by Frank Morin
“Oh.” Sarah felt foolish. “So a Cui Dashi in ancient Rome was named Pavlos?”
“Exactly.”
“What do you mean, he was Spartacus’ handler?” Alter asked. “And why was he torturing Sarah?”
“That connects back to Baladeva again,” Gregorios said.
“Again with him,” Harriett muttered. “Like leaven in the dough, that name’s spreading everywhere.”
“Baladeva was your enemy, right?” Sarah asked, trying to remember what they’d told her about him before.
“Correct,” Gregorios said. “Baladeva recruited heka assassins to kill facetakers loyal to Shahrokh, and even set up his own rival council. We found and removed most of his supporters, but eventually he got desperate. He bred with heka women and managed to produce a Cui Dashi heir.”
“Like Mai Luan?” Sarah asked.
“Similar powers,” Eirene said, taking up the tale. “That man became the real threat and he partnered with Spartacus. Together they were a mighty force. More than once they nearly toppled the republic and then the empire.”
“He was the handler,” Gregorios said. “He called the shots and set the agenda. I confronted them together.”
“You fought Spartacus and a Cui Dashi at the same time?” Sarah could scarce comprehend what that epic showdown must have looked like.
Gregorios shrugged. “It was an unexpected opportunity. I didn’t have my team but I couldn’t pass up the chance.”
“What happened?” Even Alter looked impressed.
“I defeated Pavlos,” Gregorios said.
“And let Spartacus get the best of you,” Eirene added.
“Oh, don’t start that again,” Gregorios protested, but he was smiling. They acted like it was a familiar argument.
“You defeated a Cui Dashi single-handedly?” Sarah pressed, still hardly believing it. Together, they had barely defeated Mai Luan. And he had defeated another Cui Dashi while fighting Spartacus at the same time. Even walking through their memories, Spartacus scared her.
“I did.”
“How?” Alter asked. For the moment, he appeared to have forgotten his hatred for Gregorios.
“Through the judicious use of a blast furnace and a handy bronze statue.”
“And tons of luck,” Eirene added.
“What’s relevant to our discussion today,” Gregorios said. “Is that the man in the wide-brimmed hat called himself Paul.”
“But if you killed Pavlos, how can the man in the wide-brimmed hat be him?” Sarah asked.
“I don’t know, but I’m suspecting there’s a connection.”
“Since it looks like Paul is probably Cui Dashi?”
He nodded. “There’s too much coincidence for it to be coincidence.”
“Wait,” Eirene said. “Since when do we suspect the man with… Paul is Cui Dashi?”
“Since he ripped me out of one memory and threatened to kill me for defeating Mai Luan,” Sarah said.
“He also possessed strength of mind that exceeded even what Mai Luan exhibited in the memoryscape,” Gregorios added.
Eirene settled onto a nearby chair. “You’re going to have to tell us everything.”
So Sarah and Gregorios related their experience. Alter interrupted when Gregorios told of machine-gunning Spartacus’ men, but Eirene insisted they hear the rest without pause. Then she broke that rule a moment later when Gregorios related what Spartacus had said.
“You were speaking with the memory-walking, real Spartacus?” Eirene demanded, leaning closer, expression intent. “And he sounded sane?”
“I believe he was really there,” Gregorios said. “I’m not sure I’d call him sane, but he wasn’t a raving lunatic like I would’ve expected.”
“Tell me every word,” Eirene insisted.
“That’s what I was doing before you interrupted,” he reminded her.
Eirene wanted to spend more time discussing his brief interaction with Spartacus, but he turned the story over to Sarah to relate what she had experienced with Paul. “You all kept asking about the torture. Here’s your chance to hear about it.”
When she told of Paul plunging his sword through her stomach, Alter leaped to his feet, fists clenched. “I’ll kill him for that!”
“Thanks,” Sarah said. “But if he really is Cui Dashi, we’re going to have to be careful or he’ll kill us first.”
“I swear on my honor to avenge you,” Alter cried.
