From the Ashes

by Chris Kennedy

  “Nope, it’s for people who cost other people their lives through sheer stupidity.” I shrugged. “If I kill them all, they won’t learn anything.”

  “That’s true, but you may end up with another Blechely.”

  “That guy is no Blechely,” I said. “But, if he does anything like Blechely did, he’ll learn the next lesson.”

  “And that is?”

  “Blechely could tell you.”

  “I heard that Blechely’s organs were nailed to a wall in alphabetical order.”

  That was a beautiful arrangement, if I do say so, Stephen said inside my head.

  “Lesson learned.”

  “I guess so,” she said.

  “I can’t believe I’ve got a hole in my coat.”

  “Seems like it would be a common thing in your line of work,” she said. “Who wears one of those?”

  “Says the girl in a poncho.”

  “And it’s coming off as soon as possible. Stupid cover.” She muttered the last two words.

  I chuckled.

  “It’s forever getting in the way. That’s what makes me wonder why you wear that useless coat.”

  “I honestly don’t know.” I shrugged. I tapped the side of my head. “No one up here really has a preference for it. Maybe I really liked the coat before all this crap.”

  “Maybe?”

  “I don’t remember much from before except bits and pieces.”

  “Before the Fall?”

  “Before the Imprinter,” I said. “I remember more about being an Agent than I do about the time before.”

  “How do Imprinters work?”

  “They drop a personality and skill package into an Agent’s body. That’s who you are until the mission is complete. Most of the Agents who survived the Fall are living the lives they were given for their last mission.”

  “So, you don’t know if that’s your original body?”

  “I know it’s not.”

  “You sound pretty certain.”

  “I do remember some things,” I said. “The original Mathew Kade was killed during a robbery. I threw the guy who killed him through a window.”

  “The more I get to know you, the more confused I become.” She shook her head. “You, Mathew Kade, threw a guy out of a window after he killed Mathew Kade?”

  “Yep.”

  “Weird.”

  “I thought so.”

  “I guess it was pretty satisfying, though, to kill the guy who killed you.”

  “It was. I really liked Kade. I wish I could remember more about him. I was close to ninety when I joined the program, and I remember very few of those years.”

  “That’s awful,” she said.

  “The upside is I have memories from quite a few of the Imprints that were dumped in my noggin. Now, I’m the guy who drinks and knows things.” I chuckled.

  She turned to me with a raised eyebrow.

  “Just a reference to an old television series. There was a dwarf who drank and knew…never mind.”

  Fenris was probably thirty, so she would only have a child’s memory of the world before the Fall.

  I smelled food cooking.

  “That smells interesting,” I said. “Smells like actual beef.”

  We were crossing into Fogel. Then I heard the music.

  “The Farmers? I didn’t know they were coming to Fogel today.”

  “Didn’t you come in this way?” she asked.

  “No, I was north of Wilderman when I got the message. At the new Gorman Chapter House.”

  “I didn’t know Gorman had gotten a Chapter House.”

  “They didn’t either. They pissed off a Knight.”

  “Never a smart thing to do.” She shook her head. “Who was it?”

  “Hargrave.”

  “She shoot them all?”

  “Becca wouldn’t shoot them all, would she? How do you set up a Chapter House if you kill all the people?” I asked.

  “You have a point. She probably didn’t have enough ammo to kill everyone.”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never seen Becca run out of ammo. I didn’t get to ask her. She was already gone by the time I got there. Teresa just wanted me to make an appearance to show support. Who knew this Enforcer gig would mean I’d have to do that?”

  “I heard about that. You’re a cop.” She laughed.

  “Nope you’re a cop. Teresa’s Chief Gordon.” I grinned. “I’m Batman.”

  She laughed. “I understood that reference.”

  Perhaps all is not lost in this Fallen World.

  * * *

  Chapter 8

  A delightful smell came from a wagon close to the Scraper.

  “Those ribs smell divine,” I said as we stopped at the fold-out counter on the side of the wagon. There were three women behind the counter that were obviously sisters. They all looked alike with their black hair, brown eyes, and Native American bone structure. The only difference was their age.

  “Ladies,” I said in greeting.

  “Good day, sir,” the oldest of the three answered. “The ribs are just about finished. Teira would probably hit me with something if I took them off the grill early.”

  “How much longer?”

  “Less than a half hour.”

  “That’ll be fine,” I said. “We’ll look around a bit. Always like to see what you folks are offering. Changes from zone to zone.”

  “You aren’t from Fogel?”

  “Nope, we’re traveling through. I’m from Stiner.”

  “I didn’t see a caravan,” she said.

  “Just the two of us.”

  “There’s no way I would travel this city with a single companion,” she said. “Unless it was one of the Pratt brothers. Anyone foolish enough to attack one of them deserves whatever happens.”

  “Isn’t that the Steadholder’s last name?”

  “Yes it is. He has two sons, Zee and Jimmy. Zee is the Commander of the Farmers’ Guard and Jimmy is…well he’s just Jimmy. No one wants trouble with Jimmy.”

