by Tom Lloyd
‘I … ah, fuck. Fuck! Whatever’s inside that cage,’ Sitain gasped. ‘It just moved.’
‘Moved?’
‘Yeah – not much, but there was definitely something.’
‘Balls to the dark then,’ Anatin declared. With a practised action the one-handed man sheathed his mage-pistol, flipped open the breech and pulled out the cartridge inside. A quick feel around in his cartridge case produced a light-bolt that he slotted home and closed the gun up again.
‘Reckon you can shoot this straight, Sitain?’
‘Shoot?’
‘Just close enough to bloody show us what you’re looking at. It’s bigger’n a barn door ain’t it?’
‘Give it here,’ Toil snapped. She took the pistol from Anatin and aimed it at the shadow-shape away in the darkness. ‘Eyes.’
They all closed their eyes, Lynx putting a hand across his to ward off as much of the glare as possible. The snap of the mage-pistol accompanied a flare of light behind his fingers and Lynx waited two heartbeats before looking. A yellow-white flower had blossomed from the main cable of roots hanging from the ceiling. It illuminated the great tendrils of stone that led through from the strange throne room. Six of them stretched over their heads, branching and twisting across the span to join the bulbous knot at the centre. More reached it from similar platforms to the left and right, a network of roots extending perhaps as much as a hundred yards in.
The light also revealed the size of the huge chamber they were in. Gently tapered walls of smooth stone led down further than Lynx could see. The bottom was hidden by the gloom, more than five hundred yards down he guessed. Everything was grey and near featureless … Lynx froze. Except whatever lurked inside that massive cage.
He could see movement, slow and deliberate. Then something dark pushed out of the largest gap in the root-cage, long and iridescent in the weak light. Like everything else it was impossible to make out size, but Lynx could tell it was golantha-sized rather than man-sized.
The movement was small, just a twitch, but enough to show the strange dark gleam of its surface and sharp pointed end. And then the light vanished – winked out completely rather than the usual steady fade.
‘Did that just drain the magic?’ Toil whispered. ‘Did I really just see that?’
‘Yeah, you did,’ Lynx said. ‘Another fucking golantha.’
Safir shook his head. ‘Not just that,’ he said. ‘One that’s somehow imprisoned here – beneath the inner sanctums of the gods.’
‘How? The gods have been broken for thousands of years!’ Anatin almost wailed. ‘How can this thing be here and alive?’
Toil gave a start. ‘Because it’s not a normal golantha like we’ve faced before,’ she said, sounding winded by the realisation.
‘Huh? What the fucksticks is it then?’ Anatin snapped. ‘It’s no fucking puppy, for damn sure.’
‘I don’t know exactly, but … Those months I spent with a Whisper clan, when they taught me how to sign.’
‘Yeah?’
‘It was the old ones who taught me, the lore-keepers. They don’t write their history, they tell it. Their most ancient stories tell of when the gods were young, new in their powers. It took them a long time to achieve dominion over all things. The gods weren’t as powerful as they later became. They fought wars of conquest in the deepest black, fought to tame it. The myths spoke about creatures of incredible age and power, far above what the clans knew as golantha. They were unkillable until the gods cooperated to hunt them down.’
‘What were they called?’
‘The deep gods – gods of the deepest black, gods of the darkest lights. The names changed, but it was only when the gods defeated them that they truly came into the powers spoken of in the scriptures.’
‘And you think this is one of those?’
Toil shrugged. ‘I think there’s a giant golantha imprisoned beneath their most sacred place,’ she said simply. ‘I think it’s either a recent catch or has been kept here, somehow failing to die for thousands of years.’
‘And the roots?’
‘Who knows? But if I wanted to be a god and I had some undying beast of vast power to hand I might look for a way to … feed off it.’
Toil left the words hanging there amid the darkness. They all stood and stared out towards where the creature had been.
‘It’s a prison,’ Lynx said suddenly, almost surprising himself as much as the others. ‘They put it here for a reason.’
‘So?’
‘So it’s not all-powerful,’ he said, ‘and this place looks fucking deep to me. One of the things we’ve proved kills a golantha is falling. Why not try that on this lord of golanthas?’
