by Tom Lloyd
‘I withdraw in favour of my aligned among your kind. They shall bring light to this District in my place and fill every shadow.’
‘And the fox-spirits? The people are frightened; they’ll attack any demons they see.’
‘My chosen shall bring light in its myriad forms. My light shall bring peace.’
Enchei bowed a little lower, obviously realising that was as much of an answer as he was going to get. ‘Then we will go to stop the summoner.’
‘You carry a weapon of Dragons. You go to preserve their name of power.’
The former Asteren blinked and looked back at his comrades. The Apkai was right – any indication of House Dragon continuing the fight would lessen their humiliation, and even the greatest mortal power in the world would not object to impersonation there. ‘Mere chance, great one, but I’ll not complain when fortune favours me.’
‘This one I claim as my own,’ the Apkei continued. ‘His mind is like none of my aligned.’
‘Can … can he survive that?’ Kesh asked. ‘That woman the Terim was using – she looked half dead even before we shot her.’
‘Her mind was a door ajar. This one has been prepared and a fragment of my greater self can serve so close to my sancta.’
Narin opened his mouth to argue that they were casually selling Irato’s mind to a demon, but the words died in his throat. None of them had a choice in the matter, he realised – quite aside from the fact Irato had already been claimed by its lesser kin, the fox-spirits. Their opinion wouldn’t sway a godlike being that had found Irato a useful tool, and what did it change? They could do nothing to stop it and perhaps Irato was actually safer in the control of something so powerful.
As they watched, the light dimmed and Irato returned to the ground. The Apkai withdrew in streams of twisting light, surging back to the well mouth to disappear underground once more. Abruptly, the former goshe crashed to his hands and knees, panting madly, while Enchei and Kesh ran over to him.
‘Irato – can you hear us?’
Narin followed Kesh, watching warily as she hauled the big man upright. As she did so, Kesh gave a gasp. While the alarmed expression on his face showed that Irato was back in control of his body, his eyes continued to glow.
‘Shitting Gods,’ Irato croaked. ‘Am I just a plaything now?’
Enchei laughed and clapped a hand on the man’s shoulder, almost knocking the wavering Irato back down. ‘We all are, my friend, there’s nothing new here.’
Kesh slipped one of Irato’s arms over her shoulders and stood, hauling him up and holding him steady until he seemed able to stand by himself again. It took him a while, his enormous strength nothing without control over his drunken limbs, but eventually he stood upright and looked around. The lambent shine in his eyes remained as his cheek and brow twitched – the man’s fractured soul struggling to remember emotions and expressions with a demon-fragment woven through it.
‘You’re good?’
‘I, ah – I can walk at least,’ Irato said, taking deep breaths to steady himself. ‘What happens when the demon wants to go in a different direction, though?’
‘I think we’ve just seen what happens when the demon wants out to play,’ Narin muttered. ‘When it happens, I reckon we’re the ones who need to look out.’
Irato nodded stiffly. ‘It doesn’t care for any of us. I can feel its rage. But it sees this as a mortal concern; it’ll allow us a chance to end things before it tears the city apart.’
‘So what now?’ Enay demanded from Narin’s left. She held the Stone Dragon’s lance casually, despite its bulk, and kept her eyes firmly on Irato.
‘We trust the Apkai,’ Kesh said. ‘We leave the hellhounds in Dragon District to its followers and go find the summoner. Even if they can’t stop the hellhounds they’ll slow them at least, distract them. It should buy us time.’
Enay scowled and gestured to the city around them. ‘Where exactly? Irato – the god-fragment inside you giving any clues?’
‘It doesn’t need to,’ Narin said suddenly. ‘I know where they’ll be.’
‘What? When did you work that out?’
He shrugged. ‘Just now. That demon, the Terim, that’s not something you can easily bring into this world, right?’
‘Aye, maybe an Astaren could manage it, but some mercenary summoner who’s already dragging a pack of hellhounds too? Not alone – you’re right, this is a bigger job than we’d realised before.’
‘The shrines Rhe and I went to in Iron District, the priests or whatever they were there. They said the same thing, that it was hard enough to bring in a couple of hellhounds and control them.’
