“What happened?” Josie asked.
“I turned on the delicate-flower-who-could-do-no-harm act. They forgot all about the book.”
The girls sauntered down the steps to where Dante and Lars were waiting on horseback. Dante whisked Lindsey up behind him and veered off down a side street.
“Shouldn’t we stick together?” Josie inquired, but Lars seemed too intent on navigating the streets to answer. He spurred their horse into a gallop as soldiers converged on the library.
“Did you get the map?” Lars called back.
“You betcha.”
“You’re incredible.”
“Thank you for noticing,” she yelled over the clomping of hooves. “Where are Rolf and Loyl?”
“We’re meeting them outside of the city.”
“What’s with all the law enforcement?”
“A bunch of people died in the riot back at the arena, including several of Tectonia’s Royal Guardsman. The Galatians who live in Tectonia are being blamed. The military is rounding up everybody now. We have to get out of here fast.”
“But, my dad and the other Galatians who live here…”
“...knew that helping us could lead to trouble, but they did it anyway. If Galatia is destroyed, the history of the human race, its culture, everything will fade away. Your father and the others think that’s worth a little jail time. Don’t you dare try to take their heroic sacrifice away.”
Lars turned the horse down a side alley, which opened onto a road heavy with foot traffic. She gawked at the sight of a man who was urinating into the street. Two Deermas crashed through a saloon window, their horns locked together in combat. A crowd of Bulwarks came out of the door to raise their mugs and cheer on the fight.
“Tectonia reminds me of an old Wild West town like on Gunsmoke,” Josie said.
“I was thinking the Cantina Bar in Star Wars.” Lars turned the horse into a wide road.
“Do you know where we’re going?” she asked.
“Of course I do.”
“When did you get so cool, Lars Steelsun?”
“Since the day I started hanging out with you.”
She pressed her cheek against Lars’s sturdy back and hugged him close. It had been a long time since they were able to converse freely—or touch one another. It felt nice. When he placed one hand over hers, his touch electrified her nerves, sending a pleasant shiver through her body.
As they approached a set of open-work iron gates that led outside of the city, pedestrians formed one line, people on horseback or wagons formed another. Both lines had bottlenecked due to the soldiers sorting people into two lines—Commoners in one line, everybody else in another. The soldiers were making the Commoners roll up their sleeves to show their hands.
“Uh-oh,” Josie said, stomach clenching. “They’re counting fingers!”
“Don’t worry, I’m taking care of it.” Lars’s voice sounded strained. “One of the guards is about to give us a personal escort out of here.”
“Huh?”
“I’ve gotten good at linking with humanoids. In fact, I can control them.”
Lars’s words reached Josie’s mind like a hard piece of candy slowly dissolving on the tongue. Its flavor was difficult to discern, but the longer it sat on her taste buds, the more tantalizing it became.
A soldier, with a mustache that looked like a whiskbroom, walked robotically toward them as if being forced by an invisible hand.
Whisk Broom took hold of the horse’s reins and stopped in front of the other soldiers.
“My cousins,” Broom, whose facial expression looked as if he were about to pass a kidney stone, presented Lars and Josie to the other soldiers.
The guards waved them on through. Josie held her breath the whole way, not exhaling until they passed under the arch over the iron gates, and onto a brick road.
“Wow,” she finally gasped. “Your charisma is the Jedi Mind Trick!”
“I wish it was like that. No, the person is aware that they’re being controlled, but can’t stop me. Now, shhh. I’m still holding onto that guard. I want to make sure he doesn’t tell anyone what just happened until we’re further away.”
The traffic going out of the city was sparse, but the line going in was clogged for miles. A covered wagon full of Commoners was several yards ahead of them. An old man in an open rig full of crates kept a good space behind them. Pedestrians lined the edges of the road, some alone, some in large family groups.
When they were about half a mile out, Lars announced, “I lost my link.”
“Wow, Lars,” she marveled. “Mind control? The Charismatic Focus Committee is going to plotz!”
Chapter Thirty-Six
(Josephine Rose Albright)
The landscape gradually transitioned from noisy shacks and grimy children playing barefoot along the dusty road into fields of black dirt with widely spaced farm houses. A Commoner driving a team of oxen-like beasts waved at them as they rode past. From atop their horse, Josie and Lars waved back and kept riding for another hour until they came to a road sign.
“Slag Lane,” Lars read out loud. “This is the turnoff.”
She tightened her arms around his waist, a million worries filling her head. What if the guards from the gate were pursuing them? What if Bayloo’s goons found them? What if they couldn’t find the rest of the Red Squad? What if they got to Galatia too late? What if Galatia was destroyed? What about Mom? What about Jo and her children? What if they got to Galatia on time only to discover the map didn’t work? After all, it was torn in half, so what made Dr. Steelsun so sure it could function if reunited? What in the world was the Riddle of Steel doing in Tectonia’s library?
A girl could lose her mind entertaining so many thoughts. She made an effort to concentrate on just one. Lars’s marriage proposal. Had he meant it? If so, is that what she really wanted?
