Dina! She called mentally. What do I do? Do I talk to them? Will they help me?
There was no response. Had something happened to Dina? Kendra couldn’t even feel the answering emotion that Dina would often send. The villagers around her were muttering, and they looked angry. A whole crowd of the guards with their poisonous spears had descended on the group. They were slipping between the other villagers, moving almost randomly until they were scattered among the crowd.
The wait was long enough that Kendra’s legs started to ache in protest. She tugged feebly at Mrs. Luna’s arm again, but the woman wouldn’t let her go. Instead, she bent down and whispered, “Be patient—and very, very quiet, please. If you listen to me, I will take you to see your mother when the strangers are gone.” Kendra tried heroically to keep still. She would do anything if Mrs. Luna would just take her back to Mommy. If only those strange soldiers would just leave!
Suddenly, two of the soldiers reappeared, Kip stumbling in front of them.
“We found him locked up in one of those huts. He says he belongs here, but look at his clothes,” the first soldier reported. Kip looked unhappy. Kendra wondered why. Did he want to stay here in the village? Were the soldiers the bad guys?
“No outsiders in your village?” the head soldier asked wryly. The spokesman for the Rorans didn’t answer. Then he turned to Kip. “We’re not going to hurt you. Do you need help?”
Kip shrugged. “I’m doing fine. None of your business either way, is it?” The soldier’s face hardened.
“We’re looking for Jenna and Kendra Forrest. Both have fair skin and long blonde hair. Have you seen them?”
Kip hesitated. Mrs. Luna tensed, her fingers digging into Kendra’s arm. Kendra winced. “Not a word,” she whispered warningly. The moment dragged out until Kendra thought Kip was going to refuse to answer the stranger at all.
“Yeah, I’ve seen them,” Kip said finally. “They’re here, both of them.” The crowd around the ship immediately erupted. There were cries of “traitor” and “snake” and yells that she couldn’t make out.
The voice of the head soldier rose above the crowd. “Bring me the woman and the child, and we will leave now, no questions asked. Otherwise, we will be forced to raze your pathetic huts to the ground. We aren’t leaving until we find them.”
The crowd murmured angrily, but no one stepped forward. Kendra tried to move toward Kip, but Mrs. Luna held her firmly back. “Not yet,” she hissed. Kendra bit her lip. She didn’t want to wait. She wanted to go to Kip, and if the soldiers were here to help . . .
“Fine. A warning,” the head soldier said. He pointed at one of the huts on the edge. Four men set off toward it.
“No, wait!”
Kendra craned her neck again. It was the lady in the pretty blue robe who had asked her all the questions the day they arrived in the village. She stood on the opposite edge of the clearing. The villagers caught sight of her and moved aside, leaving a pathway open toward the soldiers. She strode forward confidently and calmly, stopping just an arm’s reach away from the soldier. “I am Vanda Voelker, council leader of the Roran people. I have a proposal for you. But I must speak to you in private.”
The soldier studied her for a moment and then called back his men.
Vanda turned back to the crowd. “Everyone return to your homes! We will meet in the assembly hall in one hour.”
Mrs. Luna immediately tugged at Kendra’s arm, guiding her back away from the field of nervous villagers. Kendra glanced back over her shoulder, hoping for a glimpse of her mother. She saw two of the soldiers standing guard around Kip, but her mother was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Mommy?” she finally said, her voice trembling. “Why wouldn’t you let me talk to Kip?”
Mrs. Luna didn’t answer. She just took Kendra straight back to her hut. As soon as it was obvious that Mrs. Luna was going to lock her back in without any answers, her eyes filled with tears. Then she grew angry.
“Where is my mommy?” she demanded. “You promised to take me to my mommy!”
“Calm down, child,” urged Mrs. Luna. “Your mother is fine. I’ll take you to her as soon as the strangers leave.”
“I want to see her now!” She stamped her foot. “Now!”
A passing man paused just long enough to say, “Shhh! The soldiers are not that far away!”
“Who are those soldiers?” Kendra said, her voice only slightly lower. The tears were still threatening to spill down her cheeks.
