by Tom Lloyd
‘Please don’t tell me something nasty will’ve been attracted by the noise.’
‘Okay, I won’t.’
Kas hesitated. ‘Shattered gods, you’re joking right? More?’
‘Let’s move out,’ Toil said, no trace of humour in her voice. ‘Another few hours travel and I’ll feel a lot calmer.’
‘Another few hours? How big is this damned corpse of a city anyway?’
‘Big – and you never make best time underground. Walk slow and walk soft. The hurrying man hurries straight to his death, so my first employer said.’
‘And who was this wise old mentor?’
Toil’s face darkened. ‘Just some old drunk who fell screaming into the black on the first day. Probably couldn’t call him a mentor, really. And the one who took over was a Knights-Charnel irregular who double-crossed us and left us for dead, so I don’t feel much in the way of affection for him either.’
‘Does that make us veterans then, given we’ve survived longer than most o’ those who’ve gone underground with you?’
‘It makes you lucky you’ve got me leading, that’s all.’
The mercenaries set off and soon found themselves on a frustrating diversion lasting an hour or more. Lynx felt chilled at the thought of trying to do this without a guide, as Toil apparently had on her first expedition. A whole section of caverns were ruined and impassable so they had to skirt around it and rely even more heavily on Toil’s compass to keep them in the right direction.
The Wisp warriors who’d guided them to the first rift had been very clear, according to Toil, of the direction they needed to keep to. Too far north would lead them directly under the spires and the greatest concentration of maspid dens, too far south and they would find that most paths just led deeper underground.
Exactly what had happened to the blocked caverns was anyone’s guess; even Toil had been unsure about it. The scale of damage, the fallen sheets of rock and shattered edges of stone, suggested a medium-scale battle where earthers had been fired, but none of the telltale signs were visible and it could have just as easily been warring elementals or something entirely unknown.
An hour after they got back on track, Toil gave a soft hiss and raised a hand to call a halt. The mercenaries hunkered down immediately, guns raised and hearts hammering as they expected grey shadows to suddenly storm towards them. For a while they all kept perfectly still until Teshen edged closer to Toil and whispered to her.
‘Think I see it too.’
‘Good,’ she grunted. ‘Was worried it was wishful thinking.’
‘What is it?’
‘Light of some sort, up ahead.’
Lynx squinted the way she was pointing, as did the rest of them. ‘Can’t see a thing.’
‘Me neither,’ Sitain pointed out, ‘and I can see better than all of you.’
‘Not your sort of light, love,’ Toil replied. ‘This is real light, not shadow-cast.’
‘The Charnelers got ahead of us?’
‘With luck it’s just another light-garden, but we’re taking no risks.’
They crept forward as stealthily as possible and the barely perceptible glow slowly grew. It was nothing they could see by, really, but even Lynx soon could tell the difference as the darkness became less absolute, returning to a paucity of light rather than the utter and consuming black shroud of underground.
They heard the gunshot not long after first noticing the light – a distant, single echo coming from the same direction as the light. It was clear they weren’t under attack themselves so the mercenaries continued forward and a quarter-hour later ended up crouched behind a ridge that overlooked a huge light-garden. From what Lynx had been able to glimpse there was a high roof studded with shining chunks of crystal, similar to the one they’d first encountered the Wisps in, but larger still.
More importantly, there were human sounds coming from somewhere not far beyond the ridge. With Reft and Ashis installed at a slight bottleneck to guard their rear, Toil took Kas and Teshen to scout the area briefly, but before long they returned and made it clear everyone should have their guns at the ready.
‘What now?’ Anatin whispered as the voices continued below.
‘We wait.’
‘Why?’
‘’Cos I saw a pair of maspids down that way,’ Toil said as softly as she could. ‘Those dumb bastards are in a whole world of trouble and we’re going to sit it out.’
