Yes, of course this could be worse, she thought. It could be a lot worse, and if I don"t do something about it now, it will be.
She levitated up into the darkness above, until she was face to face with a fellow adept.
Even with his skin a dark purple, his staring eyes veined red with broken blood vessels, his fat, black tongue lolling out of the corner of his mouth, she recognised him. She lit a flame in her bruised hand so that she could make certain: Richart.
He"d joined as a novice a year after her, and had progressed further than she had. He"d had fewer floggings and more mentoring from the senior adepts, while she"d had to struggle for every spell that marked her skin. She knew him. She didn"t like him, but there was so little fellow feeling among the adepts it was a wonder she didn"t actively hate him.
He"d hanged himself. Slowly, quickly, it was difficult to say. The knot he"d tied around the roof beam probably wouldn"t have withstood a long drop, so she imagined he"d slipped the noose over his neck and simply pulled himself up on the other end of the rope. Sorcerers didn"t lack will-power, quite the opposite. It was a surfeit of self-importance that led them to the art. So strangling himself while retaining the ability to save himself wasn"t surprising.
Neither was the fact of suicide. Novices tended to run away if they lacked sufficient steel to be degraded, beaten and humiliated day in, day out. Adepts either killed themselves or killed each other duels were common, as were fatalities from the injuries sustained. There was no question of anyone else intervening. One less adept meant one less to compete for the prize of being received into the Order of the White Robe.
So she"d seen death, up close and intimate, for years, and for years before that, too.
It was that Richart had done it at all. She pulled back a little, and noticed the letter in his hand. It was similar to hers, but with a more impressive seal. Rigor mortis hadn"t set in, so it was just a matter of coaxing her fingers into movement. Hard, but not impossible.
No letter from the library for Richart. His was from Trommler, Gerhard"s chamberlain. There wasn"t enough light to read by, and she didn"t want to set the paper on fire, so she retreated to the ground and used the magical lights on the walls instead.
It was to Mad Leopold of Bavaria, warning him to keep the Teutons under close watch. Or else. Richart had plainly opened it and read it, tried to deliver it, and killed himself rather than explain why he couldn"t do it. It seemed at first sight a weak, stupid, pathetic, impulsive response.
But he could no longer use the projector.
What if no one could? What if everyone was as weak as Richart? What if she, due to her natural and untaught abilities, was the only one left among the adepts who could still shift their ink and cast a spell? She"d felt plenty of magic at the White Tower. Or had that all been what she"d expected, and had she fooled herself into believing it so?
Nikoleta decided it was time to go. Richart could swing for a little longer; she didn"t care. She briefly scanned again the contents of the second letter, and cast it to the floor. The projector could stay where it was, too. Both letters would remain unsent tonight, or any other night. She might need to fight the adept master as soon as she left the room, and she wanted to save her energy.
That was a decision quickly and easily made: if he confronted her, demanded to know why she"d failed in her task, then she"d duel with him. He must have known about Richart, because it must have been him who"d given Richart the letter. He"d wanted Nikoleta to join him.
She waited by the door to see if she could sense anyone outside. Nothing.
Using the latch was more difficult than it should have been, but it was only momentary pain. Closing the heavy door quietly behind her made her wince, but no more than that.
The corridor was crowded with shadows. Ghosts, real and imagined, swirled around her, but she pushed her way through. She covered her face again and strode out into the cloister. The adept master was not there.
Tomorrow, then. She would get her answers tomorrow.
9.
Buber watched the sun rise in the east, over the broad Donau plain. He"d already made a fire, boiled some water for a mash, and let it cool out of reach of his tethered horse. It was his turn now, bits of sausage and day-old bread.
As he chewed, he kept one eye on the Teuton"s camp. The fires that had burnt low during the night were restoked before dawn, and a great murmuring noise had risen from the site. They were packing up and getting ready to move on.
Buber had never seen a pitched battle between two armies before skirmishes, yes, a few people on each side and none of them a hexmaster, but they weren"t planned like a proper war with regiments and steel and horses ...
The mere idea of three hundred hors.e.m.e.n arrayed with their banners and armour and lances fascinated him. Part of him wanted the Teutons to throw caution to the wind and come riding across the Simbach bridge just so he could see them. The destruction that would follow in their wake would be terrible, though. Not good for those caught up in it: not good for Carinthia at all.
Then there came the sound of another horse coming along the forest road. He reached for his saddle pack, pulled his sword out of its scabbard and hid it under his legs.
The rider came at a trot, his barrel-chested mount forcing his legs wide.
"Peter?"
