Crown of Ash (Blood Skies, Book 4) (17 page)

O
il
became
something more viscous, gummy and thick. 
Danica
knew she was in the presence of dead bodies.
 
She
pictured
the corpses
in her head, festering and piled on top of one another.  She smelled innards and dried blood, oozing wounds that had gelled over.  Blood and urine and brains and opened stomachs
had
spilled on
to
the floor.

She froze, and held herself still.  Something stirred in the dark.

Awesome
.

Danica
froze
. 
The scrape of m
etal
tore
through
the air, and a
sudden blast of light sliced
out of
the darkness
to her left.  She was
blinded
for a moment
until her eyes could adjust
. 

S
ilhouettes
moved
in the grainy white haze. 
A
rmored men marched towards her.  She heard the whir of machinery gears and the sizzle of industrial juices
as they struck
the ground. 

G
aunt armored bodies like
black
iron skeletons
approached.  They were g
rinning a
nimated corpse
s with glowing diamond eyes,
heavy
20mm rifles and gangly claws.  Each metal
-clad
corpse
stood at least seven feet tall
and walked
on
cloven feet
.  Cold steam peeled away from their armor
ed
hides.

“Well
y
ou’re
new…” she said, and one of the iron sentries reached down and forcefully hauled her to her feet.  “Let go…”

Danica saw a
mound of corpses. 
She’
d
crawled to within
just a few feet
of a putrid pile of mangled bodies
.  The room was some sort of massive container, a metal repository for the dead.  The bodies had been cut and mutilated by hammer and blade
.  She saw
crushed skulls
and
open chest cavities
and
discarded
limbs
.  Pools of congealed blood and intestinal juices
covered the floor
.

Black closed her eyes
and willed the image away
.  She’d been
near mass graves
before.  She’d never wanted to be there again.

The
skeleton
sentries pushed her out of the container and into the light. 
Dank
wind stung her face.  She heard crashing waves and the roar of enormous beasts.

They were still in Blacksand, or at least
close to
it.  The Revenger
’
s camp
was
larger than she’d thought
it would be
. 
Three warships
formed a loose perimeter around a Sherman
tank
and
a pair of
war wagons.  A group of
black-skinned
Ebonbacks
grazed
in the sandy slopes
to the
east. 

They
were half-
a-
mile outside
the crude city gates
,
at the edge of an expanse of
pale sand
s
dunes and granite
hills
littered with
towers of salt.  Palm trees swayed in the bitter ocean breeze.  The sun
hid
behind
a thin veil of crystal clouds, and the air was
startlingly cold
.  Dirigibles and gargoyles
filled the sky over Blacksand
.

They could take the city over if they wanted to. 
She imagined t
hey
had
some
need to
leave
the criminal port
alone
,
if
even
because it would have been
an inefficient use of resources
to take it.  The Revengers
were nothing if not frugal with their hard-earned cash
.

The
rusted iron
disposal bin
they’d stuck Danica in was
at
the
edge
of t
he Revenger camp.  She couldn’t imagine where all of the bodies had come from.

“Prisoners,” a voice said from behind her
. 
The voice
was
heavy
with a British accent
.  “Your friend, Klos Vago, had a large number of slaves he’d proved incapable of selling, so he handed them over to us.”

The man was tall and lean and
had
thick brown hair.  Easily six-foot-three, the imposing Warden wore dark armor that tightly hugged his muscular frame, and he appeared unarmed, which Danica
knew,
of course
,
wasn’t the case.

“Burke,” she said.  “I’m surprised they let you out
of your hole
.”  She looked back at the bodies.  “So why kill them?  No room in the mines these days?”

“They served their purpose,” Burke smiled.  “How’ve you been, Dani?”

“Better.”

“I can see that.  Nasty blow to the head you took there…”

“Cut the shit.  What do you want with me?”

Burke just smiled. 

“Come on, Dani.  What do
you
think?”

Burke nodded
at
the
skeletons
, and they lifted her
up
off
the ground.  Her arms
felt like they’d crack
within
their
iron
grip
, and h
er shoulders felt
ready
to
come out of
the
ir
sockets.

“Ouch!  Damn it, Burke!”

“Shut up, Dani.  All right?  There’s a good
girl
.”

They led her down the slope
and
into
the center of camp.  Men wandered about,
shaving themselves or eating from tin cans,
cleaning weapons
or throwing knives at crude targets
.  Boxes of ammunition and equipment were kept under careful watch inside
of
white tents.  A dozen men lined up at a long table
covered
with bowls and a cauldron of steaming soup. 

They all looked at her as she was marched by.  Some
seemed to
recognize her, others didn’t.  They all regarded her with the same cold contempt.

The skeletons took
her
straight to one of the war wagons
, u
gly and brutish devices
made of black
steel and arcane iron. 
T
urbine engines on t
he
backs
of the
vehicles
c
ould propel
them
rapidly across the ground, and
anti-personnel mines
, motorguns and flak cannons lent
them
considerable firepower.

A dark-skinned woman
waited near one of the wagons
.  She had
braided hair and form-fitting black and purple armor,
a pair of katanas strapped across her back
,
and runic tattoos
that covered her
cheeks
,
neck and bone-thin arms
.  T
he woman smiled as the golems
brought
Danica
close to her
. 

“Danica Black,” Burke said with a smile.  “This is Raven Darkmoon.  Your replacement in our ranks.”

“Charmed,” Danica smiled.

“Likewise,” Raven
said
.  Her smile was broad and skeletal, and her voice was deep and smooth. 

“Right,” Burke said.  “Listen, Dani, I’d rather not beat around the proverbial bush, so tell us…where is your friend Cross?”

Danica looked at him.  An Ebonback roared in the distance.

“
Eat shit
,
”
Danica replied.

Raven nonchalantly
drew a blade
and sliced Danica’s
fore
arm open.  The s
harp pain made her cry out
.  Blood poured from the
wound.  She winced and tried to twist away, but the golems held her tight.  Her feet barely touched the ground.

“Bitch!” she shouted.

Raven just smiled.

“That was a love touch,” Raven said seductively.  “I know a lot of games
we can play…”

“I’ll bet you do,” Black said.  “What do you want
with
Cross
?” she said to Burke. 

“That’s not your concern,” Burke said.  “What
is
your concern is what will happ
en if you don’t cooperate
.”

Raven smiled, and
then
whistled.  Two Revengers in dark armor brought a
gagged and struggling
prisoner
around the corner
of the nearest wagon
. 

Black’s heart
jumped into
her throat.  She couldn’t believe it.  It had been over two years since she’d seen her.

“La
ra!”

Cole looked
at her
through dark and mottled hair.  Her face was
badly
bruised
, and h
er ranger’s armor was torn and bloodied. 

“Now,” Burke said.  “As
I was
saying…
where is Cross?
”

Raven’s eyes glowed with delight.  Cole started to cry. 

Black couldn’t stop shaking.  She’d never been so afraid.