They poked their heads over the ridge to get a better view of below, an overhang of rock keeping the ridge in enough shadow that Toil deemed it safe. Almost a hundred yards away, voices carrying well thanks to their agitation, was a party of twelve Charnelers – all cavalry troopers by what Lynx could see. They’d managed to shoot some sort of creature, he couldn’t tell what but something like a beaver by the size, and were in the process of skinning it while an argument continued over the building of a fire to cook it over.
The light-garden itself was a half-mile long, Lynx estimated, with a kidney-shaped lake visible in the furthest corner. Most of the rest was low foliage; waist-high clumps of reddish grass punctuating a meagre scrub that thickened and seemed to be more colourful the nearer it got to the water. The other principal large feature of the cavern was a huge, bifurcated stairway that rose up behind where the Charnelers were, as ornate as anything Lynx had seen up to now, while he could see five entrances to tunnels of varying sizes behind it.
As they watched, one of the Charnelers sat to relight one of the torches they’d discarded on the stairs, while several others started to wade through the undergrowth in search of fuel to burn.
‘Oh, don’t do that,’ whispered Toil as two headed for a dip in the ground edged in creeper. ‘Bye bye then, you’re all dead.’
Lynx found himself holding his breath as the troopers started kicking their way through the undergrowth. They made some initial headway before grinding to a halt and cursing loudly as their boots got tangled. One bent down to rip away the creepers snagging his boot then cried out and snatched his hand back.
‘What is it?’ breathed Sitain.
‘Tanglethorn,’ Toil replied. ‘Nasty stuff. When they fall the maspids will use the distraction. Won’t pass up an opportunity like that.’
As she spoke, the man who’d cut himself on the thorny creeper began to thrash around, anger making his movements more pronounced, and in moments he tripped. Then he started to howl and writhe, but the spread of tanglethorn seemed to only contract and tighten around him. His shouts became screams and his friend tried to go to his aid only to trip himself. Then there were two of them vanished but shrieking as the thorns tore at their skin and half the remaining Charnelers ran to help them.
‘Damn stuff just tightens around you,’ Toil said, ‘cuts everything it can and ties you up good. It’ll end up a coffin of leaves if you keep fighting, closes around your chest and starts to bleed you as it puts a poison in your veins. They say you won’t even notice as it starts to digest your skin, but I’d prefer a burner still.’
The shouts of panic were ringing out around the cavern now. Lynx was still watching the quickest would-be rescuer tug at the creeper trails when the first maspid came into view. It was a dark shape that moved with breathtaking speed, no less terrifying for being more visible now. Racing low over the ground, the maspid had a long grey body as thick as a pony’s, but with a broad, fan-like tail behind.
The rapid clicks of maspid calls echoed around the cavern as it went, causing some of the soldiers to look in the other direction. It kept its wedge-shaped head low as it used its large forelegs to negotiate the uneven ground. The Charnelers didn’t even notice its arrival until it exploded forward at the man lighting the torch, bowling him over with the force of impact. The man screamed as the maspid buried its mandibles into his neck, but two more were already leading the charge.
The officer managed to half-turn before one snagged his arm and wrestled him to the ground. The third maspid surged up under the gun of another trooper, cu
tting his shriek off as it bit into his face. Just as the remaining troopers scrambled for their guns another charged in from the other direction and bowled one soldier over as he swiped at another. One of their guns went off wildly, a white icer trail smashing into the rock ceiling, while another trooper pulled a pistol and shot the newest attacker in the side.
The wounded maspid reeled from the impact as the trooper drew his sabre and slashed wildly at it. His blows were glancing and in seconds one of the others abandoned its kill and snatched his left leg up in a lightning grab. The soldier howled and chopped at its flank as he was hauled around, the sabre biting deep and lodging in one of its legs. The maspid pulled him off his feet and buried its mandibles in his side, turning his shout into a scream before the first pounced and silenced him.
A gunshot echoed across the room. Lynx followed the icer’s white path to where it punched clean through the body of the wounded maspid. Its legs collapsed underneath it, going still almost immediately while its forelimbs thrashed furiously at the corpse beneath it. The remaining pair turned towards the source of the shot, where a trooper was calmly backing off and sliding another shot into their gun.
