Dishonored--The Veiled Terror

by Adam Christopher

  “But she succeeded,” said Severin. “She took you from my custody, and you brought with you another artifact—that knife—that will give her all the power she wants.”

  Billie shook her head. “Not yet. Remember the last thing the Shadow said—‘Now I must feed.’” Billie stood and walked over to the far end of the crypt—or at least, as far as she could go with the collapsed ceiling blocking the rest of the way. But even so, she could see the space where the rift had stood—and where the altar had been positioned in front of it.

  The altar was gone. It had been absorbed by the Shadow, along with the rift.

  Billie turned back to Severin. He had managed to get to his feet, and was limping toward her. She could see the trail of blood left on the floor by his leg. He hissed in pain, then collapsed against the side of one of the tombs.

  “Feed on what?” he managed to ask between gasping breaths.

  “The Void,” said Billie. “What else? It used the Twin-bladed Knife to absorb the altar and the rift. But now the Shadow needs more—it needs fuel.”

  “So it’s gone back to the mine,” said Severin.

  Billie looked over the wreckage in front of the crypt door. Then she stood back and sighed.

  “We have to get out of here.”

  “That won’t be a problem.”

  She turned around. Severin reached down to his belt, and patted the two pouches that held his runes.

  “Not only can the runes transport us into the Void hollow, they can move us between any point within the confines of it.”

  “To the causeway,” said Billie.

  Severin nodded. He held out his hand.

  Billie took it.

  “Then let’s go.”

  29

  LEVIATHAN CAUSEWAY, THE VOID HOLLOW

  Date unknown, Month of Darkness, 1853

  They materialized inside the Leviathan Company’s master control room—the empty telescope room at the Royal Morley Observatory. No sooner did Billie feel the floor solidify beneath her feet than it shook with a violent tremor. Arms whirling, she managed to maintain her balance, while beside her came a cry of pain.

  Severin had collapsed onto the floor. The leg of his black uniform was soaked through with blood. Billie knelt down beside him. She ripped open his trouser leg, then tore it free from the uniform, and began to fashion a makeshift bandage to try to staunch the bleeding.

  The ground shook again. Billie focused on the task in hand, all the while aware of the heat gathering behind the Sliver, of the pull on her magical arm.

  The Void was near.

  As was the Void Shadow.

  Severin hissed in pain. Billie completed the binding of his leg wound, then fell against him as the tower shook again. Once the tremor subsided, she stood and moved to the telescope slot in the wall.

  She looked out onto a battlefield.

  The military camp stretched out below, with the Leviathan Causeway sweeping high above. As the whole site shook once more, Billie could see the swing and the sway of the enormous structure, and watched as tiny matchsticks—each in reality an iron girder as big as a rail car—fell from it as the gargantuan bridge shook, the debris crashing beyond view, throwing up huge clouds of dirt and smoke.

  At the far side of the vast crater, part of the rocky wall had been destroyed. The hole was filled with a blazing blue fire as the Void mine deeper in the ground had been breached from the side, the earth tremors coinciding with huge flares from the breach.

  Facing the inferno, the Leviathan Company army had taken up position on the vast parade ground. From her high viewpoint, Billie could see troops racing around as officers gave orders. Some of the heavy ground assault vehicles were positioned at the front, giving the foot soldiers some cover, while above hung two huge aerial warships. Billie looked to her left, and saw smoke rising from the landing pad that bordered the parade ground. It looked like most of the rest of the air fleet had been destroyed, as something had torn through it en route to the mine.

  Severin appeared at Billie’s side, gasping as he grabbed hold of the wall for support. He looked down through the slot, shaking his head.

  “We can’t fight it,” he said. “We’re too late.”

  Billie turned back to the slot and scanned the battlefield. The Leviathan army was in position, weapons ready, but there was nothing for them to fire upon. One of the airships, thick yellow smoke pouring from its engine chimney into the tank above, spun around and lowered itself in front of the breach in the crater wall. Billie realized they were watching, and waiting, for something to happen.

