Storms of the Forest

by Dele Daniel

  Fortunately, my fighting instincts were quick to kick in, and I pulled back from the guard, attempting to yank my arm out of his harsh grip. The price on my head was too great, though, and the guard would not be so easily deterred. Before I knew it, he grabbed hold of my other hand. I struggled under his grasp, using all of my might to separate from him.

  “It would be in your best interest to cooperate with me right now, little girl,” he snarled breathlessly, using his immense weight to immobilize me. His hot breath reeked in my face, making me nauseous. Gritting my teeth, I managed to twist until his grips on my arms loosened and I was able to turn my back to him. Yet, he wasted no time encircling his meaty arms around me again, this time attempting to use his weight to push me onto the ground.

  I groaned, attempting to remain standing and keep my feet firmly planted beneath me. Desperately, I looked toward the bar, hoping with my all that Remington and Zane would happen to miraculously emerge just in the nick of time to save me. But as luck would have it, they weren’t anywhere to be seen. Fear clutched my stomach, and I could only hope that things weren’t going as terribly for them as they currently were for me.

  A powerful wave of guilt came over me, knowing that if they had run into trouble too, all of it was my fault. While I could never regret trying to protect my brother, it was still my fault that we had left my father’s safehouse to essentially go on a wild goose chase.

  Maybe if I had kept my mouth closed, we could have come up with a better, safer plan . . .

  I squealed as the guard’s weight crashed down on top of me, sending pain shooting through my back. For an instant, I feared that if I fought to stay standing any longer, he would snap my spine clean in half and kill me right on the spot. Unable to take the strain any longer, I dropped to the ground, landing painfully on my stomach with the guard toppling down over me. All the wind was knocked from my body. I coughed and sputtered, attempting to bring some air into my lungs. When I finally managed a breath, the scent of dirt invaded my nostrils and I gagged.

  “Now, as I was saying, you’re under arrest,” the guard huffed from behind me. Once again, I felt him reaching for my arms, pulling them backward in attempts to handcuff me.

  My heart began to pound so furiously that it hurt. Was it possible for a seventeen-year-old girl to have a heart attack? I felt like I was close to finding out.

  I also felt the bitter sting of tears forming in my eyes. As I continued to struggle against the guard, I felt that all the hard work the Hawks had done to save me was going completely down the drain and I had no one to blame but myself. All the hard work Jason had done—even to the point of risking his life, losing his life—to save me, would be for nothing if I wound up captured and caught. Jason had been so sure that I was important to this movement, and I had come to believe him, even if I hadn’t entirely been sure why. In light of Prince becoming the Arnazuri chief, I had begun to suspect that maybe my role was to keep him safe while he adapted to his new position. But how could I do that if I got myself killed?

  Had I really screwed up things this badly?

  With something of a panic attack coming, I quickly felt my strength dwindling under the guard’s weight. But the thought of Prince and Jason suddenly brought forth one last surge of strength within me. In honor of them, I couldn’t allow myself to not go fighting until the very end.

  My sudden movement took the guard by surprise, for he hadn’t yet managed to secure the handcuffs on me. He hovered over me, still breathing heavily. His face was a combination of sweat, anger, and greed. “Oh, you’re in trouble now, child,” he spat. “You know how long we’ve been looking for you, Genesis?”

  Again, the guilt of messing everything up came over to me. I thought of my parents and Prince receiving the news that I’d been captured. I remembered the last words Father had spoken to me and Remington before we left.

  No . . . I thought, realizing that under absolutely no circumstances could I give up. That simply wasn’t the Hawk way. The Hawks were fighters until the end, and if I was declaring myself a Hawk, I needed to possess the fighting spirit of one no matter what happened.

  I scooted back on the ground, and then with all my strength, I kicked my leg as hard as I could, making sure my foot landed roughly right between the guard’s legs.

