The process is coming along well, at least in the interest of our common goal. I must admit that in pains me greatly to see a segment of our beautiful city in such distress, but& it is necessary. The food shortages, as you have no doubt noticed, are becoming more severe. It is good that you and yours are housed in the upper districts, as there you won`t be affected. And your man Devraj seems to be watching after your interests well enough. I think we are just about ready to move on our next plan. Soon we`ll turn this place inside out, and there will be an uprising.

　　You must know that it is in the places which seem the most stable, on those fronts you find the most united, it is there that you will find a crack, fitted perfectly for a hooked knife.

　　-Missive from Beren Avci to Kotire of Kurikuneku

　　244 YT, Late Spring: Kurikuneku

　　 Kotire set the letter aside and glanced up from the bar, eyes meeting Devraj`s. the big man huffed out a sharp breath, looking down from his tidying. "Something eatin` you?"

　　 "Nothing unexpected," Kotire said as she glanced past Devraj, past the bar, to the window and the city streets outside. "Things are moving forward. The plan is starting to come into place. I just& hope it`s enough."

　　 "There`s a limit to what a few people can do," Devraj said. "Seems to me you`ve already done plenty just by disrupting them a little."

　　 "I`ve seen the reports from the southern Vale." Kotire sighed, leaning against the bar. Her forehead tapped the countertop.

　　 "Bad, huh?" She could hear the quiet scraping of Devraj`s rag against the shelves behind the bar. It ran along glass, the melodic ting of smooth surfaces and rough hands. "Me, I can`t stand to listen to the news anymore. It`s all big speeches, full of blood and glory and -"

　　 "I mean the real reports," said Kotire, her fingers tapping aimlessly on the countertop next to her head. "The really bad stuff. Nothing glorious about it. Kids forced from their homes. People burned alive, shot, eviscerated. The army`s moving, Devraj. They`re moving and they`re hurting people and we aren`t doing nearly enough to stop it."

　　 "You`re doing what you can," Devraj said, running the rag between bottles of aged raki wine. "What do you expect to accomplish if you push harder? Your own deaths? Four of you can`t take on an Empire alone."

　　 "Ha." Kotire sighed, resting her hand. "Where`s your enthusiasm? Don`t you hate them even more than we do?"

　　 "I`m tired, girl," he said. Something about the way he said it made the hairs on the back of Kotire`s neck stand up. "Only reason I keep doing this is because I`m even more tired of feeling tired. Weren`t for young people like you, I would probably have gone crazy long ago. Given it up and either gone completely to ground or just&"

　　 "Yeah." Kotire glanced up and saw Devraj towering over the bar, imposing. She looked up at his face. His eyes darted quickly away from hers as he turned away slightly, holding a bottle in one hand. The fingers of the other hand drummed on the opposite side of the bar.

　　 "You look like you could use a little drink," Devraj said. "Just something to calm the nerves."

　　 "Something weak," Kotire said. "Just for the nerves."

　　 "Yeah." Devraj nodded, pulled a clean glass from nearby and set it in front of Kotire. He poured the drink, and still leaning against the bar she listened to the rising tone of liquid settling into the glass. "Word on the street`s that things are brewing in the lower districts. You know there`ve been food shortages, right? Well people are getting impatient. Real impatient. Nobody`s died yet because of it, I think, but& won`t be long at this rate. And that`s when you get angry people dumping an emaciated corpse at the foot of the Tower of God. People tearing down the doors of the Alchemical Society, fighting the troops who are supposed to be off playing hero in the Vale."

　　 As Devraj spoke, Kotire smiled - a grim smile, a thin line of a smile, but a smile. Devraj tilted his head and shrugged his shoulders, a wide gesture. "Are you sure you`re doing the right thing?" he asked. "If you`re being cautious enough. I mean, this plan of yours& maybe it`s self-sustaining, right? Maybe you didn`t even need to do anything. The situation is bad enough on its own. It`s like you were saying&"

　　 "We have to light the powder keg before things get worse," Kotire said. "Give the people something to make them really angry, something that`ll make it clear who their real enemy is. You`re right about one thing." Kotire took a sip of the drink, the anise-scented alcohol sliding smoothly down her throat like licorice and hints of mint. "Things are going to get worse here with or without our input. But you know damn well what happens when you just let a situation fester like that. It`ll get worse, and people will get angry, but there is no guarantee they`ll get angry at the right people.

