Chapter 27

Legacy

“You went about it all wrong,” Merlin told him. “Sure, there are rules I don’t agree with and I don’t follow them exactly but I’ve never broken one.”

“But my life was intolerable,” he cut in, sounding defensive.

They were walking toward the Badlands. They’d stayed in the bar till it closed at two and had then set off, figuring they had all night.

“I know an’ I feel really sorry for you,” she replied. “You should never have been in that position. I mean .. a brilliant mind like yours, a .. revolutionary mind … You were only trying to drag them into modern times. Way back then, sure, the rules were right. Right for the day. But things change. You were born about fifty years too soon. Did you never think about .. asking the boss to amend them?”

Reuben stared at her. “As if that’d work.”

“It did for me. I disagreed with one of the rules. It was outdated. At the start, yes, it had made sense, but it didn’t make sense now. So .. I got him to change it.”

Reuben looked impressed. “What rule was it?”

“The one about marriage partners having to be like us. Now they have the choice. They still have to keep the secret but they don’t have to have the power. My husband .. he isn’t one of us.”

“Whoa ..! Hey, that is fantastic. Good for you,” he congratulated. “Man, I am so glad you’re on my side. Together, we are really gonna shake things up. Make everything better. More modern. It’s all I ever wanted. Do my own thing an’ be a Flamefall on the side.”

“I do my own thing,” Merlin said, shrugging.

“You do? Wow! What is it you do? You have a job? It pays?”

“Kinda. It’s a retainer. I get a small amount plus expenses. I work for the Antiquities Department at Berkeley. Travel round the world, delivering an’ collecting artifacts. It’s a neat little job, Rube. I get to go to all kinds of places.”

He shook his head. “Now .. that is the kinda job I’d like to have. I could travel, see the world, meet people. It’d be great.”

“I’ll ask for you .. that is if you mean to move back to San Francisco.”

“I was going to, yeah.”

“One condition,” Merlin said, holding up a hand. “You do not attack my house or any of my properties in the city. Paradise Drive is a no-no. Nob Hill, you leave it alone. Likewise with my clubs and my hotels.”

Reuben blinked. “You own clubs an’ hotels?”

“Sure. I gotta have a hobby. If I just .. sat by the phone, waiting for that call, I’d go crazy.”

“I know that feeling. Mary – ”

“It’s Peri, after my grandfather.”

“That is so right,” Reuben grinned. “How fitting is that? He was my best friend .. an’ now you are. Peri,” he went on, sobering, “about Ox. That day. I lost it. I got choked inside. I .. just lashed out. I went crazy. All I could see was .. a lifetime of being smothered. Of .. not being permitted to be myself. If he’d only given me some space, some time to .. do my own thing, it would never have happened. I really wanted to get my degree. Discover a new species of extinct dinosaur. I wanted people to remember my name for something … An’ all I had was dying, never being known, an’ then forgotten.” He paused. “But I am remembered, aren’t I? The first Flamefall to cross the line. My name will live in infamy.”

“First Flamefall to escape the punishment too,” Merlin commented.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “I’m an all round wonder boy.” Reuben laughed cheerfully. “Bet the boss got pretty pissed.”

“Oh, yeah. Big time,” she grinned. “Last I heard, he was going downstairs to demand some answers.”

“Lucifer won’t be able to tell him squat,” Reuben confided. “He thinks he knows everything that goes on downstairs but he doesn’t. Does the chairman of the board know what the janitor’s up to every second of every day? Like hell he does! Lucifer only knows what the big bosses choose to tell him, an’ they have secrets. Their underlings have secrets. No one has a complete picture. It’s Hell, what do they expect? Rules? There are no rules in chaos.”

“So .. how’d you do it? How’d you escape?”

“Why’d you wanna know?” he asked suspiciously.

“C’mon, Rube. I may need to escape as well. Those Legacy people are gonna be calling for a replacement. I’m not going down without a fight. I may have to do what you did, and then I’ll want a get out clause.”

Reuben nodded. “Fair comment. It comes down to two things, Peri,” he began. “Friends, an’ patience. Patience is a terribly hard thing to find when you’re being burned alive. The pain is .. incredible and what makes it even worse is that you know, even though you are being burned alive, that it isn’t going to kill you. You’d do just about anything to get off that wheel. You’d say anything, promise anything … You’re forced to make friends with .. well, with things which were once your sworn enemies.” He glanced at her. “You’re never alone down there. I mean, a real punishment would be to be put on that thing an’ then just forgotten. Left there to suffer. But .. word gets round. You’re some kinda spectacle. A novelty. All kinds of .. things just stroll down to the fire lake to watch an’ point an’ laugh. That’s him, that’s the Flamefall who went bad ... I was a carnival in town. I bet you think it was Winston Rayne who helped free me.”

“It’s a possibility,” Merlin conceded. “Even a probability. You knew him, you’d worked with him. He’d gone to the Darkside. He wants out as badly as you did. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise to learn that you teamed up again.”

