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The Autumn Assignment

Chapter 30: Surveillance

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Katy watched the events on the screens with detached horror. In CCTV-quality black and white, the violence and horror seemed almost unreal. The wall of screens showed a different tragedy in each one, and yet she felt completely safe in the control room.

There had been a secretary, who had run away screaming when Katy brandished the gun. There had been a surveillance guard, who was now too occupied with groaning and clutching his shattered kneecap to be a threat. She had taken his gun away, and now twirled it idly in one hand while she watched the footage.

The main control room was locked, but from what she could see the doors were unfastened and all the drainers had been deactivated. There didn't seem to be much more she could do. Her eyes narrowed as she saw Daniel- finally- struggling through the crowds of panicked people. Even in black and white it was a gory scene. The humans were now their own worst enemies. They shoved at each other, clawing at other humans to get away from the creatures that followed them. The ones that broke through were soon shoved back by the ones behind them. Some slipped on the gore-stained floor, and their mouths opened in silent wails as they struggled to stand up.

Daniel wasn't panicked. He scanned the crowd before leaving his own, deserted corridor, and then sprinted through the clearest path. He squeezed along the wall, keeping his footing, not trying to crawl underneath the crowd like some of the other people. When he broke through the crowd he didn't let anyone pull him back but simply headed down another deserted corridor. Katy smiled- he was following the signs to the control room.

She wondered how she could be so cold about the whole thing. Perhaps it's a delayed shock, she thought, from killing that man. She expected any moment to start screaming and just not stop, but somehow it wasn't needed. The whisper of murderess was lost in the screams of the slaughtered. She smiled for the ones who escaped, but couldn't feel anything for those who fell.

If she had been a better mage, or even had any training, she would have recognised this blanket of coldness for what it really was. She could not see the remnants of dark fire that danced under her skin any more than she could see her skeleton. And even if she could, she could not have identified it as a blessing or as a curse. She glanced at the bangle that was still wrapped around her wrist, wondering if it had belonged to that other murderess, who had shown her how to kill.

The guard groaned more loudly in the corner. She didn't register it until a hand fell heavily on her shoulder, making her spin around with the gun raised.

Daniel stepped back and put his hands up. "Whoa, whoa, it's me." He said. Katy nodded and put the gun away, turning back to the screens.

"More than half of them are making it." She announced, "Do you think it was worth it?"

"No." Daniel spoke without thinking, making her nod again.

"Right. But then, you were down there." She continued watching the screens, fascinated. "Imagine fighting those things off, on your own, for hundreds of years."

"Stop watching it." Daniel's voice was gentle, but there was an edge of steel in it. "It's not right."

"No, it isn't." She agreed, "But it's our fault."

Daniel groaned and stared at the desk underneath the screens. It looked more like a spaceship than a simple surveillance panel, but he eventually found a button marked "power" and flicked it off. The screen went dark.

"Do you think it's enough?" He asked, "Do you think that it will restore the balance?"

Katy blinked and chewed her lip. Somehow she'd forgotten about the balance... watching the crowds struggling for their lives had spoken to her in an odd way.

"Some of them fought with guns." She said, "Those things die quite easily; I think the people outside were just overwhelmed. And if they weren't all packed into a tiny corridor then I don't think more than a few of those people would have died today."

She left the words unsaid, but they drifted through the air as clearly as a bell. They're Immortals... but that doesn't mean they can't die. When they were fought before they had bows and arrows and swords. Now we have guns and flamethrowers and grenades. Now we know how to fight them. Now we know how to fly.

Daniel looked at her oddly. "We've been fighting to protect the barrier, not destroy it."

"But that's not true either, is it?" Her voice had an odd sing song quality to it. "We've been following clues and listening to a book..."

"Where is the book?" The voice was threatening, malicious. The guard in the corner stopped groaning at the sound, turning even more pale. Katy gaped, for the first time losing some of her composure as Lawrence walked calmly through the room. This time he didn't hold an antique sword but a gun, and his smile had been replaced by a look of pure fury. Blood stained his shirt but he didn't limp or favour his arm. He directed the gun straight at Daniel but spoke directly to Katy.

"A bit of advice, girl. If you want to kill a healer, make sure they're dead. Don't leave them seeking revenge."

"Are you here to try to bargain again?" She said, "We won't."

He reached up with one hand and brushed a strand of hair away from his eyes. "No. No more games. You are going to give me the book, and then I am going to kill you both. With the knowledge that book holds I... you will give me the book!"

He screamed the last sentence and pointed the gun directly between Daniel's eyes. Daniel frowned. "How can you read it? You said it's in a different language..."

"I have the letter; I know what it says. I can translate it." The gun didn't waver. "Give me the book."

Daniel looked at Katy, and seemed to make up his mind. Hesitantly, he took the book out of where it was tucked in his pocket and handed it over to the Sorrock. The man held it with one hand while keeping the gun pointed up.

"If you move, I will shoot you." His voice was flat. "If this is not the real book, one of you will lose an arm before you die."

Daniel nodded seriously and leaned over to Katy. "Where's the real book?" He whispered. She blinked and looked up at him. His blue eyes were serious when he saw she had no answer. "I left it in the artefact room. I knew you'd be there."

Her eyes widened in understanding, and she instinctively clutched at her left wrist where the damaged bangle was. At her touch it flickered and grew warm, and turned into the book once again. Checking that Lawrence was still engrossed in the maths textbook he'd been given, she raised the book to her lips and whispered two words too quietly for even Daniel to hear. And then she drew the stormwing feather out of her pocket.

The book understood immediately, and panicked. It shape shifted rapidly- a book, a statue of a goddess, a fragile kitten, a necklace- but her grasp on it was too tight for it to escape. It's last form was a mechanical bird made of bronze and silver wires, delicate and beautiful. It flapped its wings desperately and tried to fly away. Katy hung on grimly.

Lawrence looked up as the book screamed through its avian throat. His face set; he threw the maths book away and fired rapidly- three shots, all headed straight for Katy. The black fire that had been lurking under her skin burst out in a blaze of fire, surrounding her with a shining shield. The bullets glanced off it harmlessly.

Katy gripped the feather in one hand, unaware that the same black fire had surrounded it, and drove it into the mechanical bird's heart.

The world screamed, and she screamed with it, clutching her own chest in agony. The bird fell to the ground, consumed by black flames, writhing and dying and screaming. Lawrence fell next to it clutching his own heart, firing wildly at anything that moved. Daniel dived forward and wrenched the gun from him, barely aware of the bullets flying through the air.

The world screamed.

Many miles away, and as close as a heartbeat, a group of tired men and women sit around a fire in a beautiful forest. They ignore their companions, but think of them with hope in their hearts as the two of them stand next to a fountain. Vines have completely obscured the pedestal, so long has it been there, and yet the two people remember when it was new. They have been staring into the water for days now, trusting in their comrades to protect them, knowing that in their turn they must be the protectors. They are tired, for they haven't slept during their vigil, but now their eyes are bright and alert.

The woman looks up at the man and smiles- an expression that is both loving and filled with unspeakable pain. Her hand creeps up to her heart, but the gesture of pain is more charitable than accusing.

The man forces himself to smile back. He steps away from the pedestal for the first time in days and takes the girl into his arms. They sit beneath the willow tree that overhangs the clearing, out of sight of the people sitting around the fire. The girl leans her head against the man's shoulder, and he strokes her hair gently as her eyes slide shut.

And the world screams.

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