Season of Sunlight

Fifth Month

Royal Monarch Hall

The City of Trylla, The Cronia Region

2325

Screaming was the only thing Henri could hear.

With a groan, he got onto all fours and shuffled across the floor, searching for his copper pistol. He found it scattered a few feet away, lying underneath a pile of torched rubble.

Dammit.

Coughing, Henri leapt onto his feet and charged down the corridor into the auditorium. Gunfire called to him as he ran up the grand staircase and through the white smoke into the ballroom.

Bang!

Henri tripped over a corpse and lost his balance, falling into a puddle of blood which splattered across his face and trenchcoat.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Automatic gunfire burst overhead, four bullets at once. They gunned down a man and woman trying to flee.

Henri raised his pistol and took a shot at their killer, a figure dressed in black.

Bang!

Success. They slipped and tumbled backward.

"Elza!" he shouted, lunging over a woman's body. He turned her over and wiped the long hair from her eyes. It wasn't her. "Elza!"

Henri continued his search, firing a shot at any cloaked figure while quickly examining every female victim potentially matching Miss Parks's description. He checked his ammunition, finding only three bullets lodged in the magazine.

So much for additional supply.

"Henri!"

He heard the voice and spun around, his eyes desperately searching for its source. "Elza!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Henri! Over here!"

He found her on the floor, hunched over Aunt Frou Frou, red hair wet and dripping with blood. Henri approached. "Elza, stay down! I'm coming!"

Bang! Bang!

Gunfire went off around him, muffling his words.

Elza lifted onto her forearms, unaware of the warning. A cloaked figure passing by stopped in his tracks, his golden mask glaring at the back of Elza's head as he raised his rifle to fire.

Henri shrieked, lifting his gun.

"Elza, get down!"

With a scream, she collapsed.

Bang!

Henri pulled the trigger and burrowed a bullet into the mask's forehead, the figure dropping dead.

He reached out a hand towards her.

"Hurry! Hurry now!"

Elza did not hesitate. She got to her knees, getting Aunt Frou Frou's attention. They got up simultaneously, Elza's hand wrapped around Frou Frou's waist as they ran towards him.

"Hurry!" Henri cried. "Take my hand."

Bang! Bang!

Elza reached out and took it.

Henri led them out of the ballroom, pushing them both into the auditorium as he fired one last warning shot into the smoke.

Bang!

When he turned to leave, Elza and Aunt Frou Frou were already making their way hastily down the stairs.

Frou Frou was in an uproar, her hair a mangled mess while her pale skin bleached white like a ghost.

"Oh, have mercy," she prayed, lifting her hands into the air, "El Olam, have mercy!"

Bang! Bang!

Distant gunfire reverberated off the walls.

"This way!" Elza said, ushering Frou Frou outside. She turned back and grabbed Henri's hand. They escaped into the gardens.

"How did Abaddon manage to obtain such weaponry? I thought they were a league of lunatics, not a private militia!" Frou Frou said, clearly distraught. "You were supposed to protect us, Inspector Fraser, not ensure our downfall!"

"He is here to protect us, Aunt Frou Frou, believe me," Elza begged, comforting the woman. She turned to Henri. "What happened?"

"I sent Abbott and Lilith to patrol the outside perimeter while I searched the rest of the estate," he said, breathless. His chest rose and fell in heaping waves. "Abaddon threw a mask into the corridor and caught me off guard, armed with an explosive elixir."

"From outside?"

Henri shook his head. "What?"

"The mask," Elza said, "came from outside?"

"Yes," Henri replied. "That's what I said."

"Then where the hell is Abbott?"

The engines of a watercraft startled them all.

Henri ran to get a clear view of the boardwalk and watched helplessly as Abbott was thrown into it, Lilith closely following, screaming in protest. The black-cloaked figures of Abaddon jumped into the machine and sped off into Urchin Bay.

"We have to go after them!" Elza exclaimed, kicking off her shoes.

"There is another watercraft down there," Henri said, running towards the boardwalk.

"Aunt Frou Frou, stay here," Elza said. "Find somewhere to hide, do it now!"

Frou Frou stumbled back. "Where are you going?" The words barely left her lips before Elza sped off, holding the ends of her dress high above her bare feet. "Elza!"

"Hide, Auntie. Run!"

***

The watercraft jolted to life.

Henri planted his foot on the gas pedal, sinking deeply into the black leather chair.

Elza untied them just in time before she was thrown back, water sputtering over the edges. She threw the rope to one side and crashed onto the passenger seat, looking grimly over the short glass windscreen while the bright white headlights flashed across the water.

A white mist had rolled into the bay, reducing the visibility to almost nothing.

Henri gripped the wheel and plunged them into the mist, the headlights burrowing through to create a risky path. It was nearly ten o'clock, and port security would restrict all sea travel from venturing past the hour.

Colliding with traffic racing to dock before they were caught and fined a hefty fee would end the pursuit in an abrupt finale, one he could not afford.

"Do you see them?" Henri asked, looking frantically in every direction.

Elza remained silent, squinting her eyes. Suddenly she jumped up, pointing straight. "There! Rear headlights, ruby red, just ahead of us!"

Henri saw them, accelerating the watercraft to push its full speed. Small waves drifted into Urchin Bay from the open ocean, creating an uneven wake that launched them several inches into the air. A patch of thick mist blinded him, Henri mistakenly powering through as the front end of the watercraft suddenly nose-dived over a larger-than-average wave. The vehicle shook.

Elza bashed her head on the windscreen, Henri spinning the wheel to the right to propel them out of the dip. He fell back against his chair, the watercraft rattling until it escaped the plunge and returned to level waters.

Henri turned to Miss Parks. "You alright?"

"Yes," Elza said, holding her head. A cut dug into the skin just above her left eye, blood gradually filling the wound. She rubbed a hand over the area, smearing crimson across her skin.

Henri accelerated, pressing the pedal to the floor. The mist thickened, and the ruby headlights of his target vanished.

"I lost them," Henri said, gritting his teeth. "Do you see anything?"

"Nothing," Elza said quickly. "We're blind. I can barely see the water."

"I'm pushing forward."

"Perhaps you should slow down. We will never catch them at this rate!"

"We have to try," Henri said, maintaining speed.

"You don't even know where you're going!"

Henri knew she was right, but he could not stop now. Not while he was this close! If Abaddon got away, he would never see Abbott and Lilith alive again. It couldn't end this way. It just couldn't!

"I see something," Elza shouted. "Up there!"

He saw it too. A watercraft idled a few meters ahead, presumably lost in the mist.

It was Abaddon.

Surprise.

If Abbott and Lilith had not been on board, Henri would not hesitate to run through them. With the anger swelling inside him, a part of him still did.

Suddenly the distant watercraft started up and launched forward out of striking position. Henri pulled the wheel towards them, but he was going too fast.

"Watch out!" Elza yelled.

Henri followed her finger, revealing a dark object stretched out before them. He felt his stomach drop.

It was the shoreline.

The watercraft hit the shallows at full speed, the engine howling in pain as smoke fumed from the bonnet. The front bumper smashed into the rocks, the vehicle convulsing.

Elza screamed, her body thrown from the wreckage.

Clash!

The watercraft flipped forward.

Henri felt a burning in his chest, forced against the wheel. Debris fluttered into the air, ripping off the vehicle as the engine caught fire. The watercraft stopped, nose-deep in the sand, with Henri wrapped around the seat.

The world went dark.