Sacrifice

by Christopher Mitchell

  ‘I should tell the Prophet about last night,’ she said. She glanced at Killop. ‘Make that six people who know. But he’s on our side. He hates Lord Arnault and the Creator as much as we do.’

  ‘We’ll need him when the Emperor invades,’ Kylon said. ‘His control of communications will allow you to be the tip of the spear, Daphne, where you belong. You will face the Emperor when he comes to this city. You’re the strongest among us, it has to be you. But we’ll be at your side, with your daughter’s power to shield us, and scour the enemy…’

  ‘What?’ Daphne cried. ‘No, Kylon. Karalyn will be as far away from the fighting as possible, with you and Celine to guard her, as you promised. If I’m to be the tip of the spear, as you put it, then I need to know that Karalyn is safe.’

  Kylon frowned, his dark eyes piercing her.

  ‘I will give my life to protect your daughter, Daphne Holdfast, do not insult me by doubting my resolve on this. But Karalyn is not just an innocent bystander or a hapless victim in the coming storm. She has powers, mighty powers, and she will be needed if we are to defeat the Emperor.’

  ‘No,’ said Killop, ‘that’s not going to happen. Karalyn will be nowhere near the battlefield, and you must decide now if you’re going to obey our orders on this. If Daphne and I command you and Celine to take Karalyn away from a battle, will you obey us?’

  ‘He’d better,’ Celine said, walking towards the table, holding Karalyn’s hand as she toddled along. She stared at the Kell man. ‘Well, Kylon?’

  ‘Of course,’ Kylon said, ‘Kalayne told me to protect Karalyn. I will follow your orders, Killop, and yours Daphne, as long as those orders don’t put Karalyn in danger.’

  ‘They never would,’ said Daphne.

  ‘Then we are agreed,’ said Kylon.

  ‘Good,’ said Celine. She glanced at Daphne. ‘I’m just taking little bear to bed, do you want to read her a story?’

  Daphne smiled. ‘Yes,’ she said, standing.

  Killop gave Karalyn a kiss and watched as she was led to their bedroom by Celine and Daphne. Kylon filled his glass with rum, and sat back in his chair. Chane extracted a weedstick from a pocket of her uniform and lit it.

  ‘Well?’ she shrugged at Killop. ‘Karalyn’s away to bed.’

  ‘Just open a window,’ Killop said. He glanced at Kylon as the Holdings woman tutted and got up.

  Kylon glanced back at him.

  ‘My daughter is not a weapon.’ Killop said, ‘I don’t care what Kalayne told you.’

  Kylon’s dark eyes held him as he nodded. ‘You’re the boss.’

  Chapter 11

  Avoidance Tactics

  N orthern Kell – 26 th Day, Last Third Summer 507

  ‘This is shit,’ said Dean. ‘We’ve been waiting here for hours.’

  ‘Be patient,’ Dyam said. ‘Bonnie and Lola will return soon, and hopefully they’ll give us the all clear.’

  The young fire mage’s eyes darted round the rocky crevasse where the two wagons lay hidden, the frustration plain upon his face.

  ‘I’m cold,’ he said. ‘Can we light a fire?’

  Dyam shook her head. ‘If the lizards see the smoke they’ll be all over us.’

  Laodoc reached under the driver’s bench of the wagon and pulled out a blanket.

  ‘Wrap this round yourself, Dean,’ he said. ‘It’ll keep you warm while we wait.’

  The young man frowned. ‘I’m not an invalid.’

  Laodoc sighed. They had been stuck in the crevasse since breakfast, and the day was wearing on. Their pace had ground almost to a halt since they had passed into the occupied zone of Northern Kell three days previously. They had made good time through Brig, and had crossed into Kell without any problem or delay, after checking in with the Kellach Brigdomin forces that patrolled the Brig Pass. Their progress through Southern Kell had also been rapid. Despite the devastation and pollution covering the landscape, it was empty of people, and the roads had been clear. The first sign of the Rahain had come when they had entered the pass to Northern Kell, where they had been forced to cross several blockades and lines of wooden palisades. The soldiers there had been happy to let the two wagons through to the occupied zone, after relieving them of most of their gold.

