‘Let me do the talking,’ Keira said, and began to stride towards the main road that led to the open gates. She heard a groan behind her and smiled. Time to teach Kallie a bit about the world.
They reached the road and were a hundred feet from the gates when the rain started. Keira pushed her hair to the side as they got soaked by the downpour, the road turning to mud under their boots.
‘Halt!’ cried a voice in the Holdings language as they neared the open entrance. A squad of soldiers stared at them. A sergeant stood smoking. ‘What do you want?’
Keira raised an eyebrow. ‘In.’
‘No Kellach are allowed through the main gates,’ the sergeant said. He glanced at Flora. ‘She can come in, but you pair will have to go round to the west gate.’
‘And can she come in the west gate with us?’
‘Of course she can, she’s Holdings,’ the sergeant grinned. ‘This is our town now, Kellach, we go where we please.’
Without a word, Keira turned, and started walking in the direction of the other gate, Kallie and Flora following.
‘See?’ she said. ‘I can be calm. I could’ve punched that guy’s face in, but I restrained myself.’
Flora smirked. ‘Yeah, I can see how getting arrested might interfere with your plan to find weed.’
‘Exactly. I can be as professional as fuck, if there’s something worth doing.’
‘So, the Holdings are in charge,’ Flora said, ‘but Kellach are still living here, presumably.’
‘Aye,’ Keira said, ‘and probably in the shittest part of town, as per fucking usual.’
‘I was hoping they spoke Rahain here,’ Kallie said. ‘I don’t know any Holdings.’
‘Shit, really?’ Flora said. ‘Well, we’re going to a separate gate for the Kellach.’
Keira spat on the ground. ‘Ye don’t speak Holdings? Ye do know where it is we’re going, aye?’
‘Ye never asked me if I could when ye dragged me along,’ Kallie said. ‘I’ve picked up a wee bit from Flora, but. I know how to swear pretty well.’
‘I’ll teach you,’ Flora said. ‘More than just how to swear, I mean.’
‘Thanks.’
Keira decided she didn’t like the way that Flora was looking at Kallie. Even unwashed, and dressed in worn and dirty travelling clothes, Kallie was stunning. She frowned. Why did she care?
They reached the western road, and the smaller set of gates that gave entry to the town. A squad of Holdings soldiers were standing by the open entrance, sheltering from the light rain. They moved aside as the three women approached.
‘That was easy,’ Keira said as they walked into the narrow streets. Tall wooden tenements lined the road, and rubbish was piled high in the gutters. ‘Fucking stinks, but.’
She waited until Flora and Kallie stood by her, and they gazed around.
A Kellach man staggered across the street. He turned to leer at them.
‘Hello, ladies,’ he slurred. ‘Looking for a good time?’
‘Fuck off, ya bandy-legged old prick,’ Keira said, clenching her fists.
The man stopped, his breath reeking of cheap whisky. ‘I was only being friendly, ya stuck-up cow. And anyway, I wasnae talking to you, I was speaking to the good-looking one.’
Keira kneed him in the groin. He folded, gasping, his hands clutching his nethers as he fell to the ground.
‘Learn some fucking manners,’ Keira said, and they walked round him and continued up the street.
She smiled as they saw a row of taverns down a side alley.
‘This is working out better than I’d hoped,’ she said. ‘The Kellach are bound to have stuff to sell, and this way we won’t even have to speak to any more Holdings.’
‘What’s the plan, then?’ said Flora.
Keira pointed to the line of bars. ‘We start there.’
By the fourth tavern, Keira was beginning to enjoy being back in Rainsby.
‘This is the worst ale I’ve ever tasted,’ said Flora, ‘and yes, that includes what we had to endure in Sanang.’
‘I reckon the barman’s just emptying the pissing trough back into the barrels,’ Keira said. ‘Still, it’ll do.’
She scanned the bar. It was half-full, with elderly and crippled Kellach comprising the majority of the patrons. The table of three young women were attracting a lot of glances, she noticed, though most of them were aimed at Kallie.
‘Not having some?’ she asked her.
‘No thanks,’ Kallie said.
‘They’ve got food, if you’re hungry.’
