She stared at him, not knowing how to respond. He still looked at his dangling feet his thoughts seemed far away. A door shutting echoed across the rooftop, causing Jonah’s head to snap up in alarm. Looking at him she put a finger to her lips and beckoned Jonah to follow her. Pressing themselves against a nearby air duct, she saw a flashlight scanning the roof a short distance off.
“Nightguard,” she whispered.
Grabbing Jonah’s hand, she pulled him across the dark roof. They moved from one vent to another, always keeping the searching flashlight from finding their hiding place.
Nearing the roof entrance Lena grabbed a metal rod that lay abandoned and hurled it away from them. The flashlight jerk towards the sound of it landing. Lena grabbed Jonah’s hand and pulled him through the open door. Closing it behind them Lena dropped the locking bar.
“Run!” Lena panted.
Together they ran down the stairs. Exiting the stairwell they heard the jarring of shots opening the locked door. The fear of getting caught propelled them into a sprint. Jonah still clung to her hand making Lena’s heart race. Neither tried to pull away as they ran through the dim servants’ corridor.
Nearing the door to the recruit barracks Lena slowed to a stop.
“Thank you,” Jonah said, his breath coming out in quick puffs. Lena handed him back his mended droid.
“No more experiments gone wrong, OK?” Lena slid opened the hidden doorway heading to the barracks. As Jonah slipped through, he gave her hand a gentle squeeze. Releasing hands, they slipped opposite ways in the darkness.
***
Lena walked down the dreary hall toward her room. She replayed the night in her head. She loved the adventure with Jonah, but something didn’t add up. Who was on the balcony of the gym? The shadow couldn’t have been Jonah’s. Who else was watching her? Lena frowned as she analyzed the situation.
Passing Thora’s door, Lena skidded to a stop. Leaning toward the closed door, she heard the laugh of her companion blended with the deep one of another. Lena shook her head trying to clear it and leaned in closer. In the three years Lena worked with Thora, nobody ever visited. Lena held her breath to listen.
“Oh, my boy,” Thora’s happy voice rang. “I’ve missed you so much. Not a day has gone by when my thoughts haven’t been for your well being.”
A deep warm voice chuckled behind the door, “And I yours, Thora. It has been too long. And what of the girl?” his voice was warm but sorrow filled the question.
“The girl, the girl,” Thora sighed. “The girl is absolutely perfect. Her life is filled with such loss and yet she proves every day capable and happy.”
Lena jumped. Her mind raced and her ears no longer heard the conversation. Mind racing. She stood unmoving in the hallway. Someone besides Thora knew she was here. And he stood on the other side of the door.
A large bell sounding at the entrance to the servants’ hall shattered Lena’s thoughts. She turned toward the sound as Thora exited her room.
“Child, what are you doing outside my door?” Thora asked as she blocked Lena’s view.
“I heard the bell ringing, I was going to answer it,” Lena lied. Thora raised her eyebrows in disbelief. Lena’s heart pounded. Moving to the left, Lena tried to see around Thora. Thora pushed a button and the door slid closed behind her.
“Well get to it,” Thora demanded, shooing her away.
Lena reached the hall’s door and saw a guard standing on the other side. Lena only heard half the Soldier’s complaint.
“Are you listening?” the furious voice exclaimed.
“A problem with the roof door,” Lena answered dazed, “someone to fix it.” Shutting the door in his face, she collapsed to the floor. Who was he? How did he know Thora? Did he work here now? Question after question filled her mind about the unseen visitor. And she vowed to find out his identity, no matter the cost.
Chapter Eleven
“How is your son, General Merak?” The Priestess’s ebony eyes gleamed towards her General. They walked across one end of a large rectangular gallery, towards a dais at the opposite end.
Zeke’s piercing eye landed on the Priestess. “I would not know, Most Honored,” he replied with coldness. “I have not talked to him since the night he pledged his loyalty to you.”
“I’ve been told he returns soon from military training off planet,” she spoke with precision as her footsteps echoed across the empty room.
