An idea came to Ben. He had a bargaining chip, something that may bring the Orks to his side. Perhaps he could come away from Ney with more than information about their Vault. He could leave with a new ally against Ænæria and the Enochians. Support in the coming war for the hardy seeds of the Grand Vault. They would be foolish to decline such an offer. And yet, the Sachems knew of the superior seeds that Ben’s people had access to, for he’d told them directly. They knew that Ben had been given the authority by Mimir to distribute the seeds from the Vault. If they were in such a need for food to help them survive the winter, why had they not asked him in the first place?
Of course, the answer was simple. The Sachems did not believe Ben’s tale. Why would they? It was fantastical and contrary to their very beliefs. He would need to prove it to them. He could not demonstrate a show of power with his injuries. He would need to try something else.
Ben told Pyat that he was ready for the end of the tour. His mind was flooding with ideas faster than the flow of the falls. There was much to do and consider. The Sachems, his friends, and his healing body. The wars. He needed time to think and reflect. And to do that he would need to share his ideas with Mandi and Darius. They could keep him grounded while helping mold his ideas into plans. He had always thought himself a planner in the past, but Ben knew that when it came to affairs of such great importance, it was better to have others weigh in with their own opinions. The result was often a more balanced approach with a greater chance of success.
They drove through the outer rim of the city, circumventing the busy streets, and continued along a path with a clear view of the twin falls and its luminescent rainbow bridge. The outer parts of Kokopolis were crowded with people in tattered garments and dirt-covered youths. A smile grew on Ben’s face as he watched the innocent children running after one another and yelling with joy. Few families were brave enough to raise children in Freztad after the plague. Most of them moved to another settlement once they discovered they were pregnant. Freztad had not been the great sanctuary founded by Mathias for many years. Julius’s exodus and the great plague had sent the village into a rapid spiral of disarray after enjoying a few short years of great success. Seeing the playful children in the ruined streets of Ney was like a reminder of the rebirth of Freztad. From the ashes of cataclysm, a new generation had been born to this ancient city. So too would Freztad. The discovery of the Vault was just the beginning. And on the eve of war, Freztad and the Penteric Alliance were on the verge of annihilation. But through all this fire, it too would be reborn into a new era of prosperity. Ben knew it was his duty to guide that resurrection, one step at a time.
24
Rose
Parvidom, Ænæria
“Everyone understands the plan, right?” Bjorn whispered.
They all hid behind a small gathering of misshapen bushes. First light hadn’t yet broken, though that wasn’t why Rose was so tired. If her sleep had been bad before from the nightmares, it was horrendous ever since the letter had been left on her bed. None of the guards reported seeing anyone attempting to enter her room in the days that followed, nor had they gotten anything useful after interrogating nearly half the town. Not that they had much to work on because she refused to reveal the contents of the letter. Rose didn’t know who to trust, so she had to work on the basis that anyone could be a potential traitor. It sickened her—quite literally. She’d thrown up at least three times that night. Rose was just happy to be out of Vänalleato, away from whoever had left that letter. And anyone else who had been betraying her.
“Aye,” Kristos answered, batting the head of his war hammer against his palm. “Rose, Trinity, Bruno, and Shadow are with me. We’ll hit the back of the town where Rose can lay down some cover fire.”
It gladdened Rose to hear Kristos call her by name rather than by her title. Sometimes she forgot what it sounded like coming from other people’s mouths. What she didn’t like was that she was with Shadow. No one really knew where he came from. He had a very unique profile of dark skin with blond hair and blue eyes, just like the boy described as Felix. Wulkan, the blacksmith, claimed not to know Shadow, and Rose wondered if he could’ve been the boy’s birth father. Learning anything about him was elusive as an actual shadow. All she could verify was the fact that he’d worked with the Miners Guild for a short time and had been approved by Alejandra herself. To most people, that would have been enough. But Rose still didn’t trust the guild’s leader. She was, after all, a master of deceit.
