present? How are the Beings reacting to the murders?'
'Badly, my dear friend. There's a great deal of unease in the Street, both inside and outside the temples. In their own way, the Beings are quite frightened. They all tend to paranoia at the best of times. Right now most of them are busy looking for an enemy they can blame everything on; someone to strike back at. Old rivalries are becoming more intense. Old hatreds are being fueled afresh. Everyone knows you're doing your best to find the killer, but the Gods aren't known for their patience. I fear it's only a matter of time before some God decides to take matters in its own hands and strikes the first blow. And we all know what that would lead to.'
'You're talking about a God War,' said Tomb.
'Yes, I'm rather afraid I am. Unless something is done soon, something significant, things are going to get worse on the Street very quickly. As it is, we're all waiting for the inevitable spark to set off a conflagration none of us can hope to put out.'
There was another long pause.
'I can't help feeling we're missing something,' said Buchan. 'Something so close we can't see the wood for the trees. Lacey, do you know of any connection between the three dead Beings?'
For the first time, Lacey looked a little uneasy, though his smile never wavered. 'Well, there is one… coincidence, my friends, but it may be nothing more than that…'
'We'll decide what's important,' said Rowan sharply. 'What is it?'
Lacey braced himself visibly. 'Each of the dead Beings received a visit from the Deity Division, on official business, not long before their death.'
Hawk looked sharply at Tomb. 'Is that right?'
'Well, yes. But we visit Beings all the time. It's part of our job. We've visited so many Beings recently, I hadn't even noticed the dead Beings were included.'
'But it is a connection,' said Fisher.
And then the voice of the Guard's communications sorcerer boomed suddenly in Hawk and Fisher's minds:
Hawk and Fisher scrambled to their feet, their hands clawing instinctively for their weapons. The God Squad were on their feet too, looking equally shocked. They'd picked up the message, too. Lacey rose uncertainly to his feet.
'My friends, what is it? What has happened?'
'It seems your information came a little too late this time,' said Rowan. 'Someone's just fired the first shot in a God War.'
She ran out of the door, with Tomb close behind her. Lacey made as though to approach Buchan, and then hesitated.
'Pardon my intrusion, my friends, but about my fee…'
'Worry about that later,' said Hawk. 'Buchan…'
'But…'
'I said later!' Hawk glared at Lacey, and the informer backed quickly away. Hawk turned back to Buchan, who was still standing in a daze. 'I think we ought to get moving, sir Buchan. The riot won't wait for us to get there.'
'Of course. I'm sorry. I just never really thought it would happen, that's all. There hasn't been a serious riot on the Street in almost seventy years.'
'Seventy-one,' said Lacey. No one paid any attention.
'You're the expert,' Hawk said to Buchan. 'What's the best thing to do?'
'Pray,' said Buchan. 'But make sure you pick the right God.'
Hawk could hear the riot long before he could see it. Screams of rage and horror and anguish blended into a rising cacophony of sound that permeated the night air. The Street of Gods felt strangely out of synch, as though the various realities that made it up were no longer in alignment. Churches appeared and disappeared, and doors changed shape. Unnatural lights blazed in the starless sky, spread across the night like colour on a madman's palette. A surging vibration trembled in the ground underfoot, like the slow, regular heartbeat of something indescribably huge, buried down below.
Hawk and Fisher ran down the Street, weapons at the ready. They'd been running for some time, but the riot didn't seem to be getting any nearer. The Street was like that, sometimes, but at that moment it wasn't doing a thing for Hawk's nerves. He breathed deeply, trying to get more air into his lungs, and hoped his second wind would kick in soon. Fisher seemed to be struggling a little too, and she could usually run him into the ground. Buchan, on the other hand, was loping effortlessly along beside them, as though he covered this kind of distance every day before breakfast and thought nothing of it. With his physique, maybe he did. Hawk tried to stick with that train of thought, but his mind insisted on bringing him back to what passed for reality on the Street of Gods. The Guard communications sorcerer hadn't been very specific about how bad the riot was, but he wouldn't have sent out a general alarm like that unless his superiors had been sure something extremely nasty was happening up ahead.
He wondered briefly where Tomb and Rowan were. They'd disappeared even before Hawk had left God Squad headquarters, but there was no sign of them on the Street. Maybe they knew a shortcut. Maybe they'd already got to the riot, and had things safely under control.
Hundreds, maybe thousands of gaudily robed priests and acolytes were milling back and forth on the Street, furiously attacking each other with swords and fists and broken bottles. Everywhere there were bloody hands and faces, and unmoving bodies were being trampled blindly underfoot by the savage mob. Old hatreds were running loose and free, as age-old vendettas finally came to a head. Blinding lights flared from churches and temples, and overhead the sky churned sickly with uncontrolled magic. A handful of Guards had got there before Hawk and Fisher, and were fighting back to back on the edges of the crowd, too busy trying to stay alive to do anything about the riot. The Street belonged to the fanatics now, and they didn't care who they killed. A dozen green-robed priests swarmed over a Guard Constable and knocked him to the ground. He disappeared behind a host of swinging boots.
Hawk and Fisher waded in to help. Whatever else was happening. Guards looked after their own. They had to. No one else would. Hawk's axe swept back and forth in short, vicious arcs, and blood flew on the air. The priests scattered, and Fisher cut down those who didn't move fast enough. No one attacked a Guard and got away with it. It might give people ideas. The remaining priests disappeared into the crowd, and Buchan stood guard as Hawk and Fisher got the battered Constable to his feet and led him to the safety of a recessed doorway. There was blood on his face and his legs were shaky, but he seemed more or less intact. He nodded his thanks, and tried to get his thoughts together.
'Have you been here long?' asked Hawk.
'Can't be more than ten, twenty minutes,' said the Constable breathlessly. 'But it seems like forever. Just my luck to be working a beat so close to the Street of Gods when the riot call came…'
'Do you know what caused all this?' said Fisher.
'Seems another God has been murdered,' said the Constable. He paused to wipe blood out of his eyes. Buchan passed him an immaculately clean handkerchief, and the Constable pressed it gingerly to his forehead. 'The Lord of the New Flesh is dead. Someone ripped both its hearts right out of its breast. The High Priest found the body less than an hour ago. Didn't take long for word to get around. We don't know who actually started the riot. Could have been anybody.'
'Details can wait,' said Fisher. 'How many more Guards are there already here?'
'There were seventeen. We all got here about the same time, but the crowd separated us. We'd better get some reinforcements here soon. The Beings are mad as hell and scared spitless. It's only a matter of time before one of them decides to take a hand personally. And you can bet your arse if one God comes out onto the Street,
