Syphon: Guardians of the Fractured Realms (12 page)

As everyone rushed over to congratulate them on the fight, Cliff looked back over at Samuel.

“Honestly dude, when you finally get your memory back, you’ve gotta introduce me to your instructor. You were doing stuff I’ve never even seen before. I’m not even sure how to defend against half of it.”

“Are you okay? Did he hurt you at all?” Blythe asked, examining Samuel all over for injuries. It might have been his imagination, but he felt she was examining him a lot more throughly than expected.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It was really fun, actually. I just wish it’d helped my memory come back.”

Joe came up and kept looking back and forth between him and Cliff, his mouth hanging open.

“Holy shit! That was amazing. I’ve never seen anyone move like you do Samuel. You seemed to know where Cliff was going to strike before even he knew. In all the years we’ve been sparring against each other, and even against some of the other people who come to his gym, I’ve never seen anyone fight Cliff to a standstill, let alone beat him. I don’t think I saw him get past your guard even once. I’d love to spar you, but I don’t think it’d even be a challenge…”

Joe got quiet for a second.

“I know… How about you spar against both me AND Cliff. I bet you’d still be able to beat the two of us without breaking a sweat, but I’d just love to see you in action like that, assuming you’re willing…” he said, a hopeful look on his face.

Nodding at Joe, he replied, “Well, assuming Cliff’s interested in it as well,” he said, casting a glance at the other man and getting a slight nod in return, ”then I don’t see why not. Even though I can’t remember how I learned how to use a sword, I’d love to try and figure out what my limits are. Who knows, maybe the challenge of fighting two skilled opponents might help me remember something.”

Joe let out a whoop as he jumped in the air. Samuel chuckled under his breath at Joe’s antics. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw John moving toward him with a purposeful stride.

“Did that jewelry get damaged from blocking that strike?” he asked as he got close enough to be heard over the rest of the crowd.

“I don’t think so,” Samuel replied as he glanced down at it. “It’s taken quite a few hits before without any visible damage.”

“Can I take a quick look at it to be sure?”

“Uh, okay,” he replied as he held his arm out.

“Remarkable. There isn’t a ding or scratch on it. What the heck is this thing made out of? Even high carbon steel should have shown some type of surface damage, blocking that heavy of a blow.”

Karen came over while John continued to examine it for any signs of damage.

“You know, the way you used that thing, I’m not entirely sure it’s just supposed to be a piece of jewelry. I think that thing might be a fully functional vambrace, or at least that’s how you’re using it. If skippy here is right about there not being any damage, that would indirectly reinforce that possibility as well. You swung it up to block that sword strike with such practiced ease that I suspect it’s been used in that role too many times to count. That was completely unconscious reflex action there.”

She glanced back down at the vambrace again. A slightly puzzled look came over her face.

“Hey John?”

“Yeah?”

“Weren’t those gemstones in the eyes an almost cobalt blue when we looked at it earlier?”

“Yeah, why do you a—” he said as he looked at the eyes again.

“What the…?”

“Could it be the lighting?” she asked, turning his hand back and forth.

“Maybe. Without knowing what kind of gemstones they actually are, it’s hard to tell if it’s a natural effect.”

“Huh?” Samuel asked.

Karen looked up at him, pointing to the eyes on the dragon’s face.

“When we first examined those gemstones, they were almost a dark sapphire blue. Now they seem to be approaching almost aquamarine in color. Just very odd is all.”

“But that is a mystery for another day. Let’s celebrate the fine battle we just witnessed!” Joe said, still bouncing around in excitement.

The three of them looked at each other before nodding, walking back toward the rest of the crowd.

Cora drove around the city aimlessly, going over what had happened at the library in her head. She knew that the librarian was hiding something, but what was she hiding exactly? She felt sure that the librarian had recognized the picture of Samuel, but was she protecting him, or was she just one of those people who felt strongly about not helping law enforcement? It was hard to tell with how tight-lipped she’d been during the conversation.

