The Fall of Ossard ot-1 Read online

  Sef whispered, “Juvela, the crowds, we should come back later.”

  I looked about. People were again gathering close, and behind them climbed the smoke of the bonfire. Having denounced the new saints, I was of no further use to Anton. He’d have me burnt, after all, in his Ossard I was part of the problem.

  Sef grew nervous as the crowd thickened. “If the Inquisitor hears that you’re here, there’ll be no hope for any of us. Let’s come back tonight and I’ll bring some friends.” As he spoke he opened his shirt to expose a metal symbol hanging on a leather thong.

  It rested on his broad and battle-scarred chest, shining as it caught the light. It was a sword held within a circle; the holy symbol of Kave.

  If I returned with such a group we’d have a real chance. Right now, by ourselves, we didn’t. I sighed but nodded, and then sent a thought of love to my daughter. “We have to go. Maria, but I love you, and will be back for you tonight. Can you be brave and wait?”

  She was frightened. “Mama, do you have to go?”

  “I do, but I’ll be back soon.”

  “Mama?”

  “Be brave, be brave for me and your father. You have to watch over him until I come back, alright?”

  “Alright.”

  “I love you, Maria.”

  She giggled.

  Reluctantly, I lifted my bloody palms from the cobbles, and walked back to the coach. Tears blurred my vision, a mix both red and clear.

  Sef was quick to follow as he ordered Kurt, “On to Newbank!”

  Kurt forced the horses through the crowd, getting us back on our way.

  Kurt called out a warning, and a moment later the coach slid as we took a sharp turn. The air stank of burning as smoke billowed hotly past my window. We’d taken a side street to get off the avenue, and I could see why as I glimpsed a Heletian mob pelting a row of burning buildings: It was a block of homes and businesses, all Flet owned.

  Kurt called, “We’ll be in Newbank soon if the roads are clear!”

  Sef grumbled, “The city’s going to the Pits!”

  I said, “We’ll get through the night and see how things stand in the morning.” But even I wasn’t listening to my words, my mind focused on Maria and Pedro, and the feeling of desolation consuming me after leaving them.

  Kurt took us around more tight bends, and dodged other crowds, before finally turning a corner to come within sight of the bridge across the Cassaro. He cursed loudly as he brought the horses to a stop.

  Over the river, Newbank spread under a pall of smoke. A dozen fires dotted the district, the biggest flaring from the city-end of the bridge where flames ate hungrily at its old timbers. Between it and us spread a mob of Heletians praying for the flames to spread.

  Sef said, “We have to get away from this.”

  I nodded.

  Kurt slid open the port and suggested, “If the city gates are still open, we can get out and head up the valley to cross the river at the old Goldston bridge.”

  The round trip would take most of the evening, but we didn’t have much of a choice. “Do it,” I said, and Sef agreed.

  By the last light of dusk, we passed through unmanned gates and up the valley road, heading for the ancient bridge.

  For most of the trip I watched Ossard recede behind us. The city was lit in several places by the glow of fire, and above it all climbed great plumes of smoke. The terrible columns twisted as they rose, catching the garish glare of the fires’ orange light.

  The city was dying…

  It would be hard to get back to Maria and Pedro without the Cassaro Bridge, but not impossible. Regardless, I’d have to try.

  14

  Newbank at Night

  A cold wind blew in from the sea to blast smoke up the valley and fill our approach. It haunted the scene with an aura of fire-lit haze, the stinking exhalation rushing up and over the city’s wall aglow in orange, red and yellow. Through it loomed the dark silhouettes of a handful of towers, one itself ablaze. It looked like the end of all things, and I could only guess at what horror unfolded beyond in the fire-ravaged streets of my home district.

  We followed the road up to the gatehouse, but could see that the gate stood shut. Kurt slowed the coach.

  Amidst the crackle and roar of the flames came little else, but we realised that while such sounds did rumble on they seemed distant. Kurt offered, “If Newbank was doomed, the gate would be open to let our people out.”

