The Arcanist (54 page)

“What?!” He was slow. The tiredness was getting to him. And he simply hadn't expected the attack.

“I regret this Edouard Severin of the House of Barris. You seem like an honourable man and our houses are not at war. But I cannot let you rescue my sister.”

Before he could even think of something to say she squeezed the trigger, and for a moment he thought he was dead.

But he wasn't. Nothing happened of course, though it took Edouard a few panicked heartbeats to understand. Until he remembered. He'd been wading through sewers for over a day. Powder didn't work when it got wet. It just clogged things up. So the gun was unloaded. The last thing he wanted was to have to wash out the wet powder from its barrels before he could even load it.

“What?!”

She squeezed the trigger again and then double clicked the other one. But of course nothing happened. And then she stared at him, horrified, realising that she had exposed herself and she was unarmed. She started backing away slowly.

“You wish harm to your sister?” Edouard didn't understand that. Sometimes Kyriel frustrated him to the point where he would cheerfully strangle her, but he wouldn't actually wish her harm. And she wasn't his sister. He would die to protect his sisters – either of them.

“She's not my sister! She betrayed the house! And she killed my sister Staria!”

Suddenly she threw the gun straight at Edouard's head and then sprinted for the hole in the wall he'd made, realising that she couldn't take on a spark unarmed. She was stunningly quick he thought for someone who'd been locked away for however long. Which left Edouard standing there, somewhat bemused and wondering what to do.

He could chase her he supposed. But he suspected she would be much faster than him through the narrow passage way. Something that was confirmed for him a moment later when he heard the distant sound of splashing. She'd already made the sewer and he was still in the dungeon.

But chasing her down would take time he didn't have. He had to keep getting people out of the city before the attack. And if Kyriel was in here somewhere, still alive, he had to save her as well. The best he could do he realised as walked back and picked up his pistol, was to send others with a message for Marcus about her.

And really he thought as he squeezed back into the passageway and then started slowly sidling his way along it to the stairs, it was probably for the best. He could have killed Valia, but would Kyriel thank him for that? He doubted it. Who would thank you for killing their family?

Even if their family wanted to kill them?

Chapter Fifty Six

April sat on the bench of the supply wagon and brooded – something that was made easier by the fact that she was alone, a long way back from the camp. Marcus had ordered that all the wagons coming and going from the encampment remain some distance back from the soldiers. It was something to do with maintaining order, or so she understood. But what it meant in practice was that she got left with the wagons looking after the animals while others had to physically carry the supplies into the camp.

She didn't normally brood. She wasn't one to give in to her darker feelings. But lately there seemed to be so much to worry about.

Edouard was still somewhere inside the city, wading through the sewers and freeing prisoners. He was all alone and though she knew he was clever and would never be so stupid as to risk his own skin needlessly, he had a noble streak. One that seemed to be growing broader these days. That could force him to do something stupid regardless.

Kyriel was in there somewhere as well, either alive or dead. April hoped she wasn't dead, but there was no guarantee. And as Edouard seemed to free more and more people every day and she wasn't among their number, the chances that she was dead grew ever greater.

Meanwhile Marcus was in a sour mood – tense she guessed as he waited for the final battle. He now had a huge army. The forces from the north side of the city had stopped their assault there, and joined them on the south west. Now they had over a hundred cannon firing in unison and tearing down the walls. The continuing assault was having a major effect on the walls. It seemed that once the stones started cracking they became much more vulnerable to more impacts. So every cannon blast that hit raised entire clouds of dust and sent small rivers of stone flowing down to the ground. The crenelations on the tops of the walls – and she assumed the ramparts behind them – were completely missing in places and little by little the stone underneath was being pounded to rubble. The walls were crumbling almost in front of her eyes.

Complete collapse was only a day or two away at most, and when it happened, a combined army of ten thousand would tear through the city, her brother at their head. The Seven only knew what they would face inside it. More of these magical suits of armour? Armies of summoned beasts? Thousands, maybe tens of thousands of rock gnomes? It could be anything.

