Phoenix

Cave

Two thousand dollars reward

With elevation to Elite citizen status for information about their stronghold

Keep your city safe

Stop these unspeakable ills

Eli passed the poster around. "It seems the Establishment have stepped up their search for us."

A man who Ash recognised from her first day—the one with missing fingers, who'd been playing chess in the Tavern said, "Howdya know they're after us. It says they're after a 'rebel gang' who 'kill, maim and burn.' We dun do any of that."

Eli said, "There have been televised news reports accompanying the posters. Establishment representatives have indicated they're looking for people who display unusual abilities with fire, or who have shown extreme feats of strength. The gypsies have been targeted for their tricks with misdirection and for threatening curses to get people's money. It's pandemonium out there. People are turning other people in on no better grounds than they got looked at the wrong way."

"Why now?" the fingerless man said. "They known bout us for years. Tried to keep our powers a secret so they could do their nasty experiments." He held up his hand and wriggled the stubs of what used to be his fingers. "They cut off me digits just to see if it'd put a plug on me force. Said they didn't want no one to know about us cos they didn't want to look weak. We're a threat to their power, you know."

"Yeah, I'm with fingerless Fred," someone shouted from down in one of the dormitories. "Why are they after us now?"

Eli glanced at Shorty, Miki and Gunner. They were the only ones that knew what had happened back in Ace, when Lydia Syntra's car had gone off the road and rolled. They knew this was no longer a political move, but a personal one. The Wanderers had caused the death of Lydia Syntra, the Director's pet. And now, he wanted revenge. They didn't know Ash knew.

Eli re-directed the conversation. "I think it's time we stepped up our training... worked on real strategies to protect this island should there be a direct attack."

A murmur of discomfort rose and people shifted uncomfortably.

"If they find out where we're hid, what's stopping them from bombing us to hell and back?" a man shouted from his seated position on a high protrusion of the tree.

"Yeah, we're dead on a hanga if that happens," the man next to fingerless Fred yelled in a heavy gutter accent, accompanied by a slight whistle due to his missing upper lip.

Eli fell silence and for once, his calm facade threatened to break. The man had reiterated his own fear about missile attacks.

Oroton stepped forward from the shadows, a forgotten presence until then. His commanding aura immediately filled the space. "They don't want us dead," he said. "Falconius told me once, during our peace treaty, that he wanted us in good health so he could artificially manufacture our abilities and use them in industry—to increase the city's energy and resource production, since natural resources are becoming so scarce."

There were shocked gasps at this. A child began to cry.

Oroton said. "It's our one advantage. The fact that they want us alive. At least, they won't try to obliterate us from above."

"So, what now?" Miki said, stepping forward.

Oroton rubbed his chin. "Your water users will be the first line of protection for the island," he said. "If they come by boat, you are to work on strategies to incapacitate them before they reach us."