Sacrifice Read online

  ‘All those who love the Holdings should care about the empire,’ Godfrey said, lighting a cigarette, and refilling their glasses. ‘You must have seen the poverty on your way here. The Emperor has bled the River Holdings dry of recruits and supplies.’

  ‘We avoided the towns,’ Daphne said. ‘Came up the old coast road.’

  ‘But you saw the empty fields when you entered the estate?’

  Daphne nodded .

  ‘The imperial army took every fighting-age horse we had. Every one, Daphne.’ He paused, and sipped his rum. ‘And didn’t pay a penny.’

  ‘The army didn’t pay us?’

  ‘Not a single coin. Nothing but promises of payment from future campaigns. But against whom? The recruitment has gone well beyond the simple replacement of the old alliance field army that was destroyed at the Sanang frontier. The Emperor is assembling a truly stupendous force, about as large as the Sanang horde that invaded on Winter’s Day.’

  Daphne said nothing.

  ‘So,’ Godfrey went on, ‘what does the Emperor intend to do with his new army? Rahain is finally settling down, and Governor Ghorley already has his own army; he doesn’t need any help. To send an army of that size to Sanang would seem pointless, considering that as much as a third of its men-folk were slaughtered last year.’

  ‘That many?’ said Killop.

  ‘Indeed,’ Godfrey replied. ‘Your sister left half of Sanang ablaze before she invaded the Plateau, and her entire army, some hundred thousand strong, was annihilated outside the walls of the imperial capital by the Emperor himself, if the tales are true.’

  ‘So what does he want?’ Daphne said.

  ‘Come now, Daffie, you must have heard.’

  She shook her head.

  ‘Mages. He wants mages.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I’ve heard whispers, from sources deep within the capital, that the Emperor had the Lord Vicar murder five mages as some kind of sordid sacrifice, in order to steal their powers.’

  ‘The news-teller said that the Creator had given him those powers.’

  ‘Maybe, but it also required the deaths of five mages, one from each land.’

  ‘But if he’s got all those powers,’ Daphne said, ‘why is he looking for more mages?’

  ‘I don’t know. Maybe he wants even more power. But there’s no doubt, every one of his proclamations since defeating the fire witch has been repeating the same message: all high mages must report to the imperial capital. As far as the Holdings are concerned, that means anyone with inner-vision and above.’

  He held Daphne’s gaze for a moment.

  ‘With your return,’ he said, ‘I am in breach of the law. Knowingly harbouring a high mage. And I’d imagine the imperial authorities might also want to question the brother of the lately-deceased fire witch, to ask if you know the whereabouts of her corpse.’

  ‘What?’ Killop said, his eyes narrowing.

  ‘It’s gone missing, you see,’ Godfrey said. ‘Thousands up on the city walls watched her die, but apparently it was dark when scouts went out to look for the body, and by the time they got there it had disappeared.’

  ‘Thousands saw her die?’ Daphne said.

  ‘Half the city claim to have watched it happen. The Emperor is furious, he wants the body back. The chief suspects are Keira-worshippers among the Kellach living in the capital. The latest imperial edict has demanded that they hand over the body, or soldiers will go in to retrieve it.’

  ‘Worshippers?’

  ‘The Sanang treated her as a god,’ Godfrey said. ‘Keira kill-kill.’

  Killop bowed his head. ‘They won’t find the body,’ he said. ‘She’s still alive.’

  Godfrey’s eyes widened. ‘You know this for certain?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Hmm,’ Godfrey said. ‘Regardless, the Emperor looks like he’s going to assault the Kellach quarter in Plateau City soon. He might be using the body as a pretext, but his true aim is, I believe, to scour the area for any hidden mages.’

  Killop turned to see Godfrey staring at him, and he felt an odd sensation behind his temples.

  ‘Father!’ Daphne said.

  He flinched away, a look of confusion on his face.

  Daphne glared at him. ‘Trying to read Killop’s mind without asking? That’s very rude. ’

  Godfrey’s mouth hung open. ‘How did you know? And how did you stop me?’

  Daphne smiled, but her eyes remained cold.

  ‘Killop’s an honest man,’ she said. ‘If you want to know something, all you need do is ask.’

