The Blood Debt Part 42

*I know,' said Marmion coolly, making rea.s.suring motions with both hands. *That's exactly what I want. And if you'll just stay calm, both our chances of making it out of this alive will significantly improve.'

Skender was having trouble keeping up. One moment he had been descending at a steady pace, the next the world had dropped out from under him and the Wall was streaming by. He had cried out, fearing for a moment that the rope had snapped and he was falling to his death. But the harness still had a tight grip on his backside; he wasn't in freefall and hadn't skinned himself too badly against the store. Somehow the crew up above had found a way to accelerate his descent without dropping him.

Then, with the ground finally coming appreciably closer, the heavy lifter had lunged for him - or so it had felt - and he had covered his face with his hands, fearing a new catastrophe.

Death spared him again. When he dared part his fingers, the dirigible was heading for the sky.

Skender looked down. Someone else had joined the party below. A Sky Warden, judging by the colour of the robe. He groaned, recognising Marmion's bald spot. What was he doing there?

The ground was coming up awfully fast. He fumbled at the pouch, thinking, Red for up, green for down, white to stop. He produced the white flag and waved it. Nothing happened.

*Pay attention, you idiots!' he cried uselessly, flailing the flag in desperation as the ground swelled beneath him. *White to stop! White to stop! White to -'

With a throat-closing jerk, the winch suddenly slowed, forcing his chin down on his chest and the flag out of his hand. It flapped around his legs on the end of its string as he came to an abrupt halt a metre from the ground. He heard a *glurk' and realised that it had come from him.

The rope jerked again and he dropped the rest of the distance. His feet hit the ground and his legs promptly gave way. He landed face first, staring at Shilly's stick. He didn't even know he'd dropped it.

A stone snout poked him, hard.

*Ow!' Skender sat up and backed against the Wall with the stick in his hands. The reservoir of the Change in the carved wood trembled against his fingertips, aching to be let out. He stood and confronted his attacker.

It was the man'kin pig he had spoken to the previous day.

*You are needed in this world,' it said again, and trotted away.

Skender let out a panicky breath and looked around. The ground was as broken as a freshly turned field. Further along the Wall was a metal door, glowing red. The man'kin stayed carefully away from it. Several dozen man'kin congregated outside the tunnel mouth, to his left. He could feel the stone slabs shaking behind him as they closed ranks, gradually shutting the makeshift entrance to the city. A pang of compa.s.sion for the stone pig struck him: it would be stuck outside when the flood came. The water would dash it to pieces.

But what was death to something that saw all its life at once? He didn't know. He was, mainly, just glad that the other man'kin were ignoring him.

They stared, instead, at a confrontation taking place a dozen metres away. In the centre of a clearing, Pirelius and the twins had squared off against Marmion. Their voices were buried under the sound of the Wall rearranging itself, and another sound - a growing rumble the origin of which Skender tried not to think about. No one appeared to have noticed his arrival apart from the pig.

He went to move closer and was hauled up by the rope. He tugged on it, hoping the winch operators would take the hint. They did. Rope hissed to the ground, giving him much-needed slack. He followed the pig through a petrified forest of man'kin, none of whom paid him any attention. He was ready with the red flag and Shilly's stick if they did.

Words gradually coalesced out of the noise.

*- really think she's coming back for you?'

*Of course she is. We have a deal.'

*We had a deal too, and look where I ended up!'

*I don't know anything about that - but I do know that the Magister is afraid at the moment. You can use that to your advantage.'

*Why should I believe you?'

*Because I'm down here with you.' Skender was close enough to see Marmion's expression. It was one of determination and fear. *Would I take a risk like this if I didn't think it worthwhile?'

*Pah!' Pirelius spat into the dirt. *I don't trust anyone without knowing what they have to lose.'

Skender peered from behind a statue of a horse as Pirelius dragged the twins away from Marmion. Pirelius came up sharp against a frozen man'kin, and flinched away from it into another.

*Get out of my way!' he bellowed, flailing with his free hand for the thong he had used to whip Skender into submission.

*They're afraid of the Homunculus,' said Marmion, following him, *and with good reason. You have to listen to me.'

*I don't have to do anything.'

*Kill it or we'll all die!'