“Wasn’t him. Yeah, I saw him from time to time. Standing there, smiling at me … You were so sure you’d never get down here, he called to me one time. Yeah, I told him, I was wrong about that but so were you an’ I ain’t met the Devil to ask him his thoughts on anything, how ’bout you? I think I hit a nerve with that one. Winston’s quite a trophy for them. Nah, wasn’t Winston who helped. He’s watched every so often. They don’t quite trust him, y’know? Ex-Legacy people have it real bad. Doesn’t seem to matter how often they say they’ve changed sides, they’re never believed. Once, they were the enemy and then they changed their minds. Who’s to say they won’t change their minds again, huh? Yet, having said that much, Winston’s not important. He’s no big boss, he’s just another lost soul. Yeah, he has ideas and they let him try ’em out, but they keep him on a leash and yank him back pretty fast.” He shrugged. “It was just a minor devil who helped me. A nobody. I had to promise him his own place up here, a city or a small country. Just words. Promises mean nothing downstairs. Whole place is built on broken promises and good intentions which go wrong.”

Merlin nodded slowly. “What about the Soul Chaser? Why didn’t he come after you?”

“Good question,” Reuben commented.

She waited. “So .. what’s the answer? Once you got free, did Lucifer call off the hounds? Were you pursued at all?”

“I told you – Lucifer didn’t know. An’, no, I wasn’t pursued. Soul Chaser left me well alone.”

“Why?” she frowned.

“Now why d’you think? He’s scared of me. Sure, he’s bigger, tougher and meaner looking than I am, but I can whip his ass in less time than it takes to snap my fingers.”

“Cos you still had your power.”

“Uh huh.”

“Were you surprised to find you still had it?”

“Surprised as hell,” he admitted. “I wanted to be free of it. But not even hellfire can burn away the power of a Flamefall. Guess it’s in the soul. An’, as I haven’t been training in a good long while, it’s raw. Rusty. But it’s still there. I can use it to .. force thru some changes. You go training?”

“Most nights, yeah.”

“An’ you’re pretty good for a woman?”

“I think so. Why?”

“Don’t get me wrong, Peri. It’s just .. I’m used to guys. I trained with my Dad, then with Perry and Ox. All the women I knew well, they were married in, an’ I swear partners aren’t as strong as trueborns. Trueborns don’t hold back. Partners do, cos they know what it’s like to be normal. They remember how they used to be. Trueborns don’t have a past like that. But you’re a trueborn.”

“Uh huh.”

“First family too. You’re the boss.”

“Yep.”

“Then we can make it better.”

“Yes, we can.”

Reuben nodded. “Those Legacy people .. friends of yours?”

“Can we ever have true friends outside the club?”

“No,” he replied. “They don’t understand. An’ Legacy friends? No way.”

“Reuben, believe me, you had it easy with the Legacy. Things got a lot worse.”

“Now that does not surprise me. What happened?”

“Contact was always thru the ruling London house, right? Well, it changed an’ contact was thru the Precept of the ruling London house. He’d get the call for help an’ relay the orders to one of us .. only, sometimes, he didn’t think it was necessary to pass it along.”

“Man … What happened?” Reuben frowned.

“People got killed who might’ve lived,” she answered. “Rube, you had independence of some kind. I had to live in a cage.” Merlin smiled as she looked at him. “Meeting you .. it’s set me free.”

*****

Aquila had her orders. Keep trying. She didn’t need to be ordered to do that but both Derek and Nick had to say something to camouflage their fear. And she had kept trying. She couldn’t understand why she wasn’t getting thru. At one thirty, Rachel and Alex had gone to their room next door and tried to get some sleep. Derek and Nick had chosen to wait up, hoping to hear news they didn’t really believe was coming. At two, Aquila had made them all sleep. They’d complain about it in the morning – invasion of privacy, personal rights being compromised, removal of free will – even as they acknowledged they felt better for it.

Now there was the deep silence of the night. Aquila never needed sleep, never needed rest, and she stood the watch over both rooms.

Rachel said this was the start of the game plan. Tonight, it begins. Tomorrow .. or later today, Reuben and I go one on one. How does Peri’s defection .. no, disappearance into the enemy camp help anyone? If it were to gather intelligence, why has she cut me off? Why hasn’t she passed on whatever she’s learning?

The disturbing thought came before she could stop it. Has she cut me off ..? Or is this just a symptom that I was right in my first choice of words and she has defected. Why does that make me uneasy? The obvious answer is that .. Reuben won’t be the only one to cross the line. A surface explanation. My unease goes deeper than that. It’s so deep, it’s too vague to be pinpointed.

Does this mean I will have to destroy my shell ..? If it does .. yes, I can do it. I won’t be the one to kill an innocent, not if my shell has gone to evil. She will be a legitimate target and I’ve never hesitated. But I will be the first to do it. The soul is immortal, the shell corporeal. A conflict between inner and outer .. no, it has not happened before. No other Flamefall can do what we can do – lead independent existences. If I have to destroy the shell .. in effect, I’m dead. I must go over the river. But it will not seem like death. I’ll lose the Peri part of me. I’ve never felt so isolated in my life.

Nick muttered and shifted position. Aquila glanced round.

