by Tom Lloyd
‘The what, now?’
She smiled. ‘These fanatics, they’ve always got some dogma they’ll protect with their lives, some prophecy they think will make it all worthwhile. That’s one way you can tell they’re the bastards who need to be shot.’
‘We’re in the realms of prophecy now?’
Toil puffed out her cheeks. ‘Mad ramblings might be more accurate, unless you believe gods are like jigsaw puzzles and can be put back together again. Either way, they see an end coming and they want to be the ones standing on top of the pile when it comes.’
‘A pile of what?’ Lynx wondered. ‘Skulls? Broken cities?’
‘Whatever it takes,’ she agreed. ‘So it’s time for us to get back to the war before it becomes one. Maybe we can stop it tearing the whole Riven Kingdom apart.’
‘It can’t be all down to us, can it?’
‘No, we’ve got allies – we’re looking for more. The eastern states are no friends of the Orders, we just need to persuade them in time that the danger is this great. But we’re right in the heart of it now, these tattoos prove that much. There’s no escape for us so we might as well charge in with all guns blazing.’
‘Once we find some more ammunition.’
Her face darkened. ‘Yeah. Atieno may need persuading on that front.’
‘I didn’t mean that!’ Lynx protested.
‘I know, but it may yet come to it. The Militant Orders are bigger than Su Dregir and all the Parthain League, whatever that looks like by now. First stop is Su Dregir – we take stock and report in. The Archelect may have some bright ideas on where we go next. Reckon I’m getting above my pay grade here.’
Lynx sighed and shook his head. ‘Aren’t we all at this point?’
‘True. Starting to feel like the responsibility is ours though, doesn’t it?’ Toil nodded towards the nearest group of Cards. ‘Even this lot are feeling it, don’t you think?’
‘Yeah, I reckon so. Some of them at least. That’s a lot to ask of anyone though.’ Lynx scowled. ‘That’s a lot for anyone to appoint themselves to.’
She gave a soft laugh. ‘Stopping a war across the whole of the Riven Kingdom? Mebbe something far worse? Even my arrogance has limits – just don’t tell anyone that. But we’re the ones with the key painted on our skin. Might be you and I need to nudge the rest of the company into doing the right thing.’
‘Shattered gods. That’s a lot to hang on us – on this of all mornings.’
‘I know. Sorry. But you of all folk know that life’s not fair. That sometimes you need to step up and do what’s right. I’m not making any decisions now, but I don’t see many paths from where we’re at. Not ones that leave the Riven Kingdom and all the rest of Urden free of total domination.’
‘Gods, Toil!’ Lynx gasped. ‘You really mean this, don’t you?’
Her voice took on an urgent tone. ‘You saw what Atieno did down in the Labyrinth – he destroyed a God Fragment! That’s never been done before. Never. It was considered impossible. Drop a mage sphere on one, the biggest earth-bomb you can find, and you can’t even scratch it.’
Slowly Lynx nodded. ‘Aye, and Atieno crumbled it to dust by accident. Crap.’ He was quiet for a long while. ‘Are we leaving Caldaire today?’
‘Tomorrow.’ Toil gave him a weak smile. ‘There’s still time for that squid I promised you last night.’
‘Finally some good news!’ Lynx paused. ‘Jigsaw puzzles, you say?’
‘Huh? Oh, aye. Don’t worry about it. Probably fine. I’m almost certain.’
‘Almost?’
Toil forced a smile. ‘Pretty sure. I mean, sort of. I doubt our luck is that bad, right?’
‘Oh right. Yeah. What’s the worst that could happen, eh?’
‘Precisely.’
Lynx shook his head. ‘Screw you all, I’m going back to bed.’
Also by Tom Lloyd from Gollancz:
The Twilight Reign:
The Stormcaller
The Twilight Herald
The Grave Thief
The Ragged Man
The Dusk Watchman
The God Tattoo
Empire of a Hundred Houses:
Moon’s Artifice
Old Man’s Ghosts
The God Fragments:
Stranger of Tempest
Princess of Blood
Honour Under Moonlight (novella)
The Man with One Name (novella)
Copyright
First published in Great Britain in 2019 by Gollancz
an imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
An Hachette UK Company
Copyright © Tom Lloyd-Williams 2019
The moral right of Tom Lloyd to be identified as
the author of this work has been asserted in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the
prior permission of both the copyright owner and the
above publisher of this book.
All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance
to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library.
ISBN (Hardback) 978 1 473 22461 2
ISBN (eBook) 978 1 473 22463 6
www.tomlloyd.co.uk
www.orionbooks.co.uk
www.gollancz.co.uk
