The Severed City

by Christopher Mitchell

  Kylon frowned as he looked around. ‘What is this place?’

  ‘We think it must have been built by the lizards,’ Dominic said, ‘though it’s not been used in a long time.’

  As they walked through the cavern toward the large tunnel, Leah let out a cry.

  ‘Children,’ she said. ‘You have children here.’

  ‘Aye,’ Dominic said. ‘Four little ones. Three boys and a girl. Youngest is four.’

  The group halted as a woman approached, two small boys tailing her wide skirts.

  ‘Killop,’ she nodded. ‘Who’s this you’ve brought us?’ Her mouth opened as she saw Baoryn, and her arm moved to guard the boys.

  ‘They’re friends,’ Killop said. ‘Donald, go fetch Bridget.’

  One of the boys nodded and ran off.

  ‘This is Kylon,’ Killop went on, as the three visitors came forward. ‘He fought by my side in the war, and is like family to me.’ He paused as he noticed a small crowd start to gather around them in the centre of the cavern.

  ‘This is Leah,’ he continued, ‘and Baoryn. I don’t know them, but if Kylon vouches for their honour, then that’s good enough for me.’ He turned to the woman. ‘And this Kylon, is Draewyn, who minds the camp.’

  Kylon nodded.

  ‘You’ll be wanting fed, I suppose?’ Draewyn said.

  A younger woman cried out, and rushed at Kylon.

  ‘Bridget,’ he said, sweeping her up into his arms.

  ‘Good to see ye,’ she laughed. ‘You still a miserable bastard?’

  ‘Aye,’ said Leah.

  Bridget disengaged, eyeing up the other newcomers.

  ‘How about we eat?’ Killop said. ‘I’m sure there’s plenty to talk about.’

  ‘And let’s get drunk,’ Bridget added.

  ‘You’ve got ale?’ Leah asked.

  ‘Well,’ Bridget replied, ‘Brodie’s homebrew. Pretty fucking disgusting to be honest, but it does the job.’

  Leah shrugged. ‘It can’t be any worse than the piss-water I had to drink in Akhanawarah.’

  They gathered in a low cavern at the rear of the tunnels, made comfortable by many days of use as the group’s communal space, where they ate, drank, mended their clothes, and passed the time. They sat on low stools made from thick slices of oak trunk, and cleared the long table.

  They ate fish from the little burn that raced down the valley at the foot of the hill, grilled with pine nuts and mushrooms. Fresh water was plentiful, and Brodie, the camp’s brewer, opened up one of his kegs.

  ‘Tastes like pork,’ Leah grimaced.

  ‘Aye, well,’ the one-legged old veteran said. ‘That’s what was in the keg before. I gave it a scrub, but it does linger I’ll grant ye.’

  ‘Fuck it,’ Leah said. ‘As long as it gets me pissed.’

  Killop smiled. He was seated next to Bridget and Kylon. He turned to his old friend.

  ‘Time for your story.’

  Kylon poured himself a mugful of Brodie’s ale and drank.

  ‘Leah and Baoryn,’ he said, ‘are all that remains of the squad I took from Kell nearly a year and a half ago. We’d been fighting alongside Keira, when Kalayne had a vision, and we were sent to protect the Rakanese mage from the Rahain.’

  ‘You mean the migrant camp?’ Bridget said. ‘Daphne said she saw you there. How did you get out?’

  ‘The Rahain destroyed the camp,’ Kylon said, his expression dark. ‘We escaped.’

  The table went silent.

  ‘The migrants are all dead,’ Kylon went on. ‘Poisoned, drowned. Burned.’

  ‘No,’ Killop said, his heart racing. ‘Please don’t tell me…’

  ‘It was her.’

  ‘What?’ Bridget said. ‘It was who?’

  ‘Keira,’ Kylon replied. ‘She burned the city to ashes.’

  ‘A third of a million people,’ Leah said.

  The group around the table looked on in disbelief, stilled to silence.

  ‘It can’t have been her,’ Larissa said. ‘Why would our fire mage do the lizards’ work?’

  ‘They must have forced her,’ Kylon said, but his eyes were blank.

  ‘She has betrayed us,’ said Kalden, the only other adult Kell in the camp.

  ‘We don’t know that,’ Killop said. ‘Nobody here knows why Keira did what she did. And I’ll have no one here question my sister again, not until we understand the truth.’

