Walker

by Michael Langlois

  Vincent shoved Daniel backwards by the throat, overturning his chair and propelling him several feet through the air. He landed hard on his back, gasping. If it weren’t for his Veil enhanced durability, he suspected that his neck would have been broken. As it was, hot spikes lanced up through his back and right shoulder with every gasp for air.

  There was a knock at the door. Vincent calmly picked up his folder from the coffee table, stepped over Daniel, and put his hand on the door. “When Francis slips your leash, you’ll take the tracker Lyle gave you in one hand when you Walk. Put it in your pocket and hold it tightly while you make the crossing, then leave it behind when you come back. My men will follow and set up a Sanctuary after you’re gone.”

  Finished, Vincent opened the door to reveal Leland standing in the hallway, then strode past him and away without another word.

  12

  Leland stood in the hallway and stared in shock at the councilman’s departing back before entering the apartment and closing the door behind him.

  “Wow, was that really Vincent Cannette in your apartment? What was …” he stopped short when he saw Daniel gingerly getting up off the floor and setting the chair back upright.

  “Yeah,” replied Daniel, “that was him alright. He just wanted to stop by for some quick male bonding, and now we’re best buddies.”

  Leland raised his eyebrows. “Meaning?”

  “Don’t worry about it, let’s just go.”

  Leland prodded him about the incident while they walked, but dropped it when Daniel refused to elaborate. Eventually, he latched onto the subject of the party itself to fill the awkward silence.

  “Should be fun,” said Leland as they crossed the bridge into New Lothbury. Reflected lights gleamed and shivered on the water from cheery pubs and crowded pleasure boats, and the sweet tang of night air that had never known an industrial revolution was intoxicating. “Tenny’s a real charmer when he’s drunk, so you can expect a few laughs at his feeble attempts to paw at the fair sex tonight.”

  “I bet you say the same thing about me tomorrow,” said Daniel in an attempt to shake off the residue of anger and fear Vincent’s visit had left behind. “Hmm, it occurs to me that I don’t have a present.”

  “That’s alright, mate, they don’t do presents where Tenny’s from. Hell, they don’t do bloody birthdays either, but any excuse for a party with this crowd.”

  “Anybody I know going to be there?”

  “Pretty much everyone from Master Dashel’s focus class, so you should be alright. And here we are.”

  They entered a brightly lit pub, very upscale. It had the standard long glossy bar down one wall, but the open area of the common room was furnished with plush, curved sofas upholstered in a rich emerald green and deep wingback chairs in dark leather, rather than the usual booth and table arrangement. A massive fireplace dominated the far wall, ten feet wide or more, with a forest of logs blazing away inside.

  Actual waiters with trays stood in the corners or circulated, offering finger food and drinks to supplement the busy bar. Daniel found the whole thing surreal, like peeking into the secret lives of the reclusive rich. He hadn’t realized just how privileged his new class was, or how privileged it saw itself, at any rate.

  Leland waded in like he was returning home for the holidays, shouting greetings and clapping people on the shoulder. Daniel followed awkwardly in his wake until they fetched up on the shores of the familiar: Ekani, Boro, and Tenny talking at one end of a loveseat, with the men standing and Ekani sitting.

  Leland dropped down in the open space next to Ekani and threw one arm across the back of the loveseat, behind her. Without looking away from Tenny, who was apparently listing every wine he had ever tasted and how he felt about it, she reached behind her back and flipped Leland’s arm back to where it came from. Leland sighed ruefully.

  He looked up at Daniel and said, “I think that’s my new record for fastest rejection. I’m gonna need a drink.” He raised his hand to catch the eye of one of the drifting waiters and Daniel laughed. When the servant appeared, a boy of about fourteen with a bowl haircut and a bored expression, Leland snagged two drinks and gave Daniel one. It was a familiar black, foamy beer, and after a sip Daniel said, “You make Guinness here?”

  Leland grinned, “No, but we import a hell of a lot of it. Comforts of home and all that. It’s not Tooheys, of course, but it’s good enough for this lot.”

