The Crippled God

the rise, straightened and stared downslope.
    He saw her fists clench, half-heard her howl of fury.
    Squinting, his muscles starting to tremble, he stared at her shoulders – waiting, waiting – and when he saw them pivot, he released.
    I will make him pay for the lies! Olar Ethil, eldest among all the Bonecasters and now reborn, spun round towards Torrent—
    The arrow caught her in the left eye.
    The stone tip tore through the eyeball, punched through the back of the socket, where the bone was thin as skin, and the spinning chipped-stone point drilled a gory tunnel through her brain, before shattering against the inside of the back of her skull.
    He saw her head snap back, saw the shaft protruding from her face, and by the way her body fell – collapsing like a sack of bones – he knew that she was dead – killed instantly. Gasping, he sagged back. Did you see that, Toc? Did you see that shot?
    Ah, gods. It’s done, brother .
    It’s done. I am Torrent, last warrior of the Awl .
    When he slid towards the fissure, he was helpless to resist.
    Torrent. Last warrior of the …
    Stormy bellowed in agony as Gesler dragged him away. The red-haired Falari had been stabbed through his right thigh. But the blood was slow, gushing only when the muscles moved, telling Gesler that the fool wouldn’t bleed out before he got him away.
    The Ve’Gath were all drawing back – and back …
    Because she’s coming. Because she’s finally joining this fight .
    Gods help us all .
    Pulling Stormy on to the blood-soaked embankment of the third trench, he looked back upslope.
    She was walking alone towards the massed Kolansii. Little more than a child, stick-thin, looking undernourished. Pathetic.
    When Gesler saw her raise her hands, he flinched.
    With a terrible roar a wall of fire engulfed the highest trench. Scalding winds erupted in savage gusts, rolling back down the slope – Gesler saw the corpses nearest the girl crisp black, limbs suddenly pulling, curling inward in the heat’s bitter womb.
    And then Sinn began walking, and, as she did so, she marched the wall of fire ahead of her.
    Kalyth stumbled to her knees beside Gesler. ‘You must call her back! She can’t just burn them all alive!’
    Gesler sagged back. ‘It’s too late, Kalyth. There’s no stopping her now.’
    Kalyth screamed – a raw, breaking sound, her hands up at her face – but even she could not tear her eyes from the scene.
    The fire devoured the army crouched against the base of the Spire. Bodies simply exploded, blood boiling. Thousands of soldiers burst into flames, their flesh melting. Everything within the fire blackened, began crumbling away. And still the firestorm raged.
    Gunth Mach was crouched down over Stormy, oil streaming from her clawed hands and sealing the wound on his leg, but he was already pushing those hands away. ‘Gesler – we got to reach those stairs—’
    ‘I know,’ he said. Through fire. Well, of course it has to be us .
    ‘She won’t stop,’ Stormy said, pushing himself to his feet, swaying like a drunk. ‘She’ll take it for herself – all that power.’
    ‘I know, Stormy! I know, damn you! ’ Gesler forced himself to his feet. He squinted inland. ‘Gods below – what is that?’
    ‘A ghost army,’ Kalyth said. ‘The Matron says they simply came down from the sky.’
    ‘Send the Ve’Gath that way – all of them, Kalyth! Do you understand – you need to get them as far away from this as possible. If Sinn reaches the heart, that fire’s likely to consume the whole fucking land for leagues around!’
    She pulled at him. ‘Then you can do nothing. Don’t you see – you can’t—’
    Gesler took her face in his hands and kissed her hard on the lips. ‘Teach these lizards, Kalyth, only the best in us humans. Only the best .’ He turned to Stormy. ‘All right, let’s go. Forget any weapons – they’ll get too hot in our hands. We can tear off this armour on the way.’
    ‘Stop ordering me around!’
    Side by side, the two old marines set out.
    They climbed across greasy bodies, over ground that steamed, and through air hot as the breath of a smithy’s forge.
    ‘Can’t believe you, Ges,’ gasped Stormy. ‘You called on Fener!’
    ‘I wasn’t the only one, Stormy! I heard you—’
    ‘Not me – must’ve been someone else. You called him and someone fucking killed him! Gesler, you went and killed our god!’
    ‘Go to Hood,’ Gesler growled. ‘Who crossed his finger bones when he