Episode 36
The system of power turns like a wheel
You can rise to the top through money or steel
You could lift up others or leave them in muck
But it’s the poor who will suffer when the wheel becomes stuck
If the problems aren’t met with any solution
The wheel must turn in bloody revolution
The vermin will rise as the predator sinks
Let’s see then if the fox can outsmart the lynx
Taziel Bried stepped forward and took her position next to her bodyguard. She was dwarfed by Deacon’s massive size but still managed to maintain an heir of superiority. She looked over the small crowd in the basement with disdain before pouting in mock disappointment.
“Did I do something wrong? Or maybe my invitation got lost in delivery, hm?” She smiled a wide and wicked grin, catching Lilian’s eye. “Oh hi hayseed! You look… redder than normal.”
“What do you want Bried?” Lilian spat her reply. She stepped out of the circle of chairs to join Mr Attorcop. She felt a large presence sidle up next to her and realised that Fritha, her fur black and big, had sensed the tension and had come to support. Lilian touched Fritha’s arched back, it was comforting to have her there. Bried was a notoriously dangerous person.
“Twelve hells you lot are boring. It’s alright, you can come down! No danger here. Just a little tea party.” She shouted up the wooden steps to the open trapdoor. Lilian glanced round to check that everyone was alright. William was standing in front of Katherine, looking serious. Katherine seemed fine but understandably nervous. Katrina and Peter Sturgeon were up and ready for anything, both of them clutching concealed implements. The only person still seated was Zadoch Korshid. Lilian caught him examining his nails as if this kind of thing happened to him everyday.
Two more people walked down the steps to join them. Lilian recognised the small woman who appeared first. She was Jack Havens, Bried’s spymaster. Finally there was the shrouded figure of Tarek Bismuth. He was the opposite of Havens in that each step clunked unceremoniously, whereas Jack had practically floated down. Bismuth was followed by his faithful hound, its ears bent back as soon as it saw Fritha. Within a minute they were all there. The atmosphere grew even more tense. Lilian kept her eyes trained on Bried. She wore a buttoned up, dark red shit. The top few buttons were open and Lilian caught site of the fierce looking bird that she had tattooed on her chest. No one spoke for a while, everyone was busy eyeing up the other group. Lilian breathed a series of deep breaths, trying her best to remain calm. Bried’s friendly looking, freckled face dropped all pretence of smiles and became a leering grimace.
“If there’s one thing I pride myself in, it’s knowing things. I would go so far as to say that nothing happens in this city without my knowing, would you say that’s true Jack?” She turned her head to address the smaller woman.
“Yes Bried.” Jack Havens kept her eyes on Lilian’s friends. The red mark around her left eye seemed to strangely glisten in the candlelight.
“Yes. Bried.” Her boss parroted. With a lightning quick movement Bried’s hand shot forward. Lilian remained still but felt that a few of her friends behind her had twitched at the motion. They were on edge. Bried was pointing a lean finger at Katrina’s son.
“Who’s that?” she asked.
“That’s Peter Sturgeon. The Catfish’s son.” Bried smiled at the answer.
“You see? It’s my business to know things. So when I hear that a group of aging radicals are meeting in a dingy basement, I might ask myself, why is that?” Bried walked two steps forward towards Mr Attorcop and Lilian. Lilian could smell a musky perfume. She couldn’t see any weapons but did not think for a second that this meant that Bried wasn’t carrying any. Mr Attorcop remained silent. The moonblade was still outstretched and glistening in his right hand. There must have only been an arms length between its tip and Bried’s nose. Bried did not seem afraid. She spoke again, softer now.
“Maybe you didn’t hear me. What are you lot plotting here? Hm? Tell me, now. Before my patience runs out.” Finally Mr Attorcop spoke. His voice was calm and controlled.
“For one who prides herself on knowing so much, I can see why this must be a very… frustrating situation. Might I enquire as to what would happen if we kept that information to ourselves?” Lilian saw Bried’s lip curl into a sneer.
