surface of the balloon to Kara’s right, swore loudly, his eyes closed.

“This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done!” the wizard shouted. “Didn’t Gar’rth promise us we could go unharmed? We don’t even need be up here!”

“He did,” Theodore shouted in reply, testing the tautness of his own safety line.

“But I don’t trust him,” Despaard shouted back. “There are other masters in this land who might still wish to thwart us. And the balloon is vulnerable to attack. That is why we need the best of our number up here.”

The cold wind raced by, chilling Kara’s face and bringing tears to her eyes. Her blonde hair trailed out behind her as she craned her head in an attempt to see the sun.

“We’re heading south,” she yelled.

As if in answer, the burner roared again. Kara felt the heat through the top of the balloon, but she couldn’t tell if it lifted or fell, so confused were her senses.

We only need to be aloft for a few hours on a westerly wind. We can do this.

We can.

Just don’t think of the flammable gas in the envelopes at the top of the balloon. Peregrim knows what he’s doing.

“We have yet to gain a west wind,” Arisha called over to her. “I have picked a mountain landmark to use as a reference, yet the sun is unchanged.”

How high they were Kara could not tell, for the ground below was a featureless swamp, obscured in green vapour. Once or twice she saw a tree, but it was hard to make out any detail. Probably we are no more than five hundred yards above the ground, yet that is as high as I care to go.

“Look!” Harold shouted gleefully. Kara followed his hand to the east, where a dark smudge was just visible on the horizon. “That is the city of despair, home of Drakan and his ilk. And it is falling behind. Thank the gods.”

“Kara? Harold? Anyone?” It was Karnac’s voice. Kara turned to the balloon’s edge to see him hanging grimly onto one of the two rope ladders that ran from the platform to the nets.

“Master Peregrim is taking us higher. He means to catch a wind above which he thinks will carry us west.” He laughed crazily. “But have you seen it yet? Look to the west. What do you see?”

Kara and her friends turned to do as he bade. At the limits of the horizon she could see a great silver line winding its way from north to south, the sun reflecting off its surface. It could only be the River Salve.

“We are only a few hours away from it,” Karnac shouted. Kara saw his tears and she wasn’t sure if they were provoked by the wind or by a feeling of happiness and hope.

They are beginning to believe now. But the distance is still great.

“Karnac, the balloon needs a name. Get the passengers thinking. It will help them pass the time.”

“How about Desperate Gamble?” Castimir suggested stiffly.

The leader of Hope Rock vanished below. Every so often they could hear broken sentences of his over the wind. Kara’s fingers were numb and stiff. Her teeth chattered and she had lost feeling in her ears. A short while later Karnac returned.

“Doric suggested Idiot’s Folly,” he called over to them with a smile that made Kara wonder if he was becoming unhinged. “But it was Jack who came up with a better one: Hope Soars.”

“Then the boy is speaking again?” Theodore asked.

“Aye, he is. But Pia is now quiet. After Vanstrom fell cutting us loose-”

The balloon shook suddenly. Instinctively Kara grabbed the rail tightly.

But Vanstrom? What happened to him?

“Is Vanstrom dead?” Harold called over.

Karnac nodded. “He saved us. He cut the line and distracted the werewolf from Master Peregrim. If it weren’t for him we would still be on Hope Rock and the gnome dead.”

Kara looked for the mountain that Arisha had pointed out a few minutes before. It was on a different side of the balloon now.

“We are heading west,” she cried, looking to the morning sun to verify her thought. It rose, behind them now, and Kara turned her back on it to look toward the Salve. The river was undeniably closer now. Small breaks in the reflecting light signified the presence of islands, and she wondered if they would be able to see Varrock at all once they were above the Salve.

Kara laughed. It was honest laughter and unbidden, and it sounded and felt all the better for it. It seemed like a long time had passed since she had done so.

She turned back to the east, to feel the sun on her face again.

As she did so, she caught small and inconsistent flashes of silver among the clouds.

Kara blinked, to make certain her eyes hadn’t been dazzled by the sun.

But the silver flashes remained.

“Theodore, do you have Ebenezer’s spyglass?”

“Yes,” he replied. “What do you see?”

“Pass it over, and I’ll tell you,” she replied.

“Could it be a flock of birds?” Castimir suggested hopefully.

Kara didn’t reply as she took the spyglass. She put it to her eye and tried her best to compensate for the jostling balloon beneath her. Once, she caught sight of something blurred in the telescope, but before she could focus it the tension in her safety line fought back against her arm and the vision vanished.

“Anything?” Harold asked impatiently.

“Not sure,” she replied.

But I’m certain it’s no flock of birds.

She sighed in frustration and levelled the spyglass again. Whatever the silver flashes were, they were closer now.

And this time she found what she sought in an instant.

It was something she had never seen before, but she knew what it was straight away. That the picture-of a winged creature, with its silver armour, red eyes set in a reptilian face, and clawed hands-would stay with her forever. She gasped aloud.

“What is it?” Karnac cried. “You’ve seen something haven’t you? I can tell by your face.”

“It’s the Vyrewatch,” Kara replied. “It must be. Dozens of them. They will be on us within the hour. Two at the most.”

“Then they will reach us before we reach the Salve,” Castimir said. “That makes sense. Didn’t think it would be so easy to escape from this place.”

“Remember, Castimir, no fire magic,” Arisha cautioned.

“Don’t worry,” he replied. “All my fire runes are in my satchel. Not taking any chances with this hydrogen. I have no urge to plummet to the ground in a blaze of glory.”

“Karnac, will the sun not destroy them?” Theodore asked.

“No. Not in this land,” came the answer. “Direct sunlight might weaken them, perhaps enough so that they will abandon the chase, but they will not tire. The dead do not know fatigue, and normal weapons are little hindrance to them. No, Castimir’s magic is the best and only hope we have. I hope you are up to it wizard.”

Kara bit her lip. There was no way Castimir could fight off so many. They would have to think of something else.

“Can we not go faster?” Theodore asked. “Maybe drop some weight, or fly to a higher wind?”

Despaard shook his head.

“If we go higher, we might find an easterly wind and be pushed back toward them,” he replied grimly. “Better to stay on our course. So much for Gar’rth’s word.”

“A grim situation,” Castimir murmured. “Seeing our enemy come on so slowly, and yet knowing that there is nothing we can do. Can’t get much worse than that, can it?”

Suddenly someone screamed from below. Karnac disappeared back down the rope ladder, only to return a minute later, his expression tense.

“Look, on the ground, if you can,” he cried. “It’s the werewolves! Still they pursue us!”

Kara peered earthward through the green wisps of mist. Soon enough, she caught sight of dozens of the creatures, running below, always in pursuit.

“If you are tempted to speak again, Castimir,” she said, “please don’t.”

The wizard grumbled, then fell silent. Kara saw he had closed his eyes.

If only it were really so easy to make them disappear.

Over the next hour the sun lost its warmth as the Vyrewatch drew nearer. Kara looked at her friends, hoping to see some expression that might lift her own spirits.

Only Castimir can help us now.

The wizard had opened his eyes and now kept his gaze held steadily on the approaching enemy. At his side, Arisha helped him organise his runes.

