Innocence Lost

by O. J. Lowe

  He’d not done this for a while. The two of them had practiced together briefly this afternoon but it was hard to say how it’d go in a competitive environment. About the only thing that they had going for them was that it wasn’t a popular form of competition. A lot of others would be in the same situation. They could pull it together. They had to stay in the rounds long enough to be able to slip away and meet the informant. Improvisation wasn’t a skill they taught in the academies, he’d always thought that was an oversight on their part. They could do with it sometimes.

  Pree had been right, as much as it pained to him admit. If they’d gone in as spectators, it would have been difficult to abate suspicion. There would have been places they couldn’t go. This had been the best option. They both were famous enough to be able to enter with few questions asked. The more prestige attached to the tournament, the better for the organisers and the viewing companies if the two of them went far in it. Prestige was the one thing they both could bring. Wade adjusted his cloak about his neck. Might as well give the watching millions a show to remember. He could hear the crowd outside, could hear the cheers and the adrenaline was starting to pump around his body. They were on soon.

  “Just a touch,” he admitted. “This I have missed.” There were two other teams in the room, both a pair of Burykian locals, one team of two men and one consisting of a man and a woman who looked young enough to be his daughter. Maybe she was. They did look sort of alike. Any sensitive information they’d share would have to be on the quiet. Wouldn’t do to draw attention to themselves.

  The look on Pree’s face said it all, that she wondered if he’d missed the other part of the job. He wondered about that himself. Still it did feel good to savour the occasion.

  “All of it,” he added. “Everything.”

  It looked enough to placate her. “You seem a bit more settled than you did earlier. Stuff happens, Wade. Nobody goes through their career unscathed. Sometimes we get reminded we’re just very breakable. Not just us but those around us. Nobody blames you for what happened. It’s about how you move on from it going forward. You let it define you, then you’ve already lost. You might as well give up. And I’d expect that from some people but not you. You’re better than that. I think this whole thing is just what you need.” She patted him on the arm, smiled at him and he grinned back.

  She was right. No point dwelling on what had happened.

  “We have a very special treat for you all here, a pair of late entrants into the competition but by no means any less exceptional, facing off against Nihiro Konba and Tamudai Utsui, our local champions, Wade Wallerington and Burykia’s very own Prideaux Khan. Both teams have made their way on the battlefield, and the crowds are going crazy at the sight of our late entrants. Khans’ not battled a whole lot in recent years but still an iconic figure from our kingdom for some of her exploits in her younger days…”

  Wade smirked at Pree’s reaction to what the announcer had just said. Implying she was old definitely wouldn’t do him any favours. There wasn’t much difference in age between the two of them. Or at least he guessed so anyway. He genuinely didn’t know. Actually, he didn’t want to know. None of his business really. “Smartass am I right?”

  “… And Wade Wallerington, well need I say more. Former favourite at the last Quin-C before having to retire through injury, winner of over fifty competitions, a champion in every sense of the word. What this man does not know about spirit calling isn’t worth knowing. We’re honoured to have them here. But Utsui and Konba won’t see it that way. The bigger they are, they’ll just see a target to be knocked down.”

  “Yeah, right,” Pree said under her breath. “Let’s put them down quickly. See if we can win this thing before we have that meeting.”

  They’d briefly run through strategy before the bout, how they’d work together and what possible ways they might combine their spirits. So far, they had a few ideas. Some of them might work, others might not but at least they had something. Things could be worse.

  “Remember, teamwork. You cover me, I got you,” Wade said softly. “And vice versa.”

  Konba’s spirit was a gorilla, eight feet tall on its hind legs, covered in bronze fur and with fists the size of small boulders. Thick spines broke from the fur across its back while Utsui let out a lesser horned rhino. Even from where he was stood, Wade could see how thick its skin was, armour had never looked so natural. Even minus the horn that some of its genetic cousins bore, it still would be able to pack a punch with its bulk and strength. When it stepped forward, he could feel the ground shake under its feet.

