Rian froze. The pen in his hand stopped moving, and he stumbled over his words. “Wh-How?”
“I don’t know, but look at what this war’s doing. It’s tearing people to shreds. The Spiritualists are all but broken. What’s next? Or who’s next? The Materialists? The Naturalists? You can’t stay out of this. You have to help us. Yael won’t go to war with the Polarists without your help.” Shauna pressed her clenched fists into the table with tears slipping down her cheeks. “Are my people nothing more than witches to you?” she cried.
Rian sighed, looked at the ceiling. His cloak draped down over the sides of the chair. He tapped the letter on the table and swallowed without looking at Shauna. “Five days have passed, and I still can’t get it right – the wording that is. Dena was so much better at this.”
“At what…?”
“Everything. She knew her people. She connected with everyone. She felt them. These people are like shadows to me sometimes. I can never be as good as her. Five days I’ve been working on this letter to my people. A letter to tell them. No, to implore their services again. But how do you ask a mother who lost her son in battle to lend you her daughter for the same purpose?”
More tears raced down Shauna’s face, curling underneath her slender chin before they splattered onto the wooden table. “You tell her why,” she said, pursing her lips together. “No one sacrifices without a reason. A mother of two would never give up her children to fight a war with no cause. Hundreds of Spiritualists have died. And from what I could tell, you can add dozens of infants to that count for what those savages are doing to the babies. Thousands more will be killed or forced into insanity if this doesn’t stop. No one is doing anything. You have the power to end this. Your people could stop this.”
Rian squeezed his head with both hands. “We will help,” he said, forcing the words between his teeth. “Some men and women may not want to fight this battle, and I won’t force them. But I need a guarantee that the Spiritualists are going to fight back. With their current condition, it doesn’t seem like they are fit for war.”
“Let me worry about that. Just deploy your troops. We will reengage the Polarists in eight days.”
“Should we alert the Wanderers?” Rian asked.
Shauna stood and forcibly wiped away her tears. “We don’t need to. They are on their way.”
=====
Shauna left Rian’s house and went to meet with Yael, north of Arenn where Shauna assured Yael that the Naturalists would assist with the assault. Yael ordered the redeployment of the Spiritualists back to Irez while Shauna waited for Caleb to arrive at the Naturalist shore near the northern town of Augman.
Midday had already begun when the first canoes of the Pioneer armada ran aground. Many of the vessels were manned by the Pioneers whose emblems pulsed as they rode. She trudged across the beach until she found Caleb who rowed smoothly to shore.
“Caleb. We have to get to Irez,” Shauna said.
“That’s where we’re headed. Are you coming with us?” He fixed his bow around his shoulder, hot sun beaming down on his head.
“Not just me, but the Spiritualists and the Naturalists too.”
Sarai walked over from another boat, shading her eyes from the sun. “Did you say you convinced the Naturalists to come?”
“I didn’t convince them. Rian had already decided. His troops are gathering at Glygen as we speak.”
“We can’t wait on him,” Caleb replied. “We need to move on Irez. How are the Spiritualists going to handle the pressure of an attack?”
“I’m not sure. We’ll get to that,” Shauna said. “If they didn’t have the blinders of the Hellstate on them, they’d be able to focus on the battle more. Maybe the toxin will work this time?”
Caleb squinted as he looked towards the horizon of Clydenholm. “That formula nearly got us killed last time, and if the Naturalists are coming, we are going to want them to be able to use their emblems. The toxin’s not an option – not in this fight.”
Shauna crossed her arms and nodded. “We’ll figure that out once we reconnect with the Spiritualists. They’re heading north from Arenn up to the Slither where Irez is located.”
“How much longer before they get there?” asked Sarai.
“They’ll arrive before we do. We have about three days to rally with them.”
“Is Jensen coming?” Shauna asked.
“We sent his trainee, Chance, to get him. I’m sure he’ll be there,” Sarai said.
More Pioneer boats docked on the sandy shore, and the sound of the rippling waters and the crashing waves washed across the beach. The air was thick with humidity; a few seagulls squawked overhead.
