Alchemist (19 page)

His eyes
brightened. “She does?”

“Yes because
you’re her father and she loves you.”

She gaze grew
distant again, his eyes swelling. “Every inch of me cries to go and
find her.”

“I know it’s hard
but we have to be patient. We agreed to give her two days remember?
If they are not back by then we will go find them.”

Fallo sighed. “I
don’t know if me, or the Senate for that matter, can wait that
long.”

******

Connor woke with a
start. The conductor was shouting that they had arrived at their
final destination and was duly tapping the glass window on each
cabin with the butt of his baton. Connor stretched as the others
came too.

“Are we there?”
Darius quietly asked, rubbing his eyes.

Connor squinted
out the window. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Right Micca, you
know the way, right?” Terry said, rising.

He gave a curt nod
but said nothing. They quietly filed out of the carriage.

Newport was a lot
different from Naris. Although both had ports, Newport had a much
more historic air to its architecture. Most of the buildings had
stood for centuries, their eroded edges adding to the sense of
antiquity of the place. But they stood tall and clearly in use,
despite their age.

The majority of
buildings on Naris were made from sandstone and usually stood at no
higher than three storeys at most and designed for function rather
than form like in Newport. The large stones lining the windowsills
and roof edges had been carved - sometimes with intricate detail –
with patterns. Some ranged from simple semi circular designs to the
worn patterns of dragons and other mythological creatures. Terry
found it ironic that it had been dubbed Newport despite how
apparently ancient it was.

After leaving the
train, Micca had led them down a series of winding back alleys
where there were few people. Those that they did pass were often
children on their way, Terry guessed, to school, based on the
uniforms they were all wearing. Occasionally a group of them were
escorted by a mother or two.

Looking back over
his shoulder to make sure that the last flock of kids that passed
were out with earshot Connor asked, “Where exactly are we
going?”

“You would do well
to keep your voice down.” Micca said sharply. “Like I said, there
are people after me.”

“Who exactly?”
Terry asked.

Micca sighed. “The
Kamari Guard, who do you think?”

“I take it you
were the one who gave Ladre the temporal technology?”

“Who?”

“Micca...”

“Alright, it
was
me
.” He gave her a
resenting look. “Happy?”

“Who’s Ladre?”
asked Darius.

Micca sighed
loudly. “Oh for goodness sake, your friend’s not exactly the
brightest is he?”

“Friend’s
being a bit generous...”

He rolled his
eyes. “Whatever.”

Darius looked
away, stung by the remark but he said nothing.

Terry fell into
step with Micca at the front. “And you didn’t answer Connor.”

“We’re almost
there.”

A few minutes
later Micca came to a halt, looking around before stepping into a
tight alleyway. It was more a narrow gap between two buildings than
anything else. The limited space forced the others to follow him
into it in a single file.

Micca led them
into a cellar. Once they were all on the stairwell, he shut the
heavy iron door behind them and bolted it, plunging them into near
darkness. The space he had led them into was a narrow affair with a
low ceiling which was dimly lit by two lanterns, one on a solitary
table which sat in the centre of the room; the other hanging from
the far wall. The large barrels that lined the walls hinted that
they were under a pub or bar of some sort.

Micca picked his
way down the short flight of stone steps. “Ryan? Are you here?” he
called, not too loudly. There was no reply. “He might be in one of
the other rooms sleeping.”

Blades slid down
Terry’s arms.

“What is it?”
asked Connor.

But before she
could answer a voice screamed, “Run Micca! Run!”

“It’s a trap!” he
shouted, bolting for the stairs. As he did the doors leading into
the far end of the room exploded open and armed men rushed into the
cellar. At the same time the door leading to the surface was ripped
from its hinges – the smell of hot, burning metal filling their
nostrils.

Three Kamari
appeared at the top of the stairs. Throwing Micca from the stairs
and pushing Connor aside, Terry leapt forward, a swirl of blades
about her. Then the men were lying dead.

