Gunlaw

Gunlaw 48

Chapter 33

A slow clapping turning Mikeos round, unsteady, as if his legs were too long for him. The kin brought his small grey hands together one more time. "Bravo. Bravo. You humans never cease to amaze me. That's why I brought you here in the first place, years ago, to shake things up, to give Lilliana and our brother something to think about. And here you are tricking me! Forcing my hand! Incredible. Did you see it, Mikeos? Did you?"

Mikeos shook his head, dumb with pain. He'd never heard a quarter as many words from all the true kin he'd met put together. Woodkin would yatter on, especially if drunk, but the true kin, the train kin, those who hadn't bonded with the world, they kept their mouths shut. And this one had gone from silent guardian to jabbering fool in the time it took to pull a trigger.

"Jenna appealed to balance and of course I had to consider the matter, weigh it in the scales. Without rules within which to frame our disagreements we three old ones would lay waste to worlds. And so she watched me all hex-eyed with her little spells to hand, looking to see how I worked my judgement. Like watching the engine driver at his job, watching to see which levers he pulls, which dials he spins. You know the trick. Ask someone where they've hidden their money then watch where their eyes twitch to.

"I judged the situation fair of course. James Purbright suffered his injury and it cost him plenty. He paid the price years ago to be sure, but the balance was satisfied. Your Jenna though, Mikeos, she tries to grab my levers, tries to push and pull them. She thought she'd been losing her strength – did you know that, Mikeos? She's been thinking her own thoughts of late, choosing her own direction, and Ansos has always been an enterprise built around a singularity of will and of purpose. Well, in letting go of one thing she's taken hold of something else. That's often the way, Mikeos. You'd do well to remember it. And Jenna's got a hold of something peculiarly hers and surprisingly strong. I won't say I had to struggle to stop her misbehaviour, but it distracted me. That's when Eben stepped in, so's to speak, and threw all the levers that needed throwing. Eben's had hold of what's his all his life, and he's been studying me for nearly as long. So yes, I admit it, for a second there the small part of me that is here and paying attention to you was overwhelmed! Eben pushed the balance just enough to bring back the wound James got when Hemar bit him back in Sweet Water. Very impressive."

A faint buzz could be heard now, seeming to come from all directions. From cracks in the dustpan ants began to boil forth, a black profusion of them, so many they ran like liquid. Trapdoor spiders threw open their hatches and emerged into the sunlight with jerky steps, front legs raised and questing. Scorpions jittered from every crevice of the standing rock, claws lifted, tails curled and ready to strike.

"They're coming." Hemar said. "We've got to go!"

"Where?" Jenna kicked away the largest trap-door spider Mikeos had ever seen.

"The horse!" Hemar scooped Eben from the ground, threw him over one shoulder, a stiff and awkward burden. He started to run.

"Come on!" Jenna shouted at Mikeos and made to follow.

For a moment he held his ground, too weak to move. The ants crawling across Jim Bright's face, exploring the gory mess of his mouth, that's what gave Mikeos the strength to stagger away, after Jenna.

Reaching the foot of the ridge Mikeos turned and saw the first of the bugs. Back past the standing rock, on the far edge of the bowl-shaped depression he could see two starting to descend. Others appeared on the skyline, black against the pale heavens, all long thin limbs and hooked appendages. Mikeos turned again, fell, vomited up awatery mess and started to crawl up, crushing insects beneath his hands as he went. Hemar crested the rise with Eben rigid and unweildy across his shoulder, like a corpse with rigor mortis set in. They both vanished from view.