“I thought you might like seeing this, even if it did take a ten hour hike.”
They stood side by side, each breathing easily and deeply, neither wanting to ruin the moment by speaking. Minutes passed before Gideon said, “We’ll set up camp over there.” He pointed to a flattened spot clear of rocks and plants. “Hope you’re not still afraid of sleeping outside.” Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed his pack and headed over the rock strewn shore to the clearing.
“Hey, I was nine. And I’m still pretty certain those animals would have killed us if given the chance.”
“With as much as you woke me up, I’m surprised I didn’t kill you,” he laughed. “Hands down, the worst night’s sleep ever.”
“Well, then, I hope you’re prepared for your second worst night’s sleep ever,” she said, joking back.
Together they gathered sticks, chopped a fallen tree into logs, and built a fire. She studied Gid, out of the corner of her eye. He acted relaxed and happy and talked to her like a friend. She liked this side of Gideon.
“You were right you know.” Gideon sat on the ground, his back against a log and feet stretched out toward the fire. Holding a long stick, he played with the glowing coals.
“Which thing exactly are you referring to?” she joked.
“About me hiding you,” he answered, more serious now. “Not exactly the action of someone loyal to the Priestess,” He paused and looked into the darkened sky. “I swore loyalty to her, you know. Then my first act was to defy her by hiding you.”
“Gid, I don’t want you to think I’m ungrateful for your sacrifice. I know you put yourself in danger to hide me.” Her eyes fell to her lap. “But, why did you do it? What do you want from me?” Lena asked. Her pulse raced, anticipating the answer, as she raised her face towards his.
“Nothing from you. Just for you,” his intense gaze landed on her, sending shocks down her spine. Diverting his eyes, he reached for a log and added it to the fire.
“I’ve arranged transport for you off Mir. The voice you overheard me talking to the other night, that was my friend Tarek. He has business at Mir’s Interplanetary Port at the end of this month. He will take you with him when he leaves.”
“Wait. You want me to leave?” she asked, shocked.
“Nagar knows you’re here. I’m doing my best to keep you safe, but I can’t do that for much longer. You can trust Tarek. He’ll take you somewhere safe. Safe and secret. Somewhere that you can have a life without anyone trying to use you.”
“Gideon, I’m not leaving.”
“Yes, you are.” He stood and crossed his arms over his chest.
Lena stood to face him. “No, I’m not.” The fire raged between the two, casting shadows on Gideon’s face.
“You said you’d do everything I’d asked, even if you didn’t know why. This is what I’m asking, Evangeline. Leave.”
“This is why you’ve been hiding me, and training me?” Lena said, her voice growing louder. “So that you can send me away? That makes no sense.”
“What did you think I was going to do with you?”
“I don’t know. Use me as some kind of leverage over the Priestess?” Lena answered.
“I don’t use people as leverage, Lena,” Gideon answered, his voice irritated.
“I don’t want to leave. I want to fight with the resistance,” Lena declared.
“What resistance Evangeline? The Resistance that you knew as a child died with your father. The Priestess governs Mir now.”
“But there are others, like you, fighting against the Priestess, right?”
“I’m not a part of any resistance. And I’m certainly not fighting with them.”
Lena snapped her head toward him. “What do you mean? I thought...”
“You thought because I saved you, and hid you, that I was part of a secret rebel group trying to destroy the Priestess? That I was somehow going to use you to gain power over her?” he finished looking across the fire at her.
“I hadn’t pieced together what exactly you were going to do with me,” Lena said, as her eyes fell to the burning coals.
“There are groups trying to destroy the Priestess. The Cimmerians I told you about are among them. You could call them a resistance, though their methods aren’t any better than the Priestess’s. But I’m not a part of them. And I certainly don’t want you to be a part of them.” He stepped back from the flames and sat on the log he’d been resting against.
“Why does the Priestess want me?” Lena questioned.
“You don’t want to know,” Gideon said and started poking at the fire again.
