by Anne Schlea
“Another Fallen city?” Mia’s eyes widen in shock. She looks at Anna. “That close to Anna? How didn’t she notice?”
“They have magical wards on the city to hide it from her and everyone else.” He jumps the stairs two at a time. Anna struggles to keep up, her leg muscles burning as she runs behind him. “The only reason we got in was because they sent someone out to meet us.”
“You were inside the city?” Mia curses and smacks the wall beside her in frustration. “How the heck did you get out?”
“That’s a good question.” Riley looks over his shoulder at Kurt and slows his movements. While he knows Mia and Anna are on the same page as him, Kurt has parents and a family in Orasul. If this turns out to be a conspiracy put together by the Committee, he’s going to need to think about them. “Are you okay with this? This meeting with Putere probably isn’t going to be easy. If you want out, now’s the time to say something. I’ll understand. You have family to think about.”
“You do, too. No, I’m good.” Kurt’s outrage matched Riley’s when they told him what they’d seen. Anna was afraid for a minute they’d get thrown out of one of her favorite restaurants, but she can understand. To her, it’s just another Fallen city. To the two of them, it’s a city full of soldiers who’d spent the last ten years trying to kill them. “I want to hear what the Committee has to say about this, too.”
∞∞∞
Anna isn’t sure what will to happen when they get to the Floor of Judgment. Unquestionably, it’s going to be uncomfortable. She’s worried Riley can’t hold his temper and sure enough, he barges right through the entryway and is making his way for the Committee chamber doors when the woman who guards the door steps in front of him. She’s dressed in a nice suit like she had been the last time Anna saw her, but this time there’s a long blade in her hand.
“You do not have leave to enter the Committee chamber this night, General. You need to go elsewhere.” Her voice is calm and collected, her eyes meeting his. Intentionally or not, she’s daring him to take another step.
“Not going to happen.” He stares her down, untamed aggression rolling off his body in waves. “I need to see Putere. He knows I’m coming.”
“He is unavailable.” Anna doesn’t miss how she widens her stance. The woman is prepared to fight Riley if it comes to that, still her voice is level and calm. “Leave this place.”
Mia shoulders her way in front of Anna, too, her hands on her hips. She doesn’t seem the least bit afraid of the woman. “Isabel, this isn’t going to end well. Let him pass.”
“You, also, will resort to murder to obtain what you wish?” Isabel moves her gaze to Mia. The icy calm never breaks despite familiarity in their eyes. Great, the two have history. Let’s add more fuel to a burning fire.
“No.” Mia cocks her head to the side in a blatant invitation for violence. The muscles in her neck relax, her hands open a bit wider, her stance opens up. Things are going to get bloody if someone doesn’t stop it soon. “But, I won’t hesitate to hurt you so Riley can get through that door.”
Isabel regards Mia with absolute calm. She seems to be measuring Mia’s intent, Riley’s determination, and the distance to Anna and Kurt. It’s unlikely she can take four trained and heavily armed soldiers at the same time; she’s determining the most important aspect to neutralize first.
Which kill is the most important to stop the rest.
“Isabel, it’s okay. Let them pass.” Putere’s voice echoes across the reception room, sounding tired.
He stands near the doorway to the Committee chambers and he looks defeated. The powerful man who runs the Committee leans on the wall like he needs it to hold himself upright. His suit is wrinkled, and it looks like he hasn’t slept in days. His bones show through the skin on his face and he has a greyish pallor to his whole body.
Isabel calmly looks him over, gauges his intent, and nods her head. The weapon is lowered; she takes a step back until she’s a respectful distance from Riley and Mia. Anna has no doubt she’s capable of murdering a child in the middle of the night like an assassin if the Committee orders it. This woman is as cold as anyone she’s ever met.
Putere gestures for them to follow him away from the Committee chamber door. “Come, we will meet in my private chambers. Kurt, if you don’t mind, my office is small. I trust the General will fill you in tomorrow.”
