by Tom Lloyd
‘Toil!’ someone shouted. Anatin, she thought. Reft released her and, despite his injury, grabbed her by the collar to drag her round the rock. The big man’s ribs were bleeding but there was a fierce grin on his face, exulting in the rush of pain and violence.
She found burned flesh and blood on the other side. The last writhing bodies were being dispatched by Varain and a burn-scarred woman called Aspegrin. But one remained. In scorched clothes, looking woozy as blood ran from his temple, Sotorian Bade still managed to glare at her with the full lifetime’s worth of his malice.
‘Got the guts to face me yourself?’ the man growled.
He had a knife, she saw. Toil vaguely recalled he’d claimed to be good with one, but he didn’t look like he was in much condition now.
‘Seems like this is a fight we have both been waiting for for a long time. Don’t worry, girly, I’ll make it quick,’ Bade added. ‘Can’t promise the same once my dark queen catches up with ya.’
Toil glanced back. The deepgod was now level with them, moving more directly towards the pillar. It had turned away for the moment – clearly fending off some new essay of the golantha. Spitting arcs of light haloed boulders that turned lazily in the air above the deepgod’s hands before it hurled one with a shuddering crash.
‘Oh fuck off,’ she sighed.
Toil barely had time to appreciate the look of surprise and outrage on his face before she blew a hole in it.
‘Not trying to hurry you, old man!’ Lynx yelled, tossing a spent cartridge and loading another. ‘But that fucker’s gonna eat you first!’
The deepgod was close now, so close they could feel its roars in their bones. It had only forty yards to go now, a handful of strides for the massive beast. More than anything Lynx felt the presence of the shining glyphs cut into it. There was a sharp pain on his skin. He didn’t know if it was down to Atieno’s final efforts or the proximity of the deepgod.
The gods enslaved that? Lynx thought in wonder, snapping another shot at the lurking maspids. They linked themselves to it and left it in a hole for millennia – but we just have to hope we can kill it?
‘I don’t mean to complain,’ Kas commented from beside him. She had an arrow ready but her supplies were so low she wasn’t going to waste one on anything but a killing shot. ‘But where the fuck are you planning on going?’
‘Eh?’
‘We’re boxed in here, Lynx! The only way out is up and we’ve just rigged the thing to blow!’
‘Good point.’ Lynx paused in the process of loading another icer then replaced it with one of his few remaining sparkers.
He cast around for options. The maspids had tried again and again, feints and mad rushes being beaten off by as much firepower as they could muster. Dead creatures lay all around, a few still pawing the ground weakly, but still the damn things came. Magic-crazed and blood-drunk, for all Toil had said the beasts were more intelligent than dogs. Today the maspids were rabid.
‘There’s the Cards!’ Aben yelled, pointing with one blood-slick arm. The maspids had come close enough to slice him up, a wound Himbel had only barely wrapped up before Aben was needed to fight the next wave.
‘We go meet them,’ Lynx said. ‘Not like we want to stay here. Just like before – Sitain puts down what’s in front of us, we deal with the flanks. Atieno can dust anything that sneaks up behind.’
‘What about the bomb?’ Kas asked.
‘Maspids won’t get it,’ Aben said. ‘Just get clear before the bloody golantha sniff it out. If that thing turns back this way, Toil might blow it herself!’
‘That girl’s too committed to her job,’ Kas said with a scowl. ‘She’s gonna be the death of me.’
‘Mebbe all of us.’
‘That bit’s less important. Atieno! You’re fucking done or we leave you here!’
Not waiting for a response, Kas raced back to the stairway and yelled again in the mage’s ear. She was clearly hesitant to touch Atieno when he was surrounded by a haze of tempest magic, but shouting loudly worked better than a reasoned argument. The mage broke off and stepped back, blinking at her before nodding.
As he followed, Lynx realised the mage was grey and shaky. If Lynx hadn’t stepped forward to grab him, Atieno would have fallen. When he did, the man’s fingers felt cold and stony.
Lynx gasped. ‘Shitting gods, I thought that wasn’t happening any more!’
