Sovereign

'How long have you been following me?'

The man moved, not towards Lynan but around him, as if there was an invisible wall between them.

'From the moment you entered the forest.'

'You were with me last night,' Lynan said, remembering the soft padding.

'I was watching you.' By now he was between Lynan and the deeper forest, and Lynan could see the figure was dressed in a short coat.

'Who are you?'

'I think you have come far enough, Lynan Rosetheme. Go back to your people.'

Lynan walked towards him. At first the figure retreated, but then stopped, legs apart, as if he would physically bar his way. As he drew closer, Lynan saw more detail. The man had long hair that rat-tailed over his shoulders, and he was wearing a coat that was too small for him; but the face was bowed slightly and he could not see it from the shadows.

'You have come far enough,' the man repeated. 'Go back. I would not hurt you.'

Lynan continued advancing. 'I have come this far to see a queen, I would not go back now.'

'The queen of the Dead,' the man laughed harshly. 'She is the one who does the visiting.'

Lynan drew his sword. 'Not any more.'

The man lifted his face, and Lynan stopped in his tracks.

'You knew me once,' the man said.

It was the smell that first hit Lynan. It rose like a vapour from the background of rotting humus. The face was familiar, but there was still too much shadow…

And then he realised it was not shadow at all.

'I know you still,' Lynan said, trying to keep his voice under control. He took a step backwards.

The man spread his coat. 'I still look after it for you.'

'Roheth,' he whispered pitiably. He remembered what the forester had been like when he had helped Lynan and his companions escape from Silona's grasp the first time they had met her: proud and strong and determined. By taking Lynan's coat, Roheth had wanted to throw the vampire off the travellers' scent.

'The ruse with the coat worked for two nights. Silona came back to my village, thinking you were still with us.'

'I'm sorry…'

'But she was driven, you see. She had sensed the Key of Power hanging around your neck.'

'I'm sorry…'

'And in the end nothing could save me.' Roheth stepped forward. A beam of light struck what was left of his cheek, showed the bone underneath. 'I paid the price of my hospitality.'

'You have become one of her hounds.'

Roheth laughed grimly. 'Oh yes. I herd her prey. I captured Belara once. Do you remember my wife?'

'Yes.'

'She is no more.' The voice was heavy with grief, but carried with it an obscene undercurrent of glee. 'And Mira, little Mira. Gone, too. And Seabe…'

'Stop.'

'But she still came after you, Lynan Rosetheme. Her mind had touched the Key and she wanted you.'

'I can revenge your wife, Roheth, and your daughter. And Seabe, too. I can revenge all of those she has killed.'

Roheth shook his head. His neck creaked. 'I am her hound. I serve her completely.'

'If that was so, you would have tried to kill me last night. You know what I intend.'

'Now, but not then. Silona does not want you dead. Not yet anyway. You only have two of the Keys. But I will not let you harm her. She is all that is left in this world that I can love and I will not let you hurt her. Turn back, Lynan Rosetheme, or I will kill you. This is your last warning.'

Lynan strengthened his grip on the sword. 'Flee, Roheth. I would not slay you.'

'I am already slain, you fool.'

Lynan swung with all his strength. The hound caught the blade in its left hand, cutting out a wedge of bone and rotten flesh, and yanked down. The sword was ripped out of Lynan's fingers. The creature's right hand shot out and punched Lynan in the neck. He fell back gasping, tripped over a root and landed heavily on his back. Before he could recover the hound was kneeling on his chest, its hands scrabbling around his throat. Lynan twisted from one side to the other. The hound rattled like a bag of bones but held on.

'I will eat you myself,' Roheth hissed, and his fingers squeezed harder.

Just as Lynan started blacking out he felt something hold unconsciousness at bay, and then push it back. It was the rage returned, redoubled in strength, and it filled him with liquid fire. His fingers found Roheth's head, felt the creature's skin slip loosely on the skull, grasped even tighter, and he twisted with all his strength. There was a crack and Roheth howled and fell back. Lynan kicked himself to his feet and retrieved his sword. The hound was squirming on the ground like a cut snake, its head snapping from side to side, its body jerking feebly.

Lynan roared and brought the sword down on the creature's neck. The head rolled away, the jaws snapping open and shut, its eyes rolling in their sockets. He brought the blade down again, and again, and again, splitting open the skull. Shards of white bone flew into the air, stung his cheeks. He struck until all the fire in him was out, extinguished, purified, and he clambered away from the slaughter he had made, stumbling deeper into the forest, the darkness closing about him.

Jenrosa tried to keep walking during the night, but she tripped over so many roots and rocks, banged her knees and head against so many branches, that in the end, exhausted, she simply gave up and slumped against a tree. She needed sleep, and knew it, but her fear for Lynan made her heart-sick and would not let her rest. She drew from the saddlebag a strip from one of Lynan's shirts, burned it, kept aside half the ashes and threw the remainder into the air. They drifted towards the centre of the forest. Then she cleared a space among the leaf litter and asked questions of the earth. Lynan was ahead of her, and although Silona was not yet with him something else was, a creature she did not recognise but which sent a shiver down her spine.

She closed her eyes and searched for the point beyond which there was no sign of Lynan, and it was imminent. Tonight, perhaps, tomorrow night at the latest. For a long time she had been afraid it meant Lynan's death, but now she was more afraid it meant something far worse: Lynan's complete surrender to Silona and his passing into that other existence.

She could not wait for dawn. She got to her feet again and started walking, keeping one arm above her head to ward off any branches. She still fell many times, cutting her hands and face. She stopped at first light to throw the remainder of the ashes, and following the direction they drifted then, came across his tracks. He was still alive, and still apart from Silona.

Encouraged and renewed, she picked up her pace, walking for many hours until she found the remains of some horrific struggle. Whatever it was—whatever it had been—had almost certainly been the creature she saw revealed in the earth magik. She remembered stories told by Roheth and the other foresters who had given her and Lynan refuge the first time they had travelled through Silona's domain, stories about her hounds, the humans Silona changed to hunt down food for her.

This is what she will turn Lynan into. The thought drove her on, recklessly. She would do anything to stop that from happening.

Silona had saved his life again, Lynan knew. The anger that had filled him in his struggle against Roheth had been hers, a rage fuelled by the knowledge that one of her own creatures would try and harm Lynan. But now she knew where he was and would come for him. He also knew she must now understand she had no choice but to kill him or change him forever, otherwise he would kill her. Why else, once free of her in Daavis, would he come to her domain?

'I will wait for you here,' he said aloud, knowing the forest would hear him. It was not yet dark, but he would go no further. He gathered together what dry leaves and wood he could find and started a fire. The warm flames raised his spirits somewhat, and the smoke disappearing through the canopy reminded him that there was a world outside the forest. He shrugged off his poncho and put it aside neatly. Then his sword belt and sheath, which he lay across the poncho. He needed no unnecessary encumbrances for this fight. He squatted in front of the fire, planted his sword in front of him, and waited.