Feral Empires: Fanning Flames by Stephen L. Hadley

Author:Stephen L. Hadley [Hadley, Stephen L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-07-31T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

When Liam woke, it was to nothing more than Kathryn astride him, urgently shaking him. The sight of her startled him, but he recovered quickly and forced a smile.

Kathryn did not smile back. Instead, she pointed upward at the ceiling.

“Occs,” she said.

Liam leapt from the bed, aware of the basement’s chill but hardly feeling it as he dressed faster than he’d ever done before. All the while, his ears strained for any hint of conversation from the brothel above. He heard little, but none of the screams or shouts that would have given away the presence of invaders.

He glanced at Kathryn, brows rising.

“You’re sure?” he asked, in a voice barely above a whisper.

“No Occs here,” Kathryn corrected quickly, still pointing upward. She gestured widely, as if indicating the space around the building—or the city more broadly. “Here. Walls. Trees. Occs.”

“They’ve reached the city?” he asked.

Kathryn nodded urgently, flashing a brief, confirmative grin. “Yes. City.”

Liam breathed a brief sigh of relief. If the Occs were at the gates, it would be safe to go outside without risking an encounter with the Mayor’s forces. Hopefully, no one in the militia would confront him about his disappearance the night before and he could rejoin their ranks without incident. And even if they did, he could honestly say that he’d gone looking for Jenn to try and bring her back to their side. No one could fault him there.

“Let’s go,” he said. “I need to find some ammo.”

The brothel was, unsurprisingly, almost completely abandoned as they emerged from the hidden basement. The madam was not in her room and yelped in surprise as he stepped out into the main parlor. She sat behind the bar, alongside another man with whom she’d been speaking. At the first sight of him, both she and her conversation partner had spun, leveling an antique-looking shotgun and a crossbow, respectively.

Grimacing, Liam raised his hand.

“It’s fine, Dennis,” the madam said, lowering her shotgun. “He spent the night. I just forgot he was down there.”

Dennis was not so quick to agree, but he eventually lowered his weapon as well. Scowling, he sipped from a glass sitting on the bar. His eyes never left Liam, even when Kathryn tip-toed out into the parlor after him.

“Thank you,” Liam said, looking awkwardly around the mostly empty room. The door had been barred with a heavy, wooden plank and painted, steel shutters pulled flat to cover the windows. “Do you know what’s going on?”

“Occs,” the madam said simply. She jerked her head toward the door. “Someone said they attacked the western gate. Don’t know what happened, but the shooting stopped a minute ago. Hope that means we won.”

“Thank you,” Liam said again. He eyed the locked door. “Can we leave?”

“Nobody’d think twice if you stayed,” the madam said. Her eyes flickered toward Kathryn, who stood silently in Liam’s shadow. “The Occs aren’t known to be kind to gals.”

Liam chuckled and reached back to ruffle Kathryn’s hair. It was even more disheveled than usual.

“Likewise,” he said.

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