Fallen Tiers

by Cheryl Matthynssens

  “It is completely under water.” Alador shouted over the wind and rain. “Do you think the Trench Lord got them all out?”

  “By the gods, I surely hope so.” Bariton grabbed Alador’s arm. “Let’s get down there.” He indicated the closest stairs to the second tier.

  They made their way, buffeted by stinging water and howling winds, to the second tier stairwell. Four guards were at the gate, huddled in the lee of it from the storm as they guarded the tier path. Recognizing Bariton they waived him through; orders were to not let people up, but no one said anything about going down.

  The second tier was a mass of swarming bodies, each seeking shelter. The panic was palpable as the two made their way to the ramps down to the first tier. Here the guards were pulling people up and passing them on to others who were helping them find a spot. There was no shelter to be found as they moved through the crowds. Every house that could open and take in people seemed to have done so. The people of Silverport who had survived the wave were now at the mercy of the full fury of the storm.

  Bariton grabbed a young man who seemed to be directing rescues. “How can the Blackguard help?” he shouted.

  “Best to ask the General, he is in the third house down to the right.” The man shouted back. Bariton gave a nod and tugged Alador with him.

  Alador dashed water from his face and moved to keep up with the High Master. He stopped in horror when a shutter broke free, the wood peeling back in pieces and flying into the crowds. People were screaming and pushing, trying to work their way into the lee of buildings. There was a press to move up a tier and Alador could see the General’s guards holding them at bay with swords. They would not hold out much longer by the mood of the gathered survivors.

  He hadn’t realized he had stopped until Bariton grabbed his arm and pulled him forward. He nodded and continued to follow the High Master. Bariton pounded at the door and must have been asked to identify himself, though Alador hadn’t been able to hear anything above the din.

  The door opened and both men practically fell into the building with relief. They were shown into a room where General Levielle was standing. The man’s face was pale but resolute. As they were shown into the room, Levielle abruptly stopped pacing. Both Alador and Bariton saluted the General.

  Levielle recognized the two immediately. He strode to stand toe-to-toe with Alador, his rage just held in check. “Did you know?”

  Alador took a step back at the look on Levielle’s face. “Did I know… what? About the wave? I am the one that gave Sordith and Luthian warning, if that is what you mean?” He was shocked. He could never remember a time when Levielle had not been in good temper and very centered.

  Levielle took one step forward. He was taller than Alador and he knew the proximity would make him more imposing. His tone and posture looked calm, but was anything but. “You didn’t answer the question, Guardsman,” he growled. “I asked if you knew.” Levielle’s tone held a deadly edge to it.

  High Master Bariton wedged his way between them. “General, I probably want to know the answer to whatever you’re asking, but you might want to take a moment and clarify… what it is he knew?” His tone was placating, but held a question as well. He wanted to know what the general was after too.

  Levielle looked to Bariton and frowned. Setting his jaw, he spoke at Alador, but did not look at him. “Did you know of your uncle’s plan to seal the trench level?” His body tensed for the response. His gaze locked on Bariton before him.

  Bariton stared agape at Levielle, stunned by the words. He turned to look at Alador as well. The huge pools they saw on the first tier… The standing water… They were not caused by the debris backing up on the ramps to the trench?

  Now both ranking men glared down at him. Alador felt his heart turn over. “Seal the trench? What you are talking about? Did he try to put a block at the harbor entrance to prevent the wave?”

  A grim, cruel smile grew over Levielle’s face. “Oh, Alador… No…” Stepping around Bariton, Levielle placed himself once more directly before the young mage. “He had stone mages seal the trench from the upper tiers,” his smile dropped as he relived the horror, “trapping the unfortunate in the stone and in the trench as the wave struck.”

  Alador shook his head in disbelief. “No. No, I know he is a power seeking despot, but not even he would sink that low. You must be wrong.” Alador shook his head at Levielle’s revelation. “There are miners… women… children. He couldn’t have done that. There must be another explanation.” Despite his desire to see Luthian unseated as High Minister, the one thing that Alador had learned from his uncle was that you didn’t waste resources. Even if the man was heartless enough to kill women and children, he was certain that he would not wish to lose the miners that brought in the city’s medure and other wealth.

  “I spoke with your uncle just before the wave struck.” Levielle gazed unblinking toward Alador. “He wanted me to move the army either to the plains, or to the training ring, and ordered me not go into the trench.” The pain in his words could be heard.

  “Yes, to get the army out of the winds, we spoke of this.” Alador nodded, not seeing how this meant that Luthian had sealed the trench.

  “No, Alador, he specifically ordered me to not enter the trench. The High Minister stated he would send bronze mages to…” he chewed on the last word for a moment longer, “…assist.” After a moment of silence that lay between them, Levielle moved back into the room once again, looking for something.

  No… No… It couldn’t be true. What had Luthian done? Where was Sordith? Alador thought in a moment of panic. His half-brother would have been down there in the trench until the last moment.

