Location: Southern Mountains
Jye saw two men drop the ground, knocked forward by the impact.
Then he saw her drift out of the misting rain.
Pora.
He shuttered at her appearance. Blood painted across her forehead. Streaked down her cheek and neck. Circling her lacerated wrists and dripping her from her fingers. The chain dragging from her left hand. But the worst was her hair. Chopped at her shoulders. Tangled wildly around her face.
"Get away from my family," she growled. Prowling to Jye's side. Amber eyes spitting fire.
Zigo was smart enough to signal his men to back up and hold positions as he surveyed her. Studying her condition, gauging the strength of that fire against the slow loss of blood and the long treck up the mountain.
"I'm impressed you got out."
"Did you think you could hold me?" Hard, cold words.
Words that cut through Jye until he felt like he was bleeding with her. She'd been caught and chained. Locked up and left behind. And he hadn't known. He hadn't come to help her. It broke something in him, knowning what that pain felt like. That desperate kind of loneliness.
He reached for her, gently touching the half healed cut along her cheek and through her ear. Studying her wrists without hurting her further.
"Are you okay?" he whispered. Knowing she wasn't. But needing to ask it anyways.
For the first time her eyes darted to him. Cataloging his broken nose and the thin line of blood running down his chin. Beneath the anger he saw the pain and the acceptance and the fear on her face. She showed it all to him.
"I'm fine. Where is she?"
Jye didn't dare look over his shoulder to where Mouse was hiding.
"Close. Too close." He whispered back.
Together they looked around at the men around them. A little over a dozen of them. A few with small injuries but still game. All of them desperate enough to be dangerous. And all of them were slowly pulling out short batons from their belts. Pushing a button to turn on the crackling sparks at the end.
Lightning threw the clearing into a stark relief every few seconds. Thunder roared in it's wake, the storm right over them. Rain poured down in a cool sheet. Turning pink as it washed away blood and dirt. Pooling around the feet of the two white haired warriors holding their ground on that tiny patch of earth.
There was no one he'd rather be fighting beside. Jye gave Pora a wolf-like smile, offering his hand.
"Care to dance?"
A grin flashed in response. She put her hand in his. And then he threw her.
Pora landed with a boom, her fist hitting the ground and sending cracks away in every direction. Men were thrown off their feet by the shockwave. Zigo was the only one who'd braced himself and was still standing.
She charged the closest men, still struggling to their feet. That chain snapping around her as she spun it through the air. Preparing to strike. Seeing her determination gave him the strength to grasp onto that control and hold on. Not to give into the darkness Zigo had tried to pull out of him. But to fight for himself. For his family.
Jye moved to her back, falling into rhythm. Twisting around her. Matching her move for move. They moved in sync, fluid and powerful. Attack, block, deflect. He threw a man over his shoulder. Pora wrapped the chain around his neck and slammed him down into the dirt. Another swept her legs out and Jye caught her in a dip, spinning her back to her feet. A beautiful, angry dance.
But the men kept getting up. Kept rushing forward. Striking flesh and bone with the batons. Leaving bruises and splitting skin. When one of the sparking ends came towards Pora, Jye ducked around her and took the hit. Landed hard on his knees, absorbing white hot pain. Pora kicked up and the baton flew out of the man's hand. Her next kick sent him flying after it.
She offered Jye a hand and he took it. Pulling him to his feet.
Zigo had hung back, watching them fight together. Now he joined the fray. Headed straight for Jye while he was still recovering. Pora gave him a warning shout as she took on three men who rushed towards Jye's back.
Jye deflected the first punch and took the next with his shoulder, using his momentum to push Zigo back. He stared hard at the man who'd brought this pain after them. Weeks of travel. Hundreds of miles. Hunting them long before they left the Sunken City. Zigo saw the sneer of hate in Jye's eyes.
"We can't come back empty handed." They squared off, exchanging a flurry of fists. "I have orders. You know what that means, coming from her."
Jye rolled out of range of a hit from the baton and came up behind Zigo. The man spun and ducked to the side, barely avoiding Jye's the next hit.
"I know what she's like. More than you or anyone else." Jye pushed the dark memories away. But he saw a flicker of something in Zigo's eyes that he didn't recognize.
