Gloom Rising (The Book Wielder Saga 1) (29 page)

Mortissa let herself in, making sure that she had her sharpest scalpel ready at hand.

- - -

Straight after his meeting with Omniosis, Winston had decided to confront Lucius. Lewis had volunteered to defer to his judgement, as Winston was the one who could open the portals. He seemed more enthusiastic about the idea of conquering the world than governing it afterwards. He would of course want to revel in the spoils, and Winston was more than happy to accommodate his best friend. Leadership wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea.

Winston had been toying with the idea of telling Veronica first, but Lewis had convinced him otherwise. They had both agreed that it would be better telling her later. If Winston’s current idea was successful they’d be able to enjoy the good news rather than scaring her with more stories of the Archmage, arguing about it, and then going to see Lucius in a foul mood.

He’d made sure that he’d looked the part in a fresh Shadow Circle suit with his hair slicked to the side, and quickly rehearsed what he was going to say in his head before finally going to see Lucius. It felt like his audition to the gang all over again. Lucius listened intently as Winston regaled him with what had just happened in the Gloom.

“Incredible,” Lucius said in awe. “I bet the Archivists would love to have a chat with this Omniosis fellow and get the first hand story of how our world came to be. But back to business; I assume you and Lewis going ahead with this Archmage’s plan?”

“We are,” Winston said nervously. “But I want your help.”

Lucius chuckled. “Although the sound of taking over the world sounds appealing, I only ever intended to rule in the shadows.”

“You still can, but you wouldn’t have to rule in the shadows. You could do it in the open.”

“Glad to see you haven’t forgotten me on your way up, Winston,” Lucius replied with a smile. “What are you proposing?”

“That you make me your partner in running the Shadow Circle,” Winston began anxiously. “I’ll govern the humans and you govern the Supernaturals. I haven’t forgotten that you put me where I am today, and I am very grateful, but you can’t deny that your own recent success has been because of my abilities.”

Lucius said nothing for what seemed like an eternity before finally speaking. “In all honesty, I thought we would be having this conversation somewhere down the line. I would gladly offer you position of partner, but this Archmage worries me. Would he simply allow us to divide the world as we see fit?”

“He does want to rule but he’s not going to be able to do it alone. He’ll need people like us maintaining things.”

Lucius was visibly deep in thought. “I don’t know. It’s been a long time since I had someone to report to. You get used to being your own boss.”

“But think of all that you would gain,” Winston said. “You might have someone overseeing you, but for the most part you would be one of the most powerful individuals on the plane, and you wouldn’t need to worry about hiding it either.”

“Will you get your Alternatives to back me up in an attack against the Trinity in the near future?” Lucius asked.

“Yes, of course. We can flood the Catacombs with them if need be. They’re always up for a bit of carnage.”

Lucius extended his hand out towards to Winston. “Fine, you’ve sold it to me. You have yourself a deal... partner.”

Winston shook his cold hand eagerly. “You won’t regret this, Lucius.”

“I better not,” he replied with a smile. “So what’s first on the agenda?”

“First of all, well... I need to see the Governor.”

- - -

He watched as she carefully made her way out of the alleyway in the Gloom. The Trinity’s main Mage Book Wielder, Joan, was being very clever and very stealthy indeed, but not discreet enough to evade the forces that watched her.

Like a fox, she darted to a manhole in the middle of the cracked and worn road. She paused momentarily to look around for danger before wrenching it open, but there were no Freaks, Alts, or Demons around for her to fear. He’d told them all to leave the area when she’d arrived.

He waited until she was down the hole before leaving his hiding place and following her. She had closed the hatch behind herself, so he gave it a good five minutes before gently opening it back up again and making his way down the rusty iron ladder and down into the dark.

The sewer was pitch black except for a small orb of magical light in the distance, but his eyes could see perfectly. The sewer was a dank brickwork tunnel and he was standing on a concrete walkway next to shallow, stagnant Gloom water. Joan was in the distance next to her magelight orb, kneeling beside the water and pulling on some long rubber gloves that came up to her shoulders.

