The Dragon Machine (Magebreakers Book 3)

by Ben S. Dobson

  Tane pulled the charm-globe from his pocket. “Stay away from her!”

  The dwarf turned his head at the sound.

  His eyes glowed bright silver.

  Spellfire. “Kadka!” Tane shouted.

  The dwarf turned back toward Tinga, and lunged.

  Tane flicked the key on his charmglobe just a notch, and threw. It landed between the dwarf and Tinga, and clicked open.

  A wave of silver force exploded across the lot, hurling him from his feet.

  _____

  Kadka dropped from the window, landed in a crouch, and pushed herself up. She sprinted around the corner to see three people rising from the ground at different stages of recovery. Mud splattered the walls and the fence, as if it had surged up into a wave in all directions. Carver was sprawled on his back nearest to her, struggling to get up. Several yards ahead, a dwarven man was rising to his feet, and beyond him short green-skinned goblin girl was half-leaning, half-lying against the fence as if she’d been pushed into it. She had a little crescent scar on her cheek. Tinga.

  The dwarf raised his head, and Kadka saw his eyes. They radiated light, and as he pushed himself up, small, hazy licks of silver began to rise from the sockets like flames. He staggered slightly, grunted as if in pain, and then found his footing. By the look on his face, he knew something was wrong. Kadka was already running for him when he turned to Tinga.

  “Keep back!” Tinga said, thrusting out a palm as if to ward him off.

  The dwarf could have had her then, if he was half as fast as Heynes had been, but instead he cringed back, as if he was afraid, and his eyes flared brighter still.

  Tinga saw the opening, pushed herself up off the fence, and ran for the gate. The repulsion charm—Kadka recognized the effect—had broken the flimsy latch, leaving it hanging open. The dwarf took a hesitant step after her, but Kadka slid in front of him.

  “No,” she said. “You don’t touch her.”

  The silver fire in his eyes flared brighter, and he growled. ‘Get… out of… my way!” His voice was pained, halting, but it had the same reverberation behind it as Heynes’ had. He threw himself at her, moving across the space between them with alarming speed.

  Kadka was ready for him. She’d seen how strong Heynes was—the only way to fight that power was to stay away from it. She spun to her right, barely dodging the dwarf’s rush, and stuck out her foot. He tripped over it, launched headlong into the mud on his face.

  He didn’t stay down long.

  With a cry of anger or pain, the dwarf sprang to his feet, spraying mud in all directions, and spun on her again. His hand blurred, and then there was a knife in it. Kadka reached back and drew her own blade from her waist, but she knew if she let him get in close enough to use his, she’d be in trouble. He was too fast and too strong to fight—she just needed to distract him long enough that Tinga could get away.

  She circled around, tried to keep herself between him and the gate. He lunged, faster than before. Kadka leapt to the side, and he still clipped her shoulder; she barely avoided his stabbing blade. There was no time to strike back before he was attacking again, too fast to dodge. Instead she blocked with her knife-hand, catching the inside of his wrist with the back of her forearm. It was like hitting a statue; the impact jarred her bones, and she only shunted the knife wide by a half-inch.

  She couldn’t keep this up for long.

  But his speed gave him momentum that he couldn’t have been used to, and using it against him had worked before. She grabbed his extended arm and threw herself back into the mud, pulling him with her. With one foot, she kicked up from her back, catching him in the gut and heaving him overhead. He landed hard on the ground behind her.

  Kadka rolled over and pushed herself up. He was faster, already on his feet while she was still on her hands and knees. The silver flame in his eyes was so bright now that it hurt to look at. He came at her so fast she could hardly follow, lashed out with his foot and caught her in the shoulder before she could roll aside. She felt the world flip as the force of the blow lifted her from the ground. She landed on her side, the breath exploding out of her, a burst of white pain flashing across her vision. Her knife was gone; she didn’t remember dropping it.

  And he was already almost on her again.

  Through blurry eyes she saw Carver step in front of her, and clench his fist.

