by Mike Morris
Lin looked down the stairwell and saw movement on the ground floor. It was no more than flickering shadows, but it was enough to know. "They're inside." She threw the torch down into the entranceway, saw it land and then stepped back and let the others drop theirs. Jack took some gunpowder cartridges from the pouch on his belt and threw them down as well. They exploded on contact with the flames and the bangs echoed through the confined space. There was a cry from below as one of the creatures was caught in the blast.
They didn't waste any more time and ran up the stairs to the roof. The lock on the door gave under a little pressure from Robert. The cold air made Lin catch her breath. It would be harder on the others, but there was no going back. She could hear the gunfire in the distance, still going strong. It came from the river, from the very place they were heading to. She could see a fire burning there as well — a big one, coloring the horizon orange. The way the night was going, the whole city could go up in flames.
The roof sloped at a steep angle and the snow made the footing treacherous, but Lin clambered out and shuffled along until she could reach for the ridge of the roof. Once she had her fingers on that, she pulled herself up. With one foot on either side, she made her way to the chimney stack, waddling like a duck with its wings outstretched.
The wind weaved its way through the buildings until it found her, pulling at her cloak and swirling the fallen snow around her feet. It nipped at her face and sought her bones but she did her best to ignore it. They all had to keep moving.
Robert followed, moving slowly but surely. There was no grace to the way he clambered along after her, no effort to keep quiet. All his attention was focused on not falling.
Jack took the rear. He glanced back down into the stairwell; smoke drifted up through the open door. "Fire's spreading." He sounded sad, his face blank. No wonder. He'd lost his brother and now he was about to lose his city. She only hoped he had the strength to pull through. She needed him more than she'd like to admit, even to herself.
Shaking the thoughts from her mind, she moved onto the next roof. It had a structure built on it — someone's home, abandoned earlier when the Black Dogs had come calling. It made it easy to get around, with plenty of handholds and planking to walk along. From there they dropped down to a flat roof, thick with snow, but it allowed them to make it to the end of the street.
The next building was no more than eight feet away. Not a hard jump if they weren't all so tired and the roofs weren't covered in snow. The state they were all in made it look near impossible. Still, there was no going back. Only forward.
"Great," said Robert, looking down at the street below. It was a three-story drop to the street below and they could all see the Turned scuttling about. If the fall didn't kill them, the demons would.
"No point talking about it," said Lin. She walked back until she had a good run up and then went for it. She pumped her arms to build up speed and then launched herself off the roof, jumping up and out, letting her arms come forward as she leapt. She put her whole body into it and focused on where she wanted to land. Time slowed as she sailed through the air, the gap suddenly feeling wider than it was. Halfway across, she brought her legs up to her chest and then, as she felt herself start to drop, she thrust them out. The balls of her feet landed on the ledge opposite and she bent her knees to take the impact before bouncing off and onto the snow-covered roof itself. She rolled, killing her momentum, and then popped up to check on the others following.
"Show-off," grumbled Robert, then he started to run. He didn't so much jump as throw himself across the gap. He landed with a crash, but he made it all the same.
There was just Jack left to jump when the flames erupted out onto the roof of Brendan's building. They all looked as smoke billowed up into the night sky. Sparks caught in the wind and drifted out like fireflies. The flames lit the rooftop and Lin spotted a silhouette near the door.
"Jack!" she called out. "One's on the roof." The Turned heard her. His red eyes fixed on them. He shrieked with joy and raced toward them. The creature bounced along the roof, skipping from one surface to another, closing the gap on his prey.
Jack didn't look back. He ran and jumped, swinging his arms and kicking his legs out. He landed in the same spot as Lin and came up beside her, drawing his pistol. He turned to face the demon on his tail. The Turned ran toward them, howling with the wind. He reached the end of the building opposite and jumped without any hesitation.
Jack pulled the trigger, the gun boomed and the bullet hit the Turned, punching the demon from the air. They didn't bother to watch him fall.
The three set off again, moving as fast as they could, skipping over walls, sliding down sloping roofs and hopping onto the next, clambering over tiles and scampering along the ridges.
Lin's hands stung with the cold and snow and her ragged breath burned in her lungs but she put all her focus on climbing over the next roof or jumping the next gap. For once, Brixteth's compact streets worked in their favor. The clutter of the rooftops gave them plenty of shadows to get lost in and there was always a way onto the next roof or across to the next block.
She tried not to think about what had happened, but her mind kept drifting back to it. She'd been confident in what she'd learned from Master Snow, but the fight with Brendan had shaken her. Possessed by the demon, he'd very nearly had the better of her. She'd have to be a fool to believe that, if she were to ever face a Master one on one, she'd emerge the victor. Being good with a sword wasn't enough. She needed to find another advantage.
The Master wanted her dead. Of that there was no doubt. Just because she'd killed the prince. She grinned at the memory, could feel him dying under her as she stabbed him again and again, the way he'd kicked and screamed at the end.
His life was but a drop in the ocean compared to all those the Masters had taken from her. Pet'r, Jaar, Gris, Droonan — the list went on and on. They owed her far more than she'd taken from them. Far more — and she meant to collect.
