Needs of the Empire

by Christopher Mitchell

  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 dist
ance 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.

  When the fuel from the two bonfires was exhausted, Keira pushed her hands out in front of her, and the blade of fire roared towards the gatehouse battlements. It met the walls with a crash of flames, screams, sparks and blinding light. Keira grunted, and dug her heels in as she pushed. The blade, thin at its leading edge, began slicing through the red-hot rock of the battlements, peeling it off like a knife through an onion. The entire top of the fort was glowing, and great cracks began splitting its wall, jagging down from where the fiery blade was cutting through the blocks. The gatehouse tower toppled and fell, cut through by the sheet of fire.

  Keira panted, and dropped her hands. Fern gave her a skin of ale, and she drank it down, while the Sanang warriors watched in awe, their chants of kill-kill low and droning.

  The firewitch sat on the ground and admired her handiwork, a weedstick hanging from her lips. The top half of the gatehouse fortress was roaring in flames, its stones growing red. Smoke was belching from every arrow slit, along with the cries of those being roasted alive.

  Kylon walked over to her, and asked her something. She nodded, and Kylon raised his arm. Horns echoed across the front, and the Sanang hordes began their advance towards the wall, their pace slow and steady.

  Keira stood, passing the smokestick to Fern, who held it at arms-length.

  She signalled for the last two bonfires to be lit, and they went up in seconds, thick black smoke curling above their roaring flames.

  ‘I had those two doused in oil,’ Keira grinned at him. ‘Sticks to anything it lands on.’

  Agang gazed on in silence, his heart pounding as he watched.

  She turned to the walls, waiting, watching the warriors quicken their advance. They entered bow range, and crossbows shot out from above the walls to either side of the fort, felling the front ranks of Sanang.

  Keira raised her arms, and two long, whip-like streams of flame rose from the bonfires. She flung her palms out, and the two fiery whips tore across the face of the wall, clearing the battlements of imperial soldiers with a spray of fire. Troopers fell, aflame and screaming, and the Sanang warriors charged, their ladders carried to the front ranks as they approached the walls.

  Keira turned to face the enormous Midfort gates, standing solid and strong at the end of the road ahead of her. Charging Sanang warriors were nearing it, and Keira lifted her right hand, her fingers formed into a spearhead. A thick coil of fire rose from a bonfire, and sped like an arrow towards the gates. As wide as a barrel and fifty yards long, it tore through the air above the heads of the advancing Sanang, who dived to the ground. It hit the centre of the gates, and blew them off in a great explosion, fragments of steel and wood flying through the air.

  The fire arrow continued into the entrance tunnel, blasting through the debris that had been piled up behind it to keep them out. Flames and smoke vomited out from the broken gates, and the Sanang warriors roared in triumph and got to their feet, resuming their charge.

  Agang watched the howling warriors run through the gates and into Midfort. Soon thousands were bunched up before the gatehouse, shoving to get through, while ladders had been placed in over a dozen positions against the walls. He bowed his head.

  ‘Did you fucking see that?’ the firewitch yelled at him.

  Agang said nothing.

  Keira banged on the bars. ‘Come on,’ she grinned. ‘That was fucking amazing and you know it.’

  He stared at her. ‘You’re the most dangerous person in the world.’

  She beamed. ‘Thanks.’

  Fern passed her a drink.

  Keira sniffed it. ‘Got anything stronger? Sanang ale tastes like donkey piss.’

  Fern rooted around in her pack, and produced a bottle.

  Keira bit the cork and spat it out. She took a swig. ‘Aye, that’ll do.’

  She patted the girl on the head.

  ‘You’ve been a good helper today,’ she said, ‘and you whine a lot less than Flora and Niall. Even Leah’s been getting on my case these days.’

  ‘I hate the Holdings,’ Fern said. ‘I don’t care if you kill them all.’

  Keira raised an eyebrow. ‘No, just the ones in our way.’

  Kylon came over.

  ‘Good job,’ he said.

  Keira frowned at him.

  He ignored her expression. ‘It’ll take a while for all of the warriors to get through. After that, we’ll have to go after them. We can’t leave them too long in the town. They’ll all get drunk and wasted on dreamweed. The imperials will have an army somewhere close by, probably rushing towards us. We’ll need to be in a position to defend ourselves soon. ’

  ‘I didn’t listen to a fucking word of that,’ Keira said. ‘Just thought you should know.’

