The Faithful and the Fallen: Ruin Part 3

Muscles clenched and unclenched in the Kados.h.i.+m, a spasming ripple. Eventually he lowered his eyes.

'I seek our master's glory,' he growled.

'As do I,' Calidus said. 'Go after Meical and you will be rejoining our master in the Otherworld before you know it.' Calidus had turned his back and walked away. The once-Jehar looked about, called for help and then ran from the chamber, a dozen or so Kados.h.i.+m surging after him.

'If you find them, try and kill Meical's puppet, his Bright Star; you may actually achieve something useful with your death that way,' Calidus called out after them.

Uthas had felt a glimmer of hope. To retrieve the starstone axe they would need to slay Balur.

He wished it was so, but as yet there had been no sign of the Kados.h.i.+m that had left during the night.

'Your comrades that went after the axe, they may have killed Balur, retaken the axe.'

'Maybe.' Calidus shrugged. 'But I doubt it. More likely is that the Kados.h.i.+m that went after the axe are slain, their spirits returned to the Otherworld. Meical may be foolish in some things, but he would have set a guard, and he knows how to fight.'

Uthas could not hide his disappointment as his hope flickered and died.

'It is of no matter. Danjal has always been a fool; we are better off without his rebellious nature. Do not fear Balur. I will protect you. Your future is with me, now. Your loyalty to Asroth will not be forgotten. I have the cauldron because of you, and I am grateful.' The old man paused a moment; Uthas took strength from his words.

'How many are with Balur?' Calidus asked him.

'A score that cannot be accounted for, his dreaming b.i.t.c.h of a daughter Ethlinn amongst them. And none of our young have been found they were hidden in a higher chamber. Around the same number again.' He shook his head, a wave of regret sweeping him. 'The Benothi are close to extinction, our numbers . . .'

'Too late for remorse. You've made your choice. And a wise one you have chosen the victorious side. The Kados.h.i.+m walk this world, and this is only the beginning.' Calidus grinned a smile that didn't reach his cold eyes He is right. And added to that, what other road is there for me to follow? The Benothi's fate is entwined with the Kados.h.i.+m now.

Uthas took a shuddering breath. 'And what now?' he asked Calidus. 'You have the cauldron. What would you do with it?'

'Make it safe.'

'It is safe enough here.'

'Clearly not. We took it. No, it must be taken to Tenebral. There it will be at the centre of a web that has taken me many years to build. I will have Lykos and his Vin Thalun, and Nathair's eagleguard to protect it, along with your Benothi and my Kados.h.i.+m.'

Uthas frowned. 'A long journey. Much could happen.'

'Aye, but it will have an honour guard this world has never seen before. You Benothi and over a thousand Kados.h.i.+m.'

'And once it is in Tenebral?'

'One thing at a time. First, to journey there with the cauldron. I would have you and your Benothi build a wain for the cauldron to travel upon, st.u.r.dy and strong.'

'We shall do it. To Tenebral, you say. For that you will need Nathair.'

Calidus looked thoughtful and frowned. 'Yes. The time has come for me to speak with our disillusioned King.'

Calidus had tasked Uthas with keeping a watch over Nathair. During the battle he had sat on the dais steps before the cauldron, the truth of his actions unfolding before him, settling upon him like a shroud. After having believed himself to be the Seren Disglair for so long, witnessing the events he'd set in action had only left him questioning his true position. After the battle he had attempted to confront Calidus, who had just ignored him. It seemed that was the last straw for Nathair. He had flown into a rage and attacked Calidus, spraying spittle as he spat curses, denounced him as a traitor, but Uthas had grabbed Nathair, held him, and Calidus had struck him unconscious. He had then cut a lock of hair from Nathair's head.

'Where is Nathair?' Calidus asked him.

'Out there,' Uthas waved at the gates.

'Accompany me. I need Nathair's cooperation. Some persuasion will be necessary, and your example may be helpful.'

'And if he does not agree?'

'There is always this,' Calidus said. He opened his cloak to show a crude clay figure, strands of dark hair embedded within it.

Does he have strands of my hair bound within an effigy of clay? Uthas felt a s.h.i.+ver of fear at that thought.

'But I'd rather it didn't come to that,' Calidus said, dropping his cloak.

'Compa.s.sion?'

'Don't be an idiot,' Calidus said with a sneer. 'It would be one more thing that I have to maintain it is hard work, conquering a world.'

As they strode towards the gate one of the Kados.h.i.+m called Calidus' name. Uthas recognized its body as Sumur, the leader of the Jehar who had followed Nathair. 'This body,' the Kados.h.i.+m said, its voice a serpentine growl. 'It is weakening, not responding as it did.'

