Valley of Fires: A Conquered Earth Novel (The Conquered Earth Series) (6 page)

As she pushed through it all, Mira thought she could feel their angry glares, but it could have been her imagination. All the same, they had every right. She and Holt had come here and turned their world upside down, all to rescue a little girl the Wind Traders had never met. The ramifications were starting to become hard to bear.

As she moved, she saw the ships were all beginning to leave, could see the massive vessels rolling through the city, one at a time. She moved faster, she had to make it before he left.

The berth Holt had been assigned was for a ship she knew well. The
Wind Rift,
Olive’s ship. Six massive wheels, three on each side, custom constructions of wood and steel, meticulously fashioned and welded, stood out prominently and held the top deck thirty feet off the ground. Her hull had been assembled from repurposed wood and sheet metal, as well as train and boat parts. Two of the masts were formed out of old tires that held together long columns of barrels, fifty feet tall or more, and her colorful sails flapped impatiently in the wind.

Olive had been the unlucky one to get what was widely considered the worst assignment in this entire ordeal: transporting Holt, Ravan, and the Menagerie back to Faust. While the other ships were potentially looking at war, Olive and her crew were being asked to go somewhere that couldn’t have been less hospitable: the capital city of the Wind Traders’ greatest enemy.

Mira was relieved the ship was still there. The crew moved back and forth, hurriedly preparing it to sail. Ravan and her men stood near the gangplank, talking with a group of White Helix, and Mira moved toward them.

“If she can’t wear them, she should be allowed to keep them at least,” Dane was saying, glaring at Ravan. Next to him, Avril was silently removing the red, blue, and green glowing rings from her left hand. They didn’t come off easily, she’d worn them a long time. “You have no idea what we do to earn those.”

“She’s not White Helix anymore,” Ravan said simply, staring back at him evenly. “She’s something else now, and she doesn’t get to keep dangerous things like that, unless Tiberius says so. I’ll keep them safe, you have my word.”

Avril, Mira noticed for the first time since they’d met, was not dressed in the usual gray-and-black blended outfit of the White Helix. She wore green cargo pants and a white thermal shirt with a small pack slung over her shoulder, and that was it. Mira watched her work each ring loose from its finger, and with each one that came off, more and more of the light in her eyes died. She looked completely defeated.

Avril slipped the rings into a small black pouch and handed it to Ravan. Masyn and Castor were there as well, watching in pain. Masyn even looked away.

“The spear too,” Ravan said, her eyes on Dane.

Dane was holding two Lancets, Mira noticed. One was his, the other Avril’s. His stare became like fire. “If you and I ever meet again, outside of this—” His voice silenced as Avril gently gripped his arm, and he stared at her with emotion. This was how it was, she was reminding him. There was no point arguing it. Slowly, Dane handed over Avril’s Lancet, and Ravan gave it and the black bag to one of her men.

“Fifteen minutes for good-byes,” Ravan told them. “I’d make them count.”

Dane, Avril, Masyn, Castor, and the other Helix moved off, talking in low voices. Mira stared after them sadly. It was more than just her that was losing someone today, she reminded herself.

“That went better than I figured,” Ravan said, standing next to her now. “Expected a riot.”

“You handled it well,” Mira said. It was true. Given the circumstances, there was no way Avril was keeping her White Helix weaponry. Ravan could have been a lot more forceful and a lot more cruel. For her, it had almost been respectful.

“Yeah,” she said. “Just a big teddy bear, I guess.”

Mira watched Dane slowly pull Avril into his arms and hug her tightly. It was the first time Mira had ever seen them be affectionate with other Helix around. Relationships in the White Helix were frowned on to some degree. At least she and Holt could express their feelings openly.

Mira looked at Ravan. “You’re more soft than you’d like to admit.”

Ravan smiled. A little. “Careful, Red. Got a reputation to think of.” The two studied each other awkwardly. They weren’t exactly friends, but they had come a long way from where they’d started, in that tense march through the Strange Lands. Ravan had proven she was more than she seemed, and as much as Mira hated to think about it, she could see why she had meant so much to Holt.

