3

Kael started to regain consciousness. His head was throbbing, and everything was twisting and jumping around him. He could barely hold his eyes open. From some far off world he could hear Rose calling his name, but it was so distant and muffled that he couldn’t work out where it was coming from, or if it was even really there. He started breathing heavily and struggled to control the pain, not letting it consume him entirely.

 

Eventually, after what seemed like forever, everything stopped spinning. The drums in his head stopped pounding down through his skull. When he was able to take note of his surroundings he realised that he could hear his sister crying next to him.
“Rose,” He whispered through the darkness. “Where are you?”
“I’m right here, K,” He felt her poke his thigh. “I’m so happy you’re awake,”
“How long was I gone for?” He sat up and wiped his brow, the blood on it had dried and stuck his hand to his head.
“I’m not sure,” She sounded apologetic. “I’ve been waiting for you to wake up for ages.”
“I’m sorry, Rose. Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine,” she paused for a moment, “K, I think someone threw a person on us. I had a leg on me when I woke up.”
“A leg?” Kael was confused. He tried to adjust his eyes enough to see what it was that he and his sister were stewing in. His skin and clothes stuck to everything he touched, and everything around him was wet.
“Maybe they have some money.” Kael started fumbling around in his own pockets.
“Wont those men have taken it already?”
“Most likely, but some people hide their valuable stuff in weird places.” Kael pulled out a brand new candle from his pocket.
“Like in their shoe?” Rose squeaked.
“I guess so, how come? Burn.” Kael wedged the lit candle between two nearby rocks in the wall.

 

His sister was covered head to toe in dirt and blood, her hair was matted and she had bits of teeth and sinew tangled in with hair. Despite all of this, she was grinning ear to ear, with her hard clenched fist held out in front of her.
“What’s that? What have you found?” Kael reached towards Rose’s outstretched fist. She let go and something heavy and metallic fell into his hand.

 

Rose had found a beautiful silver and gold ring. Kael held it up to get a better look at the ornate detailing. A large, blood-red, oval-cut gemstone, guarded by a golden figure of a winged lizard took up the front of the ring. The monster was wrapped around the gemstone, holding it in place and roaring torrent of fire around the ring band. Kael turned the ring around to see the silver band had embossed in it a magnificent bird, emerging from the inferno. The bird had a glittering of tiny gold and red gemstones across its wings, and circled the ring, meeting the golden lizard at its tail. Kael had not once seen anything so beautiful in his whole life.

 

“Rose, where did this come from?” Kael had to force the words out; he was so taken by the rings beauty that it was difficult to concentrate on speaking.
“The man who fell down here, it was around his toe,” Rose came in closer. “What do you see, Kael?”
“It’s amazing, Rose, it must be worth a fortune,” Kael’s head was filled with a lust for gold. If they were to sell the ring, they could have the money for a small place in Topside.  Or maybe they could leave Blackwater all-together. He could take Rose to the Matrons; they would look after her there, much better than he ever could. Maybe they could even find a way to fix her. He could almost taste the hot food. Memories of roasted pheasant and potatoes overwhelmed his senses. Has Rose ever had a hot meal before? He didn’t think so, definitely not one that she would remember.

 

“Kael?” Rose poked him in his arm. He was brought crashing back to reality, the imaginary smell of cooked game and gravy was replaced by the all too real odour of rotten flesh and waste.
“K, is everything okay?” She sounded scared still. “Did I do a good job?”
“Yes, Rose,” Kael grabbed his younger sister in a delighted embrace. “You did a good job.”
“So, what do we do with it?” Rose was holding him tightly. Kael could tell that she was still scared.
“I’m going to sell it.”
“But won’t somebody be looking for it?”
“What do you mean?” Kael suddenly had a sinking feeling of doubt hit him in the stomach.
“You told me you don’t steal the real expensive stuff ‘cause people come looking for it.” Kael drew a deep breath and stood up, holding his sister on his waist.
“Rose,” he said. “This time, we don't have any other choice. This could be our ticket out of Backwash. Come on now, let's get out of this hole”
“Kael,” Rose yawned as she wrapped her arms tight around his hip. “I found something else in his pocket before you woke up. There's a purse of coins in my jacket.”
“Then we'll get some breakfast when we get up there too. I love you, Rose, get some rest.” He put the ring in his back pocket as Rose climbed on to his back. Kael grabbed the candlestick from the wall with his free hand, held it out in front of him and started to walk into the darkness.

                                                            *          *          *

 

“Look at you two brats, covered head-to-toe in filth and blood. Where’ve you two been playing, eh?” Kael and Rose had only walked fifty yards into Backwash before they were noticed by a Guard. Two children on the street in the very early hours of the morning is something a lot of Guard’s seem to take quite seriously. Orphan children, ‘Rats’, as they were known as in Backwash, were notorious for stealing from houses or small businesses and for mugging unsuspecting drunkards and addicts wandering through alleyways, too far gone to defend themselves.

 

The Rats mostly all lived in the Shelter, a large, walled-off part of Backwash that was essentially a prison for parentless children. A lot of the Rats that grew up there didn’t start off being criminals, they were just so abused by the Guards and the older Rats that to survive they had to become one of them. There was a division in the Shelter in the form of separate ‘Clans’. Kael and Rose had never mixed with the Rat Clans in when they were staying in the Shelter, nor did they join in with muggings. Their isolated nature led to the Rats shunning them from the group. They were never beaten too badly by the Rats though. Kael suspected it was because they were scared of him and Rose. Rumours and gossip spread very quickly in the Shelter.

