Rise: Paths (Future Worlds Book 2)

by Brian Guthrie

  They screamed instead. As the pulse of light tumbled into them, they peeled away in boiling agony, a terrifying scream filling the air. I fired repeatedly, tearing the shadows away from me as I progressed. Finally, my path lay clear. The monster stood over a now-kneeling Micaela, his hand holding tightly to her braid. I took aim to fire, but a shadow lunged out at me. I jerked to dodge the assassin and my shot went wide, striking the wall near the monstrosity.

  The monster pulled out a firearm of his own and pulses of bright light burst from it down the hall at me. The creature barked something unintelligible and shadows dropped to the ground all around. Tremors still shook the building as the shadows moved back in the direction the creature had just fired. Directly at me. I took aim and ripped through the assassins. Still they came, wave after wave perishing at the discharges of their own weapon. Behind me, I heard air pulse guns going off. Mortac's guards had found me, lending their own weapons to my assault. The shadows unleashed their own fire at us and men fell around me.

  The battle raged on as we made our way down the hall. Shadows and guards fell left and right. Still we pushed on until the monstrosity came into sight again, holding Micaela's head back, a finger tracing down her exposed jugular. A guard next to me took aim and fired. The air pulse blasted into the beast's side, sending the pair sprawling down the hall. Micaela rolled away from the armored behemoth even as the guards around me cried out, cheering. The shadows poured out from the ceiling and floor, filling the space between Micaela and me. The guards and I unleashed a salvo of air and light at them as they fired back at us. A cacophony of pops and grunts filled the air as men and shadow perished together.

  A terrifying scream echoed past me and the entire hallway rocked and shook. Another section of ceiling ripped away as the echo faded, filling the room with smoke and debris. I dodged around pieces of metal as more shadows thumped down behind me. Shielding my eyes from the dust, I rushed out across the open room and saw the monstrosity rushing away. Micaela was nowhere in sight. The ceiling ripped away in the opposite direction as the creature ran. The guards and I took aim and fired at the monstrosity, our shots missing and careening wildly down the hall. The weapon in my hand overheated and I tossed it aside, spying another, larger one lying in the hall as I moved forward. Air pulses filled the space, shooting down the hall at shadows and the monster alike.

  Fearing we'd hit Micaela, I waved the guards off and rushed down the hall myself. I could no longer see the beast, but I could see the path he'd left. Rather, the path whatever was outside had left as it ripped the roof to pieces. Another tremor shook the floor and I fell against the wall to my left. Just around the bend, the monstrosity ripped a door away, disappearing inside. Not wasting a moment, I rushed after, the ground shaking horribly under me and knocking me flat on my stomach as I neared the entry. The wind rushed out of me as my eyes filled with tears. Shaking my head, I gasped for air, forcing my lungs to work as I pulled myself up.

  What remained of the double doors lay in the entryway. Beyond, a room similar to the one we'd been in lay in ruins, the ceiling torn asunder and the table in the center knocked forward toward the door. Just beyond, I saw the head of the monster, eyes trained down at something behind the table. An armored hand appeared over his head, a wicked blade held tightly in his fist.

  My eyes still filled with water, I took aim, blinked once, and fired.

  His hand plunged downward when the blast of light struck the creature square in the top of his head. He froze, blade and hand just barely visible above the table. His hand trembled and the eye slit flared red. With a great shudder, the armored monster fell to one side, out of sight.

  The tremors stopped and the building finally stood still. The room lay quiet. I stayed in the door, gun trained on the table.

  Just as I opened my mouth to speak, a flash of red hair appeared over the table, and Micaela looked back at me.

  Chapter 17 - Challenges

  Micaela sat in the Queen's room as she always did: on the sofa, staring out the window. She wore a different, yet equally beautiful, gown of an identical green to the previous one. This time, I found her crying.

  "What is it you find so saddening out that window, High One?" I asked, by way of announcing my presence.

  She turned her head, wiping at her tears. "Nothing out the window, Logwyn," she whispered. "Let's just say it's a lonely world for people like me."

