No, she wanted to scream. Tears pricked her eyes, but her body, still not under her command, would not obey her orders.
Sen lifted the damaged armor plate over Nya’s abdomen, inspecting the gaping wound left by the bird-eater. “I-It’s okay, I’ll get us out of here.”
It’s bad, Nya guessed by the shakiness of Sen’s voice. Not that she needed the girl’s cursory inspection to know that. Returning with reignited fury, pain sapped at her mind, denied her strength to do much more than move Sen’s hands away from the wound.
“Akoto—over here!”
Despite the tears blurring her vision, Nya spied the gigantic beast galloping through the smoke, the head of a Nezran attacker in his jaws.
“Help me,” Sen said to her beast, pulling at his neck to get him to stoop lower for Nya.
She hated the girl lifting her up at the waist, and the involuntary cry that escaped her lips when she folded over the bite wound.
“I’m fine,” she muttered, stars wheeling through her brain as Akoto and Sen struggled to get her lifted and positioned onto his back.
“Wait,” she blurted out as Sen climbed up behind her and steered Akoto back to the Maze. Lancing pains shot through her stomach with each rise and fall of the beast’s shoulder blades. “Sho…”
“I’m sorry—we can’t stay.”
Nya looked out across the Sanctum yard. With the Nezra gone, the Virid soldiers regained consciousness and the tree-walkers and the bird-eaters stirred. Vines wiggled on the ground, and the bird-eater heads opened and closed their razor-sharp petals. She would have braved the reviving infected or the thickening smoke from the building fires, but not the streaks of lightning blazing across the sky.
The Guild is coming.
And with the way Kajar commanded, everything and everyone in his path would be killed to abolish a threat, even if his own daughter happened to be on the battlefield.
What just happened—?
Sho—I failed—
Sulo—Kaden—Sahib—
(The light—what was that light?)
—I should never have let you go—
Overcome, Nya allowed herself to slip into the comfort of darkness as lightning streaked across the congested sky.
Chapter 19
As Sen reached the sloping buttes and layered outcrops of the Koori lowlands, the first sliver of the white sun awakened the sky, casting solemn yellow rays into the sleepy darkness. Sen pulled on Akoto’s back hair, making him pause at an overlook just before the Spires.
“Nya?” She touched the woman warrior’s back, waiting to feel her chest rise. About two miles back she’d stopped moaning, but they couldn’t stop now, not after what happened in the Gardens.
Nezra, death creeping inside—
(No other choice)
—call the light—
(but Akoto isn’t near)
Brilliant and filling, casting away all shadow—
(Did I do that?)
A chilly breeze from the north brushed against her face, blowing the loose strands of her hair into her face.
Get Nya back, she told herself, spurring Akoto as soon as she felt Nya’s ragged breathing against her fingers.
Bracing Nya with one hand, Sen held on to Akoto, wanting him to go faster than his limping gallop would allow. Still, she couldn’t help but lose herself in his remarkable speed, in the feeling of almost-flight with each step. Never in her life had she felt such freedom, even as the wind whipped her face, and tears froze to her cheeks. Any notion of hunger faded, and the aches of her exhausted body surrendered to the joy she never thought possible.
Whistles and yips. Sen recognized the warrior calls and pulled back on Akoto’s hair, making him slow to a trot as they wove through the Spires.
“It’s me, Sen!” she said, looking every which way for signs of the Chakoa. Save for the soft padding of Akoto’s feet in the sand, and his customary low growl, the entire desert fell silent. “Nya’s hurt—please help us. Where are you?”
Osan emerged from behind a boulder, his arms raised. “Where are the others?”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, shaking her head and pulling Akoto to a stop.
Other Chakoans appeared from behind their hiding spots, weapons still drawn until Osan waved them down. Natsugra, waddling up from the side, lifted Nya’s floppy head and frowned.
“Get her to my tent,” the medicine woman said, pointing to a cluster of Spires up ahead.
