"Murders," said Xander. "He means murders. The steward is in charge of finishing off the wounded enemy soldiers." Regan's jaw dropped.
"Exactly!" cried Belkore. "Except that, apparently, little Xan here didn't have the stomach for it."
"I was five!"
"You were a coward!" continued Belkore. "And because you were a coward that couldn’t do his job, a wounded Reytana was able to sneak up on your brother and kill him! There was no hovercraft, no massive explosion. Just a scared little boy. That's who you've put your faith in, little girl."
Belkore began to advance again on Regan. She looked quickly over toward where Xander was standing. The prince lowered his head slightly. Regan could see a brief flash of guilt on his face, but it quickly vanished and was replaced by his normal, mischievous smile. Suddenly, he reached down to the ground, picked up a pebble and threw it at the back of Belkore's head. Belkore reached his hand up and blood came trickling through his fingers. Enraged, he finally turned around to face Xander.
"Did you just throw a rock at me?!" yelled Belkore.
"Oh relax," replied Xander, picking up another, larger stone off the ground, "it was only a pebble. Now this one," he tossed the stone up in the air. "This one might leave a mark. So why don't you leave that girl alone?"
"A coward and a traitor!" shouted Belkore. "First you attack your own sister, and now you protect a floater! All of those little chats while we were cooped up. I heard everything! You have fallen for this... girl! You choose her over your own blood!"
"Well she's much prettier than you."
"You know, you may be right about your father not wanting to see you again. I'll bet if he knew who you really were, he'd want you dead! Septa too! She always knew what you were hiding."
"Careful, Belk. You’ve been talking about my family an awful lot lately and that’s a dangerous path," said Xander. “You think you know them? You have no idea. Why don’t you just stick to me.”
"The Gartune I knew is gone!" shouted Belkore. "It has been replaced by this weakling that I see in front of me! I guess all of those years living with the floaters has turned you into one!"
"You call me weak, and yet you're the one about to attack a defenseless girl."
"She's not defenseless!" shouted Belkore. "Look at her! She's a bloody Reytana! You can't even see it because you're blinded like a love-sick pipken. She is the enemy!"
"She is not my enemy," said Xander softly. He started tossing the stone in his hand up in the air to himself. "If you want her, you're going to have to go through me. And as I recall, that hasn't worked out very well for you in the past, old friend."
"You're no friend of mine, traitor!" shouted Belkore. He ran at the Gartune prince, each foot cracking the ground where it landed.
"Here we go," said Xander. Rather than chucking the stone at the charging Belkore, he tossed it lightly in the air and yelled "Catch!" Belkore took his eyes off of Xander for an instant to watch the stone arcing up into the air. That was all Xander needed. In a flash, he reached behind his back and grabbed the piece of jagged metal that he had been concealing and threw it at Belkore. The makeshift spear plunged into Belkore's chest. The Gartune looked down at the length of metal sticking out of his ribs, then up at his assailant. Shock and confusion covered his face. He coughed, fell to his knees and then disappeared into a cloud of purple dust. Xander and Regan watched as Belkore's aura slowly lifted up and floated west toward The Scales.
Regan stared at the spot where Belkore had disintegrated. She opened her mouth, but words would not come out. Xander saw her shock and put his arms around the girl.
"It's ok," he said, holding her close to his chest. He could feel her heart racing. "Nobody is going to hurt you."
"He just.... just... disappeared," Regan stammered.
"That's the first time you've seen one of us die. Sometimes I forget how innocent you are." He pressed her head into his chest and stroked her hair gently. "It can be rather... unsettling to see for the first time. But that's just how it happens. It would not have mattered if I killed him or if he died in his sleep. We all go back to The Scales once we die. You will. And one day, hopefully a long, long time from now, I will. It is how the gods made us."
Xander and Regan stood together for what seemed like a long time, just holding each other. Eventually, Regan's heart slowed, and her tears dried. She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hands and stepped back from Xander's grasp. "You saved my life," she said, her voice quiet but full of emotion. "Again. Why?"