  Godfrey took a gulp of rum. ‘I have never felt power like it. Never in my life. Daphne, my beloved daughter, I feel proud and slightly terrified at the same time.’

  ‘I learned a lot while I was away.’

  Godfrey chuckled, and refilled their glasses.

  ‘Now, tell me everything. I want to know what my little girl’s been up to.’

  Chapter 2

  World’s End

  W estgate, Domm Pass – 14 th Day, First Third Summer 507

  ‘Keira, ya lazy cow,’ the voice cried. ‘Get yer arse out here, the place is filling up.’

  ‘Aye,’ she muttered, as she lay sprawled over the bed, a multitude of blankets wrapped round her.

  She closed her eyes, and began snoring.

  ‘Don’t you think you should get up?’ another voice said. ‘They’ve been banging on your door for an hour.’

  Keira cracked open an eye and squinted at the young man sitting on the bed next to her.

  ‘Who the fuck are you?’

  His face fell. ‘Do ye not remember last night?’

  ‘No,’ she said, closing her eyes again. ‘Did we fuck?’

  ‘You were too out of it. Had to carry you onto the bed.’

  ‘And ye never took advantage of me?’

  ‘Of course not.’

  Keira peered under the blankets, and saw she was still in her clothes from the night before.

  ‘Just as well,’ she grunted.

  ‘Can I see you again? ’

  ‘Are ye not looking at me right now?’

  ‘Well, aye, but what I mean is, would you at all be interested…?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘But…’

  ‘Are ye fucking deaf? Now fuck off and give me some peace. I’m trying to sleep off a bastard of a hangover.’

  She heard the young man get up and walk to the door. He unbarred the lock and swung it open.

  ‘Fuck,’ Keira yelled. ‘Wait, don’t open the… Shit.’

  Another man, dark haired and angry-looking, strode into the room as the other left.

  ‘What the fuck are you doing still in bed?’ he cried. ‘Get yer arse out front. There’s a whole crowd waiting. Kelpie’s going fucking mental.’

  ‘Aye, aye,’ Keira mumbled, swinging her legs off the bed. ‘I need to fucking wash first.’

  ‘No time for that,’ the man said. ‘Folk are starting to leave, they’re saying that you’re not coming today.’

  ‘I could do with a day off, right enough.’

  ‘Ye get one every ten days. You’ve got seven to go.’

  ‘Yer a fucking slave driver, Kendrie,’ she said. ‘Not like the sweet young man I used to know.’

  She stood, swayed, then staggered to a bucket of water atop a small table. She splashed her face, and bowed her head, her mind swimming. The days were blurring into one. She opened a small pouch by the bucket and took a look inside. At the bottom were three small weedsticks, all she had left. She had managed to stock up when they had run into a band of Sanang bandits as they had been crossing the Plateau, but the supply was almost done.

  She picked up one of the remaining weedsticks and took a match from the box on the table. She lit it and sat back onto the bed.

  Kendrie sighed. ‘Five minutes?’

  She nodded.

  Her headache started to fade, and she felt life course through her.

  ‘I thought this would be
your dream job. ’

  She looked up.

  ‘It is, Flora,’ she said, ‘but it takes me a wee bit to get going each day.’

  The Holdings woman smiled. ‘It’s beautiful outside. The warmest I’ve felt it since we got here. I might even take my coat off for a bit later, if the wind quietens down.’

  ‘You never know,’ said Keira, ‘it might be one of the three days a year it doesn’t rain in Domm.’

  Flora nodded, then frowned. ‘Who was that I saw coming out of your room?’

  ‘That guy?’ Keira said. ‘Fuck knows.’

  The Holdings woman turned away.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ Keira smirked. ‘Did ye fancy him for yourself?’

  ‘No.’

  Keira frowned. ‘Yer a strange woman at times, Flora.’

  She nicked the weedstick halfway down, and put the unburnt end behind her ear for later. She got to her feet and stretched.

  ‘Right,’ she said, ‘let’s get back to work.’

  ‘So there I was, staring up at thousands of fucking flying lizard carriages, just like the ones those wee bastards used to invade Kell and Brig. The entire fucking Sanang army was hungover to fuck, seeing how we’d just stolen a shitload of wine, and…’

  ‘What’s wine?’ said a voice from the listening crowd.