While she still felt uncomfortable around Shadow, she had a much more likely suspect. Siegfried. He’d already lived a secret life as a guild member, not telling anyone about ancient technologies, the Vaults, and Enochians. Who’s to say he isn’t spying on the Vänalleatians for the Miners Guild right now? Whoever wrote the letter also mentioned Sera, and Rose had only just spoken to Siegfried about her a few hours before finding it. It didn’t seem like a coincidence to her.
“Good, everyone knows the plan,” Bjorn whispered. “My Queen, are you ready?”
While the others had discussed who would fight with whom, Rose must’ve been lost in thought deciphering the identity of the letter writer. Rose blinked and rubbed her eyes as if coming out of a dreamful sleep. I don’t know much about Bjorn, either. Like many in the Miners Guild, he was from Ænæria—or rather the Northern Kingdoms before Ænæria was formed. She looked over at Bruno, the ex-Rhion. Another Ænærian. Too many people with her who she didn’t really know. At least when she was with Kristos and Zechariah and others from Freztad she could feel safe.
“Yes. Very well. Let’s go.” She spoke pretending she knew what was going on. Whatever, it’s fine. I know my part. Cover from high ground. Don’t get killed. Easy.
They broke into five groups. Four groups moved toward the town from each direction, and one stayed behind to barricade the roads. Rose missed the finer details of the plan but thought she remembered from one of the meetings that the group staying behind would do something along the lines of pretending to lose a wagon wheel and breaking down in the middle of the road to block traffic. The details weren’t important to her at this point. She trusted them enough to do their jobs. Well, as much as she trusted anyone, which at this point didn’t count for a whole lot.
Rose and the other four members of her party raced to the back of the town. They had to leave their horses behind—the beats of their hooves were a dead giveaway. They were lightly armed to keep quick and quiet. They wore hooded black cloaks and carried small pouches across their chests. Kristos led the way with his hammer out and ready to break bones. Rose kept her eyes peeled and bow drawn. She held four arrows in her bow hand, the rest packed in her satchel. She couldn’t have them rustling around in a quiver while trying to keep silent.
A tall wooden gate surrounded the town. They’d planned for this, of course. Bruno swung over a rope with a hooked end and climbed to the top. While still hanging from the top, he managed to wrap the rope around his body like a snake tangling its prey. It gave him some more leverage and freed his hands to quietly place a piton in the wall whereupon he placed a rope ladder from his pouch and let it drop to the others. Then he undid the roped tangle and pulled the rope to the opposite side and rappelled down. Shadow climbed the ladder first, turned himself around at the top, and also went down from the rope. Rose was next. Kristos told her she needed to be with at least two people at all times. She just wished they weren’t two people she barely knew. It’ll only be for a second. Then Trinity will be over, and then Kristos. It’ll be fine.
The ladder was wobbly with only one spike to support it at the top, but Kristos and Trinity compensated for that by holding the ladder still from below. Transitioning overtop the wall was the most challenging. She needed to somehow use her strength to push her body over the wall while simultaneously turning around and not falling. Bruno and Shadow made it look like it was second nature to them—like they were spiders climbing a string of web.
She managed to turn around
at the top of the wall and grab the rope without falling. More impressive was the fact that she made it down without screaming, despite forgetting to rappel halfway through. She’d have rope-burned her hands if it hadn’t been for the gloves she wore. Her sharpshooting would’ve been useless if that had happened.
Trinity made it down shortly thereafter. There were a few peeps out of her that could’ve been very close to alerting someone in the closest house. After she made it to the ground, Kristos loosened the hook and lowered it to the ground, then flipped the ladder over to the inside and climbed down. He was able to tug it loose on the ground, explaining it was easier to do that than loosen the piton and worry about leaving evidence behind.
