by Choi, Bryan
With that, she kicked the dented rear door open and leapt outside with her flamberge drawn. The cityscape around Tirefire was a smoking, flaming vision of Armageddon. Heat from the burning corpses of diesel-rich relics was enough to scorch skin from ten meters away. Charred bodies of guardsmen and civilians lay sprawled on the rubble-strewn street. Smoking, liquefied fat spread out from the bodies like scorched butter and leaked between the cobbles. Popping of ammunition cooking off in the fires prompted reflexive ducking and furtive glances for cover. The rear of the column was also aflame, and whoever had survived the explosions was in no condition to fight. Gunfire rang out from the roofs as well as down a nearby alley that was unblocked. Streaks of rubber and shards of glass on the road told the tale of a rapid, but ultimately fruitless escape.
“There,” Lotte shouted as she looked down the alley at a cluster of Arben men carrying kalashes and spears. “There’s where the d—” She stopped, mid-sentence.
No one heard her but Taki. As he glanced at the rebels and then back at Lotte, he realized why she’d stopped. It would be easy to pretend to have lost the duke in the chaos. To let the rebels take care of the problem. Lotte mouthed something to him.
“Your call, Natalis,” he could have sworn she had said.
He clenched his jaw. He wanted to remain silent, and desperately so. Gul Hekmatyar had violated his oath to his people. But then, Taki thought, what happens to us? What mattered was now survival. Not just his, but everyone’s. If the duke died, it meant they would all go back to the brig, and he had the sneaking suspicion that their punishment wouldn’t be limited to a simple lashing. Again, he thought of Lotte, and what she had endured to get them here. He had disgraced her enough. Now, he would prove himself worthy of being her corporal.
He spat in disgust and tapped Lotte on her arm. “Do it,” he said with a shake of his head and his mouth full of the taste of ash.
Lotte nodded gravely and pointed her sword. “The duke is there! Go save his worthless ass! Charge!”
Duke Gul Hekmatyar sat on the ground with his finery marred with soot and blood and rent by broken glass. He stared, cow-like, as the rebels wrapped a loop of twisted cloth around his neck and dragged him along the cobblestones. The gaudy revolver was no longer in its holster. The rebels’ faces were ecstatic with fury.
“Te qifsha, Kurve!” spat one as he gave the noose a final yank and then started to turn a windlass at the other end. The duke grasped at the constricting tourniquet but could find no purchase for his fingertips. Piss leaked form his britches and pooled on the cobbles.
At the edge of the crowd, screams and cries of surprise erupted as bodies started to go flying. Gunfire crackled amidst the whooshing noise of blades cutting the air. The executioners abandoned the windlass and unslung their kalashes to meet the new enemy, but it was too late.
Karma whirled and plunged his swords into another man’s chest before disemboweling his target with a downward swipe. Draco’s fighting iron took off the top of a rebel’s skull and wrapped around another’s neck, breaking it. Lotte’s flamberge plunged into another rebel and she hoisted her blade in the air, allowing his body to slip down its scalloped edges to shred his insides completely. Taki knelt beside the duke and threw one of the man’s hairy arms across his shoulders to support him. Karma joined in quickly.
“Where the fuck were you bitches? What the fuck do I pay you for? Niketas will skin you alive!” the duke shouted in Karma’s ear. Taki recoiled, stung at the man’s response to being saved from certain death.
“More of them coming!” Hadassah shouted, uncharacteristically spending milligrad as she furiously worked the bolt of her Nagant. “And shit! Out of nowhere is fucking spetsnaz!”
With her words, Taki felt a wave of anxiety course through him again. He gulped air and had to brace himself against a nearby stone wall for support. His eyelids flickered shut. Aslatiel stood over him, ready to give the killing blow.
“No!” he bellowed, and swallowed the image back. He brought the sleeve of his padded jack to his mouth and bit down hard as if to chew his fear up and swallow it. He wouldn’t be able to save his squad if he drowned in flashbacks and terror. It was time to fight.
