Red

  Red slowly got to his feet. The guard kept the stunner pointed at him. “Reggie, do you mind? I am about tapped out.”

  The guards crumpled to the ground from some hidden attack Reggie performed with very little movement. Impressive. He would have to ask him about that.

  Reggie picked up the stunners and handed one to Red, along with Rubermort, which Red sheathed. “In case you need to be useful. Now go get a juice or something while I get our transportation sorted.”

  Were they going to take an airship? What about the trail to the south? First, he needed those calories. After a quick rummage through the tiny gift shop, he found some cookies and a few bottles of palm juice. He tossed a few coins at the shopkeeper. “Keep the change.” No need to screw over the innocents after all.

  “Come on.” Reggie said from the back corner of the port as he climbed a ladder up through an open hatch. On top of the building a small green airship with a green belly and long tail shaped like a bird in flight waited for them. It was the spitting image of a quetzal, a bird native to Mexico which was where most of the empire existed under.

  Red paused at the top of the ladder as Reggie tossed his bag into the red belly of the quetzal. The wind outside thrashed in all directions. With all the dust in the air he couldn’t see more than a stone’s throw. They had obviously been not able to stop the tornado, and it wouldn’t stop for a good hour on its own. “I thought you said they would be grounding the airships. Should we be flying through this? And can you even fly this thing?”

  Reggie tilted his head. “I saw someone do it once. Landing will be more challenging.

  Reggie climbed into the narrow body of the bird’s body and sat in the pilot’s chair.

  What other choice did they have? Red climbed in and closed the small door shut behind him. The cramped cabin had a small bench, with no seatbelts, positioned behind the pilot. Other than a small porthole on either side and rear facing, the passenger space was empty.

  Reggie fired up the controls and the quetzal’s wings lit up fluorescent green and thrummed so loud Reggie had to yell, “This is a scout vehicle that runs purely on ESH. So don’t do any magic while in flight or we might go down.” He moved a joystick left and right as if testing it. “The good news is we are faster than just about anything out here.”

  Red was afraid to ask but he had to know. “And the bad news?”

  “No weapons.”

  The quetzal lurched upwards leaving the building behind in a dusty blur. The craft resisted the fury of the wind and within moments they had cleared the cyclone behind them. From a distance the tornado wasn’t as impressive as it was up close. It was smaller than the building and only half its height. But as Reggie had said, air traffic had been halted, and they flew uncontested. Within a few minutes they had cleared the city and raced down a narrow tunnel.

  Red opened the resin bottle of palm juice and took a gulp. Its sweet flavor reminded him of a watered down pina colada. Quite refreshing. After finishing the rest of his juice, he started rummaging through Reggie’s bag. When they were first approached by the jaguars, one of them had had a device in his hand and immediately stowed it when they confronted them. Was it a tracking device? If so, whatever the device was tracking, had to be here somewhere. The noise of the wings would be enough cover to his snooping. He found clothes, a small book, a toiletries bag, pen light, a pill bottle, a sleeping bag, cell phone backup battery, a misting bottle, the centipede eggs, a pair of ESH goggles, and two small bags. One filled with a pile of USB sticks, while curious, didn’t seem suspicious. The other bag was filled with enough ESH money to buy a small island and be forgotten. Even the toiletry bag held nothing out of the ordinary. Then again, what would a tracking device even look like? Would he be able to spot it? Maybe Reggie had it on his person. Time to find out.

  Red pulled the stunner out of his pocket and pointed it at Reggie and yelled over the thrum of the engines, “Why did the Jaguars find us so easily?”

  After a conspicuously long pause Reggie said, “I was going to ask you the same question.”

  Was he trying to throw him off the scent? “Reggie, you know this place better than me. That was your entry point. Do they have tech to track a couple mages wandering in?”

  “No. So I must ask. Are you carrying a tracking device? Because now would be the time to let me know.”

  “Funny that.” Red put the barrel of the stunner to Reggie’s neck. “I was just about to ask you the same thing. And while we are at it, why did you have to come with me?”

  “Oh, come off it Red!” Reggie roared. “Why would I drag your carcass all the way down here, through the hive of centipedes, just to get you killed now? How many times could I have turned you over?”

  Fuck. He was right. All Reggie had to do at just about any time was stand up and yell there he is, get him. But still there were gaps that needed filling. “Then why did you explain our escape plan in front of the old lady in the elevator?”

