Nico’s mouth popped open in surprise and he paused in his attempt to kill the boy, curious at first but then realized that the night was calm again. He pulled the rifle quickly back to his shoulder, looking for the boy but found an agent instead, on impulse he fired and the agent went down.
“I deliver thee unto Jesus,” Nico whispered with a smile and began the search for his true target. He quickly found the boy and again fired but for the third time a woman stepped into the path of the bullet. This time it was one of the newcomers and the shot hit her full in the chest. She flew back and was dead before her body hit the concrete floor.
‘I deliver thee unto Jesus,’ the assassin thought for the third time in as many minutes and then everything erupted into chaos as the remaining two women attacked the remaining officers with such speed and skill that Nico was for a moment mesmerized.
He watched in awe as the women spun and slashed, killing quickly and efficiently and for the first time felt a thrill of fear and awe for the target. Something was obviously intervening for the boy. Three times he’d been in Nico’s sights and three times something interfered with his impending death. It was uncanny, but Nico was not about to give up so easily. Again he searched for the boy through the sight but in the confusion he could not locate him and was forced to pull his head up and away from the rifle. But instead of finding the boy he caught sight of one of the deadly, sword bearing women. She was walking slowly toward the south side of the pavilion and looking his way. She was young, dressed in a baseball shirt, which seemed strangely out of place alongside the pair of dripping swords. Nico smiled, imagining the fear the young woman must be feeling, but then though she was nearly a hundred yards away, the woman began to race toward him…very fast…impossibly fast. Nico’s heartbeat intensified but he remained calm, the woman was much too far away to be considered a true threat. He lowered his head and found her in his sights, but she flashed through and was gone. Nico pulled his head up again and was shocked to see that the woman…a girl really had already covered more than half the distance. Now, shaking slightly, fighting off the panic that was beginning to fill his chest, he returned to the sight and found the rapidly approaching girl; he fired just as she dodged and he knew the bullet missed by a healthy margin.
Nico swore and moved the sight around in an attempt to reacquire the girl. He found her and fired again, and again he missed. He glanced up; the girl was only fifty feet away and coming fast, bloody swords out and gleaming in the street lights. Nico fired again without aiming and missed.
‘What the…’ Nico thought. The girl was moving much faster than any human had the right or ability…her approach was unnatural. Nico tried to get to his feet, realizing that he would die if he didn’t make it, but inexplicably the girl pulled to a stop.
They stared at one another for a moment and then at the very same time they both turned and ran away from one another, Nico back to his car and the girl to the pavilion. By the time Nico reached his vehicle he was shaking uncontrollably, his fear nearly overwhelming him. He threw the rifle in the passenger seat and fumbled with his keys for a long moment before finally gaining control of the correct one. He quickly started the car and tore off across the park, a wave of relief flowing over him. But it was not long before relief turned to anger, deep anger. Nico was supposed to be the killer; he was supposed to inspire fear and dread. These women, whoever they were, whatever they were, could die. He’d killed one himself and in his anger Nico vowed he would kill them all, his mission for the boy nearly, forgotten.
†
Adam gingerly carried his unconscious sister through the bridge. He was utterly confused but fascinated and not entirely sure what was happening. Only his military training allowed him to continue to function calmly.
“What was that?” Adam asked once he was completely through and away from the pavilion. Moving through the bridge was like moving through a thin film of plastic wrap, the tension pulled at his face and hair and he received a small jolt once he stepped all the way through. It was very much like that heart skipping moment you got when you believed you were at the bottom of the stairs but actually had one more to go. His pulse was racing and his legs felt just a bit rubbery. He turned back but the hole in the air quickly disappeared and he found himself looking out over a high bluff. Down below he could see an endless line of cars streaming both directions along an interstate.
“Where are we?” He demanded. His sister was shot and unconscious. She needed a doctor and quickly or she was surely going to die.
“We’re safe,” Galen said coming to Adam’s side.
“Safe!” Adam replied loudly, suddenly angry. Christine was shot and Paula was dead, along with God knew how many federal agents. Adam felt as if he would never be safe again. If he wasn’t killed in the coming days, he was sure to spend the rest of his life rotting in a maximum-security prison.
“Adam…” Galen said calmly as the man glared down at him. “Adam…set her down please.”
“She needs a doctor!” Adam insisted and gripped his sister tightly. He wasn’t about to leave her alone in a patch of dark woods. Adam turned to the older woman and was shocked again by her beauty. “Take us to a hospital,” he asked her, his voice softer but with a distinct hint of desperation. From her expression he could tell she did not understand. He felt as if he was losing his mind. How could anyone get them to a hospital before Christine died of blood loss?
The woman said something to Galen and then approached and examined Christine’s wound.
“Adam…put Christine down,” Galen repeated and placed a warm hand on the man’s forearm.
Adam’s mind quickly grew quiet. “Can you help her?” He asked without really understanding why.
