Absorbing and resonating with the unique qualities of Barrier space around me, I felt some regret, too, that I’d been forced to miss out on so much of this during our stay.
But I knew I was distracting myself, too.
Glancing over my shoulder, I paused to really look at my escort. A male seer, he looked in human years to be roughly in his late twenties, so was probably only a few decades younger than Revik. He wore a gold tunic embroidered with so much green and blue thread it was difficult to look at him without staring at it. On his head, a high, square hat perched on top of his black, braided hair. He looked like he belonged in a different time period altogether.
“What’s your name?” I asked him.
“Maiwan, Esteemed Sister,” he said.
I nodded. “Maiwan, can you feel what is going on behind that wall? With my mate and your mistress?”
He looked at me, his dark eyes nervous as he kept them carefully below mine. Since he was taller than me, it made him look a little like a giraffe with his long neck.
“Esteemed Sister—” he began.
“Can you?”
“Only whispers of feeling, Esteemed Bridge.”
“Well,” I said. “What are they whispering?”
He clicked in mild distress, uncomfortable with my question, but also clearly uncomfortable with disobeying me. When I let him feel a pulse of impatience from my light, he began speaking, tripping over his words.
“They are arguing, mistress...” he said.
“Who is arguing?”
“My mistress and your mate. Also the Adhipan leader...” Seeing me frown, he amended his words. “They are...negotiating, Esteemed Sister. They are coming to terms...”
“Has my husband killed anyone?” I said.
“No, Esteemed—”
“Are you sure?”
“I am very sure, Bridge Alyson.”
I felt myself exhale my own chest back open. Rubbing the gunshot wound absently, I let my arms fall to my sides as I began walking again. Maiwan trailed after me, his light still exuding discomfort.
“What are they arguing about?” I said finally, seeing that we were approaching a long, high gate up ahead.
“I couldn’t say, Esteemed Bridge.”
“As in you won’t say? Or you don’t know?”
“I don’t know, Esteemed—”
“All right.” I waved off the title as he stammered to get it out. “Do you know who I’m meeting outside?”
“No.” He paused. “I do not know him, mistress. He is male. A seer. Significant structure, but I would not like to hazard as to rank. He carries the mark of Syrimne. He is one of his—”
“Well, I figured that,” I said, losing the battle to hide my irritation.
We reached the back side of the gate to the city. I could almost feel greater Beijing vibrating just on the other side, off-key and out of tune with what I felt inside the City’s walls. I smelled exhaust from the cars, wafting through the opening in the main gate. Even the air seemed grittier, less clear, despite the greenery surrounding us on both sides, and the birds I could still hear calling to one another in the background.
We were right at the dividing line, I realized. Looking around me, I felt another whisper of regret. A part of me didn’t want to leave.
Just then, Maiwan stopped walking. He folded his hands in front of the blue-sashed robe, his eyes still carefully below mine.
“Are we waiting here?” I asked him.
“This is as far as I go, Esteemed Bridge,” he said. “You are to go outside.”
“Outside?” I looked between him and the doorway. Just then, a black-sashed seer emerged from the shadowed arch, her hair wound up around her head and fastened with a beaded comb. Her dark eyes studied me carefully, but she kept them well below mine, as well.
“Esteemed Bridge,” she said politely in accented Prexci. “Would you please come with me, sister?”
“Where am I going?” I said.
Feeling my limbs tense, I looked between them warily.
When neither of them spoke, I added, “I think I’d like to stay here, if it’s all the same to you. My husband said he’d meet me at the gate...”
“He has arranged for an escort outside,” the black-sashed seer said carefully. “We cannot let Syrimne’s escort into the City, Esteemed Sister...therefore, he is waiting for you at the outside gate.” She paused.
“...As per the Illustrious Sword’s instructions, Holy One.”
“Holy One,” I muttered. “That’s new.”
