The grey clouds scudded overhead, mirroring her mood.
Chane offered her a cigarette, and lit it for her.
‘Thanks.’
‘I’m feeling a bit better today,’ Chane said. ‘Sounds stupid, I know, but this morning when I woke up, my first thought wasn’t about dullweed. I guess my hunger’s overpowered my craving, for now at any rate. Anyway, I wanted to say thank you, for helping me get through the worst of it. I don’t deserve you as a friend.’
Daphne said nothing.
‘I know you blame yourself,’ Chane went on. ‘You shouldn’t, it was my fault. It was me who introduced you to Kylon. I knew he was dangerous, but I didn’t think he’d turn out to be a treacherous bastard. No one did, Daphne.’
‘You talk like she’s dead,’ Daphne said. ‘She’s not.’
‘I know, you heard her voice last night, and it’s given me renewed hope. Maybe that’s part of why I’m feeling better today. We’re going to find her, I know it, but maybe we need to think about changing our strategy.’
Daphne glanced at her. ‘Go on.’
‘We need money,’ Chane said, ‘enough for more people, and more supplies. We need to widen the net, and cover more ground. We will find her, but it might take more time that we’d thought.’
‘We’d need to go to Holdfast for that,’ Daphne said. ‘Kylon stole most of my money, and the only place where I could gather all the people we’d need is back home.’
Chane nodded. ‘That’s what I was thinking too.’
‘More time wasted,’ she said. ‘I don’t think I could cope with all the waiting, and the work organising a large search party. All I want to do is look for her.’
‘We could send Celine? That sort of work would suit her better anyway. She’s the only one here who’s never been in the army, and all the trekking through the mountains has nearly made her lame. And, of course, she’s a Holdfast.’
Daphne thought for a moment, then nodded.
‘I’ll speak to her later, if you want,’ Chane said, ‘when we get closer to the plains.’
‘Alright,’ Daphne said. She glanced at her friend. ‘Thanks.’
Chane nodded. ‘How’s the arm?’
‘Sore.’
‘One thing’s for sure,’ Chane said, ‘that cliff won’t be fucking with us again.’
Daphne almost smiled. They caught each other’s eye for a second, then glanced back at the track, trudging on.
The daylight was beginning to fade as they descended a low foothill, the great plains spread out like the ocean before them. Patches of sunlight illuminated fields and grasslands as the clouds broke up to the west, and despite her longing to be looking for Karalyn, Daphne’s heart rose at the sight.
They reached a paved road at the bottom of the slope, and turned right, their stride adjusting to the unyielding surface beneath their boots. After a further hour’s walking, they saw the buildings of a settlement in the distance, and reached it as evening fell.
There were around two dozen houses, some lining the main road, others scattered by barns and other farm buildings. Most of the houses were spilling light from gaps in their thick shutters.
‘Where are we again?’ said Killop. ‘Which Hold?’
‘We’re in Hold Terras,’ said Chane. ‘Well, a small part of it. The Emperor never came this far north-west, which is why these houses are still standing. It’s wheatland,’ she went on. ‘This whole area, in fact. Wheat fields in every direction.’
Killop glanced around at the empty fields, and Daphne wondered whether there were enough people left in the Holdings to sow them when spring came.
As they got to within twenty yards of the first house, a bell rang out, and they halted. A crossbow bolt flew through the air, skidding off the road in front of them. The troopers bunched together, Daphne at their centre.
‘Go back the way you came,’ cried a voice. ‘We don’t want your kind here.’
‘Our kind?’ muttered Chane. ‘What the fuck?’
‘We just want to buy some food,’ Daphne called out, ‘if you have any to sell.’
‘Not if you’re with one of them.’
‘What the fuck are you talking about?’ Chane yelled. ‘One of who?’
‘One of those Kellach bastards.’
They all glanced at Killop.
He raised his arms. ‘I’m not a threat.’
‘That’s what the last one said,’ cried the voice.
Daphne strode forward.
‘And when was the last one here?’
‘A few days ago.’
