The Great Game

by O. J. Lowe

  “What worries me far more is Blut’s prophecy,” he started to say before she interrupted him.

  “Let’s not talk about anything else. Do you know what I want?!” she demanded. As much as it might have to be done down the line, she didn’t want to talk about it now. Some of the language of the said prophecy was decidedly evocative of her dreams. “Did Blut write it down anywhere?” Sinkins nodded quickly, his face paling.

  “I’m afraid he did. And he has very little on the door. Not where it is, not how to access it, nothing on who else might have used, he seems to have failed you on this.”

  His sense of self-preservation struck a chord with her, she could appreciate that. Still she said nothing. A sense could only get so far. It still needed to be applied further to fully coordinate with an appreciation of it. One couldn’t exist without the other.

  “Of course, I might have a few ideas on where to look,” he added, studying her in a way that others might have found uncomfortable. “They may not pan out but it’s a start, I hope you’ll agree.”

  “You seem sensible,” she said. “Sensible enough to know not to repeat Blut’s mistakes anyway. For all his brilliance, he was a truly flawed individual. He shouldn’t have been anywhere near the machine. And yet he was. And he died for it. Which did you a favour. I brought you into the fold. Do whatever you need to or don’t. Either way, we won’t be having a repeat of this meeting. You get results, I’ll be the first to congratulate you, see you’re set for life. If you fail, there won’t be any hole you can’t crawl into that won’t get you away from me. Just consider that for a moment. How confident are you in your theories?”

  “I’m certain that I’ll get something we can use,” Sinkins said immediately. “I will not fail you.” He hesitated for a moment and then cleared his throat. “Although there is something else in his work I would like to bring up. I don’t know if he ever spoke to you about it but he mentions it quite a lot as a theoretical variable which could help solve a lot of problems if applied correctly.”

  She raised an eyebrow expectantly. “Go on?”

  “Did he ever mention Kjarn to you?”

  Of all the words he could have spoken, those were not near the top of the list she had expected. So, he had really read through Blut’s notes. He’d just upgraded himself to approaching dangerously knowledgeable. She tapped her nails listlessly on the desk and sighed. “He may have done. I don’t recall every conversation I had with the man.”

  “And yet it’s not a common term,” Sinkins pressed. “Is it? I need some context; most conventional research texts don’t list it anywhere. A lot of it’s in some weird language as well, I’m having trouble translating it. Looks like a mixture of Ancient Sidorovan and High Kevik.”

  “That’s because it’s widely regarded as a myth,” she said. “I only heard about it from Blut, I don’t know who told him. He said the information cost him a small fortune and wouldn’t say anything else about it. The Kjarn was the domain of the Vedo, they were a group of individuals who vanished some years ago. Near-sighted mystics, they had no perspective on anything but what happened in their own inner circle. So Blut theorised anyway. There may be some left but there’s been no sightings of them as a group for a while as far as we know.”

  “Sounds interesting,” Sinkins said. “But what does it have to do with the Kjarn? What is that?”

  Hadn’t he been the one supposed to be giving her answers here? She suppressed a scowl of annoyance. It wasn’t his fault, she supposed. And if it got her further answers, it would all have been worth it.

  “It’s a field of energy,” she said. “And…” Sinkins’ eyes went wide as she said it and he burst into a big smile.

  “I see,” he said enthusiastically. “I assumed it had to be something like that. Some of Blut’s work spoke about using it as a power source, at least that was his intention. He mentions it along with the Kalqus weather shrine. He intended to use blood as a replacement but…”

  Suddenly she was interested enough to ignore the interruption. “We all know how blood turned out. It was impractical. He had to slaughter most of the natives before he worked it out. So…”

  “We need to know more about the Kjarn and how to access it,” Sinkins said. “But if you say only Blut knew how he got that much information…”

  “Oh, you see there’s always a way to find out,” she said. “If it came out in the first place, it can come out again. Doctor Sinkins, this has been enlightening for both of us. I’ll task someone to investigate Blut’s movements regarding the Kjarn and the Vedo. You build on your part and I’ll see that it’s facilitated.”

