Stalking Darkness

to meet you.”
    “Thanks. I’ll need you to get him the rest of the way.” Seregil glanced down at Alec with concern. “He doesn’t have much left in him. I’m surprised we made it as far as we did.”
    “I’ll be all right,” Alec insisted, swaying as he got to his feet again.
    “We’d better stick to the woods,” Micum said, slipping an arm under Alec’s. “It’s too exposed out here and I don’t know where they’ve posted guards. How far behind would you say Mardus is?”
    “I lost all track of distance last night,” Alec confessed. “If thescouts have reached you, he can’t be much more than half a day behind.”
    “What kind of force does he have with him?”
    “I’m not certain, but I think he has at least forty soldiers, plus a gang of prisoners—maybe a hundred. And there’s the necromancer and a dyrmagnos.”
    Micum’s eyes widened in alarm. “Damnation! He’s got one of those things with him? And prisoners?”
    “I imagine it takes a lot of blood to make this Helm of theirs,” Seregil said bitterly. “Alec claims there were sacrificial murders on the ship as they came over, and more since they landed and met up with another force. That’s where this bunch of prisoners came from.”
    “And the four of us are here to stop them?” Micum shook his head as they climbed up to the forest and started back.
    With the help of Micum and Seregil, Alec managed to make it to the salt pine.
    “Here you are at last, dear boy!” Nysander whispered, embracing Alec as he collapsed onto the carpet of dried needles. “I knew you would come back to us. And only just in time.”
    “Seregil told me about the eclipse tomorrow,” said Alec, yawning as he settled with his back to the trunk.
    “I know how weary you must be, but you must tell me all that you’ve learned. Then I promise, you shall rest. And you must eat!”
    Seregil passed him some biscuit, cheese, and a skin of fresh water. Alec took a long gulp before he began.
    “You were right, both of you,” he said, looking ruefully at Micum and Seregil. “I should’ve stayed at Watermead that night, but I was worried about Seregil. When I got back to the Cockerel—”
    He paused, blinking back fresh tears.
    “They know,” Seregil told him, moving closer beside him. “I got there at dawn and saw everything. What happened after that?”
    “They jumped me as soon as I came in, Ashnazai and his men. I managed to wound a couple of them before they took me down.”
    “Vargûl Ashnazai?” asked Nysander. “Ah, yes, I have heard of him.”
    Alec smiled bitterly. “You won’t anymore. I killed the bastard last night. That’s how Thero and I got away. At least I did.”
    He looked around at the others earnestly. “He saved my life. Whatever else he did, he saved my life and he’s probably dead now because of it. He used his magic to help us escape, then he changed me into a stag the way you did, Nysander.” Alec’s chin trembled but he didn’t stop. “I—I ran away. He chased me off and I ran. I can still hear—”
    The wizard clasped Alec’s hands between his. “I won’t tell you not to grieve, dear boy, but you mustn’t blame yourself. Please, continue with your story. You were speaking of the inn.”
    Alec wiped at his nose with a dirt-streaked forearm. “I don’t remember much after that, until I woke up aboard the ship. Mardus was there, and Ashnazai, another necromancer I didn’t see much of, and a dyrmagnos woman called Irtuk Beshar.” Steeling himself, he related his treatment aboard the
Kormados
.
    Nysander listened in silence until he reached the nightmarish dinner with Mardus. “Mardus himself told you that the Helm must be given lives to build its power? You are certain of this?”
    Alec nodded grimly. “He said the younger the victim, the more power the death gives. It was Mardus’ idea of revenge to have Thero and me be the last sacrifices at the final ceremony.”
    Seregil looked up sharply at this. “That’s the key! If we strike quickly, before they complete the sacrifices, maybe we have a chance against this thing.”
    “Perhaps, but we must not underestimate its initial capabilities,” warned Nysander. “It may well have some degree of power from the moment of completion. Very well. Go on, Alec.”
    Too tired to be anything but matter-of-fact about the nightly horrors Vargûl Ashnazai had visited on them, Alec quickly outlined the details of the overland journey.
    Seregil went pale as he