by Jared Ravens
"You were reflecting back to your companions,” Bern said. The woman may or may not have understood what he was saying but she went on quite a tear, talking both to him and the four men behind her. Her breath was so harsh that Bern had to take a step back, a motion that confused one of the men.
“Not too far," he said in a dialect Bern could understand. The man was youngish with a red scarf tied around his head. When Bern looked back he saw he was on the edge of a steep incline. "You came a long ways just to fall."
"I hope not," Bern said, collecting himself. "I'm Bern."
"Yes," said the man. "almost died, too."
"Its a continuing problem,”Bern replied. The woman would continue speaking to her friends as they walked up the path. Two of them went behind Bern and ensured that no one was following. A third climbed to the top of the rock to begin his watch, and the other walked in front of him with the woman. All of them had a musty, acrid smell to them of old sweat but it didn't bother Bern as much it should have. He noticed it so little that he realized he too must smell just as bad.
The canyon walls grew around them. There were more people appearing and Bern could sense they were coming to a town. He heard the noise of the town first, the harsh clanging sound of a multitude of voices echoing off rock walls. When they turned a corner Bern had to stop for a moment.
At first he felt unsafe. The stacks of buildings that lined the walls seemed to lean many directions at once and he was wary of attempting to walk between them. About a hundred people lined the street, undisturbed about the dangerous predicament they were placing themselves in by walking along the questionable architecture. The man with the scarf around his head looked back at Bern, confused.
"You're home?" Bern asked, realizing that this was what he had come to see.
"No," the man replied. "Home's gone."
He had no obvious emotional reaction to saying this stunning thing. He waved Bern ahead and walked with him through the main street. They passed the towers and a series of crowded, dilapidated homes and walked towards an area where the canyon walls shaded the ground. The sounds of the city faded as they walked to the canyon wall on their right and ducked into a hole.
It was dark at the entrance. Only a few small lamps revealed figures gathered around a table. While Bern's escort spoke with the guard Bern looked looked over his shoulder. It was a long cave with a low ceiling. Most of it was black but at the far end shadows danced around a large fire.
The guard let them pass but they were stopped immediately by someone that hopped up from the table at their left. Bern's eyes adjust to the rough looking man smiling at him. He was shorter than Bern but with an impressive physique, though he was not intimidating. He spoke with an accent but was otherwise perfectly understandable.
"Waiting for you!" the man said happily. "You're who's been saying my words."
The man introduced himself as Eryck, and Bern. complimented him without knowing what exactly he was talking about. He had not heard of Eryck nor of any of his writings. But he felt it best to keep that information to himself.
"We talk, later," Eryck said, smiling again. Though he knew nothing about him Bern could tell by his demeanor that he was used to being in charge. "First, meet our friend."
He stretched out an arm towards the fire at the back of the cave. Bending over, Bern followed him. Three people were there, a girl sitting on the ground cutting piece of meat from the bone, sat to the side. Sitting with their backs to the wall of the cave were were two peaceful looking people. One was a young black girl who smiled gently and hummed, the side of her arm rubbing against her companion as she sewed. Her eyes were closed and it wasn't clear how she could mend a shirt without looking at it. To her right was a man. Though he was covered in a thick fur blanket it did not hide his distinctive feature.
"Bern?" Fairfax asked, raising his shoulder up and pushing it back, as if he was pushing his chest out. Bern saw that he was trying to stand up but was hesitant to do so until Bern responded.
"How did you know?" Bern said, then realized he probably looked nothing like anyone Fairfax had seen in some time. Eryck laughed as the two men embraced, Fairfax squeezing Bern so hard that he coughed. Both of them men and even the two girls were far more excited than Bern had anticipated.
"If I knew I was this popular I would have come sooner," he quipped.
He sat down on a log by the fire and Eryck recounted his history with Fairfax with some flourish and absent anything incriminating left out. Bern kept waiting for Fairfax to begin his version but he simply nodded and agreed with his friend. When he had finished, Fairfax was still nodding and Eryck was smiling, staring at Bern. Bern looked to Fairfax who looked at the fire as if it held some mystical message for him. Bern looked back to Eryck who had a quizzical look on his face.
"That was my story in your papers," he said. Bern blinked several times before agreeing that it was. "Seemed surprised," Eryck replied.
"Well, I was surprised to hear it again. I would just pass your story on to my editor because it needed to get out so fast." Eryck nodded at this, content for now.
"So you can't write," he said to Fairfax. Fairfax was looked straight at him now and he flinched, as if the thought of being a dullard physically hurt him.
"I can write. But I'm blocked. On this subject."
"You think they did this to you, prevented you from being too coherent."
"That's what Vivian said, but..." he rubbed his face with both hands.
"It hurts to think about."
"Yes."
Sophi rubbed his arms and he calmed down a bit. He asked Bern to recount what he knew.
