A Mage's Gambit: New York Falling (A Malachi English book)

by Andy Hyland

  ‘Sort of. Kind of on my own with the mission planning though. Can’t bring anyone in too deep on it.’

  ‘A rush to suicide then.’

  ‘Not if you came with me.’

  He stopped and span on his heels. I narrowly avoided crashing into him, but Bud wasn’t so quick, and sent me sprawling forward. Bud stood tall but Benny and I were left slapping the dust and grime from our clothes.

  ‘You heard me,’ I said after the silence had dragged on long enough. ‘I don’t believe for a moment you’re just a barman. Not that I’m knocking that, before you get all defensive on me. But come on, you’ve been running this place for how long? You’ve got enough magic in you to reinforce whatever runes you’ve got maintaining the order up there. And you live in the Fades. I could really use your help here – we could really use your help. How about it?’

  ‘Out of the question,’ he mumbled, and pushed past me, heading back to the lift.

  ‘Why the hell not?’ I demanded.

  He span round, jabbing his finger and spitting as he spoke. ‘Neutrality. You can run around having your little adventures and playing whatever games you like, but me and Bud, we live here. This is our home. And it’s safe, and we do a good job, and it’s the one small place in this cursed plane of existence where people can come and get some peace.’

  ‘If you haven’t noticed, it’s all gone to crap out there.’

  ‘And it will fix itself. It always does. And when it’s all gone down and the dust settles, my door will still be open and the beer will flow.’

  ‘Oh really. You think once the Aleph are striding across Manhattan they’ll suddenly have had enough? Or do you think maybe, just maybe, they’ll decide to take everything. Everything. Tell you what, you stay here and do what you want, you sodding coward.’

  That struck a nerve. He crossed the floor with a speed that totally belied his size, and pinned me to the barrels, one arm across my chest and the other fist digging into my throat. His strength was monstrous. And either there was no protective magic going on down here, or it didn’t apply to Benny. ‘Coward? You call me a…coward?’ Everything was turning black and in a few short seconds I’d be out of it.

  ‘Bro.’ Bud laid a massive hand on Benny’s shoulder and shook it gently. ‘Bro.’

  Benny took a deep breath and stepped back, letting me fall to the floor, and stood there panting, staring down at me. ‘I’m sorry. Got carried away there. But this…neutrality isn’t a choice. If I break it, there will be a cost. Maybe not now, or not even this week, but it’ll roll round and we will get hurt. You wouldn’t understand.’

  I got to my knees, still getting my breath back and rubbing at my throat, my voice rasping as I tried to reply. ‘I’ll take your word for that.’

  ‘Bro,’ Bud demanded. Benny turned to him, and Bud pointed down at me. ‘Help. Help. Bro help.’

  ‘We can’t, Bud. We just can’t.’

  ‘Help.’

  ‘Look,’ I said, standing up warily. ‘If you can’t come, then fine. And I apologise for…for what I said. But surely you can give me something? Got any heavy artillery lying around?’

  ‘Help,’ Bud insisted.

  ‘Fine,’ said Benny, throwing up his hands. ‘But this doesn’t go any further, you get me?’ He glanced around, as if there was someone else down there that could possibly be watching us, and headed for the very end of the cave, where he pulled out the last barrel but one. A small trap door lay underneath, which he opened and disappeared down, his head bobbing up a minute later. ‘Here,’ he said, handing me a small package wrapped in thick black cloth. ‘Now pay attention, and I’ll explain.’

  ‘Well?’ Becky demanded back up in the bar. ‘Where did you get to? I checked the back room.’

  ‘Went a bit further than that. Don’t ask. I don’t think either us will be allowed back there again soon. What did you find out?’

  ‘Same story everywhere, from those that are prepared to talk. Rarkshah in ruins, Sitri’s gone ape, not a safe place to be. Best avoided.’

  ‘Yeah, about that.’

  ‘Don’t kid about it. You get anything good from Benny?’

  ‘Something that might come in useful. We’ve got to get close enough to Edwin Monk for it to be of any use, though. Could be a challenge.’

