32. Tyche
THIRTY-TWO
TYCHE
The day began with evil people banging on their bedroom door at the crack of dawn with news that the flag-raising ceremony had been moved from two in the afternoon to ten in the morning.
Tyche moaned and groaned, stumbling his way through getting dressed while everyone else in the house was running about.
The sun wasn’t even up yet, and they were charging around, ready to wage war. Who the fuck started the day like that?
Of course, it all made sense. This was Feng and his minions trying to sneak in their ceremony while avoiding any kind of confrontation with the citizens of Bellcairn.
It didn’t matter. Hayden had her people prepared.
They were marching on Founders Square and the capitol building while Ty was still sucking down his coffee.
After a quick stolen kiss, Tyche was out the back door with Jules.
Shey, Adrian, and Haru would follow with Quill a short time later.
While everyone else in the house was dressed in jeans and T-shirts, he and Jules left in uniforms for the Damardor security forces that would protect the main building.
They even had helmets with face shields.
As they ran out, Nigel pressed into their hands a new set of security badges that would get them through most blockades with barely a glance.
At least that was the plan.
Unlike Haru, Adrian, and Shey, he and Jules were wearing handguns in holsters and knives clipped to their waists.
A queasiness sloshed in Tyche’s stomach, and his heart sped up with every step they took.
He hadn’t let himself check the bones last night or this morning.
There was no point. The reading would inevitably be a mess—just like it had been since they left Sirelis.
There were too many variables. Too many chances for things to go horribly wrong.
Those variables also meant that he could luck into things going right, too.
As they jogged through the streets, avoiding the blocks where large groups of marchers were gathering, Tyche searched for a bit of good luck to steal for later, and he was coming up empty-handed. It was as if all the negative energy in Bellcairn was summoning bad luck and forcing all the good away.
No, it was okay.
He had more than luck to rely on now. He possessed Yesuntei’s powers of nightmares. If only he’d thought of asking her how her magic worked. There were also old Wu’s powers to create accidents. That was even harder to wrap his brain around.
Of course, he claimed to be the so-called God of Chaos when he needed to talk big to Kaes, but big, showy, chaotic magic wouldn’t work here.
Not unless he wanted to annihilate all the humans in the square.
He needed pinpoint precision if he and Jules were going to get out of this alive, while leaving Rati Feng dead.
Jules stopped at the corner of a building and leaned on it before cautiously peering down the street.
He looked odd in his black riot gear and protective armor.
His helmet was a little too big for his head and made him look even more awkward.
Tyche couldn’t bring himself to chuckle, though, because he was pretty sure he appeared just as ridiculous.
He leaned against the rough brick next to Jules and surveyed the neighborhood.
Now that the sun was rising, he could see that the sky was a bright, cloudless blue.
Tall, narrow buildings similar to the one they were currently staying in filled the street, but these were all white or pale tan bricks.
The climbing roses on the trellises had faded, and there were mums in flower pots everywhere.
It was only now that he noticed that the trees that lined this block were more than dark green.
There were hints of yellow and orange peeking out, stirred into a subtle dance by the gentle early-morning breeze.
“Is it almost autumn?” he whispered, not meaning to say the words aloud.
Jules glanced at him, his helmet shifting slightly. “The official end of summer is less than two weeks away. Did you not know?”
“I…I guess I lost track of time.” He stared at the orange leaf tucked in amongst a thick cluster of green on the oak tree. What would fall be like in Sirelis? Did they have any interesting festivals?
When this was over, he wanted to go straight back to Sirelis and force Shey to do every autumn harvest-y thing they could find.
They would sip cider, eat things filled with apples or pumpkin.
He wanted to smell hay and talk to people about the changing of the leaves. He dreamed of quiet, normal things.
Not killing.
“Are you okay?”
Jules’s question jerked Tyche from his wandering thoughts. He forced a smile onto his lips and pushed from the wall. “Yep. Just fine. You?”
His companion’s expression crumpled. “Terrified.”
