The redcap approached Alex and the others. A series of intricate scars covered his chest in a star pattern. His gaze was calculating, frightened, and proud all at once. Gevn Ap lowered his head, moved to the side, and spoke deferentially, glancing at Ylra.
"Me," said Ylra. "He's just introduced me." She stepped forward, held her hands out, palms up, and spoke in the same language she had used before.
The chieftain answered her then placed his hands atop hers. They both smiled. The mood among the assembled warriors changed, became less aggressive. Something's just happened, Alex realized.
Ylra glanced at him and Huck. "This is Tang Ap, the village chieftain. He's just offered us fish and fire, their customary welcome."
"And you are welcome, friends of the dwarves," Tang Ap said in accented Empire Common. "Although I do not know what creatures you are, I name you friends."
The redcap warriors cheered and rushed forward. In moments, they surrounded Alex and the others, running their long fingers over their legs and torsos, beaming at them in greeting, holding their hands out, palms up. Alex placed his palms atop those of one hunter and received a wide, toothy smile.
Ylra was right—the redcaps freaked out when they saw the war rigs, but she convinced them they weren't a threat. It took longer to convince Tang Ap and his warriors that their dark-elf prisoner, Veraxia, was no threat, though. Even now—with her hands cuffed before her, sitting with her back against the wall of the chieftain's large hut, two armed soldiers on either side of her—the dark elf received more than a few worried stares. Clearly, the redcaps had no cause to love the dark elves.
Now, Alex sat beside his wife, his load-bearing vest, weapons, and gear removed and piled along a wall of the hut with those of the others. They had left their large rucksacks outside, where they wouldn't be in the way. Also present were Huck, First Sergeant Martinez, Captain Shapiro, Ylra, Lee, and both Liv and Boko. The two mag-sens had been inseparable since Boko's rescue, reminding Alex of Cassie and Elizabeth, after they had buried their respective hatchets. Liv was gushing enthusiastically about the natural beauty of this jungle and how amazing it was that the redcaps lived in such perfect harmony with the land, but Boko smiled and rolled her eyes. He remembered McKnight's aide, Heather, had said Liv grew up in a commune in the Sonoran Desert, so it made sense she'd find much to admire among the redcaps' simple life. The rest of the Strike Force were taking shelter in other huts, recovering from their long march while the redcaps feasted them. Tang Ap, his son, and a half dozen village elders sat opposite Alex and the others on bamboo and rush mats. A small fire burned in a hanging brazier, and animal skins covered the floor and much of the walls. It was very comfortable.
Most of the elders spoke Empire Common, so Alex and Leela could join Ylra's conversation with them. She explained they were friends, an expedition from a far-off land, and no threat to the redcaps. Tang Ap had listened attentively then motioned for the redcap women to bring juice-flavored water in gourds and small delicacies, vegetables, dried meat, and marinated grubs. Alex drank the water, ate the vegetables, nibbled on the meat, and forced himself to swallow one grub, ruminating that this wasn't that different from sitting with Pashtun elders in Kandahar, Afghanistan—albeit with less chance of being interrupted by a Taliban attack.
"You were lucky to get out of the ruins of Eladior Haven," Tang Ap said. "For many cycles now, the fae seelie have warred among themselves for the dead city." He shook his head, pinching the side of his nose. "The queen and her daughters, those two strange fae who name themselves the Empress Twins, they all claim to rule Faerum now." His eyes darted to where Veraxia sat cross-legged, her bound wrists in her lap, her eyes serene as she took everything in. Well, Alex mused, she is a zoology scholar. Probably thinks she's lucked out. Gets to examine humans, dwarves, and redcaps interacting.
"They no longer travel along the river?" Ylra asked.
Tang Ap shook his head. "There's nothing for them this far north, no reason to come this way." He paused, watching his guests. "There's no reason for anyone to come this way." He bit the head from a grub and chewed it as he watched them. "There are rumors, though, tales that spread along the redcap villages on the river that describe a mighty golden warlord and his strange Iron Warriors who serve the queen."
"What warlord?" Alex asked.
