Justice Keepers Saga--Books 10-12, page 108
“You have nothing to apologize for, my host.”
“The others need Anna,” Melissa gasped. “But I can’t be Anna.”
“No, you can’t,” Ilia agreed. “But don’t underestimate the value of Melissa Carlson. She is brave and kind and far stronger than she realizes.”
The vision faded away, and Melissa found herself curled up with her head on the pillow. In reality, only a few seconds had passed since she entered the trance. It was still the dead of night.
She rolled onto her back, stifling a yawn with her hand. A human teacher. Where was she going to find a human who could teach her the basics of strategy? She almost burst out laughing when she realized the absurdity of the question. Yeah, such an impossible task, she chided herself. I mean, it’s not like you have an entire squadron of trained soldiers at your disposal.
The amusement stayed with her as she finally fell asleep.
Day 25
She found Avrin Bryse in the library with two other members of the cleaning staff, all men. Morning sunlight came through the narrow, rectangular windows, falling on the bookshelves that lined every wall, each one packed with cloth and leather-bound volumes. Some of them must have been at least two hundred years old.
Bryse stood between the two large chairs that had been positioned on either side of the fireplace. By the look on his face, he seemed to be trying to decide if the carpet was sufficiently clean. He looked up as she came in. “My lady.”
Melissa entered the room in a pink dress and matching hat, forcing a smile and bowing her head to him. “Mr. Bryse,” she replied. “Are you well?”
“Quite well, my lady.”
She noticed the other two servants who were dusting the shelves, dutifully ignoring her until they were called upon. “Jaem,” she said. “Kivan, I was hoping I might have a word alone with my employee.”
Both men turned around and nodded with the practiced precision of soldiers executing a drill they had learned by rote. Without a single word, they rushed out of the room, leaving her alone with Bryse.
“What can I do for you, my lady?” he asked.
“I need your help.”
Easing himself into one of the chairs, Bryse placed his hands on the armrests. His sly smile suggested that he had been expecting something like this. “Odd. I thought you had the situation well in hand”
“I need you to teach me tactics.”
“That’s a difficult subject,” he said. “One that takes years to learn.”
Melissa turned away from him, gliding over to the window. Keeping the irritation out of her voice would require more effort than she was willing to expend on this man; so, she didn’t try. “Let’s cut the crap, shall we?”
She could see him there in her mind, a misty figure who sat in his oversized chair with his gaze fixed on her back. “Whatever do you mean, my lady?”
“If we’re going to mount a resistance to the Ragnosian presence,” she said. “I need to know everything you know.”
“Hmm.”
That was all he said, and the silence that followed was galling. Somehow, Anna had convinced him to fall in line, but with her out of the picture, he was reverting to his old habits. “Speak your mind,” she urged.
“Hypothetically speaking,” he began, “if you acknowledge that you are unprepared for the burdens of leadership, then wouldn’t it make sense to step aside so that someone more experienced can do the job?”
“It might,” Melissa conceded, “if I trusted that particular someone to prioritize the well-being of the squad.”
“And you don’t think I’d do that?”
Twisting around, Melissa gripped the window ledge with both hands. She bent forward and hit him with a glare that would do her mother proud. “You were going to send half of them on a pointless suicide mission and abandon the other half.”
With an elbow on the armrest, Bryse covered his mouth and tapped his cheek as he studied her. Her disapproval seemed to have no effect on him. “Pointless by your standards,” he said. “I think taking out the Ragnosian leadership would be dealing a crippling blow to their war effort.”
“Hardly,” Melissa replied. “They’d tighten security and send a new team of ministers and generals and admirals to take over. And there has to be a way to solve this without just wantonly killing them.”
“This is war, Agent Carlson.”
“And they are human beings.”
She wanted to scream when Bryse laughed at her. “And this is why teaching you would accomplish nothing,” he said. “You have these Justice Keeper notions about the sanctity of life. You would only disregard any advice I might give.”
Melissa felt her eyebrows climbing as she considered another option. “What if instead of trying to destroy them, we made the population ungovernable?” she asked. “So that holding onto Salus was more trouble than it was worth.”
“That could work,” he said. “But you would need cooperation from the locals. How are you going to get it?”
“Leave that to me.”
A red sun hovered just above the western horizon, casting a crimson glow over the city. The stars were just starting to come out, but it was still painfully warm and muggy. Too warm for Melissa’s Canadian blood.
Perched on a rooftop in brown work pants and an untucked shirt, her hair hidden under a bandana with two eyeholes, she scanned this small neighbourhood for any sign of trouble. And in this case, “trouble,” meant anyone who might notice a Justice Keeper skulking about.
The street below her was lined with townhouses packed closely together. The lamps were on, and the children had long since gone inside. It was so quiet that she could hear a dried leaf skittering along the road.
Gracefully, Melissa stood up and leaped.
She flipped through the air, using the lightest touch of Bent Gravity to carry herself across the road to the houses on the other side. She landed softly on red shingles and climbed the slanted roof to its peak.
