Chaosmage

by Stephen Aryan

  “It was an abomination,” said Balfruss, talking about Kaine’s monster. Not that long ago the very same beast had pursued her through the streets. They had wounded it but she’d never really believed it was dead. “He’d blended an animal with a man and one of the parasites.”

  “I’m just glad it’s dead,” said Alyssa. He’d made sure by cutting off its head. Nothing could heal itself from that. It also made her wonder if the creature in the lake was another of Kaine’s creations.

  “I think he’s out of tricks and puppets,” said Balfruss. “Tomorrow, he will have to face me alone.”

  “What if he just hides instead?” asked Tammy. “Can you find him?”

  Balfruss’s smile was wintry. “I will find him.”

  Kovac shifted uncomfortably but said nothing. Although he did his best to hide it, Alyssa could see the Sorcerer made him very nervous. It was one thing to hear the stories about what Balfruss had done during the war. It was something very different meeting him in person.

  Alyssa could see why Kovac was standing with them on the wall, while the other mercenaries were inside in the warmth, even if Tammy couldn’t. She hid a smile behind her hands as she blew on them to try and stay warm.

  “We found something as well,” said Tammy, including Kovac in her gesture. “I know where the Forsaken have been hiding.”

  Over Tammy’s shoulder Zannah stared at her in shock for a few seconds before turning away again.

  “Where?” asked Balfruss.

  “It was in the Dureen district, right under our noses.” There was a lot Tammy wasn’t saying. She’d only been gone for a few hours but Alyssa thought she looked more than just weary. It was almost as if the experience had sapped not only her body but also her spirit. Kovac’s shoulders were also slumped from exhaustion, but his eyes were full of concern for Tammy. Something had happened to her that worried him.

  “You were right about how to find them.” Tammy spoke directly to Balfruss and her voice quivered with anger. Her hands curled up into tight fists and it took her a while to regain control.

  “I’m sorry,” said Balfruss. He reached out towards Tammy but then changed his mind and dropped his hand. She also wanted no sympathy from anyone for what she’d been forced to do. The city was leaving an indelible mark on all of them.

  “The Forsaken are hiding in a network of tunnels beneath the city,” said Tammy. “It was old but looked man-made. Have you ever heard of anything like this before?” The question was directed at Alyssa and she took a minute to think about it.

  “No, never. I thought I knew this city’s history. Perhaps someone else might know.”

  “I’ve heard of them before,” said Kovac.

  Tammy rounded on the mercenary, who swayed back slightly under her glare but to his credit stood his ground. Even when she and the Sorcerer were staring at him Kovac didn’t flinch.

  “Why didn’t you mention this before?” asked Tammy.

  “Because I thought the tunnels were a myth until we saw them.” Kovac shook his head and laughed at himself. “It’s the main reason so many mercenaries came to Voechenka when the city fell.”

  “What reason?” asked Alyssa.

  “Why do mercenaries do anything?” said Tammy rhetorically. “Money.”

  Kovac winced but didn’t deny it. “There’s an old story floating around about a city that was here before Voechenka. This was long before people with golden skin came to this country and called it Shael.”

  As he spoke Alyssa noticed Monella had come up the stairs with two of her assistants. Each carried bowls of steaming stew. Alyssa was about to interrupt the mercenary when she noticed how Monella was looking at him.

  “It was supposed to be a glorious place full of riches,” continued Kovac, unaware of his new audience. “People used to come from all over the world to visit. We thought they might have left some of their riches behind. The problem was we couldn’t find anything.”

  “Do you know what happened to the city?” asked Tammy. Balfruss was listening intently, his brow furrowed in concentration. The story sounded totally unfamiliar to Alyssa and she’d lived here all her life. Not once had she heard even a whisper of such a thing.

  Kovac shrugged. “No one knows. It could’ve been a plague or an earthquake. The story says that one day the people were here and the next they were all gone. Just wiped clean.”

