by Dan Decker
Chapter 27
Adar was greeted by thunder from the overcast sky when he stepped out of the arch into Zecarani. He turned around and saw that he had just stepped out of a large rock. Rather than move the rock, which was more than ten feet tall, the surrounding buildings had been built around it. There were scratches where it looked like somebody had tried to take a chisel or hammer to it and he wondered if it had been protected in some way. There wasn't anything on this side to indicate that there was an arch hidden in the rock.
The buildings on either side of the rock rose up multiple stories and behind it was another building of a similar height. The tall building kept Adar from discerning their location and that bothered him. Time was too short as it was, he couldn't afford to waste time figuring out where they were.
As Tere and Karn followed him out of the arch, Adar wished that he had a better choice than to leave Tarner with the others, but if things came to a head with Tere, he wanted to deal with Tere on his own terms and didn't want Tarner interfering. His suggestion to bring Tarner and Karn had been calculated. As Adar had hoped, Tere demanded he replace Tarner, instead of insisting they both go. That’s why Adar also wanted Karn. Tere wasn’t likely to attack Karn, and Karn had already promised Adar not to interfere if it came to blows again.
Even though Adar didn’t trust Tarner, it should be enough that Tarner knew how important it was to get into the Rarbon Portal. Tarner gave a short nod. Xarda seemed to understand Adar's concern about Tarner as well. He was a hard man to read. He spoke little. When he did speak, it was usually in short statements. There could be little doubt that he was a cunning man though. Adar had made careful observation of Tarner over the last couple of weeks. He very rarely did anything that hadn't been well thought out.
“We don't know that the Hunwei only attack at night,” Adar said. “Watch your backs.”
“Same to you,” Jorad said, not bothering to be covert as he stared at Tere.
“Let’s finish this,” Tere said, ignoring Jorad.
With a last look at Jorad and an admonishment to be careful, Adar headed out of the alleyway. He'd done what he could for Jorad and now he needed to focus on getting the tablet and dealing with Tere. Interacting with the man was like walking barefoot on the flat side of a sword that was suspended above hot coals. Stray just a little and things would get unpleasant fast. Adar had seen blood lust before, but for Tere it went much deeper than that, the oath barely held him as it was. Why did the man burn so deeply wanting him dead?
Adar was unsure if guilt or anger drove Tere. The coincidence of Tere finding Adar moments after he’d discovered Nelion’s body bothered him and he struggled to push it away, he needed more evidence before he could lay that at Tere’s feet.
Thinking of Nelion reminded Adar of the sadness that had never gone away and the bitterness that had been a constant companion.
It didn’t matter who plunged the knife into her chest, when I married her I condemned her to death, I knew the capabilities of my father.
Adar focused. Zecarani had hours. Despite his concern for Jorad's plan, he felt a little pride at Jorad’s stubbornness to do what he could to help the people. It was a pity there wasn’t more time to try to help everybody. Even with the rotting head, Jorad likely wouldn’t be able to convince many unless the Hunwei attacked while they were still here.
Adar broke into a trot and at the same moment, there was a flash of lighting followed several seconds later by thunder. Three men running through town shouldn’t cause too much disturbance in this storm. If it did, well too bad, there was too little time.
As they left the alley, Adar looked around, memorizing the location of the arch. The two buildings that formed the alley they'd just come from were among the tallest on this street. The top of the town hall was visible ahead and Adar broke into a run. It wasn't going to be hard to find this place again once he had the tablet.
As they ran through the street the reality of the situation bothered Adar. All of the people he was passing were going to die or be taken captive. He avoided making eye contact as he pushed himself to run faster. It would be too much to hope that he would figure Darren's tablet out soon enough to save the town, but it was a possibility. The tablet was a weapon that could kill many Hunwei at a time. Adar had never shared this information with Jorad because he'd wanted to keep Jorad focused on getting to Rarbon. Because of Tere's actions, Adar was now faced with the situation of getting the tablet or risk it falling into the hands of the Hunwei.
The rain was starting to fall by the time they reached the town hall. It looked much the same as it had the day before. He came to a stop at the small side door they had used yesterday and he rapped on it with his knuckles. The door that had been here originally had been made from a much harder wood. His knock had a hollow sound to it. Adar couldn't imagine how the original door had been damaged enough to be replaced. The builders had done something to the wood to strengthen it and keep it from deteriorating.
Adar didn't wait for the door to fully open before he yanked it open the rest of the way and barged inside. Two guards were the only people in sight.
