Knight of Stars

by Tom Lloyd

  The man pursed his lips. ‘Well enough,’ he said stiffly as one of the Wisps picked up the greeting slate and began to erase what had been written. ‘I’m sure my abilities will be entirely sufficient.’

  ‘Guess that’s me dismissed then,’ Toil muttered, giving the man a dainty curtsey before winking at Paranil. Before the Wisp could finish a new drawing, she stepped smartly around the mage and went to kneel in front of the elderly third who was clearly leading the delegation.

  Greetings, eldest, she signed while splutters of outrage happened behind her.

  The Wisp blinked at her. May the light guide you, xe signed in reply. I am surprised.

  We are all surprising, Toil signed, only noting her mistake when xe gestured gentle amusement.

  I fear my news will not be welcome, xe signed, after a pause to allow xir amusement to dissipate.

  Toil lowered her head in acknowledgement, though the human gesture would be lost on xer. Unwelcome in the light is better than surprising in the dark.

  It is so.

  The others watched in silence as Toil haltingly conversed with the Wisp. The strangeness of the scene meant they waited without complaint or restlessness. If it was even a surprise when Toil briefly broke off, rocked back on her heels by what she’d heard, there was no indication. Or perhaps the shock Toil felt numbed her to all else around her. The deepest black held no terrors for her, not in the way they did for Lynx. She knew there was horror down there and she had no wish to die in some Duegar city-ruin, but it didn’t haunt her dreams. Not even after her first trip, when Sotorian Bade had left her to die in the dark.

  Even so, she felt the news like a punch to the chest. Toil was not quite so heartless as the Cards imagined, not quite so callous as Lynx often feared. The image of what might happen to this city touched even the closely guarded part of her soul.

  ‘Oh fuck,’ she gasped. ‘Golantha.’

  Chapter 33

  The human is still a long time. Turran watches its face, trying to fathom what it is thinking. From what xe knows of humans, the males are the larger and more likely to be warriors, so xe assumes that is the case here.

  His signing is endearingly simple, possessing a childlike charm that reminds Turran of xir children. Especially for males, those years of awkwardness when their limbs are still growing render conversation either mystifying or adorable. The human sadly does not look adorable, from what Turran can make out against the glare. Still, his efforts are commendable and quicker than drawing.

  His – admittedly shaky – accent is dimly reminiscent of somewhere Turran recognises from travels in xir distant youth, but cannot place. That he knows the signs for the darkest lights suggests a story all of its own perhaps, but Turran is just content the seriousness is understood. The golantha are close to myth even for the clans, but a myth they know can be stirred to life all too easily.

  How long?

  The darkest lights sleep in the deepest black, far below our clan domains. We do not know, but we sense the stirring.

  The air does this?

  The Duegar artefacts have agitated all creatures of the black. The tysarn will settle in time, but the darkest lights will hunt. There is change in the air, there is new nourishment for their kind. The scent leads here.

  I … I understand. They come. Tonight?

  Perhaps. They move fast.

  Many?

  Turran closes all four eyes to emphasise xir sadness.

  How many?

  The clans have not seen them in generations, we cannot say. They hunt the elementals of the depths when they stir, but the writings speak of sleep lasting decades. Not dozens, not one.

  You have danger, coming here?

  Water protects us.

  The human pauses and looks around. Turran waits.

  Will it protect us? he asks eventually.

  I do not know. They will not follow us out on to water – but you are so many. Your islands are close together, they can cross.

  They want only mages? the human signs, almost hopefully.

  The darkest lights kill all in their path, xe replies. Your mages must save you.

  How?

  Pitfalls, snares, light – these are not elementals, they are creatures of flesh and bone, but magic too.

  I fight one, he confirms to Turran’s surprise. In Shadows Deep.

  Shadows Deep?

  A city in north. Two gorges, one open to the sky, one deep and home to darkest lights.

  Ah, I know of the place – where the Whiteshadow clans live. You fought one?

  We drove it from the bridge with guns. It falls far.

  There is no place to fall here, Turran signs with sympathy. The water does not kill them. Perhaps the deep waters beyond this city, we do not know.

