I crinkled my nose at this cowardly behavior. I reached my consciousness out to the fifty or so scarb closest to us. “We’re challenging Emerald’s right to govern and control this colony. Join us.”
None of the scarb moved, and many blocked me from their minds.
Iva explained again, “They are not loyal to Emerald any more than they will aid you in fighting her.”
We went a level higher only to encounter more of the same, two young male scarb joined us when I extended the invitation, but hundreds more just shrank away. How am I supposed to conquer Emerald when the majority of her subjects won’t help me?
“Well, Derrick said, “at least they won’t be the ones trying to stop you either.” He had a good point.
Their apathy disgusted me. Better not to have a colony of such weak-kneed scarb anyway, I finally determined. I didn’t know about being a queen, but I was certain that if I was to be one, I didn’t want anyone piggy-backing on my efforts.
“Running a colony has many needs and challenges,” Iva told me as we went past our old dormitory.
“I have no plans to run a colony,” I told her. “I’m going to get my brother, and then everyone else is free to do as they please.”
Iva didn’t look happy about that. But then, her eyes grew wide and she told me, “Emerald has just alerted the entire colony to your treason.”
“She’s ordered all the scarb in the colony to kill you on sight or face extinction,” Derrick added beside me.
Although I’d heard nothing, clearly Emerald’s alarm had pierced the minds of every other scarb. The soldiers stopped and looked confused for a moment. The few remaining scarb in the space fled.
“You need to offer a counter-challenge,” Iva told me, quickly rushing to me. “Now.”
A heartbeat passed. I didn’t have time to think or prepare what I’d say.
“Hurry,” Iva urged. “Use your connection. Reach the entire colony.”
I nodded and closed my eyes, focusing on the connection. I felt the presence of the scarb there in the great room, and then pushed that awareness out like an atom bomb, blasting in all directions, high and low, to encompass every scarb living in the colony. Except for one. Nate. I couldn’t find him at all. That scared me.
“Emerald must have him in a block,” Iva quickly explained. “It is like a protective web that won’t let you communicate with him at all with the connection, like the waterfall. She has one in her chambers.”
“So, he’s not dead?” I asked, biting my lip.
“I don’t think so,” Iva answered.
I sighed. Okay. Focus.
I felt the attention of all the other scarb turn to me.
“My name is Cat,” I said, hoping the right words would come. “Your queen kidnapped me to breed an army against my will. She’s now taken my brother from me, but I intend to get him back. He’s everything to me.”I choked a bit, surprised at how easily my emotions flowed. I knew I was on a stage in that moment, solo in the spotlight. Thousands watching me, waiting for me to falter, to trip and fall, to lose it all. But I also knew that my emotions weren’t a weakness. They were a strength to me now, they were the only way I could win this. “I can’t do it alone. Emerald’s powerful. She’s given this colony security, but at what price? She thinks of no one but herself. Even now, she’s threatened to kill you unless you comply with her. You’ll never be truly free under her reign. Once your usefulness to her has expired, she’ll toss you away like a used tissue.
“I may not be wise or strong or best-suited to lead this colony, but I do promise you that if you follow me, you’ll do so of your own free will. I’ll never take your freedom of choice from you.”
Stillness followed for several seconds. That was it. I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“Well done.” Derrick nodded approvingly. I just breathed, still clinging fiercely to the connection. Thousands of green dots surrounded me, just a handful of my gold ones close to me. But the connection started to ripple, as scarb pressed closer to us. To fight or to join?
“Join us in the atrium,” I told them.
“Good,” Iva said, touching my shoulder. “We have to hurry now. You just announced our position and intent to the entire colony. We’ll be lucky to make it the atrium before Emerald’s soldiers do.”
With that, she turned and ran to the head of the group. We fled the dormitory like water rushing over rock and made a straight course toward the stairway to the atrium. On the steps, those at the front of our group met some of Emerald’s bloodthirsty scarb. Are they really that loyal to Emerald, or does fear of her putting them to death motivate them?
