by RMGilmour
“But how did the ward get out?” I asked, returning to the ward inside Grid. “I saw him fall into the trap.”
“He was pulled back to the Spire before the trap could close. It couldn’t close because he was holding onto you,” Haize explained.
“It wouldn’t have mattered though. When the wards took down our signals this time,” Lena sighed. “They took down everything. They were all released back to the Spire. But that won’t happen again.”
I didn’t want to think about it. I remembered seeing hundreds of graves across the field, and that was only one field. Aleric had said there were others, larger fields that had no doubt held many more.
“Where is Castor?” I asked. “How is he?”
“He’s a warrior. Death is expected. She wasn’t the first child he’d lost,” Haize explained.
“The warriors are back from the Arena,” Lena told me. “All of them. We’re going to war with the city.”
“I’m coming with you,” I said, jumping up. Although the swift movement wasn’t such a good idea, and I reached down to my upper thigh. Not completely healed. But good enough.
“Well, I guess I could find you a window to fight,” Haize mumbled, crossing her arms to stare at me once more. But when I didn’t say anything she poured another cup of Castor’s serum.
“Drink,” she commanded.
I did. Anticipating its effects.
“If we could leave this place and if I could choose to live anywhere, I would choose to live on Rathe,” I told her, examining the cup before setting it down.
“Better,” she said, as she stretched and bent my limbs, testing their flexibility. “And, so would I.”
“Traitor,” murmured Lena. “And Castor is from Heart.”
“Where is everyone now?” I asked, before Haize could retort.
“They’re on their way to the city wall. We have help on the inside.”
I was sure she was talking about Mason, but she didn’t speak his name out loud and so neither did I.
“Let’s go,” I breathed, although I had no idea how they intended to go to war with the city, especially against wards that wouldn’t stay dead.
“And what do you intend to do once you get there?” Lena asked me, indicating that my size and somewhat beaten down state, was reason to doubt I could be of use to anyone. But there was no other choice for me.
“Save Jordan. Take down the plate glass window,” I shrugged. It was all that was left to do.
“You may kill Grid in the process,” Haize said.
“He’s already dead.” I wasn’t sure if I would be able to say that out loud. But once it was out, I was definitely ok with it.
Haize narrowed her eyes at my words, but I couldn’t tell what her confusion was in regard to. Perhaps my conviction to willingly take a friend’s already spent life, or maybe the lack of compassion with which I’d said it.
“It’s what he wants,” I reassured her, and then I explained my plan, knowing there would be no opposition, from Haize at least. “The ward said Hera was waiting insertion, there’s a chance I can save her as well.”
“You’ll need this,” she said, and tossed me a small piece of tan fabric. I fit it over my left hand and poked my fingers through, hoping I would get a chance to use it.
“Does it hurt them?” I asked, remembering the ward’s complaint.
“If they’re conscious, they’ll feel a surge of pain as they’re pulled back into the Spire.”
“Good.”
“Ok then,” she said, leading the way out.
And once outside, the night air was cool upon my skin. I felt safer, even though it was night time. I could clearly see the Rathe protection in the darkness as it surrounded the back entrance, the cliff, the hills, the fields, and I silently thanked Aleric for the enhancement he’d given my eyes.
The sky was completely dark as though there was no moon, no stars. I was sure it should have been morning by now, but there was no way to tell how long I’d slept for. The darkness though, was eerie, making it hard to see, but I decided it had to be just clouds covering the moon and stars. Earth was the same way.
As we approached the forest, I thought for a moment that the liquid Haize had given me was making me hallucinate, for it appeared that the trees were moving about. Though as we drew closer, I discovered it was the warriors moving within the forest, preparing to enter the city.
“What are they waiting for?” I asked.
“Mason’s signal.”
“Can we get closer?” I wanted to move amongst them, be a part of them. I wanted to get closer to the city wall.
“No, you’re coming with me,” Haize said, grasping my arm, pulling me away from them, and not giving me a choice. I glanced backward, but only to see Lena wasn’t going with us. And as strong as Haize was, I followed without a struggle, not wanting my arm pulled out. However, as we traced the tree-line, I realized where she was taking me.
“Haize, why are we going to the tree-hut?”
“Because, it’s where we’re needed,” she said, leading me up the steps.
Though upon entering, I noticed the couches had been moved against the walls and the tables arranged in rows like hospital beds. The chairs were all lined up outside of the room, upon the grass. This was Haize’s specialty; she stitched them back up.
“I’m not…” I began, but I couldn’t finish the sentence. A crack through the air stilled the world. No one moved, nor made a sound. I thought at first it was just lightening and my assumption about the clouds had been correct, but as I looked over at Haize, she was staring out of the room toward the sky, frozen, it seemed in shock.
I followed her gaze, but I could not comprehend what I was seeing. The clouds had moved down out of the sky, and rolled in a thick fog across the ground. Above us, the sky was a fractured ceiling, a darkness crossed with white lines, trying to take shape and carving their way across the entire night sky.
“What is that?” I whispered, but Jordan’s presence overtook any further questions I had about the sky. He was calling me to him.
