Halve Human

by Stephanie Fazio

  But Crowe’s blade doesn’t fall.

  Time stands still as Aunt Jadem kneels on the ground with Crowe’s sword at her back. Everything has gone quiet. Even the Duskers have stopped their shouting and stamping.

  Crowe turns, looking right at me. She raises up her sword, and then, still holding my gaze, lets it fall to the ground behind her. A second later, as if on cue, someone begins to laugh.

  Hendrix struggles in Ekil’s grip. When he turns his head to the side, I see fat tears rolling down his pale cheeks as he continues to laugh.

  Ekil gives me a small shrug as if to ask if this human is insane. For all I know, he could be.

  Dayne grabs the sleeve of Hendrix’s cloak in case he somehow manages to wriggle free from Ekil. But Hendrix doesn’t seem like he’s trying to escape.

  “Something funny?” Dayne asks. His voice is quiet and dangerous.

  “If your precious leader had half the brain of the Supreme,” he pauses to wipe a tear from his eyes as he continues to chuckle, “she would have known the real Hendrix wouldn’t be so easy to snatch.”

  The real Hendrix…?

  Dayne searches his face. Whatever he sees makes him let go of Hendrix’s sleeve and bury his face in his hands.

  I grab the collar of Hendrix’s cloak, heedless of the archers who have their weapons loaded and are just waiting for a clear shot at one of us, and shake him until his bones rattle and his laughter quiets. “What are you talking about?”

  It’s then that he looks straight at me.

  Immediately, I know what Dayne saw. Hendrix’s brilliant green eyes, the ones that proved he was Crowe’s lover, are no longer green. They’re a dull brown. The curls peeking out from his gray hood have transformed from rich brown to ashy gray.

  “How?” I ask.

  The man—whoever he is—cocks his head, regarding me. “Dyes that cover up the true color beneath.” He smirks. “For a little while, anyway.”

  With an effort, Dayne raises his head from his hands. He wipes one of his hands across Hendrix’s face. When he turns up his palm, Ry and I let out simultaneous gasps. His hand is covered in a white residue. The dark smudge of the man’s real skin peeks out from whatever paint had been used to mask it.

  We all stare at each other in horror as the truth of what we’re seeing comes into focus. I can hardly breathe.

  “So, if this isn’t real Hendrix,” Ry says, “that means we have—”

  “Nothing,” Fake Hendrix says with a twisted smile.

  “No one leaves Malarusk without a sacrifice,” Dayne murmurs.

  We all look back at Aunt Jadem, who is still kneeling in the mud. Crowe stands over her.

  Everything that comes next happens very fast. Crowe lets go of Jadem’s arms. And then, using both her hands, she grasps my aunt’s neck and twists.

  I am powerless to stop it, powerless to help, as Aunt Jadem’s lifeless body collapses.

  “NO!” My legs are already moving.

  Dayne calls to me, but his words are nothing more than background noise. He could be speaking in a different language for how little meaning they hold.

  Jadem. I need to get to Jadem.

  But before I can think about how I’m going to get inside the citadel, the iron gate is creaking open. I pause for a fraction of an instant, confused. And then the Duskers start to pour out.

  CHAPTER 24

  Ekil and Brogut are yelling for us to retreat.

  We run for the trees. I keep one hand tight on Fake Hendrix’s wrist. I know he’ worthless to us now, but we risked so much to capture him….

  Before we even get close to the forest, Duskers flood around the sides. They’re penning us in.

  There must have been more of them hiding out in the trees, because they’re running at us from the direction of the forest, too. Everywhere I look, there are soldiers in gray closing in on us. We’re trapped.

  We stop running. Ry and Dayne stand on either side of me; the Halves are back-to-back. Ry’s arrows are long gone, and Dayne and I have nothing to fight with. Vlaz and Dellin have disappeared, and in spite of Ry’s constant looks in the direction where they disappeared, I know they won’t be back to save us. Ekil has his club and Brogut his tree trunk, but what good are those against a hundred Duskers?

  I raise my fists.