  I pondered her words, moving toward the table for another session.

  "If you please, Logwyn, I'd rather do it here," she said, not moving. "My back is still recovering from yesterday on those benches."

  I nodded and made my way over. Just beyond the sofa, concealed from my view by Micaela's head, stood a desk and chair.

  "The Queen brought them to make your work over here easier," Micaela commented as I sat down on the new seat.

  "How thoughtful of her," I whispered. "She's monitoring our work here?"

  "You think she's unaware of what you do simply because you aren't aware she's around?"

  My eyes shifted from her to the recording device. Micaela smiled as realization made it to my face.

  "Never underestimate anyone bearing that title," I said more to myself. "So, shall we continue?"

  Micaela's smile faded as she sighed. "Must we?" she whispered, her face altering, a sorrowful look shifting in as fast as the night-shield did on populated shells.

  I frowned and shrugged. "This isn't my wish, High One. It's the Queen's."

  "I guess it must be told."

  #

  After the attack, Mortac moved us into the main tower. From that room, we had a commanding view of the facility and, when the night shield lifted, the damage done to it. The entire roof of one of the surrounding superstructures lay mangled and gone. Gashes ripped through what many believed to be indestructible metal told the tale. Something large and powerful had torn through the Ancient building like a knife through bread. Sparks of power still flared as the four of us stared in silence at the destruction.

  I'm not sure how long we waited in that chamber staring at the damage before the warden came to see us. He joined us at the window in silence for a moment.

  "We're not sure what it was," he whispered.

  "Could the Questioner have some role in this?" I asked.

  The warden shrugged. "Maybe. If so, colluding with anything large and powerful enough to do this is a capital offense."

  "You mean colluding with a dragon," Donovan muttered. "Stinking Seekers breaking their own laws."

  "We don't know this was a dragon," Mortac said, his voice quiet.

  The four of us turned to look at him.

  "What else could do that?" Quentin asked, pointing at the destruction below. "Those rents aren't carefully made with a cutting torch. Those look like claw marks."

  Mortac nodded his head slowly. "I agree. But without proof, it's circumstantial." He looked at each of us in turn. "Anyone want to accuse a Questioner on circumstantial evidence?" When no one answered, he went on. "As I thought. If Colvinra had something to do with this, we'll need more evidence."

  "If he can do this, we're not safe here," I said.

  "You're not safe anywhere," he whispered, his voice so quiet I almost didn't hear it. His voice got louder. "But he won't try this again." He turned to look at me. "Any idea what he was after? Besides you?"

  My eyes narrowed and I glanced at my companions. I hadn't told them what the creature had demanded of me, so I shook my head. Mortac held my gaze a moment before nodding and moving toward the door.

  "I've doubled the guards and deployed aerial sensors. If anything comes to try this again, we'll have more warning. For now, you're as safe as I can make you."

  With that, he left, the doors sliding shut behind us.

  "I don't trust him for a second," Donovan muttered, turning back to the window.

  "No one does," Quentin said, "but he did lose a lot of men trying to help us." He sighed, his shoulders sagging. "A lot of them."

&
nbsp; I looked down at the floor when he looked back up at me.

  "So," he said. "Care to explain to us?"

  I looked back at him. "What?"

  "Your face? Warning us?"

  "That wasn't me," I insisted.

  "Sure looked like you," Donovan said from the window.

  I glared at him. "Seeing as I've been with you, or you, Quentin, this entire time, how exactly could it have been me?"

  Quentin shrugged. "I never said it was you. Just your face. Ideas?"

  The last he directed at Suyef, who stood silently near the window watching us all.

  "It's a trick," he said. "She's correct in that she's been in our presence almost exclusively since this whole fiasco began. More than that, her brother has been with her longer. That wasn't a simple recording. Whoever did that was actively talking to us and aware of what was going on."

  "So, she has a doppelgänger out there?" Quentin asked, nodding at me.

  "It's the only logical choice left," he said, eyes moving to watch me. "Anything else you want to tell us?"

