The Last Smile in Sunder City (The Fetch Phillips Archives #1) - Luke Arnold Page 0,81

to someone that I’d try and do some good here instead.”

The Dog-man smiled wide, like a laugh but without any sound.

“And this is your idea of good, is it?”

I shrugged, and the weapons were heavy.

“It’s better than what I can do if you get me busted.”

Pete gave himself a shake.

“There’s nothing good here, Fetch. Especially not you. If you’re the one looking out for this town, then everything is lost already.”

His smile closed like a handbag with a broken zipper, then he turned and walked away.

I dropped the brass into my pocket and let my fingers stretch. He didn’t have to listen to me, of course, but even before I saw him, he knew he’d be leaving. I hadn’t changed his mind; I’d just made his whole vigilante act a lot less fun. Fetch Phillips: professional party pooper. If there’s a thing he can’t ruin; buddy, we ain’t found it yet.

The fourth mark was made for my end.

After we killed the Chimera, my role in the army evolved. Unlike the Opus, the Human leaders valued my opinions and my talents. After a year, I was placed in command of a few new recruits. General Taryn took me out to celebrate and while I was drunk on whiskey and praise, he asked me, for the first time, if I knew how the Magum got their power. I shrugged.

“I know some of the stories but I don’t even think they know what’s true. I’ve seen different species argue with each other about whose gods are real and whose people came first. It never really felt like my business.”

Taryn nodded and topped up my glass. He left that topic alone and changed the conversation back to how amazing I’d been performing in the field. I like to think that if he’d pushed me any further, I would have realized what he was trying to do. The truth is, I was young and gullible and he was far more careful than he needed to be.

My unit traveled the land, protecting Human towns from wayward beasts. In the south-east corner of the continent, Gryphons and Wyverns bred in healthy numbers and their territory would occasionally spread into Human settlements. We’d thin out the population and drive them back from the borders.

We fought a mad Wizard once. Luckily, he was a loner who had already been ostracized by the Opus so taking him down didn’t cause any diplomatic problems.

After certain strenuous battles, Taryn would show his face again; generous with congratulations but always slipping in the lamentation that we were destined to lose the fight.

Over beer and tobacco, he would tell me how the Human Army were designing new weapons and building up their defenses but that the power of the Magum would always surpass us. As long as that was true, our people would never truly be free.

I nodded and listened but didn’t offer up any thoughts of my own. Soon, I would be promoted again, given more responsibility and more investment in our success. It was a steady rise to power and the challenges were modest.

Then, our people were getting killed.

Reports came in from all across the continent that Human-only towns were being targeted by some new kind of magical weapon: elemental attacks that came from nowhere and could surpass city defenses. The top minds of the Human military were brought together to work out how to retaliate. For the first time, that included me.

One of the leading Human scientists laid out her hypothesis on what she believed was happening. Something she called Counter-magic.

“The Magum, as we all know, are a secretive bunch. Wizards like to believe that their methods are beyond our understanding, and have always maintained a code of silence regarding their skills. Nevertheless, we have been able to put together a strong estimation of how ditarum works. Wizards do not create magic from their fingertips. They transport it. There is a commonly held belief among the Magum that pockets of pure magic – a “river” of magic, to some, exist deep inside the planet. The Wizards, somehow, are able to teleport pieces of that magic up to the surface. Different spells pull their power from different pockets, or so the story goes.

“If, for argument’s sake, we believe this myth to be accurate, then it seems the Magum have found a way to evolve their talents.”

There was a map projected on the wall behind her. It was all of Archetellos in black and white, but with a number of red Xs painted