Sanctuary

by Nally, Fergal F

  The money and jewellery would rapidly change hands and disappear through various fences in the narrow and back districts. The food however they kept for themselves. Such food! Food that was too good to sell on the streets. Hams laced with honey and pepper, grapes from the golden coast and cherry wine from the far south.

  Such good times. If chased they would vanish, melting into the twisting streets of the narrows. No one could find them in that rats' warren. Their home, their sanctuary.

  Luana tried to remember Saph's smile. She found she could not recall her friend’s face, this upset her. Her memory turned instead to the last time they had been together; the day she had broken the ward. They had chosen a town house that had never been touched by the street gangs. The house's windows were set high above ground, deterrent enough for most of the gangs.

  Luana had watched the house for some time. She knew its weakness was the roof. The chimneys had been used in the winter months but now were quiet. The kitchen flues were the giveaway; they should be in use all year round. They had stopped smoking in the last week. Luana knew the house was empty. She was excited and remembered the conversation she had with Saph.

  "Come on Saph, you know it's a great mark. There'll be gold, I'm sure of it. With the pickings from this job, we could set up our own gang. Send others out to do the dirty work. What d'you say?"

  Saph had a habit of chewing her lip whenever she was in two minds. She chewed her lip and frowned. "I don't know Luana, the other gangs give that one a wide berth for a reason. The house is supposed to be warded. I don't want to mess with that sorcery. That's Magister stuff. We don't want to cross them."

  Luana knew Saph would worry. That was her job, they complemented each other. Saph, the cautious one, Luana adventurous. Their differing personalities had worked well together; they had been able to tread the line with success in quite a number of jobs. They had never been caught. With Luana's skill and Saph's planning, they had always been able to walk away winners.

  "Come on Saph, we've reached the next level. We can't advance our reputation without pulling off a job like this. Once it gets out we did this, every shadow in the city will want us on their side. We'll have made it. Even the White Lady temple would be fair game."

  Saph shot Luana a look. "Don't say that, don't tempt the fates."

  "I'm sorry Saph, I didn't mean to…" Luana thought she had lost the argument, overstepped the mark.

  "Very well, we'll do it. Only on my terms. We'll put all other jobs on hold and spend time watching the house for two days. Then and only then, if it's a dead house, we'll make our move. See if you can get ward protection from the scryer."

  Luana managed to track down the scryer who had only been able to provide ward protection for one. She gave the charm to Saph but did not tell her friend that she, herself would be unprotected. The following night Saph was satisfied; they were going in.

  They donned the usual shadow suits and masks. Saph wore nubuck moccasins, Luana went barefoot. They gained the roof using trees in the avenue beside the house. The tiles were secure and the night shrouded them. They made their way to the rear of the house and the kitchen block. The chimneys there were wide and squat. The hearths were cold. Luana knew there was no point in trying the windows below; they were barred. She attached rope to her waist and gave the end to Saph. She climbed over the lip of the chimney and closed her eyes.

  She had long ago learned to close her eyes and feel with her other senses. Her hands and feet became her eyes as she lowered herself finding purchase points; chimney feathers and handholds that the sweeps would use. After a tense five minutes, she found herself standing on the grate in the kitchen hearth; covered in soot and grime but otherwise safe.

  She gave two tugs on the rope, the signal for Saph to climb down. Saph had secured the rope around the chimney base on the roof. A few minutes later Saph stood grinning beside her.

  They had made it.

  They spent the next hour combing the house for valuables. They searched each room, those doors that were locked Luana opened with her picks. Not a soul disturbed them. They were selective in their takings, focusing on gold coin and choice jewellery. They had done well.

  Then they found the final locked door. In the upstairs quarters. Saph watched as Luana read the door. Her hands swept the frame, looking for traps. Finding none, Luana crouched and examined the two locks that challenged her.

  Saph stooped and whispered. "Luana, we've been here almost an hour. We should go. This one looks different."