"Do I really need to tell you?" Regan didn't answer. Seconds that seemed like an eternity passed. Neither of them spoke. The silence was broken by a loud crash. They turned to see the remains of the hovercraft deck fall into the burning rubble. A large cloud of smoke rose from the pile, causing Regan to cough as she stepped away from the wreckage.
"We have to go," said Xander.
"Where?" asked Regan. She didn't know if he intended to take her back to her own people or to his.
"Somewhere safe. The ship that held Damnar and Damina's cages was shot in half. They may have escaped. Knowing them, they probably ran for camp, but I can’t be certain. They may have suddenly gotten brave like Belkore. They could still be out here."
Xander looked around in the forest for a few minutes, searching for his eüroc. He found it amid a pile of burning rubble. Luckily, Gartolian metal doesn't burn. Xander withdrew his staff from the wreckage. There wasn't a speck of ash on it, as if the weapon were impervious to the fire. After a quick, inspection of his eüroc, Xander grabbed Regan's hand and led her through the forest. The two walked in silence for several minutes. Regan kept looking around to try to gauge the direction that they were traveling, but everything appeared the same. She could not determine their path. Then, finally, the forest opened up and Regan was staring at five hundred yards of empty sand. Past that, she saw a giant steel cage connected to several large pulleys that went all the way up the rocky cliff to Reysa. The lift. Xander had brought them to Reysa's front door.
Xander pointed at the expanse of sand in front of them. "War is coming and it's going to be fought right here. Reysa is the only safe place for you, and if we're going to cross, we need to do it now."
Regan examined the length of sand in between them and the lift. The sand was not what bothered her. What waited at the end of that run is what had her worried. Several Gartune soldiers were guarding the lift. There was no way they could reach the elevator undetected.
"How do you plan on getting us on that thing?" she asked.
Xander smiled. "Do you trust me?"
Regan thought for a moment and was surprised at how quickly and unequivocally she arrived at her answer.
"Let's go," she said, and the two of them started toward the lift.
As she crossed the empty space between the forest and the lift, Regan felt an eerie sense of the battle to come. She looked down at the clean, white sand and could almost imagine it painted with blood. To her left, she could just make out the mouth of Octavian's Pass. It was littered with debris from the damaged Reytana hovercraft. Smoke wafted out of the valley. For the first time, she thought of Loras. She wondered if he was all right. She sensed that he was, but it was just a feeling.
Xander caught her staring in the direction of the pass. "If they're smart, they’re on their way back to their cave right now."
"They won't go back," said Regan. "They can't."
Xander nodded. "No, I don't suppose they can. But they won't have much time to regroup. Look." He pointed in the opposite direction. Emerging from around the far side of the cliff was the Gartolian army. They had been hiding there, waiting for the Reytana to come to them. Now that the Reytana had retreated, Hadrian’s army advanced toward Octavian's Pass.
"We have to hurry," said Xander. He and Regan increased their pace to a trot.
When they had gotten within earshot of the lift, Xander stopped and grabbed Regan's hands and pinned them behind her back. "Ouch," she yelled. "What are you doing?!
"
"Trust me," whispered Xander. "Follow my lead."
By this time the soldiers guarding the lift had taken notice of the approaching Tormada. Two Gartune approached Xander and Regan, their eürocs at the ready. One of them held up a hand, but Xander ignored it, proceeding toward the Gartune with Regan held tightly in front of him.
"Halt!" yelled the Gartune with his arm raised. "Stop right there!"
"Put your hand down before I cut it off!" shouted Xander indignantly. Instantly, a look of terrified recognition flashed across the Gartunes' faces.
"Prince Xander, we didn't recognize you," said the soldier as he dropped his hand to his side, sheepishly.
"I don't know why not," answered Xander. "Most people can recognize my good looks from a mile away." He winked disarmingly at the soldiers as he and Regan continued toward the lift, undaunted. The Gartune who had ordered Xander to stop looked relieved that the prince didn't appear angry with him. The other soldier was confused.
"Excuse me, sir—" said the other soldier. "Who is that with you?"
