Black Dove (Watty Awards 2012)

Chapter Fourteen

            A man slumps by the edge of the road. In his limp hands is a bottle of rum…empty. His hair is disheveled and dirty, but I recognize him. Perth.

            “Darran…Darran!”

            He jerks out of staring forward, obviously tired beyond reasoning, “What is it Avalynne?”

            “It—it’s Perth!”

            Darran rushes over to him with an exclamation. His snores are loud, and his breath reeks of booze. I try not to gag.  Darran pats his face, “Perth! Perth, wake up!” It does nothing. I grit my teeth, and slap the living daylights out of the sleeping man. He awakes with a snore and a jerk.

            “Wassagoingon?” He blinks, and his eyes refocus. “Avalynne? Darran? I thought you were dead!” Darran looks very happy about having his friend back, and begins to talk enthusiastically, but I cut him off.

            “We need to get somewhere safe first. I have a lot of questions for you, Perth.” I drag Darran, who in turn is dragging the unsteady Perth towards the tree line of the forest north of the town. The run there is quick and easy, but Perth groans with each step we take, until I’m worried someone will wake and see us fleeing the town toting a hung-over revolutionary with us. But we get to the trees with no problems. I fling Darran over a log and sit against it, panting and peering behind me to check for pursuers.

            Darran swears under his breath. “Jeez Avalynne, you know how to wake a guy up in the morning.”

            The wood is still dark in the early morning, so I finally relax. “How are you alive? We thought the bomb killed everyone but us.”

            “The command wing I was in was undamaged by the explosion, but we were trapped for a good while.”

“Perth. What are you doing in Sevalia?!” I ask sharply.

            He breaths heavily before answering, “I was looking for Willison.”

            “…Zoe?” Darran asks, a sharp note entering his voice.

            “No, no, her father. The sergeant.” I gasp involuntarily.

            “So you know, then, or guessed like us…he’s on Trident’s side, isn’t he?”

            “Of course. He’s been Trident’s right-hand man for years now, I just never paid attention, or noticed, until that television interview. People just don’t change their spots like that. It just isn’t possible.”

            “So…do you know? Where he is, I mean,” Darran puffs.

            Perth smiles wryly, “Well, that’s why I’m so weak-kneed. I met a man in the pub…a target, someone who works for Trident. It took hours of constant booze to get him drunk enough to open up about Willison and his plans. Unfortunately, that meant I had to get drunk too. Willison is holed up in a tower, Trident’s, about fifty miles south of here.” His eyes become unfocused, before he looks at me curiously, “W—where is my daughter?”

            “She’s out looking for you. She and Kane.” My voice catches in my throat at his name.

            “What!? You fools!” His vehement response makes me jump up, my heart hammering in my chest. “He’s looking for you. All of you, don’t you see?”

            “B—but we were going to find Sarge, and they were going to find you, and…”

            “But this is what he wants! Trident! He has traps and tricks, he will find Kane and Essie and make them pay for what they did. You’re all part of his plan. The world knows now that Kane and you are not traitors to your kinsman, so he will torture you all and kill you. A public execution will work the country over. And do you know who’s going to be the one to kill you all?”

            “Who?” Darran says.

            “Willison, the father. Oh, Trident is clever. He makes Willison the bad guy, killing defenseless children. He stabs Willison in the back, then he can do what he wants with the country. And you have just endangered us all by splitting up. I guarantee he’ll find them.” Perth buries his hand in his hair and breathes hard. I feel that familiar choking feeling. I thought this was a good plan, but I never thought Trident would do this. Stab his own people in the back, and kill us to boot. I can only hope Kane and Essie aren’t in his clutches as we speak. But, knowing Trident’s depravity I’m guessing that hope is unfounded and childish.

            “What are we going to do?” Darran asks. His voice cracks a bit, showing he is as lost as I am.

            “We find Willison. We get to him before Essie and Kane do. I have ways to hide you, disguise you for a while. I’ll go to Willison and try to win him over.”

            “No way. We’re coming too.”

            “You have just proved your immaturity by splitting up the only hope you had of avoiding capture! There is no way I am going to endanger you, children, by throwing you in front of the man who wants you dead. You have failed. People, including my wife, are dead because of you.”

            My heart is like a loadstone. Alyssa. I forgot that Essie wasn’t the only one hurt by her death. I try to answer, but I cannot find my voice. Instead, Darran speaks.

            “That wasn’t our fault. Alyssa’s death was tragic, but it was part of a rising death toll that we can stop. You, Perth, have also proved your incompetence to do things by getting drunk during an interrogation! You can’t do this alone, and Essie and Kane are our friends as well.” I am surprised with his bluntness, but then Darran was never one to sugarcoat the truth.

            Perth broods, stroking his chin. “I guess nothing I stay will stop you. I know you, Darran. And I guess Avalynne shouldn’t be left alone.” I feel my cheeks grow hot at this, and grind my foot into the ground.

            “What about the younger Willison? The addict? Zoe?” Perth says, “she could be useful in this.”

            Darran and I eye each other, “She’s in the hospital in the city right now. She was shot while we escaped.”

            “Yes, speaking of that, how did you escape?”

            I grin at Darran, “It—it’s a long story. Good for a roadtrip.”