SHIANG

by C. F. Iggulden

  ‘This armour …’ Bosin said, ‘was made for a smaller man.’

  He tugged the breastplate away from where it pressed against his neck as he spoke. They all heard the metal protest as it stayed bent.

  Tellius looked up at him. He trusted Hondo – and through Hondo, the twin. He was not quite sure what to make of this man. The Canis Stone had healed Bosin, but that same coldness made him something else, perhaps something to be feared. Tellius glanced at the third sword, waiting for Bosin to take it up. His glance went further then, to the largest doors opening onto that yard. He chewed a corner of his lip in thought.

  ‘You were to be my reserve, Master Bosin. Perhaps, though, if your armour is too small, I might find you something better.’

  The big man stared and Tellius felt cold hands walk down his back.

  ‘You have better armour?’ Bosin said.

  Tellius nodded. The city was under attack, he reminded himself. Bracken should have engaged by then and sent a dog back with a report. Tellius had seen no sign of those hounds, though it was still early. He had time, he thought, rubbing his jaw. He did have a set of armour that might do.

  ‘Galen and I will take the men out, Tellius,’ Lady Sallet said suddenly. ‘Join us when you can, would you?’

  ‘Yes, dear,’ Tellius murmured. He glanced at Captain Galen and saw the man nod – his private promise to keep her safe.

  The gates opened and Tellius watched the forces of House Sallet go out to the street beyond. He could smell burned feathers on the air and he wrinkled his nose. Tellius turned to the huge man beside him, waiting patiently to be given some instruction. He wondered who Bosin had been before, what he had been like. Tellius sighed to himself. It didn’t matter any more.

  ‘Come with me, Master Bosin,’ he said. ‘I believe I have something better than iron.’

  Gabriel felt the lock snap as he pushed open the iron gates to the Bracken yard. The drive stretched around the house in a swathe of ancient yellow shingle, though green patches of dandelion and thistle showed wherever he looked. Brambles ensnared the black iron railings that marked the boundary, untended for years in thick loops and thorns. The whole place was overgrown, he noticed, with an air of decay. The building itself was squat, but not unattractive – a porch of sandstone pillars and three main storeys, with a fourth revealed in gable windows along a roof of ancient slate. Perhaps the garden gone wild was some reflection of the family name, or simply because Lord Bracken lived alone with his dogs and cared little for such things.

  ‘I need to rest, brother,’ Thomas called behind him. ‘There are marching ranks coming. There … and over there. More of the militia and who knows what else.’

  Gabriel reached the front door and, on impulse, tugged the bell that dangled there. Bullets struck pieces of stone from the porch. He heard steps approach, though Thomas began to swear weakly behind him.

  ‘When you are ready!’ Thomas growled.

  Gabriel glanced at him and chuckled. The door opened and he yanked out the servant standing there, sending a middle-aged woman sprawling onto the gravel. She struggled to stand, but a stray bullet snagged her leg and knocked her down again. She opened her mouth to scream.

  Gabriel passed into the gloom of the interior, with Thomas and Sanjin coming in together at his back. They slammed the heavy front door closed on the wailing woman and then waited to see if it would withstand the shots from outside. One or two sounded like hammer blows, but nothing came through, so they relaxed.

  ‘That gives us a respite,’ Gabriel said cheerfully. ‘It was hot for a while out there. I could use a drink and something to eat.’

  He rubbed his hands together in anticipation. The hall was clean, for which he was grateful. It smelled strongly of too many dogs, but Gabriel imagined Lord Bracken had at least ordered them into the garden at intervals. The man’s use of the stone had been extraordinary, Gabriel thought. He brought it out and ran a hand across its surface, very aware of the gaze of his companions.

  ‘Come on,’ Gabriel said. ‘There must be a kitchen around here. We need to decide what to do next.’

  ‘Well, we can’t stay here,’ Sanjin replied.

  He looked up at stairs leading to a greater gloom above, clearly uncomfortable in the house. Their feet clattered on a polished stone floor in black and white. Perhaps that was to avoid carpets and rugs getting clogged with dog hair, Gabriel thought. He liked the clatter, personally – and the echoes.

