by C A Ardron
Lion’s eyes narrowed. He tried again to put a lid on his feelings on the area commander. ‘Has Martial Eagle been confronted about it?’
‘Not sure,’ Dingo told him, sitting back in his chair. ‘Owl wasn’t too happy either. Though I suppose South is the least likely to see trouble over it. Anyway, Owl’s asked me to come speak to you personally. Martial Eagle has put all the Sectors on full alert because of Silver Locust. He doesn’t want any more accidents.’
Lion’s breath caught in a way he couldn’t control, and his fists clenched. Dingo instantly stopped, allowing him time.
‘Forgive me,’ Lion said after a few moments, forcing his palms open. ‘I’m not angry with you.’
‘I know,’ Dingo responded. He shrugged, ‘sorry to say, it’s fairly common knowledge that Martial Eagle’s trying to find a reason to demote you.’
Lion couldn’t stop the scowl crossing his face. Dingo was right but hearing it from a warrior belonging to someone else’s unit stung.
‘Sorry,’ Dingo said again, ‘but you must know it’s not a secret?’
Lion nodded. ‘So, what’s being done about this?’
Dingo spread his hands, ‘nothing. Was Grey Owl right? Were you not informed the city was on full alert?’
‘I was not,’ he admitted.
Dingo sat forwards again. ‘Owl says there’s not much to be done about it, you’re a captain and Martial Eagle’s a commander. Owl sent me here because he didn’t want this being discussed over the phone. He wants you to consider speaking with Baboon about this.’
Lion gave a puzzled frown. ‘Why’s that?’
‘Well, you and Baboon are both captains and you’re both gold warriors. Baboon used to work under General Jaguar when he was a captain and the general trained you personally in Predgariah. If both of you sent a joint appeal to the elders, they’d start asking some questions - maybe even begin an investigation.’
Lion grunted softly in his throat, ‘a bit underhanded.’
A small grin tugged at Dingo’s lips, ‘as underhanded as Eagle deciding to forget to tell you certain things?’
Lion shook his head with a sigh. ‘Tell Owl I’ll think about it.’
Dingo nodded and got to his feet.
‘Wolf’s on patrol, but feel free to wait around for him.’ Lion mentioned, also standing.
‘Thanks,’ Dingo replied, gripping the door handle. ‘I’d love to stay and chat with him, but Owl wanted me back pretty sharp, no matter what I said to Gecko.’
Lion nodded and followed him out into the corridor. He could do with a coffee after that conversation – and to maybe ask for Dove’s advice.
He heard Dingo’s soft, surprised grunt and caught up to him.
‘Falcon?’ Lion asked, seeing her swaying form a few feet further down past the kitchen doorway.
She looked up at him and he tensed when he saw her glazed, unfocused eyes.
‘Whoa!’ Dingo exclaimed and shot forwards as she began to fall. ‘Light,’ his whispered voice was hoarse, his hands becoming bloody as he caught her.
‘Dove!’ Lion roared at the top of his lungs. ‘Bring her in the kitchen.’
Lion followed the Canine into the tiled room. After Dingo had half-dragged, half-carried the small woman to the nearest chair, Lion placed a hand on the side of her head.
‘Falcon?’ he whispered. He shook her a little and clicked his fingers in front of her face. ‘Come back to me, Falcon, don’t do this.’
Her eyes flickered but he got nothing more from her.
‘Oh.’
Lion stepped back at Dove’s quiet exclamation, giving her room. As she stepped forwards, her hands already reaching towards her friend, Hawk and Jay appeared in the doorway.
‘Falcon!’ Jay exclaimed. Hawk pulled the boy back as he tried to rush forwards. ‘Let Dove do her job,’ he told the boy.
Even with his eyes glued to Falcon, Lion noted Hawk’s tightly controlled voice. Worry mostly, but there was an angry twinge there too. Could he be angry at the long string of Falcon’s close calls lately? Or was it at Jay? The boy’s absence may well have put Falcon in the rogue’s way after all. Either way, Lion filed the information away for later.
Dove gave a quiet gasp as she lifted Falcon’s shirt and saw the extent of the injury.
