The Wretched

by Brad Carsten

  Livius wheeled a barrow to the back of the wagon and dropped the tailgate. A cloud of pipe smoke hung thick around his head.

  “A lot can go wrong. I'm not going to say it isn't so, but the elixir is sound. Back in Neering, I used it whenever a tax collector arrived in the village. They found me dead at least a dozen times, and that didn't seem to affect me at all.” He pointed a gnarled finger at Liam. “But, if the wardens catch you, it's better than spending the rest of your life in the tower.

  Now help me load the swine, will you? A corpse would have been more effective, but this'll have to do.” Livius had tried to talk Liam into returning for one of Lord Bowen's dead soldiers. He said they could use it to distract the wardens, but Liam wasn't about to go back there—never again and not for all the gold in the kingdom treasuries. He could get a body without being seen; since meeting Kaylyn, his instincts had grown considerably, but he couldn't face those glassy eyes again and be reminded of what he had done. He'd done it for Kaylyn, but he'd have to live with the images for the rest of his life.

  Livius took the front trotters and Liam the rear, and they slid it into the barrow.

  “Just try to space yourselves apart,” Livius said. “I don't want to be hauling you all up at once. Oh, and don't forget your helmets. And bring my wings back! Unharmed!”

  Liam thanked him, but had no intention of using the vial. They'd sneak in and sneak right back out again, and be done with this cursed place.

  Liam check the straps once more. He looked at Kaylyn, feeling all shaky inside. “You ready?”

  The giant fortress walls loomed ahead, and the long grass was brushing Liam's legs, when the catapult thudded, and the carcass spun through the air. It clipped the top of the wall and disappeared over.

  “This is it,” Liam said. He raised his arms, testing the wings, and they rose up behind him like a leering Branbill. “So, we just have to click down the latch?”

  “That's all,” Kaylyn said. “All the way down to the last spot if you hope to clear the walls.”

  Liam locked it into place and put his finger on the trigger. “Ready?” he said.

  “Ready.”

  With a click, the ground blasted away from under him. Wind rushed against his face, so hard, he had to close his eyes. His whole body trembled under the force, until he thought it would break apart. He wanted to scream but couldn't open his mouth. He cursed and whimpered and made all kinds of promises about all the good he'd do in the world if he didn't die, and then he began to slow. He forced open his eyes, and tried to breathe, but it felt like all the air had been sucked out of his lungs. He hung suspended high above the tower for a heartbeat, before dropping again. He flapped his arms frantically, but that did nothing. The ground screamed towards him. Kaylyn glided smoothly with her arms outstretched, and Liam remembered what she had said about keeping his arms straight. He threw out his wings, his hands trembling so hard, he was sure they'd snap off.

  The wind caught, and he hit the ground, knocking over a stack of barrels. Slimy water washed over him, and a few seconds later, his own arrows began pegging into the ground around him. He scrambled out of the way, covering his head under his arms.

  Kaylyn landed in the courtyard lightly, and jogged to a halt. “I came in like that on my first try,” she whispered. “Are you okay?”

  “I think so.” Liam flicked the water off his arms and began gathering up his arrows. Next time he'd hold them.

  Kaylyn handed two more to him. “Well, if they didn't see us, they must have heard that, so come on, let's get out of here before the wardens arrive.”

  Kaylyn clicked the catch to the lowest setting and pulled the trigger. She leapt up, landing lightly on the roof of a side building. Liam followed, and while he had a bit more control this time, he still hit the tiles hard and staggered to catch his balance. They should have practiced before arriving at the tower.

  He ran the last few feet, throwing his back into the tower wall, and listened for the sound of footsteps. A stone chimney hid them to all but one side of the courtyard. Everything was quiet. If anyone heard the noise, they weren't coming out to investigate.

  “Pass the prybar,” he whispered. Kaylyn fumbled to get it out of the sheath.