“Get back! Get back!” Lotte shouted as she faltered under a hail of bullets she barely intercepted with her shield. The barrage rasped through wood and metal and turned the Dominion sun into a smoking crater. Taki immediately replied with a Khala burst at the direction of the attack, only to see a blonde woman leap out of the way and let off another burst of fire at him. Taki ducked behind crumbling stairs and let off a salvo with his Bastard to allow Lotte to pick herself up and retreat. Imperials flitted in and out of sight in pairs, with one taking shots and another trying to close the gap and melee up close. Draco’s fighting iron whipped singing death through the air and clanged off blades and shields, while Hadassah covered him with her rifle and prevented any enterprising enemies from getting a clear shot at him. Karma tried to force a wrought-iron gate open, frantically bashing its padlock with the pommels of his swords.
This is just like before, Taki realized. They’re trying to pen us in, but this time there’s no escape to the rear. And no Hundred Arms, either! Space behind was shrinking. He noticed that Hadassah had run out of ammunition. The Bastard had jammed on a stuck casing and torn off the cartridge’s rim. It would not fire again without a trip to the shrine. Taki diverted his prana again to cast sutra. It would kill his mobility, but there was nowhere left to run, anyway. He let out a growl and prepared to go out casting.
“Spettsgruppe, hold your fire!” a man’s voice boomed down through the alley. Taki paused. Was this some sort of trick? To get his squad to cease their efforts and thus become an easier kill? To his surprise, no more rounds zipped his way. Taki held his palms out, nervously waiting to channel.
The Imperials began to show themselves one by one. There was no way for Taki to forget Aslatiel, who strode forward with the restrained confidence of a man who knew he was the imminent victor. A lump formed in Taki’s throat, but he held firm. It was the same group who had trounced them at Vergina, but with one more addition: a blonde woman he had never seen before. It was clear that the Alfa had ammunition and prana to spare. Any way he figured it, Taki knew he was dead.
“What is the meaning of this?” Lotte snarled, pointing her flamberge at Aslatiel. “Why do you not finish us off?”
“I want to talk for a minute.”
“We have little to talk about, Imperial. Slay us or get thee hence!”
“That is regrettable, Archangel Yuriel.”
Taki’s jaw dropped. What did he just call her?
Lotte spat and glared daggers at Aslatiel. “I am not of the triada anymore. I am simply Captain Satou.”
“So be it,” Aslatiel said. “Did you slaughter innocents and children at New Petrovic?”
“Trying to satisfy your conscience before you kill us? Yes, I did.”
Taki opened his mouth to protest. It wasn’t right. She didn’t need to take on the guilt by herself.
“You’re a poor liar,” Aslatiel said with a sad smile. “I would have liked to have faced you in your prime. Now, while it’s not too late, tell your soldiers to surrender. I will make sure they are treated with dignity and repatriated to their homes once the war ends. Otherwise, they will not survive this. You will not survive this. Have pity on your mothers.”
Lotte scowled and adjusted her grip on her weapon. “Sirrah, you seem to have mistaken us for limp-dicked mercenaries scooting around on our knees to fellate the first invader we come across. In truth, we all want nothing more than to rip open your throats and piss on the Imperial flag. Also, my mother’s a raging bitch.”
She reached down and pulled a ring attached to her torso. A daisy-chain all of the hand-held explosives she could carry fell from her waist, attached to a length of braided paracord. She swept the deadly charm necklace forward and then snapped it like a whip, sending its bangles flying at Alfa Gruppe. A catastrophe o
f pull-pins, striker levers, and live grenades clinked on the ground around their feet. Aslatiel glowered when realized what had happened, and he instantly whirled to make his escape.
“Now!” Lotte screamed as she yanked Taki and Draco by their scruffs and hurled them with all her might. They hit the locked gate and the padlock broke against the strain. The doors fell open and they tumbled through. Karma dragged the bloody duke through with Hadassah’s help. A second later, the alleyway was enveloped in blinding firelight.
