Age of Mystics (Saga of Mystics Book 1) (23 page)

Jordan slipped his way into the Inner Circle, fully aware that he was being watched by one of the goons that passed as an Intelligence Operative, or just “Op”, as they were called now. During his free time, which wasn’t much, he would come and have lunch with Emma. They were not able to hide their relationship for long, but it put them both in danger. People knew that Jordan Kane had some kind of connection to General Meyer, the Right Hand and even Shogun himself, so they were cautious about upsetting him. But, Emma was an attractive woman, and in this ridiculous community, that meant she was a possession to be taken.

Making sure he knew just where his “tail” was, Jordan thought about how dumb the Ops were. They were just so obvious. However, as he passed the latest hanging corpses, he considered the ramifications of being accused by one of them. Executions were semi-common in the last couple of weeks.

Jordan and Emma had arrived a little over a month ago, he thought. He couldn’t be sure because no one kept any calendar or time around here. It was always morning, or mid-day or night. It was a few days ago, or a while back. They had already stopped counting in days and hours. People were getting stupider by the minute.

It was also very dirty in the compound, not up by the tower but definitely in the inner circle. The outer circle was already a slum, even though people lived in former mansions. They had to get out of here, but few survived fleeing from the compound and were forever considered disloyal if they did. Jordan had a hard time thinking about how far society had fallen in just two months. He assumed that things might get better, but didn’t know if he would live to see it. Turning a corner, he heard Emma’s voice.

“Haven’t you done enough?” Emma was arguing with one of the “policemen” that were appointed to keep the peace, but really were just oppressors who raped young women, and extorted from the poor. Their time in the Compound had taught them that strength and connection were the only two things that kept people alive.

“If you know what is good for you, Doc, you will just hand her over. We have some questions for her.” Said the man standing in front of her with two of his buddies standing behind him grinning at a teen girl that Emma was shielding. Jordan picked up his pace.

“Can I be of any help guys?” Jordan said as he trotted up next to Emma.

The group turned toward him, they were always a little more comfortable with men than with women. The leader spoke again, “This girl needs to be questioned. She has…information we want.” He leered past Emma at the cowering young woman, who could not be more than fifteen.

Jordan turned on the charm. “I get that. Well, Doc, let’s make that happen. We don’t want to keep these guys waiting.” The look on Emma’s face could have melted his skin, so he continued, “Umm, yeah, guys, I think the Doc needs to finish her examination. I can drop the girl by the guardhouse if you guys tell me which one you want her at. I was just going to have lunch with the Doc, then I will bring her over.” Emma’s expression relaxed. She could see what Jordan was doing. He was a believable witness against them, which he was showing by offering to help them.

The leader nodded to his men, who headed off with mumbles of “fuckin’ Kane” and “won’t be safe forever.” The leader himself just said, “We will pick her up ourselves in the outer circle later.” He turned and made his way through the throng of people milling about the aid area of the inner circle.

Emma hugged Jordan and gave him a light kiss. “I don’t have an examination to give, she came here to hide.”

Jordan nodded, “I figured.” Turning toward the girl, he said, “Hey, go to the south guard post and ask for Johnson. Tell him I said you would be a good fit for washing the clothes. It won’t be fun, but they are all afraid of Johnson, and he won’t rape you. Okay?” The girl smiled and nodded, saying nothing. “So, sit here for a bit and then go around the long way. They won’t find you.” The girl nodded again, and Emma took his hand in hers.

“Come to have lunch with me again?” Emma asked, a hint of flirt in her eyes.

“Yes,” he blurted, “That sounds awesome. Is there some quiet place we can find to enjoy our lunch?” Emma led him to a back area, as he passed inside, he saw the Op following him sit down to wait for Kane’s dalliance to be over.

Once out of sight and hearing of anyone, they dropped the flirt. “I think it has to be tonight.” Jordan told his love. “Make an excuse to get to the outer circle, maybe to go see that girl I just sent down to Johnson. He will be waiting for us. I will come back here when I get off tonight, and not finding you, I will follow you into the outer circle. The morons following me are too scared of the outer circle at night.” She smiled that beautiful smile at him. “What?”

“You are brave, and smart, and I am lucky to be with you.”

Jordan was regularly amazed at his relationship with this beautiful woman. “No, I am lucky to be with you.”

“Then let’s make this look good” she said and reached into his pants. He smiled and gave her a long, hard kiss as he unbuttoned his pants for “lunch”.

Eric sat at his command table, really just a part of one of the four former restaurants at the resort. He was surrounded at the table by his four advisors, Damiano, Meyer, Colson and Summers. There were guards at the door, though they were more for show since Eric could physically destroy anyone who came near to him. He was bored with this meeting; Colson was making the case that the executions that Summers was engaging in were counterproductive.