Daphne swallowed. ‘Did he have a young girl with him? A Holdings girl?’
There was silence for a moment, as Daphne’s heart raced.
‘Yes.’
She shook her head, unable to speak.
‘That Kellach is the bastard we’re looking for,’ cried Killop, ‘and his Rahain friend. If you’ve seen them, then please help us.’
There was another pause.
‘Why should we help you? That Kellach and his friend killed three of our townsfolk, after we welcomed them, and fed them.’
Daphne stared at the row of houses.
‘Because that girl is my daughter.’
There was a rustle, and a small group of armed Holdings emerged from behind the first house in the row. They looked Daphne up and down, and scanned the rest of her group.
Killop drew his sword, and the group aimed their crossbows at him. He stepped forward and laid the weapon onto the ground.
‘I understand your anger,’ he said, ‘and I’m prepared to walk into your town unarmed to show I’m not a threat.’
One of the townsfolk picked it up.
‘I’ll need it back when we leave,’ Killop said. ‘I intend to use it to cut that bastard’s throat.’
The leader of the townsfolk nodded. ‘Come with us.’
They followed the group up the street, and entered a large house on the right, where they were shown to a dining hall. Celine was carried in, and placed by the head of a long table.
‘We can feed you,’ their leader said, ‘but we’re not rich round here.’
Daphne nodded, as the troopers found seats round the long table next to Celine. She pulled a pouch from her belt, and withdrew twenty coins. The man smiled, and took the money.
‘We’ll get the kitchens fired up,’ he said, ‘but we’ll have bread and ale for you in a few minutes.’
‘Tell me about the Kellach man,’ she said.
‘In a moment,’ he said, walking off.
Daphne sat down at the table next to Killop.
He caught her eye, and she could see the hope he was carrying.
Townsfolk entered with trays, and unloaded plates of bread, and jugs of ale, along with a bowl of apples and some strong-smelling cheese. The troopers launched themselves at the food.
‘Steady with the ale,’ said the sergeant. ‘Wait until you’ve eaten something first.’
Daphne ignored the food, her eyes on the doorway where the man had left.
‘Have we been searching in the wrong place?’ she said to Killop, who was also staring at the door.
‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘What was Kylon doing here? Stocking up?’
‘Then why would he kill those people?’ she said. ‘It doesn’t make sense.’
Her heart quickened as the man came back into the dining hall. He was with two women, dressed as stable workers.
They sat down next to Daphne and Killop.
The man looked at Daphne. ‘You said the girl was your daughter?’
‘Yes. Did you see her?’
‘Yes,’ he nodded, ‘though she was always sleeping.’
‘Why was Kylon here?’ said Killop.
‘Kylon?’
‘The Kellach man.’
‘He said he was here just to buy food, but he was a liar. In the middle of the night, he broke into the stables, and murdered three of these women’s friends, who were sleeping there. He then stole two horses, an
d killed the only other two we had left.’
‘I saw them leave,’ said one of the women. ‘They all rode off on the one horse, leading the other one behind them. The Kellach man, the Rahain man, and the girl, who was being carried in a bundle between them.’
Daphne let out a sob, bowing her head. Killop took her hand.
‘Did they take supplies?’ he said.
‘Yes,’ said the man, ‘the ones they’d already paid for.’
‘Enough for how long?’
He shrugged. ‘Ten days, if they’re frugal.’
Daphne sensed Killop’s anger burn. She lifted her head.
‘Which way did they go?’
The man took a drink of ale. ‘South.’
‘South?’ Daphne said.
‘Yes,’ he said, ‘towards the road to the Plateau.’
Daphne nodded. The Plateau. She turned to Killop, and their eyes met.
The doors to the hall swung open, and more trays were carried in, this time loaded with large bowls of cooked meat and vegetables. The smell reached Daphne’s nose as the troopers let out a cheer, but her mind was blank to all else but where her daughter might be going.
‘Where’s he taking her?’ she said, her voice a whisper.
‘I don’t know, miss,’ said the man, ‘but I hope you find him, and your girl.’
