Valentine

Wally wore a sceptical frown, "You two had a dream about a weird sex god? Is this some convoluted joke to embarrass me?"

"No- Well, perhaps," I admitted, "But if this is a joke, it's not mine. And it was not an ordinary dream. I know mind magic when I sense it."

"I'll claim no special familiarity with the magic of dreams," Regina conceded, "But the dream was far from the norm. I should have woken once I recognized I was dreaming. Instead our conversation continued. I also find it odd that Lady Valentine and I should dream, unprompted, of the same woman and experience generally the same conversation."

"It didn't sound like much of a conversation," Wally huffed, "Sounded like a bunch of vague bullshit."

"I know why she didn't appear to me, but why not yourself?" Amity asked, with a nod to Wallace.

"I remember that Temerity's wizard guy had a hard time getting in my head, said it was like I was wearing a lead helmet."

"Why would one wear such a thing?" Regina rumbled, "How would he have any notion of what impact a lead helmet would have on his magic?"

"It was quite common in the early days," I answered, "When early experimentation showed what was possible with mind magic, but before anyone developed proper countermeasures. The more material between yourself and the subject of your spell, the less likely you are to see a useful result."

"That tracks. My bones are about the same density as lead."

"Does it, though?" I countered, "You might be thick-headed, but enough to stop a god?"

Wally shrugged, "What does God need with a starship?"

I quirked an eyebrow, "Pardon me?"

Wally grinned and shook his head, "Cassius would have caught that reference. I'm saying you're right. It's not a god, but she does have some sort of mojo. Dream stuff aside, that seems like something anyone could do with magic," Wally glanced at me. I nodded in affirmation, and he continued, "But she did pick us up somehow. So it's probably a Star Trek Five type deal. I bet she's pretty powerful within a limited scope but not omnipotent."

Amity held Regina tighter and leaned against the sphinx's next, "Do we leave?"

"What, vague promises and insinuations don't cut it for you?" Wally asked.

"Amora was vague, but the way she spoke of her foes suggested they were her equals."

Wally leaned back against the cab and lifted his hands, "So we've got a bunch of pretend-gods having a slap fight in the city. I don't know about you guys, but I think we've still got to go in. In theory, there are still some fey dickheads chasing us, though I'm still not sure if they took the bait. But even if they're leaving us alone for now, these guys are still our neighbours, and we've got to figure out what the hell is going on here."

"Do you plan to side with this Amora creature?" Regina asked.

"I don't know, but it's going to be tricky not to," Wallace admitted, "Who knows. Maybe it'll get harder for us once we're actually in the city and there are more people to mask our signature, assuming that's even how it works, but she has some way to detect us."

"I hesitate to make a judgement with so little information, but there are worse allies than a would-be god of love."

"Then I suggest we cease wasting sunlight," Regina purred, "Short of meeting us in person, she will need to wait until tonight to contact us again."

"Recon," Wally stated.

"Quite," Regina agreed.

It was hardly my first time exploring a human settlement, so I was familiar with their fondness for steel and glass. But familiarity was not the same as understanding. It was one thing to come across a lonely rest stop or abandoned warehouse out in the lowlands. It was another to ride through a sea of such structures. Each comprised of enough metal to outfit a phalanx, and containing untold treasures besides.

I saw that some of the streets had been cleared, as we entered the city's industrial quarter. There were vehicles in the ditch and on the side of the road that had left streaks of rubber on the pavement, and sections of the bodywork were damaged.

This was not the case everywhere, and Wally was cautious as he threaded his way between abandoned cars as he made his way clear of the areas that showed the most evidence of human habitation.

"There," Amity suggested, "That warehouse, we can park at the loading dock between those two trailers. They'll conceal us unless someone is standing in just the right spot to look between them."

"Works for me," Wally agreed.

He took the truck through the entrance to the paved lot and then swung the vehicle around. He gave Regina a chance to hop out and reversed into the space until the rear of the cargo bed was a few inches shy of the building.

I followed Wally out of our hiding space between the trailers, and he set his hands on his hips, turning slowly to take in his surroundings.

"We need bicycles or something," Wally muttered, "Or at least something stealthier than this thing," he added, flicking his wrist at our truck.

"I could ride Regina," Amity giggled, "And Val could-"

"We only do that in private."

"I hate all of you."

