Stranger of Tempest: Book One of The God Fragments (6 page)

Lynx wrenched himself around, trying to pull his mage-gun from the holster down his back. In the cramped hall he caught an arm instead, then someone else fetched him a meaty thump in the side and pitched him into the wall. A pale lance of fog erupted from the wall and zipped past his widening eyes. He flinched back and hauled his gun free, the weapon already loaded. On one knee he aimed out of the door but he couldn’t pick a target in the gloom beyond.

More gunshots and swearing filled the room. Anatin yelled, Safir cursed in his own language – then the madwoman, Toil, began to cackle with laughter.

‘The shitsticks’re you laughing at?’ growled someone behind Lynx.

‘Less quiet now!’ Toil said, her face shining with animation. ‘More fun this way.’

‘Only fun when we’re not the ones trapped like rats!’

‘Fucking shoot back then!’

Crouched nearest the door, Anatin pulled a mage-pistol and aimed. The confined room shook with the detonation, a hammer blow against Lynx’s ears.

‘Spark ’em!’ Anatin roared.

Teshen jumped forward, mage-gun at his shoulder. The distinctive whip-crack of lightning lashed at Lynx’s ears as the man fired and a bright flare of light erupted from the muzzle. Screams came from the street beyond as the savage hiss of the sparker grabbed those beyond in its teeth. More icers smashed their way through the outer wall in response, but fewer than the first volley.

‘Out!’ Anatin ordered and Reft barrelled his way forward, gun in one hand and a hatchet in the other.

Lynx followed, weapon ready, as Safir fired past the pale giant and Toil scooped up Tyn’s gun. The assassin then dragged Tyn’s cartridge case over what remained of the woman’s head while the rest clattered out.

There was a mess of bodies in the street, one almost torn apart by the sparker and three others bloodied and writhing. Lynx searched for a target but glimpsed only the black and white livery of a Knight-Charnel scurrying away around the corner.

‘Blackest hells, we got more Charnelers here,’ he hissed. ‘Looks like they’re falling back.’

‘Friends o’ yours?’ Toil said.

‘How’d they find us?’ Anatin shook his head. ‘No – doesn’t matter. We move, head for the gate.’

‘Got Tyn’s patch,’ Olut announced, brandishing a square of cloth. In the pale light of the Skyriver, Lynx could just make out the depiction it bore. Jester of Snow.

Never a joke from her
, he thought in a moment of reflection,
just the flame-burn that gave her half a smile.

‘Olut, Lynx, Safir, watch our backs. Teshen and Reft, lead the way.’

As the pair set off right down the street, Lynx automatically counted the rest of the group, checking there was no one left inside. Nine again, one added and one lost. Not far away was the corpse of the Princip, face down and still on the cobbled ground. The near-side leg and arm were both at unnatural angles, a black pool of blood forming around the mess of his head. In the room behind, Tyn’s ruined face was still half-frozen, perfectly white around the coin-sized hole in her cheek and frost in what was left of her hair.

‘Load sparkers,’ Olut reminded the two remaining with her as the rest set off. She shoved a cartridge into the breech of her own weapon. If they did have a squad of Knights-Charnel in pursuit, their best chance was outgunning them. The soldiers would only be carrying icers for fear of collateral damage to the city.

Lynx replaced his cartridge and slapped his gun’s breech closed as they set off, keeping up as best they could while watching behind the group. The empty street echoed with the sound of their boots. It sounded dull after the thunderous gunfire, but was more than enough to make pursuit simple. The houses were dark, but he glimpsed faces at the windows – fearful merchants peeking past their curtains.

They turned the corner and entered a wide avenue of tall three- and four-storey houses. Sandstone walls and pale brick fascias loomed on either side, shuttered shopfronts hid in the shadows of awnings. The street ran straight for fifty yards towards a square colonnade, in the shadows of which Kas waited with the horses. Safir held back, waiting at the corner to spy for pursuit while the remaining mercenaries scurried towards their horses.

Two figures staggered out from an alley and the whole group slewed right, guns coming up like a disciplined unit before one of the drunks yelped and fell backwards. The other stared open-mouthed at the mercenaries then turned tail and fled, leaving his friend on the floor, but before that one could move they had set off again. Just as they reached the alleyway a hiss cut through the night, then the thump of Safir’s boots and flutter of his long kilt as he sprinted to catch them up.