‘Assuming it can’t fly?’
Toil shook her head. ‘The deepest black is rifts and caverns that extend dozens of miles into the ground, but there’s no huge single space. Not like the sky. Wings are no use to the big bastards.’
‘If I was a god and I had this thing trussed up, while I’m feeding off it or whatever these roots are about,’ Lynx said, ‘reckon I’d want to make sure it couldn’t escape and come for me.’
‘So if we break those roots, it could fall?’ Safir whistled. ‘Damn, but that’s a risk to take – even by our standards. Why not leave the fucker alone, stuck in its prison?’
‘Cos it’s moving,’ Sitain croaked, still staring into the darkness. ‘Cos we just killed one of the things that was feeding off it and the Sons burned a whole lot of fragments from the others too. Cos it’s a creature of magic and the seals are all broken now.’
‘Still – either it can escape or it can’t. Whether it’s waking up or not isn’t so much our concern.’
Lynx cocked his head at the man. ‘Really? Cos it kinda feels like something to be concerned about.’
‘It’s not our fight, is what I’m saying,’ Safir insisted. ‘Unless you can see some easy-to-pull lever that’s marked “drop the deepgod down the shitter”, why pick a fight we don’t know we can win? Don’t know we even need to?’
The sound of gunfire ended their conversation. The Cards all ducked down and looked for their attackers until they realised it wasn’t directed at them. Slowly they searched around until Sitain pointed at the broken section of the wall. There Lynx could see more light than before – a jagged hole in the rock illuminated by white-light globes. It wasn’t especially big but, as they watched, the edges were pounded by earthers, smashing chunks out and sending those boulders tumbling into the void below.
‘This ah … This seems less encouraging to those of us who’d prefer monsters to stay locked up,’ Anatin commented. ‘Your deepgod might not be able to fly, but anyone checked if it can jump?’
Lynx looked at the imprisoned monster. It was a strange tangle of limbs. He couldn’t quite fathom how they all fitted together – or indeed if they only belonged to one creature. They were moving more now, not just the odd twitch but a careful extending and withdrawing as it tested its bounds.
‘Do they know what they’re doing?’ Toil wondered. ‘Is that why they’re here?’
‘Who?’ Lynx asked. ‘Oh fuck!’
They looked at each other. ‘Who’s mad enough to want to wake an ancient god?’
‘If we’re talking organisations – just the one,’ Lynx agreed. ‘The fuckers we came here with.’
Chapter 40
‘What do we do?’
There was silence.
‘Do we need to do anything?’ Anatin hazarded. ‘I mean, we were hired for a job and – screaming fucks – for once, we hit the target. No starting a totally different war, no unpicking the fabric of the world or getting caught screwing our employer’s wife!’
‘Hey!’ Safir snapped. ‘That was one time!’
Anatin turned an evil grin his way. ‘Was it though?’
‘Oh come on, the other time doesn’t count, they were divorced. Anyway, Deern had been shagging the husband that very morning so he deserved a lesson in justifiable outrage.’
&n
bsp; ‘That’s what worries me,’ Toil said absently, lost in thought.
‘Deern getting his end away?’ Anatin asked. ‘Yeah, me too. Every time. I just assume Reft’s got some deep mental issues we’re not aware of.’
‘Not that bit.’
‘Oh. You think we just unpicked the fabric of the world again?’
Lynx snorted. ‘It is kind of our thing these days.’
‘And this is all too weird even by my standards,’ Toil added. ‘The gods constructing some vast prison with weird stone roots leading down to some … Well, something big and scary.’
‘So we kill it?’ Lynx suggested. ‘Just to be safe?’
‘You have an odd definition of safe, my port— ah, disappointingly-less-portly-after-weeks-of-marching friend,’ said Anatin.
‘Weird definition of friends too,’ Lynx muttered. Then he added, ‘Whatever’s going on here, we don’t want it loose. What with us being tasty mage treats an’ all.’
Toil nodded. ‘Not sure an earther’s going to do much good at that range though and icers won’t do more than tickle it.’ She shook her head. ‘How the fuck did they even crack the wall – it’s mage-reinforced!’
