I paused. Stared at the chaos behind us as the Archive’s ground floor began to be turned into a much larger version of the Vardinn general’s house back in Tarrentius.
“We need to go back,” I croaked.
Heidi grabbed my wrist on the way past. “You’re joking, right? Let’s get out of here while we still can.”
“But Burbondrer—”
“Is a bloody orc! He’ll be fine. Let him steamroll the Order of Apdau for us, and we’ll take the stairs—”
Her words cut off.
From the junction ahead appeared three Apdau agents. They twisted our way, apparently seeing just fine even with those stupid bloody cloaks pulled up over their heads—and charged, cinquedeas drawn.
“Heidi!”
“Saving the day, as usual.” She pushed me aside, cutlass drawn.
I wrestled at my belt for Decidian’s Spear—
“It’s too tight!” she called over her shoulder, parrying a blow. Metal screamed, and the cloaked figure fell back. Another pushed into his place, swinging high.
“I have to do something!”
“Find us a path out of here, why don’t you?”
“The stairs—”
Heidi grunted as two cinquedeas swung low. She dodged back with expert steps, the blades barely missing her midriff. A backward step and a ballet-like spin, and the cutlass was flashing through the air again.
The umbrella wouldn’t come off. So I did my usual: pulled so hard that the metal loop keeping it on my belt snapped. Not caring where it pinged off—I had about a hundred of the things back at the hideout now, figuring they’d last about eight weeks the way I was going through them—I shook it out.
Decidian’s Spear sprung to life, extending—
I thrust before it had finished growing, aiming high above Heidi’s shoulder.
The Apdau agent ducked. The tip missed his face—the edge of his cloak, anyway—by mere fractions of a centimeter.
“What are you doing?” Heidi gasped.
“Helping,” I bit back.
I drew the spear back. Heidi swung with the cutlass. Then I jabbed forward a second time, the spear slicing through the space where Heidi’s blade had been just a moment ago.
It sailed into dark material, then embedded in flesh.
The man made no noise, but he did jerk backward. The cinquedea fell from his grasp, spinning end over end—
He toppled after it, blood gouting onto the hardwood floor—
“Nice one,” Heidi said. “But aim for the face next time.”
“I can’t kill them!”
She grimaced. “That’s a shame. Well, let me then.” And she danced to avoid another blade, then swung, teeth gritted. The cutlass was an onyx blur in the air—
Blood spilled from the member’s neck. He fell back, a hand clasped to it, instantly soaked in claret.
“Heidi!” I gasped.
“Fighting them off and escaping isn’t sending the right message. It’s time we did.”
“I can’t—”
“It’s easy! You just stab—”
She pierced the fallen Apdau agent, the one I’d felled, through the chest. The blade disappeared as though it had passed through butter. When it came out, the near-midnight black blade was slick.
“No,” I wheezed.
The third—and last, for now—of the Order stepped backward. He appeared to assess for a moment, caught off-guard—
The aisle behind us exploded.
I turned to see Burbondrer powering through. Two Apdau guys clung to his armor, one of whom I was sure was embedded on the spikes rather than clinging onto them—
Hold yourself together, Mira!
Burbondrer shook the one of the Order off. The other—the one definitely stuck to the pauldron—he snatched up with his free hand and tossed behind him.
“Too many to hold back!” he rumbled, hurtling our way. The bookcases to either side crumpled and fell back. As if in a growing earthquake, the Archive shook as Burbondrer crammed himself into those stupid, stupid spaces—
“Gotta go,” said Heidi to me. “Move!”
The Apdau agent left stared—and then he high-tailed it away, cloak receding—
We leapt over the fallen men Heidi had finished off. And she was right: the spear was too unwieldy in this tight space. I shook it down to its glamoured form, slipping it back into my pocket—
Blood oozed underfoot. My foot slid out from under me. I yelped, grabbing out for the nearest solid object—
“To the stairs!” Burbondrer roared.
I turned. My eyes widened at the sight of the bloodied orc bearing down on me, and no time to evade—
He snatched me up in one easy hand.
