by Tom Lloyd
It took Lynx a while to realise who’d spoken, but finally he spotted Llaith’s lined face, cheeks pink with rare anger.
‘I’m making no assumptions,’ Toil said with a tired shake of the head. ‘Won’t blame anyone, won’t turn anyone away. We go into the teeth of this now. It looks like the Sons of the Wind are mad enough to come with us, but that’s just all the more reason to let folk make their own choice.’
‘It’s no normal job, this,’ Anatin added, loud enough to cut through all the mutters. ‘Foren’s not coming with us – no, don’t give me that shit, old friend. You’re no fighter, not really. You know where the company books are, you’ll see that everyone gets paid the way they were meant to.’
‘I’m coming,’ Foren insisted. ‘Fuck the accounts.’
The company quartermaster looked shocked, clearly feeling betrayed but Lynx could see Anatin was, rightly, not to be swayed.
‘You’ll do as I damn well order! We’re mercs, we fight for pay and I ain’t shirking my duty there. Both the living an’ the dead deserve their pay. It’s all I got to give ’em so I’ll be damned if they don’t get at least that. Some had families too, kin who need what’s owed. You’ll find a letter of authorisation at the Hand o’ Cards for you, in case we don’t come back.’
‘You expect me to just turn round? After all we’ve been through, we’re done?’
Anatin’s expression softened. ‘I expect you to do me this one last service, old friend. There’s no more for you to do at my side, but there’s still a job to be done.’ He forced a crooked grin at the man. ‘Also, if you don’t, I’ll fucking shoot you for disobeying orders.’
‘Enough talk,’ one of the soldiers said, a shaven-headed man with black suns down the left-hand side of his face. ‘You must come.’
Anatin groaned. ‘You must shut your face, soldier. Can’t you see we’re having a tender moment here?’
‘I have orders.’
‘Ain’t that spanky for you.’ Anatin paused and shook his head. ‘We’ll talk later, Foren, okay? This wanker’s ruined the mood.’
He went to join Vigilance and Toil, but the soldier didn’t move. Instead, his attention roved over the remaining Cards, resting for longer than comfortable on Lynx himself.
‘The Vagrim too.’
That perked the company up a bit. Deern spat curses as he sat upright and glared around.
‘No Vagrim here,’ Anatin said, confused.
‘Those are my orders,’ the soldier replied. He seemed neither interested nor surprised by the reaction. ‘The Vagrim too.’
‘I can think o’ one,’ Estal said, giving Lynx a sharp look. ‘Stranger o’ Tempest, take a bow. That’s the Vagrim card on your coat, remember? I drew it for you myself.’
‘Just a card,’ Lynx mumbled.
The company seer cocked her head at him. ‘Is it now? Starting to feel a bit more than that – now we’re surrounded by an army dedicated to the God o’ Tempest.’
‘You’re fucking kidding me,’ Toil breathed. ‘All this time, that’s what you weren’t telling me?’
‘Oh, someone fetch snacks!’ Deern cackled. ‘This just got good.’
‘Ain’t nobody’s business but my own,’ Lynx said, standing while he spoke. ‘Don’t see why I’m needed but yeah, I’m a Vagrim, whatever that counts for. Nothing I’m ashamed of.’
The soldier gave Lynx a long look up and down then shook his head. ‘Not you,’ he said dismissively. ‘Another.’
‘What? There’s two o’ the fuckers?’ Toil stopped and frowned at Lynx while he thought. ‘That bloody ring. Now I get it. Atieno, where are you? Stop hiding behind Aben, I see you. Get your stony old arse up here. We’d have needed you along anyway.’
The ageing mage of tempest scowled but didn’t speak as he rose to join them. He’d been leaning heavily on a staff or riding a mule for the journey so far, but Lynx hadn’t heard him complain once.
Bloody Vagrim sense of duty, he thought to himself as the Sons soldier gave a curt nod and indicated for them to follow him. Lynx could hear the voices of the Cards rise in their wake, but he ignored it. Just as he ignored the hard look Toil gave him before setting off.
‘Yer in trouble with the missus,’ Anatin whispered, loud enough to make sure everyone heard him. ‘Deern’s got a point there, this could be exactly the entertainment this company needs.’
