Reka's Point of View
Brad must be so worried, Reka seethed in her cell. She sat on her prison cot crossing and uncrossing her legs, a nervous habit she developed while watching television with her fiance.
The ring on her finger positively taunted her. If she had kept but a little energy in reserve then those thuggish men-at-arms would have been so much wheat before her scythe.
Would have, she thought guiltily, the words the vanquished used to reconcile with failure. Having been caught unawares rankled, profoundly so.
Thoughts of the pain her love must be experiencing dominated her mind, but also poor Julie. Her dear friend had been so terrified and distraught when the men took her. Yes, there was much to repay, and Reka was never one to leave an account unsettled.
As near as she could determine, Reka was being held at the "federal building" in downtown San Guillermo, a stronghold answering to President Blimp, the chief magistrate. Had she made such a powerful enemy? If so, it was a definite misstep to provoke him before her legions were ready.
The whole affair felt hasty, slapdash, and not at all what might be expected of a real coup, all the more embarrassing to be caught in it, she supposed. The fools had taken her phone but nothing else. Reka still had the ring and the locket, all she would need to tear the lot apart had she the magic. She did not.
With a conscious effort of will Reka forced herself out of this mental loop of what-ifs and regret. She'd been separated from Brad for hours with no idea where he was, if he was safe, if he had been taken as well. The possibility of her love being in danger concentrated her mind.
She had just enough magic to charm a guard into opening her cell. It would be ticklish from that point but it was the best idea she had. The next time someone passed by-
Elron Trask himself walked right up to the front of her cell, almost within arm's reach. Reka had to restrain herself from throttling the lout immediately.
"Enjoying the view, Reka?" he asked smugly.
Mental images of her old dungeons tormented her with the most enticing possibilities. She could imagine a dozen ways to give this one a slow and painful death.
Schooling her features, Reka opted for polite indifference. "The accommodations are not what they might be, I fear."
Trask looked at her, nonplussed. "You've been in this country how long? Americans don't talk like that, Reka."
She had to tamp down on another flash of rage. Brad loved the way she spoke, found it charming, he said. But of course this was how a bard would think: sing to your victim in his own manner of speech, the better to gull him. Reka would not be gulled!
"Then let us speak plainly, Mr. Trask. What precisely did you mean by seizing my person in this manner? And under whose authority?"
Trask's eyes lit up in merriment. Reka had his measure, and his type loved to gloat.
"Oh, it was very easy," he said condescendingly. "I've made all kinds of deals with the regulators, got to make sure American tech is cutting edge and competitive, you know. I get huge tax credits and subsidies just so long as I scratch the right backs. You haven't been doing that, Reka. You've been keeping your secrets all to yourself. It was a simple matter to get the Department of Commerce to declare your technology a threat to national security. Nobody understands it but you, after all. That idiot Blimp signed the order without even reading it. It pays to have friends in high places."
Ah, so the chief magistrate is not actively against me, Reka observed with some relief, but some corrupt vizier or other was intriguing against her at Trask's behest. That would be a difficult viper to rout out, but not insurmountable.
Remembering a television program she watched with Brad, Reka asked a question. "If this is a matter for the courts, am I not entitled to legal counsel?"
Trask laughed uproariously. "You're a fucking foreigner, Reka! You think the Blimp administration gives a fuck about your rights? You have no rights. You're a threat to national security because they said so, and they said so because I told them to. You should've married that loser boyfriend of yours sooner."
Reka's eyes flashed. Her senses heightened; every beat of Trask's heart was an offense against her. It would be so easy, just reach out and flick her wrist...she didn't need magic to do that...
Some animal instinct in the bard warned him to step back out of arm's reach. The fellow was no fool, and had a strong sense of self-preservation, it seemed.
"Psycho bitch," he muttered. Taking out a contract from his coat pocket, he continued his little speech. "We can still make a deal, you know. Just sell me the process you use to finish the fusion crystals and you'll have more money than you could ever spend. I don't know what Stavros has been paying you but I'll double it, enough money to take Brett back home to Hungary and live in luxury for the rest of your lives. Think about it."