Rushing down the other side, she leaped again, crossing the narrow gap between this set of townhouses and those on the next street over. She carried on like that for ten minutes, hopping from roof to roof, using lampposts and tall trees to keep her Bendings to a minimum. At one point, she had to drop to ground level and run through a park, but thankfully, there was no one about.
It didn’t take long to find the address she was looking for. Number Fourteen Calaro Street. The place was no different from the other townhouses that she had seen: a skinny, three-story building with windows in its front wall. Light spilled out from several of those. So, the family was home then.
Time for a little more parkour.
With a deep breath, Melissa broke into a sprint, charging toward the house. She ran up the front wall, then jumped and grabbed the lip of a second-floor window. She pulled herself up with Keeper strength.
A peek through the glass showed her a man in a maroon coat shuffling about in a room with a wooden table. Thankfully, he didn’t look back as he went out the door.
Melissa called upon her Nassai and twisted gravity. Power surged through her, making her skin tingle as she launched herself to the roof. What a rush! After a month of sitting around, drinking tea, she had forgotten how good it felt to be a Keeper. Never mind that! She had forgotten how good it felt to wear pants!
Melissa somersaulted across the rooftop, then came up on one knee, staring off toward the eastern horizon. How she wished she could do this every night.
Cautiously, she moved across the roof to the back side of the house and then peered over the edge. There were windows back here as well. Melissa saw light emanating from one of them. That had to be a good sign, right? People who had only had electric lights for fifteen years wouldn’t just leave them on, would they?
Turning around, Melissa drew in another breath. She stepped backward off the roof and let herself fall, catching a windowsill with both hands. She planted both feet against the bricks and then pulled herself up.
The window looked into a modest bedroom with wooden furniture and red sheets on the mattress. It was open just a crack, allowing her to hear the buzzing of a bulb that gave off a sickly, yellow light.
Megara stood with her back turned as she rifled through a closet filled with suits and dresses. She seemed not to have noticed the sound of Melissa on the roof. Not that she had made very much noise, but total silence was impossible.
Melissa knocked on the pane.
The other woman stiffened and then turned around, her jaw dropping when she saw an intruder in a bandana watching her.
“Don’t scream,” Melissa said.
“Who are you?”
She was deeply tempted to reply with “I’m Batman.” Instead, Melissa put up a Time Bubble, a sphere that expanded through the wall and into the house, distorting everything into whirlpools of colour. The tingle in her skin became a sharp prickle. She quickly slid the window upward and crawled through the opening, releasing the bubble as she stood up.
Megara squeaked, jumping backward and covering her mouth with one hand. Her eyes looked ready to fall out of her skull. She would have seen only the blur of someone moving at incredible speed. “Who…What?”
“I am a Justice Keeper,” Melissa explained.
Bracing one hand against the wall, Megara steadied herself. “A Justice Keeper,” she said. “I have heard of your miraculous abilities, but I had never dreamed…So, What do you want with me?”
“I need your help.”
“Oh? I find that hard to believe.”
“You speak out against the aristocracy,” Melissa said. “In support of the workers. I assume then that you have some credibility with farmers, factory women and other such labourers?”
A frown compressed the other woman’s mouth into a thin line. For several seconds, she just stared at Melissa. “I might,” she said at last. “I suppose it depends on what you want me to do with that influence.”
Now that the moment was upon her, anxiety wormed its way back into Melissa’s heart. All the self-confidence she had felt in her few moments of freedom vanished now that she was forced to put on another mask. This time, it was the mask of a rebel who gave a rousing speech that made people want to charge into battle against superior forces. That wasn’t her. Anna or Jena might be able to pull off something like that, but mousy Melissa Carlson? There was no way. And yet, here she was.
“I want to organize a resistance against the Ragnosians,” she said. “And I need the help of the common people to do it.”
Megara barked a disdainful laugh. “No,” she said. “I’m not a fool. So, Telixa Ethran wants to test my loyalty, does she? You can tell her that I’m not planning any seditious activity.”
Melissa heaved out a sigh, her head hanging as the difficulty of her task became clear to her. “I don’t work for Telixa Ethran,” she protested. “My desire to build a unified resistance movement is genuine.”
“Of course, it is.”
“I’m not lying!”
“Get out of my house.”
Turning away, Melissa propped one foot up on the windowsill. She hesitated for a moment, looking back over her shoulder. “I know for a fact that you’ve spoken to several people about the need to oppose the Ragnosian occupation of your world.”
“And how could you know something like that?”
Rounding on the other woman, Melissa reached up to untie her bandana. She let the garment fall away, exposing her face. “Because,” she said. “I was there.”
Megara went pale, stumbling backward, nearly falling into the closet. “You!” she hissed. “You’re a Justice Keeper?”
“I’m not a lady,” Melissa said, striding forward. “My first job involved me handing out samples of baked goods in a big, indoor marketplace. I went home every night with aching feet, and they paid me next to nothing for my trouble. I grew up on a world called Earth. The lost homeworld of your ancestors. And I joined the Justice Keepers to make that world a better place.”
Megara looked like she had seen a ghost.
Placing a hand over her heart, Melissa bowed to the other woman. “My real name is Melissa Carlson,” she said. “And I need your help.”
