“You're safe now. Don't be scared by anythin' you're about to see,” I warn the boy in the sack as
Talbert and Beanie and Finn and Cat scurry my way in obvious relief. Even after the night terror of living with the devil himself, Connor still needed to be prepared to meet my crew.
“Take care of the boy,” I say as I slide offa the horse and point to the squirming sack. “He’s gonna be a bit lightheaded.” Talbert and Beanie nod and lift him carefully like he's precious cargo.
“As my dear mother would say, 'You are truly all a sight for sore eyes.' So glad you made it back in one piece, even though I am truly devastated that I'm so close to my beloved Duchess yet was not able to visit.” Tater and the others saunter towards us. I raise a brow at his words.
“Duchess, crutches. You're upset because you never got to visit her 'ladies.' Don't try to fool a fooler.”
Mack snorts over his shoulder like he agrees with me.
“You do call 'em as you see 'em, girl,” he answers with a hearty laugh.
“Mission accomplished, I see,” Mack says as Conner is helped outta the sack and stood on his wobbly feet. The boy, once righted, stares at Talbert and Beanie and Cat in part terror, part fascination. I'd forgotten what effect they had on people who ain't used to 'em. “Any trouble?”
“A little,” I say, and Jax’s sarcastic “ha” forces me to elaborate.
“Okay, a lot. We better move. There was an unexpected complication that kinda involves a dead man.”
“You killed somebody?” Ben's eyes are wide in disbelief.
“He attacked first,” I say, trying to defend myself but Jax butts in.
“It was self defense.” I send him a look of gratitude, and he continues, “And he had it coming to him. But I'm afraid if the guards narrow it down to us, they aren't going to see it that way, so Tara is right. We better move.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Mack asks without so much as batting an eye. “Let's get back to the mountains and get this rebellion in motion.”
14
The Plan
As much as I hate to admit it, the sight of the mountain village almost feels like coming back home. Most of the villagers are out and about taking care of their midday chores: firewood being chopped, water jugs being filled at the village well, and the meat cooking over open fires. It's welcoming and comforting. It's also a lie. Everyone here knows we're living on borrowed time, and seeing our group back only confirms it. We get waves and shouts of welcome, but the worry is evident in their weary eyes. They know our return means we're a step closer to war.
I see the funny looks sent my way. Most are as perplexed by my white hair as the residents of Gray Valley, but not one of 'em approaches to ask me how it happened. To be honest, I think my reputation that preceded me here still scares 'em, and I'm sure this crazy hair ain't helping.
We past Ernst's rock shanty on the way to our own, and he emerges, alerted by the shouts of greeting. He don't bother with no welcome back greeting, although he sends a relieved smile my way, like he’s real glad to see us. He falls into step beside us as we walk through the village, regarding me with his curious gray eyes and pursed lips. I cain't help the spurt of anger that blossoms at knowin' he possibly kept me in the dark about my powers.
“You look a little different. Dare I ask what sort of shenanigans you've been up to?”
“It's a long story, but let's just say I learned of somethin' pretty interestin'. Enlightenment. Ever hear of it? Seems like it's pretty damned important in beatin' the Prezedant. Why didn't you tell me about this?”
He ignores my accusatory tone and furrows his brow. “I would have if I knew what that was.”
I throw him my best disbelieving glower. “You tellin' me in all your years of dealin's with the New Bloods and stealin' their powers, you ain't heard of it?”
He shakes his head. “Can't say I have. What is it?”
“Possibly the only way to beat the Prezedant,” Mack says from the other side of him. I know Ernst wants to ask me more, but Jane and Thomas finally realize we're back and have spotted Conner.
Their hollerin' and hootin' as they run our way is painful to the ears but music to the heart. Conner is nearly knocked ass-backwards as they tackle him, and just seeing the three of 'em together huggin' and cryin' makes me realize I did the right thing in going after him. Finn walks beside me, and though he's only got a year or so on the other young’uns, the smug little grin on his face at their reunion makes him seem so much older.