Theodore leaned toward Kara.

“How many wolves do you count?” he asked quietly.

“At least sixty,” she replied. Certainly at least one for each of us. Maybe they will fight among our corpses, like dogs after scraps. She smiled grimly, though the thought was far from humourous.

“Do you think your adamant sword will be any good against the Vyrewatch?” the knight asked.

“I doubt it. Not unless they plan on attacking us directly,” she said. “Their best course would be to cripple the balloon, and then engage us on the ground, if any were left alive after the fall.”

Castimir’s face paled as he overheard her words.

“Nothing like looking on the bright side,” he said angrily.

Suddenly Despaard shouted out in warning. The Vyrewatch were near now, the gap closing quickly, coming in two waves, five in the front, the rest behind. Even without the spyglass, she could see the detail in their armour. The second wave broke off and flew higher.

But for those who were ascending, the gap widened again.

“Aha!” Harold growled triumphantly. “They’ve dropped back. It’s doubtful they will catch us now!”

“Don’t be too sure,” Despaard observed. “They might have sensed a higher current which could speed them along. Keep an eye on them. And don’t forget about the first wave.”

Kara watched as the Vyrewatch gamble seemed to fail. The vampires wasted precious minutes climbing, and once again they were only silver flashes, as they had been when they first appeared.

Within a few more minutes, even these had disappeared.

But still the five came on, closer now than ever. From higher up, the sun intermittently shone in her eyes and masked their presence.

She put one hand in front of the sun, and found the five Vyrewatch in the shadow of her palm.

They are within range now, she observed. But is it worth attempting a shot?

They will probably try for a sudden dive, to expose themselves to our fire for as short a time as possible. And Castimir will be their first target.

A bowstring twanged from behind her. A black arrow passed overhead and through the line of their pursuers. One of the Vyrewatch dipped its wing slightly and moved to the left. Even had it not bothered, the arrow would still have missed by a wide margin.

Kara heard Arisha curse.

“Castimir, use your magic only when you are certain of it,” the priestess shouted. “The Salve is no more than fifteen minutes away. We just need to buy time.”

The wizard’s reply was lost to Kara on the wind. Quickly, swaying unsteadily from her position, she readied an arrow and raised it toward the sun, her eyes narrowed against the light.

I don’t have to hit them. I just need to slow their flight. If I can force them to dodge, it might buy us precious minutes.

She aimed at the nearest and breathed out, ignoring the cold that numbed her fingers.

Then she released the bowstring.

The arrow flew upward but missed by at least ten yards, caught in the violent wind. Two more arrows arced overhead, and then a third and a fourth, all going wide. Kara turned behind as she notched a second to her bow. Now Despaard and Harold were reaching for their quivers.

Castimir cried out a warning as once of the Vyrewatch dived.

She raised her weapon and fired instinctively, again missing widely. The five creatures split, three down the port side and two to the starboard, leaving those on top without a target.

She heard Theodore curse loudly as she drew and readied a third arrow.

There is nothing I can do from up here, save wait.

And in battle, that is the hardest thing of all.

Jack screamed from her right. Something silver flashed by Pia’s face and when she opened her eyes she saw fresh blood on Albertus’s face. The old man remained still, and she wondered if he was even still alive.

“What is happening, Pia?” The blind spirit woman asked from her side.

“It’s the Vyrewatch!” someone screamed. “They are upon us! There is no hope!”

Pia turned and looked behind her. Below, hanging from the balloon was Master Peregrim, standing alone upon the small wicker basket with his burner. The gnome gave a pull on his metal contraption and a blast of yellow flame roared upwards, the heat warming her.

But on the opposite side of the balloon, amongst the netting that hung beneath the balloon’s base, the people there fought desperately. Pia saw two of the Vyrewatch biting and scratching amongst them, their commotion jostling the netting violently.

Her stomach froze as a horrid sound reached her.

It was the sound of tearing fabrics.

No. Oh by the gods no!

The net gave way on the opposite side. She watched, unable to scream, as a dozen or so individuals fell with the netting, which grappled itself about the two vampires and dragged them down with their victims. As they fell, their cries were lost in the wind.

Doric cursed from his position nearby.

Pia wanted to be sick.

Suddenly the balloon tilted, and Pia added her screams to the many others. Peregrim was shouting over their cries.

“Gleeman!” he cried. “Get up top. Tell Kara to release some of the gas. We are too light now. If we go much higher the balloon won’t survive. Go, man, go!”

She saw King Roald’s jester untie himself and climb toward the rope ladder above her. He vanished around the curvature of the balloon.

A silver flash followed him.

“Gleeman!” she shouted as loud as she could. “Behind you!”

Kara kept the bow taut as she looked around her fearfully. Behind her, she knew, her friends stood back to back, ensuring that none of their attackers could surprise them.

Before her, she watched as Karnac crawled toward the platform. His hands and legs sunk into the balloon’s surface as he made his way along the rope ladder. Behind him, Kara saw Gleeman’s head appear around the edge of the balloon.

And he wasn’t alone.

“Castimir!” She shouted as she saw the Vyrewatch fly toward the jester’s unprotected back. She knew she couldn’t dare risk a shot with her bow, and she doubted that Castimir’s magic could be so precise either.

The wizard aimed but she saw him hesitate.

The Vyrewatch seized Gleeman from behind and pushed him down, out of her sight.

No chance. He had no chance at all.

Suddenly she thought of Gar’rth and a hatred flared in her. She cursed loudly into the wind. “Is this what your word is worth?”

Pia saw Gideon fall from above. The jester grabbed at the rope ladder as he fell, his outstretched arm entangling itself in the lines.

But still he wasn’t free of his attacker.

“Doric, Gideon needs you,” she shouted to the dwarf, her head turned to his position. “Use your arrows.”

From above there came a strangled scream and when Pia looked back up she saw the creature glide away, its wing broken, flames engulfing its body. Down it went, spiralling into the swamps below where it disappeared from sight. She saw Gideon grimace and raise his hand to her, and she noted the wound on his face and shoulder where he had been bitten or scratched.

Nonetheless, he was alive.

Castimir has taken a dreadful risk. He was told not to use fire magic.

But she was thankful for it nonetheless.

Pia turned back to the view below. The swamp seemed closer now, contradicting Master Peregrim’s concern about the balloon being too light.

As if reading her mind the gnome looked up from his burner.

“Tell Kara not to release any more,” he cried. “We are sinking too quickly.”

The gnome looked up into the balloon, and Pia followed his gaze.

“By the gods!” Master Peregrim shouted.

Pia saw the cause of his fear. Inside the very balloon itself was one of the Vyrewatch. It tore at the fabrics with a lazy contempt, and if such a thing was capable of smiling, Pia was certain it was doing so, mocking their helplessness. Already several tears had been made in the balloon’s surface.

“Gideon, tell Castimir to get rid of that thing!”

There was real panic in the gnome’s voice now.

And as the jester turned back to climb once more to the top, Pia heard the burner ignite and felt the now familiar warm wave of heat pass by.

Yet still, when she looked down again, the ground was nearer than before.

