by Jill Cooper
“These people are your friends. I know you want to help him.”
“You think I don’t struggle with my choices? I do. I love my friends same as I love my father, and once my brother, but our mission is more important than one person. You’re more important, Tarnish.”
“I don’t believe that.”
Sebastian’s eyebrow rose as he gazed back out the window. “You can one day rid the world of the ministers and the hunters. Bring an end to the ravengers and the Temptress. How could you not believe? You’re smarter than that.”
“Maybe not,” I said and gave my satchel a tug to make sure everything was secure. Once I was sure it was, I headed toward the front door of the barn.
“Tarnish!”
I picked up my speed so Sebastian wouldn’t catch up to me, but he did as I stood in the field. The wail of the dirt bikes grew closer, and now outside among the lit torches, I listened to the front door cracking under the pressure of a battering ram on the other side.
He spun me around. “If they make it in here, they’ll take the food, they’ll hurt anyone who stands in their way. Even you. Are you ready for this?” Sebastian’s tone of voice spurred me on rather than trying to dissuade me.
Sebastian was testing me.
“Then let’s make sure they don’t get in. We do what we have to in order to protect these people. They took us in. They deserve our help.”
“Then tell me, what do we do?” Sebastian asked with a slight smile on his face. Was he trying to prove I was already the leader we needed to defeat Creighton?
Maybe, and maybe he was right. The words rolled off my tongue. “Pitch in. Fortify the walls. Get the children to safety, ready the watch and be prepared to fight.” I rolled up the sleeves of my cloak as we hurried along toward the front gate. When someone hurried along with some wood beams to reinforce the door, I offered my assistance. I grabbed an end and helped slide it into place. Others moved out the way as more beams were brought.
“If they get in,” I tossed my head over to Sebastian, “we’re going to need to protect the crops and the children. Take the bandits out, any means necessary.”
Sebastian pointed up to the watch tower at the corner of the fence off in the distance. Men there had bows and arrows but little else in terms of defense.
“I’ll get there and pick up arms. See if somehow we can scare the bandits off.”
“Be careful. If you see something that isn’t bandits, something that intends to come for me…” My words tapered off. “Send word. Smoke signal. I’ll run and draw it away from these people.”
“It’ll be done. Be careful, Tarnish.” He scampered up the ladder, and I watched after him, wishing and praying there was something else I could do.
“I have something!” one of the townsfolk, John, said to me. “I can set a trap, but only if I have help.”
“Show me.”
John ran off, beckoning me with his hand, and I charged after.
****
Penny led the sleepy children out of their beds as the bells rang. “Come kids. A little sleepover. That’s all.”
They rubbed their eyes, clutched their homemade stuffed dolls, and the youngest took up the rear. As they walked down the stairs hand in hand to stay together, Penny pushed the young ones into the middle.
“The person in front of you is your buddy. Don’t let go of their hand. You’re going somewhere safe now. I promise.”
She rushed ahead and opened the door. Mel, one of the farmhands, waited to take possession of the children. “I’ll lead them now,” he said in a thick, husky voice.
Penny wanted to be with them, but she couldn’t leave Claire unaccompanied. “I’ll check on them as soon as I can. If you see Markus, tell him where I am. Make sure he doesn’t get hurt. He’ll try to charge but get him to lead from the back.”
He gave her a knowing look, but Penny wouldn’t risk Markus. He had made it through so much suffering. Now, there was nothing left to do but help Claire.
“He’s not a young man anymore, Mel.”
Mel nodded with resignation. “None of us is anymore, Miss Penny. None of us is.” He took the child’s hand at the front of the line and led them through the front door. Penny ran into the kitchen, wiping her hand on the hem of her dress.
Upstairs, she could hear Claire's labored breathing. This baby wanted out fast.
Penny filled a bowl with water from the basin and carried it up the stairs. Some folded towels on a bench waited outside of Claire’s bedroom, and Penny picked those up and stuffed them under her arm.
Never a dull moment, no matter where she was.
