The Shattered City (26 page)

‘Breathing?' Delphine cried out. The puppy was so young.

‘Breathing,' Heliora confirmed grimly. ‘For now. Flapper! What do you see?'

That would be her, Delphine supposed. ‘A devil,' she said, struggling to find her voice. ‘There's no other word. It was a devil and it turned into dust and he breathed it in.'

Heliora did not disbelieve her for a second. It was oddly exhilarating, to be trusted. ‘Where is it now?'

‘I don't know.' Delphine looked around wildly and saw a gleam just for a moment, swirling into a narrow alleyway. ‘I think it's gone.'

Heliora looked critically down at Crane for a moment and then reached under his cloak, unbuckling the leather straps of his sword harness.

It was the Duchessa who spoke first. ‘What are you doing?'

Heliora gave her a look like she had spat in her drink. ‘What does it look like I'm doing?' She buckled the
harness on to herself, the steel sword hanging down her back. She was too short for it, but the sword didn't actually scrape on the ground.

Delphine felt relief that she was not being asked to take up the blades, closely followed by a prickle of resentment.

Heliora picked up the fallen skysilver sword and slid that one home too, looking satisfied with herself. ‘We're going to need to get him to safety,' she said, kneeling down beside Crane and relieving him of his knives. ‘Come on, boyo, open those eyes of yours. Are there any nests nearby?'

Delphine felt Rhian slip her hand into hers, squeezing it gently. She squeezed back once, and found herself exhaling in a rush when Crane opened his eyes. ‘The Duchessa,' he murmured.

‘Screw the Duchessa,' Heliora said impatiently. ‘Sorry, your Ladyship. But if there are any more like that out here, we're not going to make it to the Palazzo. We need a nest, Crane. What do you have?'

His voice was hoarse and cracked, like he hadn't tasted water in days. Swallowing devil dust would do that to you, Delphine supposed. ‘Not mine. But there is one, three streets away. Harder to secure than if it belonged to me …'

‘We'll take it,' Heliora snapped, and rose to her feet. ‘I'll lead. You —' She looked at Delphine and Rhian. ‘You look strong enough to help Crane walk,' she said to Rhian. ‘Good shoulders. And Macready thinks something of you,' she added to Delphine.

Oh, thank you very much
. ‘I'll help him,' Delphine said quickly, knowing how much Rhian hated to touch anyone, men in particular.

‘I can,' Rhian said quietly. At Delphine's look of surprise, she said, ‘He's Crane,' in a voice that trembled only slightly. There was so much else to be brave about right now.

Delphine nodded, and slid one arm under Crane's. Rhian took the other, and they pulled him to his feet. He was weak as a kitten, leaning against them.

‘Keep her Ladyship where you can see her,' Heliora said crisply, and set off ahead with her borrowed swords swinging.

The Duchessa stepped gamely enough in behind Heliora. Rhian and Delphine brought up the rear, with Crane half-collapsed in their arms. He muttered quiet instructions to them, and they wended their way to a narrow street lined with shops and tiny piled-on-each-other apartments.

‘Where is everyone?' the Duchessa said, the first words she had spoken aloud in a long time. ‘Shouldn't there be people in the streets?'

Delphine wanted to laugh at the fact that the Duchessa genuinely seemed to not know. Had she ever walked her own city after noxfall? ‘That depends,' she said, not losing the chance to make a point. ‘It was supposed to be the last day of the circus — if all had gone as usual, there would be dancing and rioting until dawn. Perhaps they all have better things to do.'

Perhaps the sky has already eaten them all. Perhaps they know better than to step outside when the moon is the colour of blood.

‘Here,' croaked Crane, gesturing at a blank wall. In that moment, the devils came down upon them, all in a rush.

 

The devils were clearer this time, shapes of dust and dirt and moonlight that moved towards them in a rapid, whispering swarm. Delphine dragged frantically at Crane and Rhian, pulling them hard against the nearest building, the wall that Crane had indicated. ‘Come here!' she all but screamed at the Duchessa, who gave her a bewildered look but joined them.

Heliora had not moved. She stood in the middle of the street, skysilver sword gleaming in the near-darkness as the devils — four of them, no, six — swirled straight at her, surrounding her. Their false maws gaped horribly, the dust forming sharp points of teeth. A hideous noise filled the street — howls and cries that just made the blood run cold — though the devil sounds did not seem to come from their mouths so much as from everywhere. A vicious wind whipped down the street, rippling their dust shapes.

Not one of the devils even glanced in the direction of Delphine and the others, even though Crane had been their focus before …

‘The swords,' Delphine said suddenly. ‘Saints, the swords.'