  ‘You know, our chances of getting to him in time are fairly slim.’

  ‘Been thinking about that, and I reckon even with a few delays we’ve got a good chance. You know how travel works in the Fades – it’s a matter of will more than muscle – a matter of desiring to get somewhere.’

  ‘Yeah, and Monk and the rest of Carafax are going to be really keen to get to wherever they’re going to make the sacrifice. So how are you going to beat them?’

  ‘Because they’re dragging someone with them that really doesn’t want to go, aren’t they?’

  ‘They are?’ Becky looked blank, before she caught on. ‘Ah, Julie.’

  ‘Yeah,’ I said, staring at her hard. ‘Julie. Right.’

  ‘Sorry. Don’t know where my head’s at these days. That statue to the skull must have taken more out of me than I thought.’

  ‘No problem. Anyway, we’ve got to get going.’

  ‘To?’

  ‘Rarkshah. Don’t look like that. Sitri’s as weak as he’s ever been – well, nearly. As weak as he’s been for quite some time, anyway. If he tries something we’ll deal with it, but I’ve got a feeling he’s going to be prepared to talk this time.’

  ‘If you fail, he gets you for eternity. You’ve remembered that, right?’

  ‘Yeah, but someone’s blown his home apart, by the sound of it. This is one of the very few occasions when I’m not the person he’s most pissed off at. Might as well make the most of it while we can. Come on, let’s head.’

  ‘Ahem,’ said Benny from the bar. ‘If you’re dead set on heading to Rarkshah, then you might find it easier going out the back door.’

  The back door took some getting to. A maze of oak-panelled hallways, carpeted in green, with paintings of lush British landscapes adorning the walls. Finally, we came to an old stone kitchen, where a grimy sink and rusted knives suggesting a long period of disuse. The far wall was taken up by two large cupboards, and nestled between them was a door, almost an exact replica of the one that stood out front in the street. I peered at it closely. Same scratches. Same peel of paint in the top corner. It was the same bloody door, surely. ‘Best not to think about it,’ Benny advised. ‘Does things to your head. Anyway, this is it. Might come as a bit of a shock to you, but good luck, and we’ll have a beer if you get back. When you get back, I mean.’

  ‘Thanks for the vote of confidence,’ said Becky without enthusiasm.

  ‘Thanks,’ I repeated. ‘And about earlier…’

  ‘Least said, soonest forgotten. Travel well, my friend.’

  Chapter twenty-four

  The door closed behind us and we found ourselves staring at another bar. This one was about as far from Benny’s as you were going to get. Simple trestle tables, scarred from not only general use, but also years of violence, were upturned in the centre of the bare stone room. What stools remained were pushed to the side, the rest lying splintered where they’d fallen. Instead of a roof above, there was only a large stretched piece of what looked like canvas, fluttering in a whistling wind. The place was deserted. Deserted by the living, anyway – the bodies of a few minor demons hung from the walls, most of them eviscerated, their bowels hanging loosely down to their feet.

  ‘What is this, the anti-Benny’s?’ Becky asked.

  I had a slight suspicion, but the only way to confirm anything was going to be to open the flap of material that flapped in the breeze across the room from us, and which was all that served as a door to the place. The stench of the place was overwhelming, coming from putrefying organs that had no business being outside of torsos. Sticking my head around the entrance, I gave the area outside a quick scan and pulled it back in to report. ‘Yeah, so it turn
s out that Benny’s back door is in Rarkshah. Enterprising little bloke, full of surprises. Take a look.’

  Becky did so, and her head popped back in, as surprised as I’d been. ‘Well who’d have thunk it? Is he playing both sides here?’

  ‘Neutrality, I’d guess. He’s never refused to serve the hellkind. If there’s money to be made by having a branch here, then why not, I suppose. Not as nice as our joint, but if it keeps the less desirable elements drinking here instead of there, I’m all for it. Looks like things can get as violent as the drinkers want.’

  ‘So what now?’

  I nodded to a couple of bodies lying in the corner. ‘Those guys don’t need their robes anymore. Let’s liberate them.’

