Fairest of All Read online

  The Pure

  Fairest of All

  by CJ Preece

  Chapter Twenty-Two: War Council

  “It won’t be long now,” Belle said with finality. “The wolves are at the gates. All we can do now is hope that our preparations have been enough. With the Troll gone there should be few things fearsome enough to truly worry us, but I am afraid for the people of the city. The apathetic are now more at risk than ever before, and the ones who have become violent could become an army within the walls if the Witch or Charming commanded it.”

  They were gathered once more in Snow’s parlour, all of the Pure who they had been able to find, nearly forty in all. They were packed into the little room from wall to wall, several of the taller members having to stoop low, or even sit to fit inside. Red was content to wait in a corner this time. She had managed to get some sleep on the ride back, then more while the Pure were assembling. She felt almost like her old self again. And now she sat with Goldilocks’ hand in hers, letting the warmth fill her.

  Philip leaned forwards. Every day he seemed more and more a leader. “We need to know what is being said through the Dreamscape. And for that we need someone the Witch doesn’t suspect.”

  “Boy Blue is the only option. We need to go and collect him. And he’ll need bodyguards.”

  “I’ll go,” Red said immediately. “He knows me, so he’s less likely to spook.”

  “We all know you,” Rapunzel said. “He knows that I won’t kill him. I’ll go.”

  “Both of you go,” Belle said, cutting off any argument. “No offence Red but Blue might run if it’s just you. And no offence Rapunzel but you don’t have the combat abilities for real bodyguard work.”

  “We need more chaperones,” Adam said. “Blue’s bar is right in the middle of the danger zone.”

  “Lady Zhurong, you go as well. Anyone else?”

  “I’ll go,” Philip said. “You may need some help from a fellow scoundrel to sweet talk him.”

  “Fine, Luke, you as well.”

  Luke nodded. The five of them gathered at the back of the room while Belle surveyed them.

  “No heroics. You get to Blue’s, get him and bring him back. Understood?”

  Only once they had all nodded did she throw Lady Zhurong a key. “God speed.”

  *

  Two blocks from Blue’s they heard it, the rumble of bodies in the street, a lot of bodies.

  “What is that?” Philip asked.

  Lady Zhurong bent low to the ground and placed her hand on the tarmac. “Humans. Many humans. They are coming our way.” She stood and slung the mini-cannon off her back. “They are coming fast, we must find a defensive position.”

  Luke pointed out an apartment block. “That should do.” He had taken two steps towards it when the door burst open from the weight of a dozen Corrupted pressing against it. They poured into the street, trampling anything under their feet. They spotted the Pure almost at once, insane grins appearing on every face.

  “Oh dear,” said Philip.

  The Corrupted charged, amazingly fast. They swarmed Luke in a moment, driving him to the floor. Red drew her revolvers and fired into the middle of them, but whether her bullets had any effect was impossible to determine, as the pile of bodies continued to grow. There was an almighty thump to her left and half the crowd was blown apart. She looked to see Lady Zhurong turning the crank to load a new ball into her mini-cannon. Her muscles flexed as she brought it round again, targeting the pile.

  “No!” Shouted Rapunzel. “You might hit Luke.”

  Lady Zhurong only grunted, but she did shift her aim to the right, blasting apart a group who had spotted Philip. Red’s revolvers were empty, so she switched to her shotgun, advancing towards the pile. Philip had finally come to his senses, and was pouring bullets into them as well. Rapunzel was standing in the middle of the street, her arms up as though she could stop the fighting through will power.

  “In or out ‘Zel, make up your mind,” Red yelled. She thought she saw a flash of bright red cloth, Luke? But then something barrelled into her and she went sprawling onto the street, shotgun flying and something on top of her, strong fingers at her throat. She started to elbow the Corrupted in the side of the head while her other hand scrabbling at her waist for a knife. Something wet and warm sprayed her face and the Corrupted suddenly became a dead weight, half its head a smoking crater. She looked up to see Rapunzel, an old style pistol in hand.

