Thornfalcon (The ARC Legacy Book 1)

by Matthew W. Harrill

  Io laughed. “I certainly hope not. I'd like to know who I am and where I came from before this is all over. What else do you have?”

  Samantha flicked through the pages. “Two arrows of crows in two different directions is a symbol for two dangerous fronts coming. And here.” She pointed at a drawing of a circle. “A circle of screaming crows means protection.”

  “They were spiralling and could have been screaming,” Io sounded dubious. “But protection from what?”

  Samantha closed the book. “There is one other possibility with what happened. The spiral could have been a cone of power in the sky, I've just never seen one before. It's one of the most potent tools used in magick. It focuses power upward so that your spell can be released to the universe.”

  “But you're just reading signs.”

  “Yes, but in a way, that's a spell. We are entreating nature to reveal the future to us through a specific set of events. The circle for protection. The rock. The crows. It's what I believe. Whoever you are, I would say the crows recognise you as a kindred spirit.”

  Io moved to the edge of the circle and the pattern of crows shifted to follow him.

  “Definitely,” Samantha confirmed.

  “Hey guys, we're just about done here,” Mitch shouted from up by the restaurant. “You finished playing?”

  Samantha broke the line of the circle and the crows scattered, cawing as they swirled in a low cloud to then settle into a random pattern on the ground. Their message had been erased. “We need to find the meaning of that,” she said as she led Io from the rock field.

  “You think it's important?”

  “Yeah. Doesn't it appear somehow convenient that the one pattern with no explanation forms when we most need answers? I have a feeling. I think we need to work out where this book came from.”

  * * *

  The two figures walked off over the hill to where their fellows waited. Karael watched. Nebulous, without any discernible form and invisible to the eyes of the mortals who had unwittingly called him, he felt a sense of satisfaction. But which of them was it? The signal indicated the male. Sure, powerful, yet somehow lacking presence. The female appeared to be leading. Dominance was a trait he could associate with. After all, he was a Power, one of their strongest. All was not as it should be, though it didn't matter to Karael. If the fallen one was not aware of his or her power and importance, so much the easier for that one to be contained and eventually dispatched. Fallen was fallen. None of their order was allowed on this plane. Not since He descended and took many of their brethren with them so long ago. He decided to follow, but at a distance. A vessel would present itself to him in time. The hunt was on.

  “So. Crow divination, eh?” Mitch had a knowing smile on his face as if he were a party to some secret or joke only he could understand. “How's that working out for you?”

  They walked back toward Jessica. The Huey was, as Carrot had implied, painted red. Bright on top with a darker hue on the underbelly. Not a vehicle to be missed.

  “It has its uses,” Samantha replied. “What about you guys?”

  “We're done here,” Charlotte said as she hefted a pack before sliding it across the floor inside the Huey with the rasp of metal scraping metal. Jim grabbed the pack and stowed it up against a bulkhead.

  “There's an impact point in the side of the mountain,” Clare added. “It's best seen from the air unless you fancy climbing down.”

  Samantha walked to the edge of the cliff and looked over. The ruined city lay beneath, houses flattened by the rockslide. Like ants, people scoured the surface debris looking for any signs of survivors. From this distance it was all so detached.

  A hand grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back. “Don't stand there too long,” Clare warned. “The entire rockface is a spiderweb of fractures. It could go at any time.”

  “And you're up here with a helicopter?”

  “We don't have the luxury of time and safety, not if we expect to get any answers,” her aunt tersely replied. “We're packing up and heading back to the city. We need to take a look at the rock fall on the upper slopes.”

  “Why?”

  “For remains.”

  “Of what.”

  “Let's get airborne and we'll show you.”

  Clare waited for Io to climb aboard and offered a hand to Samantha before climbing in the cockpit next to Carrot.

  In moments they were airborne, the Huey circling out into the air above the scarred mountain.

  “Here.” Charlotte offered her a pair of electronic binoculars.