'Men of flesh must eat, to restore their energy,' Calidus said. 'Ideally every day.'

'Eat?'

'You must consume sustenance: fruit, meat, many things.' Calidus waved a hand.

As Uthas watched, ripples of movement ran across once-Sumur's face. The black eyes bulged, lips pulling back in a rictus of pain as a scream burst from its lips. For a moment the flesh of the face writhed, fingers trying to gouge their way out. With a twist of the neck and a groan the features became smooth again, calm, expressionless.

'This human objects to my presence,' the serpentine voice said. Something pa.s.sing for a smile twisted its face, a tongue licking its lips. 'It gives good sport.'

Uthas was horrified. He had a.s.sumed the souls of the hosts had been displaced, were not still residing trapped within their own bodies, struggling to evict those who possessed them. He shuddered such a thing would be a living death.

'He was a master swordsman, all of your new hosts were,' Calidus said, raising his voice to all the Kados.h.i.+m in the great hall. 'Examine their souls, pick them apart, absorb their skills. Learn the ways of your new bodies. And eat.'

Sibilant laughter echoed about the chamber as Calidus walked away. Uthas saw one Kados.h.i.+m drop to the ground, burying its face in the belly of a dead horse, the wet sound of flesh tearing.

'They are like children,' Calidus sighed. 'I have much to teach them in little time, which is why I need Nathair to cooperate.'

They found the King of Tenebral a short way along the road that approached Murias, the tattered bodies of Jehar warriors and their horses scattered around him, shredded to a b.l.o.o.d.y mess by the raven storm that Queen Nemain had set upon them. He was stood with his great draig, holding its reins loosely in one hand while it feasted on the corpse of a horse. It pulled its snout from a smashed ribcage to regard them with small black eyes, gore dripping from its jaws. As they drew nearer to Nathair, Uthas glimpsed amongst the fern and gorse one of his kin whom he had set to watch the King of Tenebral.

Nathair heard their approach and looked up. He whispered something to the draig, which went back to devouring the horse's innards. Nathair turned his back to them, looking out over the bleak landscape of moorland, gentle hills undulating into the horizon.

'He is out there,' Nathair said quietly.

'Who do you speak of?' Calidus asked.

'The Bright Star. For so long I have believed that t.i.tle was mine.' He turned, calm now, Uthas saw, his rage from the cauldron's chamber gone, spent. His eyes were dark-rimmed and red. A bruise mottled his jaw.

'You have deceived me, all this time.' Nathair looked first at Calidus, then past him, to Alcyon. The giant dropped his head, not meeting Nathair's gaze.

'You would not have understood,' Calidus said.

Nathair raised his eyebrows at that. 'Something we agree on. My first-sword Veradis will have your heads for this. Thankfully he is not here to witness how far we have fallen.'

'Time will be the judge,' Calidus said with a shrug. 'But there is still a future for you. For us.'

'What, this is not to be my execution, then?' Nathair's eyes flickered to Alcyon and Uthas behind Calidus, and then further off, to the Benothi guards lurking in shadows.

'No. I came to talk.'

'It seems to me the time for that has pa.s.sed. But go on . . .'

'You see things as you have been taught. Good, evil; right, wrong. But things are not always as they seem-'

'No, they are not. You are living proof of that. Claiming to be one of the Ben Elim, yet you are the opposite: Kados.h.i.+m, a fallen angel, servant of Asroth.'

'You speak of things about which you have no understanding,' Calidus snapped. 'Kados.h.i.+m, Ben-Elim, they are just names given by those too ignorant to comprehend. Remember, history is written by the victors. It is not an una.s.sailable truth, but a twisted, moulded thing, corrupted by the victor's perspective. Elyon is not good; Asroth is not evil. That is a child's view. The world is not scribed in black and white, but in shades of grey.'

'So you would have me believe that Asroth is good? That Elyon is the deceiver?'

'No, something in the middle of that, perhaps, with both parties capable of both good and evil. Like you. More human, if you like. Would that be so hard to imagine?'

Uthas saw something flicker across Nathair's face. Doubt?

'Your histories tell that Asroth would destroy this world of flesh,' Calidus continued. 'They claim that was Asroth's purpose in the War of Treasures. Ask yourself: if that were true, then why is he so desperate to come here, to become flesh?'

'I would not dare to guess after having been proved so monumentally naive,' Nathair said with a sour twist of his lips. Something of his earlier rage returned, a vein pulsing in his temple.

