The Vulture King Read online

  Aram’s throat tightened, his air gone as suddenly as if someone yanked a noose tight around his neck. Every time he thought about his mother now, he had this same physical reaction. He was drowning on dry land, choking on his regret and frustration. He stayed silent just a fraction too long and he felt the soft flutter of Bina’s dove landing on his shoulder. Her voice whispered right next to his ear, “It’s going to be alright Aram, I promise you. Together we’ll find a way.”

  Lungs burning, he gasped and startled the small bird which circled into the sky. Love settled back on Bina’s shoulder and her voice continued calmly. “I am small, but I’m far from helpless. The vulture king will soon find out not everyone cowers before him, waiting to be used or ripped to shreds.”

  Bayre turned to face the two of them. “The two of you are not alone. There are others ready to fight. Not only the Veldera I told you about, but others like me, men tired of the tyranny of a vicious madman. We call ourselves the Black Shrouds because we are the veil shielding you from the king’s sight. If your mother is alive, Aram, I will help you to find her. And if I’m not mistaken, you may just be someone capable of turning the tide in our favour.”

  Bayre turned on his heel and strode off again as Bina cast a quick glance at Aram. Her eyes held a thousand questions, but he had none of the answers. No matter what Bayre said, he was just a boy—lost, confused and hurting. He turned away from possibilities he couldn’t understand and trudged along behind the older man. Bina watched him for long seconds before following.

  Aram battled to shake the low mood that dogged him. He walked mostly in silence, responding as briefly as possible to questions from his companions. Bina’s singing no longer raised a smile. He simply hung his head and, with his bird cradled in his hands, watched the ground right in front of his feet. This idea Bayre had, that he might have some role to play in the fight against the vulture king, scared him to his core. He knew in his heart he was nowhere near as brave as Bayre or as optimistic as Bina. Even the idea of saving his mother was an abstract concept to him--something he desperately wanted but had no actual idea how to implement.

  His mind circled away from imagining a rescue now. He tried as hard as possible to think of absolutely nothing as he walked. Don’t think, don’t feel. Don’t think, don’t feel he repeated with each step he took. A very small voice inside him piped up, and what? Don’t get hurt? Bit late for that already, really. But he clamped down on it firmly. He would hide out with the other Veldera when Bayre finally got them wherever they were going. And nobody could make him do anything he didn’t want to.

  A hundred times he started to ask Bina more about how Veldera magic worked, but then shame plugged his mouth, halting the words. It made him feel stupid—how little he understood about his own powers—and he didn’t want Bina to think less of him than she probably already did.

  He was so lost in his bleak thoughts he didn’t notice the first straggly trees around them. Only when Bayre stopped to pull a black hood over his head, did Aram realise they were in the middle of a forest. He had heard of the great northern forests but had never had any reason to travel this way. Pines loomed above them, less stunted than the trees of the plains, some of them stretching twenty-five feet above his head. Aram’s bird circled giddily around his head, expressing their shared sense of wonder at the sight.

  Bina’s voice piped up, “Why are you putting that thing on?”

  The hood Bayre was wearing covered his hair and the lower half of his face, leaving only his eyes exposed. “It’s for safety. Black Shrouds live out in the world, trying to find Veldera to lead them here. At the settlement, only the people I have rescued have ever seen my face. If one of you is ever taken, you can only reveal my identity, the rest of the Shrouds will be safe.”

  “We would never betray you.” Bina’s bird voice seemed shriller than usual with indignation. “There is nothing they could say or do to make me reveal anything about you. You saved me!”

  Bayre smiled and ruffled her short, black hair. “I know you would fight him till the end, my little wildcat. But the vulture king has powers you can only imagine. Eventually, you would tell him what he wanted to know, and I wouldn’t blame you. There is only so much the body and spirit can take. That’s why we take precautions. It’s no reflection on you or any of the other Veldera we bring here.”

  “Are we close then?” asked Aram. “To the settlement?”

