“Which is why I trust him like one!” Joost said. He dropped his voice when a man cast a sidelong glance our way as he passed.
“Shh,” Isaak hushed.
“Can’t be too careful,” Joost added. “Folks’ll turn you in as a Groundie if you just look like you’re the slightest bit not unhappy.”
I wondered why he told me this. I wasn’t the one getting overly excitable and loud. “Groundie?”
“It’s what we in the Underground call ourselves.”
“No, we don’t,” Isaak said.
“We should.”
“No, we shouldn’t.”
“Are you sure this will work?” I asked.
I risked a glance around. Aoife, Brande, and Seanna were out there on the streets somewhere. We had the same destination, but Brande felt it best we approached in smaller groups. Since women didn’t usually travel with men, we had broken into groups based on gender. I had been reluctant to let Aoife out of my sight but she chided me for treating her like she needed me when she had survived so long just fine so far.
“No,” said Isaak.
“Only shot we got, though,” Joost added.
“That’s comforting,” I muttered.
The shops that lined the streets further into the city gave way to rundown, apartment-like buildings that huddled up against the outer wall. The gap between the wealthy and poor was Grand Canyon in size without much leeway or middle ground. The wealthy lived in mansions at the base of the Circle of Atlas while shop owners who managed to eke out a slightly above poverty living pushed in as close to the wealthy as they could. That left the laborers, beggars, and despondent in the dilapidated multi-family dwellings that looked ready to collapse in on themselves. That also left them to be the first to feel the full force of the Balataur army if they breached the wall.
Foot traffic thinned nearer that wall. People were either further in the city trying to survive or just didn’t want to be too close to the heavily armed fortification that ringed the city. From what Brande and the others had told me, I didn’t blame them. The soldiers were quick to put their billy clubs and pikes to use if somebody put a toe out of line. Usually, those around that person suffered a bit of the punishment as well just to send a message.
I rolled my back uncomfortably. My escrima strapped between my shoulder blades under a light coat rubbed at the skin. I was thankful to have them, though. If things got out of hand, I’d be swinging my way out of here.
While Isaak wrapped a piece of cloth around my chest to hold the escrima in place, Aoife got a good look at my new tattoos. Well, the one on my chest and shoulder, anyways. I wasn’t about to drop my pants to show off my thigh art. Of course, she teased me about the one on my back, refusing to tell me what Elder Narit had blessed me with and making sure nobody else spilled the beans. I was glad some things hadn’t changed in the past year.
“We’re getting close,” Isaak said.
“Right,” said Joost. “I shall say goodbye here and wait for the signal. Good luck, boys.”
I stared at the wall towering in front of us. The escrima scrapped against my skin and sweat tickled down the small of my back. My fingers twitched, eager to have the comforting feel of the sticks in them.
“Easy,” Isaak said. “Act like you have no choice but to be here.”
I nodded and glance at a woman sitting with her back against a building. Her knees were pulled to her chest and her forehead rested on them. Her hands lay open and lifeless next to her. I dropped my shoulders and let my arms hang at my sides—kept my eyes downcast.
The outer wall was maintained as well as Daresh’s keep. I knew from the first time we came to Delicia that it was several yards thick and had passageways inside it where guards kept a watch on the plains surrounding the city as well as the city itself. They were armed with the popular poleaxes, as well as crossbows and steam-powered cylinders that fired projectiles like a gun. They wouldn’t hesitate to use them on people inside and outside the city if provoked. Provocation was an easy thing to accomplish.
Isaak tugged my sleeve and nodded towards the top of the wall. My footsteps faulted, but he pulled me along.
The wall was absolutely crammed with soldiers. For once their total focus was on outside the walls instead of inside. I had a pretty good idea what had attracted their attention.
“This isn’t a good idea,” I said. “We should abort.”
The big man shook his head and jerked it to the side. “Too late now.”
A few streets down, a woman sat hunched against a building in much the same way as the one we passed a few minutes ago. By her tall, thin frame, there was no doubt it was Brande. The others were in place already. They had seen the commotion and decided to stick with the plan.
