Bloodtide [antikvár]

The top thirty floors had broken away a long time ago, but the Galaxy Building was still the tallest in London. Engineers had cleared it up so it was safe up there - sort of. A man with close, curly white hair was standing on the viewing platform, pointing out landmarks. His face was a net of fine, soft wrinkles and hard lines cut across by a Y-shaped scar over one eye. He was dressed in a loose suit, rolled up at the sleeves. As he leaned forward to point out Big Ben, St Paul's, Tower Bridge, Docklands and beyond, the man's jacket hung open. Under the suit was a shoulder holster. You could see the neat, deadly shape tucked inside.This was Val Volson. He owned half of London.By his side, following his finger, was a tall, wiry girl aged fourteen. She was wearing a short skirt and leggings and a little green jacket which hung open to reveal another shoulder holster containing another, smaller gun. It was handmade for her - girl-sized. But just as deadly.You could see it all from up here - the buildings of London, its hills and peaks as far as the suburbs and the Wall. Beyond the Wall, dappled in the distance, lay the halfman lands -acres of rubble and tumbling walls, and the trees turning yellow on this mild autumn day, pushing their way through the tarmac. After that, the world began.And far out of sight to the northwest, Ragnor. Its towers and buildings were said to dwarf Old London. Halfman cap-tives said of it that it seemed to float on the air, made of glittering stripes of light and glass and dark stripes of shadow. At night it shone Üke a bright little galaxy in the great world Outside. Its very existence was a reminder that London was locked out of the world.