Prophet: Bridge & Sword

by JC Andrijeski

  He nodded, eyes solemn.

  Elephant was one of two intermediaries named on the Displacement List we still hadn’t been able to identify. We didn’t know anything about her, really––only her name and title, sex, birthdate and birth place, like everyone on the Lists. No one even knew what Elephant meant, apart from some vague references in scripture.

  “The first one,” Terian said. “She was the first. The first prophet…” He hesitated, then gave me what might have been a nervous look. “How is Jon, Alyson? Is he well?”

  My interest in Elephant faded.

  I gave Terian a hard look.

  “Stay away from Jon, Terry,” I warned. “Jon’s married now. You leave him alone… or bad things will happen to you. Understand?”

  Terian nodded, but I saw his throat move in a swallow.

  Sadness touched his eyes, even as he nodded again.

  “What do you want, Terry?” I said, my voice hard still. “Really? Why are you here?”

  He met my gaze. That time, fear touched his eyes.

  “You must find me, Allie,” he said.

  I stared at him, bewildered. “Find you? Don’t you know where you are, Terry?”

  He went on as if I hadn’t spoken.

  “…I need you to find me. You and Revi’. You, Revi’, Cassandra. The Four. We need the Four. All together. You need me. Or everything is bad. I die. You die. Revi’ dies. Everything ends. Dark takes it all. The girl dies…”

  I flinched, frowning, my heart beating harder, but he didn’t seem to notice.

  He clutched his hair, fear making his eyes wide as he seemed to be staring at something very far away. After a pause, he shook his head.

  “Something bad, sister. Something very, very bad. The door stays closed. All the worlds will scream. Not just ours. Not just his. All worlds. All of them.”

  “Terry,” I said, clicking. “You’re not making sense. What are you talking about?”

  Those cat-like eyes shimmered in the dim light of the room. He raised a hand to his face, pressing his index finger against his lips in a shushing gesture.

  “Quiet,” he said softly. “Daddy can’t know.”

  “Daddy?” My frown deepened. “Menlim, you mean?”

  He nodded somberly, amber eyes still as glass.

  “He wants Revi’,” Terian whispered. “He wants him so much… so much it grinds in him, like stones. He wants the child, too.” He shook his head, making negative gestures with both hands. “You must not let him, Alyson. He’ll be so angry. So so angry at what you do. He can’t know about the door. He can’t know about that. He’ll do everything he can to close it, to lock it shut. He’ll kill Dragon…”

  I frowned, trying to make sense of any of this, failing.

  “What door, Terian?” I said.

  But that only seemed to set him off again. He started muttering, but most of what he said was unintelligible, or maybe in a language I didn’t know.

  “Terry!” I snapped.

  He stopped, looking at me as if he’d forgotten I was there.

  “He can still change, you know,” he told me seriously. “Revi’. He can change. Turn, break, fall.” Terian, Feigran, or whoever he was, made a clicking motion with his fingers by his own ear. “Flick the switch,” he whispered. “Make him bad again.”

  I shook my head. “No, Terry. That’s impossible.”

  “If you take him away, if you steal him for good, the stars are aligned––”

  “What stars? What does any of that mean?”

  “The stars! When they fall in the sky…”

  His voice faltered as another, even more distant expression crossed his face. His jaw grew slack as he gazed upwards at nothing.

  I could only stare at him in bewilderment.

  “Feigran.” I softened my voice. “Are you trying to warn me about something?”

  His eyes clicked back into focus.

  Looking down at me, he nodded, his expression solemn. He had converted back to the hyper-serious schoolboy I remembered from when we first found him in Seertown.

  “Find me, Allie,” he whispered. “Even beyond the stars, it’s not safe.” He shook his head. “Not safe for you… not safe for the girl. Careful about Daddy. Careful. Careful, careful. Need to break the link. Need the Four for that. You can fix, but can’t really fix. Need me for that. Need the Four. Then we can open the door. The big door. The real door. Understand?”

  “No.” I frowned, incredulous. “Not in the slightest.”

  Even so, I fought to think as I stared at him.

