Warrior Queen

by J. N. Chaney

  Two of them rushed forward and helped her to her feet. I was both surprised and grateful that they didn’t manhandle her. Apparently, she still commanded respect due to her status as an elder and skilled hunter.

  The older woman groaned with the movement but stood proud. Our eyes met and Alma nodded slightly to let me know she was alright. Then her gaze drifted downward and went wide with shock before going hard with fury at the sight of Karin’s lifeless form.

  I felt the same pain and anger but her earlier words came back to me.

  Put away all the emotion.

  So, I swallowed the maelstrom of rage inside me and turned to Mario with a flat stare. I had a plan but no way to communicate it to Alma without alerting him.

  “All of this is going to come crashing down around you,” I told him, gesturing wide with my arms outstretched in an encompassing motion and hoping she got the message.

  Mario shrugged in a manner that suggested my threat didn’t worry him, then winced. I could just see a bandage poking out of his jumpsuit from the wound my father had inflicted using the traitor’s own knife. “We have all the cores that were in the facility. My followers have been scouring the caves for more. Without an energy source, the colony will be forced to turn to me. And now that I have you, Visaro has even more incentive to surrender.”

  I had to admit it was a good plan. Disgusting and shameful to be sure, but smart. As soon as my father learned that Mario had me as a bargaining piece, he would do whatever it took to get me back.

  “You’re no leader,” I spat. “Forcing people to obey you will never work.”

  A few of his guards exchanged knowing looks behind him.

  “I won’t force them. Everyone will have a choice. If they don’t want to follow me, then they can try their luck outside the compound.” His eyes dropped to my weapon.

  “That staff was impressive at the ceremony. Give it to me,” he ordered.

  My grip tightened possessively on the weapon and it took all of my training not to accidentally activate it with my murderous thoughts. Even if Nero had been chosen as the next Director on his own merit, I had earned my place as a hunter. The staff was mine and no one else’s. Least of all, Mario.

  “The ceremony you rigged,” I accused, trying to keep him talking. I stole a glance back in the direction we’d come. With all the racket I hadn’t heard the thumping, but the beasts couldn’t be far.

  Mario laughed again, a deep arrogant sound, telling me that my suspicions had been correct. “Yes, of course. The son taking the Regency from the daughter just as Cyril did from me was a sweet moment indeed.”

  Part of me still hadn’t believed that could be the reasoning behind the man’s actions. To hear him say it now still was baffling in its simplicity.

  “That’s what all this is over?” I asked incredulously. “Just so you could make your son the next leader over some stupid grudge?”

  Where were the Boneclaws? Surely, I hadn’t taken them all out with that one minor attack. Mario wouldn’t let me stonewall for much longer.

  “Of course not. I only want what’s best for the colony. Your father had every opportunity to act like a leader, but he refused to fulfill his duty. To take action. Even after Nero led you to those traps and he saw what the Boneclaws were capable of.”

  The older man shook his head in disgust, and I angled slightly to catch any hint of the Boneclaws.

  “You can stop looking for the monsters,” he said. “They aren’t coming. They’ve been…diverted.”

  “I’m not,” I lied, trying to think quickly. “There are more hunters coming.”

  “Even if that were true, they’re poorly armed. I made sure of it,” he said cockily. “Now, the staff, girl. Stop stalling, and don’t do anything stupid. Alma will suffer for your mistakes.”

  Mario turned his greedy eyes back to the staff. I wanted to shoot him, but his men would kill me and Alma before we’d be able to get away. I couldn’t take that chance.

  “Just promise me you won’t hurt her or my parents,” I said in my best pleading voice, even though inside I bristled at his casual use of the word “girl.” Alma was the only one allowed to call me that.

  “You have my word,” he sneered. “So long as they fall in line.”

  It was now or never. Saying a quick prayer to gods I wasn’t sure even existed, I adjusted my grip on the staff and shuffled forward, shoulders sagging in defeat. Then, between Karin’s fallen body and his outstretched hands, I made my move.