  This is it? he asks, pointing at the drawing on the slate. It is not the same.

  This is how our histories describe them, but it is not perfect. The darkest lights come in many forms.

  What can we do?

  You are many, you have your guns.

  Not many. This is not a city of guns.

  Then flee.

  The human is still again for a long while. I thank you for this warning. I know you have danger to come here.

  We must come.

  Now you must go. This is not your fight.

  We will be safe. Our stonecaster will hide us in the cliff until the way is clear. Do you speak for the city?

  The female behind me, in many colours. She speaks for the city. I will tell all.

  Xe signed acceptance. We will return to the dark. May the light guide you.

  Toil signed her thanks once more and returned the farewell. Stiffly, she stood and turned to face the Shard, her throat gone dry after news like that.

  ‘What is it? What’s golantha?’ Sanshir demanded. The fierce woman glared at Toil and Teshen both, as though this was some plot she couldn’t fathom.

  ‘The golantha,’ Toil said haltingly, ‘are the biggest horrors Urden has to offer. The kings of the deepest black.’

  ‘Monsters or children’s stories?’

  ‘Not stories,’ the Shard said. ‘Warnings – ones the Wisps know to take seriously.’

  ‘We’ve seen one,’ Teshen added. ‘In Shadows Deep. Damn thing chewed through a few companies of Knights-Charnel as it tried to get to us.’

  Toil scowled. ‘But it didn’t look like the picture they drew. I’ve read wildly different accounts in my time. The name “golantha” is used for any sort of huge magic-hungry monster of the deepest black.’

  ‘That’s not encouraging.’

  ‘It gets worse,’ Toil said. ‘There I stirred one up and we were lucky to get out alive. But now? Now there’s a few coming and the best snacks will be standing right next to us.’

  Teshen glanced towards the cliffs. ‘Oh screaming shits, our mages – hells, all of the marked Cards will taste of magic now!’

  ‘What exactly are they?’ the Shard demanded. ‘I have read brief mentions of such things, but …’

  ‘What exactly?’ Toil said in a hollow voice. ‘Gods-in-shards … Likely they’ll be more’n twice the size of the biggest tysarn – a monster of flesh and magic that drinks in half the magic you throw at it. The one we saw had four legs and huge horns, a tongue like a dozen glowing whips and all wrapped in shadow ’n’ flame.’

  The Shard went rigid – not through fear, Toil realised after a moment, but with the effort of controlling a volcano of rage.

  ‘How many?’

  ‘They don’t know. These things live in the very depths. They’re the reason even Wisps fear the deepest black. Not dozens, they’re too big for that, but several.’

  ‘How did you find yourselves facing one?’ the Shard asked.

  Toil faltered. ‘Ah, well. We needed to cross a chasm and there were Charnelers holding both bridges.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘So I dropped a grenade off the edge to see if there was anything down below, willing to be stirred up.’

&
nbsp; The Shard’s face was a mask. ‘So it was your fault then, too?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  She nodded and glanced up at the caves of the huge cliff looming over the district. ‘Guildmaster Tanimbor – it sounds like these things will be coming for your mages first of all. We will of course offer sanctuary elsewhere.’

  ‘They’ll kill anything in their way,’ Toil broke in, ‘but magic’s what they feed off. The Eldest said they won’t swim so we can evacuate some to the other islands—’

  ‘But they are huge and will move around Caldaire with ease,’ Sanshir finished. ‘Gods-in-shards, you have brought this city nothing but ruin. And now your creatures of chaos have returned with you.’ This was directed at Teshen, who had no response, but Sanshir didn’t wait for one.

  ‘Guildmaster,’ she said in a loud voice, ‘we must evacuate Cliffbase entirely. Have your mages give the orders. Every man woman and child must go to Vi No Le. There is one bridge between the districts. We will destroy that so they cannot cross and establish our defences at Si Jo Island.’

  ‘Give up An Vir too?’ Teshen asked.

  Sanshir nodded. ‘We evacuate that, the shoreline is too large. Si Jo is smaller and easier to defend. Shard, the Court of the Kabats must order out every Mastrunner and mage-gun they have – the guilds too. Anything that can hurt these things needs to be on Si Jo. We will have a small reserve in Casteril too, but if they can cross the cliffs there is no stopping them.’