　　 "You should try actually listening to that radio sometime, Devraj." At that, Devraj`s fingers twitched - Kotire saw it, almost an automatic response to her voice. "Listen to those speeches. It`s all about the enemies of the Invictans, and protecting the land from corruption, and& do you think these people are going to turn first to the people actually directing their food away from their neighborhoods and into the hands of soldiers? Or do you think they`re going to turn on each other first?"

　　 "Yeah, course I know." Devraj`s voice got low and dangerous, and Kotire found herself, for the first time since she`d met the man, scared of him. She took another sip of her drink and leaned back in her chair, free hand instinctively drifting toward her hip. "I don`t need reminding. But the moment you step out there and you give them that target, you`re taking responsibility for what happens next. You`re taking the most dangerous, volatile thing there is - an angry crowd that doesn`t know who to be angry at - and you`re directing them. You really ready for that responsibility?"

　　 "Yeah," Kotire said, and downed the rest of the drink in one gulp. It burned her throat, stung her eyes. It felt good. "I am ready for that."

　　 She stood. Ranotia and Henryk waited by the door. Ranotia stood tall and proud, as though he hadn`t a care in the world. Kotire could hardly look at him without envying his resolve, the way he stood& how could he be so calm? Henryk tapped his foot on the ground rhythmically, nervously, a cigar held beneath his lips. The Gaurl drug had gotten to Henryk`s nerves since they`d taken up residence here, but Kotire couldn`t blame him. If it kept him on his toes, that was fine. He needed his wits about him and he needed to be calm. A medic whose hands wouldn`t stop shaking was worse than no medic at all.

　　 "Hey," Henryk said as Kotire approached. "Is -"

　　 "We`re going," Kotire said. "It`s time."

　　 Ranotia glanced at her askance. "That`s my line, isn`t it?"

　　 "Maybe," Kotire said, and shrugged. "Or maybe it doesn`t matter which of us says it. Come on, let`s get this over with already. We`ve got our powder keg. Time to light it on fire." With a wave of her arm, she pushed the door open and motioned for the two others to follow her.

　　 As soon as they were out and fully blended into the street`s normal foot-traffic, Kotire leaned close to Ranotia and muttered: "What do you think of Devraj? Does he seem off recently?"

　　 The people around them moved almost robotically. Kotire couldn`t help the sense of disgust she felt as she watched the small crowds around her. It seemed wrong, somehow, perverse that these people were living ordinary, automatic lives in this strange city. Lights everywhere, neon and glass and gold in the shadow of ancient stones, it was so much noise and chaos and even after all of these weeks it did not end.

　　 "Do you suspect him of turning traitor?" Ranotia asked. "I would think that if that were true, he would have made a move already. Besides, if he were a traitor he wouldn`t have let us into the city in the first place. And&"

　　 Kotire shrugged. "I`m not saying he`s a traitor, I`m just saying he`s been different and I don`t trust it."

　　 "That sounds like you`re accusing him -" Henryk started.

　　 Kotire shook her head vigorously, motioned toward the great pillars of the fa鏰de of the Holy Alchemical Society. It was just a little further down the street, opposite the new shops with their still-glowing neon lights. "I`m just saying we should keep an eye on him, that`s all."

　　 "Don`t worry," Ranotia said. "I will."

　　 Kotire nodded. "That`s all I ask," she said, and with a wave of her hand she directed Henryk and Ranotia up the steps of the Society`s office and into the main entrance hall. "Are you both ready for this?"

　　 "Kotire, I`m the one leading this mission," Ranotia said. "Follow my lead."

　　 Past the pillars and the door, the entrance hall was mostly deserted. When they entered they could hear the distant echoes of footsteps above them, people walking about in the halls in other parts of the building. Kotire led them through a side chamber`s doorway, down a winding hallway that turned around and around the base of a staircase, and then up the stairs. At the top of the stairs there was a small balcony overlooking the place they`d just come from, and two doors. As they stood at the top of the stairs, the larger of the two doors opened, and a man stepped out. Kotire drew in a breath and placed one hand at her hip, watching the man. The bottom half of his face was covered by a metallic mask, pipes and little cables run around the apparatus. His eyes were uncovered, and he wore the white-and-gold kaftan of an enforcer.

　　 "Beren," Kotire said when recognition hit her. "Good to see you."

　　 Beren nodded and pulled the mask from his face, air hissing out from underneath. "Sorry for the fright," he said, noting the position of Kotire`s hand. "We just had a bit of a cleanup situation. Your uniforms are in that room, but you`d better get them on and get out of here quickly, before anybody questions what you`re doing here." Beren gestured at the smaller of the doors.

　　 "What," Henryk asked, "the disguises won`t be enough?"

