In The Shadows of the Cavern of Death (Shadows of Death Book 1) (20 page)

Murmurs sounded around the room, stepping forward, I asked silencing the room. “What about your government’s trained military troops?”

“That’s the problem, they are the government’s troops.” 

“Not necessarily, they are citizens first. Citizens whose family members will be in danger. If we could get in touch with their families, we may have a chance at getting them to stand with us.” Seeing the blatant disbelief in their eyes, I tried another tactic. “The Loyalist city plans on completely overthrowing your government and making a slave out everyone left alive when the dust clears. Your government leaders are too stupid to realize that they are not going to remain in power after this coup. They will have most of your troops undeployed, easily captured, or killed in their unreadiness. It would seem to me that the first strike that they would want to make is to get rid of your main defenses. Most of the troops are housed in two bases, one in the Stone City the other in Twin Rivers. I’ll bet that is where the first strikes will take place. If we place our troops near enough, we should be able to save the majority of them and get those still alive to fight with us.”

“It’s not a bad idea,” a dark-haired man said, looking at me thoughtfully. “We’d need to work out some details, but I think it would work. Especially if we could get some of their family members to join us. Most wouldn’t hesitate to join us if they see a military threat against their civilian family members”––he raised his hand to stop a red-faced man from speaking––“I don’t mean we take children to use as bait, but adults willing to fight for the cause,” he finished, deflating the man’s argument before it begun.

“We’ll have to move fast if we have a chance of being in place before the fighting starts. And each town will have to be warned. We don’t have enough weapons yet to arm everyone. I don’t know if it just would be best if they didn’t resist,” councilman Vincent said, looking troubled.

I knew what they were thinking. They were thinking of their own village and the senseless deaths. “Vincent, your people were unarmed and the soldiers didn’t care. Do you honestly think if they don’t fight that they will be spared until help can come? My government’s soldiers have no honor or mercy in them. They were not raised by families, but by the state to be soldiers. It is better that those people fight with their bare hands if they have to. I say this to you now and heed my warning––there can be no mercy, if you show it or expect it, you will die. So think long and hard before taking surrendering soldiers; it’s best just to go for the kill and be done with it.”

“She’s right, Vincent, it’s best that all of you heed her words. Those soldiers are little more than monsters. The things that we witnessed in that city will stay with me until my death, burned there by the depravity. I would gladly kill myself and any of our people that I could reach rather than let them take us as captives,” Michael said, the horrors of his time in the city naked in his eyes for all to see.

“Then they fight,” Petro said. “Is there anything else we should be aware of?”

“Yes, they are trying to plant spies among us. They’re going to release them like Prey. They will be implanted with a homing beacon that can be turned on and off to avoid immediate detection,” Michael said, causing a look to pass among them that I didn’t like. “How many are already here?” he asked, interpreting their looks correctly. They must have flown them in to beat us back.

“Four, they’re being rounded up now, sir,” called our guard from the back of the hall who had sent out a warning as soon as the words left Michael’s mouth.

“Have any unauthorized signals been monitored since their arrival?”

“Negative.”

Looking at the soldier, an idea formed. “They’re planning on taking us out first,” I mused slowly, as things started to fall into place. “They have no idea where we are located, those spies, they were to lead them to us, but they assume that we are in the woods. Those extra patrols that we saw must be part of the group massing to take us out.”

“That would make sense,” Michael nodded.

“We could take them wherever we wanted and that’s where the soldiers would go, to look for us.”

Smiling, Michael approved. “Yes, they would. We could lead them anywhere or into anything.”

Chuckling, Petro put in, “They’ll be moved within the hour. Toward the ranges to the south, there’s a lot of open space there and our demolition expert will have some practice.”

After that they made plans on how to use the spies who were really no more than casualties of war. The talks over the next six hours ranged from how to infiltrate the Stone City to the outer towns. Everything that would take place over the next few days began in this room. There was no telling what the death toll would be when this was finished, but I knew that it would be more than they could imagine. I was exhausted when we finally finished for the night, the events of the last almost two weeks taking its toll.