  Glee was permeating through her now, she was almost shaking with excitement. “We’ve made a real breakthrough here, I think. Get to work, this could be massive for us all. For the five kingdoms even.”

  His face lit up and she knew she had his interest. It faded for just a moment as he met her eyes and then spoke with caution in his voice, a deep wariness that hinted at his confusion. “But Ma’am, if the Vedo were that mysterious an order, how do you know they were near-sighted?”

  She sighed. “All that power and they never used it. What does that tell you?”

  “That they maybe knew they shouldn’t?”

  A shake of her head and he looked suitably cowed, as if he knew he’d slipped with his answer. “That they were afraid. They had the power to change the five kingdoms and they didn’t. They chose to remain apart, aloof, alone. They didn’t want to do their duty. Doctor, if we can say we made the world a better place when we died than it was when we were born, is that not something each of us needs to do? Goodbye, Doctor.”

  As he wandered out of the room, deep in thought, she was already putting her own plans into motion. Pushing a button on the comm on her desk, she mentally ran through the people who could help her, rushing to decide on who would be the best for the task at hand. Ultimately, she threw caution to the wind and went with four individuals. This was a tricky task, four different people with four different methods could be four times as effective. Granted that made four times the risk in exchange but…

  What was life without risks?

  She smiled, watched the line connect and spoke quickly and clearly. “Attention. This is an executive order. I have a task for you, no questions asked.” She was even going to offer them half a plan to start with. “Several months ago, Jeremiah Blut made a payment to an individual in pursuit of information. I want the individual tracked down, found and brought to me. Alive. Bonus will be paid upon his delivery, usual fees apply.” She didn’t feel the need to add comments about how vital it was. That was what executive orders were for. She didn’t throw them around lightly. The line went dead and she spun her chair around to face the window, her eyes gazing out over the city below her.

  Soon all of it would be hers. More than that, it would stay that way.

  Harvey smiled coldly as he stared the two of them down. “Really? I’m shaking in my stylish little shoes. You two haven’t got the balls. I have. I got the balls and I’m prepared to use them with a vengeance.”

  “He likes the sound of his own voice, doesn’t he?” Pete muttered, glancing over to Scott. “We going to double team him?”

  “Two of you, three of you, hells I’ll take anyone,” Harvey said, bringing out his own summoner. “Maybe the cute ones first. You boys are playing with fire? And you’re going to get burned by it.” His spirit appeared in front of him, a hulking great green troll covered in thorns and moss, its eyes two large embers amidst a face of crags and crevices. It dropped down to all fours and growled menacingly at the two of them. “Cacalti,” he trilled. “Kill them now, my darling!”

  Scott and Pete looked at each other, nodding before going back to the troll. Every footstep felt thunderous, the roof shook and it suddenly felt a very dangerous place for a battlefield.

  “Hope this is reinforced,” Scott said out the corner of his mouth. “We knock that thing out; it could crush somebody underneath if it g
oes through.”

  “You distract it,” Pete said. “I’ll try and stop it from moving.” He glanced over to Mermari and mentally gave her the commands. Scott did the same with Palawi. Harvey folded his arms and lazily grinned at the two of them as if to say, ‘come on, I’m waiting for you’. Behind him Mia tried to struggle up to all fours, he kicked back at her without even looking and his grin grew as he felt his boot catch her in the ribs. She dropped clumsily with a shriek of pain.

  Anger blazing through him, Scott stepped forward and gave Palawi a new command. Some part of him knew he was ignoring the plan and somehow, he couldn’t care, he just wanted to get to her before something bad happened. Electricity coursed through Palawi and he sent the shockwave through the air towards Cacalti. He didn’t even feel like celebrating as the attack hit home and the troll shook it off with little effort. It raised both hands and fired a barrage of needles from them towards Palawi who at Scott’s urging managed to evade most of them. Some, not all. A yelp broke through the air as thick spikes ripped through fur and muscle on the dog’s shoulder and Scott winced.

  “Scott, chill!” Pete growled. “You’re not going to get anywhere opening up like that. This guy is serious.”

