Suddenly Squid heard footsteps approaching from behind. He turned his head as best he could and saw a man dressed in a baggy silk shirt and cut-off pants running toward Mr. Stix with a sword raised, the curved blade shining in the morning sunlight. A pirate, he had to be. The pirate roared as he attacked, a bloodthirsty shriek that would have caused Squid to curl back in fright. Not so Mr. Stix. He lifted his pistol, calmly aimed and shot the pirate right between the eyes. The gun hardly made a sound as the pirate’s head snapped back. He seemed to hover there for a moment, as if shocked, before he fell backward and landed with a heavy thud on the ground. Squid gasped into Mr. Stownes’s palm. Mr. Stix had shot him, just like that. Is that what was going to happen to him?
“Blasted pirates,” Mr. Stix said again. He turned to Mr. Stownes and Squid. “Now, Master Blanchflower, if I tell Mr. Stownes to put you down, do you promise not to yell or attempt to flee?”
Squid stared at Mr. Stix and then nodded. Mr. Stownes lowered Squid to the ground and removed his hand from over his mouth. For a moment Squid did nothing, letting Mr. Stownes take half a step away. Then he spun on his heels and ran. He ran as fast as he could and didn’t look back. He waited for the sound of a gunshot, but then remembered that Mr. Stix had that silencer, so he supposed he wouldn’t hear anything at all. He tensed as he ran, waiting to feel a bullet strike him. But the shot never came.
“You had better give chase, Mr. Stownes,” he heard Mr. Stix say behind him.
Squid rounded the corner and ran back toward where he hoped he would find Lynn and Nim. Then he spotted them. They were some distance away. Lynn was hanging limp as if unconscious, being dragged along by a large pirate. Nim was on the ground nearby, and a pirate with a long ponytail held a sword pointed down at him.
“Lynn,” Squid called. “Lynn!”
As Squid ran, he nearly collided with a woman and two children who were being chased by three pirates. The pirates were laughing and hollering after the family as they fled away across the red dust. Squid stopped. The three pirates turned to look at him. Beyond them he could see Lynn disappearing around the corner of a building, but no matter how much he wanted to chase after her he had no choice but to turn his attention to the three pirates who were now converging on him.
“What have we here?” one of them said, a man whose nose was bent one way and then back the other as if it had been broken multiple times.
Squid gripped the key around his neck and then instantly regretted the subconscious action as the pirate’s eyes were drawn to his hand.
“What’s that you’ve got there?” he said in a nasal snarl. “Let’s see it.”
Squid shook his head. It wasn’t really bravery. It was just that no matter what happened, he knew he could never lose his mother’s key. Just as it had driven him to dive head first into a clutch of ghouls during the Battle of Dust, it now demanded he hold his ground against three pirates when it was the last thing he wanted to do. The pirate pulled his sword from where it hung loosely at his side and approached. It was only then that Squid realized he’d left his own shortsword on the bio-truck. It would be gone now, not that having it would have done him any good. Lynn had helped him learn how to avoid injuring himself while wielding a sword but he knew he still wasn’t proficient enough to injure someone else, at least not on purpose.
“Hand it over, kid.”
“And who’s this lumbering oaf then?” another of the pirates said, looking past Squid and drawing his sword. He was a tall, broad-shouldered man with a long black beard that seemed to grow almost at right angles out of his face. “Looks like ’e wants trouble. ’E ain’t even got a sword.” The third pirate drew his sword as well.
Squid looked over his shoulder to see Mr. Stownes running toward him. Mr. Stix was walking casually after him, mechanical pistol in hand. There was no escaping them now, then. Squid was trapped between pirates on one side and Mr. Stix and Mr. Stownes on the other. He wondered who would kill him first. Squid braced himself. Then, with his feet thumping against the dusty ground, Mr. Stownes ran past him. Despite the way the large man puffed and grunted and how inelegant he looked as he moved, Squid was surprised by his speed. He launched forward with a powerful fist that slammed right into the first pirate’s crooked nose. The pirate’s eyes went almost completely white as they rolled back in his head and his legs went to water beneath him. In a smooth motion Mr. Stownes had the pirate’s sword in his hand as if he’d conjured it from the air.
