‘All right,’ she said. ‘So the wee bastard talked. Guess you were right all along.’
‘They after you?’ Niall said.
‘Either that or they’re rushing down there to hand out medals to the Leftovers.’
The squad moved out, and quickened their pace up the tunnel. They came to a grand set of marble steps, rising to their left, and kept moving. Further along they reached a smaller staircase, ascending almost as steeply as a ladder in the right wall of the passageway, and they ran to it.
Kylon went up first, then Keira, and Leah came up last, ushering the others. They emerged into a dark cavern, ringed with squat blocks of grey-stoned housing, piled against the walls. Groups of peasant Rahain were standing out in the streets, gathered around piles of burning debris.
The squad moved down the main road, keeping their hands on their weapons as the Rahain stared at them.
‘Murderers!’ one shouted.
Leah readied her bow.
More Rahain were coming out from the houses, to see what was happening. Cries of anger rose from the crowd as they began to jostle forwards.
Keira kept on, her squad close behind, the Rahain keeping a distance away. They were getting more agitated, and some were carrying improvised weapons, clubs and knives.
‘There’s only six of them!’ someone cried. ‘Kill them!’
Keira turned.
‘I’m not in the fucking mood for this,’ she called out to the crowd, ‘but if you bastards take another step forward I’ll turn the fucking lot of you to ash.’
She raised her arm, and sent bursts of flame from the nearby street fires soaring up into the cavern.
There was a collective gasp from the crowd.
‘Well?’ Keira shouted.
‘Fire mage!’ a peasant screamed.
‘Aye,’ Keira said. ‘Well spotted you at the back. A fire mage who is currently trying to get the fuck away from the alliance army. You should be fucking helping me, ya radges. You’ve got it all backwards.’
‘We’ll never help invaders,’ said an older Rahain woman, standing at the head of the crowd.
‘No?’ Keira sneered. ‘You bastards owe me. All of you. It was you that got me into this great pile of shite in the first place.’
Kylon tugged at her elbow.
‘We’re leaving now,’ Keira said. ‘You know what’ll happen if you come after me, or try to stop me.’ She pointed at the woman who had spoken, ‘And you’re coming with us.’
‘Why?’ she asked.
‘Easy,’ Keira said. ‘We need a guide and a hostage. Either you come willingly, or I’ll start torching the place, and take you anyway. Your choice, hen.’
The Rahain women glanced at her companions.
‘You can’t trust her,’ said one, ‘she’s a savage.’
‘If you want,’ Keira smirked, ‘I can show you how savage I can be…’
She raised her arm.
‘No,’ the woman said. ‘I’ll come.’ She stepped forward out of the crowd, and joined Keira and the squad.
‘Good,’ Keira said, looking down at her new hostage. ‘Now, there’s a whole company of Holdings troopers after us, and if they raise the alarm, then every alliance soldier in the city will be searching. Lead us out, by the back ways.’
The woman nodded. She glanced back at the crowd of peasants.
‘Sit tight,’ she said to them. ‘I’ll be fine.’
The squad moved off, half-running away from the mob, and out of the cavern by a low tunnel.
‘What’s your name?’ Keira asked her.
‘Ryaedic,’ she said.
‘How long will it take to get out of the city?’
‘A couple of hours by the main routes. Double that if you’re wanting to stay hidden from any soldiers.’
Keira nodded.
‘Why are they chasing you?’
Keira snorted. ‘You know what I fucking did.’
‘No,’ Ryaedic replied. ‘I’ve no idea.’
‘You know the Rahain army forced me to destroy the Rakanese camp last spring.’
‘What? That was you?’
‘Aye, and now the alliance want to arrest me for it,’ Keira said. ‘Fuck. So they didn’t tell you about me?’
‘They told us our army destroyed the camp, with an earthquake, and then a fire.’
‘All true, I suppose. Except I did the fire.’ She spat on the ground. ‘Your army told me they’d kill everyone I loved if I didn’t burn the camp. I still shouldn’t have done it, but.’
She fell silent, realising that the squad were listening to every word as they hurried along the tunnel.
