“Did they finally send the medicine I asked for?” she asked.
Adan remembered then that his face was still covered by his kaff. He quickly pulled down his desert scarf and stepped into the light.
“Senya, it’s me,” he said.
A spark of life leapt onto her face. She dropped the rag onto the floor and rushed across the room, throwing her arms around him and bursting into tears.
“Oh, praises to the Holy One, you’re safe,” she said, her tears soaking into his filthy garrick.
“He has protected you as well,” Adan whispered. “He has protected us all.”
For several moments she said nothing, overcome by her tears. Adan, conscious of those behind him, pulled away.
“We’ve come to get you out of here, Senya, to free all the Welkin and any Waymen who want to escape this place.” Adan turned to introduce his companions. “This is Sierra and Tarn. They’re here to help, too.”
Senya, wiping her tears, quickly brightened, regarding them with the same warmth and hospitality as if she were receiving visitors in her home.
“Thank you for coming,” she said. “We were all praying, just this morning—and now this. I can hardly believe it. And yet, why shouldn’t I? We prayed—” Her voice broke with emotion.
“It’s good to meet you,” Sierra said, forcing a smile.
“We are glad we found you,” Tarn added, his tone formal, but genuine.
“And Malloc?” Adan gestured towards the big man. “What happened to him?”
“I don’t know,” Senya said. “He got hurt in the scrapyards. A large slab of metal fell on his leg. It should have killed him, but he’s stronger than most men. They said it was an accident, but Malloc…he doesn’t think so. He’s been feverish all night, going on about it. I ordered some more medicine for him to help break the fever, but the supplies are extremely low.”
Adan studied the Welkin leader, his thick chest rising and falling too quickly, as if it were a struggle to breathe.
“Some almamenth would help,” Sierra said, stepping beside him. “I brought some with me.” She patted one of the pouches around her waist.
“Oh, yes,” Senya said. “That would be wonderful.”
Sierra pulled out a small tube of the dark green paste. “Would you like to apply it, or shall I?” she asked.
“Why don’t you rub it in while I get a fresh rag to moisten his forehead,” Senya suggested.
At a nod from Sierra, Senya bent down and picked up the rag she had dropped. Then she opened up the cabinet and pulled out a fresh cloth. Sierra began spreading the greenish paste from her tube onto Malloc’s arm while Senya set the old rag down beside the basin and proceeded to dampen the new one.
Gently wiping Malloc’s forehead with the rag, Senya said, “How did you manage to escape from the Waymen? I asked where they had taken you and they said to the pits. I was so terrified that you were going to die. No one ever comes back from there.”
“It’s a long story,” Adan said. “I was rescued the next day. I wanted to come looking for you, but I couldn’t. I’ll tell you the rest later. Right now, we need to get the word out to everyone about how and when we’re going to escape. We’ve got a large ship ready to carry you and your people out of here.”
Senya gave him a blank look. “A ship…” she mumbled the words. “How big is it? There must be close to a thousand prisoners here.”
“It won’t be easy,” Adan said. “And we have to be especially careful not to alert anyone who might give away our plan.” He paused, unsure of how Senya would react to his next statement. “That means we may have to leave some people behind. You can only entrust this information to people you are sure will keep it secret.”
Sierra finished with the almamenth and returned her tube back to her pouch. She proceeded to retrieve her activator, a short silver rod used for diagnosing someone’s condition, from her coat. It emitted strange patterns of light across Malloc’s body.
“We can inform the leaders,” Senya stated, her eyes captivated by the colorful yellow lights dancing across Malloc’s skin. “They will know who is safe and who isn’t.”
“Right,” Adan agreed. “How many are there? And how do we get in touch with them?”
“There are six Welkin leaders amongst the prisoners, but I don’t know if they would believe me if I told them. Most Welkin are just as suspicious about technology as the Waymen, at least the Waymen outside of Hull. I don’t think they would understand what a ‘ship’ was. Honestly I don’t understand it myself.”