Zigo blocked the next attack with his baton, deflecting the kick and swinging his body beneath Jye's fists. Coming up inside them to crash his elbow into Jye's already broken, bleeding nose. Momentarily blinding him. But Zigo didn't strike while Jye wiped blood from his eyes. Instead he took a step back.
"You have no idea what I've done for her. What I've given."
Despite the pain, Jye lifted his fists back into position. Flexing them as if to reload his strength. Keeping an iron grip on the static that threatened to take control.
"Did all the tortue not agree with you?"
Zigo's knuckles were white around the baton, "I wanted to hate you for so long. Because I knew one day we'd end up right here. I didn't want to be the one to hunt you."
Fury at those words. Hollowing him out. He spat blood onto the wet earth at Zigo's feet.
"Why couldn't you just let us go?" Jye shouted over the crack of thunder.
Zigo's face contorted into rage, "Because you destroyed it. Everything I built for you. For what? For her?" He pointed the baton towards Pora.
Where she fought two men off her as another struggled to his feet. As she clawed and scratched and swung the chain to strike. Not giving an inch.
She came back.
Knowing what she'd face when she got there. What waited at the top of the mountain. I promised her somewhere safe. But she's here giving her life anyways.
"Yes, for her. Because she's my family." Jye's voice was raised so she could hear every word. "And I owed her a debt for what you did."
~
Pora was fighting with every ounce of fading strength. Men came at her from all angles. Two or three at a time. She kept pushing them back through the mud. But more came. Pain had become her companion. Blood her marking. Left like a signature across each one of her attackers.
But amidst the fighting she listened. And when Jye raised his voice, she knew it was for her. She knew why. Jye stepped back, whirling to take the men off her back. Leaving her facing Zigo.
"You killed my mother." Her voice was soft and deadly.
She watched as his face transformed from confusion to recognition to a grim sort of understanding. "You were the decoy." He was studying her now, not as a trainer. But through some other lens from his memory. "I didn't see it before. But you look like her."
"Don't you dare talk about her!" Pora screamed.
Then she launched herself at him. Fists and fury and the snap of the chain. She whorled it around in a deadly spiral. Faster and faster. The broken clasp at the end whistling through the rain. She struck, but he'd raised the baton to block. The clasp scraped against it, leaving a gouge in the black coated metal.
She swung her body around, gaining momentum, and struck again. The chain chimed as it hit the earth where Zigo had been standing. A ghostly feeling ran up her spine and she rolled forward just as the baton struck, the spark aimed at her spine. She rolled over onto her back in the mud, catching the baton in the links of her chain. Holding taut above her face as Zigo tried to push it down. He bore down with all of his weight.
Pora let him, shifting to the side so the spark struck the mud instead of her body. She still felt it, the current of electricity spreading through the water around her. White hot pain, like dry fire. Making her whole body shudder and writhe. She had to get up. Get away from that debilitating pain before it pulled her under again.
Her feet kicked up and forced Zigo over her head and onto the ground. She rolled to her feet. Stumbling a bit. Her chain snaked out and caught his collar as he rolled out of range. Tearing open his jacket and shirt.
Lightning struck nearby and she saw the scars down his chest. Long, puckered lines.
"Did Jye give you those?" Zigo didn't answer, but she could tell her words had struck a cord. "Good."
Those scars distracted her for just a second. Just long enough for Zigo to strike with the baton. But Jye was there. Taking the hit again. Roaring as the electricity poured through his hand.
Men rushed at his back and Pora swung around to take them on. Leaving Jye to face Zigo again. Just as they both heard the scream. Pora shoved the men back and turned towards the sound. Where pne man had snuck around while they were distracted fighting the rest. Where he'd found the girl's hiding spot and was dragging her by her hair back into those dark trees.
"Go! Get her!" Jye shouted. He held them all off with a roar that sent a shockwave through the clearing.
Pora raced towards the slab of rock, vaulting over it and landing in the man's path. She snapped the chain at him and he deflected it with a knife.
With one of my own knives, Pora scowled, how rude.
