“That’s the top of the Baymo Hotel. That’s where Ewan’s real killer is.” She put away her baton and folded her cloak around her. “And he’s trapped, courtesy of his own plot.” She turned to Joah. “Up for another venture into the dark?”
He nodded grimly.
“Good. The fool dies tonight.” Kay turned back to the horizon. She took a deep breath and let her next words out in a rush. “Jenna, I need to ask something of you. I need you to watch over the rest of the Chosen.”
“You’re leaving me alone?” Her eyes were wide.
“I’m afraid so. Where we’re heading is no safer than here.”
“Why me? What can I do?”
“I brought you here because you were one of them. And you found the courage to escape from their clutches. I need you to help the others find a way to do the same.”
“I wouldn’t even know where to start. I’ve never done anything like that.”
“Who has, Jenna? I don’t know what to tell you. I just know that the Gyudi set this cult in motion and they set its course. And now they’re gone. The rest of the Chosen don’t have to follow them over the side. Some might, it can’t be helped, but I’m hoping you can give them another option. Paint them a picture of a future they can still be a part of. Beyond the Gyudi. Convince them to wait, at least until morning. Or maybe just say nothing, blend in. But I can’t leave them alone. I can’t trust that someone else won’t try to steer them a different way. Someone will try to convince the group to end it all in solidarity with the Gyudi, or to meet the Dynasty troops with steel once the smoke clears. I need you here. I know it’s a big ask, Jenna, but will you try?”
Jenna raised her eyes. “I will. I’ll make you both proud.”
Kay swapped a glance with Joah. This one had proven more than worth the effort they’d put into her recovery. “We’re already proud. None of this could have happened without you. Let’s go.”
They climbed down the stairs to the rooftop. At the base of the stairs, the chained Deveros began clamoring again to be freed. Kay gave them a long look, waiting until they fell silent.
“It’s her call,” she said, nodding her head towards Jenna. “She’s in charge.” She waited as Joah hugged Jenna goodbye, whispering encouragement in her ear. She felt only a small pang of jealousy along with a thread of excitement over the strange idea that the next time she needed someone to whisper in her ear, it could be Yamar. Of course, he could also be hung for betraying Enos’s trust. A concern for the morning light. Tonight was for hunting.
Kay gave Jenna a hug, squeezing her tightly, not sure if she was doing the right thing by leaving her alone in a treacherous place. What would Ewan have done? Certainly not hesitate, whatever course he elected.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Kay said, then headed down the stairs.
More Chosen were stirring below. As she and Joah weaved through the passed-out bodies again, more eyes followed their course. None of the Atoned still wore their masks, probably a good sign. Kay was nearly below the smokeline, readying herself to again use her spark to clear a path through the murk, when a soft hand grabbed her sleeve.
“I dreamed of you.” It was Cora Creshlan, eyes wild, teeth red. She pulled Kay close. “You said you’d take me home.”
Kay looked down at the girl and said softly, “You are going home, dear, but that was just a dream. I wasn’t there. And I was never here.” She gently removed Cora’s hand from her sleeve, then continued down the stairs until the smoke rose up to enclose her.
Chapter 39. The Fool Will Flee
Kay and Joah again traversed the smoke-clouded streets. This time she needed no red line to guide them. The Baymo Hotel was calling to her. Could the fool feel her coming? She liked that idea. Worry would have gnawed at Jyurik’s gut as the night ran on. First no fire at the Palace. He would have been watching, waiting on it, the doubts strengthening as the evening grew later. Then his attention would have turned to Devero Tower, the second of his planned arsons. Again, nothing. No idea what had gone wrong. He would have had a sudden realization of his blindness. He was supposed to be the only one who knew what to watch, positioned for the only view that truly mattered on the Night of Centuries. But the fires hadn’t come and now he was just another lost soul, pinned in place by the darkness.
