Stranger of Tempest: Book One of The God Fragments (47 page)

‘How did the bloody Duegar live here with so few bridges?’

‘Most likely they had wooden ones too, or cable cars to get across. Remember – all that’s left of the city is what was formed seamlessly out of rock. Nothing else lasts for thousands of years.’

‘So – what then?’

Lynx just made out Toil baring her teeth in a grin. ‘Don’t worry, I’ve got a plan.’

They split into two groups, Teshen leading Anatin, Sitain, Varain and Ashis left out of the tunnel to scout and ambush any patrols while Toil, Kas, Lynx, and Reft went right. The grand hall beyond was silent and empty but still they moved cautiously. Toil hadn’t really needed to remind anyone that any sound could carry to where the Charnelers were stationed, but she’d taken the time anyway. They moved slowly enough that Lynx had a good look at what they were sneaking through. It resembled a stepped assembly hall; the double bank of pillars continued all the way around and half-hid five more tunnels just like the one they’d left, plus an open stretch in the centre through which he could just about see flickering lights.

The steps of the hall were tiers of man-high blocks, six in all, with the ridged slopes running down at regular points for access. Up above there was a strange gantry suspended from the ceiling. It was too high for Lynx to work out what exactly it was, but from the platform hung trailing fronds of some sort of plant, the flowers of which seemed to give off a pale cold light. A peppery blossom scent hung on the air, barely noticeable but a welcome variation on the damp stone and cold earth.

At the right-hand end Toil entered a smaller chamber and ascended a spiral of ridged slope to an upper chamber, then again to a similar one near the ceiling of the great chamber. There were no openings for Lynx to look down at the gantry, just a pair of deep, narrow slits flanking a broader space in the wall. Toil approached that cautiously once she’d turned her strange lantern off. The others followed suit, creeping through the black shadows to peek through openings. For a while Lynx couldn’t make out much beyond until, with a jolt, the view resolved into something far larger than he had been expecting. A scuff of clothes and boots nearby told him he wasn’t the only one to instinctively clutch at the stone as they realised they were looking out over a vast chasm – one significantly larger than the rift they’d crossed, if Lynx was any judge.

The darkness was profound and while the stone was still laced with a tiny bluish tint, there was little light to catch it. The walls were so far away it was almost impossible to judge anything in the distance. He looked up instead towards the roof, but could make out even less and soon found himself tipping forward towards the void until he caught himself.

Somewhere further down there were torches burning – just the pinprick of distant stars in a night sky, but enough to add definition to the scene. There was a broad stone bridge spanning the gap, over a hundred yards long and leading to a wide avenue on the far side. The faint lines of stone suggested smaller roads both above and below that grand avenue, punctuated with regular gaps in the parapet.

Toil motioned for them all to retreat to the back of the chamber and kept her voice barely audible even then.

‘There should be a ridge just below this,’ she whispered, pointing where they’d been crouching. ‘If it follows similar things I’ve seen. I’m going to head along that and see if there’s anything we can make use of.’

‘Like what?’

‘Artefacts, mechanisms, traps – don’t know yet. Point is, these parts may not have been explored so carefully. If there’s anything, we might be able to put it to work for a distraction.’

‘All of us?’

She shook her head. ‘It’ll not be an easy climb. Volunteers?’

Lynx looked at the others. Reft said nothing of course, while Kas shrugged. A sudden sense of distrust took hold of him at the tone of Toil’s voice, however, and before Kas could reply Lynx spoke up. ‘I’ll go.’

‘Sure?’ Toil asked sceptically. ‘She’s a bit more limber than you, I’m guessing.’

‘Reckon you won’t find me lacking there, love,’ he said, affecting a leering tone. ‘Question is, can you keep up with me?’

Toil snorted. ‘You’ll be staring at my arse as I lead the way; men’ve done more for less I suppose. Come on then. You two, head down a level, keep a watch for patrols. We need to keep as silent as we can, right?’

She got two grunts of acknowledgement and then they were off, Toil and Lynx making their way to the edge and feeling around for a ridge beyond the lip. It turned out there was indeed one, but more than a foot below the edge of the opening and close to invisible. In the end Toil had to use Lynx as an anchor and dangle her leg out over the edge until her foot was securely placed. She crouched down on the ledge and slipped Lynx’s grasp, tugging his sleeve gently to indicate he should follow her. Lynx lay flat on his belly, keeping his centre of gravity as low as possible. He knew as well as anyone that in darkness it was easy to lose your balance on level ground. Treacherous visions of slipping down on to the ledge then just continuing past it swam through his mind as he moved.