  “We got this,” Pree said. He got the impression from her voice that she was smiling inside. “This won’t be a problem.”

  Chapter Eight. Scorpions and Sand.

  “It happens unfortunately. We can’t all be tied to our convictions. The nature of humanity is diluted at times. We want to be more but we’re not willing to sacrifice for it. When the going gets tough, some will run. Anyone who betrays me because they don’t have the stomach for what must be done? Punish them. Severely. I’ll only have those that believe be the ones who follow me into the light.”

  Claudia Coppinger, regarding the future and the people needed to build it.

  Pree went with one of her ghosts, a silver-blue blob of ectoplasm that formed six arms and two legs in quick fashion, four large eyes, two mouths and a protruding caveman brow forming a face. Below the second mouth, Wade noted that it looked like it had a bit of a beard. He chose Thracia, brought the huge sea serpent out to cheers from the crowd, cheers engulfed by the serpent’s bellow of challenge to the enemy spirits. The gorilla was dwarfed by his serpent; the rhino staring ahead unblinking at the ghost and the serpent.

  Wade inhaled, let the breath go. In. Out. In. Out.

  The video referee gave them the signal; he hadn’t realised just how much he’d missed that sound and the bout was suddenly in session, he realised that he was smiling for the first time in what felt like months.

  This, he could do. This was what he needed to do. Some people were born to do certain things and he knew this was what he was meant to be right now.

  No time like the present to test their defences, see what they were up against. Thracia was bigger than Dengu, Pree’s spirit, and therefore would most likely be the first target they went for. In team bouts like this, it was a well-known psychological fact. The bigger threat was perceived to be the more dangerous one. Retaliate first, as one of his old instructors had once said. He gave the mental order and Thracia let loose a uniblast of potent golden energy straight towards the two spirits. The gorilla bounded aside, the rhino didn’t and took the full force of the blast in the face.

  As tests went, only moderately successful. It didn’t look fazed by the sheer heat of the energy thrown at it. He’d guessed the skin was pretty much impenetrable and he’d been proved right. Meaning that whatever way they went with in trying to knock the rhino out, it wasn’t going to be blasting it head on. Dengu had slipped behind Thracia, away into the shadow of the giant serpent and out of sight. The gorilla and the rhino started to circle Thracia. He knew what they were doing. If they went for one, the other would attack. Sea serpent scales were tough but at the same time, both opponents looked plenty strong. No point taking unnecessary chances.

  “You got this right?” he asked out the corner of his mouth. Pree nodded, a grin playing across her face.

  “Just keep them distracted,” she said quietly. “Let them focus on you.”

  He wasn’t overtly happy with the plan, but it was the best one they were going to come up with right now. He knew it was the right one, focusing on Thracia gave Dengu an opening to be ignored and when ghosts were ignored on the battlefield, it was often with lethal consequences. Neither of the enemy spirits looked like they’d have too much in the line of elemental attacks which meant there was little they could do to hurt Dengu. Uniblasts didn’t really affect ghosts the way they did everything else.

  “Come on
,” he muttered. “Come on.” Thracia, do nothing for the moment, he added silently. Just wait until one of them attacks and then…

  The gorilla moved in to attack, both fists raised above its head like a pair of giant hammers, muscles tensing up hard as it lumbered forwards on both hind legs.

  Go for the other, they won’t be expecting it.

  He gave his command, the serpent’s jaws widened, and a thousand needle sharp blasts of water ripped out the gaping maw. There was a great ooh-ing sound from the crowd as the flurry of needles swept across the grey skin, showing little effect at first. Then slowly, he saw the first drops of blood appear, a dozen and more streams of blood suddenly gushing out the great grey body. He smiled sweetly at his opponents, heard the lesser horned rhino bellow and stamp both front feet into the ground. Dust rose from the impacts, Thracia roared defiantly in response.

