Storms of the Forest

by Dele Daniel

  Prince blinked, looking momentarily startled. Despite the new role he was doing his best to play, I didn’t think he would ever get used to hearing me address him as “my chief,” just like I would probably never get used to saying it.

  Realizing all eyes were on him again, Prince straightened his posture and arranged his features into what was meant to be a sure and stern expression. “Thanks for your input,” he said tersely, “but I agree with Leni.” He looked at the crowd at large, spreading his feet and standing as tall as he could, attempting to look bigger than he was. But in that moment, he looked every bit of the child he truly was, playing pretend. “So no one is to go anywhere! You got that? I, as your chief, command you all to stay put until we figure things out.” He paused, giving time for his message to sink in. Then he nodded his head. “Meeting adjourned. And no more questions or comments.”

  With that, he gave Leni a quick nod, and the two of the retreated from the room together.

  I stood there, shell-shocked and feeling sick to my stomach. It seemed like every time I thought things couldn’t possibly get any worse, I was thoroughly proven wrong.

  ***

  Just as I’d expected, sleep was hard to come by that night. Every time I closed my eyes, I reopened them mere seconds later, feeling a full panic attack approaching. This was mainly because whenever I happened to close my eyes, images of dead Arnazuri bodies waited behind my eyelids to haunt me. All it took was a few seconds, and I was reliving the horrific scene that I had stumbled across in what simultaneously felt so long ago and not long ago at all. And it certainly didn’t help that I now knew Nasheeda’s brother had been among the slaughtered bodies.

  The main problem, though, was that in my nightmares, all of those bodies now looked like Remington’s. Over and over, I kept seeing his face, imagining him lying among the dead. It brought along with it the resurgence of the terror and despair I had felt during the time when I’d been under the impression that had been killed in that particular attack.

  Giving up on sleep entirely, I got up. My body trembled either from the cool night air or from the thought that with each passing second, there was no way for me to know where Remington was and what was happening to him. And while that uncertainty remained, my mind kept fearing the absolute worst. I kept trying to tell myself that Remington was strong and brave. That he knew how to take care of himself. That’s how he had survived so long in the first place. Still, those thoughts were of no use. I just couldn’t be comforted.

  I needed to do something.

  I stirred around the exceptionally crowded safehouse. There were sleeping bodies everywhere, which regretfully gave me a strong sense of déjà vu because they reminded me too much of walking through the dead Arnazuri bodies that fateful day when I’d first been taken into custody. It helped, though, to hear some of them snoring or groaning anxiously in their sleep and to see some of them tossing and turning on the floor, struggling to get comfortable. It helped to return my mind to the present and to realize that in the present, there was still hope.

  Hopefully.

  I tiptoed along, careful not to wake anyone as I made my way to the front of the house, wanting to sit in the window since it was the farthest I could go. Prince had stationed lookouts to make sure no one left, as well as to sound the alarm if anyone undesirable approached. I had considered asking if I could be one of the lookouts; my time would have been better served with some sort of task rather than spending a sleepless night worrying myself sick over Remington. But I knew better than to ask, for I already knew what Prince’s and Leni’s response would have been.

  As I continued tiptoeing through the house, a pair of bright, shiny eyes caught my attention. It turned out that I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t sleep.

  I blinked a few times, my eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness and deciphering the face those eyes belonged to. Nasheeda.

  She nodded at me, and I nodded back. Then I realized the other girls were around her, lying down but not asleep either.

  Nasheeda slowly and quietly climbed to her feet and began making her way toward me, also taking extra care to not disturb anyone. Then the other girls began following suit, coming toward me in the darkness, one by one.

  “Can’t sleep?” Nasheeda asked.

  “Of course not,” I whispered back with a sigh. “I can’t sleep, and I can’t just sit here for forty-eight hours doing nothing.”

  “What do you mean?” Shiva asked, having made her way over.

  I looked back at her and the other girls. “I mean,” I said slowly, “that we have to do something.” I paused, my thoughts whirling. In between my fearful thoughts over Remington’s fate, there had been other thoughts bouncing around in my head, waiting to be acknowledged. And as I stared at Nasheeda, Shiva, and the other girls, I began to feel resolute. Seeing them made me want to give voice to those thoughts. “If the men are just going to sit around and do nothing,” I said in an even lower voice, “then it’s time for us to take matters into our own hands.”

  The girls looked back at me, intrigued. Right then and there, I knew I had loyal allies at my side.

  “So what do you suggest?” Nasheeda asked, while the others kept their eyes glued to me.

  I glanced around the room again, making sure that no one else was awake to overhear us. Then I leaned in toward them. “I have a plan. Meet me near the stream at midnight.”

  CHAPTER 20

  Sneaking out of the safehouse had been far easier than I thought it would be—so much, in fact, I worried it was a bad omen and that something was bound to go terribly wrong sooner or later. But I tried to keep a positive attitude because Remington needed me, and waiting for Prince and Leni to figure out what to do simply wasn’t an option as far as I was concerned.

