"All this, in essence, has nothing to directly do with the chain of events that have been troubling
us recently. We're still trying to figure out why somebody—or something—has been targeting some of you here, but rest assured that no further harm will come to you as long as you remain within HQ premises." He sighed. "But it's because of the unstable barrier that the threat got through. At the time of Tuesday's attack, it pretty much imploded for an hour or two, too suddenly for anyone to prepare for it, as power blackouts often are. And… well, you're all well aware of what happened during that short time we were left undefended. Lieutenant Leopard was possessed—"
"That's enough, Snow," Stag said quietly.
Snow glanced at him and nodded slightly, face expressionless. "It doesn't matter anyhow. It won't happen again. I just wanted to tell you why it happened in the first place." His eyes wandered again to the right. There was nothing there, and Elstrin wondered if he was looking at a ghost. It was perfectly plausible. "I know you have questions, but I've said everything I can—there is much you can't know yet, for a number of reasons, legal and… otherwise. That's all, cadets."
He stepped back. Stag opened his mouth to speak, but Kana surprised Elstrin by piping up. "Why are you telling us, sir?"
Snow blinked. "I just said so. I believe it's fair that you know."
"No, I mean, why you? Why can't Colonel Stag do it?" Kana took a breath and pressed on. "I did see Rem when it happened. He—he looked like you. I mean—"
"Because I know him," Snow said shortly. "He doesn't usually tolerate people talking about him like this, and I was given permission to do so."
"But—he looked exactly—"
"Leave it, Kana," Elstrin muttered, because Snow seemed to be a bit irked. The last thing they all needed was more trouble.
"No further questions? Good," Snow said, going to the door again. He was gone before anybody could say another thing.
x
The city was crawling with soldiers.
There were some every few blocks, pairs or small groups patrolling the area, eyes scanning the pedestrians, hands by their guns. Their shields dragged behind them like fishing nets, snagging on buildings and questing into alleyways, acting as huge metal detectors more than armour.
The sight, not surprisingly, made Vel angry. His two escorts made him angry. The way the people stared at and avoided them made him even angrier. At least it was a short walk to the slums. They'd taken the army truck all the way to the edge of the city, parked it on the side of the nearest main road.
He found that he had no trouble at all recalling the way to his place. The route was long and confusing in what was essentially a maze, but he strode along the pressed dirt and iron sheets with easy confidence. The two soldiers followed, glancing around warily, and Vel took silent pleasure in their obvious unease. Maybe Gabriel had been right. Getting out of HQ for a while might help. He needed to see something other than uniformed men and the training field. Escape that world for a bit.
But when he finally arrived at the cluster of rusty shacks and cabins that marked the beginning of his neighbourhood, he paused, staring down the convoluted street. Somewhere behind that bend was his home. And his sister. Vel didn't know if she'd heard yet, and the idea of breaking the news to her was like ice creeping up his spine. He couldn't do it. He couldn't even allow himself to fully believe it. There was something stuck between his present state and the gut-wrenching grief that followed, a wall of denial and dangerous rage. He wanted to dosomething before he let the truth snap him up and consume him. And if he told Diva, he wouldn't have the chance.
He swallowed and turned away. "Where's Gabriel's house?" he asked one of his guards.
"This way." Vel followed as the man led them slowly into another section of the slums. They passed areas he hadn't been to since he was a child, places that were new, places that were no longer there, and finally the streets became entirely unfamiliar. Some of the open-air stores here sold weapons and ammunition in broad daylight—they walked by an unlucky vendor scrambling to cover the pistols and unlabelled boxes laid over a table. The soldiers glanced at his wares disapprovingly, but didn't stop to investigate.
Eventually, they arrived at a little blue house that looked like it had seen better days. Vel stared at it, at the house of the infamous Gabriel Kresil, a place he'd tried to find since his brother died, a place nobody would point towards because everyone thought it was cursed. "That's it?"
The soldier shrugged. "Yeah. Don't go in, though. He's warded it in case anything else happens." He stepped up to the curtain of beads over the entrance and parted it with the barrel of his gun. "Gabriel!"
"Coming," a faint reply floated up. A moment later Gabriel appeared, giving the lieutenant an irritated glance. "There's no need to shout. Hey, Vel."
"Hey." Vel rubbed his arm, not really knowing what else to say.
"Can't you two go do your patrol duty or whatever somewhere else?" Gabriel told the soldiers.
"No."
"He'll be safe with me. I promise."
"No, Gabriel."
Gabriel rolled his eyes, grabbed Vel's arm and shoved him through the doorframe briefly, ignoring his startled exclamation. Vel couldn't even begin a protest when dark, aggressive magic tightened around him, snapping invisible rubber bands over his head and chest and legs. Gabriel's hand landed on his shoulder, and as quickly as they'd come, the sensations disappeared, leaving him gasping. "There, now he's got my wards. Happy? There's nothing you can do about it either way, so you might as well be happy."
