Daphne sat, and took a cigarette, while Ghorley gestured to an aide for tea.
‘I’m a little tired,’ she said. ‘I’ve been burning vision for hours straight.’
‘Ahh,’ Ghorley said, as tea was served. ‘Well, you’re welcome to use our facilities. Get yourself rested and refreshed.’
Daphne narrowed her eyes. ‘Why are you being nice?’
‘Come now,’ he laughed, ‘I know you’ve been working for the government, right up to last night’s coup. And doing a good job, by all accounts.’
‘Not good enough.’
‘I don’t know, wasn’t it you that got the chancellor out of the city?’
‘You heard about that?’
‘I have also been using my powers,’ Ghorley said, sipping his tea. ‘Inside the head of a minor rebel functionary I learned that Chancellor Laodoc was seen flying out of an imperial gaien port at dawn this morning, aided by persons unknown. Well, now I know.’
Daphne nodded.
‘So we’re on the same side, yes?’ Ghorley said.
‘For now. Why haven’t the Old Free attacked the mission?’
‘I’m guessing that they want to use us as bargaining chips,’ Ghorley said. ‘Hostages, in case the empire retaliates. Also, we’re a lot better defended this time. I was here when the old embassy was over-run, we had barely a dozen guards to protect us then. Now we have a full company of soldiers and dozens of burly One True Path deacons.’ He smiled. ‘And you, of course.’
‘Is Douanna in charge of the city?’
‘She is,’ he said. ‘The banner of the old Republic is flying from the senate building again.’
‘The streets are quiet,’ she said. ‘Everyone’s gone indoors.’
‘Not for long,’ Ghorley said. ‘The people will rise up against their old oppressors. It’s not over yet.’
‘You might be right.’
He eyed her. ‘So, why did you come here?’
‘It’s more comfortable than sleeping in a service tunnel.’
‘I would have thought you’d be on your way back to Slateford.’
‘I tried,’ she said. ‘Every gate of the city is locked down, and there are no winged gaien anywhere. I know a few unguarded hatches that lead out onto the mountainside, but that would mean days of hiking through waist-high snow to reach the road south. Which I fully intend to do, once I’ve got my strength back.’
Ghorley nodded. ‘Well as I said, you can stay here as long as you like. It’ll give me an opportunity to try to persuade you to come and work for us.’
‘It’s never going to happen. And besides, you know that the Lord Vicar wants me as far away as possible. What would he think if he knew you were trying to recruit me? And what about the One True Path? You can’t possibly believe that they’d welcome me working alongside them.’
‘Let me worry about all that.’
‘You don’t need to worry,’ Daphne said, stubbing her cigarette out, ‘because I’ll never work for the church again.’
Ghorley sighed. ‘More tea?’
Chapter 23
Watching the Firewitch
Midfort, Sanang/Plateau Frontier – Winter’s Day 506
The constant drumming of raindrops on the canvas covering his barred wagon had kept Agang awake for most of the night. His blankets were cold and damp, and the wooden floor of his cage was slimy and starting to rot.
It had been B’Dang’s idea to have Agang transported in a cage-wagon, so that the army could see their prisoner. The small squad of Keira’s nearest had kept the more enthusiastic warriors from getting too close, but he had been able to hear their jeers and insults every day since they had moved out from the Mya river.
Ahead, the forest came to an unnatural end.
He had seen it before, but it still disturbed him. Over the four years spanning the Holdings invasions of his land, the occupiers had felled millions of trees, clearing a strip a dozen miles wide, running the length of the frontier wall, and leaving a vast desert of dead stumps and muddy cart-tracks. The firewitch’s army was assembling along the treeline, taking up miles on either side of Agang’s wagon. Well over a hundred and fifty thousand warriors according to Kylon, a man whose heart was as black as his clothes. Agang feared him, he seemed to care for nothing except the destruction of the world, and was the one person the firewitch seemed to take advice from.
B’Dang had been relegated in the insurgency’s decision-making process to a mere onlooker, and though he raged and fumed at the meetings of the leadership, he strutted about in front of the warriors as if he believed he was still in charge.
The rain eased off, and Agang saw the white-faced witch emerge from a tent with Fern, who was carrying a basket. His stomach growled.
