Needs of the Empire

by Christopher Mitchell

  ‘Sounds like a laugh,’ she said. ‘Let’s do it.’

  Kalayne grinned down at her.

  ‘But remember,’ she said, ‘it’s not a date. Don’t get any funny ideas.’

  ‘Oh, my dear,’ he said. ‘Much too late for that.’

  An unmarked carriage took them through the new merchants’ district, close to the old Emergency Wall. Much of it was still standing, but a large hole had been knocked through to join the city to the Kellach quarter .

  Shella felt a chill note in the night air as they stepped out of the carriage. With only the old man for company, she felt freer than she had for a long time. They had waited until Daly, Sami and most of the staff had gone to bed, and ghosted past the rest, slipping by guards and out through a back door. The carriage had dropped them off in a dark lane that led to a larger street. Beyond that was the archway through the wall that led into the Kellach quarter.

  Walls were being constructed to enclose the entire district. High and strong, they followed the line of the rampart that had protected the city during the Sanang siege. Within the half-completed circuit wall, what had been a refugee camp was now a crowded, bustling quarter, with narrow streets in the shadows of high wooden tenements, with shops, forges, workshops and drinking dens lining the main routes.

  New sentry posts blocked the road through the archway, and a couple of torches lit up where wardens stood on watch. There were no people out on the street on the New Town side, but the faint sound of voices was coming from the Kellach quarter beyond the wall.

  ‘What do we do now?’ she whispered.

  Kalayne frowned. ‘Follow me, of course.’

  He turned his back to the main road, and walked down the side lane, keeping to the deep shadows under the eaves of the buildings. Ahead, the wall of the Old Town loomed. As they neared it, Kalayne stopped in front of a small stone shack that abutted the base of the wall. He knocked on the battered old door, its paint peeling off in ribbons.

  ‘There’s no way through that new wall,’ he said as they waited, ‘but the Old Town wall has more than one secret passage, burrowed over decades.’

  Shella pulled her black cloak around her, and tugged the deep hood down over her face.

  The door opened a crack, and an old Holdings woman stared through the gap.

  ‘You again?’ she said.

  ‘Aye.’

  ‘Just the two of you? ’

  ‘Aye.’

  ‘Ten shillings each, or one gold sovereign for both.’

  Kalayne nodded, and thumbed at Shella. ‘She’ll pay.’

  Shella reached into her purse, and handed the old woman a coin.

  ‘Come on then, my darlings,’ the old woman said, opening the door for them to pass through into the shack. The woman pocketed the coin and pulled back a rug on the floor to reveal a trapdoor.

  Kalayne grabbed the iron handle and lifted the wooden flap.

  Shella peered through, but saw only darkness.

  ‘Here,’ the old woman said, handing her a lamp.

  ‘You first,’ Kalayne said.

  Shella held the lamp in one hand and sat on the floor, her legs dangling over the edge of the hole. From the dim light she could see a wooden ladder going down. She descended, hearing the boots of Kalayne above her as he followed. They reached the bottom where a tunnel began, and Kalayne waved up to the old woman, who lowered the trapdoor without a sound.

  He nodded, and they made their way down the tunnel. After a few yards, a newer tunnel branched off to the left.

  ‘The tunnel used to link the Old Town to the market,’ he said as they walked. ‘But since the Kellach arrived, someone built this new way.’

  ‘And the church wardens don’t know of it?’

  ‘They’ve found a few other tunnels,’ he said, ‘but the Old Town is riddled with them. A good place to hide, by the way, should the situation ever call for it.’

  They reached another ladder, and climbed. At the top, they pushed open a trapdoor.

  Shella poked her head through and saw a small, dark room, where two Kellach sat, watching her.

  ‘I suppose we have to pay you as well?’ she asked.

  The female Kellach laughed. ‘You only pay on the way out. Don’t you know anything?’

  ‘Whesht hen,’ Kalayne said. ‘My friend is unaware of the etiquette.’

  ‘Oh, hi Kalayne ya auld bastard,’ the Kellach woman said. ‘Didnae see ye there.’

  Shella and Kalayne pulled themselves up into the room.

  ‘Many wardens out tonight?’ Kalayne said.

  ‘A fair few.’

  ‘Any raids?’

