Servant: The Dark God Book One (Volume 1) (21 page)

Sugar immediately dipped her mouth to meet Talen’s. She’d kissed boys before. None of the Mokaddians in her village, but boys in Koramtown. Her mother had made sure they travelled to Koramtown regularly, more often this last year since Sugar was soon to be of age for marriage negotiations. She closed her eyes and cupped his head with her free, flour-dusted hand.

Talen sat stiff as a log, stiff as a piece of furniture. She opened her eyes and found him staring at her, his eyeballs big as her face. It was like finding a large caterpillar on the end of your nose.

More men gathered outside the door.

“The bow,” she said mid-kiss, “drop the bow.” His mouth was parted in shock, frozen open like the stone of a statue. She had stolen her share of kisses, and this one wouldn’t fool anybody. She flicked the tip of her tongue inside his mouth. Maybe that would bring him round.

The bow and arrows clattered to the floor. And to Talen’s credit he tried to move his lips. They were dry, and the whole thing smelled of the morning’s sausage, but he acted. Of course, she didn’t think either of their performances would be enough.

Someone tried to force the door.

Then a man stepped out in front of the window with his own bow drawn. “You there,” he said. “Open that door!”

Talen shot up like a flushed animal and dumped Sugar to the floor. She was still getting up when he swung the door wide.

Three men pushed in, weapons bristling. A young one in front with the half his teeth missing and two older men behind. Before Sugar could move, the young one stuck the point of his sword inches from Talen’s neck. “You,” he said. “Where’s your father?”

“He was summoned to Whitecliff,” said Talen.

“We should have known your family would cause problems,” he said.

A man with eyes like ice appeared behind the three that stood in the doorway. “Put the sword down,” he said.

Sugar did not know him, but from his clothing, she suspected he was the Bailiff.

“Talen,” he said. “I told your da to order the Koramites in the district. I wanted them calm. Instead, I get reports of all sorts of things happening here last night.”

Sugar froze. There had been people in the woods. Had someone seen Talen rousting them out from underneath the old house? And what if Talen decided to turn on her and Legs? He was half-convinced she was sleth already.

It had been a mistake to stay. She should have taken Legs and run. They could have hidden in the woods somewhere until dark fell. Now it was too late.

“Why did you have to provoke the Fir-Noy?” asked the Bailiff.

“I—”

He narrowed his eyes at Sugar. “And who’s this?”

“Nobody,” said Talen.

“Nobody?” asked the Bailiff.

“Zu,” said Sugar, “I’m Lily from Koramtown.”

“And why did you bar the door in the middle of the morning?”

Talen said nothing, just stood there with his mouth open.

“We . . .” said Sugar and looked down. That’s what she supposed someone caught in a forbidden embrace would do. She hoped she hadn’t hung her head too quickly.

“Speak up!” said the Bailiff.

“We were,” Talen said. He looked like he’d swallowed a chicken whole. “Sporting.”

“Boys play while the father is away, eh?” said the Bailiff. He shook his head and looked around the room. “You and your altercations with those Fir-Noy armsmen have caused me a bit of work. I’ve been ordered by the Shoka lords to conduct a personal search of every Koramite homestead in my district.”

“I am sorry, Zu,” said Talen.

“Look at me,” said the Bailiff. “What are you hiding?”

Talen’s eyes were wide with fear. If anyone was going to give them away, it would be him. “Nothing, Zu. Nothing.”

The Bailiff shook his head. “Of course, not.” He signaled to his men to search the house. “I need something to drink.”

“We have no beer,” said Talen.

“Then fetch me a draught of sweet water from your well,” said the Bailiff.

Talen complied without hesitation, leaving Sugar alone with the men. One of the Bailiff’s men stood on the far side of the room opening cupboards. She could hear the second upstairs and the third in the back room and still others out in the yard. The Bailiff himself paced about the room and then noticed the cellar door.

“Girl,” he said. “Open this up.” Then he drew his sword and stepped back.

“You do not need to worry, Zu,” she said, indicating his sword. “I will gladly open the door, but nothing is down there. Only a few cabbages and potatoes. I saw them myself this morning.”

