Chaosmage (6 page)

“Her name is
Maligne
,” said Balfruss, staring at the naked blade with a troubled expression.

“It's beautiful,” said Tammy. She sheathed the sword and heard Balfruss sigh in what she thought sounded like relief.

“Shall we go on board?” he asked and she led the way onto the main deck of the
Snow Leopard
. Tammy stowed her belongings in one of the cabins and made it back on deck in time to see the sailors casting off. Balfruss was stood at the rail staring back at the city and she leaned against it beside him.

Perizzi was the source of some of her best and worst memories. She'd spent so long walking its winding streets she expected to feel more of a lurch as it started to recede, but all she felt was a sense of relief. There were so many emotions tied to the city that it was liberating to be cut free from the weight of them. Everything would still be waiting for her when she came back, if she came back, but for now all of her thoughts turned to Voechenka and the mystery that lurked within its desolate streets.

B
alfruss sat quietly off to one side with the priests while Tammy dealt with the officers at the Shael garrison. As far as they knew he was there to assist her, nothing more. They'd agreed to keep his identity secret from as many people as possible to avoid making a delicate situation even more uncomfortable.

Since returning to Seveldrom Balfruss had slowly come to realise the fear that his name inspired. The irony was not lost on him. No one spoke about the Warlock or the terrible things he'd done during the war. In hushed voices they told stories about the man who'd beaten him. The Battlemage who should never be named. It was worse than being forgotten by history. It also pained Balfruss to admit it, but the Warlock had been right. Just as he'd predicted, Balfruss had been exiled by his own people and now he was a bogeyman of almost mythic status.

At present they were waiting for the Captain of the Shael garrison to return from patrolling before they could press on to Voechenka. His men were incredibly nervous. Every warrior sat or stood with a hand resting on their sword and all were armoured and ready for battle. It would take only a small push to send them over the edge, so Balfruss avoided eye contact and kept his mouth shut.

The guards were also unwilling to make any decisions without their Captain's authorisation, even one that wouldn't put them in any danger. Despite Tammy being in receipt of a letter from the Queen of Shael explaining their purpose, the guards still refused.

It showed a level of fear and paranoia Balfruss had not been anticipating. So he waited patiently and conserved his energy, while Tammy chatted idly with the guards, subtly gathering information as she went. They probably didn't even realise she was doing it.

The voyage to Shael had been fairly uneventful, but over its course he'd come to respect the tall Guardian. She had pale white skin from Yerskania but the height and build of someone from Seveldrom. Her position in the Guardians indicated she had a methodical mind and he'd been delighted to find her intelligent and possessing a dry wit.

With little to do at sea, Tammy spent her time getting used to
Maligne
by practising on deck for a couple of hours each day, while he dozed in the sun or read one of the books in the Captain's limited library. Parrick was an unusual man with eclectic tastes, and amid the journals of famous voyages and studies of western history, Balfruss found books of poetry and even a guide to eastern culture. He was tempted to correct the mistakes but didn't think the Captain would appreciate him writing all over his book.

Balfruss spent a portion of each day by himself while Tammy spoke with the sailors. Her position as a Guardian earned their respect and she seemed at ease in their company. A few years ago he would have sat with them, laughing and drinking, swapping stories and jokes, but not any more. Not after the war. Not after what he'd seen in the jungles of the north. Balfruss traced the intricate pattern of the marriage tattoo on his left wrist with the fingers of his right, his mind swimming with memories. He spent a lot of time wandering the corridors of the recent past, listening to the voices of old friends, and inevitably his thoughts kept returning to her.

After a couple of days at sea Balfruss took off his boots and walked barefoot around the ship. The sailors noticed the thick calluses on his feet, but they knew from the way he walked and lack of nautical knowledge, they'd not been earned at sea. Even then the sailors didn't ask, but he'd seen them looking at him speculatively from time to time.

