“Agreed,” Sara said as she wondered how the world had gone so wrong.
Then he began whispering in her ear.
As the captain shouted that he was coming over, Sara waved him off with a concentrated look. He could tell that she was getting somewhere with the Kade so he let her keep going.
Leaning over tense, Sara looked back at the Kade who was staring up at her fiercely.
“Are you sure the Kade encampment is located where you say?” she asked.
He gave her a brittle smile. “It was when I left less than a week ago, but then again we move frequently enough that it may not matter. Small forces are mobile and have their advantages you know.”
Sara chuckled. “So does having dragons on call. Now about those troop movements and defensive structures?”
Flatly he continued to give the most comprehensive overview she’d heard of how they both shielded their camps and used a migratory strategy to make sure that it was impossible to overcome them all at once.
Appreciatively Sara said, “Those creatures aren’t just tools are they?”
He shook his head. “Well that is a matter of perspective.”
“Do tell,” she murmured.
He looked back at her with a sharp gaze. “Maybe in another lifetime Lietenant Commander, but for now…you need to keep your word. Your captain is itching to come over here and while your tactics were effectively gruesome, his will rip my brain apart from the inside out.”
She leaned back over him and whispered, “But you have so many delicious secrets that he would be very pleased to have.”
“But only one that matters right now,” he said solemnly. “The one I gave you. Besides…I never imagined you were a women who would break her bond.”
Sara looked away briefly and back to him.
“I’m not,” she promised.
“Good,” he said tensely.
Heart beating fast, Sara wondered how to go about it now or even if she should. She hesitated.
Her captain and his coterie were already heading over. She could hear Davinis loudly speculating on what else he could get out of the Kade prisoner with his techniques.
As if what Sara had done wasn’t enough.
And the terror grew in the Kade invasion leader’s eyes.
“Don’t let him touch me,” he said in a voice that cracked. “I fought you with honor. I surrendered with honor. The least you could do is give me an honorable death.”
Sara stiffened and then nodded.
“Give me a reason to hit you hard,” she said sharply. “And do it fast.”
The Kade didn’t hesitate, instead he began fighting her tooth-and-nail with whatever movement he was capable of. And for a moment Sara was surprised at his quickness, then he shouted, “I will see your ancestors in purgatory!” and tried to bite her face off.
It didn’t upset her as much as seeing the captain and Davinis, like an eager snapping dog, rushing not to aid her but to overpower the Kade and debase him just as they’d done to his other compatriot.
It was as if her brain sparked with fury. Right on cue. To be honest, it wasn’t hard to be angry at him, even furious, because she couldn’t be mad at the captain…not if she wanted to survive. So she transferred that anger to the enemy bucking underneath her and she looked at him as he took on the manifestation of everything she hated about in this life, all the people they had killed, and all the things she had lost because of others greed and failures.
So the Kade wasn’t just himself anymore.
He was everything she’d been dreading and fighting since she’d mistakenly signed up for this war. He was evil incarnate.
Knowing that and knowing that she was giving the man underneath her his freedom, as requested, that she was honoring their agreement, she let loose and didn’t hold anything back—the rage, the fury, the unchecked darkness. It all rose within her like an avenging demon ready to exact pain, and its only focus was the man who lay below her.
Apparently the captain sensed something was amiss. “Fairchild, attend.”
But she didn’t move.
Just before Sara threw her first solid punch, she heard the captain say, “Don’t!”
But it was already too late, and she had slipped back into her battle rage and this time she didn’t aim for something non-essential like his nose or the inside of his underarm.
No, she let her fist fly, and they all heard the hard crack of the Kade’s soft skull.
As a few guards jumped on her back to pull her off him, Sara sent them flying with harsh blows.
After that, no one else interfered.
She was a battle mage, after all. And even the captain knew that should he interrupt her in a rare rage, well, he’d better be prepared to fight to the death.
And the Kade invasion leader wasn’t worth his life now that they had the information.
Neither was him killing her for disobeying his orders. That left the Kade alone and vulnerable to her whims.