A shadow appeared in front of Kara. Karnac cried out from his vulnerable position on the rope ladder. Instinctively she released the bowstring and fired her arrow into the body of the Vyrewatch.

Her aim must have been off, for the arrow spun aside, deflected on the creature’s armour.

“Castimir,” she called.

She saw Karnac thrust his dagger toward the creature’s leg, but if he hit it, the Vyrewatch seemed unaware.

An arrow flew by, finding its mark in the creature’s wing.

The fanged face looked up for the first time, taking its red eyes off Karnac.

WHOOSH.

Kara felt a compact ball of air sail past her left shoulder. It smashed into the creature’s face, shattering the horrific visage of their enemy. She heard bone crack as the Vyrewatch tumbled backward, over the edge of the balloon and into empty space.

“That was very satisfying,” Castimir said. The wizard breathed deeply, and Kara wondered if he could be so accurate again.

“How many more are there?” she asked as she pulled another arrow from her quiver.

A motion caught her attention behind Karnac. She raised her bow but then gave a gasp of surprise as Gideon clambered up the rope ladder and into view, injured and exhausted.

“There is one of them in the balloon itself,” he wheezed. “It’s tearing everything up. We have lost a lot of altitude as the hot air has leaked out. I think it may have torn one of the hydrogen envelopes as well.”

“How many of the Vyrewatch are left, Gideon?” Theodore called.

“Two fell, trapped in the nets they tore free, weighted down by their victims. The one that attacked me…” Gideon wheezed and shook his head. “That one fled. And then there was this one that just missed me when it fell. Four have been accounted for.”

“Then it’s just the one in the balloon,” Arisha said. “Castimir, if we open the flap do you think you will be able to dislodge it?” The priestess drew her knife and cut the bindings that secured the flap.

The wizard shook his head. “I don’t know. I will try, though.”

Kara saw how low the balloon had sunk. She could hear the howls of the werewolves behind them, and noted with alarm how the tops of tall trees couldn’t be much lower than Master Peregrim’s burner.

If he gets tangled in a tree then it will act as an anchor. We will crash badly.

“How far is the Salve?” Karnac cried.

“It can’t be more than a mile now,” Theodore replied, looking west.

Kara did likewise. Through the tops of the bushes beyond she could make out the river. Theodore was right. It was not far at all.

But the howls of the werewolves were unrelenting.

“Castimir, look,” Arisha commanded. She had opened the flap that was intended for use in bringing the balloon in to land by releasing warm air. Kara felt the heat rise and saw Castimir move aside and out of its path.

“I see it,” the wizard said. Below, the sound of the burner firing almost constantly was carried up to them. No doubt Master Peregrim was growing desperate.

“Just another mile,” Kara gritted to herself. “Come on Hope Soars!”

Castimir took his time. Kara saw him concentrate and watched as a ball of dense water flew from his hand into the interior of the balloon, where it was lost from her sight.

“Did you get it?” Harold asked.

“I got it,” Castimir said. Kara pushed her way to his side and stared down through the opening. She saw the Vyrewatch twist in the air as it fell, batting its wings violently. She saw Master Peregrim staring back up from his burner, his face a mask of fear as the vampire dived toward him. She watched in slow motion the gnome fire the burner and felt the wave of heat blast up toward them and saw how the flames engulfed the descending vampire.

“Gods!” Castimir said in horror.

She blinked and looked again. The vampire was a flame now. It soared up toward them.

Hydrogen.

No flames.

Highly flammable.

“Move!” Kara cried as she threw herself backward, cutting her safety line and leaping for the rope ladder.

Something screamed behind her as she saw her friends get clear. The balloon seemed to jerk suddenly as a strangely muted roar bellowed up from inside the canvas, followed instantly by the yellow glow of flames.

Kara fell as the balloon began to collapse on itself.

Then she hit the black waters of the swamp.

35

Oh gods!

Everyone was screaming. Castimir yelled as a stinging pain scalded his left hand as he fell backward over the balloon’s edge.

I’m going to fall!

But he already was. The safety line was slack at his belt. He flailed out to grab at anything he could, yet there was nothing within reach. The world turned end over end-the sky, the burning balloon, and dark waters rushing up, the howls of werewolves-

Then he struck the swamp. His satchel wrenched itself around his throat as he sank into black waters.

He surfaced with a cry as someone grabbed him and dragged him away from the ruins of the balloon. He kicked with his feet, trying anything to keep his head above the surface as he took in as much air as he could.

And then he saw what had become of Hope Soars.

It was impaled upon a dead black tree, the balloon rising and sinking into the very waters in which he had fallen, still collapsing slowly. He blinked away the moisture and sought the detail. He saw Doric shout a curse as the dwarf hacked his way free of the netting. He was one of the few left aboard, for in the waters near him splashed a dozen other survivors.

The bottom half of the burner lay beneath the surface, but the balloon’s master clung grimly to the portion that jutted into the air.

“We’re not clear yet!” Castimir was relieved to hear Kara’s voice. “The wolves of Canifis are coming. Come on, the Salve is probably no more than half a mile away.”

“And what of the Vyrewatch?” he asked as he neared the shore and his feet found the bottom of the swamp. He still had his satchel, and the runes that lay within.

At least I will be able to use fire magic now.

“I don’t think there are any of the creatures left,” Kara said. “But where are Pia and Jack?”

They might be dead, Kara.

Castimir waded out of the swamp and onto dry land. People were calling out in the morning light, though now that they were on the ground again, the green vapour stole the sunlight, reminding the wizard of a murky twilight. The voices mixed with the sounds of their pursuers.

The howls were closer now, and Castimir wondered whether they could make it to the Salve in time. He saw others that shared his worry. Quickly yet carefully he began to sort his runes.

“Come on,” Karnac urged his people. “Get up and out of the water. Take the person nearest to you and do not leave them. We can still get out alive. Now, come on!”

When the wizard looked up again, he saw that the survivors of Hope Rock had gathered into a group, now fewer than twenty. He recognised the pregnant woman, breathless and weeping, and the spirit woman, too. Pia and Jack were there, as well, the girl’s face a fearful white as she watched Albertus. He bore a wound across his face, though it no longer bled.

The old man was perched upon Gideon Gleeman’s back. The jester bore him with ease, despite his own injuries, as if he were no more than a child. At Gideon’s side-his face a mask of pain-was the gnome Peregrim.

From the perimeter of the group, he noted Theodore, wielding his sword in preparation. Doric stood behind the knight, his wolfbane dagger drawn. On the opposite side stood Kara, absolutely still, her adamant sword held in her right hand, the sword Kingsguard in her left. Thrust through her belt was her own dagger, unhindered now by any sheath.

“Come on,” Despaard urged. “We haven’t much time left.”

Swiftly, the frightened, bedraggled group moved off, until only the wizard and his friends remained, leaving Castimir feeling exposed.

“Shouldn’t we follow?” he asked Kara, unable to keep the fear from his voice.

“We will give them a few seconds to get ahead,” she replied, her eyes never leaving the foliage. “We fight a rear-guard action today.”

Against the whole of Canifis?

