War Storm
Page 34
Davidson frowns, eyes shifting. “Not yet.”
“Or they didn’t plan to attack at all. They wanted to draw us out of the city,” Farley says. “Catch us on the cliffs. You said yourself, they fight for their pride. And the city is too well defended. This is a hell of way to get valuable targets out in the open.”
The premier steps to her, his face grim and stern. Then he puts a hand on her shoulder, squeezing a little. A friendly if apologetic gesture. “I won’t leave my people out there alone because we might be in danger. I can’t do that, General Farley. I know you understand my position,” he sighs.
I expect more of a fight from Farley, but she drops her chin, almost nodding. She chews her lip and says nothing more.
Satisfied, Davidson looks over his shoulder. “Captain Highcloud, Captain Viya,” he calls. Two officers in their black suits step forward, ready for their orders. “Take your units down. Hard march, all speed. Rendezvous at Goldengrove.”
They salute in response, turning to gather their soldiers. As the two units group near the head of the line, Tiberias winces. He hastens to the premier, clasping his arm. Not to threaten him, but to beg.
I know what fear looks like on Tiberias Calore, and I see it in him now.
“Leave the gravitrons, at least,” he pleads. “In case they decide to blow us all off the mountain . . .”
After a brief moment of reflection, Davidson clicks his teeth. “Fine,” he says. “And Your Highness, if you wouldn’t mind,” he adds, turning to face Evangeline, “those transports aren’t going to climb over this mess without help. Use the gravitrons too. They’ll make quick work for you.”
She eyes him with steel annoyance, unaccustomed to taking orders from anyone but her father. Still, she sighs and trots off to do as he wills.
“What about me?” I ask, planting myself between Tiberias and Davidson. Both of them jolt, forgetting I was even here to begin with.
“Stay vigilant” is all Davidson offers, shrugging. “Unless you can lift a transport off the ground, there’s not much any of us can do right now.”
Helpful, I growl in my head. But the frustration is with myself. My ability is meant to destroy. It has no purpose right now. I’m useless, for the moment.
So is Tiberias.
He watches Davidson stalk off, his communications officer in tow, leaving us standing alone, our backs to the wrecked hulk of my transport. Adrenaline and electricity still course through me. I have to lean against the metal, my fingers knotted together to keep from twitching.
“I don’t like this,” Tiberias mutters.
I scoff, scuffing my new boots on the road. “Stuck on a cliff, half of the soldiers gone, transports ruined, raider attack imminent, and I didn’t get to finish my dinner. What’s not to like?”
In spite of our circumstances, he grins, his smile crooked and familiar. I cross my arms, hoping he can’t see me flush in the dim light. He stares at me, his eyes an intent, burning bronze as they trace my face. Slowly, his lips fall and the smile fades as he remembers our decisions. Our choices. But his stare remains, and I feel fire rise inside me. Rage and want and regret in equal measure.
“Don’t look at me like that, Tiberias.”
“Don’t call me Tiberias,” he shoots back, dropping his gaze.
I laugh bitterly. “It’s the name you chose.”
To that he has no response, and we lapse into uneasy silence. The occasional shout or metallic groan echoes across the mountainside, the only sound in the empty darkness.
On the zagging road above us, Evangeline, her cousins, and the gravitrons slowly leapfrog the all-terrain vehicles, moving the wrecks behind the transports that can still function. Davidson must have told her to preserve all the wrecks she could, or else she could just crush them all to dust and let the rest roll through.
“I’m sorry about before, in the armory,” he says after a long moment. He keeps his eyes on the ground, head bowed in shadow. But not enough to hide the cold flush across his cheeks. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“I don’t care what you said. I care about the intention behind it,” I tell him, shaking my head. “I don’t belong to you.”
“I think anyone with eyes can see that.”
“Can you?” I ask sharply.
He exhales slowly, as if gathering himself for a fight. Instead he turns his head to look down at me. The glowing lights of the Hawkway cast jagged shadows across his face, emphasizing his cheekbones. It makes him look old and tired, a king for years instead of days. “Yes, Mare,” he finally says, his voice a low rumble. “But remember it wasn’t just me.”
I blink. “What?”
“You chose something over me too,” he sighs. “Many things.”
The Scarlet Guard. The Red dawn. The hope of a better future for the people I love. I bite my lip, chewing my own flesh. I have nothing to deny. Tiberias isn’t wrong.
