The Oracle's Prophecy

by Alex Leopold

  “My title is Controller of the Directory.” He fixed the young Irenic with his steel-blue gaze. “You should see me as nothing less than an extension of the Archon’s will.”

  Amusing himself, he then removed his sword and showed the hilt to the aide. The Archon’s seal was stamped prominently in the blade’s metal. “With all its privileges and authority.”

  He slid the sword back into its holster.

  When he turned back to the aide, his face had grown cold and mean. In a flash of movement, Control closed the gap between the two men and grabbed the boy’s neck.

  “In short, I am the Archon!” He hissed. “And this is what happens to those who betray him.”

  The skin of the aide’s neck began to glow where Control’s splayed fingers were gripping it.

  “A neat little trick don’t you think?” Control asked after the boy exhaled sharply in a dry, high-pitched whine. “We call it the hack.”

  The aide shuddered violently.

  “I’m absorbing all the energy in your body. In essence, I am taking your soul.”

  The aide shook his head.

  “I’ll use it to make me stronger.” Control continued. “More powerful.”

  Ashen-faced with colorless eyes that had sunk deep into their sockets, the aide barely moved. The only sign there was still some life in him was the slight twitching of his hands.

  “Please”, he croaked. “Stop.”

  Control didn’t remove his hand. “Tell me, how did I know from reading your mind that the Watcher believes her predictor witnessed the start of the Oracle’s last prophecy?”

  The aide said nothing.

  “Tell me!”

  “I read it.”

  “And what is the punishment for this crime?”

  “Death.” The aide moaned.

  “And I am carrying out this sentence.” Control said.

  When at last he’d hacked all the energy the aide could give him, Control dumped what remained of the body over the side of the building.

  The sun would be rising soon. It would bring a day Control had waited for his whole life.

  17

  Listening to her sister sleep, she packed quickly wanting to be on her way before she changed her mind.

  With little light to see by she simply had to hope she'd grabbed everything she needed, there was no time to double check. Finally ready, she let herself glance one last time at her sister to say a silent goodbye. Then Cooper slipped out of the tent and ran toward the black-market.

  First thing to do was steal a strong unguarded horse. Then she’d ride west, moving quickly and using every trick in the book to evade the Sekhem her father would surely send the moment he realized she was gone. Maybe, if her luck held out, she'd outwit Mayat long enough for her father to realize she didn't want to be found.

  After that… well, her plan was still developing. What she wanted to do was free Ellis. If she could find the resistance in time, she might be able to convince them to help her.

  She was just warming to this idea when someone raced up behind her and tackled her to the ground. Before she could react, she was spun onto her back and slapped hard across her face.

  “How could you?” Riley demanded slapping her again, so hard this time that Cooper saw stars.

  “Were you really going to leave without saying goodbye?”

  Riley was whimpering, her bottom lip trembling, her whole body shaking as she sobbed.

  It triggered that part of Cooper's conscience, the part she'd been fighting against all night, to drop into her gut and coil.

  “I knew I wouldn't have gone if I had.” She explained as she massaged her jaw. Indeed the very thought had almost been enough to make her call off the whole thing.

  “Why didn't you ask me to come with you?” Riley asked as she rolled off her sister.

  “Because, I knew you’d never leave father. You’re too loyal to him to ever up and leave in the dead of night.” Not like me.

  “I’ll do it.” Riley swore as she held onto the cuff of Cooper's coat. “If things don't work out up north, I'll come with you.”

  It was a hollow promise and both girls knew it. Once they’d crossed the mountains and entered the Great Unknown they'd be trapped on the other side, forever.

  “I’m not waiting till then.” Cooper refused as she prized Riley's fingers away. “I'm going, and you can come with me or stay behind, but I'm going.”

  “It’s too dangerous. We’re fugitives!” Riley argued.

  “No, he’s the fugitive, Lee! He’s the Great Inventor, the one with all the powers! He’s the one they want!

  “No one cares about you and me.” She added. “We’re just a couple of basics, same as everyone else.”

  “He needs us, you know he does.”

  Cooper shook her head.

  “He needs her, not us.” She said referring to their mother, the woman who haunted their father’s dreams to this day. “We’re just a daily reminder that she's gone and I'm done with it.”

  Slipping the straps of her pack over her shoulders she held out a hand for her sister.

  “Last chance.”

  Riley looked at it, and Cooper held out a hope she’d take it, but in the end she shook her head.

  “Then this is goodbye, I guess.”

  “Will I ever see you again?” Riley wrapped her arms around her sister.

  “I know it.” Cooper promised, then had to laugh as this time she was the one who was crying.

  Then with no more words to say, Cooper released her sister and began walking away into the night.

  “Be careful, it's a dangerous country out there.” Riley called out.

  Cooper gave her best devil-may-care smile.

  “You know I live for danger!”

  She’d hardly finished her sentence when a half-dozen men raced out of the darkness and attacked them with wooden clubs.

  Riley took the first blow to the back of her head and was knocked out cold. Cooper had a little more time to react and was able to fight back for a second. Then something heavy was struck against the base of her skull and her legs buckled beneath her.

