Sentinelspire - Mark Sehestedt [90]
As he picked up the hammer and tested the weight with a careful swing, the breeze gusted, whispering through the oak leaves, and Berun fancied he heard Lebeth's whisper-Berun, son of the Oak Father, it is time to restore the Balance.
Berun gently laid his palm against the oak where the root met the main bole of the tree, and for a heartbeat he felt again the sensation of Lebeth's thigh beneath his caresses.
"So be it, Oak Father," he said, then looked up at the tree. "Thank you, Lebeth. Lewan, Master Chereth… I'm on my way."
Chapter Twenty-Nine
25 Tarsakh, the Year of Lightning
Storms (1374 DR)
Janas hated guard duty. He'd been inducted into the ranks of:he Blades of the Old Man only three years ago. And he'd been involved in the Lady Talieth's little conspiracy for only a few months. He had no particular love for Talieth nor hatred for the Old Man, but he'd always been smart enough to know which way the wind was blowing and set his path thereby. Changes were happening in the Fortress, and he'd be damned if he didn't end up on the winning side. Life here was too precious to risk. He wanted for nothing. He slept in a soft bed with any woman of his choosing, drank the finest wines, ate the finest foods-which were prepared for him-and all he had to do in return was put his considerable skills at murder to good use. A good life, all things considered.
Except for guard duty. Given all the traps set about the Fortress and littered about the mountain and the Lady's particular expertise at scrying, usually only the main gate held a permanent watch. But something had happened earlier-something involving Sauk and that new whelp-that had sent Lady Talieth into a flurry of orders. The guard at the main gate was tripled. Crews went out to make sure all the traps were armed and ready. A watch was set at the head of the falls. Men watched the passageways between the main gate and the Gallery of Stone Faces, men watched the passageway beyond, and Janas hid in the rocks beyond the leering stone face.
He understood why he'd been chosen. A Nar, he had more than a little orc blood in his lineage. Not a full half-orc with true night vision like Sauk, still Janas could see better than nearly anyone else at night. Strong moonlight was almost like noonday sun to him. But storm clouds had started building around sunset, and by full dark there was no moon or starlight of any kind. Still… always be prepared, he often told himself, and was glad he'd worn the special ring that Talieth had given him upon his induction into the Blades. It wasn't much to look at, but it enabled him to see in the dark. Not as well as daylight, to be sure. He could see no colors, but his eyes drank in the dimmest light. The downside was that he was nearly always the one chosen for nighttime guard duty or a patrol outside the walls. Only Sauk could see better than Janas in the dark, and Sauk was too high up to be assigned guard duty. Sauk did not guard. Sauk hunted.
The night flickered in sharp relief under approaching lightning, and soon after, thunder shook the mountain. Smelling the breeze, Janas knew he'd be sitting in the rain before long.
As the last of the thunder's echo faded to the east, Janas heard something skittering across the rocks down the path. He flexed his fist around the ring and narrowed his eyes. Nothing. Just boulders and rocks through which little eddies of grit and dust were stirred up by the oncoming storm. Just when he was about to relax and look away, he heard it again-a light scritchity-scritchity-scrititch. Definitely coming up the path. He waited, listening as the sound grew closer.
He saw it. A small shadow moving up the path. Smaller than Janas's forearm, at first he thought it was a snake, but as he watched, he saw that it didn't move with a snake's smoothness. More like the quick, jerky movements of a grounded bird or