Markan Empire

  He melted into the crowd and was gone.

  Mya stopped and ignored curses thrown her way by frightened people on the verge of panic.

  "You will?" she muttered to the now-absent sylph. "Blow you Neptarik, but my owner died for them; I will get them."

  The quickest way to reach the Mametain's study from here led through the laboratory. She turned and fought her way deeper into Castle Beren.

  ***

  Sergeant Jillar waved people through the gates while his guardsmen broke up all panic-induced fighting, using spear-butts if necessary. Some of the fighters wore red tabs on their uniforms, so some old scores were settled on the sly.

  "Make for the mainland," he told the evacuees. "Keep moving, head for the mainland."

  The flood of humans and sylphs slowed to a trickle and finally ceased. Even the tocsins fell silent now, the guardsmen ringing them abandoning their posts in compliance with their standing orders. The water-driven bell only emitted a feeble clank now and then; it always ran down eventually.

  Jillar turned to his companions. "Just us now. Time to leave."

  Nobody argued and nobody wondered if people were left inside. Now it was every man for himself.

  "Sergeant Jillar!"

  "Sir!"

  Jillar halted and snapped to attention at the familiar voice.

  Steppan da Kanpura eyed the sergeant up and down. "Remember me, Sergeant?"

  "How could I forget, sir?" Jillar reconsidered his words. "I mean to say sir, of course I do sir."

  "Has Nijen passed through these gates, Sergeant?"

  "Can't say I've seen him, sir." Jillar did not add that he had no intention of mounting a search. Just in case it wasn't a false alarm.

  "Good. Then I consider myself returned."

  "Yessir!"

  "Detail somebody with a fast horse to ride to the city. They are to ensure that all alleged traitors and spies are released immediately."

  "Consider it done, sir. Er, you aren't thinking of going back in there, are you?"

  Steppan smiled. "I'll wait here for the usurper," he replied. "I'm not about to disregard my own standing orders."

  "Course not, sir."

  "Hurry Sergeant, or you'll be running to town yourself."

  "I'm gone sir, gone."

  Jillar wasted no more time. If the old Mametain wanted to hang around, he could do it without a guard. Besides, he had been given orders to leave. He began to run and trying to catch up with anyone riding a horse.

  Even though he hoped that nothing terrible was about to happen.

  ***

  "Slack water, sir!"

  Admiral Iklaus nodded to the messenger. "Convey my compliments to Captain Naeppin. Hoist command: make sail with all dispatch."

  "Aye aye, sir."

  Iklaus waited a decent interval before making his slow way topside, ensuring the boys had time to scamper ahead to warn the captain. Reaching the deck, he saw the side lined with soldiers. Lieutenant Captain Galbert looked keen and Iklaus hoped he would maintain that eagerness. He would need it in the days ahead.

  Naeppin turned to face the admiral. "All ships making sail, sir," he reported.

  "Very good." As if he could not see for himself. He glanced at Degan, who watched the helmsmen.

  Unlike himself, Degan had hardly aged. A bit taller than their first meeting, when he took command of Sea Dragon. The ship had been brand new then, still with sawdust on her decks, and among the most revolutionary of her day. The sail rig was still astonishing, though few ships had copied it.

  Degan crossed the deck to join him and he patted her head affectionately, just like in the old days. Also like the old days, he ignored her attempts to push her earpoints into his hand. This was not the place for such displays, though decorum had never bothered this sylph.

  The ships made a proud sight as pristine sails filled. Eighty ships, carrying thousands of soldiers to overwhelm Trenvera. Once the soldiers were landed, he would take his armada south and blockade Cadister.

  Re Taura must increase her trade and share of spoils in the continental chaos to come. The new Mametain was far more assertive on this point than any of his predecessors.

  Iklaus, a man of action as well as diplomacy, could not agree more with the Mametain's sentiments. Re Taura's time to dominate the coastline had come. And there was nothing the continent could do about it.

  Slack water changed to an ebbing tide, weak for the first couple of hours. Even so, it would help his ships reach the sea. Castle Beren loomed larger and larger.

