“Cyrus,” David cried out. “Are you all right?”
“The priest is mad,” Cyrus said. “He wants to release a plague on the planet. He thinks he has a vaccine.” A maniacal laugh escaped his lips. “A vaccine the Whispers gave him.”
Sebastian twisted his head to avoid the torch hanging from the wagon’s ceiling, trying to hide his surprise. Was that the Whispers’ plan all along? He banged the front wall twice before sitting down next to David. “Enough talk,” he barked. He had to think.
Cyrus glowered at him but said nothing.
David’s eyes widened. “Is that true, clone?”
“Name’s Sebastian,” he said with a growl.
David shrugged. “I told you before, your kind has no name.”
“I do.” Now shut up and let me think.
“Yes, you do.” David tilted his head. “You’re not like the others, are you? Being the last of your kind will probably do that to you.”
Sebastian glared at him. Is he baiting me? Doesn’t he know I could swat him like a fly?
“Killing me won’t get you any answers,” David said as if reading his thoughts. “And you need answers, don’t you? I can give you some, if you let me talk to my friend.”
Sebastian opened his mouth, but a faint form in the corner drew his gaze. Anna. A chill ran up and down his spine. “Fine. But first, I need you to rid me of her.”
“Your…” David frowned, trying to remember. “Anna?”
Sebastian nodded, his eyes fixed on the specks of dust dancing in the torch’s dim light. They seemed to take the woman’s form, only to disappear mockingly moments later. “She follows me.”
“She haunts you, you mean. Could it be you’re feeling guilt? Can a clone even feel remorse?”
“I told you,” Sebastian growled. “I’m not like the others.”
“Prove it, then. Help us stop them.”
Sebastian’s gaze snapped at David, and he chortled. “This isn’t my war. Why get involved?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do.”
“Is it?” He leaned forward, scrunching his nose at the prisoner’s stench. “Your kind is nothing but vermin. A plague on the planet. We are better. Stronger. Faster. Yet, you won. Again. Do you have any idea how that feels? Why should I stop the priest?”
“Say you killed us all. Then what?”
The mere thought brought a satisfied smile to Sebastian’s lips. He imagined a quiet forest, free from the human miasma.
“What do you do then?” David insisted.
“Nothing. I’m complete.”
“Fight your programming, will you?” David snapped. “You say you’re different. Think for a minute.”
“Then…” The smile evaporated from Sebastian’s mouth. A cold vision filled his head. An empty planet, filled with nothing but ruins and howling wind. And he, walking it, alone, with nothing but the ghosts of his victims to keep him company. Them and the long shadows that had been helping him. The image made him shudder. He rubbed his hands together to warm them.
“You are different,” David said. “You can tell right from wrong.”
Sebastian let out a dry chuckle. “Right and wrong? It’s not right that my kind is gone. Or that the Iotas have left.”
“Pratin wanted to bring peace to the world, but the Whispers corrupted him. Don’t let them corrupt you, too.”
“Not my war, remember? No, I have to get back out there. Find my brothers.”
“There’s no one left,” Cyrus said in a flat voice. “We killed them all.”
Rage flashed in Sebastian’s chest. “Not true. There must be someone left. I can’t be the last one.”
They stayed silent for a while, until David spoke. “Why am I still alive?”
Sebastian cocked his head in question.
“Why are we still alive?” David repeated. “Your brother in Anthea would have killed us a dozen—no, a hundred times over by now. But you haven’t. Why?”
Good question. Sebastian visualized ways to kill David and Cyrus right there and then. Within a second, he had counted thirty-two before giving up. The thought of killing them held no appeal. David and Cyrus remembered his brethren, even if only as enemies. Somehow, that made them important. Killing them would only make his brothers’ disappearance from the planet more permanent. More final.
A familiar face danced in the dust for a split-second—just as long as it took him to blink. What, now you appear even when I just contemplate murder? “I’m not killing them, Anna,” he growled. “Let me be.”