  “Nice shot.”

  “Save it.” Rapunzel drew a second pistol, a modern witch-tech gun, and fired over Red’s head as another stream of Corrupted came from an alley. Red took advantage of the cover to reload her revolvers and found her shotgun before rejoining the fray. Lady Zhurong’s cannon was a steady drum-beat behind the carnage of battle. The pile on Luke seemed to be mostly dead bodies now, and Philip had dug into the middle of it, hauling the bloody and bruised king from underneath.

  “My thanks,” Luke said mildly, drawing a pistol and a sword.

  “No problem.”

  Luke shot a Corrupted that was trying to sneak up on them. “Might I suggest we find some cover ladies?”

  Before they could say anything else a third group of Corrupted came swarming from the left, screaming and jabbering insane babble in their excitement at finding their prey.

  “I think the Witch has made her move!” Lady Zhurong cried, her cannon vaporising the front runners.

  “You may be right.” Red was still focused on the group coming from the alley, which showed no signs of abating. Together she and Rapunzel were keeping them at bay, but they were going to be out of ammunition any moment. Red holstered her revolvers and pulled her pistols, emptying them in moments. She was falling steadily back, but now bumped into Lady Zhurong coming the other way. The mini-cannon boomed again, but it surely had to be running low on ammunition as well. She switched to only the one pistol, emptying it and firing it steadily. Rapunzel was now to her left, with Philip and Luke between ‘Zel and Zhurong.

  “What now?” Rapunzel said.

  “Zhurong and I will draw them,” Luke said. “Take the breathing room and make for Blue’s. We’ll catch up.”

  “You don’t have a better plan?” Zhurong asked as her cannon finally ran dry. She switched to a gigantic pistol with ease. “I’d like to survive.”

  “Don’t worry,” Luke said. “I have a plan for us as well.”

  “Explain on the way, we’re outta time,” she grabbed him and they burst away from the huddle, Zhurong using her cannon as a bludgeon against the Corrupted.

  Red broke the other way, Philip and Rapunzel hot on her heels. Only one or two of the Corrupted were left on their side of the street, and only a few decided to chase them instead of Luke and Zhurong. Red drew a knife from her back and threw it at one, catching him in the chest. It didn’t even slow him, but then Philip passed a pistol to her and she used that to blow the man’s head apart.

  “Always was a useless shot,” Philip said with a grin as they sprinted past derelict old bars and taverns.

  Outside Blue’s three Corrupted were banging on the door, screaming their nonsense about the rise of evil and the death of purity. Red shoulder-barged them out of the way, letting Rapunzel and Philip get to work on opening the door. Red didn’t take chances with her foes, drawing two knives and making short work of throats and hearts.

  “You didn’t have to kill them,” Rapunzel said when she came to join them.

  “We don’t have time to bind them, and I won’t take the chance they’ll blindside us.”

  “They’re still human.”

  “And we shouldn’t kill humans,” Philip said with a touch of annoyance in his vo
ice. “But if we don’t get a move on both they and us will be killed so for the love of all that’s holy help me.”

  Red shoved him aside and delivered one powerful kick to the very centre of the doors, right where the lock was. The wood splintered and the doors burst open, revealing the dingy bar. “Didn’t Adam ever teach you that one?”

  As they moved into the bar Philip kept up the banter. “He wouldn’t teach me. Said I was a feckless whelp.”

  “Don’t you ever shut up?” Rapunzel hissed. “This is a war zone.”

  “He’s nervous,” Red said, swallowing her own irritation at his inane chatter. “Leave him be.”

  While Philip continued to protest that he wasn’t nervous they swept the bar, checking every inch. There was no upstairs, and although Red bashed aside a few ceiling tiles to reveal a small crawlspace it was unused. At last Philip found a concealed hatch in the floor behind the bar, and after Red put a couple of rounds into it they were able to pry it open. There was a narrow staircase leading down into an unlit basement.

