Another dozen Linesmen turned the corner of the street. Three of them carried a large and battered machine between them. One of them looked up, pointed in Liv’s direction, and shouted something that was muffled by his mask.
Liv ran, pulling the General after her. He struggled and moaned and nearly dragged her off her feet, but she found her balance and kept running. From behind her, she heard the sound of arrows, rifle fire, screaming, as the Linesmen and a pack of the town’s soldiers met, to each other’s surprise.
Creedmoor emerged from an alley, shot three Linesmen in their backs, and kept walking, into another alley behind a large building that in a more normal sort of town would probably be a bar or a whorehouse but here was probably some sort of solemn democratic council-house. His head was starting to ache. He was afflicted with a sickening constant smell of blood and gunpowder. Some bastard a little while ago had put an arrow in Creedmoor’s shoulder, which seemed ungrateful, and though Marmion had healed the wound, it’d chosen to leave a horrible grinding ache, apparently out of spite. Creedmoor’s spirits were starting to sour.
—Enough, Creedmoor.
He emerged from the building’s shadow onto a wide muddy street. At the far end of it, a group of the locals were pressing back a rather smaller group of Linesmen, cavalry sabers and wooden pitchforks against bayonets.
—Enough, Creedmoor. This is over. What’s left of the town will survive. Take the General and move on.
—I never stay to see the end of things, do I?
—They will not thank you for saving them.
—Nor should they.
—You have proved your point; you have disobeyed us. We understand and forgive you.
—Because you must.
—But now come to heel.
There was a granary, a tall round tower of stone, on the western side of town. Liv dragged the General behind it. He shook and pulled away from her sweat-slick grip and fell in the mud at the tower’s foot.
She crouched beside him, took his hands in hers, and looked him in his wild and panicked eyes. “General. General. Listen to me. Do you trust me? Do you trust me or do you not?”
His eyes seemed to calm a little. His breathing slowed.
“We have to flee. There is nothing you can do for New Design now. The Line cannot have you. Creedmoor’s masters cannot have you. I do not know if your secret is real or a delusion of Creedmoor’s masters, but I will not let them have you in any case; you must stop fighting me.”
His eyes went cloudy, and wandered. His shaking stopped. Maybe there was something in him that understood her, and maybe there wasn’t, maybe it was just the rubble of his broken mind shifting meaninglessly; but whatever the reason, he stood calmly and let her lead him west toward the bridge.
The western side of town was quiet—the fighting was all in the east. The bridge across the western moat was unguarded, and beyond it there was a broad empty plain. Liv ran down a wide street, watched by empty windows, and was not far from the bridge when she heard footsteps behind her. The next thing she knew, Creedmoor had lifted the General into his arms and was walking alongside her.
“Thank you, Liv, for keeping him safe.”
She studied Creedmoor’s face. He stared at his feet and wouldn’t meet her eyes; his expression was heavy and flat.
“What happened to the Linesmen, Creedmoor?”
“What’s left of them won’t last long. The survivors of New Design are rallying. The locals’ll round up the last of the Linesmen and they can hold trials for them and make speeches and have a hanging if they like, but the old man and I will have to miss the show.”
The General struggled and moaned, and Creedmoor tightened his grip. “Easy there.”
“Creedmoor—”
“We’ve won, Liv. Three cheers. Now there’s nothing left to do but bring the General home.”
“Creedmoor, listen: You can defy your masters, you can—”
“Of course I can’t, Liv.”
He walked out across the bridge, the General twisting in his arms. He lifted his head and looked at her. His eyes were bloodshot and dark.
“Go back, Liv. Stay with the town. Consider yourself released from service, and I apologize unreservedly for ever bringing you out here. It was cruel and thoughtless.”
She kept walking alongside him, and he said nothing more. After a while he put the General down and allowed Liv to lead the old man by his arm, which seemed to calm