by Kate L. Mary
The sadness was replaced by anger and bitterness, and I had to let out a deep breath before I could speak. “Alive. I saw him in the city.”
Indra stopped walking and turned to face me. “He saw you as well?”
“He did,” I said.
My wife’s green eyes held mine as she thought that through. “So he knows you joined the Outliers?”
“He knows everything.”
I took her hand and kept walking, and for a bit neither of us spoke.
The forest was alive, as if the rain had woken every animal. The sound of tiny footsteps scampering through the wilds surrounded us, while above our heads dozens of rawlin sang.
“Do you ever think about what will become of us once this is all done?” Indra finally asked after a long stretch of silence.
“All the time,” I whispered.
She watched me out of the corner of her eye as she said, “What do you see? A family? Can you imagine yourself being the father you never had, or does the thought scare you?”
It was one thing I hadn’t dared think about, not yet. Not when things were still uncertain. But as we walked through the forest hand in hand and surrounded by the peaceful sounds of nature, I could suddenly see it. A child who was half me and half Indra, who had loving parents and a future that wasn’t filled with fear, but with hope.
I gave my wife’s hand a squeeze, and she seemed to know what I was going to say, because she smiled.
“I can see it. I can see it all.”
We reached the caves to find the first chamber full of people, all of them gathered around the fire while they ate. The air smelled of roasted meat and burning wood, and the rise and fall of the voices told me optimism had returned to the group. Indra and I passed through, nodding at the greetings thrown our way, and I marveled at the sight of my people mixed in with the Outliers.
The larger chamber was as busy with activity as the first had been, and it was here that Indra paused. Curled up next to Gaia with a fur around her shoulders sat Xandra. She smiled when she saw us, and I was more than relieved to see that the light had returned to her eyes. After witnessing what she went through in the city, I wasn’t sure if she would be able to pull herself together.
Indra knelt and clasped her hand. “How are you, my friend?”
“Good.” Xandra’s smile was strained, but it seemed to be more from physical pain than anything else. “Or at least I will be.”
Like Nyko, just being out of the city and clean made her injuries look less threatening. Her scalp was still cut in places, although now scabbed over, and she still sported bruises that would take time to heal, but there was a peacefulness in her eyes, too.
“I am so happy,” Indra said.
Xandra’s gaze moved to me. “And your friend? How is he?”
“Resting, even if he doesn’t like it very much,” I said. “I’m headed there to see him now.”
“Good.” Xandra smiled. “He was a comfort to me when we reached the wilds, and a very nice man.”
“Yes, he is,” I said, standing. “But he’s more stubborn than a mule, and I’m sure Mira could use a break after looking after him all day.”
Indra didn’t stand, and she didn’t release her friend’s hand, but she did smile up at me. “And you can get some rest as well.”
I returned the smile before taking my leave.
Just like earlier, I found Mira on the edge of the bed, only this time she wasn’t working. She and Nyko were talking.
Their words were too low for me to catch, and at the sound of my approach, the conversation died away. Mira turned, and I found her cheeks flushed, while my friend beamed up at me from his position on the bed.
“Thought you’d forgotten about me!”
“Just got back,” I said. “Thought your prison guard might want a break.”
My gaze moved between them, but I didn’t get much of a chance to figure out what I’d walked in on before Mira was on her feet.
“I could use something to eat.” Her head was down as she moved to the door. “Thank you, Asa.”
I watched as she pushed past me, and once she was gone, turned my gaze on Nyko.
“Did I interrupt something?”
My friend snorted. “Don’t I wish.” He shifted on the bed, wincing, but not stopping until he was sitting upright. “There’s a better chance of the underworld turning to ice than that pretty little thing liking a brute like me.”
I chuckled as I moved deeper into the room, taking Mira’s place on the bed. “Nothing is impossible anymore. Look at Indra and me.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not as pretty as you,” Nyko grumbled. “Smarter, yes. A better hunter, too. You got the looks, though.”
I laughed again. “Maybe you can win her over with your charming personality.”
“Maybe,” he said, a smile peeking out from his red beard.
“Egon thinks he can use the electroprod,” I said, switching gears.
“I heard.” My friend nodded a couple times. “That’s good. I’m only sorry I won’t get to be there to see that damn city fall.” He scrunched up his mouth like wanted to spit, but seemed to think better of it and swallowed instead.
“You’ll be missed,” I said.
Nyko opened his mouth to speak, but froze at the sound of a commotion. Sound traveled easily in the caves, but this was different than the usual echo of conversation. It was several voices talking at once, rising and falling in excitement. Or possibly even fear.
“What do you think that’s about?” he asked.
I got to my feet, my gaze already on the opening that would lead out into the main cavern. “Maybe Hagan is back already.”
“Or maybe the bastards in the city have struck again,” Nyko said.
“Maybe,” I replied.
I started to move but stopped when Nyko pulled himself to his feet, holding onto the wall for support.
“What are you doing?” I reached out for my friend, but he waved me away.
