Path of Bones (7 page)

He had little choice but to serve her – the Veil saw to that – but Ijanna didn’t want a slave.  She wanted a partner, a traveling companion.  Someone she could talk to.  Still, she wasn’t going to try and convince Kath that their mission was something he should accept.  How could she, when she hadn’t been able to do that herself?

“This should do,” he said after a few more minutes.  Kath found them a shallow cave in the side of a hill covered with stunted trees.  Both of their faces were pasted with sweat.  They wore simple dark cloaks over their leather armor, and each carried a light pack.  Kath’s curved axe was always in hand, while Ijanna kept her short blades concealed near her hips and the
thar’koon
slung across her back. 

Unlike the deserts near Allaj Mohrter the Bonelands didn’t cool at night, but Kath built a small fire nevertheless.  They’d had more than their fair share of cold camps that past week, and the cave would help conceal the flames from any wandering eyes.  They’d been lucky to that point and hadn’t had to deal with more than a few wild dogs and some ill-equipped brigands who Kath scared away with his size alone. 

The two of them sat and ate dried bars made of wheat and raisins and drank water from their canteens.  Ijanna kept her cloak cinched tight to her throat, not because she was cold but because it gave her free hand something to do.  She tried to focus on chewing, but she was so exhausted she kept drifting off.  She’d rested little all that week, and what sleep she found was plagued with nightmares of Chul Gaerog.  Ever since they’d left Ebonmark the visions had gotten worse. 

Lying down to sleep meant tomorrow would be there, and she’d be another day closer to stepping foot in the Black Tower.

Am I just prolonging the inevitable?
she wondered.  She finished her food and looked up at the darkening sky. 
I’m afraid I’m right,
she told herself. 
I’m afraid that all of this, the
thar’koon,
Kath, the Skullborn…none of it will mean anything.  There’s no escape.  I can’t change what’s meant to be.

“
Ijanna?”  Kath’s voice startled her from her reverie.  Tears streamed down her face.

“
I’m sorry,” she said.  She hastily wiped her eyes.  “I’m…I’m fine.”  She looked at him.  “Are
you
okay?” she asked.

Kath looked away, almost guiltily.  His eyes were glossy with tears of his own. 

“Yes,” he said wearily.  “And no.  I’m…”  He looked at the ground.  “I’m scared.”

“
So am I,” she said, and she laughed nervously.  “But you and I…we’ve said all this before.”

“
I know,” he said with a sad smile.

Ijanna hesitated.  The wind picked up outside, whipping loose sticks and stones through the night air.  A wolf called from somewhere in the distance. 

“Kath?”

“
Yes?”

“
I’m sorry,” she said.  “I’m sorry you had to get involved in this.  I’m sorry…that I can’t make you understand.”

Kath threw a twig into the fire.  It crackled and sizzled.  Something was boiling up inside him, something he didn’t want to say. 

“You’re doing this to save lives, right?” he asked quietly.

“
Yes,” she said.  “You have my word.”  She pulled a strand of her blonde hair back from her face.  Her eyes were tired, and the pulsing glow there in the cave seemed to be the only light left in the world.  The air was sticky with smoke and sweat.  “I can tell you more, if you want to hear.”

“
No,” Kath said.  “Not right now.”  He stared at the flames.  Dancing light played across his broad face.  Even sitting there he was a mountain, a giant of a boy with shaggy brown hair and the burning flames of youth in his eyes.  “Maybe tomorrow.”

There was so much he wasn’t saying, but Ijanna was thankful for what he
had
said. 

“
If it makes any difference,” she said, “remember that what we’re doing out here is to try and find another way...to see if there
is
another way.” 

Kath nodded, and offered up a weak smile. 

“My father warned me about girls like you.”

“
Oh, really?” Ijanna said with a playful turn of her head.

“
Well,” Kath laughed, “maybe not
exactly
like you…”  He was still uneasy, that was clear, but it felt like a wall that had stood between them for a week was finally breaking down.  “You need some rest,” he said.  “Go on.  I’ll take first watch.”

