What Lies Within (Book 5) (20 page)

   Where could it all end?

   Leth caught his breath in profound bafflement and forced himself to concentrate on the way ahead. The path that he and the children followed was a little-used track, barely wide enough for a single cart to pass. It followed or worked around the contours of the land - a wild land here, still forest clad, and all sudden craggy upthrusts, dramatic columns or ragged ridges of granite and limestone, and deep ravines where foaming streams thrashed.

   A league or so ahead Leth knew that the way broke out onto the main southern road which linked Giswel in the south to Enchantment's Reach itself, running via the market township of Crosswood. The southern road would be in full use by the
Karai, but before that, so Jalibir had informed him, another way branched off the track they now followed. This was Angsway, an ancient, barely plied trail, named after the notorious robber, Baron Ang, who had operated along its length over a period of years, until perhaps four or five years ago. Angsway ran deeper into the vast forest, passing through some of the remotest regions of Enchantment's Reach's hidden heart. It emerged eventually upon a western way which, according to Jalibir, passed within an hour or two's ride of Ghismile Tarn.

   'Many reckon Angsway to be haunted, Sir Clun,' Jalibir had cautioned. 'The spirits of the ancients wander its length, so it's said, seeking freedom from this world and unwary victims to carry with them on their way. You'll
pass tombs sacred to races we know nothing of - and be careful to leave them undisturbed. Werebeasts and ghouls come out on certain nights, attracted to Angsway by forces we can’t perceive. Mad Baron Ang is said to gallop his ghostly mount up and down Angsway in search of trespassers. And when he finds them . . . well, I'll say nothing more. All of these things may be true, or none of them, and you'll want to stay alert and avoid trouble. But if you're keen to stay off the southern road, Angsway's the only choice you've got.'

   Leth knew of Angsway and the many legends and tavern-tales attached to it. Which, if any, were true and which the products of over-active imaginations he had no way of knowing. But risks there certainly were. Angsway crossed some of the most lawless and desolate regions of his kingdom. Certainly, until just a few years ago, robber gangs and lone highwaymen had been active there. All were said to pay a percentage of their profits to the infamous Baron Ang in return for his permission to ply their nefarious trade along the way he considered his dominion.

   Leth's mother, Queen Fallorn, had dispatched forces to track them down, but on the whole had enjoyed little success, for the villains darted skilfully hither and thither, striking always in those places where Fallorn's police were not. Baron Ang himself had been particularly deft at staying beyond the grasp of the law. Even the location of his castle remained a mystery.

   In the end, however, the robbers and brigands had become their own worst enemies.
So effective had they been at depriving travellers of their valuables, and in many cases their lives too, that fewer and fewer persons elected to use Angsway, other than those wealthy enough to employ a strong guard as deterrent. Baron Ang was said to have retired gracefully to enjoy a life of debauchery and ease; a rumour later circulated that he had died in a hunting accident. The ancient road that bore his name fell into disuse a year or so before Leth acceded to the throne.

   Leth also knew that somewhere in this region, closer to the southern road and probably some way further north, his senior knight and military advisor, Sir Cathbo, led a force of three hundred elite fighters from Enchantment's Reach in raids upon the
Karai host. That is, if Cathbo still survived. Through Leth's mind had flashed the notion of trying to link up with Sir Cathbo, but he dismissed it almost immediately. The region was vast and trackless. Cathbo might be almost anywhere, or he might now be lying in cold and still repose beneath the dark soil of Enchantment's Reach. Whatever his state, to find him Leth would have to search close to the Karai army that he harried. The idea was impracticable.

   Leth had weighed the prospects carefully: the southern road with its guarantee of heavy
Karai traffic, or the dubious unknowns of Angsway. With no great cheer he had opted for the latter. He kept his eyes peeled now for the ram's skull nailed to a tree which Jalibir said marked Angsway's beginning. And when he came to it he paused and looked about him into the silent trees and concealing mist.