‘Dark magic? We gave them the strength to do it, after all. That’s what the explosion was, some bloody dark bomb big enough to crack even this prison open.’
‘While we were marching here? I suppose they might have found a glassblower’s in one abandoned town, but doing so without Atieno noticing?’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ Anatin said firmly. ‘We can worry about who later. How do we kill it?’
Toil searched around the platform they stood on but it ended in sheer drops on either side. Even the stone roots offered nothing in the way of handholds that the boldest climber would risk.
‘It’s almost like they didn’t build this place with easy access in mind,’ she commented with a bitter smile. ‘We’re not getting close enough for earthers. Maybe we fire on the Sons – or whoever it is breaking in?’
‘Makes us sitting ducks if they’re halfway decent shots,’ Anatin pointed out.
‘Atieno? Could you reach it with your magic?’
‘Assuming I did not simply revive it further?’ The ageing mage shook his head. ‘I do not have the control.’
‘Where’s Lastani when you need her, eh? Right – we double back, see if we can ambush ’em. The thing’s been asleep or whatever for millennia. Might be it’ll take a while to wake.’
Even as she spoke there was a great groan of stone from the cage. The Cards fell silent as they heard deep echoing cracks ring out around the vast space. It momentarily drowned out the crash of ordnance on the now-enlarged hole. When nothing more came the gunfire increased, earthers and grenades battering the space until any of the golantha they had faced thus far would easily make it through.
Belatedly, the Cards started to fire icers at those doing the work, but they were shooting almost entirely blind. As Anatin predicted, they soon had to scramble away or lie flat until the return fire dwindled. By the time Lynx risked another look he realised one more thing had changed – the cage itself. Now there was a faint glow coming from it, the darkly iridescent hide of whatever lay within giving off its own light. Surrounded by that web of stone it looked to Lynx like Urden’s largest ever Duegar lantern – criss-crossing lines of dark containing something that shone light which was barely visible to his human eyes.
‘Bet that’s shining like Veraimin’s own arsehole to anything that lives down here,’ Toil breathed, watching alongside him.
‘God Fragments shine, why not your deepgod too?’ Lynx said by way of agreement.
‘I guess that means it’s getting stronger. Ever since we opened the Labyrinth most likely, or broke the last seal at least. It’s just been down here gathering its strength, waiting for its opportunity.’
‘Waiting … planning.’ Lynx paused. ‘Wait – we’re not shining.’
‘Good thing too. We don’t need to be any easier to shoot in the dark, not up here.’
‘No, I mean surely if Kalozhin was doing this, they’d be turning their magic on that wall. We’d all feel it straight away.’
‘You think that its Charnelers instead?’ Toil asked.
‘Why not? The gods could affect minds – mebbe this deepgod too. Mebbe it’s suborned the temple guards or something. Anyone living in these parts for months or years must be at risk, surely?’
‘So parts of both sides might be involved here? A cheery thought there, Lynx, but it doesn’t help us much.’
‘No, true.’
The deepgod – assuming it was indeed that, but Lynx couldn’t doubt it now it was starting to move – shifted slowly inside its cage. Clearly, it was aware of the precariousness of its situation. If their assumptions were true, even with Insar effectively destroyed it remained weak and imprisoned above a fall intended to kill it. Weakness and that threat had clearly been enough for a time, at least. Now it was probing its surroundings in search of escape.
One small section of the cage disappeared as they watched. A minor part of the web perhaps, but ominous enough as a tree-trunk-thick section was apparently bitten through. The deepgod did nothing at first, shifting in slow, small increments until it could extend one long limb out for the first time in untold years.
The limb was massive – twenty yards from what Lynx could guess – and resembled the spear-like legs of a maspid. There was no foot or hand, just the dull point of a toe and hooked shape on the underside. It was flexible, though, two joints allowing it to be dextrous in its investigation of the cage’s outside. All this went on as the attack on the wall continued, demolishing a stretch large enough to fit the entire cage through.
