MACHINES AND MACHINATIONS

ALBERON WAS waiting grimly in the shelter of the awning. The sun was hard on his angry young face, and bright as fire in the pale spikes of his choppy hair. The breeze had risen and it snapped the awning over his head, shivering its way through the tent at his back and snatching at his red wool cloak. Wynter felt its early-morning chill and wished for her own cloak. Her sword hung heavy at her waist. The slope reminded her of how weary she was.

‘Your Highness,’ she said, coming to a halt in the cold sunshine. ‘May we talk?’

Alberon’s eyes flickered briefly to Christopher, who was still standing at the foot of the hill, then back to Wynter. ‘Get in,’ he hissed, and she ducked past his guards into the dimness and relative warmth of his empty tent. Alberon strode after her.

The little servant peered around the door, his face red, his eyes wide. Wynter was certain that he had run, like a good little courtier, and told the Royal Prince that the Protector Lady was making love to an untitled savage right in the main street of the camp. She grimaced at him, and his little face twisted in miserable embarrassment.

Alberon stood in the centre of the tent and glared. ‘What in God’s name are you up to, Wynter?’

Wynter smiled gently. ‘Christopher Garron is not what I came here to discuss, your Highness. Perhaps we can talk on that another time?’

‘Whatever you believed you could get away with on the trail, Protector Lady, your conduct here lays the foundation for your very future. I already have my work cut out trying to restore your reputation, and I shall not have the court saying you’ve opened your legs for a God-cursed thief and a Merron savage!’

Alberon’s unexpected crudeness took Wynter completely by surprise. She felt her face flare scarlet, and she was speechless for a moment with shock. ‘Alberon,’ she said eventually, ‘don’t—’

‘I’m no goddamn puritan, Wynter. But you cannot afford to dandle your scrap of rough pleasure on the highway for all to see.’

Cold rage swelled to replace Wynter’s embarrassment, and she lowered her chin, her face hardening. ‘I’ll ask you to watch your tongue,’ she whispered. ‘No man has a right to speak to me in that fashion, not even a royal prince. Christopher Garron is my intended, Alberon. My da loved him; I have no doubt he would have approved our match. Razi approves our match. Our attachment is a fait accompli, your Highness, and I am afraid that you have no say in the matter.’

Alberon’s eyes flew open in a sudden rush of horror and disbelief. ‘A match?’ he cried. ‘For godsake, Wyn, the man has nothing! He’s a bloody gypsy! He will ruin you! Do you really want to spend the rest of your life living in a ditch?’

He clutched his head at the thought, and Wynter’s anger was blown away with the understanding that Alberon was utterly terrified for her. She opened her mouth, and he threw his hand up to silence her.

‘Don’t,’ he cried. ‘Don’t give me Lorcan’s old shit about making your own way in the world! You are not a child, Wynter. You will be sixteen years old at the end of the month and you have nothing. Your father has raised you on delusions. He should have spent his time securing a future for you, instead of indulging those damn games of make-believe! Carpenter indeed! Who the hell is ever going to hire you? You are a woman. Even if you ever do secure work, can you see yourself climbing the scaffolds with your belly full of that vagabond’s pups?’

The word pups was such an unfortunate choice that Wynter couldn’t help but smile. Cubs might be a touch more accurate, she thought, but she refrained from articulating the comment. Bad enough that Alberon considered Christopher a gypsy. What colour would he turn if Wynter revealed the rather more dangerous aspect of her young man’s nature?

‘What are you grinning for?’ cried Alberon.

She shrugged, her smile widening, and he ran his hands through his hair, staring at her in disbelief. Her smiling silence seemed to calm him down a little and he began to pace, his brow creased in thought.

‘Anyone can make a mistake,’ he muttered. ‘Women have recovered from much worse. Mind you, usually women with far greater prospects than yours. Still, a sizeable dowry can be arranged...’

‘Albi,’ she said.

‘Of course you’ve no damned land. No annuity of your own. No God-cursed family connections. But you are not unattractive, and you are still relatively young...’

‘Albi.’

‘Your friendship with us might stand to you. If there is no issue from this dalliance and the men here can be persuaded to keep their mouths shut.’ He glared out the door. ‘ He can be paid off...’

‘God damn it, Alberon! That is enough!’

He came to a halt, staring belligerently at her, and she sighed.

‘Albi,’ said Wynter gently. ‘I trust Christopher Garron. I love him. And he loves me. Would you deny me that, Albi? In this terrible bloody world, would you deny me that?’

The little servant was blatantly eavesdropping now, standing out in the open, his face rapt. She and Alberon were better than a play, it seemed, and he had quite forgot himself in their dramatics. His round eyes brimmed with the tragic wonder of Wynter’s speech, and he clasped his hands at his chest.

‘Oh,’ he whispered, ‘that’s righteous lovely.’

Alberon turned to him, and the little fellow froze like a rabbit under torchlight. ‘Boy?’ grated Alberon. ‘Have you nothing to do with yourself other than act the old maid?’

The poor child stared with panic-stricken eyes, and Wynter took pity on him. ‘I should very much like some breakfast, Anthony. Would there be anything available to eat or drink?’

