by D. N. Leo
“No, please. We need him here.”
“We? In Eudaiz, we need him, too.” Lorcan walked away. “Let’s go, Orla.”
Alyna sat in the snow, too weak to even move. “Please, Orla. I could use some help. You can’t leave us like this.”
“There’s nothing I can do, Alyna.”
“Please, Orla. Please. I’ve never begged before. But I have no hope now. I have no other options. Please.”
“Oh hell!” Orla muttered. “Lorcan!”
“What?” Lorcan stopped walking, but before he could completely turn around, Orla shot a dart into his leg.
Lorcan fell to the ground with Caedmon.
“Well, I’ve just tranquilized my own husband. Now we have two unconscious men and an injured mage leader. How am I supposed to move all of you to a shelter? And since when do they have snow in Australia? Oh, I forgot, this is New Earth. The Australia I know exists here only in fairy tales. In my time, let me tell you, Australia was a real country, and it was stinking hot most of the time. So hot that Santa Claus wore shorts.” Orla put her hands on her hips.
“Santa?”
“You’re kidding, right? You don’t have Christmas? Or is it just you who doesn’t know what it is?”
“Maybe it’s just me. But the way you talk about it, it must be something nice.”
They heard the hum of a motorbike. Headlights beamed at them from behind the thick curtain of fog, and soon Nathan and a group of his men emerged.
Alyna scrambled to her feet. “Nathan!” She gestured toward the bodies of the Ethesus fighters. “They attacked us first. It’s all on me. I killed them.” She pointed to Lorcan, Caedmon, and Orla. “They have nothing to do with this.”
“You’re a brilliant fighter, Alyna, but I don’t think you could take on all my guys yourself. And do you really want to fight with me in your current condition? ’Cause you look like shit!”
“Yep!” she said, and then her knees buckled, and she blacked out.
Chapter 19
Nathan strode straight to the warehouse he used as his headquarters and up to the steel chair that looked like some kind of throne from ancient times. Hanx told him he had found this chair in the ruins of a museum that dated back to 2016 or 2017. Nathan shook his head. They must have been barbarians back then if they considered this piece of furniture to be quality. It hurt his backside to sit on it.
He shrugged and chuckled to himself when he thought about Hanx. He had never felt relief like this in his life. Alyna and Caedmon had killed Hanx, who’d been a thorn in his side for some time and a scumbag backstabber and traitor of Ethesus.
Hanx considered himself older and wiser and had always thought he deserved more than Nathan ever since Nathan inherited the role of leader from the family father rather than qualifying by combat. Well, it hadn’t been very wise of Hanx to hire creatures from Xiilok to ambush Amaraq and frame Nathan and Ethesus for mass murder.
Nathan rubbed at the aching wound on his chest. Hanx had plunged his dagger through Nathan’s body, at the position of his heart, not knowing Nathan’s heart wasn’t where it would normally be. Thinking he was dead, Hanx had then taken his troops to the temple to take on Alyna.
That pathetic attempt had gotten him a broken neck. And the son of a bitch deserved it.
His communication unit beeped an alarm. He picked up. “Yes?”
Ten minutes later, he stormed into one of his major debt collection offices. It was empty. Broken furniture was everywhere, and not a single wall or window was left intact.
“Come out!” he shouted.
A wall panel in the far corner of the room slid open. His staff came out one by one, looking both confused and terrified.
“You left the office while it was being destroyed and stayed in that hole in the wall? You’re not fighters, but you could have at least preserved some of Ethesus’s dignity.” He pointed a finger at the manager, a man in his mid-forties. “You, tell me who did this.”
“I don’t know.”
Nathan grabbed a computer monitor off a desk and threw it at the manager, who jumped out of the way just in time.
“It happened too fast, Nathan. We weren’t prepared. I had only enough time to pull the plug so they couldn’t get into the system. But that didn’t seem to be their intention.”
“So what was their intention?”
