Free Broken World Book Four - The Staff of Law by T C Southwell Page B

delusions
brought on by intense fatigue. Once, the trees dripped slime that
burnt like acid, making the soldiers and their mounts scream and
run about tearing at their flesh in an orgy of pain. Many times,
Talsy thought that they would not survive the journey, and prayed
for Chanter to save them or for the gods to put an end to the
madness. She longed for the safety of the valley she feared they
would never reach, and when at last the forest ended she could
hardly believe so many had survived.
     

Chapter Four
     
    Talsy stared
across the sunlit bowl of Chanter’s valley at the snow-capped
mountains that ringed it like jagged white teeth. From her high
window, she sniffed the scented breeze that ruffled the curtains
and smelt within it the promise of rain. In the distance, herds of
sheep and cattle grazed, the faint bleating of lambs mixed with the
soft ringing of the cow’s bells. Her eyes never wearied of the
mesmerising sight, which imparted its peace in Chanter’s
absence.
    Two months of
gruelling travel had brought them home, battered and numbed by the
horrors they had witnessed in the forest. The journey had taken its
toll, and almost half the soldiers had fallen to the chaos beasts’
predations and the land’s ever increasing madness. She shuddered at
the memory, still haunted by it in horrible dreams that dragged her
screaming from her sleep. When they had finally quit it, Orland had
led them through a narrow pass that had opened onto a vast plain
dotted with rock claws.
    Chanter had
joined them there, the black army left behind in the mountains to
struggle with the elements of a world gone mad. Although their
suffering saddened the Mujar, he took no blame for their demise
since he had had no hand in it other than to lead them astray.
Talsy wondered at his strange logic, but remembered the time when
he had disowned the soldiers from the doomed tar town, leaving
their fate to the land’s mercy. As before the breaking of the Staff
of Law, a Mujar would take no part in killing, but would stand by
and watch unchosen die without regret.
    Talsy had
spent the last two weeks of the journey on a litter that four burly
soldiers carried. As her belly had swelled, she found she could not
stay awake for more than a few hours at a time, and became so tired
that she fell asleep in the saddle. When she had been awake, a
terrible hunger had forced her to consume prodigious amounts of
food, yet the flesh melted from her and her teeth had become loose.
Her skin had taken on a pale, waxy look, and her hair fell out in
hanks. Several times, she had noticed Kieran and Chanter muttering
together when they thought that she was asleep, the Prince pleading
and the Mujar shaking his head. Her lethargy and mental torpor had
not allowed her to ponder this, and she had dismissed it as
unimportant.
    Upon her
arrival in the valley, Chanter had taken it upon himself to raise a
castle of smooth grey bedrock for her to live in, a small but
elegant fortress. He had modelled it on Trueman castles he had
seen, and made a surprisingly good job of it with a little help
from Kieran. Sheera had been horrified by Talsy’s condition and
appointed herself nursemaid. As soon as Talsy was installed in her
new domicile, Chanter had vanished without farewell. This had not
overly concerned her, for all her interest was now focussed on the
new life growing within her, making its presence felt. All of her
waking moments were centred upon it, and, when she was not eating,
she talked endlessly to Sheera about it.
    Kieran
remained distant but supportive, and at times he sat with her when
Sheera was busy, listening to her ramblings. After a week to
recover from the journey, Orland had returned to his father’s city
with his army, which the valley could not feed. He assured them
that he and his men would not brave the forest a second time, but
would take an even longer route around the woods, staying in open
country where the chaos beasts could not hide.
    Two