And he will feel guilt because he could’ve stopped this happening but didn’t. Just like Peregrine. Reuben and Peri are very alike. It can’t be denied. If he had been born fifty years later .. the chances are he wouldn’t have killed Ox. If Peri had been born fifty years earlier, she might’ve been put on the wheel of fire. Nick has reasoned all this, just as I have. He will have lost the physical comfort of a wife yet still be married to his wife’s soul. How will he cope if I have to do my job? Will he understand? Will he ever be able to forgive me?

And Derek .. he must be wondering how this is repaying the debt the Legacy owes to the Flamefalls. He is trying to be impartial. He is a Precept, after all. Keep the threat in mind and the consequences of failure, and disregard the personalities involved. Easy to say. Much harder to do. Personalities are people, not words.

The east was starting to grow light. There was a thin rim of fire along the edge of the distant hills. Soon the sun would lift over the horizon and give birth to the new day, and it was a day which would either see the world continue as it had been or witness it plunge into the abyss. Either way, it would seem like Armageddon.

As ever when faced with an apparently insurmountable problem, Aquila began to pray.

*****

“This is .. not what we expected,” Michael remarked. “I warned you, Gabriel. We might lose her.”

Gabriel folded his arms rather defensively. “I don’t think so. Aquila is on our side. Her loyalty is not in question.”

“Together, they make the Flamefall.”

“Ye-es, but you forget Merlin Gabrielli did you nine weeks of special operations. She was yours, exclusively. You rewarded her. I simply reminded her of that fact.”

“And now you’re reminding me,” Michael pointed out.

“All I’m saying is don’t be so fast to write her off. You don’t know what tactics she’s using. This might be perfectly logical behavior.”

Michael slowly nodded, and, then, keeping his gaze riveted on the other, approached at leisure.

“This man, this rogue Flamefall, killed her great grandfather in cold blood. He murdered a noble warrior in my army. When you told Merlin, she was ready to die if it meant Reuben Meyer was put back on the wheel. Now she is declaring her allegiance to his cause. How is this perfectly logical behavior?”

Gabriel shrugged uncomfortably. “I gave her a white card,” he muttered.

“Excuse me?”

Gabriel looked up and met his commander’s eyes fearlessly. “I gave her a white card,” he said more clearly, even though he knew Michael had heard every word.

“She’s free to do whatever she wants. She can have personal revenge. Blood debt.”

“Provided she stays within the rules, her personal revenge is our justice. We can’t move against Reuben Meyer, she can.”

“And does she know that a white card means the rules still apply? This situation has never occurred before.”

“C’mon!” Gabriel exclaimed. “This is Merlin Gabrielli.”

“A Flamefall with extra power at her disposal. Extra abilities. If we thought Reuben was an evil enemy, what will she be?”

Gabriel shifted again but he didn’t move back, didn’t put a little more distance between them. “You’re just pissed your brother never warned you. You should be glad it never came to outright war. He’s promised to punish those involved, and he knows who they are, and he’s said he’ll beef up security on the wheel.”

“Don’t change the subject. Answer my question,” Michael insisted.

“She’ll be … ” Gabriel fell silent.

“Exactly,” Michael confirmed darkly. “Reuben is almost a match for Merlin, not a shoe in. If she fails, the others, together, will succeed. However, the others, together, will not be able to take her down because she can do so much more than they can. If she goes over to the enemy, the only people able to beat her will be us .. and we will be matched, not a shoe in. And, if we have to enter the mortal world to fight, it precipitates the endgame. That is why my brother did nothing to stop any of this. He will not start the final war, Gabriel. He will allow us to start it for him.”

“Don’t prejudge the outcome of this,” Gabriel pleaded. “Give her time. And, if she does fall, I’ll punish her myself. Whatever it takes.”

*****

Derek woke gradually and became aware that the night was over. Day had returned and this day was a special one. Whether it would be good or evil, he wouldn’t know until it was over. He hadn’t dreamed. He felt refreshed but still anxious. The worry hit him like a heavy wet blanket right between the eyes.

“Aquila ..?” he said thickly.

“I’m here.”

“And I’m activating you. Has there been any word from Peri?”

“None.”

“Then my orders are .. to do what you must to see the threat removed permanently.”

“I understand.”

“It will be hard to lose her .. if she has gone over to the Darkside.”

“It won’t happen,” Nick muttered as he woke. “This is just .. some kind of strategy. She saw her chance an’ took it. We have to give her time.”

“It’s daylight, Nick. Within the hour, we must be on our way to the Badlands. How much more time does she need? She has been with him since .. nine thirty last night. We’ve had no word. She may even be dead.”

Nick hesitated to master the flare of temper. “Thanks for softening the blow.”

Derek sighed irritably. “I know you are feeling aggravated. This was not in any of our plans. And, maybe, you are right. But we don’t know for sure. I’ll go waken Rachel and Alex. It’s time for you to consider your priorities. Have you recalled yet what Michael said to you?”

