Shadow City

by Francesca Flores

  Aina nodded. “Let’s go then, so you don’t have to take too long.”

  They walked out of the Stacks then and toward Lyra Avenue, the longest street in the city, which stretched from the eastern tip of the Stacks all the way through the immigrant neighborhood of the Wings and up north to Rose Court. With increased violence in the Stacks, the lower end of Lyra Avenue was unusually empty for summer. A few hawkers stood outside shops with tables full of wares, but their voices echoed off the towering walls of brick apartments on either side as Aina’s group walked through.

  A few blocks later, they reached the more crowded part of Lyra Avenue, and flashing lights greeted them. Different languages filled the air as tourists and locals crossed the street between shops, taverns, and casinos.

  One of the tradehouses occupied the back of a currency exchange store, and both Aina and Tannis looked toward it now. Their youngest recruit had set up a stall on the street stocked with cheap souvenirs for tourists, but Aina knew they actually sold ammunition and pistols. Since she’d exposed Bautix’s secret arms business last month and the Sentinel shut it down, it had grown more difficult to buy weapons in bulk in the city. His business had held a near monopoly on any firepower, but now smaller businesses could take advantage of the hole in the market. The boy jumped to his feet when he saw Aina and Tannis, then beckoned them over, eyes wide.

  “What is it?” Aina asked once they got close enough.

  “Diamond Guards,” he muttered, then leaned forward and gestured toward a cheap jewelry store a few doors ahead.

  He didn’t have to say much more; a moment later, the door was kicked open and two guards hauled out a man with blood covering his face. One shoved him to his knees while the other tossed a handful of rough diamonds on the ground before slamming the butt of his gun into the man’s face.

  Tannis sighed next to her. “Three, two—”

  A gunshot fired and the man fell forward, blood spilling from his head onto the pavement. A gaggle of tourists nearby screamed and backed away, probably regretting venturing down here from Rose Court.

  Aina shook her head at the sight of the dead man. Since taking over the Dom, she hadn’t needed to sell diamonds on the side anymore—her role as boss paid more than enough. But it was still hard to get rid of the bone-deep fear all smugglers lived with.

  “Aina,” Ryuu said through gritted teeth, and his eyes trailed ahead of them, toward the busier blocks of Lyra Avenue.

  Another pair of Diamond Guards stood outside a bank a block away, watching them and whispering to each other. Aina swore under her breath. Enough of her group was heavily armed to draw attention, and they’d come from the direction of the Stacks—the guards always found reasons to harass people from the south of the city. Since Kohl had worked directly with Bautix, who’d commanded the Diamond Guards, he’d gotten plenty of special treatment. She and Tannis had their own bribes in place, but not with any of the guards she saw here.

  She gestured for everyone to follow her lead, and they continued walking. Gaudy red and gold lights loomed ahead to welcome them to a row of casinos and burlesque theaters. Aina sensed the guards’ eyes on their backs as they blended in with the busier crowds.

  “Let’s go in through the back,” Tannis said, coming up next to them and nodding toward an alley. “The guards are following us.”

  Without another word, Tannis led the way to the alley service door for a casino decked in green with a red-brick apartment above it. While the others slipped inside, Aina watched for the Diamond Guards. Their heads bobbed above the rest of the crowd, and just as she stepped inside behind Teo, one turned in their direction. She jerked her head back from view, closed the door, and met the others in a large kitchen pantry.

  When she nodded, they moved again, exiting through a kitchen—ignoring the cooks and waiters who looked up at them in confusion—and then left the double doors to step onto the main floor of the casino.

  With hollow eyes and her jaw clenched tight, Tannis led them past gambling tables, women delivering drinks in short dresses, and card dealers calling out numbers and suits. Aina wondered, with a sinking feeling in her gut, if this was the place Tannis had been brought as a child.

  They climbed a cordoned-off staircase and entered a long hallway. Some men and women stood outside the doors, whispering and beckoning to those who walked by. Broken glass strewed all along the carpet, which smelled faintly of urine and blood.

