And why hadn’t Harold been there when the Right Hand had exploded?
Something to deal with very soon, he thought as he entered Lucie’s prison.
The room was extremely large, the ceiling fifty feet above Rendal’s head. It’d taken years to get this place built to the correct dimensions. It all had to be perfect for his technology to work. Cages hung from the ceiling, some moving to different places. Rendal didn’t concern himself with where the prisoners were going; he’d worked out the details long ago, and now it all functioned like a finely tuned clock. They would be fed. They would be cleaned. And then they would be drained of their energy.
A single cage was slowly being lowered from the high ceiling as Rendal limped across the floor. It took a minute or so, but eventually, Lucie was in front of him. The cage hung maybe a foot above the ground. She still wore the green necklace, both that and the cage keeping her from breaking out.
“You figured out how that works yet, Lucie? You were always smart.”
The old woman said nothing, only stared at Rendal.
“I’m sure you know your magic is basically dead right now. All those people above you? They’re mages too. Sidnie really embraced magic, like I wanted New Perth to do. It was a tough decision, stealing people from Sidnie. If they were to ever discover where I am, they could use magic against me, but New Perth can’t. It would have been easier to simply steal you all, but then I might have been caught quicker. Plus, challenges bring out the best in people, don’t you agree, Lucie?”
Only silence met his question.
“I’m sure you do. But me going to Sidnie meant I had to find some way to neutralize their magic, and that was when the necklace you now wear was born. You know how magic works. Your mind’s focus, combined with your nanocytes and Etheric energy, allows you to interact with the world around you. To cross into people’s minds. What I had to figure out was that it wasn’t just your mind’s focus that mattered. Your nanocytes have to be able to focus, too. They have to be able to listen to what you’re telling them to do. That necklace stops that communication. Your nanocytes are constantly being scattered, like small dogs who can’t look at any one thing for longer than a few moments. All the nanocytes in your body are like that right now, so although you may focus, they can’t.”
Rendal smiled, proud of himself. It was truly a feat of genius, how he’d figured it all out.
Lucie didn’t seem impressed. “You are a bore, old man. I can’t believe I ever went to bed with you.”
Rendal ignored the slight. “How do you like what I’ve done with the place?”
“Did you come here to gloat about your insanity, Rendal? Is that the only reason you pulled me down?”
“Oh, no. Insanity didn’t do this, my dear. Ambition did. A desire to finally see New Perth as it should always have been, a city on par with Sidnie as well as every other city on Irth. A city that embraces its full humanity instead of tossing half of it away like you all did. Like you did.”
“I don’t know why I ever loved you, Rendal. That man is long dead; I guess he died when he lost New Perth’s heart all those years ago.”
Rendal flipped his hand. “Enough. There’s no need to dwell in the past. Did you see her? The Right Hand?”
Lucie looked skeptically at Rendal’s bandaged side. “I think you saw her too, Rendal. Looks like you saw a bit too much. Maybe bit off more than you could chew, aye?”
“How long have you known she had that much potential?”
“Since I first saw her. She didn’t even realize she was using magic back then. That was how strong she was.”
“The things she can do, Lucie. The things I can do with her.”
“Ha!” Lucie laughed. “She’ll have no fucking part of ye, old man. That one is as honorable as they come, and if you go after her again, you’ll find out in a much harsher fashion. Mayhap your whole body will end up in bandages.”
Rendal blinked, staring at the woman. He didn’t move, hardly even breathed.
And then he started laughing—loud, braying laughter that echoed off the ceilings and filled everyone’s ears. He bent over, his side hurting, but unable to help himself.
Finally, after long moments, he straightened and looked at Lucie. “You don’t get it, do you? Even after everything you’re seeing here, you still don’t get it.” He shook his head and looked up. “All those people—why do you think they’re here? Not as decorations. I’m taking the most important part of them and making it mine.” He looked back down at Lucie. “The concentration of nanocytes in my bloodstream dwarfs anything you can imagine. What that girl did out in the yard was powerful for a mortal, Lucie. Yes. But I’m venturing into the world of immortality. I’m the most powerful mage ever to walk Irth, simply because of the sheer amount of energy I contain.”
He cocked his head to the side, smiling.
“She may be powerful, but that’s only to you. To me, she is another subject, one I think could be useful.”
Lucie looked down at her feet, and Rendal thought she was finally seeing the truth: his power could not be contained nor thwarted.
When she looked up, though, Rendal knew that wasn’t the case. The old woman was smiling.
“Heal up, Rendal. I can’t wait for her to burn your ass to the core.”
This would be a problem; Rendal couldn’t deny it. Lucie stood in her cage and mocked him, but he didn’t care about that. The issue was his side. It was badly burned, and he shouldn’t even be up and moving around. His doctor had told him to remain in bed, and that exposing the flesh to air could easily cause infection.
Rendal didn’t care about any of that. He supposed that he was helping himself heal some with magic, although not nearly as fast as he wanted. He wanted everything to be back to normal already, but that wasn’t happening. Instead, he was fortifying his cells to keep infection at bay but wasn’t quite able to rush the rest of the healing process. Or maybe he could if he simply did as the doctor asked and laid down.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea, at least for a few hours.