“Hands up!”
shouted one of the Kamari from the end of the cellar. Terry spun,
throwing her arm forward. A shower of metal blades flew from it,
catching the men in eyes, throats and body. Some fell silently,
other tumbled screaming.

She leapt from the
stairs and darted toward the disorientated men. In the short time
between the foot of the steps and reaching the men, she was fully
armoured, with her deadly blades at the ready. She stabbed two of
the survivors in the chest as she walked passed. Stepping forward
she snapped the neck of a Kamari who had fallen to his knees.

“Stop right
there!” One of his injured comrades shouted, pointing his gun and
firing. The bullet struck Terry square in the forehead, but she
kept coming. Grabbing the man by the chest, she spun around and
flung him into another group of them.

Connor had just
sent a deadly wave of fire up the stairs, torching three Kamari who
were daft enough to enter the same way their fallen comrades had
entered. Darius cowered in the corner as he heard their agonising
screams. One fell over the railing to the cellar floor, thrashing
frantically as his skin burned ablaze.

The third man,
unfortunately for Connor, was a fire elemental like him, rather
than the water elementals he had just torched before they could
react. The Kamari had found time to set himself on fire. He stood
at the top of the stairs, ablaze and defiant. Connor readied
himself, setting his palms on fire. The man suddenly fell to his
knees and the flames rippling over his body died. Connor saw the
silver blade protruding from his chest just before he fell forward
down the stairs, forcing him to step aside.

Micca stood
watching, rooted to the spot as his future queen laid waste to the
two dozen men like a woman possessed. But she hadn’t finished once
they were dead. Half a dozen of her tentacles emerged from her
stomach. Stretching back their multiple mouth flaps, lizard-like
tongues fired out, wrapping around bodies and dragging them into
the waiting maws. They were devoured whole. Terry shut her eyes, as
food and energy filled her.

Darius flinched as
he heard bones crunching. In less than two minutes, the bloated
tentacles had returned to their normal size, having destroyed the
several corpses they had eaten. Then they retreated inside her. She
licked her teeth in satisfaction, despite not a single morsel
having passed over her lips.

Reaching up, she
felt the wound the bullet had scored into her forehead. Using her
thumb, she prized the flattened piece of metal out. It clinked as
it hit the floor and her skin healed. That taken care of, she
turned back to the others. Micca and Darius both stood mortified.
Connor too looked shaken, but was a little more dignified in not
staring back.

“What are you
standing there for?” she asked before moving through one of the
open doors.

Connor nudged
Darius, who looked at him through teary eyes. “Come on.” He
whispered, helping the young man to his feet.

Micca followed
Terry into the other room. In the far corner she found a man lying
motionless. He was bound and badly beaten, a black, bloody eye
revealing where he had been struck moments before.

“
Is
he...”

“No, he’s
unconscious.” She replied, holding her fingers to his neck. A thin
trail of blood trickled down from a cut to his temple. She stood up
and turned to him. “Is there anywhere else around here we can go?
Somewhere that you know will be safe?”

He shook his head.
“No, I wouldn’t risk it. They’ll probably be more of them here
soon.”

“Then pick him up
and follow me.” She strode passed him.

“I won’t be able
to fight if they catch up to us and I’m carrying him.”

“Don’t worry about
it.” Terry replied, disappearing through the door.

******

A young child sat
on a doorstep chewing a sweet while his siblings kicked a ball down
the dusty road. He closed one of his eyes and glanced up at the
sun. Streams of light touched every acre this day through a
sapphire sky. Suddenly a large shadow flickered across his vision
and vanished, leaving the small boy gawping in awe.

Terry landed on
the slanted roofing, terracotta tiles cracking under her many feet.
She slid back, forced to grab a hold of the roof with her hands.
The jump had nearly sent the others flying from her back. Connor
and Micca both had to grab a hold of Lord Rilario to keep him from
falling off. They both cursed his large, flabby stature. It was not
helping Terry jump so well or move so fast.