“It’s a large…vehicle…that you get inside of.” Adan stumbled to find the right words to explain it to her.
Tarn jumped in to assist him. “It’s like one of the water-vessels—the ones from the legends, except it floats—in the air.”
A dim light of recognition flickered in Senya’s eyes. “And it will be big enough for all of us?” she asked.
“Yes. It’s large enough to hold more than a thousand people,” Adan assured her.
At that moment Malloc gave a low groan and began to stir. Sierra put away her activator. “The medicine he received was laced with tiferum, a poisonous drug. Most men would have died from the amount he received, but his constitution is remarkably strong. The almamenth will cleanse it out of his system.”
“Tiferum?” Senya asked. “How did that get into the medicine?”
“I don’t know,” Sierra said. “But it does not occur naturally, so either someone made a mistake when they stocked your medical supplies or someone put it in there on purpose.”
Senya’s hand went to her mouth. “You’re saying someone tried to kill him? But that makes no sense. Malloc is head strong and has often been punished for not obeying orders, but if the Waymen wanted him dead, they would have just run him through with a pinion.”
“Hopefully it was just a mistake,” Adan said. “But we’ll probably never know. Either way, you’ll soon be free of this place and we can get Malloc out of whatever danger he is in here.”
Malloc coughed loudly and opened his eyes. His initial look of confusion quickly gave way to one of anger.
“How did this traitor’s friend get in here?” came the hoarse, yet powerful voice of the Welkin leader.
Adan’s mind flashed back to the last time he had seen Malloc. Will had been with him then, and Malloc despised Will, blaming him for the death of his son. Weak as Malloc was, that same fiery hatred for Will which Adan had seen back then still burned in the Welkin’s eyes.
“Hush, Malloc,” Senya scolded. This took the edge off his anger for the moment. “Adan, where is Will? The last time we met I wanted to ask you, but there wasn’t time.”
Adan’s eyes fell to the floor. His heart still ached at the memory of his friend’s death and he was reluctant to inflict the same pain into Senya’s heart, but he had to be honest. “He died in Oasis,” he said softly. “He was killed by the Waymen.”
Senya covered her eyes and shuddered. Adan stepped towards her, wanting to say something to comfort her, but no words came. Wisdom told him that the wound was too fresh to apply a salve.
“A fitting end,” Malloc muttered.
Senya’s eyes darted at Malloc in astonishment.
“I’m sorry, Senya, but some men are beyond forgiveness.” Malloc coughed again and turned back to Adan. “Why are you here, Wayman?”
Adan straightened and returned the man’s gaze, refusing to allow the Welkin’s caustic nature to affect him. He needed this man’s help to save these people. Though his heart ached for Senya and her grief, the more quickly he could get beyond old grudges and earn his trust, the better.
“Because I long to see your people free of this place,” Adan said. “I am here to help.”
Malloc snorted derisively. “I don’t need the help of a coward who fled in the midst of battle to free my people.” He coughed several times before continuing. “Once I get my strength back, I’ll find a way to untangle my knit from their bindings.”
Senya gently touched Malloc’s shoulder, taking a moment to collect herself. “Do not let your pride get in the way of helping your people,” she said soothingly. “These are friends. They are here to help us. This woman just brought you some almamenth. She may have saved your life.”
Malloc grunted and nodded begrudgingly in Sierra’s direction.
“Is he always this stubborn?” Sierra asked, earning her a stern look from the large man, but he said nothing this time, clenching his jaw shut in a rare show of restraint.
“We need you to help organize the other leaders for the escape,” Adan said, trying to mimic Senya’s tone. “You are the only one who can rally them in time.”
“I told you we don’t need—” Malloc began, but checked himself mid-sentence. “Wait, you’re speaking our cant. You can’t possibly have learned it since the last time we met.”
“It’s from the technology which Gavin’s—I mean Mendigo’s—people gave me,” Adan said.
