Jayme groaned and gripped the top of the table. If these creatures had penetrated into the heart of the highly defended Gorkenfort, then what they could have done in the brothers’ Retreat horrified him.
Priam looked at Jayme. “Brother-Leader, I am most sorry, but most of the brothers were slaughtered as they sought to flee. Only two escaped with their lives. The carnage was … terrible.” He fell silent for a moment.
“But that’s not all.” Priam’s voice dropped to a whisper and his face blanched to a sickly yellow. “It appears that these creatures had two specific purposes in attacking the Retreat. They completely destroyed all the books and records of the Retreat, although that was not their first or main target.” Jayme’s head sank down to rest on the table and his shoulders shuddered once, heavily. “First … first,” Priam’s voice almost broke, and he had to clear his throat; Jayme pushed himself back upright and stared at Priam. “First, they broke into the crypt of the Retreat and … stole … my … sister’s … body. They stole Rivkah’s body. Then they desecrated her tomb with their excrement and the blood and entrails of those brothers they had slaughtered.”
Apart from Priam and Borneheld, all eyes in the room swivelled towards Axis then, an instant later, swivelled away again. Rivkah had been buried in the crypt of the Retreat after she had died giving birth to Axis.
Jayme and Moryson exchanged shocked, silent glances as Priam spoke, but Jayme recovered himself enough to turn to Axis and lay a warm hand on his arm. “My son, I am so sorry,” he said quietly.
So closely was Axis associated with his mother that for a moment no one remembered that Rivkah was Borneheld’s mother as well.
They were quickly reminded. As soon as the words were out of Priam’s mouth Borneheld leapt to his feet, his chair clattering to the floor behind him. His hand automatically reached for his sword, until halfway there he remembered that he had left it in the antechamber.
“They stole my mother!” he screamed, his eyes wild, his hand still half-raised.
Axis felt as though Priam’s news had driven a sword through his soul. He was stunned, and for an instant was propelled back into that black nothingness where the demon who claimed to be his father tormented him. He stared sightlessly ahead, oblivious to Borneheld’s reaction, but after a moment he half turned his head towards Jayme and gropingly placed his own hand on top of the Brother-Leader’s where it rested on his arm. “It’s all right,” he murmured.
Borneheld, still with one hand raised, took a step towards his half-brother. “It’s all right?” he whispered incredulously, his face slowly turning dark red. “Is that how you react to the news that some demon-spawned fiends have stolen my mother’s body? Is that all you can say?”
He kicked his chair away from his feet and took a step towards Axis. “Is that all you can say when it was you who killed her and put her in that stone tomb?” he screamed, and lunged around the table past Jayme, grabbing Axis by the throat and driving him to the floor of the chamber.
As the others leapt to their feet Jorge and Gautier dragged Borneheld away while Nevelon held Axis back. Both men had taken punishment, although Axis, at a disadvantage of weight and muscle, came out of it slightly worse. He managed to regain control of himself though and shrugged off Nevelon’s restraining hands, dusting down his tunic coat and wiping some blood from his mouth with the back of one hand. He looked across at Borneheld who had blood streaming from a cut above his eye.
“At least Rivkah loved and respected my father enough not to betray him,” Axis said quietly, his eyes blazing fiercely as they locked with Borneheld’s. “Would that your father had received such love and respect from our mother.”
His quiet words sent Borneheld into a frenzy, and it was all that Jorge and Gautier could do to hold him back from attacking Axis a second time.
“By Artor!” snarled Roland, stepping between the two men, his massive flesh quivering with anger. “Is it not enough that we face this peril from the northern wastes? How can we face outside dangers when we tear ourselves to pieces within?” He turned to Borneheld and abruptly slapped him across the face, sending droplets of blood scattering across the floor. “Is this how a WarLord acts in the heat of battle? What will you do when your foes taunt you across the battlefield, if this is how you react in the King’s Privy Council?”
Roland stared at Borneheld until Borneheld dropped his eyes and ceased to struggle against Jorge and Gautier. Then, belying his bulk, Roland whipped around to face Axis. “BattleAxe!” he snapped, and Axis straightened up from the wall, his gaze challenging. “Such a taunt belongs in the women’s chamber, and if you have to resort to that level of remark among this company then perhaps that’s where you belong!”
Axis’ face hardened, but he held his tongue. Roland stepped back and glanced at both men. “Well. Enough. I would scarcely have expected this behaviour from such high commanders. If you lead men, both of you, then you will have to learn a little more self-control. Am I right?”
There was silence for a moment, then Priam stepped forward. “I think the news was grim enough to make anyone lose their wits for a moment. But the Duke of Aldeni speaks wisely, and I am glad that at least one cool head remains in this room. I fear that over the next few months we will have news as bad or worse, and I think that we should all make the decision now to meet whatever the future holds for us united with all the courage and resourcefulness that we can muster. Now, perhaps we can retake our seats.”
After a moment’s awkward silence, Moryson stepped forward hesitantly. “Sire, if I might speak?” Priam nodded.
“Sire, has there been any report about what kind of creature attacked both Gorkenfort and the Retreat?”
“Yes. The two brothers who managed to escape the slaughter in the Retreat and several guards who rushed to Magariz’s quarters related what they saw. Magariz was attacked by creatures no-one has seen previously, or at least lived to report seeing, while three more of these same creatures led the attack on the Retreat.”
Duke Roland wheezed and grunted as he shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “And these strange creatures are …?”
“Large creatures, as large as the wraiths but far more substantial. Taller than a man, but man-shaped. They appeared to be made of old bones held together by yellowish ice; with very little actual flesh. Each had a skull of a strange tusked beast for a head, their eyes silvery orbs, beaks instead of mouths. Leathery wings tipped with talons. Frightening creatures. Huge raking claws for hands. And odd bits of white fur stuck over their bodies. Two led the attack on Magariz, three the attack on the Retreat.”
“This is terrible,” muttered Isend, “terrible.” His dark eyes shifted nervously about the other men in the room.
“But what did they want, sire? Was it just –” Axis paused for a moment, choosing his words carefully, “the body, or was that just a random happenchance?”
Priam shook his head, his eyes haunted. “No. The two brothers who escaped the room where the creatures slaughtered most of the brothers said that they whispered Rivkah’s name as they attacked. It was only after they had taken her body that they returned to the scriptorium and destroyed most of the books and records that were there.”
Jayme and Moryson again exchanged glances. “And the brothers saw the creatures carry off her body?” Jayme asked.
“No,” Priam replied. “They fled to a closet when the Retreat came under attack. They heard the creatures go down to the crypt, then up the stairs to the scriptorium. After destroying the scriptorium and its contents they feasted on the bodies of the brothers. Only after an hour’s silence did the two left alive emerge to discover the complete carnage.”
“Why?” whispered Borneheld. “Why?”
No-one could answer him. Priam spread his hands helplessly. Jayme, his face as white as fine parchment, rested his head heavily in one hand. Jorge looked about him for a moment, then