Rebellion

CHAPTER 27

The gauntling turned and began to describe slow, descending circles, high above the boat.

“It’s coming down.” Tali retrieved the crossbow and loaded it.

“Not sure it’ll be much use against a shifter that size,” said Holm.

“How can you tell how big it is?”

“You get used to judging sizes and distances, at sea. Reckon its wingspan is a good fifteen feet.”

Three times Tali’s own height.

“And it’d need to be…”

“Why?” said Tali.

“I reckon it’s carrying a rider.”

Tali rubbed her eyes, which were sore from all the sea spray. As the gauntling descended, she made out legs hanging below the middle, but not the spindly little legs of the gauntling she had seen above Fortress Rutherin.

“It’s spying for Lyf. When it reports back, they’ll send a boat after us.”

“And not cockleshell craft like we dealt with last time,” said Holm. “They’ll send a proper boat, and they’ll be prepared for anything.”

“Can you hide from it?”

“Pray for a storm, or for the fog to thicken,” he said, “though I wouldn’t want to navigate these waters in either. Likely as not we’d come to grief on a reef or a berg. Keep watch.”

The gauntling was still descending in slow, sweeping circles. Was it coming down to make sure of her identity? She paced the deck, checked the crossbow, and checked it again.

She put it down and bent over, rubbing her sore eyes. When she straightened up, the gauntling was gone.

It could not have disappeared; it must be behind a cloud. Though the clouds were too high, and the scattered fog banks, hanging above the water, seemed too low.

“Holm?”

“Yes?”

“The gauntling’s disappeared.”

He ran out. “Where did you see it last?”

“Up there. I just rubbed my eyes for a few seconds, and when I looked for it, it wasn’t there.”

“I suppose it’s gone back to report,” said Holm. “Keep watch in case it’s hiding behind an iceberg. I’m just popping below.”

The nearest iceberg was a good mile away. He returned to the wheel and the boat turned towards a fog bank half a mile off. It wasn’t much of a hiding place. The gauntling could circle above it, waiting for the fog to thin, or direct searchers in boats back to the area.

She was staring up at the sky when there came a shrieking whistle behind her, like wind howling across tortured wings. Tali whirled to see the gauntling hurtling low over the water, its clawed feet extended, straight for her.

“Holm! It’s here!”

Where had she put the crossbow? She turned around, around, around. There it was, right where she had left it. She grabbed it, aimed for the creature’s chest and fired, but her hands were shaking and the bolt missed.

Still Holm did not reply. The rider stood upright in the stirrups, pulled off a helmet and a cascade of black, wavy hair streamed out behind her. Lizue! She had tried to kill Tali before and she was here to finish the job.

“Holm,” she shrilled. “It’s Lizue.”

Tali scrabbled another bolt out of the bag, slammed it into the groove and desperately wound the crank. She would not hesitate this time. If she got a chance to draw bead on Lizue’s chest, she would put a bolt right into her heart.

Where was Holm? She shot a glance over her shoulder and he was not at the wheel. That’s right; he’d gone down the ladder and might not have heard her.

The gauntling shot across the deck, directly above. Tali fired and seemed to get it in the tail, which lashed about like a dying snake. Lizue sprang off. As she soared through the air, arms outstretched, Tali was struck by two contrasting thoughts: how extraordinarily beautiful Lizue was, and how determined she was to cut Tali’s head off.

There wasn’t time to reload the crossbow. Lizue slammed into Tali, knocking her to the deck. She tried to whack Lizue in the face with the crossbow. Lizue elbowed Tali so hard in the nose that her eyes flooded with tears, momentarily blinding her, then struck her on the elbow. Tali’s forearm went numb and the crossbow skidded away across the deck.

She blinked away the tears and jammed a finger into one of Lizue’s eyes. Lizue reared back, dropped her head and attempted to butt Tali in the face. Tali elbowed her in the mouth, splitting her lip.