  ‘Why not?’ he said, as they walked further into the house. ‘We wanted stones – and we have one. If we stay in this house, won’t the others come to us?’

  There was no sign of any other servants, but Gabriel followed the smell of herbs and found the kitchen after a couple of false starts. It was a long way from the front door and he wished for more eyes, to place around the house and perhaps on the roof. The three of them could never defend a sprawling property in the heart of the city.

  They carved thick, feathery slices from a ham and Thomas found some bread and mustard in cupboards. The result was delicious and silence fell for a time.

  ‘That stone belongs to all of us,’ Sanjin said. ‘I did as much as you – more probably.’

  Gabriel held it up for them to see. Golden wires dangled from it.

  ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘Though without Lord Ran, I don’t know if I can use it, do you? Would you put this on your arm?’

  ‘In a heartbeat,’ Sanjin replied, gesturing in the air. ‘Give it to me, I’ll show you.’

  ‘I think I should be the one to take the risk,’ Gabriel said easily. ‘You see these discs, though, like coins? They touched both the underside of the stone and the skin beneath. I think the gold is more than just a clasp or a bracer. I think it linked him to the stone somehow.’

  ‘To control animals,’ Sanjin said with a sneer.

  ‘Animals which nearly took us all down, remember,’ Thomas snapped. ‘And that was just one stone.’

  He turned to Gabriel, leaning forward on his elbows.

  ‘If we stay here, they’ll gather. They’ll surround this place. Just one of these was nearly too much! How will we handle two, or four, or five at once? Fair enough to take stock for a moment, but we should go out the back way and keep moving. Let’s try and capture one more stone by tonight, say, then more tomorrow.’

  Gabriel shook his head as he examined the Bracken Stone and the gold that spidered around and across it.

  ‘You and Sanjin can’t keep thickening air and boiling men. You’ll run dry – and then I’ll be vulnerable. I’d rather try to use this stone, here, while we have a moment of quiet. They may have controlled beasts and birds with it, but I should think that was just the desire of some ancestor. The stones are … pools. And I should be able to use one as I see fit.’

  ‘What about Lord Ran?’ Thomas asked. ‘If we wait till dark, I could go across the roofs, back to where we came in. I could fetch him.’

  ‘Yes … if it comes to that. We could barricade this place till nightfall.’

  Without warning, Gabriel pressed the stone to his forearm, exactly where he had torn it from Lord Bracken. The straps of the bracer hung loose and broken, but he arranged the gold discs between the stone and his arm. He could feel them, warm against his skin.

  He closed his eyes and emptied his lungs, becoming still. In the distance, dogs began to howl.

  ‘Ah,’ he said, his chest rising and falling once more. ‘There you are. Oh, they have no idea what these things can do. Dogs and crows! Madness.’

  Gabriel let an ocean wash against his mind, purple waves lapping golden sand. He sensed the Aeris white surging within him, but they mingled at the edges, staining white and purple together. With a deep and shuddering intake of breath, sitting in the kitchen of the Bracken estate, Gabriel drew it in.

  When he opened his eyes, he saw the kitchen and the two exhausted men watching him in new colours, as if they had been muted before. Gabriel felt strong. He smiled with the sheer pleasure of being aliv
e.

  ‘I don’t think we’ll be needing Lord Ran,’ he said. ‘Gold works. Lord Bracken knew. I wonder if the others do.’

  He flexed his hand, enjoying the play of muscle and bone. It was so fragile and wonderful, in the same moment. When Thomas laid his hand on the table and bared his forearm, Gabriel frowned at it. Did he need the man? If he trusted Thomas with the stone, he would have to give it to Sanjin as well, or see blood splashed across that kitchen. He clenched his jaw as strength surged in him, certain in that moment that he could murder the other two and walk out. The power of the stone was intoxicating and he wanted to keep it for himself.

  ‘Now me, brother,’ Thomas said, his voice low and serious.

  Gabriel nodded. They had come a long way together and a whole city was armed and warned against them. He made his decision and reached over to adjust Thomas’ arm. With a wrench, Gabriel removed the stone from his skin and placed it on Thomas, prodding the gold discs into place with his thumbs.

