Birdee didn't need anything to make her glow. Her happiness lit up everyone around her.
Tern swept her into his arms and spun her around in a circle.
She squealed and laughed until he put her down and gave her a kiss. The crowd cheered and hollered and chanted for them to do it again.
Lark grabbed Lena's hand and pulled her around the trellis and then through the trees. "Now is the time to dance," Lark said over the music. People joined the line behind her.
Weaving their way through the trees with laughter and love, Lena missed Gideon terribly at that moment. She wondered if he was being tortured like Birdee had been. Or if he just went around doing all of Selene's dirty work. Letting go of Lark's hand, she stood to the side letting the line pass her.
She looked at Birdee and Tern. They were sneaking kisses as people came to congratulate them. Lena couldn't believe her friend was married, again. She also couldn't believe the feast the people of the woods had put together for Birdee and Tern in such a short time. Everyone was happy.
She thought of Gideon again. How could she possibly be having a good time when Gideon was being held prisoner. She missed him more than words. Like a piece of her soul should be there but had somehow been torn from her.
"Evangeline Adhara?" a voice said from the edge of the meadow.
Lena turned to see a man and woman standing at the edge of the trees. Tern and Birdee had seen him too. They all walked to meet him.
"We'd like ta join the Rise," he said holding out his hand to Lena. "Birdee has proven many times over that she will do anything ta protect our people. We would do well ta follow her. I trust her. My wife trusts her. We'd like ta keep the promise our people made."
Lena took his hand. "It's good to have you."
"Now go get some food," Birdee said gesturing to the buffet that had been set out for the wedding.
The night continued in the same manner. People approaching from the shadows, pledging themselves to the cause then joining the celebration. By the time Lena slipped away, the party had grown to such a size they couldn't fit into the clearing anymore.
***
The next morning, a crowd had gathered to join Birdee and Lena. Lena counted several hundred people.
Lena turned to Birdee. "I thought after last night that there would be more people," she said.
"Don' ya worry. There were more, they've gone ta the other villages ta recruit their kin. We'll have the numbers ya need. I promise ya that.”
Lena couldn't help but grin. "We did it," she said.
"We sure did," Birdee said grinning back.
"I'll have Lucius send a Cimmerian out to lead you."
Birdee laughed. "Ya can send one cause ya need ta. But they won' be leadin' us."
Lena nodded and smiled. "Somehow that doesn't surprise me." She wrapped Birdee in a hug. "I will see you soon."
"Ya will," Birdee said returning the hug. "Jay said he'd lead ya back ta Tarek. I still have ta convince these guys we're gonna have ta use a wee bit of technology fer our plan ta work. But I'll keep ya updated."
Lena pulled away and followed after Jay. She paused to wave one last time at Birdee before stepping into the trees.
Tarek was waiting outside the plane when they arrived. "It went well, I assume," Tarek said when Lena smiled at him.
"It did," she replied. "We'll have our people."
Tarek motioned to the plane as Lena said goodbye to Jay. Once seated inside Lena turned to Tarek. "Have you heard from the others?" she asked.
"Suki is at the club," Tarek said "She has a group waiting. A group that wants to join the Rise."
"You've been talking to Suki?" Lena raised her eyebrows at him. "But not Lucius?"
Tarek blushed and looked away. "Some people are worth talking to," he said. "I told her we'd come pick her up on our way back to the caves. I also think it would be good for you to meet the people who will be fighting for you."
"They're not fighting for me."
"Lena, we're all fighting for you. With you, if it makes you feel better. But it is you that can pull this off. No one else."
Lena shifted uncomfortably. She didn't realize how many people relied on her. "Okay," Lena said. "I can talk to them." They were both silent. Lena stared out the window.
She couldn't help but think of Gideon when everything was silent. She missed him. Ached for him. The only thing that kept her going was Xenia's vision. If she could destroy Selene, she could save Gideon.
As if reading her thoughts Tarek spoke. "I know the mission isn't to save Gideon," he said. "But we will."
Startled that Tarek knew what she was thinking, Lena didn't know exactly what to say. "How did you know what I was thinking about?"
"It's what we're both thinking about," Tarek said matter of factly. "He is our friend.”
"Our best friend," Lena said quietly.
"He loves you," Tarek said not waiting for her to talk.
"I know," Lena said.
"When he first got to the IMA. He didn't know if you had survived. Or where Thora had taken you. He looked everywhere for you. He didn't know by then that Thora had taken you to the facility or that Dorry had given you your special little insignia that made you disappear. He didn't sleep and hardly ate those first few months."
"Then you helped him find me?"
"More or less," Tarek said.
"Why?" Lena asked.
"He needed a friend. As did I. Believe it or not, it's not easy being the son of the leader of the IMA. You have to work twice as hard to prove that you made it there on your own merit. But Gideon never cared who my father was. And in return, I never cared who his parents were."
Lena nodded her head, not knowing how to respond.
"We're going to rescue him, Lena. We're not going to leave him to the fate of his mother or her device." Tarek was looking at her while flying. His eyes were serious and motivated. "We'll find a way, Lena. I promise."
