A giant walked in, taller than Sig, though not as broad, dark-haired as she was fair, his hair wild, poking in all directions, apart from the warrior braid that coiled across one shoulder.
‘Well met, Tain,’ Sig said to him, and he beamed to see her, a broad smile that seemed to take over most of his face. It was unusual to see a giant smile, never mind a smile so huge or teeth so bright they could dazzle a charging warband.
‘I am glad you are returned to us safely,’ Tain said, looking from Sig to her companions. He was the crow master of Dun Seren, overseeing the care of the birds like Rab that nested in Crow Tower, a few score rare and gifted crows that had mastered the art of speech. They were born and bred from Crow Tower, their talent passed on to them by their sire, who at this moment was sitting upon Tain’s other shoulder.
Half of the crow’s feathers were missing, patches of pink skin flaking, his beak long and curved, old beyond years. The crow regarded Sig and her companions with bright, intelligent eyes, though, undimmed by his age. Those eyes swivelled to the Kadoshim’s head upon Byrne’s desk, and he squawked and bobbed, excited.
No. Pleased with himself.
‘Well met, Craf,’ Sig said, keeping the fondness she felt for the old crow from her voice. It did not do any good to show the crow that kind of kindness, he was notorious for exploiting it, as Tain, the giant he was perched upon, would readily testify.
‘Craf right then,’ the bird squawked, ‘Kadoshim in Ardan.’
‘It’s called Ardain, now, but yes, Craf,’ Byrne said.
‘Ardain, Ardan,’ Craf grumbled.
The world has changed much since you were hatched, old crow, Sig thought. Realms come and gone. Ardan, Domhain, Narvon and Cambren in the west becoming one realm, Ardain. And the Land of the Faithful, ruled by the Ben-Elim. Once the realms of Tenebral, Helveth, Carnutan, Tarbesh and Isiltir. And still the Ben-Elim spread their influence ever wider.
‘Though, to be fair, we all thought it so, and sent Sig based on that decision,’ Byrne pointed out to Craf.
‘Craf’s fledgling bairns first to tell,’ Craf said, flapping his wings in annoyance, a black feather drifting to the ground. Craf watched it fall with a beady eye.
Now look what made Craf do,’ he muttered. ‘Cold enough, now one less feather.’
‘I’ll fetch a blanket for you after,’ Tain said quietly.
‘Kind Tain,’ Craf crooned.
Crow master we named him, but it’s more like crow servant, Sig thought, keeping the smile from touching her lips.
‘So there’s one fewer Kadoshim in Ardain,’ Byrne said, bringing their attention back to the severed head upon her desk.
‘Aye,’ Sig said, ‘though there was more to it than we would ever have expected. There is much to tell you, of acolytes, of sacrifice and incantations. Of a new strategy amongst the Kadoshim. The slumbering beast stirs,’ Sig said ominously. ‘Something dread is afoot.’
‘Tell me,’ Byrne said.
So they did.
Sig told most of it, how they had hunted the Kadoshim to its lair, enlisted the aid of Elgin, Battlechief of Ardain, and then attacked the Kadoshim’s den. Of the numbers of acolytes, the human sacrifice and spells, the escaped messenger. Keld hung his head – in shame or grief, Sig did not know – when she told of his capture and the death of his wolven-hound, Hella. At the mention of her name Fen lifted his head from the fire and whined. Craf cawed softly, the sound somehow full of melancholy.
And Sig told of Rab’s arrival at Uthandun, the white crow’s help in Keld’s rescue. Craf bobbed his head at that, clacking his beak loudly. Sig ignored him and carried on, telling them of the lit beacon in the rain-soaked hills of Ardain, the other beacons lit in response. Of the note that simply said: Now. And finally of the recruits Queen Nara had sent north with them, and of the Ben-Elim, Kushiel’s visit to Uthandun as Sig was preparing to leave.
All of it Sig told in a flat, inexpressive voice, as if she were recounting a morning’s sparring on the weapons court, giving an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of a student of the Order. Apart from when she spoke of Keld and Cullen, of Rab and Fen and Hammer. Those she praised.
Cullen beamed as if it was his name-day. Keld sat there grim and dour, a scowl looking to have been etched through his face with a plough.
When Sig finished, a silence settled upon them all, only the fire crackling in its great hearth, the snoring of Fen as he slept in front of it.
‘There is more news from the Nest,’ Tain said, meaning Crow Tower, ‘that makes more sense, now we have heard Sig’s tale.’
‘Go on, then,’ Byrne prompted.
‘Frick has returned from Jerolin,’ Tain said. ‘The poor lad; it’s a long way to fly, he’s fair shattered, he is—’
‘Tell them, tell them,’ Craf squawked impatiently in Tain’s ear, making him jump.
‘Beacons, springing up all across what once was Tenebral, now the southern reaches of the Land of the Faithful. And attacks. Much the same as you have described in Ardain. Holds burned, merchants and travellers attacked upon the road. Some villages. No organized assault on what you would call a military strength, though. Or at least, that’s what Frick has heard.’
‘Thank you, Tain,’ Byrne said with a dip of her head.
‘There was no way of bringing this Kadoshim back alive, head still attached to its body?’ Byrne said, her dark eyes fixing Sig. Even though Byrne was little more than half Sig’s height she still managed to hold her with that gaze. ‘It would have been helpful if we could have asked a question or two. And, as I remember, that was your task. To find it, and bring it here.’
‘Aye, well, the Kadoshim was not for cooperating,’ Sig said. ‘I tried, had it in my net, even. And to be fair, it wasn’t me that killed the beast.’
Sig felt disloyal, informing on Hammer, but Byrne somehow had that effect on people. She could suck the truth from a stone and Sig had long come to the conclusion that there was no point fighting it.
‘Hammer killed it.’
She’s a bear, she’s got broad shoulders.
A raised eyebrow from Byrne. Surprisingly effective at eliciting an urge in Sig to provide further information.
‘The Kadoshim stabbed her in the paw.’
‘Ahh,’ Byrne and Tain said together.
‘No matter,’ Craf cawed. ‘Only good Kadoshim is a dead Kadoshim.’
‘Well, what’s done is done,’ Byrne said. ‘No point wishing it were not so. But I think you are right, Sig, this heralds something new. Not just another skirmish in the endless war. A new strategy. But what are they up to, and why?’
‘Craf will think on it,’ the crow squawked, as if they could all stop worrying now. Craf fell from Tain’s shoulder, spread his wings and glided to Byrne’s desk, where he hopped over to the Kadoshim’s head. He stabbed his beak down, came back up with a long strip of decaying flesh.
‘Ugh!’ Cullen groaned. ‘That’ll make you gut-sick, that will!’
‘Dead is dead, meat is meat,’ Craf squawked as he swallowed noisily, ‘and Craf not fussy.’
Clearly not.