“Trust in the strength of your connection with them, daughter. So long as you are there with them, there can be no more or less bloodshed than you desire.”
I take a deep breath and nod.
The crowd parts for the Zeroes. Fear and excitement fill the air in equal measures. I motion for the Zeroes to line up within view of the three Banished leaders who are sitting on wooden stools at the arena’s edge.
“Hemera! There you are.” Ry’s curly red hair marks my friend in the crowd as she pushes her way to me. “Can you believe what’s going on out here?”
“Someone’s going to get killed,” Dellin muses as she looks at the fighters already lining up on the opposite side of the arena. They look miniature next to the Zeroes; even the Halves look unthreatening in comparison.
“No one’s getting killed,” I say. And then, more quietly to Ry, I ask, “Can you have a few archers ready, just in case…?” I’m unable to finish the request that will lay bare my fears about the Zeroes.
Ry and Dellin exchange a swift look. Ry nods.
I incline my head toward the tall, leafy trees at the edge of the clearing. “I think it would be best for appearances’ sake if you weren’t too obvious about what you’re doing.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Ry says. “We can stay far enough back that no one will even be able to see us from here.” She winks at Dellin, and it makes me want to punch something.
“Good,” I say, already walking away.
“Hey!” Ry jogs to catch up with me. “It’s going to be great. You’re great.” She bends and kisses me on the cheek. And then she’s running back to Dellin.
There is a roar from the crowd as the first competitor enters the arena. A quick flash of anger goes through me when I see it’s Jarosh. Why couldn’t he let someone else go first?
I tell myself I don’t want him in the arena because he’s still recovering, not because I doubt the Zeroes or my ability to control them.
Jarosh is throwing his hands in the air, riling up the people standing on the perimeter of the arena. He’s shouting out numbers, suggestions for raising the bets. He kisses the hands of the women he passes, flashing his toothy smile and generally making an idiot of himself.
When he steps up to the weapons piled outside of the arena, Jarosh makes a show of picking up each one, offering it to the crowd, and putting it back when their reaction isn’t to his liking. When he selects a heavy, spiked ball and chain, the crowd roars their approval.
Jarosh gives the weapon a swing. There’s a crack as a branch on a nearby tree is snapped away at first contact with the spiked ball. Everyone applauds. A woman, one of Ry’s archer friends, shouts, “I’ll have your babies!”
Shaking my head, I turn my attention to the Zeroes, which stand stoically and await my orders.
“Disarm him and lay him on the ground,” I tell the Zero that will be Jarosh’s opponent. “Do not hurt him.”
I look to my father for approval, and he nods.
I step back until I’m just outside the ring. I gnaw on my nails while I wait to see how the Zero will react to Jarosh’s attack.
The crowd hushes as the opponents make their way into the arena.
“You said each one of them was as strong as ten, even twenty humans,” Tut calls in the midst of the silence.
“I did,” I reply, trying to keep my voice even.
“Then let nineteen more opponents enter the ring!”
His cry is met with a cheer of approval from the crowd.
I bite my lip. Not for the first round, I want to argue. There will be too much going on, too much out of my control. But if I say anything, it will seem like I don’t think the Zero is strong enough.
“Trust your connection.” I hadn’t even realized my father was standing right beside me until his voice is in my ear.
When I give a short nod, there is another roar from the spectators as the man taking bets selects the rest of the challengers. Most of the men are big and muscled and unfamiliar to me. But when Ekil, Brogut, and four other Halves enter the arena, the crowd goes wild.
Brogut raises his sharpened tree trunk above his head, shaking it the way Jarosh had with his weapon. But instead of cheers and applause, the crowd boos.
The Solguards tolerated the Halves’ presence first on Aunt Jadem’s orders, and now on Wade’s. But that doesn’t mean they don’t want to see the Halves bleed. Many of the Solguards had family who were killed by Halves. Some of them still have relatives in the Banished lands who are battling the Halves for their lives. The Solguards want to see them defeated.