  Daniel took a sip and listened while Tenny ranted about some wine that he swore came with a pressed rat at the bottom of every bottle. Fortunately, he was interrupted by a group of birthday well wishers, smashed out of their minds, who swept him away in a disjointed chorus of “Happy Birthday” and “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” all mixed up together. It was cheerful in a horrible way, like throwing up Christmas cookies.

  “Daniel,” said Ekani, who was dressed in an elegant white pant suit that set off her dusky skin, and which contrasted sharply with the revealing skirts and dresses worn by the other women present. “I’m glad you could make it.”

  “He almost didn’t,” said Leland, “I had to drag him away from a top secret meeting with none other than Lord Vincent Cannette.”

  “Really?”

  “Oh, yeah, our Daniel’s quite the mover and shaker, don’t you know.”

  Daniel shook his head, “Not really. We weren’t having a meeting, as that would imply some kind of input from me. He stopped by to tell me something and left, like a drive-by ordering.”

  “That’s impressive, Daniel,” said Ekani. “People don’t just get personal visits from the council.”

  “Why don’t you ask him what the meeting was about, he won’t tell me,” said Leland. “Maybe he’ll have a harder time refusing someone as lovely as yourself.”

  “Ah, insincere drunken flattery. The best kind. Besides, that would be rude. If Daniel wants to tell, he’ll tell. Right?”

  “You’ll be the first to know,” said Daniel.

  “The wise do not seek the attention of Kings,” said Boro in his deep, smooth bullfrog voice. “My grandfather told me that.”

  “What, did he get drafted or something?” asked Leland.

  “No. He was a King.” Boro raised his glass in salute and drank.

  Everyone laughed. Daniel took an immediate liking to the huge islander.

  His usual party experience was to feel uncomfortably out of place, but he found that he was actually enjoying himself for a change. That is, until an iron hand clamped down on his shoulder and spun him around, causing his beer to slop over the edge of his glass and run down his fingers. It was Lyle. Of course.

  “Maybe you should be at home practicing, instead of hanging around your betters and wasting my uncle’s time. You really don’t want to disappoint him, do you?”

  Daniel set his glass down and flicked the beer off of his fingers, spraying dark drops onto Lyle’s shirt. Lyle scared him, which made him angry, both at Lyle and himself.

  “You think your uncle would want you yelling out that he wants me to do something for him in the middle of a party?” hissed Daniel under his breath. “Maybe you also want to yell out what that something is, huh? Fucking idiot. Now I see why he had to apologize about your behavior tonight when he dropped by my apartment. You must be a real embarrassment.”

  There’s an old saying about the checks one might write with one’s mouth, verses the actual purchasing power of one’s ass. It crossed Daniel’s mind about the same time that Lyle’s fist connected with his solar plexus. Pain exploded through his entire body as he went down, but he counted it a small victory that he didn’t throw up this time. Lyle lifted him up by his collar and set him back on his feet as if he were a toddler.

  “You need to learn some respect.” Lyle slapped him open handed across the face so hard that Daniel didn’t remember hitting the floor again. He tasted blood. Lyle hauled him back to his feet. “You think you’re better than me because you got lucky? You think you’re going to be on the council o
ne day, like you weren’t some common piece of shit that my uncle happened to scrape off his shoe?” He gave Daniel a sharp shake. “Is that what you think?” His face was red and strained with anger, his cheeks blotchy and eyes bulging. It was ugly. Daniel wondered briefly if insanity ran in the family.

  “I think that’s enough,” came Boro’s calm rumble.

  “Yeah, Lyle, give it a rest,” said Leland. Ekani said nothing, but she stood up, her eyes on Lyle’s.

  “Watch yourselves,” spat Lyle. “You know you can’t beat me, not even all together.”

  Boro grinned, “Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean we won’t hurt you in the process. Maybe badly. You’re not that good.”

