Martyr (The Martyr Trilogy) (17 page)

We
were leaving the foothills and flying over what did in fact turn out to be a
vast yellow plain.  From this point onward I scanned the horizon constantly,
looking for even a single evergreen that might indicate the presence of a whole
lot more of its kind.  I did this in vain for the better part of an hour, twice
or thrice nearly falling asleep again.  Then at last, I saw something.  Not a
single tree, but the whole row of trees, just as Reya had drawn it.  But unlike
Reya, we had a bird’s eye view, so it wasn’t long before we could begin to get
an idea of the extent of that coniferous forest.  Straight ahead, it continued
on for as far as the eye could see.  But just a little to the west it was much
thinner, maybe only a few hundred meters at one point.  And beyond
that…buildings.  Houses in a neighborhood, and after that, what had to be an
industrial park.  In the distance I could see a huge mall, restaurants, highway
overpasses.  It was not a very big city, but it was a city, and it didn’t
appear to be occupied.  Then again, neither had Milltown.  I started to draw.

Maya
pitched the chopper to avoid flying directly over the city, just in case
somebody did live there and happened to have come into possession of a fully
functional rocket launcher.  I doubted it since anyone who lived there had
already been hearing our approach for some time, and as we were not an everyday
occurrence, surely someone would have stepped outside to take a peek.  We
curved around to the west of the city, following a river that formed its border
on that side.  Maya silently decided not to look for a place near the city to
set down.  She didn’t have to explain her reasons, even if she had been talking
to me.  We were all still apprehensive about what might lurk behind the walls
of all of those buildings.  We stayed with the river, moving upstream, to where
it emerged from between steep-walled cliffs.  Maya took us a little higher and
passed over the tops of the cliffs, tracing the winding canyon that the river
had carved long ago.  I was busy working it into my piece of the map when I
heard Maya gasp. 

Jager
and Kaire pressed themselves against Doog as all three heads vied for a view. 
I looked up to see a massive wall of solid concrete spanning the entire
canyon.  At its top a sparkling lake was held at bay, behind a row of
formidable concrete towers.  It was a massive dam, and apparently it was still
doing its job.  It was the perfect fortress.  Even if somebody did live in the
town below, the dam’s elevation made it virtually impossible to assail.  The
only relatively easy access would be from the two sides, and the towers had
good line of sight at both ends, plus the approach could be fortified, set with
additional guard posts and even traps. 

Maya
circled a couple of times.  Nobody made their presence known below.  It
appeared as though the only place big enough to allow a landing near the dam
was the old parking lot on the east shore, but it was situated too close to the
dam for comfort.  A small group of armed men bursting forth suddenly from the
entrance to the dam could seize the chopper.  Maya hovered and turned the
helicopter around in a slow 360 arc as we all scanned for an
alternative landing site.  At once several of us made exclamations as a clear,
grassy hill was spotted a short distance to the east. 

Soon
we were on the ground, the chopper’s engine cooling, rotors making a few last
determined rounds.  Kaire spoke first.  “We’ll need deer.  Even though it isn’t
too far back to the dam, we may need to get back here in a hurry if anything
seems amiss.  There’s not much else up here except the dam.  If it’s empty, the
only likely threats would have to take the long way up from the town.”  She
took the liberty of calling deer for all of us.  There was no need to double
up.  I hadn’t seen deer from the sky for some time, but they were pretty much
ubiquitous here, it seemed there were always a few within hearing. 

Sure
enough, five fine specimens were seen emerging from the trees at the base of
the hill and ascending to our position.  “For safety’s sake, we should split
up.  Two teams should do it,” said Kaire.

“I’ll
ride with Doog,” Maya said.

