Justice

by Ian Irvine

  Ventos whistled. “Two and a half silvers.”

  “Would you take this if we leave the two swords?” Corban showed the trader his silver piece and three coppers.

  “And these?” said Dath, quickly adding his two coppers.

  “Deal.”

  Corban gave him their coin, put the items into a leather bag that Dath had been keeping a slab of dry cheese and a skin of water in.

  “Maybe I’ll see you lads tonight, at the feast.”

  “We’ll be there,” said Corban. As they reached the crowd beyond the tent Ventos called out to them and threw the practice swords. Instinctively Corban caught one, hearing Dath yelp in pain. Ventos raised a finger to his lips and winked. Corban grinned in return. A practice sword, a proper one, not fashioned out of a stick from his back garden. Just a step away from a real sword. He almost shivered at the excitement of that thought.

  They wandered aimlessly for a while, Corban marvelling at the sheer numbers of the crowd, at the entertainments clamouring for his attention: tale-tellers, puppet-masters, fire-breathers, sword-jugglers, many, many more. He squeezed through a growing crowd, Dath in his wake, and watched as a piglet was released squealing from its cage, a score or more of men chasing it, falling over each other as the piglet dodged this way and that. They laughed as a tall gangly warrior from the fortress finally managed to throw himself onto the animal and raise it squeaking over his head. The crowd roared and laughed as he was awarded a skin of mead for his efforts.

  Moving on again, Corban led them back to the roped-off ring where the sword-crossing was to take place. There was quite a crowd gathered now, all watching Tull, first-sword of the King.

  The boys climbed a boulder at the back of the crowd to see better, made short work of Dath’s slab of cheese and watched as Tull, stripped to the waist, his upper body thick and corded as an old oak, effortlessly swatted his assailant to the ground with a wooden sword. Tull laughed, arms spread wide as his opponent jumped to his feet and ran at him again. Their practice swords clacked as Tull’s attacker rained rapid blows on the King’s champion, causing him to step backwards.

  “See,” said Corban, elbowing his friend and spitting crumbs of cheese, “he’s in trouble now.” But, as they watched, Tull quickly side-stepped, belying his size, and struck his off-balance opponent across the back of the knees, sending him sprawling on his face in the churned ground. Tull put a foot on the man’s back and punched the air. The crowd clapped and cheered as the fallen warrior writhed in the mud, pinned by Tull’s heavy boot.

  After a few moments the old warrior stepped away, offered the fallen man his hand, only to have it slapped away as the warrior tried to rise on his own and slipped in the mud.

  Tull shrugged and smiled, walking towards the rope boundary. The beaten warrior fixed his eyes on Tull’s back and suddenly ran at the old warrior. Something must have warned Tull, for he turned and blocked an overhead blow that would have cracked his skull. He set his legs and dipped his head as the attacking warrior’s momentum carried him forwards. There was a crunch as his face collided with Tull’s head, blood spurting from the man’s nose. Tull’s knee crashed into the man’s stomach and he collapsed to the ground.

  Tull stood over him a moment, nostrils flaring, then he pushed his hand through long, grey-streaked hair, wiping the other man’s blood from his forehead. The crowd erupted in cheers.

  “He’s new here,” said Corban, pointing at the warrior lying senseless in the mud. “I saw him arrive only a few nights ago.”

  “Not off to a good start, is he?” chuckled Dath.

  “He’s lucky the swords were made of wood, there’s others have challenged Tull that haven’t got back up.”

  “Doesn’t look like he’s getting up any time soon,” pointed out Dath, waving his hand at the warrior lying in the mud.

  “But he will.”

  Dath glanced at Corban and suddenly lunged at him, knocking him off the rock they were sitting on. He snatched up his new practice sword and stood over Corban, imitating the scene they had just witnessed. Corban rolled away and climbed to his feet, edging slowly around Dath until he reached his own wooden sword.

  “So, you wish to challenge the mighty Tull,” said Dath, pointing his sword at his friend. Corban laughed and ran at him, swinging a wild blow. For a while they hammered back and forth, taunting each other between frenzied bursts of energy.

  Passers-by smiled at the two boys.

  After a particularly furious flurry of blows Dath ended up on his back, Corban’s sword hovering over his chest.

  “Do—you—yield?” asked Corban between ragged breaths.

