by Mark Hayden
I took off the holster and passed it to Xavi. ‘Whatever you do, don’t try to fire it. Now get going.’
They left, and we got our equipment ready. Mina stuck her head into the room and announced that our transport was ready.
‘What do you mean?’ said Lloyd. ‘We’re using my car.’
‘No,’ said Mina. ‘There is too much to carry over the hill. I have called an Uber. He can drop us right outside the mine.’
And when she said we, she meant it literally. There had been a full-on row at Elvenham last night when Mina announced that she was going down the mine with us.
‘Just this once,’ she’d said, after a lot of raised voices. ‘I found that gold, and I will see it through. Don’t worry, I will hide in the corner when they come.’
I’d thought it through for a minute, then I’d said, ‘What about next time?’
‘What next time?’
‘If I stop you this time, you’ll never forgive me. What about next time, though? Next time might be a lot more dangerous. Lloyd won’t be there next time, for certain, and we won’t have home advantage.’
‘Then I promise. It’s not just Clarkes who keep their word.’
I had one last thing to say, ‘What about Saffron? What if your presence puts her at risk?’
Mina had clearly thought of that. ‘She is under your command. I am not. Her safety comes first. You do nothing to save me if she is at risk.’
‘Do you know how hard that is, when I love you so much?’
‘If you truly love me, you will be the officer I want you to be.’
At that point, I had kissed her, and she’d known she was going to get her own way. Once Hannah finds out, and she will, it is possible she may fire me, but Mina had been engaged by the Watch to complete Project Midas, so you could argue she was part of my command. That’s what I’ll tell Hannah, anyway.
Activating the Ancile built into the Anvil was easier said than done. We’d been inside the First Mine for nearly half an hour before I got the hang of it, and even then it was hard to keep up whilst doing anything else. And practising was making my head hurt, a sure sign that it was draining more Lux than I could spare.
‘Try it inside the treasury,’ said Lloyd.
Reluctantly, I moved back into the claustrophobic sauna of the treasury room and brought up the Ancile. That was much easier, but trying to accomplish an ambush in a wide open space was going to be hard, and Saffron had already stripped down to an athletic vest. If we spent too long near the gold, we’d all die of magickal heatstroke before Irina and friends showed up.
Lloyd had assured me he could sense the doors opening, so we waited outside the treasury room. And we waited. Vicky and Xavi could only keep up their act for so long, so the enemy’s window was limited. It was about half an hour’s drive from Flint House to the First Mine, and I’d told Vicky to make her excuses at three thirty. If no one had shown up by four o’clock, the operation was off.
Mina had picked her hiding place inside the treasury room – a wooden shipping crate as tall as her and away in a corner. Lloyd had said that there was an enchanted rock drill inside (who knew such things existed), and that from a distance, it would mask her Ancile.
As well as my row with Mina last night, there had been a lot of activity at Elvenham. Saffron Hawkins won an imaginary award for being the first magickal visitor to say the house was ‘charming’.
‘That means she grew up somewhere even bigger,’ Myfanwy had whispered.
‘From what I hear, bigger isn’t the half of it,’ added Vicky.
Saffron got on much better with Erin than she did with anyone else, including Xavi; Vicky said that they hadn’t mixed much at Salomon’s House when they were students. Xavi was earnest, had a noticeable Yorkshire accent and also had mundane parents. He’d grown up in a very different world to Saffron.
At 14:45, Mina stopped making funny faces and said that she couldn’t hold it any longer, and that she was off to the bathroom. She left via the official route, and had been gone for about five minutes when I heard a whisper in the distance.
I looked up, but Lloyd was already on his feet. ‘The doors. They’re here.’
‘You felt something,’ said Saffron. ‘I saw it in your face.’
That was interesting, but not important. We had about two minutes to get into position, and Mina was out there. On her own.
I don’t pray to Odin. If something goes well, I give thanks, but I don’t pray in advance. If Mina managed to dodge the invaders, I would owe the Allfather big time. We entered the treasury, and Lloyd closed the doors from the inside.
‘Could it be someone else?’ I asked as we retreated behind the shield covering the gold storage area.