He’d been here himself in the past. There were no rivers or big water sources in the reflection of the Capital City, so the sewer was the only place to get ingredients that grew beside or under the water. It was unpleasant place to be, but it was comforting knowing that it wasn’t really a sewer, as the Alts living in the city didn’t excrete any waste. Thinking about it, neither did he anymore.

Creeping closer to Joan, he could see what she was after; a small cluster of Glowkelp was at the bottom of the water, just at the edge of her reach. The fairly common but usually difficult to obtain reagent was used in some good defensive potions. It was a pure white plant that grew underwater, had leaves that ended in globular fronds, and glowed very brightly. The Trinity was obviously getting worried about their future to send their best Book Wielder out in the Gloom version of the Capital after how difficult they’d made it for others lately.

Joan had just gotten a good grip on the radiant white Glowkelp when she noticed his reflection in the dark still water. She flinched and went to respond, but it was too late. With all of his strength, he forced her head down into the horrid waters and held it under as she thrashed, violently fighting for a gasp of air and for her life. He could feel her trying to use some defensive magic, but it wouldn’t help her. He wouldn’t let her get the chance to use it. Joan gulped down mouthfuls of water before finally going limp, but he held her under a bit longer for good measure. When he was satisfied that she was dead, he pulled her lifeless body out of the black Gloom water and laid her on the concrete walkway next to her belongings. He waded into the water, plucked all the Glowkelp up, and placed it in her Alchemists case, before making his way out of the sewer and back out into the Gloom City.

Then Joan opened her eyes.

- - -

It was late when they came for him, the people from the Shadow Circle, and they said it was time for him to leave the hotel. A wave of dread hit him like a tidal wave, his fat face went red, and his brow perspired. But they weren’t throwing him to the wolves. They wanted something very different indeed; they wanted him to take back the continent.

The Governor had stuttered an agreement. Although he had been well looked after with all the food, alcohol, drugs, and women that he wanted, the idea of being stuck in an underground room for so long and knowing that the Inquisition wanted him dead for corruption charges had affected him greatly.

“How... how are you going to retake the city, Lucius?” he had stammered on his way through the Hotel Noir. His eyes darted from person to person wildly, wary of threats, and fearful of Inquisition spies.

“
We
are going to retake the city with the help of the MPK’s,” Lucius said softly, “who you are going to talk to over the radio we have here in the hotel.”

“Not to mention a little extra help from our people,” the young brown haired man who was following them said.

The Governor slowed to get a good look at him. There was a trick to telling what Supernatural was what by checking their eyes, but his were white and he didn’t know what that made him. “You... your people are going to help? But won’t that blow your cover...?”

“This is Winston, my new partner. And please let us worry about that Mr Governor,” Lucius said calmly. “There are going to be a lot of changes soon, and we won’t need to worry about being as
discreet
as we have been.”

“We’ve already got some Supernaturals in position ready to strike against the Inquisition,” Winston began. “We just need your Military Peace Keepers to make the first move.”

“Okay... what should I say?” the Governor stuttered.

“We’ll walk you through it,” Lucius said with a smile.

They went into the Hotel Noir’s illegally assembled radio transmitter and got the Governor to broadcast the speech that Winston and Lewis had hastily prepared across the airwaves. The Governor recited it with the skill of a true politician. He spoke of the illegality of the Inquisition’s hold on Imperia and the World Government, the injustice of their tyrannical methods and behaviour, questioned their secret research and development of Central Isle, and of course emphasised the importance of every true Imperian patriot rising up against them. It was only a matter of minutes before they heard gunfire.

“So, what... what happens now?” the Governor asked shakily.

“We get you back to your office in the World GOVT building, of course,” Lucius replied.

“Once we’ve tidied up the mess,” Winston added.

“Come, let’s go to the bar, drinks on the house,” Lucius said, patting the Governor on the back as they left the room.

