Path of Bones (14 page)

“
Yes
,” she said.  “
Among others
.”

Fifteen

Until she’d actually encountered the Chul, Ijanna hadn’t believed the stories about them.  Few did.  It was easy to accept the idea of giants and dragons and Tuscars and even werewolves, but people weren’t so quick to embrace the notion of the worst kinds of monsters: the human ones.

The Chul were a veritable cult of outcasts and refugees who’d chose to shed their human identities and become beasts, scarred killers who preyed upon humanity’s weak and believed they’d be rewarded with a place in the new world order once Carastena Vlagoth returned.  They were insane and troubled people who filed their teeth to canine edges, bleached their flesh and riddled their bodies with fetishes and jagged piercings.  They were led by the cruel and manipulative Witch Mother, Voice of the Blood Queen, who promised them that when the day of reckoning arrived they’d all return to their rightful place inside the sealed fortress of Chul Gaerog.  They lived in the shadows, infiltrating polite society to prey upon its citizens and terrorizing the wastes between the city-states.

“So why the hell are they after
you
?” Kath asked.

They’d moved double-time for nearly an hour to put some distance between themselves and the Chul.  Luckily their pursuers were still a ways off, but it wouldn’t take long for them to close the gap.

“The Witch Mother,” she said.  “She wants me dead.”

They approached a long but narrow rift between some rocky hills.  The trench was over a hundred feet long but only a few feet wide; they could position themselves on the hills to either side and gain higher ground against their pursuers.  Dozens of waist-high stones covered the area like grave markers.

“Why?” he asked.  He glanced over his shoulder.

“
How far back are they?” Ijanna asked.  “How long will it take for them to reach us?”

“
If we can keep us this pace, maybe they
won’t
,” he said.  “How far to Corinth?”

“
Too far,” Ijanna said.  “They’ll be using the Skull of the Moon to push themselves.  They won’t need to rest.”

“
The what?” Kath asked.

“
Magic,” Ijanna said.  “The Chul are excellent trackers.  We won’t be able to lose them, not while they’re this close.”  She looked down into the shallow rift and up at the jagged rocks.  “Damn it.”

“
Wait…you’re not thinking what I
think
you’re thinking, are you?” Kath asked. 

“
We can’t outrun them, Kath.  You know that.”

Kath looked around, his chest heaving. 

“Goddess.  Ijanna…”

“
How many are there?” she asked.  Cold wind stung like the touch of sharpened ice, and the murky green moon made the ground appear sick. 

The Chul had their scent, and while Ijanna could Breath the Veil to mask their presence she wasn’t sure if it would be enough to counteract the powerful magic used by the cannibal warriors.  Besides, they were close enough now that they wouldn’t need the Witch Mother’s sorcery to locate their prey.

The dark of night was clear of stars.  Broken hills lie in every direction, and if she and Kath kept running there was a good chance they’d stumble upon another canyon like the one they’d just found, only the next one might not be so shallow.  Dying by falling into a pit while running through the dark might have been a better way to die than at the hands of the Chul, but it was still death, and Ijanna wasn’t ready for that just yet.

“
We make a stand,” she said.  “We’ll take cover, and ambush them when they get here.”

Kath looked at her like she’d grown a third arm.  Ijanna loosened her cloak and took off her pack.  She saw the Chul, just shadows on the horizon.  Goosebumps prickled her flesh, and her spine tingled with fear as she checked her short blade and adjusted her vambraces.  For as many times as she’d faced death she’d never gotten used to it. 

“You’re insane,” Kath said.  “There are at least eight of them.  I thought I was supposed to keep you alive – the two of us don’t stand a chance against a whole band of warriors!”

“
What you’re supposed to do is
help
me,” she said.  “They’ve been hunting me for a year, Kath.  I know them.  I know how they work.  When they get this close, when their bodies are being pushed by the Witch Mother’s magic, there’s no outrunning them.  Especially out here.”  She looked up the slope of the closest hill.  A steeply angled path led between rows of sharp stones.  “We’ll have to face them sooner or later.”

