* * *
‘Great Goddess protect us,’ Liss murmured, her head turning abruptly to the east. The three brothers, Hurl noted, had all turned as well.
‘What is it?’ she asked.
‘Amazing … Like nothing I have ever seen, nor expected to see.’
‘What, dammit!’
‘Elder Darkness, Night Eternal, unveiled there on the battlefield.’ She pulled her gaze from the silhouetted hills to look down to Hurl who stood next to her mount. ‘Things, Hurl, are rapidly sliding out of control out on that field. Forces are being summoned that would give even Ryllandaras pause. He is, after all, just one creature.’ She pointed. ‘But out there, magery such as that which consumed armies is being primed for wielding.’
‘So?’
‘So – we must find him before we ourselves are consumed.’
‘Let us …’ said one brother.
‘Leave him …’
‘To die,’ finished the last.
Liss turned on them. ‘He's too cunning. He will flee. I intend to make sure of it!’
‘I, as well,’ Rell added.
The three shrugged, their indifference raising the hairs of Hurl's neck. They moved not one after the other, or raggedly, but identically, at exactly the same moment in exactly the same way despite the sagging paralysis of shoulders, lips and arms. It was as if they were one. And there had always been something eerie about them. Something unsettling. Everyone felt it. For Hurl it was a prickling that struck right at the very centre of her being but which she couldn't exactly pin down. Intuitive. Something was very wrong about them.
Yet what could she do? They'd done nothing suspicious. Nothing to call them on. Quite the opposite, in fact. They'd been vital to the city's defence. And so she was stuck with them. Like horses, she reflected, sourly. They made themselves useful so you couldn't just kill them all. But she knew their true side – she was on to them. ‘So?’ She sighed. ‘What do you suggest?’
‘We should move. He's close. In the north. The brothers and I should be able to find him.’
Find him? Great Lady, they're actually going hunting for him! Well, it was what they came for. Personally, she'd hoped to wait till he got himself tarred by the Imperials then they could just step in and finish him off But there was still hope.
She went to her mount, gathered the reins. The red mare turned its head, watching her. Try anything and I'll kill you – you know it too. The mare shook her auburn mane. Hurl patted the bulging saddlebags strapped tight and padded in sheepskins. Yeah, she meant to make sure of it too.