Fledge (34 page)

I watch him leave and then turn over in my covers as I hear a door slam somewhere else in the house.

The guys are all gone in the morning and I'm alone. No babysitter for the first time since I came to Amelia. I sit around in my bed shorts and tank top, sample a half dozen dishes from the autocook, puff on cigars on the terrace, and generally make a mess as I watch with as much detachment as I can muster as the newscreens flash images of Earth and the recent destruction.

They have the numbers.

Eight million dead.

Three million displaced throughout the Mountain Republic, the parts of the Rural Republic that were not affected as much by the fallout, and Texas. Texas is pissed off and has claimed the entire Rural Republic as reparations. They already have the scrubbers in place on the ground. Debris clean-up for the Peaks has been contracted out to some obscure company that goes by Yukichi from the Gulf Coast. The whole Peaks area is going to be covered with a layer of concrete twenty feet thick by the end of the summer and full habitation is predicted in less than five years.

Lovely.

Let's all pretend that millions of people never existed.

I'm seething in rage when the door chimes.

"Enter."

Kush makes his way down to the couches in the sunken living room. "How you doing, Junco?"

"Just fucking great, and yourself?" I'm mad at him, but my reasons aren't clear. Maybe because I saw the blame on his face during Fight Seven, or maybe because he too decided that Isec was expendable. But mostly I think it is because he reminds me of the little brat and I can't push it down if he keeps popping back up.

"I've volunteered for the Deliverance fight."

I look at him with my mouth open. "The wish fight for killing prisoners? Why would you do that?"

"I want the wish. I figure I've been through six of them already, right? And this one isn't even a fight to the death. What do I have to lose?"

"But you could die." They've been advertising Deliverance on the screens for weeks and I guess if you're hard up, a wish is a pretty big draw. "I mean, haven't you had enough killing yet? Maybe you should have been the one to kill the defective pledges at Seven? That might have cured you."

"Look," he says impatiently, "I get that you've been through a lot, but you're not the only one. I haven't been granted the gifts of the Gods like you apparently have. I need this wish."

"What could you possibly need? You're in the Aves, wasn't that what you wanted?"

"Yes, but I am not satisfied with the captain we have directing us on the new team. Annun is good, but he's not that good."

I shake my head in disbelief. "Who gives a fuck who's captain? Seriously, I'm the lowest one on my team, do you think I give a shit? You think you can do better than Annun? You have to earn the rank, anyway. And you didn't earn it. No one will follow a captain who was given the rank as a gift. You're supposed to want to support your captain because he supported you when you needed it."

"Annun helped you, Junco. Not me. He never did anything for me."

I let out a deep sigh. "Well, good luck then. I wish you success. You're a good fighter, so you'll be fine, I'm sure. And you've got just as much chance as anyone at winning."

He huffs. "Yeah, thanks for the vote of confidence. You know, you're pretty fucking condescending to anyone not on your level."

I laugh. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I hurt your feelings? You want me to pretend you're the big strong guy and I'm the weak and stupid girl? Get over yourself, Kush. You're slightly above average for an Aves warrior, but if they get someone in there with real Aves blood, you're toast."

"Someone like you?"

I laugh. "Now why the fuck would I want to fight for something as stupid as a wish. Get real."

He smiles as he gets up and walks over to the door. "Because, Junco, they just announced that Tier will be killed in the Deliverance fight. And ya know, I thought since you're all hung up on the guy, you might like to use your wish to save his fucking life." He salutes me. "See ya around."

My mind races back to Braun's plan before I left for Fledge. How the fuck did he know? Shit, maybe he's a precog, too? I take a deep breath and try and put the pieces together.

I'm still sitting there thinking when Rikan and Mish show up a half hour later. I found the announcement about Tier on the screen and it's playing when they come down into the living area to see what I'm doing.

I look up at them as the realization sinks in and then get up and go to my room to play the piano. My hands pluck out simple tunes at first, building the idea in my head, and then they begin tapping out more complicated melodies as the plan takes root. By the time I've got it all figured out I'm playing Asgarth's dungeon murders in E flat major.

Chapter Thirty-Six

The Fledge building has been repaired since the altercation after Tier's guilty plea. It's locked up tight when I approach the door, but I swipe my palm in front of the biometrics and they open for me anyway.

I walk across the clean tile floor of the lobby, feeling a bit strange when no mods are there to notice, and go directly to the stairs and fly up to the third floor dorm. I walk through, barely managing to push down the memories made here, and walk into the mast.

My flight up is smooth and quick.

Inside the church the syrinx is still upside down in her silent sacrificial scream. I lie down on my back and scoot underneath her so I can see her face again.

"What the fuck do you want from me?"

I stare into her eyes, which glow a faded green, perhaps hinting that at one time she was avian. None of the other Archers have wings, yet she does. None of the other Archers have glowing eyes, yet again, she does. She doesn't have the look of an Archer.

She's not fair, she's a redhead.

She's obviously not male, and all the Archers I've met so far are.

It just doesn't add up.

"Who are you really?"

"It's very perceptive of you to notice these things, Junco. For someone not familiar with the local customs."

I slide sideways to avoid hitting my head on the statue as I jump to my feet and then stare open-mouthed at the woman sitting on the first bench. She's got the red hair, but she's also wearing a long red gown. The syrinx on the cross is wearing some ancient garb I don't recognize. I'm silent as I look at her.

"For someone so demanding, you suddenly have very little to say."

"Do you want something from me?"

She smiles. "Of course I do."

