She sighed, looking over the vastness. The light domed about twenty meters, and beyond that was the darkness. She narrowed her eyes and said, "Can't you get brighter?"
"You said I shouldn't strain myself too much."
"No, I didn't." She said, "I would bathe in this if not…"
"You could."
She turned sharply, disgust on her face. "What is even an ashman? A bunch of filthy things…"
"I would say you people are too clean," Merrin said, half-duplicitous. Ashmen bathed often. The new ash was to be worn on new skin, not stained flesh. But she did not have to know that. There was no need for it.
He heard a sound: a gasp.
"SunBringer." A voice called in the distance.
Merrin halted the radiance, darkness swallowing the world. A moment later, he grabbed Catelyn, rolled behind a boulder, and watched. She nearly screamed at that, but likely, repeated startlement had provided some immunity.
In the distance, a spindly man moved frantically. "SunBringer. SunBringer. SunBringer!" he screamed, reaching the water, eyes searching. "I know I saw it. The SunBringer has come to save us." He shouted at the boundary of the river.
Did he not see it? At least, he should hear it.
In a corner, stone-walled, red light flickered. Figures casting long shadows walked out, slow-moving. The one standing in the center had a familiar air to him. Merrin observed and instantly understood the reason.
That was the leader…still nameless. He was the owner of the servility ring. Merrin rubbed his finger, covered Catelyn's lips, and whispered in her ear. "Be quiet. Someone is here. It's one of the leaders."
She perked up, murmuring. "Then I can use him."
"Not this one." Merrin took the tone of finality. "We observe for now."
She clicked her tongue but made no other motions.
He watched the new ones.
The man screamed more. A hand slapped his head. The leader. Merrin heightened his ashman senses, leaning forward over the boulder, concealed. From this distance, even with the torch lamps, they wouldn't see him. Three among the five carried the torches. There was another, shadowed by the flickering yellow-red lights.
Yellow servs floated about them. Yellow and blue.
Servs! Merrin feared. What if one revealed their location?
He prayed against it.
The leader rasped, "Why are you shouting?" He drilled a punch into the man. His head slammed back.
He covered his cheek. "I saw him!" He said, "I saw the SunBringer!"
"This lot." The leader kicked him down. "You people have gone mad. Simply mad." There was rage in his eyes. "First, Yeimen and those escapees, now even my own people are becoming mad."
The one below curled, repeating, "The SunBringer is among his people. The SunBringer is among his devout." When done, he started again. This enraged the leader. Over and over, he kicked and punched, but the man resisted.
Finally, "I'm done with this." He said, "Bring my giant."
Merrin frowned.
The group parted, their torches moving to the side. This screened a red hue over a giant of a man. Black-haired, with a beard a blend of white and black strands. Shirtless, his froststone somehow fitted into his trousers. Scarred on the body and face, eyes swollen, Ron staggered in his motions. The ones beside him reached his arms; none stood above him.
He stood before the leader, back slouched, deliberate to reach the leader's length. He said, "Kill him with a cup slap."
Merrin imagined a man, head gone, blood spilling between clasped hands. Ron observed the spindly witness, and this was true. Hesitation danced around his eyes. "Ma'rim, please, this…no."
The leader produced a whip from his side. Where did he get it? "Are you sure?" He asked, rubbing his fingers over the barred rope.
Catelyn whispered, "He is the one who gave me the peak."
So he had connections?
He raised his hand, the whip dripping. "Are you sure?"
Ron stepped back, almost like instinct. What had they done to him? What had they done to that gentle man?
Rage burned within him.
The leader smirked. "Hold him!"
One of the four moved, slow and irresolute. Merrin noticed a brownness in his hand. No, the wholeness was of the mashed colors of brown and red. Stone. Him? The delay ended when the leader swung the whip at him.
"Move Davos, or you're next!"
Davos heeded now, glanced at the giant Ron, clenched the stone hand, and punched. It sounded like stone crashing. The giant buckled, kneeling, coughing. Another knock on his face, and he met the floor. The leader raised a hand, smiled broadly, and said, "When you want it to stop, do as I say."
Ron gritted his teeth.
