“Lucky that she is long dead, then,” Arrow snapped back.
“C’mon, no need to be like that. I came to warn you. Charon is raging ‘cause you got away from his boys earlier. If you hadn’t knifed them, then he would have. And he’s got everyone looking for you.”
“If the entire gang is out, then why are you here alone?” Arrow asked, voice silky.
“Came to warn you,” he said, eyes shifting sideways.
“And get a reward for information. Who wants me kidnapped?”
“No idea. But whoever this guy is, Charon is scared spitless. Never seen Charon so shaky. Says this guy wants you out of the way of something big.”
Arrow sucked in a breath, heart skipping. She did not want to be the focus of Charon’s attention.
“Wait. You have spoken with Charon?”
“Sure thing. This afternoon, when he found out you were gone. Paid me a visit. Seemed to think I would know where you were.”
“Well, you found me.”
“Only so many Erith safe houses. Only one that’s been used recently.” Murphy nodded to the hard dirt that led up to the wide doors. Arrow frowned as she saw the clear evidence of tyre tracks leading to the door. In their haste to get Lord Juinis back to the Taellaneth, the White Guard had been careless and not covered their tracks. Kallish’s darkening expression when she followed Arrow’s gaze and saw the tracks told Arrow that the warrior had not known about the lapse. Someone would face Kallish’s wrath when she returned.
Murphy shifting his feet again drew her attention back from the glowering warrior. “Not difficult to find you, girl.”
“And that means Charon is on his way, too, does it not?”
“Hey, I came to warn you. Watch your back.”
“You watch yours,” Arrow snapped back, backing away from the human, “and run before I let the warrior use her knives on you.”
Murphy took one look at Kallish’s shadow, swallowed hard, then ran back into darkness. Arrow sighed. She should not be so angry at him, she knew. He had a fine instinct for self-preservation and limited skills to protect himself.
“Trouble?”
“The Two Snakes probably know we are here. Their leader is dangerous. If the gang were not already on their way, then I suspect Murphy is about to call them. He looks out for himself above all else.”
“We need supplies,” the White Guard said grimly.
Arrow looked around, heart thumping, expecting to see more Two Snakes members creeping into view, seeking something she could use to help them get inside the building. She spotted the end of an expensive looking car parked on a nearby street, only its bumper showing.
“Vehicle alarm.”
“Alarm?”
“If I set off the alarm, it will distract them for a moment. Alarms in Hallveran tend to be loud.”
“Can you cloak us in shadow across the road as well?”
“Yes. It will not be perfect, but it should get us across.”
“Very well.”
“Your pardon, svegraen.” Arrow held out her hand. “We will need to touch for the cloak to work.” The Erith did not like to touch her, she knew.
The warrior took Arrow’s hand without hesitation, callused fingers cool.
A moment later and, thanks to a tiny bolt of mage fire flung from Arrow’s hand, the vehicle alarm went off. As Arrow had hoped it had been specially adapted for the uncertain streets of Hallveran. Rather than a wordless wail, the car shouted out warnings to anyone nearby that the car was armed and would commence firing in seconds if the thief did not move away. With only the rear in view she could not see if the vehicle was equipped with weaponry, but it was a feature that many Hallveran vehicles possessed.
Arrow and Kallish, wrapped in a hasty blanket of shadow, ran across the gap to the building’s door. Without time for finesse, Arrow sliced through the ward spell with another quickly conjured bolt of mage fire and slid inside, Kallish behind her, then put both hands on the building wall, immediately rebuilding the wards, seeking to avoid further alarm.
Kallish was already moving away, into the building interior. The large, hollow, space was as Arrow remembered it; almost empty, dark, and containing a few pieces of furniture and a group of sleek, modern vehicles.
“Keys?” the warrior demanded.
“Where they were left. Wherever that was.” Arrow stepped back from the wall, momentarily lightheaded. The wards were old and strong and had not taken her disruption well.
