The Veil

by Stuart Meczes

  “Thank you, Leyala. For everything.”

  The Succubus placed a frail hand on my shoulder.

  “You’re welcome, dear. And…good luck.”

  40

  Alex

  We fled Concavious with the Lawbringers in fierce pursuit.

  Zero and his mercenaries carried us down the rickety stairs as our bodies fought hard against the paralyzing toxin with the support of the antidote Grediya had given us. As soon as we emerged from the narrow alleyway at the side of the Jackalope and Hart, I saw half a dozen Lawbringers rushing down one of the cobbled streets towards us.

  “Halt, Jack, or we shoot!” ordered one of them.

  The mercenary made no attempt to stop. Instead, the mercenaries just started sprinting in the opposite direction. From my position over Zero’s back, I had a perfect view of the Lawbringers chasing us. They raised their rifles in unison, aiming right at us.

  “Final warning. Stop!”

  Zero spun around and fired his revolver with lightning fast speed. The bullet burst a nearby pipe and released a hissing jet of steam that completely obscured the Lawbringers’ view. All of the officials dropped to their stomachs and aimed underneath the gas barrier, but we had already ducked around a corner by the time they fired. A loud crackle rolled out across the city, and then the same public address system that had announced the inclement weather announced the new incident in a variety of languages.

  Attention all residents and visitors of Concavious. There has been a fatal attack on four Lawbringers. The individuals involved are a combination of mercenary residents and Chosen Guardians. All are armed and extremely dangerous. If you see them, do not attempt to utilise your right to hold them in public custody, unless you are an experienced gun wielder. Instead, notify the nearest Lawbringer immediately. Thank you and have a nice day.

  How many more times before this hellish journey is over, are we going to have the full force of a city after us?

  The mercenaries kept carrying us through the uneven streets, and with every moment that passed I could feel my strength returning to me. It wasn’t long before the antidote had fought the toxin enough that I could move my head and both of my arms. The pins and needle sensations in my lower body told me that I was also close to getting the use of my legs back. I wasn’t the only one recovering – I could see Delagio, Danny and Hollie raising their heads and stiffly moving their limbs. We used our newfound mobility to our advantage, scanning around the countless streets and alleyways and shouting warnings to Zero and his motley crew as they continued to carry us down the crowded streets of Concavious.

  “Two on the left!” shouted Delagio. Grediya – who wasn’t carrying anyone – shot the knee of the first and then used a low pipe as a springboard to vault into the air and knock the fight out of the second with a knee to the throat.

  “One behind!” yelled Hollie. Zero spun around and shot the Lawbringer’s gun right out of his hand.

  “Three, right!” hollered Danny. The Imp mercenary carrying him unhooked a silver grenade from inside his trench coat and threw the projectile right into the centre of the Lawbringers. A second later a blinding flash of white light filled my eyes and stole my vision. I could hear the Lawbringers shouting and swearing, as they were rendered sightless. A gun cracked in the commotion and I heard someone grunt. When the spots in my eyes cleared, I saw that the Imp mercenary had been hit pretty badly in the arm. There was a big hole in his trench coat, which was leaking a ton of blood.

  “Lokar, you good?” shouted Zero over his shoulder.

  “Right as rain, my friend!”

  “Glad to hear it!”

  Zero and his team kept tearing through the maze of a city, weaving past shocked residents and knocking out Lawbringers with a decisive kick, punch, or well-placed shot. The leader shouted words of encouragement at his team, which also gave me the names of the other two mercenaries carrying Delagio and Hollie. Siris was the Bloodseeker with a Mohawk and fading blue tattoos covering his face, and Torin was the Skinshifter imprinting on a tall Middle Eastern man with a balding head and goatee.

  Bang!

  Grediya flinched as a bullet slammed into the cobbles right by her feet. She glanced up and I looked up with her, jolting when I saw an army of Lawbringers crisscrossing the city on the zip-lines. Each had one arm wrapped around the standing-pole that hung from the wire, and the other balancing their guns with incredible skill on specially made aiming notches. A storm of bullets followed the first, firing at us from every direction.

