The New World

by Michael A. Stackpole

  I’d seen no harm in offering a prayer for Cyron’s well-being. The Prince’s directives gave people a purpose. That purpose gave them hope. My hope was that the prayers would help us to keep Nelesquin out of the city.

  Kneeling there, I felt their approach before I heard it. Vibrations rose through the ground. The finger bone danced, which the beggar-priest took as a sign of divine favor. We stood at the same time—he to pray more loudly and me to race up the wall.

  Metal hooves and the thunder they made had me wishing my priest would pray just that much harder.

  Giant metal beast-men, reminiscent of the gyanrigot but much bigger and more ornate, charged from Nelesquin’s camp. The lead rank of nine ram-headed men bore double-bitted broadaxes. Ranks of elephantine warriors flanked them, trunks trumpeting, and steel spikes capping ivory tusks. Tigers and wolves, bears, bulls, and lions raced north. Some were gold, others bronze, and some looked like wood and bone.

  I’d never seen anything like them. I’d never even imagined war machines so large. My mouth went dry. Pirates, Viruk, Turasynd, and even the vanyesh. I’d killed them all. But here, these things…

  “What will we do, Master?”

  Dunos’ question brought me back to reality. “We fight, boy. Get down there. Clear the courtyard.”

  “But the fighting will be up here.”

  “Not for long. Go.”

  I ignored his grumbles and plucked the fan from my sash. I snapped it open and gave the signal.

  Our trumpets blared louder than the elephants. Hammers struck. Catapults and trebuchets lofted missiles that grazed the low-hanging clouds. Smaller stones just rattled off the metal creatures, but a large stone hit a bull in full charge, crushing its skull, dropping the metal beast. A following bull leaped over his comrade’s shell and kept coming.

  A ram sprinted for the city’s gates. I expected it to lower its head and slam into them, but it stopped short. Shrugging off a hail of arrows, the ram hammered the gate with its ax. The heavy blow spun me around and dropped me to a knee. Wooden splinters shot through the courtyard. Men reeled away, stuck through with lethal fragments, and a big hunk of wood knocked Dunos down.

  A tower crew levered a small ballista around and wedged it up. They had no real chance to aim, but the machines were thick at the gate, so they simply shot. Their iron-tipped spear pierced a ram, entering at the left shoulder, lancing down. The ram froze, tottered, then collapsed in a tangle of arms and legs.

  More chopped at the gates. Others pounded the walls. Mortar cracked, stones shifted, and men fell. Below, in the courtyard, men loaded their ballistae and trained them on the gates. More splinters flew, then a hinge screamed.

  I sped down the stairs. Stone cracked and iron bolts snapped. A piece of metal shot past my head and ricocheted off another man’s battle mask. He went down hard.

  A heartbeat later, half the gate went down harder.

  Time slowed. The crossbeam securing that half of the gate splintered, ripping the brackets from the other half. The door landed heavily, pulping an archer. His red-fletched arrows clicked and bounced over the cobblestones. The other door, tortured by incessant pounding, surrendered to the rams.

  Nelesquin’s monsters framed themselves in the gateway. Ballistae loosed their bolts. Coiled cords groaned and torsion bars clacked. The missiles reached their targets in an eyeblink. One spear skewered the lead ram’s thigh and another took it through the gut. That ram went down, its forehooves covering its stomach before it sagged to the side. The third bolt stuck another ram through the hip.

  It limped back, but two more entered.

  And there I stood, alone, swords drawn, the faint scent of incense filling my head.

  Ciras Dejote stood on the walls aghast as the war machines charged. The elephants drove directly at his position. He immediately recognized them. Gyanrigot!

  All my skill, all my discipline, is nothing against one of these.

  Beyond them, coming hard in their wake, kwajiin and human warriors screamed out challenges.

  Penxir Aerant drew an arrow and let fly. It glanced off the lead elephant’s broad head, leaving a bright scar in the dull iron.

  Ciras grabbed the archer’s sleeve. “You can’t do anything against them.”

  The taller man pulled his arm free. “Not at that range, but they will get closer.”

