City of Ruin - Mark Charan Newton [138]
‘There’s something out there,’ he said, trying to see where it had gone. ‘There it is again, something black and bulky, a sharp contrast against the snow.’
‘It’s probably nothing, I wouldn’t worry.’
There was a scream, followed by ‘Oh no . . . no please shit no—’
‘The homeless man’s gone.’
There was a noise she couldn’t place, like a dog growling.
‘Would Malum have come after us?’ he asked nervously.
‘Possibly.’
‘Look down there.’ Lupus pointed to where the snow was stained by flecks of blood.
‘Maybe this area is rougher than we thought,’ Beami said uneasily.
He moved to the bed, slung the quiver over his shoulder, picked up his bow, then checked there was still a backup knife in his boot. He handed his short-sword to Beami. Wordlessly she accepted it and nodded, before turning to the corner, to her leather satchel full of relics.
There was an immense thud.
‘The door of the building,’ Beami gasped.
‘Whatever it is, it’s trying to get in,’ Lupus confirmed. ‘Shit.’
The door was struck again, and she heard it give way.
Beami pulled out a set of Logi chains from her satchel, and began to swirl the ultra-light metal artefact around until it began to emit light, and soon she was carving out shapes that separated from nothingness, bordered with a bright lilac light at first, but then becoming more solid.
A lumbering noise approaching up the stairs.
Lupus nocked an arrow and aimed it at the doorway, stepping instinctively in front of Beami.
Oh, please. Men!
Something threw its full weight against the door, making the wood shudder, and immediately it tried again, sending a thick splinter to cough back and rattle around their feet. Through the gap exposed, something with fur could be seen moving.
Lupus loosed an arrow.
It screamed – no, howled. He nocked another, fired, nocked again, fired and eventually whatever it was moved away, leaving a deep silence.
Then the door burst completely as the creature came exploding through it, and three grotesque heads were biting at everything, saliva slopping to the floor in pools. Blood seeped from the arrow wounds, but they didn’t seem to impede the thing’s movements.
‘Get out of the way,’ Beami ordered, but Lupus ignored her.
He drew his blade and assumed a fighting stance, crouching and ready, relaxing back his vision to concentrate on all three heads, and when two of them attacked simultaneously he sliced his weapon horizontally, cutting one in the cheek, then ducked beneath the other set of jaws and punched one of the creature’s throats. It reeled back, winded.
Using the Logi, Beami whipped and cracked three bright liquid-lines out to one side of Lupus, where they slapped into the monster repeatedly, leaving a staggered row of burning light-scars in its hide.
The floorboards almost buckled as it collapsed on them, dust motes drifting around it. There was now an overwhelming stillness.
‘I think I’m going to lose my deposit on this place,’ Beami said eventually.
Lupus stared breathlessly at his lover, at the thin metal rods in each of her hands, and the two trailing chains that had now lost their light. ‘What the hell did you do to it?’
‘These things shoot concentrated energy, distilled elements – a bit like lightning. I just stunned the brute, that’s all.’
‘Couldn’t you put enough whatever energy in it to kill the damn thing?’
‘No, it came after us specifically, so I wanted to get a better look at it. You can slash its throats afterwards if you want. Anyway, do it outside. I’ve only just got everything unpacked here and I’m pissed off that I already need to clean up.’
Together they extended the heap of fallen body out till it nearly covered the length of the room. The light-line wounds were still glowing, between the parted fur, and there was a stench of burnt flesh as if it had been branded with a red-hot iron. This was clearly some form of dog, although Beami observed that no cultist had produced this. It was too perfect a specimen – cultists could only splice, creating awkward and macabre hybrids. She felt sorry for it, realizing