‘If ye think I’m eating anything in this fucking dump yer crazier than I thought.’
‘Suit yerself, hen.’
An old man on a crutch hobbled over to them.
‘You girls new in Rainsby?’
Keira thumbed at Flora. ‘Me and her have been here before.’
The man sat.
‘Friends with a Holdings, eh?’
‘Aye, so?’
The man shrugged. ‘It’s nothing to me, but there might be a few about who’d take exception. Ye have to remember that it’s not so long ago that the Emperor brought in boatloads of the dark-skinned fuckers to kick our arses.’
Flora looked up. ‘We heard about that. Were you here when it happened?’
‘Aye, lass, that I was. The Emperor’s a mad bastard. He killed hundreds of clansfolk, hunting for mages.’
‘Did he find any?’ said Keira.
‘Aye, just the one though. An old sparker. Once he’d been hauled off in chains, the Emperor left, and took all the soldiers with him. That’s when we moved back in. Had the whole town to ourselves for a while, not that there was that many of us left, mind. And then, about a third ago, this new lot arrived. They pushed us all into this wee corner of the town, and walled us in. Now they’re living like kings and queens in the rest of the fucking town, each of them with their own pet Rakanese.’
Keira frowned. ‘Eh?’
‘Aye,’ the man said. ‘So much for the Holdings being against slavery. The new soldiers brought a load of they frog-folk with them, ones they’d captured in the summer campaign.’
‘The Holdings invaded Rakana?’ Flora said.
The man looked at them like they were stupid. ‘Where the fuck have you girls been?’
‘Grey Mountains,’ said Keira, before the others could open their mouths.
The man nodded. ‘Well, everything’s changed since the Emperor went mental and killed the Sanang army. He cleared the Kellach out of the imperial capital, and then he attacked Rainsby. After that, he took a great big army and stomped all over the swamps of Rakana, and now he’s up in the Holdings, doing the same thing to them.’
Flora’s face fell. ‘The Emperor’s in the Holdings?’
‘Aye, fighting rebels. Or he was. I heard he won a big battle up there, wiped out their cavalry.’
‘A rebellion,’ Flora said, shaking her head. ‘Shit. How could they be so stupid?’
The man squinted at her. ‘You an Emperor-lover? If ye are, then I advise ye keep that opinion to yerself around here.’
‘I hate the bastard.’
The old man slapped his thigh. ‘Then yer alright by me, hen.’
‘But what about all the Holdings, here in the town?’ Flora said. ‘What do they think about what’s been happening?’
The man shrugged. ‘Some of them treat us like shit, but the rest are alright. I know a few folk with work permits who labour for them out in the fields. They said that most are conscripts, who didn’t want to join the army, or go to Rakana, or come here for that fucking matter. They just want to go home, or they did, before they found out that the Emperor’s been kicking the shit out of it.’
‘Any One True Path?’
‘Aye, a few. They never come into our wee district though, too scared we’ll rip their heads off.’
Keira drummed the tabletop with her fingers. ‘This has all been so very fucking interesting, but I want to get onto business.’
The man raised an eyebrow. ‘What kind of business?’
‘I want to buy a shitload of weed.’
‘And I took ye for sensible lassies,’ the man said, shaking his head. ‘Ye don’t want to be getting mixed up in that nonsense.’
‘Can ye point us in the right direction, but?’
He frowned. ‘I don’t want ye to get into trouble.’
‘We’re big girls,’ Keira said. ‘We can look after ourselves.’
‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I’m not helping ye. The folk that deal in weed are a bad lot.’
‘Ach, well,’ Keira said, finishing her ale. ‘Next tavern?’
She stood. Flora said goodbye to the old man, and they walked outside. Keira stretched.
‘Excuse me,’ a voice said.
A younger man stepped out of an alleyway.
‘Aye?’ Keira said.
‘I couldnae help but hear what ye were saying to that auld guy in there.’
Keira frowned.
‘I can help you,’ he said, ‘if yer serious. Ye said a shitload.’
‘Aye, I did,’ she said. ‘And who the fuck are you?’
‘Me, I’m nobody, but for a small cut I can introduce ye to somebody.’
