The Child Guard

by Lorcan Montgomery

  “I see,” Commander Rayner sat back in his chair. “These are serious accusations indeed, Private Terrell, I am sure you understand the gravity of the matter. I try to be a fair man, however, and I will hear both sides of this before I pass a judgement. Please present your case, and I trust Private Avila will be courteous by her silence.”

  Terrell stopped working on the cuffs, and straightened up.

  “I was having trouble sleeping, so I got up and went for a walk about the complex. I lost my way a little and I came out into the courtyard. I saw Private Caron lying on the floor, and I went to see if he was all right. I needed assistance to get him to the Infirmary, so I asked Private Avila, who was passing through the courtyard, for her help. She said there was an emergency stretcher in the stables, so I followed her in. She floored me before I knew what was happening, climbed on top of me and took my knife away when I tried to defend myself. She opened her shirt and put my hands inside, I don’t know what she was doing but when she saw that I was not going to co-operate she screamed and everyone came running.”

  There was silence, and Avila, who had been shooting Terrell poisonous looks throughout his account, rashly decided to fill it.

  “Sir, I have been a loyal Child Guard for twenty-five years, I would never exhibit such disgraceful behaviour. This man is clearly a liar, my record is practically impeccable.”

  “Given your recent demotion, Private Avila, if I were you I would not harm my case by raising the matter of your record,” Rayner said.

  There was another silence, and this time nobody came forward to fill it. Avila’s jaw was set, and she seemed to have already resigned herself to punishment.

  The Commander sighed, and passed a hand over his face, as the night-watchman’s bell tolled over the garrison.

  “It’s far too late for this,” he said, to himself. “This story is one which will take some unravelling. Guards!”

  The four guards entered, having successfully removed the crowd around the door.

  “Throw them both in the brig,” Rayner sighed. “Solitary cells, and we’ll see if this is any clearer come the morning. Away with them.”

  Terrell and Avila were removed from the room, and Kane went to follow the guards. His hand was on the door handle, when Rayner spoke.

  “Not you, Brother-Corporal. I would like a few more words with you.”

  Kane gulped, and closed the door.

  “Please, sit,” the Commander indicated a small seat tucked away in a corner, quite different from the high-backed throne behind his desk. Kane sat, gingerly, and braced himself for a tirade.

  “Private Terrell is your man,” Rayner said, but it wasn’t an accusation. “You would know him better than any of us in the garrison. Do you believe he is capable of such a thing as Private Avila described?”

  “Are you asking me to indict my own men, sir?” Kane replied, trying to stall for time, as a frantic cluster of thoughts drilled their way through his mind.

  “I’m not going to hand you the judge’s mantle, don’t worry,” Rayner gave him a brief, weary smile. “Much as it would make my life easier. I’m just asking for a character assessment, if you will, so that I may have a better idea of the man I am dealing with.”

  “Terrell… can be difficult sometimes,” Kane said, the words coming forth from him unwillingly. “He can be arrogant on occasion, cocky even. He was a bit of a brawler back at the Citadel, quick to solve his problems with his fists; nothing major, just a few black eyes and maybe a broken nose or two, and all forgotten once a winner was decided.”

  “A violent boy, then?”

  “I don’t believe he’d draw a weapon on a fellow soldier, sir, and Terrell doesn’t tend to fight without provocation. What sort of incentive would he have to harm Avila? He only met her today, and I grant you she’s a bit haughty but that’s hardly worthy of such an act.”

  “When a Child Guard gives up the Elixir Innocentiae, Brother-Corporal, he experiences strange desires. I’m sure a pious lad like yourself would never have even considered it, but do you think it possible that Terrell could have given up his dose?”

  Kane felt the air crystallise around him. The sweat that had been running down the back of his neck seemed to freeze, and under Rayner’s level gaze his brain ground to a halt, any words he had been about to say stuck in the back of his throat.

  “I…. I suppose it’s possible,” he eventually heard himself say, from far away.