‘More Charnelers,’ the man spat as he reached them. ‘Five or six at least.’

‘Ulfer’s crumpled horn – a whole squad?’ Anatin shot Lynx a dark look. ‘Sure you didn’t meet any trouble today?’

‘None,’ Lynx said calmly, ‘and I checked for a tail before I got back. This ain’t me.’

‘In case none of you noticed,’ Toil broke in with a fierce grin, ‘tonight’s all about me.’

‘This is your doing?’

‘Dumbshit mercs,’ she muttered. ‘You think I couldn’t get out of there by myself if it was just the Princip and his guards? The man was negotiating with the Orders, expanding their numbers in the city to smooth over any obstacles to his control of the Council of the Assayed. There’re patrols all over the city, slowly extending their grip.’

‘Expanding their numbers?’

‘They’ve more’n three times the soldiers than the Assayers. Soon he’ll have the army he needs.’

That stopped Anatin. ‘An army ready to take over? And we just tweaked the Lord-Errant’s beard? Oh, bloody thanks for not telling me that before.’

Toil rolled her eyes as he mounted hurriedly. ‘Shattered gods, man! Not all of ’em will be ready to ride out in the middle of the night.’

‘Fuck does that matter?’ Anatin snapped, sawing at the reins of his horse as he manoeuvred it around. ‘They’ll have full squadrons of cavalry, dragoons too most likely – most of our company are on foot! They left the city yesterday; it’ll take no more’n a day before they’re caught.’

‘We should get a head start then.’ Still she didn’t mount, instead kneeling beside one of the pillars.

The mercenaries watched her for a moment then Teshen and Lynx slipped from their horses too and loaded icers. The ice-bolts had far better range and accuracy than sparkers, for all the chaos and destruction those could wreak. If they outnumbered the pursuing Charnelers, felling one or two might see them off. Before their pursuers could appear, though, a chunk of stone burst off the pillar above Toil’s head in a white cloud. More gunshots rang out and the mercenaries ducked as icers whistled past all too close.

‘Shit, another patrol!’

Lynx swung around left, his aim drawn by the white muzzle-flash of their attackers. Movement in the street was all he could make out in the dark, no white uniforms but even a district watchman might be a half-decent shot. The crash of his gun was echoed a moment later by the double-crack of two more. Further back down the avenue he saw a half-dozen figures scurrying to cover. One was winged and spun around, howling, the rest fell into nearby doorways.

‘We’ll get pinned,’ Anatin growled as he snapped off a shot and reloaded. ‘Rain fire on ’em all.’

‘Burners?’ Lynx shouted, appalled. ‘You’ll start a firestorm!’

‘Only advantage we got,’ the man yelled back.

Lynx glanced at his comrades. Reft was beside him, loading an earther into his gun. Toil clearly had fewer qualms about using fire-bolts in a residential street and already had her gun loaded.

‘There are people in every house!’ Lynx shouted.

‘A burning house don’t help us,’ she replied, nodding at the street ahead. ‘They’re locals, just need to scare them off.’

Belatedly Lynx realised the patrol were too far for a burner to reach; the destructive bolts just didn’t have the range, even if they didn’t need accuracy. He swore and pulled a sparker, bearing right towards the street they’d run out of. Reft raised his gun and the deep boom of his earther roared out through the night – despite his great size, the hairless man was still jolted back by the shot. A dark path split the air ahead of them, night turning in on itself before it hit and Lynx felt the ground shudder under the impact. Cobbles exploded left and right as a furrow burst through the street fifty yards away. Screams rang out, glass shattered, stones and wreckage drummed against the buildings on either side.

A flash of movement came from the right. Lynx checked a moment then saw the distinctive shape of guns, the flash of white tabards, and pulled the trigger. A jagged tear in the dark spat out from the muzzle of his mage-gun; a bolt of lightning corkscrewed across the street to consume the nearest Charneler. Spiked white claws leaped in all directions, savaging another and slashing at the wooden awning of the nearest house.

Toil took that as her cue, not bothering to aim much as she fired the burner down the centre of the street. A dulled, animal roar burst from the gun as an orange streak raced forward, dropping short of the Charnelers. A great whump of yellow flame burst out from the pale tip of that streak and mushroomed out – fire reaching almost from one side of the wide street to the other.

‘You’ll be the death of us,’ Lynx muttered as Toil stood and made for the horses.

