The Hekamon Read online

  "What!" he asked in disbelief. Was she serious? He might have preferred her previous plan. It was him the guards were looking for. He would be in trouble, only this time without a Fennrean to blame, "Maybe you should run."

  "Galvyn, they are too close now," she whispered, "I won't have enough of a head start, and these boots make me too slow. Please don't let them catch me here, I'll be taken to the fort. You can talk to them. You can do it, I trust you."

  "But what would I say?" he whispered, he could hear the guards talking to each other, they were getting closer.

  "Let me think," Alyssa pressed against him, he could feel her heart beating as fast as his own. "Tell them Hayden gave you the necklace to repair, say he threatened you," she looked into his eyes imploringly. "Say, he told you that he'd attacked a merchant and he would do the same to you."

  "I can't, Hayden didn't threaten me, he helped me," he said. She wanted him to take the risks? To blame Hayden? He promised Hayden he wouldn't tell the guards about him.

  "You only need to say it, it won't matter, Hayden has already gone, they won't follow him into the marshes. We can let him take the blame," Alyssa said, whispering even more quietly now.

  The rustle of leaves could be heard, the guards had stopped speaking but their movement was clear, and one was very close now, less than twenty feet.

  Galvyn thought about Alyssa's idea, and as he did, they held each other tightly, her anxiety at getting caught all to apparent. She was shaking, they both were. Her fear was contagious and her thinking was, too. Maybe she was right. Maybe he did need to find someone to take the blame, and he could see how it might work.

  But why Hayden? The man who had saved from being strangled by Decarius. The man who, in return, he had promised to help. If Galvyn was determined about anything, it was that he would not betray Hayden, not if he could help it. Not to get himself out of trouble.

  At the thought of his attacker, another idea came to him.

  Maybe he could say everything Alyssa suggested, only naming Decarius instead. He could even show where the man was dumped in the mine to back up his story. That man was almost certainly responsible for the attack on his boss, Galvyn realized that now, and Tregarron would think so as well.

  The captain would not let the kentarch go back to Coralai, not now, not after attacking Croneygee.

  Hayden would be in the clear, in every sense. He would not be known about, nor would he be pursued by Decarius.

  This would be better, yet still there was a problem. It was like Alyssa had said, Tansley complicated things.

  Alyssa had encountered Tansley, and from what Galvyn could understand, had maybe even attacked him. Either way, it sounded like the man had been tied up for the guards to find. If so, he would tell Tregarron a version of events that would contradict his own. Tansley would that say that it was he who had given him the necklace to repair.

  He might also speak of a Fennrean girl. If she had been to his trading post, then he would know about her. So it would be hard for him to mislead Tregarron about what had happened. Alyssa was right, Tregarron would figure it out.

  If Galvyn was to say anything, it had to be the truth, otherwise Tregarron would catch him in a lie. Then he would ask what else might he have lied about, who was he trying to protect and why. Suddenly Galvyn asked himself the same question. Who was this girl? Why was he helping her?

  "Galvyn," Alyssa said, her voice fearful, "please."

  He held her tight. Alyssa's plan wouldn't work, not quite, it just needed some small adjustments. A version of events that would alleviate all of his problems and maybe even bring him praise. It only required him to do something he found easy and admirable.

  One shout, that was all he needed to do. A call to the guards. If he held her, she couldn't run. He would not just have caught Croneygee's attacker but Tansley's, too. And he would have brought the rightful owner of the necklace to Tregarron. His earlier mistake of lying to the captain would be forgiven and he would have apprehended the violent intruders.

  The guards were now within ten feet, they would be able to see them behind the tree at any moment. He shouldn't wait to be discovered, he should call to them, it would be better that way.

  At that moment he heard a familiar voice. The deep and unmistakable growl, that reverberated off the surrounding trees, much as if the man had taken a swing with an ax. It was Tregarron, he was here.