  I thought the girls and I would have to sneak out the back of the safehouse—or possibly even squeeze our way out through a window—but fortunately, the guards Prince and Leni had stationed as lookouts had fallen asleep, snoring and drooling with their backs pressed against the shabby walls of the house.

  Some guards, I’d thought to myself as I swiftly exited the house and headed for the trees. Serves Prince right for not letting me be a lookout.

  Despite the guards being asleep, we still exercised as much caution as possible. The girls and I left one at a time, not wanting to risk anyone waking up and noticing a whole group of us leaving out of the house together. We each waited at varying intervals before leaving—that way, if any one of us happened to be seen, it would look like we were alone, just stepping out for fresh air.

  Using this method, it took a little over an hour for us all to unite at the stream, with Shiva being the last to arrive.

  We squeezed into a huddle around the water, hoping the sounds of the running stream would muffle our voices in case anyone was around to see us. Fortunately, though, it was so dark out that we would likely be difficult to see clearly. It was after midnight and the waning moon in the inky black sky provided minimal lighting. Plus, it was so chilly out that anyone who did happen to be out at this hour would undoubtedly be moving quickly, anxious to get out of the cold. Thus, if they noticed us, they would be in too much of a hurry to care.

  Unless they were looking for trouble, that is.

  Thoughts of Remington on my mind, I took a deep breath and fought the urge to shudder. “Well, like I said before, we can’t afford to wait to save . . . the kidnapped Hawk members,” I said, faltering because saying Remington’s name out loud suddenly felt too difficult. “Waiting is far too dangerous, especially considering one of them had been with me when . . .” I paused.

  Although I trusted the girls now, and vice versa, I didn’t exactly want to admit to having killed royal guards before. After all, during their first formal introduction to me, I had almost killed Nasheeda. The last thing I wanted was for the girls to think they had wound up in cahoots with a crazy murderer.

  Plus, it wasn’t like I was exactly happy about the body count I’d been acquiri
ng lately.

  Clenching my teeth, I fought off another shudder.

  “One of them was with you when what?” one of the girls asked, waiting for me to continue.

  I swallowed, trying to figure out how to answer.

  “Remington, right?” another answered for me. “He was with her when she led the mission to retrieve the weapons the boys are using for training.”

  “Oh, yeah, that’s right,” another said. Her gaze bore into mine. “You’re already a wanted criminal to the capital. If they recognized him because he was with you, maybe that’s why they took him in the first place.”

  Several of them began to squirm, and I knew the revelation of how dangerous it was to be with me was dawning on them.

  “No. Adey was kidnapped too, and he wasn’t with me. So the kidnapping was random,” I said, although I didn’t entirely believe it myself. I inwardly cursed myself for even introducing this line of thinking. But deep down, I would be lying if I didn’t acknowledge that Remington was too skilled of a warrior to easily get captured. While it was possible for him to be taken off guard, it seemed more likely that he had been targeted. And I just couldn’t entirely get over the feeling that it was because of me.

  But then again, the royal guards who could vouch that he’d been with me are dead. So who could have possibly told? How could Remington have been identified? The only one still living to tell the tale is currently being held captive by us, I reminded myself, the thought momentarily soothing me even though I couldn’t voice it to the girls.

  Yet, I couldn’t forget that the first time Remington had been captured was all the way back when we both had been taken out of the Arnazuri forest. Did any of the royal guards realize our connection because of that?

  No . . . Remington and I had been on different sides back then.

  “What are you thinking?” one of the girls asked suspiciously. “What are you not telling us?”

  I shook my head. “Nothing,” I said too quickly. In that moment, I knew I needed to redirect their attention, fast. I needed them and couldn’t have them turning on me. “Anyway,” I pressed on, “he’s . . . he’s a dear friend of mine, and I cannot lose another friend.” I paused again, hating the way my voice cracked as thoughts of Jason abruptly sprang to mind. Sometimes, I feared I would never get over him. Would it ever get easier?

  I clenched my fists, letting my fingernails dig into my palms and forcing myself to remember once again that I needed to save Remington, lest he end up like Jason. That meant neither one of them deserved my weakness. I had to be strong for them both.

  I cleared my throat and straightened my posture, resolving to keep a clear, calm, and collected head from that point forward. “We need to go after the king’s guards before they reach King’s Forest,” I continued. “Otherwise, it’ll be too late. We still have a chance though. The king’s guards travel by horse, not vehicles. So if we move quickly enough, we can catch up to them. They couldn’t have gotten too far, and I’m pretty sure they would have stopped to rest after the sun went down. So we need to move fast.”

  The girls all nodded and muttered their agreement. I breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that they were still on my side and their fleeting doubts seemed to have faded away already.

  “Well, let’s get a move on,” Shiva said. “What are we waiting for? Let’s get some horses and get out of here. We need to move before those guys Prince stationed around the safehouse wake back up.”

  I thought for a moment. “I think we should get Sentana first.” “Sentana?” another said. “But she’s locked up.”

  “I know. We need to break her out and take her with us.” “Why?”

  “She’ll be useful to us. Trust me.”

  “Well, she certainly better be,” said Shiva. “It’s going to be one hell of a risk breaking her out. That means more guards that we need to sneak past.”