"These two, honestly," Regina huffed, "Amity doesn't even feel fatigue."

Wally nodded thoughtfully, "We'll have her carry Val once she gets tired."

Amity hefted her pack, "I'm already carrying all this, or have you forgotten I have the power supply in here?"

"Val weighs like half that," Wally chided, "And you're a super strong robo-lady. You'll be fine. Now come on, I got us as far through the industrial park as I figured was safe, but we've got a hell of a lot of ground to cover and only so much sunlight. Val, you good on the enchantment?"

My hand went absently to my chest, where I'd had Wally apply the paint for today's test. I'd asked him to write something vulgar and degrading, but the big sap had just drawn a little heart, "It appears fine so far, but I'll be sure to speak up if I begin to feel odd."

"What about fuel?" I asked, sometime later, "You might not be able to hotwire that car back there, but might we siphon the fuel from its tank, as you did for those at the hotel?"

"Yeah," Wally said agreeably, "But we don't have anywhere to store it. Besides, gas is heavy and bulky. It's not like it's hard to find though. You remember the gas station," he stated, "There should be plenty of those in the city. We can stop off at one if we don't find anything better to bring back."

Regina slunk down low as we approached the next intersection, sniffing the air and sweeping her head from side to side, "Are we still focused on taking salvage?"

"This is too good a chance to pass up," Wally insisted, "There's obviously more important shit going on here, but we should still do what we can to loot the place as long as we're here. We're gonna want a car to get back anyway, so, Amity?"

"I'll keep an eye out," she promised.

"That next street, aren't those houses? Maybe we could find a house where they've left their vehicle's keys."

"Yeah, just be careful. We're getting to the point where we're going to start seeing other people."

Gods, why do the humans make their streets so wide?

There was a walkway of concrete, three lanes of asphalt, a concrete divider wide enough for two men to walk side by side, three more lanes of asphalt, and another walkway.

If we had only that to cross, it would be bad enough. But there was also a wide grass ditch to either side and then an expanse of asphalt where the humans kept their vehicles.

We didn't bother to sneak, skulk, or crouch. There was simply too much open ground for it to be worthwhile. Instead, stealth meant getting across as quickly as we could.

It was an effective test of the enchantment. My heart was beating as fast as that of a frightened rabbit, and yet here I was, keeping up with Wally and the others as I ran across the street and to the row of brick houses.

Wally shuffled over to the back door of a nearby residence and raised his eyebrows, "Well, this isn't a great neighbourhood," he muttered, "Come on," he urged, waving for us to follow him towards a nearby alley.

We followed him into the narrow alley. He crouched down at the far end and peeked out onto the street while Amity kept watch at our rear.

"This is what humans consider a bad neighbourhood?" I asked sceptically.

"Okay, yeah, they've got electricity and indoor plumbing," Wally admitted, "But bars on the doors and windows is not a great sign."

"Surely you can make short work of such fortifications."

"Yeah, just- Alright, street is clear. Keep watch."

I followed Wally out onto the much narrower residential street, made yet more cramped by the cars lining each side of the road, and wondered if our truck would be able to make it down this street.

There was a short staircase leading up to the front door, and Wally bounded to the top in a single step. He steadied himself, gripped either side of the bars that covered the front door, and heaved. Metal screeched, popped, and Wally stepped back unsteadily as he took the bars' weight.

He caught himself and came back down to set the bars lightly on the lawn. With the bars dealt with, Wally returned to the door, set his shoulder against it, and then gave a slight heave.

The door splintered and swung open, and when it did, the air was immediately filled with an electronic Whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop that showed no signs of stopping.

Almost drowned out by the electronic wailing, I could hear Wally speak calmly to himself, "Really should have seen that coming."

He wasted no time, and while I continued to watch, whipping my head back and forth to watch each end of the street, he lunged inside and began to rummage around.

Amity came pelting out of the alley and bounded up the stairs after Wally.

"What is that godawful noise?" she shouted.

"Cheap alarm," he called back, "Where is- There."

The alarm fell silent, and the only sound on the street was the clatter of Wally bashing about inside the house.

"You've got sixty seconds," Wally instructed, "We need car keys and nothing else."

It sounded like the two were demolishing the building rather than searching it, but at a call from Amity, the two came running out, perhaps forty seconds later.

"What badge?" Wally demanded.