‘Poor bastard’s only got icers,’ Varain muttered from Lynx’s right. ‘He’s not making it far.’
The soldier continued to back away as the other maspids went for him, his next shot bursting through the nearest’s head and felling it. The other one charged into him and smashed him from his feet with one swipe, but then stopped dead. It darted sideways then retreated again as the soldier struggled back to his feet, one arm hanging limp and tanglethorn creepers already snagging his legs. The maspid tried to reach for him but the soldier flinched back out of reach and tumbled to the ground, disappearing amid the dark narrow leaves and only then bellowing in panic.
The remaining soldiers were unarmed and seemed frozen in fear. They turned and fled across the cavern and towards the mercenaries. The uninjured maspid darted after the soldiers with deceptive speed, three pairs of legs driving it forward with a lazy grace. Like a hunting hound it caught the first soldier and hooked her ankle with a practised snatch. It barely broke stride as she tumbled, screaming, and it half-clambered over her to continue its pursuit, plucking the other soldier from the air mid-stride and biting down into his neck to finish him.
Lynx nudged Toil’s elbow. ‘Now what?’ he whispered.
In the cavern the cries had tailed off and the only sound was the maspid dragging the corpses of the two soldiers who’d fled back to the remains of its pack. Of those, the one shot twice had slowed to feeble twitches, its head drooping as its life ran out. Despite the sabre caught in its leg, the other injured maspid moved relatively well still and picked over the bodies to check they were all in fact dead before gathering one up to carry back to its nest.
‘Couple more shots won’t hurt,’ Toil muttered, loading an icer into her gun.
Lynx and Teshen did the same, while Anatin slipped a burner into each of his pistols in case they missed and were charged. The three with mage-guns lined up their shots together, Lynx picking out the further of the two maspids and settling it in his sights.
‘Ready on the rear one,’ he said softly.
‘Yes,’ added Teshen a moment later.
‘Good,’ Toil said and pulled the trigger. The ear-splitting roar of three guns firing together hammered at Lynx’s ears as he watched the icer trails cut a path through the air. Lynx’s shot took the injured maspid just above the tail while Teshen and Toil both hit the other in the back. The creatures thrashed and beat at the ground, one faltering and collapsing a few moments later while Lynx’s abandoned its prize and began to drag itself round behind the great stair.
‘It’s getting away,’ Sitain gasped as Lynx calmly slid the spent cartridge bolt from his gun and replaced it.
‘No it ain’t,’ he said, not bothering to line up another shot. ‘Not dragging its back legs like that.’
‘You’re not going to finish it off?’
‘It’ll find some dark hole to die in,’ Toil confirmed with a nod. ‘No point wasting the ammunition.’
‘What now?’
Anatin patted her on the shoulder and stood up. ‘Now we honour the finest traditions of warfare.’
‘Eh?’
‘We go loot the bodies, lass. Say one thing about the Militant Orders controlling the continent’s weaponry, it makes the bastards rich enough to pay well.’
‘And they’ve standardised the size of cartridges,’ Toil added, stepping over the rise so she could make her way down to the cavern floor, ‘so once you kill ’em, you can use their own ammunition to kill their friends. Keeps it in the family and saves you money, so my daddy used to say.’
‘No wonder you’re so screwed up, then,’ Sitain muttered. Before she could blink Toil had turned and grabbed her by the jacket, hauling her forward so their faces were almost touching.
‘Keep a civil tongue in your head,’ Toil said softly, ‘there’s a good girl now.’
Before Sitain could reply Toil released her and continued on down the uneven rocks, towards the corpses. Lynx watched her go for a moment then clapped a hand on Sitain’s shoulder.
‘Reckon you touched a nerve there,’ he said. ‘Best you keep as quiet as a temple mouse until your magic’s stronger, eh?’
Sitain shrugged him off and made to follow Toil. ‘I’m not the one scared of the bloody dark,’ she said, scowling.
Lynx hauled her back and shook her hard enough to make her teeth rattle. The force would have pitched her down the slope of broken rocks if he’d not kept a hold of her arm, and left Sitain looking dazed as she tried to regain her balance.