“You know,” Ravan said after a moment, “I don’t pretend to understand why you’re doing all this, but that doesn’t mean I don’t respect the strength it takes to do it. You wouldn’t make a half-bad pirate.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Mira answered. “For what it’s worth, I definitely feel a lot safer when you’re around. Part of me is glad you’re going with Holt.”

“And the other part?”

Mira didn’t say anything, and Ravan didn’t push it. She kept smiling, though.

“Don’t worry about him, kiddo,” the pirate said. “If there’s one guy who can take care of himself, it’s Holt Hawkins. But I’ll keep an eye on him for you.”

“That sounds ominous.” It was Holt’s voice. They turned and saw him approaching with Max.

“It was meant to,” Ravan said. She looked down at Max, and the dog stared back up. She pulled a piece of jerky from a pocket and threw it to him. Max snapped it out of the air. “Last piece, you little fearmonger.” Then Ravan turned and headed for the gangplank of the ship, looking at Holt as she did. “See you on board.”

Mira stared after Ravan. It was odd, there was a melancholy to watching her leave. As complicated as things were between them, she’d become a part of Mira’s life too, and that part was about to be gone.

“Seemed like an okay good-bye,” Holt said.

“I guess.” She turned to Holt and the two stared at each other soberly, as the crew finished untying the ship. The White Helix were leaving, Avril was slowly walking up the gangplank while Dane stared after her. It was almost time.

“I don’t like the idea of you going on the
Wind Star,
” Holt said, for probably the thousandth time. His voice was tight.

“It’s the flagship of the fleet,” Mira reminded him. “It’s the most heavily armed and it has three times as many Barriers on it, I built them myself. So as far as Landships going into the fight, it’s the safest one to be on.”

“It’s the ‘going into the fight’ part I don’t like.”

“We all have to fight eventually. That’s what this is about, isn’t it?”

Holt didn’t say anything; he knew she was right, but that didn’t make it any easier for him. She felt the same, in her own way.

“I got you something,” Holt said as he pulled out a small object, wrapped in old paper and handed it to her. Mira stared down at it guiltily. Giving Holt something as they left each other seemed like such an obvious gesture, and it hadn’t even occurred to her. She felt awful.

“I … didn’t get you anything,” she said.

“That’s okay,” Holt smiled. “You’re a horrible person.”

She frowned at him, then opened the package. Underneath all the wrapping was a small white tube, with faded writing she could just barely make out.

It was sunblock.

Mira smiled and shook her head, gave him a dubious look.

“Hey, it’s practical,” he told her. “You’ll thank me later, trust me.”

It was exactly the kind of gift Holt would give her, and underneath it were implications. His foresight, his concern for her well-being, just the fact that she, regardless of what was happening around him, always factored into his thoughts.

Her smile faded as she stared at the tube, her hands began to shake. She made herself look back up at him. She couldn’t believe this was happening, that the moment was here. The tears were starting to form, like it or not. “Holt…” Mira started.

“What’s one short whistle?” Holt asked, looking quickly down and away. He’d asked these questions over and over the last week, drilling them into her. It was important to him, she knew, so she tolerated it.

“It gets his attention,” Mira answered with patience, but this wasn’t what she wanted to talk about.

Holt nodded, bent down to Max, rubbing his sides. The dog was still working on Ravan’s jerky. “One long, one short.”

“Scout ahead,” Mira said.

“Two long—”

“
Holt,
I know the whistles, I promise. Can we—”

“You don’t have to bathe him if you don’t want to,” Holt said.

Mira frowned. “I
don’t.
”

“But you have to feed him twice a day, and not that jerky Ravan always gives him.
Real
food.” Mira was about to tell him the dog would be lucky if it got her table scraps, but she noticed the emotion in Holt’s voice. Max, as annoying as he might be, was a friend to Holt, and they’d never been apart. Holt was losing two connections in his life today, she realized, and that wasn’t something he was good at. “Make sure he has water, he drinks more than you’d think. And … pet him. You know? Sometimes?”

Mira nodded. When she spoke her voice was barely audible. “Okay.”

Holt stood back up and the tears were in her eyes now, there was no stopping them. Holt’s hand cupped the side of her face and she leaned into it.

“Oh, God…” she said, her voice cracking.

