"You are," said Gracien. "We all are. Reytana are meant to be outside in the sun, not trapped underground. That life is for the Gartune." Gracien nodded toward the two cages on the far side of the deck. Inside, Damnar and Damina had the same queasy complexion as Tinko.
"This life is for us," Gracien said.
"I don't know how you did it for so long," said Loras. "Why did you stay hidden for so many years? What were you waiting for?"
Gracien thought for a few moments then answered, "For the right time," he said.
Loras opened his eyes and turned toward the captain. "And now is the right time?"
"Now is the time, young warrior." Gracien placed his hand on Loras' shoulder while tilting his own head up to the sky and closing his eyes. "Now is finally the time," he repeated softly. The two Reytana took a few minutes to soak in the sun's rays together, side by side. But, even in the peaceful sunlight, something nagged at the back of Loras’ mind. It had been bothering Loras since they left The Hole. He wasn't sure if it was his place to bring it up, but he decided to anyway.
"Aren't you worried that someone has spotted us?" asked Loras.
"Not really," replied Gracien.
"You're not?" asked Loras. "Shouldn't you be? I mean look around. Twenty giant hovercraft are pretty hard to miss. I mean somebody down there has to have seen us."
"Oh, I'm sure somebody probably has," replied Gracien, still unconcerned. Loras looked at him, confused.
"Then why aren't you worried?" asked Loras.
"Look down," said Gracien. Loras leaned over the hovercraft's railing and looked down at the trees zooming past them. "Nothing in this world moves faster than we are moving right now, except for the hyper-rail. If some woodsman spotted our ships, it would not matter. We will be at Reysa far before any word of our coming has reached the city."
"But what if somebody spotted us a week ago in Woodhaven?" said Loras, suddenly feeling very guilty.
"Yes, I suppose somebody could have seen us then," said Gracien. Loras was relieved to not hear any blame in his voice.
"And you're still not worried that the Gartolians could be waiting for us?"
Gracien opened his eyes. They were glowing. "I hope that they are waiting for us!" Loras was taken aback by the captain's sudden change of demeanor, and a little scared too. Gracien saw the worry in the young Tormada's face. "There's something you will soon come to understand about Tormada, Loras. It is not in our nature to back down from a fight. It is not in our nature to retreat. And it is especially not in our nature to abandon those that we were sworn to protect. All of those things happened eighteen years ago when King Atholos forced us to retreat to The Hole. You have no idea how hard it has been on all of us since then. We weren't suffering because we had to live underground, away from the light – that we dealt with because we had to. It was the guilt that caused us to truly suffer. The guilt from abandoning Reysa has been a festering wound. And now, finally, we get a chance to redeem ourselves – to heal. It does not matter if we face one Gartune or the entire Gartolian army tomorrow. At last, we will be given the chance to make things right."
Loras thought about that for a while. "Yeah, well given the choice," said Loras, "I think I would rather face just one Gartune rather than the entire army."
Gracien smiled. "We don't always get to choose the playing field. But we still have to play."
"So, we attack tomorrow?" asked Tinko, rejoining the conversation. "But at this speed, we will be at Reysa by tonight."
"We will wait for the morning," replied Gracien. "Reytana do not fight in the dark unless we absolutely have to."
"Riiiight," said Tinko. "Because you need the sun to fuel your weapons." Gracien nodded. "Well, I have some bad news for you, Captain. I know you've been gone a long time, but there's been an addition to the city since you left."
"I know of the shield," said Gracien.
"So, you know that all of the city's weapons are blocked from the sun and chances are, you'll be fighting in the shade as well," said Tinko.
Loras began to panic. He had forgotten about the shield. There was no way that the Reytana could defeat the Gartolians while the shield was up. They needed the city's defenses if they were to have any chance.
Gracien nodded toward the rear of the ship, where the massive energy orb from The Hole was tied. "That will reactivate the city's defenses," he said.
"But for how long?" asked Tinko.
"For as long as it takes us to defeat the army on the ground," replied Gracien.