Eventually he made it down on to his hands and knees, reaching out for Toil only to find himself with a handful of buttock. The woman seemed to stifle a laugh and Lynx hastily withdrew, lowering his hand until his fingers rested on her boot. The pair shuffled on as quietly as they could in that fashion, Lynx doing his best not to hamper Toil’s progress but not lose her in the dark. At one point he could have sworn she was messing with him, seemingly unaffected by the near-total dark, when she stopped so suddenly he almost went face first into her backside, but his reactions were good and he stopped just short. Refusing to be outdone he gave her a gentle pat and Toil started off again without another word.

The memory of her opening the door in Grasiel, naked and blood-spattered, appeared fully formed in his mind and Lynx cursed himself silently. Despite his tangle of anxiety and the current danger, keeping his mind on the job at hand wasn’t somehow quite as simple as willing it so. This close to her, his nose was again filled by Toil’s intoxicating scent. It turned out even his fractured mind preferred the memory of her naked over older ones. He had no idea how long that slow shuffle through the black lasted, but he was far from bored when at last Toil made a faint hiss and stood gingerly up.

In the black he could only just make out what she was doing and felt a moment of panic when she slid herself left on to some sort of platform. Lynx scrabbled to follow as Toil ran her hands around the sloped walls to make the dimensions out. He glanced warily back at the flickers of light on the bridge, a torch illuminating two figures patrolling the length of it, then pulled himself up beside her.

‘Alone at last,’ Toil purred in his ear.

Before Lynx could think of a clever reply she’d slipped away, further down the platform, the rasp of her hands on smooth stone just about audible. Apparently satisfied with what she saw she reactivated her lantern and the walls glowed pale blue once more. It was a welcome sight even if it wasn’t anything close to bright. Lynx saw they were in a low attic-like chamber perhaps thirty yards across, with sloped walls. The rear wall was a featureless sheet of stone, while the few open yards they’d crawled through were repeated three more times down the bridge side.

‘Well, shit,’ Toil said, looking around the space as though the shadows might unfold to reveal rather more useful artefacts than the entirely empty chamber actually held. ‘Ulfer’s horn, this could’ve been more helpful.’

‘What now?’

Toil was silent a while, long enough for Lynx to experience another sense of foreboding. ‘Now?’ she said eventually. ‘Now it’s time for plan B.’

‘Am I going to like that one?’

‘We’re outnumbered ten to one in a place of near-total darkness,’ she said, moving to the rear of the chamber in case the glow of her lantern was noticeable to those below. ‘Not sure there are many likeable plans.’

‘Not much of an answer, that.’

‘What are you, my mother?’

Lynx shook his head. ‘I’m a suspicious bastard who doesn’t have a whole lot of faith in others. Certainly folk who’re rather more devoted to a cause than the average mercenary.’

‘Meaning?’ Her hand didn’t exactly hover over her gun’s grip, but there was a stillness in Toil that spoke volumes.

‘That I’d prefer to talk things through rather than watch you do something rash.’

‘Me? Rash? I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘No one told me about sending the Princip out the window like that. Reckon even Anatin got a surprise there and it made escaping a sight harder.’

Toil shrugged and seemed to relax a little. ‘We couldn’t have the Charnelers pretend like nothing had happened now, could we?’ She took a step towards Lynx and her voice softened to a purr. ‘Don’t you trust me, Lynx?’

Inwardly he smiled. ‘Not a whole lot.’

Another step, one hand holding up the lantern until the sloped stone above her face glowed enough to show off her eyes, wide and innocent. ‘We need to trust each other if we’re going to get out of Shadows Deep alive.’

‘There I agree.’

She was inches away from him now and Lynx couldn’t help but breathe in hard. His fingers tingled, aching to slide around her waist. ‘So I’m in your hands as much as you’re in mine,’ Toil added huskily. ‘A union, if you will.’

Lynx smothered an awkward cough, trying to ignore the sensation of being a transfixed teenage boy once more. ‘Do you smell oil?’

‘What?’

‘Oil, can you smell it?’

