Joji nodded. “I hear a friend of yours has put an end to the hound.”
“Yes. Apparently.”
“Wonderful news.”
“You’re lucky to have avoided the hound for all these years,” I said.
“There have been some close calls, but I have been lucky. Would you like some green tea? I’m afraid I have nothing else. It’s ready, I just need to pour.”
“Sure, thanks.”
He left the room for less than a minute, returning with a tray of cups and a teapot. He poured in silence, handing everyone a black cup.
Mrs. Wallace pulled a face as she sipped hers but didn’t say anything. I suppressed a smile. Green tea wasn’t exactly a popular beverage at The Teacup café.
Joji placed his cup on the mantelpiece, and crouched, reaching into the fireplace. I watched him remove a brick, then take out a black box. He turned and walked over to me, handing it to me.
I took it.
“Open the lid,” he said.
Resting on a bed of black velvet were two pieces of small, bleached bone joined together and carved into the shape of a key. No bigger than a sewer rat, the top was skull-shaped, the next section ridged, crudely cut. The end was, of course, missing.
“According to legend, King Daichi was said to have broken this key and spread it around the city in places it would not be found. It turned out to be true, as you can see.” He cleared his throat. “The breadth of this city is unimaginable. My own mind cannot comprehend it, but it houses the world. There are those who have been here longer than me, also lucky to have endured for so long. But time will catch up, it always does. We’re all doomed to fade into the next death and never see paradise. I’ve considered, as I’m sure many have, submitting myself voluntarily to take part in the games. But then I watch them on TV and know I wouldn’t be in them for long. This key is our only chance at freedom.”
“So brutal,” Jessie said.
“When are the next games?” I asked. I handed the box back to Joji.
“Tomorrow,” he replied.
“What about the mayor and mayoress?”
“Under normal circumstances, they would both attend the games, setting out today for the pre-games party tonight, but now I’m not so sure after what’s happened.”
“I’m glad there’s a wrench in their plans,” I said.
Jessie was nodding enthusiastically.
“These pieces of the key were found,” he said, returning to the subject in his hand, “by me, after years of searching. The top piece in the river, the second beneath the city in the east under a bell tower. With two companions, I set out to find them. Both times I almost died, the pieces under heavy guard with creatures and traps.” He shook his head. “I lost two friends—one to the beasts of the river, the other plummeting to her death in the caverns under the bell tower when a part of the floor opened up. She didn’t make a sound as she fell.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
He sighed and continued. “It took me a long time to figure out the locations. You would not believe the hours spent with my head in texts, gleaning passages from lugubrious tomes, finding little pieces of clues, stories within stories, falsities, rumors, truth in fiction, fiction in truth, until I finally traced the king’s actions—where he’d hidden the pieces.” He closed the box. “The Butcher mansion.” He drew a shallow breath. “It fills me with dread. The front doors are not friendly doors. However, I think I have found a way to enter by the river. There’s a disused access tunnel. Well, according to the blueprints I acquired from a contact of mine who had met the second death.” He shook his head. “I’ll show you in a moment. They aren’t very clear, but you’ll be able to see for yourself what I’m talking about. The river is deadly, but I have a raft we can use. I built one in preparation, with the help of Mitesh.” He offered the young man a warm smile.
“An excellent vessel,” Mitesh replied.
“The dangers of the river will try and remove us from the raft,” Joji continued. “The raft can carry two at a time, but too many trips across the river would be too much of a risk.”
“I’m going,” Jessie jumped in. “Don’t think I’m sitting here waiting. Nope.”
“It’ll be dangerous,” I stated the obvious.
“I don’t care. Well, I do care, but that doesn’t mean I’m not ready for this. We’ve been waiting for the right moment to strike and get the last part of the key. Now we have a werewolf. I’m so ready to see this go down. If we didn’t have Gabriel, we would be going together anyway, right?”
“If she’s going, I’m going,” Mitesh added, although paling as he spoke.
“Gabriel cannot be expected to look after you,” Joji added.
“We wouldn’t,” Jessie responded. “We’ll all look out for each other.”
“Yeah,” Mitesh echoed.
“I will protect you,” I said, Gerald’s eyes meeting mine. “I’m the extra muscle for you.”
“Exactly,” Jessie said, pointing at me.
“I want to protest,” Gerald cut in. “But I know I’ll be shot down.”
“Dad…”
“And I know I will slow you down.”
Nothing more was said for that moment, but there was an uneasy tension in the air.
Joji thought for a moment. “I was thinking Gabriel and I would go together, but you’re right. That would be remiss of me.”
Jessie nodded. “We’re a team, remember?”
“I know.” He sighed. “I’m sorry. I was caught up in the excitement of the wolf and thought the burden would be removed from your young shoulders.”
“What? Why?”
“Because… I wonder if I should’ve ever told you the story of the bone key at all until it was time—when the danger of retrieving it had passed.”
“I don’t understand, Joji.”
He looked down at the box. “This thing holds so much power, so much hope, yet so much danger. What if I’m leading you all into second death? What if all of this is a false hope?”
A sudden assault of doubt?