She glanced back at the fire they'd started. That was the only way to deal with the Masters and their Children — burn them from the face of the world. The Black Dogs were so proud of the fact they'd managed to keep the Masters away from Abios for seven hundred years, but they'd got it all wrong. Prevention wasn't the answer. Extermination was. There had to be a way of wiping the bastards out, some weakness that could be exploited.
"Fuck!" Robert slipped and went down hard. He slid down the roof, grasping at tiles and snow, trying to grab anything that would stop him from falling to the street below. Jack lunged for his friend and managed to snatch hold of Robert's arm just as the big man's legs dropped over the edge. Lin ran back and hooked her arms around Jack's waist to stop him from being dragged down after Robert. They stayed like that, linked together, as Robert tried to haul himself back onto the roof, but gravity had other intentions. Lin's feet slipped in the snow and she could feel Jack shifting as well.
"Come on, you fat bastard," he grunted down at Robert. "Before we all get dragged over."
"I'm doing my best," replied the big man.
Somehow, Lin took a step back, hauling Jack with her. He in turn pulled Robert. Step by step they retreated until the big man managed to swing his legs back onto the roof. He staggered to his feet and puffed out his cheeks. "That was a close one."
"You seriously need to lose weight," said Jack.
"It's all muscle," said Robert.
"Are you ready to move on?" asked Lin. They both looked at her as if she were mad to ask that question. She could see the strain on both their faces. It was a miracle they were both still on their feet after what they'd been through.
"Give me a minute," said Robert, sitting down next to a chimney. "Just need to catch my breath."
Jack didn't say anything, but he clearly needed the rest as much as Robert. While they waited, she scanned the roofs, searching for the damned that pursued them. They were out there, dancing across the rooftops, chasing after them, driven forward by the f
ire at their back and their own bloodlust. Unlike Lin and the Black Dogs, they didn't need rest. "They're everywhere."
Jack followed her eye. "Do you think they know where we are?"
"I don't think they have our scent yet. They're too spread out. They're searching," said Lin.
"They'll find us eventually," said Jack, taking a deep breath.
Lin watched the hated creatures scamper across the snow-covered roofs. Even without a scent to follow, Lin and the others had left plenty of footprints for them to find. "Unless we get to safety first, or keep ahead of them until the sun comes up."
Jack looked up at the sky. "That's not going to happen anytime soon."
"We'll do it." Lin smiled and slipped her hand in his while they watched the fire they'd started continue to spread. It lit up the sky, moving from building to building, slowed by the snow and the damp — but not stopped. A lot of Brixteth would be gone by the time the fire burned out. Maybe all of it. She only hoped it would take some of the Master's Children with it and remove what shelter they had when the sun came out.
After what seemed an age, Robert climbed to his feet once more. "Let's go jump some more roofs."
Jack let go of Lin's hand and her skin felt very cold all of a sudden.
"Try not to fall again," she said. "You two go in front. I'll watch our backs."
Robert raised an eyebrow and turned to Jack. "What happened to the quiet little girl I used to know?"
Jack shook his head. "She was a figment of your imagination. Lin's always been like this."
They set off once more. Jack led, setting a slower pace than they'd managed earlier, but Robert seemed to cope with it well enough.
The fire by the river dwarfed anything they'd left behind. It climbed high into the sky, full of fury, a wall of fire marking their destination. Smoke drifted past, carried by the wind, flecked with sparks that sizzled on the snow-covered roofs. At some point the two fires would connect, but Lin and the others planned to be long gone before then. For now, the smoke hid their movement and masked their scent from any of the Master's Children, and that was a good thing.
The gunfire grew louder as they got nearer to the river. They could hear screams and shouts, mixed with the clash of steel. Lin prepared herself for what she'd see. She'd been with the raid in Grosnar and had witnessed a near massacre of the Black Dogs, and she feared she'd discover something similar at the bridge. At least the gunfire meant men were still standing, still fighting. The time to be truly afraid was when the guns fell silent.
They continued hopping from roof to roof, getting closer. Every now and then, Lin glanced down at the streets, hoping to find them empty, but she was always disappointed. The Children filled the roads and pathways, all heading toward the river like moths to a flame.
Dawn was still at least two hours away when they reached the last of the buildings overlooking the bridge, river and docks. They crouched down behind a small wall and gazed down on a nightmare.
The Black Dogs were positioned behind their barricade on the bridge, firing on a never-ending wave of the Master's Children. Corpses of those already shot and killed littered the ground, but there were so many more. An army of the damned. Lin covered her mouth in horror at the sight of it. "There's so many of them. How has the Master made them all?"
"It's impossible," said Jack.
"I wish it were," said Robert.
The bridge was at least helping the priests. It funneled the Children, limiting their approach so they weren't able to turn their numbers to an advantage. Some of the creatures threw themselves into the river in an attempt to swarm the bridge from the sides, but Black Dogs were ready for them, ready to cut down with swords any who managed to climb up. Most were shot in the water.