‘Glad to be of service,’ Lynx replied. ‘Now fuck off.’
He upped his pace and put himself next to Atieno, but then had to slow down as the mage stumbled.
‘Hey,’ he called to the soldier striding away. The man glanced back and checked his pace as Lynx offered an arm to Atieno, only to be waved away.
‘I’m fine.’
‘Far from bloody fine,’ Lynx countered. ‘Just stubborn.’
Atieno smiled at that. ‘Says the man with a butcher’s block for a back?’
‘I like to think o’ myself as more a warning to others than example to follow.’
‘We all do. So – what do you think they need Vagrim along for?’
‘They want you there,’ Lynx said. ‘I just happen to be the idiot standing beside you.’
‘Wearing the same ring,’ Toil called from his left.
Lynx nodded. ‘Sure, that too.’
‘Maybe they saw a kindred spirit?’ she suggested. ‘Or just someone with the same tailor as them.’
He looked around at the destruction the Sons of the Wind had wrought with their ambush. ‘Is that supposed to cheer me up?’
‘No.’
‘Oh.’
‘It feels less and less of a surprise though,’ Atieno said. ‘Given what we’ve guessed of their creed.’
‘What? Trying to finish up a half-done job from thousands of years ago?’
‘Trying to kill those who got so powerful they called themselves gods,’ Atieno countered. ‘Sound like a tale of Vagrim?’
‘Aye, sounds like the perfect and final one,’ Lynx agreed glumly. ‘That doesn’t cheer me up much either.’
‘No, I suppose not.’
Before long they had walked the few hundred yards to where the Sons of the Wind camp was taking shape – a tall tent at the very centre. Even amid this eccentric Militant Order the layout of the camp was familiar enough. Lynx supposed that basic requirements transcended dogma, but the manner and origins of the troops there looked far more like a mercenary company than professional army.
They all wore the mismatched style of uniform, but, in the faces he passed, Lynx could see at least a dozen places he’d visited or known folk from. They all wore the star-adorned tree of their Order but many had other more outlandish devices too – either unit designations or some other allegiance, he guessed.
There were serpents, tigers, torches, towers, bridges and the skyriver among several variations on a moon-and-stars device. The one that jumped out at Lynx was the weeping willow on the guards around the central tent. He shot a look at Atieno but before either could say anything, they were ushered inside.
The interior was cluttered, a team of soldiers arranging various chests and bundles around the outside edge. In the centre was a broad table lit by bright-glowing mage lamps that hung from the support poles.
Lynx recognised Kalozhin, the colonel they had met before, but clearly in this company he was on the fringes. As without, there was a mix of races and sexes. At the centre he realised there were three Sons with diamond shapes pinned to their collars, looking like they were in charge.
‘At last we meet,’ said one of those, a short woman no older than Lynx. Her skin was as dark as Kalozhin’s, her blue eyes pale and piercing. ‘You have done my Order a great service.’
‘Sure – that’s exactly why we did it,’ Toil said. ‘Ah, mind if I ask who we’re talking to here?’
‘I am called Erazil. I … to you I am a general of the Sons of the Wind.’ She pointed to the first of her companions, a muscular white man with a boxer’s flattened nose and a pale white-haired woman, the old
est of the three. ‘General Odhar and General Seltois. They speak little Parthish, I shall speak for them.’
‘I’m guessing you know who we all are?’
‘It is so.’
‘What news of the survivors?’
Erazil shook her head. ‘They will not be a problem. My scouts say fewer than one thousand survive. Most are unarmed and have no supplies.’
‘They can send a warning ahead.’
‘This is why I have cavalry.’
Toil nodded. The remaining Charnelers were Erazil’s concern and clearly she wasn’t worried.
‘What now then?’
The general looked over the Cards before answering. Her attention rested most sharply on Atieno, it seemed to Lynx. That was no great surprise, he was a mage of tempest after all, but still it caused him to wonder.
‘We have much to plan. Autumn comes fast and we are far from the holy valley. When we arrive, our true problems begin.’
‘Normally, I’d say that’s when the fun starts, but this time I’m not so sure. How many fragments have you recovered?’