“Don’t put me on your shoulder!” I gasped.
“Fiery one!” Burbondrer shouted—and a moment later he’d slid his sword back into place, and grabbed Heidi up by a wrist like she weighed nothing at all.
Her eyes bulged at me. “What is happening!”
“I’m getting us out of here,” Burbondrer rumbled—and then slammed through the bookcases in front of us. Books exploded in a shower of paper and leather and card. Metal crumpled.
And there were the stairs! The grand case was strangely flat, no nonsense angles to speak of. It rose some two and a half dozen steps to the next floor, wide and bracketed by elaborate banisters.
A cluster of visitors to the library had rushed to the stairs to see what the commotion was about—three rabbits, a too-long and very albino human-like thing, and a marachti. On seeing Burbondrer burst out in a shower of shrapnel, they scarpered.
“Oh, gee, how wonderful,” Heidi griped. “We look like your bloody captives. Now the people of Pharo are going to think there’s a mad orc on the loose, capturing pretty young women.”
“Put us down,” I told Burbondrer. “We can run from here.”
He obliged, dropping us heavily. I landed hard, bending my knees to take the impact. Then I brought Decidian’s Spear to its full length again, brandished and ready for a fight on the stairs.
And we’d get it. The Order had been impeded by the Archive’s collapse—but not much. Almost a dozen of them clambered over the debris left in Burbondrer’s wake. Another segment surged our way along a clearer path.
“How do they keep finding new friends?” Heidi asked.
“Up the stairs,” I ordered, already taking them two at a time. Burbondrer lumbered up three at once, sword drawn again. It was wet with blood—and not just the Order’s, I noticed. The handle was tinged purple—orc blood.
“They got you?” I gasped.
Burbondrer shrugged it off. “So did you once. It takes more than that to fell Burbondrer of Ocklatojsh.”
It hadn’t seemed like that last time. He’d almost cried when I jabbed him in the shoulder during our first run-in. Yet now he was ready to fight on; the fire danced in his eyes, lived in the set of his jaw. Had he been training? Was that where he’d gone?
Or was I giving myself and Heidi too much credit in thinking that maybe Burbondrer’s ferocity was because he had something meaningful to actually fight for now?
We made our way to the top of the stairs, Heidi lagging in last place.
“Need longer legs,” she huffed.
“We’ll add it to the to-do list,” I said. “What’s the escape strategy?”
She stopped, stared. “I thought you were on the escape strategy! That was your job!”
“I—I was just thinking of our way out of immediate danger. I didn’t think about the actual, you know, get the hell out of Dodge part!”
Heidi swore. “So we’ve run up the stairs to go where, exactly?”
“I don’t know? Out of a window?”
She screamed. “MIRA—”
“Fiery one!” roared Burbondrer. He darted forward, sword raised—
A cinquedea arced through the air. It struck Burbondrer’s sword, and rebounded.
The nearest Order agent was five steps down. Burbondrer cross
ed that distance in two short steps. Growling, he grabbed the Apdau guy round the midriff—and then he flung him. The cloaked man flew sideways, colliding with a trio of his comrades just mounting the staircase.
“Nice shot!” Heidi gasped.
“Come on,” I said. “Time to get out of here.” Already moving, we slipped down the widest aisle—enough to fit our orc friend and his bulky armor without demolishing half of the records up here too.
“Burbondrer, any ideas?” I asked. “You happen to know the Archive? Any ideas where there might be a fire escape?”
“I’m not familiar with the layout,” he rumbled.
Of course not. Why would anyone be? It was all just chucked in together, no rhyme or reason to anything. This entire world was built on that principle. So why on earth would I expect a library to buck the trend?
“We could jump out of a window?” said Heidi.
“Great suggestion,” I retorted. “And we’ll just land on a great big marshmallow and dance off into the sunset, shall we?”
“Well, I’m not hearing any other good ideas here!”
“Burbondrer? Anything?”
“I think a window is the best bet,” he ceded.