In a matter of days she could lose two brothers and a friend. And if that happened she suspected her father would be not far behind. He was looking more than tired lately. He was looking seriously ill.

The worst of it though was knowing that there was absolutely nothing she could do. She just helped to deliver the supplies now, driving them from Breakwater to the soldiers in the wagon trains. But when the attack came, she would not be allowed to do even that. She hated that. She hated that the sun was shining too. It was summer. The sun was supposed to shine. But still she couldn't help but feel that some rain would be more fitting. Maybe even a little hail.

“Are you April?”

Surprised April jumped a little in her seat, then looked down to see a woman standing beside the wagon. A Tenarri woman who though she didn't know her, still looked somewhat familiar.

“Yes?”

“I'm Valia.”

Valia? April didn't know the name. But she still knew the face. The woman wasn't one of the Tenarri from the temple. There were only a score of them and she knew them all. Besides, she was too young. She looked to be about eighteen. Most of those who came to the temple were in their twenties, though of course there were some children living there as well. And she wasn't dressed as a handmaiden either. In fact she was dressed in rags that had once been leathers and she smelled as though she had been rolling in pig dung. Though she had washed her hands and face, she looked as though she was covered in it too.

“I'm pleased to meet you.”

“As am I. But is there any word?” The woman looked up at her, her blue eyes wide with concern.

“Word?”

“Of Kyriel.”

“By the Seven!” In that instant April knew her. She recognised her face as a slightly different version of Kyriel's. A little younger and a little harder. And she knew her words were a lie. The woman had no care for her sister. She wanted to kill her. Marcus had told her the story that he in turn had got from some of the escapees of the Tenarri woman there to kill Kyriel. Apparently she had tried to kill Edouard too, but had obviously failed.

“You know me?” The woman seemed surprised. But more than that she seemed guarded. Ready.

“I know you're trying to kill your sister!”

“Dung!” Valia cursed her and drew a sword from out of nowhere before leaping for her with murder in her eyes.

April screamed and rolled off the other side of the wagon, realising that Valia meant to kill her. And even as she hit the ground and ran around to the back of the wagon, she knew the woman had a fairly good chance of succeeding. She was unarmed and Valia was an expert with the blade. She might not get away with the crime – they were in a military encampment surrounded by soldiers – but not enough of them were close enough to stop her.

Once Valia dropped lightly to the ground behind her though, April knew it was time to stop screaming and start thinking. Kyriel might not have been able to teach her much about blades so far, but she had taught her one thing that she remembered. You always had to think. And the first thing she realised was that she couldn't win by running away. The woman was fast on her feet.

Victory for her would have to come by staying out of the way of her blade for as long as possible while the soldiers came running. That meant ducking and weaving between the row of wagons. So that was what she did. Running instantly to the wagon behind her and diving behind it. Then, when Valia came sprinting around the corner with her sword ready for her, April sprinted around to the other side. If she could keep the wagon between them she figured, she would be safe.

Then she screamed again, determined to bring the soldiers running, and dashed back behind the first wagon while Valia raced around to the other side of the last wagon. She figured that doing a figure of eight around the wagons was her best chance. But she also knew from the way that her breath was already coming in gasps, that it wasn't enough. Not forever. Kyriel had been right damn her. She simply wasn't fit enough.

But as April wove her way around the horses at the front of the wagon she'd just been sitting on, another of Kyriel's lectures came back to her. Or two actually. Choose your battleground. And use it. She hadn't chosen her battleground – it had been chosen by circumstance. But she could still use it to her advantage.

She wasn't nimble enough, fit enough or quick enough to keep ahead of Valia for long. She had no weapon and if she had she could never have stood against a trained swords-woman with it. But she still had one advantage that Valia didn't know about. And as she raced for the back of the wagon while Valia came racing for the front from the other side, she used it.

It was just an impulse, a thought given to the horses that the white haired woman was a wolf, but it worked perfectly. They reared up, snorted and lashed out with their hooves just as she passed in front of them, and Valia was sent flying when a couple of them connected.

