Kim lifted her end of the stretcher, and they moved towards the hovering drones. The little black bots held their place in the air as they passed beneath them, then shot upwards and out of sight. Echoes of their humming stirred about for a moment, but soon all sounds from them were gone. In the quiet, he thought he heard something behind them. He waited, straining his ears for a repeat of the sound.
“Lucille?” he called.
There came no reply.
“We should keep going,” Kim said.
They reached the top of the concrete path. Brendan had been right; the narrow way down through the gap wouldn’t accommodate the stretcher unless they could pivot it. They set Tyler down.
Tyler groaned. “What are you doing? Why are we stopping? You’ve got to get me home.”
“Working on it,” Brendan said. “I know you’re in a lot of pain. But we can’t get you through here on the stretcher. We’d drop you.”
“You…you can’t leave me behind.”
“That’s not what I’m suggesting. But you’re going to have to help me. We’re going to have to get you up, leaning on me and Ms. Hayes. We’ll take it as slow as we have to, but that’s how we’re getting down to the pool.”
“I can’t. It hurts too much.”
Brendan got Tyler’s leather belt off him. He folded it and put it between the boy’s teeth. “Bite down. We’re picking you up.”
Kim was looking up into the night sky. Brendan paused to listen, but the drones were still out of earshot. Then he heard a soft clattering sound, followed by another, and another. The tumbling of stones above them. A grunt. A large shadow pulled itself up to the top of one of the slabs.
“So this is your idea of yielding,” Torben said. “At least you’ve provided me with some sport. So what will you do to amuse me next?”
17. Yield
Torben jumped from the slab of concrete and landed next to them with a loud crunch. Kim got down onto the broken concrete and bowed low. Tyler was mewling, trying to back away, but there was nowhere to go. Brendan snatched up a rock and prepared to throw it.
The warlord saw and smiled. “So there is some fight in you. I saw it in your eyes when we first spoke. They are not the eyes of a weak man who would only attack when his enemy isn’t looking. Go on, boy. Strike. Your first blow will be the measure of you.”
“Don’t,” Kim hissed. “Bow down.”
Brendan looked at her, then Tyler. It was too dark to see their faces clearly. He knew none of them could escape. The thought of the warlord’s wall of pain made him shudder. That could be their fate.
“That’s it?” Torben asked, his voice thick. “Too afraid? Does the chase end here?”
Brendan had never played much baseball, but he knew how to throw a rock. He stepped forward and pitched it at Torben’s head. The stone struck the large man just below the jaw. Torben actually flinched as it bounced off him. He stumbled backwards.
Then Torben began to laugh.
The laugh became a roar, and Torben almost bent double. Perhaps the alcohol was affecting him or Lucille’s touch had some lingering influence, but he appeared slightly off-balance. The rock had done nothing and Torben was unharmed, as if Brendan had thrown nothing harder than a tennis ball.
“Ha. Your mighty blow. It was actually felt. Still, nothing more than the beat of an insect wing. Perhaps if there were more of you, I might have a challenge. Strike again, boy. Then it will be my turn.”
Torben straightened himself and flexed his hands. He rolled his shoulders and neck as if working out a kink. Brendan didn’t see any rocks that would do anything more than the first.
I’m dead.
“Lord Torben,” Kim said, keeping her head low. “You’ve found us. I told you he would be leaving to his world, as you guessed. Please spare him and have him show you where the gateway is.”
Torben considered the woman at his feet. “Indeed. You’ve been lying to me, boy. There is no school hidden in the mountains. I know of the gates, and you’ve come from a world that does not know us. It must be close for you to crawl all the way here with your broken friend. Did you think you could just walk out of camp and away from me? You’re my property now. And I demand you show me where this gate is.”
Brendan backed up to the gap. Escaping with his own life seemed to be the only possibility. Tyler and Lucille would have to be left behind. And Kim was so terrorized by the warlord that she had told him of their plan. They also knew about the gate.