“Grid tried to warn us,” Haize responded. “He said if we left the Colony the wards would try to capture all outside the city. Enclose it and kill it.”
“What?” I asked in disbelief. “They’re going to kill everything? All of us?” I trailed off, but the questions went on inside my head. “I can’t stay here. I need to get inside the city,” I turned to Haize, pleading. “I can stop them.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” his voice came from behind me. I thought I would never hear it again, and I turned slowly to see his silhouette stepping through the entrance.
“Jordan,” I moaned, and ran to him. The warmth raced through me, needing to be released and I let it, embracing the feeling of our souls united once more in that one eternal moment.
He pulled me tightly into his arms, holding me against him, and I inhaled his scent. Home.
“How did you get out?” I whispered.
“The Guardian detected the colonists amassing against the wall. Mason forced it to submit to the will of the city, and it released me to protect itself, so that it could then protect the city.”
He gave me a gentle squeeze, then released one hand to lift my face to his.
“Look at me,” he breathed.
I rose my eyes to his face, and in the crackling light above us I found his staring back at me, filled with a mix of concern and anger.
“Lydia,” he groaned. “I should never have let you go back. Haize, what happened?”
If she answered him, I didn’t hear it.
“It was a ward,” I finally said. “Though I don’t want to talk about it now,” I couldn’t relive it again, not yet. “I promise to tell you everything if we survive.”
“You mean when not if. You and I are leaving.”
“No. Jordan, no. We can’t leave. The Guardian is going to kill everything out here. I can help.”
&nb
sp; “Lydia, look at what just one ward did to you. They are everywhere inside. They’ve generated countless people out of the Spire. Some of them against their will, but all are armed with the Guardian’s power.”
“I’m the only one left that might be able to stop it,” I pleaded with him. “Maybe save Hera and Connor. I have to at least, try.”
“How?” he asked.
I rose my hands to his chest, and lowered my gaze to stare at the slight contrast their small outline made upon him. He needed to know, but I couldn’t find the words to explain what I needed to do. I forced a weak smile, attempting to let him know it would be ok, but I didn’t know that it would be.
“How?” His voice failing him, he gently lifted my face to his once more, and his eyes studied mine for only a moment. “No,” he said, shaking his head, holding my face in both of his hands. “No, they’ll only kill you.”
“If I don’t we’re dead anyway,” I whispered to him. The sky cracked and glowed overhead once more. I had no idea how much time we had left.
His hands slipped from my face, sliding down my arms as he fell to his knees. Then wrapping his arms around my waist, he pressed his face against me, shaking with every movement.
I leaned forward, caressed his shoulders, his back and rested my cheek upon his head, praying he would feel the same way afterward.
“Please come away with me now,” his voice, barely audible.
“I have to do this. We’ll be ok.”
“Lydia, there are worse things than dying. If you fail, if we’re caught and inserted, we’d be reproduced and controlled.” He reached around for my right hand, the one the ward had bitten, and gently held it against his cheek.
“I’m so sorry,” he breathed. “They would… You don’t know what they are capable of.”
His words halted any response that tried to form. It seemed he may already know what I’d been through. I just hoped he hadn’t seen it as well, though I was sure the Guardian would be more than capable of forcing him to watch.
“That’s why we have to try,” I told him, anger tightening my chest. “This has to end, one way or another. For you, us, for everyone that has been brought here against their will, and everyone that has been inserted. Whether I make it or not, I have to at least try. Jordan, I’m going in.”
He pulled me down to my knees to be on his level, holding my face once more. I couldn’t bear to see the pain that creased the corners of his eyes.
“Let the Heart and the Rathe deal with them,” he pleaded with me. “They’re strong. They’ll take down the wards, and there are plenty of people in the city willing to help them.”
“They will take down the wards, yes, but then other wards will take their place. And they will keep coming back. You know this.” He briefly closed his eyes against my words. He knew I was right. When he looked back up at me, I finished explaining. “I’m going after the Guardian, the Central Unit.”
Struggling to keep the concern out of his eyes, he stroked my face as though I was already lost to him. He slowly rose to his feet, picking me up as he went, and holding me close. I didn’t think he was going to let me go, but eventually he set me back down, and gently wiped the moisture away from my cheeks.
He bent his head to mine, kissed my eyes, my cheeks, my jaw, and my lips trembled momentarily before his calmed them down. It was hard to remember where I was as I melted into him, body and soul, and I fought to keep my focus on his taste, the scent of his breath as it filled my lungs, the strength of his mouth embracing mine. All memories I wanted to keep in the forefront of my brain. My reason, him, to not let this fail.
It was the thunderous sound of another crack overhead that drove us apart. More solid white trails traveled in short, stunted waves across the new ceiling that enclosed the world as far as we could see.
Dismayed by the sight, we stepped outside to join the Heart and the Rathe, as they slowly moved out of the trees to stare up at their fate. Then one by one they rushed back toward the wall.
“Jordan,” came Aleric’s voice, pushing through the masses.