“
I’d rather it was later,” Kath said angrily, and he looked back in the Chul’s direction.  “I can barely see them,” he said, squinting.  “But they’re getting closer.  Why does the Witch Mother want you dead?” he asked.  “Because of what you are?”

“
Silencing their enemies is how they keep their existence a secret,” she said.  “They strike from the shadows, kill only when they know they can do so without getting caught.”  She took a breath.  “And yes, Kath, they’re hunting me because I’m one of the Skullborn.” 

And they know how much power they can acquire by consuming my flesh.

“Goddess save us,” Kath said.  She saw fear in his eyes.

Why did the Veil choose him?
she wondered. 
He’s just a boy, he has nothing to do with this. 
He was so young, so ill-prepared for the task ahead, for the danger they were in now.  An image of Kath’s body flashed through her mind, face-down in a pool of his own blood.  Suddenly she was back in the camps, standing over a different body, this one much younger and with a blade in his back.  Panic welled up inside her, and it was all Ijanna could do to stay standing. 
The Veil is cruel
, she told herself. 
It has its reasons.  It doesn’t matter what they are, because he’s
here
, and you don’t have any other choice.

“
Kath,” she said.  “Please.  I need your help.”

He ran his hand over his face and wiped away his sweat.  Kath was broad and tall, with thick shoulders and an imposing frame that seemed to defy his boyish face.  The dust and grime from their long voyage was caked on his skin and armor, and he looked like he hadn’t properly rested in weeks.  Ijanna imagined she must have looked much the same. 

The light dimmed as clouds cut across the moon.  So many shadows stirred in the darkness it was impossible to determine exactly where their pursuers were.  Ijanna Breathed the Veil, and her lungs turned raw as magic rushed from her lips and filled the air with invisible vapors.  She tasted rock salt and dust, felt small vibrations in the landscape, smelled the subtle but telling mark of humans and noted the tainted stench of creatures held in the grip of evil magic.  Her eyes glazed and glowed as she looked out across the barbed wastes. 

“
I see them,” she said.  “They’re maybe an hour away, but they’re moving fast.  Much faster than we can.”  She looked at Kath.  “I’m sorry for dragging you into this, Kath.  But I’m glad you’re here.  I don’t want to be alone anymore.”

Kath looked back into the darkness as if he’d actually see the Chul coming.  Even with the dim moonlight it seemed the two of them stood at the edge of the world, strangers lost in a sea of night. 

“I don’t have a choice,” he said sadly.  “But I don’t want it to be like that.  I want you to know I’m here with you, no matter what.”  He pulled off his pack, carefully removed his axe from where it was slung over his shoulder and started untying his crossbow.  “If we’re going to ambush them, we’d better get to it.” 

His sudden resolve lifted Ijanna’s spirits. 

“Thank you,” she said.

“
Don’t thank me yet,” he said.  “I just hope we’re up for this.”

“
We are,” she said.  “I think the Chul are about to find we’re more than capable of taking care of ourselves.”

Sixteen

It didn’t take long for them to “dig in”, as Ijanna put it, but Kath insisted they call it what it was – fortifying their position against a superior enemy force.  Granted, there wasn’t much to fortify, and even with Ijanna’s magic Kath didn’t think there was a chance in hell the Chul would actually walk into their ambush, especially if those cannibal’s senses were as keen as Ijanna claimed they were. 

In spite of his misgivings, Kath made every preparation he could.  He spread oil to either side of the small rift between the hills and prepared several quarrels to be lit and fired, which he stacked near one of the leaning stones next to his flint and steel.  He also tied rope tripwires ahead of the crevice and concealed them with dirt and scrub, then pounded sharpened stakes into the fissure walls to snag anyone who tripped and fell in. 

Fear made them work fast. Their preparations didn’t feel like much; Kath would have felt better with another able body at their disposal. 

Or a catapult.  That would be nice.

