by Jon Skovron
“Well …,” said Merivale, about to give herself a smug congratulations.
But then another form rounded a corner into the hallway. There was no mistaking this one for a person. It was the size of a horse, and appeared to be some jumbled mix of frog and cat. Another creature quickly followed, this one sliding across the ground like a snake with a human head. And still more came after that. All manner of horrors that the biomancers had apparently been stockpiling for some time now. And they were all coming at her.
Merivale prided herself on keeping a cool head in any situation, but even she felt an icy terror in her stomach at seeing this army of monstrosities coming toward her. For just a moment, her body seized up and she could not move.
But this would not be her end. It could not be. She knew that like she knew the sun would rise in the morning, no matter what else happened. So she bit down on her lip until blood flowed to her chin. The spike of pain got her body moving. As the creatures began to howl and hiss and roar, she turned and sprinted for the front door that led to the courtyard.
She could hear them pursuing her. Her flight had piqued their interest, like a cat after a mouse. She heard claws scraping and wet limbs slapping the stone floor. She heard labored breathing and a groan of longing. She did not turn or look back. She just kept running.
She’d never realized how long the distance between the lift and the front door was. And to be perfectly honest, she was not much of a runner. By the time she was in sight of the open door, her chest burned with fatigue. She saw the Black Rose standing at the top of the step where she’d left her, facing out at the courtyard with her arms crossed.
“Get these doors closed!” she shouted. “Now!”
The Black Rose turned and saw Merivale pounding toward her, then took in the mass of creatures behind her. And God bless her, she didn’t even blink. She turned and bellowed into the courtyard, “We need to get these doors closed and barricaded before all hells come bursting through!”
By the time Merivale reached the doors, soldiers and criminals were working together to get the massive doors closed. She slipped through the narrowing gap and a moment later heard them slam shut behind her.
“Brace the doors!” she shouted, turning to push against them. Those who had closed the doors, including the Black Rose, did the same.
“Get ready!” said Merivale.
A moment later, the creatures on the other side hit the doors, and they buckled.
“Piss’ell, what is on the other side of this?” said one of the soldiers.
“All your nightmares made real,” Merivale told him. Then to those soldiers standing stupidly nearby, she said, “Gather things to barricade the doors! Do it now!”
“Yes, my lady!” several shouted and began to look around for anything large and heavy. Several more hurried over and took her place at the door.
As she stepped into the courtyard, she heard the prince’s voice.
“Lady Hempist!”
Leston and Ambassador Omnipora rushed over to her.
“Ah, Your Highness,” Merivale said breezily as she smoothed back her hair and fixed her ponytail. “Glad to see you’ve sorted things out here.”
“Are you okay, my lady?” asked Nea.
“Well enough for now, but I’m afraid I’m going to need to ask you to lend us Drissa and her astonishing machine for when those creatures inevitably break through.”
“What were they?” asked Leston. “I only caught a glimpse before the doors closed, but they seemed like beasts of some sort.”
“You may not have been aware of this,” said Merivale, “but the biomancers maintain several sublevels beneath the palace, most of which contain various experiments they’ve engaged in over the years.”
“How long has that been going on?” he demanded.
“Decades, at least. Probably longer.”
“And we never knew?”
“Well, I knew, and so did your mother. Of course, Red knew as well. And I’m sure your father did at some point.”
“Unbelievable,” muttered Leston.
“So now the biomancers have set all their nasties free?” asked the Black Rose.
Merivale nodded.
“Can’t we just escape into the city?” asked Nea.
“I’m afraid not, Ambassador. If you’ll all kindly follow me.”
Leston, Nea, and the Black Rose followed Merivale to the ladder that stretched up the side of the outer wall to the guard station.
“Please watch your step,” she told them as she began to ascend.
Once they reached the guard platform, Merivale pointed south across the rooftops to the sea that lay behind. In the gathering dusk, she could see the approaching fleet of ships.
“That’s almost the entire imperial fleet!” said Leston.
“Yes,” agreed Merivale. “And they have orders from Tramasta to raze the city, killing everyone in it.”
They all stared silently at the distant ships.
“We should be out of mortar range here,” said Merivale. “Unfortunately, the resulting fires that will no doubt spread throughout the city are another matter. But, regardless, we have more pressing concerns.” She gestured back to the courtyard behind them. Soldiers had piled everything they could find in front of the door. An old wagon, crates, barrels, and bales of hay from the stables. They’d even piled the corpses from the previous battle in the wagon to give it more weight. But Merivale knew better than any of them what lay beyond the door, and felt certain the barricade wouldn’t hold long.
“The choices are burn to death or get eaten alive,” the Black Rose said quietly.
“Surely there’s something we can do!” said Leston.
Merivale shook her head. “Survive as long as we can. If we outlast the bombing, we might be able to sneak through the rubble and escape. Once we’re outside the city walls, we can regroup at Sunset Point and come up with our next plan of action. That is, assuming Tramasta didn’t have the foresight to bomb the empress’s home out of existence as well.”
