It was easy. They moved so slowly compared to him. Their flesh split like that of a melon. He sprang out into the corridor. More men waited there. Some of them had pistols. He raced forward while they were still confused. Once, twice, three times his blade struck home. Three men died before they even realised what had happened. He picked up a cutlass, stuffed pistols in his belt. He was going to take revenge on some people for what had been done to him.
Yes, yes, went the voices. He forced them down. He could afford no distractions.
He stepped out onto the deck of the hulk. The screams from below had warned the guards on deck. They raised their weapons and raced towards him. He laughed, struck aside one man’s sword arm and buried his dagger in his throat. With a smooth motion he lifted the corpse and hurled it at the remaining guards. He followed it and was among them, killing as he went. Strange exultation and an urge to feed filled him. All of the voices wanted it. He fought that down too. He did not have the time or the knowledge. He hoped he had not the desire.
Within minutes he had cleared the hulk. It appeared he was the only prisoner. Now he wondered how he was going to get off. They were a long way out in the harbour and he could see shapes swimming in the water around the ship. More Quan, he knew. Swimming was not the answer. He searched until he found the small boat tied to the stern of the hulk.
He had no idea whether the Quan would attack him while he was in the boat, but he was going to have to risk it.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Sardec was astonished when the half-breed staggered into the room. He looked as if he had just fought a war entirely on his own. Small puckered scars covered his face. Blood covered his clothing. He stank of seawater and something else, something sickeningly fish-like. There was madness in his eyes that was a product of more than pain. Even the way he moved was different, somehow inhuman. Instinctively Sardec placed himself between Asea and Rik. He noticed Karim taking up a position, blade bared behind him.
“What happened, Rik?” Asea asked.
The half-breed paused for a moment as if listening to something, or as if searching for words in a foreign language. Sardec drew his pistol. Something was not right here. The half-breed shook his head. “No need for that, Lieutenant. You are in no danger — at least not from me.”
“What do you mean?”
“You should leave the embassy.”
“Where would we go?”
“Anywhere but here. Malkior knows his way around the embassy. I think Valefor showed him.” His eyes were locked with Asea. He seemed to think the words would have more significance to her than they would have to the rest of them, which apparently they did.
“You have met Malkior,” she said.
“He did this to me. He and a friend.”
“You were very lucky to escape them then.” There was suspicion in her voice. She moved her fingers through the gestures of a spell, spoke a word in one of the ancient tongues. An Elder Sign burned in the air before Rik then passed onto his forehead, branding it.
His face became a grim rictus. Strange light appeared in his eyes, and the flesh over the scorch mark rippled and vanished. “That hurt,” he said. “I would be grateful if you did not do it again.”
“It was necessary, Rik. Whatever the problem is, it’s not that you are under any sorcerous compulsion.”
“I am glad we agree on that. We need to get out of here now. Malkior has made a deal with the Quan. And he is coming here to kill you tonight. I am surprised he is not here already.”
“Perhaps he had business elsewhere. Or perhaps he feels he has plenty of time.”
“That may be the case. I don’t know what else to say. Things are going to get hot for us here very soon. I killed one of the Sea Devils while I was making my escape.”
“What?”
“I killed one of the squid-bastards and I am glad I did.”
Sardec remembered the merchant’s tale of the Shipbreakers and his heart sank. It seemed that this embassy was doomed. Apparently Asea’s lover had slaughtered one of the city’s secret rulers, one of the very beings they had come to negotiate with.
“I think you had better tell me what has happened Rik. Lieutenant, I think you should go and see to it that my clothing hampers are set out in the courtyard below.”
“With all due respect, Lady Asea, I don’t think that now is the time to worry about the way you are dressed.”
“Please just do what I ask, Lieutenant. I will answer your questions later.”
Rik waited for the others to clear the room, and for Asea to invoke her wards, then slumped into the chair. His body ached and he knew why. When he had increased his strength and speed he had put stress on muscle and bone in ways he had never done before. He was paying the price for it now. Asea stared at him, measuringly.
“So you still trust me then,” he said eventually.
“It appears that I do. Now tell me what happened!”
He told her, letting her know everything that had happened in the past few hours. She listened intently as he spoke.
“You killed a Quan and ate its soul? You are stronger even than I thought,” There was a trace of awe in her voice.
“It was the Quan or me. I did not have much choice in the matter.”
“And its power is within you now. You don’t have to answer — I can see it and that answers a mass of other questions.”
“Well?”
“Well what?”
“What are you going to do to me?” Rik braced himself. He was not sure he could or even wanted to kill Asea if she turned on him now, but he was not prepared to be slaughtered like a lamb either. He had gone through too much recently to allow that to happen.
“For what?”
“It would appear that I am now a fully paid up member of the Guild of Thanatomancers for one thing.”
“As you said, that was accidental.”
“And I think I may be going mad. There are a hundred voices in my head.”
“They will fade as you master them.”
“You seem to know a lot about that.”
“More than I care to.”
What did she mean by that, Rik wondered? There was a loud banging on the door. Lieutenant Sardec spoke. “If you have some means of leaving this place, Milady, now would appear to be a good time to use them.”
“What is happening?” Asea asked.
“Our lookouts have reported that something is very amiss in the harbour, and it looks like there is a small army heading our way.”
“We shall talk about this later, Rik. Now we had better leave this place.”
Malkior entered the observation post in the flat across the street from the embassy. Soon it would be time to mount his attack. The spy he had set to watch the Taloreans looked up at him, and smiled. The power from those souls he had just devoured roiled within him. He felt strong and powerful enough to overcome even the likes of Asea. As was always the case after he had performed a ritual, the voices in his head whispered to him like old friends, reminding him he was alive and powerful, while they were mere dregs inside of his brain.
“Things have been quiet since the beggar went inside, sir.”
“What beggar?”
“Same one as left early this morning unless I miss my guess. The one you told us to keep an eye open for.”
“The half-breed, Rik? Asea’s lover?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That can’t be true.”
“I saw it with my own eyes.” Malkior cursed. He should have come here earlier, but he wanted to give his prey time to go to sleep, and to build up his magical strength through thanatomantic rituals. Tonight of all nights, he needed to be strong.
“Are you absolutely certain?” Even as Malkior asked the question, the door opened and an Intercessor entered the room. It was the man, Alaryn, a being who Malkior trusted as far as he could throw him, if that. There was no need to ask how the Quan’s lackey had found him. Very little went on in the city that the Council and the Sea Devils did not know about.