‘Unlikely,’ said Lloyd. ‘It’s no one’s anniversary today, and visits to the mine are normally made in the evenings. Unless it’s business.’
We took up positions behind the wall, Saffron and I to the left, Lloyd to the right. And then we waited again.
‘Where are they?’ whispered Saffron. ‘Shouldn’t they be in a hurry?’
‘They’ll be here when they’re ready.’
They weren’t ready for another three slow, agonising minutes. Saffron kept fidgeting, moving her ponytail, wiping her hands on her leggings, shuffling her feet. It was really irritating. I was on the point of telling her to stand still when there was a slight change of pressure in the air. I held up my hand and braced myself.
The whole treasury room had a slight hum, and the air was so heavy that ordinary footsteps were hard to hear, but there was no mistaking the voices.
‘Slater, you get the pallet truck, I’ll get the tongs.’ The voice was male and local. It could only be a Gnome.
Lloyd let out a low moan. Right up till this moment, he’d hoped that Irina would turn up alone, despite all the evidence that at least one Gnome was up to his neck in this.
I counted to three and dropped my hand. We moved round the edge of the shield and took stock.
‘You bastard,’ said Lloyd
The three Gnomes stopped dead in their tracks and backed away. Irina, on guard by the door, moved into the room.
Lloyd was staring at the Gnome in the centre. ‘Our father will be weeping in the cairn,’ said Lloyd. He lifted the great two-headed axe of the Clan Second and pointed at the Gnome. ‘This is my brother. Jackson.’
Saffron had moved beyond me, to my left, to get a clear run at Irina. One of the other Gnomes moved to block her, and then we all stopped.
We’d worked out a negotiating strategy of sorts. None of the Gnomes had attacked anyone that we knew of. Their crimes could be sorted out by the clan, but Irina was heading to the magickal prison at Blackfriars Undercroft.
‘Put down your weapons,’ I said. ‘Surrender yourselves to the clan and to the Watch.’
‘And leave half a million in gold to rot?’ said Jackson Flint. ‘I don’t think so. Why don’t you humans move aside and we’ll be quick about it. And you, Lloyd. We’ll take nothing that belongs to the clan, so there’s no harm, no foul, eh?’
‘It’s not yours to take,’ said Lloyd. ‘It may not belong to the clan, but it’s in our trust. What are you going to do with it, anyway? You’ll be cast out of the clan for what you’ve done.’
‘We’ll go abroad,’ said Jackson. ‘Dig our own First Mine. New mine, new clan.’ He turned to Saffron and me. ‘No one has to die, least of all you two. This isn’t your fight.’
‘That’s what Irina said to Lloyd,’ I responded. ‘He stood by me, and I stand by him. Besides, I’m not leaving without Irina.’
She was in a vulnerable position. She was trapped down here (assuming the Gnomes had closed the doors behind them), and if her allies turned against her…
And then I saw something that gripped my heart in my chest. I choked for half a second. I had to do something, and do it now. I drew the Anvil from its sheath and levelled the point at Irina. I tried gathering Lux from around me and projecting it off the tip of th
e sword towards Irina. I struggled down a breath and put on my parade ground voice. ‘You attacked me. You assaulted an officer of the King’s Watch. You will face justice.’
It sounded awful to me. Cheesier than a Dwarf’s feet. Saffron fidgeted in my peripheral vision. She must have thought I’d gone mad. It worked though.
Irina screamed and collapsed as Mina whacked her from behind with a heavy pewter candlestick, right on the side of her knee joint
Mina was wearing black from head to toe, and I’d seen her creeping up on Irina, hence the cheesy dialogue and the pathetic efforts at magick, just enough to stop Irina feeling Mina’s Ancile.
Jackson and his two friends turned round to look, and do you know what? Not one of them jumped to Irina’s rescue.
Irina was down, but she wasn’t out. She wouldn’t stand on that leg again without surgery, but Mina was in her personal space and Irina could attack with magick. She rolled on to her back and I sensed the prickle of Lux from here.
Mina dropped the candlestick and stamped her foot on Irina’s bad knee. Irina screamed, lost concentration, and Mina pulled an automatic out of her leggings. It was my mundane SIG P226. Well, I wasn’t going to leave her completely defenceless, was I?