  “There was treasure here, but not the kind you’re after,” said Monella, handing out bowls of stew. Alyssa tried not to make a face when she saw lumps of rhubarb floating on the surface. At least it was filling and would warm her up. “Voechenka was the birthplace of the Blessed Mother. The first church devoted to her was built here hundreds of years ago.”

  Followers of the Blessed Mother claimed it to be one of the first religions in the world. Alyssa had always known that it was an old faith, but people with golden skin had been living in Shael for centuries. How could Monella know such a thing?

  “What happened?” asked Tammy, before Alyssa could ask.

  “What always happens,” said Monella, shoving a bowl into Kovac’s hands with more force than was necessary. “War. One tribe didn’t like the new religion. They fought and tried to kill everyone who followed the Blessed Mother. Some escaped and they spread the Faith.”

  “If it’s not gold or riches, what was the treasure?” asked Tammy.

  “The original sacred text,” said Monella with more than a hint of reverence. “All eight books of the Harvest written on stone tablets. The divine word passed down from God through a true Oracle. It was so precious they built a maze and hid the books at its heart to keep them safe.”

  Alyssa saw that Monella was taking perverse pleasure in telling Kovac that his treasure hunt had been for nothing.

  “How do you know this?” asked Alyssa.

  Monella’s expression darkened and she didn’t answer until she’d ushered her two aides away down the stairs. “I suppose it doesn’t matter now. I used to be one of the Faithful. I devoted my life to the Blessed Mother. The origin of our faith is a secret that has been passed down through the generations of priests here in Voechenka. It has been this way since the old city fell.”

  “The High Priest. Other members of the Faithful elsewhere. Do they know?”

  Monella shook her head. “No one knew outside this city. There are dozens of stories out there, but they’re all fake. All of the Faithful in Voechenka are dead. Now, you are the only ones that know this secret.”

  “Did you ever try to find it?” asked Alyssa. “Find the heart of the maze?”

  Monella started to turn away but paused with her back towards them. “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “My faith wasn’t strong enough.” With that the old woman stumped away down the stairs.

  “A maze,” said Balfruss, poking at his stew with a spoon. “That could take weeks to map.”

  He didn’t need to say it. They were all thinking the same thing. They didn’t have time. The Forsaken were destroying a different base almost every night. Their power and strength would be growing, so too would their numbers. They left no bodies behind unless they were truly dead. It wouldn’t be long before they came to the winery. For all Alyssa knew, they could be next.

  Even as she thought about the Forsaken Alyssa heard a scream drift through the air from elsewhere in the city. Next came the roar of battle and the clash of steel as people in another camp fought for their lives.

  Part of her was grateful that it wasn’t their turn tonight and she immediately felt guilty for such an unworthy thought. The Forsaken would come for them soon enough.

  Closing her eyes Alyssa offered a prayer to the Blessed Mother to watch over them all. If she couldn’t protect them then perhaps she could gift them with a swift and merciful death. The more Alyssa learned about the Forsaken the less terrifying she found the alternative.

  Knowing that others would be looking to her for strength and hope, she went to her room to pray.

  Th
is time, as she sank down on her knees in the silence of her own room, she found other thoughts didn’t intrude. Other noises in the building were muffled but she could easily block them out. Despair and fear about what might happen to them all caused tears to run down her cheeks, but she didn’t wipe them away. Lying down and just waiting to be consumed by the tide would be so easy. They’d fought long and hard, but now it seemed pointless. You couldn’t fight the ocean and the Forsaken seemed as implacable and relentless as the waves.

  Alyssa knew a small portion of her fear came from the city and its taint, but the rest was all of her own making. It was she who had given comfort to her people in the death camps when all hope was lost. It was she who had taken on the role as spiritual leader when others lost their faith. And now it was she who had been chosen to lead her people and inspire them. But for all of her people’s recent accomplishments and their spark of defiance, she was afraid it was far too little, too late.