“We need to win these people over, Shogun. Fear is one method, but kindness is another.” The older man was saying. “The people in the outer circle...”

“Are not our problem,” cut in the much younger Summers. “They add no benefit, no value, which is why they are in the outer circle. They are safer than they would be out in the old city. We have given them more than they deserve.”

“Correction, Chief,” Eric interrupted, “
I
have given them more than what they deserve.
We
have done nothing.” The young man bowed his head slightly. Eric used a form of intimidation that perfectly suited the historical form of leadership he exhibited on a daily basis. He had intentionally set himself up as a Warlord because that is what the situation required. Brutality cemented his reign; he would leave it to his progeny to be the kinder gentler form of governor. “But, give me the intel on the old city, since you brought it up.”

The old city was what they called the entire area, except for the compound. “South side is a ghost town, between the battle, the burning of the city and the rioting, few people are left. Our scouts tell us that an occasional wanderer will be put down out there, but there isn’t much sport on the south. Most of downtown came with us, or fell to the same as south side. The east side is a jumble of small neighborhoods, none of them yet composing a threat to be dealt with, but we are watching them. The west side is quiet. We have given people the chance to join the compound or face being put in enemy status. The plan you ordered is working well, most come in, but soon, we will send out General Meyer’s troops to put down any rabble remaining.”

Eric nodded, he had a plan to bring everyone in the area under his control, but it would take time. First they were given a choice, the word is spread, then they either bend the knee or they are killed.

Summers continued, “The rest is mostly rumor, though there is some fact behind it that we know. The north side is chaos, roving bands of looters and bandits destroying things and hurting people. They don’t seem to have an agenda except for anarchy. They are doing our work for us, when we move into that area, the masses will comply just for the safety factor. There are three unknowns.”

Eric perked up at this, everything went so much according to his plan, he was always surprised at new intel. Summers noticed his attention and went on, “The Air Force Academy has retained discipline and security in a way none of the other bases were able to do. We don’t know if they have power, rumor has it they do not. But it is hard to understand how their discipline has held up.”

“It is because they actually had discipline to begin with,” Eric interjected.

Even though it was an insult to the himself and Meyer, Summers just continued, “Stories are still emerging about the ‘Walker’, the ‘Hermit’, or whatever. We think this is the man who single-handedly dismantled two of our patrols, but the character is so shrouded in myths and old wives’ tales, it is hard to tell fact from fiction. We have heard stories of him saving people, of killing people, of stealing, of giving things away. The stories are so varied; we aren’t even sure it is one person. If it is, it is a threat we will need to deal with.” Eric nodded and Summers continued, “Finally, there is the Hillside.”

“The restaurant up on the hill?” Eric asked.

“Yes, Shogun. A group seems to have moved in and fortified it, and are trading power for goods as far as we can tell.” The man looked a little nervous, but Eric didn’t care. This was intriguing.

“What kind of power?”

“Again, Shogun, this is just rumor as we are looking into it. What have heard though is healing, and creating items of power.”

“Items of power?” This time it was Miles who jumped in, “What do you mean?”

Eric could tell it bristled Summers to answer to Damiano, but Eric had appointed Miles as his Right Hand, and he waited for an answer from the younger man.

“All we have heard about are convenience items, so far. Little gems that produce light, that sort of thing. But it is worth looking in to.”

Eric agreed, “That it is, Chief, that it is. Any word on the whereabouts of Jenny Martinez?” Eric didn’t even know why it mattered to him, he could have his pick of any woman in the compound, but he had sensed she had power and that would be an excellent match for him to bear children. He needed someone who would build on what he already had, and he had determined she had the right stock.

“No, Shogun.” Summers continued, “She disappeared, no word or sight has been obtained.”

Jenny sat in her cave and watched the man sleep through to view hole she had made when she first set the cave up. He seemed to have no care in the world, and she just couldn’t understand it. He never came into her cave, seeming to dislike the enclosed space, so he just lay outside in the bushes, just as she had found him every morning for the last month or so. He never came in even during the afternoon rains, or as it got colder. She assumed it had to be late September by now.

She had studied his aura a number of times in the last month, and was still amazed by it. It was vibrant and strong; it even was strong when he slept. Oddly, the staff he carried also had power on it, she could see the aura from that and the ring on his hand. She looked around again to see any other auras and there was nothing there, so she rolled up the yoga mat on which she had just worked out and then pulled back the covering of her cave. To her surprise, he was standing there, eating a granola bar. He would disappear and come back with food every day. Jenny had quite a stockpile now.

“Good Morning.” Jenny said as she left the cave and stretched in the crisp morning light.

The man nodded at her. In a full month, he had never spoken once, never even made a sound. She didn’t know if he had vocal chords. He was staring off to the south with a concerned look on his face. Jenny looked, but saw nothing. Turning her inner sight on, she saw the occasional flash of a small animal but that was it.

