The Magelands Epic: Storm Mage (Book 6)

by Christopher Mitchell

  ‘You got something to say, boss?’ Cain said, their eyes meeting.

  The atmosphere in the passageway chilled. Lennox noticed the hedgewitch named Thorn was back at the bars of her cell, watching.

  ‘Aye,’ he muttered. ‘Carrie’s my new second.’

  Carrie’s eyes widened. ‘What? Me, boss?’

  ‘Aye. You’re it.’

  ‘Eh, all right,’ she said. She leaned in close to his ear. ‘Can we have a chat, then? Just the two of us?’

  Lennox ignored the look on Cain’s face and got to his feet.

  ‘You lot,’ said Carrie, addressing the rest of the squad. ‘Two shifts. Leisha and Denny, you’re on duty first; Cain and Loryn, get some rest. We’ll be back in a minute.’

  Lennox and Carrie walked to the end of the passageway and through a door into an empty guard room. Lennox sat on the edge of a table, waiting for her to speak.

  ‘I just want to check something, boss,’ she said.

  ‘Aye?’

  ‘Well, I know how it was with Logie in charge, and then it was you and Libby.’

  ‘Aye?’

  ‘I’m not going to sleep with you,’ she said. ‘I just want to make that clear.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I mean, if you’re appointing me for that reason, then you can forget it.’

  He frowned. ‘I’m not like Logie.’

  ‘You don’t seem like him, granted, but I’ve been fooled by so-called nice guys before. And I know that more than a few squad leaders abuse their position. It’s not happening to me again.’

  ‘You have my word,’ he said. ‘I won’t try anything. I picked you because I trust you.’

  ‘Alright, then, I’ll do it. Now, as your second, I want you to tell me what’s going on inside your head. Do I need to worry about you hurting yourself?’

  He looked her in the eye. ‘Am I a monster?’

  She slid a chair out from under the table and sat. ‘Before Rainsby, I thought of you as the best of us. The way you’d disobeyed orders to protect civilians, and the way you’d stood up to Logie; we’d have followed you into any situation. Now, I’m worried, I admit it. It wasn’t just the hospital, I mean, you didn’t know that at the time. But when you killed those civilians who were running away down the wharf? I was thinking, “who is this?”; it was bad, boss. Bad.’

  ‘If I do it again, you have permission to kill me.’

  She smiled. ‘Aye, alright. But will you do it again?’

  ‘Sitting here right now,’ he said, ‘I’d say no, of course not. Never. But it’s not true, is it? I know now what I’m capable of, and it sickens me, and I can’t see any way back. The world would be a better place without me.’

  ‘That’s what a coward would do, boss. You need to face it head on, not run away.’

  ‘Face it? How the fuck do I face it?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘Maybe every day try to do something that makes the world better, not worse.’

  A noise came from the passageway of a door slamming. Lennox and Carrie got to their feet and walked from the room. Sable was standing by the cells, her eyes narrow.

  ‘Lennox,’ she said. ‘Outside, now. I need you to see something.’

  The squad leader nodded and walked down the passage. He passed Thorn’s cell and she caught his eye. The other hedgewitches looked like they were sleeping, or at least trying to, but she was alert, standing in front of the bars, her expression defiant.

  ‘Carrie’s a good woman,’ she said. ‘I hope you listen to her.’

  He almost stopped, but Sable looked impatient, so he followed her out of the building and into the warm night air of the harbour. Soldiers were gathering down by the wharf, and a low sound was coming from the far side of the basin. Lennox squinted into the distance, but couldn’t see what was causing it.

  ‘The Empress has surprised us all,’ Sable said, her face grim. ‘I wouldn’t have believed it, but I used my vision powers to check.’

  ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘We’re under attack, or are about to be. The entire imperial fleet is outside Stretton Sands. They must have sailed the moment they’d unblocked the harbour entrance. Right now, they’re cutting through the chain, and have already landed marines by the outer breakwater.’

  ‘Marines?’

  ‘Yes. The Empress’s answer to the Army of Pyre. The best they have. Judging by the size of the fleet, there’s about ten thousand of them, maybe more.’

