by Jamie Davis
There was a wave from the rear. Tris stood to signal that Morgan was ready to enter. A few moments later, the Wedding March played over the room’s speakers and Morgan stepped out from the alcove by the mess hall entrance.
She was beautiful. Her white dress was simple, looking more like an outfit for a spring picnic than a true wedding gown. But that didn’t matter. It was the perfect outfit for this setting. Morgan’s long brown hair was piled high, with mountain wildflowers woven into her braids.
Winnie glanced at Danny, feeling a tickle of envy, wondering when he might ask her to marry him. But she muffled the thought as soon as it entered her head. Their relationship had been rocky; a sudden proposal wasn’t going to fix what was slowly breaking between them. And besides, the day belonged to Morgan. Winnie’s thoughts should, too.
Morgan’s parents couldn’t be there, so Garraldi stood in for her father, walking Morgan down the aisle. Her mother and father were back in Baltimore and it had been decided not to take the risk of reaching out and trying to bring them back here to Promise Point. As far as they knew, their daughter had died in the attack on Fort Brick.
Winnie waited while the assembled guests, about fifty in all, stood and watched the bride go by. Tris swiped away her tears as Morgan passed her.
Morgan was beaming—the happiest woman in the world. Despite being in the middle of a war for their very existence, Morgan had managed to find a moment of peace and happiness. She had a baby on the way and a wonderful man to stand beside her.
Winnie was happy for her on her perfect day. She opened her mouth to welcome the guests and start reading through the script that she and Danny had prepared for the ceremony. But a shout from the corridor outside the mess hall stopped her.
Another shout, then a Duster corporal came charging into the room.
The woman looked around, eyes wide as if she just realized what she was doing. Everyone stared daggers, waiting for her to explain the interruption.
She shook it off and called out to Winnie. “Commander Durham, you have to come see something right away.”
“Corporal,” Winnie said. “Don’t you think it can wait fifteen minutes?”
“I don’t think so, ma’am. The duty officer knew where you were and told me to fetch you anyway. She says you have to come see this right now.”
“All of you, remain here,” Winnie said to the assembled guests, her heart pounding, and her skin suddenly on fire. “I’m sure whatever it is can be resolved quickly. We’ll resume the ceremony soon. I’ll send word once I get up there and know about how long I’ll be.”
She stepped off the riser then started down the aisle to accompany the corporal back upstairs to the command center. Maria and Garraldi stepped in behind her, followed by Victor, Morgan, Danny and Tris.
Winnie heard the distant explosions long before she reached the command center. Every eye in the room was glued to a series of comm surveillance windows enlarged in the center of the wall of windows.
Winnie entered the cluster of techs, searching for the officer on duty. She found him standing in the center and shouldered past the others to greet him. They were oblivious to her presence, all attention on the windows before them.
Another series of explosions shook the scene on the other side of the windows. Strange blue fire erupted in the foreground. Winnie raised a hand to shield her face from the blaze. But of course she felt nothing—this was a comm window, not a portal.
“Lieutenant,” Winnie shouted over the racket. “What’s going on here? Where is this?”
“Thank God you’re here,” the young lieutenant exclaimed.
“Where is that?” Winnie repeated, pointing at the windows.
“Baltimore. They’ve set to destroying the whole city from what we can tell. They’re using some sort of magically enhanced bombs to not only demolish the buildings, but to alter the people trying to escape.”
“Altering them how?” Victor asked.
“Sir, the blue fire seems to transform people into beasts, like those we saw back at the Brick.”
The lieutenant pointed to the nearest window. “Look, there’s a group of people trying to escape. You’ll see.”
Winnie turned back to the screen.
Another massive blast went off near a group of people fleeing down a side street, trying to escape the explosions.
Several were flung from their feet, surely dead upon landing.
Others farther away from the initial explosion were caught in the strange blue flames expanding outward from the blast.
Then Winnie saw what the lieutenant meant.
As the flames caught up to each of the survivors, they were enveloped then transformed into one of the hideous beasts Kane had summoned during their day-long battle at Fort Brick.
The beasts then turned on the few remaining survivors.
Winnie turned away from the carnage.
“When did this start?” Maria asked.
“About fifteen minutes ago,” answered one of the techs. “We have to do something, commander. We have to save at least some of them.”
“It’s too late,” Garraldi said. “By the time we assembled our forces, Baltimore will be gone. Widen the view on that window to show the whole city and you’ll see what I mean.”
A tech manipulated the magical stream feeding the monitor until the view widened and they were looking down on the city from miles above. The center was already in ruins. Smoke and fire consumed the central districts.
Winnie could also see the widening circle of blue flame and explosions expanding outward toward the city’s edges. Garraldi was right. The attack would be over in less than thirty minutes. They’d never get there in time.
Winnie concentrated, focusing her magic to open a new window. Explosions came from Winnie’s window as well, but more muted than the other feeds. “Artos,” she called out. “Can you hear me?”
The old mender stepped into view and smiled at Winnie. She saw Mr. Gunderson in the background, holding a tactical shotgun, pointed at a position out of view to the left.
