Kane could have closed his eyes and still guessed when Cathan appeared, due to the hush which fell upon the assembled children as he doggedly limped up the steps, his Lieutenants flanking him but offering no unwanted assistance to the proud old warrior. Even stooped and slow, there was no mistaking his proud, fierce face as that of the youth immortalised in marble in the Citadel gardens. The stocky Eachann and the slender, tall Tomas were merely background to General Cathan and the glory he still carried around with him like a miasma.
The Ceremony began, with a prayer led by the High Priest himself, and a blessing on all the soldiers due to join the ranks on this day, after which one of the Brother-Captains stepped forward with a scroll and read off names. Kane watched as the first new soldier stepped up, a girl with bobbed dark hair and a heavy fringe. She approached General Marcellina, saluted tidily and placed her hands over her heart, the left covering the right. She bowed her head, and even though Kane could barely hear her quiet voice over the distance, he could have recited her oath along with her.
“I do solemnly swear, as a member of the holy order of the Child Guard, that I will defend the kingdom of Cruach against all her enemies, that I will obey the orders of the king and the orders of the officers appointed over me, and that I will be a faithful and loyal servant of the gods. May the grace of the Sister be my shield in battle, and the might of the Brother be my sword, to smite the unworthy and defend the righteous.”
“May your heart be true, and your cause be just,” Marcellina intoned in return, her voice much more audible. “Welcome, recruit Gwyneth, to the Twelfth Battalion, First Archer Company.”
Gwyneth saluted again, and headed off the dais, marching impeccably towards the ranks of her allotted company. She saluted the Sister-Captain at the head of the company, and neatly stepped into the space left vacant for her, standing to attention as perfectly as her comrades.
Meanwhile, the next oath was already underway. And so the procession of new recruits continued, one after another, slotting into the empty spaces in the standing companies like keys into locks. Kane felt his attention wander as the ceremony went on, his attention grabbed only briefly by the oaths of the half dozen new recruits for companies in Cathan’s army, two of whom had been his dorm-mates until today. Cathan did not seem particularly interested in any of them, barking out his peremptory responses with the same fierce scowl he wore every hour of every day.
As the last oath was taken and the companies paraded before the officers who commanded them and the novices whom they had left behind, Kane watched the generals on the dais with interest; two of them in particular.
Whilst the other three generals solemnly observed their troops passing in front of them, Marcellina and Cathan’s attention was clearly elsewhere. She was watching him as though he were one of her soldiers who had been up to something disreputable; his knuckles were white on the handle of his cane and the fierce scowl even deeper, if it were possible. As Kane watched, he saw Marcellina say something to Cathan, but couldn’t read her lips; whatever it was it did not seem to please Cathan at all, and as the last company marched in front of the dais he turned on his heel and stalked off. The other three generals seemed not to have noticed.
“I wonder what all that was about,” Kane said, mystified.
“What all what was about?” Terrell asked, but Eder seemed to have seen the same thing as Kane.
“I’m sure it’s nothing for the likes of us to worry about,” he said, his tone thoughtful. “Gossip is for the idle, anyway, and is frowned upon by the gods.”
“You only say that because nobody wants to tell you the really good gossip,” Terrell grinned at him.
“I am the really good gossip,” Eder said drily.
“You mean to say you did something scandalous?” Kane said, with a chuckle. “I’d never have expected it of you, Eder.”
Eder laughed sarcastically as the novices filed out of the stalls and down towards the mess hall for the evening meal.
The mess hall was rowdier than usual, as some of the companies which had accepted recruits today had only returned from their patrols the night before, or even early that morning in the case of the Second Horse Archers, who looked exhausted as they clustered together around their chosen tables. The stew was thin but cloudy, the better to disguise the things that had gone into its preparation, usually a mass of fat and gristle. The standard seemed to have been raised now the troops had all returned, however, and Kane could have sworn there was actually edible, tender meat in it today. Regardless of the contents, it was a hot meal at the end of a long day, and the children devoured it like the finest delicacy, helped down by chunks of bread.
