The Gender War

by Bella Forrest

  I landed hard and rolled, my uncontrolled tumble ending inside a row of bushes whose thick, strong branches snapped as I lodged in them. Dazed and winded, as if all the oxygen had been sucked out of the courtyard, I took a deep breath and immediately began coughing as the dust and smoke hit my lungs. I covered my mouth with my hand and staggered to my feet, the branches clinging to my hair and clothes.

  The egg. I yanked away from the bushes and turned around, squinting against the gray dust cloud that had settled on us. I stumbled forward, pulling the collar of my shirt over my nose and mouth and holding it there with my hand, frantically searching for where I had dropped the silver case.

  It was almost impossible to see anything, but I kept moving, certain that Tabitha was out there. I moved quickly, scanning the ground for any glimpse of silver. The visibility was so meager that I practically tripped on the egg.

  I had just bent to pick it up when a section of the settling dust cloud shifted slightly, casting a dark shadow over me. Looking up, I barely had time to duck Tabitha’s knife as she came down on me like a hammer. I sidestepped, whirling and planting a foot in the back of her knee, and then scooped up the egg. With fallen debris still settling around the courtyard, I couldn’t take off at a dead run, so I turned and ducked again, narrowly avoiding a backhand slash from her other hand.

  Tabitha screamed, her face mottled with rage, and advanced toward me in earnest. I backpedaled quickly, keeping one eye on her and the other on my surroundings, knowing that one tumble, one slip, would mean my death. The little forest that was now to our left had been mostly crushed under the falling building, and huge splintered logs and tree branches littered the courtyard, along with piles of building debris.

  The air was clearing slowly. Tabitha grimaced, her fists slightly raised, as though we were boxing, a blade clenched in each one. I almost gasped as I recognized the knife on the left—it looked like the one she had driven through my hand. When she noticed my gaze drop back to it, her angry frown turned to a mad grin. “You remembered,” she practically sang, as if I were someone who had brought her a gift on her birthday.

  “Trying to forget,” I said blithely, taking careful steps backward.

  “Oh, Violet… you’re never going to forget me. Your life will be so short, you won’t have a chance to forget. All you’ll remember is pain. ”

  I didn’t respond—partially because I knew that if she took me alive, she’d do her best to live up to that promise, but mostly because a second explosion ripped through the courtyard, sending us both flying into the air as the ground heaved.

  I landed heavily a few feet away, the egg still in my hands. The earth next to me was depressed, still crumbling inward, and I rolled away a few feet more, scrambling to avoid getting trapped in the pit that had once been the palace’s generator room. Now it was buried under fifteen feet of dirt and debris, thanks to Thomas, Tim, and Jay. On the palace blueprints, Thomas had located a small back entry to the underground levels of the building through the waste disposal system, which could be accessed via a small tunnel that ran under the river. I had no doubt that, with Thomas there to cut through the security systems, the young men to protect him, and me to make the world’s biggest distraction up here, they’d gotten in and set the charges.

  I checked the silver watch that I’d dug out of my bag in Ashabee’s mansion just for this purpose. My group had been right on time.

  To my left, I thought I could vaguely make out Tabitha’s bulky form in the crumbling pit—if she fell to her death before I got a chance to destroy her with my own hands, I was no longer going to complain. I climbed to my feet again, my legs shaky, trying to put some distance between us. The second explosion had kicked more dust into the air, and my ears were ringing from the force of the blast. I scrambled toward what I hoped was the northern wall, the one farthest from where we’d entered the courtyard, though I wasn’t certain of my direction after all the tumbling.

  I found the wall by almost colliding with it and immediately put my back to it. Then I waited, rubbing the dust off my watch and checking the time again. I turned my glance upward, looking for any patch of clear air or recognizable landmark from the blueprints that would orient me. I was so focused on my search that when Tabitha loomed suddenly out of the dust cloud, only years of muscle memory combined with adrenaline kept me from being killed.