‘Wouldst... wouldst like some gruel, Protector Lady? I can get thee—’ ‘You can get thee bloody out,’ yelled Alberon, swiping the air in mock threat. Anthony squeaked and fled, and Alberon strode in his wake, yelling after his retreating back, ‘Get some God-cursed tea while you’re at it!’

There was a distant little ‘aye Highness’.

Alberon stood at the head of the slope, glaring downwards. Wynter had no doubt that he was looking at Christopher, who undoubtedly was staring right back. She sighed and waited patiently while her brother had himself a good look at the man she had chosen as her own. She briefly considered introducing them properly and letting them talk, but there were many things she wanted to discuss with Alberon. Wynter did not think that it would be conducive to open conversation were the two men to commence the prowling that would be their inevitable reaction to each other. No. Introductions could wait.

‘Well,’ murmured the Prince, ‘I suppose a marriage, no matter how ill-advised, is one solution to your hopelessly slandered reputation. Should the worst come to the worst, as it inevitably will with a fellow such as him, we can always wed you off again as a dowered widow.’

‘Alberon,’ she hissed.

He did not turn around.

‘ Alberon! ’ she insisted.

He tilted his head, which was as far as she suspected he would go towards looking her way.

‘There will be no widowhood in my future, brother. No matter how much my husband sullies the landscape of your plans for me.’

Alberon shrugged. ‘Court life is a danger to us all,’ he said. ‘Nothing lasts forever.’

‘You had better make sure my husband lasts forever, Alberon Kingsson. Crown Prince or not, you will play no courtly games with Christopher Garron’s life. If he so much as stumbles and bruises his knees, I shall...’

Footsteps crunched up the dry slope and Wynter snapped to furious silence, certain that Oliver was about to beg access to the Prince. God curse him! Of all the damned times to interrupt. Right at that moment, Wynter did not think that she could face the knight without losing her now hopelessly tenuous self-control.

But it was only Alberon’s lieutenant, and he came to attention with a smart salute, waiting for permission to approach. Alberon waved him at ease and gestured him to speak.

‘Sir Oliver has taken watch with the pickets, your Highness. He sends word from the tree line.’

‘What news?’ asked Alberon.

‘No sign of the supplies, your Highness. It being two days now, and considering what the Lord Razi witnessed by the ford, Sir Oliver is of the belief that the provisioners might have been taken.’

Alberon sighed. ‘It is more than possible. The valleys are crawling with the King’s soldiers. If Sir Oliver is right, and those poor men have been taken, it will only be a matter of time before they crack and tell my father where we are... I’m afraid we may have to move again, Marcel, and soon.’

The lieutenant nodded gravely and gazed out across the camp. ‘No need for the men to know it yet, though, Highness. T’would only rattle them.’

‘Aye. In any case, we must await these last envoys. We certainly cannot up stakes till they are here. There is no sign of them, I suppose?’

Wynter saw the lieutenant’s face crease in momentary distaste. ‘No, your Highness,’ he said coldly. ‘No sign.’

Alberon sighed again and dismissed the man. He watched as the lieutenant walked away, then he drew his cloak around him and stood staring pensively out across the trees. His thoughts seemed utterly diverted from Christopher, and Wynter glowered at him – torn between needing to discuss the desperate politics of their situation and the desire to settle the subject of her future once and for all.

At the back of the tent, something stirred and a thin whine drew Wynter’s attention. With another grim look at the Prince, she crossed to see what it was. On the trunk that acted as Alberon’s bedside table, Marguerite Shirken’s papers rested, their seals as yet unbroken. Wynter glanced suspiciously at them; then she drew the insect-netting aside and looked behind it for the source of the noise.

It was Coriolanus, hidden in his nest of blanket at the foot of the neat cot. The poor creature seemed in the grip of a bad dream, and he mewed hoarsely in his sleep, his little teeth flashing.

Wynter crouched by the bed. ‘Cori,’ she whispered, reaching to stroke him. ‘Cori... wake up.’

The cat hissed and lashed out, and Wynter withdrew with a cry, her hand scored with four shallow gashes. She cursed vehemently. ‘Cori!’ she snapped. ‘Wake up!’

His eyes flew open and he lay on his back, staring at her, his small white forepaws held to his bony chest. ‘Cat-servant,’ he rasped.

‘You scratched me.’

He looked at the blood she was sucking from the back of her hand and frowned, rolling to his side. ‘I... I was dreaming of my dear mother. The soldiers-who-kill had come again. I was too sick and my mother... my mother drew them away. But,’ he squeezed his beautiful eyes shut, ‘but in my dream they came again,’ he whispered. ‘Reaching.’

‘It was only me,’ said Wynter, moved by the poor creature’s obvious distress. ‘I was only going to pet you.’

‘Ahrrrrrr,’ he huffed, flustered. ‘Humans. Always touching. Always grabbing!’ He slid a look at her. ‘Though I am sure I can bring myself to tolerate it if you must lift me.’

Wynter gathered him to her, a fragile collection of brittle warmth, and cradled him like a baby. ‘Your mother still lives, you know,’ she whispered gently. ‘An orange cat told me so. GreyMother hides somewhere in the castle with the last of the kittens.’