"So, it's a race..." said Loras warily, "we need to defeat the Gartolian army before the orb runs dry."
"That's one way to think about it," said Gracien.
Tinko started doing some calculations in his head. He didn't seem to like the results. "Assuming that Reysa’s defensive shield is fully activated and the solar cannons along the city's walls are still functional, how long do you suppose we will have before we are out of juice?"
"Somewhere between seven and eight hours," replied Gracien calmly.
"That's it?!" exclaimed Loras and Tinko simultaneously.
"It will be enough," said Gracien. "And if it is not, then I will disable the Gartolian sun shield. "
"How?" asked Tinko. "You've never even seen it. How do you know how to disable it?"
"I know more about it than you think," said Gracien. "Even though I've been away, I have not been totally cut off from what was happening in the city. Dario sent news whenever he could. We were not unaware."
"Ok, so then you know that you can't just blow the shield up," said Loras. "It would fall onto the city and kill everyone. "
"Correct," said Gracien. "It has to be retracted."
"And you know how to retract it?" asked Tinko.
"I know how to retract it," replied Gracien.
Both Tinko and Loras stared at the captain, waiting for him to tell them how it was done, but Gracien said no more.
"I'll bet there's a button," whispered Tinko sarcastically to Loras. "It probably says 'down.'"
Gracien laughed in spite of himself. "In fact, there is a button. The problem is getting to that button."
"It's on a tank, isn't it," said Loras. Gracien nodded.
"Which tank?" asked Tinko. Gracien looked at Loras for the answer.
"It's on the one in the water, isn't it" said Loras, glumly. He thought back to the time in the river when he had invaded the realm of Lyse. "How are you going to get there?" asked Loras. "That... elemental... doesn't like us in her water."
"No, she doesn't," agreed Gracien. He did not seem to be sharing Loras' concern.
"Then how are you going to get to the tank?" Loras asked again.
"I'm going to swim," replied Gracien, smiling.
"She won't let you," said Loras.
“I'm a very good swimmer," replied Gracien, still smiling. He winked at Tinko. Loras was dumbfounded.
"Why don't you just take a hovercraft?" asked Tinko.
"I'd be spotted," said Gracien. "They can't know that I'm coming to disable the shield. They might lock it... or worse."
"They might blow it up," whispered Tinko to himself. Gracien nodded.
"And what if you fail?" asked Loras, still struggling to process the plan. "What if you aren't able to disable the shield?"
Gracien glanced over at Tinko. "Then we fight in the shade," he said calmly. Loras sighed. It was all becoming very real now. No longer a daydream in Lucan's classroom. Loras began to feel the weight that all soldiers felt on the eve of battle. More likely than not, that battle was going to be against a large Gartolian army that was prepared for an attack. He shook his head.
"We're going to be outnumbered, aren't we," said Loras to nobody in particular.
"Probably," said Gracien.
"It's not fair," interjected Tinko. "There are always supposed to be an equal amount of Reytana and Gartune. That's why The Scales exist! So that the sides are even – so that nobody gets slaughtered!"
"I don't suppose we're s
topping to pick up the Fallen Reytana somewhere here in the forest," said Loras to Gracien. There was a bit of hope mixed in with his sarcasm.
"I'm afraid not," said Gracien. Loras pounded his fist on the railing and looked down into the forest below as if he hoped to discover a camp of one hundred and fifty Reytana.
"If only we knew where they were, this could be a fair fight," said Loras.
"We know where they are."
Loras spun around to face Gracien, his eyes wide.
"Say that again?" said Loras.
"We know where they are," repeated Gracien. Loras and Tinko looked at each other excitedly. They couldn't believe what they were hearing. "But they won't do any good," continued Gracien. Loras and Tinko were confused by his solemn tone.
"Won't do any good?" repeated Tinko. "Why not? How could they not help us?"
"Because they are imprisoned," said Gracien. His voice was a mixture of sadness and anger.