From outside of the room, Ben responded. “To get even.”
Nathan turned and saw Ben, the man who used to be Alyna’s second, with a group of Amaraq fighters.
“Ben Zurich! I thought you left Amaraq.”
“I did. But because cowards like you caused trouble here, I had to come back. Killing trainees and holding our leader captive—is that how you want to play the game now? You disappoint me, Nathan.”
“You wouldn’t be disappointed if you didn’t have expectations. Or perhaps you admire me silently, given your family invested in my business instead of in Amaraq’s?”
“I certainly have no admiration for you as a person. But Alyna has respect for you as a fighter. I don’t agree, but she insisted that even though the two of you might be on opposite sides, you are an advocate of fair competition. And now see what it got her?”
“You think I’m holding her captive?”
“I don’t think. She’s at Amaraq, isn’t she?”
“Yes, but—”
“She killed a bunch of your fighters, including your senior-ranked Hanx, didn’t she?”
“I know how it looks. And I intend to lay down our internal affairs for your approval. I have Alyna, but she and her people are not my captives. In fact, they can leave whenever they choose.”
“If they’re friendly hostages, why aren’t your people here aware of it?” Ben gestured toward the office staff.
“As I told you, I’m not holding her hostage. If you want to talk to her, I can take you to her.”
Ben laughed. “You think I’m an idiot? You want me to take my people and walk straight into your trap?”
Nathan shrugged. “Up to you. You’ve destroyed our properties here. I’ll bill Amaraq for it.”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“Would you rather I bill you? No, wait…you’re not with Amaraq now, so you’re jobless and probably have no money. There’s no point in me robbing a peasant.”
Ben charged at Nathan. Nathan had been waiting for just that reaction. He hadn’t engaged in a real fight for a long time, and that wasn’t good for his skills and mental capacity. Plus, Ben was the perfect candidate for a practice partner. He wasn’t as good as Alyna, but he was better than average, and that was a bonus.
“What do you want?”
“I hold you hostage. You send a guy back to your headquarters to bring Alyna back to me. She loses a hair, and one of your guys loses a head.”
Nathan smiled. “Is that a request or a challenge?”
“It’s a ransom.”
“Without a hostage? You don’t have me yet. Want a round of wrestling?” Nathan asked.
“I don’t wrestle with your kind. But I can certainly break some necks.” Ben rushed at him again.
Ben was a lot stronger than he’d thought but not a fraction as skillful as Alyna. All things considered, he wasn’t a bad fight at all. They went for a few rounds. Ben could have endured more, but Nathan’s urge to fight had already been sated. He had more important things to do, so he stomped a hard kick at Ben’s abdomen, sending him skidding backward on the cold ground.
Nathan planted a foot on Ben’s chest to stop him from sitting up and quickly yanked off Ben’s belt. It wasn’t just any belt. It was Amaraq’s belt and reflected his rank as a member of the club. Nathan had always wanted to do something similar with Ethesus, and he would when he had a chance to do so. He looked at the belt then rolled it up and shoved it into the pocket of his leather jacket.
Ben tried to sit up, but Nathan picked him up and slammed him back down to the ground, hard enough to knock him out.
The other fighters wan
ted to attack, but Nathan wagged a finger at them. “If I knock all of you out, then I’ll have to hold you hostage, and I’m not sure what my people will do to you. Why don’t you just go—and take Ben with you? Do some thinking about what you did. Then tell him to come and talk to me like a civilized being.”
As he turned and walked away, Nathan thought he saw the shadow of the angel he’d spied the other day when he killed the creature. He frowned and looked again at the high stone fence in front of him but saw nothing but an empty sky. He shrugged and walked away.
Chapter 20
Alyna opened her eyes and knew instantly she was at Ethesus. The decor—or lack thereof—of the warehouse, the plain furniture around her, and the odor of rusty steel, old wood, and rubber told Ethesus’s story. It was their way of life—rough and simple. She respected that. But she wasn’t quite sure what to make of the fact she was lying on one of their beds.
