The streets were deserted, and the buildings untouched and abandoned, except for one that stood out. Down a side street, a large mansion had been gutted. Its windows were smashed and burned out, and its walls blackened. A squad of Holdings troopers stood outside, smoking in a group. They eyed Agang’s regiments with suspicion as they passed.
‘Are you in need of assistance, troopers?’ Agang called, walking towards them.
‘No thanks, my lord,’ a sergeant replied.
‘What is this place?’
‘The old Holdings embassy, my lord. Snakes burned it out long before we got here.’
‘And the ambassador?’
The sergeant shrugged. ‘No sign.’
Agang nodded, and caught up with his regiments, as they neared a walled courtyard before the city council. Mandalecht had halted them before the main gates, which were lying open. Inside the courtyard, wagons and crates sat about, as if someone had been disturbed in the act of leaving.
‘Looks deserted,’ Mandalecht said.
‘Send a few companies round the perimeter, and secure every entrance,’ Agang said. ‘We’ll take one regiment in through the front door.’
His commander tilted his head, and began issuing orders to his officers.
A line of heavily armoured warriors were sent up the wide steps leading to the main doors, while others filtered off to each side. The last of Agang’s warriors entered the courtyard, and the great gates were closed and guarded behind them.
Mandalecht raised his arm, and the lead warriors burst through the front doors, and raced inside. Four further companies were sent in after them, each running up the steps and into the building, a minute separating each wave.
Agang glanced up at the monstrous senate, the high domes of which were visible over the walls of the council’s courtyard. A low rumble of noise was coming from that direction, and he guessed that Harkin’s troopers had launched their attack.
Mandalecht coughed, and Agang turned. They went up the steps, and through the glass and steel doors, and entered the council chambers. Lamps had been lit along the marbled corridors and stairways inside, and Sanang were posted at each junction.
‘No one encountered so far, my lord,’ an officer called to him.
‘Keep searching,’ Agang said. ‘Every floor, every room.’
‘Yes, Chief.’
Agang and Mandalecht walked on, staying on the main central passageway, which led to another set of doors, these ones thick and strong.
‘Locked, Chief,’ a warrior said. ‘We were just about to force them open.’
‘Proceed.’
Agang stood back as a squad of warriors moved ahead of him, carrying a larger-than-life statue of a Rahain noble. They charged at the doors, crashing the head of the statue into the timber beams. They creaked but remained firm. The squad moved back, and charged again.
On the fifth charge, the head of the statue disintegrated, and the doors burst open. The squad dropped the decapitated marble nobleman, and rushed inside, Agang hastening to follow them.
They entered a great hall, with stone benches lining the curved walls in a large semi-circle, opposite which was a high platform with a desk and ornate seat.
Sitting alone on a bench high on the left was a man. He raised his head as the Sanang warriors ran in, and lifted his hands to show he was unarmed.
Agang halted the warriors, and strode to their front, approaching the Rahain man.
‘Who are you?’ he asked in Holdings.
‘I am Ziane,’ the man said, staring down at Agang, ‘a councillor of this city.’
‘Where are the others?’
‘Gone. They knew what you did to their colleagues in Tahrana City. I however, could not bring myself to leave. The world has turned upside down, and I wanted to be here to see its end.’
‘Your evil regime has been destroyed,’ Agang said.
Ziane arched his head and laughed. ‘Coming from the Sanang, that is funny,’ he said. ‘Lectured on evil by those who behead children. What suffering, pray tell me, has the Rahain Republic ever inflicted upon the peace-loving Sanang?’
‘You had designs to rule the world.’
‘I hope you find the Holdings King a fairer master.’
‘He’s not our master,’ Agang said, ascending the steps up to the bench where Ziane sat, Mandalecht a pace behind him.