  A silver shield shimmered into being in front of him. The dwarf slammed into it hard, and stumbled back, clutching his face. Blood streamed from his flattened nose.

  And then, before Kadka’s eyes, the dwarf’s broken nose rebuilt itself. It took seconds, cartilage visibly building back up under the skin. The flow of blood stopped. And the flame in the dwarf’s eyes blazed like an inferno. Even as his nose healed, he screamed. Silver fire streamed from his eye sockets, engulfed his head and shoulders in a corona of flame.

  “Spellfire,” Carver swore. “What’s happening to him?”

  Kadka had no answer, could only push herself unsteadily to her knees and watch.

  Silver fire was visibly burning the dwarf’s flesh now. Powdered ash drifted down to the earth at his feet and he desperately slapped at his torso, trying to put out the flames. “No!” he begged. “Stop, please!”

  His flesh was repairing itself almost as fast as it could burn. Blackened, melting skin turned fresh and pink again, and then seared away once more.

  But the fire was winning. It wasn’t just his eyes now; silver flame poured out of every pore. The dwarf tried to stumble around the shield, making for the gate. He had no right to still be on his feet. Whatever magic was consuming him was also preserving him, when it would have been far kinder to just let him die.

  Carver’s shield flickered and failed. The dwarf rushed across the open space, flesh burning away to expose bone as he moved. Carver helped her to her feet, and they backed out of the way. He wasn’t coming for them anymore.

  The dwarf was nearly at the gate when the fire claimed him. The last of his flesh burned away in a blinding flash of silver light. When Kadka’s vision cleared, all that was left was charred bone and flakes of ash still swirling in the air.

  “What in the Astra…” Carver stared in disbelief at the remains, his mouth half open. Kadka suspected that she didn’t look much different.

  “This magic,” Kadka said. “Is like, more they use…”

  “The faster they burn,” Carver finished. “The harder you pushed him, the worse it got. But why would they use it at all if it kills them?”

  And then Kadka remembered something. “He flinches from Tinga. Could have her, was fast enough, but when she yells, he flinches.”

  “You think…” Carver rubbed at his watch case, gathering his thoughts. “You think she’s causing it? Or at least he thought she was?”

  “Don’t know,” said Kadka. “Looked like was spell, but… he flinches from small girl, with all this strength and speed.”

  “She said it was Thorpe after her. If this is some sort of experimental spell… Maybe Thorpe can’t let her people know that whatever she did to them is killing them, so she blames Tinga. Tells them this girl needs to be stopped before she hurts anyone else.” Carver shuddered. “We can’t let her slip away from us a third time. Whatever that was, I’m not letting it happen to her.”

  “Not only thing they could do to her,” said Kadka, and pointed back toward the warehouse. “Some of the missing inside. Packed in storage room, no space to breathe. Every one is Astra-riven.”

  “Riven?” Carver spread his hands helplessly. “How is that even… unless they’re summoning wraiths…”

  “Might be,” said Kadka. “Or worse. Found this too.” She flipped the crowned staff badge at him; he caught it reflexively.

  Carver looked down and his eyes widened. “Spellfire. If the Knights are the ones behind this, they’re not going to be above using that spell as a weapon, no matter how dangerous it is.” He frowned. “This was just left in there? That’s more careless than I’d expect,
if Endo is involved.”

  Kadka cocked her head. “You think it wasn’t him?” She wasn’t sure if that would be better or worse—she’d thought, at least, that she finally knew who they were up against.

  “I think I don’t know what’s going on anymore,” Carver answered. “I think we’re not much closer to figuring it out. And I think it’s only going to get worse.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  _____

  “IT’S NO USE,” said Indree, closing the door of the interrogation chamber behind them. “We won’t get anything out of them, and divinations can’t trace an Astral link that isn’t there. Honestly, if they’d been killed instead of riven, we’d be able to get more. A last memory at least.”