She ducked out of range, forcing him him to release Mouse to attack again. He sliced the knife towards her, pulling the sparking baton from his belt. She watched that spark, keeping it in her sights as she dodged and wove around him. Looking for an opening.
The baton shot forward and she twisted, missing it by a few inches. Her elbow came up and it the man beneath the jaw. Her left hand flicked and the chain wrapped around the baton, yanking it out of his grip. She took a small breath of relief as it flew out of range.
But in her focus to avoid the spark, she'd left her right side open. The knife was suddenly there, cutting a deep line above her hip from her stomach to her back. She staggered to all fours in the mud. Feeling the warm wash of blood down her side. Rain washing over her, plastering white hair to her skull as she tried to breathe.
The man was standing over her with that knife. Any second and he'd strike again. She willed herself to get up. To keep moving. But her body didn't respond.
Jye will take care of Mouse. He'll protect her. Hopefully I helped buy them enough time to get out of here.
She heard the spark of the baton. Waited for the pain and darkness. Instead the man fell into the mud beside her. Out cold. Pora tilted carefully unti she was sitting in the mud, leaning against the slab of rock.
Looking up at a terrified Mouse holding the baton over the unconscious man.
~
Jye saw Pora go down behind the rock. Heard her cry of pain.
Around him the remaining half a dozen men still on their feet fought with a wild kind of desperation. The rest were unconscious or too injured to stand. None had been killed. Jye and Pora had made a sort of unspoken agreement between them. They weren't going to be those people anymore. But looking around at the men who kept coming. Kept fighting. Kept getting back up.
Maybe they'd made a mistake. Make it wasn't enough.
He fought his way closer to the edge of the cliff, where he could see behind the rock. Pora was leaned against it, struggling to breathe. Mouse had taken off her small jacket and was pressing the wet fabric against Pora's side. Trying to stop a dark spread of blood.
Pora's given too much. And I made her a promise.
It was time. He stopped holding it back, that dark static. The animal inside him released. Stretching beneath his skin and roaring in his ears. Unleashed and yet... his to command.
Feel itshe'd told him. He felt again that hit against his chest.
The animal was in him, but he'd chosen to let it out. Not because he was baited or threatened. But because it was the only way to protect his family.
The first man in range was hit hard enough to send him flying into a nearby tree. The next was flipped and ground into the mud. Two more got in a few punches to his already bruised stomach before Jye lifted one over his head and whipped him around into the other, sending them both rolling towards the edge of the cliff.
It felt good.
The animal purred under his skin. His fingers twitching with the cold power.
He grabbed the next man's arm as he leapt over him. Wretching it out of the socket until he heard a sharp snap.
The final man, Ben, hit him with the baton to the neck. Jye sagged for a second. Then his head snapped around and he gave Ben a wide, feral smile. His hand wrapped around Ben's wrist, twisting it unnaturally until the baton sparked right in front of his eyes. Ben tried to step back. But that animal didn't let him. Instead it pressed the spark to Ben's temple and watched him squirm.
Lightning struck and illuminated the inhuman expression on Jye's face.
Zigo waited for him to drop Ben into the mud. Watched the animal that prowled towards him.
"I see you under there."
Jye cocked his head in a terrifying twitch, ignoring Zigo's words as if he hadn't spoken them at all.
"You like orders, sir? Then I have some terms for you. They're pretty simple. You hurt the people I care about, I kill you."
Zigo struck but Jye was ready for him. He was watching the footwork, anticipating the moves before they came. Jye pried the baton from Zigo's hands and snapped it in two. Tossing the black metal into the mud.
Rain poured over them in a black sheet. Zigo looked up and Jye was gone. Only darkness and shadow. The man turned in a slow circle. Watching and waiting. As that animal stalked him through the storm.
"I know you, Jye. I raised you."
A flash of lightning and Zigo thought he saw movement to his right. He turned towards it.
"I might have trained you to be a killer. But you're not one."
A soft scuff behind Zigo and the man tensed.
"You couldn't kill me before. You can't do it now."
The next flash of lightning revealed Jye standing right in front of him. That hawk-like face blank and empty as his hand wrapped around Zigo's neck. Lifting him off his feet. Holding him in the air as fingers dug into his windpipe.