“He hasn’t killed me yet,” Sarah said. “So nothing to avenge.”
He started protesting, but Eirene motioned him to silence. “Alter, I appreciate your focus, but please, let us hear the rest of the story.”
“And I want to find out more about that form shifting,” Francesca said. “That’s fantastic! I’ve never heard of runes actually altering the physical composition of a person’s body.”
“It’s only happened in the memoryscape,” Sarah said. “But without somehow going ghosty like that, Mai Luan would’ve killed me in Berlin for sure. I’ve been trying to figure out how it worked, and it’s tied to my rune. It worked again today, or Paul would have gutted me.”
Alter growled low in his throat, quivering with rage. Eirene patted his shoulder, but that did little to calm his anger. He said, “I don’t see how your rune could do that.”
“We’ll have to study it further,” Gregorios said.
“I’ll say,” Francesca exclaimed. “If you can gain a super power in there, it might become the edge we need to defeat him.”
“Let’s finish what we started first,” Gregorios cautioned.
Sarah told about the rest of the strange interview with Paul, then repeated it several times as they asked a barrage of questions.
She finished by saying, “He said Paul was just one of his names, that I wasn’t worthy to know more.”
Gregorios grunted. “The criminally insane always invent ways to try to seem more impressive. They usually lack the showmanship to pull it off.”
“He was pretty intimidating,” Sarah said. “And he seemed to think one of us must be Cui Dashi too.”
“That part is fascinating,” Eirene said, her expression thoughtful. “From the hints he gave you, it seems we have confirmation that he is indeed running the cell that we thought had belonged to Mai Luan. He has her machine, and no doubt also controls the stolen forbidden runes. They’ve arranged the runes somehow to allow Cui Dashi powers to still function, but block our nevron.”
“They hadn’t counted on us linking in a hunter,” Harriett said, giving Alter a warm smile. “They’ve salted the batter on that one.”
“Let’s hope they don’t figure it out,” Gregorios said. “The memoryscape is our best chance of tracking Paul down again and removing him, or getting some answers.”
“If we can control the location, we can arrange a trap,” Eirene said with more confidence than Sarah felt. Eirene hadn’t felt Paul’s strength, hadn’t seen him rise from the ruins of that temple.
“That’s a big if,” Gregorios admitted. “His control over the memoryscape was immensely powerful. We’ll have to figure a way to counter it.”
“First, we need to find him,” she said.
“Which brings us back to John,” Gregorios said. “Sarah saw him in there. It seems clear they’re working together.”
“And he seemed to think we’re plotting to assassinate him,” Sarah added.
“The old fool was always seeing assassins in every shadow,” Harriett said. “Twice he asked me to assign food testers for his meals to check for poison.”
“His mental dissipation is well known,” Eirene said. “That’s contributing to his natural suspicions.”
“So John’s working with someone connected with a Cui Dashi who’s been dead for a couple thousand years,” Sarah said. “And that’s our best bet for who’s stirring up these old memories?”
“That would explain the interest in Spartacus and the theft of his soulmask in modern day,” Eirene said.
It seemed like a stretch to Sarah. “So you defeated Pavlos and Spartacus defeated you?”
“He killed the body I was wearing,” Gregorios said. “When I severed contact with it, he bronzed my soulmask and kept me on his wall as a trophy.”
“That’s why you did the same thing to him later,” Alter said, looking unhappy to discover that Gregorios might have had justification for what he’d done.
Gregorios nodded. “A long time later. It was the first of many times Eirene saved my life.”
“How did you rescue him?” Sarah asked her.
“During the sacking of Rome,” Eirene said. “Spartacus led a force of enhanced heka against our temple.”
“Which temple?”
“We were affiliated with Summanus, god of nocturnal thunder.”
“Why?”
“That’s not important. Most of the information regarding what we did has been scrubbed, either by us or by the hunters.”
“That’s really annoying,” Sarah said, glancing from Eirene to Alter, who shrugged.