"A circle, blue and white quarters- Regina, get ready to move."

"Dammit, there," he pointed, "The little coupe."

"Wallace, there's not enough-" she began.

"We'll figure something out," he growled back.

Amity ran to the door and drove the key home, it clicked open, and she hauled the door open and threw herself inside.

Wally turned to Regina, who'd begun to back up through the alley while keeping her gaze on the street beyond. She glanced at the little car for a moment before looking back to the alley.

"Have Amity open the boot. There should be sufficient space. I can keep up on foot or escape to the rooftops should it become necessary."

"Dammit, alright. Amity, how's that coming-"

Wally was interrupted by an earsplitting electronic wail, and we all turned to look just in time to see Amity start tearing apart the dash.

It did nothing to silence the alarm. Wally took three bounding steps to the front of the vehicle, dug his fingers into the grille, and ripped the hood open. He held it up with one hand, and with the other, drew a knife.

A quick slash made the alarm begin to warble as if the little electric gremlin were dying, and a second slash put an end to it.

"Shitty aftermarket alarm," Wally swore, "Shitty used BMW. Come on, let's go!"

We ran after him, deeper into the forest of identical brick buildings, running away from the noise and whatever might be coming to investigate.

Wally was the first to stop running. He found a street where the buildings on one side were lower than the others, and there was a slight step-down to the walking path in front of the houses on that side.

We took cover there, and my heart ached hearing Wally's laboured breathing. It sounded as if he'd just run from Pelignos to Caniforma, not half a mile over level ground, and each breath seemed to start before the last had finished. It sounded as if he were suffocating.

He sat with his back against the low concrete retaining wall, one arm atop it, his head back as he gasped for breath.

I was sitting next to him, my fingers resting lightly on his chest, wracking my brain for some way to help. So I was looking in the right direction when a flicker of movement caught my eye, and I turned my eyes to the end of the street.

Just in time to see-

"Humans ride lizards instead of horses?"

"Wha?" Wally gasped, turning to follow my gaze, "What the hell?" he wheezed.

That got to Amity and Regina's attention, who had been watching the other end of the street and our path back, respectively.

We saw perhaps a dozen men, each riding a human-sized bipedal lizard. They wore what appeared to be breastplates and helmets, though the style was alien, and the material looked more like cloth than metal. Their arms were a mix of human firearms, like the little pistol Wally had given me, though larger, and long knives.

They rode quickly, though their demeanour and the way they shouted and laughed suggested a lack of concern on their part.

"Ah," Regina murmured, "More of the dinosaurs we saw while you were away. Though the one we saw lacked tack and bridle."

"You know what? Fine," Wally rasped, "Weird sex gods and dino cavalry, why not?"

"And here I thought we'd been too cautious," I admitted.

"We'll go see where they were coming from. As soon as I can breathe again."

Perhaps you're the one Amity needs to carry, I thought, though I left it unsaid. Wally seemed to be suffering, and I could always tease him another time.

Wally waited for them to pass, then rose to a knee, "Alright, let's go."

"Do you need a hand?" Amity offered, but Wally shook his head.

"I'll be okay," he insisted, "Come on, I want to get an idea of what we're facing before the dino cavalry gets back."

Three more streets, three more rows of human houses, and we had our answer.

We stood within what cover the alley offered and examined the building before us.

I took it at first for a fort of some kind. It was made of the same rusty brick as Wally leaned against, and while it wasn't any taller than the nearby houses, the building seemed to sprawl.

It looked as if someone had built a half-dozen separate buildings and then shoved them all into a pile. The expansive grassy field surrounding the structure would afford the defenders good sight-lines, but that was perhaps the only consideration given to defence.

A fence of iron or steel surrounded the field, about the same height as me, but it looked a feeble thing despite the material. The large repeating diamond pattern would also make it easy to climb. The building itself had far too many windows to be very defensible, and its haphazard construction made it difficult for defenders to provide mutual assistance, and left several dead zones where they would not be able to fire into.

Sections of the field had been fenced off, though with sticks and string rather than metal, and looked as if they'd been ploughed recently.

Immediately before the building, like a black sore upon the well-kept lawn, was another parking lot. There were a few human vehicles, mainly of the small sort that had been most plentiful so far, though there were also two boxy yellow vehicles. Both were nearly as large as the trailers we'd hidden the truck between, though they had windows running their length, and I suspected they were for passengers rather than cargo.