  “Never,” cried Dath and kicked at Corban’s ankles, knocking him onto his back.

  They both lay there, gazing at the clear blue sky above, too weak with their exertions and laughter to rise, when suddenly, startling them, a voice spoke.

  “Well, what have we here, two hogs rutting in the mud?”

  ENDNOTE ON THE ENGINE

  Years ago, in Scientific American, I read a fascinating article on naturally occurring nuclear reactors. About two billion years ago, seventeen separate natural reactors formed in the vicinity of Oklo in Gabon, Equatorial West Africa, in areas where the geological conditions—very rich uranium deposits and a suitable groundwater regime—allowed self-sustaining chain reactions to develop. These reactors operated for a period of about a million years.

  When I read the article it struck me as a fascinating idea for a story. But The Tainted Realm is epic fantasy, and it was not appropriate for the Engine to have a purely scientific explanation. Thus I created the wyverin, a gigantic, intelligent beast that had been formed by magically re-engineering a wyvern to feed on earth and rock, and concentrate within its own body certain rare and desirable alchymical elements.

  This had unintended consequences after the wyverin ate its creator, Herox, and escaped, because it was also capable of concentrating elements that he had never heard of. When it ended up in Cythe, it fed on a rich seam of pitchblende ore (the main ore of uranium), and the uranium became concentrated in its foot-long, inch-thick scales.

  The uranium scales irritated its skin, so the wyverin continually shed them and formed new scales. Eventually, consumed by the urge to lay eggs, it began to carry its cast-off scales down into a deep cavern, where it arranged them in intricate stacks to form a gigantic, self-warming nest. Soon the nest grew too warm, so it created channels to funnel groundwater through the cavern and carry the excess heat away—and so the Engine at the heart of the land was born. That is, a self-sustaining reactor.

  Because of the radiation, its eggs never hatched, but the wyverin did not understand that. It kept laying, hoping some eggs would produce young. For two thousand years it continued to feed on the pitchblende ore, and carry down its uranium scales, by which time it had deposited millions of them in an enormous, intricate array. The Engine produced considerable amounts of heat; enough, in the highly volcanic landscape of Central Hightspall, to wake the sleeping Vomits and set off another round of catastrophic eruptions.

  Whether or not the Engine would really be capable of doing this is a matter for conjecture. It’s also not clear whether the Cythian kings’ attempts to “heal the land” by maintaining the water flow through the Engine would actually do so, or would make things worse—that would depend on many factors including the precise structure of the Engine. But The Tainted Realm is fantasy, not science fiction, and that’s an issue for another story.

  For further information, Google “Oklo reactor”.

  GLOSSARY

  Abysm: The conduit or shaft down which Cythonian souls are believed to pass after death.

  Alkoyl: A deadly alchymical fluid used for a myriad of purposes by the Cythonians. It will dissolve anything, even stone and flesh, and can only be kept in platina-ware.

  Ancestor Gallery: Spirit versions of the 106 most important kings and ruling queens of old Cythe, recreated by Lyf as advisors, though they’re more prone to lec
ture him about morality.

  Banj: Tali’s overseer when she was a slave in Cython. She killed him during her escape, with an uncontrollable blast of magery.

  Bastion Barr: One of Grandys’ fortresses, in the mountains of Nyrdly.

  Benn: Glynnie’s little brother, lost somewhere in Caulderon.

  Bloody Herrie: An angry shade, one of Lyf’s ancestor gallery.

  Bombast: A barrel-shaped explosive weapon hurled by a catapult.

  Caitsthe: The most powerful and savage of all shifters, a cat or catman, seven feet tall, which can heal wounds quickly by partial shifting. The one sure way to kill a caitsthe is by burning its twin livers on a fire fuelled with powdered lead. Tobry became one in order to save Rix and Tali at the end of Book 1: Vengeance.

  Castle Rebroff: Grandys’ strongest fortress north of Lake Fumerous.

  Castle Swire: The first castle taken by Grandys after his return from opalisation.

  Caulderon: The capital city of Hightspall, on the south-eastern shore of Lake Fumerous. Caulderon was built on the site of the Cythian city of Lucidand, which the Hightspallers largely tore down.

  Caverns, the: The uncanny chambers deep below Precipitous Crag where Lyf’s wrythen dwelt and plotted for almost two thousand years after his death.