Galen nodded. “Vio can,” he answered and removed his t-shirt and began using it to wipe the blood and gore from his face and hair. Adam bent and placed his sister gently on a pile of dead leaves. The area they were in was not completely dark and Adam was surprised that he could see Christine’s face quite clearly. He glanced around at his surroundings and saw that they were near a very large shed that had an outdoor light shining from one corner. Galen moved Adam out of the way very gently as the woman knelt and began to remove Christine’s blouse. Adam blanched. There was blood everywhere; without realizing it, he stood and turned away, feeling sick.
He walked closer to the edge of the bluff unaware that the younger girl was moving along at his side.
“Galen and Vio can help her,” the girl stated confidently and Adam wondered at her accent. He looked down at her but made no comment. He only stopped walking when taking one more step would have carried him over the edge of the cliff and down several hundred feet to the dark ground below.
“My name is Avigail,” the girl introduced herself again, but Adam was not listening, instead he continued to gaze down the dark cliff face into some kind of construction yard, and finally recognized the area as a gravel pit.
“Those are cars!” The girl yelled excitedly and pointed down to the interstate below. A continuous stream of headlights moved up from the south, while taillights receded in the opposite lanes.
“They’re beautiful, like jewels in the night,” the girl added, her voice touched with awe. Adam glanced the way she was pointing and could make out the lights of a large bridge in the distance. He glanced down at the girl, intrigued despite their situation but she was now looking to the north. He followed her gaze and spotted a lighted football field with a full scale practice apparently in progress. He stared unknowingly for a long time, wondering how something as normal as a football practice could be taking place while his sister was slowly dying in the woods behind him. He watched the surreal scene for several minutes and from this distance could just make out the name of the Dupo Tigers on a large sign facing the highway.
“I know where we are,” he whispered finally and looked down at his companion.
“I’m Avigail,” the girl repeated and smiled. Adam noticed that she was very attractive, m
uch like her older companion. The girl had long wavy black hair, dark eyes, full cheeks and a small pixie mouth…she could be no more than seventeen or so and yet she had used the swords now slung at her hips with great skill, and she’d killed without hesitation.
“I’m Adam,” he finally said and glanced back at the older woman for a brief moment. “Who are you…people?”
Avi blushed in the darkness and Adam wondered at it, then she looked steadily up at him.
“My name is Avigail Massi, daughter of Gwaynn Massi, High King of the Inland Sea.”
Adam frowned. “King?” He asked, confused. “You mean like you’re a princess or something?”
The girl nodded and Adam began to laugh. “A princess?” he repeated with just a hint of disbelief. Avigail nodded again.
“Great,” Adam exclaimed then turned back to see the woman bent over Christine. She was carefully wrapping a long strip of cloth around his sister’s wounded shoulder, while Galen watched intently, clearly worried and grief stricken. Adam began to move back when suddenly Avigail staggered and leaned heavily against him and then slumped at his side. He caught the girl before she fell and lifted her into his arms. She was much smaller and lighter than his sister; surprisingly small for someone so deadly.
Galen did not look up as Adam approached, his attention completely on Christine and for the first time Adam could see the intense love the boy felt for his sister reflected in his face. It was obvious that Galen was scared and that he had complete faith in the strange woman dressing Christine’s wounds. Adam stood above the trio, his attention fixed on Galen. The boy was aging rapidly…he was much more a young man now than a boy, his features ghostly in the dim light. Adam watched quietly for a long time holding the weakened girl easily in his arms until finally the older woman glanced up and noticed him standing there. She smiled at Adam and his heart leapt in his chest, then she spoke in her strange language.
Nodding, Galen glanced up. “Avigail needs food,” he told Adam. “Find the peaches; they will help,” he instructed then turned his attention back to Christine. He laid his hand gently on her now wrapped shoulder and closed his eyes.
Adam carried the young girl over to the bags of fruit and knelt down.
“Avigail,” he said softly and the girl stirred. “Avigail,” Adam repeated and her eyes fluttered open. He gently propped her against a tree, then reached in and took out a peach. Avigail snatched it from his hand and devoured it as if she’d not eaten for a week. Adam eyed her, amazed as she ate the entire fruit in less than thirty seconds. He took out another and again she snatched and ate. She took the bag and ate a third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh without slowing. This was certainly not the way you would expect a princess to eat.
Adam began to laugh as she took out an eighth peach. She took a bite and smiled at him.
“You’ll be needing a bathroom before morning,” he commented then suddenly wondered what they were going to do.
“Vio will be hungry too,” Avigail said, now eating at a much more reasonable pace.
“Vio,” Adam repeated, knowing she was referring to the older woman.
Avigail nodded toward the group behind Adam. “My teacher…my friend,” the girl added then finished her peach and grabbed one more. “Here take these to her,” she said and handed Adam the second bag.
Adam did as he was told, without even realizing the girl had given him an order.
‘Vio,’ Adam thought and stared at the woman, her face bathed in the dim light and again he was struck by her beauty.
“Vio,” he said softly when he’d reached the group. Galen did not look up, but Vio, who was holding Christine’s hand in her own, glanced up at Adam, her eyes dark and piercing. Adam crouched by her and took out a peach. She said something to Galen and he nodded.
