Age of Iron (32 page)

“Shhhhh,” said the head. “Listen. What you said about Zadar – can you stop him from retaliating?”

“From doing what?”

“Retaliating.”

“I can hear you,” Weylin whispered, “but I don’t know what ‘retaliating’ means.”

“From attacking us because we killed his soldiers?”

“I see. Yes, I can stop him.”

“How?”

Weylin had worked this all out earlier. “Easy. I’ll say we came to the village, and you handed Flynn and the others over. Like you should’ve done. Then, on our way back we were attacked by a raiding party from Dumnonia which outnumbered us three to one. Everyone was killed but me.”

“Won’t he come looking for the Dumnonians?”

“If he does, so what? He won’t find them. You get everyone here to say that I headed off with Flynn and that they’d heard reports about a Dumnonian war band. Which, they’ve also heard, has gone back to Dumnonia.”

“But he’ll ask why we didn’t send a shout about the bandits?”

“Look, I can’t think of everything. Maybe you can send a shout when I’m gone? Let me out of here, and I’ll do my best to persuade Zadar that there were bandits, and Kanawan did nothing wrong. Otherwise, mate, you’re fucked. Even if you all leave he’ll track you down and slaughter the lot of you. Let me go. I’m your only hope.”

“Y
ou’re lying. You’ve got her.”

Ogre’s eyes darted down to the left again, then back up, searching for Lowa in the darkness.

She walked out into the little clearing slowly, bow three-quarters drawn, eyes everywhere. She was almost certain he was alone, but “almost certain” hadn’t kept her alive all these years. However, the camp looked clear.

The altar had a couple of small human skulls on it. Could be child sacrifices but more likely bones from children who had died elsewhere and been brought here by a freaky druid. Away from Maidun and Zadar’s army, very few people killed children.

There
was
a bundle on the ground. Ogre had looked at it a couple of times now. She couldn’t tell with a quick glimpse if it was Spring. It looked so small, and his glances may have been a ruse. She took a couple of sidesteps so that there was an oak tree directly behind the earless kidnapper.

“Where are you taking her?” she said.

“I wouldn’t worry about that. Worry about where he’s taking you!” Ogre pointed into the trees behind Lowa. She didn’t fall for it, but Ogre seemed resolved on carrying out the second part of his distract-then-attack plan. He dropped into a crouch, then leaped at her, mace in hand.

She squatted and loosed. Her arrow punched through his left shoulder, flung him back and skewered him to the broad-trunked tree. The arrow had a slim bodkin but a thick shaft, designed for hampering the flight of large game, but it suited this purpose too.

He roared, then screamed as Lowa’s second arrow ripped through his right wrist and into the trunk.

Lowa ran to the bundle. It was Spring, curled in a ball.

Lowa rolled her over. Even in the copper firelight she looked as pale as someone who’d bled to death from a spear wound. Lowa pressed two fingers onto the girl’s neck, held them there for a good while, then shook her head. She stood up, nocked her final arrow and pointed it at Ogre’s face.

“I asked where you were taking her.”

“You’ve … you’ve fucked my arm! And my shoulder!”

“You’ll live if I take the arrows out, which I’ll do if you answer my questions. I’ll know if you’re lying. Lie, and the next shot is in your guts.”

“You bitch. I’ll make you mine in the Otherworld, and I’ll beat you every—”

“Where were you taking her?” Lowa drew.

“All right! She wasn’t dead a moment ago, I swear. I was just trying to throw you off when I said she was dead. It was fucking weird, I’ll give you that. I wanted her alive, but my temper … She bit me. That’s why I stuck a spear through her. Could have sworn I killed her. It should have killed her, but then we were riding along and she started talking and she was fine. She was sitting up and talking not long before you got here. Check again. She’s probably asleep – sleeps like the dead, that one.”

“I don’t make mistakes. She is dead. Looks like sticking a spear through her then bouncing her around on a horse all day wasn’t a good idea. Who’d have guessed?”

“I swear—”

“You swear nothing!” Lowa strode forward, pressed her knife into Ogre’s neck and put her lips to his ear. “You’re going to tell me where you were taking her, and why, and I’m going to believe you, or I’m going to leave you here for the bears. Let’s start with where you were taking her.”

Ogre slumped, then stiffened with the pain. He gathered himself and said, “Don’t suppose it matters now. I was taking her to Maidun Castle.”

“Why?”

“Zadar wants her.”

“Why?”

“A moon ago we got her drunk for a laugh. I was helping her be sick, away from the rest – I was good to that girl – and she told me something.”