“You know, I was hoping you might ask that. Deacon!” She shouted back to her bodyguard whilst maintaining eye contact with Mr Attorcop. Gus Deacon shifted his weight, ready to receive instructions. “Break something please.” At that, Lilian watched the lumbering mass of muscle move to the wall towards a large writing desk. It had taken both Lilian and Mr Attorcop quite some time to move it into the basement, seeing as it was made from oak and weighed a ton. But Gus Deacon wrapped his hands around both edges, picked it up and hurled it twenty feet across the room, as if it was made of matchsticks. The entire unit, contents and all, came into contact with the wall with a deafening crash. The small drawers scattered to the floor and Lilian saw a huge crack appear in the polished surface. Papers and ink bottles spilled out and the legs splintered and were reduced to kindling. Deacon stood up tall, or as tall as he could be under the low ceiling. Bried spoke quickly, her patience running thin.
“Now unless you want your old bones to meet the same fate as your desk, you’re all going to start talking, do you understand?” Mr Attorcop had barely looked at the desk and hadn’t even flinched when it hit the wall. Lilian half expected him to tell her everything. About The Hand and Lilian’s evening with the Empress. She knew that Bried would find out eventually and the threat of having her bones broken in the meantime wasn’t exactly appealing. Still, it felt wrong. Mr Attorcop apparently felt the same way.
“You know what Tazial?” he said in a low and calm voice. “I don’t think I shall tell you. In fact, I don’t think any of us will tell you anything. This might make you angry and that’s fine. But the people of Freedos are done with bullies, and we’re done with you.” Lilian’s heart began to beat quicker, she was scared but no longer intimidated. Her fear was mixed in with a peculiar thrill. It was the thrill of righteousness. She kept her eyes trained on Bried. Mr Attorcop’s words had produced smirks and low chuckles from her gang. Bried simply stared at him in incredulous rage.
“Careful Cromwell. There’s a thin line between bravery and stupidity. I might be a bully, but I’m a generous bully, so I’ll give you one more chance. I’m just nice that way, you know? One more chance to start telling me what I want to know, or we start breaking more than just desks.” Mr Attorcop stood his ground. Fritha’s jangling growling stopped. Lilian reminded herself to keep breathing. In the silence that followed Bried’s warning, a pin could have dropped to the floor two streets away and still be heard. Mr Attorcop stood up straight and tall. He crossed his arms. Lilian was reminded of whenever he reached into his sleeve for a vial of essence.
“I thank you for the generous offer. But you can take your chance and shove it back down the rat hole you crawled out of.” Lilian saw the corner of Bried’s eye twitch. It must have been a long time since anyone had spoken to her this way. “Lilian?” Mr Attorcop spoke to her while never taking his eyes off of Bried. “Do you remember that morning in The Fox and Octopus? The day we met?” Lilian quickly cast her mind back.
“I remember.” she replied. Bried was stepping back and reaching into her pocket.
“You’re going to regret this Cromwell,” she spat the words at him half smiling, her face contorting into gleeful fury. Mr Attorcop narrowed his eyes as he whispered.
“I doubt that.” And the basement was plunged into darkness.
Lilian had been ready and immediately shut her eyes and slipped into hyper focus. The dark room suddenly became alive with a thousand little lights, each one representing a different sound. There was the flurry of Mr Attorcop’s cloak and he pulled out the vial of lunar essence from his sleeve. There was Fritha’s padded footsteps as she left Lilian’s side. A big white beacon shone straight ahead where Bried was barking orders at her team. Lilian’s preparation meant that she could slip even further into focus and actually see the sound bouncing off of the walls. Bried’s shouts therefore showed her where the pieces of broken desk lay idle. She ran over to the debris and picked up a piece of broken leg. It would not be as sturdy as a sword, but it would do for now. She turned her attention back to the group. Her friends were remaining still, mostly backing away slowly. Bried’s group were scrambling to find their bearings. She saw the heavy thuds of Gus Deacon’s feet, unsure and unsteady. She saw the growls coming from the throat of Bismuth’s dog. Both it and Bismuth were still, but Lilian saw the odd sound coming from within his cloak, he was busy doing something with his hands, probably trying to counteract the sudden darkness. Mr Attorcop was flying forwards, his feet stepping lightly on the floorboards and his cloak rustling with his swift motion. Lilian watched him plant a kick right into the centre of Bried’s chest. It sent her hurtling back towards Taruk Bismuth. Lilian saw the lights of her grunting in pain and the thud as she connected with her hooded teammate. There was no time to celebrate however as bold footsteps were heading straight towards her. They didn’t look like anyone else’s steps in the room, they were striding forwards with deadly confidence. They were not the steps of a recently blinded person. Lilian brought her stick up just in time to intercept a whooshing blade. Lilian realised then who she was fighting. This was Jack Havens and for some reason, she could see in the dark.