  Since entering, however, they had been harassed on a daily basis by patrols of Rahain soldiers, as they had tried to make their way through the broken land. Enormous slagheaps of mining waste littered the grey and dead countryside. Every town and village had been destroyed, buried under landslides or burned to the ground. The Rahain military sat within walled-off mining compounds, some of which covered hundreds of acres, with accommodation for the legions of slave labour that were required to keep the coal flowing to the cities of Rahain.

  On their way south, when they had been travelling with the entire Severed Clan, the Rahain soldiers had given them a wide berth, and had allowed them to pass unmolested, but now, with their small party of eight, it seemed that every group of soldiers they met tried to rob and abuse them.

  Agang jumped down from the lead wagon and walked back to where Laodoc sat next to Dean and Dyam.

  Laodoc nodded to him as he approached.

  ‘Looks like we might be stuck here for the night,’ Agang said. ‘Bridget says that if Bonnie and Lola are not back within an hour, then we should get the camp set up.’

  Dean groaned.

  ‘It is what it is, Dean,’ Agang said.

  ‘But we’re never going to get out of Kell if we keep hiding.’

  ‘That was a whole company of lizards we almost ran into this morning,’ she said. ‘Over a hundred soldiers, Dean. They looked like they hadn’t eaten in a third. One look at our oxen, and we’d be walking.’

  ‘If Keira was here she could fight them off.’

  ‘But she’s not here, Dean,’ Dyam said, ‘so stop moaning. ’

  ‘Bonnie and Lola are trying to find us a quieter route,’ Agang said, ‘then we can get back on the road.’

  Dean said nothing, staring out of the wagon as it started to rain. Dyam stood, and untied the cords to release the canvas hood. Agang got up and helped her fix it into position, covering the passengers and their luggage from the heavy drops.

  There was a low whistle, and Laodoc glanced up. Through the dim shadows cast by the dark clouds above, he saw two figures scrambling down the loose scree of the crevasse.

  ‘There they are,’ he said, watching them head towards the lead wagon. ‘They’re back.’

  ‘I’d better go,’ Agang said, ‘in case we get moving quickly.’

  He turned, and jogged up to where the two scouts were talking to Bridget. After a minute Lola strode back towards Laodoc as the lead wagon began to pull away, its wheels turning through the thick mud at the bottom of the crevasse.

  ‘Success?’ Dyam said as Lola climbed up onto the driver’s bench and took hold of the reins.

  ‘Aye.’

  ‘You find a route?’

  ‘Aye.’

  She flicked the reins, and the oxen took off, plodding along a few yards behind the lead wagon.

  ‘It’ll be slow going,’ the Lach woman said, ‘and treacherous at times, but it should keep us off the main roads.’

  ‘You see many lizards?’

  ‘Aye, a few.’ She glanced at Laodoc. ‘Do you not mind her calling you that?’

  ‘It’s not my favourite word,’ he said, ‘but my people did this to Kell, and I can understand the anger directed at us.’

  Dyam looked away. ‘Shit, I don’t mean anything by it.’

  They sat in silence as the wagon was pulled through the narrow valley.

  ‘I won’t say it again,’ Dyam muttered after a while .

  Lola smiled.

  They travelled for several hours, on through the afternoon and into the evening. It grew dark, and Laodoc was unable to see the path ahead, but still the Kellach kept on, their natural night vision allowing them to see what he couldn’t. The rain continued, dripping down the inside of the sodd
en canvas as they negotiated the winding and narrow track. They stopped often, to clear away branches, rocks and other debris from the path, or to dig wheels out of the thick mud. Laodoc was spared such duties, and watched shivering from the driver’s bench each time until they were underway again.

  He was frozen stiff when they stopped for the night, close to a deep cave with a narrow entrance. They tied up the oxen, and gathered within the dry cave with their blankets and supplies. Dyam lit a lamp, and Bedig prepared a small fire near the entrance, as the rain pelted down outside.

  ‘Good work today, you two,’ Bridget said to Bonnie and Lola, who were positioning their blankets side by side.

  ‘Sorry it took so long,’ Bonnie said. ‘The hills are crawling with Rahain.’

  ‘They’re searching for someone,’ Lola said.

  ‘Us?’ said Dean.

  ‘Unlikely,’ said Bridget. ‘Why would they bother with us? I mean, they’ll rob us if they get the chance, they’re hungry and pissed off, but they’re not going to send out half the army to look for us.’