“Aleric,” Jordan stroked my face once more, not looking up. “We need to get to the Spire.”
“Why?” he asked, but I was sure he already knew.
“We’re going to stop the Guardian,” I told him, knowing he would not need any further explanation; my eyes not leaving Jordan’s.
“We’re going to try,” Jordan corrected.
“It’s where we’re headed. I’ll spread the word,” Aleric said. “Get you safely there. But on your way, don’t touch the fallen.” And he disappeared back into the crowd, before we could question him.
“Once we’re in, I’ll make sure Mason meets us there,” his voice strained to get the words out. “He can bring you back to me.”
Before I could respond, Aleric’s voice called to us, “The city is open. We’re going in.”
26
Surrender
We followed Aleric back through the trees to the wall, and waited for the warriors and the hunters ahead of us, to pass through a ten by six black mass where there should have been wall. It was similar in size and shape to the doorway that I’d passed through during the hunt. As I looked down the line of colonists, and across the length of the wall, there were many doorways darkening the wall. And I was sure further along, more were being opened. It was necessary. Enter the city en masse, as much as was possible, while providing numerous exits, should they need them.
I watched those ahead of me disappear into the darkness, and when each person passed through, the edges of the wall glowed golden as it tried to reach out and take them a piece at a time. But everyone stayed well away from its reach, as they stepped into the city beyond.
As we approached the doorway, my thoughts turned to Sam. And I wondered if he had felt a moment of fear as he entered enemy territory, preparing for battle. I wondered if he thought of me, missed me as I missed him, following in his footsteps.
When we entered, we were too far away to see the Spire. But I was grateful; I didn’t want to look it at any sooner than I had to. Jordan clenched my right hand as we ran together through the narrow streets amidst a mass of hunters. Some of the warriors pushed off into the air, flying through the city, diving to attack the wards, then ducking and swerving to miss oncoming assaults.
I wished I’d obtained my own warrior suit from the Arena. Flying to the Spire may have helped assuage the dragonflies that zoomed through my stomach. But it also would have provided me with an excuse to fight alongside the warriors. Seeing the wards, rushed recent painful memories through my brain, and I longed to join the fight.
But attacking the wards was not my goal. I needed to focus on living long enough to get to the city center.
A small group of hunters remained around us, eliminating the wards before they could get close enough to do anything. Each time a ward was hit, they seemed surprised to feel the sting of the devices we each wore.
“This is too easy,” one of the hunters beside us, remarked.
“We won’t have long,” Jordan agreed.
“For what?” I asked.
“They’ll soon figure out how we’re defeating them, find our weakness, if they haven’t already,” Jordan replied.
“And then what?”
But he didn’t respond. We kept moving forward, still keeping pace with the colonists ahead of us, while he pulled me along to keep pace with him.
“If anything happens,” he breathed. “If we get separated, head straight for that.” He pointed up and out, in the direction we were heading.
I followed the length of his arm, not wanting to look away from the city light that played upon his skin. Reluctantly, I dragged my eyes upward. The tip of the Spire could be seen above the houses, glowing a tiny, bright blue against the ceiling.
We were still a long way from the Spire, but seeing it loom and glow above everything was overwhelming, and I began to doubt that I would succeed in h
aving even the smallest effect upon it.
“The building below is where the insertion process occurs. Once you’re in, explain you wish to be inserted, they won’t question, they never do. They’ll take you where you need to be, and they won’t know you’re from Earth until the technician begins the analysis.”
“You’ve been there before?”
He sighed, “Connor was a friend.”
I stopped running, stopping him with me. Though the hunters that were behind us, continued on around us.
“Was… a friend?”
He glanced down at me, concern creasing his brow, and he pulled me off the path toward a narrow lane where he shielded me protectively against the building, while searching for signs of immediate danger.
“Connor had been inserted over two hundred years ago,” he said, turning back to me.
I wasn’t expecting that. I stared at him, not wanting to believe that someone reproduced could make such a strong connection with another person, but at the same time I was relieved that the emotion was possible.
“He wasn’t a ward though,” Jordan continued. “The Guardian can only utilize people from within the city that want the task of city ward. It’s only those that are not from here that it will use without question.”
“But it has control of Gia.”
“It wasn’t supposed to do that,” he groaned.
And then I gasped as another thought occurred to me. If Connor was able to pull someone here then so could others, and I didn’t know how to release my next question without hurting him. I could only stare up at him.
“No,” he said, his body flattened mine against the wall, his hands holding my face. “I’m not. And I haven’t been inserted either. If I had, it wouldn’t feel like this.” His soul surged through me, wrapping around mine. His warmth pulled me out of my body, overwhelming me with his love before settling us back. His mouth seized mine, harder than he had before; it was desperate, needing me to know him. To believe in him. And I did, because he believed.
The problem was Grid’s kiss had felt just as real. Apart from the emotions I shared with Jordan, I couldn’t physically tell the difference, but considering what I was going to, I didn’t care. If being reproduced meant that all the important parts - the feeling, the emotion - were restored one hundred percent, it no longer mattered to me that I would be inserted, so long as I could come back to him.