And what about that guy she had talked to? As far as she could tell, he was dressed nearly identical to Sybil. Plus he’d had the ability to vanish the same way. Were they following her, or was the library an important location for them and she just happened to stumble upon it? She pulled over and turned the car off before pulling out her map, going over the different locations again. As she studied it, she realized that the library was nearly at the center of the city. So it was slightly more likely that it was the location, and not her being followed, that accounted for that guy being there.

As she sat there, her driver side door swung open unexpectedly. Before she had a chance to react, a hand slid down the left side of her body, yanking her gun out of it’s cross-draw holster.. Trying to grab the hand that took her gun, she got stuck in her seatbelt. She heard a slight tap on the roof of her car before the passenger door swung open. Spinning her head back, she came face-to-face with her own gun pointed at her face.

“Go ahead and close your door and get situated.”

Cora moved very slowly and deliberately, closing the driver side door before getting adjusted behind the wheel. She started to glance to her right, but the barrel of the gun flicked.

“Hey, no peeking just yet. Let’s just go for a nice little drive instead, shall we?” the voice said.

Cora started the car and gently pulled into traffic. As she merged in, she asked, “Where are we going?”

“Oh, no place in particular detective Blanchett. Oh, and don’t worry, I’m not going to shoot you. That was just to get your attention before you tried something stupid. I’m just here to offer my suggestion a little more, how shall I phrase it, forcefully than I did last time,” the voice said as she lowered the barrel of the gun.

“YOU!” Cora exclaimed, her face hardening into a mask as she started grinding her teeth.

“Oh, there’s no need for all that. Now while I don’t particularly care, and your dentist will absolutely love to bill you for it, the only one who’s going to suffer is you if you keep grinding them like that. Now where was I? Oh yes, your continued insistence on trying to track down Samuel. You’re sorely ill-equipped to deal with him or anyone who might be after him. If I was able to get the drop on you so easily, you don’t stand a chance against any of the others.”

“How about I pull this car over and I show you how capable I am of handling you.”

Sybil’s voice sounded like fine crystal as she laughed.

“Oh detective Blanchett, if there was time, I would take you up on that offer. I honestly find your bravado very refreshing. But there’s something coming that our group needs to deal with and we can’t have you interfering with us. A lot of people are going to die if we can’t correct it quickly, and Samuel is the key to it all.”

Cora risked a glance over at Sybil. She noticed she was holding her gun casually in her right hand. More importantly, she wasn’t wearing her seatbelt. The other woman continued talking, apparently unaware that Cora had glanced at her.

“Once this crisis is over, I might pay you a visit again and maybe, just maybe, fill you in on some of the things that go bump in the night that your kind are so blissfully unaware of.”

“Our kind?” she asked, a puzzled look on her face.

“Oops, I do believe I’ve said too much, I’m afraid. Be that as it may, please listen to me this time when I tell you to stop looking into this matter. Otherwise, I can’t be held responsible for what might happen to you.”

While Sybil had been talking, Cora had gradually been speeding up. Looking over at the woman, she asked, “is that a threat?”

“Oh no dear, that’s actually what one would usually consider a warning. A threat would imply an outcome our group would possibly enforce. A warning indicates a probable outcome that has nothing to do with us.”

Cora looked over at Sybil. As she stared, she saw out of the corner of her eye the on-ramp to the expressway, including the barrels of water lined up to help slow vehicles that missed the ramp entrance. Taking a deep breath, she stomped the gas pedal.

“I don’t take kindly to threats OR warnings,” she snarled, pulling her seatbelt tight just before the impact.

“Seriously detective?”

She vaguely felt the impact. Instead, she heard a loud explosion and then blackness. She came to, the airbag pressing against her face as she struggled to maintain consciousness, willing herself to recover faster than Sybil. For some reason, she was having difficulty moving. With a start, she realized she was having problems breathing as well. As she fought to recover, she heard the other woman talking from a distance.

“My poor dear… That was really uncalled for. I was getting ready to leave anyway, but your gesture as to how far you’re willing to go hasn’t gone unnoticed. I suspect that I’ll be seeing you again soon, regardless of anything I say to you.”

