I already had my gun in my hand to cover him.
I hid it in the folds of the shawl, but when the other two stepped forward, big, muscular seers also holding knives, I shot the first one in his knife-shoulder without hesitation. He let out a scream, dropping the knife as he stumbled backwards, clutching his shoulder.
I shifted my aim to the second one, my eyes still on the first until he melted back into the crowd. I sent a ping to Balidor to follow him, but, being blind from the pregnancy and with my headset in my pocket, I had no idea if he heard it.
I shifted my gaze once I couldn’t see the other seer any more, looking into the face of the second seer standing there, gripping my gun in both hands.
He stared back at me, panting, his dark purple eyes wide. Like the man who’d tried to rip me off with the truck, he had a Nazi scar across the front of his face.
“Move and you’re dead,” I told him in Prexci.
A flyer whirred overhead then, causing me to look up even as it slid into view.
It began to descend in a straight line, moving fast towards the crowd. More to the point, it was coming straight towards me and Revik.
I didn’t wait––or even think really.
Igniting the telekinesis, I exploded it in the air.
It ripped apart in a ball of smoke and flame.
The whole thing happened in seconds––the big guy with the knife, the two men who followed, the flyer detonated overhead.
Revik was still on the ground with the first guy.
He had the knife in his hand by then, a long, curved blade with an elaborate handle, already decorated with someone’s blood. Seeing that blood drip down over Revik’s hand and down his wrist and arm, I hoped like hell it wasn’t his.
His eyes jerked up when the flyer burst into flames. He winced, ducking as shrapnel exploded in all directions over the crowd. I heard a few people scream. I saw a few jump back, and at least one fall to the dirt when they got hit by pieces of the flyer.
Then Revik was looking at me, panting, his eyes shining in the sun under the blue-green contact lenses.
The silence grew thick.
It felt like everyone in the crowd was staring at me now.
Revik looked around at all of them. I felt a pulse of alarm, then terror, leave his light.
His gaze jerked back to me.
“Run!” he snarled. “Go!”
I didn’t think.
I did exactly what he said.
I PINGED BALIDOR a second time as I ran, cursing at my blindness when I had no idea if he’d heard me or answered, or if Feigran, Illeg and Holo were still by the truck.
Darting through the crowd, holding the scarf half around my my face, I ran, all-out, hoping like hell Revik was right behind me.
I heard a few more explosions and a pattering of gunshots as I left the clearing in the busiest part of the market and took off across the lawn near the street.
Seconds later, I heard what sounded like automatic weapons fire from somewhere up ahead and to my right.
Cursing under my breath when I realized the shots came from the general vicinity of where we’d left the truck, I looked back over my shoulder when I felt a hard ping from the Barrier. Once I did, I saw Balidor and Cass just behind me but still on the grass, weaving their way around families with picnic blankets spread and clusters of kids trying to sell water bottles, meat on sticks and bags of fruit.
They were running in the same direction as me. Cass had something under her arm in a paper bag, and Balidor carried a backpack.
Seeing me looking his way, Balidor motioned they’d come to me, towards the street. I shifted direction, heading left as well, aiming for the storefronts he’d been pointing to.
All three of us crossed over a broken sidewalk and to the other side of the row of trees that lined what must have once been a peaceful, store-lined street, prior to the C2-77 virus. Now only a few hawkers remained inside the burnt-out husks of stores, selling knick-knacks of various kinds, including electrical wires, pots and pans, pieces of pipe, the occasional table full of knives, swords, and other weapons––even a very old-looking gun.
In other open storefronts, I saw families cooking on smoky, open fires with hunks of charcoal, or on solar stoves.
Balidor and I ran side by side now, with Cass on his other side.
“Where’s Revik?” I half-shouted.
“He’s behind us…” Balidor’s voice was jarred by the pounding of his feet. “He said to get the engine running…”
I nodded, glancing to my left where I saw a group of men in dark blue uniforms standing at the mouth of an alley, watching us run past. Two of them wore sidearms, and at least one had what looked like a curved sword looped through his belt.
Shifting direction again, I crossed us back over the road and through a thicket of trees, aiming for the small side road where I’d parked, and the marina itself.
We burst out of the trees a few seconds later, and I saw the back of the truck.
Stanley and Holo stood on the truck’s roof, maintaining positions on either side, weapons up. I saw Stanley’s face crumple in relief when he saw us, even as another flyer, this one behind where he stood, began to drop down rapidly from a great height.
“Down!” I yelled, waving my arms at him. “Get down! Hurry!”
His eyes widened, but he didn’t look back.
He dropped to his belly on the roof of the truck, then began sliding down the side nearest to us, jumping for the grass and stumbling when his gun hit the back of his head. In the front part of the truck, behind him, I saw Holo see the flyer and pale.
Hearing what I’d said to Stanley, he dropped too, sliding down the windshield to the hood of the truck. I heard him curse as he landed, falling off the front of the hood.
The round eye of the flyer turned red, swiveling towards me.
