Knight of Stars

by Tom Lloyd

  ‘Bad fucking timing,’ Toil shouted. ‘We were talking to a Masts crew just as it happened. They were giving us a warning, next thing we knew a gun went off behind us.’

  ‘They dead?’ Anatin shook his head as he realised who he was asking. ‘Never mind. Fuck.’ He looked around at the assembling mercenaries. ‘Sun and Stars hold the walkway. The rest o’ you get your kit and come relieve us. I want a full muster in two minutes, understand? Toil, is the front door shut?’

  ‘Blocked it with that bloody great flowerpot.’

  ‘Good. You sure this wasn’t a planned hit?’

  ‘Doubt we’d have made it back inside if it was.’

  Anatin nodded. ‘That gives us time to get ready. Someone barricade the rear gate. Teshen, go talk to our host and make sure he doesn’t get any funny ideas or has an exit we don’t know about. He stays out o’ sight with his family if he knows what’s good for him.’

  Anatin looked around at the watching faces of his company. There was a slight, twisted smile on his face, as though he’d finally found something he could get properly angry at.

  ‘Boys and girls, looks like we got ourselves a siege – so get fucking moving!’

  The mercenaries of Blood, Snow and Tempest all raced back to their rooms.

  The afternoon dragged on, hot, heavy and interminable. With his sword and pistol belted to his waist, shirt tucked in to avoid snagging, and a cartridge case hanging heavy on his stomach, Lynx felt like ten years had been added to his life. The hangover had gone, but the oppressive heat radiated out from the stone walls all around and precious little of the sea breeze came to ease it. Inside, it was cooler because of the thick stone walls, but still warm and unpleasantly stuffy after half an hour stationed at a window watching the street below.

  ‘This good or bad?’ he muttered to Llaith who stood at the room’s other window. ‘I can’t see anyone at all out there.’

  They were on the top floor of the tower assigned to Tempest. The buildings beyond it stood on lower ground than the lodging house, which meant there was less risk of attack this side, but he still kept a weather eye on every open window.

  ‘No one’s shooting at us,’ Llaith suggested, drawing on the stub of his cigarette. ‘That’s good.’

  ‘Or they’re getting ready to attack in numbers.’

  ‘Or just trying to work out what the fuck to do,’ Llaith countered. ‘You heard Toil – they were giving us a warning when that wanker jumped the wall by himself. Likely the kabat don’t know what’s gone on. Mebbe the boy was alone, mebbe he had mates with him who’re saying how he was just stealing in ta find some sort of trophy. Anyway, it’s too hot to fight – better to make us stew in our juices for a few hours.’

  ‘What does the kabat know?’ Lynx mused. ‘He sent a crew to warn us off and it went south. Mebbe someone’s told him about the gunshot that sparked it, mebbe not.’

  ‘There’s a hot-head in every crew,’ Llaith added. ‘Anyone can start a fight for a stupid fucking reason. I dunno what Teshen’s reputation was back in the day, but he ain’t a fool and who chooses ta take on more’n twice their numbers? Doubt it’ll add up.’

  ‘But the kabat’s been given a bloody nose on home turf, can’t back off after that.’

  ‘Aye, s’pose so. Shit.’

  ‘Enough with the gossiping,’ Suth called as she entered the room. ‘See anything?’

  Lynx turned to look at the compact gunfighter, who was wearing two pairs of mage-pistols. ‘Not a damn thing,’ he said. ‘Streets are empty. No one’s come near the place.’

  ‘Nor this side,’ Llaith confirmed. ‘Toil got a plan?’

  Suth scowled. ‘Not that she’s sharing. Turns out the lieutenant she killed also warned us about getting cosy with that mage, Tanimbor. Sounds like he’s been making enemies all over the city, stirring up trouble and the like. Just the sort of man who’d want to make friends with a crack mercenary company, no?’

  Lynx snorted. ‘Great, we’re going to die because of a misunderstanding. Sounds about right.’

  ‘I’ve seen it happen more times than I can count,’ Suth said. ‘Must come a close second to plain old shitty luck on the list of easy ways to die.’

  ‘What now?’

  She jabbed a thumb towards the door behind her. ‘I’ll take your place here. You go sidle up to your woman, see if you can get more out of her than I did.’