“If you two are done,” Tyton says loudly, leaning down from his vantage point on the transport, “I think you’d both be interested to know there are people in the trees.”
I suck in a breath, tensing up. Tiberias puts out a hand quickly, touching my arm in light warning. “Don’t startle,” he says. “I’m guessing they have us targeted.”
Metal groans, and I jump beneath Tiberias’s fingers. His grip tightens. But it’s just the transports being moved.
“How many?” I ask through gritted teeth, trying my best to mask my fear.
Tyton looks down at me, eyes bright. His white hair gleams in the artificial light illuminating the Hawkway. “Four, two on each side. At a good distance, but I can just feel their brains.” Next to me, Tiberias frowns, the corners of his lips curving downward in distaste. “Fifty yards, maybe.”
I look past Tiberias, and he looks past me, both of us searching the shadowed pines as furtively as we can. I can’t see anything beyond our circle of light. Not the gleam of eyes or the flash of steel down a gun barrel. Nothing.
I can’t feel them either. My ability is nowhere near as strong or as focused as Tyton’s.
Farley catches my eye and approaches with a hand on her hip, the other still clutching her pistol. “You three look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she says, sweeping her gaze back and forth. “Snipers in the trees?” she offers, as if she’s asking about the weather.
“Did you see them?” Tyton breathes.
“No.” She shakes her head. “But it’s what I’d do.”
“You can drop them, right?” I ask, nudging Tyton’s boot. I remember the electricons taught me about his ability. Brain lightning. Tyton can affect the electricity in a person’s body, the tiny sparks inside our brains. He can kill without anyone knowing. Without any trace.
He frowns and furrows his dark brows, a sharp contrast to his dyed hair. “I might be able to, from this distance. But only one at a time,” he says. “And only if they are raiders.”
Tiberias scowls. “Who else would they be up here?”
“I don’t enjoy killing people without cause, Calore,” Tyton replies. “And I’ve lived on these mountains my entire life.”
“So you’ll wait for them to shoot us?” The prince shifts slightly, squaring his shoulders so that I’m sheltered on one side.
Tyton doesn’t budge. As he speaks, a breeze plays up, carrying with it the strong, sharply sweet scent of pine. “I’ll wait for your magnetron princess to tell me if they’re holding sniper rifles or not.”
“Or they didn’t plan to attack at all. They wanted to draw us out of the city,” Farley says. “Catch us on the cliffs. You said yourself, they fight for their pride. And the city is too well defended. This is a hell of way to get valuable targets out in the open.”
The premier steps to her, his face grim and stern. Then he puts a hand on her shoulder, squeezing a little. A friendly if apologetic gesture. “I won’t leave my people out there alone because we might be in danger. I can’t do that, General Farley. I know you understand my position,” he sighs.
I expect more of a fight from Farley, but she drops her chin, almost nodding. She chews her lip and says nothing more.
Satisfied, Davidson looks over his shoulder. “Captain Highcloud, Captain Viya,” he calls. Two officers in their black suits step forward, ready for their orders. “Take your units down. Hard march, all speed. Rendezvous at Goldengrove.”
They salute in response, turning to gather their soldiers. As the two units group near the head of the line, Tiberias winces. He hastens to the premier, clasping his arm. Not to threaten him, but to beg.
I know what fear looks like on Tiberias Calore, and I see it in him now.
“Leave the gravitrons, at least,” he pleads. “In case they decide to blow us all off the mountain . . .”
After a brief moment of reflection, Davidson clicks his teeth. “Fine,” he says. “And Your Highness, if you wouldn’t mind,” he adds, turning to face Evangeline, “those transports aren’t going to climb over this mess without help. Use the gravitrons too. They’ll make quick work for you.”
She eyes him with steel annoyance, unaccustomed to taking orders from anyone but her father. Still, she sighs and trots off to do as he wills.
“What about me?” I ask, planting myself between Tiberias and Davidson. Both of them jolt, forgetting I was even here to begin with.
“Stay vigilant” is all Davidson offers, shrugging. “Unless you can lift a transport off the ground, there’s not much any of us can do right now.”
Helpful, I growl in my head. But the frustration is with myself. My ability is meant to destroy. It has no purpose right now. I’m useless, for the moment.
So is Tiberias.
He watches Davidson stalk off, his communications officer in tow, leaving us standing alone, our backs to the wrecked hulk of my transport. Adrenaline and electricity still course through me. I have to lean against the metal, my fingers knotted together to keep from twitching.