  “Don’t let them take you alive.” My brother’s voice is hoarse and defeated. “Hemera, don’t let them take you alive.”

  I don’t have a chance to process the meaning of his words. The perfectly-forming ring of Duskers stops advancing.

  Their lines start to disintegrate as the soldiers are thrown into confusion. The Duskers nearest the trees turn away from us to fight someone—or something—else. At first, I think Vlaz and Dellin must have returned, after all. But there’s no sign of either of them.

  When the Duskers in the back of the circle fall and their attackers cut a path toward us, I get my first glimpse of our saviors. At first, I don’t even know what I’m looking at.

  They are both like and unlike humans….They’re tall, taller than any person or Halve I’ve ever seen. Their long black hair hangs down in greasy strands. They don’t wear cloaks; instead, they have skirts made of woven metal links. The metal must be heavy and burning hot from the sun, but the creatures don’t seem phased. Their inhumanly muscled chests are bare and covered in blisters oozing a black fluid.

  When the Duskers give way before them and the creatures approach, I see their eyes are as black as mine.

  Zeroes. These creatures could be nothing other than the new race my father made when he combined my blood with that of the Halves. They are the result of his experiments to blend a new race of Bisecters.

  Except the Zeroes I fought in Tanguro were mangled, monstrous creatures. They looked and moved like they were put together from the parts of too many different bodies. These Zeroes, the ones driving terror into the fearless Dusker army, look and move in a way that is far more human than Halve.

  One of them turns its ashy gray face toward me, pinning me with empty, pitiless black eyes. A new kind of dread rises in my stomach.

  Our small company huddles together as the Zeroes, ten of them in all, advance. They each hold a scythe in their right hand. The sickle blades, dripping with blood and twinkling in the low day sun, look thin enough to slice between ribs and sturdy enough to cleave through metal. They carve a path to us through the Duskers.

  “Hemera, come on!” A voice, different from any in my company and yet familiar, calls over the sounds of fighting. The face that accompanies the voice makes my insides turn over.

  The Zeroes part, leaving room for their master to fill the space between them.

  My father.

  “Hurry,” he’s saying. “If you want to live, come with me.”

  I have time to exchange one quick glance with my brother. “Aunt Jadem—” I begin, my voice breaking.

  “She’s dead, Hemera.” My brother’s voice is gentle, even with madness threatening to engulf us.

  “The Zeroes can hold them off, but not forever,” Zeidan warns.

  The Duskers are already reforming their lines and advancing.

  “We have to go,” Ry says.

  There’s no choice. We follow my father through the gap his Zeroes keep open long enough for us to pass through. I grab Fake Hendrix’s arm and drag him with us.

  I look back once, but I can’t even glimpse my aunt’s body through the crush of Dusker soldiers separating us. With every step I take, I feel my heart splinter.

  ✽✽✽

  When Vlaz and Dellin appear from deep in the woods, they fall into step with our company. They both look chastened. I hate Dellin for the way her eyes roam all around us, like she’s ready to bolt if she sees even a hint of a gray cloak. A dark pleasure ripples through me when the cowardly girl tries to put her hand on Ry’s arm, and Ry pulls away.

  Vlaz tries to nuzzle Dayne and me, his yellow eyes mournful. It’s stupid to expect him to have stayed after he got shot,
to think he might have been able to save Aunt Jadem…but still, I shove his snout away and ignore his whimpering.

  We push on for what feels like hours, putting distance between us and Malarusk. The Zeroes caught up to us some time ago, and from the complicated hand gestures they make, Zeidan tells us the Duskers aren’t far behind.

  We stop moving at the sound of rushing water. The Blackwater River, swollen from the thousands of rivulets that have been redirected into its path, flows with a strong current.

  I let go of Fake Hendrix, who I’ve been dragging with us, and he collapses in exhaustion.

  Ry, Dayne, and Dellin clutch their sides, gasping for air. Before I know what’s happening, Brogut, his hands and tree trunk stained red from human blood, lets out a roar. He raises his weapon and aims it directly at my father. Ekil is right behind him, his club clutched between two scaly fists.

  Brogut throws his tree trunk.

