The Fall of Man: The Saboteur Chronicles Book 1

by J. V. Roberts

  “Around here, your word is your bond. There are a few things that you’re going to have to do. First and foremost, you’re going to need to renew your covenant before the eyes of our Father.”

  “Get married, again?” Dominic asked.

  “In Reeman, your union is not recognized until you’ve committed yourselves before Him.”

  “Oh, I love it!” Lerah kissed his cheek and he felt himself flush a little.

  “It’s nothing elaborate.” Mother seemed to be trying to temper Lerah’s expectations. “Just a few words are exchanged. It’s the meaning behind the words that matter.”

  “When do we do it?”

  “You’ll do it tonight.”

  “Good, she won’t have time to grow cold feet.”

  Lerah smacked him gently on the arm and then laid her head against his shoulder, emitting a sigh of contentment.

  “You’ll both need to be examined by Doctor Scroggins.”

  “Examined?” Lerah crinkled her nose.

  “Yes, to ensure that you’re able to conceive. That way, if you come up barren, we know whether it’s the Curse or not.”

  “That makes sense, I guess.”

  “It’s invasive, but I promise you, Doctor Scroggins is a professional.”

  Invasive, Dominic didn’t like the sound of that.

  “Well, if you have no more questions or concerns then feel free to show yourselves out.”

  “I’m good. Honey, do you have anything else to say?”

  Dominic shook his head. “Nope, I think that pretty much does it for me.”

  “Okay, Dominic and Lerah, welcome to Reeman.”

  33

  The whole damned plan was falling down around his ears. It was like some wild beast, squirming for freedom, refusing to be tamed. He’d lost control and unleashed it upon the world, his world. He had to contain it, had to get it back in its cage.

  Best strategy? Face it head on.

  Dan found the Lord Marshal having lunch at Pepper’s Pub. He was propped up on one of the lonely barstools making quick work of a pork sandwich. He always took a late lunch, it ensured a minimal crowd. His usual contingent of guards were scattered about the room, wearing their brown berets and their gloomy expressions. They knew Dan, knew him as a friend to Hause, and therefore didn’t react when he came bursting through the doors.

  “We’ve got to talk.” Dan swung a stool out from under the bar and sat facing Hause, still breathing heavy from running the stairs.

  “Can it not wait till I’ve finished my lunch? This is a hell of a sandwich. Have one, on me.”

  “I’m not hungry. And no, it can’t wait; you’re going to want to hear this.”

  Hause pushed his plate away and scrubbed his fingers clean on a crumb covered napkin. “This is a damn good sandwich, Dan. Make it worth my while.”

  “You’re not going to be happy.”

  “So you’re here to ruin my appetite?”

  “No, it’s not that—”

  “Come on, I’d rather get it over with.”

  “Perkins, all of his men, everyone we sent out, they’re dead.”

  Hause gripped the bar counter to keep himself steady. “Did you say everyone? All of our men?”

  “I’m afraid so, yes.”

  Hause jumped from his stool, lifted it by the seat, and pitched it across the top of the bar, shattering the recently installed mirror. Gerrad, the newly appointed bartender, dove for cover as shards of glass poured down around him. The few patrons present didn’t know whether to continue their meals or run. Hause helped them decide. “Get out! Everyone, out, now! Last one to the door gets a two week stay in the dungeons!”

  Dan waited for a break in the thunder before speaking again. “I’m afraid there’s more.”

  Hause dropped his forehead against the edge of the bar. “Those damned Rebels just had to force my hand.” He pushed himself up and gripped the scarred wood, his fingernails white from the pressure.

  “It wasn’t the Rebels.”

  “Wasn’t the Rebels? What do you mean it wasn’t the Rebels? Who was it then?”

  “Um… well… our men attacked a settlement.”

  “So? What’s your point?”

  “Well, they were apparently going pretty hard on the folks there. A man and a woman came along and got involved. Things got out of hand. The man, he was a big guy. He had long black hair and a scar on his face. He moved like a ghost, no one could touch him.”