  The bodies belonged to Mishnak demons, just over human height and gangly with it. Puncture marks from knives or swords were all over the chests and arm areas, but since the robes wrapped round us two or three times these were hidden fairly quickly. Not that having them being visible would have created too many problems. To cover up our human scent we took the small precaution of dipping our hands in spilled demon guts and rubbing the treacle-like blood over our arms, with a bit more on the outside of the robes for good measure. ‘What do you think?’ asked Becky, giving a quick twirl.

  ‘You’ve looked better.’

  ‘I’ve smelt better. It’s going to take weeks to get this out of my hair when we get back. Mind you, I’ll be so thankful we got back that I won’t be complaining too much.’

  ‘Now that we’re suitably attired, let’s go check out the local scene in Rarkshah lately.’

  The bar was somewhere between the fringes and the central area near the palace. Not the busiest of places, but it should have had some activity, some trade going on in the shop stalls across the way, or fights going on in the public square down to our right. Instead it was deserted. The wind, stiffer out here, blew up small clouds of red dust that billowed and tumbled across the streets.

  ‘Everyone left? It’s all like this?’

  ‘If only that were true.’ I looked up and down the street. ‘Fortress is that way,’ I nodded to the right. ‘Unless Sitri’s decided to go live in the suburbs, that’s where we’re going to find him.’

  ‘Yeah, because finding a psycho demon with insecurity issues who’s lost everything is really going to be a good thing for us.’

  With the hoods of the robes pulled down over our faces, we headed up street after empty street, the tips of the bone-white fortress looming over the roofs of the increasingly-tall structures. A few bodies lay in the dirt, some mangled, others more or less whole. The robe was slightly long on me, but with Becky’s short stature it dragged along behind her like a bizarre bridal train made of grey rags.

  ‘What do you think happened here?’

  ‘Whole of Rarkshah got up and left, I guess. I’m wondering where they went. Some headed for Benny’s, but that leaves thousands that didn’t. Reckon more than a few slid to Earth. Could have some interesting times when we get back. Stacey’ll be the least of our worries.’

  ‘Great. Something to look forward to.’

  We reached the center, the great open area before the palace. When we last came it was filled with soldier demons resplendent in armour, posturing and fighting, laughing and drinking. The finer merchants were peddling their wares to the hellkind who had the money to spare and didn’t mind flashing it around. Now it was all empty. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a scuttling off to the side.

  ‘You see that?’ Becky asked.

  I nodded. ‘Jorogumo. One of the last scouts. Figures. If their hunt-master is still around then they’ll carry on following orders.’

  ‘So this place isn’t completely empty, then.’

  ‘Not completely, but you can see why they nearly all fled.’

  The white fortress of Rarkshah stood in front of us, its breadth stretching from left to right across our field of vision, intimidating and imposing. Except now it looked like someone had taken the world’s largest cannon and shot it through the center of the place. A great, still-smoking hole cut through bone and rock and anything else that had been in the way, leaving us free to see right through to the far side, where the ground lay scorched. Whatever had done this hadn’t hung around, but simply continued on its merry way in a dead straight line.

  ‘Edwin Monk did this?’ Becky whispered, almost in awe.

  ‘Not personally, I’d guess. I think what we’re seeing here the bridge between earth and hell ploughing through the Fades. Once it connects fully it’ll blow the place apart. This is the beginning.’

  ‘Damn. Hey, looks like we’ve finally got company.’

  They didn’t parade or strut anymore. Sitri’s soldiers and scouts instead crept, scuttled and shuffled out of cover on all sides, warily moving forward until we were surrounded. Things place must be bad. We were clearly no threat, and there were only two of us. On any normal day any one of these minions would have had no problem in coming right up and barking orders into our faces. ‘Who goes there?’ shouted a voice from behind us. So no clear leader either. Nobody who was going to step forward and take charge. That made things even easier.

  I reached inside the robes and drew out Simeon’s katana. Well, it was in the cupboard, lying there. And no disrespect to the dead, but Simeon wasn’t going to be using it any time soon. Some swords catch the light. This one caught the night. Runes glimmered red, shifting and fading along the blade. Suddenly I felt the tension leave me in a wave. Up until that point I hadn’t even realized how tightly wound I was.