Zeke didn’t answer but stopped walking. The Priestess stopped and turned towards him. He stared straight into her black eyes, crossed his arms and waited for her to continue.
“My sources tell me he’s an exceptional leader. A characteristic that must run in the family,” she smirked, waiting for a response that didn’t come. Sweeping her eyes over him she continued. “Surely you must know of his high rankings among the Academy students.”
“You need not mince your words with me, Priestess,” Zeke reprimanded. “I’ve known you long enough to know your manipulation techniques. You’re trying to bait my emotions for my son to use against me. It will not work. So say what’s on your mind.”
The Priestess’s countenance fell dark. Her manipulative words turned hard. “I’m questioning Gideon’s allegiance,” she said.
Zeke stepped away from her. “He has proved who his allegiance is with. You yourself heard him pledge his life to your name. You viewed the footage of him shooting the girl and leaving her in your Defense’s hands.”
She smiled greedily, her arm finding a resting place in his, and they continued walking towards the dais. “Who helped the girl escape, General?”
“Are you alluding to the idea that Gideon helped her escape?”
“I’m saying, we’ve questioned everyone on Mir,” she said as her voice began to escalate. “And no one has any information on her.”
Not caught off guard by her accusation Zeke replied, “You yourself questioned him extensively.”
“And three years later, I’m still not satisfied with his answers. Watch him closely, General. He knows more than he’s saying.”
***
Footsteps echoed off the walls as Lena walked the unoccupied spaces between classrooms. Thoughts of Thora grated at her nerves. Thora had spent no time with Lena since the night of the overheard conversation. Instead, Thora left her messages, sending her all over the large facility on minuscule errands. Lena got the sense that Thora purposely kept them from talking with each other. Today’s useless errand was to make sure the droids cleaned the windows of the tactics room.
The tactics room was one of the few she couldn’t access from a servants door. Sliding out the hidden hallway and into the main corridors, Lena snapped back to reality. Recruits packed the hallways, yelling and laughing. Rolling her eyes that her errand needed to be done between classes, she tried to stay invisible as she made her way toward the tactics room at the other end of the hallway.
A dark silhouette against the glaring sun caught her attention. His broad shoulders stood strong before disappearing down an adjacent hallway. Lena’s skin crawled with the sixth sense that he watched her. It was the same feeling she had in the combat room before helping Jonah. She couldn’t help but think the shadow was related to the voice in Thora’s room. Diverting her walk, she darted across the hallway, determined to identify the mysterious shadow.
“Where are you going servant?” Devil boy stepped in front of her path. He snapped his fingers and two sneering guys planted themselves on each side of Lucius. A bony-faced girl with a razor glare also stood to the left.
Lena’s heart skipped a beat. Her breath caught and eyes went wide. Lowering her head, she tried to go around them.
“He said what ya doing,” The person to his right drummed in. His words came out sounding slow yet malicious. Lucius smirked as the group sidestepped to block Lena’s way.
“Maybe she doesn’t know where she’s going?” The boy said to the girl, and they both laughed.
Squaring her shoulders, she walked a
round them like nothing happened. “Hey servant girl, when Lucius talks to you, you better listen,” the same slow voice rang, she heard someone call him Boarde. Several voices snickered as they moved to block her again.
Refusing to take the bait, Lena stood with her arms crossed.
“Looks like maybe she’s too dumb to answer,” the girl said. Someone slapped her on the shoulder. They all laughed at the comment.
“I asked you a question, Servant,” Lucius snapped, taking a step toward her. ”What are you doing?”
Lena looked for an escape, a group of curious recruits gathered in a circle around the scene. Lena stepped back. Lucius raised his chin at the curious onlookers and the circle tightened. Lena’s pulse increased. The recruits blocked any easy exit. Lena heard shuffling footsteps behind her.
“And I think this servant is disinclined to answer such a ridiculous question,” a suave voice cut in from behind her. She turned to see Jonah pushing through the crowd.
“Jonah, I don’t see how this is any of your business,” Lucius replied.
