~ chapter three ~
Persephone watches from a nearby tree in the night as Orpheus and Eurydice emerge from the underworld's cavern entrance. He looks in and extends to pull her up over the high stone and into an embrace.
At their feet is two well packed back-packs, travel hats and an acoustic guitar on top of folded clothes modern 'traveler kids' may wear.
She looks down at her watch as it counts digitally '3, 2, 1' and back up to see them kiss, her smile and disappearance as a tear drops from her perch.
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In a high tree placed atop a long, low mountain range, Lucretia broods over a virtual map of the tribute armies in motion. The tree is massive and uniquely grown to support a war room with a small pool in the center of a slightly larger table, grown from the tree.
The floor is as one broad limb from the side, smoothed by foot traffic. Pillars rise around, lush with leaves and vines, all overlooking Sanctuary's armies.
Nemesis - "Hey, Lucretia."
Lucretia - With a start and growing a new vine to assimilate the information, "How ?!"
Nemesis - "It's not a good sign. If I've got freedom here it means I'll be needed here. Inevitably."
Lucretia - "So what does that mean ?"
Nemesis - "So what does that mean ?"
Lucretia - "... if anyone declares Sanctuary I'll be sworn to protect them. And they need not have committed a crime to declare Sanctuary."
Nemesis - "So long as they don't make trouble."
Lucretia - "Or violate the law."
Nemesis - "No cages."
Lucretia - "To be clear. If murder is the crime and someone repeats it, you can kill them on our land. But you may not detain them in any way. Not even for a question. We will defend them unless they do harm."
Nemesis - "I only need finality, the rest is for exercise." She paces in frustrated thought and impatience.
Lucretia - "But Nemesis. If no crime has been committed, we will defend them no matter what. Against all."
Nemesis - Stares at her a moment with though, "So the investigators will be forced invade. If only even to investigate. It's ..."
Lucretia - "Yes. It's all very perfect. But not for any of us."
Nemesis - Again staring, "I don't know who, Lucretia. And I don't know what or why, but it will be right here."
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Nameless feet and cane walking toward a tailor's shop, bus wrecked on the pole behind him.
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In an Old Chicago style apartment, crowded furniture twenties through fifties in style, far older filling the shelves.
Rhea stirs a broth at the gas stove. She goes through the process, aggressively distracted, seasons and stirs.
Persephone - "Hello Rhea."
The aged titan drops her wooden spoon in the broth with a start and a turn.
Persephone - "Sit down. Guess where I went yesterday."
Rhea - Cautiously eyeing the blood tinted sword, "Where was that, dear ?" She turns her body slowly to square herself with Persephone.
Persephone - "First thing first, Rhea. I told you to sit down."
Before time passes in a wisp of smoke, Rhea's forced backward onto the stove. Sword pinning her through no irreparable organ, legs dangling like a child's, broth to her right is flung far.
Persephone - "I went to a library. And did you know that the root of your name is the same word for 'pomegranate' ?"
Rhea - Hissing while attempting to pull the sword from the wall, "What do you want from me?"
Persephone - "Feeling weaker than in the old days, yah ? Me too. But not so much as you."
Rhea - With vehemence spitting between clenched teeth, "It will happen to you too ... Whore. Betrayer. Murderer."
Persephone - "Excepting the fact that I'm not nor have I ever been a prostitute ... you're right. But not for the reason you think. Dress is on fire."
Rhea - Swatting to put out the burning hem of her flowered dress, but unable to reach over to the knob, "Why then are you here with such tone, whore, if not to take what's mine ?"
She growls while resuming her push against the blade's broad hilt.
Persephone - "To return your sword. Your son loved that sword. Your wedding gift." Rhea slows her struggle.
Persephone - Sitting at the edge of the wooden dining table in front of Rhea, "Do you know how many times he started a sentence with the words 'Persephone, by my mother's sword I will' ... ?" She turns off the stove. "... and then did ?"
Silence.
Persephone - Glancing at her bright watch, "Hades isn't currently dead but he will be again in thirty-three seconds. I resurrected him long enough to feel the weight of the underworld cave in on top of him before he dies again."
She leans in to stare deeply into Rhea's lowered eyes trying somehow to see her mind.
Persephone - "That's what he's feeling ... right now."
Turning her eyes downward she removes a cigarette from Rhea's pack on the table and lights it with the match laying next to it with a swipe. Deeply inhaling and counting down in her mind she watches the tear roll down Rhea's cheek.
Persephone - "I don't know you, Rhea." She exhales and stands as Rhea draws back against the wall. "I don't know what you did ... or what you didn't do to raise that ..."
Inhaling a long drag she falsely swears to herself that the tear welling in her own eye will be the last she ever sheds for any of it.
Persephone - "And maybe it wasn't your fault at all, but this was justice today. And you ..."