  There was a charge coming, Wade could see that. The other half of Burykia could see it coming. Meanwhile, the gorilla had continued to move until Dengu appeared in front of the ape, mouths contorted into outlandish grins. The ghost hovered for a moment then burst forward as if fired from a cannon, crashed hard into the gorilla’s chest and vanished from sight. Wade watched it stagger back and shake its head, thinking it didn’t seem to know where it was.

  Wade shot a sideways glance at Pree as if she was going to proffer up an explanation. None came, not least because the rhino had already charged, thunderous footsteps beating into the ground underfoot. It might even have come close to hitting Thracia if the gorilla hadn’t leaped into action, powerfully crashed a fist into the side of its head, the blow sending it veering off course. Wade’s ears rang from the force of the impact and he winced as the rhino missed Thracia comfortably, smashed straight into the advertising hoardings and went through, unable to quite stop itself from moving in time to crush a dozen seats into useless wreckage.

  That’s why they never have anyone right in the front rows, Wade thought with a smirk he kept to himself. If there had been, they would likely have been crushed. It was the stadium organisers covering themselves from legal action more than anything else.

  Both Konba and Utsui looked confused about what had happened, at least for a few moments. Slowly realisation dawned as the purple glow enveloped the gorilla briefly and then Dengu retreated. Wade had never seen possession like that before, definitely a neat trick. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the sort of thing you could repeatedly get away with for sooner or later, the opponent caught on. Sooner if they were any good. Later if they were particularly hapless.

  Just as unfortunately for the gorilla, it caught a full-on body smash from Thracia head on while still disorientated. The gorilla might have been big but Thracia was a lot bigger and heavier, all her momentum behind the charge. Just for a brief moment, the gorilla was airborne and hurtling back through the air, arms flailing helplessly. He could see the rhino was back on the field, but it didn’t look good. Already Dengu was moving to engage. Both mouths were twisted back into the rictus of a manic grin. Wade got the impression that this was going to hurt.

  The rhino bellowed a battle challenge, kept both its small watery eyes on Dengu who circled menacingly, threatening to feint one way or the other before finally it swooped, straight through the rhino’s body, Smoky edges whipped back and forth around the hardened grey skin, a dozen insubstantial blades carving away at the armour. Even Pree winced at the sound it made, like air being blasted through meat, blood gushed out the thousand new exit wounds that had been carved across its body. It didn’t look so impenetrable anymore. The gorilla landed hard, tried to stand up, might have done had Wade not commanded Thracia to use another uniblast.

  The blast hit home hard, put the gorilla down before it could get back up. The ape fell back, hit the ground in an untidy heap, fur burnt into nothing, skin and muscle a horrible raw red colour. Wade could smell the stink of charred meat. It had no eyes left, just empty sockets hollow in its skull staring sightlessly ahead. No way it was getting back up from that. As always, he felt that sense of self-satisfaction when he knocked an opponent out on the battlefield. Not pride, just a professional recognition that the job had been done and it was time to move on. Self-back slapping and congratulations would be a mistake. Nothing had been achieved yet. This wasn’t even the main reason they were here. It was just a distraction.

  He never would have guessed given his partner’s reaction though. Pree looked like she was enjoying it way too much as Dengu responded to her mental commands and dealt the final blow to the rhino, jamming a smoky fist straight into its brain. For a few seconds, it didn’t move, the rhino just stood still, stock silent in shock. Wade imagined it wasn’t feeling much beyond blinding pain right now. As Dengu withdrew the fist, the rhino collapsed straight through him with a terrific crash that almost shook Wade’s teeth. Dengu stood there in the remnants of the rhino’s corpse with a bemused look on that twisted face before shrugging. The video referee gave the call, the stadium announcer struggled to make himself heard over the sounds of the crowd going crazy and that was that. One step on the road to the final.

