Chapter Thirty-Three

 

Niran was meditating before his dead wife's shrine when an explosion ripped through the Machi. He'd been thinking about her advice during the years of their happy marriage. Never let the storms of the day prevent you from planting the seeds of tomorrow. Her words had been sage. A tenet that had served him—and Razor clan—quite well.

When the shaking knocked over her picture, he knew that sometimes one had to survive the storm to worry about future crops. He peeked out to see a hole the size of a bus in the ceiling of the cavern. Small rocks and dust streamed from the cavity, along with probing spotlights. Before he could figure out what was going on, gunfire erupted from the opposite direction.

Niran moved to his bedroom. He took his sword from its perch on the mantle and strapped it to his side, followed by a hefty handgun. He allowed himself a moment's thought for Kuma's safety, but quickly recognized that he had to take stock of the situation first. His son's training as a waku would be his best shield. It was his only hope.

Outside the house, he witnessed a yellow elevator cage descending from the hole like a spider on a silken thread. The interior of the cage was packed with men and women bristling with automatic weapons. They fired at the members of his clan approaching. Was this the Drops? He worried that he hadn't heeded his brother's advice, thinking him too bloodthirsty. It was too late now.

A figure appeared on the nearby wooden bridge: shaved neon green hair and a host of tattoos and piercings.

"Who's attacking us?" he asked Adrenalynne.

The waku had her hand on a sword at her side. "Black Crows. They've hit the western entrance with force while blocking the tunnels, trapping us here. They mean to wipe us out."

Her point was proven as more gunfire erupted from the west, followed by a minor explosion. He gave her a curt nod.

"You know what to do."

She leaped towards the west, while he considered his options. His brother had taken a team to hit the Lazona. They'd probably tried to ambush him, but unless they'd disguised their intent cunningly or brought overwhelming force, Niran assumed that his brother was alive. But he was too far away to help the defense.

He can enact my revenge.

It wasn't a self-defeating thought, but the cold analysis of what was transpiring around him. Whoever had planned this attack, and he doubted it was only Gregor, they'd planned it well.

The competing fire on the western side of the Machi had him deciding to move against the elevator. The Academy was on the far side of it and a small force with automatic weapons could keep the clan's fledgling waku from joining the fight. If he could rally his clanmates to quickly squash the inventive attack, then they could move against the exit, escape to Big Dave's Town, and regroup. The secondary reason for opening the route from the Academy was it would give him a chance to see Kuma.

He ran across the bridges wishing he'd attuned to at least one stone. It'd never bothered him personally except that it made his hold on clan leadership more tenuous. But today, he would have liked the additional speed or versatility from a topaz or emerald.

The cage had reached the ground. He couldn't see it anymore, as there were houses in the way, but he could hear the gunfire and screams. He checked for others, but only saw a few clanmates hunched behind walls. None with guns.

He approached a boy a few years older than his son. He huddled behind a wall with his blades in his fist. Carlos. A three-stone waku.

"Take this," said Niran, handing him the handgun.

Carlos stared at the weapon not understanding.

"Keep them on the bridge. It's our best chance to stop them."

Carlos nodded, even as his face betrayed confusion. Niran stayed low, running to the curved wooden bridge and leaping into the meandering water that ran beneath. Before he could be spotted, he leapt up and grabbed the structural beams, pulling himself beneath. With only four of them against the entire team that had come through the hole, he only had one chance.

As he hung beneath the bridge, his sixty-four-year-old arms holding tight, he wished the younger clan members could see him. To them, the stones had become everything, but discipline and training still mattered. He still woke every morning before the rest of the Machi, performing the exercises he'd been doing for nearly fifty years.

Pounding footsteps on the entrance to the bridge were followed by the blast of a handgun. The Crows returned fire, overwhelming Carlos and the other Razor members with automatic weapon spray.

Holding on with one hand, Niran slid his blade from the sheath and grasped it with his teeth. Then he swung his body a few times for momentum like a gymnast on the uneven bars and flipped himself over the shallow railing, landing in the middle of the Crows. Their surprise was met with a quick blade. The nearest Crow was left with a crimson smile across his throat. The others converged around him, but they couldn’t risk opening fire without hitting each other, leaving him ample room to dance through them, cutting and slicing.

A tornado in the storm of chaos, Niran struck lightning quick at the Crows. He took two hands, opened up the side of a third, and knocked a woman with gold teeth off the side of the bridge with a roundhouse.

"Bloody fucking move!"

His luck ended when the big man who seemed to be leading the contingent brought his automatic weapon to bear with no Crows in view. Niran raised his sword and prepared to charge as his last stand.

A big blast had him flinching. When he realized his chest was still intact, he saw the big man fall to his knees without the top of his skull. Blood sprayed in a wide arc. Before the others could make sense of what had happened, Carlos and the other Razors rushed the bridge. They finished off the rest of the Crows.

"Solrei," said Carlos, grinning with pride as he gave a deep bow.

"Take the others to the west, but don't be foolish. Fall back as they push. We can't hold the Machi. Our best bet is to escape to Big Dave's. I'll gather the Academy and meet you at the exit."

Carlos nodded and burst away, eyes alight with the excitement of a scrap. Niran remembered that exhilarating feeling, but after burying too many friends over the decades, he'd lost the thrill. He hurried towards the Academy, running into a group headed his way, led by Instructor Kazuki.

"We're being attacked by the Crows."

Kazuki held up a fist. "We'll destroy them."

"It's too late. The raid was well planned and too many of our best warriors were elsewhere. We're falling back to Big Dave's."