“Oh, is that the trysting spot for Koramite youth?” The Bailiff shook his head. “I thought Talen was being prepared for a Mokaddian marriage.” He shook his head. “I expected more of Hogan.”

Sugar looked down. Was that why he’d been so stiff? She walked over to the door, hoping Legs had heard the men and had hidden in the small cubby they’d made.

“Get a light,” he said.

“Yes, Zu,” she said. And then moved to the other side of the room to fetch a lamp.

The man searching this end of the main room had moved to the back and was poking his sword deep into barrels of beans and barley. What he expected to find there she could not guess.

Sugar found one of Zu Hogan’s lamps and the oil jar. She poured a bit into the lamp. Then she took it to the fire, retrieved an ember with some small tongs, held it close and began to blow.

“I don’t understand why a girl from Koramtown would risk hunters, alone it seems, to come all the way up here.”

Sugar blew once more and the wick caught fire. “I came early yesterday,” she said. “News of the sleth had not yet arrived.” Then she pulled up the cellar door.

He pointed at the stair with his sword, indicating she should go first.

Sugar nodded and began to descend the stairs a few steps. As she did her light illuminated the room below and the fact that while Legs had crawled into the cubby, he had not hidden his foot. It, along with the end of his trousers, was plain to see.

The Bailiff positioned himself above to get a clearer view of the cellar.

Sugar switched the lamp to her other hand, moving is so that it cast a shadow over Legs.

“Lift it higher,” said the Bailiff, “I can’t see.”

“Yes, Zu.” Her mind raced. What could she do? What lie could she tell him?

None came to her mind.

She shifted the lamp.

“Ho,” boomed Zu Hogan from the doorway. “What is this?”

The Bailiff turned, and Sugar saw her chance. She quickly descended the remaining steps and hurried to stand in front of Leg’s foot. She held her lamp out as if she were trying to give the room its best possible illumination.

“What kind of a lunatic challenges Fir-Noy armsmen?” asked the Bailiff.

Zu Hogan put his hands on his hips. “The same kind that challenges Bone-faced rot.” Something was wrong with Zu Hogan’s voice. It was as raspy as sand.

“That’s all good and fine,” said the Bailiff. “But you’ve put me in a position. The Fir-Noy want your head.”

“We have far greater things than Fir-Noy honor to worry about,” said Zu Hogan. “The woman held in Whitecliff, she’s gone.”

“Gone?”

“Stolen out of the tower by a creature that tore Droz and his whole guard apart like they were puppets.”

The Bailiff stood stunned. “Goh,” he finally said. “Her creation, then, come to free her. Was it sent by her hatchlings?”

“This isn’t the creation of babes,” Hogan said. “We don’t know where it came from or whence it bore her. The dogs can’t track it.”

Sugar slumped. There was no doubt about Mother now. She wondered what kind of creature it was that had rescued her, but she couldn’t imagine it. She couldn’t picture her mother as sleth any more than she could picture her as a fish.

She looked up at the Bailiff and Zu Hogan standing at the top of the stairs, wondering if Zu Hogan was now going to turn her in.

The Bailiff cursed. “That woman is probably all safely tucked away now in some wicked bolt hole.” He shook his head then looked at Hogan. “This does not bode well for your people.”

“It does not bode well for any of us,” Zu Hogan said. “Because when you do find them, even if you take one hundred men, it won’t be enough. The creature was shot through with arrows and stabbed with spears. Captain Argoth delivered a blow that would have beheaded a horse, which did nothing to it. Then the ballista men shot a dart and smote the beast squarely in the chest, but it still somehow managed to vanish. It cannot be harmed by normal means.”

The Bailiff looked down at Sugar, scanned the cellar.

“What’s more,” said Hogan. “If it’s taken her, then I suspect it has also found the two hatchlings that escaped.”

The Bailiff nodded. “We’re done here.” Then he walked back to the front of the house, called his men off, and walked outside.

A wave of relief washed over Sugar.

A few moments later the Bailiff and his men were walking out of the yard.