  Chancellor, the: The leader of Hightspall, a small, twisted, cunning man. He died at the end of Book 2: Rebellion.

  Chuck-lash: A chymical device like a thick bootlace. When thrown at someone, it explodes against the skin leaving a burn wound like a whip lash. Heavier versions, such as death-lashes, can blast a limb off, or kill outright.

  Chymical or Alchymical Art: An art practised with considerable mastery by the Cythonians, lately used to create many new kinds of weapons of war.

  Chymical Beast: The wyverin.

  Command: A powerful compulsion spell.

  Cythe: The name of the Cythians’ island realm in ancient times.

  Cythian: Pertaining to Cythe, the name of the land and the kingdom in ancient times.

  Cython: The underground city of the Cythonians. After losing the Two Hundred and Fifty Years War, the surviving degradoes went into the mines of Cythe fifteen hundred years ago and built a great city there. Cython lies under part of the Seethings, a thermal wasteland. Cython fell in the slaves’ rebellion at the end of Book 2: Rebellion.

  Cythonian: Pertaining to Cython; also, the people of Cython.

  Deadhand: Rixium Ricinus.

  Defenders: Tall stone statues of stern old women which guard the passage to the wyverin’s lair.

  Degradoes : The Cythians who survived the Two Hundred and Fifty Years War were herded into filthy camps, and became known as degradoes. Several hundred years later Hightspall burned the camps and the degradoes were killed, save for a group of innocent children who disappeared underground, led by three matriarchs, who founded Cython following the instructions set down by Lyf in the Books of the Solaces.

  Deroe: A magian possessed by Lyf’s wrythen over a hundred years ago and used by him to cut out the first ebony pearl. Deroe subsequently rebelled and stole the next three pearls. He was killed by Lyf in Book 1: Vengeance.

  Engine, the: At the lower end of the Hellish Conduit, in the deep heart of the land, Cythonians believe that a great subterranean Engine powers the workings of the land itself, causing volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and other phenomena. The Engine has to be kept in balance by the king’s healing magery, but since king-magery was lost on Lyf’s death two thousand years ago, the land has not been healed and the Engine is increasingly out of balance.

  Errek First-King: The legendary inventor of king-magery, recreated as a spirit by Lyf.

  Facinore: A vicious shifter-beast created by Lyf, and subsequently cannibalised to give him a body again, so he would be able to leave his caverns and take charge of the war.

  First Fleet: The original fleet that came from ancestral Thanneron to Cythe, two thousand years ago, bearing the Hightspallers (and some Herovians, including those later known as the Five Heroes). Three more fleets came, though the Third or Herovian Fleet was wrecked by a storm and only one person out of seven thousand survived, a girl said to be Grandys’ daughter, but actually adopted by him.

  Five Heroes, the: The Five Herovians—Grandys, Syrten, Rufuss, Lirriam and Yulia who killed Lyf two thousand years ago. They were subsequently turned to opal and cast into the Abysm, but recently escaped and are bent on turning Hightspall into their Promised Realm.

  Fortress Rutherin: A grim old fortress on the cliff-top above Rutherin, where the chancellor took refuge after fleeing from Caulderon.

  Garramide: A vast, strong fortress on a high plateau in the Nandeloch Mountains, built by Grandys for his daughter nearly two thousand years ago. Rix’s great-aunt left it to him on her death.

  Gate: An instantaneous opening from one place to another.

  Gauntlings: Humanoid, winged shifters created by Lyf for spying and for carrying his human spies. Gauntlings are prone to insubordination, vengeful malice and madness.

  Gift, the: Magery.

  Gift, Healing: The ability to heal by the laying on of hands. It is related to magery, though many people consider it separate from magery. This kind of healing is unrelated to the kind of healing that the kings of Cythe could do, which was a form of magery.

  Glimmering-by-the-Water: An ancient temple site on the southern tip of the Nusidand Peninsula in Lake Fumerous; site of the peace conference.

  Glowstone: A kind of rock, mined in Cython, which emits a feeble bluish glow. Used for lighting in Cython, and elsewhere.

  Glynnie: A heroic maidservant who rescued Rix from Grandys. Benn’s big sister.

  Grandys, Axil: A great warrior and leader; a brutal and treacherous man who was the first of the Five Heroes and the legendary founder of Hightspall. Most of all, he wants the power of king-magery so he can create the Herovians’ Promised Realm.

