Free Grim Company 02 - Sword Of The North by Luke Scull Page B

others.’
    ‘How many men have you killed?’
    Kayne stared into the distance. ‘I try not to think about it.’
    They travelled in silence for a time, Jerek riding some way ahead. The darkening sky was as clear as the surface of a lake. Tomorrow promised to be glorious.
    ‘I hope you find them. Your wife and boy, I mean.’
    Kayne glanced back at Brick, surprised. There was a wistful look on the bandit’s face. Likely he was remembering his own family. ‘I hope so too,’ said Kayne. ‘You got a mother or father?’
    ‘No. They’re both dead.’
    ‘Sorry to hear.’
    ‘They were murdered,’ Brick added. ‘During the Unification War, when Asander united all the Badlands under his banner. I was only a babe then. My uncle Glaston raised me.’
    ‘I ain’t never met a bandit like your uncle.’
    Brick’s face lit up and Kayne couldn’t help but grin, knowing he was in for a story. Magnar had been the same once. He would run to greet his father, eyes shining with excitement, bursting to share all the mischief he and the other lads had got up to without their mothers knowing. Kayne remembered the moment his son had stopped confiding in him. Had clammed up whenever his father entered the room. The smile slowly faded.
    ‘You might not believe this,’ Brick began, youthful voice full of enthusiasm, ‘but my distant ancestors were nobles from Kingsport.’
    ‘Kingsport?’
    ‘The capital city of Andarr. It was the most powerful kingdom in the north. Well, except for Mal-Torrad.’
    ‘Andarr’s twenty feet under water. Has been for the last five hundred years.’
    ‘Not everyone died when the sea flooded the land. My ancestors escaped and helped settle the Unclaimed Lands.’
    ‘Aye?’
    ‘They helped fund the construction of Emmering. But after it was built the settlers chased them out of the city.’
    Kayne grunted at the young bandit to continue. He raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sun. There was no sign of the boy’s uncle.
    ‘The townsfolk rejected my ancestors’ rule,’ Brick explained. If he noticed his uncle’s sudden disappearance, he gave no indication. ‘They declared that no man of the Unclaimed Lands would ever bend knee to another.’
    ‘That don’t seem very grateful,’ Kayne said, though privately he thought those settlers had the right of it. He’d spent a few months in Dorminia and seen some things he wasn’t much fond of. As far as he was concerned, any system of rule where kids starved on the streets while a handful got fat needed a good fixing.
    ‘My family has noble blood,’ said Brick. ‘That’s why the Bandit King had my parents murdered. The Seer foretold a prophecy about the scions of Andarr.’
    Kayne raised an eyebrow. ‘A prophecy, eh?’
    Brick nodded. ‘The Seer foretold that one day the true rulers of the north would return and scour the land in a storm of blood and fire. She said I would be the catalyst. Or at least that’s what my uncle told me. I was only four and I hardly remember.’
    Kayne said nothing. The boy’s story sounded improbable: more than likely a flight of fancy dreamed up by this Glaston fellow.
    Fifty yards ahead of them Jerek slowed his stallion to a walk. The Wolf turned in his saddle and pointed at something on the side of the scratchy path they followed. It was the body of a hill-man, his legs shattered and his head mashed into a bloody pulp.
    They rode on in silence, passing two more bodies. One had been savagely beaten with a blunt object. The other’s legs splayed unnaturally, his pelvis split from the impact of whatever had struck him. Kayne frowned at the sight. ‘You ever get giants this far south?’ he asked Brick. The red-haired youngster shook his head and fidgeted nervously.
    A moment later they spotted the architect of the carnage.
    ‘Wait here,’ Kayne grunted to Brick. He exchanged a look with Jerek and then the two Highlanders slid from their horses, faces set in grim masks.
    The killer stood unmoving in the