The Great Game Trilogy

by O. J. Lowe

  Yeah, this world keeps on turning

  Turning, turning, yeah as it keeps turning

  I’m left yearning

  Wherever you go, that’s where I’ll be.

  Free to be you and me,

  To a place so far is where we’ll go

  If you don’t want me, just say no,

  Just give me a chance to kiss you

  You and me, I think I’ll really miss you

  Say goodbye, I’ll really want to kill you

  What you have and what you can’t,

  You don’t know ‘til it’s gone

  Dust and dreams, they all end the same

  They’ll trickle through your fingers

  Yeah, you’re in pieces and yet I’m free,

  You’ll never take that from me

  You and me, we’re both free

  You played, you lost, you’re crying

  Over me…

  But the world keeps on turning,

  Yeah, the world keeps on turning.

  Kadie Stafford. He hated the song. He’d almost forgotten about that dream. Now it came back to him, Mia’s clothes, the song and the green shadow who’d killed her. He felt lightheaded and took a step back in shock, his mouth dry and stomach churning. Oh gods, not now. So much blood.

  Something cut across his vision, he took a deep breath, brought Pete into focus as he stood there grinning. “Man, this is kickass!” Pete yelled. “I just made out with Leslie Graham. Might give her something else consoling later, all ten inches of consolation, if you catch my drift.” He paused when he saw the look on Scott’s face. “What’s up with you? You look terrible.” Scott didn’t say anything for a moment, the weight of horrible realisation still punching him in the gut and he swallowed, trying to compose himself. “Mia break up with you already? Look on the bright side, there’s plenty of…”

  MIA!

  Scott rose from the wall, grabbed Pete’s arm and started to lead him towards the exit Mia and Harvey had gone through minutes earlier. “Hey, what gives?!”

  Quickly he’d explained the whole thing as he’d finally let Pete walk under his own steam, leading up the stairs to the next floor. As predicted, Pete looked at him like he was insane but at least he was still following him. Scott was grateful for that at least. Very grateful. It’d have been too easy for him just to turn around and go back to the dance. It was obvious that was where he’d rather have been. But still he’d come. That was the definition of friendship in his book.

  “It’s just a bad feeling,” Scott said. “I just want to check it out. Better to be safe, right?”

  “Ever think you’re just being stupidly jealous and possessive?” Pete wondered, before they heard a scream echoing from above them. A feminine scream, they looked at each other. Scott didn’t even have the chance to feel smug about his small victory in being right. It wouldn’t be worth it if something bad happened to her.

  “Come on!” he urged, the stairs creaking under his weight as he ran, wishing he’d brought a light with him. It was dark up here, Pete charging on behind him didn’t help matters. One sudden stop and he’d be into the back of him. Not that it mattered. None of it mattered. They had to get after her. There’d been something off about that guy, he’d seen the look on her face and…

  Don’t think. Just move.

  He tried to empty his mind, keep calm and just run. They had to be nearly at the roof now, the only way out up here. Why would he be taking her to the roof? What was there? Unless he had some way off, it was a terrible escape route.

  “Do you not think we should have spoken to someone about this?” Pete said. “You know, someone with badges and blasters?”

  “Didn’t you just say I was crazy?” Scott said dryly as he saw the door up ahead of them, moonlight filtering in from outside. “Come on!”

  “Mia,” Harvey said as they stood on the roof of the Kanu Hall, staring into the night sky. Countless stars winked at them and he smiled. “I have to confess something to you.”

  Already infuriated by the way he’d interrupted her date, aggravated by the way her shoes were pinching her feet, Mia found her temper rising inside her as she heard those words come from his mouth. Still she kept her composure. “Yeah?”

  “I might have gotten you up here on false pretences,” Harvey said apologetically. “You see… Okay it’s a lie. A mighty big boo-boo of one, I’m afraid to say. I got you up here on false pretences. There’s no message from Donny Donohue. Far as I know, he’s over you. And well, can’t blame him.”

