Mike Wild - Engines of the Apocalypse

She had to admit to being quite relieved when Gabriella DeZantez joined her at the front of the ranks. The Enlightened One was fully armoured once more and recovered from Fitch's attack. They walked together in silence for a while, but then Kali found herself broaching a subject that just had to be broached.

"That fireball thing last night. You feel like telling me what that was about?"

"I wondered how long it would take you to ask."

"Well, hey, a fireball brushed off as easily as a nibble from a worgle? People tend to notice such things."

"Does anyone ever interrogate you about the things you can do?"

"Things?"

I saw you in action in the library, remember? And some of the eye witness accounts of your exploits in your file — well, let's just say they raised eyebrows."

Kali faltered. "Generally I try not to show off."

"Show off what?"

"I wish I knew."

Gabriella seemed genuinely surprised. "You don't know?"

"Hells, no."

"And yet you always seem to show up where your abilities are most useful. Almost as if it were — "

"Don't say it," Kali interrupted. "Predestined? Well, if it is, I wish to gods someone would tell me, because believe me, all I do is make it up as I go along."

The two of them lapsed into silence again. But only briefly.

"It's happened before," Gabriella admitted. "In Solnos. A fireball full in the face and… and nothing. There was another time, too, when I was a child, in some ruins south of Andon. We… that is, my friends and I, used to play there."

Kali's eyebrows rose. "The Seventeen Steps? Every level is an inaccessible deathtrap."

Gabriella nodded. "Because of the Dust Curtains."

"So named because they strip to the bones anyone who comes within fifty feet. I've been trying to crack them for two years."

"Not me."

"I'm sorry?"

"The Dust Curtains. I walked right through them." Gabriella took a slow breath. "My friends didn't react well to that and it wasn't long after I signed up for the Swords of Dawn."

Kali felt her heart thud. After all her efforts, all she should have wanted to ask was what lay beyond the Dust Curtains but what DeZantez had just admitted to her was a revelation that made the secrets of the Seventeen Steps utterly insignificant. She turned to face Gabriella, and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Are you trying to tell me you're immune to magic?"

Gabriella swallowed. "I guess I am."

"Hells."

" Hells? That's all you have to say?"

"What do you expect me to say or do?" Kali hissed. "Abandon you like your friends — turn you into some kind of freak, outcast, pariah? We're more alike than that, remember?"

Gabriella stared at her, then nodded. "And I'm not sure we're the only ones."

"What?"

Gabriella sighed, but it seemed a relieved sigh because she could finally talk to someone about what she knew. "I told you I sneaked a look at your file in the Faith record but what I didn't tell you was that next to it I found one on me too. And two others."

"What the hells are you talking about?"

"Two other files, each relating in some detail the strange abilities of their owners. A thief based in Turnitia, by the name of Lucius Kane. And another, a mariner called Silus Morlader."

"Kane?" Kali said. "I met him. He was something more than your average thief."

"Exactly. And from what I read, this Silus isn't your average fisherman, either. You heard anything about him?"

Kali shook her head.

"Apparently, he now commands a ship by the name of the Llothriall . A ship stolen from the Final Faith. What's more, the Llothriall is an — "

"Elven ship," Kali finished.

Gabriella shrugged. "I suppose the clue's in the name."

"Not really. I found the plans for it." Kali sighed. "This world gets smaller every day."

"I don't understand."

Kali paused. "What if I told you that a year or so ago I had an encounter with something beneath the waves? Some form of water dweller, who spoke to me in my head. Mind to mind."

"Water dweller?" Gabriella said.

"Water dweller," Kali repeated. "Most of what it said was couched in riddles, about it being part of the Before, the After. But it also spoke about a group of people known as 'the four'."

"The Four?"

"'Four known to us. Four unknown to each other. Four who will be known to all.' That was what it said."

"And you know what that means?"

"Haven't the remotest idea. But it's one pretty big coincidence, don't you think?" Kali paused, frowned. Despite her reservations about discussing the subject with Gabriella, the situation had clearly changed and she deserved to know something more. "In fact, it's two."

"Two?"

"Tharnak, the dwelf creature I encountered in the Crucible, also spoke of 'four.' In his case, of four humans who were being prepared to travel to Kerberos — alive, that is."

"In that ship you found? But why?"

"To save the world, I think. The point is, these four had been changed, altered, somehow physically manipulated so they could survive the journey. Their abilities had been enhanced ."

"Surely you're not suggesting…"

"Gabriella, I'm not sure what I'm suggesting — but what I know is the Faith is keeping files on you, me, and two others. Four. The question is, why?"

The Enlightened One was silent for a second, then said, "Maybe the person who holds the halo versions of the files has the answer."

"Halo versions?"

"Faith security classification. Halo files contain additional information. More sensitive information. The locations, for example, of supporting physical evidence on their subjects."

"Who has these files, do you know?"

Gabriella nodded. "But you're not going to like it when I tell you."

" Who?"

"Querilous Fitch."

Kali stopped dead. Without a word, she turned and began to push her way back through the ranks to where Fitch, avoiding Slowhand, trailed at their end. Gabriella followed, ignoring the confusion on the faces of the archer, Freel and others who had been pushed aside, catching up to Kali as she neared the psychic manipulator.

"Lord of All, we're in the middle of the Sardenne . Are you always this impulsive?"

"Yes."

Kali was almost in Fitch's face now, his features all the more gaunt in the wan light. He started slightly but smiled coldly, as if knowing what Kali had just learned and knowing, too, that he held all the cards.

"You — " Kali was about to say, "have got some farking explaining to do!"

But she had barely formed the first word when a massive shape swung into view between them, brushing by her and Gabriella and dashing them to the ground. Fitch was not so fortunate. Struck full on, his cadaverous form was sent hurtling away through the trees with a shrill scream — gone, just like that.

Kali and Gabriella scrambled to their feet, trying to adopt a defensive position, although they had no clue what they were defending against. As they did, the shape swung again, and they ducked. Whatever the hells was coming at them, it was huge; the Swords charging, weapons drawn, into its path had no chance against it. Kali heard the crunch of metal and bone and dimly registered their broken forms flying into the undergrowth. She and Gabriella stared at each other, horrified, and rushed for cover. Others nearby were not so well practiced and, as the massive shape swung back for a third pass, another four Swords shrieked as they were knocked away by the impact.

"What in the name of the Lord of All?" Gabriella breathed, and a great, primal roar erupted from the darkness above them, sending those below into a panic, colliding with each other or freezing on the spot.

Kali wanted to shout to them to move, move, move , but she was desperately trying to process what it was they were dealing with. She remembered many things about her last visit to the Sardenne, but none were stamped quite so indelibly on her mind as the one she was remembering now.