Staring again, deeply probing as the tear is loosed. She looks down at her watch - 3, 2, 1. She looks up and pauses for the tear to flow her chin.
Persephone - "Are just going to have to Live with it !" Shattering the blade in a spiraling kick of blue smoke she's gone.
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The bus crashes into a pole outside a small house wedged between two warehouses.
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Titania - Gliding through Mab's gate gleefully, breaking off a hinge. "Good Morning, Sister !"
Mab, staring up at her machine winces her eyes shut at the 'ever so pleasant' sound of Titania's voice behind her. She forces her eyes open and her shoulders back, holding her skirt tightly in refusal to drop parts.
Mab - "Sister. Lovely to see you. I'd offer you coffee but ... I'm fresh out."
Titania - Noting a sudden fire erupting off in Mab's wood accompanied by tiny distant screams ... "Well clearly your kitchen staff is remiss. Will you require another ?"
...
Mab - "Yes please."
...
Titania - "So. I'm sure you've heard the news."
Mab - "Of course !" She rolls her eyes with no idea.
Titania - "Then you know that if it all goes south we may have to find a new home again ..."
Mab - Curtly as her new kitchen staff flutters in on tiny wings, "So pack your bags and go !"
She stares at them, twitching with the need to swat but does not as they are carrying coffee and cups. Many lifting at once, they pour two and add precisely the correct amount of sugar to hers while she stares in judgement.
Mab - Her shoulders start to hunch again and her eyes close to bitter wedges as she says "Thank you ..."
Titania - "Indeed we shall. But where do you think we should go ?"
Mab - "Dear God girl, pull yourself together ! Well there's that place with the rabbit ... and the dress ... or the one with the balloon ... and the dress ... and there's all sorts of new ones now. Don't you ever read books ?"
Titania - "Of course I do !" She smiles shocked as though the question were silly ... looks down with guilt.
Mab - Droning atonally, "The sound of your voice makes me want to strangle kittens."
Titania - Answering pleasantly, "Sounds unpleasant." She looks to her coffee in a sip, then turns her eyes upward to see Mab's.
Mab - "Indeed." Mab sips hers ... her eyes, which had slowly become completely closed due to the gradually increasing annoyances around her, suddenly spring open, shoulders back. "Sister ! This is Wonderful Coffee !"
Titania - Jumps delighted ! "I hoped you'd like it !"
Mab - "I love it ! Thank you ..." She holds her skirt to not drop springs.
Titania - "I made a whole big bottle for your trip !" Titania purrs in adoration.
Mab - "Oh ... sister ... that's so sweet ... I love your big bottles of things." She looks to the side confused mouthing '... trip ?'
Titania - "And do have fun while you're away." Titania hugs her tightly as a very large jug of coffee floats in precariously behind her.
Mab - "Thank you, I think I shall !" she responds dramatically. "And if it all turns south we shall forge our own way once again !"
Titania - Imploring with her brow, "I love you sister."
Mab - "Of course you do. I am that I am."
Titania giggles in her flight out the gate, breaking it off entirely. The kitchen staff places the jug at Mab's feet and flits into the wood to clean up their predecessors.
Mab - "Forging ... forging, forge, forge, forge ..." Her eyes suddenly widen, forcing her straight. "The Forge !"
She ties her big bottle to the end of her favorite walking stick and throws it over her shoulder, looking at a compass, heading south, stepping on the gate without notice.
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At a pleasant café outdoors.
Saffron - Dressed in fair retro elegance behind large sunglasses, "So I got it all ! The mansion ... the armory ... and by Hera do you know how much gold she has ? Had ? I mean real gold, not dream gold or spirit gold or whatever. You can throw it through a window. I did a lot of that ... and then those thieves came to collect it ... and I watched the gargoyles eat them to protect me.
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She stares through a window in the mansion at night eating popcorn ...
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Saffron - "It really is all mine now ..."
Nameless - "Then you don't mind the tab ?"
Saffron - "Whatever. So what did you get out of it," sarcastically, " 'mister no one' ?"
Nameless - "Throne of the dead. A wild card for the game."
Saffron - "Hm. Sounds boring. Have you tried tennis ?"
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Lucretia - Staring angrily into the pool, "He hasn't even visited them yet !"
Nemesis leans on an upright limb, looking around, waiting as Lucretia peers deeper, grumbling.
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On the plains of Har-Megiddo the bus driver is painted by warriors slapping and beating their hand-prints on his chest arms and back with red, occasionally hard across the face, enraging him as he stares mad-faced at the tributes building to a roar met by millions.
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Nemesis glances over the great tree's edge at Sanctuary's army at the base.
A massive field trodden dirts and grass, filled with warriors and beasts, machines and weaponry, equally monstrous, but perfectly regimented. Nonetheless exuding a lazy boredom in the sun ...
