Toll the Hounds Part 108

'What difference? We all are about to die. Let the G.o.d open its eyes. Blink once or twice, and then give voice . . .' he laughed again, 'the first cry also the last. Birth and death with nothing in between. Is there anything more tragic, Draconus? Anything at all?'

'Dragnipur,' said Draconus, 'is n.o.body's womb. 'is n.o.body's womb. Kadaspala, this was to be a cage. To keep Darkness in and Chaos out. One last, desperate barrier the only gift we could offer. A gate that is denied its wandering must find a home, a refuge a fortress, even one fas.h.i.+oned from flesh and bone. The pattern, Kadaspala, was meant to defy Chaos two ant.i.thetical forces, as we discussed-' Kadaspala, this was to be a cage. To keep Darkness in and Chaos out. One last, desperate barrier the only gift we could offer. A gate that is denied its wandering must find a home, a refuge a fortress, even one fas.h.i.+oned from flesh and bone. The pattern, Kadaspala, was meant to defy Chaos two ant.i.thetical forces, as we discussed-'

'That will fail!' The blind Tiste Andii was twisting about at Draconus's feet, like an impaled worm. 'Fail, Draconus we were fools, idiots. We were mad to think mad to think mad to think think give me this child, this wondrous creation give me-' give me this child, this wondrous creation give me-'

'Kadaspala! The pattern nothing more! Just the pattern, d.a.m.n you!'

'Fails. Shatters. Shatters and fails shattering into failure. Failure failure failure. We die and we die and we die and we die!'

Ditch could hear the army marching in pursuit, steps like broken thunder, spears and standards clattering like a continent of reeds, the wind whistling through them. War chants erupting from countless mouths, no two the same, creating instead a war of discordance, a clamour of ferocious madness. The sound was more horrible than anything he had ever heard before no mortal army could start such terror in a soul as this one did. And above it all, the sky raged, actinic and argent, seething, wrought through with blinding flashes from some descending devastation, ever closer descending and when at last it struck, the army will charge. Will sweep over us. the army will charge. Will sweep over us.

Ditch looked about with his one eye only to realize that it was still shut, gummed solid, that maybe he had no eye left at all, and that what he was seeing through was the pattern etched in black ink on his eyelid. The G.o.d's eye? The pattern's eye? How is it I can see at all? The G.o.d's eye? The pattern's eye? How is it I can see at all? Draconus stood facing their wake, the convulsing figure at his feet forgotten for the moment. Draconus stood facing their wake, the convulsing figure at his feet forgotten for the moment.

Such studied belligerence, such a heroic pose, the kind that should be sculpted in immortal bronze. Heroism that needed the green stains of verdigris, the proof of centuries pa.s.sed since last such n.o.ble forces existed in the world any world, whatever world; no matter, details unimportant. The statue proclaims the great age now lost, the virtues left behind.

Civilizations made sure their heroes were dead before they honoured them. Virtue belonged to the dead, not the living. Everyone knew this. Lived with this, this permanent fall from grace that was the present age. The legacy squandered, because this was what people did with things they themselves have not earned.

He studied Draconus, and the man seemed to darken, blur, become strangely indistinct. Ditch gasped, and in the next instant Draconus was once more as he had always been.

So little of his mind was left, so little of what could be called his self self, and these moments of clarity were fast diminis.h.i.+ng. Was there irony to be found, should the chaos reach him only to find him already gone? Draconus was suddenly crouched down beside him.

'Ditch, listen to me. He's made you the nexus you were meant to be the G.o.d's eyes no, its brain your pattern, the one upon your skin . . .'

Ditch grunted, amused. 'Each soul begins with a single word. He's written that word on me. Ident.i.ty is only a pattern. The beginning form. The world life and experience is Kadaspala, etching and etching the fine details. By life's end, who can even make out that first word?'

'It is within you,' said Draconus, 'to break that pattern, Ditch. Hold on to a part of yourself, hold tight to it you may need it-'

'No, you you may need it, Draconus.' may need it, Draconus.'

'There can be no child-G.o.d. Not fas.h.i.+oned of this nightmare nightmare can't you understand that? It would be a horrid, terrible thing. Kadaspala is mad-' can't you understand that? It would be a horrid, terrible thing. Kadaspala is mad-'

'Yes,' agreed Ditch, 'most unfortunate. Mad. Not a good beginning, no.'

'Hold on, Ditch.'

'It's just a word.'

Draconus stared down into that painted eye. Then he rose, gathering up his chains, and moved out of Ditch's limited range of vision.

Kadaspala crawled close. 'He only wants to escape escape escape. But you but you but you are the knot the knot. Snapping tight! No one gets away. No one gets away. No one gets away. Hold still hold still and hold still until he awakens and he will awaken and so he will. Awaken. My child. The word, you see, the word is the word is the word. The word is kill.' kill.'