I scan the tree line looking for Ry and Dellin but see no sign of them.
At my command, the Zero steps into the ring. It’s wearing its armor, but its scythe is on the ground at my feet. As the twenty men and Halves make a ring around the Zero, their weapons gripped in their hands, a heavy fear sinks into my bones. Whether my fear is for the opponents or the Zero, or some combination, I’m not sure.
The opponents are crouched low, prowling. The Zero, weaponless and towering over all of them, stands motionless. The crowd quiets, anticipating the beginning of the fight. I look to make sure the three Banished leaders have their attention fixed on the ring, and then I give the signal.
The man taking bets blows a short blast on his horn.
One of the Halves lunges. In a motion too fast to see, the Zero has disarmed him. The Halve is on his back, hands and feet flailing like an overturned bug, mouth open in a grunt of surprise that is drowned out by the yelling spectators.
A Solguard is next. He lets out a frustrated roar as his axe goes flying from his hands, and his sword is wrested from his grip with an imperceptible flick of the Zero’s wrist. When the man rushes to tackle the Zero head-on, the Zero steps to the side a hair’s breadth, causing the guard to launch himself into open air. The crowd roars with raucous laughter as the man collapses in the dirt.
One of the other men has picked up the fallen sword and is trying to come up behind the Zero, unobserved. For the briefest moment it seems his stealth might have paid off, until the Zero spins around and grips the sword’s naked blade in its bare hands. With an imperceptible tug, the Zero takes possession of the sword. To everyone’s delight, the Zero raises the sword and brings it down on its bent knee. The blade cracks into pieces.
Jarosh signals to Ekil and Brogut, and the three of them attack together.
Jarosh moves like he’s going to hit the Zero head-on, but at the last moment, he ducks left. The Zero is off balance for the briefest moment, but it’s enough for Brogut to tackle the Zero from behind.
Jarosh scrambles to get out of the way as Brogut and the Zero roll on the ground, fighting for the dominant position. Brogut’s hand grasps for his fallen tree trunk, but when it rolls out of his grasp, Brogut reaches for the Zero’s neck with his bare hands.
My breath catches when the dust settles and Brogut is seated on the Zero’s chest. But before the crowd can react, the Zero bucks, throwing Brogut off. It doesn’t even blink as it reaches up a hand and wraps it around the chain of Jarosh’s weapon, which comes within striking distance of the Zero’s shoulder. With a flick of the Zero’s arm, the ball and chain are soaring out of the arena and into the trees. When Jarosh tries to tackle it, the Zero wraps its arms around Jarosh’s middle, near to his old injury.
If the Zero re-opens Jarosh’ wound, I’ll never hear the end of it. “Stop!” I yell.
The Zero goes motionless. Jarosh ducks under its grip.
Camike, who ran into the arena as soon as Jarosh lost his weapon, is pulling at Jarosh’s hand, trying to get him to leave the ring. Jarosh is saying something to the spectators at the arena’s edge that is making them hoot and whistle. Jarosh sweeps a hand behind Camike, dips her over his arm, and kisses her.
There is wild applause, boos, and jeers.
Wade is shouting at Jarosh to get the hell out of the arena. Someone trying to place a bet pushes past me, and I lose my balance. I’m still righti
ng myself when I hear my father curse.
“Hemera—”
Brogut is running straight for the Zero, the sharpened edge of his tree trunk aimed at the Zero’s stomach. The Zero isn’t moving to defend itself. It doesn’t turn its body to make itself a smaller target…it’s just standing there.
“Hemera, your command,” my father says.
By the time I figure out what he means…that the Zero isn’t defending itself because I ordered it to stop…it’s too late.
A spray of black blood arcs through the air. There are screams as onlookers duck away from the poisonous blood.
It’s the last thing I see before I collapse.
CHAPTER 40
Hemera. What’s wrong? What’s happened?”
My brother’s face swims in and out of view.
“I’m bleeding….”
I hold my hand to the wound, trying to keep the torn flesh together. I’ve never known pain like this before. It’s constant, unrelenting.
