The Covenant Rising

by Stan Nicholls

  Band-members erupted from their bolt-holes. They rode out of the trees, emerged from buildings, came in from front and rear. A small force, but well placed to strike at the trapped tax gatherers.

  An archer on the second wagon reacted swiftly. The shaft he released whistled past Serrah’s ear. He quickly drew and shot again. This time the bolt was intended for Caldason, missing him only when he ducked with a fraction of a second to spare. The arrow buried itself in an oak, quivering.

  “He’s mine!” Serrah shouted, heading for the wagon.

  Caldason had his own goal. One of the band had been wounded and pitched from his horse. As he struggled to his feet, a paladin was moving in to finish him. Reeth galloped their way, knocking aside the paladin’s descending blade with his own. The band-member scrabbled clear. Leaning out from their saddles, Qalochian and paladin began trading blows.

  The archer Serrah targeted was obscured by fights that had broken out around the wagon. A militiaman appeared from the melee clutching a barbed spear. Holding it level, he rode at her. She swerved, avoiding the strike. As the rider passed she lashed out with her sword, slicing the lance in two. Enraged, he discarded the broken shaft, drew his sword and came around for a second charge. Serrah bobbed and his blade glided harmlessly above her head. Hers hacked into his chest. He screamed and fell. The riderless horse stampeded on.

  Caldason was locked in a tit-for-tat exchange with his paladin foe. They battered each other, blocking passes, chasing an opening. Their spooked horses snorted and pawed. Reeth broke the deadlock when he got through and scoured his opponent’s sword arm. A swift follow-on saw his blade in the paladin’s heart. Slumped on its bolting horse, the corpse was carried off, scattering allies and enemies.

  Serrah cracked the skull of a militiaman. As he went down, she saw the archer clearly again. He was alone on the wagon, the driver having been sucked into the fray. His drawstring was taut and he had a bead on one of her comrades. There was no time to act. The arrow flew to its mark, ending a duel the band-member would have won.

  She flipped her sword from her right hand to her left. From her belt she plucked a snub-nosed throwing knife. She aimed and flung it hard. The blade thudded into the wagon’s wooden enclosure, a handspan from the bowman’s head.

  He looked around wildly, spotted her and reached for his arrow sheath. She felt for another knife. He teased out a bolt and notched it. She drew back her arm. He pulled on the bow. She lobbed the blade. He loosed the arrow. It sailed over her right shoulder. Serrah could swear she felt its plume tickle her as it passed.

  The archer still stood. But she realised that was just temporary. The hilt of her knife stuck out of his collarbone. A red patch was spreading across his grey tunic. He swayed, then toppled.

  She goaded her frightened horse towards the wagon. Somebody on foot rushed over and tried to pull her down. Kicking out, she booted him back into the scrum. At the wagon, she scrambled onto the driving board. The bow was there, along with the quiver. Serrah took it and looked to the brawl going on all around her.

  In the thick of it, Caldason was facing two opponents. He had a mounted paladin alongside and a militiaman on foot harrying him with a mace. His defence had to be alternate, swiping at the rider one minute, the mace-man the next. He was holding them off but making no progress.

  Then an arrow came out of nowhere and struck the paladin in his back. As the man fell, Reeth glimpsed Serrah standing on the wagon, directing bolts into the fracas. His attention went back to the man with the mace and he disarmed him with a couple of downward strokes. Caldason’s next swing proved a killer blow.

  A moment’s lull, as strangely happened in even the most furious of engagements, allowed Reeth to snatch an overview. He judged that his side had the better of it. There were fights everywhere still, but the tide seemed to be running in the ambushers’ favour.

  He noticed one of the remaining paladins, on foot and moving away from the convoy. In his hand was an object that looked very much like a distress glamour. That was something they could do without. Reeth headed for him.

  Serrah had one arrow left. She singled out a likely target. It winged the man, spun him off his feet and dumped him in the road. She dropped the bow, took up her sword and leapt into the battle.

