lily harper - complete series, page 193
On the hill in front of me, I could make out Edinburgh Castle looking over the town that was its namesake. Putting all these details together, I deduced I was standing in the Vennel, just northwest of the university. Even though we were a lot further out than I would have liked, at least I knew where we were. I wondered how close it was to sunrise. I wasn’t sure. I could have relied on my cell phone, but I’d left that back at the apartment.
And the apartment was exactly where we were headed. We needed to clean out the apartment of all the things we needed to take with us, and then we needed to wipe out all traces of our presence and the fact that we’d ever been here.
While my hand went to the sword at my side, my eyes quickly found my diminutive guardian angel. Even though we seemed to be alone, he was anxiously looking up and down the narrow street. A shiny golden and metal bug, named Mantis, crawled up his right shoulder, making whirring noises. The bug was about the size of my hand. Slowly, my angel turned around, the light catching his trademark roly-poly physique and constantly stained clothes. The entire time, the bug didn’t stop jabbering in his ear.
After nodding at it, he muttered, “All clear, Nips.”
I looked around myself, feeling my hand tighten on my sword. “We sure about that diagnosis, Bill?”
“Ah, c’mon, Lils,” Bill grumbled while his pet beetle crawled back down his back. “You think I wouldn’t spot trouble if it was close?”
“Knowing you, you’d probably run down its throat, as usual,” I said with a smirk. I wasn’t completely joking about that, given how many times it had already happened. I was more than glad Bill couldn’t die.
The same couldn’t be said for me, however.
The bug fluttered its wings on Bill’s back before crawling up his left shoulder. As it nestled close to Bill’s neck, it said something to him.
“Probably just the atmos-fear-mongering AE’s bringing to this town, Mantis,” he cooed at it, gently stroking its wings. “But yeah, we’ll keep an eye out, won’t we?” It gave him another buzz.
“I’m not sure if I should be amused or weirded out that Mantis acts like a house pet,” I grumbled. I was in a mood, probably because I was nervous.
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Jealousentful much, Nips?”
I rolled my eyes. “Kinda got more important things on my mind right now, Bill.”
“As do we all, Besom,” a deep, Scottish-accented voice said while stepping out of the hidden portal in the Flodden Wall. The sight of the speaker always made my heart skip a beat.
In so many ways, Tallis Black looked like he’d just stepped off the cover of a cheap romance novel: impressive muscles, dark blue and brooding eyes, chiseled jaw, enough height to reach the top of the doorways around us. The only part of him that didn’t fit the romance-cover-mold was the scar running down one side of his face. The heavy sword he carried on his back helped complete the Highlander look though. Not even the battered clothing and cuts and bruises could do much to batter the sheer charisma coming off him.
Tallis looked over at Bill. “Seein’ as ye’ve yet to be eaten, beaten or skewered, stookie angel, Ah’d say Uriel steered us true.”
That comment made Bill get indignant. “Really, Tido? Uriel’s been nothin’ but straight-edge and arrow-narrow with us the whole time. Why’d ya think he’d give us bad info now?”
As Tallis opened his mouth to answer, the final member of our party stepped out of the wall.
“Because even archangels can make mistakes,” the new arrival said in a voice as deep as the shadows on the stones. As tall as Tallis was, Asterion was at least a head taller. His apparel was the ultimate in “clothing optional”, just a simple loincloth to show off his own network of injuries. It helped accentuate his massive muscles, which went from his broad shoulders all the way down to his ankles. The reappearance of the bull’s head atop his neck made me glad we’d arrived at night. Until we could get Asterion some meat, he’d look every inch the Minotaur that he was.
“Aye, that they can, man-bull,” Tallis said, a bit of tension leaking into his voice as soon as Asterion made it through the portal. “’Tis why Ah’ve a wariness in thinkin’ all that’s happened is accordin’ ta some grand plan.”
“You’d think that kind of planning would involve a more graceful way for us to sneak back to my apartment,” I agreed. “Speaking of which, how far are we, Bill?”
