The man gave her a grim look. “The Admiral wouldn’t need subterfuge, lady. He’d simply arrest you on the spot. Or kill you. He’s taken command of the country, and he’s not subtle.”
They glanced at each other warily. “I can protect us if need be,” Layanna said, and she didn’t need to add, If this man is a liar.
They allowed the self-proclaimed supporter of the Prime Minister to usher them through back halls of the airport, being let through by, apparently, more underground supporters.
“Is it true?” Layanna said. “Has there been a coup?”
“No time for the full history,” the man said as they reached a door leading outside and took it. They were at the airport’s pick-up lane, Avery saw; few people were arriving in Hissig these days, and there were only a smattering of vehicles waiting to pick up incoming family members. Looking wildly around, wind making his hair dance like that of a madman, their guide found the car he was looking for and strode toward it at a brisk pace. The others followed, more reserved. If this was a trap, now was the time to spring it. It wasn’t until Avery saw the driver that his reservations melted away.
For, driving the automobile, was none other than Michael Denaris, the Prime Minister’s husband. Avery had only met him a few times, but they had both lived in the Parliament Building in close proximity for a couple of weeks and had had dinner and lunch together several times. Avery recognized him without question.
“Get in,” said Michael. “Quickly. I don’t know how much longer our people can distract Haggarty’s.”
They piled in, leaving the breathless young man that had fetched them to his own devices, as seemed to be expected and planned for, and were away, off into the chaos of Hissig.
“Where are we bound?” Layanna said.
“I wish I could say the Parliament Building, but Haggarty bombed it two weeks ago.”
“Gods,” said Hildra.
“It drove Gwen into hiding before ...” Looking haunted, he didn’t seem able to go on.
“We heard she was missing,” Avery supplied.
Nodding, Michael gathered himself. “We were staying in safe houses, but the last one was betrayed and we had to flee. We went to Muscud, one of the sewer settlements. Gwen got a line on Jeffers, the fellow who’d found the mutilated bodies—I believe she showed you one—and hoped he might be able to help us find the Collossum hiding down there. Yes, she told me all about it, and besides, it’s common knowledge these days. At any rate, she hoped that if she found the Collossum then General Hastur could strike it. But Hastur vanished. Gwen went looking for her with some men, and she went missing, too. That was three days ago. We haven’t seen her since.”
“That’s terrible,” Hildra said. “Shit, we’re sorry.”
Michael let out a ragged breath and nodded.
“And you’re, what, leading a resistance?” Janx asked.
“Something like that. There are many of us, and there’s fighting all over the city. I wouldn’t call myself the leader, but I am, perhaps, a leader. I’m more of a symbol than anything else, to tell you the truth.”
Avery saw barricades blocking certain streets, manned by tense-looking men and women. Trash littered road and sidewalk, and rocks or bullets had shattered countless windows so that their jagged remains gleamed like teeth. Graffiti covered walls and lampposts. Here and there bodies lay strewn near gutters and under awnings, sheets generally thrown over them, but not always.
“It’s a warzone,” Michael said. “When Haggarty made his move, assaulting the Parliament Building, people took up arms against him, or many of them. Most of them are for Gwen. The Army was on her side until the general disappeared. Now we’ve lost most of them, too, though there are a few brigades still loyal to us.”
“Civil war,” Janx muttered. “Shit.”
Avery suddenly found it hard to catch his breath.
“Where are the Starfish?” Layanna said, and he admired her for keeping on task. His own thoughts had become disordered. “We had expected them to attack by now.”
“Everyone had. They’re all just off the coast, waiting,” Michael said. “Poised to strike every major capital on two continents.”
“Why don’t they?”
“We don’t know. Speculation is that the Collossum are holding them back. If Haggarty gives Ghenisa over to them, this Starfish will spare the country, and that will inspire a chain of similar conversions all down the coast, maybe trickle into the interior. It will be as if Octung had won the war after all.”
“We can’t allow that,” said Layanna, then frowned. “When you say Haggarty giving Ghenisa over to them, I assume you mean personally—as in offering it to the Collossum that apparently lives in the sewers?”
“That’s the common thinking among those that know about it, yes.”
“What about the team tasked with completing the extradimensional drill?” Avery said. “It was supposed to open a hole in the Starfish’s exoskeleton for Layanna to enter.”
“All imprisoned,” Michael said, “and the drill—in its early stages of completion, no less—destroyed.”
“Your side, does it still have any bombers?” Janx said. “Maybe the Army could bomb holes in it in place of the drill.”
“I’m afraid not. The Navy has complete charge of our air defenses now.”
“It was just a thought. Bombs didn’t do the Azadi much good.”
A sudden fear seized Avery. “What of the Voryses? The Drakes?”
Michael shot him a black look before turning back to the road. “Interesting you should ask that, Doctor. There have been rumors of them consolidating power, organizing for some sort of move while the country’s in turmoil. But without military power, and with the bureaucracy either scattered or under Haggarty’s control, they have no hope. We’re there.”
The jeep pulled up to a barricade blocking a certain street, and a rough-looking man with a rifle over his shoulder stepped forward and conferred with Michael for a moment. “All’s clear,” the man said, then, with a glance to Avery and the others: “This them?”
“It is,” Michael said. “Take care of them for me. Gwen thought they could be very important.”
“Wait,” Avery said. “You’re leaving?”
“I have other tasks needing my attention, I’m sorry.”
“What are we supposed to do?”
Michael gave him a strange look. “I was hoping you would know.”
Shaken, Avery disembarked with the others. The rough-looking man, who introduced himself as Myrtle Van, led them around the barricade, which was manned by an equally grim-looking lot, while Michael pulled away. For some reason Avery felt abandoned, even though Michael had likely just saved them from Haggarty’s agents.
Suddenly Layanna hissed in a breath. An expression of considerable pain had come over.
“What is it?”
Through gritted teeth, she said, “... the … ray ...”
Glancing up, he scanned for it, then saw the massive wedge shape sweeping through the skies overhead.
“Damned thing,” said Myrtle Van. “Haggarty’s been using it against us. The psychic aboard it can paralyze us with fear, and I mean drop us right to the ground. It disables us before Haggarty’s shock troops attack. Is your lady alright?”
To Layanna, Avery asked gently, “Are you?”
She shook her head as if to clear it. “I can fight him. The psychic. Hold him off, just like before. But only for a time. Last time I didn’t need to worry about keeping my location from him, only sealing off my mind. Soon, with the ray to amplify his abilities, he’ll sense me. He’ll know where we are. When he does ...”
Myrtle Van led them amongst the armed encampment, which occupied the buildings, streets and alleys of a former block of apartments and retail structures, cafes and restaurants, and Avery marveled at the everyday life of these rebels. A few Army officers led various projects, cleaning up debris, fortifying the barricade and so on, but mainly the civilians were on their own, with no visible order or governing body. Overhead flapped a long silken banner (riddled with bullet holes) with Prime Minister Denaris’s face staring out from it, bold chin aimed like the prow of a warship, eyes like searchlights. Below it the people ate dogs, hunter snails, anything they could catch, even poorly processed seafood. So many had become infected that an entire triage devoted to treating mutation had been set up; Avery promised himself to help later.
