Authors: Stuart Meczes
The Redcap gave a shake of her head. “You’re Guardians – I’ve ’ad enough run ins over the years to know ’em when I see ’em. If yer want ta thank me, then ye can expose what is going on here n’ tell yer leaders…it ain’t right.” She paused for a moment, a sad expression clouding her eyes. “When war goes on fer too long, people become cogs in the machine and forget what it is to be carin’ individuals. And this war is ageless. People are shedding their morals like them robes.”
“Why are you helping us?” demanded Scarlett.
“Cos when those who still have kindness left in their hearts hide rather than help, then that is when Pandemonia will be consumed by its own rage n’ corruption.”
I still didn’t know exactly what rage and corruption she was referring to, but her words left an impression on me nonetheless.
“We will do what we can.”
“That’s all anyone can ever do, dear.” She threw me a pair of old linen gloves that matched the colour of my robes. “And cover that bloody mark!”
I thanked her and together, we all left the shop. As we walked away, I glanced back at the old crone, but she was busy eating her soup and staring at the electronic newspaper as though we had never met.
Gabriella
Sophia met me by a dusty bookshop full of Luminar spells at the far end of the alleyway. I was pressed into a narrow offshoot that stunk of bad fish. She handed me one of the bags she was carrying and without speaking she waited whilst I changed into new clothes. It was a beautiful turquoise dress that tied around my neck and fell to my ankles.
“There are some hair clips at the bottom of the bag,” Sophia said without looking at me. Midnight had taken on the form of a newt and was weaving between her outstretched fingers, making cute clicking sounds.
I grabbed a few of the clips and fixed up my hair, so that it gathered around my ears and fell into a short ponytail. Then I transferred my currency card and Biomote to the pocket fold of my new dress and balled up the paint-soaked robe into the bag. After a few seconds of searching I discovered a once-silver dustbin that was now caked in filth, and I dumped the evidence inside.
“Thank you, Sophia,” I said as I replaced the lid.
My words were met with her back; she had already started walking away.
“Yeah sure,” she said over her shoulder.
I swallowed sadness. Sophia and I had once been so close; I’d seen her as a little sister and loved her as much. But after I’d mistakenly thought she was trying to resurrect Midnight through necromancy, I’d taken the forbidden Umbra spellbook from her and destroyed it, unknowingly forcing her to create an aging spell from memory. In truth she had done her part perfectly – it had been her friend Tommy who had made the fatal mistake while helping her. She had only wanted to grow older so that we stopped treating her like a child and let her help us, but now she was cursed to age rapidly until she became a feeble shell of herself and her withered organs gave out.
I wish I could tell her. I wish I could shake her and tell her it wasn’t me.
I knew I couldn’t. Tommy loved Sophia, and I’d promised him I would never tell her what had really happened and so now she despised me, thinking it was entirely my fault. And that broke my heart.
I sighed and followed her down the alleyway.
Alex – dressed in his replacement outfit – and the others were at the other end of the path. I was pretty confident that we wouldn’t stand out any more than the rest of the Fenodarian citizens, especially as we were in a larger group. The Lightwardens were busy looking for two people dressed in white robes.
“I need to tell you something,” said Alex as soon as he saw me. I listened intently whilst he explained what the shopkeeper had told him. “We
have
to find out what’s going on, Ella,” he said afterwards with an intense expression on his face.
We probably got away with our previous screw-up. We can either give up now and behave whilst we wait for them to return Iralia to us. Or we can try and find Iralia now, and see what else is going on, potentially getting into much deeper trouble.
I took a deep breath. “Let’s go find one of those doors.”
*
It didn’t take long to find one.
We headed out of the alleyway, back into the main section of the Shopping Ziggurat, and blended with the meandering crowds. We pretended to be interested in what the shops had for sale, but the whole time our eyes were scanning the areas not illuminated by bright lights and bold colours, looking for anything out of place.
I mapped the area in my mind as we slipped through it, and understood the just like the Union District, the place was one giant circle, ringed by unscalable silver walls and patrolled by heavily armed Lightwardens.
This whole city is like one giant prison with pretty bars.
