I decided to unleash Diocles.
“All right, Imperial Majesty, time to join the fun.”
And there he was, right beside me.
“Georgius?”
I hadn’t bothered in some time to correct him about what he called me. Generally, I made him call me “Nick” to remind him of where I’d been executed at his command, Nicomedia. Now, though, I didn’t care what he called me so long as he did what I required.
“See if you can bother one of the two goons in the back.”
He vanished again. I didn’t have the chance to see where he’d gone because a tentacle immediately came crashing down where he’d just been standing.
I thrust at it. Green ooze spilled out of the wound. The serpentine appendage rose high in the air—and abruptly flailed as if out of control.
I got a glimpse of why. Diocles was having more success than I’d hoped. He’d popped up behind the figure on the left and evidently taken a swing at the back of the head. To what looked like even the ghost’s surprise, the blow had landed. His target rolled on the pier, for the moment stunned.
And without all three, the Triple Man could no longer completely control the beast.
I had to move quickly, before they lost full control. They’d taken extra care to control the appendages holding their captives. They hadn’t done so because they cared at all about the pair. Claryce and Fetch were just pawns of value. The minute the Triple Man decided they no longer were needed, they’d get tossed into the lake . . . or worse . . .
But before I could get there, someone else beat me to it. Someone who really, really should’ve known better.
Louise Crying Wolf was dressed much as I’d seen her by the boat-house. Dressed not for dancing to Armstrong or King Oliver, but for . . . well . . . fighting monsters. She leaped up from the side of the pier and headed not for the beast but for the foremost Triple Man.
There wasn’t a bit of hesitation as she drove the obsidian blade into him. She was helped greatly by his turning at that moment to see who was behind him. That meant the blade sank into a part unprotected by his ribs.
He shuddered and pulled away. A thick, brown substance that had started out centuries ago as blood slowly dribbled from the wound.
I had no time to waste. Without control over the creature, it was just as likely to withdraw into the lake, taking Claryce and Fetch with it. I charged toward the limb securing Claryce and swung with all my might at the thick flesh.
Her Lady’s gift cut deep. The tentacle shivered and jerked. It lost its hold on Claryce.
I grabbed her arm the second it was visible and pulled. Claryce tumbled toward me.
“‘Ware, Georgius!” Diocles called.
I dodged a gunshot. The Triple Man wasn’t so ancient that at least one aspect of him didn’t favor guns. The one figure who hadn’t been directly attacked pointed a Schofield revolver with a shortened barrel at Claryce, evidently figuring out that she was a better target than me.
I spun Claryce behind me and took the .44 slug right next to the heart.
He was a damned good shot. If not for the dragon, I’d have been a corpse. The dragon snarled as he healed the wound and ejected the bullet twice as quickly as usual. Even still, it stung like hell and made me wobble.
It was during that moment that the tentacle holding Fetch began rapidly withdrawing into the water. I swore. I’d already almost let him die once already and, while he would’ve been the first to tell me to save Claryce, I still couldn’t let him be taken.
“Go after him!” Diocles shouted in my ear. I hadn’t even noticed him pop in next to me. “I will stand with her!”
I wasn’t sure how much good he could do her, most of his use coming from surprise, not his strength. He was still a ghost and could only muster enough strength for a blow with strong effort.
But I took a chance. Claryce would’ve never forgiven me.
Fetch was already halfway down the pier. Both he and Claryce seemed to be under some sort of spell. It’d obviously prevented them from drowning or in any other way being affected by the water, but I doubted things would remain that way.
A figure who wasn’t Diocles materialized in my path: the aspect wielding the Schofield. He looked a lot worse for wear, as if popping in had taken a lot out of him. The hand that held the revolver looked plenty steady, though.
For some reason, I had the suspicion that he’d reloaded the gun with something a lot more deadly than .44 bullets.
I was wrong. It wasn’t magical ammunition I had to concern myself with . . . it was the second attacker popping in right behind me. He wrapped his arms tightly around mine and squeezed with a wrestler’s strength worthy of any of the Gold Dust Trio.
His companion lowered the Schofield and lunged toward me. I didn’t have to guess that he was going to try to snatch the card from my pocket. I tried to get the sword up, but couldn’t.
All the while, I watched Fetch being dragged away. If I could’ve let the dragon take over, none of this would’ve been a problem.
“Is it there?” rasped the one holding me. “Is it there?”
“Have I looked yet?” the other replied, forced even now, it seemed, to answer in question form.
He tore open my pocket and tugged the card free. There was nothing human left in the grin he wore as he showed the card to my other captor.
We are free . . . the dragon suddenly declared in my head.
I now understood what had depressed our ability: some part of the force that was the card. So long as we’d carried the card on us, it’d affected us.
But now they’d removed that impediment.
“Thanks,” I said to the one in front of me.
I let the sword drop, aware that in this close proximity to me it would join my garments in fading away into that secret space until needed again. Our transformation after that was nearly instantaneous. In the process, we broke the grip of our one captor and with our wings sent him flying back. Seizing control of our body again, I made a grab for the one holding the card, but he popped out again.
Despite my concerns for the card, I used the dragon to chase after Fetch. He was now just over the water and descending fast.
