God of Night

by Tom Lloyd

  ‘Then we must fight.’

  Toil was about to reply when a rumble and a splash disturbed the quiet of the cavern. It came from Toil’s left and for a moment she was going for her gun, fearing an ambush. Then a low roar followed and any pre-emptive action faded from her mind. Something massive and dark moved across the distant glow of plants and into the lee of a huge pillar.

  ‘Friend of yours?’ Toil asked with a small laugh. ‘Looks like you’ll get to lay your lives down for your god after all.’

  It was obvious to both of them that it was focused on the deepgod and the Cards were not in its path. At any other time they might be the first target for any golantha, but not right now.

  ‘In the service of our god, we shall do as we must,’ Kalozhin said, glancing back at his remaining comrades. ‘You will not join us? We were once allies.’

  ‘Join you?’ Toil scoffed. ‘After all this?’

  ‘You are mercenaries, there will be reward,’ he said in a matter-of-fact way. ‘Name your price.’

  ‘Desperation isn’t an attractive look, my friend,’ Toil replied. ‘Reckon we’ll just enjoy the show.’

  ‘And after?’

  ‘Either you’re dead or you ain’t. Likely you’ll take losses and then … Well, enjoy the journey back. Did you know maspids can swim? Chances are some survived so don’t wear yourselves out with that golantha.’

  ‘As you will enjoy your return to the valley,’ he said angrily. ‘The Knights-Charnel are defeated. We control the temples, the city and all the defences.’

  ‘I’ll take my chances.’ Toil nodded towards the golantha. ‘You might want to shift yourself now, those things are quick.’

  Kalozhin’s face tightened but he didn’t waste time in replying, merely backed away with one eye on Toil. It was almost flattering that he was watching her as carefully as he was watching a huge monster from the depths of the world, but in fairness she was planning to shoot him in the back given half a chance. Unfortunately, that chance never came as Kalozhin kept looking at her all the way. With a sigh Toil started back to the Cards, Sitain keeping close beside her.

  ‘Was that true?’ Sitain asked as they went.

  ‘Which bit?’

  ‘About the maspids?’

  Toil smiled. ‘Not a fucking clue,’ she admitted. ‘But if I don’t know, he ain’t likely to. Wouldn’t put it past the sneaky bastards though.’

  ‘Are we really going to just watch them fight it?’

  ‘I …’ The words tailed off as they reached the Cards. ‘I don’t know,’ Toil said quietly. She pointed towards Lynx. ‘I’m in no rush to pick another fight, but idiot-features over there may feel different.’

  ‘Hey, what did I do?’ Lynx demanded as he noticed her gesture.

  Toil gave him a tired smile that she doubted was fooling anyone. ‘Nothing … yet. Kalozhin and I have come to an arrangement.’

  ‘Does it have anything to do with that massive dark shape over there?’

  ‘Now you’ve ruined the surprise.’

  ‘What’s the arrangement?’ Payl demanded.

  Now Toil did grin properly, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder towards the Sons of the Wind. ‘Those pricks are going to fight it, we’re going to watch them fight it. Whoever or whatever’s left becomes our problem.’

  ‘Works for me,’ Payl declared. ‘Any objections?’

  The silence was broken only by Llaith striking a sulphurous match on the rocky ground.

  ‘Let’s get comfy and watch the show,’ he mumbled as he lit two cigarettes and handed one to Lynx. ‘Anyone got a hip flask?’

  Chapter 48

  The tall golantha edged forward, head turning warily from side to side. It spotted the Cards and hesitated, but its interest was inevitably drawn back to the deepgod. It had one arm pulled tight against its dark body and Lynx couldn’t see any glowing green veins running down between the rough outer plates there. What he’d taken for braided hair now swirled angrily through the air, a glimmer of light at the tip of each as they moved with clear purpose.

  The water was no hindrance, not to a creature thirty feet tall. It stepped into the water and started to close on the remaining Sons of the Wind. There could only be eight of them left, Lynx guessed, even if three were marked mages. He doubted they had the numbers to shoot it down even if they did have enough earthers. Raw magic would be what decided this.

