‘Anybody got a smoke?’ she said.
‘Only cigarettes, sarge,’ said Flora.
‘Fine.’
The young trooper handed her one and lit it for her.
She took a few draws and stubbed it under her heel.
‘Back to the hall,’ she said. ‘The first company can have the garrison all to themselves.’
The great gatehouse hall was in chaos when they returned. Shop fronts were smashed, their glass scattered over the ground. Civilians and Rahain soldiers lay dead or dying. Groups of alliance warriors were milling around, while others were looting.
‘Who’s in fucking charge here?’ Keira cried. ‘Where’s the major?’
‘His carriage was shot down,’ a Holdings trooper said. ‘His entire staff was aboard.’
She pushed her way through the soldiers, looking for an officer.
‘Fuck this,’ she said. ‘Squad, follow me.’
She turned, and started moving towards the far end of the hall, away from the pair of gates where they had entered. The soldiers thinned out, and she saw Benel ahead, fighting with a company beside him, carving their way through the civilians trying to flee to the high arched exits in the far wall.
A crossbow bolt skittered off the marble floor by her feet and she looked up. Rahain soldiers were moving into position on a long balcony ringing the hall above them.
‘Take cover,’ she yelled at her squad, and they ran under the stone canopy of a row of shops nestled between two great pillars.
‘This is a fucking mess,’ Leah shouted, as dozens of bolts rained down on the central plaza of the hall, hitting warriors and troopers. ‘While Benel’s off glory-hunting, the battalion’s taking a pasting.’
‘We’ll have to go up there ourselves,’ Keira said. ‘Did anyone pass any stairs?’
‘I saw some ahead of us,’ a trooper yelled.
‘Show me.’
The trooper ran, hugging the shop fronts, and the squad followed. Halfway down the hall, a wide marble stairway rose. At the top, a row of Rahain soldiers were standing, their heavy shields blocking the way to the balconies.
A mass of alliance soldiers were huddled nearby, holding their own shields high in the air, trying to shelter from the crossbow bolts. Many had been hit, and the floor was littered with bodies.
‘Charge the stairs!’ Keira screamed at them. ‘Move yer fat arses!’
A Sanang warrior glanced at her, then at the stairs.
He roared, and charged, setting off a reaction in those around him, and within seconds, the soldiers were running at the steps, their shields peppered with bolts. Keira joined them, and ran up the stairs two at a time. A bolt ripped a chunk out of her shield, sending splinters into her face, and she nearly fell, but Kylon grabbed her arm and kept her moving. All around, alliance soldiers were being hit, while more were running to help, and piling up the stairs. The steps were slippery with blood, but still Keira ran. Fang was the first to reach the Rahain shieldwall. He thrust his axe in sideways through a crossbow slot, twisted it, and pulled, ripping the shield out of formation. Keira sprang through the gap, her sword swinging, Kylon a second behind.
Keira cut down a shield-bearer, kicked him down the stairs, and the wall broke. The Rahain dropped their shields and tried to flee, but the rage and speed of the alliance soldiers overcame them, hacking them down as they ran.
She saw an officer, a young Holdings captain, reach the top of the stairs.
‘Clear the balconies,’ he shouted, and squads moved up past him, half turning left, the other right.
‘You,’ he called to Keira.
‘Me?’
‘Yes, Sergeant, you,’ he said, sweating and panting. ‘I saw what you did. Thank you. Have you seen the major?’
‘The major’s flying carriage was destroyed. You’re probably the most senior officer left, apart from Benel.’
‘Shit,’ he grunted. ‘Where is our intrepid mage?’
‘Last I saw, the crazy bastard was leading a charge towards the far gates.’
He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a badge.
‘Here,’ he said. ‘Pin it on your jacket. I’m making you a temporary lieutenant. What’s your name?’
‘Keilyn.’
‘I’m Captain Tully.’ He pointed down the stairs. ‘Get down there, gather everyone who hasn’t been shot, and reinforce Benel’s position. Tell him I’m taking the upper levels and the outside gates.’
