‘I am told I am most like my great-grandmother, Coralen, who was Conall’s sister,’ Cullen said.
Perhaps that is why you throw yourself so willingly into every battle, Sig thought, remembering Coralen fondly. Sig had admired Coralen’s ferocity and skill, remembered the first time she’d seen her, fighting traitorous giants from Sig’s own Clan, the Jotun. She looked at Cullen, at his red hair and the set of his shoulders and jaw. But there is something of your great-grandfather in you, too. A kindness about you. Sig’s mind was suddenly full of Corban, the man who had founded their Order. The Bright Star after whom it was named. The man she had grown to respect above all others. She felt a stab of pain at the thought of Corban, barely dulled by the passage of time.
You are greatly missed, Bright Star.
‘Perhaps, if you are staying here long enough, you could tell me something of my ancestors,’ Nara said to Sig. ‘It would be a fine thing to talk to someone who actually knew Edana and Conall, who spoke with them, drank with them, fought with them.’
‘I did all of those things,’ Sig said. ‘Edana and Conall were strong allies in those early days in the fight against the Kadoshim, and faithful friends to Corban, the founder of our Order.’
‘Aye.’ Nara nodded. ‘And nothing has changed there; there will always be a bond between my realm and the swords of Dun Seren.’
‘I do not doubt that,’ Sig said.
‘To prove that my words are not just air, I have something for you,’ Nara said. ‘A group of my young warriors-in-training have volunteered to accompany you back to Dun Seren. More than forty or so who wish to become warriors of your Order.’
‘That is good news,’ Sig said, ‘for which I am most grateful. The fight goes on, and fresh recruits are ever needed.’ Her eyebrows knitted together. ‘Riding to Dun Seren does not mean they will remain, though. Our training is hard. It tests both strength of sinew and strength of heart.’
‘As it should,’ Queen Nara said. ‘It is a noble cause.’
‘Aye,’ Sig agreed.
‘All the volunteers know this.’ Nara shrugged. ‘There is no insult or dishonour in trying and failing.’
‘Good,’ Sig rumbled. ‘And I will be happy to tell you my memories of your kin. If we may, I would stay a night or two more, until Hammer is well enough to travel.’
‘Perfect,’ Nara said, a smile lighting up her serious face.
‘And I hope for my huntsman to join me here. He pursued one of the Kadoshim’s servants who fled the battle.’
‘Yes, to the meat of it, then. Elgin has told me of what happened inside that hill. A dark and dreadful business, and the impudence of that fell creature,’ Nara snarled, ‘making its lair so close to one of my fortresses. I only wish that I could have been here in time to be a part of your raid.’ Her hand slipped to the hilt of her dagger.
I like this queen more and more.
‘Elgin was the greatest of help,’ Sig said. ‘We would not have succeeded without him. And his men fought bravely. It is no easy thing to walk into the darkness, and worse when you know a Kadoshim is lurking there.’
‘My men are brave and true,’ Nara said with pride. ‘Elgin has told me of all that occurred within the creature’s lair. The . . . ceremony.’
‘Aye,’ Sig said. ‘It is troubling. The sacrifice, so many acolytes.’ She shook her head. ‘This is something new.’
‘Do you think there are more, like that?’
Sig shrugged. ‘I suspect,’ she said, ‘but there is no proof – yet.’
‘I have sent messengers to my lords throughout Ardain, alerting them. We will scour the land.’
‘That is good. We must hunt them down and root them out. The Kadoshim are a plague, their deepest desire to drown the world in our blood.’
‘If they are here, in Ardain, I will find them,’ Nara said.
There was a noise from the far end of the hall, beyond the closed doors. Shouting, and suddenly all were reaching for weapons, Madoc, Nara’s first-sword stepping before her, steel glinting. Sig and Cullen strode across the feast-hall, Elgin with them, shouting commands. The doors opened a crack, a warrior’s head poked in. He called something out, but then a shape was bursting through above him, a bundle of white feathers.
‘SIG!’ Rab squawked as the warrior stabbed at the white crow with a spear.
‘HOLD!’ Sig bellowed. Cullen broke into a run.
Rab saw them and flew straight as an arrow towards them, giving the warrior that had tried to skewer him a baleful glare.
‘Why are you here?’ Sig said, looking at the daylight slanting through high windows. He’s been gone little over half a day.
Rab fluttered and perched on Cullen’s shoulder, hopping agitatedly from one taloned foot to the other.
‘Follow Rab,’ the bird cawed, flapping back up into the air. ‘Quickly, quickly. Rab found Keld’s hounds.’
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
BLEDA
Bleda stood in the courtyard of Drassil, waiting. Jin was nearby, and he felt her eyes upon him, though he refused to look. Ever since Israfil had announced that they would be wed she had smiled at him more, touched him more, even if it were just resting a hand upon his shoulder when he made her laugh.
Part of him liked it. It felt agreeable, he had to admit, and started other sensations fluttering in his belly which weren’t unpleasant, either. But he was also acutely aware of his mother’s presence at Drassil, as well as Old Ellac and a dozen more of his Sirak kin, and they seemed to be watching him all the time. He was straining to keep his cold-face on so much that it was a relief when he lay down in his cot at night and the torches were extinguished. Muscles in his face ached that he hadn’t known were there.
Controlling your emotions is a tricky business.
And Jin seems to be getting worse at it, instead of better.
There was the sound of hooves on cobbles and he was grateful for the distraction, though he felt a swell of sadness as well.
His kin were leaving Drassil.