The Last Citadel

by Kevin Ashman

  ‘Why?’ sneered Razor, ‘not even you will spear a man in cold blood.’

  ‘Who said anything about spears?’ asked Fatman, ‘we are also educated men, Helzac, and as such, have a far more civilised method of punishment.’ He looked over his shoulder and beckoned another man forward to throw a pile of rope on the floor. Helzac focussed in on the noose at the end of one of the ropes and swallowed in fear.

  ‘No, you wouldn’t,’ he said, ‘on what premise could you possibly condemn us to hang?’

  ‘Treachery,’ said Fatman, ‘despite being allowed to leave, you deliberately returned to kill the saviour.’

  ‘There is no such crime written in the statute,’ said Helzac.

  ‘Then I will add it tonight,’ said Fatman.

  ‘But,’ cried Kelly with panic beginning to rise in his voice, ‘you can’t do that. What about a fair trial?’

  ‘Fair trial?’ sneered Fat man, ‘you’ve just had it. Guilty as charged.’

  With that, the armed men rushed forward and overpowered the council, tying their hands behind their backs.

  ‘Any last words, Governor?’ asked Fatman.

  ‘Yes,’ said Helzac, ‘damn you to hell,’ and spat squarely in the soldier’s face.

  ----

  Slowly the sun rose over the outer walls of Bastion, sending tendrils of creeping warmth onto the few huddled bodies still on the bridge. Kenzo stood up and peered over the edge, instantly jealous of the glimmer of fires through the windows far below.

  ‘Good morning,’ said Petra as she joined him, ‘it looks as if it is almost time.’

  Kenzo watched Braille as he helped the last of the population climb over the edge to descend the ladder.

  ‘I suppose so,’ he said, ‘better wake them up. At least there is food and warmth down there.’

  ‘Okay,’ she said and returned to the three youngsters, still huddled together for warmth against the Pleasure-tower door.

  ‘Amber,’ she said quietly, shaking her by the shoulder, ‘wake up, sweetheart, it’s time to go. You too, Leona.’ The girls woke, though stayed where they were as they came around.

  ‘Are we going down to the houses now?’ asked Lenny, as soon as he woke up.

  ‘Yes we are,’ said Petra, smoothing his hair.

  ‘Are my mother and sister down there?’

  ‘They may be,’ Petra lied, ‘so I need you to be brave and climb down the ladder with me. Can you do that?’

  Lenny nodded.

  ‘I’m not afraid,’ he said, ‘I am good at climbing.’

  ‘Good,’ said Petra. ‘Right then, if we’re all ready, let’s go.’

  They stood up, but before they could go anywhere, a sudden clang from behind the door rang out and they all stepped back in shock.

  ‘What’s that?’ asked Amber.

  ‘It’s the sound of the bolts being withdrawn,’ said Petra, ‘oh my God, there’s someone in there.’

  The door slowly opened and a familiar face peered around the edge. Everyone stared in surprise but the look on the face of Kenzo was one of total confusion.

  ‘Pelosus,’ he said eventually, ‘I thought you were dead.’

  ----

  Fifteen minutes later, Kenzo and the rest of his group sat in a luxurious room of soft furnishings and bright colours, listening to Pelosus tell his horrifying tale of how he faced the creature. Leona was tending his cut face with a bowl of water and a soft cloth.

  ‘Anyway,’ concluded the Stargazer, ‘the thing is, by the time the creature returned from chasing you, I had escaped through the hidden doorway in the panelling and came here via the Catacombs and the chamber of scrolls.’

  ‘Chamber of scrolls?’ queried Kenzo.

  ‘Yes,’ he said, but before he could expand, Petra and Amber returned to the room with platters of food.

  ‘I’m afraid it’s not hot,’ said Petra, ‘as the fires have been left unattended, but at least it is cooked.’

  Kenzo looked at the plates of Narwl steaks and Weed-bread, his mouth watering before noticing the skewered chunks of spiced meat.

  ‘I’ll just have some Narwl,’ he said smiling up at Petra.

  ‘You sure?’ she asked, ‘the spiced steak is particularly delicious.’

  ‘No, I’m fine,’ he said, and watched silently as everyone else dug in, their appetites ravenous after so much time without food. Finally, they sat back and discussed their predicament.

