From the north they came, droves of them, collecting at the foot of Bloodheart’s throne like so much flotsam cast up by the tide.
That day, when the rebellious son returned, he knew he had to act. When even rebellious sons return to the fold, it means great movements are afoot, even so great as to attract back those who once were condemned to leave. Even the priest, crouching just out of range of Sanglant’s chains while he taught him to read the bones, turned to stare at the unexpected sight of the young Eika princeling who wore a wooden Circle around his neck.
“Why have you come back?” roared Bloodheart in the human tongue, confronting the slender Eika who stood, proud and unflinching, before him.
“I bring eight ships,” said the son, gesturing to certain Eika who stood behind him, representative, perhaps, of soldiers who remained outside. There were by now in Gent too many Eika to all crowd into the cathedral. He could smell them; their metallic scent permeated the air. “These two, from Hakonin, these two, from Skanin, and this one, from Valdarnin. Three more sailed with me from Rikin. These will swell the number of your army.”
“Why should I take you in, when it was my voice and my command which sent you home without honor?”
Sanglant measured the distance between himself and the priest, then patted the rags draped over him that had once been clothing. He slid a hand under cloth and pulled out the brass Eagle’s badge. With a flick of the wrist, he tossed it at one of his dogs, to his left. The sudden growling movement of two dogs leaping to growl over the badge startled the priest enough that he jumped sideways.
With that jump, the priest came for an instant within reach of Sanglant.
He sprang. As his hand closed on the Eika priest’s bony arm, he jerked the knife out from under his tunic. Yanking the priest around hard, he dropped his grip on the creature’s arm and snatched the little wooden chest out of the crook of its elbow.
Then he leaped back into the protection of his dogs—barking and raging wildly now—as a roar of fury broke from Bloodheart’s throat and all the Eika in the hall began shrieking and howling at once, their dogs echoing them until Sanglant was deafened. He had only moments to act before he would be overwhelmed.
There was no time for finesse, but then, there rarely was in a pitched fight.
He hacked violently at the hasp of the chest. The knife, little used, still bore a good edge. The hasp snapped and wood splintered as he struck down and again, with all his strength, then wrenched the lid open and dumped the contents out on the floor.
He didn’t know what an Eika heart would look like. But where else would Bloodheart keep his heart if not close by him? Why else would the priest carry a chest night and day, never letting it leave his side?
But all that spilled onto the floor was a bundle of down feathers and a white hairless creature smaller than his hand. With rudimentary ears and eyes, a nub of a tail, and four limbs, it looked like the premature spawn of an unholy mother, a ghastly colorless thing without defined features and with no recognizable parentage. It fell with a sickening plop onto the flagstone floor and lay there, limp, unmoving.
Dead.
Never trust the appearance of death.
He raised his knife.
A spear haft hit him broadside and then, as he spun, he felt a second spear pierce him in the back, just below the ribs. He jerked forward, brought the knife down as his dogs swarmed forward to attack his attackers. But his vision had gone awry; the world spun and staggered before him.
A shift of sunlight spilled over the stone floor, its golden touch illuminating the tiny corpse. With a shudder, the embryonic creature stirred, curled.
Came alive.
It darted away just as the point of his knife stabbed and skidded on the stone floor where it had lain.
Bloodheart screamed in rage.
The spear point was yanked out of his flesh and he staggered forward to keep himself upright; his neck snapped back when, at the limit of his chains, the iron slave collar brought him up short. The priest yipped wildly, scurrying after the slender dead-white creature now scrambling away between the feet of the Eika soldiers who had dashed forward to mob him.
Bloodheart, still roaring, his own dogs at his heels, slapped his howling soldiers aside as he shoved his way through. Blood streamed down Sanglant’s back, coursing over his buttocks and down his thighs. He faltered and fell to his knees, knife raised before him.
“Dog! Son of dogs! The heart you seek with that blow lies far away from here, hidden among the stones of Rikin fjall. For this sacrilege you will pay the price in blood.”
Bloodheart struck, but Sanglant was faster. He jumped up and sank the knife into the Eika chieftain’s shoulder and hung there as two packs of dogs swarmed forward. At once he and Bloodheart were surrounded by a maelstrom, all teeth and tails and claws.