Harbinger (The Bleeding Worlds) (25 page)

Paltar delivered it all with a look that would cause even the greatest of bravado to shrink. He worked hard to suppress a smile when it had the desired effect.

“Now, Brandt, Caelum, get ready. Purisaz team, I want you broken into smaller groups and covering exit points. Nothing gets in or out, clear?”

With assignments handed out, the Ansuz team made for their entry point. Paltar usually opted for the straight–ahead approach. They’d go in the front entrance. Apart from the obvious, that no one ever expected it, in this case it meant having an easier time finding the stairwell. There was no way they’d be lucky enough to find the tear on the ground floor.

Brandt and Caelum entered the building. Paltar sensed the tension in the rest of the team as they waited. Two minutes passed. Caelum’s voice came over the radio. “All clear to enter.”

The remaining members of the Ansuz team breached the building. The lights were all on. An ornate reception area with marble and natural woods greeted them. The rest of the floor consisted of a number of offices and cubicles. Brandt and Caelum stood in the center of the office area motioning them forward.

“How far did you go in?” Paltar asked.

“Just this floor and the first flight of stairs. The stairwell’s at the rear.” Caelum reported.

The team swept through the office complex. Satisfied nothing would come at them from the rear, Paltar gave the order to move into the stairwell.

No scouts this time, just a steady stream of Anunnakis pouring through the door and to the second floor to await further orders.

Paltar and Hodur were the last through the door. “Hodur, is it just me, or is this far too easy?”

A stabbing pain shot through Paltar’s lower back. It dug and burrowed through his torso until the spear tip punched through his sternum.

“Oh, I don’t know.” Hodur hissed in his ear. “I think it’s about to get very difficult.”

Gwynn
paced. Despite Pridament’s insistence that he rest, he couldn’t. Every attempt at sitting or lying down just sent painful spasms through his legs.

“How long have we been here?” Gwynn asked.

“No idea. Some of us are trying to take a nap.”

“I can still see it out the window and feel it in my gut. The vortex is still spinning. They haven’t been able to shut it down. Shouldn’t they have been able to manage that by now?”

A knock came at the door. It unlocked and Fuyuko entered.

“Fuyuko, What are you doing here?” Gwynn asked.

She refused to meet his eyes.

“She’s here because her team is either dead, or missing.”

Pridament hadn’t shifted from where he lay on the bed. When the words came out of his mouth, a shudder passed through Fuyuko.

“He’s right, isn’t he?” Gwynn asked.

“I…was supposed to stay confined. I couldn’t take it. So I snuck out, went to the command post where I heard the radio transmissions. The last transmission was…” She whimpered, “Sounds of battle, screaming, then…nothing.”

“But there’s a backup, right? I mean, Suture has to have more than one team, right?”

Fuyuko shook her head. “Everything’s happened at once. Everyone they could spare was already here. There are tears and Taints everywhere, tying the all the other units up. There’s a few people from Ehwaz team, but they’re not experienced fighters. And, they don’t have a…” Her eyes fell from him.

“A what?” Gwynn asked.

“They don’t have a Script.” Pridament said. “There’s no sense in sending them in because even if they get there, without a Script they can’t close the tear.”

“So are you asking, or is Suture?” Gwynn asked.

When she turned back, there were tears in her eyes. “I am. Please, those are my friends. There’s no one else who has a hope of helping them.”

“We’ll do it, right Pridament.”

The older man swung his legs over the bed and looked at them. His eyes were so tired. “I don’t know if we should Gwynn.”

“What?”

Pridament drew a deep breath and let it out slow. Moisture glistened at the edges of his eyes. “Gwynn, I lost you once. And over the past few days, I can’t keep track of the number of times you’ve been in danger. Paltar and his team are the best Suture has. If they’ve failed, I don’t see what hope we have.”

“If we don’t stop it, then this world dies.”

“You think I don’t know that.” Pridament got to his feet, his voice raw and ragged. “You think I don’t carry the guilt of every world I’ve watched the Fallen destroy? You’re the closest I’ve come to finding my son, Gwynn. This is a suicide mission. I can’t let you do it.”

“So what? We run? How many worlds will we let die before we make a stand? Or do you think we’ll just keep running until we’re dead? Please, Pridament.” Then Gwynn said quieter, “
Dad
, we have to do this.”