‘Enough from you, girl,’ Lynx snapped. ‘I ain’t here to take your shit.’
Sitain fought to break his grip for a moment then realised how much stronger he was and gave up. Instead she pulled her pistol with her free hand and held it up to Lynx’s face.
‘Get your bloody hands off me,’ she yelled.
Lynx looked down at the muzzle wavering beneath his nose. ‘Put it away,’ he said. ‘You’ll only get hurt.’
‘Get fucked. You’re not my da, you don’t get to tell me what to do.’
He sighed. ‘First off,’ he said with as much patience as he could muster, ‘I’m your superior in the company, so I can break your teeth for waving a gun in my face. Secondly—’ He flickered his eyes slightly to the side, looking past her and Sitain instinctively turned that way.
Before she could realise Toil hadn’t sneaked back up again Lynx had snatched the pistol out of her hand, two fingers wedged under the hammer in case she pulled the trigger. He clicked the hammer back to a safe position and tossed it behind him, trusting someone to catch it, then grabbed Sitain’s arm again and shook her once more to make his point.
‘Secondly,’ he growled, fingers tightening on her biceps enough to make her squeak, ‘I’m bigger and nastier than you – and so’s the rest of us. You want to pick a fight, go for it. Just remember a veteran’s someone who kills before they get killed. Don’t come whining if they cut your throat without even thinking.’
With that he released her and stalked past, heading for the gruesome scene on the cavern floor.
‘Kitty’s got claws,’ Toil whispered as he passed her, too quiet for anyone else to hear. ‘I was wondering when I’d see those.’
She wore a small smile and despite everything the coquettish look Toil gave him made the breath catch in Lynx’s throat. He kept his mouth shut, not trusting himself to speak any more, but still he felt his nostrils flare as he passed her, seeking the heady scent of her. Heart already pumping hard with anger, his blood seemed to jolt with renewed energy as he filled his lungs. If she noticed, she made no sign, but he felt her gaze on his back all the way to the first of the corpses.
Chapter 25
They stripped the bodies of valuables in silence, ignoring the Charnelers caught in the tanglethorns, and soon they were on their way. No more soldiers came down the g
reat stairway to investigate the gunshots. Either their commander had assumed a maspid ambush and left them to their fate, or the squad had been sent down to try and flank the mercenaries as the rest went on ahead. Fearing that it might be the latter, the mercenaries didn’t linger longer than a minute or so – just enough time to help themselves to food, cartridges, a few meagre coin purses and a couple of spare mage-guns.
Lynx ignored the rest of the group as he went about his task. Once he’d taken the icers from the first dead soldier, Anatin had told him to ascend the stair a little way and keep a watch. Lynx obeyed without a word, glad for the space it afforded him. While it was darker on the stair, slightly away from the diffuse glow of the light-garden, there was enough illumination. As he squinted up the stair, he thought he could detect a faint shine from far above. Whether it was the Skyriver, moon, or another light-garden Lynx couldn’t tell, but there was no sound or movement the whole while so he found a precious few moments of peace. By the time they moved on his blood had cooled somewhat and as they entered the darkness of the tunnels beyond, Lynx was focused on the task at hand again.
They passed through a dozen more chambers of stone houses before the landscape of the ruin changed again. Larger tunnels appeared before them, ones that branched off towards grand facades built into the rock face. Ornate colonnades screened the shells of palaces or temples – strangely no statues, Lynx realised, nothing that might show the face of the long-dead Duegar race.
‘Hey, Toil, you know what they looked like?’ he called.
She glanced back then saw him nod towards the empty shells and shook her head. ‘Nope. I’ve seen a few guesses – some educated, others not so much. Most reckon it was a religious thing, what statues they did carve were animals or plants. Enough of those survived that the lack of Duegar people is obvious. All we know is they weren’t Wisps and the Wisps don’t seem to know any more than us, but they give less of a damn about gods and the like.’
‘What’s wrong with a person statue?’ Ashis asked.