  Tane had spent most of the last night and this morning with her at Stooketon Yard, trying to get some sliver of information from the Astra-riven homeless Kadka had found in the warehouse. They’d gotten nowhere at all. One-word answers at most, triggered by some residue of instinct in the brain, and nothing of any use. “What I want to know is how this was done to them to begin with,” he said. “Are they being fed to wraiths? And if so, why?”

  Kadka was waiting for them in the hall. “If is Knights, maybe message. Non-magical don’t deserve link to Astra.”

  “The badge you found lends some credence to that,” said Indree. “And the fact that they cleared the place out but left these people for you to find.”

  Tane shook his head. “I don’t know. This whole time, we’ve been jumping at the spectre of the Knights, worrying they’re behind this. I think that’s what someone wants us to think, and they’re using the rumors to their advantage. But don’t the badge and these people seem too convenient a trail? It was easier to believe when I was the one seeing Endo’s hand everywhere. Now that I’m being pointed there, I don’t trust it. I’m still looking at Thorpe. Tinga said that’s who was chasing her, and I believe her.”

  “It could be both,” Indree pointed out. “We can’t be sure Endo hasn’t infiltrated Thorpe Manufacturies. An old family like that, who made their fortune through artifice? That’s fertile soil for ideas about magical purity.”

  “I’m not counting it out,” said Tane. “But I’m not jumping to any conclusions either. If we go chasing after imaginary villains, we’re leaving Tinga out there alone. She’s not getting any safer.” He paused, smiled slightly. “Although as far as I can tell she’s doing a better job investigating this than we are. She’s found her way to every clue we have, and I get the impression she knows more about what’s happening than I’ve managed to put together.”

  Indree gave him a curious look. “You’re really impressed by her.”

  “She’s got a lot of dangerous people after her, and none of them have been able to pin her down yet,” said Tane. “That’s impressive.”

  “Is fighting for friend,” Kadka added. “And people being taken. Very brave, for one so young.”

  “Don’t get me wrong,” Indree said. “I agree with you, even if I wish she’d ask someone for help. I’ve just never seen Tane admire someone so much. Besides maybe himself, back in university.” The corner of her mouth quirked up the way it did when she was joking, but there was something else there in her eyes. She meant it, a little bit. That hurt.

  “I just understand what she’s trying to do,” Tane said, feeling obliged to explain himself. “I’ve been out there without anything but a personal crusade to keep me going. It’s not exactly the same, but I understand it.”

  “Oh. I suppose I didn’t…” Indree trailed off, clearly embarrassed, and then, “You don’t talk about that part of your life very much. Sometimes I forget how hard that must have been.”

  Tane rubbed the back of his neck. “They weren’t my best years. I’d rather not get into it.” Not without several drinks in me, at least. Kadka nudged him pointedly in the side—she’d told him to be honest with Indree—but he ignored it. This didn’t feel like the time. “What matters right now is helping Tinga.”

  Beside him, Kadka snorted in exasperation. He ignored that too.

  “Of course. You’re right.” Indree’s eyes flicked downward, though, and he knew her well enough to tell that she was disappointed. Astra, that didn’t help things any. I should have said something better. But the moment passed quickly, and then she was back to business. “People being riven in numbers like this definitely qualifies as a concern for Lady Abena, not to mention two cases of men spontaneously burning alive. Which gives me some authority. I can’t do anything to Thorpe without more proof, but I can increase our watch around places like the Nest, and get uniforms on the street asking questions. You two are closer to this than I am. What do you need?”

  “Did you find anything else about Lefty?” Tane asked. “Those corruption rumors?”

  “No direct confirmation,” said Indree. “But there’s some record of an investigation that was quickly shut down after he left the constabulary. I asked around with some people I trust who were there at the time, and it seems like it was a pretty open secret that Lefty was taking bribes to overlook some things, but nothing got done about it. And then there’s the fire.”

  Tane raised an eyebrow. “Something unusual about it?”