“Do you remember the first time we met?”

She managed a small smile. “I was in the tub.”

“You tricked me, trapped me in that Gravity Void.”

“Wasn’t very hard,” she told him. “You get a little distracted around naked girls.”

“Clearly,” Holt said, and she felt the warmth of his hand and made herself commit the feeling of it to memory. “Amazes me how far we’ve come. Everything before that moment was you not in my life. Everything after … I can’t imagine without you. You’re a part of me now, and it’s not accidental, I believe that.”

“Me too.” The tears were hot and stinging.

“I know we said no more promises, I know that, but…” Holt moved closer, his hands touching her face, wiping away her tears. “I lost everything once. I don’t think I could go through that again.”

He meant his sister, Mira knew, Emily. Every time he spoke of her, there was a slight hint of pain in his eyes. Her loss had almost destroyed him.

“I just want to know,” Holt continued, “that when this is all done, when whatever happens next, happens … that you’ll be here. With me.”

Mira smiled through her tears. “Where else would I be?”

Holt pulled her to him and kissed her. The world blended away a little, just enough, for one brief moment, to forget everything else … and then the ringing of the crew bell on the top deck of the
Wind Rift
signaled it was time to leave. The grounds around the huge ship had cleared out.

Holt pulled away. They looked into the other’s eyes one last time. Then he grabbed his pack and headed for the gangplank. Max tried to go with him, but Mira grabbed the dog’s collar. He whined, confused.

Holt held her gaze. “Pet him.
Every day.
”

Mira watched him climb the gangplank, feeling her heart beating, feeling the energy he brought to her life diminishing with every step he took until he disappeared over the edge onto the deck and was gone.

The world suddenly felt very cold.

“Hey,” a small voice said. It was Olive, watching the last of her crew board her ship.

Mira wiped the rest of her tears away. “Hi.”

“Seems like an okay guy,” she observed.

Mira smiled. “He is.”

“I’ll get him there in one piece. After that…” Olive’s voice was dark.

“I’m sorry you got this task, Olive.” Mira meant it. “And I’m sorry it’s because of me.”

Olive looked at Mira, searching her eyes. “The deal is, on the surface, this all seems to be about rescuing some little girl. If you could tell me it was about more than that … I’d have to be okay with it. I’ve always trusted you.”

Mira thought about her answer. “I go back and forth on that every day. Zoey … has done amazing things. Things I never thought possible. All I can tell you is, she’s shown me, for the first time in a long time, that it’s okay to hope again.”

Olive studied her, then simply nodded. “Well … at least it won’t be boring.”

The two girls hugged each other, then pulled apart and Olive moved for her ship. Something occurred to Mira then. She suddenly realized she
did
have something for Holt, and she slipped it off from around her neck. “Olive!” Mira threw a necklace to the pink-haired girl. At the end was a small, brass compass. Its hands, instead of pointing north, pointed southwest. Zoey had an identical one, or at least she did when she was taken. “Give that to Holt, he’ll know what it means. Tell him … it’s for if he loses his way.”

Olive stared down at the necklace, then looked back up. “Winds guide you, Freebooter.”

“And you.”

She watched Olive jump onto the deck above and disappear, watched the gangplank being rolled up, watched the giant, colorful sails unfurl and the giant wheels turn as the
Wind Rift
began to roll.

Mira looked down at Max. He glared back up at her skeptically. “Come on, mutt. Got our own boat to catch.”

5.
GAUNTLET

THE ENTIRE CREW
stood at the edge of the
Wind Rift
’s deck, and everyone who had optics was scanning the horizon. Holt peered through his binoculars with them. It was an impressive sight, almost seventy Landships arranged in formation south of Currency, and more were still coming, assembling in the staging area. When the time came they would all run the gauntlet together.

In the distance, eleven additional Landships stood ready, their sails deflated. These were equipped with the new White Helix cannons, the ones which would try and buy time for everyone else to escape, and it was where Mira was now.

He could easily make out her ship, the
Wind Star,
among all the ones there because it was so much larger. Probably double the length of the others, with five giant masts that towered over the rest, a formidable sight … at any other time. Today, what those ships were about to face was, without question, far more powerful.