The Long War 02 - The Dark Blood (34 page)

CHAPTER 1

The realm of Scarlet was full of beautiful green pastures and lush forests. The Moon Wood to the north was a magical place where the local farmers prayed to the spirits of earth and rock with which Rowanoco had blessed them. Brytag’s Roost to the east was a sacred mountain range where the Ice Giant’s raven supposedly perched, watching over the lands of Ranen.

Bronwyn had heard of both places, having been told stories by her father about the groves and glens where the Order of the Hammer heard the voice of their god, but after being in the Freelands for so long she was beginning to take on some of her brother’s cynicism. Scarlet Company and their captain, Johan Long Shadow, were tough men and women. They were not inhospitable to the outsiders in their midst, but they still saw Bronwyn as a pampered lady of Ro. She had tried to bond with them, telling stories of her youth in Canarn and trying to display her uncommon knowledge of the peoples of Ranen. Very little of it worked, though, and despite her best efforts Bronwyn still spent most of her time with Al-Hasim, the infuriating Karesian scoundrel, and the survivors of Wraith Company.

They had been in South Warden for several weeks and it was a world away from their previous lodging in the ruins of Ro Hail, or the weeks spent sleeping rough as they fled from the knights of the Red. Bronwyn had been given a room in a tall wooden house overlooking the western stockade. The town, or city as the Ranen liked to call it, was a closely packed circle of wooden halls and cosy homesteads, with a constant smell of smoke and iron from a hundred forges and fireplaces. South Warden was home to a few thousand men, women and children. It was smaller than her home of Ro Canarn, but it easily accommodated the five hundred or so refugees of Wraith Company, and their blue cloaks were now a constant presence alongside the crimson heraldry of South Warden.

‘It’s early, Bronwyn, go back to sleep.’ The voice came from the lump lying next to her and she elbowed him for interrupting her thoughts.

‘The Ranen always seem to get up with the dawn,’ she replied, pulling the covers tight around her shoulders.

As Bronwyn looked at Al-Hasim, lying next to her, she wandered what her brother would think if he knew she’d given in to his advances. They had begun comforting each other on the journey east. She had adopted a fatalistic attitude to life of late and she felt that taking a highly inappropriate lover was in keeping with her new world view. Brom would likely not appreciate this, and she worried that he’d skewer the Karesian if he ever found out.

‘Stone Dog will come knocking on the door when it’s time to get up,’ mumbled Hasim, his face pressed against the pillow.

She elbowed him again. ‘Shut up, I’m thinking.’

‘About what?’ Hasim murmured, turning over and leaning on his hand. ‘How unbelievably attractive I am?’ He had a predatory glint in his eye.

Bronwyn didn’t smile or give the Karesian any indication that she was in the mood. She then lunged forward and kissed him roughly, biting his lower lip before pulling away.

‘Cheeky bitch,’ he said. Touching a dot of blood from his lip, he pulled her down to his level, lying flat on the simple wooden bed. ‘And it’s still too early to be up.’

Bronwyn didn’t smile. She dug her nails into his back and pulled him in for another kiss. She was angry and a long way from home, and Al-Hasim knew that his job was to provide a distraction for her. ‘Just shut up,’ she growled, wrapping her legs round him and sliding further down the bed.

‘I’m just a piece of meat to you, my lady,’ he said, emphasizing his lyrical Karesian accent and pulling away. ‘Do you think Brom knows what a rampant seductress you’ve become?’

‘I don’t think he’d care,’ she lied. ‘He’s got forest-dwellers to deal with.’

Hasim grinned and moved down to bite Bronwyn’s neck playfully. Then a knock at the door made them both jump.

‘Wake up, ladies,’ shouted Micah Stone Dog from outside their chamber. ‘That Brown cleric from Canarn wants a word.’

Bronwyn didn’t let go of Hasim for a moment, letting her thighs grip him tightly before slapping him hard in the face and smiling. ‘Calm down, Karesian, we have things to do,’ she said in a low whimper, pressing her body against his.

