Age of Mystics (Saga of Mystics Book 1) (25 page)

Eric listened intently to what the squad was telling him. He was interested in Manitou to a great degree, but it paled in comparison to his interest in the Hillside. He would have to act quickly. He had been listening to a recitation of the poor state of supplies from Colson when the other men had returned from their search for Kane, and Johnson and their two whores. A plan formed in his head, and he moved it quickly into action.

“General Meyer, take two hundred men, and ten Tigers, and attack the Manitou encampment. Keep the walls if you can, it is a good fortress and control point into the mountains. Do not destroy, we need the supplies. Kill every person breathing in that place, it will be ours.”

Meyer bowed, “Yes, Shogun. If they surrender?”

“If they surrender, man the town, remove all its residents, without any supplies to carry with them. If they surrender, they live, that is all. If they do not surrender at first try, execute every man, woman and child. It doesn’t matter, they will not surrender.”

Eric stood and paced the room, “Summers, take the remaining eight hundred and fifty men, as well as all of the Ops, and all of the guards, and clear out the Outer Circle. We can no longer afford those mouths to feed that are not productive. Clean them out of my city, beyond the outer wall. Hang any who resist as a warning to the others. Lord Miles, you and I will create a plan of attack for the Hillside. When these other two actions are complete, we will move our full force there and take the encampment as well. That will give us three control points, and we can build from there. Gentlemen, the time has come to build our power base. Do well, and you will be rewarded. Now, move out. Damiano, with me.”

All of the men moved out with purpose, they finally got to do something. If he could get into action before the first snow, he could solidify his hold and prepare for new governance. Three fortifications, then build up to take out the Academy. Seal off the mountain access, then move east and plan out the city. Within a year or two, he could provide a safe home for the best of the best and rid himself of the riff raff.

When the room had cleared, he turned to Miles, “Okay, my friend,” he started, “Now is the time. We get the three fortifications, but much of this hinges on capturing Jenny Martinez. That running into the wall story is probably true. She has some kind of power, some mental power of the chi. I will mate with her and produce exceptional children to rule after me. But, you personally must get her, and you must get her before we move on the Hillside, so there is no chance of her getting caught in the cross-fire. Do this for me and I will give you Manitou. You will still answer to me, but will be Lord Governor of Manitou Springs. How does that sound?”

Eric didn’t need to see the low bow, or hear the agreement. He knew his closest servant’s desires, and knew how to manipulate him. Miles would bring Ms. Martinez back, and then Eric would find a reason to show his displeasure with the sniveling sycophant. His plans were coming together well; Eric Fine was very happy indeed.

Ted looked around the small group, nine altogether, and wondered how this was going to go. It had only been a few moments since they allowed the first outsider to have access to the highest level of the Hillside. With all of the work that Kate and Kayla had done to put up walls and illusions as a defense, they had until now, only allowed those from their original group to come up here. Everyone from the church on had only been allowed to the middle level, and outsiders had only been allowed to the ground outside the gates. But now, they had allowed Jenny Martinez, Amy Paolo, and Tom Barrett (one of the group from the church) to join them from the middle landing, and they had even invited Commander Britton Casco, the Cadet Commander at the Air Force Academy. This group would be the beginning of how they would move forward.

“First,” Ted started, “I want to thank everyone for coming. It is an honor to have you all here.”

It was Rich who responded, “Yeah, why are we here though, Ted?”

Ted looked at the group again. Commander Casco was the leader of the Academy since the Commandant had taken ill. Adam was still not sure he could help the man, as the flu had ravaged his system. Ted, sister-in-law, Kate, was an icon to the women in the group now, both because of her abilities, and because of her strength when her husband had died. She gave hope to the women in the group. Jenny Martinez was a strong and vibrant leader, but the reason she was there was her ability to discern people’s motives. Rich himself was a leader of people, even without his abilities, he could motivate people better than anyone Ted had ever seen. Amy Paolo, a new member of the group, was showing some promise as an aquakinetic. This was going to be a necessary skill in the coming months. Dr. Emma Pare, their newest arrival, had an air of authority that could aid them in legitimacy. Tom Barrett carried a lot of weight with those who had not yet shown powers, or were not strong in those powers. Finally, his wife, Kayla had built the walls, she was seen by the people as the embodiment of protection. These would be the beginning leaders of the group.

“We are here, my friend, to talk about the future.” Ted waited to see any reaction, but there was none. “I wanted to ask all of you to be part of a leader’s committee, or council. We will need to make decisions going forward and I don’t think I should make them alone, though I appreciate the way everyone has granted me that ability up until now.”

“I think you are doing fine, Ted.” Kate offered.

“I appreciate that, sis. I really do. But this isn’t going away, this new existence. We need to prepare for winter and beyond, and I don’t want advice, I want partners.”