‘Light, there’s so much,’ Dingo whispered.
Lion examined the wound as Dove activated her medallion and disappeared in a radiant pillar of light.
He recognised the injury. It was the old scar he’d seen the first day he’d met Falcon. It had already been too old for Dove to do anything about. Then later the same day Falcon had almost died when it had been torn open during her fight against Jackal.
The light faded from Dove, revealing her huge, brilliant white wings. The woman’s light armour shone in unblemished brilliance.
Lion marvelled once more at her now snowy hair, silvery runes running down her arms. The White Dove truly was magnificent.
Lion held his breath as the healer began to glow. Dove laid a single hand upon the open scar and the light didn’t waver or dissipate until the wound was reduced to that single, healed break again.
Falcon’s eyes flickered even as Dove deactivated. She took a deep breath and her eyes opened properly.
Lion placed a hand on her shoulder as Dove went to get a cloth and a bowl of warm water.
‘Take it easy,’ he told her. ‘There’s no rush.’
Falcon looked up at him with those familiar, serious eyes. Then her gaze skimmed across the kitchen. ‘Blue Dingo? Am I in South Sector?’
Hawk laughed. ‘No, Dingo’s just visiting.’
Falcon gave a tired shake of her head. ‘I couldn’t find Jay,’ she mumbled.
Lion glanced at the teenager’s burning face. He raised a hand to stall the boy as he opened his mouth to speak.
‘It’s okay,’ he told her. ‘Jay made it back to us.’
Falcon looked about again, and this time noticed Jay with Hawk in the doorway. Her face turned acid.
Lion squeezed her shoulder. ‘I’ve already spoken to him quite strongly on his actions this morning.’ He smiled down at her and lowered his voice. ‘Let it go, Falcon.’
She gave him a small glare, sighed and let her gaze drop. ‘I’m too tired to argue.’
‘What happened?’ Lion asked as Dove began to wipe the blood from Falcon’s stomach. ‘I heard about your encounter with Jackal in South. Did he follow you?’
Lion noticed the rise of Dingo’s eyebrows. Most of the Predgarians in Steiron knew Falcon had run into the Sarpiens a lot over the last few months, but not many knew Jackal was singling her out.
Falcon shook her head, ‘no, it was a rogue. He was big, Komodo Dragon.’
‘Jay mentioned him,’ Lion replied. ‘There were Dakkonin with you though, weren’t there? I assumed you’d dealt with the problem.’
‘No. Most of us were beat up pretty bad, I think. Red Fox was there and Gyrfalcon. We managed to scare the rogue off eventually.’
‘Gyrfalcon?’ Dove asked, quite startled. ‘It’s strange for him to leave Central Sector.’
Falcon frowned up at her and Lion. ‘You could’ve told me about him. I felt a real fool when I assumed he was a captain.’
Hawk began to chuckle. ‘Oh, I wish I could’ve been there to see that go down. I bet it’s been ages since anyone got ol’ Gyrfalcon’s rank wrong.’
‘It’ll be good for him,’ Dove responded with an arch smile. ‘He needs to be brought down a peg or two on occasion.’
Dingo snorted, ‘all Dakkonin do.’
Dove hissed when a bruise taking up almost the entire length of Falcon’s stomach was revealed beneath the blood. ‘What caused this much damage?’ She asked, beginning to glow again, not needing the aid of her medallion this time.
‘The rogue punched me there, felt like a ton of bricks.’ Falcon sighed a little when the healing was finished. ‘Oh, that feels much better, thank you.’
‘It looks like it
was a bad wound, I’m surprised you survived it the first time,’ Dove commented.
‘I almost didn’t,’ Falcon hesitated. ‘I guess…you could say it’s what set my path in this direction.’
Lion nodded. She was saying it was wrapped up in how she became walking dead – but she couldn’t say that while Dingo was present.
‘Lion,’ Falcon said, sounding weary. ‘There were a couple of Unicians there. They say they want to deal with the rogue themselves. I told them they’d have to talk to you about it.’
Lion frowned. ‘They want to deal with it? But they’re healers.’
