The Covenant Rising

by Stan Nicholls

  The impact sent a stab of agony through her own forehead, but she was less hurt than him. He cried out and stumbled backwards, letting go of the sword. She hung on to the weapon as it came free of its scabbard. Using the heavy handguard like a knuckle-duster, she cracked him several times across the head. He went down, insensible.

  She was breathing hard and shaking. Bending to his unconscious form, her instinct was to finish him. She put the blade to his throat, then hesitated. That small quiet voice had its say again. Whatever else she might be, Serrah wasn’t a murderer. Not in cold blood. It hadn’t come to that yet. She lowered the sword.

  The groaning militiaman carried a dagger, and she took that, too. She stole his scabbard and belt, and clipped it around her waist, tightening it considerably to make up for their difference in girth. After vacillating for a tenth of a minute, she slashed the strings of his purse. As she stuffed it into her pocket she thought how eroded her ethics had become in so short a time. That struck her as funny somehow and she felt like laughing. But she couldn’t be sure she’d ever stop. So she took deep, slow breaths to steady herself, and the urge passed.

  As she pulled away, she trod on something. It was the glamour he’d dropped, face down in the dirt. She knelt and picked it up. Turning it over, she saw what she expected.

  The image seemed to float just above the mirror-like surface, three-dimensional, crystal clear. It was Serrah, head and shoulders. Her left profile was displayed. That gradually melted into full face. Then her right profile, and back again to left. It was more than a likeness; it was a miniature version of herself, turning slowly to show every feature to best advantage.

  Across the bottom of her facsimile, fiery letters spelt out Fugitive, followed by the lies Murder and Treason.

  She remembered the image-taking. It had occurred during her induction into the Council for Internal Security. New recruits had to present themselves to the Council’s sorcerer clerks, who cast the spell that captured their images for the records division. The session was brisk, business-like, and the clerks shared an officious, unsmiling demeanour. None of the recruits minded that; being accepted into the elite had intoxicated them. She was amazed to recall that it had happened just a couple of years ago. It felt like an age.

  Serrah was transfixed by her likeness. She could have been looking at a stranger. Someone robust, spirited, with the prospect of a bright future. An insider, reaping the benefits of the empire’s largess. A woman unaware of the coming storm.

  Murder. Treason.

  The full significance of the glamour hit her. How likely was it that she’d chanced on the only militiaman who happened to be carrying her image? It must have been issued to all the law keepers, which meant hundreds, thousands of them in circulation, confirming her status on the wanted list. The authorities didn’t do this for every felon, not by a long shot. It was far too costly.

  Treason.

  She took the thing and beat it against the cobblestones. It gave off tiny, bright blue sparks. The image flickered, dulled, went out. Serrah continued pounding until cracks appeared. All at once the glamour crumbled into a sandy, reddish dust. A faint luminescence suffused it for a few seconds, then died. Serrah knew it was a futile gesture, but it made her feel a bit better.

  Rising, she absently rubbed her dusty hand against her breeches, leaving cherry-coloured streaks on the cheap fabric. Juices were flowing now, her senses were sharpening. She’d lingered here too long. She had to get away.

  Shockingly, a sound rang out, a rhythmic caterwauling, loud and harsh. The alley lit up behind her. Serrah spun around.

  Through clenched teeth she hissed, “Shit.”

  She’d forgotten about the militiaman’s alarum glamour, hadn’t checked for his medallion. Now he’d activated it. Or it had triggered itself, if it was that expensive a spell.

  The man was still flat on his back, blood trickling from his nose and a corner of his mouth, though he was beginning to stir. No wonder, with the deafening whoop-whoop-whoop of the alert. And from a point high on his chest, a beam of concentrated light lanced out to punch the sky. She looked up and saw that, far above, the shaft fanned into a disc. Within it, a wolf’s head was taking shape, the universally recognised distress signal. Soon it would be visible over half the city. Then this quarter would be lousy with militia, paladins, government agents, citizens’ vigilante groups and the gods knew who else.

