Iron Jackal (74 page)

The Juggernaut slid into view, behind and beneath them. Frey couldn’t hear it over the roar of the thrusters, but he could see the sparkling aura around its tube of a mouth as it sucked in that deadly energy.

He could see when the lights went out.

‘Jez!’ he cried. ‘Now!’

The
Ketty Jay
banked hard, and Frey’s sight was filled with the blinding white of the beam weapon. It scorched past aft of them, missing them by mere metres. He clung on for his life as the
Ketty Jay
accelerated and climbed. As the dazzle faded from his vision he saw the excavated zone spreading out below him, and the dark city beyond it. The Juggernaut scraped the night sky with its beam, chasing after them like a searchlight, but the
Ketty Jay
was too fast and the creature couldn’t sustain it for more than a few seconds. As suddenly as it came, the beam was gone, and they were out of the Juggernaut’s reach.

The wind rushed around him, flapping his hair against his face as the buildings dwindled. He saw that one of the hourglass towers of the power station was collapsing, tumbling in slow motion. Lightning forked out from it in great crooked fingers, darting across the oasis, a wild barrage striking everywhere. He sensed what was coming, and braced himself.

A few more seconds. Just a few more seconds.

And now he could see the whole of the oasis, the excavated zone a patch of light and flame in the dark, and all of it surrounded by the endless moonlit desert.

That was the last he saw of the city before the power station exploded.

The detonation was silent. There was no shockwave, no debris flying this way and that. A great blue sphere of lightning swelled up from a single point to encompass the whole of the oasis, sending fizzing arcs writhing across the desert in all directions. It dissipated as it expanded, fading faster the larger it grew, until its outer edge was only an afterimage burned on Frey’s retinas.

It was a peaceful, deadly obliteration.

When the lightning had reduced to crawling sparks, all that was left was a blackened crater in the desert. The oasis and everything in it had entirely disintegrated.

Sensing that the danger had passed, Jez eased off on the thrusters, and the wind calmed a little as they slowed to cruising speed. Frey gazed down at the crater, and he was taken with a huge sense of calm. It was over. It was finally over.

Crake stumbled across the hold and joined him, hanging on to another hydraulic strut. He, too, stared down into the crater, but there were tears glittering in his eyes.

‘Did we just destroy a ten-thousand-year-old Azryx city?’ he asked, with a wobble in his voice.

‘Yeah,’ said Frey proudly. ‘I think we just did.’

Forty-Eight

Off the Hook – Samandra and Crake – Patriot’s Choice – Limbo

T
he moon looked down on them from a sky full of stars, benevolent now. It washed the desert with a serene light. Frey stood on the softly whispering sand, Silo by his side, and let his eyes roam the maze of cracks on its surface, the great dark rift that crossed it aslant like a wound.

The
Ketty Jay
was behind him, her tail towards him, cargo ramp open. Nearby was the Tabington Wrath that the Century Knights had arrived in, a state of the art heavy fighter craft that didn’t look quite so impressive when it was half buried in a dune. Between them, his crew had built a campfire and lit it with the remainder of Professor Pinn’s Incredible Flame-Slime. Malvery, Pinn and Ashua were singing lustily, passing a bottle, already drunk off their arses. Ashua and Malvery were leaning on each other like old comrades. Crake sat with them, taking a sullen swig now and then, sunk in gloom. He’d taken the annihilation of the Azryx city rather hard.

It probably wasn’t the wisest thing to do to light a fire out here where it could be seen for kloms in any direction, but he reckoned they deserved to blow off steam. The Sammie patrols surely knew to stay well clear of this place in case they dropped out of the air. Besides, if they hadn’t seen the city go up, they certainly wouldn’t spot a little fire.

As to the others: Jez was nowhere to be found, Harkins was in the infirmary recovering from a mysterious knock to the head, Bess had gone to sleep in the sanctum, and Ugrik was wandering about arguing with himself. They were all safe and more or less alive. Relief soaked into him slowly, easing his tired body and tired mind. If just one of his crew had died on his behalf, he’d have been a lesser man for it. He was glad to have avoided that grief.