He racked the slide and fired a shot.
A howl of pain. Gunderson smiled, working the pump to slide another shell into place.
“Hello, Winnie,” Artos said.
“Yeah, hello to you, too,” Winnie said. “Let me open a portal to your location and you can join us here. The city is lost; you won’t be able to hold off the beasts.”
Gunderson fired another two shots then shouted a warning.
Winnie watched in horror as a scaled creature with a crocodile’s snout hurled itself on top of the butler, knocking him flat.
“It’s too late for me, my dear,” Artos shouted. He paused to launch a bolt of energy at the creature attacking Mr. Gunderson. The beast heaved once then stilled.
No sign of Mr. Gunderson.
Artos turned back to the window. “I’ve done my job. My time is done. Now you must finish it, Winnie.”
Winnie drew in the energy to open a portal. But another three beasts charged into the room and leapt atop Artos before she could.
There was a high pitched scream, then the snarls and growls from a horde of creatures rushing into view.
The spell was no use. Winnie couldn’t reach Artos in time.
She closed the window, not wanting to see the creatures eat her old mentor. Artos was the heart of Baltimore. If he was dead, the city was truly lost.
Victor stood nearby, holding Morgan as she sobbed.
Winnie turned, looking for Danny. She found him watching the wide-view window, his eyes locked on the western outskirts and the line of blue fire advancing in that direction. Toward his parents.
“We could try and save them, Danny,” Winnie said.
He shook his head. “They chose their side. Let them live or die by that decision.”
Winnie recoiled from the cold words. Danny had never forgiven them for not petitioning Kane to release him, and instead permitted his torture.
The command room was weepin
g.
“Turn off the Baltimore feeds,” Garraldi said. “Shut them all down. It’s all but over now. We don’t need to see anything else.”
Winnie wasn’t sure what she could say to those assembled, didn’t know how she could bolster their morale in the face of what they’d witnessed.
The wave of energy struck her.
Her knees buckled.
She closed her eye against the pain.
But the planet’s shriek of agony was defeating.
Hands lifted Winnie back to her feet.
“What’s wrong?” Maria asked.
Winnie shook her head. It couldn’t be.
“What is it?” Elaine asked.
Winnie tried to say the words but couldn’t answer.
A tiny voice nearby answered for her.
“It’s the crater,” Seelie said, hovering nearby. No one had noticed her arrival. Tiny tears rolled down the fairy’s cheeks. “It’s been destroyed. My friends are all gone.”
Winnie finally found the words to speak as she found her feet. “Kane.” She spit the word as if it was cursed. “He’s cutting off our access points to the Fae.”
She looked around, meeting the eyes of each of her closest friends and allies.
“He’s found a way to stop us.”
CHAPTER 13
Four hours later, the command team sat at the large, round table looking at the familiar overhead view of the chanter safety camp. The mood at the table reflected the mood across all of Promise Point. Word had spread so fast, Winnie thought the base was wired into the command center during the Baltimore assault.
Techs opened a surveillance window to the city an hour ago. The bombardment was over, its terrible work completed, Fell creatures now roaming the streets of the city that Winnie called home. Scant survivors were being hunted by nightmarish beasts.
And there was nothing that any of them could do.
Some of the Dusters tried to formulate a military response, others advocated for them all to remain on their former timetable. Winnie sat and listened to everyone, still weakened from the crater’s destruction.
Seelie sat on Winnie’s shoulder, arms wrapped around her neck. The fairy had finally cried herself to sleep. Winnie reached up and stroked her hair while listening to Maria argue her points.
“The camp is still as it was days ago,” Maria said. “There’s no evidence that Director Kane or General Couch have reinforced it.”
“Yet,” Garraldi pointed out.
“Yes, and that’s my primary concern,” Maria continued. “Kane has revealed himself. And now we have a choice: react defensively or go on the attack.”
“What’s the difference,” Tris said. “It’s still reacting. Isn’t anything we do at this point a reaction to Kane’s moves?”
“We’re not reacting at all,” Maria argued. “We’re only pushing up the timetable a bit on our original plan.”
“But we’re not ready,” Tris complained. “I have my techs and a few elites working around the clock to finish charming the transport containers. But we still have a day or more to go before we can finish.”
“What’s to keep Kane from launching another attack before then?” Elaine asked. “He could be preparing to bomb another city into oblivion as we speak.”
“I don’t think so,” Victor said. “Kane has taken this long to move because he needs time to create these weapons. I bet he needs another month or two before he can do this again.”
“That’s an assumption,” Garraldi said. “What are you basing it on?”
“I know him. Probably better than any of you. Kane isn’t a patient man. Look at the timeline. He used some sort of magically enhanced explosives in the final attack at Fort Brick. At that point, Kane thought he’d killed us all. Why not proceed with his plans and take Baltimore then? Because he couldn’t. Over two months have passed, and now he deploys more magical weapons, using similar tactics on Baltimore that he used at the Brick. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”
Everyone at the table started speaking at once, shouting opinions in unison.
