Rise of the Mare (Fall of Man Book 2) (13 page)

I got up and walked to the door,
opened it, and Iry stood there.

“I asked to be alone.”

“Are you all right? You’re breathing
heavily.”

“I’m fine.”

“Were you projecting?”

I pursed my lips with a heavy
swallow. Strangely I felt a sense of betrayal to Iry. Why that was
I didn’t know, and it was a ridiculous feeling. Betrayal should not
be a feeling I experienced when it came to any Sybaris. Yet, there
I was feeling the need to be truthful. “Yes. I wanted to let Tanner
know I was safe… and that Nito was banished.”

“It doesn’t matter. Don’t mention
that you projected, okay? To anyone.”

“Yes.”

“We have a situation,” he said. “The
king is here.”

“The king? Does he come to homes
often?”

“No.” Iry replied. “You must come
down.”

He didn’t wait for me; he moved as if
he was fearful of making the king wait.

As I descended the stairs, I saw King
Seti standing there. If he was waiting on me to bow, he would wait
a long time.

“My king, I have summoned her,” said
Iry.

“You live a good life here,
educator,” Seti said. “Your home is pleasant, you treat your
maidens well. There is a problem, however. Despite the fact that it
was proven what Nito has done, there is severe speculation on the
Mare.”

I was confused and didn’t know what
this meant.

Iry asked, “In regards to…?”

“Many know she traveled from the
rebels’ camp. They believe since she is a Mare she is communicating
with them, that she is only here to bring about the demise of the
Ancients.”

“That’s absurd,” Iry stated. “She has
been chosen, by me. Accusations of her are accusations of me.”

“This I know. I don’t believe they
see you as a traitor, I believe they see you as a fool. Jaded by
her and deceived. A Mare is important to us if she can be
trusted.”

Iry’s head lowered. “What can we
do?”

“They are calling to have her
removed. To send her to the wild.” He then looked at me. “A Mare
cannot lie. Are you here to cause our demise?”

I scrambled for an answer, one that
would not be a lie. “I am here because of Iry. We have a bond. I
stay because of my sister and what is best for her.”

“Very well. I will take the word of
the Mare. I need you, educator, to tell me, is the Mare an
intended?”

“Yes,” Iry replied.

“Great things can come to us if the
Intention is carried through. If that occurs, then there will be no
doubt, and no more uprising will occur.”

“Consider it done,” Iry stated.

“I’ll take your word for it and make
arrangements. Mare, is that what you want as well?”

“As long as you stop calling me
Mare.”

The king cracked a smile. “She is
feisty, no wonder she is Intended. The sooner the better.” He
turned, and with his two guards by the door, the king left.

“Should we feel honored?” I asked.
“Or frightened?”

“A little of both,” Iry said. “Them
wanting you removed is serious. If they remove you, they will take
you somewhere almost impossible to survive. It will be difficult
for anyone to find you. They are calling for immediate Intention,
did you hear?”

“I did. I’ll do whatever it takes to
keep me here.” I meant that. I had to stay, for Sophie, and to
finish the plan for Davis.

“Good. I won’t hold you to all
aspects. I know your reasons for being here.”

“If you know my reasons for being
here, why do you want me to stay?”

“Perhaps I’ll change your mind.”

I stared at him, wanting to tell him
that I doubted that. I refrained. “Though I am strong minded, I am
true to my word. I said I would do whatever it takes. I will do
this Intention.”

“Thank you.”

“
Iry? What
is
this Intention?”

“In human terms,” Iry replied, “it
means we will be married.”

There were two things I said to Davis upon my return: “I found
them,” and “I’m leaving.”

“Whoa. Whoa. Hold up.” Davis grabbed
my arm. “What is the rush and what is going on?

“I found their nest. I would go as
far as to say it is all of them. Or at the very least the largest
colony of them. This entire thing is going to get easier.”

“Where is the nest?”

I placed the map on his desk. “Here.”
I pointed to the town.

“They’re in a city? Not the
mountains?”