“No,” Nick replied, sitting up. “An’ that tells me it isn’t time yet. I’m ready to do what I have to, but Reuben’s my target, not Peri. You go into the zone thinking she’s our enemy too, you’ll be making a mistake. You won’t be repaying the debt, you’ll be adding to it big time.” Nick rose, glaring ferociously. “You should consider the fact that, once we’re out there, I’m not Legacy and you are just a witness.”

Derek watched him stalk into the bathroom. “Is he right? Will I have no part to play?”

“I don’t know, Derek,” Aquila replied. “Once, I believed you would be able to arrange my funeral, but, if Peri has defected, there’ll be nothing left to bury.”

“I’ll go waken the others,” Derek muttered. “Thank you for forcing us to sleep.”

“You’re welcome,” she murmured.

*****

The journey out to the killing zone was a tense, silent affair. Nick drove, his hands clenched around the wheel, the muscle along his jaw twitching every so often. Beside him, Derek was frowning. He felt unprepared for this, despite all the research and thinking they’d all done, and he wasn’t happy with being relegated to the role of a mere witness. That was not settling anything, as far as he was concerned. It was only doing what the Legacy had done for millennia. Rachel and Alex sat in back, cold and sick with nerves. The atmosphere between Nick and Derek was so thick it could be cut with a knife. Rachel understood why but felt it wasn’t helping. Surely now was the time to pull together, not be resentful. And Alex was nervous for another reason. Of them all, she alone had dreamed in the night, and she had seen Nick flare with a powerful light just before fire erupted from both his hands. His target had been Reuben Meyer .. but Merlin had been acting as Reuben’s shield.

Aquila crouched behind them, a hand resting on the safety bar. She was still obeying her orders.

Peri, can you hear me? Please, answer me … I have to know what you want me to do.

And then, finally, she got an answer.

Just do your fucking job, Aquila. Now quit trying to talk to me.

Peri! Listen. Is Reuben the sole target ..? Peri ..!

“Do we know if he’ll be in the arena?” Derek inquired.

“If he isn’t, we make him come to us,” Nick grunted, swinging the vehicle off the road. “We’re on foot from here. Aquila, up front. I’ll take rear security.”

Aquila set off, taking a steady pace. Nick checked his pockets, yet again, for spare ammunition. He had a length of rope wound about his waist. If nothing else, he could tie Merlin up to keep her from doing something stupid. Aquila was the powerhouse and the arsenal. Merlin was just a body, and Nick could flatten her with one, well aimed punch.

Rachel climbed in silence. She was behind Aquila and she wondered how she must be feeling right now. Aquila was always focused on the job but the job had divided into two targets, one of whom was herself. Rachel had the feeling that Reuben was the lesser threat by far.

Derek came next in the line and toiled his way up the steep slopes. Make him come to us … How? Did Nick bring a flare gun? It wouldn’t surprise me. In truth, none of what he does surprises me, not the temper outbursts, not the periods of silence. His heart is in the right place, and that is what counts in this ongoing war.

Alex’s heart was in her mouth. She felt she should say something but she didn’t know where to begin. The tension was already bad and she didn’t want to make it worse. The images, raw and vivid, lay in her mind like a boulder and it made her feel sick.

Nick was wrestling with his conscience and his lamentable failure of memory. When am I gonna find out, Michael? When I’m outta here in a box? You said .. I have to fight at her side but she isn’t even here! All I want is a sign. Can’t you at least give me a damn sign to show I’m doing the good thing?

If Michael heard that prayer, he didn’t acknowledge it.

They climbed into the arena and, shivering, looked around. It was empty. Just rock and ground, bones. Desolate. A more desolate place was hard to imagine.

“How will you bring him here?” Derek inquired.

“We got time yet,” Nick hedged. “We wait a while.”

“We could send Aquila to look – ” Rachel began.

“No. She stays.” Nick glared round at them. “You might all believe Peri’s lost to us but I don’t. Not till I see it an’ hear it for myself.”

He turned away. He had said the words. He just wished he believed them himself.

*****

“It was here,” Reuben said happily. “Right here, on this very spot.”

“What was?”

“Where I pitched my tent on that fieldtrip.”

Merlin regarded him as she lit a cigarette. “Reuben, forgive me for saying this but, as a kick ass Flamefall who escaped from the wheel of fire .. you are pretty pathetic.” He spun round to stare at her, his expression one of deep hurt. “I’m sorry, but you are. You killed my great grandfather in a grand fit of passion. You totally lost control, lashed out an’ blew a hole right thru his chest cavity. You got punished for that. An’ you got free from it as well. Why’d you come back?”

“I told you, I promised myself I’d come back here.”

“To this spot where you pitched your tent on a one week fieldtrip over forty years ago.”

He nodded.

“Okay. Promise kept. Now what’re you gonna do? Go back to college an’ finish your degree? Or are you gonna flatten some more towns? Burn out any more houses? I’m just curious, y’know? Cos .. you really don’t seem like an evil guy to me.”

Reuben blinked. “I’m not. Least, I don’t think I am. Sure, I got tempted an’ I gave in but .. does that make me evil? Does it make me pathetic? I demolished River Sands because I had some bad memories of the place an’ erasing it made me feel better. And as for my childhood home … ” He laughed bitterly. “What childhood? What home? It was another prison an’ Red Meyer was my warder. Seeing it burn made me feel better too. I wished he could burn in Hell but he’s too much the good guy to have ended up down there.”