*No!' The twins' mingled voices rose up over the argument between the two men. *You must let us go! We still have work to do!'

Pirelius shifted his grip on the knife and plunged it deep into the Homunculus's shoulder. The twins howled and fell to their knees. Pirelius removed the blade and wiped it on his leather pants.

*I'm tired of this game,' he said to Marmion. *Tell the Magister that if she's serious, she needs to come down here now and talk face to face, or -'

Pirelius stopped. It looked to Skender as though he had finally noticed that his main bargaining chip was worthless. The man'kin weren't attacking the city. They were standing around him and his captive, waiting for something.

His gaze took in the tunnel mouth for the first time. His eyes widened, then narrowed as he turned to Marmion.

*You lied to me, you dirt-faced, blue-coat b.a.s.t.a.r.d.'

*I told you the truth, every word. The Magister is afraid because you can hurt her. You can use that to your advantage, if you're quick.'

Pirelius stiffened as he looked over Marmion's shoulder, along the Divide. His mouth opened in shock, but no words came out.

Skender followed the direction of his stare. Over the heads of the man'kin, a foaming, dirty-white wall had appeared.

*G.o.ddess,' he breathed. The rising wind took the word from his lips and swept it away.

Shilly stared at the approaching flood, not quite able to comprehend the scale of it. She had happened to be staring up the Divide as it came into view, rounding the bend to the east. It looked like a giant wave rushing in from the sea, but there was no chance of it slowing and retreating, as normal waves did. This was growing nearer with the speed and power of a tsunami, sweeping up everything in its path.

*What's going on down there?' she asked Sal, barely able to tear her eyes away from the sight. *Why are they taking so long?' The view over the edge wasn't encouraging. No one had moved, and every second was precious.

*Pirelius has just worked it out,' came her lover's distant reply. Sal's fingers clenched the rail as the Wall shook and rumbled beneath them. *I don't know what he's going to do.'

*How long until the tunnel is closed?' she asked the giant man'kin. *Are we still in danger?'

The man'kin nodded.

A prolonged shudder forced them to their knees. Shilly resisted the urge to instruct the man'kin to haul Skender up to safety. Wishing with every breath Skender would hurry up, she peered over the edge and waited for the red flag.

Kail was as still as one of the man'kin caught in the wake. He hadn't moved throughout the entire confrontation. Sal could feel the ache in the tracker's legs and back and the patience with which he endured it. The older man was exhausted but his poise was perfectly intact. Waiting was an integral part of being a hunter. It was all about seizing the right moment to strike, no matter how long it took to come.

It was strange, Sal thought. The longer he dipped into the tracker's thoughts, the more he picked up. Not just fatigue and philosophy, either. There were glimpses of people and places he'd never been - from Kail's memories, he a.s.sumed - and emotions that triggered faint echoes in him. The most surprising was a surge of affection for someone he recognised instantly: Shilly, as she had looked on the edge of the Divide, shortly after he and Skender had flown away. Her expression was concerned and determined at once. He felt Kail looking at her with pride and sadness.

The mixed emotion was s.n.a.t.c.hed away as Kail focused on events in front of him. Pirelius was a man who had never been particularly stable. Kail had watched him long enough to know that for certain now. Pirelius was backed into a corner, feeling betrayed and operating on the very limits of his resources, but he was far from stupid.

Kail could practically see Pirelius's mind working: in a moment the tunnel into the city would be closed, while something vast and terrible bore down on them from the east - a flash flood of stupendous proportions - that he would be caught up in if he didn't act soon.

The bandit was desperate and had never been more dangerous.

*The time for thinking is over,' declared Marmion in exasperation. *If you won't kill it, I will.'

The Sky Warden produced a slender blade from beneath his robes. It gleamed like ice in his hand.

He lunged forward, and the deadly tip stabbed squarely at the Homunculus's chest. The Homunculus looked up from its daze and swayed away, too slowly. Its many eyes triangulated on death's bright, metallic sting, hypnotised by its inevitability.

Light flashed from Kail's left. Something bright and fierce left a sharp blue trail across his vision. It looked like a tiny ball of lightning, and discharged into the knife Marmion held. With a thunderclap the blade exploded, sending the warden flying backwards in a spray of metal and blood.