  He howled so loudly, I worried that his scream would alert every royal guard within a one-mile radius. He also, however, let go of me instantly when he dropped to the ground. Even though there was only minimal lighting around us, I could see how his face had reddened with anger and pain as he crouched on the ground, holding himself between the legs while his eyes filled with moisture.

  I wasted no time climbing back to my feet. The plan had already gone haywire, and I knew that as soon as this guard was capable of motion once more, he would alert the other guards of my presence, if they hadn’t already been tipped off by his scream, that is.

  I looked toward the entrance of the bar again, halfway expecting guards to come rushing out at any moment. But the door remained closed and the music and laughter from within continued, undisturbed.

  I looked back at the guard who’d attacked me, seeing that he was still trying to nurse his injury and hadn’t yet made it back on his feet. It was only a matter of time before he did, though, and the clock was quickly ticking away.

  In that moment, I knew there was nothing more for me to do but retrieve Remington and Zane, letting them know that we needed to abort the mission and leave immediately.

  Trembling, I collected my bow and arrow, which I had dropped when the guard lunged at me. And then I prepared to run, when to my horror, the guard crawled forward to grab my ankle. I almost lost my balance and fell again, but I managed to pull free from his grasp.

  It was hard for me to make out what the guard was saying through his gritted teeth, but I had a feeling that it was a stream of profanities directed at me. I couldn’t be concerned with that, though, because I was overtly aware of the way he reached for his belt. I stared, confused for a moment, until it dawned on me what he was doing.

  He was reaching for his gun. He was going to kill me.

  Still struggling on the ground, he looked up at me with pure hatred in his eyes. And to my surprise, I felt equal, if not greater, hatred of my own for him.

  Without thinking, almost as if my hands had minds of their own, I aimed my bow and arrow and sent an arrow flying directly at the guard. After a quick swish, the arrow traveled the short distance necessary before piercing straight through the guard’s neck. Blood squirted, looking black in the darkness as it hit the ground with sickening, wet sounds. Instantly, the guard collapsed, dying on the spot.

  He died with his eyes open, staring at me in shock. Blood seeped into his uniform and pooled on the ground around him.

  And I stood there, staring into his opened and deadened eyes . . . “Genesis?”

  I jumped, trembling from head to toe. My stomach knotted and I felt sure that I was going to vomit in any second.

  “Genesis, what happened? Genesis!” Remington’s voice shouted at me. He was right in front of my face even though I didn’t know how he’d gotten there. In my periphery, I could see Zane slowly approaching, his movements shocked and hesitant. I hadn’t noticed when either of them returned, I hadn’t heard them approach me, and I had no idea how much time had passed since I killed the guard lying a short few feet away from us.

  The only thing I seemed consciously aware of was the fact that I had killed a human being.

  My knees buckled under me, no longer feeling capable of supporting my weight. Remington placed his hands on my shoulders, trying to steady me. He was speaking to me, holding me, questioning me . . . but I could hardly register anything. I merely looked into his dark brown eyes, seeing how they frantically searched my face.

  And then quite suddenly, Remington’s dark eyes morphed into those of Jason Fisher’s. Jason’s face filled my mind, particularly the look in his eyes as he died in my arms. I closed my eyes for an in
stant and took a deep breath. Almost instantly, my body stopped trembling and an almost eerie sense of calm came over me.

  “Genesis!” Remington said, shaking me. I reopened my eyes. Jason’s face faded away, getting replaced by Remington’s concerned one. “Talk to me! Are you all right?”

  “Remington,” I said, my voice sounding far away even to my own ears. “I just killed a man.”

  The jaw muscles in Remington’s face clenched. “I see that,” he said and paused for a moment. “Are you okay?”

  I nodded. “Yes. I’ll be fine,” I said, my voice monotone. “Are you sure?”

  “Of course I’m sure.” I took another deep breath. “I’m a Hawk now, and I’m ready and willing to do whatever needs to be done to protect our people.” I glanced down at the guard, the metallic scent of his blood drifting into the air around us. “And to avenge Jason’s death.”