  I shifted, looking between them. "That ... thing was after something."

  "You?" Quentin asked, to which I shook my head.

  "No, something it thought I had. Something it insisted I had."

  "Did it say what?"

  I shook my head again. "Just that I had it, that I've always had it, and that if I didn't give it to him, we'd all suffer."

  The silence that fell lay heavy with questions. Thankfully, we stopped talking for the moment and rested. When we awoke, our meals had been delivered. Quentin and I passed the time getting acquainted, including him explaining how he and Suyef stumbled upon us. It still wasn't clear how much we could trust him, but the story did fit the circumstances. Despite that, it left me with more questions than answers. Just as I set in to asking some of them, the door opened. A guard indicated that only Quentin and I should follow him. He escorted us back to Mortac's office where we found the warden sitting behind his desk, reading a report. He waved us forward to two chairs placed across from him.

  "I have something to show you," he stated after we'd sat. "You'll recall my last words to you regarding our 'friend' Colvinra, yes?" When we didn't respond, he added, "Regarding how persistent he is?" We both nodded. "This was just transmitted to me from the regional Seeker headquarters."

  He slid a padd across the broad, smooth desk. Quentin picked it up first, read it and frowned. He handed the device to me to read.

  "To Warden, Prison Facility #2: You are hereby ordered to hand over any and all guests you have staying in your facility to be escorted out of the area. Your facility is not a secure location, and their presence there places them in danger. Please make use of the squad of Seekers we have currently dispatched to your location to ensure their safe return to the Central Dominance."

  I glanced up at Mortac, his gray eyes locked on me again. "Didn't you say that because we are guests, the Seekers couldn't take us?"

  "It would seem our Questioner is more resourceful than we imagined," the warden stated, nodding once at the padd. "He's convinced the higher-ups that our facility is unsafe for unauthorized personnel." He spread his hands to either side. "Considering last night's events, he may be right. Regardless, he's tied me in a pickle. If I refuse the order, he has grounds to take over the entire facility. I'm not so concerned about the location, but it would make keeping you out of his hands complicated."

  "Why do you care so much about keeping me away from him?" I asked.

  Something distorted his face, a look of momentary anger and anguish. As quick as it appeared, it vanished, replaced by his customary steely gaze.

  "Let's just say," he answered, voice cold and hard, "I have my reasons for wanting to thwart this particular Questioner."

  "He's taken people for questioning, hasn't he?" Quentin asked. "People close to you."

  Mortac's gaze darted over to Quentin. "For someone who is as clueless about things as you generally are, sometimes you hit close to the mark. Too close."

  "Clueless?" Quentin frowned. "You've just met me."

  Mortac's eyebrows raised and lowered, head nodding. "Indeed."

  I looked back and forth between the two men. "You were saying," I said, trying to get them back on topic.

  Mortac glared at Quentin a moment longer, then his gaze softened as he looked back at me. "Your companion is correct in his guess," the warden said. "This particular Seeker has caused me trouble in the past. Great trouble."

  "Still doesn't explain why you'd be willing to lose your facility for me."

  "I won't lose this facility," he stated. "Not until I'm ready to leave it. Mark my word on that."

  Quentin cleared his throat. "It won't take the Seekers long to bring in more squads. You resist this one, more will follow."

  Mortac nodded. "You see my dilemma. How to foil this one Seeker without bringing the wrath of all of them down on me."

  "I don't suppose we could sneak away," I suggested, shrugging as I said it. Mortac shook his head. "Didn't think so."

  "For the short term, the only option to keep you completely in my control is to detain you," Mortac stated, his voice lowering in volume.

  Quentin shifted, standing up. "So, you'd have us turn ourselves over to you to keep us from Seeker hands?"

  "Not you, my hotheaded friend," Mortac said, eyes never leaving me. "Her and her brother."

  "How does that help us?" I asked.

  "Colvinra may be crafty, but he must abide by the laws," the warden explained. "Seeker laws regarding this facility are very specific. If you're a prisoner here, you're under this facility's complete control. To take you from it would involve the kind of review I don't think even Questioners are willing to undergo."

