"We need him whole," said the Skir Master.
"I just thought I"d limit his mobility a bit," said Leaf. Then he swung the club at Argoth"s knee.
Argoth dodged aside. He saved his knee, but the blow struck his forearm and snapped the bone.
Pain shot up his arm, but he turned and struck back at Leaf"s throat, but the dreadman was fast, exceedingly fast. The blow that would have crippled Leaf flew wide, and then Leaf changed his grip on the cudgel and rammed it into Argoth"s gut.
Argoth doubled over.
Leaf shoved him up against the railing and held him there. Argoth tried to struggle, but Leaf held him like iron. Then he shook Argoth"s broken arm. Pain screamed through Argoth and turned his vision white.
"That will do," said the Skir Master.
Something cool wrapped itself about Argoth"s neck. He felt fingers clasping it. Then his Fire was gone. He could not reach it. Could not magnify himself.
A collar. A King"s Collar.
"No!" Argoth said. It couldn"t end this way.
"Bind him," said the Skir Master, "and take him to my quarters."
Leaf twisted Argoth"s good arm behind his back, then grabbed a handful of Argoth"s hair and shoved him down onto the deck.
39.
Koramite AFTER CONSUMING THE GOATS, Hunger chased the female. She was keeping to less-used roads. Of course, it wouldn"t have mattered if she had ridden on well-used ones: he still would have been able to sniff her out of the mix. Up hill, down dale he went, all the time the scent getting stronger, which meant he was getting closer. And then he found that she had separated from her horse.
Perhaps she"d been brushed off by a branch. Or it had run off on her while she"d gone to get a drink or relieve herself. Or maybe she"d run it too hard. He didn"t know. He didn"t care. He was getting closer. He would have her soon.
The road he was on now wasn"t so much of a road but a wide wash for the spring rains. Only the smallest trickle of water ran down the bed of the wash now. The last stretch had been rocky, and the loose uneven surface would slow her down, but it would not slow him.
Trees grew thickly along the banks of the wash. Hunger raced around a bend and saw a trail split off the wash and rise up and over one of the banks. He saw one of her muddy foot prints at the base of the trail. He splashed through the tiny brooklet and prepared to charge up the bank, but before he could start up the trail, he caught the stink of magic on the wind.
He ran a few more paces and then stopped. The female had left the wash. He could smell that. He followed her trail up. The trees along the banks immediately gave way to mown oat fields. He could not see her, but he could see that the trail ran straight for some distance through the middle of the fields.
However, the stink was weaker at the top of the bank. He descended back to the bottom of the wash and breathed the smell in. He had found that the human"s magic all had a slightly different taste to it. River"s had carried a slightly different odor from Argoth"s. And the scent of the burning boy had carried, yet again, a tinge of something else. He thought he recognized this one.
He took his time, opened his mouth wide, and followed the scent a few paces up the wash. Hogan, the Koramite, had been here. He"d crossed the wash. And his scent had been kept in the shade from the sun.
It didn"t take him long to puzzle out what had happened. Many men on horses had come this way, traveling from the fields where the female had gone, down into the wash, and then onto a trail that led up the opposite bank.
He"d smelled no magic on the female and only followed her in the hopes that she would lead him to the others. And that"s what she"d done; he had a sure trail now. He would follow it. Besides, the female was on foot, leaving a strong trail. She wasn"t that far ahead. Maybe a mile or two. He could come back here, easily pick up her scent, and resume his chase later.
He breathed in the Koramite"s scent. Yes. He would take the sure thing first.
40.
The Thrall of Mokad ARGOTH LAY BOUND on the surgeon"s table, his arm throbbing with pain. Old blood stained the wooden floor in blotchy patterns and spattered up the wall on his right. Above the blood spots hung a bone saw, pinchers, a long, wicked implement he could not imagine a healthy use for, and flesh needles. To the side of the surgeon"s tools sat blue and yellow bottles of nostrums neatly arranged in a three-shelf rack.
The Skir Master held Argoth"s thrall in one hand, the stomach with Nettle"s Fire in the other. "Clansman?" he demanded.