  “So am I!” Scott yelled. “Now shut up and join in!”

  Looking less than impressed, Pete did just that and Mermari opened her mouth to unleash several razor-sharp blades of ice in a lazy arc towards the troll. The first two missed, shattering harmlessly against the roof as Cacalti lumbered back, the third crashed into the green flesh and broke into a dozen pieces. Thin trickles of blood dribbled down onto the rooftop. If the troll was hurt or cowed by it, there wasn’t any show of it. The great maw of a mouth opened and closed with a crunching sound, a huf-huf-huf of laughter breaking out. For all its monstrous appearance, it appeared it sensed its caller’s sense of humour.

  Palawi went again, lunging in with jaws open, this time directing electricity down through pointed fangs and into stony skin with a shattering sound that made Scott wince. He hoped that hadn’t been Palawi’s teeth. Cacalti growled, swung out a mighty arm and batted the dog away, static still crackling harmlessly across stone. Behind them, Mermari lurked, mouth open and a blast of ice ready to fire. Pete nodded to his spirit and the attack came in almost the exact same moment, streaking out to hit Cacalti in the back…

  Harvey whistled and the troll spun surprisingly graceful on tipped toes, pirouetting out the way in a motion that made Scott’s mouth fall open, his face changing from surprise to horror as the ice kept going past its intended target and struck Palawi head on, a block of ice forming in seconds around the dog. Scott swore angrily, Pete shot an apologetic glance to him. It wasn’t decisive. Palawi might be able to break free, but it would take time. Come on, Pal, Scott urged mentally. Try and shock your way out of there.

  He could feel the tinges of discomfort on the edge of his consciousness at Palawi’s condition but whatever happened, the hound was willing to make the effort at least. Come on, do it for Mia. He felt helpless as he saw Mermari press the attack, darting in and out of Cacalti’s range, daring the troll to hit her. If Cacalti was thinking about it then there were no signs of it, another trio of ice blades came streaking towards it and once again it spun aside and they crashed harmlessly wide into a chimney stack.

  “Did fighting dear Reda teach you nothing?” Harvey taunted, his voice mocking and loud. “Guess your sister did throw it away to help you out, Petey J.” Pete’s expression didn’t change, but Scott saw him tightening his knuckles against his palms. “Because you are pathetic!”

  The attack suddenly came, the same green needles Cacalti had fired at Palawi earlier tore out towards Mermari and she had to leap aside gracefully, already retaliating with a blast of her own. Her tail shone with a silver sheen as she leaped over and swung it hard and high into Cacalti’s face despite a hand coming up to try and block her off. Meanwhile Palawi’s efforts were thawing the ice away, just another thirty seconds and it would be able to join in the fight again. Cacalti staggered back, a little dazed by the blow, footsteps rent into the roof but didn’t fall. One final sway, Scott was sure it was about to go…

  Only for the troll to right itself in one deceptively quick motion and swing out with a giant fist straight into Mermari’s face, the cat yowling in pain as she was thrown back by the force of the blow, only the wall stopping her from bouncing over the edge of the roof. As she rolled to a halt in an untidy heap, the needles erupted once more from Cacalti’s hands and struck a quick barrage into her body, a great gout of blood already pooling beneath her.

  Harvey winked at Pete who looked like he couldn’t believe what had just happened. All until Palawi sprang from the ice with a great shattering sound and Scott quickly urged on the electrical attack, aware that it hadn’t done much good so far but knowing it was his best chance. It coursed down through the stone body, he was sure he saw Cacalti grimacing with pain and it was a start, he knew that. Between Palawi and Mermari, they’d dealt out some damage to the thing, so just maybe he could take it out. Palawi landed, keeping the electricity on as slowly he padded towards Cacalti, determined to fry it to a cinder. Scott’s spirits rose as the troll dropped down to its knees, the pain etched across stone features. Giant clumsy fingers dug into the stone of the roof and Scott urged Palawi on, just a little more, come on you can…

  Fuck!

