Sky Pirates (2 page)

Slowly the minutes ticked by with only the sound of camels moving and the jingles of riding tack as they bounced along, breaking the grim silence. Every time she looked behind her, the dust plume was bigger.

“They are gaining on us,” she called out to her guide. He said nothing, but nudged his camel to go faster.

Elle almost let out a sob of relief when the fort came into view. It was one of the few safe outposts within a two-hundred-mile radius of the city of Khartoum.

The fort was a shabby mud-brick building that melded into the landscape so seamlessly that the only way one could spot it was by the scraggly palm trees growing around it.

They rounded a rocky outcrop and entered a wide but shallow wadi that ran downhill from the fort. “Almost there,” Elle said.

More shots rang out in the distance. Elle glanced over her shoulder to see what was happening. The dust plumes were much bigger now—a smaller one in front with a bigger one gaining from behind. They were not the only ones under attack, it seemed.

At the sight of the smaller plume, Elle was suddenly seized with an attack of guilt and obligation in equal doses. Instead of providing assistance to people in need as she had volunteered to do, here they were running for their lives. The thought of abandoning someone to the mercy of cruel desert brigands seemed rather poor form, so Elle reined her camel in. Hamsa skidded to a halt
with a snort and a puff, his sides heaving from the effort.

Elle lifted her goggles and rested them on top of her head, which helped to keep the loose tendrils of her hair out of her face. She drew out her spyglass. Carefully she turned the little dials until the dust plumes came into focus.

“Dr. Bell,” Elle breathed. From her vantage point, she was almost absolutely sure it was the archaeologist she had been chartered to collect. She could just make out the curve of a white pith helmet bobbing up and down in the smaller group.

“Good boy,” Elle said as Hamsa stepped about, somewhat unsure as to whether he should stay or run. Camels—unlike horses, Elle had come to realize—tended to do as they pleased. Hamsa snorted and gave her a knowing look, as if he had just read her thoughts. He grunted and extended his lips, revealing a startling clump of gnarled, brown teeth. It was almost as if he was imploring her to turn back to the safety of the fort.

“Yes, you and me both, my smelly friend,” she said to the beast. “But we cannot leave the poor doctor out there. It simply will not do.”

She stowed her looking glass and unclipped the leather strap that held her Colt 1878 Frontier revolver. The holster was cleverly attached to the side of the leather corset she wore over her shirt ready for a quick draw, if needed.

In a practiced motion, she also reached for the Lee Enfield rifle that was resting in the saddle holster. The rifle was a beautiful thing, brand new and burnished. Lieutenant Crosby had insisted she be issued a weapon before leaving the fort. Which was fine with her as she rarely ventured out without being suitably armed these days; a girl in her position could not be too careful. The company she kept in the course of her business was not always gentle.

She opened the rifle to make sure it was loaded and slid the bolt into place. It made the satisfying sound of well-machined metal upon metal. Satisfied, Elle rested it in her lap. She was ready.

The Bedouin whistled behind her from a slightly safer distance, urging her to follow him.

“Take cover!” she shouted.

There would be no help from her guides in this fight. She was going to have to take this stand on her own until help arrived. Courage be damned.

She lifted the rifle, wrapping the strap around her elbow so the butt sat firmly in the hollow where her upper arm met with her shoulder. She was a passably good shot, but the Enfield was new and she had not had time to set it properly before she left the fort. She would save her pistol for close range, if it came to that.

“Steady on, Hamsa. Good boy,” she said in a low voice as she lifted the rifle. The dust cloud was now about five hundred yards away by her estimation, but bullets traveled far in the vastness of the Sudanese plains. However, at this range it was unlikely that she would be able to hit anything with any measure of accuracy. All she could hope for was that her cover fire would be enough to win some time for the doctor. Carefully she exhaled and squeezed the trigger, aiming for the middle of the bigger dust cloud.

The first shot startled her camel for a moment, but he seemed to have been trained to deal with the sound of gunfire. She was rather amazed to see that her aim was true; she could see a camel stumble and a man roll out of the dust on to the ground, where he now lay motionless.

