Bullets and bones, p.2
Bullets and Bones, page 2
part #2 of Desa Kincaid Series
Desa’s heart went out to the other woman; she had ridden in a horseless carriage last night when the police imprisoned them at the Prelate’s command. But riding in one and seeing one coming at you were two different things.
Across the road, a red-bricked building with arch-shaped windows stood four stories high. Things were changing in Aladar; ten years ago, when Desa left on her adventure, automobiles had been a rarity, and electric lights were a pleasure reserved for those who could afford them. Now, both were becoming common.
“Over there!” Miri said, pointing across the street.
That seemed as good a direction as any.
Together, they ran across the empty road, onto the opposite sidewalk. They ducked into another alley, slipping out of sight. A good thing too. Desa ventured one glance back the way they had come and saw three uniformed police officers coming out of the hole that Kalia had put in the wall.
Hiding behind the red building, Desa sucked air into her lungs. “This will do,” she mumbled. “Yes, this will do.”
There was a thin, wooden fence between this building and the one behind it. While the police might think to look in nearby alleys, they would search the street first. She only needed a few moments.
Desa opened herself to the Ether, and the world became a place of dancing particles once again. She saw the collection of molecules that represented Kalia. The sheriff looked at her, eyebrows rising. “You can find it that quickly?”
Desa said nothing. It was difficult to speak or move her body while she was in the Ether’s embrace. And she didn’t want to admit it, but ever since her time in the ancient city, finding the Ether was easier.
The belt buckle was just simple brass again; the Force-Sink she had Infused was gone, used up absorbing the kinetic blast that had freed them from their cell. Now, she could make it into something new.
Quickly, she made a new lattice between the buckle’s molecules, one attuned to gravity. She made sure to specify that it would only pull on things from one direction so that it wouldn’t affect her when she triggered it. She found a small rock on the ground, one that she could conceal in her hand, and she built a lattice inside that as well.
The Ether showed her police officers fanning out in the street. They were searching for her. Only a few moments longer. She had to make the Infusions strong enough.
“Almighty preserve us,” Kalia whispered. “She’s so fast…”
“She’s one of the best Field Binders Aladar has ever known,” Miri replied.
A bottle cap on the alley floor. Desa Infused that with a thirst for gravitational energy. Yes, that would do nicely. Now, she needed something to deal with the bullets. Of course! The shirt they had given her had metal buttons. She Infused two of them with a connection to the Ether. And the guns…
She moved quickly from bullet to bullet, making a Heat-Sink, a Force-Source, and another Gravity-Source. Kalia and Miri… They would need protection as well.
Out on the street, one of the officers was gesturing towards the nearby alleys. She was running out of time. Working as fast as she could, she chose Kalia’s belt buckle and one of the buttons on Miri’s blouse, making each one a Force-Sink. She gave each one a physical trigger so that its bearer could choose when to use it. Then she released the Ether.
Opening her eyes, Desa took a moment to collect herself. She wiped sweat off her forehead with the back of one hand. “The third button on your shirt, Miri,” she said. “Tap it once if someone’s about to shoot at you. Tap it again when you’re out of danger. Kalia, for you, it’s your buckle.”
Both women nodded.
“I’ll keep the guards distracted,” Desa said. “The two of you go free Lommy… Tommy and Marcus. Wait until they’re busy shooting at me, and then make your move.”
“Works for me,” Miri muttered.
“Let’s go to work.”
She picked up the pebble and the bottle cap, stuffing them both into her pocket. Giving the others one last nod, she slipped into the alley and moved cautiously toward the street. When she was close enough, she peered out from the shadows.
There were three men in blue uniforms and billed caps standing in the middle of the road, looking this way and that, searching for any sign of her. All it would take was for one of them to glance in her direction.
Desa fished the pebble out of her pocket.
Tossing it into the street, she watched it land in the middle of the group of men. They looked down at it, bewildered. And then she triggered the Light-Sink that she had Infused into the rock.
