Prophet: Bridge & Sword

by JC Andrijeski

  When my vision cleared, Revik smiled at me, quirking an eyebrow.

  Seeing the taut look in his eyes, I grimaced. We’d expected this, though. Not many people were comfortable having two telekinetic seers wander around, leash-less.

  Reaching for him, I leaned my body into his, melting into his side. I felt him try to relax and mostly fail. I felt him react to me in the dress again, too.

  When the doors finally pinged, I watched them open, and found myself looking at a star-filled sky hanging like a dusty bowl over the South China Sea.

  We were on the same terrace I’d been looking at from the dock.

  I’d been looking at stars for weeks from the deck of the ship, so I couldn’t help noticing how muted they looked here, washed out by the lights of Macau.

  On the ship, Revik and I would sit on the deck for hours some nights and talk, dangling our feet over the sides as we watched the wake churn below. Revik had taken up smoking again, while I’d been gone that half-year. Our compromise was to go out there, and talk in the air where the hiri smell didn’t get in all our clothes and bedsheets.

  Clicking my mind back to the present, I followed Revik into a carpeted foyer.

  A freestanding stone wall stood directly in front of us, to the right of steaming hot tubs and another lit swimming pool, this one running the length of the terrace. A trickling sheen of water ran down the wall sculpture, wetting the carving of a lion etched in marbled, blood-red stone. Gold eyes and white teeth stood out sharply from the dark rock.

  The teeth looked like real teeth––like they came from a real lion.

  Staring at that image, I couldn’t help but feel the warning in it.

  “Come on, wife,” Revik murmured, tugging on my fingers. “Tick-tock.”

  I nodded, still staring at that lion’s head as we passed.

  Behind us, the elevator doors silently closed.

  3

  DULGAR

  THE TERRACE OPENED up as soon as we passed the lion’s head wall.

  The whole area was dark, probably intentionally so, since it made it difficult to discern faces. Colored lights hid discretely among leaves and artistically-placed stones. The pool deck stretched across the front of what looked like several different lounges and bars, covering a distance I estimated at close to fifty yards.

  The main pool had a glass wall on one side, flush with the edge of the terrace and the building. I saw an all-glass segment that extended out past the edge of the building, as well, giving a dizzying view straight down, to the gardens and pools below. A group of people hung on those glass edges, cocktails clutched in their hands as steam rose off the water.

  On either end of the pool, waterfalls splashed down from elevated terraces, surrounded by palms and glowing glass boulders. I saw beautiful women kicking their legs lazily from the rock sides, clearly naked in lit water, their make-up untouched and martini glasses in their hands as they smiled and talked to much older men.

  More trinkets of the Legion of Fire, I guessed.

  To my right, a dark wood bar lived under a low roof, surrounded by an even darker seating area filled with couches and leather booths. Most of the illumination came from muted fireplaces with blue flames, and a small stream in a white, stone basin that served as a kind of miniature reflecting pool around the edges of the room.

  Revik bounced lightly on his feet, and I glanced over at him.

  I could tell from his face, he was scoping the layout even more closely than I was.

  As I thought it, he touched my light, nudging my eyes and aleimi towards the cameras tucked away in corners of the room. I sent a faint pulse that I understood. When I glanced at him next, he was looking at me again, and I realized I’d been trying not to obsess on the fact there were a bunch of naked women in a pool about ten feet from where we stood.

  He must have felt some part of that, because when I glanced at him next, he gave me the first real smile I’d gotten since we got off that boat.

  Don’t be ridiculous, wife, he sent, squeezing my fingers.

  What if they were men? I sent back.

  He sent me a thread of pain intense enough that I jumped.

  When I looked over, that taut look was back in his eyes, firming his mouth.

  He’s going to try and separate us, he murmured in my mind. I can feel it already.

  I gave him a bare nod.

  He might succeed, Revik added. If we do this for real, we won’t have a good argument not to let him.

