Sacrifice

by Christopher Mitchell

  Daphne nodded, and unbuckled her sword belt. They arranged their swords and knives by the door, and the woman gestured for them to follow. She led them into a large room, lit by dozens of oil lamps, and crowded with Holdings folk. They were sitting round tables eating and drinking, a mixture of the young and the old, many of whom had crossbows resting against the benches.

  ‘They’re armed, I see,’ Chane muttered .

  ‘You’re the strangers here,’ the woman said. ‘Sit.’

  Killop looked around for seats as many of the folk stared at him. They moved to the end of a long table, where locals shifted down to give them room on a bench. They sat, and three bowls of broth were placed before them, along with a chunk of bread each.

  ‘Thanks,’ Daphne said. ‘How much do we owe you?’

  ‘We don’t want your money,’ the woman said, sitting opposite them among a group of children, who were all eating the same broth. ‘What in the Creator’s name would we do with it?’

  She watched as they ate.

  Killop finished his bowl first, and pushed it back. ‘Thanks,’ he said. ‘Is this all that remains of the townsfolk?’

  The woman nodded.

  ‘Used to be over a thousand people living here,’ an old man said, ‘until the damned rebellion.’

  ‘It wasn’t the rebels who did this to us,’ the woman said. ‘Put the blame where it’s due.’

  ‘What happened?’ said Daphne.

  ‘The Emperor,’ the woman said. ‘He killed them all.’

  ‘A thousand folk?’ said Killop.

  The woman nodded, her eyes grim. ‘He marched everybody out of the town, to a field by the warehouses. Got them to dig a big hole in the ground, then lined them up and slaughtered them like cattle, while his Rahain soldiers kept anyone from escaping.’

  ‘How did you get away?’ said Daphne.

  ‘I wasn’t there,’ she said. ‘I’m a teacher, and I hid in the school cellar with my class.’ She glanced at the children sitting by her.

  ‘I saw it,’ said a young woman. ‘I was lined up with the others at the edge of the pit. The Emperor was standing, raising his hand at the lines of people. There was blood everywhere, coming from people’s mouths, and eyes…’ She paused. ‘I fell into the pit, and a body fell on top of me. They must have thought I was dead too.’

  ‘We found her,’ said the man sitting next to her, ‘when we went out at night to see what had happened. She was the only one who survived the pit.’

  ‘And the Emperor?’ Daphne said.

  ‘He’d gone by nightfall,’ the older woman said, ‘after his army had ransacked the town for supplies.’

  ‘If he’s gone,’ said Killop, ‘why are you still hiding?’

  The woman frowned. ‘Two days after they left, some of his army came back. They’ve occupied the factories on the southern edge of town.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘There’s a full year’s crop sitting in the warehouses,’ she said. ‘They’ve begun transporting it away south. Must be worth a fortune.’

  ‘The bastards come into town sometimes,’ the old man said. ‘Root about, looking for food, or anything they didn’t steal when they first came through. They know we’re here, but leave us alone, so long as we don’t interfere with them.’

  ‘How many are there?’ Killop said.

  ‘A few hundred, we think,’ the woman said.

  ‘Why?’ the old man smirked. ‘You thinking of taking them on, son?’

  ‘Aye.’

  ‘You’ll do no such thing,’ the woman said. ‘You’ll have to promise us, that when you leave tomorrow, you’ll go nowhere near the factories. There’s a path to the west that we can show you in the morning.’

  Daphne nodded. ‘I need to ask you something else,’ she said. ‘Have you seen any other Kellach pass through here since the Emperor left?’

  The woman nodded at Killop. ‘Is that what he is, a Kellach?’

  ‘Yes.’

  She shook her head. ‘He’s the first one of that kind I’ve ever seen.’

  ‘The man we’re looking for may have been cloaked,’ said Daphne. ‘Have any other groups of strangers been here?’

  ‘Just a few Holdings,’ the woman said. ‘Nobody like him.’

  ‘They could have gone around the town,’ Chane said, ‘especially if they wanted to avoid meeting anyone.’

  Daphne nodded .

  ‘You two sound awfully posh,’ said the old man. ‘Are you cavalry officers or something?’