“What if Daresh doesn’t show?” I asked.
“He will,” Isaak assured me.
“How can you be so sure? Things have changed.”
“It has to,” he said simply.
That didn’t sound reassuring to me at all. In my brief but frenzied foray into dangerous situations there was one thing I had learned. “It has to” was not something to hang a hat on when it came to whether a plan would work or not.
The sounds of rhythmic footsteps caught my attention. I turned to see a troop of soldiers marching down the streets, poleaxes bobbing high overhead. People climbed over each other to dive out of the way.
Isaak grabbed my sleeve and pulled me to the side of the street. I watched as the soldiers in their uniforms with swirling patterns clomped by without a glance in our direction. They were grim-faced and sour looking men.
I took a breath to try to still my racing heart. Not for the first time, I questioned my sanity in coming to Delicia. Sure, it had lead me straight to Aoife, but at what cost? At any moment, one of those men could turn his head and recognize me. Would they? It had been a year since I escaped from here, but according to Brande, Daresh hadn’t forgotten and I’m sure he wouldn’t let his men forget either.
In a flash, my thumping heart shuddered to a halt. Through a gap in the soldiers, I caught sight of a slender man with hair so brown it was almost black.
“He’s here,” I gasped.
“He is,” Isaak acknowledged, keeping a hand on my shoulder. I hadn’t realized I had taken a step toward the passing procession. “Told you.”
In an instance, Daresh was gone, lost in the sea of soldiers. It took a moment to find my voice. “How did you guys know he’d be here right now?”
He glanced at me. “Joost’s brother is one of these soldiers.”
“What?” I asked. “Is that it a good idea to trust him? I mean, from what Brande said, Daresh has some kind of control over his men.”
“It is the best chance we have,” he said. “Best we take it before the Underground is wiped out completely.”
The group marched up to a thin set of stairs leading to the top of the wall. The soldiers already on top turned to watch their leader mount the stairs with two guards while the rest stayed on the ground.
“Are you sure you’re ready to do this?” Isaak asked.
I blinked and looked up at the large man, realizing sweat poured from my forehead like a faucet. “Like you said, it’s the best shot we have.”
He nodded, covertly scanning the area. I didn’t see any of the others—Brande had moved from her spot against the wall. Aoife inspired so much trust in me. It was a complete flip from the last time we were on Alisundi when she trusted nobody. I just hoped she knew what she was doing. If any part of this plan misfired, we were doomed.
Daresh disappeared over the edge of the wall, presumably to witness firsthand the Balataur hoard on the other side. I wondered what he thought as he looked upon an army of beasts that wanted nothing more than to just swallow his city whole. Was he scared? Confident? Did he have a plan for such a situation?
Isaak squeezed my shoulder. “All is set. Remember, keep as much of his attention on you as possible. With half his mind on the army outside, you should be able to occupy the
other half. This is the best chance of our friend’s success.”
I nodded and looked around. The streets had emptied with the appearance of Daresh’s procession and, with the exception of a few curious enough to linger, had not refilled. I stepped from the building we huddled against and into the street. I approached the group of soldiers—about twenty in all—Daresh had left at the bottom of the stairs.
Sweat trickled down my back and the escrima pushed between my shoulder blades like they had a mind of their own and struggled to be set free. I kept my head down like Isaak had instructed me. Meek. Downtrodden. Just another Delician wandering too close to a place he shouldn’t be.
The group of soldiers stiffened as I approached—weapons gripped tighter in gloved fists.
I stopped a dozen yards or so from the group and lifted my head. I glared at the soldiers with more confidence than I felt, then lifted my eyes to the top of the wall. I opened my mouth, but a voice cut through the silent air before I could call out to Daresh.
“Gaige Porter, the Gatekeeper.” Daresh reappeared at the wall, smiling. “Or should I say Gatekeeper no more?”