‘What the fuck are you all looking at? Keep yer eyes on the fucking road.’
The Rahain woman led them onwards, rushing through deserted alleys, and up narrow flights of stairs. Every time they came to a junction, she would go ahead, and check the way was clear before leading them on.
After hours of walking and climbing they reached a busier thoroughfare, where groups of poor Rahain were huddling around fires in the dim light. Ryaedic turned up a tight alleyway, and through a narrow opening, which led to a small cavern.
She lit a lamp.
‘We’ll rest here for a bit,’ she said. ‘My old legs.’
The squad wheezed and panted as they fell to the floor.
‘Lugging full kit up those last stairs nearly ended me,’ Niall gasped.
‘We can’t rest for long,’ Kylon said. ‘Word must be out in the city by now. I’m surprised we haven’t seen more soldiers.’
‘I’ve taken you by all the back lanes to get here,’ Ryaedic said. ‘But you’re right, we must move soon, the caverns will get busier at dawn.
‘Is it nearly dawn?’ Flora said. ‘I thought it was evening.’
‘Being underground has fucked up yer sense of time,’ Keira said. She turned to Ryaedic. ‘Are we close to an exit?’
‘Yes,’ the Rahain woman said. ‘Do you promise to let me go once you’ve escaped?’
‘Aye.’
Ryaedic nodded. ‘Just a few minutes more to walk. There’s a city gate down that wide tunnel we just saw.’
‘A gate?’ Kylon asked. ‘A big guarded gate?’
She shrugged. ‘You said you wanted out of the city.’
‘But not to walk straight into the arms of the alliance army,’ Kylon frowned.
‘You’ll have to do better than that,’ Keira said. ‘Find a way out that doesn’t involve us getting chased by a thousand tin cans on horseback.’
Ryaedic sat back, and took a drink of water from an offered canister.
‘There might be a way,’ she said. ‘It’ll be guarded, all exits are, but if you can get past the soldiers, no cavalry will be able to chase you.’
‘Aye?’ Keira said.
‘Do any of you know how to pilot a winged gaien?’
After resting, they double-backed away from the wide boulevard, and instead ascended more long flights of stairs, climbing for another tiring hour, following the bobbing torch held by Ryaedic. Even Keira was starting to feel it in her legs as they mounted step after step. The two Holdings were exhausted.
‘Why is there no one else here?’ Kylon asked.
‘These are service shafts and tunnels,’ the Rahain woman said, looking the least affected by their climb. ‘I don’t think the Holdings have found them yet.’ She paused, allowing the others to catch up. ‘This one passes by a cavern with one end open to the sky where lots of gaien are stabled.’ She gazed at the squad, and her tongue flickered. ‘It’ll surely be guarded. You’ll have to fight. I will take you to an opening in the cavern wall, but no further. Agreed?’
‘Aye,’ Keira said.
Ryaedic led them on for another ten minutes, along a level passageway that ended in a small, square door. She pointed at it, and stood to the side. Keira stepped forward, knelt, and pushed the door open an inch.
Sunlight.
She nearly laughed.
Through the crack in the door she could see
a large cavern ahead of her. Gaien were stabled to the left, in a long row of stalls. Some were being led forwards, Rahain in tunics handling them under the watchful gaze of Holdings troopers. The dark-skinned soldiers were in thick groups all over the cavern. To her right, the wall of the cavern opened up to a wide panoramic view of the mountains, where the sun was rising over the snow-capped horizon.
Her eyes scanned the cavern for any sign of flame, and she pulled on her senses to search where her sight could not reach. There was a metal brazier alight on the far left, in the middle of the row of stables, where an archway marked an entrance to the cavern. Troopers were warming their hands against it. They were blocking her view of the fire, but she knew it was there.
She closed her eyes. It was far, but she could feel it.
‘Get ready to run,’ she said.
She pushed all her senses towards the flame, and uncurled her fingers, trying to grasp the flaming tendrils.
The small flame was far away, further than she had ever reached before. She started to sweat, and felt nauseous, but kept on.
