With the odds now at five on two, the Lagos’s superior strength and the reach of their blades was largely cancelled out. Pehr stepped up beside the other hunter, whom he recognized as none other than Josep, Nani’s husband-to-be. Without speaking, they moved to flank the Lagos, coming at them from either side while the merchant and the two farmers attacked from the front. The Lagos, understanding that they were outmatched, turned and loped off toward the darkness at the edge of the village.
Pehr and Josep moved with practiced speed, dropping their clubs and bringing forth the short bows they kept strapped to their backs. In the span of no more than a few seconds they had fired, and both Lagos fell to the ground just at the edge of sight. The group of humans advanced toward the prone figures, wary that one or both might merely be faking serious injury in order to lure their prey in close.
The first creature they came to was obviously dead. It lay on its back, its head propped up in an odd position by the broken shaft of the arrow that had pierced its skull. Its eyes were open, glazed and distant, and the two hunters gave it only a cursory glance before moving on to its comrade.
This Lagos was not dead, but neither was it a threat. It was trying to crawl toward its blade, which had flown from its hands and lay several yards away, but its strength was rapidly draining. Blood poured in torrents from where the arrow had split its throat, and Pehr marveled at the creature’s strength; even something as large and powerful as an elder boar would have been immobilized or killed outright by such a wound.
Josep stepped toward it, and the creature turned, snarling, staring directly at the hunter even as the man brought his club down on its head.
“What now?” one of the farmers asked, and Josep pointed toward the center of the village.
“The lines are broken,” he said. “We must regroup and continue to fight until they’re gone.”
“Or until we’re all dead,” the younger farmer said, his voice acidic with distaste.
Josep shrugged. “Flee, then. There is the night, just ahead … run away and perhaps you’ll live.”
The farmer spat into the dirt and said, “I would no sooner leave my family and my home than you would, hunter.”
“Then don’t waste time on regret for things which can’t be changed,” Josep replied. “Come. Every second we tarry, the Lagos draw closer to our families and our homes.”
They moved as a group toward the center of the village. Around them the world flickered orange, a burning hell scattered with the bodies of men and Lagos. Josep turned to Pehr.
“How many have you killed?”
“Three,” Pehr replied. “Two back there and one earlier. He was torturing a girl. Maiming her. I broke his head open before he finished.”
“She’s lucky.”
“What about you? How many?”
Josep favored him with a grim smile. “Twelve so far. They came at us like a wave and broke apart our forces, but Thomas and I were together for some time. Once we joined up with these three, we were able to kill several small groups.”
“What happened to Thomas?”
“He was hurt badly just before you arrived. I can’t say if he’ll live, but I’m certain he’ll never use his left arm again. We sent him back toward the circle with another farmer. I hope he found sanctuary there.”
Pehr said nothing, and after a moment Josep spoke again.
“You’ve performed well. I think you would’ve passed your Test and joined us at the hunter’s table.”
“If we survive this night, I still intend to,” Pehr said. He felt a kind of wild exhilaration within him, a joy that felt unseemly but couldn't be contained; he’d twice met his enemies in battle and twice won, earning praise from a seasoned hunter whom he’d always admired, and might yet make it through the night. This was the thing, it seemed, for which he had been born.
“That we see tomorrow, we must fight our hardest today,” Josep recited. It was a hunters’ saying, a reminder that there was always hope.
There came a cacophony of howling to their left, and the group barely had time to duck into a smoldering hut before a large group of Lagos came running out of the dark, headed for the central fire. There were at least fifteen of them, pushing and shoving each other, laughing and snarling and coated in blood.
“Gods,” Josep murmured after they had passed. “There are so many of them!”
There was a scrabbling sound from next to them, and they turned to witness the merchant shoving his way out of the building and fleeing into the night. Josep made a sound of disgust.
“May he rot out there,” the younger farmer said.
“The drums are closer,” Pehr said, the realization of it hitting him just then: the sound had not only grown, but was beating with an ever-increasing speed and intensity, as if nearing some great, orgasmic culmination.
“The end is coming. The warriors … something drives them. They kill hunters, but for all others above a certain age they focus on the face, on wiping it out completely as if it offends them. When they’ve killed and tortured as many as they can, they will withdraw, and then will come their females and their priests.”
Pehr hadn't heard of this before. “What then?” he asked.
Josep shook his head. “There’s little I can tell you. I’ve had to piece my knowledge together from Luce’s tales, and from those of passing merchants. From what I understand, their women will collect the bodies of their dead and steal food from our stores. The priests … they will collect many children.”
“Collect them for what?” the elder farmer cried.
“I wish I knew,” Josep said. “They take them to the jungle and none ever return.”
“Surely some must escape,” said the younger farmer. “There are places to hide …”
“A small few survive. For my part, I intend to die fighting. You … you may choose to do what you wish.”
“I will not abandon my family,” the elder farmer said, and Josep nodded.
Pehr thought of the oath he'd made to Nani, to protect her brother at all costs, and the one he’d made to Jace. He could keep neither of these oaths by huddling in a half-burnt home.
“We must go,” he said, and Josep nodded.