After bowls were scraped, slurped and in some cases licked clean, it was time for the Sacrament of the Elixir. The Immaculatii who led the prayers at dawn drifted in, their pale blue robes luminescent against the red and brown of the Child Guard and novices surrounding them. Several of them carefully pushed wheeled frames on which the cauldrons of elixir rested, warmed from beneath by burning braziers suspended by chains. As they passed by, the Immaculatii would dip small, simple wooden chalices into the brew, filling them half-way, and presenting them to the waiting Child Guards with a muttered blessing. They had had plenty of practice at this, and it was impressive how quickly hundreds of chalices of the sacred draught were distributed amongst the ranks.
Kane was given his chalice by a small Immaculatus with white-blond hair which curled around his face like a climbing plant. He inclined his head to receive his blessing, but as he looked up he saw the Immaculatus’ lip curl as he gave a chalice to Eder, who didn’t make it obvious he had noticed. Kane knew, though, by the set of his friend’s shoulders, it was yet another little defeat in a lifetime of them. The Immaculatus moved on, unaware or perhaps uncaring of the damage he had caused.
“Now we raise our cups to receive the blessings of the Twin Gods,” the voice of the presiding Deacon cut through Kane’s thoughts. “May the wisdom and power of the Brother, and the grace and strength of the Sister shine on you now, and always. We pray it be so.”
“We pray it be so,” the massed ranks of the Child Guard chorused, and there was silence as they drained the contents of their chalices.
Kane held his breath, and knocked it back as quickly as possible. Devout or not, nobody could pretend they liked the taste of the Elixir Innocentiae. It tasted herbal, medicinal, like the smell that pervaded the Hall of Healing, but somehow rotten and sweet all at once. Years ago, he’d thought it tasted of cinnamon and honey, but it turned out that was mollycoddling all new novices received to encourage them to drink the foul brew. It was hard to say what turned Kane’s stomach more; the taste, the slightly gritty sensation of leaves and spices suspended in the brewed liquid, or the sour tang of the aftertaste when he allowed himself to breathe through his nose again.
But that foul flavour was the price to be paid for the extended youth of the Child Guard, and the gods’ protection against the wicked magics of the Sidhe. It was a privilege, a blessing, and to turn one’s nose up at it would be heresy of the highest order. Kane had no wish to pay a visit to the Halls of Correction.
As he handed his chalice back to the pale-haired boy, Eder’s head was still bent in prayer. His lips were moving, but if there was sound coming out then Kane couldn’t hear it. He handed Eder’s chalice to the little Immaculatus, who gave him a smug look and trotted off pushing the mostly-empty cauldron.
That night, Kane tossed and turned and wrapped himself up in his bedsheets until he kicked them off in frustration. Every time he thought he might be comfortable enough to sleep, even with the heat and the airlessness of the room, every spare breeze sucked down some other boy’s snoring throat, his brain would whirr into action. Every application he’d ever made was dissected, every time he’d ever stood in front of a superior officer, for praise or scolding, all the minor errors he’d ever made in the process of his training marching across the back of his eyelids. And, behind it all, that little vo
ice telling him he could up and leave, right now, in the middle of the night, nobody would even notice and he’d never have to face another rejection from High Command again.
He eventually drifted off into an unhappy sleep, and woke feeling distinctly sweaty and un-refreshed, with one arm wound tightly in a sheet whilst his other was numb and heavy from being trapped under his body. He splashed his face in the fresh water from the well, and was halfway through dressing before he realised something was different. It had been a while since Kane had been able to do his morning ablutions without a threat or a snide remark or a tap of the switch from Bevan, and though the peace was nice, it also felt wrong.
But where was Bevan? As the seven other boys in the dormitory went through the motions of preparing for their day, albeit with a few more smiles and considerably more horsing around than usual, Kane began to feel uneasy about his absence. Was it a test, to see if they could ready themselves without supervision? Had Bevan been promoted to Brother-Captain without informing his dormitory? Had he taken ill in his room next door and nobody had noticed?