  Rust from the thick bars painted orange streaks down the stone wall onto the roof. The fortress was built to keep the prisoners inside, and it was very well made, but it was built a few hundred years ago, and for hundreds of years the rain, wind and sun had beaten against the walls. They weren't what they used to be. According to Livius, the bars would have rusted out of shape by now. He explained that when iron bolts rust, they swell, forming tiny cracks in the stone. With a bit of effort, he should be able to pry them loose.

  Fate hope the old man was right. He leaned into the prybar, and the bars groaned. He repositioned himself, about to put more weight behind it, when Kaylyn pulled his arm away to stop him.

  “Wait, Liam. I don't know if I can do this.”

  “Why, what's wrong?” Her face was pale, like she'd seen the dead walking.

  “What if I don't find anything? What if it's all been a waste of time? I—I've been waiting my whole life for this—for a chance to fix everything again and...”

  “Kaylyn, we'll do what we can, but it's not up to you to fix everything.”

  She turned away from him. “I loved my father so much. He was a good man. So were my brothers. They were all good men and...”

  Liam couldn't see her face, but her voice was quivering. He touched her arm and she flinched.

  “What's this all about?”

  The words burst out of her. “I killed him. It was my fault.”

  “Who?” Liam said, slowly. “Who did you kill?”

  “My father. My king. I killed him. I sold him out.”

  Liam tried to speak, but it felt like a hand was closing around his throat, while the Sage's warning rung in his ears as loud as a city's gong. She killed her father?

  “Father was praying so hard that I had what it took to take over the kingdom one day. None of his sons could, and instead, when I was assessed—well, he got the news that I was what I am. My mother cried for days and I overheard them talking the one night about killing me, that it may be the only way to save me in the end. Hearing those words from my own parents, it”—she swallowed—“it does bad things to you. No one trusts the wretched. They aren't considered citizens, and their own daughter was—well I was one of them. I tried so hard to please them, and to be good. I couldn't understand why they acted like they did around me—why they always had someone watching me like a prisoner.” Unconsciously, she slid a finger into her sleeve, touching one of the many scars on her arms. There wasn't anyone who could help me, and my father broke the laws of the kingdom to find me an instructor. He rode to the Council of syphers, and came back with a woman named Auralis. Even though she was above age, she was brought into the kingdom to teach me how to control Gaharah. They kept her far from the palace.” Tears spilled down Kaylyn's cheeks. “I just wanted to help. I trusted her. When my father found his heir, I was in the room at the time and I told her everything.

  She left the house and brought back some others who asked me all kinds of questions, and one of them showed me a sketch of my father's amulet. She drew out the amulet from inside her cloak and looked at it. She said I could help. I—I just wanted to help. My father was so weak; he was so sick.” Kaylyn's voice began to shake so much he could barely understand her. “She said it was making him sick, and I had to take it from him. I just wanted to help. I never thought... He died soon after I took it and that was the night the creatures came. I didn't mean to. I was just trying to help. The amulet was protecting him. It was protecting him and I took it.”

  Liam pulled her into a hug, and her whole body trembled.

  Was that the secret—the darkness that the Sage had seen in her heart. “You were eight,” he whispered. “You were just a child.”

  “It doesn't change anything.” She buried her head in his shoul
der. “I lost everything that night, I—me. I lost it, and every day I wake up praying that I could go back and fix it, but I can't. My father's gone. The kingdoms in pieces, thousands of people are dying every day and finding this knight is the only way I know how to fix it, and I don't know if I can do it.”

  She was just a child. She was being manipulated. “I'm sorry Kaylyn. I'm so sorry.” He didn't know if he was saying that because of what happened to her, or because of the way he had treated her over the last few days. She had lost everything to her secret, and now she had almost lost him. The Sage said that she couldn't see Kaylyn's motives, only what was in her heart. Plight, why hadn't he followed his own heart on this. He should have believed in Kaylyn and stood by her from the beginning. She had never given him a reason to doubt her, and he'd thrown her to the wolves. He could still make up for it though. He would make up for it! “I don't know what we'll find in here, but I promise you, I will stand with you no matter what, and we'll find a way to make it right. Together.”

