Aiduels sin, p.35
Aiduel's Sin, page 35
‘The duke has reported that he’s mustering his troops as fast as he can, including drawing forces from the Canas River garrisons. He intends to march north to meet the threat as soon as possible.’
Arion felt sick inside. ‘Your Majesty, I need to get onto a ship, and I need to go home. Right now.’
‘I’d prefer you to stay and to join my armies, Lord Arion. To help me to crush Condarr before we face Elannis.’ After Sendar said this, he appeared to take note of the tension in Arion’s demeanour, before adding, ‘But very well, if you must leave, then leave. Get to the harbour, and you have my authority to order the vessel which brought you here to take you home.’
‘Thank you, Your Majesty.’
As soon as Arion had finished the sentence, he set off running.
–
He sprinted across the city, running without any shortness of breath and feeling the air crackling around him. He was dashing along as quickly as anyone else could have managed, sustaining this speed for the duration of the run.
He heard a number of people cursing him as he rushed past them, but he did not care. He had to get back onto a boat and return to Septholme. Maybe he would not be there for the first engagement, but if Gerrion could act to delay the enemy, Arion would be able to join the Western Canasar armies for subsequent battles. Perhaps for the key battle.
He could still try to make things right, and could yet atone for his error in coming here. He just needed to get onto that ship and get back home. Then he could protect his family and could once again be the hero to save Western Canasar.
As he reached the dockside area, however, he could hear horns blowing. They were sounding from the harbour mouth and from all along the city’s seafront walls. He looked out over the harbour, towards the narrow entrance between the massive whitewashed walls on either side. And what he saw there appalled him.
A chain was being raised across the mouth of the harbour. Massive thickened metal links were rising out of the water, being pulled upwards by giant winches on either side. The Andarron harbour entrance was being sealed.
Arion looked out past the harbour mouth to the seas beyond, and what he spotted there was equally shocking; a massive fleet of foreign ships. Certainly, upwards of thirty vessels, their design and flags marking them out as Dei Magnun. The chain across the harbour mouth was being raised in response to this newly arrived threat, to prevent the assault on the city by the most formidable naval force in the world.
Arion stopped, suddenly feeling out of breath and stricken with panic. There was no way that he could now leave here by sea. No way that he could return home to Septholme, other than across the country, through Condarr and Rednar. Across lands which were now at war.
Once again, he cursed himself for his obsession with Allana dei Monis. He had abandoned his family and his people to the threat of Elannis and Dei Magnus. All for the sake of his infatuation with and lust for a woman whom he barely knew. And he had been played for a fool, for she was not even here.
And now he was trapped, at the start of a war, hundreds of miles from home.
19
Corin
–
Year of Our Lord,
After Ascension, 770AA
The cries of the felrin continued in the seconds after the beasts had made their presence known. Judging from the sound of their chilling calls, it seemed as if each of the creatures were moving closer. Rapidly.
Corin’s party were bunching together, all of them peering outwards as they stood with weapons drawn. Corin was also scanning their surroundings, and he recognised that this was a particularly perilous location to be facing something as swift and agile as a felrin. There were too many huge boulders obscuring the view around them, and too many overhangs from which a deadly predator could launch itself at them from high above.
From where he was standing, Corin could see four points from which a creature could emerge just a few metres away. He knew that he might not be granted sufficient time to use his powers if a felrin was tearing towards him.
Corin could feel Blackpaw’s bloodlust rising as the beast prepared to fight, but he could also sense its protectiveness towards Agbeth. The creature would be hamstrung in any battle by its need to keep Corin’s wife out of harm. Corin reinforced that message to it; protect Agbeth, no matter what. Blackpaw was growling with menace, but it was not yet returning the cries of its felrin kin.
‘Keep moving!’ Corin shouted, making a decision. ‘Try to find some open ground.’
