Residual: The Gray-Matter Chronicles Book 3 (The Matter Chronicles 6)

by P. G. Thomas

  Each member picked up one, reviewing the finely scribed Darkpaye contract. Even though two sighed with relief, the others threw them back on the table.

  “Your terms are outrageous!”

  “Do you have a stick…I mean, point?” asked Jedimac.

  “It will barely cover our debts!”

  “When we shell—sell the properties, a—a—”

  “Commission?”

  Jedimac smiled under his mask, “Yes! One of those you will receive. Until then, the bank I will shuffle—deal with.”

  “This is robbery!”

  “If your mark—name you do not want to sign, then do knot—not, but I can tell you this,” and Jedimac had practiced the next line for almost an hour, making sure his pronunciation was correct, “it is better to be breathing and broke, then to be broke and bleeding. Money lenders get somewhat testical—testy from early contractual withdrawals, as they feel somewhat unsatisfied.”

  “You cannot expect—”

  Jedimac turned towards the door, “I expect nothing.”

  “Wait, I will sign.”

  Jedimac smiled.

  “So will I,” said the fourth.

  Walking over, the smiling Unknown picked up all of the documents.

  The last one spoke, “I will not!”

  I knew that, but it will not matter. “Of this, I will advise your branches—banker.” When he had the papers safely tucked away, he headed for the door. “Wait fifteen minutes, and when you think it is safe to leave, wait for another fifteen.”

  *******

  It was well past noon when Zack and John, with his Earth Guard, began touring the streets damaged by the earthquake.

  “Why me?”

  Zack turned to John, “Mirror Boy I don’t know. Lauren is stressed out, probably worrying about nothing. Beyond looking like you could use some sun, I’ve grown accustomed to having Earth Guards around, especially elves.”

  “How did you get us across the bridge?”

  “I have friends in the guild.”

  As they followed the faint scent of Logan, several times they had to backtrack around collapsed buildings, picking up his scent on the other side, and in a few places, they had to navigate through misshapen streets where Zack lost the trail, but when the ground was once again solid, he would manage to find it. They had traveled almost an hour from the Bastard’s prison, and even though the destruction of the earthquake damage had diminished, evidence of loss by fire was growing.

  Zack looked around at the seemingly random devastation, “Logan was here alright, as most of the buildings we passed by earlier, he put out the fires, but these should never have burnt.”

  John scanned the strange pattern of destruction, “What the hell is Nur feeding you?”

  “It’s wrong, all wrong. Even though I saw it that night, I never really thought about it until now. With the winds blowing in the opposite direction, the damage here should be less, and the fires would never have spread to this part of town. Also, why didn’t the fire destroy everything, as it looks like it skipped buildings on purpose?”

  John, examining the unexplained pattern of burnt buildings, nodded in agreement.

  Seeing some relief workers carrying a body out of a partially destroyed building, Zack rode up to them. “Where’re you taking him?”

  The lead relief worker nodded towards the east, “There is a building across from the Council Hall where we are putting the bodies to be claimed.”

  Zack turned his horse.

  “Where are we going?” asked John.

  “I lost his scent twenty minutes ago, and I have a bad feeling.”

  *******

  A Darkpaye councilor stood. “It would appear our Calicon counterparts never read the notice of the early vote,” he said with a smile, looking at the empty observation levels. “The only item on the agenda today is the Segregation Vote. All those in favor, stand now.” In the quiet hall, all of the immigrant Councilors stood and smiled. The one designated to run the meetings banged his gavel, “The motion is pass—”

  Before he could complete the sentence, three men walked into the council hall: two being well-trained guards, and the other, a man with an aurora of importance.

  “DEFEATED!”

  As everybody turned to the last three who had entered the hall, the one without weapons walked over to the gavel bearer. “The segregation vote is canceled, and we will hear no more of it. Of the other changes, they are documented on this scroll.” Then he turned, leaving the chamber.