The other two pirates shook away their surprise and came at Mr. Stownes simultaneously. Mr. Stownes blocked the blow from the black-bearded pirate and turned sideways just in time to dodge the blade of the other. With their swords locked together Mr. Stownes turned his sword in an arc, tearing Black-beard’s sword free from his grip and leaving him unarmed. That was a trick Squid had seen the Diggers practicing in the training yard of the Academy. He spun to defend himself against the next attack from the third pirate, a high strike that, given his height, Mr. Stownes blocked in front of his chest. The big man lashed out with a front kick, landing a boot directly in the pirate’s stomach and sending him sprawling backward as if he’d been kicked by a horse, or maybe ten horses. The black-bearded pirate hurried to collect his sword from where it had landed on the ground, but as he rose Mr. Stownes brought his elbow down hard on the back of the man’s head. Black-beard went face first into the ground and didn’t move.
Ahead of him Squid saw the pirate with the long ponytail raise his sword at Nim. Mr. Stix, who’d arrived beside them, lifted his pistol and fired. Squid heard a metallic ring as the bullet struck the blade of the ponytailed pirate’s sword. He stopped, looked up at his sword and then looked toward Mr. Stix. His eyes narrowed but he turned and hurried away in the direction Lynn had been taken.
“Whoa,” Squid said, astounded at Mr. Stix’s shooting.
Mr. Stix made a dismissive grunt. “I was aiming for his head.” Mr. Stix turned to Squid. “Is that a friend of yours?”
Squid looked toward Nim, who was hurrying to his feet. Squid shrugged. “Sort of.”
“They got Lynn,” Nim said as he ran toward them. “They took her.”
“I saw,” Squid said. “We need to go after them.”
“Obviously,” Nim said.
“Yes, obviously.” Squid felt anger and jealousy flare within him once again. He was the one who needed to worry about Lynn, not Nim.
Mr. Stownes placed his thick-fingered hand on Squid’s shoulder.
“I’m afraid,” Mr. Stix said as he reloaded bullets into his gun, replacing the two shots he had fired, “we can’t let you go after her.”
“What?!” Nim said. “Who are you?”
“My name is Mr. Stix and this is my associate, Mr. Stownes. As I was just about to explain to Master Blanchflower, we’ve been sent by interested parties to take care of him.”
“Who?” Squid asked. “Who’s sent you after me? Why do they want me dead?”
Mr. Stix smiled. “I’m afraid you may have misinterpreted me, I do mean take care of you in the good way. We’ve been sent by Chief Minister Knox Soilwork. He wants us to help you. You see, High Priestess Patricia has seized control of the government and is intending to let the ghouls destroy all those who live outside the walls of Alice. She considers it something of a service to the Territory. Chief Minister Soilwork does not intend to let this happen. He requires that you reach Big Smoke, find the vaccine and destroy the ghouls before everyone outside the city of Alice falls victim to the horde. I apologise for our somewhat clandestine approach. We thought it best to operate in a low-profile manner. Our orders are to take you into custody and get you east. You are necessary to fulfil the prophecy, but how you get there is not a concern.”
“I need to find Lynn,” Squid said. He didn’t care about anything Mr. Stix had just said. All he really cared about was Lynn. Those pirates had her and he had to get her back.
“I’m afraid the Hermannsburg girl is not part of our mission. We are to ensure you reach
Big Smoke and fulfil the prophecy. Our responsibility is to you and you alone.”
“Well, I’m going after her,” Squid said, beginning to move away, but he felt Mr. Stownes’s enormous hand tighten on his shoulder.
“As I said, we are going to get you to Big Smoke whether you wish to come with us or not.”
“Well, I’m going after her,” Nim said, “and you can’t stop me.”
“No,” Mr. Stix said. “I can’t stop you, and nor would I try. I’m afraid, Nomad, that I don’t even know who you are.”
“My name is Nim. I’m searching for a way to stop the ghouls, same as you, but first I need to save Lynn.”
“I’m afraid you misunderstand, Nim,” Mr. Stix said. “I do not know who you are and I do not care. Our mission is to take Squid east. You may go and get yourself killed pursuing pirates if you like.”
