Wrath of Storms

by Steven McKinnon

  Music unfurled from every corner. Gods above and below, Gallows hadn’t heard such vibrant, live music since his days going to the Laguna Lounge with Sera.

  Serena tapped his arm. ‘Why does everyone seem so… happy?’

  ‘They don’t have a choice,’ answered Gallows. ‘Packed this close together, everyone’s got their nose in your business, so you make sure to keep friends. The facetas own property topside, too—living in tight spaces can lead to grudges, and grudges lead to rivalries—and rivalries lead to reckonings. So throughout the year, everyone takes turns to live on the surface for a week, hit the beach, maybe take a trip.’

  Serena raised an eyebrow. ‘What, people who commit crimes get sentenced to a holiday?’

  Gallows shook his head. ‘Not just people warring with one another—everyone takes a break. When the Diamonds fell and their collieries ran dry, the facetas took their place. They say this is a black market, but in reality, it’s the only thing keeping this town alive—and they treat people better than the coal magnates did: No-one loses their job because they’ve contracted bloodlung any more.’

  Gallows had seen the effects of bloodlung—the thought of being stuck in a coal mine, abandoned as your own blood poisoned you, filled him with dread.

  ‘That makes it even weirder that they refused you entry before,’ said Serena. ‘And the gang bosses, they pay for this place?’

  ‘Yeah—medical bills, public sanitation, imported ignicite—the facetas run it all, and King Arnault knows better than to crack down on it.’

  ‘Stop talking and hurry up!’ Tez had to shout above vibrant music. Gallows felt every punch of nearby percussion in his gut.

  Tez led them over a makeshift bridge, deeper into the Diamond District. At a distance, the rock behind the artificial colours looked black and cold. But when Gallows got closer, he saw the deep shades of blue, and the glint of what could be a diamond. Granted, it was probably glass from a bottle cracked across someone’s face, but still.

  ‘So what happened to topple the mansions and the townhouses?’ Serena asked. ‘Earthquake?’

  Tez’s ears prickled at the question. ‘Some say Terros burst through the ground as he tried to climb into the mortal realm. Others say Nyr herself punished the Diamonds for their gluttony.’

  ‘A group of pissed-off miners burrowed deep and planted ignium charges,’ said Gallows.

  ‘No sense of wonder,’ Tez muttered, shaking his head. He turned a corner and stopped in front of a door marked ‘Stallion’s Rest’.

  Gallows almost bumped into him. ‘And you’ve stopped because…?’

  Tez nodded to the door. ‘I can get you a discount at the snoozing ken, if you fancy?’

  ‘Snoozing ken?’ Serena repeated. ‘Sounds good. I could do with sleeping in a bed bigger than an airship cot.’

  Gallows cleared his throat. ‘Uh, a snoozing ken’s...’

  Serena stared at him. ‘Yeah?’

  ‘You remember the Courtesans’ Guild back home?’

  ‘Ah.’

  ‘Suit yourself.’ Tez grabbed Gallows’ arm. ‘I’ll take the five hundred now, thanks.’

  Gallows shoved him away. ‘Later.’

  Tez shook his head. ‘Hope the snoozing ken accepts that.’

  He led Gallows and Serena through a warren of man-made pillars, singing and children’s laughter surrounding them every step of the way. And there—in cursive, neon blue lettering—shone the words ‘The Aurora Club’.

  ‘The Hangman himself, Tyson bloody Gallows.’ Finn’s cackle rattled like the stutter of a gyrogun. It made Serena flinch.

  The faceta sat on a grand, tall-backed red leather chair that would put most thrones to shame. Her bronzed skin was similar to the Phadrosi people’s, and her raven hair was cropped at the sides and crowned with spikes. The satin gown she wore was the royal blue of Dalthea’s sky just before sunset. From the corner, a gaunt man glared at Serena through narrow eyes.

  Finn peeled herself from her chair and embraced Gallows like he was family. ‘I heard you’d died.’

  ‘Sorry to disappoint you.’

  When Finn withdrew, she eyed Serena. ‘I’ll need the name of your hairdresser, girl.’ The words rolled from her tongue like viscous oil. ‘Some dye job.’

  Serena didn’t bother explaining that her green hair was all natural. ‘Nice place,’ he said, strolling to the crescent window that overlooked the bar floor. The card tables below were all full and waitresses danced between crowded tables hoisting trays full of glasses. They moved like ballerinas, almost in time with the piano music humming from a corner.

