Knight of Stars

by Tom Lloyd

  Only a few lamps had been lit, barely enough to see what they were loading into their guns. As he watched, Lynx realised he could just about make out the dark shapes of at least two golantha, still prowling the wrecked streets below. In the confusion and chaos, with tysarn swarming above, he im­agined a lot of mages and soldiers with mage-guns had holed up somewhere quiet, hoping to let the storm pass.

  ‘Drink up, my heroes!’ called a voice from the doorway.

  They all turned to see Anatin with what looked like a bottle of brandy in his hand, grinning madly as he addressed the company.

  ‘The finest of soldiers, the great heroes of Caldaire!’

  ‘Where?’ called someone.

  ‘Oh yeah, they couldn’t make it so we’re stuck with—’

  Anatin hesitated then blinked down at his hand. The tattoo on it had started to glow, a steady outline of white in the gloom. Quickly it turned brighter and Lynx felt his own do the same. Somewhere above them, Sitain was pulling all the magic she could manage and casting it out into the night sky.

  Part of Lynx wanted to smile, picturing a few luckless tysarn that might fly straight into that stream of night magic. Just a few days ago he’d idly thought the massive lizards looked majestic as they flew above Caldaire – those double pairs of wings like some strange dragon-butterfly. Recently his feelings towards them had significantly cooled. He didn’t smile, though. It was hard to find any sort of mirth here, except perhaps at the bottom of a cup. He drained his beer, just to check, but even that didn’t seem to work.

  ‘Everyone ready?’ Anatin asked, suddenly serious and sober.

  There were grunts of agreement. Men and women slapped the breeches of their mage-guns in instinctive reminder. The room was occupied by Tempest and Stars, with a few extra hands from Blood. Upstairs with the two remaining mages was the rest of Blood, no doubt all keeping their cartridge cases as far from Sitain as they could, just in case. The suits of Sun and Snow were on the level below and it was there Anatin was heading, to be with his own suit.

  Man doesn’t give two shits about the suits normally, Lynx thought all of a sudden. He leaves that to Payl. Gods – that can’t be a good sign, even Anatin’s nervous. This was his bloody idea!

  He kept those thoughts to himself as Kabat Jo-Sarl followed Anatin out of the stairway. The proprietor was long gone, having muttered something about his inventory before scampering away, guards close behind. Jo-Sarl hadn’t been in such a rush, but there was no need for him to be present for what was coming. A few more guns wouldn’t make the difference after all, and he didn’t have anything to prove to anyone.

  Especially when most of his crews and Holding guards just got slaughtered. His lot have lost enough already.

  ‘Luck to us all,’ Anatin called over his shoulder as he headed down. ‘I’ll get Safir to say a prayer.’

  ‘Tell him to be quick about it,’ Suth said from another window. She was looking down and pointed. ‘They’ve taken the bait.’

  Anatin didn’t respond, just hurried on down. Teshen was the one to raise his voice in response, being the highest-ranked Knight in the room.

  ‘Remember the plan. Keep your cool unless you get a face full of monster. Wait for Reft to start and pick your target. We don’t have much ammo so make sure of every shot. Questions?’

  There were none so Teshen nodded. ‘Cases in the middle of the room. We won’t be in a long fight here and best we don’t smell any more delicious than we need to.’

  Lynx hesitated at that, it went against the grain, but eventually he saw the sense – even as his skin glowed with power. No need to make the damn things pause here. He pulled the earthers and one sparker for good measure, tucked those into his belt and dumped the near-full cartridge case behind them. Most Cards had an earther to hand and he offered one of his spares to Braqe when he saw her load an icer.

  The woman gave him a tense look. She’d hated him from the first moment she saw him and the time in between hadn’t lessened that much. Braqe was one of many people in this life who’d seen the Hanese commandos up close and personal. She’d lost friends and family to them and Lynx served as a constant reminder of that.

  ‘I’ll save the icer for you,’ she said finally and took the cartridge.

  It wasn’t much of a thank you, but he knew he wouldn’t get anything more. Pride and hate might not always eclipse sense, but they would steal its words. He grunted in return and looked away.

