by Kate Sander
Force
Book Two of the Zoya Chronicles
Kate Sander
Kate Sander
Contents
Prologue
Part I
1. Senka
2. Isaac
3. Senka
4. Senka
5. Isaac
6. Dr. Charlie Penner
7. Carter
8. Senka
9. Carter
10. Senka
11. Dr. Charlie Penner
Part II
12. Tory
13. Head Of Justice
14. Head Of Justice
15. Eli
16. Jules
17. Ujarak
18. Tory
19. Tory
20. Head Of Housing
21. Eli
22. Jules
23. Ujarak
Part III
24. Senka
25. Dr. Charlie Penner
26. Senka
27. Senka
28. Isaac
29. Dr. Charlie Penner
30. Senka
31. Senka
32. Senka
33. Carter
Epilogue
Want More?
OTHER BOOKS BY KATE SANDER
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Keep Reading
DEVOUR: BOOK THREE OF THE ZOYA CHRONICLES
Prologue
1. Senka
CONTINUE READING
Copyright © 2017 Kate Sander
All rights reserved.
ISBN-13: 978-0994968036
ISBN-10: 0994968036
Dedication
This one is for my husband, Aaron.
He may never read my books, but he knows the plot for all of them.
Prologue
Tory watched her best friend die.
Before Tory could say anything, Senka rushed past her and launched herself off the cliff. Tory could only shake her head. Only Senka would take a fifty-foot dive head first and smile. Senka’s swords found a gap in the nearest Sun God’s armour and she tore his throat out of the back of his neck, breaking her fall. She leapt up and cut and weaved through the stunned Sun Gods, dancing and killing.
Tory wrenched her eyes away. She wanted to protect Senka but she had a job to do.
“ATTACK!” she yelled, voice carrying to the Melanthios, her people, lining the cliffs around her. They were ready to spring the trap on the unsuspecting Sun Gods in the valley below. “FIRE!” the archers listened without hesitation. The Melanthios were outnumbered ten to one but the trap Senka had devised gave them a slim chance at victory.
Ladders were thrown down from the cliffs to the valley.
The archers let loose a volley of arrows. The Sun Gods gave a cry of their own. The Melanthios with swords and warhammers slid down the ladders and attacked. The Sun Gods unsheathed their swords and responded.
The war had begun in a cacophony of cries and blood spatter.
Tory fired arrows into the crowd of Sun Gods, taking time to aim at the gap between the armour and the helmet. Tory wasn’t as fast as Senka, but she never missed.
Tory took a break from firing into the crowd to search for Senka. It took Tory a second, but her keen eyes soon found her. Senka’s swords were glowing blue. She was the only one of the Melanthios fighting with Pulse weapons and it was all intended to kill the King. Tory knew those weapons were slowly poisoning Senka, but Senka carried them anyway. Senka struck a man in the chest with the electrified sword. He went down in a fit of convulsions. Senka stood there, panting.
A Sun God was approaching Senka from behind. She must have sensed him, because she turned just in time. Tory breathed a sigh of relief as Senka killed him quickly. Tory continued to fire into the enemy. The Melanthios in the valley were beginning to be overrun. There were Sun Gods who had reached the bottom of the ladders and they were starting to climb.
“Archers!” Tory yelled, voice of a hardened general finding its way to her people. “Clear the ladders!”
Her archers listened and began to focus their arrows at the bottom of the ladders. Tory soon realized that it wouldn’t be enough. There were too many Sun Gods. They just kept coming, stepping on the bodies of their dead comrades, desperate to climb and kill.
Tory scanned the battle again. Senka’s mission was to kill the King. The False King had taken power so fast and so violently that this was the Melanthios’ first and last stand. If Senka failed and the King remained alive then the Melanthios would all be killed. Senka was their only hope.
Tory found Senka ducking, weaving; killing in her violent dance. She was making her way towards the rear of the Sun Gods to where the King sat astride a horse, crown sitting crookedly on his traitorous head. Senka was covered in gore. She stopped to wipe the blood out of her eyes. Tory saw a Sun God approach quietly behind her.
“Senka!” Tory yelled. She was way too far away to hear her.
The Sun God raised his sword.
Out of pure desperation, Tory drew and fired an arrow. The shot was out of her range, but she needed to try. The arrow was guided by fear and love. It hit the Sun God in the back of the neck and exploded through his throat.
Senka turned quickly and locked eyes with Tory, giving her a swift nod. Tory nodded back. Tory was forced away from watching Senka. Sun Gods had made it up the ladders further down the valley and were charging through the forest. She could hear their armour crashing through the underbrush behind her.
An arrow flew over her shoulder, grazing her neck. Surprised, Tory turned and fired in a fluid motion, acting out of pure instinct.
She saw it in slow motion.
Her arrow was released from the bow before she locked eyes on her target. It flew through the air. Tory gasped, unable to do anything as her arrow hit a Melanthios archer in the chest.