Sen did as instructed, helping the other Chakoans carry her and place her in the tent, but when she tried to stay inside and help, Osan pulled her away and sat her on the dried-out bough of a bristlepine.
The clan chief assumed his most austere tone. “Tell me everything that happened.”
Sen looked at the star-shaped scars on her hands, not knowing what to do or say. She didn’t plan on lying to him, but how could she tell him the truth? Phantom electrocution pains traveled through her arms and down her legs as she remembered her father’s equally horrible punishments for choosing either.
“Start from the beginning,” he said, nudging his walking stick against her boot.
Akoto, curled up underneath the shade of another bristlecone tree close by, looked up and growled.
He’s not your father, she reminded herself, glancing up at Osan and then back at Akoto.
“It’s okay, buddy,” she murmured. Then, with a sigh, started from the beginning.
Over the next hour Osan listened with his brow pinched together as Sen recounted the disastrous rescue attempt in Virid territory. He didn’t stop her when she told him about the infected Guild and Virid soldiers, the beserker tree walkers and bird-eaters, the horrifying sights within Sanctum, or losing the other Chakoans and the Shifter in the fray. But when she came to the part of Nya’s rescue, his whole demeanor changed, and he leaned forward with renewed interest.
“The Nezra were everywhere,” Sen said, voicing faltering. Bloodshot eyes and gaunt faces flashed through her mind, her limbs tingling as her nerves recreated their deathly touch. But when she tried to recall the next part, something inside her hitched.
The Scylan necklace, glowing underneath her shirt.
Abandoning all hope—
—resorting to all that was left—
Her voice carrying out across the battlefield, lighting up all that surrounded her. “Lucente!”
Fright stole her words, and she glossed over what she couldn’t believe. “…b-but I got Nya out before the Guild struck. Then we came back here.”
Osan looked at her with the scrupulous eye of a battle-worn elder, a man who would not be fooled by the prevarications of a child.
“You just pulled Nya out of an attack like that? Surrounded by Nezra and infected soldiers?”
“Akoto helped,” she said, stretching the truth.
Shame and embarrassment swamped her heart, and she teetered on the verge of tears. How could she lie to Osan, especially after he took her, a shadowless nothing, into his clan?
Because what happened can’t be real. Still, she remembered the light, a brilliant halo that originated from her core and expanded outward, illuminating herself and Nya—the entire battlefield—before vanishing.
Akoto was nearby, that’s why—
“Embrace all that you are…” The memory of her uncle’s voice rattled her self-denial, gave pause to the usual criticisms that kept her locked away. “…believe in what you can become…”
“Sen,” Osan said, taking the seat next to her with a grimace. Turning to her, he gazed at her with the rising sun at his back, highlighting the gold flecks in his brown eyes. “You saved Nya.”
“But she’s—”
Osan placed his hand on her shoulder. “Can you not take praise, child?”
Looking back at her scarred hands, she shook her head. “Sorry. I’m not used to it.”
A sharp whistle broke their conversation. One of the Chakoans hooted at the top of his voice: “Warriors approaching!”
Osan moved
faster than she could react, knocking her sideways as he ran to the other clan members gathering near one of the Spires. Trotting over, she alternated standing on her tiptoes and crouching down between clan members legs as the dark figures in the distance closed in on their position.
“Is that—?” someone started.
Other clan members chimed in:
“—Looks like a bear!”
“—Someone’s running beside it.”
Squinting, Sen could make out the familiar outlines of the lost warriors. Sulo, in bully bear form, ran at a full sprint toward them, Kaden and another man riding on his back. Alongside the bear, the wiry Sahib kept up, his legs pumping at a furious pace.
They’re alive! she thought, feeling happier than she expected.
“It’s Kaden and Sahib—Sho!” someone shouted as the party neared.
The entire clan erupted in cheers, some running out to greet the arriving party, others crutching or limping along as best they could.
“Thank you; so good to see you all again.”
