Feigning being drunk, she thanks him, and plants a sloppy kiss on his stretched fish-like lips, making a scene. All eyes of the craps players are now on her as the game is halted. Julie eyes her as she stumbles onwards towards a nearby poker machine and starts to turn the handle.
Murmuring a few words to the men nearby, Julie slips away, and hides behind a black column. She clicks on her communicator and speaks to someone on the other end. Xavier and Guy see two males dressed in black suits on the first floor move to the railing looking over the gamblers below, talking into their wrists.
Xavier smiles - they’ve taken the bait.
Kaley turns the poker machine handle a few more times before she rises and makes her way towards the ladies-room. Following from afar are the two assassins and the two men in black. Kaley enters the bathroom, and before long is followed in by the two men in black. As she exits the toilet cubicle, she is hit with a phaser to the back, and convulses as she falls to the tiled floor, paralysed. She is lifted into the air and out of the bathroom, behind the bar and down stairs to the rear exit of The Casino. Trailing close behind are the assassins, keeping an eye on their bait. Before long, she is bundled into a waiting van, which speeds off into the night.
Unbeknownst to Julie and the men in black, Kaley wears a tracker on her thigh. Guy opens his own tracker device and a tiny red dot flashes on the floating map, just above his right wrist. The dot moves from the centre of the City towards the dock to the north of the city.
They come upon the black windowless van parked on the dock up ahead. Hiding behind the metal containers rusted out after sitting in the same place for the last hundred years, Xavier and Guy spy on Julie and her cronies, loading a number of small crates on a hover-boat. Julie follows behind as they lift Kaley’s lifeless body from the van and board the hover-boat.
As the boat starts to leave at speed, leaving choppy waves behind, the two assassins swiftly lose their cloaks, revealing grey-black suits clinging to their bodies like a second skin. The attached masks have an inbuilt oxygen tank, allowing them to breathe effortlessly underwater as they dive in and shoot their arrows that connect to the stern, dragging them with it. Once the boat has moved out of the canal and into open water, it slows.
Xavier and Guy silently surface and board the hover-boat, keeping low behind the crates. Keeping an eye on Kaley, Xavier speaks low into his communicator, relaying their whereabouts to The Underground’s forces.
Kaley starts to rouse but before she could move too much, Julie plunges a syringe deep into the side of her neck and she stills. Julie barks orders to her cronies – one of whom heads the boat at the helm and the other standing guard by their captive.
The sun starts to rise over the horizon, casting shades of purple and orange across the thick clouds. Before long, the silhouette of palace spires, a winding bridge and stone buildings come into view. As the hover-boat nears, Xavier is somewhat impressed at the longevity of the Palace that still stands despite the wars that have waged over the last few hundred years.
Limestone bricks and stained-glass windows reflect off the waves caressing the white-sandy beach. To the east is the dens brush of trees that end in a granite outcrop, and to the west the manicured gardens of the Palace.
The hover-boat slows and is brought to the dock on the beach with the slow rising tide. Before the boat makes berth, the two assassins dive overboard, keeping hidden beneath the waves. Julie emerges from the boat’s deckhouse, followed by her cronies who carry Kaley to a waiting carriage, programmed to move on it’s own without a driver or horses. Continuing to track the red dot, they make their way up the deserted stone bridge to the out wall of the Palace.
Mei-Ling meets Julie at the tall wooden doors of the Palace, and the party of three including their captive, are taken to the basement floor where Kaley is now prisoner.
◆◆◆
Ari rises from the floor as she is summoned to attend to Eli’s healing. She looks back once more at her sister, vowing in her heart to rescue her from the clutches of the mad-man that resides here and make him and his twisted niece pay for what they have done, not only to them but to the others he has collected.
Chapter TWENTY-FOUR
White walls with blood splatter.
White floors and a river of deep red blood cuts through to the drain in the centre.
White lights flicker on and off, with a constant buzzing that now fills every corner of Justin’s brain.