  He drew again and shot, this time driving a shaft through the same elephant’s breastbone. The mechanical beast stumbled and went down. The tusks carved deep furrows through the earth. Another elephant stumbled over the first. It hit hard, gouging up dirt, and rose slowly, giving the archer an easy third shot.

  But Penxir never took it. Two kwajiin arrows crossed in his throat. Hot blood splashed over Ciras’ battle mask, blinding him. He reeled back, swiping at his eyes. Another arrow pierced his left hand and clanked off his battle mask. Pain shot up his arm, then something hit the wall hard.

  Ciras went flying.

  He hit one of the mole-catchers’ frames, partially breaking his fall. Twisting in the air, he landed on his back and smacked his head. His helmet bounced away. His battle mask hung askew. He tore it off.

  High in the sky, one of the winged monsters sailed over the wall. Of more immediate concern, however, was the sally port gate. The first blow from an elephant’s club had dented both halves and cracked the bar holding them shut. A second blasted both from their hinges. The metal doors whirled into the courtyard. One cut a man in half. The other exploded water barrels intended for firefighting.

  Ciras tried to get up, but slipped in the new-made mud. Someone further back screamed, “Stay down!” Durrani warriors swelled through the sally port, their war cries fearsome, only to be answered by the staccato clacking of spring engines.

  The oldest of siege machines and the least sophisticated, the spring engines consisted of a stout post sunk into the earth. A man’s height remained aboveground, and the top had a V-notch a handspan across. A plank had been bound to the post at the bottom with thick cable, then bent back and secured. A sheaf of arrows had been stuffed in the notch. When the trigger cord was cut, the plank sprang up and struck the arrows hard on the end.

  A cloud of arrows passed above Ciras. The first kwajiin fell back as the arrows passed through them. Those behind had arrows sticking in armor or flesh. Some paused to snap the arrows off. Others kept coming.

  The spring engine’s design did little for range or accuracy, but it sped reloading. Ciras rolled clear as the wood clacked again and again. Kwajiin warriors groaned and cursed, but too few died.

  Ciras gained his feet and drew his vanyesh blade in the same motion. Remaining low, he scythed through a blue-skinned warrior’s legs. Another kwajiin, this one with an arrow through the meaty part of his shoulder, slashed wildly. The swordsman parried the attack wide, then snapped his left elbow into the warrior’s face. Bones cracked. The enemy staggered back, blood pouring through his fingers. Ciras’ lunge took him through the throat.

  Ciras leaped back to invoke jaedun but couldn’t. The pain in his hand, the ache in his back, the pounding in his head, and the shock at seeing an elephant squeezing into the sally port made concentration impossible. He knocked another lunge aside, then kicked out, catching the warrior in the knee. It went sideways, breaking loudly, then an overhand cut clove the kwajiin’s skull in two.

  From further down the street, one ballista shot, then another. The first slammed a ten-pound iron ball into the elephant’s chest, cracking the armor. The other launched nine iron-tipped spears, several of which took kwajiin right off their feet. Two of the spears struck the elephant, and—doubtless guided by Kojai’s hand—one punched through where the ball had hit.

  The spear went deep and quivered. The elephant jerked. Its head snapped up, a tusk impaling a writhing kwajiin. The elephant froze in the sally port with the dying warrior wriggling helplessly.

  Moriande’s warriors sent up a shout. More spring engines shot, and archers picked specific targets. The trapped kwajii
n sought and killed warriors, but without reinforcements, they died quickly.

  Other elephants pounded on the walls. Won’t be long before this whole section comes down.

  Ciras broke the arrow and drew it from his hand. He filched a strip of fabric with a prayer on it from a Cyron shrine and bound the wound. He barely acknowledged the thanks of others as they scurried off to other posts. They invited him to join, but he declined.

  Despite the pain and the victory, he’d not forgotten the winged beast flying over the city, skimming the clouds. He looked up and saw it circling to the west. Ciras knew in an instant where it was headed—Anturasikun—and he could make a good guess what its mission was.

  For some reason Nelesquin wanted Keles Anturasi, and Ciras was not going to let them take his friend.