"I know only that he is called Wolf and that his fighters are winning the war for the queen."
"You have wolves on this world?" he asked Ylra.
"Of course," she answered.
"I suspect they breathe fire or turn invisible or walk on water?"
She looked at him as though he were crazy. "No, they're wolves." She turned back to Tang Ap. "The queen returns to power? Are you certain?"
He sighed, his large eyes filled with sorrow. "I'm certain of nothing these days. The little children are too young to remember Queen Tuatha de Talinor, but I remember her, and I fear the day when her emissaries return and demand our obedience once again."
"Much can change," said Ylra. "The last time I walked these lands, the queen and her armies ruled without question. Now much remains unclear."
Tang Ap shrugged as if to say no one could know the future. "My son tells me you seek our help to move north. Why?"
"We seek the stone bridge across the Serpent-Tongue then the pass through the Spine of the Serpent into the Char Desert," said Ylra.
Tang Ap nodded. "This my son has said, but why? There is nothing in the Char but death. No one goes into the Char but those who wish death."
The other elders bobbed their heads in agreement.
Alex watched Ylra as she considered her answer. "Your secret, your call," he said in English.
She frowned. "No. It was always Kargin's secret to keep, not mine. But the bitch-queen has him now, and even Kargin can't resist her forever. His secret is ending, but it was always going to end." She met Tang Ap's gaze, leaning forward and switching back to Empire Common. "My people have not been defeated, Tang Ap—not yet. There remains a hidden dwarven settlement within the Char, Deep Terlingas. We seek my kind."
The elders gasped, sitting upright. Tang Ap nodded as if he had suspected such a thing. "We never truly believed our dwarven cousins, strong and gifted warriors, could vanish so completely."
"We almost did," said Ylra. "But we will find this last settlement and forge an alliance between manlings and dwarves, and together, we will stand against the fae seelie. There is hope for your people's future if you help us now."
"If I help you, I risk incurring the queen's anger, and not just for me, but for my people. The fae do not forgive treachery."
"It isn't treachery if your loyalty was forced to begin with," Ylra said.
"True, but we are not warriors. We're fishermen and hunters. Many cycles ago, your leaders promised to protect us from the fae. You didn't."
"Against the Culling, we couldn't protect ourselves," Ylra said sadly.
"Help us," said Alex, "and we'll be gone tomorrow. The risk to your people will go with us."
"I am not king here," Tang Ap said. He turned, meeting the eyes of the other elders.
Each redcap nodded in turn.
Tang Ap addressed Ylra and Alex. "You have trusted us with your greatest treasure, the existence of your city, so we shall help you, and in time, if your alliance is true, mayhap you can help us and fight for us as you did in ages past. We will find accommodations for your people. Indeed, you may use my own hut tonight. In the morning, my son will guide you north along hidden trails to the stone bridge over the Serpent-Tongue and through the pass."
All the elders smiled, exposing bright white teeth.
Ylra barked in laughter, her face beaming. "I knew there was steel yet in your people."
Huck leaned forward, gripping Alex's arm. "What's happening?"
Alex met Tang Ap's eye and inclined his head in respect, the trace of a smile on his lips. "Seems we've got our guide."
30
Alex was helpless as the flames consumed t
heir log cabin, eating the wood like termites. The entire Doig River settlement was burning, and hellhounds howled with rage. In the cabin, baby Noah screamed himself raw with agony as the fires ate his flesh. Once more, Alex threw himself at the flame-wreathed doorway, once again trying to force his way inside. And again—as always—the fire pushed him back. Heat cooked his lungs as he fell to his knees. Failing his baby son again.
"Noah!"
Alex bolted upright, his sleeping bag falling away from his chest. Sweat drenched his skin, his pulse raced, and he panted so hard, he thought he'd hyperventilate. It was the nightmare again, the same goddamned nightmare. Noah wasn't burning. There was no fire. Noah had been dead for months.
The memory of his son's death crashed upon him, and he sobbed, his eyes watering, his soul ripping apart once again. Noah.