  “This is not what I need on a friggin’ hangover!” growled Zero.

  The Lawbringers continued to sweep overhead, jumping from the speeding zip-lines and repositioning themselves on towering pipes and tall buildings, taking shots at the mercenaries then sprinting forward and vaulting to new positions, with the speed and skill of ninjas.

  If I don’t do something, they’re going to catch us.

  “Put me down!” I shouted to Zero as the mercenaries cut down a claustrophobic passage behind a run of restaurants. The combined smell that emanated from the vents was overwhelming and not all that pleasant.

  “I thought you’d never ask,” he said dumping me unceremoniously to the ground.

  I tried to climb to my legs but they gave out and I collapsed to the ground.

  “We haven’t got time for this!” hissed Grediya, glancing up at the domed ceiling – where no doubt several hidden Lawbringers were moving themselves into positions that would ruin our day.

  “Come on kid,” said Zero, motioning to pick me up again. I swatted his hands away.

  “No, I can do this.”

  I grit my teeth together and heaved myself off the ground. My legs felt like rubber and I stumbled into the wall – scraping my cheek along the brick – but managed to stay upright. Rolling my head around, I turned so that my back was against the wall and then pushed off. I wobbled a few steps but then I felt the sensations come back.

  “I need my sword,” I said, holding out my hand.

  The mercenary carrying Hollie had Crimson holstered at his side. He threw it to me. I shrugged the holster over my shoulders and drew my blade.

  “No killing,” warned Zero. “They might not have been involved.”

  I nodded.

  “Can the rest of you stand?” he added.

  “I still can’t feel my legs,” said Hollie.

  “I can’t either,” said Danny.

  “I’m not ready,” admitted Delagio.

  Zero gave an irritated huff and then stared at me. “Looks like it’s on you to help kid, don’t get in the way.”

  “Trust me, I won’t.”

  A moment later we were running again. We burst out of the alleyway onto a wide street and were instantly met with three Lawbringers, who jumped down from the zip-line right in front of us. I switched over automatically and streaked forward, uppercutting one hard enough that his feet left the ground. Whilst he was still mid-air, I span around and brought Crimson down on the second Lawbringer’s shotgun, which he was just about to fire at Grediya. It sliced apart in a spark of wires and burst of steam. I followed up with a punch to his temple that was hard enough to turn his lights off and no more. I stepped forward to the third Lawbringer and bought the hilt of the blade down on the crown of his head. He fell forward and I drove a knee upwards to knock him out.

  The three collapsed at almost exactly the same time.

  I glanced up and saw a horde of Lawbringers rushing towards us from above. I could also sense them closing in on us at street level. “We need to go.”

  “This way,” said Zero.

  He led us across the street and down a winding network of crooked passageways. We barged past surprised Pandemonians, who were peering into the dusty windows of the less prominent shops, or just hanging out, talking and laughing in small groups. As soon as they realised who we were, they scattered like ants, shouting for Lawbringers.

  The iconic archway that led to the Cable Runner station grew ever clos
er as we tore down the streets, but all the while, I could feel the presence of the Lawbringers right on our tail.

  As we rushed down a cramped road lined by ramshackle houses, I saw a balcony window overhead push open and the glint of something metal push through the gap. I vaulted up, grabbing onto the metal railings and throwing myself onto the balcony. Launching out a fist, I smacked and bent the barrel of the rifle just as the Lawbringer fired, and the gun exploded in his hands. He cried out, dropping the damaged weapon from his bloodied hands; I caught it, driving the butt into his face. As he folded to the floor, I jumped back over the edge of the balcony and rejoined the others.

  We emerged back into the main concourse area, and countless Lawbringers rushed in from every direction – zip-lines, side streets, buildings and rooftops. They shouted through metallic megaphones at the residents and visitors, ordering them away from the area. The result was mass hysteria, with everyone scrambling for their lives, knocking each other over in their desperate attempts to escape. As we shoved into the rushing crowd – having no choice but to barge and fling them out of the way – I looked ahead and saw that a long row of Lawbringers were waiting for us at the archway, barring our way forward and aiming with their rifles. I have enough energy to survive those bullets, but everyone else will be shot to pieces. My eyes scanned the area, searching for a solution. I saw rows of tall, thick pipes running up the walls at either side of the grand archway and found it.