  At that moment a fiery rock flew up into the sky from the direction of the sea. It flashed through the air, soaring over the harbour, then crashed into the town behind them, creating a burst of flames that rose above the rooftops. Within seconds, a dozen more followed, rising up over the harbour walls; each landing within the town. Screams, explosions and the roar of flames filled the air.

  The soldiers on the quayside stared as the first ships appeared through the darkness, sailing at speed into the harbour towards them. Some had raised platforms on their decks, where catapults were loosing more burning rocks into the town. As the harbour filled, the soldiers on the quayside turned, running to their barracks and positions. Officers were standing about in groups, arguing.

  ‘Lennox,’ said Sable, ‘you know what you have to do.’

  Lennox stared at the approaching ships as the harbour descended into chaos around them.

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘I don’t.’

  ‘Burn the fleet. If you don’t, there will be carnage when those ships reach the docks. You can save Stretton Sands, Lennox.’

  ‘Save it?’ he said. ‘I think the civilians living under Sanang rule might disagree with you.’

  Sable stared at him, her mouth opening. ‘Are you questioning me, soldier? I’m giving you an order. Burn those fucking ships.’

  ‘I can’t; Rainsby exhausted my fire powers. It’ll be another few days before they return.’

  ‘You’re lying,’ she cried. ‘You fucking weasel, Lennox.’ She raised her hand and slapped him across the face.

  ‘And what are you going to do about it?’

  She drew her sword.

  ‘I’m not burning the ships,’

  ‘Damn you, Lennox,’ she said. ‘I will take your head from your shoulders.’

  ‘Then do it. I’ll fight like a soldier, but I’m not using my powers to massacre thousands.’

  Sable’s face contorted with anger. She glanced over to the quayside, where fiery boulders were lighting up the sky, then back to Lennox.

  She sheathed her sword. ‘Before this night is out, you’ll have to choose. You can’t be half with us; it has to be everything or nothing. My priority now is to get you and the hedgewitches to where I can arrange the winged gaien to pick us up. By the time I board that carriage, either you’ll have proved your loyalty to me; or I’ll have killed you. It’s war, Lennox; there’s no middle ground.’

  He felt a burning sensation behind his temples.

  ‘Did you feel that?’ she said. ‘I put something in your mind. If you think about attacking me, then I’ll know, and more than that, it’ll trigger a pain in your head like nothing you’ve felt before. Try it. See what happens.’

  He frowned. He knew she was a vision mage, but hadn’t heard of any power like the one she was describing.

  ‘No, thanks.’

  She shrugged, and turned for the jailhouse. Lennox glanced back at the harbour, which was filled with the sails of the imperial fleet. At the far end of the wharf, where the Seablade had once been berthed, the first ships had drawn in to the stone quayside. Soldiers from the Army of Pyre were defending a narrow stretch of pier, but the marines were disembarking at a rapid rate, and countless more were waiting in the rest of the fleet. Catapults were continuing to launch burning rocks into the town, where a dozen fires were raging.

  If he wanted to, he could burn them all, the entire fleet. They were bunched together, churning up the dark waters of the harbour; an easy target. A chill gripped him as he began to realise the truth
; he didn’t care if the imperials won. The Army of Pyre and the Sons of Sanang had brought Stretton Sands to its knees. Everyone knew of the atrocities that had been carried out upon the civilian population. Most had been done by the Sanang, it was true, but the Kellach Brigdomin soldiers in the Army of Pyre had been complicit in their inaction, while smug in their belief that at least the civilians under their control weren’t as badly treated as those who had the misfortune of living on the other side of town.

  He turned and walked to the jailhouse.

  Sable was organising the squad as he entered the passageway that held the cells. Carrie glanced at him.

  ‘It’s true,’ he said. ‘The imperial fleet has arrived. They’re storming the harbour.’

  ‘We should be out there,’ Cain said, pulling on his armour. ‘Kick the bastards back into the sea.’

  Sable shook her head. ‘Too late for that. The harbour’s lost. We need to get out of here.’

  ‘What?’ said Cain. ‘We can’t just abandon Stretton Sands, not after all we’ve been through. We need to make them fight for every street.’ He look around from soldier to soldier. ‘We’re the Army of Pyre; we can’t lose.’

  ‘Call it a tactical withdrawal, then,’ said Sable. ‘Now, get those cells opened up, and secure the hedgewitches; we haven’t got long.’

