Chaosmage (Age of Darkness)

by Stephen Aryan

  Tammy started to ask how he knew, but then she saw a red glimmer pass across his eyes again. It had to be magic, but unlike any she’d seen or heard about.

  “I can feel it. The connection is somewhere to the east,” said Balfruss, opening his eyes and staring at their prisoner. “What’s in the east of Voechenka?”

  “Nothing,” said Tammy. “I’ve already scouted the area and there are no bases out that way. It’s abandoned.”

  If Balfruss was right then the Forsaken were better at hiding than she realised. She’d searched all of the largest buildings but not looked inside every one. That would take days by herself. Perhaps the Forsaken were scattered across the whole area rather than concealing themselves in one location.

  “Can you be more precise?” asked Tammy.

  Balfruss shook his head. “I’m barely able to do this.”

  Across the room Kai took a step away from the prisoner.

  “If we let him go, could you follow him?”

  “Maybe,” said the Sorcerer, although he didn’t sound very certain.

  Yorris’s head snapped up and he stared around the room, glaring at each of them in turn. Tammy was surprised he was awake so quickly given how hard she’d hit him.

  “If you start preaching I’ll knock you out again,” she promised him, but Yorris just kept staring, as if seeing her for the first time. When she started to move closer, Kai shouted a warning.

  “Get back!” yelled the priest. “That’s not Yorris.”

  “What?”

  Yorris pulled against the metal bars on his arms and this time she heard the metal groan as it moved. Before Kai could answer, Balfruss recoiled as if he’d been slapped. He stumbled back and shook his head like a dog trying to get rid of a fly.

  “Are you all right?”

  The Sorcerer’s eyes were open but his mind seemed elsewhere and his hands were making a strange series of gestures, over and over. It reminded Tammy of a game she and her sister had played as children, creating a web of wool between their outstretched fingers. Balfruss scrunched his eyes closed and kept weaving some sort of net with his magic, right in front of his face.

  “Kill it,” said Kai, gesturing at her sword. “Kill it quickly, before it escapes.”

  Yorris’s left arm pulled against the metal bars and three of them started to unravel. His newfound strength was remarkable as two more of the bars wrapped around his legs started to bend. With another surge Yorris pulled his left arm free and tried to get his right arm loose as well.

  The tip of Maligne sliced off the first two fingers of his left hand. They fell to the floor like bloody sausages and Yorris paused in his attempt to escape. But he didn’t scream and seemed unconcerned about the blood coming from the severed stumps. He kept staring at the fingers on the floor as if he couldn’t understand why they didn’t work any more. When he turned to look at Tammy she felt an icy hand grip her heart.

  Something was staring at her from behind Yorris’s eyes. His expression was utterly alien and insidious. It was one of the Forsaken, unshackled by its human host.

  Balfruss had stumbled to one knee but now she could hear him growling like an animal. On her right Kai seemed to be faring better, but he was staring at Yorris with his mouth hanging open.

  “Kill it,” he said again, almost to himself.

  Right before her eyes the bloody stumps of Yorris’s fingers on his left hand closed over until they were utterly smooth, as if he’d always been born without them. With a screech of metal the bars holding his right arm began to stretch and unwind.

  Several things bulged in unison under the surface of Yorris’s skin, moving independently of each other, before they resettled. But now she could see thick purple lines across his arms and up one side of his neck, as if he had been badly bruised.

  Zannah’s warnings about the Forsaken being dangerous rang in Tammy’s mind as she raised her sword on high. Whatever was happening to Yorris would have to remain a mystery for now. As she brought her sword down in an arc to slice off his head the Forsaken managed to pull itself free of the metal bars holding its torso in place. Her sword struck the metal railings and before Tammy could riposte something struck her in the chest.