  She looked at him in confusion. “But why? Why would you want to stay with me after what I just told you?”

  “Because, I've seen your heart, and there's no evil in it. There never was.”

  She shut her eyes, and her tears began to flow again, and her words came out in barely a whisper. “You're wrong. I'm evil. I am.”

  “If that was true, you wouldn't be here right now.” Something occurred to him.

  “How do you still have the amulet?” She didn't seem to hear him, and he touched a finger to her chin to lift her eyes up to his. “Kaylyn, if Auralis wanted the amulet, how do you still have it?”

  “I didn't give it to her. I saw her face and I was scared. She told me to give it to her, and I ran and hid.”

  “And that's why you're not evil.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She manipulated the love you had for your father, but in the end, you didn't give it to her, because you saw what real evil looked like and you ran away from it. If you were evil, you wouldn't have done that.”

  She was staring at him now. Her cheeks glistened, but she was no longer crying.

  “I never thought—I... “

  “Kaylyn, I care about you deeply.” He had felt it for a long time, and had pushed it back after speaking to the Sage, but now all those feelings were flooding back into him. He had wanted to say he loved her, but he stopped himself even as the words were forming. He hadn't said that to anyone for a long time, but he certainly felt it now. “I'm here for you, and I believe in you, no matter what you did in your past.”

  “When I was in Narlsward,” Kaylyn said, “I promised I would never use my power again. I'm tired. I'm just so tired of feeling dirty, and even though it's hard to keep it back, I'd rather die than go back to that. But”—Her eyes met his and for the first time he saw fear in them—“That means I have no way to fight anymore. Would you still feel the same way, even if I have nothing to offer you?”

  “Kaylyn, I fell in love with you despite your power, not because of it.” There, he said it. Light failing, he said it.

  She pressed her head against his. She shut her eyes, and her lips trembled, and then she took his face in her hands and kissed him.

  Chapter 28

  Liam didn't know how long they kissed for. Time seemed to stand still. When they stopped, he continued holding her, feeling shaky inside, and afraid of having opened himself up to another person, but it also felt right somehow.

  “Are you ready to go in?” he whispered. “Without Gaharah, just the prybar? Or should we go somewhere far away and never look back.”

  She ran a finger up his shirt and stopped at the neckline. “That sounds so, so unbelievably amazing, but first I have to fix things. And then we can go far, far away from everything.”

  “Okay.” He kissed her head.

  She seemed as reluctant as him to let go, but they had to get back to why they were here. He fitted the prybar into place, taking his time about it, not wanting this moment to be over.

  She placed her hands on his, to help him and he smiled at her, knowing right then and there that he would do anything for her.

  It still took both of them, and a lot of huffing and puffing, before the bars pulled free, taking some of the wall with it and hitting into the tiles below. They stood frozen, listening for anyone coming to investigate, but no one did, and Liam began to wonder if anyone was still in the tower after all.

  “let's do this.”

  She laid a hand on his. “Liam, thank you,” she whispered. He brushed the hair out of her face and leaned over and kissed her cheek.

  He'd imagined what the tower would look like inside, large, open, stark, but nothing could have prepared him for what he found.

  Darkness all but covered the room beyond the window, hanging thick over a huge collection of items of all shapes and sizes. Liam had never seen anything like it.

  Dozens of scarecrows lay stacked together, alongside towers of books with webs hanging off of them. Piles of clothing, folded neatly, filled every available space. There were trousers and dresses, boots, and shirts, some really old fashioned with pleats and puffy arms. Giant kegs held all kinds of things from wind chimes to horse shoes to broken pottery. Wagon wheels had been piled together with old brooms worn down to their handles, pig troughs, buckets, horse brushes, saddles, bed pans, and banners of houses and kingdoms that Liam had never seen before. Some looked very old.

