The Last City

by Nina D'Aleo

  ‘She started it,’ Shawe said.

  ‘Not another word, Shawe,’ Copernicus warned him, his voice dangerous. ‘Diega, fly.’

  The gangster muttered something. Diega gritted her teeth and drove the platform eastward around the great wall.

  Shawe called out when they reached a row of large circular metal hatches embedded in the black rock of the wall.

  ‘The centre one,’ Shawe told them.

  Diega set the platform down and the others stepped off. Silho felt Raine’s silky hands helping her to sit up. As soon as she did, the world spun around her and the call of the voices in the wall grew louder. The Wraith’s words did nothing to help her now.

  Copernicus turned to them, his eyes seeing beyond the surface, analysing the situation. He approached Silho, taking a syringe full of a green liquid out of his weapon belt.

  Raine stood up in front of Silho. She hissed, ‘She needs to stay awake. She needs to overcome the sickness.’

  ‘What my soldier needs is my business,’ the commander told her. ‘Move.’

  The red eyes of the he-Wraith flashed behind the grey of Raine’s stare. The sky above them darkened, but Copernicus didn’t back off. He sidestepped Raine and crouched down beside Silho. He spoke and his words cut clearly through the babble inside her head. His voice was even comforting.

  ‘This will help you for now. We’ll figure out something more permanent once we find shelter.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Silho managed to whisper and meant every letter of the words.

  He held one of her arms and pressed the needle into the skin. He pushed down on the plunger, but the liquid didn’t budge. The transparent plastic of the syringe fogged over. The substance inside was frozen. Copernicus looked up at Raine.

  ‘Thaw it – now.’

  The Wraith shook her head, the silver strands of her dark hair shimmering. ‘I can see. You are motivated by your own fear of the past, not by her pain. We will not allow you to compromise Silho’s progress.’

  The commander’s fury surfaced like a sudden deadly storm, but vanished again immediately as he regained control. When he spoke his voice was flat, devoid of emotion.

  ‘You’re right. I am afraid. I’m afraid of what I’m seeing inside my soldier. I’m afraid that her pain will grow until her mind is gone and her heart stops. I’m afraid that the blind fanaticism of the spectral-breed standing before me will prevent me from administering the aid that she needs before it’s too late. And I’m afraid that afterwards there will be nothing much left of the spectral-breed once I’m finished with her.’

  ‘She’s far stronger than you think,’ Raine responded. Her eyes shifted rapidly as though the he-Wraith was trying to take over their form.

  ‘Your other half doubts her,’ Copernicus said. ‘So you’re divided against yourself. You’re confused and I’m supposed to trust your judgement over my own?’

  ‘You can trust that we’d die for Silho, for her cause,’ Raine said. ‘She needs to overcome her physical pain. She needs your help – but not in this way. You have to teach her. Only you can. How long she suffers is up to you.’

  ‘Are we doing this or what?’ Shawe called back to them from where he and Diega stood beside the wall.

  ‘I’m holding you responsible for whatever happens to Silho after this,’ Copernicus said to the Wraith.

  ‘My thoughts spoken,’ Raine countered.

  Copernicus gave her a dark look. He lifted Silho in one arm, carrying her so that her face pressed against his shoulder. Inside her mind she was screaming at Raine to let him help her, but she couldn’t make a sound.

  The commander stopped beside Diega and nodded to her. She tightened the sling tying SevenM to her body and said, ‘Dimenef traml.’ The hatch shrank down, exposing a gaping black hole in the wall.

  The evil stench that blasted out forced everyone to step back. Diega gagged.

  Shawe wafted the air towards Copernicus’ face and said, ‘Smell that aroma . . . it’s a million times worse down there. Sure you can handle it?’

  ‘Follow me in,’ Copernicus responded. He carried Silho to the hole, climbed through and dropped some distance into the pipe below. They splattered down in knee-high filth. The all-consuming stink hit them so hard that Silho’s senses cleared a bit. The commander swore and she heard Shawe laughing at them from above. Copernicus took the light-blaster from his belt and shone it upwards, catching Diega dropping down. Shawe followed straight after, spraying everyone with muck. Diega snarled a string of curses in her native language.

