Interlude

Chapter VII

Vultures

"I was the only man alive who knew time had begun again."

Angela Carter — The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman

Chaos taking place all around him, the guard's eyes seemed to have somehow stopped time itself. He contemplated his surroundings in silence as if taking in the view; as if rejoicing his pupils with the most inadvertent of details.

It was quite the sight to see for M'horel, the guard leaning against the bars of the empty cell where Alex should have been - there they were, glowing mercilessly on the cot, the very same shiny, tiny, unevenly shaped golden coins that he himself had delivered to Erron Black earlier that night. He stepped into the cell and made his way to the cot; then he grabbed the coins, inspecting them briefly with his bemused gaze and placed them in his pocket before leaving the small redoubt.

As bewildering as that sight was, it wasn't enough to stop a belligerent half-smile from curling up his lips almost mechanically.

Outside the palace, the rest of the guards were working overtime trying to find the missing auburn-haired girl who was supposed to be executed the following day. He couldn't care less; he was certain his colleagues would never find her: it was Black's doing, of that he had no doubt.

What was he supposed to do next?

Bribing the mercenary was not even an option; he could already imagine the filthy Earthrealmer pulling the trigger and ending him instantaneously. He shook his head and walked out of the dungeon - those coins had surprisingly exposed a multicolored panoptic before his eyes, displaying a potential new beginning for the rebel-seekers and their crusade against those trying to take what was rightfully theirs.

He left the palace, taking advantage of the confusion caused by the disappearance of the young woman, and went to his parents' house – he needed young Pareedis, the smartest one in the family, to help him decide what to do with those golden coins traveling now in his pocket. Even from a considerable distance, M'horel was able to describe his younger brother's figure, sitting on the front porch as if waiting for him, as if anticipating the news he was about to hear.

"Our young lady is on the run, isn't she?" said Pareedis the minute he saw his older brother. The English accent contaminating his diction was clearly a mockery, resounding all around them.

M'horel nodded, as he reached for the coins in his pocket.

He sat down next to his brother and took off his skull mask – even though they were Outworlders born and raised, they both looked undeniably like Earthrealmers, their fine features were exposing their mother's genes; an Earthrealmer woman from England who had tragically passed trying to defend her family from a rioting mob during that short, dark period of time when Mileena was Kahnum.

"We should have received so much more than this -" reflected young Pareedis as he took the coins from his older brother's hand. "What happened?"

"The woman had them in her pocket, she claimed those coins were actually Black's. I delivered those coins to Black myself and went straight to the guards' chamber; my shift was over. Next thing I know, I hear guards running everywhere, the alarm was indicating a prisoner had escaped." He paused briefly, his gaze never leaving the coins. "I knew it was her, I was sure."

"So where did you get these?" Pareedis asked, the coins now resting on top of his right knee.

"The cot – in her cell."

Pareedis' eyes widened with surprise: Black was involved, he had to be. "You are telling me that Black went to see her and he let her go, on purpose?" The young man's eyes were demanding, he needed to hear it.

"Yes."

With a guffaw, the younger brother stood up and exclaimed: "I don't believe it!" then he turned around, all of a sudden, and faced M'horel: "and she just left the coins there, just like that," it was perfect and ridiculous at the same time.

"I don't know." The older brother replied softly, trying to remain calm. "Perhaps she forgot all about the coins and just left them there, maybe she didn't notice – but perhaps she left them there on purpose, I'm not sure, maybe she was trying to connect her disappearance with Black's intervention." As soon as those words escaped from his lips M'horel shook his head, finding it hard to believe. The truth seemed obvious: both Black and the woman had made stupid mistakes that could condemn them if the brothers played their cards right.

"I should talk to the Emperor," M'horel pondered out loud. Perhaps that was it; he should just talk to Kotal Kahn himself and expose both Black and the woman. The mercenary was a resourceful, tricky man but deep down M'horel knew he had enough evidence to bring them down.

Pareedis shook his head pensively.

"No, not yet."

The younger brother sat down on the porch again; his gaze was lost in the horizon as if trying to draw an invisible map with his eyes. "We need them both. Just one of them won't do," he began, "and the woman… I wouldn't take her for granted. Remember those men who went to her house the night we decided to deliver Black to the emperor – they never returned." His tone was serious and dark, revealing the tactician in him.

M'horel listened in silence, then he picked up the coins that had fallen to the ground with his brother's unexpected, sarcastic outburst.

"I'll follow Black –" Pareedis said, determined. "He has his own agenda, we already know that: remember that they found him bleeding to death near the Lei Chen Mountains when he was supposed to be in the Kuatan Jungle. If he helped her escape that means she's now part of that agenda as well. He'll lead us straight to her - and we'll finally find out what the man is truly up to."

M'horel nodded and stood up slowly, taking only one of the coins with him before putting on his skull mask again. Then the man started to walk his way back to the palace, his colleagues were still searching the city, knocking on every door, trying to find Alex. He smirked disdainfully under his mask – for once in their lives, the stars had finally aligned. The constellation placed before his eyes was magnificent and perfect – ridiculously perfect.