My scarb cut through them, turning two more to our side. We rushed into the soldier’s training area outside the atrium. It was full of scarb. They quickly disorganized my group and divided us as my soldiers tried to break through them. There was no time for words or persuasion now. Animal instinct took over. Panting hard, I drove my barbed knuckles into the skull of a soldier, bits of bone and brain matter sticking to my fingers. A sharp jab hit my ribs as a scarb rammed her elbow into me. I kicked her against the far wall.
Three more rushed me. “Kill the traitor!” they screamed. Derrick, bloody-mouthed, was at my side in a flash. Before I could even punch, he launched himself at my attackers, a dark whirl. I’d never seen any scarb move so fast.
Iva dropped from the ceiling and hit the floor beside me. Grabbing my hand, she pulled me through the opening Derrick had created. We made it into the atrium. Any relief I might have found at making it to our destination was quickly replaced with horror.
The atrium contained several hundred fliers and other scarb, and all of them were prepared for us. Scarb crouched on the ground, teeth bared, ready to rip us apart with their bare hands. A violent buzzing filled the air as the fliers prepared to attack us from above.
My head rang with their unified cry. “Kill the traitor!”
Chapter Twenty-Three
The Atrium
Pure hatred radiated upon us from all sides. My small group of followers stood with me in the entrance to the atrium. We were surrounded by several hundred scarb bent on taking us down. For some reason, I’d thought coming to the atrium and getting the fliers to help get Nathan back would be a good idea. Now, I was sure I’d made a mistake. Fliers were some of the most skilled and versatile of scarb. And now, I’d thrown us into the heart of them.
“Kill the traitor!” their voices screamed out. The scarb charged us in unison. Like an angry bee colony, the fliers dove down toward us, making the ceiling look alive with their zooming bodies.
I knew it would be only a matter of seconds before they were upon me, ripping my body to shreds and bathing in my blood as a token of victory for their queen. I felt no hope in that moment. There was no shield, no protection, no words to save me now. I thought of Nathan. I couldn’t save him. I’d failed. I closed my eyes, and waited for the moment to come.
The rush of their dive filled my ears. My time had come. But then there was another sound, a high-pitched sound like an eagle’s cry. I opened my eyes and saw a streak of vibrant red shooting up towards the diving storm of black fliers. The scream had come from Iva. She met the fliers in the air, a slender streak of crimson and green against an angry sky. She opened her mouth and let out another piercing scream.
“Children of the sky!” she cried. “You’ve always looked to me as a leader and a protector and I’ve served as Emerald’s right-hand woman, her skilled and trusted assassin. If you’ve ever listened to me before, I beg you to do it now.”
The swarm stopped, hovering just a hundred feet above, listening to Iva. Even the scarb on the ground paused, perhaps insecure in fighting without the fliers.
“I’ve slaughtered so many at Emerald’s command. Given the gift of Dagger, my skills were well put to use.” She motioned down to me with her arm. “But not anymore. I serve a new queen now. Cat is good and true. I won’t allow Emerald’s ab
ominations to continue any longer.”
She flapped her wings and came up to a large male flier. “How often has she used your strength as a weapon in her hands, misused you and taken advantage of your gift of flight?”
She opened her arms and addressed the rest of them. “We won’t be constrained by her any longer. We have the chance at a new life, a new future, but we can’t do it alone. We need your help. Emerald is strong, but she’s full of hate and rage. It will consume this colony just as it consumes her, unless we put an end to it. Brothers, sisters, let’s put an end to it now.”
Over two-thirds of the fliers relaxed their poses. Their wings beat softly, and their bodies no longer resembled shooting arrows. The other third, however, did not relax but stiffened more.
A large black male flier came to the front.
“You’ve betrayed us all, Iva,” he said with a snake-like hiss to his voice. “For that, you will pay with your life.”