  “But having her with us will pay off in the long run,” I reassured. “You’ll see when the time comes.”

  “I hope you’re right, Genesis,” Shiva said. “I really hope you’re right.”

  I chewed my bottom lip, contemplating the best way to carry out my plan. “I don’t think all of us can go,” I said slowly. “To rescue Sentana, I mean. It’ll probably be best if only one of you come with me to get her. Otherwise, we’ll draw too much attention. We need to stay as inconspicuous as possible.”

  The other girls nodded. “That makes sense,” Nasheeda said. “Where should everyone else wait then?”

  “Here, I suppose. Just be careful and keep a watch out for any of Prince’s minions that could be lurking about.”

  “All right. Now that that’s settled, let’s go,” Shiva said. “I volunteer to go with you. I know exactly where Sentana’s being held.”

  ***

  As we made our way back, I was grateful to have Shiva as my traveling partner. She was almost as quick and light on her feet as I was.

  Almost.

  “Shh!” I said, turning back toward her after she’d taken a few uncharacteristically noisy steps. Through the darkness, I could just barely make out her wide, round eyes, staring back at me.

  “That wasn’t me, I swear,” she said, a clear note of panic in her voice.

  I paused and looked backward, as did she, wondering if we were being followed.

  “I don’t see anyone,” she said.

  “Neither do I,” I said, feeling unsettled nonetheless. “Come on. Let’s keep moving.”

  We both quickened our paces, intuitively wanting to hurry before something went wrong.

  As we neared our base, Shiva nudged me and jerked her head. “They’ve placed her behind the stables,” she said. “They’ve been using that as a makeshift prison.”

  I bit my tongue, a surge of anger washing over me at the thought of Sentana being treated like a prisoner when she had done absolutely nothing to deserve it. Now that I knew how we—the Arnazuri community as a whole—had been so horrifically mistreated for centuries, it bothered me that any of us would have the audacity to mistreat anyone else who didn’t deserve it, especially since we needed all the allies we could get.

  Anger making me clumsy, I realized too late that my footsteps had become too loud and careless as we neared the stables. Consequently, Dolly and Max spotted me almost immediately.

  Dolly began to neigh and Max began to paw the ground.

  I swore and Shiva froze.

  “Shh!” I said, pleading to the horses to settle down, as if it would really help.

  Shiva glanced around nervously. “I think I heard someone again,” she said in a tensed whisper.

  “Quick! Where’s the prison?” I asked.

  “This way,” she said, and darted forward. I followed, right on her heels. With a cautious glance backward, I saw that the commotion Dolly and Max were making had woken up one of the guards nearby. I swore again, but fortunately, the guard seemed confused for a moment. He blinked rapidly, his eyes still adapting after waking from a deep slumber. By the time he had managed to stand up and peer in our direction, we had ducked out of sight, crouching behind the stable.

  “Who’s there?” His voice rang through the night air.

  Shiva and I covered our mouths, afraid our breathing was too loud and would give us away.

  Go away, go away, go away, I pleaded in my head. We’d come too close to get caught now. I squeezed my eyes shut, taking a deep breath and inhaling the smell of the horses nearby.

  The guard’s footsteps drew closer before he came to a halt, probably glancing around. “You may as well reveal yourselves! I know you ran off over here somewhere.”

  Shiva and I exchanged glances of dread, knowing our plan had been stopped before it had even gotten the chance to officially get started. The thought of failing Remington was almost too painful to bear. My stomach lurched as the footsteps resumed, getting closer and closer.

  “Hey!” he yelled out.

  My heart dropped. We’d been spotted. I knew that it was only a matter of
seconds before he sounded the alarm and alerted the other Hawks, as well as Prince and Leni.

  But suddenly, he released a brief and startled cry that was followed by a thump and the unmistakable sound of someone dropping to the ground.

  Shiva and I exchanged glances again, confused this time. Seconds of silence ticked by before a set of footsteps resumed, although they were distinctly different from the previous ones. These were a little quicker and a tad bit lighter.

  I looked toward Shiva, trying to decide whether we should just make a run for it or stay put. But then it was too late. A figure stepped around the corner from where we stood huddled together.

  “Figured you girls might need some backup.”

  I blinked, dumbfounded. Shiva and I slowly stood from our crouching position to find Nasheeda standing before us with a club in her hand. She nodded behind her. “He was on your tracks. I took care of him though.”

  Creeping toward the edge of the stable, I peeked out to see the guard lying unconscious on the ground from Nasheeda’s attack. I breathed a sigh of relief.

  “I knew I heard something!” Shiva whispered. “That was you following us?” Nasheeda nodded. “Well, where’s the girl?”

  “This way,” Shiva said. And without wasting another second, Nasheeda and I followed her into the tight enclosure behind the stable.

  I grimaced the instant we were inside, positively disgusted. Our horses were being kept in better conditions than this. How could they be keeping Sentana in here?

  Walking quickly and quietly, we passed the guard that Remington, Zane, and I had brought back with us after securing the guns. Though it was dark, I could just make out his figure, lying on the floor sleeping.