‘I’ll give ye two gold if the deal pans out.’
‘Five.’
‘Three.’
‘Done.’ He grinned. ‘Follow me, ladies.’
He set off down an alleyway, away from the main road, into a twisting warren of narrow lanes. High tenements hemmed them in, while rubbish and human waste ran down a trough in the centre of the street. Flora earned a few rough glances, while Kallie caused more than one man to turn his head. Keira frowned.
‘I should have brought the storm lantern,’ muttered Flora.
‘And my longbow,’ said Kallie.
‘Quit whining,’ Keira said, ‘the fucking pair of ye. I’ve done weed deals in the forests of Sanang, this’ll be a piece of piss in comparison.’
They reached a huge wall that cut the street ahead in two. It extended on both sides as far as Keira could see. The man halted, and glanced at her.
‘This the first time ye’ve seen it, aye?’ he said. ‘Holdings bastards, walling us in like we were wild animals.’
‘Watch yer fucking tongue,’ Keira said. ‘My friend here’s a fucking Holdings. If ye call them that again the deal’s off, and I’ll kick yer nuts in.’
The man glowered. ‘Wait here,’ he said, then turned and disappeared down an alleyway that ran by the wall.
‘This is no good,’ Kallie said. ‘We should get the fuck out of here.’
‘Yeah,’ said Flora. ‘I agree.’
Keira glared at them.
‘You two head back, then,’ she said. ‘Go on, I don’t need ye here, I can take care of this on my own, ya pair of useless fuds.’
‘Alright,’ Kallie said. ‘We’ll meet ye back at the tavern where we met that auld guy. Might buy him a drink and see what else he knows. Come on, Flora.’
The Holdings woman swayed, glancing at the two Kell women.
‘Go on,’ Keira said. ‘Fuck off.’
Flora shook her head, and walked off with Kallie. Keira stared at them until they were out of sight.
She sighed. She just needed to get this deal over with.
‘Where have the others gone?’ the man said.
Keira turned. ‘They were starting to piss me off, so I sent them away.’
He eyed her for a moment. ‘This way.’
He darted off towards the alleyway, and Keira followed. They entered the shadow of the dark lane, with the great wall cutting through the town on one side, and a tall row of rundown tenements on the other. The man knocked on a door, leaned close and whispered something.
The door opened, and a burly Kellach stared out.
‘Thought ye said there were three?’
‘The other two bailed,’ Keira said, ‘but I’m still in.’
‘Ye got the cash on ye?’
‘Depends how much ye’ve got to sell.’
‘Weapons?’
‘Knife.’
The man at the door nodded, and stood aside to let her enter. As she passed he held out his hand, and she plucked the knife from her boot and handed it to him. The other man tried to enter, but the doorkeeper slammed the door in his face.
‘Wee runt,’ he frowned.
She shrugged.
He gestured towards a set of stairs leading down. She stepped in front of him, and he followed her into the basement. Another large Kellach was sitting by a door, a crossbow across her knees. She got up as Keira approached, and opened the thick door. She stepped through, and the door was closed behind her.
Faces looked up from a table, where six sat, drinking, smoking and poring over a large map of Rainsby. Keira scanned the room. Three lamps. She smiled. Against the walls behind the table were crates, stacked up to the ceiling. The six were mostly Kellach, but a Holdings officer in uniform and a Rakanese man sat among them.
A Kellach woman in leather armour glanced up at her.
‘So,’ she said, ‘define shitload.’
Keira flexed her fingers. ‘I want dream, keen and dull. What’s yer price for a pound of each?’
The woman smiled. ‘One-fifty for the dream and keen, two hundred for dull.’
‘Give me a second,’ Keira said, counting in her head. ‘Alright, I’ll take three dream, three keen and one dull.’
The folk at the table laughed.
‘Ye want seven pounds of weed?’ the woman said.
‘Aye. I think that qualifies as a shitload.’
‘Yer full of crap,’ said a long-haired Kellach man. ‘There’s no way ye’ve got over a thousand gold on ye.’
She shrugged. ‘Show me the weed, and I’ll show ye the cash.’