  Once decided it strode quickly through the water; fifty yards away, forty. At thirty, one of the Sons fired. Lynx saw the dark stream of an earther surge towards the golantha. The shot went straight and true but somehow the huge beast dodged. It jerked to one side with astonishing speed as its crest of long tendrils flashed up to meet the shot. They seemed to curl around the shot, not trying to stop it but draining the magic as it streaked past.

  If there was anything left to continue on, Lynx couldn’t see it in the darkness and there was no explosion from it striking. The golantha itself barely slowed, crouching lower with intent as it surged forward. Twenty yards, ten.

  Now Lynx felt his tattoos flare hot and bright. Arcs of magic slashed out at the golantha, blazing yellow-white and roiling dark. Kalozhin’s night magic was a dry tang on the air that seemed to buffet the golantha while the fire mage slashed at its side. They arrested its advance by sheer force alone. Even at that remove Lynx felt his head swim at the power raging through the tattoo-link.

  It wasn’t flattened, however. The golantha rocked back and seemed to roll with the punch, its tendrils a flare of activity as they drank deep and long from the magic assailing it. The pale green veins burned bright as power surged through the golantha and then the third mage struck. A column of rock surged up from its left, an ungainly lurch that the golantha initially avoided. However, when it fell, the rock seemed to attach itself to the beast, wrapping around its leg to stop it from moving.

  It didn’t work. The creature dipped and swiped at the Sons, a storm of movement above its head while it crashed a fist down. More gunshots smashed into it, but the stroke was wild and unstoppable. The great blade of fire winked out immediately, tendrils drinking in the magic with raging intensity. Somehow Kalozhin redoubled his efforts – distorting the air above him and finally managing to reach a point the golantha couldn’t stand. It struck weakly forward, trying to crush him too, but the force of night magic was followed by more gunshots and the golantha staggered.

  They drove it back and this time the tendrils were sluggish in their response. Lynx saw a chunk of rough hide-armour blown clear away in a spray of greenish light, but even as the earth mage threw more at it, the golantha rallied.

  ‘Anyone else had enough of watching?’ Payl growled from behind him.

  Lynx muttered agreement. The Sons of the Wind might be no friends of theirs, but the Cards had seen too many of these creatures up close. Lynx couldn’t get the image of Sitain, fighting to her last breath in Caldaire, out of his head. Clearly, he wasn’t the only one either. Several of the Cards held their mage-guns tight, itching to fight this latest horror.

  ‘Fuck, even I have,’ Toil replied at last. ‘They’re no friends of mine, but at least they’re human.’

  ‘Finally found your soul, Toil?’ Payl asked acidly. ‘Better late than never, I guess. Cards! Let’s go kill something.’

  The path towards the battle was narrow and winding, but they trotted two abreast while Sitain and Atieno drew deep on their magic. That seemed to catch the golantha’s attention, but still it went at the Sons once more. Again it was met with two streams of power, one hammering it with a hail of rocks while the grey haze of night magic slowed its limbs and dulled its reactions.

  They were giving it everything they could, Lynx saw, but it wasn’t enough. A shield of grey appeared as the golantha struck out, but the stone mage was too slow. Again the golantha slammed its fists down with the crash of stone on stone.

  ‘Shoot at will!’ Payl called.

  Eight earthers roared towards the golantha a second later and it could o
nly make a half-hearted effort to dodge. The earthers punched it backwards, a hammer-blow that was followed by another before it could recover. Then they advanced further, moving step by step as they reloaded. Assailed by mage and gunfire the golantha was thrown into confusion, unsure which was the greater threat. Only when the Cards came closer did it seem to decide. When it turned their way, Payl called for them to hold fire.

  ‘Let it get closer,’ she shouted, loading a darker into her mage-gun. Beside her, Aben did the same, remembering how not all dark-bolts fired properly. ‘Sitain, get ready to shield us from those mages.’

  The lack of gunfire seemed to make it wary, but then the golantha took a step and howled in fury. Lynx had a good view of the injuries it bore now and reminded himself that it had likely swallowed God Fragments from one of the vaults. There were shattered sections of the jutting bark-like armour on its shoulder, legs and arm. The injured limb seemed to be quivering as though some fresh horror was about to be birthed from inside it.