I had to be faster.
Flame would be best. . .
I saw what he meant. Aiming, I exhaled.
The plume struck the tentacle just above the water. An ominous rumbling erupted from the water.
The tentacle flung Fetch into the air.
Pushing hard, I caught him just as he started to descend. We pushed skyward—
And came to a halt as two more tentacles seized us by a leg and the tail.
I was ready for it this time. Borrowing a maneuver from the dragon, I spun in a sharp circle. The appendages twisted together. The one holding the leg came loose, enabling me to concentrate everything on pulling the tail free.
The continued spinning finally forced the tentacle to let go. We shot up high in the air, well out of reach. The icy mist that the Triple Man had stirred up kept us from the sight of anyone still in the vicinity. Unfortunately, it also made details on the pier difficult to make out, even with the dragon’s vision.
I soared back to where I estimated Claryce to be. I should’ve gone after the card, but I had to make sure she was all right.
My—our—gut churned.
The world shifted. I had a glimpse of the lights of Chicago altering slightly, some vanishing and others appearing. I knew they hadn’t just happened to switch on and off and vice versa at that particular moment. I hoped I hadn’t just made a grave mistake.
I spotted Claryce. She sat on the pier and looked as if she’d just woken up. Diocles hovered over her like a concerned parent. Louise Crying Wolf also stood there, her focus further back the way we’d just come. She had the obsidian dagger ready.
Setting a coughing Fetch down, I became human again. Her Lady’s gift materialized in my grip.
Claryce saw me first and pushed herself to her feet. Diocles sighed in relief, forgetting, as
he often did, that he didn’t breathe.
“Where are they?” I asked. I didn’t see any sign of the Triple Man and remained well aware that I’d ended up giving them what they wanted.
“The other two came for the one I stabbed,” Louise Crying Wolf said. “Just a moment ago. They headed back toward the end of the pier.”
I should’ve figured that. “All of you stay here. Someone see to waking up Fetch. I’ll be back when I can.”
“Nick! You can’t go after them by yourself! They have the card! You know what it can do to you! We should come with—”
Ignoring Claryce’s concerned call, I turned and rushed into the mist. As the murkiness surrounded me, I summoned the dragon’s gaze again. It helped a little, at least allowing me to see some shapes and forms.
And—to my surprise—the Triple Man.
The three aspects stood entranced by the card, the one Louise Crying Wolf had injured completely ignoring his wound.
Three sets of unblinking eyes looked my way. I’d paused the moment I’d seen them, and although I’d moved silently they’d somehow still noticed me.
They looked unperturbed by my presence, not at all a good sign. I couldn’t sense anything from the card, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t affecting things.
“Should we do it?” asked one.
“What other choice is there?” questioned another.
The third gingerly touched the cup symbols on the card. “This is the choice.”
I didn’t feel any different. The dragon kept urging me to attack, but something told me to hold back.
“Has it decided?”
“Must we do it?”
The third nodded. “We must.”
As one, they extended the card to me.
And as they did, the card glowed. The Triple Man—all of him— moaned as if in pain.
The trio melted into the card. The card itself continued to hover where it’d been even as the three figures lost all definition. They became a fading mass that the card fed upon. Yes, fed on.
And then the card stopped glowing. Of the Triple Man, there remained nothing.
The card dropped onto the pier.
I only hesitated for a moment. Then, afraid something else would happen, I ran to the card. It did nothing as I picked it up. Despite how it’d prevented us from transforming, I stuck it in another pocket.
From behind me came the sound of running footsteps. I looked over my shoulder to see Claryce leading Fetch and Louise Crying Wolf toward me.
“I told her not to follow, but you know her, Georgius.”
I wasn’t even surprised by his appearance next to me. “It’s fine. It’s over . . . for now.”
“You have the card. I can tell. When they had it, I felt myself slowly growing fainter.”
I hadn’t realized that. “Thanks for helping.”
He beamed like a child, which only served to make me feel guilty.
I eyed Louise Crying Wolf as she neared. “You were to stay out of this. I thought I told Laertes to make that point to you as well.”
“He did, but then I saw that strange paper.”
“By that, you mean you read it when you weren’t supposed to.”
“I have done a lot of things I was not supposed to do,” she said with undisguised pride. Then, more seriously, she added, “I couldn’t just ignore what it said.”
“She did help, Nick.”
“Don’t encourage her.” I thought for a moment. “I need you to return to Laertes and help him check something for me. I need you two to see if there’s any report of people having confusion over things they seem to be remembering wrong. Example: Say the Tribune Tower used to be an entirely different design. That sort of thing.”
Louise Crying Wolf looked startled. “My dreams . . .”
“What about your dreams?” I had a nasty suspicion I knew the answer.
“It used to happen on a rare occasion . . . even as a child. I would be certain something had changed and insist on it. The teachers and the nuns thought there was something wrong with my head, but a few of the older girls believed I’d inherited a gift.”
I wasn’t so sure being sensitive to the alterations the cards did to reality could be considered a gift. “Has it gotten worse?”
“Yes. The past couple of months.”
That made perfect sense. “Will you do what I said?”