Could he feel the change in the air? Something moving in the streets below him as the rest of the city was still? Would he recall how Kay had moved the smoke? How that and only that had remained hidden from his prying eyes? And then piece that together with his failure? Understand that she was the only one who could see among the blinded? Kay certainly hoped so. She wanted him to feel her approach, to feel it deep within him. He’d killed her friend and mentor, the only one who’d shown her kindness in the two lands she’d called home. Tonight the fool would burn.
The front doors to the Baymo Hotel were agape, its lobby empty aside from broken glass and overturned furniture. Kay and Joah made their way up the stairs, eventually clearing the trailing smoke. There were lamps lit in the hallways. A single door atop the staircase. Kay readied her baton as Joah drew his knives. She threw open the door.
A room packed full of people gasped in surprise and turned towards them. The lights were bright, shining on the faces of scared and bewildered Gol. Upper crust and well-dressed, though nothing approaching the finery of the Palace. Kay’s eyes quickly worked the crowd, but she saw no sign of Jyurik, or any Atoned, attempting to hide in plain sight.
“Who’s in charge here?” she asked finally, tiring of the looks.
A bald man with wide mustaches made his way through the crowd. “I’m the manager. We thought everyone had already been accounted for. Did you find your way up the stairs?”
“I’m here from the Palace,” Kay said, reaching into her pocket and removing Yamar’s Wrang badge. The manager’s eyes widened as she held it up before him. “Where’s the fool?” she asked. When he only looked at her, confused, she tried again. “The one-eyed man.”
The manager gulped. “He rented out the top two levels. Paid me a fortune. He was up there when the smoke started. I think he was alone. He’s locked all the doors and won’t respond to our hailing him. That left us only this floor and the one below it for the guests to stay out of the smoke.”
“Take me to him. You have keys, right?”
“I can’t…” He trailed off, looking concerned.
Kay gave a small wave of the Wrang badge, and that was all it took for the manager to nod and begin moving. A well-paying guest was one thing. Earning the wrath of the Dynasty was another entirely.
He unlocked a door to a private stairwell. Jyurik had wedged it shut, and it took several applications of Joah’s shoulder to convince it to open. From there, Kay and Joah made their way up, weapons at the ready. Together, they searched every inch of the top level apartments and balconies. It was no use. At some point in the evening, the fool had fled.
…
The bar was stocked, and Kay poured herself a gin. She took it back to the railing of the top floor balcony where Joah was already halfway through a whiskey, a cigarette between his lips. He was staring off at Devero Tower, worrying over Jenna.
“She’ll be fine,” Kay said, wishing she believed her own words more. “Anyway, I’m spent. No chance I could make it back there.” She took a sip of the bracing argosy gin and looked up at the Fire Eye above. The sky was as it always was while the Fire Eye was open. Tranquil and right. It was the view below that was unusual. The smoke was showing no signs of dissipating. It sat piled not far below the height of the balcony, restlessly shifting in dark clouds.
Kay pondered Jyurik’s fate. He would have been standing right here, the best spot for a view of both the Palace and the tower. He may have had a drink in his hand. He probably would have put it down as the evening grew later and his plan’s failure became more evident.
Had he taken his own life? Perhaps she’d even walked past his body on the streets below, just beyond her circle of light. F
rom here it would be a simple jump, a quick hop over the railing, and the black would rise up. He wouldn’t have had to watch himself fall. As much as Kay liked that idea, it didn’t feel right. No, he had fled. Nervously watching as the buildings failed to ignite, at some point realizing he’d failed. Then he’d braved the black, confident that even if he couldn't escape Celest tonight, he could get far enough away from the Baymo that when the smoke cleared, he could run. He’d found some way past the guests, or slipped through them in disguise, and blindly felt his way out of the darkened hotel. Once outside, he would have gone just far enough that no one would stumble across him, just a building or two would be sufficient. Assuming Jug-Desh hadn’t found him, helpless and alone in the dark, he was still out there somewhere, huddled in a doorway, waiting for the sun to pierce the darkness he’d called down.