  ‘It is more than just the touch,’ Gabriel said. ‘Close your eyes and draw on it. Seek the colour and pull it into you.’

  He pressed the stone down, holding it steady. Suddenly, Thomas slapped his hand over Gabriel’s, crushing it as he heaved in a huge breath of air. Gabriel watched the man’s exhaustion vanish, the dark circles smooth away under his eyes. Thomas seemed to grow younger and larger of frame, and Gabriel could not pull back from him.

  ‘My turn,’ Sanjin said, eagerly.

  Thomas opened his eyes and Gabriel knew the gaze he rested on Sanjin had death in it. The perspective of a god was a cold one. Yet Thomas came to the same conclusion and allowed Gabriel to remove the stone.

  ‘That was … the most extraordinary moment of my life,’ Thomas said. ‘I want a stone of my own, Gabriel. I sense them around us. No more of this dipping of beaks. I want the ocean.’

  Gabriel kept his hand pressed over the stone as he applied it a third time. Sanjin closed his eyes and wrinkled his brow, seeking the connection. Heat built around them and Gabriel swore softly as his skin blistered, but he did not let go. He could heal himself as fast as the blisters formed and he did not want to leave the stone in Sanjin’s control, not even for an instant. They needed each other, but he did not trust the man at all. Gabriel smiled through pain at the thought, while his hand sizzled as if he held it in a fire. Sanjin seemed oblivious, but who knew with him? Some always seemed to be unaware while others cleared the way and did their work for them. Sanjin was one of those, Gabriel thought. He would take special satisfaction in cutting his head off, when he had the rest of the Darien stones.

  ‘Nearly … I can see the colour. I can …’

  ‘Quickly, Sanjin,’ Gabriel murmured. ‘You are burning me.’

  ‘Nearly there …’ the man said. He tugged hard at arm and stone together, as if trying to snatch them from Gabriel’s grasp. Sanjin’s eyes were still closed and it could have been a twitch or an unconscious move, but Gabriel held on grimly.

  The change began at last, the shaking breath taken in, the marks and tiredness vanishing. Gabriel yanked his hand back. The stone remained in his grip, so that the connection was broken. Sanjin opened his eyes in confusion and something like pain. He looked at the other two in sudden suspicion.

  ‘Why did you pull away? I had only begun …’

  In response, Gabriel held up his burned hand, though it was healing as he did so. At the same time, they all heard hammering outside the house.

  ‘There was no more time,’ Gabriel said. ‘And you were burning me, without realising it.’

  ‘I had no idea,’ Sanjin said, though there was something spiteful in his expression.

  Gabriel wrapped the stone in a cloth. He was brimful of a power Lord Bracken had never known, or could not have used even if he had. As Gabriel stood, he pushed the wrap inside his shirt, over his heart.

  ‘I think we should go out, Thomas, as you say. We don’t need Lord Ran. Marias is safe.’ He paused, furious with himself for speaking the last, when he didn’t care if the slave lived or died. Perhaps he wasn’t free even then of his silent passenger. ‘Before they bring too many …’ he finished.

  Thomas rose in turn and Sanjin came with him. They had been bruised and bloodied when they’d entered that place. The Bracken Stone had brought back strength and confidence. When Thomas grinned then, it was a wolf’s smile, with little lambs to play with.

  ‘Shall I go first, brother?’ he said.

  They walked down the corridor back to the front hall and the great door at the end. Their boots clacked on the stone floor and Gabriel straightened and stood tall.

  ‘Each time they think they know us, we change. Let me look at them. I am not afraid of Darien.’

  Gabriel flung back the door and the winter sun streamed in, bright and cold. He had an instant of time to see the triple rank of black barrels arrayed through the iron railings of the yard, all pointed at him. A massed fusillade punched him from his feet an instant later. As he fell, one of the sandstone porch pillars cracked right along its length, sending chips of stone-like bullets through the air.

  Thomas had dropped to a crouch, while Sanjin had thrown himself aside in the moment it took for the lines of militia to open fire. Gabriel had taken the worst of it. Thomas could see bullet fragments like drops of lead and silver rain all over the porch as he struggled to thicken the air ahead. It was hard to do it while the guns crashed on and on and thick smoke obscured the gates.

