Infused (Book 2 of The Pioneers Saga)
Page 34
“What does it say?” Jensen asked.
“It's from Uriel...she's alive....” Caleb said, voice cracking from the tears.
With those words, Sarai covered her mouth, tears streaming down her face. She knew how much it meant to Caleb because of the pain he had felt for his losses, but to think that Uriel had survived must have flooded his heart with compassion and excitement.
“Our spies heard about the assault from some of our Spiritualists informants, and I sent some spies to watch over the battle,” Rian said. “We saved all of the Wanderers that we could, and Uriel just happened to be one of them.”
“Can I see her?” Caleb asked.
Rian's eyes fell, and the smile left him for a moment and then returned. “I would advise against it for now. She is being held in a Naturalist infirmary, and because she was captured in the midst of the war, it wouldn't be the best time to be associated with her. She's probably being asked a lot of questions, and you can't have Juten connected with the assault in any way. But when she's healed and ready, I'll certainly send her your way.”
Caleb closed his eyes and held the letter up to Rian one last time. “Goodbye, Rian,” Caleb said.
“Goodbye, Caleb.”
“Jensen, we'll see you soon enough,” Caleb said.
“Indeed.”
A few days passed, and Caleb and Sarai returned to Caldenholtz for Raylen's extraction. Delegates and countless onlookers, along with their children, from each of the provinces had come to witness the account. Even Wanderers came out to observe. The town square was packed tightly with people, and many spectators were pressed against the stone buildings to make room for everyone. Various emblems from each region shined brightly in the heat of the mid-summer day, but no one focused on each other.
Their eyes were fixed on a splintered stage that loomed menacingly over the crowd. Two men stood on the platform. Naturalist Onri was one of them. His gray hair lay neatly over his head, combed to one side. He was asked to preside over the event partly because he was the senior member of the Alpha Council but mostly because as a Naturalist, he was responsible for Dominating Raylen.
Raylen lay on his back with his arms to his side. His emblem was not pulsing for fear of the consequences. Naturalist Onri stepped closer to Raylen and spoke out to the crowd. His voice was sophisticated and direct.
“We are gathered today not to honor a man, but to dishonor him. His deeds have gone overlooked for far too long, and no man with this much power should be allowed to wield that power. So citizens of Clydenholm, your council, The Alpha Council, has responded to this threat in a manner that we have collectively deemed necessary. Death is far too merciful for scoundrels like the man, Raylen Fevin.”
“I can’t believe that the council still sees extraction as worse than death,” Sarai whispered to Caleb. Caleb waved his hand to quiet her.
“We, the council, are still deciding on the sanctions that will be placed on Valenheid due to their unprovoked acts of war,” Naturalist Onri announced.
“What about our children!” yelled one of the Spiritualists.
Naturalist Onri calmed them down and ignored the question. “Now to the extraction.” He walked over to Raylen and looked down at him. “Any last words before Clydenholm disowns you?”
“M-May I address the crowd?” Raylen asked in his typically high-pitched voice.
Raylen picked himself up, and his gut sloshed around as he stood. The wood beneath him creaked, sounding like it would break. The crowd was silent, waiting for him to begin.
“Citizens of Valen-, I mean Clydenholm. I just want you to know that there were a lot of things that I wished I had d-done differently.” He stumbled over his words as he spoke. “But if I wanted you to know something, it’s this.” He took a breath and looked out at the onlookers.
“Make it fast, Raylen,” Naturalist Onri warned with this hands crossed in front of him.
Raylen picked up his arm and pointed out to the crowd. His emblem pulsed, and the temperature dropped. “It was your fault! I did this because of you! You all forced me to do this! You said that I was worthless! Well you were all wrong! All of you!”
Naturalist guards rushed to the platform. Naturalist Onri pointed in front of him as if he were counting things that could not be seen, taking command over all of the life forms in the area, and the temperature quickly returned to normal. The guards slammed Raylen onto the wooden stage, and Caleb was sure that he heard one of the boards crack.
Orange-cloaked Materialist Newt materialized a metal barrier that kept the crowd from seeing the extraction, but Caleb could hear Raylen screaming as they pried the stone from his chest. Turning his lip up and grabbing Sarai’s hand, Caleb left the crowd, not wanting to hear anymore of the senseless hollers.
As they passed by the infirmary, Caleb saw Shauna hobbling out. Cheers erupted from behind him. The extraction must have been complete.
“Is it over? Did I miss it?” Shauna asked. She could barely stand.
Caleb let go of Sarai’s hand and caught Shauna before she collapsed to the ground. “It’s over, but I wouldn’t say you missed anything.”
Bracing herself with her arm over Caleb’s shoulder, she brushed off her golden sari. “I guess I didn’t have as much strength to make it as I thought I did.”
“How are you feeling?” Caleb asked.
“I’ll let you answer that.”