  ‘Did I get you?’ Shawe laughed. ‘My apologies.’

  Copernicus directed the beam of light into the gangster’s face, forcing Shawe to look away. He then turned and headed down the pipe.

  The water level rose steadily the further in they went, and soon they were swimming. Copernicus and Diega dragged Silho through. The voices she heard down here were softer, but they whispered darker things, haunting her mind. Shawe started singing an off-key Galley tune. Silho kept her mouth shut and tried to breathe as little as possible, until something huge and slippery eeled around her legs. She gasped, sucking in some of the filth and gagging it back up. Blinking into light-form vision, she stared down into the murky waters. The body-lights of something massive were circling underneath them.

  ‘What’s that?’ Diega said, as it touched her as well.

  ‘Probably just a Spitting Myban,’ Shawe said from behind them. ‘Harmless – except in mating season.’

  ‘What happens in mating season?’ Diega asked, anticipating bad news from the smug look on Shawe’s face.

  ‘They spit out live offspring that burrow into the skin of whoever they come across. The little ones feed on body fluids until they’re big enough to break out.’

  ‘When is mating season?’ Diega said.

  ‘Who knows?’ Shawe replied with a grin in his voice.

  Silho heard the Wraith hiss a Cos enchant, ‘Sapphire.’

  Whatever the creature was, it dived away until Silho lost sight of its body-lights.

  ‘Left!’ Shawe bellowed. ‘The second ladder.’

  They followed his directions and found a rust-eaten ladder leading up to another sealed-off hatch. Diega tried to morph it, but this one didn’t change.

  ‘Must have something living growing on it,’ she said. ‘We’ll have to clean it.’

  ‘Out of the way, sunshine.’ Shawe palmed her aside and climbed the ladder. It creaked and groaned, straining under his weight. He pressed against the porthole with one hand and it broke upwards. The gangster hauled himself out of the hole and reached his hands back down. Copernicus lifted Silho into the gangster’s rough grasp and he dragged her up onto a backstreet in Moris-Isles. He leaned her against a wall and straightened to eye the few passers-by. They rushed past.

  A sudden onslaught of voices and images filled Silho’s mind. The force of the attack sent her sprawling onto her side. The mental pain of the visions was starting to overcome the physical pain of the drug withdrawal. The skin of her face and head felt too tight for the bones. From somewhere among the lost voices in the walls, Silho heard Jude calling to her – I’m under attack as well. Look at your locator. Can you see me?

  Shawe pulled Silho upright and studied her with sharp green eyes. ‘Girl, you don’t look so good,’ the gangster murmured. ‘How about a smoke?’ He took out his packet of cigarettes, but it was drenched with sewer water. ‘Maybe not,’ he said and threw them into the gutter. He took out his flask instead and put it up to her lips. The fumes alone made her head snap back.

  ‘I said no, Shawe,’ Copernicus said as he and Diega emerged from the porthole in the footpath.

  ‘Then what? She needs something.’

  Copernicus glanced around them. He slipped a syringe out of his belt. Immediately the plastic fogged over again as the substance froze. Raine stepped up out of the ground beside Silho. She and the commander exchanged loaded looks.

  Shawe glanced from one of them to the other and
asked, ‘So what are we doing here?’

  ‘We have to go to the place where the Skreaf took Jude and try to find a lead,’ the commander said.

  ‘Follow me,’ Raine hissed. ‘I’ll take you.’

  ‘Will you,’ Copernicus said dryly. He took the dissipater restraint off his belt and wrapped it around his wrist ready for use. ‘Just in case.’

  Raine regarded him with ambivalence. She turned and drifted away down the street. Copernicus lifted Silho and the ground blurred beneath her as the commander’s soundless steps moved through Moris-Isles.

  Raine took the team through the underside suburb, bringing them to the street to where Silho had fled the night before. She recognised the Burrower hole through which Raine had dragged her to save her life. Beyond that was the place where the witches had surrounded Jude. The walls of the alleyway were blackened and sprayed with white machine-breed blood. There was a sticky pool of it on the ground.

