Sacrifice

by Christopher Mitchell

  Shella yelled as she stared out of a window. ‘Stop!’

  She unstrapped herself, and ran towards Dyam.

  ‘Turn back,’ she screamed. ‘Now!’

  Dyam stared at her, then yanked on the controls, heaving them forward, and the carriage jolted and began to spin.

  ‘What the fuck are you doing?’ Agang yelled, ripping off his straps and racing up the carriage. He swayed as they banked and twisted, Dyam fighting with the controls.

  ‘Keira didn’t wreck the city, you fucking idiot,’ Shella cried as she hung on to the side of the carriage. ‘There’s been an earthquake. Do you remember the last time there was a fucking earthquake?’

  Agang paused, his eyes widening.

  ‘We’re too late!’ she screamed at him. She turned to Dyam. ‘Get us the fuck out of here.’

  ‘I’m trying,’ she grunted. ‘Just give me a second to get the beasts under control.’

  Laodoc’s hands began to shake as the carriage juddered and rolled through the sky. Dyam heaved on the controls, and they straightened, levelled, and began to rise.

  ‘Thank fuck,’ said Dyam.

  Laodoc turned and stared back out of the window. The city was only a hundred feet below, and pillars of smoke rose above them on either side. Dyam steered the carriage between them, gaining altitude. They banked, and he saw the Great Fortress. There was movement on the roof, and he gasped as a burst of flame shot towards them.

  ‘Look out!’ he cried.

  He felt the heat of the firebolt as it raced past the window. There was a great cry from above, and the carriage slowed and banked.

  ‘Someone’s bringing down the gaien,’ cried Bridget.

  Laodoc stared out of the window as another bolt of fire roared past them. On the roof of the Great Fortress a figure was standing, raising his arms into the air. The carriage shook as a second gaien was hit. They started to descend.

  ‘We’re going down,’ yelled Dyam.

  Laodoc closed his eyes as they dropped through the air. The remaining two gaien above were straining against the weight, but were achieving nothing more than slowing their fall. They passed the height of the roof of the fortress, a few hundred yards away, and crash-landed in a long skid, bumping and jolting at speed until they came to a grinding halt.

  Bridget was the first to rise. She unbuckled her belt and turned to stare out of the nearest window.

  Laodoc rubbed his head. Every bone in his body felt wrenched and sore. He tried to unfasten the belt buckle, but his hands were trembling.

  ‘Everyone alright?’ said Bridget.

  ‘Fine,’ yelled Dyam, unstrapping herself from the controls.

  She rushed to where Shella was clinging onto a railing, and helped the Rakanese mage down. Agang staggered to his feet.

  Bridget helped Laodoc out of his seat as Lola began to open a side hatch.

  ‘Wait,’ said Bridget. ‘We’ll do this properly, just as we planned. Shella, Agang and Lola will lead, the rest of us will follow with crossbows.’ She clapped her hands. ‘Come on, move.’

  Agang picked up his shield, and made his way to stand next to Lola, as the others reached for their crossbows. Shella lit a cigarette and walked to the hatch. She peered out of the window as Lola grabbed the handle .

  ‘Do you know where we are?’ Laodoc said.

  ‘We’re in the Old Town,’ she said, ‘not too far from the docks.’

  ‘You mean we nearly landed in the water?’ said Bridget.

  Shella frowned. ‘Right now I’d rather be taking my chances with the Inner Sea.’

  She nodded at Lola, and the Lach woman threw open the hatch. She stepped forward, her shield raised, and Agang followed. Shella winked at Laodoc, and went out after them.

  ‘I’ll take the rear,’ said Dyam, a crossbow cradled in her arms. ‘Dean, you stay by me.’

  Bridget nodded, then she and Laodoc left through the hatch and stepped down onto the cobbles of the street. The light in the west was starting to fade as he gazed around. The area was deserted, and in ruins. He could see at least two fires burning within the Old Town, and the earthquake had toppled many of the buildings. Their carriage had left a long gouge down the middle of the road, ploughing up cobbles and ripping aside paving slabs.

  ‘Nice landing,’ said Bridget.

