Wings of Justice (City of Light Book 1)

by Michael-Scott Earle

  "Here," I heard someone say through the tunnel ahead of me. It was a faint whisper, but it was definitely a man's voice.

  I slowed my crawl and strained to listen for the voice again, but I heard nothing other than my own heartbeat and breathing. I crawled for another few minutes, and saw a warm light begin to color the walls of the distant tunnel. I thanked the Priestesses again and moved toward the light.

  It was another cavern, and the shaft that I crawled through emerged from one of the highest points on the wall. The floor lay maybe forty or fifty feet below me, and I could see stacks of crates, bags, and tools arranged in one small corner of the chamber. Large lanterns lined the cave, and hundreds of other holes filled the otherwise smooth walls. It almost reminded me of the inside of a hornets' nest, and I wondered if the worm creatures might have used this chamber at some point in the distant past.

  I saw two hallways on the opposite side of the chamber. One looked to be large enough to fit a donkey cart through, and the other looked to be more man-sized. They each had lamps by their entrance, and the supplies gathered below made me think that I had stumbled into a mining supply depot.

  I waited on my perch for a few moments and then pushed myself out of the hole. My wings opened a few feet after I began my tumble toward the ground, and I glided through the cave to land at the foot of the smaller hallway. I had never visited the mining camps, and I would have liked to look around a bit more, maybe talk to one of the managers about the creatures that had tried to eat me, but I needed to get my report back to the captain quickly.

  My wings turned into cloth as I walked down the hallway. After a few dozen steps, I realized I should have taken the wider passage, since that probably led up to level one of the city, but then I heard voices in the distance, and I figured that it would make more sense to ask for directions to the surface.

  The hallway was long, and it split into three different branches. I guessed that I was following people who may have been speaking, but I couldn't hear their voices any longer. I stood at the fork and took a deep breath. Perhaps it didn't matter which tunnel I took, eventually I'd stumble into a miner who would give me directions. I took a step toward the center tunnel, but I stopped mid-stride and inhaled a deep breath again.

  I smelled something familiar. It was the scent of algae. The scent of water. The scent of Ver Lake.

  The air tasted like magic.

  Was this one of the powers of the Alula? Was the light-blue cloak heightening my senses already? Potentia were supposed to develop heightened attributes, but I had never heard of one of my sisters being able to smell magic. Maybe that wasn't what was actually happening, but the scent I picked out of the air reminded me of the lake.

  And the man who had used his magic to blast me from the air.

  I walked for another ten minutes. I was beginning to think that I would never see the sky again, but the scent was becoming stronger, and I used it to guide me through another assortment of knotted corridors. My nose continued to grasp hints of nutmeg, rosemary, and wild garlic. As soon as the scent filled my mind with the memory of the man's magical blast, I heard some conversation.

  "We tailed him to Rafa's inn."

  The voice made me stop walking, and I pressed my body against the wall.

  "And?" another voice said. This one was much deeper than the first.

  "He was there for a half of an hour. Then he left," another voice said.

  I crept closer to the voices and put my hand on the hilt of my rapier.

  "Did he leave with the Potentia?" the second voice asked again.

  I recognized his timbre. It was the man at the shipyard who had used his magic to knock me into Ver Lake. His voice was deep and rough. I inched closer to the voices and saw a side of the hallway open into a stairwell. The scent curled up the steps as if the shore of the lake sat only a few feet below me.

  "No. It was strange. The girl went in the tavern, and Mitina Manus ran out with a worried expression on her face ten minutes later. She came back with Dust and two of his bruisers," the third voice said from the stairwell.

  "They must have killed her. Maybe they burnt the body using Rafa's moonshine," the dark voice said with a sigh.

  "Isn't this good though? I thought you wanted that Potentia dead?" a woman's voice said.

  "The bitch killed Dace, Perrin, Lavern, and Treves. She deserves death," the first man said.

  "Perhaps that is part of the reason," the dark voice said. "She survived a blast of my magic. She crawled out of Ver Lake, killed four of us, and then escaped. Dust probably just smashed her head in with his usual brashness."

  "I don't like the idea of killing Potentia. It seems like a bad omen," one of the men said.

  "They don't care about us, just like their masters," the first man said.

  "What will we do with the crates we stole from the shipyard?" the woman asked.

  I heard footsteps coming from behind me, and I glanced around to see if there was an easy way for me to hide. The roof was twelve feet up, but there was nowhere for me to conceal myself. I could either risk going down the stairs toward the voices of at least four people who wanted to kill me, or I could continue down the hallway toward possible escape.

  "My brother intends to keep what was delivered to him. I think we should destroy ours," I heard the dark-voiced man say before I moved down the hall.

  The corridor continued for fifty feet and then became a bridge over another large chamber. Noise filled my ears, and I leaned over the side to see dozens of miners pulling carts of ore and laughing about their work. They walked thirty feet below me, and it seemed as if they were switching shifts, with some of the miners heading in one direction with fresh faces and empty carts, while the others had wagons filled with ore and dirt-covered sacks.