  Cain cursed, then ran out of the passageway towards the front of the jailhouse, his mace in his hand. Leisha unlocked the two cells, and the soldiers went in, tying the hands of the hedgewitches behind their backs.

  ‘Hoods?’ cried Leisha to Sable.

  The roar of an explosion rocked the building, shaking the walls. Dust flew down from the ceiling.

  ‘No time,’ yelled Sable,’ Get them outside!’

  The prisoners were ushered into the passageway, crossbows trained on them. Leisha looped a rope round their wrists, connecting them in a long line. She pushed Thorn to the front. The squad gathered round, their armour and weapons ready. Lennox stood by Sable near the door.

  ‘Carrie,’ he said, ‘you take the rear, with Loryn and Denny.’ He turned to Sable and nodded.

  ‘We’re going to be moving fast,’ she said. ‘Keep the hedgewitches close.’

  She ran from the room, and the squad shoved the Sanang women out after her. Cain was standing outside the front door of the jailhouse, his shield raised, and his eyes wide. A wall of noise hit Lennox as he left the building; a roar of screams and shouts, fires raging, and steel striking steel. Swarms of imperial marines were surging on the long, wide wharf, crossing from ship to ship to disembark in their thousands. Fighting was going on in a dozen different locations, with isolated bands of Army of Pyre retreating away from the massed ranks of marines. Over to their left, behind the harbour wall, fires were raging in the town.

  The squad and the prisoners stared at the harbour for a moment. One of the hedgewitches began weeping and crying out, trying to attract the attention of the closest group of marines, some fifty yards away, who were forming up by a row of warehouses.

  Sable turned and slapped the hedgewitch, but that made it worse, as the other prisoners also began to call out.

  ‘Quiet, or one of you dies,’ called out Sable, pushing the hedgewitches away from the front of the jailhouse. ‘Move them!’ she screamed at the squad.

  Lennox and the others shoved the prisoners, ushering them down a side street behind the jailhouse and away from the harbour front. Lennox remained by Sable at the head of the column as she led them down a succession of narrow alleyways, switching direction often. The hedgewitches quietened as they were forced to run in the darkness, the only illumination coming from the reflected glow of the fires in the town that flickered overhead above the roofs of the harbour buildings. They reached the edge of the wall that separated the harbour from the town. The main gate was away over to their right, and Sable slowed as she scanned the lane.

  Lennox ushered the line of hedgewitches into the shadows of the wall as Sable stood in silence. The crying prisoner called out again, screaming words in her own language, and Sable turned, her face lit with fury. She drew her sword and ran the blade through the chest of one of the other captives, the girl who had shared a cell with Thorn. The squad and the hedgewitches looked on in silence as Sable pulled her sword back, and the young Sanang woman fell to the ground, her arms twisted by the ropes; blood staining the front of her dress. Lennox stared at her as the four hedgewitches started to weep.

  ‘I told you what would happen,’ said Sable. ‘Now shut up, all of you.’ She turned to Leisha. ‘Get her body cut from the line.’

  Leisha stared at Sable for a moment, then drew a knife and knelt by the body. She sliced through the bonds tied to the young woman’s wrists, and the rope swung free.

  ‘Murderer,’ spat Thorn at Sable, her voice anguished.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ said Carrie, her face pale in the shadows. ‘Why didn’t she heal herself?’

  ‘Because she wasn’t a hedgewitch,’ said Sable.

  ‘She was my friend, you bastard,’ cried Thorn.

  Sable raised the tip of her bloody sword to Thorn’s throat. The other three captives huddled beside her, hatred and terror in their eyes as the Holdings agent stared at Thorn.

  ‘I’ll kill you all if I have to,’ she said.

  ‘They’re coming, boss,’ said Denny from where he was standing by the corner of a warehouse.

  Sable sheathed her sword and the squad ushered the prisoners on, leaving the body of the dead Sanang woman on the cobbles behind them. Lennox closed his mind to the image of her as he ran, concentrating on keeping his squad alive, and trying to ignore the growing voices in his head telling him that if he continued to follow Sable, he would become everything that he hated.