The archer looked down slowly, shock on her face. Tory’s arrow was sticking out of the center of her chest, still vibrating.
Tory froze. She could feel her heartbeat in her chest. She could hear the rush of it in her ears.
The woman dropped her bow. It clattered to the ground beside her. She looked at Tory, confusion and terror on her face. She dropped to her knees. She coughed and blood spurted out of her mouth and dripped down her chin.
The world around Tory stopped. There was no war. There was no Senka. There was only this Melanthios woman on her knees, Tory’s arrow in her chest.
The world came crashing back and Tory ran to the woman. The woman looked at her confused. Tory dropped to her knees as the woman fell over into her arms.
“I’m sorry!” Tory sobbed. She was cradling the woman on the ground.
The woman looked like she was trying to say something. Blood bubbled out of her mouth. No words were uttered.
“No, no, no!” Tory cried desperately. She brushed the archer’s hair out of her face. The Melanthios woman had dark eyes, almost black. Tory was drawn to them. They were beautiful.
The woman coughed blood one more time. Tory was pressing on her chest but she couldn’t stop the blood.
“I’m sorry!” Tory said desperately.
The woman’s beautiful black eyes went dark as she died in Tory’s arms.
Tory sobbed into the woman’s chest. She had killed before, countless times. She’d lost warriors in battle before. But this was different.
“I’m sorry,” Tory said quietly into her hair. “I’m so, so sorry.”
Tory didn’t recognize the woman. She was from a different town than Tory was and had just come to fight in the war. But she was a Melanthios. She was one of her own.
The dead, black eyes stared at Tory accusingly.
“I didn’t mean to,” Tory sobbed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
“I’m still dead though,” the black eyes said back.
“It’s war. Your arrow almost hit me. I thought you were one of them.”
“They are people too,” the dead, black eyes replied. “You’re killing husbands, brothers, sisters, daughters. You’re killing them all.”
“It’s them or us!’ Tory yelled at the dead woman. “It’s war!”
The black eyes said nothing, they stared ahead, accusing.
Dead.
Tory heard someone scream from behind her. She wrenched her eyes away from the woman she had killed. The Sun Gods were swarming the ridge. They were killing the archers. Her people were breaking rank and running. They were dying.
Tory needed to shut down this overwhelming guilt. She couldn’t let more of her people die. She lowered the woman to the ground and flipped her quickly to her stomach. Tory told herself that it was to get the woman’s arrows but she knew it was because she couldn’t stare at the cold, dead, accusing black eyes.
Tory stood and started firing into the approaching Sun Gods. She stabbed one through the neck with an arrow then drew and fired, killing a Sun God who was hovering over an archer.
The archer turned to smile appreciatively to her when a sword exploded through his chest. Tory yelled something incoherent and shot the offending Sun God in the face.
“Archers!” she yelled through the chaos. Her archers were scrambling away into the forest, leaving the Melanthios to die in the valley below. “To me!” she yelled. “Come to me!”
The fleeing archers nearest to her heard her and turned. They started to work together, firing in unison at the approaching enemy, gathering together in a group. Other archers started to join them. They rallied around Tory and began to regain their line. They needed to keep control of the cliff.
Tory knew that she should have felt pride in her people. But she only felt a crushing sense of guilt. She killed and fired with the rest of them, but her head was with the cold, dead eyes.
“I would have helped,” the black eyes whispered in her ear as she killed.
Tory ignored them.
She led the rallied archers to the edge of the valley and looked desperately to the rear of the Sun Gods. She watched the scene unfold. Senka was standing face to face with the King.
Tory watched her best friend die.
Senka attacked the King with a fury and a speed that Tory hadn’t known was possible. Senka’s electrified Pulse powered short swords flickered out and died one at a time as the King landed devastating blows to Senka’s forearms.
Senka stepped back after the onslaught. She was gasping. Tory could tell that she was in pain.
Senka steeled herself and launched another attack. This time, though, she was slower. Tory could tell that the King was inhumanely strong. He landed a blow to her stomach that folded Senka in half. Senka flew back and landed hard.
“Get up!” Tory yelled.
The battle was still raging around her but Tory didn’t care. She was completely absorbed in the scene in the valley below. She didn’t realize her archers were gathering around her, protecting her. She could only watch her friend.
Senka stayed down. Tory saw that her breath was coming in short gasps. Before Senka could get up, the King attacked again. This time he stomped on her chest. Senka tried to block but the King was too strong. She took the blow directly to the chest.
Tory couldn’t believe it. Senka wasn’t getting up. The King tried to stomp on her again but Senka aimed a kick to his knee.
It wasn’t enough.
Senka tried to crawl away from the King. The King grabbed her and flipped her over.
Tory could feel her heartbeat in her chest as she stood there, powerless.