  Not for long, I reminded him. It’ll be okay.

  If we knew that, we wouldn’t need to do it this way at all, he sent, sharper. Allie. If they do, I’m not going to wait long. I mean it.

  I squeezed his fingers, letting him know I understood.

  Shifting my eyes and light from his, I continued to check out the room, noting the security grid I could feel just behind the white plaster walls.

  Back when he was a Rook, Revik worked with outfits like this occasionally, he told me. It was pretty common for the Rooks to use organized crime syndicates as suppliers back in the day––of weapons, but also of people, especially when they were going for bulk orders. He also said this kind of exchange, meaning the one they’d proposed to us, wasn’t all that uncommon.

  Reaching over, Revik fingered my necklace again.

  Do we get a drink? I asked him softly.

  No. Don’t accept anything they offer you here, Allie. Food or drink.

  I quirked an eyebrow. That may not be easy.

  It’s non-negotiable. Tell them you’re on a special diet. Or order it and don’t drink it.

  What about you? I sent. I thought you said you might have to get drunk with them?

  That’s different. When I frowned, he hit me with a harder pulse of his light. I mean it, Allie. Be careful. He was too interested when the subject of you came up. I don’t trust them to hold to their end of the deal, not when it comes to…

  His thoughts trailed when three men approached.

  Like downstairs, they wore dark, expensive-looking suits, only these contained an embroidered image of the red-gold sun and roaring lion across the front. The image was subtle, situated in the center of their chests where their mandarin-style jackets buttoned in front. Even so, I stared at the outline of the lion, focusing on its dark gold eye.

  I guessed I was looking at real gold thread.

  The smallest of the three males stepped ahead of the other two, positioning himself as the apex of the triangle they formed. The same male seer wore a version of the embroidered lion and sun with additional gold thread around the sleeves of his jacket.

  His light sparked with unusual waves, but something about it felt almost familiar. It took me a few seconds more to realize I’d tasted flavors of his aleimi in the Legion of Fire construct. The structures there fascinated me, but I didn’t get too close, only letting myself feel the bare edges before Revik tugged me away, wrapping me more carefully in his light.

  That’s when I noticed the male seer’s eyes.

  His irises glowed a sharp gold, so deep in color they appeared opaque, like liquid metal. I got lost there briefly, seeing the ribbons of black that emphasized and darkened the gold, making them appear even more metallic, even more cat-like, even less human.

  They were the same eyes as those of the stone lion on the wall.

  I was still staring when the shorter seer spoke.

  It had been so quiet up until then, borderline silent even with the casino and all the ambient noises––it felt like Revik and I operated from within our own private bubble.

  When someone finally spoke to us directly, in a normal tone of voice, I jumped.

  “Esteemed friends,” the small seer said, smiling at us in a friendly way. “I am Dulgar, oldest son of the Legion of Fire. We are so very honored to have you here with us.”

  Those gold eyes settled on me.

  I stood there, unflinching, as his gaze flickered over my dress, pausing on my legs on the way back up, then resting a longer beat
on my chest. He was still staring at roughly the area of my neckline when he smiled again.

  “…Very honored,” he murmured.

  I heard the undercurrent even more clearly that time.

  Next to me, Revik didn’t move.

  Truthfully, I wasn’t worried about Revik the fighter, or Revik the soldier. I never worried about them. It was Revik my husband I worried about, as in, Revik-Revik, the man. I wondered how he would handle this, given that I was the bait.

  I needn’t have worried, though.

  When I glanced at him, his face had smoothed to glass. Even his normally-expressive eyes wore an armor I didn’t see on him often, even back when I first met him and couldn’t read him at all. It wasn’t just his infiltrator mask, it was… something else.

  Seeing the faint glow whispering around his irises, likely visible only to me, both relaxed me and charged up my own light.

  Turning back towards Dulgar, oldest son of the Legion of Fire, I smiled.

