Bryson, p.9
Nocturne Melody, page 9
part #3 of Night Wander Series
“To something stronger,” I said. “Rummers were mindless creatures of hunger and rage before, but now, it’s worse. I’ve never seen anything like this either.”
“Mako or someone near her has created a new strain of Redrum X,” he said. “Something that has upgraded the strength of control. Probably works together with the amulet, like you said. That’s my best guess.”
“I’ll have to get it analyzed,” I said, glancing at the dormant amulet again. “I think I have someone who can use it to trace to Koda’s location.”
“Or at the very least, whoever was controlling them,” he said, looking behind us. “We have a tail.”
“Impossible,” I said, glancing in the rearview mirror. “Rummers are fast, but they aren’t fast enough to keep up with us in the Beast.”
“Not a rummer,” Ekt said. “Black motorcycle closing in on your nine o’clock. Friend of yours? He doesn’t look happy.””
I glanced in the mirror and recognized the rider immediately—mostly from the angry look on his face, and the energy signature he unleashed when he saw me looking.
“Not a friend,” I said, slowing down. “An acquaintance of sorts, and he never looks happy.”
“You need to tell your acquaintance that riding that rocket without a helmet is looking for death,” Ekt said. “Who is he?”
“A thorn in my side,” I said. “He goes by several names, but is usually known as the Hound of Hades.”
“Hades? As in the—”
“Yes, that Hades.” I said, pulling over and stopping the Beast, waiting for Corbel to park behind us. “His name is Corbel, and let me do the talking. He may not look like much, but he’s Hades’ chief cleaner.”
“He’s an assassin?” Ekt said in disbelief, glancing behind us again. “I could twist him into a pretzel without breaking a sweat. You must be kidding.”
“You could try,” I said, shaking my head. Rookies. “I can promise you, you’d have more broken bones inside five seconds than you could process—if he’s in a good mood.”
I stepped out of the Beast with a low groan.
My body ached everywhere and the pain gripping me by the back of the neck was letting me know I would pay for tonight’s adventure with large doses of agony in the morning.
What I needed was a major dose of Death Wish Extra and about a solid, six hours of sleep. The expression on Corbel’s face guaranteed I would get neither anytime soon.
I looked around and noticed the absence of his usual escort.
It was odd to see him riding alone.
He was dressed in a long, rune-covered, black trench coat, which hid the black body armor beneath it. I guessed that was runed as well, even though I couldn’t see it. Even his boots were runed, letting me know he was prepped for battle.
Whatever was going on at Herald Square, he was ready for it and ready to stop it. I was in no condition to dance with him, if he decided this was the night to test my patience. Corbel rarely traveled without his tribus-bellum—the three mages I called the Shades.
They were a traditional tribus, made up of offense, defense, and healing. Individually, each of the them were a force to be reckoned with; together, as a unit, the Shades were just different levels of destruction—wholesale, total, and massive. The last time I faced off against them, I was still able to cast and barely escaped with my life.
Facing them now would mean relinquishing control to Izanami, if I wanted to survive the encounter. I was glad I didn’t have to face them now. I waited for Corbel to dismount and approach.
“Good to see you,” I said, keeping my voice neutral as Corbel approached, and still glancing around for his tribus. “Out for a midnight ride? The weather’s good for it. Where’s your tribus of doom?”
“Dealing with the shitshow at Herald Square,” he said, his voice on edge. “What did you do?”
“What do you mean?” I asked innocently. “I didn’t do anything. Why are you assuming I have anything to do with whatever is going on at Herald Square?”
“Really? You want to do this dance?” he asked. “Let’s start with the malevolent signature of that thing you call a car. It’s all over the site of the disturbance.”
“The Beast is a disturbing car,” I said. “Doesn’t mean—”
“Then there’s the signature of your blade,” he continued. “A signature I’m acutely familiar with.”
Shit. Corbel had spent time with Darkspirit before I bonded to it. I should’ve expected he’d be attuned to its energy signature.
“I was there a few days ago. You’re probably picking up a trace signature.” I said. “I do patrol the city you know.”
“Bullshit, Grey, I tracked you from there,” Corbel said. “You were there not twenty minutes ago, along with a horde of rummers, which are still there, making life difficult for my tribus. Who did you piss off this time?”
I was hesitant to get Corbel involved, because getting him involved usually meant getting Hades involved by default. If there was one thing I didn’t need, it was having Hades participating in any aspect of my life.
“I’ve had a quiet evening,” I said. “You must have me confused with someone else. Maybe the Duo of Destruction was out and about tonight?”
“Their destruction is more wholesale,” Corbel said. “Besides I checked. They haven’t been near the area; neither have any of the usual suspects. That leaves you and your overinflated sense of ego as the last Night Warden, Protector of the City.”
“I am the last Night Warden,” I said keeping my voice even. “At least the only one remaining that cares.”
Ekt got out of the Beast and limped over to where we stood. Corbel gave him a once-over and dismissed him as a threat. He was angry and keeping it in check. One thing Corbel possessed, was a staggering amount of emotional control. It made him deadly, fearsome, and incredibly efficient.
