“Thank you, I’m Yannick,” Yannick said, pasting a gentle smile on his face as he lowered himself to the ground. O’Flynn pulled his foot onto his lap, his nimble fingers unlacing the leather boot with ease.
“You said you were a trader?” Rizzo asked deliberately, his tone casual, but his gaze was far too sharp. He crouched down next to the fire, his hand still curled around his weapon.
“Yes, yes, I am,” Yannick stammered.
Rizzo raised an eyebrow. “What do you trade?”
Yannick hissed in pretend pain as O’Flynn pulled his boot away. The magical disguise made the limb look sprained, with a few deep scratches for good measure. O’Flynn gestured and Rizzo threw a small bag over towards him. O’Flynn pulled out a small packet and ripped it open, producing a small, damp cloth from inside.
“This might sting a little,” O’Flynn warned.
“I understand, thank you,” Yannick said quickly, pretending to wince as O’Flynn ran the cloth over his ‘injury.’ These healing materials weren’t anything he was familiar with, but washing a wound was standard enough. “You said you had a rough landing? What kingdom are you from?”
“We’re from…very far away,” Rizzo said after a moment.
“Oh,” Yannick breathed, letting silence descend, hoping that the marines would offer something more. A few minutes ticked by and O’Flynn had nearly bandaged his ankle, before Yannick sighed. He would have to prompt for a response. “It is rare to find people here.”
“We certainly haven’t spotted anyone,” O’Flynn agreed. “But then, we haven’t traveled that far, either.” He tapped his splinted leg and sighed. “Hopefully shouldn’t be too much longer. What is your kingdom like? Is it far?”
“It is many days, but Sintiya is so different from this unknown region. The forest is everywhere, and green fields beyond, cool mountains in the distance. I once traveled to the far north and there was snow, like white cold sand,” Yannick explained, trying to sound like an overawed peasant who could be impressed by so little when it came to the world.
“What about down south?” Rizzo pressed. “That’s where you were heading to trade, right? Oh, and what did you say you were trading again?”
“Crop seeds from the harvest,” Yannick said sharply. The marine had asked the same question three times; surely any peasant would be irritated by that. “Yes, the southern kingdoms, Estarana and Bakscaronia, are the two largest, and they are always willing to trade.”
“How far are they?” O’Flynn asked. He smiled. “Keep off that ankle for a few days, you’ll be fine.”
“Many days, I’m afraid,” Yannick said, pulling his boot back on. “You said your kingdom was far away? Tell me more.”
“Oh, there’s not much to tell,” Rizzo said, giving O’Flynn a pointed glance.
“Perhaps I should make camp elsewhere?” Yannick suggested. “You have been most kind, but if you will not even tell me where you are from…” He trailed off meaningfully and rose to his feet.
He limped away, expecting them to stop him, but he was close to rounding the rocks and still they hadn’t spoken a word. Yannick turned and looked at them both. Rizzo looked conflicted and O’Flynn looked guilty, and he knew that there was a story here. He wanted information from them, but surely they must want information from him? From their own words, he was the first person they had met and they knew nothing of this world. Why would they just let him walk away?
“Why did you leave your kingdom?” Yannick pressed. “I do not understand how you came to be here.”
“We came here searching for…it doesn’t matter,” Rizzo allowed. “It was a fool’s mission from the start, over before it even began, and with O’Flynn injured…” He shook his head. “I wasn’t going to leave him. He would have died, and I couldn’t continue on alone.”
“If I had died, then you would have had to go on,” O’Flynn pointed out darkly, his words ringing with the sound of many repetitions.
“We work as a team, we don’t leave our people behind,” Rizzo retorted automatically.
“I am well traveled, perhaps I can help you find what you seek,” Yannick offered, taking a step closer towards the fire.
They had started talking now, and one piece of information would lead to another. He felt like smirking in triumph, the elation buzzing through his veins. Finally, they were starting to let their guard down. He could reason what happened and then coax out more information. O’Flynn’s leg was broken; such an injury for those without magic could be fraught with complications, not that Yannick really understood why, as he wasn’t a healer.
