“Every time I treat you it becomes worse, you never know when you will be in the hearse.” The kid muttered something else under his breath before running out the door.
“They’re just going to continue imbibing even more inhibitors,” I muttered, but Zuhara O Kande only stared after the fleeing children.
“Maybe so, but I can’t let them go. This city is one of the worst, it had long been cursed.” She motioned to my still sleeping comrades. “Very hard to change your ways, to sleep under the sun’s rays. The story now or later you choose, I have plenty and plenty of time to lose.”
“I need to know about this city before I explore it.” I had made up my mind when the guard had refused us entry. I would see what made this city so special as to refuse everyone admission.
“Let me tell you a story, though it is long and gory. This city was one the chosen of god, before it became ruled by a sod. He changed the rules and broke the chain, and made everyone become insane. Sex, drugs, crime and betrayal, are all always on sale. Only one thing is ever banned, newcomers except for the governor’s demand. The only thing they claim, is everyone inside is the same. Skypian free and also their doom, for them there is no tolerance, no room.”
“Are you telling me they have actually managed to have a Skypian free city?” That in itself was impressive.
“Behind their city lies piles of bones, no Skypian dares travel alone. Everywhere they live they check. If you test positive, they’ll wring your neck.” She moved her hand and for a second I could have sworn I saw the imprint of dying Skypians in the smoke of her candles. “No one comes out or in, and you better not show signs of sin. Die, die, die you will, always, always, always they kill.”
Fall of Sodom
“Whatever you say,” I stood and headed towards the city, “I want to see what exactly their city is like. I will be back before the dawn breaks. Wake them if they aren’t awake in a couple of hours.”
She nodded and I headed back through the thicket to the front gate and the rude guard who had refused us entry. As I walked up, he loosened the holster on his stun-gun. “I’ve told you already. You can’t gain access without special permission from the Grand Cardinal.”
“Really.” I flashed my eyes and he fell prey to them instantly. “I already contacted him and you just forgot. Now let me inside or I’ll call him up and have you thrown to the evil enchantress!”
He walked me to the rusty, bolted shut door and after a couple minutes of cursing, he pulled it open and I walked into hell. The streets were filled to the brim with trash and in the trash were men and women, women and women, men and men, multiple men and multiple women all rolling with their bodies as close to melded together as they could get. As I stepped inside, my head spun at the overwhelming smell of filth that assaulted me.
This was no city of God; it was a city of hell. I walked farther inside and was forced to hypnotize quite a few men and women to stop them from dragging me to bed with them in the filth of the streets and to stop them from stealing my stuff to buy them a quick fix.
“What the hell is this city surviving on?” If this was all its people did, how could they support their dangerous aerocane addiction?
“Hey you! Stop!” I turned to look at the voice because it wasn’t rough like the addicts who had been trying to grab me. The woman was also surprisingly pure and untarnished as she approached me in her guard uniform. She was cute in a pixie-like way with shapely hips that swayed naturally when she walked. Her hair was cut close to her head and was a brilliant red color that made her pale skin look almost luminous under her golden brown eyes. She was short and thin, but her face was sharp and full of almost condescending suspicion.
“You chose to stop me out of all the people having sex and doing drugs on the street? Interesting choice of targets. Do you work for the Grand Cardinal? I wish to speak to him.” She unholstered her gun and I let my eyes flash just enough to persuade her not to fire it.
“You’re not from around here.” She kept her hand on her gun anyway and I applauded her mental strength. “No one comes here to visit; no one is allowed here to visit, so I want to know why you’re here. The Grand Cardinal’s guests never step foot in the lower levels of the city. Now, who are you? Show me your identification now!”
“Smart girl, maybe you can answer some questions for me. What does this city produce in such abundance that there isn’t a shortage of aerocane? Or do they simply produce aerocane? I don’t see a touchdown zone anywhere near here, but it could be covered by the plants.” The girl decided I had talked enough as she lifted her gun and I finally had to put real power in my gaze to dissuade her.
