[The Gunslingers, Book II, Chapter 8] [Flight of the Sparrow] Cora slumped in her chair and listened to the instructor drone on about something she wasn’t paying attention to; something about Imperial History or maybe he was giving them the recipe for Bolognese spaghetti sauce, she didn’t know or care. Three months now since the trial and no word where they had taken Colt and his team. Duke had been volunteering his team in the Com-Center, but hadn’t picked up any news worth hearing. West was helping too by spending time at the Admission Office. He hadn’t heard anything about Colt yet, but there was other disturbing news from all across the Tri-Alliance and the Empire. The most disturbing was that Gunslinger teams were being ambushed and killed all across the Empire by Raven assassination teams; the Cold War with the Ravens had turned hot and some were calling it the Shadow War. The bell rang and Cora rushed to the cluster of benches in the center of the camp where the students liked to hang out at. West and Duke were already waiting. “Anything?” asked Cora. “Not about Colt,” replied West. “But another team was killed last night.” “The Council sacrificed Colt for nothing,” Cora said disgusted. “I know,” said Duke. “You just don’t put your best horse down before the race.” Wesley walked up to the three and stood silently waiting for someone to say something. Cora broke down first and nearly spit at him. “What do you want!” shouted Cora. “I’m sorry, I want to help,” said Wesley. “You hate Colt,” replied Duke. “That is true,” admitted Wesley. “But if they will sacrifice their best, what would they do to any of us, I want to help.” “Get lost, creep,” said Cora. “No, wait,” interrupted West. “He admitted Colt is the best. So, does that mean you’re over what happened during Phase 1 when he beat you up?” “I accept it,” confessed Wesley. “I don’t like it, but… yea, let me help.” “Okay, you can help me at the Com-Center listening for news,” said Duke. “Meet me there after classes and you can take tonight’s shift, I have got to get some range time in.” *** Jack soared over the ocean waves and searched the horizon for any signs of land. The wind and ocean spray against his face was exhilarating and he could feel the power of his wings on the wind. There has got to be some land on this planet somewhere, thought Jack, the prison island couldn’t be the only island. His mind wandered and he daydreamed as he flew. He imagined he was chasing dangerous prey and would swoop down to the water and let that primordial part of his brain pretend he was a great predator. Jack laughed as he cupped his hands and splashed at the water. This was how his ancestors had felt, pure, free, and connected to the world around them. Oh, if only all Daraians could have wings, well… maybe… maybe not the Ravens. No, I won’t give the Ravens any wings; Jack grinned at the thought of flying over the Ravens as they walked on the ground and shook their fists in frustration at the mighty winged Sparrows above them. And maybe not the Hawks either, thought Jack laughing; let the Hawks walk too, but maybe the Thrushes can have wings though, they had always been good Allies. “Oh crap!” Jack beat his wings and banked hard. He hadn’t been paying attention and grazed past the sailing mast of a fishing schooner. “Where did that come from?” Jack banked around hoping nobody had seen him but it was too late, the crew of the ship was looking up at him; it’s okay, thought Jack cursing at himself, they don’t know I’m an escaped prisoner. “Well, might as well, nothing to lose now.” Jack glided down to the deck of the ship and landed lightly. The crew stared at him unsure of what to think of the winged creature that had just invaded their ship. “Howdy,” Jack said pleasantly. “I don’t suppose you know which way the nearest island is?” An older man with a white beard stepped forward from the group of sailors and pointed in a northerly direction. Well, at least they understand Imperial, but this is an Ocean world and they are not amphibian. I wonder how many off-worlders fish on this planet. “Mighty obliged, Sir,” said Jack. Jack jumped up on the railing, spread his wings, and leaped into the air. *** Ben sat in his cave looking at all the pieces of his life and… sneezed. He snuffled his nose and wiped across his face with his arm. Colt had told him it sounded like he was getting a cold… but, he never got colds, why now. The cave was comfortable; he had rebuilt his bed several times as he out-grew the old one. He had long since taken out the other beds that had been his Becka’s and his mother’s; they were gone and looking at the empty beds was too painful. Ben sat on the ground and used a piece of charcoal to add another drawing to the wall. The walls were covered in drawings; added a little at a time since he had been very little. “May I come in?” asked a voice. Ben looked up and Garth was standing in the entrance. He liked the giant; the giant looked scary but was really friendly. “How would I stop you?” Ben asked a little confused. “You haven’t had other people around to learn from,” said Garth. “But a person never