‘Shrines?’ Enchei mused. ‘I see what you’re getting at.’
‘What?’ Kesh exclaimed. ‘Those priests are actually involved? How can you trust anything they’ve said, then?’
‘Chances are they weren’t,’ Enchei said. ‘Gods, it has to be!’
‘What?’ Narin and Kesh said together.
‘Shrines and priests dedicated to these hellhounds and their kin,’ Enchei explained. ‘All that’s easy enough to turn to a different purpose if you know what you’re about. Oh seven hells, that explains it.’
Seeing the faces of his friends he raised his hands to ward off their questions and explained. ‘You come to this city to hunt someone like me, you’re going to come into conflict with House Dragon, right? To risk doing that, you need to get some protection and your first stop’s the hegemony that would already be at war with Dragon if it hadn’t been for the goshe affair distracting folk. So you find a friend in House Eagle and they might have a few suggestions that serve their cause as the price of protection.
‘I’d guessed something along those lines, but this part the Gealann simply don’t have the power for. Their summoner’s strong, but not strong enough to do all this. House Eagle, on the other hand, they’ve got Mindwalkers among their Astaren – you get one of them in the head of the high priest – the Kobelt did you say? – right, in the Kobelt’s head and use him to turn those shrines into a summoning circle instead.
‘The city fills with demons and House Eagle get everything they want. Most likely this’s their way of recruiting allies for the coming war, keeping their hands clean in the process. There’s no evidence to present to the Emperor and turn opinion in the other direction, just some rogue mercenaries and a shameful loss of control from the Imperial City’s protectors.’
‘So we have to kill these priests? Priests whose minds have been stolen by Astaren? Novices too? This just gets worse and worse,’ Kesh groaned.
‘You want to walk away, you’ve every right,’ Enchei said. ‘This ain’t your fight.’ He pointed to his two girls. ‘I’ve got my orders, however – these two’ve been living off credit extended from a man who once owed me. This is the price of getting my girls back, far as I’m concerned, and I’ll walk into that demon’s jaws if I have to. Don’t think Irato’s got much choice at this point either, but Narin, Kesh, Myken – you three should walk away now.’
Kesh jabbed a finger in the man’s chest. ‘We’ve had this conversation before, remember, old man? Next time you tell me to walk away I’m going to cut one of your balls off, understand?’
Enchei grinned and looked askance at Narin. The Investigator shrugged. ‘What she said.’
At that, Myken took a step forward and shouldered her musket. ‘I am warrior caste,’ she said simply.
‘You lot’ll be the death of me,’ he sighed theatrically.
‘Really?’ Kesh said, pointing at the charred corpse of the Banshee. ‘My money’s on one of them.’
‘Aye, you could be right,’ Enchei said with a nod. ‘Iron District it is, then. It’s a long walk, mind. Normally I’d say we steal a boat and skirt the Imperial Island – given Irato’s going to be scaring off any hungry demon we might meet on the Crescent – but that’d mean going into high-caste parts of Dragon.’
His face hardened. ‘Just remember it’ll only get worse from here on
. There’s more’n a few nasty tricks waiting for us at these shrines, assuming Narin’s right and I reckon he is. The Apkai mightn’t have noticed it happen, given the shrines’ll stink of hellhounds anyway. It’s not just hellhounds we’ll find there, though – you come across a Ghost or Leviathan and there’s a good chance they’ll be Astaren, so keep clear or run away. Beyond that, stick together and watch your backs.’
CHAPTER 35
They skirted Dragon District until they reached the Public Thoroughfare that led up through the district to the Tier Bridge. The skeletal fingers of birch trees fractured the mist that filled the city’s veins, jagged shapes against the star-lit air. Narin felt the cold grow sharp on his skin as the clouds slowly splintered and the Gods were revealed alongside a sullen, yellowed moon. The Order of Jester was past zenith now, Lord Cripple trailing in the wake of his fellow Ascendants across the sky.
The Investigator looked around at his comrades for the fight to come. Enay and Maiss led the way, Enchei behind them, flanked by Kesh and Myken, while Irato and he himself took up the rear.
