And indeed she wanted me dead.
Her Fragment reconfigured back into its default jousting lance form.
With a hand feebly pressing down on the wound in my chest, I watched her gather an effect-field around her legs and feet. A moment later, she used the field to launch herself at me, the tip of her lance aimed straight at my chest.
I chose not to close my eyes but to look her in the eyes all the way through to the moment I was impaled by her lance.
But it never happened.
No longer over-clocked, my mind had trouble processing what I saw.
A blur, human shaped, swept past me and landed hard on the bridge before me.
The air glazed, turning almost opaque as a barrier-field clashed with another field. The affected area was as wide as the bridge and a dozen feet high.
I’d never seen a field so strong before.
I could hear the air crackle and the glazing waver as the field held back Constance and her lance.
My eyes finally settled on the sight of a young man, dressed in denim trousers, running shoes and a loose fitting summer shirt.
A shield-blade wrapped around his right hand and forearm.
And another shield-blade protected his left arm.
Caelum.
Despite the pain that made the rest of my body feel distant and numb, my mind worked well enough to recognize him.
But it had trouble believing what I saw.
Two gauntlets. Two shield-blades. One growing out of each forearm.
I’d never seen the Fragment in that configuration before. The oval shielding had split length wise several times, and extended outwards, offering a wider area of coverage. The sword-like blades resembled the Saracen blades of old. And the barrier-field was stronger than any I’d ever seen Caelum’s Fragment produce before today.
But it was the look on Caelum’s face, what little of it I could see, that surprised me the most.
The look of pure rage and murderous intent.
A look Constance would probably remember for many years to come.
#
(Caelum)
Ignoring the two girls splashing in the water, I began pedaling furiously while steering for the bridge. The electric motor that supplanted my efforts hummed loudly and the duck swayed considerably as its feet kicked energetically below the water.
Aiming the boat for a point under the bridge where the duck head would come close to it, I stopped pedaling but left the throttle on the electric motor wide open.
Then I climbed out of the cabin, and onto the duck’s back.
Holding onto the duck’s glass fiber neck, I stood up on the swaying boat.
The underside of the bridge was overhead now.
I jumped up with all the strength my legs could muster, and my fingers caught the bridge. My body swung to and fro for a few frightful moments before I was able to get a better grip on the bridge.
After that I hauled myself up with surprising ease, glad that Haruka’s blood was still helping me out by having her Symbiote lend me its strength.
Climbing over the permacrete guardrail, my feet had no sooner touched ground when another violent crash rocked the bridge. Landing on my hands and knees I looked toward the center of the bridge where the two combatants clashed amidst the mist of powdered bridge fragments. Both were moving with lightning speed. If I wasn’t over-clocked I’d never be able to follow their movements.
I’d have missed the moment Constance stabbed Caprice in the chest.
In agonizing detail I saw the blade pierce her body, emerging a foot out of her back.
In my mind, that moment lasted an eternity.
I felt an agonizing pain in my chest as surely as though I’d been stabbed by Constance’s weapon.
Caprice flew backwards threw the air and landed on the bridge, her body mere meters away from me. Blood spurted from the wound in her chest.
In the next moment, my mind and vision turned white.
When it cleared, I was on my feet and my Fragment had manifested the shield-blade on my right arm. I kicked off the ground, but when I did I moved with far greater speed than ever before. I landed on the bridge at a point between Caprice and Constance who had pushed off in an effect-field assisted leap.
Over-clocked or not, I had no time to think.
I planted myself firmly in front of Constance. She was fixated on Caprice. She hadn’t even realized I was already in her path. That gave her no time to make any move to avoid me.
The right shield-blade extended laterally, doubling its width. The barrier-field generated with milliseconds to spare.
When Constance’s piercer-field clashed with my barrier, I fully expected to be knocked back, but instead I felt myself anchored to the bridge. I couldn’t understand why, until a part of my mind told me I had a shield-blade attached to my left forearm. That shield-blade had extended an effect-field that anchored me to the bridge, and pushed back against Constance.
The barrier-field I’d thrown up between us flexed and wavered but held steady.
I resolved I wouldn’t lose to her.
I was going to make Constance hurt for what she’d done.
Blood would be paid by blood.
The moment I sensed her piercer-field weaken, I willed my Fragment to generate a piercer-field around my right blade.
Concentrating even harder, I pushed the image of my intended action into my Fragment.
Then Constance’s field collapsed, and I slashed upwards with my right shield-blade.
It was a narrow cut, but it sliced through the protective field generated by her skinsuit.
It sliced the skinsuit, from her navel to her left shoulder.
If not for the field protecting me, her blood would have splashed onto my face and shirt.
As it was, the barrier-field my right gauntlet was still producing slammed into her body, catapulting her backwards through the air like a rag doll.
I think I might have heard a boom in the air, but I could have been wrong. However, I did hear the sound of rushing wind as the shockwave generated by my right shield-blade rolled the length of the bridge.
