The Coalition Episodes 1-4 (10 page)

CHAPTER 25

Shai

Flattened grass, broken sticks, and a partial boot-print in the mud marked the path. She travelled slowly, eating hunks of bread and keeping her eyes on the ground.

The glow of several campfires dotted the ground in the distance. The Borderless. Prickles of fear ran up her arms. She had been taught to fear them. Their empty eyes, slack jaws and hollow cheeks. The moans she heard at night, she'd been told, were the souls of the Borderless departing. The Watchers came and collected their pendants, emptying the Essence of the weak and forsaken on the ground; leaving their souls to wander aimlessly.

Shai's stomach clenched when she thought of Eliana being exiled to live here.

She retched. The last piece of bread stuck in her throat and refused to go down. She spat it out then wiped her mouth on her sleeve. It was silly to fear the unknown simply because she'd been told to. The Borderless was now her home too. She couldn't return to Lael. She pushed her shoulders back and trudged forward.

The acrid smell of wood smoke filled her nose. Several people lay on the ground around a campfire. She crouched behind a fallen tree to watch.

Two people huddled together under a blanket, using their arms as pillows as they curled up on their sides facing the fire. Another person stretched out on their back, hands behind their head. She couldn't see their face. Another person sat cross-legged, their back to her, poking the fire with a stick.

He dropped the stick then ladled some water out of a bucket next to him. He sipped it noiselessly then grabbed the stick again. Shai crept closer. She had to try and get a sip of his water.

He turned his head and she could see his profile in the firelight. Straight nose, thin lips, and high cheekbones accentuated by the shadows. He couldn't be any older than Aliah.

A sharp rock dug into her palm as she crawled forward and she gasped. The man brandished the stick like a weapon and leaped to his feet. He came towards her, his face suddenly in the shadows. She held her hands up and remained on her knees.

CHAPTER 26

Aliah

Conley's Supply House resembled Lael's, with jars of fruits and vegetables lining the shelves and tables with a variety of household items running down the center aisle. Akan was bent over an object lying on a long table that ran the length of the room when Aliah found him.

Ellersly shifted his weight back and forth as he stood red-faced beside Akan. He looked like he could explode any minute. The leader made no motion to leave. Aliah looked over Akan's shoulder to see what occupied his attention. A large, brown leather book lay on the table.  Aliah chewed his lower lip and squinted but he couldn't see what it was. The only book he'd ever seen was the Book in Lael.

Akan poked it with his index finger. "Now what do you suppose this is?" He ripped his hood off and turned to look at Aliah. His dark eyes gleamed. Something about the way Akan looked at him made Aliah's blood run cold. He'd never seen the Book up close, but this one looked so similar. But it couldn't be it, could it? This far from Lael?

"What do you think, Ace? It was on a shelf behind some jars of pickled carrots... just there for the taking." Akan's hollow cheeks filled with air as he whistled long and low. "Won't 'ol Sammy be pleased? He's been wanting it for a long time."

Aliah just stood there, stunned. If Samael was Lael's Leader, he had access to the Book whenever he wanted. What Akan said didn't make sense.

Akan cracked his knuckles and reached for the book just as the door burst open and several men rushed in.

Ellersly hopped from one foot to the other. "Sir, that's what I've been trying to tell you. We, uh, ran into some trouble."

Akan reached for a knife that Aliah knew he kept hidden beneath his cloak. A man several inches taller than the others with silver hair stepped forward. He held a lantern in one hand and a knife with a long hilt and thick blade in the other.

"I'm Mallak, the leader of Sector Three. We don't want any trouble here. Take what you've come for and leave. But do not return." Mallak spoke softly and evenly, his eyes holding Akan's."Take what we've come for?" Akan sneered. He stood in front of the book, but stepped sideways to grab it. In a flash Mallak and his men descended on the Watchers. Akan's hand brushed the book, knocking it onto the floor. It fell open at Aliah's feet.

Aliah kicked it under the table just as someone landed on his back. The weight of the person knocked the wind from Aliah and made his legs go out from under him. His forehead struck the floor with a crack. He struggled to get his arms out from under him, to shove the person off him. Pain sliced into his left side. A strangled cry escaped him and he touched his side. His fingertips grazed the hilt of a knife sticking out of the soft flesh above his waist. He kicked out with his legs, connecting with someone's head. They rolled away from him as he pulled the knife from his side. Warmth gushed from the wound. The sounds of chaos flooded his ears. Shouts and grunts mixed with cries and the smell of blood and something sour. Someone had vomited.

Aliah rolled over and pushed himself up. His attacker rocked on his hands and knees a few feet away, then lifted his head. The frightened eyes of a child looked back at Aliah. He'd been knifed by a kid?

The boy's jaw hung slack and blood dripped from his mouth and nose. He reached for a garden tool on a shelf above, his sleeve falling away from his skinny arm. The Conley crescent marked his wrist too.