  ‘So we just have to avoid them,’ Laodoc said, ‘until we’re out of Kell.’

  ‘I hate this place,’ Dean said. ‘It’s an ugly wasteland.’

  ‘It used to be beautiful,’ said Bridget. ‘I’m glad Killop’s not here to see it.’

  ‘What has happened here is a terrible crime,’ Laodoc said, ‘carried out by stupid people who thought they were better than everyone else. ’

  ‘I don’t want to argue with you, Laodoc,’ Bridget said, ‘but as chancellor of Rahain, you didn’t exactly do much to fix the situation.’

  ‘I inherited it, as you know,’ he said. ‘The old regime had been spending a huge amount for the upkeep of the garrisons here, but the treasury was empty when I came into power. Most had gone on the siege of Akhanawarah, and the rest was stolen by a certain Sanang gentleman sitting not too far away.’

  He smiled at Agang, who shrugged.

  ‘So there was no money to pay for the operations in Kell,’ Laodoc went on, ‘and the garrisons and mining communities effectively became self-sufficient, and looked to their own needs. And without any government cash, they began selling the coal directly to the cities, moving further beyond my authority, until they became in fact, if not in law, an independent little state.’

  ‘You’re saying it was out of your control?’ Bridget said.

  ‘Indeed. What could I have done? To re-assert authority I would have needed to send in more troops, and I was rather occupied with fighting the New Free rebellion at the time. And if I had ordered the garrisons to withdraw from Kell, they would have ignored me, just as they ignored the general order to emancipate their labour force. Certain elements among the Rahain leadership in Kell have become exceedingly wealthy from the coal, and have no desire to give it up.’

  ‘So you abandoned Kell because it was too complicated to deal with?’

  ‘I was working night and day to prevent Rahain from splitting apart. I failed, I know I did, but I did my best. I apologise if my performance fell short of your expectations, Miss Bridget.’

  ‘We were never equal partners in the alliance,’ she said. ‘From day one the Kellach Brigdomin were sidelined, their conquered territories administered by the same army that did the conquering, while that arsehole Duncan sat up in Plateau City pretending he represented us all. The sad fact is that we were sold out for coal. Keeping the cities of Rahain warm and lit was more important than seeing justice done.’

  ‘I accept that I played my part in that,’ Laodoc said, his voice low as everyone in the cave watched him. ‘I’m sorry. I believed at the time that a mere handful of Kellach Brigdomin still lived in your lands. I didn’t imagine that so many would return home.’

  Agang glanced at him. ‘I’m surprised that the Kellach forces haven’t tried to kick the Rahain out of Kell.’

  ‘The Domm Council isn’t stupid,’ Dyam said. ‘They know that any disturbances in Kell might bring them to the attention of the Emperor.’

  ‘Their priority is the safety of everyone in Domm,’ Bridget said. ‘I think they’re happy to keep the border at the Brig Pass, with Southern Kell as a buffer between them and the Rahain.’

  ‘Something will have to change soon, though,’ Dyam said. ‘The speed the Rahain are stripping the coal out of the ground, they’re going to run dry as some point.’

  Laodoc shook his head. ‘Unfortunately, that is not so. I have read the detailed geology reports from Kell, made by the expedition undertaken by my son Likiat. At current rates of consumption, there’s enough coal in Northern Kell to supply Rahain for hundreds of years.’

  The others stared at him.

  ‘Not only that,’ Laodoc went on, ‘but there are untapped reserves of iron, copper, silver, lead and other minerals, and plentiful supplies of timber. I fear that without intervention, the occupation will remain in place for a considerable time yet. The biggest risk to their existence is the gradual depletion of their reserves of slave labour. Unless a fresh source of workers can be found, then they will run into difficulties in a decade or so.’

  Bridget shook her head. ‘Once we’ve sorted everything out with Shella and the Emperor, then we can fix Kell. Until then, we get the fuck out as fast as we can.’

  ‘Makes me feel sick, boss,’ Bonnie said. ‘Skulking our way across our own lands, and hiding from those we should be fighting.’

  ‘I don’t like it either,’ she said, ‘but we have to keep our eyes on the job, and remember what we’re out here to do. Now, eat your food, and get some sleep, we have another full day of skulking tomorrow to look forward to.’

