.”
She didn’t have to finish the question. Salar nodded. He would cut out the demon’s jewel from where it sat above the small black eyes and take it to the repository in the hills north of the city. There it would be cast into a deep pit, where its penetrating fear would be a danger to no one. The body would be cast there as well, unless Lord Andarack wanted it for his investigations into the nature of demons.
Salar borrowed the Green’s axe and told them to go back up the tunnel.
“Find Chetorth and bring him directly to the Physician. Tell Banerict he was cut in the sewers so he knows how dirty the wound could be.”
“Is he badly hurt?” Salick asked.
Salar laughed. “More scared than hurt. The clawed beast came out of a side tunnel where it had been waiting to ambush us. It raked Chetorth with these ridges,” he said, and tapped the saw-toothed skull protrusions with his borrowed axe. “Gave him a good cut, and a good scar to brag about when it heals, that’s all.”
Garet smiled. He had enough scars now that he had stopped bragging months ago.
Salick touched the sword scar she bore on one cheek.
“Tell him not to boast too much. It’s bad luck.”
They bid the others farewell and walked back the way they had come. The echo of axe blows followed them as Salar chopped out the demon’s jewel. This put Garet in mind of Dorict’s request that he speak to Lord Andarack, something he had failed to do as the other guests had left so quickly. He looked at Salick.
“Has Lord Andarack called for any more jewels or dead demons?” Garet asked.
Salick shrugged. “Not that I have heard. Perhaps he’s onto some other project now,” the Gold said and smiled. They both knew the Ward Lord’s scientific investigations were at times erratic.
“You sat beside him. Did he speak to you at dinner?”
Salick was busy wiping her hands over and over again on her ruined tunic.
“A few polite words,” she said. “I tried to ask him about the silkstone experiments for Dorict’s sake, but he seemed deaf to such questions.”
Why, he wondered. In Garet’s opinion, these experiments were incredibly important, not just to Dorict and the rest of the Banes, but to the entire city. So far Andarack had found that silkstone was the only substance that blocked the fear radiating from a demon’s jewel. Lord Andarack had discovered this last winter, and the suit of silkstone armour he fashioned had saved both Garet and Salick in the final battle with the Caller Demon. Unfortunately, the stone was rare in the city, and by now Garet had expected to hear of some trading mission to get more. Such stone suits might be clumsy, but they were also the first real chance to end the six-hundred year curse of the demons, not just here in Shirath, but throughout the South and the Midlands.
Branet was nowhere in sight when they came to the space below the open grate. Calling brought no answer or help, so Garet hoisted Salick onto his shoulders, staining the last clear patch of his vest. Once up, she caught one end of the rope-hammer and hauled him up after her. It took both their efforts to push the grate into place.
“Perhaps we should swim across the river rather than use the bridge,” Garet said. He stripped off his ruined sash and vest, balling them up and tucking them under one arm.
Salick shook her head. “You forget that’s where the outlet pipes are. We’d have to go upstream to get clean water.”
Garet sighed and followed her towards the bridge gates. She was right. Shirath’s drinking water came in by clean tunnels from the east. The sewers emptied here and flowed west towards the distant sea. Garet hoped that by the time the river Ar reached the cities of Solantor, Illick, and Akalit, its disgusting contents had been washed away.
At the bridge gates, the two guards stood back as they passed, both holding a hand over their noses.
“Claws, Banes,” said one, a young man in gleaming cuirass and helmet. “What
She didn’t have to finish the question. Salar nodded. He would cut out the demon’s jewel from where it sat above the small black eyes and take it to the repository in the hills north of the city. There it would be cast into a deep pit, where its penetrating fear would be a danger to no one. The body would be cast there as well, unless Lord Andarack wanted it for his investigations into the nature of demons.
Salar borrowed the Green’s axe and told them to go back up the tunnel.
“Find Chetorth and bring him directly to the Physician. Tell Banerict he was cut in the sewers so he knows how dirty the wound could be.”
“Is he badly hurt?” Salick asked.
Salar laughed. “More scared than hurt. The clawed beast came out of a side tunnel where it had been waiting to ambush us. It raked Chetorth with these ridges,” he said, and tapped the saw-toothed skull protrusions with his borrowed axe. “Gave him a good cut, and a good scar to brag about when it heals, that’s all.”
Garet smiled. He had enough scars now that he had stopped bragging months ago.
Salick touched the sword scar she bore on one cheek.
“Tell him not to boast too much. It’s bad luck.”
They bid the others farewell and walked back the way they had come. The echo of axe blows followed them as Salar chopped out the demon’s jewel. This put Garet in mind of Dorict’s request that he speak to Lord Andarack, something he had failed to do as the other guests had left so quickly. He looked at Salick.
“Has Lord Andarack called for any more jewels or dead demons?” Garet asked.
Salick shrugged. “Not that I have heard. Perhaps he’s onto some other project now,” the Gold said and smiled. They both knew the Ward Lord’s scientific investigations were at times erratic.
“You sat beside him. Did he speak to you at dinner?”
Salick was busy wiping her hands over and over again on her ruined tunic.
“A few polite words,” she said. “I tried to ask him about the silkstone experiments for Dorict’s sake, but he seemed deaf to such questions.”
Why, he wondered. In Garet’s opinion, these experiments were incredibly important, not just to Dorict and the rest of the Banes, but to the entire city. So far Andarack had found that silkstone was the only substance that blocked the fear radiating from a demon’s jewel. Lord Andarack had discovered this last winter, and the suit of silkstone armour he fashioned had saved both Garet and Salick in the final battle with the Caller Demon. Unfortunately, the stone was rare in the city, and by now Garet had expected to hear of some trading mission to get more. Such stone suits might be clumsy, but they were also the first real chance to end the six-hundred year curse of the demons, not just here in Shirath, but throughout the South and the Midlands.
Branet was nowhere in sight when they came to the space below the open grate. Calling brought no answer or help, so Garet hoisted Salick onto his shoulders, staining the last clear patch of his vest. Once up, she caught one end of the rope-hammer and hauled him up after her. It took both their efforts to push the grate into place.
“Perhaps we should swim across the river rather than use the bridge,” Garet said. He stripped off his ruined sash and vest, balling them up and tucking them under one arm.
Salick shook her head. “You forget that’s where the outlet pipes are. We’d have to go upstream to get clean water.”
Garet sighed and followed her towards the bridge gates. She was right. Shirath’s drinking water came in by clean tunnels from the east. The sewers emptied here and flowed west towards the distant sea. Garet hoped that by the time the river Ar reached the cities of Solantor, Illick, and Akalit, its disgusting contents had been washed away.
At the bridge gates, the two guards stood back as they passed, both holding a hand over their noses.
“Claws, Banes,” said one, a young man in gleaming cuirass and helmet. “What
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