The Severed City

by Christopher Mitchell

  ‘That’s fucking brutal, Killop,’ Bridget whispered, staring at the stitched-up wound on his cheek. ‘Makes you look mental.’

  ‘Do you remember,’ Killop said, ‘how we could look at ourselves every day in the mirrors in Laodoc’s house?’

  ‘Aye,’ she said. ‘Was nice to look good. For a while anyway. Now I suppose we’re back to being minging again.’

  Killop stopped as the scout on the forest track ahead raised his hand. The column of warriors halted behind him, and Killop walked to the front.

  ‘We’re close, Chief,’ the scout said. ‘The path ahead takes us to the front of the compound, where the gatehouse is.’ He pointed to the left. ‘And that way leads to the side of the compound’s wall, and round the back.’

  Killop turned. His officers were there, waiting.

  ‘Bridget, Larissa, Kalden,’ he said, ‘you’re with me. Dominic and Dyam, you’re in command here, swords and bows. Wait for our signal, you know what to do.’

  ‘Aye Chief,’ they replied.

  Killop nodded, and set off down the track to the left, the three he had selected close behind. They slowed as the trees started to thin, the sky lightening to the east.

  He crouched at the edge of the forest.

  ‘We’ve got an hour before the sun’s up,’ he said. ‘You ready?’

  They nodded.

  He looked out from the edge of the forest at the long walls of the compound they were about to raid. Like many other Rahain slave-holding facilities they had seen in the area, it was undermanned and dilapidated, and their scouts had brought back detailed reports of the layout.

  After checking that there were no soldiers up on the wall, he sprinted across to its base. The wall was mage-smooth, with no handholds to grip. He rested his back against it, interlocked his fingers, and braced himself.

  Bridget came running from the forest, a knife in her boot. She leapt up at the wall, putting her foot in Killop’s hands. He heaved up, and she sprang onto the top of the wall, and disappeared over the other side.

  Kalden came next, a sword round his waist, and a coil of rope over his shoulder.

  Killop took the weight of the man in his hands, and hoisted him up and over. Larissa went last, her new longbow on her back. She was the lightest, and Killop nearly threw her over the wall.

  He waited a moment, and the end of the rope was tossed over for him. He gripped it, scaled the wall, and jumped down to the soft dirt of the compound. He looked around. The layout was as the scouts had reported. To their left was the main compound building. To Killop it looked like an old Rahain aristocratic country house, like the one he had seen on Laodoc’s estate at Slateford. It was an imposing edifice, towering over the other ramshackle out-buildings in the compound. Opposite was a long wooden structure, which the scouts had reported as the location of the guards’ barracks.

  Bridget gestured to their right, pointing at the gatehouse.

  It was a squat two-storey stone building, built in a similar style to the mansion. On the roof Killop could see at least two Rahain soldiers, facing out into the forest, where the rest of the Kellach warriors lay hidden among the trees.

  Killop moved up to the front of the small group, and they ran towards the gatehouse, keeping to the shadows against the side wall. They passed like ghosts, making no sound as they approached. The main double doors to the compound were strong, and barred with a vertical pinion that disappeared through a hole into the building above. Killop stopped at a side door, the gloom before dawn turning the sky grey. He pushed the handle, and it opened.

  He drew his sword.

  ‘No mercy,’ he whispered. ‘Larissa, cover me.’

  He ran through the door, and up the stairs that lay behind. At the top, four Rahain were in a chamber, sitting at a table, the lever to the door-pinion on the floor next to them.

  Killop signalled Bridget and Kalden to the other door to take care of the soldiers on the roof, then he charged the table.

  Larissa had put an arrow through one by the time he reached it.

  He swung his sword at the nearest Rahain, who was trying to rise from her seat, her eyes wide with terror. The blade connected with her neck, sending her head spinning through the air. He aimed at another, to see an arrow bury itself into the man’s eye. The last Rahain stood, whimpering, his empty hands opened towards them.

  ‘Please,’ he said.

  Killop strode forwards, and plunged his sword through the Rahain’s chest.

  He sheathed his sword and knelt by the pinion. With both hands he gripped the lever, and pulled it towards him.

