The Lord of Lies: Strange Threads: Book 2 (28 page)

It did not take Forger long to realise what he had gotten himself into. The first Unwoven he faced looked him up and down with scorn.

‘You’re a big one, aren’t you?’ it said. ‘I may turn your scalp into a majestic cape!’

‘Dear me!’ exclaimed Forger. ‘It’s been a while since anyone dared speak to me like that.’

Threats were not
the problem. As the Unwoven lunged towards him, his instinct was to give it pain. Its pattern, however, was barely discernable to his influence – because, of course, the Unwoven did not feel pain. He was reduced to catching its wrists in his hands and yanking them hard in either direction. It took a couple of tries, but finally he succeeded in ripping off its arms. As he booted away the angrily glaring torso, he marvelled at the strength of Unwoven flesh. Still, he was stronger, and if he could not rely on his powers, he would have to rely on that.

A sword would help though
, he thought. The first blade he spied was in an Althalan hand, and he made a snatching motion to summon it to him. Its owner watched it fly away in surprise, and a moment later the distraction cost him his life.

‘Imagine I should feel guilty about that,’ said Forger.

He advanced on the Unwoven who had dealt the blow, but the sword had no heft and was a mere dagger in his meaty grip. He decided he preferred levitation and released the blade to shoot off before him. Maybe he could not easily affect Unwoven themselves, but he could still use other things upon them to his liking.

The floating sword slashed at the Unwoven, who batted at it like an annoying wasp. Concentrating, Forger steadied the blade, then lurched it up under the creature’s chin, busting through its skull to the other side. It was a strangely empty experience – without pain, killing was like swallowing food without tasting it.

Ah well
, he thought,
can’t have fun all the time, I suppose
.

He looked for more things to pick up and hurl, and soon the air about him
was dancing with dangerous objects. As he fought on, Forger began to discern glimmers of threads in a faint network between the Unwoven, almost beyond his own perception. There was something strange about their patterns – something on that curious level where Braston’s gift held sway. There came not the clarity of understanding that Braston sometimes delivered but, as time went on, Forger thought he could make something out of the relationship between the Unwoven and the world.

We should not exist
.
We should never have been.

‘Don’t worry,’ he said, slamming three swords at once into a neck from different directions, ‘I’m doing what I can about that.’

At times Rostigan looked slow and ponderous, but he always sped up at the last moment to be wherever he needed. When he swung, it mattered not if hands were flung up, or helms worn, or shields raised – his sword drove through metal and bone with equal ease, often down deep between eyes. Well had he earned the name Skullrender, and his allies took heart to see him among them. They fought valiantly, staying in groups as best they could, covering each other’s backs and converging on single Unwoven together. The Unwoven’s fierceness was working against them somewhat, as they attacked blindly and passionately as individuals, moving into enemy
territory until they were surrounded. There was no order to them, no command structure, no plan beyond sheer brutishness. The Althalan officers, conversely, had trained their troops well, and any order given was quickly obeyed. At one stage Rostigan thought he saw a group containing Cedris, sinking his sword deep into a fallen Unwoven’s breast, and was surprised to feel a glimmer of pride.

Not only were the Unwoven uncoordinated, they also fought in a host of different ways. Some carried weaponry, others went without and leapt about grabbing hold of necks or brawling with their bony fists. Rostigan saw one bite a Plainsman’s face, chewing his nose right off as the man screamed and punched at the creature’s stomach with his sword. Another bound along the ground like a dog, swiping soldier’s legs out from under them.

All the while Rostigan kept an eye on Forger, staying close by and letting the other Warden’s trajectory inform his own. Forger was almost as wild as the enemy, likely to charge too far into their midst and get himself into trouble. If he died, Rostigan would probably be the one to inherit his threads – Yalenna seemed too far away – and Rostigan did not want them.

Let the Spell have them
, he thought,
once we coax him to the Spire.

‘You wish to fight by my side, brother!’ said Forger with a grin. Blades and shards whizzed around him, periodically shooting off to
swarm nearby Unwoven, slicing them many which ways.

‘You’re no use to me dead!’ Rostigan replied, hanging back from the lethal debris.

Behind them the Althalans stood thicker, many still waiting for the opportunity to get into the fray. King Loppolo was amongst their number, surrounded by a dense barrier of guards, and with relief Rostigan saw Tarzi in that mix. For a moment their eyes met through the sea of swords and he found it hard to read her expression.

