Phenomena (Chapter 15)

Cy resisted the urge to look back over his shoulder. Instead he asked April, "Can you tell me how many and what they look like?"1

April described the men, two of them, trailing behind Cy and his friends. One tall, and muscular, the other shorter and slighter of build, both were dressed in ankle-length black robes with scarlet sashes belted around their waists. The smaller man carried a black cane. The cane was capped by a silver head that flashed in the afternoon sun as the man walked.2

Cy and Jepp knew what the black robes meant. The Obsidian Order was well known to them. A loose assemblage of thieves, assassins and lawless men, the Order was responsible for most of the crime that took place in Marntz and the surrounding regions. They were known to commit any act, no matter how heinous, that would earn them a profit.3

In a low voice Cy told Jepp, "I want you and April to go to your house while I deal with those two behind us. Here's what we'll do."4

Jepp started to argue with him but thought better of it when he saw the look in Cy's eyes. Jepp knew that look well. He had only seen it a couple of times since he had known Cy, but those times were enough to convince Jepp. He was not about to debate the subject.5

April turned and, for a few steps, walked backwards ahead of Cy and Jepp and facing them. She laughed a merry, playful laugh. Then she turned back around and started walking beside Jepp. After a few more steps, Cy stopped and knelt down as if tying his shoe. That was the signal they had agreed upon. April and Jepp continued walking.6

Still kneeling, Cy shifted from one knee to the other, as if tying his other shoe. After a few seconds, he slowly stood up and stretched, bending slightly backwards so that he had a glimpse of the two who had been following them. He had no doubt they were of the Order. The look on their faces alone would have marked them. They had the look of heartless, humorless men, prone to violence and skilled in its art. Cy had met them before.7

No one came forward to tell of it. No one said anything, but Cy knew what had happened. He remembered the looks on the doomed men's faces, the sheer terror that had been in their eyes at the moment of their deaths. He remembered, in precise, vivid detail, each and every one of them.8

Cy bent forward again and straightened the cuff on his pants leg. Looking up, he saw that April and Jepp were halfway down the block, walking faster than before. He yelled, "Hey," and, as they had agreed, April and Jepp began to run... away from Cy.9

Cy started to run after them but stopped after a few steps and turned around. By that time Cy's would-be assailants had closed the distance between them. Cy looked at the two men and smiled. As the big man moved closer to him, Cy moved away from him. The man with the cane spoke, "We just want to talk to you."10

Cy looked directly at him and said, "What could we possibly have to discuss?"11

The small man snarled and nodded to his companion. The big man reached out for Cy and, in a flash, Cy's world went opaque then transparent, and, fleetingly, Cy thought to himself, "Here we go again."12

No one saw the men of the Order die, it all happened too fast. One moment the two confronted Cy as he stopped in the street, the next, in less time than it took them to blink, Cy had vanished like a wisp of vapor. Then, both of them were falling to the ground, already dead, their bodies stripped of clothes and skin, their muscles flayed to the bone.13

Cy didn't stop moving until he was half a block from Jepp's house. The fear and horror written on the two men's faces was etched into Cy's memory alongside the others of the Order who had unwisely challenged him. The memories were a reminder to Cy of what he fought against, a warning to not become like those men, consumed by the lure of great power.14

"That's the key," Cy thought to himself. "I possess the power. I will not let the power possess me."