“We understand, Tani,” Steel said. “I think that the looks you’re getting are more along the lines of wow, I wanna be her rather than wow, she’s ruthless.”
Tani laughed softly. “In that case, I’m sorry for the lecture.”
“No, don’t be sorry,” one of the older men, Markus said. “You’re correct, young lady, and some of us needed to hear what you just said. Because of you, and you alone, we may be able to preserve what is left of the Khun of Garza.” He shook his head. “Some of us discussed learning the ways of defending ourselves in case the Xanti or the Nomen came back, but in the end we decided it wasn’t necessary. I was one who voted against it. I’ve lived this past year in regret, but tonight, thanks to you, I have a chance to redeem myself a little.”
“Regret does no one any good, Markus,” Tani said gently. “You made a decision based on what you knew at the time. It doesn’t help to wish you’d done different, or to beat yourself up for it.”
“No, it doesn’t, but tonight will make a difference,” Markus said. “If nothing else, they will know that we’re no longer filled with fear as we once were.”
Tani nodded deeply to the older man, respecting him. She looked up to check the position of the thin sliver of the moon. “It’s about that time,” she said. Steel nodded, and everyone stood up and began moving toward the peak of the hill where the rock observation post would give them a good view of the mine below. The area wasn’t brightly lit, and Tani still had a hard time believing that the buildings weren’t situated so that each guard was in view of at least one other, but as Naran had said, they weren’t guarding against an attack. They were there to keep the workers in.
They waited silently while Khurda used a pair of night vision binoculars to check each of the Nomen on duty. It was nearly impossible to tell them apart, especially with helmets on, but there was one Nomen in particular that he was looking for, that Naran had told him about. That one had massive scarring covering half of his face, and one artificial eye that had night vision. If that Nomen was on duty, they’d have to change their plan so that Tani could take him out first. Finally, Khurda lowered the glasses and nodded, relieved that the Nomen he was most worried about wasn’t on duty.
Tani pulled the dark hood attached to her borrowed sweater up over her head and tightened the draw string. She wished she had a way to cover her face, but they hadn’t been able to come up with anything in the short amount of time they had. She settled for tightening the drawstring enough that it rose up over her chin, covering her mouth, and pulled it down enough that it covered her forehead. That left her nose and eyes visible, but from Steel’s nod of approval, it was enough. She looked down at Wily, whose little head poked just above the edge of the bag, and whispered softly to him. He mewled back and she nodded, satisfied that he would stay down, remain silent, and hang on tightly.
The first wave of six, plus Tani in Steel’s arms, took off and coasted quietly down to the near corner of the compound, just inside the fence. They landed and shifted, then everyone stilled, their ears straining for the slightest noise. Tani was annoyed by the few scattered lights around the grounds because they actually made it more difficult for her to see. She took her time though, in no rush to make a mistake that could cost someone their life.
She set out along the fence line, moving past the storage sheds that were clustered around the edges of the compound, then began working her way inward to the first of the Nomen’s two bunkhouses which sat side by side near the fence. When she was sure the area was clear, she signaled Steel. He turned and motioned for two men to move into the deep shadows at one end of the building. If there were any kind of commotion, they’d do what they could to keep the Nomen from exiting the bunkhouse through either of its two doors. Tani led the way to the end of the next Nomen bunkhouse, and the other two men took up their positions just as the first two had.
Satisfied that the Nomen’s bunkhouses were covered as best as possible for the moment, she headed for the women’s bunkhouse, using the supply and storage shacks as cover until she had a clear view of one side. She shook her head when she saw the guard standing with his head tilted back against the wall of the building as though he were either sleeping, or counting the stars. She inched closer in absolute silence, glad that the three men behind her made no more sound than she did. She stopped just outside the circle of light thrown by a bare bulb over the door that the Nomen was supposed to be guarding. She slipped two shuriken out of the pouches at her waist and signaled Khurda, who moved up beside her. She looked at him, and he met her gaze and nodded. Then, without appearing to aim, she raised one hand and released the deadly, razor sharp star-shaped steel.
To Khurda, the shuriken flew so fast that it seemed to disappear from her small hand one second, and appear in the guard’s throat at the same moment. He took off running, his shoes silent on the rough blacktop surface that covered the ground over most of the compound, his eyes on the guard whose hands had risen half way toward his throat before falling back to his sides. He slumped to the ground, dead on his feet, but Khurda managed to reach him just before he landed. He held the heavy Nomen for one heartbeat, then lowered him slowly to the ground before releasing him. He knelt down, looked into the glassy, dead eyes, grabbed the guard’s laser weapon, and yanked the shuriken out of the Nomen’s throat without letting himself pause to think about it.
When Tani had said she wanted them to retrieve the shuriken, he’d felt sick to his stomach at the thought, and resolved not to do it. Then she’d told them that she’d never done anything like this either, and he’d felt ashamed of himself. She had the courage to do what had to be done for his people and, if he couldn’t do the same, he’d never be able to live with himself.