‘Perhaps half. Many were with the Knights-Charnel commander. We dig through the bodies now. A company of cavalry tried to escape with some, but were wiped out.’
‘You’ve got mages in your ranks,’ Atieno said. ‘They should be able to find the fragments more easily.’
‘It is so. They lead our efforts.’
‘And the ammunition?’
‘One cart survived the battle. Ammunition will be limited but if we do not fight a battle before the valley, it should last. But it is of small numbers that we must speak.’
‘Oh?’
The general pointed at Atieno. ‘You are the only mage of tempest in your company, correct?’
‘Yes.’
‘So in your hands alone lies the key.’ She took a step towards him, a predatory glint in her eye that made Lynx’s fingers twitch. ‘This is unacceptable.’
‘The key?’ Atieno repeated. ‘Oh. That.’
Erazil grinned wolfishly. ‘Just so. That.’ She waved a few of her companions forward, General Odhar and three lower-ranked Sons moving stiffly up. ‘That must change, the risk is too great.’
‘Change?’ Toil demanded, putting herself between the two.
‘A linking ritual.’
‘Lynx told you about that, did he?’
Lynx looked around at the faces, bewildered. ‘I didn’t say anything – did I?’
‘We have ways to discover information,’ Erazil replied. ‘This thing we know and we must do. We cannot have just one man able to destroy the fragments. Death comes to us all.’
‘Those four are all tempest mages?’
‘This surprises you?’
Toil raised her eyebrows at the number, but before she could reply Atieno raised a hand. ‘I will do it,’ he said. ‘You’re right – the risk is too great.’
Erazil inclined her head in thanks. ‘We are agreed, this is pleasing. Now we feast to celebrate our victory. You will join us?’
‘Now?’ Atieno looked confused. ‘You don’t want to do the ritual now?’
‘The morning is better. We must test afterwards, no? Kalozhin tells me it is better not to stay long if we are successful.’
Lynx remembered the elementals and hunters that had gathered after Atieno’s last efforts to destroy a God Fragment. He nodded. Four mages replicating that at once really was going to be a temptation and they were going to need every soldier and mage they could get.
‘Good. There is meat and wine, we celebrate our victory.’ She gave them a sly look. ‘Perhaps we also gamble?’
Anatin stepped forward, a broad smile breaking out on his face. ‘Playing cards against the followers of Banesh? Toil, fetch the others. Finally, we’ve got a challenge worthy of us!’
Chapter 26
Dawn crawled heavy and damp across the autumn sky. Lynx woke up cold. The hollow ache of hard liquor scraped at his gut and the ghost of nightmares haunted the edges of sight. The stink of burned flesh and scorched earth remained thick in the air as he got up and pulled his coat on. His dreams had been of To Lort prison. Of the mines beneath it and the stink of death about the place. The scars on his back ached as he walked through the grey gloom of morning, trying to shake the memories from his body, though his injuries had long ago healed.
The dead lay where they’d fallen. There was no time to bury them and few enough hands for the job anyway. Scavengers reigned here now. Though Lynx felt shamed by it he knew there was nothing they could do. The Cards would be back on the march soon enough today. They could spare no energy for digging pits.
‘End justifies the means, eh?’ someone called from behind him.
Lynx paused and saw Sitain following him, red-eyed and pale-cheeked. He doubted he looked much better.
‘No, it doesn’t.’
That made Sitain stop in her tracks. She gave him a curious look then pulled her coat tight around her body and continued towards him.
‘Then what the fuck are we doing here?’
‘What we need to do,’ he said, hating the platitude even as he spoke it. ‘This is war and we’re in strange times. Doesn’t mean we’re justified in everything we do. Folk just prefer to think of it that way.’
‘Deepest black, Lynx, don’t you ever let up?’ Sitain shook her head. ‘Just pick a side. We either need to do this or we shouldn’t have got so deep in.’
‘It’s war – a whole lot of nasty shit happens. I’m guessing there’s more to come. Doesn’t make me want to just shrug at the death of thousands or claim the moral high ground.’