  Serrah took flight, moving as fast as her aching limbs allowed. From alley to lane, from lane back to bustling streets. In her rush she made no distinction between reality and illusion. Flesh or apparition, she barged through regardless, and to hell with the protocol about damaging other people’s glamours. The aggrieved threw curses, shook fists, but nobody pursued her. She looked too dangerous.

  After a while she slowed and regained her breath. She began to be surreptitious, using quieter byways and double-backs. But she was filled with more determination than at any time in the last two days.

  A plan of sorts had formed.

  Once the river had snaked its way through the city’s viscera it opened its mouth to take a bite out of the ocean. The resultant chunk formed Merakasa’s harbour, and it took Serrah a little over two hours to get there.

  A spectacle of masts above the rooftops announced the port from blocks away. Some of the masts moved, gliding at a stately pace, pennants fluttering. Higher still, scores of shrieking gulls wheeled and dived.

  It was dusk, but the streets still buzzed with sailors, merchant seamen, stevedores lugging sacks and barrels, passengers arriving and departing, handcarts, horses and wagons. A chain of galley slaves shuffling miserably under the lash.

  On the docks themselves longshoremen loaded and unloaded all manner of cargo. In slings hanging from hoists, livestock bleated. Fowl beat their wings against the bars of their tiny cages, stacked twenty high. Fishermen gutted their catches, scenting the air with a tang that made Serrah want to retch.

  She took care to avoid the customs officials, port guards and occasional paladin scattered among the crowd. Collar up, head down, she walked purposefully along the line of vessels, weighing up their pros and cons.

  Hardly a berth was empty, and not all the ships were mercantile or navy. Private yachts and clippers were moored here too, their sails bearing the coats of arms of ruling families or the more powerful guilds. In a show of real wealth, the crests were glamoured. They rippled, shone, slowly changed colour. The lions rampant, the unicorns, eagles and twisting serpents pranced and writhed.

  Likewise, many a ship’s figurehead was magically animated. One, a traditional comely maiden, jiggled ample breasts with impossibly red nipples. As Serrah passed, the wooden effigy gave her a salacious wink. She assumed the craft was a Diamond Isle transport. It was certainly vulgar enough.

  At length she came to a three-masted merchantman, a ship of appreciable size. Big was good. It meant the vessel would likely be going somewhere far away, and should be spacious enough to hide her. And it was nearly ready to sail. The last few items of payload sat on the dock, waiting to be stowed. A group of crewmen stood by the prow engaged in conversation, their backs to her.

  Serrah looked up. Several hands were in the rigging, and one was climbing to the crow’s nest, but she couldn’t see anybody on deck.

  She seized her chance. Snatching a box, she lifted it to her shoulder, hiding her face from the chattering crewmen. Bent over, moving quickly, she ascended the gangway. She expected someone to shout a challenge, or the sound of pursuing footsteps. Nothing happened.

  On board, she discarded the box and surveyed the scene. In front of her was a cargo hold, its deck cover shut and bolted. She made her way astern, keeping low, staying away from the rail. Amidships there was another hold, and this one was open. Creeping to the edge, she peered into the chasm. The cavernous hull was dark, and she could just make out a small mountain of filled sacks directly below. She couldn’t see or hear any movement down there. Nor could she find a rope or hauling tackle to hel
p her descend.

  So she jumped.

  The long drop knocked the wind out of her, and she nearly shouted. At least the sacks weren’t full of coal or pig iron. She scurried down them and onto the floor, wincing. Her joints were still sore. Blinking in the gloom, she tried to get her bearings. The only source of light she could see, apart from overhead, was further to the stern; a doorway shape, faintly outlined. Newly acquired dagger in hand, she headed for it.

  Darkness and stacks of cargo got in her way. But eventually, shins and elbows grazed, she reached the entrance. It led to a smaller hold. Smaller, yet probably large enough to build a cottage in. Such light as there was came from a half-open hatch cover, identical to the one she had dropped through. At the far end of this hold were three wooden doors. Skirting the feeble shaft of light, she went towards them.