   'Iss, if you are truly able to aid us, be ready now.'

ii

   Leth, Galry and Jace had been three hours upon Angsway when they came upon the tombs. Progress had been laboured. Leth's impulse from the beginning was to urge his mount forward to make as much headway as possible, but the presence of the donkey upon which the children rode forced them to travel at a pace that seemed leisurely to the point of exasperation. Moreover, Angsway was narrow, frequently traversing back and forth as it scaled steep heights, and often slippery and quite treacherous. There were occasional stretches of level ground where both horse and donkey could break into a trot for a short distance, but even here the softness of the earth hampered and rapidly tired both animals.

   The tombs - there were twenty in all - were set back on each side of Angsway, so that Leth and the children rode down a long, unbroken avenue between them. They were identical in design, each formed of a single massive cuboidal block of stepped blue granite. The stone was alien to the region, and no one knew its place of origin, nor how it had been transported to Angsway. Each of the colossal carved blocks was estimated to weigh hundreds of tons. Generations of investigators had puzzled over them and failed to arrive at an explanation of how they had been carried here. There was no known form of transport, past or
present, that could have borne them.

   The tombs were believed to have been left by an ancient race called the Sagin, whose origins were lost in the blur of fargone history and myth. They were thought to have been titans, but little else was known about
them. Complex arrays of glyphs and sigils were etched into the tombs' walls. These had been copied and pored over by generations of mages and professors at the Arcane College of Enchantment's Reach and elsewhere. But they had defied decipherment, and virtually no insight into the ancient Sagin language had been gained.

   The Sagin tombs were part sunken into the earth. They rose to some forty feet. Each rectangular block was surmounted by a perfect solid dome, shaped out of the original block. A flight of fifteen wide steps ran up the front wall of each, allowing access to the dome and roof.

   At the vertex of each dome a finial rose in the form of a sphere onto which certain marks were etched. Out of the sphere odd, radiating shards of stone protruded assymetrically. Other finials to the number of nine were set about the upper surface of each roof, surrounding the central dome at varying distances. They too were spherical and of differing sizes. All bore radiating shards, but none were identical. This arrangement was repeated with slight variations of positioning on every one of the twenty tombs. Experts speculated that the placement of the globular finials were of astronomical significance, as were the angles and alignments of the tombs themselves. If this were true, the precise significance remained a mystery.

   No means of entrance to any of the Sagin tombs had ever been discovered. Investigators attempting to excavate beneath them had met uniformly grisly and unaccountable deaths, which had the effect of discouraging others from following in their footsteps. Hence the tombs had been untouched for many years. They rested, fabulous and forbidding, sentinel still, part-overgrown with trailing ivy, convulvulus, wild clematis, bramble and moss, monuments to a past that would probably never be known.

   Galry and Jace were once again singing to themselves, but they fell silent without Leth's bidding as they came in sight of the great stones. As they rode down the avenue between them both children addressed Leth in whispers, demanding to know what these strange monuments were. Leth had never previously set eyes on the Sagin tombs. He felt awe and sombre apprehension as he passed between them. The massive stones, wreathed in mist, seemed to cast a brooding aura about them. Even the birds were silent, or perhaps entirely absent, and Leth answered the children with only the briefest, hushed words.

   Passing the fifth or sixth tomb Leth gasped. Squatting on the uppermost step was a creature like nothing he had ever seen. It was huge in size, perhaps as massive as the Bridgekeeper who he had met in Orbelon's world. But there the comparison ended. In form it vaguely resembled a colossal toad, being fleshy, bulbous, and with a skin covered in warts and pustules, mottled pale yellow and grey in colour and with an oily sheen. But its head was more like that of a horribly deformed and hairless wolf, with savage, drooling jaws and low, flat ears. However, the eyes were set upon the top of the skull, two uneven cupolas clad in thick cartilaginous skin. They were large and blank, like pale grey screens.

