CARNAL, The Beast Who Loved Me (24 page)

The mayor assured them that it was in the best interest of everyone concerned to be open and forthcoming with Free and his people. Once the initial shock wore off, Free found that most of the humans had pride in their accomplishments and were pleased to share. Free asked every single teacher, one by one, if they would have a problem with teaching Exiled. There were a few who replied honestly that it would be a rather abrupt shift of gears and that it might take time to get used to the idea. Others seemed open to sharing their knowledge across a broader, more diverse range of students. The only thing they were interested in was whether or not prospective students
wanted
to learn.

The mayor showed them the library where all the science and technology books that had been spared were gathered for safekeeping and hidden so that they’d be unlikely to be found by the Rautt. They were then shown the underground facilities of another building where the labs were housed.

“We spread the facilities out according to purpose, thinking that if one thing was discovered, others might remain hidden,” Comstock said.

There were inherent problems with underground facilities in a society without electricity, namely it was cold and dark, which meant working by oil lamps. That in itself, was dangerous in the labs where they were working with various forms of explosives.

After the head chemist got over the surprise of having hybrids tour his facilities, he seemed almost eager for the opportunity to show off their progress and accomplishments.

“First, we had to figure out how to make black powder. We had the recipe. You use sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate. That’s saltpeter.” He shrugged. “It works without the sulfur, but it’s hard to detonate.”

Free looked at Serene, at Carnal, at Rosie, then shook his head. The chemist walked on and they followed. “After that we tried to find a way to make red brass without electricity. That’s gunmetal. That was a success, but one of my people came up with a modified version using mostly copper with about ten percent tin and traces of lead and zinc. Eventually that led us to steel and we decided the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

“The Rautt destroyed our power sources, but left all the scrap metal just lying around waiting to be repurposed. Steel is plentiful and there’s no need for smelting with iron and coal. All we had to do was construct an oxygen furnace for a foundry and disguise it as a trash dump.” He smiled. “It’s on the southern outskirts. We burn rubber because the smell is so awful we knew it would be a deterrent to Rautt investigation.”

He ended that sentence with a humorless laugh.

“We make the parts of firearms and assemble guns by hand in another facility, also on the outskirts, but far enough away from the foundry to deter suspicion.”

“I want to see this place,” Free said to the mayor.

Comstock hesitated. “Like I said, it’s too far to walk.”

“You will ride with Joy and point out where to go.”

They walked back to City Hall, mounted the bikes, and turned toward the sea of farmland beyond Farsuitwail to the south. The city stood like a crumbling citadel on the edge of plowed fields, orchards, vineyards, and lands used for grazing livestock. The land to the north of Farsuitwail was a vast wasteland with the Rautt stronghold beyond that. No one had ever gotten close enough to see where the Rautt lived, but there were stories, rumors about grisly spectacles of public torture of those who had been unfortunate enough to be captured alive.

Since their arrival, the Exiled had lived in their settlement in the foothills west of Farsuitwail, which gave them a lookout vantage point over both the city and wasteland. Between the superiority of hybrid distance vision and the fact that it was impossible to cross the wasteland without raising a cloud of dust that was as good as an alarm system, sneak attacks by Rautt were impossible. Exiled didn’t always survive battles unscathed, but at least they had enough warning to prepare.

Fifteen minutes after speeding away from City Hall, they were dismounting the bikes in front of an innocuous-looking building that gave the appearance of being a small stucco-covered house with a flat roof.

The house sat on a block by itself in a neighborhood that had been in development at the time of the Disruption, which was what the humans called the destruction of their way of life. The windows were boarded up. The front yard was covered with weeds many years old, some making tangled vines that climbed up the sides of the house. The front door was off its hinge and slightly ajar, creating a final touch for the perfect picture of abandonment. And worthlessness.

Joy gently urged the mayor forward with a fist in the small of his back.

If Rautt had come looking, they would have noticed that the floor inside was relatively clean, but underground access was so expertly disguised by the perfect matching of wood flooring, that even the mayor had to search and fumble to find the spring. While Carnal stood at the opening, Easy lifted the door, revealing steps. With a glance at Carnal he began to descend, leading the way down. As the exploratory party followed, Joy and Clash stayed behind. Without needing to be told, they posted themselves as lookouts at the front of the house.

The space below ground was enormous, a big open room that served as both factory and warehouse. Weapons were being assembled on long tables in the middle of the room then stored on shelving that lined the walls. The mass of weapons and ammunition spoke volumes about how long the humans had been planning and working toward what they viewed as their liberation from hybrids. There were about a hundred people working. At least they had been working before they stopped to stare with open-mouthed curiosity. On rising that day, none of them had thought their day would include a visit by high-ranking Exiled.

As was true of the other secret facilities, much of the heat and warmth was being provided by oil lamps, but unlike the other facilities, the munitions plant had dozens of shafts of sunlight dotting the vast expanse, like little spotlights. They had installed six-inch pipes that ran upward to the surface, and disguised them above ground with weeds. The pipes were covered with filter grids to keep out both debris and varmints. When it rained they collected the water in buckets.

“How do people come and go without being seen?” Rosie asked the mayor.

“The people who work here also live here and don’t leave often.” He waved toward a hallway. “We bring supplies the usual way, horse-drawn wagon, but there’s no one left out here to witness activity. Everybody moved into the city after the Disruption. Except for the farmers, but the closest is too far to take note of comings and goings.”

