by Tom Lloyd
‘Ready?’ Suth said after what felt like an age.
There was no reply, but they all instinctively bent their knees, ready for the ascent, and Suth took that as her cue. She pulled the lever and whipped her hand back just in time as the platform under their feet seemed to buck like a mule. Lynx felt the weight of the world on his shoulders as the trapdoor dropped open above them and the light of the sky slammed down with a clatter and a crash.
Up and out through the hole in a flash, Lynx felt his feet leave the platform as it shot up then jerked to a sudden stop. For a moment he could see nothing, just a blur of lines that made no sense, before the shape of the amphitheatre unfurled before him. Great banks of benches stretched almost all the way round, broken only by a squarish block of enclosed seating in the centre of the high north side. Against the wooden benches it was simple to pick out the knots of Charnelers there, but his attention was drawn to a half-dozen uniforms twenty yards ahead of him staring open-mouthed at the mercenaries.
His gun was already raised. Lynx simply tightened it against his shoulder and slipped his finger down to the trigger. The mage-gun seemed to fire as soon as he touched it and a jagged stream of lightning spat out towards them. The sparker caught the soldiers dead on and exploded in a shower of sparks. Bodies fell away, screams cut through the dull morning air, but Lynx was already reloading as more gunshots crashed out.
Distantly he heard the rush and clatter of the other two platforms erupting up through the floor of the amphitheatre – the roar of burners and crackle of sparkers blotting out warcries and whoops from the other Cards.
Beside him, Suth threw down two of her mage-pistols and drew two more. Off to his right Lynx saw a group of a dozen or more Charnelers, standing between a number of tables and a stacked pile of crates. Two guards were falling as Lynx took aim at a pair in the stand behind them. The burner screamed through the air and exploded – the two vanished from sight as benches were smashed aside.
He loaded an icer and followed Toil’s lead as the woman surged towards what had to be the general’s group. Suth shot two more guards, her aim unerring, while Toil unleashed a sparker at the fringes of the group and downed a handful as the rest reeled away. Those were without uniforms, Lynx noticed as he put an icer through the first Charneler officer to reach for his mage-pistol.
‘Lastani!’ Toil yelled as she raced to reload.
For a moment, Lynx felt his heart in his mouth. They were in the open and reloading as the Charnelers caught their breath and pulled their guns. Just as he watched a black man raise his mage-gun, a haze of white filled the air. Lynx shrank down as a volley of detonations smashed into it. His hands pulsed with light as Lastani staggered under the impact of more shots than Lynx could count. The pull on whatever magic was inside him grew to painful levels, but then it was over and Lastani steadied herself as Lynx slotted another cartridge into his gun breech.
‘Enough!’ Anatin roared as they continued on. ‘Hold your fire!’
For a moment nothing happened but then the shield of magic fell away and revealed the stunned faces of their enemy, frozen in the act of firing. Mages weren’t allowed anywhere near a battlefield, they were simply too precious when they could only deflect a few shots at best. They’d never seen anything like what Lastani had just done, but out of the corner of his eye Lynx spotted a roiled curtain of flickering grey and blue obscure another group of Cards. It was perhaps enough to confirm for the general that this wasn’t just some crazed suicide mission and the woman at the centre of the Charnelers holstered her gun and called, ‘Hold!’
‘Raise your guns and you get burned, that I fucking promise!’ Anatin roared as he advanced on them.
Lynx looked around the group. There were five officers still standing beside Bade’s handful of relic hunters, but no mistaking the general. By far the smallest there, she had grey hair and a look of stern puzzlement on her face – unruffled by this sudden assault, let alone frightened.
Oh, this one’s a true fanatic, Lynx realised, a monster o’ the worst kind.
He felt his finger twitch at the realisation. It was a soldier just like this one who’d caused his downfall – not the same race or gender, let alone army, but he knew a monster when he saw one. The sort who’d not flinch to order rape and murder, who’d not even see how it could be wrong in service of their cause. Such fanatics were rabid dogs in Lynx’s eyes, to be put down as quickly and efficiently as possible before they caused more hurt in the world.
