Ch4.34 Fatal Prophecy

Sky makes the most of his long legs, loping swiftly through the tangled streets and alleys of Three Rats. The fused nature of the ward – parts of two cities mashed together through some magical catastrophe – turns any attempt to navigate it into a labyrinthine experience, but Sky, having formed an attachment to the Bunnies and having sworn his soul to their protection, can sense them ahead. He knows just where to go, until suddenly...they are gone.

He growls in frustration, hoping that they have simply escaped through the Little Falls portal to safety. Still, he speeds up, flinging himself headlong, ignoring the burning of his muscles until he reaches the square at Little Falls where the portal is located, where he had taken Mayumi so recently.

He skids to a halt, the smell of death filling the square. No no no no no. He draws his sword as a precaution, wishing he had his crossbow with him, but being out of bolts there had been no reason to weigh himself down with it. He steps over a body, its throat slashed open, and sees another and another, burned, torn by monstrous jaws, sliced by blades, penetrated by arrows. He begins to desperately search among them, hoping he will not find a Bunny, or one of his sergeants. Just the thought of that, of finding Alma, or Cherry, or Chime, or...Mayumi.

One of the bodies he rolls over is some kind of wasp woman. He catches a whiff of demon-ichor poison from her death-wound, and bends to look more closely. It is easy to guess who must have killed her, but could the assassin really have been here? He glances back at another body, sees the crossbow bolt in it, and notices the fletching is definitely not Guardia. No, he recognizes it from the bodies in the warehouse, weeks ago.

As if thinking the name causes it to be audible, he hears a familiar voice call, “Saira?” Sky rises and spots Aliyah Kaur, former corporal and now constable on the Guardia Popula.

“Aliyah?” he calls to her, surprise in his voice.

“Inspector! Oh, uh...hi?” Aliyah manages to look simultaneously frightened, embarrassed, and deeply concerned.

Glancing back over the bodies in the square, he realizes he’s checked them all. He turns his attention fully on the living. “Why were you calling Saira’s name?” he asks, resheathing his sword and stepping over bodies to approach her.

The tall woman grimaces. “Sarge is gonna drum me outta the Guardia…” she mutters.

“He has bigger concerns,” Sky says. “He was wounded.”

Aliyah’s hand flies to her mouth. “No! Is he okay? Tell me he’s okay!”

“He’ll be fine,” Sky reassures her. “Now answer my question.”

“Oh...well after the Sarge told me to go home, I went lookin’ for Saira. It took me a little while, but I found her, and told her what was goin’ on.” Aliyah grins. “She said it sounded like a good night out. I tried to follow her, but she was too fast, jumpin’ on rooftops and stuff. I just couldn’t keep up.” She looks around at the bodies, shaken. “Gods. There’s not anybody we know here, is there?”

Sky shakes his head, and almost whispers, “No, thank goodness. They all seem to be Dukaines, or members of gangs that have joined the Dukaines. They must have had several teams out in force. Sergeant Machado and I had some of them pinned down, but...it seems we only helped improve the odds slightly.” He glances over the bodies one more time, just to reassure himself. “Aliyah, I have to go. I won’t mention your part in this to the Sergeant.”

“Thanks, sir! I think I’m gonna head back to the station. Sarge might’ve told me to go home, but if he’s wounded, they’ll need help. I can lead some cops back here to start cleanup. Need to get some priests here too, lay these guys to rest good and proper. Wouldn’t want their ghosts wanderin’ around.”

“I have a feeling Sergeant Alma already took care of that.” Sky reaches out his hand, prompting her to do the same, though her expression as he shakes her hand is one of surprise. “Thank you, Aliyah. What you did most likely saved lives, including those of the Bunnies. I know you’re very close to them…”

Aliyah blushes. “Yeah...are they gonna be okay?”

“They will,” Sky insists. He lets go of her hand and salutes her, and she returns it, her back straight. He finishes the salute, and with a grin, Aliyah heads off in the direction of the Three Rats Station.

“What an interesting little melodrama, Tuma-Sukai!” rings out a voice from behind. Sky turns, whipping his sword free of its scabbard once again. He relaxes only slightly when he recognizes the source leaning casually against the portal: a slender young man in Guardia uniform, his long black hair tied back in a ponytail. In the dim light of the square, Sky cannot see his face, but he knows who it is nonetheless.

“Somrak!” Sky exclaims. He doesn’t put his sword away.