Some would say that was a message from the Gods, he thought to himself. That we’ve fallen into something like the shape of a divine Order. Or is that just the natural order of things? The Empire teaches its children obedience with every breath, to conform to its structure. Are we all slaves to that?
Seven of us; six Gods and a Dark Week where one might yet be raised. Which means Enchei’s playing the heartless bastard, Lady Jester, and no one’s surprised there. He checked the stars again, reminding himself of the Order’s positions. Lady Dancer leads the way – well that’s Enay, ready with her lance. Maiss is Lady Spy, that makes Myken the Lord Duellist and Kesh the Lady Chance. Irato, who may or may not be there inside his own mind, is the Dark Week.
He sighed inwardly. And that makes me Lord Cripple.
Unprompted, he heard his mother’s voice in his mind – a memory of when he was very young, several years before he was orphaned into the Lawbringers. She had told him the tale of Cripple and the Three Knights whenever he’d come home bruised and battered by older boys in the neighbourhood, which had been often enough. That memory, along with the story’s message of forbearance and forgiveness, had served him through the noviciate dormitories and beyond.
When Narin had allowed himself to be riled by high-caste peers, he’d always felt more guilty for failing his mother than any shame at acting above his station. As they walked on and the smooth arcs of the Tier Bridge began to emerge from the mist, Narin again felt that guilt in his heart – a nebulous worry that there was a lesson he’d failed to heed.
They travelled to kill the aggressors, the bullies of this adult life – hardly in the spirit of gentle Lord Cripple. But the stories she’d told him had been done in front of a wall hanging that bore the oaths of the Lawbringers. Those oaths had been even more of a constant in his life, a truth he felt to his very core, so with a silent apology to the Ascendant God above, Narin trudged on in the wake of his fellows.
The jangle of thoughts and doubt he kept deep inside, hoping the others would not read it in his face and wondering if they felt them also. Kesh perhaps, but since they’d first met Narin had admired her sense and pragmatism. With the violence Enchei had done, it was hard to tell where the scars ended and the man began – and that went more than doubly so for Irato. But Kesh had heart coupled with a will and purpose Narin knew he’d not been born with, one he was still learning to put on with his Investigator’s jacket.
On impulse he reached out and quickly squeezed Kesh’s hand. She glanced back, startled for a moment before seeing something in his face that made her understand. Offering him a smile, she squeezed back then returned to the mission at hand. Irato noticed the movement and shot them a blank look – not protective, as he often looked towards Kesh, or slow to comprehend as his damaged mind sometime was. The man’s expression was far from human, the shine in his eyes making Narin shiver and look away.
As they reached the deserted market that flanked this end of the bridge, they stopped at the sight of a makeshift column of men and women coming the other way, ghostly in the whites and greys of their Lawbringer ranks.
There were a good hundred or more, by Narin’s judgement, and more than a few of his friends were within those ranks. It was a forest of faces he knew and he felt a wrench of guilt in his chest at not being among them. He wore his heavy grey coat, but the clothes and weapons underneath were more mercenary than Investigator.
It was only belatedly that he felt the shame of his demotion – of the gossip that would have raced through the Palace of Law. Such an occurrence was rare, still more so given the circumstances. In the dark it was hard to gauge the expressions of most, but he saw stony disapproval on more than a few faces.
At their fore was Law Master Sheven, even broader than usual in a thick white coat, his bald head covered against the cold. Narin looked up and down the column as his small group moved aside to let them pass – he couldn’t see Rhe. What was in evidence, however, was fire and light, none of the Lawbringers or Investigators walking with their usual weapons in hand. Instead they carried lamps and makeshift torches, staves with oil- and tar-soaked rags wrapped around one end.
‘Law Master,’ Narin called, bowing low to the senior Lawbringer.
Sheven nodded at him and raised a hand for the column to halt. ‘Investigator Narin, why am I not surprised to see you here?’
Narin ducked his head. ‘Because suspended or not, I am still one of the Lawbringers. I cannot stand aside while others die on our streets.’
