It was strange to acknowledge such a thing. A human female was nothing. Within the city of Valkarky she was just property. So why should I feel this way? What if it truly were skaiium, the softening of my predatory nature? Such a thing would indeed be terrible to bear.
I turned to face Nessa. I would kill Nunc and harden my nature again in the process. Nothing was more important.
‘Give me the blade!’ I commanded, simultaneously blowing myself up in size so that I was a head taller than the girl.
Weeping now, Nessa held it out towards me. Her hand was shaking, but I saw that the blood had almost ceased flowing from her left arm and was beginning to coagulate. Rather than taking the blade then and there, I turned my back on the girl and went to get my coat and boots.
I pulled the boots on first, lacing them up carefully, then fastened the straps across my shoulders and chest, checking that the short blades were correctly positioned in the two scabbards. Next I drew on my coat, realizing as I did so that the three keys had been removed. As I fastened all thirteen buttons, Susan cried out again from beyond the door.
‘Please – please hurry!’ begged Nessa.
But I knew that it was important to avoid undue haste. Despite my anger I must move with caution, choosing my moment and striking only when the occasion permitted. Nunc was alone with the girl, but there might be up to three score warriors quartered below the tower, ready to defend their High Mage.
‘So, who brought you here?’ I asked, buckling on my belt. ‘Not Kobalos warriors?’
‘No. They were women.’
‘How many?’
‘There were five of them.’
I held my hand out for the sabre. So the purrai had brought Susan to Nunc so that he could drink her blood very slowly, savouring every sip. No doubt he had a different type of pleasure in mind when he dealt with Nessa because she was too skinny and her blood would be thin. He would have used her for blade practice, attempting to cut her as many times as possible without killing her. Eventually she would have died of shock and blood loss. By now, I was certain that the child, Bryony, would have already been given to the warriors to prepare for the feast.
I felt better now. I was stronger, but not yet strong enough. More blood would help. I knew that the most sensible course of action would be to take it from Nessa by force, but something within me resisted that alternative. Then I remembered the snake!
I went over to the edge of the bath and knelt down, immersing my hand in the steaming water.
‘Be careful!’ Nessa exclaimed. ‘There’s a snake in there!’
‘That I know to my cost, little Nessa. It was responsible for putting me in the position you luckily found me in. Now it is the snake’s turn to suffer!’
I’d probably been bitten by the small black snake known as a skulka, greatly feared because its bite induces a swift paralysis. It has the advantage for an assassin in that the presence of its venom in the blood is almost impossible to detect afterwards. Its victims become helpless the moment the poison has entered their bloodstream. Then they die in agony. No doubt Nunc had developed his immunity by gradual exposure to the toxin – the creature was probably his familiar.
My tail was standing erect on my back and, more accurately than eye or ear, it told me precisely where the snake was. It was undulating swiftly towards my hand now.
But just as the skulka opened its mouth, fangs ready to strike, I moved quickly and snatched it out of the water. I held it aloft, gripping it below the head so that it could not bite me. Then – to horrified gasps from Nessa – I bit off its head and spat it out into the water, before sucking the blood from the body.
There wasn’t anywhere near enough, so I tore off another piece of snake and began to chew it carefully. The foolish girl struggled to control her disgust. Couldn’t she see that I did what was necessary in order to save her sister? As I swallowed the flesh, Susan cried out from beyond the door once again.
I turned and smiled at Nessa. ‘Be patient, little Nessa. I need strength. If I am weak, all of us will die.’
Only when I’d finished eating the whole snake did I cross the narrow bridge and approach the rusty iron door. As I expected, it was unlocked, so I pulled it open and stepped into a narrow passageway which ended in a single door. This I also opened and, with Nessa close on my heels, stepped boldly into Nunc’s private quarters.
This spacious room functioned as the study, private armoury and bedroom of a Kobalos High Mage and, as such, was a curious mixture of the spartan and the luxurious. Upon the bare flags stood a large ornate oaken desk, its edges embellished with the finest silver of a type I recognized immediately. It was Combe-quality silver seized fifty-three years earlier in a daring guerrilla raid deep into that human territory far to the south. Nunc’s exploits were well known. He had achieved much but was known to be egotistical and had worked to ensure that his fame spread.
On the far wall hung shields, axes, spears and blades of many types, some very exotic, and beneath them stood a large table covered with maps and piles of papers, held in place by large blue agate paperweights.
The rooms in my ghanbala tree also contain artefacts that are pleasing to look upon, but rather than this ostentatious display of maps and weapons, they represent my own interests: jars of herbs, ointments and preserved fauna and flora which add to my knowledge of the natural world and are useful to my magic.
Here the walls were panelled so extensively that not a trace of stone was visible; some were carved with representations of warriors in full combat armour, including the last King of Valkarky, who had been slain by an assassin.
I spotted Nunc, with Susan in his grasp, his teeth embedded in her neck. By now the girl was unconscious and it was Nessa who suddenly screamed behind me, alerting the High Mage to the threat I posed.
He released the child immediately and leaped backwards. As Susan crumpled to the floor, he seized a huge spear from the wall and brandished it aloft, directing it towards me. He had dressed formally in preparation for the feast, and was unfortunately wearing expensive chain-link armour that I judged thick enough to deflect a blade. But he had intended to eat, not fight, and thus his head and throat were bare and vulnerable to sharp steel.
‘Lord Nunc!’ I cried, my voice filled with anger. ‘You have something of mine and now you must return it!’
As I spoke, I lifted my tail so that it stood up at my back and would give me early warning of my enemy’s intentions. It was fortunate that I did so. There had been no visible indication that Nunc would attack – not even a twitch or the tensing of muscles – but by way of answer he hurled his spear directly at my head. As I have said, my tail had already alerted me to this and I was prepared. As the weapon sped towards me, I moved just one part of my body: I raised my arm and, using the broad flat of the sabre’s blade, skilfully deflected the spear so that it struck the wall close to the door and crashed harmlessly to the stone flags.