Rendal went to his couch and pulled a pillow beneath his head.
This was what New Perth never saw. Healing magic like this. The ability to actually help cells regenerate, to support them so that people could live longer, healthier lives. They would see soon, though. Once Rendal had Riley, New Perth would see.
“Harold, we must talk,” he told his guard.
Harold stepped farther into the room from his post at the door. Rendal knew how the man’s loyalty was built; he’d been through Harold’s head more times than he could count, and understood the intricacies of his personality. He was loyal to power, which was why he followed Rendal. Yet, the man hadn’t been in the yard a few days ago when everything went down, and Rendal needed to understand why.
“Yes, sir. How can I be of service?”
“Before we get to that, Harold, let’s talk about where you were when the woman decided to blow everyone up. You weren’t in the yard. I was. Your second in command was. You weren’t. Why?”
The guard didn’t drop his eyes. “I was inside the building.”
“I figured that, Harold. I didn’t think you were standing in the woods watching us. Why were you in the building?”
“I was on the other side in case they came out there.”
“The other side? The entire goal was to push them toward me, Harold. Not away from me.”
“That’s why I was there, sir. I was making sure that if they wound around the long way, they would find opposition. I was going to turn them and send them back toward you.”
Rendal looked at his head guard, consciously shoving away the suspicion on his face. He reached out with his mind, sidestepping the man’s words. He’d been silly to ask anyway. No one in this building could hide from him, which was why none of them had been taught to use magic. Rendal had spent years conquering warlords and enlisting their armies to his purpose. None knew magic, and none ever would. Rendal reigned over everyone’s min
d.
It only took a few seconds to discover the truth in the forefront of the man’s mind.
It had been both. He had been ensuring that they didn’t escape another way, but he was also scared of her.
A thought came. Is he more scared of her than me? Because surely he would have known I’d ask this question. If he is, then his loyalty will flip.
He looked through the man’s mind quickly, but he couldn’t find the answer to the question. He would need more time, because it wasn’t at the forefront.
Rendal came back to reality. “Next time I want you by me. You send someone else to the other side of the compound. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir. Of course.”
Rendal nodded, turning his head on the pillow so that he was looking up at the ceiling.
“We are in a bit of a pickle here, and I have to figure out how to handle it.”
I didn’t expect her to escape, he thought, although he wouldn’t say that to Harold. If the man was questioning Rendal’s power, that wouldn’t help things much.
“I’m more injured than I expected, so I can’t make my way to New Perth yet. The troops we sent to find her…they never returned?”
“Only their horses.”
“So it’s safe to say she killed them and most likely made it back to New Perth.” Rendal felt calm about this; there was no anger running through him at the change in circumstances. Despite what Lucie had told him, he still felt confident in his plans. “After everything that’s happened, how large an army can we muster if necessary?”
“I have a thousand men and women still under my command. Not all are at this compound, of course, but they can be summoned if necessary.”
“No, no,” Rendal said. “That won’t be necessary.”
A thousand men and women, he thought, but that doesn’t include my other plans.
There were “other plans,” although Rendal hadn’t tested them yet. His engineer was still working on them, and that was something else to check on today. Time was speeding up now, the years of toil coming to fruition.
“I want you to take a group of soldiers to New Perth, Harold. That woman is important, and after seeing what she did there in the yard, I believe she’s even more important than I originally thought. I want you to tell the old Prefect that I’ll make him a deal. If he delivers the Right Hand to me, I will not fall upon New Perth. They can continue living their magicless life in peace, without worrying about me. If they do not give her to me, then they will live beneath my rule. Do you understand?”
“Sir,” Harold said, “it may not be my place to ask, but is that the truth? If they give us the woman, we’re going to leave them be?”
Rendal raised his hand to his head, closing his eyes and groaning. “No, Harold. It’s not the fucking truth. I’m going to crush that city and remake it in my image whether or not they give me the woman. Stay focused, man. I want you to go down there, get her, and bring her back, and when we return, we’ll burn the place.”
Side hurting, Rendal decided he wasn’t leaving his suite. He’d have everyone come to him today. Usually, he preferred showing up at their place of work, especially Artino. The scientist was an idiosyncratic man who absolutely hated being interrupted, and Rendal got a real kick out of doing it.
He couldn’t go down there today, though.
Harold had just left, and now he needed to know how his other bet was going. Rendal wasn’t a simple man with only one plan. He’d learned that lesson back in New Perth. Then, his only plan had been to be voted in as Prefect, and when that hadn’t happened, he’d quickly developed another plan.
It had failed, though.
And his second life had begun, sans everything he cared about.
Now Rendal knew he needed multiple paths to victory. The first was the energy in his blood.
The second was Artino’s current work, deep in the bowels of the compound.
The short man traveled upstairs and knocked on Rendal’s door.
“Come in!” Rendal hoped the man would be perturbed. He’d given him no warning before summoning him.