‘Aye sir,’ she smiled.
‘Come on squad,’ she said, and led them down the stairs.
‘Fucksake,’ she heard Niall grumble. ‘We’ll never hear the end of this.’
‘I fucking heard that,’ she winked. ‘Guess what? You’re acting-sergeant again.’
He groaned.
They reached the bottom of the stairs. Bolts were still coming down from the far ends of the balcony above, but they were lessening, as Tully’s forces swept through them.
The damage already done was considerable. Dozens of alliance soldiers lay dead or wounded across the great marble plaza in the centre of the hall.
Keira paused to fasten the officer badge to her chest.
‘Form up!’ she bellowed, her voice thundering through the hall. ‘Sergeants, line up your squads.’
The mob of soldiers stared at her for a moment.
She slapped one across the face. ‘Wake up you fucking pricks! Come on!’
Her squad ran through the crowd, shoving and cajoling the soldiers into action.
‘Check your weapons,’ Kylon shouted at them as they arranged themselves before Keira. ‘Shields out front. Get into lines.’
Keira pointed her sword at the far gates, where she could see Benel’s small force nearing the high archways.
‘To the mage!’ she yelled, and charged.
She heard the pounding of hundreds of boots behind her as she raced towards the far end of the hall, leaping over bodies. Ahead, Benel was visible, leading his company through the back of the fleeing crowd of civilians.
There was the sharp blast of a trumpet, and the last of the civilians fled out of the hall and into the city streets. Taking their place was a vast sea of Rahain soldiers, marching up the highway towards the gatehouse. The front rows had the familiar large shields, like doors, and the soldiers behind began firing their crossbows at Benel’s company.
Exposed in front of the great high archways, the alliance company was cut down in seconds. Benel dived to his right, behind an overturned cart, as bolts flew by like a hailstorm.
‘Fucking fuck,’ Keira spat.
The Rahain shieldwall rolled forward, and the soldiers following Keira came into crossbow range.
‘Shields!’ she cried, as bolts slammed into their lines. She crouched, but was knocked off her feet by the masses surging behind her. All around, alliance soldiers were falling, Holdings, Sanang and Kellach Brigdomin, the air thick with death. She saw Benel, lying behind the cart just twenty yards away, his eyes wide and crazy.
‘Keilyn!’ he cried. ‘Do it! Do it or we all die here.’
She screamed and got to her feet. Her shield was riddled with bolts, and chunks were missing, but she swung it round to her front, and ran.
She kept low, bolts thudding into her shield. One glanced off her helmet, sending white sparks before her eyes. The alliance soldiers who had followed her were scythed down in the withering hail of bolts. She threw herself behind the cart where Benel was crouching.
He punched her.
She grabbed him by the throat.
‘Do it!’ he gasped. ‘Burn them!’
‘You fucking bastard,’ she said. ‘You brought us here, but you had no fucking clue what we were walking into.’ She dropped him to the ground, and looked up and around.
‘Here,’ he said, throwing her a box of matches.
She frowned, and sat with her back to the cart. The charge of alliance soldiers had faltered, and the survivors were retreating back out of range. Across the floor the life blood
of dozens of warriors and troopers flowed, the groans and cries of the wounded drowned out by the heavy marching steps of the Rahain force nearing the archways.
‘If Kylon and Leah are dead,’ she said. ‘I’ll kill you.’
‘We can hold this gatehouse. Just push them back, and we’ll put up barricades, and wait for the alliance army to arrive.’
She picked up the card packaging from a Rahain box, and lit a match.
‘You’re fucking delusional,’ she said. ‘Got any keenweed?’
He pulled out a smokestick from his pocket, and lit it off the match.
She pushed the tiny flame into the card, setting it aflame. He held the smokestick to her lips and she inhaled.
‘Let’s roast some lizard.’
She peered over the top of the cart, and raised a small ball of flame from the smouldering package. She flicked it at high speed towards the nearest part of the Rahain shieldwall, sending it right through a crossbow slot, where it burst onto the soldiers crammed in behind.
