The Magelands Epic: Storm Mage (Book 6)

by Christopher Mitchell

  ‘But what if they run out of volunteers?’

  ‘The empire’s massive; there must be enough idiots out there stupid enough to sign up.’ She paused, as her friends laughed. ‘Wasn’t meaning you, obviously.’

  ‘Look,’ said another, ‘we’re not cowards. We’re ready to fight if we have to, but Rainsby has a set of bloody jaws that’ll rip you up and spit you out. I pity the poor bastards stuck out there, but I don’t want to be one of them.’

  ‘Whatever I decide to do,’ Keir said, signalling to a waitress for more ale, ‘today, I intend to get drunk. And,’ he said, glancing at the woman holding the finished stick of dreamweed, ‘maybe something to smoke. I have gold, if you’ve any to sell.’

  ‘I might do,’ she said, smiling as she lit it.

  ‘What’s an ounce going for in the Kellach quarter?’

  ‘Ten silver.’

  Keir frowned. That was more than he had been charged in Holdfast. He glanced at her eyes, and entered her mind. In an instant, he perceived that she was lying to him; over-charging him by two coins.

  ‘Why are you treating me like a peasant?’ he said. ‘I’ll give you six.’

  ‘Eight.’

  ‘Deal. Can I try it first?’ he said, pointing at the dreamweed in her fingers.

  She passed it to him and he inhaled. Nodding, he counted out eight silver pieces and put them onto the table in front of her.

  ‘Be careful, ya numpty,’ she said. ‘If the staff see, then the owner will want his cut. Yer supposed to have permission to sell in taverns, don’t you know anything?’

  Keir’s face fell.

  ‘Quickly,’ said one of the woman’s friends, her eyes scanning the garden. ‘There’s no one around.’

  The woman took a packet from a bag on the table and threw it to Keir, then slid the silver into her purse. Keir put the packet into his belt, annoyed that she had made him look stupid.

  ‘Hello, brother,’ said a voice to his right. ‘Oh, how lovely, I see you’ve made new friends.’

  Keir groaned as Kelsey sat down on the bench beside him.

  ‘I’m his sister,’ she announced to the young women. ‘Did you know he’s only sixteen?’

  The woman who had sold him the weed blinked. The friends nodded to each other, stood, and within a few seconds they had left the tavern’s garden.

  ‘Thanks a lot, brat,’ Keir said. ‘I was getting along well with them. I think the blonde one liked me.’

  ‘It was all in your mind,’ Kelsey said. ‘Buy me a beer?’

  ‘No way.’

  ‘Having fun?’

  ‘Until you turned up. How did you find me, and how did you get out of the fortress?’

  ‘You think you’re smart, but you’re actually quite predictable. It was just a matter of searching every ale garden in the Kellach quarter. Father thought you might have gone to Duncan Park, but I was right.’

  ‘Father?’

  ‘Of course. Did you think I sneaked out, like you?’

  ‘He let you out on your own?’

  She looked at him like he was stupid. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. He came with me. He’s standing over there.’ She pointed beyond the garden wall, where the tall figure of their father was leaning in the shade of a tree. ‘And let me tell you, he is not happy.’

  ‘Shit,’ Keir muttered. He glared at his sister. ‘You miserable little bitch, I’ll make you pay for this.’

  ‘Oh my,’ Kelsey said, putting a hand to her brow. ‘Threats.’ She laughed. ‘You’ve really done it this time. Father was going to let you stay in the Holdfast townhouse for a few days, so you could enjoy yourself a bit before we leave. He was keeping it a surprise; and just as he was arranging a guard for you, you ran away. Again. Well, you can forget that now.’

  Keir lowered his head, cursing his luck.

  ‘Come on, then,’ she said. ‘He’s waiting for us.’

  They got to their feet, and Kelsey led the way, Keir shuffling after her. Killop turned to them as they left the garden, his face steady, but his eyes simmering.

  ‘It wasn’t my fault,’ said Keir. ‘I didn’t know what you had planned. You should have told me.’

