Андреа Хёст - The Pyramids of London

“Thank you,” Griff said, voice high with relief.

“There is nothing to thank for,” Felix said, his heavily-accented Prytennian difficult to understand because he spoke so low. “That place you live. It has the protections of two gods, yes? Go to it. Go quickly. Go for your lives.”

He gave them the tiniest of pushes, and turned away. Wasting no time, Eluned grabbed Griff by the arm and practically hauled him down the street, Eleri close behind. Eluned knew it wasn’t over. The forest was still with her, looming and dark. She hadn’t understood what it meant before, but she did now: Cernunnos was the dual-nature god, hunter and hunted. The danger was getting worse.

“We need a taxi,” she muttered. “Look for a taxi.”

“Ned, they’re not coming after us,” Griff said.

“Doesn’t matter. We have to get out of here.”

“There.” Eleri began waving her arms over her head, and when Eluned saw what she’d spotted, she followed suit and thankfully the distant figure of a girl balanced above a central wheel dipped, and then came rapidly toward them.

“Lost?” Li Sen asked, the three stabilising wheels of the dragonfly spreading into a rest position as she purred into a stop in front of them.

“Trouble,” Eleri said briskly. “Need to get home before we’re killed.”

Li Sen stared, then said: “Follow me,” and wasted no time sending her dragonfly in a skittering circle and accelerating back the way she’d come. They had to race at top speed to keep pace, but that suited Eluned, who was drowning in trees, branches whipping her face, overwhelmed by the sense of a hunt rising. Her share of the tools Eleri had purchased bounced and jolted with every pounding step, and her breath soon came ragged in her throat, but the forest faded a little in the process, making her hope.

Their dragonfly guide led them straight to Nathaner’s Workshop, and this time there was no chance of being turned away at the door, as they barrelled right in after Li Sen, past stern workmen in the process of stripping down an engine and up to a clearer space near the back of the building.

“Emergency,” Li Sen told the woman who came over in response to their arrival. “What cars are free?”

“Only number two,” the woman said, wiping her hands on a rag. “‘Emergency’ is no excuse for rudeness, Li Sen.”

“I’m sorry, mother,” Li Sen said, glancing back as Griff sat down in a gasping heap. “Please may I take number two? I think this is important.”

“God-touched something sent to kill us,” Eleri managed, between panting. “Need to get to circle at our house.”

“I don’t think we have time to get to Forest House,” Eluned added. “It’s already coming. I can feel it.” She could hear it. Something crashing distantly through the undergrowth, sending up flights of birds.

“Need nearest strong circle or grove then,” Eleri said, pragmatically. “More than strong—strongest circle nearby.”

“The airfield’s Burning Circle.” Li Sen’s mother studied the three of them, then said decisively: “Take the coursers. Li Zhi, help her.”

“Yes, mother!” said a boy a year or two younger than Eluned, lending Li Sen a hand dismounting before dashing off with her to the far side of the workshop.

“Why are you so sure, Ned?” Griff asked, sitting down on the stained floor.

“It’s the bond with Cernunnos,” Eluned said briefly, not equal to explaining all that she was seeing and hearing. “We really need to go. Now.”

But Li Sen and Li Zhi were already returning, each pushing what looked like a very heavy velocipede that supported a long padded seat instead of a small saddle.

“Two with Li Zhi,” Li Sen said, peremptorily. “One with me.”

She threw a leg over the seat and balanced there waiting. Eluned didn’t hesitate, hopping on behind Li Sen.

“Put your feet on the rests, and don’t take them off,” Li Sen ordered. “Hold me around my waist.” She pressed a button and the courser buzzed into life. The sound was deeper than Eluned had expected, not as heavy as a growler, but definitely a full-grown cat compared to a dragonfly’s kitten purr. They started moving immediately.

She remembered to call back “Thank you, dama!” to Li Sen’s mother, and then yelped as the brisk turn out of the workshop stepped up to fast .

Even with the forest looming around her, delight came to steal Eluned’s thoughts. Wind streamed through her hair, and the uneven surface of the road flashed past: a foot carelessly dropping from the rest would definitely be a thing to regret. But, as had been pointed out, the corners .

“Burning Circle’s not public access, but don’t worry about that,” Li Sen said, voice whipping past Eluned’s ears. “We know how to get past the gate. Hope your aunt doesn’t mind paying a few fines!”

The forest loomed thick and dark, and they raced through a narrow corridor of towering trunks. Eluned could see stars above the trees, and heard a thudding, far too close.

“I think we need to go faster.”

Li Sen started to glance back, then concentrated on avoiding a hummingbird.

“A lot of fines then,” she said, and called out to her brother: “Open her up, Li Zhi!”

The boy, already grinning madly, shouted back: “Yesssss!” and then fast became heart-stopping.

They shot, one after another, down a narrow lane where the hedge bent over the road. A dog barked, and a man shouted as they emerged in front of his cart, sending his horse jolting in its traces. An orderly line of children on a day trip from a nearby school broke ranks and chased after them, and the bleating of horns rose on every side.

Still, it was not fast enough. In the forest, hot breath touched the back of Eluned’s neck. In the city of London, the people who called angrily after the two speeding coursers flinched as something slid by, a thing not yet with them but brushing too close for ordinary comfort. Death slipping through the streets like a shark.

Li Sen felt it too. Eluned could tell by the way the joy went out of her movements, and her shoulders tensed. On the other bike, all three riders were hunched low, Li Zhi’s sharp chin almost touching the handlebars. And yet, they were nearly there. Eluned could see the bulky form of one of the great transcontinental airships lifting over the roofs ahead. The coursers slewed around one of the corners, and there was the airfield’s main entrance, blocked by a sturdy looking boom gate.

“Tuck in,” Li Sen said, accelerating toward the gate.

Eluned thought for one horrified minute that she was going to try to go directly through the solid-looking wooden pole, but the gate was designed to keep out larger vehicles, and Li Sen aimed for the gap to one side, and the man who was angrily trying to wave them off. He looked stubborn enough to face down a pair of speeding coursers, but then he stared past them and his expression changed before he hastily retreated into a little guard hut. Eluned did not look back. She could hear a sound, almost like the ocean.

“Lots and lots of fines,” Li Sen muttered, as a claxon started blaring from the guard hut.

They tore past large buildings and out onto a road running along the edge of the vast flat grassy field. Ahead a crowd of people milled about, preparing to board a smaller airship, and the two coursers dodged out onto the grass rather than risk hitting them, although this made progress slower and much more bouncy. The shouts and screams behind them at least sounded more like shock and fright rather than anyone being attacked.

Zipping around the tethered airships, they roared out alongside a well-known building: the compression dome. Shaped like a top that had been cut vertically in half and laid on its side, it was where the Sulevia Leoth commanded the triskelion to bring trilesium from Sulis’ realm: the gas that kept Prytennia’s airship fleet aloft. The Burning Circle stood at the far end, so-called because of its strong association with the triskelion—and the resulting sere and yellow grass around it, withered by heat.