William King - Stealer of Flesh

“Save for one,” Olivia said. “You may not marry.”

“That hardly means foreswearing women, sister. You are not so innocent!”

Olivia smiled. She did not look embarrassed. She considered Kormak in a measuring way and then looked back at her brother.

“Father insists on his folly then,” Olivia said. “He will not return and let us care for him.”

“It is hardly folly to embrace godliness,” Luther said.

“Is that what he is doing?” Olivia said. “I thought this was just a new form of egotism. He is enjoying the drama of renunciation. Once he is bored with it, he will return. Be certain of it.”

“My sister is a cynic, Sir Kormak,” said Luther. She inclined her head. Kormak decided it was not just the father who enjoyed drama in this family. They seemed happy to have an audience to play out their discussion in front of. He started to get the sense that for all the fact that they lived in the city these might be people isolated from normal society. Thinking of the bluff warriors he had encountered since he came to this land, Kormak had some idea how that might come about.

“She simply knows her father too well,” said Olivia.

“I admit to the possibility of that,” said Luther. The shadows were starting to lengthen. Servants appeared with lamps. They burned perfumed oil, not tallow. There was no shortage of money in the house.

“Tell me of your quest, Sir Kormak,” said Olivia. “It has been centuries since any man has encountered a Ghul. They were rare even in these demon-haunted parts in this age of the world.”

“That is strange is it not,” said Kormak. “Tanyth was once their city.”

“They ruled this land in the days between when they rebelled against the Old Ones and the coming of the Solarians,” said Olivia. “The First Empire broke them, destroyed Tanyth. The Emperor Solareon imprisoned the Ghul in punishment for their evil. Those who could fled from his wrath and were scattered over the world. Presumably there must have been some who were not in the city at all. There is considerable speculation on the subject among the ancient scholars.”

“Razhak was in the city. He was imprisoned by Solareon. I handled the flask in which he was bound myself.”

“Razhak,” she said. “That is an evil name. He was a mighty wizard among the Ghul or so the old books claim.”

“I can believe that. I saw as much in his mind when he tried to possess me.”

The girl shuddered. Prince Luther looked quizzical. He tilted his head to one side. “Tried to possess you?”

“He failed,” Kormak said, his tone making it clear he had no wish to discuss the matter further.

“And still you pursue the creature,” said Olivia.

“I have followed this demon a long way. He has eluded me so far but soon the chase will end.”

“How can you know that?” Luther asked.

“He is weakened and must return to Tanyth to use the great spell-engines there or he will die. Perhaps that is the wrong word. He will unravel. His life force is woven into a pattern of energy that should be self-sustaining.”

Olivia looked up sharply. “But some part of it is undone and it is starting to unravel like a tapestry from which threads have been pulled.”

“Exactly so.” Kormak said.

The woman looked excited. “That confirms what Eraclius of Anacreon claimed,” she said.

“It may be,” said Kormak. “But I have not read any of that sage’s works.”

“We have a collection in our library,” said Olivia. “You may study them before you retire. Of course, they are written in High Solari.”

“I am familiar with the tongue,” said Kormak.

“A Guardian would be,” she said. “I am surprised you have not read Eraclius. I had always heard that the Library at Aethelas was the best in the world.”

“It is lady, but I have read only a tiny fraction of its volumes. My duties are of a more active than scholarly nature.”

“Of course,” she said. “They would be. I will see to it that you are brought a selection of the scrolls pertaining to your quest. The knowledge they contain may prove useful to you.”

“Thank you, Lady Olivia.”

The Prince said, “We should eat now and I would question Sir Kormak about his career. There is a lot he can tell me and I would get it down while I have the chance.”

Luther seemed as keen about this as his sister did about her scholarship. They were an odd couple with strange enthusiasms and a languor about them that seemed to fit their surroundings.

He began to suspect that they were perhaps more typical of the Sunlander aristocracy in this land than he had at first thought. There was a doomed quality about them, as if they were simply passing through this land, shadows in the light of the harsh sun, destined to vanish with the coming of night.

A servant brought in parchment and quills and Luther rose and sat himself at table. He began to ask Kormak about his life and his training and his travels. He was interested in the oddest things. Was he afraid when he confronted his first demon? What did it feel like to kill an immortal? Did he sometimes find himself sympathising with those he killed?

The last question obviously had a resonance with Luther. He clearly identified with the ancient immortals whose lives were being extinguished by one whose lifespan was an eyeblink to them. He wondered about the lost knowledge and what those eyes might have looked on. Certainly far more than Kormak would ever see no matter how far he travelled.

It was late when the servant finally showed Kormak to his chamber, illuminating the way with a lantern. The room was as luxuriously furnished as the rest of the mansion. A large four-poster bed in the western style was there, decorated with carvings in the ornate local fashion that were seemingly Elder Signs intended to ward the sleeper as they dreamt but which were so ornate that Kormak doubted they would function as intended.

He stripped off his armour but made sure his scabbarded sword was within easy reach on the bedside table. He threw open the shutters and looked out into the night. The moon rose huge and strange over the towers and minarets of the city. The Tower of the Sun loomed gigantically over everything. At its peak something burned like the beacon in a lighthouse. Kormak remembered being able to see that light from leagues away across the desert. He thought about Taurea and the lands of the West he had left behind. It would be winter there now. It was winter here but it just did not feel like it. He was a long, long way from home and he felt it.

There was a gentle knock on the door. Kormak picked up his scabbard and walked over to the door, unbolting it. Olivia stood there. She carried a bunch of scrolls tied up with a ribbon. Her dress was lighter than the one she had worn downstairs, revealing her figure. Her hair was pinned up revealing her neck.

“I brought you the works of Eraclius I talked about,” she said.

“It was not necessary for you to bring them yourself, my lady,” Kormak said.

“It is my pleasure to do so, Guardian,” she said. “Do you mind if I come in?”

For a moment Kormak was reminded of stories of Old Ones who could only cross thresholds when invited. He had seen this woman in daylight though and he thought he would know if it was an elder being wearing her shape.

“You may.” She entered the room, closed the door and put the bar in place. They looked at each other across the length of the room. The bed was a looming presence between them. She swallowed and then smiled as composedly as she had done in the atrium downstairs.

“I hope my brother did not keep you talking too long,” she said. “He does not get the opportunity to speak with a man like you very often.”