  The gavel bearer, unrolling the document, saw the mark of the Darkpaye Bank on the bottom. “The motion is defeated,” and slowly, his voice lost its volume. “After the Darkpaye Watch is disbanded, a joint Watch will be created.” His last sentence was but a whisper. “There is more that I will post for all to read.”

  *******

  Even though Mirtza had been expecting a large crowd at the Council Hall, only a few mingled at the entrance. Walking up to the bulletin board, he looked at the poster with the still wet ink. He turned to Ryan and Eric, “The segregation vote has been canceled, permanently.”

  *******

  Zack and John, with his Earth Guard, arrived at the building where the unclaimed bodies were being kept, and before the Legend Absent entered the building, the Unchosen grabbed his arm, “You don’t really think…”

  Zack covered his eyes with his hands, wiping away the forming tears, “I just want to eliminate the obvious. We can always go back to where I lost the scent, as maybe he went out the back of a building.”

  John took several rapid, deep breaths, “You’re lying. You checked it!”

  Zack never replied.

  John had expected more bodies, but with only a dozen lying motionless under dark blankets, the hall had few attendants present. Unlike most who visited this building, Zack did not start at the beginning of the line. Instead, he walked up to one in the middle. The attendant, pulling back the blanket, exposed the severely burnt and headless body. Because it was lying on its stomach, he turned it over. As he did, they could see a young partially burnt child wrapped in the arms of the larger victim, and when the corpse settled, one arm fell to the side, displaying its red feather tattoo. John fainted. Zack did his best to maintain his composure, asking the attendant to remove the child, which then exposed the blue tattoo. Lowering his crying eyes into his hands, the image of the blackened corpse seared into his brain. The only colors in the vision, the two feather tattoos on the arms that had tried to cradle the innocent child to safety.

  *******

  He had been sitting in a chair for an hour, watching Logan jerk in pain when the whip found new real estate to mark. Holding up his hand, the large mute torturer coiled up his leather metal-tipped lash, waiting for further commands. As Zymse grabbed Logan’s mask to get his attention, he began to undo the clasps.

  “Are you ready to talk now?”

  Logan, screamed until he lost his breath, then whispered, “Sister, help me.”

  “We can do better than that.” Zymse nodded towards a thick stick, which the large mute torturer retrieved, and began hitting Logan’s back with tremendous force.

  “SISTER!”

  Zymse smiled under his black veil. “Your sister is unable to hear you.”

  Logan screamed even louder when the next strike marked his back.

  For twenty minutes, Zymse goaded Logan on, as he watched the naked slave girl file his fingernails, waiting.

  When Logan took several deep breaths, Zymse held up his hand, stopping the torture.

  Summoning all of his strength, Logan smiled. “Now you’re going to pay!”

  *******

  For an hour, Zack had been trying to comfort John in a vacant lot, as the Earth Guards kept any curious onlookers away, and it was the site of those elves that caused Eric to stop the carriage.

  Ryan, seeing John grieving hysterically, stepped out to greet Zack, but then he saw the tear stained eyes of his old friend, realizing immediately something
was wrong.

  Zack tried to fight back the tears. “Dude—”

  Ryan backed up, “NO!”

  “Logan?” asked Eric, jumping down from the carriage,

  Choked with horror, Zack could only nod.

  “NO, NO, NO! It can’t be,” protested Ryan.

  Squeezing his eyes shut, Eric, summoning all of his strength, forced his tears back, but when he spoke, his breathing was labored with repressed grief. “What happened?”

  Zack sat down in the open carriage door, cradling his head. “Dudes, we followed his trail, but it went cold. Then somebody told us where the unclaimed bodies were. I…” He paused, taking several deep breaths. “We found his body there.”

  Eric, supporting Ryan who was crying, was fighting back his own grief, “You’re sure it was him?”

