The Fallen

by Anne Schlea

  “Almost the entire class.” His eyes are scrutinizing when he turns his back to the windows to look at her, ignoring her apology. “I think it’s time you came to work out with the line of archers. You’ve had enough space to get yourself settled, we need you out in the field more often. The class is yours to teach if you want it. If you keep it, you’ll need to better understand the dynamics of our line and what its needs are.”

  “Archers are snipers.” Anna feels numbness wash over her. In today’s world a line of archers is unnecessary and attracts unneeded attention. The only times the archers are used are like that are when they’re on the mountain, never in open battle. “A line is only truly useful in times of war. What aren’t you telling me?”

  “Only what I know you already assume.” Kurt locks his hands behind his back. He’s about her age, maybe a little older, he must have the same military training she does. Whereas she’d always pushed the rules as far as they will go, she can see Kurt is a procedures man to the bone. “We feel there’s a war coming – maybe the last war. The signs all point that way. Demons are getting bolder and stronger. Something’s coming and we’re doing our best to prepare for it in any way we can. If that means being prepared to fight line on line as was done in the ancient days, then that’s what it means.”

  “Riley has said something along the same lines.” Anna watches the last of the students file out of the archery range to go to their next class. Their people have talked about the “Last War” as long as they’ve been on earth. It’s supposed to be the final battle that finishes off the demons they’d been sent to imprison. But then what? Do they go home when no need for Fallen here on earth is left? Where is home? The original Fallen are long since dead – to those still alive this is home. These are questions for scribes and Committee members. “When and where do you train?”

  “We’ll be on the north side of the mountain after lunch. You can still teach your class in the morning and then be on the mountain in the afternoon.” Kurt nods at her. “We’ll start next week if you think you’d like to join us.”

  “Why ask? Cant’ you just order me to be on the mountain Monday afternoon?” Anna watches as Kurt smiles.

  “You probably don’t remember me, but I knew you before you left Orasul.” Kurt’s eyes shine with amusement at a memory Anna can’t see. “I figure the best way to get you to refuse to do something is to order you to do it.”

  Anna wants to protest. She wants to tell him he’s wrong, that she’s more than capable of taking orders from a superior. After all, she was raised in a society built around the military. Everyone is expected to follow orders. She can’t because she knows she has an independent streak in her. Instead, she matches his grin. “You’re right.”

  “I know I am.” He crosses his arms over his chest. “It’s good for you that you’re really good at what you do and we’re in sore need of some good leadership. You were right out there on the mountain the other day. You saw something I didn’t and I’m confident enough in my own abilities to ask for help when I need it. Someone could have been badly hurt that day if I didn’t trust your instinct and that’s what a good leader does.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Anna’s eyes are on a book. Her eyes are even moving across the page with the intention to focus on the novel, but her mind is a million miles away on the surface of the mountain where Marissa is experiencing her first night maneuvers when someone knocks at her door. She jumps up and opens it in a hurry expecting a teacher to be standing there.

  Marissa’s hurt, she knows it.

  Riley waits on the other side. He looks at her expression and then glances behind himself to see if anyone else is in the hallway. “Are you expecting someone?”

  “No.” She steps aside to let him come in. “Marissa’s out tonight. I’m a little jumpy. I thought we agreed to normal, no knocking.”

  “Afraid the Committee’s coming to interrogate you while she’s gone?” He raises his eyebrows and smiles. “Or afraid someone is going to show up to tell you Marissa’s lost an arm out on the training field somewhere? I know we said no knocking, I’ll be normal if you stop being paranoid about Marissa.”

  Anna’s body sags as she smiles back at him. He’s right. She’s being overly protective. “Do you think our parents had it this bad?”

  “Oh, no, they had it worse.” He runs a hand through his hair and smiles. “I was out there trying to kill things and you were trying to stop me, remember? I don’t think Marissa is killing anything yet.”

