‘His Majesty invites you to remain in the city until the New Year, when Laodoc is formally appointed Chancellor. Upon that date, the King has decreed that the realm of the Holdings will recognise your own kingship of the Sanang.’ Harkins bowed his head. ‘My lord.’
‘On that date then, General,’ Agang said, ‘we will lead our army home.’
Chapter 30
Flight
Rahain Capital, Rahain Republic – 20th Day, Second Third Winter 505
Keira awoke, the chamber dark and quiet around her, except for the gentle snores of her squad-mates. She had no idea what time it was, having had no glimpse of the sun since they had broken out of the gatehouse. They had kept moving ever since, Benel leading them straight through the city, cutting a path for the alliance forces to follow.
After running and fighting for what seemed like days, they had ended up in a deep system of dark caverns by an underground river, the source of the city’s drinking water, where Benel had allowed them to rest.
She scratched her side, itching from the insect bites, and pulled the rough blanket off her. Kylon was sleeping to her right. She thought about poking him awake, but stood instead, and headed for the faint light coming from under the door. She turned the handle, and came into a large circular room, off which the other squads were sleeping. Benel sat, his feet up on a table, swigging from a bottle. A handful of soldiers sat about the room, sorting supplies, mending weapons and tending wounds. Through an archway to her left she could see lamplight reflecting off the cold, rushing river.
She walked over to the mage and held out her hand.
He frowned and passed her the bottle.
She took a large gulp. ‘Not bad.’
Benel drew two cigarettes from a packet, lit them both off a match and gave one to her. She sat on the table next to where his boots rested.
‘Enjoy your beauty sleep?’ he asked.
‘Aye,’ she said. ‘Dreamt about wringing your fucking neck.’
‘I have that effect on women.’
‘So here we are,’ she said, taking another swig, and passing him the bottle. ‘Part one of your plan is done. What’s next?’
He shrugged. ‘I hadn’t thought ahead of getting us out of the gatehouse before the rest of the army arrived. And by us, I mean you.’
‘Well that’s fucking great,’ she said, glaring at him. ‘If you’re considering selling me out…’
‘Not at all, blondie.’ He flicked ash onto the floor. ‘If I was going to do that, it would have been much easier at the gatehouse. News has come in, that might change things.’
‘News? From where?’
‘A squad from the alliance forces came by when you were sleeping,’ he said. ‘Out on patrol. Right now, they’ll be on their way back, telling everyone that they found what’s left of the famed battalion.’
Keira jumped to her feet. ‘Shit.’
‘Relax, blondie. It’ll be hours before anyone’ll be back. Sit.’
She remained standing, smoking her cigarette.
‘The news might cheer you up, or maybe not, I don’t know,’ he said.
‘Fucking get on with it.’
Benel smiled, a smoke ring rising. ‘Let’s go for a walk.’
He stood, and she followed him to the archway, past the soldiers in the room. They went out into the shadows by the riverside tunnel. It was cold and damp, and the noise of the water drowned out the sounds of the soldiers in the circular room behind them.
Benel had brought the bottle and he took a drink.
‘It seems that your brother played a role in the battle outside the gates.’
‘Killop?’
He laughed. ‘Do you have any others? Yes, Killop, Chief of the Severed Clan, I believe. He destroyed the catapults on the mountainside that were punching holes in the alliance lines. Allowed the cavalry to charge the Rahain army and win the battle.’
‘Ha!’ Keira cried, grinning in the dim light. ‘Chief Killop.’
Benel leaned over. ‘Wait for the best bit. He had a fire mage with him.’
Keira’s jaw fell open. ‘What?’
‘Your face,’ Benel smirked. ‘Quite a picture. What is that? Jealousy perhaps?’
Keira said nothing, her mind spinning.
‘It appears you’ve been replaced,’ Benel said, swigging the brandy, ‘by a young girl, or so the squad told me.’
‘A girl?’
‘Yes. She dropped fire onto the catapults, and burnt them to ash. The way the squad told the story, the Holdings assumed that you were up there on the mountainside with your brother, doing your fire mage thing, and they got the surprise of their lives when Killop showed up with a skinny teenager.’