  ‘So,’ said Petra eventually, ‘what is the situation?’

  ‘I’m not quite sure,’ said Pelosus, ‘if what you say is correct, the rest of the Council members have made a stand against Petit and his cronies but at the moment, there is no way of knowing whether they have been successful or not.’

  ‘Even if they manage to kill this thing,’ said Kenzo, ‘I can’t see how Petit will stand back and relinquish everything he has gained over the past two days. The city is more or less in his hands and anyone who dared to stand against him is either dead, or starting a new life down in the other city.’

  ‘We could stay here,’ suggested Amber.

  ‘We can’t,’ said Petra, ‘at least, not for long. There’s not much food and no fire-weed.’

  ‘How much food have we got?’ asked Kenzo.

  ‘Enough to last a couple of days,’ said Petra, ‘a week at the most.’

  ‘Then there is no other option,’ said Kenzo, ‘we have to join the others in the lower city and take our chances.’

  ‘There is one more option we haven’t considered,’ said Pelosus, ‘one that I hesitate to suggest.’

  ‘Speak your mind, Pelosus,’ said Kenzo, ‘we are in a desperate situation here and all ideas need to be aired.’

  ‘We could leave the Citadel altogether and go somewhere else.’

  ‘Where?’ asked Leona, ‘there is nowhere else.’

  ‘On the contrary, child,’ said Pelosus, ‘the one good thing that has come out of these last few days is agreement that we are not as isolated as we have always thought. There are other places in this world and I now believe there may be landfall not too far from here, even perhaps, just beyond the horizon.’

  ‘Near the smoke,’ said Kenzo suddenly.

  They all turned and looked at him quizzically.

  ‘What do you mean, Kenzo?’ asked Amber.

  ‘The smoke,’ he repeated. ‘When I was a little boy, I saw smoke just over the horizon. At first, others laughed at me, but I know what I saw. It was only when I was threatened with the Prison-tower as a madman that I decided to shut my mouth. Now that threat is gone, I can tell you with certainty, I saw smoke over the horizon and as we all know, water doesn’t burn.’

  ‘With what I learned from the Warden, combined with what we heard in the council chamber from Petit and De-gill, I think we can safely say there are other places in this watery world of ours and not too far away.’

  ‘And how do you suggest we get there?’ asked Petra.

  ‘I’ve thought about that,’ said Pelosus, ‘we can use the Hunter’s boats. They don’t need them anymore and if we can just get to them, we can strike out across the sea and get away from this place.’

  At first, the group were silent but Petra finally spoke up.

  ‘I’m not sure, Pelosus,’ she said, ‘how would we know which way to go?’

  ‘With this, your Excellency,’ he said, producing the handkerchief she had given him many weeks earlier.

  ‘You have decoded it?’ she asked in amazement.

  ‘I didn’t have to,’ said Pelosus, ‘it wasn’t in code. All those hours I spent trying to decipher what it meant, when all the time, it was as obvious as the stars in the sky.’

  ‘But what does it show?’ asked Kenzo, as Pelosus spread the handkerchief out on the table.

  ‘That part there on the edge,’ said Pelosus, ‘at first, I thought it was a stain of sorts but when I studied it under a magnifying glass, I saw that the edge of the stain is too defined, as if it has been deliberately dyed. That leads me to belie
ve that it represents an area of land.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘The rest of the cloth is blue, except for the embroidery around the edges of course but that small part there is brown. Why would anyone dye a small part of one edge brown without a reason?’

  ‘I have no idea,’ said Petra.

  ‘Neither did I,’ said Pelosus, ‘and I was also intrigued as to why there was embroidery only along three sides, so once again, I examined it under the glass and I noted that the three with the embroidery are very neatly finished with fine stitching. The fourth, though cut very carefully, is not sewn and leads me to believe this piece of silk, as you call it, is only half the size of the original and if we had the other half, we would probably see this brown stain expanded into something much, much bigger.’

  ‘Like a land mass?’

  ‘Exactly!’

  ‘Fascinating,’ said Kenzo, ‘so, assuming you are right, where is this land?’

