Rise of the Mare (Fall of Man Book 2)

by Jacqueline Druga

  “Should we feel honored?” I asked. “Or frightened?”

  “A little of both,” Iry said. “Them wanting you removed is serious. If they remove you, they will take you somewhere almost impossible to survive. It will be difficult for anyone to find you. They are calling for immediate Intention, did you hear?”

  “I did. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep me here.” I meant that. I had to stay, for Sophie, and to finish the plan for Davis.

  “Good. I won’t hold you to all aspects. I know your reasons for being here.”

  “If you know my reasons for being here, why do you want me to stay?”

  “Perhaps I’ll change your mind.”

  I stared at him, wanting to tell him that I doubted that. I refrained. “Though I am strong minded, I am true to my word. I said I would do whatever it takes. I will do this Intention.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Iry? What is this Intention?”

  “In human terms,” Iry replied, “it means we will be married.”

  THIRTY- TANNER

  There were two things I said to Davis upon my return: “I found them,” and “I’m leaving.”

  “Whoa. Whoa. Hold up.” Davis grabbed my arm. “What is the rush and what is going on?

  “I found their nest. I would go as far as to say it is all of them. Or at the very least the largest colony of them. This entire thing is going to get easier.”

  “Where is the nest?”

  I placed the map on his desk. “Here.” I pointed to the town.

  “They’re in a city? Not the mountains?”

  “Not the mountains. They live mainly in one block, right here. The building that houses many of them has a dome on it. We can’t draw them out because there isn’t enough sunlight to kill them.”

  “What can we do?”

  “We find explosives. We need more than we have. I say send out the Creeper with two men who know explosives, check out the area. If we detonate during the day, the ones that stay inside will die, the ones that fly for safety will perish. We can take out many of them.”

  Davis looked at the map and then stumbled back and sat in a chair. “I wish I could have kept my enthusiasm. I had your enthusiasm and your fight when this thing started.”

  “Well, you have me now. I want the life you had. I want the life people had before this whole thing. It may not be the same, but at least we won’t live in fear every night.”

  “I agree.”

  “We take them out, Davis, we eliminate a pretty big threat. The Day Stalkers will search us out and we cut them off at the pass. Keep following the Savages here out west until we’ve beaten them. Then after we take out the Ancients, we move east. They don’t cross large bodies of water, so we can be safe in clearing this country.”

  “All well and fine, Tanner, but we don’t know where the City of the Ancients is.”

  “Vala does,” I replied. “She contacted me, but was cut short. It was really abrupt. We don’t need her on the other side anymore. We need her here to help against the Savages. That’s why I’m leaving.”

  “Tanner, where are you going?”

  “To get her. I am going to the Straits. To Akana.”

  Davis sighed. “Son, you are making this sound like an easy game to win. You still have the Queen Bee to worry about. She wants you dead.”

  I smiled. “That was one message Vala got out. Nito is gone. Banished. Never to be seen again.”

  “Oh my God!” Davis gasped in shock and then laughed. “Seriously?”

  “That’s what she said. And because of that, she needs to get back here.”

  “I’ll agree to this on one condition. You take Snake. He goes and poses as your father.”

  “Agreed. Thank you.” I extended my hand to Davis, but instead, changed my mind and embraced him. “For you, for all of us, I want to see this through. It’s time.”

  “I agree.”

  I needed to get some things together and turned to leave. “You remind me of myself eighteen years ago, Tanner,” Davis said. “Full of piss and vinegar. Confident.”

  “I am,” I said. “How can I not be? This war just got easier.”

  THIRTY-ONE – NITO

  I spun for a very long time, then I came to an abrupt halt. An intense pain hit my back and face, and that was all.

  It was as if I had landed, but that was silly. I believed I was placed into some sort of chamber until a pulsing light hit against my eyes. I felt the heat of the surrounding air, yet I wasn’t uncomfortable. I was on a semi-soft surface and could feel it under my back.

  I knew what had happened. I had reached the end of my banishment. I was probably in a stasis, out of consciousness, and returned eons later.

  I felt rested and sore, which was odd.

  When I opened my eyes, everything was blurry and it took a few moments for things to come into focus. The voice arrived long before the vision did. A male voice, with a twang and drawl to it.

  “Well, I’ll be damned. You’re finally awake.”

  I blinked. Was he speaking to me?

  “Hello?”

  I opened my eyes to see a male being above me. His mussed hair was mixed gray and yellow, his face would have been pleasant enough if it wasn’t for the lines, and when he smiled I saw he was missing a front tooth. I shrieked in fear.

  “Shocked ya, didn’t I?”

  My hands felt the surface beneath me. It was soft and I sat up.

  “You looked lost,” he said. “Betcha were. Hey.” He snapped his finger in front of my face. “You with me?”

  I was aghast. How foul this being was. Had we evolved into repulsive beings? How long had I been gone?

  “Guess not,” he said. “You probably were a bit confused. Everyone said you would be. Didn’t I just hit the jackpot? Of course, I was the one who found you buck ass naked in the middle of the desert.” He raised his eyebrows a few times. “Not a bad find. ‘Course your hind end is a little more tanned than your front. You were found face down.”

