Half Discovered Wings (42 page)

‘
That’s easy for you to say,’ she snapped back.
‘
You
don’t have
to wear one.’

They continued through the cloying mist, making their way
through the endless forest of gravestones, further and further away
from Iilyani.

Rowan had taken to saying a mall prayer for every stone or
tomb they passed. She had soon grown tired of it, and felt weighed
down with the lack of air and the returned drudgery of extended
travel. The stones were large, much wider than the graves
themselves must be. They were also widely spaced; the Resting Place
catered to people from several towns, and each culture respected
the other by giving them room. It was why the place was so large,
and took so long to traverse.

When the sun began to fall again, the light through the mist
turned steadily red. The air pressure seemed to change, and the
density with it. It became easier to draw breath, and the sand
suspended in the air began to settle. The fog reappeared, just as
the last light vanished behind the obscured horizon.

As the level of light dropped, the group once more thought
about stopping and eating. Lunch had been skipped that day, saving
food for the true test: the crossing of the Plains. Just as they
were agreeing on settling down for the night, Gabel saw the shape
in the mist.

It was silhouetted against the light, a black obscurity
against the redness of dusk. The low square outline of a tombstone
was broken by a curious protrusion from its top.

At first, Gabel thought it was only an oddly designed
headstone. Then, five steps closer, he realised it was the outline
of a human head and shoulders, a figure sitting against the stone,
facing toward them.

‘
Wait,’ he said sharply, and the others halted. ‘I see
someone.’

‘
Where?’ asked the magus.

‘
I see nothing,’ said Rowan.

‘
Look there, that tombstone … It’s a person, slumped up against
it. You there!’ he called.

‘
I don’t see anything,’ Caeles complained. ‘Which
tombstone?’

Gabel pointed.
The figure hadn’t responded to his call.

‘
I see it,’ the cyborg said immediately. ‘Christ, how did you
see that through the fog?’

‘
You,’ Gabel called lowly. ‘Grave-sitter. Who are
you?’

‘
Answer him,’ the magus called. Rowan noticed that the man’s
stance had changed slightly. Preparing for battle? Was it a
fighting stance?

‘
Are you sure it’s a person?’ Caeles asked quietly.

‘
It is,’ insisted the hunter. He took a step closer.

‘
A
live
person?’

Just as he spoke, the head-shape jerked upward. Against the
light, the edges were straight, uniform. With the head movement,
the body followed: an armoured figure, very tall, the details
unclear. But there were spikes welded onto the armour, on the
shoulders and the elbows. There were vicious talon-like gauntlets
on both the figure’s hands, and they curled into fists as it rose
from its seated position.

The black armoured
figure fell upon them like a meteor, well over six feet tall.

It
was a knight of the
Caballeros de la
Muerte
.

~

The gauntlet extended like a loosed spring and clamped itself
around Caeles’ throat, yanked, and pulled him down. In a cloud of
dirt Caeles struggled as the knight dragged himself on top of him,
twisted him around, and then pulled both himself and Caeles to
their knees. He knelt, one armoured hand gripped tightly around
Caeles’ neck.

‘
Cese! Usted permaneceŕa sin
el movimiento, o asesinaré a este hombre
.
’ The knight’s voice was low and
harsh.

‘
What does it say?’ Gabel asked the magus, then to the knight:
‘We don’t understand!’

‘
Usted hará esta. No estoy
bromeando!
’

‘
What are you
saying
?
’

‘
Just get back!’ Caeles shouted. He didn’t seem to be having
trouble breathing, yet his speech was stilted, oddly
distorted.

‘
Haré esto si usted me fuerza
mi mano!
’ the knight
yelled.

‘
Guys…’ Caeles called, his voice hissing with static. There was
an edge of panic when he said, ‘Do as he says…!’

‘
What is he saying?’ Rowan cried.

Quietly, helmet facing the sky, the knight whispered,
‘
El dios me perdona para cuál estoy a
punto de hacer
…
’

‘
Damn it
,’ Caeles spat, wide-eyed. ‘Get
back
you idiots!’

Gabel spun, pushing Rowan with him, and pulled her with him
away from the armoured figure. Sarai and the magus had already
retreated two steps. The knight looked at them through the
ferocious helmet, muttering something in his foreign language. The
grip on Caeles was released.

‘
Just … stay where you are,’ Caeles said slowly to the others.
His voice sounded tinny, as if it was through a long metal pipe.
‘Don’t come closer…’

‘
Do you understand it?’ Gabel asked. His pistol was in his
hand.

‘
Yes, don’t you? It’s Spanish, or at least some broken form of
it…’ Caeles turned and looked at the knight. It was clear the man
inside the sheath of metal was breathing hard.

Then, just as
suddenly as he had attacked, the knight fell once more into the
grimy sand, unconscious. Grainy plumes rolled into the air on
either side.

‘
Well,’ said Caeles shakily, as dust settled around him.
‘Wasn’t that exciting?’

~

The first to notice that the knight had reawakened was Sarai.
As the others argued over his fate, the Scathac had been sitting on
a nearby headstone, a dark shape against a darker backdrop,
watching the unconscious figure come to his senses.

His head jerked upward with a start, to the sound of heavy
armour grinding. Through the tiny slit in the front of the helmet,
which was carved into a blunt dragon’s snout, eyes scanned the
scene from within an oppressive darkness.

‘
You must be hot with all that armour on,’ Sarai said quietly.
The others hadn’t noticed the knight’s changed
condition.

‘
Híbrido
,’ the knight spat. His chest heaved once, in a long sigh.
‘Who the hell are you people?’

