New Bloods Boxset

by Michelle Bryan

  I drift in and out of consciousness. I know we’re moving. I can feel the bumps and ruts in the road, but time has no meaning to me. Cain’t rightly say how long we are on the move. I wake occasionally, panicked, but Jax is right there soothing me, keeping me calm, and I quickly drift off again.

  I wake once more when they move me outside, but whatever magic they had attacked me with is still very much in control of me. My body is useless, and I’m shifted from the wagon to a sturdier metal cage like a sack of taters. I watch, immobilized, as Jax and Finn are forced in as well, and the clanging of the metal door as it locks behind them resonates in my ears. Finn immediately runs to me, but Jax starts shaking the cage door and yelling cuss words that I ain’t ever heard before at their retreating backs. They ignore him. I, on the other hand, for some reason find it extremely funny, and I start laughing uncontrollably. Jax whirls and stares at me in disbelief. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I cain’t stop laughing. It’s like their magic has affected me in some other way now.

  Finally, Jax’s lips twitch, and he joins me and Finn at the other side of the cage.

  “That’s it … you have truly gone mad,” he says as he slides down the wall to sit at my head, running his hands through his hair.

  I nod, amazed that I am able to do so. “I think you’re right,” I whisper.

  Ah. I can speak. Whatever they had used on me must be starting to wear off. I raise my hand slowly and try flexing my fist. I manage to do it once before the hand falls useless at my side again. But at least I had done it.

  “Can you help me up?” I whisper, and Jax pulls me up in a sitting position against the wall.

  I peer through the bars of the metal cage trying to figure out where they’ve brought us. I was expecting to be in some dank, underground cell, but we ain’t inside. We are definitely still outside, and amazingly, there are people milling about everywhere. And no one, not one single soul, is paying any attention to us prisoners in the cage. Then again, if there is a prison cage around, I guess they’re very well used to seeing prisoners in it. Then I notice that these aren’t just normal, everyday people walking around. These people were dressed in filthy rags, dirty, unkempt like they ain’t seen a bath in years. Not at all like the people we’d seen in the city. Soldiers are herding them along like cattle, and they rattle and clang as they pass by the cage. The noise is coming from chains ‘round their ankles, and I suddenly understand why they ain’t bothering with us. They are prisoners just like we are.

  “Where are we?” I ask, and my words come out a little stronger this time. I try moving my legs; I’m happy when they respond.

  “I’m not sure, but I think we are being held in the iron mines,” Jax answers, and I can feel my heart skip a beat.

  Really? There may be a silver lining here after all. If that’s where we were, then I ain’t gotta worry about finding my way in to search for my kin. No, seems like I just have to worry about finding my way out.

  I look ‘round the cage, and my eyes come to rest on Finn. He’s staring at the floor, head hanging on his chest, and I realize I ain’t heard him speak since the courtyard.

  “Finn?” I say, and when he looks up, his eyes are shiny with his tears.

  “Why, Tara? Why would Tater do that to us? I thought he was my friend. And what about Cat? She ain’t gonna know what happened to me. I promised her I was gonna come out and check on her every day. She’s gonna think I deserted her. Why would he do that to us?”

  I don’t know how to answer the boy. I don’t know ‘cause I’m feeling the same kinda hurt and betrayal and loss. “Finn—” I say, but he grabs my hand tight and cuts me off.

  “Promise me you won’t kill him, Tara.” he says, staring at me fiercely.

  “Finn, what are you talkin’ ‘bout?” I say, bewildered. He was just bellyaching about Tater, now he’s afraid I’m going to hurt him?

  “You said you was gonna kill him. You cain’t do that, Tara, no matter what he’s done. He’s still Tater. You cain’t kill him. It ain’t right.”

  “Finn, he turned us in—”

  “Promise me,” he says again with more urgency.