  The apologetic tone vanished from his voice replaced quickly by malice. “After all, sluts are ten a credit some places. Can’t imagine it took him very long. He’s probably diddled his way through half of Canterage now. Face deep in the pink palace.”

  That hurt like a slap and she reacted like he’d hit her, flinching with a pink tinge in her cheeks. “What?!”

  “I mean, that little show of sexual empathy the two of you used to put on with each other before you got together, just eurgh! I was like oh just do it and spare the rest of us your antics. I’d forgive you if you weren’t three times worse when you did get together. And as for that guy downstairs, he’s cute but can you spell rebound?”

  “Why are you saying this?” Still she managed to keep her tone level despite the hurt in her stomach. Harvey had known her a long time, he knew a lot of her past. And she’d never seen this side of him. “Why are you being so cruel?”

  “Cruel is as cruel does, my little bitch,” Harvey sneered. He clenched his fists shut and open again in glee, flexing his fingers. “Cruelty breeds cruelty. We create our own enemies and you created me.”

  Her eyes went a little wide, not just with confusion but with sudden fear. “Harvey, we’re not enemies. We’ve never been enemies. I don’t hate you.” Yet. “I’m not sure what’s happening.”

  “Good. If you’re not, then nobody else will. You don’t hate me.” He leaned in close to her, his eyes manic and wild. “But I despise you, Mia Arnholt. I’d throw you off this roof right now but that’d be ridiculously quick. I want you to suffer. And suffer you will. You’re already dead, Mia, reality hasn’t caught up and it’s going to be agony.” His hot breath blasted her, and she turned to run, he grabbed her arm and kicked her legs out from underneath her, his grip stopping her from falling but still she tore up her knees on the ground, a shout of pain ripping from her.

  “You bastard,” she said, taking a swing at him with her free hand, palm prominent like her dad had always told her when trying to hit someone. Aim for the nose or throat or one of the eyes, those were the real danger areas. Never the forehead, it’s thick bone there and you’ll break your fingers if you get it wrong, go for the chin only as a target of opportunity. He’d always insisted on self-defence classes for her, she might have been grateful for it if she’d had the time to think, if the wine hadn’t fogged her instinct. Harvey let her go, she overreached herself and lost her balance, putting a hand out to steady herself against the wall.

  By the time she’d found her footing, he’d swept both arms into the side of her head, clapping them viciously against her ears. A shockwave ripped through her brain, tore away any sense of conscious thought and she wobbled, disorientated for a moment before her legs couldn’t hold her up, the ground didn’t feel quite even as she hit it, like it was rocking underneath her.

  “Let her go!” Somewhere amidst the onrushing black, she thought she heard a voice, a familiar one. Warmth spread through her. Recognition. At least she wasn’t alone.

  Just in time, Scott realised as he saw her go down and saw Harvey look up shocked at the intrusion. That shock didn’t last anywhere near long enough as a smile spread out over his face.

  “Hello possums,” he trilled. “Nice to see you again. No need to interrupt here, nobody’s hurt. Yet.” He put as much menace in the last word as could possibly be mustered.

  Scott shook his head in disbelief. “Nobody’s hurt! What about her, you freak?!”

  H
arvey cackled and shook a dismissive finger at him. “Sticks and stones, boys, they’re what I’m going to break her bones with,” he said, shaking his head as Scott and Pete both reached for their summoners. “Oh please, boys, put those away before you embarrass yourselves.”

  Palawi appeared out on the roof between them, bared his teeth in anger. Mermari did the same, twitching her tail listlessly. Neither spirit looked like they were ready to back down.

  “We’re not going to let you take her!” Scott said. He felt brave as he said it, fire filling his stomach, hot, potent anger rushing through him. He could see Mia down and bleeding, his hands shook with fury as he stared at the fat man. “Last chance to let her go!”

  Chapter Twenty-Six. Sins and Other Distractions.

