K T Harding - [Hinterland 02] Read online

  “We’re going to see a friend of mine, so you don’t have to worry about fighting,” Bishop replied. “He can give us a clue about the twen’s food.”

  The zeppelin soared up the twisting coastline. The mountains in the distance inched closer, and all the time they grew more jagged and snow-streaked and forbidding. They crowded closer to the seashore until the zeppelin flew right up among their dangerous peaks.

  The air sinking into the compartment got colder until Raleigh shivered. Bishop put his arms around her, and she slipped her hands under his coat for warmth. The zeppelin swerved between the mountaintops until Raleigh spied a great city set directly into the mighty rock. It jutted into the air the way the spires of Pernrith did, but glowing green stone made up its towers and streets and edifices instead of white. The whole city gleamed like a bright gemstone embedded in the mountain.

  The zeppelin landed on the roof of an enormous building, and Raleigh stepped out into bracing cold wind cutting straight through her clothing. Bishop hustled her through a nearby doorway, and blissful warmth surrounded her. “What’s this place?”

  “This is Hallbreck. This is home to the Guild of Husbandry. They study everything related to farming and livestock.”

  “Do they know about the twen?”

  “Twen is one of the extreme specialties. My friend might be the only expert who knows what the twen eats in all the stages of its lifecycle.”

  He ushered her down a long flight of stairs into the city’s dark interior. Every window opened onto a breathtaking vista of sheer, snow-capped mountains. Raleigh paused in their long trek to gaze out at the sun glittering on the snow. “It doesn’t seem like they have much livestock here to work with.”

  “Don’t be fooled. Do you remember the caverns we saw when we visited Fuki at his mining camp? The Guild has thousands of chambers like that under these mountains. They keep every kind of livestock—even Endavors. They’re experts at it.”

  Raleigh couldn’t take the place in fast enough. “This city is amazing.”

  “The Guild built it. They carved it out of the mountainside.”

  “You’d think they would pick a spot more hospitable to their ends. They could have picked one of those lovely caverns we saw.”

  Bishop shook his head. “They would never choose a place like that. They wanted somewhere private to conduct their research.”

  Raleigh froze. “What research?”

  “They experiment. They work at hybridizing different animals. In fact, they’re the ones who originally hybridized the wolves.” He put his head on one side. “Maybe Donnelly can tell us something about what they’re up to, now that Rekworth is dead. He never said as much, but I always suspected he created the wolf hybrids in the first place. He’s creative like that.”

  “Does he keep track of all his creations?”

  “I don’t know half of what he’s up to, and the Guild’s activities are closely guarded secrets. Most of the creatures in Hinterland came out of these mountains, but the Guild would never admit to that.”

  Bishop walked faster, down carpeted halls, up and down resounding wooden staircases, and through high stone archways. The city only got more grand and exotic and imposing the farther they went, but one thing stuck out at Raleigh like a blazing signpost. All the people she passed, dressed in elaborate outfits bedecked with precious stones and gold trim—every last one of them was human. She saw no creatures anywhere, not even a dog or a cat.

  The longer she looked, the more glaring the contrast became. Every place Bishop took her in Hinterland crawled from wall to wall with every species of creature Raleigh could imagine and even quite a few she couldn’t imagine. Never in her wildest dreams could she imagine something or someone like Yafik existing anywhere. Yet here he was, alive and as well as could be expected, considering his circumstances.

  She flew directly from the streets of Pernrith, teeming on all sides with thousands of species, to the towers of Hallbreck. The diametrically opposed realities hit her in the face so she could go no further. She pulled up short. “What’s going on here, Bishop? Where are all the creatures?”

  He nodded and kept walking. “They don’t allow them. They keep them locked up, or they ship them out to farms. That’s one thing you’ll learn about the Guild of Husbandry. Everything is livestock to them. Maybe even humans are livestock to them, but the City Elders won’t allow the Guild to put humans into harness pulling plows. They don’t care how sentient a creature is. If the law doesn’t force them to treat you with respect and dignity, they won’t do it.” He shuddered. “They’re evil, those people.”

