by Kate L. Mary
“You mean when I send you to his door.”
“You’re a conceited bastard, I’ll give you that, but foolish, too. You can’t win this thing, Asa. The Sovereign are too strong. The Outliers were fools to ever think they could defeat them.”
I wanted to hurl curses at him, but instead said nothing. After what had happened today, I was beginning to think he was right.
We traveled the rest of the way to the wall in silence. Greer holding me by the arm, dragging me as my feet scuffed across the stone, nearly tripping over one another. I still felt like I didn’t have complete control of my body, and the occasional twitch of a muscle in my leg or arm threw me even more off balance. I had no idea how many times I’d been shocked by the electroprod, but I was starting to worry that it was one time too many and I would never recover. Add to that the throb in my side from the multiple hits I’d taken at the hands of the Fortis guards.
It wasn’t until the gate came into view that the impact of what I was facing hit me. Lysander had assured me that every person in the valley would be dead, and I had no reason to doubt him. Meaning Indra would be there, and very soon I would be dragged out of the city so I could see her lifeless body with my own two eyes.
Greer stopped when we reached the gate and shoved me to the ground. I fell, not even bothering to try to catch myself, and stayed there while he hovered over me. Staring down with angry eyes, he did his best to intimidate me. Too bad there was nothing this man or anyone else could do that was worse than what had already been done. Indra was dead. My wife, who had only wanted to free her people, had met her end while I was trapped inside these walls.
Neither one of us spoke as we waited for Lysander and the other Fortis guards to join us. The pain in my body began to ease the longer I sat, and by the time the first people came into sight, far down the street, I felt more like my old self. At least physically. Emotionally, I had a feeling I would never recover. Not completely, anyway.
Three others joined us, Dag among them, and then another group appeared. They were still a good way off when I recognized the man at the back. I couldn’t see his face. The sun was high now, and the rays burning down on the city made it impossible to make him out, but I knew it was him just by the way he carried himself. I had seen him lumber toward me too many times not to recognize him.
When he got closer and his face finally came into view, confirming what I had already known, a jolt went through me that made it feel like I had been once again hit by the electroprod. My father, the bastard who had beaten me more times than I could count and who had sent my sister away when she was born. I’d been sure he died during the attack on the Fortis village, but he’d survived. Like the mammoth roaches that inhabited the wastelands, thriving despite the harsh conditions. That was what he was. A bug. A scavenger.
He towered over the men at his side, and despite his age, his arms still bulged with the muscles he’d worked so hard to gain. We’d lived in the same village until recently, but I had done everything I could to avoid him, and it had been months, maybe even longer, since I’d last seen him. His long, dark hair and ratty beard were now streaked with gray, and deep lines cut across his brown skin, emphasizing both his age and his hard life. The skin around his missing right eye—lost in a grizzard attack—was jagged and scarred, but the deep brown of his left eye was as full of hate as ever.
He was still a man’s length away when he spotted me on the ground. His mouth scrunched up like he, too, would spit in my face, but he didn’t, and he said nothing until he had stopped in front of me.
“Asa.” My father looked me over and shook his head. “I heard rumors about you and the Outliers, but I didn’t think even you would be low enough to join their forces.”
“I’m happy to disappoint you.”
“You always have, so why should now be any different?” His mouth scrunched up again, and this time he did spit. It didn’t hit me in the face, though, but instead landed on the ground at my side. “A disappointment from day one. Never listening. Never doing what you should. I was too easy on you, I suppose.”
Easy. I wanted to laugh. Not a single day of living under my father’s roof had been easy. If he wasn’t beating me, he was drinking. In a rage that always ended with him passed out.
More people appeared, Lysander leading the way, and I was jerked to my feet. Greer once again held onto my forearm while my father moved away. It was like he wanted to keep his distance. Like he was afraid people would think he was associated with me. As if I was the bastard.
“Get the gate open,” Lysander called when he joined us.
