The Way of the Black Beast (21 page)

Willie said, "What about —"

"No talk. Get three horses ready. Do as I say or she dies."

"Kill her, then. We got on just fine before she came along, we'll be fine if she's gone."

Fawbry hesitated. Malja said, "Then we'll shoot someone else until we find one that matters."

"Come now, Malja," Willie said with a half-cocked grin, "Why do you think I went to the trouble to get you in here?"

"You
want
me to kill her? Then why are you fighting me?"

"You were hacking away at everybody. That, and I needed time to get my men in place. I figured everybody would want to watch us fight. See, Old McKinley is in charge now. Look around."

Malja, Fawbry, Cole, and many of Cole's supporters surveyed the still room. Willie's men guarded all the exits. Others formed a barrier around the portal frame. Still others occupied key locations should Cole's people try to fight. All of Willie's soldiers were armed, many with guns.

Willie sauntered onto the stage and retrieved his guitar. With great care, he slid his sword back into the guitar's neck. As he wiped the fretboard with a thin cloth, he said, "I thank you, Malja. We needed you to prove there was a way through the portal, and we needed Cole to show everybody how power-mad she really is. Now we can follow Old McKinley as he learns from your body the magic we will all use to leave this world for one far greater." He kissed his guitar and rested it in its case.

Malja's lip lifted a tiny fraction. "Let her go, Fawbry."

"What?"

"Do it," she said and leveled her icy glare on Willie, "And then pick up Willie's guitar."

"No," Willie said, moving toward Fawbry. Malja lunged for the stage, hooked Viper around Willie's knee, and the arrogant bastard fell. Fawbry lifted the guitar and held it like a club.

Malja said, "Anything happens, Fawbry, and you smash that guitar. Then you destroy any others you can get your hands on." She closed in on Willie. "No guitar, no magic. Right?"

Shivering with impotent rage, Willie grumbled, "Let them go." A path parted toward the front door. "When I see either of you again—"

"I expect no less," Malja said, as she and Fawbry edged off the stage. To Cole, she said, "You're coming, too."

Before Cole could move, Willie said, "She stays. Break all our guitars and all our bones. Doesn't matter. Cole stays."

Malja saw truth in his eyes. He would throw away everything that mattered to him, fight until he lacked the strength to move, all to make sure Cole did not leave the farm. Old McKinley wanted to fondle her no doubt. Besides, politics don't end just because Malja wrecked the place. "Fine," she said. "You're on your own, Cole. I'd say I'm sorry I couldn't help you here, but we both know that would be a lie."

Cole rolled her eyes. "Just go."

Backing out, Viper poised for work, Malja and Fawbry exited the hall.

All through the night, they rode. They had to go slowly or else endanger their horses with a nasty fall in the dark, but still they rode. From time to time, Fawbry would look back with anxious jittering eyes. Malja looked back, too. Even after they left the guitar by a tree, they looked back.

Malja wanted them to follow, wanted them to appear — especially Willie. Every minute they traveled further away, she thought about him. When they stopped by a creek to let the horses rest, she had decided. "I'm going back."

"What?"

"You go meet up with Tommy and Tumus. Look after them."

"You can't go back there. We almost died."

"I still don't know where to find Jarik and Callib. The City of Ashes is too huge. But Cole Watts knows."

"Cole Watts is dead."

"Not yet. She had a lot of supporters. If Willie kills her right away, he'll have a civil war on his hands. He wants to be their leader. So, he's got to convince them first. Rile them up until they only see her death as a release from her tyranny. He'll convince them that doing what he says is true freedom."

"How do you know what he'll do?"

"It's what I'd do."

Fawbry paused for a moment. "I don't believe you," he said finally. "You don't care about Cole. We could find out that information some other way. No, you want to go back because you're ticked off that Willie got the better of you. You want a little revenge."

"I want—"

"Go. I don't care anymore. You and your Black Beast and your screwed-up fathers and all of it — I don't care. I'm done with you."

Malja stayed motionless, her face devoid of expression. She stared at Fawbry until he broke eye contact. He shook his head, mounted his horse, and trotted off. She listened as the dull clops of horse hooves receded in the distance, and only then did she relieve her tension with a drawn-out sigh.

Fawbry had spoken a fraction of truth — it angered her that Willie had won their conflict. But she had no intention of hunting him down. Not yet. She sought Cole Watts. She sought information.

Riding back took even longer than getting away. Several times she heard noises and had to hide — Willie and his men might have tried to pursue them or simply patrol the area. Caution was critical. Malja exercised greater patience than she ever thought possible. By the time she edged toward the open compound, the noonday sun blazed overhead.

Sitting against a large rock, she observed the area through her spyglass. The farm appeared to be running in full force — just another day. Closer to the house, however, the tension ramped up. Willie stood on the porch with fists pressed against his hips like an arrogant general, while Lonnie and three others sat on horses, waiting for orders. Shotgun paced behind Willie, his weapon resting on one shoulder. Suzu flitted about, his energy revealing the true degree of fear simmering. Not Willie, though. No fear there. Just the controlled anger of the true warrior.

Whenever possible, Malja kept her attention on Suzu — who he talked with, what he might have said, where he went. Suzu was the main lackey. Sure enough, at length, he stepped out of the house carrying a tray of food and a glass of water — lunch. He headed for the stables. An armed guard checked over the tray before letting him in.

Well, well. No office prison for Cole.
Malja hunkered down amongst the rocks. For now, she had nothing more she could do until night. Nothing but sit quiet with her thoughts spinning around Fawbry's words.

* * * *

She waited until the party grew raucous, until the only people leaving the house were amorous couples seeking dark privacy. Only then did Malja leave her position and scuttle in the shadows toward the stables. The sticky air warned of heavy showers, but the sky harbored only a few clouds. With any luck, the storm would arrive soon. Heavy rains would aid her escape.