Merlin idly lifted one hand and it was bathed in fire. “How about some wanton destruction right now? Up for it?”

She let fly into the side of a hill and rock shards splintered in a great cloud.

“No!” Reuben yelled, aghast. “No, don’t! You’re destroying the fossils!”

“Reuben, c’mon. You gotta get in some practice against things that won’t fight back. When I don’t report in to the boss that you’re back in Hell, safe an’ secured, he’s gonna send in the others, an’ not just after you. We’re both gonna be targets. I can fight, but I can’t fight them all, watch your back, and do your fighting as well, all at the same time. And .. maybe, those Legacy people will come looking for us. Y’know how they love to get involved in stuff which doesn’t concern them. You gotta get a little fire in your blood, Rube.”

He stood still. “You’d do that? For me? Fight at my side?”

“I’m your friend. Don’t friends look out for each other?”

“Well .. I’ve killed a Flamefall so killing more won’t matter. I’d prefer not to. I wanna be their leader, show ’em where they’re going wrong. Would you let me be the leader, Peri?”

“How about we rule together?”

“For a while,” he nodded. “That’s good. Then, when they’re under control, we start to .. fix the bad things in the world. Put that right. Maybe I could keep that promise I made after all. A town. Small town. An’ then, when order has been established .. then I’ll finish my degree.”

“That’s a lotta obstacles to overcome,” she remarked. “We’re not so many as we used to be, Rube. Legacy’s bigger.”

“But weaker. Always has been. They control us by sounding superior. They keep us in line with words, nothing more. An’ we let them do it. Legacy has to stop. Has to be eradicated. We never needed them in the past, we don’t need ’em now. If we don’t target every Legacy house, it’ll never leave us alone. It’ll hunt us, day in, day out, not a second’s peace.”

Merlin nodded thoughtfully. “Where’d you wanna start?”

“With the ones here. Winston’s boy. Winston was a nice guy but his son .. he won’t bend. He won’t listen to persuasion. Leave Rachel. She said nice things last night.”

“She would. She’s a shrink. She read you like a book an’ told you what you wanted to hear.”

Reuben’s face closed in. “I hate the Legacy. They manipulate an’ scheme, an’ we’re their puppets. Kill ’em all.”

Merlin shrugged. “Okay. Look, when we track ’em down, they’ll probably wanna try to reason with me first. We all came here together an’ they think I’m still on their side. It’ll buy us some time so don’t go straight on the attack. Let them talk. Let’s get ’em off balance. They won’t expect me to move against them. You’re the big threat, not me.”

“Okay,” he nodded. “You obviously know ’em better than I do. But, Peri, when you fight them, try to watch out for the fossils. All right?”

Merlin regarded him. “Sure.”

He straightened. “I’m done here. Where are they likely to be?”

“Badlands is a big area, Rube. Could be any – ”

A few miles away, a jet of flame scorched into the sky and a flare exploded.

“They could be in that direction,” Merlin amended.

“Let’s go,” Reuben ordered, his hands wreathed in tongues of fire.

*****

“I’d say .. three miles, max,” Nick judged, estimating the distance to where they’d seen the flash and heard the explosion of rock.

Aquila nodded. “About an hour to cover that terrain.”

“I agree.”

Nick glanced round. Derek, Alex and Rachel were eating sandwiches and sipping at bottles of water which they’d taken from the bolt holes. Keeping his voice low, he went on, “Aquila, I’m not sure I can do this.”

“Nick, you know the nature of this job,” she responded, her voice just as quiet. “It all comes down to focus. Don’t let yourself get distracted by anything.”

“If Peri has gone over … ” He paused to swallow. “How will I know?”

“You’ll know. Her words will damn her. Her actions will only confirm it. It is only the shell, Nick. I am the soul. And I’m at your side.”

He nodded. “Okay. If I have to kill her .. will you be able to forgive me?”

Aquila laughed faintly. “I’ve been asking myself the same question about you.”

Nick faced her. “Do you believe she’s turned to evil?”

“I’m uneasy,” Aquila confessed. “She’s said hardly anything – ”

“You made contact?” he cut in.

Aquila nodded. “She told me to do my job. That was all. And it isn’t like her to remain so silent. The obvious answer is yes, she has faded to black. But .. I’m not sure. There could be a deeper reason why I feel anxious.”

“Fear of making a mistake?” he suggested.

“Fear that she could be in terrible danger, Nick. If she hasn’t faded, what strategy is she playing? And how soon before Reuben Meyer discovers he’s being deceived?”

“An’ what will he do when he does?”

“I think Ox is the answer to that.”

He glanced round at another flash and explosion. “They’re covering the ground more quickly than we thought. We’d better get ready.”

Aquila went to nod but stiffened. Merlin’s voice had just spoken to her. Three words only but powerful ones.

Aquila, stealth mode.

“Hey, they’ll be here soon,” Nick called.

“Where’s Aquila?” Alex frowned.

