The Last City Read online

  ‘Commander Harvey vanished after that fire. Where is she?’ Copernicus demanded.

  Silho paused then said, ‘She’s dead.’ The word seemed to echo around the underground chamber.

  The commander took a moment to process the information before continuing. ‘Tell me about your skills. Tell me everything you can do.’

  Silho breathed in deeply. She clenched and unclenched her gloved hands. ‘I can touch a surface and see what’s happened in the past directly in front of it, and I can see people as light-forms. I can see where they are weakest and strongest and I can take from their strength to build my own.’

  ‘Can you take all their strength and kill them?’ he asked.

  ‘No,’ Silho said. ‘Only some, otherwise I set alight.’

  ‘Oren Harvey was a Pyron – you don’t have her skill?’

  Silho shook her head. ‘I’m not a firelighter. I’m not resistant to the flame.’

  ‘That’s all?’ Copernicus asked.

  ‘That’s everything.’ She held his stare.

  The commander reached down and dragged Diega, still struggling and screaming, to her feet. He pulled her around to face him.

  ‘She’s told the truth as she believes it.’

  ‘I don’t care!’ the Fen yelled.

  ‘Then do you care about Jude?’ Copernicus turned Diega towards the wreckage of the craft, where SevenM lay lifeless among the scattered debris. ‘With Brabel’s skills we may actually have a chance of tracking the witches and finding him. Without them, I’m not sure.’

  ‘My sister was murdered!’ Diega said. ‘You want me to just forget about that?’

  ‘No, but Brabel didn’t kill her.’

  ‘How do you know that?’ Diega challenged.

  ‘I know a murderer when I see one,’ Copernicus replied. ‘And so do you. Silho was six year-cycles old when it happened.’

  ‘I told you,’ Diega said. ‘I don’t care. I don’t care about anything. I want her dead!’

  The commander held Diega closer and forced her to look into his eyes. ‘Do you trust me?’ he asked.

  She stared back at him defiantly.

  ‘I said do you trust me?’ He raised his voice.

  ‘Yes. Yes I trust you!’ she shouted back.

  ‘Then listen to me. She was a child. Just like you were. Just like your sister was. She did not kill anyone.’

  For several moments Diega’s fury remained, but then she looked away from him and finally stopped struggling.

  After some time she spoke, her voice calmer, ‘Let me go.’

  ‘Are you in control?’ Copernicus asked.

  She looked back into his eyes. ‘Let me go.’

  The commander nodded and slowly unlocked her restraints.

  She shoved away from him and turned to Silho. ‘You’re dead. Now or later. It doesn’t matter.’

  ‘Diega,’ the commander warned.

  She glared at him, then went to gather up SevenM. Using her jacket as a sling, she tied the arachnid robot to her body.

  ‘I’m giving you a chance here,’ Copernicus said to Silho. ‘If you slip up, if I see you trying to hide anything, I will kill you. Do you understand me?’

  The commander’s face was bruised and swollen from Shawe’s beating, but Silho saw in his eyes that he meant every word. She nodded.

  The commander walked to the bunker’s control panel. ‘Their tech is ancient,’ he said. ‘We’ll have to go higher to get reception on our communicators.’

  He headed to the elevator that travelled between the lowest room and the next section of the tower.

  Silho forced herself to move, following Diega and Copernicus into the elevator, while the Fen stared at her with dagger-like eyes. They reached the next level and the elevator door opened. Just as they stepped out, Silho caught movement to their left. She turned to see Christy Shawe crouching beside the dead body of his gang-mate. The gangster king’s eyes found the commander’s. Shawe crossed himself three times in the human-breed gesture to send his friend’s soul to his ancestors in Paradise, then, in a sudden rush of movement, Shawe and Copernicus both drew their weapons. The commander got a lock on Shawe’s head before the gangster had even lifted his arm. Shawe spat on the floor between them.

  ‘Throw down your weapon,’ Copernicus instructed.

  Shawe held his position and Diega armed her electrifier and aimed it at the gangster’s chest. ‘He said stand down.’

  Shawe gave a humourless and dangerous laugh. ‘Who would have thought,’ he said to Copernicus, ‘that you’d be desperate enough to have this one as your right hand. Don’t you remember what she was like in the day? Girl bedded more gangsters than I can even name. What did I call her? Something about —’

  ‘Shut it,’ Diega warned. ‘What do you know about me? You’re just a pisshead thug with an over-inflated ego.’