The slender man chuckles and walks over, seeming to ignore the carnage. As he comes into the light, Sky sees the familiar olive-skinned features of his sometime partner in the Commander’s “special squad”. “Late to the party? That’s not like you, Sky.” He glances at the bare weapon. “Don’t kill the messenger, man.”

“Are you here working for the Commander or for the Council, Somrak?” Sky asks softly.

“Supposedly you and I are working for both of them,” Somrak chides, shaking his finger at Sky like a mother scolding a naughty child. Then he laughs loudly, his mouth wide but lopsided due to a scar that runs down the side of his once-beautiful face. “I’m working for the Commander, of course! If he told me to assassinate every Archon on the Council, all I would ask is when he needs it done by! Just like you, my fellow loyal servant!”

Sky relaxes a little more. “Very well. But why are you here?”

“Like I said, I’m a messenger. The Commander wants to see you for a debriefing before you go meet up with your friends again.” He turns and heads toward the portal, every line of his lean, muscular body indicating full expectation that Sky will follow.

“Are they safe?” Sky asks, unmoving.

Somrak pauses in surprise, and looks back at Sky over his shoulder. “As far as I know! Now come on – our master calls.” He snaps his fingers and walks to the portal, stopping beside it.

Fighting the urge to growl, Sky stalks his way to the portal. Just before he goes through, he hears Somrak say, “Now who’s a good boy?”

Ch4.27 Fatal Prophecy

Back in his office, alone, Sky sighs. What is wrong with me? My emotions are like stampeding horses. If I keep going this way, I’m going to lose control of my form. And people are depending on me. Ever since arriving here… The Commander was wrong to post me here.

He thinks back to how he was up until a few short weeks ago: distant, cold, stoic. Controlling his emotions at all times. Always acting, never letting the mask slip, like a good undercover agent, a good infiltrator. But then there had been incidents years ago, hadn’t there? That gang of slave-breeders summoning demons to create exotic hybrids. He had lost control entirely then. The official report was that they’d been killed by their bound demons.

It was almost true.

What was causing this loss of control? Was it being in command? Alma’s friendship? It had been decades since he had had a friend. The Commander, his master, really can’t count. And his partner under the commander – certainly one of the best people to have on one’s side in a fight, but “friend” was an uncomfortable term to apply to their ambiguous relationship.

But does Alma count? She had held back information that put them all in danger. Still, he had to admit that Gwydion had made a good point. Fleeing off-world should be a true last resort, and if Sky had known what Alma had just revealed, then she and the Bunnies would already be on the run. Perhaps it is for the best she kept her secret this long.

He opens the door and calls to Aliyah. “Corporal Kaur! Is Sergeant Machado in?”

Aliyah stands up from her desk, dark circles under her eyes. “Yessir! Shall I get him?”

“Yes, and Corporal Stathos?”

“Uh, it’s not his shift, sir. But I know where he is! He just got off and he said he was gonna do some shopping at Patel’s on the way home!”

Sky hesitates. “Could you run get him? This is important.”

Aliyah’s eyes widen. “Sure thing, sir! I’ll be right back! Oh, but the Ser–”

From upstairs on the first floor, Machado’s voice booms down, “I’ve already overheard, Corporal. On my way down.”

As Aliyah dashes out the door, Machado arrives at Sky’s office and nods. “Inspector.”

“Thank you, Sergeant. Please have a seat. If you don’t mind, I’ll wait until all the ranking Guardia Popula are present. Tea?”

A few minutes later, Aliyah arrives, with Corporal Stathos in tow. Stathos, looking worried, is carrying two cloth bags filled with vegetables. Sky welcomes them and apologizes to Stathos as he closes and locks the door and activates the privacy enchantment. He can feel the tension in the room rise as he slices open the tip of his middle finger – yet again, how many times in the past week or so? – and he wishes he had Dion’s command of magic. The spell Dion had used was so much more elegant, and less messy.

“Inspector,” intones Machado. “May I ask what you are doing?”

“Forgive me, Sergeant,” Sky replies as the fourth ideogram glows red. “This is a spell. It will prevent anyone outside from listening in via magical means. I have something sensitive to tell you three.” He turns to face them. “There is a threat to the Bunnies. A deadly threat. We need to move them. As such, Sergeants Alma and Gwydion and I will be escorting them to safety. I wanted to explain why we were leaving.”

Aliyah’s face flushes and she stands. “Who’s threatening them? Who wants to hurt ’em?” Her fists are clenched as if she is just looking for a face to punch.

Sky looks down. “It’s the Council of Archons.”