The howls weren’t far away now, and it seemed as if there were two distinct groups. One to the north and one to the south.

If they have run all the way from Canifis they must be exhausted.

“Maybe the pack has had to split up to find its way around this pool,” Doric suggested in a low voice.

Kara nodded.

“You might be right-”

The foliage to the north burst apart as a grey wolf leapt out. He gave a great breath and turned to Kara, who stood nearest.

“Where is the dwarf?”

Castimir reacted instantly. The runes melted in his hands and he summoned his strength.

“No!” Doric was at his side. The dwarf seized his hand and forced it up, away from the werewolf, where his half-finished spell sent a spark of discordant fire from his hands.

The creature laughed. It had made no attempt to move.

“I return my favour to you, dwarf,” it said. “I uphold my oath for the final time today. You and your companions are safe for now, for I led the pack to the edge of a lake. It will give you time enough to get to the river and escape.”

“Thank you, Imre,” Doric uttered.

The wolf laughed again.

“Don’t thank me, dwarf. It is an old trick we use, the howling. Prey fear it, of course, but they believe it gives our location away. Not so. Five of Canifis’s best hunters have already moved to cut off those ahead of you, for such folk were not included in our bargain.

“Like I have said, you and your friends here are safe. The others will die.”

“No,” Kara yelled. “No!”

She turned and ran to the west, and Imre called after her.

“You are too late, little girl, too late. Can’t you hear? The slaughter has already begun!”

A scream came from the west-a cry of terror followed by a snarl. The cry ceased, and Castimir thought of the pregnant woman, of her fear. He caught sight of Arisha at his side, already turning to follow Kara.

No! No more deaths! No more!

He ran to catch her up, Theodore and Doric behind.

The sounds of violence were growing.

36

Pia heard Karnac’s voice over the growling of the attackers who jumped around them, hemming them in.

Like dogs rounding up sheep!

A few of the humans had tried to run already, to break away from the main body and flee to the west, but they were the first to be brought down and slain. Harold had broken from the group to try and buy them time, but he had been brutally killed before Karnac or Lord Despaard could run to his aid.

She clutched her brother tightly.

“We’ll get out of this, I promise. We’ll-”

But her words failed. The sight of bodies with their throats torn out or their innards leaking from their stomachs made anything she could say a mockery.

“Gather together!” Karnac shouted. “The river is near!”

One of the werewolves laughed viciously.

“Then who will be the first to try for it? You? There are few among you who would dare fight us. There is no one who can save you.”

Suddenly the spirit woman took Jack by the shoulder.

“I need you, boy,” she said. “Remember what I told you? I will have need of your strength, to draw him to our aid. Come!” She took him forward, and stood squarely before the werewolf. Her actions were so unexpected, Pia was too shocked and afraid to object.

“I count five of them,” Lord Despaard whispered to Karnac. “I might be able to take one with my dagger, but not all of them. Not a chance.”

“Where are Kara and that mage?” Karnac asked bitterly. “Without them we are lost.”

Then the werewolf noticed the two figures who had stepped up.

“What is this? A boy and a hag?” He crouched and drew closer to them. “Come, let us hear your plea. Pick your words with care, for they will be your last.”

They don’t need to rush, Pia knew. They like to torment their victims.

Unless Kara and her friends come, we will die here.

“They will be my last words, wolf, as yours may well be. If you leave us now, you may live. If not, you will die.”

“Is that it? An idle threat?” the creature came so close that it was almost nose-to-nose with the woman. The boy cringed. “I will save you till last, hag, so that you may hear the screams of your family and friends. And before I kill you I will consume the boy there, your grandson perhaps? You will die with his blood on your face.”

Lord Despaard yelled from behind Pia as one of the circling attackers jumped forward, grabbing a woman by her arm and dragging her away from the group. Pia heard her screams as the nobleman ran forward and slashed his dagger across the werewolf’s snout.

“Back woman!” he commanded. “Get back!”

The werewolf turned and ran, yet Lord Despaard was now separated from the group. Coming from both sides two creatures jumped forward, each feinting and ducking while the woman Despaard had rescued darted back to the group.

They will rip him in half, and then we will follow. Where is Kara? Where?

Then from behind her now, the spirit woman gave a great moan, the sound like a huge iron door being opened. Pia heard an animal scream, and she saw how even the werewolves who were closing in on Lord Despaard turned and backed away.

An immense shadow, twice the height of a man, materialised before the spirit woman. It held an object of some sort, though she couldn’t see what it was. Jack was on his knees, breathing hard, sweat upon his brow, looking up at the thing that had appeared.

From nowhere. What is it? How did it-

The shape took a single step forward, the equivalent of three large strides for a tall man. Its back was hunched over, and from its massive shoulders two lines of pale bony spikes ran parallel to its spine. As it moved, the moan sounded again, and as Pia examined it more closely she gasped in amazement.

The whole thing is made of iron!

A gesture from the oracle spurred it into action. It swung its immense torso and Pia saw that it held a huge black double-headed axe. Seeing its face for the first time, she could only think of a bull. The thing took a step to Lord Despaard’s side.

A minotaur! Pia realised. A minotaur made of iron!

The torso swung back now, and the werewolf gave a squeal that was cut short as there was a sound like a butcher’s blade hacking through a thick joint.

“What a contraption!” Pia recognised the gnome’s high-pitched voice from behind.

Then the spirit woman turned and looked with sightless eyes at the remaining four werewolves who had gathered nearby. They gibbered with panic in their own language.

“Let us pass or you will be destroyed,” the woman cried, pointing to them with a gnarled finger, as if she could see.

“Death does not compare to undeath, for that is what Malak will do,” one of the werewolves shouted back.

The iron minotaur ducked its head and drove a deep furrow into the moist earth with a single scrape of its foot. Pia couldn’t be sure, but she imagined that she saw its nostrils flare.

Then it charged.

Its speed must have caught the werewolves off guard, for only two managed to jump aside. Of the remaining two, the first was lifted into the air upon its huge horns, while the second had its skull smashed in a singe deadly jab from the end of its axe haft.

Someone cheered.

But the two that had jumped aside ran forward, passing the giant, making for the spirit woman.

“Move!” Pia shouted to the old woman. But she paid her no heed.

“Remember, Jack,” she said clearly. “Remember what I told you.”

The werewolf’s jaws closed around her throat, dragging her down. The second ran in, its arm flailing out to rake the boy’s face, missing his throat and running across his jawline before it, too, fell upon the spirit woman.

Jack fell to the ground, and Pia began to bolt in his direction, but Despaard stopped her.

“Get behind me,” he said as he pulled her back.

Pia glanced back to the Minotaur, but it had vanished, leaving two werewolf bodies motionless on the ground.

Of course it’s gone! She’s dead. The spirit woman is dead, and she knew she would die.

Jack was pushed to her side by Karnac. The leader of Hope Rock then gestured to the west.

“Go! Run-the river cannot be far now.” He turned to the rest. “We can do it. All of us can.”

The two werewolves abandoned the body of the spirit woman and moved to cut the group off. As they did a ball of orange flame hit one in the back, forcing it to its knees. It screamed as its flesh burned, yet even as it tried to stand Pia saw Kara run forward, her green blade skewering it in one thrust, the tip stabbing down into the soft earth beneath.