Kay would have worried he would slip through the fingers of the Dynasty, through her fingers, robbing her of revenge for Ewan’s death. Except while he huddled in blindness, she could see. She could see Devero Tower, where Jenna was hopefully leading the others along a path back to sanity. She could see the Palace, where the Melor Dynasty was no doubt plotting their response to this brazen attack. And she could see, if she leaned out over the balcony, just beyond the city walls to the west, where the smoke thinned to waves, washing parts of the land in black and leaving others untouched. From those open spaces, eyes would be watching the city, uncertain as to what fate had befallen Celest and what should be done about it.
“Mister Agola,” Kay called, summoning the manager. He was not far from her, having been extremely attentive to the needs of a Dynasty envoy carrying a Wrang badge. He was more than a little nervous at his hotel being drawn into something that required armed agents storming his highest balcony.
“What can I do for you?” he asked, standing deferentially behind her.
“Do you have ma-lumens equipment?”
“We do. It is located on this floor, so we had no access to it until your arrival. Otherwise we would have sent word to the Palace.” Meaning they would have asked the Palace for help, as all the other buildings had been doing before the smoke rose above their heads.
“Have your operator send the following message to the Palace: Gyudi Dynasty finished. Followers at Devero Tower. Mix of innocents and guilty. Jyurik Desmoden fled.” Kay paused. “After they’ve acknowledged receipt, point the light towards the western gates and send the following: The fool has fled. Will attempt to leave Celest tomorrow. Find him. K. Then send the same to the north, east, and south. Continue that message until the sun rises.”
Mister Agola was nodding, jotting down notes on a small piece of paper. He looked up as she finished. “And if the Palace asks for more details?”
Kay slid her elbows off the balcony railing and downed the rest of her drink. “You figure it out. I did what was asked of me. I carried my burden, and now I’m going to sleep.”
Chapter 40. As the Smoke Clears
At first light, the smoke began to clear. The rays of the morning sun seemed to coax the stubborn mass of black into movement. The wind finally gained some traction in pushing long columns of smoke off the hilly city and into the surrounding flatlands. The rooftops of Celest welcomed the rising sun, followed by the houses and streets of the higher neighborhoods. Valleys of darkness held for only a few hours. By midmorning, the whole thing felt like a dream. Families found each other, panicked animals calmed, the city took a collective breath and turned their attention from survival to discovery. What had been the cause of the Night of Centuries? Who was to blame?
It was a question the Dynasty was comfortable getting in front of through a highly visible display of force. Yamar had regained consciousness well before the smoke cleared. He and the other Wrang Captains had been called into a session with the highest levels of the Dynasty. When they left the closed-door meeting, they organized the Dynasty soldiers at the Palace into three companies, each fronted by several Wrang in their fearsome red battle robes.
The moment the streets before the Palace cleared of smoke, stranded citizens witnessed a parade of grim-faced, well-armed Dynasty soldiers streaming past. The first company, the largest by far, went straight to Devero Tower. Once there they proceeded floor by floor, taking control of every square foot of the Tower, rounding up the Chosen as they went. When they reached the top level, they were greeted by a calm and civil Jenna Weiss, eldest daughter of the prominent Weiss family, who was sitting in the center of a circle of young Chosen loyalists. Around them were broken masks. All were arrested, but without violence. The members of the Gyudi family were eventually found several streets over, splattered across the cobblestones, stripped of their finery by the opportunistic.
The second company of Dynasty soldiers went into the Lagoons. They did not wait for the lingering smoke to clear, and residents of the neighborhood, Gol and Farrow alike, heard the stamp of Dynasty boots before they ever saw them. Most, having taken to the streets to reconnect with their neighbors and gossip about what had occurred, found reason to return to their homes. With the black smoke still clinging to the building, the Dynasty soldiers kicked down the door of Vascal the smuggler’s establishment and pulled him from his back office. They waited for enough smoke to clear that the entire neighborhood could see as they dragged him out into the center of Sethro Street, pronounced him guilty of the crime of firing an arrow at a Dynasty soldier, and slit his throat. His body was left facedown on the stones as they cleared his building of any other persons and goods, and then set fire to the structure.
