Adrian Tchaikovsky - The Scarab Path

Thalric nodded. 'Then now ,' he hissed, and was up and running for the edge, vaulting over it. Che let Osgan follow first, the Wasp simply toppling off and out of sight. She heard the sizzle of stings even as she herself followed suit. Her wings bore her raggedly and she stumbled as she landed. Thalric was already running across the street, lancing bolts of fire. She saw two or three figures at roof level, drawing back to avoid his aim. Osgan pitched a sting at them, too, before lurching after Thalric. If only Beetle Art provided some facility like that! Che ran after them, an enemy bolt scarring the ground close behind her.

They were close to the Scriptora now and she experienced an odd sense of anticipation, beside and beyond her own feelings. Achaeos? It was the same sense as before, that feeling of invisible company. Oh, if I ever had need of you, Achaeos, it's now .

In the air, the Rekef hunters easily outpaced them, but Thalric used the city to his advantage. The walls of Khanaphes's buildings, its uneven skyline of huge old buildings surrounded by the cluttered new ones, became their allies. Thalric changed direction over and over, each time bringing them back towards the Scriptora. Sometimes he was way ahead, sometimes he lagged, letting Che and Osgan build a lead. Often she heard his sting as he used it to warn off their enemies, forcing them out of his sight, buying a little extra time.

He is a hard man to hunt , Che thought. Thalric backed into a corner was a dangerous beast, was at his best, his most alive. It made her heart jump to see him so fervently defiant of all the odds. He was a proper bastard, she knew, but he would make them fight for his blood. None of it was for giving away easily.

'Here! Run! ' he snapped, as though they had not been running already. Abruptly there were no walls about them. They had hit the Place of Government from an unexpected angle, directly across from the arch to the Place of Foreigners. Ahead of them was the stepped pyramid with its crown of pale statues; to their left rose the Scriptora, huge and dark. There was not a single light in its windows. It looked like a tomb.

But the Ministers … Che wondered, but there were a hundred possible reasons. They might be sleeping, readying themselves for tomorrow's battle. They might also fear Wasp assassins, and with good reason. They might still be working somewhere out in the city, housing refugees. There was not a sign that anyone remained behind those closed doors. Still, they had nowhere else to run to.

Figures were dropping down ahead of them, swiftly cutting them off. She saw at least four Wasps falling into place. Thalric's sting spoke, but they answered in kind. The range was long, but Che flinched back, changed direction. The Wasps were already barring them from the Scriptora doors.

And so it ends .

Thalric had thrown himself backwards, a winged jump of ten feet that put him seven steps up the side of the pyramid, returning golden fire from his open palm. Osgan collapsed beside him, shaking, gasping, one hand held fitfully out towards the enemy.

Cheerwell Maker!

That voice, all within her head, was enough. It caught her by the chin and dragged her face round until she was looking back and up — up the stone slope, up past the poised stone giants.

He hung there, clearly visible even at night, a grey ghost in a foreign city. Here, girl! The voice snapped in her head, admitting no patience with her.

The Wasps were advancing: another two had dropped down, one to each side. The square was broad, so the range still defeated their stings, but they were moving in. Thalric was retreating up the pyramid side.

'Up!' Che shouted at him. 'To the top now.' And why? 'Take cover among the statues!'

Thalric glanced at her and nodded grimly. He has no illusions about how this will go . He reached the flattened top in a sudden rush, darting behind a stone thigh as broad as his own torso. A moment later he was calling out, 'Osgan! For the Emperor's love, come on!'

Osgan picked himself up, stingshot bursting close by him, and looked up.

He screamed, falling back, rolling down the steps and landing on his side at the pyramid's foot. Thalric cried out his name, but Osgan was pointing — pointing at something past and through Thalric. Che, halfway up, stopped in horror and realization.

He does see it. He sees Achaeos . She recalled Osgan's history, his fears. He saw Achaeos at the Mantis village: he thinks he's a Mantis .

'Come on, you drunken bloody fool!' Thalric roared at him. Che got most of the way to the top before turning. Osgan was clenched up into a ball, but she could still hear him cry out, ' It's him! He's come back!'

'It's not him, Osgan!' Che called. A stingblast cracked against the stones near her and she fell back, clawed her way over to where the statues could be her shield. 'Osgan, please-!'

The Rekef were now reaching the pyramid's foot. still spread out. Thalric's occasional shots made them start back, leap briefly into the air with a flurry of wings, before settling down again. Despite Thalric's promises, it did not seem that either flight or shot had tired them. They seemed all patience, closing carefully, while they kept a wary eye on Osgan. They could have killed him easily, but it was clear they would take him alive when they reached him. He would provide the leverage to force their other quarry into reach.

It was surreal, Che thought: they were standing in sight of the very fount of governance for Khanaphes, an armed insurrection in the heart of the city, with Rekef assassins running riot, and nobody else seemed to care.

'Osgan!' Thalric bellowed, just as a stingshot blazed from the Wasp on the leftmost flank and seared Che's shoulder. She cried out in pain and fell back. And fell further.

There was no solid ground behind her. What the grey stain of the ghost had been hovering over was the pit: the shaft sunk into the middle of the pyramid. She plummeted, too startled to call upon her wings. One outstretched hand scraped the pit edge, dragging its way through a layer of slime inches thick. Then she was gone, dropping into the darkness.

She heard Thalric call out her name and then he was diving after her. Still falling, in shock from the pain of her wound, she watched him outpace her with his wings flaring, sparking against the sides of the shaft.

Then he had her, arms tight about her, unimaginably painful where he grasped at her injured shoulder. His wings backed, trying to fight against their descent, their combined weight. She had a split-second glimpse of his face, his expression gone taut with the effort.

They struck bottom. She spilled from his arms, landing on her good side, scrabbling for purchase. It was dark, which did not matter to her, but it mattered to Thalric. He went stumbling away from her, arms out blindly. She tried for her feet and got there, swaying. 'Thalric,' she said, and he swung towards her.

There was a light, a lamp. It was getting brighter: from the shaft.

'They're coming!' he spat, backing away from it. She tried to make sense of their surroundings. The shaft gave on to a narrow room — Just how far below the ground are we? — and she saw a single passage beyond, branching three ways almost instantly. Thalric was making for it, hoping for cover, and she stumbled into him, clutching at him to hold herself upright. It hurt to move her right arm, but she could still move it. The sting must have just clipped her, for all the pain.

There was something about the tunnels ahead. She could not reconcile it, but there was something wrong there, hanging in the air like a ghost.

A pair of Wasps dropped down the shaft behind them, their stings blazing blind even as they did so, bolts of fire scattering within the confined space, their lantern glaring beyond. Che saw Thalric back away into the passageway, and a stab of panic overcame her, without any reason.