The Jagged Teeth Read online

  A flash of white light briefly lit the room with a sterile pallor. The thunderstorm raging outside threw its fists at the window. Knuckles forged of rain, hail and wind rattled on the glass panes, providing a morose soundtrack as Reimar struggled in his seat.

  Across from him sat Talia, slumped in a chair like his own, and, like his own, her arms were bound and a needle dug deep into her forearm, drawing a deep, dark, red from her veins into a clear tube disappearing into the dark behind her. She moved her head groggily to the sound of the giant outside, growling in the stormy blue-black clouds, and opened her eyes. She registered Reimar as the next flash projected his shadow onto the floor. She tried to move her arms. “Shit,” she uttered quietly.

  “I concur,” a deep voice agreed from her left. Meinal’s eye glowed a weak amber, barely illuminating his chest. He remained where he had fallen, too weak to move anything but his head.

  “Meinal? Oh thank the gods! Quick, get me out of here!” Reimar commanded urgently, struggling against his bonds.

  “Negative, Master,” Meinal spoke heavily, “I have failed you.”

  “Common, Meinal! Now ain’t the time to be getting all philosophical. Get up and let’s get going!” Reimar urged.

  “I would have told you,” Meinal continued. Were a droid capable of demonstrating guilt, or regret, Meinal could almost have been mistaken for showing it now. “Reimar, I’m sorry.”

  “Now now, don’t go revealing all the secrets at once!” a voice called mockingly from above them. Bayan descended the stairs like countess at a ball. She walked slowly, deliberately and triumphantly, in a sleek black dress she’d somehow procured. Her hair was drawn up into a functional yet elegant ponytail.

  “Bayan, seriously, what the hell’s going on?” Reimar asked. Talia by now had guessed. She glowered across the hall.

  “You know; you really do make friends too easily, Reimar,” Bayan remarked coolly. She dropped down the final step and walked serenely across the floor. “You should be more careful. You’re already a boy with all the life preservation instinct of a suicidal lemming, the least you could do is try not to trust every stranger you meet.”

  “Right…okay…can you let me go now?” Reimar asked hopefully.

  “Someone could really take advantage of you one day…” Bayan continued, ignoring him. She crossed over to him and held his chin in one hand. “No,” she said softly. She let him go and clambered onto Meinal’s still body then lay down with her head on one enormous shoulder. “Don’t make me turn you off now,” she mocked Meinal. He remained silent, but his eye now surged boiling red and orange. She returned her attention to Reimar and regarded him quizzically.

  “Do you know what a pirate is, Reimar?” she asked.

  “Hey, lady, wait just a…” Talia interrupted. Bayan pulled a pistol from her cleavage with the air of a magician pulling a rabbit from a hat and aimed it at Talia. Unnervingly, without looking. Her eyes remained locked on Reimar’s as if they alone were in the room. She clicked back the hammer. Talia shut up.

  “Do you know who razed Bastion to the ground?” Bayan asked quietly.

  “Listen, Bayan, not sure what happened to make you jump off the crazy cliff like this but seriously, you really don’t want my blood. You don’t know what’s in it.” Reimar fidgeted nervously and ignored the question.

  “Do you?” Bayan asked again.

  “Yes, it was raiders or something from the North. When I came back there was nothing left. Couldn’t have been anyone else. Now…”

  “Recognise this?” Bayan picked up a piece of metal that lay on Meinal’s chest with her free hand. She threw it on the floor in front of him. It was a lighter. It was gunmetal grey with five white stripes painted on it. It was his lighter.

  Reimar’s brow furrowed. “Where…”

  “…Did I find it? An interesting question, perhaps you’d like to answer him?” Bayan addressed Talia for the first time.

  “I had it. But you have to understand…” Talia said quickly.

  “You? How did you get it?” Reimar interrupted loudly. “It was in my house when…”

  “I can explain,” Talia said urgently. “I come from a clan…”

  “A pirate clan,” Bayan interjected.

  “Well, yes, technically,” Talia looked uncomfortable.

  “You’re a pirate?!” Reimar gasped incredulously.

  “I never said I wasn’t!” Talia said indignantly, and not a little defensively. “I just never brought it up.”

  “Oh, great! You also never said you weren’t a cannibal! Should I count my toes?!” Reimar yelled.

  “Hey! Don’t get pissy with me!” Talia yelled back, firing up instantly. “I’m not best friends with a psychotic bi…” Quite what Reimar was best friends with was, perhaps mercifully, cut off as Bayan gagged Talia with a strip of cloth.

