Divide and Conquer

by Carrie Ryan

  Over the roar of the rising river she heard the sound of battle just beginning. Through the gaps in the north tower’s metal gate she caught glimpses of men fighting. She clenched her hands into fists, refusing to even consider that she might be too late.

  She had to make it to the tower. She had to keep the archers from taking aim at her best friend. She had to find a way to get Dak back safely.

  She didn’t want to think about the consequences if she failed.

  Stones fell from the sky, clattering around her: the first wave of assaults from the Viking siege engines. A few pebbles struck her shoulder and a massive boulder landed two inches to her left, almost crushing her toes.

  She was just approaching the entrance to the tower when Riq barreled into her, shoving her to safety. Behind them arrows whizzed and pots of flaming oil exploded. A few flames sputtered around their feet and Riq leapt to stomp them out.

  They stared at each other for a second, trying to catch their breath, both aware that if they’d been any slower they probably wouldn’t have made it without catching fire or getting impaled. As it was, the bridge was already beginning to crumble under the force of the swollen river and the crash of falling debris.

  “If the bridge goes, we’ll be stuck on the wrong side of the river!” Riq shouted.

  “We have to,” Sera responded. “For Dak.”

  Riq nodded and pulled Sera to her feet. Together they raced through the tower. From above they heard the shouts of soldiers trying to fight through bouts of punishing rain.

  They’d just started up a set of stone stairs when the wall to their right began to tremble. At first Sera only felt a series of vibrations but soon enough they were strong enough to jolt her off balance. Stones shook loose, pebbles falling from the ceiling.

  Men began to stream down from above, their swords drawn and their faces vivid with panic. “Run!” the soldier in the lead shouted. “They’re about to breach!” They raced back toward the fortified island.

  Riq grabbed Sera by the wrist and began to drag her across the bridge. She dug in her heels.

  “What are you doing?” Riq asked, aghast.

  “If they breach, we fail,” she said softly.

  “If we die, any hope of avoiding the Cataclysm dissolves.”

  They looked at each other as soldiers streamed past them. One man made it only three steps along the bridge before being struck by an arrow. He fell to his knees and collapsed, his sword clattering from his grasp.

  There was another loud thud and the ground jolted under their feet, causing Sera to stumble. A tremendous cracking sound boomed as fissures raced through the outer wall of the tower. Streaks of watery morning light began to filter through, accompanied by the sound of Vikings raging.

  The tower wall was crumbling.

  Sera looked back at the fortified island through the rain. Soldiers ringed the ramparts, their bows raised as they let loose arrow after arrow, so fast their movements were a blur.

  She slipped her hand into the sack on her belt. Her fingers tightened around the Infinity Ring, hidden inside. She knew Riq was right; it was smarter for them to retreat.

  But Sera was tired of always having to make the smart choices. Just this once, she wanted to make the bold one and follow her gut.

  Everything around her trembled and strained, the tower groaning under the onslaught of siege engines. As the first chunk fell free Sera dashed toward the fallen soldier on the bridge and snatched up his sword.

  Riq was so stunned he didn’t move to stop her. With a crashing boom, a break opened in the wall, the last bit of defense between the Vikings and the Franks crumbling. Even though her heart pounded ferociously and her hands trembled, she refused to let fear make her hesitate.

  As soon as the dust cleared from the collapsed wall, Sera leapt into the breach with the sword held high. Her gaze skimmed over the mass of Viking warriors racing toward her clad only in the skins of animals until she spotted Dak.

  “Go!” she screamed at him. “Go!”

  The moment Dak saw Sera step from the rubble of the broken wall waving a massive sword over her head Dak thought, She’s gone completely insane. Then he started running faster.

  All around him berserkrs screamed and bellowed, their faces monstrous masks of rage. Some were clearly injured, arrows piercing arms or chests, but they seemed not to notice or slow. There would be no reasoning, no calling them back. And they were all running straight for Sera and the gap in the tower.

  She stood on the pile of rubble, her sword held high in such a way that it gleamed in the damp morning. She looked bold and fierce — unlike the science geek who’d been his best friend for years.

  She looks like she’s about to get herself killed. Blood roared in Dak’s ears at the thought, making his feet pound faster than he thought was possible.

  He tried waving his arms, calling for her to fall back, but his voice was lost in the din of the battlefield.

  And then a curious thing happened. Soldiers began to pour from the breach behind Sera, men in armor with swords and axes and spears and arrows. They streamed around Sera as though she were rallying them with a battle cry.

  “For Lutetia!” they shouted, paying homage to the old Roman name for Paris as they raced into the fray.

  For an instant the berserkrs hesitated, faced with this new approaching army. Dak himself was so distracted by the sight of Sera that he didn’t notice the boy racing at him until it was too late. He tackled Dak, slamming him to the ground. Dak rolled, struggling to get a better grip on his axe as the two of them tussled for control of the weapon.

  Dak was not exactly a seasoned warrior, but he still managed to gain the advantage on his opponent, twisting until he was kneeling on his chest. Dak was just about to clobber the boy over his head with the axe handle when he held up his empty hands and gasped: “Wait! I’m with Sera!”