The room falls silent. Invoking the Council, which normally operates behind the scenes, cloaked by the polite fictions of the Senate – a squabbling mass of hundreds of elected gods – and the Comitia Tributa – the Council of Tribes, representatives of the mortal population and widely regarded as a powerless joke – provokes fear even in immortals, but among mortals the Council holds a near-mythical status. Faceless, unnamed gods far more powerful than those they might meet on the streets, far more ancient, with a thousand years or more of intrigue and backstabbing behind their climb to power, are barely imaginable by mortals. Members are selected by the Council, not elected by outsiders; answerable to no one, their pronouncements outweighing any made by the lesser branches of government. They are the true power of the City.

Stathos is the first to recover. “The Council...has ordered their deaths?” His voice is shaking. Sky remembers, from the Corporal’s file, that Stathos’ grandparents had once lived in the First Ring, serving a high-ranking god’s household for untold generations. Something had gone wrong, and that god had been stripped of everything by the Council. And Stathos’ family, once prosperous and respected, had ended up in Three Rats, deep in the Fourth Ring, with nothing.

“They can’t!” Aliyah shouts suddenly. “They...the Bunnies haven’t done anything wrong! Why would anybody want them dead?”

“It’s complicated,” Sky says calmly. “But suffice it to say, we are not going to obey the order. Therefore, we must leave. I thought you should know why.”

“I’m going with you!” Aliyah shouts, surprising Sky. As he is about to object, Machado, who has remained silent, speaks implacably. “No.”

Aliyah looks at him, her jaw clenched. “Sir...I respectfully request permission to accompany–”

“No, Corporal Kaur,” Machado states. He is still sitting in his chair, back straight, not looking at her, his round, shaven head sunken into his massive shoulders, looking as if he is thinking hard. “You may not accompany the Guardia Dei.”

“Sir, please!” When she sees that Machado is still refusing to look at her, she turns to Sky. “Inspector, please let me–”

“Constable Kaur!” Machado rises from his chair now, eyes wide and blazing in his dark face. “Need I remind you that you are under my command?”

“Constable?” Aliyah asks in a tiny voice.

“That is correct, Constable. I will choose someone to replace you as corporal tomorrow.” Machado narrows his eyes at her. “Obviously you are exhausted from working double shifts recently. Go home, Constable. And if I see you anywhere near the Dei on their way out of Three Rats, you will be a civilian before you can blink!”

Aliyah’s chin trembles and her face turns red. Tears fill her eyes. Sky moves swiftly to deactivate the privacy spell, knowing that she wants only to flee, and as soon as he unlocks the door, she stalks from the room, glancing at him momentarily,  her face a warring mix of emotions. He looks at her apologetically, and nods thanks to her for her foolish but brave offer.

As soon as she is gone, Machado turns to Stathos. “Sorry, Corporal. You’re not going home yet. You’re in charge of the station for the next shift. I’ll send someone to run the groceries home to Luís and your girls.”

Stathos turns pale. “S-Sir?”

“Go on now,” Machado says softly. “I need to talk to the Inspector.” After the young man is gone and Sky has closed the door, Machado says, “I’m not sure what’s safe to say without that spell, but, uh, I understand you need an escort.”

“No, Sergeant,” Sky says. “This is not Guardia business.”

“Sure,” the burly mortal says, rubbing his dark-brown bald pate. “But we don’t want any trouble on the way out, do we? I’ll just go along. Purely in a private capacity.”

Sky can’t speak for a moment. “Edison...I’m touched. But I cannot ask you to do this. There could be trouble on the way.”

Machado looks at him with a sad smile. “You may not know this, but I’ve been teaching Kori capoeira. He has a real talent for it, that kid.”

Sky skeptically glances at the Sergeant’s burly body. He looks more like a small sumo wrestler than a capoeirista.

Apparently Machado gets such looks often enough to recognize the glance. “Yes,” he growls with narrowed eyes. “I do capoeira. I’ll be glad to give you a lesson some time.”

“Oh, of course, yes,” Sky murmurs, imaging getting kicked in the teeth by the man.

Machado continues, “And Sage and I, well, we’ve had some talks in the bar.” He shakes his head, smiling. “I don’t know how anyone could talk with him for five minutes and not feel like he’s got a new friend. Cherry and Rosemary, too. They’re good girls. All of ’em are good.” He frowns and reiterates, “I’m not going to let Aliyah torpedo her career, but I’m going with you. Besides, you Dei are so impractical. I need to make sure you’re properly kitted out. Armored jackets, crossbows. Let’s hit the armory, sir.”