Stranger of Tempest: Book One of The God Fragments (26 page)

‘
So you called him a coward and he challenged you to a duel to preserve his honour. And you killed him.
’

Lynx nodded. ‘
Nobles duel with pistols, but I only had a sword so we used those. Cut his arm off and he wouldn’t stop screaming, not until I cut his throat. Then they sent me here.
’

Lorfen sighed and was quiet a long while. Eventually he sat a little more upright and steepled his fingers. ‘
My homeland is a long way from here, almost across the continent
,’ Lorfen said. ‘
I know little of your people, I admit, but what I do know tells me that was a tremendously courageous act. The soldiers of So Han are taught to love bloodshed, to show no mercy towards their enemies, to obey their rulers without question. That makes you fearsome warriors for certain, but what does it rob you of, I wonder?
’

Lynx frowned and looked down, unable to really understand what he was being asked. It wasn’t a prisoner’s place to offer opinion but even if he could, he had been robbed of nothing. There was nothing to take beyond the dim and distant dream of the other man.

‘
This prison is an abomination
,’ Lorfen continued. ‘
We have slaves in my homeland. It is an ancient practice – one I take no great steps to defend – but I know the slaves there would be appalled by what I have seen here
.’

Lynx said nothing. What was there to say? A world beyond the prison was also part of the dream of the other man, one it hurt to imagine.

‘
I suppose what I want to ask is what you will do, once you are released. Where will you go? I cannot do it yet, for the weather will turn before you reach the nearest town, and they would likely arrest you as soon as they saw that mark on your face.
’

Lynx touched the tattoo on his right cheek. He hardly thought of it, every prisoner had an identical mark and here it meant little. But outside these walls he would always be marked by it.

‘
If I’m released
,’ Lynx said hesitantly, not yet believing such a thing would ever happen, ‘
I’d go east, leave So Han for ever.
’

‘
They will not welcome you there. It might be they would kill you for being Hanese. South would be better, safer.
’

Lynx said nothing, but a sudden urge to go east filled his heart. To follow the wild cat he had seen, disappear over the horizon and away from this man and his questions, his orders.

‘
Would you do it again?
’

‘
What?
’

‘
Call your commanding officer a coward. Refuse the orders of a coward, a murderer.
’

‘
No.
’

‘
No?
’ The word seemed to disappoint Lorfen and he sat back, lips pursed. ‘
You would follow his orders so you could avoid this place?
’

‘
I’ll never take orders again,
’ Lynx replied. ‘
No man gives an order like that, only a monster. They were civilians, unarmed. I’ll kill any monster I see, wherever they’re from. Kill them before they can murder anyone else.
’

‘
Even if it means being sent to a place like this?
’

Lynx cringed, but his hands tightened into fists. ‘
I’ll never come back, if you let me out. I’ll die before I come back.
’

‘
So you would still choose to do what’s right even if it means your death?
’

‘
I’ve seen right, I’ve seen wrong – I’ve seen life, I’ve seen death – but I only hate one o’ those. Death’s just another day here. It don’t frighten me. I won’t be like
him,
or any of the monsters in here. Life’s not worth that.
’

‘
I believe you
,’ Lorfen said after a pause. ‘
And I admire you.
’

‘
Not trying to be admired
,’ Lynx said, shaking his head. ‘
Just all I am now. All I got left.
’

‘
There’s more to you than that, I think.
’

‘
You don’t know me. You read one file and you think you know everything?
’

‘
I think we’re not so dissimilar, when all’s said and done. And I think that when I needed it most, there was someone to help me – as I am helping you. You’re not the only man in this prison I’ll be releasing, but you are the only one who reminds me of me.
’

‘
I never asked for your help
,’ Lynx snapped. ‘
I never asked for anything. I don’t owe you anything.
’

‘
Indeed you don’t
,’ Lorfen said. ‘
But I owe the world. My life is not blameless and I owe it to myself to help those who deserve it.
’

‘
You don’t know me
,’ Lynx repeated. ‘
How do you know what I deserve?
’

‘
Simple. There will always be monsters in this world, so there should also be those who refuse to fear them.
’

Sitain was glad to hide herself away in Anatin’s caravan, closing the door behind her as the order to move out was given. As it jerked into motion she sat down on what little space remained, the cloak of gloom settling about her again. Out of the courtyard and a lurch to the left, then the slow lumber down the rutted road in to the city before they turned right on to the wide avenue that took traffic around the narrower streets of the centre.