  Which was precisely the worst thing they could do. Because if the Void Shadow was inside the mine, consuming Void stone, then it was getting stronger and stronger as the army stood by and waited.

  As if on cue, the ground shook yet again, this time an upheaval so great it threw both Billie and Severin to the floor. As the Leviathan boss rolled on the floor in agony, Billie pulled herself back up to the window slot, just in time to see the Void Shadow emerge from the breach.

  It was colossal, a flaming being of blue-black cubic stone, like one of the partly converted miners but on a truly gargantuan scale. It pulled itself out of the breach, tearing the crater wall apart with its claws, then unfurled to its full height, which was almost as tall as the causeway itself.

  The airship that had moved in for a closer look pivoted in the air and made to escape, but it was too slow. The Void Shadow reached out, its triangular, geometric claws unfolding to skewer the craft through the middle. As it pulled the airship toward itself, attracted by the Void stone fuel in its hopper, the engine was ruptured and the craft exploded.

  The Void Shadow roared in pain, and Billie watched as the crystalline talon it had pierced the airship with snapped off, the sharply angled slab of Void mineral crashing down onto the parade ground. The tip buried itself deep in the ground, the talon rising nearly as high as the tower of the Royal Morley Observatory.

  The Leviathan Corporation’s army opened fire, and the war machines in front bucked as their cannons fired, but they had no effect. The Void Shadow lumbered forward, its roar sounding like the end of the world.

  “We’re too late,” whispered Severin. “We’re too late.”

  Billie watched as the monster swept through the army, collecting troops and war machines alike in its terrible claws.

  “No,” said Billie. “I think I know a way to stop it.”

  Severin sighed, and shook his head. “How?”

  Billie turned to him, her expression firm. “Just tell me one thing.”

  “Yes?”

  “Do you know how to fly?”

  30

  LEVIATHAN CAUSEWAY, THE VOID HOLLOW

  Date unknown, Month of Darkness, 1853

  The pair made it out of the control complex and scurried across to the far side of the parade ground. Out on the battlefield, while the Leviathan Company army wasn’t able to push the Void Shadow back, they were managing to stop it advancing with sheer weight of numbers.

  Even so, Billie knew they didn’t have much time before the army was defeated, or the troops’ courage deserted them. Severin, to his credit, was doing his best to keep up with her. She was supporting him as they ran, but his injured leg was slowing their progress. He was, however, the only one out of the two of them who knew how to operate the flying machines.

  The plan was simple: the only thing that had noticeably injured the Void Shadow was the exploding flying machine. That meant the Shadow was vulnerable to the volatile Void fuel. If they could get enough of it airborne and dumped onto the monster, then maybe—maybe—that would be enough to stop it.

  The landing platform was a carved-up wreck, a huge trench having been gouged down the middle of it, tearing through the parked airships, as the Void Shadow had headed toward the mine, drawn by the same pull that Billie now felt from the Sliver. That the whole place hadn’t gone up as the Shadow ruptured the fuel systems and engines of the machines was remarkable, but Billie knew
she needed their luck to stretch even further. As she clambered around the wreckage, all the while half-carrying Severin, she could only hope that there was at least one airship still capable of flight.

  It was Severin who spotted it. He tugged on Billie’s jacket, then pointed across the smoking crevasse that split the landing platform in two.

  He was right. One of the airships seemed more or less intact. It was sitting nose-down on top of a collapsed landing gear, but was otherwise apparently undamaged.

  They made their way across the crevasse, doubling back to find a more manageable route, finally approaching the airship from the rear. Ahead, Billie could see the army fighting their battle against the Void Shadow—a battle she knew they would ultimately lose.

  They had to work fast. With Billie’s help, Severin got the rear platform of the airship to lower, then he crawled onto it.

  “Get it started,” said Billie. “I’ll join you as soon as I can.”

