‘I’m angry,’ said Lilyann. ‘Hungry. Pissed off. But I must have faith that all this is for the best. The Creator wouldn’t allow this to happen without a good reason.’
‘You’re a fucking idiot,’ Shella said.
‘Steady,’ said Benel. ‘We need to stick together.’
‘How can we trust her?’ Shella said. ‘She sounds like she wants to help them.’
‘Whatever they’re going to do to us,’ Benel said, ‘there’s a high probability that it will kill us. Maybe the earthquake was a genuine mistake, but if it was, then it proves that even the Lord Vicar and the best vision mages in the land are capable of making mistakes. They could make another. After all, there’s a Sanang army heading this way. I’d imagine the church are under a considerable amount of pressure.’
‘There’s an army approaching?’ the Rahain man said.
‘Yeah,’ said Shella, ‘and a fucking big one too, lead by Keira the fire mage. She’s already overthrown the King of Sanang, and destroyed two imperial armies on her rampage through the Plateau. Things are about to get interesting for the empire.’
The Rahain stifled a laugh.
‘I thought that was why they’d chained me,’ Lilyann said. ‘They were worried I was a mad cow like Keira, and that maybe I was in league with her. I denied it, but of course any spy would. Tell me, are the rest of you chained and hooded as well as me?’
The others muttered their agreement, except for the Sanang man, who remained silent.
‘They think we’re all dangerous,’ Shella said, ‘and they’re fucking right. Give me one chance and I’ll show them exactly how dangerous I can be.’
‘And I,’ said the Rahain man.
‘Yeah, well, me too obviously,’ Benel said.
‘I don’t know,’ said Lilyann. ‘What they’re doing seems cruel, but maybe it’s what’s needed.’
‘No,’ said Shella, ‘I’m not having that. A creator who orders torture and murder is not benevolent. I’ll not be worshipping the fucker that had me chained up like an animal.’
She paused.
‘And, if you or your priests are listening,’ she went on, raising her head and her voice, ‘you can get to fuck the lot of you.’
The room fell silent.
‘Lilyann,’ Benel said after a while, ‘I heard that new converts have to read lots of scripture.’
‘Aye.’
‘Then you probably know more about what’s going to happen than the rest of us.’
‘Nothing I’ve read talks about this. There’s nothing about gathering mages.’
‘But what could the Creator do with five different mages?’
‘I don’t know.’
Shella frowned behind her hood. ‘We’ll find out when it starts.’
They passed hours together in the cell, with no food or water, or any attention from the wardens. Shella leaned back against a wall, trying to get comfortable, but the chains were digging into her wrists, and the buckle under her chin had rubbed the skin raw.
There was a high pitched noise, followed by a low rumble. The walls shook.
‘What the fuck?’ she said. ‘Did anyone else…?
It happened again, the rumble louder, coming from far above.
‘Keira?’ Benel said.
‘I fucking hope so,’ Shella said. ‘She might be a mad bitch, but if she’s fighting the Emperor and his priests then good on her.’
She heard the bar slide across their door, and the sound of it swinging open.
‘Bring them,’ a voice said.
Shella’s shoulders were grabbed and she was hauled to her feet. Around her, she could hear wardens surround the other mages. They were led off, walking through the institute for a few minutes until they were halted again. From behind the thin hood she could sense that they were in a large, well-lit chamber.
‘Put each one by their positions and secure them,’ a voice said. ‘The Emperor will be here soon.’
Shella was dragged for several yards, then her wrists were raised and shackled to a point above her head. She felt the wardens step away, and she swayed on her feet.
‘Take off their hoods,’ the voice said, ‘except for Mage Benel.’
The buckle under her chin was released, and the hood removed. She blinked, the lamps lighting the room too bright for her eyes.
Another deep rumble reverberated, and she heard worried gasps from those present.
She managed to open her eyes a little. She was attached to a pillar, one of five in the circular chamber where they had been taken. On the floor in the centre of the room, a large imperial star had been engraved. Each of the five points terminated at the base of one of the pillars, and priests stood at the tip of each point, facing the chained mages.
