Knight of Stars

by Tom Lloyd

  ‘He doesn’t care,’ the tall man advised. ‘Just prove you’re a mage.’

  She nodded and swept her arm through a high arc that cast a dusting of frost over the kaboto. The man raised his drink at her, appreciating the moment of cool on a hot day.

  ‘And your friend?’

  ‘I’m a mage of tempest.’

  ‘No demonstration needed then.’ Ube waved one hand and a pair of Mastrunners trotted forward, golden-skinned siblings by the look of them with ritual scars down their arms and wicked, multi-bladed weapons that Lastani had never seen before.

  ‘These two will escort you to the Shard’s Rest. If they don’t report back soon, I’ll be very unhappy at the world, understand?’

  ‘We understand.’

  He waved them away and the male half of their escort gestured for them to get moving. Auferno was deathly quiet in the afternoon heat and with armed crews prowling, so they made good time across the district. The mage on guard at the Shard’s Rest was unknown to them, but she seemed unsurprised by their appearance and ushered the pair in without even confirming their abilities.

  Inside, it was cool, unnaturally so – a sudden slap that swiftly turned into relief. Atieno groaned with pleasure at the change in temperature as they were directed to the Court of the Shard itself. It was only then that Lastani noticed the buzz of sound coming from behind the double doors and she hesitated as she crossed the hallway.

  ‘You can’t be surprised?’ Atieno muttered into her ear. ‘If what we suspect just happened, ah, did happen – they’ll all know it.’

  ‘Already? We’re a long way from Jarrazir.’

  ‘It was quite a jolt of power. You might have a better handle on it, but Sitain’s leaking magic like an incontinent toddler.’ He paused. ‘I’m barely holding on myself. If things get nasty, you don’t want to be anywhere near me, understand?’

  She gave him a startled look. ‘Is it really that bad? I know there’s a huge flow of power, but still …’

  ‘You’re a very powerful mage,’ he said with a weary smile. ‘Well schooled and disciplined. I’m an angry old man who’s been holding back all his life, who’s never been able to even practise a whole lot.’

  ‘How bad?’

  He shrugged. ‘If someone put a knife in me right now, it’d be a miracle if I only turned the entire Shard’s Rest inside out.’

  Lastani gave a cough of surprise and alarm. ‘Let’s, ah – let’s make sure it doesn’t come to that,’ she said in a hoarse voice.

  ‘Please.’

  She took a shaky few steps forward just as one of the stewards appeared from a side room. She’d seen him on her last visit, a middle-aged man with a cleft lip, attending the Shard, but hadn’t actually spoken to the man.

  ‘Mistress Ufre?’ he said with a small bow. ‘They will want to see you immediately.’

  ‘Who will?’

  ‘All of them.’

  The doors opened and a strange combination of cool air and angry voices rushed out to greet them. Lastani blinked at the court as the clamour rose for a moment then waned. Directly opposite her sat the Shard, half out of her seat with one hand raised. She had been in mid-shout when Lastani came into view, but it was forgotten in an instant. Many of the room couldn’t see the newcomers and continued to argue until the Shard slammed her fist down on the table in front of her.

  There was a blur around the woman’s hand as she did it, a tiny sliver of magic that turned the thumping fist into an echoing boom. The voices stopped almost immediately, but the Shard was already staring straight at Lastani. With one pudgy finger she beckoned for the Cards to enter her court. Lastani took a breath and walked forward, trying to ignore the swish of heavy doors closing behind her.

  ‘Now perhaps we will get some answers,’ the Shard declared. ‘Mistress Ufre, now would be the time to explain yourselves.’

  The Guild Court was full – every tier of benches occupied. Taminbor, the so-called Splinter, wasn’t there but aside from him, every guildmaster had to be present. In her shock she didn’t respond immediately, instead staring around at the faces watching her. The Mage Islands had its ancestors in three major tribes of the area, but it was a trading port and former pirate haven too, so the sheer variety of faces looking back at her was astonishing to a Jarraziran.

  ‘I’m waiting,’ the Shard called. ‘What madness have you done now?’

  ‘Done?’ Atieno replied. ‘I’m sorry, Shard, but you’re going to have to narrow that down a bit. We’ve, ah, been rather busy.’