  “Every great device needs a source of energy, fuel to get it into motion. And what greater energy than the Kjarn? Unfortunately, I’ve not been able to synthesise anything even comparable to it. Research is vague, all my notes on it tell me it is linked to life force. So, it’s down to looking at bloodwork. Exceptional. Guesswork and spiritual sorcery. The rewards had better be worth it all. Especially when it comes to dealing with her!”

  From the journal of Jeremiah Blut, talking about his research.

  The fourth day of Summerpeak.

  Sinkins stood across from her, he looked worried, like she might eat him alive if he brought news she didn’t like. She didn’t mind, a little fear was healthy, would drive them to be their best. Too much and the worker would fail to function, they’d lose the initiative and be worse than useless. It was a balancing act, one which needed the utmost care to maintain. A useless employee wasn’t worth keeping, they cost time and effort she couldn’t afford to waste.

  She smiled at him, tried to be reassuring. It was a skill long ago she’d managed so naturally and now it felt forced. If he was half as intelligent as he claimed to be, he’d realise. Still at least she was making the effort. It had taken him too long to make this report, she was better at hiding her impatience than she was being reassuring, it felt.

  Sinkins had felt like the natural successor for Jeremiah Blut, the two of them were very much cut from the same cloth, academics with aspirations. It had been Sinkins who she’d set to go through the research they’d appropriated from the home and workplace of the late Jeremiah Blut. Although her contact had pointed out there was no evidence to say Blut was dead, she’d taken the steps to replace him. He was no good to her wherever he was now.

  “Report,” she said eventually, as evenly as could be managed. “I want to hear what you have to say, Doctor Sinkins. What did Blut leave behind? Anything or nothing?”

  Sinkins, a gangling man with pale skin and hair the colour and texture of old straw cleared his throat with a scratching sound as he held his data pad in front of him like a weapon. His voice sounded hoarse, croaky like a giant frog and he licked his lips before starting to speak. “Doctor Blut was a brilliant mind, if not a particularly organised one for those not privy to the workings of his brain.”

  Her expression didn’t change. Mentally she was scribbling notes leaning towards Sinkins having nothing of value. It sounded like he was already making excuses. Maybe he wasn’t the one for the future. She’d have to see based on the next few minutes, if he could impress her or not.

  “However, patterns do emerge in his work, one simply has to study to spot the correlations in his data analysis. Over the past few days, I’ve read everything recovered from him and I’ve arrived at a few conclusions about where he might have gone next. He had some ideas, I must say, are radical. The Kalqus weather shrine for one thing…”

  “Which really does exist,” she said. “It was where Blut was when he was indisposed of. I’ve seen the pictures, read his logs about it. Did you see the reports of the storm on Carcaradis Island recently? Blut’s last transmission was that he’d achieved it. By all accounts he’d worked out how to turn it on, yet not point it at a specific target.”

  “Astonishing,” Sinkins replied. “If that exists, then perhaps…”

  “That would be the theory,” she said. More and more she was regretting her choice of going for Sinkins to pour over the research. At the time, it had felt so simple. Blut had been a believer, he’d wanted to believe so much that he’d been willing to go to almost suicidal lengths to keep on his path for truth. Sinkins’ had no such qualms, she’d quickly noticed, though whether he believed or not was irrelevant. He could be objective in a way Blut never had been. That had been her deciding factor. Besides she had never trusted Blut, never entirely settled herself with giving him access to weapons he alone had worked out how to use. Sinkins on the other hand gave the impression he didn’t have the creativity to practice betrayal for his own ends. “You don’t believe; do you Doctor?”

  Sinkins shook his head. “It’s not that I don’t believe. Some of what Blut wrote about this venture the two of you set out on. It’s not science, I don’t even know what it is, but I strongly question the logic behind it all. It feels a fool’s task at best and pointless at worst.”

  “And we have one working storm machine to prove otherwise,” she said. “Admittedly it isn’t something we can get to, now it’s under Unisco protection. For the time being, it is beyond us. If only we could move it…”

  “Blut’s notes were very specific about that,” Sinkins replied quickly. “Removing it is not a good idea. For better or worse, it’s stuck where it is. They can’t keep hold of it forever though, surely. And even if they do try to move it, it’s not like they can use it as evidence against us.”