  ‘Now,’ said Finn, slinking back into her throne, ‘it ain’t like I’m not happy to see you, Gallows, but it does raise some questions. C’mon, we’ll talk downstairs over a drink—I got Glenfortoshan whisky all the way from Aludan.’

  Gallows motioned to Finn’s bodyguard, lurking in the corner. ‘I’d feel more comfortable speaking alone.’

  Serena agreed. The bodyguard was slim with slicked-back auburn hair and pale skin, and he didn’t take his eyes from her. Guess liquor ain’t the only thing she likes from Aludan.

  Like Finn, he was decked out in fancy clothes: Bottle-green trousers, frilly white shirt, and a thick, black winter coat. Beneath the glow of the room’s hanging ignium lamp, the coat’s buttons gleamed like sunshine on a stream. Serena couldn’t think of anyone who looked more stupid.

  ‘Asal stays,’ Finn said. ‘He’s a friend, too.’

  Gallows’ lower lip jutted. ‘It’s like that?’

  ‘It’s like that. We run a nice, tight community down here, but that don’t mean some scallywag ain’t ready to plunge a knife into your back just for a chance to sniff your throne. That’s the problem, being queen—everybody wants what you got.’

  ‘And I’m sure your crown was well earned.’

  ‘I learned something after bloodlung choked the life outta my brothers and sisters, and near enough me.’ Finn’s lips widened. ‘What you’re not given, you take. Such as the Aurora Club—best bar in the District. Stay a while. I’ll give you free drinks and fifty aerons to try your luck on the tables.’

  Gallows shook his head. ‘We’re not here for a vacation—we need your help.’

  Finn’s fingernails drummed on the throne’s armrests. ‘And help comes in the form of?’

  ‘Papers, for passage into Rhis. The Ryndaran Border Guard has blacklisted my airship’s registration and we don’t know why. Slipping through the patrols who don’t give a shit is easy, but the capital will be tougher. Took weeks just to get here from Dalthea.’

  ‘Could be a blessing. Snowdrifts closing in, thunderstorms, sky pirates. Why not stay in town a few days, let the weather settle? I’ll put you up, no charge.’

  ‘I need good forgeries, Finn, ones that’ll stand up to border scrutiny—you still the best with a paintbrush?’

  ‘Oh, honey,’ Finn laughed. ‘I’ve come a long way from forging pilots’ licences.’

  Why do assholes like to talk so much? ‘If you can’t help us, you know someone who can,’ Serena blurted. ‘So shove the pretence.’

  Gallows gave her a sidelong glance.

  ‘I like you, honey—you remind me of myself at your age.’ Finn gazed at her with feral, predatory eyes. ‘I didn’t know when to shut my mouth either. Asal, see our guests out—seems our hospitality ain’t welcome.’

  ‘We’re not done,’ said Gallows.

  Asal stepped out of his corner, peeling his coat back to reveal a revolver hanging at his hip.

  ‘Guns are a lot easier to come by down here than in Dalthea,’ Finn spoke. ‘Best keep that in mind before you make a move.’

  ‘There are scarier things than guns,’ Serena shot back.

  ‘Damn the Gods,’ muttered Gallows. ‘There’s no beef between us, Finn—can you help or not?’

  ‘If I could, I would. Listen—I got men from Rhis coming into town, interferin’ with my shipments and squatting in my properties. Between them and
Vabrizio’s mercs, my supplies are stretched thin as it is—I don’t want an excuse for ’em to give the Watch orders to seize my product.’

  ‘Men from Rhis?’ Gallows asked.

  Finn leaned forward. ‘Seems someone’s got a hard-on for a group of unknowns zipping around in a Dalthean-registered airship.’ Finn scowled at Gallows like a queen addressing a peasant who just took a dump in the middle of her banquet. ‘No-one here knows who you are, Ty—but I don’t wanna be the one responsible for letting you slip through. Hoped you’d take the hint and disappear when I didn’t let you into the District the first time you tried.’

  Shit. She was trying to protect us?

  Serena tapped Gallows’ arm. ‘Let’s go. She can’t help, and the longer we stay, the more dangerous it is for us.’

  ‘Too late,’ said Finn. ‘As soon as you stepped into the Diamond District, you dug your own grave. I reckon you got five minutes before the Watch and the boys from Rhis come bursting through my door.