  Kaylyn rattled off a list of names under her breath, going back centuries, and some of the banners were so old, even she didn't recognise them.

  “What in Fate's name is all of this?” Liam whispered.

  “I—I don't know. It looks like some kind of giant storeroom.”

  “But why would anyone store anything in the tower?”

  “Didn't Madam Hollis say that things have been disappearing in the nearby towns for a long time? But how many people would have to go out every night to build up a collection like this, and for how long? Look how old some of these goods are. Whoever's collecting this has been doing it for a long, long time. Livius said the tower was about four-hundred years old, but some of these banners are from at least eight-hundred years ago. I mean, look at this one.” She lifted an eagle banner that came apart under her touch. “This is from the kingdom of Alandria and they were wiped out at least seven-hundred years ago.”

  The items were piled so high, Liam had to squeeze between them to reach the door, and once through, piles filled the next hall and the next. Mountains of pots and signs, and furniture and paintings had been stacked right up to the ceiling in places, with narrow passages between them. Liam had never seen anything like it. Most surprising were how many weapons and shields and armour were scattered between them. One, a suit of armour, stood at least ten feet tall, and that stopped Liam in his tracks. He thought about Kaylyn's tale and had to remind himself that it was just that: a tale, but seeing the armour, outlined in the dim light of the windows, he wasn't so sure. People wouldn't craft ten-foot armour for sport. Kaylyn grabbed his arm ripping him free from his thoughts. “Footsteps,” she whispered.

  They were drawing closer.

  It was too late to duck into another room, so Kaylyn dropped to her haunches, pulling him down with her, and they pressed back into the mountain of goods where they could lose themselves in the dark.

  At the entrance, a large shadow crawled up the boxes, stretching twice as high as a man. Liam held his breath. Was this one of Kaylyn's wardens? He wondered what a man who wore ten-foot armour would look like, but the shadows fell away and a man, like any other shambled into view.

  He was as tall as anyone else, but his body had wasted away, like he hadn't eaten for a long time. Shadows folded across sinewy arms and a gaunt face. He could pass for a beggar in any city, but something seemed off about him; it was in the way he moved, as though he didn't have full control of his limbs.

  He turned to look up the passage, his head flopping to the side.

  The way hi
s mouth hung open and his eyes had rolled up under drooping eyelids, he seemed to have lost his mind, but most peculiar of all were his clothes. He was wearing a woman's dress.

  Kaylyn touched Liam's hip, tapping it discreetly, and he realised what she was trying to show him: A ring of keys hanging at the man's belt. He must be the warden.

  The warden studied the passage, his eyes moving in and out of focus like a drunk trying to read a road marker, before he turned as awkwardly as before and shuffled away.

  Kaylyn grabbed Liam's hand excitedly. “He has the keys.” With those, they'd be able to go anywhere in the tower. That would make the rescue a whole lot easier.

  “Let's follow him,” Liam said. For the first time, he really thought they had a chance of pulling this off. He started to move, but Kaylyn held him back by the arm. “We can't hurt him. He's just doing his job.”

  “I agree.” It would be more difficult, but like Kaylyn, he had seen enough violence to last a lifetime. That didn't mean they couldn't tie him up though.

  “I can't believe people are still living here,” she whispered, excitedly. “If he's here, then there must be others as well. Knights of the fallen are legends. They're the best that the kingdom has. If anyone can survive, they can.”

  “You may be right,” Liam said, “but we need to be careful. There was something really strange about him. Did you see the way he was moving?”

  “I know. It was rather peculiar. He looked half asleep.”

  “I just want to know what they've been eating for all these years,” Liam said.

  “Looking at the warden, not much. At least they're not giants.” She gave a sheepish laugh.

  “Just as well.”

  Morning had settled in outside, but most of the windows were either covered in centuries of dust, or buried behind shelves that were stacked to the rafters. It could have been night for all the good they did.