A New Darkness (10 page)

The witch assassin looked much as she had when I first met her. As usual, leather straps crisscrossed her body, holding a large number of blades. There were a few bloodstains on her clothes, but I doubted very much that they were her own.

“Is the leg giving you any problems?” I asked her.

Her left leg had been badly broken when she was attacked by the servants of the Fiend. It had been fixed with a silver pin that, although it restored that limb to its previous strength, gave her continual pain.

“Why do you ask?”

“The horse,” I said. “At one time you used to walk or run everywhere.”

She shook her head. “The leg gives me pain but functions as well as it ever did. I need the horse because recently it has been necessary to cover long distances faster than is possible on foot.”

I nodded, wondering where her latest journeys had taken her, but she didn’t elaborate. What she did as a witch assassin was her business.

I led her into the kitchen. “Are you hungry?” I asked.

“Water will suffice for now.”

I poured her a large cup of water and she drank it down quickly.

“Did you bury the creature?” she asked.

“No, because I thought you’d want to see it. I left it inside its lair.”

“It will be stinking by now—but yes, you were right not to do so. I want to examine it. Is it far from here?”

“About forty-five minutes by foot.”

“Then let’s waste no further time. How did you kill it?”

“With the sword you gave me. The beast had powerful dark magic. It shrank in size and slipped out of my silver chain. I was helpless against it. It paralyzed me for a while, but I managed to escape and ran back to get the sword.”

“You dug it up out of John Gregory’s grave?”

I bowed my head. “I had no choice. The creature held a girl captive. It was drinking her blood and would eventually have killed her.”

“You needed the sword just to survive, then. . . . It sounds as though you were dealing with a very rare type of Kobalos. You were a fool to bury the sword in the first place,” Grimalkin said bluntly. “I expected better of you.”

I did not reply. I knew that she was right.

“If it is who I think it is,” she continued, “you were lucky to prevail, even using the sword.”

“You know the creature?”

“Perhaps. I will find out soon enough. Here.” She placed the envelope on the table. “This is a copy of a document that your master once had in his possession. It is a glossary of information about the Kobalos, collated by an ancient spook called Nicholas Browne. I suggest you study it closely.”

I knew the name. Browne was mentioned by John Gregory in an annotation marked in his Bestiary; Nicholas was his source of information on the Kobalos.

“Where did you find this document?” I asked.

“I came across it when searching for information in the northern lands that border the Kobalos territories. They make a study of their ancient enemy and keep their own archives. This is the most succinct and useful description of the Kobalos and their practices that I have ever encountered. It is a good place to start; we can add to it as we learn more.”

I noted that she had said “we” rather than “I.” It seemed that she took for granted that I would be joining her in her enterprise.

I picked up the envelope, but Grimalkin shook her head. “There will be time enough to study that later. Let us go and see this creature’s lair.”

I didn’t bother to take my staff. With Grimalkin by my side, I knew I wouldn’t need it. Instead I collected a spade from the lean-to and carried it resting against my shoulder.

As we walked, I told her in more detail what had happened: how three County girls had died, how Jenny had told me of the beast’s whereabouts. Then how, after we had been taken prisoner, I’d run back to get the sword and returned in time to save her. But I didn’t mention taking Jenny on as my apprentice or that she’d fled from the haunted house at Horshaw. It wasn’t relevant to the business at hand.

At last we reached the huge oak tree. We heard the flies before we saw them. And there were even more inside the trunk—big buzzing bluebottles, most of them crawling upon the dead body of the beast; the face was already writhing with maggots. The stench was so appalling we had to cover our noses with our hands.

Grimalkin muttered something under her breath, and the buzzing ceased. I heard the
ping
of flies falling to the floor, slain by her magic. Then she brushed the dead flies and maggots off the creature’s face and stared at it for a long time.

“What do you think I should do if I encounter another of these creatures?” I said, interrupting the silence. “If I captured one alive, could it be contained within a pit like a witch?”

“It would be safe enough if you cut out its tongue and stitched its lips together for good measure,” said the witch assassin, “but my advice to you is never to take such a chance. Kill it at the first opportunity. These creatures have powerful magic—some, such as shifting size, are innate and do not even require a dark spell. They can breathe into your face and render you unconscious or take away your will.”

“As I know, to my cost,” I said ruefully.

“This is a rare and special type of Kobalos mage—a haizda,” Grimalkin continued. “I met one when I traveled north. I suspect this creature is only young, hardly past its novitiate, the early stage of its training. But never underestimate them. They are very dangerous. The one I met called itself Slither and was a formidable warrior. You would not have slain it so easily. In fact, I doubt you would have survived such an encounter.”

I felt a flicker of annoyance at that.

With one hand, Grimalkin seized the dead Kobalos mage by the left foot, her other holding its head by the hair; she dragged it out of its lair and into the open, and I followed behind.

“This is as good a place as any,” she decided, letting go of the beast about eighty feet away from the tree, clear of most of the roots.

“You dig the grave and I’ll start my search,” she said. “Drag the beast into the pit, but don’t cover it with soil yet.”

“Are you looking for anything special?”

“I’m seeking to learn all I can about our enemies.”