  “Tie them up and get them in the wagon!” A voice commanded and in her stunned state Cooper was helpless to resist as ruff-hands bound her ankles and wrists and stuffed a heavy gag in her mouth.

  When they did the same to Riley, one of the men, the rat-faced blend who Cooper had seen with Moloch earlier, caught sight of her necklace.

  “A Torchbearer, hmm?” The trapper said as he admired the signet ring.

  Then he closed his fingers around it and tore it away.

  Cooper wanted to scream but with the gag in her mouth, she didn’t make a sound.

  18

  Quill was jolted awake from a recurring nightmare. Almost every night he was forced to relive the day Sancisco had fallen to the Directory. When he’d been betrayed. When a secret had been stolen and when she died.

  Sitting up, he shivered. Not from the morning’s cold but from something else far more unsettling and immediate that was rattling his subconscious thoughts. Something wasn’t quite right. He felt a hand on his shoulder before he noticed Acadia kneeling at his side.

  “Mayat has returned with troubling news. You need to hear it immediately.”

  The grizzly appeared jumpy and Quill noticed he was holding the long rifle.

  Quill waved Mayat over and saw she too was armed even though she never removed her fighting staff from her tunic unless she intended to use it.

  Something was definitely not right.

  “Tell me.” He ordered as he strapped his own weapons around his waist.

  “Your friend Pickwick has fingered you to Moloch.” She said, her voice soft but urgent. “He saw you in the souk yesterday with your fingers against your skull. He suspects you’re a crink.”

  “Damn!”

  “That’s not the worst of it.” Acadia said.

  “Moloch’s a Directory informer.” Mayat continued. “Last night he rece
ived a message through the whispering network. Apparently, the Directory’s hunting a runaway Irenic – a woman and an anomaly – she entered the Borderlands a few days ago.”

  The whispering network was a means by which the Directory could telepathically send messages across the whole nation. It was a little like a radio address from the days of the lost civilization. Anyone could listen to it – blend or basic, alike – you just needed to be taught how to tune in.

  “What did it say?” He asked.

  “The Directory doesn’t want the Irenic getting away, so they’re offering a sizable reward for the capture of anyone who might be connected to her or the resistance.”

  “And the number one suspect on that list are anomalies.” Acadia chimed in.

  Mayat nodded with a grim face.

  “Moloch ordered his men to grab you when you're alone in the market today.” She told him. “They’re already on their way.”

  “We need to leave immediately!” Quill stated, then addressed Acadia. “You load the wagon, I’ll get the girls and …”

  Mayat shot her hand in the air for silence as she turned to stare at the girls’ tent.

  “They’re not here.” He heard her whisper but his legs were already propelling him across the camp. By the time Acadia caught up with him, he’d half torn their tent apart looking for them.

  “They’re gone!” Acadia growled having to lift Quill off his feet in order to pull him away. “They must have left during Cooper’s watch.”

  Quill turned to Mayat who was already examining the ground to pick up their trail.

  “Which way?” He demanded.

  “Toward the market!”

  In the half-light of morning the souk was still only just coming alive. No one would be selling anything for at least another hour, and Quill couldn't think of any reason why his daughters would need to be there so early unless they were looking to cause trouble. While he could imagine Cooper capable of doing something so reckless he couldn't understand how she'd managed to convince Riley to join her.

  Calming himself for a second he placed the tips of his fingers against his temple and started to telepathically scan the market.

  “They’re not there.” He stammered his mouth suddenly dry.

  “Where’s Moloch keeping the boy?” Acadia asked Mayat.

  “A warehouse in a town nearby. I heard them whispering about it last night.”

  “If he has them, that’s where they’ll be.”

  Quill reached for a belt of ammunition on the wagon.

  “Mayat and I will go find Riley and Cooper.” He told Acadia. “You take the wagon and start heading for the ranch, we’ll meet you along the way."

  “To hell with the wagon, I should go with you.” Acadia countered.

  “We need what’s in the wagon to survive through winter.” Quill argued placing a hand on his chest to stop him.

  The ursinian didn’t look happy but eventually he reluctantly agreed.

  “Okay. I don’t like it, but I’ll do what you ask. As long as you promise me the moment you find them, you give them the trigger.”

  That made Quill flinch.

  “I can get them back without needing to do that.” He replied defensively as he mounted up.

  “You don’t know that for sure.”

  “What I do know, is if I give them the trigger like this. It will be like lighting a stick of dynamite. I have no idea what might happen.”

  “You know they’ll live, Quill. That’s the most important thing.” Acardia stressed. “If you do nothing though, Moloch might kill them.”

  19

  The moment the wagon came to a stop Cooper was dragged off the back and dumped on the ground. The fall knocked the wind out of her and she barely had time to regain her breath before she was half-carried, half-dragged into the ruins of an old warehouse.

  A set of doors had long been torn from their hinges and they entered through them into a musty smelling corridor overflowing with close to three-centuries of filth.

  “Where’s Moloch?” Asked the man at the head of the column as he led them through a hole in the wall and out onto the main floor of the warehouse. The men called him Rezster and he was the blend with the pinched face of a rat.