enters another’s lodge without permission.” Ben wasn’t sure what exactly a lodge was, probably just another name for a cave. “You can come in,” replied Ben. The giant entered the cave and looked around, Ben was sure this giant didn’t miss much, his eyes were analyzing everything. “Did you draw these?” asked Garth. Ben jumped up, he hadn’t ever had anyone to show his drawings to except his mother and Becka, and Will, but Will died a long time ago and Ben barely remembered him. “Do you like them?” asked Ben. Garth inspected the drawings, there seemed to be dates next to most of them, and… Garth looked closely at one of the drawings. “Ben, what is this?” asked Garth. “That’s when the sea monsters came,” Ben said pointing at several drawings of humanoids that bore a resemblance to Toran. “But it’s been a long time since they been here. I hide when they come.” “I thought you didn’t know what one looked like?” said Garth. “I hide, I’ve never seen them. I hear them in the forest and I go to the other cave and hide.” “I see, so you drew these from the way your mother described them?” “Yea, I guess.” Garth pieced it together in moments, his mother was afraid the guards would come and take her baby away. So, she instilled the fear of the sea monsters in him to protect him. Garth had to wonder how many times Ben had passed up being rescued because of a mothers love. She probably hadn’t meant harm; she had done what any mother would have done. “These dates, are you sure they are accurate?” asked Garth. “I can count and do math, I’m not stupid.” “I didn’t mean to imply you were, but if I’m reading this right, you are fourteen years old and your parents arrived one-hundred fifty years ago.” “Yea,” Ben sneezed and wiped his nose. “Ben, there is only one species of people that can live that long,” said Garth. “Your skin is much lighter than most Cormons, what color skin did your mother have?” “The color of the sand on the beach,” replied Ben. “Your father was Cormon and your mother was Kitsune?” guessed Garth. Ben gave Garth a wry look. “I know,” said Ben. “I’m not dumb; Becka told me everything before she died.” “Then you know what this island is?” asked Garth. “Yes, it’s my home,” said Ben. “Ben, why were your parents sentenced to this island?” asked Garth. Ben’s eyes flashed for a moment and a shadow crossed his face but he remained silent. “I see,” said Garth. “They were innocent?” “No,” Ben said softly. “Becka said they were guilty.” “Ben, you are part of our team now,” said Garth. “If you want revenge for a legitimate injury, we will help you, but you will have to talk to us.” Ben dropped his head and kept his thoughts to himself. “You said Becka told you that you could not stay on this island,” Garth placed a hand on Ben’s shoulder. “Take whatever you want, but it’s time to go down to the beach with the others and wait for Jack to get back.” Ben sneezed; he was definitely catching a cold. *** Wes stepped off the military transport and onto Cietan Island, this was not at all what he was expecting; the island was a major metropolis of tall spiral sky scrappers against the skyline. “Welcome, Justice of the Peace,” a tall amphibian approached and held out a hand. “Assistant Justice of the Peace,” corrected Wes. “Of course, Sir,” the amphibian shook Wes’s hand, it felt a bit like shaking a wet fish. “We don’t exactly have a Justice of the Peace right now, but that’s not a problem, we are so excited to have a real Gunslinger; I’m Urai.” “Pleased to meet you, Urai,” said Wes following the strange amphibian through the terminal.” “Well, you’ll probably want to get right on patrol and get a feel for the city.” “Huh? I’m a Justice of the Peace, you know, minor civil cases and such.” “Oh… no, Sir,” said Urai. “Justice of the Peace here is much more.” Wes understood, they were referring to a much older definition of a Justice of the Peace where the Justice was also a law enforcement officer. Well, it made more sense now why they wanted a Gunslinger. “How many Officers do I have?” asked Wes stepping through the doors of the terminal and onto the busy city street. “Including me?” said Urai. “Hmm.. one.” “What! This must be a city of at least a million residents, how can there only be two police officers?” “More like two million residents, Sir.” “Where is the police force?” “Nobody will take the job, too dangerous.” Wes saw a scuffle out of the corner of his eye and turned to look. A group of four men, Wes really couldn’t tell what planet they were from, had a News Stand shopkeeper against the wall and were emptying his cash register. “Excuse me a moment,” Wes held a hand up to Urai to stop him talking and headed for the bold daytime robbery. Wes stopped and stared at the four robbers; they didn’t even bother to stop what they were doing or even glance at him. “What’s going on here?” demanded Wes. “Mind your own business, scrub, or else,” the man slapping the shopkeeper around looked at Wes for a brief second and went back to harassing the owner of the News Stand. Wes didn’t hesitate; he hit the robber hard enough to drop him on the ground unconscious. “You’re dead,” one of the