Realizing it was armed, I ignited the telekinesis.
I wasn’t quite fast enough. It released its first rounds of ammunition, right at me.
They slammed into my chest before I could take a breath, throwing me backwards to the lawn. An explosion of pain flared around my ribs and solar plexus. Holding onto my focus on the drone, I found the fusion battery in its core with the higher structures in my light.
I sent a bolt of my light, disrupting the reaction, cracking the casing.
It exploded, bursting apart in the air.
I heard Stanley let out a gasp, saw him wince as something hit him on one side.
From the lawn where I lay, gasping, my eyes stayed on the flyer, watching as black smoke erupted from what remained of its body, right before it veered off and slammed into the surface of the water near a moored boat.
I heard footsteps pounding towards me.
“ALLIE!”
My head turned.
Revik was running towards me, staring at me with those eerie, blue-green irises. Feeling the fear on his light, I smiled, trying to reassure him. I looked down at my chest, which, thanks to him, was covered in organic armor under the shawl.
Making my hand a fist, I thumped the armor briefly, so he’d know I was okay.
His expression didn’t change.
He skidded on the grass, nearly stumbling before he stopped, still about a dozen yards from me. He stood there, panting, his eyes aimed up over my head.
I turned, following the direction of his stare.
I heard the sound only then.
A low hum rose from a circle of flyers that hovered in the air over the roof of the truck. At least ten of them. All of their round red eyes were lit and aimed at me, which meant their guns were aimed at me, too.
Terror slammed through Revik’s light, reaching me from where he stood.
“Allie! Don’t fucking move!”
My eyes didn’t leave the flyers.
I felt Revik behind me, light flooded into his telekinetic structures, light pulsing off him in erratic bursts as he tried to decide what to do. I could almost feel him calculating how many of
them he could detonate at once, or whether he should try shoving them all back in a single wave, throwing them off course so he could explode them one by one.
We were all still staring up, frozen in place, when a voice emerged from the flyer hovering in the center, a little higher than the rest.
The voice spoke accented Prexci, the words educated, and precise.
“Esteemed Bridge,” it said. The deep, male voice spoke conversationally, politely, but in a way that told me it was used to being obeyed. “Brother Sword. We would wish a word with you. Please tell your people to lower their weapons.”
I looked around, sensing a change around me, despite the blindness of my light.
Soldiers emerged from the trees and from around the parked cars, all of them carrying automatic weapons.
There were a lot of them.
Glancing at Revik, I saw the same understanding in his eyes.
“We won’t harm you,” the voice in the flyer said. “If we were only here for the bounty on your wife, Illustrious Sword, we could have killed you both already. Please lower your weapons, and allow my people to escort you.”
Once more, Revik met my gaze with those eerie, blue-green irises.
I frowned, but I could only nod grimly in return.
Really, we didn’t have any choice.
24
OLD CITY
REVIK GRIPPED MY arm tightly as we followed the soldiers, stepping off the back of the truck. Tension vibrated his light, making my adrenaline spike. I stepped closer to him, opening my light as we walked, trying to calm his.
I knew my being pregnant, the issues with our light, and my being shot a few minutes earlier weren’t helping with any of this.
My chest still hurt enough that I was taking shallower breaths. I’d managed to pluck most of the bullets out of the armor, but that only made Revik frown more when he saw me drop the mashed pieces of organic composite on the grass.
Now his gaze darted around as we walked, taking in the number of guards, the height of the medieval stone walls, the weapons held by the guards, surveillance tells, possible sniper positions, security at the various gates. I saw him scan for openings in the walls, for ways out and in. When I felt the aggression in his light ramping up even more, I reached up, touching his face and jaw briefly with my hand.
That time, I got him to look at me.
“Hey,” I said, soft, in English. “Calm down, okay? We’re alive. We’ll try the talking thing first. Like he said, they could have killed us both. They didn’t.”
“They shot you,” he said, cold.
I shrugged, keeping my light calm. “Let’s hope they could see the armor’s organics via their flyer scans. They shot me dead-center, in the strongest part of the armor. They didn’t go for a head shot. They didn’t even try to shoot me in the leg. Maybe they were just hoping to knock me on my ass. If so, mission accomplished.”
His eyes softened perceptibly as they rested on mine. He looked me over, focusing on my chest, where the shawl was ripped from the bullets.
“Are you sure you’re all right?”
“I should be asking you that,” I said, clicking at him a little. “You’re the one with a cut all along your arm and back from being stabbed.”
“I’m not pregnant,” he said. “I wasn’t shot, Alyson.”
“I’m fine.” I rubbed my chest ruefully, still looking around us, taking in the number of seers I could see holding weapons, the number of armored vehicles parked along the cobblestone streets. “…Although it’s going to hurt like a bitch tomorrow.”
I heard another whir of a flyer and looked up.
Truthfully, those bothered me the most, in terms of our chances for escape.
Even now, I counted fifteen of the damned things hovering over and around us, their red eyes all aimed at me and Revik. I suspected they weren’t all aimed at the parts of us covered in armor, but I hoped I was wrong.
