The Toils (Book Two)

XVI. El Sueño

Outside, more than fifty Settled lay dead among the battle, and at least 100 Coalition Soldiers had met their own demise.
Still, swords clashed as the two factions pushed and pulled at one and other.
Wolesley stormed out of the house, sword held high as he charged into battle.
Slashing, he took the stomach from a Settled man, bolting past him as he fell to the ground.
He stepped over Noxa, as he slashed at the throat of a Settled Soldier.
It was his very own slow-motion movie - bombs exploding around him, wiping out another 50 Settled folk who were surrounding the man holding the bomb, but also killing another twenty of the Coalition.
Still, he pressed on.
Blood rained down on him as he took the head of a Settled woman with no sweat off his brow.
A Settled Soldier took note of Wolesley and charged at him with all the hurrah of a rugby player.
Wolesley dropped his sword and charged in kind - tackling the man to the ground, punching him repeatedly.
He'd beaten the man to a bloody pulp by the time there was a clap on his shoulder.
Wolesley jumped, ready to attack the person touching him, but he dropped all pretense when he saw it was one of his own men. 
Wolesley smiled, allowing the man to aid him from the ground.
Without warning, the man plunged his swordtip through Wolesleys heart and pushed in.
"Fucking traitor", the bloke whispered into Wolesleys ear as he withdrew his sword.
With a swift kick, Wolesley collapsed in a heap upon the ground.
The Guardsman vanished into the fray, leaving Wolesley dead on the grass - a look of betrayal still etched onto his motionless face.

*

"Where are you going?", Magnus asked Arihona as he stood.
"Out there", Arihona stepped over people in the crowded basement, reaching the steel door on the far side of the room.
"We need you in here, Arihona, you can't leave", Ruataupare stood, pleading.
"I can't stay, either - it's doing my head in knowing I could be out there", Arihona cracked open the door.
"I thought this wasn't your fight", Ruataupare lobbed back at him.
"It isn't, but if this mob manages to make it back south, then they're in Ratapu's line of fire, and if they manage to get him too, then it'll become my fight", Arihona slunk out the door, vanishing from view.
On the other side of the door, Arihona drew his sword, clutching it firmly.
He climbed the stairs, the sounds of explosions still puncturing the air.

Debris littered the ground floor - the roof was damaged, the glass in the atrium had been blown out - dead bodies littered the front lawn.
Still, though, the chaos didn't stop.
Arihona slashed his way through Settled Soldiers, cutting them down without a sweat breaking across his brow.
Shouts, booms, and the clanging of swords filled the air. 
The smell of blood made Arihona want to puke but, still, he pressed on, locked in a violent battle with a Settled woman wearing a fierce expression across her bloodied face.
She swung her sword at Arihonas' head, gashing it from his temple to his lips.
He felt hot blood spray out as he staggered backward.
From behind the blood covering his right eye, he saw the woman heave up her sword and move towards him, ready to take his head.
With no time to prepare for the assault - Arihona took a breath, accepting his imminent death.
The sword grew closer, and closer - until - FWOMP!
A bonk on the head from behind the Settledwoman sent her crashing to the ground.
In the fray, Arihona saw his rescuer; Ruataupare and her staff.
Together, they squared up back-to-back, taking on an ever-increasing number of Settled Folk coming in closer to take them on.
It was two on five, then seven, then ten.
They had little chance, it seemed.
Nevertheless, they persisted.
With a swish, swift, motion, Ruataupare swapped out her staff for her sword.
Blood continued to river down Arihonas' face as he battled five Settled Folk coming at him with all their might. 
They struggled to keep up, killing them one-by-one. 
As bodies fell, more joined the assault, leaving Arihona and Ruataupare fighting a ceaseless barrage of fighters.
Coalition Soldiers began to notice, turning their attention to the balling mass of mess.
Ruataupare swung her sword, lopping the arms off a Settled fighter and sending him screaming onto the grass beneath their feet.
The Coalition Soldiers pressed in, attacking the Settled from behind, freeing Arihona and Ruataupare from their trap.
Though their fight had ended, the war had not; bombs still exploded around them, there were still hundreds, upon hundreds, of fighters remaining, and though they'd had a single, minor, victory, it still was not over.
"GO!", Arihona screamed.

