In the Shadow of Lightning

57

It was the second day of their search when Idrian’s team got their first whiff of the flying glassdancer. Colonel Jorfax, riding just a little out front of the group, suddenly reined in her horse and raised a fist to the air. Idrian pulled up, his eyes immediately shooting to the sky, searching the low cloud cover for any sign of their quarry. All around him, pistols and carbines were produced, eyes raised, thirteen riders all tensed and watching, trying to pretend that they weren’t watching. They were a lousy bunch of actors, and he hoped that the flying glassdancer didn’t notice.

“Is he here?” Mika hissed.

Jorfax didn’t move. She didn’t even seem to breathe for several moments before she gave the tiniest shake of her head. “This way. Fifty yards.” She turned and began to ride quickly, forcing the rest of them to catch up. The countryside here was mostly rolling farms butting up against coastal scrubland. Windbreaks – rows of hundred-year-old trees along country lanes – were frequent, and the landscape was dotted with small farmhouses. Jorfax followed one such windbreak, crossing a ditch and heading up a short drive to a country villa.

Idrian ground his teeth and gripped the pommel of his sword. Despite the cool winter air and the chilly weather, he was sweating continuously under the massive cloak that hid his armor. His sword and shield hung from his saddle, wrapped in loose canvas in an attempt to disguise their nature. breacher armor was not designed for horseback riding and every damn part of him chafed.

Bluffing, Tadeas had told him just before they left yesterday morning, requires patience and perseverance. Never break character until after the other person has called. You have to stay in their head to the last moment. Idrian wondered if his was the best advice to follow, considering how much he cheated at cards. But Idrian kept riding, and he kept his damn cloak on.

Even before they reached the decorative brick wall that surrounded the villa, Idrian could hear flies. The stench hit him next, and he had a pretty good idea what to expect by the time they came up to the little iron gate. Idrian glanced sidelong at Braileer, noting the stricken look in his eyes, then pointed to him and four of the soldiers accompanying them. “You five, form a perimeter. Eyes on the sky. Squeaks, search the house.”

“Yes, sir.”

He dismounted and followed Jorfax and Mika through the gate. The sight that greeted them was much as he expected – another damned massacre. Eleven soldiers, a scout guide, and one of Jorfax’s glassdancers lay where they had fallen like a bomb had exploded in the middle of the group. They were shredded to pieces, their sticky blood covering practically every surface. At least two civilians had also been caught by the attack. They lay in the doorway, one of them still clutching the basket full of dates he was bringing the resting scouting party.

“Shit,” Mika said.

“Do you recognize them?” Idrian asked Jorfax. “Is this one of the three other groups Demir left in his scouting rotation?”

“It is,” Jorfax responded. She knelt over the lone glassdancer, studying the body intently. “His name was Lorstel. We called him Lucky because he’s survived so many close calls. Not this one, it seems.” She traced paths through the air with her fingers in several directions. Idrian walked over to kneel across from her, studying her face as she worked. He thought he could see a crack in that steely visage. Concern? Fear? She finally spoke again. “This winged glassdancer is damned good. He exploded Lucky’s glassdancer egg in his pocket. Looks like the initial blast killed…” She stood, walking around the perimeter of the massacre, her lips moving as she traced more paths. “He killed Lucky and these four with that first attack, then cut up the rest. They all would have died within ten or fifteen seconds.”

“Having second thoughts?” Mika asked.

Jorfax jerked her head toward the engineer. “Are you?” she snapped.

“Not at all,” Mika responded. If she was cowed by Jorfax’s famous cold stare, she didn’t show it. She held one of her ram’s-horn grenades, tossing it up and down, and smiled back at Jorfax. “I just see evidence of something that needs to die.”

“Then we’re agreed.”

Idrian stepped between them. Jorfax’s prickly nature had clashed with everyone over the last twenty-four hours. She did not play well with others. At least she’d kept her promise not to pull rank. “We’re all agreed,” he assured them both. He turned to Jorfax. “Can you keep him from doing that to you? With the egg, I mean.”

“She’s carrying a grenade in her pocket and someone else has the fuse,” Mika said.

Idrian gestured for Mika to shut up, but Jorfax seemed to relax. “No, she’s right. That’s exactly what’s happening here. I told Lucky to keep his sorcerous attention on the sky. Maybe he did. Maybe he didn’t. If I keep my glassdancer egg on me and the flying glassdancer is significantly stronger than me, I’ll be dead before any of you even notice. You’ll follow quickly.”