Nick looked back. Aquila had vanished.

“Great,” he muttered. “Guess it’s just us.”

*****

Merlin and Reuben started the final climb up to the small plateau. He’d been talking to himself the entire trip, arguing on and on about the Legacy and the rules which had stifled him and made him so bitter and unhappy.

She recognized it. He was psyching himself up for combat. Stoking the fire. His breathing was faster, his eyes a little wild.

“Just how rusty are you?” she asked.

“I can fight,” he replied, nodding quickly. “I can.”

“Not arguing that one but how rusty are you? Look,” she murmured, “the plateau’s quite high. You start letting loose, you could end up flattening the whole area and burying us. Let me take ’em out, okay? If it looks like I’m gonna lose, which I doubt cos they are only Legacy, you step in as backup.”

“Sounds good to me,” Reuben said. “I’ll hang back, hold my fire .. literally.”

“Right,” she grinned.

They crested the rim and moved into the area of bare rock and its thin covering of gritty soil. It seemed empty.

“Are they here?” Reuben whispered.

Merlin nodded. “Hiding. Waiting to see what we do. Well .. let’s make sure they can’t go anywhere. We want this to end today, don’t we?”

Reuben licked his lips and inclined his head. Merlin turned, her hand held out. There was a crackling sound and energy ran around the perimeter. A force field.

“No one gets in,” she smiled coldly. “No one gets out.”

Reuben laughed.

There was a soft sound of movement and they faced it boldly. Challengingly. Derek emerged from cover followed by Nick, Alex and Rachel.

“Remember,” Merlin whispered. “Let me get them off balance. They won’t suspect a thing.”

Quickly, Reuben Meyer nodded.

“Well, look who’s here,” she declared. “I just knew you’d turn up. Always gotta do the right thing. Always sticking your noses in what really isn’t your business.”

“Peri – ” Derek began.

“No, I won’t listen to you. Not any more. I’ve had enough of your interference, Legacy man.”

“So, that is how it is going to be, is it?” Derek queried in a calm voice.

“I’d back off, Legacy man,” Reuben advised, unable to keep silent. “Joe’s kid’s got guts. I wish I’d had the nerve to say that to your father way back when. I always wanted to. Never did. I paid for that.”

“My father had nothing to do with your downfall,” Derek retaliated. “Your problem, Reuben, is that you never learned to take responsibility for your life and your own decisions. You blame others when you go wrong.”

Reuben’s lips flattened and his hands began to curl. Merlin leaned in closer to him, putting a hand on his upper arm.

“We don’t need him, Rube, an’ he’s going nowhere. Ignore him. He’s a Legacy stiff, hidebound, anal retentive, and wrapped in rules an’ red tape. Where can he run to, huh? We got him trapped like a rat in a cage.”

Reuben nodded and grinned at her. “Yeah, we’re okay on our own, ain’t we?”

Merlin looked back. “Y’see, Derek, I finally figured it all out. This debt you’ve been agonizing over .. if you want to repay it, really want to repay it, you have to cut the chains. Your Legacy put us in a cage all those years ago. You owe us big time for that. You really wanna settle that debt, you gotta set us free.”

Derek hesitated for the merest fraction of a second. Reuben tensed again.

“Perhaps you’re right and that is what I have to do,” Derek replied, “but you have a job here. Or have you forgotten that?”

Merlin looked at the ground and stirred the surface with the toe of her boot.

“No, I don’t think I have. Sure, I was given orders .. but I think they’re wrong.”

“How can you say that?” Rachel choked. “After everything he’s done to your family!”

“Yeah, I know, but .. Reuben’s just a victim of the times, Rachel. You said it yourself – he’s a victim. I disagreed with you but you were right. He was born too soon. We’ve decided, me an’ him, that we’re a team who’re gonna make things right. It’s way past time for forcing thru some change.” She straightened. “Don’t try to stop me. I don’t wanna hurt you but I will if you force my hand.”

“I thought we were friends,” Alex accused. “If you won’t stop that man, we have to try.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” Reuben urged. “I don’t have any fond feelings for the Legacy but, if you take me on, you’re only gonna die. If she don’t kill you, I will. And you know I can do that. I don’t have a conscience.”

“Enforcers can’t have friends who aren’t Enforcers, Alex,” Merlin told her sadly. “They don’t understand us.”

“You see us as freaks. You may not say it, but the thought’s there and it shows thru. An’, after a while, that really starts to grate,” Reuben agreed.

“Peri, don’t do this,” Nick warned.

“What? Enjoy being free? You’re free. You’re all free. Why can’t I be free too?”

She stepped forward and put herself between them and Reuben. “You want him, you gotta go thru me.”

There was a moment of total, absolute silence.

Nick’s gun was in his hand and he gazed at her, willing her to step aside. This was it, the big showdown, and he couldn’t do it. His target was Reuben, not his wife.

