The demon shrieked in frustration and came again, circling and attacking with talon, horn, and tail, in its search for a weakness, even smashing the stump of its crippled arm against the wardnet.
‘It’ll tire out and quit the racket soon enough,’ Curk grunted and rolled over, throwing the blanket over his head.
But One Arm continued to circle, hammering at the wards over and over until the wardlight seemed perpetual, the flashes of darkness like eye blinks. Arlen studied the demon in the illumination, looking for a weakness, but there was nothing.
Finally Curk sat up. ‘What in the Core is the matter with that crazy …’ His eyes widened as he caught a clear look at One Arm. ‘That’s the demon from the breach last year. The one-armed rock that stalks Jongleur Keerin for crippling it.’
‘Ent after Keerin,’ Arlen said. ‘It’s after me.’
‘Why would it …’ Curk began, but then his eyes widened in recognition.
‘You’re him,’ Curk said. ‘The boy from Keerin’s song. The one he saved that night.’
Arlen snorted. ‘Keerin couldn’t save his own breeches from a soiling if he was out in the naked night.’
Curk chuckled. ‘You expect me to believe you’re the one that cut that monster’s arm off? Demonshit.’
Arlen knew he shouldn’t care what Curk thought, but even after all these years, it grated on him that Keerin, a proven coward, had taken credit for his deed. He turned back to the demon and spat, his wad of phlegm striking the coreling’s thigh. One Arm’s rage quadrupled. It shrieked in impotent fury, hammering even harder at the wards.
All the color drained from Curk’s face. ‘You crazy boy, provoking a rock demon?’
‘Demon was already provoked,’ Arlen pointed out. ‘I’m just showing it’s personal.’
Curk cursed, throwing aside his blankets and reaching for his jug. ‘Last run I do with you, boy. Never get to sleep now.’
Arlen ignored him, continuing to stare at One Arm. Hatred and revulsion swirled around him like a cloud of stink as he tried to imagine a way to kill the demon. He had never seen nor heard of anything that could pierce a rock demon’s armor. It was only an accident of magic that severed the demon’s arm, and not something Arlen would bet his life on the odds of repeating.
He looked back at the cart. ‘Would a thunderstick kill it, you think? They’re meant to break rocks.’
‘Them sticks ent toys, you crazy little bugger,’ Curk snapped. ‘They can do ya worsen any rock demon. And even if you’ve got a night wish and want to try anyway, they ent ours. If they count sticks and it don’t meet the tally that left Miln, even by one, it’s worse for our reputation than if we lost the lot.’
‘Just wondering,’ Arlen said, though he cast a longing look at the cart.
It was quiet the next day, as they rode across the southern base of Mount Royal – the western sister of Mount Miln – whose eastern facing was filled with small mining towns. But the number of signposts dwindled as they made their way to the western face, and the road became little more than wagon ruts leading a path through the wilderness, with a few rare forks.
Late in the day, they reached the point where Royal joined with the next mountain in the range, and there stood a great clearing surrounding a gigantic wardpost made of crete, standing twenty feet high. The wards were so large a whole caravan could succor underneath them.
‘Amazing,’ Arlen said. ‘Must’ve cost a fortune to have that cast and hauled out here.’
‘A fortune to us is just copper lights to Count Brayan,’ Curk said.
Arlen hopped down from the cart and went over to inspect the great post, noting the hard way the dirt in the clearing was packed, indentations telling the tale of hundreds of firepits and stakes put down by Messengers, caravan crews, and settlers over the years. The site was freshly used even now, smelling faintly of woodsmoke from a previous night’s fire.
As he studied the wardpost, Arlen noticed a brass plaque riveted into the base of the post. It read: Brayan’s Mount.
‘Count Brayan owns the whole mountain?’ Arlen asked.
Curk nodded. ‘When Brayan asked permission to mine all the way out here, the Duke laughed and gave him the whole damn mountain for a Jongleur’s song. Euchor didn’t know that Countess Mother Cera, Brayan’s wife, had found tale of a gold mine on the peak in an old history.’
‘Reckon he’s not laughing now,’ Arlen said.
Curk snorted. ‘Now Brayan owns half the crown’s debt, and Mother Cera’s arse is the only one in the city Euchor’s afraid to pinch.’ They both laughed as Arlen began to climb the post, clearing windblown leaves and even a fresh bird’s nest from the wards.
It was a cold spring night, but the post radiated heat, drawn from the demons that attempted to breach its radius. The forbidding waned the further one got from the post, but it easily extended fifty feet in every direction. Even One Arm could not approach.
The next morning, they began to ascend the winding road that would twist around the entire mountain three times, getting ever narrower, rockier, and colder, before it brought them to Brayan’s mine. It was around midday when they approached a large rock outcropping, and a shrill whistle cut the air. Arlen looked up just as something struck the bench between him and Curk, blasting through the wood like a rock demon’s talon.
‘That was just a sign to let you know we mean business,’ a man said, stepping out from around the rock face. He wore thick coveralls and a miner’s helm with candle cup. A kerchief was tied across his nose to cover the rest of his face. ‘Fella atop them boulders can thread a needle with his crank bow.’
Arlen and Curk glanced up and saw there was indeed a man kneeling atop the rocks, his face similarly covered as he pointed a heavy crank bow at them. A spent bow lay at his side.
‘Corespawn it,’ Curk spat. ‘Knew this would happen.’ He lifted his hands high.
‘He only has one shot,’ Arlen murmured.
‘One’s all he needs,’ Curk muttered back. ‘Crank bow this close’ll go through even your fancy armor like it was made of snow.’
They turned their eyes back to the man on the road. He carried no weapons, though he was followed by two men with hunter’s bows nocked and drawn, and they by half a dozen thick-armed men with miner’s picks. All wore the candled helms with kerchiefs across their faces.
‘Ent lookin’ to shoot anyone,’ the bandit leader said. ‘We ent corelings, just men with families to feed. Everyone knows you Messengers get paid in advance and keep your own bags on your horses. You unhitch that cart and go on about your business. We ent looking to take what’s yours.’
‘I dunno,’ said one of the men with picks, as he strode up to where Arlen sat. ‘Might need to take that shiny warded armor, too.’ He tapped Arlen’s breastplate with his weapon, putting a second scratch in the steel, next to the one Curk had made.
‘The Core you will,’ Arlen said, grabbing the pick haft just under the head. He yanked it back and put his steel-shod boot in the face of the man as he was pulled forward. Teeth and blood arced through the air as the man hit the ground hard.
Arlen tossed the pick down the mountain and had his shield and spear out