Stranger of Tempest: Book One of The God Fragments by Tom Lloyd Read Free Book Online Page A

muscles. That close he could see the scars at her hairline – not a sparker burn or anything, but a jagged wound that had to have brought her close to death. He’d heard of folk granted second sight after such injuries, but never before met one.
    ‘Ah, now that’s a soul to suit us,’ Estal murmured, eyes closed. With her free hand she waved blindly until Teshen placed the deck in her hand. She spread the cards with her fingers, fanning them in a wide mess as Lynx felt his hand grow oddly warm.
    ‘Yes, there you are.’ Estal opened her eyes and released Lynx. They both looked down at the table at the cards under her hand. Both their eyes went straight to one particular card under her thumb and Lynx felt a chill run down his spine at the sight.
    Estal raised the card to show the rest of the table. ‘No doubt for this one – Stranger o’ Tempest.’
    Anatin growled. ‘You going to be more trouble than you’re worth, Lynx? That’s the Vagrim card. Always messes up my hands when it’s dealt.’
    ‘Vagrim?’ Deern snorted. ‘That bloody myth? Hells above, bunch of old women the lot of you.’
    Lynx met Anatin’s eyes and attempted a mysterious smile.
You call it the Vagrim card, eh? More right than you’ll ever know.
He avoided glancing down at the silver ring on his finger, the mark of the Vagrim to others of that nebulous, disparate brotherhood.
    ‘See you in the morning then.’

Interlude 2
(now)
    Tyn opened the door and the back of her head exploded. The mercenaries threw themselves back as more detonations fractured the night. White streaks of icers burst across the darkened room – punching through walls and leaving their wraith trails hanging in the air. Splinters rained down, beams burst open. Before Tyn’s corpse could fall another icer smashed through her arm, half-frozen blood rattling against the wall behind.
    Lynx wrenched himself around, trying to pull his mage-gun from the holster down his back. In the cramped hall he caught an arm instead, then someone else fetched him a meaty thump in the side and pitched him into the wall. A pale lance of fog erupted from the wall and zipped past his widening eyes. He flinched back and hauled his gun free, the weapon already loaded. On one knee he aimed out of the door but he couldn’t pick a target in the gloom beyond.
    More gunshots and swearing filled the room. Anatin yelled, Safir cursed in his own language – then the madwoman, Toil, began to cackle with laughter.
    ‘The shitsticks’re you laughing at?’ growled someone behind Lynx.
    ‘Less quiet now!’ Toil said, her face shining with animation. ‘More fun this way.’
    ‘Only fun when we’re not the ones trapped like rats!’
    ‘Fucking shoot back then!’
    Crouched nearest the door, Anatin pulled a mage-pistol and aimed. The confined room shook with the detonation, a hammer blow against Lynx’s ears.
    ‘Spark ’em!’ Anatin roared.
    Teshen jumped forward, mage-gun at his shoulder. The distinctive whip-crack of lightning lashed at Lynx’s ears as the man fired and a bright flare of light erupted from the muzzle. Screams came from the street beyond as the savage hiss of the sparker grabbed those beyond in its teeth. More icers smashed their way through the outer wall in response, but fewer than the first volley.
    ‘Out!’ Anatin ordered and Reft barrelled his way forward, gun in one hand and a hatchet in the other.
    Lynx followed, weapon ready, as Safir fired past the pale giant and Toil scooped up Tyn’s gun. The assassin then dragged Tyn’s cartridge case over what remained of the woman’s head while the rest clattered out.
    There was a mess of bodies in the street, one almost torn apart by the sparker and three others bloodied and writhing. Lynx searched for a target but glimpsed only the black and white livery of a Knight-Charnel scurrying away around the corner.
    ‘Blackest hells, we got more Charnelers here,’ he hissed. ‘Looks like they’re falling back.’
    ‘Friends