“Sodium Chloride. The city is built on solid salt. We don’t even have to dig for it. We ship out tons every day and they ship in tons of aerocane. Who are you?” Something in her eyes clicked and she squinted at my shining orbs. “What are you?”
“As far as I know, I am a Skypian or at least half-Skypian.” She opened her mouth to scream, but I touched her lips with my finger. “Don’t scream. I just came here to look around. I don’t like being denied anything, but in this case, I think being denied entry was in my favor.”
“A Skypian? Skypians can do many things, but mind control isn’t one of them.” I shrugged and looked around the filthy streets once more.
“Are there any decent buildings around here? I thought maybe there were two tiers of living, but I can’t seem to find the entrance to the other level.” The girl was fighting my control and even managed to touch her gun again and just for safety, I grabbed her stun-gun with a fair amount of respect for the weapon.
“This is an antique, isn’t it?”
“Give it back! You are under arrest by the law of the Earth! You do not have the right to return, you do not have the right to speak or use any of our information against us. You shall be detained until execution. You do have the right to petition for your form of execution. The location shall be undisclosed.” I smiled at the honor bound girl with true interest.
“You just had the honor of reading me my first rights or lack thereof.” I looked once more over the city and decided even if there was a higher level I didn’t want to see it. “To be such an honor bound police officer, how can you watch this? Children selling themselves, shooting drugs banned by the Earth Council, people indecently exposing themselves all over the place, littering, I’m pretty sure there isn’t a single law that isn’t being broken within this city.”
“We have only one law!” She spat, but I saw her eyes dart to the ground. “Any Skypian within these walls will and must be executed. We are a pure city and no matter what the council rules we shall not change to conform. We are the only pure city left on Earth, we—”
“Nice recitation.” I patted her check and handed her her gun back. “Now work on believing what you say and you might fool somebody. Don’t worry about your precious law. I’m leaving along with my train in the morning. I came here for a medical emergency, nothing more, nothing less. What is your name? I am Able.”
“I am Ado.” She answered and raised her gun to shoot, but I was out of range before she fired. I blew her a kiss before heading back towards the exit. This city wasn’t worthy of my or anybody else’s time. I couldn’t even bring myself to bite any of the sickeningly sweet smelling humans. My mouth was watering in the hope for Amica’s neck.
“The city of evil will not last; soon it will pay for errors of the past.” The ominous prediction that accompanied my entrance made me raise my eyebrow in curiosity. Zuhara O Kande, however, wasn’t going to spend much time to explain her prediction to us. Instead she offered me some sort of odd smelling concoction. “Though his blood may taste best, he must lay still and rest. Your appetite is too much; this potion shall be your crutch. Infusion of many herbs and spices, it will satisfy your stomach’s vices.”
I took a sip and flinched violently as my teeth shot painfully back into my head and my throat loosened, finally moist once more. Zuhara O Kande laughed at my reacti
on with a shaking of her head. “As often is with things that are healthy, their taste is far from stealthy. What you did this time was quite severe, you better not do this again, you hear. His life is linked irrevocably to you, his honor, mind and even virtue. Distance is good, but in this case impossible; this will help you overcome this obstacle. Infusion of sky and of earth, any others must give it a wide berth.”
She handed me a tankard of the mixture and I sniffed the stuff with a slight hiss. “Will you supply me with the tincture you used to settle my stomach? Having to depend on humans for food is quite an inconvenience with our current situation.”
“My cure is only a ruse; it is not for constant use. For now it will give you a while, until Amica can once again smile. He shall be your food, until you break the bond for good.” I winced, thinking of how often I craved blood and how dangerous it would be for the boy. “You worry a bit too much; the most you should fear is his touch. To him you are a drug; to you he is your jug.”
She stood and grabbed a second mixture. “That one is for him, this one for you; take this or our meeting you will rue. My price is steep and your wallet I shall reap.”
