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The corridor connecting the Banqueting Hall to the Queens Island wing looked identical to the one connecting it to the Resistance wing, but all my other senses were screaming that I was on forbidden territory. Something about the faint background sounds, the scent and taste of the air, even the feel of the coat I was wearing against my skin, sent my heart racing at double speed.
Madra led me past several closed doors, then – exactly as would have happened if I’d been walking along the matching corridor in the Resistance wing – we arrived at the main staircase. Now sight joined the rest of my senses in screaming warnings at me. The walls of the main staircase in the Resistance wing were the original white they’d been painted, while the walls here blazed with coloured images of a boat, the chosen symbol of Queens Island.
As I followed Madra up the stairs, the boat images gave way to a section of wall where a host of comments had been scrawled. There were a few random jokes, but most were references to Queens Island members, some complimentary, some insulting, and some incomprehensible to an outsider like me.
We reached a turn in the stairs, and I saw a list of names had been painted in red on the wall. Madra turned to spit on them in passing. I frowned in bewilderment, then saw a couple of the names and understood. These were the names of people who’d been discarded from Queens Island. At the bottom of the list, a name had been covered over with white paint, but enough red still showed through for me to tell that Raeni’s name had once been there. Of course it had once been there. Major had discarded Raeni from Queens Island, but she’d returned to take his position as leader.
We were nearing the top of the staircase now, and there was a longer list of names, this time in black paint. Madra blew a kiss at them, and again the sight of familiar names told me the reason. These were the people who’d left Queens Island not through dishonour but through death. I bit my lip as I saw Rogue’s name had already been added to the list.
Madra turned to enter the sixth floor of the Queens Island wing, and I saw something that made me halt in shock. As in the Resistance wing, there was a steel security door here, but it had been removed from the doorway and left leaning against the wall.
“The security door is broken,” I gasped in alarm.
Madra gave me a puzzled look. “Yes. It’s been broken for years.”
She walked on. I made myself turn away from the broken security door and follow her. I reminded myself that I wasn’t in the Resistance wing. This security door wasn’t the one that gave me a reassuring sense of safety whenever I reached the top of the Resistance staircase. I’d no need to panic about it being broken.
I wondered why Queens Island hadn’t mended that door. Presumably it was the sort of repair that only Machico could manage. The other divisions were always eager to have Machico fix any problems with the security doors leading from their wing to either the Parliament Chamber or the Banqueting Hall, but that just meant him standing in the doorway to do the repair work. A security door deep inside Queens Island territory would be a vastly different matter.
I heard the sound of voices and forgot all about the security door. Two men were standing further along the corridor with their backs to us. I hastily bowed my head and clutched my candle. I expected Madra to stop, or even enter one of the doors we were passing, but she kept walking on at an even pace, and I made myself copy her.
We came up to where the men were standing, completely blocking our way, and too deep in conversation to notice our arrival. I saw that one of them was Major’s greatest supporter, Nero. I held my breath, expecting disaster, but Madra coughed and spoke in a heavily emphasized, formal voice.
“Respect the fallen.”
The two men turned, gave us a startled look, and stepped aside before bowing their heads. Madra and I went past them, and I let out my breath in a soft sigh. A minute later, we reached the short staircase that led to the Queens Island roof.
Madra gestured at the door at the top. “You carry on up to the roof now. I’ll be keeping watch here.”
I nodded and went up the stairs. When I opened the door, I saw Raeni sitting just in front of me. She didn’t turn to look at me, just patted an empty chair beside her. I sat down and cautiously spoke.
“I’m honoured that you invited me here.”
“It’s only fitting that I invite you here. When Major discarded me from Queens Island, you and Donnell gave me refuge as a trial member of the Resistance.” Raeni’s voice gained an edge of bitter humour. “I may need that refuge again very soon. You must have guessed from Major’s theatrics during the night that he’s planning to take the leadership of Queens Island at breakfast this morning.”