“I need to save Lynn,” Squid said, casting a quick sideways glance at Nim. “She’s my friend and I need her help.”
“No,” Mr. Stix said. “You do not need her help. As I keep informing you, we will take you east whether you wish to go or not. There is much more at stake here than the life of one girl.”
“Well, I’m not going with you unless we get her back,” Squid said.
Mr. Stix nodded to Mr. Stownes, who grabbed Squid and picked him up again. Squid kicked his legs as he struggled. Mr. Stownes simply held him at arm’s length, letting his legs kick around as if he were running in mid-air.
“Good luck, Nim,” Mr. Stix said. “Come, Master Blanchflower, you have a date with prophecy.”
Mr. Stix turned and began walking back the way they had come.
“No!” Squid yelled as Mr. Stownes began carrying him away. “We need to get Lynn!”
“Stop!” Nim called after them. Squid was a little surprised to hear the passion in his voice. He didn’t think Nim cared that much about him. “Stop. Just wait. Won’t it be easier if Squid goes with you willingly?”
Mr. Stix turned and looked back at Nim but he didn’t say anything. Squid couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
“Squid,” Nim said. “If they help us rescue Lynn you’ll go with them, won’t you? You’ll let them take you east however they want?”
Squid nodded. “If you help get Lynn away from those pirates I’ll do whatever you want. We all will.”
“That offer is not as appealing to us as you might think,” Mr. Stix said. “More of you will just slow us down. Come, Mr. Stownes.”
“You’ll just have to carry me the whole way then,” Squid said, hoping that this small act of defiance might convince them. It didn’t.
“Very well,” Mr. Stix said as he began walking away again. “It won’t bother Mr. Stownes too much.”
“I can’t rescue her alone,” Nim said.
“No,” Mr. Stix replied without turning back. “I don’t imagine you can.”
Squid’s mind raced. What was he going to do? He couldn’t let Lynn be taken by the pirates. No matter the argument they’d had, no matter whether she cared for him in the way he cared for her, Squid knew that if he was the one who’d been taken she would find a way to rescue him. He had to do the same for her. There had to be something he could use to make Mr. Stix and Mr. Stownes rescue her. There had to be something. As he was carried away between Mr. Stownes’s two ham-sized fists, Squid realized what it was.
“You don’t even know where to go once we get past the fence,” he said. “You don’t know how to get to Big Smoke.”
Mr. Stix didn’t stop. It was only a guess, but Squid thought it was a good one. It wasn’t a surprise that he’d never heard of people going out beyond the fence. He hadn’t exactly been exposed to a lot of the world growing up in Dust, but he remembered the shock that had crossed Lynn’s face when the explorer Archibald had told them that he’d been beyond the fence. Lynn had gone to school in Alice and her father had been a colonel in the Diggers, so if she had never heard about any of that then he had to guess that Mr. Stix and Mr. Stownes hadn’t either.
“I know where to go once we get outside the fence,” Squid said. “I know how to find the way to Big Smoke. If you don’t listen to me you’ll just be wandering around the badlands forever. The east is a big place.”
This time Mr. Stix stopped. He turned back to look at Squid.
“Let’s say that I believe you,” Mr. Stix said. “Where did you learn about the location of Big Smoke? We don’t even know if it’s real.”
“We met someone,” Squid said. “An explorer who’d been beyond the fence. He told us how to find our way to Big Smoke.”
“An explorer?” Mr. Stix said, raising an eyebrow. “What was his name?”
“Archibald Richmond.”
Squid saw Mr. Stix’s other eyebrow rise to join the first one. “You met Archibald the Explorer?”
“Yes.”
“He’s a wanted fugitive and hasn’t been seen in twenty years. Where did you find him?”
“In the slums,” Squid said, “outside Alice.” Squid knew Archibald wouldn’t have wanted him to give away his location, but he thought the slums were such an enormous mess of people that even if they knew where to look no one would ever be able to find him.
“And where did he tell you to go?”
Squid shook his head. “Nope. You help us rescue Lynn and I’ll tell you once she’s safe.”