Keira frowned. A young girl? Must have been a child-slave. How the fuck had Killop trained her?
‘You still don’t get it,’ Benel said. ‘Every rumour of a fire mage can be pointed in her direction. As far as the authorities are concerned, Killop’s young companion was the only fire mage who intervened in the battle. Why would they look for another? That leaves just a few here in the battalion who know, or suspect.’
She nodded, but her mind was elsewhere, wondering what the young mage was like.
‘Who’s left in your squad?’ he asked.
‘What?’ she said. ‘Uh, Kylon, Leah, Fang, Sergeant Niall and a trooper named Flora.’
‘The Kellach I trust,’ Benel said. ‘They obviously knew who you were long before I found out, and the Sanang is too dumb to realise or care who you are.’
He paused, and she glared at him.
‘What are you suggesting?’
‘I think everyone else in the battalion could be persuaded that they were mistaken about what they think they saw in the gatehouse. The two Holdings in your squad are the only loose ends.’ He glanced through to the brightly lit room. ‘Are they still sleeping? We could make it quick.’
‘Don’t touch them,’ she said. ‘Don’t even fucking think about it, ya backstabbing bastard.’
‘Funny,’ he said. ‘I didn’t think you’d mind. After all, you didn’t balk at the genocide of the Rakanese.’
Her anger flared.
‘You don’t know a fucking thing about what happened.’
‘What’s to know? You stood on a hillside and incinerated a third of a million refugees.’
‘Most were already dead,’ she said. ‘The lizards told me they were all dead, that I was only getting rid of the evidence.’
‘But you must have realised that many were still alive,’ he said, stepping back as she glared at him. ‘Why didn’t you stop then?’
A memory flashed through her mind, of that cold dawn overlooking the vast encampment of the Rakanese, polluted with tar and oil and with heaps of the dead lying on every street corner. And the survivors. She swallowed hard. Diseased and staggering, hordes of survivors had stumbled outside to see the first flames as they began to tear through the city.
‘I put them out of their misery.’
They smoked in silence for a moment.
‘Nothing will save you if you’re arrested,’ Benel said. ‘No court will believe you, and the court you will be hauled before will probably be the highest in the Holdings realm. Your execution would be a fitting end to the campaign, I think, after you have been paraded through the capital.’
‘I won’t get captured. And I won’t harm Niall or Flora.’
He sighed. ‘It’s your head.’
‘No fucker’s getting anywhere near my head. We stick to your idea about hushing it up, and blame anything that happened on Killop’s new mage. We play dumb, won’t be hard for you, and then you can bask in the glory of all your victories. I’ll be just a humble squaddie.’
Benel frowned for a moment, then nodded.
She watched as he turned and headed back into the circular room through the archway. She smoked the last of her cigarette, shutting all memories of the Rakanese camp from her mind. She wouldn’t dwell on the past. She needed all her wits to find a w
ay to get herself out of the city, link up with Killop, and meet his new mage. She smiled.
She threw the cigarette into the river, then paused as the sound of firm voices came from the circular room. She dashed to the side of the arch, and peered through from the shadows. In the centre of the room Benel was standing, facing a squad of brightly armoured Holdings troopers.
‘…for disobeying a direct order, and I’m afraid, sir, that you will have to accompany us up to army headquarters,’ a tall officer said, his palms extended.
There were angry murmurings from the battalion soldiers in the room.
Benel raised his hand. ‘Everyone, calm, please. I’m happy to be escorted, confident that I’ll be proved innocent of any charges. May I ask if I’m formally under arrest?’
‘Not at present, sir,’ the officer said. ‘You are to be brought in for questioning, by order of Field Marshal Howie.’
‘The field marshal herself?’ Benel whistled. ‘I am honoured.’
The officer gestured, and Benel walked forward, between the ranks of the Holdings squad.
He turned.
‘My gallant Leftovers,’ he called out. ‘Wait for me here, I shall return soon.’
He nodded to the officer, and the squad moved off, Benel in their midst. Keira waited for them to leave the room before she came in by the archway. She went straight to her squad’s chamber.
