Toll the Hounds

It was a common curse to feel unclean, but that curse would be unbearable if no cleansing awaited one, if not at the moment of dying, then afterwards. Look-ing upon these animated corpses, Gruntle saw nothing of redemption, nothing purged-guilt, shame, regrets and grief, they all swirled about these figures like a noxious cloud.



‘If getting killed lands me with you lot,’ he said, ‘I’d rather do without.’



The one named Iskar Jarak leaned wearily over the large Seven Cities saddle horn. ‘I sympathize, truly. Tell me, do you think we’ve all earned our rest?’



‘Don’t you?’



‘You have lost all your followers.’



‘I have.’ Gruntle saw that Toc Anaster was now watching him, fixed, sharp as a dagger point.



‘They are not here.’



He frowned at Iskar Jarak. ‘And they should be, I suppose?’



Brukhalian finally spoke, ‘It is just that. We are no longer so sure.’



‘Stay out of Hood’s realm,’ said Toc Anaster. ‘The gate is… closed.’



Master Quell started. ‘Closed? But that’s ridiculous! Does Hood now turn the dead away?’



Toc’s single eye held on Gruntle. ‘The borders are sealed to the living. There will be sentinels. Patrols. Intrusions will not be tolerated. Where we march you can’t go. Not now, perhaps never. Stay away, until the choice is taken from you. Stay away.’



And Gruntle saw then, finally, the anguish that gripped Toe Anaster, the bone-deep fear and dread. He saw how the man’s warning was in truth a cry to a friend, from one already lost, already doomed. Save yourself. Just do that, and it will all be worth it-all we must do, the war we must seek. Damn you, Gruntle, give all this meaning.



Quell must have sensed something of these fierce undercurrents, for he then bowed to the three riders. ‘I shall deliver your message. To all the pilots of the Trygalle Trade Guild.’



The ground seemed to shift uneasily beneath Gruntle’s boots.



‘And now you had better leave,’ said Brukhalian.



The hill groaned-and what Gruntle had imagined as some internal vertigo was now revealed as a real quaking of the earth.



Master Quell’s eyes were wide and he held his hands out to the sides to stay balanced.



At the far end of the range of hills, a massive eruption thundered, lifting earth and stones skyward. From the ruptured mound something rose, clawing free, sin-uous neck and gaping, snapping jaws, wings spreading wide-



The hill shivered beneath them.



The three riders had wheeled their horses and were now barrelling down the slope.



‘Quell!’



‘A moment, damn you!’



Another hill exploded.



Damned barrows all light! Holding dead dragons! ‘Hurry-’



‘Be quiet!’



The portal that split open was ragged, edges rippling as if caught in a storm.



The hill to their right burst its flanks. A massive wedge-shaped head scythed in their direction, gleaming bone and shreds of desiccated skin-



‘Quell!’



‘Go! I need to-’



The dragon heaved up from cascading earth, forelimbs tearing into the ground. The leviathan was coming for them.



No- it’s coming for the portal- Gruntle grasped Master Quell and dragged him towards the rent. The mage struggled, shrieking-but whatever he sought to say was lost in the deafening hiss from the dragon as it lurched forward. The head snapped closer, jaws wide-and Gruntle, with Quell in his arms, threw himself back, plunging into the portal-



They emerged at twice the height of a man above the sandy beach, plummet-ing downward to thump heavily in a tangle of limbs.



Shouts from the others-



As the undead dragon tore through the rent with a piercing cry of triumph, head, neck, forelimbs and shoulders, then one wing cracked out, spreading wide in an enormous torn sail shedding dirt. The second wing whipped into view-



Master Quell was screaming, weaving frantic words of power, panic driving his voice ever higher.



The monstrosity shivered out like an unholy birth, lunged skyward above the island. Stones rained down in clouds. As the tattered tip of its long tail slithered free, the rent snapped shut.



Lying half in the water, half on hard-packed sand, Gruntle stared up as the creature winged away, still shedding dust.



Shareholder Faint arrived, falling to her knees beside them. She was glaring at Master Quell who was slowly sitting up, a stunned look on his face.



‘You damned fool,’ she snarled, ‘why didn’t you throw a damned harness on that thing? We just lost our way off this damned island!’