A Shout for the Dead (5 page)

'Religion, I think,' said Gesteris. 'Tarenaq was vague in the extreme when asked.'

'You do surprise me,' said Roberto with a raising of the eyebrows.

Tarenaq and Huatl were hurrying towards them. Typical of the Sirranean build, they were tall, slender people, sinuous, with large strong hands. The Sirraneans had been an arboreal race. Bony ridges ran down the sides of their necks and continued, he had been informed, the length of their torsos and along the undersides of their arms. A membrane had once grown from the ridges, providing limited glide, balance and enormous control in the leap between branches. Some still had an elongated coccyx. A vestigial reminder of a past long forgotten, as was the faint green tint within their deep brown skin. It was a history they held dear and which still governed much of their mythology, religion and ceremony.

'You've forgotten an important clause?' ventured Roberto as the two Sirraneans neared, trotting down a short flight of stone steps. Both were clothed in tight-fitting leggings and shirts. Lightweight cloaks were about their shoulders, floating in the breeze.

Tarenaq did not smile though she was used to Roberto's sense of humour by now. Her large, brown eyes locked on him and her brow creased.

'We have informations,' she said.

Her voice was strong and guttural, like that of so many of her kind, designed to carry through the sound-sapping foliage. Roberto couldn't help but smile.

'Lucky we signed when we did, then.'

'Yes.' Still no smile.

Roberto sobered. There was deep disappointment in Tarenaq's eyes. And sadness. 'What is it?'

Tarenaq turned to Huatl and motioned him to speak. It was slow and Tarenaq had to stop often, struggling for the right Estorean words but she did her best.

'The armies of Khuran cover the ground again. Their westerly progress is swift, an angry beast rumbling on mountain and plain. They have not scale but they have cruel purpose. Blood is in their eyes, it is all that they see. Something moves behind them and they dare not turn aside though fear bids them scatter. They will fall upon our friends. You are unready.'

Roberto found himself staring at Gesteris. All their joy was turned to ash. Both had spent long enough with Tarenaq to interpret nearly all she said first time around. And this message was simple enough.

'Where are they?' asked Roberto. 'How far have they got?'

'They stand south and east of us now. By the Gor of Halor. They travel our southern borders. Goscapita, surely their journey end.'

'The Halorian mountains? How can they be that close and you didn't tell us?'

Tarenaq passed on the question and Roberto saw Huatl frown as if it was obvious.

'Only our friends hear what we see. Yesterday, it was not written that you were. Today, you are.'

Roberto bit back a retort. Instead he nodded and turned sharply to Gesteris.

'My mother must hear of this immediately. Take your team and take the samples. Neristus and D'Allinnius will need them rather sooner than we thought. Send birds, send fast riders on the message service ahead of you. We must mobilise and we have no time.'

Gesteris thumped his right arm into his chest. 'My arm and heart are yours, Roberto. What about you?'

'I'm going to take a look for myself. Get numbers and weapons. Then I'm going to Gosland to command the defence. Make sure they know I'm coming.' Roberto slapped his palm on the stone rail at his side. 'Damn Khuran. Damn his ashes to the devils on the wind. How can he have rebuilt so quickly?'

He didn't really believe it. It could just be posturing. The Sirraneans might have got the intent wrong. But seldom were they so direct and detailed in their opening words on any subject. And that was something that worried Roberto more than he was prepared to say. Tsardon invasion. The Conquord simply wasn't ready.

Chapter Four

859th cycle of God, 1st day of
Genasrise

Mirron walked with Arducius and Ossacer across the grand courtyard, with its fountains, lawns and marble-tiled paths. They passed the basilica and moved into the palace itself, under the flags of the members of the Conquord, some of whose allegiance remained in considerable doubt.

They were shown to a small, luxuriously appointed reception chamber. The day was growing cold and the hypocaust warmed the floor beneath their feet. But amongst all the splendour, the busts, the tapestries and the furniture Mirron would never quite get used to, was yet another surprise on this day of surprises.

'Paul!' she shouted and ran into his embrace.

The huge man enveloped her almost completely and she lost herself in his strength; the father she had never known and the man to whom she owed her life more times than she could easily count. Paul Jhered, Exchequer of the Conquord treasury.

'Happy birthday,' he said.

'So why weren't you at the party?'

'Affairs of state, that sort of thing.' He released her and stepped back, indicating a recliner. 'Talking of which, sit down, Mirron. All of you.'

'What's going on?' Mirron looked at her brothers. 'Well?'

'We just know the Exchequer wanted to talk to us all. That's why we were called back from Morasia,' said Ossacer.

'Former Exchequer,' said Jhered. 'Remember I retired on setting foot back on Estorean soil. Just plain old head of palace security now, and looking forward to my dotage.'

'Except
...'
said Mirron, taking a seat and accepting a goblet of water from a servant.

Jhered sat opposite the Ascendants. He was looking good on his fifty-seven years, if a little tired from the journey back from Atreska. He had lost none of his authority. The crow's feet around his eyes gave him a fatherly look when he smiled as he was doing now.

'We had a disturbing conversation with the erstwhile King of Atreska,' said Jhered. 'Look, there's no easy way to say this. If Yuran is to be believed, Gorian is alive.'

Mirron's vision tunnelled and her senses closed in around her. She dropped her water. She felt heat across her face. She couldn't sense the energy maps of her brothers and Jhered any more and the isolation was dark. She was dimly aware she was breathing too quickly but did not have the coherence to stop it.

