The writer gives life to a story, the reader keeps it alive.
Lord Filius Anderson is keeping close tracks on the enigma, Juba Apfvarzian. There is something in the boy’s blood, which allows him immunity to the catalyst, and Lord Anderson needs to know what this is.
Juba Apfvarzian moved to the other side of Mogadishu, to escape from the people who have been watching him. He has to make a living, and like any good magician, the streets are the place to achieve his dream. (For Carrie Fisher. This world is emptier without you, but you will live forever amongst the stars.)
Jarad has never seen an Amanojuko base up close, although he has been thoroughly briefed, it could not prepare him for the wealth, and extravagance around him, as the group are escorted into the socialite lounge. (This issue is dedicated to everyone who reads these stories. I hope you have a safe and happy Christmas.)
Heyem is escorted through the gates of the factory, along with the others.
Alex recovered enough to set off for the gates of the factory, (which is where the Amanojuko process the catalyst, used to infect the population with ‘plague’.)
The factory is close, but Alex has been shivering for hours and her body is letting her down. The group has stopped to rest, overlooking the Amanojuko factory, which is just across the horizon. (This issue, and every story I’ve written, is dedicated to my dad, who died almost 21 years ago on 2nd December. This is for you Dad, I will never forget you.)
Alexand suddenly feels very unwell, despite being very close to the factory, which she believes to hold the cure to her illness.
Alexand fights her feelings of despair, attempting to find new purpose after Katherine’s death.
The Guild Master’s General materialises outside of Inajda’s cabin, along with Abouna Panak.
The group have been waiting for Alexand to return, and have set camp back in the cave, near Lake Baikal.
Colonel Katherine De Somme has been honoured with a full military funeral. Her parents, although invited, are absent, but her wife, Alexand, stands next to Field Marshal Panak, dressed in her uniform, as Field Marshal Panak presents her with Katherine’s medals. It is an open casket.
Alex collapses onto the floor, taking Katherine’s body with her; she remains on the floor, hugging her dead wife, unable to move through the grief.
Professors De somme and Sumian, took a very frail but relieved Katherine to Inajda’s cabin in Russia (after giving her a blood shield) The cure has stopped her body degenerating further, and will allow her to recover in time, but she is very weak and can’t walk. They have left her on a bench outside Inajda’s cabin and told her they will collect her in a month’s time.
Alexand is still angry after her fight with the Guild Master’s General
The Guild Master’s General has been sent to return Alexand’s writer to her. He has been stalking them for a few minutes, assessing the right time to approach, as his last meeting with Alexand wasn’t exactly amiable.
Katherine sits by the window in her laboratory, synthesising more inhibitor for the patients in the sickbay. She is getting nervous, today is the day she was promised a visit from a future version of herself, and the cure to her illness.
Inajda remained unconscious throughout the night. The future version of Anesidor Sumian has left her. Inajda wakes, inside her father’s cabin, some time in the morning. It’s the Fourteenth of May.
It is finally the fourteenth of May, and The Guild Master’s General has been watching over Katherine as she sleeps. He fades between energy and matter, making himself invisible to Katherine’s nurse as she injects a dose of adrenaline into Katherine’s bloodstream, to wake her up.
The group have spent the day attempting to catch fish in Lake Baikal, as a day has passed with no sign of Inajda returning. They have lit a fire and wait for Inajda, but everyone knows she should have returned by now.
This future version of Anesidor Sumian has lived for hundreds of years. She is the creator of the writer, which the resistance use to stay alive. She has the ability to transport matter from one place to another, to store it inside a box, keeping it safe, like she had dreamed of as a child. She has to maintain time’s continuity, to ensure that her world doesn’t crumble. Unfortunately Inajda Rekaya is being rather uncooperative. (This issue is dedicated to my Mum, whose birthday it is today, and who is always there for me, when I need her, just like Mary Poppins, but a lot less scary.)
The group has headed northeast and zigzagged around inhabited areas, to where they are about eight hundred miles away from the Amanojuko factory, near Lake Baikal. Doctor Azizi has been tasked with convincing a very stubborn Inajda to part with her writer and potentially endanger the mission.
Katherine has been in a self induced coma for five days, and in all that time, the Guild Master’s General has made sure he watches over her, guarding her from Amanojuko agents.
The group have donned themselves in the finest Amanojuko disguises, and are ready to set foot further into Amanojuko territory. Alexand isn’t feeling well, and doctor Azizi has noticed. (For the LGBT community, everywhere. Love outlasts hate.)
