Silent Hall by NS Dolkart Page B

belly. The fisherman had slashed at it wildly as it turned toward him, and whether his blows or its teeth had made their marks first, neither had been well aimed for a kill. Yet the length of the wound would make the burning a good deal harder, which made Narky doubly glad that he had convinced Bandu to cauterize it herself. It was hard to see, through the clotted blood and fur, whether an infection had taken hold, but Narky helped Bandu to build a small fire, and he gave her the skin of spirits so that she could clean the wound while he heated the knife.
    Narky often wondered, afterward, how they had ever managed to hold the wolf still while its flesh burned, or how Bandu had been able to talk it down from biting them. She was like a girl out of one of the fairy stories that Narky used to bring home from town, those that terrified his father so. They were full of witches and monsters, cruel elves and cannibals, and everybody in them seemed to meet a bad end. Narky even asked Bandu if she was using some kind of magic on the wolf, but she didn’t seem to understand the question.
    Bandu refused to leave her wolf when they were done, so Narky walked back to the inn alone. Why had she asked him for help? he wondered. Why not any of the others?
    When he arrived, he found the common room so crammed with people that he had to shove his way through to find the other islanders. People gave him stares and shushed him – someone was giving a speech.
    It only took a second for Narky to recognize the voice: it was the fisherman who had brought them to Atuna, and he wasn’t giving a speech, he was telling a story.
    â€œThey’d fallen out of their chairs, poor lads. Dead and drowned on dry land. My brother’s eldest boy had seaweed coming out of his mouth! If you’ll pardon me, boy, I thought at first maybe the lord of the house had killed them himself. My nephews were the only people in the house, so I went out.
    â€œThe city was just as empty as the docks, until I found them all in the square outside Karassa’s temple. The whole city was there, dead just the same as my lads. Lungs filled with seawater, and wet all over. The bulls for sacrifice were dead too, just the same way. But the king wasn’t there. I don’t know if Mayar spared him, but he wasn’t with the other dead ones where he should have been.
    â€œWell, I didn’t stay long after that. I didn’t even go looking for the money the lord still owed me, I just ran for the docks. It felt haunted, like there might be ghosts about. I was coughing all the way home like I’d caught the plague too, I was scared to death. But it stopped when I got home, thank Atun.
    â€œIt’s an island of the dead now, Tarphae. I wouldn’t go back for all the world.”
    Narky had only just made his way through the crowd to the others, but now Hunter stormed past him toward the door, shoving people out of his way. Criton broke down in tears, and the pretty girl too.
    â€œHow do you know they’re all gone?” Narky asked the fisherman. “How do you know it’s not just the capital?”
    The fisherman stared at him. “You think the Gods would put a plague on Karsanye and leave the rest of the island alone? Fish heads. There weren’t no other people picking around that city, looking for survivors. Everyone was dead.”
    Narky nodded solemnly and turned away from his sobbing companions. He was not really glad – not really. He was sorry that all those people had died. It was obviously devastating news. But all he could think about was that he was the luckiest damn murderer the world had ever known.

8
    Criton
    I t felt as if the world had ended. The only person who had ever loved him was gone. Criton had always thought he would come back one day to rescue Ma from her husband. They would live in a cave like the dragons were supposed to do, and if anyone came to bother them, Criton would chase them away. Now