A Time Of Dread (Of Blood and Bone #1)

‘No, they were not. My scouts have reported them blazing beyond my borders. Into the Land of the Faithful,’ Nara said. ‘I wonder what the Ben-Elim will make of this outbreak.’

Sig shrugged. She and her Order were not on the best of terms with the Ben-Elim. They tolerated one another, mostly because they shared a mutual enemy, but there was little trust or friendship between them.

‘The Kadoshim are moving, the wheels of some plot turning. I will send aid to you,’ Sig said. ‘More than one giant, a huntsman and a warrior fresh from his Long Night.’

‘We shall fight the Kadoshim together, as we always have,’ Nara said. ‘And you must feel no guilt in returning to Dun Seren now. From the reports thus far it is nothing Elgin and my warband cannot handle. Night raids, buildings torched, travellers attacked on my roads.’ Nara gave a wave of her hand. ‘We will bring them to heel. The greatest crime is that you are leaving without telling me your tales of my great-grandparents, something I was deeply looking forward to.’

‘When I return,’ Sig said, dipping her head at Nara’s graciousness. Nara’s kin flashed into her mind: Edana, Queen of Ardan and Conall, King of Domhain. They had been a good match, Edana’s solid sense and quiet bravery tempering Conall’s fiery temper and spontaneity. One other lost friend flickered through her mind, dark-haired, serious faced. A giant. A stab of pain. Ah, my Gunil. How is it I miss you as much now as I did the day you fell? With a shudder she pulled her thoughts back to the present.

‘By your leave, I shall make for Dun Seren today,’ Sig said.

A light rain was falling as Sig pulled herself into Hammer’s saddle. The bear gave a low grunt; Sig felt the strength and energy in her, eager to be off and out of the fortress after close to a moon of convalescence in a stable block. Her injured paw seemed fine, scars marking where the Kadoshim’s knife had pierced her.

She has her own sgeul, Sig thought, glancing at the fresh tattoos of thorns upon her own arm, marking the lives she’d taken since storming the Kadoshim’s lair. The sgeul was the giant’s ancient tradition, a tattooed band of thorns to mark every soul they had sent across the bridge of swords.

If I keep on going like this I will need a new arm, soon.

Cullen and Keld led their mounts over to Sig, both of them climbing into their saddles a little clumsily. Keld’s left hand was still bandaged around the stumps of his missing fingers, though the wounds were healing as well as could be hoped. There was a new look in Keld’s eye since they had found him strapped to the torturer’s cross, a barely contained anger, and Sig did not think it was over the loss of his fingers, although that had hit him hard. He was a huntsman, skilled with bow, spear, axe and knife. Sig had known him since he had been a bairn, watched him grow through his training at Dun Seren, always deadliest with two weapons in his hands, preferably axe and knife.

He will have to relearn. He is as strong as an ancient oak. It is losing his hound that has hit him hardest.

Sig looked down, saw Fen padding at Keld’s side, the surviving hound’s slate-grey fur striped now with thick scars, one ear almost missing, its edge jagged as a broken tooth.

Ach, the blood that has been spilt over the war between Kadoshim and Ben-Elim, and us caught in the middle.

‘All right, then?’ Cullen said to her. He was looking more himself, his arm out of a splint now, though it was obviously still causing some pain.

‘You need some poppy milk before we leave?’ Sig asked him.

‘No.’ Cullen shook his head. ‘Pain keeps you sharp.’ he grinned.

Sig sighed and shook her head.

There was a flapping of wings and Rab dropped from the sky, alighting on the pommel of Sig’s saddle. Hammer looked up over her shoulder and growled.

‘She doesn’t like uninvited guests,’ Sig said.

With a squawk Rab launched into the air.

‘You can sit here,’ Cullen called out and Rab flew to him and wrapped his talons around his saddle pommel.

‘Thank you,’ the white crow squawked.

‘You’re welcome,’ Cullen said with a smile.

‘Happy,’ Rab observed.

‘I am,’ Cullen replied. ‘I’ve fought Kadoshim, bloodied my sword and spear for the Order. Taken a wound for the Order. And there is more battle to be had out there,’ he said with a wave over Uthandun’s battlements.

To be young again.

‘What more could I ask for?’ Cullen finished.

‘My Hella back,’ Keld snarled. ‘My fingers back. Revenge.’

Cullen’s smile shrivelled.

An affliction of the young – speaking without thinking.

Sig muttered to Hammer and the bear lurched into motion, across the wide courtyard. The edges were lined with faces, the walls as well. Sig saw Queen Nara standing beside the open gates with Madoc and a handful of shieldmen about her, warriors and townsfolk turned out to bid them farewell, the battlements above crowded, too. There were more riders in the courtyard, forty or so of them gathered in front of a long stable block: those who had volunteered to finish their training in the weapons court at Dun Seren, hoping to join the Order and become men and women of the Bright Star.

They look like bairns, Sig thought, though she knew they were all aged around fifteen summers, a mixture of male and female, all having come through their first year in the weapons court. She stopped in front of them and spent a long, silent moment looking into each one’s eyes.

‘Long road ahead of us,’ she said, ‘marching into winter and who knows what else. Kadoshim, maybe. And I’ll be travelling fast, need to be in Dun Seren before Midwinter’s Day. But if that’s too much for you then you’ll not last long in the weapons court of Dun Seren. Want to wear this bright star?’ She tapped a silver brooch that fastened her cloak about her, saw nods amongst those gathered before her, their eyes bright with dreams of heroism and glory. ‘You’ll have to earn it, through blood, sweat and most likely a lot of tears.’

She gave them another long look, for the main part liked what she saw and grunted approvingly. Just as she was about to give the order to ride out, a horn blast rang from the gate-tower, a voice shouting, a guard pointing into the sky.

Shapes appeared from out of the rain, winged shapes, flying closer. Sig’s hand rose to her sword hilt, thinking it was Kadoshim, but then she saw their wings. They were white-feathered.

A hush fell over the courtyard as the winged warriors grew larger in the sky, a space opening up in the courtyard close to the gate, before Queen Nara. The beating of wings grew louder, three Ben-Elim spiralling down to them, one alighting before the Queen, the other two remaining airborne, looping in slow circles above them.

Hammer growled, deep and rumbling, and Sig rested a hand on the bear’s shoulder.

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