The Severed City

by Christopher Mitchell

  ‘What are you doing, miss?’ Laodoc whispered.

  ‘My job.’

  She leapt from the back of the wagon, landing next to where Bedig lay holding his leg. He looked up at her in astonishment. She scanned the scene in an instant, her battle-vision taking in everything. Before her stood seven men and a woman, and above them on the low cliffs were another five, armed with bows. Their chief, the one who had been speaking, was a tall, blond Kellach man, hefting an enormous axe. Next to him was a Sanang warrior, the first she had seen since fleeing the forest land when she had escaped from Agang Garo. He was stripped except for a kilt, and was armed with a Holdings longsword.

  For a fraction of a second they stared at her in surprise.

  It was enough.

  She dodged to the side as a crossbow bolt sped past her, and sprang at the leading pair, going for the Sanang first. Before he could react her sword was through his throat, then she span and dived low as the Kellach’s axe swung over her head. Rolling under his wide stance, she slashed the backs of his knees, severing deep through muscle and tendon. He screamed, and collapsed. More bolts were fired down at her, and she blocked two with the armour enclosing her maimed left arm as she raised it to protect her head.

  Over to her left she saw the sergeant spur Jamie into a charge, her cavalry sword extended.

  The rest of the band, made up of more Kellach, Sanang, and a couple of Rahain, split into two. Three came at Daphne.

  Her movements became automatic, the battle-vision sensing movement almost before it happened, and driving her trained fighting instincts, honed through experience. She slashed and stabbed, moving faster than any foe could keep up with and in a minute all three were dead at her feet. She heard the sergeant call out, and ran to her assistance, ducking as more crossbow bolts flew past.

  She could feel her energy ebbing. If only she had some keenweed.

  The sergeant had killed one of her attackers, but the other two had her pinned against one of the wagons, blood flowing from a wound to her shoulder. Daphne covered the distance in an instant. She swept her sword down in a powerful arc, cleaving the red-haired Kellach woman from shoulder to waist, then punched out with her left arm, battering the armour’s fist-guard into the Rahain’s face, smashing through the front of his skull.

  The sergeant stared down at her, her mouth wide open.

  ‘Look out!’ someone shouted, and more crossbow bolts spat through the air. Daphne threw herself under the wagon as the firing stopped. A strange half-choking, half-screaming sound echoed from the hills, then went silent.

  Daphne crawled out from under the wagon. To her right stood a woman dressed in black, her right hand raised, her thick dark hair tumbling about her shoulders.

  ‘Looked like you needed a little help there, Daphne.’

  ‘Thanks Shella,’ Daphne said. She was about to get to her feet when she felt her vision drain away, her energy exhausted. Nausea filled her, and she collapsed, her right arm hugging her waist.

  ‘Daphne!’ Shella called out, running to her side.

  Pain streaked through her, pushing aside the nausea. Her head felt like it was exploding, her sinuses, ears and teeth were throbbing. Cramps gripped her abdomen, like the worst period pain she had ever gone through, and she clenched her eyes shut. She felt one hand on her forehead and another below her waist. She cried out in agony, and the cramps ceased, as if they had been switched off.

  She lay back sweating in relief, and let oblivion take her.

  When she came to, she was in the back of a wagon. As soon as she opened her eyes the nausea returned, along with the toothache, but her cramps were gone.

  ‘The baby’s fine,’ she heard Shella say.

  She looked up. Shella and her brother Sami were sitting on the wagon’s inside bench, watching her. Sami was wrapped in a blanket, his face grey from the illness caused by the poisoning of Akhanawarah City. Their fellow Rakanese, Jayki, was at the front, guiding the slow moving gaien as they lurched down the road.

  ‘What happened?’ Daphne said. ‘Was I having a miscarriage?’

  ‘I’m not sure,’ Shella said. ‘I know fuck all about the bodies of Holdings people, especially down there. I know how to relieve cramps though, that’s something I can do.’

  Daphne groaned. ‘Can you do anything about the sickness?’

  Shella shook her head.

  ‘What about some dreamweed?’

  ‘No Daphne, I threw it all away.’

  Sami’s eyes went wide. ‘You liar!’ he said to his sister. ‘We smoke it every evening.’