“They still look on pretty high alert,” said Alex as we walked between two large buildings – their domed roofs looming high above our heads and connecting spires pointing at the night sky like pin heads. He gestured towards the back of perimeter of the area, where two Lightwardens had stopped a male and female couple and were questioning them intently. They said something final to the pair and then waved them on. With the couple gone, it was easier to see what the Lightwardens were standing in front of.
A door.
Sophia saw it first. “I think that’s what you’re after,” she said quietly. We formed a circle, pretending to chat, while I peered out the corner of my eye. Set into the curve of the giant wall was a small, black door with a sign mounted on it. It became apparent that the two Lightwardens were guarding it. Next to them on the wall was some kind of code panel.
“Can you read what the sign says?” asked Alex.
“Not properly. We need to get a bit closer,” I replied.
“That stall over there,” said Delagio. At a ninety-degree angle from the door was a grand stall, selling what appeared to be a number of the water fireworks we kept seeing. I nodded and we all headed over.
“Sophia, Del, distract the vendor,” I whispered.
“On it.”
We reached the stall. Immediately both Guardians started picking up the biggest fireworks and asking how much they cost and how big the explosion would be. Sensing a potential sale, the vendor – a portly Dwarf – was only too happy to oblige, gesticulating wildly as he explained just how powerful they were.
Alex quietly looked through the smaller fireworks while I absently picked up a few, scanning the door as I did. The panel was clearly a coded entry system, which was a problem considering what had happened the last time we’d got a code wrong.
No code, no access.
I turned my attention to the sign, which was written in Qi’lern. Even if you didn’t speak the language, its implications were universally clear. A big red cross sat inside a circle and underneath was a picture of a skull with a gunpike facing it. I read the words written underneath.
THE PARTITION.
ACCESS GRANTED TO LIGHTWARDENS ONLY. ANY ATTEMPT BY A CITIZEN TO PASS THROUGH THIS DOOR WITHOUT PRIOR AUTHORIZATION WILL BE MET WITH LETHAL FORCE.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Wow, they really don’t want anyone going in there.
I nudged Alex, and he made an almost imperceptible signal to the others to follow. The crestfallen vendor watched us leave, stuttering sudden deal prices as he watched his sales walk away from him. We moved around the side of one of the Ziggurat domes.
“So what we got, Boss?” asked Del, perching against the white curve of the building and flicking a marble deftly between his fingers.
“A coded entrance and a pretty clear warning sign. Anyone trying to get through is basically going to be killed,” I said.
Del frowned. “That’s a bit Area Fifty-One, ain’t it?”
Alex nodded. “Exactly. Which confirms that something dodgy is going on.”
He’s right. After Aegis taking Iralia and how the Lightwardens acted towards us, I don’t trust this place.
“I need to get in there,”
I said to myself as much as anyone else, glancing over my shoulder over at the ominous door.
Alex placed a hand on my arm and met my gaze. “Are you sure about this?”
I frowned. “Are you joking? You were the one who said we needed to get inside!”
“I know I did, and I haven’t changed my opinion,” said Alex. “But I’m just playing devil’s advocate. None of us can deny that this is getting very serious, if we are caught, we could all get in real trouble. You’re in charge, and if you say no then we’ll just let it rest. It’s your call.”
He’s right. What I’m suggesting is beyond stupid. I can’t force them to do this with me.
“Guys I can’t make you do this with me,” I said. “Anyone who wants to leave now is welcome and I promise I won’t be offended. What I’m asking you to do goes beyond your roles as Guardians.”
Delagio gave a grin. “Way I see it, we’re already swimming in crap, might as well dive a lil’ deeper.”
“Thanks for that visual, Del.”
He tipped his Stetson hat in reply.
“I’m in,” said Scarlett.
Sophia gave a sigh. “I guess it wouldn’t be Orion if there wasn’t some kind of deadly drama happening. I’ll help.”
“You know I’m with you,” said Alex.
I let out a breath. “Thanks guys.”
“What about Mikey, Danny, and the others? Should we get them involved?” added Alex.
I thought for a moment. “No, better to leave them out of it. That way less of us will be implicated if things go wrong.”
He nodded and I could tell he was glad not to get his brother involved in the danger we were about to create.