  “We not getting that close?”

  “I think this one's best explained with a bit of perspective,” she answered mysteriously.

  Samantha waited until Carrot indicated with a wave of her hand that they were in a stable hover. Jim pulled the hatch open and despite being strapped in, Samantha leaned back.

  “What do you see?” Jim asked over the headset.

  “Rock,” she replied. “Lots and lots of rock. Like a mountain's worth.”

  “Funny. Look again, about three quarters of the way up the bare face.”

  Using the binoculars, Samantha zoomed in on the rock face, moving the field of vision around until she spotted a dark circular area. “Well that's odd.”

  “What you're seeing is marble, formed under intense heat and pressure.”

  “What's so significant about that?”

  “This is a limestone ridge. It's sedimentary in nature. The pressure and heat needed to turn it into marble is found at convergent plate boundaries. Basically you need two continental plates to make that stuff. Zoom out.”

  Samantha did so. “Radial fractures in concentric circles around your marble. Also fractures in different directions but all perpendicular to that central spot.”

  “Have you ever seen such a pattern before?”

  Samantha looked at Io.

  “I haven't,” he shrugged.

  Jim pulled out a tablet computer and flipped the screen in his hands so that she could see it. On the screen was a fracture pattern almost exactly the same as the mountainside.

  “Bullet fired into a Plexiglas sheet,” he elaborated.

  Samantha looked back at the rock face. “You're saying someone started this disaster by firing something at the mountain?”

  “I'm saying something hit the mountain with such force that the heat and pressure at impact caused the rock to melt and reform in a process that normally takes millions of years.”

  “Well what could do that? No conventional weapon could have such an effect.”

  “We don't know,” Jim admitted. “I couldn't find a single scrap of debris.”

  “Could it have been destroyed and melted in that central area?”

  “No. Anything man-made would have resulted in residual material. If it were nuclear in nature, we'd all be seriously ill. Even an underground nuclear test wouldn't have such a defined effect. Do you understand me? Nothing on earth could do this.”

  Samantha nodded. She understood. She'd learned enough ARC lore to get what Jim meant. In front of Io, whoever he was, it was not the place or time to discuss the fact that ARC was formed to monitor and if possible prevent demon incursions onto earth.

  “Carrot take her down,” Clare ordered.

  Samantha's stomach lurched as the Huey tilted away from the rock face. A pilot herself, she made a mediocre passenger at best. She had learned to manage, but preferred to concentrate on the instruments and controls to cope. If she were honest, she would admit she hated the lack of control.

  Io watched her, a slight smile on his face. “You'd rather be in control.”

  This surprised those around her. “You do fly?” asked Charlotte. “It just sounded like bravado when you made the claim before.”

  “I thought you lot would know that about me,” Samantha replied, gripping the sides of her seat. “Smaller craft, fixed wing planes. Nothing like this.” Finding everyone staring at her, disbelief written plain on their faces, she adde
d, “I didn't spend my entire life rebelling and raising demons, you know.”

  Those around her chuckled—all except Io, who looked at her in horror. “Why would you do that? How can you do that?”

  “You've fallen in with special people, friend,” Mitch said with a grin. “This one especially.”

  “It's just an image, if it ever works at all,” Samantha admitted.

  “Who are your people?” Io asked, looking around at all of them.

  “Probably your best chance at getting out of this city in one piece,” Clare said. “Come help us, or stay in the bird, it makes no difference to me. Just don't have a panic attack while we're in the air and we'll see you safe. Time to land.”

  * * *

  This time, instead of hovering, Carrot set the Huey down on a square of concrete that was not caught in the rubble. About them lay the remains of houses swept away by the landslide. Dust billowed everywhere as the Huey whipped up the remains of the slide. Samantha had to cover her mouth. There were fewer people in this part of the city. At the base of the mountainside, all trace of habitation had been swept away.

  “Must've been the foundation of one of the buildings,” Jim grunted, fingering a few slivers of stone.