Coriolanus didn’t react to this, except to rub his head against her caressing fingers and gaze into nothing. ‘A flame-coloured cat,’ he murmured, ‘with a heart full of hatred?’

‘How did you know?’

‘SimonSmoke’s tenth daughter, the only flame-coloured cat of her litter. She has no human-given name. She rages against you all now, brave thing. She and her litter-mates were the last of the Palace-born. GreyMother carried them down into the woods, where they live like foxes.’ He sighed. ‘I am surprised she spoke even to you, cat-servant. She must have considered you instrumental.’

‘I think she did. She wanted Razi to learn about the Bloody Machine. I think she thought the discovery would undo the King.’

Coriolanus huffed sleepily. ‘She was wrong. It is the machines’ suppression that has undone him.’ His eyes were growing heavy. ‘You have grown very like your father,’ he murmured. ‘With your fur and eyes, you would both have made handsome cats, had you not been unlucky enough to have been born otherwise.’

‘My father is dead, Cori.’

The cat shrugged, drifting now back into sleep. ‘It will happen to us all,’ he sighed.

‘Cori?’

‘Mmm?’

‘Why is the King suppressing the machines?’

‘Oh, human reasons, for human things... how is a sensible cat to understand?’

Alberon came and sat quietly on the cot. Wynter continued to stroke the sleeping cat and would not look up.

‘You must think me unbearably hard,’ said Alberon.

She did not reply.

Alberon reached and touched Cori’s head, just once, then withdrew his hand. ‘Thank you for the letters, Wyn. They meant so much to me all these years.’

She glanced up at him in surprise. ‘You received them? You... you never replied.’

He chuckled grimly. ‘What had I to write of? Blood and death and betrayal? The imminent destruction of Father’s wonderful dream? You know I have no art with words, Wyn. I would not have been able to lie, and what would the truth have done for you? Your letters were always so happy, filled with such happy things. I couldn’t bear to hurt that. I couldn’t bear to let you know just how bad everything was.’

Happy? Was Alberon serious? Wynter had poured her heart and soul into those letters. All those miserable years, how could Alberon have ever thought she was happy?

‘What... what did I write of that was so happy?’

Alberon smiled, a genuine smile this time. ‘Oh you know – all your adventures! Your father’s wonderful inventions. The way he smooth-talked all those vile Northlander toadies. Everything. I especially liked when you wrote down your memories of home. I used to love when the messengers came from the North. Those little pages of sunshine arriving in the middle... in the middle of what we had become. I would read them and think, This is what we’re struggling for. This is why we must prevail. You have kept me going, Wyn. I read something of yours every day. Look!’ He reached past her, shifted Marguerite’s papers aside, lifted something. ‘See?’ He handed it to her.

Wynter unfolded it with an unsteady hand. The parchment was creased and tattered, the stain from the wax seal still visible at the edge. It was one of her shorter notes, and she remembered clearly the day she had written it. It had been a particularly hard day – the end of a long week of mass trials in the Shirkens’ castle. They had burned the convicted in batches of ten. Wynter remembered writing this letter with shaking hands, her ears filled with screaming, her window filled with smoke. Until now, she had recalled only that awfulness; the actual contents of the letter had not been part of her memory. Her writing shocked her; how legible and steady it was.

My Dearest Brother,

How much I miss you! I was thinking today of the time we stole the cakes from the Moroccan ambassador’s birthday feast. Do you recall? We were dressed up stiff as coffin mummies in our brocades; still you managed to pilfer seven jam tarts and an entire cinnamon cake. The stains they left on your pockets! You said cake always tasted better eaten beneath the table, and so we sat surrounded by legs, stuffing our little faces while a discreet panic consumed the staff! Razi (of course) was the one to find us. I recall his brief grin as he peered beneath the cloth, then his voice – it was pure Razi – ‘Father, I am certain they are not here. I have searched every inch and there’s naught below but Mama’s little dog.’ Oh! I am laughing aloud now.

Tell me you recollect this!

Alberon’s quiet voice brought her back to the tent and he took the letter, folding it and putting it away again. ‘I have kept them all, you know. I have most of them back at the palace, in my trunk. Safe in my room.’

Wynter felt her face fall at that – the palace had been stripped of every possible reminder of Alberon. She hardly imagined that his room had been left intact. He must have seen something of this in her expression, because his eyes slipped from hers and he cleared his throat.

‘How is Razi?’ he asked quietly.

‘Oh, Albi, why do you not ask him yourself, instead of just telling him to comb his hair and shave his face as if nothing had happened. Why must you act the prince around him?’

‘Oh, please! He has done nothing but act the politician since he got here! He’d talk knots into a string, that man! I feel like I am wrestling a God-cursed eel every time he opens his mouth!’

Wynter huffed. ‘That is just Razi, Alberon; he has never been any different.’

‘He was never thus with me.’

You never before gave him reason to be, thought Wynter. But she did not articulate it. ‘He has only the best of intentions,’ she said. ‘You are his brother, Albi. He loves you dearly – you know this.’