  Severin nodded. “It will take a few minutes. What are you going to do?”

  Billie turned and pointed. On the far side of the landing platform, shielded from the devastation wrought by the Void Shadow, were two wheeled carts, on which were loaded sacks of Void stone, ready for loading.

  “This craft should already be fully fueled,” said Severin.

  “It’s not fuel we need,” said Billie. “It’s ammunition. The Void Shadow was damaged when the airship it attacked exploded. If I can get enough Void stone aboard, maybe we can find a way of dumping it onto the creature.”

  Severin busied himself with the loading platform to lift himself up into the airship. As he began to rise, he shook his head. “These vehicles are not designed as bombers. Even if you could load the troop compartment with Void stone, you’d need to crash the airship straight into it. It would be suicide.”

  Then the platform hatch closed, and Billie turned and ran to the wheeled carts.

  Of course, Severin was right. The only way to destroy that creature was to deliver the unstable Void stone right where it would do the most damage.

  And the only way to do that was the fly the airship straight into it.

  Billie pushed that thought out of her mind and got to work loading the fuel.

  ***

  Billie dropped into the co-pilot’s chair beside Severin, exhausted from heaving two full loads’ worth of fuel up into the airship, using the rear loading platform. She allowed herself a moment to relax her strained muscles as Severin busied himself with the controls. A few minutes later, she felt a strange sensation and realized that the craft was lifting straight up from the ground, the angled nose leveling as the broken gear beneath it clattered away.

  She followed Severin’s movements as he steered the craft. With a sinking feeling in her stomach that wasn’t entirely to do with the sensation of lift, she realized the machine was difficult to control. Severin had a vertical stick control in each hand, which he moved constantly, and Billie saw there were two—no, three—pedal controls beneath the console. Severin was doing his best to operate them, but with his injured leg he was forced to use his good one more, crossing it over to operate the other pedals as needed. As a result, the airship lurched in the air, rocking back and forth and also side to side as he flew the craft in a slow, wide circle, out to the far crater wall to keep clear of the battle, before turning and coming back in toward the Void Shadow.

  Then the airship came to a stop and swung gently, nose to tail, nose to tail, as if it was suspended on a chain from the underside of the causeway, which Billie realized was directly above them.

  “If you have any ideas,” said Severin through gritted teeth, as he fought to keep the machine under control, “then now would be the time to let me know.”

  Billie looked ahead. The Leviathan army had begun to retreat. The bulk of its war machines had been destroyed; without them, the foot soldiers stood no chance at all against the monster. That they had held it back this long was nothing short of amazing. But now their time was most certainly up.

  Billie looked over the controls again. It wouldn’t need to be a long flight, or a comfortable one. All she would have to do was get the machine to the Void Shadow—preferably at full speed. She would never have to land it.

  Or do anything else.

  Severin twisted his head around to look at her. The machine bucked in the air as his injured leg failed to maintain the correct pressure on the pedal under his foot.

  “Well?”

  Billie nodded, then she leaned over. The cockpit had two doors on either side that opened upward, like the wings of a bird. The doors curved down, the bottom edge forming part of the cockpit floor. By opening her door a little, Billie could lean down and see directly below the craft. The ground was flat and devoid of debris or any other obstruction. A hundred yards or so away was a series of prefab huts.

  She turned back to Severin. “Set her down here.”

  Severin frowned in confusion. Billie indicated in the direction of the huts.

  “Set her down! And then get out. There are some huts nearby—they should give you enough cover.”

  Severin shook his head. “Your course of action is irrational. I am the only one who can fly the vehicle. You won’t be able to make a run at the Void Shadow, let alone return to clear air. The magnitude of the Void stone explosion will in all probability be large.”

  Billie just shrugged. “Take us down and get to safety. I’ll handle the rest.”

  Severin stared at her in silence. Billie met his gaze, and held it. Then, after seconds that felt like they stretched into minutes, Severin finally nodded.

