The Sowing

We’re heading for one of the hangars near the top of the Citadel’s main building.

I take one last look at Digory. “See you soon.”

Then I’m climbing into the main cabin and wedging myself into one of the overhead storage compartments. I’m too big to fit inside completely, but I manage to get the access door closed enough to hide from view just as the ship’s braking thrusters kick in and we come to a bumpy stop. I’m counting on Cassius being too preoccupied with his arrival to scrutinize the cabin.

The engines cut out and the exit ramp begins to lower. Cassius bursts from the cockpit and marches down in seconds. I can hear muffled voices and the grind of the cargo hold opening. I wait until the sounds of footfalls die, and then I ease my aching body out of the cramped compartment and slink out of the aircraft as stealthily as I can, pausing at the foot of the gangplank to make sure no one’s around.

Cassius has obviously landed the ship in his small, private docking bay in the Citadel’s main tower. Rummaging through the hangar’s supply closet, I find a flight uniform and helmet that aren’t quite my size but will do the trick. I could really use some firepower, but the only thing I come across is a flare gun. Not ideal, long-term, but it can do a lot of damage to a human body up close. Stripping off what I’m wearing, I don the uniform, tuck the gun into my pocket, and exit the bay.

I immediately expect to have to dodge squads of Imps making their rounds, so I’m surprised to find that the corridors are uncharacteristically deserted.

I race through the hallways. Several Imps surprise me when I round a corner, but they’re running too and don’t bother to stop as they disappear down the far hall.

It’s then that I realize that the growing pounding I hear isn’t coming from my chest. I pause to listen. The thudding is too uniform to be thunder. It’s the sound of impact blasts and alarms, loud enough to vibrate through the soundproof windows of the Citadel and rock its foundations.

Cage and the others must have been tracked to their rebel cell.

The Establishment’s strike against the resistance is underway.

I dart down the remainder of the hall to where two Imps usually guard the stairwell that leads to the roof of the Prefect’s chambers. But no one’s there and I push the doors open, sprinting up the steps and bursting out onto the Citadel’s rooftop.

The Parish is in chaos.

Attack squadrons of Squawkers soar through the air, spitting out fiery missiles that streak across the horizon like angry talons, tearing great rents in the sky. Loud concussions transform the tenements of my old neighborhood into billowing plumes of dark smoke. The stench of fire and roasting bodies clogs my nostrils and stings my eyes, which pool with burning moisture that streaks down my cheeks.

Right now, the resistance is scrambling, outnumbered, overpowered. I have no idea if Arrah and the others are already dead. For all I know, I could be looking at the funeral pyre of the rebellion, snuffed out of existence before it ever had the chance to thrive.

As soon as the last of the bombardment’s echoes die away, all the jumbotrons across the Parish flicker, cutting off with a burst of static, going black, then coming back to life.

It’s Cassius. His face appears saddened, yet stern. Not a trace of arrogance.

“Citizens of the Parish,” he begins. “I come to you in the gravest hour our society has ever known. You are all aware of the tide of insurgence that has plagued us for quite some time now. A short time ago, a pocket of these traitors were discovered, and swift justice was meted out.” He pauses and inhales sharply. “What you do not know is that these criminals have not been acting alone. While we have been searching for them in every crevice of the bowels of our city, the greatest threat to the Establishment is being perpetrated from within the very core of those ensconced in our ruling body.”

The camera angle zooms out to a wider shot, revealing Talon—revived from stasis and looking confused, weak, and haggard—and the members of her cabinet, all being held at gunpoint by Cassius’s elite security team.

That image is replaced by a close-up of Cassius’s face, visibly distraught as if he’s trying to keep his emotions in check.

But I know better. This entire thing is all a ruse.

He looks directly into the camera. “This is going to come as quite a devastating shock to our honored and revered elite Imposers, but evidence has surfaced linking Prime Minister Talon and her cabinet to a plot to undermine the very stability of our society by aligning with the monsters that seek to destroy us.”