“Then they’re writing off the area for now. Do you think they’d have the guts to bomb us, given Gaia’s potential response?” Hans leaned forward, studying the map.
Damh Varias shrugged. “There’s no way to tell. We aren’t run by the sanest group of people right now, and all they care about is having their hands in the cookie jar. I think our disadvantages outweigh the benefits, but I’m also thinking they might hope to come in and salvage. So my guess? I think they’ll barricade us and leave us to the remaining zombies. But that doesn’t answer why the Devani aren’t responding. They aren’t leaving and returning to the headquarters of the nation, so what are they doing?”
At a tap on the door, Damh Varias opened it and accepted a note from a guard, then returned to his seat after closing the door again. He scanned the note, then handed it to Tam, who read it through.
I set down my spoon, leaving the last of my ice cream as Tam stood, letting out a long sigh. Something was going on and whatever it was, by the look on his face it wasn’t good.
“We have news. The messenger just brought a note from Hecate—who, by the way, bids you contact her as soon as possible, Fury. The Order of the Black Mist has simultaneously attacked other cities around the world. Zombies, plague, they used differing means but the end result is the same. This is a coordinated effort to bring down order on a worldwide scale and they are succeeding. Our own nation’s capital—Atlantea—is under siege and expected to fall. The Devani are refusing to help in all cases. The world is plunging into chaos.”
The room fell silent as we absorbed the impact of his words.
I shook my head. “Then we may be able to oust Lyon and the Order from Seattle, but we won’t be able to stop them en masse. What’s going to happen?”
“The world will be at war again, this time against the Order. But since they have launched a coordinated attack, there can be no mass effort against them. It will be country by country, region by region that the war is fought,” Tam said.
“The Conglomerate was corrupt to begin with. I won’t be sorry to see it fall,” Elan said. “But this was not the way to go about it, and the Order of the Black Mist is not the instrument I would have chosen to bring about its end.”
I leaned back, trying to think. The world as we knew it was gone—in the space of ten days it had fallen. How long had they been planning their attacks? The Thunderstrike had probably been their first line of action, but we had thwarted that.
“The Thunderstrike and all the artifacts like it—how the hell are we going to make certain they don’t get hold of them? At least the Conglomerate was smart enough to hoard them away and not use them. Lyon and his ilk don’t have that self-control and if they find weapons from the Weather Wars, you know full well they’re going to take advantage of them. And that will lead to Gaia striking against the world again.” I pushed back my plate. “What the hell do we do? We can’t just run for our own lives, can we?”
“I don’t know, Fury. We had best make our way over to the Peninsula of the Gods and see what Hecate and Athena have to say. Remember, some of the Elder Gods are on our side,” Kendall said.
“Right, then. That’s the next move. We talk to the gods.” I stood up. “I’m tired but I won’t be able to rest until we’re standing in front of Hecate.” I turned to Tam. “Do you need to stay here to attend to business, or are you coming with us?”
“I’ll come. Damh Varias can look after UnderBarrow another few hours.” He stared at me, and I found it hard to look away. The look in his eyes was pleading, and I realized how hurt he was by my anger. I blinked at him, smiling faintly.
“Right. Then I adjourn this meeting. We can’t go through the tunnels to reach the Peninsula of the Gods, so we’ll take a contingent of guards with us. Damh Varias, please ready them to set off in twenty minutes. I suggest that everyone gather your weapons and make certain you have what you need in case we can’t make it back tonight.” Tam swept out the door.
Jason tapped me on the shoulder. “We need to talk, Kae.”
“My name’s Fury. You might as well call me what everybody else does.” I stared at him steadily. “We can talk later. Right now, the world is in turmoil. Our disagreement isn’t a priority, I would think.” I pulled away from him, then stopped and looked back over my shoulder. “I am glad your sister and nephew stayed in the Wild Wood. It’s safer for them.” Before he could answer, I headed toward my room.
