The Binding Stone (The Dragon Below, Book 1) (33 page)

"Which then, teacher?" asked Orshok.

Batul lowered his staff. "A test," he said slowly. "Let Geth's own actions decide."

Geth crossed his arms. "That sounds good to me."

"And to me," said Natrac. He moved to stand behind Geth. The shifter twisted around to glare at him. Natrac glared back at him and shook his head. "You came for me, Geth. I'm going to stand by you."

He held out his fist. Geth stared at it--then bashed his own
fist against it, and turned back to Batul. "We'll try your test together," he said.

Batul nodded in approval. "Fetch boats," he said to Orshok. "They'll cross Jhegesh Dol."

The color drained out of the young druid's face and he gasped something in Orc that sounded like a curse. Batul cut him off sharply, dismissing him with a gesture. Krepis gave both Geth and Natrac a look of deep satisfaction before Batul dismissed him as well. The old orc turned to them with a stern face. "Prepare yourselves," he said somberly, then hobbled away, leaving them alone by the dying fire.

Geth looked at Natrac. "What's Jhegesh Dol?" he asked quickly. There was a sudden hollow in the pit of his stomach.

"I don't know," said Natrac. "But the words sound like Orc. A
dol
is just a place, a structure or even a stretch of marsh.
Jhegesh ..."
He shook his head. "There's a word like it, though:
jegez."

"What does that mean?"

"Cut."

Singe was trying to feed Dandra again when she drew a sharp breath and froze, turning her head to fix her gaze in the distance. "Tetkashtai!" she croaked. Her hand rose to clutch at her chest, at the place where her crystal had hung.

The wizard's heart skipped as he stared at her. He glanced around, checking to see that neither Dah'mir nor Medala was anywhere nearby, then leaned closed. "Dandra?" he whispered. His voice almost stuck in his throat. "Twelve moons, Dandra, can you hear me? Dah'mir has some sort of hold on you again. You've got to fight him!"

She didn't react at all. Before Singe could even speak again, she relaxed and started breathing normally. Her head swung back around and once again she was staring with placid fascination at Dah'mir. Her hand fell back to her lap. Singe's fingers curled tight and he held back a curse of frustration.

Was she trying to fight off Dah'mir's control? He was certain that if she was capable of it, she was trying! Why had she called
Tetkashtai's name then, he wondered, and reached for her lost crystal? A reflex, maybe, an attempt to draw on the presence's power--but she had peered off into the distance as if there had been something out there. Singe looked out into the night. There was nothing that he could see. That didn't mean, though, that there wasn't something that Dandra, even through Dah'mir's hold on her, might be able to sense. Like the psicrystal.

The journey through the marshes had disoriented him, but there was one thing he knew: Zarash'ak lay to the south, under the shining haze of the Ring of Siberys. If Geth was dead, the crystal would be in or under the City of Stilts, either resting with his body or looted and sold off as nothing more than a pretty bauble.

Dandra had stared off to the west--and Singe couldn't imagine that the crystal would find its way inland unless Geth was alive and carrying it.

"Twelve moons," he breathed, hope flickering in his chest. "Twelve bloody moons!"

His elation was shattered by the screaming battle cry of the Bonetree hunters, and a sudden, brief clash of blades. Singe whirled around, but the fight was already over. Ashi was crouched over the quivering, wounded body of one of the young hunters. Her sword was drawn. So was his. There was blood only on Ashi's blade, however. She reached down and wiped her sword on the young hunter's shirt, then turned her back on him as the other hunters moved forward and surrounded their wounded comrade. To Singe's surprise, Dah'mir and Medala, seated by the fire, did nothing more than glance up before returning to their conversation.

The young hunters' glares and mutters followed Ashi as she stalked across the camp to fling herself down beside Singe and Dandra. She pulled a whetstone out of a pouch and began stroking it along the blade of her sword as if utterly unconcerned by what had taken place. Singe could see her hands trembling though.

"What was that?" he asked softly. He had discovered that unlike Ashi the young hunters spoke only their own language, though they seemed to understand Dah'mir's commands well enough, reacting as much to the green-eyed man's dominating presence
as to his actual words. He had no fear that they would overhear him but Medala's hearing sometimes seemed uncanny and he had no desire to attract her attention.

"Any hunter can make a challenge for the huntmaster's blade," said Ashi. "If they're successful, they become the new huntmaster. That pup has been working himself up to challenging me for the last two days. He won't be the last." She growled as she worked at the sword's edge. "Stupid children. I don't know if they honestly think they can lead the hunters or if they just want the sword!"

"Why would they just want the sword?"

"Because they're greedy. By tradition, the huntmaster carries the best weapon in the clan. No one else is allowed to even touch it."

"I remember that," said Singe. "You threatened to disembowel me when I unsheathed it."

"Don't let anyone hear that you did," Ashi said, "or I don't think even Dah'mir would be able to save you. You've touched the blade and that puts you above everyone else in the Bonetree except me." She held up the sword, turning it so that firelight flashed on the polished metal. After a moment, she lowered it and looked at Singe. "On Vennet's ship, you called this a sentinel's honor blade."

"An honor blade of the Sentinel Marshals of House Deneith," Singe corrected her. "The patriarch of House Deneith would have given it to a Sentinel Marshal in recognition of some great deed. They're rare, maybe one or two are awarded in a generation. This was the weapon of a hero." He glanced up and saw a blank look in her eyes. "What is it?"

"I don't know what a Sentinel Marshal is," Ashi muttered.