  ‘Well that posed another problem,’ said Pelosus, ‘as the Citadel is not represented on this map and there is no other reference, there is no way of knowing in which direction it lies. It could be anywhere.’

  ‘So it is useless, then,’ said Kenzo.

  ‘It was,’ said Pelosus, ‘but as I said, when you know what you’re looking for it becomes as plain as the stars in the sky.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘Because those dots are indeed the stars in the sky, it is a star map.’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ said Petra, ‘you of all people would have seen that, you are a Stargazer for Saint’s sake, how did you not see it before?’

  ‘Because it bears no resemblance to any known star map,’ said Pelosus, ‘for weeks, I searched for meanings that weren’t there and then one day it hit me. You said it was from the days of the temptress Sallette when she went over to the Watchers.’

  ‘It is,’ said Petra, ‘though temptress is a very strong word.’

  ‘Whatever,’ said Pelosus, ‘but I searched the histories for reference to Sallette and I had to go right back to almost the beginning of the records for any reference.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘It was thousands of years ago,’ said Pelosus, ‘and the night sky at that time bore no resemblance to the one we see now.’

  ‘It doesn’t?’

  ‘No, since the time of Sallette, the stars we know have moved, or should we say, the orientation of this planet has changed and we no longer see the same sky. The stars on this material probably shine down on the other side of the earth.’

  ‘But how does that help us?’ asked Kenzo.

  ‘Because there are three stars represented on the map that are still visible in the sky,’ said Pelosus, ‘the three in Arial’s belt.’ He pointed out three dots on the edge of the silk. ‘Though the rest are unfamiliar, those three are still visible just before dawn. They are the same stars and with that information, we can orient the map to suit the night sky as it is now.’

  ‘But how do you know they are in the same place,’ said Petra, ‘you said the Earth has moved its position.’

  ‘And indeed it has,’ said Pelosus, ‘but that is the easy part. I have studied the skies almost all my life and my observations, as well as those of my predecessors, have evidenced the miniscule movement of the stars over the generations. Miniscule but enough to establish a pattern and all I have to do is apply that calculation backwards to establish where those three stars were at the time of Sallette.’

  ‘I can’t say that I follow this,’ said Kenzo, ‘but I think you are saying that you know where this land lies.’

  ‘I do,’ said Pelosus, ‘by my calculations, the belt of Arial currently lies seventeen increments west of where it did all those years ago. I have marked these two lines on the silk,’ he said, indicating the marks, ‘by aligning this first line with the centre star of Arial’s belt, this second line indicates the way we have to go.’

  Everyone fell silent until Kenzo spoke once more.

  ‘And you are sure of this?’

  ‘I am willing to bet my life on it,’ said Pelosus.

  ‘How far away do you think this land is?’

  ‘I don’t know but the fact that you say you once saw smoke is very encouraging. I estimate a few weeks away in one of the rowing boats.’

  ‘Weeks?’ said Kenzo, ‘what would we do for water and food?’

  ‘We could load a second boat with provisions,’ said Pelosus, ‘and catch fish as we go. If we ration the water and catch the rain, we could last for months if necessary.’

  ‘It would be very uncomfortable,’ said Kenzo.

  ‘But feasible,’ countered Pelosus.

  ‘Assuming we run with this,’ said Kenzo, ‘how do we get to the Hunter’s boats?’

  ‘As the water drops, the boats are left high and dry on the exposed rocks at the base of their tower,’ said Pelosus. ‘It is a long way down and I could see no way of reaching them, but Petit has unwittingly given us the means to solve that problem.’

  ‘He has?’

  ‘The ladder, all we have to do is retrieve it from the causeway and drop it over the seaward side of the tower. Once we climb down there we can walk along the rocks to the boats and drag them to the water.’

  Kenzo turned to Petra.

  ‘What do you think?’ he asked.

  ‘Compared to the alternative,’ said Petra, ‘I think it is an excellent idea.’

  ‘Anybody object?’ asked Kenzo looking around the room.

  ‘That’s it, then,’ he said, ‘everyone, get some rest. This afternoon, we will pack everything we need and do as Pelosus suggests.’

  Everyone rose to find a place to sleep but before they left the room, Lenny came running up the corridor.