“But how do we do it, Boss? It ain’t like a Lightwarden is just gonna waltz up to you and hand a code over,” noted Del.
“I guess we could try the Charm thing we did on the train again?” offered Alex.
I shook my head. “No way. There are far too many people around for that to work unnoticed. Besides, I don’t think I could handle doing that again so soon.”
“Okay, well I guess I could zone in and force it open,” suggested Alex. “I’ve got enough energy left for that…I think.”
“And bring the entire world down on our heads again? No. If we’re going to get in there, we need to be clever about it.” I wracked my brains trying to think of a way to do it, but nothing sprang to mind.
“Midnight could help,” said Sophia quietly.
I looked over at her. “How?”
“We send him over to wait for a Lightwarden to enter their code and go through the door. He can relay it to me.”
“Sophia, that’s brilliant!” I enthused, placing a hand on her shoulder. She flinched away from my touch, but I was too excited to be offended.
“So we get the code, but then what?” asked Alex. “There are two guards on the door and a dozen more patrolling above. There’s no way they won’t notice us if we try and go through.”
“We need some kind of distraction,” mused Del. “Something that can…” he broke off and a mischievous grin slipped across his face. It was so infectious I almost found myself smiling too, without knowing why.
“What you thinking?” I asked.
He nodded over at the stall. “Fireworks.” He pointed at Sophia. “Pyromancer.”
Sophia’s face was blank for a split second, and then she rolled her eyes. “So I get to do
all
the work then?”
“Well you’re the girl with all the gifts,” he replied with a wink.
Sophia’s face flushed slightly and then a brief smile appeared on her face. “Fine, I’ll do it.”
“Perfect.” I let the logistical part of my brain mull things over for moment. “Scarlett, you’ll need you to lift a currency card from someone. Can you do that?”
“Give me thirty seconds and you’ll have one,” she said.
“Fantastic. Okay so here’s the plan. As soon as it looks like a Lightwarden is going to go through the door, Sophia, you release Midnight, and Scarlett, you grab a card and hand it off to Del. Once Midnight has told Sophia the code and she’s relayed it to us, she’ll join Del at the stall and you’ll both quickly buy a couple of fireworks on the borrowed card, so we can’t be implicated. Hand it back off to Scarlett, who will slip it back on the citizen and then head off to find the others, so they at least know what’s going on. As you’re leaving, Sophia, ignite the biggest firework with the longest fuse and then get the hell out of there too. Once the distraction starts, Alex and I will slip through the door.”
“How will y’all get back out in time for dinner with the Highwarden?” asked Delagio.
“We’ll figure it out. If for some reason we don’t make it back before the second clock chime, just head there and tell him we got held up.”
“You sure you don’t want more support, Ella?” said Scarlett. “You have no idea what you’re going to find on the other side of that door.”
“Thank you, but no. The fewer of us that go through, the fewer of us there are to get caught. Besides, I’ve already caused enough trouble. I don’t want to make things worse for any of you.”
“Okay.”
We waited for about ten minutes – browsing the small stalls that had been set up at the front of the two central Ziggurats – but always keeping one eye on the entrance. I was pretending to be interested in a set of cutlery carved from Troll bone when Del let out a low double cough and the game was set. Sophia plucked Midnight off her shoulder and whispered something softly into his ear. He shuddered, shifting from a newt into a black sparrow. Leaping from her hand, he swirled into the air and perched up on a protruding lip of stone that surrounded one of the domed buildings, right next to the door to the Partition – whatever the hell that was. At the same time, Scarlett peeled away and walked towards an approaching group of young female Elves.
I watched as the approaching Lightwarden saluted his guarding comrades and then motioned to input his code. As he did, Midnight swept off the building and circled overhead before darting back towards us. The wardens didn’t give him a second glance – there were plenty of other birds flying about – and the Lightwarden headed through the door. Midnight landed on Sophia’s shoulder and she whipped out her Biomote. He started to chirp in her ear and she tapped the screen in response.
“Three, nine, eight, seven, four, six,” she said. “That’s your code.” Without another word she joined Del and started to walk towards the stall. I repeated the code a few times silently until it was irremovably engrained in my mind.