  “Fool you once, shame on me,” Harvey laughed as Cacalti sprang off from the ground like a torpedo and Scott couldn’t believe what he was seeing as the great boulder-like body hurled itself bearing down into Palawi, the greater size and weight taking it straight over the dog with a vicious snapping sound which Scott had a horrible feeling might have been Palawi’s spine. “Fool you twice, shame on you.”

  Palawi wasn’t getting up. Neither was Mermari and Cacalti stood squat and proud above them both.

  “Oh dear, darlings,” Harvey trilled as both spirits lay defeated in front of him. “I guess you just weren’t good enough. Shame, but hey, no prizes for second place. Me? I get the jackpot. One little bitch for the collection.”

  “Let her go!” Scott growled. “Or…”

  Harvey blew him a kiss. “Or what, love? What you going to do? I’ll beat you down again, spank your ass all over the place and make you cry like my bitch. You’re outmatched.”

  He laughed, his troll laughed with him, this time a deep thumping hur-hur-hur that sounded eerily creepy in the night sky. And then there was a cough.

  “What’s going on up here?”

  Wade Wallerington stepped out of the door, a calm expression on his face and his thumbs tucked into the pockets of his suit. He took a moment to take it in, the triumphant troll, the defeated spirits, the cackling Harvey, Scott and Pete looking defeated and Mia down on the ground.

  “Nothing to see here, move along,” Harvey quickly said. “Just a little friendly…”

  “He’s trying to kidnap her!” Pete bellowed, drowning that gleeful lilt out.

  “So rude,” Harvey snarled. “Just so rude. Kidnap invokes so many negative emotions. I prefer appropriation. Ah well, I guess I’ll have to quit while I’m ahead. Later noodles, don’t miss me too much and…”

  Wade cleared his throat. His hand moved faster than either Scott or Pete could follow and his summoner was suddenly gripped in it, a crystal locked and ready.

  “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to stay where you are,” he said pleasantly. “I don’t wish to resort to violence. It doesn’t mean I won’t.”

  Harvey laughed, a sound almost as unpleasant as the one given off by his troll. “Cacalti. Now!”

  Once more the handful of thorns shot through the air from the hands of his troll, each of them lethal sharp and the size of a brick. All of them heading for Wade who didn’t blink, just stepped aside and watched them sail past him harmlessly into the night sky. He raised an eyebrow in bemusement. “Really? Is that your best?”

  Harvey’s eyes narrowed to slits and a look of out
rage flashed across his fleshy features. “You… This has nothing to do with you!” he screeched manically. “You’re not going to interfere! You can’t use dragons up here; you’ll bring the whole building down if you try to stop me. Hammers and nails, bitch! You lose. Let me go and you can tell your friends how you tried to be the big hero but you failed miserably. Look on the bright side, you’re not going to be as gutted as that kid there!” He gestured a finger at Scott. “He thought this little whore might be giving him some tonight and how wrong was he?”

  “He seems to know a lot about people,” Scott muttered. “Don’t he?” Nobody heard him, he barely heard himself. Pete brought back Mermari to her container crystal, he did the same to Palawi. Wade on the other hand looked quietly serene by the whole thing.

  “You’re digging yourself into a deeper hole by the second,” he said politely. “It’ll go a lot better for you if you surrender here and now. Whatever’s bothering you, carrying on down the path you’re walking isn’t worth it.”

  “Mmmm, no. I’ll pass,” Harvey said. “You don’t scare me. I’ll take my chances.”

  Scott heard the sigh pass from Wade as he brought up his summoner. “Then that is your prerogative. I wish I could have talked you down.” He thumbed a button and a spirit started to materialise in front of him. “You’re quite right. No dragons. Doesn’t mean I don’t have other spirits to my menagerie.”

  Scott watched as the spirit formed, the leaf lizard straightening up to its full impressive height. It was bigger than Becko. Just. There were more scatterings of brown and red across its scales than the green shade that made up most of Becko’s colourings but they were recognisable as the same species. He didn’t know the great Wade Wallerington had a leaf lizard, he’d not used it any of the bouts he’d engaged in at the tournament so far. He didn’t know it and apparently neither did Harvey, his eyes narrowed in wariness as he stared at the creature.