The party did as he said, passing in single-file into a narrow passage between rocks ahead, before hurrying along the right-hand side of a massive and jagged boulder. Rennik and Charrek were at the front of their group; the former was carrying his spear, and the latter was wielding a one-handed axe. Corin was braced for a sudden attack, his senses alert for any sensation of a feral mind drawing close, but the group was still untouched as they emerged around the corner of the rock.
‘Corin!’ Rennik shouted. ‘Up there!’
The Borl was pointing up the scree-laden slope towards an area of open space, which was perhaps fifty metres past their current position. The centre of this area was at least ten metres from the surrounding rocks, on all sides. It would give them slightly more time to react to a felrin’s deadly approach.
Without waiting for Corin’s response, Rennik was already heading that way, with Charrek at his side. The party hurried after the Borl warrior, while the threatening calls of approaching felrin still carried across the valley. As the group reached the centre point of the open space, they formed a circle, facing outwards. Kernon, Rennik, Charrek, Nethmar and Arex were to the exterior, all with weapons raised. Completing this external circle was Blackpaw.
Corin, Hellin and Menni remained in the centre, with Corin facing in the opposite direction to Blackpaw. He was using his connection with the beast to see through its eyes, at the same time as looking through his own. That way, he could keep watch on all directions at once.
However, he actually sensed the first of the felrin arriving, moments before he saw it. He could feel an alien and vicious mind, racing low on four legs through a crevice to the west. He could observe its progress through its own eyes, and could witness the moment when the circle of prey emerged into view…
STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP!
A grey-furred beast leapt out into the open higher ground above the party’s position, at the same time that invisible tendrils ripped out of Corin’s mind towards it, forcing his command upon it. He could feel the felrin’s arms and legs seizing up, despite enraged resistance. The creature landed heavily on these paralysed limbs, before tumbling across the shallow slope down towards Corin’s party.
This felrin was big, close in size to Blackpaw, and it was making a shrieking noise from its throat as it rolled. Rocks and scree were flying up into the air as it skidded over them, and Corin could feel the beast fighting furiously against the paralysing command. This was to no avail, and its momentum ended just paces from the group’s circle. Rennik and Charrek charged towards the suddenly stricken creature.
Whilst this was happening, Corin observed a second felrin appearing around a rock from an easterly direction, witnessed through Blackpaw’s eyes. He could feel Blackpaw tensing up and preparing to fight as the rival beast bounded forwards. However, Corin again intervened, sending a paralysing instruction to this new arrival.
This newcomer also fought against the command. It almost made it to their defensive ring on jerking limbs before it collapsed forwards, its maw snapping shut. Kernon and Nethmar launched into immediate attack against this beast, the blades of their axes glinting in the sun as they were raised high, before biting down deep into the felrin’s flank.
Across from them, in Corin’s own eyeline, Rennik was stabbing his spear into the other vulnerable felrin. This creature’s limbs were jerking in response to each thrust, with claws extended, and Corin watched as one spasming rear limb almost caught the Borl fighter. With each new wound inflicted by the Chosen warriors, the fury of the two restrained creatures was renewed, and their feral willpower struggled against Corin’s control.
Corin could hear the cries of the other two unseen felrin drawing closer, at the same time that the first pair of attackers were straining to resist him. More distantly, he could hear the shrieking howls of yet more felrin, and his heart sank. He could certainly hold two of these creatures at bay, and possibly a handful more if he saw them coming. But with the speed at which the beasts moved, and the ferocious strength of their will, he doubted that he could keep his party safe from many more than that.
As he was thinking this, a third felrin appeared, leaping from the closest boulder to their north. Menni screamed as this beast launched itself towards her, and Corin saw Arex charging forwards to interpose himself between the creature and his clanswoman. Corin wanted to yell to the young warrior to stop, given that he had not yet gained control, but it was too late.
Even as Corin attempted to dominate the third felrin, it was taking another bound forward, claws pointed towards Arex. As Corin’s command to cease movement became embedded, the beast’s extended claws skewered the stomach of the young Karn warrior, and then it cast him aside as it jerked to a stop. Arex flew several metres down the slope, his body spinning. There was an audible crack as he landed head first against the hard ground.