Sugar’s heart soared. Zu Hogan had lied for her and Legs! And in the same breath assumed a monstrous risk, may the Six bless him!

Sugar whispered to Legs to stay put then she walked back up the stairs. Hogan, Talen, and Nettle stood out in the yard. She exited the house and joined them to watch the Bailiff and his men walk back to the woods where they’d tied their horses.

“Do you think he suspects?” asked Nettle.

“No,” said Zu Hogan. “Although I do wonder how he missed marking Sugar.”

“We created a ruse,” said Talen.

“Oh?”

“We were . . .”

“Yes?”

“Sporting,” finished Sugar.

Nettle raised an eyebrow, but Zu Hogan looked down at her with a sad smile. His face was bruised. He’d clearly been in a fight. “Purity’s daughter indeed,” he rasped.

What that meant, she could not tell. But she could guess what he was thinking. Her mother was a monster. Right now he had to be wondering how much the mother taught the daughter. But why would he protect the child of a monster?

Because Mother wasn’t a monster. There had to be an explanation if she could talk to her.

* * *

About a quarter mile down the road from Hogan’s place the Bailiff halted the men. Prunes reined in his horse with the rest of them.

“I’ve been commanded to post a watch on Hogan,” said the Bailiff. “So two of you are going to stay behind. Prunes, you and Gid will have the first day. I’ll send someone to relieve you in the morning.”

That was just Prunes’ luck. He gets an opportunity to sleep, but he has to do it with that garlic-eater at his side. Still, some rest was better than none at all. Prunes simply nodded then peeled his horse from the column, Gid following behind.

They hobbled their horses in a small glen on the far side of the hill and began hiking to find the right position to watch the Koramite.

A few steps up the slope and Gid began to sing under his breath. “A lady green with lips so wide, I could not help but kiss her. But when I’d had my fill of tongue, I put her in the roaster.”

“Will you shut up,” said Prunes.

“They’re not going to hear us.”

“I don’t care if they do hear us. It’s your singing I don’t want to hear.”

“I think that Hogan knows something,” Gid said.

“Idiot, we’re not going to find anything here.”

“How do you mean?”

“This is Captain Argoth’s brother-in-law. We’re not going to find anything here but some rest. And that’s what I intend to take. And that is also why you’re going to keep those lips shut.”

“You don’t know what loyalties flow in that Koramite’s veins,” said Gid. “In fact, for a Koramite on the run, this might be the very best place to hide.”

“See,” said Prunes, “that’s what comes of eating too much garlic. Your brain gets the vapors.”

“It’s got nothing to do with what I eat.”

“Stinking vapors of the mind,” said Prunes.

Gid made a rude gesture, but Prunes ignored it.

Soon they found an outcropping of rock that gave clear view of the farm, then positioned themselves just behind the brush line.

As soon as they sat down, Gid took out a whetstone and began sharpening his knife.

Prunes shook his head. Stupid eager—that’s what Gid was. If sleth did indeed pay the Koramite a visit, then they’d need more than knives. Had Gid not heard the Koramite’s reports of that creature in Whitecliff? They gave Prunes the shivers. And if that thing showed up here, the best thing to do would be to run. Run or hide under a rock. Then Prunes realized he’d sat in the wrong place. “You need to sit over here,” said Prunes.

“Why?”

“Because that places me upwind of your stinking carcass.”

But Gid gave him a look that said he wasn’t moving. After a few moments, Prunes sighed in irritation. The man was an affliction, but it wasn’t worth a battle. He picked himself up and found a better spot. “You’ve got first watch,” said Prunes. “If I catch you sleeping, you’re going to dance to a hard pipe.”

Gid grunted. “And who do you think will be my partner?”

But Prunes had already lain back and closed his eyes and wasn’t even going to consider giving Gid an answer.

19

Summons

TALEN STOOD IN the house listening to Da relate the tale of what had happened the night before at the fortress in Whitecliff. Da’s face was bruised. His throat was worse where the creature had throttled him. It looked like he wore a blue and purple collar. Da finished his tale, his voice broken.