***
Gideon stretched his muscles as he paced around his tiny cell. He had spent hours upon hours signaling for Tarek or Lena. To no avail. It was time to find a new plan. He looked out of his cell at the recruits across from him. Several sat at the doors to their cells talking to each other.
"Corgy, is there a way you can communicate with people outside our area?" he asked.
"What do you mean Captain?" Corgy answered.
"There are stories of prisoners coming up with their own way to communicate with each other. Sometimes it's a secret code or a way to pass messages from one cell block to the other," Gideon explained.
"Oh, well, no I don't really have anyone outside our tunnel that I'd want to communicate with. So I have never tried," Corgy said.
Gideon stared out his cell again. He heard his father take a breath to speak. "Ask Jenna," he said with forced breath before he started coughing.
Gideon looked up to where Jenna was glaring at Zeke from her cell. Her jaw was clenched as she turned her head to give Gideon a defiant look.
"Jenna? Do you have a way?" Gideon asked.
Zeke's cough subsided. "Don't try to hide it, girl," he said. "I've seen you with the guard.”
"You're a fool and a liar. Why would I compromise others in the crags to help you?" Jenna said. Her voice was just as sharp as always but this time was laced with a bit of power.
"Your father is here," Gideon said, remembering Jenna was a child of the resistance leaders. "And I may be a fool, but I bet you've bribed that guard to take a message to him."
Jenna raised her head but didn't answer.
"What guard?" Gideon asked.
"How?" Corgy blurted out at the same time.
Jenna scowled and kicked the ground. She looked at Gideon.
"You can tell me how," Gideon said. "Or I can just keep guessing. But the faster we find a way, the faster we can get out of here."
Jenna sighed. "Fine. It was the guard that you knocked out when you rescued Birdee and left us here. It's his com device you took," she said. "
I told him if he didn't get a message to my father, I would alert the other guards that his equipment had been compromised."
Gideon chuckled. "You are brilliant. You know that right?"
Jenna straightened. "I suppose I could get a message to him again and ask if there is any other way to communicate around here. I'm sure the prisoners who have been here longer have figured out a way. What do you want it to say?"
"I need him to contact the old resistance leaders. Tell them that Selene is planning on sending the prisoners off planet to be used as slave labor," Gideon said.
There was a collective gasp from the recruits who were listening to the conversation. He even heard one stifle a cry.
"If we can get in contact with each other, we can stop it from happening," Gideon said over the noise. "I'm not going to let her send you away. We can stop it. But we need all the prisoners help. We have to form a resistance."
"I know who is here," Zeke said. "I'll can give your father a list of who to contact," he said to Jenna.
Jenna was quiet for a moment. "Give me the list. My father will get the message to them," she said.
Gideon breathed a sigh of relief. He had found a way. With help, he'd be able to save the prisoners.
Chapter Fifteen
Lena and Tarek parked the ship on the outskirts of Arc and made their way into the city. She saw many of the same things as she had when she had come the first time. Poverty combined with the smell of lots of people living in a small place, all of them finding anyway they could to survive.
She pulled her hood up and tried to blend in with the people around her. They passed the hotel that Lena had stayed at the first time she'd been here. The hotel sign was still broken, the lights only working on part of the sign. This hotel is where she had met Ollie. And Ollie was the reason she found Suki again.
Lena blinked on her lens to see the map Evren had programmed directing her to one of the entrances to the Zoon's underground hangar that now acted as their club. Lena directed Tarek down a series of streets and into a darkened alleyway.
Bates was waiting outside the door, he must have been alerted to their arrival with his own lens that zigzagged across his eye. He opened the door to let them in then followed closing the door behind them.
Lena was immediately enveloped in a hug.
"Lena," Ollie said with his face buried in her stomach.
Lena wrapped her arms around the young boy. "Ollie, I didn't know you'd be here," Lena said.
"I got people to fight with you," Ollie said and pointed to one side of the club.
A group of people sat at the club's tables, all of them facing the bar. Suki sat on top of it.
"I didn't realize I would be speaking right now," Lena said. Her stomach clenched in anxiety.
"This is just the people we know we could trust," Ollie said. "We can't let just anybody know what we're up to now, can we?"
"You'll do great," Tarek said. "Just be yourself."
"Lena, you found us," Suki said standing on the bar. She walked across its surface, her thigh high purple boots clicking with each step. The tips of her hair were tinted purple and she matched her eyeshadow with it.
"Nice look," Lena said looking over Suki's edgy outfit.
"It was about time I had something decent to choose from," Suki said. "I hope you're ready to meet the people. I've filled them in on the basics. You just need to prove to them that you're worth fighting with."
Lena turned towards the small crowd who had undoubtedly heard the small chit-chat between her and Suki.
"This is Evangeline Adhara," Suki said still standing on the bar. "Leader of the Rise.”
Lena's stomach churned. She took a deep breath, pushing the anxiety away. "Suki tells me she's filled you in on the basics of our plan," she said. Wiping the sweat from her hands, she looked across the group. They were young like she was. And most of them looked healthy. They weren't like the Zoons who had obvious scarring and injuries. These people looked like they had been cared for during the war. Or at least were out of harms way.
