“It was last night,” he said. “When I was healing the injured. The crowd was… excited. The Colonel said that if you perform enough miracles, that was what would happen. I asked her what she meant and she said she was joking, but…”
Jenn turned suddenly and began to pace. Her vines squirmed agitatedly as she walked, shifting and assembling into different armor configurations.
“Jenn?” he asked. When she did not immediately reply, he sighed and dismissed Kathryn with a pat on the back. She scampered off without hesitation, heading straight for the nearest of the wall’s ramps.
“Maybe she was joking,” Jenn said, distractedly. “Or maybe not. How did she seem to you? Upset?”
“Only when people nearly trampled us,” Liam said, before he could help himself. He winced, but Jenn hardly seemed to notice. She continued to pace, though slower, and her vines ceased to move.
“I’m just thinking,” Jenn said, at last. “What if there’s another reason the militia wants to withdraw?”
Liam hesitated, frowning slightly. “Other than the Occs and the airship that burned half the city?”
“It’s just something that Tobias told me,” Jenn continued, ignoring his quip. “Remember how I said he distrusted the militia? How he knew they were working to overthrow him?”
“I remember,” he said quietly.
Something in his tone made Jenn pause. She stopped pacing, stepped close, and took his hand in hers.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I know we’ve… had our differences about that. But it doesn’t matter now. Tobias and the militia were each trying to undermine the other. Can we agree on that much?”
He nodded and Jenn continued.
“You were there when the militia raided one of the Mayor’s weapon depots. Do you know what they did with the weapons?”
Liam frowned, doing his best to recall the details. He’d been so full of anger and adrenaline at the time, it made it difficult to remember clearly, but the longer he tried, the more that came back to him.
“Woods told me a little,” he explained. “He said the militia wasn’t taking them. They were being handed out to people friendly to the militia.”
“To fight the Occs?” Jenn suggested, her expression turning grim. “The Mayor and his guards couldn’t be trusted to protect New Lewville, so the militia was going to make sure the people had a chance to protect themselves. Right?”
“What are you trying to say?”
“It’s funny,” Jenn said quietly. She glanced around, then stepped closer to prevent even her hushed voice from carrying. “Hundreds of guns get passed out. Thousands of rounds of ammunition. And yet when the Occs arrive, the only ones fighting them are the militia and the Mayor’s men.”
“We don’t know that for sure,” Liam protested, though his argument felt flimsy even before he’d voiced it. “We were at the Mayor’s Institute when it started. And nobody was expecting the airship. Maybe they were too scared to fight. Or maybe they did fight, but it was near one of the other gates. The Occs had the city surrounded, after all.”
“Or maybe,” Jenn added, her voice barely louder than a whisper. “Maybe the Colonel lied to you, Liam. Somebody has those guns now, but maybe the people who do were more interested in fighting the Mayor than they were in fighting the Occs.”
“Wuyong killed the Mayor. That wasn’t the militia.”
Jenn shrugged. “True. But what if he hadn’t? If Tobias was still alive, do you really think he’d just give up and let thousands of people walk right out of the city?”
“What does it matter now?”
“It matters,” Jenn snapped through gritted teeth. “Because if I’m right, then it means that the militia arranged all of this to make sure they wound up in charge! If the Occs were defeated, they would have hundreds of collaborators ready to overthrow the Mayor. And if the Occs won, they got to swoop in like heroes. The survivors can flee to Cincy, protected by the militia and armed with guns they stole from the Mayor who failed to protect them. It’s not the city itself that matters to them, it’s the people.”
“So?” Liam said. He folded his arms and stared at her. “Shouldn’t the people be more important?”
“Well, yes,” Jenn said. “But you’re missing the point. Sorry, I’m just—they don’t care about the people, not really. What matters is what they can do. What they can build, or farm, or produce. That’s why the Colonel was so worried they’d try to make you Mayor. That’s why they’ve decided to retreat, even though we rebuilt the wall in a day. She’s afraid that if you become Mayor, the militia won’t be able to control you. Or, if you decided to oppose them…”
“…they wouldn’t be able to kill me,” Liam concluded for her. “Like they were planning to do to Tobias.”