Derek, however, had a better line of sight and he, too, had come armed. Just because firearms were Nick’s area of expertise didn’t mean Derek had to leave himself defenseless. He aimed and fired, and Reuben’s face twisted into a mask of loathing. The rogue Enforcer’s hand lifted and a ball of ragged energy flashed from his fingers. Nick jerked back, cursing himself for leaving his Precept open to attack then cursing Derek for inviting attention. Rachel and Alex ran to the bolt holes and dove for cover. Derek felt his heart leap into his throat but then he went crashing sideways as some invisible force tackled him around the knees. Aquila. He’d forgotten about her, and that was mainly because she wasn’t doing anything to stop this threat.

Nick took his chance and crabbed round for another shot. Merlin faced him the entire way and he shook his head. But the movement freed Derek who scrambled to his knees and took a second bead on the renegade. He couldn’t understand why Merlin was doing this – protecting Reuben and speaking such bold words. And then, maybe, a gleam of light pierced the fog of ignorance. The bold words, of killing and death, of freedom, they’d been said in many ways by many people all thru history. They were the words of the downtrodden, the oppressed. Yet, for all the service they’d given to the Legacy, the Enforcers had never been oppressed. Subservient, yes, but not oppressed. Merlin was saying the words, but not taking the action.

Even so, she was being a damned nuisance, staying in the line of fire like this.

Nick dodged quickly sideways and pulled the trigger, praying that his shot hit Reuben and went wide of both Merlin and Aquila. He wasn’t bothered about Aquila, he knew he couldn’t hurt the soul. And, with the best will in the world, if she was invisible, he couldn’t deliberately avoid her.

Reuben saw his chance again to hit at a Legacy Precept and he took it. A raw, diffused but powerful ball of crackling, snapping energy. This was fun. He had a shield they didn’t want to attack, thanks to misguided loyalty, and he could snipe from behind it with no backlash. What Reuben couldn’t understand was why Merlin wasn’t fighting them. Was this getting them off balance? Again, Derek went down as Aquila flattened him.

A bullet pinged over Nick’s head from behind him and he looked back. Alex’s eyes were wide and frightened and the hand holding the gun was trembling. Even as Nick drew in a breath to shout at her and tell her to get down, she fired again and this time she did hit a target. Merlin slammed back into Reuben, blood spurting from a wound to her shoulder and a cry tearing from her throat.

Reuben Meyer went utterly still. His best friend had been hurt. Shot. Merlin was still on her feet, but she was panting, her face twisted with pain. A roar of rage began in his mind and found its way to his mouth.

Nick, too, was furious. “Get down!” he yelled at Alex. “She isn’t the enemy!”

“Yes, I am,” Merlin ground out. “If you want Reuben, you have to go thru me.”

Michael, this can’t be what you meant! Nick faced her again, his expression one of agony. C’mon, boss man, tell me what to do!

“Nick, do it,” Derek ordered as he staggered up once more. “Shoot her!”

“Don’t ask me to do that!” Nick flared.

“I’m not asking you, I’m telling you,” Derek responded.

“I can’t. There has to be another way.”

“Well .. we seem to have a bit of an impasse here,” Reuben remarked. “I don’t know if you’d noticed, what with all the excitement an’ everything, but there is a force field around this place. No one gets in, no one gets out. We could stand here for days.”

Derek looked into Merlin’s eyes. The laser blue brightness was still there and there was no sign of pain on her face. In fact, a small smile flickered over her mouth.

Then Derek understood. To bring this to an end, he had to break the chain which had been forged in antiquity. The chain of service.

“Yes, we could,” he agreed, “but we won’t. This ends now, for better or worse. As you say, no one gets out. Not us, and not you.” He switched his gaze to Merlin. “The Legacy frees you and all Enforcers from the prison we asked you to enter. You must choose for yourself.”

“Thank you,” Aquila’s voice said from the air close to Reuben’s shoulder. Taken by surprise, Reuben turned sharply to search the emptiness.

Nick twitched. And then he understood. He remembered. A weapon with one bullet in the chamber, hidden from him until the moment he had to use it. He flared with sudden, blinding light and flame erupted from both his hands. Alex opened her mouth to shout but Merlin only smiled and nodded once.

You want him, you gotta go thru me. Not a challenge or a threat, but an order. A command. We fight side by side in attitude, in belief, if not in actual body position.

Reuben discovered he was surrounded. He’d gone from free as a bird with a brand new best friend to suddenly under siege and betrayed. He hadn’t sensed Aquila because Merlin was so close. He hadn’t suspected Nick at all because he was Legacy and yet he had the power of the Flamefall. And Merlin, the deceiver, the betrayer, turned to smile at him, to plunge home a knife of total despair.

“This is for Ox, you murdering sonofabitch,” she said quietly. “Blood debt. Paid in full.”

The twin fireballs blasted thru her body and into Reuben. Aquila drove a knife of blue edged lightning into his back and thrust it deep into his heart.

“But,” he gasped, sagging forward into Merlin’s arms, “you didn’t lie to me. Not one word.”

“But I did. You lied to Peregrine an’ Ox and you fooled them. You were smart but you’re nowhere near smart enough to take me on. An’, do you know why I lied so easily to you an’ fooled you? You spoke of right, wrong, bad. Never anything about good. You killed Ox .. and you told me why, but you never said you were sorry. We are very similar, Reuben, but there is one important thing which will always separate us – I have faith, you don’t. I have never broken the rules. I never will. And I am different. I can do more than you will ever know. I can live thru this. You can’t.”