  “Close enough. There will be sentries posted from here--not that you’d ever catch sight of them. So up goes my hood and on we go.”

  It hit Aram again how much of a risk Bayre was taking on their behalf. He could have stayed safe behind his kraal walls and not come on this dangerous northern journey. It made Aram ashamed of his recent behaviour. This man put his life on the line for complete strangers and here Aram stood, sulking like a child. Well, enough of it.

  Aram waved his hand at the hood. “Suits you,” he said. “Black really brings out your eyes.”

  Bina’s laughter rang out, quick and pure and soon Bayre was chuckling too.

  “Glad to have you back with us, son, about time too. Keep up now. It’s easy to get turned around in here, and we don’t make the settlement easy to find.”

  Bayre started to wend his way through the trees, the soft carpet of pine needles muffling his steps. If there was a path he was following, it was invisible to Aram’s eyes, so he made sure to keep close to their guide. A burning in his thighs told him they’d started to climb. Soon he was breathing deeply as the incline grew ever steeper. The Carrionlands were uniformly flat further south, only vegetation and buildings breaking the monotony of the landscape. He was exhilarated by their upwards struggle. What might they see once they reached the top? The trees also gave him an unusual sense of safety. Their height and substantial branches blocked any view of the sky. If only he and his mother had made it to this forest, the cechua would not have found them such easy prey. The smell of resin in his nose, fragrant as spice, was the scent of freedom.

  They reached the top of the hill and to Aram’s disappointment, the trees stood too thickly to afford him a view. They began to descend, and his legs burned in new and interesting places. He offered his arm to Bina to lean on--worried about the toll this must be taking on her. She accepted the help although the small smile on her face made him think she was doing it just to humour him.

  As dusk crept through the trunks surrounding them, Aram flew Ryu above his head, hoping to catch sight of the settlement. When Bayre threw his pack down under a tree and began to unpack their evening meal, his hopes curdled to a lump in his stomach.

  Bayre glanced up at him and seemed able to read the meaning of his slumped shoulders. “We’re not quite there yet, boy, but we’re getting close. Soon you’ll be at the safest place for Veldera in this cursed land. Not much longer now.”

  Aram threw himself to the ground and groaned as his legs protested the heavy work they’d done that day. Bina settled next to him, light as the scent of pine on the breeze. She seemed to have taken very little strain today while his legs felt jellied and weak. Bayre tossed each of them a flat round of potato bread. The meat was long finished and the thought of this hard lump for supper lowered Aram’s mood once again. With a sigh he started to gnaw on the edge of it.

  “What do you enjoy doing?” Bina asked out of the blue.

  His bird turned its head sharply to stare at Bina who was nibbling her loaf like a dainty mouse. Love hopped around her, pecking up every crumb that fell, greedy as always.

  “What do you mean, what do I enjoy?”

  “Well, it’s not an extremely difficult question. I enjoy singing…”

  “Well, I doubt there are many people who enjoy listening to you,” interrupted Aram. He flushed red as soon as the words left his mouth, but Bina simply sighed and shook her head.

  “When you’re in a bad mood, you’re very unpleasant to be around, did you know that?”

  Until recently, Aram had very rarely spent more than a
few hours in anyone’s company. If he thought about it, he probably wasn’t the most entertaining person to have around.

  “Sorry,” he mumbled, “I shouldn’t have insulted your singing. It’s quite lovely really, I mean...once you get used to it.”

  His voice trailed off as Bina started to giggle, dimples flashing. “I sing terribly but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying it. I used to love to sew too. My mother taught me, but I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to do it again. So, what is it you enjoy, Aram?”

  His mind froze. The question was just so…so impossible really, to answer. He gnawed on a fingernail as he tried to think up something, anything, to say in response.

  Bina’s voice continued almost dreamily, “I love it when the clouds clear for a moment and you get a flash of the deep blue sky. It’s the colour of happiness to me. I love how things smell after it rains, and I absolutely love pumpkin pie. Oh, and honey cakes, my mother made the best honey cakes.”