  “I know it’s a hard thought to have about one of your own men,” Rayner said sympathetically. “I myself had difficulty believing the evidence of Avila and Caron’s heresy when it was presented to me. I believe I mentioned her demotion, earlier.”

  “You did, sir.”

  “She and Private Caron were caught in a rather similar situation, although with no violence involved. They were both flogged, and confessed that they had both avoided the Sacrament for over a month. They were offered the chance to repent, to do their penance, accept the demotion and not another word would be said, but the slightest, smallest misdemeanour afterwards would be an instant dishonourable discharge and excommunication.” He caught the look of surprise on Kane’s face and mistook his meaning. “We are only a small garrison, Brother-Corporal. I imagine in the Citadel they can afford to be stricter, and maybe I should not have given the pair of them a second chance, but I can ill afford to lose men with the atmosphere in the city as it is.”

  “Understandable, sir,” Kane said.

  “For the past month Avila and Caron’s behaviour has been absolutely above reproach, perfect in every possible way. I had thought the issue thoroughly put to bed. And now this. They cannot both be telling the truth. If I cannot get to the bottom of the matter I will have to call a priest to determine their guilt by ordeal, which is a messy business and one which I do not care for.”

  “I wouldn’t believe one or the other of them entirely, sir,” Kane said. “Terrell has been through a lot in the Borderlands, he’s no innocent novice. If I can have your permission to speak to him, I will see if I can get the whole truth out of him.”

  “Granted,” Rayner said, with a huge and indecorous yawn. “I believe you to be an honourable soldier, Brother-Corporal, and if you can extract the truth from this mess you will be a clever one, too. You may question your man, and work out where he is not being entirely truthful. I will speak to you in the morning, and hopefully we will be able to resolve this.”

  “Thank you sir,” Kane returned the chair to its original place, saluted, and left the room.

  He set off around the complex, initially aiming to find the brig under his own steam and eventually settling for walking to occupy his body while his mind roiled and fizzed.

  ‘Striking girl like that? I’d be devastated if she didn’t like me.’

  It didn’t sound like Terrell, to threaten a girl to make her do as he wanted. But every time Kane tried to convince himself of that fact, he saw Terrell in his mind’s eye, kneeling outside Cahaya’s tent, watching her as she took off her wet clothes. Cahaya was relatively defenceless, how would Terrell react if he came up against someone with training and a will as strong as his?

  From experience, Kane knew exactly what Terrell would do; he’d keep going until someone else gave up or called him off. He stopped in his tracks, and shuddered.

  Had Avila dismissed him, somehow, snubbed him in a way Terrell could not forgive? Had she perhaps scoffed, or laughed at him?

  Kane was suddenly haunted by the vision of Helene, leaning on the balcony of the barge, watching unsmiling with those shadows under her eyes as Terrell disappeared over the bridge with a cheery smile and a wave.

  ‘She laughed at me.’

  “Oh, gods,” he said, out loud.

  He managed to collar a boy returning from guard duty to point him in the direction of the brig, and followed the directions with furious determination.

  Terrell was being held in a windowless cell set against the walls of the city, dug down until it was almost a h
ole in the ground. Kane was given the keys by a tired-eyed guard who didn’t want to move from his seat by the jail door, and as he entered the cell Terrell scrambled to his feet, ready for a fight.

  “Oh, give it a rest, Terrell,” Kane said, hanging the lamp he’d been given on a hook by the door. The wavering light illuminated the tiny, barren pit, one small pallet and a bucket the only items of furniture. “Don’t you think you’re in enough trouble?”

  “It’ll all blow over, Kane,” Terrell said, casually. “You tell them I’m a fine upstanding soldier, they realise she’s lying and we’ll be on our way by lunchtime.”

  “You wouldn’t know a fine upstanding soldier if you fell over one,” Kane hissed, furiously. “What in the hells do you think you’re playing at?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. She’s clearly lying about me,” Terrell grinned that same old open, easy smile, but this time Kane wanted to knock it right off his face.