“You’re having second thoughts?” Jessie asked. “Oh, tenshi. Please say you’re not having second thoughts now.”
“No, I’m not saying that, Jessie.”
“I’m sorry you lost your friends,” she said softly. “But we have to do this together.”
He didn’t answer.
“We won’t fail,” she added.
He remained silent.
I sat forward. “Hope is what gets us through the darkness, Joji. If there is no risk, there is no hope. I’m living, or whatever this is, in the hope of saving my friend from the Butchers, and for a better future for all of us. We have to have hope to work toward, or everything is for nothing. Where we are now is where we’ll always be if we don’t act. Nothing more. Trapped in a cycle of unknowing, of misery. Your lost friends would’ve had that same hope—the same hope you’re filled with yourself.”
“I wonder if existence is better than anything else,” he said.
Those apparent second thoughts were nothing more than pre-action nerves. “I don’t think so,” I replied. “Not at all. Just existing can be the worst thing in any life. I’d rather go out fighting for better days, and so would these kids.”
“Me too,” Mrs. Wallace added. “I don’t want to stay in this dreary place for eternity.”
I nodded. “And if the second death is worse, then at least we tried. Then we can try again. I know I wouldn’t stop, no matter what. Hope is the greatest weapon we have.”
“And determination,” Gerald added.
“That too. All of your hard work, straining your eyes studying those books, would be wasted otherwise.”
Joji put the box back in the fireplace, sliding the brick that hid it in place. He sipped some tea, deep in thought, then said, “Then I presume we’re an army of four?”
“We’re staying here?” Mrs. Wallace questioned. “Gerald and I?”
“I don’t mean to be rude,” Joji
answered, “but yes. For the mansion part.”
“Fine by me,” she said, sipping the tea she hated politely again.
“I told you I’d slow you down,” Gerald said.
“Oh, Dad,” Jessie answered softly.
“I’m not offended. I’d rather not get in the way. I know how fast I don’t move.” Gerald turned to face me. “Look after my girl. Please.”
“You can count on it.”
“Thank you.”
He was right. There was no arguing with Jessie, and he would be too slow for this part. Still, my heart went out to him. With our positions switched, I don’t know how I’d react. But he knew, even though he wanted to keep her wrapped up and safe, that making Jessie stay would cause a whole load of problems we didn’t have the time to deal with.
“Then it’s settled,” I said. “We’ll set out soon. Weapons?”
“I can provide some,” Joji answered. “You will need hydration and food before we leave.”
“Excellent.” My attention went to my towel. “I’m guessing you don’t have any spare clothes in my size?”
Joji smiled. “I only wish I had muscles like that.”
“A curse for clothing sizes. I’ll have to go naked.”
“Do you have any old fabric?” Mitesh asked. “Some sewing stuff?”
“Yes, I believe so,” Joji replied.
“Cool. I think I might be able to make you a loincloth, Gabriel. It won’t be amazing, but enough to give you some cover.”
In the present company, it was better to not have my privates flapping around. A loincloth would be perfect.
“How caveman,” I said. “Thank you, Mitesh.”
“No problem.”
“I’ll make some soup,” Joji announced.
Mrs. Wallace turned to face him as he left the room. “It’s not green is it?”
Jessie and Mitesh fell about laughing.
It was good to hear laughter like that again.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Good old Bob and Rose. They found the exit all the way in a western corner of the huge boiler room.
Now to get there.
I made my way along the metal walkway, careful with my footsteps. These damn shoes were a bit clip-cloppy, but going barefoot would leave me with a blister situation, or there’d be a rogue nail on the ground, just waiting for one of my tootsies to come along and say hi.
At least the boiler room was a working one, with machines humming and steam puffing and cogs doing their grindy thing deep below and up above.
I hated this place.
A junction, steam wafted in front of my face. Bob and Rose were back with me. I wanted to send them to G, but I needed them right now.
I went left, then right at the next junction.
There was a guy up ahead wearing a hard hat, tinkering with some machinery. Not a solider, but he was blocking the path.
My babies had a sniff around. Perfect. Up I’d go.
A wall of pipes leading up to a big mama pipe was waiting for me to climb it, about twelve feet or so high, all the pipes flowing in the direction I needed to go. I took hold of the closest (cool) pipe I could reach, then placed my feet on the first one, checking the guy was still busy with his work. He was at the other end of this stretch, working under his own bubble of bright light, which would affect his vision of things outside his ring.
Hmmm… Sounded a bit dodgy.
Yeah, so funny, dickhead.
The constant whirring of the machines hid the sounds of my climb. I tested each pipe, being sure not to land a hand on a hot motherfucker. The pipes grew warmer as the higher I went, the one before the biggest pipe at the top the warmest of them all. Not scalding, but a real sweat-maker. I grabbed it with one hand, then tested the biggie with my other. About the same temperature.
I hauled myself up, crawling up into the space between the warm pipe and more smaller pipes above my head. I’d have to crouch walk, and not bump my head on the mega -hot pipes above. So that’s where the hardcore ones were.
Ugh. Caught in this space was like being in a steam room—without the relaxing and towels and hot men lounging around.