  ‘Do you think I give two shits about your escort picking a fight with the local kabat? As representative of the greatest gathering of mages in the Riven Kingdom, that does not concern me.’

  ‘The magic bit then?’

  ‘Indeed.’

  Lastani caught up with herself and shook the dazed sensation from her head. Atieno was being argumentative, she realised belatedly – whether that was a result of the changes they’d wrought or just spending time around the Cards, it wasn’t what they needed.

  She cleared her throat and touched him on the arm. ‘Perhaps I may?’

  ‘Please do.’

  ‘How much do, ah, do you want me to say here, Shard?’

  The woman ran a hand over her bald head in a frustrated gesture. ‘I think we are beyond worrying on that front.’

  ‘Very well. We believe we may have accidentally increased the level of magic in the world.’

  ‘Again,’ the Shard said in a level tone.

  Lastani hesitated. ‘Ah, yes. Again.’ For reasons she couldn’t explain, she added ‘sorry’ a moment later then immediately regretted it.

  ‘How?’

  ‘We attempted a ritual,’ Atieno broke smoothly in. ‘Linking our powers together. It produced unexpected results.’

  The Shard glared at him a long while. ‘This would be while you were making friends with Guildmaster Tanimbor?’

  Her tone was more than frosty and judging by the sudden stillness on the benches, Tanimbor wasn’t any more popular among the rest.

  ‘The guildmaster asked me to consult on a problem he had.’

  ‘And you happily obliged him?’

  ‘Why would we not?’

  The Shard gave a snort and gestured around the room. ‘Because he is a constant source of trouble. Because you and your company of drunken idiots could do with some powerful friends in this city, but are more interested in upsetting the balance of power. There your tendencies are aligned with Tanimbor’s.’ She waved her hand dismissively before Lastani could reply and continued speaking. ‘When you say you have increased the magic in the world – how? You did so before, but you were in Jarrazir then, in the Labyrinth itself.’

  ‘The ritual – it required us joining with several other mages. Mages of other disciplines than the three of ours.’

  The Shard was quiet a while, blinking repeatedly as she sorted the information she already knew in her head. ‘More mages. Some fools had unwittingly pulled the stopper out in Jarrazir, but more power was needed to open it all the way?’

  Lastani could see the woman wanted no input from them and the muttered questions from the other guildmasters also went ignored by their appointed leader. ‘You discovered the tree beneath some sort of chimney, if I recall? There were symbols there.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Elementals, correct? How many?’

  ‘Eight.’

  ‘Was tempest one?’

  Lastani glanced at Atieno and shook her head.

  ‘So two of you aligned to those symbols. Two out of eight was enough to cause a measurable increase in magic across the continent,’ the Shard mused. ‘Elementals are almost synonymous with the magic they embody, it is an obvious key to use. How many did you add to that list today?’

  ‘Four more.’

  Without warning the Shard snatched up a large silver goblet that stood to one side on her desk and hurled it across the room. It bounced off the floor with a great clatter and crashed into the w
all beside the now-closed doorway.

  ‘Four?’ she yelled, suddenly incandescently angry. ‘You’ve just doubled – no trebled – the effect of—’ She stopped and went very still before pinching the bridge of her nose. ‘That’s not even the bad news, is it? Shattered gods … You damn fools. You linked with at least four mages. You were linked to them when this happened. Last time this happened, you became connected to the Stone Tree and the power of its reservoir.’

  She looked up. ‘And thrice-damned Tanimbor was one of the mages you linked to, wasn’t he? With all that, why are you here? My intervention to save your friends? Further access to our library?’

  The Shard paused and thought for a moment longer. Then the hint of a smile crept on to her face, one laced with anger and malice, and she looked up at Lastani. ‘This work you did for Tanimbor, did it involve an ancient mechanism? Tell me, do you know anything of this city’s history? Have you ever heard of the razing?’

  Chapter 27

  ‘Movement!’

  Lynx followed Braqe’s finger. All he saw was the flicker of a dark shape ducking into a doorway, but that was enough. He shuffled back to look over the walkway rail, about to call down when there came a hiss from the far side of the building.

