‘They were over-thinking it, maybe,’ he shrugged, as Keira joined them, ‘forgetting who it was made for. It would be ridiculous if the reptiles had built it to be too complicated for their soldiers to use.’
‘Using all your third’s worth of words in one go again?’ Keira asked.
Kylon smiled.
‘Wee brother,’ she said, turning to Killop, ‘the chief wants us.’
‘Alright squad,’ he said. ‘Back soon. Don’t let Kylon shoot anyone.’
Killop and Keira walked over to the centre of the dell, and joined the chief’s circle.
‘Ahh you two,’ the chief said. ‘I saw what young Kylon did. Remarkable boy. Have him show the others how they work. I intend to take as many of those bows as the donkeys will carry.’
‘Aye, Chief,’ Killop replied.
‘So, Klannit,’ the chief said, ‘what do you make of what we saw on the cliff side?’
The champion frowned. ‘It looks like it used to be one long tube-shaped vessel of some kind, filled with soldiers. It collided with the mountainside, that seems evident, but how it got here in the first place?’ He exhaled and shook his head. ‘Let’s just say I’m open to suggestions.’
The chief turned to face his council. ‘Does anyone have any sensible ideas?’
‘The answer is surely connected to how the lizards got past us into Southern Kell,’ Kalinda said.
‘That is my belief also,’ the chief replied. ‘Anyone else?’
No one spoke.
The chief sighed, shaking his head. ‘Fifteen minutes everyone,’ he said. ‘Let’s get out of here.’
Chapter 23
Kalayne
Northern Mountains, Kell – 27th Day, First Third Summer 503
‘Tell me, wee brother,’ Keira scowled as she strode forward, ‘are we really still in the first third of summer?’
‘Aye, just,’ he said, keeping pace with her.
‘Then why is it fucking snowing?’ she said. ‘Why am I out here freezing my tits off?’
‘Do you not remember that day we had, about a half back?’ he said. ‘Blue skies, sunny the whole entire day? We were digging ditches all morning, but the squad got so sweaty we drank too much cider over lunch and fell asleep all afternoon. Kaylan went mental.’
‘Aye, I remember.’
‘Well,’ he said, ‘that was summer. Hope you enjoyed it.’
‘Fuck you, smart arse.’
‘Rainfall levels are actually lower in Kell,’ said Lachlan, aide to Lana ae Lachyn, who was near them in the column. He had taken a liking to Keira, and always seemed to be hanging around. ‘Compared to Lach, anyway. There are parts of Lach in the south where it rains every single day. The folk down there are of the opinion that Kell is too warm and dry to live in comfortably.’
Keira snorted in disbelief. ‘I want to live in a hot country,’ she said. ‘One where the wind doesn’t cut you like a cold knife. And one where it doesn’t fucking snow in fucking summer!’
Lachlan looked disconcerted.
‘But, mage,’ he said, ‘everything we need is here, in the rich earth of the four clans. And besides, you don’t know what anywhere outside is like.’
‘Not true, wee man,’ she said. ‘Careen once told me that there are five lands, each sticking out from the centre like the points of a star, with a sixth land in the middle. We’re four clans, but we’re just one land, and the coldest one at that.’ Lachlan looked confused. ‘Kell’s the clan furthest north, right?’ she said to him. ‘And it’s the warmest of the four. The rest of the star is north of us. Stands to fucking reason that they’d be even warmer, aye?’
‘I suppose.’
‘So,’ she went on, ‘once we’ve kicked the lizard bastards out, I intend to go and take a look at some of the other lands. Get myself a suntan, while I’m at it.’
She paused, glancing up the line at the group trudging through the billowing snow, which was turning to muddy slush under their boots. Up ahead, Kalinda was standing off to the side, beckoning her.
‘Better go see what she’s after,’ Keira said, trotting off.
After a moment, Lachlan spoke. ‘Is that true, Killop?’ he said, his voice quiet, as if he disliked the sensation of discovering something he didn’t already know. ‘There are five lands shaped like a star?’
‘No idea,’ he said, ‘but I’ve heard her mention it before, so she didn’t just make it up on the spot.’