  The staff’s true power had never been fully tested before. It had all been low power experiments in the lab, and even during the demonstration at the ceremony I’d only given it enough juice to take out the dummy.

  Now I concentrated intently, bringing the staff to life in my hands, its blue light flowing up the shaft and into the barrel. Sparks of plasma coalesced to form an orb, small at first, then it grew steadily larger.

  “Stop her!” bellowed Mario even as he dove for cover to protect himself.

  They didn’t get the chance.

  By now, the energy sphere was the size of a Boneclaw’s fist and glowed brilliantly, washing the tunnel in pale blue light.

  With a single, focused thought, I unleashed the staff. The orb of fusion energy punched into the air above us with a resounding boom.

  The resulting shockwave knocked me backward, along with several others. For a terrible moment, I lay there thinking that my plan had failed. Then a crunch sounded, drawing my attention to the icy ceiling where the blast had hit.

  Cracks rapidly webbed out from the epicenter and a large chunk of rock broke free, falling to the ground and shattering in a thunderous burst. I jumped to my feet to look for Alma as tremors loosed more pieces of the ceiling.

  To my relief, I spotted her about twenty meters away, struggling to stand. One of the two men that had been guarding her lay unmoving on the floor, partially obscured by a pile of boulders. The other was nowhere to be seen.

  I took a step toward Alma, only to be stopped by a loud, grating noise from above. Another section of the ceiling began to splinter and rained down more debris, cutting off my path. A large metal support came down nearby, followed by a high pitch scream and a streak of red across the ground.

  With no other recourse, I was forced to leap back or risk being crushed to death. Alma disappeared in a cloud of dust and rock while shouts echoed as everyone in the vicinity tried to get to safety. As it collapsed further, I sprinted toward the open tunnel ahead and threw myself inside. My feet slipped out from under me and sent me into a sideways tumble. The staff flew from my hands as I shoved them in front of me to break the fall.

  As rubble continued to rain down, I crawled deeper into the tunnel and thought maybe I should have scaled back the power of the blast.

  The cave finally grew quiet but for the moans and occasional sound of shifting rock. I tried to stand and found that my foot had become wedged between two large boulders.

  Impossibly, some of the oil lamps still stood, but the weak light was made dimmer by the dust now filling this portion of the tunnel.

  I felt around in the gloom, looking for anything that might help free me, but there was nothing useful. The staff had fallen somewhere out of sight and reach. If I’d had it, I could have just blasted myself free.

  Some warrior you are, I thought bitterly.

  Stuck, I decided to wait in silence. If luck was on my side, Mario was dead and the survivors wouldn’t bother looking for me. I hoped Alma had gotten clear. The woman was usually spry, but she’d taken a round to the chest and that was enough to bring a man in his prime down. Still, I knew the older woman to be scrappy, and if anyone could find a way out of that mess, it would be her.

  When my eyes finally began to adjust to the darkness, I twisted around to check out my surroundings and spotted my staff. It didn’t look damaged at all and lay a just few meters away.

  Excitement coursed through me at the sight and I stretched an arm out toward it. My elation didn’t
last long. It was still another arm’s length away. It remained out of reach, no matter what I did.

  I’d just resigned myself to failure when overlapping voices came from the entrance behind me.

  “I want her found, dammit!” yelled Mario, dashing any hope that my stunt had taken him out. It hadn’t been the goal but would’ve been a nice benefit.

  With nowhere to go, I lay completely still as multiple sets of footsteps tracked closer to my position. They must have had lamps because the gloom turned a kind of yellow color and grew bright enough that I could make out the moving shapes as people.

  Someone passed by on my left side but didn’t see me. I hoped that meant I was in the clear, but they were soon joined by another of Mario's men.

  “Here!” one of the men called out, alerting the others. “I’ve found her!”