A patch of gloom, dark beneath the blazing afternoon sun, appeared in the middle of the road. All three men began shouting, crying out in surprise. Time to press her advantage
Desa ran into their group.
Once she was within range of her Light-Sink, the world around her seemed to darken. The sky above was now a deep, twilight-blue. The buildings were blocky shadows. Not total darkness, but it would do.
The nearest man, a silhouette to her eyes, spun around at the sound of her footsteps. He tried to lift the pistol in his right hand.
Desa swung the belt like a whip, striking his wrist with the buckle. His fingers uncurled, the revolver falling to the ground. Hissing in pain, he tried to advance on her. Desa whipped him again, lashing him across the cheek.
The poor fool stumbled.
With a thought, she killed the Light-Sink. Full brightness returned, and all three men winced, their eyes smarting. Desa’s eyes were sore as well, but she had learned to rely on her other senses.
She kicked the man in front of her.
He went staggering backward into one of his companions, and they both fell to the pavement. The third man rounded on her, baring teeth in the snarl. In an instant, he had his gun up and pointed at her. Desa activated her shirt buttons.
CRACK!
The bullet came to an abrupt halt right in front of her and fell to the ground a second later when she killed the Force-Sinks. She could see the shock on her enemy’s eyes, and she capitalized on it.
Desa flung the belt out toward him, briefly pulsing the Gravity-Source that she had infused into the buckle. The policeman was yanked toward her, nearly falling over as he stumbled the few steps that were necessary to bring him within reach of her weapon.
Desa whipped him across the face, leaving a red welt on his upper lip. Her next lash tore the gun right out of his hand. Then she sent the buckle into his groin for good measure. Squealing in pain, the poor fellow clutched his pelvis and fell to his knees.
The other two were rising.
One was down on all fours and pawing at the ground for the pistol he had lost. The other was standing up slowly, holding his weapon tight in one hand. He turned a hateful stare upon Desa.
She triggered the Light-Sink, forcing it to drink as deeply as it could.
This time, the world became a place of utter darkness. Pure black in all directions. The Sink wouldn’t last long, gobbling up light energy that quickly.
Swift and silent, Desa moved off to her right to avoid being where the man had last seen her. The thunder of gunfire filled the air, and by the sound of a bullet ricocheting off bricks, she was fairly certain that the shot had gone into the alley.
“Where is she?” one officer shouted.
“I don’t know! I don’t know!”
They were all breathing hard and moving awkwardly, feet scuffing on the pavement. It wasn’t difficult to estimate the position of each man. Desa crept up behind one of them.
“Where is she? Where is she?”
“Right here,” Desa whispered.
She looped the belt over his head, pulling it tight over his throat. And then she yanked him backward onto his ass. A swift kick to the head knocked him senseless. She left the belt where it was.
Triggering the Gravity-Sink in the bottle cap, Desa leaped and soared right over the remaining two men. At the apex of her jump, the Sink gave out, and the harsh light of day returned in full force.
Allowing gravity to reassert a tiny fraction of its power, Desa landed a little ways up the street. She whirled around to find two uniformed men standing in the middle of the road, shielding strained eyes from the sun’s relentless assault. Now to end this while she had them distracted.
Desa triggered the Gravity-Source in the belt buckle.
Both men were pulled backward, falling hard on their backsides and skidding across the pavement toward their fallen companion. The legs kicked feebly. Their hands clawed for purchase, but they couldn’t escape. The discarded guns were drawn toward the belt as well. Not a good idea, putting her enemies and their weapons in the same spot, but she wouldn’t give them a chance to do her any harm.
Finally, Desa killed both Source and Sink.
She drew her own pistol, cocking the hammer, and then pointed it at the pile of men. “Easy now,” she said. “Nobody reaches for a weapon, and nobody gets hurt.”