  She pointed and they all looked at the great cliff that overlooked a long stretch of water before reaching the canal mouth. Large parts of it were sheer sheets of rock that offered no space for nesting birds let alone something massive to climb, and there were no caves within a hundred yards of the canal.

  ‘You’re hoping, what, twenty yards of water will stop them? Cats don’t like to swim either, that doesn’t mean they won’t get their feet wet if they need to. These things might be able to reach all the way across!’

  ‘It’s still the best place to defend. If they can swim we cannot fight them. Perhaps the wider channel between Cliffbase and An Vir will stop them, but we cannot evacuate the whole city to the other islands. We must be ready to fight.’ She paused. ‘And of course, we will have the experts beside us.’

  Toil laughed. ‘Experts? We faced one and barely got away with our lives. Anatin lost his hand down in Shadows Deep and some friends too. You ask this and it’s an even chance between him shooting your face off and going head first into a barrel of brandy before nightfall.’

  ‘Nightfall?’

  Toil nodded. ‘They’re creatures of the dark, just like the Wisps. They’ll come at night.’

  ‘This night? Tomorrow night?’

  ‘No way to know. The golantha live in the deep, far further down than Wisps, but they’re big and fast. Mebbe it cancels out.’

  She tailed off and all present found their eyes turning north towards the Etrel Cliffs. The tysarn, the biggest of those who could still fly and were safe from the predations of all but their huge, sea-bound kin, emitted great croaking bellows as they shifted anxiously on their perches. More voices echoed from inside the caves, hollow and distorted sounds, but not the usual lazy calls of previous days.

  ‘Is that normal?’ Toil asked. ‘Or do they sound pissed off to everyone else too?’

  ‘What could piss off a hundred tysarn?’ Teshen said. ‘Other than us, that is? Ulfer’s broken horn, nightfall it is.’

  ‘Tonight?’ Anatin demanded, a scowl on his face and a beer in his hand. ‘And you want us to do fucking what?’

  ‘What do you think?’ Teshen replied.

  The commander of the Mercenary Deck gestured around at the courtyard. Most of the Cards were mustered – if lounging around and panting in the hot weather counted. Foren, the company quartermaster, had done a good job in acquiring supplies and a liberal sprinkling of promises had secured them berths on barges leaving early next morning.

  There was chaos at the main canal dock, Foren had reported, with every scheduled departure eager to leave as soon as they could afford it. The cost of passage hadn’t been that steep in the end. Many barges were only half-full of goods and happy to offer space if it meant the journey would be in profit. Seagoing ships were proving harder, all the wealthy of Caldaire determined to escape to the other islands of the chain.

  Toil’s new friends at the Waterdancer Guild had also come through for them, albeit at a steep price. Ammunition was in scarce supply in the city anyway, but the kabats were buying up sparkers and burners in particular. Given Caldaire was largely mage-carved stone, the place wasn’t as flammable as most cities.

  Toil hadn’t been so heartless as to withhold what they’d seen in Shadows Deep. There the golantha had shrugged off most mage-shot as it fed on the magic, icers and earthers having a greater impact – but she’d still secured what she needed direct from the source. Prices were quadruple what you’d find anywhere on Parthain, but even Deern was happy to fork out if it meant staying alive. The results weren’t impressive though. The Cards were the best equipped troops in the city, but there simply weren’t enough mage cartridges available.

  ‘The kabats need us to fight,’ Toil said as Anatin and Teshen glared at each other. ‘They need every mage-gun they can muster on that defensive line if they’re going to stand a chance.’

  ‘Yeah, that’s where you’ve lost me,’ Anatin snapped. ‘What’s the first rule of mercenaries?’

  ‘There’s so pissing many of them,’ Toil said wearily. ‘Just tell me which one you’re on about.’

  That at least prompted a small, nasty smile on Anatin’s face, but the Prince of Sun was both sober and entirely serious now. ‘The one where both you and the person paying you needs to be alive at the end of the day. If you’re going to get paid, that is.’

  ‘The Shard’s good for the money – and in case you weren’t properly listening, they weren’t looking for much discussion here. They expect us to fight.’

