by Ben Chandler
‘Then why would I strike such a bargain with you?’ Fox hissed between her teeth and waved a hand dismissively in Missy’s direction. ‘I’m bored with you. Go and die alongside your friends.’
Missy ground her teeth together. She couldn’t lose control now. Not like she had back in Erdasche. She had to keep her mind where it belonged. ‘So you won’t even consider my proposal?’
The woman crossed her arms over her chest and leant against one of the divan’s armrests. ‘I don’t see why I should.’
‘So your god doesn’t mind that you’re a coward?’ Missy snapped.
Fox’s eyelids narrowed so her eyes were mere slits. They seemed to glint in the rosy light in the temple. ‘Be careful, girl.’ It almost came out as a growl.
‘Why should I?’ Missy had one more shot at this. There was no point holding back now. ‘We’re all about to die anyway. If not today, then soon, once the last of our defences has been stripped away, once the Demon King has an army large enough to invade the untainted lands. I haven’t got the time to be careful. You’re stuck in this hole in the middle of nowhere and you do what? Serve your god? Hardly! I’m offering you a chance. It’s a slim chance, I’ll grant you that, and it might come to nothing, but I’m willing to bet it’s the best offer you’ve ever had. And what do you say? You’re bored! I’m sure the Fox God appreciates your devotion –’
The woman’s hand was suddenly around Missy’s throat, squeezing so tightly Missy could barely breathe, much less speak. She’d moved impossibly fast. Missy hadn’t even seen her tense. Even Yami, her silent protector, was too slow. An instant later he was behind Fox, his sword resting against her neck, but the woman ignored him.
‘What do you know of devotion?’ Fox hissed. She gripped harder and Missy began to gag.
‘Release her!’ Yami shouted.
The woman turned her head just enough to be able to glare at him. ‘Your Lilim blade is of no concern to me.’ She lifted Missy up by the neck, high off the ground. Missy choked, kicking her feet. Her vision darkened. ‘Do you want to learn how to use a Totem’s gift, brat?’ Fox lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘Come. I’ll give you your first lesson.’
The woman released her hold and Missy fell, gasping, but before she hit the ground she was caught around the waist and yanked to the side so fast she felt her stomach heave.
The first Demons fell to Andrea’s volley of bolts, but there were more just behind them, reaching the ravine floor almost as quickly as the bodies of their fallen companions. The crew rushed to meet them. Lenis watched them go, Suiteki shivering in his grasp. Their panic mingled and fed off each other. Lenis couldn’t move. As his crewmates reached the front ranks of the Demonic onslaught, his legs gave out from beneath him. He collapsed against the mooring post, wrapping both arms around his dragon. His mind churned on. Is this what all your training has been for? To give in to fear at the first sign of real trouble? Lenis shook his head, unable to seize control of his own body. All he could do was watch and offer Suiteki the meagre shelter of his limbs, setting as much of his body between her and the Demons as he could.
Everything moved so slowly. The captain’s first thrust took a bear Demon in the eye. He recovered his weapon and spun on the spot, the sweep of his blade taking the horns off a goat Demon coming at him from the side. The captain flowed onto his back foot and then shifted momentum to strike at the goat creature’s neck. There was a flash of blue light as a bolt of lightning exploded amongst a group of lizard Demons off to the side. Tenjin was waving the Quillblade as if it were a wand and reading from his book.
Arthur stepped up to the captain’s side. The first officer parried a swipe from a cat Demon. The beast’s claws rang against the metal of his sword, but then Arthur stepped forward and impaled it through the chest. His blade jammed in its ribcage. An instant. Two. His shoulders heaved as he tried to disengage it. The three-legged Lilim stepped down into the ravine and flicked one of its arms, catching Arthur in the chest. The first officer flew backwards, leaving his sword still sticking out of the cat Demon’s carcass.
The Lilim stepped over the cat and bore down on the first officer, and then Hiroshi was there, wrapping Murasaki, his kusarigama weapon, around the thing’s legs. The sharpened links of the chain tore into its flesh even as Hiroshi tightened his hold, drawing its limbs together. Lenis could see the sweat on the cook’s forehead as he struggled to bring the Demon down.