But before she’d even really gotten into a rhythm, she had made sure to shove a sliver of bone straight through his ocular socket and into his brain, a blow guaranteeing a merciful death before she let rip.
It was the least she could do.
She didn’t have a chance to see peace pass into his eyes, but she felt it as his body went limp and she continued punching a sack of blood and bones for effect.
After that, she beat him unchecked. No guilt and no sorrow in her hits. Just endorphins released.
As blood, brain matter, and chunks of hair flew past her, the surrounding crowd was silent. They watched her dig into her strength and tap into her anger until she had pummeled the man until his face was unrecognizable.
Then she dug in some more.
She didn’t stop until she was ready. And when she did, his upper body was just a puddle of blood and goo, soaking into the packed dirt at her knees.
There was no denying he was dead and no recognizing who he was.
Not with what she’d done.
Breathing hard, Sara just stared at her work.
The only thing that snapped her out of her daze was Davinis’s disappointed voice.
She had to secretly smile when she heard him say, “I just wanted his memories. Why’d she have to go and destroy his brain like that?”
She had done what she’d set out to do, though she’d never tell him that.
Sara got up and looked Davinis in the face. Then she stepped aside while flinging dripping blood off her bare knuckles.
“He’s all yours,” she said, gesturing stiffly at the body.
Even Captain Barthis flinched at the coldness in her words.
“Lieutenant Commander, I want a debriefing in my tent on the hour,” the captain said sourly. “Go cool off.”
As she walked away, leaving behind the rage and the fury as well as the man she had set at peace, Sara had one thought: I guess I’m not in control of the darkness as much as I thought.
It amused her in a way that nothing else could, and she laughed as she walked away. If Davinis had any thoughts about calling her back and reprimanding her, he kept them to himself, and no one approached her.
No one even dared.
Not even the captain, who thought her a merciful failure.
She walked away with her head held high and her sanity in tatters. But she had her answers. What the captain made of them was up to him.
She was halfway across camp when she almost walked directly into Ezekiel.
She had her head down as she doggedly followed the magic in her disc to her newly assigned quarters. Sara just wanted some alone time with quiet, darkness, and solitude for company before she had to face the man she called leader and what he had turned her into again.
She walked with her senses aware but her head mostly down, avoiding everyone and everything human in her path.
So she hadn’t been actively looking for Ezekiel when he found her.
And when she didn’t even look up, even though he knew that she knew he was there, he had to know something was wrong.
Ezekiel was wise enough not to speak.
After he backed up a few hasty steps and took in her carnage-strewn visage with the rapidly drying blood halfway up her sleeves, she knew she didn’t have to say anything.
Still she stopped and looked him directly in eyes, daring him to ask what happened. He probably thought she’d gotten into another fight. He’d be wrong. For one thing, there wasn’t a scratch on her. But she was covered in a body’s worth of blood.
Still he didn’t say anything.
He flinched, yes, at whatever he found in her eyes. But after a moment of accidentally blocking her way while everyone else in the vicinity quickly found somewhere else to be, he fell to her side.
Sara threw her head back and sighed.
But she knew that trying to get rid of him when he was determined to stick to her like a burr was as futile as looking for him in a crowded area when he didn’t want to be found.
She had quite a bit of experience in both of those scenarios, and she wasn’t in the mood for either. So she kept walking. When Ezekiel casually touched her sleeve as she was walking along and he pointed to a sign just a little out of the way, she relented and turned right.
He didn’t speak.
They just went up to the attendants.
Neither smiled.
The man blanched and waved them through while practically climbing behind a guard pole to get out of her way.
It wasn’t long before she was in the hot springs bath Ezekiel had directed her to.
He didn’t join her. Instead, she heard him furtively whispering at the garden entrance to her hot spring and directing everyone away. Even the bath attendants who split part of their time away from service and trainings, working these springs. Though Sara had the thought that after the aerial bombardments, maybe there weren’t any mercenaries left to spare for luxury positions like the person who fetched clean towels. Reben had certainly been recommissioned as soon as she’d been fit; Karn had told Sara that much.
