Swords of the Imperium (Dark Fantasy Novel) (The Polaris Chronicles Book 2) (30 page)

A pair of deeper gunshots rang out from on high. The titan faltered, fell to one knee, and jammed the end of her club into the ground to save herself from falling over. She let out a deep groan and reached for Taki to crush him. Before her fingers could close, she stopped and went silent.

Taki let out the breath he’d been holding and tried desperately not to piss himself.

From atop the titan’s head, Jibriil’s head poked over. “You okay?”

“Yes!” Taki said. “Another second, though, and…”

Jibriil looked over the scene and grimaced. “Don’t even think about it. I’ll get you free in a moment.”

“I think…I think you saved my life.”

Enilna bounded over to where Taki was and scampered over a fallen trunk. “Taki! Oh God, Taki!”

He waved weakly. “I might’ve shat myself, but I’m good.”

She wrapped him in a frantic hug, and Taki almost vomited from the smell of the lake-bottom muck. “Never make me worry like that again!”

“Y-you’re the one who made us have to do this!” Taki said.

“Yeah, and we won! So shut the hell up!”

“You’re impossible!”

She took his face in her hands and snarled at him, to which he snarled back. Then, she leaned in and kissed him deeply and fiercely.

“Break it up, you two,” Jibriil said. “We’re not out of the woods yet.”

Taki blinked and sputtered and swatted Enilna away. “Is she dead?”

Jibriil knocked against an outstretched stone finger and shrugged. “Probably?”

“You sound unsure.”

“Because I am. I found what looked like a crystal, and so I shot it, twice. Thing stopped moving soon after. It’s not like I can take its pulse or anything.”

Enilna frowned. “It’s still kind of sad, what happened to her. Monstrous titan or not, she still got dumped by some asshole and didn’t have the sense to move on.”

“Perhaps it was better we killed her, then,” Jibriil said.

“I know she tried to mash us, but I hope she’s not really dead.”

Taki shuddered at the thought. “Let’s get away before we find out. Someone help me with my leg.”

Later, when they’d gone some distance away from the Wailing Lady’s glade, Taki finally allowed himself to collapse from exhaustion in the grass under a tall tree.

Jibriil sat nearby in a meditative pose. “We might as well rest here. I’m running low as well. I also started with a slight handicap.” He scowled at Enilna.

She flipped him off. “Oh, whatever. You were all smiles and sunshine this morning.”

“Thanks to your shenanigans, Hilda and Salia might each end up with triplets. What will I do if they’re all boys and I have to raise them?”

“Not my problem,” Enilna said with a shrug.

Jibriil sighed. “Regardless, we must plan our way back to Astarte.”

Taki lifted his chin. “We can’t retrace our steps?”

“No, it’s too dangerous, especially since we took out that group of chevaliers and left the farmsteaders alive. We’ll have Ursalans up our arses day and night. The Salted Fortress might not even let us in.”

“So what do you propose?”

“If we go but a day’s march south, we’ll end up in Uri, where there’s lodging, food, and most importantly, beer. Farther south, and we’ll be in the primate’s domain again.”

Enilna pointed an accusing, tremulous finger at Jibriil. “What? Why didn’t we just take that route in the first place?”

“Because,” Taki said, “that way we’d have to pass through the Teufelsbrucke. Isn’t that right, Jibriil?”

“Yes,” Jibriil said. “There was no way we’d have made it through there coming from Astarte with an agreement scroll and a sack of grad, but look at us now. We’re poor, covered in shit, and out of options. Basically, we’ll pass inspection without a problem.”

“What about the castellan? They say he can sniff out a spy leagues away. What makes you sure we’ll escape his notice?”

“Because,” Jibriil said, “there’s something different about us now. We trust each other. Don’t we?”

Taki blinked. Only a week ago, he’d have never agreed to that statement. In fact, he’d have gladly put a bullet in the former archangel’s head. But Jibriil had just saved his life. It would’ve been easy to let the Wailing Lady crush Taki, and no suspicion would have ever been cast on Jibriil. Tentatively, Taki nodded. “Aye, we do.”

