Loremaster - Palace Of Kings Part 4

darkness as the blade bounced off the Nightshard's arm.

Thane's hand burned with numbness from tile force of a

stroke and he quickly stepped back into the entrance.

'Thanehand!' Krulshards screamed, tearing the owl from his face and throwing it to the floor. The Nightshards had broken the circle around Thoron and now filled the entrance of the chamber. Rage dribbled from their mouths and jagged spears were raised to kill Thane. Esteron reared, Thras.h.i.+ng with his forelegs at the Nightshards' armour. Thane drew his dagger, that Duclos the swordsman had given him, and

17.

ducking beneath Esteron's hooves he slashed helplessly at the Nightmare shapes that towered over them. Mulcade stooped at the Nightshards' faces, ripping at their eyes, but his talons only screeched across their smooth, blind faces.

'Grandfather!' Thane cried, as he lost his footing and slipped beneath the leading Nightshard, the beast's spearblade now a handspan from his heart.

Suddenly a rus.h.i.+ng wind filled the entrance, pa.s.sing so close to Thane's shoulder that he felt it touch his face, and something carried by the wind forced the Nightshard back, sending his spear harmlessly into the ground beside Thane's head. A blinding flash of light filled the chamber, then another and another, each one killing a Nightbeast as it exploded, sending them cras.h.i.+ng to the floor. Krulshards screamed, covering his face with his malice against the flashes of light and reached up, scrambling wildly with outstretched fingers for the skinning hook.

'They will not find you alive, foul Galloper,' he spat at the old man, gripping the handle of his hook and pulling hard at Thoron's throat. Thoron struggled desperately as the blade tore through the muscles below his jaw. Kicking with all his strength at Krulshards' bone black fingers he toppled the Master of Nightmares, sending him stumbling backwards to trip over the body of Silverwing where it lay on the chamber floor. Thoron screamed as the hook tore free, his head slumping forwards. Darkness closed about him, shutting out the pain.

'Thane,' he gurgled, his mouth falling uselessly open.

Krulshards sprang quickly to his feet, clutched at Thoron's limp and lifeless legs and spun him once.

'He is dead, Master!' Kerzolde cried, jumping between two Nightshards still defending the chamber and swinging his hammer at Thane. Krulshards looked from his weakening shadow to his dying blind beasts and grabbed Kerzolde by his iron collar. ,

'We must escape,' he hissed, 'before that Archer of

18.

Clatterford strengthens my shadow with his foul blades of gla.s.s. Quickly, come! There are secret roads where even the Gallopersp.a.w.n will not dare to follow us.'

'Master, I follow!' Kerzolde cried, disappearing into a low entrance on the far side of the chamber, running at the heels of the Master of Nightbeasts into the bowels of the mountain, where night grew thick enough to touch and tasted bitter on the tongue.

Thane had watched Krulshards attack his grandfather but was powerless to help him. Whatever was killing the Nightshards was travelling in the rus.h.i.+ng wind pa.s.sing just above his head. Carefully he turned, rolling on to his stomach, and saw the great Bow of Orm in Kyot's hand, the string still singing softly from the last arrow-shaft to touch it. Glancing back into the chamber he saw the floor littered with the Nightshards' tangled bodies.

'You overcame the darkness!' Thane whispered, rising to his knees.

'No!' replied Kyot. 'Rockspray took each arrow out of the quiver; he guided my hands and became my eyes. He really is a mighty bird of war!'

Thane laughed, rising to his feet. 'And the Armourers of Stumble Hill must have great skill with the hammer to forge such arrow-heads, for each one brought sunlight into the darkness. I clearly saw Krulshards' shadow.'

Kyot frowned, and moving forwards, turned over the nearest Nightshard, pulled out the arrow-shaft and examined it.

'These arrows are not from Stumble Hill,' he exclaimed, pa.s.sing the charred shaft to Thane. 'We have great skill to forge steel arrow-heads but these are made of gla.s.s!'

