‘Father is making an announcement. He thought you had been punished enough, and we both wanted you to be there.’
She frowned and took an unconscious step away from him. The chain may have been removed from around her ankle, but she suddenly felt more shackled now than she had before.
‘So, the Captain told you to do this?’ she asked, slipping into calling her father the same thing as Sloane did. She’d always disapproved of the way Sloane avoided calling him Father, but using his title warmed her inside. Distancing herself from him and detaching herself from the familial bond they were supposed to share made her feel stronger. She suddenly realised why Sloane had always refused to call him that. He had to earn the name Father, and for years he’d been failing Sloane. It was only now that Rowe realised he’d also been failing her too.
Ash’s forehead creased. The significance of Rowe referring to their father by his rank wasn’t lost on him. ‘Yes, he asked me to free you,’ he replied, stuffing his hands into his pockets. ‘But I’ve been trying to convince him to let you go since the moment he had you chained here. We both know how close you are to Sloane, and no one blames you for wanting to protect her. But we’re your family too, Rowe. Please don’t shut us out.’
She slowly rubbed the outside of her arms, suddenly feeling cold despite the sunshine that warmed her skin. Ash was starting to sound like he was after information from her. She wanted to shut her mouth and refuse to say anything, but she was beginning to realise that saying nothing was getting her nowhere fast. There was no way her father or brother would trust her if she kept holding back and arguing with Ash. She needed to start being smart about what she told him, and she needed him to believe that she was on his side.
Rowe let out a sigh and nodded, her body relaxing as she looked at him, despite how cold and rigid she felt inside.
‘You’re right, I do want to protect Sloane,’ she admitted. ‘But you have always looked out for me and protected me too. I guess I don’t know what to believe right now. It’s so hard being caught in the middle and I came back to the settlement because you are my family and these are my people. I just want what’s best for everyone.’
She sighed again and allowed her shoulders to drop, closing her eyes tightly and frowning as though she couldn’t make up her mind. ‘Do you think Father would forgive me for taking Sloane’s side?’ Rowe opened her eyes and looked up at her brother hopefully but kept her voice small and timid.
Ash placed an arm over her shoulders and began to guide her in the same direction the crowd had moved before he had appeared.
‘Of course, he would,’ Ash said, smiling down at her. ‘And you know you can talk to me, right? I want us to be a family again. I don’t want this to tear us all apart.’
‘I want that too,’ she replied. She gave him a small smile before she looked away and the smile dropped from her lips completely. The idea of pretending to play happy families made her feel sick. Lying was difficult enough, but it was nearly impossible for Rowe to act like she could even consider the possibility of turning on Sloane.
She was quiet as she walked, knowing she was going to have to tread carefully if her plan was going to work. She would need to do a lot of backpedalling if she was going to make her father forget how angry she’d made him and allow her close enough to plant the listening device Jack had given her.
She wasn’t much of an actress, but she was going to have to give the performance of her life. Her father and Ash could both spot a lie a mile away, so it was going to take everything in her to try and fool them.
They headed towards the edge of the settlement where there was a large open field between the tents and the forest that lay beyond. Every person from the camp was there, and Rowe could see her father standing atop a table, so he was visible above the crowd. He noticed Rowe and Ash the moment they came into view, and although Rowe kept her vision focused on the Captain, she didn’t miss the small nod that Ash gave him from the corner of her eye.
‘So what’s this meeting about?’ she asked, turning to look at Ash.
‘He’s telling them about the Unfaih,’ Ash said, still looking at his father. ‘The people here will finally learn the truth.’
Rowe’s stomach dropped, and she turned away from him, her gaze slowly moving across the mass of people before them. Whatever tale her father was about to spin, she knew it wasn’t going to be the truth. She didn’t need to listen to his speech to know that the people in the camp were about to hear a whole lot of lies.
‘Come on, we should get to the front before it starts,’ Ash said, taking her hand and beginning to pull her through the crowd.
She closed her eyes as she pushed down a wave of nausea at the thought of what was about to happen. There was no stopping her father though, and as she neared him, Rowe could tell from the cunning look in his eyes that the lies he was about to spread were going to cause chaos.
Chapter Ten
Ash tugged Rowe through the crowd, not seeming to care that her body was being jostled roughly between the people as they went. She kept her eyes focused on the ground and refused to meet the stares thrown her way. There was a mixture of curiosity and judgement in people’s expressions as they passed, and she hoped it was mostly directed towards Ash. Rowe had never liked attention, and they certainly seemed to be getting a lot of it as they pushed to get closer to the Captain.
She hoped to catch sight of Jack as they moved through the crowd, but with people packed so densely into the space, Rowe could barely see past the person closest to her. There were so many people gathered before her father; it wasn’t really surprising she couldn’t spot Jack amongst them.
Ash stopped when they reached the front of the group, and the two of them stood right at their father’s feet. His soldiers all stood in silent rows behind him, a warning and a threat that the Captain was to be obeyed. Rowe felt sick to be standing so close to the man who had chained her up and who was putting all these people’s lives at risk. But she knew she couldn’t say a word in complaint. She had to play along with things if she wanted to help Sloane.