  “I’ll distract them!” I yelled. “Wait for me at the station!”

  “What are you doing, kid?”

  “Just go!”

  I broke away from the others, gathering my energy and moving like a streak of light through the crowd, fast enough that the tailwind I created whipped at clothes and knocked off hats. Moving to the edge of the area, I bounded up the stairs of one of the Yokai eateries and vaulted onto the pagoda roof, before jumping onto a horizontal run of pipes that ran against the wall. Below, I could see the others rushing closer to the deadly row of Lawbringers.

  Come on, you can do this.

  I rushed along the pipes – so fast my feet barely brushed the metal – following their route until they bent at a right angle and became vertical. I jumped out, slashing twice with Crimson and cutting clean through the pipes. Hot steam poured over my skin, but I registered no pain. I hooked onto the side of the final pipe and swung myself higher than the severed sections, waiting. The cuts glowed with ember and the pipes groaned as they started to break away from their supports.

  “Look out!” I shouted.

  With the aid of the supernatural energy, my voice came out like a thunderclap, and everyone in the entire area looked up at me – including the Lawbringers guarding the exit. A second later the pipes sections slid free and cascaded down towards the archway at exactly the angle and speed that I had hoped.

  The Lawbringers scrambled away from the falling debris, jumping and diving out of the way. The severed pipes smashed into the ground, creating a series of deafening metallic clangs that resounded through the whole of Concavious. They flipped and bounced around each other, before rolling to a stop – without harming a single person.

  A cloud of vapour poured around me and I had to slide down the pipes to be able to see. Instantly bullets smashed into the wall behind me, and I felt a few thud into my flesh as the Lawbringers positioned on the rooftops and walkways took shots. But I didn’t move a muscle until I saw Zero and his mercenaries weave past the pipe sections and the downed Lightwardens, carrying my friends through the archway that led out of the city.

  I jumped the few hundred feet back down to the street and then sprinted forward towards the archway. Bullets pinged around my legs, ricocheting off the cobbles and thundering off in a number of directions. A few of the Lawbringers by the arch had climbed back to their feet, but I knocked them back down again as I bolted past.

  An army of Lawbringers rushed behind me as I emerged into the station. Pandemonian civilians and officials were lying face down on the platform, their hands behind their heads in positions of surrender. Zero was standing astride one of the Cable Runner roofs, his gun pressed down to the coachman’s head – who looked thoroughly pissed off about the situation. The Guardians were inside with the other mercenaries, except for Grediya, who was standing on top of the runner with her boss, swinging her gun around.

  “Everybody just stay where you are and I won’t shoot!” she yelled in an all-business tone.

  “Hurry the hell up!” Zero shouted when he saw me sprinting towards him in a hailstorm of bullets. I’d reached the carriage before he’d even finished his sentence, jumping through the air and grabbing hold of the base of the Cable Runner with one hand.

  “Go!” I yelled.

  I stared up to see Zero press his gun harder into the coachman’s head. “You heard the boy. Let’s go!”

  “They’ll kill you for this, Jack,” hissed the Lawbringer.

  “My name isn’t Jack!” he growled. “Now activate this bloody thing!”

  The Lawbringer coachman activated the Cable Runner and a second later we were streaming through the cavernous tunnel, the petrol-scented wind whipping my face as I dangled from a metal bar beneath the carriage. I saw Zero’s hand appear from above but he snatched it back when a bullet slammed into the metal right next to it. I turned to see another Cable Runner surging after us, crowded with Lawbringers.

  “Bastards!” Zero roared. “That’s the only bloody hand I have left.”