As soon as Sen caught sight of the speaker sitting atop Sulo as Kaden dismounted, she recognized him from the battlefield. Sho. The dark-haired man in the stolen Virid uniform. Without realizing it, she wrinkled her nose and took a step back as the other clan members crowded around. Even Sahib and Kaden, after receiving blankets, fresh water, and greetings from the clan, returned their attention to the man atop the bear.
“Sho,” Osan said, greeting the warrior with a firm grip to the forearm.
Sho returned the gesture, adding a slight bow. “Forgive me, chief, for my delayed return.”
Protecting his ribs, Sho accepted help sliding off Sulo, and used a younger Chakoan’s shoulder to keep upright. He appeared worse off than Kaden and Sahib, covered in soot, his visible wounds caked with blood. Still, a charismatic smile adorned his face, and his confidence overshadowed the breath of his injuries. “Many thanks to my brethren for the rescue. I wouldn’t have made it without you,” he said, nodding to Kaden and Sahib.
The bully bear shuddered and grumbled as he transformed back to his human form. Wiping the clear film from his eyes and stretching out his back, Sulo glared at Sho. “You’re welcome.”
“Sulo, you’ve always helped the Chakoa,” Sho said, placing his fist over his heart and bowing to the Shifter. “We’re in your debt.”
“Nya, wait—you’re in no condition—”
Natsugra’s admonitions got her nowhere as Nya, half-naked and cradling her injured side, burst out of the medicine tent, the unsecured bandages and poultices falling off her as she hobbled toward the arrivals.
“Sho!” she cried, breaking through the crowd. Stumbling into his arms, she embraced him hard enough that they both winced, but neither let go.
“You wicked fool,” Nya said, grabbing his hair and pulling his head forward.
Sho smiled and pulled her in harder until their two foreheads touched. A hush fell over the Chakoa as the two struggled against each other, their faces turning red.
Confused, Sen looked to the other clan members. Are they happy to see each other—or fighting?
Then again, with all she knew about Nya, perhaps wrestling made more sense than greeting someone she cared about with a hug and kiss.
“Nya!” Natsugra scuttled in behind them, and slapped Sho on the arm until he loosened his hold on the woman warrior. “Get back to the medicine tent, now.”
“Please Natsugra,” Sho said, still holding on to Nya with one arm as he faced the medicine woman. “Can Nya not stand and receive her praise? If not for her leadership, I would not be here before you, ready to serve my people.”
Cracking his walking stick on a rock, Osan answered in a booming voice. “Defiance will not be praised.”
Sho’s eyes darted between Osan and Natsugra, then to Nya. “I ask for her pardon in exchange for the news I bring you from the Realm.”
The other clan members traded nervous whispers as they waited for their chief’s decision. Sen didn’t know what to make of any of it, especially the quiet fire in Sho’s yellow-grey eyes or the way he wouldn’t lower his gaze.
“My orders were clear,” Osan said, motioning for Nya to go with Natsugra to the medicine tent. “Now is not the time to divide our clan.”
“I agree. That is why, in light of this new war, I want to repledge myself to the Chakoa, to our great clan, and promise that I will do everything my power to take down the denom elders of the Realm.”
The other clan members erupted with questions and exclamations:
“New war?”
“Slay the denoms!”
“What’s happening?”
“Why are the Nezra attacking?”
Sho held up his hands to quiet to the clan, but Osan interceded. “Sho! This is not the time.”
“We don’t have time,” Sho said, pointing back to the northwest. Stacks of dark clouds and swirling smoke filled the skies above the burning Gardens. Explosions, off in the distance, denoted the continuing battle. “The Nezra are attacking the Virids, spreading their death and disease. Listen!”
Another peal of thunder echoed across the desert.
“The Guild is in the fight. With the denoms divided, we have our best opportunity to take out the world leaders and end their barbaric reign.”
“No!” Sen shouted. When the entire clan turned to her, she almost lost her voice. “Y-you can’t do that.”
“Who’s that?” Sho said to Nya.
Nya looked at Sen, blue eyes narrowing. “Sen. New kid.”
