Fire Sacrifice

by David J Normoyle

  “What does that mean?” Persia frowned. “We’ve been together since you attempted to hijack our van.”

  “Alone, I meant.”

  She squinted across at me, and my insides churned. “Why does being alone together matter?”

  “I guess it doesn’t.” I gave a nervous chuckle. “Just felt the need to say something.” When it seemed that Persia was ready to let the silence return, I spoke again. “When I imagined us meeting again, I expected more rage. We fought side by side against Duffy, and although we won, I doubt you approve of how the battle ended.”

  “A deal with the devil,” she said.

  “It’s not like—” I didn’t want to defend Uro. Not now. “I’ve heard it described as such.”

  “As for rage,” Persia said, “I used to feed on it. These days, despite the world going to pieces, I…” She trailed off, then she gave a shrug. “It’s different.”

  “Because of Jeroah?”

  Persia shifted in her seat, turning to look across at me. “I guess I’m going through some of those stages of grief that people talk about. Only, most people don’t have their beloved dead husband hanging around, walking and talking, for all the world exactly like him. Except Jeroah is not Noah at all and can never be him.”

  “It sounds difficult.”

  “You have no idea. In a multitude of ways, he’s still the husband I loved with all my heart—his strong earthy scent; the distinctive sharp tone of voice when he’s angry but trying to keep it under control; the way he taps his toes under the table when he’s nervous, the way his face crinkles into a private smile after a happy thought. Subconsciously, I fall into the trap of thinking I have my Noah back, that he’s sitting beside me once more.” She gave a little head-shake. “And then Jeroah will say or do something that breaks the spell, bringing the cold reality of the situation crashing back down on me.”

  “Making you realize that Jeroah doesn’t love you?” I asked.

  “Doesn’t matter whether he loves me or not. The reality is that he’s not Noah and never will be.”

  “And is Noah the only one you’ll ever love?” Then, before she had a chance to answer, and before I had a chance to think, I said, “Because I love you.”

  Persia started. “Sorry?”

  My face heated up. “I shouldn’t have said that. It just popped out.”

  “But it’s what you feel?”

  “Maybe.” I ran a hand through my hair. “Yes. I think so. When I saw you, it felt like the wind was knocked out of me. I know that sounds stupid.”

  “Love works in strange ways.” Persia smiled. “It doesn’t sound stupid. You have to know that I don’t love you, though.”

  The rejection didn’t hurt; rather the opposite. The previous tension fell away from me. “I just wanted to say it, you know.”

  She nodded. “With the way things are, no point in keeping anything for a later time.” She reached out and covered my hand with hers. “When love is pure, it is something given without expecting anything in return. And the more of it there is in the world, the better we’ll all be.”

  “Sorry for talking about this stupid crap. I know we should be focusing on our mission.”

  “This isn’t stupid crap. Maybe this conversation will help you resist Uro when he makes his demands.”

  “Ultimately, the war will be fought in the hearts and minds of the people.” I couldn’t remember who told me that. Holliday?

  “Exactly. Now tell me,” she said. “About following Uro. How does that work?”

  “I got sick of making decisions. Choosing what to do and always choosing wrong. I liked accepting orders, not having to question everything.”

  “You don’t get to stop choosing,” Persia said. “You learn from each mistake until you get to make better decisions.”

  “Because I’m a fire sorcerer?”

  “No, because you’re an adult.”

  “I didn’t use my magic,” I said. “Back in the car park when I was fighting Walker. I should have. I might have been able to save Alex if I did.”

  “By not using magic, you rejected Uro.” Persia suddenly reached across and hugged me. “That’s fantastic.”

  “No, it wasn’t. I let Alex be captured. And as a result, the Dawnsday Device might be activated.”

  “You made the right decision. Choosing evil never brings about anything good.”

  Persia’s cell rang. She took it out and held it in her hand for a moment, staring at it. Even before she answered it, I reached for the key, preparing to restart the engine. The time for talking had ended.