  Luana shook her head. "You go if you want, I'll catch up with you. This is special, a test. Something worth two locks lies behind this door."

  Saph took a deep breath. "Just try once, we'll both go if you can't crack it."

  Luana nodded but barely heard her friend, so engrossed was she in the two locks before her. The first was complex with a mechanism she had come across once before. After three attempts, she heard a satisfying series of clicks as the lock succumbed to her picks.

  She looked around; a grin on her face; Saph had gone. She had been too busy to notice. Saph would make her way back home; Luana would do the same to different quarters. They always made sure to split up after a job.

  Luana listened to the sounds of the house; the odd creaking of timbers, the wind in the roof, nothing out of the ordinary. She turned to face the second lock; a completely different affair. Not like anything she had encountered before. She used all her senses to feel the lock through her fingers and picks.

  Finally, after the sixth attempt, she heard a click and knew she had defeated it. She withdrew her picks and wiped a bead of sweat from her brow. She stood stiffly, her joints clicked, her muscles complained. She had been crouched for almost thirty minutes.

  She placed her fingers on the handle and opened the door. A cold whisper came from the room making her shiver. She knew instantly she had broken a ward. What kind of ward she did not know. She entered the room and searched it thoroughly. She found various books and scrolls she recognised as magic items. She gave them a wide berth. No fence she knew could shift magical goods. She lived in the real world of gold and silver.

  She took a pair of gem-encrusted goblets and ten gold coins from a drawer. Her curiosity satisfied, her search over, she left the room and retraced her steps to the kitchen. Saph had left the rope in place and she made her escape from the house without further incident.

  An hour later, she found herself back at her rooms, safe. She stashed her takings in the space beneath the floorboards and allowed herself a measure of wine as she watched the sunrise above the rooftops of the narrow quarter.

  Luana slept a deep sleep as she always did after their forays. Her subconscious replayed the events of the night in an unsettling way. Unease pervaded her dream. The ward she had broken troubled her. However, she had escaped unscathed and the house had been empty. She had covered her tracks as only a thief could.

  She awoke in darkness. Her candle had brunt out. Something was wrong. A dog barked outside; a lonely, plaintive sound. The wind rattled her window; she could hear the rafters creak above. All normal. She steadied her breath.

  Then she heard it.

  The sound that did not fit in.

  The sound of threat.

  A creak on the stairs, one of the reasons she lived on the third floor, with access to her rooms only possible by the steepest, narrowest staircase. Those few seconds of warning could make the difference between life and death.

  Luana was up and at the window in a heartbeat. With a practiced hand, she lifted the window frame and climbed out. She looked up at her normal escape route above but some instinct told her to avoid the roof. Instead, she went sideways to an adjoining balcony and on to the next window ledge.

  The window opened into the next tenement's shared stair. Silently, she climbed through and landed catlike on the steps. She was shrouded in darkness, in her element. She looked back around the edge of the window frame and gasped. A long spider like figure was climbing down from th
e roof to her window and a lone figure leaned out looking down at the alley below.

  They were after her. How did they find her? Then she remembered the ward. She had to put distance between her and Saph; she could not return to her rooms. Fortunately, she had contingency plans. Saph would know something was wrong when she did not show for their usual meet at the Starbank Inn that afternoon. She would lie low herself. They knew what to do; it was the way of the street, of their profession.

  It could take a few days or even weeks for the heat to die down but die down it would, Luana told herself. Something about the spider shape however, concerned her. She had heard of spider trackers being used in military operations but had never come across them in the city. Still, this was her ground, she knew the rat runs, she would survive and evade.

  Luana made her escape and disappeared from the narrows. She put distance between her and her rooms. She paid a boy to meet Saph at the Starbank and give her the green pebble, the token to say she was compromised and to lay low. That would be Saph taken care of. Saph would have her own contingency plans that not even Luana knew of. Tidy.

