Fire Soldiers

by David J Normoyle

  “So smoke sentinels are the heroes,” I said. “And what about fire sentinels?”

  “I don’t think there have been any fire sentinels. Yet.” Jo shot a glance my way. “I guess they are holding judgment on how to present them to the public.”

  Depending on what happened. Perhaps even depending on what I did. “Who’s making the cartoon?” I asked.

  Jo shrugged. “That I don’t know.”

  “The powers that be,” Pete said. “Who else?”

  The Sentinel Order was my guess. Lowndes was arresting the shades without trial, and showing shades in a bad light would make her actions more palatable to the public.

  “Have you heard from Tyler?” Jo asked.

  Pete turned away. “Nope. He’s just gone.”

  In a whirlwind romance I would never in a million years have expected, Tyler and Florence had fallen madly in love and decided to leave Lusteer together. That had been a month ago. Or had it been two. Ever since I’d first met them, Pete and Tyler had been inseparable, sitting on that couch together smoking weed and talking nonsense. It was strange seeing Pete on his own.

  “You miss him?” Jo asked.

  “Miss him? He’s just a dude, dude,” Pete said.

  “Well, I miss him,” Jo said. “I’m happy he found someone though.”

  “He’s a coward,” Pete said. “He ran away.”

  “That’s not fair,” Jo said. “He shouldn’t have left without saying goodbye. And he should have gotten in contact when he found somewhere new to stay.”

  “Florence was hot,” I said. “The boy did well. We shouldn’t begrudge him.”

  “Dude, he didn’t leave because of her. She was willing to stay. He left because he was scared. The supernatural has arrived, a war is beginning, and Lusteer will be at the heart of it.”

  Those words caused a shiver to run up my spine. A war of supernaturals. If that happened, it wasn’t just Lusteer who would be at the heart of it; I would be too. “He just wanted a fresh start,” I said. “Nothing wrong with that.” I tilted my neck to the side, gesturing toward the exit. “We should go, Jo, if we are going.”

  She nodded and led the way back out into the hall and out the front door. I followed. On the doorstep, a stream of sunlight hit my eyes. I raised my hands to shield my face, feeling almost vampire-like in my aversion to the sun. Perhaps I had spent too long in bed recently. Just before the door shut behind us, I heard a shout from Pete, which I ignored.

  Jo stopped at the end of the garden path. “How do you really feel about Tyler leaving?” she asked me.

  “Why would I feel anything? He was just one of the guys who held court in the dusty smoke-filled downstairs living room here in Ten-two.”

  “He was more than that. He was part of the little family we once had.”

  “If we had that, it was short lived, and it’s now long gone.” Jo and Alex had only stayed with me for ten months before they discovered that I’d been responsible for the death of their parents. I felt a sharp pang, remembering what the power inside me had taken from Jo and Alex. The pain of what happened to Sash was more recent, but that didn’t mean older wounds had healed over.

  “Just beca—”

  Jo was interrupted by the front door of Ten-two crashing open as Pete dashed out. “Wait for me, dudes.” He skidded to a stop beside us.

  “What’s going on?” I asked. “And why are you carrying that.” He held a bow in one hand and a quiver of arrows in the other.

  “I’ve decided to fight,” Pete said.

  “Fight who,” I asked.

  “The bad guys,” he said.

  “Fight how?”

  He raised his bow. “The L-SED use crossbows, so I figured this will do as well.”

  “It looks like a toy,” Jo said.

  It did look rather flimsy. “Perhaps it’s meant more as an ornament,” I said.

  Pete lifted it to examine it. “I don’t think so, dude.” Then, more firmly: “No, it works.”

  “You haven’t even practiced with it?” I asked.

  “I’ll learn on the job.”

  “What job? This isn’t like in the movies. We don’t even know who the bad guys are.” I knew much more than Pete, and I hadn’t a clue. The Sentinel Order was supposed to be on the side of protecting humanity from shades, but Elizabeth Lowndes wasn’t exactly acting like one of the good guys.

  “You’re a fire sentinel, dude,” Pete said. “I’m ready to follow you into battle.”