Silence fell, and Pia’s heart raced. Then realisation struck her.

We can do it now. We can.

Castimir ran beside Kara, with Sir Theodore and Doric watching their backs. The knight ran awkwardly, grimacing each time his right foot bore his weight. In the centre came Arisha, her short bow drawn.

Only one werewolf remained to confront them now.

“Stand aside or be slain,” Karnac commanded.

“I cannot. I dare not. Malak will take far more than my life from me if I do.”

The werewolf charged in with a screaming howl. Arisha loosed her arrow which stuck in the creature’s shoulder, but it barely slowed. Kara was running forward, too, and Lord Despaard, with his two-pronged dagger held before him. A searing jet of flame overtook them, passing them to intercept the desperate werewolf, the flames driving it back.

It thrashed upon the ground in agony as Pia smelled the burning flesh.

“Kill me,” the werewolf moaned. “Kill me, or Malak will do far worse…”

Pia watched as Kara-Meir stepped to the werewolf’s side.

“Do it! Do it or may the gods curse you!”

Pia blinked, and in that second Kara’s sword thrust down, entering the werewolf’s chest. She saw the black blood pour onto the ground beneath its corpse as the blade was withdrawn.

There was no triumph on the woman’s face. Nor regret.

Like it was in the barn.

Pia shivered.

“On now! We are so close,” Karnac yelled out. As if to remind them, a great chorus of howls erupted from the east.

“Run! Run, for we have little time!” Sir Theodore shouted, racing forward with his right foot dragging.

Pia found Jack. He was conscious, though clearly in pain. She took his hand in hers, and with a last look at the body of the old woman, she ran.

37

Theodore stumbled on, ignoring the fire in his right foot.

Ahead, he could hear the first of Karnac’s people as they made the jump from the bank into the river. Voices were shouting and screaming, a woman was crying. He heard the crack of branches and the shake of foliage as the desperate people fought their way to the water.

Thank Saradomin! We’ve made it.

“What I would give now for longer legs,” Doric grumbled at his side. They had reached Kara now. Beside her stood Castimir, a set of runes clutched in each hand as he stared back the way they had come. At the bank’s edge waited Arisha, her bow ready.

“They can’t swim,” Despaard shouted up. “Gather some logs and branches from the bank, anything to help them.”

Quickly, those few who hadn’t dared enter the water did as he suggested, tearing at even the most meagre vegetation in their haste.

“We’re going to make it,” Castimir said with a quick look over his shoulder. Already, Karnac was halfway across the Salve, over thirty yards away. Guided in his arm, lying on her back, was the pregnant woman.

“We should go,” Doric whispered. “But I will need help. I can’t swim either.”

“Then drop anything you don’t need, Doric,” Arisha said. “I will help you across. Come on.” The two disappeared down the steep bank to the water’s edge.

“How long should we wait?” Castimir asked nervously. “I can’t hear them any more.”

That was true. Theodore frowned uneasily.

“Perhaps they are close now, and mean to approach us by stealth,” he suggested.

“Just another minute,” Kara whispered. “Wait till everyone is in the water, and most are halfway across. Then we go.”

He looked to the water again. The current was fast-moving. Already the group had become separated, some being carried south, clinging to the branches they had torn from the bank. Several were in serious danger of drowning. He heard Despaard shout from the river’s edge, frustration in his voice.

“Make broad strokes with your arms, kick with your legs! No!”

The nobleman leapt into the river and surfaced with a gasp. Rapidly he swam to the man he had been instructing. Theodore watched as he got behind him and pulled him across, helping others where he could.

This is a mess. A fine mess.

Arisha kicked off with Doric in her arms. He found something vaguely comical in the sight of the short dwarf, cursing and splashing, held by the priestess. Like Lord Despaard, she helped others where she could.

“Into the water. Now!” Kara yelled.

Theodore turned as Kara dived past him, straight from the top of the bank and into the river, landing feet first, her adamant sword held away from her.

“Gods, Theo!” Castmir yelled, stumbling down the bank, dropping the runes in his hands in his haste to be away. For the swamp to the east was alive with werewolves. Everywhere Theodore looked he saw red eyes and hirsute strong bodies, long tongues panting heavily.

Hundreds of them. The whole of Canifis must be here!

The nearest bounded toward him, appearing as a full wolf and running on four legs. Theodore threw himself backward, ignoring the angry protest in his foot as he crashed down through the bank, thin branches whipping at his face.

And then he was in the water, not daring to look back, ignoring the cold as he kicked off, his booted feet pushing him from the stony ground. Still he held his sword in his right hand, above the surface as he kicked with his legs.

They won’t dare follow. The river will prevent them.

Something heavy dropped into the water from his right, close to his head. He risked a look back and saw that the werewolves had gathered along the top of the bank, unwilling to pursue any farther. But still they sought to hurt their enemies. Several more stones landed close to him. One hit his leg, and though it was slowed by the water, it caused him to grimace in pain.

When he looked ahead again, he saw that the opposite bank was littered with the exhausted survivors. Kara was already there, swimming back and forth to aid those who were in difficulty. Pia helped Jack up the steep slope, at the top of which stood Gideon, who with Master Peregrim’s help, was helping him lower Albertus as gently as they could to the ground.

Farther down the river, to Theodore’s left, swept south by the current, he saw Arisha guiding a man to the safety of the bank. Doric was already there, leaning down to help them.

We’ve done it!

“We’ve done-” Theodore swallowed water as he tried to yell in triumph. Now arrows were arcing overhead, fired from Misthalin, peppering the werewolves on the opposite bank. Somewhere a loud trumpet was sounding, and through the trees to the west he could see the shape of horsemen riding up.

The stones were fewer now, thrown in haste, and no more hit Theodore as he made his way to the bank. Karnac helped him up, tears in his eyes, and when Theodore looked back, he saw that many of the werewolves had dropped back, hiding in the darkness of the swamp.

“The sun feels better here,” Karnac said deliriously. “It is warmer. And the land! It is so, so green-” He gave a sudden gasp and blinked stupidly. Theodore followed his gaze to where an officer of Misthalin’s army had appeared, riding his horse.

“Is that a… is that a horse?” Karnac asked.

The officer stared down his nose at the man and raised an eyebrow.

Theodore nodded.

“They are quite real, Karnac. Come, you can touch her. She won’t mind.” The knight guided his hand and rubbed it gently over the horse’s face. Karnac grinned like a child.

“We heard tales of these, in the ghettoes,” he said. “Of knights riding to fight dragons and rescue maidens. Of so many things that were unknown to us in that… that horrible, horrible land!”

Suddenly he fell to his knees and wept, taking great gasps of air.

All he has dreamt of for so many years, and through so many hardships. This one moment he has looked forward to for so long.

Finally the sobs subsided, and he looked up.

“Where are they, Theodore? Where are those I brought out?”

They stood nearby, warming themselves in front of a fire that Castimir had kindled using his magic. The wizard was grim faced, the book he had taken from Canifis spread out before him to dry in the sun. He held his left hand gently, wincing as he did so, and for the first time Theodore noticed it was burned.