  Here, in one of the darkest corners of the world, Alyssa wondered if the Blessed Mother still listened to the prayers of her Faithful. Surely, if this was truly her birthplace, then she would hear.

  “Blessed Mother, help me.” Alyssa choked back a sob. “Blessed Mother, guide me. I didn’t want it, but I have become the leader of my people. I try to offer them hope in the darkness, but the evil surrounding us is so strong. I have given everything and now the well is dry. I need something. I need help.”

  She bowed her head and tried to find even a spark of something that would lift her up. But she was hollow inside, scraped clean by years of terrible experiences, and now more was being asked of her. Behind the closed door of her room, Alyssa began to cry. She did her best to muffle the noise, clamping a hand over her mouth, but her body still shook. It hurt so much she felt as if her heart was going to explode from the anguish inside.

  The Forsaken would win and everyone in her camp would die or be taken. Every child would scream and beg for mercy, but none would be given. Everyone would be dragged away and the betrayal in their eyes would cut deeper than any blade. She would see their faces right up to the moment she too was hollowed out and became one of the damned.

  When a hand fell on her shoulder she stopped crying, afraid that someone had overheard and come to investigate. Then she noticed the door was still locked. Looking up from the hand on her shoulder to the person’s face Alyssa’s heart skipped a beat. Her mouth stretched wide in a cry of joy but no sound emerged.

  A pure white light began to fill the room, driving away all of the shadows, wrapping her in a cherished warmth she’d not felt since being a child. It was so bright it hurt her eyes but she didn’t look away or blink. The light passed through her skin and filled her being with joy unlike anything she’d ever known.

  A voice told her to rest but she fought it, desperate to stay awake. But she was so tired, right down to her bones, that eventually her eyelids began to droop. Slowly, she drifted into a dreamless sleep, but Alyssa knew someone was still there, watching over her and protecting her from the darkness, within and without.

  CHAPTER 37

  The next morning Tammy made sure her armour was on tight, checked her weapons and even considered taking her shield, but in the end she left her room without it. It would be too heavy if they needed to run and she was better using her sword with both hands.

  Balfruss had only loaned her the blade fairly recently and already she thought of Maligne as hers. Normally she wasn’t someone that grew attached to objects. Weapons were merely tools. The sword she’d carried for years as a Guardian was simple and had done its job well, but if it were stolen or broken, she wouldn’t mourn. She’d simply buy another.

  This sword though. It was something else. At night, when she honed Maligne Tammy often found herself staring into its surface as myriad colours danced across it. Her training and experience made her dangerous, but when she wielded this weapon she felt unbeatable. She needed to be careful that feeling didn’t become the death of her, especially as so many emotions were still bubbling away under the surface. Balfruss’s idea about how to find the Forsaken had worked, but it had left her feeling raw and she had to work harder than normal to control her moods.

  Quickly she sheathed the sword and left her room. The sooner she left this damned city the better. One way or another, it would all be over soon.

  She was the last to arrive at the main gate. Alyssa and the mercenaries led by Kovac were waiting for her. All were rubbing their hands or stamping their feet, trying to stay warm as a light shower fell. The snow had settled enough to paint the whole area in a brilliant white sheet, hiding the dried blood from previous nights.

  Without a word they went up the stairs and then down the rope. As soon as they were all in the street they drew their weapons. Alyssa carried none but she didn’t need any. The sisters took the lead but it was Alyssa who directed them towards the nearest mercenary camp. Tammy noticed that everyone now followed Alyssa’s lead without question. She didn’t want to be responsible for everyone in the winery and yet they all instinctively looked to her for guidance. Last night she’d been unsettled by the distant sounds of battle in the city, but this morning she was serene.

  Alyssa walked through the city as if it belonged to her or she was a visiting dignitary and they her bodyguards. In a way that was true as she’d insisted on coming on this trip. Tammy had thought someone on the wall would argue but not one person had objected.

