Redemption: Sci Fi Romance (Far Hope Series Book 2)

by E. A. James

  The weapon buzzed for a second. Then it exploded. Even with those things in her ears, the concussion burst against her skull with a loud bang that made her jump. A blast of lightning sizzled from the rifle and struck the center of that red square.

  He fired again, and again. After the tenth or twelfth shot, she started to get used to the noise. She saw for herself how the weapon jumped in his hands, even though he used all his strength to hold it steady.

  Then he handed it to her. “Now you try.”

  She did her best to hold it in position. The red square appeared on the far wall, but when she touched the firing mechanism, the weapon jumped out of her hands and the shot sailed wide. It hit the ceiling and shook the whole citadel.

  Tanak only shook his head and jammed it in tighter against her shoulder. “Like this. Now try again.”

  She tried, again and again, and again, for hours, until her arms were too tired to hold the thing anymore. At last, he took it away from her and put it away in the Armory. “Now you know what you’re getting into.”

  That thought sobered her. She took his hand and they started out of the Armory when a deafening shriek pierced the air. Margila spun around. “What is it?”

  “It’s the alarm! Quick! Back to the Armory!”

  He burst into the Armory and grabbed the same rifle he just put away. He snatched a fresh ammunition case and shoved it into the magazine before he pushed the weapon into her hands. “Don’t go anywhere. Just stay close to me.”

  He rushed out with Margila on his heels. They bumped into the Master at Arms coming the other way. They got untangled from him just as the first people came running down the stairs.

  Tanak and Margila took their places in the passage and waited until the Archduke came striding down the stairs. He gave Tanak a curt nod and made his way to the front of the queue where everyone stood waiting for their turns to arm themselves.

  As soon as the Archduke appeared, the Master at Arms started handing out rifles. As Tanak warned, men, women, and children stood in line to defend their city. Each person turned away from the Master at Arms and came to the Archduke to be assigned to a faction.

  Two men came to Tanak’s side. They murmured to each other. Then they took their places farther down the passage. They could only be Tanak’s brothers. One by one, the Raveniss people joined their faction leaders. People milled around and waited until no more people could fit in the passage.

  Tanak raised his rifle and shouted above the noise. “Inner passage faction, follow me.” Before they left the Armory, Margila heard the other two faction leaders calling their people to their positions.

  Tanak led the way back up to the main passages of the citadel. Margila did her best to stay close to him, but everyone pushed and jostled in their haste to get into position. Tanak gave orders to everyone and told them where to stand. He left groups of ten or twenty in every passage of the great city.

  Margila followed him all the way back to the passage outside their bedchamber. “Do you think it’s a good idea to have everyone near their own quarters?”

  “People will fight a lot harder to defend their homes than anywhere else. With any luck, we won’t have to fight today.”

  The words hadn’t fallen from his lips when loud bursts of gunfire brought Margila to the window. She looked out to the south, over the parapet. In front of her eyes, some two dozen dragons swooped into view, along with several dozen Axis sky vessels on their tails. The energy blasts sailed from their noses to fire on the dragons.

  Five dragons flew overhead in formation. Their wingtips touched. A band of the Axis fighters followed close behind and harassed them with constant fire. The dragons banked over the fields, where the first defenders were just running to take their positions.

  The dragons did a complete wheel in the sky. They swept up so high, Margila could barely see them. Then they plummeted toward the ground faster than thought. They caught the Axis fighters before they could react.

  The dragons banked around behind them in a solid line. At exactly the same instant, they let loose their fiery breath and incinerated the Axis ships to vapor in the air. In a fraction of a second, they pivoted back the other way to join their fellows in the fight.

  Margila caught her breath at the sight. Her spirits soared, but the next minute, they crashed into the depths of despair. Another dragon, fighting on its own, got caught over the fields by six ships working in concert. They surrounded it so it couldn’t get away no matter which way it turned.

  It dove for the fields with the ships dogging it all the way. The people on the ground pointed their rifles at the sky and fired on the ships menacing the dragon, but they couldn’t make a dent. The ships were too far away, and the rifles weren’t powerful enough.

  Two ships opened fire on the dragon, and their blasts slammed into the ground on either side of it. Bodies bounced out of the way and lay still in the craters the blasts left behind. Margila’s hand flew to her mouth.

  The dragon swept low over the shattered fields and soared back into the sky, but the fighters were too close and too many. They fired again, and a blast ripped through its wing. It stalled in mid-air, and the sharks moved in for the kill.

  More rifle fire popped from the ground, but even from the inner citadel, Margila couldn’t hear it. The fighters surrounded the injured dragon and let loose a massive volley of blasts. The first blast tore through its chest, and another ripped its one good wing off at the shoulder.

  The dragon shrieked in fear and pain. A moment later, a thunderous barrage of fire sent it exploding into a million pieces. The remains of the once-proud dragon tumbled to the ground among its own people.