The Bedouin cheered, but Elle pressed her lips together. That was an extraordinarily lucky shot, but there was no pleasure to be found in the shooting of a beast or a man.

Gritting her teeth, she took aim again and fired. Her shot missed, but it did send a few bandits off course.

At that point, the bandits seemed to realize that if Elle could hit them, then they could hit her too. They opened fire with much enthusiasm. Shots started pinging off the ground and rocks around them, much to the dismay of Hamsa who was stepping about in panic.

Elle ducked as a bullet whizzed past her head and she turned to meet her attackers head on. It wasn’t much but at this angle she and Hamsa would be a smaller target to aim for. She could see the individual shapes of the bandits clearly now. They would be upon her soon.

“Go. Tell them to open the gates! Get some reinforcements or we’ll all be dead in a moment!” she shouted at the cheering Bedouin.

They stopped cheering and swung their camels round.

Elle took aim again. Eight bullets left. Better make them count.

The third and fourth bullets hit a camel. The beast squealed and stumbled. Elle flinched and ducked in order to avoid the volley of shots that was fired in return. One of the shots hit the ground next to Hamsa’s foot and he bellowed in surprise.

Elle fired her fifth and sixth rounds, which took the front rider out.

Hamsa let out a low growl and showed the whites of his eyes.

“Easy now. We’ll be home in a minute.”

Rounds seven, eight and nine she fired in quick succession. This took out one of the bandits on horseback.

The last shot missed, the bullet lost in the rapidly growing spray of dust and hooves.

With shaking hands, Elle stowed the rifle and drew out her Colt. All she could do now was try to send the bandits off course. She fired a rapid volley at them, emptying all the chambers except the last.

The bandits were almost upon her. To her dismay, Elle realized that there was no time to run, because if she did, she would be shot in the back for sure. She stowed her pistol with a grim determination. She would keep the last bullet in the chamber, just in case—for in this world there were some fates that were worse than death.

With the fort firmly in their sights, the bandits seemed to renew their efforts to cut off the archaeologist’s route to safety. Elle watched helplessly as the bandits split into two groups in an attempt to outflank the wagon. If they came within firing range of the fort it would be too late for them to catch Dr. Bell.

Elle gritted her teeth. She hated to admit it, but it was time to seek the assistance of the Shadow realm.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. It took only a moment to focus on the metaphysical dimension she sought. Just beneath this reality, the space between the two worlds of Light and Shadow lay. The barrier opened up for her almost instantly.

“Come on, boy. Don’t falter now,” she said to the camel. She nudged Hamsa firmly into the space. Instantly, she disappeared from sight.

Stepping into the space between the two worlds was like being underwater. The barrier between the realms lay before her in a glimmering ribbon of golden light. Touching it was a practice strictly forbidden by the Council of Warlocks. But Elle was the Oracle. She was the force that held the two realms together, and so the barrier was hers to command. And what’s more, she did not give a fig about the Council or their draconian laws.

Carefully she pushed her hand into the barrier and felt about until she found one of the globules of power that had accumulated against it. The barrier did not act only as a means of keeping Shadow creatures and humans apart, it also acted as a giant net that caught and retained
energy. Elle—and those gifted with the Shadow—used this energy as fuel for their powers. But the net had been growing ever more empty over the years, so harvesting power without authorization was strictly forbidden. Only warlocks with permission from the Council were allowed to access it. Another stupid law, in Elle’s considered opinion.

Hamsa squealed at the sight of the barrier. The poor camel was so terrified that he promptly let out a rather large series of droppings. Evidently, in camel terms, being shot at was one thing, but being ridden into a parallel dimension was beyond the pale.

“Easy now,” Elle said. She reached out and dug her fingers into the globule of energy. This was a trick she had learned from a rather unpleasant nemesis not so long ago. Her fingers split the membrane and instantly she felt the energy flow into her, filling her up in an exquisite, fizzing sensation.

As soon as the fizzing stopped, she focused her attention on the side of the Light and nudged Hamsa. The camel did not need much encouragement and they stepped back into the realm of Light.