The tenuous hold onto what little confidence I had fell apart at the sight of the man. Those eyes that pierced straight through a soul. That mocking smile that tore a man down in a flash. That booming laugh that echoed around the streets, giving the illusion of many men surrounding me and laughing.
“You aren’t a very smart one, are you?” he asked. “How you defeated the Getharey is a mystery.”
Something deep inside me yelled for me to turn and run. Run as fast as I could. Run until I couldn’t run anymore. I couldn’t. My feet were planted right in that spot as I stared up at the ruler of Delicia.
“Wait, you didn’t defeat them, did you?” he said with a mocking puzzled look on his face. “It was your little friend who did that for you, huh?” He glanced down the street before jerking his head that direction. “I must say I underestimated her when you first came here, but I don’t think I will again. Sorry, she doesn’t seem in any condition to be much use.”
I forced my unwilling neck to turn. Two men appeared from around a crumbling building, baring a limp form by the arms between them. Even though her black hair hung in front of her face, I could see blood drip from her head as they unceremoniously dropped her to the dirty street. She lay unmoving.
29
BETRAYAL
Daresh said something but I didn’t hear what. Everything was muffled like I had my head under water. My vision tunneled with everything blurring other than Aoife lying in the street. After everything we’d gone through—after a year of trying to get to Alisundi to find her—seeing her there, unmoving and bleeding, something inside me snapped. I didn’t know if she was dead or not. I didn’t care.
I threw off the tattered coat the Underground had given me and reached down the back of the shirt collar. I pulled the two escrima from the straps and charged the soldiers standing at the bottom of stairs. I was outnumbered twenty to one, but I didn’t care. They stood between me and Daresh.
They were a bit shocked to find a single kid running at them, so a few were slow to react. I dived into their ranks, dropping two with a couple quick blows to the head. One lowered his poleaxe, but I batted it away with one stick while I jammed the other in his throat.
In just a few seconds, I had taken out three men. I moved with a speed and strength I didn’t know was possible. I saw their slightest movements, clueing me in to their intentions before they could put the moves into actions. One man took a hand off his poleaxe, realizing it would be useless in close combat. A slap of a stick across the face fell him before that hand neared the dagger at his hip.
Another positioned the bladed end of his weapon between two of his fellows, hoping to poke me while they distracted me. I spun before the point reached me. I slammed an elbow into the closest man’s face. His face crunched and blood spurted down his uniform as I swung over his shoulder, cracking an escrima over the head of the one who tried to stick me.
I didn’t think about what I was doing. I couldn’t think about it. I couldn’t think about anything. My mind was a large smudge of rage. I kicked knees, smashed heads with my escrima, and elbowed faces—all with one intent. Reach Daresh.
After I had taken out seven or eight of his guards, they started to fall back from my advance, leery of my bone cracking escrima. In moments, the way to the stairs opened up to me. I rushed forward, ignoring the rest and took the steps two at a time.
More guards stood to block my access to the top of the wall. I ducked under a stab from a poleaxe and shattered a knee with a stick strike. The man screamed as his leg buckled underneath him and he stumbled over the edge to the street below.
I brought another stick down on a poleaxe. The wooden handle snapped in two, leaving its wielder dumbly holding a hunk of wood he didn’t know what to do with. I grabbed the handle and yanked him forward. He lost his balance and rolled down the steps, taking out a few guards following me up along the way.
“Stop!” a booming voice called out, cutting through the haze of rage fogging my mind.
I spun to find Daresh casually leaning against the wall’s rampart. There were guards around him and at the ready, but none between us. If I rushed him, I’d be on him before any of them couldn’t think of moving.
I didn’t get the chance. He smiled at me and jerked his head back into the city below. Escrima clenched tight into my fists, I glanced down.
“Did you think her dead?” he asked.
Aoife sat in the street, her head hung with a hand on it.
“Not yet,” Daresh chuckled. “Or your Ashling friend.”
He waved a limp wrist down the street where several guards surrounded Seanna, poleaxes baring down on her.
