Rowena Daniells - The King's bastard

'I did not say that. But I think it is odd that Utland Raiders risked the winter seas to attack Port Cobalt precisely when he was there.'

'He explained that. There were spies in Ostron Isle who knew he carried a king's ransom in jewels.'

Orrade let his breath out slowly. 'That sounds believable. But what of his bride? It's rare for raiders to kill women and girls.'

'An unlucky blow, I guess.' Byren didn't want to defend Cobalt, least of all to Orrade. He decided to throw caution to the winds. 'If you were in trouble, you'd tell me, wouldn't you, Orrie?'

'You mean apart from being disinherited and having the possibility of being accused as a Servant of Palos hanging over my head?'

'Eh!' Byren grinned, acknowledging a hit. 'But you're not a Servant of Palos, you're a…' He found he couldn't say it. The memory of Orrade in Cobalt's arms still made his blood boil.

Orrade snorted. 'A lover of men. Even you can't bring yourself to say it. And no one seems to be able to separate the two.'

Byren cleared his throat, aware that his face was flushed. He was grateful for the starlight that leeched colour from everything. 'I don't get it, Orrie. Many's the time you've gone wenching with Lence and I. What makes — '

Orrade turned to him. 'Many's the time you've bedded girls gifted by grateful villages, what made that last girl different?'

'I told you. Elina.'

'What about Elina?'

'I've given my heart and my body goes with it.' As the words fell from Byren's lips, he realised they were true.

Orrade said nothing with great eloquence.

Byren made the connection. Orrade loved him like that? He wanted to argue that Orrade's feelings for him were different, but honesty forced him to ask who was he to say? They had faced death together and lived. He had not shared that with Elina.

While Byren brooded over this, several shooting stars speared across the sky towards the pass. Star-rocks were highly prized by renegade Power-workers.

'What will you do when we get to Unistag Stronghold?' Orrade asked.

He had no idea. It all depended on how he found things. He gave himself a mental shake and checked the wandering stars. 'Almost time for the next watch. I'll go back and wake them.'

He would also check on the sentries on the other side of the camp. The path was narrow here with a big drop on one side. Jagged rocks poked through the powdery snow. The soft squeak of something heavy compressing the snow made him hesitate.

Whumpa.

Something collided with him, but because he'd hesitated he took a glancing blow to the shoulder and not the full impact. The foetid stench of a carnivore filled his nostrils.

As Byren regained his balance he found his sword was already drawn. Ideal for warriors, not so good for the predators. He didn't want to get that close. With a yell, Byren threw himself back. A dark head with blazing eyes speared into the place where he had been a moment before, jaws slashing. A second blazing-eyed head lunged. Two of them.

He yelled again.

His boot snagged on a rock as he tried to back up. His legs went out from under him. Thump. He hit the ground, almost losing his grip on his sword. Two sets of blazing eyes reared over him. He saw long necks, vestigial wings.

Still, he could not make sense of what he saw.

'Over here!' Garzik yelled to distract it, charging in from behind.

'Freezing Sylion!' Byren muttered. They didn't even know what they were fighting and Garzik was going to tackle it alone. Byren struggled to his feet and felt Orrade almost collide with him.

Against the starry sky Byren saw Garzik wrestling with a man-high snake. No, it had small forearms and vestigial wings. Where its tail should have been a second head reared up, eyes blazing like lamps.

'Amfina,' he warned. Both heads had to be removed before the beast died. If only the primary head was removed the secondary would become primary by growing horns, and the damaged end would sprout a secondary head.

Garzik screamed with pain.

Byren lunged in, attacking the secondary head which turned and went for him, jaws snapping. He jerked aside, swinging his sword, but the amfina weaved away. At least the primary head released Garzik. To attack him. It darted in before Byren could bring the sword up. He only escaped the lunge by throwing himself back on the snow, narrowly missing a large, balanced rock.

Orrade had already run around and was dragging Garzik out of reach of the Affinity beast. Garzik left an ominous dark streak on the snow.

The secondary head speared down. Byren rolled, bringing the sword up, straight into the creature's mouth. The head reared back, pulling the hilt from his hands which left him with only his hunting knife. Again.

'Help Byren, not me!' Garzik urged.

The primary head swung in an arc, going for Byren's face. He slashed, leapt and rolled. Luckily the injured secondary head was slowing the amfina down.

'Garzik, are you all right?' Captain Temor charged down the path with the others puffing behind. 'Byren?'

'Over here. Watch out. Amfina!' Now that the pressure was off him, he felt dizzy from lack of air.

Temor darted between him and the amfina, yelling to distract it. The old captain stumbled into a rock and lay still. Must have hit his head. There was little room to manoeuvre, too many rocks, narrow path, a terrible drop. The primary head swerved for Temor. Byren sprang to his feet. No point in attacking one head with a hunting knife and leaving himself open to the other head. He searched for inspiration; nothing but rocks and snow.

The other men-at-arms got in each other's way. Orrade stood over Garzik, prepared to defend him.

The secondary head writhed as it flung Byren's sword away. The weapon clattered, falling over the edge, striking rocks on the way down. Enraged, the amfina's secondary head turned on Orrade. He was the only person who did not back off, refusing to leave Garzik undefended.

Byren cursed again.

Throwing his weight behind the chest-sized, balanced rock, he thrust at it with all his might. It teetered. Muscles straining, he put his legs into it. The rock slipped off its perch, rolled and landed on the amfina's back. Pinned by the rock, the creature's two heads writhed, hissing in fury.

One of his men cheered and threw Byren a sword. He caught it, the hilt slapping into his palm. Now they could deal with the beast.

He ploughed in, distracting the primary head as he dragged Temor out of striking range. There was blood on his forehead but he was coming around.

Byren placed him next to Garzik and straightened.

'So that's why the pass was unguarded,' Orrade muttered.

Byren laughed, then took another deep breath. 'Why waste men, when a beast will do it for the price of a few tethered goats?'

The new warlord was a clever man. Byren stood back and let his men hack the amfina to pieces. With no Affinity warder to say the words, Byren whispered them hoping to settle the beast's innate Affinity. Then he and Orrade carried Garzik to the camp fire. Of course, the boy protested all the way. They peeled off his bloodied clothes.

'It's nothing,' Garzik insisted.

'You're lucky the amfina is not poisonous,' Byren told him.

Orrade and Temor caught his eye. The amfina's bite was not poisonous, but it was prone to going bad. Garzik would have to be treated by a healer, and soon.

'I'll wash the bite out with wine and pack it with herbs,' Temor announced. 'With his woolens and bearskin coat it isn't deep, but anything that breaks the skin is dangerous.' The bleeding from his head wound had slowed.

Byren nodded. 'Treat yourself, too.'

'I'll help,' Orrade offered.

'We'll ask the warlord's healer to take a look at Garzik,' Byren said.