City of Dust

by Michelle Kenney

  Then the screen flickered and switched. We were back in the Flavium on that day with August declaring a traitorous allegiance to feral Outsiders. There were slow shots of the mayhem: image after bloodied image of the carnage, until August’s final emergence as Director General of Pantheon. He stood before the Senate, their new self-appointed leader. And it all looked so damned contrived.

  I gazed up at August’s side profile, the muscle in his cheek twitching uncontrollably, and then back at the screen.

  The moving images had rolled on to the Prolet riots, focusing on August’s inability to quell the revolt, Cassius’s recovery and then the words I knew nearly by heart.

  ‘The early integration analysis indicates a common stress symptom among the Prolet class, which may be a reaction to the existing vaccine to suppress independent will. Of course, the recent rioting cannot be tolerated.

  ‘Because of this, and the new investigation required, I would recommend a temporary suspension of all new Prolet privileges and reinstatement of the existing Pantheonite system.’

  I pulled at his arm again, knowing the intoxicating effect of this poison, but August was rooted to the spot.

  ‘It’s oddly unsettling to stare into your own face,’ he whispered, sounding dazed, ‘but it explains the memories I have of this place. Octavia must have brought me here. It seems she was always … preparing me.’

  I squeezed his arm fiercely.

  ‘You stood for something other than Octavia’s rule,’ I whispered. ‘And the Equite on that screen is only half you. This is Pantheon’s favourite game, remember: lies and deceit.’

  Max’s words suddenly came flooding back as clearly as though he were standing next to me.

  ‘We just need to play it better,’ I added, struggling to keep my voice even.

  ‘Actually, it’s not so much a game, as a simulated reality trial … There are problems with the technology, as there are problems with the Voynich experiments, until we translate it once and for all.’

  I turned as though swallowed by a dream.

  ‘On the whole though, the tech is much more successful than the last round. And if you hadn’t got Hominum chimera all jumpy, we’d have been here before now – to welcome you properly.’

  And she was there, standing before us in her Tyrian purple tunic, dark hair pulled back in a tight bun, and surrounded by guards.

  ‘Livia!’ August scorned.

  ‘What’s going on?’ he added in an uglier tone, as one of the guard’s hounds slunk back on its powerful hind legs and started to snarl.

  ‘Don’t make this any harder than it already is, Augustus,’ she sighed, her features twisting into a curious smile.

  Now we were closer, I could tell she was older than I first supposed her to be.

  ‘You were created for a life of Pantheonite honour, a life that automatically gave you privilege. But I’ve had to find a way to the top of a system that rewarded no one who wasn’t male or modified!’

  I shot a look at August. He was transfixed. This had to be the first time he’d seen the real Livia.

  ‘You were one of Octavia’s prize projects,’ she continued, clearly enjoying herself. ‘Prolet DNA, mixed up with two-thousand-year-old Roman Equite signature coding. Not exactly unique, but still a little different. You wanted to please; you wanted to be everything Octavia wanted you to be. You still do.’

  August’s brow creased and darkened.

  ‘You see the vaccine to suppress independent will wasn’t just trialled on Prolet embryos – in the beginning.’

  ‘No!’ August denied, his eyes flaring.

  ‘Oh, but yes. And she adored you too, didn’t she? No matter what.’

  I recoiled. She was digging deep, twisting the knife.

  August’s face grew tighter and harder as the enormity of Livia’s suggestion sank in. My own mind whirled. I’d known of his strong allegiance to Octavia, despite everything, and always put it down to years of sworn duty. Nothing more. Nothing this … chemical. It was too horrifying, and yet so easy to believe of Pantheon.

  ‘Of course, once the new Prolet trial is in delivery stage, we’ll be able to void all previous test subjects … including you … And then, together with the Simulated Reality Project, we’ll not only have an obedient workforce, we’ll also be able to create who we like, when we like, for as long as we like. And although the technology isn’t perfect,’ she added breezily, ‘there’s every chance Emperors Constantine, Augustus and Nero will be helping us take the Civitas into the next millennium.’