She glanced to her left and saw the old Rahain mage, his shackled wrists raised above his head. To his left was the young Kellach woman, with tears running down her cheeks. Along from her was the Sanang man, and to Shella’s right was a figure still wearing a hood.
‘Hey, Benel.’
‘Silence,’ said the priest closest to her, his feet on the tip of a star-point. It was Rijon.
‘Fuck you,’ she said. ‘Forever and always.’
There was another low rumble, and Rijon glanced upwards. He swallowed.
‘She’s coming, isn’t she?’ Shella said. ‘Coming to finish you bastards off.’
‘She cannot win,’ he said. ‘She’s too late. We’re ready.’
‘For what?’
‘You’ll see.’
Arnault, who stood alone in the middle of the room, the centre of the star beneath his feet, clapped his hands.
‘The Holy Emperor will be with us in a few moments, to oversee what history will recall as the most glorious day the world has ever seen. We are truly honoured to be here, serving the One True Creator with all of our strength and faith.’ He gazed at the wardens, who had gathered at the rear of the pillars, and were lining the circular wall of the chamber, and then he glanced at each of the five priests standing on the points of the star. ‘May the Creator’s will be done.’
The doors to the circular chamber swung open and Guilliam walked in, flanked by a pair of imperial courtiers. The priests and wardens bowed their heads.
The Emperor walked up to Arnault, and looked him up and down.
‘So you’ve finally decided you’re ready?’
The Lord Vicar bowed, his robes sweeping across the floor. ‘We are, your Majesty.’
‘And it took that mad bitch to actually start fire-bombing the city?’
‘Your Imperial Majesty,’ the Lord Vicar said, ‘it was imperative that we learned the lessons of our previous attempts. We cannot afford to make another error.’
The Emperor narrowed his eyes. ‘And you’re quite sure that this attempt will be a success?’
‘Quite, your Majesty,’ he said. ‘I have been in communion with the Creator several times over the course of the day, and am confident that there will be no more mistakes.’
‘You’d better be right,’ the Emperor said, ‘otherwise we all burn.’
He turned, and gazed at the pillars where the five mages were chained. He saw Shella, and smirked.
‘We heard you were here, princess,’ he said. ‘Nice to see you performing some useful service at last.’
‘I hope Keira burns you to ashes you pathetic little tyrant.’
Guilliam chuckled. ‘You might find it interesting to know that we had you declared dead to the Rakanese government, so there won’t be anyone looking for you. And in the unfortunate absence of your nephew, we decided to proclaim your brother the royal representative of your people. His Highness Prince Sami. He’s proved a lot easier to control than you were.’
‘Eat shit.’
‘It’s been a pleasure,’ he said. ‘We shall enjoy watching you suffer.’
He turned to face the hooded mage.
‘And who’s this?’
‘Mage Benel, your Majesty,’ said the priest standi
ng at the tip of the star nearest him.
The Emperor frowned. ‘The one who could have captured or killed the fire mage last year, and saved us all much trouble?’
‘Indeed, your Majesty.’
‘His death will be a small loss to the empire.’
He ignored the Sanang man and walked to the pillar where Lilyann was chained. ‘Is this the one who came willingly?’
‘She is, your Majesty,’ said the priest closest to the Kellach mage.
‘Yet that fool Duncan tried to keep her from us.’
Lilyann glanced down at the Emperor, her eyes red. ‘Your Majesty?’
‘Yes?’
‘Tell me, please,’ she said, ‘is this what the Creator wants?’
‘Indeed it is,’ he said, ‘and no doubt he will be looking down upon you with favour.’ He glanced at the priest. ‘Isn’t that right?’
The priest nodded. ‘The Lord and One True Creator honours her sacrifice.’
‘Your Majesty,’ called Arnault from the centre of the star, as another low rumble shook the chamber. ‘We’re ready.’
The Emperor nodded, and strode to a raised platform where a throne had been placed, between the pillars holding Lilyann and the Sanang mage, directly opposite Shella.