“I don’t like this,” Tiberias mutters.
I scoff, scuffing my new boots on the road. “Stuck on a cliff, half of the soldiers gone, transports ruined, raider attack imminent, and I didn’t get to finish my dinner. What’s not to like?”
In spite of our circumstances, he grins, his smile crooked and familiar. I cross my arms, hoping he can’t see me flush in the dim light. He stares at me, his eyes an intent, burning bronze as they trace my face. Slowly, his lips fall and the smile fades as he remembers our decisions. Our choices. But his stare remains, and I feel fire rise inside me. Rage and want and regret in equal measure.
“Don’t look at me like that, Tiberias.”
“Don’t call me Tiberias,” he shoots back, dropping his gaze.
I laugh bitterly. “It’s the name you chose.”
To that he has no response, and we lapse into uneasy silence. The occasional shout or metallic groan echoes across the mountainside, the only sound in the empty darkness.
On the zagging road above us, Evangeline, her cousins, and the gravitrons slowly leapfrog the all-terrain vehicles, moving the wrecks behind the transports that can still function. Davidson must have told her to preserve all the wrecks she could, or else she could just crush them all to dust and let the rest roll through.
“I’m sorry about before, in the armory,” he says after a long moment. He keeps his eyes on the ground, head bowed in shadow. But not enough to hide the cold flush across his cheeks. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“I don’t care what you said. I care about the intention behind it,” I tell him, shaking my head. “I don’t belong to you.”
“I think anyone with eyes can see that.”
“Can you?” I ask sharply.
He exhales slowly, as if gathering himself for a fight. Instead he turns his head to look down at me. The glowing lights of the Hawkway cast jagged shadows across his face, emphasizing his cheekbones. It makes him look old and tired, a king for years instead of days. “Yes, Mare,” he finally says, his voice a low rumble. “But remember it wasn’t just me.”
I blink. “What?”
“You chose something over me too,” he sighs. “Many things.”
The Scarlet Guard. The Red dawn. The hope of a better future for the people I love. I bite my lip, chewing my own flesh. I have nothing to deny. Tiberias isn’t wrong.
“If you two are done,” Tyton says loudly, leaning down from his vantage point on the transport, “I think you’d both be interested to know there are people in the trees.”
I suck in a breath, tensing up. Tiberias puts out a hand quickly, touching my arm in light warning. “Don’t startle,” he says. “I’m guessing they have us targeted.”
Metal groans, and I jump beneath Tiberias’s fingers. His grip tightens. But it’s just the transports being moved.
“How many?” I ask through gritted teeth, trying my best to mask my fear.
Tyton looks down at me, eyes bright. His white hair gleams in the artificial light illuminating the Hawkway. “Four, two on each side. At a good distance, but I can just feel their brains.” Next to me, Tiberias frowns, the corners of his lips curving downward in distaste. “Fifty yards, maybe.”
I look past Tiberias, and he looks past me, both of us searching the shadowed pines as furtively as we can. I can’t see anything beyond our circle of light. Not the gleam of eyes or the flash of steel down a gun barrel. Nothing.
I can’t feel them either. My ability is nowhere near as strong or as focused as Tyton’s.
Farley catches my eye and approaches with a hand on her hip, the other still clutching her pistol. “You three look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she says, sweeping her gaze back and forth. “Snipers in the trees?” she offers, as if she’s asking about the weather.
“Did you see them?” Tyton breathes.
“No.” She shakes her head. “But it’s what I’d do.”
“You can drop them, right?” I ask, nudging Tyton’s boot. I remember the electricons taught me about his ability. Brain lightning. Tyton can affect the electricity in a person’s body, the tiny sparks inside our brains. He can kill without anyone knowing. Without any trace.
He frowns and furrows his dark brows, a sharp contrast to his dyed hair. “I might be able to, from this distance. But only one at a time,” he says. “And only if they are raiders.”
Tiberias scowls. “Who else would they be up here?”
“I don’t enjoy killing people without cause, Calore,” Tyton replies. “And I’ve lived on these mountains my entire life.”
“So you’ll wait for them to shoot us?” The prince shifts slightly, squaring his shoulders so that I’m sheltered on one side.
Tyton doesn’t budge. As he speaks, a breeze plays up, carrying with it the strong, sharply sweet scent of pine. “I’ll wait for your magnetron princess to tell me if they’re holding sniper rifles or not.”