  ‘No! It’s unethical, Livia! You backed me at the Senate!’ August exploded, his face pinched with anger.

  I could tell he was reeling with shock. The revelations about his own genetics had stirred up feelings that would be hard to quieten when all this was done. If all this was ever done.

  ‘I did what I needed to make you think I was on your side. But I’m a scientist, like you, August. We trained on the same programme. Why wouldn’t I choose a path of knowledge? Just think of how much prestige they could bring to Cassius’s rule? Perhaps even more than deciphering the keyword to the Voynich.’

  And that was it, I fumed silently. It still all came back to the Voynich.

  ‘How do you undo these tanks!’ I seethed, done listening. ‘And where are Max, Unus and the Prolet children?’

  ‘Ah, Talia…well let’s see … the young Prolets are back where they belong, subject to another vaccination. Seems we had another rogue trial,’ she sighed.

  ‘Unus was a little bulky to take far, but he’s safely garrisoned – and Max …’ her eyebrows flew up in mock amusement ‘… let’s just say he’s joining a special investigation project, back at base.’

  ‘No!’ I ground out, launching at her, only to find myself caught fast by August, centimetres from a hound that looked suspiciously like Brutus. The molossus strained at me, his yellow eyes filled with cold aggression. This was no longer the same hound Eli had tamed.

  Livia’s cold, curious smile grew. ‘Octavia began …’

  ‘Well who gives a Roman toss what Octavia began?’

  Every pair of eyes shot to the doorway, while the guards and molossers parted to let a malicious, cloaked figure through. ‘Because Octavia is dead. Our simulated reality trials are excellent, and I’m closer than ever to owning all the secrets of the Voynich. In fact, some might say, these are the glory days indeed!’

  I stared numbly at Cassius’s hateful face, and felt a flicker of satisfaction at the white surgical patch stretched over his left eye. Then Max’s teasing smile flickered through my head, and my pain flooded my body like a broken dam. I should have finished him while I had the chance.

  ‘You’re nothing but a yellow-bellied snake!’ I hissed, my voice trembling. ‘You’d shoot a man in the back rather than face him. You persecute the young and weak, and lock up anyone who even dares to think for themselves!’

  My voice was pure acid, but I didn’t care.

  ‘And, you believe a few unethical experiments qualify you to own the most powerful secret known to ancient legend and myth?’

  I shook my head contemptuously.

  ‘It will burn you alive!’

  Cassius’s face darkened, as I dived back towards Eli’s canister. Pantheon had already stolen my grandfather and Max. They weren’t getting anyone else.

  Jas pushed herself up, arching impressively before stalking forward to stand between me and Cassius, her beautiful jowls pulled back in her most menacing growl. Brutus, twice her size, responded by slinking low on his muscular haunches and filling the air with his throaty challenge. It was clear she was no match for such an animal.

  I turned and ran my eye over the canister swiftly, but it was entirely smooth.

  Cassius smirked, recovering himself.

  ‘The trouble with Outsiders is that you always think you can change things. The truth is, our scientific processes are far beyond your comprehension. But in a way your brother is being useful, at least. We extract some
DNA, create something new, and your kind isn’t completely eradicated. Now there’s some comfort to be had from that, isn’t there? The same way as there’s comfort to be drawn from your special sacrifice … Talia.’

  His voice was silky-smooth, predatory, taking me straight back to his room when I was so vulnerable. And he knew it. I swallowed back the bile rising in my throat and threw a look at August, who was now flanked by two of Cassius’s biggest guards. So this was it, all the innuendoes and hushed half-truths had all been leading up to this. The final moment of truth. Well bring it on.

  ‘And what’s that, Cassius?’ I returned. ‘What Outsider sacrifice can possibly be so special in your perfect Civitas?’

  ‘Talia!’ August interjected, his voice strained.

  ‘Ah! Now now, August, she should know, don’t you think? It’s such an interesting part of the story. As it concerns the little red miracle that binds and defines us all.’

  I fixed on him, a slow realization spreading through my veins.

  ‘Yes, that’s it … clever girl, Talia … keep thinking,’ he crooned, his opal eyes glinting.