“Sorry,”
said Jager, “That’s not an option.  You heard Reya.  You and Justin are to
stick together.  The teams are…”  He looked back and forth between us, as if
weighing the strategic advantages of different pairings.  “Kaire and Doog, one
team.  I’ll ride with you two.”  I really wasn’t sure about this.  Was he
trying to isolate us from the group?  Trying to make sure we didn’t have a
chance to speak privately?  Why was I assuming the worst?  Maybe Reya’s hunch
was wrong.  I hoped for our sakes it was.  We didn’t seem to have much choice
at this point.  “If anything goes wrong, we regroup here.  Understand?” 
Everybody agreed. 

Once
we were all mounted, we set off in the direction of the dam.  Kaire and Doog
cut a fairly straight path, while Jager led Maya and I a little bit farther
north before turning toward the west.  He said that he wanted to skirt the
lakeshore for a while to see if any other outbuildings were visible above the
dam.  We followed his lead.  From our lofty viewpoint in the helicopter, the
hill had seemed quite close to the dam.  In reality, it was a few miles.  And
it was pretty heavily forested terrain.  We had ridden for just a few minutes,
long enough to have penetrated the forest enough that we could see neither the
hill where the chopper sat nor the dam or even the lake. 

That’s
when we heard a hunting horn.  It echoed through the forest, the sound bouncing
off trees in a way that made it impossible to determine its source, sending
chills down all of our spines.  Instantly, Jager spun his deer around and
shouted, “Back to the helicopter!”  Maya and I fell in behind him, inciting our
deer to speed.  The horn sounded again, much closer.  This time we could tell
that it came from somewhere off our left flank.  We weren’t left to wonder for
long.  Two more puurr-deer materialized out of the trees to our left, each
driven by one of Magus’ black-and-scarlet-clad assassins.  They pulled along
beside us and matched our speed, then began to narrow the gap.  Without a
moment’s delay, Jager flung a throwing knife at the head of the first rider,
apparently trying for the soft spot at his neck.  The knife missed its mark,
glancing off the rider’s helmet. 

The
second rider was dropping behind us, already swinging something over his head. 
I was the weakest rider of the three of us, and I was in the rear.  I saw a
spinning mass of cords and stones entangle itself around my deer’s front legs,
binding them.  Its balance offset, it plowed into the ground, launching me into
a nearby tree.  When Jager realized what had happened the first rider was
already on the ground.  A moment later he was standing over my aching body.  He
hauled me to my feet with a single powerful gathering motion and clutched me to
his chest, an unseen dagger pressed under my chin.   Then with his free hand he
drew a long blade and pointed it at Jager, who had circled back.  The point of
the blade followed Jager’s movements, keeping him at bay as his deer paced just
outside of its reach.  I detected a quick movement behind him, and saw Maya
draw her crossbow, only to have it struck from her hand by the other dark
rider, who then immobilized her as well. 

Jager
bluffed, “Two of you, three of us.  Unfortunately for you, I’m the one who is
free.  Even if you kill them, I’ll still kill you both before you have time to
make another move.” 

The
rider who held Maya hissed through the vent in his helmet, “We all know you
won’t let that happen.”

Jager
continued to pace.  The dark soldiers held their positions.  After a time Jager
shouted, “What are you going to do?!!?”

The
rider who had spoken before replied coldly, “Wait for the final scene.”

A
crackling could be heard, growing louder.  Shortly two more dark warriors
approached, prodding Doog and Kaire, hands bound, ahead of them at the point of
their weapons.  When they reached the spot where we stood at impasse, they each
kicked their quarry in the back of the knees and sent them sprawling to the forest
floor, not far from my position.  One of the soldiers growled at Jager, “Now,
dismount!”  

After
a quick pause, Jager complied.  Apparently satisfied, the dark soldier slowly
removed his helmet.  Maya and I gasped simultaneously.  It was the man we had
seen on our way to Milltown!  The old Asian man who’d said he was looking for
water.  I looked to Jager, whose face registered recognition.  When he found
words, he said, “You son of a…!”  Then his rage was replaced by a friendly
smile.

Approaching
Jager, the man returned the smile, embraced him warmly and replied, “How the
heck have you been?”