  Raleigh couldn’t believe her ears. How could anyone be so diabolically vicious? How could Pernrith treat these creatures as free citizens, while Hallbreck worked them into the ground without a care for their thoughts and feelings?

  Bishop opened a door at the end of a long hallway. It communicated into a large hall lined with benches. People clustered in the seats facing a raised platform at the other end. Bishop paused inside the doorway, and a man behind a podium addressed the crowd.

  He wore a queer five-pointed hat on his head. A cap of satin surrounded his close-cropped hair, while the flat, fabric star perched on top. Tassels wavered from its corners when he moved his head. Spectacles perched on the end of his nose, and he shook his forefinger at his audience.

  “And God said, ‘He who hath created the Earth and all that is in it, shall subdue the Earth and have dominion over it. He who tilleth the soil shall harness the creatures of the Earth to labor for him, and the Earth shall yield its bounty unto his hands. Verily I saw to ye, go forth and subdue the Earth and all that is in it, for I shall succor thee and uplift thee in all ye shall do.”

  Raleigh frowned and whispered to Bishop. “I don’t think that’s really what God said, do you?”

  He didn’t look at her. He turned sideways and inched his way along the outskirts of the benches. He shouldered his way between people standing around the room’s perimeter until he worked his way all the way around the room to another door set on the opposite wall.

  Raleigh moved in the pocket of space left by his passage. Here, as everywhere, the crowd parted to let him through. Bishop only had to project his overpowering presence, and everyone stood aside for him.

  Bishop paused again in front of the other door. The man on the platform bellowed more nonsense to the audience who listened in rapt silence. Raleigh did her best not to let his looney sermon penetrate her head.

  The man came to the end of his sentence. He swept the crowd with one imperious glance, and his eye came to rest on Bishop standing there looking up at him. For a fraction of an instant, time stood still. The two men locked eyes.

  The man on the platform couldn’t fail to notice Bishop. His black frock coat, his trim waistcoat and polished black boots—all those things set him apart, but the one thing that no one could ignore was his magnetic presence. His eyes flashed. His chiseled face took in every detail of his surroundings. He sized people up in an instant. No one could look away when Knox Bishop walked into a room.

  The man frowned once. He opened his mouth to say something, but Bishop turned his back. He opened the door, stepped through it, and shut the door again in the man’s face.

  Raleigh shivered. “Did you know that man?”

  “I don’t need to know him. He’s a Guildsman. That’s all I need to know about him.”

  Raleigh shook herself. “Let’s go find your friend.”

  “Lesson number one for Hallbreck,” Bishop told her. “All the Guildsman are alike. Donnelly may be my friend, but you’ll find he’s exactly like that man in there. He thinks nothing of carrying out his work. Just remember that when it comes to dealing with him.”

  Raleigh spun around to face him. “Why? What do you think I’m going to do or say when we get there?”

  Bishop shook his head. “I’ve seen the way you look at people like Yafik and Niui and even Dax. You’re too kind-he
arted to stay in Hallbreck for long. Just remember we’re visiting Donnelly to get information about the twen’s diet and biological needs. We’re not here to reform these people or convince them of the error of their ways.”

  Bishop set off down another long hallway. Raleigh hurried to catch up with him, but her mind spun so fast she couldn’t keep up with it all. Bishop stopped for the last time at the base of a simple spiral staircase. It wound its way up into the ceiling where she couldn’t see the top.

  “This is Donnelly’s apartment. We’ll go up and see what he has to say about the twen.”

  Raleigh laid a hand on his arm to stop him. “What did you just say about Dax?”

  Bishop furrowed his brow. “What about Dax?”

  “You said you noticed the way I looked at him.”

  “Yeah?”

  “You said his name, right after you said Yafik and Niui.”

  “Is there a point you’re trying to make, Raleigh?”

  “You said I looked at them. You were saying I’m too kind-hearted, and you said Yafik and Niui, and Dax.”

