effects of his own power. She was well rid of him. But where was she?
Over the last few weeks they felt they'd searched the whole of Instruere, inside and out, every alley, every crooked street, marketplace and business house. Yet they knew this could not be so, as in all their inquiries they had not once come
across any sign of Escaigne. And if Escaigne could hide itself effectively in Instruere, so could whoever hid Stella. They knew from their time at the markets that every year a number of people went missing in the Great City, never to be heard from again. The general opinion was that these were made up of some who vanished to escape bad debts or a wrathful lover, others who had been murdered for any number of reasons, from robbery to revenge, and a few who, so the whispers went, ended up as slaves to the rich and powerful. Still, none of the searchers seriously considered any of these possibilities had befallen Stella.
Just behind them and to their left a tall wooden building burst into flame. Mahnum cried a warning. The fire kept pace as they fled, running parallel with the southern wail, herding them towards the Struere Gate. Panic spread throughout the district as people tried to avoid the accelerating destruction. Perdu stumbled and fell, and was immediately trampled on by people desperate to escape the ruin of the Granaries. Without warning a bright orange flash lit the street, then a pulse of sound followed, so loud it blew them off their feet. Debris rained down from above. Just as the first of the crowd regained their feet a second, louder blast felled them again; then before they could do anything other than curl up, hands over their ears, a third explosion seemed to lift the very skin from the earth.
Indrett hauled herself to her feet, using a doorframe for support. The explosions had blown her across the street, where she fetched up against a tenement. Her left side hurt, her lip bled where she had bitten it involuntarily, and her ears rang so she could hear nothing else. Even so, her first thought was for Mahnum, and for a few awful moments she could not find him.
Eventually she located
him lying with his legs in an open sewer, his torso half covered by the body of a man who had been pierced through by a piece of smouldering roofing timber. Mahnum groaned, coughed a little, then raised himself to his knees and retched.
First Farr, then Perdu, came to find them. The two men staggered out of the smoke and ruin of the street. Black smoke filled the air, billowing out from the shattered windows of warehouses and tenements set on fire by shrapnel. People struggled to their feet, looking for friends in the choking gloom, or tried to make their way somewhere, anywhere but here. A few prone figures made no movement. Indrett glanced to her left. Close by, at the end of the street which she now recognised as the south end of the Vitulian Way, lay the wreckage of the Struere Gate.
A cold thought stabbed through her mind. Is this the beginning of the Bhrndwan assault?
As she watched, half-expecting the armies of the Destroyer to come howling through the gate, a lone figure stepped into the gap, framed by chaos. The figure raised an arm. Something flared brightly in his hand, piercing the gloom. Indrett staggered forward a few feet, careless of the danger from further explosions. As the. smoke cleared, thinned by a fresh wind blowing through the open gate and by the light that pulsed like a heartbeat from the flame above the figure's head, she knew; and the tears began to flow. Indrett was joined by her husband, and together they called his name.
'Kurr! Haufuth! Over here!' The old farmer heard the shouts, but too much noise, too much movement all at once made it difficult for the voice to register. Around him men and women struggled to calm frightened animals and children,
or dodge the occasional red-hot missile that fell from the enveloping darkness descending on them. Kurr hung on grimly to the reins of the
Over the last few weeks they felt they'd searched the whole of Instruere, inside and out, every alley, every crooked street, marketplace and business house. Yet they knew this could not be so, as in all their inquiries they had not once come
across any sign of Escaigne. And if Escaigne could hide itself effectively in Instruere, so could whoever hid Stella. They knew from their time at the markets that every year a number of people went missing in the Great City, never to be heard from again. The general opinion was that these were made up of some who vanished to escape bad debts or a wrathful lover, others who had been murdered for any number of reasons, from robbery to revenge, and a few who, so the whispers went, ended up as slaves to the rich and powerful. Still, none of the searchers seriously considered any of these possibilities had befallen Stella.
Just behind them and to their left a tall wooden building burst into flame. Mahnum cried a warning. The fire kept pace as they fled, running parallel with the southern wail, herding them towards the Struere Gate. Panic spread throughout the district as people tried to avoid the accelerating destruction. Perdu stumbled and fell, and was immediately trampled on by people desperate to escape the ruin of the Granaries. Without warning a bright orange flash lit the street, then a pulse of sound followed, so loud it blew them off their feet. Debris rained down from above. Just as the first of the crowd regained their feet a second, louder blast felled them again; then before they could do anything other than curl up, hands over their ears, a third explosion seemed to lift the very skin from the earth.
Indrett hauled herself to her feet, using a doorframe for support. The explosions had blown her across the street, where she fetched up against a tenement. Her left side hurt, her lip bled where she had bitten it involuntarily, and her ears rang so she could hear nothing else. Even so, her first thought was for Mahnum, and for a few awful moments she could not find him.
Eventually she located
him lying with his legs in an open sewer, his torso half covered by the body of a man who had been pierced through by a piece of smouldering roofing timber. Mahnum groaned, coughed a little, then raised himself to his knees and retched.
First Farr, then Perdu, came to find them. The two men staggered out of the smoke and ruin of the street. Black smoke filled the air, billowing out from the shattered windows of warehouses and tenements set on fire by shrapnel. People struggled to their feet, looking for friends in the choking gloom, or tried to make their way somewhere, anywhere but here. A few prone figures made no movement. Indrett glanced to her left. Close by, at the end of the street which she now recognised as the south end of the Vitulian Way, lay the wreckage of the Struere Gate.
A cold thought stabbed through her mind. Is this the beginning of the Bhrndwan assault?
As she watched, half-expecting the armies of the Destroyer to come howling through the gate, a lone figure stepped into the gap, framed by chaos. The figure raised an arm. Something flared brightly in his hand, piercing the gloom. Indrett staggered forward a few feet, careless of the danger from further explosions. As the. smoke cleared, thinned by a fresh wind blowing through the open gate and by the light that pulsed like a heartbeat from the flame above the figure's head, she knew; and the tears began to flow. Indrett was joined by her husband, and together they called his name.
'Kurr! Haufuth! Over here!' The old farmer heard the shouts, but too much noise, too much movement all at once made it difficult for the voice to register. Around him men and women struggled to calm frightened animals and children,
or dodge the occasional red-hot missile that fell from the enveloping darkness descending on them. Kurr hung on grimly to the reins of the
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