Nor
by the entrance, Nor dozed through the burning in his wrist and the aches in his body until Merin stirred. Jerking awake, the monk saw Merin on the floor in the corner, tossing in the candlelight.
Doctor Staubel sat by the suffering man, watching with his elbows on his knees. He had wiped most of the blue residue from Merin’s skin.
Merin writhed, baring his teeth. Sleeping bodies filled the space between him and Nor. Soldiers lay on the floor and propped themselves against walls, using their cloaks as blankets. The animals huddled in the back. Everyone feared the stray blue flakes that kept turning up, having melted into thick liquid at nightfall.
Nor stood and looked for a path to reach Merin and Staubel.
Outside, a large weight hit the slanted doors behind him. He whirled as more impacts followed. None of the sleeping men stirred.
Nor leaned close to the doors. Beyond the pounding and the wind, he heard a far-off, dismal wail.
He called, “Hulgar?” More pounding was the only answer.
Emberly had posted Nor here to let Hulgar in despite the danger of opening the doors. Nor was not sure it was Hulgar doing the pounding, but the thought of abandoning the man convinced him to take the risk. He lifted the bar from the doors.
One door swung open before he could touch it. Instinctively, he jumped back and raised his fists.
A vast shape toppled through the opening, and the door slammed behind it. Hulgar staggered and slumped onto the ramp. Nothing else came through the door.
Nor stepped forward.
Hulgar stared with the eyes of a trapped animal. Blue flakes dotted his skin and clothing. “Brother Nor.”
“Are you hurt, Private?”
Nor had to repeat the question before the man answered with a stiff shake of his head.
“We were worried,” said the monk. “Where have you been?”
Hulgar gagged and sank onto his back.
Soldiers were waking up. Staubel reached the doors and kneeled to examine the private.
Nor asked, “What happened out there?”
Hulgar shook his head. He waved at Nor to come closer. When the monk crouched beside him, he whispered, “Brother Nor, I’m scared.”
“Of what?”
“I hid in one of the troughs out there. I don’t care about these.” He smacked the blue spots. “I’m thinking about so many things. Too many. I had to be alone.”
“When did this start?”
“Last night. You remember.”
“Yes.”
“But I didn’t tell you everything. I keep seeing my wife in dreams. Last night, I watched her leave. She yelled and swore at me, but I couldn’t hear her over my own yelling. I let her leave. I just wanted quiet.” His lip trembled.
“Now, listen,” Nor began. “It was only a dream.”
“That’s not what you said before.”
Damn it. Nor cast about for a response. “Are you sure this was part of the same vision? These things can run together.”
“It felt the same. A dream so real it was like a memory. She never came back. Someone took her, and I never found her.” Hulgar’s tears flowed.
“I see. I’m sorry. But why did you stay out there so long?”
“I felt peaceful. Never felt anything like it. The swarm piled on the ground, and I heard something calling.”
His eyes glowed. “I prayed but not to Huire. She’s left us, Brother Nor. You can’t tell me otherwise. I know why she made me watch my wife leave—that was the moment I was damned.”
He was speaking faster, and Nor struggled to keep up. He should hear what Hulgar had to say, but he must not let him talk himself into further delusions.
Hulgar continued, “We’re outside Huire’s kingdom, Brother. Other things rule us here, and I prayed to them.”
Nor glanced around. If the others had heard Hulgar admit to heresy, Nor could not escape punishing the man. Fortunately, the private’s voice was still low. Only Staubel was close enough to hear. Nor pressed a finger to his lips, and the doctor nodded, agreeing to keep the secret.
Now, to correct the delusion—if he could. “Hulgar, that’s not true. Huire’s domain has no borders. All other gods are her vassals.”
Hulgar grimaced. “Bless you, Brother, but you won’t survive thinking like that. I can feel that you’re wrong. The peace I felt, lying there.”
“But when you came in, you sounded scared.”
The private’s face fell, caught in tight, pale lines. “I went into the forest. To meet my new master.”
“Hulgar, no.”
“Oh, yes. I did. I walked, no idea where I was going, and saw a glow ahead. It was coming toward me, so I stopped and waited. The light was gold then red then green, every color. It was shaped like a man, a skinny little man, and its color kept changing. It swayed like a drunk as it came to me. I was peaceful still… so peaceful. But I wanted to run too.”
Nor prayed this story wasn’t real, and not only for Hulgar’s sake. “What did it want?”
Hulgar shook his head. He looked on the verge of crying again. “I don’t know. I knelt before it. ‘I’m here,’ I said. ‘Show me your ways.’ But it said nothing. Just stared at me, those dark eyes. Smooth hair all over its body. That peaceful feeling started to go away.
“Why would it call me out there for nothing? Did it hate me too? As well it might, Brother Nor. I’m the worst man you’ve ever met.” He started crying.
Nor swallowed. “You were deceived, Hulgar. It’s better that it didn’t speak to you.”
“What does it take?” the private demanded. He tore back the sleeve of his undershirt, displaying the clusters of burn marks on his arm—raised lines arranged like flower petals. “I showed it these. ‘Don’t they prove I’m sorry?’ I asked.
“Its mouth was a slit. It twitched, but no words came out. Then it fell over. Stiff like a board, it fell to the ground. Its colors went away, and it turned all brown.”
“It died?”
Hulgar might not have heard him. “I was walking away when I heard something. I spun around. I’m touchy like that since Gallobraith. Things were creeping around it, lanky, dark things. It had been a lovely creature, strange as it was, and seeing them surround it… it was worse than any dream.”
He sounded haunted. “I wanted to find out who rules this world. But this couldn’t be the answer. Couldn’t be. Those things lifted their heads—and howled.”
