The Clansmen look around at each other. They must have wondered where their source came from. The Kings were supplied by Tetlak so they knew some Dofinikes had no problem dealing with the humans, but they were never sure what sent Jothkore in their direction or why he was so interested in helping.
“Well…” Tucker exhales with confusion, “if you’re a Dofinike, why don’t you just leave? Escape?”
A throbbing pain strikes Sampson and it takes all he has not to let it gush out.
How he aches for her...
“Technically, I’m able to leave any time I want to. But there are things… terrible things, beyond my control, that might happen were I to flee. And I cannot allow that…” he shakes his head, glancing around the room of Rogues again. “Besides, how could I abandon you all here? I didn’t desert you the first time. I won’t desert you now. I understand this is a lot to take in. Normally, out of courtesy, I’d offer a few days to acclimate yourselves with the idea before proceeding with further discussion of the topic. However,” and now his voice turns somber, unsure, “I’m afraid time is no longer a boundless commodity.”
“This surplus of survivors,” Reid joins Sampson in the middle again, “is just more names for the lists and Snatchings. That’s all. There’s no Rebuilding being done—we all know that—so with this influx of Arrivals, they’ll be calling lists daily. Especially if Clarence is to double his quota.”
“What are our options?” Kelly asks.
“Revolt,” I say.
All eyes fly to me, surprise and confusion reflecting in their gaping stares. Tucker, Reid and Sampson exchange looks, the word echoing through the hollowed trunk.
“Did you say revolt?” Clark laughs with a mocking sneer.
“Yes,” Sampson answers, “an immediate counterstrike—if there’s any hope of survival, one will need to occur.”
“But how?” Tucker poses, “and with what forces?”
“Our own,” I look between him and Reid. “How many do we have?”
“What?” Tucker asks.
“Ball park. How many men—Rogues, Scouts, Clients—can fight? How many do we have?”
Shrugging, Tucker tilts his head to one side. “Seventy-five maybe. A buck.”
I turn to Sampson, “Not a bad number.”
“It’s possible if the others were to follow,” he agrees.
“Then they’d need to know the truth too. Everyone…”
“Are you saying,” Tucker starts, glancing to Reid for confirmation, “that you’re planning on telling everyone what you’ve just told us?”
“At some point, yes. They need to know.”
“They’ll think we’re all crazy.”
“Then when we tell them, we better have proof… or something we can at least offer instead,” I look at Sampson. “If we can locate them, they’d be proof of the Dofinike’s lies.”
“Locate what?” Able asks.
Is it up to Sampson to tell them or has he already revealed too much tonight? Sneaking a peek in his direction, he nods me on. He wants me to say it. To reveal it. Those two words that both excite and enrage me, knowing they’re somewhere so close.
“Our memories.”
It’s like before, when Sampson stopped speaking and a heavy silence filled the room with disbelief. Except this time, it’s the opposite. It’s hope. It’s possibility. Tucker is the first to speak.
“They’re here?” he’s talking to me directly. “On Harrizel?”
“On this very base,” Sampson adds, “probably in a storage container on the highest floor of the Castle. Kept without guard or lock.”
“So, ripe for the taking?” I ask.
“Exactly.”
“But still,” Tucker insists, “you’re talking about going against all those Dofinikes.”
“How many Dofinikes do you think there are?” Sampson poses.
“I don’t know, what’d Jeb say?” Tucker looks around the others for their thoughts, “A good amount.”
“Jeb told me a few hundred,” I offer.
Sampson shakes his head, “No, these are also lies. There are a few Dofinikes, yes, that keep to the top floor. Scientists, and only a handful I might add. Then there are the guards. In total, not including Jothkore, Vix or myself, we’re looking at maybe thirty or so. On all of Harrizel.”
“Against how many humans?”
Sampson shrugs, “About four hundred.”
“And counting,” Pratt adds.
We all sit through another long minute of silence, regurgitating the last few statements. Gnawing away at his thumbnail, Reid speaks first between grinded teeth. “It’s doable.”
