Free Unfit by K Hippolite Page B

connection.
      Who are you, and why do you come?
      I sense that he’s older than me. Probably about sixty, although I can’t be sure without a full rapport. He’s strong enough to reach me from all the way here at the edge of the demesne, though. It would be best to exercise caution around such a powerful mind.
      In fact, you should turn around and leave. Kwan is it? I can’t believe the chronomancers predicted something right for a change.
      You can see in my mind that we come peacefully. Can you tell me why the chronomancers are here?
      There’s a sudden pain, and I have to dismiss the connection. I believe the Farrich Naiskarin has tried to lash out at my mind. So much for friendship and courtesy.
      “There’s something they don’t want you to find over there,” I tell Kajo, pointing to the centre of town, the direction the Naiskarin’s voice came from.
      “There’s a tall red light there like a spotlight. Maybe that’s it.”
      I see no spotlight from town, but maybe his Lightning senses pick up something my eyes don’t.
      He flies us there, at normal speeds, so it’s nightfall by the time we arrive. The city lights of Farrich glow beneath us. We’re high above the tallest building, but close enough to hear the noise of traffic and the slamming of doors. The grid of street lights is captivating. I want to stare at the people walking on the roads under those lights, but the height makes me dizzy every time I peek.
      “I could do a loop-the-loop to help you overcome that airsickness,” says Kajo.
      “See these nails? They’re sharp enough to claw your face off if you even try it.”
      We find an ugly grey building at the centre of town. It’s stadium-sized and some five stories tall, with bright white floodlights all along the upper edge. The lights cast downward to the street, where a hundred guards roam, protecting it. I see Farrich Lightnings among the guards, as well as a number of chronomancer assassins.
      The guards have been told to hold the doors against attack at all costs. Their minds form a unified thought of these instructions. So intent are they on this goal that I easily reach out to the collective thought and cool it, so the guards will never think to look up.
      I feel the Naiskarin reaching out to them, counteracting my soothing thoughts. For a moment I wrestle him for control of the guards. He’s unable to overpower me, so he settles for injecting chaos into their minds.
      Below us, a cacophony of noise erupts as guards begin to shoot each other. The roar of dying minds is deafening. I release them all and close off my senses so I hear as little as possible. Meanwhile Kajo lands us on the roof of the building.
      “Stay in the car,” says Kajo, getting out.
      Is he serious? I’m curled in the fetal position, trying not to burst into tears at the eerie sight of dying souls rising into the night sky around me. Kajo thinks I have strength to move anywhere during this?
      Kajo separates a ring in the metal roof and disappears into the building. I shut my eyes so I don’t have to look into the accusing dead eyes of those spirits. I close my mind against the dying dreams they try to will upon me.
      All those people are dying because of you , says the Naiskarin in my head.
      How can you blame this on me? How can you to do such a thing to those people? And who are you?
      His name is Roman. It slips from him under my direct question.
      My Lord Namika comes to kill you and your Lightning , says Roman. He might have gone on to say more, but I boot him from my mind.
      Run, all of you , I urge the surviving guards. No orders are worth your lives .
      It takes a lot of coaxing to get them to disobey orders and flee.
      Kajo, hurry, before the Namika arrives .
      Kajo reappears with a woman in tow. She pulls herself up through the hole he’s made in the roof, after he jumps out of it.
      The woman has a roundish, pronounced face. A few strands of