The Black Lung Captain (32 page)

Frey cursed at the sight of Grist, who was striding towards them with a few of his men. He'd hoped Trinica would keep Grist busy long enough for him to make a break for it with the sphere. In fact, he'd rather hoped they'd blow each other out of the sky. He belatedly realised that he should have kept his earcuff in, so Harkins and Pinn could keep him informed. He'd been relying on Jez to relay information, but she was in no state to relay anything right now.

They scrambled down the earthen bank that had piled up around the
All Our Yesterdays
and met Grist at the bottom. He was accompanied by Crattle and two others that Frey didn't recognise.

'Cap'n Frey!' Grist grinned, showing yelow teeth around the stub of a cigar. The rain had extinguished it, but he kept it in his mouth anyway. 'Pleased to see you're wel.'

'Likewise,' Frey lied. 'You took care of the
Delirium Trigger?'

'She turned tail and ran,' Grist declared proudly. He gestured at Jez, who was slung over Silo's shoulder. 'One of yours down, eh?'

'She'l live,' said Frey.

'I'l wager she wil,' said Grist. 'I bet she heals real quick, don't she?' He walked over to Silo and picked up one of Jez's limp and dangling hands. 'After al, she took an arrow through this palm not two weeks past, and it's good as new.'

Frey didn't like the knowing tone in his voice.

'It'd be terrible to lose someone who reads the wind as wel as she does,' Grist said. 'She put us right on top of the
Delirium Trigger,
flying blind. That's something special.'

'She's a talented woman,' said Frey.

Grist held her wrist for a moment, then turned to Frey with an expression of mock surprise. 'Why, Cap'n. She don't have a pulse. I reckon she's dead!'

Frey had had enough. 'We're taking her to the infirmary.' He tried to leave, but Grist blocked him with a caloused and smoke-yelowed hand.

'Whoa, there, Cap'n. Aren't you forgettin' somethin'?' His gaze drifted to the sphere, cradled in Frey's arm. He had that hungry look again.

'I'l hold on to this,' said Frey. 'Just until we sel it. Fifty-fifty, remember,
partner?'

Crattle and the other men raised their pistols.

'Oh, I don't think it's gonna work that way,' said Grist.

Bess growled and stirred, but Crattle's pistol was trained on Crake. He primed the hammer with a click. 'Tel your beast if it makes a move, you'l have a chestful of lead,' the bosun said.

'She gets it,' said Crake, holding up his hands. 'Don't you, Bess?' Bess subsided with a rustle of leather and chain mail. A sinister singsong echoed up from deep within her. It sounded like a threat.

Frey stared at Grist hard. He'd seen it coming. Seen it coming, and been unable to do a damned thing about it. His men were hopelessly outnumbered by the
Storm Dog's
crew. He should never have got tangled up with this man. He should have listened to sense and turned his back after Grist kiled Hodd.

'What is the sphere?' he asked. 'What is it, realy?'

Grist just grinned. 'It's mine,' he said. He held out his hand. When Frey was stil reluctant to give it up, he said, 'Wouldn't be wise to make me ask again.'

Frey offered him the sphere, bitterly. That little bal of black metal, its surface marked with swirling curves and arcs of silver. The cause of al his trouble. He'd gone through so much to get that thing, and then to reclaim it, and he stil didn't know what it was.

Do you know what would happen if it fell into the wrong hands?

Thousands will die.

Grist took it. Lightning flickered and thunder boomed. He narrowed his eyes and looked at Frey, rain dripping from his heavy brow. Then he puled out his pistol from his belt and leveled it at Frey.

'A smart man don't leave his enemies behind to take revenge,' he said.

Frey thumbed at Bess. 'A smart man would realise that us being alive is the only thing stopping that eight-foot monster from putting her arm down your throat and puling your guts out through your mouth.'

Grist looked Bess up and down. 'Aye. You make a good point.' He motioned towards Jez with the barrel of his gun. 'But we'l be takin' your navigator, if you don't mind.'

'What do you want
her
for?' Frey asked, then remembered to add, 'Besides, she's dead.'

'I think we both know that she ain't as dead as she seems, Cap'n Frey,' said Grist. 'Don't we?'