  ‘Why don’t you go and sit down, sweetheart?’ Shawe mocked her. ‘And let me deal with your boss here.’

  ‘You couldn’t deal with him if you had a whole army at your back,’ Diega said.

  Shawe gave his crooked smile. ‘Really?’ He glanced at the commander and shook his head. ‘Keeping secrets, are we?’

  ‘Shut your mouth, Shawe,’ Copernicus warned.

  ‘What’s wrong? Are you embarrassed?’ Shawe mocked him. ‘Why don’t you tell your lady friend here about who you really are? Tell her how you wouldn’t even be alive if it wasn’t for me.’

  ‘Fsx,’ Diega swore at Shawe in Fenlen.

  ‘Tell her!’ he demanded. ‘Or I will.’

  ‘What does it matter now?’ the commander maintained his cold control, but Silho could see he was tense.

  Shawe snorted and regarded him with disgust. ‘Pissweak you are, just like when I first saw you – scrawny, stuttering, tripping over your own feet.’

  ‘So what?’ the commander said. ‘I was a kid.’

  ‘You were a circus monkey,’ Shawe spat, ‘performing for candy.’

  ‘What’s your point?’ Diega snapped. ‘Everyone knows his father was an Illusionist.’

  ‘Ah, but he wasn’t,’ Shawe said. ‘The father was a fake, but your boss here was the real thing, only he was too scared to do anything about it. I’d let him put on little shows for me and the boys and we’d give him food – our scraps.’

  ‘Enough,’ the commander growled, but Shawe kept going, speaking faster and louder.

  ‘One night I turned up at the circus and heard that some of the scullion carnies had seen us and ratted him out to the doctor – told him what his son could really do. I tracked down Silvan Kane. He was finishing up burying something in the ground. When he left, I dug it up and there was your boss – buried alive.’

  Silho found herself staring at the commander’s face for a reaction, but he was completely closed. She felt sickened by what he’d suffered.

  After a brief pause Diega said, ‘That’s your big news, Shawe? His father was a lunatic who tried to kill him? It’s sad, but it doesn’t change anything.’

  The gangster scowled with annoyance. ‘I saved his neck! I let him run with me. I hid him. I always had his back, even though my own dad almost killed me for associating with an outsider. We were brothers. Then he went and sold us out to the state. Got many of us locked up, some of us killed, including my dad.’ He spoke to Copernicus. ‘You’re a backstabbing, squealing dog traitor. I should have left you to rot.’ Shawe armed his electrifier. ‘Tell me where my brother is – now!’

  The commander armed his weapon as well, keeping it trained on Shawe’s head. The two men stared each other down, neither moving a muscle.

  Silho saw worry grow in Diega’s expression as she looked between them, and she realised there was an actual possibility they were going to open fire on each other. The commander hadn’t shown his feelings, but obviously Shawe had shaken him.

  ‘We already told you, Shawe, the Skreaf have him.’ Diega spoke quickly. ‘We don’t know where, but I do know that Copernicus is your only chance
of finding him, so if you care about your brother like you say you do – just lower your weapon.’

  For several moments nothing changed, but then Shawe’s hands hesitated and he let his aim relax. When the commander finally reciprocated, Silho exhaled relief.

  ‘The witches have him.’ Shawe repeated. ‘Because of the ring? I don’t understand. Why would they want it?’

  ‘We don’t know,’ Diega said.

  Shawe glared at her and Silho could see thoughts formulating in the green of his hard stare. ‘You said they’d taken one of yours as well?’

  She nodded.

  ‘And you’re going after him?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Then I’m coming with you.’

  ‘Like hell,’ Diega said.

  Before any more could be said, the commander’s communicator beeped with reception. He dragged it off his belt and tapped in a number.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Shawe demanded.

  Silho heard the line connect and a female voice say, ‘High Commander Levis Kline’s office.’

  ‘This is Commander Kane. I need to speak with High Commander Kline,’ Copernicus responded.

  ‘The High Commander is occupied at present. Can I take a message and —’ The girl cut out and a man with an aged, gravelly voice spoke up. ‘Kane, this is Kline. What’s your status?’