Pirelius staggered and fell to one knee. The look of surprise on his face was almost comical, but it didn't last long. He moved more quickly than Sal could credit, shoving the Homunculus with a roar, his sights set on the tunnel.

*He's worked it out!' said Sal, teasing his mind from Kail's with difficulty. *We can't let him use the Homunculus to stop the tunnel closing!'

*I know,' said the tracker calmly.

Kail was already moving, coming out from cover and reaching with practised hands for the weighted cord dangling at his waist.

Pirelius travelled no more than three steps before coming face to face with a frozen man'kin. He sidestepped to his right and found another in his path.

*Get out of my way!'

The roar of water was almost so loud as to drown out his words completely. Kail caught sight of Skender struggling through the forest of living statues with rope and harness trailing from him. The stick in his hand was expended, useless, shrivelled and black like charcoal. Kail waved him away.

Pirelius wrenched the Homunculus from side to side, finding man'kin frozen before him every way he tried to run. Kail felt the man's desperation rising in time with the roar of the flood. The leather thong dangling from his left hand cracked to no avail.

*You!' he roared. *You have destroyed me!'

The words were directed upwards, to where the heavy lifter had been. The sky was greying over; the dirigible had fled the gale preceding the flood.

The bola in Kail's hand spun as Pirelius backed away from a snarling stone visage with wide, despairing eyes. He had no hope left for himself. That much was clear. All he wanted to do was hurt the Magister before he died - and the Homunculus would be the instrument of his vengeance.

*No!' Sal heard himself cry aloud as Kail let the bola fly.

He could feel Kail's determination to do the right thing. Kail had made a promise - but Sal had promised too, to rescue the Homunculus, to come back for it later. What could he possibly do now to stop the inevitable? Killing the Homunculus would solve everything: the city would be safe if the tunnel was allowed to close, and the world would be saved from the threat it presaged. That was what Marmion wanted.

The bola flew with deadly force and aim. With a sickening sound, it wrapped itself around Pirelius's neck and snapped it in two. The bandit dropped like a sack of stones, and the Homunculus fell free.

The roar of the stones and the water was deafening. Skender, caught between the two, felt squeezed and shaken by two competing sonic Shockwaves. He gaped as Pirelius fell and blood sprayed from his mouth. The bola had seemed to come from nowhere.

*Quickly!' shouted a voice over the double roar. The man'kin were moving again, running to add their weight to the gradually closing gap in the Wall. It didn't sound like one of their voices.

A blur pa.s.sed in front of his face and resolved into a giant man with a long, gaunt face and violet eyes. Skender jumped, then recognised him as Habryn Kail.

*You are needed,' said the tracker through the Change. *Isn't that what the man'kin said?'

Skender spurred himself forward to help the twins. A strong-fingered hand grabbed his arm.

*No. You get Marmion. He needs you most.'

Skender looked at where the Sky Warden lay in a pool of bright red blood on the ground. He hadn't spared a thought for Marmion since loosing the energy in Shilly's walking stick at him, halting the unjustified slaughter of the twins. But there was no denying that Marmion was helpless in the face of the flood. If he was still alive, Skender couldn't in good conscience leave him to die.

Why not? part of him asked. That's exactly what you did to Rattails!

There wasn't time to argue about ethics. He was already moving. Kail and the twins had at least a chance to save themselves, even if the Homunculus was wounded and Kail was hunched over like a man with no reserves left at all. His face was haggard. His chest rose and fell in rapid gasps.

Skender crouched by Marmion and felt for a pulse. Weak but present. He rolled the Sky Warden over onto his back and flinched at the ruin of his hand.

Deal with that later, he scolded himself. Get out of this alive first.

He pulled at the rope so he could reach the second harness. Putting it onto an unconscious person proved to be more difficult than he had expected. Marmion was a dead weight wrapped in robes slick with blood. While Skender worked, Kail and the twins exchanged words, heads pressed close so they could hear each other over the booming roar. The tracker appeared to be cutting its bonds.

Skender's heart raced as he fastened the last tie on the harness. He reached for the red flag, and hesitated.