‘It’ll not be the first time she’s spoken a load of old bollocks, but,’ Kallie said, appearing on his left.
‘I thought you were out scouting with your sister?’
‘I was,’ she said. ‘We found the path that the chief asked us to look for. Kelly’s still there, I ran back to let everyone know.’
‘How far is it?’ Killop asked.
‘Another few miles. Heads north up a tight glen,’ Kallie said. ‘Any idea why we’re going off the main path?’
‘First I’ve heard of it. I guess that’s what they’re talking about now.’ He pointed up to where the chief and Klannit had joined Kalinda and Keira by the side of the road.
Killop walked over to the small group, Kallie at his side.
‘…dirty old bastard we should be avoiding,’ said Klannit, his face red.
‘Those tales are exaggerated,’ Kalinda laughed. ‘He’s harmless. Likes to stare, it’s true, and his hands have a tendency to wander, especially if he’s had a drink, but he’s nothing we can’t handle.’
‘If he tries anything with me,’ Keira said, ‘I’ll punch his face in.’
‘I’m sure you would, dear,’ Kalinda said, ‘but he’s not stupid; he’ll take one look at you and stay well clear. It’s more, say, Conal or Kalma, you know, one of the younger ones, that we ought to keep an eye out for.’ She noticed the presence of Killop and Kallie. ‘Or this young lady here, for example. He likes the young, pretty ones.’
Kallie blushed.
‘Am I not young and pretty?’ Keira frowned.
Kalinda paused for a second. ‘You’re, striking, my dear.’
‘As in she likes striking people,’ Klannit muttered.
Kalinda smothered a smile, and looked away.
‘Ha!’ Keira cried. ‘You should see yer faces! As if I give a rat’s arse about looking pretty. When’s the last time ye saw me in a dress, for fuck’s sake?’
The chief and Klannit laughed, while Kalinda rolled her eyes.
‘Kalinda’s right, though,’ the chief said, ‘about Kalayne. He’s a pest, but he’s harmless. You just have to know how to take him. What he can tell us far outweighs any annoyance he might cause for an evening.’
‘Where does the auld yin stay?’ Keira asked.
‘Up a deep glen,’ Klannit said. ‘Path leads off a few miles from here.’
‘Four miles,’ Kallie said, pointing to a low ridge running from the hillside to the north-west. ‘There’s an old holly bush just where the path cuts off on the right.’
‘Old holly bush?’ Keira said. ‘That reminds me of something.’
Killop felt it too. Some tale from his youth, about staying away from a holly bush on the goatherds' way. ‘Aye,’ he said. ‘All the bairns in our village got told to keep away from it, like there was some sort of snakeman or monster living up the glen.’
Klannit smiled and folded his arms. ‘All the bairns, eh?’
‘Those with the type of powers he possesses have often been outcasts,’ Kalinda said.
‘What powers does he have?’ Keira asked.
‘Powers that he says are very old, older than those used by the Mages of Pyre like yourself,’ Kalinda said. ‘He can see things from afar, as they happen. Things that are happening miles and miles away.’
‘He can tell us what the lizards are doing, and where they are,’ the chief said, ‘which is why we’re going to see him. We’ll need to speak to everyone first, let them know what we’re up to, and how to behave. Kalayne is very particular. If he gets upset or angry, he may refuse t
o speak to us. We’ll need to be careful, and clever.’ He looked towards the path. The rest of the group were a hundred paces ahead, waiting for their leaders to catch up.
‘Kallie,’ the chief said, ‘take us to the old holly bush.’
An hour later they saw Kelly, sitting out of the light snowfall under the branches of a great pine.
‘There’s Tornface,’ Keira muttered.
Killop ignored her. Keira had taken to calling her by that name over the past few days. So far it hadn’t caught on, but he had heard Conal use it, as well as a few in Klannit’s half-squad that didn’t know any better. Kelly didn’t seem to care, but Killop wasn’t sure if she was adopting that tactic as the most likely way to stop it spreading. If she objected, Keira would be sure to use it more often.