“Not the mountains. They live mainly
in one block, right here. The building that houses many of them has
a dome on it. We can’t draw them out because there isn’t enough
sunlight to kill them.”

“What can we do?”

“We find explosives. We need more
than we have. I say send out the Creeper with two men who know
explosives, check out the area. If we detonate during the day, the
ones that stay inside will die, the ones that fly for safety will
perish. We can take out many of them.”

Davis looked at the map and then
stumbled back and sat in a chair. “I wish I could have kept my
enthusiasm. I had your enthusiasm and your fight when this thing
started.”

“Well, you have me now. I want the
life you had. I want the life people had before this whole thing.
It may not be the same, but at least we won’t live in fear every
night.”

“I agree.”

“We take them out, Davis, we
eliminate a pretty big threat. The Day Stalkers will search us out
and we cut them off at the pass. Keep following the Savages here
out west until we’ve beaten them. Then after we take out the
Ancients, we move east. They don’t cross large bodies of water, so
we can be safe in clearing this country.”

“All well and fine, Tanner, but we
don’t know where the City of the Ancients is.”

“Vala does,” I replied. “She
contacted me, but was cut short. It was really abrupt. We don’t
need her on the other side anymore. We need her here to help
against the Savages. That’s why I’m leaving.”

“Tanner, where are you going?”

“To get her. I am going to the
Straits. To Akana.”

Davis sighed. “Son, you are making
this sound like an easy game to win. You still have the Queen Bee
to worry about. She wants you dead.”

I smiled. “That was one message Vala
got out. Nito is gone. Banished. Never to be seen again.”

“Oh my God!” Davis gasped in shock
and then laughed. “Seriously?”

“That’s what she said. And because of
that, she needs to get back here.”

“I’ll agree to this on one condition.
You take Snake. He goes and poses as your father.”

“Agreed. Thank you.” I extended my
hand to Davis, but instead, changed my mind and embraced him. “For
you, for all of us, I want to see this through. It’s time.”

“I agree.”

I needed to get some things together
and turned to leave. “You remind me of myself eighteen years ago,
Tanner,” Davis said. “Full of piss and vinegar. Confident.”

“I am,” I said. “How can I not be?
This war just got easier.”

I spun for a very long time, then I came to an abrupt halt. An
intense pain hit my back and face, and that was all.

It was as if I had landed, but that
was silly. I believed I was placed into some sort of chamber until
a pulsing light hit against my eyes. I felt the heat of the
surrounding air, yet I wasn’t uncomfortable. I was on a semi-soft
surface and could feel it under my back.

I knew what had happened. I had
reached the end of my banishment. I was probably in a stasis, out
of consciousness, and returned eons later.

I felt rested and sore, which was
odd.

When I opened my eyes, everything was
blurry and it took a few moments for things to come into focus. The
voice arrived long before the vision did. A male voice, with a
twang and drawl to it.

“Well, I’ll be damned. You’re finally
awake.”

I blinked. Was he speaking to me?

“Hello?”

I opened my eyes to see a male being
above me. His mussed hair was mixed gray and yellow, his face would
have been pleasant enough if it wasn’t for the lines, and when he
smiled I saw he was missing a front tooth. I shrieked in fear.

“Shocked ya, didn’t I?”

My hands felt the surface beneath me.
It was soft and I sat up.

“You looked lost,” he said. “Betcha
were. Hey.” He snapped his finger in front of my face. “You with
me?”

I was aghast. How foul this being
was. Had we evolved into repulsive beings? How long had I been
gone?

“Guess not,” he said. “You probably
were a bit confused. Everyone said you would be. Didn’t I just hit
the jackpot? Of course, I was the one who found you buck ass naked
in the middle of the desert.” He raised his eyebrows a few times.
“Not a bad find. ‘Course your hind end is a little more tanned than
your front. You were found face down.”

When I got a look at his eyes, when
he drew completely in focus, I realized that he was not a mutated
Ancient, he was a human.

A human looking at my nude body.

