Death's Knight 19

 

Chapter 19

 

 

Protasion helped Harkon out from under the maul, and went to help mop up the last darkling warrior.

“Burn... burn the bodies so they cannot be used as undead...” Harkon began, but Mycota was touching each body, and as he watched, they sprouted with fungi and were consumed. Protasion went through breaking up every bone left intact, the others copying him.

“Now, let us grab the trógling and go!” said Harkon.

“I will open a way through the mountains,” said Zog. “We must go to the sky; you will come, friend Harkon, and your fellows lead the trógling.”

The earth opened smoothly, with steps down.

“You have command, Protasion,” said Harkon.

“It goes all the way to that city; when you are inside I will close this end,” said Zog.

 

The tróglings had been tearing into food as if they were starving; which they were.

“Eat on the march; or we may be pursued,” said Kuros. They did as they were bid, following him down the steps and not asking where they had come from. Protasion saw everyone else down before following, with a salute to Zog. They had to trust the Toróg god, and follow his underground passage, and trust to it being good. Vulk growled; but went. Polia rode on him, her leg hurt by a spear, but that could be seen to later.

Zog closed the pathway, and took Mycota’s hand, and Harkon’s; and Harkon muttered the prayer to Pollonis that he had learned for the purpose to transfer them to the court of the sun-god, Solos. They were rising up through the air as the cave through which Mycota had come  disgorged more toróg of all kinds, and the hulking brutish figure of Tor himself.

Harkon shuddered. Not a moment too soon, and whether they were out of the frying pan and into the fire was yet to be determined. He wished he might have Protasion for his smooth law-trained tongue, but hopefully he could recall all the arguments.

And then they were all but falling on the floor in the divine throne room, and Harkon’s bad shoulder touched down, and he lost consciousness.

 

oOoOo

 

Harkon came to, with warmth in his shoulder, which felt a lot better.

“You have made an abrupt arrival, my associate priest,” said Pollonis, in some amusement.

“Just ahead of Tor,” said Harkon. “Where am I? Did mighty Solos hear and accept the petition of Mycota and Zog?”

“Zog knelt, and petitioned to be a lord of the shadows, and to be the consort of Mycota, and Mycota cried and said that she needed her family. Zog pointed out that she was no longer bound by the law having given not one but two lives in the persons of her daughtes to Tor. Thyella and Phaedros came to add their petitions, and Thyella pointed out that as clouds cast shade, and shade comes in many degrees, she was a part of the shadow court herself, as lightning could cast the darkest of shadows.  There are new powers in the world.”

“Kaz is of the opinion that when chaos is driven out, those gods who can adapt to change will live, and those who cannot will die,” said Harkon. “Thank you for healing me. I was a bit, er, mauled.”

“Killing the twins of Tor will be much celebrated,” said Pollonis. “You are becoming famed; but beware of my sister Zeandine; she has taken a dislike to you for your fair justice over that foolish competition and she is spiteful and rather limited. I fear she will be one of those who does not survive change,” he added, unhappily.

“Thank you for the warning, divine one,” said Harkon, who always felt he had to be more formal with the god of light than with Alethos, who was... well, a friend.

“Sleep; when you awaken, you will be back in your own bed,” said Pollonis. And Harkon felt himself overwhelmed by healing sleep. He sensed the presence of Thyella beside him as he drifted off, and snuggled into her arms.

 

oOoOo

 

Thyella and Phaedros left Kaz, Rynn, and Hraazaz when they emerged from the temple.

“Harkon needs us to add advocacy,” said Thyella. “And he’s hurt so I want to go to him.”

“It’s a routine journey back to Mesolimnos,” said Kaz. “Though, I must say, heroic travel would be useful.”

“You need to concentrate on lifting your body with your kormajeia and carrying it,” said Thyella. “It’s a question of practice.”

“And I am relying on Thyella, because I haven’t mastered it yet,” said Phaedros.

Kaz did not say so, but she hoped she would be able to manage things a little more quietly than Thyella.

“Dear one, I suspect you should consider practising merging with shadows, and moving from shadow to shadow,” said Alethos.

“Good idea,” said Kaz.

 

oOoOo

 

“Harkon disrespected us both,” said Zeandine to Secalia. “We should have our vengeance on him.”

“Shall we ask Thyella to help?” said Secalia. “She was really upset over being called a cheat.”

“No, I don’t like her,” said Zeandine. “And she’s been weird lately. You’d almost think she’s found a lover.”