20
DAY 25
Curled up on the cold, tiled floor, Anna rested her cheek on her forearm. She closed her eyes and tried to rest, but it did no good. Those bright lights in the ceiling were on all the time, making it hard to sleep.
She was so tired and so hungry. No one had fed her since the moment she arrived, and that must have been at least two days ago. Maybe longer. She was losing track of time.
Sometimes, she tried to find comfort by talking with Seth, but she was too worn out to make the attempt. Besides, she would only snap at him, and Seth didn’t deserve that. He was amused by that. What’s so damn funny? she thought at her Nassai, but the answer hit her like a splash of cold water to the face.
Seth knew every thought in her head before she could vocalize it, every emotion and every impulse. Any insult she hurled at him would bounce off an impenetrable layer of Nassai self-confidence because he already knew that she loved him with all her heart. But he seemed to think that her desire to spare his feelings was sweet. So, that was something.
Bleakness take her, she was hungry!
Rolling onto her back with a hand on her stomach, Anna frowned at the ceiling. “If they were just going to let me die,” she growled. “I would have preferred a bullet.”
As if in answer to her complaint, the door slid open for the first time since they threw her in here, and two men in gray strode into her cell, each carrying a plastic chair. They set those down near the wall.
Anna sat up, prompting each man to give her a dirty look and reach for his sidearm. She got the message. No sudden movements. They both relaxed when they realized that she intended to comply and then hurried out into the hallway.
When they returned, they had a small, round table that they placed between the two chairs. Anna wasn’t sure what they were planning, but she decided to just shut up and go along with it. She could hold back the sassy comments if it meant getting to eat.
Telixa Ethran came in with an imperious stare that she directed at the two men as they worked. Spurred on by the thought of her disapproval, one of them ran out into the hallway and came back with two plates full of food.
“I thought we should chat,” Telixa said.
Sitting on the floor with her legs curled up, hugging her knees just to do something with her hands, Anna raised an eyebrow. “You want to hear about my day?” she asked. “Okay. Saw some walls. They were gray. Made for great staring.”
A triumphant smile lit up the admiral’s face, and Anna regretted her outburst. “Oh, I’m sure we can find many interesting topics to discuss,” she said. “Come. Join me.”
Anna had never been more grateful for a Justice Keeper’s stamina. Just being able to stand up without falling over made the two guards – or serving men, or whatever they were – exchange nervous glances. That’s right, she thought. You can starve me, and I can still kick your ass. Never forget it.
She chose the seat furthest from the door, folding her hands in her lap and flashing a grin. “Never had the pleasure of dining here before,” she said. “But I hear the service is exquisite.”
Telixa sat across from her.
Anna’s heart sank when the guard set a plate down in front of her. Maybe it was deliberate, maybe not, but it almost seemed as if they had gone out of their way to make sure that every dish included meat. Marinated chicken, scalloped potatoes with bacon, green beans with thinly-sliced ham. The whole thing was a carnivore’s delight.
“Oh, don’t wait on me,” Telixa said. “By all means, dig in.”
“I’m a vegetarian.”
The admiral shrugged. “Well, if you don’t want it…” She gestured to one of her lackeys.
Before the man could take two steps, Anna was bent over her plate with a fork in hand, relentlessly shoveling chicken into her mouth. The sauce was tangy. She had to force herself to slow down and chew before she swallowed. Her stomach just wanted to be full.
Telixa let out a peal of satisfied laughter, thrusting an empty glass toward one of her officers. The man came forward to fill it with dark, red wine. “Excellent,” she said. “Now, isn’t that better?”
Dabbing her mouth with a napkin, Anna narrowed her eyes. “You know, Jack told me about the time he spent in your brig,” she said. “I don’t recall him ever mentioning you trying to starve him.”
“I took Jack captive to determine the limits of a Justice Keeper’s abilities,” Telixa replied. “I can hardly do that if he’s passing out from hunger. You, I’m afraid, aren’t quite so indispensable.”
“So, why am I still alive?”
“Oh, clever, clever.”
“I’m not hearing an answer.”
Smiling behind her wine glass, Telixa examined her in a way that made Anna feel like a horse the admiral intended to trade. “I want you to tell me what kind of resistance I will face when I invade the Leyrian system.”
Hunched over with a forkful of potatoes in her hand, Anna gawked at the other woman. “Seriously?” she asked. “You realize that Justice Keepers aren’t privy to the plans that generals draw up.”
“Oh, I’m sure you can offer something of value.”
Anna shoved the fork into her mouth, closing her eyes and moaning with satisfaction as she chewed. “You got the wrong girl,” she said after a moment. “I just dodge the bullets. I don’t decide where to shoot them.”
A sharp glance from Telixa made the two guards step back. “Leave us.” Both men hesitated, and the admiral’s voice hardened as she was forced to repeat herself. “Leave us! I am perfectly safe in here. Isn’t that right, Anna?”
“I’m not in the habit of killing people who feed me.”
Reluctantly, the two men shuffled out the door, and it slid shut behind them, leaving Anna alone with her captor.