  “I know it’s none of my business, but what are they like? I worry about what will happen after the Steadholder is gone. I know he’s getting on up there in years.”

  “Zee is next in line for the position. He doesn’t want it, but he really doesn’t have a choice.”

  “Have to play the hand you’re dealt.”

  “This is true. There may be another, though, if she is ready by then. Zee’s daughter, Allie, could take the position. But only if Kendrick makes it another ten years or so. She’s not ready yet, but another decade, and she’ll make a fine Steadholder. I have no doubt Zee would be happy to pass on that position.”

  “Frankly, I’m surprised you’re this free with information,” Fenris said.

  “Part of each vendor’s job is to help assuage the fear of the city folk. The Farmers are here and will be for the foreseeable future. Lord knows we don’t want the city to sink back to where it was when I was a girl. I wouldn’t wish that on us.”

  “This city is still a pretty awful place,” Fenris said. “But you’re right. I would hate to see it fall back to those days.”

  “You said you’re from Stiner?” she asked.

  “Yep.”

  “I haven’t been there yet, but I am looking forward to the opportunity. I would dearly love to meet the Matron of the Society of the Sword. Have you met her?”

  “A few times.” I chuckled.

  “A few?” Fenris asked, shaking her head.

  I shrugged.

  “I think she would be very interesting,” the vendor said. “I have a great respect for anyone who can do what she has. I think a person who instills that much loyalty in her people would be worth knowing.”

  “She’s a pretty amazing woman,” I said.

  “Listen to me jabbering on like an old woman,” she said. “Go enjoy the wagons and come back in a little while for the ribs.”

  I nodded, and we walked toward another cluster of wagons.

  “You
could have told her who you were. It was pretty obvious she didn’t know. Most folks know you two are an item.”

  “Then she would have clammed up, and I enjoy watching people talk about her. She inspires them, and I can see it every time they mention her. I scare them.”

  Sometimes anonymity is a good thing in this Fallen World.

  * * *

  Chapter 9

  The ribs were delicious, and the barbecue was perfect. I placed the bones inside the paper wrapper and gave them back to the woman. She smiled.

  Fenris looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

  “Dog,” I said.

  “Makes sense.” She turned to the vendor. “What breed?”

  “We have several breeds,” she answered. “My favorite is the Shepherd. He is always the first to greet us when we get home.”

  “German?”

  “Australian.”

  “Very smart animals,” Fenris said. “We don’t see many dogs in the city. I’ve only seen two. If they were not kept in, they would be in a stew pot fairly quickly.”

  “We have many dogs. The early days were not as rough on the Farms as they were in the city. Some years we contemplated eating the dogs, but now there is plenty of food, so we can keep them as pets.”

  “Still, there are quite a few places in the city where there’s not enough.”

  She nodded. “We try to keep the city supplied. Sometimes we cannot. The Farm caravans roll all year ‘round, but some zones are not as welcoming as others. Some are harder on the poor than others. The system in place is the best that could be developed at the time, but some of us feel it could have been better.”

  I chuckled.

  “What?” Fenris asked.

  “If you knew how many times that’s been said, you’d laugh too.”

  She shook her head and looked back at the vendor. “I was here, in the city, before the Accords. It’s easy to say things should have been done differently, but I saw people I grew up with commit murder, rape, and cannibalism. I saw streets filled with the dead and gutters running red with blood. I was twelve when we fled the city. I lost three brothers and a sister in that escape. We were captured by a newly self-proclaimed Warlord. I watched as the Accords were signed. I saw the changes first-hand. I’m not sure there was any other way to bring about a semblance of peace to the city.”

  “Perhaps you’re right,” the vendor said. “Sometimes I wish there was more we could do. The Accords keep everything at this level. There are times I wish we could push harder for what was here before the bombs. That is why I wish to meet the Matron. She is doing things I wish we could do. Our sources say she has united more than ten zones in the last year. She is even known to be in a relationship with Mathew Kade…”

  Her eyes narrowed as she glanced at my long coat. “Oh, my…”

  Fenris laughed.

  “What?” I asked.

  “I am guessing that under that coat is a leather harness from the Farms holding some throwing knives made of old-world steel and a straight razor that has been talked about in more zones than you’d think possible.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  “I know Marigold, and I should have placed that coat as soon as I saw it. You’re probably wearing a pair of her pants and shirt, as well.”

  “I guess my secret is out,” I said.

  I heard a gunshot in the distance, and I became someone else for a split second.

  “Oh, my…”

  I looked back toward the vendor.

  “That would explain a lot,” she said. “For a moment, I was looking at someone much like Jimmy Pratt. You’re an Agent?”

  I looked more closely at the woman. “You’re saying Pratt is an Agent?”

  “I am. And I would wager you are too, Mister Kade.”

  I frowned. “And Zee Pratt? If Jimmy is an Agent, I would expect him to be in charge of the Farmers’ Guard.”

  She shook her head. “Zee is something else. He doesn’t talk about it. There is a lot of talk about what you are doing, though, Mister Kade.”

  “So much for anonymity,” I muttered.