"If we get caught here, we'll be killed," one boy said. He stood at his table and rested his knuckles on the surface. "But, your friend here convinced us to meet you." He nodded at Suki. "Convince us that your plan will work and we will win."
Lena took a deep breath to roll out all the facts of why their plan would work, then paused. "This fight is more than just winning. This a fight about people. Individuals and their right to live freely. What's your name?" she said.
The boy looked taken aback. "Cole," he said.
"Where are you from, Cole?"
"I live here in Arc, but I'm from Celano."
"What do you do?" She asked.
They boy's stance had relaxed a little. "I grew up on a farm," he said. "Now my sister Avery and I grow what we can on the balcony of our flat and sell it at the market."
"You have a sister. I didn't hear you mention parents," she said.
Cole cleared his throat. "No, they've passed. In the first resistance."
"I gather the reason you're here is because you took over the role of protecting Avery."
He nodded.
"That's the reason we'll win," she said. She wasn't trying to talk to the group surrounding them. She was talking to him and him alone. "You care for the people you love. You've risked your life by being here, with hopes of a better life for you and for her. We'll win because you have something worth fighting for. Something real, something that you love.”
Now Lena did turn her attention to everyone. "All the Priestess has is herself, to the point that she has to force people to follow her. She literally takes away their ability to act for themselves.
"You all here, you will be fighting for your families. For your homes, For a better future than you now have. Our plan will work. The details the Rise has put together are solid. But only with people who have something worth fighting for. I know Suki has vetted you because you've already stood up to the Priestess in one way or another. If you rise with us, we can have change. Everlasting change. You're already against Selene. Be against her in a way that really matters." Lena paused letting her words sink in. "So the question remains. Do you have something worth fighting for?"
The crowd was silent for a moment, then Cole stepped forward. "I do have something to fight for. I want to change. My parents died for this cause, I will pick it up and continue their fight. With you and the Rise."
Lena nodded. Another person who was sitting close to Cole stood. "I also have something worth fighting for," he said.
Several more people stood, but not everyone. "I realize what we are asking you to do is scary. Maybe even deadly. I will not force you to join. That is the Priestess' way. If you change your mind, you know how to find us."
Lena stepped away from the group. "Suki, this isn't enough," she said unable to keep the worry from her voice.
"Lena, this is just the first group," Suki slung her arm around Lena's shoulder. "The word will spread to the people they trust. We'll get the numbers. Trust me."
"If we don't, we'll put everyone at risk for no reason," Lena fretted.
"There is a reason, Lena," Suki said. "Freedom."
***
Lena, Suki and Tarek sat around one of the club's tables looking over the list of those who said they'd join the Rise.
"Let go of me," an offended voice ordered.
Lena turned to one of the club's entrances to see Azara pulling her arm from the grip of Bates.
Tarek, seeing the same thing as Lena, rushed to his sister's side. He spoke to Bates who nodded and walked back to his post.
Lena met them. "Azara, what are you doing here?" she asked.
"I tried contacting you. Your friend Evren, told me that you were here. So, I decided to come speak to you myself," Azara said straightening her shirt while glaring after Bates.
"Evren told you our location?" Suki said coming to stand next to Tarek.
"I'm persuasive," Azara said looking Suki up and down
. Her eyes lingered on Suki's prosthetic arm and then Suki's proximity to her brother. "I've found Thora. She's in prison in the Divitian consulate." She placed her hands properly in front of herself. "I don't know what charges he is keeping her there on. But it doesn't really matter. He is king and she is his subject. He can do what he wants."
"We need to get her out," Lena said.
Azara rolled her eyes. "What makes you think Kaghan will let her out or even see you? Or worse, what makes you think you won't be found and arrested?"
"I'll hide," Lena said. "We did it before."
"You got caught before," Azara said.
Lena brushed her comment away. "We'll get inside The Port again and you can take me to Kaghan," Lena said to Azara.
"He won't see you," Azara said forcefully.
"But he would see the daughter of the IMA general." Tarek said looking at his sister with a smirk. "Kaghan knows that father and Thora are friends and he's not stupid enough to make enemies of father," Tarek said. "You can say he sent you to check on her.”
"Do you really think he'd let me see her?" Azara asked skeptically.
"If we blackmail him he will," Suki said.
Azara raised her eyebrows and looked Suki up and down again.
"In fact," Suki said giving her the same up and down look, "I think he'd release her to you."
Intrigue filled Azara's face. "If you can find something good enough to blackmail him with, I'll visit Kaghan," she said with a hint of excitement.
"I'll call Evren now," Suki said with a smile. She left only for a moment before coming back. "He's checking with our connections."
While they waited for Evren to reach out to the Zoon's connections, Suki got everyone something to eat from the club's kitchen. "How did it go in the woods?" she asked setting steaming plates of meat and veggies down in front of each of them.
Lena quickly filled them in on everything that happened in the woods. "Birdee is waiting for the other villages to respond," she said. "But they'll help us. We'll have the people we need."
The Mir Chronicles- The Complete Series Page 58