  I leaned further over the side of the bridge and saw that there were a few passages that seemed to feed into the main cavern. I could have just flown down to the miners, but that would get attention and might alert the people I had overheard speaking. I knew that they had guns and magic, and they knew what I looked like. I didn't want to put a larger target on myself at this point. The miners were packed in closely together, and there was a chance I could slip into the crowd and walk out with them. I would just need to find the path down to the cavern.

  I was about to turn away, but my eyes lingered on four miners who seemed a bit out of place. They walked in the direction of the exit with the others, but their clothes weren't dirty, and I saw the incoming shift of miners avoid eye contact. One of the men stood taller than the rest, and his broad, muscular shoulders were more developed than those of any of the other miners. His stature was surprising, since most of the men who worked under the city spent their days lifting raw ore. The tall man had a thick head of dark brown hair, and I wished he would turn around so that I might memorize his face. There was also a woman in the group. Her hair was long, blonde, and pulled up in a braided ponytail. It was the style that most female guards wore. The other two men in their group had auburn hair and muscular builds. They also had very tan skin, and I guessed their profession to be in the ranching segment rather than mining.

  These were the suspects I had overheard speaking, and the tall man was the one who had tried to shoot me with his scattergun and had then blasted me with his magic.

  The exit tunnel made a gentle turn to the right, and I realized that I was going to lose my chance at tailing them if I didn't get to the main floor quickly. I thought again about just floating down with my wings, but it might cause the miners to raise a fuss and alert the four suspects to my presence.

  I had passed the stairwell where I heard their voices, so I dashed back in that direction. It was seventy yards, and I didn't run past any miners on my way. I did use my Alula to float myself down the winding stone stairwell quickly.

  There was another stone hallway at the bottom of the stairs, and I ran in the direction of the large exit tunnel. I heard the distant sound of the crowd up ahead, and I slowed my sprin
t to a casual walk before I turned the last lamp-lit corner and fell in step with the throng of exiting miners.

  I didn't see the tall man ahead, and I guessed that the group must have rounded the gentle curve. I needed to catch up to them, so I increased my walking speed and began to cut my way through the crowd. A few of the miners gave me surprised looks when I rushed past them, but most seemed engaged in their conversations and didn't pay me any attention. I soon saw the tall suspect's head over the crowd, as well as the light from the opening to the mine. The group of four was still fifty or sixty yards from the last turn, and the tunnel sloped upward at a gentle angle.

  I continued to push through the crowd until I was twenty feet behind the two men with reddish hair. I saw them talking, but I couldn't pick out their words from the excited conversations of the crowd in the tunnel.

  The group reached the mouth of the exit, and their heads were bathed in the light of the twin suns. I continued my somewhat concealed walk with the rest of the workers and exited the mine shaft about thirty seconds behind the suspects. They dispersed without saying anything to each other. The tall man walked north, to the towering city. The woman angled around the main section of the staging area toward the office buildings. The other two men turned south, and I guessed that they were walking toward the nearby ranch lands.

  I hung back once I had exited the mouth of the cave and stood with my back pressed to the smooth rock wall. When the two tan-skinned men turned, I was able to see their faces, and I memorized their features. I would be able to draw them as soon as I got back to the nest, and the city guard would have the pair in custody within the day.

  I couldn't see the face of the woman from my position, and the tall man had his back to me. He was also within the main part of the crowd heading to upper levels. I glanced toward the distant buildings of the city and figured that it would be a good twenty-minute walk until he got there. It was obvious to me that the dark-voiced man was the boss of these criminals, but I knew I'd be able to catch up to him. First, I wanted to get a look at the woman.

  I waited a few moments for another group of miners to pass me. Most turned nervous eyes toward me as they walked, but they either glanced away quickly when they saw me or bowed when they got near. I returned their movements with a smile, and it moved a few of the workers to wish me a good day.

  There was a break in the flow of miners, and I walked across the wide entrance to the cavern and headed toward the office structures. They were brick buildings, freshly coated with green paint, and I saw the blonde woman walk into one of the farthest ones from my position.

  There were a few clerks moving between the buildings. They carried stacks of papers or folders, and one of them turned to me as I neared the building the blonde woman had entered.

  "Can I help you, Potentia?" The man was a little shorter than me, with curly light brown hair and ink-stained hands.

  "I haven't seen any city guards around. Do you know where their nearest post is?" I had never spent much time near the mines, but I knew their entrances were on the first or second level.

  "I saw a patrol come through here about fifteen minutes ago. They are normally here at shift change. They came early today," he answered with an innocent smile. The man was probably about my age, but he nodded to me as he spoke.

  "What duties are performed in that building?" I asked as I pointed to where the blonde woman had gone.

  It still felt a little strange to question people as a Potentia. Most of my life, I had needed to be friendly with people, especially growing up in the orphanage. I still asked the question with a reassuring smile on my face, but I realized I could have just demanded the answer as my wingmate would have done and gotten the same result. The Alula cloak meant I was one step removed from the Priestesses, and most citizens would answer my questions eagerly.

