Kell's Legend

desecrated cankers. Most slept, but a few sat back on their haunches, evil yellow eyes watching him, their hearts ticking unevenly with bent clockwork.
    Kell rolled his shoulders, then crawled to his knees and to the corner of the cage, peering out. He was back in Leanoric’s camp, only now there were no soldiers of Falanor to be seen; only albino guards, eyes watchful, hands on sword-hilts. Kell frowned, and searched, and realised that the two camps had been made to blend, just like a canker and its clockwork. The Army of Iron had usurped the Falanor camp.
    Darkness had fallen, and Kell realised he must have been out of the game for at least a day. He peered out from behind his bars, could just make out the edges of Old Skulkra, with her toothed domes and crumbling walls. Beyond lay Valantrium Moor, and a cold wind blew down from high moorland passes carrying a fresh promise of snow.
    Kell shivered. What now? He was a prisoner. Caged, like the barely controllable cankers around him. “Hey?” growled Kell to the nearest canker. “Can you hear me?” The beast gave no response, just stared with the baleful eyes of a lion. “Do you realise you have a face like a horse’s arse?” he said. The canker blinked, and its long tongue protruded, licking at lips pulled back over half its head. Inside, tiny gears made click click click noises. Kell shivered again, and this time it was nothing to do with the cold.
    “Kell.” The voice was low, barely above a whisper. Kell squinted into the darkness.
    “Yeah?”
    “It’s Saark. Wait there.”
    “I’m not going anywhere, laddie.”
    There came several grunting sounds, and a squeal of rusted metal. The side of the cage opened, and Saark, skin pale, sweat on his brow, leant against the opened door.
    Kell strode out, stood with his hands on his hips, looking around, then turned to Saark. “I thought you would have come sooner.”
    Saark gave a nasty grin. “A ‘thank you’ would have sufficed.”
    “Thank you. I thought you would have come sooner. And by the way, you look like a horse trampled your face.”
    “I ran into a bit of trouble, with Myriam and her friends.”
    Kell’s brows darkened; his eyes dropped to the bloodstains on Saark’s clothing. He softened. “Are you injured?”
    “Myriam stabbed me.”
    “She had Nienna with her.”
    “She still does. I’m sorry, Kell. She’s taken Nienna north, to the Black Pike Mountains. She said to tell you she will wait at the Cailleach Pass. She knows you will come. I’m sorry, Kell; I could do nothing.”
    The huge warrior remained silent, but rolled his neck and shoulders. His hand leapt to where his Svian was sheathed; to find the weapon gone. “Bastards,” he muttered, looked around, then turned and started off between the cages.
    “Wait,” said Saark, hobbling after him. “You’re going the wrong way. We can head out through Old Skulkra; I think even the albinos won’t travel there. It’s still a poisoned hellhole; stinks like a pig’s entrails.”
    “I’m going to find Graal.”
    “What?” snapped Saark. He grabbed Kell, stopping him. “What are you talking about, man?” he hissed. “We’re surrounded by ten thousand bloody soldiers! You want to march in there and kill him?”
    “I don’t want to kill him,” snapped Kell, eyes glittering. “I want Ilanna.”
    Saark gave a brittle laugh. “We can buy you another axe, old man,” he said.
    “She’s…not just an axe. She is my bloodbond. I cannot leave her. It is hard to explain.”
    “You’re damn right it’s hard to explain. You’d risk your life now? We can escape, Kell. We can go after Nienna.”
    Kell paused, then, his back to Saark. When his words came, they were low, tainted by uncertainty.“No. I must have Ilanna; then I find Nienna. Then I kill Myriam and her twisted scum-bastard friends.”
    “You’re insane,” said Saark.
    “Maybe. You wait here if you like. I’ll be back.”
    “No.” Saark caught him up, his rapier glittering in the darkness. “I may be stuck like a pig, but I can still fight. And if we split up now, we’re sure to be caught and tortured. Damn you and your stupid fool quest!”
    “Be quiet.”
    They eased through the nightshade.
    It watched them. It crept low along the ground, and watched them. When they looked towards it, it hid its face, in shame, great tears rolling down its tortured cheeks as it hunkered to the ground, and its body shook in spasms of grief. Then they were gone, and it