Rising up, Michael caught my arm and held it to him as he spoke. “Dillon,” Michael said to the dark-haired man from earlier, “has your division accessed the codes that I brought back yet?”

“They’re working on it now. I’ll let you know as soon as we’re successful in gaining access to their internal video grid. They’re poring over the vid discs you also brought back now to see if anything useful can be gained.”

“Keep your men working on it. I have a feeling that if we can access their video system, we’ll have a chance to hack their computer systems. I believe that it is all networked together in some way.”

Dillon smiled tiredly, “After everything that was said tonight, we could use a break like that.” Nodding his head to me, he said, “We’ll talk more tomorrow––you’d better walk her to her room, she looks dead on her feet.”

Without another word, Michael slowly turned me and walked me through the halls. It was a testament to how tired I was that I didn’t protest when he led me like a child. As tired as I was, I knew that sleep would be long in the coming and short in the having––my past too close to the surface to allow for anything else. Opening the door, he led me into my room. Breaking away, I went to my bed, toeing off my shoes and curling into a ball. Opening my eyes when I felt him over me, I felt him lean down and remove my jacket, tossing it on the chair that held his. Scooting toward the wall when I saw him move to sit, I was surprised when he laid down and pulled me over, tucking my head under his chin and wrapping his arms around me. “Sleep,” he whispered, and surprisingly, I did, in the comforting warmth of another person, pushing back the cold darkness that would have seized me had I been alone.

Chapter 20

We had moved the spies just in time. We were able to reach the area that had been approved and our trap was successful. A part of the large contingent of the soldiers that had been searching in this area were now dead, the explosives having killed over two hundred of them. Heavily armed, they were sitting ducks as they searched for an entrance that did not exist. The ones that had survived the explosion hadn’t returned to this area. Everyone here had basked in the announcements of those deaths, their need for vengeance in the name of those that they had lost was a thirst that the water from the deepest well could not quench.

Moving through the corridor, I went to have a private meeting with Vincent before I left. The day after tomorrow the battle would begin and our troops had been moving in small groups in preparation. Some were sent to warn the outlying villages and towns while others infiltrated the Stone City or scouted the forests to see where the soldiers hid and where to hide our troops in preparation to take the military bases. These people had not truly seen war since the great cleansing, so I knew that the excitement that they now felt would turn quickly to ash as their loved ones never returned to them again.

Not bothering to knock, I entered his office, taking a seat in front of his desk. “I hear that you are going to the Stone City,” he stated, coming right to the point.

“Yes, I felt that I would be more useful there,” I replied, even though he didn’t expect an answer.

Pulling off his glasses, he rubbed between his eyes, “We have better uses for you than dying. We expect heavy casualties in the assault to take the Stone City. It would be a loss to the cause if one of them was you.”

“There are more manageable bodies from the cavern here and in the city––pick one of them to be the figure head for the revolution.”

“More manageable, yes,” he snorted, before looking at me, his voice grave, “but more respected, no. Did you know that your name is whispered in every town, village, and city?” I shook my head, while he continued. “It has come to have the same meaning as freedom. One day, hopefully soon, it will be whispered among the people of your caverns, they’ll know that you stood up when no one else would. The men and woman that rush to join us come to fight for you. You represent what was lost all those years ago. A willingness to fight and die not because you have something to gain, but because it is the right thing to do.”

“I’m not a hero and I’m sure as hell not going to be a martyr if I can help it. I don’t want to be the reason they fight,” I said angrily.