He turned and ran.
He could see little and stumbled after his first step. The rest of his descent down the gap was a poorly controlled fall. He struck his back, his head, and his left shoulder before coming to a stop at the bottom, finding purchase on the stony lip before the drop to the pool. Dazed, he got up, his ankle throbbing. He put a hand to his forehead and felt blood.
Torben was shouting. He heard the tumble of rocks. Torben was pushing his way down the gap, his hands on either wall to steady himself. Brendan saw the reflection of stars below him. The pool rippled from debris that had slid into the water.
“Charlotte!” he called. But he heard no reply and no drones. Torben would be on him in moments. He jumped into the pool. Torben landed right behind him with a splash. He grabbed Brendan by an arm and pitched him back onto the narrow beach. Brendan tried to back up as Torben closed on him. His hands found nothing but sand. He threw some. Torben spat once, then took Brendan by the front of his sweater and slammed him into the concrete wall.
“Where is the gate?”
Pain made it hard to come up with any answer. “What gate?”
“The gate. Your doorway here. You and your friends entered this world through it. Show it to me.”
Brendan’s mind raced. What did Torben actually know? “I don’t know how we got here. We were trying to get back but couldn’t find it. Then we got hungry.”
Torben slammed him again. He lost his breath, felt the urge to cough, couldn’t. He gasped. “It should be here. Here. In the middle of the pool.”
“In the middle of this brackish pit?” Torben released him. He waded to the center of the pool. The low crack in the stone wall which led to the submerged tunnel wasn’t visible in the darkness. Torben circled around in the water, scooping some up and splashing it in front of him. “There’s nothing here.”
“This is where we arrived. It was there. A shimmer in the air. We thought it would stay open when we began to explore. But then when we tried to go back, it was gone.”
Torben turned to Brendan. “Then why would you return here?”
“In case it opened again.”
Torben moved through the water to Brendan. Without a pause, he picked him up and held him close. “Answer well, for not only your life but the life of the other boy relies on your answer. Where is the gate?”
“It’s here. It has to be. It will reappear.”
The warlord examined him closely and wrinkled his nose as he gave Brendan a sniff. He then flung Brendan into the water. Brendan got himself up, spat, and scrambled away.
“Men shouldn’t smell as sweet as you do.”
In an instant, Torben had pushed him down underwater. It was like having a tree on top of him. Brendan couldn’t move and could find no purchase in the sand and water. Soon he was out of breath and too panicked to keep from choking. Torben pulled him up. Brendan sputtered out water and tried to take in more air before getting dunked again. But the warlord just held him.
“You’re lying. I can smell lies. Yet there’s enough truth to your words. Your sister could not have made it far without shoes. If you have the means to open this gate, I will learn it. First, I will break your friend in front of you. Then your sister. If you don’t reveal to me the gate, then you will die last, next to the others on the wall of pain.”
Before Brendan could say anything else, Torben struck him, and then there was nothing but darkness.
***
“I’m sorry,” Kim said softly.
She had sai
d it before and was repeating herself. Brendan wondered how long she had been there next to him. From the fog he was in, he didn’t even know where he was, or in what world. Perhaps it had all been part of some fevered landscape that was restricted to the insides of his swollen brain. But too soon the pain of his reality asserted itself. He felt firm sand beneath him. He was again in a hut. Sunlight came in from the open front flap, and it hurt his head. His jaw and face felt swollen. He tried to sit up, but his stomach turned. A wave of vertigo made him put his head back down. He gasped for air. His mouth was dry. He moaned.
“You’re awake.”
Speaking was difficult. “What did you do?” Brendan managed.
“He would have caught you. He would have killed us. I’m sorry.”
“We would have made it.”
“But the gate wasn’t there! You have to tell him how to open it.”