  “I told you to bring the father!” A clearly annoyed Moloch shouted from deeper inside the building when he saw them approach.

  “We found his daughters sneaking around the market in the darkness, it was easy pickings.” Rezster argued as they dragged Cooper and Riley between rows of rusted metal containers.

  “The others are grabbing the father right now.” The rat blend continued having to raise his voice to be heard over the chattering of a thousand birds nesting in the broken roof above their heads.

  Though terrified, Cooper tried to take in all these details. Her head was still burning from the attack but she had to pay attention to everything. It might be the difference between her and Riley remaining captive or escaping.

  “Take a look at this.” Rezster threw something across to Moloch. “The blonde one was wearing it. See how the ring’s stamped with the Torchbearer seal?”

  “Interesting.” Moloch muttered as he held the necklace up to the light.

  “And then there’s this.” Rezster dumped Cooper at Moloch’s feet. “Looks like these two have a little crink in them after all.”

  Moloch’s hard expression suddenly eased and he quickly squatted down on his heels to examine Cooper. Gripping her jaw tightly, he pulled her close enough that she could smell his rank breath.

  “Very, very good.” He announced with a satisfied sigh.

  “So what's your crink ability, angel?” He asked yanking the cloth gag out of her mouth. “You a rounder, or do you have some focused ability, like a broadcaster or a portaller?”

  “Perhaps she’s a predictor, boss?” A trapper called out.

  “Don’t be stupid. If she was she’d have seen us coming.” Someone pointed out.

  “I’m no crink!” Cooper spat back. “You’ve made a mistake.”

  “If I’ve made such a big mistake, then why are your eyes so red, princess?” He asked and pulled a doping dart out of her neck.

  That took her breath away.

  Her head was still pounding and her body felt weak on her knees but she’d assumed that was from the attack. Could it be from something else? Looking at her sister, Cooper saw the same two darts in Riley’s neck.

  “Sting don’t lie, angel.” Moloch told her. “It didn’t lie on you and it didn’t lie when we used it on your friend there either.”

  He gestured toward what at first glance looked to be a pile of dirty clothes. Then with a shocked gasp, Cooper realized she was looking at Ellis.

  He’d been beaten she saw with a flash of fear. Half his face was covered in dried blood and his features looked swollen. Yet, this didn't stop him from giving her a wink and mouthing ‘welcome’.

  “I told you she was a crink!” A stumpy man standing with the rest of Moloch’s men called out. Cooper recognized Pickwick from the day before.

  “My father's going to make you pay for what you did!” She shouted at him through gritted teeth.

  “And who exactly is your father, eh angel?” Moloch asked.

  When she went very quiet a sneer spread across his face. It was as if he knew she had a secret to give up.

  “Wake that one up!” He said jabbing a finger at Riley. “I want some answers.”

  Someone produced a rusted canteen and Rezster proceeded to pour it over Riley’s face until she came awake.

  “Get her up.” Moloch ordered even as a dazed Riley continued to cough out water and fought to breathe.

  When she was on her knees he squatted down to face her.

  “You know me?” He asked.

  She would’ve seen him only once before, but his reptile like skin and the sharp horns jutting along his head made him unforgettable.

  “Yes.” She confirmed.

  “You’ll answer my questions quickly. I
f you don't I'm going to start hurting her.” He pointed a knife at Cooper.

  “Don't talk to him, Lee!” Cooper spat out.

  Rezster silenced her with a fist to her stomach. Moloch waited until she’d stopped coughing before he continued.

  “Your father’s a crink, isn’t he?”

  Riley shook her head. “No! He’s just a farmer. We own a ranch over a day’s ride from here and we grow…”

  A hand gesture from Moloch to Rezster and Riley’s breath caught as his fist broke across Cooper’s face.

  “Bastards!” Ellis yelled at Moloch. He was squirming on the floor, trying to get out of his bindings. The trapper guarding him smacked the butt of his rifle into his chest to shut him up.

  “Quiet, memory-carrier, you ain’t worth that much to me that I wouldn’t happily put a bullet into you.” Moloch snapped before calmly returning to his questioning.

  “Your father’s part of the resistance, isn’t he?” He asked as they pulled Cooper back onto her knees. “Does he know anything about a runaway Irenic? Did he come to the souk to meet her?”

  “What …” Riley stammered as her eyes welled with tears. Cooper’s nose was running blood.

  “The resistance, pumpkin?” Moloch repeated slowly. “We already know your father is part of it. Now we want to know why he came to this souk?”

  “He’s not part of the resistance.”

  Moloch ordered his man to strike Cooper again.

  “What do you want me to tell you?” Riley screamed.

  From his coat pocket, Moloch revealed Riley’s necklace.

  “Perhaps this will help jog your memory?” He showed her the burning torch seal of the Torchbearers stamped on the ring.

  “That’s nothing.” Riley said breathlessly.

  Moloch gave a look to suggest they both knew better.

  “Now, I’m going to give you one last chance to tell me the truth.” He told her, pocketing the necklace then making a gesture to the ratty-blend.

  Rezster pulled a pocket knife from his pants then gave a tired grunt as he knelt down in front of Cooper and placed the blade’s tip against the base of her chin.