  A child peeked out from behind her father’s legs at one doorway, where he spoke in Kaiyanis to a few people huddled around the entrance with heavy backpacks and the glint of a blade at one of their belts. Tannis frowned, one hand trailing to a knife Aina knew she kept up her sleeve. Aina did the same, recognizing these men weren’t mere tourists.

  Tannis stopped in front of a door at the end of the hall and knocked softly. Everyone in the group had gone silent, though the floor creaked under their boots as they shifted their weight and waited.

  At first, no one answered, so Tannis knocked again. Aina glanced behind them to make sure no one was watching too closely, but everyone in this hall was far too focused on their own pursuits to care what they were doing in this shady building. She doubted anything could surprise the people here.

  A muffled shuffling noise came from beyond the door. A crack appeared as the door creaked open. The barrel of a gun poked through with a thin face above it, shrouded by a shock of blue hair and decorated with a line of three diamonds at the top. Every Sacoren received these three diamonds embedded in their forehead, marking that the Mothers had spoken to them, that they could lead worship services, interpret the Nos Inoken, and bless people to use magic. But unlike every other Sacoren Aina had ever met, this one didn’t have a black arc tattooed in the same place as the diamonds.

  Inosen caught worshiping the Mothers faced imprisonment, and those caught using magic were shot on sight. But the Diamond Guards often released Sacoren, after removing their diamonds and leaving tattoos in their place as a symbol that even the strongest among the Inosen were powerless against them. The Sacoren often repierced the diamonds themselves, but this man had never had them removed in the first place.

  When the man locked eyes with Tannis, he opened the door and gestured them inside, then cast a sharp glance around the hallway before closing the door behind them. As they filed in, Tannis whispered with him in Kaiyanis for a moment and gestured toward the hall they’d come from. He answered quickly, with a dismissive shrug, then waved them all toward a sitting room adorned with tattered pillows and rugs.

  “Amman oraske,” he said to each of them as they entered—a common greeting among Inosen that meant “May the Mothers bless you.”

  “Amman min oraske,” Aina said back, hearing Raurie, Lill, and Ryuu do the same. Tannis and Teo also said the words, but stumbled over them uncomfortably—neither of them had grown up with Inosen parents.

  The Sacoren moved like a weasel, his movements jerky and furtive. The apartment was spotless, the floor even shining, but clearly lived in. She wondered when was the last time this man had walked outside. They each chose a pillow or an empty spot on the floor to sit on.

  “Tannis told me you want to learn this magic.” He spoke in such a low voice, Aina had to strain her ears to hear, and he twisted his hands in knots. “But not the normal way. You’re not using it to heal, to create, to build love and peace like the Mothers wish.”

  “We’re using it to fight,” Aina said in a flat tone. She didn’t see a point in hiding it, and she assumed he’d already guessed as much.

  The man nodded, a knowing look in his eyes. “Verrain’s methods can be useful, and in my opinion, are not evil by default. He originally wanted a compromise. He didn’t want industry to take over the country, for faith to fall away—and he was right, wasn’t he? How many people have forgotten the Mothers, or convinced themselves that the Mothers have abandoned Sumerand since the war? So Verrain shut down one factory, using this form of magic. But the Steels would not come to an ag
reement. They made him a villain and sent the army after him. And then yes, maybe he snapped and killed a lot of them, but his original intentions were good. Maybe he should have assassinated them one by one, quiet and quick—”

  Tannis cleared her throat and gave the Sacoren an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Gevann, but we don’t have too much time. Some of them live in the Inosen safe houses and will be asked questions if they’re gone too long.”

  To the right of Tannis, Raurie and Lill both fidgeted nervously, and Gevann’s eyes fell on them. He let out a long sigh. “You two have been Inosen your whole lives, I assume? Faithful to the Mothers, but your parents never let you receive the blessing to learn magic. It’s too risky, leaves you open to being caught. But this type of blood magic, Verrain’s usage of it, is even more dangerous … this magic will drain you.”