  “Okay. All right, I promise not to kill him,” I say but more so just to shut the boy up. I ain’t got no intention in hell of keeping that promise. I instantly feel ashamed though for lying ‘cause the boy hugs me real tight in relief. Shizen. This is not going to be easy. I pat his head awkwardly, still not in full control of my muscles. “Cat will be fine,” I say to him, and he nods even though I know he don’t believe me. He’s just desperate to accept any form of reassurance right now. I stare at Jax over the boy’s head. “Any idea what they did to me back there, Jax?” I say, my brain and tongue apparently working together again. He shrugs at me.

  “I was hoping you could tell me. After Tater sold us out, I spent the rest of the time at the bottom of a pile of soldiers. By the time I managed to climb my way out, you were nothing but a wobbly wreck.”

  Hearing Jax mention Tater’s betrayal makes my hurt and anger come rushing back, but I push it away. “I got a glimpse of the weapon they stuck me with … ain’t never seen the likes before. The Prezedant may not be able to create his own New Bloods, but he definitely knows how to take ‘em down. It was damn powerful magic.”

  Neither one of us comes right out and says it, but that ain’t good, not at all. My one and only defense against this so-called Prezedant, my Chi, and he is able to take it away from me that easily and make me as helpless as a babe. It scares me.

  “Why are they keepin’ us here you think? Why ain’t we on our way to Skytown right now?” I say.

  “Oh, you will be, bright and early in the morning, I assure you.” The fat little man moved quietly for someone his size. I didn’t even hear him approach our prison. He stands just out of arm’s reach on the other side of the cage like he don’t trust what I would do, two more soldiers at his back. Smart man. I stare at him with hard eyes when suddenly I get an idea. We need to know some things, and I wonder if Naryz had the answers. I get to my feet and walk on wobbly legs to face him. I have to hold onto the bars to keep myself upright, but he involuntarily backs up a pace. It pleases me to know I scare him.

  “Naryz, if I remember correctly,” I say, and he nods at me. “Why wait for the mornin’? If I am so important to the Prezedant, why keep him waitin’?”

  He studies me through his little round spectacles. “I shouldn’t think you would be so eager to meet him. He is not what you would describe as the most pleasant of men.”

  “Oh, trust me. I ain’t eager to meet him at all. I’m just curious,” I say. “You seem like a true soldier eager to please and all that. I just find it strange that you would make your master wait for his prize.”

  “He is not my master, and it takes a lot of preparation for a prisoner transport. Things someone like you could not even begin to understand,” he says with more than a hint of smugness and superiority. My fingers itch to get at his throat, but all I do is nod at him all serious-like.

  “I’m sure. But you know what I think, Naryz? I think he don’t trust you to be able to take me to him. I think he thinks you lot are a bunch of idiots, drunkards, and dimwit soldiers. Why else would he stick you out in this shite hole instead of Skytown?”

  He puckers his lips at me like he don’t like what I’m saying. “Say what you will, mutie, but the overseeing of the iron mines is a very important business. I cannot afford to lose any of my men to take you on your little journey, so the Prezedant, well, he is sending his own elite group of men to handle you. You will be under their watchful eye in the morning. They have been well-trained in dealing with your kind.”

  I nod at him like I was agreeing wholeheartedly and then give him my brightest smile. “Thank you, Naryz. You’ve been most helpful.”

  His look of confusion is almost comical. “I have told you nothing!”

  “Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong. I now know that we are bein’ kept in the iron mines and
that the few soldiers you have here are all there is to be had in Littlepass, and that we have until the mornin’ to make our escape before more soldiers arrive. Good info, indeed.”

  The open-mouthed look on his puffy face kind of reminds me of the fish we used to catch as young’uns back in Rivercross, and I find myself wanting to laugh at the very sight. But then a shocked and disbelieving, “Tara?” reaches my ears, and I spin around to Jax and Finn to see what has them yelling so. But it ain’t them yelling. The voice is coming from the other side of the cage bars, and I follow it to its source.

  I see him. Dirty, dressed in rags, and much thinner than I remember, but I know him right away.

  Ben.

  I’m too shocked to move. Is it really him, or are my eyes playing a trick on me?

