“Well, you’ve been here for a little over a year now, and your recognition was today. Every Pioneer gets recognized, either publicly or privately. Yours was public, of course. After the recognition, you have the option of choosing whether you will start your own squad of two or continue to work with me.”
Caleb sighed, speechless. The decision didn’t seem too difficult, but he needed to know what went into a decision like that. “What happens when I decide?” he asked.
“You’ll have to honor that commitment for at least two years, but you have eight weeks to decide,” she said. “I set it up that way so that each recognized Pioneer would have the time to make an informed decision after a few trial runs with whatever direction he chose to go.”
Caleb rested his hand on his dagger that was attached to his belt, staring at the blaze that was now crackling and lighting up his eyes as the night settled in. “I just don’t know if I’m ready to make my decision yet,” he said.
“It won’t hurt my feelings if you say you don’t want to work with me anymore.”
“Will it not?” he asked. The feeling of rejection had returned. Was she trying to push him away?
“No,” she said. The smoke from the bonfire clouded into the air, and the Pioneers were celebrating the night as usual. Sarai’s face was stern, and her expression did not fit with the livelihood of the festivities.
Caleb fumbled around in his heart to say the words that rattled within him. “I suppose you’re just saying that because you want to get rid of me?” he asked.
“Of course not. You’re a great soldier, and I feel safer when I’m with someone who is as experienced as you. That said, you have to make your own choices.”
“So I’m just a soldier to you? Just a good fighter and nothing else?” He pulled his dagger out of its hilt and spun it around in his hand, not looking up at Sarai.
“That’s not what I’m saying.” Sarai ducked slightly, leaning in to meet eyes with Caleb. “I don’t know what you want from me. You and I are partners, Caleb. That’s all we’re ever going to be.”
“You’re wrong about that,” Caleb replied, finally meeting eyes with her and shaking his head. “We aren’t going to be partners either. I think I’ve made my decision. I want to start my own squad. One that doesn’t involve you.”
“This is still about the kiss isn’t it?”
“What? No! I told you that I wish I wouldn’t have kissed you. This is about me understanding that you don’t see me as anything else other than a partner.”
“What else is there to see you as? Someone who I want to be with? Because that’s certainly not true.”
Caleb paused and put his hand over his mouth briefly, then he dropped his arm to his side, looking around. “So that’s that?”
“Not for me it isn’t. Just because we can’t be together doesn’t mean that we can’t fight together, but it’s all or nothing for you.”
“What is it that’s keeping us from being more than that?” he asked.
She pulled her braid over her shoulder. “Even though you’ve changed a lot, you still think like a Naturalist. Just because someone feels a certain way, doesn’t mean she has to act on it.”
“So you’re saying that you are interested in me?”
“That’s not what I mean,” she said, shaking her head. “What I’m saying is that what you’re used to doing is reading someone’s thoughts, hearing what she’s thinking, and then acting on those thoughts as if the thoughts themselves were truly the intention of the person’s heart. A person’s will is more complex than that. It’s not just a matter of hearing what the will says and then responding. That’s what you want from me. Was I interested in you at one time? Maybe,” she said hesitantly. “But that’s not what I feel now. You still think that just because you have an impulse or a quick thought that you need to respond to that thought. That’s why you chased after Shauna when she was captured by the Polarists even though Gardiv told you not to.”
His face bunched together in anger, and he pointed at her. “You’re wrong about that. Shauna was in trouble and we could have done something about it. I did what I thought was right, and that’s why I went after her.”
“What you thought was right? You’re still thinking about yourself. What if we would have all gotten killed? Then what?”
“You told me a year ago, when we were digging the Mounds in the Training Ward, that we never leave our own. But that’s what you and Gardiv were willing to do. I’m just not that cold-hearted.”
“Shauna is not one of us. Should we protect her? Absolutely. Should go look for her? Of course. At that moment, you were out of line making a decision that could have put us all in danger. Gardiv was right, if they wanted to kill her, then they would have done it.”