Surrounded by the Fortis guards, he looked like a child, and it struck me how strange it was that such a small person could wield so much power. Yet he did. With one order, the men and women around him rushed to the gate, pulling it open while he watched, a satisfied gleam in his eyes. In his hand, the electroprod hummed with life, a constant reminder that he could send any of us to our knees with the smallest touch.
It took only a moment to get the gate open, revealing the remains of the Fortis village. A burst of hot air whooshed into the city, bringing with it dust and ash, and the stench of decay. The men and women surrounding me, my former people, glared my way like they wanted nothing more than to rip me limb from limb. I had a feeling it would be a much less painful alternative to what I was about to face.
We moved out, Greer dragging me through the gate and toward the remains of our village. With each step, I could feel the glares of my former people growing in intensity until they felt twice as hot as the sun. I couldn’t really blame them—even if I did think the Fortis had brought this upon themselves—and I couldn’t keep the shame at bay as we passed the rotting corpses of the men and women who had been killed at the hands of the Outliers.
I’d seen the destruction from a distance, watching from the Lygan Cliffs during the attack, then the next morning as the run rose and the remaining Fortis gathered outside the city, as well as later when Indra and I headed for the tunnel. During those moments, what had happened here had weighed heavy on me, but it was nothing compared to what I felt now. Picking my way through the charred remains, stepping over bodies that had been torn apart by grizzards, and inhaling the stench of death. This was my doing as much as it was the Outliers’, and I was well aware of it. As were my companions.
Greer shoved me and I stumbled forward, nearly tripping over an arm picked down to the bone. “See what you’ve done?”
“It’s no different than the things you’ve done,” I said, telling myself it was the truth. Reminding myself of the death and destruction the Fortis had taken part in for centuries.
Dag shoved me from the other side, and I bumped into a Fortis woman who pushed me back. This time I fell, landing on my knees. A puff of ash rose up to surround me, and with it came the cloying scent of decay. I moved, trying to get to my feet, and the scorched remains of the hut shifted to reveal a charred face. The eyes were empty and black, and in their dark depths the accusations felt endless.
“Get him up,” Lysander barked.
Someone grabbed me by the arm and pulled me roughly to my feet, but I didn’t see who it was. My gaze was too focused on the eyes of the dead body at my feet.
We kept moving, and soon we’d reached the end of the village and the beginning of the wilds. In front of us, the sun shimmered off the surface of Sovereign Lake, at first making it seem as if my eyes were playing tricks on me. The closer we got, though, the more I began to accept what I was seeing. Dead fish by the hundreds bobbed across the water.
The sight of them sickened me even more than the dead we had just passed, because it confirmed what I’d already known. Anyone who’d been in the valley when the weapon struck would have met with the same fate.
Soon, the cliffs gave way and the valley came into view. Lumps were spread out across the ground, smoky and charred, and the stink of burning flesh and hair hung heavy in the air. Around me, the other men and women covered their mouths, but I didn’t. I was too focus
ed on the sight in front of me. On the bodies and how spread out they were. On how few of them were scattered across the ground.
It wasn’t the entire army.
It couldn’t have been. Between the three tribes and the Fortis who’d fled with me, the army was close to a thousand strong, but there couldn’t be much more than a hundred bodies in the valley. There was no way the Outliers had managed to drag that many bodies away, not when so little time had passed. Did this mean they’d escaped? Had they fled when Nyko and I failed to open the gate?
It made sense. If something had gone wrong, Indra would automatically assume the Sovereign were preparing to retaliate. She would’ve called for retreat. She would’ve made sure the entire army wasn’t here waiting to be slaughtered.
But would she have retreated with them?
My stomach sank from the truth. No, Indra wouldn’t have left, just as I wouldn’t have if I had been the one out here. Had I been stuck out here while she went into the city, I would have refused to leave until I knew what her fate had been.
“This can’t be all of them.” Lysander was the first to speak, and when he spun to face me, his round face was red with rage. “You said a thousand. This isn’t a thousand!”