  "Bureaucrats foiling bureaucrats," Quentin muttered, chuckling. "I like it."

  "You would," Mortac whispered, almost to himself.

  I eyed him warily, still uncertain how much we could trust him. "I'm with Quentin on this one. Regardless of who has us, I'm not too keen on being detained."

  Mortac nodded. "A wise precaution," he said, pointing at Quentin. "I can't arrest him or my nephew, though. Detaining Seekers will only make the situation worse." He looked pointedly at Quentin, head shifting to emphasize the next thing he said. "Even fake ones."

  I glanced at Quentin, then at the warden. Although surprised, I had to admit part of me expected the warden had known. For his part, Quentin's eyes narrowed.

  "Why do you say that?" he asked.

  "Come, now, you didn't think the room was that secure, did you?"

  Quentin nodded. "Well, that does give you an out, if you want to take it."

  The warden shook his head. "No, impersonating a Seeker is a crime punishable only by Seekers. I arrest you for that one, and Colvinra can seize all of you."

  "Why me?" I asked. "I didn't know he was a fake."

  "You did long enough to hide it from Colvinra, and that's all he'll need," Mortac pointed out. "No, I make that arrest and I might as well just hand you all over to him directly." He glared at Quentin. "I'm compelled, at least for the moment, to conceal your stupidity."

  For a split second, I thought I heard him say the word "again" at the end of that sentence, but I must have imagined it. Still, the longer I was around this warden, the more I began to wonder how much he was hiding. Glancing at my partner, I pondered the possibility that the warden could know him and the two of them be hiding that fact from me. Try as I might, I couldn't think of why they would. Still, it bore thinking on. Quentin, I noticed, looked confused but said nothing.

  "The thing I don't get is why his orders to detain us before don't supersede your authority here," I said, trying to wrap my brain around the situation. "Shouldn't that make your attempts null?"

  Mortac shot a glare at me. "Not if I haven't seen such an order."

  My face flushed. I should have thought of that one. "Ah, well, forget I mentioned that part."

  Mortac nodded. "I think I will."


  "Still, regarding that thing she didn't mention," Quentin continued, pointing at me, "why hasn't Colvinra made a point of bringing that up?"

  The warden shrugged. "He has his reasons. Could be he's holding that as a last resort, although why is beyond me." Mortac shook his head, stringy hair shifting on either side of his face. "I gave up ever understanding that fool long ago."

  "Could the orders be faked?" my pseudo-companion asked the warden. Mortac frowned at him, so he continued. "Could Colvinra have faked the detainment orders? It would explain why he doesn't want to use them just yet. You might request confirmation."

  "That's standard procedure anyway," the warden stated. "It would buy us a little time for the bureaucrats in charge to verify them."

  "Right, which means he would want to start that process right away," Quentin went on, sitting up and picking up speed. "He would've brought those up at the outset so he'd have his answer by now." He paused, lips pursed, eyes narrowed. "Something doesn't add up here."

  Mortac nodded. "That's the first intelligent thing you've said yet," he said, smiling.

  Quentin frowned at him and shook his head. "You're not helping."

  "I'm not sure how I can help you," the warden stated, spreading his hands out before him.

  "What if they tried to take us from you?" I asked, nodding at Quentin. A thought had bubbled through the turmoil inside my head.

  Mortac took a turn to frown, glancing at me. "I don't follow."

  "The order just says to make use of a squad of Seekers." I pointed at Quentin. "You've got two ready to do your bidding, per se."

  Mortac glanced between us. "I'm not sure they could get much farther with you. Colvinra is going to have had this place watched. You try to leave, he'll know."

  "What are the regulations on Seekers taking prisoners from you?" Quentin asked.

  Mortac looked at him. "You mean as in breaking them out?" Quentin nodded. "We're allowed to detain you."

  "And then?" Quentin asked.

  "An inquiry board is sent to ascertain what happens."

  "Can a Questioner supersede that law?" Mortac shook his head. "Can he act as the inquiry board?"