The Mir Chronicles- The Complete Series

by Leisa Wallace

  Birdee shook her head as she studied the pages in the book. "My father was goin' ta provide support ta the resistance," she said. "I had no idea. Is there a reason tha' they didn'?" Birdee asked.

  "No, that's what I was just trying to figure out," Lena said. "It looks like after your father died, he started communicating with someone named Wren. But the records I have never give an answer for why they never came. If they had said they'd help, why didn't they? They could have changed the outcome of the war.”

  Birdee turned the page she was reading. "My father made this promise before he was killed," Birdee said. "My people still should have kept his promise. They should have joined. When we promise somethin' we keep it. Especially if it's the leader who promises it. Our word is our bond." Birdee looked back at the binder. "Is this all the communications from my people?" she asked.

  Lena looked at the shelves. "I think so," she said, scanning the rows.

  "Would ya mind callin' Tern. I need him ta see this. He might know more than I do about what happened."

  "I'm here, Birdee," Tern said stepping from the shadow of the doorway.

  "You spyin' on us?" Birdee teased.

  "Maybe," Tern said with a wink.

  "Well then, I guess ya listened. I don't need ta catch ya up on the details," Birdee said.

  "I heard enough," Tern answered.

  "Our people said they'd help, Tern," Birdee said. "Yer pa is on the village council. Did ya ever hear him talkin' 'bout helpin' the resistance?"

  "I didn' hear anythin' like that. But ya know things haven' been the same since yer papa died," Tern said. "You've been a victim of tha' more than anyone."

  "But, this ain't right," Birdee said.

  "A lot of things ain't righ' anymore," Tern said. "You can change it, Birdee. But yer gonna have ta go back."

  Birdee's countenance darkened as she shook her head. "We've talked about this, Tern. Ya know I can't," she said.

  "We've talked 'bout it and I still don't agree with ya," Tern said.

  "What did you talk about?" Lena said.

  Tern gave Birdee a stern look. "Ya gotta tell her, Birdee, or I will."

  When Birdee didn't respond, Tern started. "Birdee was the next in line ta lead our people. When her father died, the council of the woods stepped in until Birdee would come of age."

  "Are you telling me Birdee is the ruler of your people?" Lena asked in shock.

  Birdee shook her head and scowled. "I'm not leader of anythin'. My people don' want me ta be a part of them no more.”

  Tern continued. "She would have been, but before she came of age, the Defenses came ta our village. They rounded up anyone that seemed about the right age ta join the Defenses, and said we had ta go with them."

  "These were the same soldiers who had killed my mother and my father fer treason against the Priestess," Birdee said. "I recognized them. It wasn' a surprise the people didn't want ta go with them."

  "When we refused ta join, they threw bombs in our homes and started beatin' us," Tern said. "But we couldn' in good conscious join somethin' we were so opposed ta. It was against everything we believed. We had always been taught that it would be better ta die than join the Priestess' cause."

  "That's what we had been taught, but it was wrong," Birdee said. "I wasn't going ta let more people die fer an ideal. Not when I could save them."

  "Another on of those things we talked about but never agreed on," Tern said. "But she did it anyway. She made a deal with the Defenses. She'd give herself, future leader of her people, in exchange for the rest of us. The Defenses agreed and Birdee left with them."

  "And was banned from ever returning?" Lena questioned.

  "When Birdee joined the Priestess, she revoked our way of life and had ta be banned from the community," Tern said. "That's always been the law."

  "That not right," Lena said in frustration."You can't punish someone for saving others."

  "That's our law," Birdee said. "Once ya choose ta live outside our community, ya can't come back. I knew wha' would happen when I joined," she said. "I still did the right thing."

  "Law or not, that's still not right," Lena said.

  "I agree," Tern said. "In fact, there were many who agreed. There is still debate amongst our people. It has divided us."

  "I didn' know people were still debatin'," Birdee said surprised.

  "Of course they're still debatin'. Ya think I'm the only one who loves ya and wants ya back?"