  He wondered if he would ever see it again.

  The Narrows appeared wide here, but rocky shelves protruded some way into the channel. They weren't visible at high water, but deep water was found closest to the castle, although only one ship could navigate the channel at a time. That was the reason why they sited the castle here.

  The inflated bladders that marked the narrow channel seemed too close together for safe sailing, but the wind was abaft the beam. Iklaus knew all the ships could get out without resorting to oars or gybing.

  Looking at the distant horizon, he began to relax, feeling almost as impatient as Degan to be at sea again.

  ***

  Neptarik entered the Mametain's study on the balls of his feet, ready to flee. The alarm had fallen silent and Castle Beren should now be deserted. Except for himself.

  The study was exactly as he remembered – no reason why it shouldn't be – and he crossed to the large desk. As before, maps and plans were spread across its surface. He began to gather and roll them up; his owner would be pleased. There might even be choca in it for him. In fact, there had better be.

  Then, he noticed something was different. Perhaps insignificant, but different.

  On previous visits, a small bottle of... something also stood on the desk. That bottle had made him uneasy and, on one level, frightened him.

  And now gone.

  A chair scraped back from the empty fireplace and its occupant stood.

  "I suspected a spy must be responsible for the alarm," said Nijen da Re Taura, almost conversationally.

  Neptarik's eyes widened as he saw the missing bottle in the Mametain's hand. Nijen poured a something out and smeared it over his hands.

  Nijen smiled, or perhaps grimaced. "I did not expect that spy to be you."

  Neptarik said nothing. He decided to forget about the maps and tried to edge around the Mametain. He planned to escape through the door this time, rather than the window.

  "That's right." Nijen smiled. "Run, if you want to live."

  The sylph needed no further urging; the moment he left the study he broke into a sprint. A quick glance over his shoulder showed Nijen following, still smearing whatever it was over his hands.

  Neptarik tried to take the stairs three at a time, but only tripped over in his eagerness to escape. In a heap at the bottom of the stair, he gasped for breath and fought to regain his feet.

  Nijen descended after him, taking his time. Neptarik scrabbled backwards and finally clambered upright again. It still took several steps before he regained his breath properly.

  Looking over his shoulder, he saw the Mametain make a throwing motion with his hands. Flame leapt outwards and expanded into a ball. Neptarik saw shock on Nijen's face in the brief moment before the fireball expanded to fill the corridor.

  A fireball with the sylph as its target.

  Neptarik fled. Now where did this corridor lead? What looked like a large chamber lay ahead; the fire would dissipate there.

  He broke through a wooden barrier and fell...

  The air was driven from his lungs again as he bounced off a table and crashed to the floor, glass apparatus smashing and tinkling around him. Winded, he watched the fireball expand, filling the upper part of the old Mametain's laboratory before disappearing. Something metallic crashed to the ground from the far wall.

  Neptarik groaned as he sat up and broken glass fell from his clothes. More crunched under his body as he moved.

/>   Nijen's dark eyes looked down from the observation area, where Neptarik had broken through the barrier. No doubt the sylph would boast fine bruises on his legs later.

  He heard the Mametain's footsteps, descending.

  He groaned again, struggling and failing to get upright. As he fought for breath, he checked to ensure he'd not broken anything. Any bones, that was; he couldn't care less about the glass.

  "Move fool, move!" he snarled.

  Trying to escape, he scrabbled backwards, away from the door Nijen would come through any moment...

  ...now.

  Nijen entered the laboratory and dry-washed his hands again, the bottle tucked into his belt.

  "Neptarik!"

  The sylph turned his head just as Nijen began his throwing motion. Mya – beautiful, disobedient Mya – was framed in the doorway and she grasped the cause of the earlier metallic crash. With all her strength, she threw the shield.

  A new fireball sprang into life and left Nijen's hands. Twisting, Neptarik launched himself up, arm outstretched. Catching the shield, he pulled it toward him, cowering on the floor beneath.

  The fireball struck the shield.

  It halted, reversed... and inverted.

  Nijen's terrified yell hung in the air briefly after the man disappeared.