He ran back to Tani and offered her the shuriken, but she shook her head. He frowned as he looked down at it, then saw the wet, slippery blood, and understood that it wasn’t safe to be used as it was. He put it into his pocket and followed Tani as she worked her way to the other side of the building, Steel just behind him. When she stopped, Marbic moved up and tapped him on the shoulder, so he stepped back behind Steel.
Tani looked to be sure Marbic was ready, then studied her next target. This guard was sitting on the ground, leaning against the building he was supposed to be guarding, his head down. Even if he hadn’t been covering his throat with his chin, she was too high to make the shot. She knelt down on the blacktop, looked around carefully and smiled when she found a small, pea sized bit of gravel. She sat down, gesturing to Marbic to stay where he was when he started to sit down as well. Then she threw the bit of gravel hard so that it hit the wall a foot above the guard’s head. A heartbeat later the sleeping guard automatically lifted his head to look up, above him, where the sound had come from. Tani released the shuriken and the man’s hands came up to his throat as he slid sideways to the ground before Marbic could reach him.
Since he slid down there was no noise, but Marbic was still frustrated that he hadn’t reached the guard fast enough. He checked to be sure the clone was dead, retrieved the shuriken and the guard’s side arm, then returned.
They took out the next three guards without incident, but it was the sixth guard, and the guard on the office, the seventh, that Tani was most concerned about because they were in view of each other. In addition, the guard on the office was much too close to Brutus. She had no doubt that the slightest unfamiliar noise would alert Brutus, and that would ruin everything.
According to their plan, the rest of the men should have already flown into the compound and were waiting for them to finish the guards, but she couldn’t rush this. She examined everything, then went back and examined everything again. Then she turned to face Steel, Marbic and Khurda. They leaned in close to each other, all of them having sharp enough hearing to discern the barest whisper, and told them what they needed to do.
They stared at her in surprise. “You’re both very good at being silent,” she said. “If I didn’t think you could do this, I wouldn�
�t ask it of you.”
“We know we can do it,” Marbic said. “We’re worried about you. You’re going to expose yourself to them both.”
“Only for a moment,” she said. “I’ve got the advantage because neither of them are expecting anything. By the time their brains figure out what they’re seeing, they’ll be dead. Steel can catch the one on the bunkhouse, but I need both of you to keep the one on the office silent. Once he’s dead, move him off the porch. Hopefully, Brutus will think he went to relieve himself if he happens to look out.”
“All right,” Marbic said, nodding. “You can count on us, Tani. How will you know when we’re in place?”
“I’ll see you,” she said. Then she patted them on the shoulders and sent them on their way. She and Steel moved back to the corner of a shed and watched both guards while she listened for any noises that shouldn’t be there. She felt a rustling in her pocket and glanced down at Wily. She rubbed his head with one fingertip, then whispered softly to him before reaching for two shuriken. She weighed them in her hands, rubbed her fingers along the surfaces, then held them both in a throwing grip. She looked up, checking the targets again before looking for Marbic and Khurda. She spotted them after just a few seconds, one on each side of the office as she’d directed. The guard between them was sitting on the top of three steps, his elbows resting on his knees. As she watched, he stood up, and stretched, which bothered her. This was the fourth of the seven guards she’d observed who behaved like a normal human rather than a human under tight control. She wondered about that for a moment, then set it aside and focused on the guard who now paced across the porch to one end, turned around and walked to the other end, his back to her.
His body language didn’t indicate alertness, and he’d done this repeatedly while she’d been watching him, so she knew it was now, or wait five minutes before he did it again. The other guard stood outside the final bunkhouse door, watching the guard over at the office. Tani took a slow, deep breath, then blew it out silently as she moved away from Steel, and the dark shadows she’d used as cover, and stepped into view. The office guard had his back to her at the moment, so she focused on the other guard. She moved quickly and silently, reaching a position half way between the two widely separated guards before the bunkhouse guard stiffened, a clear indication that he’d finally noticed her. She instantly threw the shuriken in her left hand, knowing Steel wouldn’t be able to reach him before he hit the ground, but unable to take out the office guard because he still had his back to her.
She drew another shuriken, the bunkhouse guard fell to the ground with a soft, barely discernable thump, and the office guard stopped and turned toward it. She threw both shuriken, then started running straight toward him, two more shuriken already in her hands before he began to slump down. Marbic caught him, and Khurda joined him a second later, so Tani stopped, turned around, and returned to the shadows where Steel now waited. He’d been unable to catch the last bunkhouse guard, but he had been able to move him into the deeper shadows so he couldn’t be seen from the office.
They watched as Khurda and Marbic carried the office guard off the porch and around the side of the building. A moment later they rejoined Tani and Steel at the back of the bunkhouse and together they returned to the far corner of the compound where the rest of the men waited.
The moment they appeared a low murmur broke out and Tani had to immediately silence them. Then she waved four men off to get the beams to brace the doors on the Nomen bunkhouses before gesturing for everyone else to gather close so they could hear her whisper.
“The guards are dead, but Brutus isn’t and he’s more dangerous than all the rest put together. We need to maintain silence.” Everyone nodded, some of them sheepishly, so she smiled to let them know that so far, they were doing well.