Taki cuffed the side of his own head again to drive back mounting tinnitus. A migraine made him feel as if one of the Alfa had driven a spike from the top of his head all the way to his groin. Although he knew that wasn’t really the case, he was beginning to wish for the lethal side-effects of an actual impalement. He counted his blessings, though. Draco had gotten the worst of the pressure wave from the blasts and leaked eschar from his right ear. The man could barely walk and streaks of vomit stained the rubble wherever he trod.
Hadassah had volunteered to watch over Draco, and secure one end of the maze-like complex they found themselves in. As far as anyone could tell, they occupied what had once been an expensive private dwelling, virtually a castle. Centuries of conflict had shaved off all but the bottom three floors of the place. Fortunately, it had good chokepoints and narrow hallways that would make getting to the duke a deadly ordeal. Their only chance to hold out against their attackers was to turn everything around them into a horrific maze of traps and ambush points. Hadassah’s guns were out of ammunition, so Taki had lent her his Bastard in exchange for Draco’s sidearm.
Taki looked down at the antiquated revolver and realized he had not the faintest clue how to reload the thing. There were five shots left, including the slug in the secondary barrel. He considered saving the big one for himself. Ursalans usually tortured prisoners to death unless promised a sizable ransom. Taki had no land, servants, or even spare milligrad to his name, so there was no telling what the Imperium would do to him. Especially after what his captain had said to the spetsnaz commander. Remembering her words made him tingly and brought a smile to his face.
Lotte and Karma were up on a higher floor guarding the duke. Gul’s men had been scattered by the attack on the parade, but given enough time, they would be able to repel a poorly-armed rebel force and recover their master. Tirefire the Lesser was there to buy time until that happened, but with the Imperials stalking the premises, Taki wasn’t sure the strategy would work.
At the edge of his vision, a shadow flitted past a crumbling doorway. Taki was savvy enough to not believe he was merely seeing things. He gripped the revolver, squatted against a broken concrete partition, and tried to calm himself. The fact that he was still alive meant that the enemy didn’t know where he was. Concealment was the most important factor in survival now. The enemy could not kill what he or she could not see. Now we dance, Spetsnaz.
The top of the crumbling barrier exploded above his head and showered him with gritty, gray dust. Taki clamped his mouth shut to stifle a shout of surprise and willed himself with all his might to stay still. The enemy was trying to provoke him into moving or firing back. Such a course of action would only serve to expose him to concentrated fire, but if he could stay still and focus on where the shots originated from, he would know where his attacker was. Set guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over mine lips.
The next shot punched a jagged exit wound in the concrete, mere millimeters from Taki’s shoulder. He trembled. Did the enemy know where he was hiding? If so, the next round would hit him for sure. He closed his eyes and started to bite his nails. His armor would hopefully stop the round if it lost enough velocity from boring through stone. Though the thought of getting hit filled him with wretched anxiety, it was essential not to move. The shots were coming from the northeast corner of the crumbling floor, and if the bullets weren’t ricocheting, that meant there was a direct line of sight.
Another gunshot rang out, but this time the bullet hit more laterally than the one which had almost maimed him. Taki’s eyes widened. Now he knew where the spetsnaz was. Trying to slowly flank his attacker was one option, but a smart enemy might already be on the move. What was needed was a direct, devastating attack. Taki inhaled, opened his gates, and collected power again. When he was almost at the breaking point, he whirled into the open with his palms outstretched. “Plei Khala!” he rasped.
The energy wave exploded forward and punched into Lucatiel at almost point-blank range as she rounded a corner with her pistols raised to blow his head off. The impact lifted her off her feet and flung her back through rotting drywall before punching her mass through the crumbling brick exterior. The last Taki saw of her were sapphire eyes flaring with vengeful indignation before gravity reasserted itself and she disappeared from sight.