“I doubt it,” Rizzo scoffed, before rubbing his hand tiredly against his face.
“Are you alone in your quest, or are there other marines?” Yannick pressed eagerly, hoping that would get them to talk about Earth.
That was what this was all about—Earth. He wanted to know why the Emperor had connected this land with their world. He needed to know what Earth had of value, considering that Earth was without magic and therefore useless in the most important sense. He couldn’t rule Earth because he would be powerless there, but that didn’t mean Earth couldn’t still be of use to him.
Rizzo looked at O’Flynn, and in unison their weapons snapped up to point directly at Yannick. “I never said we were marines,” Rizzo growled.
Yannick mentally scanned back over their conversation and roared in frustration. A purple whip of fire extended from his right hand as his magical disguise faded away. He had been undone by his own words; it wasn’t a mistake he made often, but it had been known. Words might have been his favorite weapons, but even he could make mistakes.
O’Flynn and Rizzo started firing at him. Yannick stopped the projectiles in midair and ripped the weapons from their hands. He wrapped the whip of fire around Rizzo and lifted him off the ground, the flame burning through Rizzo’s clothes and searing his flesh.
“Tell me about Earth,” Yannick demanded. “Tell me of Earth’s weapons, tell me everything that Earth has of value. I want to know about all the land’s treasures.”
There was a loud bang and Rizzo stopped writhing in the flame’s hold, slumping against the thin line that was holding him. Yannick’s gaze snapped to O’Flynn, who was holding a smaller weapon in his hand. O’Flynn raised it to his head. Yannick reached out with his magic, but before he could rip the weapon from O’Flynn’s grasp, there was another bang.
Yannick screamed in anger, his magic lashing out and mutilating Rizzo’s body, carving him into half a dozen pieces, which fell to the ground. Blood sprayed like rain, covering Yannick with its fine spray. O’Flynn had seen his power, had seen that their weapons were nothing against his magic, and to avoid his questions, to avoid betraying their precious Earth, he had killed them both.
Sacrifice. The word tasted bitter on Yannick’s tongue. They had been afraid; he had sensed their fear and had relished it. He hadn’t considered that they would be so scared, and yet so brave at the same time, to escape from him the only way they had left. Now his options were even more limited than before.
When these marines had traveled to this land, there had been twelve of them. Now only seven remained, and six of them were untouchable. Yannick growled, and blasted more magic at O’Flynn’s remains, bubbling the skin and exploding the bones. He had never considered that they would die before he got his answers. However much he burned to know why the Emperor had cared for Earth, he wasn’t going to risk the last one until he had exhausted other options.
Yannick sighed and gestured, magically cleaning himself of the carnage. At least with the diplomatic summit starting, there would be plenty of mischief to amuse himself with. He would have his answers; he just had to be patient.
*****
The Sintiya supply route wasn’t hard to find; they weren’t exactly hiding. A few questions at the nearest village, and the scared Gatlan locals had eagerly pointed the road out, likely just to make the marines go away. Sintiya was using the regular main road between the
two kingdoms, rolling in as bold as brass apparently.
The heavy repeated traffic had widened the road, and packed down the dirt, as it snaked between the forest on either side. All the trees surrounding them made Leo nervous because trees were excellent cover. After all, the three marines had used them to their advantage to get close to the Sintiya base camp; it would only make sense for others to do the same.
Leo had to assume that the road was patrolled; it was territory that Sintiya had claimed from Gatlan, eroding the kingdom every time they managed to push the frontline back. It was undeniable that Gatlan was on the defensive and clearly losing. No wonder King Oswald was desperate.
However, they hadn’t seen any knights; and the back of Leo’s neck prickled with the vulnerability. The knights could be in the trees; and any moment an arrow could fly through the air, swift and silent. They would never see it coming.
