Death's Head (38 page)

“You were…?”

“Uplift militia, before I joined this lot.”

“So were we all,” says Franc. I’m still considering this casual revelation of treason, when Franc adds, “And we’re not going to keep swapping until we’re dead. We plan to escape.”

Rachel looks interested. “How are you intending to do that?”

“No idea,” says Franc. “Shil thought Sven might know.”

Laughing is probably the wrong response, but since the alternative is swearing at them for a bunch of idiots it’s the best I can offer.

CHAPTER 47

S
EVEN CARGO
ships lie at anchor in Mica Harbor. They’re old, badly maintained, and rusting. Oxide inhibitor has been spray-gunned across their sides and left unpainted, a tattered flag flaps from each stern, and ropes run from high on deck to rusting bollards on the jetty below.

From where we stand to the headland opposite is five miles. Marching around the fjord’s edge would mean navigating a shoreline twisty enough to be almost fractal. We might walk it in a week if we were lucky. So we’re about to make an eight-hundred-mile journey in those ships, down the coast from here to Bhose.

There’s only one problem.

Six of these ships are not going to arrive.

It’s looking at the last of them that tells me this. Whoever spray-gunned the
Winter Wind
with oxide inhibitor was wasting his time, because it’s obvious that the steel was already fine. In fact, the vessel is newer than the other six by several years, if not decades. We’re meant to look at these and see seven rust buckets. And from the swearing of the prisoners around me that’s exactly what most of them are seeing.

“What’s wrong?” asks Shil.

“I’m not sure yet, but something’s badly wrong. We’re going to need weapons.”

Haze and Franc glance at each other, then look away.

“What?” I demand, calling them on it.

Franc goes red, but Haze stares back with eyes that are almost hollow. I’ve no idea where he is, but it’s obviously not anywhere that the rest of us would recognize.

“I’m a weapon,” he says finally. “And so are you.”

I sigh. “Anyone got a knife? Anything useful at all?”

“What do you want?” asks Rachel.

“A gun,” I tell her. “But I’ll settle for a blade.”

She walks away without another word. Her red hair is simplicity itself to follow through the crowd as she heads toward a pair of Silver Fist. One of them turns to see who it is and smiles a particularly nasty smile. His arm reaches out to catch her, and Rachel allows herself to be caught.

“That’s the bastard who…”

“Yes,” says Shil, cutting short my outrage. “We know.”

AMBER AND ARTIFACTS
announces a sign above the men. As we watch, one of them tries a door behind him, finds it locked, and leads Rachel around to the side of the warehouse, although
drags her
might be a better description. The second Silver Fist stands watch, leaning against a wall.

About five minutes later he turns in response to something unseen and vanishes around the corner. When Rachel returns it’s from a different direction and her mouth is bleeding, but not enough to keep a smile from her lips.

“You okay?” asks Haze.

“Sure.”

“What happened?” he says, and then blushes.

“Nothing like that,” she replies.

Franc’s laugh is sour. “Don’t tell me. They got more than they expected?”

“Yeah,” says Rachel. “If rather less than they hoped.” Tucked under her jacket are a pistol, two knives, and an ID card made out in the name of Sergeant Zil Lanlyr.

There’s blood on the blade of one of the knives. I don’t know what the glance that passes between Shil and Rachel actually means, and I don’t want to. At the moment I’m just glad they’re both on my side.

GUARDS JOSTLE PRISONERS
up the gangway onto the first ship. When the lower levels have filled and even the deck is crowded, the gangplank is dragged along the jetty to the next ship, which fills just as swiftly.

And then the gangplank is dragged to the third and fourth ships. A group of Silver Fist begin cutting prisoners out of the crowd for the fifth ship and one of them reaches for me, only to be slapped down by his sergeant.

“Leave him.”

The trooper is that much rougher with the next few prisoners he cuts out of our dwindling crowd. When the fifth ship is full, the gangplank is moved again and most of what remains of the defeated is herded onto the ship after that. A corporal grabs at Rachel, who backs away as Haze steps between them.

The corporal looks shocked, obviously unsure which of the two to deal with first. Reaching around me, he chooses Rachel. So I grip his wrist, swing him around, and put him into the side of a crane. Only I keep hold of his wrist, so his shoulder dislocates with a wet sucking sound.

He howls.

One of the other guards is reaching for his own holster when an officer appears, his fists already clenched. His punch flattens the injured corporal, dropping him into the dirt, and then a pistol is in his hand and its muzzle is touching my forehead.

“Come on,” I tell him. “Pull the fucking trigger.”

Neen is moving forward but freezes at the shake of my head. This is a test and I’d better be right, because otherwise I’m dead.

“Well?” I say. “You got the guts?”

The lieutenant backs away, pistol still raised and pure hatred in his eyes. This man would kill me if he hadn’t been told that was somebody else’s job.

“These are the Aux, they’re with me, okay?” My gesture takes in Neen and the others, including Rachel, who looks terrified.

“Okay?”

He nods, not quite meeting my eyes.

“So we’re back in business?” says Franc.

“Yeah,” I tell her. “My own personal supply of cannon fodder.”

She grins, knowing it’s not a joke.

WE’RE ABOUT TO
be loaded onto the only ship out of the seven that is actually seaworthy. Haze and I are standing near the gangway, staring out at an oily swell of Mica Harbor with its local boats and old steamers and fishermen keeping well away from whatever the hell is going on along their quayside.

