Exiles in Arms: Night of the Necrotech (30 page)

Taryn glared at the twitching corpse, then reached over and pulled the magelocks from beneath her sash.

“I think these belong to me,” she said. Turning away from the carcass, she made a quick inspection of the magelocks. One was loaded, the other empty. Briefly, she entertained the idea of looking for her cartridge belt, but the roar of metal crashing against metal convinced her there wasn’t time.

The witch might be dead, but the helljack was still on its feet and determined to demolish Rutger and Rex.

Rex staggered under the impact of the helljack’s harpoon. Again, the warjack was dragged across the floor toward the Reaper’s murderous spike. At least the arcane energies Moritat had endowed it with had dissipated, vanished when the helljack threw its master into the torture pit. This time Rutger was determined that the Toro would hear him. Despite the danger posed by the rampaging Reaper, Rutger dashed toward Rex, shouting up at the massive ’jack.

“The pillar!” Rex turned its head and stared down at him. Rutger waved his arm at one of the pillars that supported the roof. “Wrap the chain around the pillar!” He made a rotating motion with his arm.

Rex was dragged another few yards toward the helljack. Then the Toro rushed forward, dodging around the intervening pillar. Using the pillar as a fulcrum, the warjack once again reversed the role of hunter and prey. The helljack screeched, flailing about as the chain snagged around the pillar. There was a groan of straining steel. Then smoke erupted from the spool built into the Reaper’s arm. The tension in the retracting chain fell slack as the spool failed completely. Coil after coil of the thick anchor chain unwound onto the floor.

“Rex!” Rutger shouted as he circled around the pillar. “Pull him in! Pull him in!”

The Toro voiced an angry growl, venting steam from its grill. It seized the slackened chain and began to pull it toward the pillar, hand over hand.

The helljack shuddered when the slack was gone, and the chain suddenly tugged at it. Without the warcaster’s guidance, it was uncertain how to react to this strange experience. There was enough awareness in its cortex, however, to recognize and react to an enemy. The howling Reaper didn’t try to oppose the pull of the chain. Instead, it charged forward, lunging toward Rex.

“Behind the pillar!” Rutger shouted, then followed his own advice and darted behind the thick column. The helljack stabbed out with its spike but connected only with the column, gouging a chunk from its face.

Rounding the pillar, Rex brought its fist smashing down into the helljack’s forearm, seeking to disable the piston-driven spike as it had on the smaller Reaper in Vulger’s mansion. The heavier armor of the larger helljack resisted Rex’s strike. The Reaper spun around with eerie speed and brought its spike slashing across Rex’s chest, crumpling the warjack’s armor.

Rex tried to pull away, but the chain held it fast. The helljack reared back, arching its arm so it could stab the spike into the Toro at full force.

Just as the Reaper was about to slam its attack home, there was the sharp crack of gunfire and the tension in the chain was gone. Rex went stumbling back, beyond the reach of the spike thrusting at its chest. The helljack lurched in the opposite direction, fighting to maintain its balance.

Taryn blew smoke from the barrel of her magelock, gratified that the corrosive shot had snapped the chain. She smiled at the look of relief on Rutger’s face, then shook her head. “One shot!” she shouted. “Make sure Rex doesn’t waste the reprieve.”

Rutger thumbed Jackknife’s activation stud. “Let’s finish him, Rex.” He waved the warjack toward the Reaper’s left, in the direction its disabled harpoon gun. To confront the Toro, the helljack would have to pivot. Rutger’s plan depended on it.

The helljack snarled as Rex came pounding after it. The Reaper rushed forward to meet the warjack, turning to bring its spike to bear as the Toro tried to flank it. Rutger brought Jackknife slashing down on the helljack midturn, raking the blade across its claws. The arcane energy of Jackknife’s runeplate shredded them. The gripping talon lost, its whole weight pivoted in the direction of its compromised foot, and the Reaper crashed onto its side.

Rex lunged at the fallen ’jack before it could try to rise. With its spike pinned beneath its own mass, the Reaper could only flail as Rex’s pounding fists ripped it apart.

Rutger watched the monster’s destruction, taking pride in his ’jack’s strength and determination. He almost didn’t hear Taryn when she came up beside him.

“‘Wrecks’ certainly lives up to its name,” she laughed.

He turned toward her, caught her in a crushing embrace. She tried to squirm free before he squeezed all the air from her. When he did finally release her, Rutger could only stare at her with a look of almost incredulous joy. “Next time you get dragged off by Cryxian horrors, don’t count on me to bail you out,” he said.

Taryn pointed a finger at him. “Next time I tell you we’re having nothing to do with Marko, you’re going to listen.”

“A touching scene, Shaw.”

The two mercenaries turned at the sound of Kalder’s voice. The bounty hunter stepped from behind a pillar. He must have used it for cover during Rex’s fight with the helljack. He had a pistol in each hand, one aimed at each of them.

