by T. C. Edge
“And who knows whatever else he’s cooking up,” growls Link. “The fighting suits him while he continues to plot and scheme. What about the secret base at The Titan’s Hand,” he asks, turning to Jackson. “Have we learned anything?”
This is all news to me. I look to my father, who takes a breath and shakes his head.
“I’ve lost contact with them,” he says.
“You’ve what?” asks Link.
“Earlier this morning, our transmissions were severed. I’m sending another party out to ascertain what happened…but I think we can all guess.”
“They were attacked,” says Cyra. It isn’t a question. And it’s not speculation. The look in her eye suggests she knows.
“You didn’t see anything, did you?” asks Jackson.
“Flashes, maybe. I saw a facility being burned, soldiers being killed, but I didn’t know where. It must be The Titan’s Hand.”
“Well, why didn’t you say anything?” asks Markus.
“Because I wasn’t sure where it was,” she reiterates. “And, in any case, I wasn’t aware that a force had been sent there,” she adds, looking at Jackson.
“Yes, well I thought it prudent to discover what else we could find there.”
“And clearly they didn’t like it,” says Link. “They’re covering their tracks over something.”
“The special purpose…” I whisper.
My father’s eyes glance at me, demanding I stay quiet. The others, unfortunately, hear me too.
“What special purpose?” asks Link.
“Oh…um, nothing really. Just…Professor Lane, before she died, she said something about a special purpose…for the Seekers.”
I bend the truth, not telling them about the notebook, and not telling them that the special purpose appears to be intended for one Seeker in particular. Still, it’s enough to brew up a fresh bout of speculation.
We debate it briefly, but no one has any idea what it might mean. All the while, Jackson peers at me, urging me to keep my mouth shut and not mention anything else.
In the end, we press on, other more important things to consider.
“So we can safely assume that the base beneath The Titan’s Hand has been taken if not destroyed,” says General Trent.
“Most likely the latter,” says Markus. “They have no further use for the base, and if it did hold any secrets, they’d want to wipe them out and not give us a chance to take the base back. The men we sent will be dead. I’d suggest you recall the others you sent.”
Jackson shakes his head. “We might as well make sure. I’ll instruct them to scout from a distance and then return. I doubt that the Baron’s men will stick around there once the job’s been done.”
“OK,” says Markus. “Now let’s move on.”
The conversation turns to the rare good news that’s been coming in, that of The Guardians of Liberty, whose force is developing by the minute it would seem.
“We have heard reports from dozens of towns and settlements where people are refusing to leave,” says General Trent. “They’re setting up defences and sending off those who can’t fight for their own safety. We need to be willing to aid the young and old and infirm as they flee. We can’t have any more dying as they cross the Deadlands.”
“My men are on it,” says General Proctor. “We have a force of several hundred patrolmen out there as we speak, combing the lands and guiding people here. They’re using scanner equipment to see through the sandstorms and are ready to help anyone who needs them.”
“And the camps down in the valleys?” asks Athena. “Are they being managed?”
“Yes, everything is in order. We can cater to thousands, tens of thousands if needs be. However, the more civilians we have to care for, the more recruits we’ll need for the job. It’s a waste of resources using my soldiers to babysit the people.”
“I agree,” says Markus. “We need to have a fighting force ready and waiting to march at the drop of a hat. If the Baron swells his full force, we have to be prepared to meet him. As it stands, we need more aid.”
The chamber goes silent for a few brief moments. Despite all those who are currently taking up arms against the Baron, we still don’t know exactly where we stand. Estimates of his own numbers appear to be growing daily, bolstered by the defectors.
It’s Velia’s quiet voice that breaks the silence. Rarely during any of these gatherings does she speak, her confidence and bravado reduced amid such company.
Coyly, she offers her opinion.
“What about those in the West?” she asks. “They’re not exactly loyal to Eden, but they hate the Baron as much as anyone.”
“You mean the far reaches of the Deadlands?” asks Markus. “The Western coast?”
She nods, growing in confidence as everyone stops and gives her the floor.
“For my entire life, the Baron’s drugs have been poisoning our lands. Maybe that was part of his plan all along, to weaken us so we’d have no means to fight or defend ourselves. But there are brave people there who would be happy to see him get his comeuppance.”
“Are you sure about that?” asks Markus. “The Westerners keep to themselves mostly. They don’t care about what happens across the wall, or even here in Petram. They’re detached from this.”
“But they won’t be soon. The shadow of the Baron will spread. They’ve suffered under his rule before. They won’t want the entire country to share that fate.”
I look at Velia with pride. Pride in her passion, and the faith she has in her people and the lands she comes from. All her life she’s built up her own powers so that, one day, she could take the Baron down. And while all of this is new to me, she’s been fighting this battle for many years.
“She’s right,” says Athena, herself hailing from these lands. “I have travelled West many times over the years. They’ve suffered the subjugation of the Baron for a long time. Perhaps they will join us.”