  ‘Do you want me to punch you in the face you little halfwit?’ Shella said. ‘Fucksake.’

  ‘Well,’ said Sami, coughing. ‘Doesn’t seem fair.’

  ‘It’s bad for the baby, you idiot.’

  Shella frowned at Daphne, pursing her lips.

  ‘Please,’ Daphne croaked.

  ‘Okay,’ Shella said. ‘Just this once, and only because you used your powers. I can only imagine how shit you must be feeling.’

  She reached into her robes, and pulled out a wallet. She opened it, revealing several dozen small smoke sticks.

  ‘Here,’ she said, handing one to Daphne. ‘This one’s a mixture of dream, keen and dullweed.’

  Shella lit a match, and Daphne put the smokestick to her lips.

  She inhaled, and her nausea lifted, along with the last of the head pains.

  Gasping in relief, she lay back down onto the makeshift bed on the floor of the wagon.

  ‘I hate being pregnant,’ she said.

  Shella smiled.

  ‘You seem to be in a much better mood,’ Daphne went on. ‘That’s the first time I’ve seen you smile in ages.’

  Sami chuckled. ‘She got a kick from killing those bandits.’

  Shella frowned. ‘What are you trying to say?’

  ‘Well, didn’t you?’

  Shella laughed. ‘Yeah, okay, I admit it. First time I’ve felt useful for the entire trip.’

  ‘You killed the bandits on the hillside?’

  ‘Yeah,’ she grinned, raising her right hand. ‘Flooded their lungs. Drowned them.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  ‘I tried to get out of the wagon to help you earlier, but our guard was basically sitting on me, for my own protection he kept saying. By the time I could push him off, you’d already killed most of them.’

  ‘You were amazing,’ Sami said. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it. I thought the Kellach were the best fighters I’d ever seen, but the way you tore through them…’

  ‘Stop gushing like a teenager,’ Shella said.

  Daphne smiled, the drugs relaxing her. She felt better than she had in days.

  ‘How’s Bedig?’ she asked.

  ‘Takes more than a crossbow bolt to put a Kellach down,’ Shella said. ‘He’ll be fine in a few days. The sergeant, on the other hand…’

  Daphne’s mouth opened. ‘I forgot. She was wounded in the shoulder.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Shella said. ‘She took a sore one. Might take until Rainsby before she heals. She’s recovering in your old wagon. I’ll check on her every day, and keep any infections out, she won’t die.’

  ‘Thanks, Shella. Who’s riding Jamie?’

  ‘We tethered your beast to the middle wagon,’ Shella replied. ‘He has a few scratches from the fight, but nothing serious.’

  Daphne nodded. ‘Was anyone else hurt?’

  Shella and Sami shared a glance.

  ‘One of your soldiers, Tommy, was killed,’ Shella said. ‘Bolt through the chest.’

  ‘Damn,’ Daphne said. ‘He was a fine trooper. Are we going to bury him?’

  ‘Already done,’ Shella said. ‘We laid him in a pit and covered him in rocks.’

  ‘I should have been there.’

  ‘Don’t beat yourself up,’ Shella said. ‘Everyone saw what you did to the bandits, no one thinks bad of you for taking some time out to recover.’

  Shella plucked the smokestick from Daphne
’s fingers, took a puff, and handed it back.

  ‘Anyway,’ she said, ‘our guard has taken over the rear wagon, where Tommy used to be, which explains why Jayki is in control of the reins.’ She nodded over to the Rakanese male up on the front bench. Jayki turned and smiled at Daphne.

  ‘I figured,’ Shella said, ‘it’d be useful if he learns a trade. That way at least one of us will have a job when we get to Plateau City.’

  Daphne let out a long breath. She felt exhausted, despite the keenweed in her system.

  ‘Thanks for looking after me,’ she said.

  Shella smiled. ‘No problem. Reminds me of when I used to help our sister Noli when she was pregnant. Though she was nowhere near as sick as you, and she had sixteen of the little brats swimming about inside her.’

  ‘One’s bad enough, believe me,’ Daphne said. ‘I hate being pregnant.’

  ‘So you keep saying,’ Shella said. ‘Listen. I know this is absolutely none of my business, but I think I have to tell you something.’ She paused.

  ‘What?’