Lena hated that he wouldn’t tell her, but shrugged it away. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would you save me then? Why would Thora spend so many years hiding me? Why would Thora even help you in the first place?”
“Thora is my aunt. My mother and Thora are sisters,” Gideon replied. “She helped me for a lot of reasons. Because she loves me. Because she hates the Priestess. Thora, while not part of a formal resistance, has always acted in defiance of the Priestess. She’d have to tell you all the reasons.”
“She wouldn’t want me to run,” Lena said.
“She has her own ideas regarding you,” Gideon replied. “But she won’t stop me from sending you.”
“Does it have to do with why the Priestess is searching for me?” Lena kept questioning, “You think I’ll be afraid of the answer?”
“Just the opposite,” Gideon grew tense. “I think the answer will send you running into the heart of the danger. Lena, I’m trying to keep you safe. This is how I’m doing it.”
“Why is it so important to you that I stay safe?” Lena retorted.
His eyebrows raised in apprehension. “Do I really need to spell it out for you?”
Lena’s heart pounded as she looked at him. His eyes, large and wanting, didn’t break her gaze. She ached to hear his answer, yet couldn’t bring herself to ask for it.
“Eves, back then, you were my life. My best friend. My only friend. I saw a way to save you, so I did.”
“You shot me,” Lena replied.
“I saved you,” Gideon retorted.
“And now?” she whispered. “I don’t exactly fit that criteria anymore. Yet here you are, still fighting for me.”
Patting his hand on the log, he motioned for Lena to come sit by him. Walking around the fire, she found a place next to him on the log. Their shoulders were a breath away from each other.
“You remember our lake in Everleigh and how we lay out under the stars? The spring before the attack, I was visiting for your birthday.”
“My fourteenth birthday. I remember. You had that crazy idea to go swimming in the dark, and we laughed until our stomachs hurt as we went splash into the freezing cold water.”
Chuckling at the memory Gideon added, “And you bet that you could swim farther and took off without thinking, into the middle of that blasted cold lake.”
“I got maybe ten or fifteen yards when the cold took my breath away. I panicked and went under the water,” Lena said. “You saved me, diving in the freezing cold after me.”
“And what did I tell you?” he asked.
“I said ‘You saved me’ and then you leaned into my ear and spoke ‘I will always save you, Evangeline,’”
“And I will, Eves. Always.” Grabbing her hand he gave it a squeeze then let it slip from his fingers. Without adding more to the story, he laid out their sleeping bags, stoked the fire, and then lay down under the open sky.
Lying down next to him, Lena gazed at the glittering night sky until his breathing deepened and she knew he slept. Looking toward him under the light of the stars, he looked like the boy from long ago. But his face was etched now with lines of someone who had seen so much at such a young age. She didn’t blame him for wanting her to hide, but she knew she’d never be happy living the rest of her life that way. She’d have less than a month to plan her escape. Jonah and Birdee would help. Her mind spun with det
ails. She’d find Thora and figure out what the Priestess wanted with her. After going over what seemed like a million scenarios in her head, tiredness overtook her.
She woke once during the night and turned towards Gideon. Watching the rise and fall of his chest, she thought again of the lake at Everleigh. She wondered if he remembered the line she left out of the story. ‘I will always save you Evangeline. You’re my best friend. I love you.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sneaking glances toward Gideon in the early morning light, Lena knew the animosity between them had transformed over night. And for the first time in a long time, she felt calm.
Packing up their camp, Gideon caught her curious eye and gave her a smile that caused her cheeks to glow in embarrassment. Chuckling, he finished his pack, stood from his kneeling position, and walked toward the sun kissed lake.
A rumbling touched her hearing, low at first and then gaining in strength. Gideon tensed and searched the sky. “Lena, pack up fast,” he yelled over the now deafening sound.
“Move now!” he screamed, scaring Lena into action.