  “If you wanted to be anonymous, you shouldn’t have worn that stupid coat,” Fenris said.

  I started to say something but arguing with a woman is futile in any world, fallen or not.

  * * *

  Chapter 10

  We were a single zone away from Jankida.

  “You see that?” Fenris asked.

  “Yep.” I watched the window from the corner of my eye. “He ducked inside as soon as he saw us. I’m guessing he’s a lookout.”

  “I would love to grab him and find out what’s waiting.”

  “I would too. Sucks being bait.”

  “It’ll suck more when they attack,” she said. “I have to play helpless.”

  “You get to be a damsel in distress,” I said.

  She looked at me in a way I should have been worried about.

  “I haven’t been a damsel in distress since I was thirteen and followed Teresa out of that hell hole.”

  “I wondered who else had come out of the General’s compound. You were one of them.”

  “I said, back there, that we were caught by a Warlord.”

  “The General was bad news. I’ve heard some of the stories about the Compound.” I turned my head toward her. “That was before I got a handle on all this.”

  I touched my pointer finger to my forehead.

  “Teresa doesn’t talk much about what you’ve got going on up there.”

  “Lot of folks up here,” I said. “Some are whole, some are just wisps of memories. They give me a whole reservoir of skills to pull from. And, then, there are some things that should never be spoken about.”

  Truer than many would believe, Childers said.

  I would almost take offense at that, Stephen returned. Except I know it is the truth.

  I chuckled.

  “What?” Fenris asked.

  “Talking to myselves,” I said.

  She shook her head. “They got any idea what to expect when we hit Jankida?”

  “If they plan to snatch you, they’ll send a lot of guys, hoping to swamp me.”

  “How long do you want me to play the damsel in distress?”

  “Until they get close enough to you.”

  “How close is enough?”

  “You be the judge of that,” I said. “We want to draw as many of them as we can in close, so they can’t get away. After this, they’ll know we’re not they ones they’re after. I’m hoping we can kill enough of them to make that knowledge useless.”

  She nodded. “Let’s get ready, then.”

  There was a suspicious lack of foot traffic in the street. Alleys overflowed with bodies.

  “Looks like you were right.”

  “Head for the cover of that stoop.”

  “Gotcha.”

  “Alrighty, then. Stephen?”

  My whole demeanor changed in front of her, and she looked a bit startled at the grin on Gaunt’s face.

  “That’s not disturbing,” she muttered as she turned and ran for the stoop.

  “Hello, my lovelies!” he said as he moved faster than anyone had a right to move. I was ten paces closer to the incoming horde in less than a moment.

  “I have something special for you,” he taunted them. Then I was among the horde.

  They had been warned I was dangerous, but they really had no idea what they had gotten themselves into. I held a throwing blade in each hand and flowed through them like water. I wasn’t really interested in killing them as much as disabling them.

  I severed a hamstring. I sliced a femoral artery. Someone raised a gun, and I rocketed a blade across the street where it sank into her throat. I grabbed another blade. Where I moved, bodies fell and yells became screams of pain. Soon the street was filled with screams of terror.

  I felt a tug at my left side and threw a blade that embedded in the eye socket of another gun wielder.

  “Don’
t run,” I whispered into the ear of a man who tried to flee. “You haven’t seen the fun part.”

  I grabbed the man by the back of his leather garb and turned him toward the crowd that had almost reached Fenris.

  “Almost time for the surprise!” Gaunt’s voice was more excited than I had heard in some time.

  “Watch!” he barked as the man tried to squirm.

  The poncho split along the front and Fenris drew two short swords. They were a little smaller than the Gladius Michael had used, but they were shaped much the same way, with both of the blade’s edges sharpened.

  The group closest to her never realized she wasn’t the helpless girl they expected as her swords began to dance. A yeoman is a bad ass, a Squire, even more so. But a Knight is a wonder to watch. Especially doing what they are best suited for in this Fallen World.

  * * *

  Chapter 11

  The street was littered with bodies, and the metallic smell of blood filled the air. Fenris slid her blades along the shirt of one of the dead to wipe away the blood. Her arms were coated to the shoulder, and her black armor dripped.

  “How the hell did you do that and keep your stupid coat so clean, even though you got shot?”

  “It’s a gift,” I said. I looked down at my side, still holding the man up by the scruff of his neck. He was crying.

  Tossing him to the side, I looked up toward the skyscraper that housed the Warlord, Mortimer Jankida.

  “This didn’t happen without his support,” Fenris said.

  “Perhaps it’s time for a lesson,” I said.

  “I’ve heard about some of your lessons,” she said. “Our cover is blown. We may as well head back to Stiner.”

  “Agreed, but only after I go see Mortimer.”

  “I’m guessing a new Chapter House is about to be requested?”

  “Could be,” I said and reached down to pick up a four-foot-long piece of rebar. “Ah, this is perfect.”

  She chuckled and followed me into the Scraper.

  “Oh, Morty?” Gaunt’s voice echoed in the open lobby. “Where are you, Morty? I think it’s time we had a bit of chat!”

  Some lessons are harder than others in this Fallen World.