To a mind used to intrigue it was an attractive thought, yet Esmail found that he did not believe it. Perhaps the old man had once pursued double purposes, served more than one master, but, at this faded, trailing end of his life, he was Seda’s creature, and perhaps he was the one man she would actually pause pursuit of her ambitions for. He had, after all, turned her away from the Worm once, if only to seek that self-same Seal again here with Argastos.
Thunder rumbled from the sky above them. That sky was mostly hidden behind the vault of the forest roof and, when it could be seen, coursed with clouds that seemed ragged and decomposing even as they seeped overhead.
Abruptly Gjegevey began scrabbling for his staff, and big Gorrec hauled him to his feet without being asked to. Everyone was now looking up at the sky, and the Wasp magician Tegrec cried out, holding his hands up as though to fend something off.
Something’s coming. Argastos? But Esmail could sense that whatever was on its way now was as alien to this place as they were.
‘We must move!’ the hunched Woodlouse cried. He was trembling all over, and Seda took his arm.
‘Eyes out, lads!’ Gorrec shouted. The Pioneers already had weapons to hand, as did Seda’s remaining bodyguard. Tisamon’s right hand was his clawed gauntlet, of course, and he never took it off. Or can’t, more like.
Gjegevey had doubled his speed, even though he stumbled and skidded over the uneven ground, and around them all the ghosts of the forest flickered and danced, appearing almost too briefly to be registered, then gone in the next blink. A wind had struck up, fierce and unheralded, which clawed at the branches overhead, as if trying to find a way in.
Is this what it was like here when we forced our own way in?
There was something ahead. . a mound, was it? And, on sight of it, Seda had cried out in triumph-
Then that thunder sounded again, so close, so apocalyptically loud, that Esmail found himself thrown to the ground, stunned by the sheer savagery of the air that shook and jumped with the impact of it.
And, in its wake, everything had changed.
The thunder itself was a poor accompaniment for the soundless shudder of force that rushed through that other forest, and Seda understood that she was following at last. Whilst Seda had been battling her way towards Argastos, she had somehow simply stepped here — had bided her time on the outside, had. .
Seda tasted the sour triumph of the other’s arrival. Yes, she had won over the Nethyen; she had severed them from Seda’s own purpose.
But my purpose was only to get here — to get to Argastos — and I’m almost there. So close!
And she felt the mind of her enemy like a hot ball of iron, and knew that the Beetle had found her in turn.
‘They come!’ she called. Gjegevey was standing still, looking back. ‘Move, old man!’ she spat at him. He sensed only enough to know everything was now going wrong.
‘Soldiers, destroy them,’ she snapped at Gorrec and the pioneers, while she hauled on Gjegevey’s arm. ‘Come, slave.’ And she found the stab of fear she felt was not for herself but for him. She could defend herself, and he. . he was withered and frail and, despite her many threats, he was hers, and he had been her friend once. ‘Ostrec — see them destroyed, every one of them,’ for the Maker girl had her own soldiers, she could detect them. Each new set of feet set this unnatural terrain dancing like a spider web, telling her — telling both of them — exactly where the fighters were, marking out the woodland between them like a chessboard. ‘Tegrec, help me with him.’
But she saw now that her intervention was required, or else her troops would have no chance of victory. She saw how it must be done. ‘No, lead him away, take him some place safe, Tegrec,’ she spat the words at the turncoat Wasp, ‘or I swear I will have your very spirit on crossed pikes for all eternity. Tisamon, guard me.’
Gorrec glanced at the Red Watch officer, Ostrec, but the man seemed disinclined to give any orders, just staring off into the grey mist of the trees as though he saw some great truth there. Up to me as usual. The Mantis woman who was Seda’s remaining bodyguard loped past him, the claw of her gauntlet jutting downwards like a dagger blade.
He was no great strategist, but he had led men in a fight before, and this cluttered and gloomy forest was as much ideal Pioneer territory as anywhere.
‘I’ll hold the centre,’ he announced, because it was what he was better fitted for than the other two. ‘Jons, left. Ic, right — flank, strike, fade. Once you’ve engaged I’m pulling back.’
‘She’s not left you many places to pull back to,’ Jons Escarrabin pointed out, hands busy working the winch handle to charge his cut-down snapbow.
Gorrec shrugged. He had a broad-headed axe in each hand and a heavy feeling in his stomach. How many enemy? How well armed? Nothing but ‘They come!’ from Herself. Still, he had known before now that he and his fellows were reckoned expendable. The Empress had not brought them here because she enjoyed their scintillating conversation.
Icnumon the halfbreed had his shortbow out, an arrow to the string, and he slunk off between the trees without a word, reliable as ever.
‘Good luck, Sergeant.’ Jons threw Gorrec an abbreviated salute and was gone, too, stepping away with stealth rare for a Beetle. The Empress was still in sight, behind, with that armoured — whatever it was — standing before her. Not my problem, not right now. Right now, I’m my problem. He crouched down, taking cover leaning against a tree, ready to throw himself at an enemy or out of the way, as circumstances recommended. Many thoughts rose to mind, but he let them pass.
When she passed beyond, through that gate opened by blood — whose blood? — Che realized that she had wooed the Nethyen too well. She was here at the very heart, within reach of Argastos’s barrow — and so was she.
‘The Empress is here! Ready yourselves!’ she managed to gasp. ‘They’re coming!’ Because, of course, Seda would sense Che just as easily and, of course, she would send her followers. No, more than that. Che knew they were coming, as if she could see the forest from above and track each man’s progress by the ripple of undergrowth. ‘There, that way!’ She dragged her sword out, and instantly her three protectors — the Wasp, the Mantis halfbreed, the Beetle — were moving as directed, whilst Maure hung back, with a shortsword in her hand and absolutely no intention of using it.
The woods here were less overgrown, but there was a misty gloom over everything that even Che’s eyes made little headway with. Still, she saw Tynisa clearly, as she rushed forwards, leading the way with her blade — saw Amnon peeling off to the right, moving to intercept some enemy that he must have seen or heard, but that Che could not know about — save that she did. She could feel that dagger-like mind drawing near, drenched in thoughts of blood and honour.