‘Fanatic by another name’, he recalled someone calling him once. It was an uncomfortable comparison, but one he couldn’t deny entirely. But at least I only want to kill her. I won’t actually do so unless I have to.
‘So you found your way out o’ the black again?’ called a tall greying man with a narrow beard Lynx remembered from the Monarch’s great hall.
Bade, at last. Keep your head, Toil, Lynx willed.
‘I always do,’ Toil replied, pistol pointing directly at him. ‘Just remember that. I’ll never stop hunting you down.’
‘Aye, well, if you’re still chasing me, you ain’t caught me yet and ain’t that the story o’ your life? Always a step behind, always second best.’
‘Bade,’ interrupted the general. ‘Engage in your little banter on your own time. Are these godless wretches the ones you mentioned?’
‘Aye. That ’un’s called Toil,’ he said, pointing. ‘Relic hunter like misself. The rest are her crew so far’s I know.’
‘And that’s how it’ll stay I reckon,’ Anatin said. ‘More important is the fact we’ve got burners pointing at you and precious little inclination to hold off firing. So shut yer holes and listen up.’
The small woman took a considered pace forward.
‘My name is General Derjain Faril. I am a High-Exalted of the Knights-Charnel of the Long Dusk and not some yokel to be cowed by dick-waving relic hunters, so save your threats. Speak your piece and be quick about it before I get bored and order my men to shoot on general principle.’
To his credit, or perhaps as a sign of his crazed sense of humour, Anatin grinned and bowed to her.
‘Fair enough, miss,’ he said with a laugh. ‘Here it is then – we want the God Fragments and we want ’em now. As you’ve seen, we’ve got mages who can shield us from gunfire so if it comes to a fight, we might be outnumbered but you’re not coming off best. Half o’ you at least never bothered to reload by my count.’
Behind them, Lynx heard running feet and glanced back to check it was the rest of the Cards. The mercs clattered up behind and pulled in close together – spreading out wasn’t going to be much use when they were surrounded by soldiers on every tier of the amphitheatre. They were close to the centre of the open ground, a long damn way from escape and only the various stacks of crates around the place offered any sort of cover.
‘You want the God Fragments?’ Faril laughed. With a slow, deliberate movement she drew her mage-pistol again but didn’t go so far as to point it at Anatin. Instead she gestured idly with it, as though this was some council debate rather than a stand-off.
‘Well, of course you can have these sacred remains of my gods, these holy relics of my religion and cornerstone of the Order I’ve dedicated my life to. Would you like me to wrap them in a bow too?’
‘That’d be lovely, aye.’
‘Allow me to make a counter-proposal,’ Faril said. ‘Drop your guns and, solely because I’m a busy woman, I’ll allow you all to walk away unharmed.’
‘Bade, tell her how likely that is,’ Toil said.
‘Oh, I think I can work that out from the look on your face, young lady,’ Faril replied gravely. ‘But while I’m not afraid to die, it would seem prudent to offer a way to avoid it.’
‘There’s one way you get to not die here. You hand over the God Fragments and get the fuck out of this city.’
‘Now why would I leave? Even if I did hand them over, my orders are to secure the prize of Jarrazir’s labyrinth at all costs. I can’t lea
ve without doing everything in my power to do so. In case you hadn’t noticed, my army’s got the upper hand in this fight and if I have to raze the entire city to secure these relics, I shall.’
‘Two can play at that game,’ Lynx called out, almost surprising himself at the interjection.
‘Excuse me?’
He scowled as he tried to quell the growling anger in his belly and took a long breath before answering. Toil and Anatin both looked back at him with eyebrows raised, also surprised by Lynx’s contribution, but his thoughts were on the one God Fragment they had seen.
‘Scorched earth,’ Lynx said, ‘it’s how monsters like you think, but two can play at that game.’
‘If I must die to secure the prize, I’m comfortable with that.’
‘Oh aye, I bet you are, but you wouldn’t get the prize either.’
That got her attention, her gaze turning from cruelly stern to light-stealing rage in a flicker. All she said was, ‘A bold claim,’ in a neutral voice.