The uprising was short, sweet, and savage. The Military Peace Keepers charged down the streets in their jeeps and armoured vans, and although the Inquisition’s technology was far superior, they didn’t have the numbers to put up a decent fight. Bullets flew in one direction and beams of plasma energy shot back. Then the stealthiest amongst the Supernaturals joined the fighting and it was over pretty quickly. The remaining Inquisition forces in the Capital soon surrendered. The MPK’s took them prisoner and commandeered their technology, weapons, and vehicles, and the Supernaturals slinked back into the shadows.

The rest of Imperia still required ‘liberating’ from the Inquisition, but without their headquarters in the Capital City and the support of local Military Peace Keepers, they only had the support of the civilians who took their side. It wouldn’t be long until they were forced off Imperia. They would try to retake it of course, but Winston only needed them gone long enough to get the merger under way. After that, they’d have a lot more to worry about than rogue MPK’s and stealthy Supernaturals.

- - -

Kavarne and Lynette had been on the road as the Governor made his speech. They had been assigned to guard Lewis but he said he was happy to stay in the hotel if they wanted to do their own thing, so with Xavier’s permission they had decided to ride along the rural roads to check on Greg’s operation for a day or two. And if they happened to get very drunk and stoned on their little visit, then so be it.

A very length text message from Lucius was waiting for them as they got off their bikes outside the Open Vein nightclub in the pitch black early morning.

“Wow, things are really getting messed up lately,” Lynette said as she skimmed the text.

“Should be fun though,” Kavarne growled.

“Yes, it should,” Lynette said as she slipped her arm around Kavarne’s broad waist.

The couple walked into the club in their riding leathers. Merv revved a goodbye, and Lynette turned and waved cutely to her personal Gloom vehicle. The place was dead except for members of the Shadow Circle, and with all the recent events they were heavily armed and ready for action.

“The boss is waiting for you,” a gang member at the bar said as they walked in, and the rest lowered their guard slightly.

“We know,” Kavarne said bluntly.

“We’ll take a couple beers to go,” Lynette said cheekily.

The barman poured them a couple of beers in thick pint glasses and they made their way to Greg’s office. He was sat slumped in his chair puffing on some sort of thick self-rolled cigarette.

“Well, you guys have been busy,” Greg said slowly. He was obviously under the influence of some substance. “Did you get Lucius’ message? He just gave me a call.”

“Yeah, we got the message,” Lynette replied. “Hear you’ve got Inquisition troubles?”

“Understatement of the century,” Greg answered grumpily. “They’ve been pestering our human dealers for a while now. Glad we’ve finally got the go ahead to do something about it, but how are we handling this with the Trinity snooping about?”

“Fuck the Trinity,” Kavarne snarled back.

“What my lover means,” Lynette said, “is that the Trinity of Old won’t be a problem for much longer.”

“Winston is Lucius’ partner now, but does it really change that much?” Greg asked sceptically.

“Oh, believe me, it does,” Lynette began cheerily. “He’s going to merge the Gloom City with the Capital. Soon there’ll be an army of Alts at the gang’s disposal. After that, he’s going to do the same with Industria and Tropica until the whole world is magical.”

“Fuck me sideways!” Greg said before taking a very long drag from his ‘cigarette’. “Always knew that kid had potential. So now I suppose subtlety isn’t exactly on the cards?”

“Well, we don’t really want to provoke any Trinity action until the merger is over, but we don’t think they’ll move against us in force. They seem to be waiting for us to make the first move,” Lynette replied.

“Bad move for them,” Kavarne said.

“Good. Well, let’s go kill some Inquisitors then!” Greg said as he struggled to get up. “They’ve got a camp out of the way near the forests.”

“Another bad move for them,” Kavarne smirked.

“We just need to stop by the local MPK station first,” Lynette said as they went to leave the club.

A short while later, a dozen local law enforcement jeeps charged along the thin county roads towards the Inquisition’s temporary base, which consisted of several high-tech armoured trucks forming a loose perimeter around four dull green tents. The Military Peace Keeper’s vehicles opened fire with their top mounted machine guns. They blazed wildly in the blitzkrieg assault, and the bullets shot all over the place highly inaccurately, but their attack was just the cover for the Supernatural assault heading for the rear of the camp.