  Chapter 13

  Monday 17:55

  Jo Collier was a person of science in a world of magic.

  She’d been sitting at her desk for the last several hours, her notebook in front of her, jotting down various facts and data. However, when her latest line of thought led to another dead end, she slammed her pen down. She was fast running out of time.

  The room the Sentinel Order had given her in City Hall was a small one, most of the space taken up by an unmade bed on one side and the desk on the other. She used a half-open suitcase as her wardrobe, and most of the clothes it in needed a visit to the laundry. Under the desk sat a stack of used notebooks, and on the desk was her laptop, several printed documents, and even some textbooks, though few textbooks held much of use. Everything she—and the other scientists at City Hall—did was in uncharted territory.

  She lifted her notebook and flicked back through it. She’d only started using that particular notebook a few days earlier, and already half the pages were used up, filled with diagrams and equations, graphs and bits of data, scribbled theories and ideas. She reached the front of the notebook without a new idea sparking to life, so she shut it and stared at the wall.

  Following Doctor Kressan’s groundbreaking work on Brimstone, scientists like her had come far in understanding some aspects of magic yet still remained woefully lacking in others. The Sentinel Order had brought in physicists, chemists, mathematicians, geologists, even biologists, each using their own field to try to bring new insight. Most experiments had been abject failures. Doctor Kressan had been lucky enough to have access to the fire summoning crystal—without that to study, progress had come much harder.

  The fire summoning crystal was the key to everything, and Jo still had no idea why it existed, how it worked, and most importantly, how to safely remove it from her brother. Scans had shown that the crystal was lodged in the underside of Alex’s heart. Heart surgery might be able to get it out, but that was dangerous, and who knew if it would even work? Jo had no doubt that the placement of the crystal, so close to Alex’s heart, was due to magic, so magic was what would be needed to extract it.

  Magic. She scowled at the word. In the distant past, before scientific enlightenment, everything had been ascribed to magical means. The world had only just gotten used to a scientific understanding of reality when magic had rebounded in the form of shifters and fireswords, sorcerers, and dragons. Still, Jo was convinced that with time, the workings of Brimstone and its mystical connection with Earth could be brought back into the light of scientific understanding.

  With time.

  Except time was one thing Jo didn’t have. The Order had hired her due to her understanding of Kressan’s work, and she had spent most of her time working on the Dawnsday Device. All the scientists working on the device had been assured that it was a last resort, but Walker had arrived in Lusteer and was determined to activate it as soon as he could.

  The Dawnsday Device was similar to the mechanism that Doctor Kressan had designed to bring about the Searing, except it was more potent. When powered by the fire summoning crystal, it would break the link between the Earth and Brimstone, and in the process, kill every person with a magical link to Brimstone.

  There had to be a better way.

  She thumped her fist on the desk. No—there was a better way. She just needed the time to find it. Until then, she needed to keep Alex and the fire sum
ming crystal away from the device. For that she had to rely on Persia and Jeroah.

  And Rune too. She looked down at the loose floorboard in the far corner of the room where the mobile she used to communicate with Persia and Jeroah was hidden. She’d seen Rune on television many times over the last few months, but it had been an unpleasant surprise to see a clip of him jumping into the van where she knew Alex to be hidden. If Rune helped, perhaps they had a chance to escape. Though from everything she knew, Rune was fully under Uro’s control, it made her heart glad to think that he might be on her side again. It had been a long while, years, since all three of them—Jo, Alex, and Rune—had been together and happy. Much too long.

  She desperately wanted to turn on the mobile to ring and find out what was going on, but she resisted the urge. She couldn’t help them with their task; she’d only be a distraction. She had to trust the others to keep Alex safe. Her job was to understand magic better so a solution to the problems that Uro had caused could be devised. She cracked open her notebook and picked up her pen. Before she had a chance to write anything, though, the door opened and Sergeant Taylor walked in. “You’re wanted,” he said without preamble.

  She blinked. “By whom.”