  CHAPTER 12

  Silence befell Remington, Zane, and I as we stared at the dead guard lying at our feet.

  Right when the stillness began to feel unbearably long, Remington cleared his throat, redirecting our attention back to the issue at hand.

  “Well, come on. We need to get safely out of view,” he said, glancing over his shoulder and casting a brief look toward the bar’s entrance.

  “You guys weren’t noticed, were you?” I asked. It wasn’t until that moment that I saw the bag clutched in Zane’s hand. From the way he held it, it looked heavy.

  Remington shook his head. “No. Everything went perfectly. Almost too perfectly. The guards were filthy stinking drunk and didn’t notice a thing.” Taking another quick glance around, he crouched over and then moved past me and Zane. “So let’s not push our luck. Let’s get out of here.”

  Quickly and quietly, we made our way back to our horses. Dolly pawed the ground happily when she saw me approaching. I gave her a quick pat on the nose, ready to mount her, but paused when Remington began speaking in a low, hushed voice.

  “Look,” he said, taking the bag from Zane and opening it to show to me.

  I peered inside, squinting through the darkness and trying to make sense of what I was seeing.

  “Ammunition,” Zane said.

  Remington nodded and locked eyes with me. “We’ve got about twenty pistols right here,” he said, picking one up and staring down at it. His jaw was set tight, but I could easily see the awe in his eyes as he turned the pistol around in his hands, studying it. “The Thunder-God has shown his light upon us,” he said quietly.

  Seeing the gun in his hands, observing the way its metal sparkled under the moonlight, I felt nervous and excited at the same time. I almost wanted to reach out to touch it myself, but something held me back.

  Guns. They had caused so much devastation among my people. Painful memories of dead Arnazuris littering the ground resurfaced from a place deep within my mind that I longed to forget. It reminded me of the time when I had once believed Remington himself to be one of the dead. My mouth formed into an involuntary grimace, and I suddenly felt repulsed.

  But you’re thinking about guns in the hands of the king’s soldiers, a voice in my head reasoned. It’ll be different when our people are the ones pulling the trigger.

  “We’re in luck,” Zane said. I looked at him after peeling my gaze away from the gun in Remington’s hand. Zane was staring intently at me, perhaps noticing the way I’d been grimacing.

  I forced a half smile and nodded, forcefully trying to free myself from the bitter thoughts bouncing through my head. After all, we were here because of me. Because I had opened my big mouth in an attempt to save my little brother from embarrassment. There was no denying it—the consequences of my action had, in one way or another, led us here.

  So you better muster up some enthusiasm, the same voice in my head chastised.

  I knew the only way I was going to be able to move on from this point was to turn my sorrow and disdain into action, seeking revenge by any means necessary.

  “We certainly are,” Remington said, agreeing with Zane. He reached into the bag and pulled out another pistol, gently waving it in the air before us. The spark of awe in his eyes intensified, and when he spoke, there was a slightly frenzied tone to his voice. I got the impression that he was just barely succeeding in containing his excitement. “These here,” he said, nodding at the pistols, “are Beam-41ks.”

  Remington spoke as if this was supposed to mean something profound to us. I glanced at Zane. Although he stared fixedly at the guns, I could tell the full meaning of what Remington had just said hadn’t really connected with him either. Remington looked back and forth between the two of us, clearing waiting for excited responses that weren’t coming quickly enough.

  I blinked. “Okay. And what does that mean?”

  Remington shook his head and smirked. “Right. Okay. Well, these are a new type of gun that scientists and engineers in King’s Forest have been working on for a while now. They’re special because, unlike regular guns, they don’t need bullets.”

  Bullet-free guns? My eyes widened. Now I was impressed—as was Zane judging from the low whistle he let out.

