The God Tattoo: Untold Tales from the Twilight Reign
Page 30
Through the darkness he saw a sudden light emanate from the main door. Emin lurched drunkenly around to see wisps of glowing white play around the jammed lock. The distant whispers in the air turned suddenly angry and sharp. In the next moment the door burst open and a man stormed through, light playing about his body like tendrils of mist raging at the dark.
A gust of cool wind accompanied him and Emin fell towards it, gasping for clean air even as he retched at the smoke inside him. The flames in the room surged up to meet the fresh air and the shadow-daemon faded in the renewed light. The stranger looked around the room and stepped towards Emin, who blinked and heaved on the floor nearby. Through his blurred, confused vision it seemed to Emin that the man’s outline remained where he’d stood for a heartbeat, a figure in white light standing in opposition to the daemon, but then it was gone and he felt strong hands under his arms.
With what strength Emin had left he pushed up, dragging his limp sister with him as the man hauled him toward the door. A scream of rage crashed around the library hall then was eclipsed by the roar of flames, but Emin had only one thought in his mind – escape.
They charged for the door even as it started to close of its own accord, the newcomer dipping his shoulder and riding the blow as he dragged Emin out—
And then they were outside, the cold of night rushing forward to meet them. They staggered across the courtyard and to the street beyond, Gennay loose in Emin’s arms. As soon as they were out of the courtyard Emin crashed to the ground, his sister falling on top of him. The stranger pushed Emin’s clutching hands away and tendrils of light again started to play around his body. Behind them there came another crash from the library, some large beam falling and taking part of the roof with it. The roar and crackle seemed to intensify after that, the fire renewing its efforts to consume the building entirely.
‘I’m sorry, she’s gone,’ the stranger said, his voice hoarse with effort.
‘What?’ Emin coughed, ‘No! She can’t . . .’
He turned Gennay’s face towards him and saw the emptiness in her eyes, and the words died in his throat. He stared down in disbelief but the stranger didn’t give him time to grieve. He grabbed the weakened Emin by the armpit and placed one hand on his chest as Emin began to cough again. He felt a warmth in his chest, a tingle of magic rushing through his body that seemed to fizz through his veins and burn hot and sour on his tongue. Emin’s eyes widened with astonishment as his bones seemed to hum and resonate with the energy being driven through him, then a great surge forced its way down his throat and another coughing fit took him.
He bent and retched as he coughed, feeling the surge of magic race from his lungs with the force of a punch. To his astonishment a mist-wrapped cloud of smoke was expelled, to dissipate on the evening breeze as he gaped at the stranger. Whatever the man had done it restored Emin’s wits and he looked at his saviour with a flicker of recognition.
‘You, you were in the street?’ he said, panting desperately. ‘A few days back, you frightened my sister.’
The man nodded. ‘I spoke to her,’ he corrected, ‘what frightened her was somethin’ else entirely.’
He was a man past his middle years, dishevelled and dressed like a wandering tinker. But for the magic he’d displayed, there was nothing remarkable about this ragged stranger at all, but Emin found himself able to do little but stare in wonderment at the man.
‘Who are you?’
The man twitched his nose and glanced back at the library. The flames continued to rise from its roof and shouts for water began to echo across the street.
‘Name’s Morghien. Guess you could say I’m the enemy of your enemy.’
Also by Tom Lloyd from Gollancz:
The Stormcaller
The Twilight Herald
The Grave Thief
The Ragged Man
The Dusk Watchman
Copyright
A Gollancz eBook
Copyright © Tom Lloyd-Williams 2013
All rights reserved.
The right of Tom Lloyd-Williams to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in Great Britain in 2013 by
Gollancz
The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Orion House
5 Upper Saint Martin’s Lane
London, WC2H 9EA
An Hachette UK Company
This eBook first published in 2013 by Gollancz.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978 0 575 13128 6
All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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