“That's what happened to me when I lost my emblem!” He jammed his finger in his scar. “I was ambushed and no one,” he paused and lowered his voice, whispering. “And no one came back.”
“You had a bad experience, and you decide that every time that you see something similar to that experience, you should just go and do something about it. That’s stupid and reckless. We have every intention of going after Shauna, but we have to be strategic. At the time that the Polarists took her, we didn’t even have the Anaerobia. There was nothing that we could have done to stop the Polarists, even if we wanted to.”
Caleb shook his head. “Sounds like Second Watch Pioneer Sarai Alma is putting faith in the Anaerobia...just like she used to do with her emblem.”
She stomped her foot and pointed at him with her finger almost touching his nose. He didn’t move back, but he stared into her eyes. “Don’t you dare say that! You are out of line Pioneer Eaves. I don’t depend on the Anaerobia, but I do know that without it we would march into our death. With the emblem it was different. The emblem was who I was. It was my identity. It ruled me. I didn’t command it. It commanded me. The Anaerobia is different. It’s a weapon, and it’s a tool. I’m not useless without it. I could live the rest of my life without it, and I would never feel the shame that I felt when I was extracted.”
Caleb smiled, knowing that he had upset her, smugly turning his dagger in his hand. “You know what I think this is,” he said. “I think you’re jealous of me because it took you two years to do what I’ve done in one. You wish that you could have been promoted as quickly as I was, and now you don’t want me around because you hate knowing that I’m better than you.”
Sarai closed her eyes and tried to relax, slowly breathing in the air that was thick with the taste of smoke from the fire. The irritation welled within her. She threw her hand up, grunted, and walked off. “Just don’t even talk to me, Caleb.”
He watched her walk back up the street to her house. The bonfire burned, and it didn’t seem to pay any attention to Caleb. The Pioneers were still having their own private conversations, and the laughter continued even after Sarai left.
The night thickened, and more people filled the streets, but Sarai didn’t return to the bonfire. Why was she being so belligerent? She should have just admitted that she was jealous, and then at least their separation would have been a lot clearer. He would have liked to continue training with her, but he had made his decision. He wanted to go off and form his own squad. It wasn’t going to be easy, but he knew that he’d be able to do it with hard work and perseverance.
He wouldn’t be as weak of a trainer as Sarai was. She explained too much, and she got over things too quickly. A trainer needed to be direct and assertive, and he was both of these things. As he thought to himself about his experience with Sarai as his trainer, he realized that there was so much that she didn’t teach him. It didn’t matter, because he knew most of what she was showing him anyway, both in the physical training and the understanding of the Pioneer ideals.
Becoming a Third Watch was the most rewarding thing that had come to him since his extraction, and he was going to make sure that he did it right. He was going to make good decisions, and he if he needed
to act on his gut feelings, then he would because that’s where he thrived. They could have prevented Shauna from being captured if Sarai and Gardiv would not have hesitated to go back and save her, but they did, and so she was taken away. Once he figured out where she was, he was going after her, squad or no squad. Then they would see.
=====
The next day came, and Caleb went to Gardiv’s house to find him. He wanted to know what he needed to do next since Sarai was so vague about his next task. The Third Watch position was not something that he was going to take lightly. He wanted as much information about the promotion as he could gather.
Gardiv was already walking up the road towards the bonfire, his broad shoulders absorbing the morning sunlight. “Are you looking for me?” Gardiv asked.
“I wanted to thank you again for the surprise promotion,” Caleb said.
“You earned it, with what you did to Wex and how you saved my life, and how you’ve taken to the Pioneer training like you have. You’re a good soldier and an even better man.”
“I appreciate that.” Caleb reached his boot back and scraped the sole of it on the porch, relaxed. “What do you expect of me as the Third Watch? I’m not sure what comes with the promotion.”