“Clair?” Knocking once, she opened the door to Claire’s bedroom. Her eyes swept around to find her. The pregnant woman was upright again, leaning over the bookcase. Legs spread wide, Claire rested her cheek down on the dresser and screamed. One hand grabbed her belly.
“Help me, Penny…” She wheezed for air. “It’s never been like this. The pain… there’s something wrong.” Claire’s face squished down in an ugly sob. “It won’t come.”
Penny was used to crying children, not laboring women, though she had birthed a number of babies in the rebel camps. She gripped Claire’s shoulders and helped her down into a squat, swinging Claire’s hips back.
Claire roared as if it hurt just to bend. It shouldn’t have hurt. Penny helped her back up. “We better get you on the bed. Come on. You just need some rest while this baby descends. That’s all.” Penny couldn’t keep the fear out of her voice. What was happening wasn’t normal, and while she taught basic biology to children as part of her classes, Penny wasn’t a skilled doctor. Though she knew about caesarian sections, it wasn’t something anyone did anymore.
She helped Claire hobble onto the bed. Penny lifted her legs, laying them out straight. The pregnant woman labored, breathing through her mouth, groaning and grabbing the headboard behind her.
A trail of blood followed each step and each moment. Penny hadn’t seen that much blood in a long time. A long time.
“I’ll get you through this, I promise.” Penny swallowed hard, and then she heard a knocking at the door. Wide-eyed, Lilith stood at the door.
“They’re breaching the walls. We might need to move her.”
Claire shook her head and sobbed. “No… no.”
Penny gripped her hand. “Claire. I’ll help you—”
“I can’t go, Penny. I won’t let these bastards destroy my home.” She pointed out into the hall before arching her back, seething. “Three shotguns. We fend them off.”
“You’re in no condition to fight, Clair,” Lilith said gently.
“I can’t move. I—” Her face scrunched.
Another contraction, this one a doozy. Penny gripped her hand and watched Claire’s mouth open wide as she screamed. Penny yelled to Lilith over her shoulder, “Get Henry! If we are going to defend this place, we’re going to need help.”
Getting Claire to birth the baby was a different story altogether.
****
Gun powder. They had gun powder.
I wouldn’t have known what it was if not for the books I had read. Highly explosive and kept in the underground storage, kept dry in old barrels. Moving them would be difficult, but not impossible.
“Everyone who can help, help!” I called out when we returned toward the front gate with shovels. We dug trenches and lined them with gun powder. We’d need a spark of light, flame, to ignite the gun powder, but I could provide that when we needed it, at least I hoped.
Wiping my forehead clean, I leaned on the end of my shovel and surveyed our good work. When I saw Henry, I rushed right over to him.
“We’re ready for them.”
“You’ll scare them off, but they’ll be back. Just like they’ve been coming back,” Henry said beside us with a sigh. He used the back of his hand to wipe sweat off his brow. “Last few months, more and more frequent, but never as hard as this.”
What did it mean? Maybe all it meant was food
grew scarcer here in the savage lands. It could be this was one of the only places left with fertile ground and clean water, and if true, it just made my mission more urgent.
“Henry! Henry!” Lilith ran in a long dress and a hat, charging through the crowd. “Claire’s in trouble. The baby isn’t coming naturally. Penny fears it’s breach.”
My stomach plummeted at her words. Poor Claire and now I gazed upon Henry and felt equally bad for him. There was conflict on his face, but there was one place he had to be. “Go,” I said. “I’ll work with your men here. You should be with her.”
With hesitation, he nodded. “Protect the farms. Protect the children. They’re in an underground basement over east,” Henry pointed past the crops, and I followed his finger, “if the bandits get their hands on our kids…”
“They won’t. Go.”
Henry ran off, chasing after Lilith as fast as he could.
I turned back to the crowd forming behind the door and tried to push what I knew from my mind. Women died in childbirth, especially when trying to birth a breached baby. Claire was a good woman, nice; I didn’t want her to die.