He placed the contract on the ground and slid it towards her with his foot.
"His name is Brad!" Reka snarled, fully intending to rip apart the contract in front of him. Something stayed her hand, though, some incongruous movement on Trask's trouser leg.
Elron was oblivious, of course, turning and fleeing before she could say another word.
There, perched on the contract Trask left, was a beetle the size of a child's fist.
"Your grace," it said.
"Galiban!" she cried happily. "Is Brad safe?"
"Alice brought him safe and whole to our last redoubt, my queen."
The monk would have to be rewarded handsomely, Reka noted for later, though she didn't quite follow. "Our last redoubt?"
"This Galiban," the beetle explained, "anticipated a day such as this might arrive, and prepared against it."
On closer inspection Reka could tell the beetle was a mechanical automaton of great complexity, very lifelike. "Prepared? How?"
"A token from the king-consort's past," Galiban said with some satisfaction, "that might conduct the queen's party to a safer harbor."
Reka was puzzled for a moment before raising an eyebrow in sudden understanding. "Is it so bad as that? We must flee entirely?"
"In order to protect the king it was necessary to slay a certain number of the chief magistrate's retainers. It was unavoidable," he said regretfully.
"Now, now, none of that, my faithful servant. Starting over has a charm all its own," she said lightly. "How shall I quit this prison? My magic is passing low."
The back of the beetle opened up.
"My box!" Reka exclaimed.
She dipped her ring within and charged it well before fingering the locket at her neck.
From there it was a simple matter to conjure a bit of electromagnetic radiation to blind whatever machine might be watching. Without a need for theatricality her transformation was near instant.
Taking up Galiban's beetle in her hand Reka burst through the ceiling of the federal building and took flight on demonic wings.
*****
Alice's Point of View
"Jesus Christ!" Brad shouted in alarm. "Are those people dead?"
Alice didn't bother answering, focused as she was on getting clear of the blockade. It would be really bad if one of her tires got cut up by all that broken glass. Mercifully, it didn't happen and they were picking up speed again, the carnage shrinking in the rear view mirror.
Brad and Galiban were chattering about something or other but she tuned it out. Why a marina? Were they supposed to get away by boat? Alice supposed if they could make it to international waters they'd be okay for a bit, but then what?
The gate that barred the way to the docking space had a human guard present.
"Since we've already got a body count..." she muttered as the wheels of her Haneda Citizen screeched in protest at the rapid breaking. Alice leapt out and let the silverback take control.
One kick in the shin and a punch to the chest sent the guard stumbling into a wall where he hit has head and collapsed onto the concrete, completely still.
"Alice?" Brad asked helplessly but she was already moving to open the gate. She didn't have time to explain. A silverback always protects.
"Out of the car, Brad," she ordered. Thankfully, Reka had him trained well and he obeyed instantly.
When they took off at a run she heard her car pull away. "What the fuck?" Alice shouted angrily.
"This Galiban has taken control," the robot said through Brad's speakerphone. "Your pursuers will be misled, for a time."
Okay. Okay. That made sense. She probably wasn't getting that car back, but they had bigger problems right now.
They ran to the docks but there were no boats waiting for them. She and Brad spent a moment breathing heavily and staring into the San Ricardo bay. It looked discordantly serene after what they just experienced.
"No way," Brad said in awe as he spotted something rise from the water.
It was, it was, she didn't know what it was. Alice was really drawing a blank here.
"Come on, Alice," Brad said, taking the lead for once and showing her where and how to climb aboard the weird smooth walls of...whatever this was. He popped some kind of lid that opened outward like a soup can. "Ladies first," he said politely.
There was a ladder at least and Alice didn't need any more explanation for now. Once they were both inside Brad shut the door and sealed it with some kind of wheel that needed to be turned.
"Your grace, captain, we must prepare to dive," Galiban said, but Alice still really didn't know what was going on.