“The others should be up ahead,” Lars informed her. “I think.”
Slag Lane was a narrow horse trail that led down a steep incline through a young forest to the banks of the Kalida River. Josie saw a boat straight out of Viking mythology. The bow of the ship rose up like a huge wooden horn with the head of an angry dragon at the top. The stern had the same horn curving in the opposite direction, carved like the dragon’s tail. Round shields lined the top edge of the hull and a long oar poked out between each one.
Prince Loyl and a bulky one-eyed humanoid waited for them at the top of the gangplank.
“Good to see you, my young friends,” Loyl greeted with a welcoming smile. “You left Galatia as helpless babes and will be returning as great warriors. Excellent work in the arena, by the way.”
Josie knew that the prince meant that as a compliment, but she felt nothing but shame. For the squad to see her in such a skimpy costume was bad enough, but for them to witness how she had been reduced to a cold-blooded killer in a few short months made her feel morally bankrupt.
Dante rushed down the gangplank, arms spread wide, and they exchanged greetings. “How did you get rid of the curse?” she asked him.
“I can’t wait to swap stories about the last four months,” Loyl interrupted, “but as you know, time is of the essence. Lindsey and Rolf are already on board. Please, leave your horse with this gentleman and we will set off immediately.”
“This guy looks like he might eat horse for breakfast,” Lars replied. “Are you sure?”
“The Zlods are a fearsome race, but rest assured your horse will be fine with them. Their deity is the winged horse-god, Pegoosa. The captain of this vessel has agreed to take us all the way to Galatia in exchange for the horses—that is if the port is operational.”
“Do we have a shot at making it home before the allied army gets there?” Josie asked.
“If everything goes smoothly, and we don’t suffer any delays—no.”
Josie’s heart sunk, but thankfully the general consensus of the Red Squad seemed to be that they would have to try anyway.
Chapter Thirty-
Seven
(Josephine Rose Albright)
Rows of one-eyed Zlods sat on the lower deck. Each held a long oar between his three thick fingers. Night and day, a Zlod at the helm of the ship beat a drum, while the rowers moved in unison, leaning forward, then stretching backwards, over and over again.
By afternoon, the rowers were glistening with sweat, and not even the wind could carry away their musky odor. At least the ride was fast and smooth, but over the course of days, and then weeks, the trees on the bank began to blur together—not that Josie was complaining. This was faster and a great deal more comfortable than traveling by horseback. Strange how life worked out sometimes. If only they had made it to Blue Junction early in the mission, and had rented a boat like they had originally planned, the mission would have been completed long ago.
A merchant vessel coming down from the north stopped to exchange news with the Zlod captain. According to the merchant, the traffic to and from Galatia had thinned a couple of weeks ago. He had been on his way to the new nation with a load of sheet metal when an Alliance ship had intercepted him, ordering him to turn back.
“Do you know how much money I’m losing because of the blasted Alliance?” The man cussed up a storm. “They’ve closed Galatia’s port.”
The expressions of the rest of the squad matched the feeling of pending doom inside of Josie’s chest.
The Zlod Captain approached Loyl.
“If you can cough up a few hundred extra meelars, I’ll take you as far past Blue Junction as I can, but understand if we run into an Alliance vessel that forces us to turn back, nothing is guaranteed.”
Josie listened to them negotiate as she sat wedged on a bench seat between Lars and Lindsey. Rolf sat on the opposite side of the ship next to Dante. Lars furtively held her hand until she withdrew it to leaf through Riddle of Steel again.
A riddle indeed.
Passages of text were underlined where they hadn’t been before. It had been firmly instilled in Josie to never write in a book, so she marveled at who could have been so bold. The same person who wrote the note inside of the cover had probably marked up the pages as well. Could it be some kind of secret code?
Glancing up, she caught Rolf staring intently at Lindsey again. When Lindsey caught his gaze, he quickly looked away.
“So,” Josie whispered into Lindsey’s ear, “what’s the deal—are you two an item?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Lindsey tossed her hair. “He’s not my type. Shy and backward.”
“If you feel that way, why did you make out with him?”
“It was just that one time—and well, that other time. Oh, and that time in the slayer’s barn...well, never mind.”
“Don’t you feel bad for letting him think a relationship with you is possible?”
“I’ve told him I’m my own woman. It’s not my fault if he refuses to listen. When he started talking about having kids, that was the last straw. I don’t want to get married and I certainly don’t want to be tied down with children. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.”
“Why not?”
“My parents are devout Catholics. Even though they hate each other, they stay together out of love for Jesus. I’m sure Jesus appreciates all their anger, all their breaking things, and swearing at each other—done in His Name. Amen.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was like that for you.”
“Well, it is. When we get back to Galatia, I’m going to find my own place.”
“Need a roomie?” she teased.
“That would be crazy! We only just started tolerating each other. Put us in a room together for that long and we’d be back to hating each other.”
“Calm down,” Josie snorted with laughter. “I was only kidding.”
..............................