  “So what? You are kind-hearted. You care about people.”

  “You weren’t talking about people. You were talking about creatures—or at least, you were talking about people the Guild of Husbandry considers creatures. You said they would put them to work as livestock, and then you mentioned Dax in the same breath with Yafik and Niui.”

  Bishop smacked his lips and put his hand on the stair railing. “This is a waste of time. I’m going up.”

  She snatched a fistful of his sleeve and yanked him back. “You said you would take Yafik back to your house, even though anybody walking around would see he wasn’t human. You wouldn’t stop at taking anybody back to your house if they did look human. Dax is a hybrid, isn’t he? He’s a hybrid of human and something else, and you took him to your house to protect him. Didn’t you?”

  Bishop looked away, but he clenched his jaw so tight he couldn’t speak without snarling through his teeth. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “That’s why you’re so protective of him. He was in trouble, wasn’t he? He was in a lot worse trouble than Yafik, and you rescued him. You took him home to your house. That’s why he worships you the way he does. That’s why he has such an innate ability at combat. His reaction time, his aim—I see it all now. No ordinary human could fight like that when he didn’t have any training. Dax has been sitting in your blasted carriage driver’s seat for I don’t know how many years, and he almost hit that pumpkin with my blade the very first time he threw it.”

  Bishop glared at her with smoldering eyes. His jaw muscle worked in and out under his skin, and his lips quivered. “Are you finished yet? Can we go up now?”

  Raleigh couldn’t say any more. Bishop didn’t have to admit the truth. She saw it all plain as the nose on his face. Dax was a hybrid. She would probably never find out of what he was a hybrid. Bishop would take that knowledge to the grave.

  Dax didn’t seem to know what he was. Maybe Bishop took Dax home when Dax was too young to remember, but something undeniable drew Dax back to Hinterland. Something burned in Dax to fight, to conquer, to own his heritage, whatever it was.

  Now Raleigh understood all Bishop’s machinations to shelter Dax from ever entering Hinterland. Whatever trouble Dax was in when Bishop rescued him must have been truly terrible. Bishop didn’t want Dax falling into the clutches of unscrupulous people like this Guild of Husbandry. He didn’t want Dax falling back into slavery, or mistreatment, or worse.

  Raleigh shuddered at the thought. The Guild experimented on people and animals. They created these hybrids. Then they sold them into a life of bondage and distress. No one cared what happened to them afterwards. God only knew what despicable lives they led.

  Dax was every bit as human as anyone Raleigh ever met. He felt, he cared, he dreamed, he desired, he loved. He was human, but the Guild didn’t see that. They saw only his hybrid nature.

  Raleigh would give anything to know the other half of Dax’s heritage, but Bishop would never tell her and she would never ask. Whatever else she did, she would never tell Dax the truth. She loved him ten times more, now that she knew.

  Chapter 10

  Bishop trotted up the spiral staircase. His long legs vanished from view and left Raleigh to scale the steps behind him. She found him in a tiny room perched in the utmost pinnacle of a spire high above the city. Four windows on all four walls looked down on the whole glowing expanse of Hallbreck spread out below.

  The setting sun struck the western window to light up the room, and Raleigh beheld a wizened old man not much different from the speaker she heard downstairs in the hall. This man came up to her chin, and the same five-pointed hat sat on his head.

  He peered at Raleigh over his spectacles, and a childish grin spread over his face. That grin reminded her of Niui, but this man didn’t give her the warm, friendly feeling Niui did. This man gave her the distinct impression he was examining her under a magnifying glass.

  “Good evening, Donnelly,” Bishop said.

  Donnelly cackled with laughter. “It’s always a good evening when someone comes to visit me. You know that, Bishop. Who is your delightful friend?”

  Bishop grimaced. “This is my new apprentice, Raleigh Douglas. She comes from Tunstead, near Perdue.”

  Donnelly peered at her even closer. “A fine specimen. Absolutely pure. I haven’t seen one like her in many years.”