"Dive? Galiban, the San Ricardo Bay is really shallow," Brad said, sounding weirdly confident all of a sudden. "It would be better to stay on the surface until we hit open sea."
"Negative, your grace. This submarine is not nearly the size of the Seawolf class you are familiar with. It will be perfectly safe for us to operate at periscope depth on our charted path out of the bay. We must not be spotted."
Brad didn't sound convinced. "Okay, Galiban, I'll trust you. Is there a place I can plug my phone in or..."
"Another instance of Galiban is operating the ship's systems, your grace. That will not be necessary."
"You mean, we don't have to do anything? That's awesome! Alice, let me show you around. Submarines are the coolest thing ever if you aren't sleep deprived and don't have to work. So, the forward section is called the cone..."
Brad proceeded to nerd out over the ship, talking more than she'd ever known him to talk before. It was almost like he was a different person.
"Galiban, what about Reka?" Brad asked worriedly after telling her something about firefighting and oxygen.
No, same person, she thought, just a different side.
"Her grace will rendezvous with us once we reach open sea," Galiban answered confidently. "She has already escaped and is in the air."
Coming to join us in a helicopter? It had to be, right?
"And the others?" Brad asked. "Julie and Andy and..."
"All being conducted to safe houses, your grace. Relocating the whole staff will take time, though."
They experienced the subtle sensations of movement as the submarine wound through the bay. After a while it felt like they were speeding up. The engine was louder and Alice felt, not sick exactly, but unbalanced somehow.
Brad sighed. "Galiban, why is this happening?" he asked in frustration.
"Her grace has many powerful enemies, my king. In happier news, she shall be with us soon. I've just pinged another instance of myself and they're closing in as we speak."
Brad looked overjoyed. "Come on, Alice! Let's get topside!" He led her up the same ladder and popped the hatch, standing confidently on deck while he helped her up. She had a bit of trouble staying upright. Silverbacks were not aquatic creatures it seemed.
Their eyes searched the afternoon sky but the sun was in their eyes. With a bit of shock she realized the shore was already quite a distance away, barely visible on the horizon.
After some more fruitless searching Alice stilled. From six o'clock, due east, she sensed a powerful magical signature.
No...
"Get behind me, Brad!" she said urgently. Every instinct in her body screamed "danger".
Her fear compounded the closer the signature came. It felt so familiar, like it was only yesterday...
The monster herself, the Demon Queen landed right in front of them.
"But I killed you!" she screamed.
The Demon Queen tilted her head. "What are you talking about, Alice?"
The casualness of her words unnerved Alice ever more. "How do you know my name? How are you still alive? I killed you!"
"Alice," the Demon Queen said, sounding a bit more stern. "I understand you've had a difficult day but I want to see Brad. Stand aside."
"I won't let you take him!" The silverback inside roared. Her job was to protect and that's exactly what she was going to do.
Zooming forward on the wet deck, Alice launched a flurry of punches and kicks. The Demon Queen was barely fending her off, at first. Had she, perhaps, experienced a decrease in power when she came to this world? That might even the odds.
There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, no finesse, just a furious exchange of blows and counter-blows at close range. The monster fought back but...gentler somehow, like her heart wasn't in it.
Take me lightly, will you? Alice drank deep of the silverback spirit, channeling her rage into her fists. She was pushing the Demon Queen back. She could do this! She could...
Her vision swam and her clothes grew damp as she crumpled onto the deck in a heap of unsteady limbs, limbs that didn't respond to her mind's urgent plea to keep upright and keep fighting.
No, Alice was supposed to protect; Alice would not fail, but her thoroughly concussed brain couldn't hold onto any one thought for long.
"Reka," she heard Brad say softly. "Reka, is that really you?"
That couldn't be. That wasn't possible. She was knocked out and dreaming.
A shape brushed past her and disappeared into the arms of the demon. "You're still my Reka, right?"
"Always yours, my love," the Demon Queen said in a voice so soft and tender she could hardly believe it came from the throat of that monster. "Forever yours."
Alice's vision went black.