  “You know what else is draining?” Raurie said. “Hiding in fear all the time.”

  “We know this magic works differently, we know the risks, and we’re ready,” Lill added, then nodded at the rest of the group—Aina, Tannis, Teo, and Ryuu. “But they don’t.”

  “What do you mean it drains you?” Aina asked, straining her memory of her parents’ use of the magic, but they’d only ever used it in the normal way.

  “There are a few spells the Mothers gave to us, listed out clearly in the Nos Inoken, and that’s what most Inosen will use in their daily lives,” Gevann explained, and when he reached toward a chest of drawers nearby, the light through the window reflected off the diamonds on his forehead. From a pile of books on top of the chest, he picked up a tattered copy of the Nos Inoken. “You know this holds all their teachings, all their hopes for us as their children. The magic of blood and earth—using blood sacrificed by the caster and diamonds from deep underground—is meant to create unity.”

  “That’s why the main spells work the way they do,” Raurie spoke up. “It works with blood and earth. Healing you from blood loss, tracking spells, even creating things—people will use the magic to fix their houses, for example, if it’s made of earth or materials from the ground. It’s all under one spell.”

  “Amman inoke,” Aina whispered. She’d heard it countless times when her parents had used the magic to heal people in their neighborhood. “‘Amman’ means the Mothers, and ‘inoke’ calls them.”

  Lill nodded. “It’s clearly explained in the Nos Inoken. But the other spells, you have to look for—Verrain spent years combing through the text and finding new ways to twist the magic. He found spells that do the opposite of what the Mothers want: making someone bleed instead of healing them, toppling a building or breaking swords in half, crumbling the earth and controlling it.”

  “The more you use it in this way, however,” Gevann said in a warning tone, “the less you’ll be able to use the normal spells. If you use it to kill, you might lose the ability to heal—even to heal yourself, and not only by magic; it could take longer for your body to heal normally as well. The Mothers allow us to make a choice, in that way. If you take a life, you lose a little of yours in return.”

  Aina, Teo, and Tannis all looked at one another. They’d each taken plenty of lives.

  “It’s also hard to focus after you use these spells,” Raurie said. “Especially after making someone bleed. You won’t bleed yourself, but you’ll feel light-headed and weak like they do, until either they recover or they die.”

  “So what you’re all saying is, make sure they die quickly so you can get on with business.” Aina scoffed, but she couldn’t deny this frightened her a little.

  The Nos Inoken that Gevann still held drew her attention from the corner of her eye. The familiar red cover with silver text … ever since her parents died, it had been rare for her to see one up close. This magic was power, and that was what she wanted. Power was the only way to stay safe, the only reason she’d lived this long. She’d gather more of it around her until it became an invisible armor, and she’d never lose again.

  “I’m ready,” she said, and everyone else nodded or murmured in agreement. Without any more chatter, Gevann counted the people gathered in front of him, then disappeared to another room and returned a minute later carrying an armful of knives. Aina locked eyes with Ryuu next to her, and they both laughed under their breath. Everything about this man was a surprise.

  While Gevann passed around knives in silence, Ryuu whispered to Aina, “Did you know there’s a chance the Mothers might deny us if our faith isn’t strong enough?”

  She paused for a breath. “Wait, what?”

  Ryuu grimaced. “The Sacoren is like a messenger between you and the Mothers, from what I know. It’s the Mothers who decide to bless you. That’s why people like Bautix, and most Steels, would never be able to use magic—it depends on your faith, and money is the only thing they believe in. Do you think the Mothers will agree to bless you?”

  “They don’t have any reason to,” Aina said slowly, her heart sinking a little—she hadn’t known there’d be some kind of test involved with this. “What about you?”

  He shrugged, looking uneasy. “I hope the faith I do have will be enough. I need this to work.” Then, lowering his voice and leaning toward her, he said, “My parents used their money and resources to help the Inosen, giving them places to hide, keeping them safe. They died for it. But I’ve done nothing, and even last month, when I tried to save my brother, that failed too. I need to do something to help.”