“Easy!” shouted
Connor, as they hoisted him back. Terry growled, darting along the
rooftop on all eight limbs.

“We’re going to
die if she keeps this up.” Micca muttered, holding her shoulder
plate with one hand and gripping Lord Rilario’s arm by the
other.

“She’ll kill you
anyway if you don’t shut up!” Connor threatened.

Reaching the end
of the building, Terry launched herself again, landing as awkwardly
as the previous leaps.

“It’s no good!
Terry can’t find her balance with all this weight on her back.”
Connor said as she ran on.

“Either that or
she’s a poor jumper.”

Terry shrieked,
crunching tiles underneath her feet as she came to a grinding
halt.

“Now you’ve done
it.” Darius muttered, cowering in fear of what would come next.

Terry reached
around with her right arm and plucked the mouthy Alchemist from her
shoulder. Twisting to her side, she spun round, flinging Micca as
if he were a ragdoll. He screamed as he sailed through the air
before finally disappearing behind the rooftops.

Connor cringed.
“Ouch.”

Terry sneered.
Dropping down onto her arms she took off over the rooftops once
more.

Rilario

“Look I’m
sorry...” Terry roared and Micca stumbled backwards, beating a
hasty retreat. He had attempted to approach her to make amends for
what he had said earlier but she was having none of it.

She rose to her
full height, the metal spikes on her back extending, making her
appear even larger than she was. Terry hissed as she approached.
Micca continued to back away, nearly running backwards. He stepped
between Connor and Darius, who were sitting beside the campfire.
Lord Rilario slept nearby; he had not heard anything. Connor and
Darius both shuffled aside as the Alchemist approached.

But Terry stopped
short of them, glowering at the outcast. She barred her teeth and
hissed; the dancing colours of the campfire painting her fangs
crimson as if they were soaked in blood. Having made her point, she
turned about and returned to where she had been sitting. Laying her
head down Terry yawned, flexing her mandibles and blinking
tiredly.

Connor looked
across the campfire to Rilario who lay undisturbed by all of the
commotion. He had woken twice since the rescue, both times only
briefly. The first time he had muttered only a few words before
passing out again. The second time he was awake for several
minutes, long enough to eat some food and speak with Micca. It
wasn’t long enough to tell him much about what was going on, but
long enough to assure him that he was safe.

“Do you think he’s
going to be okay?” Darius asked, looking to where the disgraced
politician slept. They had cleaned up his head wound. It had turned
out to be just a nasty scratch but his eye had swollen to the point
that he could not open it properly.

“I don’t know. I
think they must have had him tied up down there for a few
days.”

“Why would they do
that? I thought they would have taken him back to Marrich as soon
as they found him.”

Connor shook his
head. “I don’t know, maybe they didn’t. He just looked like he’d
been down there for a while.”

“They must have
been waiting for me to come back. They must have followed me there
the last time I was in the town.” Micca said. He cautiously
approached the campfire, not taking his eyes off Terry as he sat
down beside the fire elemental.

Connor rubbed the
stubble on his chin. He had not shaved for two days. “That’s a
little odd for Kamari to be doing that isn’t it?”

Micca shook his
head, anger in his eyes. “You saw their uniforms, they were
definitely the police but I bet you more than a few of them have a
grudge against Ryan because of what happened. I think they kept him
there to torture him.” He stared at the fire, the flames flickering
in his eyes. “And kill him is he did not work as bait.”

Connor stared at
the fire too. “I can believe that.” He sighed.

The camp lapsed
into silence, the crack of the occasional ember, the only
noise.

“You killed
them!”

Terry snapped
awake. Sitting up she realised she was in human form. She looked
around, her eyes sticky with sleep. It was still dark. To the east
she could see the first hints of the day approaching.

“No! It was
not like that.” replied a low voice, who Terry recognised
immediately as Micca’s. “
She
and her friends did.”

Terry could see
Micca and Rilario a short distance from the camp, standing under a
small tree.