“What is it?” She asked.

He pointed to her, then to her stuff and made a large circle with his hands, drawing them into his chest. Then he pointed north.

Oddly, Jenny knew just what he meant. He wanted her to grab her things and move north.

“Why?” She asked.

He just shook his head and pointed south. She wasn’t sure what it was, but the man felt something bad was coming from the south. He had never tried to harm her, and had only helped in all the time they had spent together. She had no reason not to believe him.

“Okay. It may take a bit.”

The man pointed to himself and then to the south, Jenny just nodded, she thought he was going to go check things out. She was probably right, because he immediately walked off south. Right about the time she had gathered all of her items, about four bags worth, he came back. He lifted two of the bags in one hand and threw them over his shoulder and just started walking north. Jenny grabbed her things and walked after him.

After about an hour, they came to the high cliffs on which the Hillside restaurant sat. The man turned to her and pointed up. Using his index and middle fingers, he pointed to his eyes, then to hers then up at the restaurant. Jenny looked up and was amazed at what she saw. There were stone walls around the top of the cliff that sort of curved out from their base to their top. They would have been impossible to scale. The man made a hand gesture like an explosion and pointed to her eyes, she turned her inner sight on and saw the guards. When she looked back at the man, he was just nodding. How did he know she had inner sight?

The man waved her on. They had to walk to the street ahead to get over the river that had once been a dry creek bed. The cascading water down the cliff was just gorgeous and the man stopped and cupped his hands and took a drink of water. He smiled, the first time she had ever seen him do that and she saw he had good teeth. What kind of homeless man takes care of his teeth?

Jenny took a drink also and knew why he smiled, it was delicious. After two months of bottled water, natural spring water was wonderful. It was also naturally cold, which was wonderful. She even splashed some on her face.

“The road up is on the other side,” she said, but when she turned, he was nowhere in sight. The two bags he had been carrying were right where he had been standing just moments before. But, now there was no sign of her companion. She reached out with her inner sight and saw nothing, no movement, no aura, nothing. She was alone, drinking water from the waterfall. Not sure what to do, Jenny grabbed all four bags as best she could and walked slowly around the face of the cliffs to get to the road up. As she approached, she saw more people than she had since the world had changed. There were more even than gathered at the market regularly. There were hundreds of people in lines and they all seemed to have some goods in their hands. A young man asked her if she needed help.

“Do you need a hand with your bags?” He asked.

She shook her head, no.

“Okay, well, which line are you here for?” he asked.

“I have never been here before. Are the lines for trading?” She assumed that the long list of goods was for that purpose.

The young man smiled, “Sort of, I guess. The longest line over there is for healing, if you need that. The middle line is for light gems, but you need to bring a replacement gem for that one. That small line up front is for information, advice, or to apply to be part of our community. That line is really for those with abilities.”

Jenny looked at him, confused, “Abilities?”

“Ummm powers, magic, ESP, I don’t know what to call it. We call them abilities.”

Jenny was stunned. There were other people with “abilities”? She thanked the young man and made her way to that line. As she drew closer, she realized that the road no longer went up to the restaurant. In fact, the road went right into the side of the mountain and just stopped. Jenny was close to the front, since her line was the shortest. Each of the three lines ended in a small group of people who seemed to help the others in some way. The middle line moved the quickest and seemed a quick exchange of whatever the people brought for something small that was put into their hands. It all reminded her of the magic beans from Jack and the beanstalk.

She was just trying to take it all in, when a woman said, “Ma’am?”

Jenny looked up and she was in front of the line. She had only been in line for maybe twenty or thirty minutes. An older woman stood with an inquisitive look on her face.

“Can we help you?” asked the younger woman at her side.

Jenny wanted to gauge this transaction, so she turned on her inner sight. Everyone there had an aura but the elderly lady right in front of her. She was a little confused, but she could read the other woman and immediately knew their intentions were good.

“Hi, I am Jenny Martinez,” Jenny wasn’t even sure why she was in the line and not sure what to say.

The elderly woman spoke first, “I am Beth and this is my daughter, Kate. This line is for those with questions about their powers. Do you have questions?”

Jenny just blurted out, “Do a lot of people have powers?”

Kate smiled, “As far as we can tell, everyone has at least one ability. We are doing research to understand them, so we share what we can share.”

“I don’t mean to be indelicate,” began Jenny.

“But, you want to know what it costs, right?” Beth asked and both women smiled.

Jenny nodded.

Beth replied, “We take donations for the healing, barter for the gems, but this line is free. We are open to donations, but it isn’t really the purpose of this line. We would prefer education or information. If we can trade in information, then we are in a win-win situation.”

Jenny thought for a second, “That young man said people could apply to be a part of your group. What does that look like?”

Beth and Kate looked at each other, then Kate responded, “Let me get my brother-in-law.”