  Grasbee: A general of Hightspall’s army, sacked for incompetence.

  Grenado: A hand-thrown exploding weapon.

  Grolik: A gauntling in Lyf’s service.

  Healing blood: Tali’s blood, and perhaps the blood of some other Pale slaves, has the virtue of healing. It can even heal some people who have been turned to shifters, if given soon enough. This virtue may be due to exposure to emanations from heat-stone.

  Hellish Conduit: A winding, exotic passage that leads down from Cython towards the subterranean Engine.

  Herovians, the: A persecuted minority who came to Hightspall on the first fleets, seeking their Promised Realm, two thousand years ago. Due to their fanaticism and brutal excess they fell from power and many now conceal their true heritage.

  Hightspall: The nation founded by the people who came on the First Fleet, after taking Cythe from the Cythians.

  Hillish: One of Lyf’s generals.

  Holm: An oldish man, very clever with his hands, Tali’s friend. He was once a brilliant surgeon.

  Hramm: Lyf’s supreme commander, an acerbic, impatient man.

  Ice, the: Ice sheets spreading up from the southern pole, and down from the north, are steadily cutting Hightspall off from the rest of the world. The ice is thought to be due to the Engine at the heart of the land getting out of balance. Many Hightspallers also believe that the land is rising up against them because of the evil way they took it from the Cythians two thousand years ago.

  Immortal Text, the: The sacred book of the Herovians. It sets out the guiding beliefs of their faith, tells them where to seek the Promised Realm, and how to take it. Other people believe the Immortal Text to be a pernicious, racist tract which should be destroyed.

  Incarnate: A perilous stone, now dead, carried by Lirriam. She is trying to wake it. Also called the Waystone.

  Iron Book, the: A book, The Consolation of Vengeance, written by Lyf for his people; the final book of the Solaces. He etched the words of the book onto sheet iron pages, using alkoyl. The book’s appearance in Cython was a call to war, though the iron book was not yet comple
te when Tali stole it from Lyf. It was subsequently stolen by Mad Wil, a blind Cythonian seer and killer who is obsessed by completing the story in the book.

  Iusia (vi Torgrist): Tali’s mother, murdered in front of Tali by Lord and Lady Ricinus for her ebony pearl, at the beginning of Book 1: Vengeance. They on-sold the pearl to Deroe.

  Jackery: A highly competent sergeant in Hightspall’s army.

  King-magery: Magery used by the king or ruling queen of Cythe to heal the land or the people. No one else in Cythe was permitted to use magery. King-magery was only passed on to the new king on the death of the old king. But because Lyf died alone and his body was never found, the death rituals could not be enacted, his king-magery was never passed on, and it was lost. King-magery is different from, and far more powerful than, other forms of magery.

  Krebb: A colonel of Hightspall’s army, sacked by the former chancellor.

  Lady Ricinus: Rix’s late mother, a cold, manipulative woman, obsessed with raising the social position of House Ricinus at any cost. She was executed at the end of Book 1: Vengeance for high treason, and the murder of Tali’s mother and grandmother for their ebony pearls.

  Libbens: A choleric general, sacked by the former chancellor.

  Lirriam: One of the Five Heroes, an enigmatic woman and Grandys’ bitter rival.

  Lord Ricinus: Rix’s father, and lord of House Ricinus, formerly one of the wealthiest and most powerful Houses in Hightspall. Also a foul drunkard, sick with guilt at the crimes his wife forced him to commit. Executed at the end of Book 1: Vengeance for high treason and murder.

  Lyf, King Lyf: The eighteen-year-old king of Cythe at the time the first war began. He was betrayed in his own temple by Grandys and the other Heroes, maimed and walled up to die in the cata-combs. But after death Lyf’s soul could not pass on, and he used the last of his king-magery to become a wrythen, so as to protect his people and take revenge on the enemy. Later Lyf wrote the Solaces, a series of books which showed his people how to live underground. As a wrythen, he spent the next two thousand years harrying Hightspall, and trying to get his king-magery, and a body, back. Now reincarnated from his wrythen, Lyf leads the Cythonian people in a war of vengeance. Lyf needs all five ebony pearls in order to recover king-magery, so as to do his kingly duty and heal the troubled land.