“You did a good thing, Tara. Rescuin' Conner had to be done, even though Mack didn't agree. I'm proud of ya.”
I wrap my arm around his neck and draw him in. “You're proud of me? Then that's all that matters, ain't it?”
He grins up at me just as Belle joins in with the ruckus and bellows a yell that practically busts my eardrums. “Jonas!”
She runs into her brother's arms, and he lifts her up in a bone crushing hug. Jonas is back. Good. Hopefully with good news from Skytown. But then I see who's following him, and my own smile lets loose.
“Zoe,” Mack says in pleasure as Lily's former apprentice approaches us. She hugs Mack with affection, but she's more reserved with me. I smile at her anyway.
“Where did you come from? How did you find us?”
“I found the boy outside of Skytown,” she says, motioning to Jonas over her shoulder. “Thought I'd accompany him back since I didn't know how to find you after we escaped the city. Plus, he says you've finally got a plan in motion.”
“What were you doing in Skytown?” I ask.
“Looking for a way to get inside that damn fortress of his. Last patrol he killed two of my people and took four prisoners. I was trying to rescue them. I'm tired of losing my people to that bastard.” Her face is lined with frustration. I know exactly how she feels.
“I'm sorry,” I say, but she shrugs at me like she don't wanna talk about it no more. Mack throws an arm over her shoulder, and she closes her eyes like she's trying to hold back tears. But she's tough. She don't crumble. Instead, she pulls away, her face back to its usual stern look of disapproval.
“So, what's the plan?”
“We have much to discuss, Zoe, but not yet. We have supplies to unload. People to settle away. We will have a meeting shortly, but give us time to catch our breath.” Mack tries to smile at her, but all it does is pucker his scar and flap the eye patch. Not so reassuring.
I turn to Finn, knowing Mack is right. “Okay, I have another job for you. We need to find another sleepin' mat and blanket for Conner. Think you can go track that down for him while I try to find him some clean clothes?”
“On it,” he says and scurries off, Cat on his heels. I sigh and turn to Jax. “So with Conner bunkin' in our shanty, that's gonna make six of us plus Cat. Gettin' a little crowded, don't ya think? Maybe we should see about getting' a bigger shanty?”
“You say crowded, I say fulla love.” He smiles at me as I roll my eyes.
“Fulla somethin' all right.”
“Awww, come on Tara. It's good practice for when we have six or seven of our own young'uns. You did say we were gonna grow old together.”
I don't let on to the thrill of pleasure his words elicit in my stomach. Instead, I pretend to scowl at him. “Six or seven cats, you mean right?”
“No, I mean kids.”
“Okay, dogs it is.”
His laughter follows me all the way to our shanty. Dear gods, I've created a monster.
Ernst had the biggest shanty in the village, stretching halfway up the side of the towering boulder it was built against. Go figure the biggest was occupied by one man. But at the moment, it don't seem to matter how big it is. There still don't seem to be enough room for everyone who had piled in for the meeting. All my crew are here, minus Finn and Cat. I gave him the duty of patrolling the grounds, and he took on the job with all the seriousness of any soldier. Young Thomas had agreed to join him, and I knew Cat would protect 'em both well enou
gh. No harm would come to 'em. Besides, the guards out on the border would warn us of any trouble long before it reached the boys. I ain't gotta worry about that.
Jonas and Belle are here along with the men who had accompanied Jonas to Skytown. Zoe and her remaining crew, too. Even Busher's daughter, Meela, is present with a couple of her raiders. I hadn't even realized they were in the village until now. Bringing us word of her pa, no doubt. She catches my eye and gives me a stiff nod. I nod back, but a smile don’t touch either of our faces. Even after all this time, we ain't forgotten our first meeting where she tried to steal my necklace, and I almost killed her. Not something you forget easily, I guess.
Unlike me, Ben don't carry that same hatred for the girl, and I catch him outta the corner of my eye grinning at her like some fool. A slight smile curves Meela’s lips at his obvious infatuation with her. But I'm surprised the boy don't drop dead on the spot since the look Belle sends his way from across the room is enough to make his heart shrivel in his chest. Poor Belle. I don't think anyone else is paying attention until Jax whispers in my ear, “Why does Belle look so upset?”
