Princess of Blood

by Tom Lloyd

  With Teshen leading the way and the others keen to match his pace, they wove a stuttering path through the strange stone formations towards the light. There came a skitter of movement behind them, but by the time Lastani had turned and summoned her ice magic, the noise had dissipated.

  ‘Bear right,’ Teshen whispered. ‘Black patch ahead.’

  He sensed half their heads turn towards the obsidian block of nothingness, everyone realising together that there could be a maspid waiting to ambush them there. Teshen walked with his head constantly moving, swinging left and right without much regard for where he was walking as he scanned the route ahead. Just as they drew level with the black patch Lastani stumbled and fell to one knee, uttering a brief cry of pain.

  The group immediately crumpled in on itself, some members turning to see what was going on only to have others walk into them. As Teshen grabbed Lastani’s arm and jerked her up before anyone could trip on her, he heard a clatter of feet on stone that he remembered all too well.

  ‘Fuck!’ he let Lastani drop back to the ground and swung his gun around, but it was too late. In a blur of movement and chaos something crashed into them. A man screamed, a gun went off and the single white flash of light illuminated a moment of death. The maspid had Brols impaled on its forelimbs – smaller than the ones they’d seen in Shadow’s Deep but still big enough to grab a man and drag him to the ground with ease.

  Someone barged Teshen and threw his aim off just as he fired. The corkscrewing burst of lightning erupted from his gun and flashed off into the shadows behind. Sparks clawed at the maspid’s carapace causing it to flinch and toss the gutted mercenary aside. With one sweep of a leg it hooked Layir’s leg and pulled him off his feet. Safir fired and winged the creature, pulling his rapier in the next movement to slash at the limb snagging Layir.

  From Teshen’s left a figure loomed forward, Atieno. The mage wielded his heavy walking stick, despite the fact he carried a gun, and a shudder of twisting dark flashed forward. The magic swept around and over the maspid, the creature screeching and clicking madly at its touch. One coil caught an upraised forelimb and the chitin simply crumpled under its touch.

  Another slashed across its eyeless head leaving ash-white scarring across the surface. Yet more flashed and glittered over its body. Blood burst out from its side as the maspid writhed and shuddered, back legs kicking savagely at the stone floor. The magic seemed to have torn something open in its belly and before anyone could even put an icer into its brain, the maspid fell still.

  ‘Eyes open!’ Teshen demanded as Atieno whimpered and sagged. ‘There’ll be more!’

  The mercenaries contracted into a small knot, guns swinging back up again to face out. For a moment they were all perfectly still, panting with shock while Brols lay dead under their feet. No more maspids came, no more gunshots echoed out across the chamber. Teshen counted a dozen more heartbeats then made a decision.

  ‘We move. Must’ve been a scout or something, but that noise’ll attract anything or anyone here.’

  He pushed his way past the kneeling Lastani and Aben who stood over her, gun levelled.

  ‘Come on,’ he hissed. ‘Follow me.’ Aben nodded and slid a hand under Lastani’s armpit to lift her gently to her feet. Once she was up he gave a short whistle, presumably to signal Toil they were still alive and moving.

  ‘Just what sort o’ mage did you say you were, Atieno?’ Teshen said as the tall man moved up alongside him, his limp all the more pronounced.

  ‘I didn’t.’

  ‘Oh great, another stubborn prick. Keep that up and Anatin’ll offer you a job.’

  When the first gunshot went off, Lynx and the others stopped dead – guns raised. At the sudden flurry of fighting, he’d been about to run over when Toil clapped a restraining hand on his shoulder.

  ‘Nothing we can do there, it’ll be over by the time we find them.’

  ‘And if it isn’t,’ added Kas, ‘they’ll likely shoot us themselves.’

  ‘So let’s make the most of it.’ Toil unloaded her gun and replaced the ice-bolt with a burner. ‘They’ve just waved a flag to announce their presence. Let’s move quick and quiet, see if we can take Bade unawares.’

  ‘That didn’t sound like a gun battle,’ Lynx said. ‘Screaming usually comes after a gunshot.’

  Kas nudged his arm with her bow, four arrows in her hand waiting to be nocked. ‘Usually.’