“Or your other friends.” He hesitated. “What are they called? The Delicia Underground?”
As he spoke, clusters of soldiers came into view from various buildings, ushering Brande, Joost, and others. Still more surrounded Isaak where I had left him.
“What an incredibly short coup,” he laughed. “A nice little appetizer from the real fun to come. A taste of blood for my men, you might say.”
I glanced out over the plains. The Balataur army had indeed appeared on the horizon, haloed by a cloud of dust rising into the sky above them where Lortmore’s dragons circled.
“It’s sad, really,” he continued. “I imagine you put so much trust in one you considered your own. Not a smart move.” He tsked and waved somebody forward.
A soldier jumped to obey, pushing through his fellows to stand near—but not too close—to Daresh. At first, I didn’t see it, but the man’s features were undeniable. His whole head had been shaved close like the other soldiers, but his pinched lips and slightly prominent forehead were so much like Joost’s that there was no confusion who the man was. Joost’s brother.
“This man showed loyalty when he informed me of these ill-conceived plans.” Daresh looked the man over before making a face and shaking his head. “Still, blood can sometimes run thicker than water, don’t you think?”
The tip of a poleaxe exploded from the man’s chest in a spray of gore that splashed on my drab clothing. Joost’s brother uttered a short “un” before he slid to the stone blocks. I looked away from the horror but couldn’t stop from hearing the squelch of the weapon being pulled from the body.
I found Joost on the streets below, surrounded with hands bound behind him.
“Lucas!” the man bellowed before a guard jammed the butt of his weapon into the back of his head. He flopped to the street, unconscious.
“That should make a fine example for those who might harbor sympathies for this little revolutionary movement, don’t you think?” Daresh said with a conversational tone like we were discussing the latest movie release. “Well, I mean along with the examples I make out of the whole lot of you when I string you from these walls in the face of these nasty beasts.” He waved a hand at the plains.
“
You’re insane,” I muttered.
“I prefer to think of myself as inspired,” he said with a smile.
I looked down from the wall again. There was not a citizen of Delicia insight. Only those I had conspired with and our captures. I took a deep breath. How did I keep letting myself end up in these situations? I should have taken Aoife and ran—whether she wanted to or not. This whole plot was stupid to begin with. What was I thinking to go along with it?
Still, we had somehow crawled out of tighter spots on numerous occasions. No matter how hopeless things looked, there was always a way out. I just had to slow down and think for a change.
Aoife looked up from the street. She rocked unsteadily, her eyes cloudy. I couldn’t be sure she saw me even though she looked right at me.
My grip on the escrima tightened at the sight of her. I wanted to start swinging again. Punish those responsible for hurting her.
No. I need to think. I pushed away the red rage creeping back into my vision. I tore my eyes from Aoife and turned to Daresh who seemed to be waiting for me to say something.
“You’re such a big man hiding behind all these men and threatening to harm a girl,” I said, my voice in more control than I would have thought.
He stared at a moment before his smile grew bigger. “Are you trying to challenge me like my ego is so fragile it will crack at a few words from a whelp like you?”
“No,” I grunted. “But, now I am. I challenge you to a fight. A duel.”
His eyes widened and he laughed. “A duel? With you?”
None of the soldiers thought it as funny. In fact, none of them even cracked a smile. They all stared at me with cold, dead eyes.
“Scared?” I taunted.
“Scared of you?” He shook his sadly. “No, boy. I wouldn’t accept such a challenge from you to prove some kind of insult to my manhood. I’d do it for the fun!”
“Then it’s a duel,” I growled. “For the fun of it.”
He laughed again. “My, how bold you have grown since the last time you visited. Fine.”
I blinked. “Fine what?”
“You’ll have your duel.” He flicked an uncaring hand. “To the death, I’m assuming. Since it is your challenge, I have the duty of choosing the weapons.” His eyes flicked down at the escrima clenched in my fists. “Let’s say…swords? That sounds appropriate.”
The Gatekeeper Trilogy Page 76