  It didn’t take long for Mario to make his way through the destruction, and he was soon standing over me with a grim expression. “That could have killed all of us, you stupid child.”

  “I thought you wanted action?” I asked snidely, despite my current helpless position.

  “Hah!” he snorted ruefully in response. A gash was evident on one cheek, but that seemed to be his only injury, much to my disappointment. “Excellent point. You must take after your mother. Maybe you would have made a passable leader after all, though I suppose we’ll never know.”

  Mario unslung his rifle from his back and stared down at me with unconcealed hatred. My last thought before everything went black was wondering how I had never noticed it before.

  I woke sometime later in a state of confusion, though it soon became apparent that I was on the floor of a room. My head throbbed painfully where Mario had hit me with the butt of his rifle, but it wasn’t bleeding. A quick self-assessment didn’t reveal any other injuries except for my ankle, but even that was just a dull ache.

  I took stock of my surroundings. The room was lit with more oil lamps casting the same dim light, but it was enough to see that I wasn’t alone.

  There were perhaps two dozen others crammed into the space. Most appeared to be sleeping and I could only make out a few familiar faces, though none of the prone forms looked like Alma. Perhaps she had made it out after all.

  “Lucia!” a familiar voice whispered from somewhere in the semidarkness.

  “Mark? Is that you? We thought you were dead.” A shape moved close and a wave of relief washed over me at the sight of a friend.

  “Yeah, it’s me,” he replied, keeping his voice low and studying me carefully with one eye. The other was swollen shut, bruised a dark shade of purple, and his top lip looked puffy. “You had us worried when we couldn’t wake you up.”

  “Just needed a nap,” I joked. “How long have I been here?”

  “A couple hours at least,” Mark answered, then gestured around him. “Hard to tell in this room.”

  “Did Alma come in with me?” I asked, not sure what answer I hoped to hear. If she’d been brought along with us, that would mean she was alive, but captive. If not, then her fate was uncertain, but hope existed that she had made it out and would be coming with reinforcements.

  Mark shook his head. “No, was she with you?”

  I nodded, then found the movement made me dizzy and stopped. “Yeah. Mario led us right into a trap. I tried to give her a chance to escape by causing a cave in.”

  Mark stared at me in disbelief. “You’re crazy, you know that?”

  “Didn’t know what else to do,” I said, offering him a weak smile. “I just hope she’s okay. Mario shot her before it all went down.” My throat closed at the memory and I had to blink away tears thinking of Karin. I hated the thought of her body being left there alone in the tunnel, probably buried under the debris in a rocky tomb.

  “I’m not surprised,” Mark replied tightly. “But Alma’s tough. If anyone could survive something like that, it’s her,” he promised.

  “Funny, I thought the exact same thing,” I said, forcing a smile. “I have to tell you something. Karin…” I trailed off, unable to form the words.

  Mark’s expression grew concerned and he looked at me with searching eyes. “What happened? One of the guards said…”

  I grimaced and he trailed off, his own features taking on a hard look I didn’t know the prospus was capable of.

  “Mario killed her,” I said angrily. “He didn’t even have to. They had us trapped and outnumbered. He could have wounded her instead.” The words sounded wobbly as I said them, and I could feel my face burning. I paused, trying to calm down and get my emotions under control. I was no good to anyone like this. “That traitor needs to answer for what he’s done. How many other people are locked up here?”

  “A couple dozen, give or take, in another room. All of us refused to join Costas so they threw us in here. Got the same story from those that were here before us. A few were taken prisoner on hunting or scavenging trips. They said he gave them the choice of joining the rebellion or becoming a captive.”

  “Have you heard anything about the Boneclaws?” I sat up too fast in my urgency and the room spun again, but I ignored it.

  “No, though I have heard them.”

  I went still at his words. That meant they were still close by and I had a bad feeling they weren’t just exploring the caves. Mario had something to do with them, I just didn’t know what. “Heard them how?” I asked, hoping he could shed some light on the puzzle.