No more was said.  Before long, fight it as she did, Ijanna fell fast asleep.  The last thing she saw as she drifted off was Kath, his face illuminated by the dim flames while he stared off into the dark.

Seven

They set off early the next morning.  Kath was glad he and Ijanna had finally talked – the tension was still there between them, but it was nowhere near as stifling as before. 

Kath tried not to think too hard about what lie ahead, a difficult task given that his every waking moment was consumed with thoughts of Ijanna.  He knew she hadn’t meant to do this to him – to make him her slave, essentially – but that didn’t stop him from resenting both her and what she felt she had to do.  With every step they took Kath was more convinced she was walking the wrong path.  He didn’t doubt her good intentions, but he couldn’t for a second believe any destiny involving the resurrection of a monster like Carastena Vlagoth could be pure.  She was a scourge, a demon made flesh who’d been responsible for tens of thousands of deaths.  The poison of her magic had soiled Malzaria, and the dire legacy she’d left behind would claim even more lives before memory of her evil would be forgotten.

He had little choice but to protect Ijanna – the magical bond between them saw to that – and deep down he
wanted
to.  Or at least he thought he did.

Maybe the person I’m meant to protect her from is herself. 
Kath almost laughed out loud at what a colossal joke that would have been.  All he’d ever been good at was fouling things up, so the thought that he was somehow meant to help Ijanna fulfill her destiny made him tremble inside. 
She’d be better protected by a court fool.

Still, he had to try.  He was there, for better or worse, so he intended to make the most of it.  He’d help her find this Skullborn woman in the hopes she’d provide Ijanna some other road she could take.  There had to be another way.

He constantly worried about how much he’d been affected by Ijanna’s power.  Kath couldn’t believe she was intentionally twisting his mind, but what would her magic do on its own accord?  By her own admission the Veil sometimes did things even she couldn’t anticipate or control.  It had bonded the two of them, after all, presumably so he’d protect her on this insane quest, but maybe it had some deeper purpose he couldn’t comprehend yet. 

But what else has it done to me?

Kath kept his worries to himself.  Ijanna had enough on her mind, and he had to focus on how he could help her…especially if their trek across the Bonelands led them to a dead end.

What a horrible place it was.  Broken earth oozed greasy water, and dead clusters of trees loomed like burned men.  The air smelled like bad meat.  Ash clouds hovered across the face of the sun and cast the land in grey shadows.  What little life they’d seen was all scavenger, animal and human, tattered and clinging to life.  Kath had never before ventured more than a few miles away from Ebonmark, and while he knew that not all places were like the Bonelands his first impression of the world beyond the city he’d grown up in certainly wasn’t a positive one.

There was no wind.  The day continued to grow warm, and before they’d hiked an hour Kath felt a sheen slick of sweat upon his brow.  The sun was hazy and orange and seemed somehow hollow, a hole in the sky.  Ijanna removed her cloak after a time, and Kath happily carried it for her, slinging it through and under his pack along with his own. 

He was worried about her.  For as powerful as she was, her magic seemed incapable of combating her fatigue, and she’d been pushing herself hard those past few days.  She was thin to begin with, and though she was athletic she certainly didn’t seem up to the excessively arduous schedule she insisted they keep.  Kath, on the other hand, was used to extensive marches – he and his fellow members of the City Watch used to joke that they seemed to do little else – but even he was beginning to grow weary from the endless days of trudging across inhospitable ground. 

They were finally leaving the Razortooth behind.  For a time they’d been so close they could have pushed into the range’s outer rim, but the very thought of entering those mountains chilled his heart.  Hundreds had died there just a few years before, his mother among them.  Some said that if you traveled through the thick mountain forests you could still hear the screams of the Bloodspeakers who’d perished in the Dawn Knight’s death camps. 