'Don't be so dramatic,' Calidus scolded, 'like a sulking child. I have come to you to speak hard truths and would hear you speak in return as the man you can be, the leader of men, the king. Not as a petulant child.' He took a moment, waiting, letting the weight of his words subdue Nathair's anger. 'Now think on this. Asroth would come here not to destroy, but to rule. He would fas.h.i.+on an empire, just as you have imagined. A new order, one defined by peace, once the dissenters were dealt with. No different from your plans. And you could still be a part of it. Our numbers are too few; we will need someone to rule the Banished Lands. Someone who could unite the realms. I believe that someone is you.'

'And you think I would believe anything that crosses your lips, now. After this?' Nathair gestured at the towering bulk of Murias.

'Yes. I would. Put your anger, your pride and shame aside and think. War has raged in the Otherworld for aeons. It has been b.l.o.o.d.y and violent and heartbreaking. I have seen my brothers cut down, broken, destroyed. And I have returned the violence upon the Ben-Elim a hundredfold. I did what I had to do. Withholding some of the truth from you was necessary. Difficult decisions must be made in war, for the greater good. You know this.' Calidus paused, holding Nathair with his gaze.

'There are some lines that cannot be crossed, regardless of the greater good,' Nathair spat.

'You forget, Nathair. I know you. I know what you have done. What lines you have already crossed in the name of the greater good.'

Nathair raised a hand and took a step back, as if warding a blow. His draig stopped crunching bones to cast its baleful glare upon Calidus.

'I do not say it as a criticism, but as a compliment. Once you are committed to a cause you will do whatever is necessary to see it through. Whatever it takes, regardless of the cost. A rare ability in this world of frailty and weakness. And one that we need. I respect that. So I ask you, Nathair: join us. Commit to our cause and you will gain all you desire, see your dreams come to fruition, your ambition rewarded. And if you think on it, it is not so different from all that you were striving for before the scales fell from your eyes.'

Alcyon s.h.i.+fted from behind Calidus. 'Someone comes,' he said, pulling his newly acquired war-hammer from his back.

'Where?' Calidus asked, hand on sword hilt, eyes narrowed.

Alcyon pointed south-east, into the moorland. A dark speck solidified, moving at considerable speed.

'It is one of my brothers,' Calidus said. 'One of those that left with Danjal.'

They stood in silence as the figure approached. It covered the ground quickly, running with a loping gait. As it drew near, Uthas saw it was weaving.

And something is wrong with its arm.

It must have seen them standing on the road, for it veered towards them, collapsing before Calidus. Its hand was severed just above the wrist, blood still trickling from the wound. It was pale as milk, veins black within its skin. Nathair's draig gave a low rumbling growl.

'I am weak,' the Kados.h.i.+m rasped. 'This body is failing.'

'I warned you,' Calidus said. 'These bodies are still mortal. Soon it will die from loss of blood.'

'Help me,' the Kados.h.i.+m whispered.

'Swear to obey me in all things,' Calidus said, voice cold as winter-forged iron.

'I swear it. Please . . .'

'Bind his arm,' Calidus snapped at Alcyon, kneeling to put an arm about the injured Kados.h.i.+m. 'You must look after your new body, Bune. Like a weapon, it must be cared for. You have lost much blood, but if we treat your wound and feed you, all will be well.'

'My thanks,' the creature croaked. 'I would not return to the Otherworld so soon.'

'Then no more of this foolish charging off to fight unwinnable battles. Danjal? The others?'

'All gone, back to the Otherworld. There were too many against us, and these bodies . . .' Bune held up his uninjured arm. 'It is taking me some time to adjust to it.'

'It will. Come, back to our kin where we can tend you better.' Calidus glanced at Alcyon, who finished binding the wrist and then lifted Bune in his arms. Calidus led them back towards the gates of Murias, Nathair and his draig following slowly behind. Birds circled lazily above, the remnants of Nemain's ravens lured by the stench of carrion. Uthas glared at them with something akin to hatred, thinking of Fech. As they stepped within the shadow of the fortress, Uthas saw a raven perched on a ledge in the cliff face. It stared back at him. For a moment he was convinced it was Fech and he raised a hand involuntarily to his scarred face.

Surely not. Fech is not brave or stupid enough to return here.

Calidus looked back to Nathair.

'Think on my words, King of Tenebral. I would have you fight beside me in the coming war. No more deceptions.'

Nathair paused before the gates and put a hand upon his draig's neck. Together the King and beast watched Calidus and his companions enter Murias.

'Watch him closely,' Calidus whispered to Uthas. 'If he tries to leave, stop him. Whatever it takes.'

CHAPTER FOUR.

MAQUIN.