Buber shielded his eyes. "Torsten. Just in time for breakfast."
Torsten Nadel slowed to a walk and gratefully sat back down into his saddle. "f.u.c.k me, the things we have to do for His Majesty."
"Where were you?" Buber sliced some more sausage with his knife and poked it onto a green twig. "I thought you"d finished checking the pa.s.ses?"
"I was on my way down. Up near Ennsbruck. f.u.c.king giants chased me from pillar to post." Nadel slid out of the saddle and put his hands in the small of his back. His spine clicked.
"The same up at the Katschberg." Buber put the meat on to roast. "Some idiot Venetian tried to get a donkey-train over the top and got ripped to pieces for his pains. I"ve never known giants come down that low this soon. Did you tell the prince?"
"Wegener came through last night when he told me about Walter of Danzig"s little show. Guessed that you could do with some help." Nadel crouched down next to the fire, warming his face and inhaling the smells of cooking. "But yes, I dropped by the White Fortress on the way."
Buber pointed to the far side of the bank. "That"s the Teutons. Nearby should be some Bavarian spearmen, but I didn"t see any last night. They"re probably keeping the Teutons against the river in case they get the urge to wander further afield for forage."
Nadel watched for a moment, at the smoke and dust rising through the treetops. "How did they take it, getting the body of their leader back flatter than when they last saw him?"
"I didn"t wait for a reply. Sneaked through the town in the dead of night, and just got close enough so that when I whacked the horse on its a.r.s.e, one of their pickets spotted it. After that I was too busy running away to see what they did." Buber turned the sausages and reached for a chunk of bread. "They began striking camp from before first light, but they haven"t started off yet, in whichever direction they decide. Maybe they stopped to burn him, if Teutons burn their dead."
"You"ve got your sword out, Peter."
"I didn"t know it was you, did I?" He pa.s.sed Nadel the bread and resheathed his blade. He chewed at a finger stump. "I"d rather have an honest-to-G.o.ds sword in my hand than make a mistake."
"We"re prince"s men, Peter. We"re Carinthian. In Carinthia."
"I used to think that was enough. I mean, look at the pair of us. We"ve enough fingers between us for one normal man and scars enough for ten. We"ve been attacked by every b.a.s.t.a.r.d animal, real or magical, within the borders, and that"s okay. It"s part of the job."
"Sure, but..."
"You ever had to fight another man? When you hadn"t been drinking?"
"I was going to say yes, but no. Not if you put it like that." Nadel reached out and snagged the stick holding the sausage slices. He ripped his bread open and slid the meat inside.
"Why"s that then?"
"Because no one"s f.u.c.king insane enough to try it? They don"t want their mind burnt out or the ground beneath them turned into molten rock."
"I"ve done it. By accident. You come across some outlaws who"ve wandered too close to the boundary markers and forgotten whose land they"re on." Buber stared into the fire. "Last time must have been ten years ago now."
"So why fill your sword-hand now?" Nadel was making short work of his food, and his horse was slowly advancing on the bucket of cooling mash.
"Another kid went missing yesterday."
"f.u.c.k. Where?"
"Some village near the lakes. On the road you"ve just ridden down."
"Well," said Nadel, wiping his mouth with his sleeve, "I made it."
"You"re not a kid. Whatever it is only takes kids. Kids and..."
"How many does that make? Five or six?"
"Torsten, this isn"t some counting thing like a banker would do. I know this boy"s uncle." Irritated, Buber ripped a handful of gra.s.s out of the ground and threw it at Nadel"s horse. "Hey, you old nag. Wait your turn."
"Any ideas?"
"Not a clue." He wasn"t going to tell Nadel about the unicorns any more than he was going to tell Kelner. "Just hope they all turn up alive one day."
Buber got to his feet and rescued the mash bucket, carrying it over to his own horse and setting it down in front of her.
Nadel looked off into the distance, and wisely changed the subject. "So these Teutons: how does His Majesty want it played?"
"They"re expected to stay north. Where they cross the Alps is up to them, but if they come into Carinthia, they"ll be slaughtered."
"Harsh but fair."
"Danzig was an a.r.s.ehole. Remember what happened last year?"
Nadel cupped his b.a.l.l.s. "I remember."
"I"ll follow them on the Carinthian side until they"ve cleared our borders. If they turn south sooner, I"ll get a message back to the White Fortress so that Gerhard can do whatever it is he wants to do to them." Buber wrestled the bucket away from his horse, and brought what was left over to Nadel"s. "That"s what I still plan to do, but what I could really do with is going to talk to the Bavarians and getting them to hurry the Teutons along. I"ve got better things to do than watch them crawl along for two weeks."