  Lynx had to lean out of the window to see the ground. Suth was already doing so and when she noticed him, she pointed to the shore-side base of the tor.

  ‘There, see it?’

  Lynx did. The golantha was already climbing, while two others behind it turned their heads up, antennae waving at the air above. From here the greenish haze was barely visible, just affording a sense of the beast’s body. Lynx couldn’t make out any more detail, but he was in no great rush.

  ‘Can you make it do this yourself?’ Llaith asked, tapping the tattoo on Lynx’s hand that glowed brightly.

  Lynx shook his head.

  ‘Shame, you two together would be useful if we’ve run out of candles.’

  Something thwacked against the back of his head and clattered to the floor, a wine-jug stopper of all things. Llaith turned, rubbing the back of his head, to see Kas give him a little wave. She wore a light jerkin embroidered with a Madman of Stars playing card, tattooed neck and arms exposed to cast their light over the woman beside her.

  ‘No need to throw stuff,’ he grumbled at her.

  ‘Sure about that?’ she replied.

  Lynx blinked at Kas, struck by the sight of a mage-gun in her hands more than the bright willow-pattern shining from her dark skin. He’d never seen her carry one before. Even in the most desperate battles she preferred her bow.

  She gave a mock tip of the hat to Lynx, calling, ‘Luck to you,’ before turning back to her own window.

  The Cards were spread around the room, half of which had large open windows. The seaward side had only narrow, angled slits that kept the worst of the breeze away. Sitain was above them on the lagoon side of the room. Lynx realised he could sense this now. The magic flowing through him had spread some sense of awareness to his surroundings, with Sitain a fizzing spark in the centre of that.

  The pull of magic was strange – he could feel it flowing out, but not where it came from. It wasn’t the tattoos, they were just some conduit from what he could tell, but it didn’t leave him fatigued as it welled up and surged away. On the contrary, Lynx found it invigorating, but to his inexperienced senses it was coming from some part of him that seemed inexhaustible so far.

  ‘That’s two,’ Suth commented, dragging Lynx’s attention back to the present.

  ‘Which one?’

  ‘The small one. Lastani’s is at the base, thinking about it.’

  He looked down and saw the first golantha had ascended a fair way already. The huge creatures were taking their time and ascending with care, but given their size and the two dozen massive legs, it wouldn’t take them long to cover the climb.

  ‘You know what’d really piss me off?’ Suth muttered, not taking her eyes off the beasts.

  ‘What?’

  ‘We know nothing about these things,’ she said. ‘What if the fucker suddenly sprouts wings and flies?’

  Lynx gave an instinctive shudder. ‘If that happens, I’m blaming you,’ he advised.

  The nearer golantha moved steadily closer. The skyriver’s light picked out the lines of its body more clearly now. There was an oily, iridescent sheen to the plates on its back that Lynx hadn’t seen before. Its great legs hauled it steadily upward, body pressed close to the uneven ledges and rough walls of the tor.

  ‘Pull back,’ Suth said, spreading her arms and taking a pace backwards. ‘Let it pass.’

  None of them needed much encouragement. While there was a certain fascination with watching it come, the golantha somehow looked bigger when it was heading straight for them, its whole
body unveiled in the moonlight. They crept back a few paces, guns at the ready but fingers off the trigger. In a tall stone building, the last thing they needed was panicked earther-fire. Anatin’s gamble was big enough already.

  They collectively jumped as a huge spear-like leg flashed into view and hooked on the corner of the window. For a moment nothing more happened and Lynx had to fight the urge to shoot at the leg itself. Clearly it was finding footholds scarcer here, almost at the very peak of the tor, but with so many bloody legs, even if he did shoot this one off, the victory might be short.

  A dark shape surged forward, eclipsing the skyriver’s pale blade and the scattered stars behind. Lynx glimpsed pincers and crooked mandibles then they were gone, replaced with a dull underside that filled the entire window. Flickers of greenish light surged down its ridged belly, swirling like smoke across water. Lynx felt a strange dryness on his skin – the golantha drinking magic from the air as it flowed to Sitain.

