Hunting For The Sun

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

White in the Sunset

I woke up early, but Alethea was sitting by the window eating her breakfast already. When I dragged myself up onto my elbows she pointed her dripping spoon at a couple of slices of toast. I picked them up and joined her at the window overlooking the Quarry.

`Big,´ she noted lightly.

`Very.´ I bit into the toast. It was cold, but I was very hungry. I tried to keep my mind off Draco and the attempt on my life. I gazed down into the huge hole in the ground beneath us. No one else was up, really. It was deserted and lost the appearance of an ant colony.

`Busy day,´ she said. `Last task.´

I´d forgotten about it totally. `That´s today?´ I squealed, cramming the rest of the toast into my mouth.

She nodded slowly, giving me a scared smile.

You see, the trouble was that I knew I couldn´t do anything important without Draco. I was perfectly capable physically, but I needed Draco if we were going to do anything like the lasers again. I tried to hide that from my face.

`Don´t worry,´ she smiled. `You´ll get through. You aced all the others!´

I gave her a weak smile, but suddenly Draco was more than my missing lover. He was my link to honour.

~*~

For the first time, I was called to guard duty that day. It was a sure sign that they knew something was going to happen soon. The task was scheduled to be at night, and I dreaded the thought of it, but my shift was only the day. I reported to the guardhouse and was lined up against a wall. They brought us curse proof vests and studded gloves and boots. We dressed in the armour and hung our weapons in easy-to-reach places. I held my hand around the smooth grip of my gun and didn´t remove it. We filed outside, lining up in ranks. I was up at the front as a warrior.

We looked really impressive, I´m sure, but I wasn´t really bothered. The idea of wandering around alone at that moment was unattractive to say the least. I was far less bothered than anyone else was, in my eyes it was a one-off, but they were worrying me. I wandered off into the surrounding area as soon as the patrol split. I had my intuition pumped up to full power and held both guns in my fists, cocked and ready.

I felt them coming long before I even knew who they were. Two men, tall, strong, carrying weapons. I knew they were close, too. I backed into a heap of twisted metal, crouching behind a wrecked car.

They weren´t going for stealth, plainly. I could hear them talking loudly as they rounded the bend in the cleared path.

And I knew the voices.

Well, one of them. Draco.

He was talking about someone... me.

`She´s beautiful, dad!´ he said, waving his hands animatedly.

`You would never pick badly,´ his father assured him.

`I can´t wait for you to meet her!´ Draco exclaimed.

I thought Lucius was dead. I thought Draco never made smiley faces and chatted. That was one of the rules, right? I couldn´t resist, I stepped out from behind the car and walked up to Draco.

`Did you know that only authorised personnel are allowed out unless during permitted times?´ I said curtly, putting my hands on my hips and barring their way. Draco flashed me a quick smile. He loves to play.

`I´m awfully sorry, officer,´ he said. `I was just bringing my father back to the city.´

`That´s lovely, but it doesn´t change that you´re breaking the rules.´

`I have a great respect for rules,´ Lucius broke in, `but I hardly feel that this is the time. If you don´t give me some proper indication of rank I´ll be reporting you to your superior for insubordination to those more worthy than you.´ He looked down his nose at me, and I recognised the face. `Aren´t you a little young to be issuing me with orders?´ he sniffed. `Awfully short, aren´t you? My, my. And ginger hair too, God just wasn´t on your side, was he?´

I was outraged, but Draco cut in, holding me back with one hand.

`Dad, the young lady you just mortally insulted is Rae Kelwaedd, my girlfriend,´ he grinned.

Lucius flushed slightly, pinched colour high in his cheeks. `Terribly sorry,´ he said, bowing slightly. `Had I but known...´

`I´m not in the mood old man,´ I shot back. To my surprise, but only slightly, he laughed his head off and kissed my hand. It´s hard to stay angry when someone does that, especially when they look so much like your boyfriend.

`I think we´ll get on fine,´ he said.

`Great,´ Draco drawled. `Let´s get in. We´re lawbreaking.´

`Don´t go!´ I said, grabbing at his arm and immediately cursing myself.