  Opening the first one took mettle. But like the second and third, the room contained only clutter. She thought for a moment. Then, reluctantly because she didn’t like the idea of there being only one way out, or the confinement, she slipped into the right-hand room. She left the door ajar so she had weak light to see by.

  The chamber was about cabin-sized, but most of it was crammed with chests and bales. She began rearranging them, stopping frequently to listen for anyone approaching. Soon she had a space excavated near the back of the room, just big enough for her to fit into, and a chest ready to plug the entry once she was in. She thought the hiding place would look solid enough to a cursory glance. A proper search was another thing.

  A loud crash startled her. The frail light was cut off. They were securing the hatch. She could hear covers along the length of the ship being slammed with an echoing finality.

  Serrah groped through the dark and crawled into the cavity. She pulled the trunk into the gap behind her, but left a tiny crack for a spy hole. Not that she could see anything. Settling as best she could on rough hessian sacks, she made sure her sword and knife were close to hand.

  The darkness seemed to sharpen her hearing. She was aware of the hull creaking, and the scratching of rats. More distant sounds, of orders shouted and running feet, drifted to her. She fell to turning events over in her mind.

  A nagging thought was that her old masters, the CIS, should have been watching the ports. Serrah couldn’t believe they weren’t, it was such a basic precaution. Yet somehow she’d got through unchallenged. She hoped it was plain dumb luck and not some elaborate trick. That was a path to paranoia and she forced herself to ponder other concerns, like where she might be going, and what she could do about food and drink.

  She felt the ship weigh anchor, then the bumps as it scraped against the harbour wall. Free of restraint, the vessel bobbed gently from side to side. Small pieces of unsecured cargo slid back and forth on the hold’s floor. In due course the motion calmed and they were properly underway.

  As best she could judge, something like an hour had gone by when she heard a new set of noises. She sat up, alert, grasping her blades. Through her peep hole she saw the glow of a subdued light and a pair of crewmen appeared, one carrying a hooded lantern.

  Were they searching for her? Would they notice the storeroom’s open door? If the answer was yes, she determined to make a fight of it. Her grip on the blades tightened, though her palms grew sweaty. She remembered her misgivings at entering a place with only one exit, and started to regret the decision.

  But the sailors weren’t searching. They didn’t spot the open door, and they made little effort to be quiet. One sat on a crate, the other rolled a barrel over and perched opposite him. They took out cob pipes and stuffed them with rough tobacco. She realised they were off watch, or simply skiving, and allowed herself to relax a fraction.

  They passed a hip flask back and forth as they smoked and talked. She strained to hear their conversation, but caught only snatches.

  “…thank the gods it’s east we’re going and not north,” one of them said.

  His companion replied, but she didn’t catch the meaning.

  “Not according to my brother,” the first man went on. “…some kind of… sweeps aside everything in his way.”

  Again, she couldn’t quite hear the other man’s response, but its tone was sceptical.

  “…many in the barbarous regions, granted,” stated the one she could hear more clearly, “but none…’ Frustratingly, he must have turned his head. Serrah pressed her ear to the crack. “…different, you mark me.”

  She couldn’t get the sense of it. Then she heard a stray word.

  “…Zerreiss…’ It was a name she’d heard before, but where or when escaped her.

  At least she knew they were travelling east, which was something. The rest of it was too disjointed to mean much, but she carried on listening.

  She heard that name again, more than once, as their exchange droned on.

  Zerreiss. Where had she come across it?

  Serrah was trying to remember when exhaustion took her. She fell into a pit of sleep as dark and silent as a tomb.

  Chapter Ten

  The first glimmer of dawn. Sunlight lanced through the canopy of a great forest, making trees loom ghostlike in the dissolving mist. Silvery dew melted in the warmth, and birds began their morning chorus. The start of a day like any other.

  Where the forest ended, pasture lands took over. Farmhouses surrounded by patchwork meadows, cottages sitting prettily on gentle hills. Herds of cows waiting to be milked, fields dotted with sheep softly bleating.

  Abruptly, the birds stopped singing. The cattle fell mute. Even the drone of insects faded away.

