A little over two hundred years ago in the year of technology called 2012, the North and South Poles started shifting. It was gradual at first and lasted a couple of decades. When it was over, the shift wasn’t exactly ninety degrees, but it was close enough that east became north, north became west, and so on. The shift caused a climatic Cataclysm that pounded the world with storms, earthquakes, and other natural disasters for more than forty years.
Damn Mayans.
Whole cities were destroyed, and governments crumbled. Famine ran rampant. Widespread panic caused wars, which killed even more than the natural disasters and starvation. When the smoke and weather finally cleared, the world had changed drastically. What had once been the Eastern United States was now a peninsula called Appalachia made up of a range of mountains in the west and bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the north and east, as well as the newly formed Mississippi Sea in the south. Only two major cities, what had once been Nashville and Atlanta, remained partially standing. From those ruins rose the autonomous city-states of Nash and Atlanta. For more than fifty years after the start of the Cataclysm, every city, town, and community was at war with each other and internally. Finally, the Paranorm Council of Elders stepped in to bring peace and unity. While the two city-states were completely autonomous in rule, they were allied under the Council of Elders along with three other city-states—Okie City and Sanlou to the south, and New Winnipeg in the west. Many areas in the south and west had resisted the Council. Some set up legitimate governments of their own, but many others were ruled by warlords and tyrants.
The city-state of Nash claimed jurisdiction over several small fishing, farming, and industrial villages throughout southern Appalachia, but the main part of it was built around the heart of the original city and separated into two main parts—Nash City and New Nashville.
The walls of Nash City rose up out of the ground like a lumpy, gray fortress. Sentries marched along the top. The path and most of the materials for the walls of Nash City had once been a vast highway that looped around downtown Nashville. But when the Cataclysm began, mages and other paranorms used it as the building blocks of a wall to protect the people who huddled within.
The road up to the North Gate was crowded with travelers and merchants waiting to get inside the city. I scanned the crowd discreetly as I moved through.
There were a few travelers as well that carried only themselves and a pack. Others had horses or donkeys, and some were on foot. Some of them would seek a job and housing in Nash, but most of them would stay a night or two and then move on. Those who chose traveling as a way of life usually formed gypsy caravans because it was safer to travel in a group.
Most bands of gypsies were harmless and could provide market wares from far to the North. But there was one group I always kept an eye out for. They hadn’t ventured back into Nash City in more than fourteen years, but I still watched for them. I wasn’t a child anymore, and I now had the power of the Blades behind me. If I ever laid eyes on any of them again, I would make them pay for what they had done to my sister.
None of the travelers I saw looked like they were together. Satisfied, I wove Mal and the gang’s horses past wagons and carts loaded with baskets of assorted fruits and vegetables, bolts of cloth, wood and clay dishes, and other assorted goods. Smiling, I nodded to the merchants as I passed. I recognized most of them as inhabitants of nearby villages who came to the market several times a week. Others, the ones that were much more roughly garbed and looked a bit unkempt, I knew were from much further away. They only ventured from their mountain dens every couple of months to bring their wares to the city to sell.
I reached the gate and approached the guard tower where the gate guard sat in a tiny room. Behind him, a large window opening allowed him to be on eye level with anyone requesting entrance to the gate.
“Fiona Moon of the Black Blade Guard requesting entrance,” I called, raising my arm to show the tattoo of black-bladed crossed swords beneath a fleur-de-lis on my right wrist.
“The gates open in one hour,” the guard called back.
“You will open them to me now,” I replied in a slightly raised voice.
“I can’t. The crowd is too thick. If I open, they will all rush in. I have strict orders from my captain to let no one in before the dawn bell rings.” His voice was young and nervous, and I could see the distress on his face.
“Okay. Apparently, you’re new,” I said, trying not to get too pissed off. “I’m going to repeat myself one time, and one time only. I am Fiona Moon of the Black Blade Guard, and you will open these gates, now.”
I nudged Mal several paces closer to the guard’s tower and held my arm up again. This time muttering a spell to illuminate it in the pre-dawn haze just to make sure he saw it.
“I have three fugitives that I need to take into Blade Headquarters,” I continued, my calm tone edged with steel. “Because you are new, I will explain this to you. This tattoo identifies me as a Blade. As a Blade, I have a higher authority than your captain and every other officer in the City-Guard, for that matter. Protocol dictates that you immediately let me enter, no matter the time of day or night.”
A hoot of laughter echoed through the air, and I looked up to see a mage-guard I recognized as Carter on top of the tower. He had been the gate guard for many years. He must have gotten promoted when this newbie took his place. Only the best mage-guards were assigned to the towers. He wasn’t even trying to hide his laughter.
“Burke,” he called down between guffaws. “If you don’t let her in, you will have much bigger problems than the captain!”
“Um… okay. Sorry. You can pass,” Burke said nervously. I could tell he was horrified at his mistake. In a much stronger, authoritative voice, he called out, “Everyone, stand back. Only the Blade has permission to enter the city. Anyone attempting to pass will be arrested.”
Clearing his voice, he called out to the guards behind the wall. “Open the gates a quarter.”
There was a loud creak and groan as the intricate pulley system worked to slide the heavy gates. It stopped when the opening was wide enough for a horse to fit through. I led the horses through the narrow opening without another word to the guard. Once we were through, the gates creaked and moaned again as they closed with a thud.
I called an absent “Thanks” to the guardsmen on either side of the gate, who were pulling the heavy ropes, but I didn’t feel the need to thank the gatekeeper. As I rode away, I heard the laughing tower guard let out a hoot and call down to the gatekeeper.
“Wow! Of all the Blades to piss off on your first day on duty, you had to pick Moon! You are lucky she wasn’t in a bad mood.”
“She didn’t seem so tough!” the gatekeeper called back, either thinking I was out of earshot or not caring.
“Stop a minute, Mal. I need to teach someone a lesson,” I whispered so that only he could hear. He pulled to a stop and turned slightly so I could clearly see the guard tower.
I pulled my hanbo from its sheath across my back and pointed it towards the tower. Concentrating, I pulled in power and then shot it out of the end in a visible line of white light. The energy shot straight through the bars on the gatekeeper’s room and hitting the stone wall barely three inches above Burke’s head. The gatekeeper stared openmouthed as I moved the line of energy in a pattern. When the energy bolt dissipated, there was a Blade symbol identical to my tattoo permanently etched into the stone.
I held back the laughter that threatened to bubble up as the look on his face went from shock to fear.
“There, now. The next time you see that mark, you will know to let the person in. Have a good day,” I called back, loud enough for Burke, Carter, and all the guards in the vicinity to hear.
Mal snorted, clearly amused, as we resumed down the road. Behind us, I heard peals of laughter erupt from several of the guards. Poor Burke wouldn’t hear the end of it for a while. I almost felt sorry for him. But I had a reputation to uphold and if I’d
let his ignorance and rudeness go unpunished, I would have been opening myself up to ridicule from the whole City Guard.
One didn’t become a member of the elite Black Blade Guard by being kind or easy. Blades were the toughest, most powerful paranorms in the world. A Blade had to be willing to back that reputation up with action. That went double for women. Though there were many female City Guards, there were few female Blades, and even fewer of those were non-vampires. Having super strength and speed commanded a certain amount of respect, but I had to gain and keep respect by the demonstration of my power and ability to use it. And I had done just that.
Since starting the Academy ten years ago when I turned fourteen, and being appointed to the Black Blade Guard years earlier than any other mage in history, I’d worked hard to obtain and maintain my reputation as the toughest mage in the Blades. It was the same reputation my mother had before me, and I intended to keep it.