‘I’m not saying …’ She paused then her shoulders sagged. ‘I ain’t glad at the sight, but what else could we do? They were soldiers and it’s not like it’s the first betrayal we’ve managed in the last month.’
‘Let’s just hope the ends are what we want,’ Lynx replied. ‘What do you make of this crowd?’
‘Sons of the Wind? I dunno, not seen much of them yet. Not as much as you. Everyone says they’re crazy, but any Militant Order devoted to Banesh has to be, doesn’t it? How about you? Got to know that one, Kalozhin, a bit, didn’t you?’
‘Oh they’re crazy, no doubt about that. Whether they’re any crazier than us I can’t say any more. This plan of Toil’s – would anyone sane sign up to it? And yesterday Anatin had to almost threaten Foren – gentle soul Foren, who’s little more’n a clerk who can just about shoot straight – to prevent him joining our assault on the holy valley. Even if we succeed, this might be a suicide mission.’
‘For you mebbe,’ Sitain said with forced humour. Her fingers glittered darkly with night magic. ‘I’m getting out of there; I promise you that.’
‘Aye, I hope you do. Some days I wonder if I did you a favour, killing those fuckers on the kingsroad.’
‘Don’t,’ she snapped. ‘Might be I don’t like saying it too often, but you did me a favour. Life in a sanctuary might’ve been safer, but I’d still be a well-kept slave. What I chose after that point isn’t on you. That’s the whole damn point of freeing me. You don’t get to feel guilty about what came after. My choices became my own again and that’s all I can ask for.’
Lynx nodded. ‘True enough. So what do you choose?’
‘I’m not going home, if that’s what you’re asking. If I wasn’t a mage, mebbe – not like I’m much of a fighter, but you play the hand you’re dealt, right?’
He smiled. ‘Might be Anatin’s regretting that phrase this morning. General Erazil pretty much cleaned him out last night, beat good hands with incredible ones.’
‘He shouldn’t have had such a hard-on about gambling with the God of Chance then!’ Sitain laughed. ‘Did he think it was going to go any other way?’
Hearing a distant voice they turned to see Toil and Atieno waving. With a sigh they walked back to the stretch of ground claimed by the Cards.
‘Ready?’
‘What, now?’ Sitain asked, startled. ‘I’ve not even had a piss ye
t.’
‘Get a wriggle on then,’ Toil said. ‘They’re an eager bunch.’
She pointed towards the largest stretch of ground on the plain where the bulk of the Sons were camped. They had started breaking down tents already, though the sun was yet to rise above the eastern treeline.
‘What about the fragments?’
‘Searched through the night. The Sons have a lot of mages in their ranks and turns out it was easier come nightfall. The fragments glowed in the dark, enough to pick them out of the muck. They’re happy they’ve got the lot.’
‘How many?’
‘Hundred and sixty-four. Closer to two hundred if you add the ones we brought from the Jarrazir hoard, but I ain’t told them about those yet.’
‘You don’t trust them?’
Toil frowned. ‘I don’t know them. So long as we’re going in the same direction there’s no problem. We’re already in bed with this bunch of strangers, no need to offer up everything in one go.’
‘Now there’s a metaphor to make Llaith go weak at the knees,’ Sitain muttered. ‘So where are we doing this?’
‘There,’ Toil said. She pointed at a group of grey figures halfway to the treeline, well away from everyone. ‘Let’s not keep the armed fanatics waiting now.’
As they walked, Lynx saw the three generals were all present, the burly prizefighter General Odhar at the front of the group of mages they’d met the previous day. Seeing them, General Erazil’s face split into a grin.
‘Commander Anatin is not with you?’ she called. ‘This is a shame. We had a most enjoyable evening.’
‘I think you found it more fun than he did,’ Toil replied. ‘He’s either sulking in his tent or still sleeping it off.’
‘No matter – we have all we need here. Mage Atieno – please come. Give your orders for the ritual.’
‘Doesn’t need to be a ritual,’ Atieno said, not moving, ‘just a linked spell really, but when we made … no, never mind. Form a chain, myself at one end, Sitain at the other—’ He paused and held up a hand. ‘You are all mages of tempest? If so, we must be careful, Sitain is powerful but it will be a shock to link her to four mages of the same magic.’
