Vanquished

by S. E. Green

  Tilting my head, I tune into the far away thump-thump-thump realizing… “That’s a helicopter! Dominus and Vasquez are about to escape!”

  ~62~

  I sprint through the woods with everyone following listening to that thump-thump-thump as it draws closer.

  Pushing through the last bunch of brush, we emerge outside of the villa. It stands isolated and pristine, sprawling nearly an acre of land with several levels with archways and balconies, looming like some grand king in this desolate place. It makes me want to make it dirty. A six foot wall surrounds it, with soldiers stationed every ten feet or so, armed and ready, just as Alexior predicted.

  As the hundreds of us spread out, the soldiers lift their swords.

  “You will not survive!” one of them yells.

  I simply smile and I lift my spear and yell, “Now!”

  We rush the villa from every direction, yelling, screaming with the adrenaline of everything that has happened and everything that will be. Screaming with the fact this is the end.

  In my peripheral vision I see four young slave girls attack a soldier, shrieking, their fists flying up and down with daggers. Stabbing him over. And over. And over again.

  Others are already up and over the wall and rushing the villa. I slice a soldier’s neck and use his body to spring board over the wall, too. With a weapon in each hand I sprint across the lawn to the villa already flooded with warriors and slaves as they race from room to room and floor to floor. The air is filled with violence. Panic. Hysteria. It fuels me.

  Thump-thump-thump. I hear it getting closer.

  As I race though an archway, I catch sight of a slave boy cowering in the corner. Immediately I go to him, “Where are the elite hiding?” I ask. Because I know they are.

  Shakily he points his finger straight up.

  “Do you have some place you can hide?” I ask him.

  Frantically, he nods.

  “Go then. And only come out when you hear all this is over.” I extend my hand and pull him to his feet and watch as he scurries off.

  A shadow flicks and I spin at the exact second a soldier raises his sword. I don’t hesitate a second as I ram my spear through his gut.

  Camille emerges from a side hallway. She’s bloody. She’s filthy. But she’s breathing. She’s alive.

  I nod to a spiral stairwell. “Up here.”

  We take them two at a time and come to a landing. A hallway stretches all the way to the end where a large wooden door sits closed. My breaths grow faster as I head straight toward it. Sera comes from a hallway on the left, Alexior from one on the right, and Ignatius moves in behind us. Like we all knew instinctively where to meet.

  Together we ram our shoulders into the door. We ram again. And then again. On our fourth try the door breaks open, and we all step inside.

  Thump-thump-thump. Closer.

  A line of soldiers greet us. All around me fighting erupts as we chop our way through, injuring, killing. I take a stab in the thigh, but I block the pain. Minutes go by and the place falls quiet.

  Behind me the muted sounds of fighting filter up the stairs and down the hall. Inside I look around the enormous master suite. The terrace that overlooks Saligia and the surrounding waters. The king-size bed. The sprawling bath with a tub large enough to hold ten people. The chaise lounges.

  The scent of flowers float through my senses, and I glance beside the bed where several large arrangements sit, pretty and perfect, a stark contrast to the horrors outside.

  It’s then that I see them, cowering in the corner. Vasquez, Dominus, and a woman I don’t recognize. Just the sight of them races cold down my spine. I turn to fully face them.

  The woman has long blond hair, fair skin, and red lips. Her frightened eyes move over each one of us before falling on Alexior. They widen in shock, in recognition, in horror, in realization of what is about to transpire.

  “Hello, Nadine,” Alexior greets her with a voice hard and terse.

  This is his wife. This is the woman who runs The Hunts. This is the woman who betrayed him.

  Thump-thump-thump. It’s nearly on top of us now.

  From behind her back Nadine pulls a gun. It takes me a second to register what it is. She raises it and points it right at me. Time seems to slow in motion as I lunge. Sera shoves me aside. The gun explodes. And Sera takes a shot straight to the heart.

  “NO!” I scream.

  Sera falls straight back.

