by CJ Arroway
‘We don’t put them in jail. They go to get re-educated and have the magic removed. Some of them.’ She was flustered. ‘Magic caused The Fall. It’s why bad things happen.’
Aldrwyn looked intrigued. ‘You’re Daw aren’t you? I knew you were magic kin, you had to be. I’ve heard about you lot.’
‘Us lot?’ Evie snapped back.
‘The Daw – sorry, that may have sounded bad.’ Evie gave him a look that let him know it had.
‘I don’t know much about the Daw – just the stuff The People say. You know… it doesn’t matter.’ Aldrwyn waved his own comment away and turned to look if Luda was coming back yet.
‘I know what they say,’ Evie said coldly.
‘What’s The Fall?’ Aldrwyn asked after a few moments of quiet, turning back to Evie and moving up to sit on his hands.
‘It’s what the People say.’ Evie sighed. ‘Just, they say it differently.’
‘I can tell you.’ Luda had now returned with a handful of pigeon eggs, which he placed carefully in the bag by the shelter entrance before sitting himself down on a patch of dry grasses between Evie and Aldrwyn.
‘You’re Daw too?’ Aldrwyn asked. ‘And are you…’
‘A magic user? No,’ Luda replied, before looking at Evie. ‘Not that there’s anything wrong with that,’ he added quickly.
‘I’m going to get some sleep – you two enjoy your chat and I’ll see you in the morning.’ Evie turned away, half standing before crawling to the darkness at the back of the shelter.
‘She ok?’ Aldrwyn asked, nodding towards the sound of shuffling leaves behind him.
‘She’s been through a lot’, Luda said. ‘We both have.’
Aldrwyn smiled recognition and sat silent for a few seconds to show just enough concern. ‘So, what’s The Fall, then?’
Luda hesitated. ‘It’s why we don’t like… I mean why lots of people think magic is bad.’
‘You believe what The People say? About yourselves?’ Aldrwyn leaned forward in curiosity.
‘No. Not really. Well – it confuses me. My master says… he said that we would use it to hurt and steal if we were allowed to use it. That’s what The People say.’
‘Yes, I know. But what do the Daw say? I get why The People don’t like small magic – everyone mistrusts us, everywhere we go. But why do you hate yourselves? That’s just–’
‘It corrupts us. You use magic and it eats away at your essence until you turn bad. It’s why there’s so few of us, why we lost our home. It made us turn on each other. It’s a sickness.’
‘Woah! That’s a little… dramatic. You believe this?’ Aldrwyn frowned, dropping his head to measure Luda’s expression.
‘That’s not really my words, it’s just how I was told it,’ Luda scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably. ‘Yes, I do believe it. Sort of. I mean; Evie is magic and she’s not bad, but I know it can be bad. There’s lots of stories…’
‘That’s crazy. I don’t see how magic itself can be bad.’ Aldrwyn held up his hands. ‘It’s just what you do with it, surely?’
‘Well, what do you do with it, Aldrwyn?’
Aldrwyn gave a sheepish grin.
Luda sat up to take his place in the shelter. ‘Exactly!’
The City
‘Lord Venner left six days ago so with a good dry road he should be there before the week’s end. He took about 300 men and horses, I was told.’
‘Thank you, Rhuwan.’ Rachlaw addressed the man he had spoken to in secret after the war council meeting. This time they were in Rachlaw’s chambers, away from the risk of discovery, and the voices were louder. ‘With the men at the fort, that makes nearly 400 in all. That’s plenty enough to hold it, at least until I get there with the King’s Men.’
Despite their name, the King’s Men’s loyalty had always been something that moved with the tides of power. Not without reason, King Quist distrusted them and would want them far from the palace if tensions were rising.
And Quist would not want a soldier as popular with his men as Rachlaw too close at hand at a time when a raiding army stood on their borders and troubled the people.
He had been quick to overrule a frustrated Lord Dawhl and agree with chancellor Rhuwan’s suggestion that Rachlaw and the King’s Men might be best kept out of the city, to guard the surrounding region against any further raids. They were to be stationed at the barracks at Tarran – some 30 miles to the east and close to the road from Myria and the Mahl Hills. But Rachlaw had plans of his own.
