Dark Realm: Book 5 Circles of Light series (33 page)

A large proportion of
the workings was lost and the engineers had worked long and hard to
find suitable areas to open fresh tunnels. Twice, Rose had delayed
too long and been caught in the debris from the blasts. He’d
started wearing a hat then, to cover the burn scars and pock marks
on his bald head. And his hands shook all the time.

‘Those poppers along
the wall,’ Rose muttered now. ‘ Figure they’ll blow on their
own?’

‘’Course they will.’
Dog adjusted her helmet. She called it her lucky helmet. She’d
found it in the mines, still encasing a head. The rest of the
miner’s body was lost under rubble, but the head wearing the helmet
rested neatly some distance away.

Onion slid back next to
her. ‘First ones coming through.’ He grinned, revealing more gaps
than teeth. ‘I’ll move on. One of the Bears said the trail goes
between a couple of rock pillar things. Bring them down and the way
out’s done for.’

Dog nodded, flicking a
glance at Rose. ‘We’ll be along.’

‘All right Rosie?’
Onion asked. ‘Be some bloody good bangs in a while.’

Sweat beaded on Rose’s
forehead and his eyes gleamed too brightly, but he nodded, gripping
his pack against his chest. ‘We’ll be on your heels Onion.’ His
words came slurred but too fast, and Onion’s smile
faltered.

‘Right, we’re
off.’

He tapped Darrick’s leg
and then made off along the path, keeping hunched low. Darrick slid
down, caught up his pack and trotted off after Onion. Dog stood,
risking a wary peep between the rocks. Four men abreast, in dusty
green uniforms, marched behind a single rider. In her quick
glimpse, the line of men seemed endless. She grunted and reached
for Rose’s arm, hauling him to his feet.

‘C’mon Rosie, we got
work to see to.’

Rose only giggled.
‘Dark have mercy,’ thought Dog.

Darrick and Onion lay
in the lee of a flat slab of rock, watching men pass beneath them.
There was a slight gap at last and then more men came, leading
horses. Darrick’s counting didn’t go above twenty but there were an
awful lot of twenties. He knew little of horses but Onion did, and
he cursed under his breath. The condition of the animals was bad
and many looked to be near foundering.

The men leading the
horses cared for them, Onion could see that. They coaxed and
cajoled, and the unhappy animals tried to respond. Darrick nudged
him and jerked his head north. Onion looked back at the horses
stumbling along the trail below. He grabbed Darrick’s sleeve to
halt him then unfastened his pack. Carefully he lifted out two sets
of poppers and passed them to Darrick.

‘Blow those pillars
straight off,’ he told him. ‘I want to stop those horses before
they get onto the open land by the Falls.’

Darrick stared at him
for a moment, nodded, and tucked the extra poppers into his own
pack. ‘Dark give you luck,’ he said, and moved away
fast.

Onion hurried back the
way they’d come until he found a narrow gully leading down. Holding
his pack to his chest, he let himself slither and slip until he
reached the main trail barely paces behind the last horses. His
arrival went unnoticed until a guard turned to encourage one of the
horses. The horse’s head was hanging low and its left hind leg
quivered. The guard stared at the black uniformed man standing so
near. Onion raised a hand, palm open.

‘Wait,’ he called
quietly in strongly accented common tongue. ‘I would not see your
poor beasts hurt further.’

The guard turned to
call to his fellows and the horses slowed to a halt.

‘What do you mean
stranger?’

Another guard pushed
through the animals, his long sword drawn. Before Onion could reply
there were several loud concussions behind him. The horses milled
and a few found the energy to rear away from their guards. The
guard with the drawn sword looked at Onion, at the horses, back to
Onion, then above Onion’s head. A dust cloud rose, perhaps a
quarter of a league to the north. Onion shrugged.

‘A friend’s just
blocked your road home. If you want your animals safe, stay here
for a while. You head forward only to slaughter.’

‘And why do you tell us
this?’ The guard moved his sword towards Onion.

Before Onion could
answer, another guard pushed between the horses, his face bruised
and swollen.