Kane finished with his own uniform and, almost absently, chivvied the other boys along. None of them seemed nearly as perturbed by their Brother-Prefect’s failure to appear as Kane was, but he had been woken by various shades of shouting Brother-Prefects in fifteen years and it was oddly disconcerting to have it taken away.
The door opened, quietly, and the boys, who had been in the midst of a loud chattering conversation, froze. Bevan was there, without his beloved switch or his characteristic red face. He looked thoughtful, perturbed even, and he remained quiet as he stepped to one side and let three much younger boys tiptoe past him into the room. Novices fresh from the nursery, by the looks of them, and they huddled together like rabbits in a burrow.
Two of them, Kane knew, were replacements for Peter and Albert, ready to begin their training to one day join the ranks of the soldiery. But the third… a horrible feeling wormed into the pit of his stomach.
“Novice Kane,” Bevan said, terribly quietly. Kane had never heard his name said with so much deliberation before. “Front and centre.”
The younger boys around him took several smart steps back, leaving Kane to step forwards, standing tidily at ease in front of Bevan.
“Yes, Brother-Prefect.”
“You are to be excused dawn prayers, novice, as you have been summoned by the Lieutenant Tomas and Lieutenant Eachann. Before you attend upon them, however, I have been advised to instruct you to pack your belongings, should you have any. Anything you leave behind will not be able to be collected at a later date.”
Kane felt as though the bottom had dropped out of his stomach. Never mind that, the bottom had dropped out of his world. For all he’d thought about leaving, for all he’d been frustrated and dissatisfied and angry, the Child Guard was the only life he’d ever known. Everything before had been merely a smudge on the lens of memory. All he’d been trained and moulded to do was to be a soldier, a holy warrior for the gods and the king, outside of that he had no idea what he would be. Was he to be cast out of service like the boy in the Hall of Healing? No, because the boy from the Artillery company had been wounded and was unfit for service any longer.
Was Kane wounded somehow, in some way he couldn’t see?
All this raced across his mind, as he saluted, said “Thank you, Brother-Prefect,” and mechanically retraced his steps back to the chest at the foot of his bed. He opened it, with hands that felt like they weren’t his own, and stared down at the contents.
Some Child Guard had trinkets and mementoes of their families, which were technically forbidden but as long as their owner was discreet the Brother-Prefects would usually turn a blind eye. Kane had no such treasures. He had arrived at the Citadel, apparently, with nothing but the clothes on his back, which had quickly been replaced with rough brown cloth. He rummaged through the trunk anyway, for the sake of form, but there was nothing there. He began to pull out his spare uniform.
“You won’t be requiring those,” Bevan said, but the nastiness Kane would have expected from him was still not present. “Any novice uniform remains property of the Citadel.”
Kane sighed as he took hold of the lid of the chest. For a moment, he thought he saw something twinkle in the folds of his clothes, like a pearl or a marble, but as he looked closer it vanished. Just a trick of the light. He closed the chest, and stood.
“I have no belongings to my name, Brother-Prefect, therefore please consider me to be fully packed.”
“You may report to the lieutenants immediately,” Bevan replied, and as Kane left the dormitory he felt the Brother-Prefect’s eyes on him until the moment the heavy wooden door closed.
4. Dire Emergency
“I do solemnly swear, as a member of the holy order of the Child Guard, that I will defend the kingdom of Cruach against all her enemies, that I will obey the orders of the king and the orders of the officers appointed over me, and that I will be a faithful and loyal servant of the gods. May the grace of the Sister be my shield in battle, and the might of the Brother be my sword, to smite the unworthy and defend the righteous.”
Oath of the Child Guard
He was sweating when he arrived at the office of General Cathan’s Lieutenants, and none of it was the fault of the weather. Kane couldn’t even feel the oppressive, humid heat around him, it seemed to him like someone had slipped a chunk of ice between his tunic and his spine, and it was trickling down in slow, heavy, rolling drips.
