“You never practice your Mage stuff—”
“Because everybody else freaks out every time it gets mentioned! I’m going to go to one knee, facing the crest. You come up right behind me. Wrap your arms about me! You have to be inside the bubble!”
“Bubble?”
“Just do it! If this doesn’t work, if the first legionary over the crest sees us, I’ll fire, and we’ll charge through them to confuse their ability to fire at us, and keep running toward a rock I saw partway down the other side of the slope that’ll offer us a little cover.”
“How will we know if it does work?”
“The legionaries won’t see us! Now please be quiet so I can concentrate! I love you!”
Kira tried to settle her frantic thoughts, her fears, and focus only on the spell. There was enough power here. All she needed to do was use it. She let loose the mental bindings on her powers.
Freed from the barriers that normally kept them tightly confined, her Mage powers swelled inside her, momentarily terrifying in their strength and intensity, like a river breaking free of a dam that had long confined it. Kira sensed other Mages in these mountains, but none of them close. They would surely sense her as well, but that was a minor worry compared to the legionaries who would come in sight any moment.
She blew out a long breath, relaxing her mind as well as her body. The world was an illusion. Everything in it an illusion, except the people. Light was an illusion. It could be changed. Not to reveal. To hide.
Kira tried to block out her knowledge that she had to do this, had to make it work. If she didn’t succeed, she would be recaptured or killed, and Jason would certainly die. But that was a distraction, something that would hinder her ability to concentrate. Block it out. Forget the fear. Forget how close the legionaries must be.
Focus. Focus. Change the illusion of the way light moved, so that it didn’t strike her and Jason, revealing them to all around, but flowed around to leave them unseen inside the bubble created by the spell.
She felt her mind shifting. The world changing about her. Focus on the illusion and the need to change it. Light—
Kira blinked, staring at Jason.
How had he gotten in front of her?
Why was she breathing so hard, sweat running down her face?
Where was she?
Where were the legionaries?
Where had this large rock come from that they were crouched behind?
“Kira!” Jason whispered, his eyes lit with fear.
“Yes.” Why was he looking at her like that? “What?”
“Are you okay? You haven’t answered me.”
Kira took a deep breath. “I’m…I’m fine.”
“But…you were acting so weird.”
“What do you mean, weird?” Kira asked, trying to stay calm as she sought to figure out how she and Jason had gotten here.
“We were there while you did that spell, and I suddenly noticed that things looked a little blurry. The legionaries came over the ridge, and—” Jason swallowed convulsively. “I’ve never been that scared, Kira. They were right there, and walking past us, and looking at where we were, but it was like we weren’t there. One almost bumped into us! I could have reached out and grabbed her rifle!”
“So the spell worked,” Kira said, trying to get her breathing under control and dredge up any memory of the events Jason was describing.
“Yeah. And then they were past us, and you didn’t say anything, which I understood because they were still close, but you got up and you held my arms so I stayed right behind you, against your back, and we walked as fast as we could over the crest of the ridge and down the other side and I saw the rock you’d talked about and you led us there and when we got here you pulled us both down behind it and…”
Jason shook his head, both puzzled and frightened by the memory. “You just stared at me. You didn’t say anything. I kept whispering your name and you wouldn’t answer. You touched my face with one hand and looked at me like…like…”
“Like what?” Kira demanded, fearing the answer.
“This is going to sound stupid,” Jason said, unhappy, “but a while back I had a crush on a girl. Back on Earth. And I knew I didn’t have a chance. She wasn’t mean, but she made it clear it would never happen. And the way you were looking at me made me remember that. Remember how I felt about her.”
Kira felt anger warring with her fears. “We’re in this awful mess, we’re under all kinds of strain,” she whispered fiercely, “and you decide to talk about some other girl who you really liked?”
“That’s not it, Kira—”
“That sounds like it! I don’t need this, Jason! Why would I look at you like I could never have you when you’ve told me that you love me? When you’ve agreed to give me your promise? Do I remind you of that other girl? Is that why you like me?”
“No! You wouldn’t say anything!” he protested, looking wounded by her attack. “You just stared at me like that! It scared me, Kira.”
“I…I was tired,” Kira said, contrite. “Too tired to talk. The spell took a lot out of me.”
“You didn’t black out again?”
“No,” Kira said, appalled that she was lying to Jason but telling herself that she simply couldn’t cope with discussing it right now, that she was too physically and emotionally exhausted at the moment, and that she would let him know the truth as soon as they had a chance to rest.
Seeking an excuse to change the subject, she peeked over the top of the rock, looking up toward the crest, then all around. No legionaries were visible, the line of searchers out of sight on the other side of the crest. “We need to get out of here. The Imperials always run overlapping search patterns, so there might be another unit coming through this area in a little while.”
“Kira,” Jason said as they stood up, obviously choosing his words carefully, “are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine.”
He didn’t believe her. And he was right not to. Kira felt ashamed of herself, wondering why she was lying to Jason but unable to tell him the truth. Something deep inside her shied away from admitting it. Tonight. I’ll tell him the truth tonight. “Jason…”
“What?” His look at her was filled with worry.