“I defeated Spartacus,” Eirene explained. “But the temple was destroyed. I later found Greg’s bronzed soulmask and set him free.”
“And you wonder sometimes why I stick around,” Gregorios said.
Eirene rolled her eyes. “You removed Pavlos, but I still had to take care of Spartacus.”
“You couldn’t have beat him if I hadn’t made the almost-ultimate sacrifice,” Gregorios countered.
They were both smiling as they argued. Sarah glanced at Harriett, who had shifted closer to her chair. “Are they always like this?”
“Gets worse during a honeymoon.”
“Once in a while a good argument is a healthy thing to keep a relationship strong,” Gregorios protested.
Francesca waved a dismissive hand. “We’re getting distracted again. You killed the Paul who worked with Spartacus a long time ago. How can they be connected?”
“We don’t know yet,” Gregorios said. “I don’t believe in coincidences and this one’s too big to ignore.”
“There has to be a reason he’s using that name,” Eirene said. “Even if he knows we’ll be suspicious.”
“What if the name isn’t for us?” Sarah asked.
Gregorios smiled. “Good thinking. You might be on to something. If this Paul learned the connection Spartacus had with the Cui Dashi handler I killed, he might be trying to leverage that.”
“To what end?” Harriett asked. She had drifted to the nearby workbench and opened a cardboard box filled with several kinds of cookies, which she began passing out to the group.
“From the little I learned during our chat, it didn’t sound like he and Paul were pulling entirely in the same direction. I don’t think he’s really committed to the cause.”
“Perhaps Paul’s trying to provide a concrete anchor,” Eirene suggested. “Something to help focus his mind on the mission at hand.”
“What mission?” Gregorios asked. “I would’ve bet ready money he’d jump right back into vengeance mode, but he lacked focus.”
“Paul’s got to want him to find us and finish the job Mai Luan started,” Eirene said. “It’s quite poetic.”
“It’s complicated though,” Harriett said. “The best operations are like the best recipes: simple.” She hefted a double chocolate cookie for emphasis.
“Paul’s not simple,” Sarah said. “It’s not his style.”
“You’re right,” Eirene said. “Think about all he’s done.”
She raised a finger. “First, there’s no doubt they have a machine. So it has to be one of the original ones Mai Luan developed.”
Alter shifted closer to Sarah, leaning against the chair she rested on. “Second, he’s our best guess for who’s tampering with forbidden runes.”
“Third,” Francesca added with a wink to Alter. “They’re actively exploring deep memories.”
“Fourth,” Sarah added, placing a hand on Alter’s arm. “Working with John, they attacked your family and stole your rune lore.”
Alter nodded. “With that information, Paul can do even more terrible things.”
“I wonder if this was all part of Mai Luan’s plans?” Sarah asked.
“More likely her involvement was all part of Paul’s plans,” Gregorios said, looking thoughtful.
“Don’t you think you’re stretching the dough a little?” Harriett asked.
“No,” he replied. “Everything we’ve been listing is part of Paul’s plan, not Mai Luan’s. She got him the master rune and took out most of the council, but we had been assuming she was trying to control them. Now I’m thinking that was just phase one of their plan.”
“But Mai Luan died,” Sarah reminded him. “She didn’t get the master rune to anyone.”
Gregorios shook his head. “Tomas mentioned Teresa snapped a photo of that rune with her phone before he stopped her. At this point, I think we can assume she transmitted that photo.”
Eirene rose and paced around the machine. “So they may have the master rune, and they killed half the council. Probably hoped the resulting internal strife would keep us distracted until it was too late. They clearly don’t want us poking around through history.”
“That worries me as much as anything else,” Gregorios said. “We’re the only ones who can stop them from acquiring another master rune.”
Alter said, “Coupling the forbidden runes they’ve acquired with the first master rune will grant them incredible power. Adding a second one to it would increase that power exponentially.”
“What could they do with it?” Sarah asked, hating the direction the conversation had turned. She hadn’t thought she could get any more frightened.