  Using the formal manners I’d learned from the Lao Hu, I gave a traditional bow, switching to formal Prexci.

  “We are so honored to be here,” I said, holding out a hand, palm down.

  The man’s face broke into a genuine smile. He clasped my outstretched hand with both of his. His skin was dry but strangely cold despite the warm air.

  “Welcome!” he said, beaming, squeezing my fingers. “Welcome!”

  I gave Revik a bare glance and saw his eyebrow quirk at me.

  A flicker of his light reached me, part pain, part humor. Something about seeing me execute the formal seer forms often had both effects on him, I’d noticed.

  Still, I felt the tension there, along with that harder wall in his light.

  For good or for bad, this thing had begun.

  4

  LEGION OF FIRE

  I SAT CAREFULLY, conscious of the shortness of my dress as I lowered my weight to the expensive white leather. Once there, I didn’t cower, however.

  I had my role to play, too.

  I crossed my legs, wrapping my light in the consort cloak I’d used in Beijing. Subtly highlighting specific structures in my light, as well as the more vulnerable and open areas of my aleimi, I settled deeper into the white leather and stretched out my legs. I didn’t open my light so much as tantalize with it, inviting speculation around what it might feel like if I did open it.

  Next to me, Revik shifted his weight on the leather couch.

  I wasn’t sure if that was pretense until I glanced down, and saw he was having a physical reaction, too. He didn’t look over, but I felt him fight briefly to control his light, even as he kept his eyes firmly on our host.

  Turning to smile at our host, I opened my light slightly more, particularly around the area of my heart and chest. I gave a light toss of my head when Dulgar returned my smile. Then I leaned back, arranging my hair so it fell over my shoulder and slightly down my front on one side. Re-crossing my legs, I placed my hands deliberately on the white leather, stroking it softly with my fingers as I resettled in my seat.

  From my light, I projected indifference, like I was bored, or at the very least, utterly at ease in my clothes and location.

  The Lao Hu training in such things, what they called “The Courtship,” was thorough.

  By then, I had pretty much every male seer in the vicinity staring at me.

  It didn’t hurt that I’d gotten really good at switching off my emotions when it came to playing this particular part. Thanks to Ditrini and others, I’d also gotten really good at splitting my consciousness, especially during the act itself.

  My mind clicked over the logistics of the room as I smiled and murmured a thanks when one of the bulky guys in a dark suit made a respectful, half-nervous gesture in my direction, letting me know with a more subtle set of hand-gestures to ask him for anything I wanted. I felt female seers staring at me by then, too, despite their relative distance from our sequestered booth.

  Of course, I saw seers staring at Revik, as well.

  I’d been warned this particular “family” was extremely male-centric, and not only in numbers. Likely due to the nature of their businesses, particularly their longtime involvement in seer and human trafficking, they adopted a very female-as-subordinate view of the world.

  From what Revik muttered, female-as-property was more accurate.

  That kind of thing wasn’t normal for seers.

  I felt even more eyes on me in the Barrier than I did in the physical, looking at those structures in my light, as well as the hints and touches I gave them of my aleimi.

  Rather than dial things down, I relaxed deeper into the leather booth, shimmering slight sparks of those pieces of my aleimi into the wider construct, once I knew I had their attention. I didn’t give them more than a taste, but used that whisper to pull them closer to my light. When they followed my sensual pull, I gently shut them out, right before they would have gotten a real look at what I felt like under those shields.

  It was a maneuver meant to tantalize––and yeah, to frustrate.

  Next to me, Revik’s breath stopped.

  He exhaled more or less normally, seconds later, but he still wouldn’t look at me.

  It struck me that he’d never seen me pull out this particular bag of tricks. We’d talked about it in the planning sessions of course, but I’d kept the specifics vague. I couldn’t help wondering how he might be reacting to it now––partly because I couldn’t help putting myself in his shoes.

  He’d also done time “selling it,” as the seers phrased it.

