Dark Healer (An Empire Falls Book 1)

by Harry Leighton

  “Let him go,” Ospin said. “He’s done nothing.”

  The guards turned to him, eyeing the piece of wood in his hands.

  “You’re coming with us too,” the talkative one said.

  “I don’t think so,” Ospin said, stepping up and swinging the plank hard into the nearest watchman’s side. The watchman wasn’t expecting it and dropped to the ground from the blow.

  One of the two watchmen holding the carpenter let go of him, stepping towards Ospin and trying to draw his nightstick. Ospin gave him the flat of the plank in the chest, knocking the wind clean out of him. He followed up by jabbing the plank in the watchman’s face, sending him to the ground to join the first one. The carpenter gave Ospin a black look, twisted and punched the remaining watchman holding him in the face, sending him crashing back into a wall, stunned. The last watchman, holding the adze dumbly, looked stunned. The carpenter stepped to his left and tugged on a rope. The shop shutter dropped down, catching the last guard on the top of his head, sending him stunned to the earth.

  “What have you done, Ospin?” the carpenter said. “The charges against me would never have stuck but after you started the fight we were both for it.”

  One of the guards on the ground groaned. The carpenter stepped over and kicked him in the face, stilling him instantly.

  The commotion had drawn an audience, including a number of hands from the cattleyard.

  Ospin looked over and saw Galen. “Here, Galen, help me tie them up.”

  Galen stepped over, carrying some rope, and between him, Ospin and the carpenter they soon had the four watchmen bound and gagged.

  “So what exactly are you planning for us to do now?” the carpenter said.

  “We can’t have the watch treating us like this, rampaging through our businesses, destroying our work.”

  “Yeah,” Galen said.

  “So?” the carpenter said.

  “So we remind them what they are for: to keep the law, not break it by arresting who they like and beating up innocent people.”

  “Let’s release the tanner,” Galen said.

  Ospin stepped forward and picked up the dropped adze. He held it aloft. “We’re releasing the tanner,” he said. “He’s done nothing wrong and the watch need to be taught a lesson. Who’s with me?”

  Galen stepped over to his side and picked up a section of wood. “Me,” he said.

  “You’re a pair of idiots but we’re committed now,” the carpenter said. He retrieved a large hammer from the floor of the workshop.

  “Who’s with us?” Ospin said, louder. There was a general murmur of assent from the group of men assembled and they moved to pick up improvised weapons.

  “He’s at the west watch station nearby,” Ospin said. “Follow me.”

  He led the group of men along the street, picking up a few more stragglers as they went. The bound and gagged guards were carried between them. In a couple of minutes they arrived outside the watch station.

  “Bring out the tanner,” Ospin shouted.

  A face appeared at the barred window but disappeared quickly when it saw the mob outside.

  “They don’t want to let us in, it seems,” Galen said.

  “Well it’s a good job we brought a key then,” Ospin said, stepping up to the reinforced door and swinging the adze, taking a chunk out of it.

  The carpenter stepped to the side and dealt the area around the lock a tremendous blow with the hammer. The door splintered and gave slightly.

  “You should pay more attention,” he said.

  Two more blows and the door gave. The mob rushed into the station but it was empty, the guards having hurried out the back as soon as they started attacking the door.

  “Cowards,” Ospin shouted after them.

  “The cells,” Galen said. They made their way down to the cells and the tanner was there, a little bruised and bloody but otherwise in not too bad shape.

  “We’ve come to let you out,” Ospin said.

  “Obliged,” the tanner said.

  “The guards ran now, but they’ll be back soon and better prepared,” the carpenter said. “We’ve started something now and we’ll need to be ready.”

  “I’m in,” said the tanner, pointing out his injuries.

  “Round up as many men as you can,” Ospin said to Galen. “Armed as well if possible. We need to march on the other watch stations, take this town back for the people.”

  “I know a few people,” Galen said. “We’ll be ready.”

  “Someone hand me a weapon,” the tanner said.

  *****

  “We hear you have some trouble.”

  Kasen turned to face the speaker. The speaker was a tall man wearing an official looking breastplate and riding a horse. Had help come?

  “Ah, yes,” Kasen said. He’d been interim town watch commander after his superior had been captured by that crazy idiot Ospin and his mob and wasn’t enjoying the promotion. In his mid fifties and growing a little around the middle, he’d been looking forward to a nice quiet retirement. Getting involved in a full blown riot hadn’t been on his list of things to do.

  “I’m looking for Commander Rinzler,” the tall man said, dismounting his horse.

  “He’s, ah, unavailable,” Kasen said.

  “And you are?”

  “Acting Commander Kasen,” Kasen said.

  “Acting Commander?”

  “It’s a long story,” Kasen said. He studied the tall man. “City guard?”

  “Captain Remir. We were nearby when one of your men brought us news so we decided to come and see what had happened and sort it out.”

  “Do you have many men with you?” Kasen said.

  “Twenty. Should be plenty to shut down any sort of nonsense that your boys haven’t been able to manage.”

  “That’s not going to be enough,” Kasen said.

  “What do you mean?” Remir said. “Surely it can’t be that bad.”

