Relias: Uprising (39 page)

 “Dad?” Tess asked again, pulling herself tighter against him.

 “Hmm?”

 “At mom’s funeral…” Tess began asking, hesitant to ask it. “Nate said you didn’t cry.”

 Luke didn’t respond immediately. It was true he didn’t. He was too preoccupied with other feelings. But Tess asked and it did no harm in telling her.

 “I didn’t cry.”

 Tess pulled away and looked at him. “Why not?”

 “Well,” Luke started, scratching the back of his neck. “I was in shock, mostly. I was pretty banged up too because after I found your mother dead with Frenz’s initials in her lower back, I took Miles’s Dimenisor, warped to Pyre and went to talk to Marcus myself because Frenz was working with one of Marcus’s rogue associates, or so I thought they were rogue. I found out Marcus’s plan and that’s when I killed my very first Legionnaire soldier. But Tess, please don’t think I didn’t cry because I didn’t love your mother. I… I loved you’re mother with all my heart and I always told her that, no matter what happened, I promised her I’d love her forever. Told her that since we were fifteen. But then I let Frenz do what he did and let him take her away from me. I broke my promise and it’s torn me apart ever since. I was sad, Tess. Believe me. I’ve never felt so alone and empty in my life. Even when I was in prison for those six years or the prisons in Praemon I never felt as hopeless and alone as I did after your mother died.”

 Luke pulled the Razorback pendant from his pocket and held it in his palm. As it always did when he looked at it, it brought back feelings of love and memories of his lost wife. “This was your mother’s. I gave it to her as a wedding gift on our honeymoon in Valhalla and it stayed on her until I took it off of her at the funeral. To always remind me what it is that actually makes me happy.” After a pause, Luke gave a quiet grunt. “Ironic…”

 Tess nodded and said nothing. She rested her head on Luke’s shoulder and sighed deeply.

 “Can you promise me something?” Tess asked Luke. He squeezed her and smiled.

 “Anything.”

 “Those purple things you make, those things that make you fly… can you teach me how to make those?”

 “Grav-Fields.” Luke said. Of all the things that Tess could’ve said, whether it was loving, complimentary, or whatever, that was the best and most exciting thing she could have uttered; she wanted to learn Elemental. “They’re called Grav-Fields, babe, and yeah, I’ll teach ‘em to ya. Along with everything else I know. All those stories you hear about me, about the battlecruisers and taking on entire legions by myself, you’re gonna know how to do that stuff and’ll probably end up doing it better. I didn’t learn all that stuff ‘til my mid-twenties. You’re gonna learn Grav-Fields, Chargers, Decimators, Barriers, everything. I’ll teach you combos, strategies,-“

 “I get it.” Tess said, giving Luke one last loving squeeze before giggling. Luke hummed and returned the squeeze.

 “They’re here.” Pontious said, putting all his weight back on his legs after leaning up against the wall.

 “About time.” Tess said, taking her arms from around Luke and stretching out.

 “Get everything together and start moving down into the cave. Serenity, what’s it like down there?”

 There was a break in the conversation before her reply echoed back.

 “Get down here and see this! It’s amazing!”

 Luke put a hand up to his mouth and yelled again. “I don’t care about beauty. Is it safe?”

 Another break. “Yeah!” She said. “It’s safe!”

 Luke wondered if she said it was safe because it was safe or if she said it was safe because she found it to be aesthetically pleasing to her feminine tastes. Then again, if it wasn’t safe then chances were that she wouldn’t have had the capacity to yell back a reply.

 A hand slapped down on Luke’s shoulder. He turned and saw Hendrick at the head of the third group. “Got ‘em all here. Got closer and saw you guys were moving friggin’ fast. Lucky us to be finding a decelerated time field.” 

 “Yeah, we’ve been here for an hour now.” Tess said as she walked over to where she set her pack. “And how long have you guys been back there?”

 Hendrick shrugged. “Meh, we were ten, twenty minutes behind ya.”

 “Everybody in the cave and find a place to sleep for the night. We’re taking off early in the morning so get what sleep you can. We’re going to be crossing Lilidan Gorge tomorrow so you’ll need it.”

 Everybody moved down towards the cave. A cocky Morlo strode over with his baggage in tow and was followed by a defeated and humiliated Muldoon.