How does he know that?
Frey thought. But he never got the chance to ask. There was a short shriek of incoming artilery, and then a terrific blast, big enough to light up the night and make Frey stumble with the concussion.

'The
Delirium Trigger!'
someone shouted. 'She's back!'

Grist swore loudly. 'That mad bloody whore! Don't she know when she's beaten?'

The crew of the
Storm Dog
fled back towards their craft as the
Delirium Trigger
sank through the clouds, her remaining guns firing at the grounded
Storm
Dog.
Geysers of soil rained down on the scattering Awakeners. The earth shivered with the force of the detonations.

'Your navvie!' Grist said, snarling. He was no longer quite so jovial as he thrust his pistol at Silo. 'Give her over. Now!'

Silo just stared at him and made no attempt to move.

'You got what you came for,' Frey said. Grist took a step towards her, but Frey put his hand on his chest to stop him. Grist stared at the hand, and then at Frey, in amazement.

'Dead or alive, she's one of my crew, Grist. You're not having her.'

Grist was almost quivering with fury. 'Cap'n!' said his bosun. 'There's no time!'

Grist looked over at Bess, then back at Frey. There was raw hatred in his gaze. 'You thank your stars for that tin guardian of yours,' he growled, and then he turned and ran for his craft. Crattle backed off a few steps, keeping them covered with his gun, and then he ran too.

Frey briefly thought about chasing after them, or at least shooting Grist in the back, but it was foolish. There were two dozen of the
Storm Dog's
men running towards their craft. No way his crew could get through a firefight like that without one of them dying, not even with Bess on their side.

'Back to the
Ketty Jay!'
he said. They sprinted through the long grass towards their aircraft. Rain lashed at their faces. Pounding concussions came from al around them. The
Storm Dog
was returning fire on the
Delirium Trigger,
but it was an easy target until it got into the air. A hole was blasted in its keel as the
Delirium Trigger
scored a direct hit.

Frey dug his silver earcuff out of his pocket and clipped it to his ear.

'—oody Equalisers coming from everywhere!' Pinn was yeling. 'Sons of bitches doubled back and the
Storm Dog's
outflyers are al docked up inside her!'

'Harkins! Pinn!'

'Cap'n!' said Harkins, perilously close to hysteria. 'We've been . . . that is ... I mean . . . Where've you
been
? Is Jez okay?'

'Listen up!'Frey snapped. 'Hightail it, both of you. You won't last two minutes against that many Equalisers.'

'You sure?' asked Pinn.

'Yes! Get to the rendezvous! We'l be right behind you.'

'See you later, then.'

By the time they reached the
Ketty Jay,
the
Storm Dog
was rising from the ground, thrusters already lit to push her forward. The
Delirium Trigger
was coming in fast, guns blazing. Al the artilery was focused on the
Storm Dog.
The
Ketty Jay
was either unnoticed or considered unimportant. Either was fine with Frey.

He raced up the cargo ramp and headed for the cockpit. Malvery came panting along behind him while the rest of them bundled into the hold. The craft rocked with the force of nearby explosions as he flung himself into the pilot's seat, punched in the ignition code and boosted the aerium engines to maximum. She rose on her struts with the usual chorus of groans and squeaks, and lifted herself off the ground.

Malvery hurried into the cockpit, red-faced and sweating. 'Anything I can do?'

'Just hold on tight!' Frey said. Malvery clung to the doorframe and squeezed his eyes shut as Frey shoved the thrusters to maximum.

Nothing happened. Frey tried again. Stil nothing. The
Ketty Jay
was gliding upward into the storm, but she had no way to push herself forward. The thrusters wouldn't light. The engines had finaly broken down on him.

Malvery opened one eye. 'Did we escape?' he asked.

'Silo!' Frey yeled. 'Get up here!'

But it was too late. The cockpit flooded with blinding whiteness. Three Equalisers hove into view, their machine guns trained on him, lights shining.

'I think they've got us covered, Cap'n,' said Malvery.

'I think so too,' said Frey. He vented aerium until the
Ketty Jay
was heavier than air again. She stopped rising and began to sink gently to the ground.

In the distance he could see the
Storm Dog
lumbering away towards the rumbling clouds. The
Delirium Trigger
was harrying her the whole way, but it wasn't enough to stop her. He watched the
Storm Dog
disappear into the storm. With her went the sphere he'd worked so hard to obtain. Stolen from him. Again.