The other clan members parted, leaving her standing alone. Wringing her hands together, she couldn’t look Sho in the eye as he stared her down.
“Do you know what the favored do to us Outliers in Sanctum?” he said, lowering his voice. Sucking in her breath, she turned away as he revealed zig-zagging scars descending his chest. “They pity us shadowless; they justify their torments by saying they want to bring us into God’s light.”
Before Sen could think of a response, he continued, anger quickening his words. “It wasn’t just the greenthumbs, either; Swarm and Guild physicians came to Sanctum to perform their own experiments on us, to see if maybe they could convert us to one of their own. As if there was something wrong with us because we don’t have their powers.”
Clan members spit on the ground, some shouting expletives as Sho continued. “Is it not bad enough that they cast us out of the Realm—but to experiment on us, to turn men and women into abominations—”
The memory of the East Wing residents, infiltrated by plant roots, blazed through her mind. All those people… was that some sort of experiment?
“—we cannot sit back and let them make us into monsters!”
As the clan members hooted and shouted, Sen thought about the veracity of what Sho had said, especially if the Swarm, Virids, and Guild had come together to form Sanctum.
That’s why I saw metal in the East Wing, she thought. A chill ran down her spine as her mind took it one step further. Does my father know what they do there?
Fear carved into her belly. Her father was austere and impossible to please, but he wasn’t evil. She bit down on her lip …Is he?
No, she thought, fighting against her gut. Besides, how could murdering someone be the answer? “Y-you can’t kill the elders.”
“Watch me,” Sho said, unsheathing his knife and holding it up to the sky.
As the others cheered, Sen despaired.
“Save me.”
The words rang out across her mind, gaining momentum as her memories pulled her back. She remembered connecting with the infected Soushin woman, hearing her weakened voice amidst the turmoil. Fast-forwarding, she recalled the nurses in the East Wing, feeling their terror as the Nezra gouged their minds and sickened their bodies, all the while whispering a single word: “ennari.” And the halo of light, brilliant and powerful, bursting out from her chest and illuminating the world around her as the Nezra descended upon her and Nya.
The Nezra
…
In that moment on the battlefield, she had known nothing but her own fear, but as her mind layered the events against each other, she realized something beyond herself. She saw the death-dealers again, pale and cadaverous, their reddened eyes sunken into their skulls. As the light touched their faces, she felt herself dip beneath their skin, into the poisonous blood running through their veins.
They’re sick, too.
The revelation made her forget herself for a moment, and she shouted out above the cheers. “We have to warn them!”
“Warn who?” Sho scoffed.
“Everyone. I-I think the Nezra are sick, too.”
Sho laughed. “The favored persecute you, little girl—do you not understand that? They would shoot you down before you even reached the wall, if not worse.”
Cheeks turning red, she looked to Nya for help, but the warrior stayed fast at Sho’s side. “But we can’t just let people die!”
“Without a shadow, I seek only the comfort of darkness, and the freedom of its emptiness,” Sho said, reciting the Chakoa credo. “You are weakened by your attachments, girl.”
Feeling all the Chakoan eyes on her, Sen wanted to run and hide, or call for Akoto, but her legs rooted themselves into the ground. She stood there, mouth clamped shut, unable to do anything but shake.
Seeing that she had no retort, Sho continued: “It doesn’t matter if the Nezra are sick, or if they want to seize world power. Now is the time for vengeance—and for the rise of the shadowless!”
Clan members bumped into her as they rushed Sho, applauding and praising his valiance. Even Nya, injured and fatigued, managed to lift a fist to the air and shout.
As she backed away, Sen noticed Osan and Natsugra on the periphery. The two clan elders watched the commotion with placid expressions, seeming to confer with each other with a few exchanged glances, but otherwise showing no reaction.
Why aren’t they stopping this? she wondered, but the answer came in the twist of her gut as the clan joined together in a war-time chant.
Sho…
Handsome and powerful, he commanded the passion of the clan, even in his debilitated state, bringing out the fire and fight in a decimated people.
Outlier Page 18