Had she forgiven him?

Her mouth opened in alarm and he spun to see an Unwoven bearing down on him with an almighty axe raised over its head. He ducked forward, coming up inside the blow, and plunged his blade through the creature’s guts to scatter bits of spine on the other side. As he pushed the body away and looked back to where Tarzi had been, he saw guards fending off two hovering silkjaws while Loppolo lay flat against his horse. Tarzi was nowhere in sight – had she been knocked from the saddle?

‘Eyes forward, brother!’ called Forger.

She’s all right
, Rostigan told himself. Even if she wasn’t, he could not let her concern him now. He could, at least, do something about the silkjaws.

The lands about were scarce of crows, so it was taking a while for them to answer his call. Now he could finally feel them arriving, a flock of presences high in the sky, with more on the way. They were leery, however, of getting closer.

Hark, my friends
, he called.
Did I not feed you well at Ander? Come, aid me again, and I promise you shall gorge!

Black dots began to descend.

‘Take heart!’ he bellowed, rippling the words out to the minds of those
around him. ‘Fight well and we can triumph!’

Determined cries went up in answer, as frightened or despairing hearts were bolstered with lent belief.

‘We will finish the Unwoven!’ called Rostigan. ‘Strike them from Aorn forever!’

The sky began to darken as crows swooped upon the waning silkjaws.
Darkening a little too much
, Rostigan thought – it could not be due to the crows alone.

The killing continued.

Though he was far away in the fighting, Yalenna could see what Mergan was doing – harnessing the sun’s beams to sear downwards, sucking light from the rest of the sky.

I don’t think so, old man
, she thought.
The elements are my domain.

She reached to the heavens and wrenched apart his pillar of light, scattering it in ripples back to the sky. Perhaps, she fancied, she even heard his angry cry above the rest.

‘Hold it down!’ shouted Jandryn, as two Althalans wrestled an Unwoven to the ground. He planted an armoured knee on its chest, and set about pushing his sword through its face.

Yalenna felt a growing
need to seek out Mergan, for there was true anger at him, finally. Despite everything, she had never really believed he would go this far, yet he had consistently dashed all hope that he would come back to himself, even a little. With his sunbeam denied him, he was no doubt doing something else just as massively harmful, and there were few besides her who could stand against him. He needed to be stopped.

It was not, however, simply a matter of strolling to him through the throng.

Perhaps if she could round up Rostigan and Forger, they could cut her a path? She seized a riderless horse and swung herself upwards, searching about for them. Forger stood in the midst of a whirlwind of objects, while Rostigan hacked and slashed and bellowed all at once, loud words of encouragement which stirred the troops around him.

It would be difficult to get to them too.

An Unwoven came at her, and she blasted air at it, knocking it from its feet. Two more took its place, one of them smiling as it ran fingers through its shock of blonde hair.

‘You will like his touch,’ it said. ‘It will make you cold and eternal.’

It’s difficult to get anywhere
, she thought, raising her hands.

Tarzi rubbed dirt from her bruised elbows as she got to her feet. She had flung herself from her horse when silkjaws had attacked the
king’s party, but now they were gone – one reduced to limp strands and trampled bones, the other wheeling away mincing a guard in its claws. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to return to the saddle or not, but, as other mounts stamped around her, she decided it was the lesser peril. She would just have to be more careful about watching the skies.

Back on her horse, she saw that Rostigan moved about with that strange new arrival – a tall man who was obviously a powerful threader, though looking at him again, he did not seem quite so tall as before. Maybe he was simply further away?

She still wasn’t sure what to make of Rostigan’s recent disappearance. He could not have gone far without Yalenna’s help – though it was possible she had taken him somewhere and come back without him. Tarzi did not believe the claim about worm hunting, for he had been so cagey about it. Besides, while the worms needed to be dealt with, they were nothing compared to other troubles.

Cawing sounded and her gaze returned to the sky. Crows were bombarding the silkjaws, just as they had during the attack on Althala. Why did they help once again? Only one man had ever been able to command them, but surely he wasn’t here and lending his aid no less? In the face of such widespread violence she did not need much cause to shiver … yet the possibility of Karrak being present made her shiver mightily. The shadow he cast through history made her look about for an imposing figure astride a black warhorse, wielding
a jagged-toothed sword, but she saw no one matching that description.