“Stop it!” Winnie slapped her hand on the table, her patience finally snapping.
Everyone stopped arguing and looked her way.
Seelie woke up and fluttered into the air, startled.
“We go. Tonight.” Winnie said.
“The containers aren’t finished,” Tris said.
“I’m aware. But we have two reasons to move sooner rather than later.” Winnie stood and circled the table as she spoke. “First, Kane needs to know we’re back and not giving up. He thinks he has a big victory on his hands. We need to show him that we’re victorious, too.”
Winnie stopped and gazed around the table at her command team.
“What’s the second reason?” Danny asked.
“We need more chanters, now more than ever. I can now sense other … let’s call them “points of light” around the country. I didn’t realize they were there before. But now with the crater destroyed, I know what they are: this world’s remaining connections to the Fae. Kane has a way to destroy them with magic from the Fell. We have to gather every man, woman, or child who can wield magic and help us to defend those locations. If we fail, then the good magic will be gone forever.”
“You make it sound so simple,” Maria said.
“Simple, maybe,” Winnie said. “Easy, not a chance. That’s why we have to go tonight. Even if we’re not ready, we have to show the remaining cities—rebel and occupied—that we’re back and ready to defend them.”
Winnie looked at Garraldi and Maria. “How soon can you equip everyone for the mission?”
They traded a glance, then Maria said, “Two hours, at the most.”
Winnie nodded. “Good, then we kick off this operation in two hours.”
Then she turned and left the room.
Winnie was still dressed for a wedding, now indefinitely postponed.
Her thoughts turned to Morgan. Winnie was worried.
Morgan was pregnant, her wedding interrupted before it really began, before learning that her parents were likely dead or transformed into monsters.
Winnie diverted her path, walking past her door to the room that Victor and Morgan shared down the hall. Winnie rapped on the closed door several times.
“Come in,” Morgan finally said.
Winnie opened the door. Morgan was lying on her bed, eyes bloodshot and rimmed red from crying.
“Hey, sis, just checking on you.”
“Is the meeting over?” Morgan asked.
Winnie nodded.
“What did you decide to do?”
“We’re assaulting the camp in two hours,” Winnie replied. “You don’t have to come. We have plenty of people to handle logistics.”
Morgan sat up, swiping a few tears way from her cheeks. “No, I want to be there when we attack. I need to see some of Kane’s people bleed.”
“This isn’t about revenge, Morgan. It’s about winning a war. We’ll make sure people remember Baltimore, but we have an entire nation to save.”
“Fine, it’s not revenge,” Morgan said. “But I should still be there. I know the plan and what needs to be done better than any of my assistants.”
“If that’s what you want, then I won’t try to talk you out of it. We’ll need your talents more than ever. We won’t have enough containers. We’ll have to figure out how many we can carry if we stuff them to capacity, and what that leaves behind. Then we can see if the rest can be returned using portals.”
“I can do that,” Morgan said, standing up then eyeing her attire. She gripped the skirt of her wedding dress. “I have to change first.”
“Sorry, Morgan. I can’t imagine how I’d feel if my wedding was interrupted like this. It’s horrible.”
“I guess it was wishful thinking that Victor and I could hope for a honeymoon,” Morgan said. “Or even a peaceful wedding.”
“We’ll reschedule the ceremony as soon as we can, I promise.”
Morgan was right. Victor would be by Winnie’s side from here on out, and she’d be at the front of the fighting. There wouldn’t be another break for a while.
“I’m sorry,” was all Winnie could say.
Silence settled into the room, until it was broken by Seelie’s tiny voice.
“Winnie, Danny’s looking for you. He says you need to come up with something to say to the Dusters before the raid.” The tiny figure flew into the room as she spoke, circling Winnie’s head. “What are you going to say, Winnie? You should—”
“Now’s not the time,” Winnie said.
The fairy was making her dizzy.
“It’s alright, Win,” Morgan said. “I’m fine. I have to get dressed and head down to coordinate preparations anyway.”
“If you say so.”
“I promise,” Morgan said, taking Winnie’s hand in hers. “Thank you for coming to check on me.”
“Of course. It’s what sisters are for.”
“We’re not, you know. Not really.” Morgan looked Winnie in the eyes.
“Nonsense, Morgan. You’re the only sister I have. I don’t care if we’re blood related or not. We’re family. Period.”
Morgan smiled, small but there nonetheless.
“I’ll see you downstairs?” Winnie asked.
“I’m getting changed and going straight there.”
“Good. Me, too. I’ll see you in a bit.”
Winnie turned and left the room, shutting the door behind her. Seelie still flitted about near her head, but Winnie ignored her as she entered her room.
Danny was inside, changing into combat fatigues. He looked up as she came in. “Good,” he said, “Seelie found you.”
“Yeah, I was checking on Morgan.”
“How is she?”
“About as well as can be expected. Ready to take over logistics for the raid.”
“Is that a good idea?”
“She’s good at what she does, Danny. We’ll need her to coordinate the evacuation. Besides, I think the distraction will be good for her.”