  ‘Reckon that’ll work?’ Lynx ask sceptically as he moved to obey.

  ‘Doubt it, but if we don’t keep swapping positions people will fall asleep in this heat.’ The Knight of Tempest crouched by the window, peering out through the aperture at the buildings beyond as though expecting a sniper to take a shot at any moment. ‘Take a turn on the walkway after, move someone else on.’

  ‘Aye, sir.’

  Lynx headed out on to the open walkway, just six yards in length and only enough to link the two rooms at the top of the tower to the stairway. The air wavered in the slanted shafts of afternoon sunshine and Lynx paused to take a swig of water from his bottle before descending.

  There were Cards stationed on every side of the lower walkway, avoiding making obvious targets of themselves as they patrolled. Lower down, in the courtyard where no archer or gunman could see, Toil and Anatin stood with Payl, Anatin’s lieutenant, and the two mages whose opinions Anatin cared about. Sitain reclined a few yards away, close enough to listen but resting her eyes.

  If anyone did attack, Lynx knew it’d be Sitain’s job to run towards them and put down everyone in front of her. She was a fierce young woman, but no sort of soldier. He could only imagine how it was playing out before her eyes right now.

  He joined the company’s officers without saying a word. They had got to the point of working out how much food was in the lodging house, which to Lynx sounded both a bad sign and overly optimistic that things would last that long. It wasn’t long before Anatin broke off their conversation and gave Lynx a look.

  ‘Want something, soldier?’

  ‘Suth just asked me to come down, see what the situation was.’

  ‘Same as it bloody was when she last asked,’ Anatin snapped. ‘This ain’t our city, we don’t control what comes next.’

  ‘What about you mages?’ Lynx asked, turning to Lastani. ‘Can’t you get your friend the Shard to do anything?’

  ‘We’re stuck in here because Toil took a job from her biggest rival,’ Atieno pointed out. ‘The Shard may be less friendly towards us now.’

  ‘So? Fucking persuade her.’

  Atieno pointed towards the main entrance. ‘By all means walk out there with a sign saying “mage” hung around your neck, see how much protection it gives you.’

  Toil cleared her throat. ‘Atieno is, um, hesitant to rely on the protected status of mages in Caldaire. However, Lynx does have a point. The Shard’s our best option, we just need to get access to her.’

  ‘They’ll be sending someone to negotiate soon,’ Anatin said firmly. ‘Even if they raid their kabat’s arsenal, no one will want to breach these walls while we’re ready.’

  ‘Teshen said they’ll come at night,’ Toil added. ‘They don’t know how well some of us can see in the dark, which means we’ll likely fight them off but spill a whole lot of blood in the process.’

  ‘But whoever sent that crew you killed, they’ll be along to tell us exactly what they plan on doing if we don’t surrender.’

  ‘And that’s not an option, right?’ Lynx said, checking around at their faces. ‘Right? It’s not like they’ll accept an apology at this point, is it?’

  ‘None of us are dying over this if I’ve got any say,’ Anatin declared, ‘and don’t worry, we’re not at the point where I clock Toil in the side of the head and hand her over. We’re still a ways from that yet.’

  ‘Good to hear it’s still an option,’ Toil muttered, prompting a cruel laugh from Anatin. ‘Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, loyalty like that.’

  ‘Hey, mercenary, remember? Taking money
from strangers to kill other strangers. Warm and fuzzy doesn’t come into it.’

  Toil sighed. ‘In any case, the Shard wants to be friends with you three and she’s a politician. Politicians like friends but only get a hard-on for someone who owes them a favour.’

  ‘Why do I get the feeling you’re selling us to the Shard?’ Atieno asked.

  ‘I’m not. We’re in this together, whatever Anatin says, and you’re part of my plans. If the Shard wants you as a pet, I’ll talk her down or shoot her in the head. Either way I’m not leaving the Mage Islands without you, understood?’

  ‘Bloody fanatics,’ Anatin sniffed, but the mages at least looked mollified.

  There came a whistle from the walkway above, followed by a shout of ‘Boss!’

  Varain’s battered face appeared a moment later, almost scarlet in the heat. ‘Someone’s coming.’

  ‘Wearing green?’

  ‘Aye. Alone, looks like he wants ta talk.’

  ‘About bloody time.’ Anatin nodded towards Toil. ‘Get going then.’