  Zack nodded, “His body was—it was in bad shape, but his clothes, the scent. It was him, so the tats—I didn’t have to confirm his scent, as those tats said it all. Red and blue feathers—it was—Lo—Logan.” Crying harder, his mind rekindled the image of the burnt and disfigured body.

  Between sobs, Ryan blurted out, “We should get the body, take it—somewhere.”

  Zack nodded, “They’re holding it for me, but…”

  “You don’t want to see it.” John was wiping his tears away, his breathing rapid, “It looked like he went into a house—a beam fell on his—his—head, killed him. Then—then—the fire—it burnt him.”

  “No,” Ryan protested, “he wouldn’t go into a burning building. He would put the fire out.”

  “Dude, Ryan, I don’t know what happened. There were houses where it looked like he had put the fire out, maybe he ran out of juice. Maybe he did put it out, but that beam…” Then Zack took a deep breath, “He didn’t suffer. I know it doesn’t mean anything, but he—he—he was saving innocents.”

  Eric could no longer contain his grief, “This isn’t supposed to happen to us—we’re legends—the good guys. How’re we going to tell Lauren?”

  *******

  Logan, smiling through his pain, felt the first slight breeze in the sealed room.

  Remaining calm, he sent the slave girl and mute torturer from the room. Slowly winds began to form, developing into a tight spiral that howled in anger. As Zymse smiled, his hands motioned like he was grasping for two invisible rings, which he pulled up, and black mists bubbled out of the floor. The force of the whirlwind was so great that it pulled the dark fog into it, and where a once clear disturbance of swirling dust and debris stood, the gray rotating winds were now clearly visible. It increased its speed, howling in pain, but that action only caused it to absorb more of the black mists, which now not only came out of the floor but the ceiling also. In a very short period of time, the entire vortex known as Sister was black, discolored by the strange magic delivered from Zymse. Its movements became erratic, jerking from side to side, and then it rushed a wall, passing through it.

  “That is what I knew would happen.”

  Logan had a dazed look in his eyes, “What?”

  “I captured some of those—I think they were called sky elves? Tasty birds and they were not bad either. They told me about their benefactor and of her appearance. I tried to get some of the other Bastards to call her, tortured them so bad they died, but they never did call her. I figured we would be less brutal with you until she arrived, after all, you are the First Bastard, and I knew she would do anything to save you.” Then Zymse went to the door, letting in the large mute torturer. “After you put the muzzle back on, only flog his body for an hour, and then give him fifteen minutes of rest.” He looked at the slave girl, “Go get the healer, and tell him to bring the Black Sun.”

  *******

  Ryan had been standing at the front door for fifteen minutes, trying to find the words to tell Lauren. Behind him, Eric with Mirtza were both in shock, as Zack quietly consoled John. The Earth Guards simply waited patiently for the door to open.

  When Careel whistled, another Earth Guard unseen responded.

  As two elves, swords drawn, stepped out of the bushes in front of the house, Jasmine opened the front door, and there was anger in her voice. “Do you test my abilities? Did Panry tell you to mimic an attack to see how I react?” Seeing the look on Ryan’s face, she called out, “Earth Mother, something is wrong.”

  Lauren slowly advancing down the hall, watched Jasmine step outside, and saw her four friends looking at the ground. When they looked at her, the tears began to flow. Before fainting, she screamed, as if somebody had reached into her body, ripping out her soul.

  *******

  The next morning the house was quiet, as each had selected a room or corner to express their grief in solitude. The only two missing were Ryan and Lauren.

  John was sitting at the patio table when Steve came out with two mugs, taking a seat opposite. “I liked the Kid.”

  John reached for one, nodded, “I would like him to be here right now.”

  “I know this—”

  “This isn’t the time to tell one of your war stories about losing friends, and if you’re thinking of telling one to Lauren, I want a one hour head start.”

  “We need to—”

  “Give it a break, Steve. Yes, if this were a firefight, we would’ve something to distract us, like trying to stay alive, but it isn’t and we don’t.”

