He dropped the table leg.
‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Let’s go.’
He turned and walked out of the tavern, and she followed him, leading Karalyn by the hand.
Killop said nothing for the next few hours. They got back into their wagon, passed through the great gate, and emerged into the afternoon sunshine of the southern Plateau. They descended the ramp to the valley floor, and set off along the road to Rainsby.
It was warmer, Daphne noticed. Even though it was still winter, the wind lacked the bite she had felt in Rahain. By the end of spring they should be arriving in the Holdings, and she wondered how Killop would cope on the Hold Fast estate in the middle of summer, when even her family felt the heat. She glanced at him. His hands were gripping the reins, and he had an unapproachable frown on his face.
Daphne turned, and she caught sight of the white stallion, tethered to the left side of the wagon .
She smiled. He would be a fine horse to bring home, one that wouldn’t look out of place next to her father’s thoroughbreds. Maybe she should take him for a ride. He could stretch his legs and run free for a while.
‘What can Karalyn eat?’ said the little girl sitting next to her.
‘We’ll have dinner when we stop,’ Daphne said. ‘You’ll have to wait till then, little bear.’
‘Wee bear,’ she scowled. ‘Dada, what can Karalyn eat?’
Killop didn’t respond, his eyes fixed on the road ahead.
‘We need to talk,’ said Daphne.
He turned. ‘What?’
‘Killop,’ she said, ‘we need to talk.’
He said nothing.
‘I’m sorry about Keira,’ she said. ‘I don’t know what she did, but whatever it was she was still your sister. I know how I’d feel if something happened to Ariel, and you and Keira were a lot closer.’
She watched him fight back tears as he stared ahead.
‘Your twin,’ she said.
‘Enough,’ he said, his voice breaking. ‘I don’t want to talk about it right now. She was supposed to be the goddess that would save us all.’
He began weeping. He clenched his eyes shut as tears rolled down his cheeks. Karalyn patted him on the arm.
‘There there, dada,’ she said.
He smiled amid his tears, and put his arm around his daughter. He wiped his face with his hand.
‘It can’t be true,’ he said. ‘Kalayne was never wrong. Remember when I thought you were dead? That was a lie, this might be too. All we’ve heard is the propaganda of a news-teller and a few drunken Kellach.’
‘All the same,’ Daphne said, ‘I think you should prepare yourself for the worst.’
He nodded. ‘I’m prepared, but I’m not giving up hope.’
‘I understand,’ she said. ‘Do you know how she ended up leading an army of Sanang? ’
‘No, but it doesn’t surprise me. The way I heard it she was trying to bring down the Emperor.’
‘Yes, but she was too late, and now it seems that Guilliam has mage powers of his own. Apparently he wiped out the Sanang invasion force single-handed.’
‘Or it’s just more propaganda,’ he said. ‘Who knows the truth?’
‘If I had to guess I’d say Kalayne,’ Daphne said. ‘I wonder if he’s still in Plateau City. With his powers he probably has a fair idea of what’s going on.’
Killop nodded down at their daughter.
‘She has the same powers,’ he said. ‘Sooner or later she’ll see the Creator’s thoughts again.’
‘I want to be there when she does.’
‘Me too.’
Daphne glanced over at Killop. ‘If she really does have the same powers as Kalayne, then at some point she’s going to look into our eyes, and be able to see our futures, and catch glimpses of things that haven’t happened yet.’
Killop frowned. ‘Maybe she can do it already. Maybe it seems normal to her, and she’s never thought it worth mentioning. Or maybe she doesn’t understand what she’s seeing.’
Daphne blinked, and gazed down at Karalyn, who was sitting holding her toy wooden horse, making it gallop across her lap. Could it be true?
‘Kara-bear,’ she said.
‘Aye, mama?’ the little girl said, looking up.
‘Do you know what’s going to happen later?’
‘Dinner? Karalyn eat biscuits.’
Daphne laughed. ‘Yes, you can have a biscuit later, when we stop.’
She caught Killop’s eye, and he shrugged.
Daphne looked back at her daughter, an idea forming in her mind.
‘Count to twenty,’ she said to Killop, ‘then distract her. Make her look at you.’
She drew on her inner-vision, and entered Karalyn’s mind, but kept herself hidden, so that the girl was unaware she was there. Daphne looked out of her daughter’s eyes as they danced over the horse on her knees.
Killop coughed. ‘Wee bear.’
Karalyn looked up into her father’s brown eyes, and Daphne pushed her power out from the girl and into his mind. She felt dizzy, and focussed her strength as she felt her daughter’s power fill Killop’s head. She gazed out through Killop’s eyes.
What she beheld was not the wagon rolling down the road towards Rainsby, but instead she was looking out upon an endless plain of long grass, with no hills or mountains in sight. The sun was shining overhead in a cloudless blue sky. In the distance a large estate house was burning. Smoke was tumbling up in thick waves, and the high flames were visible from where Killop was standing. Next to him was a man, dressed in black. He turned his face.
Daphne snapped back to her own mind, and fell to her knees by the driver’s bench. She held onto her stomach, and vomited over the side of the wagon. She felt the gaien judder to a halt as Killop pulled on the reins. He put his arm round her shoulder.
‘Are you all right?’ he said. ‘What happened?’
She wiped her mouth and groaned. Killop helped her sit and reached for a skin of water.
She gulped down a mouthful.
‘I tried something,’ she said. ‘Killop, she can do it. She can see the future. I saw a glimpse of yours.’
He frowned. ‘Do I want to know?’
‘You were in the Holdings,’ she said, staring north into the horizon. ‘I just watched my home burn.’
‘Hold Fast?’
She nodded.
The afternoon was fading into evening, and the wind grew colder.
‘One more thing,’ she said, turning to him. ‘Someone else was there with you.’
‘Who? ’
‘Kylon.’
Killop snapped the reins, and the gaien began lumbering down the road towards Rainsby. The sky beyond the river to their left was streaked with red, as the sun set behind the snow-tipped mountains in the distance.
This concludes Needs of the Empire
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Author’s Notes
June 2019
I hope you enjoyed Needs of the Empire .
Some of the scenes in book three were in my head right from the start, especially Keira’s rampage across the plateau. After years of planning and writing the earlier books it was fantastic to get to these scenes at last so I could show the fire goddess at her best – and worst.
My favourite scene of all in the book though, is one I invented on the spot – Shella by the graveside with Kalayne telling the stories of the two dead Rakenese buried in the ground before them. Somehow, his words for me encapsulated the whole book.
With our heroes scattering to the far corners of the world, the Magelands is in greater danger than
ever. The next book Sacrifice completes the series. I hope you like it.
About the Author
Christopher Mitchell is the author of the Magelands epic fantasy series.
For more information:
www.christophermitchellbooks.com
[email protected]
The Magelands Series
From the Ashes
The Queen’s Executioner
The Severed City
Needs of the Empire
Sacrifice
The Magelands Origins
(The Trials of Daphne Holdfast
& Retreat of the Kell)
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Needs of the Empire Page 54