I let out a breath of air. "So, you gonna tell me what the fuck it is you want?"

She clicks her tongue at me. "I don't suffer insolence, Junco. You will refrain from speaking to me in such a common manner."

I rub my forehead to stave off the growing tension, then take a seat on the top step in front of her. "Sorry, then. I'm just very tired."

She smiles. "But you have a destiny and you prayed for courage and bravery when you meet your end."

"So this is the end?"

She nods. "An end, yes."

"An end to what, exactly?"

"To you, of course."

I nod and swallow. "What do you want me to do?"

"You have a well-thought out plan. That you composed today?"

I shrug. "I guess. That's the best you can do? My stupid little plan?"

"Set it in motion."

I am about to object when she disappears and Lucan is standing in front of me at the bottom of the steps.

He sighs. "Junco, what are you doing?"

"Looking for answers, Lucan, why else would I be here in this crappy little church?"

"Your trip on the trains has drawn attention. There is a crowd outside waiting for you."

I shrug. "So? I don't need saving, ya know. Tier needs saving, not me."

He shakes his head. "This business with Tier is over now, Junco." His voice is calm and rational, but I detect that I'm pushing buttons under the surface that might set him off. "Ashur told me that you've still got it in your head that he can be saved."

"He can," I say simply.

"He cannot."

I shrug. "That's just your opin–"

He's got me by the shoulders and is shaking me. "No! It is not my opinion, Junco. It is the future as it is told. I have seen it. Tier dies, Junco."

I don't pull away but I do look him in the eyes. "Isec said he saw it too. And he said I can do it. Did do it, actually."

"Isec? He wasn't a precog, Junco! He was a failed telepath! You're comparing millennia of skill in the foretelling of what will come to the erratic second sight of that throwaway child?"

"The syrinx is on my side," I say simply. "Maybe you should take it up with her? Because I'm not really sure she's as understanding as you might be if I disobey. I'm pretty sure she expects obedience."

He looks into me, searching, willing it to be a lie, but when it rings true, he lets go of my shoulders. "What did you do?"

"I fucking told you, Lucan, that night I said the prayer, I asked her for bravery and courage in the end and she asked me for a sacrifice." I look down. "I said yes, remember? Obviously you dismissed that part of my story, because if you took me seriously you wouldn't look so shocked right now." The last part comes out soft and I wait for his anger. He's still got the look of confusion when I look up at him. "I already agreed, get it?"

"You agreed to nothing, Junco. Do I make myself clear?"

I shake my head. "No, she's one scary bitch. I'm not even allowed to swear at her. She said she doesn't suffer insolence. And I'm pretty sure if I called her to tell her no thank you on that deal we struck, she'd kill me dead."

"This was never in the plan, Junco."

My stomach churns and I hold down the urge to vomit. "This was always in the plan, Lucan. Some fucking precog you are. You know what your problem is? You're just not cynical enough. Don't you know that things will always get worse? When you've lived through the shit I have, you come to expect it. Hell, rely on it like an old friend, even."

He looks at me, his eyes sad and his mouth drawn down in a frown.

"It's not going to end well, you said it yourself. That's just the way it is. But hey, you can take comfort in the fact that it wasn't you who put me here, right? It was Tier. And me. In the end, we're the ones to blame, and I recognize that. I don't hate you."

"You will come with me now and I will take you home."

I shake my head. "No. I don't like the time slip that comes with your teleportation trick. It's got me all fucked up. I don't want to lose time just to get a free ride home. I'm taking the train like a normal person."

"You will stay inside and I will send a flyer to pick you up, is that satisfactory?"

I smile and agree. "Yeah, alright."

He's gone in an instant. I consider calling out to the syrinx again, but don't. She gave her order. Set it in motion.

I get up and fly down the mast, then take the stairs to the lobby and inhale deeply a few times. I walk over to the doors and step through to follow her command.

The reporters have made themselves comfortable, probably not expecting me to turn up, and are lounging around when I exit the building. They look at me for a second, disbelief written on their faces, then spring to action like a prairie lion jumping on a newborn antelope.

They crowd me and I let them.

I am pushed and pulled as questions are hurled at me one after another.

Yet I stay silent and let it drag on for maximum effect.

Finally they calm down and stand as still as you can expect from a mob of vultures.

I clear my throat. "I have an announcement to make." They lean in. Some clamber up a few nearby trees trying to get a good shot. "I've been informed that my former Fledge teammate Kush will be participating in the Deliverance fight." I pause and they wait, so quiet that I can hear the wind blow softly through the leaves. "I will be participating in the Deliverance fight with Kush."

Now they erupt with questions but I ignore them and shake out a cigar, strike it up, and puff with satisfaction when the flyer arrives and I can climb in, giving the scene a more dramatic end that I could have hoped.

When I arrive home Ashur is waiting for me on the rooftop parking pad. He shakes his head as I exit. "I forbid it, Junco. As your captain, I will not permit it."

I don't even slow down as I pass him. "Then I quit, Ashur."

He grabs me by the arm and swings me down on the ground, hard enough to knock the breath out of me, and then holds my hands and straddles my chest with his full weight, making me choke. "I don't think so, Junco," he snarls as he leans down into my face. "You think I'm fucking playing around here? You will not fight in Deliverance!"

I am not stupid enough, or so full of myself, to think I can take on a warrior like Ashur, all things being equal, and this is decidedly unequal from my vantage point. So I stay still and silent until the guys are there to pull him off and fight my battle for me.