A warden approached Benel and whipped the hood from his head. He struck the mage in the face with his fist, cracking his skull off the pillar. Benel’s head drooped, and the warden held out his hands and gripped Benel’s hair, facing his bleary eyes towards the priest.
Arnault raised his hands.
‘Most Holy Creator, Lord and Holder of all. We are ready.’
He made a choking noise and his body went rigid, his head angled upwards.
Another rumble coursed through the building, and the ceiling shook. The ceiling lamps swayed, sending light back and forth across the chamber. The priests who had been paired with the five mages raised their arms. Rijon’s eyes clouded over, his face contorted and his body frozen. Pressure started to build behind Shella’s temples. This time, the attack on her mind was far more powerful than Rijon’s previous attempt, and the protective bubble around her held only for a few precious moments before being swept aside.
The Creator entered her mind, and filled it. Shella felt her consciousness lose control of her body as the Creator took over her senses and looked out from her eyes. At once she knew his thoughts, and realised that he was in command of all five mages, through the priests, and through Arnault.
He smiled.
She felt her mage powers awaken as the Creator reached within her. She tried to resist, but his will was more powerful than she could encompass, and she was helpless to stop him drawing on her flow powers. He pulled on her strength, and she felt her body weaken as the Creator began transforming every ounce of her being into flow energy.
She stared around the chamber as her life-force was drained away. Opposite her, the Emperor was watching transfixed as Shella and the other mages were emptied by the Creator. The Sanang man was writhing and howling, and the Rahain mage seemed to have passed out, his head slumped. Lilyann was screaming. Smoke was coming from her as if she were burning from an inner fire. She pulled and strained on the chains in her agony, but they held fast.
Shella gasped for breath as her strength faded. She turned to her right. Benel’s head was still in the warden’s grip, pointing towards his linked priest. Blood was streaming from the mage’s eye sockets, and Shella could see that he was gone. She bowed her head for the end.
Her body convulsed as the Creator ripped his presence from her, taking the flow power he had gathered. As his spirit passed back through Rijon, the priest shuddered. His eyes rolled up as his ears and nose started to bleed and he cried out in agony and collapsed to the floor. Around the chamber, the priests who had linked to the mages were falling, screaming, their hands clawing their bloody faces as the stolen power surged through them. Next to each hung the limp body of a mage.
In the centre of the chamber, above where Arnault stood with his arms raised, a swirling weave of light was growing, made up of five different strands, combining and merging into one. It grew brighter and larger, expanding up to the ceiling and filling the upper half of the chamber. Shella shut her eyes, but could sense the light through her closed lids. The entire room was vibrating, and Shella felt as if she were about to be torn apart by the forces rippling and surging through the air.
Waves of violent shuddering struck the room. The pillar behind Shella shook, and a crack split the column where her wrists were shackled. Shella was hauled down as the pillar fell and shattered into fragments. Shella was flung clear and landed on the floor, while huge blocks of masonry fell from the ceiling around her. Wardens screamed as the chamber juddered for a long moment, then grew still. Clouds of dust hung suspended in the air, illuminated by the glow from the swinging ceiling lamps.
Shella gasped for breath, her body aching and weak as she lay on the floor, her wrists still shackled together. In front of her lay the twisted body of Rijon, his lifeless eyes staring at her. She tried to crawl, but was too exhausted to move. Amid the destruction of the chamber, the light was still hovering over the centre of the room where Arnault was kneeling, his head in his hands. The five strands had merged into a single ball of light, but it was shrinking and growing fainter with every second.
Arnault lifted his head, the tears on his face bathed in the swirling light. ‘My Lord. It wasn’t my fault.’
Behind him, Shella saw the Emperor get to his feet. He was staring open-mouth at the shimmering cloud of light hanging over Arnault’s head.
The Lord Vicar turned, and pointed at Guilliam.
‘Him, my Lord, before it’s too late.’