Fury drained from him when he realized it was just a child. He could kill him but what good would it do? He'd only have it on his conscience.

Aliah shook his head at the boy who dropped his hand and backed up on his hands and knees then got up and took off running. Aliah gripped the edge of the table with one hand, and grabbed the boy's small knife in the other.

His eyes fell on the open book under the table. A symbol in dark ink marked the top of the right-hand page and below it in bold script read:

The Division of Edan and the Coalition of Three: Eli and Elyon under one Commanding Officer, The Son of Thunder.

Below that there was a map which was labeled:
The Seven Sectors
. Lael was a circle in the center with a larger circle, twice the size of Lael, around it divided into seven sections like pieces of pie. A flash of heat raced across his chest. How the Book got all the way out here he didn't know.

"Grab it, Ace! Let's go!" Akan's voice rang out behind him. Aliah withdrew his hand and glanced around. Akan rolled out from beneath Mallak's slumped body. Ellersly sat on someone's chest a few feet away pummeling their face with both fists, his own nose and mouth streaming blood. Akan's bird call rang out and the Watchers ran into the night.

Aliah grabbed the Book and shoved it inside his cloak. He put the knife in his waistband and struggled to his feet. A sharp burn tore through his left side with every movement. He leaned against the table, gasping. The Book fell from his cloak and landed on the table in front of him, opening to the same page. Footsteps sounded behind him. He ripped the page out and shoved it into his pocket before Akan approached. Aliah slammed the cover shut. The leader grinned at Aliah, his dark eyes gleaming. All around them Mallak's men lay unconscious or dead, he couldn't tell. His stomach turned. Akan handed him a sack and Aliah dropped the Book into it.

"Go on, Ace. Lead the group back. I'll catch up.”

CHAPTER 27

Shai

“Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I'm... passing through and wondered if you might give me a drink of water." Her voice sounded thin and tired. The man took another step towards her and gestured.

"I... don't understand." Her knees ached from kneeling on the uneven ground. She started to stand but the man held the stick up like he was going to hit her. He gestured again.

She shook her head. "I don't know what you want."

The man turned slightly and the moonlight slanted across his body, illuminating him from the waist up. With one hand he pulled down the collar of his tunic, exposing his neck.

"You... want me to... show you my neck? This is silly." Thirst won over any desire to argue with him. She was careful to grab her tunic with her blood-free hand. In her haste the fabric slipped sideways across her left shoulder. The man stepped back, and shook his head and gestured at something behind him.

"What do you want? I played your silly game. I'm thirsty. Please. Just give me one sip."

The man had already begun to back away, still shaking his head. He jabbed his stick in the air and made strange movements with his other hand.

"Just speak!" Shai pounded the ground, frustrated by his crude way of talking. He opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue, only it wasn't a tongue. Instead she saw a small lump of muddled flesh where his tongue should've been. She screamed.

He put his finger to his lips and pointed to the woods again. Movement in the trees startled her. Hooded people flitted out of the shadows, swift and noiseless, coming towards the small group.

Watchers.

She ran and ducked behind the nearest tree. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears. She lifted her head to see that the Borderless remained as they were; still as stone. Seemingly unconcerned, unafraid. The tongueless man went back to crouch by the fire, watching her.

CHAPTER 28

Aliah

He panted for each breath, the movement of his legs jarring the wound in his side. He stopped and leaned against a tree that had a shape carved into it, exposing the white flesh beneath. He looked closer. The crescent. These trees must mark the boundary of Sector Three.

The rest of the Watchers continued ahead, but he knew Ellersly would lead them back. Flames licked the sky behind him. His heart sunk to his knees. His shoulder burned with the weight of the sack in his hand. A slap on his back startled him.

"Well done, Ace." Akan caught up to him. His hood had fallen off revealing his shining dark eyes, his cheeks smudged with black. A dry smear of blood left a trail under his nose.

"You nearly had the life sliced outa you because you saved that Book." He supported Aliah with an arm around his waist as they entered the Borderless territory. Aliah's mouth went dry. It wasn't like that. He didn't
save
the Book.

Akan's fingers dug sharply into Aliah's wounded side. He clenched his teeth and groaned. Akan leaned in. His voice a whisper.

"I have orders to bring back that Book, Ace. You don't know what it has been like every time I return from a raid empty-handed." Akan's finger slid into the tender flesh around the gash, shoving some the material of Aliah's clothing deep into the cut. Tears sprang to Aliah's eyes and he stumbled over a root. The Watcher's arm tightened around Aliah's waist, helping him regain his footing. Aliah gripped the sack in his left hand and let the Book bang against his leg. If Samael wanted it so bad all he had to do was come to Lael to get it from the vault.

"I know that girl is important to you. I recommended her to Sammy myself. Those blue eyes, her fine face... mmm." Akan chuckled. "She wasn't born a Laelite, that's for sure, but Samael won't care. In fact, he might prefer that."