Mrs. Luna looked around nervously. “The Armada barbarians, child. Killers who will stop at nothing. Please, please quiet down and go inside.”
Kendra frowned. Her grandpa was in the Armada. He wasn’t a killer. He had probably sent soldiers to rescue her. Mommy too. She just needed to find her.
Dina? she probed. Dina, what should I do? But Dina was still silent and missing.
There was only one person left to turn to.
Mrs. Luna reached out to guide her into the hut, but Kendra slipped under her arm and darted back down the muddy path. She dodged between the villagers; she could hear Mrs. Luna hoarsely calling behind her, but luckily, she was too scared of the Armada soldiers to shout aloud. Kendra pushed her legs as hard as she could and flew around the last hut before skidding to a halt in surprise.
The field was now full of men. Soldiers stood in a loose circle in front of the ship, weapons drawn. A huge group of guards stood with their spears raised between the soldiers and the village buildings. Kip stood in between the two groups of men. She could just barely see the back of his head in between two of the guards.
Mrs. Luna was still chasing her, but Kendra couldn’t reach Kip now. She followed the wall of the hut, trying to pretend that she belonged there. Luckily, in her drab brown dress and hair covering, she looked just like all the other Roran kids. She casually walked across one more path and behind one more hut, and then she only had to cross a short empty stretch before she reached the trees of the jungle. Then it was just a matter of picking her way carefully through poky bushes and behind tree trunks at the jungle’s edge until she had worked almost all the way to the other side of the ship. From this angle she could see Kip’s face. He was talking to one of the Armada soldiers, but he didn’t look happy. In fact, with his lips pressed together and his eyes narrowed to slits, he looked furious. Who was he angry at? The villagers? The guards? The Armada soldiers?
She was too afraid to even let herself be seen. She crept under a bush where she would be hidden and peered cautiously through the branches. Wouldn’t all the guards have to go to the assembly hall soon? That’s what Vanda had said. Kendra would just have to wait them out.
●●●
When the Roran guards brought Jenna back to the village the night before, at first she thought they would return her to the cell hut with Kip; instead, they tied her hands to a rope and tethered her to a stake in the corral where they kept their pigs. It had been a damp, uncomfortable, miserable few hours until dawn, and she hadn’t been able to sleep at all. When the sun rose and the Rorans started about their daily chores, she got to add humiliation to her list of discomforts. Word must have spread like wildfire among the children; soon she had a large cluster of them standing outside the corral shouting insults and tossing globs of mud at her until she quit trying to dodge them and just sat as far away from the fence as she could, hoping her back would be a less interesting target. The pigs had snuffled around her a bit, but then they lost interest. Eventually the children would too.
Then she heard it.
The ship.
When she clambered to her feet and turned around, she could just see it hovering gently above the building before deftly dropping down on the other side of the village. She got only a momentary glimpse, but she was certain of one thing.
It was an Armada ship.
They have to be here to rescue me! she thought exult
antly. Her message to Jimmy had gotten through, and he had figured out where she was.
The children were already running away toward the ship. They had probably never seen anything like it in all their lives. Jenna tried to make her way to the edge of the corral, only to jerk to a stop, her rope tether keeping her from the ship. But she wasn’t too worried. They had come to rescue her. They wouldn’t leave without searching the village. They would find Jenna easily, and she would make sure they found Kendra and Kip too.
The wait seemed eternal. Jenna would have started to worry, except the ship had not taken off again. The soldiers couldn’t have been captured by the Rorans. Could they? She picked anxiously at a fingernail and started to pace, dragging her rope tether from side to side.
When Vanda appeared at the corral accompanied by two of the guards, Jenna hurried to the end of her tether and spoke first.
“The Armada is here,” she said. Vanda nodded. “They’ve come for us,” Jenna continued. It wasn’t a question. But where were the soldiers? Had Vanda worked out some kind of deal to evacuate the Rorans from the village?
“Yes, they are here for you.”
“Well?”