‘You did good, Silo,’ he said.

‘You too, Cap’n.’

Samandra came hobbling over, using a rifle as a makeshift crutch. Malvery had set and splinted her ankle, and she carried that foot gingerly, wincing with the pain.

‘Think we’re about ready to go,’ she said. ‘Long as I don’t try anything clever, I reckon I can still fly her with a broken paw.’

‘How’s Grudge?’

‘He’s awake. Bit embarrassed at what happened. Lost a few brain cells, but he won’t miss ’em.’ She gave Silo an unfriendly stare. ‘I got your doc to thank that he’s here at all.’

‘So I’d say this kind of cancels out that whole incident at the Mentenforth Institute, wouldn’t you? I mean, it’s only you and Grudge that know it was us that trashed the place, and we
did
lead you to some highly important military secrets which were—’

‘Yeah, yeah,’ said Samandra. ‘You’re off the hook.
Again
. Besides, I guess that relic we were chasin’ got destroyed along with everythin’ else, right?’

Ugrik, who was passing within earshot, cackled to himself.

‘Yes,’ said Frey, grave and earnest. ‘Yes, it did.’

Samandra touched the brim of her hat. ‘Well then, I guess this is it. I got a whole storm of shit to deal with back home. Least, I will when the Archduke hears about what went down here.’

‘You’ll keep my name out of it, though?’

‘If you like. And there I was thinkin’ you enjoyed all that newfound fame o’ yours.’

Frey wrinkled his nose. ‘Fame isn’t really for the likes of me. Think I’d rather just be quietly rich.’

‘Yeah, well, good luck with that,’ said Samandra, turning to go.

‘Hey, wait. You’re not done yet,’ said Frey. He raised his voice and waved at the campfire. ‘Crake! Get over here!’

‘Oh, for rot’s sake . . .’ Samandra began, but Frey held up his hand.

‘You, stay. We’ve just done a damn great service for our country, not to mention saving your partner’s life, so the least you can do is—’

‘You ain’t no patriot, Frey! You were out to save your own pretty arse!’

‘And you were out to kill it. Look where we ended up. Ah, Crake!’ he said, as Crake approached in a nervous hurry.

‘Miss Bree,’ said Crake, with a charming note of terror in his voice.

‘Mr Crake, of the golden tooth,’ said Bree poisonously. ‘I do believe we’ve met.’ Crake’s face collapsed.

‘Now, now, fellers,’ said Frey. ‘This won’t do. I pride myself as someone with a little experience of the delicate business between a man and woman. Let me give you a few plain truths so you can stop bloody well dancing round each other.’

Crake looked horrified. ‘Frey, don’t!’

Frey ignored him. ‘This man,’ he said, thrusting a finger at Crake, ‘is the bravest man I ever knew. Not a few hours past he took on a daemon which made that thing which smashed up the city look like an enormous pansy. He’s a loyal friend, loyal as you are to the Archduke no doubt, and what he did to you he did to save my life. Just like you’d kill any one of us to save your Archduke’s life. Isn’t that right?’

‘Damn straight,’ Samandra said, glaring at them all.

‘So quit this wounded pride bullshit, Samandra. You know what duty means. It means doing stuff you don’t always want to. Now I know for a fact that this feller is crazy over you—’

‘Frey!’ Crake nearly screamed.

‘—and I know damn well you got a flame for him too, so will you both just be adults, kiss and make up?’

Crake, who had been staring aghast at Frey, now switched his gaze to Samandra to see what her reaction was to all this. She was looking at him thoughtfully, searching his face. Finally she sighed.

‘Can you hold this?’ she asked Frey, handing him the rifle she was using as a crutch. She hopped forward a step and put her hand on Crake’s shoulder to steady herself. ‘Why don’t you go ahead and hold me by the waist, Crake? I’m a bit uncertain on my feet.’

Crake looked like he barely dared to touch her, but he put his hands on her waist as instructed, wearing an expression of bewildered hope.

‘Just let me get my balance here,’ said Samandra, tottering. ‘There,’ she said. Then she unleashed an uppercut to Crake’s jaw that lifted him into the air and dumped him on the sand, out cold.