He and Ijanna decided to watch the crevice from the steeper hill on the south side of the rift.  They’d be firing from higher ground, and the standing stones would provide them with places to hide.  Kath worried about the lack of light, but if they started the blaze and took out at least a couple of those bastards early in the battle the darkness wouldn’t matter. 

Ijanna worked like a woman possessed.  She helped Kath at every turn when he wasn’t asking her to keep a lookout, and she eagerly tackled any task he assigned to her.  He was surprised she gave him the lead – yes, he was the soldier, but he’d been following her ever since they’d met, and it felt strange to have their roles reversed.  Kath wasn’t used to being in charge.  All his life he’d been told what to do, where to go, then made to suffer the consequences when he got it all wrong.  Ijanna was making him feel empowered, and it was a bit terrifying.

Our lives are in
my
hands.  Goddess help us.

The only thing Ijanna didn’t offer was to use her magic.  Kath wasn’t sure if she was just being practical or if the talents of a Bloodspeaker weren’t conducive to preparing for battle.  Either way, he didn’t press the issue.

Things were strange between them now, more tense than before they’d left Ebonmark. 

Back when you didn’t know that she planned to resurrect the Blood Queen. 

He decided that if they lived through the battle he’d ask her to explain why she had to bring back Carastena Vlagoth.  He couldn’t believe it was the right thing to do, no matter how many innocent lives it might save, but not hearing Ijanna out wasn’t helping either one of them.  She’d tried to talk to him before they’d left the city, but he’d refused to listen.  Now he knew he had to.  His drive to protect Ijanna hadn’t faded – if anything, it was growing stronger – but he could no longer tell if his protective instincts were his own or if they were born of the Veil.  Ultimately, it no longer mattered. 

You’re here
now
.  Do what needs to be done.

They finished their preparations, hasty though they were, and hid among the tall stones.  If the Chul wanted to get at them they’d have to brave open terrain, jump across the narrow rift and climb through the rocks in order to do so.  Kath wasn’t sure how powerful the Skull of the Moon made those killers, but he hoped the higher ground and simple traps would help even the odds.

His stomach twisted with fear, and his nerves were on edge.  He tried to remember his training, tried to think about anything but the coming fight, but the notion of facing a bunch of psychopathic cannibal warriors made powerful by tribal magic chilled him to his core. 

He set a small pot of oil on the ground and wedged it against the rock.  Beams of moonlight spilled through the clouds and gave them a good view of the plains.  Ijanna thrust the
thar’koon
into the dirt and rested her back against the nearest stone.  Kath loaded his crossbow, and his axe was nearby. 

I’d give anything for another crossbow right now. 
He gazed out through the rocks and saw the Chul’s silhouettes in the distance.  The eight of them had wickedly curved blades and edged armor. 
I’m going to die here
, he thought, trying his best to fight off panic. 
Just like Illistra, I was stolen from my family by a Bloodspeaker, and now I’m going to die. 

The Chul were in no hurry.  They waited. 

Kath watched, his palms covered with sweat and his heart pounding.  Ijanna sat next to him, her back against a rock and facing the other direction.  Her eyes were closed.  Even with her golden-blonde hair pasted to her face she looked perfect, so beautiful and pure.  He’d do anything to protect her, even die. 

He was angry at himself for feeling such fear when Ijanna needed him.  He clenched his fists and ground his teeth. 

Kath had been in battle a handful of times before.  The worst had been an engagement against Tuscars south of Ebonmark, when Captain Tyburn’s squad had come across an overrun farmhouse.  They’d silently taken out the Tuscar sentries before rushing the ruined farm, hacking down every enemy in sight.  Kath remembered the battle like it had happened yesterday, the adrenaline, the horror, the shock at the Tuscar’s ferocity and grotesque appearance.  He’d felt a surge of power as his axe split the skull of one Tuscar and broke the sword of another.  The battle was over in a heartbeat, but those moments before the charge, waiting in that grey field under the cold noonday sun, praying to the One Goddess and wishing for his bladder to stop hurting, had been the longest of his life.