‘Skysilver,' Crane gasped, most of his weight slumped against Rhian. ‘They want the skysilver; it's drawing them. Stop her. She can't fight them, not like this.'

‘Heliora!' Delphine screamed above the tearing wind and the howls of the devils that filled the street. ‘Throw your blades away! They want the skysilver!'

 

I could have done more, I should have done more, I knew what was coming, and I couldn't stop it. I failed them all.

Maybe this is how it always was supposed to be.

It will be different for you. I might not be able to see beyond Saturnalia (it was closer last time, I didn't see a thing beyond Bestialia) but I know who you are. I have made my choice, just as Raoul chose me.

Velody changed everything when she stepped into the Court as Power and Majesty. She has no idea how much she changed everything. But you … You will be the Seer that the Court has never had, and always needed. I am glad, in many ways, I will not be there to see it.

I'm not convinced they deserve you.

 

Heliora hesitated only for a moment as the devils converged upon her, their dust-shaped bodies glowing with Ideslight. She took Crane's skysilver dagger and threw it hard. It bounced and clattered against the nearest wall and one of the devils turned around whip-fast, consuming it with one harsh snap of teeth. Its body solidified. Not just dust and air now, it glowed as if in Lord form, fierce and powerful.

Not good. This was not good.

‘The sword too!' that Delphine bint screeched behind her, and Hel could hear Crane's low croak agreeing with her.

What would the devils do with the sword? What strength had she given that one by giving up the dagger? She couldn't risk it. Hel's fingers tightened on the hilt of the sword. She lashed out with quick flicks of the blade, forcing them to keep their distance. ‘I won't let you have it,' she yelled into the noisy air.

The devils smiled.

As a sentinel, not a Seer
, was Heliora's last thought as they swarmed around her, blocking out the crimson moonlight.

A
shiol knew that they were losing the battle. How could they not? The sky kept pouring out more dust, glowing with the red Ideslight of a full moon. The stolen skysilver from the sentinels had made so many of the devils solid, and no amount of animor, no chimaera claws or Lord blows could damage them. He fought still. They all fought, though they had no bloody idea how to end this.

The glowing skysilver demons were more interested in Velody than the rest of them, and damn it if the Creature Court wasn't working as a team to protect her. Ashiol had never seen that before.

Priest, Poet, Lennoc. Even Mars and Livilla. Had they even realised what they were doing?

Ashiol's chimaera claw was caught between two solid devils. He shaped back to Lord form to slide free, but one of the devils slashed at him, and he felt blood run down his thigh as the pain bit deep.

Ashiol exploded into cats, each of his small black bodies throwing itself out into the sky, scratching and hissing.

(Scream, he heard a scream. Not Livilla, but another voice so much a part of him that he couldn't not hear it, even if it was impossibly far away.
Oh fuck, Heliora, what's happening, what's happening …
)

Ashiol shaped himself back into Lord form, blasting animor out of every pore of his body, and the devils barely fell back. In one instant he felt pain — a searing burst of pain and fear — and knew it didn't belong to him.

Hel!

 

Isangell had never felt more blind in her life. She knew this was serious, that it wasn't just the final act in their circus pantomime, but she could still see nothing of what they were up against. The shaven-headed demme with the sword had set her chin, stalwart as if she faced some terrible foe. Isangell had no idea what had happened to the knife, but she had seen it vanish.

Then the demme with the sword — Heliora, Delphine had called her Heliora — cried out once, and the sword in her hand vanished as well. So did half of her skin.

Beside Isangell, Delphine screamed and hid her face. The wounded soldier let out a noise as if he had been gutted himself. Rhian — the one Isangell thought of as being the most sensible — pushed the rest of them away and ran forward to catch the bleeding demme as she fell.

There was no light in her eyes as Rhian lowered her to the ground. She looked as if she had been flayed, the flesh under her missing skin bright red and weeping.

‘They're gone,' Delphine was saying, over and over, clutching at the soldier as if he were keeping her upright
and not the other way around. ‘They're gone, they're gone. Why didn't she drop the frigging
sword?
'

‘I don't know that I could have,' the soldier rasped. ‘Or would have. She didn't want to give in to them.'

Rhian was crying hard, clutching the body to her, blood drenching her dress. She said something, and Isangell had to step closer to hear her, much though she didn't want to be anywhere near that thing. Body. She had never seen anyone killed like that. Death was a calm figure in a coffin with thick cosmetick to hide the horror.

Rhian's eyes burned with a fierce light. Isangell had not known this particular demoiselle long, but there was a strangeness about her which did not fit. ‘The Queen must be sacrificed,' Rhian said in a voice not entirely her own.