It doesn’t have to be much, she thought, just nudge it towards the stables.
She clenched her fingers, and the fire surged to the side, the flames reaching through the ring of soldiers, scorching two, and hitting the wall of the stables. It burst into flames, and she let her power go, falling back into the arms of Kylon.
She grinned.
‘Come on,’ he grunted, as the first screams and shouts came from the cavern.
Leah kicked the door open, crouched, and bolted through. Fang followed, his axe out. The two Holdings clambered through next, as Kylon pulled Keira to her feet.
She kissed him. ‘Fuck me, that was great. I am fucking awesome.’
He pushed her through the doorway, and leapt after her, running the moment he landed, pulling her along.
The Holdings soldiers were sprinting towards the burning stables, the pained cries of the trapped gaien filling the cavern. No one looked their way as they raced towards the nearest carriage. The Rahain handlers were gaping at the fire, but one turned, and saw the squad racing in his direction.
He screamed, and started to run.
‘Fucking stay where you are!’ Leah cried, aiming her longbow.
‘Hey!’ a trooper called from the stables, pointing at them.
‘Get in the carriage,’ Keira shouted to her squad. She reached one of the Rahain. ‘You, get these beasts moving!’
Kylon ran to the front gaien, and grasped the long reins, hauling it towards the opening, Leah shouting at the others to help.
The great reptiles began lurching forward, as the Rahain pulled.
Keira walked backwards alongside the carriage, keeping her gaze on the Holdings troopers as they formed up ready to charge.
She reached into her powers, nervous that they might be drained, but they felt as full as ever, and she laughed. She glanced over to the row of carriages to her right, and raised her hand.
A bolt of fire shot out from the inferno devouring the stable block, and impacted onto the side of a carriage, and it exploded into flames. She moved her hand across, and the flames followed, until every other carriage was a burning wreck.
The Holdings were charging she noticed, the sound they were making drowned out by the flames ripping through the cavern. She glanced over her shoulder. The lead gaien was near the edge, and was extending its wings.
She turned to face the troopers, now only twenty yards from her, their chest-plates reflecting the bright light of the dawn sun. Keira swept her hand before her, and raised a wall of flame between the troopers and where she stood, all the way from the burning carriages in a semi-circle back to the stables, blocking them in.
The troopers skidded to a juddering halt before the wall of fire, their mouths open in terror and amazement.
She bowed, laughing.
‘You’re lucky I’m in a good mood.’
‘Keira, come on,’ Kylon shouted. ‘We’re going!’
She ran after the carriage as it slid across the ground, gaining speed, two of its four gaien aloft, the others preparing to go. Kylon held out his hand from the side door, and she grasped it.
He pulled her in as the carriage lifted off, and they fell onto the wooden floor of the troop-carrier.
She jumped up, and peered through one of the small circular windows.
They had cleared the cavern, and were gaining altitude. The sun was shining down on the snow-covered mountain, and she could see darker patches where the thaw was starting to take hold.
Kylon stood by her, his face next to hers as they gazed at the view.
‘Spring is coming,’ he said.
‘But where the fuck shall we be spending it?’ Keira said, turning to look up the carriage. The two Holdings were staring out of a window, while Fang sat on one of the benches, strapping himself in. The Rahain they had hustled aboard were gathered at the other end, looking terrified. Leah was piloting from the rear, pulling on the controls she had learned to handle in Tahrana City.
‘This world is fucked,’ Keira said to them. ‘The Holdings, the Sanang, the Rakanese, even the fucking Kellach Brigdomin, they all bow the knee to the King. And now the Rahain are completely screwed, he controls the whole fucking world.’
Keira gazed around at the faces of everyone listening.
‘And that world hates me, and wants to kill me. None of you had to come along, I didn’t force any of you to be here with me, but where I’m going some of you may not want to follow. That’s fair enough, I’ll let you off next time we land. Kylon was right. We need to hide somewhere deep.’
She spat on the wooden floor and looked over at Leah.
‘Take us to Sanang.’