  Tanak laid a hand on Margila’s arm. “Move away from the window. It’s not safe.”

  Margila turned away all too willingly. She couldn’t watch anymore. She swallowed the lump in her throat and concentrated on the weapon in her hands. In a few minutes, she could be called on to defend her life and Tanak’s with this thing. Could she do it?

  Just a few minutes before, she couldn’t muster the strength to hold it up. Now, her own adrenaline gave her all the strength she needed. She held it up the way Tanak showed her. She harbored no doubt she could shoulder it and fire as many times as she needed to if anyone came near her.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  The rumble of battle grew louder, but Margila dared not approach the window again. The screams of injured dragons echoed over the fields, and rifle fire drifted up from the ground.

  Then Margila noticed the rumble coming from the citadel itself. It came from somewhere up above her. The cannons must be engaging the Axis forces. How much longer before the soldiers landed on the roof? Were Katya and Praila up there somewhere? Would they survive the assault? Would any of them?

  Every now and again, the whine of an engine sailed overhead and ended in an explosion. The dragons and the cannons must be bringing down some of the ships. That was fewer soldiers the defenders would have to deal with when they landed.

  Tanak moved through the passages to check on his people. He gave everyone an encouraging word, but when he returned to Margila, he let the mask of determined certainty fall from his face. How haggard and careworn he looked all of a sudden, and she’d only known him a few days.

  What would become of them? Would they ever have the chance to live the life of their dreams, a life of love and peace together with their people? She went through so much in the mountain wilderness to discover she loved him. Would it all come to nothing right here before her eyes? Did she have to stand here and watch him die, along with the others?

  The same horror at losing him threatened to drown her the way it did when the soldiers attacked him on the mountain. She would gladly give her own life to save him. She couldn’t stand by and watch him die. She would rather die with him.

  Tanak sat down heavily on a bench near the window, but he didn’t look out. He leaned his rifle against the seat and let his shoulders slump. He glanced up at Margila watching him. “A
re you hungry?”

  “No, I ate right after we landed here. Your mother insisted on it.”

  He looked around with haunted eyes. “I’m hungry.”

  “Don’t tell me you haven’t eaten since we landed here.”

  “I haven’t had time. I’ve been busy with my father and my brothers....and with you.”

  She sat down next to him. “You should have told me. We could have made time for you to get something to eat. Now you may have to fight on an empty stomach. That’s not good. All these people are looking to you to be strong. You should have told me. Here. You stay here and I’ll go get you something.” She started to get up. “I don’t know where I’ll go, but I’ll find something.”

  He stopped her. “You can’t go. We need you here.”

  “Then you should go. We can’t have a commander who isn’t fit for battle.”

  He shook his head. “I can’t. This is no time to worry about food.”

  “You just said yourself you’re hungry. You’re distracted.”

  She shook his hand off her arm. He didn’t put up much resistance. She laid her rifle next to his and went back to their bedchamber. She found the table set against the wall. A few bones with meat on them and a flask of wine still remained from her own meal. She took it back to him.

  He didn’t say anything. He ate what she put in front of him and guzzled down the wine.

  “I wish there was more.”

  He put the dish aside. “Later.”

  Another explosion shook the air outside. “What do you think is going on out there?”

  “They’re cutting our people down. That’s what’s going on out there. They’ll land in a little while, and they’ll start cutting down Ralo’s people up on the roof if they haven’t already.”

  “When will we know if they’re coming our way?”

  “We won’t know until they break in here. Then it will be chaos.”

  “How can we ever defeat them that way? They have all the firepower.”

  “We can’t defeat them. We’ll be fighting to the last man.”

  At that moment, a thunderous explosion rocked the citadel. It shook the floor beneath Margila’s feet. She started out of her seat. “What was that?”

  In a flash, he was on his feet. “They’re explosive charges. They’ve breached the outer wall. They’ll be here in a minute.” He snatched up his rifle and called down the passage. “Pass the word. They’ve breached the walls. Stand ready to defend the citadel.”

  Margila grabbed her rifle and locked it into her shoulder. It fused with her muscles and became part of her own flesh. She followed Tanak out into the passage and took her place at his side. They stood back to back, with him facing one direction while she faced the other way, so they covered both possible approaches.

  One explosion after another rattled the massive citadel. The noise of battle got louder outside. Dragons sailed past the window, some with burning wings or missing legs and heads. Axis fighters assailed them with their weapons. At other times, the dragons assailed the fighters and scorched them with their flaming breath. Once or twice, an Axis fighter burst into flames right in front of the window.

  At those times, a ray of hope brightened Margila’s world. Maybe, just maybe, they had a chance to beat these invaders. Then she would see a dragon shot down or destroyed in mid-air, and her hopes would crash to the ground like so many grains of sand.