Beneath the tree, entwined in it's roots is the Forge, beyond, the military docks, warships prepared, lining the shores and further.
Nemesis glances over to Lucretia's brooding and back, moving to the edge of the command platform and faces the army. She looks back over her shoulder to see Lucretia unmoved but muttering curses.
Lucretia - Without looking up, "He doesn't even care about the tributes ! I have no fucking idea what he's going to do now. All I know is he isn't going to use anything I know about. Awesome."
Nemesis looks back to the great army and raises her arms high.
Millions, perhaps billions reply, "! Hoo ! Hoo ! Hooahhhh !"
She giggles and looks back at Lucretia who slams her fist while staring at maps, causing them to fuzz briefly. Nemesis looks back to the army and smiles. Does it again.
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('Kerosene' by Big Black)
~ Nameless inside the dusty bedroom putting on a black suit.
The bus crashes through the freeway traffic, pushing all out of the way in it's careening pace. Smoking from the crash and a wobbly front wheel, blunderbuss out the window.
~ He pushes aside junk in the drawer (jogging tracker) and pulls out an earpiece.
The smoking bus crashes a police barrier.
~ Piece in the ear in the mirror, hat on the head. He opens a drawer of badges, pulls one and tucks it to the outside breast pocket.
Cars tumbling in the path through the smoke ...
~ Coat on, with cane out the door, seen from a blue light flashing.
The police in the rear view mirror turn away at the explosion in the back ground, the inside mirror shows the churning darkness filling the bus.
The smoke as it travels fades with gusts here and there, dead arms reaching from windows.
The bus hits a pole at the capitol. The smoke gathers at the crash as he slips through the gathering crowd in a gust. Up the stairs ...
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In a round political assembly room shaped as an arena, a second floor observation, they argue. They debate, they pose, they sit in silent refusal.
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Nameless feet and cane walking up the stairs to the hall.
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Each politician is seen differently with three spirits around them, one whispering sweetly in each ear, stroking the politician's hair while the third observes the room, occasionally leaning in to give the two directives and observations.
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The inside security respond with fear and stand straighter as he passes, looking eye to eye as a commander, brow furrowed, looking them over. They seem to know and fear him, like an inspection.
Doors open as he passes the long hall, eyes of agents pass to one another in in fear. He's seen eyes burning, followed by an army of dead, blunderbuss up loaded.
They close the last door behind him, seeing nothing.
As he enters, ghosts unseen, a gust of cold wind enters with him, papers are mildly disturbed, as all stop to look at him as he closes the doors loudly with an echo, clicking his stick on the marble floor and sitting in an empty seat in the gallery above the proceedings.
The spotters stare frozen at him, uncertain what to do while the whisperers themselves keep speaking but guardedly watch him.
Nameless - Echoing, "My apologies. Please. Continue."
The politicians look annoyed as they return to squabble.
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Lucretia scrolls though locations on the map before finding one lit red.
Lucretia - "Got you. Apex !" She looks up. "Nemesis !"
Nemesis - Arms raised "What ?!"
"! Hoo ! Hoo ! Hooahhhh !"
Apex - Voice fills the air from the mountain's base before the army, "Ready."
Lucretia - "Protect the whisperers. He's brought an army of dead with him, size unknown. I'm there as soon as I gear up with Mab."
Apex - "Mab ... ?"
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Apex sits on a stump, helmet off, suspiciously smelling the coffee as he stares at her, raising an eyebrow.
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Apex - "The dead ... ?"
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He's on the ground being devoured shooting wildly with a pistol screaming "I'm not even alive you fucking bastards !!!"
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Lucretia - "Yah ! Remember all those times you got to stand around cheering while dad took out the armies for you ?"
Apex - A short laugh "Yeah ..."
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Nameless on fire screaming mad and laughing to the skies as waves pulse from him sending hundreds flying, sword swings each the same while behind him Apex and similarly armored soldiers lay about with helmets off, stumbling drinking and cheering ...
"! Hoo ! Hoo ! Hooahhhh !"
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Lucretia - "It won't be like that."
Apex - "No ..."
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Along the path, still in her wood, Mab and a stranger sit on two small stumps around a third larger acting as a table with her coffee jug and two cups.
Mab - "It's a little disconcerting, don't you think ? I mean they could be watching us right now !" Mab pours the first coffee from her jug for the man she met wandering just south of her land.
Wanderer - Takes the cup and a sip. "This is good coffee !"
Mab - "Of course it is. My sister made it. You say obvious things." She stirs the perfect quantity of sugar from her leather pouch with the claw on her smallest finger.
Wanderer - "You're saying that there is one reader who is many ... depending on which book you're in ... because there are many copies. And while there are many readers, each book has only one at a time ... I'm following."