  He’s in a line with a bunch of other prisoners, all chained together, but it’s him all right. He stares at me, and the brown eyes that have haunted my nightly dreams search my face like he cain’t believe what he’s seeing. He tries to move closer to our prison, but a soldier walks by and gives him a fierce shove, sending him and the poor young’un chained to him sprawling in the dirt. He helps the child back to her feet, glaring daggers at the soldier the whole time. The young girl is crying, and there is blood splattered on her torn, yellow tunic.

  “Get back in line.”

  They shuffle away from me, dragged by the others, and too late I stumble to the end of the cage.

  “Ben!” I scream his name, and he tries to look back, but the soldier prodding him with the shooter keeps him from doing so. My heart is beating wildly, and the emotions coursing through me are almost overwhelming. Disbelief, shock, happiness, anger. How is it possible to feel all this at once?

  It’s him. Ben. He’s here. I’d found him.

  I had forgotten about the fat man. He waddles into view and his gaze wavers from Ben’s departing back and then back to me. A smug smile spreads across his face, causing his eyes to almost disappear into the surrounding folds of flesh, and he says, “Good info, indeed.”

  He turns and walks away from me, content in the knowledge that he has the upper hand. I have to bite my lip to stop from yelling every cuss word I can think of at his retreating back, but I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he has rattled me.

  I turn away and run a hand through my hair in frustration. “Dammit.”

  Why had I reacted like that, yelling Ben’s name? I had probably put him in more danger than ever now because of what I had just done. Stupid. It’s bad enough Finn and Jax are in this predicament because of me, but now I’d done the same thing to Ben.

  Finn comes to join me, his eyes wide. “That was your Ben, Tara? He’s alive?”

  I nod a yes, still too overcome with emotion to answer.

  “Then why are you so upset? I don’t get it?” he says.

  Jax does the explaining for me. “Because, Finn, Tara believes that by showing her connection to Ben, Naryz will somehow use him to get at her in some way, hurt him to control her.”

  I stare at Jax, amazed that he understands exactly what I’m thinking. Then he flashes me a crooked grin. “What do you think he’s going to do to him? Keep him prisoner? Starve him? Chain him up? No wait, I know, he’s going to put him to work in the iron mines. Yeah, that’s it.” He snorts. “He’s already been through all that, Tara. There’s not much else they can do to him.”

  I nod in relief. “You’re right, Jax,” I say.

  “Damn right, I’m right. It’s us you should be worried about. We’re the ones stuck in a cage with you. And on our way to being carted off to Skytown in the morning.” He shakes his head. “How the hell did I end up in this same situation with you again? Must be a sucker for a pretty face, I guess.”

  I start laughing; I cain’t help myself. I throw my head back and laugh ‘til it brings tears to my eyes. Finn gazes at me all worried, like I’ve lost my mind, and he’s probably right. Here we are, captured again like Jax said, being shipped off to the Prezedant in the morning to be most likely experimented on and turned into crazy, diseased creatures, but it all don’t matter to me. Not at this moment. Ben is alive. That is enough for now.

  I’m not sure what it is that awakens me. I cain’t even believe that I’d fallen asleep in the first place, but something had pulled me from my slumber, and I wake with a start, listening. At first, there’s nuthin’ other than Finn’s quiet snoring. I peer through the cage bars, trying to adjust my eyes to the moonlight. I can see the two guards that had accompanied Naryz earlier, hear their quiet murmurings. They don’t seem to find anything out of sorts. Maybe there isn’t anything, and I had just been dreaming.

  I settle back against Finn, trying to get some warmth from him, when a slight thump and a scraping sound come from above my head. I don’t move, but my eyes seek out the guards again. They still seem to be unaware of anything amiss. Silence follows again. I start to think I had imagined the sounds when suddenly both guards are jerked off their feet at the same time and seem to dangle in midair. I watch in amazement as they struggle, their legs thrashing wildly. What the hell is this? It’s probably only for a few seconds, but it seems like forever before their thrashing stops and they crumple quietly to the ground in a heap. Something leaps from the top of the cage. I cain’t tell what it is—it’s just a black blur to me—but it appears to be now crouching over the soldiers on the ground. I shake Finn and Jax, holding a finger to my lips as both sets of eyes pop open. Much to their credit, they don’t make a peep as I point to the black shape outside of our cage. Shapes. There’s two of ‘em; I can see that now. Something flashes quickly in the moonlight, and I can hear scraping as the key is put into our locked cage. Someone is trying to get us out.