  He felt a moment of panic as the dryness became a heave, an arid storm that veiled the marked Cards, but before he could do anything there was a booming gunshot. They ran to the window, Suth leading the way with both pistols levelled. She’d wrapped bandages around each wrist in anticipation of the heavy recoil from earthers, but for a moment they could see nothing more than its hard carapace belly to shoot at. Then there came more gunshots from above.

  The golantha shuddered under the impact. The rippling light turned jagged and stuttering as it was driven back. Lynx fired almost at point-blank range, aiming to one side of what he could see and hoping it would be close to a leg. The earther slammed into it with incredibly force – a fist of darkness that buckled and split what it met. Then a sharp crack came above followed by a bright flare of light – sudden and shocking.

  Llaith fired as Lynx reloaded, targeting the same spot and winning a gout of blackish gore. The golantha reeled and a leg flashed into view as it scrabbled for grip. Suth shot that on instinct, her mage-pistol kicking back so hard Lynx heard the gunslinger yelp with pain. The light above burned on. Clearly, Toil had borrowed Anatin’s preferred little trick to ruin the night-sight of enemies, hoping it worked even better on cave-dwellers.

  As Suth fired again and Lynx heard a crack echo out from the leg, he realised the golantha should have drained the light-shot’s magic by now. His tattoos continued to shine and Lynx realised Sitain had turned her magic on the beast too, following Lastani’s example as best she could. Clearly the combined assault was distracting it so he stepped forward, hoping to catch sight of where it was gripping below. The beast obliged by rearing away from the battering it was taking, just as a new assault from the level below started.

  The Cards of Sun and Snow fired again and again as Lynx’s comrades battered at its belly. He couldn’t see anything of what was happening above, but a leg was blown clear off beneath them by someone. The golantha thumped hard against the tor’s outer wall, thrashing furiously to keep its precarious grip. The light that had confused it now faded and the damn thing was still there so Lynx risked putting his head right out.

  There – off to the left he saw another leg with a secure hold. He didn’t dare miss so he fired at the shoulder. If he missed as it moved he’d probably still damage the thing. It twitched just as he fired, but turned into the shot by accident. He caught the joint just where it met the body and the whole thing exploded in a shower of gore.

  The golantha gave a strange sort of chittering screech, a sound the likes of which Lynx had never heard before. It was soon drowned out by the boom of more earthers as the Cards pressed their advantage. A huge pincer flashed down as it dipped to protect the wound, a blade two yards long flashing across Lynx’s face. It scored the stone and held, but another gunshot above made the whole thing shudder.

  ‘More!’ Lynx yelled, drunk with terror.

  He only had one earther left, but someone else fired into the centre of its belly and drove the beast further back. Just as he clicked the breech of his gun shut, Lynx suddenly noticed the golantha rear up, away from them. From where he stood he could see that wasn’t good. The monster turned its lumpen tail inwards, underneath itself. He remembered what had happened to the temple and his stomach gave a lurch.

  ‘Now! Now!’

  He scanned for a target, anything that wasn’t moving. For a moment his mind was a whirl, the shuddering twitching golantha just too massive for his head to take in all at once. And then he saw it. A leg, to one side of the lower level – the Cards below probably couldn’t see it without leaning dangerously out.

  ‘Suth!’

  He didn’t bother to point, didn’t even aim at the golantha. Its foot was hooked on a jutting balcony – solid stone and enough to take a considerable weight all on its own, but earthers were made just for that. Lynx pulled his mage-gun tight into his body and checked his breath. One moment of calm and then his eyes settled properly on the target – the hooked chitinous blade that held it there and the stone beneath it.

  Lynx fired and the blade-foot vanished along with a chunk of balcony. It was as though a great weight had suddenly slammed on to the golantha. It lurched down, clawing and scraping at the tor’s flank as it fought the pull of gravity.

  ‘Someone shoot it!’ Lynx bellowed.

  When he looked back the others were all just staring at him blankly, gun breeches open. Time stood still. The only movement was the golantha, fighting for purchase and rearing up again, and the rising horror in their faces. Then a figure flashed into view, vaulting the stack of cartridge cases and sliding along the smooth stone floor all the way to the window.