  The Holdings agent led them to small postern gate in the harbour wall. It opened only from the harbour-side, and Sable unbarred it and kicked it open. The squad squeezed through the narrow gateway, herding the hedgewitches between them. They emerged into a dark street in what had once been the Holdings district of town. A rumble of noise was coming from the main entrance to the harbour, which lay a few streets to their right. Sable paused for a moment, her eyes glazing over as the squad waited.

  Carrie edged over to Lennox. ‘This is fucked up, boss. What are we doing?’

  ‘Getting out of Stretton Sands,’ he said.

  ‘Are you going to keep following orders,’ said Thorn, as tears streamed down her face, ‘even when you know they’re wrong?’

  The squad glanced at each other, saying nothing.

  Sable snapped herself out of the trance and turned to them.

  ‘The Army of Pyre is holding the harbour gates,’ she said, ‘for now, at least. I’ve summoned our flying carriage; they’re going to meet us outside the town walls, by the northern gate. We stick together, and in an hour we’ll be out of this shithole.’

  They set off again, Sable leading them through the streets. Groups of Army of Pyre soldiers were running back and forth; some heading towards the harbour gates, others fleeing, injured or searching for their units. Sable dodged between them, the squad half-pushing, half-dragging the hedgewitches along. A large fire was raging through a block of tenements ahead of them, so Sable skirted round to the right. They reached the main road that linked the northern gates to the harbour. It was blocked by a large detachment of Army of Pyre, lining up in ranks and Sable sprinted past, the squad running behind her. They raced down a side street, looking for another route to the gates, and ran straight into a large mass of Sanang warriors who were charging down the road, their momentum carrying the squad deep into their midst. One of the hedgewitches screamed in the darkness and confusion, and the warriors turned to them.

  ‘Back!’ cried Sable, drawing her sword as the Sanang stared in recognition at the hedgewitches. Lennox grabbed hold of one of the older women’s arms and began hauling her away as the first Sanang lunged at them, his hands reaching for her. Cain swung his mace, bringing down a warrior and the street erupted
into chaos. Sanang warriors charged from every direction, their swords and spears flashing in the light from the fires raging through the town. Sable’s sword slashed out in a blur, slicing through arms. Carrie drove her shield into the face of a warrior, then fended off another with a crossbow bolt through his neck as Lennox barged through the crowd, his right hand never letting go of the hedgewitch. Loryn went down, hacked from behind by an axe-wielding warrior, her helmet split open. Leisha took a sword blow to her waist, and Lennox reached her, smashing the skull of her assailant with his mace. Carrie and Cain joined them, clearing a space as they fought their way back through the street.

  Lennox lost sight of Sable as he reached the entrance to an alleyway. He pushed the elderly hedgewitch into its shadows, and Leisha collapsed next to her, blood gushing from her gut wound. Cain and Carrie blocked the alleyway with their shields, straining against the mass of Sanang muscle and flesh pushing at them. Lennox glanced at the nearest fire and raised his hand.

  The older hedgewitch screamed at him, and he hesitated.

  ‘She’s saying her daughters are still out there,’ said Sable, appearing in the alleyway, a bloody sword in one hand, the other older hedgewitch grasped in the other.

  Lennox stared at her. ‘Tell her I have to. If I don’t we’ll all die.’

  ‘You don’t understand,’ said Sable. ‘She wants you to do it. She’d rather they die than be captured by the Sons. But it doesn’t matter; the two young hedgewitches have already been taken. I watched them be carried away.’

  Lennox grimaced, then turned back to the entrance to the alley. Cain and Carrie were being forced back inch by inch, their shields taking a battering. He raised his hand again, and felt for the nearest flames. They were far, but close enough for him to summon. He pulled a stream of flames from a burning tenement, then drove it down onto the Sanang warriors crowded in the street, their clothes and hair bursting into flames. The warriors howled and screamed. Many broke and ran, scattering into the warren of alleys; while those too slow were burned when they stood. In moments, the street lay in silence, with thick, dark tendrils of smoke rising from the incinerated bodies. One of the hedgewitches ran out into the road, scanning the bodies, looking for her daughters. Sable ordered the other to kneel by Leisha, whose eyes were closed. Lennox crouched down and watched as the hedgewitch laid her hands onto Leisha’s abdomen. The wound made a sucking noise, and began to close up, the skin re-forming until it was smooth; the injury gone. Leisha gasped, blood coming from her mouth. She rolled over and vomited.