Rise of the Resistance (War for Orion Trilogy Book Two) (30 page)

Jahdiel walked over to the Queen and helped
her up by the arm. Adira put her grasped her hand and smiled.

“Merikh is going to kill you now.”

“The rebels needed me to tell them it was
time. They needed me to give the word. My death will only help
their cause and I believe with all of my heart that they’ll
win.”

Anlon stood behind Fausto as he laid on the
ground, trying to replace the circuit boards that he had torn from
his pod. Neither one of them was sure how to replace them, but it
was Fausto's ship so he let him go to work. So far, he wasn't
having much luck. The boards were much different than the original
and there’d been no response from the comline after several
attempts. After an hour, Fausto finally got up off of his back and
stood to face Anlon.

“This is it,” he put his hands on his side.
“If this doesn't work. I'll take you on a tour of the cave. You'll
need to know where everything is in case something happens to me.
I’m old and my time is coming to an end. I could drop any moment
now.”

“Just try it!” Anlon pushed him out of the
way. “If it doesn't work, I'll try to fix it myself. There’s no way
I’m going to give up.”

“You're more than welcome,” Fausto stepped
back.

Anlon held down the button for the comline
and chose a channel he knew to be for Ares.

“Hello?” He asked. “Is anyone there?” Anlon
waited, but silence was the only thing that came back. He held down
the button again. “Is anyone there?” He waited. “Why isn't this
stupid thing working? Answer me!” He slammed it down and got up
from the chair.

“Given up so quickly?” Fausto chuckled. “At
least we had an adventure before being disappointed.”

“This is Pyrrhus.” A crackled. “Who is this?
All messages are being relayed back to the Capitol right now.”

Anlon looked to Fausto and dashed over to
the comline. He fumbled to pick it up and pressed the button.

“This is Anlon Valens!” A smile spread
across his face and his stomach bubbled with relief. “I'm stuck on
Tartarus right now and I need a ship to get me immediately!”

“Anlon?” Pyrrhus asked. “How’d you escape
the crodillians' ship?”

“You know about that?”

“Kanti and the others are here right now.
They were able to get off safely, but had no idea if you’d even
survived. They held on to hope, but none looked to sure.”

“They're alive?” Anlon jumped, his head
hitting the ceiling.

“Yes. Very much so,” Pyrrhus said. “They
arrived a few days ago.”

“I can't believe it. After the doors blocked
me off from the hall, I had to find another way off. They somehow
found out who Kanti was, and didn't really care about me, so I was
able to wander the ship until I found some evac pods.”

“How’d you end up on Tartarus?”

“None of the planets were labeled on their
mapping system,” Anlon said. “I just wanted to get off of the ship
and I didn't think I'd end up someplace like this. Luckily, Fausto
was here to save me from the stuff out there.”

“Fausto?”

“Yeah. He's been stuck here for fifty years
and he saved my life. Anyway, we need someone to come pick us up
now!”

“We'll send a ship immediately. All I need
is your coordinates and we'll be there soon.”

Anlon gave him the coordinates and hung up
the comline. He turned to Fausto and grabbed his shoulders, shaking
him hardly. A smile crept across the old themin’s face and he began
laughing out before falling to his knees with tears in his
eyes.

“Looks like I saved your life, so now we can
call it even.”

“I was perfectly fine here either way, but
I’d be lying if I said I’m not looking forward to a warm meal and a
soft bed.”

Anlon sat back down in the seat and leaned
back, closing his eyes. He’d soon be off Tartarus and would be
reunited with Kanti and the others. He wasn't sure he'd ever see
any of them alive again after escaping the ship. His heart was
pounding in his chest and eagerness was taking his body over. Now
his mission was complete. What he’d do now that that was done, he
wasn’t sure, but he’d find something to do. Sitting around idly
while a war was going on wasn’t something he was going to do. If
there was any way he could contribute to the rebellion, he was
going to do it.

Donnchadh sat next to Leilah, huddled around
a small fire in the shelter of a small cavern they’d found while
traveling. A violent looking storm had rolled in, and instead of
avoiding it, Reamonn ordered them to all rest until it passed. It
was by far the most ferocious storm he’d ever seen his entire time
traveling to and from Erebos. The roar of orange drops pouring from
the sky filled the cavern and crackles of lightning flashed across
the sky, hitting the ground and creating areas of blue electricity
all over the land.

He turned around to look at Reamonn who was
huddled around his tribe in the opposite corner. The leader was
talking in a hushed voice, glancing to him every once in awhile,
but in level voice where he couldn’t make a word out. Every time
Donnchadh looked to Leilah, she quickly looked away, avoiding any
type of eye contact. Something was wrong, he could feel the
tension, and it was time to find out. If it meant upsetting
Reamonn, then so be it. He was done following them around this
wasteland while Orion was in trouble.

“What's Reamonn talking to the tribe
about?”

“I don't know,” she replied, not hiding the
lie well. “I've been over here with you. How am I supposed to know
what he’s telling them?”

“But you're being quiet. I can feel that
there's something wrong. You're hiding something and I want to know
what it is.”

“I shouldn't tell you, but whatever. We’ve
seen some more things,” she revealed. “Nothing that concerns you.
Just visions that don’t feel right.”

“If it didn't concern me, why would they
keep it from me?”

“Let Reamonn decide his course of action,
Donnchadh,” she urged. “Let him make the decision. You don’t want
to push him to do anything.”

“What's going on?” He asked again, pushing
himself from the ground. “I want to know. Tell me.”

“Wait for them to finish. If he wants to
tell you what we've seen, he'll tell you. I’m not going to go
behind my father’s back.”

“What if he doesn't tell me?”

“Then you aren't meant to know. This is up
to him. We don’t even understand what we’ve seen.”