“I may have to miss the battle, but that doesn’t mean I can’t walk into the other room.” Nyko paused, thinking. “If you can even call it a room.” His gaze moved up, over the bugs crawling along the stone walls, and he shook his head. “Not sure if I can get used to living here. It’s cold. Too cold for my taste. I’m used to the heat of the wastelands.”
“And you miss it?” I asked.
Nyko grunted. “I guess I do.”
I couldn’t agree, but I understood. The caves did feel cold after a lifetime of sweating in the wastelands. Even in the winter when the winds would turned chilly, the sun had always been there to keep us warm. Most of the time I’d felt like I was on the verge of being baked. After a lifetime of heat, the cool surroundings of the cave almost felt welcoming. Or maybe that was just Indra.
I moved slowly when I left the small chamber, making it easier for Nyko to keep up. He winced or groaned every few seconds, but didn’t change his mind, and he refused my offer of help.
By the time we reached the main chamber, the commotion had grown, and I wasn’t surprised to find nearly everyone gathered in the room. The soft glow from the little creatures made it possible to see, but it was still difficult to identify the faces gathered in the group. My people stood out because they towered over the Outliers, but even amongst their large frames it took me a moment to locate the person I’d been hoping to see. Hagan. He’d arrived, and he was standing in the center of the group.
Another figure caught my eye, this one because it was smaller than all the others. I left Nyko leaning against the wall and moved toward my wife, anxious to find out what was happening.
“Indra.”
She turned at the sound of her name, smiling when our eyes met. “It is time.”
I’d known, thanks to Hagan’s appearance, but hearing the words come out of my wife’s mouth still made my pulse quicken. We’d reached the end. Soon we would travel through the valley to the city and lay siege to the Sovereign. Soon they would be no more, and when tha
t happened, Indra and I could start a real life together.
“Atreyu, Tris,” my wife called over the roar of the crowd. “We must get word to the other tribes. We will make our move at dawn.”
The two Outliers nodded in unison, and Atreyu said, “I will gather a small party.”
The pounding of footsteps was deafening as we moved through the valley. In the distance, the sky was growing brighter with each passing moment as the dawning of a new day loomed. It would be a day to remember. A day to celebrate. It would be the beginning of something new for all of us.
Before long, the cliffs died away and the city came into view, and then the tower, the mirrors around it reflecting the early morning light.
Indra and I, along with our army of Windhi warriors, kept moving, while the other two tribes broke off and headed in different directions.
“When we reach the tower, I’ll go inside to let Egon know we’re ready,” I said.
There was more to it, though. I wanted to have a moment with Elora, just in case. While I was more than confident in our success, we’d ever only had each other, and I couldn’t go into battle without talking to my sister.
“We will move into position,” Indra said.
We didn’t exchange another word as we moved through the wastelands, and the small army at our backs was just as silent.
When we reached the mirrors, I broke away.
Inside, the tower was as dark and desolate as ever. For me, this had always been the most difficult part about my sister living here. The conditions were horrible. Dark and damp, and hot at the same time. When summer was in full bloom, the temperature in the tower would soar until it felt like the oven in Saffron’s kitchen. Even the Fortis village had been better than this place.
It would all be over soon, though.
The knowledge that it was all coming to an end, that soon Elora and everyone else living here would be free to find their own place in this world, made me move faster as I jogged up the dark stairs. I didn’t need light to show me the way. I’d been here more than enough over the years, and I didn’t slow even when I reached the first landing. This was the level Elora lived on, and where I usually stopped, but now I moved forward, taking the steps two at a time as I wound my way higher and higher, past the other closed doors until I reached the final level.
The door there was open, and the room illuminated. It wasn’t bright, just enough light to make sure the buttons and levers and screens were visible, but it was enough that I saw the hope and joy in my sister’s eyes when she turned to face me.
“Asa,” Elora said as she crossed the room.
We met in the middle, where we embraced. Elora was broad and tall like all the Fortis, but still more than a head shorter than me. She had our father’s eyes, deep brown and big, but they were softer. More open.
The hug was short, but my arm was still around her shoulders when I looked up. Egon stood behind her, watching from his position by the control booth. Waiting with an expression on his face that was half excitement, half grim understanding of what was about to happen.
“The army is ready?” he asked.
“It is.”
Egon let out a deep breath, but said nothing else.
“It will be okay,” Elora told him. “It must happen.”
“I know, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy about my part in the bloodshed. An entire city is about to be wiped out, and I’m the one who’s going to make it happen.” He stopped and swallowed. “I’ve never killed a living thing. Not even an animal.”
“You won’t be the one doing the killing,” I replied. “You have nothing to feel guilty about.”
“Then why do I?” Egon said.
I had no answer to that question, so instead I said, “You will be freeing future generations. Because of what you’re doing here today, our children won’t be slaves.”
“I know,” Egon said softly. “It’s the only reason I can go through with this.”