My guardian angel drew up to his full five-foot-ish height and took a deep breath. While he was careless and sloppy in a lot of ways, one thing I never faulted him on was his ability to find what was needed. Without him, Tallis and I never would have gotten out of the Underground City two trips ago.
His eyes snapped open. “I say it’s about... six, seven blocks, Nips.” He pointed back towards the Flodden Wall in front of us. “We need to head that way.”
Tallis grimaced. “Ye do know there’s only one portal in that wall, aye?”
“Which is why we’re goin’ down the street till we hit Heriot Place,” Bill snapped. “After that, we make a turve up Lauriston Place on the left, get on Forest Road and then follow it till we hit Cowgate. Geez, Conan, I figured you’d remember how this town was laid out by now.”
“Would you two at least try to get along for a few minutes, please?” I interjected, stepping between and holding up a palm towards each of them. “I’d like to get this over with just as much as you do and your constant bickering isn’t helping anything.”
Asterion snorted out his broad bull nose. “Then we’d best not delay.”
As he stepped forward, Bill cut him off. “Uh, uh, Tall, Dark and Horny. Better let me lead.”
At the snap of Bill’s fingers, Mantis jumped off his shoulder and onto his hand. The bug then melted into a broad, golden bow, complete with a pure white string. An arrow suddenly appeared when Bill pulled back on the string. Suitably armed, he strode forward down the Vennel, his bare feet making the slightest of noises while covering the way forward. The rest of us looked at each other before we followed in a column. My lover and the Minotaur stood on either side of me.
I looked over my shoulder in apprehension, halfway expecting any of the growing list of enemies we’d been making to be right behind us. Tallis put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
“’Tis safe, Besom... relax.” He emphasized his words with a soft kiss on my cheek, followed by a nibble on my earlobe.
“Thanks, Tallis,” I said with a smile.
When Tallis pulled away, he placed a hand on my shoulder. Asterion put his hand on my opposite shoulder. “Anyone who intends to harm you, Lily, will have to come through me first.” Like always, I felt that wondrous spark between me and this living legend. It seemed to leap from his palm, up my collarbone and straight into my heart. Even though I’d gotten some answers as to why we felt as close as we did, I still felt like I was missing the whole story.
When I saw Tallis’ expression turn sour at the Minotaur’s solicitude, I cleared my throat and said, “I just can’t shake this feeling that we shouldn’t be here...”
“We’ve only come to say goodbye one last time,” Tallis said to me, his focus moving from Asterion and back to me. “We dinnae want Alaire and his ilk tracin’ us through our belongings, aye?”
Asterion grunted deep in his throat. “My mother’s husband tracked far too many of the damned and guilty through such things as phones. We should be more careful.” His ‘mother’s husband’ was none other than the legendary judge Minos and Asterion and he didn’t exactly have a good relationship.
I lifted my hands up. “Look, I understand what we’re doing is a good thing. But it’s not like Uriel gave us an instruction manual on what we’re supposed to do or how.”
Asterion looked from me to our angelic bowman ahead of us. “He was reasonably confident in William’s ability to lead the way.”
Bill turned his head around with a sour face. “Hey, that’s Bill to you, Kemosabe. I mean, I appreciate the vote of confidence and all but...” Then his face turned pale. “Oh, shit...”
Both hands came off my shoulders, followed by Tallis and Asterion pulling their blades free.
“What is it, stookie angel?”
Bill’s response was to let go of the bowstring to smash his pointer finger on his now-tight lips. The arrow in the nock stayed right where it was until he put his fingers back on it. I pulled out my own sword as Bill ran ahead of us, keeping close to the left wall. Tallis tried stepping ahead of me, but I got around him before he could stop me. He scowled at me, but I waved my free hand at him. Whatever Bill had spotted, this wasn’t the time for heroics. I pointed at him and Asterion. Both of them nodded and formed up right behind me.
By then, Bill had reached the “turve” on Heriot Place he’d mentioned earlier. He peered around the corner, where I could just make out the green lawn surrounding the old house that was George Heriot’s School. He then jerked his head back, double-quick, and held up a hand. We joined him by sliding up the wall. Once I got close enough, Bill tapped his ear before pointing back towards the lawn. It took me a second, but I started to hear it... that distinctive sound of clicking.