“Why am I here?” asked Casco.

“One of the most important partnerships we have already begun is that with the Academy. I want that to continue and be a model for how we all live in the world together. So, I am asking that the Academy always have a member on this council.” Ted looked around and everyone was nodding at the logic of this decision. “Look, maybe it would be best to say why I chose each of you, then we can move on and figure out how this will work.”

“I have already stated why I chose Commander Casco. I chose Kayla, not because she is my wife, but because she has planned and constructed our fortifications. Kate for much the same reason, but also due to the respect given to her by many in the group. Rich and Tom are both natural leaders, to whom people just go for their advice and ideas. Dr. Pare is an authority, a visible authority. Amy understands leadership, and her aquakinesis is going to be very valuable as we plan to provide for the people of our group.”

There was a pause, but Jenny looked around and asked, “What about me?”

Ted smiled broadly, “Oh, I thought that was obvious.” Looking at the council, Ted could see that they thought it was too.

“Sweetheart,” Kayla replied for all of them, “You can tell when people are lying.”

A little chuckle went around the room and set the mood for this, the First Council of the Hillside. The meeting went on for hours, but in the end, they had approved Ted to be the Head of the Council, and had all taken on tasks and responsibilities. They had set rules for access, and days when each of them would be “in charge” to judge for people, and make smaller decisions. They had decided to be mostly a place for education and information, and to dedicate themselves to be a resource for those in need, and to try to make the world a better place. Ted could not have chosen a better group, nor could they have done a better job with that first meeting. The word spread quickly about who they were and what they were about, just as Ted had intended.

In the days that followed, Kayla found two other terrakinetics with whom she worked on her cave project, creating a place on the mid-level that reached into the cliffs and provided shelter for the coming winter. Tom, working with Mike Paolo and Kin Ko, created a task assignment list that everyone who lived at the Hillside signed up for and worked on. Jenny began working on the intricacies of reading items with Cliff, though she never really understood imprinting. Casco had carried the word back to the Academy, which had responded very well to be included on the Council.

Before the week had finished, the Commandant had succumbed to the flu, and the Academy leadership had appointed Casco as the new Commandant. Kyle and Jessica had taken up semi-permanent residence at the Academy to teach and help, and keep a conduit of communication open. Emma had built gardens, and had produced incredibly fast fruit. Amy Paolo had been working on preserving the fruits and vegetables when she had gone into labor. Cooper Paolo was born on a Thursday; the first child of the new world they had known. He was a quiet kid, right from birth, who seemed to have no problem with the cold.

Miles’ disguise was barely a disguise. In his own opinion, he wasn’t even convincing as a homeless guy. As he approached the Hillside’s long lines, he simply stood in the longest to get his bearings. Much as the Tiger had said, the road no longer went up to the restaurant. Instead, there were cliffs which had never been there before, and there were multiple stone walls up what had been the street, which one could barely make out form here. If you didn’t know to look, you wouldn’t even see the road that wound its way up behind the cliffs. There was a stone building near the base of the cliffs and a bunch of people who looked like Academy Cadets, by their uniforms. There were dozens of people in these lines, and people who were clearly helpers, handing out blankets to everyone in the line.

“Hi,” Said a woman in her late twenties, “If you are here for healing, the next healing will be on Monday. Is that why you are here?”

Healing?
Miles looked around. “No, I am sorry, ma’am. I was looking for a friend of mine that I heard was around this place.”

“Oh, do you need a blanket? Winter is on its way and we have extras. I am Amy Paolo, by the way.” The young woman smiled at him and stuck out her hand, and Miles just wanted to rip that grin off her face, but instead he just shook her hand and smiled back. What world did she think she was living in?

“Thank you, you are very kind,” is all that he said in response, “But, I was looking for my friend. Maybe you know her, Jenny Martinez? Someone I know said he saw her here.”

Miles saw the shadow of doubt cross the woman’s face, and knew he was going to have to go with plan B.

The young woman smiled, a clearly fake smile, she was new to deception. “No, umm sorry, I don’t know your friend. I should probably go get some more blankets.”

Amy turned to walk back to the front. Miles had to take a more drastic action. He reached under the shirt he was wearing and pulled out his long knife, then with his other hand, he reached up and grabbed her by the hair, pulling her back to him. As he pulled her back, a woman screamed and people yelled out. A large blonde man ran from the front of the lines, near the cadets.

“Amy!” He screamed as he ran.

Amy Paolo just whimpered in his grasp, “Please, no, Cooper…” Miles put the knife to her throat.

The large man yelled out, “Let my wife go!!” He lunged at Miles, but the original leader of the Tigers was ready for him.

As the man rushed, Miles planted one foot and drove the other upwards into the man’s solar plexus, lifting his two hundred and fifty-pound frame off the ground with ease. Before, the man could fall to the ground, with dizzying speed that even surprised himself, Miles axe kicked the man in his head, driving his skull into the ground with such force. He heard the crunch of broken bone as he felt the skull give way.