‘See these tattoos?’ Lynx said, raising his hands. ‘Atieno, get over here.’
The tall mage pushed through the handful of Cards and stood beside Lynx as he indicated the tattoos on Atieno’s skin as well.
‘Very pretty.’
Lynx grinned, warming to his task. ‘More’n that,’ he said. ‘They link us all – he can draw on our strength for his magic.’
‘And?’
He pointed at the crates. ‘The fragments are in there, right?’ When he didn’t get a response Lynx just nodded. ‘Toss one over, I’ll show you what I mean.’
‘I’ve just said I won’t give them to you.’
‘And I’ve just said that we can both scorch the earth behind us – Atieno and our other mages can destroy your relics if they choose. While you might kill us all, your precious relics will be gone in the process – that I guarantee. Give me one and I’ll prove it.’
‘Preposterous. In case you hadn’t noticed over in So Han, the Knights-Charnel know a little something about mages. I believe I’d know if such a thing was possible.’
‘It ain’t for your mages, it is for ours. You’ve seen ’em stop a volley already. Want to take the risk or test it out with one small one? Do you even use Banesh’s fragments in your factories?’
She thought for a long while, biting down on her bottom lip as she did so. ‘Very well. Fail and you all die, I’ll brook no further delay.’
She turned towards the crates and Lynx inwardly breathed a huge sigh of relief. He’d not known what he’d have done if she’d called his bluff and claimed they were elsewhere. Chances were everyone’s bluff would be called and they’d all die in a huge conflagration of fire and lightning, leaving behind some charred corpses all feeling a bit foolish.
The general pulled a battered pack from the crate and opened it, reverentially unwrapping the long white cloth to reveal the fragment within. This she inspected before replacing it and taking a second. That one she deemed suitable and she tossed the glowing chunk of smoked crystal over to Atieno.
In the same moment she nodded to her officers and, before anyone could react, they raised their mage-pistols, Bade’s crew swiftly following. The mercenaries snapped their own up in response, and Lastani threw up a hazy shield between them, but no one fired. Everyone held their breath and glared like dogs at their now-indistinct enemy, hackles raised but all too aware what it meant to take the first bite.
After a long pregnant pause, Lastani released the shield and all eyes turned to Atieno as he held the God Fragment up between finger and thumb. It seemed to shine a little brighter in the winter light. Just as Lynx felt his guts start to turn to water, he felt a shiver run through his tattoos and the shattered piece of a god’s body abruptly crumbled to dust and fell away. Atieno brushed the remains from his hands and gave Faril a sharp look.
‘And that was without really trying,’ he advised the woman.
The look on his face showed Toil wasn’t the only person to feel they had a grudge there. Atieno was a mage who’d likely been looking over his shoulder his entire life because of people like Faril. He’d be as glad to kill her as Lynx would, and he’d have a better reason for it too.
‘Your point is made,’ she said in a more subdued tone. ‘However, it means your death still. Do you honestly expect me to believe you’ll do it? You’re mercenaries, you care about your own skin above all.’
Toil took a step forward. ‘I’m no mercenary,’ she growled, ‘so take a look at my face. Do you really think I lack resolve?’
‘I think you’re a calculating agent, one who’ll prefer to try to win another day.’
‘Deern,’ Toil snapped, ‘Teshen, step forward.’
The two men did so and Toil gestured towards them. ‘If you don’t believe me, how about this – do you really think this lot aren’t shitbag crazy enough to do it, just to see the gods burn with them? Resolved or crazy, I don’t care which you believe, but how many turns of the cards do you think you’ve got before the Jester appears?’
Faril matched Toil’s gaze for a long while before glancing at the two men summoned forward. Finally, she gave a reluctant nod. ‘I see your resolve,’ she said at last. ‘It is a familiar thing and I recognise it for what it is, just as I recognise one of your friends wears a Jester card on his chest. Very well, take the bags.’
‘What?’ exclaimed Bade and one of her officers at the same moment. Faril silenced the objections with a raised hand and looked around at the Cards as though marking the face of each.