‘I... I shall try harder to hold my patience.’ Alberon glanced at her. ‘He really approves this match of yours?’ At her warning look, he spread his hands in defeat. ‘I suppose between us both we can afford to support you,’ he sighed. ‘You and your gypsy.’

Wynter gritted her teeth against a reply.

‘I am sorry about Lorcan, Wyn. I want you to know that. It must seem that I do not care, but I do. It is so difficult, these days, to react to things the way one should.’ Alberon’s attention drifted to the door and he watched the insectnetting blow in the breeze. ‘I am calm, or I am angry,’ he said softly. ‘There seems to be nothing in between.’

‘Why did our fathers suppress the machine, Albi?’

‘I don’t know!’ he cried, animated once again by his frustration. ‘It makes no sense to me! Father simply dragged it into the light one moment, then pushed it back into the shadows the next. It was madness! We had already lost so many men! Things had come so damn close. Then to find that we’d had, all along, the ability to make these wonderful machines! That we’d actually had one to hand and had not used it until the very last moment? My God, Wynter!’ he lowered his forehead onto his clenched fists, his face hidden.

‘My God, I was so angry I almost killed him.’

‘Don’t say that.’

‘I’m only talking to you,’ he mumbled. ‘I’d never say it out loud.’

‘Well, it is a little late for caution in any case. The poor man thinks you mean to usurp him, Alberon. It has broken his heart.’

He shook his head. ‘I can’t let it go, Wyn. I simply know that this will work.’

Wynter stroked the cat and carefully considered her words. ‘I think that certain aspects of your plan have flaws. This marriage to Marguerite Shirken, for example.’

He looked up at her from between his fists. ‘Are we about to trade insults over marriage partners, Wyn?’

She tightened her jaw and slid him another warning look. ‘As I was saying, your plan has flaws. I think you could do with sitting down with your courtly brother and discussing some of the finer details. But on the whole, Alberon, I agree with you. I think the production of more machines is this kingdom’s great hope. I cannot understand our fathers’ suppression of them.’

Alberon lifted his head to gaze at her in wonder, and he looked so like her childhood memory of him that Wynter nearly cried. ‘Really?’ he asked.

‘Really,’ she whispered.

‘And Razi?’

She dropped her eyes. ‘Razi can be persuaded. Later.’

‘Oh... I see.’

He sighed, and there was a moment’s thoughtful silence between them.

‘That Haun,’ said Wynter, ‘I think he knew my father.’

‘The youngest one? Their linguist?’ At her nod, Alberon pushed wearily to his feet and went to the door, looking down into the camp. The insect-netting blew about him in the wind, and he looked like a red-clad ghost seen through mist. ‘He is a strange fellow. I think he might be mad. I suspect he was one of the Lost Hundred.’

Wynter startled at that. The thought had not even occurred to her. ‘He would have been very young when the Haun were sent east,’ she said doubtfully.

‘Aye. But think about it, sis. His excellent Southlandast, his fine manners. He has a feel of the palace about him, don’t you think?’

Wynter stroked the cat and thought about that. It certainly would explain a lot. The young Haun would have been perhaps six or so in the aftermath of the Haun Invasion, and so it would be possible that he could remember her father. Particularly if his family was among the Lost Hundred and was connected in some way with the life of the palace. Of all the Haun sent east, it was those Southlands-born nobles and businessmen – the so-called Hundred Lost Families – that had suffered the most. The young Haun’s family would have lost everything when Jonathon’s father expelled the Haunardii from the Southlands. No wonder he was so bitter. That kind of injustice would spread rage through generation after generation of the dispossessed.

Wynter’s stomach went cold suddenly and she looked over at Alberon, her eyes wide with unwanted inspiration. They had been told that the Lost Hundred had been sent back east. That their goods had been piled onto their well bred backs, their weeping families loaded into carts, and their land and businesses redistributed among the Southland aristocracy. But what if it was even colder than that? What if something else entirely had been done? Something that so ate at Lorcan and Jonathon’s consciences that they could not bring themselves to articulate it – even to each other.

‘Albi,’ she whispered, ‘did you see that man’s back?’

Alberon did not seem to hear her. His attention was fixed on a point at the far end of the camp, and as Wynter spoke he drew back the insect-netting and frowned in concentration.

‘What is it?’ she said.

On her lap, Coriolanus tensed, and his claws exposed briefly in his sleep. ‘No...’ he whined. ‘No.’

In the camp, the warhounds suddenly began to howl.

‘What is it, Albi?’ she said again, gently placing the cat into his nest and crossing to join the Prince.

Alberon stepped outside. ‘A messenger from the pickets,’ he said. ‘My envoys must be here.’ He lifted his hand to the rider just arrived at the base of the slope, and the man nodded, wheeled his horse around and trotted back towards the barricades.

‘We shall have to chain those damn hounds,’ mused Alberon.

Indeed, the warhounds were going mad. Wynter could hear them baying and howling down among the tents. At the base of the slope, Christopher was standing with his back to her, his attention focused on the far end of the camp, and something in his posture set Wynter on edge. He looked like a dog that has scented trouble. As she watched, he began to walk in the direction of the barricades. Then, without warning, he broke into a jog. Within moments, Christopher was running.