‘It’s a hard habit to give up,’ Atieno croaked.
‘I’ll help you then, time to go.’
‘Not yet.’ Atieno fumbled at a leather bag slung cross-ways across his chest before pulling out a green-tinged God Fragment. Lynx barely had time to see it before the shard of magic-made-solid crumpled inward and another piece of the god Ulfer turned to dust.
‘The fuck?’ Kas yelled, eyes wide. ‘That’s going to drive them nuts!’
‘We left sensible behind us a while back,’ Atieno said with a pained chuckle. ‘Sitain, get ready!’
‘Fuck!’
There was no more time for words. The small group of Cards bunched together and started to edge forwards as Lynx felt a great burst of magic fill the air, all the power that was inside the fragment now released. The deepgod felt it too – as did everything else in the cavern. Lynx sensed a thousand inhuman eyes turn their way.
‘Move!’
They scuttled forward, Sitain at the fore and again wailing with terror as the maddened maspids charged. Lynx’s tattoos flared bright and then she hurled her power at the oncoming horrors.
‘That way!’ Anatin roared, dragging the lead Cards right away from the pillar. The deepgod was surging towards it now, still sparring with the golantha but both in competition to reach the great cloud of magic Toil could feel surrounding the pillar.
She saw movement on the plateau and hoped that meant Lynx was leaving. They didn’t have long – mere moments before she’d have to fire on the pillar. Toil stopped. She wasn’t getting out of this – the deepgod would be there too swiftly. Someone needed to blow the thing and that meant staying in sparker range.
‘Go!’ she urged the rest. ‘Get clear!’
‘Eh?’ Anatin stared at her for a moment. ‘Oh no, fuck that. We’re sticking together. You don’t get to play the hero here.’
‘Someone needs to stay.’
‘You reckon?’ the Prince of Sun cackled. ‘Balls to that. We buy Kas some time and she blows it when we’re all clear.’
‘How?’
‘Got any God Fragments left?’
Toil paused. ‘I … yeah, tiny ones.’
‘Perfect.’ His grin widened. ‘Now – someone hold my beer.’
Chapter 46
‘The damn thing could explode!’
‘Will it though?’
‘Probably, yes!’
Anatin paused then shrugged. ‘I’m doing it anyway.’
‘But …’ Toil gaped at him then gave up and fished out the smallest of the God Fragments she had left. It was a shifting smoky blue in colour which indicated Banesh, God of Chance and Change – hardly an encouraging detail. ‘Fine, here you go. Just let me get out of the way first.’
‘Shift yerself then,’ Anatin said cheerily as Payl loaded her mage-gun with an icer and Anatin dropped the small God Fragment down the barrel. ‘I ain’t waiting.’
He raised the gun one-handed as the Cards made a space around him. There was no need to aim, Toil realised. Anatin just pointed the gun towards the diminishing space between deepgod and pillar and winked at her. Then he pulled the trigger.
The recoil of the icer jolted his arm backwards and skidded the stock off his shoulder. Cursing, Anatin let it fall, but he was the only one paying attention. The icer screamed through the air, a comet of blazing white roaring across the cavern. The deepgod jerked to a halt, sensing the magic fly past it. The icer’s power burned faster and fiercer than any normal shot would, and half the cavern would see that signal flare. Drawn by the taste of power on the air, the deepgod turned and took a step away f
rom the pillar – then one more before another shape passed it. The golantha, injured but not dead and still faster than the deepgod, it seemed.
Not fast enough, Toil realised as the deepgod stabbed down with one long spear-limb. Great roars of pain eclipsed the fragmentary gunfire as the golantha was pinned to the ground, stabbed through the hip. It didn’t last long. Now the deepgod had its prey within range it was ruthless, stabbing again and again until the golantha’s torso was a grisly ruin. Even then it continued to tear it apart, seeking out the God Fragments it had consumed.
‘You can thank me later!’ Anatin yelled. ‘Let’s move!’
Toil nodded and turned to go but as she did so more gunfire rang out. Icers slashed through the Cards from somewhere behind the deepgod. She saw one punch into Anatin’s chest. They all ducked then dropped to the ground, someone firing a hasty reply but a few more shots came before anything more was mustered.