“It makes a certain kind of sense,” Jenn said. Her shoulders slumped as she sighed and flashed a small, almost embarrassed smile. “I didn’t think I’d be able to convince you.”
Liam certainly didn’t feel like smiling, but he tried anyway.
“I’m not sure I am,” he admitted. “But it’s definitely possible. At the very least, I want to know what happened to the guns. That’ll tell us more.”
The two of them fell silent as a group of men and women passed by, their faces downcast. Two or three in the group looked up as they neared, however, and their expressions brightened substantially. One of the men even offered Liam a friendly, if distinctly unpracticed, salute before continuing.
Liam watched them go, then felt a sudden twinge of paranoia and turned to look for Kathryn. He spotted her immediately, partly due to how her bright, relatively clean dress stood out against the browns and greys of the city. And, partly due to the fact that she’d just launched herself off the city wall. He lurched toward her, but had not even managed a full step before she landed gracefully atop a mound of dirt, cackled to herself, and sprinted back up the nearest ladder to repeat the maneuver.
“So, what do you want to do?” Jenn asked, drawing his gaze away from Kathryn’s antics. “I know I said that I almost wanted to stay, but—”
“I want to talk to Julie,” Liam announced. His decisiveness failed to convince Jenn, who stared blankly at him.
“Julie?” she repeated. “Why?”
“She knows Scott,” he said. “She knows—knew Andrew. And do you remember how she talked about the militia when we first met her? I bet she’ll know if this is the sort of thing they’d do.”
“We’ll have to be careful. Someone could overhear.”
“Or maybe she’s overheard something. Besides, if you’re right, it’s not like we can just ask the Colonel. Do you have a better idea?”
Jenn did not.
***
If Liam felt at all conflicted about walking through the front gate of the militia garrison, it was nothing compared to the emotions displayed on Nora’s face upon seeing him. The woman’s eyes were practically electrified, though her lips seemed unable to decide whether she was trying to smile or cry. She hurried towards him, obviously trying and failing not to run.
“Jenn!” she said quickly. “Liam! You’re back! I’ve been waiting for you!”
“Kathryn too,” Kathryn pointed out, wrinkling her nose.
Nora paused for a moment, glanced at Kathryn, and laughed. “That’s right, you’re here too,” she said. “Um, can I talk to you all?”
Liam shared a look with Jenn, but her expression remained more blank and empty than he could hope for.
“Sure,” he said. “We’re actually going to see Julie. Come with us?”
Nora froze, her eyes widening as she stared at him. She glanced over her shoulder toward the barracks. Though there was nothing in the reaction to suggest anything concrete, Nora’s obvious nervousness sent a chill down Liam’s spine. He pushed past her, moving swiftly toward the barracks.
“Wait!” Nora exclaimed, almost yelping the word. “Liam, it’s not—”
He broke into a run, kn
ocking past several militiamen who happened to be in his way and drawing complaints and curses from each. From the corner of his eye, Liam could see Jenn and Kathryn keeping pace with him. And then, as he neared the barracks, the two of them pulled ahead. Jenn launched herself forward with her vines and landed catlike on the roof. Not to be outdone, Kathryn drew her knife and slid into position alongside the door. The pair of them waited, bodies tense and ready, as Liam pressed an ear to the door.
“Liam, wait! Don’t go in—”
He barely heard her. All his attention was on the barracks door and the room beyond. He gestured violently for silence, and astonishingly, Nora complied.
The sounds were muffled by the door, but were loud enough for Liam to just make them out. He heard a growl. And then, a quieter sound like a strangled sob.
Lowering his shoulder, Liam charged the door. It yielded easier than expected and he stumbled through the doorway, Jenn and Kathryn swarming in after him. Unfortunately, their presence made an already uncomfortable situation all the worse.
Scott and Julie stared at him in shock from their shared bunk, the latter turning scarlet and yanking the blanket up to cover them both. Scott, on the other hand, seemed a tad less disturbed by the intrusion. He shifted beneath the blanket, flopped onto his side, and grinned.
“Well, look who it is,” Scott said. “Good to see you, Liam.”