　　 "Of course not." Beren`s stare was flat and incredulous, as though he couldn`t believe Henryk would ask him such a question. "Do you think we enforcers don`t recognize each other`s faces here? Out there, the disguises will be fine. The ordinary people of this city never get a good enough look at our faces anyway. We`re masked goons to them. But in here, you can`t just walk around with a stolen uniform and expect that nobody will notice." Beren glanced over his shoulder, moved to the edge of the balcony and leaned over to stare down at the bottom of the stairs. "Go on, go," he said. "I`ll wait here and make sure nobody goes inside."A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

　　 When the three Adma were inside the room, Beren relaxed a little, reclining against the railing. He closed his eyes, rubbed his temples, stared out at the window. What a mess he had to deal with today - and every day, it seemed. It was getting to be too much for even him, with all the chaos in the city these days. People were starting to turn to forbidden ways to handle the stress of their situation. It was a crude response to the realities of the world, but it was the inevitable response given the city`s circumstances.

　　 No more grain from the east.

　　 The orchards bearing less fruit than the previous season.

　　 The army was only growing, and a soldier ate twice as much as a commoner.

　　 It was a good thing that the Adma were willing to help him out with this problem. Suspicious, though. He had to question their motives, though they seemed logical enough. Rabble-rousing was sure to cause some disruption to the army without bringing too much actual destruction to the city. But the missives from Devraj spoke of "powder kegs" and "volatility." Well, they were correct. Even so.

　　 The smell of the room he`d come from only minutes ago hung in the air before his face, filtered by his mask but still pungent and bright and, almost, faintly fatty. Forbidden texts and artifacts always left a lingering scent about the enforcer. He couldn`t help but wonder if those Adma recognized the smell. Some of those artifacts had been magical in nature. Some of them had been Abrist, even. He glanced nervously at the small door.

　　 The larger door opened and Irem stepped out onto the balcony. "Ah, well met again Beren," she said with a smile. "Taking a break?"

　　 "For a moment," Beren said, sparing a look over his shoulder at Irem. There were spots of soot on her face. "And you?"

　　 "Just about to get cleaned up and head out," Irem said, taking a step toward the small door. "You know, there`s this place I`ve been meaning to go down by -"

　　 "Oh, let me take care of that," Bere said. "It`s just a little spot." He reached into the pocket of his kaftan and fished out a handkerchief. Irem turned, blinking.

　　 "Oh, you don`t need to -"

　　 "Really, it`s no problem at -"

　　 "I should -"

　　 "Just&" Bere bunched up the little rag and daubed at Irem`s face. She blinked and flinched, but he wiped away the soot bit by bit until it was gone. "There, see?" He took a step back. "You`re fine now."

　　 "Well, I& thanks?" Irem glanced sideways at Bere from the corner of her eyes, confusion and unease evident in her stance. She took a step back, away from the small door, and then turned, and started down the stairs. At the third step down she stopped and turned back up toward Bere. "Be well. You should try the coffee shop on Caddesi. I will see you around." And she went down the stairs, and around, and underneath the balcony. Below, Bere heard a door open and close. Only then did he take a deep breath, a sigh of relief.

　　 And then the small door near him opened and two freshly minted enforcers - with one stepped out onto the balcony. "Good timing," Bere said as soon as he saw them. "Let`s head out."

　　 When the group arrived at the fountain things were already becoming restive in the lower district. The fountain, carved like a series of spires around which fountains of water coursed, marked an unofficial boundary of the districts. When they stood by the fountain, Kotire glanced down at the map Henryk had provided. "Go on, Henryk," she said. "Looks like somebody`s already gotten injured in the crowd."

　　 "Yep, I managed to make an electric line fall in just the right place." Over the radio Hakios`s voice still sounded impressively smug. "Didn`t hurt anyone too badly, just badly enough to require medical attention from our conveniently placed healer friend here."

　　 "Right," Kotire said. "That`s good."

　　 "And soon it`ll be time for us to do our part," Ranotia added, inspecting his weapon. It was more advanced than the usual Invictan guns they scavenged from the soldiers. Fuses and vials, of reinforced and tempered glass, emerged from spots along the weapon`s barrel and near its stock.

　　 On the other side of the fountain, a crowd was starting to gather around the spot where the injury had taken place. There was a look in the eyes of the crowd, a hunger, one that was very familiar for Kotire. Seeing it from the other side made her nervous. She`d been in the other place. She knew how this was likely to go.

