“Spit it out,” blurted Trevor.
“Ethan, once we are married, we would be more than happy to legally adopt you. If you would like that.”
Ethan just stared at her blankly and his fur slowly stood on end. “I’m just a kid from the wrong side of town…”
“You are a wonderful young man full of life and hope. You have great academic potential and someone needs to make sure you live up to that. That isn’t your sister’s responsibility; that is your family’s responsibility. We are offering you a new place to call home. What that also means is you also have other options. You can still go to the prep school if you like. Or you can give up the scholarship to another student at your school and go to public school here, but actually have a full family to come home to. You could have the chance to just be a teenager without the constant fear of losing your scholarship or what that might mean for college. So long as you try your best, we’ll do our best for you. No one is asking you to be a hero.”
“What of Aunt Filus…?” Ethan asked blankly.
“You were taking care of her more than she was taking care of you,” observed Zoë tearfully. “Say ‘yes, thank you’ or I’m going to have to shave you bald!” Zoë’s threat was hollow; it’s hard to be vicious when you are on the edge of bawling like a baby.
“Yes, thank you. Thank you both,” he replied tearfully.
Zoë hugged Ethan and just started bawling.
“You going to adopt Zoë, too?” asked Tatiana as she fought back her own tears.
“Well, someone has to give her away at the wedding,” mused Trevor.
That set off a chain reaction of bawling in the room. But it felt good. Everyone needed to let it out.
Edward stared at the clock. He had slept late, very late! Well, if Trevor needed him, he knew where to find him. The girls had already gotten up, so he made quick work of the shower, got dressed and ventured out into the living room.
Zoë waved him over as soon as she saw him; they were all huddled together watching part of a newscast on the wall.
“What happened?” whispered Edward.
“Um, they tried a raid last night. It went poorly. They walked into a trap and were cut down. Those that survived… well, yuck… they didn’t in the long run..”
“Anything on the governor?”
“They’ve shown him off and then started running at the mouth with their standard propaganda. He appears to be alive. Roughed up a bit, but alive and in one piece.”
Edward nodded and started to address Tatiana when Trevor knocked on the door frame.
“Okay, everyone. May we talk?”
Tatiana about jumped out of her fur but quickly recovered and turned off the news, “What’s up?”
“The locals didn’t do so well. So I have a question. Does the Deacon’s daughter think she can talk her father into avoiding mass murder?”
“Go shave your own fur off, Trevor! You aren’t going to ask Zoë to go talk to him.”
“Yes, he is,” replied Zoë heavily, “because he is trying to save the lives of half a million people.”
“There is no reason you should have to put her in harm’s way!”
“I have the best chance to get close to them. It is a given I can get in to see father. I just don’t know if I can get out afterwards.”
“That is why I’ll be going with you,” interjected Edward.
Tatiana was livid, “This is about the bombs, not my father. You don’t risk two hair lashes between you over him. You stop those bombs and get out! Let the local idiots rescue my dad!”
Edward nodded, “We don’t even have to touch the warheads, we just have to get close enough to broadcast the failsafe codes and then they are giant paperweights.”
Trevor looked back to Zoë, “This is your call. No one can make you and no one will think any less of you if you say no. It is darn risky, but Edward will be right there.”
Zoë nodded, “I’m in. So I take it I’m riding my bike in. I assume you have transponders and things added to it.”
“And smoke dispensers, oil, caltrops and a lot of other things. How are you with small arms? You seemed to handle that grenade launcher pretty well.”
Zoë nodded, “I can hold my own.”
With no small amount of concentration, Edward invoked his Live Steel and pulled a submachine gun out of the cloud of blue sparks.
Zoë smiled as Edward handed her the weapon. “Let them search for weapons; they won’t find ‘m!”
39
Edward sat on the back of Zoë’s motorbike as Trevor ran down the last few details. “If the warheads are still in an unoccupied area, but you can’t get quite close enough, we’ll get the humans to drop a few of Thor’s hammers on them. Just get out safe. The 1212th CSOG is on standby. Half by gunship, half in an aerostat at 50km up with reentry pods ready to light up. Get in, get out. You only fail if you don’t get Zoë out; the rest is just a gamble. You know how hard you stress your system folding the bigger stuff, so pace yourself. Swift if you have to…”
“Just bring your daughter home. I understand already! Let’s roll!”
The rear of the gunship opened, and Zoë gunned the engine on the bike, launching them off the ramp at an exhilarating pace.
“I guess asking about the engine governor is moot,” said Zoë over the intercom.
“Not only that, but I think they swapped out your engine too,” replied Edward.
“Then let’s find out what they did do!” Zoë cranked the throttle all the way open and the world quickly became a blur. Traffic on this side of town was light on a normal day, even less so with the gangs riding in full display. Zoë paid them no mind and she rocketed through the old industrial district and headed toward an abandoned waste water treatment plant.
At the edge of the treatment plant a motorbike pulled out and blocked her path. Zoë gunned the engine again, breaking traction and sending the entire bike drifting. She expertly rode the brakes so they power slid the bike right up next to the sentry.
