Where do you think theyre taking us? Garet asked.
Raymond could understand why his little brother wanted to know. The thought of being executed was bad enough, but not knowing what was happening, where it would be, or how it would be done was worse.
I dont know, Raymond managed, and it even hurt to talk. We have to be brave, Garet.
He saw his brother nod, looking determined in spite of the situation the three of them were in. Around them, he could see countryside passing by, with farms and fields on either side of the road and trees in the distance. A few hills stood there, and a few buildings, but it seemed like they were far from the town now. Their cart was being driven by one guard, while another sat beside him, crossbow at the ready. Two more rode beside the cart, flanking it and looking around as if expecting trouble at any moment.
Quiet back there! the one with the crossbow yelled back at them.
What are you going to do? Lofen demanded. Execute us more?
Its probably those big mouths of yours that have earned you special treatment, the guard said. Most of the ones out of the dungeon, we drag them out and we finish them the way the duke wants, no problems. You, though, youre going where the ones that have really upset him go.
Wheres that? Raymond asked.
The guard smiled nastily in response. Hear that, lads? he said. They want to know where theyre going next.
Theyll see soon enough, the driver said, flicking the reins to move the horses forward a little faster. Dont see why we should tell criminals anything except that theyre going to get everything that they deserve.
Deserve? Garet demanded from the back of the cart. We dont deserve this. We havent done anything wrong!
Raymond heard his brother cry out as one of the riders beside them struck him across the shoulders.
You think anyone cares what you have to say? the man snapped. You think everyone weve taken this way hasnt tried to declare their innocence? The duke has declared you traitors, so youll have a traitors death!
Raymond wanted to go to his brother and make sure he was all right, but the chains that held him prevented it. He thought about insisting that they really hadnt done anything except try to stand up to a regime that had tried to take everything from them, but that was the point. The duke and the nobles did what they liked; they always had. Of course the duke could send them to die, because that was how things worked there.
Raymond strained against his chains at that thought, as if it might be possible to break free through sheer strength. The metal held him easily, wearing away the little that remained of his strength until he collapsed back against the wood.
Look at them, trying to get free, the crossbowman said with a laugh.
Raymond saw the driver shrug. Theyll struggle better than that once it comes time.
Raymond wanted to ask what the man meant by that, but he knew that there was no chance of getting an answer, and every chance of getting beaten just as his brother had been. All he could do was sit quietly while the cart continued on its rickety journey along the dirt road. That, he guessed, was a part of the torment of all of this: the not knowing, and the awareness of his own helplessness, with the complete inability to do anything to even find out where they were going, let alone turn the cart from its course.
It headed up through the fields, past clusters of trees and spaces where villages lay in subdued silence. The ground around them seemed to be rising, heading up to the spot where a fort almost as old as the kingdom itself sat atop one of the hills, the ruined stones standing as a kind of testament to the kingdom that had gone before.
Almost there, boys, the cart driver said, with a smile that said he was enjoying this far too much. Ready to see what Duke Altfor has in mind for you?
Duke Altfor? Raymond asked, barely able to believe it.
That brother of yours managed to kill the old duke, the crossbowman said. Threw a spear through his heart back in the pit, then ran like the coward he is. Now, youre going to pay for his crimes.
The moment he said that, Raymond found both his thoughts and his feelings racing. If Royce had really done that, then it meant that his adopted brother had achieved something huge for the cause of freedom, and had gotten clear; both of those things were things to celebrate. At the same time, Raymond could only imagine the things that the former dukes son would want done in revenge, and without Royce there to take it out on, they were the logical next targets.
He found himself cursing Genevieve then. If his brother had never seen her, none of this would have happened, and it wasnt as if she even cared about Royce, was it?
Ah, the crossbowman said. I think theyre starting to understand.
The horses that drew that cart carried on, moving along with the steady pace of creatures that were far too used to their task, and that knew that they, at least, would be coming back from their destination.
They headed up the hill, and Raymond could feel the tension rising in his brothers. Garet was shifting back and forth, as if he might be able to find a way to break free and jump from the cart. If he could, then Raymond hoped he would take the opportunity, running and not looking back, even as he knew that the riders would probably be able to cut him down before hed gone a dozen steps. Lofen was clenching and unclenching his hands, whispering what sounded like a prayer. Raymond doubted it would do any good.
Finally, they reached the summit of the hill and Raymond saw everything that awaited them there. It was enough to make him slump back in the cart, unable to bring himself to move.
There were gibbets set around the hilltop, creaking in the wind as they dangled from chains in the shadow of the fallen tower. There were bodies in them, some picked clean by scavengers, others intact enough that Raymond could see the horrific wounds and bite marks that covered them, the burns and the places where the skin had been cut away by what looked like long knives. Symbols were cut into some of the flesh, and Raymond found himself recognizing a woman who had been dragged from their cell before, swirls and runes carved into her.
Picti, Lofen whispered in obvious horror, but Raymond could see that even that wasnt the worst of it. The people in the gibbets had wounds that suggested they had been tortured and killed, exposed to the fury of whatever wild folk came by, but what lay on the stone at the center of the hilltop was worse, far worse.
The stone itself was a slab that had been carved both with the symbols of the wild folk, and with signs that might have been magic if such things had been common in these days. The remains of a man lay chained on it, and the worst part, the worst part, was that he moaned with agonized life even though he had no right to. His body was laced with cuts and burns, bite marks and the tearing marks of claws, yet still, impossibly, he lived.
They call it a life stone, the driver said with a smirk that said he knew exactly how much horror Raymond was feeling right then. They say that in the old days, healers would use them to hold men to life while they stitched and worked. We found a better use for this one.
Better? Raymond said. This is He didnt even have the words for what it was. Evil wasnt enough. This wasnt some crime against the laws of men, but something that stood against everything that had ever been there in nature. It was wrong in a way that seemed to count against everything that was life, and sane, and ordered.