Kurt nods. He looks at Riley. “What time?”
“Seven. “
Anna glances over at Riley with wary eyes. As far as she knows, no one enters the private rooms of the Committee. He doesn’t seem to notice; his body is still tensed with aggression and anger, following the other man down the hallway. She reaches out to put a hand on his shoulder. “Riley, you need to calm down.”
“I’ll calm down when I get some answers.” At least his weapons are returned into his pockets and his shoulders relax at her touch.
The hallway outside the Committee chambers curve around the round room to a set of double doors. These lead through an ornately carved wooden archway to an antechamber with twelve more doorways. Putere walks to one of the doors closest to the center of the chamber, expecting them to follow.
This room is far sparser than Anna would have imagined. She somehow expected an ornately carved mahogany desk, thick carpet, and an expensive oil painting. Instead they’re greeted by a plain wooden desk with plain wooden chairs that look like they came out of a high school from the 1950’s. A plain wooden bookshelf runs the length of the room behind the desk, completely filled with volumes – some new and cleanly bound, some old parchments rolled and stored in ceramic containers.
Putere folds himself behind the desk and motions for them to sit. Anna and Riley each take one of the seats but Mia crosses her arms and stands behind them like a guard. “I’ll stand, thank you.”
“How many Committee members are gone?” Riley doesn’t bother to ease into the conversation with small talk. He levels his eyes at the older man and locks his jaw. “How long have you known what was happening?”
“You found their city quicker than I expected. I thought it would take you a few days of searching at least.” Putere sounds tired. He reaches up and rubs his eyes with one hand. “I sent word you were coming in case you did.”
“It’s more like a neighborhood, really.” Riley glares and Anna starts to wonder if she needs to jump in. Negotiation has never Riley’s strong suit. At this rate they’ll be bickering all night. “It’s only about a block from where Anna and Marissa lived.”
Putere nods his head slowly. “I should have guessed Anna settled close to them, even if by accident. Their energy would have been drawn to hers those first days when they went in search of a building to purchase.”
“You didn’t answer my first question.”
He sits quietly, studying his hands for a long time until he sighs. Putere pushes back his chair to stand and paces a few times behind his desk before he comes to stop in front of his bookshelf. He runs a hand lightly over several ceramic containers, taking one off the shelf to offer it to Mia. “Do you know what this is?”
She uncrosses her arms and takes the vessel he’s holding to look at the label. Then she carefully opens the container, using a pair of cotton gloves Putere offers her to pull the fragile parchment out. The delicate paper cracks in protest when she unrolls it for study on the desk. Her head bends over the words written in a language only remembered now by scholars.
“It’s one of the histories,” she replies after several minutes of study. She frowns and leans closer to the words, squinting to decipher the unfamiliar handwriting. “I don’t think I’ve seen this one before.”
“You haven’t. I took it from the archives the night Jonathan was killed.” Putere looks over Mia’s head to lock eyes with Riley. “Half of the Committee left when the Fallen you call rebels left the city. It is just as this scroll foretold.”
“This basically says the city will be divided by one of the great demons set loose from the box, but i
t doesn’t specify which city.” Mia isn’t paying attention to Riley or Putere. Her focus is completely dedicated to the parchment in front of her, her finger gently running over the words. “Once the city is divided the warriors able to return the demons to their prisons will unite and fight under one banner without a city. That…the demons will…be put in the great prison under the Rock…I don’t know I understand this next part. It talks about a prison that’s already built but I don’t know of any prison and it isn’t named here. This is written as a history that has already happened.”
“The prison is well hidden.” Putere sits back at his desk and looks at Mia with affection, his eyes softer than Anna ever remembers them being. “You were always meant to be a great scholar. It seems a pity you have been forced to give your life to the sword.”
“Thanks for the sentiment but it really doesn’t change anything now.” She doesn’t bother moving her gaze off the parchment, but her voice isn’t harsh anymore. “There’s a lot more here but I need time to study it.”
