The Collected Joe Abercrombie (108 page)

‘Do we still have supplies of wood and stone?’

The General nodded vigorously, all eagerness.
Finally adjusted to the changes in the chain of command, it seems.
‘Abundant supplies, Superior, precisely as your orders specified.’

‘I want you to build a wall behind the docks and along the shoreline. As strong, and as high, and as soon as possible. Our defences there are weak. The Gurkish may test them sooner or later.’

The General frowned out at the swarming army of soldiers crawling over the peninsula, looked down towards the calm docks, and back. ‘But surely the threat from the landward side is a little more . . . pressing? The Gurkish are poor sailors, and in any case have no fleet worthy of the name—’

‘The world changes, General. The world changes.’

‘Of course.’ Vissbruck turned to speak to his aides.

Glokta shuffled up to the parapet beside Cosca. ‘How many Gurkish troops, would you judge?’

The Styrian scratched at the flaky rash on the side of his neck. ‘I count five standards. Five of the Emperor’s legions, and plenty more besides. Scouts, engineers, irregulars from across the South. How many troops . . .’ He squinted up into the sun, lips moving silently as though his head was full of complex sums. ‘A fucking lot.’ He tipped his head back and sucked the last drops from his bottle, then he smacked his lips, pulled back his arm and hurled it towards the Gurkish. It flashed in the sun for a moment, then shattered against the hard dirt on the other side of the channel. ‘Do you see those carts at the back?’

Glokta squinted down his eye-glass. There did indeed seem to be a shadowy column of great wagons behind the mass of soldiery, barely visible in the shimmering haze and the clouds of dust kicked up by the stomping boots.
Soldiers need supplies of course, but then again .
. . Here and there he could see long timbers sticking up like spider’s legs. ‘Siege engines,’ muttered Glokta to himself.
All just as Yulwei said.
‘They are in earnest.’

‘Ah, but so are you.’ Cosca stood up beside the parapet, started to fiddle with his belt. A moment later, Glokta heard the sound of his piss spattering against the base of the wall, far below. The mercenary grinned over his shoulder, thin hair fluttering in the salt wind. ‘Everyone’s in lots of earnest. I must speak to Magister Eider. I’d say I’ll be getting my battle money soon.’

‘I think so.’ Glokta slowly lowered his eye-glass. ‘And earning it too.’

The Blind Lead the Blind

T
he First of the Magi lay twisted on his back in the cart, wedged between a water barrel and a sack of horse feed, a coil of rope for his pillow. Logen had never seen him look so old, and thin, and weak. His breath came shallow, his skin was pale and blotchy, drawn tight over his bones and beaded with sweat. From time to time he’d twitch, and squirm, and mutter strange words, his eyelids flickering like a man trapped in a bad dream.

‘What happened?’

Quai stared down. ‘Whenever you use the Art, you borrow from the Other Side, and what is borrowed has to be repaid. There are risks, even for a master. To seek to change the world with a thought . . . the arrogance of it.’ The corners of his mouth twitched up into a smile. ‘Borrow too often, perhaps, one time you touch the world below, and leave a piece of yourself behind . . .’

‘Behind?’ muttered Logen, peering down at the twitching old man. He didn’t much like the way Quai was talking. It was no smiling matter, as far as he could see, to be stuck out in the middle of nowhere without a clue where they were going.

‘Just think,’ whispered the apprentice. ‘The First of the Magi himself, helpless as a baby.’ He laid his hand gently on Bayaz’ chest. ‘He clings on to life by a thread. I could reach out now, with this weak hand . . . and kill him.’

Logen frowned. ‘Why would you want to do that?’

Quai looked up, and smiled his sickly smile. ‘Why would anyone? I was merely saying.’ And he snatched his hand away.

‘How long will he stay like this?’

The apprentice sat back in the cart and stared up at the sky. ‘There’s no saying. Maybe hours. Maybe forever.’

‘Forever?’ Logen ground his teeth. ‘Where does that leave us? You have any idea where we’re going? Or why? Or what we do when we get there? Should we turn back?’