  “Just come with me.”

  She considered for a moment, then shook her head. “Not until you tell me where.”

  “I could drag you out.”

  Jo nodded. “And I would struggle, but I ultimately wouldn’t be able to prevent you. But is that easier than just telling me what is going on?”

  Sergeant Taylor was the leader of the shadiers, but he also had a supervisory role over the Dawnsday project. He had never warmed to Jo.

  “I’m taking you to the atrium.”

  Jo nodded. “And?”

  Sergeant Taylor’s eyes narrowed, and for one moment, Jo suspected that he was actually going to physically force her to go with him. Then he sighed. “Your brother has been captured, and Walker has ordered the Dawnsday Device moved to the atrium. Everyone else is already waiting there.”

  A chill ran through Jo’s body. Alex captured, and the device about to be activated. Jo had a few more cards to play, but with Alex captured, she wouldn’t be able to delay things for long. She stood and moved past the sergeant and into the corridor. Sergeant Taylor stepped out of the room and the door began to swing closed, but before it did, Jo quickly reversed course and stepped back inside. She returned to her desk, picked up her notepad and pen and slipped them into the outside pocket of her white lab coat. Sergeant Taylor scowled at her.

  “Never know when a notebook of scientific equations will come in useful.”

  “The time for science is over,” Sergeant Taylor said. “It’s time for action.”

  Jo shook her head. “The time for science will never end.”

  Sergeant Taylor snorted. “If you say so.”

  Jo left her room for a second time, and Sergeant Taylor led her down an empty corridor. From the lack of noise and activity, Jo realized that the rest of City Hall must already have gone on ahead of her. The Order had clearly let everyone else know before sending for her. “You’ve never trusted me, have you?” Jo asked.

  “Should I have?”

  He had a point there. “So you are going to allow Walker to go ahead with this?” Jo asked. “Do you care so little for your own life? And the lives of those under your command?”

  “My men and I are soldiers,” Sergeant Taylor.

  “Not all orders should be followed, even by the best of soldiers; no—especially by the best of soldiers.”

  “We charge into battle as ordered even if it means almost certain death.”

  “That assumes your leaders know what they are doing,” Jo said. “Ever heard of the Charge of the Light Brigade? Almost certain? Have you been told that you and your men might survive?” Jo glanced across at him and saw that it registered with him. “I understand this device as much as anyone. More probably. Everyone with a link to Brimstone will die. That certainly includes shadiers. Are you that much of a believer to accept certain death? Do you trust Walker’s leadership that much?”

  Sergeant Taylor’s steps faltered ever so slightly. “Those who don’t have anything to believe in can’t understand those who do.”

  “Oh, I’m a believer,” Jo said. “I believe in science, and I believe in relying on good people to do the right thing. I also believe that Walker has a heart made of stone and is the last person who should be making decisions for all of humanity.”

  Sergeant Taylor didn’t respond, but she could tell from the way his face firmed into grim lines that he wasn’t for turning. They emerged into the buzz of noise and anticipation of the packed atrium. A fair number of the crowd wore white coats like Jo, the uniform of laboratory scientists everywhere. The atrium was a giant circular entrance hall, with a high domed ceiling. The first floor corridor with ornate balconies surrounding the hall was crowded with onlookers. Jo, scanning the faces, thought she saw Beacon Sulle himself, but when she looked again, she couldn’t see him. She had to have imagined it; it didn’t make any sense for the enemy leader to be hanging out in the crowd at the Sentinel Order’s last remaining defensive stronghold. Sergeant Taylor led Jo down the wide sweeping staircase. On the ground floor, he put his arm on Jo’s shoulder to guided her through the crowds until they came upon the Dawnsday Device which, as Sergeant Taylor had told her, had been moved into the center of the atrium.