Smiling sadly, he said, “You, child, are a beacon in the darkest night, you stand there guiding us all from the darkness. A darkness that descended over this land thousands of years ago when in an act of greed and vengeance the evil of man destroyed it rather than admitting that they were wrong. The dust eventually settled, life returned, and the sun rained its rays down upon the land once more, but the darkness of that deed has never left. We made peace with evil rather than fight for what we knew to be right. We turned an eye from the suffering of our own, afraid that if we acted, we would join them. We live in shame not because we did something, but because we did nothing. Then you, a girl that had everything to gain by her silence, stood up and spoke out loudly and said what in our shame we didn’t. I know that you don’t see it, but what you have begun has spread far and wide burning a blaze of righteousness across these lands and our people’s hearts. They can no longer hide in ignorance, but must step out and join you in the light of truthfulness that no darkness can hide.” Pointing at me, he said, “You are the brightest star that blazes in the sky, guiding them on their journey in the darkest, most moonless night. You are still there, seen by all, revered because you can do what no other has, unite our people once more and guide them to freedom.”

Pain and fear moved though me at his words. “I didn’t ask for this. I don’t want it, I’m not a leader,” I denied, standing up and going to the door. Opening it, I froze at his next words.

“Greatness is not asked for, it is given to those who can carry the burden,” he said, leaning back into his chair. “You will go to the Stone City and fight. I know you well enough to know that you would never have stayed out of it. I just ask that you remember one thing, death is easy; it’s life that is hard.”

“That, Victor, is lesson that I never have to be reminded of,” I replied, closing the door and swiftly making my way through the hall.

Ignoring the smiles thrown at me, I tried not to run as I went toward a small side exit. I needed to be outside this place that was crushing me. I didn’t want the burden of another life. Three had been in my keeping and I had not been able to save even one. Now he tells me thousands upon thousands are my responsibility. He was insane if he thought that I would accept this. Let another bear the pains of their deaths, I had no more room inside me. Finally reaching the door, I ordered the guard to open it, impatient when he checked to make sure it was safe. As soon as there was enough room, I pushed myself through, unable to wait. Racing forward, I blindly went into the woods.

The whips of the branches smacked me as I rushed forward, raising my hands to protect my face. I welcomed the pain that each hit brought to my arms. Running until I felt as if my heart would burst, I collapsed into a useless pile. Why couldn’t they leave me alone? I didn’t ask for any of this. I wasn’t even supposed to be alive. I should have died in the caverns instead of the girls. I should have been the one taken in the village instead of Tristian. I should have died a hundred times in the place of those I’d loved. I should have died for the lives I’ve taken and yet here I was. A broken shell whose hate and pain was too deep to show. This was what they wanted to stand there as inspiration. Wrapped in my own pain that Victor’s words had set free, I didn’t hear Michael’s approach. When he gathered me him his arms, I didn’t open my eyes, uncaring who it was, just wishing that it was finally over. That he had finally come to end it and set me free. Opening my eyes, I looked and whispered a tormented “please.” Please set me free, I silently begged with my eyes.

Instead of heeding my unspoken words, his eyes turned hard and he stopped rocking me. “Please?” he asked, deceptively soft. Closing my eyes, wanting to block him and the world out, I wasn’t given that option. A firm hand gripped my face, squeezing until I relented and looked at him. “Please what? Let you run into the woods to be captured or please let you die?” he asked, again in a deceptively soft voice.

“Yes, both, either, I don’t care,” I dully answered, already moving away mentally since he would not let me go physically.

As if he sensed my retreat, he jerked my face sharply, causing me to focus on the hard lips descending to mine. Roughly, they consumed my mouth, forcing me to react, to feel. Unable to retreat, I pushed forward giving to him as hard as he gave to me. Raising my arm, I dug my fingers into his hair gripping hard. I wanted him to hurt as I hurt. I wanted him to hurt me as I hurt him just so I could feel. Pushing myself up, I toppled us, rolling around in the grass, leaves, and dirt until I lay flat on my back with him tightly pressed above me. With angry hands, I pushed his jacket from his body so he could feel my nails as I dug them into him. Ripping and pulling at one another, I reveled in it, loving the pain. Completely in the moment, I felt the exact second when it changed. Gentling the kiss, he forced me to comply. Pulling my hands between us, he held them still with one hand and my face with the other. Moving from my lips he placed feather kisses on my face, moving to my neck.