Chapter Six

 

The cavern floor vibrated with machinery, sending trails of dust from the ceiling. Camina waited for the excavation equipment to pass. The vehicles were compact, made for fitting in the tight spaces that existed the Undercity. She imagined if the digging extensions were tucked under, they could travel through the old Razor tunnels. Word was that they were bringing them in through the maintenance shafts near the Lazona.

Camina followed behind the equipment out of curiosity. She'd given the Alliance Academy students the day off, not because they deserved it, but because she was tired of the side brawls and constant mistakes plaguing their efforts. She felt totally inadequate as a teacher compared to Brazio or Duro or any of the others she'd trained with over the years. Intellectually, she knew her methods were sound, and it was the greenness of the recruits taken from the city streets without a speck of training and little ability that was the problem. But she also knew that Dominion was a demanding leader and eventually her failures would come back to haunt her.

So she'd taken a trip to the Terreno in hopes of finding a quiet bar and pouring herself into a glass, but the construction had made her curious. The series of caverns near the Terreno where Pandora and Kuma had dueled so long ago were being turned into the arena for the grand tournament.

The progress shocked Camina as the distant walls had been removed and the ceiling expanded upward another fifty feet. They weren't yet assembled, but she spotted stacks of pallets that looked like they would become bleachers. The central part of the space had been ground flat and filled with black and tan sand. Pillars, hanging bars, and other implements lay on the far side. When it was finished, she guessed it might be able to seat thousands, which was something of a shock, considering when she was a child in Razor there might have only been a thousand, maybe two thousand, people living in entirety of the Undercity. More and more were coming down all the time, and this tournament would be sure to increase that rate. The tunnels between Big Dave's Town and the Terreno were being widened and walled off from the other caverns, with guards stationed at regular intervals to protect the guests that would be traveling through them. There were other signs of construction, as one of the old apartments that doubled as a whorehouse had been torn down, a hotel called the Night House erected in its place.

"You can't be here," said a guy in a hard hat when he looked up from his clipboard.

"I serve Dominion Thule directly," she spat back, annoyed by his assumption.

"No," he said, pointing to a heavy crane rumbling in their direction. "You can't be here. We're putting up the gates to keep the curious out."

Grumbling, she returned to the Terreno, where the crowds had swelled in anticipation of the tournament. She spotted potential participants by their arrogant posturing and the way they surveyed the crowd. There were more otherworldly participants than she expected, but she'd been working with her idiot students nonstop, leaving her ignorant to the changes.

A pair of ladies in sequined dresses outside Club Onyx were beckoning people inside for a karaoke contest. Camina thought about seeing Leesa, but given the Terreno was busier than it had been on its craziest Shade's End, it was doubtful that the club owner was available.

A thick, orange-skinned Brodarian twice as wide as the people around him and at least a foot taller marched through the crowd with a serene smile that revealed his snaggletooth. She'd never seen a Brodarian up close, and he was as ugly as their reputation suggested, with a face that reminded her of a bulldog. She would have thought he'd have to muscle his way through but everyone parted around him as if they were water. Knowing the reputation of his race, she assumed he'd be a tough competitor.

After deciding to hit the Poinsettia, she circled past the Night House. An intense looking maetrie woman was entering, a retinue of bodyguards and servants trailing behind. The woman held herself like royalty and had the stride of a warrior. There was something about her that exuded danger. Camina froze for no reason. Something about the group was familiar. A slight woman carrying a backpack on one shoulder and a bag in the other hand glanced her way, sparking another twinge of recognition. But the woman went into the hotel before Camina could get a second look.

"She looked like Tick's sister if he had one," muttered Camina, but quickly decided it was either coincidental or her mind playing tricks on her. It made her wonder how her friends were doing. She'd heard about the confrontation with Deacon and was relieved they'd escaped. Multiple Alliance waku dead and Deacon's reputation damaged. He'd gone on a rampage afterwards, killing two soldados that had the misfortune of being in the wrong place.

She found a spot at the counter in the Poinsettia, annoyed by the well-dressed men and women sampling the smoke bar that had recently been installed. Alchemical smokes gave inhalers a variety of unique temporary experiences like hallucinations or weightlessness. It was one of the many recent changes to the Terreno, which was starting to feel more like the city above than the shadows.

The dark beer spiced with local fungi reduced the lingering annoyance at the back of her head. She was at the far end of the bar by herself, cradling her cold beer and trying not to hear the inane conversations going on around her.

"You're one of them, aren't you?" asked a guy in a gray suit who looked like he'd just stepped out of a corporate meeting.

"One of them?"

Camina gave him a "fuck off" look, but he was too inebriated to notice.

"From the gangs, a waku." He gestured to the RZR tattoo peeking out of her sleeve. "Right? That's a gang sign?"

"Clan, not gang," she said, turning her shoulders, but he didn't get the hint.

"What's it like?" he asked.

Camina sighed heavily. "What's what like?"

"You know, the stones. Is it as badass as it sounds? Flying through the air, being able to punch through a wall, all the crazy shit I heard you can do." He cocked a smile. "I'll buy you a beer if you can show me something."

"I'm not your fucking entertainment. Go find someone else to bother before I break your fingers off and shove them up your ass."

He held his hands up. "Hey, you don't have to be like that. It's a party. We're having fun. I just thought it'd be cool to get a sneak peek. I'll buy you two beers? Or an alchemical smoke of your choice?"

Camina grabbed him by the tie, squeezing it to cut off his oxygen. He started turning crimson immediately.

"We're not your fucking party tricks or entertainers. I learned how to fight so I could protect myself and kill my enemies. I was looking for some quiet and a nice beer or I'd have already gutted you with my blades and you'd be bleeding out on the floor, wishing you'd never met me. Touch me or talk to me again and I show you how quickly I can cut off parts of your body before you even realize it."

After she turned forward, the entire crowd shifted away from her. The guy in the suit quickly left with his friends. Camina threw back her beer, finding a fresh one waiting when she set the glass down. Despite the constant dangers and the threat of clashes between the clans, she missed the old days. Honing her skills was a matter of life and death back then, while now the young waku were only interested in posturing and looking cool for their friends. Despite only being a few years older, or sometimes quite younger than her trainees, she felt ancient in comparison.

The stupid grand tournament was bringing in more tourists from the light who didn't respect their ways or why they'd existed in the shadows. Living in the Undercity hadn't been by choice. Their families had escaped from those that had preyed on immigrants, finding the dangers of the darkness easier to deal with than the gangs of the city. Now they were being trotted out like jesters and fools, expected to dance for their coin. The worst part was it'd been her idea. But she'd been thinking about a way to hone her students' skills and bring in better recruits. But this tournament wasn't even for the Alliance waku. Only outsiders were meant to enter, and the quality of participants meant that the best would prevail. None of it made sense to Camina, especially giving away valuable stones. Unless Dominion's plan was to turn the Undercity into a tourist destination, but that didn't seem right, given the maetrie's background. Dominion had other goals in mind, but Camina had no idea what they might be.

"Another," she said, waving down the bartender. Figuring out the motivations of the clan leader wasn't her intention as she sipped from her beer, but she couldn't think about anything else.