Page 108 of Burning Ice
Helianth’s grin faded. “You’re sure it’s real?”
“Yes. Verified through Luminary control. They confirmed the match.”
For a moment Helianth said nothing. The rain thickened, turning the lights outside into long silver lines.
“So it’s not a hunt anymore,” he said quietly. “It’s an attack.”
Kylix’s hands stayed steady on the wheel. “Then we hit fast.”
He almost added and clean, but the word caught. The last time they had gone in together, Helianth had disappeared into Attica’s grid and come out days later half dead. The thought still lived behind every order Kylix gave.
He glanced over once, voice lower. “You stay close this time. I’ll make sure you walk out.”
Helianth turned, rainlight cutting across his face. “It wasn’t your fault then, Kylix.”
“It was close enough.”
Neither spoke again until the next corner.
The first drops turned to sleet as they pulled from the lot. The wipers fought against it, dragging silver lines across the windshield. Kylix drove without sound. The rhythm of the blades marked time, two beats, pause, two beats, like a pulse he refused to feel. Helianth leaned into the silence, watching the streetlights break across Kylix’s face. The rain made him look carved from bronze and patience. They passed shuttered stalls and the faint blue glow of vending drones. Each flash threw his hands into light, showing the tremor he kept still.
The car veered onto the main causeway and braked under the overhang of Luminary command. The rain had hardened to sleet, tapping sharp against the hood. Strike teams were already forming beneath the floodlights, black and gold lines of armor moving in controlled rhythm.
Kylix stepped out first. Cold hit the air like static.
“Status?” he called.
“Jonah’s securing Unit Three. Strike teams are fueled and waiting,” an officer replied.
“We’re running hot,” a junior officer called. “Strike team ready in two minutes.”
“Good. Channel two for comms. Safeties off until I say.”
He lifted his wrist. “Luminary, on me. Wheels up in thirty seconds.”
Helianth joined him at the edge of the dock, rain streaking his hair flat against his temples.
“You always pick the pretty nights.”
Kylix almost smiled. “Move.”
The gates opened. Sleet blew in through the gap, glittering under the lights.
The convoy rolled into the storm, white beams slicing through gray air. Zephyr fell away behind them, a smear of gold drowned by the weather.
The city spread out below, bridges and towers and flooded streets flashing under red beacons. Patrol drones skimmed the lanes while old signs flickered in broken neon. Through the side glass the sleet blurred everything into motion. For a moment Zephyr looked endless, a maze of glass veins carrying light instead of blood.
“Visual confirmed,” the senior commander crackled through the comm. “I’ve got you on holo. Heat signatures faint, possible draw on the upper floors. You’re clear to proceed.”
“Copy.” Kylix steadied his breath. “Hold formation until my signal.”
Thunder rolled between the towers. The sleet hardened, turning each streetlight into a spear of white.
“You’re nearly at the location,” the commander said through static. “Follow the service road for two blocks, then north along the old viaduct. Cameras confirm approach.”
Kylix looked out the window. Zephyr’s outskirts slid past, washed pale by the storm. Shuttered shops. Rusted signs. Pools of water reflecting red light. The further they went, the more the city looked stripped of color, its pulse buried under the cold.
Static crackled again. “Hold. Something’s shifting,” the commander said. “I’m losing half the feeds.”