Secalia giggled unkindly.

“What, Madam Stuck-up Celestial Virgin? Hardly. Who’d have her? Her hair is an absolute fright, frizzing out like it does when she’s all full of lightning, and so skinny! And abrasive! No man could possibly stand her.”

“No, you’re right,” said Zeandine. “And what could she add to help us plot? She doesn’t understand men as we do.”

“What had you in mind?” asked Secalia.

“Harkon spurned all my suggestions of lovers,” said Zeandine. “I offered him the woman said to be the most beautiful mortal in the world, Vaudia Cass, the betrothed of Ralthur Kron, until he changed sides. She has sweetly rounded limbs and a full bosom, and a perfect pear shaped body, with long dark hair and skin of the palest. I will give him to someone much less palatable; Thea Drex, heroine of the Selenite pantheon, who is all muscles, and tanned by being outside much of the time. I will give her dreams of Harkon and offer him to her as her sex slave. Imagine, a warrior being tied to a woman warrior who can give him orders, and who has no softness to rest against! It will be torture to him.”

Secalia gave a screaming little laugh.

“Oh, how clever!” she said. “But isn’t this woman on the chaos side, and aren’t we supposed to support the Alethosi?”

Zeandine shrugged. The amount of movement this engendered would have horrified Harkon, but many men found such movement mesmerising.

“Oh, politics; I stay out of such boring things,” she said. “Besides, it’s only one man and one woman; how can that make much difference? And in a hundred years they’ll likely be dead, anyway; mortals never live long enough to be much fun to play with.”

“How is she going to get hold of him?”

“I will have him given a lust potion so that when he sees her he is overcome by lust. It can only be countered by someone who is truly in love, and Harkon is too cold to love anyone.”

 

 

Unaware of the depth of Zeandine’s spite and malice towards him, Harkon awoke in his own temple in the arms of his wife. It seemed a very satisfactory reward to him for being wounded sorely in the rescue of her aunt.

Harkon preferred not to dwell too deeply on the relationships of the solar pantheon; Solos was known to play away, and Zea had had at least one lover in the begetting of sundry grain goddesses, and Harkon did not approve of such behaviour from a cult which supposedly upheld law and family values.

He reported to Pythas when he got up; and it must be said that this was only when his wife had made sure that every part of him was in working order.

It seemed rather mundane to be back in a besieged state, as the Selenites had abandoned Lazar Kron to captivity rather than withdraw; it would go harder on the Selenites as winter drew in. Though the two great lakes mitigated the severity of winter to some extent, they also made winters wetter, with many feet of snow possible, and wet fogs common. There were plenty of supplies in the city for those living there, and any who felt the cold, or were infirm were to be welcomed into any temple, where they might do some work according to their abilities to pay for somewhere to stay, food, and warmth. This generally involved things like peeling vegetables for stews, or sharpening weapons, mending leatherwork or such occupations if they had the knowledge. At the moment, most women in the city were busy preserving for the winter, busy with brine and vinegar.  There might be a shortage of honey for preserving fruits, because of the siege, but the warm late summer had seen many fruits being dried on racks and laid away in dry cellars. There was meat being salted down from herds brought in by the plainsfolk and fish from both lakes, and the besiegers could not stop either. It was amusing in a way. But of course, the Selenites would not let it rest like that, which was why provisioning was so important; Harkon knew what he would do in their shoes. First, he would have the current besieging garrison replaced with fresh troops, prepared for winter conditions, and able to dig in with plenty of supplies; and then he would send a second army across the plains, skirting the lakes rather than risking the marshes between the great lake and lakes Ena and Olo. That way, the siege could be extended to the currently ‘safe’ side of Mesolimnos. Or they might sail as far as Rhinopolis and then march round; sailing the length of the great lake would leave them on the same side of Mesolimnos without the ability to get through the Akerusian swamps to surround the city. And the greatest danger was in crossing the great plains where they would be harried by plainsfolk; and who might also negotiate the Drylands to harry the Selenite army.

“Sometimes I wish I could fly, so I could see the disposition of the enemy,” said Harkon, frustrated.

“But, darling, you can fly; you can cloud walk with me,” said Thyella. “Shall we go?”

Harkon stared, open mouthed.

“Darling, you’re brilliant,” he said.

“You know what I love about you, Harkon?” said Thyella. “You love me, not what I can do for you. It never occurred to you to use my powers.”