Well, that seemed like a much more sensible response, but people like Adrian, Haru, and Shey had constantly accompanied Tyche. They were accustomed to jumping into situations with bullets and flashing swords, all aimed to kill or maim.
“Yeah, I’m scared too, but we’ve got this. Get me close to Feng, and I’ll handle everything. Afterward, we’ll be able to escape in all the chaos. People won’t even notice us. By this time tomorrow, we’ll be across the border in Uris-Oladul.”
Jules gave him a look that said he didn’t believe a word Tyche was saying, but it didn’t matter. Tyche was determined to make it all true, but he wanted to be in Shey’s arms by lunchtime and one step closer to making this entire encounter a memory.
“Ready?” Tyche asked, infusing as much enthusiasm and positivity into his tone as possible.
Jules nodded, and they took off at a jog, their armor rattling softly with every step.
Three more blocks and they were at the eastern entrance to Founders Square.
A few hundred protesters gathered behind barriers, shouting at the top of their lungs as if they could go on all day.
Every person’s face was twisted in anger.
They held up signs, some demanding New Rosanthe leave and some demanding Damardor independence.
But the most heart-wrenching sight was the scores of people holding up pieces of paper with the word “MISSING” emblazoned above images of men, women, and children.
Family members who had disappeared one day without a word.
They didn’t seem to care about this government kerfuffle.
They just wanted their sons and daughters back.
A knot threatened to block Tyche’s throat as he fought his way past these people.
Would they ever know peace? Did they still believe that their loved ones were alive, even when common sense said that they had to be buried somewhere in an unmarked grave?
Was it kinder to tell them to give up hope and move on?
No, probably not. Tyche knew too well that hope was sometimes the only thing to get a person out of bed each day.
Tyche stuck close to Jules as he worked his way through the crowd.
Occasionally he would catch a hint of him barking in a pseudo-deep voice that he normally didn’t speak in, trying to project a threatening air, but it was a hard sell considering his slender frame.
The young man was barely an inch taller than Tyche’s pathetic height.
All around him, people crowded close, jostling him and shouting angry chants in his face.
He felt heartbreaking sympathy for them, but his instincts to fight were triggered.
Prickles danced across his skin, and dark whispers crowded his mind.
The magic he’d avoided touching stirred in his chest, begging to lash out.
The pain these people wallowed in begged to be twisted into nightmares that would hound them through their nights.
“Back off, or we’re taking you in!” an unfamiliar voice threatened. A massive hand grabbed Tyche’s arm and pulled him through the crowd.
He stumbled forward, breaking through the throng and past the closest barrier. Tyche looked up and blinked at the scowling mug of an older man with gray hair and scars.
“Where the fuck are you coming from?” the man demanded.
“Uh…”
“Little Stip,” Jules interjected. “Captain heard you needed more help. We’ve been sent to patrol the lower levels of the capitol building.” Jules edged closer to the commanding figure and added in a lower voice. “There’ve been rumors.”
“Fuck, what hasn’t been rumored? This entire ceremony is a goddamn fiasco, and there ain’t nearly enough men to keep these people under control. Get out of my hair if you’re not going to help me out here.”
They did not need to be told twice. Tyche and Jules scurried off through the ranks of soldiers and police who were fighting to keep the eastern exit closed to protestors.
They rushed past another set of barriers after flashing their fake badges and stepped into Founders Square, where their steps slowed.
The main capitol building was arranged to the north, while the supporting government buildings stretched along the east and west, framing three sides of the square.
In the center of the square was a massive fountain that soared nearly three stories into the air and shot up an elegant geyser of water.
Tyche could imagine the rainbow that the spray would cast once the sun hit it.
However, the hour was still early, and the angle of the sun hadn’t crested the eastern building yet, leaving the interior of the square cast in deep shadow.
Within the square, a growing crowd of people moved closer to the barriers set up in front of the wide stairs that led up to the capital.
This crowd was quieter and much more civilized in appearance.
There were a few banners, but they were all supportive of the new Federation of Order.
More than a few people carried tiny black-and-gold flags representing the Federation of Order.