  Suddenly Lynx realised that arm was bigger than the other. The strange pulsing inner light was absent, but the rough slabs of armour were growing, cracking and spreading. It was creating a shield. Pale green light shone from its eyes, blazing with hate as it lurched forward to attack. Immediately Payl gave the order.

  ‘Shoot!’

  It sidestepped some of the shots, tendrils whipping left and right to drink the magic from the passing earthers. Several still caught it and thumped it back. They were enough to arrest its charge at least and Payl fired in the next moment. Off-balance it couldn’t dodge and the darker caught it full in the chest. The sound and impact were minimal – modest compared to the gunfire of earlier, but the magic cut a neat path all the way through the golantha. It staggered and the fury on its face seemed to fade. The golantha stumbled sideways and needed to catch itself, legs unable to support its weight. All the while the terrible magic of the dark-bolt continued, spreading and consuming as grey dust poured from the open wound.

  Toil raised her own gun and fired at its face, catching the golantha with an earther to snap its head back. One tusk exploded under the full force of the impact. It toppled silently, all strength stolen from its narrow frame, and crashed back to lie half in the water. For a moment all was still then Atieno stepped forward, reaching his hand out towards the dead creature.

  For a while nothing happened. Eventually the expanding ruin of its chest must have freed the God Fragments it had consumed. Glowing shapes rose into the air, shining bright and accompanied by a buzz like a thousand voices on the edge of hearing. Lynx watched entranced as the fragments floated gently towards Atieno – ten, then twenty, all shining with a faint reddish light. One after another they reached his hand and crumbled, falling in a glittering shower that faded to nothing before reaching the water below.

  Eventually, they were all gone and Lynx heard half the Cards release a breath together. Kalozhin hadn’t even tried to strike at them in the meantime, but as Toil turned towards the remaining Sons of the Wind she had her gun ready. The Cards were all close behind her, tattoos glowing as Sitain prepared to shield them. But nothing came. The remaining Sons, just Kalozhin and two soldiers in the strange patchwork uniform of their order, stood still as the Cards approached.

  To Lynx they looked defeated and spent. Even the irrepressible Kalozhin wavered, exhausted by the fight no doubt and barely able to do anything more than look death in the eye. He flapped at the mage-pistol in his holster once the Cards were just a few yards away, as though reminding himself he was there to defend his god. Toil shouted ‘no!’ at him and the man stopped.

  Kalozhin blinked at her, dazed and confused but all his defiance had gone.

  ‘Put it down,’ Toil added.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Aben, Deern, take their guns.’

  The pair ghosted forward to obey but this time Kalozhin managed to get his pistol out. He raised it, wavering, in the direction of Aben. ‘No,’ he repeated. ‘You will kill me now,’ Kalozhin continued in a tone of resignation.

  ‘Don’t be so bloody stupid.’

  ‘You must!’ he screamed with sudden fury. ‘Or I will kill you!’

  Something shuddered through the air before Toil could speak again. The wave of magic had the Cards scrambling backwards even as the soldiers flanking Kalozhin folded up. The action seemed to startle Kalozhin in his exhausted state. He turned drunkenly left and right and had only just worked out what had happened when Aben laid him out with a haymaker.

  Toil looked over to Sitain. ‘You’re getting better.’

  The young woman shrugged. ‘Been practising. Now what?’

  ‘Now we cut his throat and move on,’ Deern pronounced.

  ‘What? Can’t we tie him up or something?’

  Toil shook her head. ‘I’ll not do that to anyone. Not with maspids still prowling this place.’

  ‘What then?’

  She shrugged. ‘We do what we came to do. He’ll come round sooner or later. So long as he doesn’t shoot us in the back, I’ve got no argument.’

  ‘This is the man who screwed us over!’ Deern argued. ‘Who calls that bloody thing a god and had no intention of letting us live.’

  By the mutters, Lynx could tell there were a number who agreed, but he was sure it wasn’t all. Killing them would be the easy way yes, even the more sensible path, but it stuck in his craw all the same. Lynx stepped in front of the unconscious man.

  ‘Enough killing.’ He paused. ‘Well – killing people, that is. Let’s just dust this giant horror and leave. If we’re ahead of Kalozhin he can’t hurt us.’