Down two blocks stood the alarm tower, the tallest structure in the town. There would be at least one guard stationed there, ready to strike the hanging brass bell. Kristos led the group forward as light started spilling over the horizon. Cocks and crows cawed at the sight of dawn. Townspeople would be waking soon. The five ran, their heads crouched and buried below the level of the windows.
At the corner of a wooden cottage, Kristos stopped sharply and raised a fist. Wait, it said. He concealed his hammer behind his upper back, hidden but posed to strike at a moment’s notice. A man in a big straw hat walked out of the cottage and stretched, yawning loudly. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and turned his head right and left, as if he weren’t sure where he was going. Rose felt her heart pick up like a galloping warhorse. The man’s gaze paused, and he made an ah-ha sound and walked toward an outhouse. When he closed the door behind him, Rose let an audible sigh of relief escape her lungs. Trinity patted Rose on the shoulder and nodded to calm her.
Kristos signaled for them to move forward one by one. He sprinted across the empty alleyway first and gestured for Shadow to come next. Rose followed, her heart pounding against her chest so heavily she worried the sound of it would give her away. She made it across safely. Trinity was to come next, but just as she started, the outhouse door swung open. The straw-hatted man took in a deep breath of the early morning and walked toward them. Trinity was already halfway across the alleyway. She wouldn’t register a signal to stop until it was too late, and Bruno couldn’t reach her to pull her back behind cover.
“Shoot him,” Kristos whispered. “He’ll give us away if we don’t silence him.”
Rose raised her bow and took aim. At this distance, she could send an arrow through his skull without him seeing it coming. There wasn’t any time for her to protest. The man could give them away, he was right, but did he have to die for that? He was just an innocent civilian. Someone Rose was supposed to be liberating from a cruel regime.
Suddenly, a dart appeared in the man’s neck. His expression turned sour, and he raised his hand as if to swat a fly that he thought had bitten him. He was out cold in the grass before his hand even reached eye-level. Rose turned and looked at Shadow, who lowered a small tube from his mouth. He’s terrifyingly silent.
“Someone will need to hide him,” he whispered.
Trinity was next to them by now, never having realized what just happened until she turned around to see Bruno carrying the body and dumping it in some bushes. The ex-Rhion pointed to himself and then made a gesture to indicate that he’d stay on the other side and meet up with them at the tower. Shadow and Kristos advanced to the next alleyway.
A minute later, the four of them were at the alarm tower. From Rose’s position, she could see a spiked helmet peeking over the top of the tower’s railing. If he only moved a little bit, she could angle her shot just right to take him out. She hesitated, knowing another guard was supposed to be up there with him.
A single wooden ladder acted as the only means of entry to the top of the tower. Anyone at the top would be able to hear the creaking rungs as someone climbed it. That would spell certain death for the climber, whose hands would be too busy holding on to defend themselves. It would be better to remove the guards first before attempting to seize it. Kristos suggested that he climb the ladder while Rose took aim up through the hatch. It could work except it ran the risk of knocking the body down through the hatch and taking Kristos down with it.
Shadow had a different idea. He handed the two rapiers he wore at his side to Trinity and quickly scaled the wall next to them. His hands and feet seemed to find grips in the wall that Rose never could’ve spotted on her own. He moved like a squirrel scurrying up a tree. He hoisted himself onto the roof and tiptoed across the clay shingles toward the alarm tower. At the edge of the roof, he made a great leap toward the tower, narrowly gripping the base of the tower’s body, just above the support beams acting as its legs. With what must’ve been incredible upper body strength, Shadow scaled the tower with his hands until he was high enough to use his legs for support. At that point he moved even faster, reaching the opening in hardly over a second. His body seemed to spring inside from its stance over the tower’s wall.
He was out of view. There were sounds of punches and grunts. A few seconds later, Shadow peered over the tower and gave them the all-clear signal.
Rose went up top first, and Trinity followed soon after. Two Rhion lay dead across the floor. One had a knife through his eye, and the other’s neck was sliced open. Rose looked away in disgust. Shadow didn’t have so much as a bloody lip.