“Why…” He winced. He closed his eyes and tried to regain his bearings. It was a mistake. The darkness threatened to take him away into unconsciousness. He forced himself to roll onto his side so he could see Kim. His aching limbs made him wonder how he had been brought back to the village. He felt like he had been dragged down a dozen flights of stairs, but at least no bones seemed to be broken.
“Tell me,” he said.
Kim offered him a cup of water. He declined. “Tell me,” he said again.
“Torben, or one of his tribe, has my daughter. She’s eight. They took her and some of the other children west across the desert towards the coast over a year ago. Last night he promised that if I found where the gate to your world was, he’d have her returned.”
“The others are like him? Strong?”
Kim nodded. “Probably stronger. Torben is down near the bottom of their hierarchy, if I were to guess. That’s why he gets this village. The other warlords have larger domains. I don’t know how many there are, but they showed up not long after the disaster. There are rumors of gates to their world. It’s too crazy to believe. Nothing like that should be possible. But they’re here. This has happened. The only way I get my girl back is by finding out where your gate is. If you don’t tell him, he’ll kill your friends.”
“I get the impression he’ll do that anyway.”
“You don’t have a choice but to trust him. You’ve amused him enough, that’s something. And he’ll need you as a guide inside your world.”
“You want me to lead him and his people to my world so they can do this all over again?”
Kim looked down at the ground. Brendan made himself sit up. How could this person be the same as his own Ms. Hayes? Was his teacher someone who would give up a whole world so she and her child could live? He got a good look at her. He saw faded scars and deeply etched lines in her face. The knuckles of her hands were knotted and appeared misaligned. He shuddered thinking about what Torben had done to her. How would he have fared under those circumstances?
“Tell him that the gate we came through has closed,” Brendan said.
“He won’t believe me. He’s past trusting anything you or I say. He’ll start with your friend. You think you’ll be able to hold out but you won’t. If you’re able to show him the gate, that might stop him from hurting anyone. Nothing else will.”
“It’s gone. I thought it would have reopened.”
She nodded sadly. He took a sip of the water. It was tepid, but it soothed his throat. “Where’s Torben?”
“Asleep. He took Lucille back into his tent to keep an eye on her. He has the men watching her and you.”
“And Tyler?”
“A group of the women carried him back. He passed out when they were carrying him. His leg looks bad. He’ll need a hospital before it gets infected. It’s a horrible death even if Torben does nothing else to him.”
“I told you I can’t get him back.”
“What about the girl you spoke to with the drones? Where is she?”
“I don’t know. But she’s stuck here too now, so I hope she stays as far away as possible.”
Brendan got himself up. He was wobbly but he made it to the hut entrance. The crooked old man was there, leaning on his cricket bat. He stared at Brendan through squinted eyes that hid behind bushy eyebrows.
“He wants you to stay inside,” the man said.
Brendan nodded, then stepped forward. The man raised the tip of his bat. Brendan felt frustration and anger rise. Even this twisted man was stronger than him. He doubted he could overpower or outrun him. With effort, Brendan pushed the bat aside.
“Torben wants me unharmed for now,” Brendan said. “So back off and point that thing somewhere else. I’m not running anywhere. I’m heading for Torben’s tent to tell him what he wants to know.”
Brendan began walking across the camp. He expected at any moment to be grabbed and hauled back, but the man only fell in behind him, grumbling to himself. Tyler was nowhere in sight. He could only hope he had been taken somewhere and made comfortable.
He heard Lucille scream. He tried to run but his legs didn’t cooperate. He stumbled and trotted forward and pushed his way into the warlord’s tent.
Two women were holding Lucille down. Her shirt was unbuttoned to expose her collarbone, and a third woman worked at the skin with a needle, tapping it with a stick. She dipped the needle into a jar of blue ink and continued her work. A blue dash was already finished above the mark, the skin raised and bleeding.
“Be calm,” one of the women said.
Lucille tried to thrash against them, but they kept her pinned. There was enough skin contact with the women. If Lucille had any effect on them, it didn’t show. Perhaps her gift didn’t work here at all and Torben had just been playing along.