The doctor’s party was almost upon the spot where Elle had been. One of the archaeologist’s guides let out a shout of surprise when she materialized next to him and veered off just in time to avoid a collision.

“Run! Make for the fort!” Elle shouted.

She dug her heels into the high stirrups and turned Hamsa round to face the bandits who were bearing down on them.

She closed her eyes and reached inside herself for the white-hot ball of energy she had stowed. In one swift move she grasped it and hurled it at her attackers. The ball of light hit the ground just in front of the first riders. It exploded like a bomb, sending camels, horses and men flying.

But the energy of the blast was not entirely spent, and Elle stared in amazement as the aether rose up and collapsed in on itself as it fought for somewhere to go.

“Oops,” Elle said as she watched the residual power rise up and turn to wind. Bright blue bolts of lightning crackled and clouds swirled and rose up, turning and whirling with a deafening rumble. Red-brown dust, thicker than the thickest smoke churned in the air, obscuring the blue sky above them.

The explosion, together with the force of the wind, sent the bandits reeling. She saw men and camels stumbling about in confusion.

Elle did not wait about to see what would happen next. She knew she had to retreat or face obliteration. “Go, Hamsa. Go!” she shouted, wheeling her camel about.

Hamsa did not need to be persuaded. He set off at top speed for the safety of the fort. Soon the gates loomed up from the haze of red dust around them.

“Incoming!” Elle yelled at the top of her voice.

She was met by the sound of cover fire as rifle bullets from the stone parapets whizzed over her head. Seconds later she thundered through the gates of the fort.

“To the stables! Take cover!” one of the guards shouted as the heavy doors rumbled shut behind her.

The vast cloud of dust had now all but swallowed the bandits and was spreading, bearing down upon the fort like a huge tidal wave.

Elle urged Hamsa toward the large but rather crowded stable block. People, horses, camels and dogs were all milling about seeking cover from the looming sand. Riders were trying to get their camels to kneel. A horse whinnied and reared up, upsetting a hay trough.

All this confusion was too much for Elle’s trusty mount, and the instinct that had allowed his species to survive sandstorms over the millennia took over. Hamsa
bellowed loudly before sinking to his knees in a terrified crouch, his head slung low. The momentum of his movements threw Elle from her saddle and she landed with a heavy thump on the ground, just as the stable doors rumbled shut behind her. Outside, the wind howled as the massive cloud of red dust swallowed everything. It was pitch dark; the light from the sun blocked out by the storm.

“Lady Greychester, I presume?”

She heard a match strike. A flame flickered and flared up as it lit a lamp taper, casting a pool of light around her.

Elle looked up to see a formidable-looking woman in her forties. She was dressed from head to toe in a rather austere khaki-colored outfit. The only thing whimsical about her was the pair of round, blue haploscopic spectacles perched upon her nose, presumably to guard against the glare of the sun. Elle noticed with amazement that the glasses must have remained perched there throughout the death-defying chase across the desert.

“Dr. Bell?” Elle wheezed.

The woman smiled and her weather-beaten face cracked into a myriad of lines. She held out her hand to help Elle up. “The very same. How do you do?”

Elle groaned as Dr. Bell pulled her up to her feet.

She gave her jodhpurs a perfunctory pat and winced. Her left shoulder was tender from where she had landed on it, but on the whole she appeared to be in one piece.

“Good heavens, girl, are you quite all right?” asked the doctor.

“I am quite well, thank you. Just made a rather inelegant dismount, it seems.” She gave Hamsa a dirty look. The camel ignored her. He was now sitting quietly with his legs folded underneath him—the picture of serenity.

Dr. Bell peered up at the dark sky, which was just visible through the small windows high up in the wall.
“That’s quite a sandstorm you’ve unleashed upon us. Am I correct to presume that you are blessed with the gifts of the Shadow?”

“In a manner of speaking. It’s a trick I learned a while ago, but I fear I may have used a tad more force than needed,” Elle said, evading the question. Discussing her gifts was not something she liked to do with strangers. Even friendly ones.

“Well, I think that was jolly well done. I thought we were done for out there. The blighters came out of nowhere. I think you may have saved our lives, and for that I thank you.”