‘Quist will quickly discover that you disobeyed his order to stay within the borders of The Wyrran,’ Rhuwan cautioned.
‘Well, by then I’ll either be a hero or dead my old friend.’ Rachlaw put his arm to Rhuwan’s shoulder. ‘Either way, he will struggle to punish me.’
‘He’s a fool, Rachlaw, but don’t underestimate him. He’s still king and he could still make life very difficult for you, even if you come back with Orlend’s head.’
‘If, Rhuwan?’ Rachlaw raised a mock frown.
‘I hear he’s as big as a bear,’ Rhuwan smiled.
‘Well, let’s see how a bear does against a lion shall we.’
* * *
Aldrwyn had risen early to gather some goosegrass and dandelion and to reset the fire, so when Evie and Luda rose there was already a pigeon egg omelette waiting for them, cooked on the heat of a flat stone in the cinders. The three ate in silence, but a full stomach lifted the mood as they began the day’s walk they hoped would have them at Wyrra before evening set in.
‘Have either of you been to Wyrra before?’ Aldrwyn asked after they had shaken off their morning legs and got into a steady stride.
‘I have. A couple of times,’ Evie said. ‘With my father. I was very young though.’
Aldrwyn seemed a little more subdued this morning, Evie thought, and wondered if perhaps they had been too hard on him. He stepped in closer to her. ‘If you need any help; it can be quite a difficult place if you’re not used to–’
‘I know where I need to go,’ Evie replied abruptly. Aldrwyn held his hands up defensively and Evie paused. ‘Thank you though. That’s very kind of you,’ she added more softly.
As the grassy road opened up, Luda had pushed on, apparently keen to get to Wyrra as fast as he could. Evie and Aldrwyn quickly found themselves a good distance behind him and Evie called out for him to slow down and wait for them. Luda turned and waved them forward, but carried on his pace.
‘Sorry I was snappy then,’ Evie said. ‘I’ve just got a lot on my mind.’
Aldrwyn gave a lop-sided smile to let her know he understood.
Evie glanced quickly at Aldrwyn a couple of times, and caught his eye on the second. ‘Can I ask you something, Aldrwyn?’
Aldrwyn seemed surprised but nodded. ‘Of course.’
‘Your magic,’ she strained the word as if it was a stone in her mouth, ‘is it something you were born with?’
‘Well, yeah, pretty much,’ Aldrwyn replied. ‘I mean, I had to learn how to use it properly, but it was always there. I guess that’s just like everyone, right?’
Evie shook her head slowly. ‘I never learned, I’ve always just sort of felt it. I don’t know how it works most of the time, I just do it. When I do it, I mean… I try not to, you know?’
They walked along a little further, Evie glanced again at Aldrwyn who was keeping his eyes along the length of the road towards where Luda was striding ahead.
‘I just wanted to know,’ she started.
‘Yes?’
‘Is it normal… have you ever been able to hear, you know… people who aren’t there anymore, who’ve gone?’
‘Gone? Dead, you mean?’ Aldrwyn blew out his cheeks. ‘No – I mean I don’t think that’s possible. I’ve never heard… the dead are dead, that’s just how it is.’ He squinted at her. ‘Why? Can you?’
Evie’s felt a confused wave of embarrassment and curiosity that made her whole body tense until she slowed her steps to bar
ely walking.
‘I don’t know. I thought I did. Not talk but… I thought I saw someone, in the river. I mean I sort of felt them. I just wondered if I could talk to them, tell them something. You know?’
‘Someone you care about? Someone you’ve lost?’
‘Yes, I thought maybe I could…’ Evie suddenly snapped herself back to a clearer mind. ‘It doesn’t matter. I was just being stupid.’
Aldrwyn stopped his walk and paused for a moment. ‘It’s not something I’ve heard of. Sorry. There’s other people who know much more about magic than me though, so maybe. I don’t know. Sorry.’ He smiled at Evie as if to ask if she was alright. She nodded, but as they picked up their pace again he could see her face had lost some of its colour from a minute ago.