“Vio believes she will live. The bullet nearly passed all the way through, and her shoulder blade is broken,” he said then added. “I’m not strong enough yet…but I may be able to ease her pain. I may be able to help.”
Adam nodded and held out a peach to…Vio.
“Eat,” he told her. Vio took the peach quickly, but did not eat as greedily as her young friend. Adam intended to take her place and watch over his sister but he found himself captivated by the movement of the woman’s mouth as she ate. He watched her eat the first three peaches and all the while Vio stared back at the strange man with the face of dreams.
Galen sighed and with a great deal of effort Adam managed to pull his eyes from Vio. He turned in time to see Galen pull his hand back from the dressed wound. There was blood on the makeshift bandages but not a great deal and it appeared as if the bleeding had stopped, which was incredible. Galen reached out holding something, and when Adam held out his own hand the boy dropped something heavy and metal into it.
“This was just below the skin above her left breast,” Galen said. “Vio removed it.”
Adam immediately looked down. He held a misshapen bullet…a large caliber bullet, and after a moment of study Adam closed his hand tightly around it. When he glanced up Galen was smiling at him.
“Christine will be fine,” he said, his voice a little shaky. Vio handed him a peach and he ate it quickly, as Avigail moved over to join them. Adam stared at the bullet for a moment and then glanced up to find Vio staring at Galen, her expression a mixture of awe and skepticism.
“I’ve learned of guns on Lato,” Avigail finally said as she bent down and studied the spent bullet in Adam’s palm. “A coward’s weapon,” she added, though she was sure Arnot would have disagreed.
Adam ignored her and instead turned back to Galen, who was still shirtless.
“Who are you Galen? Who are these people? How did you…”
Galen smiled sadly and shook his head, in between bites he shrugged and answered. “I’m just Galen, beyond that I do not know.”
†
Agent Scott Somers tumbled over the rocky field and banged his right shoulder hard against something before finally coming to a halt. The wind was tearing at his hair and clothing but lying flat on the ground he no longer felt as if he was going to be completely blown away. He lifted his head carefully and spotted the pavilion, ringed in the darkness as if it were enclosed inside an enormous bubble. The bubble popped and disappeared as Somers watched, leaving the field in darkness and instantly the wind fell silent.
“NO!” A voice yelled from behind him and Somers spun and climbed shakily to his feet, drawing his sidearm as he moved. Not twenty feet away stood a young man lit only by the light of the moon.
“Hold it right there,” Somers commanded, his voice nearly as wobbly as his legs. Despite his frayed nerves he kept the sights of the pistol squarely in the center of the boy’s chest. The young man was dressed oddly, wearing some sort of free flowing cape along with matching gray slacks and a white top. But what was the strangest about the young man’s appearance was that he seemed to be wearing a set of swords slung low on his hips. The boy remained very still but Somers could detect no fear in his eyes.
“Who are you and where am I?” Somers demanded.
The young man’s attention flickered somewhere beyond before landing back on Somers and the gun.
“Arnot,” he said rather softly and for a moment Somers thought he was foreign and speaking another language, but then the boy continued. “You are on the King’s Island, near Northpoint.”
The young man spoke with a strange accent but he was completely understandable, though his explanation did little to enlighten the federal agent.
“Your name?” Somers demanded again, feeling a wave of panic. ‘The King’s Island,’ he thought, moving closer to hysteria with each passing moment.
“Arnot…Arnot Massi,” the young man replied quietly.
‘Shit! Arnot…Arnot that was his name. What the hell kind of name was Arnot?’ Somers thought wildly and glanced around. The darkened field remained the same but when he looked back the young man was gone and then the agent’s head snapped back as he caught an
elbow to the jaw.
Somers went down hard but he somehow managed to keep a hold on his weapon. He hit the ground and grunted but before he could collect his thoughts he felt a boot come down on his wrist. Instinctively he pulled the trigger and the gun fired with a bang that seemed very loud in the quiet of the night. Somers struggled for a brief moment then caught sight of a blade out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head and was looking into the point of a very sharp, very deadly looking sword.
“Release the gun,” Arnot said, thankful for the first time for the education he’d received on Lato. Without his time there he would probably not have recognized the small metal object as a weapon. His studies of ancient Earth, though boring, were now coming in quite valuable.
Somers fingers continued to grip the gun as he stared up at the young man…nearly a boy really, in amazement.
“I will kill you,” Arnot said and something in his eyes made Agent Somers a believer and he dropped the gun.
Arnot gingerly picked it up with his free hand and was immediately struck by the weight of the weapon. He carefully kept it pointing away from himself and the strange man on the ground and then stepped back.
Somers remained where he was for a moment then when Arnot showed no signs of wanting to kill or even injure him, he stood.
“Remain where you are,” Arnot said and backed away a few more paces. Somers watched as the boy closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. He considered trying to rush him while his eyes were closed but then thought better of it. The boy was fast, very fast and he had no wish to die from a sword in the belly.
The Best of All Possible Worlds Page 24
