Wattys shortlist 2021. One morning the sun rises a few hours early, striking levitating skyscrapers in Soliara ahead of schedule. People in the streets stop to look up at the sky and then down at their watches. Most of them, puzzled but disbelieving...
Cristo and Lien appeared in the second floor hallway of Cytheria's house. Lien staggered forward at the shock of the change of setting and struggled upright.
The second she had her footing she started to stammer at Cristo, not quite getting any real words out but Cristo knew what she was getting at.
"This is Exequi Cytheria's house — she's not home. Don't worry about the method of transportation," he said, and he wasn't about to tell Lien a thing about how he linked them from Constellation to Cytheria's house without opening a portal to walk through. She could die of curiosity for all Cristo cared.
"Now, I need to incapacitate Liao Tian, drag him to where I'm keeping Liao Terra, and get the two kidnap victims back to Exequi Portia at the Constellation building in a condition that qualifies as trussed up. Want to help?"
"Once my stomach catches up with me," Lien said, looking pale but at least enunciating well.
"There's one other prerequisite," said Cristo. He didn't pull out Louis's pistol for this, and didn't reach for his gnomon, but kept his hands where Lien could see them and empty; this was an offer, not a threat, and Lien's last chance to make the right choice. "Remember what we were talking about back there, when you played dumb and pretended not to know why Justin Marius would need more than blackmail to secure Tony Solari's vote for Justin Marius? Let's finish that conversation."
Cristo gestured with a nod for Lien to walk with him and they started down the hall.
"It occurs to me," said Lien, "that you're undecided as to whether to kill me. I can help you, sure, but you don't need me, and I'm a threat to you — I know way too much about what you're doing. Are you going to put a hole in my cranium when you're done with me? The way I see it, information like that could be the only thing keeping you from blowing my head wide open."
Wrong answer, and as they got closer to Liao Tian's study, Cristo was done arguing. The last thing he needed while he grappled two immortals into the Constellation building across the city and into the hands of his enemies was a potential traitor by his side.
His gnomon could remove Lien's consciousness, but so could a well applied carotid restraint, and Cristo liked to avoid depending too much on magic; working with his bare hands kept him sharp.
For a step and a half he slowly fell behind Lien, then grappled her from behind as the last of her excuses left her mouth, careful not to compress her airway, and held the blood choke for several seconds until Lien went limp as a puppet toy.
"Sorry," he grunted to the unconscious body. That removed the problem of having to maneuver more than two hostages, but added a step to his plan: a quick detour to lock Lien away in the spare room with Tian before he came back for Terra.
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