Mike Wild - Engines of the Apocalypse

"The Lost City of Fff? You're making that up."

"I promise you, I'm not. Learned about it from the Followers of Fff at their annual Faff. Should have known better than to listen to people who Faff." Kali shook her head. "Treasures undreamed of, they told me…"

"And what did you find?"

"A chest full to the brim with crap."

Gabriella laughed, an actually quite embarrassing bass, guttural bellow, but the first genuine humour Kali had seen the Enlightened One display. Clearly, she needed the release that a little laughter brought but it soon faded, her smile dwindling until she wore her impenetrable mask of introspection once more. Her guard seemed to have lowered somewhat, though, and Kali couldn't resist asking the question that had been bothering her almost since they had met.

"The graveyard in Solnos," she said. "It's obvious you're not from the town but I got the impression there was — "

"His name was Erak Brand," Gabriella interrupted her. "He was the Enlightened One of Solnos before me. A kind, faithful man."

"You were close?"

"Erak and I were lovers. We were to marry."

"Gods, I'm sorry. What happened?"

Gabriella tensed and the stick she'd been about to throw onto the fire she snapped in half. "He was murdered. By a man named Dai Batsen."

"Why?"

"Batsen was a rogue shadowmage. A hireling of someone who didn't want us to discover an unsavoury truth."

"What truth?"

Gabriella let out an exasperated sigh that turned into a cracked, humourless laugh. "The truth is, I don't know. And now I doubt I'm ever going to find out…"

Kali frowned. "Rodrigo Kesar had something to do with this, didn't he? I saw your face back at Scholten when you learned he was dead."

Gabriella nodded. "And with him my chance to avenge Erak. May that bastard Kesar be burning in the hells."

Gabriella's cold ferocity took Kali aback, but more than that, it struck her that her companion meant exactly what she said. She wasn't speaking of the hells in any metaphorical sense, she was speaking of them as real places. It was clear she believed they existed as much as the Clouds of Kerberos floated above their heads. After what she had seen through the shard at the cathedral, it sent a shiver down her spine.

"Is there no other way you can find out what was behind Erak's death?"

Gabriella shook her head. "My position as Enlightened One of Solnos was only ever meant to be temporary. But I waited and waited and, as the months passed, no one came to replace me. Eventually I found out, from friends, that the Anointed Lord had arranged to have me watched — and then, simply, forgotten."

"You think Makennon was responsible?"

"I don't know. I don't think so. But I do know I seem to have little place in a changing Faith. I believed in their mission — still believe — to bring Ascension to the people, even if we have to purify some with fire. But after what happened to you with the Eyes of the Lord — seeing how they accused you and how they were wrong — I realised just how out of control they have become. The Faith threatens to become a dictatorship, ruling with an iron glove and I think something is rotten at its core."

"Can I take that as an apology for trying to burn me alive?"

"Kali — "

"Joke." Kali said. "But if you realise all of this, why are you still here?"

Gabriella stared at her as if the answer were obvious. "As a Sister of the Order of the Swords of Dawn, I remain sworn to protect the Anointed Lord."

"Now that's a joke, ri — " Kali began, but halted as Gabriella suddenly placed her palm on her forearm, beckoning silence.

At first she thought the Enlightened One had simply had enough of the subject but then saw that she was staring into the dark boundary of the forest, where Slowhand had wandered minutes before to collect wood to whittle into shafts. The archer seemed alone in the shadows but then she sensed another presence in the darkness, watching Slowhand from hiding. Kali stared at the spot, gradually discerning a shape, but she had difficulty making out what it was until there were two simultaneous flares about a foot and half apart at waist height. For a fleeting moment the flares illuminated curled palms, a dark-robed torso, and a white, cadaverous face, steadily regarding Slowhand with malignant intent.

"Fitch!" Kali said, starting to run. "One bastard who should never have got the magic back!"

Gabriella was up and by her side in an instant, the two of them pounding towards Slowhand, but the archer was hacking at vegetation, unable to hear their shouts. The fire in Fitch's palms, meanwhile, had transformed into crackling spheres of energy. As Kali and Gabriella watched helplessly, Fitch drew his palms back and threw the fireballs at the preoccupied archer. Luckily, Fitch's aim was slightly askew, and the fireballs impacted with a tree trunk next to Slowhand, knocking the archer off his feet. He scrabbled back in shock and raced towards his assailant, roaring as he recognised Fitch.

He suddenly stopped dead in his tracks and Kali saw the psychic manipulator smiling and weaving some distraction thread with one hand while nurturing a third fireball with the other. There was no question that this one would hit Slowhand full on and she and Gabriella were still too far away to do anything.

"You tackle Fitch!" Gabriella yelled, and then pounded toward Slowhand. Kali ran at the psychic manipulator along with Jakub Freel, who had been alerted by the noise. As she watched the fireball grow all Kali could feel was the pounding of her heart, and the certain knowledge that the fireball was going to leave Fitch's hand before she or the enforcer reached him. She snatched a glance towards Gabriella and, like herself, the Enlightened One still had too much ground to cover.

Fitch launched the fireball and everything became dream-like and slow. Kali came to a faltering stop and tracked the crackling sphere of fire helplessly, her mouth falling open. As it passed the halfway mark between Fitch and Slowhand, she turned slightly, yelling to Gabriella to drive her onward. Ripping away her armour as she went, driven as much by momentum as muscle, Gabriella left the ground, throwing herself forward through the air, but it wasn't Slowhand she was throwing herself at, it was the fireball.

Enlightened One and fireball collided in mid-air and Gabriella DeZantez was consumed by the magic, disappearing inside an explosion of super-heated fire. The infernal heat it contained would, had she still been wearing it, have turned her armour red hot in an instant, roasting her inside, but with only her surplice she would likely suffer a quicker death than that. She had no chance of surviving, none at all, and so it came as something of a surprise to Kali when, as the fire blasted about Gabriella and then dissipated, the Enlightened One fell to the ground with her surplice burnt away, smoking and stunned, but otherwise apparently unharmed.

Slowhand looked about him in confusion. Fitch, meanwhile, stared at the recovering form of Gabriella DeZantez in disbelief. For his part, Jakub Freel covered the remaining ground between Fitch and himself where he flattened the psychic manipulator with a single punch to the face.

Kali turned her attention back to Slowhand. The archer had stripped off his shirt and was wrapping it about Gabriella as he lifted her slowly from the ground. The woman was clearly stunned, but there wasn't a mark on her, not a single blemish or burn. It was no time for questions, however, and Kali and Slowhand took Gabriella between them and slowly led her back to her tent. Slowhand paused mid-route and nodded to Freel.

"Thanks," he said.

"Don't mention it."

The Final Faith enforcer watched them depart with their charge. Neither of them noticed as, behind them, he hauled Fitch to his feet with one hand and roused him. Neither did they hear the words that passed between the enforcer and the cadaverous manipulator.