Storm clouds are gathering on the horizon, the sea swell is higher than when we first arrived, and waves are beginning to fray in the wind. It might be coincidence that brings us to this place tonight, or it might be perfect planning. Either way the Enlightened have what they need: A storm is about to roll right over us.

All soldiers believe in luck, which is just skill used wisely. And there are things I can and will do without even thinking about them to put luck back on our side, vicious and bloody things.

Only they’re not going to be enough on their own.

“Haze,” I say. “A question.”

His eyes go wide, and then his mouth goes tight. He knows he’s not going to like what I’m about to ask.

“How good are you really?”

He wants to pretend he doesn’t understand. Failing that, he wants to lie…Instead he changes the subject. “You still haven’t told the others what’s going to happen to you in Bhose.”

“Haven’t told you, either.”

A scowl crosses his face. “The arena,” Haze says. “Facing two ferox.”

“You can see the future?”

“Dreams,” he says, adding, “not mine…” And then Haze hesitates, wondering how to say what comes next. “There’s a three-braid around here somewhere. He’s been thinking about little else.”

“Fuck.”

Haze nods. “One other thing. The three-braid is scared. I couldn’t get away with staying shielded if he wasn’t. It’s that soft tech in your throat; he’s worried it’s going to reboot.”

“Doubt it,” I tell Haze. “My body fucks with implants.”

“It’s not your body that’s the problem.”

“What is it then?”

“Your mind,” Haze says. “Fix that and you won’t need my help.”

CHAPTER 48

D
EEP IN
the belly of our ship the engines start, and the deck beneath our feet begins to shudder. One of the vessels ahead of us is having trouble. A dull thud announces that its engine is turning over but refuses to fire.

One of their officers says something to an NCO. We hear the engine start about three minutes later, and when the NCO returns he’s rubbing his fist.

“Belowdecks,” an enemy corporal tell us.

The others look at me.

“Do what he says.”

Behind me someone laughs, so I turn to face him. It’s a Death’s Head captain I don’t recognize, wearing full combat ribbons.

“Got a problem?”

“I outrank you,” he says.

“So fucking what?” asks Neen, and the others laugh.

Part of me is appalled; part of me knows it’s exactly the sort of thing I’d have said at Neen’s age, although my insubordination was confined to sergeants. Mind you, back then I still believed lieutenants were godlike.

Belowdecks the bulkhead is clean and the grating over which we’re led is freshly scrubbed. Inset lights indicate routes for escape and entry, and the crew move from job to job with cold efficiency. This is a military vessel. Probably armed to the teeth and undoubtedly crewed by professionals.

“In there,” orders the guard.

Seven clicks follow as electronic locks engage. It’s time to ask if anyone else has a weapon, and if the enemy are listening in on us, then that’s just too bad.

Blank faces greet my question.

“Come on,” I say. “Who’s carrying?”

At a nod from Neen, first Shil and then Franc put up their hands. He’s learning fast. As I told Shil way back, the boy’s a natural.

“What have you got?”

Shil produces a dagger and Franc reaches into her top, palming a blade. It’s only when Rachel produces another dagger that I realize Franc has been carrying her weapon all along.

“Let me see.”

It’s my Death’s Head dagger, still oiled and razor-sharp.

Turning her back, one of the younger women reaches under her skirt and produces a blade. It’s crude and cut from cheap steel, but she’s ground the edge as fine as it can go and the point is vicious enough to pierce everything but body armor.

Four knives.

“Anyone else?”

“I’ve got this.” It’s one of the militia sergeants with a flip-out cosh. “But it’s not going to be enough. We need a gun, at least.”

His eyes widen as my hand dips into a pocket and I produce the pistol Rachel stole from the Silver Fist on the quayside.

“Very pretty,” says the captain. “But we’ve still got a locked door. And why would they follow you anyway? If you hadn’t killed the seven-braid, Colonel Nuevo could have negotiated a proper withdrawal.”

“OctoV kills people who retreat.” My voice is matter-of-fact.

“Our dear emperor is three crystals short of an Uplift.”

The captain is upset, that much is obvious. Too upset, it seems to me. And how the fuck does he know it was a seven-braid anyway? It’s not like Colonel Nuevo advertised the fact widely. And then there are those medals. You can’t have ribbons for two battles fought the same week on opposite sides of the spiral arm, it’s just not possible…

“Traitor,” I say, stepping forward.

His neck snaps so easily that I’m lowering his body to the ground before most people have come to grips with the fact that I’ve moved.

“God bless OctoV,” I tell the room.

Whatever Haze sees on my face is not what everyone else sees, because he smiles. “We need to talk,” he suggests.

MY CONVERSATION WITH
Haze is brief and to the point. The kyp in my throat is dying, but because symbionts are hard to kill, its death is eating up my body’s resources and leaching power where it can. I can embrace the soft tech or die myself: Those are the only two choices open to me.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“Didn’t know you well enough,” says Haze, and I realize how private a person he really is.

It seems my metabolism is at war with something that has already tuned itself to my mental frequency and grown suckers that now reach into my brain and wrap my spinal cord like ivy.

Haze doesn’t call them suckers, he calls them dendritic spurs, but they sound like suckers to me. “These things,” I say. “How are they captured?”