›› And be out in the rot? Eliza has been abandoned too many times in her life. She…I can’t leave her here alone.
›› You saw what just happened to Bartle. You can’t get past Daxon.
›› Unless I have something he wants. I should’ve never let the letter out of my sight. He’s scared of it.
›› Daxon has this whole place on lock-down. As long as the barriers are up and the Senate is clueless, he is going to do whatever he wants in this city-state.
›› Bartle failed to prove how crooked Daxon is, but I can get it pasted on every broadsheet in the city-states. He deserves to have his authority stripped.
›› Eliza took the phial of his blood, the key.
›› I’ll have to break the door down then.
›› How are you even going to get in the Vault to begin with?
10 SECONDS SILENCE
›› Eliza has extra uniforms. In our unit.
›› I’m not running straight into the hands of the Law. They’re trying to set you up. This is mad.
›› No madder than going over the barrier.
›› Fine. Then I’ll find someone else to flee with. It’ll be way easier than infiltrating the Vault, which is swarming with Lawmen. Without a key, even.
›› Fine. Good luck in the rot.
›› Good luck being a Republic prisoner.
SUBJECTS PART
END WATCHPOST TRANSCRIPT
16/10/43
Dearest Elswyth,
I have just awakened from the most fiendish dream. I took an extra measure of Abril’s peyote tea, to aid my sleep. My delirium is overtaking me and my head is hot while my legs shake with cold.
In the old woman’s hovel I saw myself in a mirror, but there are no mirrors in this place. A man as real as any stepped into the dusty light. By his dress and stern demeanor I knew at once the apparition was Irion. Not knowing I was in a dream I tried to sit up, despite the pain.
“From where did you come?” I asked, my countenance disturbed. He adjusted his uniform, and this he said unto me:
“Though a body lies still the soul may journey far. Rally your own soul. This is not your deathbed, Zadock Thomas. You must rise. Returning home will do no good. You must complete your errand to win your life and love. Follow the fates, which even the gods fear.”
He spoke with such a grave timbre that I was moved to the core. Recovering myself, I reached under the bed to fish from my pack your father’s letter, thinking here and now was the moment to deliver my burden unto him, but when I looked up he was gone and my bedroom had turned silver, the walls sparkling with a light like that of my bejeweled cave. Where Irion had stood there was now the distended and grotesque cavern skeleton, his frozen teeth leering at me, reaching for my ankle. I pulled the blanket over my head and woke up alone again in the old woman’s hovel. In the dark, my stomach churning, I faced the skull of the peccary, the puppet of my fever dream.
Might a man of uniform be a soul walker like Aunt Anne or Abril? I have no other explanation for this visitation. I know not the hour, but await anxiously the break of day. Abril has not returned. I long for her to come back, not only for the sake of my wounds but so I can tell her of this visitation from the Nightway. I wait sleeplessly, the old woman’s snores marking the minutes of this witching hour.
May I Only Ever Dream of You, Zadock
FAM. TAYASSUIDAE
GEN. PECARI
16.10.43, 3:45
Old woman’s hovel
Peccary Skull. I cannot sleep, so I draw. These bristly black skunk pigs are only seen in this desert region. They are small and easily take fright at humans. Abril calls them Javelina. Though he is long perished, this is the only one I’ve seen close up.
18/10/43
THE MEXICAN VILLAGE
Dearest Elswyth,
I am torn in two. Should I return to you now? Should I deliver your father’s letter? I suppose both are impossible, as I am forced to lie here until my recovery is complete. I dreamt again of you, in peyote slumber. We were in the cave. All was dark and we were without physical bodies. Now that my life hangs by a thread, all I long for is you. You are all that has ever mattered. The realization that it was our souls that were meeting dawned just as I was awakened. Am I learning the Nightway? Did you, too, dream of us together?
As soon as I opened my eyes, Abril began speaking rapidly. I tried to tell her of Irion’s visit and his message about delivering the letter before returning home. She would not be interrupted and her voice began to take the character of hysteria.
I understood that my pack, containing the human skull, had been discovered by the cave. What I could not figure was why she kept pointing very deliberately to the phial of your blood around my neck.
“Otra hija,” she said. “Muerte en desierto. No sangre.” She touched the phial on my chest and I began to understand. A girl was drained of blood. I carried the evidence around my neck. My wounds told a story of struggle and death. My bag contained a skull.