Behind him, Andrea hacked and slashed at a dozen or more tiny lizard Demons, her crossbow lying forgotten at her feet, her daggers once more in her hands. Even now, Lenis could see her energy draining, her movements slowing. She cried out when one grabbed hold of her pants and scurried up her leg. Without thought for her own limb, she swiped at it with both blades. The thing was cut in three, but she’d left herself open on her right side and one of the Demons leapt onto her shoulder.
Meanwhile, Shujinko jumped over Hiroshi and swung his sword, detaching the orb-like head of the Demon Lilim looming over Arthur’s prone form. The cabin boy landed awkwardly and staggered backwards, right onto the horn of another goat Demon, puncturing his side. The captain appeared by him and slew the beast.
‘No,’ Lenis whispered. Or had been whispering. Over and over again. ‘No no nononononono …’
Not like this. It couldn’t end like this. He saw the brute-like Lilim, the short one with the overpumped muscles and the large, heavy feet, turn to him. They locked eyes. It was so human, save for its disproportionate limbs and multiple digits. The Demon flexed its many fingers and started towards him with long, ponderous strides. He heard Andrea scream, her cry filled with equal parts anguish and outrage. The Demon reached Lenis. It raised one massive foot above the boy’s head. It brought it down. Lenis stared, wide-eyed, open-mouthed, unable to comprehend what was happening, thinking only that he had failed Suiteki, that she would be crushed because his flesh was not solid enough to protect her from what was descending on them, that she would die before growing into the magnificent Totem she was destined to be.
There came a sound like a howling wolf. Another Demon barrelled into the one above him, knocking the thing back, slashing at it with its own claws. The new Demon was over seven feet tall and had a mane of stiff black hair running down its spine, which curved like a cat’s. It leapt back and planted itself before Lenis, facing the brutish, many-fingered Demon. The new Demon’s tail twitched backwards and forwards, and Lenis caught glints of blue in its black fur. Its toes were spread wide as the thing dug its long, black talons into the ground. A moment later the newcomer sprang forwards, once more lashing out at the other Demon, shredding the thing’s torso and face.
Its savagery flowed into Lenis, igniting something deep inside him. Slowly, grabbing the mooring post for support with one hand and maintaining his grip on Suiteki through his robe with the other, Lenis pulled himself to his feet. The many-fingered Demon clutched the wolf-like Demon’s oesophagus, and Lenis’s defender went from slashing to scrabbling as it sought to free itself. A whine escaped its throat, and Lenis felt himself overwhelmed with pity. Whatever the creature was, it had saved Lenis’s life. He couldn’t just stand there and watch as the life was crushed out of it.
The many-fingered Demon was as empty as Lord Raikō had been when Lenis and Missy had combined their wills to control the Demon Lord, but it was nowhere near as powerful as the fallen Totem. Instinctively, Lenis wrapped his power around the creature, inundating it with his own pity for the wolf Demon and his strong need to protect it. Slowly, Lenis’s desires filled the empty vessel of the many-fingered Demon until it, too, wished to preserve its prey. One by one, its fingers loosened and let the wolf Demon go. With a snarl, the wolf Demon lunged forwards and slashed his adversary’s throat. Lenis, still connected to the creature, felt its animalistic panic and hastily drew his awareness back. It staggered away and Lenis caught a glimpse of his friends behind it.
They were losing the fight. Arthur and Andrea were already down. Shujinko was kneeling with o
ne hand pressed against his side, which was red with his blood. His other hand still clutched his sword, but Lenis could tell he no longer had the strength to wield it. The princess swung her hammer ceaselessly, but the massive weapon was ill-suited to fighting the smaller Demons, which were scurrying in under her guard. Disma did her best to keep them away from Anastasis, but the princess’s already ragged dress was hanging off her in shreds, and she was bleeding from several small lacerations. Hiroshi had lost his kusarigama but had somehow managed to free Arthur’s sword from the cat Demon’s body. He held it in one hand and had one of Andrea’s daggers in the other, but the Kystian weapon was bigger than a Shinzōn blade and heavier than the cook was used to. He was almost spent. The captain was still fighting, but he had been separated from the others and was now facing two Demonic Lilim on his own. Lenis couldn’t see Long Liu, but he saw Tenjin step backwards to dodge an incoming blow, only to catch his foot on the lip of the airdock and go down. The Demon that had swung at him moved forwards to finish the records keeper off.