  Kalden looked Killop in the eye for a moment, and nodded. ‘Okay boss.’

  ‘Killop is right,’ Kylon said. ‘We mustn’t lose sight of the real enemy. The government of Rahain. Not the people. Baoryn is proof that the under-classes of this nation are ready to revolt. Many slaves have been deserting, fleeing the food shortages caused by their government’s siege of the Rakanese camp. Some are roaming the mountains, joining forces with other dispossessed folk: refugee clansfolk from the war, and Sanang warriors displaced by the Holdings invasions of their lands. The oppressed of this world are rising up. And you sitting here,’ he looked at the faces staring at him, ‘are part of it. You have thrown off the shackles of slavery. Now is the time to fight back, to bring the war-mongering Rahain government to its knees.’

  ‘Aye?’ Bridget snorted. ‘What are you suggesting we do? March on the capital?’

  Kylon frowned. ‘Aye, in time. But to get there you’ll need to build up a bigger force, and I have a plan that will allow you to make a start.’

  Dominic looked up. ‘If it involves taking the fight to the lizards, then I’m in.’

  ‘And me,’ Larissa said.

  Kylon nodded, as the majority of the group added their own agreements.

  ‘We passed a mining compound on our way here,’ he said, ‘about twenty miles to the north. It houses about a hundred Kellach slaves at a guess. It’s surrounded by a high wall, but the Rahain guards are under-manned and bored, and I know a way we can get in.’

  ‘A hundred,’ Dominic whistled. Killop could see the prospect of leading such a number glimmer in the Domm’s eyes.

  ‘Aye,’ Kylon said, ‘and Killop will command the new force, and grow it, until it’s big enough to take part in the coming storm.’

  ‘What?’ Killop said. ‘Didn’t you hear me earlier? I told you I was leaving, and I am. I helped free the folk sat here, and am leaving them in safe hands. My job’s done. I’m going to find Daphne.’

  Kylon took a long drink.

  ‘I told you we escaped the destruction of Akhanawarah,’ he said, his voice low. ‘It was Daphne, she came in and rescued us, and rescued Shella, the Rakanese high mage and princess.’

  Bridget laughed. ‘I’m not surprised,’ she said. ‘I’ve seen what Daphne can do.’

  ‘Then my news is doubly sad,’ Kylon said.

  The room quietened.

  Leah put down her drink, stood up, and left the cave.

  ‘Daphne brought us out in a flying carriage,’ Kylon went on, ‘but she lost control of the winged gaien, and we crashed. Daphne was killed. I’m sorry.’

  ‘No,’ Killop said.

  ‘I saw her die with my own eyes, Killop,’ Kylon said. ‘We buried her in a grave in the Tahrana Valley, gave her a hero’s farewell. She was a hero. She saved us from the fires.’

  Killop fell back, his heart pounding, his mind numb. No.

  He felt an arm on his shoulder. Bridget.

  ‘No,’ Killop said. ‘The visions, what about Kalayne’s vision?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Kylon said. ‘What were the words? That you would be together?’

  ‘Aye.’

  Kylon shrugged. ‘Were you ever together?’

  Killop’s mouth opened. ‘Once, but…’

  ‘Then maybe the vision turned out true,’ Kylon said. ‘Just not the way you expected.’

  ‘This is bullshit,’ Killop cried. He jumped to his feet and hurled his mug at the cave wall, smashing it and sending ale flying through the air. ‘Fuck this.’

  The group watched in silence as he strode from the
cave. He saw Leah at the entrance, who looked away. He kept going, ignoring the calls from those he passed in the caverns, until he had left their camp far behind, and was alone in the dark heart of the valley.

  When dawn came Killop was sitting on the summit of a sheer ridge, watching the sunrise.

  He hadn’t slept, just wandered until he was exhausted.

  The prophecy. Just another load of crap.

  He hadn’t realised how much he had centred his entire purpose around the words of crazy old Kalayne. He had been dreaming of a future that no longer existed, and the loss left a wound that was raw and painful. The moments he had spent with Daphne in his cell shone in his memory like gold among ash.

  He had nothing of hers, not a lock of hair, a memento, nothing. As if she had never existed.

  Just a memory of brief passion, and the ache in his heart.