  In a blur of motion, the Zeroes step in front of my father and close him off from view. A Zero catches Brogut’s weapon with one hand before slamming it onto the ground. It cracks into three separate pieces.

  The Zeroes grip their scythes. The curved blades are pointed outward, ready to slice through Ekil and Brogut.

  “Stop,” I cry.

  Before I can take a step, the Zeroes are already parting at a word from my father.

  Brogut lunges again, but this time, I wrap both my arms around his bulk and force him back.

  “Kill now,” Brogut growls, pushing against the force of my arms.

  “This human tortured our kind,” Ekil tightens his grip around the club, moving to step past me.

  “Don’t be stupid,” I tell the Halves. “These beasts will kill you.” And I have no strength left to fight them.

  The Zeroes’ empty black eyes are fixed straight ahead. Every muscle in their bodies is taut, ready to destroy the Halves at a single command from my father.

  “Hemera.”

  The Zeroes crowd around my father as he walks toward me.

  “Tell your Halves there is a place for them by my side, too. There’s no need for us to be enemies.”

  “They’ll be flattered by the offer, I’m sure,” I reply, still wrestling with Brogut. “You locked them in your catacombs and tortured them.”

  A shudder visibly wracks my brother’s body before he composes himself again. The Halves aren’t the only ones who remember their torture at Zeidan’s hands.

  My father nods at the Halves, undeterred by their murderous glares.

  “What’s the snake-tongue saying?” Ekil demands.

  When I translate his words, Brogut tries to launch himself at my father again. He wrestles against me, trying to break free from my grip.

  “He’ll make slaves of us,” Ekil growls.

  “I won’t let that happen,” I tell him.

  A voice in the back of my head wonders whether this is yet another promise I won’t be able to keep.

  “Besides,” I say, “we don’t have a lot of options right now. We can either go with my father or wait for the Duskers to catch up to us.”

  Ekil grunts in what I take to be grudging acceptance.

  A muffled sob makes me turn. Ry is kneeling on the ground, her face buried in her hands. I go to her, kneeling so I can wrap my arms around my friend. Tears burn the back of my throat as Ry trembles in my arms.

  “Hemera,” my father says. “We need to keep moving.”

  “Give us a minute,” I manage, my words coming out strangled.

  This might be our last chance to say goodbye to my aunt while we’re still on the same side of the river.

  Zeidan looks like he’s going to argue, but then he gestures for his Zeroes to make a protective ring around us. Dellin and the Halves stand off to the side, trying to keep some distance from both Vlaz and the Zeroes. The Zeroes prowl back and forth, their faces tilted up like wild beasts as they scent the air.

  Dayne, Ry, and I huddle together. The look in their eyes mirrors my own grief. Aunt Jadem. She’s gone.

  “I don’t understand,” Ry’s voice is small. “Jadem seemed so sure of what she was doing.” Her hand tightens around something, but I can’t see what. “I never would have let her…if I thought…if I thought….” Ry shoves her hand in the pocket of her cloak and lets out a low, keening, cry.

  She leans into me, her whole body convulsing with her sobs.

  Ry is right. Aunt Jadem was the one who came up with the plan to kidnap Hendrix…she is the one who insisted we come here. She seemed so sure it would work.

  How could she have misjudged Crowe so completely?

  I shake my head. My aunt was a warrior, the leader of the Solguards, the one who fooled the Dusker Supreme for eight years into thinking she was one of them.

  How did everything go so wrong?

  The fact that I’ll never know widens the hole in my heart. All the questions I need to ask her, all the stories she promised to tell me about my mother….

  And she’s gone. Aunt Jadem is gone.

  All the what ifs and if onlys strike me like a blow to the chest. Aunt Jadem is gone, and for what?

  It was all for nothing.

  “We couldn’t even bury her,” I say, covering my face with my hands.

  I think about my aunt’s still body, left in a crumpled heap to be devoured by Burn vultures or to rot on the wrong side of the iron gate. I can’t stand it.

  “I know.” Dayne’s voice is hoarse. He looks as dazed as I feel. His arms wrap around me as hot tears course down my cheeks.

