Jack Whyte - The Sorcer part 2 - Metamorphosis

"What?" I had been unconsciously kneading my left hand with my right thumb, and now I glanced down to where the web between the thumb and the index finger had grown dead and grey. I stifled the instantaneous urge to snatch it away and hide it from his sight, and forced myself instead to flex the hand several times. "Oh, that, " I said. "I scalded it, last week. It's healing, but it still feels stiff and sore. "

Derek turned his eyes away, back to the valley. "It's not much of a camp, is it?"

"No, but it's effective enough for their purposes. It's sheltered, and it's safe. Nearly impregnable, in fact. "

He grunted. "What's that building?"

There was only one, a long, low construction probably built from the stones that lay everywhere down there, fallen from the cliffs above, "it's some kind of cattle shelter. Nothing else it could be, up here, is there? There's grass for grazing, but there can't be any soil down there to speak of. So it wouldn't be a house. Must be a byre. "

"Well, they're using it as a house now. How many people are there down there, do you know?"

I looked again, carefully, before I answered him. Apart from the one building, there were a few ramshackle huts that I could see, but they seemed to be mere piles of stones, thrown together. And against the base of the cliff on the opposite side from us there was a line of green and brown and multicoloured patches that I had guessed, after long observation the previous day, to be a row of the roughest kind of shelters, branches and saplings propped against the wall of the cliff, then covered haphazardly with blanket coverings.

"Last night, I guessed there must be three score of them, or thereabouts. Three score in camp, I mean. I've no idea how many others are outside, defending the incoming passes. Probably as many again."

Derek sucked air through his teeth, impatiently. "There has to be a way for us to get in there."

"There is, but not with horses—not easily, at any rate, and not without a bitter fight. There are three ways in, and two of them might just be passable for cavalry, but not before the heights above each route have been swept clean, and that will be wicked work."

I had spent the previous five days examining the adits to the place. The valley was high in the mountains; not prohibitively so, but it was hemmed about with steep, unscalable mountainsides that were as flat as walls. Three entrances led into it through narrow approaches flanked by high cliffs. I had discovered that fact by doing more climbing than I had thought to do, scaling the heights overlooking the passes on both sides and lying belly down for hours while I attempted to decipher the patterns of their defences. While one careful, solitary man could penetrate the places I had reached, it would have been impossible for a number of men to have achieved the same without being discovered. Pendragon mountaineers might have had a better chance, but Camulodian lowlanders would have no chance at all.

Derek listened with a long face, chewing on his lips. I. cocked my head.

"What's wrong, Derek? Why are you up here? You're growing long in the tooth to be leaping about on mountains on your own. I am too, God knows, but I've a reason to be here alone. I have a one man task. "

"And so do I, almost. " He waved to indicate another hillside, to the south of us. "Ambrose is over there, with Arthur, on that hill. There are times when second hand reports are not enough. We came up here to see things for ourselves. But there's not much to see, is there?"

"That depends what you're looking for, my friend. How high above them do you think we are? How far from here to there?"

He made a face, reckoning. "Two hundred paces? Not much more than that, I'd guess. "

"In fact it's closer to four hundred. But even four hundred paces, downhill like this, would put the enemy in range of Pendragon bows. " He jerked his head around to look at me as I continued speaking. "It's a difficult climb, as you know, but it's far from impossible. We two came up it, each of us alone. Where two may go, in this kind of terrain, two hundred more can follow, and with two hundred Pendragon 'up here, that camp would be a death trap.

"Now I'm going down there, later in the day, timing my arrival so that I'll be there by nightfall, when there's little chance of my being seen descending from above. I'll spend tonight there, seeing how things work, and then tomorrow, or tomorrow night, I'll find or make an opportunity to put myself close to Carthac. Once I'm there, he's a dead man. "

"How can you say that, Merlyn? The man's not human! They say he's enchanted, has a charmed life, protected by the very gods themselves, and he can't be killed by human weapons. "

I looked at him, one eyebrow raised high. "That's superstitious nonsense. Surely you don't believe that, Derek?"

He shrugged and dipped his head, looking ill at ease. "I don't know, Merlyn. But I do believe he fights like no man I have ever seen. He won't be killed with ease. "

"I don't want him to die with ease, but die he will, if I win close to him. Now, when are you to meet again with Ambrose?"

"Midafternoon, at the base of the mountain. "

"Well, when you meet him, tell him I am here and warn; him what I intend to do. Then go and fetch Huw Strongarm and his bowmen—are they close by?"

"Not Huw himself, but aye, they're here, nigh on a thousand of them, under Llewellyn. "

"Then lead them back this way, and bid them bring as many arrows as they can carry, sufficient for a days long siege. And have Ambrose move his men up and position them outside each of the three adits to this place. Once Carthac is dead, the men below will be mere cattle. The death of their Immortal will destroy their will to fight. Tell; Llewellyn that when his Pendragon have wiped out this camp, he must then send them outward, to sweep clean the cliffs above the entranceways. They'll have but little opposition, I suspect. Did you bring food?" He blinked at me, then nodded. "Then let's eat, " I said, bending to take my own food from the heavy pack that lay by my feet, which contained the remainder of my much depleted supplies from the warlocks' chests as well as my long black nightclothes.

Derek stared at the pack. "Do you intend to take that with you? Down there?"

"Of course. It's mine, " I answered, smiling, but his face remained stern.

"What's in it?"

I shrugged my shoulders. 'Things, mainly extra clothing. "

"Horse turds, I saw the weight of it when you pulled it over. There's more in there than clothing. Probably enough to get you killed, should anyone look inside it. "

"But no one will. No one has, in the past three months. "

"No, but then you were alone. It's too big, an invitation to thieves. Or do you intend to carry it while you're killing Carthac?"

I could see he was right. I had intended to hide the knapsack, once safely down the hill, but the valley was small and crowded with people. He saw my indecision and spoke again.

"Look, you're determined to go down there, I know that. If you fail to kill your man, you'll die, and there's an end of you. If you succeed, again you'll probably die, for his creatures there won't let you simply walk away. So, armed with the knowledge of the odds against you already, why would you add to all your risks by dragging this great thing behind you? I'd hate to think of you being killed solely because of your pack, before you even get the chance to kill yourself apurpose... " He paused, and I said nothing. "Let me take it with me, Merlyn, back to our camp. It will be safe enough with me. I won't open it or let anyone else open it. Then, if your god is as merciful as you Christians say he is, and you come safely out of that place down there, I'll have it waiting for you. "

I tore a piece of bread from the half loaf I had been holding and chewed it thoughtfully for some time before I nodded my head. "So be it," I said then. 'Take it, and with it my thanks. But don't dare open it, Derek, and guard it as you would your wife or your life. Remember Merlyn's Vengeance. I swear to you that there is enough venom and poison within that pack to wipe out all of Camulod. Eat up!"