I argued with myself and didn’t even notice that you’d stopped until I nearly bumped into your broad back. Spooky hissed her discontent from inside my pack. Even though she hated being confined, I’d placed her in there in case we were attacked.
Your weapons were already drawn because we were approaching the mouth of the cave. Lucian unharnessed Mater, and you sent him ahead to scout the area. Mater wasn’t able to stand for long, so she rested on our pile of packs while you took inventory of our weapons. You offered a knife to Ashur, and he took it while glaring at you. After murdering Maxwell, you’d offered to break Ashur’s chains, but he only flexed his powerful arms and broke them himself. The shocked look on your face had given me some satisfaction.
Lucian returned a while later to give us his report. There were 30 to 40 Imperium soldiers camped outside the mine’s entrance with three soldiers keeping guard. Inside the mine, time was murky, but out there, it was night. Lucian couldn’t get too close without being spotted, but he didn’t think anyone had yet entered.
“We could coax them inside,” Lucian suggested. “Pick them off one by one.”
“I don’t think they’d fall for it,” you said. “They’re laying siege on us. They must suspect we have finite provisions and that we’ll weaken over time. Perhaps even turn on one another.”
“Unfortunate in its accuracy,” Lucian said fatally.
I saw your mind working behind your worried expression, trying to come up with the best possible strategy for escape. You always had an exit plan.
“They’ll likely have a Clamor with them,” you said, then explained to me that Clamors had the ability to quell our seductions by emitting a high-frequency scream. “They will be my first target. Once they’re neutralized, Lena and Lucian can begin mudra. Target their weapons.” You then turned to Ashur.
“You’ll stay in the mine with Vincent. Eliminate anyone who enters. Protect him with your life. And if you turn him over to the Imperium or try to make off with him, I will hunt you down and destroy you.”
You’d been predicting this outcome all along. I’d forced you into this impossible situation—made you my killer and then guilted you for it.
I startled when you gripped my upper arm. “Understand?” you asked with a concerned look. “You’re to hide inside here, no matter what.”
I nodded, not knowing what else to say.
“I love you,” you said with passion and pulled me close. I didn’t have the words to express what I was feeling. I was tangled up and twisted inside; I wanted to cry and panic and claw someone to death.
“When this is over, I’ll take you to my islands.”
It was the type of promise you’d made to me as a child, getting ice cream after a bad day at school or taking me on a trip to the zoo. I gazed up at your face, trying to memorize your features, wishing things hadn’t become so complicated between us. I nodded dumbly. You frowned but donned your battle face, drew your sword, and headed toward the gaping mouth of the mine.
I should have called you back, thrown my arms around you, and told you that I loved you.
I should have never let you go.
38
HENRI
The tactic wasn’t terribly sophisticated, but I needed to identify the Clamor as my first target without unduly endangering Lucian and Lena. He could perhaps hold his own in a fight, but she would undoubtedly be overwhelmed.
So, the three of us, each armed with a syringe or medicinal dart, stealthily approached the soldiers guarding the cave and stabbed them in their necks.
The Clamor’s cry went up like the shriek of a banshee, and I spotted her several paces away in the middle of their sparse encampment. The collar of her steel-riveted uniform appeared reinforced with protective metal, presumably to protect her larynx from injury. I could attempt a tranquilizing dart, but the exoskeleton of her body armor would likely repel it, and at this range, I was more accurate with my knives.
Except that her entire face was protected by a transparent shield.
I aimed a knife at the one place I knew the material of her armor was thin, just beneath the shoulder. I let my knife fly, and the blade met its target. She gasped and grabbed at the knife handle. As she was temporarily disabled, I advanced swiftly, and with Lucian and Lena keeping my immediate opponents at bay, was able to wedge my pugio under her chin and sever her vocal cord in a single vicious jab. The Clamor fell to her knees, now muted, her hands wrapped tightly around her throat and trying to stem the glut of blood.
I turned my attention to my nearest aggressor. A beastborn, massive in size and charging me with his gloved hands swinging like twin boulders. I bladed my stance and ducked when he lunged, sweeping my leg to trip him. I then drove my sword through his sternum. It took strength to penetrate the hard shell of his armor, but I was fueled by adrenaline, and the material was meant to block bullets, not blades.
Then it was a blur of blood and flesh. At any moment I expected to be cut down by a volley of bullets, as the Imperium had no such qualms about subduing us with firepower, and the remoteness of our location meant there’d be no witnesses. But Lucian and Lena were masters at mudra and orchestrated their movements like a choreographed ballet, forcing them to aim their weapons at each other.
Meanwhile, I charged whichever soldier was within reach, more often using my sword as a bludgeon to their helmeted heads. My pugio I reserved for when I could get close enough to penetrate beneath their armor. My fists were wet with viscera, and I had to strengthen my grip to keep my blades from slipping. The soldiers were like insects in appearance and multitude, and they just kept coming.
And all the while, my gaze kept sweeping back to the cave entrance where no one went in, and no one came out.
I cut down a soldier who’d been in possession of a flame thrower. Not one to miss an opportunity, I sheathed my blades, plucked it up, and razed a line of soldiers with fire. Their hands flew up erratically. A few ran blindly while others dropped to the ground in an attempt to smother the flames. I continued with my fiery assault, lighting up everything and everyone in sight.
And then, all of a sudden, they were retreating. Where would they be going without their weapons or their supplies? Beyond the flames, three black choppers were arranged in a triangle at the edge of their encampment.