“Well normally, it wouldn’t be, but you see, I just had to come to your rescue Lucius.”
“My rescue? I certainly don’t think I need rescuing,” he spoke haughtily.
“Oh. Well, maybe you didn’t hear how ridiculous you sounded,” Jonah whispered. Taking a step towards Lucius he grabbed Lena’s arm and pulled her behind him. “Asking a servant what she’s doing? I mean isn’t it obvious? Or is it possible a group of the most elite Defense soldiers really doesn’t know what a servant actually does?”
Hooting and snickers sounded from the circle of recruits and the circle loosened.
Jonah turned his twinkling eyes toward Lena and winked. “Do you think you can explain to them what servants do? And remember to use small words,” Lena lowered her head, struggling to hide a smile.
“I think we’re done here,” Lucius snuffed, his eyes boring down the message that this was far from over. He spun on his heel and pushed through the line of recruits that blocked Lena’s path. His three friends followed behind. The rest of the recruits scattered, heading to class.
Staring at Lucius’ retreat, all the calm she’d willed up to that point melted into a steaming vengeance against the boy. A light hand on her shoulder caused her to turn her gaze to Jonah.
Smiling at her, Lena felt the grasp around her lungs relax as she breathed once more. “Thank you, Jonah!”
“Saving damsels in distress is just part of the job miss,” bowing with a dramatic flare, Lena stifled a laugh. “Though I’m sure you had it under control.”
“Clearly,” Lena replied.
“Look, I gotta get to class, but in all seriousness, Lena, stay away from Lucius. You’re already on his bad side. Don’t make it worse.”
Chapter Twelve
Lena scrutinized each windowpane spanning the far side of the Tactics room. Ensuring that the windows sparkled took only moments as the class filled with recruits. Turning to leave, she saw Jonah sitting a few tiers from the front of the lecture hall. Giving him a small smile, she walked down the stairs and slipped out the side door and into the empty hallway.
“Everyone, open your insignia’s and pull up the linked image,” Officer Wetsel called to the class. “Today we’ll be studying the best tactics plan in the history of Mir, which I was a great deal involved in.” Lena felt as if a cord pulled her back towards the classroom she’d just left. She knew they spoke of Everleigh. She’d eavesdropped on the lecture before. Feeling compelled to listen in again, she stopped the doors from automatically closing and stood just outside the doorway of the lecture hall.
“Wow, it’s beautiful,” a female voice called. An orchestra of whispers buzzed in confirmation. “Look at those mountains,” A perfect image of her childhood home popped from the hologram table. Its polished streets and beautiful quartz architecture looked like something from a dream. For Lena, it was something from her nightmares.
“Now none of you were involved in great battles of years gone by. For this purpose, we will be studying the finest battle of them all. This particular battle I helped a great deal with. Its victory marked the beginning of Mir’s rule by The Most Honored Priestess. We will study it in detail today,” explained Wetsel.
“Servant,” her eyes jumped to the instructor’s skinny face and condescending glare. “ I don’t imagine you’d be able, with your keen intellect, to tell us all of which battle I am referring to,” his voice rang thick with sarcasm. Without pausing for her to answer he continued. “Of course you wouldn’t. Why don’t you hustle along now to whatever your kind does around here,” he mocked. “Or do I need to give you something more appropriate for your skill level?” Much of the class now laughed out loud. Lucius pointed and made a mock sad face at her.
“It’s the town of Everleigh sir,” her words resounded across the room.
His stiff body looked down at her with a shocked expression, “Indeed.” Turning away from the door where Lena stood, the instructor waved his hand, shooing her away. “You are excused.”
“Well, as I was saying before such a rude interruption. This is Everleigh. The last stronghold of the, now, non-existent enemy.”
Sliding out of view, Lena pressed her back into the wall just beyond the doorway and closed her eyes. The glass doors slid closed but Lena could still hear the words of the arrogant instructor, his words forming the story to the pictures she’d so long remembered. She slid against the wall to the ground.