“I’m sorry I scared you, and I’m sorry I snapped at you.”
“That’s okay,” Jason said. “As long as you’re okay.”
Kira stumbled as she stood, surprised by her weakness. The spell had taken a lot out of her.
This side of the slope was not as rough, easing down toward a low area then gradually rising again. Kira walked as steadily as she could, regaining her strength, trying not to let Jason see how unnerved she was by this second blackout.
She tried again to remember anything during that time when nothing was in her memory.
Something flashed into her mind, an image as clear as if she were seeing it before her at this moment. A legionary. Dark red uniform, black boots and chest armor all showing a fine patina of dust. Her face bore the tiredness and boredom of someone who had been doing the same thing for days and seen nothing happen. She might have been twice Kira’s age at most, wearing the chevron of a legion corporal on one sleeve, holding her rifle with the ease of someone to whom the weapon was a longtime and comfortable companion in the field. Dark hair drifted across her forehead. Her eyes looked directly toward Kira, but reflected no trace of recognition, no sign they saw anything but the same rocks and dirt they had viewed for days on end.
The legionary had a face. An individual stood there. A person.
“I can’t forget their faces,” Kira’s mother had told her a few months ago during one of those late-night talks when Mari had tried to unburden herself and share her experiences. “That’s the hardest part. The men and women who were trying to kill me, who were helping to keep the world enslaved. I had to stop them. I had to shoot at them. And I can’t forget their faces.”
Kira shuddered, stumbling on the uneven ground, the sens
e of seeing the legionary at this moment vanishing from her mind but the image lingering.
“I got you,” Jason said, grasping her arm to help Kira recover her balance.
“Thanks. I’m still a little weak.”
Her mother had said something else, leaning in, her eyes intent. “Life gives us choices. If someone chooses to force others, to attack others, to try to hurt others, then you have to choose to stop them. It may hurt, but you have to protect others and protect yourself.”
“All right, Mother,” Kira whispered to herself.
“What?” Jason asked.
“Nothing. Let’s head that way.”
Nervous about the lack of cover, they maintained the best pace they could across the plateau, pausing to rest only when they reached a pass leading west. “There’s just a little bit of water in this,” Jason said, holding up a canteen. “That’s all that’s left.”
“Save it for dinner,” Kira said, her throat once again hurting from thirst. Her stomach was a dull, continuous ache of emptiness. She saw how gaunt Jason’s face was and knew she must look the same. “How are you doing?”
“Okay,” Jason said, leaning against the nearest rock face. “You said there’d be taco trucks.”
“I said I’d ask Mother about getting taco trucks.”
“This is a lousy game. Really. It ought to have taco trucks.”
“Jason, are you sure you’re all right?”
“Yeah,” he said, pushing off from the rock to gesture toward the pass. “Just trying to keep my spirits up. Let’s keep moving. There isn’t any food or water here. Maybe there is at the other end of this pass.”
The pass climbed to meet another valley, this one framed by a steep cliff to the north and the heights they had come through to the east. Kira couldn’t see the far edges of the valley as it stretched off to the south and west, cheering her with the thought that they must be drawing close to land occupied by people of the Free Cities.
The valley also lacked cover. Patches of dirt offered purchase for grass, but there were only a few bushes and no trees. Kira angled their path across the rising terrain toward that northern cliff face, hoping to find fallen rock there that would offer some place to hide if necessary. The afternoon sun was dropping down, but the valley was still brightly lit by its rays.
“If there are watchers with far-seers up on those heights, we’re going to be easy to spot,” Kira told Jason.
“Maybe some of those watchers are friendly.”
“That would be nice.”
“At least this is easy walking,” Jason added. “Uphill, of course, but otherwise not bad.”
“When we get through with this,” Kira said, her eyes fixed on the route ahead, “I'm only going to walk downhill. Toward rivers of cold, clear, fresh water. Remember when we jumped into the Glenca River?”
“You jumped,” Jason said. “I got pushed.”
“You’re never going to let that go, are you?”
The long rise gave way to a nearly level stretch running north toward the steep cliff face, where Kira could now see the hoped-for tumble of fallen rocks at its base. The land slowly fell away to the south and west, where more distant mountains rose dramatically to mark the boundaries of the nearly barren valley.
“I think we’ve managed to find every vale and dell in the Northern Ramparts that have nothing in them but rocks,” Kira commented as they paused to rest. “Remember the land around Kelsi? All that grass and water and…”
“Cows.”
“Yeah. Cows.” Kira shook her head wearily as a frigid wind off the heights staggered her and Jason. “This isn’t the sort of land any farmer is going to pasture herds on.”
“Kira!” a woman said from just behind her, the voice sharp and urgent.
She jerked in shock at the sound, spinning around to look.
No one stood there.
But much farther off, coming toward her and Jason at a fast trot from the south, was a line of legionaries. They were already probably just within maximum rifle range. “Run, Jason!”
They took off, veering west and north. “Shouldn’t we head for the cover of those rocks to the north?” Jason gasped.