Xander turned over his shoulder while still continuing forward. The amicable expression was gone from his face. "Who does it look like? She's a prisoner, you idiot! Now tell your lackeys to open that gate and take us topside. I want the best possible view to watch the battle!"
Two Gartolians immediately opened the lift gate for Xander and Regan. The two Tormada didn't even break stride as they stepped into the elevator. The Gartolians shared wary glances as if deciding who was to go up with them, then, the shorter of the two slipped into the steel cage. He threw the lever upward, keeping his eyes on the ground the entire time. Two giant pulleys on either side of the cage spun into action and the compartment jumped off the ground with surprising speed. Up they sped along the face of the cliff. The ride was surprisingly smooth for as fast as they were going.
The higher they rose, the further Regan's heart fell into her stomach. As the plains sank beneath her, she could now see the mass of Reytana hovercraft jumbled together just behind the bend in Octavian's path. All the ships looked damaged. She could see Reytana, now small specs on the ground, moving frantically all over the wreckage. She wondered if Loras was one of those specs.
What she saw when she looked to her left was even more disheartening. Rows and rows of Gartolian soldiers, led by an entire regiment of Gartune, were marching neatly across the desert plain. Soon, they would be on top of the Reytana. Xander was right. They didn't have much time.
Chapter Thirty: Regroup
Loras jumped from the deck of one damaged hovercraft to the next, desperately searching for Gracien. All around him, Reytana shouted orders to each other as they attempted to fix as many of the ships as possible in the short time that they had. A cursory inspection of the fleet indicated that maybe five or six of the ships were capable of flight. The rest were either totally destroyed or would take several hours to repair – hours that they did not have.
As he boarded each ship, Loras asked the remaining crew if they had seen the Reytana captain. Some shook their heads, and many ignored him altogether. Fixing the ships was a higher priority than the whereabouts of their leader. He has trained them well, thought Loras. Too well for his own good, it would seem.
Loras hopped on to a hovercraft that was missing its stern. Reytana were running back and forth along the deck, salvaging whatever they could. Fire crackled and wood creaked as the ship moaned from its wounds. Amidst the chaos, Loras spotted a familiar face. Tao stood motionless, staring at an empty spot on the deck.
“Tao!” yelled Loras as he ran up to the Reytana. Tao slowly lifted his head from the spot that he had been staring at. There were tears in his eyes. Loras noticed that he was holding something in his hand – a golden bracelet, identical to the one he wore on his left wrist. Loras looked down at the deck in front of Tao’s feet and saw the last bits of golden dust float away into the air.
“Oh no…” said Loras.
Tao simply shook his head. “Go,” he said. “Find Gracien.”
Loras didn’t know what to say, so he obeyed Tao’s wishes and continued his search for the Reytana captain. Finally, he saw a ship with a group of Reytana huddled together in a circle, tending to something on the ground. Loras could tell by their demeanor that whatever lay between them was not good. Effortlessly, Loras cleared the twenty-foot jump between his ship and theirs, landing on the center of the deck with a heavy thud.
"That must be Loras..." said a wheezing voice from the center of the Reytana. As Loras ran toward the group, two Reytana stepped aside, revealing the voice’s source. It was Gracien. His face was pale and his look severe. Two gaping wounds – one under his left shoulder and another in the center of his chest – oozed blood, and a large stain on his cloak indicated a larger wound was in his abdomen.
Loras slid down to the captain's side. He looked helplessly at the other Reytana. "Can't you do something?" he pleaded. "You have to help him!" But the Reytana just shook their heads.
"There is nothing to be done, young warrior..." coughed Gracien. "At least not for me. For you, however, there is still plenty left to do."
The corners of Loras' eyes grew wet, and as he looked back down at Gracien, tears fell onto the dying Tormada’s chest. Loras immediately wiped them off of Gracien's bloodied tunic, embarrassed that they had touched the captain. More tears fell. He couldn't help it. Gracien reached up and grabbed Loras arm. His grip was strong, even in his last moments. The two Tormada looked at each other, unblinking, for several silent moments. It was as if Gracien was trying to transfer the last bit of strength that he had into the young Reytana.