“Well… yeah…” Tucker agrees, somewhat unsure at first, “if we can get to the proof.”
“Then that’s it,” I conclude. “We get the memories. If we have those, then they’ll know. If they know, they’ll want to fight back. And there you go,” I wave my hand toward Tucker, as if offering him something invisible, “there’s your army.”
Tucker’s eyes shift between Reid and Sampson. Finally, he returns his attention to me. “Okay, but how do we get the memories back?”
I glance to Sampson. “You said there’s no guard or lock.”
“I’m not positive, but most likely not,” he shakes his head. “It’ll still have to be at the right time.”
“When do you think that’ll be?”
“When Beshib’s not here, when he leaves for another meeting. That’s when we need to strike. Not just with regaining your memories. But with the first wave of the revolt. It will have to be a window of a few days.”
“What about the Kings?” Chief asks.
“Still working that part out,” Reid exhales. “But if we have any hope of taking over the base, they’ll have to be removed.”
“Overdue…” someone mumbles from the back.
“So that’s to be determined?” Tucker asks.
Reid nods. “We need to get everyone on board for the revolt first. This is something that needs to be done and needs to be done soon.” He turns to Sampson, “Do we know when Beshib will be away again for any significant amount of time?”
“Not now. I’m to be notified when he does.”
“But what are we supposed to do?” Clark laughs. “Fight them with our bare hands? Even if we do outnumber them, the Dofinikes are stronger than we are,” he turns to Sampson, “you could kill us quite easily. You have more odds than you give yourself credit for.”
“Depends on how many fight,” someone from the back throws out.
“Who? Dofinikes or humans?” someone else asks.
“Both!” a third voice answers.
“All right, all right,” Reid lowers his hands, signaling for quiet. Gnawing his thumb, he paces, an idea forming. Shrugging to himself in an internal debate, he finally looks to Sampson as if already having discussed it. “We need to be armed, don’t we?”
“Yes,” Sampson sighs, “I think they’re a necessary evil in this case.”
“Weapons?” Able perks up, a smile creeping across his face. “Am I hearing this right?”
“Really?” a few voices echo over each other.
“What kind?” someone throws out.
“And they’re on Harrizel?” Tucker asks, “Like our memories?”
Sampson nods, weary to give away too much information too quickly. “Again, it’s just a matter of the right time.”
“So… is that it then?” I look at Reid, asking him directly as though we were alone. “Is this a go?”
A fire lights behind his eyes, excitement playing across his lips. With his sights set on me, he lifts his arm straight up, commanding in a fierce roar. “Rogues!”
“Rogues!” they shout in unison, banging their right hand on their left shoulder, lifting it high, like Reid. He walks around, breaking focus with me to meet the loyalty of his Clan, each member eager to hold his eye. They hold their arms up, outstretched for him, for his command. Even Tucker stands at attention, waiting as Reid circle
s.
“When the time is right, we’ll take back the Castle,” Reid paces. “There’s a lot to still be figured out but we’re doing this while we can, before it’s too late.”
“We still must deal with the Kings,” Chief reminds him, taking a step forward as his feathered earrings sway, “they are growing stronger, like us. They have their source,” he gestures to Sampson, “like we have ours. If we don’t deal with them, we might not be able to take the Castle back at all.”
“What do you think?” Reid turns to Sampson who is already contemplating this, “It’d have to be before the first wave. Before we tell the others the truth. We can’t fight two wars at once.”
“I agree,” he scratches his chin, “let’s think on it—shall we?”
Reid nods, glancing around the crowded room, “Like I said, several things to be figured out still. Now,” and he sighs, running his fingers through his hair, “let’s get down to some Rogue business. Recruits, Scouts, any issues will be addressed now.”
“Might I excuse myself?” Sampson interjects, all focus in the room falling on him. “It’s such a lovely night… I thought I might enjoy a quick walk in the fresh air?”
“That sounds nice,” I turn to Reid, “mind if I head out too?”