`Why not?´ he asked, stopping.

`Someone tried to kill me,´ I said in an undertone.

`What?´ he muttered back. He looped an arm through mine and pulled me behind a pillar. `What?´

`Someone threw a dagger at my back yesterday,´ I replied.

`Who?´ he demanded, gripping my arm fiercely.

`I don´t know,´ I lied. `It´s not important.´ I tried to pull away, but he dragged me back again.

`Of course it´s important!´ he hissed. `You don´t know what you are, do you?´

A person whose fingers are going blue due to blood supply being cut off.

`No.´

`You´re too important to lose, Rae!´ he told me savagely, shaking me.

`Why?´ I cried. `What makes me so special?´

`You wouldn´t understand,´ he said, letting me go and drawing himself back in again.

`Why not? This is me we´re talking about!´ I said hotly, starting to get a little angry with all this `you´re just a kid/girl. You wouldn´t get it.´

`Even I don´t understand fully,´ he told me quietly, shaking his head and raking a hand through his hair.

`Well maybe I will!´ I shouted, clenching my fists. `What makes it so that you would always understand more than I do? Why are you better than I am?´

He regarded me coolly, looking me up and down without blinking. That´s enough to make even the angriest person feel silly, but I wasn´t angry. I was indignant.

`Rae, this is out of my hands,´ he said.

`So whose hands is it in?´ I snapped.

`Supposedly yours,´ he told me.

`So shouldn´t I know what I´m meant to do?´ I reasoned noisily.

`As I understand it, that would render you incapable. I don´t believe all this bullshit, but they say that you have an important task ahead of you and you mustn´t know what it is or you´ll fail. There are some who want you to do it one way, and some who want you to do it another.´ He took a few breaths, glancing around and shifting his stance as though deciding how to word something difficult or unpleasant.

`If I say more I could get in the way. I don´t want to risk that. You have to trust me.´ He took my hands and looked into my eyes. I tilted my chin up to look at him.

`Trust me?´

`Always,´ I breathed. `Are you involved in this task?´

`I think so,´ he said. `But there´s no more I can tell you. If you don´t do it then we´ll be in big doo-doo. You won´t do it if you know what it is because then you´ll know how it ends. I can´t risk that.´

I screwed up my face, trying to think of what it could be, but my thoughts were neatly dismantled by Draco´s presence.

`Don´t think about it,´ he told me softly.

I know now, of course, but at the time the thought tortured me. No less because every time I thought about it everything in my head just crumpled and I couldn´t think of anything. Very effective, I suppose. In the end I put it aside forcefully. Draco wouldn´t let me dwell on it but all the same, I wondered. I´ll list the thoughts I had overall.

It had to be something that was a deeply ingrained part of me otherwise I wouldn´t do it without prompting. It had to involve some kind of loss or pain or something, because I wouldn´t do it if I knew how it ended.

Ultimately, I wouldn´t like it at all.

I skived off duty for the rest of my shift, showing Lucius around and finding him a place to stay. He got some odd looks, but I gained immense respect for the man as he ignored them totally. He was funny and polite. He was really nice to me, opening doors and calling me `My Lady´. Draco went off somewhere but he was blocking me and I couldn´t hear his thoughts. I had no idea where he was, and it was only a few hours to sunset when he returned.

`Rae,´ he said, stepping into the room where I sat, chatting with his father.

`Hello,´ I smiled.

`I have a note for you,´ he said, shutting the door with a click behind him.

I took the folded paper with a frown, opening it and smoothing it out on the table.

Rae Kelwaedd - your friend Alethea is in grave danger. Without you, she will be in mortal peril. You have displeased us, and we would like to talk to you. Come to the gates at sunset exactly, ALONE and dressed in white. I have a knife pressed against the girl´s throat, and if you break any of our conditions it will be pressed against her neck bone, all covered with blood. Bring no weapons, and come dressed all in white so we know you and don´t shoot you on sight. We will know if you send anyone else.