It was a typical forest road, like many they had traveled down since their arrival in this land. So much of this part of the world seemed to be forest. There were many clearings for farmland and for villages, but otherwise it was just forest everywhere. Leo didn’t know if that was true elsewhere in this world, but they had only visited two kingdoms thus far. It was idle curiosity, because he hoped that they wouldn’t have to visit any others. He wanted to go home.
The wind whistled through the leaves, and the sun peeked through the overhead canopy, casting cool green light down onto the shadowed ground below. They all carried a couple of claymore mines, and the unexpected bonus of Jakeman and the two other marines’ gear packs had added to their supply. Leo was loath to use too much of their gear, but they had to make a statement this time. He really didn’t want to have to do this again.
“This is all but two of our claymores, Leo,” Don warned.
They were placing them on either side of the road at regular intervals. When they had been at the frontline a couple of days earlier, they had seen a supply convoy travel through here. The plan was to blow the mines when the convoy was in the blast zone. It would destroy everything, the supplies and the people transporting them.
It would be a demoralizing defeat for Sintiya. They wouldn’t understand what had happened, and it might be difficult to get people to run supplies afterwards. It would destroy not just this shipment, but potentially threaten all subsequent shipments. If King Oswald wasn’t satisfied with that, then Leo didn’t know what more they could give him.
“A small price to pay for what Gatlan is offering us,” Nick pointed out, before Leo could reply.
Leo nodded in agreement. “I don’t see we have much choice. We need to make a statement, and nobody here has the technology to mount an attack like this. King Oswald will know it was us; he won’t be able to deny us a second time.”
“I’m just saying we need to watch our supplies,” Don muttered.
“I know,” Leo sighed.
He clapped Don reassuringly on the shoulder. Don was the pessimist in their band, and they needed that. Nick wanted to hope so badly, it was difficult to keep him from being wildly optimistic. Leo thought he was in the middle ground, but hope was contagious. They were all desperate, and that didn’t make for clear thinking.
“We have more gear now than we did when we arrived, aside from the claymores we’ve just used. So while I’m not happy about the circumstances of how that’s possible, for the moment we’re okay,” Leo summarized.
Don scowled. “I’d rather have less gear and our team intact.”
“I think we all would,” Leo murmured.
He planted the next claymore, brushing leaves over the front to break up the distinctive unnatural shape. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth at the embossed marking ‘front towards enemy.’ Did the manufacturers really believe that they didn’t know that?
“What’s the count now?” Nick asked, although it wasn’t really a question. “The two packs from Gatlan belonged to Master Sergeant David Lee and Logan Sanders, the medic in my squad.”
“Gunnery Sergeant Rogers died in Kaslea. We found Corporal Jakeman,” Don added.
He pushed in another claymore as the three of them worked their way down the sun-dappled path. Leo tensed as the nearby bushes rustled, but a moment later a fox appeared. There didn’t seem to be anyone other than them around.
“From my squad, that leaves O’Flynn unaccounted for. From Ortiz’s squad, there’s Max himself…” Leo continued, adding to the morbid list.
“And Corporal Esteban,” Nick picked up. “Then of course Captain Decker and Gunnery Sergeant Rizzo.”
“What a mess,” Don snorted. He shook his head. “Left with twelve and there’s just the three of us.”
“They aren’t all dead,” Leo reminded him sharply. “Cyrus said that three more were dead. We can likely assume that he meant Jakeman, Lee, and Sanders. Three were captured, one was lost, and another was really cold. So there are still five of our unit out there. If we can find them, then we will, because…”
“We don’t leave people behind,” Don and Nick joined Leo in stating the last part.
However, if felt like that was something that they had to do more and more regularly these days. They couldn’t help the dead, and they hadn’t been able to help the living left on Earth, either. That was why they were here, to find a way to save them, but they’d had to leave them behind to do it. Fighting, and if necessary dying, alongside them on Earth would have been an easier burden to bear.