Lenis glanced away, unable to witness Tenjin’s death. It was only then that he noticed Kanu wasn’t there. When had he left? Where had he gone? Lenis scanned the battleground for any sign of the boy. Panic threatened to overwhelm him. How could he have let the boy out of his sight? As Lenis was looking back towards his friends he caught sight of a flicker of blue-black hair in the tail of his defender. It took him a moment to place its significance. Blue-black hair. Blackened nails. The wolf Demon was no Demon at all.
‘Kanu?’ Lenis whispered.
The creature growled low in its throat. ‘We have to get everyone to the Hiryū.’
Kanu. The small, silent child they had stumbled across in the temple of the sea god. Kanu. The young boy who had been charged with serving the twins so long ago. It was so easy to forget he was even there. He was always in the background, never drawing much attention to himself. The boy’s voice was deeper now, his shoulders broader than Arthur’s. The angles of his face didn’t seem as sharp, either. They had settled into a blending of canine and feline features. His heavy brow overshadowed blue eyes with slit pupils. His pointed ears swept back from his skull. The tattered remains of a Shinzōn robe still hung from his waist, the same one Lenis had given him back aboard the airship. But the boy who wore it … this was no boy. This was a Titan.
Lenis shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. ‘It won’t help, Kanu. Even if we could get everyone to the Hiryū, it would soon be overrun. There are just too many of them.’
And they kept coming. For each one the crew felled, two or three or four more came down off the walls. Most of the fighters from the Hiryū were injured. All were tired. Dimly, Lenis was aware of the sounds of fighting coming from the far side of the ravine, where the defenders of Haven were stationed. The cries were growing fainter. There was less light in the ravine too, as if the Bestia who were generating it were growing weaker, or fewer. It wouldn’t be long now. It was almost over.
Lenis turned back to the transformed Titan boy. ‘We’ve lost, Kanu.’ He couldn’t believe he was saying it. Couldn’t believe it was true. ‘Ishullanu’s won.’
Kanu threw back his head and howled again. His bestial yowl reverberated around the ravine. Suiteki began to screech too, a reptilian ululation that pierced Lenis’s ears and burned his heart. There was such depth to her sorrow that Lenis thought it was going to claim him completely, obliterating everything else that was not despair.
Their calls were answered by another cry filled with outrage and fury. Lenis thought it was Etana, the Demon Lord come to finish them all personally, but then he realised the noise was coming from a human throat. It was impossibly loud, but it was definitely human, and it carried a message.
‘Get out of my Haven!’
Lenis watched in awe. Where his fear had petrified him only moments before, now he was simply stunned into immobility. A woman was running along the ravine’s wall. It was the woman from the temple, still wearing that flimsy see-through gown, and she had something … no, someone thrown over her shoulder, but she was running horizontally along the wall. And she was moving so fast. Lenis had been in a few races before. Mistress Kell, one of the Puritans who had owned the twins, had a love of speed, but no Bestia, landcraft, or even airship could move this fast.
She had raced past them, dumping whoever she was carrying at Lenis’s feet and then leaping from one side of the ravine to the other to land in the midst of the fighting. It took Lenis a few seconds to realise it was his sister lying on the ground before him.
‘Missy!’ Lenis crouched down next to her. She seemed a bit dazed but otherwise unhurt.
‘Lenis!’ Missy grabbed his arm and hauled herself upright. ‘Look!’
The woman was fighting the Demons barehanded. It was too much to take in. ‘What is she doing?’
‘She’s using a shintai,’ Missy said breathlessly.
‘Where?’ Lenis demanded. ‘I don’t see it!’
‘On her hands!’ Missy pointed. ‘Her gloves!’
Lenis hadn’t noticed them until Missy had drawn his attention to them. As he watched, they seemed to grow larger, transforming from leather gloves into metal gauntlets. They shone silver in what remained of the Bestia light bathing the ravine. At the tip of each finger was a golden claw. These were getting bigger too.
The woman tore through the ranks of Demons besieging the Hiryū’s crew. She moved so fast that the Demons couldn’t defend themselves from her. Her blows broke horns and shattered bones. Her slashes removed limbs and heads. The Demon that was menacing Tenjin was suddenly torn in half mid-strike. The ring of Demons surrounding the captain simply fell where they stood. In less than a minute, she had annihilated every last one of the Demons that had almost destroyed the Hiryū’s crew.