X

That was all it said. I realised that my hand had been to my mouth, but I dropped it. My eyes were wide with shock.

`Draco?´ I croaked.

He was reading over my shoulder.

`I don´t know,´ he said, shaking his head and biting a fingernail thoughtfully. His hair hung over his face and he was frowning.

`Do I go?´ I asked.

`I don´t think you have a choice,´ he said. `I can fly ahead and check on them. If I take the weapons then we can kill them when we get there.´

`But they said they´d know!´ I objected, fearing for Alethea´s life.

`They won´t be looking for bats,´ he said, holding out a hand for my guns and daggers. I had to comply. It was a plan, and I didn´t have one of those. I reluctantly pulled my weapons from their holsters and piled them into his hands. He tucked them into his belt and removed his dragon charm, wrapping the chain around his wrist.

`Look out for me,´ he said. Then he stepped to the window and launched himself off into the gathering dusk. He plummeted a few feet before unfurling long black wings of taut skin and flitting away over the horizon. Lucius turned to me.

`Has he always been able to do that?´ I asked.

`No,´ Lucius sighed, putting an arm around my shoulders. `It´s a difficult transformation, but he decided he would do it to be better than Potter.´

`Were they enemies before, then?´ I asked, intrigued. I wasn´t allowed to leave for another half-hour at least, so I could make the most of Lucius´ presence.

`They were enemies at school,´ he said with a faint smile.

`That far back?´ I said, raising my eyebrows in surprise.

`Oh yes. From the very first day, as I´ve been told. I think Potter embarrassed Draco in some way.´

`Grudges?´ I laughed. It seemed so mild for what Draco´s put up with now, and I still don´t quite know the depth of that hatred. He won´t tell me, and that´s one area of his mind that I still can´t access.

`I think it was originally just that, but it grew,´ Lucius shrugged. He nodded to the clock on the wall. `You´d better change clothes.´

`Yeah,´ I said. I didn´t have any white clothes - apart from my white shirt. I would have to `borrow´ something off Apate. I went to her rooms and knocked on the door. She was out, so I popped the lock and went through her clothes anyway. She had a short white skirt, so I took it. It was still late summer, so I didn´t bother with a coat. Black boots should be fine. I pulled on the clothes in Apate´s room and returned to my own apartment, a gnawing sense of dread growing in the pit of my stomach. I checked my watch and nodded curtly to Lucius. I stepped outside and paced down the hall to the stairs. I trotted my way down, combing my hair with my fingers to keep busy.

I jogged across the hall, painfully aware of my bare legs. I don´t like wearing skirts. I ran out into the darkening road and crossed the bridge to the boulevard. Lovers strolled along, hand in hand, all pink and aglow in the sunset. I pushed past them, running for all my might. The faster I ran, checking my watch every second and seeing that I suddenly (where the fuck did all that time go?) had only five minutes to get to the gate, the more of them flooded towards me. They spread out in long lines, I pushed through, swearing, shouting and threatening. I barged through the market square, where they were all buying their food still.

Then I remembered the task. What if I didn´t get to do it? Malfoy needed me. I couldn´t stay back.

But Alethea needed me now. I didn´t falter, I couldn´t. That wasn´t my choice. My watch just ticked over to sunset, and I dived through the gate.

A letter fluttered down and landed on my arm. I snatched it up and pulled it open.

Dragon-child,

You´ve come this far. Well done. There is still a dagger against the pulse of your friend, but she won´t have one if you don´t hurry. A trail is painted in white on the rubble. Follow only this. Step so much as a pace off and she dies. Bring an ally, she dies. Wear anything but white, she dies.

Hurry, hurry.

X

I looked down at my boots nervously, but I had to get going. I wanted to cry. Why me? I looked around a bit, not daring to make any light in case that was forbidden. Sure enough, just a few yards ahead began a trail of drizzled white paint. I followed it out onto the rubble and up through a path I´d never seen before.

