Hand of the Hunter

CHAPTER THREE

"Your brother is dead." said Argalath.

Jatara shrieked. The two Nar holding her flinched and strengthened their holds on her arms. They'd forced her to her knees. She could feel the tendons in her shoulders stretching. The blood running from her mouth and nostrils was staining the rug that took up most of Argalath's bedchamber. The rug was ruined. At least it would give the Nar something in which they could wrap the two dead men on the floor behind them.

"Release her."

Argalath's voice. Strained with weariness, but no fear. Both guards looked up in shock. Jatara followed their gaze.

Argalath sat in the room's one chair. Here, in the privacy of his bedchamber, he'd removed the robes and wore loose trousers and a sleeveless undershirt. The mottled blue of his spellscar covered every inch of exposed pale skin, from the tips of his fingers to the top of his hairless head. Behind him stood a tall, imposing figure, the fine Damaran clothes covering a frame of hard muscle and sinew. Guric. Or what had once been Guric. The body no longer breathed, the heart lay still in his chest, and the hunger lurking in his black eyes had not been born in this world. The remains of the table Jatara had shattered in her attempt to murder her lord lay strewn on the floor before Argalath. Had Guric not been there, she would have succeeded, and there would be more than two corpses cooling in the room.

Argalath spoke again. "I said release her."

The man holding her right arm kicked the bloody knife away. It clattered against the far wall, then both men released her arms and stepped back.

Jatara collapsed. Sobs shook her, and the sound of her weeping drowned out the crackle of flames in the hearth.

Squinting against the glare from the fire, Argalath looked down on her, shook his head, and said, "I am sorry."

From the corner of her one remaining eye, Jatara could see the Nar just behind her and to her left. He'd stepped back. But not enough.

"You're… sorry?"

Her arm snapped out and she snatched the knife from the Nar's belt. He lunged backward-sure that in the next moment he'd feel his own steel spilling his guts on the rug.

But Jatara leaped for Argalath.

He didn't move, but from behind him Guric did, stepping around his master and crouching to meet her.

Jatara knew her business. This monster had thwarted her once. She didn't need to kill Guric. Just get past him.

She landed and kept low, spinning prone and aiming one boot at Guric's knee. Bone shattered.

Guric didn't cry out in pain. Didn't even wince. But he did topple as his leg collapsed under him.

Jatara was on the move again before he even hit the floor.

Guric's hand shot out to grasp her, but she twisted away. Another three steps. She raised the knife and lunged.

Argalath's spellscar glowed.

The center of Jatara's chest constricted, and agony shot outward from it, locking her limbs in a tight spasm. She crumpled to the floor. Her head bounced off the rug so close to Argalath's foot that she could have counted the stitches lining the sole of his boot. She had no idea if she still held the knife; she couldn't feel her hands. Couldn't feel anything except the pain radiating out from her chest. She tried to draw breath, but that only made blackness close in around the edges of her vision.

"You know better, Jatara." Argalath's voice, seeming faint and far away. "Now stop this foolishness. I did not kill Kadrigul."

The pain left her as swiftly as it had come. But with it went the last of her strength and the will to fight. All she had left was the hollowness inside. She couldn't even muster the strength to cry.

"Help her up," said Argalath. "Put her on the bed."

The Nar obeyed, laying her atop the thick fur coverlets. Guric was sitting up and staring at the lower half of his leg, which bent outward.

"Your brother is dead, Jatara," said Argalath. "And even if your grief makes you think otherwise, I am indeed sorry. I loved him as you did." His gaze flicked away, and for a moment the barest hint of a smile bent his lips. "Well, perhaps not exactly as you did, but I loved him nonetheless. I did not kill him. But I know who did. We will discuss it here, now, and then never again. You know me. You know my word. Do you understand?"

He leaned forward in his chair, his chin resting on his clasped fingertips. He stared at Jatara, where she still lay strengthless on the bed. The flames in the hearth were burning low, and the room was more shadow than light. She could not see Argalath's eyes. Just two wells of darkness. But she could feel his gaze on her. Her heartbeat still felt stiff and strained, as if it had just been thawed and was straining to its work. Her limbs were tingling, and she couldn't stop the shivering in her body.

Jatara made a sound of assent. Her mouth was bone dry and she didn't yet trust herself to speak.

"Very well," said Argalath. "Your brother died in my service. You and he have both faced death in my service more times than I can remember. You did so with honor. Without complaint. With eagerness even. Why do you now blame me?"

Tears welled in Jatara's eye. Her brother, the only one in the world she truly loved, was dead, and she hadn't even been there. Wolves and ravens would eat his corpse.

"You sent him," she said, forcing the words out through a throat that still seemed narrow as a pipe stem. "With that… monster."

Argalath sat silent a moment, as if waiting for her to continue. When she didn't, he said, "That monster as you call it did not kill your brother. He was, in fact, the best protection I could have sent with Kadrigul."

"You could have sent me."

"Then you, too, would be dead."

Had the knife been within reach, had she been able to muster the strength to move, she would have tried to kill him again. The damned, cursed fool. Didn't he know she'd rather be dead than have to live without Kadrigul?

"But," Argalath continued, and she heard a strange note in his voice, "here you do speak-speak truly-of my mistake, and I beg your forgiveness, Jatara."

Nothing he could have said could have shocked her more. She'd heard him ask forgiveness from others before-those whom he served or who stood in higher station than him. But never to one who served him. And never with such sincerity.