Cora heard the sound of tearing metal and snapping plastic before she felt the woman’s hands on her face and neck. It felt like she was doing a quick check to make sure she was okay. Then she felt the other woman’s hands on both sides of her face. A feeling of warmth spread out from her hands, soothing the cuts and scrapes she had sustained in the accident. The warmth built up to a scalding intensity in her neck before fading away, flowing through the rest of her body. The splitting headache she had started to subside. Without warning, she reflexively sucked in a huge gasp of air.

“That should hold you until the paramedics can get here, my dear. Ta ta for now.”

Sybil touched the side of her face again.

“Sleep…”

Suddenly, an overpowering wave of exhausting rolled over her. She fought hard against it, but she could feel herself losing the battle this time. As she started to drift off, her head rolled to the right. She heard the screech of tortured metal again as she watched the other woman force the passenger door open. It reminded her of the sound the jaws of life made when tearing into a vehicle. She blacked out for a second before her door was ripped open to the same deafening screech of metal being force beyond it’s capabilities. Then the noise was gone, leaving her in silence. As the blackness finally overtook her, her eyes focused on two things that left her puzzled. One was her gun neatly disassembled and unloaded on her passenger seat. What was more baffling was the left hand print that was embedded almost an inch deep into the dashboard.

The next thing Cora became aware of was the steady beep of something to her left. As she struggled to make sense of it, she tried to reach for the sound to make it stop. Moving her arm caused a spasm to travel up her arm, leaving a trail of fire in it’s wake. Becoming more fully aware, she realized her whole body ached. The sudden return of pain caused her to groan.

“Cora? Cora, can you hear me?” she heard the voice and knew it was familiar, but she was having trouble thinking. She distantly heard the voice yelling in the distance.

“Nurse! Get the doctor, I think she’s starting to come to.”

She felt someone grip her hand gently.

“Cora, just lie still, the doctor’s on his way.”

Cora tried to make sense of that. Doctor? Why was a doctor coming for her? What was going on? Why did she hurt so much?

Suddenly, the accident snapped into focus in her mind’s eye. The pain… the confusion… her difficulty breathing… and that woman. Sybil had been in the car with her and was the entire reason she risked crashing her car. A car accident… She’d been in a car accident. That’s why she was in so much pain, and why a doctor was coming. She struggled to open her eyes to see who was talking to her.

“…Frank?” she croaked out. Her throat felt like she’d been crossing a desert for the past week.

“Shhhh. Just relax. You’re lucky to be alive.”

“Water…?” she croaked out hopefully, closing her eyes as the effort to hold them open became too much.

She felt a straw touch her lips. She weakly sucked on the straw, cold water dribbling as much down her throat as it was down the front of her chin. Trying again, she was able to get a much larger swallow of water down her throat, easing the scratchiness. As she continued to sip, she felt her strength starting to return. She let go of the straw before opening her eyes again.

“How long have I been out?” she asked, her voice slowly becoming stronger. She looked up at Frank as she asked, seeing the concern etched on his face.

“They brought you in about four hours ago,” he said softly, “from all the damage your clothes and your car sustained, they thought you were in critical condition. It wasn’t until they cut you out of your clothes that they could tell that you were practically unscathed. They were at a loss to explain where all the blood came from, though. They’re saying you’re lucky to be—”

He paused as he heard someone clear their throat behind him.

Dr. Greene stood in the doorway, visually examining her before approaching the bed.

“Ah… Ms Blanchett, so good to see you conscious again. How are you feeling?”

“Like I’ve been gargling sand while crawling across an electric fence.”

“Well, now. I quite expected you to be doing much worse, truthfully. You gave us all a fright when you came in earlier, but it looks like you might actually be able to leave as early as tomorrow. Honestly, we’re just keeping you overnight for observation and make sure you get rehydrated. I must advise you though, once you get out of here, remember to drink more fluids. With as dehydrated as you were, I’m not surprised you passed out and crashed. You’re lucky to be alive.”

Cora laid quietly while the doctor gave her a quick examination. She responded quietly when he asked the standard questions, like if that hurt, or could she feel this poke or prod. Finally, he stepped back away from her, scratching a few notes on her chart before looking back at her.