‘Cover behind!’ Safir yelled.
Toil looked back. The path they’d been taking wound around a low rise – nothing much, but enough to shelter behind.
‘Go!’
The Cards ran, Safir and Toil leading the way. More icers flashed past, most over their heads, but there were several bodies on the ground. When she threw herself behind cover Toil saw three lying in the open – Anatin, Ylor and Layir. Ylor was already dead, her golden yellow hair torn and bloodied where the shot had ripped open her skull. Layir was crawling, one hand on Anatin’s collar, pulling the man along while blood ran freely from his thigh.
‘Layir!’ Safir shouted, panic in his voice. The man started forward but Toil grabbed him and wrestled him back behind cover. He slammed an elbow across her face, rocking Toil back, but even as he disentangled himself two more shots rang out and thumped into Layir’s back.
The young duellist slumped forward and Safir howled, grief draining his strength so Toil could get him back behind cover.
‘Anatin!’ Payl shouted as icers crashed into the rock they were hiding behind.
‘Go!’ came the weak reply. ‘Now!’
Toil could just about hear the bubbling sound in Anatin’s voice. He’d been hit in the lung. Here and now, they weren’t getting him out alive.
‘Crawl, dammit!’ Payl cried.
‘Nah,’ Anatin wheezed. ‘Am done. But … last surprise. You go.’
‘Last surprise?’ Toil asked.
Payl glowered at her. ‘A roaster,’ she explained. ‘He was holding one back, just in case.’
Toil ducked her head, understanding what Anatin meant to do.
‘Let’s not waste it then,’ she said. Hauling Safir upright she dragged the man around, heading for the relative safety of a gully. ‘There are still Cards we can save.’
‘Now – run for it!’
Lynx pointed but the others were already scampering away, Sitain still screaming in some mad combination of terror and power. She’d just dropped five maspids with one great pulse of power and was looking unsteady on her feet, but Lynx had enough to contend with as he helped Atieno along. Aben was close behind Sitain and he trusted Toil’s lieutenant to keep her safe.
Stuttered bursts of gunfire rang out, flashes of light that raced away in all directions. It was a free-for-all now. From what they’d seen, the Charnelers had largely abandoned the deepgod – forced to keep clear as it fought the golantha. Further away the Sons of the Wind were trying to maintain distinct blocks, battling things Lynx couldn’t even see as the other golantha lurked in the shadows.
He’d lost sight of both the remaining ones. A great explosion of light and sparks had been the last he’d caught of them, as the spidery nightmare laid waste to a battalion of Sons. Since then, nothing, which somehow wasn’t very reassuring at all.
‘Which way?’ Aben called back. ‘Where did they go?’
‘Away from that fucker!’ Lynx suggested.
It wasn’t interested in them, not at present with its elbows slick with viscera and gore, but he didn’t want to wait until that changed. They took a path leading towards the outer parts of the cavern, praying they weren’t being stalked by maspids. When the attack came, however, it was human in origin. Three Charnelers and a mage, separated from the main groups and wild-eyed with terror as a result.
One fired on instinct, before he’d even had time to work out if it was friend or foe coming the other way. That was the only thing that saved their lives, Lynx realised distantly. A burner cut a broad orange trail barely two feet above his head. Close enough for him to feel the scorching heat on his skin as the Cards yelped and dived out of the way. He saw it go, streaking up through the gloom before dissipating in the cool subterranean air.
Lynx dropped and fired, only realising as he did so that he’d loaded a darker in the mage-gun. His shot hit the mage and drove him back a step, crumpling the man’s chest before a dinner-plate-size section simply crumbled into dust. There was astonishment and agony on his face as he fell back. The edges of the wound expanded as most of his torso was devoured by the dark magic.
The sight left two of his comrades horror-struck but the third fired on them and Himbel crumpled. The company surgeon cried out once then his voice faltered even as Haphori howled with fury and charged. He swung his mage-gun around and smashed it into the side of the Charneler’s head, felling him before wildly striking at the next.