‘Morning,’ said Flora as they approached.
He sat up, ignoring the chill in his bones.
The witch turned to Fern.
‘Now,’ she said, ‘like we practised.’
The young Sanang woman blushed.
‘Remember,’ Flora said, ‘be assertive.’
‘Here’s your breakfast, prisoner,’ Fern said, keeping her eyes lowered.
‘Hmmm, that was all right,’ Flora said, as Fern lifted the basket up to the bars of the cage.
‘Thank you,’ Agang said, emptying it of its contents. He sat back, and took a long drink from the skin of rainwater, then tore into the hunk of cornbread.
He preferred it when Niall brought him his meals, as the trooper liked to hang around and chat, and sometimes even gave Agang a smoke. Flora looked at him with disdain, and had taken to bringing Fern with her wherever she went, filling her head with Holdings nonsense.
‘Are we attacking today?’ he asked.
‘Wait and see,’ Flora said, watching Fern as she removed the empty basket.
Fern raised her eyes. ‘Happy Winter’s Day.’
Agang smiled at her and she looked away.
‘Is that today?’ Flora said. ‘Had completely forgotten.’
‘Good morning, slave,’ B’Dang said.
Agang turned, and saw the warlord walking towards his wagon, with a handful of other Sanang chiefs following him.
B’Dang eyed him up and down, his smile disappearing.
‘Has someone sent him a healer?’ he said to Flora.
The white-faced witch shrugged. ‘Not that I know of.’
‘He looks too fucking healthy after twelve nights in the cage,’ B’Dang said, narrowing his eyes. ‘It’s been raining for fucking days, he should be freezing his ass off by now.’
Agang said nothing, continuing to eat.
‘A few more cold nights will break him,’ said one of the chiefs.
‘I’d be happy to speed up the process,’ said another.
B’Dang grinned. ‘Give me five minutes and a rusty knife, and I could bring you a toe, a testicle and a tooth.’
‘I’d watch that,’ laughed a chief.
‘I’m going to make sure you get a good view today, slave,’ B’Dang said to Agang. ‘Then maybe after we could see about relieving you of a few body parts.’
Agang ignored him.
B’Dang leered around, and spotted Fern. He swaggered over to her.
‘You watch me in battle, little girl,’ he grinned. ‘I’ll make you wet, and when I get back, drenched in the blood of my enemies, if you want me to fuck you I won’t say no.’
The chiefs sniggered as the girl went red and stared at the ground.
The white-faced witch stepped between them, her hand on her crossbow.
‘Leave her be.’
B’Dang baulked, and his grin faded.
‘If you say so,’ B’Dang said. ‘Looking at you puts me right off anyway.’
There were a few nervous laughs from the chiefs.
Flora stared at them and they fell silent.
‘Come on, lads,’ B’Dang said. ‘We’ve got a battle to get ready for.’
The group of chiefs nodded and followed B’Dang down to where the com
mand tents were sited.
When they were out of sight, Fern sighed. ‘Thank you.’
Flora shrugged.
‘You’ve some set of balls on you,’ Agang said.
Flora narrowed her eyes. ‘Balls are soft and squidgy, they’re not hard. It’s the one place in a man where if you kick him he’s sure to go down.’
Fern let out a loud laugh, then put her hand over her mouth, going red.
Agang frowned.
‘B’Dang’s just a bully,’ Flora went on. ‘He knows that Keira would torch his arse off if he touched me or Fern.’
‘And he thinks you’re a witch,’ he said.
‘Yeah, that helps,’ Flora said, a smile almost on her lips.
Agang leaned forward. Flora had never said much to him, and he longed for some conversation and company.
‘I had plans,’ he said, ‘to improve the life of women in Sanang, but decided I had to free the slaves first. I thought it would be too disruptive to try both at the same time.’
Flora stared at him.
‘For a long time,’ he said, ‘I was advised by Chane of Hold Clement, a fine woman, whom I freed. If she were here now she would tell you that I always planned to help women…’
‘You married Fern to your nephew,’ Flora said. ‘She’s fourteen.’
Agang blinked.
