Now, Malden said, up and over. And-please you-discreetly.
Morget frowned in mock shame and hauled himself up onto the slate tiles of the roof above. Malden helped Croy do the same. They left the watchmen behind, staring across the street at them, unwilling to make the jump. Rather than waiting for the watchmen to shout for reinforcements, Malden led the two warriors up and over a roofline, then along the gutters of a row of houses and over a narrow alley until a quarter mile of rooftops lay between them and any possible pursuit.
Now, Malden said, up and over. And-please you-discreetly.
Morget frowned in mock shame and hauled himself up onto the slate tiles of the roof above. Malden helped Croy do the same. They left the watchmen behind, staring across the street at them, unwilling to make the jump. Rather than waiting for the watchmen to shout for reinforcements, Malden led the two warriors up and over a roofline, then along the gutters of a row of houses and over a narrow alley until a quarter mile of rooftops lay between them and any possible pursuit.
Enough, Malden, enough, Croy gasped, unable to stand upright after all that bounding and jumping. Weve lost them, Im sure of it. He sat down hard on the slates, with his legs dangling in the air.
We could have just stayed and fought them off, Morget suggested. You made it sound as if an army was after us, when it was just five little men with halberds.
Im sure you could have smashed them into paste, Malden said, scowling, but then you would have had an army after you. Dont they have watchmen where you come from? If you fight one, you have to fight them all.
Men whose only job is to watch their fellows and make sure they are not breaking laws? Why would we need such a thing? In the East, when a man wrongs you, you go to his tent and call him out to fight. You pummel him until he apologizes, or pays you what is owed. Its a very simple system, but it works.
And what if you call out a man who has done you some injury, but hes bigger than you, and he wins? Malden asked.
The barbarian squinted in confusion. I wouldnt know.
Malden shook his head. Well, here, when you attack six men in a tavern with an axe-
Come now, I didnt kill any of them.
-the watch will send as many men as it takes to cart you away. Then they put you in gaol to wait for a trial.
I would have died before they put me in a cage, Morget said.
Or afterward, when they hanged you. They would have probably arrested Croy for helping you, and detained me on pure suspicion because I happened to be nearby.
Thanks to Malden it did not come to that, Croy said, and slapped the thief on the back.
I suppose I owe you at that, Morget admitted.
Think nothing of it. But perhaps youll tell me one thing. Why did that fight start in the first place, and how did it get so out of hand? Normally a tavern fight ends with bruised knuckles and maybe a chair being broken over someones head, not axes and maces and faces getting chopped off.
Morget shrugged. A man insulted me. He besmirched my honor.
Croy nodded in understanding but Malden had to look away.
You Ancient Blades and your honor will get me killed one of these days. All right, what did he say? What was such a dreadful blasphemy?
He saw me drinking milk and said I was the largest babe hed ever clapped eyes on. I thought it a nice jest, and saw no harm in it.
Men in taverns often joke and make sport, Malden said. It means nothing.
But among clansmen, one must always respond to a jape with another. So of course I had to tell him that in my country, even infants were bigger than the men that Id seen in this city. He didnt like that much. Morget shrugged. He tried to grab my arm-as I have said, that is forbidden to strangers in my land. So I picked him up and threw him against a pillar. I thought that was the end of it, until I saw his friends drawing their knives.
Malden made a mental note never to try to shake the barbarians hand again. All right, he said, that explains how we all came to meet. But now, tell me, pray thee, what youre doing in the Free City of Ness in the first place. We dont get ah, that is to say, a man of your people is a rare sight this far west. Malden had grown up hearing horror stories of the barbarians, of how they ate their own babies and that their women were all seven feet tall. As an adult hed often heard them spoken of in hushed tones, as it was commonly believed that the barbarians would sweep over the mountains any day and invade Skrae and enslave them all. It was all hearsay, of course. He had never met a barbarian before, nor ever expected to.
Ah! the barbarian said, and looked like he might start laughing again. I am glad you asked. I am looking for Sir Croy.
Malden was confused. Well, you found him-but did you expect to find him in that tavern? Its not the sort of place he normally frequents.
Croy himself was still trying to catch his breath. His eyes were locked on Morgets face.
I knew nothing of him, until now, except his name. Perhaps I spoke wrong, Morget said with a frown. I am looking for another Ancient Blade. I am looking for the help of an Ancient Blade. It did not matter which one. I have sought them for a very long time, looking anywhere men with swords gathered. Until today my search was fruitless. From town to town I wandered, asking everywhere. Few men would even speak to me, but in the town of Greencastle I was told there was not one, but two such men in Ness. Sir Croy, and Sir Bikker-champions of your king, each of them bearers of a puissant sword. Ghostcutter and Acidtongue, they are called. I was told that Sir Bikker would be found in a place where ale is sold, if he could be found anywhere.