  When I got a look at his eyes, when he drew completely in focus, I realized that he was not a mutated Ancient, he was a human.

  A human looking at my nude body.

  Finally I glanced down at myself. I was wearing a printed, loose fitting garment. “What am I wearing?”

  “It was my mother’s favorite housedress. I got voted to dress you.” He raised his eyebrows again. “No worries. I didn’t take advantage of you.”

  “I should hope not. Not without my permission or summonsing.”

  He groaned and stood straight. “Damn it, I lost. They were right. You are one of them Straits people.”

  “I am not.” I took in my surroundings. I was in a bed, placed near a window. “Do you know who I am?”

  “Nope. Do you?”

  “It is mad—” I heard this gurgling sound. It happened at the same time as an odd plopping sensation hit my abdomen. It was in the middle of me saying it was ‘maddening’ but that noise cut me off.

  The man laughed. “Boy, you must be hungry, I’ll get you some food. Be right back.” He stood up and that was when I noticed what he was wearing. A checkered shirt and blue denim. He paused by the door before leaving. “Madge, right? You said you were Madge.”

  “I said mad—” There it was again, that plopping bubble feel and gurgle sound.

  “Okay, Madge. I’m Burt. Be right back with that chow.”

  He left the room and closed the doors.

  Gods be with me, where was I? When was I? I swung my legs over and the hideous garment swooped to my knees, barely covering my legs. When I stood, my legs held me up fine, but my breasts jiggled.

  They moved slightly side to side and I placed my hands on them. Why were they not bound? I spotted a mirror across the room and walked to it.

  As soon as I saw my reflection, I wanted to scream. My perfect dark and shiny hair was dull and strands of gray poked up like wires all around the mess of disheveled locks. My face was plain and not painted. It looked old
er with lines. I had lines?

  No longer was my skin olive toned, it was pale and the sleeveless ‘housedress’ exposed my arms. I lifted them and they weren’t firm. Not only was the definition gone, but they jiggled like my breasts. They weren’t big, so why did they jiggle?

  I heard that odd noise again and realized it came from me. Was there some sort of monster in me? Immediately I hiked that garment upward to my chin to see if something was attached to me and I screamed.

  My perfectly toned and trim body had curves and small bulges that protruded. My breasts were not perky and full, and I had hair in regions that no Ancient should have hair. I couldn’t move, I just stared.

  The door opened. “I brought you—Damn.” Burt whistled. “Madge, you have to stop exposing yourself to me, I might get the wrong idea. Brought you breakfast.” I lowered the garment and stared. My face looked similar, but I was transformed. I realized at that moment what happened. My father had taken from me all that I gave the child.

  I was still in banishment, but I was back in a different way. I didn’t know where I was, but I did know what I was. I no longer was an Ancient, I was human.

  Instead of it working against me as my father and the counsel believed, I was going to use it to my full advantage.

  THIRTY-TWO – VALA

  Had the prospect of marriage, or Intention, been presented to me before I went to Angeles City, then it would have been a thoughtless decision. To me, marrying an Ancient, though repulsive, would grant me access to much in the Ancient City. It would give me the ability to see their weaknesses and plan an easy victory over them.

  My entire life was spent wanting to bring them down, to release us from their captivity, to destroy them and all the descendants of their curse.

  There were more to the Ancients than met the eye. For every bad Ancient, there were at least three good ones, I was learning.

  A good Ancient.

  How many times had I argued that it was impossible? Yet, they cared for our elders with compassion. I don’t believe even those in Angeles City delivered that kind of care to those who were older.

  But marriage? Prior to my West Coast adventure, marriage was a commitment between two people, an arrangement, that was all. Yet, I learned through my bunker experience and Marie, that it was much more. It was love and friendship, it was a companionship that saw a person through the most troubling of times. A spouse was the one you wanted to spend all eternity with.

  The ‘love of my life’, as Marie stated, was real. I wanted what Marie had, I wanted what Mike and Carol Brady had. Perhaps I don’t want as many offspring as they, because I knew the rigorous ritual one must endure to create a child. I remember thinking ‘poor Carol’.

  I suppose the love to please one spouse played a role in having multiple offspring.

  Now I am faced with marrying Iry who, by all accounts, is not a bad Ancient. He is different, I believe because he loves humans and desires to be one. He told me that he would not ‘make’ me do anything that is required of marriage. But even marrying him was making me do something.

  Admittedly, I was not very elated over the dresses the makers presented to me.

  “This is a big deal,” Samantha said in a whisper. “Ancients do not marry often. And an Ancient has never married a Mare. Only once in history has a love affair developed between a Mare and Ancient.”

  “Moses,” I said. “And that didn’t turn out well.”

  “Oh, I believe he loved her.”

  I quickly looked at her. “How do you know this? The Bible doesn’t say such things.”

  “There was a movie out called The Ten Commandments.” Samantha sighed. “Starring an actor called Charlton Heston. Anyhow, judging by the movie, had they just been a little understanding of Moses’ plight to help out the people of Israel, it could have all worked out for the best.”

  “That is a bold statement made about a moving picture.”

  “True.”