  Half an hour later they arrived at the remains of the mercenary camp that had been attacked during the night. There was very little to see. Scorch marks showed on one of the outer walls from where the Forsaken had tried to smoke out the mercenaries, but the fire had been quickly extinguished. Dried blood and churned mud marked where the battle had taken place but there was little else. No bodies. Not even a stray limb. Broken arrows and shattered weapons littered the ground outside. The front door and part of the front surrounding wall had been broken down.

  While the mercenaries kept watch outside, the rest of them went into the building. There was more of the same, splashes of blood on stone, stray weapons and signs of a struggle. In some places the blood had frozen to form red sheets of ice. Given the choice of death or being taken by the Forsaken some people had taken their own lives. Daggers and swords were buried in throats and hearts, and in one room they found one man and six women. The women’s throats had been slit, frozen blood forming red necklaces. The man had died from the dagger buried in the side of his own neck. None of the dead looked peaceful.

  The air was bitingly cold but they didn’t hurry their search. Alyssa walked ahead of everyone going into each room first. She paused beside each body to murmur a quiet prayer before moving on to the next. Her face was without expression but Tammy could see the grief in her eyes. Kovac stalked from room to room, teeth gritted, knuckles white on his sword.

  When they’d searched every room and found no one alive, Tammy and the others followed Alyssa to the next base. There were only two remaining, apart from the winery, and one of them was controlled by Fenne, the Morrin. Tammy had no desire to go back to the temple, but she doubted arguing with Alyssa would change her mind. She intended to make the same offer again to each base, regardless of personal feelings and what had recently transpired. Not for the first time Tammy wondered who Alyssa had been before the war.

  The mercenary camp at the old bank had been attacked at least once since Tammy’s last visit. There was more rubble in the street outside. The previously dented front door was now covered with deep craters and dozens of scratches. One section in the top left corner had been gouged away and temporarily repaired. The Forsaken had clearly tried extraordinarily hard to get inside on their last attempt. A few bars on the ground-floor windows had been removed, but not enough for a person to squeeze through. Those that remained looked battered and in desperate need of repair.

  Alyssa was also studying the new damage. She touched the sheared-off remains of an iron bar on one of the windows and her fingers came away
red from old blood.

  “They tried their best,” said a rasping voice from the roof, “but they didn’t get inside. Not one of them.”

  The mercenary, Graff, looked even more drained and exhausted than the last time. His pale skin was waxy, his eyes completely bloodshot and he had a blood-soaked bandage around his head. Alyssa regarded him and the street for a minute.

  “You can see what’s happening, Graff,” said Alyssa, gesturing at the destruction in the street. “The Forsaken are getting stronger. Almost every night they’re overrunning a base. If you stay here tonight, you’ll die. Or worse, you’ll be taken.” Her voice wasn’t cold but Tammy had expected a gentler or more compassionate approach. “If you want to stay, go ahead, but I’m here for those you’re trying to protect. I can offer them a chance.”

  Graff ran a hand over his tired features, scrubbing it back and forth as he tried to wake himself up. “You’ve changed, girl,” he muttered.

  “In this place, what choice do any of us have?” said Alyssa.

  Graff grunted and looked off into the distance. He was on the edge and at his wits’ end, but Alyssa didn’t soften her approach.

  “There are only two camps left besides mine. Once we’re done I’m going to speak to Fenne. If we stand together there’s a chance we might survive until tomorrow. You have until nightfall to decide.”

  “Do you really think that we can win?” asked Graff, staring down at Alyssa.

  Alyssa shrugged. “We’re stronger together. The Forsaken know that. That’s why they’ve kept us separate and scared. Now, I don’t think they care what we do, but it’s not over yet.”

  With that, Alyssa set off towards the old temple and they hurried after her, the sisters racing ahead to scout the streets. Kovac fell in step beside Tammy, a troubled look on his face.