  Bariton coughed to ease the tension, clearly accepting Alador’s shocked look as confirmation that the young man had not known. “General, we can ponder the intricacies of motives and fault later. We have people out in this storm,” he gently reminded the man. “The caverns will be out of the winds and direct rain,” he offered. “Our dining hall is quite large and the men can bunk together to open up some cells for families with children. I have a full healers’ quarter. How do you want to evacuate this tier?” The High Master was turning over command of the Blackguard to the General with his words.

  Levielle once more stood still. He looked toward the wall that he faced and breathed deeply. He didn’t say anything for a moment and then spoke with a command.

  “Get as many people off this tier as you can and into the caverns. They are to take as much food as possible, but as little else as necessary. We need as much room as we can get for people, not things. Second tier only. Those on third tier should be able to recover in time on their own. Make sure all innkeepers on the second and third tier know that this is an emergency and they will need to keep every door and bed open for the night.”

  “As you command, sir.” Bariton snapped a salute and turned on his heel.

  Alador turned to leave as well. “I can move amongst the inns and identify the injured to be taken to the caverns,” he murmured. He would have the opportunity to look for Sordith and Keelee as he helped move the walking wounded to the healers in the caverns. He stole a last look at Levielle, whose back was still turned to him before moving to follow the High Master of the Blackguard.

  “Master Guldalian.” Levielle called, his back still turned. He waited only a moment before speaking again. The rage seeped from his tone. “If I find out you knew of the High Minister’s actions, I will personally make sure you are slowly lowered, hog-tied, into the bay.”

  Alador paused when he heard his formal name. Levielle’s heavy words were followed by a tense silence before Alador answered, “Understood.”

  Chapter Ten

  Alador’s stomach growled, and he was once more reminded of his empty belly and his seemingly permanent state of exhaustion. The storm had kept the day a dim gray, but now nightfall was bringing an even darker tone. He told himself for the umpteenth time that he needed to check on Nemara, but he kept o
n working. The task seemed endless.

  The last hour or so he had been helping move the dead to a wagon; once full they were taken to a pile on the plains. They were attempting to identify everyone before the nature mages and fire mages disposed of the bodies in funeral pyres.

  The first tier had taken a hard hit, mostly those milling about from the trench prior to its being sealed off. He had seen firsthand the walls of stone and body parts that had blocked those seeking higher ground. He just could not believe Luthian would do such a thing. Surely it was beyond even his darkest thoughts to murder people in such a vile way.

  At first, it seemed like the hours crawled by slowly. One by one they were able to get the survivors from both the first tier and the third tier bridge into the caverns. The Blackguard made a line of men to help those with small children make their way up and across the third tier. Some with housing on the first tier chose to stay to salvage what they could.

  Alador was taking a breath in the lee of a building on the second tier. From there, he could see the trench. Little was left – it was hardly more than a ditch of mottled water and debris. The tide turned mid-day and with it, the water level allowed for drainage to begin. But, the water coming off the upper tiers seemed to be keeping the trench full.

  The rain had lessened to nothing more than an annoying drizzle that showed no sign of letting up. A couple of hours ago Alador watched the storm spin off multiple tornadoes which moved rapidly across the plain and away from the city inland, leaving nothing behind except thick rain clouds and torn up channels in the muddy soil.

  There had been neither sign nor word of Sordith or Keelee from those he assisted. He was praying to the gods that he had simply missed them in the weather and chaos. He tried to picture them somewhere safe, warming themselves by a fire, but failed. He knew if his brother had lived, he would have been in the thick of the cleanup. He let out a deep sigh – Sordith had most likely died in the trench with his people.

  He could see the bodies floating in the trench. For a time, he used his dragon-sight to try and locate Sordith in the water of the harbor, but he gave that up. He saw too many things he wished he hadn’t – dead mothers with their dead children clasped tightly to their breasts; mangled and crushed bodies; and partial bodies that made his stomach roll and heave. All that were not eventually washed out to sea would have to be collected and brought to the plains for disposal so disease and infection would be kept at bay.

  He turned his eyes toward the plains. It too was dotted with the bodies of people who tried that route to escape the wave. Those would not have to be moved. They had already found their final resting place.

  Two Blackguards walked by carrying a makeshift stretcher cobbled together from a wooden door. There were two bodies on it – a man face down dressed in leathers and a woman with dark hair beneath him. Alador snapped to attention, his adrenaline kicking in. He pushed off the wall and ran to the men.

  “Stop! Let me see!” he said in a panicked voice. It couldn’t be… please… he silently prayed.

  The men, stopped almost happy to be relieved of moving their heavy burden any further.

  Alador gently lifted the man’s head and turned his face so he could see… Was it Sordith and Keelee beneath him? He almost cried when he saw that it was not either of them, just some other unfortunate souls.

  “Do you know them, Sir?” one of the guards asked.

  “No…” Alador said as he stepped back. “No… I thought I might, but I don’t.”

  He felt tears welling up and turned to hide them as he went back to lean against the building. He was just so tired. He was losing control. When he leaned up against the building he realized his knees were weak and his hands were shaking. Once again, he told himself he should go check on Nemara.

  A voice brought him out of his thoughts. “High Master requests your presence in the caverns, Sir.”