  Daphne glanced at him. ‘Used to be.’

  ‘Rebels?’ he said, narrowing his eyes.

  ‘Does it matter any more?’ Daphne said. ‘The Emperor made no distinction when he slaughtered the people of this town. He doesn’t care about any of us, and he would have invaded anyway, with or without the rebellion.’

  The old man snorted. ‘What utter nonsense. The rebels brought this disaster upon us, and each one of them deserves to be hanged.’

  Some in the crowded room growled their support at his words, while others looked at the floor.

  Daphne stood, her face set firm, and looked around the room.

  ‘I am Holder Fast, leader of the failed rebellion against the insane rule of the Emperor.’

  The room fell into silence.

  ‘I’m on my way to the Plateau to rescue my daughter,’ she went on, her green eyes shining, ‘and then I’m going to kill the Emperor, to avenge the fallen of the Holdings, and to stop him from ever returning.’

  She stared at the old man.

  ‘If you want to hang me, come and get me.’

  Killop and Chane rose, and stood by her side.

  No one moved in the silence, as the townsfolk stared at them.

  A child began to cry.

  The woman stood.

  ‘Lady Holdfast,’ she said, ‘we’d be honoured if you and your party would stay with us tonight, but we’ll also be happy to see you gone in the morning. By being here you endanger us all.’

  ‘I’m grateful for the offer,’ she said, ‘but we’ll not be staying. After this is over, we Holdings will have to come back together, and rebuild our country from the ashes up.’

  ‘You’ll never stop the Emperor,’ cried the old man, ‘but if you want to walk right into his arms, I’ll not be standing in your way. He’ll kill you, Holdfast, and I won’t be shedding any tears for the end of your line.’

  Daphne smiled. ‘We’ll see ourselves out.’

  They turned and walked for the door, folk parting to get out of their way. They went through to the entrance hall, and picked up their weapons.

  ‘Wasn’t expecting you back so soon,’ said the man by the front door, rising from his seat.

  ‘Thought it better to avoid any trouble,’ Daphne said.

  The man frowned.

  ‘Wait,’ cried a voice.

  They turned to see a young man rush towards them along the hallway. Killop stepped in front of him.

  ‘Aye?’

  ‘That old man in there doesn’t speak for all of us,’ he said. ‘I’m Mannie, Lady Holdfast.’ He bowed. ‘And if you like, I can help guide you through the town.’

  Killop noticed a slight haze pass over Daphne’s eyes.

  ‘Alright,’ she said. ‘Thanks.’

  ‘I want you back by sunset tomorrow, at the latest,’ said the older woman, striding down the hall. She stopped in front of the young man, and patted down his unruly hair.

  ‘Yes, mum,’ he said.

  ‘Here,’ the woman said, passing a bag to Killop. ‘Some food for your journey. Good luck.’

  He nodded.

  The front door opened and the man peered outside.

  ‘All clear,’ he said.

  Daphne shook the woman’s hand, then walked out, Chane a step behind her.

  ‘Take care, Mannie,’ the woman said, kissing her son.

  Killop followed Mannie outside, and the door was closed. Mannie took a small lamp out of his cloak, and opened a side shutter, sending a
beam of light shining down the road .

  ‘I’ll take you to a house on the edge of town,’ he said, ‘where you can sleep. It’s next to the path that goes round the factories. Follow me.’

  They set off. Killop stayed at the rear, keeping his night vision away from the light spilling from the lantern. The streets of the town were silent as they passed down a long, wide road. They took a turn to the right, and after a further ten minute’s walk Mannie stopped.

  He shone his torch around.

  ‘These are the last houses before the fields start,’ he said. ‘The road goes west for about three miles, then sweeps south. By the time it reaches the highway, you’ll have passed the factories and the lizards shouldn’t see you. Watch out on the road though, they go up and down it with wagons, taking the tobacco harvest away.’

  He turned to a row of cottages. ‘This is where we’ll stay for the night.’

  He walked to a low stone-built house and opened the front door. He gestured for them to follow, and they went inside, where Mannie closed the shutters and turned the lamp up full.

  Killop gazed around the small living-room.

  ‘You can light a fire,’ Mannie said. ‘No one will see the smoke out here.’