“That’s what you get when you Hellstate an entire population,” said Sarai.
Shauna looked up from her sari and smiled. “Keep it up, and I’ll Hellstate you.”
“And risk being out for another week? I doubt it.”
“Yeah you’re probably right at this point.” Shauna straightened herself up under her own strength, and Caleb carefully backed away, making sure that she was stable. “Besides. Yael just told me some good news.”
“Oh yeah?” Caleb asked.
“She says that Hellstates will be outlawed in Broughtonhaven. She just needs to push the policy through. But that won’t be a problem. She knows that the Broughtonhaven Council agrees.”
“No more Hellstates, huh?” Caleb scratched his head. “But once you go into the Hellstate, you’ll always have its temptation, right?”
“Right. But Yael is not going to allow the practice of Hellstates. She is planning on having training centers to teach the Spiritualists how to control it, and she wants me to help.”
“Are you going to?” asked Sarai.
“I can’t even control my own. There’s no way I’m going to try to teach people to control theirs.” Shauna shrugged. “Yael wanted me to be the governor of Broughtonhaven, but I’m not going to do it.”
“What? Why not?” Sarai asked.
“I’m not a politician. That’s something that I don’t care too much about. I’ve gotten my taste of diplomacy, and it tastes like Xanthem meat – dry and sour.”
“But you’d be great at it,” Sarai said.
“I’d also be great at mining, but you’ll never catch me down there digging in those caves. You know, I liked it better when you two were gone. I’m going back to my room.”
Caleb smiled as she turned away. “We’ll miss you too,” he called to her.
“Ehh,” she said as she waved backwards.
=====
Caleb helped Sarai gather her things from her bungalow so that she could prepare to move down to the Southern Sector at a location near Caleb’s place. The Northern Sector was overrun with Pioneers who had succumbed to the infusions.
“I’ve lived here ever since I came to Juten, and just like that, I’m being forced out. It’s not right,” she said.
“Gardiv should have talked to us before he decided to use the toxin for infusions.”
“And what would you have said...had I asked you, Third Watch Pioneer Caleb Eaves?” Sarai’s door flew open. Gardiv trudged in, his chest out and his purple emblem pulsing. Spirits whispered and moaned around him. He stood in the doorway, blocking the warm sunlight and the
breeze from entering.
Caleb threw Sarai’s clothes onto the bed and stepped towards Gardiv. “I would have told you that what you were doing was wrong.”
“Arthur put me in charge, and I saw fit to make sure that my men and women were prepared for war. Those mainlanders are dangerous, and if we are ever going to have any voice over yonder,” he said pointing to Clydenholm, “we’ve got a lot of training to do.”
“We are not a province of war!”
The spirits growled at Caleb’s buck. “We are not a province at all!” Gardiv retorted. “At least not in their eyes.”
“I can’t believe I’m hearing this. Sarai, let’s go.” Caleb grabbed her items, stuffed them in a satchel, and followed Sarai outside.
Gardiv grabbed Caleb’s arm and lifted it up, pushing Caleb’s shoulder skyward. “You might not want to make a habit out of this insubordination...soldier.” The spirits swirled around the room, rattling a few of the cups and vases that were left behind.
Staring blades into Gardiv, Caleb jerked his shoulder away and headed to the carriage behind Sarai. He jumped inside and cracked the reigns. The horses started off down through Juten.
Wandering through the streets and hanging out at the empty bonfire pit were pockets of Infused Pioneers. Their various emblem colors pulsed through the city.
Caleb tried not to think about how Juten was becoming different. “Gardiv’s changed since I met him,” Caleb said.
“He’s always been as rough as the Narwine ranges, but below that jagged exterior used to be a soul. Now it seems that there’s a stone where his heart used to be.”
“This isn’t what Arthur wanted,” Caleb replied.
“I don’t imagine that he had much to say about it.”
The two of them rode hand in hand for the partial day’s journey down to the Southern Sector. Caleb was beginning to see this section as his new home, even though he’d spent over a year and a half in the north. The nameless faces of the people he’d once run past on his day jog around the island were gradually becoming his friends.
Evening hovered over them, and the southern bonfire was already ablaze. The setting sun fell behind the enormous stone wall, spraying its rays into the town. Musical instruments and bursts of laughter echoed in the streets.
“It’s like these people are immune to war,” Caleb said, as he helped Sarai out of the carriage.
“These people are your people,” she replied, pushing him in the chest with her finger, smiling. “And they’re not immune. They’ve just have learned to deal with their losses, just like you have.”
“Didn’t expect to see you down here so soon,” said a man who grabbed Caleb by the shoulder.
“Ethan! How are you? Happy as ever I see,” said Caleb, gesturing to Ethan’s never-ending smile.
“I can attest to that. My darling’s due to give birth in a month or so.” Ethan leaned and kissed Nara on the cheek. Her emblem lit up with a gentle array of blue. Ethan tapped her stone with his fingertip, “That’s my honey’s way of blushing.”