She pressed her foot down again on Irina’s leg. That would hurt, but it would guarantee that a shot from the SIG would not be deflected. She levelled the gun at Irina’s chest using a perfect two-handed grip, and Irina got the message.
‘I will shoot.’ Mina barked out the words. ‘I will shoot on three if you do not remove your Artefacts and turn over. One … two …’
‘I surrender,’ said Irina. She lifted her hands, then scrabbled at her neck. She pulled out two chains of Artefacts and used a tiny flare of magick to open the clasps.
Mina lowered her left hand. ‘Place them in my palm.’ She collected the Artefacts and stuffed them into the pocket of her hoodie. She backed off and said, ‘Roll over.’
All this had taken place in seconds, before either party could formulate or execute a plan. I hadn’t taken my eyes off Mina, and I’d been trusting that Saffron and Lloyd would be watching the Gnomes. When Mina went to tie up Irina, I turned my attention back to my opponent.
‘I’ve got what I wanted,’ I said. ‘You can surrender to the clan now, confident that Irina won’t stab you in the back. I have no quarrel with you.’
Jackson shrugged. ‘Slater, you deal with the Weißbrut then help Dixie finish off the Hexe Hure.’
There was still a fair distance between the two sides. The Gnomes stepped back and rearranged themselves. The guy who’d faced me looked very nervous, and had barely taken his eyes off the Anvil. He now faced off against Saffron.
‘What did he call us?’ she said while they moved.
‘He called me a snack. Whitebread. He called you a Witch Whore.’
‘Thought so,’ said Saffron. We’d picked spots with enough room for our weapons and a clear line of retreat. I didn’t want to break formation until we had them on the run, but Saffron started to move towards Dixie.
‘Hawkins! Hold!’ I shouted.
She was too close to the Gnome to look at me without exposing her flank, and I saw her go rigid for a second, then she stepped back. At this point, Jackson had got round to face Lloyd. He reached into his pocket and pulled something out with his fist. He raised his sword, threw some pebbles at Lloyd and charged with a scream. Slater and Dixie did the same, but without the pebbles.
The pebbles were missiles, of course, so Lloyd’s Ancile deflected them. When they hit the ground, or the crates, they exploded like fireworks. At that point I had to focus on Slater.
He was armed with a sword. The Anvil is a longish, straight, cavalry sabre. Slater’s was a modern version of an infantry rapier, shorter and lighter than the Anvil. It also had magick.
The Gnome’s sword flashed and flared, light and flame. I braced myself, and something inside the Anvil answered the attack. Where Slater’s sword flared red, mine sent out a blue tongue of light, and the two cancelled each other. His sword flared deep purple; mine went green. He stopped trying and started sweating.
I was taller than him, and with the Anvil’s length, I hugely outreached him. It was just a question of whether he was any good. He wasn’t bad, but he was no master, as he quickly discovered.
In his shoes, I’d have forced me to keep my sword up. His shoulders were twice my size, and his blade half as heavy. In a stand-off, I couldn’t keep my weapon en garde nearly as long as him, so it was down to me to attack, and he let me.
I feinted twice and parried his counter. I feinted again, and he had to retreat. His foot caught the corner of a pallet and he stumbled. He attacked twice, forcing me back, but I knew what was behind me. The next time I attacked, he looked behind him. Fatal.
He put his blade up to guard his body and left his flank exposed. I took half a step and slashed him. The Anvil has an Eversharp blade. It bit deep, and Slater collapsed in a heap of blood, trying to hold his guts in. I kicked his blade away and turned to look at the others.
Lloyd had his back to the wall shielding the gold. Those explosions had blinded him and he’d backpedaled away. A large axe is not a weapon you can use easily when you’re back’s to the wall, and he was forced to take big swings to keep his brother at bay. Jackson was feinting and probing. Unlike Slater, Jackson had the patience to wait until his opponent tired. I turned to Saffron.
I hadn’t believed it last night when she showed me her weapon of choice: it was a two metre long steel chain with spiked balls at each end. On its own, not a problem, but with her magick and skill, it was a formidable threat.
