by Dan Decker
Adar sighed. What's done was done.
The crashed ship had left a furrow in the ground that went right by the tower. Miraculously, the tower hadn’t suffered any damage. Another stroke of luck on a day that hadn’t had enough. Maybe Melyah is paying more attention to us than I thought, Adar thought. Or maybe we’ve used up all our luck and things are about to take a turn for the worse.
Judging by the angle of the sun peeking through the smoke and cloud covered sky, it couldn't have been more than an hour and a half since Adar had left to chase after Tere.
Is that all? It feels as though a week’s worth of events have happened in the meantime.
A dozen or more ships had been here before, but most of those had taken off in the last few minutes.
Only five ships left and who knows how many more Hunwei? If we don’t act soon, this will have all been for nothing. Adar had to resist charging out to the closest ship. Wait. If we run out in plain view of the Hunwei, we’ll be easy pickings.
From the time he’d convinced Barc to help him until now, three other ships had crashed into the city. The closest had been several blocks away from them when it had happened, but Adar hadn’t gone to investigate, figuring that the occupants would all be heading here. He and Barc needed to make the most of their time.
When the second ship had crashed right after the first, Adar had considered it a coincidence. But now that there had been five crash landings, he was suspicious these were coordinated.
What other explanation could there be?
There was no question now that the Hunwei had the ability to communicate between their ships. The first two had probably been the test group. Once those Hunwei had made it to the ships in the town square and managed to escape, the others had come down as well so that they could exchange their damaged ships for ones that hadn’t been touched by the tower.
Adar bit his lip. Why didn’t the tower do something about the ships on the ground as well? Would it have put the people in harm’s way? Adar wished that Semal were here, at the very least, the old professor would probably have had a clearer idea than Adar what the tower had done to the ships in the air.
Whatever had happened up there had made it worth it for the Hunwei to risk the crash landings so that they could swap out for those on the ground. Had the tower disabled something important on the ships?
The first wave of Hunwei had taken the largest of the ships and left the dregs for the rest. Adar was disappointed but not surprised that the big one was gone. He had seen it depart when they’d stopped off at the home where he’d hid the blasters. He’d even been looking out a window on the second floor when it had happened.
After that, they had run the rest of the way. At any other time, Adar would have expected Barc to have trouble keeping up with him, but as they ran, he’d been surprised to find that Barc hadn’t been the one slowing them down.
It was all that smoke I inhaled. Adar glanced at Barc again and beckoned again for him to come over. And he’s lost weight as well.
Adar frowned. Was he worried about how he looked to Barc? Concerned that Barc would think him weak? Or was he nervous that if they needed to run from Hunwei or turncoats that he wouldn’t be able to escape from them?
Outrunning the Hunwei was an easy thing to do. Adar was glad for that particular advantage. He wasn’t certain if it was because their armor was heavy or if they were just slower. His eyes settled on the remains of some nearby Hunwei.
The armor had to have cooled down by now. When he could spare a moment, he would make certain to look at it. It looked rather heavy, but he wouldn’t know for sure until he picked some of it up.
I'll also get an answer to the question if I have to run from a bunch of turncoats. If they can keep up, it can’t be the armor that makes the Hunwei go slow.
He also couldn’t wait to get a blaster that had stopped working close to the armor to see if it would work again. But that would have to wait for now.
Adar examined each ship and the surrounding area to ensure there weren’t any nearby Hunwei or turncoats. He also scoured any place that a man might be able to hide, hoping to find evidence that the Ou Qui were still about.
What I wouldn’t give to have some of those metalmen on hand just now. We might have stood a chance of killing the remaining Hunwei and turncoats with their aid and that of the Ou Qui.
Except for several goats that grazed on grass to the far side of the now leveled governor's mansion, the whole place looked deserted. There had been a fair number of people here before, but now there was hardly anybody in sight.
He looked closer at some of the human bodies on the ground and wasn’t surprised to see some were moving. While he watched, one of them sat up.
It was an old man, and he sat with his back to Adar while cradling one of his arms. His hair was wet, and his clothes had to be soaked through as well. The rain had stopped, but the clouds hadn’t cleared up. It looked as though the man might be able to walk but he didn’t make a move to get to his feet.
Adar silently willed the man to get up and walk to safety, but he remained where he was. If there hadn't been Hunwei on their way into the square, Adar would have gone to help the man.
If you can’t get to your feet, lie down again. He considered shouting out a warning but discarded the idea, not wanting to risk the Hunwei coming into the town square at the same moment.
“What’s the fool man doing?” Barc asked, his whisper louder than necessary. He had finally joined Adar by the door.
“Hush,” Adar said. “There’s no helping him.”
Barc’s lips came forward in a movement that Adar took as disagreement. “He’ll die if we leave him there.”
“Not necessarily.”
Barc gave Adar a sharp look. “Figures, coming from you.”