On the main thoroughfare, Sólmundr and Razi emerged from between the tents, their faces turned expectantly towards the barricades. They must have heard that there was a new arrival and come to see. Christopher shot past them. Razi called after him, but Christopher ran by without looking his way. Sól and Razi began to follow, but the young man was already far ahead of them.

Dodging and weaving through the curious men now crowding the road, Christopher seemed utterly focused on getting to the gates. The frantic baying of the hounds urged him on, and Wynter followed his desperate progress with increasingly cold alarm.

‘Alberon,’ she whispered, ‘who are your envoys?’

Alberon just watched the barricades, his face attentive.

Fez. He had said that they were coming from Fez. Wynter followed the Prince’s gaze to the end of camp, and when the Loups-Garous rode their horses through the barricades she felt no surprise at all.

AGAIN

AT THE sight of the Loups-Garous, Christopher came to a staggering halt, his knees bent, his arms spread as if to catch a thrown ball. He remained frozen like that, stricken, and Wynter was absolutely certain that he was going to simply stand there and allow the Wolves to advance upon him. She began to dash down the hill, scanning the road as she did, searching for Razi.

Behind her, Alberon called an order to one of his men. ‘Tell the Merron to secure those God-cursed hounds or I shall have them shot.’

Shoving her way past a knot of soldiers at the base of the hill, Wynter caught sight of Razi. He was standing openmouthed at the edge of the road. Sólmundr was shaking his arm and speaking impatiently, as if trying to get his attention. Wynter bit down the urge to scream Razi’s name and veered for him, dodging quickly through the soldiers and the rising dust. As she approached, Razi mumbled something to Sól. The warrior stepped back, shocked, then spun with a cry, frantically scanning the road. He spotted Christopher, still frozen in the Wolves’ path, and began to run towards him.

But at that very moment – just as it seemed utterly certain that the Wolves would see him – Christopher jerked to sudden life. He crouched, reached for his katar, realised it was not at his hip, then turned and darted away between the tents. Sólmundr, still only halfway to his young friend, slammed to a halt and cut right, heading in the same direction as Christopher.

Wynter slid to Razi’s side. At the same moment, Úlfnaor strode from between the tents. ‘Who is these men?’ he asked, squinting at the Wolves. ‘They from the King?’ Then he got a look at the wolf-skins draped across the horses’ rumps, and his face went cold and dangerous.

Oliver was leading the Wolves into camp, his dappled mare skittish next to David Le Garou’s big dark stallion. As he urged the shying horse onto the thoroughfare, Wynter saw Oliver’s eyes inadvertently settle on Razi. The knight’s face creased up in misery and he averted his gaze.

The Wolves were magnificent, their horses beautiful, their clothes and weaponry very fine and rich. David Le Garou’s attention was focused solely on Alberon’s quarters. But his three seconds-in-command were ranked behind him – Gérard, Jean, Pierre – and their slanting eyes scanned the surrounding soldiers, looking for trouble. The two young Arabs followed close behind, calmly guiding their sturdy little horses in their masters’ wake. The silver bells at their wrists and on their boots tinkled merrily, and Wynter felt a moment of blazing rage that the Wolves would bring them here, openly and without any attempt to hide the fact that they were slaves. Then it registered that the Wolves had only one of their three pack mules with them, and that the six dark-dressed shadow-riders that made up the rest of David Le Garou’s pack were nowhere to be seen.

‘Razi,’ she whispered, ‘where are the rest of them?’

Razi ignored her. His eyes were on the tents where Christopher had disappeared. For a moment it looked as though he would just keep standing there, staring. Then Úlfnaor went to speak again, and Razi turned, grabbing him by his shoulders, and hissed urgently into the big man’s startled face: ‘He’s gone for his sword! He means to attack them. He means to attack them at last! We have to stop him!’ He shoved the Aoire back and pushed his way past him, heading for the Merron quarters. Confused, Úlfnaor followed him.

Wynter found herself incapable of turning her back on the approaching Wolves, and instead of spinning and running, she backed slowly into the shadow-filled gap between the tents, her eyes on the brightness of the road. The light tinkling of the slave bells made itself known over the tramp of hooves and jangle of tack, and Wynter crouched slightly as the silhouette of a rider blotted the light. It was Oliver, there one moment, gone the next as he rode past the mouth of the alley. Then David Le Garou went by, his eyes ahead, his fine profile clear against the bright-blue sky. The row of Seconds came next, slowly crossing the bright space, their faces watchful. The dark-skinned Gérard was closest to her, his eyes scanning his surroundings. He turned his head, and before he could see her, Wynter broke from her trance and ran.

She caught up with Razi and Úlfnaor by the Midland quarters. The air was frantic with the baying of hounds, and there was shouting and scuffling coming from the direction of the Merron camp. Jared was herding Mary up the side of the supply tent. The lady was distraught, and she flung herself on Razi, gripping his arm in fear.

‘The dogs have turned savage!’ she cried. ‘They have gone wild!’

Razi grabbed Úlfnaor, pushing him towards the noise. ‘Don’t let him leave!’ he yelled. ‘Take his weapons and don’t let him leave the tents!’ The big man shook his head, confusion still in his face. ‘Christopher!’ clarified Razi. ‘Don’t let him get his weapons!’