My thoughts were interrupted as a flaming arrow sailed over the wall and I jumped out of the way as it struck the ground close to where I had stood. My heart skipped a beat, and I realized these bandits were serious, they meant business.
A man offered me a pitchfork, and I shook my head. “I have my own weapon,” I said. I peeled back the top of my satchel and took out a book. Giving the cover a tap, I hoped for the first time the magic would work and it would come to me when I asked.
“Now’s not the time for worry,” a man said, “now is a time to prepare. Set traps! Be prepared to fight for what is yours.”
A bunch of people yelled back in agreement, but I was intrigued and went over to him. “What kind of traps do you have in mind?”
He laughed. “I hope you have a strong back.”
“I’m a merchant’s daughter. I’m nothing if not strong.”
“Then follow me,” he said as he took up his own shovel. “We have a lot of work to do.”
****
With the help of Mel, we dug trenches and set up traps I hoped the bandits would trigger. We set up people to lead them toward the traps, and we’d have to pray they took the bait. I took a breather to wipe my brow and glance at the trenches we'd laid loose dirt on top of. With the addition of water beneath, it would be an unwelcome surprise.
“You work hard, Tarnish. I think we’re going to be friends.” Mel rested his hand on the top of his shovel.
I laughed as best I could, as I was out of breath, barely able to speak, as the bells chimed out front. A flurry of arrows flew over the gate, and the door splintered open. The smoke of their arrows hadn’t even cleared before bandits charged inside, three on dirt bikes and the rest on foot.
Go time.
Everyone scattered to take their spots so we could appear to be giving up. Mel and a troop headed to keep the children safe, and Francesca headed toward the food stores to make sure nothing was raided, at least not without a fight. I took my spot behind a watering tower and gazed up high at where Sebastian was.
He moved to adjust his aim on one of the charging raiders, and I hoped he’d be okay, but I had to focus my attention on what was coming. I heard the roar of a dirt bike. Squatting down low, I held on to the wooden beam in my hand. Dirt sputtered out from the road as tires churned through it, but when they hit the hidden trench, the bike flipped up. It pivoted, and the rider lost her grip on the handlebars.
With a quick thrust of my arms, I slammed my bar into her and she rolled over onto her back. She gasped for air, grabbed her throat and with wide eyes peered up at me. Her leather trench coat gave away who she was before I even laid eyes on her face, and anger grew in the pit of my stomach.
Ella.
“You think this is going to stop us?” Ella spat as she pushed herself up onto her elbows. “You’re women, children. Not scavengers like me. You haven’t been through what I’ve been through!”
I pushed the sole of my boot down on her chest and forced her back down. “Try me.”
“You,” Ella sneered, laying her head down.
I thought she'd given up, but she proved to me she didn’t by straightening her arm and slamming into my forward leg. Losing my balance, I struggled to regain it, and she scampered away, the rat she was, heading toward the farmhouse. She slammed into a big worker named Mort, and he pushed her back down.
“She’s their leader. Without her, they’ll stand down,” I said. “Take her to the barn and make it so she can’t leave.”
Mort nodded and grabbed Ella by the scruff of her collar, but it was me her eyes chastised. She laughed with tears in her eyes. “So much for your civilization. You think you’re better than me? The fact that you think you’re chosen for something doesn’t make you great! You’re nothing!” She lunged forward, but Mort yanked her back.
“That’s enough out of you. That’s enough!” Mort pushed her toward the barn but kept the distance between them close.
One of the older girls stood behind them with curious eyes. I caught her attention with a quick whistle. “Make sure the others know we have the leader. Everyone has to know.” It would demoralize them, and that had to help us.
She ran off, and I gazed back at the watch tower. Sebastian wasn’t there anymore. Where had he gone? I turned to try to find him with a quickening in my chest as if something was horribly wrong.
A bell chiming in the east proved I wasn’t wrong, and when I turned toward it, I saw the sky was red and smoke billowed up from the garden and trees. I ran toward it, and others followed me. As I crossed the protective homes where the children were, Mel tried to follow, but I shook my head.