‘I hadn’t expected this meeting to be quite so amusing,’ Ziane smiled, ‘but there you have it. Things don’t always happen the way you expect. Our tunnel for instance, we built that with high hopes, yet it turned out to be our undoing, allowing the Holdings to flood our land with their barbarous allies.’ He glanced up at Agang. ‘You chose a side, my Sanang lord. Between the two mightiest powers in this world, you chose the side that had invaded you, and desecrated your land. I know you will come to regret your choice, and that pleases me. I curse you, that when you fall, you will remember these words. You are a fool, and you have doomed your people.’
Agang opened his mouth to answer, but stopped as Ziane leaped to his feet and drew a knife.
Mandalecht reached past, shoving Agang aside, but Ziane turned the blade on himself, slicing through his own throat in a jagged rip, blood spraying and pulsing as he collapsed to the floor.
‘Get him out of here,’ Agang said, pushing himself upright, his eyes fixed on the bloody corpse at his feet, ‘and send word to the regimental officers. I’m setting up base in this chamber.’
Warriors came up to the bench, and carried the man away, blood dripping down the stone steps and across the marble floor of the hall.
Agang sat.
‘Take no account of the bitter last words of a broken man,’ Mandalecht said, a finger scratching the eyeless socket hidden under his patch. ‘Once we’re home, we can put all this behind us.’
‘I can’t wait to get out of this land of tunnels and caves,’ Agang said. ‘Laodoc and the Holdings are welcome to it.’
Mandalecht’s regiments took over the City Council complex, setting up guard posts at each entrance and billeting rooms to allow the warriors to rest. Apart from Ziane, no one else had been discovered anywhere in the dark forbidding building, although there was much evidence of a rushed departure.
Atop a tall slender spire, Agang watched as the Holdings assaulted the nearby senate. From the sounds and cries it seemed they were having a harder time of it that his own soldiers had experienced in the council. Out in front of the great edifice, groups of Rahain had been sorted. Wagons were already taking away those identified as mages by the Holdings priests, while others sat in the square, awaiting their fate.
‘There will be no mages left in Rahain at this rate,’ Mandalecht said, arriving at the top of the stairs.
‘Maybe that’s the idea,’ Agang said.
‘I’ve had word from Lomecht. He’s arrived in the cavern and is bringing his regiments and the civilians here.’
‘Good. When Hodang arrives, tell him to set up in the council chamber. And send Chane up here.’
‘Yes, Chief.’
Agang waited, alone, and watched as a steady stream of Rahain prisoners were led out of the senate by armoured Holdings troopers.
When Chane arrived she coughed gently.
‘My lord,’ she said.
He kept his gaze ahead, not wanting to look at her when she was dressed as a soldier, with armour and weapons.
‘What does this mean?’ he asked.
‘I’m sorry, my lord?’
‘Drop the act, Chane.’
‘What act, my lord?’
‘You’re doing this to punish me. Sometimes I wish I’d never freed you. I don’t like you as a dumb warrior, I preferred you when you spoke your mind.’
‘You put me in the guard, my lord.’
‘Well forget that for a moment,’ he snarled. ‘For now, talk to me as Chane, I command it.’
She paused for a second, then reached up and unclasped her helmet, letting her long hair tumble free. Her face was s
meared in grime, and she stank of smoke. ‘All right,’ she said. ‘What does what mean?’
‘This!’ he cried, waving his hand at the senate. ‘We’re watching history. Aren’t we?’
‘The Rahain Republic has stood for thousands of years, and they’ve never once been invaded in that time. Yes, I’d say that we’re witnessing history. The old order is falling before our eyes.’
‘Do you trust the King?’
She raised an eyebrow.
‘I trust him to act in the interests of the Holdings realm, and in the interests of the church.’
‘So your answer is no?’
‘Are you worried that he’ll betray you?’ she said. ‘He’s invested a lot in this alliance, publicly, so I don’t think he will suddenly turn on you. But I don’t know what the church whispers in his ear.’
‘I will be king.’
She smirked. ‘I doubt that’s what they’re saying.’
He snorted. ‘You know what I meant. No matter what the Holdings intend for the ruined land of Rahain, I will lead our warriors home as king. For that to happen I must stay close to the alliance. I must say and do the right things.’
