Roger Taylor - Caddoran

‘And you became Vashnar?’ he asked carefully.

Thyrn’s confidence faltered. ‘Vashnar’s… strange,’ he said, though the hesitation was more telling than the description. ‘He gave me the creeps from the start.’ The confession was almost blurted out. ‘When I made my first Joining with him, it was like going into a dark cellar.’ He shuddered. ‘I got used to it, of course. I’d been told that some people are peculiar to deal with and because of what I am – what I do – I’d be more susceptible to such things than most. I had to be detached, professional. Get on with my job. They spent more time telling me that than teaching me anything. I mustn’t let the Congress down, they said. It was a great honour to be given such a position so young. And good money too.’

Hyrald could not help smiling at the incongruous mixture of mature man and immature youth that Thyrn presented.

‘But it didn’t get any easier. In fact, it got worse the more I worked with him. There was always something frightening about him. Like something in the darkness, lurking there. Waiting to spring.’

‘Monsters under the bed,’ Rhavvan snorted, unable to contain himself. Hyrald angrily gestured him silent again, but Thyrn did not respond to the jibe. He simply looked straight at Rhavvan.

‘No, I’m not a child, afraid of shadows,’ he said. ‘I’m a Caddoran and a good one. I know my job. This was real. Very real. Very… disturbing. And it was there when I related the messages too. You could see it in people’s eyes sometimes. Fear. Nothing bad in the message that I could hear, nothing in the words, but something behind them. Something that came out when I spoke them. Something of Vashnar’s.’

There was silence. A light touch on his leg made Hyrald start. It was Endryk’s dog sniffing at him. The shoreman was standing nearby. He made a gesture to indicate that all was well. His arrival, however, was a reminder to Hyrald that time was against them. It had been a risk allowing Oudrence to leave, but with Endryk available to guide him on his way, the alternative of abandoning him here was peculiarly repellent. However, there was no saying how soon the young man might make contact with other Wardens and what the consequences of that might be. And too, for all Endryk’s protestations about their indifference to events in Arvenshelm, the local villagers could yet prove to be a problem.

Thyrn began speaking again. ‘It didn’t bother me too much at first. A job’s a job. Don’t get involved. Nothing bad was actually happening, after all. I tried to make a game of it – would this message be a frightener or not? That kind of thing. But as I said, it got worse. In the end I couldn’t do anything but try to ignore it – pass the messages on as quickly as I could. Get rid of them.’ He waved his hands as if shaking something off them. When he spoke again, he was weighing his words carefully, as though thinking aloud. ‘The thing is, I think it might have been working both ways. He used to look at me very strangely sometimes. As if he’d picked up something from me.’ He turned to Nordath. ‘I wonder if he’s part Caddoran?’

Nordath’s eyes widened, but he did not reply, other than to answer Hyrald’s unspoken question.

‘Whatever faculty it is that enables Caddoran to do what they do, they don’t practice their techniques on one another,’ he explained. ‘Strange things can sometimes happen to them when they Join to their own kind. Bad things. They get entangled in some way – can’t separate. It’s very bad. Caddoran have gone insane in the past, just experimenting. It’s not something that’s widely known. The Congress prefers to keep quiet about it. Hardly good for business if word gets about that using a Caddoran might drive you mad, is it?’

Hyrald was genuinely surprised. Like all Wardens, he prided himself on being worldly-wise, on knowing something about everything, and he was always a little affronted when this proved not to be the case. It reinforced the prejudices that as a member of a closed group he had for other closed groups. ‘I’d say, not widely known is a considerable understatement,’ he retorted acidly.

‘This is getting us nowhere,’ Rhavvan intruded bluntly. He had interpreted Endryk’s return as Hyrald had.

‘Rambling off into the blue beyond isn’t going to get us anywhere either,’ Adren spoke up, untypically forceful. We need to know what’s going on and Thyrn’s the only one who can tell us.’ Hyrald was glad of his sister’s intervention. He would wish for no one better than Rhavvan at his back in a crisis, but patience was not one of his stronger traits and he was always inclined to act in preference to thinking.

‘I’m sorry, Rhavvan. It’s all my fault, isn’t it? I did something wrong.’ The apology came quietly and unexpectedly from Thyrn. It took all of them by surprise. Already faced down once by the young man, Rhavvan gaped. An odd sound emerged which eventually slithered into, ‘No, not really. It’s just that…’ before fading away into a vaguely reassuring gesture. The others too, responding similarly to this unsought offering, eased forward hesitantly, making a protective ring about Thyrn. Endryk watched the group keenly.

Hyrald took back the initiative. ‘It’s Vashnar’s fault,’ he said categorically. ‘Don’t think otherwise for a moment. Whatever you did wrong – if anything – didn’t warrant even the Cry, let alone the Death Cry. And the rest of us have done even less than you.’ A momentary anger at their situation burst out. ‘Besides, nothing warrants the Death Cry, for mercy’s sake, not these days! We’re supposed to be civilized. We don’t hunt down people like animals. We don’t…’ He stopped himself. ‘Anyway, what we have to do now is find out what happened so that we can decide where we go. Try to tell us why you ran away from Vashnar. It’s very important.’

‘It’s difficult,’ Thyrn said in a low voice. ‘It wasn’t just one particular thing. It had been building for a long time. The sense of menace I felt whenever I Joined with Vashnar gradually got worse – and it was obviously leaking into his messages, judging by the responses I was getting from listeners. I think I was telling them much more than he intended.’ He straightened up. ‘I must have been. He began asking me about my Oath. Did I understand what it meant – confidentiality? Did I understand what happened to Caddoran who were indiscreet? Those black eyes look right through you, you couldn’t hide anything from him even if you wanted to.’

He shivered. ‘I told him, yes, of course I did. It’s hammered into you incessantly at the Congress. But I could feel his doubt.’ His eyes flicked around the watching group and he took two very deep breaths. ‘Then, one day, we were sitting in his office. He seemed to be very relaxed. Jolly almost. As if something very good had just happened.’ Rhavvan and Adren exchanged a look of conspicuous disbelief. ‘He was giving me a routine message to one of the District Commanders. Nothing special. Something about moving men from one patrol to another…’

‘Speak it,’ Nordath suggested.

Thyrn waved his hands agitatedly. ‘No, no. It’s all one. It’ll bring it back.’

‘It’s all right,’ Hyrald said hastily. ‘The message probably isn’t important. Besides, we really don’t want you to break your Oath. Carry on with your tale. And don’t be afraid.’ Thyrn looked at him fearfully. ‘Nothing around here can hurt you,’ Hyrald added, waving a hand across the rolling green countryside.

Thyrn took another deep breath. ‘We were sitting there. Very relaxed. The sun was pouring in through that big window he has. Then… no warning… it’s dark. There’s a dreadful smell. Stinging smoke, a rancid rottenness.’ He put his hand to his stomach. ‘And something like burning meat – but it wasn’t meat – it was people.’ He shuddered and looked desperately at Nordath. ‘How could I know that, Uncle? I’ve never smelt anything like that.’