  Bridget emerged from the other door, a crossbow in her hands.

  ‘Roof’s clear,’ she said. ‘Both guards are down.’

  Killop nodded. ‘Gather all weapons.’

  They picked up the swords and bows. Kalden joined them, another crossbow over his shoulder.

  ‘Let’s go,’ Killop said.

  They rushed back down the stairs to the ground floor, and came out into the compound. It remained quiet and still.

  Killop turned to the main gate. He pushed the pinion aside, and swung the double doors open.

  ‘Larissa,’ he said, ‘send the signal.’

  The archer knelt by the open gates, and fired an arrow high into the sky.

  ‘We’re getting good at this,’ Bridget whispered as they watched the massed warriors run out from the forest a hundred yards down the road.

  ‘Still plenty to do,’ Killop said.

  Kalden whistled. ‘Quite a sight, Chief.’

  Killop nodded. The Kellach ran soundlessly up the road in ordered ranks towards them. Almost eighty warriors, of whom half had a blade or a bow. The others were making do with spears and clubs, until they had enough weapons for everyone.

  As Dominic neared the gates, Killop motioned to Larissa to stand clear. In seconds, Kellach warriors began pouring through.

  ‘Dominic,’ Killop said, ‘leave half your swords with me, and take the other half to the main building. Secure the front, but don’t go in.’

  ‘Aye, Chief,’ he replied, and began ordering warriors off in different directions.

  ‘Dyam,’ Killop went on. ‘One bow squad to secure the gatehouse, the others to the mansion, cover the swords.’

  She nodded, her mouth set firm, as Dominic led his half-team towards the mansion.

  Killop turned to the remaining half of the sword team. ‘Barracks.’

  They followed him as he sprinted for the long wooden building opposite the gates. Along the side nearest them were four doors.

  ‘One squad through each door,’ Killop shouted to the warriors behind him. ‘No mercy!’

  Killop ran towards the rightmost door, and reached it first. He kicked it in and burst through. Inside, in the dim grey light, he could see lines of bunks, the soldiers on each awakening, and starting to rouse themselves.

  Without hesitation Killop strode to the first bed, and drove his sword through the neck of the man lying there. Other warriors entered the room behind him, and in a few minutes they had slaughtered the dozen soldiers within.

  ‘Get these crossbows picked up,’ Killop called to a squad leader, as he wiped the blood from his sword. ‘Get them taken to Dyam.’

  ‘Aye, Chief.’

  Killop walked back outside, breathing in the fresh air after the stifling room, filled with old sweat and fresh blood.

  There was a commotion at the front of the mansion.

  ‘With me,’ Killop shouted.

  He came to where Dyam was positioned, holding her squad of crossbows in a line in front of the building’s main entrance.

  Ahead, he saw Dominic rounding up a group of Rahain.

  ‘Chief,’ Dyam nodded as he passed, ‘some slaves came out and surrendered.’

  Killop walked on, and reached the group of Kellach surrounding the slaves. He barged his way to the front, where Dominic was pushing an old Rahain woman to the ground.

  ‘There are children, please,’ the old w
oman was saying, in her own language.

  Killop raised his hand for quiet.

  ‘Let me speak to her,’ he said to Dominic.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ he said to the slave, switching to Rahain. ‘What children?’

  The woman looked stunned for a moment at the sound of a barbarian warrior speaking her tongue.

  ‘Inside,’ she said. ‘This is not a labour camp, it’s a children’s camp.’

  ‘Kellach children?’

  ‘Yes sir,’ she said. ‘We slaves look after them. We surrender, don’t kill us.’

  ‘What are children doing here?’

  ‘They were hostages originally, sir,’ she said, her tongue flickering, ‘now, we don’t know. Sometimes I think the authorities have forgotten all about them.’

  ‘Are there guards inside?’

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘All the children are locked up at night, the soldiers sleep in the barracks.’

  Killop nodded.

  He glanced at Dominic. ‘Kill them.’

  ‘No,’ said another woman. It was Bridget. She shoved her way to the front of the crowd, and stood between Dominic and the slaves.