Mab - "Yes !" She licks the coffee from her brass claw. "We do exactly as we're written to ! Everything we say ! But ! What we look like, what we sound like and even all our most secret reasons why ... those are decided by the reader. Not even consciously and quite against our will !"
Wanderer - "You don't like what you look like ?"
Mab - "I always like the way I look."
Wanderer - "I don't really think about it that way ..."
Mab - "Obvious."
They share a pause over the good coffee.
Wanderer - "So who's the writer ?"
Mab - "We don't talk about that in mannered company."
Wanderer - "But ... that person ... chooses the words and worlds and the reader chooses the motivations, appearances and subtleties ... you're saying we have no choices at all ! So Sanctuary isn't real !"
Mab - "Of course it's real ! That's stupid. Because we are here." She leans in. "It's the facets. You see while there is only one ..." She leans closer into a whisper "writer ..." and back with another sip. "... the readers shatter the original idea with their many interpretations."
Wanderer - "So we exist in many places at once !" He finishes his cup. "First as one idea, bound and communicated in paper volumes then turned to air by the readers' spark, our souls afire. Then that's what we are ! We are the burning of books !"
Mab - "Oh my ..." She fills his cup again. "My sister's going to like you ... what's your name ?"
Wanderer - "They say the Shax Bard." He sips the coffee, "Mm. And yours ?"
She raises a brow and drinks as he falls over.
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In an iron structure a giant metal man who appears to be made from a truck leans on against a massive forge, flipping his hammer in one hand while looking at a license plate watch on the other wrist.
Smaller metal men, barely larger than his foot, but only slightly larger than human, pound and haul, grinding orders and replies. Lazarus throws a chained spear and pulls one in and starts pounding out of boredom as it squeals gleefully.
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Lucifer - With no attempt to hide the smugness of his return to Heaven, "So what now, Mikal ? Orders ?"
Mikal is supporting a limping broken winged angel to a stone bench half crumbled. He looks back with annoyance and gently helps his brother to the seat in which he slumps and pulls up his bad leg in agony, then turns walking directly to.
Mikal - "You command the armies. I command you. WE follow HIS last command, which is to support the investigation." Leaning in close, "After I kick your ass."
Lucifer - Smiling with true delight, "Christmas dinner it is then."
Mikal shows a broken rage before pounding him hard across the jaw, half turning him to a hunch.
Lucifer - Sadistically, "Oh ... Mikal ... Gimme !" Turns back to spin grabbing Mikal's Wing under his arm and cracking it to Mikal's roar and his own mad delight.
Now back to back, Lucifer is reaching for the other wing when Mikal grabs him under his jaw and pulls with a hard flip over his shoulder putting Lucifer face down in front of him.
Lucifer starts to push himself up laughing while in obvious pain as Mikal elbow drops him between the shoulder blades, then again in the back of the head. And again, cracking the marble floor under Lucifer's face.
Moaning, Lucifer rolls over slowly to his back, fiddles with his nose then cracks it back in shape while Mikal does the same for his wing.
Lucifer eyes sideways to the vague impression of his face in the floor. Smiles and lights a cigarette, glowing as though he just had sex. Mikal stares off the edge of the platform at the infinite universe.
Lucifer - Exhaling "Look Mikal," looking again at the cracked floor. "You've gone and broke Heaven again." Looks up and inhales. "I only asked my orders." Exhales. "But you always were the naughty one, weren't you ?"
Mikal - "Our orders are to support the investigation. We find Gabril. He knows what we need to. It's what broke him."
Lucifer - "First Heaven, now Sanctuary ... Naughty. Naughty. Boy."
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Lucretia's eye back and forth, under lit by the map's light, sounds of screaming ghosts and whisperer's, shouting diplomats. Clearly stressed but processing the data.
Lazarus - In a voice like grinding iron, "She's here."
Lucretia's eye creases with a smile before she disappears as a leaf lies in view.
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At the forge ~
Mab sits on Lazarus' shoulder, holding her saucer and her cup, shouting over the noise ...
Mab - "Have you noticed that in all the favored tales it's always a little girl being harried by the bad monsters and men ?" Sips. "I find that suspicious."
Lazarus pauses to consider, nods and continues pounding.
Mab - "Ooo ! And a sprocket goes ... there ...", waving the saucer in the general direction of his work. Then mischievously smiles with another sip, "Make it a 13 prong."
Lazarus grinds a laugh and grabs one of the little metal men, begins to pound it flat as it cheers.
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Hippolyta and Pipsiveya in a travel tent, mother near sleep, daughter awake staring up.
Pipsiveya - "Did you know that God told Gabril a secret ?" Staring at the tent's roof with feathers hanging.
Hippolyta - Stirring a bit, "I didn't know that. Goodnight Pip."
Pipsiveya - "It's true. And then He told him never to tell even that he had a secret."
Hippolyta - "Go to bed Pip."
Pipsiveya continues to stare up.