Constance landed at the distant foot of the bridge. Her body rolled over a number of times before coming to a stop prone where the bridge met the bank of the water course. A wispy black mist surrounded her and the jousting lance she’d held onto disappeared into pocket space.
I stood up slowly, at least it felt slow compared to my movements only heartbeats ago.
I was still over-clocked which is why I felt the bridge a few feet ahead of me begin to break apart.
Without giving it a second thought, I turned and ran for Caprice who’d fallen on her side.
A heartbeat later I released my mental hold on the shield-blades adorning my left and right arms. The cold mist enveloped my body but I kept running for Caprice. By the time I skidded to a crouching halt beside her, my arms were free of the gauntlets.
Caprice’s eyes moved, but they were slow to focus on me.
I scooped her up into my arms, her body slick with the blood that pumped feebly through her wound. I pushed off on my bent legs, and ran for the end of the bridge. Behind me, a large section of the bridge broke apart and collapse into the water course. I heard the water geyser into the air but I refused to turn as I ran for the safety of the bank. Only when I’d set foot on firm ground did I slow to a stop and half turn to look behind me.
The bridge was split in two.
A ragged section that could have been many meters across had crashed into the water.
I realized it was fortunate that no one had been anywhere near it at the time.
Then I remembered the Countess and Prissila whom I’d left in the water.
Despite holding onto Caprice, I looked about for the two girls in the direction where I most expected them to have swum ashore.
I guessed right and I saw them running toward me.
But they came to a sudden stop, spying something or someone behind me.
&
nbsp; With Caprice in my arms, I half turned and saw hundreds of people lining the bank of the water course. Hundreds more watched from the opposite shore.
And dozens of security guards stood with stun batons raised, uncertain of what to do next.
I understood why.
All of them were terrified. They were terrified of me.
Warm droplets splashed on my cheek.
Caprice coughed up blood and her body shivered violently.
I swallowed and turned to Simone and Prissila.
I dropped to my knees with the girl that until moments ago had never felt so precious to me.
A girl I’d taken for granted for the past seven months.
“Please…help me…help me save her!”
I fought back against the despair tearing into my heart.
I lost.
“Someone—please save her!”
Reflections – 9.
Considering how powerful Fragments and Artifacts are, why did the Prides assign them to Familiars?
That being asked, not all Familiars are entrusted with a Fragment or Artifact.
The few that are – which I know to be a minority of Familiars– are labeled as Specials.
Within that classification are additional ranks and classes.
A Familiars overall rank is a based on a combination of their Fragment or Artifact, and how well they can use it.
So why entrust powerful weapons to a select few?
Well, because only a Familiar can fight a Familiar.
And because the Prides felt Familiars were ably suited to do their dirty work.
Assassination, covert operations, infiltration and wholesale destruction.
Familiars did it best.
Also, Crimson Crescent wasn’t the only adversary the Prides faced. There were a host of other organizations both big and small that made trouble for the Aventis upper echelons, and most of them had Familiars with Fragments in their ranks.
That was something the Powers-that-be kept from the average Jane and Joe.
It was something I had no idea about during my early days as a Familiar.
What is surprising to many is the fact the Prides took no special precautions to prevent their Specials from betraying them. There were no implanted micro-bombs, no lethal viruses, and no exploding collars around their necks.
One reason is that the Symbiote tends to attack such foreign objects inside a host’s body. As such, these internal restraints where cleansed whenever a Familiar was boosted by a Symbiote. I did learn this cleansing didn’t always work out well and the Symbiote had been known to trigger a micro-bomb or two with harmful results.
External restraints such as explosive chokers and collars didn’t fare much better. A skilled Familiar can remove many attached devices by using a Fragment or Artifact to throw them into Pocket Space, thus making short work them.
So the Prides relied on another age old method for control – mental conditioning.
For the most part it was highly effective and successful.
Sad to say, most Specials – myself included – may have suspected this was the case yet we had no supporting evidence.
Then again, we were being conditioned not to worry about being conditioned.
In hindsight, it may have been a reason why I stopped despising and resenting the Aventis as much as I did. My hatred for them was slowly eroded by the conditioning.
But that wasn’t the conditioning’s focus.
It didn’t stop us outright from being prejudiced against the Aventis.
It stopped us from harboring thoughts of betraying them.
Suffice to say, it didn’t always work, and Crimson Crescent was a perfect case in point.
Chapter 9 – Minor Players.
(Caelum)
Caprice and Constance were taken to hospital by aerial ambulance.
I wasn’t there to witness the ambulances land and depart.
I was handcuffed, and a security collar was snapped around my neck.
If I tried to resist the Enforcers that surrounded me I would receive a very, very painful shock. The collar was likely to fry my nervous system, and I would require medical attention in order to survive let alone recover.
I wasn’t in the mood to give anyone any trouble.
Every little bit of strength and defiance I possessed was long gone.