  ‘Cheers,’ said Dyam, ushering Dean out of the carriage. She clambered round the side of the wooden structure and released the two remaining winged gaien.

  ‘Go on home, boys,’ she yelled as they flew away.

  Laodoc glanced at Shella and Agang, who were arguing a few yards up the road while Lola scouted forward. He gazed around. Down a narrow street to his right he could see the arches leading to the port of the city, where the trading ships had once berthed, loading and unloading goods from every corner of the world. Laodoc knew that the Old Town was one of the poorer districts of the imperial capital, but the squalor that surrounded them was worse than anything he had seen on his previous visit. Heaps of refuse were piled high in the streets, and the tenement blocks that hadn’t collapsed or been burnt to the ground were dilapidated slums. The place stank, of smoke and human waste.

  Lola returned .

  ‘There’s no one here,’ she said. ‘If we’re heading to that fortress, the way is clear.’

  She pointed up at the high towers that rose above the roofs of the Old Town, and they turned and stared. As Laodoc gazed up he felt any confidence within him dissolve. What a stupid old man he was, to think he could stand up to the Emperor. He shuddered.

  Shella frowned, and rubbed her head. She glanced round at the others.

  ‘Did anyone else feel that?’ she said.

  ‘Feel what?’ said Bridget.

  ‘I don’t know exactly,’ she said. ‘Like my mood just crashed, and all of a sudden I felt nothing but black despair.’

  ‘I felt it,’ said Laodoc.

  Shella scowled. ‘Don’t you understand? That mad bastard up there’s messing with our heads. No wonder we were so cocky about coming here. He’s been playing us, filling our heads with crap, then pulling away the rug.’

  Agang’s face fell. ‘He knew we were coming.’

  ‘He led us right here,’ Shella spat, ‘and like fucking idiots we fell for it.’

  ‘What the fuck are we going to do now?’ said Dyam. ‘We can’t exactly fly out of here.’

  Bridget smirked. ‘Does anyone know how to sail a boat?’

  ‘Whatever we do,’ Laodoc said. ‘We can’t stand here arguing. The Emperor is no doubt aware of us now, even if he wasn’t before.’

  Shella nodded. ‘Snake-eyes is right. Come on.’

  She set off, skirting the damage caused by the carriage’s landing, and the others followed. They kept to the same order as before, with Agang and Lola flanking the flow mage, and the rest behind. Laodoc began to feel the heat from an immense fire devouring whole streets to their left, the tenements and shop fronts belching flames. Smoke was billowing out from the roads leading to the inferno, sending thick grey and black clouds in their direction.

  Laodoc coughed, as the smoke began to envelop them .

  ‘Keep moving,’ yelled Agang. ‘It’s clearer up ahead.’

  Bridget grabbed Laodoc’s sleeve as the visibility fell. His eyes were watering, and the stench of burning filled his mouth and nostrils.

  ‘This isn’t fucking natural,’ he heard Shella cry, though he couldn’t see her through the dense grey smoke. ‘This is the Emperor’s work.’

  ‘Don’t stop,’ Bridget said, pulling him along the street. His feet slipped on the greasy cobbles, and he staggered, choking.

  ‘I can’t breathe,’ he gasped, then realised that Bridget had gone. He gazed around, but could see nothing but smoke. He heard voices, but they seemed to be coming from far away, whispering. He fell to his knees, crying out in pain as he struck the hard cobbles, but the smoke was thinner nearer the ground, and he was able to breathe again. He sensed a dim glow in the distance, and began to cra
wl towards it, over the piles of steaming refuse. He gagged, every inch of him repelled by the smell and the smoke, and kept going, his hands deep in the rotting waste in the gutters of the road.

  He continued crawling, but there seemed to be no end to the smoke, and so he followed the road on and on towards the light. Above him he could see a patch of sky, dark now that the sun had set below the horizon. He gazed around, but it was like being lost in a thick fog, and every direction looked the same.

  Exhausted, he collapsed into the gutter, a trickle of oily water running under his legs and past his head. Ahead, the light seemed closer, and it gave him hope, although he knew he had failed and the Emperor had won.

  He didn’t mind. He would lie there until the last breath left his body, and then he would be at peace.