‘Not yet.’ Toil smiled as she passed him. Anything more was lost in the crash of gunshots ringing out in her wake, then they all raced for their mounts and there was no time to argue.

‘Later then,’ Lynx said.

Toil swung gracefully into her saddle while the mercenaries around her clambered up. She reached out and gave him a little pat on the head.

‘Aye, I have that effect on people.’

Lynx grunted and sat abruptly up. A familiar flicker of panic ran through him until the room came into focus. He shook the sleep from his head and disentangled his legs from the blanket, reaching down between the bed and wall until he touched his fingers to his dagger hilt.

‘So much for me thinking I was stealthy in the mornings,’ chuckled Kas from across the room.

Lynx froze. The dark-skinned woman was standing at the washbasin, naked as the day she was born and wiping a sodden cloth over her body. A handful of scars stood out in light curtailed by shutters closed over the narrow window, their abrupt lines highlighting the lean, muscular shape of her body.

‘I, ah, I’m a light sleeper,’ he muttered, unable to drag his eyes away.

‘That much I worked out,’ Kas said, deftly bundling her hair up so she could wipe the back of her neck down. Lynx found himself transfixed by the trails of water running down to her buttocks.

‘One day I want to hear that story.’

‘Eh?’ Lynx jerked back to his senses. ‘What?’

She paused and pursed her lips at him. ‘See anything you like?’ Lynx could only cough, but that was enough to make her laugh out loud. ‘Boy, you really are out of practice around women.’

‘Around anyone,’ he said, scratching his bulging belly and swinging his legs around so he was sitting on the side of the bed.

‘Around anyone,’ she agreed with a smile. ‘But last night was a creditable effort at remembering what to do with a woman. Bit o’ practice and you might be half-decent at it.’

A stupid grin stole across Lynx’s face at that. There’d been more than a little drinking before they turned in, enough to cast a pleasant haze over his memory, but it had also washed away the awkwardness of unfamiliarity.

‘Aye, you too.’ He stood and crossed the two steps to where she stood, sliding one hand around the taut curve of her left buttock.

‘Me? I’m more’n half-decent,’ she insisted, playfully slapping his hand away. ‘I’m fucking great, ask anyone.’

‘Anyone?’

She coughed at his tone and turned to face him, one hand slipping around his thick neck to pull him closer to kiss. Lynx did so willingly, but as their lips touched he felt her fingers tighten around his balls. ‘Anyone,’ she repeated softly. ‘Might not mean they know it first hand, o’ course.’ She looked down and tightened her grip a fraction more. ‘Looks like someone enjoys that.’

Lynx followed her gaze. ‘Depends who’s doing it,’ he said huskily. He slipped his hands around her waist and pulled her close. Kas pushed her hips against his and kissed him long and hard before she broke off and leaned back, giving him a sharp slap on the buttock for good measure.

‘Hold up a moment, soldier!’

Lynx blinked. ‘What?’

‘Dawn’s come, time for grub and muster.’ She cocked her head at him. ‘Plus, you’ll be getting Anatin’s lecture.’

‘Why? He got his eye on you?’

Kas shook her head and pulled the damp cloth from behind her, draping it over his stiffening cock before slipping clear of his embrace. ‘There’s rules in the company, rules we all keep to.’

Lynx frowned. ‘About sex? He didn’t seem to mind last night. His second slipped off with a recruit, didn’t she?’

‘Aye, and he didn’t mind then, but as of muster we’ll be working. Rules change between work and play. The man likes to play hard – drinking, gambling, screwing, all the fun things in life – but that changes when we’re at work.’

Lynx regarded her a moment, wondering if she was trying to let him down gently or something else was going on. From the look on her face, and the way she was making no effort to cover herself, it didn’t seem like she was full of regrets.

‘He’ll expect us to explain it so he don’t have to go on about it,’ Kas continued after a pause. ‘Payl will be saying the same to that boy, whatever his name was. Anatin finds someone breaking the rules, he’ll shoot ’em himself. Once had a couple on guard duty who sneaked off to screw against a tree and we lost fifteen of the company that night.’

Slowly, Lynx nodded and turned to the washbasin. Standing there with his cock out and his blood high, her words weren’t filtering in to his head too quickly, but the years had taught him to keep a closed face to the world until everything made sense.

‘Why don’t you explain it to me then?’ he said quietly, rinsing out the cloth before starting to wipe his body down.