Kyot reached into his quiver, withdrew the remaining arrows and pa.s.sed them to Thane. 'These arrows were made at Stumble Hill; look how the Armourer forged the fine steel points, but I do not know who made the gla.s.s arrow-heads, or why Rockspray chose them out of the quiver. My father gave

me the quiver ready-loaded just before I left the tower of Stumble Hill. All he said before we took to the Greenway was "Use each one sparingly, for there are none to match them in all Elundium." '

Thane frowned, pa.s.sing the arrows back to Kyot, 'Well, whoever made them, they had a great power in the darkness, but do not forget it is in the arm that pulls the string that the greatness lies.'

Willow called out urgently, 'Hurry, Thoron is wounded.'

Thane, with Mulcade on his shoulder, Kyot with Rockspray on his, and Esteron, followed Willow into the highdomed chamber and stood below Thoron's dangling boots.

Slowly he turned in the icy draught of mountain air, warm drops of blood dripping from the gaping wound in his neck.

'Grandfather,' Thane whispered, reaching up to touch the old man's boots, but they were beyond his reach.

'Do you think he is still alive?' asked Kyot, feeling the blood splash on his face as he looked up into the darkness.

'It is safe to light your spark now,' Willow said, turning to Thane.

Thane lit the spark and handed it to Kyot. Esteron whinnied softly and knelt for Thane to climb on to the saddle.

Thane held on with both hands as Esteron rose to his feet, and then balanced on tiptoe and tried to listen for his grandfather's heartbeat. Thoron's beard had grown into a thick and tangled mess, full of half-eaten sc.r.a.ps of food that were stiff and greasy to the touch. Gingerly Thane gathered the beard in his left hand and cut it away just below the chin, and putting his ear to the old man's chest, he listened and heard in the night's silence a faint heartbeat.

'He is still alive,' he whispered, feeling tears of joy well up in his eyes.

'Quick, bind the wound in his neck before he bleeds to death,' Kyot called. 'Use the scarfs'

Thane let the dirty beard fall to the ground and untied the summer scarf from his arm. It had become his banner of light

in the shadows of World's End, somehow catching and holding the sunlight, and even here in the darkness the words of love that Elionbel had sewn into the silk shone and sparkled.

'Elionbel,' Thane whispered, lifting his grandfather's head and carefully wrapping the scarf across the gaping wound.

Thoron's blood quickly soaked into the silk, turning the picture of the sun bright red and it seemed almost as if it were glowing in the dark.

Willow gasped, looking at the bright colours in the scarf, 'The sun has come into the City of Night!'

'That scarf has great powers,' Kyot muttered, gripping the spark to stop his hand from shaking.

'No!' Thane whispered fiercely. 'It is my mother's summer scarf. I took it from her at our parting. If it s.h.i.+nes at all it is because it reflects her love of the sunlight, for she wove it in the shadows of the great wall that rings the Granite City.' The anger in Thane's voice ebbed away as he whispered, 'She did not dabble in magic.'

Kyot bit his tongue, wis.h.i.+ng he had kept his thoughts to himself. There was something about the scarf, something magical, that made it s.h.i.+ne. He had seen it during the battle, catching all the glories of the sun, and driving back the Mghtbeasts' shadows. Sighing, he quickly changed the subject.

He pointed at Thoron's wrists and asked how they were going to cut through the chains to get him down. Thane examined the iron shackles and saw that the lock was a simple

iron bolt, rusty with age, that pa.s.sed through two crudelyhammered f.l.a.n.g.es on either side of the shackles.

'Two hammer blows should break open these chains,' he answered, searching the chamber floor for something heavy enough to use.

'Will this do?' Willow called from the far side of the chamber, holding up the mace that Kerzolde had dropped as he fled at Krulshards' heels.

Thane took the long-handled hammer and struck a sharp

blow at the shackle on Thoron's left wrist. The force of the blow sent the iron pin flying across the chamber and the shackle broke in two, releasing Thoron's arm and sending him spinning against Thane, knocking him off the saddle on to the chamber floor. Esteron knelt again for Thane to climb back into the saddle.

'Let me help you,' willow called out, springing lightly on to the saddle beside Thane and steadying the old man's legs.

Thane swung the hammer again and broke open the second shackle. Thoron slumped into his grandson's arms and Thane gently lowered him into the saddle.