Ghost of the Wall by Jeff Mariotte

Author:Jeff Mariotte
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group US

14

SURPRISINGLY, KILLING GOT easier the more Kral did it.

After pulling the man from the wall and killing him in the woods, he gave the settlers a few days to lick their wounds. Either they would drive themselves mad worrying about when he would turn up next, or they would relax again. Kral didn’t care which. Both would further his ends.

But he was constantly aware that the Teeth was missing from its proper place in the cave. The longer it was gone, the greater the chance that something horrible would happen—although he still didn’t know what that something might be.

So the fourth night found him painted blue, armed with a bow and a knife, and crossing back over the Black. The moon was fuller now, and cast a bright glow on the forested hills leading toward the fort. He had suspected that the Aquilonians might have thought to put guards in the woods approaching the wall by now. But in spite of his cautious approach, he saw none. If they had been there, he would have known it.

When he reached a point from which he could view the wall, he saw that there was a new addition to the construction plan. There was a wooden gateway in place, with double gates about twelve feet across, with the same fifteen-foot height as the walls. Torches burned brightly in sconces mounted on the wall on either side of it. Two helmeted, mail-clad guards stood in front of the gate, looking off toward the woods. If Kral had been less skilled, they could have seen him where he stood.

But he was a Pict, and virtually invisible among his native trees.

The wall’s progress these last few days had been impressive. It was beginning to look like a formidable structure. Kral had no idea if the project was confined to this region, or if other settlements along the border were also building walls of their own. If they were, then before too long they could have the Picts completely sealed off from the rest of the world, except by sea. Picts preferred to travel overland whenever possible—they had never made the best seafarers and only took to the water for short journeys or fishing expeditions. They rarely ventured out of their own territory anyway, except on raiding parties, because the civilized world held little appeal to them. But they liked the freedom to come and go as they pleased. Aquilonian advancement into the Westermarck had limited that; a wall across the entire border would end it altogether.

Which meant that he had a third goal. He was already trying to slow building on the wall, but primarily as a means of harassing and disturbing the settlers. Now slowing them down took on greater importance, though still not as critical as finding the Teeth. The trouble was, the bigger the wall grew, the harder it would be for him to have any impact on it. He couldn’t single-handedly knock over an eight-foot-thick, fifteen-foot-high section of it.

Still, he reasoned,

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