Greer grabbed my forearm and pushed me toward the Sovereign man. “Talk.”
“This isn’t all of them.”
I hated giving them any kind of information, but I also knew the truth was staring them in the face. Plus, Lysander was so blinded by his need for revenge that he would insist on searching the valley for Indra, which might be my only chance to find out what had happened to her.
I was right.
Lysander spun to face Greer. “I want to know if she’s here.”
The Fortis man looked around doubtfully. “How will we know which one is her? They’re all pretty charred.”
“Him.” Lysander pointed a meaty finger at me, the tip of it just barely peeking out from the sleeve of his robe. “Show him every female body in this valley if you have to. I don’t care. But we won’t go back to the city until I know if she’s dead or alive.”
Greer didn’t look convinced, but all it took was one flick of the electroprod for him to turn to his men. “Spread out. Find the women.”
The Fortis went to work searching the bodies, and my day of torment grew longer. After taking a beating, watching Nyko and Xandra being abused, as well as the multiple shocks, I hadn’t thought this day could get any worse. Searching the charred remains of the Outlier army tested me to my very limits, though. Especially with the uncertainty of whether or not my wife’s lifeless body was lying in this valley.
Some of the bodies were easy to eliminate. The shaved heads and pierced faces of the Huni made them stick out, as did the larger frames of my own people. Others, however, were burned beyond recognition, making the job more difficult. I’d studied Indra’s passage markings enough to have them memorized, though, and as drawn out as the task was, by the time we’d checked all the bodies over, I knew with absolute certainty that she was not among the dead.
“She’s not here,” I told Lysander when we’d finished.
The sun was setting by then, and in the distance the mirrors were aglow with reds and oranges that made them seem like they were on fire.
“She survived,” he whispered, speaking mostly to himself, and I did not miss the excitement in his tone.
“What do we do next, sir?” Greer asked.
Lysander looked the valley over as he thought. “Back to the city. Leave the bodies to the Lygan. They’re just filthy Outliers, after all. They don’t deserve anything more dignified.”
I’d never thought he would take the time to honor the dead, but his callous remark still made me stiffen.
“And him.” Greer motioned to me.
“Back to his cell. He may be useful yet.” Lysander’s gaze moved over me, his lips curling into a smile that made my blood run cold despite the hot sun. The look only lasted a moment before he turned away, calling over his shoulder to Greer, “And I want patrols outside the city. The Outliers will try to get in again, and when they do, I want to be ready.”
12
Indra
The cave was quiet when Mira and I arrived, Emori’s betrayal and her resulting punishment hanging in the air like an early morning fog. My people watched in silence as Mira and I passed through the first cave, their eyes clouded by the shadows that stretched through the caverns. It made it impossible for me to know what they were thinking and caused the hair on my scalp to prickle, but I held my head high, clinging to the knowledge that Emori had left me no choice. She had attacked me. She had pushed me into a corner where I either had to fight for my position or surrender. Giving up would have meant death, of that I was certain, and so I had fought. Whether or not I had won remained to be seen.
Too tired to deal with anything at the moment, I chose to say nothing and instead passed through the tunnel and into the largest chamber, Mira only steps behind me.
Only a second after emerging from the tunnel, my sister was on her feet. “You are back.”
“I am back.”
I stopped in front of Anja, who looked me over as if taking stock. Even through the shadows in her dark eyes gave away how worried she was, and they also told me that she knew something had happened. Perhaps they had felt the tremor from the electric shock even this far into the wilds, or maybe she could see the despair on my face. It was difficult to say.
Keeping my voice low, I said, “How many did we have in the valley?”
Anja’s back stiffened and her eyes seemed to grow even darker. “Ten people in all. Six from Asa’s tribe and four from ours.”
Ten people from our tribe had died tonight.