  “I remember.” She smiles brighter and laces her fingers through his. They hadn’t been easy children and now she feels a pang of regret for what his parents and Lily must have gone through with them. At least she knows Marissa is thoughtful and doesn’t generally look for danger. The bonus is that she has a gift that will knock anyone on their ass in a couple of years.

  Riley unlaces their fingers and shoves his hands in his pockets to look at the floor. A wave of uncomfortable feelings washes over Anna at about the same time and she realizes she doesn’t have her gloves on. But the feelings are hers, too. She doesn’t know what to say after…well, after. “You know, you really don’t need to knock. It’s weird.”

  He chuckles and looks up at her. “You’re right, this is silly. Come on.”

  “Where are we going?” She’s hesitant.

  Riley cocks his head like he’s studying her. “A date? You may have heard about those. It’s an activity in which two adults go somewhere they both enjoy and spend time together. I want to take you somewhere to get your mind off of Marissa.”

  Anna looks at him with skeptical eyes.

  “Come on, let’s do something normal for once.” His eyes get soft and he steps up to her to put his hands on her shoulders. She doesn’t lean away when he comes in to kiss her, either. It feels good. “I knew the kids were out tonight and I wanted to take you somewhere. There’s this place I go to sometimes…I thought I could share it with you. We’ve spent ten years apart, Anna, we need to start building something new. You gave me a part of yourself. Now I want to give you a part of me.”

  How’s a girl supposed to respond to that?

  “Give me a minute.” Anna looks down at her bare feet and her ungloved hands.

  “I’ll wait.” He smiles and watches her disappear into her bedroom.

  Anna finds a pair of shoes and slides her gloves onto her hands. Then she returns to the small living room. Riley is waiting for her in the exact same place she left him. He holds his hand out again. This time she lets him take hers.

  The cut out fingers of the gloves lets Anna feel Riley’s own close around her hand. Warmth spreads up her arm and through her body. He reaches up and tucks her hair behind her ear before he kisses her gently on the lips. Then he tugs her toward the door. “Come on, let’s go.”

  Before he can open the door, Anna’s feet refuse to move, stopping him. She looks at their joined hands. “Aren’t you afraid someone will see you’re with a Forsaken?”

  “For the love of all that we hold dear, you’re not Forsaken.” His voice is firm and his eyes harden. “I will have words with anyone who says otherwise. Your debt has been paid and you are forgiven. You are a Fallen and a soldier. That’s all that matters. Can we please move on from this?”

  “You’re sure?” Anna wants to believe him, but after all she’s seen, she knows there is still prejudice. She’s ruined enough of her own life; he doesn’t deserve the same treatment.

  “Positive. Now let’s go.” He pulls the door opens and brings her into the hallway before she has a chance to protest.

  ∞∞∞

  Riley leads Anna through the corridors to a stairwell she’s never been in before. Then he starts up the stairs. She’s glad she has her strength back because it feels like they climb forever. The steps finally end at a doorway that Anna has to assume leads to the roof. Riley pushes the door open and leads her outside.

  The moon is rising above the mountains and the stars are bright and
clear. A crisp breeze comes across the rooftop and tosses her hair in the wind. The dim light of the moon sends a beacon of energy down Anna’s spine and she drops Riley’s hand to reach toward it. Her whole body hums with a life she hasn’t felt since before Jonathan’s death. She feels whole, no longer broken by the unnecessary death and the destruction of a life she believes in. It’s like someone is running electricity straight down her spine to jump start her life again.

  It’s Riley’s chortle that brings her back down to planet earth. She turns and sees he’s grinning broadly at her. There’s a light in his eyes. Somehow time has gone backward up here on the rooftop. It feels like the last ten years have never happened.

  “I feel alive.” She spins around.

  “I know. The full moon does that.” He moves past her to a higher level on the roof. There’s a bench there where he sits. “I came up here a lot when you first disappeared. It was the only place I felt anything for a long time.”

  “I’m sorry.” She is. More than words can express. “But I already told you that.”