‘Unicians are far more than just healers, Lion,’ Dove disagreed. ‘They value life, and a rogue is dangerous to themselves as well as anyone else. In Unicia it is common practice for them to handle such matters.’
‘All right, I guess I should expect a call from them, then.’
‘Falcon,’ Dove said, ‘didn’t the Unicians offer to heal you? It would be very bad manners if they didn’t.’
‘They healed my wing, but I didn’t want to bother them, so I didn’t mention my stomach. I don’t think it was bleeding at that point either.’
‘It’s almost time for noon patrol,’ Hawk mentioned, nodding at the clock on the wall.
Falcon groaned.
Lion smiled down at her. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to send you out like this. How does a half and half sound? Say the back end of the noon shift till sunset?’
He thought she’d happily take the arrangement, it was quite a bit shorter than her usual shift, but when she looked up at him, clear reluctance was written on her face.
‘Falcon?’ Dove asked.
The healer’s expression was puzzled, and Lion realised she was picking up Falcon’s emotions.
‘Could I take double patrol tomorrow?’
Lion blinked, ‘what?’
Dingo was looking at her askance. ‘You want to exchange a short patrol for a double?’
Falcon glanced about before her gaze dipped back down to the ground. ‘I…uh…I had plans tonight.’
‘Plans?’ Hawk exclaimed. ‘You never have plans!’
‘What kind of plans?’ Dove asked.
‘I’ve…I’ve got a date.’
Lion’s jaw dropped. A date? Who was there who could ever persuade Falcon to go out with them? Light! Who’d ever have the guts to ask in the first place?
‘What?’ Dove hissed. ‘When, how?’
‘Who?’ Hawk added.
Falcon’s shrug was uncomfortable. ‘I…was attacked by a mugger on the way home. I was too out of it to fend him off. A man on the street helped me out. He…wanted to take me to the hospital but I refused, then he asked to take me home – but since I live here, I couldn’t really let him do that either. He asked me out, said he wanted to make sure I lived out the day.’
‘Falcon,’ Hawk’s eyes were angry. ‘You realise that was just a line to get you to say yes, right?’
Falcon looked up at him, her expression growing flinty. ‘Yeah, Hawk, I know.’
‘Oh,’ Hawk paused and folded his arms. ‘Well…I guess that’s okay then.’ He left the room without another word.
Lion noted Dove’s wince. It was no secret Hawk liked his partner a little too much – though it seemed to have escaped Falcon’s notice.
Falcon pushed off the chair with a tired sigh.
‘Just take your usual patrol tomorrow,’ Lion told her as she passed. ‘There’s no need to pull double-duty. Take the rest of the day off…but keep your phone on.’
Falcon paused and looked up at him, ‘why?’
He smiled down at her. ‘I’d like to make sure you live out the day too.’
Chapter Twelve
Gecko slowed his pace as the bus stop came into sight, his dark eyes darting about the area. He hated these meeting points, they always seemed to be the farthest out of his way they could possibly be.
Having traipsed halfway across West Sector, he could now see the small roadside café with its small outdoor seating area. Surrounded by waist-high privet bushes, Gecko thought that during summer the place was probably quite nice.
It wasn’t summer though, it was winter, and the morning’s snowfall did nothing to perk up the dead brown of the stick-like foliage.
As he made his way past the first of the bushes to one of the small gaps allowing access to the garden tables, his eyes skimmed over the people nearby.
Gecko picked out the only one who wasn’t passing by hurriedly, not wanting to hang about in the cold air.
A tiny smirk caught at Gecko’s lips, the man sat at the farthest table had his back to him, the hood of a dark jumper covering his head. Over it the man was wearing a heavy jacket made of black leather.
‘Three guesses who you are,’ Gecko murmured. He strode to the café, being careful not to glance at the man on his way in. Browsing the menu, he ordered some coffee and left again, picking out a seat at the table nearest to the presently occupied one.
Gecko chose his seat carefully, placing himself so his back was to the other man.
‘You took your time,’ Jackal’s drawl reached him.
‘I had to go see Captain Lion.’
‘Interesting, tell me about it.’
‘Dingo and I went to tell him about Swallow.’
