Half Discovered Wings by David Brookes

together like lamb
chunks on a kebab. God, I miss lamb. What, did you think I forgot ? That was the
first time I ever killed anybody. Of course I remembered it. But
you know it wasn’t the last time I killed.’
    ‘ They had you in jail. You should be dead. Before I shut down,
I swear I’m going to destroy you.’
    In Cleric’s
hand, a silver short-sword has appeared. It has the wings of an
angel carved along its blade, and they gleam like the metal bones
that adorn the starship’s corridor.
    ‘ Remember this?’
    Caeles holds up his hand, and the sword is in his palm. Caeles smiles
lopsidedly, hefting the familiar weight of the
wakizashi.
    ‘ Oi! Give it back!’ Cleric says, snatching for it but missing.
‘That was mine.’
    ‘ You surrendered it to me,’ says Caeles.
    ‘ Give it back! You didn’t deserve to have that! I thought it
was lost, but you took it from me, didn’t you? You should never
have taken it, not without me ever knowing!’
    ‘ Maybe I’ll tell you how,’ Caeles snapped. ‘Another time. The
day I kill you.’
    Caeles walks backward toward the door through which he
entered, sheathing the wakizashi. ‘You should have stayed on this
starship. You should have stayed dead . Because if this dream is what
I think it is, it means you’re still around. It means that I can
finally have the pleasure of killing you.’
    The doors hiss
open behind him, and he backs out. But before they close in front
of him, he sees Cleric look up.
    ‘ I can still hear the wings,’ the man says. ‘I know they’re
coming. But I’ll finish what the world started.’
    ~
    Four days
after they’d stumbled upon the remnant of the old war, Gabel’s
party caught their first glimpse of the great lake Lual, stretching
for endless miles. It was much larger than Rowan had ever imagined
any expanse of water to be – she had never once seen an ocean – and
she had to sit down, feeling once again weak.
    By the great lake hunkered the city of São Jantuo, whose
buildings had once been large and well-built, sky-scraping. But it
hadn’t survived the Conflict. In a way, Caeles knew, nothing had.
Not really; himself included. São Jantuo had been kept clean and
became a microcosm compared to the rest of the world, hidden away,
a backwater town where laws were taken seriously and enforced by a
squad of intensely-trained men and women. Caeles knew that the
Squad was led by a woman who was not only a warrior trained by
warriors, but also a lawman raised by a lawman; her father was the
captain of the Squad before her time, and had raised her as his
natural successor. Marisa de la Naja obeyed only two: her instincts
and the Regent.
    Caeles looked over the landscape at the vast lake and
estimated the time it would take to cross it.
    ‘ Could take a week,’ said Gabel before Caeles could
speak.
    ‘ That may be. ’
    ‘ Do you
think that your enemy, this Regent Dysan, is still alive? Are you
ready to face him?’
    ‘ Yes, though I’d rather not go back on my agreement. I might
get a reputation for not keeping my word.’
    The cyborg was becoming less and less concerned about his
word, however. He knew that there were more urgent worries, much
darker villains abroad. His “dreams” had told him that
much.
    ‘ If he dies during your encounter, it
wouldn’t matter much, would it ?’ Gabel said.
    He didn’t turn, his eyes on the sky, but said, ‘Are you
suggesting I kill him if I get any trouble?’
    ‘ Of course not,’ said the hunter. ‘But are you ready ?’
    The wind
whipped at them, both men exposed to it from their position on the
open rise, and Caeles’ hand touched the black hilt of his
wakizashi. The slowly setting sun, reflected from the great lake,
was cast onto his face, in his eyes. The ugly scar that ran down
the left side of his cheek was a deep mulberry in the light.
    ‘ Yeah, I think I’m ready.’
    It took hours
to descend the hill, and gradually the glittering Lual was lost
behind the buildings of the