The first opened his mouth to speak as Tere lunged at him; Karn stepped up to help take the guard down. Adar grabbed the other. Several moments later both guards lay unconscious on the ground.
Explosions rocked the city and Adar grabbed the wall to steady himself. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Karn lose his balance. Karn latched on to a table to keep from falling. Adar looked back out the door and saw that the Hunwei were indeed beginning their attack. They had used the cloud cover to get into position so they could drop out of the sky.
Adar could count half a dozen ships in the section of sky he could see through the doorway. It reminded him of the mural on the meeting chamber ceiling of the town hall. He considered the possibility that maybe it had been based on a prophecy until he remembered that the humans had been armed with ships as well. That wasn't going to happen today.
He had been hoping that the Hunwei only attacked at night, it would have made them more predictable. If Jorad and the others weren't already back into the Arches by now, they would be soon. Xarda and Tarner would make sure that Jorad was protected.
He hoped.
“We’re out of time,” Tere yelled. “They’re here.”
Adar pushed himself up and tried to avoid thinking about how stupid it was to be here. This was his last chance to get the tablet and he refused to fail. Karn was already to go and Tere was steadying himself when more flashes of light lit the sky.
Explosions rocked the ground again and Adar found himself wobbling. There were a few tense seconds when he made eye contact with Tere and the thought of Nelion lying still with a dagger plunging out of her chest came to his mind unbidden. As Adar struggled with his anger, he looked away from Tere and went through the door leading to the meeting chamber. Either Tere’s oath would hold or Adar would kill him.
The meeting chamber of the town hall was empty but mortar and rock were falling from the ceiling. Already much of the mural that had covered the ceiling had fallen to the floor. The amount of damage surprised Adar. The town hall had been built before the Severing, back when they could build buildings to last. That meant that the Hunwei were targeting this building and that its defenses had weakened. They would be here soon.
After waiting several precious moments to see if it would get any better, Adar gave up. Taking a deep breath, he plunged into the chaos. Even though he kept a hand above his eyes, they still filled with dust.
He ran into a hard object and tripped.
“Melyah!” In his blindness, he’d strayed from the aisle and into a bench. As he picked himself up and tried to gain a better idea of where he was, he spotted the far side of the room. As he made his way over, several times he came within hair's breadth of a large chuck of rock falling on his head. He forged ahead and found Tere waiting for him beside a door.
“Karn?”
Tere
shook his head. “Thought he was with you.”
Adar examined the meeting hall looking for Karn. He could make out patches of sky through holes in the assembly room ceiling. It wouldn’t be much longer before the ceiling caved in. They waited for a few more seconds as the dust began to settle but Karn didn’t show up. There was another explosion and a large piece of the ceiling fell.
On the other side of the meeting room, Adar could make out several shapes through the falling dust. Hunwei. He pulled up his blaster, firing off several shots before he ducked behind a bench to avoid their return fire.
Out of the corner of his eye, Tere slipped through the nearest door. Adar crawled after him as blasts flew overhead. Wherever Karn was now, he was on his own.
On the other side, Adar almost charged into Tere, who’d come to a stop because three Hunwei were coming their way from down the hall. Tere already had his blaster up and fired into the first, knocking him over with a gaping hole in the middle of his chest. Tere dived out of the away as the other two fired at him.
Adar dropped and fired at the same time, hitting the second Hunwei in the leg. The Hunwei howled as the bottom half of his leg disappeared in a bloody mess and he tumbled over. Tere lunged at the legs of the third and they both went over, Adar didn’t have time to wonder why Tere hadn’t just fired his blaster because at the same moment a fourth came from around a corner up ahead. Adar aimed and pulled his trigger but nothing happened.
Melyah! He tried again with the same result.
He threw the blaster away, moving to the side, as a blast hit the wall where he’d been moments before. Tere, using the blaster of the third Hunwei, fired a shot taking down the fourth. The third Hunwei grabbed his blaster back, wrenching it out of Tere’s hands. Adar scrambled to pick up a blaster off the first dead Hunwei and shot Tere’s Hunwei in the head. Afterward, he finished off the one that was grabbing his leg and howling.
When Adar was done, he picked up another blaster off a dead Hunwei and slung it onto his shoulder. If the weapon could stop working without warning, it would be best to have several. Tere grabbed several blasters as well.
“The Melyah cursed thing stopped working,” Tere said.
“Mine too.” Adar pushed further into the town hall, expecting that at anytime Tere would put a hole in his back.