Taki rubbed his upper lip and frowned as his fingers came away feeling simultaneously slick and sticky. The cold, dry air of the Lepontine Alps made his nose run continuously. So much so that his handkerchief was already saturated, and now he was forced to use his bare hands. One thing that Jibriil had failed to warn him about was the danger of drowning in his own snot. He leaned over the top of the stone railing on the bridge and gazed miserably down at the rapids a hundred meters below. Astarte, even with its intrigue and terrible memories, was becoming quite appealing. Enilna, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying herself immensely and was entirely unaffected by the weather.

“You mind?” Taki said as she jostled him.

“I don’t mind at all,” Enilna said. She grinned to show him the food stuck between her teeth. In her hands was a steaming potato, freshly plucked from a bed of coals and dusted with salt and coriander. Around them was a crowd of several dozen packed on the Uri side of the bridge, gathered in the hopes of passing through the Teufelsbrucke.

The Devil’s Bridge was infamous. The sole pass through an otherwise impenetrable mountain range, it was the gate to the Ursalan heartland and the best-defended toll fortress in the Serene Kingdom. Stretching thirty meters high in the air, its stone face was riddled with arrowslits and murder holes and permanently blackened by centuries of battle. But the real source of the fort’s brutal legend was the man who controlled it.

“Take this a bit more seriously,” Taki said. “You’re just stuffing your face and making an ass of yourself.”

“I’m blending in,” Enilna said. “You’re the one acting all rigid, like some sort of enemy spy.”

“Can you not say that word here?”

“Spy?”

Taki crossed his arms and glared at her.

“She has a point, Sir Taki,” Jibriil said. “The key is to be relaxed. I know that doesn’t come easy.”

“No, I can do it,” Taki said. “Not like our lives are on the line or anything.”

Before arriving in Uri, Jibriil had suggested the trio discard and bury their arms and armor. He had gone so far as to suggest the guns meet the same fate, but Taki and Enilna had refused. Jibriil had ended up burying his carbine with many promises to return after the Imperium stormed the fortress. Despite the comforting weight of his Herstal, Taki still felt naked without his brigandine and saber.

“Where the hell is this Doohickey guy, anyway?” Enilna asked.

“Duvalier,” Jibriil said.

“Doodoo, whatever. Isn’t he supposed to judge all who try to pass the bridge? We’ve seen lots of people go across and nothing.”

“Be patient,” Taki said. Enilna had been right, though.
Perhaps he died or moved on
.
Or perhaps he never existed at all?
The last thought he quickly pushed down into the rubbish bin of his consciousness. Of course Duvalier was real, or Lotte wouldn’t have ever lost her status as archangel.

Enilna broke his thoughts by tugging on his sleeve and thrusting the half-eaten potato at his face. “Want a bite?”

“No.”

Enilna seemed taken aback, but her eyes quickly lit with realization.

“Oh,” she said with what seemed to be genuine contrition. “I forgot about your trauma. Do you want to talk about it?”

Taki rolled his eyes. “I
don’t
have potato trauma!”

“That’s classic denial. Do you startle easily when you see a root vegetable? Irulan tells me that’s one of the cardinal signs to look for.”

“Commissar Surenovna needs to stop pretending she’s a surgeon,” Taki said, and turned with his back to the rail. “I’m just…worried. I’d almost rather the castellan be present than hidden.”

“True, but isn’t it nicer this way?” Enilna smiled. “Soon we’ll be across the bridge, and it’ll be easy travel to Astarte. You should feel lucky to spend a few peaceful days with a cutie like me.”

“You? Cute?”

Enilna flicked him on the forehead. “Don’t push your luck, V-bag.”

“You’re horrible, you know that?”

“For a small fee, I won’t teach that word to Dassa.”

“How much?”
Taki sighed and fished around in his money pouch to buy her silence. Of course, it was a lack of funds that had driven the trio to try passage across the bridge in the first place.