  Chapter 12

  74

  The oaks and elms north of Tivitay, gave way to black poplars and ash, but Hayden barely noticed as he hurried by them with ever increasing haste. He wanted to spend as little time as possible in the glades, even here, at the very fringes of it.

  As he strode across the carpet of yellow leaves, the boggy a ground beneath his feet gave a clear indication he was approaching the swamp. While all around him, the forest of tall poplars rose like serrated spear tips, piercing the land and emerging above.

  Hayden stayed amid the trees for at least a mile, before moving back onto the road. The cambered surface was surer underfoot, and, more importantly, well out of sight of the village he was leaving behind.

  Ahead of him, the bridge loomed.

  The Rhavenbrook Bridge was substantial wooden structure, constructed of large posts driven into the swamp, held together with joists and shored up with ropes and nails.

  Hayden had crossed the bridge a few times but not for many years. When he'd encountered it before, he'd thought it'd seemed ageless. The peat soil, in which the bridge rested, didn't rot the wood but instead served to preserve it. And while the Fennreans might claim possession of the bridge, he doubted they'd built it. It seemed to have been here centuries.

  Hayden stepped onto the wooden timbers that spanned the fifteen foot wide walkway, eyes drawn to the intricate carvings that lined the sides.

  All of the support posts had them. Supposedly carved by the ferguths, the enforcers of the marshes, who manned the river crossing during the bewailings.

  It was a plausible explanation. The bridge was in an important strategic position and had been guarded by the ferguths for years. Hayden could well believe their skills in woodcraft may have produced the shapes and reliefs intricately carved on every timber. Yet he was never entirely convinced by that explanation. The wooden carvings looked old but felt ancient. They must surely have pre-dated the Fennrean arrival in the swamp. But if they didn't carve them, then who did? That he didn't know.

  Halfway across the bridge, he stopped and placed his hand on one of the figures. It was the face of a stoical looking man. The carving was so life-like, that, if carved in the likeness of a real person, it would have been recognizable to anyone who once knew him. The face was staring out of the wood and back at the mountains, maybe even directly at the highest peak itself.

  In Demedelei they called the highest peak, the Hekamon. With the rich seams of minerals they mined out of the rock the basis of their economy, society and identity. Their lives spent in the mines, devouring the mountain, or being devoured by it.

  While for Fennreans, the Hekamon was the immense reservoir of water that lay beneath the mountains. The vast, and seemingly limitless supply of which, was the driving force of the marshes. The water was something the people here had an insatiable thirst for. It sustained certain plants that they considered sacred, with the resultant swamp the price they must have thought worth paying.

  Hayden knew that they were both wrong. In Coralai they knew what the Hekamon really was and, just as importantly, how it could be controlled. They also knew that whoever did control the Hekamon could wield considerable influence. The very land itself could be shaped and reformed, along with the people who lived there.

  He moved to another of the carved figures. Some of the faces were human, some animal and others were an unearthly mixture, but all looked in the same direction. He felt the structure had a purpose beyond being a river crossing. And despite his need to move on, he waited a while, lost in his thoughts.

  Maybe it was the
fading light, or the mist that perpetuated the land here, but Hayden felt as ill at ease as was possible to, in an otherwise tranquil setting.

  Just then, the distinctive croak of a raven broke his reverie, and he started walking to the other side. The bridge creaking in places, bleating like a distressed lamb calling for its mother. The mournful sound greeted only with silence.

  75

  Walking through the alleyway beside the inn, Tregarron moved into the area behind the houses. He could see a thirty yard wide ribbon of open land, between the back of the buildings of Tivitay and the beginning of the forest. He could see the three men he'd sent to search there, spreading out and already some way into the woods. He walked briskly to catch them up, and once he was within ten yards of the first guard, he called out to him.

  "Hackett," he shouted, "anything to report?"

  "Nothing yet, Captain," the guard replied, and on hearing the exchange, his two companions indicated likewise.