  Reggie shook his head. “How have you survived so long being this dumb? I said I knew a path south, right?”

  “Yeah, so?”

  Reggie pointed to the compass in the dashboard. The compass indicated they were heading east.

  A hollowness swallowed Red from the inside. He should have known. Reggie was a lot of things, but he wasn’t a traitor. Through everything, he always knew where Reggie stood. He wouldn’t turn Red over the Cuāuhtli Empire. Damn.

  “Fine.” Red holstered the stunner. “Sorry about that.”

  Reggie yelled back. “I’m sorry I couldn’t hear you eating shit properly over the engines. You’re going to have to say that louder.”

  Red swallowed, he didn’t want to say it, but he owed Reggie an apology and the quicker he said it, the less annoying Reggie would be about it. “I’m sorry. Okay. Happy?

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  “You know Red, I have known you longer than anyone else. And I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that I am pretty sure I am one of the only people on this planet who currently give a rat’s ass if you live or die. So maybe, just fucking maybe, you should be a little more appreciative of me.”

  Fucking Reggie and his truth bombs. A sickly unnatural sensation grew inside Red. He was starting actually like Reggie. It was so wrong, better to fix it as soon as he could. If he didn’t have his hate for Reggie, what did he have? “You’re right. I’m sorry and, go fuck yourself. Is that better?”

  Reggie mumbled under the sound of the engine. Keeping Reggie at a distance was so much better, so much more familiar. He could work with that. It was now time to focus on the problem at hand. How were they being tracked? How would it be even possible? No one else had access to his things. But still, better to check to be certain. He dug around tossing the contents out of his bag until his finger brushed against a smooth marble. He hadn’t packed anything like that. It had a cross hatch etched into it. He gave it a squeeze, and it responded with a low pulse of ESH. He knew exactly what that was, Loquentes Lapis, an ancient talking stone. Great for long range communications before radio and cellphones and practically unlimited range. They were extremely difficult to craft and only precious few remained. The only ones he knew of were kept safely in the Vault.

  Fucking Karen.

  This didn’t make sense. Sure, she was a right bitch and a curmudgeon and the most ornery piece of shit Red ever had the displeasure of knowing, but she loved Lisa. She would never jeopardize helping Lisa. Were these orders from Mistress Kreeg? Something larger was at play and Red was only a game piece and not a player.

  That was about to change.

  Red held the Loquentes Lapis where Reggie could see it. “If you didn’t plant this on me, then it had to have been Karen.”

  Reggie let out a disgusted grunt. “Why? It doesn’t make any sense. Why would she jeopardize the mission? Surely, she wants us to get the Root and save her daughter.”

  “Something else must be going on beyond what we know.”

  “Not good.” Reggie grunted. “You better destroy it.”

  “Or…” Red glanced around the cabin. “Could you find a canal going anywhere but where we are going?”

  Reggie ran his fingers along a map mounted to the cockpit and turned the airship. They dove down a corridor and to the right. “Five minutes, we’ll pass the Neuces canal. It heads south.”

  “That’ll work. Now I just need to find something that floats.” Then it hit him. “I have an idea, but it will require a small sacrifice on your part.”

  “What?”

  “Give me a minute.” Red dug through Reggie’s gear and pulled his small tube of moisturizer out and twisted the cap off. He flipped open the starboard side window and held the tube outside the airship. He squeezed it until empty. He warmed his finger with ESH and melted a small whole in the side of the tube. The hum of the engines started to flutter.

  “What are you doing?” Reggie barked as the airship started to rock and bob.

  “Almost done.” Red called back and shoved the marble-sized tracking device into the tube, then sealed the tube with his finger. The airship bumped repeatedly but settled as soon as he stopped.

  Red blew air into the tip of the tube causing it to inflate and capped it. “We now have a floating tracking device.”

  Once over the canal he dropped the tube and they resumed their course Northward.

  Red started to stow the gear again. “Okay, time to spill the beans. Where are we going?”

  Reggie adjusted the flight path and yelled, “So how did you make it float?”

  “I used your tube of moisturizer.”

  “You did what?” Reggie yelled.

  “It was just a small tube.”

