Chapter 6
Ikept the teenage-boy disguise long enough to make it past the two shopkeepers who guarded the entrance to Witches End, then ducked into the first available alley and changed my illusion to that of Riley Tansom, an enforcer who had retired earlier this year.
I hoped that the real Riley hadn’t decided to get back into action, because he’d been well known enough that people would definitely notice if two of us showed up at the Enforcer’s Guild.
But since he was getting old and wanted to be with his family, he probably would have gotten them out of the city at the first sign of disaster rather than stay and fight.
I got back onto the bicycle, then headed down to the Enforcer’s Guild in Rowanville.
Thankfully, the trip was mostly downhill this time, and the legs pumping the pedals were still my own even if they looked like Tansom’s.
Before too long, the tall, dingy grey building that represented Solantha’s law enforcement system came into view, an ugly but necessary eyesore that stood at the edge of Rowanville, and the center of the city.
It was rectangular, four stories high, and there were cracks and miniature craters blown out of the stone exterior that hadn’t been there before.
All the windows had been boarded up except for one at the very top.
Taking a deep breath, I secured my bike.
As I did so, Captain Galling pulled into the lot, parking his steel-blue steamcar in his reserved spot right in front of the entrance.
He looked freshly showered and clothed as he stepped out of his car, a large, imposing man with close-cropped grey hair.
To my surprise and gratification, he was wearing mercenary leathers.
He must have gone home to shower and change, then transport his wife to the Palace.
It was a smart move for him to dress in leathers rather than the suits he usually wore – it would show the rest of the enforcers that he was prepared to join them in securing the city and standing against the Resistance, rather than hiding behind his desk as he’d become accustomed to doing in recent times.
Eager to see what he was planning, I hurried in behind him.
The two enforcers guarding the door let me in without complaint, their nods of acknowledgement much better than the reception I would have gotten if I’d arrived here as myself.
Yeah, so the Palace staff was being nicer to me, but I doubted the enforcers were prepared to welcome me back with open arms, especially since many of them hated the mages right now.
It didn’t matter that I’d worked at the Enforcers Guild for years – right now, most of them only saw me as the hated Chief Mage’s apprentice.
Captain Galling called for a general meeting in the main hall on the first floor, and I filed in there along with the rest of the enforcers.
The few who saw me clapped me on the back and asked me about my wife and grandkids, questions I tried to answer as evasively as I could, as I didn’t know Tansom that well.
“What the hell are you even thinking, Tansom, coming back out of retirement at a time like this?” Taren Widler, a Main Crew Enforcer who I usually found obnoxious, asked with a grin.
“In case you haven’t noticed, most of us have already hightailed it out of here, and the rest of us are just biding our time for when the Resistance finally takes this place over. ”
“I have noticed,” I said casually, my eyes sweeping over the crowd that had gathered in the hall.
Only about a third of the Enforcers Guild was present, most of them humans, and none of the very few mage enforcers had remained.
“But it’s hard to get accurate data about what’s really going on in this town, what with the papers being slanted this way and that, and nobody wanting to poke their head out of doors to have a conversation.
So I thought I’d come here and see what I can find out.
Looks like I’ve got good timing, too,” I added as Captain Galling stepped up to the small podium at the front of the room.
“All right, boys and girls,” he addressed us once the room had gone quiet.
“I know there’s been some disagreement about what to do in the face of this catastrophe, but it’s time for us to pull together and do our job.
The Enforcers Guild was originally founded to serve the people of Solantha, and the whole state of Canalo.
Regardless of whether or not we think the Mages or the Resistance are in the right, the people still need our protection, and our help. ”
“What about us?” a female enforcer close to the front shouted. “Don’t we deserve protection and help too? Or is the Mages Guild going to continue to arrest us and treat us like criminals? Let them fight their own battles. I’ve had enough!”
Several enforcers began to shout their agreements with her stance, and soon, the entire hall was in an uproar.
Anger filled me at some of the more inflammatory statements, and I wished I could march back to the Palace and shove my boot up the asses of the idiotic Council members who had caused all this bitterness to begin with.
Hopefully, Captain Galling could sway the crowd, because if not, we were in big trouble.
“See?” Widler muttered into my ear, pitching his voice so he could be heard despite the shouting. “It’s crazy town over here. You should go home.”
“Enough!” Captain Galling boomed, silencing the crowd again.
“I understand your grievances, perhaps better than anyone else in the city. In case you’ve forgotten, I, too, was arrested, and in fact was only released this morning.
The rest of the enforcers who were wrongfully imprisoned, and the citizens as well, are going to be released sometime today.
I’ve spoken to the Chief Mage, and we’ve come to an agreement. ”
“Is that why you’re so willing to forgive them?” someone sneered. “A pouch of gold is enough to make up for all the bullshit they’ve pulled?”
“It isn’t,” Captain Galling said, his voice hard as his gaze snapped to the enforcer who’d spoken.
I smirked a little as the man in question hunched his shoulders beneath Captain Galling’s intense stare.
“But this isn’t about me, you, or any one of us individually.
This is about making sure the people in this city stay safe, regardless of the outcome of this civil war.