  Tanak kept his attention on the sounds drifting down from above. The cannons thumped, but above the noise, shouting and screaming rent the air. Rifle fire mixed with the sound of shouted orders and running feet. His shoulders tensed, and his finger hovered over the firing mechanism of his rifle. He bellowed down the passage to his people out of sight. “Stand fast!”

  Margila’s pulse pounded in her temples. She let go of her rifle to wipe her sweaty palms on her dress. This dress wasn’t the best battle attire. If only she’d changed her clothes before going to the Armory, she would be much better prepared now.

  She had no time to regret that or anything else before another deafening explosion shivered the walls. A light fixture fell from the ceiling and shattered on the floor in a dazzling explosion. The sound rattled her nerves, but at that moment, a whole section of the massive stone wall gave way and crumbled before her eyes. A gap opened in it, and soldiers in battle helmets poured through it.

  They leveled their rifles at anything on the other side, and the very first thing they spotted was Margila. She barely had time to aim her own rifle before they sprayed the whole passage with their fire.

  She squeezed off one shot, two shots before a rough hand dragged her down. Her shots burst through the enemy ranks, and a soldier fell. Tanak hauled her down to the floor behind the bench. “Get down! Are you crazy?”

  “I got one!” Nothing else mattered.

  Before he could stop her, she stuck her head up from behind the bench and squeezed off another shot. She brought down another soldier, but Tanak pulled her back. “Stop that! It’s suicide.”

  “I got another one!”

  “Are you listening to me? They’ll kill you. Do you think I want to sit here and watch you get your head blown off? Stay down. That’s an order.”

  Her face fell. Why did he want to rob her of all the fun? She was enjoying this. There must be a way to kill more of them without endangering herself.

  Just then, she heard more rifle fire from farther down the passage. She waited until Tanak let go of her arm before she took a peek. What she saw gave her an idea. The soldiers were all already inside the passage. No more came in from outside.

  Someone, somewhere farther down the passage, fired on the soldiers. The soldiers concentrated all their attention on the resistance around the corner. They must have either forgotten or never known two people were still hiding behind the bench.

  The soldiers stood with their backs to Tanak and Margila. She rose up behind the bench and propped her rifle against its back when Tanak grabbed her arm again. “Don’t do it. You’ll only attract their attention, and then they’ll come after us.”

  “What do you suggest? Do you say we should hide here while they mow our people down?”

  “Of course not. There’s a better way to do this.”

  “How?”

  He pointed down the passage in the direction of the firefight. At first, she didn’t see what he meant. He looped the strap of his rifle across his shoulder. Very carefully so as not to attract attention, he crawled out from behind the bench and headed down the passage.

  Margila copied him, but she didn’t like this at all. Crawling around on the floor was no way to fight a battle, especially when you had a high-powered rifle to fight with.

  He led the way down the passage until he was almost level with the soldiers. Then he ducked behind a tapestry hanging nearly to the floor. Margila ducked in behind him. “What now?”

  He held his finger to his lips and slipped his rifle off. He handed it to her and put his hand into a secret pocket of his jacket. He brought out a very small, pointed dagger. Margila’s eyes widened. What was he going to do with that?

  He stole a peek out from behind the tapestry, and when he came back, he nodded. He crouched down on the floor and peeked out under the lower hem of the tapestry. The soldier at the very rear of the enemy phalanx stood right in front of him.

  Tanak waited for an especially loud volley from the Raveniss forces down the passage. Rifle fire rang against the walls, and a few soldiers went down. At just that moment, his hand shot out and he grabbed the nearest soldier by the ankle. He knocked the man off his feet, and the soldier hit the floor like a ton of bricks.

  Tanak dragged the man sideways under the tapestry, and before Margila knew what happened, Tanak grabbed him by the head and slit his throat. Quick as a wink, he shoved the twitching body back out into the passage.

  Tanak held his bloody knife in a vise-like grip, and he looked around behind the tapestry with wild eyes. No one noticed, though. The other soldiers were all too b
usy fighting the defenders.

  Another burst of rifle fire rattled down the passage. Tanak grabbed another soldier, who soon joined his comrade in a heap on the floor. He killed five soldiers before he wiped his knife on his elaborate brocade pants and put it away.

  Margila questioned him with her eyes, but he held up a finger to silence her. He took his rifle from her and whispered in her ear. “Now we do it your way. When I give the signal, jump out and gun down as many as you can hit. They’ll be surprised. Hopefully, we can kill a few before they react.”

  She nodded. Her heartbeat quickened. At last! She unslung her rifle and got it into position just in time. He waved her to the rear of the tapestry. He paused until the fire came heavier. Then he leapt out with a shout. “Now!”

  They landed side by side behind the enemy soldiers. Adrenaline coursed through Margila’s veins. She never knew the lust for blood like this before. She slaughtered chickens in her father’s yard, but never people. She never thought she would have to, but here she was, relishing the kick of the rifle against her shoulder. She loved the blast against her ears and the spray of blood when her shots struck their mark.