“Because the idiot I call my kin is breakin' her heart, and he don't even know it. He's only got eyes for the ice princess over there, and Belle ain't likin' it.”
He twists and looks at me in surprise. “Belle is in love with Ben? Since when?”
I mimic his look of surprise. “Oh, gods, don't tell me you ain't noticed? Don't you guys notice anythin' like that or y'all too dense?”
He shakes his head. “That girl needs to be told she can do far better than that daft moron.”
“So not the time, Jax,” I growl at him, even though my lips twitch at what he's said. Ben could be daft at times.
Mack stands up in the center of the room and clears his throat. “Thank you all for joining us this evening. It's good to see you all back and safe. There is much we need to discuss. I'm hoping all of our journeys have been successful.” Mack waits until the murmur of greetings die down before he continues, “First of all, let’s start with the most obvious thing in the room. Our resident New Blood appears a little different since you've last seen her, I imagine. Long story short, we visited the out lands and spoke with the mutie's Maven. She helped Tara on her enlightenment. To put it quite simply, she helped her become stronger. Tara's Chi has grown tremendously, and she grows stronger everyday.”
I squirm as everyone's attention is trained on me. I whirl my finger at Mack, telling him to get on with it.
“But no matter how strong she is, we cannot depend on her alone to carry this burden, for the Prezedant has an army at his command. An army of trained soldiers. The only way to combat that is to have an army of our own. Our people alone cannot do that. We don't have the numbers, but thanks to Tara's efforts, the mutants of the out lands have agreed to answer our call when the time comes. As have the raiders, I believe?” He turns to Meela and she nods.
“I've come with a message from my father. He tells me so far they have confiscated five of the Army machines and have united over half of the raider clans that cover the sand lands and mountains. A staggering number. A thousand strong at least.”
Mack rubs his chin beard. “Five trucks. Good news indeed. A lot of supplies taken out of the Prezedant's hands. Supplies needed to feed his massive army. A hungry army is a weak army. The raiders and the muties combined give us impressive numbers, but the number matters not if we cannot penetrate the wall of Skytown.”
“Why worry about the wall?” one of the villagers asks. “If we keep stealing the supplies, we can starve him and his army out. Shouldn't that be our battle plan?”
“It would be if it were just the army living behind those walls,” Jonas answers. Mack motions for him to rise and he does. “But my people live behind those walls. My family. Good, decent people who have lived their whole lives as slaves. People that he's already stripped hope and dignity from. They don't deserve to live that way just like they don't deserve to die from starvation. I've gotten a message to the rebellion beyond the wall through the young'uns he sends out past the gate to toil the lands. They've also agreed to answer the call when the time comes, and help us into the city.”
“Wonderful,” Mack says. “But getting into Skytown is only half the battle. For those of you not familiar with what lies behind those walls, the Prezedant himself lives on an island in the middle of the city surrounded by water and another wall. It will be impossible to get through without alerting him. He will be waiting for us.”
“Then what's the point?” the same villager asks, and I gotta keep myself from glaring him to silence.
“The point is, we know another way in. We used it to escape Royal Island ourselves. So here's the plan. While most of our people act as a diversion in the outer city, drawing his majority of forces off the island, Tara and I and a contingent will sneak into Royal Island. From there we will force our way into his unguarded compound, and hopefully end this once and for all. Simple but effective.”
There are a few nods and ayes, but most can barely hide their skepticism.
“What makes you think she'll be able to beat the Prezedant now? She's faced him before and lost.” Why don't it surprise me that this comes from Meela?
“I won't this time,” I say, and she snorts at me with derision as she gets to her feet.
“Oh, you're a seer, too, now as well as the gods’ gift for salvation?”
I don't get it. What is her problem? Shizen, I only tried to kill her one time.
“No, I ain't no seer,” I say. “But I know what I'm capable of. I've experienced things that most of you cain't even imagine, and wouldn't believe me even if I told ya. I can and will beat him.”