16

The
realization of ultimate betrayal hit me.  Reya had been right. 
"Traitor!" I shouted, finger pointed accusingly at Jager. 
 
Jager laughed.  "Traitor, no.  I’m quite loyal, in fact.  But I
can understand the confusion."  Then to the old man, “Look who we’ve
brought you!”  He denoted me with a dramatic sweep of his arm, his scarlet
sleeve cutting the air like a backstabber’s knife. 
 
His friend looked at me, took a step closer.  His jaw dropped.  Then to his
men,  "Cut them loose."  That they did, and the soldier
holding me released his grip and withdrew his knife from my throat. 
Immediately I spun around, relieving him of the dagger, then closed the
distance between me and Jager with one lunging step, twisted his arm behind his
back, and introduced the tip of the blade to his ribs. 

He
laughed again.  "Well done, friend.  Reminds me of someone I
used to know.  But..."  And then he stomped hard on my right foot,
just where the first metatarsals start.  I heard the sharp pop of a
joint dislocating, followed by a stabbing pain, and instinctively withdrew the
foot to guard the injury.  Jager took advantage of my sudden instability
and sprang forward, placing distance between himself and the knife,
and simultaneously twisting to put slack in the arm I held.  Already
balancing on one foot I was unable to maintain my grip without toppling, so I
released him.  Before I fully regained my balance his own sword tip was
pointed at my nose.  "Sorry for the painful lesson, but there
are two things I want you to take away.  First, know the limitations of
your abilities.  I trust I have adequately demonstrated that.  You
have some innate skill, but you have a lot yet to learn.  I don’t suggest you
try to play the hero again until you have a lot more training under your belt. 
How's the foot?"
 
It was a strange question to ask of one he had so recently crippled,
but when I focused on it, I realized that the pain didn't feel
quite so sharp any more.  I wiggled it a little, set it down gently. 
Gradually I allowed my body weight to be distributed evenly between my two
feet.  A dull ache, nothing more.  Incredulous, I slipped out of
my right boot, and saw no swelling or bruising of any kind. 
"It's not too bad," I said.
 
"That's lesson two.  Know your strengths.  One of yours appears
to be an amazing ability to heal.  It is not by chance that we happened upon
these men.   We have been gifted with a unique opportunity.  Kaire and I can
help you learn exactly what you are capable of, and also what
you are not.  And I think you will find that this old fellow,” he
said, indicating the Asian man, “will be able to give you some of the
answers you have so desperately sought, but which have eluded you so far. 
In short, he can help you understand who you are, and why you are here."
 
Slowly it began to dawn on me that perhaps everything was not as it
had seemed.  Clearly these were not Magus' men.  Yes, they had
recently tripped my ride, causing me to interact painfully with the broad side
of a tree.  They had subsequently held various pointy objects to key parts
of my anatomy.  And yes, one of them had just tried to break my
foot.  But their leader had ordered us untied, and Jager was now
trying to teach me things, promising the one thing I desired above
all else: answers.  Maybe Reya had been wrong after all. 
"Who exactly are you people?" I asked bluntly.
 
"Kind of a mixed bag," said Jager.  "This old fool
is Kuro.  He was the one who first taught me the fighting
arts.  He had another student as well back then, a man by the
name of Tal-Makai."

“Heard
of him,” I said.  “But if he trained Tal-Makai, then why didn’t Reya know him
from our description?” 

“For
one thing, Reya never met him.  Tal met Reya a couple of years after we
completed our training.  Kuro doesn’t exactly make the regular social
circuits.  And besides, most people, myself included, believed him dead.  I’m
glad we were wrong.”  Kuro nodded.  “Kuro, you’ll have to introduce your
current batch.  I doubt there are any familiar faces.”