‘No,' Delphine breathed. ‘Not you too.'

Not just blind but deaf, dumb, speaking an entirely different language. Isangell looked from one to the other, wishing they would make some kind of sense to her.

A demoiselle had died defending Isangell from something she couldn't even see — how could anything make sense?

‘Rhian's the new Seer,' the soldier said flatly. ‘Ashiol's going to slaughter us for this.' His legs collapsed under him, and he slumped to the ground.

 

The battle raged around them, and Velody wanted so desperately to speak to Ashiol. Would she get that chance, before it was all over? She had barely had a moment to think about what she wanted to say, but the words welled up in her. She could not send them to him — could not give him any clue about what was going to happen next.

You've got it wrong. Ashiol, you've got it wrong about the Creature Court. They don't hate each other, they don't work against each other. They never had to be like that. They can be a family. It's going to be all right. They'll take care of each other. It's what they've been doing all along.

They don't need me for that. And neither do you.

The devils were centring their attention on her now, and Velody found herself hemmed in with the entirety of the Lords and Court hovering between her and their attackers.

This is how it's supposed to be.

The voice in her head was now not her own.

Velody saw Ashiol fall, struck down from behind, and tried to reach him, but the devils kept hurling themselves in the way. They had to be fought off, one by one.

The dust kept pouring through from the sky above. Hard devil hands slammed down around her, holding Velody fast, and she hissed, lashing out with her animor until the devils fell back.

You know what you have to do
. Her vision, the one that had overwhelmed her in the Killing Ground, filled her head. Ashiol had fallen, like she had seen in that vision. Velody knew what happened next. How could she doubt it?

How many of the devils were solid now? Too many. More and more. They had used the skysilver somehow, and Velody couldn't help thinking about the skysilver cage in Poet's territory, of the swords of dead sentinels hanging on the Haymarket walls, or the supply that the Smith must have. There was a lot of skysilver in this city and dust was still pouring.

Someone called her name.

Velody tried to resist it at first, remembering how the noxcrawl had lured Poet in with its deadly siren song. Mysterious voices were not to be trusted.

But then another voice joined the cacophony — one she knew almost as well as her own. A real voice, not an imaginary one.

Velody broke free of the battle and flew as fast as she could, tearing across the sky. She changed to Lord form as she streaked towards that voice, following it down into the lower city.

She found them at street level. It was cold, and everything was lit by that horrible red moon. Rhian stood waiting for her, standing taller than Velody had seen her since that awful Lupercalia that had turned her into a different person.

‘You called me,' Velody blurted. ‘How did you call me?'

Delphine leaned against a wall with her arms wrapped tightly around herself. The Duchessa stood close to her, as if Delphine was the only one she trusted. Crane was at their feet, broken but breathing. That was different. Velody had been so sure he wasn't going to make it through this nox. If the vision got that wrong, what else was wrong? A horrible hope shot through her that maybe it was different, maybe she wouldn't have to …

But then she saw Heliora. ‘Saints,' she whispered miserably. ‘Oh, saints.'

The Seer of the Court lay in the street, her body redraw and twisted and so very still. Velody's first thought was that this would break Ashiol, and then she just let herself feel miserable for Heliora's sake.

And now you understand.

‘She tried to hold on to the sword,' Crane said in a low rattle of a voice.

‘Velody,' Rhian said. ‘You must listen.'

‘You need to keep moving,' Velody said shakily. ‘Get the Duchessa to the Palazzo, or a nest, or — something. We're losing the battle up there. The devils are solid and we can't fight them forever. If they get under the city there's so much skysilver …'

Velody
.
You have to listen to me
.

That was not Rhian. Velody stared at Heliora's fallen body.

You're dead
, she thought clearly.

Not gone, though. Not yet. Hear me.

Rhian smiled, a sweet and steady smile that wasn't hers at all. The light in her eyes was hard to look at. ‘I've seen the futures. Velody, if the Queen isn't sacrificed, they will return. She's the only reason they are here. The wrongness needs to be stopped, now. Before dawn.'

‘The Queen,' Velody repeated. ‘But there are no Queens, there's only —'

The Duchessa cried out.

Velody whipped around to see that Delphine was holding the Duchessa's wrist in a tight hold. Delphine refused to meet anyone's eyes, but her fingers held firmly.

‘No,' Isangell said in a low voice, tugging at the grip. ‘You can't mean — no!' She was more affronted than genuinely afraid. That was probably a mistake.

Crane rose to his feet painfully, and drew his steel sword. He passed his knife to Delphine, who closed her fingers tightly around the hilt.