  “Anyway,” Bayan carried on peacefully as Talia raged and struggled in her seat while making increasingly angry muffled noises. “The important thing is, she can’t hurt you now.”

  Reimar looked at Bayan, then at his arm, then back at Bayan. He cocked his eyebrow. “Pretty sure you’re the one hurting me right now, lady.”

  “Only for a little bit,” Bayan said. She walked back over to him. Then she stroked his cheek with one hand and sat on his lap. Reimar seemed rather taken back by this sudden change in events. He fell uncharacteristically quiet. “Then I’ll let you go,” Bayan purred, “at least in a manner of speaking. You’re coming with me. I’ve got a debt to settle. But don’t worry, you’ll be safe. Cyber only wants information. You, I get to keep, and you never know...” she leaned in close, “you might even enjoy it” she breathed. She bit his ear playfully then leaned back and grinned at him.

  Reimar shook his head. His brain ceased flopping about like a fish in a bucket and sorted itself out. “Wait, what?” he asked. “Cyber? As in the metal crazy guy who tried to feed me to his pets?”

  Bayan nodded. “Meinal of course will have to negotiate with Cyber on his own... But you’ll be safe, I promise. You keep giving me your blood, I keep you alive. Win, win.”

  “Meinal?!” Reimar’s brain by this point felt like a melon going under a truck. He was having trouble keeping up.

  “I am sorry,” Meinal said heavily, joining the conversation. “Cyber is my master. He promised to free me if I delivered you both safely to the mountain, and returned to him with the knowledge it contained.”

  “But, how? I’ve known you my entire life,” Reimar said, now even more confused.

  “I’m a lot older than you,” Meinal said simply. “Cyber plans in decades.”

  “And his boss plans in centuries, which is why you can make your own way back, robot. I won’t have you beat me to the punch,” Bayan said bluntly. Meinal’s eye narrowed.

  “And you want my blood why?”

  “Because, silly, you’re immortal. At least so long as nobody shoots you. Thanks to the information I got here, turns out all anyone needs to do is drink your blood ever so often and they live forever. Remarkably simple really…” she said wistfully.

  Reimar by this point had had enough new information. She said he was immortal; he wasn’t even going to question it. Just keep swimming, he thought.

  “And what about Talia?” Reimar asked. Talia looked up at the mention of her name, and, for a moment, gave up trying to untie her hands.

  Bayan had noticed some time ago, but was equally aware she’d never get them free. “The pirate? Well…”

  “She will remain here,” Kingdom interjected. Everyone looked up to his shelf. They’d all forgotten the brains were even there. “As per our arrangement,” he finished. “We give you our knowledge, you keep the boy, we keep the woman. We both unlock the key to immortality.” He sighed tragically. “And perhaps we will find a way to cure this blight once and for all.”

  “Seems fair,” Reimar shrugged. Talia looked far less happy with the arrangement. Her eyes narrowed and she made a series of short, angry grunts. “Hey
it’s not like I don’t appreciate you helping me and everything, but there is the strong possibility you killed everyone else I know so…” Reimar trailed off.

  Talia rolled her eyes. She stamped her boot on the ground. Everyone looked at her. “Now, darling, really?” cooed Bayan. Talia stamped again. Smoke started pouring out of her boot heel. Everyone stopped. Seconds later all that could be seen in the smoke were Talia’s eyebrows raised triumphantly. Then she disappeared completely into the haze.

  Bayan stood up. From the smoke at the far end of the room what sounded distinctly like the sound of a wooden chair being kicked to pieces swam though the air. Bayan stood in the cold grey dawn that slowly seeped into the room and twisted her hair up into a tight functional bun. She clicked her neck. The noise stopped.

  Talia walked out of the smoke like an ageing rock star. She conjured a hair band out of thin air in the way only a woman can, and tied her hair back, sweeping it over one ear.

  “Oh, feisty!” Bayan snarled nastily.

  Talia punched her in the face. There was an audible crack as Bayan’s nose broke. “Bitch! That’s feisty,” Talia growled.

  Bayan picked herself up from the floor. Blood dripped down her face. She locked eyes with Talia. Neither of them said anything else. Bayan lashed out quickly, darting forwards. Talia dodged the blow easily only to reel backwards as Bayan used her momentum to twist, bringing her elbow round to crack into the side of Talia’s head. Bayan dropped down quickly and hit again, driving her elbow into Talia’s ribs. Talia grunted but barely flinched as the elbow bounced from the bunched muscles in her abdomen.