When Regina spoke, it was in a whisper, though I still felt the words rumble in my chest, "How should we proceed?"

"Crouching down, trying to sneak around is making my knees hurt. To hell with this," he said, straightening, "It's gonna be a lot easier to figure out what's going on if we just say hi."

"Then we will join you," Regina insisted, "A wise foe will not trifle with a man that has such formidable allies."

Wally shrugged, "Fair point. I wouldn't want to screw with us either, even if I was riding around on a dinosaur."

We had not even made it across the sidewalk and onto the street before the front doors opened and a pair of soldiers stepped out. They hesitated near the door as we continued to approach, and one of them turned back to speak with someone still within.

Wally halted on the sidewalk, just at the edge of the parking lot, and waited. We did not need to wait long before six more dinosaur riders came around the back of the building and rode towards us.

These men were armed as the others had been, though their weapons were sheathed and holstered, and none wore the armour I'd seen on the other riders.

Each of their mounts was five feet, or near enough, at the shoulder. They'd been too far for me to notice before, but I was now very aware of the razor-sharp claws that tipped each digit. They had three on each of their hands and feet, with one of the toes on each foot extended upwards, its claw noticeably larger than any of the rest.

The riders came up off the grass and onto the parking lot, the claws of their mounts clicking on the asphalt as they crossed the last few feet and came to a stop.

"Uh, hi there, stranger," the lead rider said, only to be elbowed by one of his partners, "Right, I mean stranger-san. Uh, it is san, right?"

Wally raised an eyebrow, and I could tell he was trying to hide a smirk, "Are you serious?"

The rider threw up his hands, "I don't know, man. Boss wants us using the suffixes. What the hell are you even doing here?"

"I'd like to talk to your boss," Wally replied reasonably.

"Martin-kami," the rider with the sharp elbows insisted.

Wally frowned, "Pretty sure kami isn't a suffix."

"Hey man," the first rider countered, "A big fuckin' dragon guy tells you to call him Martin-kami, you call him Martin-kami."

Wally turned one wrist, "Fair enough."

The lead rider put his hand to a black box strapped to his shoulder, and I rose onto the balls of my feet, thinking it was a weapon. Wally did not react, however, and I settled back down when the man began to speak into it.

"Uh, hey, bo- Martin-kami?"

There was a pause as the man listened to the reply.

"There's a guy here with some friends. Uh, I think he might be kinda like you. Dude's like eight feet tall and built like a tank, and his friends are kinda intense," he added, glancing at Regina.

There was another pause, and then he responded to an unheard question, "Uh, well one's a sphinx, one has four arms, and the last one is purple-Alright, I'll show them in," the man lifted his gaze back to Wallace, "Uh, how are you addressed?"

"I'm Wallace."

"Aright, Wallace, uh, kami. Martin-kami is in the gym."

He dismounted from his dinosaur and led us past the two men on the door and into the hall.

The floors appeared to be tiled, though the sound was not what I was accustomed to. The rider's shoes squeaked, rather than clicked against the tiles as they should have had it been ceramic or stone. The walls were brick, though of a different sort from what I'd seen outside. These were twice the size, smooth, and painted white.

There were doors at regular intervals, painted dark grey and with a small vertical window near the handle. Spaced between the doors were rows of lockers with metal doors, many of which hung wholly or partly open.

Wally was tall enough that his hair brushed the ceiling, and he had to duck under signs and decorations that hung from above.

We were led down a long hall, took a right, then a left, and found ourselves standing before a set of double doors. These had no handle, nor a window. Instead, they each had a metal bar across their width, which the rider pressed upon when he opened the way for us.

The space within was vast, and neither pillars nor arches held up its high ceiling. The floor was hardwood, laid down in long strips, and covered in odd painted lines. At either end was a metal hoop, a cloth net hanging from it. To one side were rows of seats rising to meet the wall, and in the centre had been set up several long tables. Opposite the seats was a stage. It too held a long table, and our host.

The rider had spoken of a dragon, but this creature was nothing like those dragons I'd read of in myth.

It had a long sinuous body that stretched the stage's length, like that of a gargantuan snake given legs. Its head appeared suitably draconic, though it was whiskered and had the beginnings of a mane. The creature, Martin-kami, had no wings, and I could scarcely imagine how large they would have needed to be to lift a being such as himself.