  Birdee blushed and looked a bit taken back as Tern continued. "One side says Birdee saved all of us by joining the Priestess' Defense. We want her ta be granted leniency. But, Wren and her flock say that Birdee's actions would only cause more harm ta the people. Unfortunately, the council has been dead locked on the issue. So the ban still stands. But if we could get enough people..."

  "Tern, that's enough." Birdee said, cutting him off. There were tears in her eyes as she pushed herself to stand. "I don't want ta be the one to divide our people. The ban stands. Ya gotta stop fightin' it."

  Tern looked like he wanted to argue more, but looking at Birdee's tear stained cheeks, he stopped.

  "I'm not feelin' well. Can ya take me back?" Birdee said.

  Tern nodded. Standing, he gently wrapped an arm around Birdee's waist and led her away.

  Lena looked back at the binders then at the screen that hovered on the wall. She grabbed a piece of paper and wrote on it, then threw the words on the screen.

  "Help Birdee get back home."

  ***

  Lena wanted to hit something. She was still no closer to finding more people to recruit or helping Birdee get home than she had been hours before her conversation with Birdee.

  Standing, she took a deep breath. The room seemed to be closing in on her. She needed a break to clear her mind. Walking from the room, she stopped at the main tunnel. One direction would take her to Everleigh, the other back to the main cavern. She took a step towards Everleigh wanting to feel the sunshine on her face and the cool water of the lake on her toes. She stopped. Everleigh didn't need her right now. Gideon did. Going to Everleigh would bring her no closer to stopping the Priestess. Turning in the other direction, she walked to the workroom.

  Evren stood at the center worktable, slowly piecing together the nullifier device. He'd made significant strides since she'd last seen it.

  "How is this going?" she asked.

  "I'm at the point I'm recreating certain parts," he said pointing to the blueprints hovering above the worktable. "It has taken a little bit of time to find the materials I need, but Dorry's instructions are pretty clear. If you want to help, you can piece this one together." He gestured to a small pile of parts sitting on the table. "There are all the parts, just follow the instructions on the blueprints."

  "Yes, I'd love to do something to get my mind off of recruiting more people." She looked at the plans and started assembling the tiny pieces.

  She easily fell into repair mode. She'd spent so much time at the training facility doing this exact thing, she found it familiar and calming.

  She worked for about twenty minutes before she started noticing a small clicking sound. It was the same cadence over and over. And it got more and more annoying the longer she listened.

  Finally, she put down the pieces she was working on and looked at Evren. "Where's that sound coming from? I'm having a hard time concentrating."

  Evren looked up from what he was doing with a confused look. "What sound?"

  "Listen," Lena said.

  Evren turned his head to listen. "Not coming from me," he said. He twisted his body to look around the room.

  Lena stood and searched the room, her ears straining to find where the sound was coming from. "It's annoying," Lena said. "Is it one of your machines?"

  "No," Evren said.

  "If you're not doing it, where is it coming from?"

  "Well, I certainly would tell you if I knew, wouldn't I?" Evren responded with an edge of agitation. He ran his hands through his hair. "Now
that you've pointed it out, I can't stop hearing that infernal clicking.”

  Lena walked the edge of the room, her ears straining as she followed the noise. The clicking got louder as she got closer to a table scattered with tools at the edge of the room. Moving the junk aside she found a Defense com device. She picked it up and held it to her ear. "Here," she said throwing it to Evren.

  Evren held it to his ear. "It must be glitching," he said as he turned it off. "Now we can work in peace."

  "Thank the stars," Lena said going back to her project. "Do you know what would cause the glitch?" she asked.

  "Probably just a misfiring radio signal," Evren answered. "Do you want me to stop fixing this device so I can look into it? Or do you want me to finish this? Because with you and the others asking me to help you with every little thing, I don't think I'll ever get the nulli rebuilt." He ran a hand through his messy hair and loudly exhaled.

  Lena just looked at him. He looked worn thin. There were dark circles under his eyes, and Lena could feel the stress radiating from him. "I'm sorry, Evren,"

  He stopped and looked up as if shocked by her words.