  Another dressmaker brought in a gown. He held it proudly.

  “Set that aside,” Samantha stated. “I like that.”

  “I don’t,” I said.

  “You’ve not liked anything, Vala. You have to choose. As I said, it is a big event for Ancients and even more so that Iry is marrying a Mare. Your child will—”

  “My child?” I screeched. “I do not want to have a child. Do you know what that entails?”

  “I do,” Samantha replied. “A child born of a Mare and an Ancient would be the most powerful being ever.” She lowered her voice. “Your child can make a difference in this world, as Moses’ child could have.”

  “Be that as it may, with the lifespan of an Ancient being a hundred years per one of the human, the marriage will be short lived, not to mention I will not live long enough to carry the child to term.”

  “You’re not transforming?”

  My gasp of offense was more of a squeal. “No.”

  “But your sister… she will need someone forever to take care of her.”

  My sister. My heart sank. Sophie deserved more than to be condemned to a life in a child’s body. As I lowered my head at that thought, Iry entered the room.

  He snapped his finger to the dressmakers and approached Samantha and me.

  Samantha quickly scurried away, as did everyone else in the room.

  “There you go, proving you are not nice,” I said. “You scared off my friend.”

  “She is the house maiden.”

  “She is my friend,” I snapped. “So are my dressmakers.”

  “Who are you kidding, Vala? You don’t care about the dresses.”

  “I’m not having your child.”

  “What?” He shook his head with a slight laugh. “Okay, whatever. We need to talk.”

  “What did I do now?”

  Iry waited until he had my attention and he grabbed my hand. I quickly withdrew it and he grabbed it again. “Enough,” he said. “This is serious.”

  “Go on.”

  “You have to stop projecting.”

  “I projected to—”

  “Yes, to let them know you were fine, I know. They were quite impressed that you didn’t give your whereabouts, which worked in your favor.”

  “How do they know?”

  “We all project. We have Seers. They saw you and followed. Because you didn’t divulge your whereabouts, they are withholding judgment on your loyalty, but you have to stop projecting.”

  “What about when I sleep? I do that without knowledge or control. I am still new at it.”

  “I brought that to their attention. The Seers will know when it is unintentional and will intervene.”

  “You spoke about me out of my presence?”

  “Vala, please. You’re communicating with the enemy. They are watching out for me. And you need to stop. If they catch you again, they won’t kick you out, they will kill you. They will release your sister into the wild, and they will kill you. Drain your blood and feast.”

  “And you want me to believe you are good, peaceful people.”

  “Betraying is the work of an enemy. We are peaceful. We just want to stay alive, as you do. I will do everything in my power to protect you. You have to help me out. For the sake of your life and your sister, stop projecting. I know what you are up to and I know what you are doing. If you must, find another way.” He gave a pat to my hand and stood. “I’ll let you return to pretending you like the dresses.”

  “So give up projecting, marry you... The next thing you will tell me is I must bear you a child.”

  Iry paused by the door. “To do that, we must have sex. And I have no intention of going though that with you.” He flashed a smile and walked out.

  I exhaled and brought my hand to my chest. “Oh thank Gods.” To me that was a relief that Iry found it as repulsive as I did.

  Though I wasn’t enjoying the dresses, I would move forward with the wedding, and I would stop projecting. I had to protect my sister, and like Iry suggested, I’d find another way.
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  THIRTY-THREE – TANNER

  Davis gave the advice to keep a cool head, make a plan, and then head out. We weren’t given any cars, and were to travel only on horseback. It would take us a little longer to get there because Snake and I would travel around the Salton Sea.

  The first night would be spent at the bait shop, safe from the Savages. However, I worried about the second night. While on the other side of the Sea, and Savage incidents were low, we needed a plan.

  “We’ll dig in,” Snake said.

  “Can we dig in deep enough to be protected?”

  “Plan it ahead of time. Stop about four PM, look for something, and make it work. Besides, there are no Savages in the Straits and that starts beforehand.”

  “Are we sure?” I asked. “I mean, how do we know?”

  “Vala, for one. She never saw one. And people have to have safe passage to the Straits. The Civvies keep ‘em out.”

  “Let’s hope.”

  We rode for a while and made it past the point where we had taken down the Day Stalkers the day before. We talked about that and then Snake went into a whole hour long speech about zombies. He spoke about movies and how they were thought of as fiction.

  “Who’d have thought?” Snake said. “Seriously. Not me. Flesh eating imbeciles. But these aren’t really zombies, ’cause a part of them isn’t dead. They eat flesh though. They don’t need to, they need to suck the blood. They are rejects cause they don’t have fangs.”

  At first the conversation was interesting, then it turned a bit drab, until we saw three of them straggling, moving aimlessly and slow.

  They looked more gaunt than usual. Yes, I knew they were still somewhat alive, but they had rotting flesh.

  We both stopped our horses and dismounted.

  Snake raised his gun and I stopped him. “Save the ammo.”

  “Be an easy kill.”

  “Save it. Use the sword.”

  “I hate using the sword.” Snake replaced his gun, and reached to his back for his sword. “Damn thing is heavy. Can’t wield it right.”