Mr. Stix let out a long breath and looked toward Mr. Stownes. Even Squid could tell by the look on Mr. Stix’s face that this information was important, vitally important. He really didn’t know where to go once they got out beyond the fence.
Squid didn’t say anything. He just stared defiantly at Mr. Stix. Mr. Stix looked from Squid back to Mr. Stownes. “Well, Mr. Stownes,” he said, “it is the Hermannsburg girl, after all.”
A look passed between the two men that Squid really couldn’t read this time, but Mr. Stownes nodded.
“Very well,” Mr. Stix said, turning back to Squid. “We’ll help get Lynnette back from the pirates, but then we go east and you tell us what Archibald told you.”
CHAPTER 14
The High Priestess reached for the top envelope on the stack that threatened to tip over and spill across her desk. There was much to be done and she didn’t care to leave any of it in the hands of others. She was sure that things would stabilize soon and then she could re-establish what amounted to a government, but for now there were few people she could trust. She opened the envelope and slid the single piece of paper out, unfolding it and reading it quickly. It was a report from a Clergy-Captain Albany, whose unit had encountered a small uprising in the city’s north. A group of retired Diggers had been training numerous young men and women with a view to countering what they called “the Church’s unlawful ousting of the government” and disrupting the Holy Order’s attempts to maintain control of the populace. The High Priestess smirked. It seemed it had been members of the nearby populace they wanted so badly to protect that had reported this little group to the Holy Order. Clergy-Captain Albany stated in his report that according to the High Priestess’s newly decreed laws against insurrection, the members of the group had been captured and shot without trial. Things were progressing well. Now that the population of Alice had begun turning each other in for resistance, things were well on their way to being under control.
The room reverberated with a knock on the door.
“Enter,” the High Priestess called, looking up but not rising from her desk. Her hip was particularly bad this morning. She couldn’t help but limp as she walked, unable to ignore the pain as she normally would, and she didn’t want to show weakness in front of anyone.
The heavy wooden doors opened outward, pulled by the strong arms of Clergy-General Provost. The clergyman nodded his head in a respectful bow of greeting.
“Sorry to disturb you, Your Holiness,” he said.
“That’s fine, Provost,” the High Priestess said. “Forgive me if I don’t rise, I have an enormous number of reports to read. I’m afraid the cath
edral may collapse under the weight of them.”
“Of course, Your Holiness,” Provost said. He stepped to the side. A man entered the room behind him. He had ginger hair tinged with gray and a beard to match. His moustache had been waxed and curled up at the ends. He pushed circular glasses up the bridge of his nose as he finally raised his eyes to look at her. “Archibald Richmond,” Provost said, and then added almost with a scoff, “the explorer.”
Ah, thought the High Priestess, so this is the infamous Archibald the Explorer. No wonder the man was nervous. For him this was tantamount to a mouse entering the cat’s lair.
“Step forward, Mr. Richmond.”
Archibald did so. His legs were almost visibly shaking beneath him. The High Priestess noted that he maintained eye contact, though. He had worked up the courage to face her. She had to give him that. He was a man who faced fears and he did so without the stupidity that often accompanied bravery. He knew when to be afraid but was courageous enough to confront it. It was a shame he had put this courage toward breaking their most sacred law and venturing out beyond the fence. Perhaps if he hadn’t been so flippant about their inviolable laws she might even have admired him.
“Your Holiness,” Archibald said. “I have done what was asked of me.”
“You found them as they departed the city?”
Archibald nodded. “Yes, Your Holiness. They were easier to find than I anticipated. I overheard them in the slums. They caused quite a scene, telling people of the prophecy and of their quest to travel to Big Smoke to find a weapon that would save everyone from the threat of the horde. I told them I had been beyond the fence and could help them find Big Smoke. I told them exactly what you wanted me to. I gave them directions south along the river toward Pitt.”
“Good,” the High Priestess said. “Even if they manage to make it beyond the fence the Black Sisters of Pitt will be waiting for them.”
Archibald nodded. “I have done what you asked, Your Holiness.”
“You have.”
A City Called Smoke: The Territory 2 Page 9