  She wasn’t worried about it being used as evidence. Instead she smiled in polite agreement. “Good.”

  “What worries me far more is Blut’s prophecy,” he started to say before she interrupted him.

  “Let’s not talk about anything else. Do you know what I want?!” she demanded. As much as it might have to be done down the line, she didn’t want to talk about it now. Some of the language of said prophecy was decidedly evocative of her dreams. “Did Blut write it down anywhere?” Sinkins nodded quickly, his face paling.

  “I’m afraid he did. And he has very little on the door or what lies beyond it. Not where it is, not how to access it, nothing on who else might have used it, he seems to have failed you.”

  His sense of self-preservation struck a chord with her, she could appreciate that. Still she said nothing. A sense could only get so far. It still needed to be applied further to fully coordinate with an appreciation of it. One couldn’t exist without the other.

  “Of course, I might have a few ideas on where to look,” he added, studying her in a way that others might have found uncomfortable. “They may not pan out but it’s a start, I hope you’ll agree.”

  “You seem sensible,” she said. “Sensible enough to know not to repeat Blut’s mistakes. For all his brilliance, he was a truly flawed individual. He shouldn’t have been anywhere near the machine. And yet he was, he died for it. Which did you a favour. I brought you into the fold. Do whatever you need to or don’t. Either way, we won’t be having a repeat of this meeting. You get results, I’ll be the first to congratulate you, see you’re set for life. If you fail, there won’t be any hole you can’t crawl into that won’t get you away from me. Just consider that. How confident are you in your theories?”

  “I’m certain that I’ll get something we can use,” Sinkins said immediately. “I will not fail you.” He hesitated for a moment and then cleared his throat. “Although there is something else in his work I would like to bring up. I don’t know if he ever spoke to you about it, but he mentions it quite a lot as a theoretical variable which could help solve a lot of problems if applied correctly, something he never could.”

  She raised an eyebrow expectantly. “Go on?”

  “Did he ever mention the Kjarn to you?”

  Of all the words he could have spoken, those were not near the top of the list. So, he really had read Blut’s notes thoroughly. He’d just upgraded himself to dangerou
sly knowledgeable. She tapped her nails listlessly on the desk and sighed. “He may have done. I don’t recall every conversation I had with the man.”

  “And yet it’s not a common term,” Sinkins pressed. “Is it? I need some context; most conventional research texts don’t list it anywhere. A lot of it’s in some weird language I’m having trouble translating. Looks like a mixture of Ancient Sidorovan and High Kevik.”

  “That’s because it’s widely regarded as a myth,” she said. “I only heard about it from Blut, I don’t know who told him. He said the information cost him a small fortune and wouldn’t say anything else about it. The Kjarn was the domain of the Vedo, they were a group of individuals who vanished some years ago. Near-sighted mystics, they had no perspective on anything but what happened in their own inner circle. So Blut theorised anyway. There may be some left but there’s been no sightings of them as a group for a while as far as we know.”

  “Sounds interesting,” Sinkins said. “But what does it have to do with the Kjarn? What is that?”

  Hadn’t he been the one supposed to be giving her answers here? She suppressed a scowl of annoyance. It wasn’t his fault, she supposed. And if it got her further answers, it would all have been worth it.

  “It’s a field of energy,” she said. “And…” Sinkins’ eyes went wide as she said it and he burst into a big smile.

  “I see,” he said enthusiastically. “I assumed it had to be something like that. Some of Blut’s work spoke about using it as a power source, at least that was his intention. He mentions it along with the Kalqus weather shrine. He intended to use blood as a replacement but…”

  Suddenly she was interested enough to ignore the interruption. “We all know how blood turned out. It was impractical. He had to slaughter most of the natives before he worked it out and even then, I personally think he got lucky. So…”

  “We need to know more about the Kjarn and how to access it,” Sinkins said. “But if you say only Blut knew how he got that much information…”