Damn it. Cursing (really making Heidi proud right now, the amount of profanity pouring from my lips these days), I huffed. “Fine, a window it is! Head to the wall on the left, everyone.”
“Happy to,” said Burbondrer. A grin lifted his voice—
He shoved his sword back home, then snatched me and Heidi up—
“Put me down!”
“It’s faster this way!”
“I am telling Carson you’ve been a bad orc when we find him!” Heidi shrieked. “You see if I doooooon’t!!”
Burbondrer exploded through another wall of shelves.
“We are definitely never being invited back here,” I cried.
“Perfect. Another place for the list! Burbondrerrrr—!”
Decimated shelves and books exploded around us in a violent rain.
“Carson would go mad right now!”
“Well, Carson pissed off with your big-headed brother, leaving us to deal with the goths—Burbondrer, I swear, if you don’t drop me right now, I will—ARGH!”
The outer wall loomed. Shelves leaned against it—but just up the aisle, a hole was carved for one of the awkwardly shaped windows.
Burbondrer hurtled for it—
Cloaks appeared behind us.
“Our friends are back,” I warned.
“I’ve got this,” said Burbondrer.
He dropped us from above his head.
I slammed the floor, landing on my side. A scream of pain radiated from my hip. Before it had penetrated too far, I was shoving myself up onto my knees, climbing to my feet.
Between us and the Order of Apdau, Burbondrer took a stand.
“Bub? What’re you—?”
“You’re not fighting them off,” I breathed. “We’re not leaving you.”
“I didn’t say you had to, Mira Brand.”
And, grabbing the bookcases to either side of him, Burbondrer pulled them inward. They slammed hard together, books vomited into the space between.
He moved backward, repeating the same with the next pair, and the next, the next—
“They’ll just go around,” I said.
“Of course they will. But it will hold them off long enough to make our escape.”
Escape. Right. That’s what we were doing here.
I ran to the nearest window, ignoring the white pulsating sensation ignited on my hipbone. Heidi followed, and Burbondrer rumbled behind us, shouting what I assumed were orcish insults to the Order as he blockaded our route.
Outside was—
“It’s dark?” I gasped. “When did that happen?”
“Less questioning, more escaping,” Heidi said.
“How—?”
“You’ve honestly got to ask?” Heidi huffed. She tugged the umbrella out of my hand. Decidian’s Spear extended, she pivoted it, and slammed the pole against the glass.
It shattered like a car windshield.
“Done.” She passed the spear back. “Now leap.”
I looked out. “It’s high—”
“We just climbed stairs. Get with the program, Brand.”
I didn’t move.
Heidi huffed. “Fine. Hold my cutlass.”
But before she could hand it to me, Burbondrer appeared behind. “Time to go.” He grabbed two last bookcases—the ones in the opposite direction this time—and rammed them together. Then he snatched me and Heidi up again, took two steps back—the most he could manage—
“Burbondrer, you’re not—?”
And then he hurtled forward and leapt.
I screamed, my eyes closed against all the ways this could go wrong—
Spikes of bone shrieked against the window frame. But Burbondrer sailed through—and suddenly the three of us were falling through the cool night air, my breath coming from my lungs in a high-pitched wail of terror.
22
We landed.
The last of my breath was forced out in a violent exhale.
I sucked it back in, desperately hoping I was still alive.
“Easy,” said Burbondrer. His low rumble was lifted by a soft smile. “Consider yourselves safe, friends.” And he released us. Gently, this time.
Still, I fell onto my hands and knees. One of the vehicle tracks ran under my right palm, and the cold metal felt almost like heaven to me. So did the stabbing edge of the cobble in my knee. And that bloom of fire, temporarily softened, in my hip. It meant I was alive. It meant Burbondrer hadn’t dropped me.
It meant I hadn’t been gored on his armor, the way that man in the cloak—
I closed my eyes on the thought.
Heidi’s words rung in my brain, stark and clear. “Fighting them off and escaping isn’t sending the right message.”
