by Dan Decker
Chapter 16
Jorad didn’t know how long he lay on the floor of the guardhouse, but when he opened his eyes, everybody was gone. Had he been unconscious?
His arm and ribs hurt from where he had hit the wall and there was a bump on the back of his head. He got to his knees, checking to make sure he didn't have any broken bones. As he stood, he found his leg hurt but still functional. He twisted his head to either side in an effort to stretch his neck. It didn't help; he still felt stiff afterward. It was painful to twist it too far in either direction.
The fire had burned down and cast the room in shadows. He could smell oil from a lantern that lay broken on the floor. The last time he'd seen that lantern, it had been lit. It was a lucky thing that the guardhouse hadn't caught fire.
The two corpses were his only company. The bodies of Lel and Thon's friend filled him with sadness. Lel didn't deserve to come to this end. He was a decent guy who had volunteered to keep Neberan safe. It was a tragedy.
Lel’s body lay in the middle of the floor; his staff was in two pieces with a large chunk missing. Either end was burned. The upper right half of Lel’s shoulder and neck were gone as well as his head. It was as if a large animal had taken a bite. The other body had a big hole through the middle and the smell from the corpses made him nauseous.
How many more will die? Jorad asked himself. We could have done a better job to warn Neberan. The thought bounced around his mind and he did his best to ignore it.
The sound of smaller explosions, peppered with much larger explosions came from outside the open door. He walked to it, afraid to look out and see the terror that had engulfed Neberan but unwilling to stay put. People ran in every direction. Fireballs—that wasn’t quite the right word but he couldn’t think of another term—burned through the air. A group of Hunwei were herding people, prodding them with their weapons.
Soret! I have to find her.
Jorad fetched his sword and daggers. His attack on the Hunwei came back to him and he was at a loss as to why his dagger hadn’t been able to harm the Hunwei. He doubted a sword would do much good but he'd have to try something. He didn’t want to risk damaging his sword, so he grabbed an ax from where it stood in the corner.
The ax had been hidden by the fireplace and he hadn't noticed it from his vantage point on the stool. He was glad that he hadn't, otherwise he might have tried to make for it and ended up killing Lel or Gorew with it. Lel is dead now anyway. He didn't dwell on the thought.
Jorad approached the door again and stopped several feet away. He had to cover his eyes from the brightness of the light flooding the ground outside as a ship flew by overhead. Ruder’s warning came back to him. When the ship had passed, he shook his head and stepped to the door.
There were a number of bodies on the street, but it was clear. The Hunwei he saw were moving in a different direction and the people he'd seen had disappeared. He crept out of the guardhouse and did his best to keep to the shadows.
Many of the buildings were on fire and others had been destroyed. Smoke hung heavy in the air and in several places, he struggled to breathe. He passed a burning home were the heat was so intense he had to run past it to avoid being scorched. Several other nearby buildings were starting to burn. His heart sank as he took in the ruin that used to be the prosperous town of Neberan.
At first, he was unconsciously keeping count of the bodies that he passed. When he realized what he was doing, he froze. He'd counted twenty-three dead and he'd only made it six or seven blocks. There was a pile of corpses in front of him. It struck him as odd until he realized that the Hunwei had to have stacked them there.
Jorad was brought to reality when he heard cries from behind. It was a group of people with Hunwei prodding them. They were heading Jorad's way. He didn't have enough time to hide in a nearby building. Melyah! He needed to collect himself or he wouldn't survive the night. Not knowing what else to do, Jorad lay down beside the dead.
The Hunwei didn't spot him but it took considerable effort for him not to move when he realized he was lying next to little Joney Beron. Dead with a hole burned into his side. The kid couldn’t have been older than five or six. When they had gone, he got to his feet and followed. He hoped Soret hadn't been taken captive, but if she had, he would do everything he could to rescue her.
He didn't make it very far. The door of a shop opened in front of him and a Hunwei stepped out, ducking to make it through the doorway.
Jorad swung his ax into the Hunwei’s leg. The Hunwei tripped and fired at the same time. A fierce heat went by Jorad’s head as the blast missed him. He took another swing, this one aimed at the back of the Hunwei’s exposed neck. The ax glanced off, jarring his arms. As he swung repeatedly down onto the Hunwei, he danced out of the way of the blaster. It appeared that the Hunwei was enjoying this and it made a gurgling sound. Laughter?
