Free Iced On Aran by Brian Lumley

monster drew air around that ghastly tool in its malformed mouth.
    â€œQuester,” said Augeren, “in a little while I must kill you, as I’m sure you know. The juices of your bones will be rich, and I shall grow strong on them. But I would kill you anyway, for you are correct: I do hate you, all of you. But there’s a burden on me and I want it lightened, and perhaps it would be made less if I told my tale. Also, with you there is no need to make a quick end of it. You are tired, tied, helpless; more important, you make no outcry. For much as I hate you, I would hate futile cries for assistance even more. Aye, and you are curious about me. You despise me, perhaps fear me, but still you are curious. Very well, listen:
    â€œFor as long as is remembered, the men of Inquanok have kept apart from the men of other lands. They say it is because they are a race apart, that the blood of gods flows in their veins. Also, they are secretive, so that their ways may not be copied by outsiders; they keep their laws and rituals to themselves.
    â€œWhat is more, for almost as long as is remembered there have been Veiled Kings of Inquanok, though commoners have never understood the system of succession, or indeed the origins, of their Veiled Kings. Likewise the priests of these kings, or of the gods they worship; theirs, too, is a cryptic genesis. But the laws of the kings, and the way they are applied by priests and officials, are known and understood very well indeed. Inquanok does not have much by way of crime or sin, for its punishments are severe. Let me explain:
    â€œA thief in Inquanok has the offending hand cut off. If he persists his other hand is amputated. After that he thieves no more. Cheats are ‘cheated’—that is to say,
everything they own is taken from them, so that they must start over again. Murderers are escorted to the temple, where the Veiled King’s priests receive them. They go in but do not come out. Do you understand?”
    â€œThe punishment fits the crime,” said Hero. “The rest of dreamland’s populated regions have similar measures, though rarely so harsh.”
    â€œRavishment, too, carries a harsh penalty,” Augeren continued. “Perhaps the most severe. A man accused of rape is stripped naked and banished north.”
    â€œNorth?” Hero frowned. “But … nothing lies to the north. Certainly nothing hospitable. Only the quarries, the foothills rising to the gray barrier peaks, with unknown lands beyond and finally Leng. If a man is banished north he usually dies, or lives like a leper in the lee of the gaunt gray peaks, on roots and berries and whatever he can trap. Or climbs and probably falls, else is taken by Shantaks or gaunts …”
    â€œ … Or wins through and descends the far side, to face the unknown terrors of whatever wastelands await,” Augeren carried it on. “And perhaps gradually ascends to Leng—there to be captured, tortured, finally devoured by almost-humans. Aye, and if he does none of these things but sneaks back into Inquanok … then he is taken to the temple.”
    Hero nodded. “Let no man ravish in Inquanok,” he said.
    â€œAnd yet they do, from time to time,” said Augeren. “One tot too many of muth; or a woman whose charms are resistless, a temptress who goads and then cries out in the night; or simply a man who cannot control his lusts. And so, once in a while, another naked rapist will be found plodding north to a fate undreamed. And all such men, you understand, lusty types, and some even bestial.”

    â€œMost, I should think,” Hero agreed.
    â€œThe gaunts get them usually,” said Augeren matter-of-factly. “Not Shantaks, gaunts. The Shantaks fear night-gaunts, and many of the latter who dwell on high, in the peaks, are trained, which makes them especially dreadful creatures to the Shantaks. No Shantak-bird would dare take a human