The soldier's hand drifted along his rifle threateningly. "We have orders from—"
"Just leave me alone, guys," Vel interjected, rubbing his forehead wearily. The strength of Gabriel's magic was scary. He felt like he was wearing a set of diamond-hard armour, light as feathers and utterly invisible. "I'll be fine. Really."
The guards sighed. "The colonel will hear of this as soon as we go back to HQ, you know."
"Yeah, yeah," Gabriel said, shooing them away. "Go hunt down that fucker instead of wasting time here."
When they departed down the dirty road, Vel tried to examine the wards on him in more detail, temporarily distracted by how intricate they were. There were runes all over him, visible briefly only if he concentrated hard, and he understood just a mere fraction of it. "How'd you cast all this?" he asked.
"With time and great skill. Is that fascination I hear in your voice?"
Vel glared at him, angry again. "What am I even doing here?"
"I don't know, what would you like to do? Wanna come in?"
Vel glanced at the mismatched curtain sullenly. A few months ago he'd have jumped at the chance, but so much had changed since. "No," he muttered.
"Sure? I've got booze. Tons of it. You could just drink 'til you pass out. In the living room, of course. I'll kill you if you throw up all over my bed."
"…Are you serious?" Vel said. Gabriel just raised his eyebrows. "Yeah. Do whatever you want, I'll pay for it. Or try to." "What? Why the fuck would you do that?"
"Because." Gabriel gave him an impossibly patient look. "If you go around HQ screaming and punching things, you'd just scare your friends off. If you did it around those lieutenants, they'd send you back up there. If you did it here in the city on your own, then you'll get arrested and we all look bad. So obviously I have to babysit you while you do your self-destructive coping thing, and make sure nothing too stupid happens."
Vel stared at him for a moment more before dropping his gaze, abruptly tired. "I don't know. I don't know what I want to do. I just want An—" His throat closed up of its own accord. He sighed shakily and ran his hands through his hair. "My hair's getting really long," he mumbled to nobody in particular, just to talk about something else.
"Come downstairs and I'll cut it for you," Gabriel offered. He swiped the curtain aside and disappeared into the house before Vel could respond. Vel watched the beads clack together quietly, gleaming in the sunlight. Biting
his lip, he walked in and went downstairs after Gabriel reluctantly.
The basement wasn't what he'd expected. After hearing about all the things Gabriel could do, he'd thought the place would be full of arcane artefacts, spellbooks and magical objects and ingredients. There was none of that, not even a single rune circle chalked onto the bare cement floor. The place was just a medium-sized room, equipped with a bit more than the average slum-dweller could afford, but certainly not anything impressive at all. The old things lying around had the same ragged quality to them that the stuff in Vel's place did: used well beyond their prime.
What shocked him even more was the little girl sitting at the cheap fold-out table by the humming refrigerator, quietly scribbling on a piece of paper. One glance told Vel she was Gabriel's sister. He didn't know the man had a sibling, or indeed any family at all in Mernot.
She looked up at Vel. "Hi," she said solemnly.
"Hi," Vel replied, trying to smile, but those particular muscles in his face didn't seem to want to respond. He settled for a friendly nod instead. "I'm Vel."
"Keri."
"Um… what're you doing?"
"Homework."
"You go to school?" Vel said, surprised.
"Yeah, I enrolled her a few months ago," Gabriel grunted, emerging from another room with a
thin plastic sheet and a handful of equipment. Hooking a foot under the remaining chair, he dragged it to the centre of the room. "Sit."
Vel sat. He was already considering changing his mind, but Gabriel slung the plastic sheet around his shoulders in a smooth motion, securing it at his throat with a clip. He walked away and came back with a shallow basin of water, which he sprinkled over Vel's head. Vel shivered at the cold, then at the rough scrape of a wooden comb through his hair. It was a weird feeling, to have someone else brush his hair. Even Andrew hadn't— "Are you seriously giving me a haircut?"
"Yeah, why not? It is getting too long for a guy in the army," Gabriel said easily. "Don't worry; I've been cutting my own hair since forever. And Keri's. We look gorgeous, don't we? I know what I'm doing. You'll look really hot with short hair."
"If you're trying to seduce me, now is not the fucking time," Vel snapped, for a moment forgetting that Keri was there. He winced at the sharp snick of the scissors, watched a small, damp clump of hair fall to the plastic sheet. Gabriel sighed from somewhere behind him and disappeared again. He returned with a bottle of pale liquor, which he thrust unceremoniously into Vel's hand. "What—"
"Drink that. Get drunk. If you get any tenser than you are now, you're going to tear something."
Vel realised that all the muscles along his back and shoulders were bunched up, taut like he'd exercised too much without stretching. He forced them to loosen a little and took a silent gulp of the alcohol. It was some sort of rum, sweet and spicy, and didn't taste at all bad. Automatically, he drank another mouthful. The scissors snipped by his ear again and he just managed to not jump.
Before he knew it, the bottle was more than half gone, his fingers were warm and the attentive silence in the room felt dangerously nice. Vel slowed down guiltily, a little dizzy. Gabriel still wasn't done, clipping away patiently at his hair, a light hand resting occasionally on the back of his neck to keep him from moving. A disturbing thought crossed Vel's mind, and he blurted it without care. "Are you fantasising about my brother?"