“If the Hunwei are moving as fast as the last group did, they’ll ignore him. They want a ship. Going out now risks us as well. What are the chances they’ll ignore all three of us? Particularly when we are carrying these?” Adar made a motion with the blaster in his hand. Barc looked at his own. His knuckles were white in a tight grasp at the base of the weapon. Adar couldn’t decide if he was afraid he might drop it or if he was concerned it might go off on its own accord. “They see us with those, and they’re not going to stop until we’re dead. Just remember that.”
Before Adar had given Barc the blaster, he’d made the man swear an oath to only use it or any other blaster against the Hunwei or to save his own life. Barc had initially balked at the oath, but Adar had insisted. While Barc had hesitated, one of the Hunwei ships had roared by overhead.
After it had disappeared, Barc tripped over the words of the oath, unable to get them out fast enough.
Adar had chosen the words carefully, and the word choice hadn’t been lost on Barc. By his own admission, Barc had tried to kill Jorad twice, and each time Jorad had refused to engage in the fight. If Jorad had taken up the invitation, Barc would have been dead. If Barc chose to use the weapon on Jorad or Adar, he would have to go back on his word.
I hope that burns on your conscience, Adar had thought as he had shown Barc how to use the weapon.
The wounded man’s quiet whimper broke into Adar’s thoughts, and he focused on the man once again. He was rocking back and forth, his good arm holding his bad arm against his chest.
“We’ll see to him and the others once it's safe,” Adar said. “In the meantime keep quiet.”
Barc nodded but made no effort to hide a scowl.
I can’t believe I’m stuck at the end of the world with this guy as my only support.
On their way here, Adar had tried to recruit several of the men they encountered but hadn't had any success. The first had looked forlornly at their blasters before turning tail and hurrying away in the opposite direction, as if they were afraid Barc and Adar were with the Hunwei.
Another man hadn’t even waited for them to ask a question before he’d scurried away.
For some of the townspeo
ple, men armed with blasters were no doubt a legitimate fear. There hadn't been many turncoats, but there had been some.
Other people hid in the homes that surrounded the square, but Adar doubted they would join the fight. I need to recruit their help, but I’m not going to bring them out as long as I continue to hide in the shadows as well.
At one point during their trip, Adar had spied a group of ten men and pulled back behind a wall, keeping Barc from coming around the corner. When he had seen the questioning look on Barc’s face, Adar had mouthed the word Hunwei and left it at that.
Adar couldn’t remember if he and Kura had talked about Isak in front of Barc. It seemed better not to mention it. Barc was already skittish enough as it was.
“Well there’s your ship,” Barc said, “we could make it to the closest in under a minute.”
“Wait.” Adar didn’t believe that the square was clear and was hesitant to move out into the open until he was certain. The last ship had gone down less than five minutes ago, that was plenty of time for the Hunwei to have made it to the square. “Stay here.”
Adar sighed when he saw that the wounded man hadn’t moved. Cursing under his breath, Adar crouched, went out the door, and picked up a small rock from the side of the home. The stoop had a small bush to either side that helped him feel less exposed. I’ve either lost any sense that I had or I’m trusting too much to luck, he thought as he tossed the rock towards the wounded man. It landed just in front of him, but the man didn’t appear to notice.
“What are you doing?” Barc hissed from behind.
Weren’t you the one that just insisted we needed to save him? Adar didn’t turn but made a shushing motion with his hand as he picked up another small rock.
A flash of light came from the porch of a house on the other side of the square and Adar perked up, hoping for a metalman to appear. After several seconds had passed, the flashing light came again.
He squinted and sighed. It was a weather vane, tossing back and forth in the wind, reflecting the light of the sun as it peered down through the clouds.
In a conversation with an Ou Qui, Jorad had learned that the Ou Qui thought of the metalmen as gods. If Semal was to be believed that couldn't be further from the truth. The metalmen had been built by their ancestors. They had disappeared during the time of the Severing. Adar was glad to find that they were still around.
If they are left over from the first Hunwei war, they may know how to fly the ships. The thought sent a chill down his back. Why didn’t I think of that before? I should have approached the Ou Qui. The metalmen would know how the ships work!
He had speculated that the hidden weapon caches left by their fathers would contain ships. Over the years, he had worked hard not to allow the idle thoughts turn into expectations, especially after he had discovered what was behind the Rarbon Portal doors.
What good is a bunch of racks with black boxes?
The question had bothered him for years. If things that night had happened differently, he would have taken the time to find out. Curse the Redd Guard and their devotion to ancient laws long forgotten.
Right here in front of him where ships. If he could capture and bring one under his own control he might—together with Derren’s tablets—just give them the fighting chance they needed. He wasn’t under any illusions he would be able to walk onto a ship and get it off the ground.
Some of what he’d read had said that the human variety of ships had been manned by dozens—even hundreds—of people. That wasn’t a surprise since large ocean-going ships had large crews too.
Adar had been certain they could figure out the mechanics of working the ships over time, but having metalmen on hand could speed up the process considerably.
If the Ou Qui had metalmen, there had to be others, he just didn't know where to begin looking for them. During their travels, Adar had always kept his ears open for strange phenomena and outlandish stories, hoping to find additional secrets from the past.