‘And when you do,’ said one of the stable-women, ‘make sure he suffers.’
Chapter 29
No Way Back
Plateau City, Imperial Plateau – 7th Day, Second Third Winter 507
Keira sat with her feet up on the window ledge, a mug of ale in one hand, and a weedstick in the other. She was up before noon, early for her. Rising as the sun was setting had become more usual since they had arrived in Plateau City to begin their wait. She gazed out through the open shutters at the quiet streets of the old Kellach quarter. Only a few thousand of her folk still lived within the city walls, a fraction of the previous number. Many tenements were burnt-out shells, and others lay abandoned, or had been taken over by Holdings squatters from the peasant districts.
The signs of the Emperor’s brutal suppression of the quarter were still visible everywhere she looked, but the authorities seemed to have lost all interest in controlling what remained of the population. To her right lay the old Emergency Wall, built to protect the completed half of the city when Agang had invaded. It now functioned to separate the rich New Town beyond from the slums of the poor. The gates between were sealed shut, and Keira had never seen them open in the fifteen days they had been living in their tenement apartment.
No soldiers or church wardens ever ventured into the poorer half of the city, and the folk there had taken the law into their own hands; and the slum districts were now controlled by a series of gangs, who fought over the few trades still making any money.
Her gaze went to the towers of the Great Fortress, at the corner of the Old Town, where it dominated the southern half of the city. The imperial flag had been raised at dawn, a banner of white with a golden star.
‘You ever going to pass that?’ said Kallie.
‘Smoke yer own.’
‘I cannae be arsed making one.’
‘Tough shit.’
Kallie turned to Flora. ‘Will you make me one, please?’
The Holdings woman tutted and put down her book.
‘You’re much better at it than I am,’ Kallie said.
‘Fucksake,’ Flora said. ‘Pass me your stuff.’
Keira chuckled as Kallie handed a leather pouch over to Flora.
‘We shouldn’t get too wasted,’ Flora said, as she began to prepare a weedstick. ‘We’ve got a lot of shit to do today.’
‘No, we don’t,’ said Keira, her eyes turning back to her view over the city’s narrow streets. ‘We have exactly one fucking thing to do today. Leave.’
Kallie shrugged as they gazed out of the window. ‘You wouldn’t even know the Emperor was back,’ she said. ‘I thought there would be parades, or something.’
‘And where’s his fucking army?’ Keira said.
‘Hopefully lying dead on the plains of the Holdings,’ Flora said.
‘What’ll he do now, do you think?’ Kallie said.
‘Fuck knows,’ said Keira. ‘So far he’s flattened Rainsby, Frogland, and now the Holdings, but it looks like he’s run out of soldiers.’
‘I’m sure Ghorley could squeeze some more out from Rahain,’ said Flora. She smiled. ‘They should be freezing their arses off about now.’
She passed Kallie the completed weedstick.
‘Thanks,’ she said, lighting it. ‘He’s bound to have heard about what we did in Kell. The next army he raises will be heading down there, to get the mines running again.’
‘Maybe,’ said Flora. ‘Depends if he’s got any Kellach mages.’
Kallie frowned.
‘We know he’s been hunting mages again,’ the Holdings woman went on, ‘just like he did before. If he’s got a hold of the full set, then I’m not sure he’ll give a shit about whether a few lizards are feeling the cold this winter. I mean look around. Does it seem like the Emperor cares about actually ruling? The empire’s falling apart. Trade’s collapsed, there’s no money or food, or work. All those folk killed, just so he could get his hands on more mages.’
‘Is he going to use them to become even more powerful?’ Kallie asked.
‘Maybe he’s just getting rid of the competition,’ Keira said.
‘Kylon said he was trying to destroy the world,’ Flora said.
Keira scowled. ‘Who cares what that wee prick said?’
‘Either way,’ Flora said, ‘the Emperor’s up in that fortress right now, with all the mages he captured from Rakana, Rainsby and the Holdings, and any others he had left over from the last time.’
They gazed out of the window at the high towers of the fortress, gleaming in the morning sunshine.