  The silence was so sudden, so palpable, it brought people out of their houses. Frowning women wiped their hands on flour-dusted aprons while youngsters clutched at their skirts. Men shaded brows with their palms to scan the landscape. In the fields, workers straightened, sunshine glinting on the cambered blades of their scythes. They all strained to see what might be causing the unnatural hush.

  Very faintly, a sound could be heard.

  It seemed to come from deep in the forest. Perhaps from beyond it. The farmers and their kin exchanged perplexed, uneasy glances.

  As the racket drew closer they realised it consisted of not one sound but a mingling of many. And given the distance it appeared to be travelling, it had to be very loud. Then they were aware of a weak but growing vibration beneath their feet. Clouds of birds rose from the treetops, spooked by whatever was approaching.

  In fright, the women gathered their children and pushed them indoors. The men armed themselves with pitchforks and axes. Everyone stared at the forest’s curving rim, for now they were sure that whatever produced the sounds was skirting its border. Movement could be seen through the trees.

  Around the lip of the forest came a motley assemblage of mounted men, wagons, carriages and much larger structures of some kind, obscured by clouds of dust.

  The more perceptive among the farming folk, the more worldly, guessed what was happening. But it was too late.

  A lone rider came ahead of the rest. He slowed his frothing horse to get his bearings. Those looking on were too stunned to call out to him. It would have made no difference if they had; the pathfinder, which is what they realised he must be, didn’t even notice them. After a moment spent reckoning his course he spurred on, straight across their fields, scattering livestock. The onlookers began to shout then, and frantically waved their arms, but their cries were lost in the din.

  Several score cavalrymen arrived with shining breastplates, standards aloft. Rare grandeur for this rustic backwater. As they chased the trailblazer, a detail of paladins at least a hundred strong thundered after them, maintaining strict formation.

  Then the full torrent of chaos flooded in.

  A disorderly mob of riders started to come by, many in diverse uniforms, their numbers impossible to count. Imperial guards mingled with watchmen and militia. Court sentries rode alongside detachments of army regulars. There were traders, peddlers, vagrants and chancers in the multitude; it
inerant musicians, guildsmen, riderless horses, coach-loads of jovial harlots. Flags, lances and banners swayed above the throng. Bobbing in the flow were merchants’ carts, buggies, rigs and wizards’ chariots; wheeled cages housing exotic, roaring beasts, pulled by teams of oxen. The noise was indescribable.

  The earth shook, and a thousand smells, from roasting meat to dung, permeated the air. Crops were flattened, trampled, churned to mush. Cattle stampeded, fences were levelled. Carried by the tide, haystacks unravelled.

  But the farmers’ wrath gave way to awe and alarm when they saw what came into view next.

  Dozens of fabulous floating mansions and chateaux, drifting like great ships in the ocean of humanity. Magnificent constructions of marble, granite, wood and stained glass, with lavishly decorated facades and twisting spires.

  But for all their huge size and splendour they were dwarfed by the structure they surrounded. Like a bloated slug in a column of ants, it was mountainous by comparison. The gigantic hovering palace, an extravagantly embellished confection in marzipan pink, white, blue and black stone, boasted crenellated ramparts, flying buttresses, keeps and balconies. Its numerous towers, cut with arrow slits, were so tall the farm folk cricked their necks trying to see their tops.

  Fantastical glamours flew over and about the tremendous palace. They took the form of winged men and horses, dragons, serpents, ladybirds the size of rams, and schools of giant, vividly coloured fish that swam in circles around the towers. Other glamours displayed the royal coat of arms and regal emblems; images drawn in fire on shimmering backcloths of gold.

  The lesser palaces ploughed through lone trees and copses. They crushed hedgerows and demolished barns. Peasants ran for their lives as a floating castle clipped the corner of a farmhouse and brought it crashing down. The castle had an ostentatious watchtower, and its bell clanged at the impact.

  Survivors in the farmers’ ranks could only cower and witness their ruination.

  The inhabitants of the gliding structures looked down on all this with ill-concealed boredom. As though destroying people’s homes was a common event. Which, of course, it was.