Pridament stood motionless, his eyes full of sorrow. Nothing in the room moved.

Gwynn’s heart pounded in his chest and his body shook.

Then Pridament moved to Gwynn. He rested his hands on Gwynn’s shoulders. “Are you sure?”

“It’s the only way I’ll be able to live with myself.”
Because she believed in me.

Pridament looked over Gwynn’s shoulder. “Fuyuko, we’re going to need out of here.”

The girl nodded, joyful determination on her face. “Right. Give me a minute to shut down the Prometheus circle and, umm, persuade the guards.”

She didn’t lie. Within a minute, she returned.

“When this is all over and Suture finds out what I’ve done,” She said sheepishly to Pridament, “I might just need you to take
me
to another world.”

Pridament grimaced. “Don’t worry about it. Either we come back heroes, or we don’t come back at all.”

Out the door and down the hall, they used an exit door to enter the stairwell.

They rushed down the stairs, Fuyuko in the lead.

“Has anyone thought how we’re going to get there?” Gwynn asked.

Ahead, Fuyuko dangled some keys.

“The van that brought us here?” Gwynn asked.

She shot him a quick, mischievous smile.

“I think you’re enjoying this a little too much.”

They exited through a door out into the last dying moments of daylight. Fuyuko took a quick scan of the parking lot. “Over there. Here,” She said handing the keys to Pridament, “you drive.”

“Do you know where they are?” Pridament asked.

“I just heard something about a large office building or something. They were talking about it being in the center of town.”

“It’s a small town. Not too many large office buildings.” Gwynn said. “We can start out that way. If I see the tendrils feeding the vortex we’ll know we’re on the right track.”

The trio loaded into the van.

“How’d you know what Fuyuko was coming to see us about?” Gwynn asked.

“You had just finished saying the vortex was still there. One look at her face and I figured what happened. Are we headed in the right direction?”

Gwynn leaned forward and searched the sky. “It looks like it. There’s a number of tendrils, more than I remember, but they’re all coming from the same spot.”

“Downtown?”

“Definitely.”

The minutes passed like hours. Each ticking second raised the anxiety levels in the car to tangible levels. Gwynn snuck a glance at Fuyuko in the back seat. She fidgeted, staring at her lap, never lifting her eyes to see out the windows.

Two blocks from the building, nausea hit Gwynn as if he’d slammed into a wall. “Damn. The last one didn’t feel like this.”

They turned a corner and the office complex came into full view. Gwynn gasped.

An angry green and black light that sparked and crackled engulfed the building. It reached up into the sky, where numerous tendrils stretched away and into the vortex.

“Can you see this?” Gwynn asked.

“I’m seeing something. What are you seeing?” Pridament asked.

“The entire building is drenched in this green and black energy. There’s dozens of tendrils coming off it feeding the vortex. It’s like a bunch of tears are open in this one place.”

“That explains what I’m seeing. The building is phasing. It’s slipping from this plane of existence. We need to get in there and stop this, now.”

Having left the car, Gwynn approached the wall of energy. He scooped a stone from the ground and threw it. The rock passed through and bounced off the building on the other side.

“Well, rocks can get through it. I’m not sure about people.”

Pridament inspected the building. “It shouldn’t hurt us. It’s probably because of all the dimensional energy inside. I’m more concerned about what’s going to be inside.”

“Curses.” Fuyuko said

“Lots of them. And they’re going to be even stronger because there’s more instability here.”

Fuyuko inspected the grounds.

“What are you looking for?”

“Purisaz team. Standard operation would be to have them outside covering exits. Even if something did happen inside, they shouldn’t have all gone in.”

Maybe something happened out here too.
Gwynn thought. Seeing the worry on Fuyuko’s face, he kept it to himself.

“In either case, we need to go.” Pridament said. He approached the entrance and reached out a tentative hand.

The energy rippled and snapped outward as Pridament touched it.

“Dammit” Pridament gasped. “No way we’re going to just walk through. It’s pushing back.”

“Let me try.” Gwynn said.

Gwynn reached out his right hand. The energies swirled and retreated from his hand. He drew on the Veil and pushed his hand further. His arm tingled. The symbols on his hand danced across his flesh, a human decoder trying to find the hidden message. The opening widened. “Go in under my hand.”