  The Dawnsday Device consisted of two large metal hemispheres connected by a web of wires and metal with space between them for a black office chair. Initially, it had been envisaged that the two hemispheres would be pushed together in the final design, but when it was discovered that the key element to get the device working was a person, the distance between the hemispheres had been widened to make room for the chair. As Jo came around to the front of the device, she saw Alex sitting in that chair. She shook herself free of Sergeant Taylor’s grasp. Pushing herself against the metal bars that spanned the two hemispheres, she reached out a hand that couldn’t quite reach Alex.

  “Are you okay?”

  He gave a nod, but he was paler than Jo could ever remember seeing him. “At least I’m sitting down,” he said. He glanced upward at the hemispheres of twisted metal on either side of him. “I feel like I’m in a science fiction movie, and I’m hoping it’s a time travel one. I always wanted to see the future.”

  “The future is looking bright for the first time in a long time!” a booming voice said.

  Distinctive footsteps clicked on the tiles, and Jo looked across to see the crowd parting and a large pair of black cowboy boots walking her way. She came away from the Dawnsday Device to face the approaching Walker. She’d seen him on television many times, but the pictures hadn’t gotten across how large of a man he was nor how imposing his presence was.

  Walker addressed Sergeant Taylor. “Are we ready?” When he received a nod, Walker grabbed hold of the lever on the side of the Device. “It’s past time for this.” He pulled. Nothing happened. Instead of being angry, though, Walker merely smiled. “That’s a surprise,” he said.

  Sergeant Taylor looked toward a cluster of scientists, and one of the younger ones, a lady by the name of Corrine, stepped forward. “Jo Collier removed a part of the device and replaced it with a dud,” she said.

  “Corinne? You were spying on me?” Jo asked. Corinne had always been friendly, talkative, and seemingly dumb—not someone Jo suspected to be spying on her. Perhaps that was the reason she was entrusted with being a spy.

  Corrine didn’t meet Jo’s gaze.

  “You have the repair ready?” Walker asked. Corinne nodded. She detached one of the metal bars along the front of the Device and stepped between the two hemispheres. She crouched down by the chair, taking a screwdriver from her lab coat.

  “Your expertise was valuable, but we never forgot that your priorities were different than ours,” Walker told Jo. He then raised his hands high and waited for the crowd to quieten. Once they did,
he addressed them in a booming voice. “Be glad!” He paused until he was sure he had everyone in the room’s attention. “Be glad,” he repeated, “to be here and a part of this. For the first time, victory against the alien interlopers is within our grasp.”

  Walker briefly paused as a few cheers rang out before continuing. “Be glad that you stood strong, and be glad that the fellow warriors all around you stood strong. Victory was never certain, rarely even likely, for this was the greatest threat to its existence that the human race has ever faced. If you are here, you are part of this. But notably, I’d like to thank the soldiers who fought again and again against overwhelming odds to give us the time we needed, and the scientists for their ingenuity and determination to discover a path to victory. But there will be a cost.” He paused for a breath. “We are all soldiers, and a soldier doesn’t fear death; he fears dying in vain. When we activate this Device, the link to Brimstone will be forever severed, and those of us whose lives are severed must know that we are making a bright glorious sacrifice. Thousands make the sacrifice so that millions, billions get to live on. That’s why we called it the Dawnsday Device. It will bring about a bright new dawn for humankind!”

  Corinne reattached the metal bar as she stepped out of the Device, giving Walker a nod. Alex, clutching the armrests of his chair, was trying hard to look brave, but Jo could see how fearful he was, and Alex wasn’t someone who got scared often. Jo gave him a comforting look.

  Walker grasped hold of the lever for a second time. “We don’t get to write history, but we will be remembered and celebrated so long as humankind continues to prosper.” He pulled downward. “Be glad!” he shouted out.

  A humming noise rose up, and both hemispheres glowed with a white light. The hum turned into a crackle, and sparks danced along wires that connected the two hemispheres. Tendrils of smoke rose from behind Alex’s chair, and Alex’s mouth opened wide. The lights in the chamber dimmed briefly, and the device went silent. The expression on Walker’s face changed from expectant ecstasy to murderous rage.