  ‘Aye, but there ain’t many like you.’

  ‘Aw, aren’t you sweet? Now shift that hefty backside. We’re not in burner range yet.’

  Lynx nodded and they wasted no time in advancing as fast as they could. Up ahead the thickets of stone seemed to grow larger and denser – their edges highlighted by the faint glow in the air that seemed to have no direct source. Before too long they rounded one high formation that almost reached the ceiling and saw a longer curve of interlocking stone.

  ‘Wait,’ hissed Barra. ‘I’m going up.’

  ‘What?’ Lynx asked, but Toil was already nodding.

  ‘Wait till we fire if you can,’ she said.

  To Lynx’s astonishment Barra slung her mage-gun over her head and started clambering like a monkey up the twisting parody of a tree they stood beside, despite her previous painful fall. The smooth stone sides proved no match for her agility and once Barra was a few yards off the ground Toil started off again.

  ‘Hold,’ Toil hissed after just half a minute. ‘Look.’

  Lynx took a moment to realise what he was looking at, but then he spotted the shapes of men huddled under the cover of a stone formation. They were too far to make out much detail, but clearly it wasn’t Teshen’s group. There were five he guessed, all looking off to Lynx’s right where the commotion had taken place.

  ‘Teshen will move wide,’ Kas said. ‘Skirt around fifty yards before advancing.’

  ‘But still, they’re ready for us,’ Toil added grimly. ‘They’re only just within burner range here and we’re exposed if we go any further.’

  ‘Take the shot. If you miss, it’ll still ruin their night vision,’ Kas pointed out. ‘Just give me a try first.’

  Toil nodded so Kas stepped out a little, drew the bow full and paused, picking her target without having to worry about breeze. As she fired, Lynx saw only the briefest flash in the dark as the arrow sped off – silent compared to the detonations of a mage-gun. Toil was already aiming, gun held as high as she could to arc the burner shot without hitting the chamber ceiling. Lynx never heard the arrow strike, only caught the slight jerk as it struck one of the waiting soldiers, before Toil pulled the trigger.

  A thunderclap tore the air as a fat stream of orange fire soared forward, dropping just short of the soldiers’ hiding place but then it exploded into an expanding tide of flame. The others fired icers as the scene was lit up, but they didn’t wait to see the result, the experienced among them dragging the others away. Mage-guns at night meant you announced your position to the enemy and unless you were firing earthers, your night-sight was gone for a while. Hanging around, half-blind, as you reloaded was often a fatal mistake.

  They skirted back around a coiling mess of stone and hesitated, listening for noises other than the shrieks and crackling flames they’d left behind. Satisfied, Lynx led the way now – his commando training calling for swift movement before they could be outflanked.

  From up above came the crackle of a sparker – Barra spotting someone just around the corner from them. There were shrieks from where it struck, but a cry elsewhere followed by the double-crack of icers elsewhere. White trails slashed through the dark up to her position and Barra gave a brief cry before they heard the sound of a body falling on to stone. Lynx broke into a run, Toil at his side. They rounded a spur to see two surviving Charnelers reloading.

  Toil shot the first and the second fumbled his cartridge in his panic, dropping the thing on the floor. Sword drawn and gun forgotten, Lynx barrelled forward. The Charneler swung at Lynx with his empty gun, but he dodged it an
d chopped down at his head. A flash of movement made him spin around, two more Charnelers rounding a thick column of stone, but the Monarch’s agent beat them both to the shot.

  Suth strode forward with a pistol in each hand, firing in quick succession. One of the Charnelers fell, the other was winged, but Suth dropped her guns and pulled the second pair – her next shot killing the remaining soldier.

  There was a breathless pause while she checked around and saw no further threats, then retrieved and reloaded her guns.

  ‘Look, there,’ Kas said, pointing. ‘A break in the barrier.’

  ‘Bottleneck, though,’ Toil said. ‘Let’s skirt around, see if we can’t find another way in.’

  She nodded towards where the strange barrier curved away from them. It faded in the dark towards the immense bulk of the central column, looking like it penned in whatever was causing the dim light.

  ‘We need to go all the way round,’ Kas pointed out, ‘otherwise we’re crossing open ground.’