“Cut the shit, Grey,” he said, glancing at Ekt. “Who’s the downgrade?”
“Downgrade?” Ekt said, getting upset. “Who are you calling a—?”
“You,” Corbel finished, taking a step in Ekt’s direction. “Right now, I’m dealing with the fallout of a small army of rummers that suddenly appeared in Herald Square. Do you know anything about that?”
Ekt remained silent and glanced my way.
“The rummers were there for me,” I said finally. “I was in the middle of tracking down a lead.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Corbel answered and let out a long breath. “It actually explains a few things.”
“We have the situation handled,” Ekt said, jeopardizing his life. “We don’t need the assist, thanks.”
“Running for your lives doesn’t count as having anything handled,” Corbel said, staring at Ekt before he turned to me. “Where is she?”
“Are you looking for someone specifically?” I asked. “I never figured you for—”
“I don’t have time for this,” he said and looked off to the side, and then inside the Beast. “Where is Koda, Grey? Is she injured? If you would like to keep living this miserable existence you call a life, you will tell me where she is right now.”
I kept my anger in check and figured the not-so-subtle threat was because he cared for her.
“You’re the Hound—why don’t you tell me?”
“You lost her?” he said, glaring at me. “Are you serious? I can’t believe you. You had one job…one job and you lost her?”
“I didn’t lose her,” I groused. “She was taken. Wait, Hades has been keeping tabs on her?”
“Not Hades, me,” he admitted. “Hades wanted her retired, remember?”
“I do. Why are you keeping tabs on her?” I asked. “Isn’t your schedule packed as it is?”
“It is, and your losing Koda is not making my life any easier,” he said. “Do you know why she was taken?”
“No,” I said. “Why don’t you illuminate me?”
“Grey, you do good,” Corbel said with an exhalation. “It’s why the Councils leave you alone, but sometimes your methods are myopic. You need to start looking at the larger picture here.”
“What is the larger picture here?” I asked, concerned. “How is Koda involved?”
Corbel looked off to the side as if contemplating how much to tell me before he began speaking.
“There is currently—a previously missing, now found—origin strain of Redrum X sitting in lockdown,” he said, letting his words sink in. “This strain is supposed to be more powerful than any of the previous strains created.”
I glanced over at Ekt.
“More powerful how?”
“Makes the rummers angrier and stronger,” Corbel said, looking from me to Ekt. “There are rumors it even makes some of them lucid enough to hold a conversation. Have you seen anything off?”
“I have,” I said, raising a hand to stop him from saying more. “I’ll tell you everything I know, once you tell me how it got—?”
“I don’t know how it got there or who created it, though I have my theories,” Corbel said. “The information is solid though. If this strain gets out on the streets, well…let’s just say we don’t want this strain on the streets.”
“It’s already on the streets,” I said. “We just got a demo earlier.”
“Shit, this is not good Grey,” he said. “They must’ve had more of the Redrum X strain to create these new rummers.”
“What does that have to do with Koda?” I asked again. “All she has done since joining me is fighting the rummers to make the streets of this city safer.”
“I know,” he said. “This strain of Redrum X is sitting in an abandoned NYTF Armory with an obscene amount of guards, mundane and supernatural.”
“NYTF? How did they get their hands on it?”
“Don’t know…yet, but there are enough failsafes on that warehouse to fry most of the mages in the city stupid or suicidal enough to go for it,”—he glanced at Ekt before turning back to me—“Who do you think that strain belongs to?”
“Tigris?” I said, knowing I was right. “It’s theirs.”
“Exactly,” he said, his expression hard. “Now think, Grey. They want their origin strain back, but they can’t get at it. Sooner or later they’re going to run out of whatever new Redrum X they have, which means.”
“They’ll be extra motivated to get that origin strain back.”
They can’t do that, not without showing their hand,” Corbel said. “ A retrieval operation on this scale would force them to reveal themselves.”
“Which they hate to do,” Ekt said. “They need to remain in the shadows to function the way they do.”
“Exactly,” Corbel said. “Now, understanding their need for discretion and deniability, who are they going to use to get it back?” He stared at me. “Who do we know that possesses a special set of abilities that can allow her to infiltrate a place under maximum security without being detected by conventional or supernatural security measures?”
“Shit,” I said. “That’s what this is all about?”
“What did you think? That you posed a threat to Tigris? Please, they barely know you’re alive,” he said. “They only noticed you because you were involved in the Haran situation. The real mind behind all of that and the Exiles, is Mako.”
“I heard she’s a real piece of work,” I said. “She’s the on that took Koda. Well, her rummers did.”
Corbel nodded, his expression angry.
“Is it making sense to you now?” Corbel asked. “Mako is the brain behind this new Redrum X and she wants her strain back. Koda is the key to her getting it back without launching a full scale assault, which Tigris won’t sanction.”
“How do we stop them?”