  When the air was an iron band in front of him, Thomas leaned out, intending to drag Gabriel back to the shelter of the house. As he touched his leg, Gabriel made a growling sound and stood up. His clothes were tattered and he reached inside his shirt to see the Bracken Stone was still whole. He blew air in relief at that.

  ‘Are you hit?’ Thomas asked. Bullets still whined, but they dragged to a halt in the air, turning orange and giving off a trail of white smoke. He could see no blood on Gabriel, though there were burn holes in his shirt.

  ‘Yes,’ Gabriel spat. ‘But I am not hurt. They cannot bring me down, brother, not now. I have power to burn. Power … to burn.’

  He raised his hands and flame filled the air, scorching the ranks who had gathered to save the city and bring down the three mages. Men twisted and coughed in the blast, taking their last choked breath. Dozens more fled, beating out flames in their hair and clothes.

  Gabriel smiled.

  ‘I can be their saviour, or I can be the angel of death. Come, Thomas, Sanjin. See what they have brought to greet us.’

  Three huge green figures had come through the ranks of men, untroubled by flame. They stopped at the gates to the Bracken yard, looking through the railings at the men of Shiang standing there. Each of the massive warriors stood taller than the iron points. Gabriel narrowed his eyes in wonder and delight. Darien was an extraordinary city, he realised. He wondered if he had made the right choice to remain in Shiang and give Darien to Thomas.

  As he watched, the Sallet Greens exchanged some silent communication. Working together, they tore through briars and railings in an orgy of destruction, smashing bricks and iron into rubble. They cleared the ground while the men of Shiang watched in awe and made no move to stop them.

  When there was no longer a barrier between the Bracken grounds and the city, the three huge warriors were as still as the statues they resembled. Then they drew green swords and came on as a blur. Gabriel laughed and went to meet them.

  Lady Win Sallet held position on the other side of the road to the Bracken estate. She had seen the three invaders withstand a massed volley, without blood or apparent loss of strength. The swordsmen Tellius had such faith in were standing in stunned disbelief at what they had witnessed. The younger one had covered his ears, she’d noticed. It did not fill her with faith in them.

  As Gabriel stood up once more in the doorway, she turned to Captain Galen. Grey smoke drifted across the porch of the Bracken house. The news had flown that Bracken himself had been killed. It was more tha
n she could take in.

  Galen wanted to lead the others in a charge, but both he and his mistress could see it would achieve nothing. They needed an edge against those men – and the Sallet Greens had always been that edge. They stood to one side, gleaming like hunting hounds ready to slip the leash.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Lady Sallet watched another messenger being roughly searched. No matter what colours they wore, they were never allowed within knife range, but she was desperate for any news. This one wore Regis red tabs on his tunic, she saw. She waved him in as soon as her man nodded.

  ‘My lady …’ he began, before his words were lost in the sound of flame.

  Galen stepped protectively in front of his mistress as heat passed over them. It had been directed at the massed ranks of gunmen. Lady Sallet could hear them dying and she felt herself shiver.

  ‘Report,’ she said to the messenger.

  He hesitated, unable to drag his eyes away from the burning militia. She slapped him hard and he blinked, rattling words out.

  ‘The royal forces are on their way, my lady. Lords Regis and De Guise are coming. They ask that you contain the threat as best you can. That you hold them here. You may pull back as they arrive, if you are still able.’

  Lady Sallet pursed her lips. She could hear the arrogance of Lord Regis in every word and nothing of the king’s in whose name he acted. Arthur would never have addressed her in such terms, she thought. Yet it was no time to insist on proper respect.

  ‘Very well,’ she said. ‘I will do what I can. Return to your master. Tell him not to waste time.’

  She saw the messenger startle and wondered if he would dare say that to Lord Regis. Probably not. As the lad sprinted away, Lady Sallet turned to Galen. She watched as the armoured warriors smashed down the iron and stone that separated the Bracken estate from the city. Her city.

  ‘Send in the Greens,’ she said.