  Still dazed from the headshot, Talia’s reposting punch went wide. Bayan, quick to take advantage, kicked savagely at the back of Talia’s knee. Talia yelped and dropped to one knee. Bayan struck her hard across the face and she fell to the floor. Bayan stalked back across the room wiping a mixture of blood and sweat from her face with the palm of her hand.

  Talia got to her feet. She spat blood on the floor and grinned. Bayan was considerably smaller than she, but both were strong, muscular and fast.

  “Now, really!” a reedy voice called from on high, “Must we really resort to such barbaric displays?”

  “Shut up, Isambard!” Nelson roared. “Our one’s winning!”

  It certainly appeared that way. Talia was moving slower as the ringing in her ears grew louder. Bayan pressed her advantage and lashed out again as Talia staggered forwards. Talia ducked. Several lifetime’s worth of combat experience gave her an instinctive edge. She’d moved almost automatically and now she struck back. She hit Bayan in the stomach, and, as she doubled over, brought her other elbow down on her head.

  Bayan hit the floor again, but this time she didn’t get back up. She twisted over and wiped her mouth on the back of her forearm. “You fight dirty.”

  “Well I am a pirate,” Talia panted.

  “True, well my turn to cheat,” Bayan stretched out quickly behind her to grab hold of the leg of the chair a dumbstruck Reimar sat in. The other’s fingers curled around to touch the charm dangling from her bracelet. The two disappeared. A crack echoed around the room from the displacing air.

  “Shit,” Talia said emphatically.

  There was an awkward silence for a moment, until it was broken by Isambard. “Does that mean we get to keep you, or…?”

  *

  Talia stood on the ledge outside the mountain. The wind whistled across the mountain and sang past her ears, ushering away the storm clouds sailing high in the currents above her. She stared away to the west with her arms crossed. Back in her armour her helmet sat on a rock beside her, next to her rucksack and her rifle propped up beside it. The noise of the receding storm did nothing to disguise the series of dull thuds that sounded behind her.

  “Are you ready?” Talia asked, not looking around as Meinal stomped up beside her.

  “Affirmative,” Meinal replied, now fully re-charged from the mountain’s reactors.

  “Then let’s go.” Talia turned around, slung her equipment over one shoulder and picked up her helmet. “Your Master is not gonna save himself.”

  “I concur, and I appreciate the help,” Menial said, his eye now a deep, royal blue.

  “Not a problem,” Talia said softly, opening her hand to reveal the electronic chip she’d removed from Meinal’s brain nestling in her palm. Gun-metal grey, the tiny chip still managed to look menacing. Cyber’s influence over the large robot had come from the small grey square. “Would you like to do the honours?” She asked Meinal.

  Meinal nodded, picked up the chip with surprising dexterity and crushed it between two enormous fingers. The two watched as the power streamed away with the wind, forming a contrail for a fraction of a second before disappearing into the sky.

  “Now what?” Meinal asked after a moment.

  “Well, we’ll start by trying to find that cave, and then we’ll take it from there,” Talia replied.

  “Hurrumph, more walking. I hate walking. My poor old bones!”

  Meinal’s head drooped as Granny’s voice cut across the ledge. She finished hobbling up to them after him and poked his shins with her stick. “I hope you’re all refreshed now, robot, you’ve got a long way to carry me!”

  “Yes, Wrinkled One,” Meinal said dejectedly. His eye turned a less merry azure.

  “Oh don’t worry metal man!” Talia said happily, patting his shoulder. She took a flare from her backpack and tossed it carelessly over her shoulder onto the ledge behind them. It burst into life spraying a yellow plume of smoke into the air. She put her helmet back on, snapping it into place. “We won’t be walking.”

  A roaring louder than the wind swept over the ledge as the clouds parted before the keel of a ship sinking through the clouds. Four ducted fans spaced around a dull white hull appeared, followed by three masts swept back 10 degrees and hung with green tinged solar sails. Ropes hung between them festooned with multi-coloured streamers and lights, and banners flew from the masts proclaiming allegiance to the Free States Federation, the House of Roses and, finally, a banner with three stars, joined with two bars and held between the teeth of a skull and an asymmetric pair of crossbones, the Orion pirate clan.

  Talia grinned inside the helmet. The figurehead of a woman bearing a bow and arrows came into view as the sun finally broke through the clouds, revealing the name “Artemis” picked out in white letters on the black band circling the hull.

  “Let’s go,” she said simply.