He dove at her with two sharp talons outstretched from his hands. The sky instantly exploded as the fliers turned on one another. The scarb on the ground burst into life as well, but they didn’t all rush at me as I thought they would. Their loyalties were divided as well. Iva had saved us from a certain death, but were we strong enough to fight off the rest of the colony?
A pack of orange scarb with white bulbous protrusions on their skin cut through the battle, and within twenty seconds, they rushed at me.
“Scalvions!” Bram shouted at my left. A wall of guards quickly formed around me. Gray hovered above my head. He wasn’t the best flier yet, so he didn’t want to face the battle above. But he said he’d protect me from any that got too close.
Derrick smashed the chest of one of the scalvions, bursting its white protrusion and causing pus to splatter my cheeks and arms.
One got past Derrick and ran at me, snapping its orange jaw bones. I butted it with the crown of my head, piercing its skull with the barbs in my hair. The impact jolted my body and made my head ache, but the scarb fell down, dead.
It was chaotic above us, like watching clashing ant colonies, but Iva and her fliers seemed to be making progress. She snapped the backbone of a young scarb, and his body fell down on the battling scarb below. More bodies occasionally fell like meteors from the sky.
Thirty-nine more scarb, including fifteen fliers, turned to our side, as if they could sense the tides turning. I was starting to think we might actually win. That’s when Emerald arrived.
Hundreds of soldiers poured into the atrium through the entrance. They were a brilliant green in my mind’s eye, wholly dedicated to their queen.
“Cut off the entrance!” Iva shouted above. She and her fliers zoomed to the doorways and began diving down upon the soldiers, but they were like water pouring from a broken dam. It seemed there was little any of us could do to stop it.
Those of us on the ground were soon pushed back to the far wall of the atrium, like sand pushed before the tide.
“You need to call out to them again,” Iva’s clear high voice came into my mind. She tore off a soldier’s arm and flung the limb against the stone wall.
“All right,” I thought back, wiping the dripping sweat out of my eyes. Even the tight guard around me couldn’t keep the soldiers from reaching me. They’d charge my small band until they broke through. I slipped into a fighting stance. Everything was motion. No thinking.
Scarb at my left. Hit him with a sideways kick. Grab his foot and break the bone. A flier diving at me. Three talons aimed at my neck. Block with my right arm, drive the barbs of my knuckles into her thigh. Fighting was second nature. Like breathing. The hard part is trying to persuade with words rather than muscle. Especially when all these scalvions are at my neck.
“I’ll take care of that,” Derrick replied and rammed his black barbs into the stomach of one while sending another flying with a well-aimed back-kick.
He’s almost as good as Ray, I admired involuntarily, then instantly blushed as I knew he’d hear me. And I had compared him to Ray, too.
“Cat, please,” Iva called, reminding me to get back on task.
“Okay.” I stopped to breathe. Tell them what I have to offer. Be strong. I was just about to send the message out to the soldiers when Emerald herself entered the atrium. Her presence was like a shockwave. Exuding power and hatred with every step, she marched through her minions and got up upon one of the ledges Nate and Gray had used to launch themselves off of for flying practice.
A green aura emanating from her skin made her shine unnaturally.
“Destroy them!” she commanded, letting me hear her thoughts. They were rich with venom. Her soldiers were quick to obey, and they surged at us with a ferocity I’d never seen.
“Back to the queen!” Iva called, abandoning their efforts at the entrance and joining us. Within a few seconds, I could feel the beat of her wings above my head. She wasn’t going to abandon me. We were outnumbered ten to one, but even then, no scarb that got close stood a chance against Iva’s lethal skills. She flew faster than a humming bird, just a blur of red hair and green skin making quick work of the soldiers with the strength of her tendrils and the steely sharpness of her talons. I even saw her use her teeth.
But even she wouldn’t last forever. Her sweat fell on my skin like drops of rain.
“Act now,” she panted. “Don’t hesitate.”
But what was I supposed to do? Emerald had a firm grip on the loyalty of every soldier in that room. I could feel the power of it vibrating in the air, almost like it was a living thing in and of itself. There was Emerald, pure power and deadly confidence. I was just a weak fledgling queen, cowering behind the skills and faith of a few eccentric followers.