other robbers threatened, turning to Wes. “Yea, I’ve been dead before,” said Wes. The robbers rushed at him and Wes drew his sidearm faster than any of the men had ever seen before; the gun seemed to just materialize in his hand and the one of the men fell to the ground, blood quickly pooling around him. “Do you know who we work for?” the men stopped and sneered. “Should I care?” asked Wes. “We work for Boss Needle,” said the one that might have been in charge, as if that explained everything. Wes laughed. “Seriously, Boss Needle, that’s a cute name, and where do I find this Boss of embroidery?” “He’ll find you,” the man’s face was red with anger. “If I have to repeat my question, I’ll shoot you,” said Wes. “His headquarters is in the Needle Tower,” said Urai tentatively approaching the scene. “My name is Gunslinger Weston Cain, Justice of the Peace,” Wes said irritated that Urai interfered. “You go tell your boss to be off my planet by sunset or I’ll throw him off the Needle building.” The anger drained from the man’s face and he turned pale. “Gunslinger?” stuttered the man. Keeping his gun pointed at the two thugs in the News Stand, Wes reached down and grabbed the unconscious man and dragged him over to the curb where a bus was picking up passengers. “Gimme some handcuffs,” Wes ordered Urai. Urai produced a set of rusted handcuffs and then watched in horror as the Gunslinger handcuffed the man to the rear bumper of the bus. Judge Cietan had warned him what it would be like once a Gunslinger was let loose in the city; this was far worse than anything he imagined. Urai bent over and threw up as the bus pulled away from the curb. “I reckon’ if you two run fast enough, you might be able to save your friend,” said Wes. “Don’t really care either way. A wet spot appeared on the front of one of the men’s trouser and they just stood watching the bus drag their comrade down the road. “Go now!” shouted Wes. The men ran. Wes bent over and whispered in Urai’s ear. “No police force, over-population, off-worlder gangs over-running the city, I know now why Judge Cietan spent so much effort to get a Gunslinger. Wes took a newspaper from the News Stand and tucked it under his arm. “How much?” asked Wes. “Free for you, Gunslinger,” said the Shopkeeper. “If any of the deputies I hire ever try to take something without paying, you better let me know,” scolded Wes. “Urai, pay the man, I’m going to walk around a bit to get the lay of the land. Catch up with me if you decide to grow some leather.” Wes left Urai standing there turning pale and trying not to throw up while the shopkeeper grabbed a newspaper and turned to page twelve - a news article he read earlier; there it was, an angel was spotted landing on a fishing boat earlier this morning. The fishing boat Captain claimed the angel heralded the arrival of the Angel of Death to bring Justice to the wicked. The shopkeeper watched the Gunslinger walk away, his duster billowing lightly in the morning breeze and a halo of light from the morning sun glowing around him. “It’s true,” whispered the shopkeeper looking down at the body of the man the Gunslinger had killed. “The Angel of Death has arrived.” *** Jack saw more and more ships the closer to the mystery island he got and even passed a cruise ship at one point; the passengers on the deck waved at him and he waved back. The ocean was full now of every manner of ship from what might have been military vessels to pleasure yachts. The plan to be stealthy about this wasn’t going to work. “Holy Ancestors,” Jack exclaimed seeing the city skyline on the horizon. “What is that, did I find the biggest island on this planet?” Jack flew low over the harbor full of fishing vessels, there was no time to search for another island, he needed a Dart Ship now. The streets were already teeming with people on their way to work, or where ever it was they were going to. Everyone stopped and watched the winged creature fly over the city. “This is bad,” said Jack to himself, “and I don’t see any Dart Ships anywhere.” People were waving at Jack, and some just pointed, and there were more than a few falling on their knees and clasping their hands together in silent prayer to whatever God they worshiped. Jack flew through the streets hoping to find something; it didn’t even need to be a Dart Ship. He was too visible and causing too much panic in the streets below, he needed to hurry. “Okay, it worked before, lets try again,” said Jack pulling his wings in and floating gracefully to the ground. The crowds gathered around him, reaching their arms out to touch him. “Excuse me, does anyone know where the spaceport is?” asked Jack. Nobody answered and the crowds started pressing in harder, and Jack could swear the crowd was chanting… “The Herald Angel… The Herald Angel…” *** Wes wandered the streets; it was actually pleasant to be in a city again. He was from the mountains and didn’t make it to town very often, but the last year during Phase 1 he hadn’t even been able to do that. Well, except for the visit to Sanon Town, and that hadn’t gone well. The shops were already open and people bustled around