"Where're Grayson and Asper?", Ikime asked Rena from the bushes beyond the house, adding, "They should've been here by now".
"Yeah, they should've been", Rena watched the war unfold, replying relatively non-commitally.
"Should we go back for them?", Ikime asked with a hint of panic.
"We are waiting, we will keep waiting", Rena snapped, not nothing to look at Ikime as she spoke.
"I thought you were some hot-shot general. Leader of The Red Million, they said", Ikime scowled, grabbing Rena by the shoulder and partially shaking her to grab her attention.
"Do you see them here?", she reluctantly turned and snarled.
"Who?", Ikime was caught off guard.
"The Red Million", Rena clarified.
"No", Ikime took a brief second before answering.
"That's right", Rena nodded once, "because they died when those dickheads out there decided to blow my fucking country to smithereens. So, I'm not a 'general', I'm not a 'hot-shot', and I'm not here to fuck spiders, okay?", Rena furrowed her brow, "I'm a person who wants to crawl into bed with their wife at the end of the day, and so if that means waiting it out, then that's what it means".
Ikime said nothing, just slowly shaking his head.
"Your wife is in that house", Ikime pointed out, "Asper is out there somewhere, I'll be fucked if I'm waiting for you to grow a sack", he made to leave the cover of the bushes, but Rena stopped him. 
Hissing, she said - "NO! We could be the last ones left, and I won't have you blowing our cover to play fucking hero!".
"Play hero!?", Ikime spat back.
"I will not have you break down the chain of command now!", Rena growled.
"Your Soldiers are out there, being fucking slaughtered and you're worried about 'the chain of command'?", Ikime shook his head, but settled back down regardless.
Rena watched him scornfully, but accepted that he was staying, and so said nothing more.


On the fourth floor, Thatcher lay motionless against the door to the corridor, her face pressed against the scuffed linoleum.
Slowly, her eyes flitted closed, taking her back to the beach.
Asper sat in her chair, eating her pork chop, sipping her wine.
At first, she didn't even notice Thatcher had returned, but after Thatcher took a few steps forward, Asper turned and saw her.
"Ahh, you're back", Asper smiled, gesturing for Thatcher to take a seat alongside her.
"I think I want to walk", Thatcher grinned, waving for Asper to stand and join her.
Asper climbed out of her chair, strutted over to Thatcher, and took her hand.
Two sets of footprints lay in the sand behind them as they walked forward.
"I'm lost, Asper", Thatcher admitted with a twinge of sadness.
"We're all lost, bub", Asper replied, "but we need you, especially, to be the one to bring us back to the light".
"Asper", Thatcher faced her, stopping, "I don't think I can do this, anymore".
"You don't have the option to quit, I'm afraid".
"I dunno if you heard the same things I did, but Noxa's right; we're the bad guys in all of this", Thatcher spoke thickly, "we marched on their land, prepared to kill them in order to take what they had, merely because we wanted it".
"They would've killed us, Thatcher, they would've killed me", Asper insisted, "Noxa chooses death at every turn - you chose life".
"Even if that was true", Thatcher looked to her feet briefly, "what about the ones that don't choose? What about the kids, or the elderly? What about that girl?".
"They killed my kids. They murdered my elderly in-laws. That girl was taken advantage of by Noxa and sold Gossfordshire down the river", Asper pointed out.
"Antonia killed her parents, she had every right to seek revenge", Thatcher said defensively.
"Do I have that right?", Asper asked, stepping forward and continuing to walk - Thatchers' hand still firmly held inside her own.
"I don't know", Thatcher admitted, "I can't reconcile these double standards at play, to be honest - it's all too much".
"Is this leadership, Thatcher? Making excuses, making decision after decision that no one likes, decisions that have knock-on effects that last for years, or even generations?".
"If it is, I don't want any part of it", Thatcher replied.
"Neither of us knows, do we?".
"We're both me, aren't we?", Thatcher half-laughed, "I mean, this is all inside my head".
"I think you've lost control by this point", Asper pursed her lips.
"What'd'ya mean?".
"Did you make those footprints disappear?", Asper asked pointedly.
Thatcher turned around, and sure enough, her footprints were gone.
"What's happening, Asper?", Thatcher asked.
"You're losing blood, Thatcher, and if you don't wake up and get downstairs now, you won't be coming back", Asper said grimly.
"Right", Thatcher nodded.
Looking around, Thatcher asked, "how do I get out?".
"Focus on the sound of the sky, let it envelop you", Asper said in a reminder-y type tone.
"Before I go", Thatcher picked up Aspers' hand and kissed it softly.
Asper waited for Thatcher to let go, before moving in and planting a soft kiss on her lips.
Thatcher stood still, not wanting to push her luck, but also acutely aware of time slipping by faster than she could control.
Asper stepped back.
"This is never gonna happen, is it?", Thatcher asked.
"I really like Ngeru, I'm afraid", Asper gave a dry grin, "and you don't really want this, do you?".
Thatcher gave a quick thought - "no, I don't", she smiled tenderly.
The pair embraced, Thatcher closed her eyes and listened.
Faint booms littered the soundscape, filling Thatchers' ears with a faint thud.
Tinnitus overwhelmed her as the booms got louder, intermingling themselves with screams of pain.
It all became clearer, the tinnitus louder, building to a crescendo when;
her eyes broke open.
She was once again on the bedroom floor on the fourth story of the Second House.
With a grunt of pain, she attempted to stand.