by Tom Lloyd
‘No.’
The Stone Dragon took a step forward and levelled its heat lance at Rhe’s face. ‘You cannot stop us, you cannot compel us or order us, Eagle. Get out of my way or you will die.’
‘No,’ Rhe repeated, speaking clearly and slowly. ‘You will walk away – you have asserted your power already. The elite are yours as you choose – they are changed by magic and as such are your prize, but the rest of the goshe are mine along with the fever victims. Their minds have been changed, their will stolen from them. They are victims above anything else.’
He was careful to keep his hands away from the pistols sheathed on his stomach, but equally determined to show no fear.
‘The compassion of Eagles,’ one commented scornfully. ‘These people are changed or sickened by magic – they are beyond your help and your compassion.’
‘I am a Lawbringer of the House of the Sun,’ Rhe replied. ‘I have my oaths and my duty – this crime will be unravelled and the guilty punished, but the innocent shall be protected, whether that is from the goshe or from you. Whether this was a crime against the Gods or the Emperor’s law, my duty remains.’
The Stone Dragons exchanged a look as the third made its way over and a fourth appeared behind them.
‘Kill him,’ one stated flatly, ‘and any who stand in our way. All those changed are forfeit ; this sickness must be cured in fire.’
‘Look behind you,’ Rhe said.
The Stone Dragons did not, but Rhe got the impression their arriving comrade had communicated the sight anyway. The Lawbringers Rhe had led onto the island were formed up in their units once more, arranged in a long arc around the Stone Dragons no more than twenty yards behind.
He could see their resolve now. The fear and confusion of battle, the terror of demons and Astaren – all this had melted away from their hearts. What was left was only their duty and the man who epitomised it. They were with him and would serve the Emperor’s law with their dying breaths if need be.
But the symbol is enough. My duty is to ensure that does not happen, not seek battle.
‘Give the order,’ the first Stone Dragon said. ‘You think we cannot kill them all ? You think we would even lose one of our own ?’
Rhe felt his own contempt rise now, an emotion he had rarely felt in all his years. But now, in the face of such arrogance and callousness, he was filled with it.
‘I think you would kill us,’ he confirmed. ‘If that is your wish, you will do so. But it is what comes after that matters. How you reached this island I do not know, but anyone using these waters knows there is a House Eagle warship patrolling them.’
‘Now you claim your heritage again ?’
Rhe inclined his head. ‘I acknowledge the House of my birth, as will they. Do you think that warship will contain no Astaren of House Eagle ? In this time of tensions, you think such a lack would be permitted by the Lords of Eagle ? Do you imagine they are not aware of what is happening right now with whatever arcane methods they have at their disposal ? With the Gods looking down on this place and that warship bearing witness, do you think you could slaughter us with impunity ?’
He looked from one faceless Astaren to the other. ‘To murder the servants of the Emperor and men and women of every Great House serving under his banner – to murder the sick and the enfeebled. To murder a nobleman of House Brightlance and men of the royal family itself with impunity ? If it is war with the rest of the Empire you seek, go ahead.’
To make his point, Rhe pointed to Prince Kashte who stood slightly ahead of the rest alongside Law Master Sheven. The Imperial stood easily, leaning on his rifle with such casual disregard for the threat to his life, as only a distant cousin of the Emperor could manage.
‘Royal blood, noble blood and innocent blood. So what is your prize to be ? The elite and the secrets their altered bodies contain, or a war even your armies cannot hope to win ?’
The Stone Dragons were silent a long while, but eventually one jerked in a stiff attempt at a nod.
‘Very well, you have your innocents, Brightlance. Bring us the elites – alive or dead, we do not care.’
‘Of course you don’t,’ Rhe replied, turning his back on them to skirt the wall and rejoin his men. ‘Your kind never do.’
It didn’t take Enchei long to find the boat again, though how he managed it Narin had no idea. The fog hid everything and they couldn’t even see Kesh below, only the vague outline of the smuggler’s boat as it moved below. Enchei jerked the rope twice to be sure it was her, receiving three tugs on it in response. Satisfied, he checked around one final time then began to pull up the rope to tie it around Narin’s waist but the Investigator stayed his friend’s hand.