The third company went to the Baymo Hotel, the origin of last night’s ma-lumens messages. They were met at the door by the hotel manager, who nervously fretted with his mustaches as he led them from floor to floor, unlocking doors and answering questions. The Dynasty guards searched every room in the hotel save one. The one Kay the fetch slept in, her man Joah Ralis guarding the door.
Following Joah’s recommendation, the company spread out through the nearby streets. They made their way west, sweeping along the path to the nearest city gates. They were thorough, so it was nearly midday by the time they reached the gates. Once there, they were met by a mounted crew of Farrow Pathfinders. They had Jyurik Desmoden tied across a saddle. He’d made it outside the city walls in the confusion. He hadn’t made it much farther.
Epilogue. The Summit
“How much longer is the walk?” Jenna looked nervously back at the walls of Celest off in the distance.
Joah squinted at her, a smile on his lips. “You’ve never been outside the gates before, have you?” Their boots rustled as they parted the high grasses.
She hit his arm playfully. “I have.” After a few more steps she admitted, “Just never at night. Is it safe out here?”
“Sure,” he answered, looping his arm under hers. He carried a lantern which cast a yellow, dancing light across the graveyard. “Anyway, it isn’t much farther.” He looked back at the city walls. The Fire Eye burned brightly above. A few early lanterns floated in the skies, though it was a few hours yet before the Closing.
After a short distance, Joah stopped at a tombstone. “Here we are.” He bent down close to it, laying a hand atop. The lantern shone on the engraved lettering.
EWAN SILAS
YEAR 906-975
27 Years a Decorated Farrow Guard
Joah spoke some quiet words, so quiet Jenna couldn’t hear them from an arm’s length away. When he looked back at her, her eyes were wet. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I thought you wanted to see it.”
“I did. I just can’t stop thinking, if I hadn’t been so foolish, I could be meeting him in person instead of like this.”
“He would have loved you. He would have taken one look at you and seen what I see.”
She scoffed, her voice thick with tears. “You can’t know that. He might just see a silly little girl who foolishly wandered into a trap and needed saving.”
“But you didn’t need saving. You found your own way out. And tha
t’s not Ewan.” He rested a hand on the tombstone again. “I wish you could have met him. He would have gotten you talking about your art, asking you questions. Each one taking you a little closer to something you already knew about yourself but had never quite had the will or understanding to put into action. And at the end of the conversation you would have got quiet, thinking, and really believing, that you could be a better person tomorrow.”
“Did he make you a better person?”
“Every second I spent with him.” Joah fell silent, feeling Jenna’s eyes on him.
She leaned in closer. “Would it be disrespectful if I kissed you right now?”
“Disrespectful to me? Or—”
Jenna stepped in and cut him off with a kiss. It was a long time before they finally untangled their lips. They stood together in the quiet dark, then she slipped her hand into his and they slowly began walking back towards the gates. As they were leaving the crooked rows of grave markers, standing at attention like soldiers, she said, “All this for our first date. I can’t wait to see what you’ve got in store for the second.”
…
Abi found herself again seated across from Rei Kapin on a high floor in the Dynasty Palace. Not the same spot as her earlier meeting with the powerbroker. This meeting took place in Kapin’s private chambers. The tea served was hot.
“You never communicated Hammond’s reaction to the information I provided you about the Gyudi Dynasty.”
Abi remained silent, studying Rei above the rim of her teacup. She’d learned the woman loved to show her hand. Abi had to only wait, and she would learn what she needed to.
“The information was never for him, was it?” Rei said. “You had a line on the threat of the Gyudi Dynasty and you were testing me. Or informing me. I was right that you are too entrenched with the Melor to harbor loyalty for traitors. But I am embarrassed I fell for your pose of ignorance. I believe I am done underestimating you.”
The Fire Eye Chosen_Sequel to The Fire Eye Refugee Page 25