Prophet: Bridge & Sword
Page 6
He smiled, his gold eyes sliding briefly down Revik’s body, enough that I caught the suggestion there, too.
“Allow us to indulge you, my brother,” Dulgar added, that suggestion even more prominent in his voice. “…in the ways in which we excel at such things.”
Revik gave him a polite concessionary gesture.
He did not speak, however, and his eyes returned to me as I rose casually to my feet. I felt Revik’s eyes on me still as I smiled at my female seer escorts.
“Shall we go, sisters?” I asked with a slight bow.
I felt that tension vibrate higher in Revik’s light.
I’m not leaving you, I told him again. You okay with that?
Yes. Though he whispered it, his thought was firm.
“Yes, Esteemed Bridge,” the seers in front of me murmured in unison with small smiles.
Still facing them, I took a breath.
Then I reached up, sliding my awareness into the Barrier––
––AND INTO THE highest structures I can access in my light.
They float high––higher than the rest. They twist in the darkness, bright as stars, connected to a pure, white and blue light I love, if only because it instantly feels like Revik.
Time stops. I float somewhere above them, even above Revik, who still has the organic binding coil wrapped, alive, around his wrist.
I can see that coil from here.
I can even see where they got it, what it does, how it was made, the seers who died for the technology behind it––and I realize that the Legion of Fire is trading with Shadow’s people, at least for some, difficult-to-acquire items.
Up here, it’s hard to be angry about that, or about any of the lies Revik and I heard from Dulgar’s lips. There is no anger in this place. I feel compassion from parts of my light I can barely glimpse––compassion for beings who stubbornly believe cleverness and lies will save them, that they can live in a lightless place, safe from pain and suffering.
I know that illusion of invulnerability won’t save them.
I feel how that could be me, could be Revik. A denser understanding of how hard it is down there, in that world, fills my heart.
I also feel the ways in which these pains and sufferings serve a larger tapestry.
On a more practical level, I know I’m invisible to the Legion of Fire, just as those structures in me are invisible to every seer who wasn’t born an intermediary. I know there are tricks to pretend to be in spaces, but that’s all they are, tricks––mirrors stacked on mirrors stacked on mirrors, like Shadow riding Revik’s light to see spaces he can never comprehend.
He views them in terms of function, something to control.
They are power to him, stripped of all else.
To me, that power is only a detail. The truth is, the most important aspects of these spaces are wasted on Shadow, wasted on Dulgar. All they seek is what manifests in the material, what helps them control the world down there. It is the smallest power these spaces possess, but the only one they understand.
All of us, in different ways, are lost.
All of us can be found––even a slave-trader like Dulgar.
And yes, up here, where I am, time doesn’t matter.
But down there, where Revik is, it does.
Time is precious in the material plane. Time is all we have.
Grabbing hold of the construct at its highest point, I utilize four structures that rotate around my column in intricate geometrical shapes. I slide into all four simultaneously, holding them in the exact configuration Revik taught me over the past two and a half weeks.
It is easy, simplicity itself––as is the next thing I do, running through a sequence on the connecting points of those structures, like tapping through a key pad, if that keypad were made entirely of light. Liquid fire runs through that part of me.
In less than a second, it is done.
Briefly, I can see everything. The Legion of Fire construct unfolds around me.
Once I’m sure I have the map of the whole thing, I take a deep breath––
––and crush a diamond-like structure that floats there, at the highest point, holding up all the rest. I crush it to powder, leaving nothing but white light.
I hear it, when it goes.
It sounds like water rushing in my ears. That white static flow is eclipsed by a high, tinkling sound, like broken glass. Both things fill my awareness, wiping out the room with gold and white light, a silence deeper than any existing in the physical world, until––
A Barrier alarm explodes in my head.
I gasp, lose my hold––
––AND I’M SLAMMED back into my body.
Sound deafened me, making me gasp.
I fought to breathe, to ground myself back in the room. I’ve always sucked at splitting my consciousness, at least compared to Revik. Still, I was mostly doing it now; the sound in my head filled the Barrier, not the physical room.
I clicked the rest of the way out, feeling that same sense of loss I always did when I lost my direct connection to that pure, high, blue-white light.
I was back in the world of the gray.
Gray lives, gray thoughts, gray light. I was back in the world of shadows and lies, where light must be dug out of the crevices, glimpsed past the smoke and mirrors fighting to keep it out––
Allie! Get down!
It’s the one voice that always brings me back.
I dropped.
I stared up once I had, panting, half in disbelief that I’d done it, that I’d smashed their construct, even as crystalline fragments continued to rain down whenever I let my consciousness slide into the Barrier. The construct of the Legion of Fire unraveled around me, despite the efforts of their infiltrators to save it.
Looking around, I realized the room had gone entirely dark, apart from the gentle flicker of low flames in the four fireplaces in the corners of the room.
Even so, I can feel what Revik felt. Guns are aimed at us.