  ‘More fool them, then.’

  ‘You’re just going to sit back and watch it play out?’ Teshen growled. Normally he was on Anatin’s side in any moral argument, but Toil saw that a threat to his home was pushing some buttons.

  ‘That’s bloody exactly what I’m gonna do!’ Anatin yelled back. ‘And I’m ordering all you fuckers to do the same, understand?’

  He looked around at all the watching Cards to make sure it was clear he meant the whole company, gesturing with the stump of his arm to make his point further.

  ‘You lot listening? We’ve faced these fucking horrors before, some of us anyways. The rest o’ you have heard the stories. I’m in command here and one reason for that is I don’t piss your lives away for no reason. Not often just for profit either. We’re mercs, we’re paid to fight and I’m the one who decides if the pay is worth the fight. If you shitstains didn’t trust me on that, you’d have left the company by now.’

  ‘And you’re going to tell the Shard that?’ Toil asked.

  ‘If I have to. This damned fool line of defence she an’ Teshen’s girl have planned, it ain’t going ta work! You hear me? I ain’t putting the Cards – some of whom I like an’ the rest who make me money – in a line like that.’

  ‘You think it’ll break?’

  ‘Hah – you don’t? They ain’t all like Teshen, I’ll put all the money I’ve got left on it.’

  ‘They’re tough,’ Teshen said, ‘and Sanshir’s a strong leader.’

  ‘They’re tough against each other,’ Anatin scoffed. ‘In a game where hardly anyone gets killed, compared to any of the shit we’ve been up to.’ He waved his stump in Teshen’s face. ‘They’re not a gods-shattered army, they’re fifty or a hundred tiny little groups. Most don’t have mage-guns and none have the first fucking clue what they’re really dealing with.’

  Anatin cast around at the watching Cards. ‘How about you, Lynx? Ain’t you always the first to sign up to dumbshit hero work?’

  There was a moment of quiet then Lynx c
leared his throat. ‘I ain’t keen,’ the big man replied at last, ‘but I’ll not stand back and leave them to die. Not if I think I could help.’

  ‘Fine then – how about I make you a deal? This line’s got to last the night, right?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘How about we give it five minutes then? We hang back and find somewhere good to watch the whole thing. If I’m wrong, seven blackest hells, I won’t even ask for payment, on my life! I’ll march down there with the rest o’ you to do my civic duty.’

  ‘Five minutes?’

  ‘Five – Fucking – Minutes!’ Anatin roared. ‘That’s my wager. Sanshir an’ her line’ll be smashed open in the first shitting assault and I won’t be standing there when it does. I’ll be ready to run in the other bloody direction, well ahead of the rest.

  ‘’Cos it will break, you know it will, Teshen. You saw that damn thing in Shadows Deep. Here there’s more’n one, limited ammunition and no mile-deep chasm to knock ’em down.’

  Toil looked around at the faces, but she knew the answer even before she did. She felt it in her heart, the truth to Anatin’s words. How many mage-guns would Sanshir be able to muster, a hundred? Mages too – certainly more than they’d had in Shadows Deep, but that had been a confined space. They had been able to lure the beast, predict it. Out here, the damn things might come any way they want.

  ‘Blackest hells,’ Toil muttered. ‘Fine. Five minutes.’

  Chapter 34

  Teshen fought the urge to run. He wasn’t a man prone to great emotion, so this homecoming had been a strange mixture of electric memories and the haze of intervening years. Here and now, however, he wanted to run. To feel the blood pump until his heart ached. To be reminded of the young man who’d once walked these streets. Raced with his whooping, savage kin through the alleys and across rooftops.

  He walked Vi No Le’s streets again, something he had thought he would never do. In younger days he had haunted them as part vengeful spirit and part nobility. But Sanshir wasn’t at his side and that was both good and bad.

  Sanshir and he together had been glorious and relentless – a combination even the famous feared to go up against. When the proud went to put them in their place, the proud ended up broken. But now … now he walked. On the lowest streets, overlooked on all sides, he walked as one whose glory was two decades past. Slow and vulnerable in some ways, greater in others.