They all stood in silence. Talen glanced at the others. If they weren’t going to say it, he would. And he didn’t care that the boy and the girl were standing right here with them. “The evidence, it appears, is overwhelming. The Fir-Noy were not making this rot up.”

Earlier, he hadn’t known what to do. He and Nettle had discussed the situation from the moment the girl and boy had gone down into the cellar last night until the sun rose. They could give the girl and boy the benefit of the doubt, as it seemed Da, River, and Ke were willing to do, and assume huge risks. They could distract the two until Nettle could call the authorities to come collect them. Or they could kill them. But if they were sleth and there was a nest of them out there, then anyone who killed the boy and girl could expect the same retribution that was visited upon the village of Plum. He’d sided with River, and decided to trust her good sense. But it was clear now that had been the wrong choice entirely.

He should have never let her sit in his lap. Never let her kiss him. Lords, her tongue . . .

Surely at any moment now he’d feel a shift of some kind as some dark trap closed about his soul. He could detect no change in himself, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t worked some kind of magic upon him with her touch. How could you kiss a sleth child and not be changed?

It was obvious there were now only two options—kill them or bring a hunt. And he preferred someone else face the ire of the nest. “It’s time to give them up,” said Talen.

“No,” Da said, his voice all hoarse and broken. “That will never happen.”

How could Da stand there with that massive bruise on his face and say that? Perhaps he was trying to tell Talen it was foolish to talk about such things in front of the boy and girl.

“River and Ke will be back soon enough,” Da said. “We’re going to keep them safe.”

Talen leaned close to his father’s ear. “I can get out and bring help,” he whispered.

“No, son. You’ll do no such thing.”

“You want them here? With that woman’s beast looking for them?”

“We don’t know what that thing was,” said Da.

“Who cares what it was? It rescued her. That’s all we need to know.”

“That is not all we need to know.”

It was obvious from the events at Whitecliff that there were powerful masters ruling this nest of sleth. Had they gotten to Da? Had they themselves delivered the boy and girl here?

It was terrible to contemplate, but he wanted to know the situation. “You can tell me,” said Talen.

“No, I can’t. Not right now.”

Which meant Da was involved in some way. “Have you been threatened by other members of this nest?”

“Son,” said Da. “Trust me.”

“Trust
me
,” Talen said. “If the masters of this nest have something hanging over us, I want to know. I want to help.”

“There are no masters,” said Da. “No threats. This is very simple. Sugar and Legs are innocent of any offense.”

“Did that monster happen to hit you in the head?”

Da sighed.

Talen glanced over at Nettle for some help, but Nettle looked as concerned as he was. He turned back to his father. “I’m sorry,” he said. “But I don’t think you’re in your right mind. If they’re innocent, then let the Questioners absolve them.”

“Talen,” Da said more forcefully. “You don’t know of what you speak. So keep your mouth shut.”

Shut? When they had armsmen seeking their lives, a sleth on the loose, and the children of that sleth standing right there?

“Please enlighten me, father. I can clearly see the troubles these two have cost us. And it doesn’t require a Lord’s Councilor to multiply such troubles across all the rest of our people. I do not understand why you did not to turn them in.”

The girl stood to the side of Da, cold calculation in her eyes. The boy was looking off into space, his one eye sliding again. It unnerved Talen. That right there was probably the result of some sleth abomination.

Da’s eyes narrowed. “You’ll put a bung in that mouth of yours.”

“Somebody is going to die because of these two. I don’t want to be that person.”

“We’ll find them another place.” Da’s mouth was tight with anger.

Talen wondered if all this speaking hurt him, but someone needed to talk sense.

“Some wicked servant came to fetch their mother, and you want to harbor them.”

Da’s anger broke. He lifted up one side of the table and slammed it back down again. A leg gave way and the table slid over to one side. “I’m about to lose my temper!” he shouted. If his voice had been normal, it would have come out as a bellow. But this voice, as if he were sick, was worse to hear.

Talen was going to say “don’t worry; you’ve already done that,” but Da’s eyes were round as eggs. His face was red.