"Well what I knew is you were someone called Felix. And you were instrumental in beating down Bautomet when he escaped from underground." At the name 'Bautomet' Felix flinched. "You were volunteered to be transformed into something else, a soldier, someone who could protect Sigma better. After your surgery you woke up and attacked several of the titans and killed... Are you OK?"
He stood up and walked over to a wall, his head leaning against it, hands on his ears.
"Yes."
Berna and Eryck exchanged glances.
"What do you remember."
“I feel like I'm dying right now, hearing this."
Bern gave him a moment and spoke to Bern.
"If he can't think, then this will be a problem."
"I can think!" Fairfax yelled, turning around. "I was a student! I knew what I was talking about!"
He strained at each word as if it was a fight to get each one out. Eryck spoke calmly to him and Sophi had him sit down. Fairfax looked at all of them.
"A moment,” he said. Eryck looked to Bern with a bit of suspicion before taking Sophi and the other girl by the hand and walking to the front of the cave. Fairfax sighed, and his face seemed to melt into relaxation.
"I can't think like I'm supposed to," he said. "Its just a tunnel of thought, all leading to one thing."
"And what's that?"
"War."
"I see," Bern said, pulling out a notebook. "That would be logical."
“I see a direct path,” he said. “I dream and meet people that root me on. It’s a dark trail filled with knives on each side and at the end there’s a man.”
“It’s not Orlando, is it?”
“No, she’s there afterwards.”
“And what happens?”
“Well, I’m cut and I’m bloodied but I I feel ok, and he says ‘You’ve made it, but you took the difficult path’. And I wake and I have a clear, concise vision laid out that’s there for just a moment and then it’s gone.
“I’ve always wanted to fight, I’ve always wanted to beat things down, even before all this. It was a compulsion that I kept repressed until now. I let it out when I was fighting with Eryck and it was freeing. And then I met Sophi and Vivian and it calmed down. And I wondered why that was.”
“Women have that effect on men.”
“Sometimes, but it was more than that. I was n
ever afraid of death. It didn’t bother me. And what I do now is sure to lead to that. But remember what Waring would always say.”
“From the school books? He would say there is no death, you’re just recycled.”
“Yes, and that’s a problem for me.”
“How so?”
“I’m certain Waring will not take me.”
Eryck and Bern glanced at each other.
“Yes, I can see why that would be a problem.”
“He might just let me go, disappear into nothing.”
“We don’t know if that is even possible,” Bern replied. “Genesee might intervene.”
“If I die…” he became agitated. Sophi took his arm and his mood relaxed. “I don’t want to think about it.”
“Let’s back up,” Bern said. “Why do you want me here?”
“Vivian wants me to find a way through. A more peaceful way, one where I take on a role that would give me power by representing people.”
“A sensible solution.”
“Except that I can’t write.”
“A true hinderance.”
“And you can help me with that.”
“I am the communication vessel,” Bern sighed. “You want to create a manifesto that gains you a foothold so you aren’t caught between Genesee and Celia.”
“As long as they chase me I'm danger to everyone here. Why do you think they're here in the first place? They were run out of their homes.”
“But I have to face Genesee too,” Bern protested. “He’ll never let me publish that.”
“He will if beat Celia.”
Bern scratched his stubble, considering this.
“You think you can do that?”
“I have to.”
“Even facing vanishing forever? Not death as we understand it, but being eliminated?”
“Exactly,” Fairfax replied.
“And Genesee would be so threatened that if I published pieces by you calling for some sort of new order he would not be able to stop me, for a time,” Bern laid out skeptically.
“And I would be able to be at peace. Vivian and Martel and others who are tired of the way things are would back me.”
“Perhaps,” Bern sighed. “That’s incredibly risky. But I have to say the first part would be the most dangerous. You have have to hunt down Celia.”
“Finding her would be the easiest part.”
“How is that?”
“She’s with you.”
Bern sat up straight, then looked around him to see if anyone was around him.
“She didn’t follow you,” Eryck laughed. “We made sure.”
“I think you’re mistaken. Celia is not with me. I would know.”
“Vivian said she was,” Fairfax replied.
“Well I’m not calling her a liar or anything but…”
He put his hand to his mouth, his eyes coming to a realization.
“She’s mistaken,” Bern stated.
“You’re sure?” Eryck said.
“I hope so…” he said as he fidgeted about, gathering his things nervously. “I think I should start writing something.”
“And you can bring it to me when you have a draft?”
“Sure,” Bern said nervously.
A hand landed on his shoulder, making him jump. It was Eryck. He guided him towards the entrance. He spoke cheerfully the whole way, words that fell on the distracted ears of Bern.
“And if you need help,” Eryck finally said as the reached the entrance of the cave, “I’m the guy here to ask. You’ve seen me write.”
“Actually I haven’t,” Bern said.
“Don’t you read your own papers? Doesn’t Gensee say anything about my letters?" Eryck asked.
"He says nothing, Eryck," Bern said.
Eryck's smile dropped.
