Fragile Empire Read online

  Fragile Empire

  Christopher Mitchell is the author of the epic fantasy series The Magelands. He studied in Edinburgh before living for several years in the Middle East and Greece, where he taught English. He returned to study classics and Greek tragedy and lives in Fife, Scotland with his wife and their four children.

  By Christopher Mitchell

  The Magelands Origins

  Retreat of the Kell

  The Trials of Daphne Holdfast

  From the Ashes

  The Magelands Epic

  The Queen’s Executioner

  The Severed City

  Needs of the Empire

  Sacrifice

  Fragile Empire

  Storm Mage

  Soulwitch Rises

  Renegade Gods

  Copyright © Christopher Mitchell 2020

  Cover by Miblart

  Cover Copyright © Brigdomin Books Ltd 2020

  Christopher Mitchell asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

  All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems (except for the use of brief quotations in a book review), if you would like permission to use material from the book please contact [email protected]

  Brigdomin Books Ltd

  First Edition, March 2020

  Ebook Edition © March 2020

  ISBN 978-1-912879-23-6

  For Caela Rose

  Acknowledgements

  I would like to thank the following for all their support during the writing of the Magelands - my wife, Lisa Mitchell, who read every chapter as soon as it was drafted and kept me going in the right direction; Graeme Innes for reading the manuscripts and sharing many discussions over whisky; my parents for their unstinting support; Amy Tavendale, Sandra and Donna Wheat and Vicky Williams for reading the books in their early stages; James Aitken for his encouragement; and the Film Club for their support.

  Thanks also to my Magelanders ARC team, for all your help during the last few weeks before publication.

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  Dramatis Personae

  The Holdfasts

  Daphne Holdfast, Holder Fast

  Killop ae Kellan, Lord Holdfast

  Karalyn Holdfast, Elder daughter, 18

  Keir Holdfast, Elder son, 15

  Kelsey Holdfast, Younger daughter, 13

  Corthie Holdfast, Younger son, 12

  Celine Holdfast, Daphne's sister-in-law

  Holdings

  Clavers, Imperial official, Amatskouri

  Cuthbert, Member of Empress's Inner Council

  Derrick, Vision Mage, Agent of the Empire

  Flavin, Minister in Imperial Government

  Gerald, Servant to the Holdfasts

  Golspie, Holdfast Housekeeper

  Isobel, Imperial Vision Mage

  Malley, Garrison Commander, Plateau City

  Sable Blackhold, Agent of the Empire

  Tabitha, Servant to the Holdfasts

  Tinwall, Holdings Ambassador to Plateau City

  Weir, Holdings Government Minister

  Kellach Brigdomin

  Cain, Army of Pyre, Fifth Squad

  Calder, Imperial Lawyer, Plateau City

  Carrie, Army of Pyre, Fifth Squad

  Cody, Army of Pyre, Ninth Squad

  Kallek, Army of Pyre, Fifth Squad

  Koreen, Old Rebel

  Lennox, Army of Pyre, Fifth Squad

  Libby, Army of Pyre, Fifth Squad

  Logie, Army of Pyre, Fifth Squad

  Loryn, Army of Pyre, Fifth Squad

  Bridget, Empress of the World

  Buller, Old Officer

  Darine, Army of Pyre, Fifth Squad

  Daryl, Young Courtier

  Dean, Professor, University, Plateau City

  Dyam, Imperial Herald

  Rahain

  Foryun, Restaurateur

  Laodoc, Karalyn's Tutor

  Nyane, Chief Engineer of the Empire

  Tiadon, Stone Mage

  Rakanese

  Arlo, Prime Minister, Amatskouri

  Dana, Seasonal Worker

  Kerri, Ravi's Girlfriend

  Olin, Imperial Lawyer, Plateau City

  Ravi, Clay Mage, Amatskouri

  Seda, Clay Mage, Plateau City

  Yanin, Ravi's Sister

  The Peoples of the Star Continent

  There are five distinct peoples inhabiting the Star Continent. Three are descended from apes, one from reptiles, and one from amphibians. Their evolutionary trajectories have converged, and all five are clearly ‘humanoid’, though physical differences remain.

  1.The Holdings – the closest to our own world’s Homo sapiens. Excepting the one in ten of the population with mage powers, they are completely human. The Holdings sub-continent drifted south from the equator, and the people that inhabit the Realm are dark-skinned as a consequence. They are shorter than the Kellach Brigdomin, but taller than the Rakanese.

  2.The Rakanese – descended from amphibians, but appear human, except for the fact that they have slightly larger eyes, and are generally shorter than Holdings people. They are descendants of a far larger population that once covered a vast area, and consequently their skin-colour ranges from pale to dark. Mothers gestate their young for only four months, before giving birth in warm spawn-pools, where the infants swim and feed for a further five months. A dozen are born in an average spawning.