“Feck,” Tallis whispered after a hard swallow. “Lemures.”
“I’m hearing about a dozen of ‘em over there,” Bill muttered back. “Spread out...” Then he frowned. “Ah, hell...” Before I could ask what was now going wrong, a strangled cry broke through the night. It lasted less than a second, but the agony in it was unbearable.
Bill risked a glance up Lauriston Place, squinting his eyes hard. I knew from experience that he could make out a gnat from a thousand feet away. He slowly drew his head back.
“What is it?” I whispered.
“Some unlucky, homeless bastard’s with two of them Lemurs.”
“Lemures,” Tallis corrected him, but it was a lost cause. Once Bill gave something a pet nickname, that was the end of it. There was no going back.
“Is he hurt?” I asked.
“Depends on how you interperate him doing the zombie shuffle and walking alongside ‘em.”
Asterion’s jaw got tight as he let out a low growl. I didn’t blame him. Those overgrown beetles apparently had a poison that, once injected, could control their victims like puppets on a string. I wondered, with gut-clenching terror, how many other civilians were getting this same treatment.
“Lemures never come to Earth without a good reason,” Asterion noted darkly.
I turned to him. “Well, I’d say tracking down the last known home address of the Herald sounds like a damn good reason to me.”
And, yes, the ‘Herald’ happened to be me. Not that I’d nominated myself as such. It had just sort of… happened.
I fought the urge to rush out and charge the walking bugs. But having seen them in action, I knew doing so would be a recipe for disaster aka suicide or enslavement.
“See more than the pair o’ ‘em yet, stookie angel?” Tallis whispered.
“Nah, but I know they’re there, yo,” Bill said back. “Going by what I’d hesi-hate to call-scribe their footsteps, those fuckers are lookin’ for the teleportal we just stepped out of.”
“Any place we can go that’s out of their way?” I asked.
Bill closed his eyes again. “Give me a sec...” We all waited, hearing the clicking getting closer with each heartbeat. I was about to shake Bill’s shoulder when his eyes snapped open again.
“Nightingale Way… up the street, double-trouble-time!” he said.
We didn’t need another invitation.
All of us ran across the broad expanse of Lauriston Place as quickly and quietly as we could. The clicks were getting closer, but they still sounded far enough away to be reasonably safe.
Bill steered us towards the nearest building, which had a pair of prominent towers facing the street. The spot we stopped at put us firmly in the shadows.
While all of us caught our breaths, Bill said, “You know... times like this, I really miss phone booths.”
“What?” I asked between pants.
Bill nodded at me before saying. “Edinburgh’s... got a phone exchange here. Runs... right through... the Kingdom’s network. As long as you... you got the right number, you can route a call straight to AE’s offices.”
By now, Asterion had caught his breath. “And who would you wish to call?”
Tallis caught on right away. “Polyhymnia an’ Thalia… unless Ah mistake meself.”
I felt a small jolt of shame at having forgotten the Muse sisters. Whether it was countering my former supervisor Streethorn in the corporate offices or recruiting newbie Soul Retrievers that had been sent to die, Polly and Sally were two of the few people we could count on.
Something else hit me then. “That’s how we’re going to clean my apartment, isn’t it? They’re going to make the arrangements.”
Bill looked at me with a “how else?” frown. “With all the kids Polly and Sally are running? It’s not like they ain’t had the practice by now. Of course, we’d need a working phone to make the call and…” His eyes widened again. “Ah, shit... they’re coming across the yard.”
Tallis looked at the school across the street. “Nae bein’ subtle ‘bout it, either”
Bill just pointed towards the deeper shadows. By the time we all retreated to it, the Lemures stepped into the halo of the street lamps. They were twice as big and ugly as I remembered. They stalked across the grass, turning their bodies this way and that since they didn’t have necks. I vaguely wondered if this was how Frodo felt when the Ringwraith was trying to sniff out his magic ring.
But, now wasn’t the time for a Lily nerd moment.