Crouching low, she hurried across open land, stopping when she could press her back against the stable wall. She slid along the wall, reached the corner, and peeked around — still just a single armed guard. She released Viper from its sheath and readied to rush the guard.

Suzu slammed open the house door. He held a bottle high in the air and stumbled a few steps. "Long live Willie," he said before taking a tumble down the stairs and passing out.

While the guard watched Suzu, Malja took advantage of the distraction. She acted with swift confidence like a magic shadow stealing in the darkness. The guard never heard her approach, and in seconds, she had him out of view on the side of the stable. She raised Viper but the guard's face stopped her. He couldn't have been much older than Tommy. His eyes pierced her much like Tommy's eyes.

"Fine," she grumbled and hit the guard's temple with Viper's hilt. He passed out.

Taking a moment to check the area once more, she noticed the top half of the stall door above her was open. She climbed in. Peeking through the main stall door, she saw Shotgun's empty stool. The guard must have been all they thought they needed — after all, Malja would never dare come back. Not this soon, at least.

She crept across the stable in dark silence. Cole Watts had been tied to a gate similar to the way the Bluesmen had tied Fawbry and her only days before. She had been allowed to change clothes. Gone was her party dress. Instead, she wore a more practical pair of pants and a dirty men's shirt — clothes for field work. Despite the darkness, Cole's wet cheeks stood out in the cuts of light that broke in from the house.

Cole perked up. "Hello?"

"Be quiet."

"Malja? What are you doing?"

"Jarik and Callib. Where in the City of Ashes?"

Disappointment lowered Cole down. "I thought you'd figured this out. Thought you came back to try the portal on your own."

"I don't really care about your little magic games here."

"You should. It's little magic games that caused the Devastation. And it's little magic games that'll restore the world. It's where the power is to make a real difference."

Malja pictured the glowing metal frame, the green round table, the portal to another world. She had been given no time to think about any of what she had seen.
And not now either.
She checked to make sure nobody was coming. Shotgun and a man with milky-white hair weaved down the dirt path, but they stopped half-way, turned to the side, and pissed on the grass.

"I'm not interested in making a difference. I just want Jarik and Callib. Tell me where they are or I'll kill you."

Cole shook her tied bonds. "Look at me. When they finish their party,
they'll
kill me. If not tonight, then tomorrow's party. So, if you want to find your fathers, then you best get me out of here. I'll take you right to them or wherever you want, just get me out of here."

Malja hadn't slept in a long time and lacked the energy to argue. Besides, this situation could go sour very fast. Best to get Cole Watts out and get the information later.

Using Viper, Malja snicked Cole's ropes open. "Follow me, do what I say, no questions. Understand?"

"Since we're talking about keeping me alive, I'll understand anything you say."

Malja checked outside once more — Shotgun and White Hair had returned to the party. Malja led the way out of the stable. They passed the tailors — door closed. They passed the guitar workshop — a couple embraced against a post. They crossed the open land. Their feet crunching the dirt road echoed in Malja's ears, but she knew others could not hear it. Such sounds were illusions created by tension. All seemed to go well as they scrambled back up the hill.

Until the ground shook.

Cole looked back as men poured outside with guns and women screamed in drunken fear. Malja tugged Cole's arm, but Cole wrenched her arm free. Blood drained from her face.

"This can't be," she said.

Malja watched the chaos below. "What's wrong? It's just a quake. Isn't it?"

"No. They're coming."

Willie stepped outside and fired a round into the air to regain control. Malja couldn't help but think of the wasted bullet. The ground settled and Willie said, "See? Just a quake. Now everybody back to the par — Where's T-bone?"

Shotgun and Lonnie dashed toward the stables. Malja pulled Cole further up the hill. "Come on. They're going to find you've escaped."

"No," Cole said, resisting with her meager strength. "They're here. Your fathers are here."

The ground shook once more. The fierce fighting dogs whimpered and scurried away, tails tucked between their legs. The horses whinnied and kicked their stalls. Even the bravest Bluesmen moved closer to the house and Willie.

"Everybody calm down," Willie said.

Shotgun and Lonnie rushed back. "She's gone," Shotgun said. "And T-Bone's out cold round the back."

"It's okay, everybody," Willie said, but Malja heard the worry of a leader facing his first big test. "Robert, take three men and check the perimeter. Mud and Rev, get a few more and check all the out-buildings — make sure she ain't hiding out there."

"Right," the men said, but they never got to follow through on the orders.

The ground cracked open. A hole formed the size of Suzu. It buckled as something below pushed hard, swelling higher and growing wider until it exploded in a shower of rocks and dirt. Five maxdins punched around the hole until they could climb out. Eight feet tall, covered in bristling hair, and with more teeth than brains, the maxdins were Jarik and Callib's personal thugs. They lumbered on two feet, striking with sharp claws.

"They're really here," Malja said.

The maxdins pressed forward, herding the people away from the fissure in the ground. With another rumbling quake, the ground surrounding the hole tumbled inward. The maxdins let loose a low bellow that caused the skin to quake.

Two men rose from the smoke and dust. They ascended like graceful dancers and continued into the sky. A circle of ten magicians, male and female, rose beneath the two men — each cross-legged on air and locked in concentration. Balls of electricity spread around, casting the area in stark light.

Malja's stomach felt like she had been punched. The men looked nothing like the Jarik and Callib she remembered from childhood, yet she knew to her core they were. Both were bald and shirtless, and tattoos covered every bit of skin. Despite their age, both looked to be in their prime — young, strong, commanding. The only difference between them — Callib's tattoos formed harsh, block-like patterns whereas Jarik's formed delicate webs of intricate designs.