  Next, Luana went in search of a ward breaker on the other side of the city. To do this she had to spend some coin, a risky action as gold caused ripples. Ears were always open on the street. Luana would have to operate in Stoner territory; she did not know how they would react.

  She had no quarrel with the Stoners, in fact she had helped one of their gang a few months back. They might tolerate her presence; then again, if her vulnerability was known the Stoners might turn nasty. They could take over her turf in the narrows. Such was the way of the street.

  She found the ward breaker in the late afternoon. She was tired and hungry but pushed these concerns to the back of her mind. She knew she was tainted with a ward that gave her position away. The sooner she got rid of it the better, before nightfall would be best as trackers usually operated in the dark hours when the rest of the population were indoors.

  Luana found the door and knocked twice as she had been told to. She waited a few seconds and knocked three times then waited. A sliding panel opened and a pair of eyes looked out at her.

  "Name?"

  "Luana."

  The panel slid shut. A key turned in the lock and the door opened. A woman in her middle years stood in the passage behind the door. She beckoned Luana in.

  The woman closed the door and bolted the lock. "Follow me." She turned and retreated down the corridor. They entered a small room; a fire flickered in the grate. Luana spotted the back door and a window at the rear of the room. Always keep an eye on the exit, she told herself.

  "In trouble?" The woman asked. Then, without waiting for an answer she reached out and took Luana's hand. Luana allowed her to come close. The woman pressed her hand and gazed into Luana's eyes. She seemed to look beyond her eyes, searching. Then she broke off, the colour drained from her face.

  "You've been marked. I can tell you that. I can't do aught for you."

  "Speak, tell me what you saw."

  "You've broken a ward, but no ordinary ward. It's one that came from a Magister's hand."

  "What d'you mean? I've no dealings with Magisters; we keep well away from the Royal Palaces."

  "The ward you carry is deeply embedded, it's as a cloak around your heart. You're now someone's property. You've been claimed. Only a Magister can undo that ward."

  "Claimed? What…?" Dread crept up on Luana. A cold, clammy feeling gripped her whole body, a sense of panic grew.

  "You carry the mark of a slave within."

  Luana took the words in. The room became unfocused. She sat down. "A slave? Why would they do that? I, we only…"

  "You must've crossed a Magister or someone who's close to them for this to happen. Only a Magister can fix this or…"

  "Or what?"

  "Nothing, forget it," the woman snapped looking uncomfortable. "You'd better leave, you'll bring them here. They'll be looking for you."

  "No, tell me. Or what?"

  The woman looked down, then at the fire. "Death. Death will release you from this ward. Or near death. That is far beyond my expertise. As far as I know, it's only the Magisters who explore the dark side with their magic. You must go now." An edge of fear had crept into the woman's voice. "Here, take this." She pressed a blue crystal into Luana's hand. "It'll glow when they are near. A minute or two warning at the most, that's the best I can do for you. Now please leave."

  Luana took the crystal and offered the woman some coin for her trouble but she refused to take payment.

  "Here, you can leave by the back. It leads to Farriers' Row. May the luck of the gods go with you."

  Luana nodded and left the woman standing at her door. She started towards Farriers' Row but as soon as she was out of sight of the woman's house, changed her course out of habit. She needed to think. She looked up at the sky with its threatening clouds and climbed up to the rooftops.

  Behind her, back in the house, the woman sat down and looked into her fire. "No, I don't take money from the dead. That one's already dead, at least to this world." She shuddered despite the warmth of the fire.

  The trackers caught Luana six days later. They played a game of cat and mouse with her. Luana had used up all her tricks, all her safe houses and money. She was tainted on the street; no one wanted to know her. She was a marked woman. It was almost a relief when they came for her on the sixth night. She lay half asleep in an alley under a hessian cover. She had lost the blue crystal the day before in a chase. They had almost caught her then, but at the last minute, she had slipped into the sewers and escaped.

