Last to Rise(21)

The rest of the tunnel had various ingenious devices all along its length, at every twist and turn, all set to spring on anyone coming in, but not on anyone going out. If not for them, we’d have had about twice as many Storad to deal with as we had.



Goddess’s tits, that ancestor of ours had a mean streak and a very inventive mind, which had saved our arses for now, or at least slowed the Storad down. Perak had doubled the number of guards searching for the rest of the tunnels too, and Lise had an afternoon of fun dreaming up a few chemical traps that would terminally deter anyone wandering in.



Once Pasha had got over the shock of having all those voices suddenly scream in his head and then go deathly quiet, we had a bit more to go on too. We met Perak at the lab to fill him in.



“I’m fairly certain where the tunnel comes out,” Pasha told him. “Right near their camp. Pretty close to one of the machines too. I don’t speak much Storad and what I did get was fuzzy somehow, like someone was blocking me perhaps? Dench knows what I can do, so they’ll be trying anything to stop me figuring out what they’re up to. But I could hear some, and I could see the pictures in their heads.”



Perak paced up and down. Jake watched him impassively, with Malaki, Dench’s replacement as head of the Specials, next to her. I didn’t much care for Malaki – he had an effortless “hard-arse bastard” look to him that recalled those not far-off days when I was likely to get arrested every time I cast a spell. That is, he looked like he could kill you without losing sleep over it, in fact he might even relish it. His face was impassive, grey and slab-sided like a badly made granite crypt. It made an interesting contrast to the smooth and sleek Specials uniform that was perfectly designed to help the wearer kill quickly and quietly while looking very scary indeed. His eyes took in everything and gave away nothing, and I’d yet to hear him say anything other than “Yes, Your Grace” when taking orders from Perak. All in all, a perfect specimen of Specialness, and enough to give me the heebie-jeebies.



“We’re losing men left and right,” Perak said. “Or about to. A number of guns have gone through the Mishan gate already, along with two cardinals. I’ve had a few subtle words with the remaining ones, but don’t expect much joy from that – Mahala is falling apart and they know it. Half the remaining cardinals are in talks with the Mishans – secretly, so they think: I didn’t let on that we knew, though they have to know we suspect. Some of the same ones are still hoping I’ll turn you over to the Storad, or the Mishans, or don’t care as long as they can get rid of you to someone. You keep that disguise on, Rojan, and stay where I can find you.”



“They want Lise too,” I said. “She —”



“Is constantly guarded, best I can spare. The Storad aren’t interested in her as yet, as far as I know. That leaves the Mishan liaison, who we know does want Lise and is trying to find a cardinal to help him out. I’ve, er, my liaisons have talked with him and hinted very strongly that it’s in the Mishans’ best interests that Mahala stands, in which case we need both you and Lise. I think he got the message.”



I raised one eyebrow. “Hinted very strongly? I’d have preferred an example of what would happen should they find themselves in possession of me or Lise.”



That got me a frazzled smile. “The liaisons in question were Jake and Erlat. Very persuasive, in differing ways, and they will continue to be so. Erlat I may have to appoint as an actual liaison.”



I tried to imagine a very strong hint from Jake and the swords that were never far away, coupled with Erlat and her beguiling smile. “OK, fair point, but that’s not going to stop the cardinals.”



“I don’t suppose it’ll stop the Mishans either, but at least they know we’re looking out for them, and they know that Lise will be harder to get to now. I’ve also told them that you’re down in the ’Pit and likely to stay there. But that’s not the really pressing thing, is it?”



Anther boom-shudder to rattle our bones. The Storad seemed particularly good at punctuating a conversation, and reminding us that, above all else, the really pressing thing was keeping them out of the city.



“No food coming in now, either,” Perak said. “Not a thing left to trade for it except guns, and we can’t trade those or we’re dead anyway. Whatever we’re going to do, it needs to be now. The tunnel, is it safe?”



“You mean apart from the fact it’s full of traps, we aren’t sure we’ve found them all and we daren’t go to the end because we’ll tip the Storad off to exactly where it is if they aren’t aware already, which they probably are? Sure, Perak. Safe as houses. I’m surprised Dench hasn’t come up it to find the men who’ve gone missing. He will.”