by Frank Morin
“That’s going to become a problem,” Gregorios said. “But Sarah offers an opportunity.”
“What do you mean?” Sarah asked.
“Rune warriors can inscribe custom runes that don’t work for others,” he said. “Runes that can draw from other souls and whose power can be directed in unique ways.”
Alter was already frowning. “Be careful, Gregorios. I won’t allow you to guide her into the realm of evil.”
“It’s not like the evil of heka webs,” Gregorios said. “They sacrifice stolen souls to power their enchantments.”
“They’re easier to interrupt too,” Tomas added.
“You need to physically approach a rune web,” Eirene said. “But Sarah would be able to sense them, and to interrupt them remotely. We wouldn’t need another suicide charge.”
“I worked with what I had,” he said defensively. “You try taking a fortified position with nothing but a light brigade.”
“Is there something I should know about?” Sarah asked.
“We’ll watch the movie some time,” Tomas said. “Then I’ll explain.”
“How can I interrupt heka webs?” Sarah said.
“You’ll feel them,” Alter said. “I’ll show you the marks you need to break them, or redirect their power back upon the enchanters running them.”
“Or even steal that energy for other uses,” Gregorios said.
“No,” Alter frowned. “That would be evil.”
“Not if she used it to stop them,” Eirene said. “If she wasn’t the one to create the web, anything she did with it would be better by definition.”
“Don’t muddy the waters,” Alter said.
“And don’t ignore possibilities because they don’t easily fit into your buckets of abomination flavors,” Gregorios retorted. “The hard questions need to be considered.”
“I know what you’re doing,” Alter said, rounding on Gregorios. “You’ll justify taking a kashaph abomination and using it for purposes we would consider good. Then you’ll extend that same reasoning to justify Sarah siphoning life force from unwilling souls to fuel her ciphers.”
“I didn’t say to use unwilling souls,” Gregorios said, ignoring Alter’s belligerence.
Eirene approached Alter, placing a hand on his arm. “What Greg’s suggesting is that we develop a cipher to assist our children in powering the machines. Paul himself has set the deadline. We get one more shot at him in the memoryscape, and I don’t want any limiting factors on our side.”
They discussed the idea as a group, although Alter took some convincing before agreeing to help with the cipher. Sarah suspected he finally agreed because he realized she knew enough to try it without his help, and he didn’t want to lose all influence with her.
Sarah’s health continued to improve. The new healing rune was working wonders. Coupled with the strong foundation of her existing enhancements, she’d feel almost normal within the hour.
Eirene reiterated Alter’s earlier warning that she take it easy, regardless. Her body might be quickly healing, but the process was draining her soul force. Making that a habit could weaken her soul and leave her vulnerable to Paul or the heka.
“How do I know how much has been drained?” she asked.
“It’s a sense you gain over time,” Eirene said. “You possess a powerful soul so I’m not worried yet, but be careful. Rest and other activities that replenish the soul help it recover more quickly.”
“What kind of activities?” Tomas asked.
“You two can talk about that later,” Eirene said with a wink.
Sarah hoped Spartacus showed up the next day so Tomas could win back his body. She was looking forward to exploring as many of those soul-replenishing activities as Tomas’ sense of morality would allow.
The group left the vault and returned to Quentin’s for sumptuous late lunch. As they lingered over dessert and fruit, they worked on the cipher to assist with the soul-draining load of running the machines. When they worked up a functional cipher, Sarah inscribed it onto a series of wooden blocks that would be positioned around the Suntara building. She would trigger them just prior to their next memory hunt and set them to expire an hour later. They would siphon five percent energy from every soul within the building.
“You know,” Tomas said as he examined the cipher. “We could spread these out farther, out into the city. That would give us--”
“No!” Alter interrupted. “We’re already skirting the edges of abusing this power. Anything more would be unforgivable and my family would assassinate Sarah and every one of us.”