“Nara! Look at you! You’re huge!” Caleb said spreading his hands apart.
Sarai jabbed him in the stomach. “What’s your problem? You never say that to a woman, especially not a pregnant one.”
“Uhh…sorry about that, Nara. I just can’t believe that you’re about to have a baby.”
Nara straightened her hair and interlocked her fingers over her stomach, hoping to hide herself behind her hands. “It’s fine. You can’t expect much from Caleb anyway.”
They all laughed, all but Caleb. “Oh, so I make a mistake and everyone jumps down my throat, but Nara gets to be mean and no one says anything about it.”
“I’m having a baby, soon. You have to be nice to me.”
Caleb shook his head and grinned. “Just doesn’t seem right.”
“It isn’t,” said Sarai. “Get over it.”
“So Nara, what are you going to do after you have your child?” Caleb asked, changing the conversation. “I’m sure it’ll be tough going back to Valenheid after all that’s happened.”
“We’re going back,” Ethan interjected. “That place needs some level-headed instruction to get back on their feet,” he said motioning to Nara. “Besides. We have our home in Gilganstor that is in desperate need of some upkeep by now, I’m sure.”
“We just wanted to do the Exodus here in Juten where it was safe, but my people need me.” Nara fixed her pale white hair, and she looked at Caleb with those bright blue eyes. “And Caleb.”
“Yeah, Nara?”
“Don’t hate my people.”
“I don’t hate them….”
“It’s the emblem,” she continued. “The Polarist emblem has some nasty side effects. Baser instincts become a Polarist’s focus. I should know.” Her eyes fell to the ground. “I was going to kill Dena. When people call us savages, they’re only seeing the effects of the emblems. Few people have learned to control it. So don’t hate my people. They were just doing what they needed to do to survive.”
“To survive? The Polarists are the ones who imprisoned me for seven months. They killed children, Nara. Those Spiritualist children never even had a chance.”
“I know…I know,” she waved him off. “Just don’t hate my people. Even Raylen, as evil as he is, was still under the influence of the stone.”
“Influenced or not, it's just not right.” Then Caleb smiled and set his hand on Nara’s shoulder. “I don’t hate the Polarists. People like you and Ethan here remind me that Valenheid has so much to offer Clydenholm.”
“Well I’d better get my lady off her feet. Don’t want that baby coming any earlier than she’s supposed to,” Ethan said, putting his arm around Nara to guide her away.
She smacked him on the arm. “You don’t know if it’s a girl, silly.”
“I was right last time. I’d say I’ve gotten pretty good at this guessing game. Hopefully, I’ll be making a lot more guesses in the future.” Ethan winked at Nara as they headed off.
“Let’s have this one first.”
The bonfire snapped nearby as Caleb watched Nara and Ethan walk away. “Caleb?” Sarai turned to him and gazed into his eyes. Her braid dangled down her back, and her beautiful features seemed to reflect the settling moonlight.
“Yes, Sarai?”
“Why did you stay with Shauna? I mean, the physicians were there to take care of her? What made you stay?”
“Because we don’t leave one of our own.”
“So you still want to treat her like a Pioneer, huh?”
“With all she’s done and with the reasons that she’s done it all, she certainly seems like what I’d expect from a Pioneer.”
Sarai grinned. “She still calls us Wanderers.”
“What’s in a name?”
“Depends. If it’s a name like Caleb, then I’d say there’s power in it.”
Caleb blushed and glanced away. The wind rushed in from above, and the flutes and lyres from near the bonfire began the next upbeat jig. Sarai pulled Caleb over to dance. Reluctantly, he let her drag him along, but once his legs loosened up, he showed himself to be quite the dancer.
His chest throbbed, but he pretended not to notice.
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THE PIONEERS : REFINED
BOOK 3
thePioneersSaga.com
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Table of Contents
Copyright
MAP
EFFECTS OF THE EMBLEMS
CHAPTER 1 THE EXTRACTION
CHAPTER 2 THE BARRICADES
CHAPTER 3 THE OLD MAN
CHAPTER 4 THE DISMISSAL
CHAPTER 5 THE MISGUIDED COUNCIL
CHAPTER 6 THE DOMINATION
CHAPTER 7 THE PROMOTION
&
nbsp; CHAPTER 8 THE SUBDUED
CHAPTER 9 THE COLD
CHAPTER 10 THE CAPTURE
CHAPTER 11 THE INFUSION
CHAPTER 12 THE DEMANDS
CHAPTER 13 THE DETOUR
CHAPTER 14 THE ANSWER
CHAPTER 15 THE KILLINGS
CHAPTER 16 THE SIEGE
CHAPTER 17 THE BREAKING POINT
CHAPTER 18 THE CALL
CHAPTER 19 THE CONVERGENCE
CHAPTER 20 THE REFINING