All I could think of was Caprice and the warmth of her blood when it splattered on my face.
It was still on my cheeks, having dried into red crusts on my skin.
The Enforcers hadn’t even allowed me to wipe it off.
Then again they didn’t remove my handcuffs even after I was brought to the Mobile Enforcement Vehicle. The lev capable vehicle was a cross between a shuttle and a bus. It was pressurized and able to travel between the Islands without the need to board a transport train like the majority of the vehicles that travelled within Pharos.
I was left alone in the small interrogation room inside the MEV, seated on a chair with my hands cuffed behind my back. They hadn’t tried removing my Fragment bracelet. Putting the collar on me was probably enough to satisfy their sense of security.
After an hour, maybe less, a tall man in his late twenties entered the room. He introduced himself as Alessandro Alucard Raynar. I learnt he was in charge of the Enforcer division responsible for handling matters relating to Familiars within Island Three. As an added courtesy he told me Simone Alucard was his niece.
I was asked the usual questions regarding my identity. I answered those without hesitation, but when he began to question my actions at the bridge, I refused to answer any questions unless I was in the presence of a Lanfear representative. And then I clammed up, completely refusing to answer any questions he threw my way, no matter how polite and innocent they may have seemed.
I had no experience dealing with a situation like this, so I decided to rely on what I’d seen in holovid dramas.
Alessandro Alucard tried to coerce me to speak up. He even said it would help Caprice’s situation.
I just stared at him with my mouth firmly shut.
He left the room not long afterwards. Before leaving, he made show and dance about how generous he’d tried to be, hoping to resolve the situation before charges could be laid.
I just stared at him with my mouth firmly shut.
Then I stared at the one way window facing me on the opposite side of the room.
My Awareness was linked to my Fragment, and I was able to learn how many people were inside the MEV by using the Fragment’s sensory abilities. It was something I’d learnt recently from Caprice, and it was one more sign my body and consciousness were tuning to the Fragment. I was able to use my enhanced Awareness to follow the movements of the individuals on the other side of the window.
But as I sat in the interrogation room, and listened to the sounds of my breathing, and the sound of the air-conditioning system, I had to time to think about the manifestation of my two shield-blades.
I had time to wonder if my Fragment was really a Fragment, or an Artifact that was slowly opening itself up to me.
If it was an Artifact, why hadn’t the Lanfears told me about it?
Or didn’t they know what kind of Fragment they’d given me?
Somehow I felt that hard to believe.
After today’s event what would Arisa and Van Demon have to say about me and my Fragment?
Eventually, all my worries came down to a single one.
What would happen to Caprice?
#
(Alessandro)
I studied Desanto as he sat on the uncomfortable chair, and stared straight at where I stood.
I had moved to the left of the window, and Desanto’s eyes had moved to follow me.
When I moved right, he looked right, and then his eyes shifted in the direction of the man standing nearby.
Christian Ventiss Raynar.
I wouldn’t call him a childhood friend, but he was someone I’d known for many, many years.
He was someone who held the rank of Senior Investigator within the Enforcer Division, while I held the rank of Vice-Commander of Special Interventions.
We were colleagues, but we were not friends.
At least, we were no longer friends.
Knowing that left a bitter taste in my mouth.
But what mattered most in this situation was that technically I outranked him.
Christian spoke softly. “He’s using his Fragment’s sensorium to know exactly where we are. He can probably tell our age, gender, height and weight via his Fragment.”
I snorted. “Would you tell me something I don’t know?”
“Desanto was imprinted onto that Fragment three months ago. Before that, his compatibility with all the Fragments the Lanfears tried on him was less than thirty percent.” Christian nodded his head at the silent teenager sitting alone in the room. “But that one Fragment recorded a ninety percent resonance with his body. Ninety percent compatibility. That’s quite rare these days.”
Christian turned his head and faced me.
“And your family gave him to the Lanfears. What the Hell were you thinking?”
“Our esteemed Primatriarch made the decision to offer him to the Lanfears as a gift.”
“A gift?”
“Payment for the recent work the Lanfears helped us with.”
“That’s crap, Alessandro.” He pointed at Desanto. “He’s a Familiar, and his family has served the Raynars since the days of the war between the Aventis and humanity.”
“And they have suffered for it,” I replied smoothly. “To that end, our esteemed Primatriarch made a decision to spare him the same fate by having him Awakened by another Pride.”
“And so she let slip a very valuable Familiar right through her fingers.”
I couldn’t help my expression from darkening. “Are you questioning her judgment?”
“We are all questioning her judgment.”
“I see. I hope she doesn’t hear you, Christian. There could be consequences.”
“Don’t threaten me, Alessandro. Considering the Primatriarch is a member of the Alucard Family she shouldn’t be surprised to find others questioning her decisions.”
I took a deep breath before sighing. “Valuable, you say.” I shook my head. “They’re not tools, Christian, they’re people. Try to get that through your thick head.”
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