Keri looked up from her homework curiously. The scissors didn't falter. "No, Vel," Gabriel said calmly. "But it's good that you're starting to make baseless accusations. Keep drinking."
Vel stared at the bottle hazily. He couldn't remember drinking any sort of liquor with Andrew. It was always just beer. Except that time they all did vodka shots from the bottles they'd stolen from the corner store on Tory Street—had Andrew been there that night? He couldn't remember. That fucking sucked. As carefully as he could, he set the bottle down beside the chair. "I don't want any more."
"Suit yourself."
"Are you finished yet?"
"Nearly."
"Why're you doing this?"
"I'm babysitting you. Gotta do something. Plus, you must be lonely with him gone."
Vel closed his eyes at the blunt statement. "Don't."
"Mm." Hands tilted his head up. A few more snips by his temples and ears, and Gabriel's voice turned away. "What d'you think, sis?"
Keri giggled. "He's very handsome."
Gabriel laughed and ruffled Vel's newly short hair, whisking away the plastic sheet. How short, he didn't really care. He couldn't figure out why he'd just allowed himself to sit through that. His thoughts swam. Why couldn't he remember? He recalled the exhilaration of running from the store, the cold clink of mismatched glasses, the harsh, unexpected burn of alcohol. Just not the people. Two years ago—they were already dating then. He shouldn't have forgotten. He should've kept a journal or something. Written down every moment he experienced with Andrew. He should've taken some goddamn photos of them together in the army, at least. Now all he had left was the fucking outdated one in his cold, empty room up in HQ. That was allhe had left. He buried his face in his hands, a sudden sob bursting from his throat, tears escaping no matter how hard he squeezed his eyes shut. "Fuck," he groaned miserably. It wasn't enough. "Fuck!"
"Hey," Gabriel said, close by again. Warm hands closed around his wrists, and Vel lashed out angrily, half-toppling out of the chair, only to have his arms trapped in a vice-like grip. Gabriel seemed too composed in his blurry vision. "No, c'mon, stop squirming around. Just hug me. C'mon, Vel. It's easy."
Vel fought the arms circling his shoulders, first because he just wanted to be left alone to grow cold and freeze and stop thinking, then because the awkward half-embrace that Gabriel trapped him in felt so good. Warm and solid and safe, and he didn't want that. "Please just go away," Vel whimpered, struggling weakly. He didn't want to be comfortable if the person making him comfortable wasn't Andrew. He didn't want to feel anything without Andrew here. "P-please."
"I'm afraid I can't," Gabriel said gently.
Vel gave in and stopped moving. His limbs felt too heavy to move anyway. The alcohol still seeping into his blood was making him alarmingly drowsy. He sniffed and wiped at his eyes, shivering and hiccupping. His fingers curled against the soft, worn fabric of Gabriel's shirt. "Fuck you," he mumbled, already forgetting why exactly he was insulting the man.
"Yeah, whatever. You like sleeping on floors, don't you? D'you want to move to the couch or something?"
"I'm so fucking tired," Vel said, not knowing if he was answering a question or not. "Just let me sleep for the rest of the fucking year."
"You can have the whole day and even a bit of tomorrow, how about that? God knows you woke up earlier than I expected."
"I hate being drunk," he muttered, words slurring. "I hate you. I hate when my head doesn't make sense. I just…" He forced his eyes open briefly to find Gabriel gazing down at him. "I just want him here. Is that too much to ask for?"
He never heard Gabriel's answer, or maybe he forgot it along with most of the embarrassing post-haircut things he'd blurted before passing out. He woke up feeling slightly better than he had that morning—or was it yesterday morning? There was no way to tell the time in here; the trapdoor in the ceiling was shut. Vel blinked blearily, stretching underneath the blankets piled over him. The faded red couch he was lying on creaked and sank. The living room was empty, lit by two lamps that didn't seem to be plugged in to power sockets. Maybe it was magic.
Vel sat up and rubbed his puffy eyes. "Hello?" he called, his voice muffled to his own ears.
"I'm in here," Gabriel said from behind one of the bead curtains. "Bathroom's the blue door. You can take a shower if you want, but there's only five minutes of hot water."
Vel tottered that way, wondering idly why Gabriel called it that when there was just another curtain there, albeit more densely-strung than the other one—and he walked solidly into a door the exact same shade as the beads, concealed underneath the floor-length
strings. A healthy person probably would've noticed it, but Vel was hung-over and groggy still. "Ugh," he muttered, groping for the doorknob.
Gabriel chuckled from the other room. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Vel grunted, finally entering the tiny bathroom. Again, it was old and shabby, but having plumbing and running water in the slums was a very rare luxury. He washed his face, took a much-needed piss and decided against showering. He wasn't too dirty, at least he thought so. After half a year of training, he only felt compelled to shower when he was covered in sweat and dust. He went back out again, studiously avoiding glancing in the scratched mirror over the sink. "Um," he said, speaking to the other curtain. "I want to go back to HQ."
Dragon Bone Page 33