Argoth said nothing. It was treason to possess such things. If you found one, it was treason not to immediately report it. He could say nothing. He simply looked into the Skir Master"s inhuman, black eyes.
The Skir Master examined the thrall. "If I"m not mistaken, this is a pattern of the Trolumbay masters, isn"t it?" He nodded to himself. "Of course, they were destroyed centuries ago. So that means you either stole it or are the heir of a vanished glorydom."
The door opened and Leaf entered, moving with his deadly grace.
"Report," the Skir Master said.
"Great One, nothing was found among his effects or the cargo he brought on board."
The Skir Master shook his head and held up the stomach. "I"m disappointed, Clansman. I"ve tasted the Fire in this stomach. It"s clean, sharp-delicious. A compliment to you, but I"d hoped there would be more."
Argoth could not speak.
The Skir Master turned to Leaf. "The link with the Fir-Noy has not yet matured. So send a pigeon back to him. Tell him we"ll return in a week with two full cohorts. Tell him there"s going to be a cleansing."
Fir-Noy?
It was the Crab. Argoth was sure of it. But the news of the cohorts is what shocked him. It would require three or four ships to carry so many men. And even with the Skir wind, going to and from Mokad would take almost a month. The only way the Skir Master could have two cohorts was if the ships were waiting off one of the outer islands or along the coast a few days south of the settlements.
The Skir Master seated himself close to Argoth"s head and spoke to him like a friend. "You see, the spectacles are useful, not only for partially extending sight, but also for questioning all manner of lord and lady. Yet the spectacles, while they influence, do not enthrall. They"re a tool used best with subtlety. But this rudimentary thing." He held Argoth"s thrall up. "This will bind you quite nicely."
He smiled at Argoth. "You, Clansman, are going to die. As will your family. I know you think they fled, but we foresaw that."
Despair welled in Argoth.
"Disheartening, isn"t it?"
"You are a blind fool," said Argoth. Blind about life. Blind about everything that was important. Argoth thought of the Crab. If he were in league with the Skir Master, he could have easily hidden in the woods and moved in on Serah and the children soon after Argoth left. Argoth was going to kill that one himself.
"I will seek every one of you and know every last one of your secrets. But it doesn"t need to be too painful. Cooperate, and I"ll make your wife comfortable. We"ll need a little agony, but I"m sure this arm"-the Skir Master prodded just below the break sending pain shooting through Argoth"s body-"would feel better set and splinted. Tell me who killed Lumen, and I"ll help you."
Lumen? "I know nothing of Lumen"s death."
"Oh, come."
"We know only what his servants claimed: that he lost himself to the call of the warrens."
"You"re talking about the stone-wights, aren"t you? What"s in those caves?"
Argoth hesitated. He realized there was leverage here, something he could do with this information.
The Skir Master sighed. "I suppose you must fight. But it doesn"t matter." He held up the thrall. "The Trolumbay patterns were crude and slow, yet for all their clumsiness they were still effective. I estimate this one will take two or three days. Two or three days, and you will beg to tell me all."
He placed the thrall about Argoth"s neck, lifting his head and clasping it at the back.
"I"m going to remove the King"s Collar. It interferes with the working of the thrall. But do not think of escape. Your bonds are woven with wire. You will not be able to break them. Not even one as powerful as Leaf can do so."
Then he released the collar. Immediately Argoth felt the change, felt freedom. He began to build his Fire.
The Skir Master smiled. "Multiplying yourself will only speed the workings of the thrall, Clansman. Of course, it would please me if you"d do so."
Argoth paused. Was he lying? He didn"t know. And that realization struck him like a hammer: the Order didn"t know.
"Do you know how to quicken a thrall, Clansman?"
Argoth said nothing.
"Come, come," said the Skir Master. "Do not be modest."
Argoth ignored the Skir Master. All he could think of was the fact that Nettle had given most of his life for nothing, to support a hero who had no skill.
The Skir Master grabbed his face and turned it so Argoth was looking at him. "Speak to me. How do you quicken a thrall?"
