But more important still, the beast had been sent from the dark tower in Pellarn long before the three of Raheen had unleashed the ancient power that smote the Dragon’s Teeth and ended Morloch’s plans for invasion of the Southlands.
One thing was certain. There was nothing Gawain could do here, except track the beast. None of his weapons could harm such a creature. He doubted even the Sword of Justice could do much more than scratch the great armoured plates on the immense creature. He needed to return to the column, and apprise the others of the danger advancing slowly upon the unsuspecting town that lay but four days ahead of them. Three, perhaps, since this day was already well advanced and the caravan had kept to the earlier jogging pace that ate up the miles on the crunching track.
It was early evening by the time Gawain heard the sounds of the caravan’s steady progress along the Jarn road. He’d moved quickly but quietly due south away from the Gorians and the Kraal, before turning sharply east, through the forest and across the road into the woodlands on the eastern side. There, he had no need of stealth, and he’d run hard miles to catch up with them. He could only imagine the strains on the Gorians clinging to the Kraal’s chains as it rumbled through the forest on a parallel track, keeping pace with them.
It was Gwyn, of course, who knew he was there long before anyone else seemed to notice. The wind was still from the southeast and backing due south now as the sun dipped down towards the western horizon. She snorted, but no-one paid her any attention. Finally she whinnied, and then the rearguard did pay attention to her, though they didn’t know the reason for her agitation. Then the great horse broke away from the rear of the column, casually leapt the ditch at the side of the road, and weaved and bobbed her way through the trees following Gawain’s scent on the breezes.
He laughed as she came to a halt before him, bobbing her head happily, blue eyes blazing. “Hello Ugly, did you miss me? I’ve only been gone half a day or so.”
She whinnied again, and turned, and Gawain mounted nimbly, ducking low over her neck as she picked her way out of the woodlands before leaping over the ditch and onto the track to the astonishment of the Callodon guardsmen. The ‘van was still rumbling along at a goodly pace, and that pace was kept by the smiling but sweating Gorians as Gawain trotted past them to the head of the column. Much to Gawain’s dismay, the smile on Allazar’s face as he looked over his shoulder at the young king advancing was in stark contrast to the blank and utterly indifferent aspect of Eldengaze, who noted his approach only briefly before swinging her head again to the southwest, and finally to the north once more. Any hopes he’d had of Elayeen dragging herself back from the power of the Eldenelves by his absence were dashed.
“My lord!” Tyrane announced, clearly delighted at the return of the young king.
“Tyrane,” Gawain acknowledged, drawing alongside the officer. “When’s the next rest period due?”
“We can stop any time, my lord…”
“No! We must keep going according to the pattern set earlier, or those tracking us will be suspicious.”
“Then my lord, about half an hour, or until the next passing-place, whichever comes first.”
“Excellent.”
“What is it, Longsword? What tracks us in the forest? Did you find the darkness?”
“I did, wizard, I did. And it’s dark indeed. If you know anything about a Kraal-beast, Allazar, now’s the time to brush up on how to deal with it.”
Twenty minutes later, at another of the gravel-strewn passing-places along the road, Gawain finished explaining to a small group of extremely worried-looking people exactly what he’d discovered in the depths of the forest to the northeast, the darkness that even now the grating rasp of Eldengaze announced had stopped moving, as Gawain had expected it would.
“A Kraal-beast is a brutal instrument of destruction, Longsword, a creature dark-made to wreak havoc upon village or town, wood or stone-built, it matters not to the brute. If such a beast is set loose upon Jarn, the destruction will be unimaginable.”
“We only heard of dark creatures made and kept at the towers, Serres,” Simayen Jaxon said nervously, “Creatures loosed upon those who crossed the guardstones or offended the dark makers, or trespassed where the darkness had been left to deny people passage. We had no names for them, just the darkness. It was said the Old Kingdom suffered much in the early days of the Occupation, and there was talk when I was young of foul and dishonourable things loosed upon villages and hamlets which sheltered the resistance or gave them aid.”
“Hmm,” Allazar agreed, “Salaman Goth was old, a long-time disciple and ally if not servant of Morloch. Loosing such beasts upon Pellarn during or after the invasion would explain much, perhaps even how the Old Kingdom defences facing the Eramak were so easily overcome.
“This Jerraman demGoth you spoke of, Longsword, would seem to have been high up in the hierarchy of the dark wizards of Goria, with the Goth representing the apex of their Order. Doubtless it was he we encountered on the road. It is clear they not only have the power of aquamire at their disposal but also the dark knowledge required for using it in the re-creation of ancient evils.”
“Do you know how to destroy this Kraal-beast? Will it be as simple as before when you destroyed the other creatures?” Tyrane asked.
“Well,” Allazar paused, and then spoke as if by rote, “The Kraal’s skin is infused with the aquamire of its creation, affording it tremendous strength not unlike plate armour or charmed armour. Ordinary weapons of the type commonly deployed by the kindred will not penetrate this thickened skin, which has the appearance of riveted metal plates hammered into place about the creature’s body and head, and yet is flexible. The horn and teeth are likewise infused, making them puissant in the extreme against flesh and bone. None but the thickest of walls, which are normally only found in military buildings, can withstand the beast’s charge.
“It can move surprisingly quickly for its size and there are few ways it may be destroyed outright, the most effective being a sustained blast of white fire. It may also be burned alive if it be captured in a pit, and burning oil and faggots introduced therein. Likewise drowning may be employed, it breathes the air, and there are no recorded occasions of a Kraal of Tansee possessing the ability to swim. It may also be buried alive in a pit where destruction occurs either through suffocation or starvation. In the absence of food, its aquamire becomes unstable, eventually spontaneously liberating itself and destroying the Kraal in the process. It was named for its unusually loud signature call.”
“I think the Captain and the rest of use were hoping for something a little more concise, wizard, like a simple yes or no.”
“I am sorry, Longsword…” Allazar looked a little hurt, and Gawain guess that the wizard still had little control over the elder knowledge which seemed to pour from him as if from the pages of a book.
“Never mind, you have the white fire and the Stick of Raheen at least.”
“Yes.”
“I think we’re going to need both. We can’t let that beast get within a mile of Jarn. As it is, that Jardember thing the parGoth is using can only see our caravan…”
“Forgive me, Longsword, it is the weakness of the wizard, not the tool, which limits his sight and that of the Kraal. In the hands of the demGoth, the Jardember could bring Morloch’s gaze to the Jarn road from beyond the Teeth.”