'Bugger,' said Malvery.

'Bugger,' Frey agreed, and they came down to earth with a bump.

Twenty-Two

Captive — Best Of Enemies —

Jez Awakes — Crake's Announcement

'Darian, Darian, Darian,' said Trinica Dracken, as if to a wayward child. 'What am I going to do with you?'

She was wearing a slight, contemplative smile. Lightning flickered outside: sharp shadows lunged across her ghost-white face.

Frey leaned back in his chair and took an idle survey of her cabin. Brass and dark wood. Electric lights, set low. A bookcase with novels and manuals and maps. Foreign tides were mixed in among them. Trinica had been schooled in Samarlan and Thacian from a young age. The advantages of a privileged upbringing, Frey supposed.

'You could start by giving me back al the money you stole from me outside Retribution Fals,' he suggested. Then he grinned. 'On second thoughts, keep it. It'l just about cover the damage to your aircraft.'

Trinica sat behind her desk, next to a cracked window of reinforced windglass. The cabin had been tidied and cleaned before his arrival -Trinica liked to be neat

- but she couldn't disguise al the evidence of the pounding the
Delirium Trigger
had taken. Outside in the corridor there were the sounds of running feet, and the air smeled of burnt oil.

'You shouldn't have robbed me,' said Frey. 'I let you off the first time, on account of our previous good feeling towards each other. But twice? Not a chance.'

She gave a derisive snort. 'Yes, Darian. Grist has run off with your treasure and your crew is languishing in my brig. You've certainly come out on top this time.'

'You didn't do so wel yourself.'

'I'l survive.'

'So wil I.'

'Ah, but that's
my
decision now, isn't it?' she said. Her black eyes hardened. 'You've inconvenienced me greatly.'

Frey made a
do-I-look-like-I-care
face. 'I didn't ask you to get involved. Actualy, I seem to recal
I
had the sphere first.'

'You've cost me men and fighter craft.
Good
men, some of them.'

'Oh, piss off with your threats, Trinica,' Frey snapped. He was suddenly irritated at her. Just the sight of her wound him up. 'What would
you
have done? You robbed me
again.'

'I rather expected you to chalk it up to experience and move on,' she said.

'Wel, you expected wrong,' he said sulenly. 'I thought you'd have learned by now: you don't know me half as wel as you think you do.'

He tapped his fingers on the arm of his seat. Impatient, agitated. It was hard to keep his cool around her. She had a way of making him lose his temper. It frustrated him. He could be the soul of charm around other women, but her mere presence was enough to have him behaving like a surly adolescent.

'I wish you'd scrape that shit off your face,' he said at length. 'You always had great skin.'

Trinica made a distracted noise of agreement. 'I did take very good care of myself, back then. You remember my dressing table, I'm sure. Groaning under the weight of my cosmetics.'

'You'd spend an hour making yourself look like you weren't wearing make-up.'

'It's easy to become obsessed with the unimportant, when nothing you do means anything.'

Frey made a sweeping gesture to indicate the
Delirium Trigger.
'And this does?'

'Oh yes. The power of life and death. I'm
very
important to you right now.'

Frey couldn't argue with that, but he didn't like to concede the point. He was stil bitter about the way she'd snubbed him back on Kurg.

Trinica was watching the rain pouring down the outside of the window. The storm had eased and the sky had lightened a fraction. It was nearing dawn. Frey had spent hours in the brig, awaiting an audience. The second night he'd had without sleep. He needed a big dose of Shine and a day-long nap.

'The Awakeners are baying for your blood,' she said. 'They're not at al happy about what you did to their aircraft. I gather your golem notched up quite a bodycount in there.'

Frey shrugged, picking at the arm of his seat with a fingernail. 'I gave them a chance to surrender,' he said. Then he looked up. 'What are you doing working for the Awakeners again? Don't tel me you're starting to believe that junk about the Alsoul?'

Trinica laughed: a cold, humourless cascade. 'Please, Darian. Me, a warrior of the Alsoul? It was money. Just money. They pay extraordinarily wel for someone reliable and discreet. And they were very impressed with the work I did for Duke Grephen on their behalf.'