“What happened to her?” someone asks.
“It’s not healing,” I groan. Why isn’t it healing?
“Hemera—”
“It hurts!” Please, make it stop.
“Hemera,” Dayne is holding my face, forcing me to look at him. “Where are you hurt?”
“My stomach!” I scream.
“Get her cloak off,” Dayne yells. “I can’t see the wound.”
“Hemera,” my father’s voice is calm. “You aren’t injured.”
Pain rushes through the wound anew, and I want to claw my father’s calm right off his face.
“My stomach,” I cry. Blood loss is making everything unfocused. I can feel the slickness where my hand is pressed to the wound.
They would all have to be blind not to see….
“You are not injured,” my father says again. “Your Zero is.”
With those words, my mind clears and my vision sharpens.
I hold up my hand, turning it over. Even though I swear I can feel the blood congealing on my palm, there’s not a single drop. I brace myself, and then I look down at my stomach. Where there should be torn flesh, blood, and innards leaking, there’s nothing. Not even a scratch.
But the pain is still there.
“It’s your bond with them,” my father says, shaking his head in fascination. “Their life force is tied to you, and in a way, so must yours be to them. It’s a more powerful connection than I imagined.”
“My sister isn’t one of your experiments,” Dayne snarls.
“Someone help that Zero!” I shriek, my voice sounding wild even to my own ears.
Doubled over, I limp into the arena. My father and Dayne follow, still arguing. Zeidan presses a bandage to the Zero’s wound and begins to wrap it. I feel the pain in my own stomach ease just a bit.
“Did you know this would happen?” Dayne is asking.
“The nature of these things,” my father replies, “is that I don’t have all the answers.”
Another agonizing shock of pain goes through my stomach. I go very still, grinding my teeth as I wait for the pain to subside.
It’s not real, I tell myself. I look down at my stomach, trying to prove it to my brain, but my mind is unconvinced. The pain is as real as the blood streaming from the wound in the Zero’s stomach.
“What will happen to her if one of them is killed?” Dayne demands, his voice rising.
My father shrugs, but there are faint lines of worry creasing his brow. “That remains to be seen.”
My attention goes to the bloodied tree trunk lying on the ground beside the Zero. My Zero. My gaze scans the crowd until I find who I’m looking for.
Brogut.
He hurt my Zero…tried to kill it. My feet are moving before my mind can form a coherent thought.
My fist meets with bone, and a whoosh of air goes out of Brogut as he thumps to the ground at my feet. I kneel over him, one knee on his chest, and wrap my hands around his neck. A choking sound comes from Brogut’s throat as he strains for breath.
I squeeze harder.
There are shouts around me, but they all blend together. All that seems real is the pain in my stomach and Brogut’s flesh yielding to my grip.
“You don’t want to do this.” One voice cuts through the annoying buzz of all the rest.
I look up from Brogut’s purpling face, and my eyes meet Wade’s.
“Yes, I do,” I snarl in a voice that doesn’t sound at all like my own.
“You don’t want to do this,” Wade says again. “I know you, Hemera.”
Wade wraps his arms around me. “Come on, love,” he says. “Come back to me.”
Slowly, I release Brogut and let Wade pull me into his arms.
Brogut coughs and heaves in a shuddering breath. He gives me a murderous glare before slinking off to join the other Halves on the far side of the arena.
What did I almost just do?
“It’s okay,” Wade says. “You’re okay.”
“What if you weren’t here?” Panic tightens my chest at the thought of what I almost just did. What I wanted to do.
“I’ll always be here, love.”
CHAPTER 41
You proved your worth today, young lady.” Valior, perched on his cushioned chair in the meeting chamber, gives me a missing-toothed smile. “These Zeroes will be our salvation.”
“Or our doom,” Dayne mutters.
“Be that as it may,” Valior says, “you earned the support of the Eastern settlement.”