  “You’re not saying what I think you’re saying?”

  “Yeah, I’m afraid I am saying what you’re thinking. It sounds like it was Dominic and Lerah.”

  Hause grabbed Dan by the collar of his shirt and twisted, bringing him up to the tips of his toes. “Who told you this?”

  Dan raised his hands in surrender, trying to maintain composure. “Some of the settlers. When we didn’t hear anything back from Perkins, we sent out a small scout team. Our men found some of them in the area. They grabbed them and brought them back here. They’re pretty banged up.” If it hadn’t been for the scout team talking to the settlers first, Dan could have kept the news about Dominic and Lerah under wraps. He could have passed it off as more Rebel shenanigans. He could have gotten the green light for a full blown military incursion into the Outlands and the defense funding to go along with it. But as it stood, there were more hands in the pot than he was comfortable with. Better to just come clean with it and try to turn it in his favor along the way.

  “So Lerah and Dominic have turned on us? What the fuck is going on, Dan?”

  “Look, they didn’t know what was going on. What do you think it looked like to them? I hear our boys got pretty bloody. Dominic is an Outlander, first and foremost. Who do you think he’s going to defend in that situation? And Lerah, well, she’s idealistic, always has been. In her mind she was probably just helping the helpless.”

  “Idealist or not, she killed her brothers in arms. She killed one of our finest Captains. Your daughter is a traitor and I’ll see her—”

  “Hey now, hang on there, old friend. I know you’re upset, but I want you to think first, okay? There’s no telling what influence that Outlander is having on her. She’s alone out there, secluded from the things we have going on up here. Do you think she knows about the attack on our men? The stolen coin? No, all she knows is that she walked up on a group of our guys ransacking a settlement. That’s it. What do you think we’d do in the same situation?”

  “Killing my own for the sake of some Outland peasants? Don’t insult me, Dan.”

  “Okay, fine, but that’s not Lerah. What is it you teach them in the academy?”

  Hause’s grip only tightened at the question.

  “To protect the innocent, right? You never placed a qualifier on that. From the time they can walk we’re instilling in them the virtues of the Union.”

  “Yes, but we expect them to be smart enough to read between the lines.”

  “Not Lerah, she’s smart, but she’s idealistic. When you told her to go forth and protect the innocent, she did just that. You can’t really be mad at her.”

  Hause released him. “They should have never crossed paths.”

  “It was an unfortunate accident, to say the least.”

  “How many settlers did our men bring back?”

  “A half dozen or so. I haven’t been down myself.”

  Hause nodded and took him around the shoulders. “I’d very much like to see them.”

  When Hause recruited Loviatar on their way down to the dungeon, Dan knew that it wasn’t going to be just a casual chit-chat. He let Loviatar walk ahead and fill the gap between him and Hause. He didn’t feel comfortable having the beast at his back. Loviatar was wearing his usual black robes and leather hood. The only things that hinted at the appearance of the man beneath were the pulsing blood shot eyes and the enormous pink hands gripping the hammer. He smelled like rotten meat. The robes and the mask never came off. They just remained glued to his hulking body, collecting th
e blood, shit, and tears of the countless lives he’d, quite literally, crushed.

  They were moving quickly through a narrow stone hall. Burning torches were intermittently bolted to the damp walls. There were single occupancy cells cut out of the walls on either side of them. They ran up and down the full length of the hall, thick iron doors keeping the accused locked away beneath a shroud of heavy darkness. Their only access to the outside world was a small square cut out of the top of the door, with three bars running vertically across their field of view. Through that square flowed their lifeblood: pieces of rotten food, meager rations of water, and the occasional glimpse of another human being. The rest of their existence was spent circling the darkness, sleeping curled up on straw mats, and evacuating their bowels into rusty pales.