I glanced back over my shoulder at the expanse of gardens, the bare glimpse of the Meridian Gate in the distance. I let my light travel over this place, then looked back at the sentry, who exuded ‘infiltrator’ more clearly than anyone I’d felt since being in the City, apart from Voi Pai herself. I realized that must be a part of the construct too...to soften the edges of even the most military-oriented of their seers, at least until they required contact with the outside world.
I looked at the sharp light of the woman in front of me, and felt a whisper of regret that it had to be that way.
But that sharpness in her light felt familiar to me, too. Far more familiar than the artificial environment I was leaving.
“All right,” I said, resigned. “I guess Disneyland is over.”
The seer cocked her head at me, a smile at her lips. If she got the reference, she didn’t comment. Walking where she indicated with one sweeping hand, I left Maiwan and passed through the arched red doorway.
...and it was like breaking through a membrane.
I felt as if my body cut a hole in the construct on its way out...a hole that rapidly sealed itself, with me on the other side of it.
I found myself blinking into the sunlight.
Sound crashed into my ears, immediately disorienting me. I heard honking cars, both nearby and a lot more in the distance. A human crowd stood on the other side of a white-painted, metal fence. I heard their voices, words rising and falling in languages I didn’t know, the occasional shout in Mandarin. Soldiers in forest green uniforms with red trim held up gloved hands, herding them past the gate as they fought to get glimpses of the City behind me.
A few pointed, seeing me exit out the rounded portal.
Nerves washed over me. The sensory overload kicked into high gear, even as I wondered what to do if anyone recognized my face. Would the seers on the tower push them into forgetting what they’d seen, or should I do it? I felt my body tense as I tried to decide what to do, which direction to walk...
When a shape loomed in front of me, blocking my view.
I blinked up at it, making out a white-toothed grin splitting a broad face. Hazel eyes shone like bright orbs in dark skin broken by a scar that curved from his ear up to his eyebrow. Somehow, he looked even larger than I remembered him.
“Garensche?” I said, numb.
“Ilya...” His smile broke wider.
Before I could recover, he swept me up in his massive arms, squeezing me until my spine nearly cracked and then throwing me up in the air. Laughing, unable to help it, I pushed at his shoulders after I landed back in his arms.
“Put me down, you monster!” I said.
“Of course, Esteemed Bridge...”
He set me carefully on my feet, as dainty as if I were made of glass. I continued to hold his arms though, staring up at his face in incredulity.
“You’re alive!” I said. Thinking about this, I smacked him in the chest, hard. “You’re alive! You didn’t bother to tell me? To let me know at least?”
His eyes held regret. “I am sorry, ilya...”
“Sorry?” I said. “You’ve let me think you were dead...!”
“I am sorry, ilya,” he said again. “Truly sorry. I could not tell you.”
“Couldn’t tell me? Why?”
He glanced at the gate behind me, then shrugged. “Orders. You know. And there would have been questions...when I didn’t come back.”
“So all that time,” I
said, fitting the pieces together in reverse. “You were working for Revik...that whole time?”
Garensche’s expression turned apologetic once more.
“He wanted someone to keep an eye on you, ilya. Keep you safe from those fucking crazy people.” His eyes hardened. “...The crazy people who shot you, as soon as I’m not around...”
As if hearing his own words suddenly, he looked me up and down.
“You are better then?”
I ignored this. “So why weren’t you there after?” I pressed accusingly. “Why didn’t he send you back after the bomb? You were already there. Why pull you?”
Garensche grinned, holding out his palms. “The boss think I watch you a little too closely, ilya...”
I snorted, the laugh behind it mostly humorless. “Jesus. You’re kidding.”
Garensche gave me a mischievous look. “He not really wrong, ilya...” He gestured at the dress I wore. “You look very sexy in that too, my friend. If he were not around, I would definitely try to ravish you...”
“Ravish me, huh?”
“Definitely,” he said, looking down my body again.