“Should you leave your glassdancer egg behind?” Idrian asked. He was fully aware that it was the equivalent of someone telling him to go into battle naked and unarmed, and he could see a vein throb on Jorfax’s forehead.

“No,” she finally said. “I’m stronger than Lucky was. I’ll sense an attack from farther out.”

Mika pulled a face behind Jorfax’s back, but Idrian just shook his head. He wasn’t going to press the issue. Jorfax was the professional. Much of her terrifying reputation came from the fact that she was so good at what she did.

“Sir,” Braileer called. Idrian turned to see the armorer come in through the gate. Braileer paused at the sight, his body rocking from the center like he was holding in a dry heave. A moment passed, his face turning green, before he got a grip on himself. “Their horses are around back. Spooked but untouched.” He swallowed hard, averting his eyes from the bodies. “We should send someone to bring them in.”

Squeaks emerged from inside the villa, shaking her head. “There are a couple of laborers dead underneath the kitchen table. Seems like they tried to hide. The thing that did this was thorough about witnesses.”

“Prudent, too,” Idrian mused out loud. “Didn’t try to overextend at Fort Alameda, but no compunction against slaughtering people at an isolated farmstead.” He gazed across the corpses, studying them clinically. He was no surgeon, but he’d seen a lot of battlefields in his day. “I’d guess this happened about two hours ago. Do we think he’s still in the vicinity? Or moved on?”

“He could be anywhere with this low cloud cover,” Jorfax responded. “I’ll sense him before any of us sees him. We have no idea how fast he travels. Does he glide like a swan or dive like a falcon?”

“Or both,” Mika added.

With that pleasant thought fresh in their minds, the group remounted and returned to the road. Idrian barely thought about his sore ass or his chafing armor. He set his helmet on his saddlehorn, covering it with the hem of his cloak, and tried not to look like he was staring at the sky.

“The low cloud cover works both ways,” he said over his shoulder. “We can’t see him, but he can’t see us either.”

“You think it’s a him?” Braileer asked. The armorer rode up next to Idrian. His head was high, but Idrian could see some red around his eyes. He wondered if he shouldn’t have left him behind. This was no mission for a kid. He snorted inwardly. Was any military mission for a kid?

“Smelled like a him,” Idrian responded.

“Is it even human?” Mika asked.

“What else would it be?” Jorfax reclaimed her spot at the head of their little column. “Fearglass can twist the mind. Why not godglass that can twist the body? All the guild-families experiment at length with sorcery. The Grent government is no exception.”

“But this flying glassdancer only appeared when Kerite’s mercenaries entered the war,” Squeaks pointed out.

“Then it’s Purnian. Or Marnish. Or Nasuud. The Drakes fight all over the world. Who knows what dark glassworks Kerite might have found, filled with experiments?”

Idrian scowled at the thought. Godglass that could completely change how a person looked? How their body worked? “It’s intelligent,” he said, “but it moved like an animal. Sleek and graceful. I just hope it’s not…” He trailed off as a distant sound reached his ears, and he tugged slightly on the reins to bring his horse to a stop. “You hear that?”

They all paused, tilting their heads. It was a distant popping sound, one that might easily be mistaken for fireworks. “Those are my new grenades,” Mika said, perking up.

Idrian inhaled sharply and looked at Jorfax. “The pissing Grent must have turned toward Demir instead of retreating back to the city. They’ve joined battle.”

“And we’re out here riding in circles instead of fighting,” Jorfax growled.

Idrian wasn’t going to pretend that he was the commanding officer anymore. Jorfax outranked him, and she’d be even more use than himself on the actual battlefield. “Make the call,” he told her.

She hesitated, glancing over her shoulder back toward the massacre at the farmstead. She seemed to waffle for several moments, then swore. “We need to ride. That battle is more decisive than one flying glassdancer.” She jerked on the reins, turning to their south, and then suddenly stiffened.

Idrian was already turned around when he noticed that her eyes had gone wide, her jaw tight. “Tilly?”

“He’s here,” she hissed.

The entire group reacted as one, snatching up weapons and casting their eyes to the sky. Idrian’s heart skipped a beat and he signaled for them to hunker low in the saddle. Beside him, Mika loaded a grenade into a sling. Idrian asked, “Where?”

“Just above us. He’s high, circling.”

“Does he know you’ve spotted him?”

“I am being very careful not to turn my senses directly toward him.” Her hand hovered over the pocket that bulged with her glassdancer egg.

