Hard Light (NaNoWriMo15)

Chapter 18 - Rescue

Shade was not happy about launching the attack during the day, but as Dusk had put it, they didn't have a choice.

Dusk's strategy wasn't anything genius, but it was sound. The daylight attack might just be the edge that they needed to pull this off. They were outnumberd, and attacking a Radiant during the day was tantamount to suicide. At least at night, they were careful how they used their Light. You could wear them down. In full sunlight, that restriction didn't apply.

It was terrifying to realise exactly what they were facing.

Shade had been given command of a small ground whose job was to take out the guards around the pens. They were some of the best fighters the Lightless had to offer, and it was Dusk's hope that the threat of their smaller number would be underestimated by the Radiants.

Shade fingered the hilt of his sword, finding comfort in the solidarity of the metal. Dusk's orders had also been to incapacitate or knock out the Radiants, that killing should be their final option, when it was them or the Radiant they faced. It was a point that, in the past, Shade had never been entirely convinced of, but had respected nonetheless. Now, looking through the trees at the Radiants around the Lightless in their crude pen of crystalite, it was all he could do to not imagine the violet haired ones as Leah.

He let go of a quiet sigh. Maybe he had gone soft.

It wasn't that he believed the fullbloods didn't have a right to live. Rather, it was a question of survival, because if they kept killing the Lightless with their experiments, that's what it came down to--them or us, and Shade had never been the self-sacrificing type, even after he'd apparently turned into a parasite infested monster in the eyes of the world.

Yet opinions could change. He knew they could. He just needed proof--some undeniable, non-cover-upable evidence that the Lightless weren't monsters, and that what the League was doing was wrong. The truly Shattered were a different case, but the distinction still had to be made.

"How much longer are we waiting?" asked one of Shade's ten-strong squad.

Shade looked to the trees to the south, on the other side of the Radiant encampment. Though most of the area was an open plain, his squad had managed to sneak around the other side, away from the obvious ambush side where the trees were thicker and the other group was waiting. "When the first group charges out of that brush, we wait until they have the Radiant's attention and go."

"I wasn't asking you," said the one who'd asked the question. "I don't know why Dusk's trusting you with a squad this crucial after you brought a Radiant into a safehouse."

Shade forced himself to breathe. He'd seen the glances they'd given eachother when he'd taken command the previous time, and this only confirmed his suspicions.

"Murk, wasn't it?" The sneer confirmed his memory. Shade continued, holding his stare. "Because Dusk knows I'm not a traitor. I may have made an error, but I have no intent to harm the Lightless."

"I don't know what you ever did to get Dusk's trust," muttered Ash. "You had your moments, but so did we all. What do you do when you aren't Shade, huh? What other life do you lead, or is it as the rest of us suspect, and you don't?"

Shade grit his teeth, keeping his anger in check. "I've sacrificed more than you could imagine, Ash."

"And yet, you're always on call when Dusk needs you," said Ash. "If you were inside the League, at some kind of important post, even in the city, you'd have difficulty doing that every so often. So, what? What do you do for us, other than swing your sword around with a slightly above average skill?"