  Bishop snorted. “I’m sure you haven’t, but I didn’t come here to show her to you. We’re here on business.”

  Donnelly shuffled around his room. A simple wooden cot sat in one corner. Besides that, books stacked every inch of the room. Piles of books and papers covered a table against one window until Raleigh could barely see the table under it.

  The books lay one on top of the other to form piles almost to the ceiling. Only a narrow pathway between the stacks led to the bed, the table, and to each window. The piles ended just below the windowsills to leave an unobstructed view of the wide world all around.

  Donnelly moved from one pile to the next. He plucked a book off a stack here, flipped the pages of a folio there, before returning it and moving on to the next treasure. “You’re always here on business, Bishop. When are you going to come and see me for the pleasure of my company?”

  “Your company is no pleasure to me, Donnelly. If you weren’t some use in my work, I wouldn’t come to visit you at all.”

  Donnelly smirked at Raleigh. “You see how it is? He doesn’t approve of my work.”

  “Neither do I,” she murmured.

  Donnelly’s beady blue eyes flew open. He rounded on Bishop and screeched with laughter. “You’ve corrupted her. You filled her head full of horrid notions about the Guild before you ever brought her to visit me. For shame, Bishop.”

  “I didn’t have to fill her head full of anything. She heard it all when we passed through the lecture hall a few minutes ago. If she didn’t hear it there, she would have heard it from your own mouth, so you have no reason to hide it now.”

  “I have no intention of hiding our Guild’s glorious work” Donnelly returned. “I have been honored to give the Guild the best years of my life, and I would do it all again in a heartbeat. I can stand a few minutes of your disapproving glances, Bishop, against a lifetime of achievement.”

  “It’s because of your achievements that we’re here,” Bishop remarked, “so I guess I can’t disapprove too much.”

  Donnelly sighed. “Your Guild serves its purpose, too, in its own way.”

  Bishop looked out the window. He didn’t say anything about his Guild.

  Donnelly let out a whistling sigh. “Well, say what it is you want. I don’t have all day.”

  “We’re here to get information on the twen.”

  Donnelly’s head shot up, and the superior smirk vaporized off his face. “The….”

  “The twen,” Bishop repeated. �
��We’re tracking one, and we need information about what food they eat, what special care they need in captivity—all that. I know you worked with twen in your younger days, and….”

  “Yes, yes,” Donnelly snapped. “I heard you. The twen. Hmm.”

  He started puttering around his room again. He picked up random books, flipped to random pages, and moved on. “Twen, twen,” he muttered. “Twen.”

  “We’re tracking not just any old twen,” Bishop told him. “We’re seeking a juvenile, perhaps even a very young juvenile. We want to know everything anybody would need to know to capture one and keep it in captivity. Can you help us, Donnelly?”

  Donnelly didn’t seem to hear. He circled his room again and again, mumbling to himself, “Twen, twen, twen.” He picked up the same books and shuffled the same papers again and again.

  Raleigh nudged Bishop. “Let’s get out of here. This is going nowhere.”

  Bishop held up his hand and didn’t budge. He observed Donnelly with a keen eye until the old man slammed down a book he’d already looked at three times. “That’s it! I’ve got it.”

  “What have you got?” Bishop asked.

  “I used to raise twen. I worked on them when I was in my prime, but that only lasted a few short years. Then the Guild transferred me to another project. They moved all my work to another research facility. I never found out what happened to it.”

  “What were you working on?” Bishop asked.

  “Just what you said. I was breeding twen in the hopes of producing a juvenile.”

  Bishop stood up straighter, and his eyes glinted in the sun’s dying rays. “Did you ever succeed?”

  “I succeeded in getting one of my breeding pairs to give birth to a live juvenile. I had it growing in my lab for seven weeks. Then my project got cancelled.”

  Bishop took a step toward the old man before he caught hold of himself and stood still. “This is important, Donnelly. Who was in charge of the project? Who was your superior who ordered the project cancelled?”