Loras wiped his eyes. His chest was tight. He didn't realize until that instant how much Gracien had meant to him. In less than two weeks, he had been more of a father to Loras than anyone he had ever known. He wanted to thank his mentor but couldn't find the words. The look in Gracien’s eyes told him he didn't need to.
"You need to go on, Loras. You need to fight."
"How?" asked Loras. "Most of our ships are damaged. I don't know how many Reytana were killed in the ambush, but I think there were a lot. And we've lost the element of surprise. They know we're coming now!"
Gracien smiled wearily. "They always knew we were coming, Loras. They've been waiting for us for eighteen years... just as we've been waiting for them. If it wasn't today, then it would be tomorrow or the day after. But there was no escaping this day. We are here now. You are here now. It is time to face your destiny. It is time for you to be who you were born to be."
"My destiny? What destiny?" said Loras.
Gracien pulled the young Reytana close. Loras could tell he was fighting for every breath now.
"Listen... to me," coughed Gracien. "There isn't much... time. You have to get the orb... into... the city. The rest of them... will fight for you... they'll hold them off... until you get... there." Gracien released his grasp on Loras and leaned his head back onto the ground.
“I can't tell them to go out there and fight while I fly away to the city. They'll get slaughtered! They won't listen to me!"
"They... will... follow... you," panted Gracien.
"Why?" asked Loras.
"Because... you... wear... the… ri—" before he could finish, Gracien's eyes rolled into the back of his head and his wheezing ceased. Slowly, his body began to dissolve into a fine, golden dust. The dust rose upward, surrounding Loras for a few seconds. Then, it was lifted into the sky by a gentle breeze that caught the golden cloud and carried it west.
A myriad of emotions surfaced within Loras. Sadness, shock, and anger each took turns trying to consume him. But underneath these emotions, something else began to grow. A fire swelled inside Loras until it eventually pushed all of his other feelings to the side.
When Loras looked up, he found that all of the Reytana were looking down at him. Each one of them had the same steadfast look on their face. They had never looked at him that way before.
"Your orders, sir?" said a Reytana
behind him. Loras recognized the voice. It was Tao. He wore his wife’s bracelet on his wrist. Judging by his face, you would have never known he had lost her only minutes before.
Sir? Why am I now a sir? Loras rose to his feet and turned in a slow circle, regarding each of the Reytana that surrounded him. Without fail, each one of them looked right back at him with the same resolute stare. They are waiting for me to tell them what to do.
"What's all this then?" came a voice from the far side of the deck. Climbing over the rail, came a sweaty and dirt-covered Tinko. His right ear was bloodied and he had a large scratch on his chin, but otherwise he appeared to be okay. Loras smiled as his friend came panting up to the group. He had never been so happy to see him.
"I've been looking all over for you," said Tinko, giving Loras a sweaty embrace.
"You ok, Tink?" asked Loras. "You look like you may have taken a tumble."
"Oh, you know me," said Tinko, wiping his dirty face off on Loras' stomach, "I'm bouncy. Besides, I don't have as far to fall as you behemoths."
"Have you seen Regan?" asked Loras.
"Not yet. I did see what was left of the ship that was carrying Xander and the other Gartune. The cages were ripped open and there was no sign of anyone."
"That doesn't necessarily mean that they're alive," said Loras, looking down at the spot where Gracien had just disappeared. "Regan was on Xander's ship. How badly was it damaged? Could anyone have survived?
"I'm sure she's alive," said Tinko, attempting to sound confident. "Knowing her she's probably playing nurse somewhere. There are a lot of hurt Reytana out there. They really got us good, Loras."
Loras looked back at the other Reytana. For the first time he noticed that each one of them had been wounded. Looking at their resolute faces, though, you wouldn't know it. They continued to watch Loras, waiting for instructions. Loras looked back at Tinko. Then he had an idea.
"I can't tell any of you what to do," said Loras addressing the Reytana. "But if you want to fight, then I'm going to fight with you. Tinko here knows the city as well as I do. He can get the orb into the capitol building while we hold off the Gartolians."
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