"I can watch them for you. Doesn"t bother me how long they take." Nadel got up and stretched again. "You go and talk to Leopold"s men."
Buber weighed up the suggestion. He got on well enough with Nadel, who could be cra.s.s and coa.r.s.e but was otherwise a decent enough man. Trustworthy, up to a point but the prince had said that he, his huntmaster, should do it.
"I don"t know." Then he came to a decision. "I"ll go and see the Bavarians once the Teutons have started east. You keep an eye on them, and I"ll catch you up. If they behave, good. If they don"t, one of us can take the message while the other shadows them."
"Done. It"s been a long, hard winter, and it"s good to be outside." Nadel caught his horse, who was busy kicking the last of the mash out of the bucket. He began to strip the tack away.
Buber nodded and thought about doing the reverse. "This side of the river only. Doesn"t bother me if they see you it"s probably better that they do, but the water"s narrow in places. Easy enough to sling a quarrel into your chest."
"I"ll stay out of bow-shot." Nadel looked down into the valley. "Fires are going out. White smoke, being doused."
"Better get going, then." Buber picked up the saddle and blanket, and advanced on his horse, dressing it quickly and efficiently. It stood there and took it, occasionally turning its head to see what its rider was doing. Buber patted its neck and quietened the beast at the appropriate moments. He liked horses well enough, and they suffered him being on their back, but he wasn"t a natural. Not like the prince.
Horse ready, he packed his bags and hung them across the saddle. Sword, crossbow, seal of authority: the tools of his trade.
The steam from the quenched fires was dissipating, the thinning cloud stretched and fading over the town. Now that it was clearing, he looked beyond for the Bavarian army camp, and could see nothing.
"Maybe they struck earlier," he said to himself, but Nadel heard and answered.
"That"s unlikely. Bavarians are lazy b.a.s.t.a.r.ds at the best of times."
Buber checked the tack one last time, then put his foot in the stirrup, heaving himself up and on. The horse shuffled its feet and champed on its bit as he took up the reins.
"Stay alert," said Buber. "I"ll see you in a day or so."
He nudged the horse into a walk and slowly made his way down the hill to the bridge. The first barges of the day were leaving the Simbach quays and heading east and west, and carts were heading to market.
The lower he got, the less he saw, and soon he was down among the houses on the Carinthian side. The bridge b.u.t.tresses were ahead, their deep-set incantations shining faintly against the black rock.
Up in the mountains, where the border was less defined and held more in common than in law, he"d sometimes come across a group of soldiers or hunters from a neighbouring palatinate, and they"d share news and swap stories. Down here, in the lowlands where rivers and roads marked the beginning and end of territories, it was different. He was a prince"s man on the prince"s land. Outside it, he could only rely on Carinthia"s reputation and his own right arm, and he"d never liked issuing threats.
"Don"t be such a woman," he growled, and tapped the horse"s flanks with his heel. "Get."
The crossing was as long as the river was wide, across the arch of stone that carried him over the water.
"Hey," said a voice, and Buber looked down to see four men, three of them holding spears, blocking his way.
"What?" He started paying attention. The unarmed man was better dressed than his companions, with a floppy hat perched on his head. The others were just townsmen, older, grey haired, but lean and competent enough. "What is this?"
"Toll."
"f.u.c.k off." He said it more out of surprise than belligerence. "Since when did I have to pay to use a Carinthian bridge?"
"Everyone has to pay," said the man, ostentatiously adjusting his clothing to show the painted wooden plaque hung around his neck. "Earl"s orders."
"Does Leopold know about this? More to the point, does the prince know you"re taxing his subjects?" Not for the first time, Buber wished he could make a horse walk backwards. He was too close. Yes, of course he could afford a toll: he had money, but didn"t see why he should part with a single red penny.
"Are you refusing to pay?"
Buber looked down at the men. "What"re you going to do if I don"t?"
From the look of confusion on the spear-carriers" faces, the question hadn"t arisen before. They looked at each other, then to the man with the hat.
"We ... will ..." he started, and finally an idea came to him, "...take you before the earl."
"Good," said Buber. "Lead on."
"What?"
"Take me to this earl of yours." He leant back in his saddle and felt for his own royal seal. "I can find out why he"s charging for something we provided for nothing."
He held up the token long enough for the man to inspect it, but not for so long that it was still there when a hand came up to take it from him.
The man wearing the plaque shrugged. "Show him the way."
"Why don"t you show me the way?" asked Buber pointedly. "That way you won"t tax anyone crossing our bridge."