I got the message: stay silent and stay still. Boots pounded down the street outside, stopping at the door. It shuddered as something hit it hard. Finding it barred, they hurried on. After a few minutes my captor removed the knife at my throat.
My eyes had adjusted enough to make out the scarred faces in the room and I looked up see which one of the Smilers had pulled me off the street. Tubbs’ pockmarked face grinned down at me as she took her hand from my mouth. She lifted her fingers to cracked lips and licked them suggestively, then blew me a kiss. On most days I would have shuddered at the sight, but right then I could almost have kissed her. Almost. The Smilers were up to their gills in weaponry and jumped at every creak of wood in this old tenement. They were terrified. I moved slow and careful, not wanting to surprise anybody.
“No time to play with ’im, Tubbs,” Rosha Bone-face whispered. “That cracked bastard has a whole army of foreign nutters after ’im.” She gave the blanket covering the crystal core of the Magash Mora a fearful look and edged away. “Charra got the word out you were heading into that…” she shuddered “…that thing. Thought you might need your arse pulled from the fire and she was right enough. But we wasn’t goin’ to get closer to that monster, was we, girls?” They grumbled assent, even the big bearded Smiler at the back with a meat cleaver in his hand. “Wasn’t until we seen it go down that we came lookin’ for you. Good thing too.”
Rosha cleared her throat. “What you doin’ with that big hunk o’ rock?” she said.
“Buggered if I know.” What could I do with the damn thing? It whined and nuzzled at my mind. The last trace of Harailt’s control had withered and died and the core now belonged to me. It wanted me to control it, to use it and abuse it in an orgy of devouring. I couldn’t trust the Arcanum to destroy the thing; they would try to use it if they could, and study it if they couldn’t. That power and knowledge was too seductive, and sooner or later, perhaps centuries down the line, somebody would use it again. With a god involved there was nobody I could trust. I had to get rid of it myself.
Eva’s spirit-bound blade had shattered on the crystal core so I wasn’t about to risk Dissever and I didn’t have anywhere near the sort of personal power needed to destroy it. Which left what? With Skallgrim and looters still roaming the streets it was too dangerous to move about. Where could I go? And then inspiration struck: if I made it to Carrbridge then Lynas’ warehouse already had wards set up. With a bit of luck perhaps I could use those defences while I holed up and tried to figure out what to do. That ruined temple was on the way, not far from here at all, and if the walls were still standing then I could retrieve the alchemic bomb. That might hold enough destructive power to destroy the crystaclass="underline" after all, one of those bombs had turned their creator’s entire workshop to dust, and it wasn’t magic, so the crystal couldn’t absorb it.
“I need you to distract those hairy brutes while I make a run for it,” I said. “Then I can end this.” The Smilers looked at me dubiously.
“Nah,” Rosha said. “That there sounds like warden work.”
I removed the blanket from my crystal and stained the room yellow. “Otherwise we’re all dead. Or worse.”
Rosha chewed on a bone piercing, mulling it over. “Fine. Whatever gets rid of you quickest.”
We piled out the door and headed along a street running north-east. Two Skallgrim raiders turned a corner, came face to face with us. Before they could raise a shout the Smilers swarmed them, knives rising and falling. We left them choking on their own blood. The ruins of the old temple were mostly intact and I paused in our flight to stick my hand into the hole in the wall and retrieve the bomb. As a last resort I could always set it off and try to take Harailt with me.
“What are you doin’ dawdlin’?” Tubbs said, coming up behind me and slapping my rear. “Get that sweet arse movin’.”
We took off towards Carr’s Bridge and a shout went up behind us – I’d been spotted. We led them a desperate chase though twisting smoke-choked alleys and rubble filled passages, bursting out onto Fisherman’s Way. Relief surged as the bridge came into sight.
A wall of flame roared up all across the street. Some of the girls beside me shrieked and cringed back. Gutter-rats like them weren’t used to magic; they scattered and ran for their lives. I turned to face Harailt, knowing there was no chance of outrunning a pyromancer in the open. The Skallgrim captain stood beside him, a sour set to his face. He probably couldn’t abide Harailt either.
Tongues of flame licked up my clothes to scorch my face. He was enjoying toying with me. More and more raiders found their way back to their captain, standing around looking pissed off I’d led them such a merry chase.
“Put the crystal down,” he said. I did as he asked, and as soon as my hands left it new strength flooded back through my Gift. Godly power emanated from Harailt and he wasn’t trying to hide it any more.
I slipped a hand into my pocket and wrapped it around the alchemic bomb. He could kill me, but I wouldn’t be going alone. I refused to let that slimy bag of arseholes win.
I gathered my power and lashed out. His mental defences weathered the storm. It hurt. His mind was drenched in alchemic, and I tasted mageblood in my mouth after even that briefest of touches.
He growled, “If only those idiot shadow cats had managed to track you down and tear you limb-from-limb as instructed.”
“Why? What did I ever do to you?”
His eyes bulged. “You lowly runt! What did you do?” his throat spasmed and he had to start again. “What did you do? Everything went wrong for me the day they dug you out of that tunneclass="underline" you shamed my house and humiliated me in front of Archmagus Byzant. Why could you not just bow to your betters and cry at the entrance for a few days until we returned to free you after you’d learned your lesson? Oh no, Edrin Walker had to try and find his own way out.”
He snarled. “As soon as I gained power from the Scarrabus I sought my revenge.”
He was angry and unstable, ripe for letting something slip. “What is that, some sort of mind-rotting alchemic?” I jibed. “You pathetic addict.”
His face flushed deep red. “You know nothing, ignorant peasant! My ancient allies ruled worlds beyond number long ago, and will again. They aid me in ridding the halls of my beloved Arcanum of filth like you.”
I laughed at him. “And to think Eva claimed you had reformed, that you were a better person now.” I spat on the ground. “Well, congratulations, you sure fooled her.”
His snarl cracked. He frowned, confused. “Evangeline? No, I didn’t mean to…” His eyes glazed over for a second, then he blinked and shook his head. The snarl returned.
The god’s power suffused him, mingling in blood and bone. I felt its hunger for the crystal at my feet. Aha! So that was what it wanted. While Harailt had control of the Magash Mora the god couldn’t take it without disrupting years of careful work. A ritual that powerful and complex could not have been done quickly.
“You deluded bastard,” I said to Harailt. “You have no idea, do you?”
That stung him. “What do you mean?”
“It’s not yours anymore.”
He didn’t get it.
I helpfully clarified the situation: “Your god no longer needs you, you blind, bloody fool.”
It took a second for realisation to sink in. His eyes widened. “No. We three have an alliance. The Scarrabus and I spent years preparing for the cleansing and rebirth of Setharis. You promised that we would rule together, and you–” His eyes bulged as blood welled up over his bottom lip. “Please, no, I promise to lead the Arcanum in your name – for your glory! Please, my god, don’t you betray me too.” His voice cut off in a gurgle as his belly swelled, split, and then tore wide open.