Finally I glanced down at myself. I
was wearing a printed, loose fitting garment. “What am I
wearing?”

“It was my mother’s favorite
housedress. I got voted to dress you.” He raised his eyebrows
again. “No worries. I didn’t take advantage of you.”

“I should hope not. Not without my
permission or summonsing.”

He groaned and stood straight.
“Damn it, I lost. They were right. You
are
one of them Straits
people.”

“I am not.” I took in my
surroundings. I was in a bed, placed near a window. “Do you know
who I am?”

“Nope. Do you?”

“It is mad—” I heard this gurgling
sound. It happened at the same time as an odd plopping sensation
hit my abdomen. It was in the middle of me saying it was
‘maddening’ but that noise cut me off.

The man laughed. “Boy, you must be
hungry, I’ll get you some food. Be right back.” He stood up and
that was when I noticed what he was wearing. A checkered shirt and
blue denim. He paused by the door before leaving. “Madge, right?
You said you were Madge.”

“I said mad—” There it was again,
that plopping bubble feel and gurgle sound.

“Okay, Madge. I’m Burt. Be right back
with that chow.”

He left the room and closed the
doors.

Gods be with me, where was
I?
When
was
I? I swung my legs over and the hideous garment swooped to my
knees, barely covering my legs. When I stood, my legs held me up
fine, but my breasts jiggled.

They moved slightly side to side and
I placed my hands on them. Why were they not bound? I spotted a
mirror across the room and walked to it.

As soon as I saw my reflection,
I wanted to scream. My perfect dark and shiny hair was dull and
strands of gray poked up like wires all around the mess of
disheveled locks. My face was plain and not painted. It looked
older with lines. I had
lines
?

No longer was my skin olive toned, it
was pale and the sleeveless ‘housedress’ exposed my arms. I lifted
them and they weren’t firm. Not only was the definition gone, but
they jiggled like my breasts. They weren’t big, so why did they
jiggle?

I heard that odd noise again and
realized it came from me. Was there some sort of monster in me?
Immediately I hiked that garment upward to my chin to see if
something was attached to me and I screamed.

My perfectly toned and trim body had
curves and small bulges that protruded. My breasts were not perky
and full, and I had hair in regions that no Ancient should have
hair. I couldn’t move, I just stared.

The door opened. “I brought
you—Damn.” Burt whistled. “Madge, you have to stop exposing
yourself to me, I might get the wrong idea. Brought you breakfast.”
I lowered the garment and stared. My face looked similar, but I was
transformed. I realized at that moment what happened. My father had
taken from me all that I gave the child.

I was still in banishment, but
I was back in a different way. I didn’t know where I was, but I did
know
what
I
was. I no longer was an Ancient, I was human.

Instead of it working against me as
my father and the counsel believed, I was going to use it to my
full advantage.

Had the prospect of marriage, or Intention, been presented to me
before I went to Angeles City, then it would have been a
thoughtless decision. To me, marrying an Ancient, though repulsive,
would grant me access to much in the Ancient City. It would give me
the ability to see their weaknesses and plan an easy victory over
them.

My entire life was spent wanting to
bring them down, to release us from their captivity, to destroy
them and all the descendants of their curse.

There were more to the Ancients than
met the eye. For every bad Ancient, there were at least three good
ones, I was learning.

A good Ancient.

How many times had I argued that it
was impossible? Yet, they cared for our elders with compassion. I
don’t believe even those in Angeles City delivered that kind of
care to those who were older.

But marriage? Prior to my West Coast
adventure, marriage was a commitment between two people, an
arrangement, that was all. Yet, I learned through my bunker
experience and Marie, that it was much more. It was love and
friendship, it was a companionship that saw a person through the
most troubling of times. A spouse was the one you wanted to spend
all eternity with.

The ‘love of my life’, as Marie
stated, was real. I wanted what Marie had, I wanted what Mike and
Carol Brady had. Perhaps I don’t want as many offspring as they,
because I knew the rigorous ritual one must endure to create a
child. I remember thinking ‘poor Carol’.