Finally, the unknown gunners were satisfied and broke off their efforts. The space they’d made was large enough that the golantha from Shadows Deep wouldn’t have been able to touch both sides at once. Lynx couldn’t see if they stayed to watch or kept clear, but horrified fascination kept him rooted to the spot.
‘Load icers,’ Toil declared. ‘Aim at that cross-piece in the centre and hold. We might not be able to break that cage, but mebbe we can rattle it once damage has been done.’
Lynx nodded and knelt with his gun ready, waiting for an opportunity. The probing of the cage continued before there was more crunch and grind of stone as another piece was broken away. Anatin moved back to the steps they’d come down, ushering Layir and Payl forward. He couldn’t shoot a long gun with one hand and they’d need every shot they could take.
‘Stay ready,’ Toil muttered. ‘When it goes, it’ll go fast. We’ll only get one chance here.’
The shape twisted inside the cage. It was a strangely lithe and acrobatic movement for something so large. Lynx couldn’t see why but soon he didn’t need to wonder. More pieces were chopped away from the stonework, this time from the lowest part of the cage. Half-seen stretches of rock dropped away into the dark and someone counted the seconds until a dull boom rolled up from deep below.
‘Damn,’ Anatin breathed. ‘That’s a long way.’
‘Enough to kill anything alive,’ Toil agreed, pulling the stock of her mage-gun tighter against her shoulder.
More stone fell away. More of the deepgod was revealed. It was enough to still the breath in Lynx’s chest for all that he couldn’t make out the details. The beast had four limbs working carefully, patiently, while others gripped the upper parts of the cage. Its head jutted forwards to a point while twisting horns crowned it. Two pairs of half-moon eyes shone faintly, the lower edge sliding forward and back over each like a slow, deliberate blink as it tested its vision.
The strange shifting gleam of its body meant details were hard to make out, dark-light similar to the lanterns apparently emitted from all parts of it causing the iridescence to glimmer like oil. Its horns, claws and teeth stood out as a dull, dark grey against the black of its body. As it worked, Lynx saw one set of limbs were more like arms, clawed appendages that could turn and grip.
; ‘How about now?’ Lynx hissed, seeing the deepgod remove what was left of the lower section.
‘How the fuck should I know?’ Toil replied. ‘We go too early, our friends in that great hall will keep our heads down until it’s free.’
‘Better’n leaving things too late,’ Anatin chimed in from the back.
‘He’s got a point,’ Lynx said.
‘Fine – one more piece,’ Toil said. ‘Follow my lead.’
They watched in silence as the deepgod worked away at the edge closest to its freedom. It used the bigger bladed-limbs in concert, slicing at the stone like a practised mage would. Without any more warning, Toil fired. Lynx didn’t hesitate in following with his own and in the next moment the snapping icers drowned out everything else.
As the white streaks tore towards the cage, Lynx fancied he saw the deepgod recoil in surprise if nothing else. Stone creaked as it shifted and the icers chipped away at the rock to weaken it further. As the echoes raced around that great prison he heard the groan and pop of tortured stone. Whether it would be enough to break anything before the deepgod was ready to make its move, Lynx had no idea.
‘Again!’ Toil yelled, tossing the spent cartridge from her gun.
Lynx was already going through the movements as the deepgod rocked like a spider hanging from its web. It didn’t wait for them to do any more. With one great slash of its bladed limbs it cleared the last of the cage from its path and curled into a great ball.
‘Oh fuck!’ someone gasped.
Lynx had his gun up, levelling it at the deepgod just as it sprang. With the dextrous toes of its thick lower limbs it used the remaining cage and nearest root trail to hurl itself forward. The deepgod unveiled its full size in the half-darkness – long limbs thrashing at the air as it flew in a steepening arc towards the newly blasted opening. It never made it. Lynx saw that it wasn’t going to reach before it was halfway and his mouth was open to shout when it slammed into the side of its prison well below the hole.
The great spear-limbs punched at the stone with incredible violence. A tremor ran around the whole chamber as it struck. The deepgod made every possible use of the slight slope. As the Cards watched, dumbfounded, it planted its four lower legs and pushed yet again while it hauled up with its upper limbs.
