Roger Taylor: Ibryen

A cold wind struck Ibryen’s sweating face as he clambered over the last few rocks. In years past he had delighted in striding out along such ridges. Now, concealment being an almost permanent obsession, he moved carefully, keeping low or otherwise ensuring that he did not present a conspicuous silhouette against the skyline. It was just another example of the Gevethen’s pernicious influence, their gift of corroding even the smallest worthwhile thing.

Ibryen did not know what he had expected to find at the end of this journey, and the last part of the climb had been too strenuous for him to pay any need to the subtle urging that had drawn him here, but his initial response was one of disappointment. The view was, as ever, inspiring, but no great surge of understanding overwhelmed him, no sudden insight. Instead, he was just both hot and chilled, as he normally was when travelling a little too quickly in the mountains. For the same reason he was also out of breath.

‘Just take a rest, and relax,’ he said to himself. ‘Calm down. There’s still the valleys to be looked at.’

Sitting down carefully in the lee of a rock he turned his face to the sun. Perhaps he could simply luxuriate in the warmth for a little while, allow his many cares and responsibilities to fall away. But while he might do the former, the latter was almost impossible, reared as he had been to accept that responsibilities were part of his birthright as the Count of Nesdiryn – a necessary counterweight to the privileges that went with that office. His parents however, had trained him for the ruling of a relatively peaceful and ordered land. They had not remotely prepared him for dealing with a people torn from within by such as the Gevethen, except in so far as they had died for their own inability to measure the depth of the Gevethen’s treachery and inhumanity. Their deaths had been their last terrible lesson for their son.

Now, Ibryen’s duties were both simpler and more onerous. No longer was he burdened by the innumerable ties of administrative and political need that ruling a land involved. Instead, he had become a beleaguered warlord whose least error, or lapse in vigilance, could see himself and his followers destroyed utterly, and the Gevethen given full sway over the land. And always, darkening even this deep shadow, was the unspoken question – what were the Gevethen’s ultimate intentions? What could the acquisition of such political and military power as they constantly sought betoken, except ambitions beyond the borders of Nesdiryn?

However, while these considerations formed a constant, disturbing undertow to his life, none of them were immediately in Ibryen’s thoughts as he lay back against the still-cold rock and, eyes closed, turned his face towards the sun. His new life was not without pleasures… simple pleasures that once he would have disdained or even been oblivious to – pleasures such as the sun on his face and the solitary silence of the mountains. And he could indulge these for a few moments now that he was here and alone.

He had scarcely begun to relax however, when, unheard and unfelt, yet indisputably there, the mysterious call that had reached into his dreams to waken him and lured him to this eyrie was all about him.

But still its message eluded him. Still it shifted and changed like voices in the wind, though now perhaps it was nearer? Louder? Clearer? Again, none of the words were adequate, yet all were true. Shapes formed in the sounds that were not sounds, and danced to the rhythm of the flickering lights behind his closed eyes – now solid and whole, now intangible and vague – jumping from time to time as Ibryen resisted the warm drowsiness that was threatening to overwhelm him and jerked himself into wakefulness.

Until a pattern began to emerge, tantalizingly familiar. It echoed around a sound that suddenly was truly a sound. Ibryen’s mind lurched towards it, drawing it closer and closer, searching into it, clutching at the meaning that he could sense striving to reach him.

Abruptly it came into focus.

‘Hello,’ a voice said, close by.

Ignoring curses and ill-aimed kicks, a large mangy dog dashed purposefully between the legs of the passers-by and out into the roadway. It began to bark ferociously at a passing carriage. The horses reared at this unexpected onslaught, almost tearing the reins from the driver’s hands. The clattering hooves, the barking, and the raucous shouting of the driver – at both horses and dog – inevitably brought nearby pedestrians to a halt to watch the spectacle, and soon further cursing rose to swell the chorus as other carts, carriages and riders had to stop or take evasive action.

No one made any effort to seize the dog however, for not only was it large, it was moving very quickly, dodging the flailing hooves and the driver’s whip with ease. Further, it had a look in its eyes that would have made even the sternest hesitant to tackle it; its lip curled back to reveal teeth whose whiteness testified to the fact that, ill-kempt though it might be, it had plenty of bones to chew on. To those late afternoon citizens who had the misfortune to understand, this above all identified the dog not only as feral, but as having come from the death pits. Who could say what impulse had drawn it into the heart of the city?

And who could say what impulse continued to guide it, for instead of barking and fleeing as most dogs would have done, this one’s attacking fury seemed to grow in proportion to the uproar it was causing. The driver soon stopped trying to beat it off with his whip as he needed both hands to control the two horses. Angry shouts began to emanate from within the now swaying carriage and the watching crowd both grew and widened under the contradictory effects of curiosity and fear. Other drivers in the street stopped their cursing and started backing away from the scene.

Then further cries came from a section of the crowd and several people leapt hastily out of the way as another dog emerged to join the first in attacking the carriage. The assault redoubled, the horses became frantic and the driver lost such control as he had. The swaying of the carriage increased until, after hovering for a timeless moment, it crashed over, taking the thrashing horses with it. The driver fell heavily on to the rough cobbled roadway and lay still.

The crowd became suddenly silent, and for a while the only sound to be heard in the street was the scrabbling of the terrified horses and the ominous snarling of the dogs as they paced to and fro in front of the destruction they had wrought.

No one moved to help the fallen driver. Indeed, eyes now fearfully averted from the scene, the crowd began to melt away. Slowly at first, then with increasing urgency.

A sudden crash halted the flight. It was the carriage door being flung back by the passenger. He began to heave himself up through the opening. Though not a young man, vigorous command and capability could be read in his grim face and the very sight of him seemed to chill the crowd into immobility.

‘Stay where you are,’ he said, his voice harsh and menacing. Even the dogs fell back a little, crouching low, though their snarling muzzles were even more terrifying than before. Half emerged from the carriage, the man disdained their menace and slowly scanned the crowd. It was as if he were memorizing the face of each individual there, or worse, already knew it. Those who failed to avoid his gaze could not tear their eyes away. The street began to stink of fear while, above, the already gloomy sky seemed to darken further, adding its weight to the sense of oppression that the man’s presence exuded.

Then, into this silent interrogation came a flurry of movement and the two dogs, still snarling, began to crawl forward, their tails sweeping over the cobbles expectantly. The man in the carriage turned sharply towards the disturbance, his teeth bared as if in imitation of his attackers, but even as he did so, the cause was upon him. A lithe figure, ragged and dirty, was vaulting nimbly up on to the carriage. Disbelief came into the man’s face. It was changing to anger when the newcomer reached down, seized his hair with her left hand and jerked his head back, unbalancing him. Then with her right, she plunged a knife into him. It was a deliberately wounding stroke.