“Pleasure,”
said Kuro.  He pointed to one of the soldiers, whom I now saw was not wearing
the same sort of armor as the others, but instead something custom, with lots
of hinges and attachments that must have served some purpose not readily
apparent.  One such purpose was quickly discovered, as the soldier touched
a place near the collarbone and the helmet separated and folded multiple times,
finally disappearing into a place at the back of her neck.  She was a
thin-faced woman of African descent, with swept-back features that gave the
appearance of having ridden into the wind as she was formed.  Her hair was
gathered into thick ropes and pinned back to her scalp “That’s Charr.  She
makes mechanical things you wouldn’t believe.  She’s also quite a good shot
with the crossbow.  She’s developed a repeat-fire model.”  My eyes darted to
Maya, who was gazing at Charr with what could only be awe.  “Bit of an odd
bird, though, kind of does her own thing.”  Charr made no sound; I guess she
took this as a compliment.

“That’s
Knox,” he said, pointing to the soldier who stood to my left.  Knox had removed
his helmet a moment before.  He looked solid, but not as heavily-muscled as
Doog.  He was tan and fair-haired.  “Knox is a good all-around warrior, but his
strength lies in sheer power.  That and swordplay.  He is a master of bladed
weapons, and particularly the ability to wield two blades at once.”  This I had
witnessed firsthand.  

“And
that leaves Corvus.”  All eyes turned to the last warrior who stood detached,
still in full armor.  “Corvus.  Helmet.”  Corvus slowly removed his helmet, not
looking at anyone in particular.  He had a terrible scar that dominated the
left side of his face.  It began above his mouth, drawing the lip up on that
side, and continued up his face, spreading wider as it went.  The skin within
the scar was a dark reddish-pink.  It consumed the entire left eye, the iris a
sightless pearly white, and it turned a wide swath of his straight, longish
hair silver-white on that side.  From what remained of his original face, he
appeared to have been rather handsome, dark-featured.  “Corvus kills.  Quite
efficiently, I might add.  He’s very loyal.  It’s a good idea to have him on
your side.”  I was pretty sure he was the one who had taken down my deer.

Addressing
his team, Kuro pointed in my direction and said, “And that is the one I told
you to expect.  That’s Martyr.”

I
narrowed my eyes slightly, “Justin,” I said.  “I usually just go by Justin.”

Jager
took the initiative to introduce the rest of us, then spoke to Kuro, "Was
the rough handling really necessary?  And what's with impersonating Magus'
assassins?"
 
"Yeah, sorry about the first bit.  I didn't know these two, and my
men couldn't have known who the rest of you are.  Plus it's been a while,
hasn't it?  I'm not as young as I used to be.  Didn't even recognize
that one (tipping his head in my direction) till I got real close.  As for
the armor...spoils of battle.  I figure it's more humane than taking
scalps.  And it can't be denied that Magus equips his soldiers
with the best armor around.  Infuses it with magic to make it extra
strong." He rapped on his breastplate.
 
An intentionally loud "Hmph!" from Charr.  "Unholy
stuff," she said.  “I won't wear it.  You shouldn't
either," she said to the old man.  "Maybe Magus can control you
through it, get into your mind.  It's already not so sharp."
 
"Certainly not as sharp as your tongue, Charr," he retorted.
 
"You might want to at least consider painting the armor a different
color," said Jager.  You're going to scare the wits out of any
resistance members you come across, dressed like that.  As you did
us."
 
"That's a risk that's well worth it for the few seconds of uncertainty it
buys us when we encounter Magus' actual troops," the old man said.

“I
suppose,” said Jager.  “I’m assuming you use the dam as home base?”

“That’s
right,” said Kuro.  “You immediately recognized its strategic potential.  That
was always your gift.”

Jager
accepted the praise with a humble smile.  “How would you feel about a whole lot
more company?” he asked.  Kuro frowned, the idea obviously distasteful to him. 
He didn’t respond right away.  When he did, it wasn’t an answer to Jager’s
question.  “Have you eaten?” 

Jager
shook his head.  “Not recently.” 

