by M. J Kreyzer
Sable was getting a clearer picture of Hendrick’s explanation. “So they paid you.”
Hendrick’s eyes went wide, telling her that what she said was a spectacular understatement. “Ohh Yes. Lots.”
As Sable came to terms with it, another question came to mind. “So how did you get that much money past the Commune? They siphoned off the bank accounts of the wealthy, didn’t they?”
“Two words.” Hendrick said, leaning in close. “Private sector. Get a bank that operates under the guv’s knowledge when they want to take all your money and you’ll have a long line of people that’ll keep any laundering operation alive and kicking.”
“So… You’re telling me-“
“It’s all honest.” Hendrick said, not proudly, but matter-of-factly. He nodded his head to one side. “Yeah, it surprises me too.”
Sable nodded. It wasn’t in agreement, but Hendrick knew that Sable wasn’t done with her questions. The mood changed at the table and Sable hadn’t said anything yet. Hendrick remained quiet and waited for her to say what she had to.
“So you think, after we’re finished with this, the operation, things’ll be better?”
Hendrick shrugged and took a deep breath, exhaling noisily. “There’s gonna be a month or so of bloody fricking anarchy but Sam’s got a good plan going that I think’ll work so yeah, yeah things’ll get better.”
“And Luke… you think he’ll come back?”
Hendrick’s heart plummeted and the look on his face made it clear. It happened without his knowledge but he couldn’t help it. Sable immediately picked up on it and put her hands on Hendrick’s.
“No, no, Nate, please, it’s… it’s not like that.” She kept her eyes on Hendrick and waited for him to look at her again. When he finally did she smiled, the smile passing a warmth through Hendrick. “But I’ve spent so long feeling that way about Luke. I don’t know why, but it’s how I’ve always felt.” Sable sounded remorseful, shameful, for the way that she’d felt. She couldn’t connect her eyes with Hendrick’s. “I think it’s because Luke was always there, always the hero. He just… he’s unstoppable, you know? The Legionnaire, the Commune and Frenz, they do everything they can and Luke keeps coming back ready for more. So fearless, so powerful…”
“I’m right here.” Hendrick said, peppering his voice with sarcasm as to not put her down.
“It’s not like that, Nate, please. You know what I mean. Luke just kind of embodies that whole adolescent fantasy of every girl but they never really stop and think of how things actually should be.”
“I’ll need you to explain that.” Hendrick said flatly. The tone of his voice made Sable nervous. She was never good at explaining things, at communicating, but she had to get this out. Hendrick had to understand.
“Luke doesn’t love me. He never has and he never will. He’s still in love with Trina, says her name in his sleep, loses it whenever somebody brings her up in a bad situation.” Sable looked harder at Hendrick, recalling the situation earlier the previous day. “He’s caring, he’s powerful, but no matter what he does or what I do he’ll never be able to take care of me that way that I need.” Sable stopped as a flood of memories came to mind, as all the hopes and dreams she’d ever had became fresh. “I’ve always looked at you as just a friend, nothing more than that but… but I’ve always thought the world of you. I’ve never considered the possibility until tonight, until I saw what you do for me, the kind of life that…”
She didn’t want to say too much. It always ruined everything. At a loss for words, Sable looked everywhere but at Hendrick’s eyes. But after a moment of silence, Sable’s and Hendrick’s eyes connected, and that one, prolonged stare said more than words ever could. Hendrick held her hand tighter and grinned softly. Sable returned the smile and, once again, her worries faded, her concerns a thing of the past.
“It’s all right.” Hendrick said, his entire demeanor changing. Sable saw it in his face and it stood in context with the rest of his life. She saw him, thought about his past, and knew that all he’d ever wanted was to care for somebody, to love somebody. He’d lost that chance with the death of Ayla and all that remained was a rough, tough, salty exterior. But now he had that chance, and the way he made Sable feel made her heart race.
“It’s just nobody’s ever cared for me like this… ever. Everything I’ve ever dreamed of happened tonight and-“
“You know me, girly.” Hendrick said, putting his hands out to the sides as he stated a well-known fact. “I live extravagantly.”
“But that’s only part of it.” Sable replied. She felt Hendrick was getting the wrong impression. “That’s not the important part. The part I care about is… well, really the only part… I mean, I can give up all the money and nice clothes in the world if, well, it’s nice but…” Sable didn’t know how to put it in words. She stopped herself and gathered her thoughts and mentally organized them. She spoke again, saying the words slowly and carefully while hoping they were the right ones. “All I’ve ever really wanted is somebody that loves me and… and somebody that I love ba-“
This time it was Hendrick who grabbed her hand. Sable looked down at the table and saw it, her smooth, delicate hands clasped tightly in his thick, powerful, calloused fingers. Water began to pool up at the base of one eye, and the sight that she saw was the most beautiful, warming thing that had ever happened to her. As a tear rolled down her cheek, Sable looked back to Hendrick and their eyes met once more. He smiled at her and again, and at that moment, Sable was sure she had found something real, something she’d been looking for her entire life; that happiness that she had wished for as long as she could remember. On Hendrick’s face, his tanned skin, his rough stubble, his fierce, wild eyes and his gorgeous smile, Sable saw more than looks. She saw a man, a man who’d had feelings for her for a long time.