More gunfire echoed in the big cavern.

"Have you seen Kuma?"

Kazuki shook his head, but one of the students, a girl with red hair, spoke up. Juliana.

"He was camping with Tick and Camina."

Niran steeled himself from reacting. Every member of his clan was important, but he couldn't help but feel a profound sense of relief at knowing his son would probably survive.

"Where's Yara?"

Juliana looked back through the tunnel. "Shit. She was with Deacon before he headed out. I'll go back and check on her."

"I'll go with you. Kaz, take them to the exit. Do what you can to get everyone out."

"Yes, Solrei."

Niran ran with Juliana back to the Academy. They found Yara unconscious in bed. No amount of shaking would wake her.

"He must have drugged her."

Niran understood that to mean Deacon. They'd been together since he'd joined the Academy. Niran scooped up his unconscious niece. They ran back towards the exit, not as quickly as he would have liked. He felt hale and fit, but his endurance wasn't what it used to be.

"Do you want me to?" asked Juliana when she noticed he was struggling.

"Please."

He handed her over and wiped the sweat from his white hair. When they reached the main cavern, they met Carlos and the others falling back to their position. There were only a dozen left and half of them had visible injuries.

"Go!" said Carlos, standing defiantly on the bridge with an automatic weapon in his hands. "I'll cover your escape."

Together they ran across the paths. Behind them gunfire erupted, followed by a war cry and then silence. They reached the outer door only to find ashen expressions amid the survivors. There were about sixty people, only half of them warriors, the rest old or young and very scared. The raid had pulled the curtain down on their protected lives.

Kazuki shook his head. "They have us trapped. There are a half dozen men with automatic weapons beyond the door. One step out and they'll mow us down."

Despair threatened to suck him into a hole, the same one that had come for him on the day of Himari's death. But all eyes were upon him. He was the Solrei, the clan leader of Razor.

"Do we have any sapphires?"

When no one answered, he saw their chances diminish. If they'd had a single sapphire, they could have possibly Pushed their way out.

"Niran Santos!"

He knew the voice. Gregor Anderson. He hadn't entirely trusted the head of the Crows, but he'd thought the problems would be smaller issues like skimming profits or stealing stones. Not a full-scale betrayal. Niran didn't peg Gregor as cunning enough for a move of this kind.

"Niran Santos! I know you're back there with what's left of your clan. Surrender to me now and I'll show mercy to your old folk and children. Delay or attempt to fight back and we'll treat you like vermin and stomp out every last one."

"My brother will cut your heart out and make you eat it," said Niran.

"Your brother is dead."

Niran closed his eyes and squeezed his hands to fists. Everything they'd ever worked for was being destroyed. He checked back to the men and women and children around him. The green-haired Adrenalynne was nearly unconscious, sitting against the wall with bloody bandages around her chest. Others had similar wounds. Few had escaped unscathed.

He choked back a sob, cursing the day the stones had been found in the Undercity. He'd always known they'd bring a storm, but he'd thought he could keep them ahead of it.

"Not just the old folk and children. You must give each of my warriors a chance to pledge to you. Let them serve the Crows."

"Why would I trust them?"

Niran checked back to his warriors. Few could meet his gaze and those that did wore a mask of shame.

"Because it is the way of the warrior. My clan is filled with those that we defeated. Never once have I questioned their loyalty once they made that pledge. There will be some that will refuse, but offer them a quick death by the blade. A warrior's death. Promise me that and I will surrender."

The silence was punctuated by the crying of a child.

"I accept your offer."

Niran turned to what was left of his clan and bent at the waist until his head nearly touched the ground. Before he could leave, they returned the gesture—even the grievously injured. They collectively climbed to their feet and bowed as deeply as he had.

Before he left, Niran approached Adrenalynne and held out the sword.

"Give this to Kuma. It was a gift from his mother on our wedding day."

Adrenalynne accepted the weapon with both hands, even as she struggled to stay standing. Her wounds had left her reduced. She returned to the others.

Niran closed his eyes, inhaling the sweet air of the Machi. No one ever believed their time was at an end until it arrived, suddenly, the warnings obvious in retrospect. He thought to his son, Kuma, and then his dead wife, Himari, knowing that he would see her soon.

He strode forward. Heavily armed men grabbed his arms when he appeared. They brought him to Gregor Anderson, who had a lit cigarette dangling from his lips. He flicked it away into the stream beneath the wooden bridge they were standing upon.

"Were you always planning on betraying me?"

Gregor smirked. "You should have known there's too much at stake. This isn't about the Undercity anymore. The value of the faez crystal trade is too great."

"And what makes you think the ones that put you in this place won't turn on you when they feel you've outlived your usefulness?"

The dead stare from Gregor revealed his intentions. "Who's to say I won't turn on him first? But for now, I see no need. Profits are going to be generous. There'll be enough for everyone to go around."

Niran scowled. "Whatever you plan to do to me—make it quick. I earned as much."

When Gregor reacted with a surprised grin, Niran knew the deal wasn't going to be honored.

"I'm afraid that's not going to happen. I'll be delivering you to my new boss. He'd like to extract information from you first. As for your kin, I'm very sorry. There was no way that we were ever going to trust a single one of them."

Gregor nodded to a knot of men with automatic weapons.

"Make it quick. We have to deal with the Drops next."

Niran tried to break away and grab Gregor, but someone slammed the butt of their rifle in his gut, sending him to his knees. He watched in horror as the men marched away to slaughter his clan.