  ‘Booze that tastes like sour juice,’ Keira went on. She held up her glass of whisky. ‘Not as good as this, mind, but drink enough and it’ll mangle ye all the same.’

  The patrons of the packed tavern laughed.

  Keira glanced at the woman who had spoken.

  ‘If ye interrupt me again, hen, I’ll fucking brain ye. Stick yer hand up if ye’ve got questions.’

  The woman nodded, her eyes wide.

  Keira took a drink. ‘Where the fuck was I? Oh aye. The Sanang army were sleeping off this massive session we’d had the day before, and so it was all up to me to save their arses. The first wave of carriages were smashing into the army. One of them smacked right into my fucking tent, whack! If I hadnae been up drinking it would have smeared me right across the hillside. Every fucker was running about, panicking and screaming like bairns, and I was like, “cool it, ya fuds, I’ve got it under control.” Then I raised my arms, and made this great big cloud of fire, and shot down every one of those flying bastards from the sky…’

  ‘Bullshit,’ muttered someone.

  Keira narrowed her eyes and scanned the crowd. At a table to her left, past where Flora sat next to her, was a group of young travellers, a mixture of young men and women. A few were laughing, and most wore sceptical expressions.

  ‘Are you calling me a liar?’

  ‘Just enjoying your stories,’ one grinned. ‘Carry on.’

  Keira scowled. ‘They’re not fucking stories.’ She gazed over the rest of the full tavern. To her right sat a large group of regulars, who came every day to hear her speak, and even though she had recycled her tales several times over, the stupid bastards never seemed to get enough. The rest of the tavern was filled with travellers, mostly those arriving as refugees from Rahain or the Plateau, on their way down to the new settlements in the Domm lowlands, or merchants, carrying their wares to the numerous towns and communities spreading across the long Domm Pass. Everyone was watching her, waiting for her words.

  ‘What happened next?’ said one.

  Keira finished her whisky, and held out her glass to Flora, who re-filled it.

  ‘I killed them all.’

  The crowd hushed, waiting, but Keira said nothing more.

  ‘She lit up the night sky,’ Flora said. ‘I was there, I saw it. Hundreds of burning carriages fell, and crashed into the fields in front of the army, it was like nothing…’

  ‘Who are you?’ shouted someone.

  ‘She’s my wee white-faced witch,’ Keira said .

  ‘But she’s dark-skinned.’

  Keira shrugged. ‘You had to be there.’

  The crowd began to glance at each other as Keira drank her whisky in silence.

  ‘And then?’ said someone. ‘Did you go to the capital of the Plateau?’

  ‘I’m bored,’ Keira said. ‘That’s enough for today.’

  The crowd groaned and complained.

  ‘Tell us more,’ cried someone from her group of regulars.

  ‘Aye,’ said a man from the table on the left. ‘Tell us about the Rakanese camp.’

  Keira glared at him. ‘What the fuck did you say?’

  The tavern quietened.

  ‘Who are the Rakanese?’ asked Bay, one of her regular listeners.

  ‘Never you fucking mind,’ Keira snapped. She gestured to Kendrie. ‘Get that wanker out of here.’

  Kendrie nodded, and he and a couple of other tavern workers approached the group on the left.

  Keira stood, and began shooing the crowds away. ‘We’re done for today.’

  Amid mutterings the people started to disperse, leaving the tavern by its wide front doors.

  ‘Wait!’ called out an older woman. ‘We have an offer on lunch, a free ale for every meal ordered.’

  The woman frowned at the backs of the leaving patrons, and within a minute the tavern was quiet, with just a few regulars propping up the bar.

  She glared at Keira.

  ‘It’s not my fault,’ Keira said. ‘I’m just not in the fucking mood for it today.’

  ‘Sorry, Miss Kelpie,’ Flora said.

  ‘It’s not your fault, hen,’ Kelpie said. ‘I saw you trying to help.’

  ‘Those guys were arseholes,’ said Bay, approaching Keira’s table with Dora, another of Keira’s regular followers.

  Kelpie frowned at the two young women as they sat next to Keira .

  ‘I told ye girls, we’re done for today,’ Keira said.

  ‘We just want to sit here,’ said Dora. ‘We’ll pay for yer drinks.’