Zoë popped her visor and glared, “You are blocking my path. Move it, serf.”
“I guard the Realm for…”
“You are a serf of the Tree of Fire tribe. Move out of my way. I am the daughter of Deacon Sylva.”
That caught him for a loop, “And the other?”
“My fiancé. We’re here to meet Dad. You really want to get in the way?”
“Prove you are who you say…”
“Catch me, serf…” Zoë gunned her engine and rocketed forward and around him. She opened the engine up wide as they maneuvered across the old plant. The sentry was left in the dust and had no chance of catching up.
“And that proves what?” asked Edward with a grin.
“Actually you aren’t allowed to have a bike better than your station, so it sort of fits the bill,” she laughed.
“And with the mods on this bike, what would be your station?”
Zoë grinned as they continued to accelerate, “God!”
Two more bikes formed up in front of them and came charging at them. They looked a bit more serious than Edward was comfortable with.
“Would they kill themselves to protect this place?” asked Edward more than a little uneasy.
“Yes. But don’t do any armor stunts. I have this.”
Trust, all good relationships were built on a foundation of trust. Edward was used to having other people trust him; the reverse was uncomfortable, but he set his mind to it. It was Zoë, his fiancée, at the controls.
Zoë aimed her bike square at the closest rider and ran straight at him. With well more than a hundred meters to spare, he swerved clear. “Someone will get lashed for that,” Zoë mused as she turned to face down the second bike.
Closer and closer it came, and Zoë kept laying on the speed. They hit the point of no return, even if they wanted to turn it would be a losing fight with inertia, and Zoë flicked the controls overriding the airfoils on the front of her bike. The entire bike leaped into the air and
over the other bike, but not the other rider. The landing was a little rough, but Zoë handled it expertly.
“That was gross.”
“Yeah… ick… sorry about that. I thought he would dodge and the bike’s balance is a little nose heavy.”
“I assume this place is a back door?”
“Shh. It’s a secret,” Zoë laughed. “Father will be pissed that I brought you in this way. But the front door seemed a little tense, so he can just deal with it.”
Zoë slowed the bike dramatically as she started to thread through some dilapidated equipment. It soon became obvious they had an escort, three bikes discreetly following in the distance. She slowed further as they descended into an empty waste handling tank and approached a series of massive pipes on the far wall. Easily five meters in diameter, they had long ago been abandoned and fed deep into the side of the hill.
“Old waste water pipe?” asked Edward.
“Actually, fresh water pipe used to dilute the waste water. It happens to feed back over to the dockyards where the same feed was used to help flood the locks and float the ships and barges under construction.”
“I figured they’d just use salt water for that.”
“Nope, they avoid salt water feeds. Too many barnacles and other creepy crawlies try to live in those pipes. Wreck the valves and things. Ethan could give you a four hour seminar on them.”
Edward laughed, “No, I’m fine. Your version was good.” Edward stole a glace over their shoulder; their escort was still there. “You worried about them?”
“I’m more worried about the condition of this tunnel; there are some nasty parts where it has tried to cave in. Keep your eyes open and your grip tight.”
Edward needed no reminder on the latter. His earlier outing on Zoë’s bike had been more than a little nerve wracking. This time around, there were a lot of grumpy people and Trevor and Takru’s people had been playing with her bike. Like it needed more power.
They threaded through the long cavern of pipes for almost half an hour before they finally opened up into the dock yards and their monstrously huge locks and work yards. Any sighs of relief, however, were quickly squelched by the sheer number of people watching them in the distance. Zoë pulled up to the edge of a very grim and bleak work area where she was challenged by a single biker on the ground, while two Taik, high overhead, watched with weapons at the ready.
“Zoë Sylva? So the sentry did speak the truth. You father will be pleased to see you. But not him,” he finished with a snarl.
“He is my fiancé, so don’t even think about it,” replied Zoë with an icy breath.
“Fiancé. Really. Well, then, we’ll just go talk to your father.” He gunned his engine noisily and drove into the work yard.
Zoë cracked the throttle and quickly and all but silently shot past the man before cutting him off hard, sending him skidding into some storage barrels, “I lead, you follow. That is the order of things,” Zoë snarled.
The man righted his bike and offered a feeble bow before dutifully following Zoë the rest of the way in.
Zoë dismounted and Edward followed close behind as they marched their way to a large warehouse whose windows had long since been sealed over with sheet metal and plywood. They were stopped at the door by a well-armed man in long purple robes. “Do you not think your bike is beyond your station, young Sylva?”
“It was a gift from my blood brother and from my friends. To refuse a gift would insult them and their kindness. Modesty demands that I accept their gift as it was meant.”
The man cracked the first smile Edward had seen all morning, “Your wit still serves you well, young Sylva. Your father is inside. Who should I announce as your companion?”
“This is Edward Silverglade, and he is my fiancé.”