The World Tree was lit up with its green shimmering colors. Instinctively, I glanced at the portal through which the zombies had emerged. It was dark, still closed. Thank gods for small favors. But there were Aboms milling around in the upper arbor—I could feel them. Two of them there, and three more within the Sandspit proper. And who knew how many had escaped into the city while I had been gone?
We hurried up the winding stairs to the top, trying to avoid slipping on the buildup of ice.
The Sandspit was two hundred acres of wasteland and rogue magic, covered with snow. Created when Gaia had targeted the industrial sector of Seattle with a massive lightning strike, the Sandspit had formed around the World Tree as it rose out of the crater. The strike had vaporized buildings, train yards, and thousands of tons of metal, leaving behind twisted wreckage and magically charged sand that rolled through like a mist of tumbleweeds. Here and there, the blackened metal formed odd sculptures, rising out of the rolling dunes in dark silhouettes, grim reminders of the past.
The World Tree was a massive oak, its roots grounded in the crater where the lightning strike had first landed. The rogue magic was in the sand, the wind, the very air of the Sandspit, and it caused not only birth defects and changes in genetic structure, but random spells triggered throughout the area. Magic swept through, ever on the move but never dissipating.
Readerboards were strategically placed around the area, warning people to stay out, but the fence the Regent had tried to erect to cordon it off had failed on all sides. Finally, he gave up, leaving the impromptu gates into the Sandspit alone.
To the north was Darktown, where I lived. To the west, the Bogs—a wild jungle of beasts and dangerous plants. Those who ventured into the tangle often never returned, and search and rescue missions weren’t in the cards. East were the Metalworks where the shift workers toiled day and night. The massive businesses that relied on them paid a living wage, but working conditions were rough. Now, I wondered, would the Metalworks continue, given the fall of the city? And if not, what would the workers do for food and money to pay their bills? Would that even be an issue if the city was abandoned?
We were nine strong, not including several guards who insisted on tagging along. I took the front, with Tam on my left and Kendall on my right. Behind us were Elan, Hans, and Jason. Behind them were Greta, Tyrell, and Laren. The guards spread out—two to our left, two to our right as we navigated our way out of the Sandspit, into the streets of Seattle proper.
The city streets seemed a strange sight after ten days in the wild, especially since only about half the street lamps were functioning. Instinctively, I glanced up, scanning the skies for sky-eyes, but either the drones were elsewhere, or they were down.
“Come on, let’s head off. Keep a good pace. Be on alert, and watch out. There are Aboms in the area. I doubt if they’ll attack a party our size, but you never know with them. Not only that, but we have zombies to watch for, rogue Devani, and then Lyon’s goons.”
Given the number of enemies we were currently facing, I wondered what to expect next. Maybe some of the astrigators from the etheric plane who fed on life energy? Or why not some other splinter group who wanted to take control of the world?
To reach the Peninsula of the Gods, we had to skirt the Junk Yard, edge around Darktown, and head northwest. As we approached the massive gated enclosure, my stomach knotted. The Junk Yard was nothing but trouble, but now it seemed even more ominous. The steel structure resembled a fortress and usually the gates were open, with guards standing watch.
Originally creat
ed to house Jagulins—shape-shifting refugees from the Mas-Lian jungle—the Junk Yard had been a colossal failure. The Regent hadn’t thought it out very well. The Jagulins lived in the forest. The concept of residing in a metal fortress inside a bigger city had been anathema to their very nature and before long, they left, moving into the Wilds and leaving the Junk Yard empty. So the Regent had done what any good member of the Conglomerate would have—he had sold it off to the highest bidder. And the highest bidder happened to be the UnderCult, the drug lords and dark magicians, mercenaries and thugs who wanted a place they could defend from the Devani.
The Junk Yard was usually closed during the day, but it was nighttime and the gates—which were usually guarded but open—were closed. The sight of the dark steel silhouette rising against the night seemed more ominous than had it been open for business as usual.