  ‘You ungrateful little bastard,’ Killop cried, attracting the attention of the drinkers in the garden. ‘It’s never your fault, is it?’ He swore in the Kellach tongue, using words he never would have said in front of Keir’s mother.

  Kelsey sniggered.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ said Keir.

  ‘You can forget leaving the fortress again until we leave,’ Killop said, calming. ‘It’s back to training.’

  ‘But can I not stay in the townhouse? I said I was sorry, what more do you want?’

  ‘No, you blew your chance.’

  ‘I hate you!’ shouted Keir. ‘Leave me alone.’

  He turned and ran down the street. It was his father’s fault; he had pushed him away.

  ‘Keir!’ he heard his father call behind him, but he ignored it and kept running, speeding through the streets of the Kellach quarter. He slowed as he entered a narrower alley, and glanced around, trying to get his bearings. High, six-storey tenements towered on either side of him; a thick line of blue marking the sky overhead.

  He kicked a stone against a wall, and began retracing his steps. Ahead, he noticed someone standing in his way, silhouetted by the light of a street lantern. He glanced up, and gasped. It was the woman in the white gown from the gates of the Great Fortress. The one who had smiled at him.

  ‘Holdfast,’ she said.

  ‘What?’ he said. ‘Do you know me?’

  ‘Your family is a pestilence; an aberration that must be cleansed.’

  He squinted at her through the dim shadows of the alleyway. ‘Look, I’ve never met you before. If my mother has done something to offend you, then that’s not my problem.’

  ‘Your sister murdered Belinda; your brother killed Gregor. How?’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  She frowned, and raised her right hand. ‘Tell me and I’ll make your end quick.’

  Keir swallowed. Was she joking with him? He glanced around, to check if anyone else was there, but the alley was empty.

  ‘Your family has a power,’ she said. ‘How did they come by it?’

  He tensed his legs, ready to make a run for it, and she swept her arm up. The oil-fire within the street lantern exploded, sending flames spraying through the air. She twisted her fingers and the flames joined together into a spiralling mass, which she sent over Keir’s head. It smashed into the side of the tenement behind him and the wooden-framed building took up the flames, blocking his escape.

  A fire mage. But how? She wasn’t Kellach Brigdomin.

  She stretched her hand out as if reaching for something and he felt a tightness grip his chest. He froze to the spot, barely daring to breathe as the grip held him fast. She approached, staring into his eyes. He should do something, he knew, but the pressure round his chest was restricting him, as if a giant paw was squeezing the life from his body. The heat from the fire behind him was growing, and cries of alarm called out from within the tenement.

  ‘What do you want?’ he gasped.

  ‘You know what I want,’ she said, only a yard from him. ‘Your secrets, then your death.’

  Out of nowhere, his father appeared behind her. He grabbed her arms, lifted her from the ground and threw her against the wall of the tenement, cracking her head off the stone blocks. She slumped to the ground, blood seeping down her neck as she lay on the cobbles.

  Keir collapsed to his knees, the grip on his chest released. He coughed, his breath an agony.

  ‘Come on,’ his father said. ‘The fire’s spreading.’

  ‘Who was she?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘You killed her.’

  ‘She was about to kill you, son. I had no choice.’

  Kelsey ran out of the shadows towards them, then halted, her eyes staring at the woman lying on the cobbles.
<
br />   She screamed.

  Keir glanced over, and saw the woman struggle to her feet, the side of her head covered in blood. She raised her hand, rage in her eyes. Killop pushed Keir out of the way and charged at her. He knocked her off her feet and they fell to the cobbles together. Keir stared, his mouth open, as Kelsey grabbed his arm.

  ‘Run, you fucking idiot!’ she cried. The fire was raging behind him, spreading up the side of the tenement, and bathing the alley in a red glow of flame. Kelsey pulled his arm, dragging him away from the fire, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the sight of his father and the woman. She was back on her feet, and quick; as quick as Keir’s mother using battle-vision. Killop caught her with a punch to her chin that would have flattened a gaien, and her head lolled back, but at the same time her fingers reached for his face.

  Kelsey kicked down a back door and pulled Keir through.

  ‘No,’ he cried. ‘We must help father...’