  That time, I couldn’t be sure if he’d meant Menlim when he said “Daddy,” or if he’d been talking about Revik. Feigran did that a lot. He used the same pronouns, the same words, to stand for different people. He did it in the same sentence, sometimes even in the same phrase. He used nicknames, made oblique references, talked in abstractions.

  It was maddening.

  It also made a good chunk of his seer interrogators want to strangle him.

  “He warned you,” Feigran whispered darkly. “A broken piece. Still broken.” He touched his temple, twisting his finger. “He doesn’t remember how they died. Ask him. Ask him about the girls––the women. Ask him about the teacher. The one who deflowered him.”

  I bit my lip, frowning.

  “He won’t remember,” Feigran said, shaking his head. “Says he does. But he doesn’t.”

  The teacher. The one who deflowered him. He was talking about women in Revik’s past.

  Women Revik’s uncle ordered him to kill.

  I forced myself to speak. “You mean Revik. You’re talking about Revik now, Feigran?”

  He nodded solemnly. “In through the out door. Further down. Below.”

  “What door, Feigran? You need to be clearer. You’re not making sense. Is this the same door you said you’d help me with? The one we need The Four to open?”

  “No.” His eyes grew distant. “So many doors. So many. In through the out door.” He met my gaze, eyes clicking into focus. “Stars will fall. He’ll kill you, too.”

  I scowled, shaking my head. “Revik would never hurt me, Terry. Do you mean Menlim? Are you back to talking about Menlim again?”

  Watching me solemnly, Terian clicked his fingers.

  “The out door,” he repeated. “The out door––”

  “Feigran, for crying out loud––”

  “No. No more words!” Fear filled his eyes. He shook his head. “Ask him! Ask him if he remembers. He won’t. He won’t remember that part. The last bit, when the light leaves. He’ll say he does––but he doesn’t!”

  There was a silence.

  Then Feigran’s whole expression altered, growing stern, commanding. His features hardened, making him look older, somehow more present, more himself. His eyes glowed with a warm, pale light, still as glass.

  He barked the next words at me, in a voice I’d never heard.

  “Find me, Allie! Find me! You must go to Dubai! It is imperative that you get there first! Before the stars fall…” His mouth hardened, right before he shook his head. “For fall they will. You cannot stop that now, not without sacrificing the girl, and you won’t do that. Neither will Revi’. You’ll sacrifice yourselves, sacrifice each other, sacrifice everything for the girl––and the door must still be opened. It must be opened at the end, or all is lost.”

  I could only stare, stunned at the clarity I saw in those amber eyes.

  The man there was a complete stranger to me.

  And yet––he wasn’t.

  “Feigran?” I said.

  He blinked, as if coming out of a trance.

  The fogged look returned to his irises.

  I watched in bewilderment as Feigran motioned upwards in soft flicks and waves of his fingers, as if imitating invisible smoke drifting up to the ceiling of the tank. I was still staring, biting my lip as I tried to decide what to ask him next, when he turned his head sharply, looking backwards over his own shoulder.

  He
froze, staring without moving at something on his side.

  Something I couldn’t see.

  “Gods,” he whispered. “Daddy.”

  “Feigran––”

  “Meeting over.” He motioned sharply at my body under the sheet, mouth firm. “We’ll do lunch. Exchange pleasantries. Next time, have him tie your legs apart, dearest. It’s much more aesthetically pleasing.”

  Feeling my face flush in anger, I opened my mouth.

  Before I could make a sound, there was an odd pop.

  …and Feigran vanished.

  21

  COMPROMISING POSITION

  THE POWER CAME came back up around me.

  The floor lights rose. The monitor switched on. I flinched at the volume, then spoke out a command to put the speakers back on the silent setting.

  I’d barely turned towards the door of the tank compartment when the light over the opening switched from blue to red. There wasn’t a lot I could do, given my current position, but I tugged my feet further under the sheet, my un-cuffed arm wrapped around the sheet over my chest. Otherwise I just sat there, half-leaning against the wall.

  Truthfully, by then I figured it was Revik.

