by Rachel Red
An hour later, he still hadn't. Even even in my emotional state, I couldn't ignore that it was well past dinnertime and my stomach was growling. I went out to the kitchen and had a sandwich and some yogurt before falling back into bed, drained and beginning to feel a little sleepy, despite still being upset. When Victor still hadn't returned a while later, I began crying for what felt like the millionth time, wondering if I'd even see him again before he left for the battle before dawn the next day. I eventually cried myself to sleep.
I awoke sometime in the wee hours of the morning the next day and sat up, surprised to find the bedroom light on and Victor, fully dressed, taking a few clothing items from one of my dresser drawers and setting them on the bed.
"You can go, Kate. I'm saying yes. But so help me God, you're going to get in and get right out. Is that clear?"
CHAPTER TWENTYTWO
I gasped. "You're letting me go to the battle? You're actually going to let me levitate the women and children out?"
Victor sighed, setting a pair of socks on my little pile of clothes on the bed. "Yes."
"What made you change your mind?"
He sighed again, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Last night, Julia stopped by our rooms to share some sort of dessert she'd made. She saw the guards outside, was baffled, and became even more so when they wouldn't allow her to knock on the door for you. I guess I'd neglected to give them instructions as to whether or not you were allowed visitors. So Julia came and found me having a walk outside, and she demanded to know why I had you imprisoned, under guard, and why I was behaving like an Oppressor. Which made me feel...." He paused, wincing. "Worse than you can imagine. Lower than low. Lower than scum. I guess in my efforts to protect you from the Oppressors, I became one. I'm sorry, Kate. Can you forgive me?"
"Of course. I promise you...I promise. I'll get right in and right out. I won't wait for a second to see how the battle's going or anything else. I'll just go in, locate the girls and women, levitate them, and get right out. I promise."
Victor scooted a little closer and took my hands. "Please stick to that plan; I'm begging you. I'm putting all my faith and trust in you. Please don't make me regret it."
"I won't."
"All right. I'll carry you to Cold Creek on my back in dragon form and drop you near the building where the women sleep. I'll then join the assault on the Oppressors at their main building. You levitate the women as high as you can, as fast as you can. Then, when I and the other Keepers have the Oppressors fully engaged, you'll move to the building where the children are housed, which is very near to the main building where the Oppressors stay. You levitate the children and their caretakers as high as you can, as fast as you can. You do not stop for anything, and once you have everyone levitated and yourself levitated, too, you do not come back down. Not for anything. Not if you want to check and see how the battle is going, not if you think you can help. Not for anything. You immediately fly yourself and the women and the children back here to Stonebrook. Is that crystal clear?"
I nodded. "Yes."
"Good. Then, one last thing, and this is critical. I have great faith in your levitation abilities, however...you've never lifted more than five human beings, including yourself, at one time. If you find yourself having difficulty, any difficulty at all, levitating such a large group of people out of Cold Creek, you stop. You take as many people as you easily can. And then you leave and take them here. And you do not return to Cold Creek. Is this one thousand percent crystal clear?"
I nodded again. "Yes. I understand."
"Good." He leaned over, moved his hands to my face, and planted a kiss on my forehead. "Now, we don't have a lot of time. I let you sleep as long as I could, because I wanted you to be as well-rested as possible. So get dressed as quick as you can, and we'll leave shortly."
Less than an hour later, I sat on Victor's scaly, charcoal-colored back while we flew to Cold Creek, surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of other Keepers also in dragon form. He'd given me some last-minute details and instructions before he'd shifted, mostly things about the exact locations of the buildings that housed the girls and women, and I felt ready. I felt more than ready.
Cold Creek was about a hundred miles away, but we neared it in maybe an hour-and-a-half. Victor and the rest of the Keepers were fast fliers, though not so fast that I felt in any danger of falling off Victor's back. For one thing, his back was so broad that I had quite a wide base to sit on. For another thing, I gripped two of his tough scales, each of them about as big as my hand, which he'd assured me didn't hurt him at all the first time he'd taken me flying. For yet another thing, being surrounded by hundreds of massive dragons really cut down on wind resistance. Victor normally flew at the front of the formation, but with having me on his back, he flew near the center.
