The Child Guard

by Lorcan Montgomery

  “I understand it’s a lot to take in, Brother-Corporal, but time is of the essence and it is imperative that you leave as soon as possible. The General is placing a lot of faith and trust in you to get this young lady where she needs to be, can he count on you to deliver her safely to the Academy of Auris in good health and good time?”

  “Absolutely, sir,” Kane said, his chest swelling with pride.

  “Good man,” Eachann said. “Tomas has your requisition slip for the quartermaster; you’ll need an officer’s uniform, and supplies for your squad for the journey ahead.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Kane saluted again.

  “May the gods go with you, Brother-Corporal,” Tomas said, as Kane turned smartly on his heel and left. As the door swung closed behind him, he heard Tomas sigh, quietly.

  Floating high on wings of validation and self-importance, Kane gave it no heed, and marched at an impressive pace out of the senior officers’ wing and back to the familiar corridors he knew best.

  He needed to clear his head, there were so many thoughts and questions fizzing around in there that he couldn’t have bothered Eachann and Tomas with. Nevertheless they burned from being unanswered. Who were his squad? What were they like? Did they know they were going on a secret mission, too? He was excited and nervous and proud all at the same time. He thought his head might burst.

  He found himself heading without realising to his usual place for thinking things through; the battlements of the Citadel. Despite the regular patrols, there was usually a space to sit, undisturbed, for at least a quarter hour, and Kane felt any quiet time he could get was good going. He ascended the winding, spiral staircase of the West Tower, barely out of breath by the time he reached the top. Sneaking a glance through an arrow slit he saw no guards on the stretch of wall to his left, so he strode out into the bracing breeze and settled himself down, out of the wind, into one of the crenellations.

  From here, he could see across the river to the North Town, its many dwellings looking like nothing so much as tiny trinket boxes, or the dice some of the older soldiers played. The houses at the bifurcation of the river were small and cramped together, but as he looked along the river to the north they became grander, bigger, until he saw the glint of light on the windows of the palace. He looked down, over the edge of the parapet, to the rushing water of the river below, feeling the familiar lurch in the pit of his stomach as he contemplated the hundred-foot fall. He drew his head back, leaned against the cold stone behind him, and unrolled the scroll.

  He had half-expected it to be discharge papers, all talk of promotion being one last, cruel prank to give Kane some false hope before he was dragged out of the Citadel bodily. Part of him even expected it to have vanished, and this whole thing to turn out to be an elaborate and particularly vivid dream before he was to be rudely awoken by Bevan hollering and swishing his switch.

  But no, it was there, in black and white, his name, his new rank, the names of his squad…

  He could scarcely believe it. The first names on the list were Eder and Terrell. He wasn’t being sent to Auris with a group of strangers, but with his dearest friends. The gods had heard his prayers over the years and had decided to grant him everything he had ever wished for; a promotion, a mission, the company of his friends – he offered up a heartfelt prayer of gratitude and a grovelling apology for having ever doubted their plans for him. He didn’t bother to unfurl the scroll further to read the remainder of the list, he had to go and tell his friends the good news!

  He tumbled out onto the parapet and flew down the stairs as fast as his legs would carry him. As he got out into the more well-trodden corridors, he slowed to a more decorous pace but still a quick march any Brother-Sergeant would have been happy with. He entered the mess hall as the novices arrived from dawn prayers, and made a beeline for his usual seat at the end of the bench.

  Terrell appeared first, sitting down heavily opposite Kane. He seemed crestfallen, and he picked at his bread with his thick fingers instead of shovelling it into his mouth.

  “What are you so excited about?” he sighed. Kane, who had been about ready to explode with excitement, was taken aback. He’d never seen Terrell in quite such a sulk, usually he was quick to anger but quicker still to brush it off with his habitual grin.

  “I’ll tell you when Eder gets here. Where is he anyway, I’m sure I saw his Brother-Prefect come in already?”

  “He’s spending a touch more time in the temple today. I would too, but I figure food will do me more good than prayers, heretical though it may seem.”