  She skidded backwards across the floor and collided with the wall. As she scrambled to her feet she heard another meaty thump on her right. It turned towards Balfruss but the Sorcerer was ready and unleashed something towards the Forsaken. A fine blue mist drifted over Yorris’s entire body, outlining it with a glowing halo of white in the gloomy building. It vanished a second later and the Forsaken froze in place as if locked in stone.

  “I can’t hold it long,” said Balfruss through gritted teeth.

  As the Forsaken struggled against whatever magical net held it, its skin began to darken all over until it was the colour of a ripe plum. When it tried to pull free of the metal bars Tammy sliced off its right arm just above the elbow. Blood gushed as normal but it showed no signs of discomfort or pain, merely annoyance that one of its arms was no longer attached. With only one mutilated hand remaining, the Forsaken tried to hold her in place with its vicious gaze. She felt something pressing against the fringes of her mind and a great shadow passed across her eyes.

  “Fight it!” shouted Balfruss.

  Moving with instinct and muscle memory Tammy swung her sword in a lethal series of cuts. On the third sweep of her blade the darkness lifted from her eyes and she saw Yorris’s body was bleeding from several deep wounds. She had partially decapitated him but the wound was trying to stitch itself back together again. With a quick cut from left to right she separated the Forsaken’s head from its shoulders.

  As soon as the head hit the floor the weight pressing on her mind vanished. Balfruss recovered as well, coming to his feet with one hand held out towards the body. Kai was grumbling to himself but otherwise seemed unhurt.

  Tammy stared at the body, almost expecting something, but it didn’t move.

  “It’s dead,” said Balfruss. “The thread is gone. I can’t sense anything.”

  They left the corpse where it had fallen and went back out into the street. She still had little to go on, just a direction. Perhaps she’d missed something during her first search. Tammy had no knowledge of the city, but maybe Alyssa could help.

  As they made their way back to the winery in silence she tried to picture what the city had looked like before the war. Staring around at the empty streets and broken buildings it was hard to see this place as anything but a haven for despair and darkness.

  Part of Tammy knew that even if they succeeded in destroying the Forsaken Voechenka would never again become a thriving community for artists. It was a ghost town, and if she stayed too long she feared for her sanity. If her sister Mary-Beth were here she would say a prayer to the Maker or claim there was a plan for everyone.

  Tammy offered no prayers and didn’t believe in fate, but she did rest one hand on her sword. Faith would not save her in this place but steel could make all the difference. A wry smile stretched across her face. The city hadn’t beaten her and it wasn’t over yet.

  CHAPTER 27

  By the time Alyssa made it back onto the wall it was almost midday. She’d spent the morning helping other people, which consisted of offering suggestions to problems they understood better than her. Nevertheless they were grateful and seemed happier for her guidance.

  Before she’d gone very far down the corridor someone else intercepted her with a matter that needed her immediate attention. With more people to feed food was starting to become a problem and rationing would only get them so far. They had plenty of water, as the deep wells were connected to a vast underground lake, but their food was not without its limit. As the nights became colder the woollen blankets, scarves and gloves would become more important, but they still needed fuel for fires and cooking. For now they were gradually chopping up the racks and distilling wine, but the process took time and neither would last forever. The obvious idea was to bring logs in from the old w
ood outside the city.

  Her offer to go into the countryside to forage was met with surprise and shock. A team of ten armed volunteers offered to go over the wall instead, to check her traps and cut down a few trees. Normally people were reluctant to leave the safety of the walls, but suddenly the idea of stepping out of the city, even for a short time, had become appealing. Alyssa knew the reason why, even if they didn’t. She could feel the darkness inside her trying to push its way to the surface, but she wouldn’t let it be her master. Whenever she felt her temper begin to fray at the endless questions, she took a moment to breathe and pray.

  Her people were changing. Guarding the walls by themselves for one night had given some of them a jolt of courage. It was untested and wouldn’t last long once they’d endured a night with the Forsaken, but she knew it was a beginning. With a mixture of fear and pride she consented for the party to visit the old wood.