  ‘Get out of the way Bridget,’ said Dominic, drawing his sword.

  ‘No.’

  She turned to Killop. ‘What the fuck, Chief?’

  ‘They’re Rahain, Bridget.’

  ‘They’re slaves,’ she replied. ‘Have you forgotten about Simiona?’

  He looked down at the group of Rahain, huddled together on the ground. They were staring up at him and Bridget, their eyes shuttling between hope and despair.

  ‘Fine,’ he said. ‘Belay that, Dominic. Hold them here for now, unharmed. Let’s see how well they treated the children before we decide what to do with them.’

  ‘Children?’ Dominic said.

  Killop nodded, and turned to face his warriors, most of whom were now gathered in the grey light of dawn before the front of the mansion.

  ‘Listen,’ he called out to them, ‘inside this mansion are Kellach Brigdomin children, captured during the war.’

  He paused as emotions raced over the faces of those watching him.

  He signalled to Dyam to approach.

  ‘I want one of your squads,’ he said. ‘Come with me.’

  He leant down and picked up the old Rahain woman by her slave collar.

  ‘The keys?’

  ‘I can show you.’

  ‘All right, you’re coming along.’

  ‘This one’s with us,’ he said to Dyam. ‘Everyone else,’ he called to the Kellach warriors, ‘stay out here until I see what’s going on.’

  He nodded to Bridget. ‘Come on.’

  Killop turned and entered the mansion. Its old grandeur was faded, but he could see what an opulent home it had once been.

  Dyam’s squad, Bridget, and the old woman followed him in.

  ‘She’s yours to mind, Bridget,’ he said.

  ‘Aye, Chief.’

  The old woman led them to a large reception room, where she took a set of keys from a drawer, and handed them to Bridget.

  ‘The soldiers trusted you with the keys?’ she asked the old woman.

  ‘This place used to house hundreds of Kellach slaves, ma’am,’ she said, ‘mostly adults. Only one wing was ever children. The adults have all gone, just the children remain. The soldiers saw no threat from them, and left the running of the facility to us.’

  They left the chamber, and walked down a long hall to the southern wing of the mansion. They reached a large iron gate, blocking the start of a passageway.

  Bridget stepped forward, and examined the keys. She selected one, and unlocked the gate. They all looked down the corridor. On either side were several doors.

  ‘Should I call out to them?’ the Rahain woman said.

  Bridget glanced at Killop.

  He nodded.

  The old woman entered the passageway.

  ‘Children,’ she said, ‘it’s morning, time to get up. Come and see our visitors.’

  One by one, the doors down the corridor opened, and small faces peered out.

  The corridor filled with thin, nervous, Kellach Brigdomin children. Several of the crossbow squad gasped.

  Killop took a step forward, staring at them. Their ages ranged from toddler to teenager, and there were dozens of them.

  ‘I’m Killop,’ he said. ‘Don’t be afraid. You’re free.’

  ‘…a total of one hundred and seven altogether, Chief,’ Kalden said. ‘Oldest is fourteen, youngest we think is three. Malnutrition has affected a few dozen, but most are in fairly good health, considering.’

  Killop nodded, as he sat behind the large study’s wooden desk facing his officers. Bridget was off to one side, her back to them, examining the shelves of books that lined the wall. The ones she had already selected sat in a heaped pile on the desk.

  ‘We could do with some wagons,’ Killop said. ‘There’s no way we’ll be able to march them all back to the camp.’

  ‘We’re in luck, Chief,’ Larissa said. ‘We found a few carts in one of the out-buildings, and there are more than enough gaien in the paddock out back.’

  Killop nodded. ‘Where’s the old Rahain woman?’

  ‘She’s with the other slaves supervising breakfast in the hall, Chief,’ Kalden said. ‘Dyam’s crew are keeping an eye on them.’

  ‘Go fetch her.’

  Kalden nodded to a runner, who saluted and left the room.

  ‘It’ll take a while to get everyone moving,’ Killop said, gazing out of the window at the deep blue sky of another sunny day. ‘We’ll be hard to miss if any flying lizards are about.’