  “We must get closer.” Nelesquin took another glance at the handful of augury stones, then tapped the kasphana driver on the shoulder with a riding crop. “I can see what is happening, but I need to hear, too.”

  Kaerinus shook his head. “Get too close, and you can smell it.”

  Nelesquin smiled, returning the stones to their pouch. “I had forgotten you never developed a taste for war.”

  “I have just healed so many wounds that it no longer holds a thrill for me, Highness.”

  “And you do that very well, Kaerinus.”

  Stones flew over Moriande’s walls, crushing some of the dari, but already the main gate had been shattered. Smaller gates east and west had gone down as well, and the elephants were close to bringing down a major piece of the wall. To the east, the effort to use the wooden dari as siege ladders seemed to be working. They linked themselves together and clung to the wall like ivy, allowing warriors to swarm up.

  Nelesquin spoke into the bag of stones. “It’s going better than you predicted.”

  “Did you say something, Highness?”

  “A private joke.” Nelesquin smiled broadly. “You see, my friends, warfare is what makes Men unique. Are the Viruk mighty warriors? Of course, there is no denying it. But they had stopped fighting wars well before True Men reached these shores. We were able to drive them back from their empire and establish our own. Yes, some have suggested the Viruk were tired of war and felt their age was passing, but this is the whining of those who do not understand how important warfare is. It kills the weak and rewards the strong. It makes us better.”

  “Winning me my tower will make us much better, Prince Nelesquin.” Qiro studied the distant battle with sharp, pale eyes. “Your effort in the west falters.”

  “Patience, Master Anturasi.” Nelesquin grasped the crop in both hands at the small of his back. “This war is a work of art. Savor it. It will bring you what you desire.”

  The Prince nodded to himself as a jarandaki began its descent. “And once we have what we desire, there will be no stopping us.”

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  30th day, Month of the Eagle, Year of the Rat

  Last Year of Imperial Prince Cyron’s Court

  163rd Year of the Komyr Dynasty

  737th Year since the Cataclysm

  Moriande, Nalenyr

  I threw myself from beneath the ram’s ax. Its blow pulverized cobblestones and crushed the shrine where I’d prayed. Stone shards ricocheted off my armor. Sparks exploded as a second blow just missed me, skittering low and taking off another warrior’s legs.

  “Master, this way!”

  I scrambled up and sprinted after Dunos. Another ram missed me, but blasted through the corner of a building. Roofing tiles cascaded, shattering, but I didn’t look back. The ground shook with every hoof fall. Fear was lending wings to my feet, but that still wasn’t going to win me this race.

  Dunos darted left and I came hot on his heels. We cut left down a narrow street. One of the ram’s horns caught the edge of a roof, scattering more tiles. We ran beneath clotheslines hung with sheets. Rope snapped as the ram came on. I leaped over an abandoned bundle of clothes and ran past a crossing alley.

  Only then, with the thunder of the ram’s pursuit faltering, did I dare glance back.

  Red and blue rags hung from its horns and the ram pawed them from his eyes. He paused at the crossroads, ignoring the east and west alleys. They were too narrow to permit his passage and Dunos and I were still out in front of him.

  Though this was a creature of metal, the trap we’d planned for the xonarchii worked perfectly against it. Ballistae hidden in each alley shot from close range. One spear skewered both thighs. The other entered at a hip and came out at the opposite shoulder. The ram jerked, then sagged against a building. The wall crumbled and the war machine disappeared within the rubble.

  Dunos tugged at my sleeve. We ran east and the ballista crews reloaded. We fought our way through crowds of panicking people streaming north. People shouted questions, but I had no answers they wanted to hear. I pointed to the bridges and told them to move quickly.

  They did, praying to Cyron or anyone else who might listen.

  I wonder who Cyron is praying to right now? Cyron might have planned on the walls coming down, but certainly not that quickly. No one could have. Nelesquin had managed in seconds what should have taken months.

  My xidantzu company had assembled quickly.

  Ranai pointed southeast. “We should fall back to Wentokikun and hold it.”

  I shook my head. “We have to protect the innocent. Deshiel, get your archers to the rooftops. Kill what you can, but I want you to track the enemy. Bait them. Lead them into our traps. Ranai, get your people moving refugees to the bridges. Get them out of here.”