I flashed my eyes, but her own gaze only seemed to laugh at my powers. Whatever she was, she was not human and I wasn’t sure she was Skypian either. “Name your price.”
“Soon the city will fall; I want you to take me with you all. Adventure is something I wish and I really need a new niche.” She waved her hand and I wasn’t sure if she moved the items with the power of her mind or if she warped my perception of time, but she had bags lying beside her.
“There isn’t any room. Otherwise I would love to have a—”
“I have a quick fix to add me to the mix. I came here long ago. Room may be scarce, I have a car though. Stuck it is in the plants, but if we are like ants, we can unstick it quick.” I shook my head and looked at my still sleeping companions.
“Let me guess, you wanted to give them rest too?”
“But of course, what use are they hoarse?” I walked over to Raven and caressed her head with a toothy smile.
“Wake up my darling. We have a job to do.” Raven woke up with a swear word on her lips and quite a few worse expressions for me. Nihilo woke before I even touched him and stood silently to wait for orders.
“Zuhara O Kande has a train car covered in plants that we need to retrieve and hook to our holotrain before we leave the city. We only have a couple hours before I lose my strength so we should go ahead and get started.” I smiled falsely and Raven felt uneasy enough to remove her jewelry and loose clothing.
“You are a creeper, do you know that?” He spoke in his male voice and shocked me by pulling off his dress and revealing, short but still male clothes underneath. “I wear these in case of emergencies or when people need me to be manly. I wouldn’t dare get my expensive dresses dirty or torn.”
He laughed at me, but I just ignored him and nodded at Zuhara O Kande. “Lead us to this train car of yours.”
“It is a bit old, but it is fashioned out of gold.” She stalked outside still barefoot and led us deeper into the plants by a path I would never have been able to find by myself. “Here it is, unhooking it should be a whiz.”
Zuhara O Kande had seriously underestimated the power and aggressiveness of the plants. They had tried to pierce the mythril enhanced gold and when they couldn’t do that had settled for forming a cocoon around it. “Plants are troublesome; let me cut them down some.”
I flinched back as my whole body shrieked in protest at the blazing nova she conjured. The flames licked at the plants and they recoiled with an almost audible shrieking. Even though they didn’t touch me, I was shivering from the force of the flames. My body hated the sun and it hated the flames that imitated the searing heat. Poe glanced at me with a very feminine flourish of his hand.
“They won’t hurt you. She blew it away from us.”
“It’s not that simple cross-dresser; to his body flame is a stressor.” Even though the flame was still eating at the plants, Zuhara O Kande touched the gold car with a nod of her head. “Hot it is to the touch, thankfully it isn’t damaged that much.”
“Once it cools, we’ll move it.” Zuhara O Kande shook her hands and a spectacular hissing accompanied the dumping of water over the car.
“Your hands won’t burn, now it’s your turn.” I grabbed one of the corners and motioned to my Skypian brethren to grab the other side so we could drag it by its emergency wheels down the path. Even with all three of us, moving an un-energized, non-floating holotrain was a lot of work. The material was of course light because of the mythril, but especially with gold mixed in with the mythril, this was a hefty job.
It was almost two hours before we managed to drag it to the edge of the holotrain dock and by then my powers were starting to wane and there were too many uneven bumps and ruts for us to continue. I rubbed my head and took another sip from the mixture Zuhara O Kande had been kind enough to put into a bottle for me.
“Our train is a bit odd, but I think I can maneuver it close enough that with the help of the girls we can hook it up and head out.” I looked at the closest holorail, calculating. “I can get it within twenty feet. This should work out well.”
“If it will save you time, I can make the power level climb. It will float for a minute or two, but it won’t wait for you to be through.” I looked at Zuhara O Kande with slight annoyance for her late information but chose not to comment. She was much wiser and somehow I felt that she was also much older than I was. I was sure she had her reasons.