  ‘Serena, we’re leav—’

  Asal loosed a savage uppercut under Gallows’ chin, and followed up by kneeing him in the stomach. When Serena lunged for him, Asal shoved her away.

  ‘Asshole.’ Gallows sprang up and tackled Asal hard against the crescent window, face first.

  ‘Stop.’ Finn conjured a small gun. ‘Or I put a bullet in the girl.’

  ‘She won’t,’ Serena barked. With a thought, she summoned an electric current. It travelled through her veins, tingling.

  ‘Don’t do a thing, Serena,’ said Gallows. ‘We’re all good.’

  Finn shook her head. ‘You never did learn to give up, did you, Gallows?’

  ‘One of my more endearing qualities. Put the gun down, or Asshole here gets a face full of glass.’

  ‘You underestimate how good my aim is.’

  Finn turned the gun on Gallows. She pulled the trigger and he leapt back as the bullet struck the wall behind him.

  ‘Shit,’ said Serena, frozen to the spot.

  ‘Guess we really ain’t friends,’ said Gallows.

  ‘Got that right,’ snarled Asal. ‘You say something about a face full of glass?’

  He grabbed Gallows and threw him through the crescent window.

  Gallows landed hard.

  A roulette table collapsed beneath his weight, pain exploded in his back and shards of glass punctured his skin.

  He opened his eyes to find a shadow looming over him. ‘Reckon I was just about to win that game.’

  A steel-capped boot kicked Gallows’ ribs. He twisted, gasping for breath and scrambling across the liquor-slick floor. He got to his feet and throwing his palms up. ‘Hang on a second, will you?’

  ‘Don’t reckon I will.’ The attacker stomped closer; a big, grizzled bastard with a tatty top hat and a half-chewed ear.

  Voices rose around the bar. ‘Get him, Sykes—kick the shit outta him.’

  Sykes removed his hat and placed it onto a table. ‘Twenty aerons says I break his legs like twigs in two minutes.’

  A cheer rang out and Sykes’ hat filled with notes.

  Gods damn it.

  Gallows flicked two left jabs at Sykes’ face, following with a right cross. Before the third punch connected, Sykes seized Gallows’ hand, hurled him to the floor and rained punches into his head. Gallows struggled beneath the bigger man’s weight. His left hand skittered across the floor, reaching out for something—anything…

  His fingers wrapped around cold metal—a spittoon. Gallows swung it into Sykes’ temple with a crack.

  The brute rolled away from Gallows, clutching his head; Gallows took the opportunity to throw the spittoon’s contents over him.

  The cheering halted, the music ceased, and the hat full of aerons stopped halfway to someone’s hand.

  Gallows’ heart punched his ribs like the rapid snap of a snare drum. ‘You’ve got my permission to keep the money.’

  When he turned to the door, he found Asal standing there, gun raised.

  Serena balled her fists, listening to the bar erupt into chaos. ‘Call ’em off.’

  ‘Sweetie.’ Finn took a step closer to her, gun trained. ‘The Watch are on their way, I own the skyport, and your little airship’s had its wings clipped.’

  Cold needles stabbed Serena. Shit—Myriel’s aboard the Liberty Wind.

  ‘I’ll let Gallows get his ass kicked a while longer,’ Finn continued, ‘then we can all have a nice chat.’

  Serena summoned her power. It flared inside her, ran through her veins like bolts of electricity. ‘Gallows gets his ass kicked all the time—doesn’t seem to slow him down much.’

  ‘Who the hell are you, anyway? Why’s Ty Gallows kicking around with a scrawny kid?’ Finn’s eyes roamed over Serena. ‘What’s so special about you?’

  ‘Boss doesn’t want you dead, lad,’ said Asal.

  Gallows’ jaw clenched. ‘Then put the gun down.’

  Asal stayed still.

  ‘Thought so.’

  ‘Sit down, son. Don’t embarrass yourself any more.’

  ‘So Sykes and his buddies can get back to kicking the shit out of me? Tempting, but reckon I’ll take my chances with the pale and scrawny scuzzer.’

  Asal’s brow furrowed. He closed the space between him and Gallows, saliva dripping from his curling lips.

  Gallows didn’t flinch. ‘Don’t be surprised, I spent years dragging scuzzers out of their dens. Some were filthy sewer rats, others were rich merchants—and all of ’em wore the same signs.’

  A sheen formed on Asal’s face. ‘You know piss-all, lad. Hold your tongue or lose it.’