  The team entered the alley. Copernicus studied the blood-spatter pattern and the blackness of the walls. He set Silho down on the ground and took a Grenyen Glass light, designed to detect the presence of magics, from his weapon belt and shone it on the stain. Everyone jolted. The black was not a simple stain. It was a mass of overlapping Skreaf symbols, the triangle within a triangle within a square. Demon faces, an echo of the magics that had created the stain, pushed out of the blackness and snarled at them. Diega stumbled back and struck her ankle against something hard buried in the garbage strewn on the ground. She bent over and dragged out Jude’s communicator. The internals were completely burnt out and obliterated. Copernicus took it from her and examined it before handing it back. Diega’s face set into a stony expression.

  ‘They’ve left no tracks,’ the commander said. He glanced at the Wraith. ‘Do you know where they took the prisoners?’

  Raine shook her head. ‘We’ve told you everything we know.’

  Silho looked at the pool of drying white blood and a blinding flood of flowing colour drowned her senses. Distorted sounds first shrieked then bellowed, booming in her ears, shaking her skull. Several clear images fought through the confusion. She saw Jude being struck by a curse and falling. White blood sprayed from an injury to his neck. The witches gathered around him and she heard some words – now . . . go . . . take him . . . the holding . . . this one . . .

  She resurfaced to Copernicus shaking her. She could hear a gurgling, choking sound and it was several moments before she realised it was coming from her. With intense effort, she managed to tell them what she had seen and heard.

  ‘Jude was bleeding white blood?’ Diega said at the end. ‘That’s not possible. She must be wrong.’

  ‘Maybe not,’ Copernicus said and Diega gave him a questioning look.

  Shawe spoke up. ‘The holding? You think that means one of the minimum-security pens?’

  ‘We know the witches have infiltrated the military, so it’s a possibility,’ the commander said.

  ‘So there’s how many,’ Shawe said, ‘five, right? Sydnoble, Castlereagh, Penright, Darby and Firestone. Which one is it?’

  Copernicus shook his head, then his attention snapped towards something beyond the alley.

  ‘Don’t linger,’ Raine hissed. ‘We’re not alone.’ She stepped into the wall and vanished.

  Copernicus dragged Silho up and threw her over his shoulder.

  The team moved out of the street, heading for the main drag of Mortimer Road.

  ‘We need to find a place to lie low until dark,’ Copernicus said, looking behind them after every few metres. ‘Somewhere well hidden.’

  ‘What about a pub cellar or that ammunition hold in Cleary?’ Diega suggested.

  ‘Too public – too out in the open,’ Copernicus replied. He turned to Shawe. ‘Do you remember that decommissioned research lab under the river in Nureyev where we used to go as kids? Do you know if it’s still standing?’

  Shawe shrugged. ‘Maybe. It’s worth a look. Easiest way there is through the water pipes.’

  ‘Fastest way is to boost a craft and fly,’ Diega said.

  ‘What about skyblocks?’ the gangster asked.

  ‘I can sense them. We’ll find ways around,’ Copernicus said. ‘We have to keep a low profile and move fast.’

  The group turned a corner and hit Prospera Street, the longest stretch of grindhouses and strip joints in the city. The buildings here were fashioned around different themes. Flashing neon lights in every blackened window made promises to passers-by of what they’d find inside. Half-naked women, men and all kinds in between loitered around in groups.

  ‘There,’ Diega said, pointing to a shiny silver transflyer with the name of EnvyMe parked in front of one of the grindhouses. The craft had a stretched centre and illegal blinder lights at the front and sides. ‘It’s seriously modified. It’s got the speed we’ll need if we’re made.’

  Two burly thugs dressed in matching black stood at the door of the building in front of the craft.

  ‘I’ll distract them,’ Copernicus said. ‘Diega, get the craft. We’ll all meet up at —’ He stopped as Shawe broke off from the group and charged the men. He punched one and then the other, dropping them both instantly. The gangster turned back to the team and a third man who had been hidden by the doorway lunged out and stabbed a knife into Shawe’s back. The blade ripped through the gangster’s jacket and shirt, hit his skin and snapped in half. Shawe turned and the man’s face twisted with terror as he saw who it was. Shawe slammed the thug headfirst into a wall and he slumped to the ground, where he stayed.