He tries to count back the days he has been laying on this gurney in this room but each day merges into the next.
Every day he is wheeled in to the blood spattered room.
Every day he is wheeled out and sat in solitary confinement.
He thinks it is morning but usually Chvostek’s guards try to confuse him with taking him back to the room more than once in a day and some days keeping him only in solitary confinement.
He feels he will soon go mad with the hundreds of needles poked into his arms, legs and neck, the wires connecting to his head and chest, and the guards coming in and out, with their head scientist never acknowledging him as an actual human being.
Worse than the torture he is subjected to daily in the laboratory, the guards will purposely leave the door open so he could hear the screams of his friend next door.
This day was one of those days.
Justin clenches his jaw, suppressing a scream of his own as a long, thick needle is inserted into his neck, a thick substance injected into his jugular vein. His eyes fly open at the sound of his friend’s agony.
Maude!
Maude!
Justin struggles against the binds holding him down on the gurney, body writhing and bucking.
Success.
His elbow connects with the Head Scientist’s temple, knocking her to the floor. The guards hurry to her aide, but she shakes them off and rises to her feet, laughing hysterically.
‘You’ve got some fight back in you it seems, Agent Carey,’ the scientist croons, wiping the trace of blood sprouting from her split lip.
‘Show me some more of that spirit,’ she murmurs close to his right ear, as she places her blood-stained finger across his lips, before caressing his scar.
Maude screams again before there is absolute silence.
Justin falls limp, arms still by his sides.
‘Come on Agent Carey,’ the scientist continues, ‘where has that spunk gone?’ She plunges another syringe into his jugular, and fiddles with the monitors connected to his forehead. ‘Maybe we need to get our hands on your girlfriend. Then we will see some results.’
‘Don’t you dare -,’ Justin starts before he is cut off. The image of Ari’s face is what has been keeping him sane these last months.
The scientist laughs and her black curls bounce around her round face.
Justin thought Doctor Cecilia Hadrad, as she was known, could have been pretty – beautiful even, if she didn’t have such evil in her soul.
‘Oh we will get want we want eventually, Agent Carey,’ she croons before leaving the laboratory, white coat trailing behind her long slim legs.
Chapter TWENTY-FIVE
Ari is running through trees, barefoot, arms and legs snagging on stray branches.
She runs as fast as her lungs will allow her. Burning in her chest, she pants, looking back as she tries to outrun her pursuer. A wolf follows close on her heels, yellow eyes glowing in the dark. Ari trips on a half buried tree root landing hard on her hands and knees. Dazed, she gets to her feet, trying to figure out which was to run.
There’s a low growl nearby and yellow eyes appear between the trees. A wolf with a grey-brown coat prowls forwards. The wolf disappears only to be replaced by Chancellor Chvostek, leering at the girl in front of him. Ari tries to run but is frozen in his stare.
She feels a warm sticky fluid dripping from her hands onto her bare feet. Looking down, Ari is shocked to find her hands covered in blood. At her feet are the blood-drained bodies of Kaley, Justin, Maude, Xavier and Guy. A
silent scream leaves her mouth as she kneels by the bodies. How could this happen? She looks up, eyes meeting with the man in front of her.
Chancellor Chvostek sneers, ‘this is your fault. You did this.’
Shaking her head in denial, Ari shouts back, ‘liar!’ only to find a bloodied dagger in her right hand. Shocked, she drops it in the dirt.
‘No, no,’ she cries as more bodies appear – Delta, Malik, Ai-Ling.
All of a sudden, Ai-Lings eyes fly open and she turns her head towards Ari, ‘do not trust her. She cannot be trusted.’
Before Ari could ask whom Ai-Ling was referring to, she wakes, finding herself tangled in the gold silk sheets of her bed. Faint moonlight peeks through the barred window, casting shadows of the neighbouring trees across the room. Trying to make sense of the nightmare, she climbs out of bed to wash her face in the adjoining washroom. She gazes at her reflection in the mirror above the sink, her dark-brown hair now framing her face to her chin.