 

Rats were easy to spot in Backwash, especially at night time. Impoverished, malnourished, dishevelled children roaming the streets all look the same to Guards. To Guards, a Rat in the streets meant trouble. They would beat the Rats for any reason they could think of given the chance. This particular Guard, who was clearly in the wrong/right place at the wrong/right time, was no different. He grabbed Kael and Rose by the collar and raised them in the air, but when he saw Rose’s scarred face, his victorious expression turned into one of shock. He dropped Rose back onto the floor and then punched Kael in the face, pinned him to the floor and shackled him before Kael could even begin to explain himself.
“What has he been doing to you, darlin’?”
“She’s my sister, you pig.” Kael spat at the floor. He felt utterly helpless. The Guard on top of him was armed, armoured and well-trained.
“I’ve heard that one before, rat.” The Guard punched him again, but this time in the ribs. Kael felt something snap and then a shooting, hot pain seared through his chest. “I bet you gave her those scars on her face, didn’t you?” He stood up straight and kicked Kael in the same place in his ribs. Cra-crunch! The pain was unbearable, Kael couldn’t even scream, just whimper as he felt his blood rushing through his body.
“Please! Stop!” Rose screamed. “He didn’t do anything!”
“Don’t worry, child. This boy cannot hurt you again. He will rot in the Hold for the rest of his life.” The Guard grabbed Kael’s shackled arms and pulled him to his feet. Kael could barely hold himself up. He tasted blood and felt dizzy immediately. He almost passed out but the pain in his side hurt too much for him to fall over. He coughed and saw blood fly through the air from his throat.

 

“Private! What’s going on?” A booming voice called from the other side of the street. The Guard next to Kael turned around and Kael saw a stocky, moustachioed dwarf in military uniform. He was standing under the only lamp on the street that hadn’t been blown out by the wind. The stars on his shoulders and the way he addressed the Guard told Kael that the man was a higher ranking officer. He was accompanied by three other Guards, all wearing the same spider-emblazoned armour and shields that the thug of a Guard next to him was. Two had longswords, and one a notched club.

 

“Lieutenant Haarstart, sir.” The Guard stood up straight and fist-saluted towards the Lieutenant. “Look what foul things this boy has done to this girl he calls his ‘sister’. She’s scarred blind!”
“Girl, what has he done to you?” said Haarstart. The group starting walking towards Kael and his captor.
“Kael… what’s happening?” said Rose. She was sat, weeping on the floor with her back against the closed and boarded door of the Smugglers Rest tavern. Kael coughed out some more blood clearing his throat.
“Don’t worry, Rose. I won’t let them take you. I promise. You just have to be brave for me now, okay?” She whimpered and nodded her head. The other Guards were all surrounding him now. Haarstart had stopped and was standing further down the street, surveying, analysing.
“Is this girl really your sister?” called Haarstart.
“She is. Is this man really a policeman?” he retorted. The Guard, who was still holding Kael by his arms, kicked the back of Kael’s knee, sending him falling face first back onto the floor.
“How did she get her scars?” Haarstart said, the man clearly didn’t care for small-talk.
“Sir…” Kael coughed into the gravel beneath his face and was picked up by the same Guard. “I… I gave them to her...”
“I f*****g knew it!” said the Guard. “You sick, twisted, little gutter-rat! You’ll rot for this.”
“He didn’t mean to do it.” Rose was standing behind the Guard who was next to Kael. Startled, the Guard drew his longsword in response.
“Don’t touch her!” Kael screamed as he swung his right foot as hard as he could into the man’s groin. The man instantly dropped to the floor and his shield rolled along the wet sidewalk towards Rose and fell at her feet.
“Pick it up, now!” Kael shouted to his sister as the fists and clubs of the other three Guards descended upon his already-broken body.

 

His world became pain and fury. His vision blurred into sweeps of red and black with spots of white and grey. He could hear Rose sobbing uncontrollably, but he knew that meant no one was hurting her, or else she’d be screaming. He hoped. He held onto that hope as he crumpled into a ball of self-hatred and agony.

 

The beating lasted until he couldn’t hear or see properly, he guessed his eyes were swollen shut. He could hear his own brain rattling around in his skull. They only stopped beating him because he had passed out and they thought he might be dead. He squinted through bleeding lids for Rose, and saw the shield held up covering her, back against the door to the tavern again. Kael rolled over on the ground and gravel scraped into his fresh cuts and grazes.
“You can take the handcuffs off him now. He isn’t going anywhere.” Haarstart hadn’t moved the whole time. He had just watched a group of four men beat a small boy and called it ‘police-work’. Kael would have laughed if he could breathe.

 

The Guard who Kael had kicked took great delight in removing the handcuffs as unnecessarily roughly as possible, scraping Kael around on the gravel and reopening the closed wounds. Kael couldn’t tell if the removal was a relief, it wasn’t like he could move anyway.

 

“Now where is the little girl, eh?” said a Guard. “We’re gonna take her to the Shelter where she can be safe from you.” The words made Kael’s world turn and twist and flip upside down. He could barely move, but he had to save Rose. She couldn’t go back to the Shelter, not after what happened when they left the last time. There was nothing he could do. After all they had been through he couldn’t fail her again.

He summoned everything he had left in him and drew in a lung of air. And then he bellowed to the heavens -
“Burn.”