Lilian felt like cursing, their dark advantage had not lasted long. She had no time to question how Jack was able to see in pitch black as her second blade was being swung round towards Lilian’s side. Thankfully she was able to step back and out of its way. A pained shout came from the other side of the room, but Lilian didn’t recognise the voice, so she didn’t allow herself to become distracted. Havens let loose a flurry of rapid swipes. Lilian’s training kicked in and she blocked each one as it came. She was not used to fighting in this kind of darkness so she had to focus on defense. Jack Havens sensed this and doubled her efforts, adding quick feints that might have easily thrown Lilian off if she hadn’t been focusing so much on defending.
“Bismuth!” Bried’s voice cut through the darkness, Lilian watched the echoes bounce off her opponents body, illuminating her for a second. “I’m starting to wonder why I keep you around. Get rid of this damn dark!” Bismuth replied in a slow and sickly whisper, Lilian was distracted now but would shiver at the memory of it later.
“Light is coming. This darkness is… unnatural.” There were more grunts and shouts and the clanging of metal coming from Bried’s direction. Lilian ducked an incoming slash aimed at her neck. Her brain was scrambling with what to do, she needed to create an advantage. She brought her left fist up to quickly block a right hook and suddenly remembered what she had hidden there. Earlier, when Fritha had stood beside her, Lilian had plucked a hair from her back. She still clutched it tightly in her balled up fist. Right, she thought, here goes nothing. Lilian blocked another slash from Jack and countered with a forward kick. She missed Jack’s stomach but thankfully managed to catch the top of her left leg. The blow gave Lilian the two second distance she needed to take a deep breath and fill Fritha’s hair with the golden light from her own heart. She wasn’t just in focus now, Lilian was gloaming and the world looked even more different than before. There were other shimmering lights all around the basement, other people’s heart beats shining like candles in the dusk. There was something big and bright behind her but Lilian was too distracted by her task and by what she saw in front of her. Jack Haven’s heart light was silver and scarlett, but this wasn’t what was drawing her immediate attention. In the space above it where Jack’s head would be, floating in the gloom, Lilian could see a red orb. It shimmered in the darkness and had a golden point on the front. The crimson ball twisted and flicked about in mid air in rapid, jerky motions. Lilian realised with dread that she was looking at Jack Haven’s left eye. Unfortunately she had no time to dwell on this, gloaming made the lights from the sound of movement a little dimmer so Lilian took a few steps back just to give her a bit more time. Predictably, Jack closed the gap, but those few steps were all the time that Lilian needed. Taking her light back in from Fritha’s hair she sensed her skin begin to ripple and shift. The floating red eye was flitting up and down and left to right in rapid little jumps. It was trying desperately to understand why it was losing track of its target as Lilian slowly disappeared.
A vivid green light suddenly filled the room and Lilian opened her eyes. Jack Havens had to shield her left eye from the sudden brightness. Lilian watched as the red colour seeped out of the eye itself and back into the area around it, becoming that recognisable scarlett mark once again. Jack still had both blades drawn and was looking around warily to see if Lilian had merely slipped into a blind spot. Lilian remained very still. The light itself was coming from Taruk Bismuth, he was holding a small, ugly looking object in his left hand and brandishing it like a torch. Lilian didn’t have time to see exactly what it was, but it reminded her of a small doll with strange metal spikes sticking out of its head and back. Whatever it was, it was glowing bright emerald green and washing the basement in a strange, spectral light. She looked back at her friends, everyone was still on their feet, except Zadoch, who for some reason, was still sitting down. Mr Attorcop had also vanished which meant that Bried and her associates were now turning their attention to the rest of the group. Bried was looking furious, a large red bruise was already flaring up on her left cheek. She had a small blade in her hand and turned a murderous stare towards William and Katrina.