  “Has something happened?”

  Terrell shrugged. “Damned if I know. All I know is I’m told to pack up and vacate my bed for some snot-nosed novice, without so much as a by-your-leave, no orders as to what else I’m meant to do so I can only assume I’m being booted out. I’ve no idea why, either, I know I got in that fight with Mikael a few months ago but I swear I haven’t so much as raised my voice to him or anyone else since.”

  “And what’s the matter with Eder?”

  “Same deal, as far as I can tell. He’s… well, he’s taking it pretty hard.”

  Kane almost laughed, but the misery in Terrell’s voice stopped him. “I think I know what’s going on, Terrell, as soon as Eder gets here I’ll tell both of you.”

  “I don’t know why you’re so chipper,” Terrell shot him a dark look. “Just because you get to stay and try again doesn’t mean it’s not a raw deal for the rest of us.”

  “Look, I got the whole ‘pack your stuff’ mysterious silent treatment as well this morning,” Kane looked around and lowered his voice. “But it doesn’t mean we’re getting kicked out, any of us. In fact, we’re being sent on a secret mission.”

  “Codswallop,” Terrell said, finally finding the appetite for a whole mouthful of bread. “You did this to me before, back when I was a wee little scrap from the nursery, you told me we had a secret mission and I got caught by the night watch up on the battlements at Lauds in a muddy nightshirt. Took five strokes of the cane for that one, my arse still stings on hot nights.”

  “Don’t pretend like you never saw the cane since,” Kane said. “But anyway, I’m serious, I’ve got papers and everything.”

  He half-pulled the scroll out of his tunic and Terrell’s eyes widened momentarily.

  “I’d put money on that saying ‘Terrell is a prize idiot’ in big letters,” he said, but the set of his shoulders was no longer quite so defeated, and he ate the rest of his breakfast at increasing speed.

  The bell had rung and most of the novices had scrambled out of the mess hall, elbowing and shoving each other, by the time Eder walked in. Drifted, more accurately, like one in a dream. He didn’t seem to see Kane and Terrell, but his feet carried him over to them regardless, and he sat down delicately on the edge of the bench. His eyes were red, and his usual pleasant smile was absent.

  “Good morning, Kane,” he said, in a faraway voice. There was no food to set in front of him, but he didn’t notice.

  “Eder, snap out of it,” Kane said, more impatiently than he intended, as he clicked his fingers in front of his friend’s face. “You’re not being kicked out.”

  Eder’s blue eyes focused, gradually, on Kane’s face. He hadn’t blinked since he came in, and it unnerved Kane more than he would admit. Nevertheless, he pressed on. After a quick check to see there were no novices nearby, he pulled his commission paperwork out of his tunic.

  “We’ve been enlisted, the three of us. Well, technically I’ve been promoted as well, but we have a mission and orders and everything.”

  “But we missed the Enlistment Ceremony, Kane,” Eder explained slowly, as though speaking to a simpleton. “We can’t be enlisted for another year at least, if ever.”

  “That’s what I thought, but Lieutenant Eachann explained it. It’s a matter of dire emergency, he said, which means stepping outside the usual protocols to get the job done.”

  “And what’s the job? Shovelling manure in t
he stables of South Town?” Terrell scoffed, but Kane gave him a sharp look and unrolled the scroll.

  “We’re to escort a young lady and a Professor of the Aurian Academy back to Auris,” Kane said, a trifle smugly, knowing that while Eder was a deceptively fast reader, Terrell had difficulty with longer words if not allowed to use his finger. “You two and me and a small squad, the better to escape detection by the Sidhe or any other hostile forces. It’s covert, that’s what it is. We’re to leave at noon, once I’ve requisitioned our supplies.”

  Eder’s eyes moved back and forth quickly as he read the contents of the document, pausing for a long while on the official seal and spiky signature of General Cathan at the bottom. He frowned.

  “Kane, did you read the whole thing yet, or did you get halfway through and decide to come and find us?” Eder asked, looking up.