Menni was screaming with panic as the third felrin became locked into place, under Corin’s power. This time, despite its need to protect Agbeth, Blackpaw lunged forward and buried both sets of front claws into the neck of the prone beast close to it. Whilst Blackpaw’s left claws then remained in place, skewering its rival, the right arm repeatedly lifted and stabbed downwards. Blood splattered outwards, coating Blackpaw’s fur.
Kernon ran out towards Arex’s limp body, but from the way that the young warrior’s neck was twisted at an unnatural angle, Corin already knew the outcome before his older brother announced, ‘He’s dead.’
As Menni wailed in reaction, Corin shouted, ‘Get back in the circle, Kernon!’
Two of the three felrin that had already assailed them were now dead, and the other was incapacitated. Corin was aware that the fourth felrin must be due to arrive imminently, but he could also hear multiple other cries from every direction. He knew that if they stayed here, they were doomed.
‘Corin!’ bellowed a frightened Rennik, echoing this thought. ‘We can’t fight this many!’
Corin was feeling panic for himself, for Agbeth, and for all of the lives around him. His eyes scanned their surroundings in desperation. What could they do? Where could they go?
Then a picture flashed into his mind, an image which was coming from Blackpaw. The cave. The murky place which Blackpaw had been remembering. The felrin was speaking to Corin, letting him know that its old home was close to here. But was it close enough to provide possible sanctuary? There was no time to ponder, so Corin transmitted an urgent command to the beast.
LEAD US THERE! PROTECT AGBETH!
‘This way!’ Corin shouted, as Blackpaw reacted and began to move off.
At that moment, another felrin streaked onto their open slope from the south, charging directly towards them. Corin’s response was immediate, sending out tendrils to lock the creature in place, which caused it to tumble forwards in their direction. He could see Nethmar starting to move towards the stricken beast, raising his great-axe high.
‘Leave it!’ Corin ordered. ‘Follow me! Follow Blackpaw!’
He did not wait to see the outcome. He turned away and then placed a hand onto Menni’s arm, forcibly dragging the frantic Karn woman along with him, in pursuit of Blackpaw. The felrin was soon setting a fast pace, its head turning to check in all directions as it moved. Corin could see Hellin in his peripheral vision as he ran, the older woman panting hard in the thin air as she tried to keep up. Corin could also hear other footsteps crunching on the rocky ground behind him.
The cries of multiple additional felrin now rang across the valley as Corin’s group fled. Indeed, there were a number of shrieks to the south, in the place where the party had made their first stand. Within these noises, Corin felt sure that a human-sounding scream had also echoed outwards, but he could not afford to stop and check who was still with him. His eyes were focused on Blackpaw’s moving form, as the beast carried Agbeth.
They were now running through a narrow and winding passage of rock, with high walls to either side of them. If they were attacked from above here, they would likely be finished. All that they could do was to keep running, despite lungs which were struggling to take in air. At one point, Corin heard another human scream some distance behind them, which was quickly drowned out by a cacophony of felrin cries.
After what seemed like hundreds of fraught metres of running through this passageway, they emerged again into a wider and more open space. The ground here was flatter, and strangely more verdant, with a greater abundance of vegetation and greenery. And the sense of recognition within Blackpaw’s mind was resounding. Although the creature did not have language, Corin could recognise the thought which flashed into its mind. Home.
THE CAVE! LEAD US TO THE CAVE!
The felrin started to move off to the left in response to the instruction. Corin followed, while taking note of who else was still with him. First, there was Menni, whose eyes were red, as if she had been crying whilst running. Next was Hellin, who was white-faced and panting heavily. Then Kernon, facing away from Corin, with axe still raised. Finally, Rennik was at the rear, looking grim and tired. There was no one else.
‘The others?’ Corin called out.