  Tregarron stopped where he was and looked into the forest ahead.

  It was part of the glades. From the mountains in the south to the river in the north, the glades extended east from where he was standing for several miles.

  If the assailants had gone into the forest, they would take some finding. With the few men he had at his disposal and with the light starting to fade it would be difficult, if not impossible, to find anyone.

  "Men, stop your search," he called to the three guards, who immediately complied with the order.

  With all of his men now standing in silence, Tregarron stared into the trees, and listened for any sign of life from the forest before him. A broken branch, a disturbed bird, maybe a cry for help, especially if Galvyn was being coerced and in need of assistance.

  He could hear nothing, except…there was something. Now he put his mind to it and listened, really listened, he heard a noise he'd never noticed before. A rhythmic beating sound that seemed to emanate from the ground itself and out of the very wood of the trees.

  He tried to place where the sound was coming from and determine what it could be. After a moments contemplation, he realized that it could be only one thing, the sounds of the industrious Serfacre mines and workshops on the other side of the village.

  The noise murmuring through the earth, and emerging, like a heartbeat in the wood, and a whisper in the branches.

  Once he'd tuned out that sound, there was nothing but a deathly silence. Yet the silence wasn't an absence of information, it told him something. It told him that there wasn't a soul nearby. He turned to his trusted guardsman.

  "Phelan, what do you think?"

  "If the Coralainian has come this way and is trying to avoid detection, he would likely head for the mountains and the tunnels there, instead of the pass," Phelan replied.

  "If he has, we've lost him. And what about Galvyn, you know him better than I?"

  "If he can, then he will return by nightfall, I'm sure of it."

  Tregarron nodded in agreement and turned to the three guards who'd been searching the area.

  "I want you three to remain on guard at the Willard house. I'll send the night watch to replace you later," he then turned to back to Phelan.

  "A Fennrean necklace has come into my possession, it's an important find and I need to show it to Lord Jephson. I can't put it off any longer, so I want you to do something for me. I would do it myself and don't give this order lightly."

  "What's the order, sir?"

  "Come with me, you too, Collis."

  Walking through an alleyway that separated two neighboring buildings, Tregarron reached Tivitay street again. He was deep in thought. It seemed the Coralainian and the young apprentice had managed to elude him. He was going to have to conduct a wider search and was thinking of the best way to do it with the few men he had.

  Just then, and from the Demedelei Road, there came a sound of boots on cobblestones. It was a sound which meant he could conduct the search he wanted to. The footsteps grew louder and several guards came into view.

  "Good, Teague is here. We need every man we have."

  Teague approached, along with the six men he had brought from the fort. Those men had carried the injured trio from the trading post, and Tregarron could see they were out of breath from their exertions. They were about to get even more so.

  "Teague, I want you to take two of these men up the Regis Highway, to the High Gate and, if necessary, all the way to the pass," he said, and gave Teague a description of the man they were looking for, before sending him and two of the fitter of the guards on their way.

  Tregarron reasoned, that if the Coralainian who had been seen with Galvyn was innocent, then he would most likely have told the innkeeper the truth about his destination. The man would not risk bumping into Fennreans in the glades and would keep to the roads. He didn't give much credence to the idea the man was innocent, but he needed to be sure, so sent Teague to look. He then turned to the other four guards.

  "I want you men to check the other properties here in Tivitay, you're looking for a serfacre apprentice called Galvyn. He might be somewhere in the village other than his lodgings, ask around. When you've done that return to the fort."

  That left him with two men. He now gave Phelan the order he had been reluctant to give.

  "Phelan I want you and Collis to go to the Rhavenbrook Bridge."

  "The bridge? But night is falling," Phelan said, understandably unhappy at been sent into the swamp.

  "Don't cross into Fennrean territory, just be sure he hasn't gone that way. You can see some distance along the Fennelbek Way from the bridge."

