Hugh Cook - The Walrus and the Warwolf

These two, Thelemite and Gulkan, knew each other of old. But neither betrayed the alliance forged in their youth. With masterly self-control, they comported themselves as strangers. Neither knew what business the other was engaged in. Secrecy might prove of advantage, so . . . they broke their gaze, both resolving to delay greetings till they could talk in private.

'Water, yes, that'll be a problem,' said Thelemite. 'Fifty leagues – that's five marches. The Rovac can make a double march between sunrise and sunset . . . but even so. . .'

'We can reach through the Door to whatever lies ahead, seeking water,' said Guest Gulkan. 'That has its dangers, but it's worth the risk.'

'I'd worry more of the Swarms than of water,' said Ika Thole. 'We're in the terror-lands now, are we not?'

'Yes,' said Guest Gulkan, in a confident voice. 'But the Swarms stay well clear of Drangsturm, for they fear the wizards.'At which Simp Fiche shouted:'Look! Look! Something in the forest!'

It was a centipede. It was green. It was a hundred paces long. It stood half as high as a horse – and it was not alone.

'That,' said Ika Thole, with a hint of satisfaction in his voice, 'looks very much like a monster of the Swarms to me. And where there's one there's a hundred, I'll tell you that for nothing. In fact-'

He broke off, realizing nobody was interested in listening. Indeed, most had already fled Elsewhere. And, as the centipede (and its friends) hastened forward, Thole fled himself.

Beyond the Door was a steep snow-clad mountainside. It was bitterly cold, with a howling wind blowing. Thole wasted no time. Knowing monsters were close behind, he threw himself to one side – and started to slip. Rolf Thelemite, who had anchored himself firmly with his sword, grabbed Thole and saved him.

Then out came the centipede. It slithered over the plinth, and tried to turn sideways to get at the men.'Hold my legs!' roared Guest Gulkan.Whale Mike belayed him. Gulkan hacked at the centipede. It writhed away, then hauled more of its strength through the Door, giving it more length with which to lunge at him. It slipped. And hung, half in the Door, and half trailing down the mountainside.

Screaming, the men attacked. Those with weapons thrust and slashed. Those with none hauled on the segments, bundling more of the centipede down and away. The last of it slid out of the Door, and, doomed to destruction, it slid down, down, down and away, starting an avalanche before it crashed over a cliff far below.'Good work!' said Jon Arabin.'Aye,' said Peg Suzilman. 'And time to leave.'

He jumped onto the plinth, skidded on ice, flailed wildly as he tried to steady himself – and was seized by the fighting claws of a lunging centipede. Screaming, legs kicking, Peg Suzilman was dragged through the Door, back to the torn lands by the edge of Drangsturm.Now they were twelve. (Not counting Guest Gulkan.)

'Quick,' said Guest Gulkan, 'while the monster's feeding.'

He jumped onto the marble plinth – then retreated smartly as another centipede burst through the Door.

While the centipede just had its head through, the Door snapped out of existence. The connection between Here and Elsewhere was broken. The centipede's head fell away from the steel arch, amputated cleanly as if shaved by a guillotine.'Let's go!' said Whale Mike.

He scrambled onto the plinth, forced himself through the empty arch – and came out just a step from where he had started. He did this several times before convinced there was no more Door.

'Who was controlling the Door for you?' asked Guest Gulkan.

'Nobody,' said Jon Arabin. 'We had a star-globe. We left it where we started out.'

'That's fearfully dangerous!' said Guest Gulkan. 'You should always have a gate party, at the least. Why, if you' re half in and half out, you can get chopped in half if the Door dies sudden – just as that centipede was chopped.'

'We had no choice,' said Jon Arabin. 'We were under attack.'

'And now we're going to freeze to death,' said Ika Thole, with grim satisfaction. 'Aye, and suffer much avant death.'' Sing happy song!' said Whale Mike.

'Before we sing happy song,' said Guest Gulkan dryly, 'let's start digging a snow cave. Look – over there, that flat place under the ridge. Good snow awaits.''What fun!' said Simp Fiche.

Jon Arabin looked up. The top of the mountain was not terribly far away.

'Drake!' said Arabin. 'You're volunteered. Scuttle up to the top to see what's there.'

T can tell you that now!' said Drake. 'Snow, rock, ice, wind and nothing.''Aye,' said Arabin. 'Or maybe a castle.'

'A castle of giants, perhaps,' said Ika Thole, dourly. 'Man-eating giants with great big iron cooking pots.''Sing song!' said Mike, a note of panic entering his voice.

The trauma of this venture round the Circle of the Door had obviously almost overwhelmed poor Mike. Drake could identify.'No,'said Yot. 'Letuspray! Pray to the Flame!'

'Aye,' said Ish Ulpin. 'Offer a prayer of praise to this Flame, whoever He is. For He has given us Sully Yot, who's good for nothing else so might as well be eaten.'T warned you!' cried Drake.

At that moment, there was a hum, and the steel arch filled once again with the blind silver of the Door. Yot, fearfully afraid of being eaten, rabbited through and was gone.

'Man,' said Ika Thole, 'what's the betting there's a dragon or such on the other side, munching young Yot at this moment?'

'Aye,' said Simp Fiche. 'Let's the rest of us go careful. Stick one man through, j ust the head. Then he can pull himself back, tell us what's on the other side.''Aye,' said Thole. 'And tell us if Yot's alive or dead.' 'Who cares?' said Ish Ulpin.

'Any man who lingers in a Door is a fool,' said Guest Gulkan, though he himself had suggested doing just that to seek water for a march by Drangsturm. 'Such a man could get cut in half like the centipede. No – quick through the Door, that's safest.'And he led the way.

Aldarch the Third (aka Mutilator of Yestrori): tyrant who won throne in year Khmar 5 after seven years of civl war; first act as ruler was to disembowel his forty-seven brothers and feed his twenty-nine sisters to the Favoured Rats; notable acts of his reign include establishing the death penalty for all those below the Fourth Degree who dare talk, whistle or sing in the streets, or walk upright, or wear any shoe with a heel taller than a finger-width, or worship any god other than Zoz the Ancestral.

The first thing Yot saw when he came through the Door was a golden dragon. It ran towards him, roaring. Too shocked to do anything sensible, he screamed at it. The dragon promptly veered away, wailing. Poor thing!

It was an imperial dragon of Yestron. These gentle creatures are entirely unsuited for war, but they are, by tradition, taken onto battlefields as decoration. This one had broken loose from its chains, and was running about in a panic, demented by fear; its wings had been clipped, so it could not fly for freedom.

'Ah!' said Guest Gulkan, coming through the Door and looking around.'A battlefield!'

'No need to sound so enthusiastic,' said Yot, still shaken by his dragon-encounter.

'Courage, man!' said Guest Gulkan, laying a hand on Yot's shoulder. 'It could be worse.''How?' said Yot.'It could be raining,' said Gulkan.

The rest of the pirates came through the Door, joining Yot and Guest Gulkan on a dusty plain of battle beneath thunder-cloud skies.'Oh man!' said Salaman Meerkat. 'Where are we now?'

He got no answer, but, for the record, they were on the Plain of Tazala. The army of cavalry, elephants, armoured infantry, scythe chariots, skirmishers and Silver Archers drawn up a hundred paces west of them was that of Aldarch the Third, Mutilator of Yestron and the ruler of most of it.