Read Norton, Andre - Chapbook 04 for Free Online

enter
and pulsate in his body so he rocked a little forward and back as if he was
shaken by something a great deal stronger than any sound, no matter how hideous.
     
    A
musky-sweet corruption of blood scent arose about him also.
     
    Thus
he could believe that those scavengers of this ill-omened place gathered again
for a feasting.   There was movement
behind him and he whirled to see something which slid through the black of
shadow to advance past the end of a broken wall.   From that spread the odor of
    horse
sweat, Dus once more.   The fear born in animal broke through the ugly spell which kept both
travelers quiet.   Modic did not move, but Rentam stepped forward and caught
again that trail of broken rein.   By this
he drew the bony horse to them.
     
    Behind
he heard once again Modic's chuckle as eerie as a
madman's.
     
    "Did
I not say," Modic asked, "that Dus was one of the best of all that train?   The rest stood pinned by fear until they met
death, but this one fled, which is often the greater part of any valor, and
note its coming does us also a service.   For it would not venture to us now again if the way was not clear.   Now yield your guide ship to me, Betweener , and we shall come out of this... but tell me
first what sorcery your distant kin worked here which defeated Utyr , and with him many other lords of a land not then
dead."
     
    "That
the tellers of tales never knew," Rentam returned sharply.
     
    The
moans, screams, and cries of fear and torment had died away as if one by one
those who voiced them were being silenced forever.
     
    "And
the water thing which came to his call?   What was that, Betweener ? Why during one day
and night did all those who followed Utyr die? What death
twisted and wrung their bodies, tore and shredded the very flesh which made
them what they were?"
     
    Modic advanced a step or two, now facing Rentam .   There was a full moon and, as if he still
clung to some ancient fear for all his brave talk, he was fingering the broken
rein and standing close enough to the horse that he might be in the saddle and
off before Rentam could move.
     
    The Betweener shrugged.
     
    "I
know nothing of sorcelment or the plays of warlocks
and Mages."
     
    "Ha!   And still those of the stranger's kin went
out of the city untouched.   None of them
bore so much as a water bottle with them, bareheaded they went, un pursued and
free.   That is the ending of the tale
they chant in the Down Lands.   Eh, Guide,
how fared them?   Death did not claim
them."
     
    "I
know no such ending of the legend," countered Rentam .
     
    "When
it is spoken among us death is universal."
     
    Modic grinned evilly.
     
    "Do
men, or Betweeners , ever really make that clear?   Perhaps it is better to forget than to admit
one has made some pact with that which should never have been thought of?   Do we greet Betweeners with open arms and fair smiles to this day ... even when they bring us those things
we have need of?   Why come you in parties
of fighters if you are merchants with nothing to fear?"
     
    Rentam gestured with one hand as if brushing aside something worn threadbare,
an action with its reason lost far back in time.
     
    "Why
do we stand here," he asked, "and talk of old tales and whether or not
there was death of a city, a curse which grew out of Utyr's orders when he went desert raiding.   Rather it would be well for us now to be on our way before that guardian
returns, to jealously remove us from its present lair."
     
    "True,
true.   We shall go hence from here."   Modic looked about
him as if he stood in some noisome place.
     
    "But
from Lonscraft we go not until..."   He brought out of the bosom of his robe
something which fitted into the hollow of his hand and which he handled as
carefully as if he held a palm full of water which he must carry without its
draining away.
     
    "Give
me the map...."
     
    Rentam handed him that oblong of stone which had the message on it
near erased.