“I’m not leaving this place until I hear a bone break. Deacon, take these two. Taruk, find Cromwell…”
Jack was backing up, keeping her blades close to her body.
“If anyone needs any help, do let me know won’t you? Cromwell? Katrina?” Zadoch shifted in his seat and spoke with a casual ease. It frustrated Lilian, she thought that if he wanted to help so much he could at least stand up. Katrina shot Zadoch a quick, mean look.
“We don’t need your help Zadoch. Just stay out of it, Peter. On my mark.” Peter nodded and readied himself.
The brief hiatus in action was broken when Bried shot forward, bathed in shimmering green and began slashing at Katrina with her knife. Katrina managed to dodge the first few slashes but a quick gasp told Lilian that one had gotten through. Bried flashed a sinister smile as Katrina clutched her left forearm, a trickle of red already seeping through her sleeve. Gus Deacon was lumbering as quickly as he could towards William who was standing ready for him. He was a brave man, because he may as well have been holding his ground against a herd of horses. Katherine was stepping to the back of the room, towards the strange little door that Lilian and Mr Attorcop had still not managed to open. She had fear in her eyes and seemed torn between warning William to be careful and not wanting to distract him. Deacon swung a boulder fist at William’s temple. Thankfully, the man’s size meant his speed was limited, William was narrowly able to duck under the swing and deliver a swift hook to Deacon’s side. It looked as though William was putting his whole weight behind the punch, but Deacon barely flinched upon its impact. Lilian took advantage of the chaos to duck slowly around Jack and tap the back of her right shoulder with the table leg she had picked up, which thankfully also seemed to be taking on the appearance of her surroundings. Jack twisted quickly which gave Lilian a window to kick her left foot out from under her, causing her to fall to one knee. Lilian took advantage of the gap in Jack’s defence to drive her knee into Jack’s left eye. She recognised it as a source of potential power, so it had to be targeted. The impact sent a shock through Lilian’s knee, but the yelping sound coming from Jack told her the pain was much worse for her. Lilian allowed herself to glance over at Bried and Deacon. Deacon was still locking horns with William who was slowly trying to wear the monster man down. Lilian was thankful for the low ceiling, in an open space, even an experienced fighter would have had a difficult time. Bried was closing in for the killing blow, dancing from foot to foot, in her element and relishing the fight. Her famed cruelty was on full display and Lilian’s heart sank when she saw her flash forwards, into Katrina’s blind spot, whirl round, feint a quick kick and rush in to stab her stomach on the off beat. Katrina was not a practised hand to hand fighter, and her son was too busy focusing on Deacon to notice what was happening. Lilian brought her hand to her mouth to stifle a scream. Jack Havens was reeling on the floor, clutching her eye. Bried flashed a final smile and drove her right arm forward…
But it did not move. Some unseen thing was keeping it back, preventing the knife from finding its mark. Bried looked down at her arm in shock. Her confusion turned quickly into understanding.
“There you are Cromwell…” she uttered before wrenching her arm free, whirling round and slashing blindly at the empty air. Katrina was now able to turn her attention away from Bried for a moment and shout a command at her son.
“Now Peter!” both of them flicked their arms out in the direction of Gus Deacon. It looked as though they were throwing something, but Lilian didn’t see anything leave their outstretched hands. She turned to look at Deacon, who momentarily stopped trying to attack William and winced at something on his neck. He twisted his head and brought his arms up to feel what was there. Lilian saw three needles, thinner than pins, glinting in the green light sticking out of the side of his neck. At first he seemed simply irritated but then he began to blink and roll his eyes. His hand went to his head instead of his neck and adjusting his balance became awkward and clumsy.