In the evening, the Zlod vessel moored along the riverbank of a grubby forest covered with gooey red fungus. Harmless, Loyl said, but sticky. The vessel pulled over to the shoreline for the evening, where the squad decided to get out, stretch their legs, and set up camp for the night. The Zlods also got out to stretch their legs, to find some food, but returned to sleep on the boat. The captain couldn’t understand why their passengers preferred the damp ground to his dry decks. The squad didn’t have the heart to tell them they stank worse than Bulwarks.
Josie set up her blankets next to Lars. He was already lying down and opened an arm in invitation for her to crawl inside of his hug. She saw the sharp lines of disapproval on the faces of the rest of the team, but nobody reprimanded them. Not even Loyl. Maybe he understood that after what they’d been through, she pined for a drink of human kindness, a bucket of forgiveness, and thirsted for affirmation that she was still worthy to be part of the human race.
Sensing that Lars needed the same, she kissed the tip of his nose, and then snuggled into his side. But that voice inside of her head refused to be quieted. If it wasn’t for your selfish choices, Big Clo and Willow would be enjoying their freedom, instead, they’re smoldering in the grave. You really are a bitch. Her hands went to her ears in hopes that sleep would quiet her accusing conscience. And a murderer.
At long last they came to Blue Junction. The captain went into town for supplies, and to negotiate the terms for a shipment down stream, but Prince Loyl refused to enter the town that had turned them away in their time of need.
The Zlod captain returned with bad news.
“I received confirmation—the allied armies have surrounded Galatia and closed her port. I can let you off ten miles south of your borders. But all the money in the world wouldn’t convince me to get any closer to that blood bath. You seem like nice people though, so why don’t you stay in Blue Junction until it’s over?”
“My family lives in Galatia,” Dante said.
“Well, may the god of war have mercy on your souls.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
(Josephine Rose Albright)
Many miles north of Blue Junction the Zlod captain ordered his rowers to stop. Their oars went straight up in the air and the anchor zipped down into the water. Due to a clog of Western Alliance ships running the breadth of the river, they could get no closer to Galatia. Prince Loyl was pleased, though, saying they had landed about where he had expected. Thanking the captain, he paid the agreed-upon fare, and they all parted ways.
After half a day traveling by foot, Josie longed for the ease of sitting on a boat while the rowers did all the work. The terrain was hilly, the vegetation dense, making walking slow and tedious. Also, she was hopelessly lost, but at least Loyl seemed sure of the path. A week passed before the land began to seem familiar again.
As the skirted the river, Loyl led them up a steep muddy embankment, which Josie climbed by pulling herself by tree roots that hung like vines from the steep embankment. Lindsey was ahead of her and kept sending cascades of dirt down into her face.
“Quit that!” Josie complained, watching in envy as Loyl shimmied across a branch hand-over-hand without any trouble to plop down on the grassy bluff above.
“Hey, Lindsey, remember when we were in the Girl Scouts,” Josie said when she got to the top, a prairie of swaying green grass and acres of blue spruce, “and we thought that spending the night in Biodome Three was roughing it?”
Lindsey busted out laughing at the memory, ending with a nostalgic sigh. “And we made S’mores over the space heater, the one with the fake digital flames, and told ghost stories.” The two girls intoned Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, and burst into giggles. The men in the group cut dubious glances at each other but said nothing, asked no questions.
They walked through the afternoon, taking only a couple of breaks, until deep into the night. Prince Loyl surveyed the amount of trampled foliage they had found. “More than one army has already marched through here.” Squinting at the horizon, he added, “But they haven’t come back through. This is a good sign that the battle hasn’t taken place yet.”
“Or it’s taking place right now,” Dante s
aid.
“No,” the prince said, twitching his velvety white ears. “We are already within the borders of Galatia. Maybe ten or fifteen miles away from your main settlement. That’s close enough for the Regalan ear to pick up the sounds of a battle the size of which I expect.”
“It’s like we’re in a cowboy movie, heading to Dodge for a duel, and the map is our six-shooter,” Josie said. Her stomach had turned into knots a long time ago and remained clenched. “Everybody pray we get there before High Noon.”
“The battle will begin at daybreak,” Loyl corrected, “not when the sun is at its peak.”
“I know,” Josie said, not bothering to explain cowboy tradition. “I know.”
..............................
The Red Squad rarely traveled after sundown, but tonight they walked beneath a waning moon filtered by a forest full of thin trees with white trunks and an airy canopy of yellow leaves. Josie held her hands out like feelers, barely able to see them in front of her face. The sound of animals scurrying through the underbrush added to her growing anxiety. Wasn’t this where the hunters had been attacked by those acidic flower petals? What if they were walking into a patch of them right now? Trying to calm down, she reminded herself of the Regalan ability to see in low light. Loyl had become the squad’s Seeing Eye dog, warning everyone of dangers and obstacles in the terrain as they went along.
Rolf complained that he had a stone in his boot, so the group paused while he emptied it and Josie used the opportunity to take a long sip from her canteen. One good thing about Future Earth was that the water tasted awesome here, clean and fresh. Bunker water had an odd moldy taste. Her mother used to say it tasted like water from a slimy sump pump hole.
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