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

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12

Nicholas Browne’s Glossary

W
HEN
I’d dug the grave and dragged the mage into it, I leaned my spade against the tree trunk and went inside. Grimalkin had pried the lid from one of the jars and was sniffing the contents. It contained a light green slime flecked with small gray particles.

“Found anything interesting?” I asked.

“There is much here that is outside my knowledge. For example, I suspect that this green gel is some kind of preservative. Within it are small pieces of living tissue, but from a creature I have never encountered. What its purpose is, I have no idea. . . . I’d planned to travel north again tomorrow, but this is a treasure trove. I will stay here until I have learned all I can—days, or even weeks, if necessary.”

I nodded. “After I’ve filled in the grave, I’ll get back to the house and leave you to it. If you ever want to eat a meal at my table, you’re more than welcome. In any case, please call in before you go. I’d like to know something of what you learn.”

“Leave the grave to me,” answered Grimalkin. “I want a closer look at the body before it’s buried. As for what I discover, I will tell you all you need to know. You may be reticent in combining forces to meet an anticipated Kobalos attack, but by presenting this to me you have advanced our cause significantly.”

“Who are your allies?” I asked.

“Witches from Pendle will eventually join with me to face the threat that I have scryed. The people far to the north across the sea have faced the Kobalos in battle before; they will be our allies. We have now reached a crisis. The birth of the Kobalos god, Talkus, has already taken place, increasing the power of their mages threefold and triggering war. Soon they will burst out of their city, Valkarky, and make war on all humans, starting with those who border the Kobalos lands.”

“Do you think this mage was a spy?” I asked, nodding down at the body.

“It is more than likely,” Grimalkin said. “The haizda mages usually live alone, far from other Kobalos, but I wouldn’t have expected to find one this far south.”

With that, we parted company, and I headed back toward Chipenden. But one of Grimalkin’s remarks had been interesting, to say the least.

“All you need to know . . .”

It implied that she might well withhold other information. Why? Because it was knowledge of dark magic that she would use to add to her own strength? We had been close allies once, but by failing to join her quest to destroy the Kobalos last year, I had created a gulf between us. I had to remind myself that, after all, she was a witch; in spite of our past, we were not natural allies.

I had another disquieting thought. Grimalkin had visited the Kobalos city, Valkarky, and knew a good deal about the enemy. . . . Had I perhaps withdrawn from the coming confrontation a little too easily? I was the Chipenden Spook, after all.

Would my master have left it all to Grimalkin?
I wondered.

Back at the house, I pulled the document written by Nicholas Browne out of the envelope. It was a glossary of Kobalos words that revealed much about their magic and culture.

I skimmed through it with interest. My master had once read a copy of this, but he had dismissed it, thinking it was unlikely to be accurate. He had made a brief reference to it in his Bestiary.

I decided to make another copy. It wasn’t a particularly lengthy document—it would only take a couple of hours. I could then keep one in the library and use the new one for study.

I left spaces in my new version to enable me to insert extra entries as we learned more about the Kobalos, and to add comments to Browne’s entries in case they needed augmenting or refuting.

Once that was done, I read it carefully from beginning to end. I then went straight back to the entry on mages.

It was obvious that Browne had known little about haizda mages. I could only hope that Grimalkin increased our knowledge in case I ever encountered another. It certainly wouldn’t do to face one without the Starblade. And it was scary to think that there were many other types with magical power. The Kobalos were beginning to sound more and more dangerous.

I read the entry on boska, too:

I decided to begin my updates here, adding my own observations and possible countermeasures.

Note:
This was used on me; it leached the strength from my body. But I was taken by surprise. It is wise to be on our guard against such a threat and not allow a haizda mage to get close. Perhaps a scarf worn across the mouth and nose would provide an effective defense. Or perhaps plugs of wax fitted into the nostrils.

Tom Ward

The following day I tried to settle back into my routine, but I soon became restless. Apart from the three hauntings that I’d investigated, each a direct result of the incursion by the haizda mage, things had been quiet for months.

The Battle of the Wardstone had resulted in the destruction of the Fiend, and the dark had now become unusually quiet in the County. But the god Talkus had been born, and the Kobalos would eventually wage a war to exterminate us.

That was what had obsessed Grimalkin. I doubted that she had been performing the routine work that was demanded of the Malkin witch assassin: dealing with the enemies of her clan. She was traveling and gathering information about our future Kobalos enemies. And now she could study this dead mage’s lair. It was good to have made a useful contribution—though I still wondered if I should have insisted on staying involved.

I was the Chipenden Spook, but I now had no clear task ahead of me. I was at a loose end, so I decided to visit Grimsargh and reclaim my tinderbox from the girl. It was a precious link between me and Dad, something that kept him in my mind. It had helped me out of difficult situations more than once.

I had been hoping for a bit more sun and warmth before the winter set in. The air was still cold for the time of year, but it was dry, so I set off southeast toward Grimsargh, striding out at a good pace.

As I approached the Calders’ cottage, Jenny opened the door, stepped outside, and closed it behind her. It was almost as if she knew I was coming. Had she been watching from behind the curtains? I wondered.