“Stay with the children!”
I didn’t stop running until I came to the burning crops. What little vegetables would grow in this wasteland were on fire. The tree branches were like flaming torches, and as I stood there, it taunted me with its angry flames swaying back and forth. The few people who had made it there before me were filling buckets from the water tower.
“How did they do this?”
A woman moaned as if in physical pain. “They used their arrows. When they saw we were going to defend ourselves, they burned everything!”
Could people really be so cruel? How could a group of people damn another group of people? Didn’t they understand what we were fighting against?
I ran to pitch in, grabbing a bucket and handing it down the line. “Faster!” Someone at the front of the line yelled, and it pitched the anxiety growing in my chest. My bucket sloshed as I passed it to the next person, and the next bucket I grabbed did the same. I barely had time to see if any progress was being made, but it wasn’t. The smoke continued to burn my noise, and my chest tightened as I took in that sharp smell.
When someone grabbed my shoulder, I jumped. It was Sebastian, and his arm was bleeding. I gasped as I took the next bucket, but he took it from me and stepped into my place in line. “I’m all right, but you’re wasting your talents doing this, Tarnish. You can put out these fires before these people lose everything.”
I shook my head. “We don’t know if it’ll work, and even if it does, it might bring the hunters.”
“If you don’t, they’ve lost everything anyway.” Sebastian’s eye pled with me. “You taught me the risk to help people is worth it. If we’re going to save them, it’s worth the risk.”
“Think of the children,” the lady in front of Sebastian said, her eyes opened wide with fear. “Please, if you know something that can help…”
The fear of failure—and success—nearly paralyzed me, but the cries around me moved me forward. With a heavy step, I turned around and stood far enough from the fire not to be consumed but close enough so its sparks singed the hem of my robe. Pulling a book from my satchel, the Wizard of Oz, my favorite, and flipped open to a chapter I knew by heart anyway.
The chapter that brought the
tornado.
I dug out the powerful remnant I had fused together and held it in my other hand and began to read about the twister that would pull Dorothy into Oz. If I had any luck at all, I could shape the weather and do something to help put these flames out.
The words on the page lit up, and the remnant in my hand grew hot. I kept reading the words, barely able to see the book anymore. Instead, I saw a farmhouse in Kansas and the twister in the sky. The wind blew hair across my face, and the rain soaked my skin. The story begged me to be lost in it again as I smelled nearby jasmine, something I shouldn’t even be able to do.
I had never smelled jasmine or flowers in my life, but for the first time I could.
It ached my soul to pull myself from the story. The first thing I saw when I resumed my life was the glowing light of the remnant and the rain falling down from the sky, covering the cracked, broken, and scorched land.
The flames died out as the wind and rain cascaded down, and people around me laughed. Some cupped their hands up to the sky, and I kept reading as Sebastian joined my side. He never wore a bigger smile, and as I closed the book and put it away, he took my hand. We both gazed at the glowing light I held and how it slowly dimmed.
“I knew,” Sebastian said with a rise and fall in his chest, as if he spoke with pride. “I knew you could do it, and I knew you were the one. I got the girl I needed, even if I didn’t expect her.”
As I put the remnant away safely, I saw it had scarred my hand and left a funny triangle behind. Gently, I touched it and wondered what it meant, if anything, or if it was just a battle scar.
“What happens next in the story?” someone asked.
“She gets whisked away on adventure and magic. She goes on to defeat the wicked witch of the west and east,” I explained from memory. Oh, what a story.
“Just like you will,” Francesca said.
I had never thought of myself as Dorothy, but maybe I was. My adventure was grand, and I was in a strange place. I hoped I’d win just as she had, but nothing was certain yet. I gazed at the wrecked crops as the town folk inspected everything for damage, but we couldn’t rest yet. There were other bandits left to conquer or drive out. Sebastian and I turned together and saw a bunch of them fleeing the scene.