‘Good.’ Sheven cocked his head at Narin’s companions. ‘But where are you going? We heard only that Dragon District was assailed.’
‘As have we, but … ah, Lawbringer Rhe isn’t with you?’
‘So that’s it,’ Sheven said. ‘No, he is not – and I’d wager you know where he’s going. He may not welcome your help, however. You have disappointed him.’
Narin shook his head. ‘Lawbringer Rhe isn’t a man to let his own disappointment incur casualties. He’ll want us to follow.’
‘Perhaps, perhaps not. He’s taken all the high-caste Lawbringers and sent word for our new Imperial-caste allies, Prince Kashte and his warrior cousins.’
‘Summoned Kashte, eh?’ Enchei mused behind Narin.
The Investigator understood the man’s tone, but pressed on, knowing there was more he needed to say to Law Master Sheven.
‘Who suggested the torches, sir?’
Sheven frowned at him. ‘Lawbringer Rhe. Is there a problem?’
‘No,’ Narin said with a shake of the head. ‘He’s right. We, ah, you won’t be alone in driving these demons out. There are trigger-happy warriors out on the streets, but also some sort of pagan cult. There’s no time to explain all about them, but their leader’s probably a woman called Samaleen – Rhe and I met her a few days ago in our investigation. They’re enemies of the hellhounds; I think they’ll have some sort of magic to ward them off with.’
‘Some sort of civilian militia?’ Sheven growled. ‘Armed Imperial castes is one thing, but—’
‘Not a militia, but shamans and other occultists – not the same as this summoner, but they know more about demons than we do. Please, sir, listen to them if you come across them and don’t let anyone go looking for a fight.’ Narin glanced back at Enchei. ‘I think I’m right that the torches can hurt a hellhound and can drive them off, but I don’t think that’ll be the same as being able to kill them. Don’t let anyone go looking for a fight or we’ll have even more dead on our hands.’
‘How bad is it here?’
Narin looked helpless. ‘We’ve barely gone into the district, we skirted around when we saw how bad it was. There are … things, worse than hellhounds – much worse. You can’t fight them. We barely got away and we had help.’
‘Help?’
The Investigator was silent for a moment, trying to work out how to explain without prompting more questions. Law Master Sheven kn
ew much about what had happened during the Moon’s Artifice affair, but he was a member of the Vanguard Council and they’d been careful to hide some details. Enchei was, to him, just an experienced ex-soldier and Narin had been rescued with the help of Lord Shield. Though Narin was sure they could trust Sheven, bringing in talk of demon princes and Astaren helped no one.
‘The fox-spirits you saw on the island – they helped us escape. Think of them as the local spirits of the city. The hellhounds are invading their home ground.’
‘And we’re to ally ourselves with shamans who worship them?’ Sheven growled, his expression reminding Narin that the Law Master had been born into the religious caste.
‘Doesn’t order take priority, sir? Stopping the deaths on our streets?’
‘At what cost? Our souls?’ Sheven snapped.
‘The oaths care nothing for our souls,’ Narin said as meekly as he could manage. ‘Lawbringer Rhe once said that to me.’
Law Master Sheven took a breath as though ready to shout or strike Narin, but he caught himself before anything could happen. ‘The oaths,’ he said slowly. ‘It is true. We serve the Emperor, whose blood is of the divine. Our oaths are our bonds to him.’
Sheven gestured for Narin and his comrades to move on. ‘I’ll not delay you any longer if you go to catch up Rhe.’ He turned to one side. ‘Lawbringer Kohen.’
A large woman broke away from the column, as broad as most men of House Dragon were and taller than most of her compatriots. ‘Law Master,’ she said in the deep, rolling accent of one born in the Dragon homeland rather than the city district.
‘Form them up into their units. I need to address them before we go out into the streets.’
‘Yes, Law Master,’ she said and bowed.
Narin did the same. ‘Thank you, Law Master.’
‘Stop this at the source, Investigator,’ Sheven said sternly. ‘Do not force us to fight these hellhounds all night.’
Narin nodded and wasted no time in setting off, skirting the massed Lawbringers while Kohen started giving orders to a group of designated lieutenants.