  Don’t give up , he heard a voice call to him. You’re so close, Laodoc. Just a little further.

  Laodoc lifted his head, straining to see where the voice was coming from. There was a wisp of movement ahead of him, a flash of a white robe, and he stared.

  ‘Simiona?’

  He pulled himself up and stood, his knees shaky. The clouds of smoke were thinning, and the light in front of him brightened. He saw a door in a wall. It was lying open, and he caught a glimpse of the white robes disappear inside.

  Laodoc staggered forward, his heart bursting with longing and grief. He nearly fell, but kept on, his feet shuffling over the cobbles. He reached the door and peered into the darkness within.

  ‘Hello?’ he called out.

  Nothing.

  He stepped inside, and the door closed behind him. A row of wall-lights burst into flame, lighting up a long corridor. At the end of it stood a young woman in white, her back to him. She turned her head, smiled, and began to ascend a flight of stairs. He stared at her as she moved out of view, tears rolling down his cheeks.

  He shook his head, but there was no room in his mind for anything other than following his lost Simiona, and he placed one foot in front of the other and walked onwards.

  Keep going, Laodoc, my dear. I’m waiting for you.

  He wept, and quickened his step. His knees were aching and his breath ragged, but he ignored the complaints coming from his body, his will stronger than his frail shell, his love more powerful than his weakness.

  He reached the stairs, and collapsed.

  Pain rippled through his body and he awoke screaming.

  ‘Come on, wake up,’ said a voice. ‘You lazy old reptile.’

  Laodoc opened his eyes. He was lying on his side on a low wooden pallet, in a small windowless room. Chains were attached to his wrists and ankles. He raised his head. In front of him was standing an enormous figure in black armour.

  ‘Did you enjoy your little illusion?’ he said. ‘I’d hoped that your will to see that slave girl again would have been enough to bear you to the top of the fortress on your own, but no, I had to come down and get you myself.’ He laughed, an ugly guttural sound. ‘The others practically ran up the stairs, so keen were they to join the party.’

  Laodoc said nothing, his eyes on the Emperor.

  ‘I’m learning, you see,’ he went on. ‘I went out first to collect Keira the fire mage, but I got a burning house dropped on me and two arrows in my head for my trouble. For Daphne Holdfast I killed and then raised a few peasants to capture her, which was tiring, so for your group I decided to simply sit here and wait for you to come to me.’

  Keira? he thought. Daphne? His heart broke in despair. The Emperor had them all.

  ‘Pathetic,’ the Emperor said. ‘How easy it is to manipulate you creatures. Fill you full of hope, then snatch it away again, like playing with puppets.’

  ‘Who are you?’ Laodoc gasped.

  ‘You know who I am,’ he said. ‘I am the Creator of this universe. I made everything in it, the mountains, the ocean. You.’

  ‘I don’t believe you.’

  ‘Of course you’d say that. Laodoc, the ever-sceptical atheist, seeker of scientific knowledge and truth. To be honest I don’t care if you believe in me or not. In a few hours it won’t make any difference.’

  ‘But if you created us,’ Laodoc said, ‘why did you put suffering into the world? And don’t say free will. Free will doesn’t cause disease, or famine, or drought. You could have made a world where children didn’t die because of sickness, or even placed a tiny sliver of more compassion into people, blunt their crueller instincts. You could have done all of that and still allowed us free will.’

  The Emperor shook his head. ‘Your questions are meaningless. They assume I care whether or not you suffer. Do you think my heart bleeds when one of you is hurt? My world and yours are so far removed from each other that I feel no more empathy for you than I would an insect. As a mage, you are worth a little more to me than the average, but only as a tool to fulfil my purposes. Nothing more.’

  ‘You are evil.’

  ‘Evil?’ the Emperor laughed. ‘Are you evil if you swat a fly? If it weren’t for me you wouldn’t be here, none of this world would exist. I gave you life. All the emotions you feel: love, pity, friendship. Hate. They’re only there because I made you capable of feeling them. But what is in my power to give, I can also take away.’

  ‘Do you have children?’

  The Emperor paused. ‘What?’