  ‘Donnelly’s place got busted an hour ago,’ the Kellach woman said. ‘Wardens caught one of the Holdings folk hiding in the piss-hut. Gave him a right doing.’

  Shella frowned.

  ‘Having second thoughts?’ Kalayne asked. ‘I could always take you back.’

  ‘Fuck that,’ Shella said. ‘You promised me a night out. You’re not getting out of it that easily.’

  The Kellach woman grinned.

  ‘Way’s clear,’ said the Kellach man, who was squinting through a shutter.

  ‘Right,’ said Kalayne. ‘We shall be seeing you later on.’

  He gestured to Shella, and they walked to the door. Kalayne opened it and peered to either side, before stepping out onto the dark street. Shella followed him, and the door was closed behind her. She turned, and blinked. The door was invisible, disguised as part of a timber wall. Above, five floors of wooden tenement towered over them.

  ‘Remember this place,’ Kalayne said, ‘in case we get separated.’

  She looked around, trying to take in every detail of her surroundings.

  ‘Are we going far?’

  Kalayne took off down the narrow street without answering. She tutted and followed. They went between high tenements, with the road only a few yards wide in places. There was no street lighting, and Shella stumbled in the darkness.

  ‘Staggering before you’ve had a drink, eh?’ Kalayne smirked. ‘Ah, here we are. The Sleeping Bear.’

  He pointed down a narrow alley, where light was spilling from under a door .

  Kalayne strode to the door, checked the alley both ways, and knocked. A grille opened, and a pair of eyes glared out.

  ‘That you, Benny?’ Kalayne asked.

  The door was unlatched and opened. A massive man with red hair stood behind the threshold.

  ‘Brought a friend, have you?’ he asked.

  ‘Nothing gets past you, Benny.’

  The big Kellach man smirked as he let them pass by him into a hallway. ‘You’ll need to take her to the back room. Wardens have been in tonight already.’

  Benny closed the door, and bolted the latch.

  ‘They find anyone who shouldn’t have been here?’ Shella asked from under her hood.

  ‘Do you think I’d still be open for business if they had?’

  ‘This is my first time in the Kellach quarter.’

  Benny frowned at Kalayne. ‘And you brought her here?’

  The old man shrugged. ‘Good ale.’

  Benny led them through another door and down a flight of steps into the basement. Shella caught a glimpse of a large drinking room, full of smoke and drunk Kellach Brigdomin, but Benny ushered them past it and into a storeroom, where he uncovered a hidden door and pushed it open.

  ‘Five gold up front,’ he said, putting his hand out.

  ‘That’d better be for both of us,’ Kalayne said.

  ‘Aye,’ Benny grinned. ‘The usual one for you. Four for her.’

  Shella reached into her purse and counted out the coins. ‘Here.’

  Benny smiled. He gestured with his arm towards the open entrance.

  Kalayne walked through. Shella crossed the threshold then paused, glancing up at Benny.

  ‘What do four gold coins get me, exactly?’

  ‘All the ale you can drink,’ Benny said. ‘Spirits are extra, especially anything decen
t. Weed also costs more.’

  ‘That’s very expensive ale.’

  ‘Considering the risk I’m running letting you in, four’s cheap. ’

  He put a hand on the door and began to close it.

  ‘If you hear three thumps on the ceiling,’ he said, ‘that means the wardens are back. Shut the fuck up and stay where you are. I’ll come down to tell you when they’ve gone.’

  Shella opened her mouth to reply, but he swung the door shut.

  She turned.

  Ahead of her was a low corridor, which opened up onto a room where candles were flickering. She headed for the light and entered the chamber. Damp stains spread up the roughly-plastered walls, and the floor was earthen and sticky. A dozen tables were scattered across the floor, with under half occupied. She saw Kalayne at one, talking to a woman.

  She walked over and sat next to him. The woman turned to gaze at her.

  ‘Keeping the hood on, are ye hen?’ she asked.

  ‘Yeah.’

  The woman squinted down at her.

  ‘Here, Kalayne,’ she said. ‘She’s awfy wee. Ye’ve not brought a bairn, have ye?’

  Kalayne snorted. ‘She’s a grown fucking woman, Bertha. What the fuck do you take me for?’