  “Don’t start with the denial, Terrell, it doesn’t work on me. I saw you.”

  The smile vanished.

  “What.”

  “I saw you knock out Caron in the courtyard and follow Avila into the stables. Given that you were following her, I doubt any of it happened quite the way you told it, and if it did, it’s a hell of a coincidence that she happened to be in the mood to play just as soon as you turned up.”

  Terrell tilted his head, fixing Kane with a calculating look. He didn’t say anything, so Kane continued.

  “What on earth possessed you to follow her anyway? She’s good looking, sure, but she was clearly not interested in any of us, not even you with your bloody manly physique. Why did you do it?”

  “I told you, I didn’t do it. She’s lying.”

  “Say that again and I swear I will hand you over to Rayner right now for the flogging of your life.”

  “If you saw her sneaking into the stables you know she’s fibbing about strange noises,” Terrell said, not heeding the threat at all. “And she’s lying about me forcing her up against a wall with a knife, too. She came at me first, all open arms and ready.”

  “And you decided to defend your virtue? I doubt that, Terrell, I really do.”

  “Not quite,” Terrell shrugged. “She realised after a little while I wasn’t quite who she was expecting. Then I had to pull the knife on her.”

  Kane stared at him, leaning against the wall as though he was passing the time of day, on a break in the Citadel. He’d known Terrell for a decade, or at least he’d thought he had. The man standing in front of him with no remorse for his offenses was not the boy he’d grown up with, and with the realisation came a stab of pain, right in Kane’s heart.

  “But that’s all irrelevant because you’re going to get me out of here by morning, right, Kane, my friend?” Terrell grinned at him, but Kane could only see it as a smug smirk.

  “Like hell I am. You’re not leaving this cell, save for when they take you to the whipping post.” Kane turned to ascend out of the compact pit, when he heard Terrell chuckling behind him.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “I think you’re forgetting something,” Terrell said, his voice deadly quiet. This time there was a definite knife-edge to the smirk.

  “And what is that?”

  “I’m not the only heretic in the squad, am I now?”

  “You’re going to drop me in it? It’s my word and Avila’s against yours then, Terrell, it won’t look good when you decide to fling accusations at multiple people.”

  “If you fling enough around, some of it sticks. Besides, I wasn’t talking about you. You’d probably just stand there and take the flogging, probably think it was some noble undertaking to save that girl.”

  “Then who are you-“

  “I’ll tell them about Eder.”

  Kane froze. If Terrell had threatened him, that would have probably simplified things down a bit – Kane would have even more doggedly pursued justice for Avila and to hell with the consequences. But to drag Eder into it, to see him flogged or beaten or worse, dragged through the doors of the Halls of Correction; Kane couldn’t bear the thought.

  “Like you’ve got anything on Eder,” he said, recovering enough to bluster. Terrell didn’t know, couldn’t know about their agreement, the charm, Eder’s conflicted identity. “He’s been a model Child Guard for years, he hasn’t done anything even vaguely blasphemous since he got branded.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Terrell shrugged. “He’s been off the Elixir same as we were, and if I know Eder he’s dying to confess to someone. All I have to do is point them in his direction.”

  “You wouldn’t.”

  “Only if I have to. Only if you make me.”

  They glared at each other in the flickering lamplight, neither willing to back down or admit defeat. Kane was the first to look away, and turned to the doorway.

  “So I’ll see you in the morning then, when I’m a free man,” Terrell said.

  Kane couldn’t help himself. Something deep, primal and angry roared up in him, and he whirled and punched Terrell squarely on the jaw. The boy went down, too surprised to react in time. Kane knew he would be up and fighting with a vengeance, so took the lamp and left before Terrell could gather his wits and come after him.

  “I’ll get you back for that one,” Terrell called after him, through the closed door.