It hit me that only seconds had passed. Barely seconds. Maybe only one or two.
No one around that table had decided what to do with me yet.
No one had made a sound.
Then an explosion ripped through the outside terrace, blowing hot flames.
6
PLAN B
WHEN THE FIRST rounds went off, I ducked and swerved, moving without thought, even though I was already down in a low plank.
When I next looked up, I was halfway under the table, and Revik was crouched next to me, gripping my wrist.
Are they shooting at us? I asked him, a little panicked.
He shook his head, once. No, they’re a little distracted at the moment.
He already had the cutting tool jammed around the organic bracelet on his wrist.
I stared down, watching as he squeezed the handles, severing it in one cut. He let out a light gasp as the living thing inside the organic died.
Then, shaking it off, he gave me a faint smile. Sending an impulse, he reconfigured the tool back into my green-stone necklace, and motioned for me to lean closer. Once I had, he started hooking the clasps so that it rested back on my neck.
Nicely done, wife, he said, kissing my cheek as he finished. You’re definitely getting a cookie when we’re back at home. His eyes glanced down at me in the dress, pain sliding back through his light. Maybe a whole box of them, actually.
I quirked an eyebrow at him. It’s cookies now? I thought I was getting punished.
His lips twitched in a predatory smile. Maybe a bit of both. Punishment first… cookies after.
I let out a low laugh, at least partly from nerves.
My light darted around the room, taking in the layout of the seers, including the three females closest to where we crouched. Those same females felt terrified to me, so much so, I found it unlikely any of them were trained infiltrators.
Still, I could feel it. We didn’t have much time.
How much longer? I asked Revik.
I frowned, then flinched when another shell hit the front of the terrace. It sent in a dense cloud of black smoke, knocking pieces of plaster and wood off the ceiling.
Those guys know we’re in here, right? They’re still getting the GPS signal?
Revik grinned, his clear eyes holding a faint glint. One can only hope.
I clicked at him, laughing. That’s not reassuring, husband.
You know Wreg. He likes big noises.
Another cloud of smoke and white dust flew into the back area of the lounge.
I lowered my head, closing my eyes, coughing when it reached us.
Revik’s light formed into a shield as I covered my mouth, encasing both of us in white light. I watched the debris and powder alter course and flow over and around us as his egg-like shield solidified, like air flowing over a glass ball.
I felt worry on Revik briefly, felt him looking at something with his light––
“Fuck.” He cursed aloud, in Prexci. He’s moved them, Allie. The List seers. I don’t see their signatures in any of the ones he was planning on showing us.
Is Shadow behind it?
I felt him looking again, probably reading Dulgar and his people.
No. I don’t think so. They’ve hidden the information, if so. I don’t want to get too close to that construct in Hong Kong––
Then don’t. Don’t, baby. I pooled warmth in his chest, pulling his light nearer to mine. Where is he taking them? Revik? Can you feel where they are now?
He shook his head, exhaling.
He continued to look though, until a sharper pulse of heat left his light.
I think they’ve already left the island. I don’t see them anywhere, not among any of the stock. He’s sold them.
Could he have hidden them here somewhere? Dulgar?
Revik shook his head, but not exactly in a no. I don’t think so. I felt some of the details of the exchange. The transport. He paused, and I felt him scanning. They’ve been sold. I’m trying to get a name, but they’re pretty heavily shielded.
My jaw clenched as I fought to think through this.
Twenty-six List seers, and we traced them all here.
We couldn’t let them go. We just couldn’t.
Where’s Dulgar? Right now? I looked through the darkness, trying to find his outline by the fireplace. Is he still here?
He’s on the move. Revik tensed, his shield dissipating around us. He’s rabbiting, Allie. His guards are moving him. Back door.
Where? Where are they taking him?
Smoke filled the space of the lounge, making it difficult to see––not like it was easy to see before. Now the visibility was basically zero, at least with my eyes. The reflecting pool and fireplaces were covered in ash, obscured by smoke and falling debris. I could barely see any flames at all now, not even in the fireplace nearest to us.
I was already stretching out my light, doing my best to ignore the screams as they broke out among the seers and humans on the terrace, when––
My aleimi felt something.
A jarring, off-note in our immediate Barrier space.
I jerked my head around. Squinting through the smoke, I extended my light in a tighter arc, straight into the corner wall behind the booth. My light hit a dense shield, military-grade, but once I was looking in the right direction, I glimpsed a Barrier shape I recognized.
Gold eyes, gold threads on the sleeves of a black jacket. Oily smile.
Three of those bulked-up guards pulled a smaller seer towards the back corner of the room. My light slid higher, sidestepping their shield.
Immediately, the view snapped into focus.
Dulgar, both arms held by his security goons, was being hustled towards an organic panel embedded in that back segment of wall. Flashing the image at Revik, I grabbed hold of his shoulder, using it to climb rapidly to my feet.