Lilian reminded herself to keep her attention on her own target instead of worrying about everyone else. She turned back to Jack Havens who she assumed was still reeling from the knee to her face, only to catch her reaching into a pocket on her brown trousers and gripping he fist around some unknown object. Lilian stepped round her opponent, waiting to adapt her guard to whatever she was pulling out of her pocket. To her surprise, when Jack’s fist reappeared it seemed empty, but when she brought it up to her mouth, opened her hand and blew, Lilian was quickly surrounded by a cloud of white powder. Her gloaming camouflage must have had difficulty reacting to the change in the air because as soon as Lilian blinked the powder out of her eyes she saw Jack looking directly at her. Lilian had to rely on her instinctive flinching to block her incoming attack. She had her arms up in panic, but the attack never came. Much like Bried had reacted only seconds earlier, Jack was staring at her left arm in confusion as some unknown, unseen entity was holding it back. Lilian heard a jangling growl coming from the spot where Jack’s arm was being held in place and smiled, Fritha was protecting her. Lilian did not hesitate and took full advantage of the interruption by bringing her table leg to her left side and whipping it round in a devastating back hand swing. It connected with Jack’s temple and Bried’s spymaster crumpled to the floor in a useless heap.
Lilian tasted victory and, now visible and covered in powder, turned to see how she could help with the rest of the fight. Bried had copied her compatriot and flung a handful of sawdust into the air to see where it stuck or moved unnaturally. This was giving her and Taruk a fair idea of where Mr Attorcop was stepping, but he was a skilled fighter and so was managing to hold them off. Bismuth’s black dog was barking and making a nuisance of itself. It wanted to help its master but didn’t understand where it was supposed to be attacking so it just barked and barked. Lilian glanced over at William and Katherine. They were safe and together but Katherine still looked shaken. Gus Deacon had dropped to one knee and was still rubbing his eyes as if he had a particularly bad and sudden headache. Katrina and Peter were looking at him in astonishment. Lilian would learn later that they had given him enough sedative to down a horse, yet still he moved. It didn’t look as though Deacon was an immediate threat so Lilian took a step towards William with the hope of going over to protect Katherine if the need arose. She felt Fritha’s weight against her right leg. She’d taken her eyes off Deacon for less than a second before she saw Katherine’s face contort in fear.
“Lilian! Watch out!” Lilian jerked her head to see where she was pointing and only narrowly managed to duck under Gus Deacon’s left fist. He was standing and stumbling but even in that state he posed a threat. William rushed over, his head forward and low, he was attempting to tackle Deacon to the ground, and would need all of his weight and a lot of speed to succeed. Lilian tried to shout a warning. The first punch had been too easy to dodge under, it didn’t have the force behind it to be a knockout blow, which meant that it had to be a feint… Lilian realised too slowly.
“William wait!” she screamed. But it was no use. Deacon had suspected him to rush in and as soon as he was within range, the brick house of a man shifted his weight and brought his left arm out and round in a wide backhanded swing. It caught William mid run. The force knocked him clean off his feet and sent him flying towards the wall of the basement which he hit with a sickening crunch.
“William!” Katherine screamed in terror as William fell to the floor in a heap. Her shout echoed in Lilian’s head as her heart sank, fearing the worst. The rest of the room seemed to get quieter as well, Lilian saw a bit of movement out of the corner of her left eye and realised the Jack Havens was slowly getting to her feet.
“Hahaaaaha, you see? Cromwell? You see what you get? It’s all talk and a bit of smoke and mirrors but one big hit and you’re out of action.” Lilian looked over to where Bried was speaking. Mr Attorcop had materialised fully now and had put himself in between Bried and William. He had a fierce look in his eye but was still managing to maintain his fabled composure. Bried, emboldened by William’s defeat, took a step closer to him and spoke in a low voice. “Your faith in ineptitude is your weakness .” Mr Attorcop met her glare,
“Your reliance on violence is yours.” Bried sneered at him and began to walk back towards the wooden steps. The green light was fading and the warm glow of the remaining, undisturbed candles was slowly coming back. Gus Deacon, still clutching his head, wobbled towards her, as did Jack Havens. The group began to leave one by one through the hole in the ceiling. Bried looked back and smiled at the wreckage and injuries she and her associates had wrought.