  ‘You been keeping it from Finn? Reckon she’d know better than to throw her lot in with a junkie.’

  Asal pressed the gun against Gallows’ forehead, his forefinger caressing the trigger. Gallows’ mouth turned as dry as a bag of sand abandoned in a desert.

  ‘He’s mine,’ Sykes called.

  ‘Like hell,’ snarled Asal. ‘Your fat arse stays where it is.’

  The cold metal of the gun’s barrel pressed harder into Gallows’ head. The only sound in the entire bar came from a dripping beer tap.

  ‘C’mon.’ Gallows fought the tremor in his voice. ‘Sykes had twenty aerons to break my legs—wouldn’t want to rob a man of his well-earned, would you?’

  ‘I’ll write him an I.O.U.’

  The drip from the beer tap thudded in Gallows’ ear, and his heels dug into the floor. Gallows smelled the Aludanian’s musty, decaying breath, mind racing.

  ‘Stop!’ Finn boomed from the broken window. ‘Asal, put the gun down.’

  Asal’s finger whitened on the trigger.

  ‘Asal,’ Finn repeated.

  With great reluctance, he pulled the gun away.

  Gallows tried not to show his relief. ‘Well, Asshole, ’til next time.’

  The bright lights of the Diamond District didn’t seem so colourful, but Serena was glad just to put the Aurora Club at her back. Her fingers crackled with pins and needles—she could still feel Finn’s presence.

  Gallows marched ahead of her. ‘You shouldn’t have done that.’

  ‘What? Save your life?’

  ‘You know what I mean.’

  ‘Oi!’ Sykes called.

  ‘Gods damn it,’ Gallows muttered.

  ‘Don’t care what Finn says—you runnin’ from a fight?’

  Gallows turned, cupped his hands to his mouth, and yelled, ‘Is it still a fight if there’s only one of you?’

  Sykes’ face screwed as he tried to figure it out.

  ‘C’mon,’ Gallows urged.

  ‘Where to? Finn said she owns the skyport—Gallows, she has the Wind.’

  ‘Myriel and Enoch?’

  ‘Didn’t mention.’

  Men clad in the uniforms of the Dulwin Watch swarmed the Diamond District, seeking them out like bloodhounds.

  ‘Looks like we go to Plan B,’ said Gallows.

  The black walls shimmered with ignium light as they twisted thro
ugh narrow lanes and dizzying passages. Steam rose and voices spilled out from every direction.

  Using her power—controlling Finn’s mind—had cost Serena strength, and she struggled to keep pace with Gallows.

  Gallows mopped sweat from his forehead. ‘I can’t tell my ass from my elbow in this place.’

  ‘There!’ Serena pointed to a shaft of light, grateful for the caress of warm air on her face. ‘That’s where we came in.’

  ‘As soon as we get out, we need to figure out how Finn knows about you.’

  That surprised Serena. ‘Reckon she was more interested in you. Asal could’ve shot you—he didn’t.’

  Gallows didn’t say anything. He poked his head around the corner. ‘All right, we’re good to go–’

  ‘Evenin’!’ Tez appeared in front of him. ‘Fancy seeing you here–’

  ‘Piss off.’ Gallows jabbed Tez in the face, flooring him.

  Behind Serena, Finn’s men and the Watch got closer.

  Night settled over Dulwin like the black sail of a pirate ship.

  Rain played music upon tin roofs and drains regurgitated gargling water. Together, Serena and Gallows stormed across the town’s criss-crossing streets, slipping between groups of people taking refuge from the rain beneath a department store’s glass canopy. Neon yellows burned on the slick ground, reflecting in puddles and streams—Serena looked in every doorway, examined every shadow—an attack could come from anywhere.

  ‘Not a motorcarriage in sight,’ she said.

  ‘Finn probably owns ’em all.’

  Ahead, jumping from a stone staircase, a pair of watchmen shoved past a knot of people. Gallows grabbed Serena and raced across the road, their feet slapping the cobbles.

  They squeezed through a lane and raced towards a courtyard with a statue of King Arnault looming in the centre. An arched wall, like an aqueduct, surrounded the courtyard.

  ‘King’s Square,’ said Gallows, ‘skyport ain’t far.’

  Whistles cut through the air.

  ‘Neither is the Watch,’ Serena said. She thumbed the vial in her coat pocket. Plan B. ‘Will it work in the rain?’