“It will be easier for you and faster if you don’t struggle.”
“And here comes the half-brother,” Torben said.
The warlord was seated on a heap of pillows, a cup in one hand. He was settled in as if watching television.
“Brendan, get them off of me!” Lucille screamed.
Brendan went to Torben, head bowed, and prostrated himself. Lucille kept calling his name. Torben was laughing. If she was being marked, didn’t that mean the warlord expected to keep her alive?
“What stories do you have for me now, boy? Should I ask details of your upbringing to prove your lies when they contrast with what she’s told me? Do I need to bother? I can smell untruths on you. They sweat out from your every pore.”
“My humble apologies,” Brendan said. “But Lord Torben must acknowledge that I serve a master, or at least had served one before being captured. He’s strong, but not as strong as you. He is the head of my school. We call him the headmaster. He, like you, demands obedience. What kind of slaves would we be if we were to betray him when ordered to?”
He couldn’t tell if he had Torben’s attention. Lucille sounded like she was biting her lip, her suppressed squeals filling the tent.
“Tell me of your headmaster,” Torben said.
“He commands the place we call the school. He has his own security force, his bodyguards if you will. The town is much like this one, but not destroyed. They have weapons.”
“Like firearms? Fools have tried them on us.”
“Were you not harmed?”
Torben kicked him. Brendan was sent rolling backward. One of the women by Lucille moved to avoid him and the others stopped to stare. Lucille bit one of the women holding her, and she let go of her. She twisted out of the other’s grip and got up. The half-finished tattoo looked like a blue food stain. She pulled her shirt closed and buttoned it. The women hesitated, not knowing what to do. They looked at Torben.
Torben started laughing. “Your stories. The chase. And now you ply me for information with the guile of a starving dog eyeing a plate of food. I do look forward to meeting this headmaster, if he even exists. Perhaps there are more lively children like you and your sister. Pitting you one against another could provide days of entertainment for me. What other questions do you have for me? Do you w
ish to know what poisons sicken me? What my greatest fears are? I tire of hearing you talk. One of my women can read to me if I want fanciful tales.”
He waved his hand towards the entrance. At first Brendan thought he was being dismissed, but then he saw the crooked man had been standing there and now was leaving.
“Now we will discover truths.”
Soon Brendan heard Tyler outside crying out in pain. Two guards carried him in on the stretcher and placed him in front of Torben. His face was twisted in agony. He was gasping, dry sobs escaping his lips.
“Please get me a doctor,” he whispered. “Lucille…”
Torben got up and stood over him.
“It seems obvious that it’s you I should be asking my questions to. Your friends tell me lies. I expect to hear the same from you, but perhaps you will surprise me.”
“Yes! I’ll tell you. The gate. You’re looking for the gate. It’s there, in the water.”
Lucille rushed forward and put both hands on his cheeks. “Shut. Up,” she said.
Tyler stopped talking. His lips moved like a suffocating fish, and he looked at Lucille with pleading eyes.
“You’ll tell him nothing,” she said. “Not ever. And you don’t feel anything. Your leg is fine.”
He was nodding then shaking his head. “But it hurts.”
“It’s all in your head.”
Torben watched with obvious amazement. “Is that your gift? A true talent to control the minds of men.”
He took her by the hand and pulled her to her feet. He put her hand to his bare chest. “This is what you tried with me, isn’t it? It seems your brother wasn’t the only one brave enough to attack me.”
“Stop breathing,” she said.
He made a show of grabbing his own throat. Then he laughed again.
“It’s witchery.” The mirth vanished from his face. He grabbed hold of her, a small knife from his belt appearing in his hand. The tip of the blade went to her lips. “So tell me. With your tongue out, will you still be able to manipulate anyone? Perhaps then you will understand your role in your new life here.”
The Supervillain High Boxed Set: Books One - Three of the Supervillain High Series Page 37