  Remington nodded, finally pleased with our reactions. “You see, these guns can turn sunlight into tiny light-beam bullets. That makes them way deadlier than typical guns. Just think about it. Using these, there’s no need to stop and reload. No time wasted in battle . . . More time to attack our enemies.”

  I stared at the guns, genuinely appreciating them now as images of battle began to swirl through my head. I imagined encountering a group of the king’s soldiers, sneaking up on them in broad daylight and plowing through them all with these guns.

  Getting revenge for what they’d done to Jason . . .

  “So you know how they work, but do you know how to use them?” I asked.

  Some of the excitement began to seep out of Remington’s face. “We’ll figure that out.”

  “Yes,” I said. “We must learn how to use them as soon as possible.”

  Zane nodded. “All right. Let’s get to it then. Let’s start heading back so we can tell the others what we’ve scored.” He flashed a smile my way before mounting his horse. “Good job, Genesis.”

  I paused for a beat, right as I was climbing onto Dolly. “Thanks.”

  Remington and I met each other’s gazes for a second. He gave me a single nod, which I fully understood as a signal of his appreciation. The anger he’d directed toward me earlier when we first set off on this journey was gone and forgiven.

  I smirked, pulling Dolly’s reins and falling into step beside the boys. It was wonderful to finally feel like a valuable member of the Hawks and to have been able to assist the rebellion in a major way.

  CHAPTER 13

  The three of us rode in silence, all lost in our own thoughts as we made the journey back to my father’s safehouse. I had moments where I imagined telling Jason about the guns, wondering if he would have known how to use them and whether he would have approved of the way we had acquired them.

  I wondered if Jason had ever been in serious combat before. Whether he would have been able to assist us in the rebellion beyond translating ancient scrolls . . .

  Before I could think any further on it, though, my thoughts were interrupted when Remington brought his horse to a screeching halt. Onyx neighed, obviously sensing Remington’s unease.

  Zane slowed to a stop just before Remington and glanced back at him while I brought Dolly to a stop beside him.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, my own nerves skyrocketing in response to the way Remington’s brow had furrowed. He cocked his head to the side, perching an ear forward, listening.

  That’s when I heard it too. Someone was coming along our trail . . .

  Zane swore, clutching the bag of guns behind his back as if doing so would make them less noticeable.

  My heart began to pound and I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry as sandpaper.

  At least we’re all from the same tribe, I thought, trying to remain c
alm. We’re all from the same tribe, so we’re allowed to be together. We shouldn’t get in trouble . . .

  I found little comfort in these thoughts, though, for I knew I was just kidding myself. All three of us could smell trouble on the horizon just as keenly as the soil beneath our horses’ feet.

  Flashy uniforms came into view through the darkness.

  Guard. Royal guards. No matter what, they couldn’t really be trusted, even when it came to honoring their own words. Remington, Zane, and I may have been from the same tribe, but if the guards wanted to start trouble with us, they would.

  Still, I prayed they would leave us alone. That they were merely on their way to the bar to get drunk with their friends and wouldn’t feel like being bothered with us. But as the two of them came into view, eyeing each of us in turn, I knew that we would have no such luck.

  “Stay calm,” Remington muttered in a low voice, hardly even moving his lips.

  I clutched Dolly’s reins, ready to make a run for it at any moment if necessary. I wanted to suggest that all three of us do exactly that, but it was already too late. The guards were upon us, and they were clearly looking for trouble.

  My stomach twisting in a painful knot, I wondered if enough time had passed for anyone to notice the guard that I’d killed. I inwardly cursed all three of us. Why hadn’t we hidden the body before leaving?

  Because Remington was too excited about those damned guns, that’s why, I thought. I still had to take part of the blame though. Deep down, I’d been so concerned about getting away with my kill that I hadn’t thought at all about covering my tracks. A rookie mistake for a wanted criminal like me. I was going to have to wise up if we made it out of this encounter.

  “Good evening,” Remington said, his voice carefully controlled.