“The town of Everleigh, once an enemy stronghold, now a pile of rubble. Today I will show you the tactics that were used to cripple the city…” Wetsels voice droned to Lena’s spot outside the door.
“The goal of the attack was what?” Wetsel began.
Lena heard Lucius’ distinct haughty voice answering. “To conquer the resistance, Sir.”
“Is that all you have to say?” Wetsel’s voiced raised. The room stayed silent trying to figure out what answer their teacher wanted.
“Officer Wetsel,” Jonah answered, “I believe the answer is somewhat more complex than a simple sentence.”
“Go on,” Wetsel said as he drummed his fingers on the hologram table.
“Well, Lucius was partially right. The Priestess’s overall goal, or better called, strategy, was to conquer all resistant forces. But she knew that took more than one battle, and in more than one city. So she formed a tactics plan, which is a set of smaller plans to conquer a larger goal. She started by conquering smaller cities. These cities had less protection than Everleigh and greater allies to the Priestess. When it came to Everleigh, the goal was the same as the smaller towns, which is to gain control of the leadership. The attack on Everleigh is significant because it was the final tactic put into place that saw all resistant forces quelled.”
“That is…correct,” Wetsel said, and Lena thought she heard annoyance in his voice. The sliding of the classroom’s upper door stopped the continuation of the lesson.
“Ah, Captain. To what do I owe the honor of having you join our class today?”
“You are discussing Everleigh, are you not?” A deep voice answered from the top steps of the lecture hall. He sounded younger than Lena imagined a Captain sounding. She knew she’d never met the Captain before, but his manner of speaking tugged at her memories and she couldn’t shake the feeling she knew his voice.
“Why yes, we are studying the great and fallen city of Everleigh. Could we possibly have the honor of your wisdom on the matter, Captain? You yourself being familiar with the town,” Wetsel announced in an arrogant manner.
Lena’s ear perked as she pushed herself off the ground. Was the Captain part of the mission to destroy Everleigh? Her heart raced to see the person on the other side of the wall. She peered around the edge of the doorway. Wetsel stood in her line of sight and her excitement fell.
“I actually came with a matter of business concerning Everleigh. I’m sure it will fit right in with your lecture. Please continue. The class needs to know the
story surrounding Everleigh before I deliver my message.”
“As you wish, Captain,” Wetsel sniffed. “Back to your holograms everyone. Let’s quickly review the footage surrounding the attack and then we’ll discuss it in more detail.”
“There were several task forces, each assigned with a specific mission. You can see here, the first two teams flanking the square making escape impossible. The square was crowded with the celebration of Mir, making it easy to hide among the multitude.”
“First part of a good tactic: drawing the audience’s attention to one specific point,” Lena didn’t need to hear what went next, yet couldn’t pull herself away from the haunting story. “Our General, the great Zeke Merak, led the third task force that completed this assignment without a hitch.”
Several people gasped at the on-screen images, and Lena’s insides tightened remembering the gleaming knife plunging deep into her father’s heart. A sniffle caught Lena by surprise. Daring to glance around the doorway, she saw a girl sitting near the doorway, wiping her eyes with her fingertips.
“Captain, you are much more familiar with our great General. Why do you suppose his tactic was so successful?”
“His infiltration was perfect,” the Captain replied in a voice still gnawing with familiarity. “He spent years, nearly his whole life, building a friendship with the General of Everleigh. Acting as his right-hand man.” His voice sounded cautious to Lena, as if he chose his words with care. “He had built such a deep trust among the enemy, they didn’t know they were infiltrated.”
“Yes indeed, indeed,” Wetsel almost sounded excited. “Infiltration at its finest. I imagine you also were a part of it too Captain, being his…”
“We all had our assignments,” the Captain cut in. “But you can see through the great planning efforts of those like your instructor. They made it impossible for the Resistance to unite their forces.”
Lena wondered why the Captain diverted the attention away from himself. Wetsel seemed to thrive on the applause of others, and if the Captain’s overall strategy was to draw attention away from himself, his tactic worked.
The Angel and the Warrior (The Mir Chronicles Book 1) Page 6