Who couldn’t she trust?
Julie? She knew that already.
Perhaps there is another wolf in sheep’s clothing amongst them all in the Palace.
◆◆◆
Struggling to sleep after her dream, Ari sit on the end of her bed, legs tucked under her, as she stares into the trees just beyond her window. A slight breeze causes the leaves to rustle, causing the shadows in her room into a trance-like dance. Without thinking, she places her palms against the glass pane and closes her eyes. Her energy starts to flow; slowly at first then all of a sudden it bursts forth as the images of her dream replay in her mind. Her eyes slam open as she sees the result of the power she has been searching for these past months. Where once stood a beautiful tree with full braches of leaves of all shades of green, now stood its carcass. Gnarled, bare branches and a grey-black trunk full of death and decay. Pinching herself to make sure this was not an extension of her dream, she stands and twirls on the carpet in celebration.
She did it.
She finally found that power that has been hidden inside her for so long.
It was time.
Time to rescue her sister and for all of The Mages to escape.
Ari changes into a simple outfit of black slacks and knitted pullover before silently exiting her room, barefoot. She creeps along the Hall of Tapestries, soundlessly making her way to Eli’s room – a room she has attended daily for the last two months. She comes across the Tapestry of Eli’s Family tree and stops to look at it one last time.
Slowly, she extends a hand to the torn surface, where the name of The Chancellor is embroidered. Images of The Chancellor’s cruel face enter Ari’s mind. He was even more twisted than the Founding Family’s last living heir, with a plan for rebuilding the human population through genocide. All the more determined to escape, she hurries further along the Hall to the marbled staircase, taking each stair by two, before hitting the bottom floor. A shadow out of the corner of her eye catches her attention. She immediately hides under the staircase as a figure approaches from up ahead.
Julie appears, apparently lost in thought, as she paces the Palace foyer once, twice, then moves on to the basement. Curious, Ari decides to follow, hoping she might be able to use her power first on Julie, free her sister then take care of Eli. She might even get rid of the brains just to be sure there could be no more evil power of The Founding Family that could be resurrected. Ari enters the opened door to the basement laboratory, and sees Julie pacing again, this time before her sister, still imprisoned by the blue beam. She approaches, crouching, and hides behind a computer panel, as she listens.
To her surprise, Julie is crying.
‘I did what I had to,’ Julie says, still pacing, tears flowing freely down her face. ‘I did what I did to you and your sister to save myself.’
Ari realises she is talking to Kaley. Could she be apologising?
‘I was betrothed to my uncle from the day I was born. It was the Bancroft way. It was how they kept their bullions, their power. By keeping it all in the family. But it’s not normal. I can’t do it.’
Julie starts to sob harder as she approaches the far wall, taps on the adjacent touchpad and with a slight hiss, the wall opens to reveal Eli’s parents.
Ari kneels as she peers over the top of the computer panel, trying to glimpse what Julie was up to. Standing before the brains, Julie stares at them for some time, before lifting one off the white shelf, disconnecting the wires from the data mainframe. She whispers something incomprehensible before she hoists the glass canister above her head and without warning, slams it into the polished white floor with a crash!
Before Ari could blink there is another crash and glass splintering as Julie throws the other brain to the floor. Julie kneels before the two brains, now exposed to the outside world, sitting in a puddle of green-yellow fluid. She places her head in her hands, shoulders shuddering with her sobs.
Before Ari could rise to her feet to approach her trapped sister, she hears a blood-curdling scream from behind her.
‘What have you done?! What have you done?!’ Eli floats into the centre of the room, face aghast with the state of his parents, drying out on the floor.
Without looking up Julie replies, voice surprisingly calm and steady, ‘I had no other choice.’
‘But why?!’ Eli’s face now reflecting rage, ‘why did you hurt my parents? I cannot bring them back from this.’
‘Because I did not know how else to escape my fate,’ Julie responds, getting to her feet, ‘I cannot marry you and continue the Bancroft family line.’