‘Nethmar attacked the fourth felrin,’ responded Rennik, as they moved. ‘We didn’t see him again. Charrek chose to remain behind, to defend the passage and to slow them.’
The human screams which Corin had heard were now explained. He was feeling shocked by the loss, and his lungs were burning, when they finally reached a narrow crevice. This appeared to slope downwards for ten metres to a cave-mouth at the end. At last, it seemed that there was a possible sanctuary, even if it was just a temporary one.
Corin was ready to follow Blackpaw into this cave, but the beast halted abruptly, then released an almighty roar in the direction of the entrance. Despite the burden of Agbeth on its back, the felrin crouched forwards with claws extended.
The answering howl from the cave was immediate, following which a grey and white beast, with claws out and jaws wide open, came barrelling out of the cave entrance towards Blackpaw. The two felrin clashed in a melee of savagery, ripping and slashing, before Corin had any opportunity to intervene.
STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP!
Even while Corin was feeling panic that one of the attacker’s claws might impale Agbeth, his command was taking effect on the grey and white creature, and freezing it in place. Blackpaw did not cease its own violence, however, and blood splattered against the crevice walls as Blackpaw’s claws penetrated into the enemy creature’s stomach, and its jaws clamped hard on the foe’s throat. After seconds of this, and an audible crunch as neck bones were shattered, the now limp enemy beast was tossed aside. Blackpaw then dropped down onto all four paws, before crawling under the low cave entrance.
Corin watched as Agbeth’s form barely cleared the ceiling of that entrance, and then he ushered Hellin and Menni to follow Blackpaw. Cries from the pursuing pack of felrin sounded ever nearer, and both Rennik and Kernon were still facing away from Corin.
‘Come on!’ Corin shouted. ‘Inside!’
He then followed Hellin and Menni, crouching down to enter the cave. He remained hunched over as he passed through a narrow, low tunnel. This extended for three metres, before emerging into a wider interior cave area which was perhaps five metres across, with a ceiling which was only slightly taller than Blackpaw. The space was illuminated by the dim light from the entrance passage, which revealed a dirt floor that was covered in bones and detritus. The place smelled rank.
But for Blackpaw, this small space had complete familiarity. For a long time, this had been the creature’s home.
Corin watched as Kernon and Rennik both emerged through the passage, each looking as panicked as Corin himself felt. Corin could sense an urgent frustration within Blackpaw as the calls and shrieks of the other felrin came closer. The beast had moved to the mouth of the passageway at the cave entrance, and had crouched down. Corin knew what Blackpaw wanted.
‘Quick!’ he shouted. ‘We need to get Agbeth and the frame off Blackpaw’s back, so it can fight!’
Corin and the others worked as quickly as possible to release the straps which were holding the carrying frame to Blackpaw. Corin’s hands were shaking, such that the task seemed to take longer than ever before. But then Agbeth was released, and Corin was lifting her free and was holding her in his arms. Separately, Rennik pulled the frame off Blackpaw’s back.
Blackpaw then took up a position blocking the end of the entrance passageway. Kernon and Rennik both moved to its flanks, with weapons raised. Blackpaw howled after a number of seconds. It was a chilling, shrieking call, which was piercingly loud within the confines of the cave. The sound seemed to announce that this place was Blackpaw’s territory, and that it would fight any rival which dared to enter.
Within moments, the call was answered by a cry which sounded like it was a few metres away, in the crevice outside. Then a second shriek, which seemed only slightly further back. Then many others, in the surrounding territory. Terrifying cries from multiple feral and deadly creatures, joining together. Howls that seemed to blend into one continuous and discordant chorus of menace.
Corin sought out the closest alien mind and was preparing himself to paralyse it. He was feeling exhausted from the run and from the thin air, and was also stunned by the rapid succession of losses that their group had suffered. But he knew that he could stop this next felrin. And the one which might follow it. But after that, how many others could he hold at bay? And how could they ever get out of here?