A few days have passed since Abouna Panak approached Katherine in her laboratory. She has increased the dose of inhibitor, to attempt to prevent her body from deteriorating any more than it has already. She has made the decision to rest inside the sickbay alongside the other patients, as the long trek from laboratory to her apartment is too much of a strain on her body.
The group prepare themselves for the journey into Amanojuko territory.
Ajeeta Kothari is on the run. She fled her son’s funeral for the mountains of Afghanistan. She has no allies, and a lot of enemies. She failed in her attempt to get Katherine De Somme to believe that her affiliation had changed. Her only hope of survival is to leave her life behind, and carry on running from the Amanojuko.
The Guild Master’s General arrives on a secret resistance base, which has been set up by the mysterious President Asenath Bomani.
Katherine woke up the day after her birthday, and made her way down to her laboratory to continue with her analysis of Juba Apfvarzian’s blood. When she arrived there, all of the samples had gone. There was no trace of her findings, and her research over the past few weeks has vanished.
The group set down for the night, they’ve been using the cave as a base, to formulate their strategy. It’s cold, and Inajda has set up a heat shield around the perimeter where they’re sleeping. Alex has been feeling ill for the past few hours, and has moved away from the group, as she doesn’t want them to see her when she’s sick.
Doctor Kothari released Katherine after Katherine refused to discuss being part of the resistance with her. Katherine has spent the past day analysing Juba Apfvarzian’s blood. She hasn’t had to avoid Doctor Kothari, as she is in Afghanistan, arranging her son’s funeral. Katherine has retired to her apartment to record one final message to her mother and father. It’s her birthday, and she’s alone.
Ajeeta Kothari attempts to convince Katherine that she has changed her allegiance.
Alexand and the rest of the resistance have settled in a cave in the mountains of Southern Russia. Alexand has scanned the area; there are no inhabitants for hundreds of miles. Inajda has illuminated a map on the far cave wall, showing the topography for two hundred square miles. She scrolls through the map, until she reaches the nearest settlement.
Katherine is suspicious of Kothari, and despite all the signs she has changed her allegiance, Katherine has been highly trained not to give away information concerning the resistance.
Ajeeta Kothari has spent weeks wracked with guilt about what she saw in the Amanojuko headquarters. She is having second thoughts about wanting immortality for her son and husband, and materialises a force field around herself and Katherine so that Lord Filius Anderson does not overhear her.
Heyem materialises along with the others on the other side of the wall.
The group prepare to cross over to Russia, into the forbidden zone, marked out by the Amanojuko. (Happy Birthday, Dad and Uncle Robin, wherever you are.)
Katherine, although getting very weak, has spent most of her remaining time in her laboratory, despite having to share it with the encroaching Dr Kothari.
Juba has a feeling someone has been watching him. He returns back to his boarding house, and bolts the door, closes the curtains, and switches off the light.
Lord Filius Anderson and Lady Helga Ritter have been following Juba Apfvarzian, taking blood samples, tracking his health. He is still completely free of the project ghost ship strain.
Inajda doesn’t need to scan the grave to realise what has happened.
The survivors bury their dead, deep in the dirt of the Red Sand Hills of Kekexili. They lost four people, including a very young, Farokh Merek.
The cart doesn’t stop, as the danger of being hijacked gets greater, the deeper they travel into Kekexili. Heyem is woken from her sleep as the carriage jars to a halt, and the sound of gunfire ricochets around the desert.
(This is for you Dad. You died exactly 20 years ago today. My stories and my world are dedicated to you. I will try to find you in my stories, to go to places far away from this world, to search for you. Maybe one day I’ll know you again. Until then I’ll keep writing. I’ll never forget you. This issue is also dedicated to Kelly Priestley, and her family, a beautiful soul, taken far too soon. You are in my thoughts.) Alexand and her troops have travelled for days across the Red Sand Hills of Kekexili, in Qinghai, China. The cart has avoided the mountains, where tribes of bandits live. The land is dangerous, and the threat from bandits is ever present. Farokh sits at the front behind the driver, next to Alex.
Abouna has been listening to Inajda and Katherine’s conversation, from the corridor outside the living room.
Alexand has recovered enough to address the party. Her troops have been getting jumpy, and she needs to do something to remedy the lack of trust they have in her as leader.
Alex wakes up after falling unconscious, due to her illness.
Katherine is woken from a dream by a familiar voice.
Inajda has returned to India after a very long journey of espionage, on board the floating asylum ship. She materialises inside Abouna Panak’s office in Saskatoon, ready to submit her findings.