“Sarai didn’t tell you?”
“All she said was that I get to figure out how I want to lead the Pioneers and that I couldn’t focus on heading up the military or the personal training because those two are already taken.”
Gardiv shook his head. “The Third Watch is more than that. I’m surprised she didn’t say. You'll be in charge of the Southern Sector of Juten.” He squinted at Caleb with one eye open as he shaded his face from the sunlight.
“What does that entail?”
“Sarai and I head up the Northern Sector, and we have been looking for someone to take charge of the Southern Sector. Now I think we've found him.” Gardiv smiled out the side of his mouth.
Sarai really was jealous of him. At first he just thought it, but now he knew it. He was, in rank, higher than she was even though she was a Second Watch. That’s probably why she didn’t say much about it. “What do I have to do?”
“You’ll want to move your things from this side of the island down to the southern side so that you can meet the people down there and get acquainted. We’ll need you to organize their military efforts as well as their training. This will take some of the pressure off of me and Sarai so that we can focus on things up here. Soon enough, you’ll want to appoint a Fourth Watch to help you with your duties.”
Caleb scratched the side of his stubbly beard. He would have someone working under him too. Sarai had to have known this, but why didn’t she say anything? “I’ll move my things right away, Pioneer Baroq.”
“I’m glad to hear it. The Pioneers from southern Juten are going to be glad to see you. They won’t have to travel half a day to train anymore, and with some time and energy, you’ll be able to fully supply that side of the city. Quite frankly, this couldn’t have come at a better time. Our numbers are growing, and we have needed to appoint a Third Watch for some time now.”
Caleb looked at the ground and glided his boot over a few of the rocks. “I’m just glad to have this opportunity.”
They both turned and focused on a man running down the road, calling out for Gardiv. The hood of his tunic flapped in the wind behind him. Caleb and Gardiv ran towards him. The man was out of breath. He didn’t say anything but he handed Gardiv a letter in a sealed envelope. The note was stamped with the Narwine crest, tattered as if it had exchanged many hands before arriving. Gardiv ripped it open hastily.
“What does it say?” Caleb asked.
Gardiv didn’t answer, but he mumbled through the lines on the note, stretching the edges of the letter as if he would tear it. His eyes were fixed on the words. He shuffled the message through his hands as he moved it to read the lower part of the note. Then he flipped it over in a rush and skimmed through it again.
Caleb's eyes flicked from the letter to Gardiv and then back to the letter.
“It’s from Natasha, my sister,” said Gardiv. His words trailed away as if they were lost on the horizon where his gaze slowly followed. His expression was stale, and his mouth hung open.
“What about her?” Caleb asked, trying to prompt Gardiv to explain more.
The look on Gardiv's face changed. His cheeks sagged into an open-mouthed frown. Caleb had never seen this part of Gardiv before. “She says she wants to see me.”
“What do you want to do about it?” Caleb asked.
Gardiv’s lips moved but his words were nearly silent. “I don’t know. I’d like to see her if I could.”
“What’s keeping you from going?”
The militant side of Gardiv returned, but his somber voice remained, almost as if he were pleading with Caleb. “We just don’t have the time. There’s Broughtonhaven and then there’s Shauna. Not to mention I haven’t been back to Bahoil since the extraction. I’m not really...welcome there,” he said.
“Because of what happened with the prison and the guard?” Caleb asked.
Gardiv turned to Caleb, letter clenched tightly in his fist with the same drab look in his eyes. “There was more to it than that.”
THE PAST: TEN YEARS BEFORE EXTRACTION
Gardiv sat in the witness stand at the packed courthouse outside of the northeastern Narwine city of Bahoil. The Materialists sat in front of him in a semicircular arrangement, and Gardiv was positioned in the center of them. The room was lit with wall torches that flickered back and forth from the draft that slid in from outside. The night was cool, but the witnesses' stares were as cold as iced rods of steel as they sat on the benches ready to accuse Gardiv of whatever accusations were hurled at him.