“So few,” Karnac murmured. “So very, very few. How will the gods forgive me, Theodore? How?” He folded suddenly, his head in his hands as he wept again.

“Two hundred I led out of Meiyerditch!” he cried. “Two hundred! And now how many are they? How few?”

“There are eleven of them, Karnac. Eleven.” He felt his voice break as he spoke.

Only eleven from two hundred.

“How will they forgive me, Theodore? How many did we leave behind? We would have been better to live as slaves, for the cost was too great… too great…”

“No, Karnac,” the pregnant woman said angrily. “Don’t you dare think so. Ever! Sometimes just to survive is victory enough. And if we had stayed, then my child would have been taken from me on its first day alive, taken for the tithes.” She knelt at the weeping man’s side, and took his hands firmly from his face.

“Look at me, Karnac. Look at me! I promise you that my child will never forget your name, nor what you have done for us. You are right, we are few, but we are the blessed few.”

Karnac’s sobbing subsided, and soon he stood. Theodore stepped back as the survivors of Hope Rock surged around their leader, giving him their thanks.

“Theodore,” Castimir called to him. “It’s Albertus.” The wizard’s face was grim and he chewed his lip before he spoke. “He’s dead, Theodore.”

The knight felt no new emotion, no surprise, no rage at the news.

I have expected this.

He followed Castimir to where the old man lay. Pia wept at his side, and Jack stared, his exhaustion obvious. The wound across his jaw had stopped bleeding.

“He landed badly, when we jumped,” Gideon explained. “And on the balloon, one of the Vyrewatch wounded him.”

Arisha looked up from her place opposite Pia.

“I tried to help him, Theodore, but it was too late. I think perhaps we should be thankful, for at least now he is free from his pain.”

He nodded, suddenly too tired to speak. His right foot ached sharply now he was free of the fear that had driven him across the river, and though he dearly wanted to sleep, he knew he could not.

For there was much to do. A message had to be sent to the King, the survivors needed shelter and warmth and food, a wagon had to be be arranged to send the dead on to Varrock for burial, and he needed to give Kara Gar’rth’s letter.

He found Kara near the river, sitting alone upon a willow branch under the shade of its canopy. Without a word he reached for the envelope and handed it to her. The outside was slick and wet, yet when she broke the seal, he saw the letter inside was still dry.

“What is this?” she asked.

“A letter from Gar’rth-he asked me to give it to you.” Seeing her expression, he quickly added, “He asked that I only give it to you once we had reached safety. He made me promise.”

She frowned at that, and looked at the folded parchment. Finally her expression softened, and he began to move away, to give her privacy.

“You can stay, if you like.” She pointed to the branch opposite hers.

She sounds almost afraid.

“Only if you want me to, Kara.”

She nodded.

“I do.” She made no attempt to open the letter. “There is… there was so much I wished to say to him, Theodore. Only small words that meant great things. I could have done it any time, in The Wilderness, in Varrock. It would have only taken me a few moments. I don’t want to lose that opportunity again, with anyone else I care about.”

Her tearful eyes met his, and he held her gaze.

“Theodore… I don’t know…”

“Don’t worry, Kara,” he said quietly. “Don’t speak. Read his letter. We have time enough today.” He gave her a slight smile as she nodded and wiped her hand across her face. Then she carefully unfolded the parchment.

Theodore sat in the shade, and watched her.

He will declare his love for her, I am certain of that. But I do not know what else.

Kara gasped as she read. Theodore saw the tears wet her cheeks, her dark eyes large and suddenly vulnerable.

He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the rough trunk, unsure of how to feel. Gar’rth was, or had been, his friend. Now he was gone. Albertus, too, and many from Hope Rock.

I am so tired.

For the first time in many days, he thought of Lady Anne. He missed her touch, and her teasing.

But I must look after Kara now. I promised Gar’rth I would.

“Gods!” Kara swore. “Gods,” she said again.

Theodore opened his eyes to see her stand. Her face was pale, her brow furrowed in concentration.

“That’s impossible… It’s a lie… surely…” Her whole body was alert, and her hand fell to her sword.

“What is it?” Theodore asked, his heart suddenly racing.

Nearby, Doric and Arisha ran forward, Castimir behind.

“It’s about Gar’rth,” Kara said. “It’s been about him all along. From the very beginning.”

“What do you mean, Kara?” Arisha asked tensely.

“Gar’rth is not a werewolf-”

“What?” Doric grunted in disbelief.

“He’s half-human, Doric. Gar’rth is half-werewolf and half-human, which is why he was able to resist Zamorak better than those in Canifis.”

Half-human?

“His father is the Black Prince. A vampire nobleman who was once a human himself. And his name was Tenebra.”

Tenebra? I know that name, he’s-

“Tenebra the Prince?” Castimir stammered. “Tenebra, the Prince of Varrock, who rode to war against Morytania centuries ago? It can’t be…”

“It is,” Kara said. “And there is more. Tenebra was the eldest of the five princes. He was the heir apparent until his disappearance at the end of the battle, when he was believed dead.”

“Then…” Doric exhaled. “Then that makes Gar’rth…”

“The rightful heir to the throne of Misthalin,” Kara finished for him. “Vampirism cannot be handed down by breeding-that’s what Gar’rth’s father says-so Gar’rth had to inherit Tenebra’s human side.” Kara sighed and looked intently back to the letter. “And his father wants his son to sit on that throne and rule the kingdom. Tenebra is coming. He is coming soon, across the river. Gar’rth doesn’t know how, but he thinks the Wyrd is something to do with his plan.

Then she looked up, comprehension in her eyes.

“And we saw the bridges they’ve built, most likely to cross the Salve.”

“But the holy barrier is still present,” Theodore observed. “If not, the werewolves would have crossed over after us.”

“Tenebra must have found a way around it,” Arisha said. “He would not go to such effort without having first done so. Perhaps Varrock will be able to shed some light on this.”

Kara nodded.

“We must return to the city at once. Tell no one of this letter or its contents.” She lowered her voice. “We might not be safe if the King discovers we know this truth. He may even accuse us of being in league with a usurper…

“And there is one more thing. Gar’rth writes that he believes it is his father’s intention to have him embrace Zamorak. He begs me… us… that if we ever face him again, we must treat him as an enemy. His friendship can no longer be relied upon.”

Kara breathed out.

“Now, I will talk to the officer, to requisition some horses for our return to Varrock. We should leave as soon as we can.”

“He might have already succumbed to Zamorak, Kara,” Theodore whispered. “Or why else would he break his word to us?”

No one spoke. Kara simply nodded.

The group broke up quickly as they gathered their belongings. When they stood before the horses, Castimir gave Theodore an odd look.

“Why would Gar’rth tell us all this, do you think? Why would Tenebra allow it?”

I have been wondering the same myself.

“Perhaps the Black Prince doesn’t know, or perhaps he is so sure of his victory that he thinks it doesn’t matter…”

“He’s had centuries to prepare, Theodore, centuries.” The wizard mounted his horse and peered at his burned hand in anger. “Perhaps he’s right to be so confident?”