“We even found her alive. There’s a certain wealthy dame in Laedry who will be very happy to hear that.” Kalder’s laugh was like wind across a gravestone. “I’ll be happy too, when I get the bonus she’ll pay for live delivery.”

Taryn glared at him. “I told you already, there’s nobody back there to pay you. I don’t suppose you’re willing to listen any more than you were in the Scrapyard.”

“Not with what the duchess is paying,” Kalder said. “Money speaks a lot louder than somebody begging for their life.”

Rutger nodded at the two pistols. “I see you’re as good as your word.” The bounty hunter gave him a withering smile. “I have a certain amount of honor. I told you how we’d play this.”

Taryn arched an eyebrow when she heard that. She looked accusingly at Rutger. “What kind of deal did you make with him?”

“If we rescued you, I’d duel him to see—”

Taryn spun around, her magelock in hand, glaring at Kalder. “Rutger’s no gunfighter, but I imagine you knew that when you proposed your deal.”

“What good’s an advantage if you don’t take it?” Kalder said. He nodded his chin at the gun in her hand. “That one’s empty.”

“Are you sure?” Taryn said. “I had two when they brought me down here.” As soon as she saw the twitch that pulled at Kalder’s mouth, she knew her bluff had worked.

Kalder shook his head. “The arrangement is between me and Shaw.”

“But it’s my skin on the table. I don’t ask anybody to take my place.” She matched Kalder’s cold smile. “Either face me or walk out of here alone.”

“You know I can’t let you go,” the bounty hunter said. Taryn could tell he was still trying to study the magelock, to determine if it really was loaded.

“It’s the only thing you can do,” Rutger said.

Taryn laughed. “No, he has another choice. He can square off against me. If he wins, he’ll just have to settle for skipping this bonus he thinks a dead woman is paying him.” She darted her eyes toward Rutger. “Get Rex. Between the two of you, I think we can keep things fair.”

Kalder glared at her. “I’m not using magic.”

Rex came lumbering away from the junked helljack. Taryn enjoyed the way the bounty hunter squirmed when the ’jack’s optics glowered at him. “If it makes you nervous, I’ll hand the magelock to Rutger and use one of yours.”

A cunning gleam flashed through Kalder’s eyes. Flipping the pistols in his hands so that he held each by the barrel, he stepped forward and offered Taryn her choice. Studying every flicker of expression on the bounty hunter’s face, she took one of the weapons. The balance was good. The weight told her it was loaded.

“Thank you,” she said, keeping her eyes on Kalder while handing off the magelock to Rutger. “I feel a little less naked with a loaded weapon in my hand.”

Kalder’s eyes narrowed. “Nice trick. When I get you where you’re going, maybe they’ll let me stick around to watch what happens.”

Slowly, Taryn tucked the borrowed pistol in her pants. Kalder made a show of doing the same with his, avoiding the convenience of the holsters on his belt. “Rutger, call it out,” she said. “We go on three.”

She said it in a voice that made it clear there was no point in arguing. Things had gone too far for that. “One,” he called out in a voice far more steady than he felt. “Two . . .”

He never called out the last number. In a blur of motion, Taryn’s pistol was in her hand and the roar of gunfire boomed across the dungeon. Rutger gaped in disbelief as Kalder pitched to the floor, his pistol still tucked in his pants. “You shot early!” he shouted, disgust fighting with relief for mastery of his voice.

Taryn winced and clutched at her bleeding shoulder. “So did he.” She pointed at the holdout pistol in Kalder’s left hand, the bounty hunter’s last advantage. “He intended to shoot me with the hideaway, then gun you with the one in his belt. Probably taking the gamble that Rex wouldn’t know what to do if both of us were gone.”

“Of all the dirty . . .” Rutger shook his head.

“It’s a vicious world,” Taryn agreed, “and the worst thing is you can’t spot all the monsters just by looking at them.”

Rutger let Taryn lean on him as he helped her from the old Orgoth dungeon. The wound in her shoulder wasn’t serious, but after her ordeal with the Cryxians, her strength was nearly spent. He knew just being out in the open air again, away from the necrotic stink of the Chatterstones, would improve her tremendously.

He wasn’t worried about finding the way back to the surface. Kalder had shown him the marks the iron lich left. He could follow the trail. Rutger was depending on the threat of Rex to keep any of the “normal” denizens of the graveyard at a distance.

“What’ll we do about that?” Taryn asked him, waving her hand at the dungeon they’d left behind and the Cryxian dead strewn about it.

“Tell the authorities,” Rutger said. “Captain Parvolo or the Church of Morrow. We’ve done more than our part. We can let them clean up the mess.”

Taryn laughed and shook her head. “That’s not what I meant. I’ve been wracking my brain trying to figure out an angle to make some money out of all this.”

“Come up with anything?” Rutger asked. He felt a shudder sweep through Taryn’s body.

“Yes,” she said, “