The whip raised, lashing through the air onto the flesh. He screamed. Merrin clenched his fists. It came again, the whip. Repeatedly. Blood streaked from injuries, red scars. Ron writhed like an animal, wailing.
Memory fitted in: Ron, first of his kind in the mines. Even with the horror of the place, he smiled. Not now. That smile must be protected. He was the one who reached out to him. No. That love must be nurtured.
The leader laughed, lashing widely. "Will you do it? Will you do it now?"
Ron wore silence. He would never do it. Not him. Merrin was unsure about himself, but not Ron. Such purity.
That must be rewarded.
He channeled force.
And the light burned violently through the vastness. An instant flash of blinding light. Then it was gone. The leader staggered. "What was that?"
His crew looked among themselves.
The witness laughed. "The SunBringer is here! I told you he stands with his people."
"What mistsense—"
"You should believe him." Merrin stood before him, sudden. All except two reeled. Wide-eyed, the leader mouthed unintelligible words.
Merrin offered him no chance. In a moment, he moved, kicking him off balance. He fell, head slapping into stone. A scream. The other four, outside Davos, dashed. Stone smashed into one, knocking him off. The remaining two looked around, stunned by the silent attacker.
A mistake. Merrin rushed and danced through them, landing hard hits to the neck and head. They passed out instantly, their torches rolling over the floor. Dangerous. He quickly picked them up, panting. All dispatched in celerity.
The leader still screamed, cursing. "What mistsense is happening?"
Merrin moved to him, but first helped Ron up. The giant of a man was still stunned, confused. Likely unaware of his savior. I must tell him. "Ma'rim."
He smiled. "Ma'rim, time long one."
"Yes."
"SunBringer." The witness staggered forward. "I believed," he said, "I am new, but I believed."
Merrin offered a smile. "Today, you know me. But I have known you forever." The witness bowed immediately. He would think the pain known was worth this moment. This sank Merrin's heart. Then he looked to the wailing leader. Blood leaked from his head, steaming off the ground. "Where are my people?"
"Son of a sow!" He said, trying a grin. The pain refused it. "Ahhh."
A soft voice sounded. "What about me?"
Merrin turned to the flip side of the river—there, Catelyn stood, stone in hand. She couldn't jump across. He had. That was the tactic. A flash of immense light, disorientation, then combat. She offered help with the stones. Good aim.
Of course, it could all be a chance.
He smiled and nodded to Ron. The giant of a man glanced at Davos; he had become impish, scared. One had to be. The attacked now had the strength to render harm. Merrin moved to the edge, jumped over the water, cradled Catelyn, and leaped back. All in four seconds.
She dusted her clothes. Because of the water, he imagined.
Merrin stared at Davos. The man shivered. "Bring them all. We need to find a safe place."
"Still some there," Ron said.
"I know." Merrin said, "But first… Answers."
The leader scowled.
He was the morningstar in the depths of the darkness—beliefs of preservation.
Merrin sat on a high stone, higher than the rest. Deliberate. The witness had combed hard for it. What a smile on his face when he found it… It made him chuckle. He looked like a child.
Perhaps that was what all the witnesses were in the end… His children and people.
The leader was centered, bound back by his whip, blood dried against his skin and neck, trailing down in a slithering pattern. Like an old scar. They existed now in a small cave, torches fitted into stone, flicking and casting shadows across the walls. In silence, they watched. Davos was offered no stone. On the ground. He seemed much like the interrogated as the leader was. The other two were asleep, and the witness watched from the side.
Here now were Catelyn, Ron, and he—all observing the once-mighty leader. Nothing now. His life was in their hands. Merrin asked again. "Where are my people?"
He did not answer, and Catelyn hurled a stone at his head. She was happy to do it. Red spurted from the wound, and murder burned in his eyes. He would kill them if given the chance. Maybe that was what he wanted. The chance. A chance to turn the tables. How?
A bargain for my people? Merrin resisted rubbing his temples. The shaman once said it was a sign of weakness. Ron said, "I know something."
Merrin regarded him—he was to the right. "What?"
"Slave, Yeimen, take many witnesses."
Merrin understood. The leader had said something similar. "Where did he take them?" He asked. The leader refused to answer.
Catelyn interjected. "Let's torture him."
Merrin stared at her—to his left. "What?"