  ‘One of my powers,’ she said, ‘I mean, all Rakanese high mages can do it, not just me. Anyway, I mean, one of the things we were sometimes asked to do, back in Arakhanah City…’

  Daphne leaned up on her right elbow, listening.

  ‘Sometimes women would ask us,’ Shella went on, ‘if we would end their pregnancy, you know? If they didn’t have a spawning licence or if they just didn’t want to have children.’ She looked into Daphne’s eyes. ‘If you want, I mean if you really hate being pregnant, and want it to stop, then I can do it for you.’

  Daphne said nothing, her mouth opening in surprise.

  ‘Don’t answer right away,’ Shella said. ‘Think about it. Think about what’s right for you.’

  ‘No,’ Daphne said.

  ‘Okay,’ Shella said, raising her hands. ‘No problem, I just wanted you to know you have the choice.’

  Daphne put her hand to her stomach. Did she want to have the baby? Killop’s baby? She dreaded the thirds ahead, carrying around an ever-growing burden, and being tortured by unending nausea. As for the birth itself, she refused to allow herself to think of it. As a teenager she had been at the birth of her sister Ariel’s son, a terrifying and bloody experience, and she would never forget her sister’s screams. She shuddered at the thought of going through it herself.

  ‘I’m going to keep the baby,’ she said. ‘I have no idea where Killop is. There’s a good chance I’ll never see him again, I know that. This baby might be the only thing I ever have of him. I don’t want to lose it, and I don’t want to face Killop, if he does show up, only to tell him that I…’

  ‘I understand,’ Shella said. ‘I can help you, just like I used to help Noli. In fact, let me check you now, after you’ve smoked almost a whole stick of weed.’

  Daphne nodded. Shella rested her hand against her abdomen, and closed her eyes.

  ‘I can feel it,’ she said. ‘I can sense its heart beating, and the blood flowing through its tiny body. Ha,’ she laughed. ‘It’s squirming around like a tadpole.’

  She took her hand off. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Two things. First, I can’t sense any direct damage being done by the smoking, but I’m cutting off your supply. One now and again might not be too bad, but I’m not taking the risk of you becoming addicted again.’

  ‘I wasn’t addicted.’

  ‘Don’t bullshit me,’ Shella said. ‘I saw the state you were in the first time you went without a smoke, right when we started this journey. Just how much were you using when you were living in the Rahain capital?’

  ‘Not that much.’

  Shella cocked an eyebrow and shook her head.

  ‘I’ll be keeping hold of it for now,’ she said, patting her robes where the wallet lay.

  ‘You mean you’ll be smoking it yourself.’

  ‘Yeah, that too,’ Shella said. ‘There’s easily enough to last us to Rainsby, and anyway, I’m not the pregnant one.’

  Daphne took a final draw from the smokestick, and stubbed it out on the wooden floor.

  ‘What was the second thing?’

  ‘You’ll have to stop using your powers,’ Shella said, ‘unless it’s an emergency. At least until your period of sickness is over. Leave the killing to me for now, if any has to be done.’

  Daphne lay back again, sighing. She hated when Shella was right.

  Chapter 4

  Fallen

  Mountains east of Rahain Capital, Rahain Republic – Summer’s Day 505

  Killop crouched in the thick undergrowth, his eyes scanning the deep blue sky above. A few paces to his right Larissa knelt among the brambles, her eyes gazing upwards. In her hands she held a shortbow that she had fashioned herself. Behind her huddled Dominic, grasping a sack, half-filled with the bodies of several plump birds that Larissa had shot.

  Killop nodded. ‘We’re clear. It’s gone.’

  ‘That’s three winged gaien in the last few days,’ Larissa said, pulling herself free of the thorns. ‘Reckon the lizards are on to us?’

  They scrambled loose and stood on the stony hillside.

  ‘Maybe they discovered the remains of the slave-hunters we ambushed,’ Dominic said, emerging from the bushes with the sack over his shoulder. ‘And well spotted, Larissa, you’ve got good eyes. For a Lach.’

  Larissa glared at him.

  ‘I think we’ve enough for today,’ Killop said. ‘Let’s head back to the camp.’

  ‘I hope Draewyn has remembered to bring in the firewood,’ Dominic said. ‘It was freezing last night. I don’t understand why it’s so chilly. Summer must be starting about now.’