  “Full blown riot.”

  “I thought your man was exaggerating.”

  “It’s got worse since we sent for help. Which is why I’m acting commander.”

  “You’d better fill me in.”

  “One or more people beat to death one of our men whilst he was out on patrol. We arrested someone, it turned nasty.”

  “Perhaps the slightly longer version?”

  “No one was talking but we arrested a likely candidate. Some of his friends took exception, tooled up and stormed the watch station. Luckily the men managed to escape.”

  “Escape rather than put the situation down?”

  “We’re just a provincial town, we don’t have quite the same training you city boys got.”

  “Whatever, go on.”

  “The mob didn’t stop at just the one watch station and it grew with a number of sympathisers.”

  “So what have you done?”

  “We’ve called in every available man, all auxiliaries and part-timers, even rounded up a few ex-soldiers. We’ve got a few merchants guards too who are looking to protect their businesses.”

  “How many do you have?”

  “Perhaps a hundred.”

  “I can see why my twenty might not make a difference then. What’s the situation at present?”

  “Two barricades on the main street, us behind one, them behind the other.”

  “You’re not moving on them then?”

  “We’re lucky, most of the town have hunkered down in their houses and tried to stay out of it but there is still a lot of them on the other side. Certainly more than us anyway.”

  “A rabble though?”

  “If we’re being honest, we’re not far short of that ourselves. We’re not really built for this sort of trouble.”

  “That everything?”

  “Just about.”

  “You’ve left out something important.”

  “Oh?”

  “Acting Commander?”

  “Ah. Well my ‘superior’ decided that they could be re
asoned with and went out to talk to them. Well-meaning but wrong.”

  “He alive?”

  “Oh, yes. I suppose you’d better come and see.”

  Kasen led the captain to their barricade.

  “Don’t stick your head up too far, they’ll probably throw a stone at it, but look at their barricade, just to the left of the middle.”

  Remir poked his head up carefully, taking in the scene. The mob had erected a barrier comprised of a combination of house furniture and rubble. Not that imposing and probably stormable with a few trained men as long as the opposition didn’t have bows. He scanned along its length, looking where Kasen had directed.

  “Ah,” Remir said, staring.

  Bound and tied to the front of the barricade was a dishevelled and unhappy looking man in a torn watch uniform. Remir ducked back down.

  “I see what you mean,” he said. “Have they hurt him?”

  “Not seriously as far as we can tell,” Kasen said.

  “Any other casualties?”

  “Three deaths so far, two of ours including the patrolman who was killed, one of theirs.”

  “Why do you think they’ve tied your commander to the barrier without killing him then?”

  “Not an expert on this sort of thing. Probably just to discourage us trying anything. Maybe they’re just reluctant to kill. I don’t know. Aren’t you boys supposed to be the experts on this sort of thing?”

  “Not many riots in the city either. If there were then we’re not doing our job properly.”

  “You’re more than welcome to take over, Captain.”

  “Hmm. Maybe not yet, need to get a better picture first.”

  “Be my guest,” Kasen said, waving a hand in the direction of the mob.

  “They armed?”

  “For the most part just tools and things to hand, though they’re bad enough. There’s some idiot with an old crossbow but they’re a terrible shot. Luckily they don’t seem to want to hand it over to anyone better.”

  “You might have told me that before I poked my head up.”

  “Like I said, a terrible shot.”

  Remir glowered at him for a moment. Kasen shrugged.

  “Do any of your men have bows or crossbows?”

  “Nope. Nightsticks and a few spears. The ex-soldiers have their swords as do a few of the merchant’s guards.”

  “Oh really?”

  “I was planning to take that up with them after we got the situation resolved. Seemed a little counterproductive at the moment.”

  “Perhaps,” Remir conceded.

  “Do you have a plan then?” Kasen said.

  Remir considered that. “First thing we’re going to do though is send for more help.”

  “Sounds like a good plan to me.”

  “Let’s get back to my horse and I’ll send one of my men to the city.”

  *****

  “I think we’ll have to start without Julen. The demands of secrecy mean we can’t wait for him all day.”

  “Yes Chairman, an excellent idea.”

  The Chairman had been looking out over the gathering, and wasn’t surprised that Gaken had backed him up, Gaken backed up everything he said. This was doubly helpful, because you knew you always had a vote in your favour, and you knew his capacity for independent thought was the lowest of the group.

  Ah yes, the group. A fine gathering of men and women who really deserved a large hall, an expansive table and plenty of servants and scribes taking down their essential points and providing equally essential lubrication. And yes, when the rebellion had happened that would be put into effect. But until then this rebel council would have to remain in secret, and that meant cramming into the attic room of the chairman’s house where all the untrusted servants never went. Still, it wasn’t too dusty, although it had taken Gaken a while to get over the coughing fit.

  “Does anyone know where Julen is?”

  The chair turned to Larly, who had torn himself away from the piles of money he presumably played with, and sighed. “No, I am afraid not.”

  “Are we exposed?” Gaken hissed in fear.