  Kane refused to meet that curiously penetrating gaze. “I thought you’d best know sooner, rather than later,” he said defensively. “To save you offering yourself as a blood sacrifice in the temple and Terrell here wasting away in front of a full plate of food.”

  “Blood sacrifices are heresy and you know it,” Eder said automatically, returning his gaze to the text. “Your small squad numbers five, including you, Kane. And the last name on the list is… well, she’s lovely but I doubt she’s any great shakes at combat.”

  Kane turned the scroll towards him again and continued down the list. After his name, and Eder and Terrell, were, as Eder had indicated, only two more. The fourth name, Sampson, he did not recognise, but the fifth he had only made the acquaintance of recently, and while he had no doubt her skills were many and plentiful, he too was sceptical of her prowess in a combat situation.

  “Perhaps the young lady has some sort of medical need,” Kane said. “Or perhaps the Professor does, I hear Academics have a tendency toward fragility. After all, Davena is the best healer in the Citadel, they wouldn’t send her out without good reason.”

  “She’ll be a liability,” Terrell said, cutting through Kane’s attempt at positivity. “So there’s four of us looking after a girl, an Academic and an Immaculata.”

  Eder pursed his lips and tapped the scroll. “This other lad, this Sampson, I’ve heard that name before, can’t for the life of me remember where. I can only hope he’s a decent swordsman or we’ll be in serious trouble.”

  “Don’t be so pessimistic,” Kane said, desperately clinging to his former excitement, now sliding away from him like soap. “It’ll be an adventure, a chance to prove ourselves and when we come back, we’ll be proper Child Guard, with a completed mission under our belts. I know it’s a bit sudden but with the three of us together, how can we fail?”

  “Spectacularly,” Eder said, under his breath, but Kane ignored him.

  “What’s the plan, then, Brother-Corporal?” Terrell asked, and it took Kane a few moments to realise that was directed at him.

  “I should go and inform Davena of our impending departure,” Kane said after a long pause. “Terrell, you take this requisition slip and get Garrick the quartermaster to sort you out, I know you and he used to be dorm-mates once upon a time.”

  “Don’t worry, I can still knock him out if he gets tricky,” Terrell said, standing and cracking his knuckles.

  “That shouldn’t be necessary,” Kane said firmly. “You’ve got all the papers, signed, sealed and correct.”

  Terrell looked quite disappointed as he left the mess hall.

  “And me, sir?” Eder asked mildly.

  Kane felt a jolt at being referred to in such a way, and couldn’t fight the grin that spread across his face.

  “You might as well come with me for the time being,” he said. “We need to find out who this Sampson is before we depart and it’s possible the Healers might know, they seem to know everybody.”

  “Everybody gets sick once in a while,” Eder agreed.

  “None of that talk,” Kane said, only half-joking. “Don’t be jinxing the mission before we’ve even begun.”

  5. Cahaya

  “The children are mighty in the face of the Sidhe, stronger than grown men, braver than a wolf pack. How sad that they should bear such power for only a short while! Swift time, grant them more of thy bounty, do not prevent them from taking up arms against their foes!”

  The Lament of St Ulrick the Father, from the Song of St Sorley the Exalted

  They arrived at the Hall of Healing to find a different commotion to the other day. The boy with the missing leg seemed to have resigned himself to his fate, though he remained swaddled in blankets and ostensibly asleep. The pale girl was gone, and the boy with the broken arm was sitting up in bed, staring at the scene unfolding before him.

  The Immaculatii had formed a gaggle around the source of the noise, which seemed to be moving back and forth, so the whole effect was similar to a school of bright blue fish, or a flock of colourful birds swooping about the air currents.

  “You can’t be serious!” the childlike voice that rose above the worried chatterings of the Immaculatii was shrill and strained, but identifiably male.

  “It’s not me that gives the orders,” Davena’s voice was calm in the hubbub. “I go where the gods send me.”

  “But… Auris? Really? What do they need a healer to go all that way for?”

  “It matters not,” Davena said. “Now stop shouting and pass me that jar over there.”

