Chris Northern - The Last King's Amulet

The dogs had become loud in my head, and I had to fight to think through their raucous, relentless baying. They sounded close. Abruptly their tone changed to frenzied rage, ferocious growls mixed in with long ululating yelps and yammering screams chopped off abruptly. They were fighting and dying, being killed. Who would do that? Hope welled up inside me. I knew that the Alendi had retreated to the Eyrie. They must have had reason; the army of the city must threaten them. And that told me who was killing the dogs. It was an army of the city, possibly already outside the walls. My spirit roiled with mixed hope, anticipation and fear. They would win, take the Eyrie. We would be free.

Sapphire choked in his sleep and I hovered over him, watching anxiously as I listened to the dogs fighting and dying.

I just hoped our army would be quick enough. Knowing Sapphire couldn't hear me I told him anyway. “Hold on, Sapphire,” I told him. “Our army is here. Help is on the way.”

Still, there was no guarantee that the enemy would let us live long enough to see freedom.

Sapphire woke once more, I was half asleep myself but listened to him anyway. He talked randomly, feverish, not knowing I was there and I think not even fully conscious. I learned some things then that I would rather not have known. Details about his childhood, if it could be called that. After he fell silent I lay barely awake myself, wondering about the kind of men who would subject a child to such horrors, put them under such extreme pressure in order to mold a tool for their own use. For him, from the age of five, every single day had been a test, with pain or death the consequence of failure. Sometimes pain was the test. 'First to cry out dies,' and then they had burned them with hot irons until one cried out. How many had he said? A thousand children, and twenty to survive. No wonder he was what he was, I thought. No wonder.

I slept, but didn't sleep well. In my dream there was mist.

I knew it was Jocasta even before I saw her.

“Sumto?”

“I'm here,” I told her.

The mists cleared and there she was, beside her stood a shadowy figure I could hardly see. She was holding the shadow, as though supported by it. She was pale, swaying. Behind her was an indistinct gray backdrop. I glanced around. We were in a tent, just the two of us and the shadow propping her up.

“Are you all right?” I stepped closer. “Where are you?”

She smiled. “I am well enough, Sumto. I'm with the army. The enemy pulled out of Undralt and two days later our forces arrived. We are with the army now, safe as we can be. The army is close to the Eyrie.”

“I know.”

Her face went very slowly still. “Where are you?”

I pulled a face. I didn't want to tell her.

“You're there, aren't you? In the Eyrie. What are you doing there? Why are you there? Are you all right?”

I held up a hand to still the flood of questions. “I am okay for now. I came for Tahal Samant.”

She hissed out a breath and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “Are you insane? Why? Why did you do it?”

I shrugged. “I had to do something. I dared not stay with you. The dogs…”

“Dogs? Those dogs were something to do with you?”

I nodded, told her briefly. She didn't say anything for a while.

“Don't come in after me,” I told her. “The army will take the Eyrie… it is big enough a force to do the job isn't it? They haven't sent too small an army?”

She shook her head. “Four legions. The north is going to be… well,” she shrugged, “pacified.”

I blinked. Four legions. Over thirty thousand men, and who knew how many battle mages. Enough to do the job and to spare. “How far away are they?”

“A few miles. Close. I think they will close at dawn and attack at once. Where are you?”

“The vaults,” I answered absently. I imagined what would happen. The battle mages would bring down the walls, our soldiers would stream into the breeches. It would be a slaughter. “They know you're coming. Where are the rest of their forces?”

She shook her head, touching my lips to still them. “The Prashuli and Orduli chieftains were killed in battle at Paresh. The bulk of their forces destroyed, the rest fled. Are you alone?”

“No. Sapphire is with me but he is badly hurt,” I told her. “They got as far south as Paresh?”

“Listen to me. Yes, and further. Muria was almost overrun before they were stopped. But I understand that ever since then we have been breaking them and haven't lost an engagement. At Paresh we broke them and their alliance dissolved. It's been mopping up since then. A legion or two breaking off to deal with minor armies as the rest pushed north.”

“The Eyrie is the last?”

“The Orduli and Prashuli have sued for peace, offered terms. Nothing is settled yet but they won't be taking part in the fighting any more. Unless we decide to punish them.”

I nodded, thinking. “And further north? Other tribes to the east and west?”

“I don't know everything, Sumto. I don't. I'm not being told.” She looked fretful.

“What's wrong?”

She looked down, shrugged and looked up at me again, raising her chin. “My family are not happy with me.”

“They should be proud of you. Tell them from me…”

She stopped me. “Tell them yourself, when you are free.” She shook her head, smiling up at me. “My heroic fool, what were you thinking, going after Tahal?”

I shrugged. “I don't know. It seemed like the thing to do. I needed to do something to redeem myself.”

“I wish I could help you.” It was admitting that she couldn't. “If I had known where you were I never would have let them take the greater stone from me,” she frowned.

Just then the shadow moved and I heard something, clearly a voice but nothing distinct enough to understand.

“I have to go. Good luck, my love.”

Well, I thought, when she had gone and I drifted through the fog back to a natural sleep. Love. She didn't mean it, of course. It was surely just a turn of phrase.

I don't know what time it was when I woke.

At once I shifted to look down at Sapphire; his breathing had changed, become almost silent. Hoping he hadn't died I peered down at him and saw instantly that he was awake. His cold eyes held mine and I didn't know what to say to him.

“I'm dying,” he told me, his voice emerging not much louder than a whisper.

“No, you are hurt, but you will recover.”

“I know the difference.” He was lying on his side, barely moving his head to look up at me. He spat with careful deliberation, using as few muscles as possible. The blood was pink and flecked with black clots.

“The army is close. Help will be here soon.”

He seemed to think about it, attention focused inward, then said. “Inside an hour?”

I shook my head. “I don't know.” It was a lie even though it was true. The Eyrie might take only an hour to fall but even if they were attacking now it might be too late.

“Liar.” He said without rancor. “I want you to do something.”

“Anything,” I told him, meaning it.

“If you get out of here, go and find the Ku Mirt.” He wasn't seeing me, I could tell. He was seeing something else. Something ugly. “Go and find them,” his voice was a whisper and I could barely hear him. “Go find them all, and kill them.” And then he went still.

The Ku Mirt were the people who had taken him as a child and trained him to kill. He had been a child. I reflected briefly on what it must have been like for him. I couldn't imagine it. Didn't really want to.

“I will, I promise.” I watched him. It wouldn't be long now. His breathing was painful to hear and each breath was longer in coming. There was nothing I could do, I had some stone but no spell I could use, never having spared the money to buy anything useful, saving it all for booze, and then I thought of something and acted without thought or hesitation.