She didn't cry out – she was too well trained for that – but April knew she was hurt as she lay on the grass. And though she got up only a couple of heartbeats later, it was clear some of the fight had been knocked out of her. Being kicked by a horse hurt. Best of all she had been slowed and April could see her limping. But though she was limping April had to remember one of the other lessons Kyriel had taught her. Never trust an opponent to tell you the truth of herself.

Whether she was genuinely slowed or simply pretending to be, that still gave April the time she needed to get a little further away. And to call for reinforcements. And while she could see men in armour running for her, she knew they would be too slow. It was the dogs that had followed the army that she needed. Another quick command had half a dozen of them running flat out for Valia, baying for her blood, and her would be killer had to turn to face them hurriedly.

The battle was over.

That came as a shock to April. That she had won her first ever battle. But as she saw Valia standing there, preparing to defend herself against the pack, she knew she had. Valia was no longer coming after her. She was just trying to save her skin.

April didn't have the dogs attack her. She had them instead surround Valia, growling and snarling but not leaping on her as they should. That was enough. And by the time the soldiers had arrived and had their weapons out, April knew it was time to end it.

“Throw your sword away Valia!”

Pretending a confidence she didn't have April came out from behind the wagon and ordered her to surrender. For some reason her voice wasn't even quavering as she had expected it to when she said it.

“Never!” Valia screamed at her. “No one from House Mystral ever surrenders!”

And to prove what she was saying she lunged at the dog directly in front of her. She missed as the dog dodged the blade with its four footed agility, and then got bitten on the back of the calf by one of the dogs behind her for her trouble.

“Really? I would think you would be overwhelmingly grateful to leave that foul house behind like your sister.”

“Kyriel ran away! She betrayed the house!”

Valia's voice became shrill as she spun on her heels, trying desperately to keep the dogs away from her. Blood was trickling down her leg. Meanwhile the soldiers had arrived and were standing a little distance away, staring. Wondering what they were supposed to do.

“Your father betrayed the house. He betrayed his wife by executing her. A truly vile crime!”

“He had no choice!”

“He had every choice!” April shouted at her. She was angered by the daughter's defence of her father's evil. Maybe she had been in the temple too long, but she could not stand to hear such lies. “He could have loved her. He could have protected her. At the very least he didn’t have to murder her! What kind of twisted version of honour is that?”

“He was loyal to the house!”

“Instead he betrayed his duty as a husband and father. Don't you understand that family always comes first?”

Valia didn't answer her, continuing to spin around on her heels, waiting for the first dog to attack.

“And he murdered your sister, betraying his duty as a father.” April continued her prosecution.

“Kyriel killed her!”

“Kyriel just ran away. She only wanted to live. She had no idea that your father would sacrifice her younger sister in her place. And now she's tormented by guilt for that. She thinks it was a mistake. It was your father’s mistake though. A miserable worm like that – he should never have been born.”

“Oh for goodness sake!”

Marcus' voice suddenly interrupted them and April looked around to see him standing there, just in front of Valia. And then he took two quick steps toward her, grabbed her sword arm and yanked it aside, and then punched her firmly on the nose.

Valia flew backwards before falling down on her back, dropping her sword as she did so. After that she just lay there unmoving, blood pouring from her nose. She had been knocked out. It was then that April knew that it was over. The woman would not bother them again.

“By the Seven someone get some manacles for this woman and the rest of you return to your posts! We have a war to fight!”

“Are you all right baby?” Marcus turned to smile at her.

“I'm fine.” April smiled back at him, suddenly overwhelmingly happy to have such a wonderful brother. And suddenly happy too. It might be foolishness but she felt some renewed confidence in Marcus. In his ability to win this war and survive it as well. He was every inch the Bull as people called him. Proud and strong. Eternally victorious. The sunshine finally seemed right again.

“Good. We'll shackle this fool woman and you can bring her to Tyrel. And then we can finally end this damned war.