  They Lawbringers fired a ream of shots towards us. A few more hit me in the arm, sinking only a few centimeters into my hardened flesh. I leaned over and used my teeth to pull them out as our pursuers kept firing. A moment later I heard Grediya gasp as a bullet connected. As soon as the Lawbringers had exhausted their ammo, they knelt down on the Cable Runner and reloaded. A moment later they were aiming to fire again.

  Bang!

  A shower of sparks ignited the gloomy tunnel as Zero’s bullet hit a sweet spot in the mechanism that secured the Lawbringer’s carriage to the rail. The shot severed whatever connection the two had, and the Cable Runner screamed to a halt on the tracks.

  Soon we had left it in our wake.

  When we drew close to the station at the other end of Concavious, I swung off the Cable Runner onto the platform, rolling to absorb the impact. As soon as the carriage stopped, I wrenched the door open and with the help of the other mercenaries, pulled my limping friends down onto the platform. I offered to help Grediya, who had a hand clutched around her waist, but she raised a hand and climbed down herself, wincing as she hit the floor. Before Zero jumped from the Cable Runner, he turned towards the Coachman.

  “Sorry, Erin,” he said.

  “For wh-”

  Zero pistol-whipped the Elf. The Lawbringer’s head lolled forward onto his chest and he slumped down in his seat.

  “Go!” shouted the mercenary.

  Everyone rushed over to the elevator. As we stood on it, a voice came from speakers above our head.

  Warning. A severe storm is currently active outside of Concavious. It is inadvisable to attempt to leave. Please return to the city.

  “Come on you piece of crap!” shouted Zero, stamping his foot down on the elevator.

  The Lawbringers of Concavious cannot accept responsibility for injury or death that might result from leaving the city during a storm. You have been warned. Thank you and have a nice day.

  A moment later, the platform started to rise upwards. I stared through the cavern, expecting to see more Cable Runners carrying Lawbringers. Every fibre in my muscles tensed, ready for a battle. It was only when the station disappeared from view, replaced by the gloom of the Pandemonian ocean, that I allowed myself to breathe.

  The creaking and groaning of the elevator was far louder and more aggressive than it had been on the way down. I couldn’t see anything through the glass but plumes of bubbles and cloudy water that thrashed around the elevator shaft, totally obscuring the view.

  This storm is b
ad.

  The power was still coursing through my veins and I had to calm myself down so that I didn’t use too much of it, in case I needed it again soon. When I switched off, I didn’t notice so much of a shift. It’s getting less and less prominent each time…I’m evolving. To begin with I had been like a machine, my thoughts minimal and acting on an instinct that felt a million years in evolution away. Now I was becoming more conscious and aware, as if the power were becoming less of a separate state of mind, and more a part of me. What happens if one day I can’t switch it off? Will I be able to cope, or will I be drained until there are no reserves, like a defunct battery?

  It took a hard pat to the arm before I realised that Zero was talking to me.

  “Sorry, what did you say?” I asked.

  “Zoned out there a bit did ya? Trust you to miss one of the only compliments I’ve ever given. I said I guess rumours do have value after all. About the Sorrowslayer at least.”

  “Yeah I guess.”

  “Cheer up kid, we’re out.” He glanced upwards and added, “Of here at least.”

  My mind had wandered yet again, this time to the fact that Pandemonians had known who we were and had tried to kidnap us. How did they know? Was it as simple as working it out from my first name…or did someone tell them? I looked around at Delagio, Danny and Hollie, who were slumped against the sides of the elevator and the knotting feeling I’d felt the moment I’d stepped into Pandemonia returned with a vengeance. Every time I think that I’m being paranoid, something happens. I think I have to accept that one of them really might be a traitor.

  “We’re almost there,” announced Grediya, as she injected her abdomen wound with one of the vials from her pouch, gritting her teeth together as the substance entered her system.

  ”This is going to be tough, people,” said Zero. “The guys will have prepared the fleet as much as they can, but even the tail of this storm looks like a bitch.” He jerked a thumb at the raging water beyond the glass to reinforce his point. “Everyone needs to be on their best form.” He glanced at the other Guardians. “Are you lot okay to fight now?”