  Sef agreed and climbed onto the roof of the coach. “Ho Newbank, open the gate!”

  A moment of silence followed, only to be broken by a thankfully Flet voice, “The gate is closed!”

  Sef replied, “We’ve come from the city and are trying to enter Newbank. The bridge across the Cassaro is down, so this is our only way home.”

  The voice came again, and this time the silhouette of a head could be seen. “Home you say? Name yourselves!”

  I am Sef Vaugen, in the employ of Lady Juvela Liberigo – once Van Leuwin – who awaits entry with myself and our driver, Kurt Baden.”

  The clink of chains sounded as more figures appeared atop the wall, this time lantern-lit. “Come through, but be quick!”

  Before he finished, the gate was already opening.

  We passed through only for it to groan closed behind us.

  A team of guildsmen manned it, and waited for us on the other side. One of them, the man who’d questioned us from above, appeared beside our coach. “Lady Juvela, Newbank is under siege. The Guild and others, such as your father, are making plans as we speak.”

  “What’s happened?”

  He shook his head. “I can’t be sure, things are very confused.”

  Sef asked, “But Newbank burns?”

  “It looks worse than it is. The Guild moved to block the bridge, but not before the Inquisition got some men across – they tried to close the Guild. When we moved to stop them, they began torching buildings. Some have died, dozens in fact.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Guildmaster Kurgar feared that they’d try again so he ordered the bridge torched. Many are glad and feel safer, but we know that won’t be the end of it.” He looked me in the eyes. “I fear what tomorrow may bring.”

  Sef asked, “And what of the fighting across the river?”

  “We don’t know much, only that there’ve been riots. Many take comfort in seeing the smoke rise from all across the city and not just here.”

  I nodded. “Thank you for admitting us, but we should be on our way.” My thoughts were on Maria and Pedro and the time we’d already spent.

  We travelled slowly through crowded streets.

  Many of the people about carried burdens of bagged and wrapped belongings – they looked to have fled their homes on the far side of the river. Wherever I looked, I saw people confused and fearful with their lives forever changed, and all in the space of a single day. I realised then how vulnerable we were, not just individually, but as a people. What had stood as the most prosperous Flet population in all of Dormetia now cowered: If the Flets of Ossard were lost it would leave nothing but besieged Fletland.

  One day the genocide would be complete!

  We headed near to the ruin of the Cassaro Bridge. Its timbers still burned, the fire now only sparking and smouldering compared to its earlier incarnation. People also watched the spreading flames that flared along the opposite riverbank, while over there, mobs of Heletians looted and torched abandoned Flet homes.

  Many of the owners of those properties stood in front of us, wrapped in the night, as their tears caught the light of the fires that consumed their worldly wealth. The looters showed as silhouettes against the glare of the flames. From the safety of the far shore, they, Heletians all, jeered and laughed at the Flets of Newbank.

  Sef hissed, “They’re bastards. Look at them, look at how they tear our people’s lives apart!”

  I agreed. “They’re cowards.” I could feel the hate amongst them.

  “I didn’t survive the battlefields of Fletland t
o watch such a thing. If you’re not going back tonight I’ll have to be excused, for my sword hungers for the blood of cowards!”

  “I share your anger, Sef, but I will need your help. I can’t leave Maria and Pedro over there. Please come with me and bring as many of your friends as you can. Once I have my family back, I’ll ask nothing more of you for the evening.”

  A smile lit his face, and in his eyes I saw death – not his, but of a hundred fools. My perception dipped into the celestial to deliver the realisation that Sef was not only a follower of Kave, but also one of his priests.

  The Guild’s compound was made up of various structures from warehouses to stables, dormitories, and of course the Guildhall. It sat along the riverfront by the bridge, its water-facing windows now shuttered closed. Guildsmen hid behind a hastily prepared stockade that also lined the river’s side, the defences already covered in a crop of spent arrows.