  The two hours had to be almost up. Anyway, someone must have told him by now.

  When I saw Balidor enter through the open hatch, followed by Chandre, Pagoj, Chinja and Jorag, I must have given them a pretty blank look.

  “My gods, Alyson!” Balidor walked swiftly towards me, holstering his gun. He gave Chinja a bare glance, motioning for the others to check the room, then turned back to me, frowning. “What did he do to you? Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine.” When he didn’t slow his steps, I raised my voice, and my hand, indicating for him to stop. “‘Dori, I’m fine. It’s okay.”

  “You said it was virtual,” Balidor said. “How did he lock you to the wall? Did he take control of the organics in the room?”

  “He didn’t do this,” I blurted.

  Balidor froze, stopping in mid-motion as he’d been about to reach for my cuffed wrist.

  I just sat there, at a loss as I realized what he’d assumed––what they’d all assumed, seeing me locked to the wall after a security breach event. As my disjointed thoughts caught up with theirs, something else occurred to me.

  I couldn’t get out of this one.

  I couldn’t get out of explaining this part of what happened.

  Looking up at Balidor, I shrugged with my free hand, then went back to gripping the sheet around me.

  “It’s all right. Really, ‘Dor… I’m okay.” Hesitating, I stripped my voice of emotion when I added, “Like I said, I’m still not sure he actually breached the construct, or if he was just able to mimic an aleimic breach via the electronic one. He must have piggybacked the signal. That’s how he got to the alarms and the electricity, too, I’m guessing.”

  I pursed my lips, fighting to keep my voice businesslike.

  “Either way, we’ll have to tackle the construct side of things after we know more about what he did. You should probably go talk to the hacks.”

  When the silence deepened, I glanced up.

  Balidor remained half-bent over the headboard by my cuffed arm. When I caught his gaze, he straightened, moving as if I’d just told him I might explode.

  When he still didn’t speak, I sharpened my voice.

  “You don’t need to be in here,” I repeated. “This was a network hit. That’s tech. Right? He used the monitor, but other than the ID, there’s nothing in here that can help you. Your team can assess the construct just as easily from outside. Easier, probably.”

  I bit my lip, once more out of words.

  The room remained silent.

  Even Chinja, who’d been speaking quietly into her headset when they first walked in, had stopped answering whoever she had on the other end of the line. She stood by the organics panel near the door, her face turned towards me with wide, orange-tinted eyes. I saw those eyes click back into focus right before she murmured some excuse into the headset and clicked off.

  Averting her gaze from mine, she flushed, rearranging her hands on the rifle she held.

  Somewhere in that, I looked down at myself.

  As soon as I did it, I knew it was a mistake.

  I felt their eyes follow mine to the thin sheet and the fact I was obviously naked under it, then back up to my arm cuffed to the wall. I felt it all fall into place, for every seer in the room, what it was they were actually seeing.

  Somewhere in that pause, Balidor’s face changed.

  The Adhipan leader turned a few different shades of red and pink.

  “I’m okay,” I repeated, increasingly irritated when it became clear none of them were going to speak. “Really. You can go. The breach happened through the network, not in here. Go take care of it. Let me know what you figure out about the construct.”

  When none of them moved, I felt my face flush hotter.

  Glancing around at faces, I felt my jaw harden, too.

  Jorag was openly gaping at me.

  He’d also flushed, but I didn’t get an embarrassment vibe on him, like I did with Balidor. Rather, Jorag looked like he’d walked onto a sound stage in the middle of a porn shoot and was hoping he might be called in as an extra. I saw his eyes focus on my bare feet, poking out from under the off-white sheet. I pulled them closer to my body reflexively, along with my legs and my free arm.

  Chandre averted her gaze a lot faster than Chinja or any of the three men. Even so, I saw her cheeks flush dark red, which may have been a first, at least from my perspective.

  When none of them spoke, I cleared my throat.

  “Revik’s not here,” I said, unnecessarily.

  Balidor wasn’t looking at me now. If anything, his skin darkened more. He glanced at Chandre, then Jorag and Pagoj, backing away from the bed.

