and there, causing unfortunate bottlenecks of desperate people. Pickpockets and cutpurses were having the time of their lives. This was Mistport, after all, and neither invasion nor sudden death could be allowed to get in the way of turning a quick profit. Steel kept his head down and bulled his way through.
When he finally got to the Blackthorn Inn, in the heart of Thieves Quarter, the place was already packed to overflowing, with lights blazing from every window. It couldn't have looked more like a target if it had tried. Most of the Council had beaten him there, but were too busy shouting and screaming at each other to acknowledge his arrival.
'If I'd known the emergency Council was going to be this good for business, I'd have volunteered long ago.'
'Now that is typical of you, Cyder,' said Steel. 'The whole city is about to get trashed, and us with it, and all you're worried about is your profit margin.'
Cyder batted her eyes at him. 'A girl has to look out for herself.'
'Please don't do that,' said Steel. 'On you, it looks unnatural.'
Cyder shrugged. 'Whoever's in charge of Mistport, people will still want to drink. And soldiers' money is as good as anyone else's.'
'Assuming they don't burn the Blackthorn to the ground for harboring the emergency Council,' said Steel, taking a large gulp from his glass.
'Damn,' said Cyder. 'I hadn't thought of that. Why did you choose my place anyway?'
'Because it's central. Because no one will be looking for the Council in a dive like this. And because you know practically everyone in this city. A perfect combination. I'd order some more barrels brought up from the cellar, if I were you. People are going to be rushing in and out of here like their pants were on fire, once the Council gets its act together, and they're probably all going to want large drinks. Imminent danger and the chance of sudden death will do that to you. I don't suppose there's any sign of Donald Royal yet?'
'Not so far. But he's an old man, and it's a long way to come for him. Even if he can get through the madness in the streets.'
'Damn. He's the only other person on the Council I can trust to do the right thing. I'll bet you there are some damn fools already talking about negotiating a surrender with honor.'
'Look on the bright side,' said Cyder. 'At least this time we don't have to worry about Typhoid Mary running loose.'
'No,' said Investigator Topaz coldly. 'You don't.'
Steel and Cyder both looked around sharply as Topaz and Mary made their way through the crowd to join them at the bar. People moved quickly to get out of the way of the two women. Even the danger of an invasion hadn't blinded them to common courtesy and the need for self-preservation. Steel gave them his best professional, everything's-under-control smile, but neither of them looked in the least impressed, so he dropped it. Cyder glared at Mary, one hand rising unconsciously to the thin scars on her face, legacy of their last meeting, when Mary had nearly killed Cyder with a single deadly song. Cyder never had been one to forgive or forget.
Steel decided he'd better get the ball rolling before things started getting seriously out of hand. 'About time you got here, Investigator. I'm putting you in charge of the city Watch, as from this moment. You know more about how the Empire fights, and how best to face them, than anyone else. Give whatever orders you feel necessary, requisition anything you need, and we'll argue about it later. I want every single warm body in the Watch out on the streets ten minutes ago, and no excuses, dammit! Spank a few if you have to.
'Your first objective is to clear the streets of all non-essential traffic. With the comm systems down, we're going to have to rely on runners, and I don't want them having to fight their way through panicking crowds. So, clear the streets. Break a few heads if you have to. Next, track down everyone who's got some kind of weapon and send them out to guard the boundary walls. Tell them to hold as long as they can, and then fall back street by street. Hopefully by then I'll have thought of something else to do with them.'
'Shouldn't you clear this first with the rest of the Council?' said Mary.
'That bunch? I've seen better-organized anarchists' meetings. They'll back me up, once they've calmed down a little. Why are you still standing here?'
'Anything else?' said Topaz, entirely unmoved by Steel's glare.
'Well, if you can work a miracle, this would be a really good time to prove it,' said Steel. 'And, Topaz, whatever happens you are not to let Mary out of your sight for any reason. She's too powerful to be allowed to operate as a loose cannon.'
'I understand,' said Mary. 'All I want is to help, Director.'
Steel looked at her narrowly. 'Half my espers can hardly think with this new Empire device jamming their powers. How come you're holding out so well?'
'My mind is still my own, Director. I was and am a very powerful Siren. The Council's deprogramming didn't take that away from me.'
'Not for want of trying,' said Steel. 'All right, stick with Topaz, and if you have to use your voice, make sure you're pointing it in the right direction. Now get out of here, the pair of you. I've got a city to defend.'
Only a few hours after Legion was forced to drop its disguise, the first Empire troops came flying out of the icy wastes beyond the city, hundreds of them crammed onto armored gravity sleds and barges. They came in waves, more and more of them, soaring over the boundary walls as though they weren't even there. A few disrupter bolts lanced upward, only to be harmlessly deflected by glowing force fields. An Imperial attack usually centered around heavily armored battle wagons and war machines, but the cold and the snow and the ice of Mistworld slowed them down too much, and most were too large anyway to maneuver in Mistport's narrow streets, so the softening up of the city fell to the Imperial air divisions. They came howling out of the darkening skies like so many rabid bats, sleek and deadly, disrupter bolts stabbing down again and again, lighting the streets bright as day as the energy beams exploded buildings of stone and wood and set the ruins ablaze. People ran screaming in the streets as the barges sailed serenely overhead, carrying death and destruction and the coming of Empire rule.
The gravity sleds chased people down the streets, whipping in and out between the narrow buildings, harrying and terrorizing their prey until they grew tired of their sport, and cut the runners down with flashing energy bolts. The air divisions pressed on, leaving fire and devastation behind them, until suddenly espers came flying up out of the streets to face them.
The esper union had pulled its strongest minds together and pushed aside Legion's block for the moment. They knew it wouldn't last, but for now they struggled with Legion and held it back, so that a hundred brave souls could fly on wings of esp up to meet the invaders on their own high ground. The espers whipped around the slower-moving Imperial craft, darting in and out too fast to be tracked. Some had energy guns, some had crossbows, some had nothing but naked steel and their own indomitable courage. Force shields crackled and failed around the gravity barges as down in the streets espers strained to hex their tech and drain their power batteries. Imperial troops screamed and fell from their craft as the fast-flying espers took their toll, sniping at unguarded targets, but the air force was just too big and unstoppable, and its targeting computers soon came on line, taking out the flying defenders one by one, for all their speed and courage. They fell out of the dark sky like burning birds, and the air force pressed on.
More espers came soaring up out of the streets to take the place of those who fell. With their city endangered, their way of life threatened, and their backs almost literally to the wall, many in Mistport found courage and honor where they would have sworn there was none, and went to the fight with calm eyes and grim determination. They lunged and soared, using familiar updrafts and hiding places to confound the targeting computers, stinging their targets like deadly insects.
Some deliberately threw themselves into the gravity barges' engine bays, suicide attacks that were only occasionally successful. When a barge did fall from the sky, it crashed into fragile stone-and-timber buildings, crushing them with its immense weight. Exploding barges destroyed whole streets and spread fire across whole blocks. And for each barge that fell, there were always more to take its place, moving remorselessly forward about the city they had come to take.