‘Take the bags and go,’ she repeated. ‘Bade, have your men unpack the crates. Let them take the fragments to the Monarch – I rather suspect she’ll be more of a mind to negotiate with me.’
‘Eh?’
She shot him a look that made even Bade’s permanent smirk waver. ‘You heard me.’
‘Aye, sure.’
With a nod the relic hunter set his crew about the task. They pulled the various packs from each crate and dumped them all in a pile together between the opposing groups. It looked like there were a little over a dozen and Toil checked each one, replacing the shards as she confirmed there was something inside while Lynx found himself doing likely the same rough calculations she was. Once they were finished and Bade’s men upturned the crates to show there were no more, Toil distributed the packs among the mercenaries and then hesitated.
‘One more thing,’ she said to the general.
‘Oh?’ There was a flicker of amusement on the woman’s face now, clearly expecting some sort of insult to injury.
‘I want Bade too. He and I got some unfinished business.’
‘A final reckoning between you, is it? Perhaps we should form a circle and give you each a knife?’
‘Nope, I don’t care if it’s a fair fight. The only reason I don’t shoot him right now is that I’ve got a burner in the pipe and any gunshot will set all this lot off.’
‘Sorry to disappoint,’ Bade broke in, ‘but I ain’t going nowhere with you, Toil.’
‘Who the fuck said you were getting a choice?’ Toil roared. ‘I’m talking to the mistress, not the dog.’
Bade shook his head with mock sadness and raised a bag that had been slung over his shoulder. ‘I don’t give a damn, woman, you’ll keep your trap shut and listen a while longer.’
He held up the bag and half opened it to reveal the contents. Despite everything, the soldiers and mercenaries all took a small step back at the same moment.
There was a mage-sphere in the bag – the size of a melon and wrapped in frayed twine so none of the glass inside was visible. There were no markings on it, just roughly stripped-back oakum and flecks of yellow paint from an outer surface that had clearly been removed. Spheres were made to resist being dropped given the catastrophic results of accidents, but Lynx felt his guts turn to ice at the thought of this one falling.
‘See, I thought this might be useful,’ Bade went on with a vengeful grin. ‘Just in case the army didn’t reach the right point in the city b
y the time we escaped the labyrinth.’
‘You took it from the North Keep,’ Suth said, eyes full of murder. ‘Their ammunition was marked yellow.’
‘That I did – local lass, are you? Anyhow, there were still a few bombardment spheres in there so this little thing wasn’t needed to breach the wall. Seemed silly to waste it.’
‘Are you going somewhere with this, Bade?’ Faril demanded, sounding about as impressed as she was intimidated.
‘Aye – I’m walking away from this. If missy here or anyone else tries anything, it’ll fall. Can’t say I’m certain what happens after that, with the outer layer cut away, but in my experience there’s shitbag crazy and there’s suicidal. Some glassy-eyed merc might well try to survive a stand-off, but blowing yerself up is another matter so I’m walking away now. I’ve delivered the goods as ordered and whatever happens now is your fucking problem.’
‘Are you quite finished?’ Toil asked scornfully.
He gave her a nasty grin. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, in a rush are we? I’m not surprised – the main body o’ the army is disengaging from the fight under a flag of truce. That order went out an hour or more back, they should be tramping their merry way up the canal boulevards pretty soon. Feel free to hang around and let ’em shoot you on sight. Not like any of them will know about your mages, they’ll just see some fucks who deserve to get shot, so let’s see how it goes for you with a few hundred icers to chew on.’
‘Still in love with the sound of your own voice, then, I see.’ Toil raised her mage-pistol to point it directly at his face. ‘And still full of shit too. You’re a coward, Bade, you always were. Saving that scabby old hide of yours has always been your first concern so you’re not blowing yourself up here.’
‘Perhaps not,’ General Faril broke in, turning to also point her pistol at the startled relic hunter. ‘But I could always do it for him.’
Lynx looked around. The two groups all had their guns levelled – how many on the Charneler side actually had anything more than an icer he couldn’t tell, but there were two Torquen uniforms among them at least, and Bade’s own crew looked as villainous as Lynx’s.