  Toil agreed and they backtracked to steer a wide path around the curved stretch of stone. Just as they started to near the central column again they heard gunfire – the stuttered burst of groups exchanging shots this time. Toil didn’t need to say anything to her companions; they upped their pace as one. If eyes were drawn elsewhere, they could move fast and they had to move faster if their comrades needed assistance. The added risks would just have to be ignored.

  Toil led the way, scuttling like a crab from one obstacle to the next while the others covered her approach. From the darkness a gunshot rang out and a white trail sped past her shoulder to burst open a twisting spur of stone. Toil threw herself to one side as Lynx followed the trail back to its source and returned fire. The hammer-blow of more gunshots battered at his ears, icers punching forward through the night at whoever had fired on them.

  He dropped behind a jutting slab and flicked the spent cartridge from his breech in one deft movement, loading another icer with a second. Lynx levelled the gun and tried to find a target in the dark, but couldn’t see much. Staggered formations stood between the stone perimeter that stood higher than the rest, hiding any Charnelers from view. The dark outline of some sort of passageway entrance in the central column stood off to the left. As he watched, there was a flash of movement and an icer cut the night towards him. Lynx didn’t have time to even flinch, but the shot went wide.

  The man beside him gave a startled cough as he crashed backwards. Lynx turned to see Elei fall, black trails of blood spurting from his lips and a frost-rimed hole in his chest. Lynx gritted his teeth and sighted on the alcove’s corner, firing blind into the dark before reaching for a burner.

  ‘Sitain!’ he called over his shoulder. ‘Get forward.’

  Not waiting for a reply, Lynx raised his gun again and fired the burner in the direction of the alcove. He knew it was going to fall short, but the flames still whipped around a nearer formation and a scream of pain came from the shadows beneath it. He didn’t wait to reload as he ran forward, skirting behind Toil’s position. The light of his burner shone briefly over the lower chamber – little enough to see by, but hurting the enemy’s night vision for longer than he needed. Suth and Haphori followed him, Sitain hurrying behind them even as the fires died down.

  ‘What is it?’ Sitain yelled as she got closer to Lynx. She had a mage-pistol in her hands, but hadn’t fired it yet to Lynx’s relief. The young woman still couldn’t hit shit at any distance, but wasn’t stupid enough to try.

  ‘If they fire burners, you better be ready,’ Lynx replied. He stood and looked into the darkness ahead for a flicker of movement – firing another icer at the first twitch of shadow before ducking back down.

  ‘Deepest black!’

  He could see the naked fear on her face, but to be a mage in a gun battle gave her an advantage no one would expect.

  ‘Cover!’ Toil yelled, firing a sparker before advancing with Kas to the next obstacle. An icer snapped past Sitain’s head, the flash of white making her yelp and drop. She crawled to where Toil had been, the darkness surrounding her now shifting and glittering as her night magic stirred.

  Kas popped up ahead, sending an arrow into the darkness and hitting a Charneler just as they fired. A corkscrewing trail of white lashed at the ceiling above them, tearing dust and chunks of stone away. It pattered down like a tattered curtain between the fighting parties, punctured again and again by icers before dissipating.

  Lynx stood to fire again, pulling the trigger just as he saw a burst of orange light. In the same moment Sitain screamed in fear, half-rising with her hands clawed. Lynx felt the fear sink cold in his belly as the burner streaked towards them. Just as it seemed too late a veil of shadow filled the air and the burner struck it full-on. Sitain’s shrieks took on a greater intensity as a wall of fire erupted ahead of her fifteen yards wide, but somehow the night mage held it. Sitain staggered back under the impact, but before her concentration was broken the flames had been deflected up towards the ceiling and gone out, the magic that fuelled it spent.

  That’ll give ’em the shits, Lynx thought manically as he loaded another icer and scuttled forward to Sitain.

  Ahead of him Toil broke off right, running at a crouch out of sight. Through the tangle of stone between them Lynx spotted the light of her spark-bolt a few seconds later. The lash of lightning whipped out to screams from those trying to flank them. Kas turned too, snap-firing shots past Toil – three arrows in the blink of an eye. Lynx heard another gunshot as he sought a target and offered a half-prayer that it was Toil’s pistol going off.