‘
I knew you spoke English!’ Sarai exclaimed. She clapped her
hands.

‘
Do
you
? What
accent is that?’

‘
Don’t offend me, knight. I know what you are, and I’m not
opposed to killing you if you make a false move.’

‘
I can’t do much, can I?’ the knight asked rhetorically. He
raised his arms, displaying the ropes that bound his wrists
together. In turn, they were fastened to the heavy tombstone he was
leaning against.

‘
You know, you looked a lot more frightening when you weren’t
trussed up like a dog.’

‘
Even tied dogs bite,’ the knight said, looking around at the
others. Still they argued. ‘Who are you
tonto
s? Let me free.’

‘
I do not think that’s going to happen anytime soon,’ Sarai
said, standing and quietly advancing. The knight made an attempt to
sit up. ‘You are still weak, anyway. You should just rest
up.’

He snorted
hollowly inside his helmet. ‘How can I rest when I know you people
stand around me, prattling in your strange tongues?’

‘
We are all from different places,’ Sarai said.

‘
Isn’t everybody? Since the war the entire world has been so.
Otherwise I’d be far away from you and your stinking
allies.’

The magus slowly came to stand beside Sarai. ‘He has
awakened?’

‘
He speaks English at least.’

‘
What other languages do you speak,
Caballero
?’ the magus asked, leaning
down.

‘
I speak them all,’ the knight said, his voice dulled by
resignation.

‘
You would have to, so you could translate all the screams of
your victims,’ Rowan hissed, looking over. She’d been in earshot
all along.

‘
Yes,’ the knight drawled. ‘Of course. You
cobarde
morons know nothing about
the
Caballeros
.
Set me free. There’s no use in keeping me here.’

‘
Just tell us what you’re doing in the Resting Place,’ Caeles
asked patiently.

‘
Grave robbing.’

Caeles kicked
him hard in the helmet. ‘I can hear your head rattling around
inside that nasty can of yours,’ he said. ‘And your brain inside
your head. Try again.’

The knight endured a second kick. ‘What do you
think
I’m doing here? I
came from across the Plains.’

‘
The desert? How? Are there more of you?’

‘
I’m alone.’ His voice, enhanced by subtle pipes and grooves
with his black helmet, dripped with malice. The factotum could
almost see his burning demon’s eyes, bright red and narrow from
inside hollowed-out sockets. The man may have been impressive
standing up, but now he looked more like a bully who’d been knocked
flat, all anger and righteous indignation.

‘
I want a straight answer,’ said Gabel. ‘If you are alone, how
did you survive the crossing of the Plains?’

‘
The gel filament in my armour keeps me cool, but I’m
dehydrated. I need water.’

‘
You’ll get some if you co-operate,’ the hunter promised.
‘Where is your horse?’

‘
I don’t have one.’

‘
All
Caballeros
have steeds. What good is a horseman without a horse? Tell me
where your beast is.’

‘
He died out in the desert!’ the knight said impatiently. ‘I
had to filter his blood for water to sustain myself. Are you
pleased? Will you give me water now?’ He coughed hoarsely, a little
theatrically.

‘
He does sound parched,’ Sarai said to Gabel. Caeles tossed the
knight a skin of water from his pack. The armoured man looked
around at the group for a second, then opened the skin, tilted back
his head and poured the liquid in through the opening from which he
saw.

‘
Open your visor,’ the magus demanded. ‘Let us see your face
and drink properly.’

‘
My visor is rusted shut.’

‘
Rubbish. Rust, in the desert?’

‘
Use your brain!’ the knight spat, helmet dripping with
moisture. ‘The gel-layer around my visor opening dried out on the
Plains. I was in the sun too long, and it crusted over. I couldn’t
open it, so I had to drink like I am now.
That
rusted it shut. It’s completely
ruined; I’ll need a new one.’

He poured more
water in through the hole.

‘
What?’ he asked. ‘You don’t believe me? Tough
luck.’

‘
Enough water,’ Gabel said, snatching back the animal skin.
‘Why were you crossing the desert?’

‘
I’m a scout,’ the knight said. ‘I was scouting.’

‘
Do you want water? Try again.’

‘
Whatever it was, I obviously didn’t get far, did
I?’

‘
You’d better tell us,’ Caeles warned.

The Knight made a noise like a cornered animal. ‘Fine. I’m
out here on my own because … Well. I suppose you might call it a
permanent furlough.’

‘
You’ve been retired?’

‘
After a fashion.’ He stopped struggling. They could hear him
breath from behind his fused helmet. ‘I’ve been expatriated.
The
Caballeros
sent me out into the desert alone to die, with no water. My
horse died a fortnight ago. I need water,’ he pleaded.

Gabel tossed him back the skin, and watched as it was drained
through the visor. ‘You’re a pariah.’

‘
Yes. After I was sentenced, I intended to find a group of
travellers who dwell in the rainforest just on the borders of the
Plains, but they heard of my plans and sent me out here. I … plead
for escort.’

‘
A knight of the
Caballeros
!’ Sarai chuckled.
‘
Pleading
. To
us.’

‘
Hear him out,’ the magus said. ‘Escort to where?’

‘
Back across the desert to the itinerants that camp in the
rainforest. They’ll protect me. They welcome anyone.’

‘
Even a Horseman of Death?’ Rowan asked, disbelieving. ‘Someone
such as you?’

‘
I was cast out because I’m different to the
Caballeros
,’ the knight
said. ‘Don’t throw me in the same lot as those
butchers.’

‘
People say you’re demons.’

‘
The people,’ the knight said, ‘are not far wrong.’

~