With so little to do each day, as Parrick's sailors were competent men and women, even Balfruss felt the need for company. During the voyage he and Tammy would sometimes sit in companionable silence or chat while watching the waves. She would tell him a little about herself and he would share what he felt comfortable with about the last few years since the end of the war. She didn't press him for more details, which he liked about her. But he also knew she was smart enough to fill in some of what he'd left out. Likewise, when she'd said there was no one waiting for her back home in Perizzi he'd spotted the lie. They both had parts of their life they wished to remain private.

Balfruss tried talking to the priests, but he found them to be a pious group who made him uncomfortable. It wasn't long before any conversation returned to their religion and way of thinking. After his travels in the north and all that he'd witnessed before the war, the established faiths no longer seemed to intimidate or impress him as they once did.

The priests' devotion to the Lady of Light was very different from what he remembered seeing a few years ago. Now the Lord of Light was rarely mentioned and his companion had become dominant in the church. Tammy had told him that those priests from the church of the Holy Light who were more interested in getting rich and doing little real work, had all but disappeared. Now those who followed the Lady of Light could be found in some of the worst places in every city, offering comfort to the poor, the diseased and the dying. The churches had become refuges where every coin donated was spent on helping clothe, feed and support people, not lining the coffers. The priests on board ship had not completed the Iron Challenge or taken the Long Walk, but nevertheless they'd endured a crucible of the soul, as each had haunted eyes as if they carried the weight of many. As someone who had enough demons of his own, Balfruss did his best to avoid long conversations with them. Nevertheless he could respect their dedication, even if he didn't want to spend too much time with them.

The only exception was the lone plague priest, a
blond
-
haired
man called Kai. He had a dark sense of humour and sarcastic tongue, which meant he also spent much of the voyage alone. Balfruss thought himself a decent student of history, but he'd never heard of Akharga. Kai assured him that it was a very old religion, with its roots in some of the earliest records, but with no way to check, Balfruss had to take him at his word.

The sound of raised voices brought Balfruss's thoughts back to his surroundings in the garrison, where the Shael guards were drawing their weapons. He looked across the room at Tammy and raised an eyebrow, but she shook her head and gestured for him to stay put while she investigated. A few minutes later she returned with a haggard Shael warrior he'd not seen before. The relief in the room was palpable and Balfruss saw the guards relax at the newcomer, who had to be their Captain.

Every Shael warrior in the garrison was lean with a gaunt face, but the Captain made them all look fat by comparison. His grey hair was cut close to his scalp and the white stubble on his face did nothing to hide the deep hollows of his cheeks. His deep purple eyes sparkled with so much vitality they looked out of place in such a weathered face.

“I'm Captain Rees,” he said, sitting down with a grunt of relief. “I know that you've come a long way, but before you decide to venture into Voechenka, I think you should know what awaits you.”

“Any information would be appreciated,” said Tammy, declining the offer of a drink. One of the guards brought a modest plate of food for the Captain, who started to eat with vigour. His armour was still covered with dust as he'd come straight from the saddle to see them. He smelled of horse, leather and stale sweat, but there was no pageantry out here on the edge of the world.

“There's no law in the city any more,” said Rees around a mouthful of beans. “It wasn't always that way, but you're not interested in history. The only rule in the city is that of survival. The strongest, cruellest and most cunning survive. All others are grist for the mill. The meek and the pious were among the first to die. The rest enslave themselves in different ways in return for protection.” Rees tore off a chunk of bread and dipped it into the gravy on his plate. He chewed slowly as if thinking, but Balfruss could see he was savouring every mouthful. “If you go into Voechenka and get into trouble, no one will come in to help. My orders are to wait three weeks and if you don't emerge by then, you'll be declared dead. Word will be sent back to your families.”

Rees looked up from his plate for the first time to gauge their reaction. Tammy watched him with a calm expression, unperturbed by the news. He glanced around the room, passing over the priests before pausing briefly on the axe at Balfruss's waist. Rees narrowed his eyes and looked Balfruss up and down, his gaze lingering on his hands, the axe again and finally his face. Balfruss saw Tammy tense, but thankfully Rees didn't seem to recognise him and returned to his food.