‘I am second Captain
Sekran. I too would know why you warn us of an attack.’

Onion shrugged again.
‘I like horses. My family raises some of the best in the Realm.
Those look like they were good animals before some idiot ordered
them through our mountains.’

Sekran gave an abrupt
nod and turned away. ‘Turn the horses,’ he called. ‘Let them rest a
while here.’ He looked over his shoulder at Onion. ‘Is there water
nearby? We have found very little.’

Onion was already
scrambling back up the rock face. He paused. ‘Plenty. If you do not
raise weapons, you will not be harmed when the Dark guards come
through.’

‘You are so sure they
will get through our force?’

Onion paused again and
laughed. ‘Oh yes Captain, for sure.’

He’d nearly got to the
goat path when Sekran called again. ‘Your name?’

Onion stuck his head
back over the edge of rock. ‘Onion!’

Darrick puffed into
sight and bent over, hands on his knees as he caught his
breath.

‘Went up lovely Onion –
should’ve seen it.’

‘Did Dog get along to
you?’

Darrick straightened.
‘No. Wondered where they’d got to.’

Onion scowled. ‘Dog’d
never let you down. Come on.’ He hurried back the way they’d come,
going as fast as the loose shale would allow.

Dog had shouldered her
pack and taken a couple of paces when she was aware Rose wasn’t
with her. She spun round in time to see him vanish back in the
direction of the Ghost Falls.

‘Oh Dark blast him,’
she muttered, and set off after him.

Dog moved as quietly
and smoothly as she could. Falling with a pack full of poppers
wasn’t a good idea and she was close enough to the Kelshans
marching parallel with her to hear their voices clearly. She
stopped at a bend and peered ahead where the path ran straight for
a good distance. At the farthest point, she saw Rose, clambering up
the rocks to the left of the path.

His feet were more than
an arms length above her head by the time she drew level. She put
her pack against the back cliff wall and jumped to reach his
boots.

‘Rose, what are you
doing? For Dark’s sake, get back down here,’ she hissed as loud as
she dared.

Somehow he twisted his
head to look down at Dog. ‘Bangs in the Dark, Dog.’ He giggled,
spittle wetting his chin.

Dog stared up at him in
horror, noticing he still had his pack on his shoulders.

‘Rosie, come down.
Please. I beg you.’ She jumped again, trying to grab a
foot.

Then she heard shouts
ring out to her right, the sudden clang of metal on metal, the
roaring war cry of the Bears, the screaming of the
Eagles.

‘No Rosie!’ she
screamed, watching his boot soles go over the top of the
rocks.

But in less than a
heartbeat she’d thrown herself flat, hands over her ears and prayed
her helmet was as lucky as she’d boasted it was. The rock lifted
beneath her, stones far larger than she’d have liked rained down
around and on her. After what felt like an age she cautiously moved
her hands away from her head. Her ears rang and buzzed. Dog put her
palms flat under her shoulders and pushed herself onto her side.
Pain flashed through her right leg but she refused to pass
out.

‘Oh Mother Dark, what
would sixteen poppers do, exploding in one place, and that place
Rose’s back?’

The sound of fighting
was muffled but she could hear sharp screams of pain much closer.
She groaned and closed her eyes then opened them as someone crashed
down next to her. Onion and Darrick were pushing stones and rock
away from her.

‘Where’s Rosie?’ Onion
asked, looking at Dog’s right leg where bone jutted out through
shredded black trousers.

Dog jerked a thumb
behind her.

‘Dark! Did you suspect
he was so far gone?’ Onion asked, tilting Dog’s face up, away from
the sight of Darrick reaching for her foot.

Dog began to shake her
head, spasmed into rigidity and slumped unconscious against
Onion.

Darrick was pouring
water from his flask over the mangled mess that was Dog’s right
thigh. ‘Need a healer quick, Onion. Bleeding’s not fast thank
Mother Dark, but that break’s bad.’ He pulled his jerkin off and
laid it over the injury. ‘Too much bloody dust, but I can’t see us
moving her without we do worse damage.’