Vanda sighed. “They are not going to help me. But they’ve agreed to take you away and leave us in peace. That will have to be enough. We greatly outnumber them, but with their guns—and especially with the ship’s weaponry, we have no real leverage.” She waved the guards forward, and they opened the gate to the corral and came into the pen. When they removed the rope tether from her wrists, she gently rubbed the chafed skin, wincing as she picked her way back through the muck. Outside the corral, Vanda urgently gestured for her to continue walking into the village. The guards fell into step in front and behind them.
The village was as empty as a ghost town, all the Rorans either hidden inside their huts or gathered somewhere that Jenna couldn’t see. She still searched frantically for Kendra. Surely if they were being sent away with the Rorans, they would need to retrieve Kendra from whatever hut they had stuffed her in. Unless they had already brought her to the ship?
When they reached the field where the ship waited, Jenna counted five Armada soldiers standing in a very loose ring around the ship, while a captain (judging by his uniform) stood with Kip in the center. Kendra was nowhere to be seen. A row of guards, three times as many as the soldiers, stood between the ship and the village. It looked like a disaster waiting to happen. Hopefully nobody would get trigger happy.
If a fight erupted between the Armada soldiers and the Rorans, would she still be able to get home? Where was Kendra?
50. The Speaker
Kendra hadn’t even been waiting long enough for her legs to fall asleep before something changed. The head Armada guy strode back into the clearing; the guards stood aside to let him through. Vanda wasn’t with him, though. He reached the circle of his own soldiers, gave a quiet order, and two of the soldiers returned to the ship. Then the head guy turned to Kip.
“We will be leaving shortly,” he said. “Would you like us to take you back to Omphalos with us, or would you prefer to stay here?”
Kip spat into the flattened cabbage at his feet. “I’ll stay here. I’ve a home and work to do. The city ain’t for me.”
“Suit yourself,” the Armada guy said carelessly.
Kendra counted the soldiers impatiently. There were eight of them that she could see. How could she get past them and talk to Kip? This might be her chance to get help, but how would she know if she could trust the soldiers? If only her mother were here! She would know what to do.
Suddenly, a small commotion at the far end of the field caught Kendra’s eye. She shifted in the bush until she had a better view, and her breath caught. She stood up without thinking.
A hand dropped onto her shoulder, and she squealed in alarm.
“Shhhh!” Mrs. Luna hissed. “They’ll hear you.”
“But that’s my mommy!” Kendra pointed through the fronds to her mother’s golden head. She was walking next to Vanda, her eyes fixed on the Armada ship across the field as they passed through the cluster of soldiers.
“Not a word,” Mrs. Luna said. Her hands gripped Kendra’s shoulders so tightly it hurt. Why was she so scared of the soldiers? What was Mommy doing? Would they hurt her?
“Are you Jenna Forrest?” the head soldier asked when they reached the little circle and stood next to Kip.
“Yes,” her mother answered hoarsely. She turned her head and looked around the clearing, but she couldn’t see Kendra in the trees. Kendra started to call out to her, but Mrs. Luna clamped a hand over her mouth.
“Do we have a deal?” Vanda asked calmly.
“Yes.” The lead soldier glanced over at the man next to him and nodded.
“Climb aboard, Mrs. Forrest. We’ll get you home.”
“What about my daughter?” Her mother’s voice rang out through the clearing. Again, Kendra tugged against Mrs. Luna’s iron grip, trying to wriggle her face away so she could call out. If the soldiers were going to take her mother home, she needed to go too! She had to let them know where she was. Maybe the soldiers would stop and insist on searching the village again.
But the soldier ignored her mother as if he hadn’t heard her question at all. He turned and started back toward his ship. One of the other soldiers took her mother’s arm, but she pulled it away.
“I’m not going anywhere without my daughter!”
“Captain! You can’t leave without the little girl,” added Kip, his voice incredulous. “She’s here, in the village, no matter what these Rorans have told you.”