I could tell when we were drawing very near Cold Creek when I saw a shimmery golden mist surround my body. That was Victor's protection spell that would shield me from any magic an Oppressor might try to harm me with. Dawn was coming soon, and the golden mist seemed even brighter and more shimmery than usual, reflecting hints of pink and peach from the very-early-morning sky.
Even when we drew near enough to Cold Creek to see the outline of the high, gray city wall and the drab gray buildings inside, I still felt completely ready to do what I had to,even though my hands were beginning to tremble. But just a bit.
We flew over the cinder black walls of Cold Creek just as the sun rose. From that moment, everything seemed to happen in a blink.
With his mighty dark wings beating the air, Victor flew over a large, two-story gray building and descended to the ground. I scrambled down off his back, and after a long backward glance at me, he launched himself back into the air.
I didn't waste a single second. Rose told me that because the city was walled, the Oppressors never even bothered posting guards outside the building where the women slept, so I opened the front door, ran inside with abandon, and began shouting.
"I'm a friend! Hurry! Everyone outside!"
But to my surprise, only one single woman was present on the ground floor. She stood maybe some twenty feet away, in a long, narrow kitchen beyond a large empty room with bare cinder block walls. She'd been stirring a kettle of something on a stove top, and she immediately dropped her spoon. I dashed over to her, and she jumped back and cowered in a corner, seemingly terrified.
"Who are you?"
"My name's Kate, and I'm a friend of Rose and Brook, who used to live here."
It suddenly occurred to me that Rose and Brook hadn't been called by their real names while they'd lived in Cold Creek.
"Rose, with pale blonde hair and who's tiny. And Brook, who's tall and has dark caramel-colored skin. I'm a friend of theirs, and I'm here to get the rest of you out. But I need your help. Right now, my husband and his men, the Keepers, are attacking the Oppressors. While the Oppressors are distracted, I need you all outside so I can levitate you all into the clouds. Then, I'll get the kids and their caretakers and levitate them, too. Then, we're all going to fly to my home, Stonebrook. But first, I need all of you women outside. So can you go round everyone up as fast as you can?"
The woman nodded, standing up a little straighter, but shaking like a leaf. "There's only forty of us left. It won't take me long."
"Where are they?"
"Upstairs. Sleeping."
"Let's go."I grabbed the woman's hand, and we ran out of the kitchen and raced up a set of rickety stairs nearby. Even before we'd reached the top, she began shouting to everyone what was happening. Within a minute, everyone who'd been sleeping on thin, dirty cots on the second floor, which was just one large, open room, was ready to go. We all raced back down the rickety stairs, single file, and dashed outside.
When the last of the women stepped out the front door, I asked if we were missing anyone. The woman from the kitchen quickly divided everyone up into little groups, did a count, and then said everyone was accounted for.
I nodded. "
Okay. I'm about to levitate you all into the clouds now, then, and it's going to be incredibly fast. But don't be scared. I won't let anyone fall. Everyone ready?"
Every single woman nodded, though some of them looked almost impossibly dazed and bewildered, which was, of course, more than understandable.
The morning was becoming cloudy and overcast, which was perfect. I looked up at a huge gray cloud overhead, Keepers streaming past it on either side, then back down at the women. Then I levitated them up at warp speed. Even with the size of the group, my task was nearly effortless. I didn't stop their ascent until they were well into the huge gray cloud, way, way above the Keepers, so they wouldn't accidentally be hurt. And the cloud was low enough that I knew even though they might be a little chilly, they'd still have enough oxygen to breathe.
Again not wasting a single second, with adrenaline flooding my body, I began running in the direction of the building housing the young girls and their caretakers. Keepers roared down from the sky above me, breathing fire, clearly honing in on the Oppressors' building nearby. Oppressor shrieks and howls filled the air, though I couldn't see any of them. And when I reached the little gray building where the girls were, there weren't any Oppressors there, either, mercifully.