I blinked. “You know what’s been happening in Reception then?”
“I’m following Queens Island’s custom and my own wishes in sitting vigil by Rogue’s coffin from dusk to dawn, but those loyal to me are keeping me informed of events. What I don’t know is what Donnell is planning.”
“Donnell was considering making a speech to remind people of Major’s faults, but I told him that would be a bad idea.”
Raeni finally turned to look at me. “And you were correct. Any well-intentioned attempt to offer me support would only imply Donnell considers me too weak to succeed alone. I may succeed in fighting Major today. I can’t succeed in fighting both Major and Donnell.”
“I’ve already explained that to Donnell.”
Raeni’s face twisted. “If he wishes to help me, then he may have the opportunity to do it later. As I said a moment ago, I will be grateful for refuge in the event I lose my battle and Major discards me.”
“The alliance rule on immunity from punishment for a deposed leader means that Major won’t be able to discard you.”
“Major will be able to discard me,” said Raeni. “You know all about my successful attempt to take the leadership of Queens Island. Since Major had discarded me, I’d no choice but to break custom and make that attempt in public in Reception.
She paused. “What you won’t know is that I’d made an earlier leadership challenge in the privacy of the Queens Island wing. When that attempt failed, Major had to allow Rogue and me our one chance of immunity from punishment.”
Raeni grimaced. “Major cheated though. He arranged for Rogue to be accused of theft and punished under the rules of general justice. Later, Major accused me of a fake crime as well, to justify him discarding me. If Major takes my leadership position now, he won’t need to fake any crimes against me, because the alliance rules will permit him to discard me.”
“I didn’t know you’d already had your one chance at immunity from punishment,” I muttered. “That does change things.”
Raeni nodded. “Major won’t dare to outrage Queens Island by breaking our customs on respecting the fallen. He must leave me unharmed while I bury Rogue, but then he’ll be free to discard me and arrange for me to suffer a sudden accidental death.”
I frowned. “Surely Major wouldn’t dare to kill you. He must realize that if anything happened to you, everyone would suspect him of murder.”
Raeni gave a harsh laugh. “At least three of Cage’s enemies died convenient accidental deaths in the last decade. Everyone suspected they’d been murdered, but there was no evidence to prove it, so Cage escaped any punishment.”
I remembered Donnell telling me about those accidental deaths, and warning me that Cage would try to kill me in the same way. That was why Donnell had given me an Armed Agent weapon to defend myself.
“Major would copy his master’s tactics,” said Raeni. “He’d make sure that my death looked like a plausible accident, and he and his key supporters in Queens Island had dozens of witnesses to say they were elsewhere when it happened. You and Donnell would probably be among those witnesses yourselves. Major could easily arrange to be talking to you at the exact moment when Shark, Malice, or Wall killed me.”
I was, both literally and figuratively, on dangerous ground here, and I was conscious that the sun was edging above the eastern horizon, but I had to take full advantage of this chance to speak to Raeni in total privacy.
“I agree that Major wouldn’t hesitate to arrange a murder if he thought he could get away with it. I truly don’t believe that Wall would help him though. I don’t believe that Wall has ever, or would ever, help Cage either. You saw the look on the man’s face when he talked about how Cage had threatened Mist. Do you really think Wall’s a good enough actor to fake that mixture of shame and fury?”
Raeni sighed. “Wall is putting on a surprisingly convincing act of hating Cage, but he must be secretly helping him. Think things through logically, Blaze. It’s impossible for Cage to be moving around Unity City this easily alone when the air is thick with falling stars. Someone must be helping him. Given all the extra precautions of locked doors, and everyone watching for suspicious behaviour, the person helping Cage has to be in a position of power.”
She paused. “I can’t believe the guilty party is you, Donnell, or Ghost, and Ice may be completely unreadable but he has his own code of honour. That only leaves Wall.”