“Yes. Your cousin, my beloved, is in great danger.”
“My Sara is in there, somewhere,” the elder farmer said.
“And my Bethany,” the younger replied.
“Then it will be four of us,” Josep said. “With any luck, we can make our way into the central ring without attracting the attention of the Lagos. They will be focused mainly on breaking in themselves, and on preventing any others from escaping.”
“Enough talk, then,” Pehr said. He didn’t want to die, but he wished even less to sit here discussing the inevitable. Better to get on with it.
Josep, likely of the same mind, needed little encouragement. He stood, and after making sure the way was clear, he lead them out of the house and back into the flickering light of their burning village.
* * *
They were not so lucky as to make it into the circle unscathed. Rounding a corner, they came upon a single Lagos warrior leaned up against a wall of mud bricks, covered in blood. Not far away lay a woman, curled up in a ball and making choked gasping noises. The creature looked up in surprise as Pehr and Josep, acting on instinct, swung to either side. The younger farmer gave a cry of disgust and leapt forward, swinging his axe and cleaving deeply into the surprised creature’s side. The Lagos roared in pain and startled anger, and it brought both claws forward and out in a horrific, rending tear. The farmer threw his head back and a great glut of blood belched forth from his mouth, even as his belly opened up and his innards fell in coils upon the ground.
There was no time to mourn him, and the creature had no time to regroup before Pehr and Josep were upon him, screaming and beating him down with their clubs. The creature’s bones cracked and splintered under the weight of their blows, and its noises went from roars to shrieks to whimpers, and finally to s
ilence. The two men stood above its corpse, gasping for breath, spattered with the Lagos’s blood. From behind them came the sound of running feet, and the angry roars of many more of the things.
“You, girl!” Josep shouted. “You must flee. More of them are coming!”
The girl struggled to stand, and even in the wavering firelight Pehr could see that she was badly injured. He didn’t think she would keep her sight, and he wasn’t sure from the sounds she was making whether she still had a tongue or not. Josep went to help her. He slung her arm over his shoulder and began to move toward the village’s inner circle. The sound of the approaching Lagos was now very close.
The elder farmer was staring at his dead friend in shock and disbelief. Pehr grabbed him by his shoulders and hauled him bodily along after them, running toward a small gap between two dwellings. He shoved the man ahead of him and in a moment more both were through the gap. Pehr turned immediately to the left, around the edge of the building, and a pair of wicked talons just missed raking down across his back. He spun and swung, smashing the creature’s hands with his club.
The Lagos howled but then withdrew, and Pehr found himself standing with his palms against his legs, bent over to catch his breath, listening to the roars from the darkness. Josep rejoined them, having seen the girl off to whatever safety there was left, and the trio made their way rapidly to the center of the circle. The farmer, spotting his wife, thanked them and made his way toward her.
Pehr saw Jace first, still standing on his boulder, his supply of arrows depleted to a truly pathetic final few. He was picking and choosing his shots carefully, and Pehr had little doubt that most were hitting their targets, but it didn’t appear to matter. The Lagos had what seemed an infinite number of warriors. Whenever one fell, another simply took its place.
Nani was standing with her mother by the fire, watching as Jace fired arrow after arrow. Anna caught sight of the two young men first and tapped Nani on the shoulder, gesturing. Pehr was amazed that the woman was sticking to her vow of silence even now, and wondered if she hoped in this manner to please the Gods, and perhaps lessen her family’s suffering.
Nani turned, saw them, and shrieked some incoherent noise of surprise and joy. Pehr wished he could share the feeling, but all he saw when he looked at her was the girl he loved and was likely going to have to murder. There was no joy for him there.
She went to Josep first, and he felt a small twinge of jealousy even now, of all times. It seemed foolish to him that it should still matter, but he couldn't shake it, and so he turned to Jace. To his surprise, the boy was grinning as he stared out into the darkness.
“Enjoying yourself, then, Jace?” Pehr called up to the boy, and Jace’s grin widened, though his eyes never left the perimeter.
“Not dead yet, Pehr?” he asked. “I knew it. I knew you would last longer than I would.”
“You are the wettest wet-head that ever walked the earth,” Pehr told him, but he was surprised to find himself grinning as well. This would be their end, of course, but oh, what an end it was.
“Do you still doubt my stories, cousin?”
“Not as much,” Pehr admitted, and Jace gave a coughing laugh.
“Is Nani still close?” he asked.
“I’m here,” Nani called. She had come to stand next to Pehr, Josep at her side. Her mother, too, had come.
“The perimeter is failing,” Josep said to Pehr, who glanced out and saw that it was true. Women were fighting now, alongside farmers and merchants and the last few hunters still standing. “I must join them. So must you, Pehr, but … Nani, I have thought of something. It should’ve occurred to me earlier, but these Gods-damned drums must have driven it from my brain. I only pray that it’s not too late.”
“What are you talking about?” Nani asked, turning to face him and tilting her head.