She didn’t stop there. With a jump and a midair somersault, she landed on the wall and ran up it, sending the bodies of vanquished Demons crashing down into the pit beneath her.
‘How is she doing that?’ Lenis shook his head.
‘It’s the gloves,’ Missy said, her own awe evident. ‘They’re shintai from the Fox God.’
Lenis turned to his sister as the woman disappeared beyond the reach of the Bestia light, heading off towards the mouth of the ravine. ‘Fox God?’
Missy shook her head. ‘Not sure. I think it’s one of the Totem. Lord Tenjin might know which one.’
Lenis shook his head again. Demonic bodies were still raining down from above. ‘We’d better go help the others.’
Missy came reluctantly; her gaze turned skywards as if she could pierce the gloom above.
Things were worse than Lenis had feared. Arthur was breathing raggedly. The doctor, who himself had a large gash across his left temple, was inspecting the Kystian’s chest. With the sack hanging off his belt now empty, Long Liu wiped absently at the blood pouring down his face as he continued his examination. Hiroshi was trying to get Shujinko to show him the wound in his side. Lenis remembered seeing him gored on a goat Demon’s horn. If the cabin boy had damaged any of his organs, there was little anyone would be able to do for him.
The captain and Shin had found each other. Both looked pretty haggard and had several cuts and bruises on their faces and arms, but they seemed otherwise to have escaped serious injury. Princess Anastasis was standing alone with Disma, apparently unaware that she was bleeding from various gashes. Her hammer showed signs of heavy use. Lenis turned away from the gore that clung to it. Until then he had been pushing his nausea down, but the sight of the princess covered in Demon blood and guts was enough to make him gag. The smell had grown worse, too, and more than anything Lenis wanted a breath or two of fresh air.
Tenjin and Kanu, who had reverted to his near-human form, were both kneeling next to Andrea. Dismay hung heavy about them. Lenis braced himself for the worst and moved towards the trio. She was lying on the ground, very still. As he came closer he saw the blood covering her head. A coldness welled up inside Lenis as he crouched down ne
xt to her, but then he saw her chest move and relief flowed through him. She was alive! There was a lot of blood, but hadn’t Yami or the doctor once told him head wounds always bleed excessively? She would be fine. She had to be.
The pool of sadness solidified around him, and Lenis saw that Andrea was sobbing. Her grief was sharp in his chest. The ache of it brought tears to his eyes.
‘Where is she hurt?’ Lenis asked Tenjin.
Before the records keeper could respond, Andrea reached up blindly and cried out, ‘My eyes! I can’t see!’
The force of her pain knocked Lenis backwards. His mind reeled from it.
‘Lenis!’ It was Tenjin, kneeling over him now.
‘I’m all right.’ Lenis sat up and pushed Andrea’s emotions away. It took all of his will to shield himself from them. ‘Oh, Andrea.’ He touched her outstretched hand, but she snatched it away. ‘Shh,’ he soothed and placed a hand on her shoulder. She shied away from even that contact. Lenis closed his eyes and looked deep inside himself. He found a memory of the twins playing with Aeris on the shores of Blue Lake. It had always been a source of comfort to him. He tried to recall that solace. It was difficult. Most of his strength was devoted to keeping Andrea’s grief from overwhelming him. Then Suiteki moved inside his robe, uncoiling from the ball she had wound herself into. He felt the questing from her again, a drawing and a yielding. Her fear of the Demon attack was still fresh, but through that she knew he needed her. A small kernel of hope blossomed inside Lenis. He shielded it from the chaos that surrounded him, nurtured it with more thoughts of his sister and his Bestia, and cocooned it in Suiteki’s aura. As it grew, he drew it up out of himself and wrapped it around Andrea.
Slowly, her sobbing quieted. She let Lenis place a hand on her shoulder, and then he took her hand. He pushed harder, willing his own comfort on the grieving woman, smothering her panic, her sense of loss and hopelessness and horror. Sweat broke out all over his body. His teeth were clenched so tightly he thought they might crack, but he didn’t ease up until Andrea settled down into sleep.