“Actually,” said the Black Rose, and there was an unexpected twinkle in her eyes. “I took the liberty of calling in a few favors.”
“Oh?” asked Merivale.
“If we can hold until sunrise, I reckon we should be getting some serious reinforcements.”
“What kind of reinforcements?” asked Merivale.
“The kind you’ve been trying to get for months.” The Black Rose grinned. “If only you’d come to me from the start, instead of sending that saltheaded red-eyed thief on such a delicate mission alone.”
Merivale stared at her for a moment. She debated whether to make an issue out of the fact that the Black Rose hadn’t bothered to tell her any of this until now. But she thought better of it.
Instead she said, “Even I make mistakes from time to time.”
Lady Merivale Hempist prided herself on her lack of sentimentality. She’d never been particularly sentimental, and as she’d worked her way rapidly through the government to the position of chief of espionage, she had willfully dismantled every instance of it within herself that she could find.
But as Tramasta’s fleet began to shell the city of Stonepeak, even she felt the sting of tears in her eyes.
Strangely enough, it was the thought of Hooper, her dressmaker, and his beautiful shop being reduced to rubble that caught her unprepared. Such a small thing. In the scope of an empire’s past, present, and future, one dressmaker hardly seemed a great loss. And yet, he had been an exceptional dressmaker. An artist, really. His work had given her more pleasure than could ever be paid back in something as banal as money. And now, as screaming arcs of fire rained down on the city again and again, she knew that shop was more than likely gone, along with the owner and his charming lover.
“My lady …” Leston handed her a handkerchief.
“My sincerest apologies, Your Highness.” Her voice was thick as she took the offered handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes. “This is most unprofes
sional, not to mention unbecoming of me. It is a side of me you should never have to witness.”
“And yet I’m grateful for it,” he said quietly. “Because sharing this grief with you makes it more bearable.”
They watched as death rained down and the explosions erupted through the city. Lives, culture, history, all lost forever.
“Here now,” the Black Rose growled nearby. “Those poncey looks won’t do. I need anger right now, my wags, not tears.”
Merivale sniffed and wiped her eyes one last time, then turned to the ganglord. “You’re quite right. Let’s go check on the palace doors. As terrible as the shelling is, it is not our most immediate concern.”
“Well put,” the Black Rose said approvingly.
The two women climbed back down the ladder to the courtyard. Merivale spotted Drissa and Catim working feverishly on the machine near the stables.
“Is everything functional?” she asked them.
“It’s all pretty makeshift,” said Catim. “If we’d had better material to work with, I’d be a lot less concerned.”
“I’m afraid you’ll just have to make do with what you have,” said Merivale.
“That’s what I figured,” Catim said grimly. “Don’t worry. We’ll do our part to keep the prince and ambassador safe.”
“How much time you reckon we have before those things break through?” asked the Black Rose.
“See for yourself.” Catim nodded to the entrance.
The door already had several large cracks in it, and one of the hinges was coming off. Every few seconds, something smashed up against it on the inside and their makeshift barricade shuddered.
“Not long,” said the Black Rose.
As the two women stared at the shaking door, Merivale said, “May I ask you a question?”
“Of course. Don’t mean I’ll answer, though.”
“The reason you didn’t tell me that Bleak Hope and Brigga Lin were coming … Did you truly enlist them as reinforcements for us? Or was your original intention to bring them as a means to guarantee that the empress would comply with her end of your deal?”
The Black Rose grinned. “Pick whichever one you like, Merivale.”
Merivale was silent for a moment. “This Paradise Circle of yours must be quite a place to produce such remarkable people as you and Red.”
The Black Rose’s smile faded away. Then in a singsong voice, she said:
Where it’s cold, and it’s wet,
And the sun never gets.
But still it’s my home.
Bless the Circle.
A loud crack echoed across the courtyard as another split appeared in the doors.
“What do you think, twenty minutes?” asked the Black Rose.
“Less,” said Merivale.
“Lady Hempist!” Nea waved down at them from the guard tower. “You must see this!”
“Back up we go,” said Merivale as she and the Black Rose hurried over to the ladder.
“Has something changed?” asked Merivale once they reached the top. “Have our reinforcements arrived?”
“I’m not sure!” said Leston. “Look!”
Merivale scanned the dark southern edge of the island. Now that the sun had set, the only times she could make out any details were when mortars were fired. After a few moments, one flared up, and she was able to see what had Nea and Leston so worked up.
“That’s …”
“The kraken!” said the prince. “It’s tearing the fleet apart!”
She couldn’t make out much of it. A large round head loomed over the highest mast. A long, thick tentacle lifted a massive, three-masted war frigate into the air and slammed it back into the sea with enough force to split the hull. Another tentacle lifted a smaller two-masted brig and tossed it almost negligently into the city streets, where it burst as it was dashed across the cobblestones.
“Is this … their doing?” Merivale asked the Black Rose.
“No idea,” she replied. “But I wouldn’t put it past them. They’re not known for their subtlety or restraint, keen?”
“Your Highness!” one of the soldiers called up to them from the courtyard. “The door is about to give way!”