  The main holding cell rested at the end of the long hallway, a cold room, lit by a single torch, made up of damp cement and iron shackles that dangled from the ceiling, a place where the accused awaited their final judgment: confinement or death. Outside of the holding cell sat Buddy, a simpleton, permanently assigned to dungeon duty. He was slumped back in a rickety wooden chair, his hairy potbelly on full display beneath an open leather vest, picking at the scabs on his bony arms. When he caught sight of Hause he jumped to attention. “Lord Marshal Hause, sir!”

  “Yeah, yeah, you degenerate, open the door.”

  “Yes, sir!” The ring of keys on Buddy’s waist appeared to be an unsolvable puzzle, just a cluster of cloned metal. Buddy’s years of navigating the tangled web seemed to have left him with a special sort of instinct, he selected the correct key from the cluster without ever taking his eyes off the door. With a quick twist, the lock was released and their patchwork party was led inside. “I’ll be out here if ya’ll need me.” Buddy shuffled back out into the hall, pulling the door along with him.

  Hause removed the torch from the wall and held it high above his head. There were five settlers suspended from the ceiling; three men and two women, iron shackles locked tight around their wrists. One of the men was out cold, his head dangled as if he were some toddler that had passed out in the middle of playtime.

  “Loviatar, wake him up.”

  Loviatar shoved past the dangling settlers, sending them swinging like fleshy wind chimes caught up in a harsh breeze. When he reached the unconscious settler he flipped his mighty hammer around and sent the bottom of the handle crashing into the side of his face.

  Dan heard the bones break.

  The man woke up screaming. He shook against the chains violently. He was swinging up off the ground, trying to press his face to his shoulder in an attempt to subdue the pain.

  Loviatar retook his place beside Hause, dragging his hammer across the floor like some blind demon scuttling his way through the bowels of hell.

  Hause approached the man closest to him and grabbed him by the chin, illuminating his face with the torch. “What’s your name, Outlander?”

  “Alan… they call me Alan?” Alan’s voice sounded like a weak cough. He looked as if he hadn’t slept in days.

  “Do you know who I am, Alan?”

  Alan’s nod barely registered.

  “Go on, tell me, who am I?”

  “The Lord Marshal.”

  “I’m assuming my reputation precedes me?”

  “I don’t know much about that, sir. I just push dirt and try my best to take care of my family.” Tears began to form at the corners of Alan’s eyes.

  Hause yanked his hand to safety before the fluid could make contact with his skin. “Why are you crying? Do I scare you, Alan? Do you have a reason to be scared?”

  A switch seemed to flip inside of the young settler. “I’m not scared, Lord Marshal. I’m not scared of you or the Union or that creature standing behind you. Your men killed my wife. They killed my child.”

  Hause nodded. “Well that is unfortunate, but I assure you, that’s not the reason they were sent to your settlement.”

  “They came in shooting!” Alan yelled before breaking off into a hacking cough. “They didn’t ask questions. They,” Alan was working to catch his breath and calm his speech, “just burned everything. People were being shot and beaten, they were butchers. Then that man and that woman came along, they saved those of us that were still alive.”

  “Tell me about them.”

  “I don’t remember much.” Alan lowered his head. The spark that had surged through him moments ago had gone just as quickly. “He was a big guy. He seemed angry. The woman, it was like she was in control of the situation. It seemed like she knew the guy that was leading your troops.”

  “Perkins?”

  “Sounds like his name. I’m not sure. The guy ran off at one point. After that she and Perkins got into a scuffle. She got the better of him. I didn’t stick around to see what happened next.”

  “Dominic and Lerah, sound familiar?”

  “What?”

  “The man and woman that came to your rescue, did you happen to catch their names?”

  “I don’t remember. I haven’t eaten. I haven’t slept. I barely remember my own name.”

  “Uh-huh, okay,” Hause backhanded Alan across the mouth and yanked his head back by the hair, “where is my coin, you sniveling peasant?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

  Hause held the flame against Alan’s shackled hands.

  Alan let out a tremendous note of pain, trying to twist himself free from the scorching tentacles as the flesh began to sizzle and melt away.

  “What do you know about the Rebels and my coin? You want the pain to stop, Alan? Then you better start talking!”