  He just wondered what the chance were of them making it there. The competition was still young yet. And even if it was just a local tournament, there was always the chance that one pair of locals could get lucky. That was before their mission was even considered, the spectre of the rendezvous hung over them both.

  “You worry too much,” Pree said out the corner of her mouth, nudging him in the side. “Just relax. Try to enjoy the moment. Let yourself have this.”

  “This guy picked one hells of a meeting place,” Wade muttered, hands in his pockets as they found themselves stalking the empty halls towards their rendezvous. They’d managed to slip away, they had fifteen minutes before their next bout. Fifteen short minutes before their semi-final. If need be, they’d have to forfeit it. It wouldn’t be the first time. Both of them had been with Unisco for a long damn time and they knew the price that sometimes needed to be paid. It had long since been drilled into them in basic training. We’ll teach you to win but sometimes you need to know you have to lose. Those had been the words. Back then they’d hurt. Now it felt painfully insignificant compared to the stakes.

  Pree said nothing. She hadn’t since they’d left the locker room, her jaw set in determination as she pondered some problem she hadn’t chosen to voice aloud. From the looks of it, it was a deeply disturbing one. If she didn’t want to share it with him then he wasn’t going to pry. None of his business. She’d always looked like a woman who had her demons. One simply didn’t get into it unless you were prepped for the long haul. There wasn’t much he could say to her, he doubted she’d appreciate him trying to get involved.

  Between the bouts, they’d done their best to scout out the stadium between them, making notes on where the rendezvous was to go down, keeping a track on where the crowd was in relation to them, just in case. There was always a chance that it could turn violent and neither of them wanted that. Wade had his X7 tucked into a pocket, he didn’t know where Pree was hiding hers but despite her earlier joke, she definitely had it on her. He hoped they didn’t need them. Things surely couldn’t turn that bad. Surely. He regretted thinking that the moment the thought crossed his mind.

  They always had the potential to end badly.

  The place they were meant to meet didn’t have much in the way of distinguishing features, just another bare hallway amidst dozens of them. Only a faded poster of better days remained, a broad Burykian man posing with a giant dog and a trophy remained. The writing had faded and was in native Burykian, Wade couldn’t read it, could have asked Pree what it said but he didn’t care. A water fountain stood aloof nearby, covered in dust, ignored by the times. They’d already checked with Control to ensure that no remote surveillance caught them, it’d be done in record time.

  “Just wait now then,” Pree said. The two of them had already activated their mufflers. They weren’t getting recognised. Wade nodded. It was the first thing she’d s
aid since leaving the locker room. “See if he shows up.”

  “You know much about him?” Wade asked. “What to expect?”

  She shook her head. “Other than he’s male and he sounded terrified.”

  “Lot of that going around these days,” Wade said. “Lot of fear, a lot of uncertainty. It’s almost contagious.”

  “These are dangerous times. I’m sorry if people didn’t get the memo,” Pree said harshly. “Even before the Coppingers, these kingdoms were never quite as safe as people made out.”

  Wade raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

  “It seems like the further we go, we still take the shortest distance to the grave,” Pree said. “That’s my opinion. Humanity can make out that it’s growing as a species but ultimately, we’re just working on ways to kill each other faster. Even now, we’re developing weapons at a phenomenal rate to kill others. Probably our young. The keys to our future. All the same while we struggle to keep our elderly and our ailing alive when they likely have little left to contribute.”

  “Wow…” Wade said dryly. “You’re not mincing your words there, are you Pree?”

  “I never do. You know where I come from, compassion and weakness are almost the same word.”

  “I didn’t know that, no.”

  “Just the same as conqueror and saviour. There’s no distinguishing between the two of them.”

  Wade didn’t know what to say to that. “Sounds like a language devoid of any sort of complexity.”

  “Devoid of pretension, perhaps,” she said. “You know long ago we were well-known as conquerors, explorers and generals. They had the potential to become the most powerful of the five kingdoms.”