The light pulsed brighter for a second, then shot through the air towards the Emperor. It struck Guilliam’s eyes and entered him, disappearing in a flash. The Emperor stood motionless for a second, then toppled like a felled tree onto the floor of the chamber.
Arnault got to his feet. He glanced up at the large cracks in the ceiling, and dusted his robes down. He gazed around at the wreckage. The wardens who had survived the earthquake were picking through the debris, keeping their distance from Arnault and the body of the fallen Emperor.
Shella glanced up at Benel’s lifeless body hanging from the pillar. She shuddered, her eyes closing as the exhaustion and pain became too much to bear.
A scream pierced the chamber, so loud it hurt Shella’s ears. She forced her eyes back open. In the centre of the room, the Emperor’s body was writhing. His limbs jerked and twisted and his skin pulsated as if his body were about to explode. His eyes bulged, and the cry of agony coming from his lips filled the chamber.
The wardens cowered back in terror as the Emperor struggled upright, rising to his feet. The convulsions affecting his body slowed and halted. He had retained the form and appearance of the Emperor, but to Shella he seemed taller, stronger, and more beautiful than Guilliam had been.
He opened his eyes.
‘My Lord,’ Arnault bowed, his hands shaking. ‘I am humbled in your presence.’
‘Twice now you have failed me,’ came a voice from the being, one that commanded attention. Shella stared as the last of her strength ebbed away.
‘I should be free, but instead I inhabit this mortal form,’ the being said. He looked down at his body, the royal robes hanging from him in tatters. He lifted a hand, gazed at it, and made a fist.
‘I am truly sorry, my Lord,’ Arnault said, getting down onto his knees as a rumble from far above shook the chamber. ‘It won’t happen again.’
A look of rage passed over the being’s face.
At the back of the chamber, the remaining wardens edged forwards. Some flung themselves to their knees, while others stared open-mouthed.
The being inside the Emperor’s body smiled, and swept his hand across the room, killing every warden in an instant, their eyes bursting from their faces in a shower of blood as they fell to the floor. The being turned to Arnault.
> ‘Perhaps it would be better if only you and I know what happened here.’
The Lord Vicar stared at the dead wardens lying sprawled amid the debris.
‘You will gather more mages,’ the being said, ‘for we must try again. But before that, I have the firewitch and her army to deal with.’
The being strode towards the shattered doors of the chamber, the Lord Vicar hurrying to keep up, and Shella closed her eyes.
Chapter 34
Bereft
Tahrana Valley, Imperial Rahain – 20th Day, Second Third Winter 506
Daphne slowed the stallion to a walk as the lights of the settlement grew closer. Two hours of hard riding had carried her to within a few miles of the entrance to the Great Tunnel through the Grey Mountains.
She patted the animal’s steaming flank. She should think of a name, she thought, then tried to dismiss the idea, as she had no way of knowing how long the stallion would be with her. She should try not to get too attached, though she was starting to nurse a dream that involved riding all the way to Kellach Brigdomin.
Karalyn would enjoy learning to ride him, she thought, then she remembered the look on Killop’s face as he had watched her leave, and her smile faded. A low dread was building within her, one that she had been feeling ever since they had decided to travel to the haven at Domm. She had tried to ignore it, but it was eating away at her nerves. She had allowed some of her anger to escape earlier that evening, when she had taken the horse and ridden away from the clan convoy, but despite the joy at being back on the stallion, her anger remained.
She didn’t want to go to Kellach Brigdomin. The idea of spending the rest of her life on a rain and wind-ravaged rock at the other end of the world from the Holdings fuelled the simmering dread in her guts. But she had promised, just as she had promised to hunt down Douanna.
She pulled on the reins and brought the stallion to a halt on the road. It was around midnight, and the route through Tahrana Valley was quiet. The seven stars shone overhead through a break in the clouds, and Daphne gazed at the settlement spreading out before her. It looked unplanned, with streets and rows of houses built at odd angles on either side on the main road that went towards the tunnel. Along the side of the cliff, houses were piled up in tiers, then the settlement levelled out as it sprawled across the valley floor.
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