  Steve stood, “I’ll be watching the mirrors.”

  A short time later, Ryan came out, his tear ducts drained, his face telling the story of the sleepless night. “She finally fell asleep, and Jasmine is watching the door.”

  “How is she doing?” asked John.

  “You remember when Samantha died? At least she had me to blame. Right now, she’s blaming herself.”

  “Crap, is there anything we can do?”

  “Find my daughters and kill Zymse.”

  Eric, having seen Ryan walk out, was a few steps behind him, “We’ve been trying, but…”

  Ryan nodded, headed back into the house, “There’ll be a storm arriving soon, and its name will be Lauren.” Then he proceeded to the stairs.

  *******

  Having been watching the mirrors most of the morning, Steve could see Zymse preaching something on the steps of his academy, but he was unable to determine what. Wandering cautiously through the house, he found Zack, asking him to fly down and observe the activity. Happy for a distraction, the Legend Absent agreed, and after Zymse had closed up his little shop of branding horrors that night, Zack returned within the hour.

  “The Dude is losing his mind. He said his men found the source of the trollmares, which was a dwarf mine. That they dug into some sort of evil, releasing it. Have to give the Dude credit as he can tell a story. He said their forges vaporized the evil, sending it airborne, saying it was heading this way. We need to find a tailor to make him a jacket with really long sleeves that tie up in the back.” Then Zack headed to the stables to find a comfortable spot to grieve.

  Steve, thinking he should tell John, changed his mind.

  *******

  Jedimac was very pleased reading the long report from the Black Watch assassins that described the events from the previous two nights.

  Four of the Calicon assassins’ guilds had sent over eight additional squads of their most talented members, acquiring entry into the illegal guilds the night before a gathering. Traveling slowly through the dark streets, none had wished to trip, as that would mean certain death to them if but one of the containers they carried broke. That night, they carefully distributed their offerings of welcome to those who had infringed on their sanctioned craft, gifting those who dealt in death a losing hand. Those of Darkpaye, realizing too late of the trap set, dashed from the illegal guilds into the dark night, where a warm embrace of the assassins’ cold steel waited.

  After the smile had left, he read a note from the squad who was short a member, and then wrote his commands for every tenth squad to search out detention centers, jails, prisons, healers and even morgues, as the
absence of one, could mean the death of them all.

  *******

  The next morning, much like Ryan had forewarned, a storm arrived, but its name was not Lauren. Waking when he heard one of his Earth Guards closing the window, John had seen the wet floor when a gigantic bolt of lightning momentarily chased away the darkness. Crawling out of bed, he went to the window. With trees looking like rag dolls in the intense winds, he also saw numerous pieces of both debris and houses being blown by. After dressing, he ran downstairs, his Earth Guards following behind him, and stepped onto the patio. Once outside, he had to fight the incredibly strong winds to gain access back into the house, and if not for Babartin being present, he may have lost. Dripping wet, shivering from the cold, he looked at Gayne who had walked out of the kitchen, “Have you ever had a hurricane in the Bright Coast before?”

  “Her cane?” He scanned the room. “Do you not mean Lauren’s staff?”

  “A monsoon?”

  “Mon soon?”

  John shook his head, “A storm this bad!”

  “No, never.”

  Then John raced up the stairs, knocking on the bedroom door.

  “What?” Ryan answered, groggily.

  “Is Lauren sleeping with her staff?”

  Ryan glanced at his wife and her troubled sleep, “No, why?”

  “It’s probably nothing so go back to bed,” and John headed to the patio where he saw Steve and Gayne looking out at the fierce storm, as it was actually making a small river flow by the outside patio.

  “Kid, while it might just be coincidence, yesterday Zymse was offering to brand people, offering them protection from the weather. Zack said something about him claiming to have found the source of evil that created the trollmares, and he was warning people it was heading this way.”

  John pulled a chair from the table over to the doors. What the hell’s happening?