“Take it to the archives and spend some time with it.” Putere waves his hand in Mia’s direction like he’s dismissing her from the room. She looks up at him, decides he really is giving her permission to take the scroll, and has the thing rolled back up and in its canister in a matter of moments.
“I imagine you already know what this says?” The canister is carefully resting in Mia’s still gloved hands like it a precious jewel.
“Only its most basic idea. We do not know where the prison is or where to start looking for it, but that prison alone can hold the thirteen demons for which we seek.” He sits back down behind his desk like his legs are too tired to hold him. From the look of his skin and the rest of his body, they might be.
Her eyes regard him for a long time. Is he sending her on a useless mission to waste her time? He meets her gaze unwavering and holds it until she nods. She’s seen whatever she’s looking for. A nod of the head later and she’s out the door and on her way to the Archives.
“Tell us what you do know.” Riley’s eyes pin Putere back in his chair. He’s leaning back in his own chair and has his arms crossed again. Anna reaches over and puts a hand on Riley’s arm, a move Putere watches with cautious eyes. “There’s obviously much more to the rebels leaving and forming their own city. It’s time you were honest and tell us exactly what happened.”
“And why my sister died.” The heartbreak that happens when your sister is killed as a result of her own vengeance is nearly unbearable. The notion that someone allowed it to happen to set forth some kind of prophecy is enraging. At the end of the day, no one really wants to be the Messiah.
“A thousand years ago the history I just handed Mia was brought to the Committee in Istanbul.” His voice starts with a long sigh and Anna is again reminded of how tired he looks. If it’s true he’s been hiding the scroll for all these years, he must be exhausted. His body sags behind the desk. “Back in those times there were only three cities: Istanbul, Paris, and Brandenberg. “
Putere pushes himself up like he suddenly remembers his place in their society. He straightens his jacket and looks directly at Anna. “Two weeks before his death Jonathan went to the city to hunt. Marissa was sick so Lily stayed home and a friend of Jonathan’s went with him that night.”
“Maxim.” There was a time when Anna thought she’d never speak the name again. She’d sworn it would never pass her lips after everything that had happened. Here they are now, and everything’s changed. “I remember.”
“They found the demon they were looking for that night, but they found something else. They found one of the original thirteen.” There’s a sharp sound from Anna’s right, a quick hiss and intake of breath. She looks over at Riley; he’s moving in his chair, his body uncoiling, his temper reigning itself in as Putere gives them some of the answers he’s looking for. “As you can imagine, one squad of men was hardly enough to face a demon of such immense power. Their plan was to track him and send back an army better prepared, but Jonathan was bitten in the escape and a few days later he started to…change. I don’t know any other way to express it. The wound became infected but he told no one. By the time anyone noticed, it was too late to do anything.”
“Maxim killed him because he had no choice; he had to stop the infection from spreading.” Riley rubs his eyes. It seems so simple now. Does simplicity come from time? Or is it a turn in perspective? “Why didn’t you tell us that back then?”
“We weren’t sure what to tell you,” Putere exclaims. He collects himself and regains his composure. “Nothing like this had ever happened, not in two thousand years. We told you he’d been killed by an accident just to buy time, to study the prophecies and to consult with the other cities. We were standing here in the Committee Antechambers discussing what to do when Lily attacked Maxim. She didn’t have to die, if she’d just given us a few more hours…and then you were gone with Marissa and none of us knew what to think. We thought it was possible the bite had spread to Lily and she could have killed Marissa, too.”
“If Maxim did nothing wrong, why did he leave?” It’s Riley’s turn to calm Anna when he reaches out and takes her hand. Her whole body shakes with the memory of her sister’s death. She focuses on Putere and fights to keep herself grounded. “You’re right, Lily didn’t have to die. If you would have stood up and told us the truth she could still be here, raising her daughter.”