He leaned back and let his head fall back until it hit the wall. Everything he knew, everything he had ever learned, everything he was…it all crumbled inside him, like a hay hut caught in a tornado. A sense of resignation washed over him.
“What’s left when everything’s gone, clone?” David asked.
Even the man’s ability to read his mind failed to annoy him. That’s the question, isn’t it? What is left when everything’s gone? It’s quite the riddle. Still, there was one thing he knew. He wasn’t just a clone anymore. “Sebastian,” he corrected David.
“Yes.”
Yes what? Then it hit him. His gaze snapped at David, who was watching him with a crooked half-smile. Sebastian. That’s what remained when everything was gone. But who is Sebastian?
March 24, The Capital
David
A bump pushed David toward Cyrus, waking them both up. They exchanged a knowing look as the light outside the wagon disappeared.
“We must be underground,” Cyrus whispered.
David sniffed the musty air. It carried a whiff of stale water and decay. “We’re near the sewers.” He glanced at Sebastian, but their guard seemed the same as he’d been for the past four days: lost in thought, oblivious to his surroundings. “It’s getting warmer, too.”
Something clanged and screeched, then they felt another bump and the ride became smooth. A little later, the wagon stopped moving altogether and someone pried the door open.
“Looks like we’re there,” Sebastian said and massaged his thighs as he stood up. He pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked their chains, then helped them down from the wagon. Two more guards stood at each side. “Where to?” he asked them.
“Follow us,” one of them said.
As they pushed them ahead, David studied the vast hall they had reached. Before them, soldiers and guards were jumping down from the wagons and climbing down from their horses. He spotted Alexander’s hovercar toward the end of the hall, but the man himself had already disappeared.
The place echoed with exhausted talk. Soldiers slowly formed long columns, while young lads were attending to the horses. David’s temples throbbed with the noise. The cavernous hall was arched, with large silver spheres hovering above their heads, emitting a dull light that made David’s limbs feel leaden and his stomach churn. At least the walls were a dull, plain gray. Anything more exciting and the little food they’d had during the journey would be coloring the concrete floor. He nearly lost his balance and stumbled forward, but Cyrus grabbed his arm and steadied him.
Careful, he mouthed.
David nodded and stared at his feet, waiting for the room to stop spinning and for his limbs to stop aching from the long journey. Once he could walk, they headed toward secured twin doors, large enough to fit a whole wagon through. A green light above the gate signified they could go through, between a pair of sullen guards.
Passing through the heavy gate, the light flashed red and an alarm blared. Surprised gazes bore at them. The doors snapped shut with a loud clang. Silver cylinders flashed in the two guards’ hands. The second guard holstered his gun and took out a silver cylinder. Cold sweat trickled down David’s spine at the familiar sight. This was the same device that Mike had used to extract the Voice from him. Parad! The door must be alarmed for Orbs. I hope Parad’s hiding well enough.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” a man shouted as he ran toward them.
“What’s going on,
Mike?” one of the guards asked, his eyes not leaving the prisoners.
Mike patted David’s back. “This one’s had one of those things in him. That must have caused the alarm.”
“We still have to check.”
“Oh, come on,” Mike complained. “We really need to do this?”
“Yes.” The guard waved the cylinder in front of David, but his initial enthusiasm had obviously wavered. When the device failed to react in any way, he fiddled with a control panel next to the door and the gates swished open.
“Told you,” Mike said as he returned to a group of amused-looking soldiers.
“Whatever.” The brooding guard waved them through.
They found themselves walking down a corridor. They took a sharp right and climbed down an endless flight of stairs. With each step, the light diminished, until just a faint glow from the walls allowed them to see the next step. David’s back was wet with sweat from the rising heat.
They stopped before a smooth metal door with a square pad before it. One of the guards placed his palm on it.
“DNA confirmed,” a woman’s soft voice said, and the door swooshed open.
David gaped at the door. An impatient hand shoved him through and into a long room with doors on both sides of the wall. A lone guard rose from a table to meet them.