　　 Someone lay against the wall of a nearby building, moaning as the crowd parted to allow Henryk through. Kotire could hear his shouts through the radio more than through the air between them: "Let me through, I`m a medic, let me through!" And he made his way to the injured man. The end of the wire, sparking, lay exposed on the ground near where the man lay. The sparks were bright even through the mask of Kotire`s helmet.

　　 She stared out at the crowd. There were so many of them, and they had noticed her presence, the presence of Ranotia and of the true enforcer, and they were not pleased at the Holy Alchemical Society`s presence. Among the shouts a few voices resolved to words Kotire could hear:

　　 "Are you back to take more?"

　　 "Where are the rations?"

　　 "You bastards robbed my home and now you`re here again?"

　　 "Are you still covering for those infiltrators in the army?"

　　 "If you don`t start cleaning up your act what do you think will happen to my shop?"

　　 "We`re sick of you prancing around here like you own the place! Emperor`s authority? I`ll bet you can`t even prove that!"

　　 "Come on. Let`s go." That last voice came from just to Kotire`s left. It was Ranotia. He started to walk forward, toward the crowd. Then Beren held out a hand and blocked Ranotia`s way.

　　 "You two, stay behind me," he said. "I know what I`m doing." And raising his enforcer`s weapon, he stepped into the crowd.

　　 As Beren Avci moved into the crowd, his enforcer`s kaftan and his face mask began to glow. Kotire glanced down and saw that the same was true of her own outfit. The crowd parted before them, but not without some struggle. A man wearing dark goggles, like those of a smith, dashed forward and lashed out at Kotire with a hammer. She flinched away, seeing the hammer cutting through the air toward her arm. The pain of anticipation of pain lanced through her, and her teeth gritted, she started to step away, raising her weapon in a panic. She had to get him off her, she had to&

　　 The hammer stopped an inch from her skin. Kotire stopped moving, her eyes fixed on the place where the hammer hovered by her arm. The smith`s teeth were gritted, his eyes narrowed and intense. The crowd started to close around her even as Beren and Ranotia, heedless, continued toward where Henryk knelt, tending to the wounded man.

　　 I`ve seen this before - a flash of memory, a memory she thought she`d only know in dreams. The cloth was infused by a spirit, by a fragment of the divine - that was what the echo of Arshay in her mind said. He`d seen it, training in Carakhte, he`d seen the spirits reach out and stop swords and bullets. These were powerful tools, symbols of an office far higher than most soldiers could ever aspire to. But what did that mean? A Primordial, then?

　　 "Hey!" came the shout from the other side of the crowd. "You!" It was Ranotia`s voice. "Get on your feet!"

　　 "I`m a medic," Henryk shouted back. "I`m helping this man, he requires attention&"

　　 "On your feet! You aren`t supposed to be here."

　　 "I`m just trying to -" thud. A gasp and a shudder ran through the crowd.

　　 And still the hammer hovered by Kotire`s arm. The smith`s teeth ground and his eyes went wide and wild. His feet braced against the ground just as Kotire`s feet were glued to the ground. He pulled on the hammer, but failed to tear it free from whatever force held it in place. Kotire brought her gun to bear. She was shouting something, but she couldn`t hear herself, could hardly feel her own lips moving. All the sensation in the world was in her arm just under the hammer, and in her hands the held the gun, and in rush of air past her back as the crowd surrounded her, struggling to beat her down. Nothing touched her. But fear lanced through her still, a memory of Arshay and his squad cooperating to take down an enforcer of the Holy Alchemical Society. It was a training exercise - they had to learn to work together to defeat superior foes.

　　 The smith pulled his hammer free of the grip of magic, stepped forward, raised it again, and Kotire turned the upper half of his body into a wide spattering of warm, bright red and sickly matte white against the ground. She didn`t fully register the sound of the gun firing - a blank space in the sequence of her memory - but then the crowd was roiling around her and she was backing away, and she was screaming, and a wall of blue light sprung up before her around the barrel of the weapon while she backed away.

　　 Voices.

　　 "You& you killed him!"

　　 "You`re not getting away!"

　　 "No more!"

　　 "Idiot! I told you to use the electric vials!"

　　 The withdrawal from the crowd was a confused mess, and it wasn`t until they were blocks away that Kotire became fully conscious of what was happening. She knelt back against a wall, breathing shallowly and quickly, while Ranotia and Beren knelt beside her.

　　 "Well, that did it. they`re well and truly riled up now." Ranotia`s smile was grim, and he glanced over his shoulder. It must have been clear, because he turned back to Kotire and stepped further into the alleyway with a little hop. "You realize you just shot someone dead?"

　　 Kotire nodded, half-lucidly. "Yeah," she said. "I just& I just killed him."