Don't blame Rhian; she's new to this
, said the voice of Heliora.
You know, don't you? Your vision was clear. The Duchessa isn't the sacrifice.

‘No,' Velody said quickly. ‘You've got it wrong. This isn't what you saw, Rhian.'

‘She's the new Seer,' Crane said quietly. ‘We have to listen to her, Velody. You said it yourself — we're losing the battle.'

Isangell had greater resources than Velody would have given her credit for. She ground her foot hard on Delphine's and tugged herself free, turning to run.

Crane slammed into her, catching her around the waist and pushing her against the brickwork. Delphine followed him, holding the knife as if (disturbingly) she knew exactly how to use it.

‘This is not who we are!' Velody demanded. ‘Crane, let her go! Delphine, what do you think you are doing?'

‘Being a sentinel, finally,' said Delphine, on the edge of hysteria. ‘Isn't that what you all wanted?'

Crane stared defiantly at Velody.

‘Trust me,' she told him, trying to stay calm. She could rely on Delphine to hesitate over striking a killing blow, but Crane was another matter. His belief shone out of his face like a beacon. ‘If I am really your Power and Majesty, trust me: this is not the way.'

Crane hesitated.

Velody took a step towards him, then another. She held out her hand. ‘Give me the sword.'

He was hers, she knew that, more than the other sentinels. Macready was loyal as hell, and Kelpie believed in the service so deeply despite her hurts, but Crane was Velody's, body and soul. He would listen to her. Please, let him listen to her.

She held him with her eyes, waiting, hoping. Finally Crane let go of both the Duchessa and the sword in a
rush. It clattered to the ground. ‘Velody, we don't have time to mess about.'

You really don't have time
, Heliora said inside Velody's mind.
Ashiol's coming; he will stop you
.

‘Trust me,' Velody said again, and reached out her arms to gather him to her, holding him tight and pressing a ghost of a kiss to his cheek. ‘This isn't your war to win, it's mine. I know how to fix this.' She turned her head and looked pointedly at Delphine. Her friend looked wary, but lowered the knife that she held.

Isangell backed away from them all, shaking with fear. She turned to run and smacked straight into the imposing, furious figure of Ashiol Xandelian. ‘Ash,' she gasped, and then stepped back as if she wasn't sure whether to hug him or flee from him too.

Ashiol looked as if he had fought every step of the way to get here. Blood ran in a thin trickle down his face and one of his shoulders was badly twisted. He limped painfully as he walked towards the others. ‘What is happening?'

‘A misunderstanding about a prophecy,' Velody said softly. ‘It's all right. I know you all meant this for the best. It's not your fault.'

Crane looked apologetically in the Duchessa's direction. ‘This is about Aufleur. We can't lose another city. She should understand that …'

‘She is Aufleur, you fucking child,' Ashiol said thunderously. ‘She's what we're fighting for. We do not sacrifice those of the daylight, we protect them. What was Heliora thinking —'

‘Heliora didn't see the vision,' Rhian said miserably. ‘Ashiol, I'm sorry. She's dead.'

Velody saw his face close over. From fury to —
nothing, in only a moment. Had he known, or only suspected?

‘Go on,' he said.

‘She gave me the futures,' said Rhian. ‘I don't pretend to understand it all yet. But Velody, the message is so clear, I can't see anything else. The Queen has to die, and all this will be over. The devils will eat our city alive if someone does not stop this.'

‘We don't have Queens in Aufleur,' Ashiol said. ‘What in the seven hells made you idiots think Isangell was the one that the vision meant?' He reached an arm out to his cousin but she shied away from his touch, keeping him between herself and Crane but otherwise not prepared to touch him.

‘They belong to the daylight,' Velody said tiredly. ‘Seer and sentinel they may be, Ash.' Oh, saints, Rhian and Delphine, both of them … she had done this, and she would not be able to protect them from everything the nox had to throw at them, not now. ‘But they can't see beyond the daylight world, not yet. You're going to have to do something about that.'

She, apparently, had something else to do.

‘It doesn't mean that either,' Ash snapped, guessing where her thoughts were going. ‘Don't be an idiot, Velody.'

She smiled thinly at him. ‘See, that's the trouble. I do see clearly. Rhian isn't the only one who's been having visions. I know what I have to do to save you all.'

‘What are you saying?' Crane asked.

‘Rhian's prophecy isn't wrong,' Velody said gently. ‘But there aren't any Queens in Aufleur. Just the Duchessa — and the Kings.'

Crane stared at her. ‘You can't be serious.'

‘She isn't,' Ashiol growled, stepping forward and getting into Velody's space.