“My information is weeks out of date, but what I can tell you will still be of some use. Once fear took hold in the city, people started banding together to protect themselves. There were eight camps, five were controlled by criminal gangs, two were independent and we had a garrison. There will be fewer camps now, but your best chance of surviving the first night is to try and get into one of the independent bases, if they'll have you.”

“Who's killing them?” asked Tammy.

Rees took a deep breath and shook his head. “It changes. Friends sometimes, enemies on other nights. Sometimes the dead come back to steal away the living.”

It sounded like the ravings of a madman or a story meant to scare children, but no one was laughing. Rees spoke so
matter
-
of
-
factly
it was unnerving. The haunted look in the Captain's eyes told Balfruss he'd been in the city and seen these terrors for himself. Normally people would be quick to shy away from such an unsettling figure, but the guards were drawn to Rees because he'd faced the darkness and survived to tell them the story.

“What happened to your garrison in the city?” asked Tammy.

“We were overrun in the night,” said Rees. “The guards on duty didn't cry out because they saw familiar faces in the crowd. Friends who'd gone missing that we thought were dead or had fled the city. Our relief soon turned to surprise and horror when they tried to kill us.”

Tammy was puzzled, but kept driving forward with questions. “Why? Why kill you?”

“They offered us a choice first.” The tone of Rees's voice told Balfruss it wasn't much of a choice. “To come with them and be reborn. They kept talking about the ‘joining' or the ‘blending'. Something like that. When we refused they said it would happen anyway.”

“Did you ever capture one of them alive?” asked Balfruss, drawing every eye in the room.

“No.”

“Was it some kind of disease? Did they have any marks or strange bruises on their skin?” Balfruss wasn't sure if magic was involved or not, but he needed to eliminate the obvious. There were blood parasites that could drive a person insane and make them want to drink blood to spread the disease. Others affected the brain, creating visions that slowly affected the victim until they couldn't tell the real world from illusion. The First People and the tribes in the endless jungle had encountered and cured many unusual diseases which they'd taught him about. So far the symptoms didn't sound familiar, but he'd need to see one of those affected to be sure.

Rees shook his head. “They seemed normal. Healthy, in fact. They were just different,” he said, tapping the side of his head. “We killed friends and strangers and in the morning all of the bodies were gone. The next night many of those we killed came back again. It happened the same way on the second night and on the third we were outnumbered. We fled the city and didn't stop running until we reached this garrison. I went into Voechenka with a hundred men and came back with six. After receiving my report the Queen ordered the city quarantined. Now we do all we can to keep everyone inside. My orders are to shoot anyone on sight, no questions asked, in case they've been changed. I'd like to believe you can help those who are left, but I don't see how.”

Balfruss thought that telling the story might have made Rees lose his appetite, but he persisted and was clearly determined to eat every scrap on his plate.

“How do we find the independent camps?” asked Tammy, breaking the heavy silence that had settled on the room.

“I can draw you a map of the city and the last known locations of all the camps. All of them are guarded during the day, but you'll soon know which are run by mercenaries and which by local people.”

One of Rees's men went to fetch some paper and ink while he finished eating. As they waited Tammy asked him more questions about the layout of the city and landmarks to help them navigate. Balfruss listened with one ear, but the rest of his focus was resting on a single soldier. His armour was dusty and Balfruss hadn't seen him earlier, which meant he'd come in with the Captain. At first glance he seemed like all of the other guards, a tall
golden
-
skinned
man in battered armour, but there was something amiss. He seemed lost in thought and his right hand twitched uncontrollably.

“The supplies will be useful currency,” said Rees. “But they'll also make you a target. No one has escaped the city in weeks, so they'll be desperate and will try to kill you for the food you're carrying.”

“Who will?” asked Tammy.

“Everyone,” said Rees with a feral grin.

Balfruss noticed the distracted guard wasn't following the conversation. So far all he'd done was stare at the floor, but adrenaline began to flood Balfruss's body, amplifying his senses.