  “Sera!” I drop to my knees.

  I’m aware of Camille throwing a dagger at Nadine and the gun clanking to the floor. Of Vasquez trying to get to the terrace where the helicopter is now landing. Of Alexior blocking his path. Of Willem picking the gun up and charging out onto the terrace. Of Yana moving in on Dominus. Of Ignatius dropping down beside me. Of Sera’s blood spreading on the marble floor. Of another gunshot. Yelling. Fighting. I’m aware of it all and I can’t stop any of it. I can’t stop it! That bullet was meant for me!

  I press my hands against the wound on Sera’s chest, trying to stop the blood flow, and Ignatius grabs my wrists. “She’s dead.”

  I yank away and press my palms to her chest anyway. “No!” Nooo… I look at the blood and then into her slack face. I pound the floor. I pound it again. I shove to my feet and scream.

  I grab Sera’s sword and charge across the room to the cowering elite. Behind me I hear Ignatius stifle a quiet sob. That bullet was meant for me. For me.

  I point her sword at Dominus. “You made us into what we are. Look around. We were outnumbered and we still took this place down. You turned us into animals. And now it has all backfired.” I step closer. “You will die first.”

  He casts a look out to the terrace where the helicopter is now sitting idle. Willem killed whoever was piloting it.

  “Your ride is dead,” I tell Dominus.

  Visibly shaking, he starts to back away and Vasquez pushes him forward. Behind me I sense more than see other people filtering into the room. I glance over my shoulder. A group of them are the house slaves from our ludus, including Joseph. They deserve this. Lena does. We all do. I want to kill Dominus. I want to gut him. I want to make him pay for every single thing he did to my sister.

  But—I turn to the gathered slaves—they deserve it, too. He repeatedly raped and beat every one of them. They need this justice. I grab Dominus and shove him toward the awaiting group. “Have at him,” I tell them.

  They surround him, circling him, taunting him, and I watch and listen as they slowly make him suffer and pay for every single thing he did to them. Until he is just a pile of skin and bones and organs and blood.

  For you, Lena.

  I turn back to Vasquez and Nadine and watch as her eyes drag away from Dominus’ maimed body to land on Alexior. She drops to her knees in front of him, hands clasped, pleading, begging, her arm bleeding from where Camille hit her with a dagger.

  He stands in front of her, staring down, as she imploringly stares back. “Please,” she whispers, pathetic and hurt.

  He points his sword right at her throat. “Please what? Fall in love with you? Believe in you? Give up my life so that you would be set free? Which one, Nadine? Huh?”

  Her bottom lip quivers. “I’m sorry.”

  “What exactly are you sorry for? Running The Hunts? Being responsible for all those dead innocent people?”

  “I’m sorry,” she whimpers again.

  “No you’re not.” With that, he inserts the tip of his sword into her throat, and when he’s halfway in, he rotates it. She gurgles and thrashes and falls to her side.

  My pulse throbs the vein in my neck as I watch her life go. All this killing, and my body still reacts in revulsion. Good. If I ever stop reacting, then I know I’m gone. I’ve lost all humanity. It’s a thought I’ve had before, and it strikes me right now as I watch.

  When her eyes go wide and blankly stare up, Alexior removes his sword and takes a step back. He looks over to me and simply nods.

  I point my spear at V
asquez, the mastermind behind this hell. “How does it feel to see all your hard work die? How does it feel to know you’re about to die?” I point out to the terrace where the helicopter sits. “How does it feel to know you almost got away?”

  He focuses his dark eyes on mine and I am propelled back in time to his office. The interview he scheduled with me. The new life I thought I would have. Lena and I would have.

  I take a step toward him and stop right in front of him, tightening my fists around my weapons. “You. You are the reason for all of this. You picked the wrong woman to kidnap.”

  Vasquez takes in my hair, my face, my body. He doesn’t even remember me. What does that say? He’s taken so many over the years I am just a blur of a face.

  I step closer. “My sister is dead because of you. I am a beast because of you.”