  ‘Four closing,’ Kas called from the opposite walkway. The lodging house was quiet and her voice carried easily.

  ‘Movement here,’ Lynx added.

  ‘Get ready,’ Toil replied in a louder voice. She stood on the ground floor with a knot of Cards, ready to support whoever was getting the brunt of the attack. ‘Watch for decoys – they know they’re out-gunned and this is home ground.’

  Braqe grunted at that. For a moment Lynx thought she was going to start snapping away like the little ray of sunshine she usually was, but then he realised her eyes were fixed off to the side.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Bugs are coming out to play,’ she said with a nod. ‘North.’

  Lynx felt his breath catch as he realised what she was on about. The hot day had kept the tysarn away and only now were they emerging to feed. With sunset complete and a cloudless sky, it was the cool white light of the skyriver that shone down upon the swarm rising from the hellmouths. Three swirling columns of creatures, thousands upon thousands catching the moonlight as they rose high into the sky.

  ‘Just one more thing that wants to eat us,’ Braqe commented, cutting through the sense of wonder Lynx was experiencing.

  ‘You’re a poet at heart, woman,’ he muttered.

  ‘Don’t need dreamers when we’re trying to stay alive,’ she spat back. ‘This is what your lot are born to do so get ready for it and watch my back. You ain’t here ’cos I like the look o’ you.’

  ‘Fuck you too, Braqe,’ Lynx whispered.

  Out of the corner of his eye he caught a faint, lupine grin appear and vanish on her face. He drew his sword and laid it on the stone floor beside him. One flick of the thumb reminded him that he had an icer in the pipe, a second revealed the burner in his pistol.

  ‘Damn city-fighting,’ she said while Lynx checked. ‘Least the houses round here cleared out. For a moment I thought they were going to attack as everyone was leaving.’

  ‘If this were a Charneler city …’

  He didn’t need to finish the sentence. The Militant Orders were well known for using civilians as cover, but Auferno was a tight-knit community. Friends and relations of the Masts crews would be in those houses. The sharp crack of an icer broke the night and Lynx watched a white trail pass overhead.

  ‘And shit, they brought guns,’ Braqe commented. ‘Have at ’em then.’

  Lynx knew it was a speculative shot. He levelled his gun and followed the trail back to an open stairway running up the side of a house.

  ‘Bad choice,’ Lynx whispered. The shot had revealed the shooter’s location, but there wasn’t much room to shift position. His mage-blessed eyesight didn’t show a whole lot, but there was a huddled shape, moving like it was reloading a mage-gun.

  He pulled the trigger and the figure on the stairway was hurled backwards to crash against the wall behind.

  ‘Another fucking amateur who doesn’t get time to learn lesson one,’ Braqe said. ‘We ain’t seen the last of that tonight.’

  ‘Aye. Let’s just hope they don’t show us what they’re good at,’ Lynx replied as he shifted right and reloaded.

  She gave a grunt and hopped up, looking over the wall at the street below. In one movement Braqe brought her gun around and fired at someone down there, prompting shouts and scrambling feet. From the tower beside them came more icer-shots. Then Lynx was up and searching. An arrow flashed past, barely seen in the gloom, then he picked out a creeping figure and fired. The attacker spun around and fell, howling in pain, while Lynx ducked back down.

  More return fire came, arrows and an icer clattering uselessly against the stone tower. Lynx couldn’t even tell if it was meant for them or the Cards at the windows, but he figured it was mostly to keep their heads down. From somewhere behind came more gunfire, then off to the left as well.

  Teshen had his suit manning the wall where he thought the main attack most likely to come, but no need to hold back when you had the advantage of numbers. He heard boots stamp their way out of the tower towards him. Suth appeared at their side a moment later ahead of two mercs from Blood, Himbel and Ulax. Tempest were under-strength and anyone climbing the wall on Blood’s side would find Reft waiting.

  ‘How many?’ Suth barked, taking one quick look before she ducked down behind the wall.

  ‘Four in the street,’ Lynx said. ‘I got a sniper from the block over there.’

  Suth nodded, edging up and back so she could scan the rooftops without exposing herself to the street. ‘One more there, see him?’

  Lynx brought his gun up. ‘Balcony on that high block? Yeah.’