Ditch smiled. Yes, he'd known that. He had.

'Wait, sweet knot, and wait wait wait. Everything will make sense. Everything. Promise promise I promise and I do promise for I have seen into the future. I know what's coming. I know all the plans. Her brother died and he should not have had to do that, no. No, he shouldn't have had to do that. I do this for her for her for her. Only for her.

'Knot, I do this for her.'

Kill, thought Ditch, nodding, kill, yes, I understand. I do. Kill, for her. Kill. kill, yes, I understand. I do. Kill, for her. Kill. And he found that the word itself, yes, the word itself, knew how to smile. And he found that the word itself, yes, the word itself, knew how to smile.

Even as the ashes rained down.

Beneath a sprawl of stars, Precious Thimble stood by the side of the track, watching the carriage approach. The repairs looked makes.h.i.+ft even in the gloom and the entire contraption rocked and wobbled. She saw Glanno Tarp perched on the high bench, his splinted legs splayed wide, and the horses tossed their heads, ears flattened and eyes rolling.

Figures walked to either side. Mappo and Gruntle on the left, Reccanto Ilk, the Boles and that wretched Cartographer on the right. Master Quell, presumably, was inside.

Beside Precious, Faint muttered something under her breath and then climbed to her feet. 'Wake up, Sweetest, they're finally here.'

From the town known as Reach of Woe, half a league distant, not a single glimmer of light showed.

Precious approached Gruntle. 'What happened back there?'

He shook his head. 'You truly do not want to know, Witch.'

'Why do Jaghut bother getting married at all?' Reccanto asked, his face pale as the moon. 'G.o.ds below, like Glanno might say, that was the most petty-tracted nefoaminous argument I ever seen! 'Twas still in full swing when we blaggered it outa there.'

'Blaggered?' said Faint. 'The carriage can barely crawl, Ilk.'

'Ain't nothing so tensifying as running for your life at a snail's pace, let me tell you, but if it wasn't for Master's protecterives we'd be nothing but flops of hairy skin and chunks of meat like everyone else back there.'

Precious Thimble s.h.i.+vered and made a warding gesture.

Master Quell emerged from the carriage after forcing open an ill-hung door. He was sheathed in sweat. 'What a d.a.m.ned world this is,' he said raggedly.

'I thought we were on an island,' Jula said, frowning.

'We heading back to sea?' Precious asked Quell.

'Not a chance the carriage wouldn't hold. We need to find a more civil place to hole up.'

She watched him walk off the track to find a private place where he could groan and sigh as he emptied his bladder, or at least tried to he never wandered far enough. 'You need a pract.i.tioner of High Denul,' she called after him.

'As you say, Witch, as you say . . .'

Cartographer had found a stick from somewhere and was sc.r.a.ping out patterns on the dirt of the road a dozen paces ahead. Precious Thimble squinted at him. 'What's that thing doing?'

No one seemed to have an answer.

After a long pause, Sweetest Sufferance spoke. 'Either of you other girls feeling a tad bloodthirsty?'

Well, that woke everyone else up fast enough, Precious Thimble observed a short while later, still struggling with her own panic. That d.a.m.ned lardball was still half convulsed in laughter, and Precious was of a mind to stick a knife in one of those teary eyes, and she doubted anyone would try to stop her.

Master Quell reappeared. 'What's so funny, Sweetest? Oh, never mind.' He surveyed everyone else with a pinched, uncomfortable expression, like a man who'd sat on a cork. 'The night stinks anybody else noticed that? I was thinking of Rashan, but now I'm not so sure.'

'You need only take me as far as a port,' said Mappo. 'I can find my own way from there.'

Quell squinted at him. 'We'll deliver you as agreed, Trell-'

'The risks-'

'Are why we charge as much as we do. Now, no more about that, and don't even think of just cancelling the contract we'd take that as a grievous insult, a slur on our good name. We'll get you there, Trell, even if it's on one wheel behind a three-legged horse.'

Cartographer tottered back to them. 'If it pleases,' he said, attempting a smile that Precious decided was too ghoulish to describe without descending into insanity, 'I have outlined a solution.'

'Sorry I missed it,' said Quell.

'He meant that literally,' said Precious, pointing up the road.

Quell in the lead, they walked up to observe the faint scouring on the pale dust of the track.

'What in Hood's name is that?'

'A map, of course.'

'What kind of map?'

'Our journey to come.'

Reccanto Ilk squatted to study the effort, and then shook his head. 'I can't even make out the island we're on. This is a stupid map, Cartogopher.' He straightened and nodded to the others. 'That's what you get tryin' to work with a dead man. I swear, common sense is the first to go when you turn into the walking dead why is that?'

The Bole brothers looked thoughtful, as if working on possible answers. Then, noticing each other's frown, both broke into smiles. Amby snorted then had to wipe goo from his upper lip with the back of one hand.