  "Do you think it's likely that he's going that way, sir?"

  "There's a Fennrean connection, that much I'm sure of, I just don't know what it is yet. Go now, I will be back at the fort, report to me anything you find."

  With that, Phelan and Collis, with admirably little complaint, moved down the street and toward the swamp. While they did, Tregarron started walking back to the fort.

  Firstly, he would need to update Lord Jephson on what was going on. Then he had some prisoners to interrogate. He would certainly be getting some answers from them. He had his methods, and if necessary, he would use them.

  76

  Hayden thought that he would feel better when he reached the far bank but he didn't. The bridge was a comparatively fair haven compared to what lay ahead. He walked on anyway, his mind was made up.

  A few dozen yards along from the bridge, the road forked. The way here was wide. The confluence of three roads made for something resembling a clearing forty yards across. Hayden stood at the center. In years gone by, this location would have been a staging post for Fennreans preparing for a raid into Demedelei territory, but it was eerily silent now.

  The fork to his right, Ochre Way, headed toward the heart of the swamp and ultimately to Ochre Hill, the Fennreans main settlement. The fork to the left, the Fennelbek Way, skirted the edge of the marshes before entering the dense forests beyond.

  He looked in the direction of Ochre Hill, a place to be avoided at all costs, before turning left onto the Fennelbek Way and walking briskly once more. He'd allowed himself a minute or two of contemplation, here and on the bridge, but that was all he could spare.

  Hayden had only gone a short distance, when the way started to narrow. The trees closed in from both sides and the ambient light diminished. It wasn't dark yet, but it wouldn't be long now, and he could see that he was going to be breaking one of the few hard-and-fast rules of this land. Don't travel the Fennelbek Way at night.

  He stopped. He had gone one hundred yards beyond the bridge. Was this wise?

  He dropped his bag.

  If there was a second rule of the marshes it would probably be; don't travel alone. And the third might go something like; don't be a Coralainian, or someone who could be mistaken for one.

  He was caught between a rock and a hard place and weighed up his options.

  If he could get a move on, he might be able to make it thr
ough the swamp in a few hours. There would still be the forests beyond to navigate, though, and it would mean doing all his traveling at night. While if he went back, there was potentially trouble waiting for him. In many guises.

  His mind turned to the apprentice armorer he'd met. There would certainly be trouble in store for that young man and not just with the guards. There was a chance Galvyn was going to be taking the blame for assaulting Decarius. Did the boy know what he would be holding himself accountable for there? He would have no idea. Hayden felt a dread creeping over him and a nagging thought recurring. What was Decarius doing?

  It couldn't have been a coincidence. Decarius had no business in Serfacre, or anywhere else this side of the pass for that matter, and yet the kentarch had traveled here at practically the same time he had. There must be something more. A necklace? Trinkets were never Decarius's style. Unless it belonged to the saceress that is, but it seemed it belonged to the Fennrean girl.

  Decarius was a military man, pure and simple. He was breaking into an armory and he was looking for something. Something he was prepared to kill for and take some big risks in the process. Hayden knew the man was reckless and prone to rage fueled outbursts of violence, but this seemed extreme, even for him.

  Something else now occurred to him. In his haste to leave he had not given enough consideration to what the Fennrean girl had said. It sounded like Decarius had attacked another man, a man called Croneygee, and left him in a bad way. That had been an important detail, it changed everything and he had been slow to realize it. It must have been why the guards entered the mine. They were investigating an assault and were on the kentarch's tail.

  When it seemed that Decarius had done nothing wrong, besides choking the boy and coming off worse. It was unlikely they would have held him at the fort for long. The man was devious and would have talked his way out of it by claiming that he was the victim. But what if he had left someone badly wounded? What if briefly strangling the boy had been the least of his crimes? In that event, there is no way Tregarron would let him off so lightly, the captain might even relish the chance to get his hands on the Kentarch of Coralai.