Singe blinked in surprise. "I guess maybe they don't get into the depths of the Shadow Marches too often," he said. "The Sentinel Marshals enforce justice across the borders of kingdoms. When a criminal tries to flee from a kingdom to escape the king's troops, a Sentinel Marshal will pursue him." He pointed at the motto on the honor blade.
"Words teach and spirit guides
is a Sentinel Marshal saying. The words of the law teach and direct them, but the spirit of the law guides them in their duties. Because they're
members of House Deneith, ancient treaties put them outside of the laws of any one kingdom." He gave Ashi a level look. "You know what House Deneith is, don't you?"

"A clan from beyond the Marches," said Ashi. "A clan with magic in its blood."

"That's one way of putting it," Singe agreed with a nod. "House Deneith carries the Mark of Sentinel--magic of protection--the way that Vennet's house, Lyrandar, carries the Mark of Storm."

"Do all children of Deneith have this Mark?" Ashi asked curiously.

"Children never bear a Mark," Singe told her. "If someone carries a dragonmark, it appears as they enter adulthood. Sometimes they grow larger and become more powerful--the rarest and most powerful appear fully formed--but usually they're small. Most members of a dragonmarked house don't carry a mark at all."

Ashi actually looked disappointed. Singe cocked his head and looked at her sideways. "Ashi?"

The big hunter shrugged, then extended the honor blade. "Two generations ago, an outclanner was taken captive in the marshes. I've heard that he was so badly wounded that the hunters wanted to kill him, but Dah'mir insisted that he be kept alive and brought into the Bonetree--as you will be. The outclanner's name was Kagan. If he had another name, it isn't remembered. Kagan couldn't fight anymore, but there was still enough man in him to bring many children into the clan." She twisted the sword. "His weapon was so fine that the huntmaster claimed it."

Singe stared at the sword, then at her. "You're saying that there's House Deneith blood in the Bonetree clan?"

Ashi grimaced and shook her head. "If Kagan was a member of your House Deneith, his blood in the Bonetree is thin," she said. "The elders say that after a few years, Kagan went mad and managed to kill all of the children he had sired--except one." She smiled softly. "The elders claim it was the will of the Dragon Below that he grew up to become the longest-lived huntmaster to ever lead the Bonetree hunters."

"Ner?" asked Singe.

She nodded.

"Did he have any children?"

Ashi looked up at him.

"Twelve moons!" Singe spat. "You?"

Ashi nodded again.

Singe sat back, stunned. After a moment, he asked, "Do you carry the Mark of Sentinel?"

"It would be the only way to know for certain if I had the blood of House Deneith, wouldn't it?"

"Yes," admitted Singe.

"Then I have no clan but the Bonetree," Ashi said. She slid the honor blade back into its sheath.

The orc-crafted boats skimmed through black water so still that it mirrored the night sky. Thick strands of reeds and grass made clouds; the trees that grew up through the water were like gnarled pillars pressed down by the weight of the sky above.

The boats carried no lights. Like shifters, orcs could see well in the dark. Geth sat in the bow of Orshok's flat-bottomed craft, Natrac in Krepis's. Batul squatted between the half-orc and the big druid to keep the peace. No one spoke. Batul had forbidden it.

The clouds of reed and grass grew broader, the stretches of open water narrower. Finally Batul spoke a word in Orc, and Krepis and Orshok guided the boats toward a grassy crest. Geth felt the wood underneath him crunch over solid ground.

"Out," said Batul. "We're here."

Geth glanced at the sky. It was, he guessed, roughly the middle of the night: the thin crescents of three of the twelve moons had already dipped below the horizon and the full, pale orange disk of the moon Olarune was rising to its zenith. He picked up the long staff with the angled crook at the end, the same as Orshok's and Batul's own, which was all the old druid would permit him as a weapon. Natrac had one, too. "It's a traditional orc marsh tool," the half-orc had muttered before they'd climbed into the boats. "A hunda stick. It's a probe, a support, a weapon ..."

"What the hook on the end for?" Geth had grunted.

"Catching snakes," Natrac had answered.

Geth missed his gauntlet and sword. He even missed the paired axes he had wielded in Bull Hollow after he had put the gauntlet away in rejection of his past, but the little hamlet seemed more distant than Narath now.

He leaped lightly onto land, then held the boat so Orshok could clamber out. Natrac tried to do the same, but ended up slipping halfway into the water, thrown off balance because he had only one hand to pull with. It earned him a sneer from Krepis. "City-born half-breed."

Natrac's remaining hand tightened on his hunda. Batul grunted at them both.

When they were all on solid ground, Batul led them forward. Geth looked around as they walked. Under the light of the moons and the Ring of Siberys, the marsh was still. It also stretched almost completely empty for nearly as far as he could see. The only feature that stood out was a lone tree, twisted and dead.

Batul stopped under the shadow of the tree and stared ahead across the desolate marsh. After a moment, he spoke. "The Gatekeepers were created to defend the Shadow Marches against magical invasion from Xoriat, the realm of madness. For thousands of years, we waited and we trained. When the invasion finally came, though, even we weren't ready. Our tribes were devastated. The hobgoblin empire of Dhakaan was beaten back. The daelkyr, the foul leaders of the hordes of Xoriat, held the Marches in their fingers until orc and hobgoblin, Gatekeeper and Dhakaan, came together to drive them back and close the pathways to Xoriat." He stretched out a hand, sweeping it across the landscape before them. "Nine thousand years ago, before it was torn apart and its master put to the sword, this place was a daelkyr stronghold. Jhegesh Dol."