‘I’ll climb, just give me a moment.’
Enchei’s reaction was impossible to make out, but the man’s hesitation told enough. Narin’s hand trembled on his friend’s arm – because of the exertion or his encounter with his captor, Narin wasn’t sure himself, but it remained noticeable.
‘Best we don’t hang about here.’
Narin gritted his teeth. ‘Just … half a minute, okay ? Let me get my breath back.’
‘As you wish,’ Enchei said with a curt nod.
He looked down at the plundered heat lance he carried, careful to keep his hands off the grips though Narin could see nothing that looked like a trigger.
‘What are you going to do with that ? Sell it ?’
The question brought a snort of laughter from Enchei. ‘Sell it ? Oh sure, just what I need is to spread a little chaos – let some madman get his hands on it to start settling feuds.’
‘What then ?’
‘Don’t know, if I’m honest, habit mostly. To an Astaren the weapons of the enemy are more precious than their weight in gems. Since it was just lying there I thought I’d help myself, you never know when you might have need of something like this. That cloth I gave you’ll shield it from curious spirits or irate owners until I can hide it somewhere safe.’
Enchei pulled the rope up with quick controlled movements and tied the weapon onto it, lowering it down for Kesh to retrieve. Before long, a tug on the rope told them it was clear and Enchei offered the rope to Narin.
‘Ready now, or want me to go first ?’
Narin peered over the cliff. ‘I’ll go.’
Ignoring the ache of fatigue in his arms, Narin began to lower himself down, walking backwards down the cliff with the rope cradling the small of his back. He took it slowly, playing the rope out through his gloves in small controlled bursts and before long he found himself at the rocky outcrop where they’d tied up. Kesh straddled the edge of the boat with one foot on the rock and the other inside, using the strength of her legs to keep it close since it was only secured at one end. She gave him a relieved smile as she helped him over and into the belly of the boat.
‘All safe ?’
Narin didn’t answer at first as he slumped down and panted for breath. The quiver on his back jutted over his shoulder at an uncomfortable angle, but it was a while before he could find the strength to shift himself to a more comfortable position.
‘Don’t know,’ he said at last. ‘Enchei’s coming down now, but I got separated from Irato.’
‘What ? When ?’
Narin shook his head and started to paw at the quiver on his back, eventually pulling it off and stashing it under cover by the base of the mast. The contents were still securely wrapped in the cloth Enchei had given him that, by the feel of it, had chains of metal links stitched inside it.
‘In the sanatorium – we split up to sow some confusion, but this damn fog made it impossible to do anything but run.’
The scuff of boots on rock made them both turn. With what Narin now thought of as typical speed and recklessness, Enchei descended the cliff and dropped lightly onto the rock beside Kesh. In quick succession he removed his helm, cloak and sword, bundling them away beside Narin’s quiver.
‘Any sign ?’
‘Of Irato ? No, but he’l
l be here. Probably skirting whatever’s going on between the Stone Dragons and the remaining goshe. Give him some time, he’ll be here.’
‘And then what ?’ Kesh asked. ‘That artefact – if this all went as you planned, that artefact is actually connected to the minds of all the goshe ?’
‘Aye, looks that way.’
‘So half the Empire’s going to want it. Even if there’s no God residing in their minds, there are thousands of goshe across the ten Great House hegemonies – all just waiting for commands from whoever’s got that artefact.’
Enchei grinned. ‘Didn’t figure you for a power-player in the making.’
‘I’m not !’ she hissed. ‘I’m the one who doesn’t want every bloody Astaren in the Empire tracking us down.’
‘Don’t you worry about that – look, the fog’s easing.’
‘What’s that got to do with anything ?’ Narin asked.
‘Means I’ve been right more than once tonight. It’s unnatural, any fool could see that, but Irato’s demons ain’t powerful enough to manage that – not in a way that confounds Astaren.’