  Mark quivered and his next words came in a rush. “Just before you got here, the guards came and took someone. Then the thumping started. And the shrieking. It sounded really close.” His voice went even lower, so I had to lean in to hear him. “According to everyone else, that’s been happening every day. Something they called a Reckoning. I don’t know what Mario is up to exactly, but I think it involves them.”

  “Me too,” I agreed, relieved he’d come to the conclusion on his own. “It was like they herded us right where Mario wanted us. Then he said something about diverting them. Is it possible he’s found a way to control them?”

  His eyes widened for a second at the thought. “I don’t think so. Maybe—”

  The door to the room opened and the lights went bright, stopping Mark mid-sentence as Nero entered.

  12

  Allan and another man named Claude Benson filed into the makeshift prison. Claude was one of our mechanics and someone who had never shown any kind of disloyalty before.

  It was disheartening to see just how many people Mario had convinced or forced to join him. Were they really so unhappy with Cyril’s leadership?

  “Nero said to get her and meet him back at the lab in five minutes. She’s over there,” said Allan, pointing in my direction before turning and exiting the room again.

  His cronies made their way over to me and I stared defiantly up at them. “I see you’re still following Costas around like a little brother, Folson.”

  “Don’t make this hard, Visaro,” Allan advised, holding up a pair of restraints. “He just wants to talk.”

  I snorted at that but held my wrists out and allowed him to pull me up. All the commotion woke some of the other prisoners, one of them another face I knew very well.

  Prime Keyan Lambert. I had to control the shock I felt at seeing a colony member of the highest respect being held prisoner and sitting on a dirty floor. He seemed out of place, especially with his proper attire. The Prime was even still wearing his shiny silver heart pin, though his black jacket was now dusty and rumpled.

  “That is the Director’s daughter you have in cuffs, Prospus Folson,” he said sternly, seemingly unaware of his current predicament. Or maybe he just didn’t care.

  “Shut up, old man. You have no power here,” Allan retorted, then grinned. “I have always wanted to say that.”

  “He’s still your Elder,” I snapped, pissed at my peer for his treatment of Lambert, who had only ever been kind to me.

  “You’re no one either, Visaro. Now get moving,” he ordered, shoving me for
ward.

  Murmurs of protest rose up around the room when I stumbled.

  “Coward,” someone muttered.

  “Pushing around a defenseless girl like that, you should be ashamed!” another person called out.

  “Quiet, or you’ll be next for the Reckoning,” Allan threatened.

  There was that word again. Whatever it meant to them, it was enough to have the room falling silent again. With Allan to one side and Claude the other, I was escorted out.

  Fatigue, paired with a pounding headache, had me dragging my feet as Allan led me through a maze of corridors. We’d been tracking toward the fusion core facility before the altercation with Mario, so this had to be the outer fringes of it.

  I wanted to be more observant, maybe memorize all the turns we took or keep an eye out for the stolen cores, but it was a struggle to just put one foot in front of the other. Allan needn’t have bothered with the cuffs, though he seemed to take great pleasure in dragging me forward if I slowed down too much.

  We arrived at another room that looked like Josef’s lab. It was mostly bare, stripped of anything useful, but it did boast a few functional tables and sufficient lighting.

  Nero stood at one of them, my staff in his hands. If I hadn’t been so exhausted and sore, I might have tried to rip it from his grasp, though knowing him, that was exactly what he wanted. The fact that he was even touching my weapon boiled my blood, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of reacting.

  “Hello, Luce.” He smiled disarmingly, but he had to know it was wasted on me.

  It was no secret that I’d never found the guy attractive as so many others had. Now my indifference had turned to something very near hate.

  “Don’t call me that,” I bit out. “We’re not friends.”

  “Come on, don’t be like that,” he said, almost wearily. “It’s not like I planned for this. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt, but they brought it on themselves.”

  I didn’t trust myself to speak so I clenched my jaw to keep from screaming at him.