I burst out in a laugh. “So the whole Esteemed Bridge thing is just out the window again with you?” I said, weirdly refreshed by his complete boorishness. “Already, Garensche?” I checked an imaginary watch. “It’s been, what? Thirty seconds? Already I get spoken to like some human you’d like to push into giving you oral favors...?”
He grinned. “Would you, if you were?”
“Deference, Garensche,” I said sternly. “Deference.”
“Yes, Esteemed Bridge,” he said, cowed.
“Just who do you think you are speaking with?” I said. “I can break your spine...” I snapped my fingers in his face. “Just like that.”
“Of course, Esteemed Sister. My deference is in full effect.”
“Right,” I said, laughing. I hugged him then, in spite of myself. “Damn. I missed you...you great oaf. Sexist piece of shit that you are...”
“Sexist?” he said, puzzled. “I like sex very much, Esteemed Bridge. Haven’t we established that this is my problem...?”
I gave another quick squeeze, then pulled away, rolling my eyes. Even so, I felt another rush of feeling hit me. I let myself just look at him a moment, to see him as alive.
I forced a smile. “You’re hopeless, Garensche.”
He patted my shoulder with one of his giant hands as I looked away, wiping my eyes. I hadn’t let myself think about him much, since I’d been reasonably certain he was dead.
Same with Chandre, who I’d known even longer.
At the thought, I almost asked him.
Then, thinking better of it when it occurred to me I might well be wrong, I decided that could wait, too. But he must have heard me, somewhere in all that.
“She is with us, too.”
I looked up, startled in spite of myself. “Chan is?”
His eyes grew apologetic once more. “She was not there before, like I was, Esteemed Bridge. She came to us after Delhi. She came to him...”
I nodded, biting my lip. I couldn’t say I was really surprised.
Still, it stung a little...even though it likely wasn’t personal. Between Cass leaving her and everything that had happened the year before, going to Revik made sense for Chan. She’d always been on the radical side, and I knew watching as humans destroyed Seertown had changed her, too. I couldn’t decide how I felt about that, but I realized something in my chest had loosened at the thought of her being alive.
Taking another breath, I nodded again.
“Good,” I said. “I’m glad she’s all right.”
Garensche studied my eyes, his own holding a faint surprise. “Yes. She is fine.”
“Is she staying with you? In Asia or wherever?”
“No.” Garensche’s eyes grew cryptic once more. I saw him glance at the gate again, too, which seemed to be a proxy for Revik in his absence. “She is...on a mission, Bridge Alyson. In the Americas. It is something the boss wanted...”
“A mission,” I muttered. I tried to decide if I wanted to know. I decided that for now, I really didn’t. He probably wouldn’t tell me anyway. “Okay.” I let out another exhale. “But she’s alive. I’ll see her again...she’s not gone forever.”
“Alive, yes.” Garensche’s smile split his face once more. “You will see her...and in not too long a time, Bridge Alyson. She will be back in a few months, I think...or we can go to her, maybe.”
I nodded, looking around us, folding my arms as I took in the line of soldiers. I stared at the two rows of armored vehicles painted camouflage colors, feeling the sensors emanating off the metal with my light. I once more grew aware of all the potential eyes on us, from both sides, and the fact that most of them came equipped with automatic weapons and worse.
“So what now?” I said. “Do we just wait for him here?”
Garensche took my arm in his thick fingers.
“Not exactly,” he said. He led me across one of the stone bridges that led to the wider curb on the other side. We approached the line of soldiers, and then the human tourists on the other side of a painted, dead-metal fence. For a moment I was surrounded by humans wearing Beijing t-shirts and white-gloved guards wearing dark green uniforms.
Garensche waded right in among them, steering me gently with the same hand so that I walked alongside his massive form. I saw him nod to several of the soldiers as we passed, and I flinched a little when two of them snapped to vertical attention, saluting him smartly.
I glanced at Garensche, raising an eyebrow.