Luda had slowed and now they were catching him up. Ahead of them, he stopped in the road and turned round. ‘Here’s something we’ve been waiting to see!’ he shouted, smiling broadly. He pointed to a break in the treeline ahead that opened just enough to reveal the compacted, red-brown earth of a well-used road – the main route to Wyrra.
* * *
It was late afternoon when they reached the gates of Wyrra. The road had joined alongside the river as it meandered towards the city. Wyrra’s skyline seemed to rise up unevenly from the plain as they got closer. The towering buildings of the right bank came into view first, and it wasn’t until they were close enough to see the windows of the high fortress tower that the poles of the dockyard pulleys had come into view, and the sprawl of the left bank revealed itself.
Evie had smelt the city long before she saw it. The unmistakable stench of the tannery hit first. Rotting flesh, urine and stagnant water, carried with the sting of quicklime to burn into the back of her throat and water her eyes. It was a smell that would make the others wretch when they first encountered it but, for Evie, under its foulness was a hint of the sweet musk of seasoned leather that lingered on her father’s clothes and hands; a scent that had always let her know when he was nearby. She thought again of the voice in the water.
The city gates were tall and just wide enough to let through a laden hay cart. The lower parts were stone to the height of the great wooden gate-tops, mounted with a palisade of thick poles that carried on around the top of a grassy bank encircling the whole perimeter of the city on this side of the river.
Within the walls, the smells assailed you from all sides. The stench of sulphur, fish, leather and wood smoke blew across the river, while the air of the stone city road hung with the ripe tang of horse and oxen dung, tempered by the heady fragrance of incense drifting down from the steps of the temples and royal buildings.
‘Welcome to Wyrra!’ Aldrwyn exclaimed, as Evie and Luda looked around them to take it all in. Luda stood open-mouthed for a second while Evie tried to remember the places she had seen as a child, but which now looked so unfamiliar they may as well have been memories of a different city.
Now they were inside its walls, the city felt almost impossible to Luda. The only building of stone he’d seen was the crude, grey slab of the Black Hill tower that watched over their valley. Here the whole city seemed to be forged from the earth. The stones were almost alive, carved into faces of men and beasts; great steps rising up to trunks of stone that held up vast windows, and sweeping roofs scaled like the back of the dragon that adorned the Wyrran flag.
He shook his head and thought how the men in the forest must never have seen Wyrra or they would not dare come to this land.
Evie’s thoughts were on the dock and the tannery as she tried to find her bearings. The left bank was hidden from view by the walls of the custom house as you entered the city, but it was the place she knew best – the ships that smelt of tar and moss, the tannery and the noise. It was where her father bought his leather and sold his shoes. She remembered the taste of the eel broth he had bought her after he sold aprons to the butchers guild, and the old merchant with wooden teeth who let her have a pinch of pepper in it so she felt like the daughter of a lord.
‘Do you know where you’re going?’ Aldrwyn asked above the noise of cartwheels and merchants’ calls.
Evie looked around. ‘Yeah. That’s the way to the fortress there, right?’ She pointed to a gap between the narrow rows of low wooden buildings at the far end of the street, from behind which a tall, squat tower loomed above a solid bank of sandstone wall and narrow, dark windows.
‘Close, it’s a little way down there, but that’s the right direction,’ Aldrwyn said, with a tone of puzzlement at what a young Daw girl and her friend would want in the royal fortress. He decided not to ask and instead his eyes followed a priest who was pulling the push door of one of the many taverns that skirted the edge of the temple district.
‘So,’ he said, shuffling slightly on his heels, ‘I guess I’ll be on my way then.’
Evie nodded a smile. ‘Thank you for your help. Maybe we’ll see you around town?’ Aldrwyn nodded back and tapped Luda affectionately on the arm, before heading into the bustle of the unpaved streets.
‘And thank you for the omelette,’ she shouted after him as he moved into the crowd, raising his hand in acknowledgement before disappearing behind a group of costermongers setting up their carts by the roadside.
‘Right,’ Evie exclaimed. ‘Let’s find Rachlaw and we can find out what’s going on.’
* * *
Rachlaw turned his horse to survey the assembled men. Around him a dozen riders milled on horses, skittish at the sense a journey was about to begin. A handful were already in light mail, but the rest dressed more in anticipation of a long day’s ride than any expectation of combat. He had missed all this, he thought.