  “That’s dumb, I’m not reliable enough to be followed to the nearest bar, never mind into battle,” I said. “Plus, I’m just going to talk to someone. A young girl. No fighting involved.”

  “Oh. I thought when Jo kickstarted you into action that… Especially with everything going on these days…” Pete trailed off.

  “Why don’t you practice with the bow and arrow?” Jo suggested. “So you’ll be better prepared if they is any fighting at a later time.”

  Pete returned to Ten-two, his head hung low and one end of the bow scraping along the ground behind him.

  “What’s got into him?” Jo asked. “He’s the last person I’d expect to want to do any fighting.”

  “I’m as surprised as you. Usually, it’s impossible to get him off the couch, and here he comes bounding out of the house like a lamb who’s just smelled spring.” I shook my head. “He’ll probably light up a spliff and forget all about it.” Hopefully.

  Jo gestured at my scooter parked further up the street. “What happened to that?”

  I groaned and walked over to stand beside it. Both wheels were punctured. “No idea.”

  “We’ll walk to the main road and flag a taxi from there.” Jo slanted a glance my way. “You didn’t know Lowndes is leading the L-SED, you haven’t watched any of that propaganda cartoons, you didn’t know Pete is preparing for battle, you didn’t even know your scooter is punctured. You are clueless about a lot of things right now.”

  “Sticking one’s head in the sand is a life choice these days,” I said. “It’s not just for ostriches any longer.” Before following Jo, though, I stopped for a final look at the scooter. Leaves were entwined in the spokes of one wheel, and several cobwebs were strung along its body. I’d been in a serious funk, but I didn’t remember it as being that long since I’d last used my scooter.

  Had I spent much longer in bed than I realized or was there something else going on?

  Chapter 3

  Tuesday 13:05

  After the taxi driver dropped us off, Jo led us across the street to Hotel Tiberius, a small redbrick place with white shutters drawn closed across the windows. The car park was empty, and rows of leafy weeds grew from cracks at the front entrance. The pair of double doors at the main entrance was also white, though some of the paint was flaking away and the surface was pockmarked with dents.

  Jo turned the handle and pushed. The hinges creaked loudly. With the door halfway open, I saw enough to grab Jo’s arm. “Are you sure we are in the right place?” Inside, the hotel lobby looked like a refugee camp. Small clusters of dirty figures huddled together around bedrolls and makeshift tents.

  Jo shook off my hand. “We are.” She marched inside, navigating a path between the clusters of people. She threw small smiles to either side at those we passed. We received return looks that were much less friendly. Many wore shapeless robes, clothes that allowed shifters to transform to their animal form and back without becoming undressed. I stayed close to Jo, ready to act if one of them made a move.

  Jo made her way toward stairs at the back of the lobby, and we had almost reached it when a man rose from where he’d sat with his back to the pillar.

  “An enemy comes sneaking in, and none of us is going to do anything.” He blocked our path and addressed the crowd behind us. “Are we that cowed?” The man was a slight figure with bronzed skin and a hooked nose. He was unshaven, wearing tattered robes. A bandage around his shoulder was loose. His eyes were wild, almost feverish. He was vaguely fami
liar, but I couldn’t place him.

  “Come on, Ringo. Leave us by,” Jo said. “You know me. Rune’s not an enemy.”

  “What else could a fire sentinel be but an enemy?” he asked loudly, looking around. People shifted restlessly, but no one moved to support his tirade against us. Ringo turned his focus on me. “You don’t remember me, do you? I drove you once. Back when we were just building the JC. Before it was taken and used as a weapon against us.”

  “I remember.” It came back to me. He’d been an eagle shifter protecting the JC when Sash and I had climbed over a wall to enter the grounds. The brief memory of Sash twisted my gut, but I put it out of my mind. “I worked hard on building the prison just like you did. I had nothing to do with the L-SED taking control of it after.”

  Ringo shoved his face into mine, and I lurched back. “Your kind did. Elizabeth Lowndes and her force of thugs.” The putrid smell coming from his shoulder wound made me want to gag.