conducting their business. People would stop and stare at him, but then, he was dressed a bit out of fashion for this city. Several times shopkeepers came out of their stores to greet him after seeing the Justice of the Peace badge on his duster. The city didn’t seem too bad, he could get used to this. Wes did notice groups of men congregated on corners gambling, and women waving at passing ground vehicles. Wes didn’t need much imagination to figure out there was work to be done here to clean the city up, but still… the City didn’t seem too bad. He stopped at a cafe thinking to get some breakfast and realized he didn’t have any money. Wes looked around for Urai and wondered if his assistant would show up or quit and run away. Didn’t matter, thought Wes, Urai didn’t really look like he was going to be useful for anything anyway. Wes saw some people running, and then more until whole crowds were running. “What now?” said Wes. “Guess I better go see what’s going on.” *** Jack was scared now, the crowds were too thick and he couldn’t get his wings open to take off, he was going to get trampled if he didn’t do something now. Jack’s reached for his sidearm; he was going to have to… A loud explosion startled the crowd, and then another… gunshots? Jack looked for the source of the shooting and then a young man pushed through the crowds and… “Oh Ancestors save me… Wes?” whispered Jack. “Jack?” Wes stopped and stared at his friend. “You’re dead,” said Jack. The crowds surged backwards and Jack could clearly hear the shouts from the people. “The Herald said he’s dead…” “Death himself…” “It’s the Justice of the Peace… I read he died and came back to life to pass judgment on Pyra…” “The Angel of Death…” “He’s upon us…” “Judgment day…” “Save us…” Panic gripped the crowd and what had been a curiosity turned into a full panicked retreat from the two Angels that had arrived to bring Armageddon and Judgment upon the, arguably, most wicked city on Pyra, if not the Empire itself. Wes knew things were spiraling out of control fast and grabbed Jack’s arm. “We gotta get out of the middle of the street, now!” shouted Wes. Wes pulled Jack along and found an ally to dart down. “How are you alive?” said Jack. “Your eyes, what happed to your eyes?” Wes pulled Jack behind a dumpster to get them out of sight. “Jack, it’s a long story,” said Wes. “There’s no time, you can’t be here, if they see me with you…” “No,” interrupted Jack. “Tell me what’s going on.” “Look, the simple story is I drowned, the Pyrans saved me by turning me into a fish,” Wes showed Jack the gill flaps and… Jack fell down on the ground roaring in laughter and rolling around. “Let me know when you’re done,” said Wes tersely. “Fish Boy! Fish Boy!” cried Jack. “Wait until Toran hears.” “You can’t ever tell them I’m alive,” said Wes. “Why?” asked Jack wiping his eyes. “They put me on probation and let me have freedom if I serve as Justice of the Peace, I’m not a fugitive and can help clear our names, but only if the team thinks I’m dead.” “That’s messed up,” Jack said standing back up. “I know, but you must keep the secret,” said Wes. “We can talk through our wrist implants later, but you can’t let anyone know.” “You know our implants were deactivated,” said Jack. “Give me your arm,” said Wes. “I’m a law enforcement officer, mine was turned back on.” Wes reactivated Jack’s implant, the same implant every citizen of the Empire was given at birth and most just used as the Com-link function. “I need a ship, Wes,” said Jack. “Colt wants to get off the island so we can start figuring out who set us up, that’s why I’m here.” “I just got here myself,” said Wes. “I can’t get you into the spaceport, but I some Roach Coach’s loading up a few streets back.” “You’re kidding?” said Jack. “Those things are slow, most don’t even have light drives, their only for getting fast junk food into orbit for crews of ships that can’t land on a planet.” “No choice,” said Wes. “Let’s go.” The two friends made there way as unobserved as possible back to where Wes had seen the small ships. Wes tried to fill Jack in as much as he could and Jack gave Wes the short version of everything that happened on the island. “Here they are,” said Wes. “This one doesn’t have a light drive,” said Jack. “This one neither…” “There’s a little bigger one over here.” “Yea, that’s a light drive, but a really slow one, it will take a month to get to the next nearest planet.” “You’ll have plenty of food,” said Wes. “Ha ha, very funny,” replied Jack. “Jack, you have to go now,” said Wes. “I wish we had more time.” “Wes, you are coming back to the team, aren’t you?” asked Jack. “Of course, I was forced into doing this,” said Wes. “I’m coming back when this is all over.” Jack crawled into the ship, the command key was missing, but Jack was a Daraian and it would be a very poor Daraian that couldn’t hot-wire such a low-end ship. “Remember, you can’t tell anyone I’m alive,” Wes reminded his team-mate as he closed the hatch. Jack lifted off and sped away. Wes slipped out of the ally, the city was still in a panic and he guessed it would be a long day, time to get to work.