  As she made it to the top of the wall someone pressed a bowl of stew and a chunk of fresh bread into her hands. The woman smiled at Alyssa and then carelessly set another bowl on the wall a few feet away from Zannah. Alyssa carried the bowl to her friend and split the bread in two. As they ate in silence she poked the lumps in her stew with her spoon until she could recognise them. Mushrooms and rhubarb. There were still plenty of both and thankfully she wasn’t tired of the taste just yet.

  “Where are the others?” asked Alyssa, her mouth half full of stew.

  “The wizard went out into the city again and Tammy is asleep.”

  Movement caught Alyssa’s attention on the street and a few seconds later she saw several people stumble into view. All were bruised, bloody and battered. Several bore wounds and most were local people. There were also three mercenaries and they were in an equally bad state, limping along and wrapped in bloody bandages.

  Before Alyssa could stop her, Zannah raised the alarm and a dozen people came running to join them on the wall.

  “There’s no need for this,” said Alyssa, gesturing at the other defenders to lower their weapons. “They need our help, not more violence.”

  “Who are they?” asked Tammy, coming up the stairs, followed closely by the plague priest.

  “Survivors from last night’s attack,” said Zannah, staring at the twelve people shuffling towards them. She didn’t need to say what had happened to the rest. They were either dead or, worse, had been taken by the Forsaken.

  “Throw down the rope,” said Alyssa, but for once no one moved to follow her order.

  “They could be infected,” warned Zannah.

  “You didn’t say that in the past when people sought shelter.”

  “That was before a whole base was destroyed in one night. We need to be sure.”

  “How?” asked Alyssa.

  “I can test them,” said Kai, glancing at both Tammy and Zannah. A message seemed to pass between them and to her surprise Zannah grunted in assent.

  Some of those in the street were too badly hurt to climb and had to be hoisted up one at a time, but none complained. Once all the newcomers were brought inside, each was made to stand in front of Kai. Alyssa couldn’t see what he was doing, but it looked as if he just held their hand for a moment. Tammy was visibly unsettled and Alyssa noticed she had one hand resting on her sword. Her whole body was taut with tension until Kai had cleared them all.

  “They must swear an oath,” said one of the other defenders. More people had come out of the main building to greet the new arrivals and Alyssa’s protests were drowned out by noise from the crowd. Perhaps it was because they were desperate for protection and had nowhere else to go, but all twelve sank to their knees and swore an oath of fealty to her. Alyssa tasted bile in the back of her mouth as they spoke, but she managed not to vomit. It seemed to last forever but eventually the brief ceremony was over and the injured were taken downstairs to have their wounds treated.

  Now that the danger had passed the others drifted away, leaving only six defenders and Zannah to guard the wall.

  “Leave it,” said Alyssa as Zannah went to pull up the rope. “I’m going out.” The other defenders started to protest until Alyssa stopped their tongues. “No one here is a prisoner, or a slave. That sort of treatment is reserved for those in the mercenary camps. Anyone can leave at any time.”

  A few of the others on the wall looked towards Zannah, perhaps hoping she would object. “Be careful,” was all the Morrin said.

  As she lowered herself to the street Alyssa could feel several people staring at her but she ignored them. It was only when she was a few streets away that she properly began to relax.

  It wasn’t just her people who were changing. Living in the winery over the last few weeks had been difficult, but the familiar routine brought a form of comfort, as she’d always known what to expect. In the day she would spend time on the wall with Zannah, or leave the city behind and forage in the woods. At night they would watch and wait for the Forsaken, balanced on a knife edge. Long days and longer nights, but those too were changing.

  Now she had become a leader who people looked to for guidance and hope. Alyssa had thought the priests of the Holy Light would share some of the burden. A few had sought them out for spiritual guidance, but most had lost their faith in the face of overwhelming despair, and it had not yet returned.

