Broken World Book Three - A Land Without Law (27 page)

Boras gazed at
the weapon with wondering eyes, timidly touching it. Where his
fingers touched, the blade turned silver. The rest of the family
gathered around to stare at the sword, Jaevu with his mouth open.
Boras raised his eyes to Kieran's.

"This is a
weapon of great power."

"Yes."

"Be careful it
doesn't fall into the wrong hands."

"It
can't."

Boras stared
at the sword a moment longer, then sat back. "All right, put it
away. I'm convinced. No earth wizard could make a sword like that.
In fact, no one but a Mujar could, I suspect."

"You'll
help?"

Boras
nodded.

"How?"

"The beggars."
Boras smiled at Kieran's incredulous look. "Don't underestimate
them, my friend. Once many of them were respectable citizens, and a
few were warriors. They hate the new order as much as I, and have
lost everything because of it. They know this city inside and out,
including the sewers. There may be a way, using the sewers, to get
under the tower, then dig through the stone into it. Once inside,
they can take the stone and return the same way without being
seen."

Kieran
considered this. "It sounds good. It might work."

"It's your
best chance, young man, perhaps your only one."

"Why would
they do it? I can't pay much."

Boras rose and
tapped out his pipe into the fire. "They won't do it for money,
they'll do it for hate. They were all betrayed by the Queen. They
all hate the new order."

"They might
tell the Queen in the hope of getting a reward."

"No. Larina is
far fonder of sacrificing people to her black army than handing out
rewards. They know that."

"All right.
When do we go?"

Boras smiled,
refilling his pipe. "Not we. You're not going. It's too dangerous,
and they don't need you. You'll wait here. If they succeed, they'll
bring it here, and then we just have to smuggle it out of the
city."

"But -"

"No buts.
Either you stay here, or the deal is off. You're too big to be
crawling around in the sewers, you might get stuck in one of the
pipes."

Kieran sighed
and inclined his head, rose and sheathed the sword. "Very
well."

Boras nodded.
"Good. I'll speak to the beggars in the morning. Now it's time we
all got some sleep."

Shara fetched
a sleeping mat and laid it before the fire, then the family bade
Kieran goodnight and vanished into their rooms. Kieran lay awake
for a long time, musing over the plan and the unexpected help he
had found. How strange that his steps had led him to the one man in
the city who could, and would, help him, almost as if the gods
guided him. Comforted by that thought, he fell into a deep,
dreamless sleep.

Chapter Eleven

The following
morning when the family rose, the beggars had left. Boras
dispatched his two elder sons to find the men he wanted, then went
to work. Kieran settled down to wait, dozed beside the fire or
helped Visha with her chores. Boras returned from his business at
lunchtime to tell Kieran that the beggars had agreed to help. They
had already found the right sewer, and would dig their way into the
tower that night. Five ex-warriors had volunteered to do it purely
for the satisfaction of enraging the Queen.

Kieran met the
thin, bitter men whose lives had been destroyed when the staff had
been broken. Two were veterans, grizzled and gap toothed, one was
little more than a boy. He had lost an arm in one of the Queen's
battles, and been thrown out on the street for his pains. The other
two were seasoned warriors, but shadows of their former selves, a
one-eyed archer and a soldier with a crippled foot. Kieran shook
their hands before they left, wishing he could do more for them
than that.

"Just save the
world," Boras told him. "That's all they want. Put back the laws,
and they'll regain their lives."

"If they
live."

"They have no
lives now anyway. Death is preferable to the misery they live in."
Boras gazed into the fire as they stood before it, his eyes
distant. "At least they have a purpose now, and if they succeed, an
achievement. It means a lot to them, more than money."

Kieran paced
the kitchen until Visha asked him not to wear out her floor, then
sat and fidgeted. When Boras returned from work in the afternoon,
he tried to interest Kieran in a card game, but his mind was not on
it. The family fed the rest of the beggars and ate supper, which
Kieran picked at, then went to bed. Kieran sat up and fed the fire,
counted the hours and drove himself into a frenzy with worry.
Towards dawn fatigue set in, and he fell asleep slumped across the
kitchen table.

