Weaveworld

XIV

THE NARROW BRIGHT

1

here were less than a dozen individuals from amongst Yolande’s rebel band who were firm enough of limb to make their way towards the Gyre. Suzanna went with them – Nimrod had requested that – though she told him in plain terms that any dream of overwhelming the enemy by force of arms was misbegotten. The enemy were many; they were few. The only hope remaining lay in her getting close to Shadwell, and dispatching him personally. If Nimrod’s people could clear her route to the Prophet they might yet do service; otherwise, she advised them to preserve themselves, in the hope that there’d be a life worth living tomorrow.

They got within about two hundred yards of the battle, the sound of shots, and shouts, and car-engines, deafeningly loud, when she had her first sight of Shadwell. He’d found himself a mount – a vast, vile monster that could only be one of the Magdalene’s children grown to a foul adulthood – and he was sitting astride its shoulders, surveying the battle.

‘He’s protected,’ said Nimrod at her side. There were beasts, human and less than human, circling the Prophet. ‘We’ll divert them as best we can.’

There’d been a moment, as they’d approached the Gyre, when Suzanna’s spirits had risen, despite the circumstance. Or perhaps because of it; because this confrontation promised to be the end-game – the war that would end all wars – after which she’d have no more nights dreaming of loss. But the moment had passed quickly. Now all she felt – peering through the smoke at her enemy – was despondency.

It grew with every yard they covered. Wherever she looked, there were sights pitiful or nauseating. The struggle, it was clear, was already lost. The Gyre’s defendants had been outnumbered and outarmed. Most had been laid low; the corpses food for Shadwell’s creatures. The remnants, brave as they were, could not keep the Salesman from his prize any longer.

I was a dragon once, she found herself thinking, as she fixed her eye on the Prophet. If she could only remember how it had felt she might be one again. But this time there’d be no hesitation, no moment of doubt. This time, she’d devour.