The Book of the Crowman by Joseph D'Lacey

Author:Joseph D'Lacey
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: post-apocalyptic, Black Dawn, Crowman, dark fantasy, earth magic
ISBN: 9780857663498
Publisher: Angry Robot
Published: 2014-01-15T22:00:00+00:00

30

Gordon let the trees and the earth fill him with the spirit of the hunter.

He drew stealth and strength from the air. His breathing slowed, his heart rate dropped; he became still. He knew which way to go and he could sense presences at about ten o’clock from his starting point. Half a dozen people, he guessed.

Silent and swift, he flowed between the trees more like a shadow than a man. He heard the hiss of red-hot embers, the spit of grease falling into flame. The waft of cooking intensified. It could only have come from a large fire and a sizeable catch. For a moment he lost concentration. The aroma made his stomach grind against itself. Saliva burst beneath his tongue. In the next instant, discipline overrode his hunger.

He advanced.

The wall of trees between him and the camp thinned until he began to see figures ranged around a broad fire pit. It looked as though the clearing had been forced by the cutting down of trees – there were low stumps everywhere. A couple of them formed seats for the clearing’s dwellers. Judging by the way things were laid out, this crew – at least eight strong that he could now see – had been living here for some time. The fire pit was well looked after and much used. Several longbows leaned against a tree. The shelters were good-sized ex-military tents with a few patches but the way they sagged in places was a sign they’d been up for more than just a few days. The camp had a permanent feel about it but Gordon still couldn’t decide whether it was a safe place to ask for shelter. If things got unfriendly for some reason, they were certainly outnumbered.

He tried to get a better sense of the individuals.

They could easily have been Green Men. They seemed to understand outdoor life and they all wore the drab browns and greens that made hiding and hunting in the countryside easier. Of course, much of that drabness came from dirt and constant usage. Spare clothes were harder to come by with each passing month. Secondhand often amounted to peeling garments from a corpse approximately your own size.

Many of them seemed to have learned about sewing skins together to make hats and jerkins. A few wore fingerless gloves, some of leather, others knitted from untreated wool. They must have been living outside for a good while because, although they weren’t outwardly dirty, Gordon could smell their bodies even from this remove.

What they all had in common, man or woman, was their shaved heads. This suggested not that they held some common ideal, but that they were suffering with lice. The spread of lice happened easily in closeknit communities – not necessarily through unhygienic practices but through people sharing beds and being in close physical contact with each other. It meant this could be a loose family group; the beginnings of a tribe.

He would have acknowledged this with a smile if it hadn’t been for one detail.

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