  Neptarik scrabbled to his feet.

  "We must get out of here," Mya urged, from the doorway.

  Neptarik ran for the door and wondered why everything in the laboratory had begun rattling. Loose stuff started to slide towards where the Mametain had been standing.

  An unseen force brought Neptarik to the ground and he slid backwards inexorably. A sucking wind rose, howling through the doorway where Mya now clung to the doorframe.

  Neptarik vaguely heard her screams as more and more stuff hurtled past, disappearing where Nijen had been. He slid further back and crashed into a desk, thankfully fixed down, and instinctively wrapped his arms around an upright. Denied prey for the moment, the wind howled in his ears and tried to tear him away.

  If he let go, he faced oblivion.

  Debris whizzed past. Equipment, glass, weapons, shields... Everything not fixed down – and some things that had been – passed by, only to disappear soundlessly. The sylph feared his arms were being torn out of their sockets as the force lifted his feet and tried to suck him in.

  The stained glass windows shattered; the glass, nests and some very surprised seagulls disappearing into whatever Nijen had become.

  The door to the laboratory, where Mya clung to its frame, was ripped from its hinges and cartwheeled along the floor.

  Neptarik screamed. The door missed, but that had not caused his terror. The desk that had kept him alive so far had begun to shift, its fixings pulling from the floor. The wind tore his grip away and the sylph flew towards his doom.

  This was the end.

  The tempest ceased and Neptarik was winded for a third time as he smacked into the floor. Fear drove him to his feet this time and he stared at the doorway.

  "Thank you, Siranva," he whispered, for once unconcerned about the familiar use of the deity's name. His thanks were not for himself.

  Mya was still there, looking frightened and relieved at the same time. Part of the doorframe hung loose and he suspected she'd also had a lucky escape.

  "So close," she whispered, as Neptarik reached her.

  "Time to leave," he said. "When something bad stops happening for no reason, it usually means something worse is about to begin."

  Mya glanced at him and nodded. They ran out of the laboratory together...

  ... and thudded into Tektu.

  She carried a loaded and cranked crossbow, but the other two sylphs fixed their attention on her face. She stared wild-eyed at Neptarik with a peculiar mixture of hatred, panic, consternation and... surely not respect? Hope mingled with the other emotions on her face.

  "What have you done, boy?" snarled Tektu, leveling the crossbow.

  Neptarik hugged Mya close, meaning to shield her.

  "Nothing except defend myself," he replied. His gaze now flickered everywhere and he tensed as Tektu's finger tightened on the crossbow trigger.

  Normal sylphs would freeze and wait for the inevitable, but Neptarik was not a normal sylph. She did not aim at Mya, but at him. That finger squeezed a little more and Neptarik shoved Mya to one side, while he dived the other way. A chip of stone flicked a cheek and he felt blood welling. The bolt clattered to the ground.

  Neptarik readied himself to use ebatela, but Tektu screamed something and threw the crossbow at him. As he ducked out of the way, she stepped forward and grabbed him by an earpoint.

  Shame and anger rolled through Neptarik and Mya danced impotently around them.

  "Let him go, let him go," she panted.

  Tektu ignored her. She looked around and her gaze settled on the catapult.

  Neptarik yowled and tried to lash out at Tektu, but the strange infertile only twisted his ear harder, giving the male sylph a strange sensation of simultaneous agony and ecstasy. He had no choice but to go where she wanted.

  "To the catapult." Tektu dragged Neptarik across, with Mya following and still begging her to release him.

  Neptarik, bent almost double, glanced at the catapult's basket and spotted four corners from a bolt of blue cloth. He blinked... and remembered.

  "Get in," snarled Tektu, almost ripping the hapless sylph's ear off as she forced him into the catapult's basket. She kept throwing glances at the doorway leading to the laboratory. "You too. Now."

  Mya was almost thrown in alongside Neptarik, who rubbed his ear, now burning bright blue.

  He leaned closer to Mya.

  "If you want to stay with me in this life, hang on to me. Do not let go!"

  Mya stared as if he had gone insane.