The King raised his sword over his head.
The world around Tory stopped.
She watched as the King started the killing blow.
Suddenly, Senka sprang up. She thrust a sword through the bottom of the King’s jaw and out the top of his head in an explosion of blood.
Tory’s heart leapt. Senka had done it! It must have all been an act!
When Senka fell back down, Tory’s heart fell with her. It wasn’t an act. She watched her ever strong, ever loyal, best friend’s chest stop moving. Tory stood a hundred meters away as Senka died alone.
Tory dropped to her knees again. She was stunned.
“I died alone,” Black Eyes tittered in her ear. “I died alone and you didn’t care. I died alone because of you.”
The King’s death had an almost instantaneous effect on the battlefield. The Sun God’s closest to him started to look around nervously and break rank, fleeing the battle. They weren’t sure what they were fighting for in the first place and with no leader they were aimless. Word travelled fast and, to the cheers of the remaining Melanthios, the rest of the Sun Gods fled.
Tory didn’t care. She could only watch her dead friend lying motionless on the battlefield.
“You killed me,” Black Eyes laughed in her ear. “You let her die. You killed me. You let her die. You killed me. You let her die.” Black Eyes chanted it, over and over. A bodiless voice yelling in her ear.
Grief and guilt ripped through her.
Tory put her hands over her ears and screamed.
Part I
“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” – G. K. Chesterton
1
Senka
October 19, 2023, 05:07
Location: Somewhere near Vanavara, Russia.
Senka was in prison.
Senka hated being in prison. It wasn’t the first time. She doubted it would be the last. This time, however, she had put herself there. It was technically more of a private dungeon than a prison but that was just splitting hairs. It certainly looked like a prison. Four stone walls with a metal door inlaid, metal bed in the back corner. This prison was luxury compared to her last time incarcerated, back in The Other Place. This one had an old, torn and stained mattress on the metal bed frame and a working toilet instead of a hole.
Sighing, she stood up from the ratty mattress and nimbly hopped onto the bed. She took careful note of her surroundings from the new vantage point, being careful to check the corners of the cell for any inconsistencies. She wasn’t very tall, only five foot six, so her head was still a few inches from the ceiling. She was very lean and muscular. She kept her exceptional form hidden under jeans and a plain grey sweater with YALE written across the front in bold lettering. She wore her medium length hair in a pony-tail, with one piece tucked behind her ear. She wasn’t beautiful, nor was she ugly. She fit in anywhere, making her perfect for her current employment.
Satisfied there were no cameras or bugs in the cell, she hopped back down off the bed. She could chat in private. Amanda was probably going crazy, Senka hadn’t checked in in over a week. Senka sighed and dug a hand into a liner of her jeans, finding a small ear-piece hidden within the fabric. It was discrete and couldn’t be seen when lodged deep in her ear canal. She pulled a small, skin-toned sticker out of her jeans as well and stuck it onto her neck. The tiny microphone would allow her to speak normally to Amanda without distortion.
She turned the ear piece on, popped it in her ear and was immediately assaulted, “Senka what the hell! You haven’t checked in in a week. You could have been dead! You could have been captured! You could have…” Senka stopped paying attention to Amanda’s voice, she let her rant and rave and continued looking around the room. She couldn’t see any weaknesses, so she’d have to do this the old-fashioned way.
“Senka! Are you even listening to me?” Amanda Nguyen’s squawk brought her back into focus.
“Nope, not at all,” Senka replied, still scanning the room. “You were droning on and I lost focus. What were you saying?”
“Why haven’t you checked in? I was about to send a unit in to find you,”
Amanda’s voice was tense. Senka smiled, she knew Amanda was probably grating her teeth. Call her petty, but Senka thoroughly enjoyed pissing Amanda off whenever she could. Added a little joy to her day.
“I was busy. You sent me to this frigid nation to track down drugs. I tracked down drugs. I just do it my own way,” Senka started bouncing on the balls of her feet and cracking her neck. “Sidenote: Russia is colder than Canada any day. I don’t care what we think. Russia wins.”
“I sent you to report on Viktor Sidorov’s activities. That’s it.”
“So the fact that I’m currently in the dungeon of his high tech, previously impenetrable fortress in Siberia means nothing?”
Amanda stopped talking. Senka pressed the button on her jeans. The tiny GPS tracker would now give Amanda her location.
“So do you want me to escape and download his files to the hard-drive I snuck in? Or does that not…”
“Shut up,” Amanda said sharply, not letting her finish. “We will need to have a meeting. A very. Long. Meeting. I expect a full report, with every. Single. Detail.”
Senka rolled her eyes. Her boss, Amanda, had no sense of humor. “Yes, yes. Just like every mission. So have you tracked my location yet? Or do you need to get Carter in to turn on the computer for you?” Carter was Senka’s handler, usually on the other end of her ear-piece. She liked him better.