  ‘You see, I’m going to let you into a little secret, Talia. Hominum chimera wasn’t just my specialist project. Thomas was working on her too. And as much as Lake is my success, I do owe a little of her coding to him.’

  I thought of Thomas’s hand-drawn classical sketch of a chimera and knew this time Cassius was telling the truth, and revelling in every second.

  ‘And I’m sure Augustus has filled you in on her … morphing nature?’ he drawled.

  ‘Thomas more than understood Hominum chimera would be volatile and unpredictable. Such is her intrinsic nature, and perhaps her destiny, some would argue. However, he realized that without a measure, no one would be able to control her, and what use is the best biological weapon in the world without control? And so, my dear inquisitive, solution-hungry older brother developed one. Of course, his motivation was far more altruistic than mine has ever been. A control to give the creature a period of stability, he thought. But the end result was the same.’

  I stared, growing cold.

  ‘He developed an antidote of sorts – not to her chimerism, but to her volatility. A complex protein that would give her owner final control over which of her mythical natures dominated. And he hid that information where no one could ever find it.’

  My mind whirled and I thought of the Book of Arafel. Had he hidden it there among the dense pages of text?

  Cassius sneered, his black eyes like hard coals, revelling in my confusion.

  ‘Come come, Talia! The answer’s so simple even an Outsider should be able to guess at it …’

  There was a short theatrical silence and then he sighed.

  ‘It’s you, Talia! He hid the control inside his own bloodline.’

  For a second the room was completely silent, my shock so tangible I could almost taste it.

  And then, slowly, I swung my gaze to August, and his iris-blue eyes had never shone with more sadness. I swallowed to catch my breath. Why hadn’t he told me? It explained so much: Grandpa’s insistence I bore the legacy alone, August’s frustration and insistence there was a price on my head, Rajid’s curious suspicion, and Pan’s deference. Perhaps even Lake herself had sensed the connection.

  I looked back at Cassius, and drew myself up.

  ‘If the proteins are in my blood, they’re in yours too!’ I burned. ‘And what about Eli? Or is that the reason you’re already draining him dry!’

  ‘Ah well, that was the intention, I confess. But it turns out the proteins are time-sensitive, meaning they have a twenty-five-year lifespan inside any new Hanway embryo. That leaves you and your dear brother who, alas, doesn’t possess the purest blood type at all. So, there you are in the spotlight, Talia, and I know you’ll be obliging … the same way you would have been back in Pantheon, if we hadn’t been so rudely interrupted.’

  ‘Enough, Cassius!’ August roared, shaking free of the guards and hurtling forward.

  I saw Cassius had it then, The Book of Arafel, tucked tightly in the crook of his left arm. It was wrapped in a black cloth that had slipped, exposing a corner. The tatty brown, dog-eared village book took me back instantly. Back to a hunched old man shuffling through the Ring, back to the respect in which he was held, back to how much I’d let him down. It was the book I’d promised to defend until my dying breath. Dying. Dead. What had August said? Mass of the Dead … REQ … REQUIEM?

  Rapidly I recalled the picture Aelia had torn from Thomas’s research. The picture with three faded letters: REQ. Could they be an abbreviation for Mass of the Dead? It would make so much sense. I inhaled hoarsely, trying not to let the moment crack my mask. If I’d stumbled upon the last clue to the Voynich, Thomas’s keyword, the correct translation of the ancient Voynich could finally be within reach.

  Cassius’s hooded eyes glinted. I’d let the Book slip through my hands, and I was about as far away from being able to protect its secrets as I could ever be. I’d let Grandpa down, I’d let Max down, I’d let Eli down, I’d let August down and most of all, I’d let myself down. But there was one thing left I could do to offset it all.

  Grabbing a disinfectant-laden trolley, I sprinted towards the window at the back of the laboratory, and rammed with all my strength. It crashed against the fortified glass, which shuddered violently, before a single hairline fracture spread up and outwards like veins on a forest leaf. The tiny glass flakes paused before shattering, raining glass all over the floor.

  ‘Lake …? Are you hungry?’