  “You did what you thought was best.” He watches her walk to the railing and look down. They’re perched on a cliff side. Below her the Adirondack Mountains spread out like a pathway. “I wouldn’t expect anything else.”

  “You could have expected a little intellectual reasoning.” She turns around to look at him, leaning against the railing. “I didn’t just willing become Forsaken, Riley, I took a Fallen child away from the sanctity of Orasul. What would have happened if demons came upon her? I was careful, but not that careful. She could have been killed.”

  “She wasn’t.”

  “She could have been.”

  “We can’t spend the rest of our lives looking at what could have been. Your parents could have stayed alive. I could have said something when we were younger.” He leans forward on the bench and rests his elbows on his knees. “We have right now. This moment. Nothing more, nothing less. I can’t tell you the kind of despair and agony I went through. If I continue to dwell on it, I can’t move forward. It took a long time; I’m not going to lie. But when I let you go, when I finally accepted you left of your own free will, you were brought back to me.”

  “I still don’t understand why you didn’t tell me before.” Anna pushes off the rail and comes to sit next to him on the bench. “Or at least how I didn’t know. It was my job to know what you’re thinking, what you’re feeling.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me about Lily?” His question isn’t meant to hurt but it still slices through Anna like a knife. It’s a question she’s thought about often when she laid awake at night gripped by the pain of her body. In those moments she wonders what he would have done. Would he have let her leave? Would he have convinced her to stay?

  “I was afraid.” At least she isn’t afraid to admit the fear now. “I was afraid of what the Committee would do. I was afraid of what you’d say. We were already so hurt from Jonathan’s death…the betrayal. I had no idea what might happen because of one more secret. I was afraid someone would take Marissa away and I’d lose the last blood family I have.”

  “It’s time to let that all go.” Riley catches Anna’s face between his hands and smiles at her. “You’re a soldier and you’re home. You’re my perfect match and my perfect partner. I’ve never trust anyone at my back like I do you, not even Mia. We can make a difference in this life, Anna.”

  “I know we can.” She settles her shoulders. It seems like the wind takes hold of the past and blows it away. “I can do this.”

  Riley’s smile gets bigger and he leans in to kiss her. It seems simple now, like being with Riley is the most natural thing in Anna’s completely unnatural life. While she’d been in the world, away from the Committee and Orasul, she’d watched humans struggle to love each other. There was so much trauma and pain; but being in Riley’s arms is as natural as breathing. She’s always been meant to be here.

  Anna allows herself to get pulled closer, more tightly against Riley’s body, as his kisses deepen and become more desperate. She matches them; she wants to make up for lost time and wants to pave a future for herself in this world. Not everyone accepts her yet, but they will. She’ll be undefeatable with her bow once again. She’ll earn their trust and their respect. She did it once; she can do it again, especially when she has Riley’s support.

  He breaks away from her and pulls his head back. His hands still hold her face while he catches his breath. Anna can feel his body beside her is tense, the dark leather of his clothing tight around clenched muscle.

  “I’m sorry.” He shakes his head and puts some space between them on the bench. “I don’t mean to push you.”

  “I’m the mother of a teenager.” Anna turns sideways on the seat and pulls her legs up with her. “You might think about this as taking advantage of your time. She’s home a lot.”

  “That’s true. You two aren’t apart very often.” He rests his arm along the back of the bench. “What is it like? Raising a child?”

  “Sometimes it’s infuriating.” She tries to find the right words to describe it. “Sometimes I watch her sleep and I’m too afraid to even breathe because I don’t want to wake her. I never imagined it would feel this way when I agreed to take her in.”

  “I don’t know anyone expects the kind of bond you have with your child.” Riley makes a noise. “Not that I would have any idea. All I’ve ever known is war, really, but at least I’m really, really good at it.”