Years ago Da had let Ke and even River feel the open face of his hand. Ke had many a story; he also harbored much resentment that Talen didn’t receive the same good instruction. But Mother had made Da give it up before she died.

Da violently scratched the side of his head. He said, “I can forgive you your ignorance. But I won’t stand your disobedience. Do you truly think I’m such a drooling idiot that I would invite monsters into our house?”

“No,” said Talen, “But you might blind yourself so you couldn’t see the danger. All this time it’s been about Koramite oppression, jealous Mokaddians. Well, the facts are staring us in the face, but you won’t look at them.”

“
You
are the one that won’t look at them,” said Da. “What do you think the Questioners will do with them? What do you think the Fir-Noy will demand?”

They’d demand the children be locked up as bait. They would torture them until they produced answers. Or they’d kill them.

Da said, “Only a coward lets the innocent be punished when it’s within his power to stop it.”

This was crazy. These weren’t two children accused of stealing apples from their neighbor’s orchard. “It’s not cowardice,” said Talen. “We’re talking about sleth, Da. Sleth.”

“Sleth,” said Da. He sighed. “Fine. I suppose River’s right. It’s time. Although I do not believe you’re ready.” He turned to Nettle. “That would go as well for you. Of course, this should be your father’s office, shouldn’t it? But we can take care of that. You two are coming with me today.”

Talen didn’t understand half of what Da had just said. But it didn’t matter. “What about them?” he asked, pointing at the girl and boy.

“What about them? River and Ke will return soon enough. And it doesn’t appear you enjoy their company much.”

“You’re just going to leave them here unattended?” And then he understood what Da was doing. “You’re going to give them a chance to run, aren’t you? And that way if someone asks, you can truthfully say you have no idea where they are.”

Da shook his head. “Them running is the last thing I want, Talen. Because then they’ll surely be caught. You might want to think about that. Even if you haven’t a nit’s teaspoon of compassion, you’ll want to consider what will happen when the Questioners begin their work. How long will it take before the boy is tortured into revealing who hid him for so long?”

That was easy to calculate. As were the consequences. Da had placed them all on a crumbling precipice and asked them to dance. “I don’t understand why you’re doing this,” said Talen.

“Nettle,” Da said, “tell me. Does your da tell you everything that goes on in his councils? You’re his son. If you were to ask him, would he tell you all his battle plans?”

“He tells me a lot.”

“Everything?”

“No.”

“Why is that? He trusts you, doesn’t he?”

“Well,” said Nettle, then he fell into silence and shrugged. “I guess he thinks I’ve got a butter jaw.”

Da laughed. “Hardly. It’s because some truths, if shared, would hurt those who do not deserve it. And it is at such times you cannot simply pass the responsibility of the secrets you hold to someone else. You either carry the burden of the secret or release the whirlwind.”

“Secrets?” An alarm sounded deep within Talen. What secrets did Da keep that concerned the girl and the boy?

Talen said, “There’s more to this than the flimsy logic you’ve tried to fob me off with today, isn’t there?”

“There’s more to everything, son. Even when all the words have been spoken. But right now I have an appointment to meet the Clan Council. I was overtaken by a messenger earlier. I’ve been summoned back to Whitecliff to testify about what happened in the tower. I can understand your frustration, but I can’t trust you here alone. So you’re going with me. Now get the wagon hitched.”

* * *

Talen buckled the second belly strap about Iron Boy, their mule. Nettle was gathering food because, despite the current turmoils, Da said there were families needing supplies. And now, according to Da, was just as good a time to deliver what they needed as any other. Talen suspected it was only to cover something else, but he could not guess what that was. He simply didn’t understand his father.

Talen stroked Iron Boy’s neck. If the Questioners found out they’d harbored the hatchlings, Iron Boy would go into the fires along with all the rest of them.

“I’m not oblivious to all the dangers about us,” said Da.

Talen turned. Da walked up to the wagon and secured the Hog under the seat. He wore a poultice about his neck where it was bruised. He looked over the stores in the bed of the wagon then came to stand before Talen. He pulled an unusually dark braid of godsweed out of his pocket. “I want you to wear this for protection.”