Hendrick lightly caressed her forearm and Sable put her hand on top of his, holding it in place and feeling the warmth of his palm on her bare skin. If this wasn’t real, she didn’t care what was.
Chapter 26
It was well past midnight when Tess stumbled through the brimming sidewalks of Praemon. She had wandered a good distance from the hotel, a distance that she remained unaware of how far she had walked. Where she was, the city wasn’t the glamorous, sparkling metropolis that it was in the outer district. Instead, the streets were dark with only the occasional street light which illuminated patches of sidewalk with a pale yellow glow. The buildings that lined both sides of the rough, dark cobblestone street loomed over her, the lights in every window dimmed or put out. It was a world that lay beneath the alluring sensation that was the celebrity highlife. It was a place where people lived a lifestyle of financial modesty, living in cramped, drab apartments with a perfect view of the brilliant glow that reached towards the sky from the outer reaches of the city. It was a constant reminder of what they could never have, and that contrast made the streets of Leramato feel that much more hopeless.
As Tess made small steps down the sidewalk, crossing the darkened streets and passing in and out of the pale haloes of light, she would pass the occasional person. Scraggily, filthy men huddled in the shadowy stairwells muttering rough-voiced nonsense to themselves. As she passed, they’d stop speaking and their attention would immediately turn to her, their heads pivoting slowly as they tracked her every movement. There was nobody else around; dark alleys ran between every building and ended in a pit of pitch darkness, and any sound that was made was lost in the brick-walled labyrinths and swallowed up in the night.
Tess didn’t care. She actually didn’t even notice. Her thoughts were so racked with thoughts of her father, now lost to her, that she was in a state of absent thought. She was in a mindset where danger and concerns of one’s own wellbeing were but an afterthought. She saw the half-crazed men slouching on the sidewalks and benches staring at her with carnal, lustful eyes, and she thought nothing of it. She just needed fresh air and some time alone.
The street stretch
ed off into utter darkness on both ends of the street, but again, in her bewilderment, Tess didn’t notice where she was. Worse yet, she didn’t notice that a man, dressed in a ragged trench coat, was following her.
Tess came around a corner at a three-way intersection. She looked down the street and saw the same thing she saw on the street she currently walked: complete darkness. Yet, as she was thoughtlessly meandering, Tess turned the corner and walked onto that new street, continuing the stream of depressed, haphazard thoughts that filled her head.
The trench coat clad man followed her, carrying a large duffle bag in one hand. Only his mouth was visible from beneath the shadow of his tattered cotton hood.
There was a square just up ahead in an area that most likely bursted with people during the daytime. At the center of the square there was a large, circular stone fountain with three layers, each getting smaller as the fountain grew higher. With piercing eyes, a copper Razorback spread its wings atop the fountain, its massive clawed hands clutching the edges of the fountain while its tail circled down to the fountain’s lower platforms. The copper on the Razorback’s upper body was dull, weathered, while the areas that touched the water were teal with oxidation. Around the fountain, placed evenly, were stone platforms that served as benches.
Tess sat down at one bench, her back to the street, and she looked at the towering cathedral that lay opposite the square, its windows were darkened as well and, to the typical person, it was an unsettling image. While a church or religious building should evoke appropriate feelings of happiness and encouragement, this building was daunting, dark, and loomed over her like an impending demon. Along the ledges that lined the walls above the massive, cherry doors, stone gargoyles smile down on her, their sharp, thick tongues dangling from their mouths as they watched her.
The man came closer. He was merely yards away from Tess. She was still oblivious.
The water from the fountain still trickled down in thick droplets, landing on each lower level until it landed in the pool below, rippling the darkened waters and bending the light that shone upon the coins that littered its bottom.
The man came up from behind Tess. She didn’t know he was there.
Tess rested her face in her hands, putting her elbows on her legs as she stared to the ground. Why couldn’t she have been more understanding? Why couldn’t she have seen that Luke was only trying to protect her?
It happened fast. A large, powerful hand came down on her shoulder.
Tess came around with a knife and held it to the man’s throat. He put his hands in the air and dropped his bag with a heavy clatter as Tess breathed calmly into his face.
“Try something else and I’ll tear your balls off, you get that?”
There was a pause as the man took a deep breath. With her teeth clenched and her muscles tense, Tess waited for his response.
“Tessie…” Came a deep, rough voice from beneath the hood. Tess’s eyes went wide and she dropped the knife, knowing exactly who it without seeing his face. She threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder.
“Dad! I’m… I didn’t mean anything by it I’m-“
“Slow down.” Luke said, pushing her away and seeing she was a head taller than him. She stood on the bench. “You didn’t hurt me.”
“Not that.” Tess said, controlling her emotions while her voice cracked repeatedly. “In Praemon. When you wanted me to go with you out of the city and away from the war I didn’t mean anything I just… I just wanted to prove that I was strong. I wanted to prove that I was a Semprys so please don’t be mad at me.” Tess sniffed and huffed a laugh that quavered in her throat. “And take that hood off. You look ridiculous.”