  “It would seem you get to be at least a little bit responsible for Marissa now, too.” Anna smiles at him gently. Marissa connected to Riley as quickly as she had Mia. It’s almost as if she’d been waiting for them all this time – the two people she needed to complete her family. “You’ll get to see what it means. Oh, and when the first boy shows any kind of interest in her I fully expect you to interrogate him with your best weapon in your hand. I’m already a little suspicious of the boy she’s been studying with – Nick.”

  Riley drops his head back and laughs. “Now I see why you agreed to come home. You needed someone scary with the right kind of weapon to drive away the teenage boys.”

  “Oh, I’m scary.” She wiggles her eyebrows. “I need you to be the bad guy so Marissa doesn’t hate me. You get to be bad cop.”

  “So this is the infamous Anna.” Another voice interrupts their conversation.

  Anna turns to look at the man approaching them, happy she’s no longer in a lip lock with Riley. If she’s going to earn back her position and respect she doesn’t think getting caught making out with the General is going to win her points with anyone.

  Riley stands up from the bench and the approaching stranger claps his fist to his chest in a show of respect. “Sir.”

  “Keagan.” Riley touches the other soldier on the shoulder. “Meet Anna.”

  “I’ve heard much about you.” Keagan, tall and broad shouldered with shoulder length dark brown hair that’s been pulled back into a tail, nods his head to her in esteem. “I heard you were once the best bow this city has ever seen.”

  “I still am.” She smiles. What would pass as arrogance to most people looks like confidence now.

  Keagan throws his head back with laughter. “I would like to test that theory one day.”

  “Name the place.” She stands to shake Keagan’s hand. “If you don’t mind the prospect of losing to someone like me, that is.”

  “Someone like you?” He frowns and looks truly confused. “I don’t understand. I do not care if you are a woman. Our women have always fought alongside us.”

  “She thinks some believe she should be Forsaken.” Riley crosses his arms and rolls his eyes at her. “She had not touched a bow in almost ten years before I went to get her.”

  “I don’t care about the Forsaken, either.” Keagan waves his hand through the air like her status doesn’t matter. “You came back and took up your weapon to help us. That is all that matters to me in this battle. Let the Committee worry about the Fallen and the Fo
rsaken. Some of our laws may be outdated.”

  “Careful, friend,” Riley looks around the rooftop. “Not everyone shares that sentiment. To some our laws are still worth dying for.”

  “A great mess that has gotten us into.” Keagan makes a face. “Think of where we were so few years ago. Thousands of soldiers. Armies all over the world. Now those of us bound to this one city have barely more than a handful of warriors in a land where the demons thrive like no other, and none of the other cities are willing to help us. This could have been avoided. The laws brought this upon us.”

  “Poor decisions were made; I do not disagree with that.” Riley agrees. “I believe this still could have been settled by the laws.”

  “I wish not to fight with you, my friend.” Keagan looks at Anna. “I stand by our laws and will do so until my death as I am sworn to do. I came out to take of the fresh air tonight, nothing more, and when I saw the two of you up here I thought I would meet the woman who was worth so much trouble.”

  “Trouble?” Anna looks at Riley, her eyes narrowing. What does the rest of the city know about Riley’s sacrifices to bring her home? “What does he mean?”

  “He means I went to much trouble to find you.” His voice is assuring but Anna knows he’s still holding back from Keagan. “Nothing more.”

  “He’s right.” Keagan turns to move farther away on the rooftop. “I look forward to a test of arms, Anna.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “I don’t understand how so many people can just disappear.” Marissa sits down at the table with Mia. “They can’t just have vanished.”

  “That’s the mystery.” Mia flips the page in Marissa’s current studies book. “It took decades to build Orasul so it’s unlikely they founded another underground city. I guess it’s possible they joined a town somewhere or found a place to hide in the mountains. We know they’re still around because they attack us when we patrol. They didn’t go far.”

  Anna looks up from polishing her bow. Mia sounds like the scholar she should have been. She still has a quick mind that holds onto puzzles and riddles. She often sees solutions Anna never would have thought of.