‘How’d he take it?’
Gecko snorted, ‘both Dingo and the Captain can’t believe it. Anyone with half a brain cell could see she was shady.’
Jackal chuckled, ‘indeed? You seemed quite surprised when I told you.’
Gecko ground his teeth. ‘I did what you asked,’ he changed the subject. ‘How much longer do I have to keep doing this?’
‘Patience.’
Gecko’s fists clenched at Jackal’s unconcerned drawl.
‘You’re doing well to prove your loyalty, but I’m not taking you in just yet. Now Swallow’s out of the South Sector Predgarians you’ll find it easier to move around. Keep on as you have, and that Insecta medallion will be yours in no time. Keep your ear to the ground, let me know if you hear anything that I can use against the Silver Falcon.’
Gecko turned his head, glancing at the man. He tried not to swallow, just for a second seeing the Sarpien general’s fierce, emerald eyes.
‘Silver Falcon? She works here in West, doesn’t she?’
‘That’s right, my Sarpiens have been irritating her, but it’s going to take a bit more than that to bring her down. She’s not taken by surprise easily and her gaze is sharp. If you can find anything to throw her off her game, distract or upset her, let me know.’
Gecko nodded, ‘I’ll try, but there’s not really that much talk about the other units in South.’
Jackal stretched in his seat. ‘You never know, the next few days you might be brushing shoulders with more Preds than you expect.’
Gecko frowned, risking another glance at the muscular man. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
Jackal got to his feet, another chuckle escaping his lips. ‘Ear to the ground, young Gecko, and keep it there.’
* * *
Hawk flapped his wings once, keeping his position high above West Sector. Glancing at the giant red sun setting in the sky, he saw his patrol was almost at an end so veered back towards the Predgarian Centre.
A scowl marred his pale features, Falcon would’ve probably left on her date by now - but some random guy from off the street? really?
‘She could be dating me,’ he muttered, zooming across the sky.
Falcon had made an impact the first day they’d met, when she’d used telepathy to help him stay one step ahead of Jackal. It was true she was a bit too serious at times but had a dry sense of humour that he loved – and she was hot as anything when she trained in the hall.
Hawk had never asked her out though, he’d been holding off. Falcon had things rough, it hadn’t seemed right to approach her while she was still getting used to everything.
He alighted on the sloped, tiled roof of a house and looked abo
ut. Now he’d waited too long. Why had Falcon said yes to this guy? He let out a long sigh. Falcon hadn’t shown any interest in dating before now, with anyone – what had changed?
Hawk shook his head, ‘why do I even bother?’ All the time he’d been putting in to try and up his game, bridge the gap between them in ability – had she even noticed?
He watched the reddening sky, maybe it was a one-off. Perhaps this date of Falcon’s was nothing more than a thank you. There was no telling, the woman was fast getting a reputation for being closed-mouthed and enigmatic.
Hawk smiled, in that regard she hadn’t really changed from that first day at all. He shrugged, there was nothing to be done about it for now. All he could do was see what happened and if this date was a one off, he could make his move in a week or so.
He flapped his wings in readiness of flight, feeling better about the whole thing. He probably had enough time to do one last sweep of the estates in the area before the hand-over.
Hawk leapt off the roof and gasped, seeing the wide arc of green energy hurtling towards him.
It was too close, he yelled out, the aura beam searing through his wings and right arm. Hawk tumbled downwards, clanging against the red-brick wall of the house and then onto the coarse pavement below.
Winded, his wings oozing blood, Hawk tried to turn over, to do something at least. He managed to get to his radio and pulled it from his belt.
Hawk yelped as a thin beam of green sliced neatly through it. He dropped the radio with an oath, the impact causing a tiny explosion in his hand.
He tried to scrabble back and found the house directly behind him. Hawk’s eyes darted, trying to see where his attacker was.
The air shimmered and a warrior materialised in front of him. Hawk gaped at the foot or so of steel pointed in his direction, the tip inches from his neck.
His eyes roved upwards to the wielder. Clearly male, the emerald plates making up the heavy-class armour concealed every bit of the man – all but his left arm, which was bared.