Malloc’s expression softened a bit. He took a moment to study Adan and his friends. “I still don’t like you,” he stated flatly.
A long silence fell over the room.
“I am not impressed by your wizardry,” Malloc grumbled, shaking his head.
“Forgive me, elder,” Tarn said, “but now is the time to act. We have taken a great risk in coming to this city to help your people escape. If these strange drugs they gave you have not affected your mind, then you need to help us get the word to your people.”
A look of shock came over Malloc’s face at the bluntness of Tarn’s words. “And who are you? I don’t remember seeing you before,” the Welkin leader shot back.
“My name is Tarn. Sierra and her friends rescued me from the ruins of a city destroyed by storms and quakes. I owe them my life. Now I want to help your people the same way they helped me.”
Though Tarn’s words came across as sincere, Malloc’s expression remained callous. “I refuse to be lectured by a Wayman. Senya, why did you let these people in?”
“Tarn is here to help,” Senya said, unfazed by his continued ill-temper. “These people have a way for us to get out of here. You have to listen to them, Malloc. Now is not the time for pride and anger.”
Malloc’s dark complexion flushed burgundy at Senya’s rebuke. “What has gotten into you? The Wayman have attacked our knit dozens of times. Tell me why I should trust any Wayman—ever!”
Adan was beginning to think they were wasting their time with this man. “Malloc, if you care more about old grudges than you do the fate of your people, then we will have to find a way to rescue them without your help.”
Malloc snapped upright in his bed and lunged at Adan without warning. Instinctively, Adan jerked backwards, causing Malloc to swing at the open air. The Welkin leader collapsed back onto his bed, wincing in pain.
“Malloc!” Senya reprimanded, her voice at last losing its respectful tones. “I think perhaps Tarn is right. That medicine must have affected your mind as well as your body. You are not being reasonable.”
Malloc stifled a groan and rolled his head from side to side in response.
“Senya, we don’t want to cause any problems,” Adan said. “Just let me explain how you can find the ship and then you can—”
“No, wait,” Malloc said, raising a trembling hand. “I will listen. It’s just…You don’t understand. We have been betrayed so many times that it is difficult to trust. Even here in Hull, there are Welkin who would sell us out if they thought it would improve their standing with our Waymen taskmasters. It was one of them who put me in this bed.”
“You still think Barlo did this to you?” Senya asked. “He may be working for the Waymen, but he’s not a murderer. Besides, it was a tremor that caused that beam to slip. I don’t see how Barlo could have caused that.”
“I know it was him, Senya,” Malloc said, grunting again either from the pain or his disdain of the man of whom they spoke.
Adan wondered if he should mention their connection to Barlo, but suspected it would only cause further trouble with the temperamental Welkin.
“Have you had tremors here at Hull too?” Adan asked.
“The one yesterday was the strongest, but there have been a few smaller ones since then,” said Senya.
“The place we came from has been experiencing quakes for several days now. If they are spreading this far out, that is all the more reason to get you out of here and onto the ship where it’s safe.”
“The Viscera is all connected,” Malloc said. “When one part of the body is in pain, it is felt elsewhere.”
“You experienced tremors before? Back in Aldea?” Adan asked.
“No,” Malloc answered, “but the legends speak of them, in the time before the Severing.”
“The Severing? What was that?”
“That was when the Waymen and the Welkin went their separate ways,” Tarn answered. “According to legend.”
Malloc fixed his fierce eyes on Adan, but they no longer flared with anger. Instead they shone with intense interest. “You have convinced me, friend of Nacio. He may have killed my son, but if you can truly help us, I would be a fool not to listen to you…Tell us about this ‘ship’ of yours and about your plan to help free my people.”
Relief washed over Adan. Malloc may have been difficult to win over, but now that he was on their side, they might actually have a chance to pull off this rescue.
Twelve
Caught in the Spoke
Malloc’s scowl deepened as Adan finished explaining his plan to liberate the captives. “So you’re certain the attack by this mechanized army will come on the day you have predicted.”