The group came to a halt by the gnarly old holly bush. The donkeys’ reins were tied to a tree, and Klannit assigned Calman and Kalma, who were the youngest in the group, to stay and watch over them. Clara was also remaining. The path up the glen was said to be steep and narrow, and they knew she would struggle with her crutch.
‘There’s a few hours of light left,’ Killop said to her. ‘Rig up your tents early, chances are we’ll be staying up at this Kalayne’s place tonight. If we do, we’ll be back in the morning.’
‘Look after those two for me,’ Klannit added, pointing at Calman and Kalma. As he turned away they heard him mutter. ‘Safer down here anyway.’
The rest of their group shed any unnecessary baggage, dumping it all by the donkeys, and started along the path. It twisted up the side of a narrow green ravine, a tumbling burn racing at its bottom. The glen was thick with trees, and they lost sight of Clara within a few minutes. The snow petered out, and the wind dropped within the shelter of the glen, and it got a little warmer.
‘This summery enough for you?’ Killop said, as he started to sweat in his thick cold-weather clothes.
‘Roasting ma arse off now,’ she said.
After thirty minutes of gentle but steady climbing through the woods, the glen narrowed, and they crossed the burn, hopping across the wide, flat stones poking out from the white water. On the east bank of the burn the path was only a couple of feet wide, and slippery wet beneath their boots from the water’s spray. Thick, damp moss covered the rocky cliff that rose to their right, and the path was overgrown with high ferns, their leaves dripping. Soon they were all wet, and as they climbed the temperature dropped again, and the cold seeped into their sodden clothes.
Biting insects danced in little clouds around their heads, and the shadows deepened as the sun fell beneath the top of the glenside. Twenty paces of rapids roared to their left, and they had to use their hands to climb over large boulders in their way. The surface of the stone was dark and slick, and several of the group slipped, skinning knees and palms as they scrambled across.
On the other side the path levelled off, taking them across a small meadow, filled with waist-high grasses and wild flowers. The noises of insect life filled the air, and Killop narrowed his eyes, closed his mouth and pulled his hood up, to keep them away from his face. He heard cries around him as the buzzing hordes of biting insects found their way into mouths, ears and nostrils, alighting onto every available inch of pale skin.
At the end of the meadow the path entered the woods again, and they left most of the insects behind in the cool shade of the trees.
‘Fucking midge bastards!’ Keira cried, shaking her head and brushing her skin and clothes with her hands. ‘They’re in ma hair.’
Next to him, Kallie was spitting. ‘Urgh, I hate those things.’
Kalinda turned to them. ‘Not far now.’
They crossed the burn again, over a low bridge of rough cut timbers, and climbed a steep path that had been cut into the side of the glen. They heard a dim roar as the path narrowed. On their left the hillside rose vertically, and there was a drop to their right down to the burn. The glen twisted and narrowed, the path hugging close to the side of the hill. They had to squeeze past two large boulders that almost blocked their way, and when they emerged from behind the second they saw a large waterfall ahead of them, coming down from the mountains to the north. The waterfall was a good fifty feet high, and had cut a circular glade into the hillside. The burn fell into a large pool, then over a weir and down the glen. The cliffs encircling the glade were covered with moss, and pocked with large holes and caverns. Water ran through many of them, taking multiple routes down the course of the falls. Around the pool were several ancient trees, from the branches of which were tied ribbons in bright colours, fluttering in the breeze. In front of the largest cavern was a clearing. A circle of blackened stones lay near the centre, and a few sections cut from a tree trunk were placed round it as seats.
The group walked round the edge of the pool towards the clearing.
‘Hello?’ Kalinda shouted. ‘Kalayne, are you in?’
There was no reply.
‘This is where he lives, then?’ Klannit said.
‘Will we light a fire?’ Keira asked. ‘Get dry before we freeze our arses off?’
The chief nodded. ‘Make sure everyone understands that they are not to enter the caves.’
‘You hear that?’ Klannit shouted. ‘Stay out of the caves!’
‘Aye, boss,’ came several replies.
Killop assisted Conal in getting the fire started, then helped out collecting wood.
‘Don’t touch the trees,’ he heard Kalinda say. ‘Gather only the fallen wood.’
