Toll the Hounds

The city of Bastion crouched above the vast dying lake, its stolid, squat walls black-ened and. streaked with some kind of oil. The shanties and hovels surrounding the wall had been burned and then razed, the charred wreckage strewn down the slope leading to the cobbled road. Smoke hung above the battlements, thick and surly.



Cradling his battered hands-the reins looped loose about them-Nimander squinted up at the city and its yawning gates. No guards in sight, not a single figure on the walls. Except for the smoke the city looked lifeless, abandoned.



Riding at his side in the front of their modest column, Skintick said, ‘A name like “Bastion” invites images of ferocious defenders, bristling with all manner of weapons, suspicious of every foreigner climbing towards the gates. So,’ he added with a sigh, ‘we must be witness here to the blessed indolence of Saemankelyk, the Dying God’s sweet blood.’



Memories of his time in the company of the giant mason still haunted Nimander. It seemed he was cursed with occurrences devoid of resolution, every life crossing his path leaving a swirling wake of mysteries in which he flailed about, half drowning. The Jaghut, Gothos, only worsened matters, a creature of vast antiquity seeking to make use of them, somehow, for reasons he had been too uninterested to explain.



Since we failed him.



The smell of rotting salt filled the air and they could see the bleached flats stretching out from the old shoreline, stilted docks high and dry above struggling weeds, fisher boats lying on their sides farther out. Off to their left, inland, farmsteads were visible amidst rows of scarecrows, but it looked as if there was nothing still living out there-the plants were black and withered, the hundreds of wrapped figures motionless.



They drew closer to the archway, and still there was no one in sight.



‘We’re being watched,’ Skintick said.



Nimander nodded. He felt the same. Hidden eyes, avid eyes.



‘As if we’ve done just what they wanted,’ Skintick went on, his voice low, ‘by delivering Clip, straight to their damned Abject Temple.’



That was certainly possible. ‘I have no intention of surrendering him-you know that.’



‘So we prepare to wage war against an entire city? A fanatic priesthood and a god?’



‘Yes.’



Grinning, Skintick loosened the sword at his side.



Nimander frowned at him. ‘Cousin, I don’t recall you possessing such blood-lust.’



‘Oh, I am as reluctant as you, Nimander. But I feel we’ve been pushed long enough. It’s time to push back, that’s all. Still, that damage to your hands worries me.’’Aranathn did what she could I will he fine.’ He did not explain how the wounding felt more spiritual than physical. Aranatha had indeed healed the crushed bones, the mangled flesh. Yet he still cradled them as if crippled, and in his dreams at night he found himself trapped in memories of that heavy block of obsidian sliding over his fingertips, the pain, the spurting blood-and he’d awaken slick with sweat, hands throbbing.



The very same hands that had strangled Phaed-almost taking her life. The pain felt like punishment, and now, in the city before them, he believed that once more they would know violence, delivering death with terrible grace.



They reined in before the gate’s archway. Sigils crowded the wooden doors, painted in the same thick, black dye that marred the walls to either side.



Nenanda spoke from the wagon’s bench. ‘What are we waiting for? Nimander? Let’s get this over with.’



Skintick twisted in the saddle and said, ‘Patience, brother. We’re waiting for the official welcoming party. The killing will have to come later.’



Kallor climbed down from the back of the wagon and walked up to the gate. ‘I hear singing,’ he said.



Nimander nodded. The voices were distant, reaching them in faint waves rippling out from the city’s heart. There were no other sounds, as one would expect from a crowded, thriving settlement. And through the archway he could see naught but empty streets and the dull faces of blockish buildings, shutters closed on every window.



Kallor had continued on, into the shadow of the gate and then out to the wide street beyond, where he paused, his gaze fixed on something to his left.



‘So much for the welcoming party,’ Skintick said, sighing. ‘Shall we enter, Ni-mander?’



From behind them came Aranatha’s melodic voice. ‘Be warned, cousins. This entire city is the Abject Temple.’



Nimander and Skintick both turned at that. ‘Mother bless us,’ Skintick whispered.



‘What effect will that have on us?’ Nimander asked her. ‘Will it be the same as in the village that night?’