I pulled myself through a hole in some bricks and stepped out onto a slab of concrete levelled flat and drizzled with paint. The sun had ducked below the horizon and all the sky was red. My shadow was a dark smear on blood coloured concrete as I ran along and onto a long metal girder. I made the mistake of looking down.

My hair swirled up around my face, caught by up-draughts from the trains running through below me. It was a long way down. The trains ran under El Karem, which was low enough. There was a good hundred-foot drop beneath this thin girder. I swallowed and focused on placing one foot before the other. It was with horror that I heard a voice behind me.

`Where are you going?´ Cloud.

`To hell, eventually,´ I said, not looking back.

`Rae?´

`No!´ I felt him step onto the other end of the girder. `You have to go back, Cloud!´ I screamed, turning my head to him, hair flaring dramatically.

`Where are you going, Rae?´

`Stay back!´ I cried. He didn´t.

I regretted it, of course, but I did try to warn him.

I thrust out my hand and yelled a spell. Red lightning shot from my palm and surrounded him, blasting him back over the slab and sent him scrambling back over the edge. It was with horror that I saw him drop out of sight. I couldn´t turn back. Already the sky had turned lilac and I was losing time. I ran across the rest of the distance and onto the old playground slide that led down to the second level.

I ran across the small valley in the rubble and scrambled up to the third level. There was the trail, running along the roof of an old train. Darkness swirled over me, and I glanced up to see a huge bat circling above. I wondered what it was doing until I saw the glint of a chain around its forearm and picked out the dangling silver charm. I felt a brush on my mind, and returned it. I was glad he was there. He wheeled and plunged down into the next valley as I thundered my way along the metal roofs. I jumped a compartment and stumbled over some railway track.

Not long now

, Draco told me. I nodded and followed the trail over a series of bridges formed from old metal and wooden fences. Then I saw a pillar standing on a building that had sunk into the rubble like a wreck into the sea. It had once been a tall skyscraper, but now it sagged down, leaning to one side. There were five or six figures up there and I knew one was Alethea, tied to the pillar.

A tall pile of wrecked cars led up against the sloping side, and I made my way over to it. It was hard going, but I went with the force of honour behind me. Gods know how many of my scars I gained that day. I got a magnificent gash along my knee and up my thigh from a car bonnet. That´s all I can clearly remember. I was very tired.

I dragged my thin frame over the edge of the sloped roof and ran towards them, coughing and panting.

There were five men, robed and hooded in black. Alethea was bound to a post and gagged. Her eyes swivelled madly and she struggled desperately with her bonds.

`Dragon-child,´ one greeted me.

`What are you doing?´ I panted, trying to run to Alethea, but they grabbed my arms.

`We´re going to end what began with your seduction by the Dragon, and your first union.´ I blushed furiously. It was not their business to know about that.

`What began? What do you mean?´ I hissed.

`You began the prophecy of the end of good and the reign of sin,´ they answered in unison. It sounded like a religious practice.

`Take me,´ Draco said. I spun. He was standing behind me, arms held wide.

`If I die, it still fails,´ he said solemnly. I choked and tried to rush him, but a soothing voice caressed my mind.

It´s not what they say it is,

he insisted. They don´t know what they´re messing with. Life will end if they succeed.

I gasped, but played along.

`You brought another with you!´ the leader yelled. `You broke our contract!´

He tried to run to Alethea but his robes caught underfoot in his frenzy. I seized that moment to run him through with a bolt of lightning. He stiffened and crumpled, smoking, to the ground. Draco drew two guns and began blasting calmly. I ran through the men to Alethea and fumbled with her bonds, trying to bite them, pick at them and tear them at the same time. I glanced back: Draco was still holding his own in the little fight. I jerked the bonds off her wrists and moved to her gag.

`What´re they saying, Rae?´ she asked.

`They think that some kind of destiny is ruling us, and that I am the one who´ll bring evil,´ I answered, speaking from intuition and guess-work.

`They were calling you something while I was waiting,´ she said, rubbing at her arms.

`What?´ I said distractedly.

`Rae, they´re saying that you´re the Devil,´ she told me, looking very scared.