“Then go,” says Markus. “Go and make sure they do.” His eyes swing to Velia, and across to Athena. “Velia, these are your people. And Athena, from West to East, the people know what you can do. Go, together, and see what you can muster.”
Velia’s eyes light with the fire of purpose, and she nods assertively.
“I’ll do whatever it takes,” she says.
The plan is formed for Athena to accompany Velia West, leaving the following morning. That night, my mind finds it difficult to lose its grip on her, thoughts of her safety an ever present threat. I know that they’re illogical, and that there’s nowhere safer right now than the West, and in the company of Athena no less, but still I can’t help it. Since we met, I’ve seen her every day, fought side by side with her on many occasions, and shared quiet moments with her that have been a light in the ever growing darkness.
Truly, I don’t want to see her go.
That evening, however, it’s with her sister that she spends most of her time. She’ll no doubt see their mother again, passing on any messages Vesuvia might want to give her. And while my thoughts are on her leaving, hers will be on leaving her sister, or seeing her mother, or returning to her home.
So, I choose not to bother her or seek her attention. I merely get on with my own tasks, and take up my position in the sitting room as the night grows late, searching aimlessly for the Seekers we’ve been ordered to hunt.
The fire flickers as I sit there alone, my yes shut as I attempt to track down something that we might use. But nothing comes to me except the normal images of death and war, the fighting so far away as to be difficult to decipher.
It’s one of the problems, really. Here, in Petram, we’re so far from the regions that our visions are rarely distinct. Only Cyra appears able to regularly watch from this distance, the rest of us having limited success. If we want to clarify our visions, we may need to move closer to the action. And in doing so, open ourselves up to the threat of the Seekers.
Perhaps that’s the Baron’s plan. Maybe he’s still a step or
two ahead, drawing us out, luring us closer. Maybe the Seekers have better foresight than we think. Maybe we’ll all move towards the regions, and be ambushed just like Drake and Link were, or how we were on Eden outside the hanger. On multiple occasions, they’ve seen us coming. There’s no reason to think they won’t do so again.
As I sit there, my mind fills with thoughts of them, and a few distant flashes of battle greet me. They’re typically hazy, far off lands suffering great turmoil. But within them, one sight flashes clearer; a face my mind has lingered on so often.
Standing before me in a quiet, deserted town, I see the hooded figure of the prime Seeker. I drift forward towards him, and he doesn’t move, and blurred words flurry through my mind, as if we’re in conversation, talking through water. And then, just as I near, a knock at the door drags me back into the room.
I’m pulled out of the vision and back into the quiet sitting room, the orange flames of the fire growing small, the house completely silent. I look up, and through a widening crack in the door see Velia standing.
“I’m not disturbing you, am I?” she asks softly.
“No…not at all,” I cough, the sight of the Seeker fading to the back of my mind. “How, um, how’s Vesuvia?”
“Disappointed,” she says, moving to sit beside me. “She wants to come too, but she knows she can’t really.”
“I guess she’d like to see your mum?”
“Yeah, she misses her a lot. But it’s more than that. She wants to do something, to help. It’s not easy for her being laid up like she is.”
“I can imagine,” I say. “You all set to leave, though?”
She nods, keeping her hazel eyes on mine.
“I won’t be gone long,” she says, as if knowing it’s what I want to hear.
I smile and her face reflects the look. And for a few moments, we just sit together in silence, as we have a number of times before.
Suddenly, however, I don’t know what to say. In my head I work through a few things to ask her, but they all just sound stupid, so instead I say nothing. And the longer it goes, the more my thoughts drift, the sight of the Seeker appearing before my eyes once more.
I’m torn from the spell by the feel of Velia’s body sliding a little closer to mine. And in the dim light, I turn to see her eyes looking at me, a light dancing inside them. They drift up my face and stop on my blue eyes as she begins to lean in a little further.
I find myself gulping as she advances, the tip of her tongue gently running over her bottom lip. My gaze drops to them, soft and inviting and coming ever closer. And in my chest, my heart begins to thud as fast as it would during battle, a strange feeling of nerves flooding through me.
Her eyes drift shut as she gets closer, and mine naturally follow. And in the sudden darkness, I feel her warm lips close on mine. For a few moments, they lock together, before being suddenly cast apart once more. Cool air rushes where her lips no longer dwell, and I open my eyes to see her leaning away once again.
“I’ve wanted to do that for a while,” she whispers. “I just thought…since I’m going away and all…”
“Me too,” I say. “Me too.’
A smile climbs up her face again, and the tough warrior I know momentarily melts into a giddy girl. Then, she composes herself, and stands up ahead of me.
“I guess…I’ll see you when I get back?”
“Can’t wait,” I say, trying to sound cool and calm while inside my heart still paces hard.
Again, she smiles, before stepping away towards the door. And leaving me behind, I allow myself a bigger grin than perhaps I should, given all that’s happening in the world. But in this room, it seems, little moments of joy can be had.
And for me, that was a really special one.