“What is this place?” Sebastian asked, surprising David.
“First time here, huh?” the guard asked as he led them to one of the doors. “This is Alexander’s personal prison.” He clicked on a button on the wall and the door clicked open. “Inside, you two.”
He stepped aside as David and Cyrus staggered into a small cell. Bunk beds stood to the right, a metal toilet to the left. The rest of the cell was empty.
“Enjoy your new home,” the guard said, and the door snapped shut behind them.
March 28, The Capital
Gella
“Anyone follow you?” Paul asked without turning. His voice sounded hushed.
“There was no one but priests on the street.”
Hs spun around, his face turning white. “They’re even worse than Teo’s men. This was a mistake.”
He moved closer to the edge and put a hand on the railing, ready to climb down the roof.
“Wait!” She rushed over and grabbed his arm. “No one followed me. You’re safe. Besides, you could say I sought out a meeting with you simply because Teo won’t see me. I’ve been spending all my days at the Chamber, but he’s been refusing even to acknowledge me.”
“I don’t think you realize how much at risk we are,” Paul said through gritted teeth. She felt him shiver under her fingers. “You’re an envoy, so you might get away with it. I won’t.”
“Envoy or not, Teo would have my skin if he could. We go way back, him and I.”
His face now looked like white marble. “No need to remind me, Butcher.”
She yanked her hand away as if his skin burned her and clasped her fists. “You should know better than anyone that Ephia was your friend’s work. Not mine.”
He let out a dry chuckle, his hand still clutching the railing. “Friend. I hardly know the man anymore. The evil of the Capital has caught up with him.”
Her eyes narrowed as her brow pulled together. The words rang strangely familiar. What a strange thing to say. Didn’t the barge captain said something similar? “The what?”
After a moment’s hesitation, he finally let go of the railing and turned to face her, letting the moons bathe his face in silver light. Deep worry lines edged his eyes and scarred his forehead. “It was years ago, when Teo and I first came to the Capital. As we made our way to see Styx, a soothsayer stopped us. Teo, as usual, told her to get lost, but I gave her a copper. ‘There’s evil here,’ she told me, gesturing at the Chamber of Justice.” Paul wrapped his cloak tighter. “I’d be spared, she said, but my friend wouldn’t. His statue would be built in red marble. Teo loved it, of course. Joked about it for days.” He moved closer to the railing again and stared at the city below them. “I’ve been thinking of her a lot lately, of the evil she mentioned. I swear, sometimes I can feel it. It’s like a dark fog rising over the Chamber, swallowing whole everyone there.”
She remembered the captain’s words. “There may be more truth to that than you realize. There’s so much I wouldn’t believe had I not seen it with my own eyes.” She paused, unsure how to ask what had been bothering her. “Is that why you’re helping us? To fight this evil?”
He measured her with a hard gaze. “Teo promised to keep my daughter safe. I no longer believe him. It’s up to me to help her. If it means betraying him, so be it.” He clutched her arm and squeezed so hard she thought his fingers would leave a bruise. “Have you seen her? How is she?”
The urgency in his voice made her resist her impulse to push his hand away. “I see her every day. We work together. She’s a fine young woman. She misses you.”
His eyes widened. His grip softened. “So, she understands?” He stared at her with feverish eyes. “I know she can’t forgive me. How can anyone? But I need her to understand. I did it for her. Does she know that?” His voice sounded gravelly, like he were choking on emotion.
She does, and it’s killing her. And yet, she couldn’t bear to tell him that. “Yes.”
“Promise me you’ll keep her safe.”
She placed her palm on top of his hand, feeling his fingers tremble under her touch. “I promise.”
“Thank you.” His fingers let go. He turned his gaze away, focusing in the darkness of the sleeping city. “That’s not why you’re here, though,” he said after drawing a few deep breaths.
“I’m here to stop a war. And Teo’s had me waiting all week without as much as a word.”