  The axe hovered inches from the boy’s head. The adrenaline coursing through Dak’s body urged him to strike fast and hard, but his brain was screaming at him to stop and listen.

  With a great deal of effort, he held still, hands trembling from the rush of battle. “Prove it,” he growled, surprised at how raw and angry his voice sounded.

  “My name is Billfrith,” he said. “I’m a . . . a . . .” He seemed to hesitate over the word and then leaned forward and whispered, “Hystorian.”

  Dak blinked back his surprise and then rolled from the boy, giving him a chance to breathe. “I thought you’d be older.”

  Billfrith twisted his lips. “Well, imagine my surprise when I realized the fate of the world rested in the hands of kids.”

  “Hey,” Dak countered. “We haven’t screwed it up yet, have we?”

  The other boy declined to respond to that and instead rose to his feet, tugging Dak up after him. “I’d love to sit and chat about the effectiveness of your efforts, but if you haven’t noticed we’re sitting in the middle of a battlefield. Perhaps we could find someplace less deadly to catch up.” An arrow pierced the ground between them. “Now would be a good time to start running.”

  SERA STOOD stunned as Frankish troops streamed around her, racing out toward the battlefield with weapons drawn and cries of victory on their lips. Several of them nodded to her as they ran past, as though she were somehow responsible for this turn of events.

  Surrounded by the crowd of soldiers, she lost track of Dak. The adrenaline rush of the last several moments began to dim, quickly replaced with a rising tide of panic.

  Riq appeared by her side and she clutched his arm. “Where’s Dak?!” she asked.

  “This way,” he answered, and he took off running across the battlefield. Sera followed. For the time being, both sides had halted the flow of arrows, the armies so jumbled it was impossible to let loose anything and not endanger their own men.

 
Sera and Riq took advantage of this lull, dodging past groups of sparring warriors. She cringed as blade met blade and metal sliced through leather. The Viking berserkrs lived up to their name, a sheen of madness glazing over their eyes as they fought with a rage that seemed incomprehensible.

  Riq led her toward a large stone church on the edge of the battlefield, just out of range of the fighting. Sera caught a glimpse of two tall towers bookending a wall set with arched windows before they hurried inside.

  It was the smell that did it to her. She’d been expecting a normal church, the dusty scent of stones mixed with the lingering hint of incense. What greeted her was the stench of a barnyard: wet wool, damp hay, and the close quarters of too many animals.

  The Remnant slammed into her, causing her to stumble. She was reminded of the abandoned barn on the edge of her uncle’s property and hit with the sense that this is what it should smell like.

  She swore she could feel someone taking her hand and gliding it along the flank of a horse, patiently teaching her how to care for the animal after a wild ride through the fresh grass.

  She sucked in a gasp, dizziness spiraling through her. Strong hands gripped her shoulders, easing her to the ground.

  When she was able to open her eyes she found Riq kneeling in front of her. “Sera?” he whispered.

  She blinked, trying to gather her thoughts and stop the churning in her stomach. “I . . . I’m okay.”

  It was clear from Riq’s face that he knew she was lying. Even so, he didn’t press her on it. Instead he helped her to her feet and ushered her from the vestibule into the church proper.

  Any pews that once existed had been stripped out or arranged to make crude pens for the slew of animals housed inside. But that’s not what drew Sera’s attention.

  “Dak!” she cried out, and then she was running toward her best friend.

  Dak didn’t admit it out loud, but he couldn’t have been happier to see Sera, and even Riq, running into the church. He allowed Sera to hug him, relieved to see his best friend again.

  They all started talking at once, swapping stories about what they’d been through over the past few days, but their reunion was cut short by Billfrith. He dashed in from where he’d been keeping watch in the bell tower. “Sorry, but we don’t have time for a happy reunion,” he said, out of breath. “A band of Vikings is headed this way, and they don’t look too pleased.”

  “Bill!” Sera said in surprise. Dak watched with interest as her cheeks colored. “You’re safe.”

  The Hystorian smiled shyly back at her and Dak snickered, a sound he cut off instantly when faced with a glare from Sera. He cleared his throat, but his shoulders still lurched a bit with unspent laughter.

  “I wouldn’t be the one laughing, wolf boy,” Riq muttered under his breath and now it was Dak’s turn to blush, remembering that he was basically half-naked with a wolf pelt slung from his shoulders.

  “There’s no time,” Bill insisted. Even as he said the words, a loud crash rang out from the front of the church. “I’ve barred the door, but it won’t hold for long.”

  He turned to Dak. “Do you have the SQuare?” Dak nodded, pulling it free. “And you have the Ring?” Bill asked Sera. She pulled it out but didn’t make any moves to start programming it.

  “We haven’t fixed the Break yet,” she protested.

  Bill stepped toward her and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Your safety is more important,” he said softly.

  Sera shook her head and turned to Dak. “We unraveled the code after you left. It said that we were supposed to let Siegfried take the city peacefully. Riq and I figure that the Hystorians speculated that Siegfried would settle here, never extending his power, never heading to Normandy at all.”

  Riq supplied the conclusion Sera hadn’t. “It means we messed up by prodding the Franks to fight.”