  Lyle shoved a hard finger into Daniel’s chest. “We’re done here anyway, aren’t we, Daniel? See you around.” He walked off as if nothing had happened, smiling and joining a group of people on the far side of the room. Daniel watched him laughing and putting his arm around a pretty brunette who leaned into his shoulder.

  Leland gave Daniel the spot next to Ekani on the loveseat, and she wet a napkin on the condensation around her glass and dabbed Daniel’s mouth with it.

  “Ow!” said Daniel, jerking his head back and licking his split lip. “Is that salt?”

  “Oh, sorry. I’m drinking a margarita.”

  Leland laughed, “Salt that wound, Florence Nightingale.”

  “Why don’t I just put this down,” she said.

  Daniel smiled, somewhat painfully, and said, “Hey, it’s the thought that counts.” He ran his tongue over his teeth to assure himself that they were all still accounted for. “Speaking of thoughts, what was all that raving Lyle was doing about me being on the council someday? What kind of crack is he smoking?”

  “He’s just mad because you could conceivably end up on the council, but he can’t,” said Ekani.

  “Well, I certainly wouldn’t put him in charge of anything. The guy’s got some serious issues, no matter who his uncle is.”

  “That’s not what I mean,” she said. “I mean he can’t.” Daniel shrugged and shook his head, causing her to sigh. “Most of the population is Veil Blind, right? Of the one-millionth percent that isn’t, most of those can either Walk, Channel, or Wayguide. Only. But there are a very, very few who can do all three.”

  Understanding broke through Daniel’s puzzled expression. “Ah, and only those guys can sit on the council.”

  “Yes. And it’s not just having more than one gift, they’re stronger than us, too. A lot stronger. Any one of the council members is a hundred times stronger than one of us, and across all of their gifts.”

  “Okay, but not all people with a single gift have the same affinity, either. So there must be levels there as well.”

  “Yes, it can be a little messy. There are a few people, like Iyah, who have only one gift, but at nearly the level of a council member. They’re pretty rare, too, but you still see them far more than those with multiple gifts. Most of the second in command and heads of staff for the council members are made up of these people.”

  Her lips twisted and she said, “Very enlightened, isn’t it? The strong rule the weaker, regardless of their leadership ability or qualifications to do so. Just like everywhere else.”

  “So what does that have to do with me?”

  “Lyle can never be on the council, he’s only single gifted. Granted, he’s strong for sure with that gift, but one is one, and that’s the end of it as far as the council sees it. But you can. You’re taking classes with the Walker Master and the Channeler Master both, right?”

  Daniel nodded and stared down into his drink. “Yeah.”

  “Yeah. I bet they’ll throw you to the Wayguides as well, just as soon as you get the basics down in the other two.” She grinned a sour grin at him. “Congratulations, Daniel, you’re an aristocrat, like it or not.”

  Leland clapped him on the shoulder. “Just remember your old pals when you get up there. We like money and loose women.”

  “No problem, Leland. I’ve always wanted a butler.”

  Leland turned to Ekani. “See? Power corrupts. And bloody fast, too, by the looks of it.”

  Daniel leaned back and nursed what was left of his beer. The others joked among themselves, politely letting him collect himself. Looking out into the crowded room, he studied the revelers. Beautiful people, dressed with casual elegance, who were enjoying themselves in a dazzling display that wouldn’t have been out of place at a Hollywood awards dinner.

  Despite his encounter with Lyle, he was at ease in the setting and comforted by his new friends, shielded from the too bright crowd by their camaraderie, while also feeling like a part of it. He felt a powerful desire to settle in, give everyone what they wanted, and just be part of the beautiful elite in a way that had always been denied him.

  He suddenly wanted that very much. But the small, honest part of himself that was forever prodding him to do the right thing, the inevitably unhappy thing, pushed an unpleasant truth at him.

  Every single one of the party goers wore an Arc. Daniel looked down at the hateful thing on his own wrist, and knew that to stay would be to give up a life lived for himself, traded away for a life of servitude in a beautiful prison.