"Alex." Leela's hands touched his face, and she pulled his head in against her chest and held him there. "It's just a dream."
She had been lying next to him in her own sleeping bag. He remembered now. They were in a small hut in the redcap village.
"I'm… I'm okay," he gasped, feeling anything but.
"Noah?"
With his eyes closed, he could still hear his son's screams as he burned. He shuddered. "Most nights. I'm there, listening to him burn. I try to save him, but…"
He felt her stiffen, then her fingers trailed through his hair. "I don't understand. You weren't there."
"I see it every night. I see the cabin on fire, hear his cries as…" A shudder coursed through him, and he gasped for air. "As he… burns to death, and I can't get to him. I can never reach him. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Noah."
She held him tight against her chest. She wore only a light T-shirt, her flesh warm with sleep. "Shh," she whispered, stroking the back of his head. When his breathing slowed once more, she asked, "Is that what you believe? That Noah burned?"
"I… what?"
Her voice trembled with pain and sorrow, months of anguish. "Oh, Alex. All this time you've carried that memory, that horror on your soul. No parent should ever grieve alone. No wonder you lost your way."
"I don't understand." He saw the outline of her face through the moonlight breaking past the netting over an open window.
"He died because of the fire, Alex, not in it."
"What?"
"You asked no one, not even my brother? Why didn't you ask? How could you live with that horror?"
"I… how?"
"He had the ghost-sickness, Alex. You were on patrol, so you couldn't have known, but his eyes changed color overnight. His lungs became so weak." Her voice broke at the memory, and her shoulders shook.
He slid his arms around her waist, pulling her in, his face against her chest.
"I was waiting for you to return, to bring him to Cassie in Boulder City, but… that night."
"He was sick?"
"McKnight wasn't exaggerating. All the children are sick, Noah as well."
"I don't… how?"
She sighed. "You should have asked me. You should have stayed with me. Damn you for going away. I needed you."
"Leela, please."
"The screams from the other settlers woke me. I rushed outside, saw the fires, the boggarts torching the other homes. I had a rifle and fired on them, as did others, but it was too late by then. The flames were spreading. I saw Lone Bear's family, his wife and three of his teenage children. Boggarts surrounded them, ready to finish them. I chased them away with lightning, a weak bolt, but I'm not good at the offensive stuff. You know that."
"I'm sure you did your best."
"It was enough, and the boggarts ran. They didn't want to fight a mage. But then, before I could go back for Noah, I ran into a troll—or it ran into me, knocking me into a tree. I think I blacked out, because when I came to, our cabin was already on fire."
"Not your fault," he said. "You couldn't save him. I should have been there. I should have—"
"I did save him, Alex. I went into the cabin and brought him out. He was still alive. We hid in the woods, just him and I, while the boggarts attacked the others. But… the smoke, Alex. All the smoke in the air. His lungs were too weak from the sickness." She buried her face into his hair, holding him against her. When she spoke again, it was a whisper. "I never could heal worth a damn," she said, her voice breaking. "He died in my arms, sleeping. He never… woke up again. But he didn't burn. He didn't suffer. You're having nightmares of something that never happened."
"I… " The revelation floored him, took his breath away. For months now, he had thought Noah burned to death, dying in agony. He had relived that horror most nights. A chill coursed through him. How could he be so wrong? The answer was simple: grief and self-hatred for not being there had consumed him. He never sought the truth, fearing it could only be worse than what he already imagined.
"You should have asked me, but instead you left me. You took your rangers and went after the Remnants. I've always wondered if you were trying to kill them or yourself. I don't know, but I know I needed you and you weren't there for me." She rocked in place, her eyes wet with tears, her voice wracked with pain. "You've been carrying that image around with you all this time. How?"
"I'm sorry," he said. "I… can't. I'm sorry. It… it was… I was someone else."
"Shh." She kissed the top of his head. "I know, and I forgive you. I forgave you a long time ago, even before I forgave myself. I love you. I'll always love you, you damned foolish man, but you have to come back to me now. I want you to be the man I married. Enough pain. Okay, Alex, enough blood. Enough revenge. It cheapens his memory, and it torments you. Nothing will bring Noah back, but I need you back. I need you."