‘Look,’ Chane said, pointing at the senate, where an enormous standard of the realm of the Holdings was being raised over a high dome. The troopers packed into the square below raised their longswords and cheered.
‘It’s done then,’ Agang said. ‘History.’
His officers and staff were waiting for him when he returned to the council chamber. Chane was at his side, after he had ordered her not to return to her unit.
Hodang was directing a small army of clerks as they set up their ledgers on a row of high benches. Regimental officers were sitting smoking on the lower tiers, though Lomecht was positioned far from Mandalecht, and Agang could feel the tension between his two leading commanders. Badolecht was also present, talking with Echtang.
‘My lord,’ Hodang said, turning. ‘There you are. Congratulations, your leadership has swept all before it, and the body of the Rahain Republic lies broken on the ground under your heel. Truly you are the greatest Sanang warlord that has ever lived.’
The officers and staff cheered, but Lomecht’s expression darkened, and his lips pursed as if holding something back.
‘Praise is due to every warrior,’ Agang said, walking into the centre of the chamber, ‘every officer, and all who have accompanied us on this invasion and contributed to its success. Already enough wagons of booty have been filled to ensure each man has his share of treasure. And just now, before I came down from the spire, I saw the flag of the Holdings rise over the senate building. The government of Rahain has fallen.’
‘Then we have done what we set out to do,’ Badolecht said, his features sagging with the effects of prolonged exhaustion. ‘Can we go home now?’
Expectant faces looked at Agang.
‘Soon,’ he said, ‘once the transfer of power is complete, and Rahain is secured.’
Furtive eyes glanced at each other through the chamber.
‘We’ve been away a long time, my lord,’ Drechtan said. ‘I’m anxious to get back for spring.’
‘We may be another third here,’ Agang said, to a chorus of groans. ‘We are part of an alliance, and have sworn oaths. We must have patience. To walk out before the alliance has finished its mission would be to go back on our word.’
Scowls appeared on the faces of a few officers that sat near Lomecht.
‘We all want to go home,’ Hodang said. ‘But in a few thirds none of this will make any difference. We shall be in Broadwater, and Sanang will be a proud nation among equals. No one will care that they had to stay here a little longer. We must have patience.’
‘Patience?’ Lomecht cried. ‘So we wait for the King to use us as fodder for another battle, another one of his wars?’
‘What?’ Echtang said, his colour rising. ‘Are you a pacifist now suddenly?’
‘How dare you,’ Lomecht growled. ‘My regiments were torn to fucking shreds in front of the gates of this city.’
‘And then you attacked the man who saved you,’ Echtang spat back.
‘That arrogant Clackdomyn piece of shit? His head should be on a pole. We should never have let him go. We let those bastards rub our faces in the dirt, and we did nothing, all because…’
He paused.
‘All because of what?’ Agang said.
The room stilled.
Lomecht stood.
‘All because you wanted to look good in front of the Holdings. You want to impress them so much that you don’t care about your own people any more.’
Mandalecht got to his feet, the veins on his neck pulsing. The officers next to Lomecht also rose, to shield their man. Echtang’s hand went to his hilt.
‘You will bring chaos to Sanang,’ Lomecht went on, his voice rising. ‘The Holdings will order you to free every slave, and our lands will fall into ruin. They will order you to elevate women to the same rank as men, and our culture will die in the hands of giggling fools.’
‘You are the fool, Lomecht,’ Hodang shouted. ‘What you are saying is close to treason.’
‘Then let me cross the line,’ Lomecht cried. ‘Agang, you are no longer fit to rule the Sanang, and I spurn your authority.’
‘Then stop hiding behind your friends,’ Agang said. ‘Coward.’
Lomecht pushed aside the officers in front of him and charged at Agang. Mandalecht sprang forward to bar his way, but Lomecht turned at the last second, and leapt upon Chane, his hands going round her throat.
Chane fell backwards, slamming onto the marble floor. Lomecht grunted, his eyes bulging from his head as he choked her. Agang reached out, but Mandalecht barged him aside and drew a knife.