“You ready?” I asked and as my companions caught their breath nodded at Zuhara O Kande. As she touched the side of the train, I heard the gentle whir of its air expulsion engines kicking into action. I didn’t know what exactly her power was, but she was a Goddess in mortal form. With the engines working, we easily maneuvered it to the hookup and before the sun came up and my powers dissipated, had ourselves a five car train.
“Will our engine even pull this?” Poe wiped his hands on his shorts.
“You don’t know much about holotrains do you? Holotrain engines are all made the same strength because they can pull two to twenty cars while operating at the same level of energy expenditure.” I turned to look at the exotic Zuhara O Kande with slight misgivings for the future. If she decided to take over, I would not be able to oppose her.
“Before you step on this train, I want to make a few things clear. By joining us on our quest you are agreeing to obey my every command as long as you are a part of our group. You cannot—”
“Able, you are thinking too much about the future. Of nothing in life are we ever truly sure. I do have an idea of my goal in life, but like any path it is covered in strife.” She leaned forward and I froze under her gaze as she hovered her lips above mine. “But one thing is undeniable, you are the road to my future and I shall hold you liable.”
“Welcome aboard, Lady of the Sky.” I beckoned her inside, but she laughed at me. I laughed too as I realized what I had forgotten. “Once you get your supplies and we retrieve my friend.”
I said we, but before I even turned to head back down the path, the sun crested and my head instantly started pounding. I nodded at Nihilo who turned to follow the already quickly moving Zuhara O Kande. As I opened the sliding door, I met the fiery, suspicious gazes of the trapeze twins.
“We have a new member joining our travels. She is a doctor and she has attached a medical car for us. Be ready to leave once they return. I’ll reset the coordinates and set the controls so all you have to do is cut on the engines. It’s the big panel that says ‘Engines.’ It’s very hard to miss.” Dexter opened her mouth, but I was already heading to the engine room before she could start talking.
It took longer than I had hoped to reset the coordinates seeing as a line of freighter holotrains were heading down to Inner Earth to drop off deposits of mythril. It took a lot of vying and trading space to manage to find an open line and I still had a fifty-fifty ch
ance of having my line confiscated for transportation uses. As an entertainment liner, we were the bottom of the pack. The others had returned by the time I cleared it up so once everything was hunkered down, I pulled us out of the yard and back onto the holorails.
“Who is this bitch?” I saw the war in Dexter’s gaze instantly and her hair was standing on end as she bowed up to the African Warrior Princess. “I don’t just accept any bastard who walks onto this ship. You better learn your place quick, you mother fu—”
“Little pup,” Zuhara O Kande leaned in close and touched Dexter’s nose with the tip of one of her perfectly shaped nails, “you had best shut up. Than any of you on this train, I am smarter and far stronger, so you had best fall silent if you wish to live much longer. I am Zuhara O Kande, daughter of the sun and sky, fall silent or you will say your goodbyes.”
“Don’t threaten my sister!” Siniste lunged forward and Zuhara O Kande spread her hand, letting sparks run over their expanse. Even with the display of surreal power, Dexter moved forward with her sister at her back.
“Enough! Nihilo!” I called and the giant moved in-between them, forcefully tearing the two wolverines away from the African Goddess. “If you have a problem, you will talk to me. I don’t want any unnecessary displays of dominance while we are on the train and you are under my leadership.”
“Unnecessary?” They chorused and I rubbed my head as they all started protesting at once.
“You brought some strange voodoo—”
“These girls are too big for their boots—”
“That ugly bitch needs to learn—”
“How about this?” I snarled and took off my sunglasses. “First person to lay a hand on the other will get kicked off the train with a personal punishment to be administered by me. Any questions?”
“Freeze!” I spun around, but had to lift my hands in the air as I stared down the dangerous barrel of a stun-gun. “Nobody move or your conductor gets a thousand volts straight to the heart. I have some questions for you. How many of you are Skypians?”
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