Book of Glitch - Chapter 18

Syena was tired of arguing with Iggy, she could see the lights from the street seeping through the cracks around the edges of the manhole covering. She was anxious to reach her family and finally get some help in recovering Elder Joshua’s body. She pushed past her companion and climbed up the ladder. Iggy followed after her still glaring down at the wheezing mass that was the defeated male Stonie. As the girl reached up to lift the covering, her friend yanked at the remnants of her torn garments to stop her.

“Hold on, we don’t know who or what might be waiting for us up there,” he whispered. “Those Bolts might have been emissaries for the enemy or at the very least could have accidentally told other Bolts they saw us through that freaky mind-cloud thing they use.”

“But how would they recognize us?” asked Syena.

Iggy only tugged at her shorn black, leather trousers for answer/reply.

“Best I go up first and see what the damage is,” he said. “Ouch, what was that-”

“Don’t go tugging at a lady’s clothes like some untrained animal,” she scolded.

The young male rolled his eyes as he climbed past her and lifted up the seal. He peaked out slowly and in seeing that no one was in the small street, reached down for Syena’s arm and tugged her up after him. Stepping into the open night air, the girl smiled inwardly as she set both her feet on the smooth pavement of Pepys Street.

“This way,” she whispered.

The two sprinted down the street to the villa/hotel entrance without taking note of the absolute deserted state of the area. Syena was surprised that there was no attendant at the front door, but she was also grateful to not have to stop and explain her appearance. The girl burst through our door and instantly found herself pinned to the floor with her arms crossed tightly behind her back, while her leg was being pulled up to meet the back of her head. Iggy ran in after her to tackle the assailant, but found himself pinned to the threshold by his throat.

The boy hollered and attempted to raise all hell, well Syena evidently seethed inwardly at the thought of her family being held prisoners to these treacherous/unrelenting variants. I seek no praise in saying that had I not seen by the sliver of light coming from the hall into the dark room that it was Syena pinned to the floor, I think both parties would have silently slaughtered one another.

“Granita stop, please see,” I begged. “It is our darling Syena you have captured.”

Upon hearing my voice both the girl and her mother softened only for Granita to ensnare Syena and an even tighter hold.

“My jewel,” she wept dryly/wailed. “How on Earth? I should have never doubted you were all right, but when your brothers did not return, and now your father is out there too.”

“Yes, I’m all right mother,” Syena insisted. “But what’s going on? Why would father be out looking for us, let alone Gray and Phit?”

Her mother could only hiccup fragments of an answer to the girl’s questions that not even I who knew she intended to say could make out, so I began to explain to the girl and her captured friend what had passed in the last hour. Since the children had journeyed through the underground to reach us at Trinity Square they had the small fortune of missing news of the sudden attacks on Stonies throughout London, which had been underway for the last hour.

Her brothers had left us at a quarter past eleven to go retrieve her from the Cerebran research towers, but as the great clock tower sounded the passing of the hour the rest of us cheered for another year our beloved girl had been with us. It wasn’t until another hour had passed that we were aware of any trouble.

Dozens of Bolts and Dragoons were roaming through the streets with several Shamans, rounding up any Elders in the area and attacking any Stonies who got in their way. We could hear the screams from here and watched as they came into the hotel. Basal and Gabbro had decided to go downstairs and stall them while Granita would sneak me out to safety, but as they crept toward the stairway they saw that the rogue Incantare were already interrogating the Minor clerk. Poor things those Minor children, their steadfast honesty often causes them more harm than it ever seems to help.

Luckily, the Minor’s Shaman mother was amongst the infantry and saw that her daughter was struggling with her inability to speak anything apart from the truth and not wishing to cause harm to others. She spoke on behalf of the female Minor claiming that the child had informed her just that morning the hotel hadn’t received any business from the attendants to the king’s sendoff. The Sham insisted that she escort her daughter home before continuing to assist in the hunt, but the other three Shamans who had just arrived insisted that the Minor be placed with her father in the arsonal as they escorted the girl outside.

From the room I could hear the Sham mother’s screams and protests that they release her daughter to her care, but I imagine that in seeing just how attached the female was to her child only deepened her coconspirators resolve to keep the two apart. I peeked out of our window to see the Dragoons dragging the mother away as the other Shamans led the female Minor to a waiting arsonal. With the hotel lobby empty, Syena’s father sent Gabbro back up to the room then left once the street had cleared of all remaining Incantare.

“Oi,” choked Iggy still hanging against the wall where Gabbro held him.

“Oh Grand Gab that’s my friend, Iggy,” explained Syena. “If it wasn’t for him, I might not have made it back.”

She retold us her story about the explosion at the lab, the treacherous Stonie males and their own encounter with the revolting Incantare. Syena did not fail to highlight that Iggy had been by her side throughout most of her ordeal, to which Granita finally released her hold on the girl and captured the boy in her vice-like arms. At first the young Stonie wriggled about, making a fuss over being held in such a way, but seeing as the Stonie mother had no intention of releasing him he resolved to endure the embrace. I distinctly remember the boy leaning his head into the mother’s grasp for a moment before a second interruption came to us that night.

“Granita, Gabbro, is everyone all right?” a soft voice sounded from the doorway.

With the room still dark, I could only see the silhouettes of a female standing next to the male who had evidently spoken to us. Granita had released her hold of Iggy and was the first to recognize Grand Duke Elder Caleb standing at the threshold.

“Caleb?” she asked. “What are you…How did you?”

“Basal,” Caleb offered. “I’ll explain more on the way, but we must hurry. He gave me strict orders to make sure that I got you all to safety, and I do not intend to cross him.”

Granita began to protest the keeping of secrets from her, but agreed that it would be best to get myself and the children safely out of the mounting warzone. Upon closer observation, I saw that the female standing watch by the door appeared to be a Cerulean but I at first dispelled the thought as she was, as I mentioned, standing firmly on two legs without a water bucket in sight. Instead the female had wrapped her limbs in some sort of clay, which seemed to be holding her ever so slightly above the floor. Her hair was also not that stringy, but orderly tentacle-like fashion of other Ceruleans but instead a sort of straggly seaweed-colored mess of knots and braids.

She possessed the same wide mouth that was common for those of her variant, but her nose was not the same flattened snout with diagonal slits as theirs but far more pronounced much like an air-breather’s nose. And then there was her skin, which was this odd shade of beige that resembled beach sand, but still with a tinge of that dusky shade of blue that those seafarers possess. Honestly, the female was a sight to see, but in the midst of making our escape I could not engage her in a conversation about which sea she hailed from where Ceruleans bore such bizarre appearances.

As we left the room, Gabbro took the lead checking each corner before our group proceeded. Granita guarded the rear where Caleb and I being the slowest followed. We had made it through the square unnoticed but the sound of boltine propellers rang through the air all around that Aero Needle, so rather than head straight to the river we had to duck into the old tower park before we could make our way to the docks at St. Katharine’s.