“You asked me once how I found such pure and large fragments of jade for your necklace … how I could have done so when the cliffs have been chipped and scraped by so many hunters before me. I did not tell you then, but there is a cave. I found it not so long before my Test, and have kept it a secret all this time because … I don’t know why. Because it was mine, I suppose. Something I had that the other hunters did not.
“It lies below the water’s surface, near the edge of the lagoon, but it opens up to clean air inside. There’s jade there, but more importantly there’s a spring of fresh water. It will fit you and your mother, but no more than that. I should have thought of it sooner, but there is still time. You can go there—”
“I won’t!” Nani cried. “You want me to leave you and Pehr and Jace here to die?! Josep, I won’t!”
Pehr, whose heart had begun throbbing painfully in his chest at Josep’s words, put his hand on her shoulder. “Nani, you must do this.”
“No!”
“Think of your mother! Gods … think of yourself!”
“And what of you, Pehr? What of Jace and Josep and my father?”
Josep closed his eyes at this, and put a hand to his brow, before looking back up at her. “Your father … he fell on the front lines.”
Tears welled in Nani’s eyes and spilled out over her cheeks, but the expression of fury never left her face. “I won’t leave the rest of my family! I won’t dishonor my father like that.”
“Would you have him die for nothing, then?” Josep asked her, and before Nani could respond, Jace spoke from above them.
“You must do this, Nani. Pehr and Josep and I … we have to stay and fight. We can keep the Lagos from you as you flee. You and Mother must go.”
“Why me?” she asked. “Why not any other woman in this circle?”
“Because you’re the daughter of a hunter, of course,” Jace said, his voice tinged with surprise at the question. “Your sons will be hunters, whoever fathers them. The village will need hunters more than ever.”
“There’s no honor in this!” she cried up at him. “There’s no honor in fleeing like a coward from—”
Anna put her arm on the girl’s shoulder. “Do as he says.”
Nani was aghast. “You’ve broken your vow! Mother … you mustn’t. The Gods will be angry!”
“So angry they might unleash the Lagos upon us,” Jace said, hopping down from the boulder.
Nani glared at him, unimpressed, but Pehr could see that her resolve was crumbling. “Damn you for this,” she croaked, her throat tight with tears. “Damn you all.”
None of them had words of comfort to give. Josep took Nani’s arm and led her forward, and the others followed, making their way back through the burning homes and toward the outer perimeter. Pehr glanced over at Jace, who looked back and nodded. They were determined; they were going to die, but here was a chance for those deaths to mean something. They would die not only as hunters but as heroes, and if they were damned for that, then so it would be.
In the distance, past the edge of the lagoon and over the raging ocean, the first flickers of lightning heralding some monstrous storm began.
Chapter 7
The Lagos whose hands Pehr had crippled was still waiting for them, past the alleyway between the two buildings. He had been joined by three others, and all four stood at the edge of arrow range, baiting those inside the circle to expend the last of their ammunition. When they saw Pehr and Josep emerge from between the houses, they began hooting and snarling, gesturing to the hunters, inviting them out into the dark to battle.
“Four is too many,” Pehr said.
“Could we find others to help us?” Jace asked.
Josep shook his head. “Would they abandon their families in order to embark upon a suicide run to save ours? I think not, Jace.”
“Then we’ll need a distraction,” the boy said, and the five of them stood in silence for a moment, thinking. It was Nani who finally spoke up.
“I would distract them,” she said.
Pehr put a hand to his face, and Josep groaned. “No,” he said.
“What do you mean, Nani?” Ja
ce asked.
“If I run out, at least one of them will chase me. Maybe more than one.”
“Perhaps all of them,” Josep said, turning to look at her. “Nani, with all respect to Mother Anna, this endeavor is pointless if you don't make it to the caves.”
“Wait,” Jace said. “Josep, wait. Nani, do you remember the split rock out that way, just before the dunes?”
She thought for a moment and then nodded. “Yes, on the border of Arianus’s land.”
“Can you bring the Lagos there?”
Pehr put his hand on his cousin’s shoulder. “Jace—”
“Let me finish,” the boy said. “If she can get there, then we can take them all.”
“How?”
“They see only the two of you as threats. If I back away, they’ll assume I’m fleeing. I can enter that hut, there, from behind, and aim through the window. You and Pehr charge first, then Nani breaks off behind you. They won’t keep all four for you. If they send one after her, I take him with the bow and Nani comes back around to meet me, while you lead the others into range. If they send two, then I still take the first, and when Nani reaches the rock, she goes through the middle of the split and wedges herself inside where they can’t reach her. No matter how it plays out, one of them dies under my arrows, and we break the others into smaller groups.”
There was silence for a moment, and then Josep spoke. “If she stumbles?”
“I won’t,” Nani told him.
“Nani, if they catch you, they will blind you. Strip the skin from your face. Fill the wounds with whatever vile, festering toxins they keep under their claws …”
“Do you think I don’t know that, Josep? I will not stumble.”
“She has a knife,” Jace said. “She won’t be defenseless.”
“What if we never get there?” Pehr asked him.
Jace shrugged. “We’re going to die here either way. We have a chance to save my mother and my sister. It’s worth the chance that we won’t be there to … to …”
The Broken God Machine Page 6