Our losses were nothing compared to that of the other tribes, but for us, losing that many people was a huge blow. We were not a big group, and we had already taken a hit thanks to Emori’s defection. Now we had lost ten more men and women, and would be down three more if Xandra, Asa, and Nyko never returned.
I let out a long breath, preparing myself, before facing the room. The people who had been in the first chamber when Mira, Atreyu, and I arrived had followed us here, and I turned to find everyone staring at me. Waiting for the bad news they most certainly knew was coming.
“The Sovereign have retaliated,” I said, working to keep my voice steady. To keep the fear and dread inside so no one could see the cracks already forming in my hard exterior. “They have struck the valley with a weapon powerful enough to kill everything there. Roan, Ontari, Zuri, Atreyu, Mira, and I were the only ones to escape their fury. We got lucky. That is all I can say.” I looked down at the cold stone beneath my feet, and then up at the cavernous roof above my head. “Or someone was looking out for us.”
“How did this happen?” Tris was the first to break the silence, and when I met her gaze, I saw the shock and anger shimmering in her eyes.
Anger at me, or at the Sovereign?
“I cannot say. I only know the bubble is gone and we must prepare for our next move. Those inside the city are ready for us now. They know we have aligned, we cannot doubt it, and they will be ready to defend themselves when we attack. They have the advantage in the walls and their technology, but we have the numbers.” I paused so I could look my people over. “We cannot forget that.”
“Can we win?” Atreyu asked.
A soft cry began before I could respond, and I turned toward the sound. Shock that reminded me of electricity shot through me when my gaze landed on Isa, Emori’s child held firmly in her arms. They were at the back of the crowd, deep in the shadows, but through the darkness her brown eyes seemed to shimmer with emotion when they met mine. I braced myself, prepared for hate and bitterness. For anger. There was only sadness and fear, though, and a loss that seemed to have aged her ten years since the last time I saw her.
Feet scraped as people around the room shuffled, and my gaze moved from Isa to the woman at her side. Next to the thin girl, the former Fortis woman looked lik
e a mountain. Her hair had been bleached blonde from the sun, her skin tanned to a bronze, but compared to Isa’s dark complexion, she seemed pale and ghostly. The two could not be more different, and yet here they were, standing beside one another. Ready to fight for the same thing.
Freedom.
I looked the others in the room over, and as my gaze moved I began to think about everything we had already overcome. Back in the valley, standing beside the charred remains of our people, I had felt almost defeated, but I was wrong. This was no different than anything else we had faced. We had lived through the death of our tribe, had managed to create an army out of people who had once mistrusted if not despised each other. Had wiped out more than half of our oppressors. This would be no different. We had the strength and determination, and we had the people. We could do this. We could win.
“We can,” I said, my voice rising higher, bouncing off the walls until it came back to us over and over again.
With each echo, my people seemed to gain confidence, and by the time the sound had faded away, a renewed energy buzzed through the room.
“We have faced bigger odds and won,” I continued. “This will be no different. All we have to do is find a weakness in the city’s armor. Something small, but significant. And when we do, we will exploit it.”
A cry rose up in the cave that gave me even more confidence in my people. We may have been at a disadvantage for the moment, but it would not last. Not for long.
“What is the plan?” Tris asked, drawing my gaze back to her.
“Tonight, we must rest. Tomorrow, I will meet with the other Heads to talk things over. I cannot say what will happen next, but I know none of us are willing to give up until the Sovereign have paid for what they have done.”
Murmurs of agreement moved through the room as the crowd began to disperse. Even though I was exhausted and in desperate need of rest, I pushed my way through the crowd, my sights set on Isa.
As if knowing I was coming, she did not move from her position. She stayed in the shadows, Emori’s child bouncing on her hip and her eyes on me as I approached. With each step I took, my certainty waned a little more. I had disfigured her sister. Had cast her out. How could Isa stand by me after such a thing? Could I have stood by someone who did the same to Anja? Was Isa only here because it was too dangerous in the wilds for the child?