‘If anything happens,’ Kallie said, ‘how will we know?’
‘There was an earthquake,’ Flora said, ‘and Keira lost her powers.’
‘You did?’ Kallie said, turning to her.
‘Aye. For a couple of hours.’
‘Must have felt terrible.’
Keira thought back, and remembered the feeling of looking for her well of power, and finding it not empty, but gone. Relief had been her first emotion at the time, as if a great weight had been lifted from her, but now she was glad to have it back. She was going to need it.
She shrugged.
‘Well, if it happens again,’ Kallie said, ‘we’ll hopefully be long gone from here.’
Keira glanced at their bags, lying packed by the front door of their rented apartment.
‘The last stretch,’ she said.
‘Holdings for the spring,’ Flora said, ‘then we’ll see what the bastard’s done to it.’
‘And then maybe Frogland,’ Keira said.
The two other women frowned at her.
Keira shrugged. ‘Why not? I’ll have been everywhere else. I always wanted to see the world.’
Flora shook her head.
‘Rakana? Really? I thought you wanted to avoid them?’
‘It’s not like I’d go around telling them who I was, ya daft cow,’ Keira said. ‘Just fancy seeing it.’
‘You might bump into Shella,’ Flora smirked, ‘the mage that Kalayne said you were going to meet.’
‘I wouldnae know her if I passed her on the street.’
‘I wonder if Agang’s found her yet,’ Flora said. ‘It’d be funny if he has, and then takes her back to Domm to look for you…’
Keira laughed. ‘Aye, I can imagine the look on that uptight Sanang prick’s face when Kelpie tells him we’ve gone. And that old lizard bastard.’
There was a rap at their front door.
‘About time,’ said Keira, as Flora got to her feet. The young Holdings woman crossed the room, and opened the door an inch, then unlatched the chain.
‘Good morning,’ said a la
rge Kellach woman, entering. She was followed into the apartment by two enormous Kellach men, both armed.
The woman glanced at the bags piled by the door. ‘All ready to go, I see?’
‘Aye,’ said Keira. ‘Have a seat. Want a drink?’
‘Aye,’ the woman said, ‘why not?’
She sat by the window, and Kallie passed her a mug of ale. Her two minders stood by her shoulders, keeping their eyes on them.
‘Cheers,’ the woman said, raising her mug.
‘Aye, cheers,’ Keira said.
They drank.
‘Everything’s arranged,’ the woman said. ‘Wagon, horses, supplies. Everything that was on your list.’
‘Everything?’ Kallie said, her eyes lighting up.
‘Aye,’ the woman said. She glanced at one of her guards and snapped her fingers. The man reached inside his overcoat and pulled out a longbow, wrapped in oilskins, and a quiver full of arrows. He passed them to Kallie, who grinned.
‘Thanks.’
The woman shrugged. ‘That’s what five pounds of weed gets ye.’ She reached into her coat, and produced a large pouch. ‘And this.’
Keira took the pouch, and looked inside. Gold.
‘That’s what’s left over,’ the woman said, ‘after taking off your accommodation, food, booze, the wagon and horses, and everything else. It comes to just over three hundred.’
Keira nodded.
‘They grow weed in the River Holdings now,’ the woman said, ‘or at least they did before the Emperor went up there and kicked their arses. You sure about heading up there? It’s meant to be a wasteland.’
‘Aye,’ said Keira. ‘Looking for relatives. We were just waiting until the Emperor had cleared out.’
‘Aye,’ she said. ‘Now that he’s back in town, you’re not the only ones getting the fuck out of the city. Folk remember what he did the last time he was here. Was thinking about relocating to Rainsby myself, if things get too rough.’
‘There’s always the tunnels.’
‘Aye, that’s what saved us last time, when the Emperor was going mental through the Kellach quarter. We sat tight down there until he’d left, and when we got back to the surface the streets were filled with bodies.’ She glanced out of the window at the towers of the fortress rising above the tenement roofs. ‘With that bastard back,’ she went on, ‘it’s no surprise folk are wanting to leave.’
The Magelands Box Set Page 187