“We want to avoid being trapped there,” Kira panted. “If we can get past that to the west…oh, blazes.”
Coming into sight to the west, toiling up the slope, was another line of legionaries.
“Rocks?” Jason asked.
“Rocks,” Kira agreed, changing her course to head straight north for the cliff face, Jason staying beside her. She had thought she was totally worn out, but fear lent strength to her legs as Kira ran.
A volley of rifle shots rang out behind. Analyze the situation, Kira told herself as she ran. Imperial rifles. Probably decent weapons made in the Empire, not cheap knockoffs of her Aunt Alli’s designs, the sort of junk manufactured in Ringhmon. But even most Imperial workshops couldn’t match in range and accuracy the weapons built by Master Mechanic Alli's workshops.
Standard Imperial ammunition load out was eighty rounds per rifle carried by each legionary.
It looked like the forces closing on her and Jason from the west and south added up to maybe half a cohort. Even if the Imperials had trouble getting a far-talker signal through the mountains, the sound of the rifle shots would draw more legionaries toward this spot.
The legionaries would be burdened by the weight of their armor and packs and weapons as they chased her and Jason, but they also would have been getting enough food and water for the last few days.
It all added up to a decent chance of reaching the cover of the rocks, but afterwards not much chance at all.
They ran into the shadow cast by the mountains to the west. Kira stole a glance that way, towards the setting sun. It would be a while yet before sunset and darkness fell, but maybe in the dark they’d have a chance to escape.
Another volley rang out behind them, bullets snapping past, followed by individual shots.
“It’s not much farther!” Kira called to Jason as more shots filled the air.
She heard a sound like a dull thud.
Jason gave a half-cry/half-grunt, and fell.
Chapter Fourteen
Her heart almost stopping, Kira skidded to a halt and lunged back toward Jason. To her relief, he was still alive and conscious, but grimacing in agony.
“My leg!” Jason gasped. His hands were on his right thigh, just above where bright red blood was rapidly staining his trousers.
Kira stole another look toward the Imperials. The closest legionaries had ceased firing, and were now running toward her and Jason. They were too far off for a pistol shot to have much chance of a hit, so Kira didn’t waste time on aiming and firing.
Her Lancer training for dealing with combat injuries in the field kicked in. She yanked one of the small med kits out of the scout backpack she was still carrying, pulling out the tourniquet. Ignoring Jason’s barely suppressed grunts of pain, Kira wrapped the tourniquet tightly about his leg above the bleeding and knotted it.
She put her face close to his, trying to disregard the anguish Jason was displaying. “Can you get up, Jason? If I help you, can you move?”
He focused on her, his eyes hazed with pain. “I… I don’t…“
“Then we stay here and fight here and die here.”
“Kira! You can’t—! Okay! Okay! Help me up!” With a groan of pain that escaped through clenched teeth, Jason rolled to his knees with Kira’s help, then used his good leg to rise to his feet, leaning heavily on Kira. “That really hurts,” Jason gasped.
Kira turned enough to see the legionaries running toward them, aimed as carefully as she could, and fired.
The leading legionary twisted as if someone had hit him in the shoulder, staggering.
The others slowed for a moment.
Kira got her shoulder under Jason’s and got them moving toward the cliff face and the rocks that offered shelter there. Jason grunted with agony with every step, but he kept moving, doing his be
st to support his own weight and help their staggering run. Kira concentrated on her breathing and on her steps, trying to ensure that she didn’t stumble. Even a small additional delay might well be disastrous.
The cliff face almost seemed to be receding as she tried to reach the fallen rocks littering the ground before it, mocking Kira with its closeness yet remaining out of reach. She saw a tumble of rocks that offered a good place to fort up and headed for them. A volley of shots came from the west, passing just overhead as the legionaries fired up the slope and failed to correct for it.
Kira finally reached the rocks and shoved Jason onto the lowest one forming a barrier between the cliff face and the area beyond. “Crawl behind that!”
She pivoted to face outward, her back to another boulder to steady her, her pistol coming up to aim. Several legionaries were far too close, racing to catch Kira and Jason before they could get into shelter. Kira steadied her pistol with both hands, trying to aim carefully despite the way her arms kept wavering from her recent bout of exertion.
Her sights drifted across the chest of the nearest legionary and she fired.
The legionary jerked, stumbled and fell. Kira shifted her aim to the next, fired, cursed as the shot went wide, then steadied her aim with an iron will and fired again.
The second legionary doubled over, clutching at her stomach.
Kira shifted aim to the third closest legionary, and fired a fourth time, this round spinning her target halfway around as it hit.
Two other legionaries dropped on their own, seeking cover. Kira saw their rifles coming around to aim at her.
She rolled over the rock that Jason was behind, dropping down to the dirt on the other side, then rising up again enough to level her pistol at the legionaries.
They had stayed down, though. Kira ducked as they fired, rifle bullets smashing into the rock before her and behind her.
Pulling her boxes of cartridges out of her jacket pockets, Kira hastily ejected the magazine in her pistol. Loading a full magazine, she slid cartridges into the partially empty one she had ejected until it was full.
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