“Of course I love you,” said Harkon. “Being a goddess is neither here nor there; but I confess, it would be useful to go and spy.”

“Then, spy we shall.”

“Thyella, how deep can you drive a lightning bolt?”

“I don’t know; what had you in mind? I thought we weren’t to actually start the gods war that is fortold too early?”

“I was wondering if you could open a shaft to water below the drylands, to establish safe ways of travel only known to a few,” said Harkon.

“There are seasonal rivers, which mostly run underground,” said Thyella. “I should think I could reach water, and if we made love there enough to call rain, and got some vegetation growing, it ought to be stable enough. Did you want to do that instead of spying?”

“No, but it was something which occurred to me in passing,” said Harkon.  “We can do that when we have some spare time.”

“Shall we go, then?” said Thyella.

“Not yet,” said Harkon. “I don’t think that the Selenites have taken us seriously enough before to have heroes involved; but even assuming they sent messages by spirits back to Selenopolis, there has to have been discussion and decision about what’s going on. I want to know when they move, but I don’t feel that they have yet.”

“I could go and see if there were people on the move, and collect you when they are, as part of my job taking storms,” said Thyella.

“Well, if you would, I’d be grateful,” said Harkon.

Thyella kissed him.

“I’m so glad I can help,” she said. “I’d ask Ombros as well but I can’t guarantee he wouldn’t boast about it, and he’s been talking about a new lover; some ice spirit from the north.”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” said Harkon. “Still, at least we can go and look; and if I was them, I’d sail as much of the way as I could.”

“You know about ships and shipping, don’t you?”

“I come from the Depression,” said Harkon. “There’s a large lake, and there’s the sea, and the depression is between them, where the earth was stretched as it bucked in agony after portions of the Blue Moon fell. My father was a fisherman.”

“What made you and your brother come south to the city states?” asked Thyella.

“Seeking revenge,” said Harkon. “Pirates raided, whilst my father, my brother, and I were out at sea. They seized our mother and sister; our mother’s body was left at the waterline, horribly cut about, and we found it when we returned. Of our sister, Sjurgi, there was no sign. We had to assume she had been sold into slavery, probably in the empire. We wept; and in spring, my brother, who had a spirit many times larger than his stunted body, declared that he was going to look for answers. He went off with a band of traders. He wrote twice, and then there was a kindly letter from Pythas, about how he died bravely. He wrote that there was money banked for me if I wanted it. I wanted it; but my father was old and sick. I stayed until he died, mostly of grief.  Torval was four years older than me, so I was sixteen when I came to the city states, green and ignorant. Our sister was almost eight when she was stolen away, four years my junior. My parents did the correct rituals to Freega Allmother, whom I know now as Zea, for the most fortuitous space between children. We had a younger brother, too, but he was sickly, and died. I have no more family, for I don’t suppose Sjurgi survived. She was a bright little spark and not given to being pushed around; with two older brothers, she always wanted to tag along, and show us she was as good as we were. That would not go down well in a slave.”

“You could ask Alethos,” said Thyella. “He would surely know who had passed through the halls of the dead.”

“I... I had not thought of it,” said Harkon. He thrust his sword into the ground, and knelt by it to pray.

“No, my hero, no Sjurgi, Gordsdottir, has passed through,” said Alethos. “Gord, Solvi, and Sjen rest in the halls of the dead, for those of no strong faith.”

“Then I must visit,” said Harkon, tears flowing down his face. “And I must look again for Sjurgi; though I doubt she would know me, now, any more than I would know her, if they have changed her name, as they are wont to do.”

“I would have carried you to your father’s home if he had still lived,” said Thyella. “But I will take you to the path of the dead any time.”

“Thank you,” said Harkon.

 “And if you get any clue, I will take you to where there might be news of Sjurgi,” said Thyella.

“I... I am almost afraid to hope,” said Harkon. “I used to ask every trading band for news, but as time passes, you lose hope.  I even visited Selenopolis once, but I found nothing of use.”

“I think we will find her,” said Thyella. “Though somehow, I doubt she will be the loving, spirited sister that you knew.”

Harkon considered grimly that a pretty, exotic northern girl would have learned fast how many ways a girl can be hurt, and was probably now someone’s scrub maid, or used to breed soldiers for the empire. 

“And do not berate yourself!” said Alethos. “You had to be where you had to be. My mother tells me that this is the way it had to be.”

Alethos did not say that his mother spoke sorrowfully of a heartbreaking reunion where many things would depend on choices made by Harkon and his sister.