  ‘Sorry,’ Bertha said. ‘Just checking.’

  ‘I’m thirty,’ Shella said. ‘That old enough?’

  Bertha nodded. ‘Ale?’

  ‘Ale.’

  Shella’s legs wobbled as she made her way back from the latrines. The Kellach ale was strong, and tasted good, but it made her want to pee every ten minutes.

  She tottered over to her table and sat.

  ‘It’s been a while since I’ve had to bare my ass in such a literal shithole,’ she said. ‘You’re probably more used to it, eh Kalayne? ’

  She looked up. The old man wasn’t sitting at the table, and there was no sign of him in the bar.

  ‘Hey, Bertha?’ Shella called over to the Kellach serving woman. ‘Where’d he go?’

  Bertha shrugged. ‘Pisser, most likely, hen.’

  Shella nodded and took a sip of ale. She caught someone stare in her direction and glanced over. A Holdings man was at a nearby table, with a bottle of brandy in front of him.

  ‘What the fuck you looking at?’ Shella said.

  ‘Someone who shouldn’t be here.’

  ‘Speak for yourself. We’re both getting clapped in chains if the wardens turn up.’

  He picked up the bottle and two glasses, and walked over to Shella’s table.

  ‘Don’t concern yourself about the wardens,’ he said, sitting next to her. ‘I heard they’ve already been here tonight. They never hit the same place twice.’

  ‘I don’t fucking remember inviting you over.’

  He poured two measures of brandy.

  ‘I was intrigued by your voice,’ he said. ‘I thought I recognised it for a moment. I must be mistaken, however, for the person I thought the voice belonged to would never do anything as foolish as come into the Kellach quarter at night to partake in forbidden pleasures.’

  She squinted at him.

  He took out a small case and opened it. ‘Cigarette, miss?’

  He withdrew two and lit them both. She took one from him, and picked up her glass.

  She took a sip. ‘Urgh,’ she grimaced. ‘How much you pay for that?’

  He pulled a face as he drank from his own glass. ‘Too much.’

  ‘It’ll do,’ she said. ‘Had worse.’

  ‘If this is the best we’re going to get from now on,’ he said, ‘the days are dark indeed.’

  ‘Who are you, then?’

  His face fell a little .

  ‘Am I supposed to know who you are?’ she asked.

  ‘No, no,’ he said. ‘I was maybe a little well-known. For a while at any rate.’

  ‘Well?’

  ‘My name’s Benel.’

  Shella thought for a moment.

  ‘The mage from the war? You were in the victory parade, I think.’

  ‘That’s me.’

  ‘I remember now,’ she said. ‘You were the one who broke through the Rahain tunnel. What the fuck’s a war hero doing in a dump like this?’

  He smirked. ‘You think I’m a hero?’

  ‘How the fuck should I know?’ she said, drinking more of the brandy. ‘I wasn’t there. I don’t know what you did. Anyway, if you’re a hero, then why are you still here, in the city? Are there not rebels needing to be crushed in southern Rahain?’

  Benel slumped back in his seat, glowering.

  ‘I’ve been transferred,’ he said.

  ‘To a position that involves doing fuck all?’ Shella said. ‘You don’t look like you’re in any kind of shape for fighting.’

  ‘All cavalry mage-scouts are now under the authority of the church,’ he said. ‘The Emperor took them from the army, and gave them to the fucking Lord Vicar.’

  ‘You mean you work for the church now?’ she whispered.

  ‘Got my orders yesterday. I have to report to the institute tomorrow morning.’

  Shella nodded. ‘What powers do you have?’

  ‘From battle all the way up to inner.’

  ‘I thought all Holdings mages with inner-vision already worked for the church.’

  Benel grimaced. ‘A small number of us didn’t exhibit inner-vision when they tested us, and escaped having to become priests. I didn’t know I had it until I was eighteen.’

  ‘Is that what happened to Daphne Holdfast? ’

  ‘I believe so,’ Benel said, ‘though I don’t know much about her. Anyway, there are not many mages like me, and I guess the church have always wanted to get their claws into us.’

  ‘And now they have.’

  Benel frowned. ‘Indeed.’

  ‘I can see why you’d want to get drunk.’