“What gives them the right to determine what’s right and what’s evil?” Gregorios asked.
Alter opened his mouth to reply, but then scowled. Sarah thought back to the conversation when he had demanded a similar thing from Gregorios. He didn’t appear to like having the tables turned.
“I think our work here is done,” Eirene said.
Tomas took Sarah’s hand. “Come on. I’m taking you back to bed.”
Sarah stared, and Alter looked ready to explode, but Francesca responded first.
She laughed. “That’s the spirit, Tomas. Don’t waste a precious second.”
His face flushed and he stammered, “You know that’s not what I meant. She needs rest and I’m going to make sure she gets it.”
“Don’t let him wear you out,” Francesca said to Sarah, giving her an encouraging smile. “Tomorrow will be a big day.”
Tomas still sputtered with ineffectual objections until Sarah kissed his cheek. “Don’t worry, Tomas. We all know you.”
“Not as well as you’re about to,” Francesca called after them.
“Don’t get carried away,” Gregorios said loudly as they reached the door. “Tomorrow we start early. I want the Tenth fully deployed and Yurak staged to assist. You two will run point, take a picnic in the park and scope it out.”
“With guns,” Eirene added.
Chapter Seventy-Six
I recognize that even after so many lives, I’ll make mistakes, that I’ll miss something, but that offers little consolation when I witness such devastation. I can’t help but think I should have discovered the heka cell that unleashed the Black Death before it took hold. With the information you provided, my team wiped out that cell, but the rune was cast and cannot be undone. Until I see you again in Paris, I’m yours for another life.
~ Gregorios in a letter to Eirene in 1347
“Nothing.”
Sarah strode farther along the flat expanse of the ruins of the Circus Maximus, trying to reconcile it with the magnificent arena she’d seen in the memoryscape. Instead of packed sand surrounded by high-tiered rows of screaming spectators, it was now a long field of close-cropped green grass.
Its main axis was still recognizable, running southeast to northwest, with rows of trees marching along a low rise on the southern boundary where the massive outer wall had stood. North of the circus, the mass of Palatine Hill still rose above the field, but the beautiful palaces that had overlooked the ancient arena had fallen into ruin.
Even the bright, late-morning sunshine did little to help her mood. More than any of the other ruins of modern-day Rome she had visited in the annals of time, the ruin of the Circus struck her as a tragedy.
“Show me where you raced the buggy,” Tomas called, trotting past her, apparently unaffected by the weight of history that hung over the field.
“Aren’t we supposed to be having a picnic?” she called after him.
Walkers, strolling couples, and young families with shrieking children were sprinkled across the green expanse, and Sarah was grateful the crowds were light. There was a good chance some kind of fight was about to erupt in the peaceful setting, and she didn’t want innocents getting hurt. She considered ciphers she could use to shield people if the situation called for it.
The rest of their support team had stayed back, filtering among the distant trees and trying to remain unobtrusive. A large number of oth
er enforcers were taking up positions around the Circus and the nearby Colosseum, scanning for any sign of Spartacus or heka. They were close enough to provide support if the Circus proved to be a trap.
Gregorios had considered the potential for some kind of encounter likely enough that he wasn’t taking any chances. Francesca and Harriet were staged a little farther out with some of the Yurak International forces.
Sarah felt not even a glimmer of distant facetakers. She had hoped she’d catch a hint of something. She’d probed outward with those intangible senses that locked onto nevra cores like lights in her mind, but found nothing.
Tomas tossed her an apple. “Eat slow. It’s the only picnic I brought.”
If Spartacus decided to show up, they wouldn’t have time to enjoy a picnic anyway, but they might get to hang around for a while, waiting for something to happen.
She sighed, “This was a great opportunity.”
If they did have to wait, she’d user her phone to pull up images of Celtic ogham runes that Alter had shown her the previous night after dinner. He’d explained how they were the preferred symbols for breaking remote heka enchantments, particularly webs. She’d forced him to explain how she could use the symbols to take control of those remote enchantments, despite his protestations against that approach.