When he realized what had transpired, Taki pumped his fist in victory. He was avenged now. Despite the triumph he felt, however, something nagged at him. Lucatiel wouldn’t have been able to traverse that much broken flooring in so little time after the last shot. That meant…
He heard the kiai shout a millisecond before he felt Aslatiel’s heel slam into his torso from a flying kick. As Taki hurtled through the air and crashed through termite-eaten studs, he retched a stream of yellow bile. His vision blurred when his back hit the front of a chest of drawers, but the softness of millions of accumulated moth and beetle cocoons within cushioned the blow and prevented him from losing consciousness. Through the man-shaped hole he’d made, Taki saw Aslatiel reach into a holster and draw a pistol. Fueled by adrenaline, Taki dove away from the shattered armoire before three rounds crashed into the spot where he’d been. He whipped around and tried to send another Khala burst at where he thought Aslatiel was. The sutra went wide and hit a solid pylon, causing the entire ceiling to buckle wildly. This sent a blinding plume of dust everywhere and plunged the entire floor into a haze of white.
Taki tried to breathe through the thick fabric of his neckerchief to avoid coughing and giving his location up. While the result of his spellcasting wasn’t quite what he had intended, it had at least bought him some time to recover and think. He was out of usable prana for the moment, so he readied his revolver and drew back its hammer. The damned antique clicked and clacked far too loudly, in his opinion.
“Well-done, Corporal Natalis,” Aslatiel said. “I am glad to see your injury wasn’t permanent.”
Taki tried to aim at the voice but saw nothing. He remained silent.
“Worry not about betraying your position,” Aslatiel said. “I’m as blind as you are in this mess, and even if I were drawn to the sound of your voice, I’d just get tripped up along the way. Why don’t we chat for a bit while this clears?”
“Why are you even here?” Taki demanded. “The front’s elsewhere.”
“We’re here because the people of this land need our help.”
Taki spat. “You’re here because you want territory for your padishah.”
“Wrong. We are the only Imperial force in the duchy. You seriously think we could occupy this place by force?”
“Don’t tell me you’re opposing the duke out of the goodness of your hearts,” Taki scoffed. He pricked his ears up and tried to locate his opponent. Aslatiel’s voice sounded reassuringly distant. Still safe.
“I saw the aftermath of New Petrovic. And if I’m not mistaken, you were there, too.”
“And if I was?”
“Then you know exactly why the people of this land asked for our assistance,” Aslatiel said. “Thus, I have a question for you. Why do you fight to protect the duke, and the men above him who foster such conditions? You don’t seem like an evil person.”
“You’re assuming a lot! I just pitched your sister off a building, you know.”
“Lucatiel is a plum blossom. Beautiful and impossible to kill. But you’re dodging my question, Corporal.”
“I was ordered to protect and serve the duke. That’s all there is to it.”
“So if
you had been ordered to kill each and every one of those villagers at New Petrovic, would you have done so?”
“I’m a soldier of the Cloud Temple! I don’t have a choice!”
“So you’re just a tool?”
Taki grit his teeth. “Exactly.”
“Guns and swords are tools,” Aslatiel said. “They have no conscience or agency of their own. But you, Sir Taki, are a human being with ample measures of both. You cannot escape accountability for your actions. If you ignore your moral duty and just say ‘I was following orders,’ then it falls to people like me to dispose of people like you.”
“Then what would you do, Sir Aslatiel, if your padishah ordered you to kill a thousand innocents? Are you not beholden to his will as well?”
“Two shots to his chest followed by one to the head.”
“Isn’t he your better?”
“Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. What matters, is you. Your willingness to speak up in the face of what you believe to be a grievous wrong.”
“But I can’t! I’m just not powerful enough!”
“Again, you’re wrong. We all have the power to change things, especially from within,” Aslatiel said. “I’ve studied the Dominion and its ways. And I think you and I both know that there’s something very wrong at its core.”
“It’s still my country. My kingdom! I know nothing else.”
“You can love your nation while acknowledging its faults.”
Taki’s eyes watered. Just the dust. “Look, damn you. I just want to help my friends live another day. It’s all I can do.”
“Then try to make theirs a home worth returning to.”
“Why are you even saying this stuff to me? Aren’t you trying to put a round in my head?”
“I was, but you’re worth saving, I think.”