  Kylon gave her look that would have melted a lesser being, but Keira just laughed.

  He turned and strode off, his head bowed.

  The firewitch caught Agang gazing at her. She stood for a moment, then passed him the bottle. He took a long drink then passed it back.

  ‘He has a dark soul,’ Agang said.

  ‘Who, Kylon?’ Keira said, grinning. ‘I’m sure he loves people to think so. He’s a cuddly wee bear on the inside, but.’

  ‘Why are you doing this?’

  She looked at him like he was an idiot.

  ‘The empire needs to fall,’ she said, ‘and I’m the one who’s going to bring it down.’

  There was a sustained scream from beyond the gates, and they fell silent, gazing at the walls. The crowd of Sanang waiting to get into Midfort was still thousands strong, and groups continued to scale the ladders along the walls to either side. Niall and Flora joined Keira and Fern by the wagon, then Leah arrived, and they shared a few smokesticks as they watched the fall of Midfort. In the cage beside them, Agang noticed that Leah and the two Holdings stood a little apart from the firewitch, their expressions grim.

  After a while a messenger ran from the diminishing horde of warriors by the gates, and sped up towards them. Kylon stepped into the scout’s path, questioned him, then accompanied the scout up to where Keira was standing.

  The messenger fell to his knees. ‘Keira firewitch, Keira firewitch,’ he repeated.

  ‘Get the fuck on with it.’

  ‘An entire imperial army is in Midfort, Keira firewitch,’ the messenger cried. ‘There are no civilians in the town that we’ve seen. The imperials are dug in on the eastern side of town. Chief B’Dang requests some mage assistance.’

  ‘Does he, eh?’ Keira smirked. ‘Wee tosser.’ She glanced at the two remaining bonfires, which were still ablaze, through burning lower than before. ‘Distance and numbers?’

  ‘Range is between two and a half to three thousand yards
. Chief B’Dang estimates thirty to forty thousand imperial troops are in the town.’

  ‘All right,’ she said. ‘Tell him it’ll start in twenty minutes.’

  The messenger got to his feet, bowing, then sped off down the hill.

  ‘Are you not going to give them a chance to surrender?’ Agang said.

  ‘No.’

  He shook his head at her, but she had already turned away.

  ‘Get the two bonfires under control,’ she said, ‘and I’ll need a spotter on the wall.’

  Leah stepped forwards as Kylon shouted out orders to the fire teams.

  ‘I’ll do it,’ she said.

  Keira nodded.

  Leah turned to Niall. ‘You’re coming.’

  The trooper frowned, and nudged Flora. ‘I’ll swap with you, if you want. I don’t mind looking after Fern.’

  ‘Fuck off,’ she scowled. ‘Do you think I want to watch thousands of Holdings get burned to death?’

  ‘Do you think I do?’

  ‘Stop fucking about and come on,’ Leah said, setting off for the gatehouse.

  Niall spat on the ground and chased after Leah.

  ‘See,’ Keira said to Kylon. ‘All yer worrying was for nothing. The imperial army is exactly where we want them, the stupid fucks.’

  Kylon shrugged. ‘We got lucky,’ he said. ‘And it’s not over yet. There are still thousands of them left to kill.’

  ‘When have I ever let you down?’ she grinned.

  ‘What happens after?’ Agang cried out.

  Keira turned.

  ‘After you’ve destroyed the world,’ Agang yelled. ‘What then?’

  ‘You’re a fool,’ Kylon said. ‘We’re not destroying the world, we’re saving it. If we’re ruthless, it’s because we’re running out of time to stop the Emperor’s plan.’

  ‘You’re all insane,’ Agang cried. ‘Fucking mad. Do you hear the words you’re saying?’ He gazed at the faces staring at him. ‘Flora?’ he said. ‘Do you believe it?’

  The white-faced witch squinted at him. ‘Do you think I’d be here if I didn’t? We slaughtered our way through Sanang, and now we’re doing the same to the Holdings. We have to see it through to the end, we have to stop the Emperor, otherwise all this will have been for nothing.’