“Donnell and I discussed the issue of Cage’s movements with the other division leaders,” I said eagerly.
Raeni frowned. “I realized Donnell would have a meeting with the other division leaders the minute my back was turned. I suppose Wall seized his chance to protest his innocence.”
I stayed firmly on the subject of Cage’s movements. “Wall suggested that Cage could be travelling around using the old subway tunnels.”
Raeni seemed startled. “I hadn’t thought of the tunnels. Surely they’d be flooded by now?”
“Wall says the tunnels were still passable eighteen years ago.”
“So you’ve only got Wall’s word that the tunnels are passable, and no evidence at all that Cage has been using them,” said Raeni. “Wall could have told you about the tunnels to cover up the fact he’s helping Cage.”
“Or he could have told us about the tunnels because he wants Cage caught and executed as much as you do.”
“Wall can’t want Cage executed as much as I do,” snapped Raeni. “Wall isn’t about to bury a lover that was murdered by Cage.”
“Wall has already buried one of his nephews,” I said sadly. “The boy died from winter fever when Cage had a hidden hoard of medicine that could have saved him. In Wall’s eyes, that makes Cage guilty of his murder.”
Raeni was silent.
I chose my next words carefully. “Cage loves power and revenge, but his primary goal is survival. He knows that if the alliance stays united then subway tunnels and sniper rifles won’t be enough to save him. We will kill him in the end.”
I paused. “Cage could have shot any man in that hunting party. He chose Rogue as a target because he wants to divide the alliance. Cage wants us fighting amongst ourselves rather than hunting him. When you throw accusations at Wall, or humiliate him by excluding him from the funeral when other division leaders are welcomed, you’re doing exactly what Cage wants.”
Raeni made a soft, groaning sound. “You and Donnell are going to investigate this subway possibility? You’ll look for evidence that Cage is using the tunnels?”
“Yes. Please give us time to hunt down Cage and establish whether someone has been helping him or not. We need to make sure that we punish the guilty rather than the innocent, and keep the alliance united, or we’ll never be ready to leave New York before the firestorm comes.”
Raeni stared silently at the snow-covered coffin.
“Rogue wouldn’t have wanted you and the rest of Queens Island to burn to death, would he?”
“No, he wouldn’t,” said Raeni. “Very well. I’ll try to be patient while you and Donnell investigate. If you find evidence proving Wall has been helping Cage, then I’ll expect Wall to stand trial and be executed. If this subway suggestion leads to Cage’s death though, I’ll accept it as proof of Wall’s innocence.”
“Thank you.”
“I can’t invite Wall to attend Rogue’s funeral though,” Raeni added firmly. “I need to consider the feelings of my division members. Even if Wall is proved innocent of Rogue’s murder, he was the leader of Manhattan when a Queens Island man was murdered in his hospital bed in Sanctuary. The murderer was caught and executed, but Queens Island believed he was acting under Wall’s direct orders. My people wouldn’t tolerate Wall’s presence at the funeral of another Queens Island murder victim.”
I remembered Wall talking in the meeting yesterday. He’d said similar words about having to consider the feelings of his division members. The older members of the Resistance had fought at Donnell’s side when he first raised the flag of the Earth Resistance, and gave him the limitless loyalty that came from the heart. The younger members of the Resistance might not all be as unquestioningly faithful, but it was still a very different situation than in the divisions formed from old criminal gangs.
Those divisions were true dictatorships, with their leaders using power and fear to impose decisions on their people. Wall and Ice had both led their divisions for over two decades. I’d heard tales of Wall’s harshness in the early days, but he’d mellowed over the years, while Ice had always been a hard but scrupulously fair ruler.
Both Queens Island and Brooklyn had had a succession of brutal leaders after the alliance was formed. Ghost had brought a new, gentler leadership style to Brooklyn six years ago, and it was too soon to make a real judgement of how Raeni would lead Queens Island. Whatever methods a leader used though, they couldn’t go up against the united, fiercely held views of their division without losing their position, and there’d been eighteen years of hatred between Queens Island and Manhattan over that murder in Sanctuary.