“Vamonos.” Abril attempted to pull my arm toward the door. I refused, explaining the condition of my ankle, and how I had been plagued with fever dreams that could strike at any moment. I could hardly sit up, let alone walk. She continued to prod in a most determined fashion, pulling the serape over my head.
I refused to move, as I am in no state for travel. If murder charges were to be brought against me, any civilized court would allow my recovery before bringing me to trial. I am no monster. Violence between men is abhorrent to me, doubly so toward innocents.
The more I tried to explain all this to Abril, the more exasperated she became. She foresaw great violence overtaking the village.
Then an idea flashed across her face like a shooting star. She pulled my sketchbook from my sack and repeated “chupacabra” until I understood. I hastily gave form to the shapes I had seen in the dark the night of my injury. Though my hand was shaky, I managed a vision of the true perpetrator of these attacks. It was a brilliant idea: I could not be the scapegoat when this vile creature was on the prowl.
Chupacabra, I labeled it, and Abril carried out her plan. “El vampiro,” she said, and took it along with a few of my other drawings to show the court, or village elders, those men who had come for me when I had sliced the bucket from the village well. If they have the charge of maintaining order, it should serve them to take me at my word. I sent my letter of introduction and calling card from the museum, that they might see I was a man of learning and of Naturalism, here to document this territory. I had fallen prey to the same beast that plagues their village. I was not the murderer but rather a victim.
Abril has just departed to deliver the message. I feel sure that she can tell my story in a sympathetic way. I told her to say that the creature tried to drink my blood, to liken him to whatever has attacked the girls of this village. It had hairy hands, not unlike to a monkey’s, which it used ferociously. She has seen my wounds, which strengthen my case.
The phial of your blood, on the other hand, does not. Abril was much perturbed to see it. I am now left on my own to destroy this evidence. It pains me, as it is the one token I have borne all this way, a small piece that holds your heart close to mine. If I had my way I would die with it around my neck. But if I am to clear my name and claim my health, then I must rid myself of it.
Was it the phial that allowed you to visit my dreams last night? I cannot bear to destroy it in another way, so I will drink it now and hope that it gives me the strength of my love.
I Beg the Forgiveness of All, Zadock
FAM. CHUPACABRAE
GEN. CANIS
∧∧ Raisin walked away. Zeke walked in the opposite direction, pulling his brimhat low, and kept to the walls. He didn’t want to be seen. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ As he wove his way back to the northeast quadrant, he began to think about home and everything he and Eliza had shared before it was all turned upside down. He hadn’t embraced the quiet of his life, or the peacefulness of simply waiting. He had
wished for adventures, like those in the histories. Or those in the stories that his grandfather would tell of the Collapse and the birth of the city-states. There seemed to be no possible way to take the Senate seat now. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ Zeke had to decide what to do. He wasn’t about to turn himself in. But Raisin had a point: Walking into the Vault and trying to enter Daxon’s office would very likely have the same result. Yet the letter was there. ∧∧ ∧∧ He needed to think. He walked down a narrow alleyway. The walls of various units jutted out from every angle, boxing him in. There were crawl spaces to air ducts and swinging hatch doors that revealed impossible configurations of steampipes and phonotubes. Many were coated with dust, clockworks choked up, screws loose after hasty construction. This alleyway was his favorite dead zone. It was completely shielded from the surrounding watchposts. He sat, glad to be alone. He used his finger to write in the dust. ∧∧ Hope diminishes in proportion to choice. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ Laudanum would have helped. Zeke had not slept. His feet ached. His thoughts spun in circles. He could not remember the last time he’d had a cup of fount-water. His health must be failing. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ He remembered all the nights Eliza had been ill. More from anxiety than any physical ailment. She would dream of her father and wake up in a sweat. He would hold her as she trembled or cried herself back to sleep. She never remembered much in the morning, but he carried every night with him. The only way to get Eliza out was to go to jail himself. They couldn’t both be free. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ He would get the uniform. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ There were no Lawmen guarding his unit, a bit surprising. He walked around to the front and slid open the door. The shades were pulled. Dark piles lined the floor. There was no one in the livingroom. ∧∧ ∧∧ He heard a scratching in the bedroom. He tread quietly. Someone was there. Keeping along the walls, he slowly peeked into the bedroom. Something strange and dark was moving about on the floor. An animal. