Read Online The Defiler by Steven Savile - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Steven Savile
Tags: Science-Fiction
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The knowledge sent a sick shiver down his spine. He walked on, his foot grinding the blistering sand beneath it. Sláine thrust the blazing torch towards its nose, forcing the creature to skitter back. It gave him a grim sort of satisfaction to frighten the insect even as more loomed over them, crouching on the rooftops, only held back by the flame.
"You do realise when we get out of here I am going to be merciless with the next earwig I see," said Ukko. "And daddy long legs, forget it, those legs are coming off. Ants, flies, cockroaches. If I never see another living insect it'll be too soon."
They followed the curve of the street down to the next level, the insects swelling and surging around them, following their passage back down to the lower tiers of Purgadair.
"We could just torch the place," Ukko said, hopefully. "The way the buildings are cramped so close together the whole place would go up in smoke in no time." The little runt looked delighted at the prospect.
"The buildings are made of stone," Sláine pointed out, fending off another curious insect with a thrust of the brand in his hand.
"Doesn't matter, the roofs are made of wood, in this heat it'd be an inferno in no time."
Sláine shook his head, "No, we'll just make our way out nice and slowly. We don't need to bring the whole place down around our ears, as appealing as it might be. We aren't here as destroyers. Besides, I don't fancy having to fight every insect and all of those demonic man-animal guards down there just to get out into the desert and have the Goddess alone knows what looking to skewer us."
They continued to work their way slowly down the twists and turns of Purgadair's streets, each declination offering tantalising glimpses of the whitewashed walls and rooftops of the lower hovels, and the desert beyond the city walls. Many of the hovels were two and three storeys high, or rather deep, these upper levels opening out on the tier below. The lower they went the more the sharp turns began to resemble the staggered steps of a huge ziggurat, descending a few hundred feet every turn of the street.
All around them the insects crowded in, drawn by the scent of their flesh. Sláine lit a fresh brand and handed it to Ukko, then lit another for himself. He resisted the impulse to toss the almost-spent torch up into the middle of the encroaching insects. Barely. His instinct as a warrior was to drive them away, to cleave and crush and smear their viscera across the ichor-slicked streets and stand amid their broken carapaces, victorious, blood pumping, Earth Power firing his veins. Sláine's fist clenched and unclenched around the splintered chair leg as it burned down in his hand. He felt its heat on his face and hand as the flames licked both ways, consuming the wood.
There were hundreds, thousands of the huge insects swarming across the low rooftops.
Ukko let his torch drop for a split second, reaching down to scratch his armpit with his spare hand - and almost paid for the momentary lapse of concentration. Two of the creatures reacted instantaneously, launching themselves from the rooftop at the dwarf. Sláine lunged forwards, thrusting his own firebrand into the giant insect's labrum, forcing the creature to eat the fire. Grabbing Ukko by the collar Sláine shoved the dwarf, sending him sprawling indignantly across the sand. Sláine ducked and rolled away from the creature barely a fraction of a second before it was engulfed in flame as its own gases erupted and the explosion pasted its guts all across the street. The second insect skittered away and up onto the roof on the other side of the street, barely escaping the explosion.
"So much for no sudden movements," Sláine said, smearing a charred strip of intestinal tract across his brow.
"I had an itch," Ukko mumbled defensively. "What was I supposed to do?"
A swarm of angry insects blocked their path; their bodies were crushed together en-masse so that they formed an impenetrable
"You do realise when we get out of here I am going to be merciless with the next earwig I see," said Ukko. "And daddy long legs, forget it, those legs are coming off. Ants, flies, cockroaches. If I never see another living insect it'll be too soon."
They followed the curve of the street down to the next level, the insects swelling and surging around them, following their passage back down to the lower tiers of Purgadair.
"We could just torch the place," Ukko said, hopefully. "The way the buildings are cramped so close together the whole place would go up in smoke in no time." The little runt looked delighted at the prospect.
"The buildings are made of stone," Sláine pointed out, fending off another curious insect with a thrust of the brand in his hand.
"Doesn't matter, the roofs are made of wood, in this heat it'd be an inferno in no time."
Sláine shook his head, "No, we'll just make our way out nice and slowly. We don't need to bring the whole place down around our ears, as appealing as it might be. We aren't here as destroyers. Besides, I don't fancy having to fight every insect and all of those demonic man-animal guards down there just to get out into the desert and have the Goddess alone knows what looking to skewer us."
They continued to work their way slowly down the twists and turns of Purgadair's streets, each declination offering tantalising glimpses of the whitewashed walls and rooftops of the lower hovels, and the desert beyond the city walls. Many of the hovels were two and three storeys high, or rather deep, these upper levels opening out on the tier below. The lower they went the more the sharp turns began to resemble the staggered steps of a huge ziggurat, descending a few hundred feet every turn of the street.
All around them the insects crowded in, drawn by the scent of their flesh. Sláine lit a fresh brand and handed it to Ukko, then lit another for himself. He resisted the impulse to toss the almost-spent torch up into the middle of the encroaching insects. Barely. His instinct as a warrior was to drive them away, to cleave and crush and smear their viscera across the ichor-slicked streets and stand amid their broken carapaces, victorious, blood pumping, Earth Power firing his veins. Sláine's fist clenched and unclenched around the splintered chair leg as it burned down in his hand. He felt its heat on his face and hand as the flames licked both ways, consuming the wood.
There were hundreds, thousands of the huge insects swarming across the low rooftops.
Ukko let his torch drop for a split second, reaching down to scratch his armpit with his spare hand - and almost paid for the momentary lapse of concentration. Two of the creatures reacted instantaneously, launching themselves from the rooftop at the dwarf. Sláine lunged forwards, thrusting his own firebrand into the giant insect's labrum, forcing the creature to eat the fire. Grabbing Ukko by the collar Sláine shoved the dwarf, sending him sprawling indignantly across the sand. Sláine ducked and rolled away from the creature barely a fraction of a second before it was engulfed in flame as its own gases erupted and the explosion pasted its guts all across the street. The second insect skittered away and up onto the roof on the other side of the street, barely escaping the explosion.
"So much for no sudden movements," Sláine said, smearing a charred strip of intestinal tract across his brow.
"I had an itch," Ukko mumbled defensively. "What was I supposed to do?"
A swarm of angry insects blocked their path; their bodies were crushed together en-masse so that they formed an impenetrable
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