  ‘Colder up the mountains,’ Larissa muttered, shouldering her bow. ‘Idiot Domm.’

  ‘Better than being a lazy turnip-eating Lach,’ he called back to her.

  ‘I hope you get on better after I’ve gone,’ Killop said.

  ‘If you’re leaving him in charge,’ Larissa said, nodding at Dominic. ‘Then I might be coming with you.’

  As Dominic was about to respond, he paused, his ear cocked.

  Killop heard it too, a faint noise coming from a stand of trees a dozen yards away.

  ‘Get down,’ he hissed.

  Larissa had her bow ready in a second.

  ‘Don’t shoot!’

  A man emerged from the trees, his hands raised.

  ‘Kylon!’ Killop cried. He ran down the slope and the two men embraced.

  ‘What the fuck are you doing here?’ Killop asked, unable to keep a grin from his face.

  ‘Looking for you, boss.’

  The trees rustled, and two more warriors strode out. The first was a tall blonde Kellach woman, armoured in plate and mail, with a longbow gripped in her hand. The second followed after her, a shorter man, holding an army-issue crossbow.

  ‘A fucking Rahain!’ Larissa shouted, aiming at the man’s chest. He brought his crossbow up, and the two squared off.

  ‘This is Baoryn,’ Kylon said. ‘He’s a friend. We’re all on the same side.’

  ‘I’ll never be on the same side as a lizard,’ Larissa said. At Killop’s nod she lowered her bow, but her eyes never left Baoryn.

  ‘Do you think Rahain slaves and peasants do not yearn for their freedom?’ Kylon said.

  ‘This an old friend of yours, boss?’ Dominic asked Killop, his hand on his sword hilt.

  ‘Aye,’ he replied. ‘We fought together during the war.’

  ‘How did you find us?’ the Domm man said.

  ‘Had some help.’ Kylon gazed up at the sky. ‘We should get into cover, in case any more flying lizards are about. Are you camped close by?’

  ‘We have a cave a couple of hour’s hike through the valley,’ Killop said. ‘Will you be staying?’

  ‘Not for long,’ he replied. ‘I have news.’

  ‘About what?’ His thoughts went to Daphne.

  ‘Let’s get to your place first,’ he said. ‘We haven’t eaten all day.’

  Ki
llop smiled. ‘Well, we can fix that.’

  The group mingled and chatted along the steep path to their mountain camp. Larissa got involved in a long and intense discussion with Leah, the blonde warrior, about the longbow she carried, and about her plans for making her own. The renegade Rahain Baoryn said almost nothing the entire trip, despite Kylon stating that he understood the Kellach language. Instead of talking, he remained on his guard, cradling his crossbow and scanning the hillside. Dominic, Kylon and Killop talked about the war, the Domm man boasting of his escapades, while the two Kell listened. Dominic had been the notional leader of a band of slaves until Killop and Bridget had freed them, and was looking forward to resuming his authority once Killop had gone.

  Kylon refused to answer any of their questions about what he had been doing, saving it for the camp, so Killop told him his story, from their parting in the temple caverns under Fire Mountain, through their captivity and escape, and finally about the departure of Kallie and Lacey.

  ‘So you’ve broken up with Kallie for good, then?’ Kylon said.

  ‘Aye,’ he said. ‘After they left, me and Bridget ran into a wagonload of slaves, and freed them. We’ve been sheltering up in the cave for twenty days while they recover, and get used to being free again.’

  ‘What do you have planned?’

  ‘I don’t know what the rest of them will do, but I’ll be starting my search for Daphne soon.’

  Kylon said nothing.

  They passed through a narrow crevice, its entrance hidden by a mass of ivy, and came out into an airy cavern, lit by shafts that pierced the roof. Tunnels branched off from the area where they stood, while a large opening lay ahead of them.

  ‘Here it is,’ Killop said, gesturing. ‘Our refuge, home to nineteen ex-slaves from all over Kellach Brigdomin.’

  Kylon shook his head. ‘I’ve been listening to foreigners call us that,’ he said, ‘but I didn’t think I’d ever hear you use their name for us.’

  Killop shrugged. ‘All the slaves in Rahain use it. It’s strange to think that we didn’t have a name for ourselves, just for our four clans.’