Deck of destiny 4, p.21
Deck of Destiny 4, page 21
And I silently swore that I’d make them pay for that.
Chapter 26
Lana and I found neatly folded clothes in a cupboard beside the washing machine.
I slid on a pair of comfortable jeans and a loose shirt that felt as if it was made out of silk. I retrieved my boots and socks from the bathroom, used the sink to wash off the worst of the mud, and grimaced as we passed by the ruins of the coffee table.
“Don’t worry,” Lana told me. “I’ll replace it.”
“Where are you going to get furniture at this time of night?”
She elbowed me none-too-gently in the arm. “Later, you idiot.”
I steeled myself for the shit-talk, opened the door to the TARDIS-like trailer, and stepped back out into the makeshift pavilion between the vampires’ dwellings. Mayce and Elsie had taken up seats around the fire and were halfway through MREs that Elsie had picked up from the store earlier. A shit-eating grin a mile wide touched her face as she spotted Lana and me, and she gestured for us to join her with her spoon. Mayce matched her grin with a little more slyness, and I noted that Misha and the other vampires had retreated from the warm circle of firelight. Lana’s eyes scoured our surroundings, but she seemed to relax when she didn’t spot any of the coven. We settled down across from Mayce and Elsie, and the Texan dropped her empty bag of rations into the fire.
“Soooo….” she drawled. “How was it?”
“Better than you said,” Lana answered immediately.
I didn’t know why it bothered me so much that the girls were interested in the details. I was the luckiest motherfucker on the face of the planet, and I had to stop pretending like I wasn’t. I chewed over the thought as Mayce leaned forward and winked at me.
“You like your present?”
“I think it was incredibly unprofessional,” I told her with a smirk. “Of course I did.”
“Thank fucking Christ you two actually did it,” the assassin muttered. “I can’t believe you took that long to actually get around to—”
“You do realize we’ve only known each other a couple of days, right?”
Elsie’s smile turned downright devious. “Didn’t stop you with us, did it?”
“Point,” I admitted. “Got any leftover dinner?”
“It’s basically lunch,” Mayce pointed out.
I peered out into the rain-soaked gloom in the trees. I didn’t know what the hell was going on with the weather, but it sure as hell hadn’t abated. Black clouds hung overhead, and part of me wondered if Millbank’s surroundings were breaking weather records. I opened a warm stew from Elsie, chowed down on a surprisingly tasty meal, and relaxed by the fire as the girls chatted back and forth. They didn’t touch on anything serious, leveled the occasional good-natured rib against Lana and me, and the former Arbiter surprised me with her own comebacks. The initial awkwardness rapidly faded as I watched the three girls interact. I couldn’t say for sure that I knew Lana all that well, but she had a sense of humor under her wary and explosive mood shifts. I watched them bounce off each other for a few more minutes, and then I realized that I hadn’t checked in with Iris yet.
“Back with you in a few minutes,” I told them.
Elsie pouted. “Leaving already?”
“I have to see her,” I said.
“She was sleeping last I saw her,” Elsie told me. “Don’t wake her up.”
“Do my best.”
I stepped into the trailer directly behind me, and another wash of runes spiraled out around my hand as I pushed into Iris’s resting place. The furniture was similar to the first room, but the space was smaller, and a single double bed caught my eye as I stepped into a small living room combined with a kitchen. An IV drip sat beside it and slid down into the rail-skinny arm of the elf that we’d rescued from Wilson’s clutches. I paused by the door.
Iris’s eyes were closed, and her chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm.
Some color had slid into her face, and I noticed that the bags under her eyes had vanished. Part of me wanted to get closer, but I heeded Elsie’s warning and turned back to leave her to her rest.
“I’m awake.”
Iris’s crisp, precise voice caught me off-guard.
It didn’t have the vicious coldness I’d come to associate with her, and I glanced over my shoulder as Iris sat up in her bed and pushed her covers away. Bandages swathed her arms, and someone had dressed her in a loose pajama shirt that was open at the front. Her azure eyes flickered with a sharp, intelligent light as she looked over me.
“You’re looking better,” I said.
Iris gestured to an armchair beside her bed. “I’m almost back to eighty-percent functionality. Another day or so and the narcotic should be completely out of my bloodstream, and the cravings for it should cease completely.”
“That’s excellent news,” I said carefully.
A ghost of a smile touched her face. “For me? Yes. Perhaps not for you.”
I moved through the kitchen and settled down in the absurdly comfortable armchair beside Iris. The elf sat bolt upright in bed with perfect posture, and I studied her for a moment. She’d been a twitching, raving mess when we’d first met. Bouts of manic activity followed by rapid come-downs had peppered our interactions since then. The elf had surprised me with her choice to stay behind and live out her own life. Part of me dreaded the idea that she’d still see herself as some kind of debt slave to me.
I hated that shit. We did each other favors, and so far as I was concerned, we were square. Iris’s own eyes flickered over me, took in minute details, and she gave me a nod after a moment.
“You copulated recently.”
I tried not to choke on my own spit.
Iris continued unabashed. “That’s intelligent. Clarity of purpose is what we will need now if we are to survive the next twenty-four hours. Distractions from the others of your Guild would be inefficient.”