  “I failed—” I begin, but my brother cuts me off.

  “This was not your fault.” He gives me a little shake when I don’t respond. “Do you hear me? This wasn’t your fault!”

  Zeidan clears his throat. “My Zeroes smell the Duskers getting close. We need to be on the move.”

  CHAPTER 25

  Since when do you care about our safety?” Ry demands, swiping at her eyes.

  My father gives us a hard look. “My interests are unchanged. My daughter’s safety is of the utmost importance.”

  One of the Zeroes motions with its scythe.

  “The Duskers are coming. Come with me, and we can discuss the rest once we are inside.”

  “Inside where?” My voice sounds distant and detached.

  “The Lair,” my father replies.

  I follow the direction of his gaze, and for the first time, take notice of where we are. The Darkness River is in front of us. Directly across the roiling water is the base of Darkness Peak.

  “Don’t tell me you expect us to climb that.” Ry has to practically yell to be heard over the churning water below.

  We all look up to where the mountain’s peak scrapes the sky. The mountain’s sides are sheer, without footholds. The rocks are a sleek, glistening gray. There is no way up the mountain except for the path the Duskers carved for their own use.

  Vaguely, I wonder whether that group of crazed Banished made it here, and whether the Duskers accepted them.

  “His lair is inside the mountain,” Dayne replies. “I couldn’t get him without you because—”

  “No human is strong enough to swim against the current,” Zeidan finishes his sentence. “And the entrance to my Lair can only be accessed by swimming under the mountain.”

  Ry’s jaw goes slack. Dayne gives me a short nod, confirming what Zeidan has said.

  My father is keeping his Zeroes inside Darkness Peak. The irony isn’t lost on me.

  “You’re mad,” Ry says as we all stare up at the mountain.

  My father lifts a shoulder. “I have found there to be a thin line between madness and brilliance.”

  “Yeah?” Ry plants a hand on her hip. “I happen to know you crossed that line a long time ago.”

  My father meets her challenging stare. “Only time will tell.”

  “If we go with you,” Dellin says, her voice stronger and less panicked than it had been before the Duskers’ attack, “what’s to keep you from making us all
your prisoners?”

  My father’s eyes come to rest on me. “I have something to offer you. If what I propose is not to your liking, you’ll all be free to leave.”

  “You’ll let us go, just like that?” I ask, not believing a single word out of his mouth.

  “I’m confident that when I have laid out my plan for you, you won’t want to leave,” Zeidan says.

  When I don’t reply, he continues, “But if I am wrong, I give you my word I won’t try to stop you from leaving.”

  The Zero gestures again.

  Brogut says, “Lots of gray cloaks coming.”

  I exchange a look with Dayne and Ry.

  “How do we get in?” I ask.

  My father’s mouth twists as he glances at Dayne, and then at the others in our ragtag group, but he knows enough not to suggest I leave them behind.

  “The hyenair and Halves should be able to make the swim on their own, but the Zeroes will have to help the rest,” he says. There is undisguised disdain in his voice for the other members of my company.

  “Like hell I will,” Ry says. “Hemera can help me if I need it.”

  Zeidan shrugs. “Suit yourself.”

  He motions to the Zeroes. In a perfectly-synchronized motion, they dive into the frothing river. Nine of them cut graceful strokes through the powerful current and then hover partway between the bank and the mountain’s base. The last one waits until my father jumps off the bank, treading water just past the edge.

  The Zero catches my father in one arm, its other holding its scythe, and uses its powerful legs to cut through the water.

  “We better go after them,” I say.

  I take another step toward the edge. My boots disrupt some loose stones, which tumble down the bank and are swallowed up by the churning blue-black water.

  “You first.” I shove Fake Hendrix into the water without giving him a chance to react.

  A Zero returns for him. The creature takes hold of the man, and I feel some satisfaction at the way the Dusker gasps and strains against the Zero’s iron grip.

  Brogut jumps in next. “Dellin, go with him,” Ry says. She still won’t look the other girl in the eye. “Ekil can take Dayne, and I’ll go with Hemera.”