‘Lord Shield ?’ Narin asked grimly.
Enchei raised a finger to correct him. ‘Is just one of the beings we’ve had contact with in the last few days, so don’t assume too much. Shield’s kept a weather eye on you, sure enough. I’d never have found you otherwise and as soon as we leave the island, the fog starts to lift. Can’t be a coincidence, that.’
‘And do you have a plan when our benefactor comes calling ?’
Enchei patted her on the shoulder. ‘Not really something you can plan for, hey ? Best we just roll with the punches if that’s what happens – do what seems sensible under the circumstances.’
They fell into silence at that idea, Kesh staring anxiously out over the black water as she thought. The light of the stars cut slender slivers on the crests of the bay’s waves, a blank landscape that extended featureless for miles into the distance.
When it came, the double-twitch on the rope made both Narin and Kesh jump with fright. Enchei chuckled and gave the return signal and soon the bulky shape of Irato was smoothly descending the rope. At the bottom, he crouched and regarded the other three with a suspicious set to his shoulders – face hidden by his black goshe mask.
‘All good ?’ Enchei asked.
‘All has gone to plan,’ Irato replied in a hollow voice that made Narin realise it was the demons speaking for him.
The big goshe then shook himself like a dog and his voice returned to a mortal timbre. ‘Your trick worked perfectly, all the minds connected and all of ’em relying on altered eyesight they stole off the demons in the first place.’
Kesh scrambled forward to help him out of his cloak and the harness of straps that held his weapons in place, bundling the lot at her feet.
‘Even the ones who realised something was up,’ he continued, ‘couldn’t figure it out and still trusted what the demons made them see. Was like some shadow-painting held over the real world, one that moved and changed with every second. I think a couple would have sworn they cut Narin’s head off only to watch him walk away.’
‘Aye, was quite a show,’ Enchei said, keen to be out over open water as fast as possible. ‘Let’s shift before anyone starts wondering exactly what happened.’
He cast off and Kesh slipped back fully inside the boat, letting Enchei and Irato push them away with the oars while she manned the tiller.
Once they were away from the rocks, the two men pulled hard on the oars to put some distance between them and the island. Narin just sat in front of them, too tired to care that he was doing nothing to help now, until Kesh went forward to hoist the small mast back up. Together they raised it and Kesh secured the main support rope before gathering up the wrapped artefact and heat lance.
‘I’ll stow these in the prow lockers and tie the other supports,’ she said, ‘you start freeing the sail.’
Narin nodded and left her to it as he fumbled with the ties that kept the sail furled. Once it was all done they headed out towards open sea rather than retrace their route with the tide against them. It was a longer route, but with a number of divine constellations now visible and beacons on the city cliffs, Kesh was certain she could navigate the sand flats easily enough.
Narin slumped beside Kesh at the tiller and watched the receding island with an apprehension that didn’t fade when he could no longer be sure where the land and sky were divided. Even the light of the Gods was lessened to his city-born eyes, the darkness of the open sea something he’d always found to be intimidating and humbling. Before long he lifted his gaze to the heavens, seeking out the diamond constellation of Shield.
Only Shield and Pity, the Ascendants who led the way across the heavens at the end of the month, were properly visible past the streaks of cloud that overlaid the sky. Appropriately, in the Order of Empress that preceded Knight across the night sky, it was the constellation of Lord Thief that was most visible. Narin smiled at that, hoping one Ascendant would be looking favourably on them this night, but even as he thought that he sensed a change in the water around them.
‘What’s happening ?’ he asked as Enchei and Irato began to grunt with the effort of hauling their oars back. Similarly, Kesh yanked hard on the tiller and hissed as it refused to move under the pressure.
‘We’re dead in the water,’ she said, looking around. ‘Snagged on something maybe ?’
‘Worse,’ Enchei replied, giving up his efforts and indicating that Irato should too. ‘We’re over deep water now ; this isn’t a sandbar or weeds.’
‘So what ?’
‘Don’t think we’re alone out here.’