  “I don’t… I don’t… pleasestopplease!”

  “He doesn’t know anything about the Rebels, or your coin, you Union dog!” The voice was wet and crunchy. It emanated from the back of the room, bouncing across the walls and ceiling.

  Hause sought out the voice, parting the darkness before him with the torch.

  Loviatar scuffled along after him, dragging his hammer.

  Dan hung back, ever the spectator.

  The source of the voice was a young man with pockmarked cheeks and curly blonde hair. He was pulling against his shackles, as if he expected that any moment would bring him the strength necessary to break free of their embrace. The sight of Hause and the monster only seemed to strengthen his resolve.

  “You’re a lively one.” Hause remained just beyond his reach. “What’s your name?”

  “Chad, you’ll remember it after I carve it into your chest!”

  Loviatar readied his hammer, waiting for the command.

  Hause clapped his hands together. “I think you’re just the man I’m looking for. Tell me, Chad, what do you know about the Rebels and my coin?”

  “You hide behind your metal and glass and guns, you coward! Remove your men and then remove these chains, then we’ll get to the heart of things.”

  Hause waved the torch in front of Chad’s face. “Do you want to taste the flames as well?”

  “There’s not anything you can do to me—”

  Hause popped him in the nose. It wasn’t a head twister. It was just a quick jab, in and out. Enough to get the blood flowing. “I’ve been at this a lot longer than you. I’ve cracked the hardest shells. You’re not above the pain. You’re a dirt farmer with a gun, fighting for a cause that’s already lost. Tell me about the Rebels and my coin.”

  Chad let loose with a defiant laugh. “When will you get it? We do not want the wares you’re peddling. We don’t want your rules, your laws, or your way of life. We will not be subjected to your corrupt leadership. We will not be cogs in your military machine. You want to rule everything and everyone. I’m here to tell you, Lord Marshal Hause, the Outland will never be ruled by you. The Rebels are strong. We’re in every settlement across this land and we’re just waiting for our time to strike. So, do whatever you’ve got to do. I’m just a single petal in the midst of an enormous bloom. Your time will soon be at an end.” Chad swallowed a m
outhful of blood and smiled, red teeth glinting in the flickering darkness. “You’ll never find your coin.”

  Hause stood frozen by the icy wind of open defiance. The slack went out of his fingers. His shoulders drooped until they formed a fine v-shape. Even his breathing seemed to stop.

  Dan had never seen anyone talk to Hause in such a manner, at least not anyone that was still walking under their own power.

  Hause’s right hand began shaking. It moved gradually up his thigh, across his hip, in a straight line towards the butt of his pistol.

  Dan saw what was coming and plugged his ears.

  Hause was meticulous and cruel in his shot placement. The first bullet took off Chad’s left knee cap, the second took off the front portion of his right foot, and the third went into his groin.

  Chad cursed. He screamed. He cried. But he never begged. He gathered what little resolve remained in his body, and while vibrating from the shock, looked Hause directly in the eyes and spoke. “You will not break me! You will not break the Rebels!”

  Hause leveled his gun at Chad’s head and left it there, his finger coiled around the trigger, but the explosion of brains and bone did not come. Hause flipped his pistol back into its holster and turned. “Loviatar, hammer his head. Hammer all of their heads.”

  Loviatar gave an almost sensual growl.

  Hause shoved past Dan towards the cell door. “Bring them back.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Lerah and Dominic, all of the Shadeux, withdraw all of them.”

  “Should I prepare our men for war?”

  Hause turned and gave Dan a hard shove. “You think I want this? I know you did, Dan. Oh, you must be celebrating inside. You’ve got it back, right? Your precious military, all of that coin that had been diverted from your pockets. You’ve got your guns, your bombs, all of it. The fires of fallen settlements will once again dot the skyline as we wage bloody war. Come on, where is that smile? I know it’s there, hiding. You can probably taste the blood, can’t you? You never wanted this to succeed and now you’ve gotten your wish.”