  ‘I had two sons,’ Laodoc said. ‘My wife and I gave them life, and when they grew up we let them go out into the world, to become men. Though in my heart I always loved them, they were no longer mine to control. I had no right to take their lives from them. If I had done so, I would be evil. It is the same with you. Once you made us, we no longer belonged to you. We are free.’

  The Emperor stood in silence for a moment, then turned and left the cell. Laodoc watched the door shut then lay his head down on the low pallet, the chains digging into his skin.

  His eyes closed, a tear escaping and rolling down his cheek. He was going to die in a few hours, knowing that although he had been wrong his whole life, he had left god with nothing to say.

  Chapter 36

  Defiance

  P lateau City, Imperial Plateau – 19 th Day, Second Third Winter 507

  ‘Why is mummy angry?’ asked Daphne from high up on her horse.

  ‘Shh,’ said Ariel, glancing at their mother, who was riding her own stallion in front of them on the path.

  Daphne frowned, her hands clutching onto the reins of her mount. She gazed around at the endless grassy pastureland and fenced-off fields, where dozens of horses grazed and cantered in the bright afternoon sunshine. She usually loved her daily trip out with her elder sister and mother. The two girls would ride their horses, dressed in their smartest clothes, their hair groomed and faces clean. Often their mother would chat to them, and tell them stories, or teach them how to be ladies, and Daphne would listen with keen ears and wide eyes.

  ‘Head up, Daphne,’ she heard her mother say. ‘Shoulders back.’

  ‘Yes, mummy.’

  ‘Ariel, stop chewing,’ her mother went on. ‘You look like a hired hand.’

  ‘Sorry, mummy.’

  The two girls glanced at each other, their expressions a mixture of mischievousness and fear. Mother had a temper, which was mostly directed at their father, but occasionally the children would be on the receiving end of an angry tirade. In recent days these seemed to have become more common, and Daphne had been on edge, trying her best never to say or do anything which might make her angry.

  That day however, they were all supposed to be happy. Daphne had never seen her father so delighted. A man she rarely saw, let alone talked to, her father’s moods had long been a source of anxiety to her, but after the priests had departed the estate house that morning, he had been whooping and grinning, and hugging Vince as if they hadn’t seen each other in a long time.

  ‘What does it mean?’ she whispered to her sister who, being three years older, was considered by Daphne to be very wise. ‘What’s a vision mage?’

  Ariel’s eyes w
idened. Before she could say anything, their mother pulled on the reins of her mount and brought it to a halt. She turned to face the girls.

  ‘It means your brother is special,’ she said. ‘He has been given a wonderful gift by the Creator.’

  Daphne smiled. ‘That’s nice, mummy.’

  Her mother frowned, her features darkening in a growing fury. Daphne edged back in her saddle, and she sensed Ariel do the same.

  ‘It also means that Vince will be leaving us,’ she went on. ‘He will go and join the cavalry when he is old enough, and he will be lost to me.’

  Daphne’s heart sank. ‘He can’t go!’

  ‘He’s not leaving yet, you silly girl,’ her mother said, ‘but it’s inevitable.’

  ‘Father seems happy about it,’ said Ariel.

  ‘Well, yes,’ she said, ‘of course he is. He gets to brag to his friends about his son having battle vision, just like him.’ She looked away, her eyes gazing into the distance. ‘No doubt he also hopes it will increase his standing with the queen.’

  Ariel’s nine-year-old face frowned. ‘Father said that Vince is lucky to be a mage, and that anyone who says bad things about them is just jealous. ’

  ‘He would say that, wouldn’t he?’ their mother said. ‘But he’s wrong. Maybe the very highest mages are envied for their power, those closest to the prophet, but I feel sorry for them all. Being a mage is a burden and a curse. A life of thankless duty awaits Vince. They will take my gentle boy away and train him to be a killer.’ She looked at her two daughters. ‘And I have three other children still to be tested by the priests, when your time comes.’

  ‘I hope Jonah has the vision,’ said Daphne. ‘I want him to leave. I hate him.’

  Their mother narrowed her eyes at her, then flicked the reins.

  ‘Your father may have won the first round,’ she said, turning her mount, ‘but there are three more battles ahead.’