That thought got interrupted by another set of footsteps on Lauriston Place. They were of the human variety and didn’t sound like any kind of zombie. The source of the footsteps was a man. He was wearing some kind of old-fashioned uniform that looked like it’d been plucked straight out of a Civil War museum. The lights washed out some of the color, but I could still make out the dull gray fabric. Gold epaulets were attached to the shoulders of his jacket and a jaunty cap hung low over the soldier’s eyes. Even at this distance, I could make out a beard that was full and black, but neatly trimmed. He looked as out of place as the Lemures who were lining up in front of him.
He stopped in front of the middle of the line and asked in a thick German accent, “Vell? Have you vound them yet?” The accent threw me for a loop. Based on the uniform, I’d have expected a Southern drawl.
The nearest Lemure responded with more clicks. The clicking gradually turned into squeaks and grunts from the other Lemures. After a while, it was like listening to radio static.
“No ex-cush!” the officer barked at the Lemure, cutting it off. “We vere given a substantial head start to catch our quarry! By vights, they should be in our custody at this very moment!”
The clicks from another Lemure responded, a bit faster and more frantic than his buddy.
“Oh, I am zorry!” the officer spat at him, sounding anything but. “I vas unavare that Edinburgh is a vather large city. Zank you for pointing out the obvious, scheisskopf!”
Bill made a face at the officer’s bullying attitude. I had to say, nightmare appearance aside, I felt a little sympathy for the Lemures. This guy had to have some major pull with whoever they answered to, considering the way he was speaking to them. Or, yelling.
The officer finally stopped pacing and lowered his head with a sigh. “Ve all know ze penalty for vailure here. That makes ze latter an unacceptable op-zon.” His hand went to his throat unconsciously, pulling down his collar to expose his skin. I could just make out some unevenly spaced discoloration around his neck.
“Zpeaking juz for myzelf,” he continued. “I vould rather be hanged again.”
Three more people walked up to him while he was speaking. Their clothes weren’t in the best of shape, which made me think they were homeless or just desperately poor. But, the jerky steps and glassy eyes told me they were victims of the Lemure poison. They came to an unsteady halt in front of the officer, who seemed to welcome them like they were a virus.
“Vell?” he again asked.
“Noooothing,” they all said as one. Their Scottish accents mixed with their flat tones gave the word a comical sound.
“You checked everyvhere? And nozing?”
“Noooothing,” they repeated.
Unsatisfied, the officer started pacing again. “Gott in Himmel, zis city has so many gates, it might az vell be a sieve. Zey could have zlipped through any...” Suddenly he stopped, looked up and then jerked his head back to his more conscious troops. “Has anyvone checked ze Phonebooth?”
The Lemure on the left end of the line replied. Whatever he said, it made the officer fly into a rage. “I asked if it had been checked, not utilized!”
The Lemure’s reply sounded hesitant. I heard a soft tap on the ground that nearly made me jump. Tallis held up his hand and shook his head. Whatever it was, it was okay. He slowly bent over and picked something up while the officer replied.
“Wunderbar! What an exzellent idea! And zat is why you—” He pointed at the Lemure before swinging his finger to the one next to it— “And you will go check it now!” He then went back to the rest of the line. “The vest, look at ze Vennel, ze University, ze School! I vant them vound... now!”
The Lemures scurried off to obey the instructions while the officer gestured at the hypnotized humans to follow them back down Lauriston Place.
“Damn and I thought I was an unsuffergable asshole...” Bill muttered.
A light illuminated Tallis’ face, the distinctive glow of a cell phone screen. “Does it still work?” I asked.
He squinted at it. “Screen’s a bit cracked an’ I dinnae think it’s able to call out. But aye, she’s got power.”
Bill was nodding to himself. “So how ‘bout we follow those Lemur…”
“Lemure,” Tallis tried to correct him… again. For some reason, Asterion was pointing his big nostrils in the air and taking big sniffs.
“… As I was sayin’,” Bill continued with a glare at Tallis. “How ‘bout we follow those Lemur assholes to this ‘Phonebooth’ Barbie wanted them to go see, yo?”