Miles looked up at the gasping crowd. The woman, at whose throat he still held the knife, sank to her knees and sobbed. Miles kept the knife in place.

“That was not necessary, Damiano.” Said a voice to his right, he turned to see a face he knew well, but had not seen in years.

“Sgt. Craven? You are with this rabble?”

The stocky man, with a growth of beard his commanding officer would not have been happy with, just looked sadly at Miles. “Miles, what have you done? These are people, or have you forgotten already what they look like.”

Over Craven’s shoulder, Miles saw Kane and the other traitor, Johnson, move through the crowd toward him. At the same time, a pre-teen girl walked through and stood right at Craven’s shoulder. “Oh, so you harbor the traitors too? I was sent to get Jenny Martinez, but now I see I have more to do to put this right.”

Miles looked down at the woman in his grasp and drew the knife deeply into her carotid artery and larynx. He felt the warm blood splash onto his hand, as he heard the gasps of the crowd and saw some of the men (including the traitors) lurch forward.

Throwing off his overcoat, he held the knife up and said, “Let’s do this then.”

The men started to come forward, but Ted quietly said, “No.” Everyone stepped back.

“Oh, Sergeant, you are the leader then?” Miles taunted, “After I cut the head off the head, maybe then they will give me Jenny Martinez.”

Miles began to circle in the wide area that the crowd now made for the fight that was about to happen. With intense speed and focus, Miles leapt, driving the knife in a downward motion toward Craven’s chest. The man just stood there, waiting for it, this was going to be over quick.

At the last possible second, Craven turned in place and parried the blow, sending Miles sprawling on the ground. Ted looked down at him, “Who sent you?”

Miles jumped to a crouch and swept with his legs, following with a spinning side kick, but into dead air. Craven was not in the spot he was when Miles had begun the spin. He felt the sharp blunt kick to his ankle as his feet flew out from under him, and he was again sprawled out on the ground. The knife flew out of his hand and Kane picked it up where it landed.

“Who sent you, Damiano?” Ted said, still standing in a completely relaxed position.

“Oh, Craven, you know who it is. He wants the girl.” Corralling all the chi energy he could muster, Miles struck at Ted Craven’s chest. This time the man did not move, did not parry, did not flinch. It was like striking stone. Miles felt the reverberation of the impact carry through his arm, but he followed with strikes to the face, a flurry of fists on the man’s visage. It not only didn’t hurt Ted Craven, he seemed barely to notice. He took the punches just like Shogun had in the early days of this. When Miles had expended every last bit of energy he had, the man finally moved. Settling into a stance, Ted reached out with the palm of his hand and hit Miles in the center of the chest with such force that he flew back in the air over fifteen feet and landed on his back with a thud.

Miles scrambled to his fee.
Shogun needs to know about this power!
He saw his opening and ran, looking back, he saw Ted stopping the crowd from following him, and laughed to himself at how stupid the former soldier was. He bolted as fast as he could to get back and tell Fine what he had found out.

Ted turned to the little girl at his elbow. “You do it sweetie.”

Miles turned a corner and saw two snarling dogs running at him in a full sprint. He quickly moved the other way, but saw another dog join them. He didn’t know where they found or trained these guard dogs, but he just needed higher ground and he would be fine. He saw an outcropping of rocks and quickly climbed on top of them. He would be safe there.

Snarling, barking and snapping their jaws, the three dogs were jumping up toward the cliff, but were too short to reach it. Miles spit down on them from his safe vantage point. It was then he heard the sound. The growling behind him barely alerted him, with increasing fear he turned and saw the pit bull leap at him, knocking him off the ledge and onto his back on the ground below. Searing pain entered his leg as one of the dogs grabbed ahold of his ankle and ripped at his flesh. He reached up to get the dog off of him, when another of them clamped down on the soft tissue under his arm. All four dogs were then on him. He fought to get them off, but was losing flesh and blood rapidly. He saw the teeth and the gaping maw, as the pit bull bit into his face, its teeth sinking into his left eye. He went limp as he felt the burning in his side and felt the jerking of his intestines being pulled out of his body. He felt the crack in his neck and all pain and feeling seep away, and the dog that had been biting his head and ripping side to side let go.

Miles Damiano looked up with his one good eye, unable to move below his neck, standing right above him was the little girl who had recently been at Craven’s side. Her blonde hair framing that cherubic face, now distorted with hate and anger. She leaned over him, “That was someone’s Mommy.” The little girl spit down onto his forehead and looked at the pit. The dog lunged and bit hard into Miles’ neck. The last thing he felt was the dog ripping out his voice box, and Lord Miles Damiano, the Shogun’s Right Hand, was no more.