So close to the edge.
It was a tempting thought. To just toss Zigo over the edge. But that control that he'd still inexplicitly held onto hesistated. Just for a second.
~
Pora blew a breath out through her teeth. Gritting them against the pain in her side. Even as her vision blurred, she watched Jye. Saw him take out the men and stalk Zigo. Fight and disarm him. Hold him at the edge of that cliff. The way he moved. That empty expression on his face. She knew what he'd done.
Jye had become that thing he hated. To protect her. To protect Mouse.
How many times is he going to sacrifice himself?
Countless times he'd saved her life. When she hadn't asked him to. Knowing she might hate him afterwards. He kept fighting. Never asking a single thing in return.
No, that's not true.
He'd asked her to be his family. To stay and help him protect Mouse. She hadn't been able to do it then. But now she understood. This time, she was willing to prove it.
It's my turn.
Mouse squeeked angrily as Pora put a hand on the rock and slowly levered herself to her feet. Leaning against that rock and studying the cracks in the earth. The strata beneath her muddy hands. Hoping she had enough strength left to become what Jye needed.
A hope-bringer.
...
Location: Western Desert
Elik was a mute shadow as he set the Judge's afternoon meals before them.
"We have multiple sources picking up rumors of a threat against you," a Justice reported to the three Judges, who sat calmly on their low pedistals in the Justice Building. "We need to put security measures into effect now."
Judge Shear in his midnight robes sneared at the Justice. "You were tasked with disbanding this little rebellion months ago. What happened to the insider who gave you the location of the meeting?"
The Justice straightened uncomfortable before the Judge of execution, "We've been unable to make contact with the man since. It was a small meeting and all participants were executed last week."
"A small meeting. So justice has not yet been served to all guilty parties?"
"Not yet, Judge Shear. I will increase patrols and raids until the source of the threat is found."
Judge Lot leaned forward, "Find that source of yours and bring him to us so we can get the truth."
Judge Spinner twiddled his fingers as he looked over the Justice. "We will await your report once the rebellion has been thoroughly contained."
A friendly threat from the smiling, sandy haired Judge of Mercy.
The Justice hesitated, "And the mural?"
Judge Lot leaned forward again, grey robes drapping over his hunched shoulders. "Arrest anyone caught speaking or vandalizing messages about this ficticious Voice. And find out who let those dirty Traders into the city and relieve them of service to the law."
The Justice nodded and moved away. Elik continued to set up the meal on a low table before the Judges as they conferred. None of them seemed to realize he was there.
"We need a plan in case this Voice is more than a rumor." Judge Spinner announced.
"The transmission center is locked down. Even if there's a broadcast, no one will hear it. The people will remain blind and deaf to all but the law," Judge Shear said quietly.
Judge Lot was nodding, already picking at the spread of food.
Elik walked away, empty tray tucked under his arm. Keeping the fierce anger hidden under a blank expression.
It hadn't been his fault.
The Justices hadn't followed him. They'd had an inside source tip them off about the meeting. Only one person from that meeting had avoided arrest and execution. Elik wanted to wrap his hands around Victor's throat. But he couldn't prove anything. He didn't know how to fight like that. He didn't know how to kill.
He was fighting the battle in the only what he knew how.
Elik returned the tray to the kitchens and walked calmly out of the building, another brown-robed apprentice out on an errand for his master. Head dipped in submission. Eyes alert. Scanning around as he moved invisibly through the city. Hearing the Judge's words over and over again in his head.
Blind and deaf.
The people were taking care of the first part. More murals had been vandalized with the word "Listen." It was hastily painted on walls. Scratched into the stone and dirty. The further he moved away from the Justice building, the more he saw. The first few had been his. But the rest were fresh.
It only took a few hours for rumors to start spreading about the Judges ordering arrests for those speaking about the Voice. For the words "blind and deaf" to be heard whispered on every street corner.
The people refused to be blind.
It was still up to him, when the time came, to help them listen.
Author's note:
Writing this book has been a lot about facing my own demons and insecurities. So this climactic moment was both terrifying to write and freeing. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
xoxo