The knight turned to look one last time behind him, across the river to the land beyond.

He’s right. Centuries to prepare for this. Centuries!

With a feeling of growing unease, Theodore rode after his friends.

38

Daylight fell onto the paper before Ebenezer, illuminating seven marks that meant nothing to him but seemed to be imbued with such importance. Under each was a short paragraph of elegant writing which Ebenezer knew to be Sally’s hand.

She will be smiling now. I know it. Smiling behind my back.

He turned abruptly.

Sally smiled. Next to her stood Reldo and Lord William. The nobleman glanced anxiously at the clock on his wall.

I don’t doubt he spends every waking moment outside Sulla’s door now, listening for Lady Caroline.

“Right,” the alchemist said. “Well then. I think we might be onto something here.”

Sally’s smile faded. Her brow creased into a frown.

“I would say so,” she asserted. “It is the only link between those who are missing. All babies, none over a year old, all with birthmarks over their hearts. It has to be more than a coincidence. It has to be.”

Just a shame Sulla didn’t bring the Wyrd in alive, so we could ask her. I wonder if he meant it that way.

“Let us refresh ourselves,” Ebenezer said with a deliberately pompous tone. “We are theorising that the prophecy is real. That the Wyrd worked toward that end, and that to realise that end, the power of the Salve had to be broken.”

“Can I see, please?” Reldo asked quietly. “The paper with the seven birthmarks.”

Ebenezer nodded and handed it to him.

“I have to say, I think the King will laugh when we report this to him,” he said with a look to Sally. “Birthmarks on children… It’s just… It’s just not scientific.”

“Papelford told you that science was no way of analysing magic, Ebenezer,” Sally scolded, her arms crossed.

“Please uncross you arms and remove your scowl. It reminds me too much of your sister when she used to do the same. And that was never an occasion for joy. Especially when she was within reach of her rolling-pin.”

But she is right, he admitted silently. Papelford did warn us about that.

“This is interesting,” Reldo remarked from the desk, his young face bowed to the seven marks.

“Do you recognise them?” Lord William asked, showing interest now.

“No.”

“Oh.”

“Then what is so interesting?” Ebenezer huffed, turning on his heel too quickly, his balance wavering. Only at the last moment did he seize the edge of his desk and feign a deep look at the paper, as if he had been bending down to read it rather than saving himself from an embarrassing fall.

I think I got away with it. Can’t have them peeling me up off the floor!

“Well, I don’t think I recognise them, but they are familiar. I will have to think.”

“I thought you were supposed to be blessed with a memory that allowed you to recall anything you ever read?” Lord William asked with a puzzled frown, his hand caressing the silver fox that he wore to clasp his cloak.

“Words, yes, but not so much images,” Reldo murmured as he gazed far away. “Let me search my memory.”

At his age, it shouldn’t take too long. He’s got less than twenty years worth of them. I barely remember what I had for breakfast this morning.

“I know that look, alchemist,” Sally mused. “Have you had a thought?”

“Huh? No… no, nothing of any consequence.”

Reldo held the the paper down by one corner, spinning it round and round slowly with his free hand, peering at the symbols intently.

“What are you doing?” Lord William muttered. “I can’t concentrate if you kee-”

“I’ve got it!” Reldo shouted with sudden verve. “My god… I have got it!” He put his hands to his head and looked at Ebenezer in amazement.

“Good. Can you give it to us, please?” the alchemist asked.

“Paterdomus! That’s where I’ve seen them before. They were etched onto the altar of Saradomin, and that altar is the oldest part of the temple, I believe. I saw them when I prepared the blood-mark for the embassy.”

“Well, this is a definite link now,” Ebenezer said humbly. “Sally, I owe you an apology. You were right to pursue the birthmarks.” He bowed slightly and extended his hand. She took it with a grin and then rushed forward, wrapping her arms around him and crushing him in a hug.

“I love it when you are wrong,” she laughed, and the sound reminded him so much of Eloise, who had herself often said the very same thing.

“But I don’t understand what this actually means,” Lord William said. “So we have children disappearing who each have birthmarks over their hearts that resemble ancient symbols found at Paterdomus. But how does this help us?”

Ebenezer managed to free himself after an affectionate struggle.

“If the prophecy was true-and I think Reldo, that enough has happened to assume it must be-then whoever this ‘true King’ is, he will have to cross the Salve. These children were specifically sought by the Wyrd, and that they share a mark with the oldest and most sacred area of the temple must mean they are linked.

“How the mechanism occurs though, and what it actually does is something we are no closer to understanding. That is what we need to ascertain next.”

“How?” Lord William said drily.

“We must peruse the archives. We must examine every source to see if there is any mention of such a link, and find out what they mean. We must send word to the High Priest of Saradomin in Entrana, to see if he can enlighten us. We can overlook nothing. Nothing!”

“Then we will need Papelford’s cooperation,” Reldo said gloomily. “He has so many tomes in his collection that without them our task will be hamstrung from the very start.”

Ebenezer nodded.

“Very well, I shall seek an appointment with King Roald to inform him of all we know. It is now apparent that Felicity is far more important than we thought, and must be guarded by only the most able and trusted men-for that child alone has the one birthmark that remains in our possession.”

Thank the gods for you, Gar’rth! If you hadn’t led us to the Wyrd that night, then she would already be in their possession. Wherever you are, I thank you.

“So if she is taken by the Wyrd… or whatever is sent next…” Lord William whispered, polishing the silver fox with his anxious finger strokes.

“Then we must assume that the Salve goes with it, in some shape or form,” Ebenezer concluded, nodding. “She must be watched at all times. She must be kept alive and safe.”

The alchemist stood, feeling as tall as he was when he was a young man, pride swelling in his chest.

And this time, he didn’t fall or stumble, and no black dots came to plague his vision.

This time, he was right-they were right-and he knew it.

39

He watched the curve of Lady Caroline’s neck as she stood by the window, staring at the afternoon sun. His eye lingered on the shape of her body beneath the long green dress she wore.

“You are a rich woman, Lady Caroline?” Sulla asked as he reclined in his chair.

“My family are wealthy, Lord Sulla,” she said quietly.

She is afraid of me. She is wise, this one, wiser than that Lady Anne.

He held his wrists up for inspection. The crude prosthetics he now wore were bound to his stumps by leather straps that wrapped around his elbows. Now at least he could raise a glass without spilling half its contents over him. And he had bathed for long hours in a deep hot tub. After that he had been shaved and his hair had been cut.

Now-his face revealed in all its scarred horror-he felt more like the man he had once been.

“Are you to be married? Do you have a lover?”

I have seen the Silver Fox, and the way he looks at you-and you him. I am only blind in one eye.

“No… no, I haven’t,” she lied. “Please, you must not be so impertinent.”

Sulla laughed.

“Where is Lord William today, anyhow? I am missing his company. Our theological discussions on the church of Zamorak are nicely diverting while I await King Roald’s decision on my fate. Tell me, Lady Caroline, do you think I will hang?”

“I don’t… I don’t know.”