The Captain raised one hand to quieten the crowd, and the group fell silent immediately. That was the kind of control he had over people. It had always been that way, no matter the size of the group he was leading. On the trip out to Aeris he’d sat at a different table in the cafeteria at every meal, and even once they arrived on Aeris, she had noticed him walking through the camp every morning and talking with the people who lived there.
He was good at sounding interested in people when he needed to be, but every word that came out of his mouth was calculated. He wasn’t talking with people to get to know them or to help them. He used every interaction to gain intelligence, sew seeds of trust and manipulate opinions to work in his favour. He was very good at controlling those around him, and it wasn’t just the military in the camp that supported his leadership; everyone in the settlement believed in him.
‘Good morning, everyone,’ her father started. ‘I hope that you are all well rested and prepared for a productive week. I have gathered you this morning for both good news and bad news.’ His statement drew several quiet murmurs from the crowd, but nothing loud enough to overcome the Captain’s powerful voice.
‘The good news is that my son, Commander Ashley Avery of the Alpha team has returned!’ A cheer rose from the crowd, and the Captain grinned broadly as he gazed down at his son. The one child he could depend on. The one who brought him nothing but pride.
The Captain lifted a hand to quieten the crowd again when the cheering began to lull. ‘It is with great sadness though, that I must also announce that the rest of his team did not survive.’ There were no murmurs or whispers this time. Everyone was silent, and Rowe could feel the people’s shock in the heavy air that seemed to descend upon the crowd.
‘Commander Avery has reported in detail what happened to them and it is my sad duty to let you know that aliens captured the Alpha team. Each brave man on the team defended themselves
valiantly and held out against torture to the end, but sadly none survived the brutal treatment but my son.’
Rowe’s eyes were wide as she watched her father. She couldn’t believe he was telling the people the truth. She had expected him to spin a web of lies, but instead, he was telling them about the Brakys. He was informing the people in the camp about how dangerous the creatures were, and her heart leapt with hope.
Perhaps he was readying them to defend the settlement against the Brakys. She couldn’t help but feel a hint of suspicion creep into her mind though. She wanted to believe he was going to protect the people in the camp from the Brakys, but given everything that had happened since she had returned, it didn’t make any sense.
‘I stand before you today and implore you all to listen,’ the Captain continued. ‘We are in danger here. This beautiful planet, which we wish to call home, isn’t the paradise we first believed. Aliens inhabit a world that is accessible to this one through a gateway between them, and they are arming themselves to fight us as we speak. They have already killed our men, and they will not hesitate to kill more of us. They are holding my daughter Sloane as a hostage, but we will not bow to their demands for us to leave this planet.’
Rowe could feel the mood of the crowd changing as they listened, and she fought to keep tears from welling in her eyes as she looked at her father. She knew he was going to get up there and spread lies, but she had no idea he was going to twist the truth in such a way. He was making the Unfaih out to be the bad guys, the ones who had tortured Ash and turned the rest of his team into creatures of darkness.
It took everything in her not to shake her head in disbelief. She didn’t want Ash to catch the movement and see her disapproval of their father. But she could feel her anger through her body like a radioactive toxin was pumping through her veins.
She’d never felt such pure loathing before, and she didn’t know what to do with the emotion. While Sloane spent most of her life thriving off strong emotions like anger, Rowe was nothing like that. Those feelings made Sloane stronger, but to Rowe they were foreign, and she felt like she’d been hurled into the ocean with an anchor tied to her leg. The emotions were pulling her under, and she was beginning to feel like she could no longer breathe.
The Captain was quiet as the crowd began to stir and his eyes became brighter the more agitated they got. He seemed to find it amusing, like everything he’d been planning was falling into place. The military contingent behind him nodded their heads determinedly, but the civilians who made up the larger part of the settlement seemed scared.
The people in the crowd before the Captain were exchanging whispers and worried looks. Some were incensed at the news and shouting out in anger, while others seemed terrified and were almost retreating into themselves to try and cope with the shocking news. There was one thing they all had in common though; the way they looked at the Captain. They all gazed up at him like he was their saviour like he was the one who would keep them all safe.
The Captain cleared his throat, and his eyes scanned across the crowd before he spoke again. ‘There is another ship arriving from Earth in the next few days. Our new arrivals will provide us with much-needed support. In the meantime, we need to focus on building our defences around the camp. I hope you understand that we are all going to have to put in a little extra hard work during this difficult time. I will be meeting with all supervisors, and if you have questions, you can direct them to me through them.
‘My priority is your safety here, and I will not allow us to be pushed from this new land we have travelled so far to gain. There is no going back to the devastation on Earth for us. This world is our home. And I will do everything in my power to protect it for you.’
The crowd cheered for him as he looked out over them. The suns’ light glinted off the badges on the Captain’s uniform, and his chest was puffed out as he basked in their praise. He truly appeared to be the protector of the people, and with his soldiers lined up behind him, he looked like an unstoppable force. The terrified people in the camp needed him more than ever now, and they would do whatever he told them.