He placed it at Lomecht’s throat.
‘Hands off,’ the one-eyed commander growled, ‘or you die.’
A pair of Lomecht’s officers started to run for the door. The others stood ready, their hands on their hilts as Mandalecht’s men surrounded them.
‘Stop them,’ Agang shouted, and the guards at the door drew their swords, blocking the exit.
Lomecht’s hands came away from Chane, her eyes open but blank, her neck marked in weals. Mandalecht pulled Lomecht to his feet, the blade of his knife remaining against the skin of his throat.
Badolecht rushed to Chane’s side, and put his hands on her neck.
‘Echtang,’ Agang said, ‘summon more guards. Arrest Lomecht and his men. Place them in the cells in the basement.’
As his nephew ran to the door, Agang turned to face Lomecht.
Before the commander could speak, Agang punched him in the face as hard as he could, and Lomecht dropped to the ground.
‘Mandalecht,’ he said, ‘I want Lomecht’s regiments purged. Round up his supporters. Arrest the officers, execute the lower ranks. I want a thorough job.’
‘Yes, my lord.’
‘Drechtan,’ Agang said.
‘My lord,’ he said, swallowing.
Agang heard the sound of gasping and coughing, and turned. Chane was breathing again, and Badolecht smiled. She lifted her head, and saw Lomecht’s limp body before her.
‘Bastard,’ she wheezed, lashing out with a boot in the direction of the Sanang’s head.
The doors to the chamber opened, and squads of warriors marched in, Echtang at their head. Eight officers were arrested, and chains were attached to Lomecht’s limp body before he was ready to be carried away.
Agang glanced at Drechtan. The allied chief was sweating, his gaze darting out at the warriors filling the hall.
‘How many men do you have left?’
‘Just short of two thousand, my lord,’ Drechtan said.
‘I’m appointing you as commander of Lomecht’s regiments,’ Agang said. ‘Incorporate your warriors into their ranks, once they’ve been purged.’
Mandalecht looked over, and left the hall, his face dark.
‘But with all due respect, my lord,’ Drechtan said, his voice
high, ‘I’m a chief, not one of your officers.’
‘I am your high chief,’ Agang said. ‘I command the army of the Sanang realm, and you will obey.’
Drechtan said nothing. The air stilled as everyone watched.
The old chief got down on one knee in front of Agang.
‘As you will it, my lord.’
Agang looked up, his attention drawn by movement by the door. Three Holdings officers entered, striding their way towards him, their armour gleaming in the lamp light.
‘My Lord Agang,’ Harkins said, nodding his head while he gazed around. To his right, Lomecht’s officers were being led away in shackles. To his left Badolecht was helping Chane rise to her feet, her hands clutching her neck, while before him Drechtan was on one knee.
‘General Harkins,’ Agang said. ‘Congratulations on taking the senate. A truly historic moment, I believe.’
‘Quite,’ Harkins said, his eyebrow raised. ‘I thought I’d call in person, my lord, and I see that you have taken the council buildings as we planned. I hope resistance wasn’t too severe?’
‘One old man who cut his own throat.’
Harkins nodded. ‘As you noted, my lord, the Rahain senate has been dissolved. Our friend Laodoc has been appointed Chancellor of the Republic, and his rule has begun. I am here to invite you to the inaugural ceremony this evening.’
‘Chancellor Laodoc?’ Agang muttered.
‘We would be delighted to accept, General,’ Hodang said. ‘Tell me, is the council of eight to be convened? I would have thought a decision as momentous as the elevation of Laodoc to chancellor might have warranted a meeting?’
‘Word came directly from his Majesty in Plateau City,’ Harkin said, producing a folded document from his inside pocket. ‘In response to the announcement that we had overthrown the Rahain government, Laodoc is to be installed chancellor with immediate effect, although his term won’t officially commence until he has finished the mourning period for his son, at the end of winter.’
‘And did King Guilliam have any word for us?’ Agang said.
The Magelands Box Set Page 85
