Managing death

'So you baited the hook with me? Thank you very much.'

'You were being watched. We wouldn't have let Rillman hurt you very much. And as for your relationship with Lissa, you did a good enough job of messing that up yourself, despite my help.'

'But did your spies have to punch me in the face?'

'Let me tell you, he was disciplined for that.'

'For punching me?'

'No, for being caught and needing to.'

The lightning cages and crackles around us, a net of fire that sets the hair on my flesh on end. The other RMs look at each other, and then at Suzanne.

The Ankous' marquee follows its twin into the air. Twelve Caterers rush towards the kitchen, place their hands on it and are gone. Can't guess how much this is going to cost.

I can hardly hear Suzanne's voice. 'You have to get away from here,' she's saying. 'The Ankous are already gone, including Tim. They're safe for the moment. And find your Lissa. Things may not end as badly as we fear, and if that's the case we'll find you. If they do end badly, well… you'll know.'

But I know it will end badly. I know they're all preparing to die. This is the path they have chosen, the plan they laid out when I became RM.

Suzanne is shaking her head. 'Steven, you may be a bit slow on the uptake, but really, your heart is in the right place. You're the only one of us who might stand a chance with the Hungry Death inside of them. You're the only one who might hold out against the coming darkness.'

I want to hit something, anything. 'So all that shit about you having a plan, about doing something. The plan was to leave it all up to me.'

'Not just you. You will have our Pomps, our Ankous, and your precious Mr D. Let me tell you, he won't give in to the One Tree for anything now with the kind of influence he'll have.'

Like I'm ever going to talk to Mr D again. Fuck him. Fuck all of them.

'You have to realise that the Hungry Death has been manipulating us all these years, driving our Negotiations to greater and greater violence. We started playing its game, and that's not how you control something like the Hungry Death. You made me realise that. So, Steven, you're not as stupid as you think.

'You'll succeed at this in a way that none of us can. Surely you can perceive what an important moment this is? Just what we're giving up? This is you. This is all your doing. You've made us all a little bit human again with your presence, your… flaws. Don't forget that.'

She leans towards me, fast, and kisses my lips hard, one more time. My face burns. 'There has to be another way. It's not too late. Please -'

'No. You're going to need all of the Hungry Death inside you to defeat what's coming. We're giving up our disunity in favour of your sense of purpose. Madness, isn't it?'

'Neill didn't want this, did he?'

Suzanne winks at me. 'Why do you think he's dead?'

'You organised that somehow. Made it easy for Rillman to get to him!'

'I'm a ruthless RM when I have to be. Don't hold it against me, de Selby. It's all I know, it's the reason I can't do what you have to.'

Lightning sparks against the bridge, a flashing beat of fire that webs its steel masts. Everything seems caught in the flame. I feel like I'm in an out-take of Highlander.

'There can be only one,' I mumble. My legs are weak. This is too much. Here I am, sick with fear in the eye of the storm.

Suzanne smiles. 'Now you're getting it. But there will actually be two. You, and the Hungry Death inside you. It will test you, oh, how it will test you. But then what doesn't? You'll be Death, Mr de Selby. Death of a whole world. What a glorious thing.'

The bridge shudders, jolts. And then Rillman shifts onto Kurilpa, followed by his Stirrers. Lightning flashes everywhere, arcing around us. Suzanne and I look at each other, almost embarrassed by the melodrama of the moment.

'He's nearly tiresome enough to make death pleasurable,' Suzanne says.

Rillman shifts to the rail of the bridge. He smacks the knives together. Lightning shivers from the blades, dancing between him and his Stirrers. They're generating it between themselves somehow, just as they've been generating the storms in Brisbane, I realise. The lightning curls around Rillman in a way that no lightning should.

I can feel something building. Electricity crackles in my ears. There's a moment of silence, an indrawn breath.

'Death is coming!' Rillman roars, and lightning drives into the assembled Orcus. They don't even flinch, though behind them I'm throwing my hands up over my face.

'Just get on with it!' Li An yells, ripping off his Akubra, and batting out the flames.

More sparks. Rillman has really invested in the show. With each burst the Orcus loses more of its civility. Clothes sear and burn, but flesh remains unharmed.

This isn't going to hurt them. It's what will come next: the edge of stony knives.

Kiri turns to me. He pats my back, reaches out a hand. 'No hard feelings, eh?'

'None,' I say, biting down a harsher response. This is not the time or the place.

Kiri grins, then bows. 'Let's get started, eh?'

He's surprisingly light-footed as he sprints towards Rillman. The knives flash out. Kiri drops beneath the first blade, swings a fist towards Rillman's face. He connects, but barely. The second knife juts from his chest, eight inches of blade. Kiri looks at me, and then at the rest of the Orcus.

'Well, c'mon!' he roars, spittles of blood trailing his exclamation.

Whatever seal of indecision there was, breaks. The rest of the Orcus run towards Rillman, Suzanne pulling back. 'You really can't stay here,' she says.

'I want to stay.'

'There's nothing you can do here. Just be ready for what comes. Promise me you will go.'

'Why do I get the feeling I'm still being played?'

Suzanne shrugs. 'Steven, I think it will always seem like that. But the truth is that you're always bigger than the game. That's one of the main reasons why we chose you.'

Rillman pulls the blade from Kiri's chest and blood fountains from the wound. Kiri stumbles back. But he doesn't fall. He swings another fist at Rillman's head, but there's a grey blade arcing, dancing in front of him. Kiri's fist goes one way, and his arm the other in a spout of blood.

Now Kiri falls.

Suzanne shoves my shoulder, pushes me back. 'Just go!'

'And what if I don't?'

'Then we've made the biggest mistake of our lives. Christ, Steven, man up. Don't fail us.'

I try to shift. Nothing. 'I can't,' I say.

'Of course, there's too much electrical disturbance, far beyond any normal storm. You're going to have to jump off the bridge.'

'Really? But that's water beneath. What if -'

'He will not interfere. We have treaties, it's not like you're snatching souls from him. Go, or I'll throw you over the fucking edge myself.'

'I could -'

Suzanne grimaces. 'Get the hell out of here.'

I run to the nearest rail, clamber to the top. Electricity races up my arms and I smell hair burning. It's a long way down. I glance back at Suzanne, but she's already striding towards the melee with a sense of purpose that I can only envy.

Right then. I take a deep breath and step off into the air.

When I hit, the water's warm and murky, the current strong. I'm down deep, and thrashing in the dark. Something brushes my arm. I kick out and up, no breath in me, my clothes heavy.

When I break the surface, coughing and spluttering, my lungs burning, snot running down my cheeks, the bridge is already forty metres away, the air still crackling. Someone's screaming, but I can't tell if it's Rillman or an RM.

There's a gentle tugging on my foot. A dim, streamlined shape beneath me.

Please, no more sharks. I've had enough of sharks.

I close my eyes. And shift.

32

My head throbs, feels like it's about to pop. What the hell have they asked me to do? What were they thinking? All Suzanne's talk of disunity, but then to be so unified in marching towards their destruction. Surely that belies their argument!