Desa closed her eyes, a fat bead of sweat rolling over her forehead. Her breathing was laboured, her body aching from the exertion. “Now,” she went on in a husky voice. “My friends and I are going to leave the city peacefully. All you have to do-”
A whistling sound behind her.
She turned around to find a man in billowing, yellow robes descending from the rooftop of a nearby building. He landed on the sidewalk with barely a sound and then rose to stand at full height.
His face was hidden under a yellow hood. Even without the obvious use of Gravity-Sinks, Desa would have recognized the uniform and the sleek, metal staff of an Elite Guardian. “Desa Nin Leean,” he said. “You are charged with treason.”
He began a slow, inexorable march into the middle of the road.
Desa stood there with her mouth agape, blinking slowly as she tried to put a name to that voice. “Radavan?” she stammered. “Is that you?”
He put himself in front of her, holding the staff out before himself in two hands as if he were a guard on a bridge who meant to bar her passage. “You are charged with treason,” he said again.
Clenching her teeth, Desa shut her eyes tight. She shook her head with a growl. “I have done no treason,” she declared. “I’m trying to save this world. All of it. Aladar included.”
“You will report to the Prelate,” he said.
“Vengeance spit on my grave if I will.”
Taking that as a sign that further talk was pointless, Radavan strode toward her with the staff in one hand. He pulled back his hood to reveal a pale face and a shaved head. “In the name of Aladar, I arrest you.”
He stretched a beringed hand out toward her.
Without warning, Desa was pulled forward. The sudden tug was so strong it ripped the gun right out of her grip. The butt end of that staff struck the side of her head, and then her vision was filled with silver stars. Reacting by instinct, she let herself fall over backward.
She rose into a handstand, stretching her legs into the air, and then flipped upright. When her vision cleared, she saw Radavan coming at her with determination in his eyes. He thrust the staff at her face.
Desa leaned to her right, the weapon flashing over her left shoulder. Her first instinct was to grab it and take it from him, but only a fool touched another Field Binder’s weapon. She retreated and waited for an opening.
Radavan tried to take her legs out from under her.
With a screech, Desa jumped and back-flipped through the air. She landed just in time to see the stubborn fool of a man bearing down on her, raising his weapon for yet another blow. He swung at her head.
Desa ducked, allowing the staff to pass over her.
He’s got reach. She fell onto her side, bracing one hand on the pavement, and kicked Radavan’s knee. He yelped.
Curling up into a ball, Desa sprang off the ground and landed with her fists up in a guarded stance. “Listen to me!”
Twirling the staff with expert skill, Radavan backed away to put some distance between them. He raised the weapon high and slammed it down onto the road, releasing a wave of kinetic force.
The blast hit Desa like a tidal wave, throwing her backward. She landed on her bottom, groaning. That was why you never touched another Field Binder’s weapon. If he had triggered that Force-Source while she was holding the staff, she would have lost a hand. She somersaulted and came up in a crouch.
Wiping her mouth with one hand, Desa squinted at him. “All right,” she said, rising. “You don’t want to talk? We don’t have to talk.”
Radavan tossed the staff at her.
It landed with a clatter right between her two feet. Instantly, Desa threw herself down on her belly and triggered the Force-Sinks in her buttons. The explosion of kinetic energy that should have hurled her four stories into the air was instead absorbed into the Ether. But the staff released more than her buttons could take.
Desa was launched about five feet off the ground, and then she unceremoniously dropped to the pavement, bouncing like a stone. She pushed herself up on extended arms. Her head was swimming.
She barely even felt it when the tip of Radavan’s staff found its way under her chin. He tilted her face up so that she was forced to stare into his eyes. There was nothing but grim resignation there. This man was as bad as Marcus. Worse.
“You are no longer Desa Nin Leean. You forfeited any right that name when you left this place. No, you are Desa Kincaid now. And your skills have atrophied.”
He thumped her on the head with the staff.
Everything went dark.