“Exactly.” Leo cracked a smile but it didn’t reach his eyes. He straightened from where he was bent over the claymore. “There, that’s the last of them. Now it’s just a matter of waiting for the convoy to arrive.”
“And the slaughter to begin,” Nick noted gloomily.
“I don’t like it either,” Leo admitted, “but it’s hardly the first time any of us have done this.”
“I know,” Nick sighed. “But that’s when we were fighting our own war. We have no fight with Sintiya.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Don grunted. “Gatlan does, and so long as they promise what we need, we’re on their side. That’s all that matters.”
Leo shifted uncomfortably. The end justified the means; it had been that way since the dawn of time and had been used to justify some pretty awful things over the years. Balancing the fate of Earth over a few lives on an alien world, or a land of magic, or whatever they wished to call this place—it was no contest.
Earth came first.
They stood there in silence, each contemplating their own morality and coming to the same inescapable but uncomfortable realization, when a scream pierced the air. Leo snapped his rifle ready, his eyes panning the area, but there was no movement. Don and Nick did the same as the three marines moved back to back, covering all three points, ensuring a full 360 view of the area.
“No contact,” Don growled.
“No joy,” Nick confirmed.
Another scream cut through the air, and then another. Someone was terrified and moving; the sound was bouncing around the forest. It was hard to get a fix, but the repeated sounds helped. Leo narrowed his eyes. The screaming was so loud, they had to be close.
“There!” he yelled, spotting the faint flutter of fabric to the left of their position.
Chapter Eleven
Leo darted into the woods, Don and Nick behind him. Leo ran forward, careful of his footing but heedless of the noise he was making. Somebody was in trouble, a woman or a child by the shrillness of the screams. They had to help them. They couldn’t ignore someone in peril. They weren’t far from the nearest village, but just far enough that the screams would likely be too faint to be noticed there.
Up ahead, there was a slight clearing in the forest. Leo growled, seeing red. He raised his rifle and let loose a burst of rounds instinctively. There in front of him was a knight, dressed in a soft padded jerkin and leather breeches. He had been pinning a screaming, terrified woman to the ground as he tore at her clothing. Leo’s burst of rounds caught the knight in the back, ripping throu
gh his tabard and jerkin with ease. He tensed when they hit him before slumping to the ground, trapping the poor women beneath his dead body.
“Oh shit, Leo,” Don breathed.
Don swiftly dropped his rifle and rolled the heavy knight over, freeing the woman and exposing the truth that he had already suspected. The colors were clear from the back, and the crest just confirmed it. This was a Gatlan knight, they had just killed one of their supposed allies.
“You saw what…” Leo spluttered, gesturing towards the woman.
She looked at them with wide, terrified eyes, clutching at her ruined clothing. Nick offered her his hand to help her up, smiling sadly at her.
“It’s alright, we won’t hurt you,” Nick told her.
In the distance, they could hear the thundering tread of more knights. Leo swore and tried to calm his racing mind. They needed a way out of this, and fast. The bullet holes were like their signature; there could be no denying their involvement, and he doubted that King Oswald would look too kindly on them killing one of his knights.
Somehow Leo doubted that the king would care what the reasons were. This was a different culture, and they had already witnessed Gatlan knights seizing whatever they wanted from villagers. He knew from history class that peasants existed to serve. They swore fealty, and the king probably considered them no more valuable than cattle. He likely wouldn’t care about his knight abusing one woman; the abuse was likely systemic.
It was the same on Earth in some places of the world. It made Leo sick—it made him angry and see red—but now he had to fix his moment of blinding fury, or otherwise he would have just instinctively saved one woman at the potential cost of the lives of everyone on Earth. That was a trade he couldn’t make.
Leo picked up the knight’s sword and stabbed him repeatedly where the bullets had entered, making the hole jagged and recognizable, as opposed to round and strange. It wasn’t like they would do an autopsy and discover the bullets. That would hopefully disguise the cause of death enough, and then the three marines wouldn’t be suspected in abstract.
Justified (#2 Divided Destiny) Page 11