  “How is it so clear?” Samantha asked.

  “The force of the impact, the speed of the falling rock, shoddy construction. Pick one, or all three. Pick others. This was a freak event. There's no precedent for this devastation. From here, the closest thing I can compare it to is Mount St Helens. The volcano exploded sideways and took everything with it for miles. We don't have miles here, but as for the rest—” Jim shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine regarding the events that followed, but the source is up there. Let's call it our heavenly bullet. If there are any remains, any sign at all, it'll be here.”

  Samantha looked up at the mountainside. It loomed above her, the scar fresh and angry, the edges jagged where the rock had been pulled away following the impact. Knowing what had happened left Samantha feeling edgy and small. The awesome destructive power of nature was a tonic to remind humanity their existence was merely temporary.

  “Are you wondering how this could have been avoided?” Io asked. In the shadow of the mountain there was a chill. Samantha shivered and Io stood close, putting his arm around her shoulder.

  “Bit forward, aren't you?” Io stepped away, but Samantha added, “No, stay where you are. You're warm.” His heat reminded Samantha that she hadn't slept in a day and she began to feel drowzy.

  “In answer to your question,” Samantha added, “Yes. In part. I was thinking how brief our time is on this earth, to have it wiped away by something that could have been avoided. This is all Mom's fault. She sent that satellite into orbit. If it hadn't been there, Aeon Fall wouldn't have been able to override the systems. Humanity's great ideal and all we have is more chaos.”

  Io turned to her. “You don't think any good can come of this?”

  Samantha stepped away from him, pointing downslope at the flattened buildings. “There is no good. Period. This is the nearest disaster to Hunters Ridge and they send us straight here. What else has happened around the world that we don't know about?”

  “There's no conspiracy theory here,” Jim said from nearby where he was examining more stone splinters. “Sometimes the path isn't clear to us and we have to take a leap in the dark.”

  Samantha fingered her tattered backpack, poking at one of the holes. The book within caught in her fingers. A leap of faith was needed.

  “The symbol worries you,” Io said.

  Once again he had unintentionally read her thoughts. “It does,” Samantha admitted.

  “Maybe we're looking in the wrong place.”

  Samantha took the book out once more, opening it at the page with the Thornfalcon on it. “If you're causing such a prolific reaction maybe we need to research this symbol.”

  “Where does the book come from?”

  Samantha flicked through the pages. “Nina gave it to me a few years back. She pulled it from the ARC library in Geneva, where we grew up. There're some names inscribed here.”

  The writing on the front page was spidery and faint. Samantha held the page out in the sunlight to better see.

  “No, that's not what you wanna do,” Jim said as he came over, dropping the stone chips he was examining. “Shine a light behind the script, then the writing is silhouetted rather than reflected with the rest of the page. But you want to do that out of the sunlight. Put your book away for now.”

  “No luck?” Samantha asked, indicating the remains of house and mountain.

  Jim made a noise of disgust, somewhere between a growl and a curse. “There's nothing here. Whatever happened up on the mountain, it didn't translate down here with the rubble.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I don't. My gut tells me this is fruitless. That and a frikkin' big landslide. Where do we start? The answers lie up there.” Jim pointed up. He could have been pointing skyward or at the mountain.

  A thought struck Samantha and she followed the skyline until she caught view of Io. He stared into the distance, fear on his face.

  “What is it?”

  Chapter Twelve

  “I know him.”

  “Who?” Samantha turned to follow Io's gaze. In the distance, on a street littered with rubble, a man in a long black jacket stood watching them. She could only make out the coat and black hair but the way he carried himself was familiar. “It can't be.”

  “Friend of yours?” asked Jim as the figure began to walk toward them.

  The features became more defined as the figure neared. “It's Lucas. My stalker. He led the group I summoned demons for.”

  Samantha looked to Io, who hadn't taken his eyes off Lucas strolling leisurely, as if enjoying the moment.