   From the creature's neck a pair of powerful, mandible-like limbs protruded. They were tearing at some glistening red, furred, meaty substance which the thing gripped with formidably muscled forelimbs. A double row of bony spines ran down its back, and a twin-limbed tail twitched behind it and above its head, a curved, segmented sting at each tip.

   The creature glanced up and watched as Leth and the children passed. It blinked twice, slowly, then drew back its bloody lips and hissed. It angled its shoulders towards them and began to rise. A cold shudder raced down Leth's spine. His horse shied and he heard the donkey whicker in fear. He reached for his scimitar, conscious that it could have little effect against a monster such as this. But the creature settled back, returning to its meal while continuing to observe them with one baleful eye. Leth exhaled a long breath of relief when they finally rode clear of the Sagin tombs, and for some time turned frequently in his saddle, half-fearing to see the monster materializing behind them out of the mist.

   Nothing notable occurred to mark their journey over the following hours. They emerged from the sprawl of the forest onto a wide area of barren heathland. The mist failed to lift and as the day grew long, the dusk shadow began to gather close upon them. They had passed no signs of habitation and Leth was becoming resigned to passing a chill night in the open beside Angsway. The prospect held little appeal; it was in the dark hours that Angsway was said to know its direst hauntings.

   At length they came upon the ruin of a long-deserted cottage set a few paces back from the path. Leth halted and climbed down from his horse, drew his scimitar, and investigated. Four stone and flaking stucco walls still stood, and more than half an unruly turved roof, supported by sagging cedar beams.

   Satisfied that the place was untenanted Leth tethered the mare and donkey and brought his children inside. The remains of old furniture still stood within the cottage: a bowed, rickety table, chairs, a cupboard. There were also some fallen beams lying beneath the shelter of the roof. These Leth broke up and kindled a fire. He toasted strips of bacon and waybread given him by Jalibir, which they dined upon along with cheese and apples. Once they had eaten, the children curled up in their blankets beside the fire and were quickly asleep. Leth went back out, stripped the donkey and horse of equipment and, for both safety and warmth, brought the animals into the cottage, then returned to the fireside.

   Leth lay down and drew his blanket about him, but lay awake for some time, his mind abuzz. It seemed that, for all he had been through, little had been achieved. Formidable and daunting tasks still towered before him, and he was no closer to ridding Enchantment's Reach of the forces that menaced it. The Orb's Soul - could it be found? Issul had said that she and Orbelon were seeking it, with no indication that she knew anything of its whereabouts. And if it was found - and quickly - would it truly be of use against the
Karai and their god, and the Legendary Child?

   Leth drifted slowly towards sleep. His mind slid back over his experiences in Orbelon's world. A strange notion came to him. He considered his early encounters with Urch-Malmain, and found himself wide awake again, his eyes open in wonder. Were there things he had failed to properly perceive or understand? He knew quite suddenly that when he at last stood face to face with Orbelon again he would have many more questions to put to him.

   But first he must find his way overland to Orbelon and Issul.

   In the stillness of the night outside an owl hooted. Leth heard light footsteps close to the window of the cottage as some forest creature passed upon its nightly forays. He turned onto his side, trying to sleep. Something dug into his thigh. He reached into his trousers and drew forth the Locator given him by the entity, Aztin, when he had fled the Tower of Glancing Memory. He had all but forgotten it.

   He sat up and examined it in the fireglow. It was a small disk formed of a grey-green translucent stone, which fitted easily into the palm of his hand. Close to its rim, at quarterly intervals, were four fixed deep orange marks. A globule of dark blue fluidy stuff floated free within the stone itself, but as Leth observed it was drawn towards one side. The Locator would indicate the direction in which the portal lay, Aztin had said. Leth turned and tilted it in his hand; the blue substance drifted according to his motion, but returned always towards one particular direction when he held it still and level. He pocketed the Locator and lay down again. In a short space he was asleep.