‘You saw her,’ Flora went on, ‘not as a person, but as the heir to her dead father’s land and titles. That’s what you wanted, and don’t try to pretend otherwise.’
Agang took a breath.
‘I won’t,’ he said. ‘You’re right.’ He looked through the bars at Fern. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Sorry won’t bring her childhood back,’ Flora spat, getting closer to the cage.
‘I made a mistake,’ he said. ‘It was why Chane left…’
He stopped, as tears welled in his eyes. He sobbed, bowing his head to hide the shame he felt surging through him. ‘I should have listened to her.’
Flora paused, her anger fading as he wept.
‘Pyre’s arse-hair,’ Leah muttered, coming out of a tent with Niall. ‘What the fuck did you say to him? He’s greetin’ like a bairn.’
‘I think he’s having a moment of clarity,’ Flora said.
‘Bit fucking late for that,’ Leah said.
‘Here, mate,’ Niall said, passing him a lit smokestick through the bars.
‘Fucksake, Niall,’ Leah said. ‘He’s not yer mate.’
The trooper shrugged.
Agang put the weedstick to his lips and inhaled, the drugs calming him. He rubbed his eyes.
‘Finished?’ Leah asked him.
‘Yes.’
‘Good. We’ll be moving soon. You’ll be up where the action’ll be. Right behind Keira.’
‘Is she going to assault the wall?’
‘That would be telling.’
‘How’s Hodang?’
‘Making himself useful.’
‘Send him my greetings,’ Agang said. ‘He hasn’t come near the wagon since we left the Mya.’
Leah nodded.
Flora approached.
‘Did you send him a healer, boss?’
‘What?’ Leah said. ‘No. Well not since the day we captured Broadwater. Why?’
‘Nothing,’ Flora said. ‘Just some crap B’Dang was saying.’
‘That fuckhead paid you a visit did he? What did he want?’
Flora shrugged. ‘He tried to get a rise out of Agang. Failed.’
Leah glanced at him.
‘Could we not just kill the little shit and be done with it?’ Niall said.
‘We need him a bit longer,’ Leah said to them. ‘Without him as a Sanang figurehead, who knows how many would leave before we’ve had a chance to topple the empire.’
Agang snorted, and Leah turned to him, her eyes dark.
‘And you’d better not repeat one fucking word of that, you understand?’
‘I would never say a thing to help that bastard.’
Leah nodded.
‘Hold tight, crew,’ she said to Flora, Niall and Fern. ‘We’ll be out of this country soon.’
‘Thank fuck for that,’ Niall muttered.
The flap of the large tent to their left opened, and Keira strode out, stretching and yawning. She stared up at the sky, watching the grey clouds being chased to the east by a steady westerly.
‘Missed the sunrise, eh?’ she said to no one in particular. ‘Hoi Kylon, get yer lazy arse out here, we’re late.’
Kylon emerged from the tent, his eyes bleary, and a shadow across his unshaven face.
‘Go on, give us a smile,’ Keira smirked.
He shook his head, face like thunder.
‘Anyone got a smoke?’ Keira said. ‘Niall?’
‘Sure, boss,’ the trooper said, taking out a weedstick and lighting it. He passed it to her.
She took a draw, and grinned.
‘It’s going to be a braw day,’ she said. She glanced at Agang, who was watching from the shadows of the cage. ‘How’s it going eight-thirds? Looking forward to the show?’
‘It’ll be nice to be warm for a change.’
Keira cackled.
‘Stop wasting time,’ Kylon said, a frown creasing his face. ‘We need to get on with the job.’
‘Fucksake ya moaning wee bastard,’ Keira said. ‘We’ve got all day.’
‘Every day that passes brings the church closer to the completion of their plan.’
Keira scowled at him. ‘Would ye stop fucking going on about it? We’re going as fast as we fucking can, all because you keep on with yer prophecies of doom. I’m sick of hearing about it.’
She took another draw of the smokestick, glaring at him.
‘The church have all they need,’ Kylon went on. ‘Now they’ve got Rakanese mages, nothing can stop them, except us.’
‘Rakanese what?’ said Leah. ‘I’ve not heard this bit before.’