  The guardsman looked young and Alador smiled grimly at the thought. He had been young once, before he had been forced to grow up too quickly.

  “I am to take over whatever you are doing,” the young man added.

  Alador nodded. “I am gathering dead and helping stragglers up out of the weather. Good luck.” Alador turned and stepped back out into the rain. It stung as it hit his chilled cheeks. The weights that were his feet plodded forward in resistance to the lessening wind. As he made it up onto the third tier, the rain came to a stop. He looked up and there above him was blue sky. He made his way to the overlook as the wind began to die down further. Was it finally over?

  Standing on the overlook, he could see the last part of the cloudbank forming into one final funnel cloud to escape across the plain. He looked to his right to see people peeking out of their homes and businesses. Everyone had noticed when the rain stopped and the wind had died down to a mere breeze.

  A woman stepped up to him, another member of the Blackguard, but one he did not recall. “Is it over?” She looked at the sky uncertainty.

  “No.” Alador stated watching the air stones. They still held that strange erratic element in the tornado which was rapidly leaving. “It is just moving away.”

  “Will it come back?” she asked with a touch of fear in her voice.

  “I hope not.” Alador turned to go report to the High Master.

  “Me too, Lieutenant.”

  For a second, Alador wasn’t sure who she was talking to, then remembered his on the spot promotion, and the insignia on his sleeve. He wasn’t even sure he was technically in the Blackguard, but then again, he never had officially left it.

  He ducked into the cavern. He had never seen it so full. The press of warm, wet bodies left a humid feel to the cave’s tunnels as he made his way through to the High Master’s office. There was a low rumble of voices that echoed throughout the cavern like the buzz of bees in a massive hive.

  He was waved through into Bariton’s private quarters. The door shut behind him as he cast a drying spell to ease the movement of his leathers and help with the chill that permeated his body.

  “Have you stopped since we left General Levielle?” Bariton voice barked out the question as soon as he entered the room.

  “No,” Alador admitted. “I have been working while trying to find Sordith and Keelee, but there is no sign of either of them.” Alador sank wearily into the chair Bariton indicated. The High Master went to a side table and poured them both a stiff drink.

  He did not speak until he handed Alador the glass. He leaned against his desk in front of the beleaguered mage, eying him. “Sordith is a man with a quick mind. Who knows, he could have had some bronze mage wall him in. We have bigger problems.”

  “Besides the aftermath of a storm like none we have ever seen?” Alador took a long drink; the warm burning was welcome for a change. He closed his eyes, just resting in the sensation of the fortifying liquid.

  Bariton sat in a chair angled toward him and sipped from his own glass. He leaned in and spoke in a low tone. “There are whispers going through the caverns that the high mages tried to kill everyone below the second tier.”

  Alador paused with his hand halfway to his mouth, staring into the amber liquid. He looked toward the closed door. Shadows were cast under it as people passed back and forth, but it didn’t look like anyone was loitering outside trying to listen in. All the same, Alador lowered his voice as well when he answered, “I’m not sure it isn’t truth more than rumor. I saw the wall with people stuck in the stone blockade.”

  “If it is truth, the upper tiers may very well find themselves in a civil war.”

  Alador ran a weary hand over his face. “The lower tiers would just lose. If Luthian holds the army and the highly skilled mages to his favor, we have no chance of cleansing the greed and hubris from the upper tiers.” He could not help yawning.

  “Yes, well, I would welcome a suggestion that might calm the people down.” Bariton drained his glass and set it aside.

  Alador sat for a moment deep in thought. If Luthian had ordered th
e sealing of the trench… If Sordith and Keelee had lost their lives because of Luthian’s orders… But he couldn’t take on his uncle right now. If he was to be successful in bringing down Luthian, and the evil ways of the ruling body, then he needed to plan… He needed help… He had to wait, bide his time, until he would have a real chance of success.

  “Let rumors loose that it was stone mages that had an axe to grind. I am sure Luthian has a couple that are in his way.” Alador also drained his glass. “Better that a couple of mages die than three tiers worth of citizens.” He stood up and stretched. “If the rumor is out before the citizens start making their way home to mount repairs, we might not have a riot.”

  “You realize that I am not able to stand up to any order Luthian may give for this garrison.” Bariton rose as well.

  “Neither is Levielle. I will find out if my uncle did this. If he did, I will be the one that will need to deal with him.”

  “Can you?” Bariton took a step closer and looked Alador in the eye. “Could you kill your own kin?”

  There was not even a pause before Alador answered. “Definitely.”

  Bariton held his gaze for a moment before turning away. “Then we will get together and plan when you know for certain. I will get that rumor started. Guards passing the news loudly enough to be overheard should do the trick.” He picked up their glasses and went to the board and refilled them.

  Alador was pleased to hear Bariton would still be with him when he challenged Luthian. He would need men like the High Master, especially if Sordith was gone. He cleared his throat of the lump that appeared at the thought of losing his half-brother.

  “One more to fortify you, Lieutenant.” Bariton brought the glass over to Alador. “I hear Nemara is awake.”