  “Mine too.” The admission burst out of his mouth before he could stop himself. The memory of his mother’s baking unleashed a dull ache in his chest. Honey was also the taste of guilt and regret, but his mind shied away from those memories. Bina sat quietly waiting as he wracked his brain. What else could he say? Surely it made him impossibly strange if there was nothing in the world that he enjoyed.

  “I like animals. You always know where you stand with them. Even creatures like the aardwolf that wanted to eat us. He was just trying to keep himself alive. There’s no malice in them…no evil.”

  There was a very long pause. Bina shuffled closer to him and took his hand. “I like you Aram, you make me feel safe. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.”

  Aram knew he should say something, but his tongue had swelled to three times its usual size, filling his mouth and blocking his words. Bina gave his fingers a light squeeze then lay down on the pine needle carpet with her back to him. He simply sat watching her as her breathing grew deeper and he was pretty sure he knew the exact moment she drifted off to sleep.

  Bayre’s voice drifted over from a little way off. “You’ll have to do better than that in future, boy. Being a man of few words can be a good thing. But not always, no, not always.”

  Aram lay down next to Bina. He gently laid an arm around her and curled himself into her back. He may not have the words to say it but knew what was true. She was his best friend too. As always, when things were quiet his mind drifted to his mother. When he believed her dead, he had been filled with anger and a desire for vengeance against the vulture king. Now that he knew she might still be alive, the knowledge seemed to have drained all emotion out of him except fear. He kept worrying about what this said about him. Surely, he should be even more determined now, to make his way to find her. But it seemed so overwhelming, so utterly impossible that he couldn’t imagine where to start. Part of him, a part he was trying very hard not to acknowledge, believed it was because he was nothing but a coward. It was all very well, blustering about killing the king and seeking justice. But it had always seemed a very distant goal, something that would happen far into the future. Now he knew his mother’s time was running out, and if he didn’t act soon, it might be too late. He just didn’t know if he was up to the task. He drifted off to sleep where his mother’s eyes haunted his dreams, their soft grey pleading with him before fading slowly, slowly into fog and oblivion.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  They walked another three days through the pines before Bayre finally held up a hand to stop them. Since reaching the forest, they had adjusted their travel times, walking in the daylight hours and sleeping when it was dark. Aram enjoyed the view through his magpie’s eyes now it was light enough to see clearly. There was little beauty in the Carrionlands, but the rolling greens of this great mass of trees was one of the most wonderful things he’d experienced. The deeper they walked, the louder the forest chattered with life. Birds called and curious squirrels romped through the canopy. They even startled a herd of grazing deer one evening. Bina clapped her hands, laughing as white tails bobbed and weaved through the trunks.

  Now Aram’s bird fluttered around Bayre’s head, trying to see why they had stopped. There was a small clearing ahead of them, filled with a rocky outcrop, but no sign of a settlement. Aram felt his muscles tense. Perhaps there was some threat ahead that only Bayre could see? His hand moved to his knife, fingers flexing around the hilt. The old man cast a searching glance at the grey sky then walked quickly into the open space. The children scrambled to keep up, hunching their shoulders as they left the shelter of the trees. A black-hooded head popped up amongst the stones and Aram had his knife half-drawn before he realised it must be one of the Black Shrouds. Bayre extended one hand and clasped the stranger’s forearm in greeting. The man, Aram was almost positive it was a man, looked over at them and nodded. “Welcome to the settlement.”

  Without waiting for an answer, he turned and vanished into the rock face. Bina gaped but Aram walked closer, Ryu settling on his shoulder. Bayre followed the man into the ground. As Aram approached, he could see the cleverly concealed entrance to a cave. What looked like a solid wall was really a vertical lip you could squeeze behind. It was a narrow space, but if you pushed forward a few steps, there was an opening you could slip into.