‘No.’ Quai’s face was sharp as a blade. Sharper than Logen would ever have expected from him. ‘We have enemies behind us. To turn back now would be more dangerous than to continue. We carry on.’

Logen winced, and rubbed at his eyes. He felt tired, and sore, and sick. He wished he’d asked Bayaz his plans when he’d had the chance. He wished he’d never left the North, if it came to that. He could have sought out a reckoning with Bethod, and died in a place he knew, at the hands of men that he at least understood.

Logen had no wish to lead. The time was he’d hungered after fame, and glory, and respect, but the winning of them had been costly, and they’d proved to be hollow prizes. Men had put their faith in him, and he’d led them by a painful and a bloody route straight back to the mud. There was no ambition in him any more. He was cursed when it came to making decisions.

He took his hands away and looked around him. Bayaz still lay muttering in his fevered sleep. Quai was gazing carelessly up at the clouds. Luthar was standing with his back to the others, staring down the gorge. Ferro was sitting on a rock, cleaning her bow with a rag, and scowling. Longfoot had reappeared, predictably, just as the danger ended, and was standing not far away, looking pleased with himself. Logen grimaced, and gave a long sigh. There was no help for it. There was no one else.

‘Alright, we head for this bridge, at Aulcus, then we see.’

‘Not a good idea,’ tutted Longfoot, wandering up to the cart and peering in. ‘Not a good idea in the least. I warned our employer of that before his . . . mishap. The city is deserted, destroyed, ruined. A blighted, and a broken, and a dangerous place. The bridge may still stand, but according to rumour—’

‘Aulcus was the plan, and I reckon we’ll stick with it.’

Longfoot carried on as though he hadn’t spoken. ‘I think, perhaps, that it would be best if we headed back towards Calcis. We are still less than halfway to our ultimate destination, and have ample food and water for the return journey. With some luck—’

‘You were paid to go all the way?’

‘Well, er, indeed I was, but—’

‘Aulcus.’

The Navigator blinked. ‘Well, yes, I see that you are decided. Decisiveness, and boldness, and vigour, it would seem, are among your talents, but caution, and wisdom, and experience, if I may say, are among mine, and I am in no doubt whatsoever that—’

‘Aulcus,’ growled Logen.

Longfoot paused with his mouth half open. Then he snapped it shut. ‘Very well. We will follow the road back onto the plains, and head westward to the three lakes. Aulcus is at their head, but the journey is still a long and dangerous one, especially with winter well upon us. There should be—’

‘Good.’ Logen turned away before the Navigator had the chance to say anything more. That was the easy part. He sucked his teeth, and walked over to Ferro.

‘Bayaz is . . .’ he struggled for the right word. ‘Out. We don’t know how long for.’

She nodded. ‘We going on?’

‘Er . . . I reckon . . . that’s the plan.’

‘Alright.’ She got up from her rock and slung the bow over her shoulder. ‘Best get moving then.’

Easier than he’d expected. Too easy, perhaps. He wondered if she was thinking of sneaking off again. He was considering it himself, truth be told. ‘I don’t even know where we’re going.’

She snorted. ‘I’ve never known where I was going. You ask me, it’s an improvement, you in charge.’ She walked off towards the horses. ‘I never trusted that bald bastard.’

And that only left Luthar. He was standing with his back to the others, shoulders slumped, thoroughly miserable-looking. Logen could see the muscles on the side of his head working as he stared at the ground.

‘You alright?’

Luthar hardly seemed to hear him. ‘I wanted to fight. I wanted to, and I knew how to, and I had my hand on my steels.’ He slapped angrily at the hilt of one of his swords. ‘I was helpless as a fucking baby! Why couldn’t I move?’

‘That it? By the dead, boy, that happens to some men the first time!’

‘It does?’

‘More than you’d believe. At least you didn’t shit yourself.’

Luthar raised his eyebrows. ‘That happens?’

‘More than you’d believe.’

‘Did you freeze up, the first time?’

Logen frowned. ‘No. Killing comes too easy to me. Always has done. Believe me, you’re the lucky one.’

‘Unless I’m killed for doing nothing.’