Úlfnaor ran, and Razi turned on Mary, clutching her shoulders and glaring down into her frightened face. ‘Get to your tent!’ he yelled. ‘Do not leave it!’ He pushed Mary towards Jared. ‘Do not let her leave her tent!’

Jared, appalled at Razi’s rough manner, put himself between the dark young man and the woman he was so violently shoving about. Mary still clung to Razi’s arm, so that the priest was caught between them.

‘What has happened?’ snapped Jared, his face very close to Razi’s.

‘Loups-Garous.’

The priest went still. Mary stared at Razi, her arm stretched around Jared, her fingers clutching Razi’s sleeve. ‘An attack?’ she whispered.

Razi shook his head. He pushed Mary gently away. ‘Stay in your tent,’ he urged. ‘Presbyter, I beg you, make sure she stays inside.’

Jared nodded grimly and hustled Mary around to their quarters. She gazed back, wide-eyed, until they rounded the corner out of sight. Razi dashed towards the noise of the dogs and Wynter followed.

There was deafening chaos at the Merron tents. Thoar and Surtr were struggling with the huge warhounds, heaving on their collars, trying to keep them in place while the women finished hammering tent pegs into the ground to shorten their chains. The warhounds were snarling and baying, their jaws flecked with foam, wild with desperation to get away and find the Wolves.

The soldier Alberon had sent to secure the hounds was pressed against the canvas of the Merron tent. Úlfnaor was shoving him away, yelling in Merron and gesturing for him to go. Boro lunged for him suddenly, his eyes burning, and the soldier didn’t need any further persuasion. He ran off, his duty done.

Christopher was just ducking from the Merron tent, his katar in his hand, his face set. Sólmundr ducked out after him, his sword also in hand. As he emerged from the tent, Sól shouted to Hallvor and flung her a sword. It sailed across the air between them, its long blade shivering slightly in the sun, and Hallvor rose smoothly to her feet, catching the weapon by its handle.

Sólmundr gestured that she follow.

Úlfnaor yelled something and Sól paused, shocked. ‘ Cad é? ’ he said.

Christopher kept striding purposefully towards the road.

Razi yelled, ‘Stop him!’ and Thoar and Surtr stepped into the young man’s path. Christopher simply swerved and dodged gracefully past. The warriors glanced uncertainly at Úlfnaor. ‘Stop him,’ repeated Razi, and Úlfnaor nodded.

Surtr sidestepped and put his hand on Christopher’s chest. ‘ Cosc ort nóiméad, a luch,’ he said.

Christopher came to a surprised halt. He blinked up at the red-headed warrior for a moment, then looked around the ring of uncertain faces.

‘Come on,’ he said, as if they’d forgotten what they were meant to be doing.

No one moved. Their eyes hopped from Christopher to Razi.

‘Come on!’ urged Christopher, gesturing impatiently that they should follow. Then he caught sight of Razi’s hard face, and Wynter saw his certainty fall away into dismay. ‘Oh no, Razi,’ he whispered.

Razi would not look at him. ‘I am sorry,’ he said, ‘I need to know why they are here.’

‘ No! ’ Christopher launched himself forward, and the redheaded brothers lurched in surprise then leapt and caught him under his arms, stopping him in his tracks. ‘No, Razi!’ he cried. ‘Not again! Not again. ’

Razi, his eyes down, pointed to the Merron tent, and the two huge men began to manhandle Christopher back towards the door. Christopher howled with despair and disbelief. ‘No!’ he wailed again. ‘Noooooooo!’

Razi would not meet his eye and that seemed to enrage Christopher. More than anything, that seemed to tip him over the edge. He went mad then. Snarling and screaming in rage, he struggled against the two brothers so that they almost lost their footing and stumbled under his thrashing weight. He raised his katar, meaning to smash it down onto Surtr’s head. Hallvor leapt forward and grabbed his upraised arms, twisting them so that he was forced to release the weapon. Christopher howled again and kicked out at her, his face vicious.

Wynter lurched to help him, but Razi jerked her violently back.

‘Let him go!’ she cried.

Christopher snarled at her, his face unrecognisable. The brothers dragged him to the tent, and as he was borne backwards into the dimness he released an animal howl. The door fell closed and, out of sight now, Christopher’s inarticulate rage stormed on. Surtr and Thoar roared at him, trying to calm him down.

Furious, Wynter struggled free of Razi’s grip and shoved him away. She ran for the door, determined that Christopher should be released.

‘No, Wyn!’ yelled Razi. ‘Wait! Wait! ’

Suddenly the dogs stopped barking, and their abrupt stillness froze the humans in their tracks.

All sounds of the struggle within the tent had ceased.

Wynter clearly heard Thoar say, ‘Coinín?’

The hounds backed to the ends of their chains, whimpering, their tails between their legs. Boro whined in fear, his sharp ears swivelling to catch the sounds from within.