Comstock directed the facility supervisor to tell the Exiled everything about the operation. The man was clearly reticent. Rosie watched a series of emotions pass over his face before he settled on compliance. As they walked down the aisles of assembly lines, it was clear to Rosie that the Exiled were stunned, imagining the impending demise of their race along with the Rautt.

The supervisor became more and more animated as the tour progressed. It was clear that he was proud of the work they had done with firearms, but not nearly as proud as he was of the pipe cannons.

He held one lovingly in his hands as he explained, “They can deliver an explosion of blasting powder up to a mile away.”

Rosie watched the look of shock pass over the faces of the Exiled as each comprehended that their entire settlement could have been wiped out during the night as they slept.

On arrival back at City Hall, Free said, “Mr. Mayor, we’ve got a lot of talking to do and some decisions to make. While we are considering all that we’ve learned today, we need some assurance that your plans for annihilation of our species won’t be sped up.”

“I assure you…” Comstock began, but Free held up his hand.

“Given what we’ve learned today, I’m going to need more than assurances. We’re going to gather up the people we’ve met today, the students, workers, everyone at the facilities, and bring them here to be detained while we sort this out.”

Rosie put her hand on Free’s arm. “May I ask him a question before I go?” When Free indicated his assent, she turned to the mayor. “What was your go date?”

All the Exiled within hearing distance went still. Clearly the question piqued the interest of every hybrid present. As they waited for his answer with rapt attention, Comstock’s mouth pressed into a straight line as he glared at Rosie. She guessed he’d been hoping to get off without ever having to reveal that information.

“Well?” The fact that Free was quickly losing patience was reflected in his body language and tone.

Without taking his eyes away from Rosie, Comstock said, “Six weeks.”

Free’s jaw clenched visibly before he turned to Carnal and said, “Take your mother, the elders, and Rosie to Newland and come back with enough peacekeepers to round up key personnel and manage the hostages.” To Comstock, he said, “Who should we see about providing food, drink, and bedding?”

“I, ah, have an aide who could manage that, but not if she’s being held here.”

“Two of our people will accompany her on that errand.” He looked at Carnal. “The people you bring back will need to bring enough food and drink for sustenance. No Exiled will be accepting anything from humans.” Carnal gave the mayor a look of pure malice before nodding at his father.

To the elders, Free said, “Convene at my house and wait for me. Serene will feed you and make you comfortable until I arrive. We have a lot to talk about.” He looked at Rosie. “You, too.”

Two hours later Free walked into his house, having been satisfied that the situation was contained in Farsuitwail for the time being.

Serene handed him a bowl of stew and an individual loaf of warm bread. “Here.” Her look said that, whatever was going on with humans, her priority was her mate.

He smiled at that, pulled her into his body, then nuzzled her neck and ear until she laughed softly and leaned into him.

Free sat down at the head of the kitchen table, with three people seated on each side. All six were looking at him with expectations he wasn’t sure he could deliver. He pulled a bite of bread away from the loaf and put it in his mouth.

“We’ve got a lot to talk over.”

Thorn spoke up. “We do, but not in front of this human.” He looked at Rosie with a distaste that hadn’t been present before the afternoon’s revelations. “Why is she here?”

Free calmly blew on a hot spoonful of stew before putting it in his mouth. He smiled at Serene. “How did you manage to be in Farsuitwail most of the day and still manage this?”

Serene looked embarrassed by the public praise. “I left it simmering on the stove, told Charming to watch out for it in case I was gone too long.”

Free smiled. “Marvelous.”

“Thank you,” she said.

Through that exchange it wasn’t lost on anyone present that Thorn didn’t appreciate being ignored for a cheerful domestic dialog that seemed to belie the gravity of their situation.

When he was finished appreciating his mate’s cooking, Free looked at Thorn, but continued to eat. “If it wasn’t for Rosie, we would be happily going about in complete ignorance of the dangers, like lambs to the slaughter. Did you alert us to the potential of what we discovered today, Thorn?”

Thorn glanced at Rosie, squirmed in his chair a little, and said, “No,” in his exceedingly gruff voice.

“I would think that, instead of trying to make Rosie feel like an outsider, or an enemy, we should be thanking providence that Kellareal asked us to give her a place to stay for a while.”

Breaker looked at Thorn. “That’s true, brother. Hybrids are not all like Rautt. Humans are not all the same either.”

“Maybe not, but we found out today that the humans we’ve spent a quarter century protecting planned to massacre us. Wipe us out of existence without another thought,” Thorn replied.

“That’s what we’re here to talk about,” Free said. “Rosie has the building blocks of a plan that may change our futures for the better, but the key word is change and I understand it’s never easy. I’m going to propose some things that may go against the grain, but I’m going to count on you to support me and help persuade our people anyway.” Free looked at Thorn. “I’m going to need your pledge that you’ll keep an open mind?”

Thorn stared at Free for a few beats. Thorn had been kept in a cage across from Free when they were young captives. That sort of history made for a strong bond, the kind that was capable of overcoming almost any obstacle. “I will,” said Thorn.

Free’s gaze made a circle around the table. “Good. Let’s begin.” He looked at Rosie. “Elora Rose Storm, you were right. Humans are wily. They smile at us in the marketplace and share their bodies with our unmated males. All the while, at least some of them have been plotting our destruction.”