I never once heard anything that made me wonder if the Ou Qui had metalmen, he thought as he tossed another rock, this time aiming for the back of the wounded man. He lobbed it in the air so that it would get the man’s attention without doing any damage.
The rock hit the man on the head.
Adar winced. Bleeding Melyah, Barc’s going to think I did that on purpose.
“Hasn’t the poor man suffered enough?” Barc asked in a harsh whisper. “Now you go and do something like that. Like father, like son.”
Adar ignored Barc as the wounded man turned, a confused expression on his face. Just as Adar was about to beckon the man to join them, a group of Hunwei came out onto the town square.
“Bleeding Melyah,” Adar muttered, freezing and making a motion to the wounded man to lay down on the ground while holding a finger up to his lips with the other.
The man opened his mouth but saw Adar’s gesture in time. When he didn’t go to ground, Adar made the same motion again. A ship was between the Hunwei and the wounded man, but he didn’t have long at the rate they were walking.
The man looked about to say something, so once again Adar brought his finger up to his mouth. This idiot’s going to get us all killed. If I wave my arm anymore, the Hunwei will see me for sure. Crouching lower in the scant coverage of the bushes, Adar waved his hand again, mouthing the word ‘danger.’ After doing that, he crawled backward into the door, nudging Barc out of the way with his foot.
The man still hadn’t moved once Adar was back inside. This guy has less than a minute. Adar began to count backward and brought up his blaster, using the cover of the building to pantomime shooting.
The man paled and cried out. He shifted, his severed arm visible in the late afternoon light. It had been severed below the elbow, clearly the work of a blaster. He scrambled to his feet, still clutching his arm.
He’s not going to make it! Adar waved his arms about and caught the man’s attention for a brief second. His eyes were wide, and a scream erupted from his mouth as he ran towards them. Melyah, I shouldn’t have tried to help the man, if the Hunwei see him come in here, we’re finished.
Barc gave Adar a look of horror. “What have you done?”
“Hide!”
The Hunwei turned the corner just as Adar went out of sight by placing his back against the wall beside the door. Barc was back at the window, peering through the small crack in the curtains.
“This is bad.” Barc's whisper was hoarse. “Very bad.”
Adar could feel his heart beating in his chest, it was strong enough that some irrational part of him was afraid the Hunwei would be able to hear it. The man screamed again. It was close enough that Adar cringed. A few more seconds and the man would be to them, bringing with him the Hunwei.
Adar brought up his blaster and wrapped his hand around the button at the front of the weapon. He placed the finger of his other hand on the trigger, touching it lightly. Barc was ready to fire his blaster as well and shook bad enough that the Adar was afraid he might accidentally touch off a shot.
The sound of a blast cut through the air. At first, Adar thought it had come from Barc, but it was followed by a thud just outside their door.
Adar winced as a final scream came from the man, seeming to echo around the room. The poor fool never had a chance.
A yell came from outside that Adar could only describe as a whooping cry, but it was much deeper than a man’s voice and sounded more like a snarl.
Perhaps that’s just my imagination. It doesn’t sound much different than any other sound they’ve made.
Boots scraped on the cobblestones as heavy muffled footsteps approached, stopping just outside the door. The Hunwei snarled back and forth in differing tones.
Is that two distinct voices or three? Adar hadn’t stopped to count the Hunwei in the group, but it had easily been more than ten. One is distinct and lower than the others. The others could be two more voices or just be my imagination.
A dull wrenching sound blocked out
the Hunwei conversation.
The intensity of it was such that Adar assumed it came from a ship. He tried to remember back to earlier in the day when he’d witnessed the departure of several ships and was unable to recall whether they too had made the same sound.
My mind was on other things. Too much had just happened.
After it was done, he could hear the Hunwei once more. Their voices were getting closer to the door. The tortured sound from the ship started again and repeated, becoming a slow throbbing sound that increased in intensity and speed, drowning out the Hunwei voices. Adar looked in front of the doorway hoping to see shadows, but there wasn’t enough direct sunlight to pinpoint much of anything.
He gripped his blaster, envisioning in his mind the Hunwei stepping into the room. If he weren't noticed by the first, he’d let it go until the second one was inside as well.
Two quick shots, he thought. I can do this.
He took in a breath and let it out slowly. After he’d done the same thing for the fifth time without anything happening, he chanced looking outside the door and relaxed.
The Hunwei were a stone’s throw away, heading towards the closest ship.
Bleeding Melyah that was close. He lowered his blaster. One less ship to take but also fewer Hunwei to kill.
Chapter 20
The ship door closed and Adar lowered his blaster, wondering what kind of damage a blast would do to the hull of the ship. He wasn’t willing to risk taking a shot just to see what happened, but it was difficult to watch another ship slip through his grasp even though it was part of his plan to let exactly that happen. Once two more ships were gone, it would be time to make his move, but as each one disappeared, he would become more anxious about their chances.
Adar’s mouth formed a thin line when he took in the wounded man who had died within a step or two of the door. As Adar had thought, his hand and lower forearm had been taken off by a blast as well. If only the man would have ducked down. He would have blended in with the other bodies, and the Hunwei would have walked right past him.