  "I should have been more observant," she said. "You have done so much to help me. I truly am grateful for you."

  Evren's shoulders seemed to relax and his lips turned up slightly as he looked back down at the pieces he was putting together. "Thank you," he said.

  The tension faded immediately. Lena smiled and together they fell into a comfortable silence as they worked on the nullifier.

  Chapter Twelve

  Lena was still sitting at Evren's worktable when she heard his voice over the intercom.

  "Hey guys, I have a list of potential people ready whenever you'd like to see it," Evren said.

  She looked up at him a few feet away from her. "You've been working on the nullifier," she said. "When did you put a list together?"

  He raised his eyebrows. "Lena, I wrote a computer program that's been running in the background this entire time. It just notified me that the list was ready."

  Lena felt heat rush up her neck. "Of course, I just thought... I don't know what I thought," she said. She went back to screwing a piece together while she waited for the others to arrive.

  Suki came first, followed closely by Tarek and Lucius then Tern and Birdee. The others crowded into the workroom behind them.

  Birdee's eyes were puffy. It looked like she'd been crying. But when Lena nodded at her, Birdee smiled back and leaned her head into Tern's shoulder.

  Lucius, who was standing closest to them, grumbled under his breath and moved as far from them as he could.

  "If you don't want to be here, go," Lena said giving Lucius a hard stare.

  "Oh, didn't General Carina inform you? I have been assigned as liaison between the Cimmerians and...all of you," Lucius said with an arrogant smile. "I'd just like to do it without having to watch that all the time." He jerked his head in Birdee and Tern's direction.

  "It's better than hearing your rotten attitude all the time," Suki said. "At least with them you know they care about something more than themselves."

  Suki and Lucius locked stubborn stares which neither was going to be the first to break.

  Lena turned away and looked at the list Evren had compiled. "There aren't enough people," Lena said after studying the list. "There are barely four thousand people on this list and that includes the Cimmerians."

  "The Cimmerians don't count," Lucius said not breaking his stare. "Just so you know when doing your calculations."

  "We have another problem," Suki said still glaring at Lucius. "I've been talking to Bates who's back in Arc. The Zoons are worried the people on this list will be reluctant to gather here in the caves. They are afraid that Selene will find us and attack. Wipe us all out with one well placed bomb."

  Myri stepped between the staring contest. "We need to be finding a solution not creating more problems," she said with a pointed stare at Lucius and Suki.

  Lena bit her lower lip. The Zoon's concern was real. Of course they would be afraid to gather. The Zoons were some of the children who had been most affected by the terror of the Priestess. Most of them still bore some kind of scar. They knew first hand what the punishment was for going against Selene.

  "What if the answer is not getting them to gather here," Tarek said cutting off Lena's thoughts.

  "What do you mean?" Suki said.

  "Instead of getting the people to come here. We can get the people to act from their own cities and towns," Tarek said. "Their are so many reasons it would work better that way."

  Tern nodded his head, "That migh' work," he said. "Plus, the people will be fighting fer their homes. There's power in tha'."

  "How would that work logistically?" Lena asked.

  "We set up leaders in each community. Zoon operatives teamed with a leader of the Cimmerians," Tarek said looking at Lucius. "We surround Selene. Then, when we do attack, Selene won't know where to focus her Defenses."

  "That still doesn't solve your problem of her finding them in their towns and killing them all. Selene has spies everywhere," Lucius said. "You have no way to protect them like we'd be able to do if they gathered here in the caves."

  "What if we don't let Selene find out we are gathering people to go against her," Suki said. "We could intercept her communications and monitor what information she receives and doesn't receive."

  "Can you do that?" Dessa asked.

  "I can't," Suki said. "But Lena can."

  Everyone turned to stare at Lena whose anxiety had suddenly spiked. She swallowed and took a deep breath thinking of what breaking into Selene's communications would entail. "I can get into her system," Lena said. "But, in order to control the communications in every town, I'd have to break in from her main communications center. In Ebon.”