“What did she tell you?”

“She told me she was Zadar’s daughter.”

“I
’m sorry, that’s really all I know. But you must know why he wanted the girl?”

Ula put a pint mug of wine on the table beside the bed next to the empty one that Dug had downed moments before. The morning light from the roof hole brought out the tinge of red in her dark hair. Even though she looked as if she hadn’t slept, Dug thought she was so beautiful that she must be a goddess. But, then again, he usually thought that about women who looked after him when he was injured. And he’d drunk a pint of wine.

“Lowa’ll get her,” he said carefully. Any movement in his chest hurt, which made breathing a bit of a bugger.

“That’s not all. I’m sorry, but we let Weylin go.”

“Weylin?”

“Of course, you don’t know what happened.” Ula sat on the end of the bed. “Nobody was happy with Farrell’s rule – the slavery, the girls – but they didn’t know that everybody else felt the same. After your speech, people started shouting, then they got violent. A couple of Wounders were killed, and the Monster. Spring tried to protect it – she’s a funny one, that girl – but she couldn’t stop the whole tribe. Then I managed to restore order by…” All the mischief that had been in her smile that first morning in Kanawan was gone. “By killing Farrell. I killed my husband.”

Dug’s eyebrows flew up like seagulls caught in a gust. Ula looked at her hands.

“I stabbed him in the heart. It surprised everyone into calming down. That saved the Wounders who were still alive. They aren’t bad people. And it confirmed my right to lead the tribe. We need a strong leader.”

“I’m sorry.”

She smiled as tears appeared. “Don’t be. You should be the opposite of sorry. I and all of Kanawan owe you a great debt. And besides—” she scratched the back of her head “—I’ve wanted to kill Farrell for years. I loved him when I married him, but very quickly I realised that he was a … what’s a good way of putting it?”

“A wanker?” Dug suggested.

Ula breathed a deranged-sounding laugh. “I’ve hated him for years. I keep – I mean I kept – trying to like him. He’d do something kind or he’d look at me in a certain way or we’d have great sex or a really good laugh and I’d start thinking that he wasn’t so bad after all. Then he’d do or say something so unthinking, arrogant or just rude that I’d realise that he was simply a very unpleasant man. It wasn’t the big things. Yes, sending the girls to Zadar was awful, unforgivable, but it was the little things that got to me. Like when we saw you coming down the hill with Lowa and he whipped his top off to run outside and exercise.”

“Aye.”

“Yes. And that was only one of about fifty things he did just that day that made me think ‘you are such a dick’. It’s a horrible thing to think about your own husband … But I was telling you about Weylin. We knew, because of Farrell’s shout, that Zadar’s people would be here any moment and guessed that they’d search the village, so, with you in no condition to travel, Lowa came up with a plan to ambush and kill them. It worked, even though twenty soldiers arrived and we’d been expecting six at most. We killed them all apart from their leader – this man Weylin – and the fellow who escaped on horseback with Spring.”

“Why did he take Spring?” Dug said slowly.

“I thought you’d know. I don’t. Lowa’s plan was to split them in two. We’d take out half of them down here, and she, Spring and the girls would deal with the others on the east road, up the hill.”

“The girls?”

“The girls from the school. Spring taught them to … But that doesn’t matter. The point is that one man survived and snatched Spring.”

“Lowa will get her back.”

“I’m sure she will.” Ula sounded distracted. She looked up, blinking. The light twinkled in her tears.

“And Weylin got away?” Dug asked gently.

Ula rubbed her tears away and shook her head. “Two people were guarding him last night. He persuaded them that he could prevent Zadar from retaliating against Kanawan if they let him go. So they did. I understand why. Zadar has wiped out tribes for a lot less than we did. But I wish they’d asked me. Even if Weylin has any influence over Zadar, which I very much doubt having spoken to Weylin, why would he try to save a village that defeated and humiliated him?”

“He wouldn’t.”

Ula smiled sadly. “Yes. So we’ve freed a captive who will tell Zadar what happened here. But that’s not the worst of it. Killing Farrell wasn’t the worst thing I did yesterday.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I also killed my son.”

“Your son?” For a moment Dug thought of the Monster.

“He won’t be dead yet, but Zadar has our son Primus as a hostage. Farrell insisted on the name, by the way. Zadar takes hostages from every tribe that he can. Farrell said living at Maidun was for Primus’ education, to build his character, make him a better man and so on, but we both knew what it really was. Now the best thing Primus can hope for is a quick death. I’ve send riders after Weylin, of course, but he had such a head start…” Ula closed her eyes. Tears dripped onto her fine wool dress. “He’s only four.”