“I’ll leave you all with a bit of free advice, next time I ask for something, just give it to me. Okay? While I do enjoy a fight, I’d rather not waste my time on silly tricks and have-a-go-heroes.” With a final smile she disappeared through the cellar trap leaving the room sullen and quiet.
Katherine and Katrina both rushed over to William. Lilian saw him shift and groan slightly. She breathed a sigh of relief. Zadoch finally stood up from his seat, and looked over curiously. Katrina, turned to her son.
“His shoulder is out and the forearm is broken.”
“I’ll fetch a splint.” he replied quickly and instantly began to search the floor for a suitable length of wood. Lilian was feeling useless. She turned to Mr Attorcop who was sporting a satisfied smile.
“I thought that went rather well.” Lilian was confused. Katherine looked up in disbelief, her eyes were stained red with tears.
“Well?” she spat, “You started a fight without telling us and somehow plunged the room into darkness. We were all in danger and William could have died!” William looked like he was about to say something but Katrina used the distraction to pull and twist his right arm, popping his dislocated shoulder back into place in one swift movement. He drew in a quick breath but then seemed pleasantly surprised. Katherine was standing now and continued her tirade against Mr Attorcop.
“How dare you be so reckless with our safety?” Mr Attorcop stopped smiling and appeared suitably chastised.
“Yes, I’m sorry. You’re right of course. I made a calculation in the instant and concluded that the odds were in our favour. But perhaps my emotions clouded my judgement somewhat. I really don’t like that woman.” Katherine threw her arms up in exasperation.
“Well if we all just beat up people we don’t like, then how are we any better than them, hm?” She pointed at the trapdoor where Bried had just left. Mr Attorcop looked at the ground, ashamed. Katherine appeared to be revving up for another accusatory speech, when William cut her off.
“It’s okay, Katherine. I knew the risks and I’m just as fed up of Bried going around intimidating everyone into doing what she wants. I’m glad we fought. It’s about time someone did.” Katherine looked betrayed, torn between worry and blame.
“Yes but…” she stumbled on her words, “If that man hadn’t been drugged, if he’d hit you properly.” She didn’t dare finish her sentence. William attempted a pained chuckle.
“Ha… It sure feels like he did hit me properly. But I know what you mean. But I’ll survive. And for what it’s worth, I think we won.” Katherine rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration at William’s ridiculous grin. Zadoch stepped forward and spoke up.
“It’s true. You injured them quite a bit more than they injured you. Her talk at the end was all bluster. They would not have left if they thought they could beat you. And you have no need to fear. If I thought any real harm would have come to anyone, I would have stepped in.” Lilian felt a pang of rage appear in the pit of her stomach.
“He’s broken his arm!” she shouted at Zadoch, “Does that not constitute ‘real harm’ to you?” Zadoch moved towards the wooden steps.
“Alas I am bound by the rules of my religion. But to answer your question young lady, no. When I say real harm what I mean to say is… fatal harm.” He gave Lilian a slight bow. She was not satisfied with his response and still questioned why he was even here in the first place. Mr Attorcop stepped forward.
“I think we’re all understandably shaken up. It might not seem like it, but today was a victory. I think we…” He cut himself off after crossing his arms and placing one hand into his sleeve as he always did when he relaxed. He withdrew his hand and looked down at it and an expression of terrible sorrow, fell across his face. Lilian looked down to see the reason for it and spotted a few shards of broken glass in Mr Attorcop’s hand. The glass sparkled in the candlelight and was washed in a bright, luminous liquid which was quickly losing its shine. Mr Attorcop had been too busy speaking of victory to realise that they’d suffered a devastating loss. The last of his lunar essence, was gone.