  Indree nodded. “I’d say. It happened at an illegal artifice workshop in Greenstone, a basement operation run by a few families in a shared housing unit. Lefty was the inspector in charge of investigating their operation. Looking at the files, he should have had enough to shut it down, but he kept the investigation ongoing. I’d guess they were paying him. Either way, they didn’t have proper safety wards in place. The fire started with a faulty spellfire charm, lacking proper restrictions. It burned everything it touched, spread quickly through the rest of the building. And one of the families had children.”

  Kadka frowned. “Children die because he lets this happen?” She cracked her knuckles and looked at Tane. “Shouldn’t have stopped me from hurting him.”

  “Actually,” said Indree, “he’s the one who got them out. He was first on the scene—maybe contacted by the people paying him off. He ran right in. Pulled out every one of the children trapped inside. That’s how he lost his arm.”

  Kadka blinked. “This is… not what I expect.”

  “Let me guess,” said Tane. “They let him go quietly after that. Couldn’t admit the hero who saved those kids was the one who let the whole thing happen, and there were probably people higher up getting paid out of what he took. Easier to give him a free pass, cut ties, and cover the whole thing.”

  “That’s the impression I got,” Indree confirmed. “None of it is written down anywhere, but with everyone I asked, the story took that shape.”

  “Would explain why he’s still able to leverage his connections with the constabulary,” Tane said. “He knows people who kept this quiet, probably was paying them off at one point or another. That would give him some pull. But I already suspected he’d go a long way for the right price. What surprises me is that he’d run into spellfire like that. He must have felt responsible, which means he’s got a soft spot somewhere in there, or he did once. That could be useful.”

  “Think he will be easy on Tinga?” Kadka looked skeptical. “Why take job then?”

  “Because he was paid enough, I suppose,” said Tane. “And maybe he won’t go easy on her, if there’s a lot of coin at stake. Not consciously, at least. But even a moment of doubt could give us an edge. I’ll take it, if it’s what we’ve got.”

  “I tried to get more,” said Indree. “I even put a few plainclothes on his trail yesterday, but he lost them easily enough. He’s good.”

  “This is plenty,” said Tane. “I’ve got something else for you, though. Easier, this time. We need a list of Thorpe-owned quarries. That was the other thing Kadka overheard, something about a quarry where they took ‘leftovers’.” He glanced back at the door of the interrogation room, where the riven man was still waiting. “I’m guessing that must mean the people they haven’t done that to yet. We might stil
l be able to help them, if we can find the right place. And if Tinga is on their trail, she might be there too. She was upset about her father losing his job in the quarries—maybe that’s where she saw whatever she saw.”

  “I can get a list for you,” Indree said. “What I should do is have every one of them shut down and searched, but that’s going to take some doing. Durren won’t like going after old money like that, and Thorpe has connections in the Senate that Lady Abena won’t be able to just overrule. We can’t even link her to that warehouse in any meaningful way. I need something stronger to open the door.”

  “We’ll find it, if we can.” Tane rubbed at his watch case and frowned. “But even if you get us a list, Thorpe probably has, say, a half dozen quarries outside the city. That’s a lot of ground to cover, and there are lives at stake. I’d like some way to narrow it down.”

  “Iskar,” Kadka said. “Lots of Silver Dawn in mines and quarries. Might have seen something.”

  Tane perked up at the suggestion. “Right! If the leftovers are people, they had to be transported somehow, and that’s hard to do when the quarries are being worked day and night. Anything out of the ordinary would have been noticed by someone.”

  “And is good chance to ‘lick each other’s faces’, like you say last night.” Kadka grinned.

  “Have fun with that, Tane,” Indree said, lifting the corner of her mouth.

  Tane groaned. “I suppose it’s for the greater good. Let’s go.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  _____

  THE SILVER DAWN had moved from the abandoned disc tunnels to a headquarters above ground, at least in part. Coming into the light was something Iskar had believed important in the aftermath of Endo Stooke’s attack on their devotees across the city. Someone had to take a stand, and that meant an official presence. Kadka admired the courage that had taken, for a man who had spent much of his life in the shadows.