The man bowed and let Zoë walk first while he walked beside Edward and looked him up and down. “Come for permission?”
“Only if Zoë wishes to ask for it,” Edward replied matter-of-factly.
“You would not be the man of the family? You would let her speak for you?”
“She is the strong-willed one; I anticipate she will be the First Mother. It is the business of the First Mother to speak for the family. It is my job to make sure no harm comes of any of them.”
That got a curious look from the man. Apparently, Highland culture was not in his repertoire.
A somewhat older man dressed in red came forward to meet them. He had a brown and black coat, not unlike Zoë’s, but it had also been dyed and painted as well. He was neat and clean, if not still a bit creepy looking. “Zoë, it is so good to see you again. And this is?”
“Edward Silverglade, her fiancé,” announced the man in purple.
“Leave us, we will be fine.”
The man bowed before turning and leaving.
“‘We will be fine’ is parlance for, ‘listen at the doors and get ready to shoot to kill,’” offered Zoë to Edward.
“Suspicious, daughter?”
“Experienced, father.”
The man laughed at that, “Where are my manners; I am Zoë’s father quite obviously: Deacon Sylva to the masses. If you are indeed her fiancé, then you may call me Richard.”
“We are to be married, the question is when and where, not if,” replied Edward evenly.
“I was certain I saw you hanging off of the governor’s daughter’s arm as well,” teased Richard.
“Tatiana; we too are engaged.”
“To both?” That brought out a cryptic smile, “You are a long way from home, Highlander.”
“That just makes life complicated culturally. The end result is still the same.”
“So, have you come just to show off your charming young Highlander, or did you come to talk about the somewhat distracted, governor.”
“It was a desire that you two meet at some point, but the timing was accelerated by the gangs’ actions.”
“The Church’s actions,” corrected Richard. “So you have come for the governor.”
“No, sir.”
“No? Really?”
“We will take him if he is offered, but I came to ask you a question: will you really let the Rector kill half a million people? Those bombs you stole are not the way to enlightenment.”
“What would you know of enlightenment!” snapped Richard as he drew himself up to full height.
“According to you, I know what enlightenment isn’t!” Zoë snapped back.
There was a tense pause before Richard broke out laughing, “You were a most excellent student; if you only listened with your heart.”
“My heart was into music. My heart isn’t about killing half a million people. My heart is still grieving for what you did to Rachel. Not just her death, but what you did to her in life as well!” snarled Zoë with fangs flashing.
“Her gift was in her physical beauty and her ability to make people happy.”
“She was a pretty girl who you kept stoned off her tail so you could pass her off for sexual favors!”
“You don’t think she enjoyed her calling?”
“I have no idea. Neither do you. But I doubt it. It was only ever the drugs that did the talking.”
“Her death was a horrible accident…,” Richard offered softly.
“Her life was hell and her death was a statistic waiting to happen!” Zoë snarled.
Richard shook his head as he suddenly changed the subject, “Does Ethan still hold his love for the Seas?”
“Yes. Yes, he does. And because of good friends, good people, he has a chance to go to some very excellent schools.”
“I don’t trust the schools, but I do at least understand his love of the Seas. I understand your love of Music too, Zoë. Your music is powerful and honest; it really shows your inner strength.”
“How can you profess your love and understanding of us when half a million people’s lives are at stake? We wouldn’t want them to die. We want them to live and experience the joy and love that is life.”
“You can speak against him! If the Deacons speak against him and the Night of Souls, then the Rector will be struck down!”
Richard shook his head, “You don’t understand child, you still don’t understand. There are many paths and the Rector is trying a new one. Several of the tribes will protest, several will dance at the flames, but the balance is maintained.”
“It isn’t like you are planting trees there. It is just death, no life out of death. Just death.”
“The Rector believes in this Path. He believes in it strongly enough that he is more than willing to risk his own death to see it pass.”
“You said yourself that you want them to live! Help us stop the bombs. We can render them safe if we can just get to them.”
Richard shook his head, “That would be direct action against the Rector himself. That I will not do.”
“Killing a bunch of people won’t make them pious, it’ll just make them dead.”
“Accidents happen.”
“Non sequitur! You always spoke of the glorious beauty within. Where is the beauty to be found in death?”
“You just don’t understand, do you?” smiled Richard.
“No, I don’t! I think about things, and I am appalled. I feel about things, and I am disgusted. No good will come of this.”
“You still see with the eyes of a child…”
“I see with the eyes of someone that wants to start a family! I see what type of world I want to bring my children into, and death and destruction are not it!”
Richard smiled at Edward, “And what of you? Death and destruction seem to be the path of all Silverglades. Llewellyn proved that.”
“Then you know us poorly at best, and you know my brother least of all. We protect our families. We just do it better than most. Clan Silverglade is not important. It is the House we live in that matters.”
“So, is it family first?”
“Yes.”
“I hope so; you will need to prove that today. I doubt the others will let you go about your task. Let us go see.” Richard walked to the door and opened it and sighed as he looked beyond.
Edward Page 23