  He knew he would never love anyone else they way he loved Daphne. He should never have parted from her in the caverns under the Tyrant’s Tower in the Rahain capital. So stupid. If he had been with her, then things would have worked out differently, and now he had nothing.

  He looked down over the edge of the ridge.

  One jump, and he could end the pain.

  No. There were better things he could do with it.

  Faces turned towards Killop as he walked back into the caves. He knew he must look rough, but didn’t care. He went straight to Dominic’s chamber, and knocked.

  The Domm came to the door.

  ‘Boss, you’re back,’ he said. ‘You look freezing, come in.’

  Killop followed Dominic into the small cave. Around the hearth in the centre of the stone floor sat his partner Dyam, a young Domm warrior. She glanced up at Killop, the glow of the fire reflecting off her light-blonde hair and pale features.

  ‘I’m so sorry, boss,’ she said.

  He nodded. ‘I need to speak to you Dominic.’

  ‘Alone?’ He gestured to Dyam.

  ‘Doesn’t matter,’ he said. He sat by the fire, warming his hands and watching the thin stream of smoke escape through the chimney in the cave’s roof.

  Dyam looked unsure, but remained where she was. Dominic squatted down beside her.

  ‘I’m staying,’ Killop said.

  The two Domm shared a glance.

  ‘I’m going to take Kylon’s counsel, and build an army,’ Killop went on. ‘I’ll command it, and I’ll lead the uprising. We’ll free every slave we find, and kill every enemy. Dominic, you’ll be one of my captains. And you Dyam, you’re about the smartest person in the camp, you’ll be one of my officers too. If you wish.’

  He gazed at them.

  ‘Tell me now,’ he said, ‘will this be enough for you? Will you follow me if I stay?’

  ‘This isn’t what we agreed, Killop,’ Dominic said.

  ‘I know.’

  ‘And if it’s not enough?’

  ‘Then we take it to the rest of the group and let them vote on it,’ Killop replied. ‘Loser leaves.’

  Dominic poked the fire with a stick. ‘Back in Domm,’ he said, ‘I was a squad leader. It’s the best feeling in the world to lead fine warriors, but I used to look at the leaders of the army, and saw the burdens that bore them down. You’re a good man, Killop. I will follow you.’

  ‘As will I,’ Dyam said.

  Killop nodded. ‘Thank you both.’

  Dominic stood. ‘Let’s tell the others.’

  They got to their feet, and opened the cave’s wooden door. Outside, the rest of the group had gathered, waiting. Near the front stood Kylon and Bridget.

  Dominic took a step forward.

  ‘Killop is staying,’ he said, hushing the expectant faces. He turned, took hold of Killop’s arm, and raised it high. ‘Killop will lead us; he is the chief of our clan.’ He got to one knee.

  The others also knelt, until Killop was the only one left standing.

  ‘I pledge my loyalty to Chief Killop ae Kellan ae Kell,’ Dominic called out. ‘May he lead us to victory!’

  Four days later, the raiding party left the camp.

  Leading the squad through the narrow ravines to the Rahain mine felt like being back in Kell. Kylon knew the route, and he and Killop resumed their ability to understand each other as if they had never been apart.

  They travelled for the whole day, reaching the vicinity of the mine at nightfall. Kylon took them up paths that crept along the edge of a small river that ran by the mine, until they could see the compound through the branches of the trees on the hillside.

  There were several shabby buildings, constructed around a minehead, its tall wooden frame towering into the sky. A high wall enclosed the compound, except on its northern side, which was shielded by cliffs. There were two entrances. A large pair of gates stood on the main road, while a smaller door on the other side of the compound led to a guard tower.

  Kylon’s plan could be summed up in one word: Baoryn.

  The renegade Rahain was going to walk into the camp, Kylon had said, and then they would wait.

  Baoryn’s face wore its usual expressionless features as he prepared to go, and he looked neither nervous nor excited to be heading into grave danger. He removed every non-standard item from his clothing, stripping down to the basic drab brown army tunic. Leah had cropped his hair back at the camp, the Rahain allowing only her hands to touch him.

  When he was ready, he nodded to Kylon, and jogged down through the trees to the path that led to the side-gate.

  Killop crouched by the ridge, trying not to think of Daphne, trying to keep his mind busy.