  Teshen had his gun already levelled. He whispered something, but the words were lost to the breathless panic in Lynx’s heart. Then he pulled the trigger. His earther struck the golantha just beneath its head, at the base of its great pincers, and smashed it back.

  For a moment it seemed like it would hold, then its remaining strength failed and it started to topple. The scrape and crack of legs bending and breaking from where they gripped the stone was the only sound as it arced back into the open air.

  Then it was falling – no longer a creature of horror, now just twisting tonnes of armour and legs rushing towards the stone below with shocking speed.

  Chapter 38

  For a long while Lynx simply sat on the floor, unwilling to move. His bones had been reduced to jelly, the reality of what they’d just faced hitting him in that moment of calm. Others had gone to the window – had whooped and cheered as they watched it fall and declared the beast dead. Part of Lynx didn’t want to look in case it turned out to be a lie. In case those dozens of legs twitched once more then heaved themselves up again.

  Teshen reported the second faltering at the first’s demise. It wasn’t climbing any longer and seemed unsure what to do. What intelligence the golantha had – and surely they had to have some, these ancient horrors of Duegar myth – meant they did not swarm forward like unthinking beasts. But nor did they know how to respond, it appeared.

  ‘They’re just standing there,’ Suth commented. ‘You reckon they’re thinking?’

  ‘Even animals think,’ Teshen said. ‘Probably not used to seeing their own dead. The sight of one spread across the street has to give even the nastiest horror of the deepest black a moment’s pause.’

  ‘Let’s bloody hope so. We can’t have many earthers left.’

  Lynx exhaled slowly, trying not to picture what would happen if the second golantha pressed the attack. ‘Anyone got a drink?’

  ‘Anyone dead?’ shouted Anatin as the commander emerged from the stairway.

  ‘No,’ Teshen reported.

  ‘No,’ Toil added, emerging from the upper stairway.

  ‘Shattered gods, I could get used to hearing that,’ Anatin said. ‘Drinks are on me!’

  Lynx heaved himself to his feet. ‘Sure those things aren’t coming up?’

  ‘Reckon not. They ain’t stupid,’ Teshen said. He didn’t keep his eyes off them all the same. ‘First the wat
er trap then this.’

  ‘They’ve fed well,’ Suth added. ‘Why take the risk?’

  ‘That’s good enough for me,’ Lynx said. ‘Someone point me in the direction of booze.’

  The remaining Cards appeared from both the levels above and below. They seemed evenly split between exhausted and elated, but all had the energy to find a seat as those from above carried armfuls of assorted bottles.

  ‘You two,’ Anatin ordered, pointing mostly at random. Eventually his finger settled upon two of the lower-ranked Cards. ‘Yeah, you – stop trying to hide. You’re on first watch. If those things move, shout.’

  He settled down and took a drink, then pushed himself upright again. ‘All of you, listen up! So long as those things remain out there, we take it slow, understand?’

  ‘Slow?’ several Cards echoed, aghast.

  ‘You heard me. We’re only safe at dawn when they’ve crawled back into the deepest black. Until then, any Card who can’t aim their gun gets the usual punishment.’

  That quietened most of the Cards, that and the sight of Reft cracking the knuckles of his huge hands.

  ‘So who finished it off?’ Toil asked after her second cup of wine.

  ‘Teshen,’ Laith said, nodding over at the man. ‘Swooped in at the last moment. Honestly, it were heroic. I went all weak at the knees and girlish.’

  Lynx refilled his cup. The wine here really was excellent and doing a fine job in helping him feel normal again. Just as he swallowed, the image of the golantha’s pincers lunged to the fore of his mind and Lynx gave an involuntary shudder. He threw back the next cup and went for more, heedless of Anatin’s warning.

  ‘Just as well you weren’t here, Toil,’ Llaith added. ‘Lynx felt the same and you probably don’t need to see that.’

  ‘Not with Teshen anyway,’ Toil said. ‘Layir now, that could maybe work, but Teshen? I’d start to think Lynx had got an unhealthy interest in troublemakers.’