  His voice strained a little and his gaze broke away. He stared off toward the hallway, where the Sacoren rummaged through a chest of drawers, muttering under his breath.

  “In my brother’s will,” Ryuu continued, “he left an addendum for me: to do whatever I could to destroy the Steels. All of them.”

  “While I commend your brother for hating the rich as much as I do,” she said, frowning, “he can’t mean your family too, can he? Your business?”

  Since his brother’s death, Ryuu had taken over their family business of mining diamonds and providing tools and machinery to construction companies, factories, and rail stations throughout the country. It was one of the most profitable businesses in all of Sumerand, and the work was showing; Ryuu’s shoulders were tense in a way they hadn’t been before, and there were bags under his eyes indicating he hadn’t slept very well. When she’d first met him, she’d disliked him by default—but then he’d shown her he’d feared for his life as much as she had feared for her own at the time, and he’d believed both of them could be braver than they thought they were.

  “I don’t know,” Ryuu admitted when the Sacoren returned. “But whatever happens, this magic is power against the Steels, something that stands apart from money and progress. I want to learn it, to do something to make up for failing them all.”

  “We’ll learn it,” Aina said slowly, placing a hand on his shoulder and waiting until he met her eyes—her heart aching at the uncertainty she saw there. “But none of what happened to your family is your fault, Ryuu. You don’t have to beat yourself up over it.”

  The Sacoren Gevann now held a crystal chalice with a single diamond inside and cleared his throat to get their attention. The diamond mostly blended in with the cup, but Aina could spot a diamond from a hundred feet away. In his fist, he clenched more of the gems, and with his other hand, he picked up the copy of the Nos Inoken and flipped to a particular page.

  “All right, well, the ceremony is quite simple, but you won’t find it very appetizing.” A smile flickered at his lips. “What you’ll do is make a small cut on your upper arm as I walk by. I will collect your blood in this cup and wait until it touches the diamond. Then I will mark you and say the prayer to request the Mothers to bless you. You’ll know if you’ve been accepted when the diamond fills with light. Your faith must be true. Note I say true, not strong. You must believe in the Mothers and their omnipotence, but you don’t need to memorize the Nos Inoken or live your whole life without a sin. You are not expected to be perfect. Indeed, only the Mothers are perfect, and even Sacoren m
ake errors in the Mothers’ light.” His jaw trembled slightly, his eyes losing their focus, but he shook himself out of it and finished explaining in a clear voice, “Once you’ve been accepted, you drink your blood that is inside the chalice; only a small taste is necessary. The ceremony will then be complete. Who wants to go first?”

  “I will,” Raurie said in a clear voice, already pulling up the sleeve on one arm.

  She held the knife in her lap, utterly casual. The cedar brown of her eyes had lit up with fire, like amber gleaming in a bed of oak. Gevann approached Raurie, kneeling at her side while she made a cut on her arm with the smallest intake of breath. Blood dripped into the chalice and slid along its clear interior to coat the diamond at the center. The Sacoren began praying with complicated phrases in the old holy language that Aina only knew the very basics of. Raurie repeated the words under her breath in perfect time. The holy language was similar enough to the language of Marin, from where her grandparents had immigrated, that she understood it easily.

  At the same time, the Sacoren dipped his finger into Raurie’s blood and made a mark with it on her forehead in the shape of an arc, like the way the Sacoren wore their diamonds. Aina suddenly remembered what it represented. It was the arc of the bow carried by Kalaan, the goddess of love and war, and the curve of the harp carried by Isar, the goddess of hope and intellect. It was the simplest, yet clearest, sign of the Mothers.

  A moment later, light shone through the chalice. The diamond appeared to be glowing, lit up like a small sun. As the light hit the crystal around it, a narrow rainbow stream painted the side of Raurie’s face. She took the chalice in her hands, hesitating for the briefest second before tilting it back. She swallowed and lifted the cup away, her lips tinged with blood. She took a few deep breaths, then swallowed again and sat up straight.