Moving at near superhuman speed, Gideon threw Lena’s belongings haphazardly into her pack, grabbed his pack and beckoned her to follow. Jumping into action, they sprinted deep into the forest surrounding them. The tangled undergrowth grabbed at Lena’s feet. Grabbing Lena’s shoulders, Gideon shoved her to the ground, and pushed her into the opening of a decaying tree. Laying flat on the ground, the tree provided a hideout between it and the deep earth beneath it. Signaling her to stay put, he took off back toward the monster sound.
When an hour came and went without sign of Gideon, Lena jumped to her feet, shook off the dirt that had settled over her, and began to move back toward the lake. Purposely placing every footstep, she moved through the undergrowth. Voices grew louder as she moved more slowly toward their campsite. Stopping a few feet from the glade, she listened to the unseen voices.
“Where did you hide her?” Lena immediately recognized the voice as Nagar’s.
Lena could hear Gideon gasping for air, but he stayed silent. Sneaking to the edge of the clearing, she dropped to the ground and peeked over a fallen log.
Gideon knelt awkwardly on the jagged rocks of the lake shore, his face pinched in pain. He slouched forward, shifting his legs uncomfortably under him. Blood ran down the side of his face. His arms, twisted behind him, were tied. He was next to a large boulder. Two guards stood next to a boulder to the right of him, their guns pointed at Gideon. Nagar stood in front of them. He held no gun but bore the authority of the group. He wore a light suit with a golden hue and held a large cigar. His hair and beard flashed fiery red. A huge private airship sat on the water at the shore’s edge. It’s reflective onyx exterior bore the sign of wealth and power.
“I’m losing patience with you, Captain,” Nagar declared. “Tell me where she is.”
“Nagar, does the General know you’ve come?” Gideon’s raspy voice replied. “The Priestess doesn’t handle her court acting on their own accord very well.”
“If you’re dead, no one will know,” Nagar threatened. Yanking a gun out of his guard’s hands, Nagar hit Gideon across the head. Lena heard the crack across his skull as Gideon fell unconscious to the ground. Turning his anger toward his men, Nagar shouted, “She’s here somewhere, and I want her found.”
The men dispersed into the forest surrounding them. Lena remained perfectly still as two guards walked by her hideout, leaving only one man guarding their unconscious victim.
Nagar marched into his airship, the door sliding shut behind him. Lena knew she needed to act before the others came back. Skirting around the edge of the forest, she closed the distance between her and Gideon until she stood, directly behind him. Gideon moved slightly, and she heard him coming back to consciousness with a low moan. The guard near him looked at Gideon with an amused expression on his face.
Lena surveyed her surroundings, looking for a way to distract the guard. Searching the ground, she picked up several stones. Throwing them as far into the lake as possible, she covered her ears as the airship’s alarms started blaring. Lena smiled as Gideon’s guard ran toward the noise and away from his prisoner.
Sliding from her hiding place, Lena rushed to Gideon’s side. His eye, red and puffy, widened in distress when he saw her.
“What are you thinking?” Gideon reprimanded. “You just called everybody back.”
“Nice to see you too,” Lena said. She struggled with the bindings on Gideon’s hands but loosened them enough to see Gideon’s raw wrists below the rope.
“Hide,” Gideon commanded.
Lena jumped behind the boulder to their side. Gideon hunched over as if still unconscious. Guards ran into the clearing from all different locations, but none looked towards Lena. Acting like the alarms had awakened him, Gideon raised himself to a sitting position.
Running from his airship, Nagar’s wild eyes searched the clearing. “Where’s the pilot?”
“The pilot is searching the woods, sir,” Gideon’s guard answered.
“Somebody, turn off that blasted alarm!” Nagar screamed.
“Yes, sir,” the guard answered. Storming back toward Gideon, he grabbed Gideon’s hair and kicked his ribs. Gideon let out a gasp.
“What did you do?” the guard hissed.
Lena pressed her back into the cold boulder that hid her. Biting her lip, she focused on not making a sound. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out a bird hit your ship while its alarms were on,” Gideon wheezed.
“You calling me stupid?” He kicked Gideon again.