  She heard their footsteps in the rain. She could have run but she knew it was futile; they would just keep coming. She imagined the trackers enjoyed their game and they would be pleased if she evaded them once more. She decided to stay and face them. It was what it was; her spirit was broken.

  The footsteps stopped. Luana closed her eyes and waited. She felt the hessian sack pulled from her body, she shivered uncontrollably, a mixture of fear and misery. She remained still. Then, with tenderness, almost like a lover, she felt many arms enclose her and heard a soft hiss in her ear. Something told her not to open her eyes. She felt rough bristles brush her cheek, a lance like pain in her side, then blackness.

  The rest was a blur. Vague drugged memories of back rooms and cells. A long journey in a cage with others. Hunger, fear and pain. Lice and cold. Increasing cold. She caught glimpses of high, snow-capped mountains through gaps in the covered bars of their cage.

  Then she woke up in the mines. The gem mines where she had met Moose, the old timer and the others. She allowed them into her world slowly, on her terms. They rarely spoke of the past; those lives were gone, forgotten. There was only the here and now; only survival and plans for escape. Dreams more like, as escape was impossible. Who would want to flee into that frozen wilderness? Then there were the blood drinkers who patrolled the skies at night beyond the compound walls.

  Luana shivered at her memories. Her mind flew back to the present. She and Moose had come a long way. If they were dead, or near death, then maybe the ward she carried was broken and she was free. She looked at the Towers of Numen in the distance. She knew Moose was on watch and Elias slept soundlessly the other side of the fire. What a strange group they were. She wondered what the next day would bring. She closed her eyes, willing herself to sleep.

  CHAPTER 9

  Frost Giants

  Travin strove north through the storm. He flew all night rejoicing in his power, in the sensation of flight. He felt alive, connected. His memories were a mixture of his and of Satkir's. He remembered the north; the wide stony wastes and the frost giants. It would be good to meet them again, they were unpredictable, but they would rally to his cry, for he had their allegiance. In another life, Satkir had helped the frost giants by keeping their mammoth herd alive.

  He remembered the blight that had affected the herd. A herd that had once been thousands strong and had roamed the no
rthern tundra had been reduced to a few hundred in a matter of two years. Satkir had appeared to the frost giants and proposed his plan. As kin to the Seven, he would go to an alternate Erthe dimension and return with healthy mammoths, resistant to the sickness that had destroyed their herd.

  The frost giants, a disparate group, had been united by the crisis affecting their mammoths. They had met with him and listened to his proposal. They were in awe of his power, they were prepared to listen. Satkir was able to bring back enough healthy mammoths to revitalise the herd and confer resistance to the blight.

  The sickness retreated and the herd grew in strength. The frost giants and their elders swore allegiance to the angel Satkir. That was two hundred years ago. Now was the time to call on the old alliance, call in the old debt. Now was the time for Satkir to wreak vengeance on the Magisters through Travin. The frost giants would be his iron fist.

  It took Travin two days of flight to reach the northlands. He headed straight for the Ice River; he would find the giants there at their annual gathering. He felt a rush of anticipation on seeing his first mammoth. Followed by many others, so many. They had prospered in the intervening years. The tundra was filled with their huge numbers. Powerful beasts possessing long tusks; the pride of the giants.

  Travin allowed himself a smile and flew in circles above the plain and the Ice River to announce his presence. The giants had keen sight; they would see his return as a sign. He looked down and saw a large tented city. Cooking fires lit up the plains. Mammoth hides were stretched on frames. The giants were present in great numbers. He looked at the moving figures below and estimated at least fifty thousand giants in the settlement below.

  There would be at least eight elders to deal with and their lieutenants. Travin could rely on their allegiance. He let out a cry and made his descent to the bonfire at the centre of the tented city. He landed with a flourish of wings. A crowd gathered; hundreds of frost giants rushed to the clearing to witness his arrival. Hundreds more pressed in from all around. He was dwarfed by their size; they kept a respectful distance and were surprisingly quiet.