III
The four of them reached the ground floor of the Langtorr and looked over the rail of one of the two wide staircases into the grand central foyer. Apart from being dusty and dark, it was much as they remembered it. It had been badly kept up-two tapestries were hanging on the wall at an odd angle-but otherwise it was not ruined or ransacked in any way.
“Incredible,” Vivienne said, pressing a hand against her chest. “In all my days, I could never imagine. .”
Frithfroth continued down the stairs below them. He stood in the centre of the reception room, where Daniel and Freya had once been welcomed by Modwyn.
“This is where we are overcome,” he said. “This is where I am betrayed. While I collapse in exhaustion-I who should be most watchful-two guards are murdered and the gates of the inner keep unbarred. The doors of the Langtorr itself open in a wide and warm welcome to our enemy.
“Something has changed in the air. I can’t think what until I realise that the bone-shivering sound of the tunnelling has ceased. I am still cursing Cnapa for not waking me when I see his body lying in the door of the Langtorr, bleeding his life blood out onto the ground.
“I run to him and kneel, but I know before I am within a pace of him that he is gone. I put a hand beneath my faithful servant’s head and feel a knife at my neck.” Frithfroth raised his hand and tilted his head upward.
“It is Cnafa. His dagger drips dark blood down my chest-not my own, but that of his brother. I demand to know the reason.
“‘I serve the ruler of Ni?ergeard,’ he tells me insolently. ‘His wishes are my orders.’
“I spit on his orders. A swarm of yfelgopes envelop me and I am taken to Kelm, also called Kafhand, who stands beneath the arch of the inner wall. It is the first time I have seen him. He is massive and terrible, like the face of God’s wrath. Behind him stands the yfelgop forces, and before them, pushed into the ground, are the people of Ni?ergeard.
“Kelm the conqueror looks at me with killing eyes. ‘Where is the woman Modwyn?’ he demands.
“‘By now she will be safely far away,’ I answer.
“‘Remove his left hand.’”
Vivienne gasped as Frithfroth stretched out his stump of a left arm. “A sword and a fire are brought; the one heats the other until it is red hot. The swordsman is skilful and strong, his cut swift and clean.” His eyes poured tears as he retracted his arm.
“Through the fog of pain, Kelm speaks to me once again. ‘Where is the woman, Modwyn? Where is the man, Godmund? Tell me.’
“For the second time, I spit on his wishes.
“‘Remove his right hand.’”
Frithfroth raised his other arm. “It is strange. I can feel my fingers, feel my fists clench, but neither are there.”
The door out of the Langtorr was open, just a crack, perhaps not even wide enough for one person to slip in. The patch of stone just inside of it where Breca and Cnapa had died was stained dark. They looked out to the deserted city. Silver lamps from building fixtures, half buried in rubble, threw light onto ruined streets and buildings.
“What happened then?” Vivienne asked.
Frithfroth swallowed, blinked, and then looked at them all. He had returned to them from the past. “There is a mighty shaking. All of those within the inner courtyard, all of those except for me, fall instantly dead. Those holding me drop to either side, just as my severed hands had, and as lifeless.
“Kelm, standing just feet away on the other side of the gate, is taken aback. As I rise to my feet and run back to the tower, I hear him give an order to pursue. I leap over the body of the traitorous Cnafa on my flight back to safety, straining for every inch.
“Only when I reach the tower’s doors and hear no sound of pursuit do I risk a look back. Those who had followed Kelm’s orders had fallen upon crossing the threshold. Kelm just stands, frozen, not sure if he himself should risk crossing. I come in, push the doors together with my shoulders, and fall senseless.”
Frithfroth’s head tilted downward. “I have been here in the years since. Ealdstan is departed now-this is the age of Gad Gristgrennar. The city is in ruin. They ravaged it after their victory. I could hear them. . collapsing buildings, attacking the statues. The first thing they did was to raise a hero’s throne-to elevate it higher than the buildings around it. And they cheered Kelm as he mounted it.”
Frithfroth fell silent. After a time it became clear that he was finished.
“So what about Godmund?” Freya asked. “Where is he?”
Frithfroth shook his head. “Truly, I do not have any notion. He is not in the tower. I assumed he escaped and that he would return after rousing an army, but time passes and he remains unseen. . Perhaps he was slain after all.”
"What was it that killed everybody-that stopped them from entering the tower?" Daniel asked.
"That was Modwyn's power. Her last gift before she left."
"She's gone too?"
"Yes," said Frithfroth despondently. "She, too, is gone."
“You said ‘the age of Gad’ just now,” Vivienne said. She had been inspecting the large tapestries that were hanging off the wall but turned to face Frithfroth. “What do you mean by that?”
“Is that not apparent? He rules here.”
“No,” Daniel said. “Frithfroth, I’m sorry for not returning earlier, but. . Gad’s dead. I killed his heart. Freya saw him die. Right, Freya? Tell him.”
Frithfroth turned his lifeless eyes toward her. She nodded. “Yes, that’s right,” she said, meekly lying.
“Is Kelm still out there?” Daniel asked.
“Yes,” Frithfroth said in a low tone.
“Who else commands the yfelgopes besides Kelm?”
“Where are you going with this, Daniel?” Vivienne asked.
“Information. We came here for information, right? What about it, Frithfroth?”
“Kelm is the only one who orders them. There are no captains or lieutenants, as far as I can make out.”
Daniel was walking back and forth in the entryway, craning his neck to see more of what lay beyond the large doors. “Is there any chance that he would know that we’re here?” he asked.
“If you entered by the upper door, I do not know of one.”
Daniel turned, excited, his hands opening and closing at his side. “We can take him off guard!” he exclaimed in a hushed voice. “We can defeat the yfelgopes by cutting off their head-killing their leader!”
“I’m not sure, Daniel. .” Vivienne said.
“No,” said Freya, as firmly as she could, turning and coming back to the centre of the room. “We should stay here. There’s more going on than we know; we should find out what it is.”
“We know enough. We know how Ni?ergeard got taken; we know that Kelm’s here. If we go fast, we can find him, kill him, and hole up back here and wait for Ecgbryt and Alex to arrive.”
“But then what would the yfelgopes do?” Freya asked. “There’s no telling how they’d react. They could completely flip out-run away, chase after us-it’s not in the plan.”
“The plan is to liberate Ni?ergeard, and this is a way to do it.”
“No, we’ve got to wait here for help.”
Daniel smirked at her. “I guess people don’t really change,” he said after a moment. “Viv, you agree with me, right?”
Vivienne looked from Daniel to Freya and then back. Her concerned, puzzled face was a rigid mask. “Actually, no,” she said. “Daniel, there’s no rush. We can look around here, and-”
“There’s every reason to rush! We’ll have him off guard! We can get a start on liberating the city. This is why we came here.”
“No, it’s not. We came here for information, first and foremost,” Vivienne said forcefully. “Everything else happens afterward.”
Daniel turned to look out into Ni?ergeard again. “Well, I’m going to do it. I don’t care what you say.”
“Daniel, please,” Freya pleaded. “It’s really too dangerous out there. You don’t know-”
“I’ll be fine, Freya, really,” Daniel said condescendingly. “It’s sweet of you to worry, but I can handle myself.”