The captain didn’t even turn around. Kip whirled on Vanda. “What kind of deal did you make?” he growled. Another soldier moved to her mother’s side, and they started to drag her forcibly to the ship. Her mother yelled at the soldiers, digging her feet into the soil and struggling.
“Stop!”
The familiar voice rang through the clearing. Everyone froze, including her mother. Even Kendra stopped struggling against Mrs. Luna. She wriggled to the side for a better view and found Lenata standing next to the Armada captain, her gun pointed at his head. She must have been hiding behind the ship, Kendra realized, waiting for him to get close. In the heavy silence that followed, dozens of village guards suddenly appeared from the trees, surrounding the Armada soldiers and their ship.
“Mother, what have you done?” she said, her voice carrying to the trees. “You’ve made a deal with the enemy!”
Vanda’s voice was as calm and reasonable as ever. “These soldiers have agreed to take Mrs. Forrest home while leaving the village unmolested and the Blessed child where she belongs.”
An angry murmur passed through the ring of guards. Kendra bit her lip, trying to make sense of Vanda’s statement. Was she the “Blessed child?” What did Vanda mean by the soldiers leaving her where she belonged? She belonged with Mommy!
“These soldiers are not here to help the Forrests!” Lenata’s voice was sharp. “They are in league with the Raviners. They work for the monster who bought them both during the auction. Admiral Leckey sent these soldiers to collect them when the Raviners were unable to deliver.”
Vanda sagged. “Impossible!” she gasped.
“You can’t trust—”
The sudden shots echoed through the clearing, and Kendra winced, her ears ringing. Mrs. Luna’s hand dropped unheeded from Kendra’s mouth, and they both stared in horror as Lenata slumped to the ground. The guards reacted first, their spears flying at the soldiers. One struck the soldier next to Kendra’s mother in the belly, and he dropped to his knees, moaning in agony. Her mother started to dart away, but the soldier next to her grabbed her arm and twisted. Her mother screamed and dropped to her knees.
“No!” shouted Kendra, and she pulled futilely against Mrs. Luna’s iron grasp. “No! Mommy!”
Kip was suddenly on the soldier, knoc
king his gun from his hand and grappling with him. The guards were among the soldiers now, and the noise of guns and shouting and screaming was deafening. Mrs. Luna tried to drag her away, but she dug her heels into the mud. She had to get to her mother. Had to! Her heart pounded furiously, and her head buzzed.
“Mommy! I need to get to Mommy!” she sobbed. Mrs. Luna ignored her and tried to grab Kendra by the other arm, but Kendra lashed out, kicking sharply into Mrs. Luna’s shin. Mrs. Luna stumbled, and Kendra’s arm slipped free, the unexpected momentum pitching her forward into the mud. She stayed on her hands and knees, crawling under a thorn bush as fast as she could. When she reached the field, she stood and ran for where she had last seen her mother, trying to avoid the bodies that were lunging all around her. When she glimpsed Kip’s crumpled form on the ground, she put on a burst of speed, heading straight for him. Two men collided right in front of her and crashed to the ground, and she abruptly swerved around them, barely registering that one was a villager and one was a soldier. At last she reached Kip’s side, and she put a hand on his shoulder.
“Kip!” His whole body was limp, and his eyes had rolled back into his head. Her stomach flopped at the sight of his blank white eyes, and she swallowed against the nausea. “Kip?” Kendra asked, shaking his shoulder. “Kip?” Blood gushed from a slash in his upper arm. She stopped shaking him, horrified. “K-Kip?” she said for the third time, choking back her tears. Then his eyes fluttered open. Kendra’s chest hitched painfully.
“Kendra, it’s not safe here,” he wheezed.
“Kip, where’s my mommy?” She could barely force the words out.
Kip raised one shaking hand and pointed. Her eyes followed until she spotted her mother’s golden hair. Her mother was struggling fiercely with a soldier who had both arms wrapped around her chest. He was trying to drag her toward the ship, but she was fighting to break free. Then Kendra saw the captain raising himself from the ground next to Lenata’s still form. He lifted a gun and aimed it straight at her mother and the other soldier, who were only a few steps away from him.
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