  “He misled a lot of people. He's not a good person. He found me once before, last night.”

  “He what?” Clare asked. “Sammy, what did he do?”

  “Io saved my life by throwing Lucas through a wall.”

  Jim and Clare both stepped back from their new companion, who kept the approaching Lucas in his sight.

  “He should be dead. Don't you see? This is wrong.” Samantha implored.

  As Lucas neared, Mitch moved to bar his way. “That's close enough, pal. What do you want here?”

  Lucas stopped, eyeing up the larger man for a second. “Move,” he said in a low voice devoid of emotion. It didn't sound like Lucas. That one word demanded compliance.

  Mitch was not intimidated. “Not till you answer my question. You look like a man on a mission. What's your business here?”

  Lucas began to laugh, reaching out and laying a hand on Mitch's shoulder. “A mission indeed. Move aside.”

  Mitch folded his arms. “Not a chance.”

  Lucas shrugged and with the slightest shift in his stance, sent Mitch flying backwards through the air until he hit an undamaged wall.

  Samantha cringed at the sound of the impact and watched in horror as his body slumped to the ground, a red stain on the wall where his head collided. He lay against the wall, unmoving.

  “Mitch!” Carrot screamed, running to him. She knelt next to the prone Mitch, his arms splayed out and one leg folded underneath at the knee. Blood ran from his nose. “There's no pulse. You bastard. You've killed him.” Carrot stood, tears streaming down her face, moving to confront Lucas. Clare moved quickly to keep Carrot where she was, holding her by the arms. “Don't. You want him to kill you, too?”

  “He was dead the moment he barred my path,” Lucas said in a calm voice, his eyes on Carrot. “Anybody who bars my path to you will suffer the same fate.”

  “Lucas, what the hell's wrong with you?” Samantha took a step back, bumping into Io. His body was rigid, unyielding.

  “I've come for you.”

  “Can't you just leave it alone? I don't want any part of your sordid cult.”

  Lucas took a couple of steps closer. “Why did you do it, Broth
er? You know the consequences of falling. It was decreed you would be hunted and your existence forfeit, yet you fell. Why?”

  For the first time, Samantha realised that Lucas wasn't looking at her but at Io directly behind her. She turned. “Io, what's he talking about?”

  “I know him.”

  “Of course you do. That's Lucas. You saved me from him in the city. He was going to rape me.” Her voice wavered, overwhelmed by the admission.

  “The man you knew is gone. There's someone else inside. I can see him,” Io's voice was questioning, as if he didn't believe his own sight.

  He turned to Samantha, asking, “What does it mean?”

  Samantha quickly focused, “I—”

  The man she knew as Lucas interrupted, “It means you're a traitor, Ioviel. It means the instant you made the decision to forsake your brethren and join those who fell, you forfeited any rank you may have held. You are no better than the master of base treachery himself, the prince of darkness. It's my appointed task to hunt down and rid the heavens of your rebellious souls. But you know that.”

  “Maybe I should,” Io answered, “but I'm telling you I don't remember how I came to be here. I can see you're not really the man who stands before me.” Io stretched his hands out palms up, looking at them. “I don't recognise myself. I've no idea why.”

  “If that's the truth you want to cling to, so much the better. It makes my task easier.” Lucas held a clawed hand out to one side. A sword blinked into existence as everyone took a step back. The hilt and crossguard were golden, the blade of burnished silver that shone brighter than the day. Samantha held her hand in front of her eyes. The sword was in complete contrast to the black-clad goth who wielded it.

  “That can't be real,” Samantha whispered, dazzled by the sword. “Lucas, who are you?”

  “Lucas is dead. I am Karael, here to redress the balance.” Lucas's regarded her for a moment and then he hissed, “Abomination! I never considered for a moment Ioviel would consort with hellspawn. Thus is my journey twofold: To prevent the falling of my brother and to rid humanity of His progeny.”