Vix jumps up. “I shall attend as well and escort Fallon back to her room afterwards.”
Reid nods, looking at me. I offer a grin, caught in his stare, my body heating under his intense gaze. I meet Vix and Sampson by the door, and with a final glance in Reid’s direction, I leave the hollowed burrow.
I follow them outside and into the dark night. As soon as I breathe in the jungle’s damp air, I feel it, the same call as before, pulling me closer to Ellae. I start to take off for it, following my feet which seem to know the way when Vix clings to my hips. Sampson’s already off on his own, keeping ahead but veering left.
“Know where you are going?” Vix wants to know, trudging through the shrubbery with me.
“Ellae, I hope.”
“Why is that?”
“Why is what?”
“You want to be there so bad,” she states, swaying overgrown foliage from our way, “what are you hoping you will find?”
I’ve pondered it several times myself. What will I find in the place of ruin—a place I’ve never seen, never been to or heard about, a place I’ve never dreamed of or felt or knew existed and yet somehow, in some way, it’s a place I belong.
“Answers,” I step over a bubbling root. “I hope to find answers.”
“You are smart to seek them,” she pulls back the yellow-tongued leaves to reveal the broken city of Ellae, “especially here.”
The question dawns on me as I watch Vix taking in the sight of the fractured city before us. “You lived here?”
“Yes.”
“Were you here when it happened?”
A long pause and her voice tightens.“Yes.”
“Do you remember it as well as Sampson?”
“I feel it,” she jabs her fingers to her chest, “still.”
“Feel what?”
“The pain…” she whispers, her eyes heavy with grief, loss. “Me’lock was home when it happened. I could feel it,” she sucks in her breath, shutting her eyes at the thought. “What happened. What they did.”
I give her a moment but when she doesn’t elaborate, I lead her on, “And before? Can you feel… before then?” I step toward her, “When you were happy?”
At this Vix closes her eyes, inhaling as she loses herself from our reality. She’s lost somewhere, sometime, her mouth curving into jubilation, a pure joy few ever know.
“I can…” her words drift, a smile forming.
The wind rushes through the walls as the dark night lights up with her confession. In this second I see it—Ellae rebuilt, standing tall as originally crafted. Flashes of faces, of the village fully restored stream over me like a veil. It only lasts a second but I’m there, in the sunlight of another day. And thousands are moving about. Young ones dash by, toward the thriving market, but then I’m back here again, in the night of its ruins, in silence.
“Me’lock was your…”
“Husband.”
“You can still feel him?”
“Shades,” she says, “only shades. Me’lock is gone. Nothing can bring him back. I can only touch what we used to have. See his face as it’s burned in my memory,” she takes a step, a sad sigh escaping. “He only exists now in his remains, in what he gave me during life,” Vix places a gentle hand on my shoulder, motioning out to the broken city. “What do you feel?”
Stepping closer, I inhale the damp scent of night, the sweet, floral fragrance riding the wind. I close my eyes, willing life to reappear but nothing happens. I wait a second longer, breathing it all in again, concentrating, but when nothing happens, I open my eyes, shrugging at Vix. “I don’t know.”
“You will,” Vix nods with certainty, “when you are ready.”
Vix keeps to the city’s outer perimeter and I follow, glancing past the shattered walls and hanging ivy. She’s leading us somewhere but I’m too busy to notice, my focus glued to Ellae’s fractured remains. I’m still trying to will the light that sometimes rips through me, so that I see it beforehand, when this place still breathed. We’re slowing and I nearly run into Vix when a new source of light beams in the distance ahead.
The Rinzal tree stands like a beacon out in the wide field beyond the broken city. Radiating pink, peach and red tresses reach like a thousand long arms to smooth Sampson who kneels at her base, his head lowered. He’s bent forward, toward the tree, slightly rocking and muttering soft words.
“He prays,” Vix whispers as we come to a stop and watch. A terrible pang of guilt sweeps over me at intruding on this intimate moment.
“To the Rinzal?”