“No, sir, please,” Gideon gasped. “I just don’t want to get kicked again. Please.”
“A bird, huh?”
“Look,” Gideon said, his breath still sounding irregular. “A bird or maybe a large fish below. It doesn’t take much to set off an alarm in a fancy ship like that.”
The guard regarded Gideon and then looked to the ship. “Well, I’ll make ya a deal, Captain.” Spit flew from his mouth as he said the last word. “You use that pretty little head of yours to tell me how to turn off the alarm, and I’ll think about not hitting you again.”
Gideon gulped for air. “Go into the panel on the outside wall of his ship. There is a switch labeled Power. Flip it down. It turns off the alarm.”
“Really?” The guard eyed the ship with interest. “You really know it’ll work?”
“I had three years of schooling at the Interplanetary Military Academy. I guarantee it’ll work.”
Hearing the guard walk away, Lena readied herself for action. At the sound of the guard splashing into the lake, she peeked around the rock. The guard waded around the far side of the ship. Not seeing anyone else, she slid around the opposite side of the rock, staying hidden.
“Any other plans up your sleeve?” Gideon’s raspy voice asked.
“So my plan backfired a little,” she whispered around the boulder. “Are you ok to move?”
“Just bruised a bit,” Gideon replied. “Another guard just came back from the forest. I’ll bet more will be here soon. We’re going to have to make this quick and quiet. On my command, you slip away first and hide at the edge of the forest just below that fallen tree. Do you see it?”
“Yes,” Lena answered. As the ship’s alarm stopped blaring the last guard came from the forest into the clearing.
“What’s going on?” the guard yelled across the side of the lake.
The guard who had been watching Gideon walked from the lake, water squishing inside his shoes. “The alarm is just being a little touchy,” he growled. “I took care of it.”
“You don’t know how to take care of nothing, Felix.” Catching the attention of the other guard, they both started moving toward the ship. “I say you go look for the girl. We’ll guard the prisoner.”
The guards started arguing as they all walked towards Gideon from their various locations.
“Lena, they’re going to see you. Run. Now,” Gideon said t
o Lena as he finished loosing the ropes around his wrists.
Jumping from behind the boulder, Lena sprinted toward the forest just as Gideon sprang toward the closest guard. Grabbing the gun out of his shocked captor’s hands, Gideon hit him across his head, knocking him unconscious, and sprinted after Lena.
Chaos ensued on the beach as the guards started yelling at each other to catch the prisoner.
Gideon caught up more quickly than Lena thought possible. He grabbed her hand and yanked her into the tree cover, their pursuers close behind.
“Just run!” he yelled, as they tumbled through the brambles and heavy undergrowth, Gideon holding Lena’s hand so tightly that her bones felt like they were cracking. Twigs caught them, tearing their clothes and scratching their flesh. Nagar’s voice now screamed for their capture as bullets flew by them.
Pain ripped, fierce and unforgiving, through her upper arm. Looking down she saw blood saturating her sleeve. Shaking away the pain, she kept her pace with Gideon, knowing that she ran on pure adrenaline.
The farther they ran into the forest, the more distant the guards sounded. The gunfire and yelling from the guards’ pursuit died away. Gideon kept running, pulling Lena with him. Every breath she took left a burning in her lungs so deep that she thought they might burst from all the exertions.
Gideon moved ever sure and strong, always keeping his eyes scanning the woods for signs of attack. As the guards’ voices disappeared entirely, scurrying animal feet kept him poised for any type of surprise attack. As the sun grew high in the sky, their speed slowed to a steady walk. At the slower pace, her adrenaline deteriorated and weakness started overtaking her. The surroundings crept up on her in a dizzying maze of blurry trees and bushes. More boulders started to surround them as they started in an uphill walk. Stumbling more now she shook her head constantly, pleading for the ground to stop spinning and her arm to stop burning in an agonizing drum of pain.
“Gideon,” Lena gasped, tumbling to the ground. “I’ve got to rest.”
The Mir Chronicles- The Complete Series Page 15