He sighed. “That howl, it struck me senseless. I don’t remember anything more.”
Nor struggled to understand it all. No one knew all the things lurking in this wilderness. The story was coherent enough to be true. But after Hulgar’s outburst last night, Nor had to wonder if this had been another dream. The man showed no embarrassment at his terror. If he was lying, he was doing it expertly.
Someone pushed past Nor, almost knocking him over. It was Sergeant Orund, who had been upstairs. He dropped to his knees next to Hulgar. “What’s happened?”
After listening to a short version of Hulgar’s story, he stood. “Let’s wake the captain.”
Though Nor longed to return Orund’s shove, the sergeant was right. “I’ll get him.”
“Wait for me,” Orund hissed.
The monk left without waiting.
He reached Emberly’s door before Orund caught up. The sergeant leaned close.
“Careful, Brother Nor. It’s dangerous here. If you don’t listen when I speak, who knows what might happen?”
Inside, Emberly was talking urgently to someone. When Nor knocked, he fell silent.
The door opened to show Emberly alone in the room. “What is it?” the captain snapped.
A moment of resounding silence passed. Emberly would brook no discussion of what they had heard, so no one mentioned it. “Hulgar’s returned, sir,” said Orund.
Emberly picked up a few small items from the desk. “Where was he?”
“In the forest. He claims he met some kind of spirit, a thing that changed colors.”
Emberly’s hand stopped while reaching for his pistol. “Did it hurt him?”
Orund eyed the captain doubtfully. “Luckily, no, sir. Hulgar may be confused.”
Emberly glared. “I’m surprised to hear you talk that way, Sergeant.”
“Sorry, Captain. I meant to say, I don’t think Hulgar was deserting us.”
“Words like ‘confused’ can ruin a soldier’s career if they’re used wrong. Don’t use them if you’re not sure. Brother Nor, did you talk to Hulgar?”
“Yes.”
“Do you still believe his dream in the fort was a divine vision?”
“I do,” Nor lied.
Orund cut in. “Shouldn’t we wake the bishop, Captain?”
“Not yet. Until we know whether Hulgar is insane or inspired, we won’t judge him publicly.”
Emberly marched past them, and they followed. Nor walked behind the others, afraid to turn his back on Orund. He had lied to save Hulgar, and now Hulgar would have to live up to his lie. He hoped for the man’s sake that his dreams were truly from the Goddess.
Downstairs, Merin was getting worse. He had stopped thrashing, but the effort of holding still showed on his face. His breaths were huge and leaping. When Staubel spoke to him, he responded only by shaking his head.
The doctor had found no injuries on him. Whatever the swarm was doing to him, it was happening under his skin.
“We’ll make him comfortable and wait,” said Emberly. “It’s not over, I’m afraid.”
Downstairs, everyone was awake. The captain questioned Hulgar carefully.
On second listen, Hulgar’s story was nearly impossible to believe. Nor prepared himself to contain Emberly’s anger. If the captain decided to shoot or hang the man, Nor would have to stop him somehow.
After all, it was Nor who had convinced Hulgar his dream was a prophecy. In trying to protect him from his superiors, he had led him astray. Of course, Hulgar might be lying to hide an attempted desertion, but that seemed least likely of all.
Finally, Hulgar might have lost his mind. He would not be the first person Ronia had driven to insanity.
Emberly’s final question surprised Nor. “Could you find this clearing again?”
Everyone was listening. Hulgar closed his eyes and said, “I… don’t think so, sir. Before, I followed where it led me. But it’s gone now. It won’t say anything.” He squeezed his eyelids together as tears ran down his cheeks.
The captain nodded thoughtfully. He put Hulgar in the doctor’s care and watched him walk away.
Orund opened his mouth to speak, but Nor cut him off. “Why did you ask if he could find the place?”
“For one thing,” said Emberly, “I kept him talking because I hoped, if he was lying, I would see it.”
“What will you do with him?”
The captain’s face darkened. “I don’t know yet. If I need your involvement, I’ll tell you.”
There was little need to speculate. Emberly was simple: to him, Hulgar was either lying or mentally unstable. Caring for him in that state would take resources that Emberly could hardly spare. He already had holy men and the caretaker to protect.
Unless Nor intervened, Hulgar would never leave Caidfell.
He remembered the wailing sound. He could still hear it outside. His ears, though battered by the explosions in Ronia, were still sharper than the others’.
“Emberly, stop! I can hear those things he saw. I hear their screams.” His call reverberated in the quiet room.
The captain asked, “Are you sure? I can barely even hear the wind.” The question implied he was willing to believe. Maybe he hoped Hulgar would be vindicated.
“His people have a knack for it, sir,” Orund reminded him. The sergeant had been watching Nor since their words outside the captain’s room. “Sharp senses. It’s one of their gods’ gifts.” He snickered. “Look him in the eyes and guess another.”
Rarely had Nor been more aware of his foreign-looking eyes than now. His rage at Orund rushed back even as he strained to control it.
Emberly defused the sergeant’s comment with a withering stare. He said to Nor, “If you can hear the creatures through these walls, then you can follow the sound.”
Nor nodded.
“Put on some extra clothes,” the captain continued. “We’re going outside.”
“Why?” Nor was too stunned to feel properly frightened.
Emberly strode to him and leaned in close. Anyone watching would have thought he was scolding Nor. Instead, he said in a low voice, “I believe I know what Hulgar saw. I hoped he was wrong, but if you hear them, it must be true.”
“What?”
“They’re called wraiths. We don’t know much about them. But we need to find them, quickly. I don’t know what they’ll do, but we’ll be better off that way than if they come to us.”
Nor nodded.
A series of cries broke the quiet of the hall. Merin’s suffering was overwhelming him.