Ignoring the pain in his chest, Dug reached up and put a hand on her arm. “Zadar won’t kill him.”

“Why not?”

Dug took a long but shallow breath, then spoke slowly: “I was with a tribe a few years back, working my way, and I saw it from the other side. Their king, Weeza, murdered plenty in lots of nasty ways. Worse than Zadar probably, but smaller scale. He had a hostage, a wee girl called Willow, from a nearby tribe called the Cluddens. She was their king’s only child. Despite him having Willow, the Cluddens attacked Weeza’s people and killed a few of them. Weeza struck back with his usual enthusiasm. Treachery got us into the Cluddens’ hillfort and we killed everyone in there. Everyone. I was getting paid and I was following orders. So I understand how easy it is. Anyway, the whole episode – from the Cluddens attacking to being wiped out – took about a moon. In all that time, Weeza didn’t harm the wee Cluddens hostage. She’s still alive, as far as I know. The last of the Cluddens.”

Ula looked up, hope in her wet eyes. “Why didn’t he kill her?”

“No point. A hostage’s value lies in preventing something. As soon as that something happens, the hostage is worthless. Look at it from Zadar’s point of view. You’ve killed some of his, so he’ll come here to wipe you out – you know that?”

“Yes, we’re packing up the village and leaving for Dumnonia today, or possibly Eroo.”

“Aye, smart move. So, you’ve killed twenty of Zadar’s. He’d hoped that having Primus would stop you from doing anything like that, but it didn’t. It’s happened. Why would he kill Primus now?”

“To teach others a lesson?”

“Aye, that is a point, but it won’t happen because Primus is still useful to him. Zadar doesn’t know the situation here. Maybe he’ll come and you’re holed up in the hillfort, so he can use Primus to pry you out. Maybe he’ll keep him and then present him in a few years as the rightful king of Kanawan. But you’re going to bugger off, so there’s nothing Zadar can use Primus for.”

“To bring us back from exile?

“No. He’d have to know where you’d gone to do that. Go through Dumnonia, and he won’t. Primus is safe. And you never know. Zadar might fall soon, and then you’ll be reunited.”

“There’s that…”

“And of course Zadar probably likes the child.”

“Zadar?”

“Aye. People aren’t good or bad. They’re good
and
bad. That same guy – Weeza – nasty torturing type – loved animals. Made sure the farm animals were well looked after, didn’t eat meat, got in a panic when his pet cat didn’t come back in the evening … Point is, once you get to know a child, it’s difficult to kill them.”

Unless her son takes after his father, thought Dug, in which case Zadar would have brained the wee bugger a long time ago.

Ula put a hand on Dug’s arm. “Thank you. You might be right. But I mustn’t dwell on it. I’m the leader now and I have to save my people. I’ve got to get everyone packed up.” She stood up. “You’re too badly wounded to travel quickly.”

“Aye. Leave me here. I’ll be fine. It’s my fault you had to attack Zadar’s men and get yourselves into this mess.”

“Don’t be stupid. I discussed it with Lowa before Weylin arrived, and it’s been decided. She’s going to take you to a tribe not far away where Zadar has no sway. Their town is in a marsh and you can get to it only if they want you to. Their druid’s a good healer who will help you recover quickly.”

The thought of being taken somewhere by Lowa made him smile. “I’ve heard of the marsh tribe – Mearhold, isn’t it?”

“That’s it.”

“Neutral tribe that the big boys and girls have agreed to leave alone. Why would they risk that for a fugitive from Zadar?”

“I know them. I go there often to get clothes. The island’s secure and they’re not the sort to be frightened by bullies. Besides, who’s going to tell Zadar you’re there?

“Ah, if you say so.” Dug’s chest was blazing with pain now. He reached for the pint of wine.

I
t was late afternoon when Weylin heard the faint cries: “Help! Please!”

He dismounted quietly. There was a narrow path burrowing into the woods. He tied the reins to a branch, held his fingers to his lips and said, “Sssshhh!” to his horse. There was no need really. It was a good little horse and hadn’t complained since he’d found in it the woods above Kanawan, even though he’d ridden all night. He’d stopped only a few times, for water mostly and when he’d hidden from Lowa, riding with a large bundle behind her and her bow in her hand. Thank Bel he’d been able to hide before she’d seen him. Unarmed, there was no way he was going to take her on.