Narin felt his hand reach for his sword on instinct, then felt foolish as he realised what Enchei meant. ‘Where ?’
His question wasn’t answered as they all stared out at the water around them. Starlight still caressed the low peaks of waves in the distances, but the water for a good ten yards all around them had calmed. It wasn’t that the surface was freezing, Narin realised, but simply that the wind and current wasn’t affecting it – the sea surrounding them falling still and flat in seconds.
Once all was motionless, he realised there was a faint glow on the surface just a few dozen yards from where he sat. He kicked Enchei’s boot and pointed, all four of them staring over the starboard side of the boat towards where Narin guessed the island was, somewhere in the inky distance.
‘What’s that ?’
‘The demon,’ Enchei guessed, his voice a whisper now.
As he spoke, Narin realised the glow was moving slowly towards them, picking up speed as it snaked its way forward before it was at the edge of the stilled water. There it diffused into the glassy section of sea until a faint glow filled the water all around them. Narin exchanged a glance with Kesh and saw his own apprehension reflected in her face.
‘What now ?’
‘Now we wait,’ Enchei replied, motioning for them all to stay where they were. ‘Sit and wait for our betters.’ Ignoring his own advice, Enchei went and fetched the quiver from the prow and put it under the rower’s bench with one foot resting gently on top as though worried it would escape.
‘Guess the cloth might hide the artefact, but not the rest of us,’ he said with a wry smile at Narin and Kesh.
Nothing happened immediately, but after half a minute a shape broke the surface of the water on Enchei’s side of the boat and rose ten or twelve feet in the air. It was hard to make out exactly. Comprised entirely of curves that folded in on themselves, it was not a solid shape but the outline of one – tiny streaks of white describing the shape of something that had no physical form.
Narin squinted forward, trying to impose some sort of order on what he saw. He heard Kesh give a tiny gasp just as it finally resolved into a smooth, spiralled column that tapered then abruptly flowered into an oval overlaid by layers of horn-like curves. In the heart of that was a trio of almond shapes he imagined to be eyes, set above a circle of a mouth
behind which a tapering funnel ran down like a gullet before spreading again to join the edges of the column.
‘A dangerous game you play. Gods and demons as pieces on a board.’
Narin flinched at the sound of the demon’s voice, deep and echoing as though also folded back in on itself, like its light-traced body. It sent a tremble down his limbs, resonating through him as though the voice had a physical presence in a way the body failed to.
‘The game was not ours,’ Enchei declared in a loud voice – apparently familiar enough with the demon that he refused to be cowed. ‘We could only play to the rules of others.’
‘A game spoiled is a game won. Spoils lost can prove a prize yet.’
If Enchei had a response for that, he didn’t get the chance to voice it. A clap of thunder broke the air and all four flinched away from a blinding flash of light that emanated from the other side of the boat. Blinking and biting back a curse, Narin turned to see a more familiar figure standing on the water opposite the strange, insubstantial demon.
Tall and bearded with rusty-brown skin and white clothes that shone in the darkness, a skein of starlight glinted like the ghost of a shield to announce the Ascendant God’s identity to all present.
‘A messenger receives no spoils of war, Apkai,’ Lord Shield declared in a booming voice – without antagonism or belligerence, Narin noted, but in the assured expectation the demon would not challenge him.
‘No war was fought here, Ascendant,’ the demon replied. ‘Thieves were hunted, thieves were robbed.’
‘Mortal souls are bound here,’ the Ascendant God replied, ‘the theft is two-fold.’
‘Death comes to all mortals. The fleeting may not overshadow the eternal.’
‘You would fight me for this relic of your kin – here under the stars ?’
‘Only a fool starts an uncertain war. Only mortals age and diminish.’
‘Investigator Narin,’ Lord Shield said, shifting his focus. ‘I charged you with a holy mission. An answer I required of you and you have done your job well.’
I have ? Narin wondered. I never got that answer … but I suppose it was the investigation Shield wanted, the rooting out of this prize rather than the names of the men and women who wanted to become a God.