  He took aim and fired. Suth didn’t wait to see if the man was dead. The distraction was enough for her. She stood, mage-pistol in each hand and fired once, twice at the figures down below. An arrow flew up and nicked her shoulder, but the small woman barely skipped a beat. Discarding one pistol, she drew the next and fired in one movement.

  ‘Two dead,’ she reported, dropping back down and tossing one pistol to Himbel.

  The company surgeon scowled as he juggled the weapon, then righted it and went about loading for her. Just at that moment the gunfire elsewhere increased. Lynx looked over and saw furious bursts of light flashing in both directions on the Snow walkway. He waited a moment but they seemed to be giving as good as they got.

  One of the defenders crashed down, the back of his head blown out by an icer, but Lynx couldn’t see who it was. The remaining Cards switched to earthers and sparkers then, unleashing a devastating fusillade that ended the attack in moments.

  ‘I could see to that arm too,’ Himbel grumbled, but Suth just shook her head.

  ‘Just a nick,’ she said as Braqe ventured up, looking for a target. She fired in a hurry and threw herself back.

  ‘Fuck – Lynx!’

  The tone of her voice was enough to make Lynx drop his gun. He pulled his pistol and popped up to see half a dozen Mastrunners racing forward with grapples. The burner’s flash illuminated a woman’s shape before she burst into flames and yellow light exploded across the street. It engulfed three or four in that instant, dead before they knew what hit them. The blast threw the others back and he heard screams of fear and pain as he dropped out of sight.

  There was no return fire, the only clatter of gunshots came from the other stretches of walkway. Suth ventured another look once she had two pistols loaded again, but even with her mage-blessed eyes she didn’t see anything worth taking a shot at.

  ‘That’s a hard lesson,’ she commented as she dropped back down. ‘Someone’s screwed this up.’

  ‘Too many proud fighters used to doing it the Mage Islands way,’ Lynx agreed. ‘Plus they couldn’t know about our eyes.’

  She glanced back at the other walkways
where the defenders were coming to the same conclusion and the gunfire was petering out. ‘Long may that last. The next attack’ll be more serious.’

  ‘What’s next then?’

  ‘They need cover to get up to us, smoke or fire probably.’

  ‘Firebombs?’

  ‘That’s how I’d do it. Their snipers aren’t going to cut it. Even with every mage-gun in Auferno we’d take them in a straight fight and no kabat will leave themselves unprotected.’

  ‘Not when folk like Tanimbor might be stirring up trouble among their rivals.’ Lynx nodded. ‘Too many pirates round these parts.’

  ‘Himbel, tear up a sheet for rags, the rest of you drink something. We don’t have much water, but it might be we’ll need to cover our mouths.’

  The surgeon scurried away as Suth held her hand out to Lynx. ‘Stand down for a bit, I’ll take a watch.’

  ‘I’m fine.’

  ‘Rest your eyes,’ she insisted. ‘It’s the marked Cards that’ll make the difference here. To smoke us out they need to get close and we can see better than them.’ She looked up. ‘Those awnings kept the worst of the sun off and I reckon they’ll do for the skyriver’s light too. It’ll be full dark soon. After that they’re hardly seeing anything in these shadows.’

  Lynx looked around at the other walkways. They were similarly covered, but the long curve of the skyriver meant half of Teshen’s side was illuminated. The danger had already been highlighted, given there was a wounded Card slumped on the walkway. While Kas helped the man away – Rubesh, Lynx guessed from the shock of blond hair – several others were pulling bed-frames from the rooms. These were set up against the wall and covered in sheets to put the Cards beneath in shadow once more.

  ‘Let’s hope they don’t take our awnings,’ Lynx muttered, glancing up.

  ‘Quite a throw if you’re close enough for a firebomb,’ Braqe said. ‘And if they’ve got a burner, they’d shoot it at us not the awnings.’

  ‘Guess that’s the good news.’

  She nodded. ‘Until those fucking mages find a way out for us, that’s as good as it’s likely to get.’

  ‘Yeah.’ Lynx glanced again at the black smear of blood from the dead man. ‘How many more dead before Anatin changes his mind about sending Teshen out?’