“How can you be so sure?” she says.
“Because I just am.”
“Not good enough.”
“Trust me, okay.”
She laughs again, and it grates along my spine like some scorpi-ant claw. “Trust you? You do realize what you're asking, yes? You're asking all of us to put our lives on the line and follow you into battle, but yet you can't even assure us of the reason why you think you'll be successful? Because you 'experienced' something? My father may be silly enough to follow you blindly—”
“That's enough, Meela,” Mack interrupts, but I put my hand on his forearm.
“No, it's okay, Mack. Let her speak her piece.”
She sighs and folds her arms, obviously expecting to bait me to anger as she stares at me with naked contempt. “My father believes in you. And I believe in him. But you're making it hard to convince me why we should lead all these people into a war that we don't even know we can win. Why should we follow you?”
The murmuring and sounds of dissent that follow her words scare me more than anything. I cain't lose their support. I need them all. Mack tries to calm 'em, but another voice pipes up. “The raider is right. What makes her think she can beat him? Why should we just take her word?”
The objections become more vocal. I understand why it's happening. I do. When I first arrived, they had all been hyped by our escape and stoked on rebelling against the Prezedant. But the time has drawn closer now for fighting back, and they've had time to think about consequences. The war has become real and it scares 'em. I get it.
Mack tries to defuse the situation. He tries to speak over the questioning voices, but the questions and fearful comments continue. So I get to my feet.
Everyone falls quiet as I stand. I feel all eyes in the room on me, waiting. My heart beats a frantic pulse in my chest, not because I'm scared I cain't win, but because I actually gotta convince 'em I can.
“Some of you… most of you don't know…” I stumble as my stupid tongue feels too big for my mouth, and my words don't form right. I feel the heat of embarrassment in my face, but I take a deep breath and go on. “There are only a few of you in this room who knew me before I found out I was a New Blood. Seems like it was so long ago.” I laugh self-consciously and look around at the faces before settling on
Jax. His lips tilt up in an encouraging smile, steadying my nerves.
“Findin' out was a shock. I mean, I didn't believe it at first. I reckoned it a myth. Hell, I didn't even know what it was. I thought it just another tall tale told to villagers by traders. Then I found out it was true and it terrified me. A lot. I ain't gonna lie, I resisted the whole idea of it. I didn't wanna have anythin' to do with it. See, you gotta understand, I didn't know nuthin' about this world. I grew up isolated. Protected from the evils you people lived with every day. I didn't even know the Prezedant existed. And once I found out what I was, I wanted to run away and go back to livin' that way, with my head buried in the sand.
“But the longer I stayed here, the more I saw. Families ripped apart, their young'uns sold into slavery and worse. People starvin' to death while the Prezedant and his followers eat like kings. Muties, people I share a blood bond with, tortured and mutilated and killed in the name of games. I've seen people I care for die. And I realized I cain't hide no more. I cain't turn my back, not when I have a power that can help stop it. But I cain't do it alone.” My eyes scan the room, falling on every face, pleading.
“Y'all have the power. Together we are strong. Together we can stop him because he rules only through fear, and if we don't fear him no more, then he don't control us. The Maven of the muties is Lily's sister. Some of you may know that, some not. She helped me gain something called enlightenment. Simply put, it helped my Chi become stronger. But it also helped me see somethin' important. The Prezedant ain't a true New Blood. He's powerful, yes, but his power is stolen from others like me. It ain't a true gift, which means one thing: He really is just a man. And that's how I know I can win because I fear him no more.
“I cain't force y'all to join me. I cain't tell you if I'll make it back alive. I cain't tell you if any of you will. But I can tell y'all we have to try for our young'uns and their young'uns. The thought of Finn and Jane and Thomas livin' in a world controlled by him terrifies me more than the man himself, and I'm willin' to lay down my life to change that. I hope the rest of y'all are too. He can only rule if you let him, and if you stand by and do nuthin', then you ain't no better than those who follow him.”
New Bloods Boxset Page 69