She closed her eyes and swayed as his name washed through her. Images flashed before her. His beauty, his fury. All from a time long ago that would always remain yesterday. A decade past that she could only ever push aside, never forget.

There were arms about her, trying to calm her. She couldn't settle her mind. She didn't know if she was going to laugh in relief or cry in desperation. For all they had grown to hate his memory, they had never wished him dead. But the knowledge of his survival brought such problems with it. It was a boulder dropped into the slowly calming pool of all their lives.

'What do we do?' It was her voice speaking, but distant as if through a closed door. 'What do we do?'

She felt the same heat in her gut she had first experienced when she was just a little girl, seeing his beauty for the first time. She cursed herself for it and for the confusion it sparked within her.

'Hey, it's all right.' Arducius's voice laid calm across the torrent of her mind. 'Take it easy. Come on. Have a drink.'

Mirron opened her eyes. They were fogged with her tears and she wiped at them angrily.

'Sorry,' she said, taking the goblet of watered wine from Arducius. 'Thank you, Ardu.'

'No, it is I who should be apologising to you,' said Jhered.

Mirron took a sip and looked at het brothers. Ossacer's face had fallen and he was biting back tears. Arducius just looked achingly sad.

'I think we all knew that he would resurface one day,' said Ossacer quietly. 'We haven't talked about it for years but I don't think any of us ever really believed he had died out there.'

Jhered's forehead creased. 'If you thought that, then we should have been searching for him all this time.'

'And where would we have looked?' asked Arducius. 'The Conquord is massive, Tsard an unmapped vastness. We would never have found him. He was always clever.'

'But we left him unmolested,' said Jhered. 'Roberto Del Aglios wanted him dead when we had the chance. We decided to let him go free. Will we live to regret that decision, I wonder?'

'He was just fourteen,' shouted Mirron, finding release for her anger. 'We were all just fourteen. And despite what he did, we couldn't stop caring for him, not for years after. Even you, Paul, because you supported us at the time. We can't afford to dwell on the past. What do we do now? And how is it he has reappeared?'

The Ascendants' attention switched back to Jhered.

'What did Yuran say?' asked Arducius.

Jhered leaned forward and took a deep breath. Mirron could see him recalling unsettling memories.

'You know he was actually relieved when he was deposed?' Jhered shook his head. 'When he began to speak I thought it was because he was scared at the prospect of his execution. I mean, he was, but that wasn't the whole of it, not deep down. Gorian terrified him. Used him to gain access to King Khuran and then deserted him when the Conquord was building to retake Atreska.

'Yuran says he has quickly grown to prominence in Tsard and is the key adviser and power behind the throne already. That's if you choose to believe it.'

'But that wouldn't scare Yuran on its own though, would it?' said Ossacer. 'He's done something, hasn't he? What?'

'This sounds absolutely ridiculous I know but Yuran says he is experimenting with animating the dead. And that he has succeeded. Yuran believes he has taken the ability to Khuran and wants him to begin a new war with the Conquord, using this new weapon.'

Mirron heard the words and felt the distasteful sensation of perverse sense. A memory as clear as yesterday filled her.

'You remember, don't you?' said Ossacer. He was exhibiting the same fear in his lifelines.

Mirron nodded. 'He spoke about it in Lubjek's Defile. What did he see, I wonder?'

'Hold on,' said Jhered. 'What did he speak about?'

'Back when we saw all the dead in Lubjek's Defile during the war with Tsard,' said Arducius. 'We all stood about feeling sick and Gorian was fascinated. He said something about the dead having their own energy. I said it would be the rats under the piles of bones. He didn't buy that. Mirron's right. He saw something, he must have done.'

'You believe Yuran's story? It still may be the words of a desperate man, who'd say anything to save himself.'

'But you said yourself it wasn't to do with his execution. You saw him. What do you think?' asked Ossacer.

‘I
think it the most outrageous thing I have ever heard. And I wanted to believe that he was doing it simply to prolong his sorry life. But Megan was there too. We both questioned him. And we both came to the same conclusion. He believes utterly in what he says he saw. Now, whether he has drawn flawed conclusions, I don't know, but I do know that we can't ignore him just yet. Not until you have had the chance to speak with him yourselves. Not until you three and the Echelon have had a chance to establish whether this concept of reanimating the dead is possible or simply a, I don't know, an illusion or a trick of the light or something.'

Mirron stared at Jhered. Through their long friendship she had come to know him as a realist without peer as well as being someone with a nature far more generous and kind than his outward persona would ever show. But for the first time, she saw uncertainty there.

'This is beyond any of us,' said Mirron. 'If it's true, it's something we have never researched, never even considered.'

'Where's Yuran now?' asked Arducius.

'In the cells below the palace,' said Jhered. 'Look, I'm finding this hard to rationalise.'

'No surprise there,' said Ossacer.

'No indeed. But if there is a threat, we need to assess it. I'm going to see the Advocate now to brief her on what we know so far. She's going to want quick action on this so we have to assess the truth of it and also the potential of this ability, if it is true. We can't afford to place our border forces on alert unless we are sure Khuran is coming for the Conquord again. You know the delicacy of relations across our territories.'

'And we also know the delicacy of our own position,' said Arducius. Jhered nodded.
‘I
was going to mention it. As and when this gets out, the Ascendancy will gain more enem
ies and have a lot of questions
to answer. You will take the blame whether you like it or not. Be careful. All of you.'