Rebellion

CHAPTER 109

Fortress Togl was small, squat and cramped, a rambling structure of yellow sandstone lumped on top of a flat-topped hill that overlooked the battle plain of Reffering. The chancellor’s sadly reduced army from Rutherin was camped on the eastern slopes of the hill. In the distance to the south, Tali could see the dust of what she assumed to be Radl’s Pale army and, miles behind it, a far greater dust cloud approaching from Caulderon.

Tobry had been chained in a vacant outbuilding a quarter of a mile down the hill, on the opposite side to Reffering, though his howls and shrieks could still be heard from the fortress.

“The final madness has come on quickly,” said Rix that afternoon. He was as pale as chalk beneath his tan. “They say the more you try to hold it off, the faster it comes at the end. Ah, Tobry, no man ever had a better friend. He laid down his life to save my undeserving life, and I’m not ashamed to cry for him.”

“How — long?” Tali whispered.

“Not long,” said Holm.

“He has brief moments,” said Rix. “Lucid moments, I mean. Sometimes only a minute.”

“What does he say?” said Tali. “Does he remember us — me — at all?”

“He remembers. And — and then he begs to be put down.”

Put down. Such a dreadful phrase. Put to death. Got rid of. Destroyed as useless, dangerous.

“It — it must be done soon,” said Rix. “It’s no kindness to prolong his torment because we can’t bear to do it… or because we hope for a miracle that’s never going to come.”

“There hasn’t been a miracle in Hightspall in a thousand years,” said Holm, harshly. “This land has been cursed ever since our noble ancestors abandoned their children to slavery.”

“Tali,” said Rix, reaching out to her. “You and I, we’re his dearest friends. And… I can’t bear for the chancellor’s butchers to do it, the way they’d slaughter a beast for the kitchen.”

“No, never that,” said Tali.

“We can’t wait until the war begins, in case the worst happens and we… we’re not around. It’s the one thing left we can do for our friend.”

Tali could not move. Could not speak.

“You and I,” said Rix. “We’ve got to put Tobry down. In the morning.”