"What do Sigma people say?”
"Nothing. Eryck, your letters were never published. No one knows about you. Genesee never gave me anything from you. He only gave me the shit that Fairfax said because he knows that it sounds ridiculous. Meanwhile he's publishing his own version of things. The only reason people know about you is because you keep killing their sons and daughters."
Eryck's face became blank and his eyes raced across the canyon walls, looking for an answer.
"They didn’t..."
“No, they didn’t. Why would they? Look, some people like you guys and some hate you but most people think Genesee and Celia are mismanaging this. If either one of them get to Fairfax I would bet you and your people are going to wiped off the face of Holm, and no one in Sigma would bat an eye.”
Eryck’s body shrunk and his face turned dark.
“I’ve faced that down before,” he replied.
“Its closer than ever now,” Bern said. “I was forced to bring a handmaiden with me. Don’t think she’s Celia but she might as well be. I can’t stay long or she’s going to figure out where I am.”
“She won’t get through to here,” Eryck said.
“You better hope not. In the meantime I would find some way to get on the right side of Genesee or Celia, cause Fairfax’s plan falls through you’re going to need to protect yourself and your people.”
“You’ll need place to stay,” Eryck grumbled, his firmly cheerful face now distracted and frustrated. “You’ll need to get out of here before you bring us any more problems.”
The Husband
It did not take Genesee long to discover Celia was gone. It did take him some time to realize how very gone she was. He thought she had gone to the city to roam among her temples, but when she didn’t returned in several days it dawned on him that his sliver of trust in her had blinded him to the likely possibility.
Martel was gone, as was Atrios, who was sulking somewhere north of Sigma, and Spaulding and Curson were off on other duties. After their long meeting reorganizing the laws to make Fairfax a legal entity many had abandoned The Hill just in case there was another torturous legislative affair planned.
There was no one there of stature to advise him, and he let the problem stir too long. Ellis, his main butler, gave vague insinuations that perhaps she was gone too long but he was easy to brush off. Sweetzer was also too gentle in his attempts to convince Genesee. Only after Marcus returned with information from the east did Genesee come to his senses.
“There's an army out there, boss," he said.
"Atrios?" Genesee asked.
"No, he's not around but it looks like some of his guys."
"No, they're at the training grounds, down below. I saw them the other day in formation."
His mind suddenly flashed with possibilities and he gripped the marble fencing of the balcony and looked at the ground.
"I don’t know for sure but it looks like them,” Marcus said. "And a lot more than that."
"It is them..." Genesee said dismally. "Atrios let them go. He said they were going to drill..."
"But Atrios isn't there."
"I know, but he let them march out there with someone else."
"Who?"
"I don't know, but I let them do it,” he said shaking his head. “I let them leave the grounds. I said 'sure, whatever’. I thought they were going to do marching drills."
"Can't they do that here?"
Genesee looked up at the youthful face in front of him.
"Its seems like the obvious question, doesn't it."
Genesee walked back into the palace and Marcus jumped off the railing and followed him in. He noticed the emptiness of the place, the giant hallways vacant of activity, and asked where everyone was.
"Working," Genesee replied. "When there's work to be done here it seems they find a way to be busy with their own duties."
"Do you think Ceila took the army and went off to find Fairfax."
“Well," Genesee sighed, pausing a long time. "I don't want to consider that."
"Genesee," said Marcus, his voice serious enough that Genesee had to stop and look at him. "What punishment is there for this? How can
she get away with this? She can't just do anything she wants."
Genesee licked his lips nodded. "Its something I don't like to think about. But I have to consider it."
He sat in his office, his butlers looking at him, worried at the strain he showed in his face. He put his hands on the side of his head. His papers were ready, the time to go downstairs came and went. He would not go down to the ground floor. He dismissed his butlers and laid on the small old couch that lay by the window. He peaked up and looked down at the curved hole every, examining the construction that was continuing on the damaged wall. The workers were gone for the day. He wished he could just leave like them, go home and forget about work.
He could feel the pressure of his own day, of deeds not done, building up inside of him. The twin impulses of duty and avoidance of failure pushed against each other. He had to go, and he had to go now.
When he reached Goetz's chamber it was well into night. he expected to be berated but there was a gentle tone to Goetz's voice that cut through the professional facade Genesee tried to present.
"Was it a hard day?" Goetz asked.
Genesee slouched a little. Around him a dark courtyard buzzed with insects.
"Is it that easy to tell?"
"I feel you, I don't see you."
"I was hoping I felt more confident than I looked."
"I wouldn't know."
The courtyard became yellow and covered and then the insect disappeared. The marble room was lit with candles and a round pool appeared in the middle of it, calm water dripping from the ceiling.
"What are we going to do?" Genesee asked.
"She's gone, isn't she?" Goetz's deep voice sighed.
"I'm so sorry," Genesee said, looking in the pool.
"I'm sorry for her."
"I can go get her. I can send Atrios."