  ‘Lady,’ he shouted, ‘the soldiers are coming, the soldiers are coming.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ asked Petra, dropping to her knees.

  ‘I went up onto the tower,’ said Lenny gasping for breath, ‘and I saw the soldiers coming across the bridge.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ asked Petra.

  ‘Yes, miss, and I think they are building a bonfire.’

  ‘Everyone, wait here,’ said Kenzo, ‘I’ll see what’s happening.’

  ----

  Out on the Tower, Kenzo and Braille could see Petit’s soldiers had left the Citadel and had made their way out onto the causeway. The first thing they did, much to Kenzo’s despair was cut the top of the rope ladder, causing it to fall to the city below, but more worryingly, he could see that they were stacking piles of fire-weed against the door below his feet. Within minutes, a soldier set light to the bonfire and stood back as the flames roared upward to burn down the locked gates.

  ‘Shit,’ said Kenzo and the two men ran back down into the tower.

  ‘Grab your things,’ shouted Kenzo, ‘they’re trying to burn down the gate. We have to get out of here.’

  ‘But the ladder,’ shouted Pelosus, ‘we need the ladder.’

  ‘Too late,’ said Braille, ‘they’ve cut it loose. We have to find another way out.

  ‘There is no other way,’ said Petra.

  ‘There has to be somewhere,’ said Kenzo, ‘think Petra.’

  ‘We could go along the outer causeway,’ she said, ‘over to the Watcher’s tower. I have a key to the side gate, given to me by De-gill.’

  ‘What’s the point?’ asked Pelosus, ‘they will simply follow us.’

  ‘At least it will buy us some time,’ said Kenzo, ‘come on let’s go. Petra, you lead the way, Braille and I will barricade some doors to slow them down.’

  Everyone jumped into action and they ran along the outer causeway between the towers with the sea on the right and the lower city on the left. As promised, Petra produced a large iron key and opened the side gate.

  ‘Why did De-gill give you that?’ asked Pelosus.

  Petra’s withering look suggested he wouldn’t want to know the answer.

  ‘Never mind,’ said Pelosus.

  ‘What now?’ ask
ed Petra as Kenzo and Braille followed them in.

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Kenzo, ‘but at least we’ve got some time.’

  ‘Perhaps, we can find something to make a ladder,’ suggested Braille.

  ‘Not enough time,’ said Kenzo.

  ‘Then that’s it,’ said Petra, ‘we just wait here until they burn this down as well.’

  ‘I’m not being taken down into the lower city,’ said Braille, ‘I would rather die at the end of a spear than at the hands of that thing.’

  ‘Kenzo?’ interrupted Amber quietly.

  ‘If we can just find some weapons, we can take a few of them with us,’ said Braille.

  ‘Kenzo,’ said Amber again, with more forcefulness.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Ranah,’ she said.

  ‘What about them?’

  ‘I heard somewhere that they live in the depths of the sea and seldom came to the surface.’

  ‘That’s right,’ said Kenzo, ‘but what has that got to do with anything?’

  ‘Tell me more,’ said Amber urgently, ‘it’s important.’

  ‘Allow me,’ said Pelosus. ‘The Ranah, Amber, unlike the Narwl, prefer to live in the deeper waters and coming to the surface only to hunt Narwl. We don’t know why, but think it is something to do with aversion to the light.’

  ‘Amber, why is this important?’ asked Kenzo.

  ‘Think back, Kenzo,’ said Amber with a hint of excitement in her voice, ‘when we first came here.’

  ‘What about it?’

  ‘Do you remember how we entered the tower?’

  ‘Yes, we climbed up the shaft where Flip was killed.’

  ‘Exactly and what killed him?’

  ‘Ranah,’ said Kenzo, beginning to see where she was leading.

  ‘That’s right and De-gill said they fed them every day through the month except Moon-days, when they disappeared with the tide, only to return a few days later.’

  ‘What are you saying?’ said Pelosus.

  ‘If you are right,’ said Amber, ‘and the Ranah only live in the depths of the ocean, there must be a breach in the wall. How else could they keep coming back for their disgusting food?’

  ‘I think she’s right,’ said Kenzo, ‘there must be a hole in the wall or a tunnel leading out below the normal water level.’