  Reeth’s duel with the paladin was frenzied and short. Wrenching his sword from the body, he looked around for the glamour. He found it in the long grass at the road’s edge and ground it under his boot. It gave off blue sparks and wisps of orange smoke as it died.

  He turned and saw that all but six or seven of the convoy’s escort had been downed. The holdouts were bunched together, on foot, in front of one of the lane’s shabby buildings. They were retreating in the face of an advancing semi-circle of band-members. As Caldason made his way over, the beleaguered group had their backs to the wall.

  In the short time they had to plan the ambush, Caldason and Serrah had thought about speed. They had a contingency to help overcome the guards as quickly as possible. Reeth signalled the men on the roof and set it in motion.

  The fading light obscured what was happening up there. Something was tossed from the roof – for a second it looked like a mottled black cloud. Instantly it descended, dome-shaped as it fell.

  A large weighted fishing net came down on the surviving escorts. They yelled and flailed in the tangle. The band rushed forward and subdued them with sword butts and clubs. They disarmed them and secured the net with rope. So many flies in a giant spider’s web.

  Serrah was at Caldason’s shoulder. “Seems like letting them off lightly.”

  “Would you rather we tethered them to a team of horses and sent them off over a cobbled road?”

  She smiled. “It’s no more than they deserve.”

  “Maybe. But I’ve always tried not to stoop to their level. I reckon you feel the same.” Before she could answer, he went on, “We need to move fast now. Let’s go.”

  The band gathered their wounded, and their dead, and lashed them to horses. Some were put into the wagons. All hands set to hauling clear the tree blocking the way ahead. The other was left where it was, to hinder any pursuit. They weren’t brutal with the enemy wounded, which might not have been the case if things had gone the other way. The prisoners were simply left, securely bound, to await rescue; and no doubt punishment for allowing their consignment to fall into Resistance hands.

  A rendezvous had been fixed a mile or two on, where the spoils would be loaded onto smaller vehicles and dispersed.

  Caldason took the reins on the lead wagon himself. Serrah sat beside him.

  “Our first successful mission,” she said.

  “Think so?” His voice was suddenly cold.

  “Don’t you?”

  He didn’t answer, and they made the rest of the journey in a stiff silence.

  All the while, Caldason’s eyes were on the city’s glittering splendour and phoney rainbows.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  A fiery streak sliced the heavens. It could have been a shooting star. More likely it was somebody flaunting their wealth.

  Seen from the summit of an outlying hill, Valdarr met the horizon and appeared to blend seamlessly into the night sky. The powdering of stars above silently mirrored the rippling colours and bursts of radiance below.

  Two people sat on a pallid, long-dead tree trunk. They had little interest in the view.

  “What do you mean, not good enough?” Serrah demanded.

  “We lost three men,” Caldason reminded her.

  “And twice that many got wounded. I’m aware of that. It’s tragic, but they knew what they were signing up for. There are always casualties.”

  “You were the one so concerned about losing lives.”

  “I was worried about them being lost recklessly.”

  “Didn’t you feel bad when you lost members of your team, back in Merakasa?”

  Serrah looked pained at that.

  “Sorry, of course you did.” He added, “I didn’t mea
n it to be a dig about what happened to you, either.”

  “All right.”

  “But it’s a question of responsibility and –’

  “Yes, I know. Naturally I felt responsible if any of my band got killed or hurt. That even goes for the fool who landed me in this mess, although I’ve no reason to blame myself. But I have to say that for a man so used to combat you seem pretty troubled about this.”

  “You don’t understand. It’s to do with… I suppose you’d call it control.”

  “You’re right, I don’t understand.”

  “When the Qaloch were being cleared from their land, when we were being massacred, I was helpless. Not just for myself; I couldn’t help anybody else. People I was honour-bound to stand by and protect were slaughtered in front of me. I had no control.”