Kuro
smiled and spoke to Knox.  “Head over to the dam and fire up the grills.  We
feast!”

Maya
excused herself, saying she’d left her pack in the chopper.  “Not alone,” Kaire
said.  “Justin will go with you.” 

“Fine,”
said Maya flatly.

“I’ll
go too,” added Kaire. 

“That’s
really not necessary,” said Maya. 

Kaire
started to object, but Charr said, “These are our woods.  There’s really
nothing to fear.  Besides us, of course.”

“Anyway,”
added Maya, “The chopper isn’t far.” 

Kaire
finally conceded, but said firmly, “Don’t delay.”

As
the others made their way toward the dam, Maya said to me, “Let’s take deer.” 
My deer had been freed from its entanglements, but had promptly bounded off
into the woods, having had its fill of human company for a while.  Maya’s was
still nearby.  As she mounted she said, “Why don’t you call one for yourself?” 
As I turned to do so, she hummed her deer into motion, taking off in the
direction of the chopper.  I shouted for her to wait, but she didn’t slow.  I
called my deer, and began already running after Maya before it came.  When it
arrived a few seconds later I rode it hard after her. 

This
time I was able to keep her in sight most of the time.  When I did lose her
only for a moment my deer was able to find the trail again.  Maya veered left,
and my direction-sense told me she was no longer heading for the helicopter. 
Soon the forest thinned, and rocky outcroppings began to appear here and
there.  Maya steered around one, behind another.  The outcroppings grew larger,
began to dominate the landscape.  It was becoming increasingly difficult to
find a path between them.  At the same time, the ground we traversed was
becoming more uneven, and her deer was having a little trouble as it reached
these places before mine did.  This enabled me to gain on her steadily. 
Suddenly the ground rose steeply just as the stony protrusions converged to
create only a single, narrow path between granite cliffs.  Maya’s deer squeezed
between them and I followed closely.  It was a dead end; a natural amphitheatre
surrounded by high rock walls.

Realizing
she was trapped, she spun her deer about quickly, startled to find me blocking
her escape.  “Why are you here?!!?” she yelled.

“Why
are you here?” I retorted.  “This doesn’t look like the chopper.”

Defeated,
she slid off her deer to the ground, dropped to sit on the hard stone floor. 
She drew a long, shaky breath, slumped her shoulders, and sobbed.  I dismounted
as well, approached her cautiously.  I wanted so badly to hold her, to comfort
her.  “Maya…”

“I
don’t know what to think about all of this,” she said.  “It’s just too much. 
Reya’s my mother.  Why didn’t she tell me?  Why didn’t she want me?  How could
she just send me off to live with strangers?  Those are the only parents I’ve
ever known.  Now I don’t even know who they are!”

“They’re
not strangers.  They really are family, they just aren’t really your parents,”
I explained.

She
looked up at me with big, watery eyes.  Her mouth opened and her anger flared
up again, “You knew!  You knew all along and you didn’t tell me!”  She burst
into heaving sobs.

“Maya,
please understand, Reya forbade me to say anything; it was not my place.  She
had reasons for doing what she did, I know that much.  She didn’t just abandon
you, she loved you…loves you, more than you know.”

“How
do you know?” she demanded.  “Did she tell you that?”

“She
didn’t need to.  I felt it, when I shared her vision.  It killed her to leave
you there!  I knew her pain.  I saw it in her eyes.”

The
sobbing slowed.  Her breathing grew a bit more regular.  “In her eyes,” she
mused.    “She’s beautiful, Reya, isn’t she?” 

I
chose my words with care.  “I suppose she is…for a woman of her age,” I tried. 
I saw a hint of a smile linger momentarily in the corner of her mouth.

“The
young Reya, the one from your world…”

“Mana,”
I said.

“Ma-na,”
she repeated, trying to make the name sound unpretty.  “Did you love her?”  She
allowed her eyes to flicker briefly to my face.