“If I was not, I would not have risked my life to come here,” Adan said.
Malloc stroked his mountain of a chin, pondering all that Adan had said. He was still deep in thought when a man’s voice burst into the room, startling everyone.
“Senya, there are Waymen heading down the hall towards you,” the voice said, breathlessly. It sounded like the voice of Var, the attendant at the door, but more artificial, like something coming through a tube or pipe. “I tried to keep them out, but they have the master switch,” the voice added.
Senya’s face went pale.
“Wait, what is he talking about?” Sierra asked.
“What was that voice?” Tarn asked, his eyes darting about the room.
“That was one of the guards at the entrance to the infirmary,” Senya said. “They have a way of projecting their voices into the rooms here, though I don’t really understand how it works.” She gripped Malloc’s arm in a panic. “What are we going to do?”
“Hurry, Senya,there are lots of them,” warned the voice in the air.
“Leave,” Malloc commanded, his powerful baritone filling the room. “I will stall them as long as I can.”
Despite the clarity of Malloc’s order, Senya hesitated at the side of his bed.
“Go, Senya. Show them the way out,” Malloc said.
“We’ll find you before the ship leaves,” Adan told Malloc, taking hold of Senya with one hand and urging Tarn and Sierra out the door with the other. “Tell the other leaders what I told you. We won’t leave without you. I promise.”
Malloc’s solemn nod was his only reply.
They ducked out the door and Senya led them down the hallway in the opposite direction from which they’d come, further into the infirmary. Glancing over his shoulder as he ran, Adan saw that they were too late. A line of Waymen, at least seven or eight, rushed up from behind them, the tips of their spears glinting in the dim light.
“Ho there!” one of the men cried out. “The Reeve of Hull commands you to halt!”
Adan’s heart sank, but only for a moment. They were outnumbered, but the men coming after them were in perfect position to fire his oscillathe. This time he did not hesitate. There wasn’t time. He pulled the weapon off his belt in one smooth motion and fired.
A static-filled boom bellowed down the narrow hallway, sweeping
up every last Wayman in its wake. The entire contingent dropped to the floor. The combined thud of so many men hitting the ground was like an echo from the blast of the weapon.
They sped down the corridor, doors whisking past on either side. But their freedom from pursuit lasted only a moment. The echoing sounds of running feet filled the hallway up ahead.
“They must have sent every guard in the Spoke,” Senya said.
Their headlong sprint down the passage came to an abrupt halt in the middle of an intersection.
“Which way?” Adan asked, his heart pounding.
“I don’t know,” Senya replied, shaking her head. “They must be coming through the back entrance as well.”
With no time to deliberate, Adan took off to the right. They had not gone twenty paces when a set of double doors in front of them swished open and another half dozen Waymen surged through.
Adan fired at the Waymen on the left and Sierra shot up ahead. Though his aim had been true, six more came through the doorway after the shot, leaping over their fallen comrades. Two of them let their spears fly.
Adan flinched and Senya let out a terrified cry.
But instead of running them through, a white light enveloped the spears and cast them to the ground. The blast from Tarn’s neutralizer has come just in time.
By now, Adan’s oscillathe had recharged, but Sierra fired on the six newcomers first, dropping them where they stood.
As brief as the exchange had been, running footsteps from behind indicated that more men were just behind them.
Adan took off running, hoping to get past the double doors before more Waymen came through, but before he could reach them, four more attackers rushed in.
Two shivs flashed in front of Adan and though he jumped back a stinging pain sliced through his arm. Almost reflexively, he flicked his wrist and a white burst from his neutralizer dropped his attacker. His attacker’s weapons clattered to the floor, one brushed along the edge with fresh blood.
It only took two neutralizer blasts from Sierra and Tarn to disable the remaining three since the Waymen were bunched so close together.
The Chronotrace Sequence- The Complete Box Set Page 78