  ‘Think it would be better to wait for night, Chief?’ Dominic said.

  ‘Maybe.’

  The door opened and the old Rahain slave walked through, a nervous look on her face.

  Killop glanced at her. ‘How often does this facility get visited?’

  ‘Supplies for the soldiers arrive every half-third, sir,’ she said, keeping her eyes lowered. ‘The next delivery is due in eight days. Other people sometimes turn up. For instance, a few days ago an officer arrived unannounced, to tell the soldiers posted here to be on their guard.’

  ‘Because of us?’

  ‘I assume so, sir,’ she replied. ‘There have been reports of raids in the area.’

  ‘And what have you heard about these raids?’

  ‘Just that they’ve been aimed at freeing Kellach slaves, sir,’ she said. ‘The soldiers here didn’t pay any attention to the message. I guess they thought this facility was low-risk, as why would rebel Kellach want to burden themselves with children too young to fight? Just more useless mouths to feed, they said.’

  ‘We didn’t know there were children here,’ Killop said, ‘but if we had, we would have rescued them anyway.’

  ‘Then I beg you, master,’ the old woman said, getting down onto her knees, ‘please take us Rahain slaves with you when you go. We love these children, have looked after them for over two years, and protected them when the soldiers got drunk or angry. I fear that the children will be frightened when you all depart. If you took us, master, we could help.’

  Killop said nothing. He gazed down at the old woman, trying to summon up his hatred, but he couldn’t. He felt nothing, no hate, but no sympathy either.

  ‘Please, master,’ the old woman said, ‘what will you do with us?’

  ‘I’ll let the children decide if you live,’ Killop said. ‘I’ll ask them if what you said is true, that you loved and protected them.’

  ‘Thank you master,’ the old woman said, tears rolling down her cheeks.

  ‘Get off your knees,’ he said, ‘and don’t call me master.’

  The old woman got to her feet.

  ‘You can go,’ Killop said.

  ‘Wait, Chief,’ Bridget said in Rahain, walking towards the desk, a large scroll in her hands. ‘I have a question for her.’

  Killop nodded, and the old woman turned to fac
e Bridget, showing the small glimmer of hope that always appeared when she looked at the young Brig woman.

  Bridget approached the desk and laid out the scroll, placing a book on each corner.

  Killop glanced down. It was a map. He could see the contour lines of mountains and, in the far top corner, the capital city of the Republic.

  ‘We’re here, right?’ Bridget pointed to a location near the centre of the map.

  ‘Yes, ma’am,’ the old woman replied.

  ‘All right,’ she said, ‘then tell me, what exactly is this?’

  Bridget’s finger moved to the other corner of the map, diagonally opposite the capital. There was a series of dashes forming a rough semi-circle, with the straight edge a thick blur of contour lines.

  ‘It’s Agonite City, ma’am,’ she said, ‘destroyed millennia ago in the Collision.’

  ‘What’s there now?’ Bridget asked.

  ‘Ruins, ma’am,’ she said. She ran her finger down the straight edge of the semi-circle. ‘A great earthquake cleaved the city in two. No one has lived there since.’

  ‘I remember getting told about this in Laodoc’s academy,’ Killop said. ‘There were twenty-one Rahain cities, and now there’s only seven.’

  ‘That’s right, sir,’ the old woman said, almost smiling. ‘Most of the destroyed cities were lost to the ocean, but a few ruins remain here and there.’

  ‘How far is it?’

  ‘Maybe eight days by wagon, sir.’

  Killop looked up at Bridget, and she nodded.

  ‘Kalden,’ he said, switching back to his own language, ‘I need two pairs of scouts organised. One to head back to camp, to tell Draewyn to move everybody down here as fast as possible.’

  ‘Aye, Chief,’ he said, ‘and the other pair?’

  ‘They’ll be going south-east,’ he said. ‘I think Bridget may have found our new home.’

  Chapter 9

  A Hard Day

  Southern Frontier, Holdings-Occupied Plateau – 24th Day, Second Third Summer 505

  A haze of dust rose from the rolling grasslands, shimmering in the morning heat.