The middle aged judge was set to make the verdict, sitting at his stand that was stationed off to his Gardiv's right. Everything was in Gardiv's favor as far as he was the concerned. Who cared that the witnesses hated him? The judge believed him, and that's all that mattered. The outrage of the people couldn’t prevent justice from happening. They wanted to see him suffer because he was rich. Because he had more than they did, but the judge could see through their accusations, and the judge was going to give the verdict so that Gardiv could be set free, so Gardiv sat back confidently in his chair and crossed his hands in his lap, half smile on lips.
“We have heard the case,” said the judge in his strong voice. “The boy Malto was acting inappropriately towards Natasha Baroq, and Gardiv stepped in to prevent the brutality, as was his civil duty. I can see no other way to rule this but ‘not guilty’ unless someone has an objection.”
The courtroom was silent. No one had any proof despite the countless faces of people who stood up to testify only to have their claims falsified by some other shred of evidence. This was all Gardiv needed to be released – the verdict.
Moments passed, and the judge shrugged with the intention of calling his ruling, but a woman arose. Her hair was spread in all directions to cover the fresh bruises on her face, and her brown, leather fitted outfit loosened around her as she stood. She pushed her chair back and rolled up her sleeves to expose the lesions on her skin.
“I was there. The whole time,” she growled, voice deeper than normal. “That man,” Natasha said, pointing to her brother down her split-nailed fingertip, “rushed into the house, and he saw Malto and me doing things that are not fitting to say in public, and he lost control.”
Gardiv jumped to his feet. “That’s not true!” he yelled, auburn emblem flashing.
“Let the woman speak,” said the judge, motioning to the Gardiv to be seated.
“My brother burst through the door and in a uncontrolled rage, he murdered the man whom I loved!” Natasha screamed and flailed pointing at him.
The people broke out into an uproar, and the judge banged his gavel to try to calm them down. Many of them yelled for his extraction. Some cried out for his death, but others contended that death was too easy for him. The judge stood to his
feet to calm the court down. Natasha was unmoved in her gaze at Gardiv, shoulders shifting up and down as she panted.
“Natasha,” the judge called. “Why are you just now telling us this? You could have brought this up days ago.”
Her hair was still scattered over her face except for where she had uncovered her sores. “I wanted to see if my brother had the integrity to admit his crime. But I was wrong about him. He is a coward, and a coward deserves nothing less than EXTRACTION!” She pounded her fist in the air. The people shouted with her.
The judge quieted the people again, and he rubbed his brow and looked down at his desk, sifting through his papers. Something about his expression seemed to be unsettled about the decision, but there was also no way he could deny the testimony of the woman who was at crime scene.
“By the evidence of the primary witness, I can do nothing but,” the judge sighed, “sentence this man, Gardiv Baroq, to extraction and life in prison.” He banged the gavel. The solid wooden thud thumped in Gardiv’s chest.
The people hollered and cursed at him. He was dumbfounded. Moments ago he was set to be freed, and with a turn of events, his own sister, the woman he had saved, had testified against him and destroyed any credibility that he had.
The Materialist citizens stormed in on him, grabbed him, and slammed him on the floor. They stomped in his face, and they yanked at his emblem, claws tearing into the flesh of his chest. Dozens swarmed in on him, beating him and trying to pull his stone from his torso.
“Make sure you let him live!” some of them yelled.
“Try to keep him alive!” screamed some of the others.
Gardiv clenched his eyes closed as the people pounded his face. Tiny sparks zipped across his body. Metallic particles rolled over the wooden floor. He charged himself with fire, and his skin lit up with flames, but he was unharmed. The people who were holding him were set ablaze, and they fell backwards rolling and tumbling on the floor, trying to put out the flames.
“He’s using his emblem! Get him!” they yelled.
Infused (Book 2 of The Pioneers Saga) Page 11