A moment later, he heard the sound of the rocks shifting behind him over the rush of the surf. He did not smile-the day was too grim for such things-but he was glad.
Nikandr ordered three streltsi and Anahid to remain with the skiff. After preparing shoulder packs with several days’ worth of food, they were off. Styophan led the way. Two streltsi brought up the rear with Soroush, leaving Jahalan and Nikandr at the middle of the line.
They wound their way up through the treacherous rocks. There was no trail. Styophan had a good eye for climbing, yet there were still many places where it took them long minutes of careful navigation. Nikandr was apt to look after Jahalan, but he found that despite any reservations he might have of the man’s climbing abilities, he was more than capable, wooden leg or no.
Soon the sounds of the surf were replaced with the sigh of the wind and the occasional call of the whistle thrush. Past midday, it began to snow. It was light, but after a while it made the going even more treacherous. One of the streltsi twisted his ankle, though thankfully it wasn’t bad. Too much more of this, Nikandr thought, and they would be forced to stop until the snow abated.
But soon the snow had reduced to only flurries, and an hour later they reached a shallow stretch of land that would take them to the foot of the nearest peaks. If his information was correct, Siafyan lay in a valley between the nearest of them.
Along a ridge line above them, Nikandr noticed what appeared to be a convenient hole in a pile of rocks, and the closer he looked, the more unnatural the formation looked.
He pulled his pistol and grabbed Styophan’s arm and pointed. A moment later, Styophan’s gaze hardened, and he waved the two streltsi at the rear of the line forward. Together, the three of them climbed in lockstep, one of them always at the ready, pistol drawn, watching the rocks, while the other two climbed, quickly but quietly.
Nikandr stood to one side of the nominal trail they’d been following. He held his pistol at the ready, but left the hammer uncocked.
Jahalan watched all of this impassively, while Soroush fixated on the rocks as if he was sure that any moment a horde of Maharraht would begin firing down on them.
The streltsi finally gained the ridge and were lost from sight. Several minutes passed, and Nikandr grew nervous, but then Styophan emerged above the rocks and waved his hand.
“Come,” Nikandr said, pointing Soroush to go on ahead.
After a brief pause, he complied, climbing ahead, and soon all of them had reached a narrow plateau that offered little in the way of protection except for the outcropping of rocks. Nikandr made his way there. It was certainly an outpost. The rocks, perhaps from some ancient fall, had positioned themselves in such a way that a small clearing had been created, as large as the interior of a skiff. The west-facing wall appeared to have been built by the hand of a vanaqiram, however. Stones had been fitted and fixed such that it offered good protection from the elements while providing an excellent view of the slope they’d just scaled.
There was evidence of a fire pit-caked soot and the charred remains of wood-and in a hole built into the wall they found several old apples, now shriveled and dark.
“Why wasn’t it manned?” Nikandr asked Styophan after checking to make sure Soroush was out of earshot.
Styophan appeared as confused as Nikandr. “I know not, My Lord Prince. Perhaps they did see us and left for reinforcements.”
Nikandr frowned and stared up at the two tall peaks, which now seemed much closer. “Perhaps, though they could have summoned any number of reinforcements by now. I imagine we’ll find another, larger outpost not far ahead.”
“As you say, My Lord.”
“Come,” Nikandr said, putting his pistol away. “Best we get moving.”
Less than an hour later they came upon a tower made from the same gray rock as was found on the climb up. It was nestled behind a copse of larch, and was well hidden, but the top of the rounded and elegant structure had a clear view of the narrow canyon they were about to enter.
Nikandr called a halt, and for a time they merely watched for signs of movement. When there were none, he called for everyone to move together.
When they approached the tower, they saw that the door at the lowest level was open. It swung lightly in the breeze, knocking softly against the jam.
Styophan looked back to Nikandr, confused.
Nikandr shrugged and motioned for the three streltsi at the rear to remain with Soroush, then he continued on, bringing Styophan and Jahalan with him.
It felt as though eyes were upon them, from the nearby trees, from the darkened windows of the tower, from the rocky slope above. They reached the door and stepped inside, and a sour stench assaulted them. Nikandr knew what it was immediately-he’d smelled it many times before. It was the smell of the dead.
There was no one on this lowest level, but there were several bunks and a table with chairs, all of them disheveled or overturned. A curving set of stairs hugged the inside of the tower to their left. They went up slowly, carefully, pistols drawn.
The second level had a store of goods and munitions-baskets of potatoes and more shriveled apples, several serviceable muskets and a few pistols, all of them mismatched.
It was on the third level where the smell became markedly worse. Nikandr hid his nose in the crook of his elbow, which did little to mask the smell but made it somewhat bearable. Styophan and even the stoic Jahalan were forced to do the same.
On the far side of the room, just below a shuttered window, were two bodies. One looked like he’d died from a wound to his gut. He looked to be in his mid-twenties. He was still propped up against the wall, his dusty, rose-colored robes stained dark with blood around his midsection and groin. His arms were wrapped loosely around his wound, as though he’d lost the energy at the very end to stem the pain and had finally relaxed, allowing death to take him.
The other body was hidden in shadow further from the window. But when Nikandr approached, he sucked in his breath, unable to come closer. It was a woman. Her body was desiccated, blackened, shriveled like the apples still sitting in their baskets two stories down. Her arms were curled up near her head, and though Nikandr knew he could tell little from their dying postures, it appeared as though she’d died in much more pain than the man had.
These were not the most alarming, however. Near them, curled up into a ball, was the figure of a girl, perhaps ten or eleven years old. Her body was naked, and her skin was pale and sickly, but it was her face that drew the eye. She had no eyes to speak of. The skin had grown over, leaving her eyeless. Her jaw was elongated, and it was cast open, like the maw of a deep and dangerous cave.
“Ancients preserve us,” Nikandr whispered.
He’d seen the like before. He and Nasim and Ashan had been chased through the streets of Alayazhar by creatures such as this. Akhoz, Ashan had named them. They had lived there, he’d said, since the early days of the sundering, ever tortured, ever hungry.
For long moments he could only stare. How in the name of the mothers and fathers had these abominations reached these shores?
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“G o,” Nikandr said to Styophan, “and bring Soroush.”
The officer’s gaze darted to Nikandr, then back to the bodies.
He blinked, his eyes hard but conflicted, as if this had been exactly what he’d been hoping to see, but now that he’d come face-to-face with it he wasn’t so sure.
And then he caught Nikandr watching him, and he nodded and left.
As the footsteps upon the stairs faded, Jahalan approached the akhoz-his right leg thumping softly over the wooden flooring. He kneeled down by her side and leaned close, examining her face, her neck, her exposed hands.