2
A fog of confusion filled Desa’s mind, receding only reluctantly to be replaced with pain. Her head hurt, and the dizziness that came with that made her nauseous. The voices that were speaking somewhere nearby sounded as if they were coming from the depths of some ancient cave.
The first pleasant sensation she experienced was the feeling of soft, red carpet beneath her. The walls of this room are also red, and its vaulted ceiling was supported by thick, golden pillars. She knew this place. The Prelate’s office.
Desa was lying on her side, dressed only in gray pants and an undershirt that barely let her maintain modesty. Her short, brown hair was a mess, thin strands of it falling over her face. She tried to sit up.
Tried and failed.
“She’s awake,” someone said.
Without thinking, she reached for the Ether and wrapped herself in its warm embrace. The world around her became a tempest of swirling particles. The walls, the chairs, the Prelate’s desk and the people surrounding it: each one a small galaxy of tiny molecules. There were three Elite Guardians in this room. Radavan was one. “She’s trying to Field Bind,” he barked.
“Desa Nin Leean!” the Prelate snapped.
Desa released her hold on the Ether, and the collection of molecules on the other side of the desk became a tall and willowy woman with a leathery face. Her gray hair was pulled back in a bun. Daresina Nin Drialla looked even more cantankerous than Desa remembered.
Standing by the wall with his metal staff in the hand, his yellow robes seeming to hang off his body, Radavan sneered at her. “She’s released it,” he said. “You’re in no danger.”
Desa realized that she could feel the Sinks and Sources that she had Infused earlier. They were somewhere to the south-west, several miles at least, and if her memory of the city’s layout was still accurate, it was a good bet that every single one of those weapons was sitting in a vault in the police station. Desa ordered them all to release their power at a glacial pace. At this rate, it would take the better part of two weeks for them to revert to ordinary objects, but if she couldn’t have them back, it was best to defuse them. An Infused weapon was like a drawn bowstring: tense and ready to release its power at the slightest provocation. Her sudden death might trigger any one of those devices.
“Desa Nin Leean!”
Covering her face with one hand, Desa rubbed her eyelids with the tips of her fingers. “I heard you the first time.” She looked up, blinking. “Frankly, I’m surprised you didn’t put me back in that cell.”
Daresina sat behind her desk with arms folded. Her mouth was twisted like she had forgotten to add sugar to her lemonade. “Would it do any good?” the Prelate countered. “You would only make another escape attempt.”
Radavan’s wolfish grin made Desa shiver. “Leave her with us,” he suggested. “The Elite Guard knows how to deal with one such as her.”
“Is that really necessary?”
Desa froze.
She had not realized that Marcus was present, but his voice was unmistakable. One glance around the room, and she found him standing by the door with the wide brim of his hat pulled low over his eyes. He still wore the dungarees and brown jacket that he had donned during their journey.
The others were here as well.
Kalia was on her knees, staring into her lap with lips pursed. There was an ugly, purple bruise on her cheek. For some reason, that made Desa very angry.
Tommy was in the corner, doing his best not to look at anyone, and Miri was next to him. Unlike everyone else, she seemed to be uninterested in what the Prelate had to say. She just kept close to Tommy and whispered comforting things in his ear.
“It’s clear,” Daresina began, “that you cannot be trusted as you were tasked with bringing Desa home, and you betrayed that charge.”
Contact with the Ether accelerated the body’s natural healing process. Desa would need an hour at least in its embrace to recover completely from her injuries, but those brief few seconds had given her enough lucidity to carry on this conversation.
Drawing breath through her open mouth, Desa shut her eyes and tried to keep her voice steady. “He had some good reasons for doing so,” she said. “There is something dangerous out there.”
The Prelate sniffed.
Hunching over her desk, she rested her elbows on its surface and balanced her chin atop laced fingers. “Oh yes,” she mocked. “This mysterious force you keep speaking of. This creature from beyond the confines of our universe…”
Her tone betrayed more than skepticism.