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ A choking yelp involuntarily escaped from Zeke’s throat and he jumped back out of the doorway. It couldn’t be an animal, it must be a person, hunched over. He heard more scrambling, and looked back in just in time to see the shape clamor out the bedroom window, tearing the shade down behind it. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ He ran to the sill and looked out over the plankways. There was nothing to be seen, neither man nor animal. He sat down on the floor mat, his heart flapping in his chest. It was too dark to know what he had seen. ∧∧ ∧∧ He wanted to turn on the lights but didn’t want to attract attention to his unit. The watchposts were certainly keeping an eye on it. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ He fumbled his way to the closet and fished out one of Eliza’s brown Vault uniforms. He slipped off his clothes and tugged on the brown uniform. It was definitely too small, but he managed to squeeze into it. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ As Zeke began to button it up he heard something, the same sort of scratching, this time at the front door. He thought of the sabre on the mantel. He rushed back into the livingroom to arm himself. ∧∧ ∧∧ The front door was open and the flickering phosphor light framed a dark silhouette. Fear flashed through Zeke’s chest. For a moment it seemed like the animal had gone around and beat him to the front door, ready to pounce. But it was Bic, out of breath. He was holding the sabre. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “Bic. What are you doing…Did you see something outside?” ∧∧ “This place is a mess.” Bic kicked his way into the room. “I know you’re running from the Law. I’m here to turn you in.” ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “Why would you do that?” ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “For credit, I guess. Either way, Daxon will find you and arrest you. There’s no way out of the city-state.” ∧∧ ∧∧ “I wasn’t trying to leave.” ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “I know you’ve been in the tunnels.” ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ Zeke studied Bic. His cousin knew more than he had been letting on. ∧∧ ∧∧ “The tunnel out is sealed. The Auspex recruits have all met…untimely ends. The Auspices are scared. As they should be. They’ve sealed up the tunnel so nothing can harm their precious flock. But the time has come for all of them. They thought they could save themselves by stealing Daxon’s cannon and hiding it underground. But he’ll find it. They’ve been holding sway over the Law for too long. Lording over us all with their fount-water.” ∧∧ ∧∧ “Daxon has been manipulating you. He means to eliminate the Senate. Not just me.” ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “You’re not the only one with the blood to claim that seat. And now you never will. The fact that you’re wearing a Vault uniform means you’re up to something. That’s not your rank.” Zeke looked down at the tightly stretched brown uniform. “Or your size.” ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “I’d like my sabre back.” Zeke’s voice was calm. Bic shot him a false grin. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “You’re a disgrace to this family. You’re headed for jail. And you never should have been named Khrysalis in the first place. You couldn’t take care of the letter—” ∧∧ “How do you—” ∧∧ Bic raised his voice, not allowing Zeke to interrupt his tirade. ∧∧ ∧∧ “You don’t even know how to take care of this sabre. The bloodline can’t be entrusted to you. I am the Khrysalis now.” ∧∧ Bic’s eyes burned with hatred. Zeke considered his cousin. His pride was more wounded than Zeke had thought. He was cornered, dangerous. A thought occurred to Zeke, like lightning shooting down a weather pylon. ∧∧ “OK,” Zeke said, “you’re Khrysalis, then. I cede to you.” ∧∧ Bic looked suspicious. It was not the reaction he’d expected. He had been ready for a fight. ∧∧ “You do?” ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “Sure,” Zeke said. “I was never much cut out for it. I don’t like politics, I don’t like crowds. You’d be a much better leader than I would.” ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “That’s what I’ve always said.” ∧∧ ∧∧ “Gram is the only one with the authority to declare you Khrysalis though.” ∧∧ ∧∧ “She barely knows who she is,” Bic said. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “Even so, that’s the law. I guess we’ll have to talk to her.” ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ His grandparents had fought Correctors and Lawmen and those who were corrupt in the government their entire lives. Senator Thomas’s time in power had been rife with controversy and political maneuvering on the part of his enemies. In the end, his grandparents lost many skirmishes. But they won some important ones too. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ The barriers were erected, all records were taken from the citizens and duplicated, and the lifephases were implemented. Atlantas had been a difficult battle. But his grandfather hung on till the end. The Senator knew how to fight. And if he could keep his enemies from destroying him completely, then his wife would have the right to name a Khrysalis. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “Let’s call her right now.” ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “OK,” Zeke replied. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “You’ll tell her you cede to me?” ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “Call her.” ∧∧ ∧∧ Bic picked up the phonotube. He started to dial, then paused. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “I know the number,” Zeke offered. Bic reset the phonotube, and Zeke slowly recited the numbers while his cousin punched them in. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ The phonotube clicked. The echo of a whistle rang down the semaphore line. Zeke imagined his grandmother shuffling through her house, past the old dusty portraits and doilied end tables. He hoped she was relatively alert today. She was slow to answer the phone. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “Hello, this is Annlyne.” ∧∧ Bic wasted no time launching into his story. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “Gram, Zeke is in trouble with the Law. His place has been ransacked. His pair and her father have been arrested. Zeke probably will be too, any minute now. He’s disgraced the bloodline, lost Gramp’s letter, and can’t be trusted with his sabre any longer. I am here to pick up the pieces. I think you have always known that I should be Khrysalis, and now that Zeke has agreed, the only formality left is for you to—” ∧∧ “Someone wants that letter?” ∧∧ Zeke chimed in, shouting toward t
he phonotube. “The Law. They want to frame me. They took Henry Bartle,” Zeke said. ∧∧ He picked a lamp up off the floor of his unit and set it back on its table. ∧∧ “I’m going to try to get it back, Gram.” ∧∧ “No time. You have to get out of there now. Leave Eliza, leave the letter. Flee the city.” Zeke’s grandmother’s speech was quick and lucid. “Any way you can.” ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ He had never heard her voice sound this way. Bic turned away slightly, his head tipped back, his mouth hanging open in shock. Zeke pulled the phonotube out of his loose grip. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “I was going to flee with a friend, but he’s gone. Won’t I…I’ll die in the rot alone.” ∧∧ “You’ll be fine. I lived in the storm country for years.” ∧∧ ∧∧ Zeke joined Bic in surprise. “You did? Wh—” ∧∧ “But I was speaking of the tram, dear. I’ll hold your clearance open. Can you do that?” ∧∧ ∧∧ “Yes.” Zeke felt electrified. His grandmother seemed to understand everything immediately. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “You come to Chicago-Land right away. You’ve got clearance. Do you understand?” ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “I’m not sure if I can get—” ∧∧ “Zeke, you are in danger. The daily tram leaves soon. Bic?” ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ Bic nodded, forgetting she couldn’t see him. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “He’s here,” Zeke said, pressing the phonotube back into Bic’s hand. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “Bic, I want you to find Eliza. You tell Major Daxon that I immediately order the release of her and her father both, and I’ll have the Senate come down on him if he fails to comply. She is to receive special escort to the Auspicium. Do you understand?” ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ Bic just nodded again. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “Bic, dear, I’m serious. Do you understand what you must do?” ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “Yes, yes, sorry. I’ll go.” Bic didn’t know how to disobey her. “But what about who gets to be Khrysalis?” ∧∧ ∧∧ “There is no time for that now. Go…this instant!” Her voice almost cracked under the strain. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ That seemed to wake Bic up. He bounded out the door, sabre still in hand. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “Zeke, dear, are you still there?” Zeke picked the phonotube back up. ∧∧ ∧∧ “Listen, I’ll have the Senate call Major Daxon as well. Then he’ll know the National Alliance is listening in on him. When you get here we’ll start assembling our case. Your grandfather would be sorry to miss this one.” ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “Eliza should go to the Auspices?” ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “Those are my Sisters, Zeke. They will protect her. The government and the Auspices have always been the two hands that have steered this broken civilization. That is the best place for her. If she is to be your wife, she’ll need to start learning their ways. When I joined the Auspices I had to undergo years of mental and physical training. We were the first drinkers of the fount-water, a highly concentrated form that aids conditioning. It is difficult to learn how to drink. My Sisters are masters of alchemy, subtle narcotics, and bloodlines. After the Collapse, when so many starved, they learned to control their inner alchemy and the functions of their organs. It can be a painful process, but I also gained mastery of my metabolism. None can poison me, and I can extend my mortal years far beyond those of most folks. But that may not do us any good now, if Daxon can’t be stopped. He never should have been appointed, and we can’t let him keep control any longer.” ∧∧ ∧∧ “But why…how did you—” ∧∧ “Dear, I know you have questions, but I really must hang up and call some Senators right away.” ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ Zeke’s skin tingled. ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ ∧∧ “It’s going to be OK, dear. But I need you to look alive. That tram is leaving in twenty-four minutes. You need to get out.” ∧
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