A Time of War. Katharine Kerr

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      ‘All right. And can we sleep in the woods, too?’

      ‘We’d best do just that, indeed.’

      The very next morning Jahdo became a believer in the power of mazrakir to bring bad luck. Just at dawn he woke, sitting bolt upright and straining to hear again the sound that had wakened him. From far above it came again, the shriek of a raven, and a huge one, judging from how loud it squawked. In his blankets nearby, Meer rolled over and sat up.

      ‘Jahdo, what?’

      Jahdo rose to a kneel, peering through the tree-leaves overhead. He could just see a black shape flapping off, a bird as large as a wolfhound at the least, thwacking the air with huge wings.

      ‘It be another one,’ he burst out. ‘Meer, another mazrak.’

      Meer whimpered under his breath.

      ‘It be gone now,’ Jahdo went on. ‘I hope it doesn’t come back.’

      ‘Never have I echoed a hope so fervently!’ Meer considered for a moment, then pushed his blankets back with a huge yawn. ‘I’m tempted to try travelling through the forest edge, out of sight, like, but the footing will be too hard on the horses. Besides, if we lose the river, we’re doomed.’

      ‘Well, I was kind of thinking the same thing, about the river, I mean.’

      ‘We will pray to the thirteen gods who protect travellers before we set out today. But first, let’s lead the horses to their drink, and break our own night’s fast.’

      After the horses were watered and tethered out on the grassy bank to graze, Jahdo knelt by the gear, took out a few small pieces of flatbread and some chewy dried apples, a scant handful each for him and Meer, and laid them on a clean rock while he repacked the saddlebags to balance. Behind him Meer was strolling back and forth, singing under his breath and rehearsing phrasing, as he always did with a particularly important prayer. All at once the bard fell silent. Jahdo slewed round to find him standing frozen, his mouth slack, his head tilted as if he listened for some tiny sound.

      ‘What is it?’ Jahdo got to his feet. ‘What be wrong?’

      Meer tossed back his head and howled. Never had Jahdo heard such a sound, a vast vibrating ululation of grief, all the world’s mourning, or so it seemed, gathered and rolled into this long long wail, wavering and shrieking up and down the bard’s entire register.

      ‘Meer!’ Jahdo ran to him and grabbed his arm. ‘Meer! Tell me. What be so wrong?’

      Another howl answered him, then another, long cascading waves of grief and agony, while Jahdo shook his arm and begged and shouted and in the end, wept aloud in sheer frustration. The sound of his tears cut through the bard’s rapt anguish.

      ‘Forgive me, lad,’ Meer gasped. ‘But my brother, my brother! I think he’s dead.’

      ‘What?’ Shock wiped the tears away. ‘Dead? When? I mean, how can you know?’

      ‘Just now, and the brother bond told me.’

      Meer shook the boy’s hand away and stalked into the forest. Jahdo hesitated, then decided that Meer would need to be alone, at least for a while. He wiped his face on a dirty sleeve, then picked up the food again, packing Meer’s share away, eating his own while he squinted up at the sun. Not even half of the day’s first watch had passed since the mazrak’s cry had wakened them.

      ‘I’ll bet it was the mazrak, too,’ Jahdo said aloud. ‘I’ll bet that ugly old raven does have much to do with this.’

      Thinking of the mazrak made him shudder in cold terror. He ran across the open space, hesitated on the edge of the forest safety, groaned aloud, then dashed back again to grab the tether ropes of the horse and mule.

      ‘I don’t even want to think about that raven getting you,’ he told them. ‘Come on. Let’s go find Meer.’

      He’d led them to the forest edge when he remembered their gear, spread out near the riverbank. Without Meer to lift the pack saddles, he couldn’t load the stock. Snivelling and crying in sheer frustration, he led the horse and mule onward. Fortunately, Meer was quite close, standing at the edge of a small clearing. Jahdo urged the horses into this sliver of open ground and dropped their halter ropes to make them stand.

      ‘Meer?’ He hesitated, wanting to ask the bard how he fared, realizing that the question was stupid. ‘Meer, it be Jahdo.’

      Meer nodded, turning his sightless eyes the boy’s way.

      ‘Meer, we can’t just stay here. Forgive me, but we’ve got to do something. If that mazrak –’

      ‘True.’ The bard’s voice sounded thick, all swollen with grief. ‘No need to beg forgiveness. You’re right enough.’

      ‘Are we going to go back west now?’

      ‘Can’t. I’ve got to make sure he’s dead. In my heart, I know, but how can I tell my mother that I learned of his death without bothering to find out how or why or where he lies buried?’

      ‘Well, truly, that would be kind of cowardly. She’ll want to know.’

      Meer nodded his agreement. Jahdo chewed his lower lip, trying to find the right words. There were none, he supposed.

      ‘Meer, I be so sorry.’

      Meer nodded again.

      ‘Uh, I’m going to go get the food and what I can carry.’

      The bard said nothing, sinking to his knees, his face turned to the earth.

      Jahdo went back and forth, carrying armloads of sacks and bags, dragging the heavy pack saddles, staggering under their bedrolls, back and forth until at last he was exhausted but their gear safe in the tiny clearing with the horses. During all of this the bard never moved nor spoke. Jahdo went back to the river one last time for a long drink. He splashed water over his head and arms, as well, then knelt for a moment, looking up at the sky. A few stripes of mare’s tail clouds arched out from the west, but nothing moved below them, not even a normal bird. Shuddering he hurried back to the forest.

      This time the bard looked up at the sound of his footsteps.

      ‘Do you want to stay here for a while?’ Jahdo said.

      ‘I need to collect myself.’ Meer’s voice was thin and dry, the sound of reeds scraping together. ‘My apologies, Jahdo. My apologies.’

      ‘It be well. I do be real tired, myself. I just wish there was somewhat I could do.’

      Meer shrugged and sighed.

      ‘I guess you wouldn’t know where your brother is? I mean, well, you know.’

      ‘I don’t, I’m afraid, no more than I knew where he was when he was alive.’ His voice choked on the last word. ‘But we don’t need scrying crystals to guess what’s happened. His false goddess has deserted him, and in the end no doubt she’ll do the same to all who believe in her! A curse upon her and her evil prophets both!’

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