  ‘My team was attacked by Skreaf witches. The sect has been resurrected,’ Copernicus paused for a response and when the High Commander spoke again, Silho noticed no change at all to his flat tone.

  ‘Who have you told about this?’

  ‘No one as yet,’ Copernicus said. ‘We’re in the Matadori – Outpost 109. We need a recon unit to come as soon as possible.’

  ‘I’ll dispatch one immediately,’ Kline said.

  The commander’s communicator began to whistle and he said, ‘End trans—’

  ‘Kane,’ Kline cut in. ‘I have your report in front of me regarding a ring you found at a Moris-Isles crime scene. Do you have this object on you now?’

  The commander frowned, then he disconnected the call.

  ‘What is it?’ Diega asked.

  ‘We have to get out of here now,’ Copernicus said. He moved past Christy Shawe to a second elevator behind him.

  ‘Why?’ Shawe asked.

  ‘I never wrote a report on the ring. The Regiment is compromised.’

  ‘What a shock,’ Shawe snorted. ‘And, by the way, great work telling him exactly where we are.’

  The commander seemed to ignore the gangster’s taunt, but hit the elevator button with more force than necessary. The door began to part, then ground to a halt.

  ‘They’re shutting us in,’ the commander said and Silho’s skin chilled.

  ‘The stairway.’ Diega pointed to the emergency exit.

  Copernicus grabbed the handle and found it locked.

  ‘Move,’ Shawe commanded. He rammed his shoulder against the steel. It buckled and broke open.

  Copernicus led the group at a run up so many flights of steps that Silho lost count. Finally, with burning muscles, they reached ground level and burst out into the desert. The first shards of light from the rising suns had pierced the dawn-grey darkness. Silho stepped onto the sand and an overwhelming urge to touch the ground swept over her. She clenched her gloved hands and pushed back the feeling, trying to keep calm, silently reassuring herself that she would make it back to the city in time. The alternative of losing control in front of the commander and the others was unthinkable.

  The team ran away from the outpost tower to a clump of sand dunes in the distance. They dived behind the dunes just as the dull roar of military fighterflyers sent a tremor through the ground. Silho covered her ears as the flyers landed beside the outpost and several troupes of soldiers disembarked and stormed the tower.

  ‘Death squads,’ Diega spat.

  Copernicus nodded grimly. ‘We have to get moving. They’ll widen their search once they find we’re not there. Do you have the Ory-4?’

  ‘Shawe’s men took everything from my pockets.’ She cast the gangster a loathing glare.

  ‘Then we’re on foot,’ Copernicus said.

  ‘Not likely,’ Shawe said. ‘We’ll be lost in seconds.’

  Copernicus took the nav-tech device off his belt and studied the compass face. He frowned and tapped the machine. The directional readout was swinging wildly from one point to another.

  ‘You’ll need something much stronger this far out,’ Shawe said. ‘We’ll have to nick one of their jets.’ He nodded to the flyers.

  ‘Not possible,’ Copernicus responded. ‘They’re covered with sensors and traps. It’d be suicide.’

  ‘Unlike wandering endlessly through the trutting Matadori Desert?’ Shawe demanded.

  Silho swallowed her rising anxiety and forced herself to speak. ‘I think I can get us back to the city.’

  ‘No one asked you,’ Diega snarled.

  ‘How?’ The commander turned to her, his expression guarded.

  ‘I grew up in the Matadori. I was taught to read the sand.’

  ‘By who?’

  ‘My carer – an ex-tracker called Hammersmith.’

  Copernicus raised an eyebrow. Hammersmith, Oren Harvey’s mentor, had been notorious in his time and left behind a reputation of the mixed variety.

  ‘And you know where to go?’ he asked.

  ‘If we head that way,’ Silho pointed southward, ‘we should reach the town of Tracy before the midday burn. We may be able to find something that flies there, but we have to go now to outrun the heat.’ The suns were already spreading firelight across the vast desert.

  ‘Then we’re moving,’ Copernicus said.

  ‘I’m not following her.’ Diega crossed her arms.

  ‘So stay here and die,’ Copernicus said. ‘I’ll let Jude know what happened. Brabel – take the lead.’