 The opening to the cave was narrow but, from what Luke could see, it opened up considerably on the inside of the cave. Everybody seemed on the verge of collapse. They dragged their feet, they slouched their shoulders and their eye lids looked as though they were going to go to sleep whether their owners liked it or not.

 Luke watched them all pass, taking a count and checking to see if anybody needed any help, especially Seraphine.  After half of the group had entered the cave Tess passed him, giving him a small smile and a look that she had never given him before. In her eyes at that point Luke felt a reassurance; maybe he was living up to her expectations after all. 

 Hendrick was at the end of the group. He stopped as he reached the entrance and waited for Luke. Looking down at Hendrick’s leg Luke saw that it had its full strength.

 “Your leg?”

 Hendrick pointed a thumb into the cave and smiled delightedly. “She’s one hell of a healer, I tell you what. And split up one of your calorie packs and give it to her. She about killed herself back there.”

 “Sure thing. I’ll meet you in there.” Luke said. Hendrick nodded, rechecked the outside of the cave out of habit and disappeared into the darkness of the cave.

 Before he went in, Luke stood there and looked to the sky, seeing that stars were blinking out of the darkness by the thousands. And realizing that he was actually taking pleasure in looking at the stars, Luke came to a conclusion. The last time Luke had appreciated beauty, like that of the stars, it had been a sunset in Valhalla with Trina; that was twenty three years ago. Perhaps the beauty of the world couldn’t be fully appreciated until one could find the happiness in one’s own life. And on the night that Luke had finally found something he’d longed for since the death of his wife, he found himself mesmerized and lost in the abysmal splendor of the stars. 

 But exhaustion was setting in, and if sleep was an option then Luke would have to be a moron to resist it. He took one last look at the new night sky, breathed in the clear night air, and walked into the cave.

Chapter 21

 “Wake up man.” Hendrick said.

 Luke’s Furo vision had shut down as he slept. As it woke up Hendrick slowly came into focus.

 It was their last campsite they had to make before arriving in Leramato. It was a large, subterranean cavern with a narrow, glowing blue stream that cast the cave beneath a thin, vivid blue light. Steam rose from the natural hot spring as it gurgled gently from one end of the cave to the other, disappearing into an underground waterway. Most everybody slept the one side of the cave, sacked out as they got what rest they could before their final hike the next day.

 Luke sat up and got his head about him. Hendrick returned to the huddle over by the edge of the river. Muldoon, Hendrick, Morlo and Kristik were circled around something on the ground. Probably the map.

 Luke stretched his arms out and climbed to his feet. He’d forgotten that he was the one who called for this meeting the night before. Hendrick made a gap for him in the circle and he took a knee.

 It was the map that Muldoon had tried to hide from Luke. It was spread out across the cave floor. One side of the circle opened up towards the river to allow more light to illuminate the wrinkled, tattered square. They had only been making casual conversation, speculating on what it was that Luke wanted to tell them. As soon as Luke entered the circle the whispering stopped and all attention went to him.

 “So what’s so important that we can’t sleep right now?” Muldoon grumbled. His eyes were angry but clouded with sleep.

 “Guess, smart one.” Hendrick answered.

 “In only ten miles we’ll be out of the Byfayne mountains.” Luke said, tapping the map. “I shouldn’t have to explain that. A little dense for a Legionnaire, aren’t you?”

 Muldoon growled. Morlo hushed him.

  “At the pace we’ve been going we can reach the Bremmonni Badlands within five hours.” Luke explained with a hushed voice.

 “From there til Leramato we’ve got jack for cover.” Hendrick said.

 “So we’re here figuring out a way to not get wrecked by the Forge tanks and cruisers that are no doubt running scans across the entire plain.”

 Muldoon looked over to Kristik in  way that made it absolutely clear that they weren’t telling everything that they knew. Luke didn’t like it and, before he could ask, Muldoon gave him the answer he was looking for. 

 “We, uh… there might be a truck waiting for us if we get there at the right time.”

 Luke wanted to murder the man. He was becoming more of a liability now than he was an asset. Hendrick and Morlo saw the change in Luke’s body language and knew he didn’t like that remark.