Gardiv approached them, and his purple emblem pulsed unnaturally, casting its violet rays up his chin. He pulled off his bow as the last of the Pioneers touched land, and he shot a Spiritualist arrow into the sky. At its zenith, it didn’t erupt since it didn’t hit anything, but the violet streaks in the sky alerted the Pioneers that it was time to move. Silently, the assassins formed their four person squads and made their way inland heading west.
Shauna stayed with Caleb. Once again she could feel the cleanness of his spirit — the pure voice that she had followed whenever the Hellstate marauded her. Caleb had returned.
CHAPTER 19
THE CONVERGENCE
Caleb stood on the outskirts of the city of Irez. Thick raindrops plopped against his hood as the evening approached. The intensity of the battle lingered within him, and each thump of his heart sent surges of adrenaline throughout his body. His hands trembled — not from fear, but from anticipation. He couldn’t fail again.
The water droplets smacked against the leaves of the canopy creating a constant pattering throughout the forest. Sarai stood next to him, and he could see her beautiful face peeking from underneath her hood. The few strands of hair that hung out were drenched, and he was sure that even her braid was soaked, though it was coiled inside of her clothing.
The leaves from the bushes partially blocked Caleb's view of the city, since he was not close to the edge of the tree line. “If we don’t make it out of this,” he whispered to her.
“Don’t even say that Caleb. I can’t think like that right now. Not about you.”
“You listen to me this time. If we don’t make it out of this, just know that there’s a place in my heart that belongs only to you.”
Sarai’s eyes turned red and she turned away. He couldn’t tell if she was crying because the water streaks from the rain poured down her face. “Not now, Caleb. I can’t go into this war thinking like this.”
“And I can’t go into this war without you knowing. This is me being selfish again. You have done nothing for me except give me everything that you have. And now, because of it, I’ve fallen for you.”
She faced him and stared into his eyes. Now he was sure that there were tears coming to the surface. “I said don’t, Caleb.” Her sweet lips trembled, and the tiny muscles in her cheeks quivered.
“When have I ever listened to you?” he asked, smiling. “That's what you asked me when I chased you around Juten. I can’t resist letting you know how much I care about you, Sarai. You’ve poured your heart out on me ever since we first met, and now I’m pouring mine out before you. It’s like I can still feel your lips from when I kissed you so many months ago.”
Sarai looked away from him again and put the back of her hand to her mouth. “You just make sure you stay alive.” With those words she walked away to command her troops.
Gardiv motioned to Caleb. The raindrops tapped on Gardiv’s violet stone. “This is what we need to do,” he said. “We can’t lose valuable time waiting on the Naturalists to show up. The Spiritualists won’t attack without them. We’re going to do this the right way this time. No rogue decisions. Sarai said that we need to attack the city from both sides, and I agree. I’m going to take the Northern Sector to the north side of the city. You take the Southern Sector to the south side. Once you see the Materialis
t shot in the sky, you’ll know the assault has begun.”
“What about Sarai?” Caleb asked.
Gardiv leaned over and spat on the ground. “Word is that she’s moving down to the Southern Sector all because of the infusions from the north. Looks like you’ve found your Fourth Watch. Move out!” he shouted to his people. Emblem-lodged Pioneers peeled themselves out of hiding and followed Gardiv to the other side of the city.
Caleb stayed back and rounded up his troops. Shauna and the Spiritualists remained stationed in their positions, waiting for the signal that the Naturalists had arrived.
As Caleb approached the edge of the tree line, he could see the city of Irez. The entire region was sharply cold, and Caleb fought against the compulsive shivers. The rain-drenched summer evening had become a winter wasteland. The rays of the moonlight glistened across the landscape that was blanketed with snow from the power of The Deficit.
Only a few steps back, he had been covered in the heavy rainfall, but now it was snowing. The torches that surrounded the city lit up the listlessly falling snowflakes that meandered through the sky, which themselves would soon be covered with lifeless bodies. Caleb hoped that none of those would be anyone whom he was close to. Losing Uriel was hard enough.