  Billie let out a breath. Time was of the essence.

  As the airship made a rocky descent, Billie reached over to close her wing door. With a last glance through the gap in the floor, she saw they were now perhaps just six feet from the ground.

  That was when Severin yelled and pushed her out of her seat. Billie grabbed for something, anything, but her hands found nothing. A second later she hit the hard ground, the impact knocking the breath from her body. There was a roar, and as she rolled onto her back, she squinted against the hurricane of dust as the airship shot up vertically, gaining one hundred, two hundred yards of altitude before pausing in the sky. Then, nose dipped, thick smoke belching from its chimney, the craft shot forward, gaining speed as it careened toward the Void Shadow.

  Billie wasted no time. In her mind, she didn’t thank Severin. She didn’t regret his action. She didn’t wish she’d come up with a better plan. She only had one aim in mind—to get to cover—and one word echoing in her thoughts.

  Shit shit shit shit shit!

  And then the world exploded.

  31

  LEVIATHAN CAUSEWAY, THE VOID HOLLOW

  Date unknown, Month of Darkness, 1853

  She felt the breeze first, a gentle tugging on her hair, on her clothes, then she rolled face down as the breeze became a roaring wind, stirring up great clouds of dust and dirt. She coughed into the ground, and wrapped her hands over her ears, as the world ended around her.

  And then there was a heavy, metallic thud, and the wind died along with the roaring. Curled into a protective ball, Billie’s head pounded. Her nose was filled with smoke and ash, and every other part of her body hurt.

  Then she felt something else. A hand on her shoulder, then another on her back. She heard booted feet running, men and women shouting.

  The pressure in her head increased. She uncurled herself, only to find all her strength was gone. She flopped onto her back, and as her vision crowded with black sparks she saw a flying machine had landed nearby. Troops were pouring out of the rear compartment.

  And then someone moved into her vision—a woman, her black braided hair falling down to frame her face.

  She smiled. “Martha Cottings, at your service.”

  And then everything went black.

  32

  DUNWALL

  18th Day, Month of Darkness, 1853

  Billie looked out over
the Wrenhaven River as a patrol boat skimmed the water, throwing up a rainbow spray of color in the morning light. She sat back on the marble bench and closed her human eye, enjoying the peace and quiet. The Sliver of the Eye of the Dead God was asleep, and her black-shard arm felt more like it was made of flesh and blood than it ever had.

  It felt good to be back. The journey from Alba to Dunwall had taken just ten hours by airship, and Billie had spent most of that time asleep while the mysterious Martha Cottings plotted their course back to the Imperial capital. Billie still didn’t know who the woman was, but she had at least learned what had happened while she’d been knocked out in the Void hollow.

  Her plan had worked—and she had Severin to thank for that. The Leviathan boss had flown the airship straight into the Void Shadow’s body, and the extra load of Void stone had been enough to cause an explosion that had destroyed the creature entirely, shattering it into tons of black mineral fragments. Billie’s luck had held out—the shockwave of the explosion had blown her to safety by the prefab huts, which was where Cottings had found her. While the Leviathan Company army had been all but wiped out in the battle—and the subsequent explosion—their entire force had not been present at the camp. Indeed, the remainder of the army, along with their reserve fleet of airships, had already been on their way back into the Hollow from the House of the Fourth Chair, under the command of Severin’s second, Uvanov.

  But the plan had worked. The Void Shadow was destroyed, and the Void mine had collapsed, sealing the breach and stabilizing the tenuous link between the world and the Void.

  It was true that there was still much to be done. It had only been a day, but Billie felt buoyed by developments. Perhaps there was a way to close the rifts, to stabilize the world? She knew she had a lot to talk about with Dribner, and—

  “I thought I would find you here.”

  Billie opened her eye as Empress Emily Kaldwin entered the private garden overlooking the river. The Empress sat on the marble bench beside her old friend.