Jorad brought the ax down on the Hunwei’s faceplate. It bounced harmlessly off but the laughter stopped. The Hunwei pushed to his feet and Jorad did the only sensible thing he could think to do. He ran.
For the first several blocks, he could hear the Hunwei chasing. Jorad ran faster. Buildings, fires, and corpses turned to a blur. His chest hurt and he began gasping for breath. After a few minutes, he'd managed to lose the Hunwei. At least he could run away. It wasn't much, but it was something.
He came to a halt and ducked into the shadows beside some barrels to catch his breath. He took in his surroundings and realized that Soret's place was just a couple blocks over. That would be his next stop. After that, he would find where the Hunwei were taking their captives.
He was taking a deep breath when he heard the sound of approaching people. A mob turned onto the street. A man in the front slipped and fell. The people behind didn't stop and he was trampled. Over the heads of the people, Jorad could see the Hunwei chasing behind. The mob was moving slow. The Hunwei chasing them didn't have any trouble keeping up. Run faster! Many of you can get away. He didn't dare yell the advice to them because he was in no condition to run again so soon after his last sprint.
Jorad held still as the mob passed, keeping his eyes peeled for Soret or Adar. He hadn't seen either one of them by the time the mob had passed. He doubted Adar would have been caught up in the mob, but Soret could have been.
The Hunwei were close on the heels of the people, firing their blasters as they ran. An older man took a shot in the back and landed in the mud. The Hunwei trampled his body. When they'd gone, Jorad realized he knew the man. It was Rodd Gartel, Anny's husband. Jorad didn't examine the body closely. He hoped that Anny was ok, but he couldn't afford to mourn Rodd's loss.
If any of the Hunwei noticed Jorad sitting in the shadows, they didn’t care to stop. It wasn't until they'd been gone for a while that he finally dared to take a breath. He hadn't realized that he'd been holding it.
A large volley of blasts echoed from the direction the mob had gone. It was punctured by screams and yells from the dying. Jorad throttled his anger, powerless to do anything. When he could move again, he crept in the direction of Soret’s home, praying to find her alive.
Jorad wasn't sure how long it had been since he'd left the guardhouse. He'd lost track of any concept of time. The sky was cloudy and with the smoke from the burning town, he couldn't tell where the moons were to give him any indication of the passing of time.
When he turned the corner, his heart sank. Most of the buildings on the block were on fire and in various states of destruction. The Tedenhel place was no exception. A bomb had torn it apart and it was on fire. He called out softly, hoping there weren't any Hunwei nearby. He was greeted with silence.
Soret's home had been a two-story building but now the entire building had been leveled. In the dark, it was hard to make much sense of the mass of wood. If anybody was in there, they were dead. A knot formed in his stomach and he hoped that when the attack happened Soret hadn't been home.
Jorad followed a group of people the Hunwei w
ere herding. The smell and carnage of death all around him had him scared out of his mind. He had never been so tired or paranoid. Had Adar survived? Even as he welcomed the dark because it kept him hid, he could already see that the sky to the east was growing lighter. It wouldn't be much longer before he wouldn't be able to hide in the building shadows.
“Jorad over here!” a voice hissed at him from behind. It was the first sign of a living person since the mob. Despite the continuing explosions, the quiet voice startled him. He approached the voice and found Wes crouching behind a barrel.
“Man am I glad to see you,” Wes said. “I thought I was the only one who hadn’t been caught.” Other than one of his big ears covered in blood, Wes appeared to be all right. He wore a grim smile.
“Soret. Adar. Have you seen them?”
“No.” Wes' smile disappeared. “But that's a good thing; only people I've seen have been dead.”
“I'm going to the town square.” Jorad turned away. “You better not follow.”
“You crazy? Hell’s raining down from heaven. Makes ya wonder which god we pissed off, doesn’t it? We need to bolt.”
“Go.” Jorad didn’t have time to argue and didn't stop when Wes grabbed his arm.
“They’ll take you too.”
Jorad didn't answer as he left. He didn't make it very far before Wes had caught up to him.
