by all accounts. One of the horse tribes that range across the Iron Steppe, though their customs are unique and they’re said to differ from the other horse-folk in appearance and language. I can’t attest to this myself, since I never clapped eyes on one. But I did hear many a tale of their rituals and they sound far from pleasant.”
“Rituals? So they’re god worshippers?”
“After a fashion. It’s said they worship something they call the ‘Unseen,’ whatever that is. There are various clans, called Skeld, each competing for dominance with the other, but they all owe obeisance to their priests.” He paused for a moment of contemplation as he sipped more tea. “And General Gian indicated they now pose a threat to the northern border of the Venerable Kingdom?”
“With his dying breath.”
“The one thing all sources agree on about the Stahlhast is their martial prowess. I remember one Far Western cavalry officer calling them the finest horse-borne warriors in the world.”
“Better even than the Eorhil?”
“Hard to believe, I know. But, skilled as they are, the Eorhil have no armour and make little use of steel. The Stahlhast are renowned for the quality of their armour and their blades. Some sources refer to them as the Steel Horde. If someone has managed to unify them, the kingdoms of the Merchant Kings could well be in for a very difficult time.”
“Gian seemed to think his kingdom faced utter destruction, and that the Stahlhast wouldn’t stop there.” Vaelin paused before adding, “The Messenger said something similar before he died.”
A shadow passed across Erlin’s face and he set down his teacup, lowering an unfocused gaze to the tabletop. Mention of the Messenger led inevitably to thoughts of the Ally, thoughts Vaelin knew Erlin did everything in his power to suppress.
“I’m sorry but I have to ask,” Vaelin said. “The Ally. He spoke of something before we made him touch the black stone. Something vast and hungry, he said. Do you know what he meant?”
Erlin stayed silent for a long time, so long in fact that the steam rising from his teacup had thinned to nothing before he spoke again. “No, but I do remember his fear of it. Much of his emotions had been worn away over the many centuries of his existence, leaving only his desire for it all to end, and his terror of what he had seen the second time he touched the black stone. The memory is vague, just a swirling mist of sensation, none of it pleasant. In truth, I don’t think he knew what he was seeing, but he did understand what it meant, what it wanted.”
“What did it want?”
Erlin shrugged and reached for his cup, giving a sour grimace at the cooled contents. “Everything. It wants everything, and even then it won’t be sated.” He rose and went to the stove at the far end of the hut, lifting the kettle onto the hob. “You also made mention of the Jade Princess,” he said, evidently keen to change the subject.
“There was a woman,” Vaelin said. “You never met her, but we were . . . very good friends . . .”
“Sister Sherin,” Erlin interrupted. “Your lost love, sent far away so that she might be spared your fate at the end of the Alpiran war. The story is fairly well known.”
“It is?”
“Of course.” Erlin chuckled and shook his head. “There are very few aspects of your life that aren’t. The price you pay for becoming a legend, I suppose.”
“In any case,” Vaelin said. “Sherin was . . . is a healer. The Messenger intimated she had cause to minister to the Jade Princess, and placed herself in grave danger as a result.”
“Then you can safely dismiss his words. The Jade Princess is even older than I am. She doesn’t get sick.”
Vaelin arched an eyebrow at Erlin’s mostly grey beard. “Things change, even for the Gifted.”
“You don’t understand. She is . . . different. When I say she’s older than me I don’t mean by a few decades, or even a few centuries. She had such stories.” A distance crept into Erlin’s gaze, his lips forming a faint smile of remembrance. “Of a time before the cities rose, of great beasts lost to the vagaries of time and climate. Of wars and kingdoms and empires, the names of which no one save her can now recall. Next to the Jade Princess, I am but an infant. If Sherin went to her, it wasn’t as a healer.”
“Then why?”
“The people