Iron Elf - A Race Reborn (Book 2) (22 page)

Mina leaped into deeper water. “Ackpth!”

I pulled her out. “Are you wearing waterproof underwear too? Why’d you do that?”

We beached the boat and built a fire. The mountain was almost a perfect cone. The temple buildings spiralled around its summit. Mina pulled her blanket closer and looked at it. “Funny-looking mountain.”

Zukaldi nodded. “Looks out of place.”

“What are you talking about?” Conrad asked. “It’s a bloody big rock. Which we have to climb.”

Mina shook her head. “It looks like a volcano, but it isn’t.”

“Nope,” Zukaldi said.

“Is this a dwarf thing?”

The last leg of our journey wasn’t too hard. A ramp wound around it, making our climb more of an uphill hike. That didn’t stop Mina and Zukaldi from complaining all the way.

“Look at this road!” she said. “It’s easy to walk on. It’s not too steep or gentle. It’s the same width all the way. There’s even a wall along the edge.”

“I don’t see why you’re so angry,” I said. We camped for the night, but the next day they were still at it. I asked why.

“Don’t you see how impossible this is? A real mountain trail follows the terrain, it doesn’t look like it was designed before the mountain was.”

“Why would anyone do that?”

“Maybe they thought the island was too flat,” Zukaldi said.

Someone watched from a high place. She reached for another handful of snow. Her teeth hurt and her tongue was numb, but still she breathed through her mouth. Drooling ice water didn’t look good, but it kept her breath from fogging. She shifted a little and steadied her aim.

There was a sign on the road. Flags hung from it and fluttered in the wind. Blue and red, orange and green. The sign said:

PRIVATE PROPERTY

Trespassers will be prostituted

“That’s not very friendly,” Mina said.

“This is new,” I said. “Ignore it.”

A little further on was another sign:

STAY OUT

Stay Alive

“I don’t remember the nuns being this reclusive,” Conrad said. “Did they change their doctrine or something?”

“I’m not going to be stopped by a sign,” I said. We came upon a third:

LAST WARNING

You’re in range, motherfucker

“The nuns have never turned away visitors,” I said. “Some practical joker’s been putting these up.”

“Be funny if this was the big emergency,” Mina said. “There’s a prankster on the mountain! Help us, Meerwen, you’re our only hope! And the prankster’s like, And I would’ve gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for those meddling mercenaries!”

Meltwater ran down her chin but her gaze was steady and her breathing slow. She imagined herself a stone and did not move. She took her time. She let them come closer, then closer. Gently, gently, the pad of her finger began to press the trigger. She did not tremble. She knew no fear. She squeezed the trigger and fired the shot.

On the rifle the hammer hit the strike plate and completed a circuit. Crystal capacitors discharged, powering transmutation spells built into the breech. The bullet had started as a dowel of ironwood. One end had been sharpened. A copper nail was driven into the other. As energy poured into it the bullet changed. The wood at the core swirled and turned into propellant. The copper nail seemed to melt but it was pressure, not heat, that moulded it into shapes. It formed a nozzle, combustion chamber, and shaped-charge liner.

The primer blasted it out of the gun. The burning propellant pushed it to greater speed.

There was a sound. Something went fweet over our heads. “We’re under fire!” Zukaldi said.

We scattered off the road. “Yang!” Conrad said. “Do you see him?”

The half-elf pointed. “There!”

Ironwood bullets left a smoke trail. I was right behind Yang in spotting it. “I see him too. Three hundred yards!”

Conrad shed his coat and began cocking his pistols. There were four of them in a left-handed chest holster. “Yang, cover us.” Yang planted his shepherd’s axe in the snow and loosened the sling around his waist. He dropped a bullet into the cradle and swung it overhead. An acorn of lead arced toward the sniper.

“It might have been a warning shot,” I said.

“You want to be proven wrong?” Conrad drew his sword. “Chaaarge!”

Screaming, the five of us ran up the slope.

She was on her feet. She needed to reload. She tore open a paper cartridge with her teeth. She stuffed the bullet down the barrel, then the wrapper. She pulled out the ramrod and pushed the bullet all the way. Replacing the ramrod, she shouldered the rifle and cocked it. The capacitors hummed. She fired.

The shot passed between me and Conrad. We powered on. Conrad drew a pistol and fired. At this range he couldn’t hope to hit anything.

She flinched. The enemy bullet burst in a nearby snowbank. The slinger was shooting, too and his shots were coming uncomfortably close. She needed to reload. The Northlander had to be the leader. He was the most dangerous.

CHAPTER 19:
MEERWEN

“Borlog’s hit!” Zukaldi said. The human held his chest.

“Save him!” Conrad drew a pistol, fired, and dropped it in the snow. He drew another and renewed his charge.

The sniper was a shaggy white thing—it wore a shaggy white thing, rather, to camouflage it against the snow. He had reloaded his weapon, but Conrad was upon him. “For Borlog!” He brought down his messer-sword. It caught the rifle and slapped it down. The shot exploded at their feet. He brought up his pistol but the sniper swung his gun and knocked it aside. The pistol fired uselessly.