  I flung the egg out to block her as she drove a knife down. Her strike caught it directly, the egg shaking in my hands, and I cried out and jerked back as the knife slid and bit into the fingers of my left hand.

  Tabitha pressed forward, her eyes wild, slashing for me. I sidestepped, ducked, and dodged, keeping myself just out of her reach but feeling my panic grow. I could tell the cut wasn’t deep, but blood was dripping down my hand, making the egg slick under my trembling fingers.

  “Tabitha!” I shouted.

  She paused, cocking her head. “What?”

  I lowered the egg slightly, surprised that she had stopped, but not planning to waste an opportunity. “What are you going to do to the king?”

  Tabitha’s face screwed up in confusion, cutting through her anger, slowing her slightly. I took a measured step back, then froze when her focus seemed to return. “What do you care? You’re going to be dead soon anyway.”

  I took another step away as she started to advance. “Settle a bet? Just between us girls?”

  She paused again, her face reflecting her incredulity that I was still continuing this line of inquiry. “Look, Maxen’s a dead man—he’s a threat to the master plan. Why bother asking now?” She stepped forward and swung her fist at me, almost casually, and I ducked, weaving to the side. “You’re dead too. I’m two steps from killing you and taking back what’s mine!”

  “Don’t you mean what’s Elena’s?” I taunted, holding the egg up a little.

  Tabitha’s eyes narrowed as she took me in, and her knife flashed furiously out toward me. “As soon as our scientists crack the code, we’ll be on our way to creating a new race of humans, far superior to what your kind has churned out for the last few generations.” I blocked with the egg again, this time managing to keep my hands out of the blade’s way.

  My eyes flicked to my watch while she spoke, and then, stepping out of her range once more, I met her gaze with a wry, challenging one of my own. “Really? You think your sister is going to share power with you?”

  Tabitha’s eyes became slits of rage, and she sprang forward, her arms lifted to strike me down. But it would have been almost impossible not to see that one coming, and without really having to think about it, I dove right and rolled to my feet, whirling around to meet her.

  The dust still filled the air, making it harder to see, but we were close enough that I could make her out as she whirled and continued to press forward. I backed up again quickly, but realized that soon, there would be nowhere left for me to go—she was pressing me against the wall.

  Just then, the smoky dust clouds started to swirl into spirals, and I saw a dark shadow approaching from the sky, a familiar, high-pitched whirring sound getting louder. Tabitha froze and then looked over her shoulder toward the growing shadow that was choking off the remaining beams of light. I exhaled as the smoke was pressed out of the courtyard, revealing the heloship—God, I hoped it was our heloship—dropping straight down over the courtyard. The ship was too big to land here, but we had known that going in.

  Tabitha took a step back as a huge turret mounted on the belly of the heloship swiveled and the barrels dropped slightly, pointing right at her. There was a moment of silence in the courtyard, and then Tabitha sprinted away, spewing profanities, as Amber opened fire on her. I pressed myself back against the wall and searched the courtyard, trying to find where Cad and my uncle had run to. Among the haze, I saw two figures huddled near the piles of debris from the fallen building, and I raced toward them as Amber began firing on the second and third floor of the still-standing inner building, shooting out windows and presumably any wardens wh
o were set up there.

  Bullet casings were raining from the sky, bouncing off the ground as I pelted across the center of the courtyard toward my cousin and uncle. “Over here!” I shouted when I got near, but I wasn’t sure they heard—Cad was definitely shouting something to me, but I couldn’t make it out over the massive gun firing and the whine of the engines.

  I made it to the pile of rubble and tree trunks they were sheltering behind and gestured lamely with my left hand, my right still clutching the egg, at the belly of the heloship, where two metal cables dangled down from the cargo bay. Amber had delivered on her part of the plan.

  I raced toward the lines, frantically waving at my relatives to hurry up, and then leapt up to catch the end of one of them. My uncle got to me first, and I immediately began threading it through his belt loops and back around again. The fingers of my left hand slipped and trembled on the loops until Cad, catching up to us, took the end and helped me, clipping the small but heavy clasp affixed to the end back onto the cable.