  My voice reverberated through the still air. She had to have heard me. And sure enough, before I had time to call again, Lake’s honey-coloured, double-lidded eyes rose into view, together with the rest of her brutal reptilian profile.

  In the same moment, Jas sprang for Brutus. He reared to meet her, snapping his guard restraint, and instantly the room was in turmoil. I ran forward, only to be forced back by the sheer physicality of their combat. Razor-sharp claws pierced and raked, while Brutus’s heavier jaw ripped and mauled. Jas was easily the faster animal, repeatedly sidestepping his powerful swipes, but it was clear she was no match for Brutus’s violence. She traded blow for blow before leading Brutus from the room with a leap that made my heart swell with pride.

  ‘Arrest them!’

  Cassius’s command rose above the baying molossers who’d formed a tight pack in front of Lake’s head. And yet their protest, while vehement, seemed paltry against her savage design. I was so close I could see every marbled vein and the hot steam billowing from her thick nostrils.

  ‘Lake?’ I whispered and just for a second, there was a glimpse of recognition inside her liquid amber eyes. And then she bellowed her fury to the heavens.

  ‘Tal! Move!’

  August hurtled from nowhere as she opened her mouth, displaying enough teeth to shred a molossus in seconds. And just before the room disappeared inside a fireball of chemical heat and rage, I glimpsed those same distinctive eyelids lowering in vengeful satisfaction.

  The screams resonated longer than the burning, and the room was filled with a thick black choking smog that scorched my skin without the need for flames. But somehow, August wedged us tightly between two of the canisters, and their impenetrable material protected us from the worst.

  ‘Quick,’ he wheezed, coughing. ‘Get inside!’

  He pulled opened an empty canister and pushed me in, quickly pulling the heavy door closed after us, so there was barely room left to breathe.

  ‘Wait … Jas!’ I implored, as he shoved a white mask against my mouth. It smelled of the outside, of the forest, of home, and I inhaled deeply, letting its sweet intoxication carry me away.

  ‘There is no time,’ he whispered hoarsely.

  Then he held me tight while all around us, Isca burned.

  Chapter 24

  When a black aquila falls from the golden sky, it will spark a winter of a thousand fires.

  Cassius’s black angel of d
eath had dropped like a stone; but while Hominum chimera’s fire was intense, it alone was no winter of a thousand fires.

  We picked our way over the smoking debris, looking for survivors. Although there were a few charred, unidentifiable bodies, it seemed as though the majority of Cassius’s party had escaped. There was no sign of Jas or the draco either, although the fire had completely destroyed the tower perimeter. Side by side, we stared out at the early summer day, searching for a glimpse of either, but only a warbling bullfinch dared disturb the smoke shroud that hung over the research centre.

  And when finally we turned back to the canisters, Eli, Aelia and the rest of the occupants were just as we had found them. We knew their comatose state left us with little choice. Leave them to Cassius’s guard once news of the chimera’s disappearance reached Isca Pantheon. Or let them go.

  I stared through the glass into their familiar faces, not letting myself think about the absolute finality of the moment. All Aelia could do was glare back as though to say, What are you even waiting for?

  As for Eli – gentle, gifted Eli who’d been a part of me since I began – he would never know I hadn’t deserted him. And there were no words to explain the darkness that claimed every tiny heart capillary at the thought.

  The hurt welled again, like an unstoppable wave, taking with it every whisper of comfort I could drag up. I couldn’t let myself think where Max might be right at this moment, or what he might be going through. The thought of his teasing, Outsider face being any part of Pantheon’s cruel programme was almost too much to bear. And it was that desperation that was responsible for the thought. A last, wild thought.

  ‘Unus?’ I whispered, turning to look up into August’s sombre face.

  He was staring at Aelia, saying nothing.

  ‘Unus wouldn’t have left Aelia to this! Livia said he was too bulky to take far. He has to be here somewhere,’ I insisted.

  I thought back to the chaos in the cathedral, to the last time I saw Unus. And then to Livia’s words. What had she said? That he was safely garrisoned somewhere closer? Where would Livia put an irate Cyclops?