I hesitated before speaking. “I understand that you can’t invite Wall to attend the funeral, but would it be possible to invite Mist to represent Manhattan instead? She’s a year younger than me, so that murder in Sanctuary must have happened before she was even born.”
“I’ll consider that.” Raeni was silent for a moment before speaking again. “I need to tell you something, Blaze, but you have to swear to keep it secret. If my enemies learn about it, then they will use it as a weapon against me. You mustn’t tell anyone, even Donnell, unless I lose my leadership position and need to beg for refuge in another division.”
“You have my word,” I said.
“If I live, then I will have Rogue’s child seven months from now.”
I blinked. “Oh.”
“If Major succeeds in his leadership challenge, and discards me from Queens Island, then I will be isolated from my friends and completely vulnerable. In that situation, I believe my only chance of survival will be if Donnell gives me shelter in the Resistance. It’s the only division that has no active supporters of Cage. The only division where I will be safe from being murdered.”
She paused. “Donnell gave me refuge in the Resistance before when I was just a discarded member of Queens Island. I know that giving refuge to a deposed leader of another division would be far more difficult for Donnell politically. If he isn’t willing to do it, then you must tell him that there isn’t one life at stake but two.”
“If we find ourselves in that situation, then I’ll tell Donnell.”
“And you’d argue in favour of taking me in?” demanded Raeni.
“That would be Donnell’s decision, not mine.”
“Donnell has listened to you before. He’ll listen to you again. If you agree to argue in my favour, then I’ll invite Mist to the funeral as you suggested.”
“I’d argue in your favour anyway. I was just making it clear that it would be Donnell’s decision, not mine.” I shook my head. “We don’t need to be having this conversation. You aren’t going to lose your leadership position. The people of Queens Island know what Major is like, so they surely can’t be foolish enough to choose him as their leader again.”
“Major has his handful of core supporters,” said Raeni, “and I have mine, but it’s impossible to predict how the majority of people in Queens Island will react to this leadership challenge. I’ve only been their leader for a week, so I haven’t had time to prove myself and earn their loyalty. Many of those who were willing to accept me with Rogue at my side, may hesitate to support a woman on her own. Others will feel that the increasingly dangerous situation changes things.”
Raeni grimaced. “I’ll only find out where my people’s true loyalty lies when they have to make a public choice between me and Major. I have an unborn child to consider, so I must be prepared for both victory and defeat. When ...”
There was a tap on the door behind us, and Madra’s voice spoke. “Five minutes.”
“Madra, you’d better get downstairs and join the others.” Raeni turned to call back to her, and then faced me again. “Blaze, if Donnell stands guard at Rogue’s funeral, then I assume you’ll need to stay protecting Parliament House.”
“That’s true.”
“My vigil was from dusk to dawn,” said Raeni, “and the sun is rising. Rogue respected you, Blaze. Since you won’t be able to attend his funeral, stand with me to honour him now.”
We both stood up. I expected this to be another minute or two of silence, but instead Raeni spoke in soft, reminiscent tones. “Do you remember the day you challenged Cage?”
“Of course.”
Raeni smiled. “You stood on a table in Reception and called general justice against Cage, but no alliance representative was brave enough to support you. Rogue climbed on a table and mocked their cowardice. I led the women in beating on tables to shame the men. Together we forced others to speak against Cage. It was a day of victory and should always be remembered.”
I nodded. “It will always be remembered.”
Raeni took a deep breath and spoke in formal tones. “Rogue’s body is dead. His spirit lives on in Queens Island.”
She paused as if expecting a specific response, but I didn’t know what to say.