  He lifted his glass. ‘Care to join me?’

  By the fifth glass Kalayne had not returned.

  ‘My old squad loved me, you know,’ Benel said, leaning back on his chair, his feet up on a stool. Shella watched him from the other side of the table, her eyelids heavy, a cigarette dangling from her lips. ‘They would have done anything for me,’ he went on. ‘Loyalty like that lives in you forever.’

  ‘You’re so full of shit,’ Shella said. ‘No wonder they dumped your ass here in the capital. They were probably sick of hearing your crap.’

  ‘You should smile more.’

  ‘Fuck you,’ she said. ‘How do you know I’m not smiling now?’

  ‘I can hear the scowl in your voice,’ he said. ‘But why don’t you pull back the hood? I knew who you were as soon as you spoke. I’ve seen you in court, back when I was, you know, a war hero. Your words.’

  ‘If you know who I am,’ she said, ‘you don’t need to see my face.’

  ‘Yes, but I like looking at beautiful women. As I said, I’ve seen you before.’

  ‘You’ve no chance, Benel,’ she said. ‘So don’t start trying to flirt.’

  ‘Miss, I am offended,’ he said, ‘I thought I’d been flirting with you all night.’

  ‘You just want to say you fucked a princess.’

  ‘There is that,’ Benel said, taking a draw of his cigarette, ‘but there is also the lure of danger.’

  ‘The danger that I’ll make your brains bleed out from your nose?’

  ‘You haven’t heard the new proclamation?’ he said. ‘The Emperor has decreed that any relations between people of the different races of this world is a crime against the Creator.’

  ‘What?’ she said. ‘Shit. Must have missed that at lunch.’ She shook her head. ‘They can’t do that. They can’t stop people from getting together. It’s fucking outrageous.’

  ‘I’d like to think that certain valiant souls, like you and I for instance, could take a stand against this ridiculous law.’

  She raised an eyebrow. He wasn’t bad looking, she thought, when he kept his mouth shut.

  He lifted his glass. ‘People should be allowe
d to fuck who they like, that’s what I say.’

  Shella stubbed out a cigarette. ‘Shit,’ she said. ‘I need to be getting home.’

  ‘Oh I never go home this late,’ Benel said. ‘Staggering about these streets drunk? No chance.’

  She frowned.

  ‘Benny’s got rooms above here,’ Benel said. ‘Charges a fair bit for them, but it’s far easier to slip out of the Kellach quarter in the morning, sober and carrying not a drop on you. I take a carriage, of course.’

  Benel lifted the brandy bottle. ‘Another?’

  Shella glanced around the room. Still no Kalayne.

  ‘Bertha,’ he called over to the bar.

  ‘Aye, son?’

  ‘You and Benny got a room for me tonight?’

  ‘Aye, son. Usual price.’

  ‘Thanks, Bertha.’ He turned back to Shella. ‘See?’

  She wondered what time she could get back to the embassy, if they left at dawn.

  ‘Okay,’ she said.

  He poured her a drink.

  ‘Here’s to my last night of freedom,’ he said, raising his glass.

  ‘I’m still not promising anything.’

  ‘My dear princess,’ he said, clinking her glass, ‘where’s the fun in playing by the rules?’

  Chapter 6

  Paranoid

  R ainsby, Alliance-Occupied Plateau – 14 th Day, Last Third Summer 506

  The sky to the west was shaded in golden rose. The low sun dazzled off the surface of the Inner Sea, making Daphne’s eyes water as she helped carry their bags to the side of the boat. Sailors were shouting down to the dockers gathering on the jetty, and the sails were being lowered. The boat juddered as it was pulled close against the smooth stone, and the ropes were secured.

  ‘That’s everything, miss,’ Bedig said, his right arm gripping a trunk. Harnessed to his chest was Karalyn facing outwards, her dark hair flying in the sea breeze. She was kicking her legs out and squirming. Bedig frowned.

  ‘That’s a great harness you made,’ Daphne said. ‘Thanks again for carrying her.’

  ‘Aye?’ Bedig said, gazing down at the top of the infant’s head. ‘I’m slightly regretting it now.’

  ‘She’ll settle soon,’ Daphne said, touching the baby’s cheek. Karalyn looked up and smiled.