“A round of Old Nayto.”

“That’s extortion.”

“We’re up next,”
Jibriil murmured.
“Remember the plan.”

Taki swallowed, gritted his teeth, and trudged past the thick iron bars that made up the portcullis. He was in a small square courtyard ringed by a raised stone platform with a tall archway at each corner. The walls of the fortress loomed high above him and were also ringed by torches. In front of him was another portcullis, similar to the one he’d passed under to enter this place. And past that gate was freedom.

A sentry raised his hand. “Halt.”

With a rumble that Taki could feel through his feet, the gates behind and in front of him closed. The trio was now trapped inside the fort. From the archways, Templars stomped out and assumed a silent vigil. They hefted poleaxes, dark and stained with grease.

Enilna’s eyes widened. Taki saw her reach, unconsciously, under her poncho to where her Colt was. Quickly, he put a hand on her forearm and stroked it reassuringly. She in turn intertwined her fingers in his and squeezed. Together, they stood in silence.

“Kneel for inspection by Lord Duvalier!” the sentry said.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me…

From a darkened archway above emerged a man of middling height and great beauty. Blond and smooth faced, the castellan carried himself with the surety and grace of a man who not only accepted but actually embraced his station in life. He stepped up to the edge of his perch and peered down at the group.

“Pray, tell me your names and destination,” Duvalier said.

Oh fuck, it’s him.

Jibriil raised his head. “Milord, I am Sir Silas of Rouen, a poor knight-errant in search of employment. I beseech you let me pass to Astarte, where I may petition the primate for work.”

Duvalier sniffed. “Pray tell, Sir Knight, what Ordo did you forsake?”

“The Ordo Draconis, milord. I am…not proud of my misdeeds, but I aim to regain my honor through virtuous employment.”

“And those two?”

“My squire is Giles of Rouen. The girl is a farmer’s daughter he has ruined and taken ownership of.”

“Her name?”

“Cosette, of no special origin.”

Duvalier nodded. “You know, Sir Silas, I also have need of men skilled with arms. If you wished, I would extend an offer of work as a sentry. I pay better than the apostate in Astarte, too.”

Jibriil bowed his head again. “My thanks, milord. But…I have family in Astarte. My father has perished, and my poor mother has none else. She is the reason I left the Ordo in the first place.”

“How virtuous of you.” Duvalier smirked. “How about we have a test of sorts? If you can defeat one of my guard captains, then I will let you and your dependents pass unmolested. If not, then…well, you weren’t strong enough to survive the intrigues in Astarte anyway, and neither was your mother.”

“Milord, I beg you!” Jibriil balled his hands into fists. “I have no sword, shield, or armor! Surely you, who are the epitome of justice, will not make me fight one of your men, naked as I am?”

“You raise a fair if cowardly point, Sir Silas. If you don’t wish a trial by combat, then my men will simply take the wench off your hands. Unlike you, my guardsmen are brave and deserve comfort. And by your admission, she has no virtue to ruin. When they are done with her, she will be returned to you. Not to worry. They won’t kill her, and they’ll pay her well for her services.”

Enilna clenched her jaw and tensed. She gripped Taki’s hand until his knuckles turned white.

“I won’t let them!” Taki stepped forward and rolled up his sleeves. “If J—Sir Silas won’t fight, then I will! Who wants it first?”

Jibrill glared at him.
“Quiet!”

“Ah, Sir Giles, it seems your squire has more sand than you,” Duvalier said with a chuckle. “Perhaps there is some hope for the youth of Ursala after all. Due to your stirring display of valor, young squire, I will allow you, your wench, and your cowardly master to pass. Raise the gates and send in the next group.”

With that, the castellan turned and disappeared back through his archway without ceremony. The Templars tromped back through their passages as well. And with another rumble, the portcullises began to open. With his legs feeling leaden, Taki grasped Enilna’s hand and trudged forth without checking if Jibriil accompanied them.