The Polarist troops stationed themselves heavily at the gates of the city, and several patrols circumvented the town. The Pioneers' attack from two weeks before must have alerted the Polarists of the possibility of an invasion. Caleb eased forward and the snow crunched underneath his boot.
“Gardiv should have sent the signal by now,” said Sarai. “What’s taking him so long?”
“Not sure,” said Caleb. “He needs to do something before we freeze out here.”
“You think he’s in trouble?”
“Not him. If he was, he would have alerted us sooner.”
“Yeah. You’re right, but the anticipation is killing me.”
“He better do something quickly because that patrol is headed straight for us,” Caleb said, pointing to left.
Sarai shook her head and ducked back into the shadows underneath the canopy. Caleb kept his attention on the squad of five Polarists who were making their way onto the Pioneers’ position. Unstrapping his Lightguard, he signaled to the other Pioneers, telling them to hold and wait on him. Each of them silently pulled their bows off their shoulders.
The snowfall picked up, and the temperature dropped even lower. Caleb wished he had the toxin if for no other reason than to keep warm. The voices from the Polarist patrol became more audible as they scoured the tree line. The moment came, and Caleb knew that he needed to make a move.
His heart pounded within him, and his mind drifted away from the cold. The azure emblems lodged within the guards’ chests pulsed brightly into the forest, lighting up the falling snow as well as the vegetation that was nearby. Caleb signaled to the archers who were close by that he was going to take the shot as he dipped the tip of his arrow into the Naturalist Anaerobia.
He kept the charged shot low so that the emerald glow would not alert the troops. As they edged closer to him, he could hear nothing but their footsteps and the crackling sound of the iced rain tingling onto the leaves of the trees. With a quick breath and a mind that was set on action, Caleb prepared to load the bow. The archers kneeled as motionlessly as he was.
In one motion, Caleb loaded the shot. Then an explosion erupted in the sky above the city. It was Gardiv’s signal. The guards glanced to the hovering flames.
“Guide Shot!” Caleb whispered, as he released his shot into the closest guard’s neck. Three consecutive Naturalist shots followed as the archers arrows followed Caleb’s. The guards were downed.
One struggled for his life, but the Naturalist Anaerobia kept him immobilized. Quietly, Caleb rushed over to the guard and finished him off. Several Pioneers dragged the bodies beneath the canopy.
“Sarai,” Caleb called. “Gardiv’s going to draw the troops to him. We’ll sneak in and sabotage them from behind. Go!”
Caleb and Sarai signaled to the Pioneers to move forward. The soldiers filtered out of the woods like assassins. Caleb led them forward. Two guards were on the wall of the city. Caleb downed the first one, and Sarai downed the second before they could call for help.
Caleb reached the city and flushed his back against the cold stone wall. More Pioneers trickled in from the woods. “So far so good,” he whispered to Sarai.
She nodded and crept over to the gate. Polarists barked out orders from inside the town, and troops spilled out of the gate. A volley of arrows from the Pioneers pierced through the first of the Polarists who exited the town.
Dozens more troops emptied the city. Yells of chaos filled the air. “There they are!” one of the smaller guards roared, pointing to the Pioneers who lined the wall.
An arrow sliced through the man’s throat, and he collapsed to the ground. The temperature plummeted even lower, and an icy wave coated the wall from the top to the bottom, freezing the stones as the ice oozed down. Caleb jumped back from the wall, but some of Pioneers did not move fast enough. Caleb shivered as those Pioneers were frozen against the stone. Not again, Caleb thought to himself.
The Polarists charged the Pioneers. Caleb dunked his knife into the Materialist Anaerobia and then into the blood canister. He slung the blade at a woman who rushed towards him. Electricity sparked and skipped to several other soldiers electrocuting them all. Caleb slammed an arrow into the Naturalist canister and loaded the bow, releasing it at another soldier.