Raeni stood still for a few seconds longer before sighing and turning to look back at the door. “My vigil is over, and Major will be gathering the whole of Queens Island downstairs ready to lead them into Reception. Lion has orders to stand guard on the other side of the door, holding me prisoner on this roof so I can’t defend my leadership position.”
I gave her an alarmed look. If Lion was guarding the door, then how would the two of us get out of here? Was Raeni expecting me to shoot Lion? With Raeni’s leadership of Queens Island under threat, my presence here was questionable enough without shooting anyone.
Raeni saw my expression and laughed. “Don’t worry, Blaze. Major has been giving people orders, but I have been giving orders too. Madra didn’t just come to warn me about the time, but to tell me that those orders had been obeyed.”
Raeni opened the door and led the way down the staircase. A man was lying at the bottom, his hands and feet heavily bound, and so enthusiastically blindfolded and gagged that I couldn’t make out his face. Raeni kicked him in the stomach, and he gave a moan of pain and writhed on the floor.
“Lion’s still alive then,” said Raeni, in a conversational tone. “Given the history between him and Madra, I wouldn’t have blamed her if she’d given in to temptation and killed him.”
I didn’t dare to say anything, so just grunted an acknowledgement.
Raeni kicked Lion again before striding along the corridor towards the main staircase. I stepped carefully over Lion and chased after her. When we neared the broken security door, Raeni lifted a hand to tell me to wait, and then walked warily on alone to the staircase. She closed her eyes, and I realized she was listening to sounds from below.
Raeni opened her eyes again and beckoned me to join her. “I can hear the echoes of Major’s pompous voice,” she whispered. “He’s making one of his rambling speeches before leading Queens Island into Reception. Everyone will be down there listening to him, so we should have a clear route to the Banqueting Hall.”
She moved silently down the stairs, making the same gestures of respect and contempt as Madra to the two lists of names on the wall. When we reached the boat images, and turned to head down the corridor to the Banqueting Hall, I caught a glimpse of the wall further down the staircase. It was covered in small handprints, with an occasional tiny circle among them.
I frowned and hurried along the corridor after Raeni. I could guess what the handprints were and why they were small. Alliance children took on adult responsibilities at twelve years old, and that was also when those outside the Resistance took their oaths of allegiance to their divisions. From the colour of those handprints, they were obviously made in blood as part of the Queens Island allegiance ceremony, but the tiny circles puzzled me.
Old memories surfaced of my childhood spent in London. I’d never gone through the London allegiance ceremony myself, because the firestorm had made us flee to New York when I was eleven years old, and one of the conditions of London joining the alliance was that my brother and I would move to the Resistance to be with our father.
My brother was four years older than me though. I remembered standing watching as Seamus took his oath of allegiance. Blood had been used in that ceremony too, symbolizing the fact that breaking your oath was punishable by death. Technically, my brother hadn’t broken his oath of allegiance when he left the alliance. Ice had released him from his oath to London, and he had never taken one to the Resistance, but I still counted Seamus as the worst of traitors.
That thought gave me the answer to the mystery of the tiny circles among the handprints. A man swore loyalty to his division for life, but if a woman married outside her division, then she was allowed to leave and join her partner. Those ring shapes were from the wedding rings of women leaving Queens Island, and again the powerful symbol of blood had been used, showing the women were released from their oaths of allegiance and allowed to join a new division.
I realized Raeni had reached the security door to the Banqueting Hall. As she paused to open it, I forced the thoughts of blood oaths and my brother out of my mind, and focused on the present.
“You go through the Resistance wing to Reception,” said Raeni crisply. “I’ll have to go back into the Queens Island wing, and wait until Major leads our people into Reception before going downstairs to follow them.”
I shook my head. “You’d better not go through Queens Island to reach Reception. Major might leave a guard downstairs to block your way.”
Raeni gave me a startled look. “Are you suggesting taking me through the Resistance wing, Blaze? I appreciate the offer, but entering Reception through the Resistance curtain would be potentially embarrassing for both Donnell and me.”