 “And when did you plan on passing along that little piece of information?”

 Muldoon shrugged. “Dunno. I just-“

 “Yeah, you just what?” Luke said in  a menacing tone. “You just happened to have a solution to probably the biggest problem we’ve got and decided to keep it  a secret.”

 “Well after the attack on Praemon we wasn’t shore if they’d still be there if they went there at all!” Kristik defended. “And then there’s-“

 “Get everybody up.” Luke said, getting to his feet and going over towards his gear. “We have to get there as fast as we can. The longer we hang around the rendezvous the better the chance that we might find them.”

 “But…” Muldoon said close to hopelessness. “I haven’t slept at all tonight!”

 “That’s your penance.” Luke replied coldly. “Get them up.”

 Muldoon remained where he stood with the intent of refusing to cooperate with Luke’s decision. Luke ignored him and got his things ready, giving Muldoon a clear message that Luke wouldn’t be negotiating.

 Everybody was awake and on their feet in  matter of minutes, stumbling around half-asleep as they were all under the impression that they’d be getting several more hours of sleep than they actually were.

 It was still dark when they starting hiking; only an hour had passed outside the time field.  The forest was still a dark navy while the crickets and night birds chirped and cooed for the duration of their nightly orchestration. It was chilly, and the nighttime mountain air made the weaker ones in the group shiver while the others wrapped what extra layers they could find tightly around them. They wouldn’t be travelling in the three separate groups as they had been; with the Bremmonni Badlands being as close as they were, Luke didn’t want to have everybody spread out only to have to regroup a short time later.

And within an hour they were woken up. The arrival of dusk and the upwards spike in temperature was a welcome assistance, making only a minimal reduction to their immediate list of concerns.

 The Legionnaire forces seemed thicker than before, forcing them to slow their pace down considerably in favor of stealth. Squads and even entire companies plodded through the underbrush with their guns raised. This wasn’t the behavior of a search party; these Legionnaires were expecting a fight. And with every encounter they came closer.

 Gradually they moved further and further, keeping their breaths shallow and their movement calm. But they had to keep quick. It was only a matter of time before the Legionnaires would pick them up on their motion trackers.

 The sky rapidly approaching twilight, the team reached a sharp decline, slanting downwards at a sharp angle, making solid footholds hard to find as they spent most of the time sliding through the loose dirt and scattered leaves. Everybody was still tense from the gorge and said very little. And reaching their next obstacle did little to relieve their stress.

 The hill ended abruptly, reaching flat ground at a good sixty degree angle. No more than twenty yards past the bottom of the hill the thickly wooded trees stopped as though they were pressing up against an invisible barrier. After that, it was a giant, flat, spotless dirt plain that stretched off into the horizon.

 Rocks, leaves, and all manner of underbrush made small earthy avalanches down the hill as the group made their descent. Each person balancing carefully against the sloping hill, they arrived at the bottom of the hill, reaching the flat land and taking several braking steps to slow their momentum to a halt.

 Travelling at the rear of the group, Luke saw everybody moving up towards the edge of the forest and stopping as though moving one step further would mean their immediate death. Upon reaching the bottom of the hill and moving up into their ranks, Luke understood their apprehension.

 It was just as he had remembered it. The Bremmonni Badlands was nothing; a complete wasteland. Nothing grew nor lived here, neither was there any geologically modifying elements to factor in and a non-existent annual rainfall. The ground was almost solid rock, looking more like a broad, roughly hewn cutting board than actual dirt. The edge of the forest bent off into the distance and Luke had no doubt in his mind that there were several tanks with their sights focused on this spot of land. He had no idea what else they might be able to do, though; Muldoon got Luke’s hopes up for nothing.

 “I’m not seein’ em.” Hendrick said moving to Luke’s side.

 “And this place is being patrolled.” Luke said, pointing into the distant sky at a large, black object he knew to be a Helio. “Any ideas?”

 Hendrick set his pack on the ground and opened it up, pulling out a small aluminum case and opening it up to reveal a row of cigars. He got back to his feet and held the cigar out to Luke. Luke looked at the tip of the cigar and it began to glow. Smoke plumed out of Hendrick’s mouth as he puffed at it, giving Luke a thankful pat on the back before putting that hand in his pocket.