The woman shook her head. ‘Cash first.’
Keira unbuttoned her tunic, revealing belts wrapped round her midriff, thick with gold.
‘Your turn,’ she said, buttoning it back up.
‘You silly bitch,’ said the Holdings officer. ‘You walk in here with all that money? No friends, and unarmed. You know what’s going to happen now. You’re going to give us that money, and if you don’t make a fuss, then we’ll probably let you walk out alive.’
‘I’m not unarmed.’
The woman laughed. ‘What? Have ye got a wee knife tucked away somewhere?’ She drew her sword and laid it on the table. The others next to her also pulled out their weapons.
Keira gazed at the swords and bows, and smirked. ‘Toys for bairns.’
She flicked her fingers and a whoosh of fire spun up from one of the lamps, extinguishing it. She coiled the flame into a long whip, and ran it over the table, slicing it in two. It collapsed, the weapons clattering to the ground. The Holdings officer went for a knife on his belt, and she spat a dart of flame from the fiery whip. It struck his hand and he yelled in pain, grasping his injured and scorched palm.
The others backed off, their eyes wide, and Keira pointed her finger upward, and the fiery whip rose, and began circling the room, a foot over their heads.
‘Now,’ she said, ‘where’s my weed?’
‘Get it, get it!’ the Kellach woman yelled. The Rakanese man and a Kellach ran to the back of the room. They ripped open the crates and began throwing large packets to the ground.
‘Put them in a sack,’ said Keira. She glanced at the Holdings man, who was crouching on the floor a yard from the broken table, his hand burnt and bleeding.
‘Who the fuck are you?’ he said. ‘A fucking rogue fire mage, what the fuck are you doing here? If the town knew you were here they’d send every fucking soldier they’ve got after you. The Emperor would come himself if he knew.’
‘And are you going to fucking tell him?’ Keira snarled.
‘We’re fighting against the Emperor, you stupid bitch.’
‘Aye? Yer not doing a very good job.’
She unbuttoned her tunic, and slung the coin-filled belts to the gro
und.
‘Deal’s a deal,’ she said. She picked up the sack, glanced inside, then backed to the door. ‘It’s been a pleasure.’
The others stared at her. She opened the door and slammed it behind her, knowing that the fiery whip would only last a few more seconds. She smiled at the woman guarding the door, nodded, then sprinted up the steps, the bulky sack over her shoulder.
She ran to the front door. As she was yanking the bolts clear, the doorman came out of a side room. He frowned at her.
‘Nice doing business with ye,’ she yelled, and leapt out of the door and into the alleyway. The young man who had guided her was sitting on a low wall opposite.
‘Hey!’ he shouted. ‘What about my three gold?’
She threw him a small purse from her belt.
‘Ye can keep whatever’s in that if ye show me fastest fucking way out of here.’
He opened the bag, his face lighting up.
‘Stop her!’ came a voice from the building, and the doorman bounded towards her.
Keira grabbed her guide and hauled him off down the street, sprinting. The young man glanced over his shoulder at their pursuers, his eyes wide.
‘Shit,’ he cried. ‘What the fuck did ye do?’
‘Never mind that, just keep running.’
Her guide sped off through the warren of streets like a hare, and Keira put her head down and followed, running until her breath was coming in thick gasps, her chest aching. They skidded through refuse-strewn alleys and under low arches, where it was pitch dark in the shadows. Her knees gave first, and she stumbled to a halt, leaning over and vomiting against a tenement wall.
‘Pyre’s arsehole,’ the young man cried, glancing back the way they had come. ‘I’ll never be able to go back there again. Fucksake.’
‘Did we lose them?’
‘Aye.’
She wiped her mouth and straightened.
‘That was fucking funny,’ she laughed. ‘Ye should’ve seen yer face.’
He weighed up the purse in his hand. ‘I hope it was worth it, ya mental cow.’
‘Fucking right it was.’
She grinned, and he started to laugh. A crossbow bolt struck him in the side of his head and he tumbled to the cobbles.
Keira turned, and a bolt hit her left side, above her hip. She grunted, and fell to one knee.
The Magelands Box Set Page 175