  ‘Suth, go right!’ he yelled. ‘We’ll hold here!’

  The gunfighter raced off without a word, pistol in each hand and coat flapping at her knees. Lynx loaded another burner and kept low, not wanting to waste his precious ammunition if the Charnelers had not held position. He glanced back and saw Haphori bent low over his gun, fumbling with just one good hand to reload.

  ‘Haphori, here! Sitain, load for him.’

  Lynx beckoned and unleashed his burner blind, using it as cover to change position. As he neared one stone formation it seemed to explode before him and Lynx was thrown to the ground, fragments of stone clattering over his already bruised body. Lynx hit the ground hard, distantly seeing the dark gouge of an earther’s trail overhead as it tore through the stone.

  He lay on his back, stunned, for a few heartbeats.

  Banesh’s chance, I’m not dead! Lynx realised slowly. He looked up at the stone sheltering him; half of it was smashed through. He struggled up to his knees and tried to keep as low as possible while Haphori returned fire. Sitain howled for him to get up while somewhere behind the fighting continued. Rapid crashes of gunfire indicated someone was still fighting on their right flank and keeping them alive.

  He crawled to the next cover, icer darting through the air above as he went. Once safe, or safer anyway, Lynx flapped at his cartridge case with half-numb fingers before he could load his mage-gun again.

  Not dead yet, he thought manically. Let’s hope Teshen’s lot can say the same.

  Chapter 31

  ‘Shift yourselves!’

  Bade’s words were unnecessary; the dragoons were already turning to run. Gunshots rang out on both sides, Sonna yelling from somewhere beyond the wall so two of Bade’s crew, Dush and Koil, ran out the rear exit towards her. Through the opening, Bade saw the white flash of icers cut across their path and they skidded to a halt until Sonna had returned fire.

  ‘Grab the rest!’ Kastelian yelled to Bade from the other side. His remaining dragoons were still running out to reinforce the sentries. Kastelian grabbed the arms of two, pulling them back as the others disappeared out.

  ‘Come on.’

  With them in tow, Kastelain ran towards Bade. The Exalted was wild-eyed now. The clamour of battle filled the air around them but his eyes were still drawn to the God Fragments. Bade knew not to judge his friend for that. It wasn’t just the awe of their presence Kastelian was feelin
g. He had his orders and the Lords-Sovereign would gladly sacrifice every dragoon there to secure this hoard – let alone Bade’s irregular crew. The Pentaketh regiment was a fringe part of the Torquen so it could be deniable and disposable as much as to encompass troops too irregular to be part of any Militant Order.

  But at the same time, those poor fuckers are more likely to sacrifice themselves, Bade realised. Ask my lot the same and you’ll get yer face shot off.

  ‘Quickly!’ Kastelian snapped. ‘Get the rest packed – not too many together, wrap them in clothing.’

  ‘How exactly do you think we’ve been doing it up till now?’ Torril grumbled, ignoring the furious look he received.

  ‘What about those ones?’ Chotel asked, pointing at Banesh’s fragments.

  ‘All of them!’

  ‘I’ll do it,’ Bade said, hurrying over. There was a buzzing in his head from handling the fragments and that only worsened when he touched those of Banesh. The god of Chance and Change had been a quiet favourite of his – very quiet given his employers – but as colours swam before his eyes and the touch of the crystals seemed to burn his fingertips, Bade decided he wasn’t enough of a gambler.

  To the seven hells with you in future, Banesh, thought Bade as he scrabbled to finish. The chamber darkened as they went, tucking each piece away. Only when he’d nearly finished did Bade realise he could still see, that the darkness hadn’t encroached far enough for sense to explain. The lambent light seemed to still hang somewhere in the air, the ghostly presence of the God Fragments lingering, though they were packed away.

  With one piece left he found his hand wavering over it. Gunfire tore through the air still, but it was impossible to tell if Toil was about to fight her way through or already dead somewhere in the shadows. It was a thin shard, no more than an inch long, faint shifting shadows swimming through the blue-grey glowing crystal.

  He left it where it was. Alone on its pedestal it seemed to gather the light to it and Bade realised he wanted Toil to live long enough to find it. To know exactly what she’d failed to reach.