Kas put an arrow in the third but Haphori got in the way of the last standing. Only the fury of his charge saved his life as the back-pedalling Charneler fired in panic at point-blank range and missed. Haphori battered the gun from the woman’s hands and bore her to the ground, using the stock to smash her face in. As soon as she stopped resisting he turned away and threw himself back at the one who’d shot Himbel. By then he’d found his knife and stabbed the stunned soldier a dozen times before he was spent.
Colet went to finish off the others while Sitain knelt at Himbel’s side. The company surgeon lay curled around his wound but she drew him gently onto his back, pinpricks of tears in her eyes. Himbel whimpered up at her, hands pressed to his belly as blood welled up and Lynx saw the man knew full well how badly he was injured. Though Sitain still had a lot to learn about medicine and surgery, Himbel’s occasional tutelage meant she knew it too.
‘Sitain,’ Himbel croaked, his tone one of pleading.
The young mage touched her hands to his belly and Lynx felt a brief pulse of magic, just enough to stem the bleeding and ease his pain.
‘Thank you,’ Himbel whispered.
Sitain wiped a grubby sleeve across her face. ‘Don’t you start going all soft on me now, you old bastard.’
Himbel actually grinned at that. Lynx reckoned he could have counted on both hands the number of times he’d seen the sour-faced man smile, but here it was, at what looked like his end. With his pinched and battered face, Lynx still didn’t see much of what had apparently attracted droves of women in the man’s youth, but there was a softness in his eyes that had been missing all the time Lynx had known him.
‘Get him up, we need to keep going,’ Aben said.
Lynx couldn’t tell if the man was trying to be kind or hadn’t seen the wound, but Himbel just patted Sitain’s arm and eased back.
‘Time for me to sleep now, girl. You’ll do fine.’
Tears falling down her face, Sitain nodded and put her hand on his forehead. Himbel slumped back, unconscious, and Sitain allowed Lynx to draw her away. Aben, after shooting a look at the others, broke his neck rather than leave him to the maspids though the wound probably would have done the job anyway.
‘Come on,’ Lynx said in a gruffer voice than he intended.
For once, Sitain didn’t pull away from him as Lynx put a supporting arm around her. Instead, she leaned against him briefly, allowing a moment of closeness before they needed their guns and their wits about them again.
‘How much further?’ Colet asked, watching their rear with a mage-pistol at the ready.
‘As far as we can,’ Estal said in a firm voice. ‘That
bang’s only the start of our problems.’
‘You rigged a sparker there?’ Lynx asked.
‘Yeah – right snug in Atieno’s hole, which ain’t something I ever expected to be saying.’
‘Not an easy shot.’
‘Just keep moving,’ Kas said. ‘The shot’s mine. If I can’t make it, feel free to get closer.’
‘You sure?’ Lynx asked.
‘I’ve got two arrows left – trust me.’
Lynx nodded and they pushed on, heading for the more open outer stretches of the great cavern. Before long they heard footsteps and Aben raised a hand for them to stop. Guns at the ready, they crouched and prepared to ambush whoever was coming, but then the familiar sound of angry curses filled the air.
‘Fuck,’ Aben gasped, sounding relieved. ‘Toil!’
The voices stopped but Toil rounded the corner a few moments later, looking exhausted and grey-cheeked.
‘Is it done?’ she asked before anything else. When Aben nodded she lifted her gaze to the pillar itself. ‘We’re far enough,’ Toil added. ‘All of you, get ready to climb.’
‘Don’t we have to wait for it to get closer?’ Lynx asked.
‘Not unless I’ve missed my guess. Someone take the shot.’
‘There’s my cue,’ Kas said in a forced sing-song voice. ‘Hold on to something, boys and girls.’
The rest of the Cards fanned out, forming defensive lines but eyeing the route to the higher ground at the edge of the cavern. Kas pulled one of the remaining magic-tipped arrows from her case and nocked it, drawing the bow with painstaking care before she took aim.
‘Remember, you’ve got another if you need it,’ Lynx urged.