‘I’m trying to have a moment here,’ Toil said sharply.

‘I know what you’re trying to do.’

‘You’re now adding insult to disregard? Can’t a girl have an honest moment with the man in front of him?’

‘Sure. Let me know when honest is happening and I’ll brace myself.’

‘Quite the fucking charmer, aren’t you?’ Toil tossed her head back and set the lantern down at her feet. ‘Can’t blame a girl for trying, though, eh?’

‘Oh, I think I can.’

She went still again, just for a moment. ‘I advise you keep any blame to yourself,’ she said, ‘in my line of work it’s not welcome.’

‘Fair enough. What now?’

‘Now? Well, you have your misgivings about plan B, despite not having heard it, and you can smell oil. Or was that just bullshit to stink up the comradely mood I was trying to inspire.’

‘Comradely?’ Lynx had to fight the urge to laugh. ‘Woman, I’ll not hold it against you, but don’t pretend you weren’t messing with me there. Once we’re out in the sun again and safe, I’ll gladly and breathlessly assist any comradely mood you want to create, but until then don’t you insult me either, eh? I wasn’t born yesterday and I
have
seen a beautiful woman before, have been led a merry dance by one too.’

‘You’re not helping your chances there.’

He smiled in the dark. ‘Reckon I am, if there really are any chances. Folk like you don’t want simple and easy, you’re not built for it. Being called on your bullshit works better’n getting your way all the time.’

He couldn’t see Toil’s expression now but felt a moment of satisfaction when she turned away and crouched at one of the central openings. ‘Oil, you said?’

Lynx joined her at the edge, whispering, ‘Can’t you smell it?’

‘Maybe. Your nose is sharp?’

‘I ain’t this shape because of beer.’

‘Interesting.’

‘What?’

She pointed down into the dark where one cluster of torches was, at the far end of the bridge. ‘You see the shapes around those torches? Look like bowls?’

‘I think so.’

‘Oil burners, maybe.’

‘After all these years?’

‘I’ve seen the like before. Oil from way down in the rift, some sort of system that draws the oil up when it’s burning. There won’t be much there right now, but if the Charnelers think to light it, it’ll start going. The Duegar didn’t need the light, but this will have been an important crossing so a bit of drama isn’t beyond them at all.’

‘After all these years?’

‘There’s no mechanism, not in the ones I saw. Just stone pipes and engineering. Unless the pipe’s broken it should have lasted the years. Not all will have, been a long time after all, but we don’t need them all.’

‘How does this help us?’

‘Still working on that bit. They’ll cast good light; maybe help us pick off soldiers while we’re still in darkness.’

‘Until they come and get us. We can kill five times our number and still get wiped out.’

‘It’s a start, isn’t it?’

‘Didn’t you say we shouldn’t have a gun battle near the rift?’

‘True.’

‘Well?’ Lynx demanded as loudly as he dared. ‘What’s changed? Why’re you so happy to do that now?’

‘A lack of alternatives,’ Toil said with a shrug. ‘You got huffy with the idea of me coming up with a plan B on the fly, remember?’

‘Right now I’m open to suggestions.’

‘Fair enough.’ She nodded back towards the rear of the chamber. ‘Fetch me the lantern, would you?’

‘Why?’

‘Because I need it for something.’

Frowning, Lynx complied. He got half a dozen steps before a sixth sense prickled and turned him around. In the gloom he could just make out Toil on one knee, fiddling with something in her hands. Before he could move she gave the object a twist and tossed it out into the black beyond, out past the bridge.

‘What in deepest black was that?’ he hissed.

Toil retreated from the edge again, slipping past Lynx as he tried to grab at her arm. ‘That was plan B,’ she said simply.

From somewhere far below there was a deep shuddering boom.

‘Shattered gods, a grenade?’

She fetched her lantern and extinguished its light. From the Charnelers below there came shouts of alarm.

‘In the dark every army’s the same size,’ Toil said before crawling down to the ledge. ‘Be as the lightning bolt under blackest night, my brothers – strike with fury and speed, let them fear what they cannot see and see what they fear.’

‘Quoting the Shonrin of So Han to me is the fastest way to meet my nasty side,’ Lynx growled.

Despite his tone, Toil made an amused sound. ‘Glad to hear it. We’ve no time for good kitty right now. There’s killing to be done.’