A man wrapped his arm around Caleb’s throat and wrestled Caleb to the ground, face first. The cold snow burned though his thin clothing. The man’s grip got tighter. Caleb pulled at the man’s arm so that he could breathe. The man’s thick emblem scraped against Caleb’s spine, and Caleb gasped for breath. Cold slithers crawled up Caleb’s limbs as the Polarist iced Caleb's body.
Instantly, the coldness retreated. The man’s grip weakened, and Sarai stood over them with a knife that dripped blood. Caleb scrambled to his feet, hunched over, and rubbed his throat as he sucked in loads of air.
“I told you to take care of yourself out here,” she said. “You’re not doing a very good job.”
Caleb shook his head and regained his stance. “Into the city!” he yelled. A war-cry from the Pioneers followed behind him. Caleb raced into the town, shooting down Polarists as he ran inside.
He held up his hand to halt the oncoming Pioneers. Another arrow took out a stray Polarist. The night was silent. Snowflakes drifted down to the surface. The city’s streets were covered in the puffy white substance. Something was wrong. There should have been masses of Polarist soldiers inside. An explosion lit up the night sky from the north side of the city, cascading eerie orange streaks across the snowy landscape.
Caleb held up his hand to keep the Pioneers from moving forward, then he crept deeper into the city. He followed the whimpers of a woman off to his left. Her head was covered with thick Perene fur, and an arrow was lodged in her chest. She pushed herself across the ground away from Caleb. “Please. Don’t hurt me. Please!”
He walked towards her slowly. Her blue emblem flickered. She had a bow around her shoulder, but around her waist was a belt. The belt was lined with five canisters. She couldn’t have been a Pioneer. No. This was a Polarist.
“Where did you get that!” Caleb yelled as he pointed to the canisters.
The woman’s pleading ceased, and a smile snuck onto her face below her pointy nose. Her teeth were black, and her laugh was more of a wheezing cough. “Off the corpses of your Wandering comrades.” Her hand shook as she tore off the blood canister. She held it up, then she dumped it into the Materialist canister.
“Run!” Caleb yelled as he sprinted back towards the Pioneers. A bellowing sound rumbled within the walls of the city, and then a deep bass warbled over the land. The roads snapped in half, and the stone walls crumbled. Caleb rushed past the Pioneers, and Sarai ran alongside him. They had been cutoff from Gardiv and the North
ern Sector.
Irez collapsed, and a crater was left in its place. Caleb stopped running to catch his breath, and when he looked up, hundreds of Polarists surrounded him from outside of the city. A heavyset man trudged out from their ranks. It was Raylen.
“You really assumed you could attack my people twice, you idiot!” Raylen yelled in his squeaky voice. “Your Wandering scum for friends on the north side of the city have no doubt been surrounded by now as well.”
“Just leave Broughtonhaven, and we’ll let you live!” Caleb called back.
Raylen turned to both sides and laughed with his troops. “How about I stay in Broughtonhaven and continue to live regardless?” Raylen reached out his hand and ice shackles clamped around the wrists and the legs of the Pioneers. “I’ll take it that you came to dig more graves for your pals, did you not?”
“You have no idea what you’re getting into?” Caleb called back. “We have things in place….”
“You mean the deranged Spiritualists?” Raylen interrupted. “Oh and the Naturalists? We’re prepared for them too. Isn’t it amazing what a spared life and a little torture can do?” Raylen asked as he motioned to the guards. “Kill them.”
Caleb struggled against the ice, but it was too firm. He could barely move. He looked down at his canisters, but he couldn’t get to them. The Polarists raised their hands to the sky, and crackling icy threads spiraled up from the ground amongst the Pioneers. The threads slithered over top of the heads of the Pioneers and swirled down to their toes, encasing them in icy tombs.
Watching in horror, a thread spread out over Sarai’s head. The ice formed around her face, covering her nose and her mouth.
“Sarai!” Caleb yelled. All he could hear were muffled words screaming back to him. The ice slithered around her neck where it tightened, then it flowed out over the rest of her body. “Sarai!” Caleb called again. But there was no response.
Infused (Book 2 of The Pioneers Saga) Page 31