A couple of minutes later the four men rejoined them, signaling that all four of the Nomen’s bunkhouse doors were now braced shut, locking the sleeping Nomen inside. Her work finished, Tani stayed back, letting Steel direct his people. While she waited she wondered about the clones and controllers. Only three of the seven guards she’d observed had been alert, which made no sense if they all had controllers. She wondered if perhaps the controllers were relaxed when the host had to do something that required conscious thought or reflexes, like fighting or guarding. General Christoff, the Academy Director had run the school for no one knew how long before it was discovered that he had a controller. He had to have been able to act and react as himself for a majority of the time, otherwise he would have been discovered much sooner.
Either that, or the new controllers were far more sophisticated than the old ones had been. She shuddered at the thought, then decided she needed to discuss the matter with her parents when she saw them.
When Steel’s men began leading the freed men, women, and children to the far corner of the compound where the rest of them waited, Tani had to fight down another bout of anger. The condition of the women and children was so bad that she was very afraid for a moment that her dracon would roar again and give all of them away.
They were all so thin, and so weak, that it was obvious they’d been starved. And there were far fewer than they’d expected, too. Steel had told her they’d be a hundred and thirty three women and children, but she counted only seventy one before one of the men told her that was all. Had nearly half of them died? It was an appalling thought.
Once she had her own emotions under control she worried about the men’s tempers, but needn’t have. They were all keeping it together, focusing on getting everyone to safety. After the last of the women and children left, Tani saw that the men were arriving at the corner loaded with weapons, and smiled. Khurda had come through, not that she’d had any doubts. Time ticked by, and one after another the men shifted and flew away, while Tani waited, wondering why she’d agreed to stay in one place after taking the guards out. She was thinking about going to find Steel when, finally, he returned with Marbic and Khurda.
“Did you rig the armory?” she asked Khurda.
“No need,” he replied. “We emptied it.”
She smiled as all three men stood facing her and shifted. Khurda and Marbic spread their wings and leapt up just as Tani took a step toward Steel. She’d learned from a very young age to always follow her instincts, so she didn’t hesitate at all when something warned her that Steel was in danger. She turned mid step so that she was facing the compound, her arms spread wide so that she was covering Steel’s large body as much as she possibly could with her own much smaller form. She’d barely gotten her arms up when she heard the high pitched hissing of a laser gun fired from somewhere in the compound, followed immediately by a blue flash of light and a sharp burning sensation that seemed to encompass her entire abdomen. The burning sensation exploded into such mind numbing pain that she welcomed the dark embrace of unconsciousness that immediately followed.
Steel grabbed Tani and leapt up, his wings beating the air as he fought for altitude and distance, trying not to think about how limp she felt in his arms, or the warmth of her blood against his skin, or the fact that she’d jumped in front of him, taking the shot that should have been his. He never heard another shot fired, but he didn’t slow down until he knew he was out of range anyway. Then he looked down at Tani, smelling the blood more than seeing it against the black of her clothing, and roared his fury and anguish to the heavens.
Marbic and Khurda flew on either side of him, staying close. “What happened?” Marbic asked.
“Tani’s been shot,” Steel replied. “It’s bad.”
“Was it Brutus?” Khurda asked.
“I don’t know, but whoever it was only shot once, and didn’t raise any kind of alarm, so I doubt it.” He pulled Tani closer to his chest. “It was meant for me. She threw herself in front of me and took a shot that should have been mine.” Tears ran unnoticed down Steel’s face as he looked down into Tani’s pale face. “Why would she do such a thing?”
“Because she cares about you
,” Marbic said simply. Steel could only stare at his friend for a long moment, uncertain how to respond to that.
“I’m going back,” Khurda said.
“Why?” Marbic asked.
“Because I have half a dozen grenades that might do enough damage to their ship to keep them off of us for a little while at least. There’s no reason not to make a bit of noise now.”
“I’ll join you,” Marbic said, holding up a bag filled with grenades. “Keep going for home, Steel. We’ll be right behind you.”
Steel nodded and took off, straining to fly as fast as he could while Khurda and Marbic turned around and flew back toward the mine. The feel of Tani’s blood against his skin terrified him in a way that he’d never been terrified in his life before. It was only the slow rise and fall of her chest, the feel of her breath against his skin that kept him from losing his mind. She lived. That’s what mattered. That’s all that mattered. It was the only thing in the entire universe that mattered at that moment.
He looked down and saw Wily looking up at him beseechingly. “It’s going to be all right, boy,” he thought toward the tiny wyvern, uncertain if it would do any good. “I’m not going to let her die.” The wyvern tilted his head. “Can you understand me?” Wily tilted his head the other way, then mewled softly.
“Good boy,” he said, then checked Tani’s breathing again. His heart stuttered when he realized that it was much shallower than before. He’d be lucky to get her back to the caves alive and he knew it. Even if he did manage that much, there was no one there who knew enough about healing to save her life. Both of the women who’d been learning from the med tech had died in the mines. He knew because he’d looked for them specifically. So many had died…but he couldn’t think about that right now.
Tani's Destiny (Hearts of ICARUS Book 2) Page 18