The Black Dog fire teams worked relentlessly. The front two ranks fired while the next two ranks reloaded empty rifles. A further four ranks waited in reserve, ready to take the place of any fallen or injured or just plain exhausted. Lin had to admire the discipline and the efficiency with which they killed. There was so much about the Black Dogs that frustrated her, but they were experts at warfare.
"We should go help," said Jack, looking down at the battle.
"There's nothing we can do," said Robert. "We'd not make five yards against that lot down there. All we can do is hope the lads last until sunup. That'll drive the Turned inside and we can start hunting them again. Until then, we'll have to stay here."
Jack glanced back behind them. "We're going to have problems of our own soon enough. The smoke's not going to hide us forever from the Turned chasing us. We've got two fires closing in on us, too."
"I'd best start praying for us too, then," said Robert.
Lin put her hand on his shoulder. "We'll make it."
"I pray to God you're right."
Lin said nothing. She didn't tell him what value she put on his god. The magical man in the sky had done nothing to protect Simon when the time had come. He didn't look like he was doing anything for the priests on the bridge or for the people of Brixteth. It was bullets and blades that were keeping them alive. Their faith wasn't worth shit. Not against the Masters.
"Look on the bright side," said Robert. "At least the fire's taken the chill out of the air. I've had enough of being cold to last me a lifetime — however long that might be."
Lin passed around a waterskin. "Sorry I haven't got any food with me."
Robert patted his stomach. "I can survive a while longer."
"I'm going to watch our rear," said Jack. "The Turned will be here soon enough." He didn't wait for an answer, just wandered off to the other side of the roof and stared back the way they'd come.
Lin went to join him but Robert held her back. "Better give the boy some time to himself."
"He looks so lost."
"Aye. He probably is. He's been through a lot tonight — more than most people would deal with in a dozen years — but he needs to work it out for himself."
"What if he doesn't?"
"Then he doesn't. A lot of people aren't going to make it through this. Maybe Jack won't if he can't get his head straight."
"It's not fair."
Robert chuckled. "Nothing in this life ever is. You should know that better than anyone." He glanced down at the bridge. "Seven hundred years we've managed to keep those bastards away from our shores. Now look at what one of them has done in a couple of nights. Thank God for the river and the men on that bridge, because they're all that's stopping this horde from taking the city."
"I'm not sure they're so grateful your god's put them in the way," said Lin.
"Only a fool would want that honor, but better them than some blacksmith's apprentice who doesn't know one end of a gun from the other," said Robert. "At least those boys down there have trained for this. This ... this war is their job. We all prayed this night wouldn't come, but it's here now, so we do the best we can to deal with it."
Lin sniffed. "Jack once told me he'd been a street thief before the Order found him. I was working the stone across the sea. I don't know what you did or where you came from, but I've no doubt that down at that barricade there's a Black Dog who's the son of a blacksmith. None of us were special. None of us were chosen. There is no god's hand at work. We've all just been dealt a shitty hand that we have to see out to the end."
"You can think that," said Robert. "I choose to believe differently. We were chosen. If not for Jack, you'd be dead right now and that invasion fleet of the Nostros would most probably have landed here with hundreds of those demons. If you hadn't stowed away on that raid to Grosnar, perhaps I'd be dead now and that Nostros fleet would be on its way here.
"You can call it fate or you can call it God — it doesn't matter. Things happen for a reason. I believe that with all my heart. We've got a part to play in this madness — we just don't know what it is yet."
Lin looked up at the sky. "We've got to stay alive for another hour first."
"We will," said Robert. "If God wants it."
"Lin, Robert," said Jack. "They've found us."
Lin and Robert scrambled to Jack's side. The Master's Children were easy to spot. They scampered over the rooftops, coming from every direction, straight toward them. Lin drew her sword. "I think your god wants us dead."
29
Jack
Jack gripped Brendan's sword, tried not to think of his brother lying all broken, splattered across the cobblestones. He was at peace now, but that brought little comfort to Jack and the hole in his heart. As he watched the Turned race toward them, he couldn't help wondering what was the point of it all. They'd lost. That was obvious. By the time they were all dead, there wouldn't be anyone left to carve Jack's name or Brendan's name on a cauldron. There'd be no one to bury them. No one to say a few words about their deeds. All he could hope for was a good death, and pray that some demon didn't make him a Turned.
He took a pistol from its holster and passed it to Robert before drawing the second one. "Maybe it'd be better if we use them on ourselves. Guarantee a quick death, a clean death."
"Suicide's a sin in the eyes of God," said Robert.
"Just thought I'd ask," said Jack. "In case either of you wanted an easy way out."
"Do you know how many times I could've killed myself when I was a slave?" said Lin. "Every night I woke up knowing I had to face those monsters, not knowing if it was my time to die. There is no easy way out. You fight or you die."
Jack looked out over the rooftops, watched the red-eyed monsters racing toward them. "Well, we're in the right place for that."
Lin gripped her sword so tight her knuckles turned white. "I don't know about you, but I'm going to take as many of those fuckers down with me as I can."
Jack smiled. It was madness. All of it. So be it. "We fight."
"We fight," said Robert.
"We fight," said Lin.
