City of Dreams and Nightmare by Ian Whates

Author:Ian Whates
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction & Fantasy, General
ISBN: 9780007345243
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Published: 2010-09-15T07:56:41.618000+00:00

TEN

Tom came to with his head thumping. Somebody was pulling him to his feet – a tattooed arm. He stared into a face that he thought might be Rayul’s, though he still found it difficult to tell these tattooed men apart. Dust and small fragments of wood and stone fell from his body as he struggled upwards. More cuts and bruises but his head was the one that claimed his attention. He lifted a hand to his face, feeling his forehead, to be rewarded with a fresh lance of pain. His fingers found dampness, stickiness, and he stared at the red of his own glistening blood on taking them away.

Kat was there, agitated, anxious to move. “Come on,” she urged, her voice sounding distorted and distant. “The fire’s taken hold and it’s going to be a monster.”

He didn’t need her to tell him that, he could feel the heat for himself. The building they had taken refuge in the previous night was gone, as were those next to it, consumed in raging flames. Dark smoke billowed upwards, plumes that dashed themselves against the high cavern ceiling. He felt himself pulled again and was running, staggering in the wake of the Tattooed Men and Kat, who kept pace with him.

“Weird gang alliances, demon hounds and now exploding sun globes falling on us; you’re not the safest of people to be around, kid,” the girl muttered.

Tom couldn’t answer. It was as if the words were not intended for him at all but for somebody else. Nor would he have argued if he could, not even at her calling him kid again. Things were happening on all sides which he had no understanding of and no control over. He felt as if he were drowning, as if life was somehow racing ahead of him, dragging him along in its wake, buffeting him the whole while. Since he came back from the Heights everything had turned crazy. No, in fact before that – the murder and falling from the walls…Was there a connection? Was all that had happened to him since then a consequence of what he had witnessed on the walls? He didn’t want to believe that, yet it offered an explanation – the only one he could currently think of. The question was, if true, what could he hope to do about it?

They passed guard units rushing towards the blaze. Other people started to appear at windows and doors, most of them bleary-eyed, curious to know what all the fuss was about, woken by the explosion but not yet able to grasp what was happening.

“Run,” Kat yelled at them, and then, “Fire!”

The Tattooed Men joined in calling out warnings and soon they were not the only ones heading away, as people abandoned their homes and fled the spreading flames. A pair of fire carts trundled past, the strident peal of their bells all but drowning out the shouts of the attendant guardsmen who were frantically waving their arms and imploring folk to make way, while constantly sounding the carts’ handbell.

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