25
Hope and Red stood on the quarterdeck of the Lady’s Gambit and gazed out at the carnage along the southern coast of Stonepeak.
Red grinned. “Looks like the Guardian beat us here.”
“It had a head start,” said Hope. Then she gave Missing Finn a sideways glance. “And there was some fuss at the beginning of the voyage.”
Finn gripped the helm and rolled his eyes heavenward. “Horses, Miss Hope. Having horses on board just ain’t natural.”
“Nonsense,” said Vaderton, who stood next to him. “The navy brings horses aboard all the time.”
“They make such a mess, though!” said Finn.
“They do,” Vaderton agreed. “But that’s the job you give to the crew member who hasn’t been pulling his fair share of work.”
“Ain’t nobody on my ship like that,” Finn said loftily.
“There’s always someone like that,” said Vaderton.
“Regardless,” said Hope. “Once we land, we’ve got twenty-five people to transport from the docks to the palace as quickly as possible. A wagon and team of horses was the obvious solution.”
“Ooooh,” said Red, wincing as he continued to watch the kraken. “It’s cracking frigates like eggs. At this rate, we should have no problem getting to the docks.”
“Unless it decides to crack us like an egg,” said Vaderton.
“It wouldn’t do that, right?” Missing Finn asked nervously. “Ain’t it melted with Miss Lin’s old master or something?”
“It is,” said Red. “But I wonder how much of Fitmol Bet is actually still in there.”
“Jilly!” called Hope.
“Right here, teacher!” Jilly called down from her perch in the foremast.
“Me, too!” called Uter, who was nestled into the crook between the mast and the yard beside her.
“She can see that,” Jilly told him.
“Go get Brigga Lin,” said Hope. “She’ll want to see this anyway.”
“Right away, teacher!” Jilly gave her a sharp salute.
“Right away!” Uter mimicked the salute.
Jilly glared at him, then began climbing down the rigging to go find Brigga Lin, with Uter following close behind.
Missing Finn grinned at Hope. “That boy is a trial for her.”
Hope nodded. “She could stand to cultivate a little more patience anyway.”
As they waited for Brigga Lin to arrive, Hope glanced over at Stephan. He and the other Vinchen stood nearby, silently observing the chaos wrought by the kraken. She knew she’d need to count on them in the coming battle, so she decided to assess their mood.
“I’m surprised you chose not to carry the Song of Sorrows,” she told Stephan as she walked over to him.
He patted the sword at his waist. “This one will serve me fine. And to be honest, I don’t feel ready to wield such a mighty blade.”
“I was your age when I took it up,” she told him. “Do you think I was ready?”
“But you said Grandteacher Hurlo commanded you to take it.”
“True,” she admitted. “I wouldn’t have been bold enough to do it on my own.”
“Then you understand.”
She smiled. “I suppose I do.”
Brigga Lin hurried over, eyeing the kraken in the distance as it tossed naval warships around like toys. “Well, that worked out better than expected.”
“Will it attack us as well?” asked Hope.
“Probably,” said Brigga Lin. “I may be able to get through to the part of Fitmol Bet that’s still in there, but not until we’re close.”
“By which point, if it doesn’t work, there’ll be nothing to do but greet Death in his cups,” said Missing Finn.
“Let’s try to avoid the kraken, then,” said Hope. “And only use
Brigga Lin’s plan as a last resort if we get caught.”
Missing Finn nodded and swung the Lady’s Gambit wide around the battle.
But Hope could see that it would be tricky to keep clear. The kraken was so massive, its movements created their own eddies and currents. One tentacle lifted a ship into the air while its cannons continued to fire wildly. It slammed the ship back down against the surface, and the impact not only destroyed the ship, but knocked the Lady’s Gambit back, only to pull it even closer as the water filled back into the momentary vacuum.
She glanced over at Finn, whose face was red with exertion from spinning the large wheel back and forth as he tried desperately to compensate for the shifting forces and keep them headed toward Stonepeak while maintaining as much distance from the kraken as possible.
Hope’s wasn’t the only ship trying to skirt around the kraken. Several of the naval frigates at the back of the fleet were doing the same thing. But then the kraken noticed them. It spun in a circle, its tentacles reaching out in all directions so that water began to form a whirlpool that sucked them all back in, including the Lady’s Gambit.
“Pretty smart strategy,” admitted Hope as the ship began circling closer to the kraken.
“Hopefully that’s an indication that I’ll be able to reason with it,” said Brigga Lin.
No matter how Finn fought against the wheel, the Lady’s Gambit drew closer to the kraken. Hope saw a thick tentacle shoot toward them, then slide underneath the port side. The deck beneath her feet shuddered as the tentacle struck the rudder and the whole ship tilted hard to one side.
“Grab on to something!” roared Missing Finn.
Hope grabbed on to one of the mainmast sheets. Others caught hold of pieces of rigging, the gunwale, or whatever else was in reach. Most things on the deck had been secured, of course, but as the ship continued to lean, Hope could hear things shifting in the cabins below and the whinnies of frightened horses.
