Dark Heart (Husk) by Russell Kirkpatrick

Author:Russell Kirkpatrick [Kirkpatrick, Russell]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: General, Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction & Fantasy
ISBN: 9780732283926
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd
Published: 2008-12-01T06:00:00+00:00

With the low overcast sky characteristic of northern Saros in early summer, the exact time of sunset was difficult to determine. So Noetos herded his people up the gully to the meeting place while there was still plenty of light. One or two of the southerners had not had the time to find something to eat, but this meeting, Noetos judged, was more important.

The raw, stony gully gave way to the flat-bottomed depression in which Bregor had met with the men of Raceme that afternoon. In the fading light it looked a forlorn place. Scrubby thorn bushes obscured much of the human detritus, but enough of the gold workings remained visible for Noetos to judge it had once been an important site for the precious metal, and lucrative, at least for the few who had established themselves there first, if it was like most sites in this region. Lucrative, too, for the suppliers of food and liquor, and the moneylenders and whores. The way of things meant that most of the miners would have made little, if any, profit from all the days and months of hazardous, back-breaking work.

There had once been a town here, Seren had told him, that went by the name of Knife In The Back. Noetos remembered coming across such a town on one of the old maps he’d pored over as a child, along with other names such as Last Chance, Stony Ground and Waste O’ Time. They evoked scenes of chaotic vigour in his mind: grizzled miners cheek by jowl with oily salesmen and others desiring to part the miners from their wealth.

There was plenty of evidence to show the town’s existence. In the centre of the open space a lone chimney stood, but the foundations of other buildings could be discerned, overgrown as they were. Scratching in the dirt would reveal tools or other cast-offs: buckles, coins, scraps of cloth. And there were the workings themselves. The most obvious was the cliff behind where the town had stood, formed by the miners sluicing away the front half of the hill. Tailings of loose stone lay across the landscape. The effect was one of desolation.

The sort of place Noetos would have loved to play in as a child; but as an adult it unsettled him, reminding him of the impermanence of human endeavour. The failure of plans and hopes. No doubt those who had founded this place were as dedicated as Bregor and his Racemen, or as Noetos himself in his plan to go north and expose Andratan for the place of evil it was.

Well, at least I get to select the ground, he thought. Then realised he was treating the upcoming meeting as though it were a battle and he was identifying the most advantageous place for his army. Reacting to everything as though it was a threat. In this case I may well be justified. It was just a feeling, but it was strong. He would not ignore it.

He chose a pile

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