Sól took an uncertain step forward, then he and Razi simultaneously dashed for the door. Wynter went to follow, but Razi pushed ahead of her, literally shoving her aside and dodging under the flap before she could get past. Within the tent, Surtr screamed. There was a rending, splitting sound, and just as Wynter went to duck inside, the red-headed warrior flew past her, propelled backwards from the tent as if flung from a catapult.

The huge man flew ten or more feet before landing with a whoomph in the dust. His tunic was torn open, his belly scored with claw-marks and scarlet with blood. He immediately tried to roll to his feet, his face creased with concern for his brother.

‘THOAR!’ he yelled, falling back in pain. ‘Thoar!’

Wynter ducked into the tent and was confronted with a frenzy of noise and movement. Sólmundr and Thoar had thrown themselves onto Christopher, trying to pin him down. Razi, in turn, had flung himself onto the warriors, trying to pull them away.

‘No!’ he shouted. ‘He does not mean it! Give him a moment.’

Razi kicked Thoar away, at the same time heaving backwards on Sól. The three men tumbled back, propelled by a violent shove from Christopher.

‘Give him a moment!’ screamed Razi as Thoar went to draw his sword. ‘He doesn’t mean it!’

Wynter went to run forward but came to a halt at the sight of Christopher’s terrible face. Utterly transformed, his eyes flashed yellow in the gloom, and he growled and snarled about him like a dog at bay. He was writhing in the shadows at the back of the tent, as if in battle with some unseen demon, his scarred fingers gouging deep claw-marks into the earth.

‘Christopher,’ she whispered.

He made no effort to attack, just remained where he was, struggling on the dirt floor, his body twisting around itself as he tried to overcome his rage. The noises coming from his distorted mouth were not human – they were anything but human – but Wynter understood fear when she heard it. She understood pain.

‘Oh, Christopher,’ she whispered again and knelt on the ground just out of his reach, her hand outstretched as if to comfort him. He continued to thrash and struggle, apparently unconscious of her presence. Razi crawled to her side, his face intent, but he, too, came to a halt just out of reach of his friend and knelt there, doing nothing.

In the end, it was Sól who went to him. He crawled straight past Razi and Wynter and, without hesitation, rolled Christopher onto his back.

Christopher’s yellow eyes widened at the contact; his lips pulled back. His distorted hands shot to Sólmundr’s shoulders. The too-long fingers dug into Sól’s flesh, and the warrior gasped in pain. Gritting his teeth, Sól grabbed Christopher’s face in his hands and jerked the young man’s head around, staring into Christopher’s inhuman eyes.

‘Coinín!’ he cried. ‘ Is mé atá ann! It’s me! It’s Sól!’

Christopher opened his mouth, those long, sharp teeth only inches from Sólmundr’s throat. His fingers tightened brutally on Sól’s shoulders and, to Wynter’s horror, blood welled up beneath his fingertips.

Sólmundr’s face tightened in agony, but he did not pull away. Instead he shook Christopher’s head between his hands and yelled, ‘You freeman, Coinín! You not hurt me! You know who you are!’

Christopher’s yellow eyes locked with Sólmundr’s. His fingers abruptly relaxed their grip on the warrior’s shoulders. His face softened in recognition. Then he was Christopher again, just Christopher; his scarred hands clutching the fabric of his friend’s tunic, his fine, narrow face appalled and painted with despair.

‘Oh no,’ he whispered. ‘Oh no!’ He lifted his hand from Sólmundr’s shoulder and stared at the blood that reddened his fingers. ‘Oh no!’ he cried. ‘Iseult! Iseult! ’

Wynter shook her head, her hands pressed to her mouth. She couldn’t speak. Christopher struggled to sit, calling for her and groping blindly about him as if unable to focus his eyes or coordinate his body. Sólmundr drew the young man to him, stilling his frantic attempts to rise, holding him close.

‘Iseult!’ croaked Christopher.

‘Iseult is good,’ murmured Sól shakily, patting Christopher’s shoulder. ‘You not hurt her.’ He looked out through the door to where Thoar was helping Surtr to stand. Hallvor had joined them. Surtr gingerly pressed his fingers to the long, deep gashes on his bloodied stomach. ‘You not hurt her,’ whispered Sólmundr.

By Wynter’s side, Razi rose slowly to his feet. Sól looked up at him. Razi met his eye and the warrior’s dazed confusion iced over to cold disapproval. Wynter did not look up into Razi’s face. She could not take her eyes from Christopher.

Breathless and shaking, obviously in pain, her friend drew in his arms and legs and laid his head against Sólmundr’s chest. He squinted up at Razi through the tangled mess of his hair, and, at the look on Razi’s face, Christopher’s expression filled with bitterness and despair.

‘You will stay here,’ said Razi flatly.

‘You promised me,’ said Christopher, ‘you promised...’

‘You will stay here,’ commanded Razi. Úlfnaor’s dark shadow filled the door, and Razi turned to him. ‘You will keep him here,’ he ordered. ‘That is my wish. As your Caora, that is my command.’

Úlfnaor, his expression lost in shadow, bowed his head in obeisance. Christopher groaned.

‘Stay here, Wyn,’ said Razi, ‘I mean it.’

She turned her head, glaring up at him from the corner of her eye. He was nothing but a black shape against the light. He ducked out the door, and she saw him briefly in the sunlight, striding away between the tents. Then he was gone.