"I'll… I'll try. It's hard, to live so long with hatred. It exhausts you. Nothing makes sense but the anger."
"This makes sense," she said as her hand slid down his torso. "We make sense."
Her breathing quickened, and the next thing he knew, his lips were on hers, hot, desperate. They fumbled together, like clumsy teenagers. They wrenched their underwear free and grasped at one another, burning with the need to feel something other than sorrow.
Later, his heart pounding against her chest, her breath hot and wet on his neck, they fell asleep in each other's arms. For the first time in months, he didn't dream of fire and Noah screaming. He dreamt of Noah laughing as he played by the river, the sun sparkling on the water.
31
The Strike Force set out at sunrise, with Tang Ap and the other elders saying farewell. Well fed, well rested, and reenergized, the soldiers moved quickly through the jungle. Gevn Ap led, with Alex, Leela, and Ylra close behind, while the rest of the soldiers followed in single file. The young redcap slipped through the thick secondary jungle, taking a path that Alex would have missed in the tall grass.
Alex stopped Ylra, his hand on her shoulder, and gestured at Gevn Ap ahead of them. "Ask him if we need to put scouts on the flanks. Just in case there's anything dangerous."
But it was Gevn Ap who answered, speaking flawless Dwarven. "No need for scouts. There is always danger, but nothing is so foolish as to attack so many warriors—unless we run into the water dragon, and if that happens, no scout will make a difference."
Alex stared in surprise. "You speak Dwarven?"
"Now," answered Gevn Ap, beaming brightly at him, his teeth white against his sun-kissed skin.
"And Empire Common," Ylra said. "I used Kargin's crowns last night to teach him. Taught Huck, Liv, and Santiago Martinez at the same time."
"You have Kargin's crowns?"
"Course I do," she answered curtly, as if it were a silly question. "They were of no further use to Kargin with the contact team, and he thought it'd be useful if I taught more of your people to speak Dwarven."
Alex smiled and clapped Ylra on her shoulder, finding it like slapping rock. "You're a blessing, Ylra Shatter-Fist."
"Of course I am." She hefted her Light Fifty across her chest. "Now watch the jungle for things with big teeth."
They slipped through the woods, making excellent time now. They saw the same wildlife—monkeys, birds, mice, and once even a bizarre three-horned deer but nothing dangerous, although Gevn Ap insisted a blink-jaguar had followed them out of curiosity.
By lunchtime, they were already out of the thick secondary jungle and into the darker primary jungle. Here, the tree canopy rose at least a hundred meters above the forest floor, blocking the sun. Seedlings and vines twined up through the trees to reach those stray beams of sunlight that slipped through the canopy. The terrain was more open and navigable now, with decaying plant and animal matter and thick fungi growing wild. Since they were out of the sun, the temperature cooled, and the ever-present mosquitoes finally left them. The Strike Force soldiers shared smiles, their morale improved. Huck took advantage of the open terrain to enforce a more tactical movement pattern, spreading the platoons out in mutually supporting columns, maintaining an all-around defense.
They moved much quicker now, at twice the rate of advance as earlier. Long before the sun set, Gevn Ap found them a defensible location near a stream. They hung their hammocks, put up the ground surveillance radars, and established sentry locations and fighting positions. Then, with cold MREs in their bellies, they fell asleep.
They moved at dawn. This day, they saw more wildlife, including a herd of the three-horned deer. Once, they even came across the half-eaten remains of a wild boar that must have weighed over three hundred pounds of gristle, bone, and muscle. Alex, Leela, Huck, and Ylra watched as Gevn Ap prodded the remains with his short bow. "Sher-cat," he said, scanning the dark forest around them.
"Nasty beasts," Ylra told Alex and Huck. "Their hides will turn even a troll's spear-thrust. That's why I brought the big gun. The fae used to hunt them for sport, but even with their mages helping them, more often than not, the cats take a few of the hunters."
Ranger Page 26