Another knock on the door. ‘Get up. You can fuck later. There are a lot of hours in the day, I hear.’ Stone Dog’s sarcasm and dry humour were in full flow in the mornings. ‘Try not to prove everyone right by being a Karesian and a Ro.’

Any kind of sexual mood disappeared instantly. Bronwyn yawned extravagantly and Hasim sat up and rubbed the tiredness from his eyes. The sun was starting to intrude through the shuttered windows and the air was rapidly warming up as they rose swiftly from their bed.

‘Who do you think they hate more, the Karesian or the Ro?’ Bronwyn asked, pulling on her simple homespun dress.

‘I’m not a noble, sweetness,’ responded Hasim. ‘I’m just exotic. You’re a stuck-up Ro.’

‘Apparently so,’ she said drily, not finding the situation particularly funny.

Stone Dog wearily knocked on the door again. ‘There’s an assembly first thing and Brother Lanry wants to make sure you don’t fuck up if you’re asked to speak.’

Bronwyn and Hasim exchanged a concerned look. They’d been told to expect this, but it was still scary news. Captain Horrock of Wraith Company had petitioned to rouse the Free Companies and declare war on the invader knights of the Red. Johan Long Shadow agreed, but the proper way of doing things in Ranen was to allow all sides a chance to speak.

There were dissenting voices, though Horrock was convinced that seeing an army of knights appear over the horizon would silence them. Bronwyn had counselled that William of Verellian, the captive knight of the Red, should be released with peace terms, but most of the Ranen had laughed. It was only the esteem she had gained from Wraith Company that meant her voice had been listened to at all.

* * *

The Ranen assembly of South Warden was a circular stone building in the centre of the town. Bronwyn had seen it every day since they had arrived, but she had not been permitted to enter until now. The assembly was treated with great reverence by all of the Ranen. Even the refugees from Wraith Company knew the significance of Rowanoco’s Stone and of the decisions that were made in the assembly. Any Ranen man of good standing was allowed to sit in the cold stone auditorium, and each held a small axe with which he could cast his vote. Father Magnus used to joke that the politics of Ranen were more violent than the wars of Ro and that a decision would never be respected unless at least one man died during their deliberations.

To Bronwyn it was an inconceivable way to run a country. Even Al-Hasim found the Ranen assembly intimidating and, as they walked up the rough dirt track that served as a road, he looked even more nervous than Bronwyn. Stone Dog was apathetic as always, as he walked casually beside them using his vicious-looking locaber axe as a walking stick.

South Warden was built on a natural hill and the central palisade vaguely resembled a wooden fort, with the Ranen assembly the only stone building within the central ring. The family of Long Shadow had purposely built the town to be defensible and every point of the compass had multiple gates and stockades, most of which were not currently manned. Bronwyn was no military tactician, but even she could see that, if Scarlet Company chose to make it so, South Warden would become a nightmare for an invading army.

Brother Lanry was waiting for them outside the inner fortifications, several streets away from the assembly. He had been sent north by Bromvy to tell them of Magnus’s death and of the retaking of the city from the Red knights. She liked the old cleric and, aside from Al-Hasim, he was the friendliest face in South Warden.

‘A bright and crisp Ranen morning if ever I saw one,’ he said cheerfully, as the Ro noblewoman, the Ranen warrior and the Karesian scoundrel approached. ‘Horrock said it would rain this morning... good to know he’s a better warrior than soothsayer.’

‘Not by much,’ muttered Stone Dog without cracking a smile. ‘But I suppose he is old, and his knees are giving up.’

Lanry chuckled guiltily. ‘Well, that aside, young Micah, I believe this day bodes well for the cause.’

‘And
the cause
is?’ asked Bronwyn.

‘The cause of good versus evil, my dear lady, right versus wrong,’ replied the Brown cleric with a sincere smile. ‘I understand that the Ranen fellows will make their decision this morning.’

‘And they want to speak to us?’ asked Bronwyn, letting her nerves show through in her words.

Micah Stone Dog turned to her. ‘You were there, Bronwyn, you saw what happened at Ro Hail. You saw the army of knights, you saw the king’s banner, you know what’s coming.’

‘So why does my word matter?’ she replied, trying to worm her way out of having to speak. ‘There are hundreds of Wraith Company who were there.’

