The Lotus Effect (Rise Of The Ardent) (43 page)

Chapter 45

An Impossible Ally

‘Look to the Journal,’ Grandmother Everette had told me.

Look to the Journal?
I’ve not stopped looking at the Journal since she first disappeared. Could there be something that I missed all this time?

I racked my brain through each image, each page, as I trotted nimbly around deserted streets and back-alleyways, trying to find my way to the abandoned guard’s post. Even if I did miss a cryptic message, the Journal was no good to me locked away inside our hut back at the fighter’s Compound.

I looked to my right, down the path that led to the Compound. A detour would not be a welcomed use of my time right now, but I had to take the chance.

I spotted a patrolling Walker and its little gas throwing minion as I peeked around the corner of the Warehouse’s Gear and Tinkering shop. If anyone wanted parts for a build they had to go through them. Either that or they had a back-alley arms dealer like Dex. The latter was usually better for staying under the Council’s radar when it came to automaton creation. And, well, much more fun.

I waited for the patrol to turn the corner before I quietly crossed the street and edged my way down the ravine that led to the Compound. Thinking of Dex had placed another worry tight in my chest.
I hope he’s okay.

Looking up, I frowned. The ornate brass gates had somehow caved inwards on themselves from an earlier attack. Chunks of the Compound’s perimeter wall had fallen to the ground, but otherwise the foundation of it still remained.

—A sudden flash of light from behind. Then another. Both to the East and West. Then I heard it: the unmistakable earsplitting sound of detonation. I ducked involuntarily as two simultaneous explosions sounded far behind me, so loud it curled the hair at the nape of my neck.

And then just as suddenly—another bright flash burst into the sky from the center of the city, followed by another explosion: The Treasury.

I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing the blasts were a result of Xander’s doing—of the Walls finally being leveled.

I brought my hands away from my ears.
Nice work, Xan.
That was a smart move on his part, detonating the two walls at the same time. It would spilt the offensive, make them scatter to different locales. I could only hope the citizens had gotten to the safety of the Outlands before the Council’s new objective prevented them from escaping.

I had to hurry.

Jogging my way past two demolished huts, I found that ours still remained standing, unmarred and untouched by the Purge so far.

Bones
! I cursed inwardly. Xander’s barrier.

How was I supposed to get inside with it secured like it was? Now I understood Sir Cormack’s aggravation regarding Xander’s makeshift security system.

I shifted on my feet, allowing myself a moment to think.

“Lily,” a familiar voice called out behind me, but not in the tone I was used to.

Spinning on my heels, I was shocked to find Scottie standing behind me. He wore a suit of armor much like mine—now that he stood outside the Walker he had so often hidden himself in.

“
You
.”
I growled. Wasting no time, I seized the lapel of his breastplate, slinging him around and forcing him to slam through the wall of our hut, somehow effectively breaking through and shattering the force field. He jerked and grunted as the energy cascaded through him.

Stepping over the crumbling hole in the wall, I approached him with blood boiling. In one swift motion I grabbed for my axe, then brought it to his throat—ready to do what I must.

Crouching above him, I waited for him to attack. Waited for him to say something nasty. But he—he just sat there, staring at me as the shocking energy finally dissipated from his body. He remained silent with a certain tight-lipped acceptance registered across his face.

My chest heaved in and out. In and out. “What’s your problem Scottie? Suddenly lost your urge to do away with me?”

“Get off me, Lily,” he said prosaically, lacking the usual verbose luster I knew him for. “I didn’t come here to fight you.”

“Oh? Well in that case, I’m
so
sorry I attacked
you
this
time, seeing every other occasion ended with you trying to either molest or kill me,” I growled through clenched teeth, neither relenting the blade from his throat nor allowing him to stand.

“I followed you,” he said suddenly, but then he paused, gathering his thoughts. “I don’t know why.”

I stared at him, open mouthed and dumbfounded. I was angry that he couldn’t give me a straight answer when I so desperately needed to grab the Journal and be on my way.

“How can you allow this to continue Scottie? Is this the type of life you want to live? Always second in command of a tyrant bent on destroying everything and everyone who opposes him! When he’s finished, there will be
nothing
left of Prosper to rule over. Tell me you do not want this!”

Scottie cringed as he turned his head away from me, noticeably affected. “I do not want this.”

I reared back some, confusion creasing my brow. “What?”

“He’s my father. I’ll always be one step in his shadow, but it’s a place far more promising than where you’ll be standing,” he said quietly, his eyes not meeting mine.

He’s lying.

“I don’t care about my position as Mistress, Scottie! I thought I made that much clear when I volunteered for the Barrage. All I care about is stopping your father from destroying our home and its people. It’s your home too.” I was so frustrated I was almost spitting in his face.

Scottie stared at me hard then, his jaw shifting in thought. He turned to his side and numbly removed himself from beneath me. I didn’t even try to stop him.

“I never knew he would take it this far,” he admitted as he stood, the first real glimpse of a humane side of Scottie that I didn’t think possible for him to possess. “There’s not much use in having power over a city of ashes and ruin. I’ll see what I can do,” he said flatly before finally turning towards the folded gates of the Compound.

He looked back. His eyes drawn sad. “And Lily? Make sure you stay alive until then—as much as I hate you, I never wanted to see you dead.”

I could hardly swallow.
What just happened?