  ‘Go,’ Copernicus said to Diega. She ran out and the commander followed, carrying Silho. Diega fried the craft’s security system with a device from her weapon belt and they leapt in. The Fen gripped the steering hook and brought the engines roaring to life. The craft lifted into the air as more thugs spilled out of the brothel. The hyper-speed function kicked in and Diega sped the transflyer straight upwards. The force pinned everyone to their seats. Copernicus glanced at Shawe sitting beside Silho in the back seat.

  ‘What?’ the gangster said.

  ‘Low profile,’ Copernicus reminded him. ‘The last thing we need is K-Ruz finding our tracks.’

  Shawe snorted. ‘Let him come.’

  Silho blinked and time skipped. She fought through to awareness as Diega landed the craft in a side street in the suburb of Nureyev.

  27

  The Catadral Mercy stood as one of the oldest churches in Scorpia, one of only three from the Neothessalonic Era to have survived the gorgon attack in the year-cycle of the Thorn. Its steepled roof and belltower cast a far-stretching shadow across the Asher River, which passed along one side of the church. The choppy brown waters of Scorpia’s main river rushed through most levels of the city through interconnected pipeways and waterfalls. Silho, draped over Shawe’s arm, smelt the river scent of sediment sludge as the team approached the front of the Catadral.

  She blinked to adjust her eyes to the soft candlelight as they entered and felt Shawe shiver at the drop in temperature. His footsteps echoed on the uneven stone floor, marked with the tombs of the great and mostly forgotten. Immense columns reached up to the ceiling where the famous painting, Creo Paradisum, had been born and painstakingly restored. Silho glanced up at the artwork and instantly regretted it. There was so much history in the picture that it felt like being plugged into electricity. She tore her eyes away, focusing on the few random human-breeds kneeling at the front of the church.

  Shawe paused to cross himself three times then followed Copernicus to a shadowy corner of the great building hidden by a pair of confession boxes. The commander indicated to Diega to keep watch for witnesses and knelt down beside the wall. He slid his blade behind one of the stones and pried until it loosened and he was able to drag it out. The stone was a fraction of the thickness it appeared to be, a mere façade to hide the opening into the tunnel behind it, which was barely big enough for them to slither inside.

  Copernicus and Diega en
tered and Shawe pushed Silho in after them. Hands grasped her, dragging her through to the end of the tunnel where it dropped down to a pipe below. Here the air tasted stale and metallic and Silho heard the sounds of rushing water all around them. Copernicus grabbed her up and moved the team through the pipe.

  Their boots splashed through ankle-high water until the commander stopped at a metal hatch with a heavily rusted opening circle. Shawe took the levers and heaved. The metal screeched, unwilling, but it stood no chance against the gangster’s strength. He turned the circle until they heard the clank of a lock shunting open. Shawe lifted the hatch and Copernicus dropped down with Silho. He sat her on the ground and flicked on the lights of the abandoned underwater research facility. Boxes lined the walls where dirt-frosted windows looked out into the river. Shawe and Diega’s boots thudded down near Silho.

  Shawe looked around. ‘Been a while,’ he grunted. He and Copernicus locked eyes, then both looked away.

  Silho turned towards a window and peered, with stinging eyes, through a cleared patch of glass. She looked down on one of the underwater suburbs of the city, inhabited by the human-breeds of aquatic bloodlines. Rock and coral houses crowded the river base and the streets teemed with water dwellers going about their daily lives. Some rode seahorses, others darted here and there on flat flying-carpet stingrays or giant anaconda eels. Those who lived here had built up resistance to the corrosive pollutants of the Asher River.

  Silho heard fewer voices down here, but now they were yelling and the visions were lasting longer and longer. She shook her head, trying to clear a space in her mind to think. She spotted SevenM lying on a table nearby where Diega had put him. The robot’s eyes were dull. The commander started rummaging through boxes, pulling out tech equipment and handing it to Diega.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Shawe asked them.

  ‘We have to set up a hedging device to stop the military from tracking us when we ring out,’ Copernicus told him.