Boras shook
him awake for breakfast, told him that there was no news and
soothed him with assurances that the men were probably resting
somewhere in the sewers. Kieran sat and fidgeted while Shara did
the laundry and Visha swept the floors, the boys fetched water,
threw out the garbage and brought in firewood. Boras went to run
his business, and would return at nightfall.

Boras returned
in the late afternoon, looking pale and frightened. The rest of his
family were in the other room cooking food for the beggars. Boras
sat opposite Kieran at the kitchen table and stared into the fire,
shaking his head. "They failed. They were all caught and killed.
They missed the tower and came up in the courtyard. The black army
feasted."

Kieran cursed
and thumped the table, jumping up to stare out of the window, his
jaw set.

"It gets
worse," Boras went on. "The Queen thinks there's rebellion afoot in
her city. She's ordered the Torrak Jahar to round up all the
beggars for sacrifice. All the citizens have been ordered to stay
in their houses. Any caught outside will be counted as homeless and
taken."

Kieran turned
with an oath. "I knew I should have gone! We should never have sent
beggars to do such a dangerous task."

"They weren't
always beggars. Once they were all proud warriors. They died a
hero's death."

"For nothing!
They were thin, weak!"

Boras shook
his head. "Their task didn't require strength other than to carry
the stone, and five of them could have managed that. All they
needed was courage, and that they didn't lack."

"Now all the
beggars will die."

"They would
have anyway, eventually. Larina was always taking them for
sacrifice, it was just a matter of time. Those that come here will
be hidden, only those who stay in the streets will perish."

Kieran growled
and paced the floor, caressing the Starsword's hilt. "But one good
thing has come of it."

"What?"

"The Torrak
Jahar will leave their courtyard to search the city. Only four will
be left to guard the stone."

Boras threw up
his hands in horror. "You can't be serious! To go outside while
they're around will be suicide, and there may be more than four
guarding the stone, since the Queen now knows that it's
threatened."

"It's the best
chance we're likely to get."

"It's madness,
that's what it is. You'll never make it to the palace, and if you
do, how will you get in?"

Kieran swung
to face Boras. "With my sword."

"Look, it may
be magical, but you'll be outnumbered! There will be dozens of
guards at the gates, and even more in the barracks. Once fighting
breaks out, the Torrak Jahar will return and kill you. Also, there
are earth wizards who keep the walls strong, they have magic
too."

Kieran shook
his head. "I don't need to use the gates, I'll go through the
walls."

"How on earth
will you do that? If you mean climb them, you'll be spotted for
sure."

"Not climb
them, go through them. The Starsword cuts stone like butter. All I
need is a stretch of wall that's not guarded."

Boras flopped
down in a chair as if the wind had been punched out of him. "It
cuts stone?"

"Like
butter."

"You'll never
make it to the palace."

"I will."

Boras fumbled
for his pipe. "There's more than one wall."

"That doesn't
matter."

"It takes two
men to lift the stone."

Kieran
shrugged. "I'll manage."

"You'll never
make it back here carrying it."

"I'll stash it
somewhere, pick it up when the furore dies down."

Boras stuffed
tobacco into his pipe with trembling hands. "The Queen will search
the city for it."

"Let her, she
won't find it."

Boras lighted
his pipe and sucked it. "There will be more than four Torrak Jahar
in the courtyard."

"I reckon I
could handle up to eight, maybe ten. I've fought them before, when
they were Hashon Jahar, and I didn't have this sword then. They
don't fight well. They're slow and clumsy. It's only because they
can't be killed that they've never been defeated. The Starsword
will cut them into little pieces."

Boras had
vanished behind a cloud of blue smoke. Kieran waved his hand to
disperse it, finding the plump man pale and sweaty. The Prince
leant on the table.

"I'll make it.
I have to. Tell me how to get into the palace. Which walls aren't
guarded."

