[05] Elite: Reclamation (55 page)

Pain flashed up her calf. In her rage she’d forgotten the other two brothers. One had grabbed another branch and struck at her with it. Her leg gave way, sprawling her back into the mud. The three boys moved to surround her.

‘Hit her again!’ Choso shouted. ‘Kill her!’

The brother who had struck backed away, shaking his head. ‘I ain’t doing it. Not killin’.’

Choso cursed at him. ‘If she tells what we’ve done, you think it will go well with us? Murdering an’ all? Kill her! No one need know, no one cares about these slums…’

‘I ain’t doing it,’ the brother repeated and then stepped back again.

Kiri spared Tia’s forlorn and lifeless body another glance, summoning what little resolve remained to her. She sprang to her feet, pushed past the undecided brother and fled again, staggering away in shock, trying force her mind to work.

She heard Choso’s yell of anger, and could hear them crashing through the undergrowth behind hounding her, yelling curses as they tried to overtake. She couldn’t run as well as before, a large bruise had already broken out on the leg where she’d been hit and it stung like a narg bite. There was no way she could be stealthy either, no way she could stop them from following. They were gaining, like a pack of carns chasing down a wounded herg.

Ahead the forest was thinning; she was nearly back to the suburbs. She leapt over a series of low bushes and burst out onto the dry and dusty lane that led around the city, blinking in the bright sunlight after the gloom of the forest. In front of her was the exposed side of a house, serving as a natural wall to the road. She skidded to a halt, almost falling as she stopped close to the wall and quickly considered her options.

She didn’t have long to think. Choso and one brother emerged to her right, with the other brother coming out on her left, blocking the lane. She quickly looked in both directions. She’d not be able to get past, and they’d grab hold of her if she tried to run back to the forest. She’d have no chance in a close-quarters fist-fight with them, and they weren’t going to let her go after what had happened…

Tia… oh Tia…

Redness swamped her vision again. The horrible sound of the sword echoed through her mind; the blood was still slick on her fingers, she could smell it in her nostrils. Tia’s body impaled, sliding to the ground…

Kiri shook her head.

Concentrate! They’re going to kill you next!

Choso began patting the blade of the sword against his other palm and stalked towards her slowly.

‘Enough of your furling, slum,’ he said, his voice menacing. ‘Gonna beat you like the carn you are.’

‘Better a carn than a dung herg like you, murdering snut!’ she replied bitterly, looked up and jumped.

The wall was higher than an average adult, but she caught the top of it with one hand, swinging precariously for a moment before securing her opposite elbow and leveraging herself up, her bare calloused feet clawing for grip against the sandy rocks of the wall. The rough rock cut at her hands and feet but it was nothing she wasn’t used to. Choso and his brothers rushed forward to grab her, but she slipped out of reach, standing up on the wall and tip-toeing along it, taunting them with curses, still holding her branch.    

From the wall the tiled roof of the house led up and away from the road. The brothers began to throw pebbles and stones at her, so she scrambled up the roof, delicately treading along the stone guttering to get out of their range. It was a large house, with a series of verandas that overlooked the forest behind her. She was able to jump up to the next one and continued climbing until she reached the highest level. Behind the house was series of similar buildings. It wouldn’t be hard for her to quickly find a place to hide.

Choso cursed and she heard him climbing the wall behind her. She watched as he slipped back a couple of times before he managed to get to the top, accompanied by the cheers of encouragement from his brothers. Quickly he began to head towards her. Kiri deftly made her way around the edge of the veranda she was on and came to a point above the street on the other side.

For a moment she gasped. Before her the city rose, houses first, increasingly more ornate as they approached the centre, marked by rising plumes of smoke from chimneys. Beyond that the grander buildings of the city courts could be seen, spires and towers reaching for the sky, some clad in precious metals, sparkling in the warm light of Lacaille.