“Maxim felt many in the city turned against him with Lily’s death and he felt enormous guilt over it. Jonathan’s could be understood, hers was murder.” Dark eyes harden and he squares his shoulders, once again the political leader he’d been for decades. “He requested permission to leave the city with his family. Many of his men wished to go with him, to set up a new community of their own. They had no ill will toward anyone here, they just felt it would be easier. We – the members of the Committee – saw the prophecy referred to in the scroll coming to fulfillment and decided to allow the split to happen. Half the Committee went with Maxim, his men, and their families. The rest stayed here. To keep Orasul from finding out, the shared Committee members return to be seen from time to time. We’ve all been waiting.”
“You’ve been letting us kill each other ever since?” Riley pushes up from his chair and paces across the space. “You should have said something. How many more Fallen have died since the split?”
“I don’t believe any of your men have killed any of Maxim’s, nor do I believe any of his have killed yours. The demon Jonathan and Maxim found is Discord. You’ve been fighting his lesser demons.” His voice is getting stronger, surer, like releasing the burden of the last ten years is energizing him.
Riley stops and stares at Putere. It sounds like the most logical explanation in the world when he says it. Of course, he hasn’t been attacked and nearly killed by a fellow Fallen. It must be Discord. It’s crazy, not something he can believe in. He’d been there. He’d fought the battles. He’s seen his fellow soldiers – some of which he’d trained with – doing everything in their power to kill him.
“I don’t believe you.”
“It’s the truth.” Putere shrugs. “Believe me or do not, it changes nothing.”
“I don’t know that you’d know the truth if it fell in your lap.” He glares at the Committee member. “My whole life I’ve been taught to follow the Committee, trust the Committee. And now you tell me you’ve lied to me for ten years, lied to me while you expect me to lead your army. You’ve lied to all of us. Why should I believe you now?”
“We lied to keep the city safe.” Putere comes around the desk to meet Riley on the same side. The two men are about the same build and look eye to eye when they’re on the same footing. “I’m telling you the truth now because I believe we can end this. All of this. I believe the time has come to finally stop the Thirteen and go home.”
“Because of the prophecy?” Anna shakes her head. It’s been two thousand years since the original fall. Does anyone still believe that one day the
Fallen will return to the heavenly realms?
“Yes.” Putere nods. “There’s more, much more to it than Mia read earlier. I can’t understand it all because I don’t have the gifts she does, but the markers are clear, and the time is come. There are clues to the great prison under the Rock. With the right warriors and the help of Mia and the scholars I believe we can find it and then we can capture Discord and lock it away forever.”
“You make it sound easy.” Riley looks past Putere to meet Anna’s eyes. She knows what he’s asking: how much of this does she believe? “What of the divided city? Do we bring our people home or do they stay in New York?”
“I don’t know.” He lets out a deep breath and shakes his head. “Things are changing so fast, I don’t know what to do.”
“Then I think it’s time we all sat down.” Riley turns his eyes back to Putere. When the man leading your entire civilization doesn’t know what to do, it’s a terrifying feeling. “If this is all true, I want a meeting with the others and I want you to arrange it. Maxim, his top command, ours, and the Committee members who left.”
Putere nods and takes another deep breath. Anna can see he expected this even though he dreaded it. The lies their people had been left to believe will come out and it will destroy trust in the Committee. Their world is never going to be the same. “The Mid-Winter Festival is in two days. After that Festival I’ll see to it.”
“Why not now?” He isn’t going to back down. Riley wants a solution and he wants it immediately.
“Mid-Winter is a celebration for our people, General, and what we are about to do will shake the core of our being.” The Committee Member gains strength and force, as a leader he’s made some difficult decisions in what he believed was the best interest of his people. He will give them their moment of joy before it all comes crashing down. “Give the people of Orasul this festival and then we will do as you ask. Don’t do it for me, do it for them. You must hold the games as we have every year and it’s important that both of you be there. The people must see you, trust you, believe in you.”