Soon the fire was roaring, and they stripped off their wet clothes and hung them close to the flames, the steam rising like mist. Killop heard a laugh and looked over, seeing Kallie and her sister chatting. Kallie was down to her undershirt, which stopped at her knees, and he looked at her bare calves, and then up, where the soft fabric hid her shape, and he wished he had her alone.
‘Get yer tongue back in, wee brother,’ Keira laughed. ‘That had better not be Tornface yer gawking at!’
Killop turned his gaze to the fire, suppressing a curse.
‘No sign of the auld bastard, then?’ she said.
‘What’ll we do if he doesn’t return?’ he said. ‘Head back?’
‘I’m not walking down there in the dark,’ she said. ‘Besides, we brought enough tents for the lot of us. It’ll be cosy, but.’
The evening passed, and the light fell in the glade. As dusk was closing in, they re-dressed and opened up their supplies of food, sitting round the fire.
‘So we’re decided, aye?’ Keira was saying. ‘The auld guy turns up frisky, and we throw him Conal and do a runner?’
‘How about we throw him you?’ said Koreen, one of Klannit’s half-squad. ‘You could talk him to death while we got away.’
‘I’m not his type, apparently,’ she said. ‘Not pretty enough.’
‘I wouldn’t say that,’ Lachlan smiled.
‘I’d take the auld pervert over you any day, ya squinty-eyed turnip-munching halfwit.’
‘I’m flattered, to be sure,’ a voice said from the glade. They turned to look, and saw a man emerge from behind a great oak tree. ‘However, this auld pervert feels you may be a little too rough for him to handle.’ He stepped in front of the fire, and raised a finger at the chief, silencing him as he was opening his mouth to speak.
He started a slow circuit of the fire, while he stared at each of the group in turn. Leered might be a better word to describe it, Killop thought. The man was short, with trimmed white hair, and a close-cropped and tidy white beard. His eyes bulged out of his head, which made him look as if he was always staring. His gaze lingered over Conal for a while, and he licked his lips when he saw Kallie. Killop fought the urge to leap up and punch the old man as he looked her over. Remember what the chief said, he thought, we must be polite. The man’s gaze turned to Killop, but he looked disdainful and moved on. His eyes widened in alarm when he saw Keira, and she returned his gaze defiantly. The old man stared at her, and she bared her teeth.
�
�You,’ he said, his finger wagging at her.
Before she could respond, he had moved on, and realised he was back at where he had begun.
‘So many, and I suppose you’ll be wanting food and drink,’ he said, sounding bored and exasperated. ‘Something better than the meagre rations you’ve brought with you, at any rate.’
‘We’d be most grateful,’ the chief said.
‘Would you?’ he smirked. ‘Things must be really bad if you’ve deigned to come here yourself. You usually just condescend to send her.’ He pointed at Kalinda. ‘That must mean you want me to look for you. Look out and see what’s there. I already know what’s out there, Chief of the Kell. I’ve already looked. But before I tell you, I want to eat, and I want to get drunk. And I want to be entertained.’
‘Entertained, how?’ the chief asked.
‘Don’t worry,’ he replied, a forced grin on his face, ‘nothing too demanding. Now wait here, and don’t touch anything.’ He strode off into the nearest cave entrance.
‘I feel dirty,’ Koreen said.
‘Me too,’ said Conal, looking a little terrified.
‘Don’t mind him,’ Kalinda said. ‘His ways might seem rude, but he’s just trying to provoke you. Don’t let him.’
‘We must be patient,’ the chief said. ‘I ask for your forbearance.’
There were a few mutters, but no one spoke out. Killop turned to Kallie, who was glaring into the fire.
‘If he touches you, I’ll kill him,’ he said.
‘Thanks,’ she said, ‘but there’s no way you’d beat me to it.’
The old man reappeared from a different cave mouth, dragging an enormous sack. He pulled it to the edge of the fire, and opened it.
‘I am Kalayne ae Kell,’ he stated for all to hear. ‘This is my home, welcome.’
He pulled out four large skewers, sat down, and started to make dinner.
An hour later, everyone sat back, eating and drinking, their worries gone from them.
The Magelands Origins Page 31