Godsweed was used to ward off things not wholly of this world. It was most potent when burned, for the smoke chased the dead. But even having it upon you was supposed to have an effect. “Why are you giving me that? This isn’t about malevolent souls.”

“Oh, but it is,” said Da. “Did you not listen to what I said about the creature at the fortress? It was full of the dead. Now, hold out your arm.”

Talen pulled back the sleeve of his tunic and let Da tie the braid about his upper arm. The braid was thicker than most, woven in an odd pattern.

“Where did you get this?”

Da said nothing. When he finished tying the braid, he pulled the sleeve of Talen’s tunic back down over it, nodded, then reached out and cupped the back of Talen’s neck with his large hand. He looked deep into Talen’s eyes. “Courage, son.”

This was Da’s habit since Talen was a boy. He’d look him in the eyes and make him focus on a word. It was embarrassing; he wasn’t a little boy anymore. He tried to shrug out of his father’s grasp, but Da’s grip was even stronger than Ke’s and he waited for Talen’s response.

“Courage,” Talen repeated back to him.

Da smiled. “See, you feel better already.”

“All I felt was your hand, cold as the tomb.” Talen hated that little ritual, and he swore at that moment he would never submit his sons to anything like it.

Da nodded. “We’re almost done here. I just need a bit of barley.”

Nettle returned shortly with what looked like most of what had been hanging in the smoke shed, including the salmon Talen had caught just last week. Nettle placed it next to a basket of cabbages and another of carrots resting in the wagon bed. Then Da came out of the house rolling a medium-sized barrel of barley.

“Goh,” said Talen. “How many are we to visit?”

“Not enough,” said Da.

Every two weeks Da went to Whitecliff and delivered supplies to struggling families along the way. Most were widows whose Koramite husbands had died or been maimed in the battles with the Bone Faces. One of the families had lost both mother and father, and the oldest son had sold himself to one of the clans to pay their debts.

Talen didn’t know how Da knew who to visit. He supposed they discussed such things in the Koramite council Da attended. All the Koramites in the area were supposed to donate their surplus to help the affected families. But it seemed a large portion of what Talen delivered came from his family’s own larder and garden. This time was no different.

Da drove the wagon and made Talen and Nettle walk alongside to spare Iron Boy. When they got up on the flats, Da looped the reins to the wooden hook under the seat and untied the thin, black leather strips holding his beard braids and proceeded to comb the beard out with an old bone comb as Iron Boy plodded along. When Da finished and began to retie the first braid, Talen figured he’d had enough time for his temper to die down. He looked up at his father on the wagon seat and said, “So have you got some godsweed for Nettle?”

“Not today,” said Da. He held a beard braid with one hand and brought up a leather tie. “That’s his father’s office.”

“That’s the second time you’ve said that.”

“I’m glad you can count,” said Da.

“It never does any good to hold onto your anger,” said Talen.

“You’re absolutely right,” said Da.

Talen rode in silence for a few more yards waiting for more. When Da didn’t respond, he decided to take another tack. “So what are all these facts you were going to bestow on me?”

“What?” asked Da in mock amazement. “A fart-brain like myself attempt to explain anything to you? I wouldn’t presume.”

“Oh, come,” said Talen.

“You’ll get your facts,” said Da. “Both of you. Just a little patience is all you need.”

“You didn’t make us come with you because you were worried about us killing or turning that girl and boy in, did you?” Talen asked.

Da smiled. “How does that arm feel?”

“Feels like an arm,” Talen said and rolled his eyes.

* * *

Hunger watched from the woods as Argoth’s daughters came out to hang clothes on a line to dry. The wife stood in the back doorway and whistled for the dogs that lay at his feet. Meanwhile, a group of servants walked out to the vineyard with baskets and cutting knives and begin to pick grapes.

When he was a man, he would have salivated at the thought of the red grapes, the skin colored with a blue dust, and all of it bursting with a tangy sweet. But grapes held no appeal to him now. It was only a memory of a desire that ghosted by.