A strange stillness fell. The air was shocked, compressed beyond wind into a solid thing. It caught the moment and held it. Through a thickening haze, the light turned yellow-brown - a herald of destruction, not night. The man'kin stood splayed against the Wall as though holding it upright. Kail and the Homunculus faced each other like wrestlers about to engage. Even the blood pulsing from Marmion's ragged wrist appeared to have ceased.

Kail looked at him, and his lips moved. *Go!' he seemed to yell, although Skender couldn't hear a sound. *Get out of here!'

The flag came up and waved without his volition. The twins looked around them, dazed.

Kail's lips moved soundlessly again. Skender thought he recognised Shilly's name on the tracker's lips - Tell her what? he wanted to ask.

- then the rope wrenched him upwards so hard his head snapped back and the world went dark. He didn't feel the spray of water that soaked him to the skin, but he did retain enough partial awareness to wonder how it had come to be raining.

Shilly caught a flash of red at the bottom of the Wall. This wasn't blood, as it had been during the false alarm a moment ago. It was moving, waving.

*Turn the winch!' she shouted at the man'kin, not daring to take her eyes from the speck that was Skender far below. The wall of water rushing towards them was unbelievably high and moving at a speed that seemed impossible for something so big. *Reel in the rope!'

*TURN!' The big man'kin wrenched the winch's handle so hard sparks flew. *TURN BACK!'

*Dear G.o.ddess,' she breathed, backing away from the edge of the Wall with her hands clenched before her. The stones shook beneath her. *Are we in time? Will he make it?'

None of the guards answered, if they even heard her. Their attention was fixed on the flood. She gave in to the urge to look and the sickening reality of it struck her full in the face. Wind howled past her, flattening her hair and stinging her eyes. It brought with it a smell of wet dirt - and lots of it. The flood was a roiling, tumbling ma.s.s of mud and stone. Boulders rolled in and out of sight like grains of sand during a heavy swell. She wondered if any of them were man'kin or people from further up the Divide, and she fought the desire to throw up.

The Wall shook as the vanguard of the flood struck. The sound it made was a physical blow, and she staggered backwards into Sal, who was himself having trouble standing. She could hear nothing but the roar of water and stone. It overwhelmed her, and for a moment she could think of nothing else. She forgot the Wall, the city, the man'kin, herself. Her world was washed away as surely as if the flood had literally struck her.

A vertical wall of water shot up in front of her. The winch jerked, and would have been s.n.a.t.c.hed away in the upside-down waterfall had not the giant man'kin grabbed it and yanked it down. The rope came with it, pulling Skender and a second person out of the torrent. The three of them fell in a tangle on the top of the Wall. Dirty water doused them all. Dozens of tiny fists seemed to be pummelling her as she clutched at Sal and the guard rail, terrified she might be swept away.

Then the deluge ebbed and she let herself fall. The roar of the flood hadn't subsided, but the front had pa.s.sed them. The top of the Wall was several metres above the roiling currents filling the Divide from side to side. She sat up and stared in shock at a muddy deluge where the canyon had once been. The Wall shook at its pa.s.sage. The stones flexed and didn't part.

Over the thundering current she heard voices and turned to see the guards cutting Skender and the person he had rescued from the rope. She hurried to join them and was surprised to see a blood-spattered Eisak Marmion next to her friend from the north, not the Homunculus. Both of them were dripping wet. Skender was out cold but seemed otherwise unharmed. His hands were empty. One of the guards torc Marmion's robe into strips; another tied the strips around the grisly stump where Marmion's right hand had once been. Scorch marks along his wrist and arm and the ragged edge of the wound told her some of the story.

Marmion would have a great deal to say about this, if he survived. She was already dreading the accusations. He had lost a great deal of blood and his face was deathly pale. For all her dislike of him, and her regret over a bond that would never exist between them - and her disappointment that he had been saved, not the Homunculus - she couldn't bring herself to hope he wouldn't recover.

Sal bent over him and the Change flexed. He reached out for her guidance, and she concentrated on the task at hand. The bleeding had to be stopped. The two of them descended with one will into the torn tissues and encouraged them to heal. Blood vessels sealed with sudden sparkles; skin tied itself in knots. They were small charms, something any village healer could have attempted, but they did the job.