Boras rose and
went into another room, presumably to fetch writing materials.
Kieran had not left the kitchen in his time in Boras' house, and
slept on a mat before the hearth. He understood the tradesman's
wariness of an armed stranger, and respected his boundaries. Boras
returned with a piece of parchment, ink pot and quill, and bent
over the table to draw a crude map. Kieran studied it when he
finished. The palace was vaguely oblong, guarded by three walls.
Boras pointed to the outer wall.

"This is the
lowest, about two man heights, but it's also the thickest. There
are gates here and here." He pointed to them on the map. "These are
guarded." He indicated an empty stretch of wall, out of sight of
the gates. "This would be the best place, but I don't know if there
are patrols. Inside are gardens, lawns, ponds, that sort of thing.
The barracks are on the other side of the palace. The next wall is
three man heights, and there are gates here and here, but the top
of the wall is patrolled."

"How many
guards?" Kieran asked.

"Four, one for
each side of the wall. Inside are the palaces of the gentry, lords
and ladies. Each has its own garden, and sometimes guards. The next
wall is the palace itself, four man heights. If you go through it
here, it leads directly into the Torrak Jahar's courtyard. The gate
is around the corner. There may be earth wizards here, to keep the
walls strong."

Kieran stared
at the map. The gauntlet was daunting, and, if not for the
Starsword, would have been impossible. "How tall is the tower?"

"Not too tall.
About three man heights."

"And the stone
is at the top?"

Boras nodded.
"You'll never make it."

Kieran went to
the window and stared out. "I will. I must."

"It's
impossible, even with a sword that cuts stone. I only showed you
the map to convince you of that. No one can get into the Torrak
Jahar's courtyard, steal the stone and leave alive. The sewers were
our only chance, and now they'll be guarded, or bricked up. The
earth wizards can make the floor swallow you, and there may be a
fire wizard too, I don't know. It's suicide."

"Right now,
the world's fate rests solely on me," Kieran said. "And I won't
give up without trying. If I fail, others will take up the task
after me, and someone will succeed, I promise you that."

"We'll think
of a better plan, one with less risk," Boras begged. "To go rushing
in there now is brave but foolhardy."

Kieran shook
his head. "We don't have time. Every day, every hour the world
sinks deeper into chaos. We have only one chance to save it, by
restoring the staff."

"You said a
hundred years."

"Before total
destruction. We still have two more pieces to find, and each day
that the chaos worsens our task becomes more difficult. Besides,
what better plan is there? At least four Torrak Jahar guard the
stone always, and it may be months before they leave the city
again. Right now they're out of the courtyard, all but a few. I
would have faced all of them to reach that stone."

"And died,"
Boras mourned. "Throwing your life away will achieve nothing, and
harm your cause. The Torrak Jahar have only to touch you, and they
will suck out your life and your soul."

"With their
weapons?"

"No, with any
part of their bodies." Boras made a pleading gesture. "Don't rush
in there. There has to be a better way."

"No." Kieran
stared out of the window again, frowning.

Dusk gathered
outside in pools of spreading shadow, and lamps cast puddles of
light across deserted streets. Mangoats, unaffected by the orders
that only applied to people, went about their business as usual,
lighting street lamps. A clatter of hooves made Kieran glance down
the street, where four Torrak Jahar galloped up it and went past,
their armour glinting in the lamplight. Visha, Shara and the boys
came in, their work finished. Boras explained what had happened,
and Kieran's plans, which brought protests from Visha and Shara.
Boras shrugged and made a helpless gesture, agreeing with them.
Kieran turned to find Boras and his family staring at him with sad
resignation, all except Jaevu, who looked awestruck.

"I must go,"
he announced.

Boras sighed.
"What do you need?"

"A little
food, and a flask of water."

Visha packed
some sweet cake and dried meat, Shara filled a wine skin with
water. Kieran accepted the items with murmured thanks, saddened by
the way they avoided his eyes. To them, he was already dead. Jaevu
grinned at him, obviously thrilled by the adventure. Glad that
someone was excited, Kieran ruffled the boy's hair on his way to
the door.