There was only one way to be certain. Three would go see for himself. He stood slowly, careful to make no sound; let the blood pump again after his hour or two of stillness.
Wren had been asleep when he’d left, and he had decided not to wake the boy. Three’d left Mr Carter watching over him, with clear and specific instructions. He’d said he’d be back before dawn broke. But if he didn’t show, Mr Carter had agreed to take Wren with him back to the village as soon as the sun was up. Three knew that if something happened to him, there was no better place for Wren to be than under Chapel’s watchful eye. And the thought lingered that even if nothing happened to him, Chapel’s home might still be the better place.
Now, perched on the roof’s edge, Three wasn’t sure whether he believed he’d be able to return or not. At the time he’d made the deal, he’d certainly intended to. But out here, looking at the city, a sense had begun to settle on him that it had been foolish to expect it. Morningside loomed luminescent, and he felt as if he were staring at a vast ocean, preparing to walk into its depthless waves.
Admittedly, he wasn’t even sure what he intended to do exactly. Find Asher, certainly. And most likely kill him. But he didn’t know where to begin. After the fight with the guards at the gate, surely news would spread. Asher would know they were near. And then what? Send Dagon after them? That was most likely, assuming Dagon had returned from the village. Asher himself wouldn’t be out doing the grunt work. He had people for that. Three would have to go to him.
Jez, and Ran: Three didn’t know enough about them to make a guess. They seemed to stay near Asher for the most part, so maybe they weren’t worth worrying about yet. Though if he spotted them, they’d be worth following. Jez he remembered well, with her ice-blonde hair and precise movements. More of a stalker than a tracker. And her beauty probably afforded RushRuin a level of charm it otherwise lacked without Cass around; all manner of authority could be circumvented with the right wink and smile. Ran he wasn’t sure he’d recognize just from Cass’s description. They’d called him the Mountain: a man as dispassionate and immovable as a wall of stone. There was danger there, an unknown variable.
And then there was Fedor. Fedor he knew plenty well. A hound. Not a tracker of Dagon’s caliber, Fedor was probably the one Asher sent out when the prey was near. An attack dog. And they still had unfinished business.
Fedor, then. Dagon was best avoided anyway, if possible. Three would start with the genie, and work his way back from there. Track down Fedor, see what doors opened up afterwards. It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was a start.
He checked the blade at his back, and moved his hand to his holster out of habit, before catching himself. There was little hope of recovering his pistol, but it was one hope he allowed himself to indulge. Maybe, before this was all over, he’d get a chance to use that last shell.
Three inhaled deeply, and slowly released a long, controlled settling exhalation. It was time. He climbed down from his makeshift watchtower and followed the narrowest alleys towards Morningside. He had little concern of being stopped or engaged by any of the people outside the wall, but Three saw no need to draw attention to himself if it could be helped. He kept to the shadows and the dark places as he approached the city.
Getting into Morningside was actually easier than he’d anticipated. Though the wall looked smooth from a distance, it was in fact pieced together from all manner of steel plating, and presented plenty of sturdy hand- and footholds for a climber as skilled as Three. His biggest risk had been his own silhouette as he picked his way up the softly radiant wall. Few people would be interested in what was above them, however, and he’d chosen to climb a seam where two sections of the wall met, giving himself the best chance of escaping discovery.
The section of wall he’d selected afforded another advantage as well. Along the top, a garden of sorts had been planted; delicate-limbed trees and carefully arranged shrubs, lit softly for nighttime strolls. As he crested the wall, he realized now that the plants were all of course artificial, but the effect was not wholly lost. And most importantly, he was able to slip into them without notice.
There was a distinct pathway through the atrium, and a few citizens strode along it leisurely, some in pairs, some alone, some in small knots of hushed conversation. Three crouched in the shadows, waiting for the right moment. After a minute or two of observing, he simply slipped out onto the path and joined the flow, walking as a man deep in thought amongst the gentle beauty of the replicated garden.
Undoubtedly, the wall was lined with sensors that would’ve screamed at the intrusion had Three been connected. As it was, he was inside and unnoticed. It was up to him to keep it that way. He knew he’d have to err on the side of caution, not knowing how far or wide a description of him may have spread. But it was to his advantage that he had been seen fleeing back out into the open. Certainly the guards posted at the gates would be on the lookout, but no one had reason to search for him within the city wall. At least, not yet.
Three set an easy pace for himself as he moved along the top of the wall, hands clasped behind his back, head up and soaking in the surroundings. The wall itself was perhaps twenty feet wide, leaving plenty of room for the path and its garden-like surroundings without feeling crowded. And at this height, he had a good view of the town sprawled below. It was well-lit, and people moved freely throughout the streets, though his eye was quick to note the presence of pairs of guardsmen patrolling through the crowds, casual in pace but ever alert.
As he walked, Three absorbed the layout as best as he could, forming a rough mental map. He followed the wall in a slow, steady gait, soaking in the environment, letting his mind work out the plan of action. After a time he came to a gently winding set of stairs that doubled back on themselves, and he took them down to ground-level, where he blended in amongst the people. Here, moving with and through the citizens of Morningside, Three was struck by how clean, and healthy, and happy they were. Certainly there were those among them who had come from the open, but many were seemingly untouched by the hard living beyond the wall. They seemed so soft; a people from a different world. It both amazed and sickened him.
For an hour or so, Three moved through the streets with casual confidence, stilling himself whenever he passed a patrol. His attire and rough look drew a few glances, but he was not so strange as to draw attention. And as long as he seemed to know where he was going, no one else seemed to pay him much mind. He wandered towards the center of the city, correctly guessing that the Governor’s dwelling would be located there. When he arrived, he couldn’t help but be impressed. It wasn’t just a compound as he’d expected; it was more like a miniature city of its own.
Guards patrolled an octagonal outer wall, which had main gates facing northwest and northeast, and a third narrow gate on the southern side. Towers loomed at each of the corners of the wall, though it was difficult to tell whether there were men in each. Three made a single lap, taking in what he could without appearing like he was casing the place, and then circled back towards the section of Morningside he’d already walked.