Her eyes were drawn to the centre immediately. Beyond the houses and the spires was a vast pyramid, smooth sided and austere compared with the more baroque architecture around it, built of smooth redstone. It dominated the view, contrasting sharply with the lighter stone of the other buildings. Kiri had heard that the interior was paved in metal, but found it hard to believe such a wonder could really be true. Metal was just too precious…

Around it was a large piazza, cleared and empty now. Kiri had skulked around it during the celebration days, seeing the priestesses parade in their fancy gowns and pageantry. It was there that the arena was set up, and women from all around Drayden would come to fight to gain a place alongside the priestesses. Most failed of course, you could never tell who was going to win. Sometimes the most unlikely entrants made it through. Some of the challenges were strange and unusual.

One day… I’ll get my chance.

A sound from behind her brought her back to her immediate problems. Choso had gained the roof. She looked forward and down, ignoring the dazzling view.

It was only then she realised she’d miscalculated. The road had dropped away on the far side of the house, leaving her with a drop that sent her reeling backwards when she peered over the edge. There was no way down. The next house was smaller than it had appeared and on the opposite side of the road. It was too far to jump.

Choso appeared around the edge of the roof, smiling cruelly at having cornered her. Cornered, she watched as he slowly made his own way along the guttering, clearly conscious of the long fall below. He had to continually bend down to steady himself with one hand as he slowly moved towards her. His body was in almost complete silhouette, framed against the huge ruddy orb of Lacaille hanging in the sky behind him.

Kiri looked about desperately for another way to escape, but the only route was back the way she had come, a route now guarded by the furious bulk of Choso, still moving towards her. She turned and raised the branch in her hand, her eyes widened. She was suddenly conscious of her heart beating fast in her chest accompanied by a buzzing in her ears.

She heard the scuttering sound of feet in the dust far below and realised the other two brothers had found their way around the wall and were looking up at the altercation from below. Moments later taunts and abuse were hurled in her direction along with encouragement for Choso.

Choso took a couple of practice swings with his sword, all the time adjusting his balance on the sloping roof. Kiri braced herself.

‘Gonna end you now, slum,’ Choso said, licking his lips, a grin twisting his features. Below the brothers continue to yell enthusiastically to him.

Kiri spat at him and stabbed out with her branch. Choso parried the blow and turned it back on her, twisting his sword down, around and up in what was now obviously a practiced move. The branch was wrenched from her hand a second time. It clattered across the tiles and dropped over the edge, landing with a faint thud on the ground below. Kiri stepped back, almost losing her footing as she reached the edge of the guttering, her heel exposed above the drop. A tile cracked and pieces of debris dropped into the street behind her.

Kiri tensed, waiting to see what Choso was going to try next, concentrating on his shoulders, you could always see the strike coming if you paid attention. She saw a flicker of moment and leapt up the sloping roof. Choso had tried to chop at her legs, but she evaded the blow, the sword slamming into the tiled roof below her. Kiri landed further up and scrambled for a moment, one hand on the apex of the roof. Choso growled in fury and moved below her, ready to stab upwards. Now she was worse off, helpless as he approached. He was going to gut her right there.

Kiri tried to prise her way upwards, aiming to gain the other side and escape Choso that way.  Her feet struggled for grip on the smooth tiles. She couldn’t get any purchase. Choso laughed and readied a blow. She felt sweat drip down her face and her stomach clench. Kiri focused her attention on her precarious grip, staring at the curved tile grasped in her hand as if it were the only thing that existed in her world. Her fingers were slipping.

No! Hold on… don’t…

She heard the sword swish through the air. A strange feeling rippled through her, a crisp metallic tang she could almost taste.

There was a loud crack. Kiri felt the side of her body slam into the tiles as her feet completely lost grip. She stared in astonishment as the tile she had been holding shattered into fragments for no apparent reason. A moment later there was a sickening sliding sensation as the tiles underneath her gave way, cascading rapidly down the roof. She scrabbled desperately for grip, hurtling down and yelling out in fear. She cannoned into Choso and knocked them both over the edge amidst a cloud of dust, broken tiles, dirt and fluffs of greening. She heard a yell as she flung out her hands, feeling her palms rip and tear as she tried to slow her descent. There was a heavy thump from somewhere below her.