  Without waiting for anyone to speak, Lynx crossed the spur of rock to where the head of the deepgod lay propped. It looked dead, he had to admit, but it had been in its cage for how many thousands of years? There was no telling with beasts of magic and he for one didn’t want to take any chances.

  Up close it was all the more enormous, even half submerged in the water. At least fifty feet high, and every one of the horns in its tangled crown was bigger than Lynx. One of the massive pale spear-limbs jutted up out of the water, its point ten feet above Lynx’s head. It was still streaked with the blood of the golantha it had killed, a strange weaving pattern traced in blood by the force of the lake water. Up close Lynx could feel the heat from its body, like that of rocks after a day in the sun. He broke his mage-gun and removed the earther, replacing it with a dark-bolt. One flick of the wrist closed the gun up and he aimed it at the deepgod’s battered and scored face.

  If it was alive, it didn’t react. Lynx glanced once at the watching Cards and inwardly shrugged. Someone had to do it, better it never saw the shot coming. He pulled the trigger. The gun gave a dull bang and jerked back as a streak of darkness burst out and smashed into the deepgod’s face. As with the golantha it tore right through as though it had met nothing more than paper. The deepgod twitched then, convulsed under the impact, but Lynx never knew if that was its moment of death.

  The dark magic obliterated half of its head, consuming outward from the hole it had torn and turning everything to dust. Lynx closed his eyes as the grey lifeless remains billowed up and created a small cloud around them. Eventually, it faded and he turned away, shaking the dust from his hair and clothes as Atieno approached.

  The ageing mage again reached out towards the corpse, but this time nothing happened. He tried once more but eventually beckoned Toil over.

  ‘I cannot pull the fragments from its body.’

  She nodded and reached into her cartridge case. ‘Can you sense them?’

  ‘Yes – there,’ he said, pointing.

  Toil fired at the area he’d indicated, just below what might have been its gullet. Again the dark magic turned everything to dust with terrifying ease. This time, however, light blazed out from the ruin – the God Fragments apparently undamaged by this destroying blend of magic. Atieno reached out again and the glowing fragments emerged – the yellow of Veraimin and red of Catrac appearing in their dozens and v
anishing just as quickly as they came into contact with Atieno.

  Once he was done, the mage staggered and had to be caught by Kas. Sitain looked drunk and unsteady too and Lynx realised it wasn’t the exertion. The sheer volume of magic in the air was leaving them light-headed.

  Toil walked over to Kalozhin and knelt at his side, touching her fingers to his throat. The man shifted slightly under her touch and Toil nodded, satisfied he wasn’t badly hurt.

  ‘We just leave them?’ Lynx asked.

  ‘He’ll be up soon enough,’ she confirmed. ‘Probably can bring his friends around too. I heard some night mages can reverse the effects. Not Sitain, just the talented ones.’

  The attempt to lighten the mood went ignored. Even Sitain was too tired to retort.

  ‘Then what?’ Lynx asked. ‘He comes after us and has us arrested before we escape the valley?’

  Toil managed a smile at that. She looked around the arrayed faces of the Cards. ‘Not exactly.’

  Lynx frowned. ‘What then?’

  ‘Don’t get me wrong, it’s an option. Depends on how sick you lot are of following me into dark places.’

  He felt a sinking feeling even as Payl demanded, ‘What are you on about, Toil?’

  ‘Remember there were creatures roaming the hillside at night? They weren’t getting out through the valley defences, now were they?’

  ‘You want us to go deeper into this place?’ Lynx asked, astonished. ‘Following just your bloody sense of direction and a few stories about monsters?’

  She shrugged. ‘Got another option?’

  Lynx thought for a moment then exchanged a look with Payl.

  ‘Shit.’

  Chapter 49

  The cavern remained peaceful as the Cards discussed it. Toil was true to her word – she wasn’t going to force this on any of them, but no one wanted to face whatever was left of the armies on the surface. Cutting Kalozhin’s throat was the safest route, assuming the Sons of the Wind did control the valley, but the Cards had branched off from the main attack. It seemed unlikely they would be allowed to leave before anyone investigated underground.