  Inside the men waited for the children. The stranger, now holding a lighted torch, led the way further underground. Aram walked carefully, not wanting to misjudge and knock his head on the stone roof. They were in a low tunnel which twisted and curved ever downwards. Occasionally other tunnels intersected with theirs, but their guide seemed to know his way through the maze. Aram tried hard not to think about how deep underneath the earth they must be or to imagine the sheer weight of rock pressing down on them. He also hoped he wouldn’t have to try to make his way out of this place in a hurry. If you got lost down here, you’d probably never see the surface again. Having spent so much of his life outdoors, he shuddered to think of dying down here in the pitch-black silence. It would cover you like a shroud forever.

  The tunnel began to widen and now there was light ahead of them. Their guide strode out into a vast cavern and Aram stopped just inside the entrance to take in the extraordinary sight. The space was lit by torches attached at regular intervals to the walls. The flickering flames gave the cave a strange, almost nightmarish feel. The light didn’t reach far either, so the upper half of the cave was veiled in impenetrable darkness. The air carried only the slightest tang of smoke, so somewhere above their heads was a way for the polluted air to escape and fresh air to seep in.

  The cavern was filled with people busy doing ordinary things. A mother chased after a laughing toddler and not far from them, sat a man with a whetstone sharpening various tools. If you ignored the fact that they were deep underground, in a poorly lit natural cave, this could be a scene from any of the kraals. Unlike kraal folk however, who regarded all newcomers with suspicion, the few people who looked their way did so with interest rather than fear.

  Bayre waved farewell to their guide and started out across the stone floor. Bina’s head swivelled from side to side as she tried to take it all in. Aram felt the light flutter of her dove settling on his shoulder, and then her voice whispered in his ear, “Most of these people are Veldera, Aram. Can you believe it? There must be at least a hundred here. I didn’t think there were this many of us in the world!”

  As Aram’s bird swooped over the cave, he noted there were only a few people wearing the black hoods. The space was also filled with birds of every type imaginable, the air raucous with their chirruping and screeching. Bina was right, most of those here were Veldera like them. It was both marvellous and overwhelming. A young boy walked past them, a sparrow perched on his head, a nonsense rhyme babbling from the bird’s beak. Bina’s dove hummed tunelessly on his shoulder as they walked. Aram realised his cheeks were hurting from the huge grin plastered across his face.

  They reached one of the far walls and Aram saw there were entrances to sma
ller caves set all around the cavern. Their uniformity in size indicated these were man-made rather than natural. Aram marvelled at the effort it must have taken to create them. Bayre pushed aside a curtain and ducked inside the one nearest to them. Bina cast a quick glance at Aram before following the man inside. Aram whistled and Ryu landed on his shoulder. He stooped and pulled aside the draping.

  Inside was what could only be described as a comfortable living room. A sturdy wooden table stood near the hearth surrounded by six chairs. There was a small kitchen area and a brightly pattered rug on the stone floor. Bunches of dried herbs hung from the ceiling giving the room an aromatic fragrance. There was even a small shelf stuffed with books and cushions on the chairs. It was comfortingly homely and the last thing in the world that Aram would have expected.

  Bayre pulled down his hood and Aram felt a wash of relief at the sight of his familiar, grizzled features. He understood the need for the covering, but the black cloth turned Bayre into a forbidding stranger to some degree. The old man threw his arms out wide and declared, “Welcome, to my home.”

  “Shouldn’t you put your hood back on?” trilled Bina’s worried voice. I mean, your door is nothing but a curtain. Anyone could come in.”

  “That’s not how it works in the settlement. People respect each other’s privacy. Nobody will come through that door without asking permission first.”

  Aram thought this sounded all very well in theory. But his experiences thus far had taught him most people weren’t to be trusted. If Bayre was prepared to put his faith in strangers, good for him, but Aram would never be that stupid.

  Bina settled herself on one of the chairs and wiggling into the soft cushion gave a satisfied sigh. “Will we be living here with you then? That would be nice.”

  Bayre chuckled as he bent to set wood on the hearth. “You’ll stay with me a few days, but we’ll find you your own space after that. You’ll get a home of your own Bina. Won’t that be something?”