“Leilah,” he whispered. “If this has
something to do with what's happening in Orion, I need to
know.”

Donnchadh saw Reamonn look over to them from
the corner of his eye. He made direct eye contact with the leader
and held it until he turned to face his tribe again. There was
something up and he was going to find out what it was whether
Leilah wanted him to or not. As he stood, Reamonn and the others
rose and came over. They stopped in front of him and Donnchadh
stared at the leader’s scarred face.

“You’ve caused a lot of problems. We should
have left you to die. Saving you was a mistake on our part.”

“What do you mean?” Donnchadh asked. “What's
going on?”

“We're seeing visions of Orion,” he said.
“This isn't normal for us. We haven't seen a vision outside of
these lands for a long time. You’ve brought danger to us. We saw
none of this until you showed up.”

“You're seeing the crodillians? What are
they doing?”

“No,” Reamonn said spitefully. “What are
you
doing? Why were we led to you?”

“I don't know what you're talking
about.”

“This man,” Reamonn said. “The one who you
were getting to help you, the one you've worked for, we know of him
and we know of what he does. He’s not a man any race who wants to
help Orion would work with.”

Donnchadh looked to Leilah. “That was an old
life. I thought I may be able to use him to help get rid of the
crodillians. I would never work with him again after breaking free
from him and seeing the wrong choices I’d made.”

“You’ve endangered all life in Orion by
introducing that man to the crodillians. It appears as if they're
now allies and hell is about to be unleashed because of you. All of
these things we’re seeing now are your fault.”

“Then help me stop it!” Donnchadh pleaded.
“I was trying to stop it when I contacted Kirill. He wasn't
supposed to betray me! I didn’t know he’d team up with those
monsters.”

“Why didn’t you reveal your past when you
first woke? Why’d you keep something like that from us?”

“It didn't matter. Nothing from any of our
pasts matter now. All that matters is what we're doing now and what
we’re going to do to prevent the crodillians from destroying this
galaxy.”

“Save it? You’ve already doomed it,”
Reamonn's face reddened. “You’ve single-handedly brought danger to
every planet and moon of Orion, including us.”

“Help me. Together, we can lead a rebellion.
We can stop this with
your
help.”

“There’s already a rebellion. They’re small
and will undoubtedly fail. From what we’ve seen, they don’t stand a
chance. Each of those races is marching right to their grave.”

“There's already a rebellion?” He asked.
“Where is it? Who's leading it?”

“It doesn't matter. I just told you it’ll
fail.
You've
doomed Orion and I believe we were led to you,
to kill you. It’s up to us to rid the galaxy of you.”

“I think we were led to him for exactly what
he's pleading us to do,” Leilah broke her silence. “We should
listen to him and help. Let's go to the rebellion and assist
them.”

“No, Leilah,” Reamonn said. “We won’t help a
hopeless rebellion. I won’t put your life, or the life of any in
this tribe, at risk because this being brought war upon on our
home.”

“It won't be hopeless with your help!”
Donnchadh said. “Where’s this rebellion you're seeing?”

“It's on Ares. They have a few hundred ships
and are readying to strike the crodillians,” Reamonn said.

“A few hundred ships?” Donnchadh repeated.
“They weren't supposed to have any. If there’s even a slim chance,
we need to help them.”

“Father,” Leilah said. “I believe we can
help their rebellion,
our
rebellion. This war concerns us
too, and we’re now obligated to help them if we too want to
survive. Seclusion from the rest of the galaxy isn’t any option any
longer.”

“I will not hear it Leilah!” Reamonn yelled.
“We will not help them. This isn’t our war.”

“Then Donnchadh and I will leave on our
own!” She yelled back. “
We
will do something.
We
won't lay down and hide like cowards.”

“If you don't hide, then you will be
slaughtered with the rest. You’ve seen the same visions as us and
you’ve seen the bloodshed.”

“The visions are urging us to help! We can
help the rebellion avoid failure the same way we avoid death every
day!”

“We cannot help them,” Reamonn turned. “It’s
hopeless. The visions have told us that much.”

“If you don't help, you're just as
responsible for all of the deaths as I will be,” Donnchadh said.
“You have the ability to help and you're turning your back in their
time of need.”

“We’re not responsible!” Reamonn flung
around and grabbed Donnchadh by the throat. “You brought this upon
Orion!
You
are responsible!”

“He's right. If we don't help, then we too
are responsible. This ability we have, it could aid the rebellion.
This ability could lead the rebels to success,” Leilah said.

“We’ve never used it in the way that you're
talking about. It wasn’t meant to be used this way,” he released
Donnchadh.

“It'll work. I can feel it. Why else would
we see things happening in Orion? It's not just coincidence that
we're all of a sudden seeing things. The rebellion is starting and
we’re seeing it as if we're there. We’re meant to help,” she
insisted.

“How can you side with him?” Reamonn asked.
“You saw the man he worked for. You've seen what this race has done
with his hands.”

“And Donnchadh has changed,” Leilah defended
him. “We saw him because they were trying to kill him, because he
was trying to stop all this from happening. We didn’t find him, he
found us.”

“If we help, then everyone will know about
our powers. There’ll be no coming back here if we’re able to help
the rebels succeed.”

“And if we don't reveal ourselves, there
will be no more Orion,” she replied. “The visions of blood and
death, those are for us too. We're in just as much danger as the
rebels. We have no choice but to help them. Once we arrive, we’ll
be welcomed and respected, not abused like you think. If we are
successful, we’ll worry about what we do with ourselves then if
anything arises that makes us feel uncomfortable.”

“Fine,” Reamonn nodded. “We’ll help the
rebellion, but only because you believe in it, Leilah. I'm not
doing this for Orion. I'm doing it for you and because I believe
it’s also what your mother would want to do.”