She ached everywhere. Aside from beaming out some light when she’d claimed the leadership and lighting up the Scorpio statue in the temple, she hadn’t seen any additional benefit or power since she had turned.
The worst part was that Teacher had left her after that. She couldn’t ask any questions about her condition, let alone Caedmon’s—how he had shifted into animal form and how he’d shifted back. The fact that he’d snapped right back into human form after biting her made her wonder whether biting her was the only solution—and she wasn’t too enthusiastic about being bitten again anytime soon.
She sat up to get her bearings and see where she was. She saw that it wasn’t truly a room but more of an open space divided by temporary wood panels. And, of course, there were no doors. Her clothes were folded neatly by her bedside.
She sighed. She was sure Caedmon had patched her up again, and as she was nearly naked, it felt much better to think that he had worked on her rather than any of the Ethesus.
Wincing with pain, she pulled her clothes on. She seemed to be in more pain than before, but she didn’t think her injuries had gotten worse. She figured the painkiller Caedmon had given her was wearing off. But she was strong enough to handle the pain.
Orla sauntered in. Her smile could brighten anyone’s gloomy mood. She understood why Lorcan loved Orla so much. What was there not to love? Big, dark eyes full of mystery, long raven hair, an exotic oval face, and lips made for kissing.
“Oh no, you’re not getting up now. Caedmon said you’re not allowed out of bed until he says so.”
“How is he? Where is he?”
“Well, he has a bit of a headache. Apart from that, he’s fine. He’s in town with Lorcan trying to get you the meds for your injuries.”
“Lorcan must hate me.”
“Well, he tried to. But Lorcan isn’t capable of hate. If he hates something, he’ll remember it for less than five seconds. He does have a temper, though.”
Alyna shrugged. “It seems to come as a package.”
“Exactly. Now,” Orla said, holding up an object, “can you tell me what this is?”
“A carrot.”
“So it’s normal for a carrot to grow this big? I’m trying to cook you some food and certainly don’t want to use a mutated carrot.”
Alyna laughed. “It’s slightly bigger than a normal carrot, but it’s not some weird mutation. Cooking, to me, is weird, though.”
“You mean general cooking or just the fact that I cook?”
“It’s me. I don’t live in a circle of people who cook, so the whole concept is foreign to me. For me, food comes from vendors.”
Orla shrugged. “Same. In the Daimon Gate, where Lorcan and I live, food comes from machines. I told Lorcan when our Gale grows up a bit, we have to take him to Earth for some real food. You know, not in this time, but in the time that we understand a bit better. Say 2017 or somewhere around that. Could be a few years in the future from that point, but nothing this far into the third millennium.”
“Your Gale?”
“Oh, our son. Only a year old. A toddler. He loves Caedmon and follows him everywhere whenever they visit us.”
“So Caedmon’s family and yours live close to each other?”
Orla laughed. “The Daimon Gate and Eudaiz are different universes. To put it into perspective, it’s like different continents on Earth. But the inter-universe transport is very efficient. You can go to and fro very quickly with the right permits. It’s like catching a domestic express flight with a visa.”
“What’s a visa?”
Orla rolled her eyes. “Oh, that’s right, you don’t have governments and countries anymore. All right, it’s kind of like if Amaraq fenced off your business territory and called it your country. You have authority over it. Whoever lives in your country has your protection. If others want to visit your country, they need a visa, which is essentially your permission for them to enter.”
“Really? That seems like a lot of restriction.”
“Well, it’s not a bad thing if that restriction brings you protection and security. In the multiverse, it’s much stricter. It’s a climbing-mountains-and-crossing-oceans effort to get a Pass to visit a different universe if you’re not a privileged citizen.”
“That sounds discriminating.”
“Yes, we do discriminate against criminals and enemies who try to kill us, but I think it’s a fair discrimination.”