  "That is the transportation department. They move the unprocessed ore to the forges every day and then manage the distribution of the finished metal," he answered.

  "Thank you for your help." I nodded to him and continued toward the building.

  The handle was a worn copper knob, and it turned easily in my hand as I opened the thick door. Inside, I counted twenty large bamboo desks in an open space. Each was piled with stacks of loose paper, ink vials, and quill pens. The floor was covered in a dark green rug that muffled my boot steps. I didn't see anyone in the first room, but there were doors on each of the walls, and I walked toward the one that I guessed led to the remainder of the building.

  The next room had a similar array of desks, but these were made of wood, and most of them were clear of messy paper. I still saw no one, and I wondered if I had imagined the blonde woman with the braided hair walking into this particular building. There was another door on the far side of the room, and I opened it to see a staircase that led up to the next level of the building.

  My ears picked up movement from the top of the stairs, and I crept up the steps as quietly as I could. There was another door at the top, but it stood ajar a quarter of the way, and I was able to glance through the gap into the office. The blonde woman sat alone at one of the desks as she searched through the drawers. I still couldn't see her face, since she was bent over the side of the desk, but I could solve that problem easily by walking into the room and arresting her.

  I almost pushed the door open and took her into custody, but I paused with my hand raised and considered the strategy behind my action. Sure, I could claim she was conspiring to commit murder, since she had been talking with the group and I had overheard their plans for me. I also heard the woman admit that she stole the crates from the shipyard, but if I arrested her now, then the tall man with the magic would soon realize that I was alive. It would probably be more difficult to apprehend him at that point.

  No, it was better to just get a look at this woman and then go after the ringleader of the operation. Once I had him in custody, I could come back with the guards and arrest her along with the two other men. My patience was rewarded a few dozen seconds after I reached my decision. The woman pulled a stack of papers from one of the drawers and set them on the table. Her face was attractive. Her eyebrows were a darker shade of blonde than her hair, and she had rounded cheeks, a lean chin, and bright blue eyes. I watched her sort through the documents for a few moments until I had her features memorized.

  I slid back down the stairs and walked as quickly as I could to the exit of the office building. Part of me really wanted to arrest the woman, but I couldn't waste time on a minnow when there was a bass nibbling on my line.

  I ran toward the road where I had last seen the tall man. The crowd of miners walked about half a mile ahead, and it appeared that they were speaking jovially. I checked the office buildings and the staging area of the mine. There were still about fifty workers milling about, but they were all a good hundred yards away, and I didn't care if they saw me fly. Just as long as I didn't alert the large suspect to the fact that I was behind him.

  I kicked into the air, and my Alula shifted into wings with a strong beat. It only took me a few seconds to climb some hundred feet into the air. From this height, I could observe the movement of the crowd, and I easily picked out the tall man near the front of the procession.

  We were on the second level of the city, and the grasslands path soon came to the wide ramp that led to the third level. There were more homes here. Rancher, miner, fisher, and farmer housing for individuals and small families. They were modest adobe shelters, and a good portion of the group split up to head toward their dwellings.

  Two other miners continued to walk with the suspect. The livable area of the third level was a mile wide, and I watched them for another forty minutes as they hiked up to the fourth level, and then continued on to the fifth. The two men left my suspect with a nod and walked into a tavern on that level. The tall man continued for a hundred yards and entered a blacksmith's shop.

  I pondered flying to the nearest nest to ask for assistance, but I didn't want to give the man a
chance to escape. Going into the shop to arrest him by myself might be a mistake because of my inexperience, but I couldn't risk the time it would take to go to the nearest nest and recruit my sisters. With my luck, the man would be long gone by the time I got back with reinforcements, and I had already made that mistake once today. The other option was to get a city guard to retrieve help from the nearest nest while I kept my eye on the building. I didn't see any guards patrolling the streets below though, and the thought of taking my eyes off the shop made my stomach churn.

  I also didn't want to enter the store and face off against a magic-wielding man who also had access to guns. Granted, I hadn't seen him carry a scattergun with him from the mine, but he could have one in the shop.

  The streets were somewhat busy with travelers, but there was a lot more space on the streets of the fifth level of the city than the teens, or higher levels. I floated to the blacksmith's shop with a slow circular approach so that I could check all the exits of the building. There was just the entrance on the front and a door at the rear that led to a forge and donkey stable. I landed by the stable and crept toward the rear door. Damn it. This would be so much easier if Fallon was with me. We were supposed to travel in pairs. It was safer for Potentia and for suspects.

  "Who do you suspect?" I heard a voice say though the thick back door.

  "Someone in their distribution chain. I have a few names," my suspect said.

  "Are you going to stop them?" the first voice asked.

  "I want to. That is why I am here. I need your advice. The Potentia are trying to find the murderer. It is putting them close to the operation. If I could find the killer, then it would get them out of the picture."

  "I agree. How can I help?" the first voice asked.

  "I believe Dust may have killed one of the Potentia at Rafa's inn."

  "Shit," the other man sighed.

  "It was the same one that tried to stop us from stealing Garon's supply."

  "But you got them?"