Aliah twisted away from Akan sending a new rush of pain through his side. He fell to the ground on his knees, the sack still gripped in his hand.

"What do you want!" He gasped. A bead of sweat trickled down his face onto his lip.

"The Book for the girl, Ace. You don't want to know what he has planned for her if he doesn't get that Book." Akan stood over him then suddenly grabbed his hood along with a handful of hair and yanked his head back.

"Be smart and give me the damn Book. It's the only way to protect the girl." A cloud moved in front of the pale moon and shadows swallowed Akan's face. Thunder rolled in the distance.

Aliah's arm brushed the hilt of the knife in his waistband. Akan pulled harder. Aliah threw the sack several feet. Let Samael have the Book, if it meant keeping Shai safe.

Akan released him with a snort. "Good choice, Ace. We have a deal." He threw the sack over his shoulder. "Sorry to leave you like this but I've got a delivery to make. And if Sammy comes looking for this, tell him it's in a safe place." He winked at Aliah.

Aliah swallowed hard; he wanted to vomit. He wouldn't be here long enough for Samael to come looking for anything.

Aliah fell back and laid face up on the ground. As he stared into the black sky it began to pour. Maybe the ground would get so soft from the rain it would open up and swallow him whole. He could only hope.

CHAPTER 29

Shai

Clouds covered the moon as the storm rumbled around her. She ran in and out of the shadows of trees and rocks, always aware of the movement of branches and animals around her. Her blood pressure spiked as each crack of a twig sent her slinking behind another tree.

Her leg muscles burned and branches clawed her face and tore her hair but still she ran. The rain started coming down hard, making it too slippery to run. She found a cluster of trees that grew so close together, their trunks almost twisted around each other. She sat with her back against the rough bark and tipped her face up to catch a few drops of rain on her tongue.

The trees looked different here. The bark of the one closest to her had been peeled back and the flesh beneath shone ghostly-white in the rain. She rubbed her fingers over the bark. A symbol had been carved into it. When she looked around she saw that every other tree to her right bore the same marking
: C.
What does this mean?
Fear made her want to run again but the icy numbness in her hands and feet prevented her.

The rain came in sheets, soaking into her tunic and sticking her hair to her face. She hugged herself as uncontrollable shivers assaulted her body. The back of her neck prickled like someone was watching her but she forced herself to stay sitting against the tree. She put her arms around her bent legs and leaned her chin on them. Ready to run, yet small enough to slip into the shadows if anyone approached. Her teeth chattered as the rain ran into her socks and boots. Cold became her new enemy.

A shout nearby made her crunch up tighter against the tree. She strained to hear the voices above the din of the downpour. "Over here! The rest we can worry about later!" It sounded like a young woman, not more than twenty feet away beyond a row of trees.

Shai leaned forward slightly and glimpsed a flickering orangey-glow. Another camp? She didn't want to meet another Borderless person for a long time. But the prickles along her arms and neck told her something was different. Something very wrong.

She got up and moved closer, keeping herself hidden behind the trees. She heard crying and shouting. And a roaring crackling sound. She ran to another tree. Smoke filled her throat constricting it, threatening to choke her. Fire. Everywhere.

People were running. Too many to count. Some carried children, some dragged others by their arms out of burning houses, and a few ran in circles with their hands over their mouths.

A woman in trousers, with a long braid down her back, walked toward Shai. She stopped a few feet away and pointed.

"You! Get into the water house!
Now!
And tell everyone else you see!" Shai couldn't move. Fear paralyzed every limb.
Who are these people?
They didn’t live like those from the Borderless camp she'd just been through.

Flames licked at houses that stood cheerfully colored amidst the chaos. Through the glow of the fire she saw red and green roofs, little white fences and purple doors.

Someone grabbed her elbow and yanked her forward. A low voice spoke near her ear.

"You'll be safer inside. Not out here in the Borderless." Her feet moved, but her mind sunk into a fog. She looked at the man who was leading her to one of the few buildings that wasn't burning. Heavy brows over deep-set eyes, a prominent nose and wide mouth. Rain plastered his hair to his head and dripped off his ears. His face was pleasant, but not overly handsome. Every movement he made seemed slow, deliberate. Like he thought before he acted. He seemed like he was someone who was used to being in charge.

He gave her a small smile and guided her through the door. He released her arm when she found a spot along the wall between a woman and a young man. She slid down the wall. Confusion and fear settled like an iron shroud over her.

Muffled sobs, whispers and a distant hum droned in her ears. Spots danced in her vision. She squeezed her eyes shut then opened them. Her periphery grew dark and her heart raced. Anxiety tightened her chest making it difficult to breathe. Everything in her wanted to run. A hazy face appeared, smiling blue eyes, a dimpled chin.

Remiel.

She tried to focus on him and push the fear away, but everything faded to black.