  Keira smirked.

  ‘Don’t worry yourself, lass,’ Kelpie said. ‘Keira gets her food, drink and rooms for her and her two friends all paid for, and all she has to do it speak to folk for a few hours each day.’ She sat at the table next to Flora and poured herself a whisky. ‘And let’s see, ye managed a whole twenty minutes today. Still, better than yesterday.’

  ‘Don’t give me yer shite,’ Keira said. ‘The money Agang’s bringing in more than pays for me and Flora.’

  Kelpie frowned. ‘Not in front of company, please.’

  ‘Where is he, anyway?’ Flora said.

  ‘Working,’ Kelpie said. ‘He’ll be finished soon.’

  Keira pulled the half-smoked weedstick from behind her ear and lit it.

  ‘A large group will be passing by on their way to the lowlands this evening,’ Kelpie said.

  ‘So?’

  ‘Well,’ Kelpie said, ‘to make up for this lunchtime, I’ll need you to speak to them.’

  ‘No fucking way,’ Keira said. ‘I’m getting rat-arsed.’

  ‘It’s too late, I’ve already put out word on the road that you’ll be here this evening. They’ll burn the place down if you don’t show up, and then where would you sleep, or get your booze?’

  Keira glared at the older woman as she finished her whisky and got to her feet.

  ‘See you this evening,’ Kelpie said, and walked away.

  ‘We should get some sleep,’ said Flora. ‘It’s going to be a long night.’

  When Keira stumbled back into the tavern it was quiet, with a handful of patrons sitting drinking. The shutters had been opened along the entire western wall, and the sky was lit with shades of peach and red as the sun fell over the lowlands beyond the high pass where the tavern perched.

  Agang was sitting alone at a table by the windows, watching the vast sunset.

  Keira and Flora joined him, and a bar-boy brought over ales.

  ‘Such beauty,’ Agang said, his face shining in the reflected glow.

  ‘Aye, it’s braw,’ Keira said, taking a drink.

  ‘You been busy?’ Flora said.

  Agang nod
ded.

  ‘You look exhausted.’

  ‘I am. I must have mended a dozen broken bones today.’

  ‘Get paid well?’ Keira said.

  He frowned. ‘Using my powers for money is wrong. And besides, the Kellach barely require a healer. Your people don’t get diseases, and recover quickly from accidents. It’s been mostly alcohol-related injuries that I’ve been fixing. An ignoble use of my gifts.’

  ‘Quit whining,’ Keira said. ‘It’s only while we settle in and decide what to do.’

  Flora pulled her eyes from the sunset to gaze at Keira. ‘You mean you don’t intend to stay here at Kelpie’s?’

  ‘Are we going back to the Plateau?’ Agang said.

  ‘Probably not, and definitely not,’ Keira said. ‘In that order.’

  ‘I thought the plan was to keep our heads down,’ Flora said. ‘Every day that passes, more people learn who you are. Soon the whole of Domm will be aware that Keira the fire mage has returned.’

  ‘Aye,’ Keira said. ‘Kelpie’s got it into her head that that’s a good thing.’

  ‘But the Emperor will come looking if he finds out you’re down here.’

  ‘Come on,’ Keira said. ‘We’re at the arse end of fucking nowhere. More folk are still coming here, but nobody’s leaving. And even if someone did, and walked all the way back to Rainsby, and started telling folk there was a drunken woman in Domm claiming to be me, no one would fucking believe it anyway. ’

  Flora and Agang shared a glance.

  ‘So,’ Agang said, ‘are you considering the offer the Domm Council made you?’

  ‘Nah,’ Keira said. ‘I must have told ye a hundred fucking times, I’ll not be using my powers again, not ever. That’s the one thing guaranteed to get the Emperor’s attention.’

  ‘So what are we going to do?’ Flora asked.

  Keira shrugged.

  Kendrie walked over.

  ‘Evening,’ he said. ‘You wanting fed?’

  ‘Aye,’ Keira said.

  Kendrie nodded and turned to go.

  ‘And bring us a bottle of whisky,’ Keira smirked.

  Kendrie frowned.

  ‘Get her it,’ Kelpie called over from the bar. ‘Agang’s more than earned their pay today.’

  ‘Fine,’ Kendrie said.