Paul Kemp - The Hammer and the Blade

"Could have broke it, but I didn't," Egil said to the downed man, and backed off. To Baras, he said, "We just want to walk away, yeah?"

"We can't allow that," Baras said.

"Then we've got a problem," Egil said.

Rakon's voice sounded from a nobleman's lacquered carriage, one of the two horse-drawn vehicles, along with the supply wagon, that made up the caravan. "Let them go, Baras."

Baras looked over his shoulder. "My lord?"

Rakon slid aside the window slat on the carriage and leaned out, looking back. He wore a skullcap and a scowl.

"I said let them go."

Baras's expression remained puzzled, but he said to his men, "You heard."

All of them backed away from Egil. The priest backed off a few steps in the direction of Dur Follin. He grinned.

"Let's go, Nix. Now."

Nix nodded and headed after his friend.

They wouldn't make it far, he knew, but at least he could evaluate the power of the spellworm.

As he passed Baras, Nix said, "We'll be right back, I think."

Baras's puzzled expression deepened.

By the time Nix reached Egil's side, he felt the compulsion working against him. At first he felt only mild resistance, like muscle fatigue and a pit in his stomach, but both grew stronger with each step.

As he and Egil started to back away farther, he felt as if he were yoked to the wagon. His stomach twisted into a knot. Bile crawled up his throat. He found it hard to lift his legs. His falchion and dagger felt like hundredweights in his hands.

Egil, too, had slowed, one thick leg thudding into the rocky ground, then a long pause, then another step.

"What… is… this?" the priest said.

The guards trailed after them, uncertain, weapons held loosely.

Egil began to curse, his arms fell to his sides, as if unable to bear the weight of his hammers. The priest lifted a leg, took another step, one more, then fell to his knees and violently vomited.

"What sorcery is this?" Egil said, down on all fours, spitting the last of his vomit onto the ground.

"The spellworm," Nix said, and fell to all fours. "We have to stop."

"My very teeth ache," Egil said.

"A few more steps and they might have cracked," Nix said. "Or your heart might have exploded. It's a strong worm."

The guards circled them at a distance. Nix felt like a fool down on all fours before them, bent by Rakon's sorcery.

"You two make everything difficult," Baras said.

"It's… a character flaw," Nix said, and hissed at a sudden flash of pain.

"My lord," Baras called back to the carriage. "What should we do with them?"

Nix lifted his head, looked back, and saw the carriage door open. An enormous man in a sweat-stained shirt and pantaloons emerged first, the carriage bouncing on its suspension as he debarked. He stood a hand shorter than Egil, but much wider at the shoulder and middle. His misshapen bald head wouldn't have fit in a well-bucket. Small unblinking eyes floated in shallow sockets, giving him a wide-eyed, wild look. His gaze flitted over Egil and Nix, the guards, and seemed to deflect off without seeing them. His mouth hung partially open, frozen in a vacant smile. His appearance struck Nix as… bulging, overstuffed, as if there were too much of him packed into the bag of his skin.

Probably a eunuch. Definitely a servant of Rakon's.

A large, curved knife hung from the broad sash that circumnavigated the eunuch's waist. He lifted the thick trunk of an arm to assist Rakon out of the carriage.

Rakon stepped onto the scree and eyed Egil and Nix's suffering with a smug smile on his thin lips.

Nix would've given much to punch him hard in the balls. The thought, however, caused the spellworm to twist his stomach yet again and he groaned, holding down the vomit through sheer force of will. He hated vomiting.

"I trust this will prevent any further attempts at escape," Rakon said. "Had you gotten much farther, the spellworm would have maimed or killed you. Did you learn nothing in your year at the Conclave?"

"Fak you," Nix tried to say, but instead the vomit finally won the war with his will and rushed out between his teeth in a flood. Nix coughed, eyes watering, and spit puke onto the rocks, cursing through the chunks.

"Did I not say they would try to run, Baras?" Rakon asked the guardsman. "At first opportunity, I said."

"You did, my lord," Baras answered.

To Egil and Nix, Rakon said, "You must do exactly what I say, when I say, or you'll suffer. The worm feeds on your resistance, whether in thought or deeds. Do you understand?"

"Fak you," Egil grunted.

"Seconded," said Nix, and felt the worm squirm.

"My sisters' lives are far more important to me than yours," Rakon said. "Help me and you help yourselves. Get me the horn and the compulsion will be satisfied. Get them up, Baras."

"Yes, my lord," Baras said, and walked toward Nix. "Jyme, a hand."

"We don't need help to stand, bungholes," Nix said. "Get up, Egil."

Nix rose to his knees, then slowly to his feet, grunting with the effort, his body screaming with pain. He endured and stood, swaying. Egil did the same, pulling his arms off the soil one at a time and climbing to his feet.

Rakon looked on with annoyance. "We don't have much time before Minnear is full," he said tightly, "so no more of this. Defy me, and the worm does its work."

An intense itch behind his left eye caused Nix to blink and set his eye to watering. He wondered for a moment if Rakon was using some kind of eyebite on him; he'd heard of such things from sorcerers.

"They can stand, so they can walk," Rakon said to Baras. "The pain from the worm is temporary, lasting only as long as their defiance. Let's get moving again."

"Yes, my lord," Baras said.

Rakon walked back to the carriage.

The pain from the spellworm abated almost immediately, but the itch behind Nix's eye remained. A thought seized him, blossomed fully into an idea. His mouth formed words, though he didn't remember thinking them.

"Rakon," he called, and started walking toward the carriage.

" Lord Norristru," Baras corrected. He stepped in front of Nix and put a hand on his chest.

"Show me your sisters," Nix called. "Let me see them. You said you're doing this for them. You stole our wills for them. Show them to me."

"Shut your mouth," Baras said, giving him a shove, but Nix didn't stop. He wanted to see Rakon's sisters, needed to see them. He thought much depended on it, though he had no idea why.

Rakon stopped on the footstep to the carriage, looked over at Nix and Baras.

"They walk, Baras."

With that, Rakon disappeared into the black, lacquered box of the carriage. The eunuch followed, vacant-eyed and smiling, but Nix did not relent.

"I call you a liar until my eyes see these so-called sisters! Rakon!"

"That's enough!" Baras said to Nix. "What's into you, man?"

Nix ignored Baras. He stared after Rakon, breathing hard, convinced the inside of the carriage held an answer to a question he could not articulate but needed to hear. The itch behind his eye would not relent.

Baras took him by the bicep and steered him away from the carriage. Jyme tried to do the same for Egil but a glare from the priest put an end to that.

"Suit yourself," Jyme said.

"I'm sorry it went this way," said Baras. "It's not personal. My lord is honorable. Help him and I have no doubt he'll reward you."

"Not personal," echoed Nix, turning his head to stare at the carriage, still blinking at the irritation behind his eye.

"You don't seem stupid," Baras said. "And yet…"

"Never underestimate my ability for stupidity."

Egil snickered. Baras almost smiled.

"This isn't personal either, Baras," Nix said.

"What's that?"

"This," Nix said, and snapped a reverse elbow into Baras's jaw, sending him careening backward, cursing and bleeding.