“I wasn’t suggesting you went through the Resistance wing, but through Sanctuary.” I pointed across the Banqueting Hall to the Sanctuary steel door. “Someone has cut through the welding, so the door opens again.”
Raeni crossed the room, studied the door carefully, and then slid it open. “When did Donnell order this door opened up again, and why?”
“Donnell doesn’t know anything about this,” I said. “I only discovered the door was open when I was waiting for Madra. I’m planning to tell Donnell about it later.”
“Then I’ll keep it secret for now,” said Raeni. “When I appear from Sanctuary, people will probably assume I sneaked across Reception to hide there earlier.”
I nodded. “Good luck with defeating Major.”
Raeni smiled. “Alliance officers have a duty to act with impartial fairness to everyone in the alliance. You shouldn’t be taking my side against Major, Blaze.”
“As deputy leader of the alliance, I remain neutral on division leadership challenges,” I said. “As a person, I loathe Major.”
Raeni laughed, went through the door to Sanctuary, and slid it shut from the other side. I went back to open the door to the Resistance wing, and was about to go through it when I remembered I was still wearing the borrowed black coat and gloves from Queens Island.
I hastily pulled them off and dumped them on a nearby chair, then turned off the lights in the Banqueting Hall and went through the Resistance door, closing it behind me. Conscious that breakfast would be starting at any moment, I sprinted along the corridor to the main staircase, before slowing my pace slightly to go down the flight of steps. I needed to get downstairs as quickly as possible, but falling and injuring myself would be disastrous.
As I hurried down the staircase, I was conscious of the plainness of the walls beside me, mentally comparing them to the walls in the Queens Island wing. I reached the bottom of the stairs, and took a moment to catch my breath before walking through the curtain into Reception. A swift look around showed me that the Queens Island corner was deserted, but all the other divisions were present in their areas of the room.
Donnell was standing just in front of me, staring at the Queens Island corner. When he caught sight of me, he frowned.
“Chaos weeping, Blaze. You were supposed to be here at first light. Where have you been?”
I spoke in a cautiously low voice. “I’ve been talking to Raeni.”
“What? How could ...?” Donnell broke off his sentence. “No, you can tell me how you managed that later. Is there anything we can do to help Raeni win this leadership challenge?”
“No. We must let Raeni deal with this herself.” I pointed to the Queens Island curtain. “Look, Major’s coming now.”
Major and Nero led the way through the curtain, with the rest of Queens Island trailing behind them. As soon as they were all in Reception, Major stepped up onto a chair. All the conversations in the room abruptly stopped, and everyone turned to look at him.
“Queens Island has suffered a terrible loss with Rogue’s death.” Major gazed around the room, making sure he had the attention of the whole alliance. “A blood debt is owed to us. We need strong, experienced leadership to make sure that debt is paid in full.”
He paused. “Raeni was absent during the troubles in the night. Some argued that absence was forgivable because she was following custom, honouring the fallen by holding vigil over Rogue’s coffin. I agreed, though I felt that insisting on holding vigil alone from dusk to dawn was excessive when Queens Island urgently needed its leader.”
He gave a theatrical sigh. “Raeni chose to ignore the events during the night and focus on her grief. When dawn came, her vigil was ended, and I waited for her to come to resume her leadership duties, but she didn’t appear. I sent Lion to plead with her to come, telling her how much Queens Island needed her, but she refused, insisting on staying weeping over Rogue’s coffin in her weakness.”
Major shook his head. “I was loyal to Raeni, but she is overwhelmed by sorrow and has abandoned her duties. The leadership position of Queens Island is vacant. Who do you choose to be your new leader?”
“We choose you to be our new leader, Major,” cried Nero instantly. “We cannot suffer under another novice leader like Raeni. You led us before, and you must lead us again. You are the experienced leader that Queens Island needs.”
