Rachel had woken early, disturbed by the familiar buzzing of a faulty light outside her quarters. She had spent the last half hour trying to fix a maintenance panel that had been damaged for longer than she could remember. It wouldn't close properly and a couple of cables were tangled inside, shorting out and making the overhead light flicker. She pushed the panel shut three times but it kept popping open again. After her fourth attempt, she hit it hard with the palm of her hand and it stayed in place. The light was stable for now but she wasn't sure how long it would last.
She decided to stop wasting her time and call one of the maintenance droids to fix it properly. Things were falling apart in the towers. Everyone was so busy. Basic maintenance had started to fall behind. How long would it be before their poor maintenance caught up with them? Pulling out her console, Rachel sent a quick message to General Markov, warning him again about the dangers they were facing. Every small mistake could cost them dear. She didn't expect any answer. As usual, he would be busy with other things.
Tapping her jacket collar, she accepted an incoming comms channel.
'Hi Rachel, this is Beth Pain in the Operations Room. Are you free to talk?'
'Go ahead.'
'There's another disturbance in the Old Quarter. We're a bit short of patrols right now. Are you interested?'
'Sure I am. It'll be good to get out of here for a while. I'm starting to feel claustrophobic already. Have you cleared this with General Markov?'
'I thought I'd ask you first. He probably won't want you going into the city, but the truth is we could use all the help we can get right now. We have a lot of ground to cover.'
Rachel brushed a hand through her hair and gazed down at her shiny black boots. 'Send me the details. I'm heading out now.'
* * * * *
A crowd had formed in the intersection between two wide dusty streets. The Old Quarter was already busy despite the early hour of the day. A bunch of merchants had gathered together, surrounded by their customers and a handful of excited children.
'What's going on?' Mrs. Peach said, pushing through the crowd until she could see what they were all looking at.
The merchants moved aside to accommodate the passage of her wide hips.
'Oooh,' she said. 'You're on odd one.'
A tall man stood before her, wearing a white robe across his broad shoulders. When he turned towards her, she recoiled, seeing bloody sockets where his eyes should be.
Mrs. Peach put a hand over her mouth.
'He's blind!' an old man called out.
Mrs. peach swallowed hard. 'I can see that.'
'Where are you from?' the old man asked the stranger.
The man in the white robe turned towards the voice with a frown, but he made no attempt to speak.
'I know him,' a thin man said, pushing his way forward from the opposite side of the crowd.
'And who are you?' Mrs. Peach said.
'My name is Peter Turnpike. I'm second rank in the Farmers Guild.'
'Welcome, Guildsman,' the old man said. 'This city needs more good men like yourself.'
Turnpike nodded absently but his face was a mask of pain. 'This is Lord Goran,' he said. 'He killed Guildmaster Baker in Wolfhammer Hall.'
The crowd erupted into a writhing mass of voices.
'He's a Lord?' a pale thin merchant said, backing away.
'He killed Guildmaster Baker?' the old man said, his face falling slack.
The crowd surged in two directions at once. Some people pushed forwards to see what was going on, while others struggled to get away from whatever trouble was brewing. Soon the crowd had thinned down to half of its original size but the remaining faces looked determined and angry.
'Is it true?' Mrs. Peach said in a loud, clear voice. 'Did you kill Guildmaster Baker?'
Goran muttered something under his breath and started walking away.
'Stop him,' Turnpike said.
Two fat merchants stepped into Goran's path but he knocked them aside, sending them tumbling to the ground like toy dolls. The eldest merchant held his knee and shouted a curse while the other grabbed a stone from the street and threw it at the back of Lord Goran's head. It caught him behind the ear, making him grunt, but he continued pushing the people aside.
More people followed the merchant's example, picking up stones and throwing them at Lord Goran. The guilds were highly respected among the people. Guildmasters were revered above all others. To kill a guildmaster was a grave crime in their eyes, one worthy of death as its punishment.
Goran raised his hands, trying to protect himself from what he couldn't see. Many of the stones bounced off his chest and arms, but a few caught him full in the face and it wasn't long before they drew blood.
Goran ducked, weaving his head about, turning back and forth as more people harangued him from all sides. His lips curled back from his square white teeth and he raised a hand with the palm facing towards them, but a fist sized rock caught him in on the temple before he could complete the movement. Losing his balance, he tumbled backwards, landing heavily on the street.
A great cheer rose up from the crowd and more stones struck him from all sides as he struggled to get back to his feet. Several rocks bounced off his head as blood dripped down from his forehead and nose, but the crimson liquid rolled off his pristine white robe without leaving any signs of a stain. The crowd moved closer, becoming ever more frenzied as he raised his hands to protect his face.
* * * * *
Rachel slid the Cage Carrier to a halt, turning sideways at the last moment to send a dust cloud across the street towards the agitated crowd. She jumped out of the pilot cab and fired a Lightning Shard into the air. She wasn't a great fan of using Lightning Shards as weapons. They took too long to recharge, but she had to admit that they were very effective at getting people's attention.
White light flashed through the air and a shock wave flowed across the street, stirring the dust on the ground. The crowd dispersed at once. Merchants ran without even looking to see what had caused the noise. Many of them looked ashamed, and more than a few had fear in their eyes. Rachel let them go. She wasn't interested in making any arrests today. She just wanted to clear the streets and make things right again.
When the crowd cleared, she saw a body laid across the ground. Perhaps the situation was worse than she had first imagined? A small boy was reaching down, trying to steal something from around the man's neck.
'Leave that where it is,' Rachel said, stepping closer.
The boy looked up with wide eyes. 'I was just helping him,' he said.
'That's not the kind of help he needs right now. Stealing isn't a good habit to form at your age.'
'I wasn't stealing.'