"I thought we were going after one scared girl. I thought I was sending more than enough to do the job-swatting a fly with a smith's hammer. But it seems that our little fly found unexpected aid. I swear to you that had I known the baazuled was not up to the task, I would never have sent your brother with so few."

"Baazuled?" said Jatara. She'd never heard the word, though the flavor of it reminded her of the incantations Argalath used in his most secret rites.

Argalath motioned to Guric, who still sat in the floor. "Our new friends. You see the flaw?"

Jatara shook her head.

Argalath stood, so quickly that the chair toppled behind him. Jatara flinched, and she realized that her heart was beating so hard she could hear the blood pulsing in her head. The sudden movement sent a breath of air through the room that made the fire flare, painting him in a hellish light.

"Masks," said Argalath, in a tone like a street prophet about to explain sin to the unworthy.

The two surviving Nar exchanged nervous glances. The one from whom Jatara had snatched the knife looked at it longingly where it still lay on the floor.

"We all wear them," Argalath continued. He spread both his arms. "These mortal bodies are nothing but masks-the image we present to the world, hiding the true life within. And when we die, that life… departs. Such a waste. Leaving the body an empty shell. But"-and Argalath pointed down at Guric-"that shell can be filled by those who know the ancient ways, the secret arts of our ancestors. Is it not so, Jatara?"

She tried to swallow, but her mouth held no moisture. Our ancestors? Argalath claimed that his mother had been of the Nar, but his father of her people, the Frost Folk. Which ancestors did he mean? The shamans of her people had many secret arts, but she had never heard of anything like these baazuled until Argalath.

Argalath turned, extended one hand, and his chair leaped up, its back slapping into his open palm. The two Nar each made the sign to ward off evil spirits, and she could hear one of them muttering a prayer. She could see his breath. The temperature in the room had dropped suddenly. The air had taken on a still, almost brittle state, making every sound sharp and clear, and it was then she realized what had just happened.

She'd long known of Argalath's ability granted by his spellscar. He could move things with his mind-small things only, but his cunning had learned to put it to great effect. Moving anything larger than a flagon of wine pained and weakened him. But he'd discovered that there were veins and organs inside the human body far smaller than a flagon. A slight squeeze applied to the right area could kill. The wounded pounding of her own heart reminded her of that.

But the entire chair-a heavy thing of solid oak and iron-had jumped off the floor into his waiting hand. And Argalath's spellscar had not so much as flickered.

Argalath sat down again and motioned to Guric. "He hoped that his beloved wife would return to fill her shell. It was not to be. Not even the gods themselves can force the unwilling dead to return. Instead, something came from… elsewhere."

"Demons," Jatara rasped. She had heard stories of demons and devils called forth to serve practitioners of the dark arts. Some managed to break free of their would-be masters and possess them-or worse. That Argalath managed to maintain control over such spirits proved how powerful he really was.

Argalath laughed. "Call them what you like. But that is not what we must discuss, Jatara. What we must settle. Once and for all. Look at our friend there. You shattered his leg. Even the strongest living warrior would be weeping in agony at such an injury. But there he sits, calm as you please, awaiting my command. And yet… something out there managed to best one of them. For as formidable as our baazuled are, they are not invulnerable. Can you guess it, Jatara? The weakness?"

Jatara looked down at Guric. He-no, it-just sat there. But she had seen what these baazuled could do. That Guric wasn't howling in pain over his shattered leg was impressive enough. But she'd seen them heal wounds that would have been lethal-heal before her eyes, after feeding.

"The mask," said Argalath. "The body. In this case-the corpse. A dead shell. Powerful as the spirit is, even it cannot overcome this. It is not a weakness of the physical. No. It is a weakness of the… elemental." Even though he was sitting in shadow, Jatara caught a flash of white and knew he was smiling. "The baazuled are beings of vast power-far beyond we pitiful mortals. But this world is not theirs, and though they can use our empty shells, it is not unlike a Nar warrior trying to ride a dead horse-forced to move the limbs himself, fill the lungs with air, force it to gallop. How much better, how much stronger is a living warrior upon a living horse? But what if warrior and mount could be one? One living, breathing, thinking…"

Words seemed to fail him at last, and he looked at Jatara. He took a deep breath, and when he next spoke, his tone was that of the Argalath she knew-soft spoken, almost weary, but always as if he knew something she didn't.

"Your brother died in my service. That debt must be paid. To strike one of my servants is to strike me. To strike me is to strike the one I serve. Is it not so?"

Jatara said nothing.

"So, the question you must now ask yourself is whether you will mind your place, and bring vengeance to those who killed your brother. Or whether you will blame me. You can't have both."

Jatara forced herself to sit up on the bed. It made the room spin around her and her stomach clenched, but she managed. She still felt hollow inside. Completely drained. Stripped of all will to live. But the rage was gone.

"You said my brother died in your service. I thought we were taking Highwatch, and then… whatever we please. But what you're doing… goes beyond that. Yes?"

"Oh, yes," said Argalath, and again she saw the dim flash of his teeth in the darkness. "My plans extend far beyond this hovel. Are you ready to…" He paused, and seemed to search for the right words, then said, "Expand your vision?"

"Will it bring vengeance to whoever killed my brother?"

"Oh, yes. That I swear to you."

"To strike one of your servants is to strike you. To strike you is to strike the one you serve. Your words."

A moment's silence, then, "Yes."

And so Jatara asked the one question she had never asked-had never dared, and never much cared, because to her it did not matter. It mattered now.

"Whom do you serve?"