  Kane tossed the keys at the guard, who’d dozed off, and stomped out of the jail. He had thought he was angry before, when his blood was up in the Borderlands and only he and Terrell knocking seven bells out of each other could fix it, but this felt different. Something deep within him wanted to hurt, to maim, to wound; to fill up with Terrell’s blood the hollow space that had been left in him by betrayal. Kane would have trusted Terrell with his life when they’d left the Citadel, but now it seemed he couldn’t be trusted to be a decent human being. First Helene, whatever Terrell had done to her to wipe the smile from her face, now taking advantage of Avila’s tryst with Caron to force himself upon her. Kane refused to directly confront the central facet of his anger, the part which had cut closest to the bone, but he was aware of it sitting like an ember in his chest, fuelling the righteous indignation which burned through him.

  To threaten Eder, of all people.

  21. Breakout

  “Nature does as Nature will.”

  Sidhe charm

  Charging along, lost in thought and swathed in rage, he quickly lost his bearings again. He pushed open a door which he thought was the visitors’ quarters, but turned out to be the light, airy hall of the Infirmary. There was only one occupant.

  Private Caron was sitting up on a sickbed, wide awake. There was a bandage around his head, and he had been whistling before Kane came into view.

  “Brother-Corporal Kane, right?” he said. “Do I have to salute, or can I be excused on account of my head?”

  Kane’s sympathy for the boy began to trickle away.

  “I’m a little lost,” he admitted. “I was aiming for the visitors’ quarters, it’s late and I should get back to sleep.”

  “And here I thought it was a social call,” Caron sighed. “You’d be the first person to enquire after my health since I got demoted.”

  “You’re in the Infirmary, the nurses have left you to your own devices and gone back to bed, I would assume you’re stable at the least.”

  “No thanks to your man Terrell,” Caron’s face twisted with bitterness. “I’ve never even seen him before, I don’t know why he’d want to knock me out.”

  “He’s in a cell now.”

  “Just for little old me? Aw, I didn’t know Rayner cared.”

  “It was more what happened afterwards,” Kane said, delicately.

  Caron’s expression hardened, instantly alert. “What’s happened to Avila?”

  “She’s in a cell too.”

  “What. Happened.”

  “You’re not going to like it.”

  “Not as much as I dislike not knowing about i
t.”

  “Avila says Terrell assaulted her – whoa, hold your horses,” Kane grabbed Caron as he tried to leap from his sickbed. “The problem is, he says it was the other way around, and because neither of them is telling the whole truth Rayner is inclined to peg both of them as liars.”

  “I think it’s obvious which one of them is lying, Avila would never-“

  “She’s lying about going to meet you,” Kane interrupted him.

  Caron flushed pink, and for an incriminating moment said nothing at all. “She wasn’t going to meet me, don’t be ridiculous,” he said, too late.

  “Save it, I’ve been lied to enough today.”

  “Why would she be going to meet me? You’re new here and you’re jumping to the same conclusions as the rest of-“

  “You two are in love, aren’t you?”

  Caron pressed his lips together and fixed Kane with a death glare.

  “Let me see if I’ve got this right, if you can hush the denials until I’m finished it’ll be quicker. You came off the Elixir, both together or one at a time, for whatever reason. Then you realised you had all these messy, crazy, amazing feelings for each other that you’d never had before, you got caught together and both began to take the Sacrament again, thinking it would fix it and you wouldn’t feel the same any more. But it doesn’t go away, does it, so you arranged to keep meeting in secret so you could be together, am I close?”

  “We got stuck on a training exercise for longer than planned,” Caron said, quietly, looking down at his hands. “We ran out of supplies, Avila said the troops took priority so we went without. We’re not heretics, we never meant…”

  He recovered his composure and turned a suspicious gaze on Kane. “How did you know?”

  “You’re not the first, and you likely won’t be the last,” Kane said, with a sigh.

  “You mean you… but they’re saying you’re a Sidhe-fighting hero, you made it through the Borderlands all by yourself and everything!”

  “I can tell that one’s going to get out of hand pretty quickly,” Kane grimaced. “Yes, we made it, by the skin of our teeth. We encountered a half-Sidhe and a band of Changelings, that was it. I’m not some kind of daring hero.”