The Daylight War

They all did stand and follow

Killing demons in the night

The Painted Man came to the Hollow

No guide she found through naked night

Just Jongleur travel wards

That could not hold the bandits back

As it did coreling hordes

Not a one would run and hide,

They all did stand and follow

Killing demons in the night

The Painted Man came to the Hollow

Left for dead no horse or succour

Corelings roving in bands

They met a man with tattooed flesh

Killed demons with bare hands

Not a one would run and hide,

They all did stand and follow

Killing demons in the night

The Painted Man came to the Hollow

The Hollow razed when they arrived

Not a ward left intact

And half the folk who called it home

Lay dead or on their backs

Not a one would run and hide,

They all did stand and follow

Killing demons in the night

The Painted Man came to the Hollow

Painted Man spat on despair

Said follow me and fight

We’ll see the dawn if we all stand

Side by side in the night

Not a one would run and hide,

They all did stand and follow

Killing demons in the night

The Painted Man came to the Hollow

All night they fought with axe and spear

Butcher’s knife and shield

While Leesha brought those too weak to

The Holy House to heal

Not a one would run and hide,

They all did stand and follow

Killing demons in the night

The Painted Man came to the Hollow

Hollowers kept their loved ones safe

Though night was long and hard

There’s reason why the battlefield’s

Called the Corelings’ Graveyard

Not a one would run and hide,

They all did stand and follow

Killing demons in the night

The Painted Man came to the Hollow

If someone asks why at sunset

Demons all get shivers

Hollowers say with honest word

It’s ’coz we’re all Deliverers

Not a one would run and hide,

They all did stand and follow

Killing demons in the night

The Painted Man came to the Hollow

‘The true Deliverer!’ someone in the crowd shouted, and there was a cheer of agreement.

There was the sound of a chair hitting the floor, and Rojer opened his eyes to see Kaval moving his way, seething with anger. Gared leapt to his feet, putting himself between them. The giant Cutter was eight inches taller and a hundred pounds heavier. He grabbed Kaval and for a moment seemed to have control, but the drillmaster gave his great log of an arm a twist and Gared roared in pain just before he was thrown halfway across the room. Kaval gave him no further notice, picking up speed as he went after Rojer.

Wonda had instinctively reached for her bow, but when she realized it was in her room, she did not hesitate to attack the drillmaster unarmed. She kept to the balls of her feet, guard up as she threw quick, economical punches and kicks, wisely refusing to grapple. She lasted a few seconds longer than Gared, but then Kaval diverted one of her punches and chopped her in the throat with the edge of one hand. He grabbed her arm as she choked and twisted in close, sending her crashing onto the centre of a table, cracking it in half with the impact. Wonda hit the floor under a spray of splinters, ale, and shattered glass.

The barkeeper had produced a cudgel and people were shouting all over the room, but none of them was close enough to aid Rojer. He flicked his wrist to produce a throwing knife, but fumbled in his panic and dropped it as Kaval closed in.

Then Enkido was there, hooking Kaval’s armpit and turning his momentum into a throw. The drillmaster was wise to the move, quickstepping around and managing to keep his feet. He shouted something in Krasian as he came back in with a kick, followed by a snapping punch. Neither blow landed, Enkido slipping the kick and catching Kaval’s wrist to divert the punch. His free arm snapped out, punching the drillmaster hard in his shoulder joint. Enkido let the limb go and it fell limp. Kaval struck with his other fist, but it was like hitting at smoke. Enkido flowed out of its path and then struck Kaval’s other shoulder, rolling smoothly around to kick at the back of Kaval’s knee.

With frightening ease he got behind the drillmaster, locking his limp arms and forcing him down to the floor. Kaval’s face was agonized as his tendons screamed, but he did not cry out. Enkido was silent as always, his face expressionless.

‘Enough,’ Amanvah said, and the eunuch immediately released the drillmaster and took a step back. Kaval turned to the dama’ting, speaking through his teeth in Krasian. Rojer could not understand what he was saying, but the meaning was clear in the fanatical look in his eyes.

Amanvah responded in Thesan, her voice cold. ‘If you or any Sharum lays so much as a finger on my husband, Drillmaster, you will spend eternity sitting outside the gates of Heaven.’ Kaval’s eyes widened at that. He put his forehead on the floor, but there was still rage on his face.

Amanvah turned to Rojer. ‘And you, husband, will not play that song ever again.’

Rojer did not need to touch his medallion for strength. The flare of anger was enough and more. No one was going to tell him what he could and couldn’t play. ‘The Core I won’t. I’m no Holy Man. It’s not for me to tell folk what to believe. All I do is tell stories, and both of these are true.’

The little vein on Amanvah’s forehead throbbed, signalling anger that did not touch her eyes. She nodded.

‘Then my father will hear of this. Kaval, select your strongest, fastest dal’Sharum. I shall write a letter he is to put in the hand of Shar’Dama Ka and no other. Tell him to take two horses, kill no alagai but those that would hinder him, and that Sharak Ka itself may depend upon his swiftness.’

Kaval nodded and rolled back onto his heels to rise and comply, but Leesha stood and moved in front of him, crossing her arms. ‘He won’t make it,’ she warned.

‘Eh?’ Amanvah asked.

‘I’ve poisoned your Sharum,’ Leesha said, ‘with something that far outlasts the weak antidote I’ve been putting in their soup. You are several days from the nearest ally, and without the antidote, your man won’t last half that time.’

Amanvah stared at Leesha a long time, and Rojer wondered if it was honest word. Surely not. Leesha was capable of many things, but killing with poison? Impossible.

Amanvah’s eyes narrowed. ‘Kaval, do as I command.’

‘I’m not bluffing,’ Leesha warned.

‘No,’ Amanvah agreed, ‘I do not believe you are.’

‘But you will send a man to his death anyway?’ Leesha asked.

‘It is you who have served him death,’ Amanvah said. ‘I am doing what I must to protect his brothers in Everam’s Bounty. I will throw the dice and prepare herbs for him to take, but if you have truly poisoned him and I do not guess the cure, he will go to glory as a martyr, and his soul will weigh against you when you are judged by the Creator at the end of the lonely road.’

‘Neither of us will go to him clean after this,’ Leesha said.

‘You make no difference to these people by frightening them and confusing them with lies and half-truth. When my father chooses to take their lands, they will be taken. These people will be stronger for it, and have a chance at glory and Heaven.’ Amanvah flicked a finger, and the drillmaster was off. A few of the men in the taproom looked like they might hinder him, but Kaval bared his teeth and they wisely stepped from his path.