‘Wake up, you silly fucks,’ she called out, kicking the sleeping forms. ‘Benel’s been arrested.’
She closed the door, and lit a lamp.
Kylon lifted his head and yawned. ‘What?’
‘Benel,’ she said. ‘They’ve fucking taken him. And listen, Killop’s outside the city, and he has a fire mage.’
Kylon got to his feet. ‘Slow down. One thing at a time. Killop fought in the battle?’
‘I don’t know the details,’ she said, ‘but his new fire mage burnt all the lizard’s catapults, and won the battle for the alliance.’
Keira glanced around. The rest of her squad lay or crouched, listening.
She sat in the room’s only chair. ‘You all know who I am.’
Leah smirked, and poured herself a cup of stale water.
‘We have a pretty good idea,’ Niall said.
Fang gazed around. His grasp of the Holdings language was limited to basic orders, like eat, run, stop, and duck.
‘Do you give a fuck who I am?’ she said to him in Sanangka.
He shrugged. ‘Keilyn fire woman.’
‘Keira ae Caela ae Kell,’ she said.
Fang grinned. ‘Keira kill-kill.’
‘Whatever.’
‘Did you say something about Benel?’ Flora asked, pulling her hair into a ponytail.
Keira turned to her. ‘He’s been arrested for disobeying orders.’
‘Then we need to get the fuck out of here,’ Kylon said, his face grim. ‘Benel would drop your name to save his skin, of that there‘s no doubt.’
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘He’s had plenty chance to betray me before.’
‘But now his career, maybe his life is in danger. Disobeying an order in the middle of a war? It could have been a complete disaster, he was lucky it turned out well for him.’
‘It wasn’t fucking luck, it was me.’
‘Two thirds of the Leftovers are dead,’ he frowned. ‘It wasn’t just you.’
‘Aye, I know,’ she said.
She sat and watched as Leah and Kylon gathered their possessions, rolling up blankets, and shoving clothes into their packs.
‘Are you leaving us?’ Niall said. ‘Are you deserting the army?’
Kylon stopped. He turned to face Niall and Flora.
‘Do you think we should be here when the military police show up?’ he said. ‘It wouldn’t end well, believe me.’
‘The battalion won’t let them arrest you,’ Flora said. ‘Keilyn saved us in the gatehouse.’
‘The soldiers out there just stood and watched as Benel was taken away,’ Keira said.
‘But this time we’ll be prepared,’ Flora said. ‘We’ll rouse them all, and barricade the cavern.’
‘Thanks,’ Keira smiled.
‘And how many would die?’ Kylon scowled. ‘No. We’ll slip away before everyone else is awake, and you three can pretend you knew nothing when the police arrive.’
Flora and Niall shared an angry look, while Fang looked on oblivious.
Kylon handed Keira her packed bag, and she rose to her feet.
‘I’m still not sure about this,’ she said. ‘I don’t think Benel will tell them anything.’
‘Are you willing to bet your life on that?’ Kylon said.
‘Stop fucking about, Keira,’ Leah said. ‘It’s time to get out of these caves.’
‘I’m coming with you,’ Flora said, rising to her feet and grabbing her things.
‘The squad stays together,’ Niall nodded. ‘What’s left of it anyway.’
Kylon shook his head, then paused. ‘Actually,’ he said. ‘It might look better with two Holdings and a Sanang alongside us.’
Leah made a face, while the others gazed up at Keira.
‘All right,’ she said. ‘We all go.’
‘What the fuck’s happening?’ Fang asked in his own tongue.
‘We’re making a run for it,’ Keira answered him. ‘You coming?’
‘Fucking right, Keira kill-kill,’ he said, getting up. ‘Wherever you’re going, there’s bound to be blood.’
Kylon nodded as he watched the squad get ready.
‘If anyone asks,’ he said, ‘we were told to go out on patrol by Benel.’
Keira pulled on her chain mail and grinned.
‘Where are we going?’ Niall said.
‘Up,’ Kylon said. ‘Up until we can get our bearings. Then out.’