I wondered how many other guns might be trained on us, as well, meaning guns we couldn’t see. I knew some flyers were equipped with longer-range weapons. From the direction of Revik’s eyes and light, he also suspected (or knew) human and/or seer snipers had scopes on us from the ramparts and watchtowers above.
On the plus side, they didn’t seem to know who Cass was, or Feigran.
We also had access to our sight, which meant we had access to the telekinesis.
Back at the truck, when they first took custody of us, Revik told the voice in the flyer we wouldn’t tolerate being collared. He told them, point blank, he would attack with the telekinesis if they tried to collar either of us.
He also informed them he could fight drugged––and that while they might be able to bring him down eventually, he’d kill a hell of a lot of them before that ever happened. He also told them, if it didn’t happen, he’d burn their whole fucking city to the ground for trying.
The voice from the flyer seemed to take us at our word.
He told his people to escort us, sans sight-restraint collars, to his house in the Old City.
I glanced at Revik again, watching him scan the environment with his eyes and light. I knew from his expression he continued to calculate odds, distances, weapons, potential distractions, numbers and escape points in his head. I knew he was probably formulating multiple plans in the higher areas of his light to get us the hell out of there––complete with contingencies, alternate scenarios, casualty estimates, and risk assessments.
I wondered if he and Balidor were talking.
“Yes,” Revik said from next to me.
When I glanced over, he gave me a swift look. Studying his face, I found myself thinking they were probably talking to Varlan, too, who was still outside these walls.
“Yes,” Revik said, softer.
The soldiers walked us down a street paved with diagonally-placed blond-colored stones. Up ahead was a tall, medieval-looking clocktower and what looked like some kind of plaza. All of it was devoid of people, apart from us.
I glanced at the stone buildings on both sides, and felt like I’d fallen through some kind of hole in the world, like we’d landed in a whole different time. It was so quiet. I didn’t see any normal humans or seers walking the street, or peopling what looked like shop fronts and homes, even if their architecture came from a few hundred years earlier.
Unlike the newer parts of Dubrovnik, the inner city appeared almost entirely untouched by the ravages of the disease––but also by the humanity we’d seen outside.
As we approached the clocktower, Revik nudged my mind, showing me an image of the Adriatic Sea just on the other side of the buildings straight in front of us. He continued to show me the location of the ocean as we made a right at the end of the street, walking past a medieval church and down another narrow stone road with stone buildings on either side.
“Garrison’s on the other side of that wall,” Revik murmured after we’d made the turn.
He put his mouth against my ear, nodding to indicate ahead and to our left.
“At the end of the street is an old fort. It sits right on the water. There’s a smaller marina just beyond it. They have at least two military boats, armed. Good engines on them. Four seer enclaves exist inside the walls that Balidor can feel. Two are in an old convent and a monastery, back where we first came in. A third is in one of the buildings we just passed by that church, some kind of small palace from a few hundred years ago. The fourth is in the fort. The monastery is the largest, but a lot of those seers seem to be deployed along the walls.”
He gave a swift look around, noting which of the seers were watching us.
They seemed mostly indifferent to our talking amongst ourselves, although I wondered how much they could overhear, given how much better seer hearing was than human.
I hadn’t heard any of them speak English, the language Revik was using, but that didn’t mean they didn’t know it.
It hit me suddenly, I could barely feel the construct in here at all. Not just with the lower parts of my lig
ht––I couldn’t feel it with the higher structures, either.
“Yes.” Leaning closer, Revik kissed the side of my face, then went back to murmuring in my ear. “It may not mean anything. Balidor says all constructs are lighter with the Dreng network down. Including ours.”
I frowned faintly, but didn’t answer.
It made sense in a way, but it was a strange realization, just how much the Dreng network had impacted all of our light, and how we used light. It even affected how we built homes within the Barrier to shield ourselves from that very same network.
I remembered Vash telling me once, that constructs used to feel very different in the Pamir. He implied it was before human civilizations really began to cover the globe, and before seers were pushed into official First Contact with their human cousins.
It never occurred to me that he meant, in part, before the Dreng came to this world.
I wondered when that was, exactly.
If their arrival was somehow tied to the advancement of human civilization, like Balidor, Revik, Kali, Uye, and the Council theorized, I wondered which of the human civilizations or regions was responsible for calling them here.
Had it been the Romans? Or the Egytians, before them?
Had it been one of the massive civilizations of the New World? One of those that more or less disappeared by the time Europeans made their way across the great oceans?
Was it something much later? After all, I didn’t remember hearing much about them until the period right before World War I. Was it something to do with industrialization? Or did the planet simply hit a certain population level that brought the Dreng here?
It was a strange thought, whatever the truth of it.
The soldiers around us were slowing.
Rearranging their formation, they turned us towards a tall, stone building on our left that took up most of a city block. The male who appeared to be the leader of the seer guard motioned us politely towards the building’s entrance, a tall, rounded double door located in the middle of a row of stone arches.
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