“To the Way. To find her.”
“Who?”
But Vix refuses to say. It’s as if she’s unable to speak it, especially this close to Sampson and especially when he seeks her. Vix exhales exhaustedly, too familiar with the scene. She gestures us away. “Come.”
We head back to the Castle and she drops me off at my room. It’s a little while later and I’m still awake, staring at the two babeebs under the ceiling’s Gizella roots when a light knock sounds on the door. I sit up, my heart racing. I’m not expecting anyone.
“It’s me,” Reid’s voice calls from the other side. The knot in my stomach settles momentarily, until the thought of seeing him replaces it. Suddenly, a new heat erupts as I jump from the bed and pull back the crimson arch. He’s leaning against it with one arm. “Hey.”
“Hi.”
“Yeah…uh…” he looks to the ground with a light laugh, “I probably shouldn’t be here.”
“No, it’s fine,” I motion him inside and he obliges, closing the door behind him. We’re trapped again in this tiny space, the familiar fire consuming me. “How’d the rest of the meeting go?”
“Fine. Guys are pretty weirded out by the whole Sampson thing.”
“I get that,” I retire to my bed, crossing my legs in front of me.
“Look,” he paces the small bit of space, “I want to apologize for earlier. For Mantis.”
“Reid…”
“It won’t happen again. He isn’t crazy enough to try anything after the message I sent him.”
“What message?”
He gnaws on the tip of his thumb, focused on the floor.
“Reid?”
“I did what I had to do. I…” he gulps, “I’m so sorry, Fallon. I didn’t mean to involve you like this. I…” he rubs his hands down his face. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I really should’ve…” He takes a breath. “I really should’ve been smarter with you.”
“But you didn’t—”
“If anything happened,” he jets to the bed, his eyes shifting between mine, “I don’t know what I’d do,” he cups my face, “I don’t know…” he kisses me, “…if I could control myself…” he opens my mou
th with his, “if I could hold back. If…” his hands trail behind my head, locking me to him. He growls as our tongues meet and suddenly, this is hot.
He climbs on top, pressing me down to the bed. He moves to kiss my neck but withdraws, yanking his blue scrub over his head and tossing it to the floor. I freeze at the sight of his steel torso and the tiny black circle of alternating dots just above his right nipple. The Chuloo. But before I have a second, he’s back on me, his mouth on my neck and his hands sliding over my chest. He takes me into his palm and squeezes, searing me.
“Reid…” I whisper his name with pleasure.
He must like it because he growls again, running his mouth over my jaw and toward my lips. I arch under his roaming fingers as he rolls his bottom half onto mine, grinding into me. He picks up speed and then separates my legs with his, sliding his hand up my thigh. He reaches their junction and I’m instantly ablaze, unable to stifle a gasp. He groans into my neck and dips his fingers along the hem of my bottoms, trying to tug them off.
“Wait,” I shove his shoulders back, my body overheating, “…wait.”
“What?” he pants, glancing between my eyes, searching for his error. “What’s wrong?”
“Fast,” my blood races, “…you’re going too fast.”
He drops his head with a defeated grunt, his body recovering from its rapid race to consume me. He grips the blanket in his fists and I know it’s taking a lot for him to stop himself.
“I don’t want you to leave,” I whisper, “but… not tonight. Okay?”
“Um…” he laughs.
“Reid?”
“I’ll try.”
“I’m serious,” I look between his eyes.
“So am I,” he kisses me again, moving like before. My hands trail up his body, ours mouths burning on one another. My heart races at the taste of him, the scent of him and I pull him closer, fire in my body where there should be blood. He rolls himself on me harder, but suddenly pulls away, leaving me cold, empty.
“I can’t. I’m going to want to, if we keep…” he clears his throat, his face flushed, “so it’s probably best I uh… I go. I’ll…” he gulps, rubbing the back of his neck, glancing down at me beneath him, “…with you like this.” He jumps off the bed and heads for the wall, grabbing his shirt from the floor.
Escape from Harrizel Page 24