  There was coal sitting in the fireplace, and Killop dropped the two bags to the floor, went over and knelt by it. The two women sat close to the fire as he lit it, Chane unpacking their blankets while Daphne opened the bag of food.

  ‘Thank your mother for me,’ she said to Mannie. ‘This should keep us going for a few days.’

  Mannie sat by them.

  ‘Are you really going to kill the Emperor?’

  ‘I wondered about that myself,’ said Chane, lighting a cigarette.

  Daphne laid out her blanket on the floor. ‘I think we have to.’

  Killop glanced at her in the firelight.

  ‘Otherwise,’ she went on, ‘he’ll destroy us all.’

  Killop stepped away from the fire and sat down next to her on the floor .

  ‘I’m going to sleep,’ she said, lying down, and pulling a blanket over her.

  He watched as she closed her eyes. Was she serious? He lay down next to her.

  ‘Nineteen miles today,’ he heard Chane mutter from her chair as he closed his eyes.

  The endless line of wagons stretched into the distance, each one full of slaves. There were nearly a hundred crammed into the wagon where Killop, Bridget and Kallie were chained. Many had died, but there was no way to get the bodies out of the wagon, the steel and wire mesh keeping everything in. The smell was over-powering, and inescapable. Killop closed his eyes, his fingers stroking Kallie’s hair as she lay with her head in his lap.

  ‘The ocean,’ said Bridget, her voice a whisper.

  ‘We’re going to die on this journey,’ said Kallie. ‘Death is all that’s left for us.’

  Killop said nothing, despair threatening to crush him.

  ‘Yer wrong,’ said Bridget. She attempted to smile from where she sat squashed up next to Killop and Kallie, her blood-streaked skin inches from them. ‘We’re going to live, ye fucking hear me?’ She rattled her chains. ‘These won’t last. The three of us sitting here together in this shithole on wheels, we’ll make it. I believe it. We’ve just got to stick together, and help each other…’

  A long low plaintive wail entered Killop’s dream, and his surroundings dissolved as it grew louder, shrieking in pain.

  Karalyn.

  In a second, Daphne’s sleeping consciousness was by him.

  She’s found us , she cried. Our baby’s found us.

  Where is she?

  This way .

  She soared away, pulling Killop after her, and they flew south, tearing over the plains of the Holdings, the land a blur beneath them. His heart pounded as he heard the voice of his daughter again, crying out to them.

  We’re coming wee bear , he growled.

  He saw mountains ahead, and they rose up and rushed over the snow-covered peaks. Daphne increased her speed, and after a few moments they cleared the mountains and saw the Plateau spread out in front of them. They heard Karalyn cry out again, and Daphne raced down, towards a city on the shore of the Inner Sea.

  The Imperial Capital.

  Before Killop had time to think what that could mean, they were inside Karalyn’s head, somewhere within the great walls of the city.

  Mama.

  We’re here, Kara-bear , Daphne sobbed.

  Help me.

  We will , said Killop, aching at the pain his daughter was in.

  Her thoughts were fading in and out, as if her mind was on the edge of falling into a deeper unconsciousness, like the one she had been trapped in for days.

  We’re coming to get you, wee bear.

  Daddy , she said, come soon.

  Can you open your eyes for us, little bear? Daphne said.

  Killop watched as Karalyn’s eyes opened a crack. Her vision was blurred. A cloth came down, and wiped her face. Her sight focussed on the face of a young Holdings woman as it loomed close.

  The woman gasped.

  ‘Get in here,’ she shouted. ‘She’s opened her eyes.’

  Two figures appeared at the door, and approached.

  Keira and Kallie.

  His heart froze. His sister was alive, and she was with Karalyn. He felt Daphne’s shock next to his own thoughts.

  ‘She’s a wee fighter,’ Keira said, her hand stroking away strands of Karalyn’s hair from her face.

  An older Holdings man, dressed as a physician, approached from the other side of the bed. Karalyn’s eyes flickered over as he held out a cup for her.

  ‘Drink this,’ he said.

  Karalyn’s lips touched the cup, and at the same time the connection to her parents was severed, and their minds hurtled back to their bodies in Stringerton.