“Don’t think like that,” Derrick said in short bursts as he strained against the torrent of scarb rushing us. “You’re going to be a good queen. We’ll die for you if we have to.”
“See?” I said. “Eccentric.” He actually took a half-second to turn and look at me, as if he thought it a compliment.
But I didn’t want anyone to die. Especially not for me. That was just what was going to happen, though. We couldn’t fight them off. They were going to rip off our heads and not pause for a moment. I could almost see the smirk on Emerald’s face as she looked down on my ruined body.
Just then, there was a cry from the front of the room. The energy in the room changed. The soldier’s focus divided. They still came at us, but they were turned toward the entrance as well.
“What on Earth?” Gray asked, tossing the leg of a soldier into the swarm and flying up a bit higher to see what had caused the disturbance.
But I didn’t need to see; I could feel it. Gold scarb. More had joined us, and a good many more, at that. At least four hundred. At their head were two scarb I didn’t expect: Saki and Jack.
“We’re not trained soldiers,” Saki called out to me. “But we can still fight for you!”
She was right, the scarb they’d brought were scientists like her and Jack or bakers from the kitchen or cleaning and maintenance workers. They obviously weren’t trained in the art of battle, but they were a more than welcome addition. In fact, it didn’t seem to matter how poorly skilled they were, their effect on Emerald’s soldiers was deadly. They were thrown by the unexpected arrival of average citizens of the colony taking a stand. Emerald was surprised, as well. I sensed a ripple of fear emanate from her, though her thoughts were hidden from me. She thrust her finger this way and that as she directed her army. She wasn’t nearly so high and mighty now.
But the numbers were still in her favor. How long could Saki’s group create confusion?
I had to act now, but there was little chance of persuading any of Emerald’s scarb hiding in this way.
“Gray! Bram!” I called. “Pick me up.”
Gray looked a bit confused, but he and Bram complied, lifting me by the armpits. When I was about forty feet in the air, I asked them to stop and hold me there.
&nbs
p; “Close in on them,” I called out in a clear voice. My scarb on both sides complied, taking vigor from the direction I gave them. They fought ferociously, pushing the soldiers into a tight cluster in the center.
Emerald let out a furious roar. The soldiers tried to obey, but most were in a state of bewildered confusion as bakers and scientists took down trained warriors. And not a single flier remained loyal to Emerald now. Despite her shouts, no danger presented itself to me. I was safe in the skies. I congratulated myself on making such a risky move. I had control of the fliers now.
Upon seeing the tides turn, some of Emerald’s soldiers joined us. Encouraged by this, I sent a message out to my scarb. “Stay strong. Emerald’s weakening by the moment. Hold fast.” The sunlight coming through the open windows of the atrium started dimming.
Then my scarb did something I didn’t expect. Led by Saki, a group of them broke off from the others and came directly at Emerald. Before the old queen could realize what was happening, she was cut off from her main force. Only a small group of forty or so guard protected her on and below the ledge.
Emerald’s eyes were wide with obvious fear, something she probably hadn’t felt for a long time. She sent out a command I didn’t hear, and her soldiers in the middle of the atrium broke out in a unified force against my scarb to get to their queen.
Worried for Saki, I commanded the fliers to get to them.
“Let’s end this,” Iva growled with blood-thirsty determination. But before she or any of my scarb could get to Emerald, the queen disappeared into the throng of her soldiers.
“They’re retreating!” Iva shouted. “Stop them!” But they fled with her through the atrium entrance before we could cut them off. My scarb finished off the last soldiers within reach, and then they were all gone.
I blinked as Gray and Bram held me, hardly believing what I’d just witnessed. There were no more soldiers left in the room. The mighty Emerald had tucked tail and run.
I’d won. Despite everything against us, Emerald had retreated from me.
SWAB (A Young Adult Dystopian Novel) Page 19