A cluster of little girls, some of them crying, stood in front of the building, which was burning. At least, the wood-planked roof was, anyway. The flames didn't seem to be spreading to the cinder block structure itself. I knew the roof had probably been accidentally set on fire with a wayward blast of dragon fire.
Three older women stood alongside the girls, their faces white as sheets. I asked them if everyone was outside, and they just looked at me, shaking, not seeming to comprehend the question. I repeated myself, a little louder this time, noise of the nearby battle getting louder.
"Hurry and answer! I need to know right now! Is there anyone we need to go back in for?”
One woman finally shook her head. "What's happening?" "No time to explain. But I'm a friend. And you're all going up in the sky, right now."I sent them all up in the air faster than a bolt of lightning before following them up myself. I quickly located the other group, merged the two, and then zipped us all away from Cold Creek, parallel to the ground. More than a few women and girls began screaming. But I couldn't stop, and I didn't, not until we were far outside the Cold Creek walls.
I asked if everyone was okay, intending to resume speeding us away to Stonebrook the second I heard a quick chorus of responses in the affirmative.
But single little girl floating near me started crying. "We forgot Daisy. Oh, I forgot; I'm not supposed to call her that name; we're numbers. But we forgot her. She hid under a bed when all the big noise started."
My blood turned to ice. Victor's words to me earlier that morning echoed in my ears. He'd specifically told me not to return to Cold Creek, for any reason, once I was out. But I knew I had to go back. I didn't have a choice. I knew I could never live with myself if I didn't.
With my heartbeat hammering in my ears, I looked at everyone. "I'll keep you all suspended right here. Stay calm. I'll be right back."
I sped away, feeling as if I were going to be sick. Sick because I was directly going against my husband's wishes, or commands, more like. Which I'd promised him that I wouldn't do. And sick because Rose's daughter Daisy was in a burning building, possibly hurt. Maybe already dead. Remembering Rose's nightmares about Daisy being burned by Keeper fire, I swallowed, suppressing a bitter taste rising in the back of my throat.
When I reached the burning building seconds later, I found it surrounded by Oppressors, who were smashing ground floor windows, shrieking, trying to get in, because the wooden front door was in flames. I didn't have time to be scared. I didn't have time to think. I didn't have time for anything. I flew through a second-story window, screaming Daisy's name. Instantly, through thick smoke, tiny arms wrapped around my neck, and I flew backward out the window, my feet never even touching the second-story floor.
Clutching a coughing Daisy, who was a miniature Rose, with pale blonde hair and a tiny, delicate face, I sped back out of Cold Creek, not slowing my pace until we reached the rest of the women and girls. Not even looking over my shoulder at the battle behind me.
Without saying a word, I began levitating us all off to Stonebrook, only stopping us and taking us all down to a copse of trees briefly maybe a half-hour into our flight when I realized that probably a great number of people had to use the restroom.
By the time we reached Stonebrook, I was exhausted on a level I'd never experienced before in my life. Once I'd set us all down at the foot of the mountains in front of Stonebrook's main entrance, I could only manage a few words.
"This is Stonebrook. This is your new home. Everyone's nice here. Everyone will welcome you."
Right on cue, a flood of women and several Keeper guards who'd been left behind to protect the city began flooding out from the main door. Rose, the first one out, dashed down the path leading to the grassy space where I stood with all the Cold Creek women and girls. Not watching the ground or her feet, she tripped along, scanning the faces of everyone in the crowd. It wasn't long before she spotted Daisy, who'd stopped coughing a little ways into our flight.
"Daisy. Daisy!"
Daisy stood right next to me, her tiny little face smudged with soot.
Rose made a beeline for her, but stopped abruptly several feet away, her eyes brimming with tears. "Hi, Daisy. I'm...I'm your mother."