She released him and stepped back. Reuben’s body crumpled, dying, but his soul, his immortal soul, was starting to scream in fury as he faced eternity on the wheel of fire.

“Boss .. take him back where he belongs,” she called. “Aquila, go with him, see he gets there and stays there this time.”

As the fiery wind of retribution from above began to envelop Reuben Meyer for a second time, Aquila moved in to take hold of her prisoner.

“We’ll wait for you here,” Merlin nodded.

The fire burned fiercely, reducing the body to ash. The wailing cry faded to drear, echoing silence. Then there was nothing left, not even ash. Merlin nodded again as she dug in her pocket for a cigarette, then she turned to face the music.

Nick was shaking, his face white. Now he remembered everything about the conversation with Michael.

“He said .. the rules applied to me. I just – ”

“Killed me? I don’t think so,” she interrupted. “At least, I don’t feel dead .. an’ you’re still here so I don’t believe you’ve broken the number one rule.”

Alex and Rachel emerged from the bunker and Alex’s knees buckled. “Peri, I – ”

“It’s okay. We got the result. No harm done.”

“But I shot you!”

Rachel was already hurrying forward.

“You mean this?” Merlin said, holding out a bullet. “Sorry, Alex, but you’re not a good enough shot.”

“But the blood …”

“People see what they expect to see,” Merlin replied.

“Nick, are you one of them now?” Derek asked. “Is this permanent?”

Nick shook his head, relief swamping him. “It was a one time deal. I guess that’s why I felt so calm, so ready. Something inside me knew I’d be able to deal with Reuben as .. almost an equal. But I couldn’t cope with it every day. I’ve used my one shot. It’s gone.”

“But .. how could you live thru that?” Rachel demanded, examining Merlin’s shoulder and not seeing a wound. “I saw Nick blast two fireballs right thru your body.”

“The boss gave me extra abilities. I was reminded of that when all this blew up. In this world, I don’t have to use them .. not ordinarily. But the equivalent of body armor in a seriously life threatening situation has to be utilized.”

“You never said – ” Alex began angrily.

“You don’t advertise the fact you’re taking precautions, Alex,” Merlin replied. “It makes people suspicious.”

“An’ I was gonna try punching your lights out,” Nick murmured.

“You could’ve tried. Broken every bone in your hand an’ wrist doing it, but it would’ve looked really good.”

Aquila shimmered into existence beside her. “He’s back on the wheel. He won’t get free, not this time. I put him there myself and no one can get even close to him. Now tell me, why did you refuse to talk to me?”

“We’d already discussed what to do. You didn’t need me to tell you again.”

“And go off with the enemy? That wasn’t in the plan.”

“You had a plan?” Rachel asked in amazement.

“We always have a plan, Rachel .. even if it gets amended at short notice,” Merlin said. “And, if you recall, you warned me he might attempt to play mind games. I just got in first. An’, Aquila, you told me to engage him in conversation. You said to pander to his ego. And that’s exactly what I did. An’ you were right. It gave me a look inside his head. Plus .. Derek gave me permission.”

“I did not give you permission!” Derek exclaimed as accusing eyes turned to him.

“You did. It was when you said about Reuben being singularly big, significantly evil and unaccustomedly unique. A rogue Enforcer. If you want to beat them, you have to join them. It got him exactly where I wanted – off balance, thinking I was on his side – and, once that happened, all his defenses went down like a row of dominoes. I knew he wouldn’t go too crazy with you guys. Not because he didn’t wanna kill you, he wanted to look out for the fossils.”

She looked at them. “What? I told you, right at the start, that he was going down. Didn’t you believe me?”

“An’ what about it seeming like the end of the world?” Nick asked.

“Those were Michael’s words, not mine. He doesn’t have to live here, Nick. And, anyway,” she said, glancing around at the scorched and blasted earth, the shattered rocks and remnants of priceless fossils, sniffing at the lingering stench of burning flesh and hair, and listening to the distant wail of sirens as the emergency services raced to the area in response to the reports of gunfire and explosions in the Badlands, “you seen this place lately? What you’ve done to it? I never did this. It was you. And think of this – if we’d failed, it would’ve been the end of the world. As it is, we did the job an’ it was just the end of the world for Reuben Meyer.”

She turned to Derek and held out her hand. He shook it. The debt was finally in the past, where it belonged.

“Y’know,” she said, “I’m really glad that contract’s finished with an’ we have a cooperation agreement instead.”

“So am I,” he nodded. “No more master and slave, only allies.”

“Friends,” Merlin corrected. “It’s a much nicer word.”

The sirens were a lot closer now. Explaining what had happened here …

“I think we should make use of those escape routes,” Derek declared briskly. “Merlin, if you could remove the force field? Nick, if you’re done with being an Enforcer, for today anyway, would you care to lead us back to the road?”

“Right,” Nick nodded and, now his knees had stopped trembling, set off at a run.

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