  “I’m not involved on either side,” I said. “And I intend to keep it that way.”

  Ringo laughed harshly. “You’re a sentinel. There ain’t no fence sitting for the likes of you. You’re on one side or the other.”

  “Just let us through. We don’t want any trouble,” Jo said. “And Rune has nothing to do with Lowndes or the L-SED.”

  “What’s he doing then? Did Harriet Ashley okay his being here?” Ringo asked. Throughout the lobby, everyone watched us with interest, but still no one moved to stand with him. Not yet, at least.

  “He’s just here to talk to Ally,” Jo said. “It’s not a big deal.”

  Ringo pointed a finger at Jo. “And you shouldn’t be around here either. You are only making things worse.”

  I shoved him back. “Get out of our faces!” I shouted.

  “I’m not afraid of you,” Ringo said. Then, louder, addressing those around him, he said, “We’re not afraid. We outnumber sentinels.”

  A flash of movement blurred behind Ringo as someone rapidly arrived from his left. I took a few steps back, using one hand to keep Jo behind me and raising the other, preparing to summon a firesword.

  Ringo half-turned, a smile appearing on his lips. But his grin was quickly wiped from his face when he was grabbed by the neck and shoved against the pillar beside him. I exhaled. Nathan, Harriet’s second in command, was on our side of the argument, it turned out. Nathan was a bear shifter, a big man with a blocky head and huge shoulders.

  “You’re hurting my shoulder,” Ringo whined.

  “You know the rules,” Nathan said. “No hurting humans.”

  “He’s not human,” Ringo said.

  “The girl is.” Nathan released Ringo.

  “I didn’t try to hurt her,” Ringo said. “Plus, the rules that have been thrust upon us are stupid. We don’t attack humans, and still they hate and fear us. Harriet’s tactics are failing us.”

  “It’s not a tactic,” Nathan said. “It’s a way of life. We aren’t in Brimstone anymore. We left behind the continual conflict. We need to adapt to the best of Earth and not bring the worse of Brimstone here.”

  “The best of Earth? Open your eyes.” Ringo flung his arm out to indicate the lobby of shades. “We are running when we should be fighting. We cower like trapped vermin, and still the L-SED will end up catching us. Harriet Ashley is leading us all straight to hell.”

  Nathan growled in the back of his throat. “The door is just over there. You’re welcome to leave at any time. Try to make it on your own.” Nathan then turned on his heel and started up the stairs. “You two, come.”

  He didn’t turn to make sure we followed, or even specify which two he was referring to. Nevertheless, Jo and I quickly followed, catching up with him as we all reached the first floor landing. Once we were out of sight of the lobby, Nathan turned on me. “What are you doing here?”

  I took a step back. Nathan didn’t grab me by neck like he’d done to Ringo, but from the way he opened and closed his fists, he was itching to do just that. “I’m touring the shithole hotels of Lusteer. What are you doing here?”

  “Don’t get cute,” Nathan said. “You can’t just turn up here like this.”

  “Really? Because I think I just did.”

  “It’s my fault,” Jo said. “I didn’t tell Rune where we were going. I thought that if he talked to Ally… You know how she is; she needs something. I didn’t expect anyone downstairs to even notice Rune, never mind confront him.”

  “You badly misjudged the situation.” Nathan studied Jo. “But it’s done now. I’ll talk to Harriet; we’ll try to figure out how he fits in with what we are doing.”

  “You don’t need to talk to anyone about me,” I said. “I’m just here to talk to Ally, then I’m gone again. I’m not getting involved.”

  “I wouldn’t get my hopes raised about the girl if I were you, Jo,” Nathan said. “I’ve seen it before. It doesn’t end well.”

  “She has the strength,” Jo said. “She needs to find how to get the elemental inside her to work with her instead of against.”

  “What she has is raw power,” Nathan said. “And lots of it. Which means that others might have to intervene if she remains unstable. Don’t get any more attached than you are already.”

  “She’ll pull through,” Jo insisted. “You’ll see. Come on, Rune.” She led me further down the corridor, leaving Nathan behind.

  “What’s happening in this hotel?” I asked. “Who are all those people staying here?”