“Just about anything.”
“That may be what they’re planning.” Gregorios grimaced. “The pieces are lined up for them to tap unprecedented power. They’ve kept under the radar until now, when they’re on the brink of success.” He began pacing as he spoke. “They recruited John somehow and used him to attack the hunters, steal the rune lore they wanted, and blame me at the same time. They timed their forbidden rune spell perfectly to discredit us with our clients.
“I think you’ve got it,” Eirene said. “We were so focused on dealing with Mai Luan because she was Cui Dashi that we never considered the possibility that something more was going on.”
“But Mai Luan was so powerful,” Sarah protested. “She wouldn’t sacrifice herself for someone else, even if she was working for Paul.”
“He’s Cui Dashi,” Gregorios said. “The more we learn, the more I’m convinced. It’s the only way this works. Paul cannot be the same man I defeated all those years ago, but I believe he’s Cui Dashi, and Mai Luan worked for him.”
“I hate Cui Dashi,” Sarah muttered, rubbing her arms against a sudden chill.
“We can all agree to that,” Gregorios said. “We have a Cui Dashi at the head of perhaps the most sophisticated heka cell we’ve ever faced, armed with the most powerful runes ever unleashed upon the world.”
“We have to stop him.” Francesca looked a little sick.
“And avenge my family,” Alter added.
“Catching him in the memoryscape won’t be easy,” Sarah said. “He’s tricky.”
“We’ll need a better plan,” Eirene agreed. “We need to lure him in and destroy him before he can escape again.”
“Unless Tomas’ team can track down the heka,” Francesca said. “We know they’re around.”
“Or unless he gets something useful out of Thailand,” Eirene added.
“We have another lead now,” Gregorios reminded them. “John.”
“I wonder if he betrayed the council before Mai Luan or after you took power,” Harriett said.
“That’s been bothering me,” Eirene said, rising to pace beside her husband. “John nearly died in that memory of Thermopylae. If he was working with them, why try to kill him?”
“And if he wasn’t yet tied to them, that’s a strange form of recruit
ment,” Francesca added.
They considered that for a moment until Harriett said, “John’s still suffering mental dissipation. He’s hated you for decades, Dad. What if Paul convinced him that you orchestrated that attack as a way to assassinate him?”
“He’s always muttering into his wine about assassination attempts,” Francesca agreed.
“It’s possible,” Gregorios said. “John’s been pretty unstable. I was looking forward to seeing how well the machines could reverse his soul fragmentation and restore his mental stability.”
“Paul can’t be having an easy time of working with him either,” Eirene said.
“John must possess memories they need,” Gregorios replied. “He’s the link to the times they’re hunting for master runes.”
“So does that mean Paul’s not old enough to have lived through a master-rune-worthy moment?” Sarah asked.
“He probably isn’t,” Eirene said. “Between us and the hunters we’re pretty good at rooting out Cui Dashi.
“Yet, somehow he’s built this powerful organization without any of us picking up on it,” Alter said.
“We know now,” Gregorios said, his expression serious. “And we know the connection with John. He’s the key to unraveling the mystery.”
Sarah said. “That’s it then. Find John and we find Paul.”
“Find Paul and we bring in the family,” Francesca said.
“Wait, whose family?” Alter asked.
Francesca rose and took his hands in hers. “Both of ours.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
I stand upon the cusp of history. Mehmed and his enhanced troops think to lay waste to the world. Where are the hunters who decry his abomination? Where is Bastien and his family? They wait for me to raise a cipher greater than any wielded by natural man. I will unite my people the way no king ever has, and I will become the Sword of the Dragon.
~Vlad Dracula, Rune Warrior, Voivode of Wallachia, 1476
The man who had been king of Thailand, now known as Prince Bhumibol, entered his private salon and dismissed his aid. He sat back in a comfortable chair and sighed.
“Looks like you’re having a good day,” Tomas said as he rose from behind a nearby couch. “Let’s not ruin it, shall we?”