The baggage trains were loaded with provisions– enough for the men for a month-long campaign, supplemented by what could be collected en route. Mules and horses were faster than oxen for pulling the carts, but a handful of cattle were brought for milk and meat, if needed.
Rachlaw leaned down to pat the dappled flank of his palfrey, Litan. He was a little lighter, shorter and more elegant than the thick-necked war horses ridden by the other men, but his speed and courage more than made up for any shortfall in power, and Rachlaw trusted him absolutely in the confusion and noise of battle. Besides, with a long ride ahead, a horse with a smooth, steady gait would make for a far more comfortable journey than a powerful one.
The King’s Men were, along with the Wyrra City Guard, the professional soldiers of the Crown. Many of the higher nobles, like Lord Venner, would have their own men who could be called on when needed, and in times of serious threat the reserve – a temporary army of common men drawn from the fields and workshops of The Home – could be summoned.
But, for now, the King’s Men would be all he had – at least until Quist realised the scale of threat they all faced. These were the elite soldiers – 900 battle-hardened men trained in the use of spear, shield and sword since they were old enough to hold a wooden stick. If Orlend was laying siege at Riverhead, they would break it. If he was still waiting to strike when they got there, he had left it too late.
Rachlaw looked over the gathered men to the faint outline of Wyrra fort far in the distance behind them, then he raised his banner. The flag caught the wind and Rachlaw’s snarling lion flared out, as if puffing out its chest, as he waved the men forward to a great roar of anticipation.
* * *
Evie was standing by a small arched gateway that seemed to be the only way she could find through the thick stone barrier of the fortress wall. The wooden buildings that clambered at its feet were like a maze, and she was sure she had already passed the gate before, but that way was barred and there was no sign of anyone to let her through. She’d asked Luda to wait for her, as she needed to see Rachlaw alone. It was only when they looked for somewhere for him to wait that it struck them they were alone in the city with no money and no place to stay.
‘Don’t worry,’ Evie had told him, ‘Rachlaw will help us out.’ But now she wasn’t even sure how to get to him, or e
ven how to get back to where she’d left Luda.
‘Hello!’ she called loudly through the bars of the gate. ‘Hello– I need to speak to Rachlaw. Tell him it’s Evie. Tell him it’s important.’
The wooden buildings hugged the side of the fortress wall so tightly there was barely room for two people to pass here. The traffic going to and from the little doorways of this cluttered maze meant Evie was continually having to duck into the recess of the gate as she was barged by passers-by, who all seemed to be in a hurry to get whichever way they were heading.
‘That gate never opens. Are you looking for someone?’ A young man carrying a heavy, clattering leather sack over his shoulder appeared from the doorway of the small building directly opposite the gate. ‘Are you looking for your boyfriend in there? If so you’ve missed him – the King’s Men all left this morning. Hope he hasn’t left you in any trouble.’ The man smirked in a way that made Evie clench her jaw.
‘I’m looking for Rachlaw,’ she snarled.
‘Rachlaw!’ the man exclaimed, looking her up and down. ‘I wouldn’t put you down as his type– bit young aren’t you? Or are you just hoping?’
‘I have important news for him.’ Evie was getting increasingly irritated by the situation, and the man who seemed so amused by it. ‘He will want to see me. And I will tell him how rude you’ve been unless you tell me how to get in.’
The man laughed even harder now. ‘Oh dear– now I’m in trouble! Seriously, he left this morning with the King’s Men, they’re off to sort out the Sea People up north. Wouldn’t expect him back for at least a month. If you’re going to be lonely waiting I could always keep you company.’
Evie shot him a disdainful look and barged her way past him back down the alleyway she hoped would lead her back to the main street and Luda. He called after her and she paused briefly to close her eyes, and sing. She walked on again to the sound of bottles shattering behind her and the man cursing at his broken bag. Evie smiled.
* * *
‘That’s what I’ve heard as well,’ Luda told Evie as she eventually caught up with him by the wooden footbridge that led to the docks. ‘One of the sailors told me they all left first thing this morning. Looks like we missed them by a few hours.’