  They passed the night in the cave, cold but dry. In the morning Bedig cleared away the remains of the fire, and they packed up the wagons. The sun shone down from an almost cloudless sky.

  ‘The last days of summer,’ Bedig said as he helped Laodoc climb up onto the rear wagon.

  ‘Not sick of travelling by now?’

  ‘It all depends on the company,’ he said, ‘though I’ll be glad to get out of Kell. The place makes me sad.’

  When the two wagons were ready, they set off along the path, flanked on either side by tall rocky escarpments. Lola held the reins of the rear wagon, with Laodoc, Dyam and Dean next to her on the driver’s bench.

  ‘Let’s see how many miles we can do today,’ Dyam said.

  The lumbering oxen made hard work of the slippery path, labouring up long steep slopes, and through narrow defiles, following the course of a small stream northwards towards the mountains. They saw no one for the whole morning, just the land, broken as if from countless earthquakes.

  After a short stop for lunch, they continued, and the path led down into a wider valley, where a road ran. Bridget called a halt.

  ‘Should we risk crossing in daylight?’ she said as they conferred together. ‘If anyone comes along that road before we reach the other side of the valley, we’ll be spotted for sure.’

  ‘How far is it?’ Laodoc said.

  ‘Three miles or so,’ said Bonnie. ‘Should only take us twenty minutes.’

  Bridget scanned the road, chewing her lip.

  ‘Let’s do it,’ she said.

  They got back into their wagons and set off. The ground was boggy, and more than twenty minutes had elapsed before they reached the road, which ran halfway across the valley. The road was carried on a broad causeway of packed earth and stones, and rose two feet above the level of the marshy path they had been following. The oxen pulled the wagons up the bank and Laodoc gasped. On the other side of the road, down a similar bank to the one they had ascended, lay dozens of bodies. Bridget, Dyam and the others leapt down to look.

  They covered their noses from the stench.

  ‘Rahain,’ Bridget muttered.

  Laodoc was the last to reach the side of the road and peer over. Flies buzzed in swarms over the muddy corpses of the Rahain soldiers. Sword wounds and arrow holes pierced their bodies, and some had been mutilated, their heads
severed and lying in a small mound.

  ‘Looks like an entire company,’ Dyam said, ‘and their weapons have been taken.’

  ‘Rebel Kellach,’ Agang said. ‘It must be.’

  ‘The folk the army are out looking for,’ Bridget said. ‘Fuck. I always thought there might be a few rebels up here, living in the mountains, but if they’re strong enough to do this…’

  ‘Boss,’ said Bonnie, ‘I’m getting nervous. We’re sticking out like a prize cow, we should get going.’

  ‘Aye,’ Bridget said, ushering the others back to the wagons, ‘let’s go.’

  The oxen hauled the wagons down the embankment, and began plodding across the sodden ground towards a gap in the valley side.

  Time dragged. Laodoc’s neck was hurting from turning to glance at either end of the road behind them. Dyam was staring ahead, silently urging them on.

  ‘We’re nearly there,’ Lola said.

  ‘Shit,’ said Dean. ‘They’re coming!’

  The others turned. At the head of the valley a group of figures were moving down the road.

  ‘They haven’t seen us yet,’ Dyam said. ‘Keep going, Lola.’

  ‘What do ye think I’m doing?’

  ‘Well, keep fucking doing it.’

  The figures on the road were marching east, toward the coastal region. Any moment, Laodoc realised, they would reach the bodies of their fallen comrades. He glanced ahead, his tongue flickering. The shelter of the narrow gap in the valley was still over a hundred yards away, and the oxen were toiling through the deep mud.

  ‘Come on, ya bastards,’ Lola grunted, lashing the oxen.

  The figures on the road halted, and shouts echoed across the valley to the wagons from the spot where the bodies lay.

  ‘They’re looking over at us,’ Dean cried.

  ‘Quiet, Dean,’ Dyam said, staring back at the road as figures began clambering down the bank. ‘The mud’ll slow them down.’

  ‘They can still run faster than we’re going,’ Dean yelled. ‘They’re going to catch us up.’

  Dyam frowned. ‘Lola,’ she said, ‘give me the reins and get yer longbow ready. Dean, light up the storm lamp, be prepared to do whatever ye can to help. Laodoc, stay down.’