Lizue heaved Tali onto her back and jammed her left knee into Tali’s belly, pinning her to the deck. Her thigh was bandaged where the Sullen Man had stabbed her. It looked swollen and fresh blood was seeping through the bandage.

The injury must be exceedingly painful — how had Lizue kept going all this time? After Tali had taken that Cythonian arrow in the thigh, out in the Seethings, only intensive healing magery had allowed her to walk on it. Tali clubbed her fist, swung it around and drove it against the stab wound with all her might.

Lizue threw her head back, let out a shriek and fell backwards, her teeth bared. Tali rolled over and scrabbled across the deck, desperate to get out of reach. Lizue was her master in every respect and fighting her hand-to-hand could only end one way. But as she regained her feet, Lizue overcame the pain and attacked with a flurry of punches, trying to finish Tali as quickly as possible.

A blow to the jaw rocked her backwards; a second blow to her nose sent blood gushing from it.

“Holm!” she gasped. “Help.”

Was he absenting himself deliberately? Could he be working with Lizue? He had tracked Tali down immediately after Lizue’s first, failed attack, after all. Had he brought Tali this way so as to sell her to Lyf?

She stumbled backwards, looking around for a spar, the boathook, or anything else she could use as a weapon. Her lack of fitness was telling on her, and the weakness in her knees told her she could not resist much longer.

From a small pack on her back, Lizue withdrew a head bag like the one she had used in the cells. She slid a heavy knife from a sheath on her left thigh, and advanced. Tali went backwards until her back was against the side of the boat. If she moved left she would be trapped at the stern; on her right, a winch blocked her way.

How could she beat a fanatical opponent who carried a knife as big as a machete? Tali’s one advantage was that Lizue could not do her serious harm before she had the head bag securely over Tali’s head. She could not risk destroying the pearl. And Lizue had a weakness. Her thigh.

Tali groped behind her in the open compartments that ran along the sides of the boat, but felt only coils of rope and other items that were useless for self-defence. How could she attack Lizue’s thigh wound? She could not use any of the tricks Nurse Bet had taught her, for Lizue knew them all. Something new, then? No, a combination of old and new.

Tali attacked with a flurry of right-handed blows intended to divert her attacker from her real attack, a roundhouse left to the throat. Then, as soon as Lizue moved to defend against the blow, Tali raised her right foot and slammed her boot heel into the thigh wound.

Lizue screamed, dropped the head bag and fell back against the side of the boat, blood flooding from the wound. Her beautiful face was twisted in agony. Tali had to finish this now; she could not fight for one more minute. She crouched, seized her attacker’s ankles and, with a swift heave, dumped her overboard.

“Did I hear you call?” said Holm from the top of the cabin ladder.

“About an hour ago,” she snapped. “Where the hell have you been?”

She picked up the boathook she had used earlier and stood ready for when Lizue tried to reboard.

“I was at the crapper,” said Holm, coming to the cabin door. “Wasn’t aware that I was supposed to ask your permission.” He looked down at the bloody deck, up at Tali’s heaving bosom and scarlet, bloody face, and his weathered face paled. “What’s going on?”

“Lizue happened. She tried to take my head. Again!”

Lizue’s head and shoulders shot from the water. Her eyes were staring and the sea was red with her blood. Her arms caught the side of the boat, heaved and she was on the side.

“Not this time,” Tali said savagely.

She jammed the curve of the boathook against Lizue’s chest and shoved hard. Lizue slid off into the water and floated there on her back, her blood staining the sea around her.

A grey fin cut the water. The sea churned and a huge, grey head burst out. Jaws opened, revealing dozens of backwards-angled teeth. A single snap took Lizue’s bleeding leg off at mid-thigh. She screamed until foam gushed from her mouth. Her hands caught the gunwale and she tried to pull herself up, but the jaws opened again, closed around her middle and pulled her under.

Even when she was screaming, even when she was about to die, Lizue was still the most beautiful woman Tali had ever seen.