With immediate obedience he pulled his hood down. Seeing his face, Tess became emotional once more and hugged him again, tighter this time. Her affection caught Luke off guard, but that wasn’t to say it wasn’t welcome. That was far from the truth.
“And I’m sorry too.” Luke said, returning her embrace and putting his hand gently on the back of her head. “I wasn’t thinking. I haven’t been thinking right for a long time but I’m better now. I’m better and I’m going to make the right choice this time.”
Tess pulled away and smiled, looking her dad in the face and seeing him smile warmly. And with that one, loving smile, Tess’s loneliness, her apprehension about life, the future, most concerning the operation, disintegrated and showered to the rough, aged cement. Tess looked at him a moment longer before noticing that she was still standing on the bench. She laughed at herself, composed for the most part, before stepping down to the ground. She sat down on the bench and patted the empty space next to her. Smiling, Tess watched Luke come around the bench and sit down next to her, leaning forward and resting his hands on his legs. His back expanded and shrank as he drew the warm city air in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Quietly he watched the fountain, finding the sound of falling water relaxing. And now, with things finally seeming right, they relaxed and listened to the soothing trickle of the fountain.
“Dad…” Tess said, leaving the end open for his response.
“Yeah?”
“I know… I know you told me you didn’t want to tell me but…” Tess paused. She had just gotten everything she wanted and she didn’t want to ruin it. But she didn’t have to finish and Luke didn’t make her. He knew exactly what she was referring to. Peering into the blackness of the church, Luke collected his thoughts and cleared the knot from his throat.
“In Olsgrad Canyon we had backed ourselves into a corner. The fortress we had there was the second best thing we had to Brysdal’s protection, what with the decelerated time field, but we couldn’t get there. Frenz knew we had a secret city somewhere and cut the entire area off. So what Durants remained, the ones that we were able to rescue from the camps and the prisons, had to make their way to Olsgrad.”
“The First Legionnaire was right behind us though. But Alighieri had already had a defense grid set up so he covered us while we made it in. See, Olsgrad is at the end of a canyon.” Luke said, using his hands to illustrate the shape. “It funneled soldiers right into our cannon fire, and with nearly two dozen AA turrets covering the rear portion of the fortress we weren’t getting hit from behind.”
“So we put the Durants in a stabilized cave. The Commune… somehow, I’m not sure how… learned to track our Furo signatures by satellite. This is before the moon’s orbit took us through the planet’s dust belt and made satellites impossible. So when we put them in stabilized space they couldn’t be tracked. Everybody else went to the battlements, the canyon walls in those four-legged Avid crawlers, while we had troops on the ground stationed around supply gates.”
Tess’s head was bowed, listening. “What’re those?”
“We used them to warp in ammo, guns, stuff like that that would be selected through from a menu by squad leaders, queued up on a holographic screen at the supply hub in Brysdal and warped in. So we had eight of those placed evenly in the caves that ran through the canyons on both sides of Olsgrad, tunnels which connected to the main fortress at the canyon’s end. And we were holding strong. We had a fleet of Battlecrafts coming in, ready to cover out escape but…” Luke stopped. He had to force himself to continue. “There were just too many of them. They just kept pushing us further and further back, taking supply gates and cutting those squads off. It’s a miracle Morlo and Hendrick made it out of there… I held the central part of the canyon for some time, helping the forces on the ground get their footing back but… but that’s what got us killed. I’m sure seeing me on the ground was more than Frenz could handle. He ordered a pressure missile to nail the center of the canyon even though thousands of Legionnaires were still in there… I should’ve known he’d do something like that…”
“So we evacuated. Some genius in Brysdal figured out how to reverse the warp field on the supply gates and we used those to get everybody out of there. While everybody else got out I went after the only Durants we had left in th
e world. We’d be the last out but there was no time for anything else. So we hurried. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a pressure device go off but it’s brutal. It’s just a massive shockwave powerful enough to turn flesh into mist.”
“Legionnaires flooded the tunnels. I did my best to cover the Durants but… well I got thirty of them to the last standing warp gate. Hendrick and Morlo held it for us, waving us on. The missile was seconds from impact. They would’ve stayed but… I heard the missile hit. I yelled for them to go through and they barely made it. We were in a shallower tunnel, only twenty or thirty feet from the outside. I tried to throw up a barrier to protect all of us… it had only expanded enough to partially cover me.”
Again, Luke ceased to speak. That same wave of guilt he felt every time a Dark looked at him with hating eyes came over him. Slowly, he went on. “The cliffs had absorbed most of the shock but… but what made it past was enough to daze every last one of them. It made the supply gate inoperable and left us by ourselves.” Luke gave a small, saddened yet admiring grin. “I wonder what the Ditrinity thought when we didn’t come through that gate when we were only seconds behind them... They would’ve just stood there on the other side, waiting, knowing that if we hadn’t come in a few seconds then we weren’t coming at all.”