“I’ll admit,” Tut says, “I didn’t think there was anything you could do to convince me.” He exchanges a look with Liglette. “But the North is with you, too.”
“I am pleased to be able to tell you,” Liglette says in her melodic voice, “the Western settlement will join with the Solguards.”
I just nod, too exhausted to try to come up with the right thing to say.
“These creatures have gotta be better than whatever they’re cooking up in Malarusk,” Valior chuckles. “The Duskers won’t know what’s coming for them.”
“Good,” Wade says. His tone is business-like, but I can tell how relieved he is.
“So, what’s next?” Tut asks.
“The Halves and Solguards are already here,” Wade says. “Send for your people. How soon can they arrive?”
“If they spread out, the messengers can probably get to all the settlements in a little under a week.” Valior rubs at the stubble on his chin. “Our people are starving and weak, so it will take them longer to get here. Probably two weeks.”
No one speaks for a moment, but we’re all sharing the same thought. The Duskers will have come and gone before the Banished even get here.
A wave of fury sweeps through me like wildfire. If the Banished leaders hadn’t been such cowards, if they’d sent for their people sooner, we’d have a chance now.
Tut interrupts my dark thoughts. “We’re still avoiding the real problem here.”
“Which is?” Wade asks, his teeth clenched.
“Jadem, in all her wisdom, didn’t build this place to withstand a real fight. It was supposed to stay hidden.”
“Well, it’s not hidden anymore,” Wade snaps. “We’ll need to to reconstruct the fortress as much as possible before the Duskers attack.” He looks at me. “Will the Halves help us set up defenses?”
I translate the question for Ekil. After a long pause, during which Ekil stares at me in a way I’m not sure what to make of, the Halve nods.
“I’ll send weapons and provisions and a handful of guards with the messengers,” Wade tells the Banished leaders. “Your people will be the rear defense. We’ll box them in.”
“You don’t box in ten thousand soldiers, my boy,” Valior says. “But I do admire your spirit.”
“You haven’t left us with many options,” Wade shoots back.
“The Duskers are soldiers from birth,” Liglette says. “They are regimented, and their weapons are forged from iron.” She pauses. “Our soldiers are mad
e by necessity. Our weapons are wood and stone. We have heart, but we’re hardly a match for the regimented troops that will be attacking.”
“The Zeroes will make up for whatever your people lack,” Wade argues. “We should be focusing on our strengths rather than weaknesses.”
Something about Wade’s words makes a new possibility blossom in my mind. I turn it over while the others argue.
“What if we didn’t defend the fortress?”
Everyone stops talking and looks at me.
“If being prepared gives the Duskers the advantage,” I press on, “then let’s not give them time to prepare.”
“Are you suggesting….” Tut begins. He looks at the other two Banished leaders. “Is she insane?”
“They’ll never expect us to attack them first, in their own territory.”
“Yes,” Valior says, “because that would not only be insane, it would be impossible.”
Even Dayne and Wade are looking at me like I’ve lost my mind.
“It used to be impossible,” I correct. “But things are different now. We have the Zeroes.”
The room goes quiet while everyone absorbs what I’m suggesting.
“You think they could break down the iron gate,” Wade says.
I nod.
“There’s nowhere to hide out there.” Dayne grips his new lute in his hands so hard I’m afraid he might break it. “The Dusker archers have clear shots from the mountain lookouts.”
“But the Zeroes are fast, aren’t they?” Wade asks, looking at me. “Could they make the run from the forest to the gate without being shot down?”
“Yes,” I say without hesitation. “And they’ll be able to break down the gate in under a minute, which wouldn’t give the Duskers many shots.”
“With those metal outfits of theirs,” Tut says, warming to the idea, “they won’t sustain heavy injuries as long as they’re quick on their feet.”
“They are,” I assure him.
“And since the Duskers don’t know about the Zeroes,” Liglette says, “we’ll have the element of surprise.”
“We could get Ry and Dellin on Vlaz and have them pick off some of the Dusker archers from the air,” Wade says, and I can tell he likes the plan.
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