  “Why would he be down there with the lights off?” Rapunzel asked, her voice suddenly very small.

  Red tested the light switch on the bar, to no effect. “Power must be out. It could have been out for hours already in this part of town.”

  “Who’s first into the terrifying hole?” Philip asked. He had a grin on his face, but he couldn’t quite conceal the tremor in his voice.

  “I’ll go,” Red said, taking out a crystal from a hidden pocket on her armour. “You both stay here. If anything happens to me, you get the hell out.”

  “Understood.”

  With a deep breath to steel herself she walked down into the darkness.

  The crystal illuminated only a bare few inches around her, showing nothing but old stone and grimy wooden boards. The space was cramped and confined so that in places her head scraped the ceiling. None of the others would have been able to stand up fully. Perfect for Blue’s height. She stayed close to the wall, not sure how far in front of the her the room extended. Knowing Blue there was every possibility that it was an escape tunnel leading out of the city. But an escape tunnel could easily become an invading army’s back door.

  Her boot brushed against something solid and she stepped back quickly, bringing her revolver to bear. Nothing leapt out of the darkness at her though, and as she took a step she realised that she was standing in something sticky and wet that glistened in the faint light of the crystal. Knowing what she was about to see she went down on one knee and brought the crystal forwards until it revealed the mess that was Blue’s head.

  A bullet had gone in just below his chin, leaving a neat hole. It had blasted out through the top of his crown, making considerably more mess. His blond hair was stained by blood and grey streaks of brain, fragments of skull stuck to the wall behind him. She swept the light down his body, finding a small holdout pistol lying next to his hand. It was obvious what had happened. If Blue wasn’t going to join the Corrupt, he certainly wasn’t brave enough to fight alongside the Pure. He had been dead some time, possibly even since the morning. All they could hope now was that he hadn’t done this out of knowledge of something the Witch still had up her sleeve.

  She brought the crystal back up to his face, looking into his blank eyes.

  “Idiot,” she said softly. “You didn’t need to fight.” She holstered her gun and used her free hand to close his eyes. There wasn’t time to do much more, but she did fold his arms over his chest. If they survived she would have to remember his body lay there. For all their history, he didn’t deserve to rot forgotten in such a fetid place.

  Rapunzel and Philip saw the truth of it when she came out. “By his own hand?” Philip asked sombrely.

  She nodded.

  “He always did like to make his own path, however foolish.”

  They stood for a only a moment with their heads bowed before Red shook herself out of the melancholy. “There’s still a battle just beginning,” she said. “The Corrupt would not attack without provocation. The Witch must have declared war even as we were coming here. We need to get back. Lips would be the first place they struck.”

  Rapunzel didn’t look convinced. “What about Luke and Zhurong?”

  “What about us?” A cheerful voice said from the doorway.

  They turned to see Luke and Zhurong, blood spattered and bruised, but definitely alive.

  “How did you escape?” Rapunzel asked.

  “Climbed a building. The Corrupt are fast and dangerous, but once we were above them it was easy enough to knock them back down. Once we were on the roof it was only a few jumps before we lost them.”

  “Will the same route bring us back?” Red asked.

  “It should serve us for most of the way,” Luke said, his expression becoming serious. “What about Blue?”

  Rapunzel sighed. “Killed himself.” Zhurong spat on the floor in disgust, which they all ignored. “But I don’t think we need him to interpret the Dreamscape to tell us what’s happening. We’re at war.”

  “That we are.” Luke closed his eyes, possibly to compose himself, possibly to offer a prayer for Blue. When his eyes opened they were like flint. “Come on.”

  *

  The way back was as easy as he had promised. The rooftops were all so close together that they could simply jump from one to another. Below the Corrupted swarmed all about, but only one looked up, and by the time he had seen them they were already away towards the centre of the city. It was only when they were at the very edge of the Red Light District that they were forced to climb down, as the roofs were now too far apart, and of too many different heights to be safely traversed. They moved through the streets carefully, double checking every blind alley for more Corrupted. There didn’t seem to be anymore though. If nothing else the pimps and Madames were good at protecting their own.