'I must be mad,' Precious whispered.

Quell asked, 'This is some kind of gate you've drawn here, Cartographer?'

'Absent of invest.i.ture, but yes. I have no power to give it. But then, you do.'

'Maybe,' Quell mused, 'but I don't recognize anything you've drawn, and that makes me nervous.'

Cartographer walked along one side and pointed a withered finger down at the far end of the map. 'Do you see this straight, wide groove? All the rest funnels into this path, the path we need to take. The best maps show you the right direction. The best maps are the ones that lead you to a specific destination.'

Reccanto Ilk scratched at his head, looking bewildered. 'But that's what maps are for what's he glommering on about?'

'Not all maps,' corrected Cartographer, with a shake of his head and nothing, Precious concluded, could ever be as solemn as a dead man's shake of the head. 'Objective rendition is but one form in the art of cartography, and not even the most useful one.'

'If you say so,' said Master Quell. 'I'm still uneasy.'

'You have few other options, Wizard. The carriage is damaged. The marital argument is even now extending beyond the town's limits and will soon engulf this entire island in a conflagration of disputing versions of who-said-what.'

'He's smarter than he was before,' observed Faint.

'That's true,' said Reccanto.

'I gather more of myself, yes,' said Cartographer, giving them all another ghastly smile.

Flinches all round.

'How come,' asked Quell, 'you never showed this talent before?'

The corpse straightened. 'I have displayed numerous talents on this journey, each one appropriate to the situation at the time. Have you forgotten the coconuts?'

Faint rolled her eyes and said, 'How could we forget the coconuts?'

'Besides,' resumed Cartographer, 'as an uninvited guest, I feel a pressing need to contribute to the enterprise.' One ragged hand gestured at the scribbles on the track. 'Invest power into this, Master Quell, and we can be on our way.'

'To somewhere we can stop for a time?'

Cartographer shrugged. 'I am not able to predict the situations awaiting us, only that in general they are not particularly threatening.'

Quell looked as if he needed to p.i.s.s again. Instead, he turned back to the carriage. 'Everyone on board. Precious, you're with me as usual. Same for you, Mappo.' He paused. 'The rest of you, get ready.'

'For what?' Gruntle asked.

'For anything, of course.'

Reccanto, still strutting after his extraordinary on-the-knees skewering lunge, slapped one hand on the huge warrior's back. 'Don't fret, friend, you'll get used to all this eventually. Unless,' he added, 'it kills you first.'

Cartographer held up some ropes. 'Who will kindly tie me to a wheel?'

Night sweeps across the Dwelling Plain. Along the vast vault of the sky the stars are faint, smudged, as if reluctant to sharpen to knife points amidst the strangely heavy darkness. The coyotes mute their cries for this night. Wolves flee half blind in formless terror, and some will run until their hearts burst.

South of the western tail of the Gadrobi Hills, a lone chain-clad figure pauses in his journey, seeing at last the faint bluish glow that is the ever-beating heart of the great, legendary city.

Darujhistan.

Three leagues west of him, three more strangers gaze upon that selfsame glow, and in the eyes of one of them unseen by the others there is such dread, such anguish, as would crush the soul of a lesser man. His gauntleted hand steals again and again to the leather-wrapped grip of his sword.

He tells himself that vengeance answered is peace won, but even he does not quite believe that. Beyond the city awaiting him, the future is a vast absence, a void he now believes he will never see, much less stride into.

Yet, for all the tumultuous, seething forces of will within these arrayed strangers, none among them is the cause of the night's thick, palpable silence.

Less than a league north of the three strangers, seven Hounds are arrayed along a ridge, baleful eyes fixed upon the glow of the city.

The beasts possess the capacity to detect a rabbit's rapid heartbeat half a league away, so they hear well the tolling of the twelfth bell, announcing the arrival of midnight in the city of Darujhistan.

And as one, the seven Hounds lift their ma.s.sive heads, and give voice to a howl.

The stars are struck into blazing sparks overhead. The High King halts in mid-stride, and the ancient, stubborn blood in his veins and arteries suddenly floods cold as ice. For the first time in this journey, Kallor knows a moment of fear.

Havok's long head snaps up and the beast skitters to one side. Astride the animal, Samar Dev makes a desperate grab for Karsa, lest she be thrown to the ground, and she can feel the sudden tautness of every muscle in the huge warrior.

Ahead of them, Traveller pauses, his shoulders hunching as if those all too close howls even now lash at his back. Then he shakes himself, and marches on.

Atop a cornice of a gate facing the south plain, a squat toad-like demon lifts its head, pointed ears suddenly alert.

Then, as the howls slowly fade, the demon settles once more.

Although now, at last, it can feel, rising up from the very earth, rising up to s.h.i.+ver along its bones, the rumble of heavy paws on distant ground.