  Keeping low behind the dunes, Silho started heading in the direction of Tracy. Without warning, a voice whispered in her mind, making her steps stumble and vision waver. Panic assailed her with the realisation that she had less time than she’d thought. Determined to overcome, she clenched her hands and pushed herself forward. The boots of the others, including Diega, fell into step behind her.

  23

  Ev’r could have blamed the creature she was becoming for her desperation to live. It would have been easy to claim that it had stopped her from finishing the enchant that would have ended her, but Ev’r didn’t believe in that kind of self-sparing weakness – always looking for something else or someone else to blame – when the real problem was staring straight out of the mirror. She, her own worst enemy, had stopped the enchant. She had been unable to do what was necessary, and now she doubted that she ever would, even when turning was inevitable. No matter how much she denied her blood heritage, survival at all costs ran through her veins. Scullions were always the last ones standing.

  The pressure of the changes made her body convulse and strain against the chains. Her jaw distended more, ripping the skin under her chin, and the black stain on her fingertips spread to halfway along her hands. The slowing potion Eli had given her was losing potency, so there were only two choices now: get out, get back to the desert, find the O’Tenery Asylum, retrieve the witch’s cure-all and hope like hell that it worked . . . or force Snack-size to kill her. She snorted. Really, there was only one choice – she was getting out no matter what. Threatening Eli hadn’t worked, but she had a fair idea of what would reach him.

  A mechanical whirr above her and light footsteps on the stairs signalled Eli’s return. When he appeared, he was back to his normal pointy shape. She could see from his dragging wings and blinking eyes that he was exhausted and still emotionally raw. Perfect.

  ‘Find anything?’ she asked.

  He slumped down at his desk and spoke, his voice lower and slower than usual. ‘I went to Moris-Isles and found out that Christy Shawe has captured the commander, Diega and Silho and then I went to the Gangla
nd and discovered that Shawe went into the desert last night and hasn’t come back and then . . .’

  While he was speaking, Ev’r began blinking, accessing the extra tear ducts that all scullions were born with. She squeezed against them with her facial muscles until tears streamed from her eyes. Then she began to sob. Eli paused and she could feel him watching. She leaned forward in her chair, making her shoulders tremble. The sobs sounded so real, she almost surprised herself. Eli’s chair scraped back and he approached her, stopping just out of kicking range.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Eli asked. ‘Ev’r?’

  ‘No,’ she whispered. ‘I don’t want to die like this. I know I seem cruel, but I’m not, it’s just the way I’ve had to be to protect myself. You don’t understand what it’s like to be different, for everyone to look at you as though you’re a freak. I’ve tried to fit in and be normal, but I can’t. All my life people have beaten me, spat on me and called me names. I’ve had no choice but to become this monster you see. I had a pet – a cat – I fed it in secret, I loved it, but my father found out and broke its neck. I never had a chance to love anything. You don’t understand. I’m sick now, very sick, I’m in pain. I’m dying and I want to change. I don’t want to be like this anymore!’ She kept crying and eventually felt a small hand slide onto her shoulder.

  ‘It’s alright,’ Eli comforted her. ‘Everything will be okay. I’m going to help you. I’ll give you something for the pain and I’ll help you change.’

  ‘It’s just my arms,’ she snuffled. ‘See how my hands are turning black? It’s because the circulation is cut off. It hurts so bad. I know you can’t untie me. I wouldn’t untie me either, but maybe you can inject my hands with a numbing agent so I can’t feel them dying.’

  ‘I’ll loosen the chains right now,’ Eli said. ‘I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise how tight I’d tied them. I feel terrible.’

  He crouched behind her and she heard some rattling, then the chains went slack around her arms. Her hand was free in a blink of a second; with lightning speed she spun in the chair and grabbed Eli by the throat. He gasped, shock bulging his eyes. Ev’r dragged her other arm free and stood, keeping her tight grasp on the struggling imp-breed. She shook the chains down her body and stepped out of them, then dragged Eli by the neck to the workbench, where she grabbed up a length of plain rope. He feebly resisted as she bound his hands, tied the end of the rope into a noose and pushed it over his head so that if he struggled he’d choke himself. Satisfied that he couldn’t escape, Ev’r shoved him to the ground. He stared up at her with his big dark eyes full of hurt and sorrow, brimming with tears.