  His words tailed away, consumed by the roar of the fire, as the woman’s fingertips touched Killop’s cheek. He let out an agonised cry, then his eyes rolled up into his head, and he toppled to the ground, his chest still.

  ‘It’s too late,’ said Kelsey, tears running down her face. ‘He saved us, don’t waste it.’

  She pushed him into the tenement and closed the door. Keir fell to his knees.

  ‘No.’

  Kelsey was sitting at the door, her eye pressed to the keyhole.

  ‘She’s back up. She’s looking for us, but the fires are growing, and I can hear footsteps coming up the alley.’

  ‘You can’t hide forever, Holdfast,’ the woman shouted from the street. ‘I will find every one of your family, and I will kill them all.’

  ‘She’s leaving,’ said Kelsey. ‘She’s gone.’

  Keir pushed her aside and peered through the keyhole. His face crumpled at the sight of his father lying dead on the cobbles. He looked at peace, but the flames were licking the soles of his boots. Keir grabbed the door handle, his eyes stinging with tears.

  ‘Stop,’ said Kelsey.

  ‘What? We can’t leave him lying on the road.’

  ‘She could be out there waiting for us.’

  ‘Then we have to go and get help.’

  ‘From where? You saw what she can do. Fire, battle-vision, and she killed father just by touching him; she’s no ordinary mage.’

  ‘We need to back to the fortress.’

  ‘What, and lead her to the Empress? She’s wants us, Keir, and she’ll go through anyone to get us.’

  ‘You want to run away again?’

  ‘We have to, brother.’

  ‘But people will think I killed him.’

  Kelsey shook her head. ‘They’ll think we died in the flames.’

  She stood, took his hand, and began dragging him through the dark tenement close.

  ‘Where will we go?’ he whispered, his mind numb.

  ‘I don’t know; where would no one think to look for us?’

  ‘A place we’d have to be insane to go.’

  ‘Aye,’ said Kelsey. ‘You thought of somewhere?’

  He nodded, and let her lead him on.

  An hour later, two hooded figures made their way through the bustling harbour by the Old Town. Far to their left, a thin pillar of smoke was rising from the Kellach quarter. Keir kept his eyes turned away from it, knowing that his resolve could break at any second. He had never felt so lost, and without Kelsey, would have given up long before. His sister’s eyes were grim, and she had a look on her face that he recognised, the one she wore when she had determined to finish something, no matter the effort it took.

  They approached a pier where three merchant galleys were tied up. One was preparing to leave, and Kelsey strode over to the gangplank.

  ‘Going to Rainsby?’ she said to the Rakanese sailor standing there.

  ‘That we are, miss.’

  ‘Good. Do you have space for two passengers?’

  The sailor raised an eyebrow, glancing at her, then turned his gaze to Keir, who was standing behind Kelsey, his head lowered.

  ‘You in some kind of trouble?’

  ‘No,’ she said, ‘we just want to visit our relatives in Rainsby for a few days. We can pay.’

  The sailor grinned. ‘Can you now? It ain’t cheap.’

  Kelsey thrust a purse of gold into the sailor’s hands. He opened it and his eyes lit up.

  ‘That enough for a cabin?’ she said.

  The sailor glanced around the pier, then slipped the purse into his tunic.

  ‘Where are your bags?’

  ‘Oops,’ said Kelsey. ‘We must have left them at home.’

  The sailor smirked, and gestured to the gangway. ‘This way, miss, sir.’

  He led them up the slim plank and onto the deck of the ship. They walked round the busy sailors working by the base of the main mast and headed towards a narrow staircase. They descended into the bowels of the ship, where the sailor took them to a tiny room in the stern, barely wide enough for two hammocks.

  ‘Here you go,’ he said. ‘Don’t leave this cabin until I tell you; I’ll need to speak to the captain. She’s going to kick my arse for this, well, at least until I share half the gold with her.’

  Kelsey and Keir entered the small room, and the sailor closed the door behind them. Kelsey fell to the floor, her head in her hands, weeping and shaking. Keir put a hand on her shoulder, but he could think of nothing to say that would make it better, nothing to dispel the nightmare that had overtaken them. He crouched down next to her and hugged her. She felt small and weak in his arms, and her tears tore at his heart.