‘Well,’ Logen had to admit, ‘there is that.’ Luthar’s head dropped even lower, and Logen clapped him on the arm. ‘But you didn’t get killed! Cheer up, boy, you’re lucky! You’re still alive, aren’t you?’ He gave a miserable nod. Logen slid his arm round his shoulder and guided him back towards the horses. ‘Then you’ve got the chance to do better next time.’

‘Next time?’

‘Course. Doing better next time. That’s what life is.’

Logen climbed back into the saddle, stiff and sore. Stiff from all the riding, sore from the fight in the gorge. Some bit of rock had cracked him on the back, that and he’d got a good punch on the side of his head. Could have been a lot worse.

He looked round at the others. They were all mounted up, staring at him. Four faces, as different as could be, but all with the same expression, more or less. Waiting for his say. Why did anyone ever think he had the answers? He swallowed, and dug his heels in.

‘Let’s go.’

Prince Ladisla’s Stratagem

‘Y
ou really should spend less time in here, Colonel West.’ Pike set down his hammer for a moment, the orange light from his forge reflecting in his eyes, shining bright on his melted face. ‘People will start to talk.’

West cracked a nervous grin. ‘It’s the only warm place in the whole damn camp.’ It was true enough, but a long way from the real reason. It was the only place in the whole damn camp where no one would look for him. Men who were starving, men who were freezing, men who had no water, or no weapon, or no clue what they were doing. Men who’d died of cold or illness and needed burying. Even the dead couldn’t manage without West. Everyone needed him, day and night. Everyone except Pike and his daughter, and the rest of the convicts. They alone seemed self-sufficient, and so their forge had become his refuge. A noisy, and a crowded, and a smoky refuge, no doubt, but no less sweet for that. He preferred it immeasurably to being with the Prince and his staff. Here among the criminals it was more . . . honest.

‘You’re in the way, Colonel. Again.’ Cathil shoved past him, a knife-blade glowing orange in the tongs in one gloved hand. She shoved it into the water, frowning, turning it this way and that while steam hissed up around her. West watched her move, quick and practised, beads of moisture on her sinewy arm, the back of her neck, hair dark and spiky with sweat. Hard to believe he’d ever taken her for a boy. She might handle the metal as well as any of the men, but the shape of her face, not to mention her chest, her waist, the curve of her backside, all unmistakably female . . .

She glanced over her shoulder and caught him looking. ‘Don’t you have an army to run?’

‘They’ll last ten minutes without me.’

She drew the cold, black blade from the water and tossed it clattering onto the heap beside the whetstone. ‘You sure?’

Maybe she was right at that. West took a deep breath, sighed, turned with some reluctance, and ventured out through the door of the shed and into the camp.

The winter air nipped at his cheeks after the heat of the smithy, and he pulled up the collars of his coat, hugged himself as he struggled down the camp’s main road. It was deathly quiet out here at night, once he had left the rattling of the forge behind him. He could hear the frozen mud sucking at his boots, his breath rasping in his throat, the faint cursing of some distant soldier, grumbling his way through the darkness. He stopped a moment and looked up, arms folded round himself for warmth. The sky was perfectly clear, the stars prickling bright, spread across the blackness like shining dust.

‘Beautiful,’ he murmured to himself.

‘You get used to it.’

It was Threetrees, picking his way between the tents with the Dogman at his shoulder. His face was in shadow, all dark pits and white angles like a cliff in the moonlight, but West could tell there was some ill news coming. The old Northman could hardly have been described as a figure of fun at the best of times, but now his frown was grim indeed.

‘Well met,’ said West in the Northern tongue.

‘You think? Bethod is inside five days’ march of your camp.’ The cold seemed suddenly to cut through West’s coat and make him shiver. ‘Five days?’

‘If he’s stayed put since we saw him, and that ain’t likely. Bethod was never one for staying put. If he’s marching south, he could be three days away. Less even.’

‘What are his numbers?’

The Dogman licked his lips, breath smoking round his lean face in the chill air. ‘I’d guess at ten thousand, but he might have more behind.’