“There!” I shouted, half-deaf from explosions. “They have some kind of escape hatch––”
“Allie, wait––”
I was already launching my body after them, feeling more than seeing a small panel pop open. I was halfway there when the panel began disappearing into the wall.
I could see it by then, too––with my eyes, I mean.
Light poured out of the wall’s opening, illuminating dust fragments and smoke. The hole was smaller than a regular door, but plenty big enough for Dulgar and his thugs to pass through, maybe five feet tall and three wide.
Briefly, I saw Dulgar himself as he looked back at me, outlined in the illumination that poured out of the wall’s opening. Half of him was in shadow, but his eyes caught the light, and I glimpsed those opaque gold irises.
The last guard was disappearing inside when Revik caught up with me. He tried to grab hold of my arm, to stop me.
“Allie!” he shouted. “Wait! We don’t know where that goes!”
“We can’t wait!” I snapped. “He knows who the buyer is! He knows where they’re going!”
“But Jon is downstairs––”
“Jon doesn’t need us!”
Revik frowned, still holding my arm. “Are you sure about that?”
I hesitated, then motioned towards the terrace, switching to my mind.
You stay, if you think they need backup. Balidor can finish here. You help Jon get the ones working the casino floor and the rooms. Feeling Revik’s light heat up, I clutched his arm. I’ve got this. Promise. I’ve got the telekinesis. I just need to get close enough to read Dulgar. Find out who he sold them to, and––
“No! No fucking way!” Revik caught hold of me for real that time when I started to move, and I turned, staring up at him in disbelief. When I met his gaze, he abruptly gave in, moving with me towards the wall, his fingers still wrapped around my arm.
I felt frustration ripple his light, but also agreement.
You’re right, he sent, blunt. We need him. I’m coming with you.
I started to shake my head. I’ve got the necklace––
“No.” He shook his head, adamant. No fucking way. No separations. You promised me, Alyson. You fucking promised me. Anyway, Jon doesn’t need me. He has Maygar.
I started to say something to that, but when he gave me a warning look, I decided to quit while I was ahead. I could already feel Revik wasn’t budging on this particular point, and really, I didn’t want him to. I wanted him with me.
You’d better, his mind muttered at me.
I smiled, but didn’t let him see it.
I knew a good chunk of his reaction had nothing to do with the Legion of Fire and everything to do with everything that happened over the past year.
He still held my arm when we reached the organic wall, but released me when we both saw the panel closing. Jumping forward, I fought to grab hold of it with my hands, to stop it…
…only to have it slide out from under my fingers.
I cursed as it shut with a bang. I didn’t even manage to slow it down.
Revik was already by the wall, prying open the panel with his fingers.
Watching him yank down on a dead-metal plate to expose the worm-like tendrils of the organic circuits, I walked over to join him, staying behind the alcove to be out of range of random gunfire.
Cover me? he sent softly.
I nodded, throwing a denser shield over his aleimic form.
Luckily, the smoke made visibility pretty much shit, so it was unlikely anyone would target us right away, not with the construct down.
Watching him squint into the dim light exuded by the living circuits, I grabbed hold of the necklace I wore, and yanked it off my neck. Once I had, I put my light into the strands, commanding them to reconfigure. Within seconds, they formed the shape of a different tool, this one for manipulating filaments and equipped with a penlight.
Here, baby, I told him, handing it over. Use this.
He took it from me with a pulse of gratitude, then went back to the panel. Tossing the piece of metal he’d removed to the floor, he focused his light on the squid-like strands.
Fuck, he muttered in my head. I was never good at doing it this way.
Feeling him thinking about Garensche, I winced, remembering the last time I’d seen the big lug, lying in pieces and covered in glass in the lobby of Shadow’s skyscraper in New York.
I hadn’t fully appreciated how unique and invaluable Gar was while he was alive, in terms his genius with the machines. There things we flat-out couldn’t do now, or couldn’t do quickly. The only person we had who even came close was Dante, and she was human.
Then don’t, I urged him. Just talk to the damned thing. It’s what Gar would have done.
Nodding, Revik plunged his hand in the open panel, grimacing as he wrapped his bare fingers around the clump of organic strands. I clutched his arm, hearing the mind of the cybernetic organism through his light. I felt Revik trying to reason with the thing, trying to coax it into seeing him as someone of authority in the Legion of Fire. I felt him telling the creature that its masters were in danger, that we wanted to help.
The door felt skeptical.
Listening to their strange conversation, I split my focus to keep an eye on our position, even as I densified the shield I was using to hide Revik’s Barrier work. With the smoke, screaming and increased automatic weapon fire, I couldn’t make out much. I was hesitant to go into the Barrier any deeper to find out more, in case it made us visible.
Their infiltrators would be looking for us by now.
In the few glimpses I got of the room, I mostly saw people with soot and dust-smeared faces crouched behind white couches, scared out of their wits.
Bullets scored the wall near where we crouched and I ducked, pulling Revik in deeper with me. I doubt he even noticed.
Instead, he cursed, still staring down at the open circuits.