Another ball, and another, she kept going until the fire at her feet burnt out, but by that time the flames from the shieldwall were big and close enough for her to feel them.
She raised her arms, her hands clasped together, then swept them apart, and flames roared across the face of the Rahain front line in one rapid motion, sending every shield alight in an explosion of fire. She dived back down behind the cart, the heat from the raging line of flame sending sweat down her forehead.
Benel laughed. ‘Fuck me, blondie,’ he said. ‘That might do it.’
He stood, and walked out into the plaza. All shooting from the crossbows had ceased, and the Rahain lines were pulling back in confusion, the front ranks of their soldiers incinerated in the intense corridor of fire.
Benel put his hands on his hips and faced the great hall, where the remnants of the Leftovers had gathered, their mouths hanging open.
‘The gatehouse is ours!’ he cried. ‘Barricade the archways!’
Keira allowed herself to be healed by a Sanang hedgewitch, despite not having suffered any major injury, as she liked the rush it gave her. Kylon and Fang had needed it more, having taken two bolts apiece. Leah was uninjured, having been left behind while they had attacked the balcony earlier.
The Rahain had left them alone for several hours, giving the Leftovers time to build barricades at each of the three arched entrances, and clear away the heaps of dead. Three thousand had flown in with Benel. Now barely half of that remained.
Captain Tully was occupying and fortifying the twin outer entrances, while Benel took command of the archways leading to the interior of the city. The soldiers had looted the shops, and come away with a wide selection of luxury goods, and supplies of food and drink. The cleared-out garrison buildings had also yielded stores of crossbows and bolts, which the alliance soldiers at both ends of the plaza were happy to take.
Benel had announced to a sceptical audience of warriors and troopers that he had loosed a fire arrow, and must have hit something flammable. Keira noticed that many were staring at her, but none would meet her eye.
What was left of her squad huddled round her in a looted shop, shielding her from questions, and growling at any that got too close.
‘We knew something was up,’ Niall said. ‘Our very own fucking fire mage.’
‘Why were you keeping it a secret?’ Flora asked.
‘I was worried people might think I was that fire mage,’ she said. ‘You know, the crazy one.’
Niall squinted at her. ‘I had this mad dream,’ he said, ‘at least, I think it was a dream.’
‘So your telling us you’re not the wanted war criminal?’ Flora said.
‘Exactly,’ Keira said. ‘I’m not her. Do you all understand?’
The troopers glanced at each other, but nodded. Leah sat to the side, smirking.
Kylon limped over and sat down.
‘How you doing?’ she asked.
He grunted.
‘He took two bolts to his guts,’ Leah said. ‘How the fuck do you think he’s doing?’
Keira turned, scowling.
‘I was watching from up on the balcony,’ Leah went on. ‘You charged a fucking Rahain shield wall. After everything we went through in the war. How many times did we see our folk do that and die? I saw Kylon get hit, and Fang go down, yet you were still running.’
‘The perils of putting me in charge,’ Keira said, taking a swig of looted brandy. ‘I’m apt to do crazy shit.’
‘She needed to get close enough,’ Kylon said.
‘Whoever you are, Lieutenant,’ Niall said, smoking, ‘that was pretty fucking spectacular. Is that what we’re getting from now on? I mean, Benel can stand beside you while you do it, and claim he is loosing his lucky arrows, but with you at our head, the Leftovers are going to kick some lizard arse.’
She shook her head. ‘You guys know, but most other folk didn’t see what happened. The bolts were flying, and folk were getting hit everywhere. Give it a bit of time, and they’ll believe Benel’s bullshit story about the arrow.’
‘Just make sure none of you talk,’ Kylon said, his dark eyes boring into each of the troopers.
Keira stretched, and got to her feet.
‘I’m off to find Benel.’
Niall nodded at Flora, and the young Holdings trooper stood, a crossbow in her hands.
Keira frowned at her. ‘Come on then.’
They left the shop, and walked towards the barricades. Wagons, tables, doors, and all manner of debris had been piled up in the three archways, and an entire company of Leftovers were in position guarding it, their crossbows ready.