  3.The Rahain – descended from reptiles. Appear human, except for two differences. Firstly, their eyes have vertical pupils, and are often coloured yellow or green, and, secondly, their tongues have a vestigial fork or cleft at their tip. Their heights are comparable to the Holdings and the Sanang. Skin-colour tends to be pale, as the majority are cavern-dwellers. Their skin retains a slight appearance of scales, and they have no fingerprints. They are the furthest from our world’s humans.

  4.The Kellach Brigdomin – descended from apes, and very similar to the Holdings, they are the second closest to our world’s humans. Their distinguishing traits are height (they are the tallest of the five peoples), pale skin (their sub-continent drifted north from a much colder region), and immunity to most diseases, toxins and illnesses. They are also marked by the fact that mothers give birth to twins in the majority of cases.

  5.The Sanang – descended from apes, but evolved in the forest, rather than on the open plains that produced the Holdings. As a consequence, their upper arms and shoulders are wider and stronger than those of people from the Holdings or Rahain. They are pale-skinned, their sub-continent having arrived from colder climates in the south, and they occupy the same range of heights as the Holdings and Rahain. The males bear some traits of earlier Homo sapiens, such as a sloping forehead and a strong jaw-line, but the brains of the Sanang are as advanced as those of the other four peoples of the continent.

  Contents

  1. Absence

  2. Riot Squad

  3. Clay Mage

  4. Election Day

  5. Day Off

  6. First Holder of the Republic

  7. Coal into Diamonds

  8. The Oath

  9. Family Ties

  10. Mixed Reception

  11. Sable

  12. Issues of Trust

/>   13. The Good Life

  14. Scratch Below

  15. Love Nor Money

  16. Blood on the Cobbles

  17. Dilemma

  18. Head to Head

  19. Strangers

  20. Close to the Throne

  21. Dissonance

  22. After You

  23. By the Fireside

  24. Best Endeavours

  25. Release

  26. Negligent

  27. Trapdoor

  28. Made of Stone

  29. The Bridge

  30. Reprise

  Author’s Notes

  About the Author

  The Magelands Series

  Receive a FREE Magelands Book

  Chapter 1

  Absence

  Hold Fast, Republic of the Holdings – 4th Day, First Third Spring 524

  Screams pierced the stillness of the small, dark room. Karalyn stood frozen, staring at the limp body of her baby brother lying in the cot.

  Her mother picked the infant up, cradling him in her arms. She turned to Karalyn, her eyes wide.

  ‘What have you done?’

  ‘I didn’t mean to hurt him.’

  ‘Strictly speaking,’ said the blind old man sitting on the wagon bench next to her, ‘that’s not true, is it? You probably did mean to hurt him. But that’s not the point, my dear. You were three years old at the time.’

  Karalyn frowned, and gazed out over the vast plains of the Hold Fast estate. There had been rains overnight and the first indications of spring were all around. Poking out through the earth were the thin, green stems of flowers that would, in a third or so, bloom forth to cover the grasslands in a thick carpet of colour.

  She flicked the reins. ‘This is why I didn’t want to talk about it.’

  ‘For four years,’ the old man said, ‘I have done my best to guide and prepare you for the day you step back into the world. Well, my dear, that day is upon us. Not once have I questioned you about the events in your teens that led to your self-imposed exile, but in a few hours you will be face to face with your family again, and…’

  ‘Not all of my family, Laodoc,’ she said. ‘Mother isn’t there.’

  ‘True,’ the old man said, ‘but your father will be, as well as your brothers, and your sister.’

  ‘Keir’s never forgiven me,’ she said. ‘He hates me.’

  ‘Things may have changed,’ Laodoc said. ‘It’s been four years. He was only eleven when you last saw him.’

  Karalyn shook her head. ‘I know he still hates me.’

  The old man frowned but said nothing.

  ‘I see them in my dreams,’ she went on. ‘I can’t help it. I don’t go looking, it just happens. I’m blocked from entering his mind, but I can still hear what he says, especially to Kelsey. They both hate me.’

  ‘Your sister did always take her big brother’s side.’

  ‘And they’re both bullying Corthie again,’ she said, ‘which father does nothing about. I suppose I’ll be expected to fix that as well.’

  ‘This is most unlike you, my dear,’ Laodoc said. ‘Where is the confident young woman I have been tutoring all these years? Self pity does not become you.’

  She scowled at him.

  ‘I may be blind,’ he said, ‘but I can still tell when you’re pulling a face at me.’

  She passed the reins to her right hand and lit a cigarette.

  ‘Your father won’t be happy,’ Laodoc said, ‘to learn that you’re still smoking. I promised him I’d try to get you to stop, but you’re a stubborn young lady.’ He frowned. ‘Like your mother.’

  ‘Please don’t compare me to her.’

  ‘It’s hard not to. You don’t see it, of course, but you do share a few traits.’