‘Go see what’s
happening Darrick, and fetch a stretcher. Fast.’

Darrick left at a run,
his errand more urgent than thoughts of battle. In fact, as he
emerged onto the stretch of open ground bordering the edge of the
Ghost Falls, there was no full battle. Eagle warriors, arrows ready
fixed, stood above a crowded mass of green uniformed men. Some
Kelshan guards still fought savagely among Bear warriors and Dark
guards. But bodies lay heaped on the rough turf, many bodies. Most
wore the Kelshan green. Darrick scanned the encircling line of Dark
guards looking for Jemin. He spotted one of the Kelshan General’s
men and leaped between two Eagles to hurry towards the
officer.

‘Sir,’ he said
breathlessly. ‘We need a stretcher, quickly.’

Kestis stared at him
before recognising the man. He made a quick decision. ‘Eltim, I’m
going with this guard. He has wounded to retrieve.’

Eltim nodded briefly
and turned back to watch the men fighting within the tightening
circle of Dark guards. Kestis hurried back to where healers were
already at work and was pointed towards a stack of poles wrapped in
cloths. He grabbed one pair and called to Darrick.

‘How many?’

‘Just Dog
sir.’

Shouldering the
stretcher, he trotted after Darrick. Climbing back up to where the
goat trail began, Kestis glanced into the sky. A large number of
dark birds wheeled silently overhead. Kestis shivered. Ravens, come
to the feast.

One enormous raven
landed beside a Dark Lord. Favrian flicked gore and a tangle of
entrails from his blade towards the bird.

‘First taste to you
Hag,’ he called, his golden eyes still blazing.

Hag cackled and gobbled
down the morsel. She hopped sideways to a crumpled body wearing the
soft brown leathers of an Eagle warrior. She stabbed with her beak
and tossed an eye down her throat, muttering in delight. Favrian
made no move to stop her, nor would the tribesmen. The soul had
fled the body which was only the empty container now. Let the
discarded flesh feed the birds and the blood feed the
land.

The fighting had all
but ceased. Favrian checked the men in his squad. Ten appeared
unwounded, four having wounds quickly bound. Six missing then,
probably among the mounds of corpses. With some surprise, Favrian
saw the sun had nearly dropped behind the mountains, Dark shadows
reaching towards the Falls to gather in the newly freed souls.
Favrian studied his blade, waiting until every speck of blood
vanished into the metal before sheathing it.

In the comparative
quiet the Ghost Falls’ rushing noise sounded more distant than it
was, but then a voice rose, strident and outraged. Favrian saw The
Bear striding towards him, holding a Kelshan by the arm. The
Kelshan was nearly off his feet, struggling on tiptoes against The
Bear’s grip.

‘This one led them.’
The Bear tossed the man down at Favrian’s feet. ‘He didn’t fight. I
would say he has no sword or battle training yet claims to lead
warriors. He stood back and watched his men die.’ The Bear’s words
rang with contempt. ‘My warriors will not have their hands or
weapons tainted with this one’s death.’

The Bear turned away,
his great axe held loosely in one hand. Favrian knew just how heavy
that axe was, yet it looked a mere toy as The Bear moved off. The
Kelshan at his feet was scrambling to stand. The man swallowed when
he finally stared into Favrian’s face and saw those brilliant
eyes.

‘I am Captain
Strannik,’ he managed eventually. ‘And I lodge formal complaint at
this unwarranted attack on my force.’

Favrian saw General
Whilk and Prince Jemin making their way across the killing ground
and smiled at Strannik. Not pleasantly.

‘And you have a reason
to offer for bringing such a large number of armed men into this
Realm?’ Favrian folded his arms.

‘We come by order of
the great Imperatrix Veranta of Kelshan and the Confederacies. We
would negotiate trade treaties.’

Favrian laughed. ‘But
those were not General Whilk’s, nor Captain Lessur’s orders. Why
would your orders be so different from theirs?’

Strannik opened his
mouth to reply and it stayed open as he gaped in horror at General
Whilk who moved to Favrian’s side. Whilk nodded.