  Guildsmen waved us off from approaching the main entrance by the water, obviously worried about archers. Instead they sent us around to the rear gate that led to the stables and courtyard. We left our coach there in Kurt’s care and headed straight for the main building. The courtyard was crowded and chaotic, and it looked like the Guildhall would be no better.

  Inside people rushed about and talked the place full of noise, their hectic energy balanced by sobering clusters of refugees. One of the groups we passed talked of taking a boat and leaving Ossard. Again it seemed my people might be forced to try their luck at sea.

  The idea haunted me. I could picture myself weathered and sick for lack of food and water, while clutching Maria to my sunburnt breast. It wasn’t an option. I didn’t want to run. I wanted to survive the fall of Ossard – and my people with me.

  Sef and I found an attendant who led us up some stairs and down a passage, the building like a maze. Soon enough we rounded a corner to find my father waiting in a small lounge where he studied a map of the city. He looked up. “Juvela, Sef, did you find anything?”

  I said, “Not at the warehouse, but at Market Square. I think Maria and the others are being held in a cellar, perhaps in the old opera house.”

  His face lit up. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure they’re in the area, but not so certain where. It doesn’t matter, we’ll find them.”

  His relief faded as his eyes filled with concern. “You can’t go back, it’s too dangerous!” he hesitated, but then continued in a softer tone, “Juvela, there’ve been some burnings.”

  “I know, but I have to go.”

  He sighed, but gave in for the moment. “How did you get back?”

  I told him and then asked of happenings in Newbank.

  “Things are bad, but we’ve managed. Kurgar wants to try and negotiate with the Inquisitor, but there’s so much anger outside. I think it’s too late, already too much blood’s been spilt. We know of sixty deaths in Newbank, and there are still thousands of Flets trapped on the river’s other side. We hope they’re alright, but the fires are spreading, and with them the violence.”

  A guildsman called to us.

  My father turned and nodded. “Come, we can go in.”

  We entered Kurgar’s office, but he wasn’t alone. Several guildsmen sat and stood about his desk, and back against the wood-panelled walls. To either side of him also stood two other men. One of them wore robes of blue and a string of amulets. I could feel their power. The grey bearded Heletian looked to me with curiosity, his bald head beaded in sweat.

  A mind-voice whispered, “Welcome.”

  The other man stood as a warrior cut from the same mould as Sef, he openly wearing the sword-in-circle of Kave. Upon seeing him, Sef bowed, suddenly full of an embarrassed reverence. The man carried a good deal of energy both in his physical presence and in the celestial. He nodded to me in greeting.

  The mind voice whispered again, “That is Seig Manheim, Ossard’s most senior priest of Kave. I am Mauricio Ciero, the most senior Cabalist.”

  Kurgar stood and gestured for us to sit in the chairs before his desk. We took them.

  “Juvela, how are you?”

  I supposed he meant after the kidnapping of my family. “Well enough.”

  He didn’t believe me, but he couldn’t know of the changes wrought in me. “Your father says that it was your idea to close the bridge and seal the district?”

  “Yes.”

  “It was a good idea. It seems that the Inquisitor had ordered his men to torch this building and then as much of Newbank as they could. Many would have died. We owe you our thanks.”

  “I’m just glad to have helped.”

  He nodded. “And you’ve been looking for your husband and daughter?”

  “Yes, and I think I’ve found them.”

  Surprised, he asked, “Really?”

  “They’re being kept just off Market Square.”

  “Market Square?”

  “I believe they’re in a cellar, perhaps of the old opera house.”

  He considered my answer. “That’s possible, the building hasn’t been used in seasons.”

  “We couldn’t stay because of the crowds, but I’m going back tonight.”

  My father added, “We were talking about it.”

  Kurgar asked, “By yourself?”

  Sef said, “I’ll help, and take some of my brethren.”

  Kurgar nodded and then leaned back. He spread his hands on the desk in front of him. “The city…” He shook his head. “The city is in a terrible state. There’s fighting in many places, and it’s aimed at all parties. It’s more like there are three cities, and we’ve each elected to go to war with each other. The Inquisition controls the north and centre, we have some of the east and Newbank, and the followers of the new saints have claimed the port and the south. It’s lunacy.”