Alyna chuckled. “You’re more political than I thought.”
“No way. I’m a sorceress. You should talk to Ciaran, Caedmon’s father. That’s when you really get to hear about multiversal politics and wars.”
“No, thanks.”
“You don’t want to meet them?”
She shrugged and said nothing. She’d lost her family such a long time ago and had been a loner for so long she didn’t remember what it was like to have a family. She tried to put her belt on, but her injuries made even a simple activity like that difficult.
“Let me help,” Orla said and approached to help her with it.
Nathan and a couple of his men walked in. He grinned when he saw Orla helping Alyna with her belt with the giant carrot still in her hand. “Ladies, just so you know,” he said with a smile, “you’re surrounded by hundreds of real men. You won’t need to use that carrot to defend yourselves.”
Orla donned her usual smile. “At least this carrot doesn’t demand anything in return.”
“Fair enough,” Nathan said.
“Thank you,” Alyna said, making the assumption that he was the one who had picked them up and given them shelter.
“My pleasure, Alyna. Anytime. I tried to tell you before, we aren’t enemies.”
“We aren’t friends, either, Nathan. Two security businesses can’t operate in the same city. You can’t establish clear boundaries and a stable authority that way.”
Orla rolled her eyes. “Someone is more political than I thought.”
Nathan grinned again. “All right. I just want to let you know that food is served in the next quarter, which is the adjacent building. We don’t have authentic home-cooked meals, but our suppliers are really good vendors…” He trailed off as Alyna placed a small knife shed’ hidden in her boot against his forehead.
Nathan raised his arms, seeking a truce. “What do you want, Alyna?”
“Give me your belt. No monkey business.”
Nathan pulled off the belt with the Amaraq shield on the buckle and gave it to her.
“I can explain,” Nathan said.
“This is Ben’s belt. Amaraq fighters give up their belts only if they die. What did you do to him?”
“Please, Alyna. I can explain.”
“Nathan!” called out a man standing behind Nathan.
“What?”
“You’ve got a call. Your device is off, so they called me.” He handed Nathan a communicator device.
“May I?” Nathan asked Alyna.
Alyna withdrew the knife.
“Yes?” Nathan said to someone on the line. Then he turned the communicator off and looked at Alyn
a. “Regarding Ben, I don’t have an explanation for you now.”
Chapter 21
The beginning of time
Thunder looked up at the magnificent roof of the ice temple. She had been searching for the location of the Scorpio key for years. Finally, she had found it, hidden in a temple that no ordinary eyes could see and located on an island in a human land that was so remote no human could ever get to it.
Keymaster had died before knowing she had been turned into this formless immortal, and that was why his dying wish was for her to find and protect the key. But how was she supposed to protect something without being able to physically touch it? Without being able to move the key to somewhere safe, she would have to constantly guard it. Having her immortal life tied to a mythical object was not what she wanted for herself. And she still needed to seek revenge for her parents’ murders. No one should be able to do what their murderer had done and get away with it.
She knew it wasn’t coincidental that the key was hidden inside this temple of shiny ice. Keymaster must have cast a spell to make the ice recognize her so that it would open to her when she needed to enter the temple, because she didn’t see a door by which she could gain access.
She stepped closer to the ice wall and was astonished to see her appearance for the first time in years. “Hello there,” she said and waved to herself, touching her reflected image in the ice. She brushed away the long locks of thick white hair. She was sure both of her parents had had sandy hair. But when, as an infant, she’d watched as the predator’s blades pierced their bodies, something in her had broken. The older she’d grown, the whiter her hair had become.
She had still looked human in her late twenties. Keymaster always told her she was beautiful. But she had no understanding of beauty nor anything for comparison. It didn’t matter how she looked anyway—she had no family and no friends, and now she couldn’t even see herself, save for looking into this icy mirror. And she still needed to figure out how she could use her formless body to protect the key of Scorpio now that she had found it.