Chapter 31
Admonition
Plateau City, The Plateau – 29th Day, Last Third Winter 505
The air was cool but crisp, and the sky a deep blue. Under the sun of the second last day of winter, the city had come alive. Despite remaining a vast building site, decorations had been put up over the previous days, with bright spring flowers, banners and pennants covering the main routes. As Daphne pushed the pram along the pavement with her right hand, workers on ladders were hanging a long sequence of colourful flags across the street. The tall stone tenement blocks of the aristocratic district gleamed in the crisp sunshine, and Daphne smiled.
‘All a bit garish, if you ask me,’ Shella said, strolling beside her. They were wrapped up warm from the cold, except for Bedig, who was sweating in the sunlight.
‘I think it’s beautiful,’ Daphne said, gazing up at the bright banners. ‘Cheers me up to see the city looking so festive. Do they not celebrate New Year in Arakhanah?’
‘Not really,’ Shella said. ‘Just another day.’
Daphne glanced over her shoulder, checking that the two troopers were still behind them. They escorted them whenever they left the house, as she insisted upon doing at least once a day. Staying indoors with the baby was exhausting, and it had been the most tiring third and a half of her life. After a few deceptive days of quiet sleeping, Karalyn had proved to be a demanding infant, and even with the help of Shella, Bedig and Celine, Daphne was worn out.
Her own body had also taken time to recover. She longed to start training again, to get back into shape, but the lack of time, and the advice from the doctors, had forced her to lead a life as sedentary as when she had been pregnant. Once Karalyn started sleeping through the night, she promised herself, that was when she would get a small piece of her life back.
A well-dressed couple nodded politely to her as they passed by on the pavement. No one was ever rude to her face when they stuck to the streets around her house. She knew they probably gossiped about her and her daughter, but she could cope with that as long as they kept up their mask of noble civility whenever she bumped into them in the street.
Karalyn stirred. Daphne reached into the pram and retrieved a dummy. She placed it into the baby’s mouth, and she settled.
‘Those things are amazing,’ Shella said. ‘Wish I could’ve used them to shut up Noli’s brats.’
‘Your Highness,’ a lady curtsied at Shella from the steps to a grand townhouse.
‘Good morning,’ Shella replied as they walked past. She looked like she was about to mutter something to Daphne under her breath, when her mouth opened.
‘Look at that,’ she said.
Daphne followed her gaze.
Upon the side of a tenement, an enormous embroidered banner hung. In rich colours it depicted scenes from the conquest of Rahain, or liberation as the banner proclaimed it in large, golden letters.
‘Ha!’ Shella cried, pointing. ‘Is that who I think it is?’
Daphne squinted upwards as she pushed the pram closer to the banner.
Shella was pointing to a small scene in the bottom left of the tapestry. A girl was hurling balls of fire onto blazing catapults, while next to her stood a barbarian chieftain, his long black locks flowing, his sword raised.
‘Hey, Karalyn,’ Shella grinned. ‘There’s your daddy.’
Daphne smiled. The depiction was crude, but there was no doubt it was Killop up there, saving the alliance charge at the battle which won the war. Killop and his mage who, rumours said, was his sister, the notorious war criminal Keira. Despite official denials, the population held fast to this belief, bolstered by the reported fact of her escape a few days later, stealing a winged gaien and fleeing into the barren mountains.
Daphne was unsure. She knew Keira was Killop’s twin, so any young girl could not possibly be her, but Keira could have ghosted away after the attack, and Killop could have used the girl to try to trick the Holdings. That, at any rate, was the prevalent theory among the rumour-mongers in Plateau City.
Shella sighed. ‘I can’t believe the alliance crushed the lizards so quickly.’
‘It’s justice for what they did to you,’ Daphne said.
‘Maybe,’ Shella frowned.
‘And us,’ Bedig said. ‘Our people there have been freed. It was worth it just for that.’
Daphne nodded. ‘And Killop is their chief.’
‘When you go to Rahain, miss,’ Bedig said, ‘I’ve decided to go with you. I love this city, it’s the greatest place I’ve seen, but I want to join Killop’s clan, and help make a new beginning for our folk.’
The Magelands Box Set Page 87