  Then we switched to Cad himself, me snatching the end of the cord and handing it to him, my cousin threading it through his belt loops and allowing me to clip it back onto the cable. He tried to say something again. I shook my head, pointing at my ears, and he gave me a breathless smile, mouthing the words ‘thank you’. I nodded at him with a smile of my own, and then scrambled back, checking my watch again as I did. We’d only allotted ninety seconds for this part.

  Cad and my uncle looked at each other in confusion for a second, then opened their mouths—presumably to scream at me—when the cords tightened and began lifting them off the ground. They clung on tightly as Amber, invisible at the head of the ship, hoisted them up with the automatic winch while the ship ascended higher into the sky.

  I watched them go from behind a half-broken tree trunk, and then turned back toward the northern wall, just in time to see Tabitha climb out of a pile of rubble, her face streaked with gray dust and red blood.

  She staggered up, her back to me, and I had only a moment to consider my next move before she whipped around and her eyes found me, swollen with hatred. She straightened, and I watched her crack her neck before stalking slowly toward me, quivering with anger, her eyes filled with dark promise.

  As the roar of the heloship engines faded, I became aware of panicked shouts coming from one of the palace’s gateways just to my left. I glanced through, saw that the entryway itself was clear, and began running toward it, keeping a wary eye on Tabitha.

  A man in a warden’s uniform charged up behind Tabitha, and I heard him beginning to ask her if she was okay when his eyes locked in on mine. He brought up his rifle and fired, and I dropped into a crouch, scuffling backwards and holding the egg in front of me like a shield.

  “NO!” Tabitha growled. “She’s mine!”

  The man ignored her, firing another burst at me. I cringed as concrete and plaster rained down on me, tiny chips and white dust joining the courtyard dirt that had settled on my skin. I dove back toward the column, hoping that it would give me some cover. Tabitha gave an indignant howl, and I risked another glance in time to see her grab the man’s arm. In the time it took him to throw her a horrified look, she had planted one foot on his hip and yanked.

  There was an awful, wet, squelching sound, followed by an ear-splitting scream, followed by a wet suction pop. I felt my jaw drop as Tabitha threw the man’s arm carelessly over her shoulder, blood flying from it, the gun clattering away with it. The man sank to his knees, his face contorted in horror as he pawed at the gaping, bloody wound where his limb had been.

  Tabitha turned back to me, rapt pleasure lighting up her face. I realized I hadn’t moved for precious seconds, transfixed by the violence before me. Her gaze settled on mine, and she cocked her head at me before baring her teeth in yet another twisted semblance of a smile.

  She took a halting step forward. And then another. And another. As though she had all the time in the world.

  I turned and ran deeper into the palace.

  36

  Viggo

  Smoke billowed from the heart of King Maxen’s palace in thick black plumes, blotting out the sky and casting the massive, fortified structure in an eerie orange shadow. I couldn’t help but gape at it, at the scorch marks marring the outer walls around the entry arch and the front-facing windows. It was a significant amount of damage.

  There’d been so many times, as I went about the business of being a non-voluntary, unpaid warden of Patrus, that I’d half-jokingly wished this place and all of its occupants had burned to the ground. But seeing the destruction now brought me no pleasure. Just a smoldering anger and a cold fear.

  I gunned the car’s engine as we came down the final hill between us and our destination, its efficient purr rumbling under my hands. Once we’d hit the highway, I’d been driving at top speed, zipping past the few other cars that we had passed. My concentration on the road was furious, and we’d made amazing time.

  “What’s the plan?” asked Owen from the passenger’s seat, his eyes widening just a little as we entered the road that ran over Crescent River. He was looking at the mouth of the arching tunnel that breached the first wall. “Viggo?” He shot a mildly alarmed look at me, his hand reaching up to grab the handle over his door. I knew we should have talked about this sooner, but what was there to say? We knew nothing about what was happening in the palace, or whether their defense systems were up, or even what they were. I had never had much to do with inner palace security systems when I was a warden of the city, but at least I knew the grounds. When Violet and Tabitha were in the same space, surely chaos would follow. And we would follow the chaos.