  “Apologies, Alyson.” He cleared his throat. “…Esteemed Bridge. We were concerned for you. We thought you were under attack.”

  “Aren’t there, like, sensors…?” I said, my voice openly testy that time.

  “He shut them off.” Balidor made a vague gesture with one hand in my direction, still not looking at me. “…Before. I imagine.”

  “Before what? Who shut them off? Terian?”

  “The Sword,” Jorag blurted.

  When I looked over, he was still staring at me. His blue eyes looked distant now, and it struck me that I was in pain, which probably wasn’t helping––nor was Revik’s absence, considering it was definitely making the pain worse. I felt pain on Jorag, too, inside our tiny construct, enough that I grimaced, averting my eyes when he didn’t avert his.

  Looking back at Balidor, incredulously that time, I tugged the sheet higher up my body, gripping it with my free arm.

  “Um… get the fuck out?” I said. “Now?”

  For a second, all six of them just stared at me.

  Then they all seemed to move at once, shuffling backwards and sideways and essentially walking into one another and banging their rifles together to get back through the hatch. It might have been funny if I hadn’t been handcuffed to a wall. As it was, I could only sit there, jaw clenched, waiting for them to leave.

  I don’t think I let out my held breath until the door shut.

  I watched the light over the door turn from red back to blue, indicating the seal on the small Barrier construct was back in place. I was still lying there, staring at the ceiling in a kind of angry disbelief, when the earpiece I’d tossed on the table let off a low tone.

  Rolling my eyes, I let go of the sheet, half crawling to that side of the bed so I could scoop the danged thing up in my hand.

  “Hello?” I said, my voice deliberately annoyed now.

  “Alyson, I sincerely apologize––”

  “I know, ‘Dori. Forget it.”

  “No, I am very, very sorry. I should have contacted you via the transmitter before we broke in. You’d already told me it was a virtual invasion. We have the tech team
working on it, of course, but I thought you might still be in danger, especially if––”

  “‘Dori, I said forget it.” Sighing, I combed my fingers through my tangled hair. “Does Revik know yet?”

  “I do not know. I saw him upstairs earlier, but not since the breach. He said he had some errands to run before he went downstairs––”

  “Yeah,” I grunted, exhaling. “I bet.”

  The line went silent. I could practically hear Balidor hesitating on the other end.

  “What else, ‘Dori?” I said. “What is it?”

  He let out a sigh.

  “We could use your help for the construct side of this, Alyson. The infiltration team wishes to pull imprints off you related to the specific conversation you had with Terian. Would you be willing to let us debrief you? As soon as you are available, of course.”

  Clicking under my breath, I exhaled. “Of course. Fine. When?”

  “Are you available later today?”

  Looking up at my cuffed wrist, I felt my jaw harden. “I can only hope.”

  That time, I heard him let out an involuntary snort of laughter.

  “Oh, go on…” I grumbled. “Laugh it up. I’m sure you’ve been dying to do that for the last ten minutes.”

  His voice turned into a grin. “You know you’ll never hear the end of this, right?”

  Rolling my eyes, I sighed. “The thought crossed my mind.” Sharpening my voice at his chuckle, I added, “Just remember, Revik has a tendency to be a bit traditional when it comes to his subordinates seeing me in compromising positions. Maybe you and your pals should just restrain yourselves. For a change.”

  “Are you threatening me with your husband, Esteemed Bridge?” Balidor asked innocently.

  “Just stating the facts, ‘Dor. So you might want to think about that, before you and your pals start talking smack about the head honcho around here.”

  Another surprised laugh burst out of the Adhipan leader.

  I fought back my own smile. “Jerks. You’re all a bunch of jerks.”

  “Undoubtedly, that’s true,” Balidor grinned. “Still, I will do my best to restrain myself, as you say––out of respect for my beloved intermediaries. I simply ask that you and your husband recognize I am responsible for no one’s tongue but my own. Chandre is likely too traumatized by what she saw to speak of it any time soon. But you must, at least, be aware that Jorag won’t be able to control himself.”