  “How could you? I don’t know the details of what happened to your people, but I do know the odds against you were crushing. And you were taken unawares, stabbed in the back.”

  “You sound like somebody who knows about betrayal.”

  “I wouldn’t be here without it, trying to adjust to everything that’s changed in my life.”

  “Exactly. Betrayal’s a form of powerlessness too.”

  “In the sense that I had no control over what happened, yes. But in the end it might be liberating, for all the pain involved. It made me see the world in a different way. Made me realise the true nature of the system I was serving.”

  It seemed to Reeth that she was trying to make the best of it. He kept the thought to himself. “I’ve never been blind to the order of things,” he said. “Or been part of it.”

  “Then you should be perfect for the Resistance.”

  “So everybody tells me.”

  “At least freedom’s more than just a word to them, Reeth.”

  “In the end they’re only another kind of system.”

  “But a much better one than anything we’ve got. Potentially, anyway.”

  “So you’re a prime candidate for the Resistance too?”

  “As long as it suits me.”

  “That’s more or less the way I see it. Not that I’m finding it easy, and today didn’t make it any easier.”

  “Ironic, isn’t it?” A mellow smile played on Serrah’s lips. “I’m having to learn to accept a different kind of authority, and you’re having to learn to accept any kind of authority. I wonder if either of us are cut out for it?”

  He left the question hanging and asked one of his own. “What do you think about this grand scheme of Karr’s?”

  “An island state? I don’t suppose I know any more about it than you do. You could call it visionary, I guess. Utopian, even. But it does have a certain attraction.”

  “You’d go there, be part of it?”

  “You’re assuming I’d be invited. If I was… well, I really don’t know. I’d need to be told a lot more about it. Would you go?”

  “I’m not convinced Karr’s dream will ever happen.”

  “Yet here we are helping the cause.”

  “Or helping ourselves.”

  “It sounds less than charitable when you put it that way.”

  “Perhaps.”

  Tethered nearby, their horses had their heads down, grazing the long grass.

  “Whatever the reason we’re here,” Reeth said, “the band’s got to shape up.”

  “We can always be better, I suppose.”

  “They’re relying on me. I don’t want any more…’

  She was staring hard at him. “Guilt?”

  “Is that so strange a thought?”

  “No… no, it’s not.” Her expression was distant and grave, and didn’t seem to welcome inquiry.

  He steered clear. “You’re right, we can be better. I want to keep down the chance of losses.”

  “At least we’ve got a good crew.” She’d broken out of her reverie. “They’re keen, fit, quick to learn –’

  “They’ll have to be. When Karr hinted that today’s robbery was a dry run for other missions, you can bet he started us on something basic. Whatever’s coming is going to be a lot harder. We’ve got to be ready for that.”

  “Don’t worry,” she told him, “you’ll have your control.”

  The stars couldn’t be seen from the centre of the city. There was too much competition from the glare of magic.

  On the balcony of an unpretentious mansion in a moderately affluent quarter, another couple sat and took in the view. She revelled in the soft, warm night air. He poured honeyed wine from a carafe. They touched their cups together in a silent toast.

  Valdarr glittered and throbbed, a pageant of illusion that could have been for their sole benefit. Every so often a gush of sparks flared briefly in the streets below, marking a glamour nativity. Or an ebbing spectre drifted by, its magical charge used up. The rhythm of supernatural creation, mutation and destruction was incessant.

  Yet for Tanalvah Lahn this place was a haven.

  “I didn’t realise,” she said, “that I’d never really felt safe before.”

  “It’s good to hear you say that,” Kinsel replied. “Oh. I don’t mean good that you –’

  “I know what you mean.” Smiling, she lightly caressed his cheek. “We’re protected, thanks to you. Our saviour and our champion.”

  He kissed her palm. “I think you’re giving me too much credit.”