  ‘What’s he going to do when he gets inside?’ he asked Kylon, who was lying to his left.

  ‘He’ll work that out when he gets there.’

  ‘And that’s your fucking plan?’ Bridget asked.

  ‘Baoryn is good at thinking on his feet,’ he replied. ‘He’s done this sort of thing before.’

  ‘How long will he be?’

  ‘Depends what he decides to do,’ Kylon said, closing his eyes. ‘Wake me when something happens.’

  Bridget smiled and shook her head.

  They waited.

  Bridget rubbed her hands, her breath fogging in the cold night. The sound of Kylon’s gentle snoring rose through the still air.

  ‘How you feeling?’ she whispered to Killop.

  ‘Like I’m ready to fucking explode, Bridget.’

  ‘You don’t look it,’ she said. ‘You look like you used to, when you were commanding us in Kell. Confident and that. You bottling it up, then?’

  ‘Did none of it matter, Bridget? Was it all for nothing?’

  ‘Of course not,’ she said. ‘You loved her, that’s never nothing. And on a purely practical level, she saved our lives when she rescued us from prison. If it weren’t for that, you wouldn’t be able to set things right.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘What Keira did,’ she said. ‘If it’s true. When everyone discovers, our people will be shamed. They will despair when they hear the news. Our own fire mage, it’s too much to take. She was our hope.’

  He lowered his head.

  ‘You’re her brother,’ Bridget went on. ‘Only you can make things right. Only you can lead us, lead the Kellach slaves of Rahain in revolt, and either triumph, or die in the attempt. Only by doing this will we regain our honour, the honour of the Kellach Brigdomin.’

  He shook his head. ‘It’s too much for me.’

  ‘Then do it for Daphne,’ she said. ‘Make her life mean something. Because of her we’re alive and free. When you fight, fight for her.’

  Killop looked away, closing his eyes to keep them from filling.

  He nodded, and felt Bridget’s hand on his shoulder.

  A low whistle sounded along the ridge, and Killop opened his eyes. Leah was gesturing over at the side-gate, where a lamp was flashing.

  He shook Kylon awake.

  ‘There’s our signal.’

  Blood streamed from the pile of Rahain dead, as the
last body was thrown on.

  The plan had worked.

  Baoryn had opened the side-gate, and the squad had padded through, to wreak silent slaughter upon the soldiers guarding the compound. Twenty-two corpses. Dyam’s crossbow team, along with Leah and Larissa, had rained down death from the walls, while the sword team had carved its way through barracks of sleeping Rahain.

  Dominic had done a count, and eighty-nine ex-slaves now stood before Killop, gazing up at him as he mounted the steps to the camp’s headquarters. To his left stood Kylon and Bridget, to his right Dominic and Larissa.

  Below, the rest of his squad were distributing food and water from the stores they had liberated. Many of the slaves looked to be near death, gaunt and emaciated. Sores and lesions covered several, and faces bent with pain and servitude squinted up at him.

  Killop gazed back, wishing that someone else would do the talking.

  He swallowed.

  ‘Your time of slavery is over,’ he said. ‘You’re free.’

  The ex-slaves muttered, some shaking their heads, others lighting up with hope.

  ‘Where are we supposed to go?’ one called out.

  ‘You have a choice,’ Killop said. ‘You can follow me, or you can choose to go your own way.’

  ‘Why would we follow you?’

  Killop glanced at Bridget. She caught his eyes, and nodded.

  ‘What we did tonight,’ she said, stepping forward, ‘is only the beginning. We’re going to raid every slave camp in these mountains, free every Kellach Brigdomin captive. Tonight, Chief Killop is planting the flag of rebellion, and calls upon you to join us. Together, we’ll lead the greatest uprising the lizards have ever known, and we’ll bring terror into their cold hearts. The more warriors we gather, the stronger we’ll become, until nowhere in these mountains is safe for them.’

  ‘They’ll send an army to hunt us down.’

  ‘Of course they will,’ Bridget said, ‘and we’ll smash it when it comes. We, the Kellach Brigdomin, are the masters of fighting in the mountains, and all the ranks of Rahain conscripts in the world wouldn’t be enough to defeat us. We’ll strike them hard, again and again, here in their own homeland. We’ll burn down their farms, and level their mines, and gain some vengeance for what they did to us.’