  The chair might have closed his eyes in frustrated bemusement, but instead calmed. “I expect the various issues our area is experiencing have slowed him. But we will have to start. Now, I prepared the agenda, and top of the list, all things considered, is whether the dispute between the merchants and the governor is something we can use to…”

  He paused, as footsteps could be heard on the stairs, and then came a knocking on the door. Everyone froze, waiting.

  “It’s me,” Julen said in a rushed voice.

  “Are you alone?” the chairman asked, hand reaching to the dagger at his belt. Not to fight off whatever guard had dragged Julen here, but to kill himself before arrest and torture.

  “Yes, yes, alone, just late.”

  “Let him in.”

  Once the door was unlocked by a woman who touched the metal fittings like they were snakes, Julen rushed in and collapsed in a chair.

  “Can I have some wine?”

  “Of course, er, let me pour you some… Oh, I suppose I better pour you another.”

  “Julen,” the chair began, aiming to keep things moving, “you look terrible, what has happened?

  “I have a report!”

  “Ah, okay, we can fit you in at the bottom of the agenda in any other business.”

  “Chairman,”

  “Yes Lavine?”

  “I think we should let him speak now.”

  The chairman looked at the women, and conceded. “Okay Julen, speak.”

  “It’s all gone to shit out there. Sorry, pardon my language. Recently I saw people, a gang, a mob attack an official, and I saw them kill him, kill him! Strike him down, blood, blood, blood…”

  “Have another drink…”

  “Yes, yes, thanks, right, they killed him, but the guard arrested the tanner. It wasn’t him with the club, it was someone else, and now the governor has ordered the tanner be executed.”

  “A typical imperial miscarriage.”

  “No, it’s worse than that. The people have risen at the news, there is a riot, I saw a riot going on as I left to come here.”

  Looks were exchanged, looks of heavy import. Finally the chair spoke. “The people have risen?”

  “Er … in this town, yes.”

  There came a collective sigh of relief.

  “So, the governor has caused a riot, no doubt more people will be arrested, will be executed. Terrible, typical. We must record this with our usual detail, ready so when the rebellion comes we can prove our case.”

  “You don’t think we should do something?”

  “What Lavine?”

  “Well, if the people are rioting, maybe this is the right time for our, er, leadership?”

  “Oh.”

  “Yes,” Larly said, rather excited, “should we act?”

  “Lady, gentlemen, need I remind you, as rebels we get one chance. We stick our necks up, and we either win our freedom or we are killed. We cannot go aiding every riot that happens. Julen is reporting on one town. This council believes in waiting for the right time. We will not act.”

  “We should vote on that.”

  “Alright Lavine, we will vote, raise your hands if you want to trigger a damn fool attempt.”

  No one did.

  “Good. Now…”

  “Terribly sorry,” said a voice at the far end of the table, an older man without a single grey hair, “I may have to leave shortly, and I have something I’d like to ask.”

  “Go on Makern.”

  “I heard that the watch, and now the guard, had been triggered by the body of a three-armed man being bought in.”

  “Ah, yes, that. Gaken, what did you discover after we sent you to look into that?”

  “As you will all imagine,” and the squat man pulled himself up as much as he could, “it was a lie concocted by the imperial administration to justify this assault on us.”

&nb
sp; “A lie?” Makern confirmed.

  “Indeed. A lie.”

  “How … typical.”

  “They’ll be telling us there’s people with two heads next!”

  “Well there are the people beyond the dark mountains…”

  “We do not need any more of your great grandfather’s travelogues, Julen. In actual fact, now might be a good time to tell us about your marriage and whether you still have a wife, and how much she might know.”

  “I assure you, Chairman, she knows nothing. I might be indiscreet in other areas, but when it comes to this…”

  “Good. Makern, do you have to leave us now?”

  “Indeed I do. Until next time, my fellows.”

  “So, back to the merchants and the governor…”

  *****

  “Remind me what your orders were again?”

  “You told me to go and collect the supplies.”

  “Yes, yes I did,” and Marlen put a hand to his head, “so please, explain to me why the cart contains not only the supplies, but a cage containing some very, very angry squirrels?”

  “Ah,” and the altered pulled himself up to a considerable height and smiled, “I passed a man selling them and thought you could use them.”

  “Use them…”

  “Yes, still getting supplies, but surprise supplies.”

  “And what am I supposed to do with squirrels?”

  “Er, I dunno. Teeth. Teeth maybe. The ones they build dams with.”

  “They’re not…” Clearly, Marlen thought, he should be enhancing the brainpower of all his patients, and not just the select few.

  “You bought them, you can take them in, and if you lose a finger don’t expect me to put it back again.”

  Well, he pondered, maybe there was something he could do with a squirrel. What did they do that might benefit humanity? Remember where nuts were? Hmm, that might be of use if he could pinpoint it.

  Marlen watched the man go, and turned to the road. A familiar figure was coming towards him, and the healer smiled and went to meet him.

  “Makern, how are you?”

  “I am doing well sir, and I have interesting news.”

  “Do go on, please, as we walk indoors and have a drink.”

  “There are riots…”

  Marlen pursed his lips. “What are these riots about?”