“My weapons, please,” he said to Trinity, and then he thanked her upon receiving his rapiers. “I will stay here with you. For protection.”
Rose didn’t quite like the sound of that. She walked toward the hatch and looked down at Kristos, who was standing watch with his hammer poised for a fight.
“Are you coming up?” she called down to him.
“I’m going to find Bruno. Not sure what happened to him. You’ll be safe with Shadow and Trinity.”
Rose looked back at Shadow, who peered over the tower, analyzing the town. She called back down to Kristos, this time her voice barely above a whisper. “Do you trust him?”
“I wouldn’t have him in my squad if I didn’t,” the sentinel commander said. “I vetted everyone on this mission very carefully.” He stretched his neck and shoulders before adding, “Keep an eye out there for me, will you?” And with that, he disappeared between the bushes and buildings.
Rose let out a nervous sigh and returned to the tower railing. It oversaw the entire town, though its location was not ideal, being toward the opposite end of the town gate. She had no doubt her arrows could reach that far and would aim true, but it would take more time to calculate her shots. She watched the town slowly wake as the candles flickered to life inside the houses and glimmered through the windows. It would take them time to be ready for the day and go about the streets. With any luck, the fighting would begin well before the workday, and people would still be in the safety of their homes.
Her eyes floated about the town, spotting dozens of Rhion with the waning light of their torches walking sluggishly through the streets. She eyed the town’s center, where a statue of her father stood with an outstretched hand. It hadn’t yet begun casting a shadow. She wanted to melt it down and never have to look at it again. A short distance away from the sundial, the town hall stood, mighty with its marble pillars and stone steps. A flag with the Ænærian crest, a fist eclipsing the sun, waved above the hall’s roof. There were at least six Rhion standing guard. Unlike the other Rhion, these men seemed to be armed with rifles.
Something flickered from the corner of her eye. Rose looked to her right to see what it was. Nothing. Except…hadn’t there been a Rhion there a moment ago? Then another flicker, and this time she saw what it was. It was the snuffing of torchlight. One by one, Rose watched as torches went out across the town. Too many all at once for it to be a coincidence. They weren’t going out on their own. They were being extinguished.
The attack had begun.
By Rose’s count, at least fifteen torches had gone out before the remaining Rhion started to realize what was happening. She heard shouting and quickly located the source. A Rhion stood
over the body of a comrade, shouting for attention with his sword drawn. Someone hadn’t hidden it properly—likely because they were pressed for time and saw the other Rhion converging on them. The lights in the town altered their course and started moving toward the shouting Rhion.
Rose glanced over at the flag, measuring from which direction the wind was blowing and how hard, and she aimed her arrow accordingly. She held her breath.
And released the arrow.
It landed in the Rhion’s chest, and the shouting stopped. A few of the torches stilled, not sure where to go without the yelling to guide them. A dark form appeared from behind the alleyway where the first body had been discovered. It hurried to one of the bodies and dragged it back down the alley just as another ran out to retrieve the one Rose had killed.
Rose didn’t have time to feel distracted by the fact that she’d just ended someone’s life. Just as she watched the two of her allies disappear back into the darkness, more shouting started. Rose spotted the source almost immediately. It was getting bright now and much easier to spot things around her. Swords clashed against each other. They were too far away for Rose to identify the Penteric soldier, not that it mattered. She aimed and let the arrow loose, hitting the Rhion in the small of his back. He screamed for less than a second before he was cut down. The soldier ran off to escape being found.
The battle went on like this for another few minutes before the first gunshot went off. Immediately, the Rhion guarding the town hall stood at attention and cocked back their rifles. More shots went off, all across the town. A few heads poked out of houses, and when she had a moment to spare, Rose made it a point to land an arrow just in front of them to scare them back into their homes. She did her best to lay down cover fire wherever she saw an opening. The majority of fighters would have to do without her immediate aid.
The Heir of Ænæria Page 31