  Dak thought through the implications of that. He ran through various scenarios, playing out the effects of their actions through history like an intricate chess game. “But as long as we keep the Vikings from Normandy, we should be cool, right?” he concluded.

  Riq and Sera exchanged a glance and a shrug.

  “I mean, really all we’re doing is preventing the SQ from establishing themselves in Normandy. And if the Vikings never settle there, we’ll have done that.”

  “I guess,” Sera agreed. “But how can we do that?”

  Dak grinned. “I’ve taken care of everything.”

  They heard another boom and the cracking of wood against stone. A familiar dog came loping into view from the back of the church. When she reached Dak she reared on her hind legs to place her front paws on his shoulders. Vígi gave his face a very wet lick and Dak gagged at the smell.

  Behind her ambled Rollo, each footfall the sound of thunder. Sera, Riq, and Bill all drew weapons although their faces paled.

  “Your friend is right,” Rollo boomed. “I’ll keep Siegfried and the others from Normandy if that’s what needs to happen. I hear Burgundy is nice this time of year and that King Charles the Fat has a fondness for paying large fees to those who help him quell uprisings. Nothing a man like Siegfried likes better than a hefty purse of silver!”

  Sera glanced at Dak, her eyes huge. “He’s with you?” she mouthed. Dak grinned.

  “That’s really all we had to do?” Riq asked, his suspicion evident.

  Rollo glanced over his shoulder toward the front of the church. “Well, that and get out of here as fast as possible. In about three minutes Siegfried’s men are coming in here after you. I can do a better job of barring the door, but if it didn’t keep me out you can bet they’ll get in eventually.”

  Dak turned to Sera. “You ready?” he asked, holding out the SQuare. She glanced at Bill and swallowed, finally nodding.

  “Where to?” she asked.

  Riq took the SQuare and called up the information on the third Break. He traced his fingers lightly over a pattern of circles, his forehead furrowing.

  Around them animals shifted in their makeshift stalls, a few sheep bleating their unease.

  It had never taken the older boy this long to piece together a The Art of Memory puzzle. Previously, he’d only had to glimpse the pattern to ascertain the time and place of the next Break that needed to be fixed.

  “We have to hurry,” Dak stressed. He was about to say more when Sera placed her hand on his arm, stopping him. The expression on her face was enough for Dak to know she wanted him to shut up and let Riq work.

  Dak scowled — since when had Sera stood up for Riq over him?

  He had certainly missed a lot in the past few days.

  “I’ve got it!” Riq shouted. He tilted the screen to show the two of them, but it only looked like a random swirling pattern to Dak. He glanced at Sera, wondering if she saw something he didn’t, but she appeared just as confused.

  “Washington, DC — former capital of the United States, in 1814. Looks like we’re headed to the War of 1812,” Riq explained.

  A few days ago Dak would have been clapping his hands together with glee over the prospect of witnessing another battlefield firsthand. He’d spent so many afternoons daydreaming about what those places had been like in the heat of battle.

  But he only sighed. “Another war,” he said dryly. “Awesome.”

  SERA FOCUSED on her fingers flying over the controls of the Infinity Ring because that way she didn’t have to look at Bill. Every time she glanced over at him her stomach fluttered. To calm herself down she ran differential equations through her head, but it didn’t seem to work the way it usually did.

  “Oh, for the love of mincemeat,” she muttered, angry at herself for spending the last few moments she had in the year 885 avoiding the fact that she’d gone and gotten a crush on the Hystorian.

  As if he knew she was thinking of him, he slid down
the wall to sit next to her where she’d found a quiet nook to program the Ring. Her fingers fumbled over the controls.

  It didn’t help that Dak and Riq kept peeking around the corner at her anxiously while the giant Viking paced back and forth, swinging his axe through the air.

  And yet if Sera was honest with herself, she didn’t want to go. Not yet. She cleared her throat, trying to think of something to say.

  “That looks complicated,” Bill said, staring at the Ring. She only nodded in response.

  “Dak said you were the one to make it work.” He ran his fingers through his dark hair and Sera wondered if he was as nervous as she felt. “That’s pretty impressive.”

  “Thanks.” Sera’s fingers stilled on the controls.

  Bill stared at the Ring. “I guess that means it’s all programmed and you’re ready to go?”

  Was it just Sera or was there a hint of regret in his voice? She took a chance with her answer and told him the truth. “I finished programming it a couple of minutes ago.”

  “Then why . . . ?” Bill’s face scrunched in confusion and then he seemed to understand what she was saying. That she’d pretended to keep working on the Infinity Ring to buy more time because she didn’t want to leave. “Oh!”

  Sera had faced down a horde of berserkrs but turning toward Bill in that moment was one of the hardest things she’d done. “I wish you could go with us,” she murmured. She felt her cheeks blaze hot, but that was okay because she was pretty sure Bill was blushing, too.

  He laid his hand on where hers gripped the Infinity Ring. “Me, too. But you know better than anyone what it means to be a Hystorian: My job is to stay behind and record what I know for future Hystorians. If I warp away with you, then the truth of what happened here will be lost.”