A weary smile appeared on his lips. “I’m afraid you’re too late for that. Nothing can change Teo’s mind at this point.” He hesitated for a second, then seemed to reach a decision and fumbled with his sleeve. “I can, however, help you keep Satori safe.” He pulled a clear crystal out of a hidden pocket, the device no larger than his little finger. “You’ll find here everything I’ve been able to find out about the Capital’s forces. I don’t think you’ll like what’s inside.”
Glancing around them, she grabbed the crystal and placed it into a narrow slit on the inside of her belt. “Thank you.”
“At least it’ll give you a fighting chance.”
She nodded. “There is something else you can do. Tell me where they’ll land.”
He shrugged. “There are only two places they can land a force of that size—Fennel Bay and the Port.”
“They could land farther away and come through the mountains. That’s what I’d do.”
Paul shook his head. “His generals suggested that, but you know Teo. He’s far too impatient for that. Far too cocky.” He shot her an amused glance. “Did you know he’s having one of the ships carry nothing but a huge slab of marble? It’s for his statue, when he captures Anthea. It’s white marble, though. Maybe the soothsayer was wrong after all.”
A dry chuckle escaped her lips. “That sounds like Teo all right. He does know Anthea has plenty of marble, right?”
He lifted his shoulder in a shrug.
“Anyway,” she continued, “the port will be guarded with both the Chain and liquid fire.”
“The chain?”
“A heavy chain that can be lifted to protect its mouth from any invading ships. Anthea stole the idea from Magna.”
Paul stroked his chin. “That only leaves him one option.”
“Fennel Bay.” She placed a hand on his arm. “Thank you. I promise I’ll do everything in my power to keep Satori safe.” They stared at the city’s dying lights for a long moment. “People blame you for the unemployment,” she said in a matter-of-fact voice.
Paul’s eyes flashed in anger. “Let them. Do you know that over half our workers work for the state? The rest have joined the army, to fight Teo’s wars. No wonder we have no economy to speak of.”
“So you’v
e been laying off people? How will they survive?”
“Say you run a company. Which would you rather have? Ten useless, poorly paid workers, or two great ones, properly compensated? I’ve done the math. The second option costs far less, even if you pay them much better. I want the best working for me. All the rest can work elsewhere.”
“What if there’s nowhere else?”
“Slackers can jump into the Great Chasm as far as I’m concerned,” he snapped.
Gella chuckled. “No wonder they don’t like you.”
He sneered. “They do like the justice I ensure, though. They like it when they can trust the courts, instead of worrying that the richer party has bribed the judge. Or that a bribed clerk will write down the wrong verdict.”
“Wouldn’t the richer party be you?” she joked. “After all, the greater a judge’s crimes, the stricter their justice.” She regretted her words immediately. Me and my big mouth. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”
He didn’t seem to be offended. “Displeasure with someone who speaks the truth is wrong,” he said, nodding slowly. “You’re right. We need a justice system that will hold accountable even the most powerful. Even the judges. Even the rulers. I don’t expect justice in the world, but I take great pride in seeking it out.”
“I remember something that Sol told me once. The law, she said, is like a spider’s nest. It will catch the small insects, but the biggest fly will just tear a hole in it and escape.”
His eyes flashed, the topic obviously close to his heart. “Not if I can help it. Justice is the cornerstone of democracy. That’s why we need it.”
“Democracy?” She tried to hide her surprise. Is this his real agenda? “The Capital hasn’t been a democracy for centuries.”
“Maybe someday it can be. That’s why I made a deal with the devil they call Altman. The Capital may have captured Jonia, but perhaps we can capture our captor.”
“Deals with the devil are bad; he always gets his dues. Perhaps you should make yourself a friend of the people instead.”
“By hiring them into our system, thus bankrupting it? I think not. Besides, Alexander’s made sure the people will hate me no matter what. You wouldn’t believe the sort of stories his priests have been telling. I don’t dare walk the streets anymore.”
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