The Captain began to climb down from the table he stood on, signalling the meeting was at an end. He strode towards Ash and gripped his son’s outstretched hand in a firm handshake. Ash nodded back at him proudly, before the Captain turned to Rowe. He stood in front of her and placed his hands on her shoulders.
‘I need you with me, Rowena,’ he spoke softly, but the people around them had fallen silent as he approached and could easily hear the words. ‘We both do. We’re going to get Sloane back and live here together, as a family.’
Rowe lowered her eyes to the ground and nodded slowly. It pained her even to pretend to agree with her father, but she knew she didn’t have a choice. He pulled her towards him and briefly gripped her in a tight hug. Rowe grimaced and imagined what Sloane would do if she could see them now. She would have leapt to Rowe’s defence before their father had even touched her.
The Captain pulled back from their embrace and began to walk amongst the crowd who were waiting patiently for him. As Rowe watched him go, she could already hear people asking him questions about the dangers they faced and offering extra help to protect the camp.
Rowe knew her father was brilliant, but even she was impressed by his tactic. He wanted to march on the Unfaih, and he wanted to take the Liftsal from them, but he couldn’t tell the masses that. Instead, the Captain had told them there was no choice but to stay and fight for the right to live on Aeris. He had turned them against a common enemy. In the meantime, he’d have them all working like slaves to prepare weapons and fortify the settlement.
‘Come on,’ Ash said, tugging Rowe’s hand and pulling her back through the gathered people who were still lingering in the field.
It was only once they were free of the crowd that Rowe felt like she could breathe easily again. She hated being in large groups of people, and Ash had known that perfectly well when he’d dragged her right to the heart of the gathering. She was just glad to be free from the mob, though she wasn’t free from her father’s words. They felt like bugs that were crawling all over her skin.
She didn’t know what to say to Ash as he led her through the camp. She wanted to ask him about their father’s plans, but she knew he’d only shut down on her if she did.
She frowned when Ash rounded a corner and led her in a different direction than she’d been expecting. She had assumed he was returning her to the post she had been chained to, but instead, he was leading her towards the tents where most of the people in the camp slept.
‘Where are you taking me?’ Rowe asked, folding her arms uncomfortably across her chest. She didn’t like the echo of distrust she could hear so clearly in her voice, but there was nothing she could do to cover it.
Ash blanched at her words, and he didn’t seem to miss that her question was loaded with suspicion. He paused by of one of the tents and pulled back the front opening. ‘I thought you’d like to get some sleep,’ he said, nodding at the tent.
Rowe didn’t take a step forwards though, and she tilted her head as she looked at her brother. ‘Why?’
He let out a rough breath and dropped the tent flap closed as he stepped towards her.
‘Would you rather return to the post?’ he asked as he raked a hand through his hair.
She quickly shook her head, and her reaction made his eyes soften a little.
‘Look, I know you don’t agree with me on some of the things we are doing here,’ he said. ‘But you’re still my sister, and I care about you. I don’t want you to be chained up.’
Rowe calmed slightly and nodded. She moved towards the tent and pulled back the opening, but she paused before she entered and turned to her brother. ‘I’ve trusted you my entire life Ash, and I don’t want that to stop now. You’ve always known what is best, and if you believe that the Brakys aren’t a danger and that we need to protect ourselves against the Unfaih, then I believe you.’
His sh
oulders seemed to relax as she spoke and she saw a hint of a smile on his lips. ‘I’m glad to hear that,’ he said. ‘We can talk some more later, but you should get some rest.’
Rowe gave him a smile in farewell before she turned and entered the tent. She collapsed onto the bedroll without bothering to take off her shoes. As she curled up in a ball under the covers, she tried to remind herself to be strong; that she was capable of anything. But as she lay in the tent, Rowe felt completely alone, and the curdling feeling in the pit of her stomach only got worse as she replayed her father’s speech in her mind.
As she closed her eyes, her thoughts drifted to her sister. Rowe had no idea where she was, and could only pray that Sloane hadn’t gotten herself into too much trouble. But knowing Sloane, even if she didn’t get into trouble, trouble always had a way of finding her.
Chapter Eleven
There was no denying it, Sloane officially hated the horse she’d been given to ride. Admittedly it probably wasn’t the horse’s fault, but Sloane had been in pain all day while riding it. She had no idea that sitting in a saddle could cause so much discomfort.
‘Are you all right, Sloane?’ Kai asked as he swung down from his saddle.
‘I’m fine,’ she replied, though she knew that was far from the truth. She jumped down from her horse only to find her legs buckling as her feet hit the ground. She swore under her breath and steadied herself against the horse, so she didn’t collapse. She couldn’t help but glare at the animal. After all, it was the reason she was in such a state. The beast seemed quite happy though and entirely oblivious to the scowls Sloane was shooting in its direction.
‘What a stupid way to travel,’ she grumbled.
Kai laughed at her reaction, which only made her irritation worse. Her scowl deepened and she flipped him off before she turned and started searching her saddlebag for something to eat. Food was pretty much the only thing that Sloane thought could improve her mood, but the rashi Kai packed was hardly something to get excited over.
The Oblivion Stone (The Liftsal Guardians Book 3) Page 11