“I need to understand it,” she’d insisted. “I promise not to use it unless there’s no other alternative.”
Tomas spun a slow circle, scanning the mostly-empty park. “I hope this whole setup isn’t a bust.”
“Have patience,” she urged, offering a bite of her apple. “This was a good lead. Something is going to happen.”
She had to believe that. Paul had promised that he would move on the last rune that very day. If they didn’t shut him down before then, he’d launch whatever crazy plan he’d been working up against the world. Then he’d come for her.
Sarah shivered, but vowed to geld him in real life like she had in the ancient circus. Being a eunuch suited that pig.
“We should have brought a frisbee,” Sarah said, even though every second weighed on her mind. She needed to return to Suntara soon to prepare for a final memory hunt against Paul. She wasn’t looking forward to it.
Anaru’s deep voice spoke through their encrypted earbuds. “Captain, contact. You are under surveillance from the ruins atop Palatine Hill.”
“Snipers?” Tomas asked, his expression never changing.
“Negative,” Anaru said. “Not yet.”
“Reposition teams three and six for optimal supporting fire if the situation deteriorates,” Tomas ordered.
“Do you think it’s a trap?” Sarah asked, trying to maintain a calm expression as they continued walking slowly across the wide open expanse, hand-in-hand. Even though she’d been wanting something to happen, she suddenly felt exposed, and began reviewing her shielding ciphers.
“If Paul knows we’re here, then it’s a trap,” Tomas said. “If it’s just Spartacus, I actually think he’ll show.”
He turned toward her, wrapping his arms loosely around her waist, as if to enjoy a more intimate moment. He was wearing a light jacket, and she slipped one hand under it to the holster of one of the four pistols he was wearing concealed. She couldn’t see the hidden watchers, let alone shoot one with a pistol from that distance, but the feel of the gun helped calm her nerves.
Tomas didn’t remark on her handling his hardware in public. He didn’t even kiss her, but spoke softly into her ear. “Domenico, what’s the status of your men along the Forum?”
“You always know how to say the most romantic things,” Sarah said, kissing his cheek to keep up appearances.
“Sir,” Domenico reported in his pleasant Italian accent. “All teams are in position. I’m shifting teams seven and nine for better coverage of Palatine Hill. Team eight was just about to start their reconnoiter of that area, but there are barriers and police sentries. The entire hill’s been blocked off for some kind of repair.”
“It’s a ploy,” Tomas said. “Paul’s people must have more assets on that hill. Have your teams hold position and monitor those sentries. I don’t want to spook the watchers until Spartacus appears. And check our contacts with the polizia to get confirmation those sentries are legitimate.”
When no one started shooting at them, Sarah allowed herself to relax a little. Maybe they were reading too much into things?
Tomas released her and they resumed their slow walk across the circus.
Domenico interrupted the tense silence a moment later. “Contact. Confirmed sighting of the heka woman we attempted to grab last week at the Colosseum.”
“Rosetta’s here?” Sarah asked. At Tomas’ questioning look she added, “I hated thinking of her as the mark, so I gave her a name.”
“It works,” he agreed. “Domenico, designate the heka as Rosetta.”
“Roger, Captain,” he replied. “Rosetta is exiting the Palatine Hill. Just passed the police barricade and is turning in your direction. If she continues, she’ll make contact in five minutes.”
“Should we pick her up?” Anaru asked.
“Negative,” Tomas said, continuing the slow stroll. “Apprise mobile teams of the situation and position them for interdiction if required.”
He glanced at Sarah and squeezed her hand. “Looks like this wasn’t a total waste of time.”
“But why Rosetta?” Sarah asked. “I thought Spartacus was supposed to be here.”
“I’ll answer that in five minutes,” he said with a shrug.