“A little convenient push is all,” he said quietly, glancing up at the walls behind us. For the first time, looking back, I noticed the giant portrait of Mao hanging from the outside wall.
“...With their consent, of course,” he added, giving me another apologetic look. “It makes things easier, Esteemed Bridge.”
I nodded, in no mood to argue right then. The last thing we needed was word to get out that the Bridge was in town. I could already picture the crush of reporters with their bright lights standing in front of the banner of Mao’s face, clutching high-powered microphones and sending hysterical missives across the feeds about how I was conspiring with the Chinese to bring down the entire Western human civilization.
Garensche led me through the throng of humans, who parted like a sea as we passed, none of them focusing on my face or even my incongruous clothing for more than a second. Beyond them, a white, stretch limousine stood at the curve. The uniformed driver, clearly a seer from her pale red eyes and the stillness around her light, opened the door for us as we approached, bowing before me.
“Bridge,” she murmured softly, tipping her cap.
I nodded in return, walking past her to climb into the wide leather seat in the back. Nerves hit me again as I slid inside. I had expected it to be empty, but I found myself sitting next to Wreg and facing a younger seer I didn’t know, who sat scrunched up in the seat across from me.
Garensche maneuvered his giant body in next to the younger seer, squishing him against the side even further.
Testosterone on parade, was all I could think.
Wreg chuckled at this, holding a hand up to his face in another of those deferential gestures, this one belonging to the seers further south.
“Esteemed Bridge,” he said respectfully. “It is so very good to see you.” He touched my shoulder, cautiously I noted, but almost as if he couldn’t help himself. I found myself meeting his gaze when I heard the emotion in his voice.
“...You look very beautiful and healthy. I cannot tell you what it does for us, to see you like this. We were all very worried, sister. Very worried indeed...”
I smiled in spite of myself, touching his arm in return.
“Thank you, Wreg,” I said. “I appreciate that. Very much.”
“Is there anything you would like?” he said, motioning towards the bar I could now see beside Garensche. “Something to drink perhaps
? Or to eat?”
“A drink would be great...” I started to say, trailing when the door to my right opened abruptly, shedding light on all of us. Before I could react, Revik slid into the seat next to me, his face looking hard, almost angry.
Without looking at me, he turned to the chauffeur, giving her abrupt instructions in a language I didn’t know. She nodded decisively to his words, then shut the door behind him quickly.
Seconds later, I heard her door open in front, and the car start.
I looked up at Revik, but he didn’t return my gaze.
I noticed then, that the car had fallen silent.
“What?” I said to him, trying to get him to look at me. “What’s wrong?”
He didn’t turn at first. When I took hold of his arm, he flinched a little, then looked down. I could only stare when I saw the expression on his face. His anger barely covered whatever lay below it, a confusion of feeling so intense I couldn’t catalogue it with my mind. It pulsed out at me, seeming to hit me directly in the chest. My hand tightened on his arm still more, but he extracted it from my fingers.
“Allie...can we talk later?”
My throat closed. “Did you kill him?”
His eyes turned confused, then angry once more. “No.”
“Then what is going on?”
“I don’t want to talk about it here,” he said.
“Revik,” I said, fighting the anger in my voice. “Did you kill him?”
He met my gaze, his eyes hard. “You want me to answer that again?” His jaw clenched. “No, I didn’t kill him. Voi Pai wanted him...” His eyes hardened more, just before they flickered away. “...In more ways than one, it seems. Given that, and your wishes...I made a trade for his life. But I don’t trust her. I don’t trust any of them, if you want the truth...”
He gave me a look that made me wonder if I was on that list.
“So what’s wrong?” I said, biting my lip. “Do you regret it now?”
“No,” he growled. “...I just don’t know if she’s going to hold up her end of the deal...give me what she promised.”
“What she promised?” I said. “What did she promise?”
Allie's War Season Two Page 31