  “No. You’re a virtuous man, Kinsel. You could have walked by. Instead you gave hope to me, and to those poor children. You don’t know what that means to me. The only men I’ve known before were…’

  “Yes.” He nodded his understanding, saving her the torment of recounting bad memories. “But that’s over now. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do, not anymore.”

  “I find it a wonder that my life from before doesn’t seem to worry you. You really don’t think the less of me for it?”

  “Of course not, Tan. You had no choice. I look at it as being like the countries the empires occupy.”

  That puzzled her. “How?”

  “Because the conquerors can take land and chattels, but they can never possess people who long to be free.”

  “In the bordellos of Jecellam, the other women used to say that the clients can have your body but not your mind, your soul. Not the real you.”

  “That’s my point; and that’s how it is with the Resistance, too. The most important thing we have is the idea. Our enemies can’t own that, or destroy it. It’s our greatest weapon, whether we have Founder magic, warlord allies or anything else.”

  Grinning, she said, “You look terribly serious.”

  “Do I?” He was a little abashed. “Well, I am. I’ve always believed in the Resistance ideal. It’s a passion with me.” His expression grew earnest for a moment. “One I hope you’ll come to share.”

  “I think I’m beginning to. But what chance is there of Karr realising his plan? Can there really be somewhere for us that’s truly free?”

  “I just told you, there already is.” He tapped his forehead. “Up here.”

  “You know what I’m saying.” Her tone was mock stern, a smile breaking through.

  Kinsel returned it. “Yes, I think the plan can happen. We have to make it happen, though it’s going to be hideously difficult and cost dear in lives. What choice do we have?”

  “You had a choice. You could have stayed in your privileged world and never risked yourself.”

  “I didn’t start out there, Tan; I was born low. My gift raised me. But not before I’d learnt how things are. In fact, my earliest memory was seeing…’ He stopped himself. “Well, they say the first bite’s taken with the eye, don’t they?”

  “Must we have secrets?” she asked.

  “No, there should never be any between us. These are wounds, not secrets, and I’m not ready to pick at them just yet.”

  She squeezed his hand. “I’ll be here when you are.”

  He nodded his gratitude, then took up the thread. “Even if I had been born
with a silver teething ring in my mouth, I like to think I’d still have chosen the same side. But who can say? Perhaps being raised in affluence would have smothered my conscience. As it was I wavered for years before throwing my lot in with the Resistance.”

  A watch of nightingales casually flapped past. They were luminous and of assorted colours, and gave off discordant, unbirdlike noises.

  “Are you going to do as Karr said and give up your public life?” Tanalvah asked.

  After a pause, he answered, “In time.”

  “I’m afraid for you. Accept the protection of the Resistance and go underground, please.’

  “I can’t. Not yet.”

  “You could easily have been exposed when you stopped to help us, and it would have been my fault. And the fact that you suddenly seem to have acquired a family must surely arouse people’s interest. You’re in such a dangerous position.”

  “It wouldn’t have been your fault,” he insisted stubbornly, “and we didn’t get caught.”

  “That’s not the point. You’re running a tremendous risk. Give it up, Kinsel. For the sake of me and the children, if nothing else. There are other ways you can serve the cause.”

  “That’s just it; there aren’t. The most valuable contribution I can make is the one I’m making.”

  “Surely there must be something you could –’

  “No, hear me. There are few people sympathetic to the Resistance who have access to the higher echelons of government. I’m lucky enough to be one of them, and the intelligence I gather can be vitally important. That’s particularly true as we get nearer to achieving Karr’s plan. I can’t pull away now.”

  “The patrician would find another role for you,” Tanalvah persisted, “I’m certain of it.”

  “My pacifism greatly limits what I could do.”

  “There are many in the Resistance who share your opinion.”

  “Doing clerks’ jobs, essentially. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it isn’t as important as what I’m doing now. I’m an asset; why turn me into a quill-pusher?”

  “You’re not going to change your mind on this, are you?”