  ‘Me? You’re the commander.’

  ‘Haha, nice fucking try. This is your fault and you’re paying our wages. You get to go out there and be the one they shoot if the conversation goes bad.’

  ‘Alone?’

  Anatin gave Lynx a crooked grin. ‘Nah, there’s always some other dumbshit ready to stand in the way of danger, I reckon. Still, it’s his choice. What are you, Lynx, a proper mercenary or some fool hero?’

  Lynx’s heart sank.

  ‘Is there a third option?’

  Chapter 26

  The man was tall and lean with a great mass of braided hair bound up on top of his head and loosely covered by a scarf. He wore a light, loose wrap belted at the waist with a pair of curved long knives. From what Lynx could see of his dark skin, the man seemed to be mostly made up of tattoos and corded muscle, all wrapped around a core of simmering rage. He barely looked at Lynx. His attention was solely focused on Toil and not in a good way.

  ‘You’re the one?’ he called as they neared him.

  He stood on the edge of the shade, just a few paces clear of where the blood lay dry and cracked on the dirt street. The sun was still high and searing, past its zenith, but the snakes of heat that wavered through the air clearly hadn’t got the message yet.

  ‘I guess so,’ Toil said with a respectful nod. ‘Kaboto Ube?’

  ‘That’s me,’ he confirmed. ‘And aside from being a thorn up my dick, who’re you?’

  ‘Toil – officer of Anatin’s Mercenary Deck. This is Lynx, one of my men.’

  ‘No exile? From all I’ve heard, the Bloody Pauper was never shy of taking his bows.’

  She shook her head. ‘I told Teshen to stay inside. No need for the distant past to clutter up the present any more than it already has.’

  ‘Huh.’ Ube scratched his cheek as he inspected her, as though certain there was a key to all this that he could fathom if only he looked hard enough. ‘Tell me what happened. Persuade me I shouldn’t just have those walls pulled down in fire and thunder.’

  Lynx realised the man’s Parthish was better than Lynx’s own – the rich rolling sounds of his accent sliding neatly around each syllable. The kaboto was a fighting man, but he’d been well educated too.

  ‘Bad luck is what happened. Some fool climbed the wall and surprised two of ours so they shot him.’

  ‘And that was reason enough to kill my friend, was it? Her name was Kivrei, in case you were interested. I’d known her twenty years.’

  ‘Not reason enough, but the gunshot surprised us all. One of her crew fired a crossbow at us – we didn’t wait to find out if it was a mistake. Where I’m from you only get one chance when a meeting goes sour. I doubt it’s much different here.’

  ‘That’s a cold and bloody way to live.’

  Toil nodded. ‘Lets me live, though.’

  ‘For the moment. So what am I meant to do about you? Even assuming I believe a word of what you just said, I’ve got six dead and just piss in the wind to show for it.’

  ‘I don’t know your laws.’

  ‘No, you don’t.’

  There was a long moment of silence, during which Lynx realised the longer this went on, the hotter the fires were going to burn.

  ‘What do you want?’ Lynx asked, trying not to sound confrontational.

  Both turned to look at him as though the dog had just sat down at dinner. He squinted at Ube through the unbroken sunshine.

  ‘There’s nothing can undo what happened,’ Lynx continued. ‘No apology that’ll make it right, but still we’re sorry for it. We never intended for anyone here to die, never meant any trouble at all in Auferno.’

  ‘You reckon apologies are worth shit here?’

  ‘I figure they’re still worth saying,’ Lynx persisted. ‘Better’n forgetting to.’

  ‘And now?’

  He shrugged. ‘Any of them got families?’

  ‘You think you can buy absolution?’ Ube snapped.

  ‘No, but life’s a hard mistress who don’t give two shits about grieving. Money doesn’t fix things, but it can stop more misery from piling on top.’

  ‘We take care of our own,’ Ube said dismissively. ‘Keep your money for your own funerals.’

  ‘Does it need to come to that?’

  The Auferno man paused. ‘Sometimes it always comes down to blood. Here’s my offer – I believe it was a mistake and so one of the guilty pair walks free. The other does not. Your company leaves the city tomorrow or things get nasty.’

  ‘One of us dies?’ Toil said. ‘You asking me to choose?’