  Something in his eyes changes, a realization, a recognition, and he slowly smiles. Fucking smiles.

  “Yes,” he murmurs. “I do remember you and that darling little sister.”

  Tears unexpectedly blur my eyes, and I move at the exact second he does. Lightning quick, he yanks a knife from behind his back and stabs me deep in the side. Hot pain flashes across my stomach, through my ribs, and singes my lower back. I scream. My hands flex open and both of my weapons clang to the marble floor.

  I wrap my fingers around the knife in my side, wrench it free, and ram it straight into his lower gut. I clench my jaw and hold my eyes to his and jerk the knife to the left, rotate it, and then jerk it back to the right. He reaches for me, gasping, gurgling, and I grit my teeth and shove the knife further in.

  Slowly, Vasquez’s body slumps at my feet. With one last thrust of the knife, I fall on top of him.

  ~63~

  “Take her,” Alexior says. “Get her to the galleon. I need to go get the rest.”

  I reach for him. Don’t go.

  Alexior presses his lips to my forehead. “I’ll see you soon.”

  Ignatius picks me up. “Hang in there.”

  Trees. Leaves. Familiar voices. Camille. Joseph. Willem. Yana.

  The sound of a seagull. The smell of salt.

  “Put her here,” says Talme, and her lips purse as she cuts away my tunic.

  Footsteps. Crying.

  I hiss. Talme… What is she doing? Something wet plops onto my cheek. Rain?

  I go to sleep. I wake.

  We’re moving. We’re sailing. Alexior! I try to sit up. I try to focus.

  I squint, confused. Where are we?

  Ignatius puts his hand on my shoulder. “Stay still.”

  ~EPILOGUE~

  Five years have passed since we sailed free of Saligia and landed on the shores of Kenya. In the days, weeks, months, and years that followed, anyone on the outside who was involved in Saligia were brought to justice. Thanks to Dominus’ notebook and the iPad that was found hidden in his office.

  Royalty. Government officials. Businessmen and women. Entrepreneurs. It went deep and stunned the world.

  The isle of Saligia was cleared and to this day still stands vacant in the Indian Ocean and for sale, cursed by the evils that existed.

  Funds were established for all those who suffered. Money to get us back on our feet. Housing. Education. Employment. Emotional and physical help.

  Many stayed together those first months and then slowly trickled off to start a new life. To distance themselves from the rumors, the reporters, the microscope the world still has on us to this day.

  My new family—Camille (whose real name is Inga), Ignatius (Aaron), Razo, Gem (Fuji), Early, Joseph (Sergio), Talme (Edna), and Hedian (Gabriella)—bought a farm in Costa Rica. It is a simple life. A non-violent one. Full of hard work, quiet, peace, dinners together, and laughter. Willem and Yana stayed with us for a while and then branched out on their own.

  We never talk about Saligia.

  Sometimes at night I stand and stare up at the stars, and I remember Lena and Sera…

  “Katalina?”

  I turn to see Liam (Alexior) descending the sea wall to where I sit in the sand. I love his blond hair grown out and his trim goatee.

  “Dinner,” he says.

  I nod. “Be right there.”

  Katalina. That is my name.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  S. E. Green (aka Shannon Greenland) is the award winning, bestselling author of the teen thriller, Killer Instinct, a YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers; the teen spy series, The Specialists, an ALA Popular Paperback and a National Reader’s Choice recipient; and the YA romance, The Summer My Life Began, winner of the Beverly Hills Book Award. Her books have been translated into several languages and are currently on numerous state reading lists. Vanquished is her debut adult novel.

  Shannon grew up in Tennessee where she dreaded all things reading and writing. She didn’t even read her first book for enjoyment until she was twenty-five. After that she was hooked! When she’s not writing, she works as an adjunct math professor and lives on the coast in Florida with her very grouchy dog. Connect with her: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Website, Newsletter

  Table of Contents

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  ~Epilogue~

  About The Author