‘I spoke with Kalayne last night,’ he said. ‘Time is running out. The church now have mages from all nations, all the peoples of this world. The Rakanese were the last to arrive.’
‘I refused to hand over any mages,’ Agang said.
Kylon turned his dark eyes to face him.
‘It made no difference,’ he said. ‘They found Sanang mages regardless.’
‘What are they going to do with them?’ Agang asked.
Kylon’s eyes turned cold.
‘Destroy the world.’
The enormous Sanang army pulled itself from the forest and marched through the wilderness of stumps. Hundreds of wagons toiled along the tracks, axle-deep in mud, pushed by scores of warriors. Many were laden with firewood, and the army hauled them forwards, until they came in sight of the wall.
The great Holdings Frontier Wall. Agang had seen it before. He remembered ordering an all-out assault on it, and had witnessed hundreds of his warriors cut down. From his elevated position on the cage-wagon, Agang gazed at the line of Sanang marching towards the wall. It stretched out for miles in both directions.
In front of his wagon walked the firewitch and her entourage. Niall caught his eye and winked. The sun burst out from behind a cloud, brightening the view and drying the wet ground. A horn blast called out, and the lines of Sanang halted, just out of missile range.
Ahead of them was the castle of Midfort, the great bastion on the wall, with a town nestling behind it that was bigger than any in Sanang. Ten thousand inhabitants. Agang wondered if they had been evacuated, or whether the imperial soldiers believed they could hold back the firewitch.
Agang scanned the walls that rose above the huge set of gates that led to the Plateau. Imperial soldiers lined the battlements, their steel helmets shining in the sunlight.
Keira sauntered past the wagon, Kylon by her side. They looked down the ranks of Sanang warriors, watching as the wagons of firewood were unloaded to create four great dumps, piled high behind the lines. Kylon was squinting at the castle. He said something to Keira, who opened
her mouth and stared at the walls.
‘Fuck,’ she cried, her smile twisting downwards.
Flora and Niall glanced at each other.
‘What is it?’ Agang said, coming to the front of the cage where the two Holdings were on sentry duty.
‘There’s Kellach up on the walls,’ Niall said, ‘wearing imperial uniforms.’
Agang turned back to the gatehouse. At that distance he could make out a height difference between some groups of defenders.
‘We knew this might be the case,’ Kylon said to the firewitch.
‘You cold-hearted bastard,’ she said.
‘It needs to be done.’
‘I fucking know that,’ she cried, ‘but this leaves a sour taste in the mouth.’
She raised her arm, and two of the four huge bonfires were lit.
The warriors started chanting. ‘Kill-kill. Kill-kill. Kill-kill.’
Keira strode to an empty spot in front of Agang’s wagon, where she had a clear view of the fort. Fern rushed after her, carrying a pack. She offered Keira a drink.
Keira smiled at the girl and took a swig. She rolled her shoulders, and lifted her right hand.
A fireball rose from each of the lit bonfires. She flicked her wrist, and with a whoosh they flew up towards the walls, covering the distance in seconds. They soared over the fort, landing in the town beyond with an explosion that rumbled the ground. As Agang was staring at the two plumes of smoke rising from behind the wall, another pair of fireballs arced overhead. And another. Agang turned back to watching Keira. She was staring at the fort, but stood relaxed, her right wrist flicking every few seconds, sending another pair of fireballs into the town.
Even with an opposing wind, Agang could hear the screams. Dozens of pillars of smoke were now ascending from the streets and buildings shielded by the fort.
Keira lowered her hand, and the bombardment ceased.
‘That should keep them busy,’ she said. Fern offered her a smoke, and she smiled and took it. Agang stared at her as she stood chatting and laughing with the Sanang girl, while the town of Midfort was engulfed with flames.
She did some stretches, and cracked her knuckles.
‘You’ll like this,’ she smirked at Agang.
She raised her hands, twisting them in sinuous patterns, and flames from the two lit bonfires rose into the air, one long tendril from each. They met in the sky midway between the Sanang lines and the fort, and combined, forming a long sheet of fire, thin but wide, and growing larger with every second, until it formed a great fiery blade, its edge facing the top of the fort.
The Magelands Box Set Page 123