Read Online Landfall: Tales From the Flood/Ark Universe by Stephen Baxter - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Stephen Baxter
Ads: Link
an unmistakeable iron tang. Blood. Suddenly there was shouting, screaming.
Xaia grabbed her knife and rolled out of her bed, coming to her feet in a tangle of clothing. The light was dim. People moved everywhere, adults, children. She saw Chan huddled against a wall, a sword held in both hands before him. Before her, Manda, beautiful Manda, lay on her back with her throat laid open by a livid slash, her eyes on Xaia, fading. Over Manda’s prone body stood the girl, the smiling kid with the plaits who had brought Xaia the plate of fresh rabbit meat. She held a bloody knife in her hand.
And Teif stood in the middle of the chamber, huge, wrathful. Blood seeped from his own belly. Eykyn’s people stood off from him, wary. He swung his sword - and removed the head of Manda’s killer with a single swipe. The pretty head fell onto Manda’s belly, and the body convulsed, blood spurting from the arteries at the slim neck before falling.
The others closed in, the adults and the older children, all armed with clubs and knives. Xaia and Teif pushed through to stand before Chan by the wall, and Xaia scrabbled for her firearm. The detonations of the gunshots were ear-numbingly loud in the enclosed space, and their blades cut satisfyingly into human flesh. Xaia ignored the ache in her healing left arm, just as Teif showed no reaction to the gash in his belly.
The fight didn’t last long.
When it was done, Teif and Xaia laboured to pile the corpses at the centre of the chamber, Teif at the shoulders and Xaia grabbing feet and legs. The floor was slippery with blood, and spilled guts. Xaia was aware that Teif was grunting, his own wound giving him trouble. She felt stunned at the loss of Manda, unable to react, to think further.
They had spared a couple of the women, the smaller children. They huddled against a wall, clutching furs, eyes wide and fearful.
‘Told you so,’ Teif said as they worked.
‘So you did, old man. I won’t question you again.’
Chan, trembling, was in shock too. He seemed as afraid of Teif and Xaia as of dead Eykyn’s people. ‘I never saw people die that way. You were outnumbered. They way you killed them all – it was a frenzy.’
‘ They are butchers,’ Teif said. ‘We are warriors. Once they lost the element of surprise they were doomed.’
Chan was nodding. ‘Butchers, yes. That’s the right word. There are human bones , piled up in the corner with the others. I took a look. You can see the butchery marks. They sit here in their hole in the ground, eking out their summer supplies, their scavenging of hibernating animals. And, when chance wills it, they take the opportunity to feast on a supplement, on passing humans whose flesh they take like that of the animals that migrate at the equinoxes. No wonder Lange’s cousins exiled from the Reef never came home!’ He glanced at the frightened children who huddled against their mothers. ‘Maybe they feed on their own, when times are particularly hard. Their own children as emergency larders. But with you three, they bit down on gristle.’
‘I wonder what the Founders would think,’ Teif said. ‘If they could see this, see what they made, when they brought their children here.’
Xaia glanced at Manda’s body, covered by her own cloak. She had learned more of Manda, the true meaning of her ferocious loyalty, her true ambitions, in Manda’s last few seconds of life than in all the years before. No wonder Manda had always driven Xaia on to feats of ever greater daring and ambition. She would never know how it might have worked out, one way or another, if Manda had lived - and become a rival to Thom in Xaia’s heart. Well, it was a story cut short, of ambition and lust and maybe love thwarted. Maybe it was better that way.
She glanced at the cowering women and children. ‘Do you think they can survive? All the men are dead.’
Chan shrugged. ‘I know you’re planning to take their supplies, their bread and jerky
Xaia grabbed her knife and rolled out of her bed, coming to her feet in a tangle of clothing. The light was dim. People moved everywhere, adults, children. She saw Chan huddled against a wall, a sword held in both hands before him. Before her, Manda, beautiful Manda, lay on her back with her throat laid open by a livid slash, her eyes on Xaia, fading. Over Manda’s prone body stood the girl, the smiling kid with the plaits who had brought Xaia the plate of fresh rabbit meat. She held a bloody knife in her hand.
And Teif stood in the middle of the chamber, huge, wrathful. Blood seeped from his own belly. Eykyn’s people stood off from him, wary. He swung his sword - and removed the head of Manda’s killer with a single swipe. The pretty head fell onto Manda’s belly, and the body convulsed, blood spurting from the arteries at the slim neck before falling.
The others closed in, the adults and the older children, all armed with clubs and knives. Xaia and Teif pushed through to stand before Chan by the wall, and Xaia scrabbled for her firearm. The detonations of the gunshots were ear-numbingly loud in the enclosed space, and their blades cut satisfyingly into human flesh. Xaia ignored the ache in her healing left arm, just as Teif showed no reaction to the gash in his belly.
The fight didn’t last long.
When it was done, Teif and Xaia laboured to pile the corpses at the centre of the chamber, Teif at the shoulders and Xaia grabbing feet and legs. The floor was slippery with blood, and spilled guts. Xaia was aware that Teif was grunting, his own wound giving him trouble. She felt stunned at the loss of Manda, unable to react, to think further.
They had spared a couple of the women, the smaller children. They huddled against a wall, clutching furs, eyes wide and fearful.
‘Told you so,’ Teif said as they worked.
‘So you did, old man. I won’t question you again.’
Chan, trembling, was in shock too. He seemed as afraid of Teif and Xaia as of dead Eykyn’s people. ‘I never saw people die that way. You were outnumbered. They way you killed them all – it was a frenzy.’
‘ They are butchers,’ Teif said. ‘We are warriors. Once they lost the element of surprise they were doomed.’
Chan was nodding. ‘Butchers, yes. That’s the right word. There are human bones , piled up in the corner with the others. I took a look. You can see the butchery marks. They sit here in their hole in the ground, eking out their summer supplies, their scavenging of hibernating animals. And, when chance wills it, they take the opportunity to feast on a supplement, on passing humans whose flesh they take like that of the animals that migrate at the equinoxes. No wonder Lange’s cousins exiled from the Reef never came home!’ He glanced at the frightened children who huddled against their mothers. ‘Maybe they feed on their own, when times are particularly hard. Their own children as emergency larders. But with you three, they bit down on gristle.’
‘I wonder what the Founders would think,’ Teif said. ‘If they could see this, see what they made, when they brought their children here.’
Xaia glanced at Manda’s body, covered by her own cloak. She had learned more of Manda, the true meaning of her ferocious loyalty, her true ambitions, in Manda’s last few seconds of life than in all the years before. No wonder Manda had always driven Xaia on to feats of ever greater daring and ambition. She would never know how it might have worked out, one way or another, if Manda had lived - and become a rival to Thom in Xaia’s heart. Well, it was a story cut short, of ambition and lust and maybe love thwarted. Maybe it was better that way.
She glanced at the cowering women and children. ‘Do you think they can survive? All the men are dead.’
Chan shrugged. ‘I know you’re planning to take their supplies, their bread and jerky
Similar Books