The Mages Guild has agreed to issue a public apology for the wrongful arrests, and now that the Chief Mage is back, things will be under control on their side once more.
They’ve also agreed to double the bounty for any criminals we apprehend during this emergency – actual criminals,” he added with a scowl.
“I don’t want to see you guys hauling in citizens unnecessarily, or for inflated or imagined infractions.
We don’t have the time or the resources to deal with that kind of bullshit, and besides, we’re no better than the Mages Guild if we start pulling that kind of shit. ”
There were a few cheers at the mention of the increased bounties, and the tension in the room began to ease off.
Only a handful of the enforcers, mostly shifters, called Captain Galling a sell-out and stormed out of the hall, refusing to co-operate with the mage regime regardless of financial incentives.
But once they were gone, the others seemed to relax.
More questions were shouted, and details were hashed out between Captain Galling and the crew foremen.
Eventually, an agreement was reached that the enforcers would concentrate on policing the streets, discouraging looting and other criminal activity.
It was also agreed that in the event of an attack, the enforcers would be responsible for ensuring civilian safety, though they were not required to engage in any battles themselves.
The paperwork for claiming the increased bounties would be simplified, so as to waste no time with red tape.
One of the shifters making his way out of the hall bumped into my shoulder. He was about to move off, but he froze, nose twitching, then swung his yellow wolf eyes in my direction.
“Oi,” he protested. “Who are you? You don’t smell like Tansom.”
I stiffened as suspicious gazes swung in my direction, cursing inwardly. I’d tried to get Tansom’s scent right, but evidently, I hadn’t quite succeeded.
“Well?” the wolf shifter demanded, crossing his arms. “Show yourself!”
Reluctantly, I dropped my disguise. Gasps echoed through the crowd, followed by exclamations of surprise and anger. The words ‘bitch,’ ‘whore,’ and ‘traitor’ echoed through the halls, and I fisted my hands at my sides, claws digging into my palms as I fought to remain calm.
“Nice to see you guys too,” I sneered. “You’re welcome for bringing the Chief Mage back in one piece, and for rescuing all the shifters who were being kidnapped and enslaved by the Resistance.”
Quite a few of them – the shifter who’d called me out included – shifted uncomfortably and averted their eyes.
“We shouldn’t be so harsh to judge her,” one of them murmured.
“She has done good work lately,” another one said.
“Very good work,” Captain Galling confirmed in a louder voice, and I flashed him a look of gratitude and relief across the room.
“Who gives a fuck?” Widler shouted, and it was then I noticed that he’d backed away, a look of disgust on his face. “She still works for the mages, doesn’t she? I bet they sent her in here as a spy, to make sure we’re good little peons and to report any of us if we don’t do what we’re told!”
There was a roar of agreement at that, and the crowd surged forward, murderous looks on their faces. The captain shouted at them to stop, but nobody listened.
I held up my hands, and the crowd halted as blue flame sprang to my fingertips.
“Hang on, guys,” I said, holding them at bay with my magical fire.
“I’m not here as a spy, dammit! I came here to help.
My main objective is to find the Benefactor, the person who is financing the Resistance, and I have a lot of good information that could help you guys out. ”
The crowd seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then somebody spoke up. “Aren’t you on the Resistance kill list? They’re going to think we’re helping you if we let you back in here, and then what? I’ve got my family to think of!”
More voices chimed in with agreement, and the crowd surged forward again, heedless of my magic as they cursed and yelled that they didn’t need the help of a filthy traitor like me.
As one, they pushed me out of the main hall and slammed the doors shut on me as I landed on my ass in the entrance hall.
I stared up at the scarred, closed doors, hands braced on the equally scarred linoleum tile.
I’d worked so hard to get into the Enforcers Guild.
I’d wanted to be one of them since I was sixteen, had dreamed of fighting against injustice and making the city a better place.
And now, they were throwing me out, calling me a traitor and telling me that my help wasn’t good enough for them.
Stop moping, Sunaya. There isn’t time.
I sighed. There never seemed to be time for wallowing in self-pity, was there?
These days there were always lives at stake, and a big, bad guy that needed to be stopped.
I wished that my enemy, for once, actually had a face.
I hadn’t known Yantz was the guy behind the silver murders until the very end, and the same went for Danrian and the Shifter Royale.
But even they were just puppets, their strings yanked behind the scenes by a greater force – the Benefactor.
And we still seemed to be no closer to finding out who the hell he was.
I got to my feet, checked to make sure my weapons and harness were still in place, then left the building.
As I passed through the entrance, I caught the scents of the male enforcers who were still guarding the entrance, and stiffened as my body throbbed in response.
If even these guys looked good, I was in a bad way.
Fuck. I’d been thrown so off balance by my ejection from the Guild that I’d forgotten to put my illusion back on again.
The two guards started at the sight of me, and I took off running.
I wasn’t sure if I was running because I needed to get out of sight before someone from the Resistance took a shot at me, because I didn’t want to humiliate myself in front of those guys by letting my hormones get the better of me, or because I couldn’t stand to be near a group of people who, despite everything I’d done, still thought I was scum.
All I knew was that I needed a fucking break.