  "Breakin' into the Priestess' fortress isn't gonna be easy," Birdee said. "The fortress is surrounded with soldiers who aren't afraid ta hurt ya if they have ta." She shuddered, then closed her eyes.

  "But if that's the only way to end the terror, then that's where we need to focus our efforts," Remiah said.

  Lena looked at Birdee's splinted knee then quickly away. She couldn't let herself dwell on what could happen. "Okay. Then I won't get caught," Lena said fixing her eyes away from Birdee and trying to control the nervousness in her voice.

  "Good," Lucius said with an uncaring tone. "Lena will break into the Priestess' fortress and we'll have a way to control the Priestess' communications."

  "Don't act like this will be easy," Suki said. "You know she might..."

  "She does crazy things all the time," Lucius said cutting off whatever Suki was going to say. "This won't be any different. What I'm wondering now is how you're going to fix your problem of not enough people."

  "We'd have enough people if our people joined," Tern said turning to Birdee and Lena. "We can call on them ta fulfill the promise of yer fathers. They'd have ta come."

  Birdee pulled away and glared at him. "We're not havin' this discussion again.”

  "Yer the only one who can do it, Birdee," Tern said with gentle determination "You and Lena tha' is. You are the children of those who made the contract. Our people are bound by yer fathers contract ta help. The responsibility passes ta both of ya to call on our people ta join."

  Birdee sighed. "I don' wanna go over this again, Tern. I lost all my rights and responsibilities when I joined the Priestess. They will say I have no right to fulfill my father's contract."

  "You would if you two get married," Suki said offhandedly.

  "What?" Birdee and Tern said at the same time.

  "If you marry Tern, you'll be a part of your community again. Well, I guess you can marry anyone from the woods, but Tern is the obvious choice," Suki said. "All rights and responsibilities will be restored."

  "That can't be right," Lena said.

  "You want to argue it with me?" Suki said. "I know my loopholes."

  "She's right," Evren said, without ex
plaining further.

  "Well, we can't just ask them to get married for our own agenda," Lena said.

  "You do everything else for your agenda. Why not add marriage to the list?" Lucius said.

  "I do not. And, marriage is sacred. You don't go into it like this," Lena argued back.

  "Ha," Lucius said. "Marriage is merely a union to elevate your position.”

  "Still, it would work," Suki said. "And when the people of the woods join, we'll have enough to go against Selene. We'd be able to attack before the treaty is signed."

  Lena turned to Tern and Birdee who'd been awfully quiet since Suki's sudden comment.

  Birdee and Tern stared into each others eyes like no one else was in the room with them. Silence filled the room as everyone turned to watch them.

  "I've wanted ta marry ya fer as long as I remember," Tern whispered to Birdee. "Today. Tomorrow. Years from now. It doesn't matter to me."

  Birdee smiled. Tears were rolling freely down her cheeks but she didn't wipe them. "You are my everythin'. My hero, my forever love. It doesn' matter when. Only that it happens. With everythin' goin' on we may not have a tomorrow. Marry me, Tern," Birdee said. "Marry me and take me home."

  ***

  The workroom exploded in cheers. Everyone was talking at once.

  Myri wiped the tears from her own eyes as Druinn wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her in closer.

  Dessa and Remiah were grinning from ear to ear.

  Lucius rolled his eyes. "Back to the task at hand. Lena and Birdee will call on the promise of their fathers to help in the fight. But, what are we going to do about recruiting those not from the woods?"

  Lena looked at Lucius and Suki. "It's going to be your job to take the list Evren has compiled and, with the help of both the Zoons and Cimmerians, contact them. Figure out who will rise and take a stand against Selene. We are the new revolution," Lena said.

  "We are the Rise," Suki added with a grin.

  Lena looked at her sideways. "The Rise?"

  "Every revolution needs a name," Suki said increasing her smile. "And this is ours."

  Birdee hooted. "Sounds like a good name ta me," she said.

  Lena couldn't help but smile. "The Rise it is.”