  "Enough whispering," commanded Tektu, but her voice held no heat. "I should have sent you to the stud farms." She threw a concerned look over shoulder towards the laboratory and motioned with a hand. "Goodbye."

  Neptarik remembered something more recent. "Was this how you murdered Siaba?"

  Tektu ignored him and turned to the release lever.

  Neptarik kept his voice low for Mya. "Hold onto me and do not let go!" He turned his attention back to Tektu.

  "Why did you kill Siaba?" he pressed.

  "It was supposed to be you," replied Tektu, pausing for a moment. Grief flickered across her face.

  "That makes me feel much better," retorted Neptarik. "For the Father's love, why?" As he spoke he grasped the corners of the blue cloth.

  Tektu shook her head. "That won't save you. When you hit the sea, you will die as surely as hitting stone."

  "Why did Siaba have to die?" demanded Neptarik.

  Tektu snarled in response and she pulled the lever that operated the catapult.

  ***

  Chapter 32

  Husband And Wife

  Mya – clearly not eager to be reunited with her owner just yet – clung to Neptarik as the sylphs tumbled end over end. The bolt of blue cloth Neptarik grasped had managed to wrap itself into a rope as they fell.

  Castle Beren, sea, horizon, sky, Castle Beren, sea, horizon, sky... With every revolution, the castle got higher and the sea nearer.

  A stray gust of wind caught the cloth and, with a snap, it filled and acted like Pedden's cloak during the demonstration Neptarik remembered. Both sylphs were almost jerked free in the unexpected jolt and now dangled underneath the cloth.

  Neptarik looked at the sea and then at Mya. Her eyes were large and round as she looked about, wonder filling her face.

  "We are flying," she breathed.

  The sensation certainly felt right, but Neptarik knew they were not flying. The sea still drew closer – well, really they were the ones getting closer, but it did look as if the sea was rising up – and they would meet it harder than he would like, but at least the fall would not kill them.

  Mya shifted her grip and he liked feeling her hands on him. He ben
t his head towards her.

  "Will you be my wife?"

  The female sylph stared and gave a slow, deliberate blink. She smiled. "Oh Neptarik, I would lo –"

  The rest of her words were lost as the sea swallowed them.

  ***

  Tektu almost howled as the blue cloth filled and slowed the sylphs' fall. She contented herself with a thump and kick against the stonework, which gave her two bruises. She snarled as the two sylphs landed safely in the sea and silently prayed that sharks would take them.

  Something inside shifted. Soon, she would no longer belong to Nijen. Dead already, or as good as, but her allegiance had not yet transferred away. She still had time.

  She felt the shift again and looked towards the laboratory.

  "Henyi?" She wished that had not come out as a mixture of whine and sob.

  Abandoning the catapult, she entered the doorless laboratory. The mess inside looked like a whirlwind had rushed through.

  Tektu immediately spotted where the event had occurred, though ordinary eyes would see nothing. She saw nothing either, only sensed something not quite right at that spot.

  The event had failed to punch a way through reality's fabric. Which in turn meant instability and that everything in it would come back out.

  Quickly and with a lot of force.

  Tektu grinned. She had found her escape. The weak body she inhabited could not survive what was about to happen. Arms spread wide and head tilted back, she closed her eyes.

  "Great Master!" she shouted. "Welcome me home!"

  As if waiting for those words, Nijen da Re Taura's remains, together with everything else sucked in and crushed by the vortex, exploded.

  ***

  Humans and sylphs, getting as far from Castle Beren as they could, sensed rather than saw the bright light that obscured even the sun. Soldiers and sailors in the ships of the invasion fleet stared, and some would be blinded for days.

  People going about their business in Re Taura saw it, many wondering why their shadows now pointed in a different direction. The sylphs waiting patiently for the tide to ebb before they could resume gathering seaweed, saw it and sensibly turned their faces away. People in the fishing villages saw it and puzzled over the cause.

  As quickly as it had appeared, the light was gone.

  Nobody saw that a whole section of the southeast tower and part of the curtain wall of Castle Beren had disappeared, nor that the rest of that tower and wall hung suspended over nothing.