The Exile (38 page)

"I don't get it," Ukko said, walking up to the fire. He kicked a clay shard into the heart of the flames, causing a shower of sparks to fly. "You're a Drune Lord, you serve Crom just as Feg does. Why aren't you looking forward to this disaster like your master?"

"Because," Sláine said, understanding the sorcerer's motivations all too well, "Throt here is a coward who enjoys his power too much. You saw what he is capable of - the magic he threw at the half-dead, making the Curragh soar through the skies. He has power but it is the earth that grants him that power. If Feg succeeds and brings about the end of days the source of his magic will rot and decay like his own flesh, taking his power away, and then what will he be?"

"A big festering sack of rotten meat," Ukko said thoughtfully.

"You may question my motives, warrior, but my gold is good. I will pay you handsomely to see me safely to the lands of the Earth Goddess so that I might deliver my warning before it is too late. Feg must be stopped, for all our sakes!"

"How very noble of you, sorcerer, trying to save them so that they might weaken or who knows, even slay Feg for you. Do you take me for a fool? We destroy Feg so that you might rise up in his place, a vile, cowardly power-mad sorcerer capable of cold-blooded murder on a grand scale. Don't think I don't know what happened to the people of Gavra after we left. I am more than capable of counting my numbers. Some of your men remained behind. Don't waste your breath lying to me any more. The villagers were doomed the moment you walked into their inn. You and Feg are both monsters. I am not interested in your gold."

"I am," Ukko said, quietly.

Slough Throt laughed. It was an unpleasant sound.

"Sláine?"

"Not now, Ukko."

"Erm, Sláine?"

"I said not now, Ukko."

"Worms," Ukko said.

The ground beneath them heaved. The convulsion shook loose rubble that cascaded down the wall to the uneven cave floor. A huge crack opened up in the flat expanse of wall. Through it came the probing tendrils of a huge sightless worm. The floor heaved again, fracturing in a hundred places, opening fissures in the hard packed earth, and through the fissures came more worms. Huge bloated fat-bellied pink things seethed through the cracks and wrapped themselves around the sorcerer's feet. Tiny white worms tangled in his pelt and his fetishes, and coiled around his arms. Purple worms so huge they were thicker than Throt's limbs looped around his waist and tightened, dragging him down into the ever-widening fissures, into the belly of the cave, drowning Throt's screams out as his throat filled with dirt.

Throt writhed against the relentless pull of the worms, thrashing about, clawing at them, and at the ground as it closed over his head, and then he was gone, dragged down into a suffocating live burial. The worms receded.

"Sláine?"

"What?"

Ukko held a small gold-clasped book in his hands. Seeing it glitter beneath the folds of Throt's filthy pelts he had snagged it after he saw the first worm coming through the crack in the wall. It had been an instinctive theft. He knew, without knowing why, that the worms had only come for Slough Throt. "You might want to look at this."

"What is it?"

"I think it's what His Smelliness stole from Lord Weirdo." He unclipped the hasp and flipped the book open. The pages were covered in florid ogham script. The scrawl was barely legible. Ukko thumbed through the brittle pages until he saw the word "deluge". He closed the book, satisfied. "Look!" Ukko pointed at the wall. He hadn't noticed it before but the portrait of Danu, the huge earthly golem, had faded away into the bare rock. Only the image of Carnun remained.

Sláine walked to the mouth of the cave.

The animals had already begun to retreat, disappearing back into the grim forest. The night was cold, and bitter black, but it was not unpleasant.

"Thank you," Sláine said to no one Ukko could see, so he assumed it was to him.

"I didn't do much, just stole the plans for the end of days from a mad sorcerer." Ukko chuckled, coming up to stand beside him. "I probably saved the world in doing so."

"She spared us, Ukko. Do you know what that means? She hasn't abandoned me. I am not alone."

"I've got no idea who you are talking about, there's only you and me here."

"Exactly," Sláine said patiently. "Danu's likeness has gone from the wall because she is no longer needed here. She spared us, Ukko. When Crom sent his worms, she protected us. She guided us to this cave, her cave, a sacred place in this blighted wilderness. It was no coincidence that we found this sanctuary, and in your hands you hold something that might save the Land of the Young, something that might buy my redemption. I have to go home, Ukko. I have to return to Murias. Even though my life is forfeit if I do so, I have to get word of Feg's plans to the druids."

Ukko curled up his lip and furrowed his brow. Sláine going home wasn't what he had had in mind, oh no. There were plenty of opportunities south of the border worth investigating, large-breasted ladies and fat-thighed wenches just begging for a little Ukko-loving and naïve bondsmen looking to be parted from their coin, their chickens or anything else they valued. It was a perfect arrangement. So of course Sláine had to go and spoil it all and do something stupid like going on a damned crusade. Heading north, into "civilised" territory was asking for trouble, but then, if there was one thing the young Sessair was good at it was finding trouble. He had a nose for it. Ukko looked at Sláine, saw the determination in those damned eyes of his and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the great lummox was intent on walking all the way back to Murias and throwing himself on the mercy of the man he had cuckolded, convinced that his precious goddess would keep him safe. The lad was a bloody fool. For that reason and that reason alone, there was no way Ukko could abandon him.

Ukko shook his head despairingly.

"Sláine, Sláine, Sláine. Why did I know you were going to say something stupid like that?"

Glossary

CARNUN - The Horned God, Lord of the Beasts.

CROM-CRUACH - The Worm God, Lord of the Mounds. Worshipped by the Southern tribes.

DANU - The Earth Goddess.

DRUIDS - Priests of the Northern tribes.

DRUNE LORDS - Evil Priest-Kings of the Southern tribes.

EARTH POWER - The spiral force that runs through the Weird Stones (Megaliths). It can be used for good or evil. Also known as The Earth Serpent.

HALF-DEAD - Warriors killed but trapped between the worlds.

HERO-HARNESS - Worn by warped warriors, so their clothes don't rip during the spasm.

LUG - The Sun God. The Sun and Earth are worshipped by the Northern tribes.

OGHAMS - Early form of writing. Also a sign language.

RED BRANCH - Sláine's tribe's greatest warriors.

SALMON-LEAP - Jumping your own height. A Sessair battle-skill - like shield-jumping and spear-catching.

SKULL SWORDS - Drune soldiers.

SLOUGH - Drune leader who has shed (sloughed) his skin.

SOURLAND - Land warped by sorcery.

THE LORD WEIRD SLOUGH FEG - Supreme Drune, thousands of years old.

TIR-NAN-OG - The Land of the Young.

TRIBES OF THE EARTH GODDESS - The legendary Northern tribes, including the Sessair.

WARP-SPASM - A strange and terrifying battle-frenzy, much worse than a Berserker fury. Caused by Earth Power, which some warriors can warp through their bodies.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

British author Steven Savile is an expert in cult fiction, having written a wide variety of sf (including
Star Wars
and
Jurassic Park
), fantasy and horror stories, as well as a slew of editorial work on anthologies in the UK and USA. He won the L Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future award in 2002, was runner-up in the British Fantasy Award in 2000 and has been nominated three times for the Bram Stoker award. He currently lives in Stockholm, Sweden.