City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett

Author:Robert Jackson Bennett [Bennett, Robert Jackson]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, Thrillers & Suspense, Suspense, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fantasy, Epic, Paranormal & Urban
ISBN: 9780553419719
Amazon: B00TCI29Q4
Publisher: Broadway Books
Published: 2016-01-25T05:00:00+00:00

She watches as the sword slices through one of the malformed statues standing along the Solda. The stone figure—which looks like it was carved to resemble a man drawing the string of an arrow—buckles at the waist and tumbles down the slopes, crushing houses and buildings as if they were no more than toothpicks.

“By the fucking seas,” she whispers. “He means to slaughter every last one of us!”

“And it looks like he can do it, too,” says Lem.

“I’ve called up to the fortress for reinforcements,” says Sakthi. He pats an enormous lead-acid-battery-powered radio on the floor beside him. It must weigh forty pounds, at least. “They’re sending down an entire battalion as fast as they can. Everyone and everything’s on full alert.”

“And what are they supposed to do?” asks Lem. “He shrugged off our fire like it was nothing!”

“I haven’t exactly heard any other options!” says Sakthi.

Mulaghesh spits a mouthful of blood out on the floor. “Divine creatures are tough,” she says. “But they’re not invincible. Do we have anything heavier than riflings?”

“We’ve got the rock guns up in the truck,” says Sakthi. “Could that make any difference?”

“Ponjas?” says Mulaghesh, surprised. “You brought those?”

“Per the general’s orders, it’s SOP for any squadron exiting the fortress,” says Sakthi.

Of course it would be, she thinks. A Ponja rifling would be a pretty standard weapon for this region: firing a half-inch-caliber round, a Ponja can punch through most walls, most light armors, as well as plenty of other obstructions—including stones, which makes it useful when fighting highland insurgents in the upper ranges. After being put to this use by caravans traversing the mountain passes, the Ponja rifling met with great success, earning the nickname “rock gun.” So of course Biswal would make sure his soldiers used them.

Now it’s just a question of whether a Ponja can punch a hole in Divine armor as well as it can stone.

Another om, another rattling crash as a Voortyashtani structure collapses.

“Fuck,” says Mulaghesh. “He’ll tear through this place like tissue paper if we let him!”

“But the second we open up on him, he’ll be on us like a buzz saw,” says Lem.

“The Divine warriors you fought in the Battle of Bulikov…,” says Sakthi.

“What about them?” says Mulaghesh.

“They couldn’t survive artillery fire, could they?”

“No. That they couldn’t. What are you getting at?”

Sakthi glances down at the radio in his hand, then up at Fort Thinadeshi and its countless cannons pointed at them.

“Hold on,” says Mulaghesh. “Are you seriously suggesting we shell the city? With us in it?”

“We could evacuate,” says Sakthi. “Try and keep him contained. Then pound away at him.”

“That would incur the losses of thousands of civilians!” says Mulaghesh angrily. “Not to mention the likely destruction of the harbor, which we’ve spent billions to build!”

“And if the Ponjas don’t work on him?” says Sakthi, with more backbone than she expected. “What then, General?”

Mulaghesh starts thinking. She’ll be damned if she sheds more civilian blood in her lifetime without even trying another way.

She remembers, suddenly, Shara’s face,

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