"Can"t you feel that it"s already thrumming?" asked Argoth.
"Thrumming?" asked the Skir Master. "You soul-eaters are so sloppy with your terminology. Weaves do not "thrum"; I told you before: they sing. "Sing" is the right word. But that"s not quite all there is to it." The Skir Master paused. "You haven"t ever used this, have you?"
Argoth looked the Skir Master in the eye. He"d read the old texts. He"d quickened a variety of other weaves. This couldn"t be so very different.
The Skir Master shook his head then reached back and took Argoth by the nape of the neck. "It"s appalling, such ignorance."
A giddiness washed through Argoth, and immediately a door opened in his mind. Behind it stood the Skir Master. Beyond him another door opened, and Argoth perceived the Glory of Mokad. Yet another door opened behind the Glory, and Argoth perceived . . . something luminous, something so beautiful it took his breath away. A woman who consumed all thought. Then she turned and noticed him, and fear mingled with his adoration. He wanted to join her, but didn"t dare. She regarded him for one more delicious and terrible moment, then all the doors between her and him slammed shut. The force of it made him gasp.
"And so it wakens," said the Skir Master. He released Argoth. "Two days to work its way into the fiber of your being. We"ve found that a bit of pain in the very beginning speeds the process. Is that because it distracts the mind or stresses and weakens the body? We don"t know. All we know is that it works." He stood and grabbed the large pincers from the wall. Then he brought them back to Argoth. He rammed them under the break in Argoth"s arm and turned them so they pressed upwards.
White pain flashed through Argoth. He arched his back and gritted his teeth against it until he could no longer contain his cries. But by that time the Skir Master had walked out and shut the door.
For some time Argoth fought just to control himself. He moaned, panted, lost consciousness twice. And in the pain one thought rose and kept him from losing all hope: the barrels still sat below. Somehow he had to get to them. He had to get to them, and then give the liquid inside one sweet kiss of fire.
Argoth multiplied himself, but found he could not break the bonds, could not wriggle out of them. He couldn"t even rock the table for it was nailed to the floor. And so he lay there in his sweat and pain, praying to his ancestors to help him get just one chance.
The Skir Master returned around mid-morning. "Do you want us to splint that arm?"
Argoth could barely control his voice. "Yes," he said.
"A reasonable choice," said the Skir Master, and he removed the pincers. He picked up a cloth from a cabinet and wiped the snot and tears from Argoth"s face. "It would be petty and pointless for anyone to expect you to choose otherwise since nothing but your comfort is lost."
"I don"t know who or what killed Lumen," said Argoth.
"We always need subjects for our experiments. In a few days I will know if you"re lying. If you are, we can put you to a great many uses. Of course, that"s after we"ve used up your wife and children."
"I have talents," said Argoth. "I have connections."
"Your paltry talents I already possess. Your connections I will take from your mind."
"I"ll prove myself," said Argoth.
"Please," said the Skir Master. "Your fate is set." He felt along Argoth"s arm, then jerked the two ends out and reset the bone.
Argoth gasped and closed his eyes. He took three deep breaths. "The seafire," he said. "That was mine. You"ll need more than facts, more than a simple recipe to make that."
The Skir Master retrieved two thin slats to use in Argoth"s splint. He looked down at Argoth and said nothing.
"I could show you how," said Argoth. "You could let my wife and children go free."
"Stop it," said the Skir Master. "I detest sniveling."
Argoth looked away from the Skir Master"s face. "Yes, Great One."
And in that moment he saw an opening, a slim one but an opening nevertheless. If he could only convince the Skir Master he was one easily turned.
"Why did you bring this thrall aboard?"
"To bind you, Great One. To take what we could from your mind, then destroy you to preserve our secret."
"Ambitious. And who is your master?"
"Hogan, the Koramite."
"The one the Fir-Noy so desperately wanted a seeking for?"
"The same."
"And this man of gra.s.s and earth? Who does it belong to?"
Argoth paused. "We thought it was yours, Great One."