New to the Moon Road? Need to catch up on the Bone Angel series? Start here.
“You know the Committee’s gonna get you for this,” says Aurelie.
“Not my fault.” Marcus flexes his wings irritably. “They pulled me out before I could get it done.”
They’re sitting on a park bench overlooking a sweet glassy pond filled with crested ducks in the late afternoon light that passes for day in the Shadowlands. Aurelie tucks a strand of mossy green hair back into her ponytail and tosses the quackers another handful of breadcrumbs.
“From what I heard, you had plenty of chances to take him out, and you bobbled them all. You should have done it the minute you saw him.” She glances at Marcus. “I’ve still got you on the injured list. But I can’t keep covering for you.”
Arms folded, Marcus regards a fat duck nibbling at the toe of his boot. He’s been laying low since Aurelie’s ops pulled him from the Earthside, snatching him from that massive echoing church in one quick swoop. He’d thought they were rescuing him, but it turns out they were just trying to keep him from fucking things up even more.
Of course the reports are in. The pair of them, a skinny, foxy shapeshifter and a flyer like himself, had punched a hole in the Veil and dragged him through. Why hadn’t he checked his gear for bugs?
Because he trusted the Committee.
He was going to do it. He’d accepted the mission, hadn’t he? Kill the Directorate’s assassin and let Lilywhite live to marshal his army for the Old Ones. He doesn’t know what kind of devil’s deals the Committee are making with those restless, angry beings. That’s above his pay grade.
But even though they’re corralled on the other side of the Moon Road by a toxic stew of energies created by the Domains’ best military minds, they’ve found ways to pull some strings in high places. Including, it seems, the ruling body of the Shadowlands.
He’s a mercenary, after all, he tells himself. Highest bidder, like he said back in that midnight cathedral. And anyway, it wasn’t just about a contract – it was about serving the homeland. Paying back a debt laid on at birth.
Problem was, the Directorate’s man on the Earthside had to be Ruan. He’d known it, thought he could get past it, but memories are treacherous things. And the Sidhe Hunter’s sardonic laugh still echoes in his mind.
“They’re going to call you in front of the Secretariat,” Aurelie continues. “And after that – I don’t know what will happen.”
Marcus stares at the rippling waters of the pond. Unfortunately, he does.
Some notes:
Readers have said they’re enjoying these occasional snippets of life on the Moon Road — vignettes featuring new and old characters that help to flesh out the worlds of this peculiar sci-fi/fantasy universe. So I’ll keep ‘em coming for now.
This one offers a glimpse behind the scenes of the Bone Angel series, in which the Hunter meets a midnight assassin in the Cathedral of San Clemente. That turns out to be Marcus, an old comrade in arms who might have been much more. But nothing is easy on the Moon Road.
The Moon Road/Soledad City universe owes a lot (in spirit if not in theme) to Romantically Apocalyptic, a webcomic by Vitaly S Alexius that was first serialized, then turned into books and videos -- even a musical clip set to the tune of “Que Sera, Sera.” RA’s blend of dystopian decay and wry humor captivated me, and I’ve loved the way its creator has worked to give readers not just words and pictures to enjoy, but a complete universe to roam in.
Upcoming: the next installment of “The Hunt for Lilywhite,” in which Maddalena renews an old acquaintance, we learn what Lilywhite has done to serve the Old Ones, and the Hunter’s mission gets an unexpected assist.
Till next time –
JM
The more of these I read, the more interested I become in the old ones.
The detail of green hair caught my eye.
The whole thing was a nice, intimate moment.