Kallish rummaged through the large cabinet that was the building’s largest piece of furniture, finding handfuls of keys. The quiet of the space was interrupted by a series of beeps as the vehicles unlocked, Kallish quickly and efficiently going through every piece of equipment in each.
“We will take this one. It has more fuel. Bring as many weapons and spare ammunition from the others as possible,” the warrior commanded. Arrow did not hesitate, transferring what felt like an entire army’s worth of weaponry and ammunition across to the chosen vehicle. She made her own checks of the vehicle, using the scraps of chalk in her pockets to reinforce the wards, ensuring that the medical kit and travel supplies were fully stocked. She hesitated over the communicator disks she found. She might be in exile, but Kallish was not and the White Guard would doubtless be looking for her.
“Should we inform the Chief Scribe?”
“Escape first. Inform later.” A warrior’s assessment. Arrow glanced across to see Kallish fitting a heavy-duty armoured coat over her clothing, an extra layer of protection to her already warded uniform. The warrior adjusted the straps before refastening her sword belts, nodding to another armoured coat nearby. Arrow shrugged into the garment, surprised by the weight. Not having any weapons to adjust, for the spirit sword lay quietly against her back, she fumbled with the fastenings for a moment.
“You will drive. I will shoot.”
“Seems fair,” Arrow agreed and took the keys. “We are going to have to make a fast run out. There is a destruction spell within the building’s wards if there is a catastrophic breach. Such as if I drive through the doors. Everything inside will be destroyed.”
“The location is irrevocably compromised,” was the warrior’s assessment.
“We should take the mirror.” Arrow moved towards the Erith mirrorglass.
“We do not have time. It will require detachment from its surrounds and careful handling.” The warrior gripped her arm, tugging hard. “Come, we must leave now.”
“Very well.” Arrow gave one last glance at the quiet mirror. As precious as the object was, Kallish was right; she could not simply lift it up and carry it out.
Settling in the driver’s seat she took a moment to adjust to the new weight and bulk of the coat before glancing across to see if Kallish was ready. The warrior was holding a very lethal looking human-made automatic weapon, several ammunition clips stuffed into the open dashboard compartment in front of her, a further collection of weapons and ammunition at her feet. The warrior was ready.
Arrow started the engine and did not give herself time to think, simply stood on the accelerator and drove out through the building’s delivery doors, the wood shattering across the vehicle’s armoured front, down the flimsy ramp outside, and onto the street.
A few heartbeats after the vehicle passed through the wards the entire building imploded, collapsing in on itself in brilliant, searing mage fire, everything burned to ash until nothing remained but the space where the building had been.
Arrow and Kallish were a good distance away by then, Arrow not having taken her foot off the accelerator. She ignored every stop sign, every speed limit, and every open-mouthed human law enforcement official, as she drove the vehicle through Hallveran. It was fortunate, she thought dimly, that it was so early in the morning so there was little traffic on the roads. However, it would not be long before the human officials in Hallveran made a formal complaint to the Taellaneth. Erith were accorded a great deal of lenience but an explosion within the city would infur
iate the humans.
“We are being pursued,” Kallish said calmly as they left the residential district and drove into the uninhabited areas.
“Expected.” Arrow did not look, foot still flat to the floor. “I am not sure we will be able to out run them forever. This is a heavy vehicle.”
Kallish assessed the weaponry she had easy access too, turning to look at the armoury strewn across the back seat.
“We will hold for a while,” she said at length, “but not forever.”
Arrow did not reply, lips tight, steering the vehicle around a bend in the road, lining them up again. The road was almost straight from here for miles, going through the outlawed lands and past Farraway Mountain.
“Is there a place of sanctuary we can use?” the warrior asked, still icily calm.
Arrow thought a moment, stomach tightening. There was only one.
“Farraway Mountain,” Arrow replied. “There is no safety at all along the road. But not even the Two Snakes will wish to annoy the shifkin nation.”