'Go home,' Rachel said. 'And stay out of trouble.'
The boy nodded and ran down a side street, leaving Rachel alone with the unconscious man at her feet. She recognised him at once, despite his bruised and bloodied face.
Lord Goran had finally met the people of Cinnamon City. He hadn't caught them on a good day. She hoped he would survive the experience. She remembered what Goran had done in Wolfhammer Hall. There wasn't much wonder that the people didn't like him. He had killed Guildmaster Baker and injured Guildmaster Gumptor on the same day. Both men were highly regarded in the city. The guilds held a prominent position in society and held great sway over the opinions of the people. Anyone who disrespected them was likely to receive a hostile reception.
Goran was lying on his side with his face turned partly away from her. When she stepped closer she saw that he had no eyes! Rachel took a sharp breath, her hand moving automatically towards her impact pistol. What had happened to him? Had the people blinded him? No. She couldn't believe it. The crowd had been angry, and they had beaten him, but she couldn't imagine that they were capable of such cruelty as this.
When she moved closer, she realised that his eyes had been damaged some time ago. The blood that caked his eye sockets was dry and cracked from the movement of the surrounding skin. Her heart slowed. The people had knocked him unconscious but they hadn't blinded him. Someone else must have maimed him hours or days before he had arrived in the city. But who would do such a thing?
Rachel remembered the boy had been trying to take something from Goran's neck. When she looked down, she saw the top of a gemstone dangling from a string inside the collar of his robe.
Goran had touched his gemstone just before he had disappeared in Wolfhammer Hall. Surely it had to be connected in some way with how he had escaped. She had seen Lord Hades touch his own gemstone on several occasions as he had moved around the towers. She was going to have to take Goran's gemstone away from him if she wanted to prevent him from escaping again.
Stepping closer, she reached down and pulled the gemstone over his head. It was only then that she noticed the other gemstone tucked inside his robe. She removed them both and held them side by side in her hands. The stones were identical, both pale green in colour and cool to the touch. At first she thought she could feel energy flowing through them, but she decided it must be just her imagination.
When she heard a noise, she turned to see half a dozen soldiers jogging up behind her, wearing black combat gear and leaving zigzag patterned boot prints on the dirt road.
'Do you need help, Commander Henson?' a trooper said in a hoarse voice. His face was covered in a thin layer of dust from the street.
Rachel shook her head. 'I've got this,' she said. Thanks for offering but you can continue with your patrols.
The trooper nodded and led the others deeper into the city.
Rachel slipped the gemstones into the deep pockets of her combat trousers. Hadn't she just done what she had asked the boy not to do? No. She was just keeping the gemstones until she could find somewhere safe to put them. She hoped that Goran would not be able to teleport without them.
Goran groaned at her feet as though hearing her thoughts, but he didn't stir. In a few minutes he would be conscious again and a lot more difficult to control. What was she going to do with him? She wasn't sure.
Tapping her jacket collar, she opened a comms link to the Operations Room. 'Beth, can you patch me through to General Markov please.'
'No need. He's here,' Beth said through the comms link.
'I was just asking Commander Pain why she sent you into the city against my orders,' Markov said.
Rachel did her best not to sigh loud enough for him to hear. 'Beth didn't send me. She told me there was a disturbance and I sent myself.'
'I don't want you wandering around the city without clearing it with me first,' Markov said. 'I need you here in the towers.'
'I found out what the disturbance was,' Rachel said, trying to change the subject.
'What happened?' Beth said.
'We have an unexpected visitor in the Old Quarter.'
'Who?' Markov said in a gruff voice. He was still annoyed with her and he wasn't making much of an effort to hide it.
'Lord Goran.'
'Are you serious?'
'Yes. He's lying at my feet unconscious. He seems to have upset the people again. They were stoning him when I arrived.'
'How can things get any worse?' Markov said.
'I don't know. I was wondering what I should do with him. He's going to wake up in a few minutes and I don't think he'll be in a good mood.'
'Don't bring him back here,' Markov said.
'Where else can I take him? I can't leave him wandering around in the city.'
'We can't have him in the towers either. He's a security risk.'
'He's a risk out here too. He's probably a liability wherever he goes.'
'Think of something.'
Rachel chewed her lip. 'Couldn't we put him in the detention cells?'
'What if they can't hold him?'
'I think they will. I've already removed his main means of escape.'
'I don't know,' Markov said. 'I don't like it.'
'We don't have any secure places in the city. I could put him in the Mekinet News building but we'd need to leave a squad to guard him. I can't help thinking those soldiers could be better used elsewhere.'
'You're right,' Markov said. 'We don't have men to spare. Okay, bring him in, but have an implant with you when you take him to the detention cells and put Squid Droids on the door, just in case. Don't bring him anywhere near the White Spear, and don't have him wandering around the towers, even with a guard. I was there when he tore up Wolfhammer Hall. A dozen soldiers wouldn't have troubled him at all.'
'I'll bring him in then,' Rachel said. 'Beth, can you send a Wasp Drone to pick me up please.'
'Okay. I'm sending it now.'
'And can you ask Melanie to meet me on top of Tower Four. I'll be bringing Goran in as soon as the Wasp Drone arrives.'
'She'll be waiting for you,' Beth said. 'The Wasp Drone just took off. It should be with you in three minutes.'
Rachel closed the comms link and stared down at Goran's flowing white robe. Even after rolling around on the street there wasn't a mark on it. She wondered how he kept it so clean.
When she tried to move him, she realised that it wasn't going to be easy getting Goran into a Wasp Drone. She remembered how heavy Lord Hades had been when she had tried lifting him into King Hun's throne. Without Druro's help she might never have managed it. She wondered whether she might need to call the troopers back after all. The lords were always causing trouble in one way or another. When would she ever be free of them all?