  “Shades on the run,” Jo said. “The L-SED started off by tracking lone shades, so they started banding together. Lately, shade hideaways like this one have been targeted. Everyone’s on edge.”

  “You could have warned me what to expect.”

  “What kind of place did you expect Ally to be hiding out in?”

  “I didn’t know she needed to hide out.”

  “Now you do.” Jo came to a stop outside a door. “Wait here. I’ll find out if she’ll agree to see you.”

  “You drag me all this way, and you don’t even know if she’ll see me?”

  Jo shrugged. “Worse case, I got you out of bed.”

  “Worse case, I end up fighting against a hotel of shades.” I raised a palm to forestall Jo from arguing. “Just go.”

  Jo tapped lightly on the door. “Ally, it’s me. Jo.” She then opened the door, pushed inside and closed it behind her.

  I shook my head. I shouldn’t have let Jo bring me here.

  That’s right, you should haven’t, Jerome thought. Some good movies were on later. Jerome was the elemental trapped inside my barbed wire necklace, and he hadn’t been communicating with me much recently.

  Where have you been lately? I thought.

  Your head has been a rather bleak place.

  Where else can you go? Aren’t you trapped? I thought.

  I’ve learned to make the best of a bad situation. I have lurked in the depths away from your surface thoughts. I got sick of you whining. ‘It’s all my fault. I loved her and I killed her. My power is nothing but a curse. It’s all my fault.’

  I never said any of that.

  Maybe not out loud. But your mind was like a wonky washing machine rattling violently while it spun those thoughts at full speed. You can’t blame me for tuning out.

  And you just zoned out. You didn’t intervene in any way?

  I still watched through your eyes, Jerome thought. I just engaged with your mind as little as possible.

  I thought back to his comment about missing movies and remembered the amount of times I’d lain in bed with the TV on, not concentrating on what I was watching. You were manipulating me, weren’t you? I thought.

  No, just ignoring you.

  The TV just always happened to be on even if I wasn’t watching it.

  Oh, that.

  So you admit it?

  I gave you a nudge here and there about what to press on the remote. What does it matter? You weren’t paying much attention.

  It matters. It matters
a lot. Jerome had once tried to take total control of me.

  The principle of it, is that what’s bothering you? Jerome thought. Free will and all that.

  Even though it was a big deal, I couldn’t summon the energy to get angry. It’s more than just principle, and you know it.

  Free will isn’t worth much if you don’t use it, Jerome suggested.

  I do intend… Just stay out of my head. I’d been initially glad to hear Jerome after all that time. That gladness hadn’t lasted long.

  I’m glad Jo got you moving, Jerome thought. Though I noticed you didn’t mention your plan to run away.

  I’m not running away.

  You didn’t explain why you defended Tyler leaving Lusteer, did you? It’s because you are planning on doing the exact same thing.

  That’s not why I defended Tyler. Jerome might have been quiet, but he had been paying attention. I remembered my shock at seeing how disused my scooter was. Could Jerome had been influencing my state of mind, pulling me deeper into a funk of bleak nothingness?

  Not at all. Of course not, Jerome thought, in response to a question I didn’t ask him.

  The door opened and Jo emerged. She frowned. “You talking to it again.”

  “It? Oh, you mean Jerome. How did you know?”

  “You fiddle with the necklace, and your eyes focus on the distance.”

  “I do?” I glanced down and noticed that my fingers were running along the necklace. I snatched my hand away. “Why do you call Jerome an it? Aren’t you all about the shades being treated like everyone else?”

  “Jerome isn’t a shade, he’s, I don’t know, a disembodied elemental. Plus, not all shades can be trusted,” Jo said. “Just like sentinels. There’s a massive difference between you and Lowndes and between Ally and Ringo. Everyone, whether shade, sentinel, politician, elemental, basketmaker, shopkeeper, or whatever should be judged on what they do, not how they are.”

  Disembodied elemental, Jerome thought. Nice. I’m using that as the name of my first rock band.

  “Jerome hasn’t had a chance to do much,” I said. “Being disembodied and all.”