Mark Chadbourn - The Burning Man

The mare came to a halt at the gates. Keeping still, Mallory could hear movement beyond. Lantern light splashed across the puddles that surrounded him.

‘Move away,’ a voice barked. ‘No one is allowed to approach the Hall of Bright Beyond.’ Mallory didn’t move. The voice came again. ‘Move away or I will loose an arrow into you.’

Mallory tensed, but no attack was launched. The lock clanked and the gate creaked open. Rumbling thunder added to the deafening sound of the downpour.

The guard lifted the lantern to peer into Mallory’s hood. Reacting quickly, Mallory brought the pommel of his sword up sharply against the guard’s temple. By the time the guard hit the ground, Mallory was off the horse and had reclaimed the lantern. Dragging the guard out of sight of the gate, Mallory bound him tightly with the rope, then slipped inside the prison, pulling the gate shut behind him.

There was no sign of the other guards. A maze of foul-smelling corridors led off the keep. He was grateful for the lantern for there were no torches, and occasionally, when its light fell on the doors that lined his route, he heard pitiful cries from within.

He searched through the labyrinth for more than an hour until he caught sight of a dim red glow eking into the corridor through an open door. Faint voices rumbled through the stillness, and as he neared he heard muffled cries that were unmistakably Jerzy.

Mallory crept to the edge of the door. Beyond was a large, low-ceilinged room lit by the glow from a brazier. Straw covered the floor to soak up the blood, excrement and urine. In a rack on one wall were rows of stained, rusted tools of indeterminate use. Arms outstretched, Jerzy hung like a monkey, naked, chained by his wrists to two wooden posts. A dirty rag had been forced into his grinning mouth, and his eyes were fixed wide with horror. Numerous gouges and burns scarred his chalky body.

Two of the queen’s guards stood watch while a thin man in dirty robes and a pointed hood went about his work.

‘He will not talk,’ one of the guards said.

‘He must,’ the other replied. ‘The queen shall know the secret plan that drives him or we shall be here alongside him.’

‘What if there is no secret plan?’

‘There is. He rides the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons like mares to achieve his ends. The queen has evidence, though I know not from where.’

‘Shall I remove the rag to ask him again?’

‘No, I cannot bear to hear his sounds. Two more turns and then we shall try again.’

The one in the hood had spent some time contemplating the rack of tools and finally made his choice, what looked like a wire brush fitted with three parallel razor blades. Humming to himself, he examined the tool distractedly as he approached Jerzy. The look in Jerzy’s eyes made Mallory queasy, and then the glimmer of unbelievable gratitude in those same eyes when Mallory stepped into the doorway affected him just as powerfully.

‘Let him go.’ The blue flames licking around Llyrwyn made a stark contrast in the red room.

Swords drawn, the guards advanced cautiously. ‘Walk away, Brother of Dragons. The queen is not of a mind to play games with you any longer.’

‘Shame. I was hoping to challenge her at Twister.’ He advanced. ‘Once more, in case you didn’t hear me the first time: let him go.’

The guards rushed him together.

The moves he had learned as a Knight Templar in the compound in Salisbury came instinctively. As the guards attacked from two sides, he stood holding the sword horizontally above his head, eyes closed.

When he opened his eyes, the sword moved so quickly that no one in the room saw it; three planes and then back in the scabbard. Both guards fell dead. The torturer in the hood retreated to the gloom at the rear of the room.

Mallory hacked through the chains supporting Jerzy, then caught him as he fell. The minute the rag was plucked from his mouth, the Mocker let forth a flow of desperate thanks.

‘I think talking can wait, don’t you?’ Mallory said.

Jerzy nodded uncomfortably.

At the Hunter’s Moon, Mallory found Decebalus pacing his quarters like a cornered beast.

‘Where’s Sophie and Caitlin?’ Mallory asked.

‘Not here. I have not seen them. But, look here.’ Decebalus led Mallory to Rhiannon who rested more peacefully than she had since they had brought her there. Virginia hugged her knees in a chair beside the bed. The barbarian brushed matted hair from Rhiannon’s forehead and her eyes flickered open. ‘He is here,’ Decebalus said softly, ‘as I said he would be.’

Rhiannon gave Mallory a weak but warm smile. ‘Mallory.’ Her voice was low and soft. ‘Again we meet. I knew we would. So good.’

‘I’m sorry about your hand,’ he said.

‘You did what you had to do, as a Brother of Dragons always does. Do you remember when we first met, when Llyrwyn chose you?’

‘For a long time I’d forgotten. The Void wouldn’t let me have that memory. But now it’s back. Those hours in your court were the last time I felt at peace.’

‘I fear none of us will know peace again for a very long time.’

‘It was Niamh, wasn’t it?’

She nodded, her expression haunted. ‘She has turned on her own kind. I would never have thought to see it. She came to my court with a large force and took us by surprise. All who remained were slaughtered, save me. And I … I was tortured, and was left as a warning to any of my kind who found me. Have you noticed there have been no visitors here from any other court? Because they fear her. All things in the Far Lands fear her. She has even taken her own brother captive. Not in your darkest thoughts would you imagine what she is capable of, Mallory. Not in your darkest thoughts.’

‘Why didn’t she kill me and the others the minute we got here?’

‘There are currents moving deeply and secretly throughout all Existence … alignments and patterns that have been shifting since the first days. She will not act rashly. She sits in her web, gathering information, sifting motivation and rumour, manipulating and scheming. And when she is sure, and the power that she serves is sure, then she will strike.’

‘Have you heard of the Gateway to Winter?’

‘It moves through this city as the ages change, hidden from all eyes. Unless you have the map that plots its course.’

‘I have the map.’

Rhiannon peered at him curiously. ‘It is rumoured only Math has that.’

Mallory tapped his head. ‘He left it here for me. A map that’s also a calendar. Two aspects designed to hide its true meaning, I suppose. Do you feel strong enough to draw me a map of the city?’

Decebalus brought her paper, quill and ink, and Mallory went back to the fire in the other room where Jerzy huddled, weak and shaking, wrapped in a blanket.

‘Are you all right?’

‘They had only just started. And I come from hardy stock. As a boy I was beaten night and day to work the fields.’

Mallory pulled up a chair. ‘The guards said the queen has evidence that you’re acting on some secret plan. That you’ve been manipulating us.’

Jerzy stared into the fire uncomfortably.

‘Are you working against us, Jerzy?’

‘No!’ The passion in his voice shocked Mallory. ‘My good friend Church saved me and set me on the path to redemption. I owe him everything. And by association I owe all the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons everything.’

‘Then what’s going on?’

‘I serve higher powers. They want the same as you, good friend. They do!’

‘Church told us you were captured by the Puck, and spent a lot of time in his company. Afterwards you were changed somehow.’

Jerzy remained silent.