  Both of them shot upright on the floor by the low fire. They embraced, sobbing, Killop holding her tight. For a long time they sat there, their bodies close as they wept in silence.

  Killop opened his eyes. Chane and the Holdings boy were both sleeping on the big armchairs to either side of the fire. He took Daphne’s hand and they stood. They crept out of the cottage, and Killop gazed up at the seven stars in the night sky, wiping the tears from his face.

  ‘We know where she is,’ he said.

  ‘And who she’s with,’ said Daphne, lighting a cigarette.

  ‘My sister,’ he said, shaking his head, ‘and Kallie.’

  Daphne frowned. ‘What are they doing with our daughter?’

  ‘Trying to help her, from what I saw.’

  ‘Kalayne, Kylon, Keira and Kallie?’ Daphne spat. ‘Tell me this is not some twisted Kell plot.’

  ‘But she’s off the dullweed,’ Killop said, ‘or whatever it was keeping her quiet. And they’ve got her a healer, that must have been Keira’s doing. And we didn’t see Kylon anywhere.’

  ‘Of course she’s off the dullweed,’ Daphne cried. ‘They’re in Plateau City, ready to do whatever insane plan Kalayne cooked up.’

  She clenched her fist, her face dark with rage.

  ‘We need to get there as soon as possible.’

  ‘That’s what we’ve been doing.’

  ‘No,’ she said, ‘we can go faster. Did that boy in there not say there were wagons going up and down the road? If there are wagons, there will be horses.’

  ‘At the factories?’

  ‘Yes. ’

  He thought about the promise they had made to stay clear of the Rahain, in case they sought revenge on the townsfolk.

  ‘We should do it now,’ he said, ‘while there’s a few hours of darkness left.’

  She nodded.

  ‘What about Chane?’ he said.

  ‘I’ve left her once before,’ Daphne said. ‘I won’t do it again.’

  They went back into the cottage. Daphne went to where the boy lay on a chair, and raised her hand.

  ‘That should keep him asleep for a while,’ she said.

 
Killop knelt by the fire and rolled up their blankets, while Daphne crossed the room to Chane. She kicked the chair, and Chane opened her eyes and groaned.

  ‘Up,’ she said. ‘We’ve got work to do.’

  The first glow of dawn was spreading in the east, lighting up the road as the six horses thundered down it. Far behind them, appearing as tiny wisps on the horizon, tendrils of smoke were rising from the cigarette factory they had raided. By that time, Killop thought, the entire garrison would be out searching for them. At least twenty Rahain soldiers lay dead, and over a dozen wagons had been destroyed, along with crates of food supplies and weapons.

  As the sun rose, Daphne slowed her mount to a walk. Chane and Killop did the same, and they trotted three abreast, each trailing a spare horse connected to their saddles with ropes.

  ‘We’ll let these three cool down,’ Daphne said, ‘then we’ll swap over.’

  Chane nodded.

  ‘Are ye alright to take a quick look back,’ said Killop, ‘just in case they’re following us?’

  ‘I’ve already checked,’ Daphne said. ‘No one’s on the road.’

  ‘The town?’ said Chane .

  Daphne nodded. ‘Soldiers have gone in.’

  ‘Shit. I hope those people are alright.’

  Killop caught Daphne’s glance, but they said nothing.

  After a few minutes, Daphne halted, and they dismounted. They began to switch their packs over from the spare horses.

  ‘We need to talk about Keira,’ said Killop.

  Daphne nodded, her eyes narrow.

  ‘I know you’re worried,’ he said, ‘but my sister would never do anything to hurt Karalyn, or allow anyone else to hurt her.’

  ‘She’s a sadistic maniac,’ Daphne said, fitting the saddle to her spare horse. ‘She’s slaughtered thousands without remorse. Forgive me if I don’t share your optimism.’

  They walked their spare horses to the front, and re-mounted.

  ‘You’re wrong,’ he said, gathering the reins, and securing the rope of the horse trailing behind.

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Aye. This is different.’

  ‘How?’

  They began to trot down the road, the sun’s rays shining onto the plains and warming the land.

  ‘Keira gets it,’ he said. ‘It’s family.’