“But do you care?” He grinned wickedly as he raised the goblet to his lips. It wasn’t yet midday, and already he had drunk a whole bottle of red wine.

Nothing else to do in this gilded prison. No one to talk to but Lord William and that old man who makes a pain of himself. Idiot.

Lady Caroline made no answer as the door opened.

It was Captain Rovin, flanked by two guards.

You don’t need guards to deliver a message. This is looking far from good.

“Would you please leave us, Lady Caroline,” the hard-faced man ordered in the guise of a polite request. Sulla watched the demure woman nod, and he caught a look in her eyes that he didn’t like at all.

“At least they’ve cleaned you up a bit,” Captain Rovin said as she closed the door. “It’ll please the crowds more when you hang. Take him.”

What?

No!

“Wait, Captain. Wait! I know things-”

The two big guardsmen strode forward and took one arm each.

“I know things! Things that will help Varrock against Drakan! Wait!”

“Get him up,” Captain Rovin ordered. The two men heaved him to his feet. He made to speak again when one of them punched him hard in the stomach.

He doubled over, bile rising into his throat.

“Shut up, Sulla,” the other said. “Save your breath for your weeping on the scaffold.”

“You can’t hang me!” he choked, gasping for breath. “I’m of noble blood. A Lord of the Kinshra! I am no commoner.”

“No, Sulla. You are worse than any commoner. You’re an animal.” Captain Rovin nodded to the two men and suddenly he was pushed back into his seat.

They’re laughing. Laughing at me!

“But you are not going to hang-not today. I just thought I’d remind you of how close to the edge you stand. One false word or deed from you, and the King’s mercy will be withdrawn. Already he faces stern opposition for holding you. The Knights of Falador have sent an emissary to King Roald asking for your extradition, and I understand your own order are also demanding you be handed over. It would do you well to tread cautiously.”

“Then has King Roald accepted my proposal?” Sulla asked, slowly regaining his composure. “Am I to be granted asylum?”

“Not just yet. Jerrod remains at large, and we want him either dead or locked up.”

“But you need him! You need him for what he knows about Morytania. You see, Gar’rth won’t be coming back. I am certain of it. Jerrod is the only source you have available to give you accurate information about Drakan’s realm-and I am the only one who can tell you how you can bring him in.” It was Sulla’s turn to smile now. “Need I remind you that he did hack the head off the Wyrd?”

Captain Rovin snarled down at him.

“Your fate and his is not my decision to make, Sulla. If he doesn’t surrender, Jerrod will be hunted down and killed.”

The door opened and Sulla recognised Lord Ruthven.

“No, Captain Rovin it is not your decision to make.” The nobleman glanced around Sulla’s quarters and finally at Sulla himself. “It is mine.

“Leave us Captain Rovin,” he added, motioning them out. “I have something I wish to discuss with this man in private.”

Sulla saw Ruthven hold his right hand up. A curious ring caught the light, and when the belligerent captain saw it, he nodded.

“Very well, my Lord. We’ll be outside. If he gives you any trouble, just call.”

The room emptied, leaving them alone. After a long minute, Ruthven approached Sulla and leaned down close to him, and when he spoke it was in an angry whisper.

“Where are the documents, Sulla?” he hissed. “Where are the records you used to blackmail me? I paid your man handsomely for your silence, when you first came to me, and now you need to fulfil your end of the bargain. Where are they?”

Hold your tongue. Let him sweat.

Sulla took the goblet in his prosthetics and moved it awkwardly to his mouth. He took a single slow sip, swallowed, and then took another.

Then he looked Lord Ruthven in the eye.

“They are safe with my associate, the werewolf Jerrod. But let me make a suggestion to you, Lord Ruthven. I plan to stay and live in Varrock. A man like me can be very useful to your King. You see, I have other documents, copied from the Kinshra records when I was in charge. Think what your government could do with these!” He laughed at that. “All the dirty little secrets of anyone who matters-from here all the way to Kandarin. The diplomacy of Misthalin would be unstoppable, as would your own rise-”

“Don’t try and tempt me with such insipid talk, Sulla. I have risen well enough without you, and ambition as you have described is the want of weak men. I fight for a greater purpose than myself.”

“Then why did you pay me off in the first place, if you are such a strong and principled man?” Sulla said with a sneer.

“It was easier. Simply that. And I never said I was a principled man, Sulla.” Lord Ruthven moved toward the drawers that sat below the window. “That is something you should appreciate. You see, I have the King’s ear in many matters. If I wish it, I am quite sure I can condemn you to hang. Thus, I am the one making the demands. Not you.”

“Then what do you want?”

“What I paid for. The documents that incriminate me in my dealings with the Kinshra. It was, as you know, a long time ago, but selling weapons to your order was in direct opposition to the commands of the present King’s father.

“Still, I suppose they didn’t do you much good when you attacked Falador.”

“Very well,” Sulla said, biting his lip to keep his temper in check. “You will have your documents-if you do something for me.” He paused for effect. “Like I said, I want to remain in Varrock. There is nowhere else for me to go. Jerrod, too, is in a similar situation. After killing the Wyrd he cannot return home. And you have lost Gar’rth. A werewolf working with you would be useful. His knowledge of Morytania alone is worth a huge amount, and he is tenfold the best tracker in Varrock.”

Ruthven considered his words for a moment.

“I will put that to the King in the coming days. He won’t like having a werewolf here, though. Jerrod will have to live a life under lock and key.”

At least this buys me time. An extension of the King’s mercy.

Sulla nodded slightly.

“That is understandable.”

Ruthven gave him an unpleasant glare and then moved away from the drawers and to the door.

“And those documents,” he said. “If you are to come in and… be one of us, then I will take possession of them. We may as well make use of them where we can.”

Sulla smiled.

“But I am the only one who can read them, Lord Ruthven. They are in an old Kinshra code. You see, I am not entirely stupid.”

“No, Sulla. Not entirely.”

The old man left and Sulla was alone. But he felt good, and he knew it wasn’t just because of the wine he had consumed. He stood up and went to the window to look out onto the palace bailey. He noticed the number of guards and soldiers, far more than there had been the day before.

It appears King Roald could be building an army. But for what purpose?

As Sulla walked back to his chair, something caught his eye. On a cushion on his bed, where he had spent so many hours, was an envelope.

Someone must have slipped it there when I distracted, but who?

His mind spinning, he fumbled it open and saw just a single black mark drawn upon the paper. To most people it would have been meaningless, but Sulla gritted his teeth when he saw it, and his scars began to itch violently.

It was a warning. A warning from the Kinshra that was used to intimidate those who had betrayed the knighthood’s cause, and to tell them they could be killed at any time.

I could be killed at any time…

It could only mean one thing. Someone inside the palace- someone who had been in this very room, talking with him, pouring him wine, eyeing him with unease-was a Kinshra spy.

I am not safe here. If they can leave me a message such as this, then they can easily put poison in my wine or a knife to my throat.

Suddenly, despite the warm summer’s day, he shivered. All his plotting and bargaining now seemed so very fragile. And one thing was for certain.

The palace of Varrock was not the safe place he had thought it to be.

Content

T. S. Church
Return to Canifis

PROLOGUE

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