Kell's Legend

yawned, and sat up. Her mouth tasted of metal, of copper, and brass, and something else.
    “Where are we?”
    “We’ve stopped at the Ranger Barracks. I’ve been waved ashore; you will come with me, but no trouble, Anu—or I’ll cut the head from your body. Understand?”
    “Why don’t you leave me here? I am exhausted.”
    Vashell grinned, eyes twinkling. “What? And have you pull some clever trick, and the next moment the barge is cruising into the Black Pikes without me? No. You never leave my sight…not until the day I die.”
    Anu was too tired to argue. Conversely, she was more weary than before her sleep, and checking the barge’s clock, she saw she’d had six hours. What was the matter with her? Again, she tasted metal…almost a liquid metal, and her tongue explored the weird interior of her mouth. She was not right. Something was changing inside her.
    Vashell unlocked her chain, took it in his fist and climbed the steps into cold, bleak sunlight. A bitter wind blew scattered snow from surrounding cliffs, causing the weird effect of sunlight filtering through a snowstorm. Anu followed, shading her eyes, and saw a rough wooden jetty and barracks beyond, with enough accommodation for perhaps two hundred soldiers. The barracks seemed deserted, although she could have been wrong. There was a long, low building, also constructed from rough timber, and a door opened and three albino warriors stepped out, theirmatt black armour gleaming in the sunlight as they shaded eyes. They hated sunlight, she knew; as did the vachine. It caused them a certain amount of pain, and in really strong light caused their clockwork to slow down, overheat, and in some extreme cases even kill the host through mechanical failure. No. Vachine preferred the cold, and the dark; their albino slaves even more so.
    Anu stared at the warriors, and behind them saw a woman, tousled and battered, blood dried on her face and arms, her clothing rimed in filth. She looked little more than a vagabond and Anu’s heart went out to her immediately; here was somebody mistreated, beaten, abused, as was she. There was a common link: the humiliation of the victim.
    Anu studied the woman carefully, and her gaze was met by a proud, green-eyed stare, returned with a ferocity and attitude which had no doubt earned her endless pain. And, despite her recent beating, and old beatings by the look of her; despite torn clothing, naked feet covered in scabs and sores, despite her matted mane of hair, Anu saw through the agony and attitude, saw a strong woman, tall, elegant, it was in her bearing, in her manner, in her very spirit. And that had not been broken.
    “The bitch is a hard one to crack,” laughed one of the albino soldiers, gesturing to the woman.
    “You have been instructed to treat her thus?” Vashell seemed…vexed. Anu considered his deviated sense of righteousness.
    “Yes,” replied a second soldier. “By Graal himself. He told us the more we beat and raped her, the more we abused her, the morewe broke her—as long as we didn’t kill the royal bitch, then it would be a good tool in subjugating her husband.”
    “Any news on Leanoric’s military progress?”
    “I will leave those matters for discussion between you and General Graal,” said the soldier, who Anu realised was a captain of some sort, although she didn’t understand the complexities of the Army of Iron’s ranking system. “I was simply instructed to bring her here and await an Engineer’s Barge. We thought that was why you had come.”
    “Coincidence,” said Vashel. “I have…another mission.”
    Vashell tugged the chain, and Anu stumbled, and uttered a guttural growl. The three albino soldiers looked on, amused, laughter smiles touching their lips.
    “A wild one, is she?”
    Vashell looked back. “One of the wildest,” he said, licking his lips, and smiling with narrowed eyes.
    “Isn’t she Anukis, Kradek-ka’s daughter?” said one soldier, peering a little closer, his humour evaporating.
    Vashell changed, his manner becoming more professional—more superior—in an instant. “Mind your own business, captain. We are on direct orders from the Watchmakers; I suggest you return to your…little lady, there, and continue with your petty sport. She’s looking at you with the longing eyes of a bitch on heat…and trust me well when I say my business does not concern you.”
    Anu and Alloria’s eyes met. Understanding flowed between. This was the Queen of