  He put his nearly empty beer glass down on the table and plucked at his shirt. Between the press of people, the fire, and the excitement of being pummeled, he was feeling hot and a little claustrophobic. Nodding to his friends, he made towards the door, pressing and twisting his body sideways to make a passage through the crowd.

  By the time he had actually won free to the door and stepped outside into the cool, crisp air, he was feeling half suffocated. He took a deep, delicious breath and stepped away from the building a few paces, stretching his arms over his head and yawning.

  “Tired already?”

  Startled, he spun around, stumbling but not falling. Iyah sat perched on the low window ledge, leaning back into the corner of the recessed frame.

  “Um, no, not really. Just getting some air.” He walked over to her and put his hands in his pockets, trying to look casual. “What are you doing out here?”

  She leaned her head against the window, peering inside. “I heard that Tenny was having a birthday celebration tonight. I thought I might stop by and wish him well, but it looks a little too crowded in there for me. I don’t want to turn it into a big deal.”

  “Ah, the price of fame. If you go in, all of a sudden the party will be about you instead of Tenny.”

  She shrugged gracefully and looked away from the window. Daniel felt his heart go out to her. She looked so wistful and tiny, sitting in the window alone with her knees pulled up to her chest.

  “Hey, I never really got to see anything on Olympus yet, maybe you could show me around a little. I mean, if you don’t have other plans.”

  “Sure, why not?” She seemed to brighten a little as she stood up, but that might have just been wishful thinking on Daniel’s part. “Anything in particular you wanted to see?”

  “Actually, yeah,” he said, thinking of Drina. “Where do the regular people live?”

  “Regular people?”

  “You know, not them.” He pointed at the window with his chin.

  “The servants?”

  He nodded, not liking the label, but not wanting to offend her.

  “I’ll show you. Come on.”

  They walked side by side down the quiet streets, passed only occasionally by people coming and going out of the busy pubs and restaurants, usually bringing with them a cloud of noise and boozy vapors. The village was surprisingly well lit, with a huge silver moon overhead, and cheery gaslights at every intersection.

  “So,” said Daniel gesturing around him, “are all these people native to Olympus?”

  Iyah shook her head, making her ponytail dance. “Olympus has no natives. These people all originally came from other worlds, just like we did.”

  “That can’t be right. Master Giric said that Walkers can only cross to a Wayguide, that
they need a mind to home in on. If that’s the case, how did anyone ever Walk here in the first place?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. Perhaps you can ask Saul about it. If anyone would know, he would.”

  They stepped aside for a trio of happy people, a young man and two attractive women with their arms around each other’s shoulders, lurching and weaving down the street. The man was wearing an arc, but the women were not.

  “It’s this way,” said Iyah, turning down a darker boulevard, away from the lights and busy nightlife of the pub district. Daniel became aware of their footsteps, now that they were no longer surrounded by people. The gaslights lining the road were still present, but placed at less frequent intervals, and the shops along the sides of the road were closed. Unlike in the pub district, these businesses were more suited to daytime hours: food and sundries, clothes and tools.

  “Seems kind of grim,” said Daniel.

  “Compared to that lot back there, anyplace seems grim. I think it’s more homey. People live and work here, they don’t have time to be up all night having fun like spoiled children.”

  Iyah’s tone made Daniel glance at her. If she were angry, it was an old anger, showing only in her slightly pursed lips. Daniel could remember feeling much the same way when he was going to school and he would walk past the boisterous frat houses on his way home from one of his after-class jobs, their parking lots overflowing with expensive cars.

  “The people on this side of town are mostly descended from the first settlers, I take it? I mean, since they’re Veil Blind and all, I don’t suppose they were recruited.” Daniel plucked leaves off of random bushes as they walked, rolling them in his fingers nervously.

  Iyah nodded. “They say that the Founder brought in the original worker population when he first began to settle Olympus. The story goes that he put out an ad for people to found a colony and start over somewhere else. He put them all on a ship and went out to sea, a hundred families or more, all looking for a fresh start. One night, he drugged dinner, and when they were all asleep, he Walked the entire ship here. They made landfall never knowing that they had crossed more than an ocean.”