Thorin Ironshield's Arc

Chapter 11 of 11

Thorin left the courthouse with the dragon shackle in his fist. The gray light was thinning fast. Two payments owed before nightfall, and the tower stood far off. He would not reach it in time on foot. He knew that as he crossed the yard. Then he heard the panting. A pack of dogs waited near a dead tree at the edge of the yard. Their fur glowed in strange neon colors, pink and blue and violet, scruffy and bright against the bare branches. Thorin knew these dogs. Kellan sent them. They had carried the broken Sentinel here as payment. They had carried the fox seals as warnings. Thorin stopped. His hand tightened on the shackle. The lead dog stepped forward, a tall dark one with glowing eyes. It did not growl. It lowered its head. Then it turned and looked back toward the far tower. "You serve Kellan," Thorin said. "Why help me?" A glowing owl dropped from the dead tree and landed on the lead dog's back. Its feathers burned soft orange and pink. It watched Thorin with wide eyes. Something spectral drifted above them both, a shape like a small sun made of light. Thorin had seen that mark before. Ash's mark. The stitched sun on his coats. Thorin understood then. These were not only Kellan's tools. Something else moved them now. The bound magic Kellan used took names. It took pieces. Maybe it hated its master. Maybe the dead things Kellan fed still had wills of their own. He did not have time to be sure. He had time only to choose. Waiting had cost him four Sentinels and one broken back. Pride had kept him careful when careful meant slow. No more. Thorin climbed onto the lead dog's back. Its fur was warm and it held his weight. "Take me to the rock," he said. "Before he feeds it again." The pack broke into a run. The yard blurred. The dead tree fell behind. The glowing owl flew ahead, lighting the path. Wind tore at Thorin's beard and stung his eyes. He gripped the shackle and the dog's neck and did not look back. The tower rose against the dark. Its red glow pulsed at the top, strong and sick. The dogs slowed at its base. Thorin slid down. His boots hit stone. Full night had not come. He had beaten it here. No new payment had reached Kellan. No fresh name burned. The Sentinel Thorin had marked to lose this week was still standing somewhere, safe for one more hour. Thorin had bought that hour by riding an enemy's beast to an enemy's door. He faced the tower. The red light waited. The rock waited inside it. He climbed the first step with the shackle in his hand.