“Yes, Saint George.”
I didn’t bother to correct her. In fact, she’d reminded me of something I needed to do. I dug into another pocket. “Wait. Before you go. I have something of yours.”
I handed her the medallion. She smiled. “It’s brought me luck. I’d hoped that for you it would do the same. I thought you might need it.”
“As opposed to you, who was throwing yourself into danger.”
She shrugged. “I wasn’t concerned about myself. You and she have been kind to me.”
“Well, it’s yours again.”
“And now it is truly blessed,” Louise Crying Wolf remarked with another smile.
I refrained from answering. She hugged me, then Claryce. Fetch earned a scratch on the head, which he certainly enjoyed.
She even bowed to Diocles.
“Wait. You can see him, too?”
“He is not the first. I will tell Laertes what you want. Farewell.”
We watched her move off. Without the Triple Man to control it, the weather had started to return to normal.
“What now?” Claryce asked. “We return the card to Holy Name Cathedral, I suppose.”
“Maybe, maybe not. I need to find a telephone. Diocles, go back to St. Michael’s. Keep an eye out for any less than savory pilgrims.”
“Ah! I understand.” And just like that, he vanished.
Claryce stared at the spot where he’d stood. “How can he do that? I thought he could only materialize on hallowed ground, especially churches.”
I explained about the card, finishing, “So long as I carry it, my tie to him allows it to affect him beyond those places.”
“And if you return it to its hiding place? Will he become as before?”
“Very likely.”
“Does he know that?”
I hesitated. “Maybe. I doubt it.”
She gave me a reproving look.
Moving on, we located a telephone. I gave the operator the number and waited. And waited.
Finally, “This is Kravayik. Is all well with Mistress Claryce and Fetch?”
“All’s well. They’re safe with me. Did something happen? Why so long to answer?”
“Forgive me. I was deep in prayer and did not hear the telephone.”
I decided not to touch that. If it helped after what he’d done for Fetch, so much the better. “Do me a favor and carefully check outside the cathedral. Maybe watch out in the nave as well.”
“One moment.” I heard him set the receiver down. I patiently waited, my thoughts on what I’d probably have to do next.
At last, I heard the receiver being moved.
“The cathedral is being observed. Two automobiles. What I can see of the occupants would make me believe they are associated with one of the gangs.”
“More than likely stooges serving Galerius. That means they probably have more than just guns. This was part of Galerius’s own game. He knew I’d make certain the card would be inaccessible, so he let others force me to bring it out in the open.” Galerius had played not only me but the Triple Man, too. “I won’t risk bringing it back yet. Besides, I think I might need it.”
For the first time in the call, his voice took on an edge. “Consider carefully, Master Nicholas. The cards have a strong, seductive power to them. They often end up the masters.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve seen the results of that. Not something I want to repeat.”
“Just . . . be cautious.”
“I will. Keep an eye out. There’s always the chance they might think I snuck in. You could have visitors.”
“Then I shall expe
l them.”
I hung up. “It’s just like I thought,” I told Claryce and Fetch. “Gale-rius has men watching Holy Name. I’ll wager he has someone doing the same at St. Michael’s.” I looked at the empty air next to me. “Diocles!”
He immediately materialized. His eyes were wide with wonder. “I am not used to this yet!”
I should’ve told him then what would happen once the card was hidden away again, but didn’t. “Holy Name is being watched by Galerius’s men. What about St. Michael’s?”
“There was a disreputable looking Celt who was sitting in the pews when I arrived. He left almost immediately after, but I’ll wager he was one of Galerius’s curs.”
“Nick, Father Jonathan’s an innocent in all of this! We have to do something for him.”
We couldn’t very well go there ourselves. “I could call him and warn him about gangsters, but he’s more likely to try to save their souls than quietly leave. Diocles . . . did you feel at all like you had any substance when you returned to St. Michael’s?”
His brow wrinkled. “I felt something. . . and I do not generally feel anything, as you know.”
“We’ll have to hope for the best. Watch over him as much as you can.”
“I am very fond of the young priest. A good man. Would that I would’ve made a choice more like him for my daughter than a choice like Galerius.”
“Welcome to the empire,” I muttered. “Go, Diocles.”
He disappeared.
Claryce looked perturbed. “If we can’t go to Holy Name, what do we do, Nick? I—”
She suddenly swayed. I caught her just before she would’ve fallen.
“Are you all right?” I held her tight. “Is it from what the Triple Man did to you?”
“No . . . no . . . I just . . . I had another flash of memory. I thought they’d settled down . . . but this one was strong.” She looked up at me. “I remember . . . it was at the end of the struggle between you and the dragon. It was while I . . . she . . . we. . . held you. He cast a shadow over me. I was scared. I thought the dragon had survived.”
I held her tighter. “No. I remember that. He was dead. Very dead.”
Not so dead. . . the dragon argued.
I paid him no mind. “Go on.”
Thankfully, her voice calmed. “He smiled at me and offered a hand. He said he’d been nearby when he saw the struggle. When it quieted, he dared see if anyone needed help. I was so grateful. No one else dared approach for more than an hour.”
Black City Dragon Page 27