“Yes, yes, I’m here.” Artino walked through the doorway, his eyes on the floor. He started circling the floor immediately, not lifting his head. “You know I hate it when you interrupt me, Rendal. You know I do. I can’t concentrate if I’m always being interrupted. I can’t do my work, and let me remind you, it’s not an easy task, what you’ve asked me to do.”
He stopped talking and kept pacing his small figure eight across the floor.
Oh, Rendal loved it. He even forgot about his pain for a few moments. The man would pace like this for an hour or more if Rendal said nothing, lost in his thoughts.
Alas, there was no time.
“Calm down, Artino. It’s going to be okay.” He treated the man better than the rest of his underlings because the scientist was worth more. He was a positive genius. No one else on the continent could do what he was doing, or what he’d already done with draining energy from people. A genius had to be given a little leeway.
“Okay. Okay. What do you want, Rendal? Why did you call me up here?”
Rendal decided to fuck with him a bit more. “Do you not see I’m injured, Artino? Aren’t you going to ask me how I’m doing?”
Artino stopped pacing and looked up. “So you are. I’m sorry. I hope you have a quick recovery.” He couldn’t hold the look for long and went back to pacing. “Now, what do you want? I have work to do. You know this. You gave me the work.”
Rendal smiled and looked at the ceiling. “I just want to know how the work is going, Artino. I haven’t checked on you in a while, and I know how you love our chats—”
“I do not love these, Rendal. I do not love them at all.”
The smile on Rendal’s face widened. “Anyway, I haven’t been able to make it down there, so I wanted to hear your updates.”
“We’re close.” He didn’t look up and offered no other information.
“What’s that mean, Artino?” Rendal swung his legs off the couch, sitting up despite the pain in his side.
“It means we’re almost ready for a prototype.”
“A prototype?”
“Yes. Yes. An experiment. A guinea pig.”
“Guinea pig?” Rendal asked.
“It’s a saying. We’re almost ready to test it on someone. A live subject.”
“Oh, that is good news, Artino. That is good news indeed. When will this happen?”
“It depends on whether you quit interrupting me. If you let me work properly, probably a week. If you continue these interruptions, these constant interruptions, then who knows, Rendal? Perhaps never.”
Rendal hadn’t seen the man in two weeks, so he found everything about this delightful.
“I’ll let you get back to it, Artino. I’d like it ready in a week, though. Do you understand?”
Artino stopped pacing, hearing the change in Rendal’s voice—the deadly steel that so many others in this compound understood.
Rendal thought the man might piss his pants.
He smiled, releasing the tension. “Oh, don’t take life so seriously, Artino. We’re all going to die one day. Go on back to work.”
Artino stared for a second longer, and Rendal felt the fear oozing off him.
That was good. He’d work harder.
Chapter Twelve
We’re not prepared for this, Mason thought.
There was no question why the desert had received the name “the Badlands.” There was nothing good about it. No matter what direction Mason looked in, he saw only sand and sun. Sometimes, when he was lucky, he might see a sand tornado in the distance, which created variety.
If a dangerous kind. One of those could spring up at any moment right next to his party, and Mason didn’t even want to consider what they would do then.
Four nights had come and gone since Mason left, and there were another four to go.
The horses were worse off than the men, but not by much. Maso
n was proud of his Honor Guard. None of them complained, and all kept their spines as straight as possible.
Yet, Mason knew the truth, because he was feeling it too.
The elements were killing them. There wasn’t any other way to say it. Even with water and food, the sun was too hot and the distance too long.
That’s not true, he thought. We can make it. We will make it. New Perth needs us. Riley needs me.
“Sir,” the head of the Honor Guard spoke up. “There’s something in the distance.”
That man’s name was Eisen, and while he would never fill Riley’s shoes, Mason was coming to understand his competence. He ran his crew efficiently, everyone under him operating like a perfectly tuned machine.
Eisen had stopped his horse and was staring into the distance, one hand above his brow. The rest of the Guard had brought their horses up around his, all of them performing the exact same gesture as they peered forward.
“What is it?” Mason’s horse remained behind the line they’d created. He didn’t bother trying to see. His eyes weren’t good enough, and he knew it. He’d met Riley as a kid when he’d tried his hand at pickpocketing. Lucie had caught him on his second or third attempt and told him, You ain’t never gonna be no good at that. You don’t got the physical skills necessary. Stick to being a Prefect.
She hadn’t been lying. The men in front of him weren’t just trained, they had also been chosen for a combination of physical skills. Their eyes saw farther than his now, and would into the future.
Riley was the best of them, he thought.
No, she is the best of them. She’s going to be fine.
“A tent city.”
“You’re kidding.” Mason could hardly believe it.
“I wish I was, sir,” Eisen responded. “It’s large.”
Mason knew of tent cities. They existed throughout the Badlands. Sometimes warlords owned them, while others were more or less societal rejects. There were mutants in them, too—offspring of the nuclear explosion survivors, but their DNA had been altered. What Mason didn’t know was how dangerous they were.
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