　　 "Yeah, you killed him alright," Beren said. "Killed him and now you`re going to bring half the city down on the Alchemical Society! There`ll be an internal investigation and everything! They`ll find out that it wasn`t a real enforcer who did it or they`ll pin it on somebody else in the confusion but they`ll know that something isn`t right in this organization and they`ll search and they`ll find out your connections and they`ll find me out&" Beren stood up, clutched at the sides of his head, stepped away, stopped to nervously glance around the corner of the alleyway, came back. "You mucked this up, you did a really damn good job of mucking this up, you know that?"

　　 "I just& I mean, he was&"

　　 "Didn`t I tell you to use the electric vials?" Ranotia asked, his voice a little more gentle, though strained just as much as Beren`s. "Come on, we need to get out of here before things get worse."

　　 "Worse? Worse?" Beren laughed. "They`re already worse, you barbaric idiots! You just killed someone! This has gone much, much farther than it ever should have& I`m done. I`m done with you. I`m going to turn all of you -"

　　 "Is that so?" Before Kotire could blink, she saw Ranotia cross the space to Beren and wrap his arms around the Gaurl man`s throat. Ranotia maneuvered behind Beren, and hissed past his ear: "Would you like me to throw you to the crowd, unprotected? I did my homework, I know how to turn that precious shield of yours off. They`ll rip you apart, Beren - they don`t know the difference between you and me and her. They`ll rip you to shreds and then they`ll have their justice."

　　 In Kotire`s ear, through the radio, a voice spoke. "Hey, guys? Somebody`s here. I`m trying to scramble everything I have in the radio cavern but& they`re coming."

　　 Kotire put her hand up to her ear and watched Beren and Ranotia. Slowly, in Ranotia`s grip, Beren relaxed, and went limp with resignation. "Do you have the drones yet, Hakios?" Kotire asked.

　　 "Almost," came the reply from Hakios. "We`re close. We`re really close. But they`re coming, they`re&"

　　 Beren smirked. "Your man isn`t going to make it out," Beren said. "Nothing I can do to stop that."

　　 "You did this?" Ranotia hissed.

　　 "I didn`t do this," Beren said. "You did. With your own fear and distrust, your inability to believe, you made this inevitable. I would have saved him if I could. Couldn`t risk blowing my cover or yours, though. But now? Now I wish I had. I can`t believe I wanted to work with you people. We might have our problems here but unlike you we don`t kill first and ask questions later -"

　　 "Hey, hey& I need help. Please."

　　 "Ranotia, where`s Henryk?" Kotire pushed against the wall, slowly rose to her feet. Her legs shook uncontrollably as she stood. She`d killed before, but never like this, never so&

　　 He was all over the street

　　 "Lost in the crowd," Beren said. "He`ll survive, I`m sure. They`ll brand him a hero, a survivor to hold up alongside the new martyr you just gave them. By the Gate, you& you wanted unrest? Disruption? Well, you might just have sparked a fucking revolution!"

　　 "You say that as if anything ever changes," Ranotia hissed. "Sit down before you make yourself even more of a fool than Kotire."

　　 "Hey& hey, I need help here&" Hakios`s voice over the radio was growing more desperate. "They`re banging on the door, I can hear them talking& El-Zay they`re about to -"

　　 "Hey, Hakios." Ranotia`s voice was quiet, but it cut through the noise of Kotire`s buzzing mind. "I`m sorry. I`m so, so sorry. We made mistakes. Get out of there if you can. Forget about the objective, just get out of there."

　　 "I can`t, I`m -"

　　 "Hakios."

　　 No response.

　　 "Hakios!"

　　 Beren, chuckling quietly, stepped away from Ranotia. "Okay," he said. "You`ve got me in a bind. I know that. I betray you, you kill me, is that it?"

　　 Standing up, Kotire moved next to Ranotia, turned to face Beren. "That`s it," she said.

　　 "Right. Maybe you`d like to have a little talk with your dear barkeep at some point."

　　 "Beren& what are you saying?" Ranotia glanced over at Kotire.

　　 "Oh, looks like you already have a hunch, perhaps?" Beren grinned and started to walk away. "You brought this storm on yourselves, pretenders. I don`t have to lift a finger against now. All I have to do now - all I want to do now - is to minimize the damage you`ve caused to my beautiful city. I just hope your deaths aren`t quick." And he vanished into the streets.

　　 Ranotia, casting aside his enforcer`s mask and removing his uniform, turned to Kotire. "We have to get out of this city," he said. "Consider the powder keg lit. Now we can only hope this chaos brings that damn army down too."