  “Do you know how expensive that shit is?” Reggie twisted his neck as if working out a knot in his shoulders. “I swear Red, you are hard to be around. You could have used literally anything else.”

  “I needed a tube.”

  “Yeah, like fucking toothpaste you stupid shit. I didn’t see you bother to use your own. Hell, you probably didn’t bring any. You’ve been single for so long, I’d be surprised if you even bathe regularly. All I’m saying is if we ever do free Lisa, you’re going to have to work on your hygiene.”

  Red lifted an arm. He had the funk. But they both did, they’d been climbing through caves, fighting centipedes, setting off tornadoes, and stealing airships. Screw Reggie. But it was better to keep him appeased. He wasn’t wrong in what he said. “Fine, I’ll buy you some new moisturizer when we get back. Now tell me what you know.”

  Reggie turned around to face Red. “You better.” He then turned back to focus on not crashing into a tunnel wall. “God you’re such an ass. Her name is Francisca Zapata. She’s the crime boss or rebel, depending on your politics. She’s based in the more sparsely populated section of the empire in the north. If anyone up north was going to drop a house, it was her, which probably means she has the Root and the Harper kids. She’s based out of Galveztown, and yes, it is named after the same city located topside, Galveston. Fun fact; that was Galveston’s original name. It was named after…”

  Red tuned Reggie out, easing himself back into as comfortable a position as he could manage. With the adrenaline fading from lack of jaguars, tornadoes, or a tracking device to deal with, the ache of partially healed centipede bite in his right shoulder greeted him. Even with that, exhaustion took its course, and he fell asleep, only to be woken by the sudden jolt of airship scraping against something.

  The airship bounced into the air. Red and the contents of the cabin floated freely for an instant before slamming down again. A jerk right sent Red smashing his left shoulder first into the wall and then the pilot’s seat like a rag doll.

  Everything stopped.

  Red barked, “What the hell? Are you trying to kill us?”

  “I told you to buckle up,” Reggie said removing his seatbelt.

  Red’s head and the bite wound in his right shoulder throbbed, but he was alive and in one piece. “I was asleep.”

  “Whatever. Get your lanky ass out the plane. Daddy needs a shower, a proper meal, and a bed.”

  Red rubbed his eyes trying to clear the fog from his brain. As he slowly collected his gear to get out of the airship, he realized they were, somehow, in a green patch surrounded by tall bushes and plants covered by flowers. The smashed door of the airship creaked open, and Red climbed out into a wonderous clearing in a forest. “Where the hell are we? Did you fly us topside?” That was a stupid question. Of course there were still underground. His brain wasn’t braining just yet.

  “No, don’t be ridiculous. I ditched us into the closest O2 garden near Galveztown. A klick to town and its hello Hotel Esplendido.”

  A hotel? They needed to focus on the problem at hand, not live it up. They had to find everyone and get out. “We don’t have time for that. We need to find Zapata.”

  Reggie climbed out of the airship with his bag and marched up to Red. “You,” he said, putting a hand on Red’s shoulder. “…can do whatever the fuck you want. But some of us didn’t take a beauty nap in the back of the plane. It’s been almost three days since I have had anything more than an uncomfortable nap on a pile of rocks in a cave. I’ve eaten nothing but nuts and dried fruit and a bottle of palm juice. So, my ass is going to get a hotel. If you want to go snooping around, be my guest. You’ll know where to find me.”

  Red took the hand off his shoulder like it was disease-ridden. “Fine. Lead the way.”

  After a few minutes of hiking through the green space, magical hummingbirds started to flit around the pair. Two mages loaded with magic was too much to resist for birds attracted to ESH. Reggie pulled a couple cloaks out of his bag. Once they donned them, the birds, for the most part, ignored them. Red had to hand it to Reggie, he was prepared.

  Galveztown was like a Victorian era construction masterpiece come to life. It was much smaller than the capital and its dome didn’t have an ESH based daytime effect. Curved rib cages arranged radially climbed the low dome to the top where a central large light source glowed. Additional points of light spread out across the framework and simulated a daytime effect while casting random shadows on the structures below, odd but effective.

  After a brief march into town, they found the hotel. Once Red had had a proper shower and room service, he flopped into his bed. It was like everything soft and wonderful in the world now cradled his aching body. He closed his eyes, and all the world ceased to exist for what felt like a beautiful eternity.