  We’re on our feet in an instant. The rusted door makes a loud creak as it opens, and I suck in my breath. The shapes stop and stand still for a moment, but no alarm sounds. Pushing the door all the way open now, they motion for us to move. We don’t hesitate. Brushing past them, we are silently directed with an upward point before they form a boosting step with their joined hands. They want us to get on top of the cage? I go first, hoisted quickly and then turn to help Finn, who is right behind me. Jax comes next, and then we help pull our rescuers up over the ledge.

  Once on top, and bathed in moonlight, I can tell they ain’t just shapes at all but people dressed entirely in black right down to the hoods covering their heads. We follow them across the top of the metal cage, as I realize it sits under a rocky overhang. How the hell did they get here? Then I see the ropes; they had lowered themselves down on them. One of the rescuers grabs a rope and hands it to me.

  “Put this around you and tug; our friends at the top will pull you up,” a voice whispers in my ear. I cain’t tell if it’s male or female, but I push the rope away and shake my head no.

  “Take Finn and Jax, but I cain’t go.”

  Jax, who is in the process of hitching a rope to Finn, turns to me in amazement. “Tara, what the—go up the damn rope,” he whispers urgently.

  I shake my head again. “No, you both go. I gotta go after Ben.”

  All I can see are the whites of Jax’s eyes as he glares at me in disbelief. “Are you crazy? You can’t do that by yourself.”

  “Tara! You cain’t,” Finn whispers and his worry is evident, but by now he is being lifted, and I cain’t hear what else he is trying to say.

  “We don’t have time for this,” one of the black robes hisses at me. “Take the rope, girl!”

  I shake my head again and turn to Jax. “I cain’t leave him, not again. I am his only chance, Jax,” I say, begging him to understand.

  “If you get captured again, then he has no chance. Tara, let’s get out of here. We’ll figure out a way to come back for Ben, but if you are sent off to Skytown in the morning, who will help him then? At least if we are free, we can come up with a way to help him, too.”

  I know what he’s saying makes sense, but it feels wrong, so wrong. How can I leave Ben here to endure an
y more suffering? How can I leave him when I have just found him? The memory of him and the young girl with the bloody tunic pops into my head, and I know I cain’t go.

  One of the black robes grabs my arm so tightly it hurts. “Listen to me, girl. We don’t have much time. The soldiers are due for their rounds any minute now. Soon, somebody is either going to find those two down there or our friends at the top. Now, do what your boyfriend is telling you and move.”

  I yank my arm out of his grasp and hiss at him angrily, “He ain’t my boyfriend,” but my eyes are focused on Jax.

  “I cain’t go without him, Jax. The Gods only know what Naryz will do to him …,” I trail off, not wanting to think of that possibility.

  “Go up that damn rope and I will come back and get Ben myself,” he whispers at me and shoving the rope in my hands. “But there is nothing we can do tonight. Use your head, Tara. If we get captured again, he won’t have anyone to help free him.”

  Jax is right. Dammit! I know he’s right, but I still don’t want to admit it.

  “You promise to help me get him out of here?” My whisper is fierce and demanding.

  “I promise. Now go, dammit.”

  Hoping that I ain’t making a mistake, I believe him. Fitting the rope under my arms, I give a little tug and suddenly feel myself being lifted. Immediately, once I hit the top, arms pull me onto solid ground, and the rope is yanked off of me and sent down again. Finn stands at my side as we wait anxiously for Jax to join us. I look around at these people helping us. There must be at least five or six of them, plus the two still below. Who are they? And why are they helping us? There ain’t no time for questions though. As soon as the three of us are together again, we are ushered quickly down the hill and through a grove of trees by a woman in a large hood. I can’t tell any more than that. The trees are thick and don’t allow much moonlight to filter through, so we stumble more often than not in the darkness. I hold fiercely onto Finn and Jax as we are hurried through, not taking any chance of losing ‘em.