“You stop them by removing the key,” Corbel said. “You need to force her to change her plans.”
“I need to find Koda.”
“And get her back before they liberate that Redrum X strain.”
TWELVE
“I can’t help you,” Corbel said. “They must have her masked somewhere my abilities can’t trace.”
“That actually narrows it down,” I said. “How many places do you know of in the city that can evade your ability to track someone?”
“A handful,” he said. “I may not know where she is, but I do know where the abandoned NYTF Armory is. How do you plan on locating her?”
I reached into the Beast and pulled out the amulet.
“I have Frank on it right now,” I said, handing him the amulet. “I managed to liberate that from one of the rummogres.”
“One of the what?” he said, examining the amulet as his expression grew even more serious. “Where did you say you got this?”
“Off the neck of a rummogre,” I said. “Looks like a cross between an ogre and a rummer.”
“A hybrid?”
“Yes,” I said. “Ogre-sized and rummer fast. The worst of both worlds.”
“Was it intelligent?” Corbel asked, still looking at the amulet. “Was it able to converse with you?”
“Yes,” I said. “It was sent to deliver a message and to break me painfully.”
“Not kill you?”
“As far as I can tell, the instruction was to break me, but leave me alive,” I said. “It had other ideas, though. I’m pretty certain death was on its agenda.”
“You do bring out the best in people,” Corbel said, handing me the amulet. “That amulet is a subjugator. A powerful one.”
“You’re going to have to educate me on what a subjugator does.”
“It allows a powerful dark mage to exert control over a mind or minds, depending on how powerful the mage is.”
“Could it be used to control rummers remotely?”
“That one, from what I can tell, was using the rummogre as the channel,” he said. “It was used to control the rummogre. That influence was what controlled the rummers.”
“It was acting like a signal booster?”
“A primitive description, but yes,” he admitted. “The control exerted over the rummogre allowed for control over the rummers. Not a feat if you think of the targets.”
“Rummers are pretty simple minded—it’s all attack and feed with them.”
“Exactly,” he said. “Keeping them under control would be easy, relatively speaking. They’re fairly feral creatures. The hard work would be in controlling and keeping the bearer of the amulet lucid. If that control is lost—”
“Then they revert to rage-filled creatures bent on shredding everything in sight.”
“Their usual nature, yes.”
I nodded, recalling how the rummers reverted to homicidal rage once the amulet was removed from the rummogre.
“This was attached to a rune-covered chain,” I said. “Any idea what the chain did?”
“My best guess? It probably acted as a conduit for whoever controlled the rummogre. Would have been good to get both the amulet and the chain—”
“I was a little busy trying not to die,” I said. “Figured the amulet was the key.”
“Understood,” he answered. “The chain would be the focus for the energy from the mage, the amulet would boost the energy, exerting control. Even with all of that, you’re still dealing with an accomplished magic user, Grey. Using a subjugator requires skill.”
“If you’re heading back later, the chain may still be around.”
“Unlikely,” he said. “Most of these items are set to disintegrate once the connection is broken to prevent exactly what you want to do—trace it back to the original caster.”
“Shit, that would’ve made things easier.”
“Still, you managed to get the amulet,” he said, glancing at the amulet in my hand. “It’s unique enough to provide clues. That will help.”
“How easy is it to get one of these?” I asked, looking at the amulet. “You think Tessa carries subjugators?”
“Not without bringing a world of hurt on the Moving Market,” he said. “Subjugators are banned and considered contraband in every magical community.”
“The Moving Market is known for selling what is difficult to obtain,” I said. “Even contraband.”
“Not these,” Corbel said with a shake of his head. “Subjugators were used during the war with horrific results. They were banned shortly after. No one is insane enough to try and sell them. The Moving Market would be shut down so fast, Tessa would find herself spinning into Tartarus before she realized where she was.”
“Sounds major,” I said, looking at the amulet with a newfound respect. “If it can’t be purchased easily, how hard is it to create one of these?”
“That is the right question. If you can find who made it, you can find the mage who used it.”
“Do you have an idea?”
He gave me a look and shook his head.
“Do I look like an artificer?” Corbel asked. “Take it to Aria and see what she knows. After you use it to find Koda, destroy it—and by destroy, I mean make sure it’s dust and then scatter the dust. You don’t want to find yourself slitting your own throat one night because you forgot to get rid of it. That would be unpleasant.”
“In more ways than one.”
“I’m serious, Warden, get what you need and let Aria destroy it.”
The fact that he used my title and not my name demonstrated how serious he was. He hardly ever called me Warden, except to drive home a point. In this case, he wanted me to understand—subjugators were a major threat.
“What’s the range on this?” I asked, now wary of the amulet. “How close does the dark mage need to be to operate it?”
“What did I just say?” Corbel asked, frustrated. “I know what it is, I don’t know how it’s made, or the inner workings. All I know is that it’s dangerous, and you need to get rid of it. But since it’s you, I know you won’t, so take it to Aria, get her take on it, and then let her destroy it.”