We skirted the steel walls, crossing to the other side of the street. Streetlights barely illuminated the dark haze that seemed to hang over the city. Some had been broken, probably by would-be looters. Others seemed too dim to pierce the miasma that hovered like a heavy cloud. I realized that there were no sky-eyes zipping overhead, and not even one of the Devani in sight. Come to think about it, there weren’t many people out and about, either. All in all, Seattle seemed to be steeped in a terrible silence.
As the Junk Yard faded into a blur behind us, we entered the Trips. Most of those who worked in the Metalworks lived in the Trips. Housing was modest, but most people kept up their apartments and houses, and it was a tidy district, if a little ragged.
As we passed a fenced yard with a small, dark house behind the gate, I sensed a movement behind a hedgerow up ahead. I held up my hand, pausing.
“There’s something behind those bushes.” From where we were, it was impossible to get a look around the seven-foot-high hedges, and we’d have to mangle some flower bushes to get in the neighbor’s yard to take a look from behind. I wasn’t sure if anybody was at home, but I didn’t feel like going up and knocking to ask permission to climb over their fence. Mostly, I didn’t want to risk somebody shooting first with a stun gun or dart gun before they found out we weren’t out to harm them.
“Wait here.” One of the guards motioned to us. “I’ll go.” He slid past, silently edging his way along the hedgerow.
I winced. That was a good way to get yourself grabbed if somebody was right behind the foliage, but then again, if he had been out in the street, he’d be easily spotted.
We held our position as he approached the end of the hedge where I had seen the movement. He paused, waiting. Another moment and he darted into the street as a man swung around the hedge. Only it wasn’t a man per se, but a very dead man, shuffling quickly toward the guard, letting out a low grunt.
“Zombie!” Tam darted to the side as Elan dashed forward, bringing up her bow as she nocked an arrow and let it fly into the head of the zombie. The arrow landed point center, but did no good. We were going to have to take the zombies down and tear him to bits in order to stop him. Or burn or blow him up.
The guard raised his sword and danced in for a swing. He landed a hit directly across the zombie’s stomach. I slapped my hand to my thigh and held fast to the whip as it came off my leg. Jogging forward, I whipped it over my head as I gauged the distance between the creature and me. As it lurched my way, its guts spilling out through the gash the guard had landed, I cracked the whip down, flaying another layer of skin off of the creature.
The guard brought back his sword, and—using both hands—leveled a long sweep as he neatly decapitated the creature in one blow. As the head fell on the ground, teeth still gnashing, the body stumbled blindly. The other guards moved past me, slice-and-dicing the remains to small-enough pieces that wouldn’t be able to harm anyone. Arms off, hands into pieces, feet off so the bottom torso couldn’t stumble around, head…
Queasy, I turned away as another zombie came around the hedge and they lit into that one as well. I fell back, allowing them to do their job. Killing Aboms was difficult, but it wasn’t terribly messy. Zombies made me angry—not the creatures themselves, they were victims as much as they were dangers. But the magical process that created them was anathema to me, defiling the dead, turning restful remains into ravenous monsters. That made me angry.
I let the guards do their jobs. I liked being up front in the fray, but Hecate needed me unharmed. We had bigger fish to catch than a handful of zombies. So I moved back to the line and waited. Once the second zombie was destroyed, the guards made sure there weren’t any others waiting. As we left them behind us and moved further into the Trips, I wondered just how many people were actually left alive, and where they were.
The Peninsula of the Gods was gated, but there were warriors standing guard. When we identified ourselves, they let us in and then barred the gates behind us again. As we entered the massive plateau, I began to breathe easier. I had missed coming to the temple. I glanced at Greta and Hans. The same relief was flooding their faces. This was our real home—with the gods to whom we were bound.
Kendall breathed in a deep lungful of the icy air. “It’s so good to be here. I was beginning to feel like we’d never see the temple again.”
“It won’t be the same, though, will it? Now that the Elder Gods have hived off.” Tyrell was frowning, a thoughtful look on his face.