Silently, Daisy studied her for a few seconds before slowly inching her way forward, kind of sidling up to her, and loosely wrapping her thin little arms around her waist.
Squeezing her eyes shut, sending tears running down her face, Rose hugged her back. "I missed you so much, Daisy. I missed you every second of every day."
Daisy buried her face in Rose's ribs, tightening her arms around her.
Soon Julia and Elizabeth ran over to me asking if I was okay.
I nodded. "I'm fine, but I just...guys, I don't think I can even take a step. I don't know if it was all the mass levitating, or all the stress, or what...but I just feel like I'm full of lead. I've just never been more tired in my life."
They hooked my arms around their shoulders, led me inside, and then took me to Victor's and my rooms. They asked if I wanted them to stay, but I shook my head.
"Thanks, but honestly, I just need to be alone. I just need to sleep. Harder than I ever have in my life. Which seems kind of wrong to me, considering that the battle is probably still going on, and I feel like I should stay awake worrying along with everyone else. But, guys, I'm just...." I stifled a yawn, my eyes closing. "I know our husbands are kicking Oppressor ass right now and everything will be fine. So I've just gotta...." I stifled another yawn, my eyes closing yet again. "You guys can go. Just gonna sleep."
They said okay, and get some rest, and left. I fell into bed without even taking my shoes off.
I awoke several hours later feeling like a whole new woman, rested and refreshed. I showered, changed clothes, and had just finished combing my hair when I heard someone coming in the front door.
I sprinted out of the bathroom and down the short hall and saw Victor in the foyer. I threw myself into his arms, and he scooped me up, squeezing me tight. Without saying a word, he planted kisses all over the side of my face, slowly spinning me in his arms. We stayed locked in this silent embrace for I didn't know how long, at least a minute, before I lifted my face from his chest and spoke.
"Are all your men okay?"
"Zero casualties on our side.""Thank God. Are all the Oppressors dead?"
"All but maybe ten who sped away and escaped us. But they may as well be dead. We razed Cold Creek to the ground, and with their numbers now down to a just a few, I don't think they'll ever be coming back. They know it would mean certain death. They'll now be free to roam the empty world for the rest of their miserable lives."
I lowered my face back down to his chest, telling him I was proud of him. He gave me a few
more kisses and said he was proud of me, too. I wondered if he'd heard that I'd went back to Cold Creek after initially leaving, like he'd specifically told me not to, and if so, what he was going to say about that, but he just told me that he was very tired and wanted to take a shower and then sleep. He sounded just as weary as I'd been earlier, if not more.
After he'd showered, we both got into bed, and despite not feeling tired anymore, somehow, I fell asleep with him.
That evening, after we'd eaten dinner without really talking much, he pushed his chair back from the table and pulled me onto his lap. "I know you went back for Rose's daughter after you were safely outside of Cold Creek."
I studied his face, wondering exactly how mad he was, but his expression was unreadable. "I'm sorry. But I couldn't not do it. I could have never lived with myself."
He didn't answer right away. "I know."
I expected him to say something else, maybe something angry, but he didn't seem like he was going to. And after a moment or two, he gently put my head on his chest.
"I know."
He began stroking my hair, and we both fell silent.
Presently , he cleared his throat. "Within a few decades, once we know for sure that the remaining Oppressors aren't going to return to cause whatever kind of minor trouble they could make with their diminished numbers, we'll free the citizens of Haverbrook, so that they can go wherever they like and begin to repopulate the world."
"That sounds wonderful. Maybe things will be like they were before The Event."
"Maybe, but hopefully a little better. Maybe the new world can be a more peaceful one, with fewer wars and killing. But only time will tell. And thousands of years will go by before the population reaches anything even remotely close to where it was before The Event. And most likely, tens of thousands of years." Victor paused and took a deep breath. "But we don't even need to think about any of this tonight. Tonight, we rest. Tomorrow, we enjoy a celebration. We celebrate the end of Cold Creek and a new chapter for everyone."