“Everyone keep riding,” Idrian ordered. “Slowly. Keep those carbines down. Braileer, stay behind me. Make no move unless it goes for my back. Understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

Idrian lifted his helmet, wrapping his reins around the saddlehorn, raising his eyes without raising his head. He could see nothing in the gray-white clouds and it infuriated him. Every second seemed to tick by longer than the last. “Is he still there?” he asked Jorfax.

“Still circling. He hasn’t tried to use my egg against me. Yet.”

“How close will he have to be?”

“Based on his power? Hard to tell.”

“As long as he comes below the clouds we should be able to drive him to the ground.” He glanced around at his companions. “Do not open fire until he dips down to attack. The grenades will keep it down, and I’ll finish it on foot. Understood?” A round of nods answered him. He split his attention between the sky and Jorfax, watching for any twitch that might betray that she’d been bested in a contest of sorcerous will. To their south, the report of cannon fire joined the pop of grenades.

Jorfax suddenly relaxed. “He’s pulling up,” she said. “Glassdamnit. Keep your eyes open, he might…” She stiffened again immediately, her hand shooting to her glassdancer egg. She let out a strangled “He’s coming!”

Idrian did not wait for more of a signal. With one hand he slammed his helmet on his head. With the other he threw the wrappings from his sword and shield, ripping them from the bindings that held them to the saddle. “Wait for it!” he shouted.

He didn’t get out another word before a black arrow seemed to shoot from the clouds – the flying glassdancer, wings tucked back, diving like a bird of prey. It hit Jorfax’s horse hard enough to throw both animal and rider, and all three went tumbling off the road and into the field. The flying glassdancer was up again, leaping for the sky.

“Fire!” Idrian shouted.

A line of carbine fire erupted from the group, tearing through the creature’s massive wings. It hissed and howled, spinning in the air and landing on its feet. Black blood oozed from bullet wounds. It seemed annoyed rather than truly injured, and it stared at them all for several moments as a dozen trembling hands tried to reload carbines.

Idrian leapt from his horse, half an eye on the creature and half an eye on Jorfax. She lay beneath her dead horse, her teeth bared and her eyes full of fear. “Kill it!” she snapped. “Before it takes my egg! Ahhhhh!” Her scream reached a fever pitch and the glassdancer egg suddenly tore from her jacket, shattering into dozens of pieces as it shot straight for Idrian. He threw his shield up, listening to pieces slam against the hammerglass. Behind him, voices cried out in terror and then pain.

He didn’t have the time to see who’d been hit. He leapt forward, guard held close, forcing the creature to dodge his blows, hoping that the action threw off its glassdancer timing. Its wings twitched and moved like second limbs, darting forward to slam into Idrian’s shield or bash aside a thrust of his sword. Idrian pressed his attack, unwilling to give it even a moment to reorient itself, forcing it back step by step until it suddenly turned and sprinted.

A smattering of carbine fire caught the beast from the side. It rolled, skidded across the furrows of the fallow field, then changed direction once more, leaping for the closest soldier. It reached the poor woman as Idrian turned to follow, its wings hitting her with enough force to shatter her carbine and toss her dozens of feet. Idrian followed the creature’s path, adjusting his own, pushing himself to try and reach it before it could get airborne. His eyes widened in horror.

“Braileer, out of the way!”

It was too late. The creature charged through two more soldiers, batted Squeaks to one side, and then snatched Braileer by his hammerglass buckler as it leapt into the air. Idrian continued to pursue, watching helplessly as it squeezed Braileer by the neck. A grenade exploded immediately above the creature. The blast drove it down, forcing it to dive. Idrian discarded his shield, taking his sword over his head in both hands, and leapt. The razorglass swept down, cleaving through bone and sinew in a spray of black blood.

The creature screamed and tossed Braileer. The armorer hit the ground at speed, a rolling, limp mess of limbs. The winged glassdancer hit just after him. It skipped across the dirt like a rock across water. Idrian charged, but the thing leapt back into the air, clearly struggling to fly. Another grenade exploded beside it, but it beat hard at the air, shooting up. Within moments it was gone, disappeared into the low clouds.

Idrian stared after it, gasping for breath, sword held at the ready. The seconds ticked by as he waited for it to return, but the next sound he heard was a gasp of pain from Jorfax.

“Bloody thing has fled,” Jorfax called. “Now come get this horse off me!”

Idrian lowered his sword, sweeping his gaze across his team. Mika stood nearby with her legs set, her sling at the ready, Squeaks shakily getting to her feet just behind her. Half the soldiers were down. Idrian’s eyes landed on Braileer. The armorer was a dirty mess; an unmoving lump.

“Mika,” Idrian called, “help Jorfax!” He hurried toward Braileer, cursing at the sky as he did.