It was then that she saw it. A small shape at the base of a low cupboard door – the very centre of the bed platform where Anatin slept out on the road. A nondescript leather purse hung by a piece of string from the wooden peg handle of the cupboard. Sitain frowned. From what she’d seen of the man, Foren was meticulous in everything he did and certainly took his duties as supply master most seriously. To leave anything out was strange. Sitain checked around the rest of the caravan. Everything was put away or tied down, absolutely everything, while as the caravan rumbled on the purse swung freely with the obvious clink of coins inside.

Sitain checked the door in a fit of paranoia, but it remained shut. She gently slid the bolt shut, just in case, and went to investigate the purse. It was dark inside the caravan with the shutters on the window also closed, but enough light crept through the cracks to reveal a handful of silver coins once she emptied the purse out. All currency local to Grasiel, a dozen silver pieces in total.

‘That’s no mistake,’ Sitain said to herself, again glancing nervously at the door. ‘Foren’s too tidy and Anatin’s too miserly to forget his purse.’

She spent a long while looking at the coins before she tipped them back into the purse and cinched it tight again. There was only one explanation that came to mind for her and she was struggling to decide if it was a welcome one or not.

‘So someone doesn’t want me here, Anatin most likely. And this is what? A bribe? Twelve silver coins must be enough to give me a head start, but not enough for a man to hold much of a grudge against someone taking it. Certainly not a girl he doesn’t want around much. Even if he can’t bring himself to kick me out, he’ll not lose sleep if I slip off and take the danger I bring with me.’

Or he’s just looking for an excuse to kill me and be done with the problem?

She sat in silence a while longer, as she contemplated the second scenario. Was it cowardly not to take the offer? Would she in effect be committing herself to the company?

Gods above, what do I even want? If Anatin would prefer me gone, should I even be thinking about this? What is keeping me with them? Is it really just Lynx?

Or am I too frightened to go it alone? Where would I go? Far away from here, far from the Militant Orders, but that’s a long way. Their reach stretches for hundreds of miles. And where would I even go? The Mage Isles? Five hundred miles or more through lands which more often than not have armies roaming them. The Eastern Seas, where I’d stand out like a sore thumb?

Or do I stick with the devils I know? It’s not like these mercenaries are a devout lot. Only one who objects to me does so ’cos of where my ma escaped from before I was born. Maybe I can stay and learn some healing – put all this to some use and be a burden to no one. If they want me to stay, if I really become part of them, it’ll take a small army to make the Cards hand me over.

The thought seemed to lessen the weight on her heart a touch, but just then the caravan jolted to a halt and sent her sprawling. When she’d recovered from the surprise, Sitain hopped up and went cautiously to the window, pushing it open as best she could to try and peer out at what was going on.

Before she could make anything out the door suddenly rattled violently. Sitain jumped, panic filling her mind as a hand banged on the wood.

‘Sitain, dammit girl, open the bastard door!’

She gasped in relief, it was Foren. She scrambled forward and unbolted the door, pushing it open and almost knocking him over in the process.

‘Hells! Careful, girly.’

‘Sorry,’ she whispered, scanning the street behind as she spoke. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Traffic’s backed up,’ he said with a frown. ‘Don’t know why but I don’t like it. Looks like they’re searching carts leaving the city.’

‘What? Why?’

Foren shook his head. ‘Don’t know,’ he said, ‘but I ain’t much keen for them to find you here.’

As he spoke a figure rounded the corner of the cart and almost collided with Foren. It was Payl. She had remained in charge of the wagons, where the strongbox and supplies were, while the troops had gone on ahead.

‘Time to move,’ Payl announced. ‘Sorry, but you’re getting off early.’

‘Are they looking for me?’