  “I will not,” the high-pitched voice countered, and Kane fancied he heard a small foot being stamped. “And you are not going anywhere either. I forbid it!”

  There was a gasp from the assembled Immaculatii, and a dreadful silence fell.

  “Forbid as you like,” Davena said quietly, as she emerged from the flock, the pace of her stride giving away her feelings although her head was held high. “You should know by now it makes not a jot of difference to the outcome.”

  She wore no apron today, only her blue tunic and soft tan breeches, and she was carrying a medical bag which looked outsized in her tiny arms. There were two high spots of colour on her cheeks, but she nodded politely as she saw the two boys nervously waiting for her.

  “Lieutenant Tomas already told me this morning. I shan’t be long,” she said, with an apologetic smile. “You know what it’s like, packing to be done, loose ends to tie up.”

  Out from the midst of the Immaculatii, who had now resumed their shocked chattering, strode a small, pale-haired Immaculatus, his face so red his eyebrows stood out in sharp contrast.

  “Don’t walk off when I’m talking to you, you impossible creature!” he yelled, then noticed the presence of the Guard in the room, and composed himself with visible difficulty.

  “I take it you are the Guard with whom Davena is assigned to travel?” he said, stiffly.

  “That is correct,” Kane said.

  The boy’s eyes narrowed, and he tilted his head to see Eder, who was doing his best to unobtrusively conceal himself behind Kane’s slightly wider frame. His lip curled, and it was then Kane recognised him as the Immaculatus who served them the Sacrament of the Elixir, and who looked upon Eder with such disdain.

  “They actually gave you a sensitive mission?” he sneered at Eder. “After all of your sins?”

  “I obey the will of the gods,” Eder said, a quiet sadness in his voice.

  “A likely story,” the boy scoffed, and drew himself up to continue further.

  “That’s enough,” Kane said, in a voice which echoed about the Hall, taking even himself by surprise. He cleared his throat and straightened up. “We are here to collect Davena and ensure she is aware that the squad is scheduled to leave at noon. I am also seeking a soldier by the name of Sampson, as he is also named on my manifest.”

  “I’m no soldier,” the boy practically spat. “What do you want with me?”

  “You mean you’re… you’re Sampson?” Kane’s new-found confidence was swept out from underneath him by the revelation. Behind him, he heard Eder’s whisper of ‘please gods no’.
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  “I am.”

  With great effort, Kane gathered all his composure and dignity about him, and gave Sampson his best officer’s glare. “Then you are also to accompany us to Auris. We depart at noon from the base of the Ninety-Nine steps.” He wanted to say more, to make up for Eder's downcast expression, but what else was there to say? The Immaculatus was coming with them, like it or not.

  Leaving Sampson spluttering protests, he turned on his heel and swept out of the Halls, with Eder following timidly behind.

  The Ninety-Nine steps were so named because they had been hewn, out of the very rock which comprised the Citadel, in a winding pattern down the side of the great granite batholith. It was the only exit or entrance to the Citadel Kane knew of, for although the corridors of the structure honeycombed down into the rock to ground level and beyond, there was nothing bigger than an arrowslit to peek out of. The steps were worn by the passage of hundreds of feet, slippery and uneven with age, and there was no rail or handhold to grip onto.

  Kane, newly kitted out in an officer’s surcoat with the fanciest sword he’d ever held in his swordbelt, strode down them with purpose and a certain amount of daring, his hands swinging at his sides in a relaxed fashion. Eder’s fingertips traced the granite face behind him, although if he should have slipped there would be nothing to clutch onto to save himself from the precipitous drop. Kane turned and saw him wistfully eyeing the baskets of goods being hoisted to the top of the Citadel via a complicated system of pulleys and counterweights.

  “You’re a bit old to be hoisted up in a basket,” he laughed at Eder. They had both been there on the days, once a year, when the giant baskets were filled with babies and toddlers sent up to be novices. There was vast ceremony at the foot of the steps, but once the youngsters reached the top the flowers and fruits and toys were cast aside and they were taken off to the nursery to be raised in the proper, austere, Child Guard way.