Sweat ran down my face, my back, my chest, even my legs. My feet were all warmed up, socks already moist. Even my butt crack. I hated a sweaty crack.
Whatever. Priorities!
I did my crouching walk, being as quick as possible, but keeping the noise down low. I passed the busy geezer, no problem.
According to my babies, I could follow this route a bit further and save myself shed loads of time on my route to the exit. Cool. Well, not literally. But fine. I’d endure the heat, sweat it up. What was a little sweat compared to getting the hell out of a crazy bastard’s castle?
If my theory about ending the king was true, I was in the best place to get it done. But I was also in the worst condition. One on one fisticuffs wouldn’t be enough. I needed my katanas.
Maybe that was the trial. Do it without the swords? Then what the hell was the point of having them if they were gonna stay lost? My uncle had been told in a dream to make them, so there.
I still didn’t know why.
Man, did I feel like a fucking puppet. Move me here, kill me there, tell me I need to save the world. Oh, and tell me to pass the trial of Mount Tate and then dump me in this city.
Ugh.
Double ugh!
I was craving a check on G so bad but held off some more. Every passing minute here without him was making my heart ache.
A hatch up ahead, to the left. Closed. My scalp prickled. I sent Bob and Rose to it, through it, telling them to sniff around.
A shaft leading back down to the banquet room. Someone there. Hiding. Ah, nuts.
Time to climb down.
The hatch was a good distance away, safe enough for me to get down and make tracks away from it.
“Good boy,” I whispered, fussing Bob’s gray head.
“Good girl,” I told Rosie, scratching her behind the ears.
As I started to clamber off the pipes, the hatch sprang open. My babies growled, I growled.
“There he is!” a man roared.
And here I ain’t!
I hurried down the pipe wall, pushing myself off halfway and landing on the walkway, instantly going into a run with Bob and Rose on the case, guiding me forward.
“Stop him!”
The call came as I passed a group of workers who dropped their tools and yelped as crazy, sweaty me came hurtling towards them.
“I said, stop him!”
As I darted past, one of them grabbed a hammer and threw it at me.
Prick. I ducked just in time, the damn thing inches away from cracking my head.
Great. These weren’t as keen to stick it to the man as the kitchen staff. Brainwashed, scared. I couldn’t really blame them, even though I wanted to get that hammer off the ground and lob it back at the dickstain.
A bang, something coming at me from behind. Not a bullet but a—
“Oh, shit!”
My babies yelped as the net hit me, wrapping me up tight. I crashed to the floor, thrashing at first, but that only made the hold on me worse.
“Fuck!”
Footsteps. “Yes, you are fucked.” A solider came to stand above me. “Royally fucked.”
Ah, nut sacks!
* * *
I was tossed onto the marble floor of the banquet hall, then cut free from the net by the soldier. My wrists were throbbing from the spiky shackles and my pockets were feeling light of gun and friggin’ knife.
Great. Ugh.
“Leave us,” the king’s voice bounced in my ears.
I sat up on my knees.
King Daichi was standing by the table, his expression unreadable.
“Hello, again,” he said.
I ignored him, getting myself vertical.
Well, that had been a complete balls-up of an escape attempt.
The food that’d been on the table was gone. Instead, there was the cake I’
d made and five human heads in a row, each one sitting on a gold plate in a pool of blood, eyes wide, tongues lolling out of their wide-open mouths.
Nina and the rest of the kitchen staff.
Oh, fuck. No.
“The cake looks impressive,” the king said. “You certainly appear to be a skilled baker. Possibly. I’ll have to curb my praise as I’ve yet to actually taste it.”
Wanker was going down.
“And here we are,” he said, “you and I. Oh, wait.” He clapped his hands together.
A soldier marched into the room, stopping beside the king, giving him a salute.
“You do learn fast,” the king said. “I’m pleased with your desire to be loyal so fully, so quickly.”
The soldier bowed his head.
This soldier had to be the Greatest Wanker of All.
“Remove your helmet,” the king ordered.
Yep. I was right. When the solider pulled off the helmet, there was the face of all my fucking sorrow once again.
Colin.
His hair was now a buzzcut, and the scared, pitiful look I’d last seen on his face was replaced with the cold, cruel expression I remembered so well.
“Sniveled your way in, eh?” I spat. “Prick.”
Colin didn’t react.
“Face to face with your killer again,” the king addressed Colin. “Impressive. Not a single reaction on that handsome face. Why is that?”
“I serve you, Your Majesty,” Colin answered.
“You do indeed. All that you are is for me, not this creature. No creature, in fact. I have all of you, do I not?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I am yours.”
When the king looked away, there was a hint of deceit in Colin’s icy blue eyes, in the slight twitch of his mouth.
It said, Checkmate, Akira.
Bastard. Coward.
Ten soldiers flooded the room.
Balls!
“I heard all about your trick with the bullets and your blades,” the king said. “So many reports from my loyal subjects in the city. What a pity you’re weaponless now.”
“Let’s be real, yeah? Everyone here is shit scared of you. You’ve driven this weird loyalty into them. If they could be free of you, I bet they would. Hard.”
Four Moons: The Complete Collection: (Books 1 - 4) Page 53