By mid-day Ijanna was exhausted, and Kath wasn’t faring much better.  A week of hard travel was finally catching up with them, and Kath insisted they rest.  Ijanna finally relented, and they stopped at the top of a craggy hill covered with thorn oak and deep ravines.  The clouds turned blue, and Kath was grateful for the chill breeze coming at them from the River Black.  They’d kept hiking further and further from the shore to avoid the sea traffic moving in and out of Kaldrak Iyres, and while the ground was rougher and more difficult to traverse the air was much cooler.  Game and forage remained scarce, but they had no trouble finding mountain creeks and shallow streams, even if the quality of the water was sometimes dubious.

They ate oat cakes and nuts.  It seemed an eternity since they’d had meat, and Kath was surprised by how much he craved it.  At his size he’d always had a healthy appetite, and when he was an active member of the City Watch he’d consumed eggs by the dozen.  His eating habits had been curtailed somewhat in the past few months, but he was still used to several healthy portions per day, so he wasn’t surprised when his stomach rumbled so loud he was sure every predator within a league would hear it.

They took a short rest and pressed on, and after a few more hours of hard travel they came to the top of a steep rise from which they could see Kaldrak Iyres, the City of Thieves.  It was a rabid and ugly place even from a distance, a cluster of jagged towers and spiky round buildings.  The city sprawled across the harsh stone landscape and led right to the briny shores of Thorn Lake. 

Kaldrak Iyres was almost entirely controlled by criminals, and it was known to be a place of decadence and filth.  That last living Galladorian city had stayed free of any significant influence or control from Jlantria and Den’nar, though from what Kath had heard there were still no more Drage to be found there than in the cities further to the south.  The mercenary soldiers of Kaldrak Iyres didn’t enforce the law so much as protect the rich criminals who held the populace in a stranglehold of fear. 

It wasn’t quite dusk.  Kath cleared a stone ledge of its debris and motioned for Ijanna to sit, which she did without hesitation.  The flat clearing sat in the shadow of a half-toppled cedar that would hopefully keep them hidden from prying eyes.  Kath sat down across from Ijanna and rummaged through his pack for some trail mix, a blend of nuts, dried berries and figs.  He bit into his portion, trying his best to ignore the painful molar he wished would just fall out on its own so he wouldn’t have to pull it.  The icy wind made him shiver in place, but he recalled the heat of the days before and decided he’d relish the cold while he could.

The food had little flavor, but it was better than nothing.  If only they’d been close to any place but Kaldrak Iyres he could have convinced Ijanna to enter so they could get a good meal and stock up on supplies, maybe even sleep in a real bed for a change, but she’d already made clear that there were powerful people in that city who wanted her dead.  Even being as close as they were now was probably an unnecessary risk.  Kath had brought up the notion of going in alone so he could get supplies, but Ijanna wouldn’t have it, and she insisted they were likely to run into some honest merchants traveling between Kaldrak Iyres and Allaj Mohrter who they could barter with instead.  Kath was dubious, but he was the first to admit he didn’t know the territory nearly as well as she did, and he only hoped they’d find one of those merchants soon. 

Kath closed his eyes and silently prayed.  He was thankful they’d made it as far as they had.  None of the problems they’d experienced since leaving Ebonmark had been anything they couldn’t handle.  Kath had some combat experience – he’d fought brigands with the City Watch and had gone toe-to-toe with Tuscars – but the thought of what waited for them in the Bonelands froze his blood.  They were venturing into unholy lands, territories that had been scarred and scourged by magic, which in the eyes of the One Goddess’s church was what Gallador deserved for allying itself with an infernal creature like the Blood Queen.  Now she was dead, just another of the Unmaker’s countless abominations, but if their mission in the north failed Ijanna and Kath were going to bring her back to life.  Ijanna insisted that doing so would save lives, but no matter how hard he tried Kath couldn’t believe that.  Part of him wondered if Ijanna wasn’t insane.  Even if she was, he was her prisoner, held captive by a force he couldn’t comprehend or resist.