  ‘Nah. He’s the exile, he’s the one who shouldn’t have come back here in the first place. He’s the one the kabats know as a killer.’

  ‘Then they should know Teshen isn’t exactly the public-spirited sort, likely to just give himself up.’

  ‘That’s your problem. You’ve got until nightfall to deliver him.’

  Toil shot Lynx a glance he couldn’t interpret. ‘There may be a way to get what we all want, but I need something from you too.’

  ‘You’re in no fucking position to negotiate!’

  ‘You want us all out of the city,’ she replied calmly, ‘but the mages with us have unfinished business.’

  Ube gave a brief, barking laugh. ‘Spirits of the deep, the Splinter? Are you stupid, woman?’

  ‘Not Tanimbor,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘The Shard. They’ve got business with her, that’s the only reason we’ve not yet packed up.’

  ‘You think she wants to deal with you now she knows you’re cosy with the Splinter?’

  ‘That’s our problem – if she doesn’t, we’re done all the sooner.’

  Ube shook his head, his carefully restrained anger for a moment eclipsed by surprise. ‘This is the Mage Islands,’ he said finally. ‘Mages go where they like. So long as they don’t fuck with the kabats, they’re not subject to our laws. I’ll even provide an escort.’

  ‘That won’t be necessary.’

  He bared his teeth and Lynx noticed the slight points that gave him a feline air. ‘They’ll get an escort. If I don’t hear they were delivered safely to the Shard’s Rest, they lose all privileges and I lose my patience with all of you.’ He pointed towards the lodging house behind them. ‘Now fucking jump to it. I’ve got a hundred Mastrunners thirsty for your blood and as soon as I get bored waiting, they’ll get it.’

  The pair hurried back inside, glad to be out of the sun. They spent a while blinking at the ghostly shapes emerging from the gloom until their eyes adjusted.

  ‘Well?’ Anatin demanded through the inner door, his remaining hand on his pistol as though fearing the worst.

  ‘Lastani, Atieno,’ Toil called, ignoring the Prince of Sun for the moment. ‘He’ll let you out – go to the Shard, see if you can get her to intervene on our behalf. Whatever it takes, you understand?’

  ‘And if we cannot?’ the tall mage of tempest asked.

  Toil g
ave him a crooked grin. ‘Then you stick to the mission as best you can. I still want to know all I can about these damn tattoos. Come the morning, I want you back here with good news in your sticky little hands.’

  ‘What about the rest of you? What about Sitain?’

  ‘Sitain I need here, she’s our jester in the hole for any fight. I’ve bought us a few hours, enough to get to nightfall.’

  ‘What happens then?’

  ‘Either we send Teshen out to be executed or get ready for a fight. Anatin’s the company commander, the choice is his o’ course.’

  Anatin snorted. ‘Why Teshen and not you?’

  ‘Obviously I tried to offer myself over instead, but they seemed pretty keen on stringing up Teshen. I’m guessing he’s made more enemies round here than I have.’

  ‘Aye well, you’ve only been here a few days,’ Anatin said. ‘They’ve not got to know you yet.’

  Toil nodded. ‘It could be he’s making some point to the Kaboto of Vi No Le too. I didn’t push him on the details, man was pretty fucking angry.’

  ‘I can see why. Seems we’ve made a mercenary of you, Toil.’

  ‘Don’t go soft on me,’ Toil scoffed. ‘I’m the one saying we get ready to fight, remember? Ube wasn’t interested in having a discussion, but you’re welcome to go and change his mind if you like.’

  ‘I reckon anyone leaving here who isn’t a mage is getting shot.’

  Toil beamed at the two mages as they set off to the door. ‘Me too, but don’t worry, you two. I’m almost completely sure they won’t kill you.’

  Lastani and Atieno walked hesitantly out into the bright sunshine of the street. To their relief, absolutely no one killed them. They stumbled forward to the shade of the trees where Ube still lounged. The man had procured a drink and seat from somewhere. Under the hot afternoon sun, the commander of the enemy forces was perched on a wooden stool and sipping something pungent from a cut-open coconut so far as Lastani could tell.

  ‘You the mages?’

  ‘Ah, yes, sir.’

  He raised an eyebrow. ‘Sir, is it? Definitely not local mages then.’

  ‘No, we’re from—’ Lastani stopped as Atieno put a hand on her arm.