  She frowned. “But, Master…”

  “I know, it doesn’t sound like a warrior’s job, but it must be done. Do you honestly think there won’t be enough bloodletting later? Clear the refugees, and you can fight to your heart’s content.”

  She nodded and they both moved to relay orders to their people.

  I looked down. “Dunos, go with Ranai.”

  He shook his head adamantly. “You’d be dead if I hadn’t been at the gate. I stay with you.”

  I had no time to argue, especially when he was right. “If we get separated, you head north, understand?”

  Dunos’ bright smile managed to summon a twin to my face. “Head north; got it.”

  I promised to see my people on the other side—and most of them assumed I was talking about the river. Smoke had already begun to rise near a small gate usually reserved for the Prince, so Dunos and I headed that way. Almost immediately, we ran into people streaming from that direction, many of them cut and bleeding. They’d been fending off sword blows with their bare arms, which spoke to their courage and the incompetence of the invaders.

  Dunos and I entered a small circular courtyard centered on a fountain. Two men wearing the crest of the Free Ixunite Company had pinned a woman against the fountain. Her husband lay in a knot of his own entrails. Two wide-eyed toddlers cried silently, hidden in the shadow of an overturned wagon.

  Jaedun sizzled through me. I crossed to the fountain, hamstringing the first man, then harvesting his head. His accomplice turned, eyes wide. His gaze shifted from me to the stumps of his handless arms. That was the last thing he saw before he fainted in a pool of hot arterial blood.

  A dozen Ixunites occupied the courtyard’s southern half. They gave up looting and came at us, swords bared. I spun into them, both blades flashing. Muscles tore and ligaments popped as razored steel slid through. Gasps and groans, curses running into gurgles. and screams warred with the clatter of metal, as swords dropped from nerveless fingers or in the grasp of severed hands.

  Two of the men went for Dunos. There was no mistaking him for a man. He was a child, and a crippled one at that. They decided he would be easier to kill than I, proving they were, in fact, more stupid than they looked.

  Dunos, though small and early in his formal training, had seen much combat. He dodged left, blocking one man with his companion. Dunos caught the first man’s overhand slash on his sword, then dar
ted in. He stabbed his dagger into the first man’s groin. Blood gushed bright red. The man stumbled back. Dunos ducked low, sweeping a leg out. He caught the man’s heels, sending him over backward.

  The other coward, watching his friend’s life spurt out, hesitated.

  Dunos lunged, striking like a cobra. His sword slipped beneath the man’s breastplate and into his guts. The boy wrenched his sword hard, then yanked it out. The man coughed his last words into a bloody cloud, then flopped lifeless to the cobblestones.

  Dunos’ second foe hit the ground about the same time as the last pieces of mine. The woman had crawled to where her children cowered. The tinkling of the fountain’s water covered most other immediate sounds, save for the ordered stamp of soldiers blocking all avenues of escape.

  Count Linel Vroan entered the square, accompanied by two of the gyanrigot. They’d been constructed of wood and shaped like mantises. Though not as heavy as their metal counterparts, their footsteps still shook the ground. They flanked the leader of the Ixunite troops.

  The tall man bowed. “Virisken Soshir, I remember you. Will you allow me to please my master, or will you force me to regretfully offer him your corpse?”

  Prince Cyron snarled. He looked south from the heights of Shirikun. “How can they have breached the walls so quickly?”

  Count Jarys Derael sat immobile in his wheeled chair. “Nelesquin has something new. We must hope to find vulnerabilities, or all is lost.”

  Cyron raked fingers back through his hair. “My city. We can do nothing.”

  “We have prepared well, Highness.”

  “They are through the wall. There is a fire in the southeast. It could consume everything.”

  “It is unlikely Nelesquin will let it rage. He wins nothing if it does.”

  “But how can he…” Cyron shook his head. “The vanyesh, yes. Perhaps they used their magic to bring the gates down.”

  “If they are that bold and that foolish, then all is lost no matter what we do.” The count flicked a finger. “Please, we have a decision to make.”