The wait seemed to take forever. Domenico fed them regular reports from his teams that were monitoring Rosetta’s steady progress around the hill toward the circus. No other known heka were spotted, and no other movement occurred on the hill.
Tomas used the wait to switch channels back to Gregorios and Eirene, who were coordinating the complex operation from Suntara’s communications hub.
Gregorios said, “I’ll move the Tenth’s reinforcements to secondary staging locations. Yurak will draw in to back them up.”
Sarah spotted Rosetta as soon as she rounded the last worn column and stepped onto the Circus. She was wearing a long, blue coat that could conceal all kinds of weapons, and Sarah’s fears that the meeting was a trap escalated. She concentrated on her rounon well, and her rune warrior symbol grew warm against her back. Energy coursed through her, reinforcing the vibrant life she already felt from her enhancements.
Whatever Rosetta was planning, she didn’t stand a chance.
As Rosetta approached, Sarah thought back to the botched snatch attempt at the Colosseum. The woman had been willing to desecrate that ancient ruin without hesitation. Sarah yearned to close the distance and pound the heka into the ground. She’d show the woman who was stronger now.
She became aware of a pulsing sound, like a low humming emanating from the heka. Then she noticed a dim glow surrounding Rosetta. In the bright sunlight, she’d missed it at first. Only fifty feet separated them, and with each step Rosetta took, the effects became clearer.
With each pulse of the slow humming, the sound echoed back toward the Palatine Hill. Even though Sarah couldn’t see it, she felt that sound, as if it was rippling up an invisible conduit to a distant source.
Sarah realized what she was sensing and her grip on Tomas’ hand tightened. “She’s got a rune web protecting her. The source is up on the hill somewhere.”
“Can you sense its purpose?” Tomas whispered back, not taking his eyes from the advancing woman.
“I’m still pretty new to these,” Sarah admitted. “But I think at least part of it has to do with shielding. It feels similar to what I felt when I activated my shield wall the other night. Do you want me to break it?”
“Get ready,” he said. “But hold until we hear what she has to say. Breaking it might alert her.”
Rosetta flashed them a haughty smile as she closed on them. “Whispering together like the children waiting for the teacher. Spartacus isn’t coming.”
/> “So he sent you to take the beating for him?” Tomas asked.
“He sends a message,” she replied, stopping ten feet away and giving Sarah a dismissive look. “No one is so brave that he is not disturbed by something unexpected.”
Sarah frowned. “What does that mean?”
“It’s a quote from Julius Caesar,” Tomas said. “From the Gallic Wars, during the time he beat the Helvetii tribe using an effective surprise attack.”
“Are you claiming to be his surprise attack?” Sarah asked, preparing to fight. She could cross the distance to Rosetta before the woman could draw a gun.
“He is not my captain,” Rosetta spat.
“Well, you’re going to have to come with us and tell us all about who is,” Tomas said, taking a step forward.
Rosetta laughed. “First I give you my master’s message!”
She flung open her coat, revealing an explosive vest.
Even as Sarah realized the terrible danger they were in, a bullet ricocheted off of Rosetta’s forehead. Anaru cursed in her earpiece.
Tomas lunged, but he struck the invisible web protecting Rosetta and rebounded. He’d explained to Sarah that some webs only protected against certain types of assaults. The one shielding her was remarkably strong.
“Not so much a suicide vest as a weapon of mass destruction,” Rosetta taunted Tomas.
Sarah was sick of her superior attitude. She drew upon her rounon power and slashed her hand across the air, making a glowing mark that she used to focus her power onto the complex cipher she’d been preparing. She used the shielding cipher she’d built with Tomas, but also included the Celtic marks to break the rune web and subvert its power to fuel her cipher instead.
She barely noticed the drain as the cipher activated and her invisible wall snapped into place. It glowed bright in her rune vision, even though it would remain invisible to the others. It thrummed with strength, fueled by astonishing levels of energy from the co-opted rune web.
Rosetta detonated the explosive vest.