His guilt was understandable, even if I couldn’t feel the same way. Inside this tower, the untouchables hadn’t really been part of our world. They knew about what happened, but they hadn’t witnessed the atrocities, didn’t fully grasp how evil the Sovereign were. As far as I was concerned, we were doing the world a favor by killing them.
I turned my back on Egon and focused on Elora, my hands on her shoulders. With her staring up at me, I felt suddenly overwhelmed by memories. All the times I’d visited her over the years. How she had clung to me when she was little, crying when I had to leave. How she had taken care of me after our father beat me. How I had taken care of her, staying in the tower for two days straight when she was ill.
“Soon, you will be free to leave the tower. You can come to the wilds to live, and we can finally be a family.”
“I can’t imagine living in the wilds.” She shivered, but smiled, too. “I would be too scared.”
“Once all this is over, there will be nothing left to fear,” I told her.
We embraced then, but once again it was short. When I pulled away, Elora sucked in a deep breath like she was gathering all her strength.
I took a step back. “Be sure you’re armed, just in case anyone makes it out of the city and comes here.”
“We’ll be ready,” Elora said.
I looked toward Egon. “Give me enough time to get out of the tower.”
“I will.” He nodded.
I left then, moving down the stairs and back into the darkness. Elora followed close, her footsteps echoing through the stairwell the only sound until we reached the halfway point. That was when a door opened, allowing a small amount of light to penetrate the darkness. People began to file out, nodding to me as they, too, made their way down. Many of them I knew after years of coming here, but I was still surprised to see them armed and ready.
“We want to join your army,” a man named Cassin said, lifting a spear.
“We can use the help,” I replied.
More and more people joined me, and by the time I reached the bottom, I had lost count of how many. Enough that I knew it would only make our numbers stronger.
28
Indra
We stayed spread out while we waited for Egon to blow a hole in the wall. It meant we were divided, but after what the Sovereign had done to the valley, it was a risk we had to take.
My small army stood closest to the wall, near the tower and past the mirrors. We kept our distance just in case, though. If the electricity Egon sent to the city was less controlled than he thought it would be, it could send a shock through the ground just like the one the Sovereign had used on the valley. Again, it was something we could not risk.
Behind me, the crowd shuffled as Asa pushed his way through, once again taking his place at my side. “It’ll be soon. Egon is sucking the rest of the power from the city now.”
I drew my sword. “Then we will find out if his plan worked.”
My husband pulled his own weapon as he motioned behind him. “We have new recruits.”
The Windhi were a small group, even with the recent addition of the Fortis defectors, but I looked back to find that our numbers had more than doubled. It looked as if nearly every able-bodied untouchable man and woman had come to help.
“They know how to fight?” I asked when I turned back to my husband. “They know what they are risking?”
“They’re risking freedom, Indra. It’s all they’ve ever wanted. The right to live a normal life.”
He was right, but it did not answer my question.
“Can they fight, Asa?”
“They haven’t trained like the Fortis if that’s what you’re asking, but where they lack in training, they make up for in determination. Like the Outliers, this is something they’ve been wanting to do for a long, long time.”
I believed him.
“Then I am happy to have them join us,” I said.
I turned my focus to the front of the city where Roan’s army stood, just past the remains of what had once
been the Fortis village. Like me, they were ready. Weapons gleamed under the early morning sun, the rays glinting off the tips of swords and spears. Back in the valley, Ontari and her group stood. The sun’s reflection on the lake made it difficult to see what they were doing, but I did not need a clear view to know they were prepared. The end we had been craving was finally in sight, and we were ready.
The hum was the first sign that Egon had done his job. It was low, like the sound the electroprods gave off, but grew in strength as the seconds ticked away. The ground beneath my feet began to tremble, and I looked back to find a soft glow radiating from the very top of the tower.
Like the bubbles that had previously engulfed the city and the electroprods the Sovereign used to keep us in line, the light was tinted blue. It intensified as I watched, growing brighter. Bluer. The hum grew louder, the ground shook harder, and gasps of surprise rippled through the army of people surrounding me.
Mira had her hands over her ears when her eyes darted my way, and she was not alone. All around me, people had chosen to cover their ears rather than pull their weapons.
“Get ready!” I had to yell to be heard over the ever-growing hum.
Taking my advice, my friend dropped her hands so she could pull her own sword, and others followed.
Asa grabbed my free hand with his, moving his face closer to mine so his lips brushed my ear when he said, “Stay with me inside the city.”
I had no time to reply, because just then a bolt of blue light flashed across the sky and slammed into the wall.
A boom filled the air, and beneath my feet the ground trembled. It was followed by a crash as a section of the wall exploded. Rocks went flying, some as big as my fist, while others were smaller than a pea. Debris rained across the wastelands, while larger sections of the wall fell to the ground, and a puff of dust rose into the air, making it impossible to see how big the gap in the wall was. It floated across the wastelands, carried on a breeze, and engulfed us. Around me, people coughed. I covered my mouth with my free hand, already moving toward the wall even though I could not yet see anything.