Al-Hasim, who had remained quiet during their walk to the assembly, said, ‘But we’re outsiders; it always strengthens a cause when non-Ranen agree... unless you’re Ro, of course... then they tend to ignore you.’

‘Not this Ro,’ said Stone Dog. ‘Her brother wants to ally with the Free Companies. That gives her word some weight.’

Brother Lanry held up his hand, politely asking to interrupt. ‘Er, my Lord Bromvy is a good ally to have, young Micah. The lord of Canarn is a nobleman of redoubtable spirit and great honour.’

‘I’m sure,’ responded Micah with a curl of amusement to his lip. He turned to Bronwyn and Hasim. ‘We need to go in... if Brother Lanry is quite finished.’ He looked questioningly at the Brown cleric.

‘Oh, yes, quite finished,’ said Lanry. ‘Do lead on, young Micah.’

The sarcastic young Ranen was unsure how to react to the cleric. He had spoken to Bronwyn of his reluctance entirely to trust a man of the One God. No matter how often she had told him that Lanry would never harm a soul, Stone Dog was still wary around him.

She knew that Micah had been chosen as the unofficial liaison with Bronwyn and Hasim, and that the other members of Wraith Company were more reluctant to associate with them now that they were in South Warden. The easternmost city of the Freelands had never been under the rule of Ro and had been built long after the occupation. It was a place where the Ranen could be Ranen, where Rowanoco held sway, and Tor Funweir was a world away.

Micah led the way as they walked beyond the inner palisade and approached the assembly. It looked even larger close up, and Bronwyn felt humble in the presence of Rowanoco’s Stone. The building was five or six storeys high, with stone galleries rising from a central floor and a large open space in the middle. The seating looked as if it could accommodate several hundred men, though it was currently only half full.

The Ranen that sat in front of them were all silent as Micah led them inside, a low whistle of wind being the only sound as Bronwyn became the first Ro noble to enter the assembly since it had been built a hundred years before. She recognized faces, but many more were unknown and intimidating as she stepped on to Rowanoco’s Stone. Captain Horrock Green Blade sat in the middle, his piercing blue eyes regarding her with friendly reassurance. Next to him was Haffen Red Face, Horrock’s axe-master and close friend. The warrior of Ro Hail was a boisterous man who had stuck up for Bronwyn on a number of occasions when members of Scarlet Company had questioned her presence in South Warden.

The most intimidating presence in the assembly was Captain Johan Long Shadow, a Ranen with huge shoulders and a tattooed head. The faded, dark blue designs displayed across his scalp were of broken swords and axes, which gave the man an edge of intensity and made Bronwyn decidedly uncomfortable. The captain of Scarlet Company was well into his fifties, but still a respected and astute leader, a man whose word was generally law in South Warden. He sat, on a raised stone chair, facing the assembled men of Ranen and had half the auditorium to himself.

‘This assembly welcomes Lady Bronwyn of Canarn,’ announced Johan’s axe-master, a short and stout man called Mathias Flame Tooth.

A rumble of disapproval flowed through the auditorium and Bronwyn felt exposed for a moment, until Mathias banged the haft of his axe on the stone floor and brought her back to reality.

‘Hello,’ she said, as demurely as she could. The echo in the assembly turned the word into more of a statement than she had intended.

‘You’re not supposed to speak yet,’ whispered Stone Dog out of the corner of his mouth.

Bronwyn smiled awkwardly and almost said sorry, before Al-Hasim gently grabbed her arm and led her across to the lowest level of seating.

There were a hundred pairs of eyes regarding the lady of Canarn. She observed, rather absently, that very few Ranen men were clean-shaven and that there was a definite smell of sweat in the building.

‘Sit there and keep your mouth shut, sweetness,’ murmured Al-Hasim, with a cheeky grin. ‘Remember, they all have axes.’

Bronwyn glanced around the room and saw that every man held his hand-axe in his fist as a salute to the newcomers. The only Ranen in South Warden permitted two axes was Johan, and the captain of Scarlet Company let both his weapons remain on the stone floor in front of his chair.