  The demons directly in front of us stepped back a few paces. One actually took a knee and bowed his head. I pulled the hood of the robe low again, not that it mattered much anyway. The sword they recognized, but apparently to most who live in the Fades, not venturing as far as Earth, humans all look the same. Still, not a risk I was willing to take.

  I took a deep breath and threw as much authority into my voice as I could muster. ‘Take us to Sitri. Now.’

  ‘My Lord Keeper,’ one of them stammered – a chunky four-armed guard off to the left, ‘it may not be the best time to see Lord Sitri. He is…in an ill humour. Only his closest advisors are allowed near.’

  I twisted the sword slightly. All eyes followed it. ‘I’m sorry. Did I not make myself clear? I told you to take us to Sitri. It was not a request.’ For a moment it hung in the balance. Vampire Lord with a known demon-killing sword on the one hand, and on the other a demonic despot who was unstable even at the very best of times. ‘Look, let me clarify,’ I added. ‘Sitri may kill you. I, on the other hand, will kill you. Play the odds.’

  After some muttering and glancing round, a consensus was reached and a gangrel scout with a wounded Jorogumo at his side beckoned us forward. I turned my head slowly to the left and then to the right, seeing the fear strike each of them as my gaze turned their way. Completely unnecessary but damn good fun. Then we followed our guide and went to see the boss.

  ‘When did this happen?’ Becky asked as we made our way through the gigantic hole in the front of the building. Snapped bones jutted out of the edges of the affected zone, and even now rocks from the higher areas teetered uncertainly. At least one careless walker had fallen foul of the dropping stonework – a single foot stuck out from beneath a piece of masonry.

  The scout looked round, the scars on his face drawing tight as he tensed. Obviously hadn’t been expecting a woman’s voice. I pointed the katana at him, and he nodded. ‘Hours ago. No more. The destruction, it was…we’ve not seen its like. Many fell. The rest fled. Sitri brands them all cowards, but…maybe they had more sense than the rest of us.’

  ‘Rarkshah is emptied.’

  ‘Rarkshah is dead,’ he spat.

  ‘Who did it?’ I demanded. ‘What army strode through here like Sitri was nothing? What weapon of devastation did they use?’ Grand terms, and I’d already half-guessed the answer, but better to hear it from the horse’s mouth.

  The scout looked around carefully before
stopping and leaning close to answer, his voice low. ‘There was no army, no weapon. A blast of light – intense, that lit up the Fades for fathoms. Many were blinded. It appeared out of nowhere and was gone as suddenly. When it left,’ he gestured around, ‘there was this.’

  ‘And that was it?’

  He shook his head. ‘A small group of humans, led by a walking corpse. They came after the light, and walked through the palace. Slowly, no rush. Three guards charged at them, but their leader – the corpse-looking one, swatted them away. Vaporized them. Nothing can stand against whatever they have.’ He was hissing now. ‘Nothing. I’ll take you to Sitri, yes. And then if I make it out alive I’m gone from here. I’ve been an idiot to stay as long as I have.’

  ‘Why haven’t you left before now?’ Beck asked.

  A sly smile crept onto his face. ‘And miss seeing the old fool like this? Not likely. Come.’

  The blast had taken out what was once the throne room and main audience chamber. We climbed and crouched and manoeuvred past the ruined fragments and made our way round to a previously little-used wing. ‘I’m also looking for a guy called Caleb,’ I said. ‘He was here the last time I came. Any idea where I can find him?’

  ‘He left of his own accord days ago,’ the scout said as he lifted a fallen beam for us to duck under. ‘I doubt he’ll be back now. Why would he bother?’

  That was a shame. He would have been a useful man to have around where we were going, and I was running low on good news. ‘Anyone who can contact him?’ I asked, but the scout grunted and moved on.

  Sitri was holding court in what looked like it had once been a dining room or mess hall for the slightly more privileged among his ranks. The tables had been pushed to one end of the room, and a large oak chair sat precariously atop a makeshift raised section made of planks and other assorted rubble.