  Every day the priests tended to the sick and injured and carried out whatever chores they were asked to perform, never once complaining. At first Alyssa had been suspicious, but over time she’d come to realise they were nothing more than they appeared to be. If anyone asked, they offered a prayer, but whenever the children wanted a story they always came to Alyssa to hear about the Blessed Mother.

  It was at her worst moment, slowly dying of starvation in a prison camp during the war, that Alyssa’s faith had crystallised. With her death no more than days away she found a form of acceptance and peace. Her belief in the Blessed Mother mattered more in that place than ever before. It was her armour when they’d tortured and killed her people, and a soothing balm for those in their final moments. She held them in her arms and blessed them as they died. She spoke about the peace and beauty of what came next, offering them some comfort at the very end.

  While her faith remained intact, she now struggled to find any peace inside the camp.

  Her feet seemed to know where to go because when she looked up she realised they’d been taking her east. She picked streets at random following her nose until the stones beneath her feet changed to huge slabs of weathered granite. Many had been worn smooth by waves on the lake, and as the lapping of water reached her ears, Alyssa felt the remaining tension ease from her shoulders.

  The waterfront bars and shops were empty and long ago had been stripped of anything valuable. Even so as she walked past the scarred buildings she found herself pausing to look inside. In one she found a mobile hanging from the ceiling made from pieces of orange glass. The clever glassblower had shaped them into different animals and she put it into her pack for the children. In another shop she discovered a small painting of a woman holding a cherubic baby. The tenderness in the woman’s face made her heart ache in a way she’d not felt in a long time.

  Once the docks had been home to dozens of brightly coloured pleasure craft designed for jaunts and short trips. Now the stone piers were all but abandoned and the only remaining vessels were used for fishing. A group of four men were huddled together at the end of one of the six piers. A small boat bobbed in the water below them and the men seemed to be having an argument, which was cut short as she approached.

  All four were gaunt, dressed in ragged clothing, and they looked scared. One held two straws in his hand and another was deliberating, his hand hovering over which to choose.

  “Which camp did you come from?” asked Alyssa.

  “Fenne sent us,” said a man with a grey beard. “He said we had to come back with a full catch or we can’t get back inside.”

  “Do you know where the old Messu winery is?” asked Alyssa.

&nb
sp; “Yes,” said the bearded man.

  “Go there, and tell them Alyssa sent you. They’ll let you inside.”

  All four men looked sceptical. “What’s the price?” asked grey beard.

  No one gave anything away for free in Voechenka any more. Alyssa knew that the truth wouldn’t serve her, no matter how earnest or sincere. Fenne had probably made similar promises until they were inside his walls. After that it was serve or die.

  “You have to swear an oath of fealty to their leader. And you must protect the walls at night from the Forsaken. We all must do our part.”

  Grey beard chewed his bottom lip, searching the faces of the other men for their thoughts. One shook his head and the other two shrugged.

  “I don’t know if you’re playing some game, but we’ll go back there with you. Then we’ll see what this leader of yours has to say. What’s his name?”

  A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “Her name is Alyssa. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  The four men stared until she gestured at the boat. “Can I borrow it?”

  Grey beard sucked at his teeth. “Why go out there?”

  “Because we still need to feed everyone and our supplies aren’t unlimited.”

  Grey beard cocked his head to one side.

  “What’s your name?” Alyssa asked him.

  “Crinn.”

  “I’m not forcing anyone to go with me. Wait here if you like.”

  “We will.”

  Alyssa descended the worn stairs cut into the pier and climbed into the little fishing boat. Shoving the heavy net to one side she grabbed the oars and set them in the oarlocks. Crinn jumped into the boat and seemed as surprised as her that he’d done it.

  “I’d already drawn the short straw,” he said with a shrug.

  The other three waited at the end of the dock, looking uncertain about whether they should risk going back to Fenne empty-handed, or wait for her to return. Alyssa dipped the oars into the water and put the men from her mind for now. She settled into a rhythm, feeling the muscles in her shoulders and arms pull as she took the boat out onto the lake.