‘Who cares? You’re hiding in a caravan while the rest of us walk, they’ll take an interest and there are Knights-Charnel liveries up there. We’re not getting you out of the city today.’

‘I’m trapped?’ Sitain gasped, snatching up her small bag of belongings.

‘It’s a big city. That’s a problem for another day.’ Payl waved her forward. ‘Come on, move yourself before the queue starts moving.’

‘Wait,’ Foren said, holding up a hand to stop Sitain heading down the steps. ‘There’s a purse in there, hanging off a cupboard at the back. Funds, in case you need them. I’m sure you didn’t notice it earlier.’

She met his gaze for a moment and a flicker of a smile crossed Foren’s face. Sitain ducked her head and headed back inside, scooping up the purse and returning a few moments later.

‘You remember where the others were moving to?’

Sitain nodded. The strike group would be leaving the inn and heading to another closer to the centre of the city, closer to their target. If there were complications, Anatin hoped the change would make it harder to link them to the rest of the company.

She got down from the caravan and tucked the purse into a pocket of her jacket. Behind them the street was starting to build up with people, drifting warily forward as they tried to get a sight of what was happening at the gate. Sitain peered around the caravan but could only see a tangle of people and carts ahead. There were plenty of black and white liveries on view, though, more than enough to rekindle the spark of fear inside her.

‘What is it?’

She shook her head. ‘I don’t know. Just thinking someone else could be watching, see who leaves before they get to the gate.’

‘You’ve a nasty suspicious mind there, Sitain,’ Payl said, adding, ‘it’s what I’d do.’

Payl looked around. There were winding side streets leading off in most directions. This part of the city was an old and evolving mix of tall warehouses and tenements punctuating low clusters of houses. ‘That way,’ she said, nodding towards an alley. ‘I think that leads off along the city wall towards the temple of Veraimin over there.’

As Sitain followed the woman’s directions she saw there was a bulbous dome peeking over the rooftops, a distinctive Surei construction of devotional elegance amid the functional homes of the city.

‘Midday prayers must be about now,’ Foren agreed. ‘There’s no way to cut you off before you reach it and with luck a crowd to lose yourself in around the temple. Nothing like Veraimin’s worshippers for some usefully noisy chaos.’

‘And if I’m followed?’

‘Once you’re out of sight of the gate, run,’ Payl said. ‘If anyone’s following, I’ll get in their way.’

‘Are you sure?’

Payl smiled. ‘Reckon Ashis and I can manage that, the girl can pick a fight with a wall. I’ll just get in the way as I pull her off anyone who might be trying to follow.’

Sitain forced herself to return the smile.
Gratitude, Sitain
, she reminded herself,
some of these mercenaries are good people. Even the ones that ain’t are keeping your secret.

‘Thanks.’

‘Hop it.’

She jumped to obey, walking as fast as she dared towards the alley mouth Payl had indicated. No one obviously moved to follow, but she kept her eyes forward, hands jammed in her pockets and clutching the purse. As she passed the tavern that protruded from the corner, the sun broke through the clouds and seemed to cast a golden path down the mostly empty street ahead. She took it as a sign and broke into a sprint, not daring to look back.

After half an hour of trying to keep to the largest and busiest streets, Sitain finally found herself somewhere she recognised. The great square Lynx had taken her to was also a major junction, seeing a steady flow of traffic beneath each of its four tall white arches.

The sight of something familiar felt like a cooling salve but as the panic waned, Sitain realised her hands were still shaking. She ducked into an eatery and spent a little of Anatin’s money on a small stack of pork-stuffed buns and a steaming cup of tea. She found herself a stool in the darkest corner and wedged herself in with her back to the wall behind, watching the square from the security of the shadows.

Did I lose them?
She blinked and forced herself to eat, taking long, slow breaths.
Was there even anyone following? Coldest dark, am I just frightening myself now?

She slurped at the scalding tea, glad of the sharp and very real sting on her tongue.
Don’t be a fool
, she reminded herself.
You’ve always got something real to be frightened of, never forget that. You can’t be too wary, not when you’re out on the streets alone.