Keira went up to the closest barrier.
‘Anything happening?’ she asked the sergeant there, a short, tough-looking Holdings woman.
She saluted Keira.
‘No hostile activity from the enemy, ma’am,’ she said, ‘but they’re building a wall around the gatehouse.’
Keira peered through the barricade, squinting into the lamplight of the underground Rahain streets. Ahead, out of crossbow range, Rahain workers were constructing a stone wall, which curved out in a semi-circle, blocking off access to the three archways. The wall was only waist high in places, but dozens of labourers in brown tunics were bustling to finish it.
‘Let the bastards build their wall,’ she said, ‘at least the wee fucks aren’t attacking us.’
The sergeant nodded, a wary look in her eye as she glanced at Keira.
‘You seen Mage Benel?’ Keira asked.
‘He’s in the jewellers,’ the sergeant said, pointing over at a shop behind her. ‘He said he wasn’t to be disturbed.’
‘Cheers.’
Keira nodded at Flora, and they strode across the wide plaza, smeared with the dried blood of the alliance. Two guards were standing at the door of the jewellery shop, its windows smashed.
The troopers went to block Keira’s path, then realised who it was approaching them.
‘The mage said no one was to come in, ma’am,’ said one of them.
‘Aye. I’m sure he’ll make an exception for me, but.’
The troopers looked at each other, and moved out of her way.
‘Thanks, lads,’ she said, walking past them into the shop.
The interior was wrecked, with shelves of rings and necklaces ransacked and scattered across the floor. Bright oil lamps burned on the walls, their light reflecting off the enormous gilt-edged mirrors.
Keira heard the sound of crashing coming from a room at the back of the shop.
‘Stay here,’ she said to Flora.
She went up to the door, and swung it open. Benel had a bronze statuette in his hand, and was using it to smash up anything in range. A glass cabinet was toppled onto the floor, and he kicked it. Lines of fatigue and rage were etched into his face. Keira closed the door behind her.
‘Having fun?’
His mouth opened in a snarl, and he stopped, his arm raised.
‘Oh, it’s you.
’
She sat on the edge of a table. ‘Any particular fucking reason you’re trashing the place?’
He dropped the statuette, and lit a cigarette, handing her one.
‘I’ve just been in communication with my superiors,’ he said. ‘I got a vague impression that they weren’t overly happy with my change of plan.’
‘What’s done is done,’ she said. ‘They’ll just have to get on with it.’
He nodded and sat next to her.
‘What now?’ she said.
‘We stay,’ he said. ‘If we try to retreat north out of the city, the defences on the ridge above the gates will mow us down like wheat.’
‘You’ve well and truly fucked this one up.’
‘Not if we hold out,’ he said, turning to her, his eyes bright. ‘If we dig in, and remain here until the alliance reaches us, then the army will have a way into the city, just like at Rainsby.’
‘And then I get arrested. Brilliant.’
‘Not if I tell them the truth,’ he said. ‘If they knew how you opened up the tunnel in the Grey Mountains for them, they…’
‘Don’t give me your pish. Do you really think the king would be like, “well, that makes everything all right, now run along ya cheeky wee mage”? Come on.’
Benel frowned. ‘What’s done is done, like you said. If you hadn’t fried those Rahain, we’d all be dead. No, there’s a way we can all come out of this as heroes, I just haven’t thought of it yet.’
The ground began to rumble, and Keira leapt off the table.
‘What the fuck?’
The walls swayed, and the floor tilted. A great crack opened in the ceiling, spilling down dust and debris.
‘Stone mages!’ Benel cried. He bolted to a deep alcove in the wall, topped with a small arch. Keira jumped in next to him as the rumble became a roar, and the ceiling collapsed in a crescendo of rock and noise.
Keira opened her eyes. She was covered in a thin coating of powdered grey rock, a cloud of particles like a thick fog hanging before her. She turned, and saw Benel sat next to her, smoking, his hair and clothes grey with dust.
‘How long was that?’ she said. ‘Felt like hours.’
The Severed City Page 36