There are some complications in their attempt to leave the pub, and get Alex safely back to the carriage. Alex is understandably weak, she’s in pain due to her broken rib and battered feet, but Farokh has given her some morphine he acquired on his meander around town.
After being rescued from a farmer, who was intent on killing her, Alexand lies in bed, semi conscious.
After attempting to escape from an angry farmer, Alexand has collapsed, and has been caught.
Alexand wakes up in a field after sleepwalking out of her room in the tavern.
Inajda is thinking about life outside of her duty.
Whilst deep undercover on board a floating asylum ship, Inajda sits amongst a crowd of socialites, in an auditorium, which is part of the entertainment on board. She is secretly filming the events, so that she can report back to Field Marshal Panak with her findings.
Ajeeta Kothari returns back to her laboratory in Saskatoon from her visit to the Amanojuko base in Russia. She notices that Katherine De Somme is absent, and as Lord Anderson has ordered, needs to know exactly where Katherine is and what she is up to. She learns that Katherine hasn’t been in her laboratory for weeks, and against protocol visits Katherine at home to see for herself that Doctor De Somme is finally near to being deactivated.
The group have stopped for supplies in a nearby village in Xiongmeizhen.
Katherine has decided to undergo a scan to determine how much time she has left.
The Guild Master’s General has to set a course for Abouna Panak, so that he can fulfil his destiny. He has come to take Abouna’s mother on a journey, that will separate her from her son. (Read Part One Here) This episode is dedicated to everyone who has supported these stories over the years. Thank you.
The Guild Master’s General has been summonsed back from his detour to see Katherine De Somme. He knows what’s waiting for him back on the streets where he lives. Reassuring Katherine was worth the beatings he’ll get as he waits for Mr Ash to arrive. The next issue is out on 25th June to celebrate the 5 year anniversary of these stories on wordpress.
Who is this mysterious Guild Master’s General, and why does he seem interested in Katherine De Somme? Katherine wants to find out, but he isn’t being very cooperative.
Doctor Ajeeta Kotahri is shown around the Amanojuko fortress, by Helga Ritter.
Katherine had isolated herself in her apartment for the last few weeks. The trust fund her father set up for her, as severance, has enabled her to pay for a live in nurse, who gets her in and out of bed, but Katherine being a private woman and needing a lot of space, retreated to her laboratory, despite her reservations about Doctor Kothari.
Ajeeta Kothari is lead out of the human storage chamber into an anti chamber.
The group decided to camp for the night. They have reached the borderlands of Tibet. There is no military check point as the place is remote, so no need for them to split up as they had done earlier on in their journey. Farokh lays in his sleeping bag, watching the guards, as they tread the perimeter, hoping that the bandits can’t hear Heyem’s voice.
Ajeeta Kothari uses her writer to travel to her husband’s house. She sits beside her son’s bed, staring at his semi lifeless body, imagining him well again.
Jarad walks with Alexand, as she leads her troops towards the borders of Tibet. (If you would like to donate to the Nepal Earthquake Appeal please visit the Red Cross Website or the DEC Website. Thank you.)
Alex attempts to disguise her illness from her troops, as she leads them towards Tibet.
Ajeeta Kothari waited for Katherine to retire from her research for the evening, and is alone in the laboratory sick bay, with only the dying patients to overhear her. She takes out her writer and transmits a signal to her employer.
Katherine is still uneasy about sharing her laboratory with Doctor Kothari.
Katherine has had enough of her self-imposed ban from her laboratory, and despite Doctor Kothari being there, she finally has the courage to enter through the double doors, to visit the patients in her sick bay, some of whom aren’t much sicker than herself.
Inajda has been working deep undercover as a socialite, in an attempt to infiltrate a new Amanojuko experiment, entitled “The Floating Asylum,” which the Amanojuko plan to use to cleanse the human population of any resistance. She has managed to get herself a pass, and using one of Katherine’s blood shields, she waits at the security desk ready to board the ship.
The group made it to the top of the mountain safely, and trekked another half an hour down to the base camp in Annapurna, a place shielded from the elements. They have paid for pitched tents and have set up a camp fire, with some food roasting. Heyem sits by the fire, next to Alex, who is unusually quiet.
Heyem sits on a bench, holding tightly to her stomach as the cable car swings away from its dock.
After the mountain becomes too hazardous for the horses, the group have to walk on foot towards the next checkpoint.
Alexand and her agents travel north east towards Nepal. The borders aren’t as closely monitored in the mountains, and they have to leave no trace of themselves at military checkpoints. The Amanojuko have spies in the army, and they can’t risk exposing themselves to capture. They blend into crowds, breaking into small groups, and meeting up again in less populated places.