A little while later, they found that the Hunwei had gathered a large crowd of captives at the town square. As they crouched in the shadows, Jorad surveyed the scene. The bodies of the dead littering the ground reminded him of the streams of red fabric decorations the night of the wedding. He shuddered. He spent more than an hour trying to spot Soret or Adar, but couldn't find them among the living or the dead. Wes had convinced him that they needed to leave right before the Hunwei ships began to land in the town square.
The Hunwei started separating the crowd of people into groups. Men into one and women and children into the other. Jorad felt powerless as he watched the women and children being loaded into the ships. Once a ship was full, it lifted into the sky. With a rush of air, they’d shoot straight up into the sky and then headed north. Just like the ship he’d seen the day before and the shooting stars from the night of the wedding.
“What are they going to do with the men?” Wes asked.
“Kill them.”
Wes shook his head. Jorad could tell Wes didn’t believe him.
Wes shuddered. “What do they want with the women and children?”
“I don’t know.” Probably food, Jorad thought. Some of the stories said that the Hunwei took people and raised them the same way that men did cows but he refrained from saying this aloud.
Jorad continued to scan the crowd for Soret.
“There she is.” Wes pointed towards a group being herded into a ship on the other side of the square. Jorad looked where Wes pointed and recognized Carli Bruno. On more than one occasion, he’d mistaken her for Soret from behind. He’d learn to recognize the subtle difference in the shape of Carli's head, the cut of her hair, and her slightly thinner figure.
“That’s Carli.” He watched as she boarded the ship, wishing he were able to do something to help her.
“Hey, you’re right, that is her.”
Jorad hadn’t seen one Hunwei corpse the whole evening. He massaged his shoulder as he remembered what it had been like crashing into the Hunwei at the guardhouse. If he had known he was charging into a boulder, he wouldn’t have been so cavalier.
“If you find Soret, what will you do?”
Jorad continued to scan the crowd, terrified to see her. “If I find her, you shouldn’t follow me.”
“You can’t just leave me.”
“I will.” Jorad turned to Wes. “If that happens, don’t follow. Go north. I think the south has already been invaded. Start with Zecarani, that’s your best bet.”
Despite Jorad’s suicidal plan, the remaining women and children were herded onto the ships before he could find Soret. The men were agitated. They had a good idea of what was coming next. During the boarding process, several had tried to escape and they’d been shot. In the early morning light, Jorad noticed that a shot from a blaster distorted the air, leaving a trail behind as it went.
“We should go,” Wes said.
Jorad didn’t answer. He wasn't able to tear his eyes away from the scene unfolding before him. The Hunwei began firing into the men. The sound of screaming mixed with the blasts of those infernal weapons.
Wes pulled on Jorad’s arm, but he stayed in place. Where was Adar? Before he realized what he was doing, Jorad had stood and unsheathed his sword. He’d been so busy looking for Soret that he hadn't given his father much thought. Adar wouldn’t have let himself be taken, would he? He might not have had a choice. There was no fighting those weapons.
“Stop!”
Jorad recognized Adar’s voice and spun around, half expecting that Wes had managed to mimic his father, but it was Adar. He was covered in blood, his face was blackened, and his eyes gleaming. A man ready to kill or willing to die, without hesitation.
“Glad to see you,” Adar said. “Soret’s safe, sent her out with Karn first thing. They’re with Xarda by now.”
The relief that washed over Jorad filled him with shame. Men were dying, good men. Women and children had been taken captive. He'd been powerless to do anything. He should have gone to Rarbon months ago.
Jorad turned back to the massacre. “We can’t just leave them.”
“It’s that or go and die with them,” Adar said. “And if you’re stupid enough to try, I’ll knock you out. You're needed in Rarbon.”
“It’s too late.” Jorad’s voice cracked. “I should have done that months ago.”
“Maybe, but do you have a better plan?”
“Hide,” Wes said. “Now!”
They ducked. One of the men from the crowd was running their way. Jorad didn’t recognize him, but the man had seen them and was yelling and waving as he ran in their direction. His head disappeared in a mist of blood and pieces of skull.
Adar was right; they couldn't do anything. As Jorad turned his back to the massacre, he caught a glimpse of Vigorock glinting with the first light of day. If only they had more time, Jorad was sure they could have figured the tower out; perhaps the trip to Rarbon wouldn’t have been necessary if they had.
“Let’s go,” Jorad said.
“About bloody time.” Wes was already several steps ahead.