Pridament and Fuyuko ducked under his arm and entered the building. Gwynn closed his connection to the Veil and dove through the opening as it closed.

§

The air clung
to Gwynn like wet clothes.

“I feel like I’ve gained fifty pounds.” He said. “It’s hard to move.”

Pridament slapped Gwynn on the shoulder. “Give it a minute. It’s all the tear energy in here. Once your system adjusts you’ll feel a little closer to normal. What do you think Fuyuko? How should we proceed?”

Fuyuko scanned the lobby. “I’m going to guess the tear isn’t on the first floor. They would’ve taken the stairs. Elevators can be tampered with too easily.”

Pridament nodded. “Okay, so we need to find the stairs. I’m going to take a wild guess and say they’re back that way.”

“How do you figure that?” Gwynn asked.

The older man chuckled and pointed to a sign that hung from the ceiling. “Follow the arrow.”

Pridament drew his staff from the Veil. Gwynn and Fuyuko drew their weapons as well. The trio edged down the hall, casting a wary eye toward every door. The fluorescent lights and dying gloom of daylight outside did nothing to stop Gwynn’s hairs standing on end and his pulse quickening.

At the stairwell, Pridament motioned for Gwynn to pull the door open. “On three.” He mouthed. Pridament held up a fist. One finger went up, two, three and Gwynn pulled the door open.

Pridament plunged into the stairwell. Several heartbeats later, he emerged. Something had him shaken.

“Fuyuko.” Pridament said. “I think you’re going to want to prepare yourself. I don’t know what it means, but it can’t be good.”

The color drained from Fuyuko’s face. She took hesitant steps to join Pridament at the open door. She gave a stifled sob. No longer able to bear waiting, Gwynn entered the stairwell.

Words escaped him.

Blood. So much blood. On the floor, stairs, and walls.

Fuyuko stood next to Pridament, who held her shoulders to keep her from collapsing.

Pridament’s voice was hushed, reverent, as though the stairwell had become hallowed ground. “What do you feel Gwynn? Do we go up?”

Gwynn closed his eyes to the horror of the stairwell. He tried to find the tugging sensation. His stomach churned.

“I don’t know. It’s like I’m being pulled everywhere all at once. I’m sorry.”

Pridament shook his head. “It can’t be helped. The whole building is saturated. Okay, well there’s nothing on this floor, so we go up and check each floor.”

“How many floors are there?” Fuyuko’s voice sounded hollow.

“The directory at the door showed ten.”

One by one, they ascended the stairs, picking each footfall to avoid the blood.

“How many people in the Suture team?” Gwynn asked.

“Standard is eight. I wasn’t there, so they would’ve had seven in Ansuz and eight in Purisaz.”

“So fifteen people. Do you notice we’re halfway to the second floor and there’s no more, umm…”

“Blood?”

Gwynn gave Fuyuko a sheepish look. “Yeah. Sorry.”

She made a show of appearing strong. “It’s okay. That’s a good thing. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself.”

“Enough chatter,” Pridament growled, “keep moving.”

They paused at the door to the second floor.

“Anything?” Pridament asked.

Gwynn shook his head. “Still feel the same as I did downstairs.”

“Stay here.”

Pridament eased the door open and slid through. A moment later, he returned and they continued upward. The same pattern happened on the third and fourth floors.

When Gwynn hit the landing that marked the halfway point between the fourth and fifth floors, he doubled up, slammed against the wall and heaved.

“What’s wrong?” Pridament asked.

Gwynn ran his sleeve across his mouth and tried to ignore the stinging acid in the back of his throat. “I feel like I just got punched.”

“This must be the place then. You going to be all right?”

Gwynn drew in some deep breaths, letting them flood his innards. On an inhalation, he straightened, flexed his hands, twisted a little, and even gave his toes a wiggle in his boots. “Yeah, I’m good.”

At the fifth floor, Pridament signaled they should have their weapons ready. He went through the door first, followed by Fuyuko and then Gwynn.

Thick cables snaked along the floor; they throbbed and pulsated, almost alive. From the main bundle in the hall, individual cables branched off into the various rooms. Pridament flattened himself against a wall and moved to one of the open doors. He crouched down and peered inside. He stood up and motioned for Gwynn and Fuyuko to follow.