7
A Rare Perception
The following morning, I wake to the knowledge that Velia and Athena will have already left the city. When I go downstairs, the kitchen is empty but for Ajax and Vesuvia, the two sitting at the table eating breakfast in quiet conversation.
The others are absent, which isn’t unusual. Link, like Jackson, doesn’t spend much time in the house. Cyra and Ellie, too, have duties to attend to outside of their orders to search their visions. For the rest of us, our only prerogative is to do just that, and the relative quiet of the house is the best place to perform that task.
It’s rare to see Vesuvia out of her room, however, especially in the morning. She looks upset, the skin around her eyes a little red, Ajax doing his best to comfort her. Like his father, he’s a brutal looking young man, but with a sensitive core. There’s a protective streak that runs through him that makes him ferociously loyal to those he cares for. Vesuvia is very much in that bracket now, and I can tell that seeing her upset is a real distraction for him.
The cause of her current state of sadness, of course, is seeing her sister depart, doubled with the thought that she won’t get to see her home or mother. If it stings me to see Velia leaving, it must be on a whole other level for her, the twins barely spending more than an hour or two apart their entire lives. It’s the sort of bond that someone like me just cannot fathom. The closest I have, perhaps, is my friendship with Ajax. But whilst we’ve been as close as brothers for years, we still have independent streaks that demand the occasional bout of alone time.
The girls, meanwhile, are lost without each other. And this particular break up, short term though it will be, is much harder on Vesuvia.
As I enter the room, however, she stiffens herself up and tries to shield the redness around her eyes from my view. Playing along, I pretend not to notice, and despite feeling low that morning myself, try to add a spring to my step as I wander in.
“You’re up early,” is all I say.
“I’m taking her down to see the doctor,” says Ajax, speaking for her. “He’s going to take a look at her leg, see how it’s healing.”
“Oh, that’s good,” I say. “How is it feeling, Vesuvia?”
She coughs to expel the final cobwebs of emotion from her voice before speaking.
“Better,” she says. “Hopefully I’ll be able to start rehab soon.”
“That’s good news. Be good to have you back on the team,” I say with a smile.
We eat in silence after that, before Ajax helps Vesuvia out of the house and towards the medical chamber away through the city. Once more, I’m left alone in our residence with nothing to do but focus on the theme of death and chaos that continues to spread across the country.
I feel weak that morning, though, and I don’t like it. There’s a sense inside me that our band of Watchers are growing more disparate, that we’re not all on the same page at the moment, or working together to the same ends.
Velia and Athena are gone. Link is in training and rehab. Ajax is perpetually distracted by Vesuvia, while she’s distracted by her leg and her sister and a whole host of things.
My mother and Ellie, meanwhile, have begun to grow more connected to the war effort, just as they were during the last war. Their status as heroes and respected leaders is important in helping to manage the people at such a time of crisis. I know that they’re spending as much time as they can searching their visions too, but their attentions are certainly being drawn in several directions.
In fact, I get the feeling that it’s only me who’s actually committing to this task, and this task alone. I stay in the house, alone in the sitting room or any quiet space I can find, and work to try to hunt down any sight of major attacks. And even on a day like this, when I’m feeling low, I don’t allow myself any time or space to wallow. I return to the job at hand, and enter a state of meditation, and within that state, hunt down the one face that I’m so desperate to find.
For me, more than the rest, this is a single task that I alone can perform. Because really, I’m the only one who knows the true nature of this particular Seeker. Only my father joins me on that, and yet he doesn’t have the powers that I do, the ability to track him down. For him, there are big
ger fish to fry, and more important things to do.
For me, there’s nothing more important right now than finding this boy.
I see the same vision again that day, among many others. Searching the future for hours on end, eventually his face appears before me, just as it did before. There he is, standing in an abandoned, dilapidated town, waiting for me as I approach.
Once more, however, the vision quickly fades, morphing into something else, taken over by the sight of death and fire at some unknown location.
I grit my teeth and try to seek him out again, but it’s no use. And for the rest of the day, my mind fills with terrible, and yet useless sights, visions of war that I can do nothing with, alter in no way at all. I feel impotent, witnessing such atrocities and yet unable to stop them. Most of the time, being a Watcher is a truly thankless task.
More regular meetings are held now, down in the Master’s chamber. Each time the congregation of attendees is slightly different, but always made up of the same core group of war leaders. They happen daily, with the first one that day missing out on Velia and Athena. The following day, General Proctor is absent, his leadership needed down in the valleys. On the third day since Velia and Athena’s departure, I notice that we have a full compliment of our remaining Watchers, but that a couple of the more regular Senators who attend aren’t with us.
It’s a constantly changing landscape, the duties of the leaders often a double tap on their time, pulling them in multiple directions at once. However, the content of the meetings maintains the same structure, with each attendee giving reports on matters under their surveillance, helping to ensure that we’re all kept up to date on everything that’s going on across the country.
Of course, my single duty is to report on my visions, which has become an increasingly frustrating matter by the day. For the last couple of days, I’ve said nothing of the Seeker, not wanting to mention it until I see a little more and can put it into greater context.
