The truck rolled back and redirected, shifting another couple of blocks before turning for the main gates. It was smooth sailing from there. Her vehicle trudged through the rest of Asphodel with minimal resistance.
The two-story sheet metal wall that defined the Styx’s main gate screeched as her truck drew near. Guards lined the peak, their automatic weapons trained into the world beyond. More lined the path beyond to herald her arrival.
Leah glanced at her destination. All this trouble for that? The party held no more than five, huddled near the admittance station with neither words nor weapons.
While the rest of her men made the obligatory rush into formation, she fitted her golden Head Huntress badge in place, threw her scarf over one shoulder, and calmly strolled into the open. Oh, how she wanted nothing more than to bark some orders and go back home.
But then Leah saw these travelers up close.
All five wore cloaks, with hoods thrown over hardened faces and sleeves that hung loose along the limbs. Only a single strand of rope held the garb in place, tied along the midsection to keep it from falling off. Their skin was smoothed out, looking as fresh and clean as Pandemonium’s aristocracy.
Four wore clothes colored brown, but it was the last guy who stood out the most. His cloak was black, and he stood a full head taller than the others, with a tattoo running along his forehead in the shape of a crown of thorns. He leaned against a bo staff for stability.
That tattoo, though… Leah’s eyes stayed fixed as she studied its intricacies. Had she seen this guy before? She probed the depths of her Rez for an answer.
Nothing. Leah must have been confusing the description fed to her by Liam with some friend of the past.
Leah composed herself. “Gotta say, it isn’t often that I get called down here by name.”
“You are the leader of this city?” one of the brown-cloaked guys asked.
“That’s ‘Lady Leah’ to anyone asking. The real question is who the fuck are you people?”
“We are but simple Beholders for the Lord. My name is Aaron.”
Leah blinked. Seriously? She recognized the description of the black-cloaked fucker at once, but she’d never expected him to just waltz up to the Styx. And with this little backup too?
She turned to the nearest guard. “They armed?”
“No,” he said. “Just the one guy with the stick and crossbow.”
“Good.” She raised her hand and pointed. Her people flooded forth, forming a ring that locked them on three fronts, their weapons aimed to kill. Aaron kept his cool, but the rest shifted nervously in place. Even the black-cloaked guy clung to his staff like it might make the slightest bit of difference.
Leah grinned. “You gonna make this easy, or are those cloaks of yours about to have a few holes ripped through them?”
Aaron remained still. “There is no need for violence. We do not wish to bring you or your people harm. We come in peace.”
“Peace, huh?” She chuckled. “You know, I’ve been hearing a lot about Beholders lately, and none of it is good.”
“I suppose that many would have differences of opinion about our cause, but that is the world we now live in. Is it not?”
“And what cause is that?” Leah mused.
He didn’t blink. “To find Leah Fenix. We wish to see the unhollowed child, along with her parents, Liam and Evelyn.”
The words cut like a knife, and her chest tightened with a phantom heartbeat. Did that guy just say that shit out loud!? Here? Now? Right out in the fucking open!?
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Leah tilted her head, her brow furrowed. “I don’t think I like the way this guy is looking at me. Bring me his head! Gag his friends while you’re at it. I don’t want another word out of them.”
“Wait!” the black-cloaked Beholder jumped in front, his staff tossed to the ground. “Forgive my Brother for speaking without respect, Lady Leah, but you must not harm us.”
She laughed. “And why the fuck not?”
“Because then our congregation will have no choice but to attack. I do not wish to see further bloodshed after how far our pilgrimage has taken us.” He turned to his side. “You are not to speak another word, Brother Aaron.”
Aaron grimaced as though he’d been smacked in the face.
This one’s got more tact. She breathed deep, letting her rage subside a beat. There was no going back now that the beans had been spilled, but she could still fish for information before taking the necessary next steps.
Leah examined her guards. “Everyone, listen up! Here’s how we’re going to play this. The rest of you take a couple steps back, and if a single one of these cloak-wearing fuckers so much as blinks, you’re to put them down on the spot. Got it?”
Her guards nodded and complied, giving them more space.
Leah advanced until no one else could hear, then pointed to the tall one. “You. You’re name is Ezekiel, isn’t it?”
The black-cloak rezzer looked from one end of the firing squad to the other and grit his teeth. “I am.”
“Figured as much. Let’s not play games then, Ezekiel. A couple weeks back, you and your friends went to a place you didn’t belong. A bunker hidden under Cheyenne Mountain. That is correct, yes?”
“We did.”
“Then all that I have to say to you is this: the best thing for you and your little group is to march back home and forget anything ever happened. Can you do that for me?” She could wipe them all out on the road.
Ezekiel’s mouth furled into a thin line. “Forgive me, Lady Leah, but that is not a decision I can make.”
She raised an eyebrow and looked at Aaron. “You’re telling me that this chump is your leader?”
“He cannot make that decision either.”
“So you’ve been sent as an advance party,” she deduced. “To what end, exactly?”
He paused, once again studying his enemies before focusing back on her. “It is as you would guess. Our Father sent us to ascertain whether or not Leah Fenix and her family are located here and to request that they return with us if they were. Those are our only tasks. He does not wish to bring you or your people harm, and he is willing to negotiate with you directly once the rest of our congregation arrives.”
Is that so? “Then you guys aren’t near as bright as I thought you were. So tell me, Brother, why is it that I shouldn’t purge the lot of you before you run off and talk to your Father? Do you really think that your pesky crew of eighty is anywhere near enough to threaten me?”
Ezekiel’s lips twitched ever so slightly into a faint grin. “Do you believe that we have no more than eighty in our ranks?”
Leah blinked, caught off by his sudden bravado.
But before she could probe further, a guard had wandered over, holding his radio out.
“I told you to stay back,” she snapped.
“I’m sorry, my Lady, but you have to hear this.”
Leah pressed the radio to her head and listened. Her eyes widened as the message came through. Without saying a word, she turned around and ran for the gate. Through the Styx, up the nearest tower, and onto the roof where her people kept watch. She yanked a pair of binoculars from the nearest guard and focused on the horizon.
For the second time today, her heart jolted back to life for a beat. There, along the mountains to the northeast, a mass of white had formed. Narrowing it further exposed just how vast this army spread about. Horses, cattle, tents, carts. And cloaked rezzers. Black, brown, and white. So much fucking white! No matter which way she looked, more kept coming.
This shouldn’t have been possible. There were hundreds… No, thousands… All crawling toward Pandemonium like an entire city on the move. Like a nation invading!
Leah swallowed the lump in her throat as another revelation blossomed. She shifted the binoculars into Pandemonium and adjusted the lens.
The crowd of onlookers remained where they’d been left outside the Lodge, mesmerized by the brown-cloaked rezzer on a plywood box as he continued to drone to the masses about his book. She’d never taken the time to look at him up close, but with the aid of her binoculars, getting the exact size and shape of the cloak he wore was child’s play, along with comparing it to what Aaron and the other Beholders wore.
Identical.
Well, shit. This day just got a whole lot more complicated.