‘Are we going to find your brother, ma’am?’ Flora asked.
Keira opened her mouth to reply.
‘No,’ said Kylon. ‘Killop still has a job to do, and we would only risk everything he’s built.’
Keira glared at him. ‘Then where the fuck do you suggest?’
‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘We need to hide, somewhere far away.’
‘Fucksake,’ she muttered, hating him for being right.
They gathered at the door.
‘Ready?’ Kylon said.
They nodded.
‘Leave the talking to me,’ Keira said, and opened the door, striding out into the large circular chamber.
It was busier than before. Warriors and troopers mingled in groups, many looking agitated and discussing Benel. They stopped and stared at Keira as she and her squad entered.
‘Hoi,’ Keira called out, spotting the officer. ‘Captain Tully.’
He turned to face her as she approached.
‘Lieutenant,’ he nodded, ‘you’ve heard the news about the mage, I presume?’
‘Aye,’ she said. ‘He’ll be fine. He’s a fucking hero, the worst they’ll do is slap him on the wrist.’
‘I hope you’re right,’ he said, glancing at the squad in full battle kit. ‘Going somewhere?’
‘Aye,’ she said. ‘Benel wanted a plan of the vicinity, asked me to go out before he was picked up. Shouldn’t be away for more than a couple of hours. Won’t take long to scout out the main routes.’
Tully said nothing, chewing his lip. Other fighters from the Leftovers were standing listening, their attention fixed.
‘Sir?’ Keira said.
‘Very well,’ he replied, his eyes troubled. ‘I shall accompany you to the tunnel, Lieutenant.’
She nodded, and led the squad to the far end of the chamber, which opened into a long inclined passageway. On the threshold Tully halted, his back to the chamber, and discretely extended his hand to Keira.
‘Good luck,’ he whispered.
‘Thanks, Tully,’ she said, grasping his hand.
He winced.
‘Come on then, ya ugly bastards,’ she said to the squad. ‘Let’s go.
’
She led them up the long straight passageway, resisting the impulse to look back.
The corridor levelled out after two hundred yards, and joined a larger tunnel, dimly lit, with Rahain civilians warming their hands against small fires. The wall lamps were dark, and shadows from the flames in the street flickered up to the rounded ceiling. A squad of a dozen Holdings troopers were standing guard to their right at a crossroads, watching the Rahain.
Keira walked up to them without hesitation.
‘Troopers,’ she said. ‘I’m Lieutenant Keilyn of the King’s Combined Battalion. I have a message for headquarters up top. Which way is quickest?’
‘You’re from the Leftovers?’ a corporal said, squinting at her. ‘Ma’am?’
‘Aye,’ Keira said. ‘Under Mage Benel.’
The corporal smiled. ‘Is it true you held out in that gatehouse for a whole half-third?’
‘Aye,’ Keira nodded. ‘Anyway, no time to chat.’
‘Sorry, ma’am.’ He pointed to his right. ‘That way. Follow the main channel, then up the first set of stairs you see on your left.’
‘Thanks, corporal,’ she said, and the squad set off again, following the wide route he had pointed out. It started to incline upwards, and got darker, with a handful of torches lighting the way.
‘Was that wise?’ Kylon said to her. ‘Using Benel’s name?’
‘Took a guess they hadn’t heard anything yet.’
‘Maybe I was wrong,’ he said. ‘Maybe the mage will keep his mouth shut.’
‘Even if he does,’ she said. ‘I’m going to get discovered sooner or later. Best we scarper now.’
After a thirty minute gentle climb, she heard movement ahead, the thud of boots.
‘Over here,’ she called to her squad, and they bundled into the deep shadows of a wide recess in the tunnel wall.
They huddled together as a company of armoured troopers bounded down the passageway, heading the way Keira had come. They took a few moments to pass, their steel plates clanking, their heavy shields slung over their backs, but they kept their eyes forward in the dim light, and none turned towards the squad.
Keira waited until the sound of boots had dwindled into the distance before she stepped back out into the tunnel.
The Magelands Box Set Page 86