‘He promised,’ rasped Christopher. ‘He said never again. He promised.’

‘Why the Wolves here, a luch?’ asked Sól, searching Wynter’s face. ‘What they have to offer the Prince?’

She shook her head. She glanced sideways at Christopher and the corners of his mouth turned down as he read her expression.

‘Oh, no, lass,’ he whispered, ‘not you too.’

‘There must be a reason,’ she said.

‘I’M SICK OF HIS REASONS,’ screamed Christopher suddenly, making Wynter jump. ‘I’m sick of them.’ He lurched in Sól’s arms so that the warrior almost lost his grip. ‘I want them dead!’ howled Christopher. ‘I want them dead! Like he promised! Like he said! I don’t want this anymore! I want them deaaaddd!’

His howling became less than human again, and Sól was no longer cradling him but holding him down. The warrior looked sadly to Úlfnaor, and the Aoire came forward to help restrain the young man as he battled the hatred within him.

Without rising, Wynter backed slowly to the door, her eyes fixed on her thrashing friend. Sólmundr said something to Úlfnaor, and the big man put his hands on Christopher’s shoulders, murmuring. Wynter thought he might be praying.

Wynter knew that Christopher was no longer a danger to these men. ‘There ain’t no pain,’ he had told Razi. ‘Not when you do it on purpose. It feels good.’ And Wynter could see the pain in him. She could see him fighting to quell what he called his dark power. She had no doubt that this was a battle Christopher would win.

She knew she should stay with him. She knew she should be there for him when he emerged from this fight, weary and sore and needing comfort. Still, she backed for the door.

Sólmundr met her eye as she rose to her feet, and his own eyes widened at the realisation that she was leaving.

‘I need to know,’ she said.

Condemnation flared in the warrior’s face, but Wynter held his gaze. After a moment, Sól deflated and looked away. Having spent his life protecting the man he loved, only to then allow his people to sacrifice him to their god, Sólmundr was in no position to point accusing fingers at those who put duty before love.

‘I shall bring him his answers, Sól,’ she promised.

Sólmundr just shook his head and turned his attention back to Christopher, who thrashed and snarled and struggled beneath his restraining hands. The dogs had resumed their baying, and Wynter strode from the tent, pushed past Hallvor, and kept walking until the sounds of their howls were indistinguishable from those of the man she loved.

Once free from the accusing eyes of the Merron, Wynter paused. Standing in the dusty sunshine, she breathed deep and clenched her teeth and her hands as she tried to get herself under some control.

Razi was striding towards the foot of the slope, his eyes on Alberon’s tent. He passed the knot of older Haun, who were staring up the hill, murmuring anxiously among themselves. He passed the Wolves’ beautiful horses and the slaves who tended them. He didn’t so much as falter at the base of the hill, just strode purposefully upwards as if he had always expected this meeting; as if he had planned for it all his life.

Wynter lowered her chin and dashed after him, dodging the Haun and the horses and the patient slaves. Running to Razi’s side, she fell into step with him, her eyes fixed ahead, her hand on her sword. He came to a halt and she strode on, not looking back.

‘Wyn,’ he said flatly, ‘go back to him. I do not want you here.’

‘Don’t bother, Razi,’ she snapped. ‘I’m not about to waste my time arguing with you.’ She kept walking, but Razi did not follow, and she was forced to stop and look back at him.

His face was utterly hard. ‘You will not meet these men.’

‘Yes, I shall,’ she said. ‘I shall most certainly meet these men. I want very much to meet the men who stole his hands and enslaved his family. I want very much to look into the faces of the ones who hurt those poor girls at the inn. I want to know why it is they still wander about Algiers day after day without you baying for their blood, Razi. I want to know why it is that our brother has called them to his table. I will not sit on my arse like a good woman and let this go on without me. If Christopher is to be once again denied his vengeance, I shall be there to find out why.’

‘This is not the time for childish displays of defiance,’ he cried. ‘I have had the weight of these creatures hung around my neck since I was fourteen years old, Wynter. Christopher’s life has been blighted by them for as long as he can recall. Do not step in now and act as though you understand a whit of what we feel.’

Wynter didn’t bother to reply. She simply stood with her hand on her sword, waiting for Razi to start up the slope again. Razi snarled and looked away. His eyes slipped to the tents behind which the hounds still voiced their frustration and rage.

‘Do not expect me to go in there with my sword drawn,’ he warned quietly. ‘I doubt Alberon’s plans will afford me the luxury. This world is not simple, Wynter. One cannot always have the blood one wants.’

The dogs howled again, and Razi’s furious mask slipped a little. He shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut.

‘Oh, do not fret, brother,’ said Wynter coldly. ‘It is only the warhounds. Christopher is a good man, and strong. I have no doubt that he has already regained his self-control. I wager he has grown uncommonly good at suppressing his feelings. He has, after all, been associating with the likes of us for long enough.’

Razi snapped his eyes to her, and Wynter stared flatly back at him.

‘Fine,’ he said at last. ‘Fine! If you’re coming, let us go.’ And he strode towards the waiting tent, Wynter by his side.

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