  “Do you think they’ll still be at Lips?” Philip asked.

  “Probably not,” Red said. “But Snow might be able to tell us where they went.”

  “You still think Snow will be there?” Luke asked. “There’s a war going on, she might just have left for somewhere safe.”

  Philip snorted. “Are you kidding? This is Snow we’re talking about. Lips will be like a bunker. It’s probably the safest spot in the city, including the castle. She’s not leaving.”

  They were approaching the brothel now, and they could see signs of battle. Blood stains on the ground, bullet holes in the walls, and finally a body up against one of the other brothels, riddled with holes.

  “Tracks,” Zhurong said. “They lead away.”

  “It’s probably them,” Luke said. “But we should go to Lips first anyway. If we can save time by asking Snow directly then we should. If she won’t help us, or can’t, then we can follow the tracks.”

  They were approaching the brothel now, and as Philip had predicted it looked like a fortress. The windows had been covered over with metal sheeting, and the door was now solid steel, with a small hole at eye level. Some of the bricks had been pulled away to reveal more steel plating inside the walls. It kooked as though the Corrupted had tried to break in, and there were bodies piled at the corners and out in the street, their blood congealing where they lay.

  “Well that’s pleasant,” Philip drawled.

  “Shut up,” Zhurong said. “There could still be more of them.”

  “I don’t think so.” Luke was examining the trails on the ground again. “It’s more likely Snow forced our comrades to leave, and the Corrupted followed them. But they split up, going in many different directions. Hopefully all to the same goal.”

  “But we still don’t know where.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Time to find out.” Red stepped up to the door of Lips and slammed the butt of her shotgun against the metal. It rang for some time before the eye-hole was pulled open and someone glared out. “Hi,” she said. “We’re here for the lady of the house.”

>   “No entry,” the girl inside said.

  “Tell Snow it’s Red and the others. And if she doesn’t want another set of enemies she’ll come and talk to us.”

  “It’s okay Giselle.” Snow had appeared at the doorway as well, shooing the girl aside. “I’ll set them on their way.” Her eyes replaced the young girl’s. “What do you want?”

  “Just tell us where they went Snow, and we won’t bother you.”

  “I have no idea where they went,” Snow replied. “Though they were talking about Belle and Adam’s townhouse. Apparently they were thinking of setting up some sort of headquarters there. If you hurry you might catch them before you’re all brutally butchered.”

  “If you had any sort of honour you’d join us,” Luke said.

  “If you had any sort of sense you’d have abandoned this place a long time ago. I will protect those who asked for my protection when they were only children. My girls and I will survive this war, of that you can have no doubt.”

  And she slammed the shutter closed.

  “No sense arguing,” Luke said. “Let’s get moving.”

  And keeping their weapons at the ready they hurried deeper into the city.

  Chapter Twenty-Three: War

  Belle sounded as though she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders as she issued orders. Which, Red reflected, she might well have done. “We have to seal the city as completely as possible. If they can’t get out we should be able to whittle them down, and we need to keep the reinforcements out as well. Red, I need you to take Rapunzel and go to the western gate. You need to blow the bridge there, then lead whatever forces the Witch has there towards Main Street. Lady Zhurong and Simão will set up an ambush near Gruff Avenue. I want you to keep that street blockaded any way you can. Hopefully with the western bridge down and Gruff Avenue blocked none of the Witch’s forces will be able to make it in by that route.”

  “Are you sure that’s wise?” Philip said. “We don’t have the numbers to fight an entire army.”

  “No, but with clever planning and ambush tactics we might be able to let them destroy themselves.” Belle was studying the city map intently. “And to that end I want you to go with Luke to the theatre district. If you can maybe trap them inside the old stadium we can set the whole place ablaze.”