  “How much of the east do we have?” I asked.

  “Only what’s still to burn. Thousands of our people are stranded over there, but I doubt we’ll hold it by sunrise.”

  Sef shifted uncomfortably as did Seig Manheim.

  “Can we do anything?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “What can we do without stoking the hatred that’s already burning? If we send an armed force across the river, it’s an escalation. So far most of the violence has been by angry mobs, but if we’re seen putting militia into action, we might end up fighting whatever’s left of the city guard and the Inquisition’s own forces.”

  I shook my head in disbelief. “But if we don’t our people on the other side of the Cassaro will perish!”

  He sighed. “I know, but hear me out. I‘ve been trying to work another solution: I’ve sent a message to whoever leads the new saints, asking for their help in establishing a truce.”

  I was appalled. “No!”

  Kurgar took great care with his next words, them coming out oiled and smooth, “I understand your anger, but let me explain.”

  I sat in silence – he could have his chance.

  “I’ve considered events, and wonder if this is an opportunity.”

  My father growled, “An opportunity!”

  Kurgar waved him down. “Yes, an opportunity! Listen, the Inquisition has been in control for a day, and already they’ve tried to outlaw the institutions that have run Ossard for years. They can’t do it. We still exist despite their proclamation. They’re playing games, delusional and dangerous games. I’m more interested in what’s real…”

  My father interrupted, “Like the hundreds or thousands of our kinfolk stranded across the river?”

  Kurgar clenched a fist and pounded his desk. “Hundreds or thousands, what rubbish! The true figure is closer to ten thousand, and maybe half of them are already dead!”

  Gasps sounded from around the room.

  He went on, “We can’t deny the possibility. We’ve no accurate number for how many of our kin live over there, the Guild stopped counting years ago, but we can see the flames. If we’re already taking losses in Newbank from city-side archers, as we are, I don’t hold o
ut much hope for any of our people unprotected and alone over there.”

  Appalled, I whispered, “You’re giving them up!”

  He shook his head and growled, “Let me finish! The Inquisitor and Benefice have used the kidnappings as an opportunity to take control, but we can’t let them succeed. We know what’ll happen if they do; at best they’ll dump us destitute across the sea in ravaged Fletland, and at worst they’ll try and finish the job the Lae Velsanans started two centuries ago!”

  Silence greeted his words, for we all feared that they held truth.

  He went on, “And you’re right to worry about this other faction. It’s chaotic out there, and their new saints dubious, but might they be open minded enough to accept us for who we are? If they’re prepared to defy the Inquisition and turn their backs on the Church’s dogma, might they also understand how those same limits restrain our own beliefs? All they want is freedom to worship, so why would it be such a leap for them to understand our own wish to follow our own faiths?

  “Think of it; the temples of our gods built in the streets, no more hidden chapels, whispered hymns, and clandestine gatherings.

  “This terrible moment in Ossard’s history could become everything we’ve ever wanted. We might even win the right for the Cabal to walk openly!

  “Let’s see what the followers of the new saints want; at worst it might be the same as the Inquisition, but it could be so much better. If we can work together in an alliance of mutual respect and benefit, perhaps we can create a new Ossard, one that finally accepts our people.”

  The cabalist and priest beside him both stood lost in the promise of the idea. No doubt the thought of being able to walk openly in the streets, or of building real and visible temples sounded grand, but what of the darker side?

  I asked, “Aren’t you forgetting the kidnappings? You saw the bloody mess left behind from their ritual magic, how can you even contemplate this?”

  He shook his head. “Juvela, I understand the kidnappings are a terrible thing, but we don’t even know for certain that they’re behind them. I’ll grant you it’s possible, but we’re yet to see solid proof. However, we do know what the alternative under the whip of the Inquisition is. They’ll be killing thousands; who knows how many are already dead!”