Had Scottie Briggins, just become a . . . an
ally
?

Calming my frustrated breathing, I watched him disappear down the trail and away from the Compound without so much as a backwards glance.

My eyes blinked rapidly, a patterned sequence: a sewing machine’s needle trying to stitch together what had just transpired.

Maybe my judging of Scottie’s character was made prematurely. He was still a curmudgeonous twit who had killed Hugo Miller and injured countless others—but one with
the potential to change
?

I carefully stepped over the crumbling remains of what was once the wall of our hut, and was relieved to find my satchel still nestled safely under my bed. I quickly unzipped it to find the journal resting in its inner side compartment.

Slinging the satchel over my armored shoulder and across my body, I was now ready to face the dangers of the city in search of my father and Xander.

~

I ran as I exited the Compound and slammed squarely into the broad chest of someone who was entering. We both looked at each other in shock and aggravation before realizing who the other was.

“
Dex
? Dex!”

Dex’s eyes widened in relief as he gathered me up into a powerful hug. “I’m so sorry. I should’ve never started the riot,” he said remorsefully into my ear. He was out of breath and frustrated. “I just couldn’t help myself after seeing what that crazed Percival fellow did to you. I wasn’t going to let Briggins get away with your murder too.” Dex quickly ran his half-gloved fingers down my armored arms in an attempt to calm himself. Back and forth. Back and forth. “I came looking for you ever since. I was scared witless when you didn’t show at the guard’s post.”

I pulled back, feeling a bit exposed in our embrace. “Dex, slow down. Even if you did, you cannot blame yourself. This was bound to happen no matter who started the fight. Tensions were wound to tightly in the Council not to.”

Dex shook his head, absently trying to convince himself of my words. “So many people have already died because—”

“—Look,” I said, impatiently cutting in, grabbing at his shoulders. “Your actions saved our lives. If you want to help save the lives of others, you’re no use to us sulking about on a matter you cannot change. Can you get to the Wall? Help the survivors get out of the city?”

Dex sighed and grinned irksomely in defeat. “Don’t worry. I spoke to Xander on the way. Blowing that treasury skyward though . . .” He bit at his lower lip with a mischievous glint to his eye as he bobbed his head approvingly. “Now
that
was quite satisfying if I do recall.” His face turned up in wry smile, his hand resting casually on his hip. “If you want me to stop blamin’ myself, then I’m done with the sulkin’. I’ll get those people out, I can promise you that.”

He brought his hand away from his hip and lightly slapped my cheek before dropping it to his side again, near where I now noticed an impressive lasso hung in a hoop. He noticed my gaze. “I prefer this over my cruddy daggers. I dust it off when it’s time for the real work to be done.”

He wrapped both hands around the lasso and pulled. As the rope tightened—vicious barbs rose beneath the nylon.

“That’s terrifying.” I smiled, looking back up at his face—always dirty, but handsome in its own right. “But it suits you.” Dex had become a good friend. A friend of the likes I’d never met before my life outside the Estate—one that I could whole heartily trust and rely on.

Dex’s grin faded and became serious. He brought the soft suede of his gloved hand to rest below my chin. “You don’t have to do this, Lily. It’s not your duty to have to continue to risk your life like this.”

I sighed, bringing my hand to his shoulder again. “It’s
always
been my duty. It just took some time for me to realize it.”

Dex nodded in approval. “We’ll then, in that case, be careful. But know this: We’ll have your back.”
 

I started to turn to make my leave; I had no time to waste.

“Wait, where are you headed off to on your own?”
  

“I’m heading into the heart of the beast. Where it all started. Where it needs to be finished.”

Dex turned his attention to the airship that hovered in the sky, his eyes pensive. “
Yep
, frighteningly beautiful that one is,” he said softly before he tilted his Stetson my way and started jogging down the street, unhooking his lasso, and gathering those who cowered on their porches, urging them to follow.

Knowing my path lay in the opposite direction, I still couldn’t tear my eyes from the street behind me. I saw Bubbles and Afina run out of an alleyway beside Dex, gesturing to the citizens and reassuring them. Afina nodded to me in greeting before taking off, her crescent blades extended before her.

My face blanched when I suddenly spotted two guards approaching from the mouth of an alley to her right. My body jerked forward, ready to shout an alarm—but I didn’t need to.

Afina, looking much like a weapon herself with her angled, short dark hair, reacted quickly, kicking the barrel of the closest guard’s rifle out of harm’s way and proceeded to kick the man squarely in the gut, knocking him into the broad chest of Bubbles McGee. Afina charged the other guard and leapt, nimbly wrapping her legs around his neck and twisting him hard to the ground. She stretched her body out with his arm secured between her legs—sending out the deafening crack of the man’s bone. As he screamed she reached up, using the hilt of her crescent knife to knock the man unconscious.

A thud sounded beside her. Bubbles dropped the limp form of the first guard to the ground and I turned to find that Dex had even taken out two guards of his own with that vicious lasso of his. All in the span of time I had watched Afina’s fight transpire.

Pinching at my eyes, I pushed away the strands of hair that’d fallen loose across my face. I felt better knowing the citizens would be escorted by their own personal guard. If anyone could get them to the Wall safely it would be Dex, Afina, and Bubbles. I briefly wondered where Margie and Damaris had taken up their own arms.