"Imprisoned!" shouted Loras, "Where?!"
Gracien paused for a moment. "In Reysa."
"What?!" Loras and Tinko shouted together.
"They are imprisoned in Reysa," repeated Gracien. "They’ve been locked up there for their entire lives." Loras and Tinko couldn't believe what they were hearing. They looked back and forth between each other and the captain, unable to think of anything to say. There were too many questions. Finally, Loras gathered himself enough to ask one.
"I've lived in Reysa my entire life. If there were a hundred and fifty Reytana jailed in the city, I would have seen them. Somebody would have seen them."
Gracien simply shook his head. "Their prison is underground in the heart of the cliff. That's why nobody has ever seen them."
A vision appeared in Loras' mind; a cold, dark cave full of children chained to the walls. A shiver went down his spine. Their whole lives, he thought. He couldn't imagine a torture worse than that.
"We have to free them!" shouted Loras.
"After we take back the city," replied Gracien.
"But couldn't they help us to take back the city?" asked Tinko.
Again, Gracien simply shook his head. "The Fallen ones have lived their entire lives in a jail cell. They are not trained for battle. We don't even know if they can speak. Rey-willing they were still able to receive their light even though they have been cut off from the sun, but even so, they are still barely more than children. I would not free them just to have them killed in battle."
"But—" Loras continued but Gracien raised his hand to cut him off.
"They will be freed after we take the city." The look Gracien gave the teens let them know that the discussion was over, but he could tell by their faces that Loras and Tinko were still distressed.
"I think that's enough questions for now," said Gracien, releasing the sternness in his eyes. "If you're worried that our plan has some holes in it, remember this – we are about to go to war, and in war nothing goes according to plan." He bent over and pointed a finger at Tinko's forehead. "Ultimately, it won't matter what we planned here," he turned and poked his other finger in Loras' chest, "but what we found in here."
Gracien gave the boys a smile and then left them to go inspect the energy orb at the back of the ship.
"Just one time, I'd like somebody to point to my heart instead of my head," grumbled Tinko.
"Maybe after tomorrow, they will," said Loras. He put his hand over his friend's shoulder and the two looked out over the bow of the ship toward a frightening future that was rapidly approaching.
Regan watched as the line of hovercraft in front of her gently rose and fell over the bow of her own ship. The calming movements of the flying vessels ran in direct opposition to the rapid and disjointed thoughts that were racing inside of her head. Everything was happening so fast. Soon they would be in Reysa. And then what? Would they be able to sneak into the city without being detected? Would they get caught? Would she have to fight? All of these thoughts and more collided inside of her brain, causing her to become so dizzy that she had to sit down.
"I thought floaters loved being up in these things," snorted Belkore from his cell in the back of the ship. He was noticeably queasy. "Why don't you ask if we can walk the rest of the way? I'll let you ride on my back." Regan ignored the prisoner. She took a deep breath and tried to clear her head, but it didn't work.
"Try closing your eyes," suggested Xander from the cage next to Belkore. He was also struggling with the flight, but not as much as the other two.
"It's not the ship," said Regan. "The ship is fine. In fact, I rather like being up here." She shot a sharp glance at Belkore. "I'm just—"
"Scared?" interjected Belkore.
"Anxious," said Regan.
"Well, of course you are," said Xander. "I'm sure you're not the only one. No shame in being a little excited." Belkore gave Xander a disgusted look and turned away from him, muttering under his breath.
"Want to talk about it?" asked Xander.
"Not particularly," said Regan.
"Ok," said Xander amicably. He waited a few moments before continuing. "Because if you wanted to talk, I've been told that I'm a great listener. A better talker; but also a great listener." Still Regan remained quiet. The only sound was the gentle whooshing of the hovercraft wings as they lifted the ship slowly up... and down... up... and down.
"You're worried about what will happen when we get to Reysa," continued Xander.
"I'm worried about what will happen when we get to Reysa..." whispered Regan, half to herself.