Malden and Croy traded a glance. Until a few months ago that might have been true. Bikker had been in Ness-though that man had fallen a long way since hed been one of the kings champions. Hed hired himself out as a sell-sword to the sorcerer Hazoth and the traitor Anselm Vry. And then hed put himself at odds with Malden and Croy. That had nearly ended in both their deaths. Instead Im afraid Bikker is dead, Croy said, still a little out of breath.
Dead? Morget asked.
He broke his oath, Croy said, nodding, as if that explained everything.
Apparently it did, as far as Morget was concerned. Ah. So you had to strike him down. I understand. It is part of our duty, our sworn duty, we who bear the Blades.
Malden didnt want to talk about Bikker. The dead man had caused him a great deal of trouble once. Well, you found the other one, anyway. The other Ancient Blade in Ness. Now, what do you want with Croy?
There is a task I must perform. The other part of our oath must be fulfilled. The barbarians eyes had gone out of focus, as if he was looking at nothing but the inside of his own skull. As if his thoughts were very far away.
Malden scratched at an eyebrow. If you specifically need the help of an Ancient Blade, that suggests just one task I can think of.
Indeed. I am hunting a demon.
Croy jumped to his feet, all sign of weariness gone from him. Where? he demanded.
Chapter Nine
There was no word Malden knew that could get Croys attention better than demon.
The world had its share of monsters. Up in the Northern Kingdoms there were still bands of goblins on the loose, and the occasional troll for a knight to test his steel on. Malden himself had met an ogre, and knew stories of everything from the dread Longlegs of the Rifnlatt to the dragons of the Old Empire. All such creatures could be felled by good swords or by magic, it was said. Demons were different.
They were not of the world. They did not belong there. Instead they were creatures of the Bloodgod, and they abided in his Pit of Souls, that place where all men were eventually judged and punished for their sins. Demons were normally trapped down there with eight-armed Sadu, but they could be summoned to the mundane realm by sorcerers who sought to tap their incredible power. Such a pact was illegal and utterly forbidden, and with good reason. Demons did not hail from the world of living men, and in that world were unnatural things, unbound by natural law. They were enormously powerful and almost impossible to kill. The sorcerer Hazoth had called up two of them before he died, and either one of them might have destroyed all of Ness if they had not been stopped.
They were not of the world. They did not belong there. Instead they were creatures of the Bloodgod, and they abided in his Pit of Souls, that place where all men were eventually judged and punished for their sins. Demons were normally trapped down there with eight-armed Sadu, but they could be summoned to the mundane realm by sorcerers who sought to tap their incredible power. Such a pact was illegal and utterly forbidden, and with good reason. Demons did not hail from the world of living men, and in that world were unnatural things, unbound by natural law. They were enormously powerful and almost impossible to kill. The sorcerer Hazoth had called up two of them before he died, and either one of them might have destroyed all of Ness if they had not been stopped.
Luckily for Malden and his fellow citizens, Croy had been there to slay them. Ghostcutter had prevailed against them, just as it had been made to do. The Ancient Blades had been forged for just that purpose.
And over the last eight hundred years theyd been quite successful at it. The men who wielded them often died in the process, but the swords had all but eliminated demonkind from the world. Now the existence of a single demon anywhere on the continent was a rare-but utterly fearful-occurrence. If the barbarian had encountered one, Croy had no choice but to go and slay it.
You must tell me everything, Croy said.
The barbarian nodded. And so I shall. Two years ago I was hunting in the mountains at the western end of our land, he said, squatting down on the tiles. I was after a wild cat that had already tasted human blood, and found it to be good. I went into the hills with only a knife and three days food in a sack. Just having a bit of fun, you know.
Yes, of course, Malden said. Fun.
Morget squinted at the sky. I followed the cats trail until I ran out of food, and then for five days more. Its spoor took me ever higher, up to a place where the trees grew no taller than saplings, and then to where they thinned out until there was nothing but lichens to eat, and springwater to quench my thirst. From time to time I found the remains of some creature the cat had killed-or so I thought. The carrion was broken open, crushed and sucked dry.
On the sixth day I found the cat itself, and all its bones ground to dust. There was not much left of it save the head and one paw. The rest had been dissolved, yes, I think that is the word I mean. Eaten away as if by acid. It was then I knew I hunted bigger prey than I thought.