Eli starts to tear out his hair, ‘so you murdered my parents then tell me you will no longer continue The Founding Family’s legacy? How could you do this? It is your destiny. It is our responsibility. How else can we continue to rule the New World?’
Julie shakes her head in disdain, ‘I do not care for The Founding Family. You killed my mother – your own sister. You were all twisted anyway. I’m doing the New World a favour by getting rid of them,’ she points to the two brains, ‘and refusing to copulate with you.’
A sound crossed between a screech and roar leaves Eli’s mouth, as he lunges forwards, out of his chair, arms reaching for Julie’s throat. His hands make contact as they both fall to the floor. Eli continues to squeeze, eyes crazed, as Julie’s face starts to turn blue. Then, as quick as he started killing Julie, he quickly releases her and apologises.
Coughing, Julie sits up, ‘you know we can’t go through with it.’
Eli lays where he is, staring up at the ceiling, ‘why?’
‘Because you love her,’ Julie explains and Eli doesn’t respond. ‘Don’t you want to do what’s best for you? And not The Founding Family.’
‘We are The Founding Family,’ Eli states.
Julie shakes her head, ‘we are the remnants of a Family that took advantage of us. Why do you think I got you all these gifts? Out of the goodness of my heart? To appease to my future husband? No, I did it so I can get what was owed to me – my inheritance – and leave this place. I wanted to move far, far away.’
‘You wouldn’t have gotten very far, dear Julie,’ Eli sniggers. ‘You would’ve only made it as far as The City of Syn.’
Julie laughs a hoarse laugh, then touches the red marks on her neck, before replying, ‘well I needed to be selfish. And so do you. You love that woman. She loves you too. Why not make it simple and be with her?’
Wondering whom they were talking about, Ari hears a click from behind her, before two metal canisters are thrown across the floor, to the centre of the room, spewing brown gas into the air. Ari tries to find her way through the thick fumes, eyes watering from the intensity of the smell, as she inches forwards towards the faint blue of the beam before her. Two figures rush past either side of her, and suddenly, the gas is gone.
Ari takes in a deep breath, filling her lungs with the fresh air, before smiling broadly from ear to ear as she gazes upon the scene unfolding before her.
Chapter TWENTY-SIX
&n
bsp; Eli and Julie sit on the floor, brains before them, hands bound behind their backs.
Pointing their sabres at the two now prisoners, are Xavier and Guy. Xavier looks over to Ari and winks. She is so happy to see them but a thought starts to form in the back of her mind – where are Justin and Maude? And why weren’t they here? Pushing these thoughts away, Ari runs forward and wraps her arms around her friends’ necks.
‘I can’t believe you found us,’ she exclaims.
Xavier points towards Julie with his sabre, ‘once we baited her, you weren’t too hard to find.’
Julie scowls at her captors but doesn’t reply.
Xavier continues, ‘oh that’s right, you didn’t know. Kaley over there played you – she was the bait that led us here.’
Ari is amazed, as she turns towards the blue beam, to her sister, only to find the beam now empty. She runs towards it, searching for Kaley, only to find, to her horror, her sister a captive also. Mei-Ling stands behind Kaley, tugging her head back by her short blonde curls, knife to her exposed throat.
‘Mei-Ling?’ Ari cannot believe what she is seeing.
‘I tried to do the right thing,’ Mei-Ling says, voice quiet. ‘I tried to do the right thing for the New World. Serving The Founding Family is the right thing, Arielle. Don’t you see? We can Ascend to a higher status, and with our powers, we can continue a line of better humans.’
‘What are you saying? Where are the others?’ Ari looks around, hoping the others are safe.
‘They are back underground, where they belong,’ Mei-Ling continues, voice steady, but her hand trembles with the knife to Kaley’s neck.
‘You see, they did not agree with me. Even my own sister. Can you believe that? Can you believe I was betrayed by my own sister, Arielle?’
Elite Nation: Book One Page 12