“You said we,” I noted.
“I did. Would you like me to repeat it?”
I tried not to grin to myself as I realized that Iris reminded me a little of a robot. “Nah, you’re fine. I just wanted to come by and see how you were doing. Didn’t mean to wake you.”
“I sleep too much, and time escapes us.” Iris turned to face me with a glint of curiosity in her eyes. “What strategies have you formulated to contain or banish my brethren?”
“I didn’t know if you’d be able to talk to us about them,” I told her honestly. “The idea of bringing you here was to get you better, mobile, and to get you the hell out of Millbank. We’ve got a meeting tomorrow with an information broker. He knows where the elves are holed up, and he might have other information besides.”
Iris pursed her lips. “His information will likely be faulty.”
“Well, if you’ve got something to share, I’m all ears.”
“The city will continue to suffer its adverse conditions until such time as Athena’s Praetorians leave,” Iris said matter-of-factly. “The first scouting mission was designed to test your capabilities. You barely passed. My brethren will not be so forgiving a second time.”
A bolt of cold rolled through my blood. “Like I said. I’m all ears.”
Iris gritted her teeth. “Must I teach you children everything?”
“I can’t say that we’re exactly in the know about the Other Side,” I reminded her.
“Neither am I,” she countered. “Time escaped me in Wilson’s captivity. The nature and the tide of the war may very well have shifted since I was last in the Cloudspires.”
“Gut tells me that the war’s going poorly for Athena,” I said.
Iris’s almond eyes narrowed. “Speak her name carefully.”
“The Blue Dawn, then.” I shrugged. “Why else would she be so hellbent on getting you back over there? You said something about the Architect. I know you designed new Cards for Wilson, and I’m pretty sure he used the Hand of the Blue Dawn to transfer them across into his own private mercenary army.”
Iris nodded. “That is correct. And your assumption is a strong one.”
“Great,” I growled. “Well, we need them out of here. I tried negotiating with Balaris, but he wasn’t willing to hear me out.”
“Because you have nothing of value to offer him aside from me.”
“Nothing that he values,” I corrected her. “And you’re not a bargaining chip.”
“Be that and my temporary insanity as it may,” Iris told me, “they will not simply leave because of pretty words and a monetary offer. If you truly wish to continue your insane plan of protecting my independence, you will need something of equal or better value to him.”
“Guess it isn’t as easy as pointing the elves to the local Arbiter HQ and letting them tee off against each other?”
Iris’s frown deepened. “Dangerous and irresponsible. Your agreement with the White Ones is what keeps you from their clutches—and that of every other Guild in the city. Jeopardizing that is an unwise direction to take.”
“A man can dream.” I sighed. “Alright, if you think my source is going to be limited, I’ve got questions. Because you know these fuckers better than I do. You say they won’t leave unless we give them something valuable. And you’ve all told me I’ve got nothing to negotiate with. If that’s the case, then we need to fight and kill them.”
Iris stared at me for a long, tense moment. “That would be unwise.”
“They’re invaders here,” I said. “And we’ve got the power behind us if we need it.”
“The collateral damage would be unacceptable to you,” Iris stated flatly. “My brethren are not known for their restraint. I believe you mortals would call it ‘sending a message’. The destruction of your nuclear reactor was meant to be such a message. Your morality would not allow for it, Matthew.”
“Call me Matt, please.”
“Matt, then.” Iris stretched her arms up above her head. “I tire of rest. Continue your questions.”
I trusted Iris’s opinion, and I’d seen the havoc that a single elf could wreak. The Arbiters were poised in the rafters and ready to come down on the Phoenix Guild like a sack of bricks. Every gutsy or insane merc would be after me the second I stepped foot back in Millbank. I wracked my brain for different options, for things that I could trade with the elves, and for what I could do now that I knew their rough location. My dad’s old adage about information in regard to the enemy rolled through my mind, and I pushed aside my concerns and did my best to emulate Iris. Emotion wouldn’t help me figure out a good plan to take on forces that were far beyond my ability to fight all at once.
“What capabilities do your kin have?” I asked.
“You’ve seen some of it. Technology that puts yours to shame and is not driven by your laws of physics or propulsion.” Iris frowned. “Their models have done nothing but improve since my time in captivity. I can only assume that their weapons have grown more sophisticated.”
“Details, Iris. What can do they do, exactly?”
The elf set her jaw into a line. “Molecular rearrangement has always been a potent weapon of the Blue Dawn. The ability to shift or dissolve matter into different forms. Alchemy like this is difficult and requires tools, but the Praetorians have more than they need.”
I gritted my teeth. “You’re saying that they’ve got disintegrator rays?”
“A crude but apt comparison, yes.”
“No wonder people fucking hate them being around,” I muttered. “They’re like alien invaders. Their armor’s tough, and it looks like most of their weapons are built straight into them. What happens if we target their gauntlets and their armor?”
“It will slow them down at best.”
“Enough to force them to retreat?”
“Enough for them to decide to be serious,” Iris corrected me.
Three boss-level threats that made even Darxos look small-time.
My life was just one circus after another.