  He thought of his father lying dead on the cobbles, and then an image of his mother appeared in his mind. She would believe that she had lost half her family in a single day.

  She had, he realised, as tears came to his own eyes.

  The ship began to move; a fact that went unnoticed by the two Holdfast children embracing each other in the darkness, lost in their tears.

  Chapter 21

  Deep Underground

  Rahain Capital, Rahain Republic – 4th Day, Second Third Summer 525

  Where was he?

  Karalyn gazed up at the crowds in the busy marketplace, her ten-year old heart pounding in panic. Adult Kellach Brigdomin passed by on either side, talking, shopping, or looking through the stalls of fresh produce. Unfamiliar smells and sounds assaulted her and she edged backwards, bumping into someone.

  ‘Careful, love,’ said a tall woman, ‘Watch where yer going.’

  She had only taken her eyes off him for a second, distracted by an enormous ginger tomcat that she had stopped to stroke. He had hissed at her and bolted, then she had looked up and her father had disappeared, vanished into the crowd of strangers.

  ‘You alright, hen?’ said an old man to her. ‘Yer not lost, are ye?’

  She gazed at him, but her powers were tensed, and she accidentally barged into his mind, trampling all over his thoughts.

  ‘Ow!’ he cried, rubbing his forehead.

  She tried to apologise, but the man hurried away. Her fear surged, and she started to cry. She knew nothing of the Kellach town, hundreds of miles away from her home in the Holdings. Everyone looked different to her; their skin was pale, and their hair light; and their voices boomed out in a cacophony of noise around her.

  She felt a hand on her shoulder and almost jumped a foot.

  ‘It’s alright,’ her father said, crouching by her. ‘You’re safe. I’m right here.’

  She threw her arms around him. ‘Don’t leave me, daddy.’

  ‘Don’t worry, wee bear. I’ll never leave you.’

  Karalyn woke in the dark underground chamber, her breathing quick. She shook her head. Just a dream. She lay back down again on the thin layer of blankets, trying to get comfortable. She thought back to her trip to Kellach Brigdomin, made with her father almost ten years before. She had got lost in the market of Severton, the settlement where everyone called her fathe
r ‘chief’. Back in the Holdings, he had just been her father, but there he had been welcomed like a returning king, with parties thrown in his honour every night of their stay. People she had never met before had made long speeches about all the amazing things her father had done, and Karalyn had listened, her heart bursting with pride and love.

  She remembered thinking that maybe her father would want to stay there forever, because why would he want to leave somewhere that adored him? That would have been fine with Karalyn, as long as she was allowed to stay with him. No one liked her at home, anyway. She cried for days when they finally began their long journey back to the Holdings, and it might have been around that time when she had first developed feelings of resentment towards her mother, for keeping her father bound to a life where he was anonymous, instead of being hailed a hero.

  She heard a noise from across the chamber and opened her eyes. Calder was sitting cross-legged on top of his bedroll, lighting a lamp.

  ‘Is it morning?’ she said.

  ‘Aye,’ he said. ‘Roughly. I think.’

  ‘The street lamps have been turned up,’ said Belinda, from where she was standing by the door. ‘I’ve just been to take a look.’

  Calder reached into a bag and withdrew some ryebread and a chunk of salted pork. ‘Breakfast?’

  Belinda sat and took a slice of bread.

  ‘Well,’ said Calder, ‘here we are, then. The Rahain capital, or some forgotten corner of it at least. From what we saw coming in last night, half the city seems deserted.’

  ‘I took us through the least inhabited districts,’ said Karalyn, ‘but you’re right. Dozens of caverns have been abandoned.’

  ‘The one we’re in looks like it hasn’t been occupied for years,’ said Belinda, chewing on the bread.

  Calder cut off a piece of meat for Karalyn with his knife and handed it to her on a slice of bread.

  ‘Thanks,’ she said, though she wasn’t hungry.

  ‘What’s our first move?’ he said.

  ‘Information. We need to find out what’s going in the Rahain government. Ghorley will be difficult to reach.’