“No, I daresay it won’t, but we’re here and safe for the moment, and that is a wonderful feeling.” I glanced at the pair of them. “I suppose we’d all best go to our respective temples. Let’s meet at the Cobra Cafe—it’s up on the west end there—when we’re done.”
“There’s no telling how long they’ll keep us. Better text the group when you expect to be free,” Hans said. He and Greta headed toward the Temple Valhalla.
Tyrell twitched his lips. “The Dagda let me know that the Celts have taken over one of the guest havens at topside north for the moment. I’ll be there.” The Celtic gods had no temple within the city—they had chosen the Wild Wood, past Bend, for their temple.
“Kendall, shall we? Naós ton Theón awaits. The rest of you, come and talk to Hecate with me, if you will.” I turned to the others.
Tam gave me a nod. “I will, love.”
“We will too,” Elan and Laren said, falling in beside me.
But Jason hung back. “I think I’ll see what I can pick up from anybody who might be on the upper deck.” He looked like he wanted to say something else, but then turned away.
I felt a momentary pang. Should I go after him? But the shock still hadn’t worn off and I hesitated. Before I could make up my mind, he had jogged off, heading around the upper tier toward one of the cafes. With a shrug, I turned back to find the others looking at me. I realized they didn’t know what had happened—except for Tam. I didn’t feel like explaining, not just yet, so I headed toward the temple.
The Peninsula of the Gods was more than the land it sat on. The actual structure was a massive, mile-long, paved section of the peninsula. Rectangular in shape, it was tiered, much like giant rice paddies. With five main tiers leading down into the bottom, the rain was caught in a pond at the very center, where the excess water was circulated out to avoid flooding. The catchment system was used to provide water for the city parks.
Every level held a number of temples spaced evenly apart. And on every level, there were mini-malls placed on all four sides, offering food courts, restrooms, and elevators for supplicants who couldn’t manage the steep flights of stairs running from the top down to the bottom. Spacious sidewalks ran in continuous motion around every tier, providing an easy ride to the temple of your choice.
We passed by Temple Valhalla, where Hans and Greta veered off. They waved, promising to text us as soon as they were free. Tyrell headed toward one of the empty admin buildings that the Celts had taken over for the interim.
Naós ton Theón was on the third level, near the elevators. With the stairs being so slick, we opted to take the car down. As Elan, Laren, Kendall, and Tam joine
d me in the lift, I pushed the button, feeling so adrift. Everything seemed normal—I was going to visit Hecate—and yet, nothing was the same. Our world had tipped upside down within such a short time that I was beginning to feel dizzy just thinking about it.
Queet suddenly appeared. Fury, I’m so glad you’re here. Hecate’s waiting for you.
I’m glad we made it back, too. I’m worn out, Queet. Too much change in too little time.
Hang on to your hat, Fury. There’s more change coming.
That isn’t very comforting.
At that moment we reached the temple. Naós ton Theón gleamed against the falling snow, its cool marble dappled with gray veins. Four stories high, the temple was a glorious structure. The section of the stairs leading up to the massive doors were clear of snow. There was no line by the M&M detector—metal and magic. Built to screen out troublesome zealots who might have a grudge against the gods, it was usually manned by two priests. Now, four stood guard.
I motioned for the others to get in line with me. “We’re here to see Hecate. Well, Kendall is here to see Athena. These are our friends.”
The priest was one I recognized. He motioned for Kendall and me to place our hands on the touch screen, but didn’t bother with the others. “They alerted us you were coming. Is this all of your party?”
I shook my head. “Two had to visit their gods in Temple Valhalla, one is over at the makeshift Celtic temple, and one is checking out the news at the cafes around the peninsula. They may be coming by if we take longer than they do.” I gave the priests their names.
“Go on in.” The priest waved us through and even though we set off the alarms on the detector, they just motioned for us to continue.
“That’s not a good sign,” I said as we headed into the great hall. “They always check for weapons and magic.”
Fury Awakened (Fury Unbound Book 3) Page 15