Well, the Order had surely heard it loud and clear now.
“You okay?”
That was Heidi, the real one, not the echo from the Archive—the one who’d told me to kill or be killed, and had murdered two of them right in front of my eyes.
Was it murder? It sounded so … harsh.
Of course it is, I thought. It’s still murder. Even if it’s to guarantee your own survival.
She touched my shoulder. I flinched away.
Heidi didn’t replace it.
I dragged long and hard on the air, the way a nicotine addict sucked a cigarette for every drop of beautiful blackness.
“I’m okay,” I said. Breathed.
I didn’t sound it.
I tried to push onto my feet—
I wobbled.
Heidi grabbed out for me. I tensed.
She felt it. The look on her face gave it away.
“Sorry,” I said. “Just stressed. That’s all.”
“Sure.”
She didn’t offer any further assistance, and I rose by myself. Definitely a little wobbly on my feet. But I sucked in long breaths of the night air, letting it fill me, replenishing the oxygen in my veins.
Veins full of blood—
Shut up, Mira. Stop it.
“Where are we going?” Burbondrer asked.
Heidi shook her head. “We don’t know what happened to Carson.”
I had a pretty good idea. Emmanuel had made off with him. Probably was picking his brain for every single secret I had. The location of our hideout; the new home to the Chalice Gloria. And his own secrets too: the freak nature of Carson’s ring and the violent gateways he opened from it. Emmanuel would be very excited to learn more about that, maybe see it first-hand …
I closed my eyes on the thought of Carson accidentally opening a tear to a void and being swallowed.
I squeezed them tighter against the image of Emmanuel booting him in the back and sending him into the mist.
“We need to move somewhere,” Heidi said. “The Order won’t be held back for long.”
�
�Back the way we came,” I said. I needed to take charge again, and this was me doing it. Now the Order had been dealt with (temporarily, anyway; the way things were going, it wouldn’t be long before a renewed force showed up), the top of my concerns was Carson.
“If they’ve left,” I said, “it’ll be the same way we came in.” And I set off at a march. Heidi matched my pace. Burbondrer followed, half a step behind, one brutish fist poised on his sword. His armor was noisy, a dead giveaway to the Order. But then, they’d found us so easily every time as it was, what did it matter? We might as well draw them a map of all our planned movements at this point. 9:00 pm: Mira and Co. will be here!
I frowned. One thing at a time.
“You don’t think Carson will ask to see the Way-Crossing?” Heidi asked.
“Knowing Carson? Probably. But if he found anything of note in that bloody journal, then maybe he’ll be too blindsided by the treasure of Ostiagard to want to do anything else but go back home.”
Holes like a colander, that idea. Heidi and I had been in the Archive with him, damn it. Why wouldn’t he just wake us? But it was all I had, and I had no choice but to grasp it.
We double-timed it down streets lit by shafts of light tinted a frail green. The streetlamps were almost dangerously crooked. If I didn’t know better, I’d think they were moments from coming down on top of us.
“Any sign of the Order back there?” Heidi asked.
“Not yet,” Burbondrer said.
“Maybe we should speed up just in case.”
I quickened. Not because of the Order—but because every step I took, my fear for Carson grew.
Damn it. Why had I let myself drift off? Why for so long?
And why, why, why had I not kicked up more of a fuss about Emmanuel’s presence on this excursion?!
“I’m such an idiot,” I moaned, and slapped myself in the forehead with my open palm. “I should’ve known Emmanuel would pull something like this.”
“Mira,” Heidi started.
“He can’t be trusted! He’s never been able to be trusted. I knew that growing up, I know it now, and I knew it this morning when he showed up outside Tortilla. My brother is just a low, slimy, underhanded—”
“Mira—” she tried again.
“And now he’s made off with Carson!” I fumed. Another smack to the forehead, twice as hard as before. Knock some bloody sense into yourself, Mira! “I should’ve known. I know my brother. I know exactly what sort of person he is. Of course he’d be trying to scam me!”
The City of Lies Page 16