"You should be," growled Belkore. Regan caught a glimpse of the knowing smile that spread across his face. She immediately turned to him.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh nothing..." sighed Belkore, his smile growing. Regan got up and approached his cage. Belkore put his hands behind his head and leaned against the bars in the back of his cell.
"Do you know something?" she demanded. Belkore only smiled. Regan looked over to Xander. "Do you know what he's talking about?" Xander shot Belkore a piercing look, but then he sighed and bowed his head. He thought for a moment before answering.
"Regan, do you know how a Tormada's parents are chosen?"
Regan looked confused. "What does that have to do with anything?" she said.
"Do you know how it's done?" Xander repeated.
"Something about collecting them out of the water when they arrive at their city," said Regan. "I don't know. They don't let tormans down at the collection pools and as of three weeks ago, I was a torman, so it didn't really have anything to do with me."
"Right," said Xander, struggling with where to begin. "So, you know that Tormada don't actually give birth."
"Except for the Omegas," corrected Regan.
"Yes, except for the Omegas," replied Xander. A memory of a visit at Regan's house flashed briefly in his mind, but then it was gone. He shook his head and tried to regain his train of thought. "For the rest of us regular old Tormada, our parents are assigned."
"What do you mean, assigned?" asked Regan.
"If a Tormada wants to adopt a child, then they have to be the ones to pluck the babe from the collection pool once it arrives at Reysa or Gartol. They have to be the first living thing that the baby sees. It is this actual act of pulling the child from the water that forms the parental bond between child and parent. Once that bond is formed, the baby is forever linked to their parent. They love them. They obey them. They will do anything for them. And that bond can never be broken. It is a part of their being."
Regan thought of her own parents. She knew that she loved them. After all, they were her parents. But she had never felt like she was attached to them in any way – never felt like she was obligated to obey them. In fact, she and Loras had often disobeyed them, as most Reysene teenagers did from time to time. Much of that may have been because they rarely saw their parents, especially as they got older. Like so many other Reysene adults, Regan and Loras’ parents were relegated to endless hours of working on the secret pr
oject that nobody spoke of. At first, Loras and Regan had resented their parents’ absence in their lives. But after a while, they accepted it just like they accepted all of the other inconveniences that the Gartune occupation had created. It was what it was.
"Ok, so what does that have to do with anything?" Regan asked, still confused.
"What do you think happened to your ‘Fallen’ Reytana? The ones who died during the war?" asked Xander.
Regan suddenly became worried. "We're not supposed to talk about it. "
"But what do you think happened?" Xander continued.
"Well," she said, "I guess I always just assumed they were captured or something. Like I said, we weren't supposed to talk about it, so I never really gave it much thought. You should ask my brother and Tinko. They have all sorts of theories."
"The Fallen Reytana were captured," said Xander, "but that's not the important part. The important part is who captured them."
Understanding began to creep over Regan's face. "My gods," she whispered, "Gartune adopted the Lost Reytana."
"Not just any Gartune!" interjected Belkore gleefully.
"There was only one Gartune who pulled all of the Reytana infants from your collection pool," said Xander. "My father."
Regan's eyes widened with horror. "Hadrian?! The Fallen Reytana were assigned," she could barely get the words out of her mouth, "to your father?" She looked back and forth frantically, trying to process the new information as fast as she could. "So that means..."
"Yes..." said Xander. "They are tied to my father. They will obey whatever he tells them."
Regan's knees became weak and she sat down on the deck. "I think I'm going to be sick," she said.
Xander stood and walked to the front of his cage. "I don't know what his plans are for them. Maybe he doesn't plan on using them. After all, they aren't warriors. Last I saw of them, they could barely speak. But those Reytana aren't coming back to help you in this fight. That you can be sure of."
"Wait," said Regan, slowly lifting her head. "The last you saw them?"
"Ha!" jeered Belkore. "This is the best part!"
"You've seen them?"
"I was in charge of their welfare while I was in Reysa," said Xander carefully.
Hyperion's Shield Page 27