Frey gaped at her as she hopped back and reclaimed her crutch. ‘Thanks,’ she said. ‘When he wakes up, tell him he can call on me. He knows where to reach me, though I daresay I’ll be fairly busy for a while.’

‘Uh,’ said Frey, looking at the unconscious daemonist. ‘Alright. I’ll do that.’

‘Good seein’ you again, Captain Frey,’ she said with a wink. She nodded at Silo with markedly less affection and then made her faltering way back towards her aircraft.

‘Smoothly done, Cap’n,’ said Silo.

‘You can’t say I don’t know women,’ Frey said, gleefully ignoring the sarcasm.

Pinn and Ashua were rolling around laughing by the fire as Malvery wandered over, swaying slightly. He looked strange without his omnipresent glasses perched on his blobby nose. ‘Anything I can do?’ he asked, eyeing Crake, who was beginning to stir.

‘Give him a hit of grog. He’ll be fine.’

‘Right-o,’ said Malvery. ‘Hey, Cap’n. Can I have a word in a minute?’

‘Course.’

‘Just let me deal with this feller first.’ Malvery took Crake by the arms and began to drag him away, the daemonist slurring nonsense as he went.

Frey watched them go. A cool desert breeze skated across the grey dunes. ‘Poor Malvery,’ he said. ‘Dunno how he’s going to take it when I kick Ashua off.’

Silo turned his head and gave him a flat look.

‘Well, she can’t stay,’ said Frey. ‘I’ll drop her wherever she needs to go, but I can’t have her on board.’

The rest didn’t need to be explained. The fact that he was attracted to her, however improbably, was enough to guarantee a messy ending if they were around each other for long enough. Frey had learned through bitter experience that liaisons with the crew were a bad idea, but he didn’t trust himself in the face of temptation.

‘You made her a deal,’ said Silo.

Frey rasped. ‘A deal doesn’t mean anything if it’s made under duress. We needed those supplies. Your people did.’

‘Ain’t right, Cap’n.’

‘Since when did you care? She’s not crew.’

‘She saved my life, I reckon. Didn’t have to do nothin’, but she did. Look at her with the Doc. Crake likes her too, I see that. She wants to be here, an’ I say she’s earned her place.’

Frey shook his head. ‘Can’t, Silo. You know how I am. We’ve got a good balance here. She’ll ruin it.’

‘You want me as first mate, she stays.’

Frey turned to him in surprise. ‘You learned to throw your weight around fast enough, didn’t you?’

‘She got value, Cap’n. And the whole crew heard you make that deal.’

Frey rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and spat. That was true. Breaking a business deal with a stranger was no problem, but that girl had insinuated herself too much already. If the crew started to doubt his promises, it would all be over.

‘Bollocks,’ he said angrily.

‘That the kind of “bollocks” a man say when he agree, or when he don’t?’

‘The first kind,’ Frey replied, sulking. ‘Damn, I’m gonna regret appointing you as my conscience.’

Silo chuckled. ‘That what I am?’ he asked. Then, seeing Malvery heading over, he slapped Frey on the back and slipped away into the
Ketty Jay
.

Frey was still cursing to himself when the doctor arrived, a small metal box in his hand. Frey recognised it as the one he’d been carrying earlier. This time, he saw the emblem on its side: the sigil of the Awakeners.

‘Tell me you didn’t find that in the city.’

‘If I did, it’d be a lie,’ said Malvery.

‘You looked inside?’

Malvery showed him the broken lock.

‘What’s in there?’

‘Orders. The kind for deliveries. Can’t read the Samarlan, but they’re printed in Vardic too.’

Frey felt a weary resignation creep over him. He’d had enough tonight. New revelations had lost their power to shock.

‘The Awakeners are getting supplies from the Sammies?’

‘Best I can make out, they’ve been getting supplies of
Azryx tech
from the Sammies.’

Frey did his best not to think of the implications. ‘What you wanna do?’ he asked.

Malvery was turning the box over and over in his big hands, studying it uncertainly. ‘Thought I’d maybe give it to the Century Knights. What do you think?’