Chapter Twenty-Six - Finding a Foxhole

“Hey, kid!” I called as I rushed down the stairs.

The kid manning the gantries looked up. His eyes were like saucers behind his goggles. “You killed them,” he said.

I landed with a puff of sand a few steps from him and moved over to the gnomish soldiers. The one with the officer’s badge had landed wrong, his neck bent at an angle that just wasn’t right. The other, who’s tumbled backwards down the stairs, was in better shape. That was, he was breathing and groaning while turning this way and that.

“Not both of them,” I said.

It was bad form to kill someone after you’d beaten the sands out of their skull, so I refrained from kicking the living soldier. Instead, I knelt down and grabbed both gnomes by a foot and started dragging them back.

“W-where are you going?” the kid asked.

“I’m dumping these two in the back there,” I said with a nod behind me. The gantries were up against a wall, but owing to the size of most mechs, they had some room behind them. It looked like the kind of spot where sand would end up whenever the wind blew hard enough, and the wind was plenty strong.

“Ah, shit,” the kid said. He rushed past me and to a little cabin, then came out with a shovel. For a moment I was worried, but he planted it into the sand nearby. “We need to hide them.”

“Good thinking,” I said as I let go. The bodies were out of sight, at least. “This one’s still alive. Got any rope in there?”

“I can’t just... tie him up!”

“Fine, fine, then give me three minutes and drag him into the bar. Someone will have a look at him, and he’s in no state to be talking,” I said. “You’re free to anything in the other’s pockets. Call it spoils.”

I searched my pockets for the gold the gnome had given me the night before, then flicked a pair of coins to the kid. “Oh, wow,” he said at the glint of gold.

Probably more than he made in a month. “I’m heading out. If anyone asks, I left in a yellow mech, one of those heavy dwarven ones.”

“Right!”

Running back, I climbed the steps two at a time until I was back at Rusty’s entrance. Clin was back on his feet, his new hat fixed on his head and a bandana stuck to his face. “You’re back,” he said.

“Yup. Scoot back, we’re moving.” I jumped into the cabin, pulled the door shut, then landed on my seat and started flicking things on.

“We’re leaving the city?”

I considered it. That would be the smart thing to do. “No,” I said. “Not yet. We’re heading east, right?”

“Yes, of course,” Clin said.

“That means we’d need to go north first, take the road that passes through the foothills of the Shadow Heights. It ends over in Daggerwren.”

“Which is a human settlement,” Clin said. “Do the gnomes have any influence around that area?”

“Not as much as they’d want. Place is a bit of a dump though. If we take the Shady Road north, we’ll be running into gnomish patrols. I’ll bet my last copper on it.” I shoved my hands into Rusty’s control gauntlets and moved the mech’s arms, slowly pushing the gantries away before taking a step forward. I wasn’t plugged into Rusty properly, so I didn’t have any added senses to rely on, but just to move around the city? I’d probably be fine.

Clin shifted up and came to stand near me, his eyes fixed on the mirrors showing the world ahead of Rusty. “Where to, then? Directly to... I think the next nearest settlement would be Cinderwich?”

“No, there’s Flatbluff too. We’re still heading to Daggerwren. I know some people there. We’re just not taking the main road there. Before that, we need to refuel and rearm a little. Rusty still needs repairs, but I think we’ll just need to go without for now.”

“That doesn’t sound all that wise.”

“Ain’t much about this situation that’s wise,” I said. “Gnomes will figure that we just offed two of theirs. They have long memories.” I glanced at the elf. “I’m adding that to your bill.”

“I don’t recall that being part of our initial arrangement,” he said.

“Make do,” I shot back.

It would be a right pain to deal with the gnomes for a bit. They had longer memories than most folk around the Vasts. They’d be baying for my blood for a damned long time. That was, if they figured that I was responsible for the two we’d just killed.

Chances were that they’d figure it out.

I cursed under my breath as I walked Rusty onto the main streets of Mortarview and paused as a four-legged transport trudged on by. A few carts shifted to the side, most of them filled with sand and with sweepers riding behind them, their long-handled brooms resting on their shoulders.

The storm was supposed to be a two-front, which wasn’t all that common, but I’d seen a couple every year. That meant we’d have another blast coming. Two-fronts were a blessing and a curse. Weaker than a normal storm, but spread out across a couple of days.

The city felt quieter than it had the night before. Fewer people on the roads, homes still boarded up with every shutter closed. A few younger folk were on the rooftops with brushes, shoving sand down the flat-topped homes and clearing out their family mortars.

Men with the blue sashes of the Eagle Clan were out and about, some of them with strange devices pointing to the skies, others climbing atop street-poles and inspecting the lights within. I knew their sort would be excited about the storm. Twice as many chances to refill magical cores.

Across from the Centre Inn was the town square, protected by a wall that came up to Rusty’s hip. In the middle of it all was Big Hellagan’s Gun, the city’s pride and joy.

It was thirty paces long, from base to the end of its barrel, and I was willing to bet that if they removed the heavy plug at the end, I could fit head and shoulders in there with some room to spare.

There were a few sheds around Hallagan’s gun, with a stage off to one side for presentations and such-like. The folk here fired that monster once a year, more if they could find an excuse good enough.

We circled around the town square until we were on its far side. I felt my blood run a little cold when I saw a pair of gnomish mechs out ahead. They were stopped, and a gnome was sticking out the top and gesturing to a poster while talking to some folk on foot next to it.

We walked by, then peeled off and headed eastwards.

Past one of the clan compounds, then to the eastern gate where I had to move Rusty to the side and join a line of others waiting to leave the city.

I tapped my foot, bleeding off nervous energy as time ticked on. It was still morning, even if it was already darkening a bit out. The clouds were growing thicker as the second wave of the storm approached.

If we were stuck fighting in the city, we were screwed. Mortarview wouldn’t take kindly to that kind of thing.

Then some clansfolk gestured us forward and Rusty as well as a few other utility mechs moved into the gate space where we waited for one gate to close behind us and for the exterior gate to open out ahead.

I sighed once we were out of the city.

Still plenty of homes and such around, of course, but most of those were jammed up near the wall to stay in the shade. The ground here was a bit greener, owing to some water underground. In the distance, I could make out a herd of long-horns rushing back to the city after what was probably a short graze.

“Alright,” I said. “You ever talk to the clan folk of Mortarview?”

“No,” Clin said. “It’s my first time here. I thought that was rather obvious.”

“Hmm, fair. They’re a weird bunch. Insular as it gets. Some are worse than others. Eagle won’t talk to you, but they won’t hurt you either. Scorpio would rather stab you than chat. Mouse are alright, and Fox, who we’re about to meet, are a crafty bunch of fidiots, but they’re fair in their own way.”

“Sounds divisive.”

“Mortarview’s a powder keg. Most of the clans have settled down though. They might not all like each other, but they trust the other clans more than they trust any stranger.”

“Wonderful,” Clin said. “So, nothing like the clans where I’m from.”

“Guess not,” I said.

Out ahead was the bazaar, a big space usually filled with tents and stalls, and now mostly empty. It was a nice spot to trade for stuff without entering the city proper. Right now, it was empty, but there was a spot next to that that was still busy enough.

It was a big enough building, with a few others around and behind it that were all part of the same complex. A big grinning woman, scantily clad and with fox ears and a tail, was stenciled on a board at the front. The woman’s eye was blinking open and closed every few seconds.

Tattletail’s was the skeeviest establishment I’d even been to, but it had its uses.

I just hoped they’d be useful for me.