“So, we’re looking at serious casualties and property destruction if they decide to throw down in Millbank,” I summarized. “They’re not afraid of the Arbiters, they don’t care about the Game, and all they want is you back on the Other Side working for the Architect. Not a good recipe for anyone.” I thought over Ariadne’s Web and how it’d locked Darxos down and made him easier to kill. “Can you whip up something like you did last time? A trap or some sort of way to slow them down? Make them easier to kill?”
“They were the ones who taught me of the Web,” Iris said quietly. “They know its intricacies, they know how to sense it, and they will not fall into its grasp so easily.” She pondered the thought for a moment. “You wish to create a trap. Or an ambush. Something to get them into one place. Preferably away from the city.”
Iris could practically read my thoughts when she was paying attention.
“That’s what we need to do,” I agreed. “We have the advantage of numbers, Cards, and the fact that they want you more than anything. I refuse to use you as bait, but if you could find a way to draw them out from their base of operations, that gives us the ability to launch a counterattack.”
“They will know it’s an ambush,” Iris warned me.
“They’re arrogant enough to walk into it, though.”
“Perhaps once. The damage you were able to inflict on Balaris will force them to treat you as a real and present threat, and they will focus their attention on killing you first. Leadership assassination is an effective tactic, and it is one that the Blue Dawn encourages.” Iris trailed off. “You are correct, however. They may have technological superiority, but Praetorians have always been chiefly interested in the efficiency of a mission.”
“Single-minded.” I nodded. “Let’s assume for a moment that they’re all just as smart as you are. We’re practically screaming monkeys next to you, but that’s the thing. There might be a way to force them to overestimate us, too.”
Iris frowned. “You mean to utilize their caution.”
“And blaze in with something so stupid that it catches them off-guard.”
“That sounds like a death sentence.”
I grinned at her. “It’s gotten me this far. I’m not willing to throw away lives on it, though. We need as many angles and advantages as we can get.” I thought over everything I’d learned about the elves and the Cloudspires. “How would they treat someone on the Path of Ascension?”
“You have already earned their attention.”
“I meant for the Blue Dawn. Not the Black.”
Iris’s azure eyes widened at my words. “You can’t be serious. Nobody in the history of mortality itself has attempted such a thing. The wrath of dueling loyalties would destroy you. The Dawns take their Ascendants seriously. You saw the result of turning aside from the Path.”
I could almost feel the cold, dead eyes of the Black Dawn fixed on me.
“Humor me,” I said. “Where does that put me in your pecking order?”
“If the Blue Dawn were to take you?” Iris breathed. “You would command their respect. You would become their captain on this side of reality. But the cost would be too much. Your allies would turn on you. Your oaths could not be trusted. And the Black Dawn would wreak misfortune upon you, unlike anything you’ve ever experienced.”
I let out a long, slow breath. “I’m not making a decision now. It was just a thought.”
A look of relief bled over Iris’s face, and she stifled a sudden yawn.
“Thanks for your help,” I told her and rose from my chair. “Rest up, and we’ll talk soon. I think I’m going to need you to help us figure out how to get the hell out of this.”
“I will think on it in my sleep,” Iris assured me.
My gut twisted like a pit of vipers as I stepped back out into the firelight.
I couldn’t betray the coven or the Black Dawn.
But I desperately needed an edge against the elves.
Chapter 27
The girls glanced up at me with curious expressions as I joined them by the fire. I didn’t see any point in beating around the bush, and I told them everything that Iris had told me. The glimmer of humor around the fire vanished as the gravity of our situation finally sank in, and after I got around to telling them my idea about joining with the Blue Dawn somehow, Lana finally cut in.
“Absolutely fucking not!” she snapped.
The sheer aggression in her tone caught me off-guard.
“There might not be another way to get them the fuck out of here,” I told her.
“You put me in as head of security, and you’re not thinking straight,” the paladin countered with a vicious tone. “You may think that you can shoulder that burden, but the Black Dawn won’t stop with you if he realizes what you’re doing. He’ll destroy the Guild from the inside out and make an example of all of us.”
I hadn’t even considered that.
“You can’t, Matt,” Elsie said, her tone soft. “I know you didn’t ask for this, but you can’t play both sides. We’re going to have to figure out another way to get them out of here.”
“Like what?” I asked bitterly. “Get them hooked on Juju or something?”
Mayce’s eyes narrowed. “That’s dirty as hell. And not a bad idea.”
I shook my head. “Iris was dangerous enough when she was hooked on the stuff. I’m not using it as a weapon, even on people that we can’t beat. We have to give them something to convince them that it’s better than Iris, or we’ve got to throw down and hope we survive.”
An unsettling silence hovered around the campfire.
A blur of movement behind me caught my attention, and Lana was on her feet with white runes glittering around her hands before I could so much as catch sight. Tilly appeared underneath the canopy in a blaze of black clothing and glittering eyes, and excitement washed through her tone as she spoke.
“Patrols found something,” she told us.
I got to my feet a second later. “What?”
“Evidence of daymares,” Tilly said. “Could smell the things a mile off. They’ve been tearing through the trees and making a mess of everything.”