  ‘My mother is a killer,’ Karalyn said. ‘I’m not.’

  ‘It was wartime, my dear,’ Laodoc said. ‘A long time ago, and I don’t think she’s drawn her sword since. Perhaps it’s best that she won’t be there when we arrive. This way, you won’t have to see everyone at once.’

  ‘I’ve changed my mind,’ she said. ‘We should go round the estate. We don’t need to go home.’

  ‘What, and leave the Holdings without saying goodbye? It would break your father’s heart.’

  ‘I don’t know why,’ she said. ‘He’s the one who should hate me the most.’

  ‘Wait until you have children,’ Laodoc said, a faint smile on his lips; ‘then you’ll understand.’

  ‘I’m never having children. Do you think I want to pass this curse on to someone else?’

  A slight breeze picked up and Karalyn shielded her eyes from the dust. The pair of large geldings pulling their wagon tossed their manes as she urged them on; sending thoughts of soothing encouragement into their minds. Sometimes she preferred being in the heads of beasts, compared to the bewildering complexity of emotion and thought she found inside people when she looked into their eyes. She gazed at Laodoc. He was perfect. His blindness kept her out of his head, so she could never be tempted to pry into his thoughts and memories, or see what lay in store for him in his future.

  ‘Your powers have always been a burden to you,’ he said after some time, ‘especially when you were little and lacked self-control. But you have grown out of it; you have made it to adulthood.’

  She shook her head. ‘I don’t want anyone to have the same childhood as me. I nearly killed my brother, and I almost split up my parents. No wonder they kept sending me away. I have no friends, and have no idea how to make any. No one will ever trust me.’

  ‘Excuse me, young lady,’ Laodoc said, his tongue flickering out, ‘but I am your friend. More than that, you are like family to me. You may have hated the last four years, living alone in the desert with no one but a blind old man for company, but I loved every minute of it. You were a wonderful student. I think I also gained an insight into what kind of person you would have been without your powers, and let me tell you, you have nothing to be ashamed of. I am as proud of you as I would be of my own daughter.’

  Karalyn looked away before her eyes could begin to well. She shook her head. She had hated most of the previous four years, stuck in the cabin on the edge of the desert with nothing to do all day but go for walks or read a book from Laodoc’s inexhaustible supply. He had often made her read aloud, especially from books on history or science, sitting by the fire at night, drinking tea. She smiled. It wasn’t the way most people spent their teenage years, but then most people didn’t have the power to scour minds.

  ‘Keir was six before he could speak,’ she said. ‘Did you know that?’

  Laodoc nodded. ‘Yes, but he has caught up now. He’ll be sixteen this autumn. A young man.’

  ‘He had nightmares for years. Maybe still has them. Tantrums, biting, screaming. All my fault.’

  ‘What’s done is done, Karalyn,’ said Laodoc, an edge in his voice. ‘I insist that you cease wallowing immediately. You cannot be held responsible for something you did when you were three years old.’

  ‘And what about what I did when I was thirteen, does that count?’

  ‘Are you trying to convince me that you are wicked? I know you’re not. You did make a terrible mistake however, but you also confessed and apologised. You’re eighteen now. Would you do it again?’

  ‘Of course not.’

  ‘Then you have learned.’ He turned to face her. ‘Now, I think it’s time you sent word ahead that we shall be arriving soon. Best give them some time to prepare.’

  ‘Fine,’ she said.

  She relaxed her focus, and allowed her sight to break free of her body. As it hurtled across the plains towards the Holdfast family home, she wondered who to contact. She smiled.

  ‘Look at you!’ Celine gasped, putting a hand to her mouth as she stood on the back porch of the mansion. ‘The last time I saw you, you were a scrawny kid, now you’re a beautiful young lady.’

  Karalyn cringed. ‘Hi, Aunty.’

  She climbed down from the wagon, while h
andlers began to unharness the geldings. She gazed at the large house, its white stone shining in the bright sunlight. She raised a hand to help Laodoc descend the wooden steps to the ground, and put her arm round his.

  ‘Is that the voice of Mistress Celine Holdfast I hear?’ he asked, smiling.

  ‘It is, Mister Laodoc,’ she beamed back. ‘Come up onto the porch; there are refreshments ready.’

  Karalyn led the old man up the wide stairs and into the shade of the porch.

  ‘And so tall,’ said Celine, gazing up at her.

  Laodoc laughed. ‘Holdings looks, Kellach height.’

  ‘Just wait until you see Keir,’ Celine said. ‘That boy’s sprung up over the last year or two, mind you so has Corthie. Poor little Kelsey must get a sore neck from constantly peering up at her brothers.’

  There was a low table with a tray of drinks, and Celine gestured to it.

  ‘Lunch is being prepared inside for you,’ she said. ‘I’ve managed to herd the children together.’

  Karalyn picked up a glass of iced tea for Laodoc and passed it to him.