Dixie was bleeding from deep wounds in his left leg, and had no idea what to do. He was scrabbling around, trying to find cover and keep Saffron at arm’s length. Lloyd could hold his end up for a while, and I started circling to outflank Dixie. They’d moved a long way from their starting point.
I think the Gnome was about to surrender. He’d seen me and tried to take cover behind a large crate. He certainly wouldn’t beat Saffron in a foot race if he tried to flee, and Saffron didn’t let him. She vaulted on to the crate and swung her chain. Bad mistake.
The Gnome dropped his weapon and lunged forward. He grabbed her ankle and pulled. She didn’t stand a chance, and crashed on to the crate. Dixie twisted her ankle so hard that she had to roll with it or have it wrenched off. Gnomes really are that strong.
I was running to help, but Dixie dived on top of her, reaching for her neck.
Saffron had enough chain free to cast a loop, and the air shimmered as she used magick to direct the loop over his head. He caught her throat in those great hands. She pulled on the chain.
There was an audible crack from Dixie’s neck and smoke rose from between their bodies. Half a second later, I caught the whiff of burning flesh. I hauled Dixie’s body off Saffron and she started coughing. She was lucky the Gnome hadn’t broken her neck, but she’d have her first scar.
Mages can draw on Lux stored in Alchemical Gold if it’s been prepared into a suitable Artefact. It’s normal to have a few round your neck. Even I have a couple. Saffron had used so much Lux to move the chain that she’d caused the doodad to heat up enough to melt her vest and burn her skin.
‘Mina! Is Irina secure?’
‘Yes.’
‘Get the water. Saffron needs it.’
Saffron was still struggling for breath and there was panic in her eyes. I ran my fingers under her hair and down her cervical vertebrae. All present and correctly in line. ‘Help’s coming,’ I said.
I headed for Lloyd. I could see that he was tiring, and that Jackson would soon have the advantage. Lloyd saw me coming and grinned. He let his guard slip on his left, and Jackson swung at him.
Lloyd put his prosthetic up and it hit his brother’s sword with a clang of metal and magick. Lloyd had magnetised his tuning fork prosthetic and for half a second it gripped Jackson’s sword, long enough for Lloyd to force it down and move his right foot fo
rward. That gave him enough room behind to put all his strength into an upward swing and take his brother’s head off in one blow.
13 — From the Other Side
Lloyd slumped back against the wall and let his axe slip to the ground. He was neither smiling nor triumphant, and before I got to him, he was already wiping tears from his eyes. I put my hand on his shoulder and he stood up straight to put his good arm round me. ‘Stupid git. He always thought he was cleverer than me. And he was.’ He broke away and wiped his face with his sleeve. ‘Better check that Witch.’ He sniffed and looked left. ‘What happened to Saffron?’
‘Mageburn. Mina’s attending, I’ll check Irina.’
Irina had been watching proceedings as best as she could, with a shattered knee and her hands cable-tied behind her back. She flinched away when I towered over her and lifted my sword. I let it hover in front of her face for just a second before I put it back in the sheath. I was careful of her leg while I checked her bindings and patted her down. I took a phone out of her back pocket and found nothing else. Mina had already moved her bag well out of reach.
Saffron was up on her feet and leaning on Mina, with Lloyd in attendance.
‘Arms up,’ he said. She lifted her arms and he pulled her vest over her head with one hand. He took a small knife out his pocket and, using the prosthetic to generate magick, he did something with the tip of the knife. Saffron bit her lip so hard that it bled and she swayed on her feet. Mina gripped her tighter, and a disk of gold flipped off her chest and landed on the floor with a thud.
‘How’s that?’ said Lloyd.
‘Better,’ said Saffron. ‘By the Goddess, that hurts. Oh that hurts.’
Lloyd nodded to her and backed off. He turned and went looking for Slater who had been alive when I last saw him.
Mina gently let go of her. ‘Do you want me to get you a coat?’
‘Nah, you’re all right,’ said Saffron in a very good impersonation of Vicky. ‘Painkillers would be good, though.’
Mina nodded and went to get the Oxycontin.