There was a discussion going on inside when he arrived, and as he raised his hand to knock at the door, he hesitated. Was it polite to interrupt the lieutenants’ conversation? More importantly, was it a breach of protocol? He wasn’t usually given to eavesdropping, but he thought he had best wait for a natural break in the conversation, or more accurately, argument.
“-you even read this, Eachann? It’s a farce, I won’t be a part of it,”
“I don’t like it either, but those are the General’s orders. He may be a lot of things, but he’s not senile yet. Besides, when did you get so sentimental? There’s thousands of them in this place. What makes this motherless mongrel so much more valuable than all of the others?”
“Have you read his papers? I’d have had him in the Reapers in a heartbeat on just one of his testimonials. I think it’s a waste of talent.”
“Waste or no, those are the orders.”
As silence fell in the room, Kane quashed his curiosity as to who the lieutenants were discussing in such glowing terms. He took a deep breath, drew himself up to his full height and knocked firmly on the door.
“Enter.”
He opened the door as assertively as he dared, and for the first time in his life, crossed the threshold of a senior officer’s domain.
It wasn’t much to write home about. Eachann and Tomas, whilst dread soldiers of the Dawn Reapers in their own right, were less than tidy when it came to administration. The two heavy desks on either side of the room were overflowing with books and papers. On the right-hand one, a candle had burned low in its holder and spilled a trail of wax over the cover of a leather-bound tome, down onto the desk to trace round a carven leg, halfway to the floor. Lieutenant Eachann sat behind the desk on the left, and Lieutenant Tomas seemed to have been interrupted in the midst of pacing, as he stood by the window.
“Novice Kane, reporting,” Kane said, ripping off a perfect salute.
“At ease, Novice,” Tomas said, and Kane allowed himself to relax a fraction of an inch, forcing himself to inhale and exhale normally, and not hold his breath.
There was a pause, and Eachann cleared his throat.
“Novice Kane, I understand that you are not currently attached to a company or to a battalion, is that correct?”
“That is correct, sir.”
“Then this is your lucky day,” Eachann said, fishing a scroll out from the depths of his messy desk and waving it at Tomas, who stepped forward to collect it. Kane didn’t miss the glare Tomas gave
Eachann as he took the scroll.
“This is your Order of Commission, Brother-Corporal Kane.”
“Excuse me, sir?” Kane said, his hands accepting the scroll as his brain refused to function.
“Brother-Corporal is a rank below Brother-Sergeant,” Tomas said. “It’s not used terribly often any more, but it occasionally becomes necessary to send a squad, rather than a company, to carry out a mission. Your squad, Brother-Corporal, is detailed in your orders, it will be your responsibility to inform them and have them ready to leave with you at the noonday bell.”
“Sir?”
“You’ve been promoted, lad,” Eachann said, with a chuckle behind his voice.
“I understood as much, sir,” Kane replied. “I thought the Enlistment Ceremony was not for another year, sir?”
“You thought correctly, Brother-Corporal, however there are exceptions to the normal procedure of things in case of dire emergency.”
“Dire emergency, sir?”
Eachann looked at Tomas, expecting him to cut in, but Tomas returned to his place by the window without uttering a word.
“There is a young lady in need of an escort to the Academy at Auris,” Eachann said. “You do not need to know the particulars behind her case, however she, and a Professor of the Academy who travels with her, are to get to Auris as quickly as possible. In these circumstances, where haste and discretion are of the utmost importance, it is ill-advised to send a whole company with Brother-Sergeant and all on the road through the forest. These kind of missions call for a Brother-Corporal, and his smaller, faster squad.”
Kane’s mind still wasn’t responding to calls for action, having been so convinced he was going to be dismissed, probably dishonourably, kicked down the Ninety-Nine Steps, tarred, feathered and excommunicated, and now being faced with a promotion straight to officer and a secret mission to Auris in the far south.
The Child Guard Page 4