“How long until we reach there?” the warrior asked after a pause, doubtless making the same calculation as Arrow was doing; balancing the risk from their pursuers against the shifkin nation’s likely wrath at being used for sanctuary by a White Guard and an Erith-trained mage.
“A two-hour drive along the bandit road,” Arrow answered, calmness slipping a moment. She glanced across at the pile of ammunition, “It is a good thing we are well armed.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Despite the glint of sunlight off metal behind them they were clear of Hallveran’s borders, and a few miles into the outlawed lands, before the first of the gang’s vehicles drew close. Arrow wondered if they had deliberately held back, and kept an eye ahead, waiting for an ambush. They were still over an hour, at her estimation, from the foothills that bordered Farraway Mountain.
A snap of gunfire struck the back window, bullets bouncing harmlessly off the toughened glass. A hail of bullets followed, to the same effect, and then the vehicle shuddered as the gang tried to shoot out the tyres.
“The wards and tyres will hold a while longer, but not forever,” Arrow said, pushing some of her own magic into the vehicle’s structure.
“Understood.” The warrior wound down her window and leant out, careless of the speed or the bullets. She fired several short bursts, astonishingly loud, and in the rear-view mirror Arrow saw the vehicle behind them spin off the road, its tyres and windscreen blown. Barely ruffled by the wind, Kallish settled back in her seat and closed her window, checking her weapon with professional detachment.
That process was repeated a further eight times, the gang becoming a little more wary with each try. By then, they were driving in full daylight and the great bulk of Farraway Mountain filled Arrow’s view.
The road lay in front of them, a long, straight line stretching for miles before it began its curve around the mountain. At this point the road was raised from the wetlands on either side. Sunlight glinted off patches of water to either side and also off something on the road ahead. Arrow squinted, trying to make it out.
“Svegraen, can you see what that is in the road ahead?”
“A moment.” Kallish swapped her gun for a seemingly old-fashioned monocular, and gazed ahead. “There is a very large vehicle of some sort, with a series of smaller vehicles blocking our path.”
“Road block. This is the only road back towards Lix.” Arrow glanced to either side and muttered a curse. The road engineers had raised this part of the road for good reason. The wetlands stretched far out to either side. The heavy vehicle would become mired within a few feet. The road was their only route.
“The bandits are bold indeed.” Kallish did not sound particularly bothered, turning in her seat, reaching for something in the back. “Drive straight as possible, please,” the warrior requested, straightening up, a new weapon in her hands.
“Is that a rocket launcher?” Arrow asked, voice rising to an undignified squeak.
“Indeed.” Kallish seemed quite proud. “A very destructive weapon. As shall now be seen.”
Once more, heedless of the likelihood of bullets from behind, Kallish stretched out the window. Without hesitation, she braced herself and the weapon against the vehicle and fired. Ahead of them a large plume of smoke and debris erupted. The warrior was not satisfied however and ducked back into the vehicle to gather more ammunition, reloading, firing twice more before settling back in her seat.
“You may wish to slow a little,” Kallish suggested calmly, “as there will be debris on the road surface, but the way should now be clear.”
“Understood,” Arrow said faintly, lifting her foot from the accelerator for the first time since their journey had started. The vehicles behind began to gain on them at once, but there was too short a distance to the cloud of smoke for them to catch up entirely.
“We are very exposed on this road.”
“I know. There is, I think, a hunter’s road up the side of the mountain not far beyond this point. I have not travelled it. It will be rough, but it is within shifkin territory. We may be able to go far enough up the mountain to evade the pursuers.”
“Rough travel is better than dead.”
“Alright. There will be a sharp left turn, then, I think a mile or so ahead.” Just before the main road began its own curve to the left, sweeping around Farraway Mountain’s borders.
“The smoke may give us some cover,” the warrior observed as they passed through the cloud of smoke, flames as high as the vehicle licking the windows as they passed through, the surface under the tyres rough and crunching with bits of metal and plastic. Arrow pushed more power into the tyres, reinforcing the protections. The last thing they needed was a flat tyre. The White Guard had made a very thorough job of destroying the road block.