  “Simple,” I said, keeping my foot pressed against the accelerator, hurtling toward the tunnel at full speed. “We get in there, we see what’s happening, we find Violet and the crew, and we get them all out.”

  “That’s not a plan,” Owen wheezed, his hips coming off the seat as if he were preparing to leap out.

  I ignored him as the tunnel swallowed us up.

  “Truck!” Owen shouted, raising his arm to point out the vehicle sitting in front of the first courtyard’s entrance, partially blocking the tunnel through the arch. I cut the wheel sharply, aiming for the small gap of space on the right side.

  We clipped the truck hard, and the wheel jerked under my hand, the tires fighting to go in any direction but the one I wanted. They squealed and shuddered beneath us as I lost control and we spun out.

  I slammed on the brakes, my legs jerking, barely able to see the courtyard we’d entered flying by. For a dizzying second, I was convinced the little car was going to tip over—two of the wheels lifting off the ground and throwing us sideways as we spun. Then they slammed down, bouncing once, and the vehicle skidded to a complete stop. The engine backfired and then died with a shuddering cough.

  I sat frozen for a moment, my hands still clenched on the wheel. My breathing was ragged in my ears, and I realized I was sweating. It took me a heartbeat to realize we were still very much alive. Looking over, I saw Owen, his face completely bloodless, looking down at his body as if surprised it was still intact.

  We met each other’s eyes, staring, and then I felt a huffing laugh come from my throat. Owen stared at me blankly for a second, and then a smile broke across his lips. I gave a little shout of exhalation, clapping him on the shoulder. He nodded at me, still dazed, but with some of the color returning to his face.

  The thought filtered through my head that we should have been dodging bullets by now. My laughter came to an abrupt stop when I became aware of the scene outside the window. The first courtyard was thoroughly gutted. Black scorch marks cut across the walls and ground. Innumerable fires, from tiny flames the size of my hand to blazes the size of the car, burned everywhere. I could see the inside of what I remembered to be a guard post, because it looked like a giant hand had torn away half of the building. Remains of vehicles, men, and buildings lay strewn across the ground, and the top of the building a
cross from us, which normally stood between the first courtyard and the inner one, had crumbled completely.

  It was worse than I’d imagined. So much worse. My only hope was that Violet had been the one to cause such damage… not the one on the receiving end. I was still staring at it, awestruck and horrified, when I saw a flash of movement amidst the destruction. My eyes narrowed, trying to peer through the smoke and debris, and I turned in time to see a man emerge from behind the smoking remains of a truck to the left of us, thirty feet away. He leveled his gun at us.

  “Get out of the vehicle,” he ordered, loudly enough that we could hear through the windows.

  I exchanged a look with Owen. His voice was sharp, his eyes trained on the warden, as he said, “Start the car.”

  My fingers were already twisting the key. The engine wheezed and sputtered, but did not turn over. I looked at Owen, then tried again, stomping on the gas.

  “Start the damn car, Viggo!” he repeated as the warden stepped closer, repeating his order loudly.

  “Stop yelling at me! I’m trying!” I snapped, twisting the key again, and Owen fell silent.

  I looked back up in time to see several more wardens coming toward us, picking their way across the debris-littered courtyard. I swallowed hard as the man in front of us waved them over. Beside me, I heard the mechanical click as Owen locked the car’s doors.

  I turned and gave him an incredulous look. “Really?”

  He gave a tight little shrug. “Can’t hurt, can it?”

  I had just opened my mouth to reply when the wardens opened fire. The automatic fire was loud even through the glass, and I ducked down under the window, hands over my head, as the noise of the bullets hitting the car blasted around us, just waiting for shattering glass to explode around us. Owen did the same, until we were pressed almost nose to nose, the sound of metal on metal pinging all around us.