by Luca Tarenzi
Needleye continued to watch him from the ground as he returned to his tent and closed the door behind him. Then Vanadium grabbed her by the ankles and dragged her away.
Epilogue
Thaw lay still under the broken tile he'd dragged himself to, when a rustle broke the silence and caused him to open his eyes.
How long had he been lying there?
He was still clutching one of his two cogs, but it was now so worn down it was useless as a weapon. He couldn't even remember when he'd lost the other one.
As quietly as he could, he turned onto his stomach and listened carefully.
Silence.
His instinct told him otherwise. He felt danger with every hair on his body.
In falling from the battery he'd landed hard on his left shoulder, but despite hurting like hell, he could move it meaning it wasn't broken or dislocated. He'd also been lucky to avoid all but the odd squirt of acid that had left painful holes on his back and legs. It could have been much worse.
For example, he could have been facing something completely unknown that was approaching him in utter silence with his body burned from head to toe, instead of just alone, wounded, unarmed and almost without Glamour. A touch of luck in life.
The world outside was silent.
Thaw bared his teeth, summing up what little remaining Glamour he had and saturating his saliva with toxins.
Whoever you are, I'm waiting. Come, let me taste you.
"I know you're under there." A low, hissing voice. "Come out. Slowly."
Thaw rolled his eyes. He should have realized before. A while before.
Without showing any sign of the effort needed to move, he slid out and stood up, his back against the tile.
Livid was no more than six paces from him, his bow drawn with an arrow pointed at his chest. It was identical to those arrows that had rained down on them in the battle.
Thaw looked him in the eyes and laughed. It was the only thing that came easily in that moment.
"This all seems rather familiar, don't you think?"
Livid didn't reply.
"When you are ready, so am I. My teeth against your fingers. May the fastest win."
Livid remained still for a while. Then he lowered his bow.
Thaw blinked.
"The time for that will come." Livid glanced up, towards the top of the mountain, although the summit wasn't visible from there. "There will be time for everything. If we both live." He stared at him, his head slightly to one side. "They captured them."
Thaw raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me."
They captured them.
They're alive.
Both of them.
Livid's expression remained unchanged. "We have to rescue them."
"We have to? You mean you and me?"
"Do you think you can do it alone?"
It was Thaw who was now stunned into silence.
Livid didn't wait for him to reply. "Me neither. Nobody could do it alone. And there are only two of us."
In the ensuing silence Thaw breathed deeply, very deeply. "And then?"
Livid shrugged his shoulders as if it made no difference to him. "Only the Goddesses know the future."
"It'll be fun." Thaw shook his head and looked up at the cloudy afternoon sky. "This time, it will definitely be fun."
END OF VOLUME ONE
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