  I was pretty sure I knew how I’d react to seeing him pull out the stops to try and pull in a client. Even the thought of it brought a coil of angry jealousy to my belly.

  I felt him react to that, too, albeit from more of a distance.

  And again, I really couldn’t think about him right now, not like that.

  I focused back on the men around the low table.

  Our booth was situated furthest from the bar, tucked discreetly against the wall of the lounge. To my left and behind our seer host, a fire flickered over white stones inside an open grate, its light reflecting against the mirror-like surface of water in the white, stone basin.

  With the fire directly behind him, I could barely make out Dulgar’s face.

  Sparks of reflection touched those metallic gold eyes, but that was all.

  I tracked the course of the basin around nearby booths and tables, my consort cloak still firmly in place, my consciousness split, as two more big guys in suits shepherded everyone else out of our part of the room with subtle but authoritative gestures. They emptied the surrounding booths and tables, then all five of the guards stood there, in an immovable-looking line.

  I was still staring at them when our host spoke.

  “Illustrious brother. Esteemed and most beautiful sister.” He smiled, staring at me for a beat too long. “I hope you know, you are both not required to sit here through the entirety of this discussion.” Those gold eyes flickered to Revik, then back to me. “…As much as it pains me to say it, we can provide much better amenities for our beloved sister in other areas of the hotel.”

  I pretended not to understand him, but continued to look around the dimly lit room, a slightly interested and slightly bored expression on my face. When I finally turned back to face our host, I saw those gold eyes watching me.

  An openly predatory stare rose behind his opaque irises.

  This dick was starting to remind me of Ditrini.

  I felt a reaction off Revik at my thought, and promptly dimmed it.

  If Dulgar heard, he didn’t appear to mind.

  His eyes drifted below my face, lingering on my cleavage displayed by the low-cut dress. He took his time on the rest of me, focusing on where my fingers drummed lightly on my thigh, just at the top of my leather boot. I didn’t watch the entire course of his stare, but felt his light probe mine as well, lingering hungrily around the structures of the Lao Hu.

  He seemed particularl
y fascinated by those Ditrini spent the most time honing in me.

  Feeling another flicker of pain off him, a stronger one that time, I had to fight not to flinch, the courtesan smile hovering at my red-lipsticked mouth.

  I didn’t look over, but I felt another flicker of something dart off Revik’s light.

  Then someone leaned down in front of me, placing drinks on the table, in front of each of us. The drinks nearly glowed in the firelight, light blue and frothy, with glass swizzle sticks that had gold eyes painted at their ends.

  It reminded me of going to Mexico with Cass, what felt like a few hundred years ago now. Even just the bare edges of that memory brought a different kind of pain to my chest. Remembering my last conversation with Cass, in that Barrier-sealed tank on the aircraft carrier, I bit my lip, covering it by taking a sip of the frothy drink.

  Revik’s eyes darted to mine, even as he sent me a hard, warning pulse.

  Finishing my sip smoothly, I didn’t change expression as I lowered the glass, setting it back on the polished black table.

  “Is the drink not to your liking, sister?” Dulgar said.

  I turned, and the gold-eyed seer smiled, licking his lips.

  “We can certainly make you something more to your… tastes,” he added, lingering on the last word. “You need only ask, my most venerated of friends.”

  Letting that smile tease higher on my lips, I tossed my hair back languorously. “Your hospitality is very much appreciated, my brother. I’m afraid I’m simply not thirsty.” I lifted an eyebrow. “Perhaps it’s all the water it took to get here?”

  Dulgar’s eyes slid down me a third time.

  “She is exquisite, brother,” the seer murmured, directing his words to Revik that time. He never took his eyes off me. “You must grow tired of being such an envied man… but brother, she is unique. Her light alone would attract moths from the furthest reaches of our kingdom, I believe. To have such beauty wrapped around that body and face strikes me as a unique kind of torture. That does not even address the perfection of her eyes… or that mouth.”