"Martin-kami," the rider began, "I present Wallace-kami."

The dragon let out a breath that shook the nearby tables, "Sup dude?" the dragon asked cheerfully, "What are you the god of?"

Wally paused for a moment, smiled, and then answered, "Patience. What about you?"

"Dinosaurs. It's pretty sweet. I can summon them, transform them, whatever I want. What about you, what can you do?"

"Anything I have the patience to figure out."

The dragon began to slither off the stage towards us, "Wow, that's kinda OP. Your champions are pretty cool too."

"This is Regina. She used to live on a giant space station," Wally replied, indicating each of us in turn, "Amity, she's a gynoid who's both a doctor and a mechanic. Oh, and she's got claws like wolverine. And this is Valentine. She's a fey noblewoman and can do pretty much anything I can do."

"I'm guessing you guys are new here?" Martin asked, "Otherwise I totally would have heard of you before."

"You could say that. I was wondering if you had some idea of what's going on here."

"That's a real good question, man. I don't know about you, but I was kinda hyped at first when the wiggly spirit dude came down and told me I could be a god of whatever. I went with dinosaurs, obviously. Dinosaurs are fuckin' cool. But then I found out I wasn't the only one. That was kinda lame, but whatever, I could roll with it. So anyway, I start handing out dinosaurs to people, because dinosaurs are awesome. Pray to me, I get stronger, they get a cool velociraptor or whatever, everybody wins. But, you know, things get kinda outa hand. This one lady is the god of death," the dragon screwed up his face, "I mean, death? That's a kinda weird pick. Anyway, all us gods kinda start bumping into each other, there's some fights, it's a whole thing. And then just a couple of days ago we end up here. There's a big fuck-off gas giant in the sky, and every morning I wonder if maybe I should have asked to be the god of arks instead. Still don't know if it was one of the other gods, or the spirit guy screwing with us some more."

"Was the city already mostly empty?"

"Nah, our guess is that anybody who wasn't on board with one god or another didn't come for the ride."

"Our?"

"Right, new, forgot. There's this greek dude, calls himself Agamemnon," Martin explained, "He's the god of electricity. He's set up at a mall in the middle of the city, he's the dude keepin' the lights on. There's been some scraps, the god of fire and the god of lighting- he's a different guy from the god of electricity -kinda burnt down part of the city, but pretty much everyone leaves Agamemnon-kami alone. Mall's kinda like a neutral area, we go there, compare notes, whatever. I mean, except for Lady Death or whatever the fuck she's calling herself."

"What's her problem?"

"You mean besides the fact she chose death when the spirit dude said she could be the god of anything?"

"Yeah, besides that."

"She says the mall should be hers."

Wally spread his hands, "Why?" he demanded.

"She raided the graveyards, which left her with all these zombies. So..."

"Seriously? She's going by Dawn of the Dead rules?"

"Agamemnon think's she just wants to screw with the city's electricity. It's already hard enough to keep order in the city. That'll be even harder if Lady Death cuts the power, and we'll all have less time to deal with her bullshit."

"Sounds like I need to go check out this mall."

"You need a ride?"

Wally paused, and his eyes flicked to Amity. She nodded, and then took off running when Wally gave a slight jerk of the head.

"Nah," Wally replied, turning back to the dragon," We've got a vehicle. Are you coming, or-"

"Sure, I'll come. Some of the others should be there. We've been talking about what to do about the tsunamis we've been getting every morning. Hey, you said you could do anything you're patient enough to figure out, or whatever. Could you fix the other end of the crater?"

"I'll share what I know, the tides aren't new to me, but it's not that simple. I don't suppose there's a god of water in the city?"

The dragon's whiskers waved as he shook his head, "Nah, I wish, man. We've got a god of earth, though. But he's barely able to keep up with erosion. Lady Death's leavin' him alone at least."

Wally nodded slowly, "Alright. We'll meet you there. I take it that one of your guys can point us in the right direction?"

Martin nodded, and pointed at the rider who'd shown us in.

"I'll show them, Martin-kami," the man agreed.

I gave Wally a very pointed look once we turned to leave, and he brought his hand in front of himself where Martin wouldn't see and spread his fingers.

Fine, I would wait. But by gods, he was going to start explaining once we had a minute alone.