Kiri blinked, trying to clear her eyes. For a moment she could see nothing but swirling dust which burned her eyes. The urge to rub them was intense, but she knew she didn’t dare move. There was no sound but an unpleasant creaking from above her and the faint showering of dust and debris. For a moment she held still, her eyes stinging, feeling dust and dirt cascade around her.

A brief glance confirmed she was hanging by the guttering at least fifty hands above the ground below. She blinked rapidly, trying to clear her eyes. They watered, blurring her vision. She shook her head, feeling the fluid dripping down her cheeks. She looked up to see blood dripping down her outstretched arms from lacerations in her palms. The pain was intense, making her wince, but she clung on desperately. She looked down trying to find something to brace her feet against, unfortunately the guttering overhung the wall of the house by some margin and her feet couldn’t reach anything.

The guttering creaked again and shifted a fingers length, jolting her downwards and showering her with dust again. She looked up and saw the guttering breaking free from its supports. She struggled in vain for a moment and then felt herself falling, yelling out as she did so.

She braced against the certain death she knew was coming, screaming out her defiance. The breath was knocked out of her on impact, but it was not the hard abrupt end she had expected. She hit something soft, heard a grunt and then found herself on the ground dazed and winded, but most definitely alive.

‘Caught the slum!’ somebody said above her. A crowd of people were around her, pushing and shoving. She was wrestled roughly to her feet and pushed forward. A crowd had gathered; they must have drawn to the ruckus. Ahead she could see they were clustered around something on the ground. Before she could see what it was she was pushed forward with enough force to throw her to the ground again, falling head first on to the stony ground.

She raised her head to see blank eyes, already cloudy, staring sightlessly at her. It was Choso, lying on his back in the dirt. His mouth was open, a look of profound astonishment frozen on his face. A pool of murky dark red blood was oozing out from somewhere behind his head. Kiri had only a moment to grasp what had happened.

‘Snuttin’ dirty slum!’

She was unprepared for the kick that came out of nowhere into her stomach. She rolled onto her side, curling up in agony. Another kick caught her from behind in the kidneys, throwing her over in the opposite direction. She felt rather than heard a rib crack in her chest as further blows rained down upon her. One caught her in the head. She saw a brief burst of flickering lights before blackness claimed her vision.

‘Not here!’ someone yelled. ‘Take her out on the lane and throw her body in the woods...’

Kiri dimly felt her ankles being grabbed and then she felt herself being carelessly hauled across the rough ground, the sharp edges of stones cutting into her back and arms. It seemed to last a lifetime, but she couldn’t even cry out, the pain in her chest too extreme for her to anything more than gasp for breath. The world spun away from her again.

A jolt in her arms and a heavy thud brought her back to consciousness. She drew a shuddering breath, but the pain was intense, her muscles spasming and causing her to shake uncontrollably. She tried to move but couldn’t get her body to respond. The taste of blood was on her lips. One eye was already swollen shut, but she managed to open the other one.

For a moment she could make no sense of what she was seeing. All she could make out were… shoes. It took her a moment to realise she was still surrounded by a crowd of people. With faint amusement she recognised the wall behind them. She had climbed it just a few minutes before. Dimly she saw a hand reach down, her vision blackening around the edges. She recognised the colour of the tunic on the arm, one of Choso’s brothers. The hand grasped a smooth round rock from the edge of the lane and lifted it slowly out of her line of sight. She whimpered feebly.

I’ll see you in the after soon, Tia…

Nothing happened for a long moment. Then she heard another cracking sound. Pain registered in her leg, but it was nothing compared to the agony already burning through her. She heard the sound of more stones being picked up, a rough scraping noise from all around her. Mutterings of assent and approval followed, quickly growing into a roar, like carns baying for blood.

Kiri’s consciousness faded away as the next stone struck her supine body. There was a vague feeling of frustration, but it was swamped by anger and a sudden wrathful anger that surged through her. Her last thought burnt through her mind.

I don’t want to die!

She felt the strange tang once again, metallic, almost like the blood she could taste in her mouth, but oh so powerful! It was intoxicating, crackling through her whole self. She heard a yell and then exclamations of surprise, pain and fear. Next came the sound of feet scuffling and folks moving rapidly backwards in apparent alarm.