“Scott,” Liam said, practically choking on his words. “You’re—”
“—a bit busy at the moment,” Scott teased. Leaning down, he kissed Julie’s brow, though his eyes did not leave Liam’s as he did. “Whatever you needed, can it wait ten minutes?”
Julie scowled and glanced at her lover. “Ten?”
Scott laughed. “Twenty, then?” he asked, experimentally. When Julie did not object, he grinned and raised an expectant eyebrow in Liam’s direction.
Liam couldn’t bring himself to speak. He was too overwhelmed, both by the awkwardness of his intrusion and the discovery that Scott was not only alive, but here. He fled the room, faster than he’d ever done before, and slowed only to usher Kathryn from the spot where she paused.
If Liam was a bit slow in closing the door and if he happened to hear Julie’s delighted giggle as her lover surprised her in some way, he was not about to let it stop him. Nor did it stop the smile that began to creep into his features as he shut the door behind him.
***
In the end, Liam was kept waiting just over half an hour. He sat against the wall of the barracks, grinning to himself and doing his best to keep from thinking about what was going on inside. But, even when his thoughts strayed in that unwelcome direction, he couldn’t quite bring himself to resent it. That Scott and Julie had a chance to make up for lost time was unquestionably a good thing. After all, he’d indulged himself in such a fashion not even an hour ago.
It did, however, leave him less tolerant of distraction than he would have been otherwise. After only a few minutes of waiting, he dismissed Jenn and Kathryn. The last he’d seen of the pair, they’d been helping Nora look after the children in the courtyard. Even when they passed out of view, their absence did not worry him. They could take care of themselves.
Liam was so lost in thoughts that the opening of the door caught him off guard. He glanced up to find Scott grinning down at him and quickly rose.
“Hey,” Scott said. “No need to—”
The rest of his words were lost as Liam pulled him into a fierce embrace. Scott chuckled at the suddenness of the gesture, then stilled and returned it just as strongly.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” Liam said.
“Me too,” Scott said. “And the same to you. When I saw the airship, I thought… well, we got here as soon as we could.”
“How did you?” Liam asked. “I thought the Occs held the bridge.”
“They did,” Scott confirmed. He glanced around, then gave a small jerk of his head and led Liam on a slow, meandering walk through the maze of militia buildings. “Originally, I planned on finding a different place to cross. Or maybe waiting for another crew of Runners to pass by. But when we spotted the airship, I decided that we couldn’t wait any longer. We were lucky. Most of the Occs had moved on to surround the city. There were only a couple dozen guarding it by the time we hit them.”
“A couple dozen?” Liam asked, brows rising. “How is that lucky?”
“Better than a couple hundred,” Scott said. He laughed at Liam’s expression and poked him playfully in the shoulder. “Don’t give me that. I may not heal quite as fast as you, but I still know a thing or two about soldiering.”
“So… that’s it?” Liam said. He was uncertain whether or not he should be grinning but did it anyway. “You just crossed the bridge and found us here?”
“That’s what I told Julie. Although, between us, it wasn’t quite as easy as I made it sound. But what about you? From what Julie told me, it sounds like you had quite the time of it yourself.”
Liam’s grin vanished as quickly as it had come. He glanced around, searching without luck for a glimpse of Jenn. Folding his arms, he ducked into the shadow of a building and chose his next words carefully.
“I did,” he said. “How much do you know about the militia?”
Scott cocked his head, brow furrowing.
“A bit,” he said slowly. “I’ve only been a part of it for a decade. Why?”
Liam swallowed hard.
“We need to talk,” he said.
To Be Continued
Thank you!
Thank you so much for reading Feral Empires: Fanning Flames! It’s only thanks to the support and encouragement of fans like you that I’m able to write books like this. If you enjoyed the story, would you consider leaving a review? Your feedback helps ensure other readers discover my books, helps me improve as an author, and allows me to write novels that people love to read.
Liam and company will return in Book Three of Feral Empires.
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Stephen L. Hadley is a former banker from the American Midwest, where he now pursues his dream of being a full-time author. He also holds a B.S. in Communications, the irony of which is not lost on him.
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