As soon as they were past the worst of the debris, Arrow put her foot down again.
They were going so fast that she nearly missed the turn, standing on the brakes so hard that one of their pursuers nearly ran into the back of them. Wrenching the wheel around, spitting curses at her sore ribs, she pointed the heavy vehicle up the hunter’s trail, little more than a dirt track across fields, and put her foot down again.
Kallish hung out the window, firing at their pursuers until Arrow grabbed the warrior’s coat, tugging hard.
“Window up. We are about to go through the shifkin’s wards.”
Kallish closed her window without protest. Moments later the entire vehicle shivered as it passed through the ancient wards around the shifkin’s homeland. Arrow winced as she sensed the alarms flaring along the borders. There had been no time for finesse. Every ‘kin and every magic-sensitive being within miles would sense the breach.
“Are they pursuing?” Arrow asked, focus on the narrow strip of track ahead. It was not in a particularly straight line.
“Yes.” The warrior’s voice was grim. She reloaded her weapon.
“They should not be.”
“Perhaps they are more afraid of their leader than of the Prime. A foolish notion.”
“And we are bringing trouble to the shifkin heartland,” Arrow said, chill running through her. Zachary Farraway, the shifkin Prime, was not going to be happy.
“Worry later. Survive now.”
The vehicle bucked, hitting an uneven patch of ground, and Arrow was forced to slow down, setting aside her worry to concentrate on the trail. The dirt road and dormant fields ended at a line of trees, some still laden with snow. Even as she thought about the snow the tyres lost their grip, the vehicle skidding sideways. She swore again, wrestling the vehicle under control.
“We are not well equipped to drive in these conditions,” Kallish noted.
“We do not have time to fix that.”
“Make the best pace you can.”
Arrow nodded, slowing down further, sending her senses out around the vehicle, reviewing the spells she knew. Her mouth was dry, heartbeat thudding in her ears in counterpoint to the vehicle’s eng
ine, focus scattered. Nothing helpful came to mind. The Erith abhorred technology so there were no handy spells to increase the grip of vehicle tyres. There were spells for confusion or silence, none of which would work with the pursuers so close, and there being only one trail.
The loud snap of gunfire sounded again, from Kallish and from their pursuers. She had no time to look and see what was happening. The vehicle was coping better than she had expected, but the gradient was increasing.
“Turn!” Kallish said suddenly.
“What?” Arrow did not wait for an answer, wrenching the wheel around and setting them on an entirely new path between trees, heavy vehicle bouncing and sliding as it lost its grip again. A moment later and one of the trees exploded, branches and shards of bark cascading through the air.
“They have their own rocket launcher.”
“And they fired it here? Are they insane?”
“Turn!”
Arrow did, but their pursuers’ aim was better this time. An explosion rocked the vehicle, deafening her. She had a dizzying impression of flying snow, sideways trees, thrown up dirt, and then a heavy thump as the vehicle landed on its side, engine coughing and dying, wheels spinning uselessly.
Puffy white air bags filled the cabin, cushioning the fall, but doing nothing to prevent one irate White Guard and what felt like a half ton of weaponry and ammunition landing on Arrow, now at the bottom of the vehicle. Before she could do more than take a breath, the warrior was away, lifting herself out of the window, weapons slung over her shoulder, ammunition clips peeking out of her coat pockets.
Coughing, Arrow realised that her ribs were definitely broken again, and the falling weaponry had added more bruises. She shoved some power into her ribs, pain making her eyes water. Just enough to function. Somehow managed to get to her feet, hanging onto the seats, gathering the weapons she could carry and some more ammunition clips from those scattered around before using the seats for foot- and hand-holds to climb out, movements slow.
Rapid gunfire met her ears and she ducked down against the vehicle, wincing as her injuries bit. Kallish was lying prone, partially sheltered by the armoured bulk of the upturned vehicle.
Revealed: The Taellaneth - Book 2 Page 6