Deciding that it mattered little in the scheme of things, Sara dunked her entire body underwater until she was submerged and sitting cross-legged on the bottom of the spring’s floor. As the hot water bubbled around her, she just sat and soaked in serenity for a moment. And then serenity passed into perdition as she stayed under water. Thirty seconds. A minute. A minute and a half.
She’d always been good at holding her breath, but soon her lungs were screaming for air.
But she wouldn’t rise.
Not yet.
She let the heat scald her and wash away her sins.
She let the fight for air soothe her as she thought of nothing else.
Then, as she was beginning to feel the effects, she opened her eyes. Still underwater. Still sitting.
She heard her name being called, even underwater, and this she chose to answer. Because she knew that Ezekiel was stupid enough to dive into the water to get her, and she honestly couldn’t say what her reaction would be if he did. Seeing as she didn’t want to accidentally drown her friend, she kicked off the bottom of the hot springs with her strong legs.
When she emerged like a fabled siren of the old, she could feel that the darkness had passed.
Turning to the edge, she saw Ezekiel waiting there.
Silent, watching, and shaking.
He held out a bar of soap with a quivering hand. She gently took it from him and smiled. Then she turned away to scrub herself raw. She heard him walk a few steps away to ask whoever was passing by to keep moving, and as she soaked her head for a final rinse, Sara felt a bit of calmness settle over her.
Even if it was only the ability to take a bath in peace, it was something.
As she rose out of the water, dried off, and clothed herself, she thought about what she had done and what she still needed to do. It was tempting to wall it off, but the day wasn’t yet finished. For now, however, she could at least claim her solitude.
Walking out of the hot springs area and toward her tent, she had to admit to herself that she was pleased Ezekiel had accompanied her. Even in silence. Especially in silence.
It wouldn’t be a long journey to her new quarters, she had the feeling by the metal heating up in her pocket.
“A moment?” she asked Ezekiel politely as she felt around in the new garments for the disc that was supposed to show her the way home.
Seeing her fumbling, after a few seconds Ezekiel asked hesitantly, “Need some help?”
Sara froze as he stepped forward. Seeing her freeze made him freeze too. But her actions weren’t preceded by the desire to kill him, she noticed with relief. Just awkwardness.
Deciding that it couldn’t hurt, she said “Yes” almost shyly.
He held out his hands and she realized he was offering to hold her possessions.
Almost too eagerly, as if she had something to prove, Sara Fairchild dumped her bare and blood-covered swords in his arms. Sara knew it wasn’t so simple but it almost felt as if by letting him hold the possessions that until now she had guarded jealously she could show him that she wasn’t just the woman he’d seen walking through camp soaked in blood.
She quickly went back to searching through both sides of her garments as she pushed that thought and what it said about her away.
It had to be in one of them. She couldn’t have lost the new outward sign of authority that the captain had given her so quickly. That wasn’t like her. She had so few personal possessions left after fleeing her mother’s burned out home after all.
With a sigh of relief she found it exactly where she’d left it and put it on around her neck.
Fortunately Ezekiel either didn’t notice or want to ask why her disc was different from the one that they’d been given what felt like ages ago but couldn’t be outside of this month’s timeframe in actuality.
Clearing his throat as she repossessed her weapons, he said quietly, “Ready?”
She shrugged with a tired, perhaps bitter smile. “As ever.”
He stepped back with a dramatic bow and pointed off in the distance. “Let’s go milady.”
Sara had to laugh and she walked off leading the way. She knew from her talks with others now that the discs did more than just garner entrance to certain parts of the encampment for its wearer and this one was no exception. She let her movements be directed by the subtle twitches of the disc as it re-directed them toward a different part of the tents.
Fortunately, Ezekiel didn’t question the direction because they had all been re-assigned to different quarters after the Kade bombardment had effectively sliced off half the encampment when it created the canyon of dead souls.
Nodding briefly at the squadron of guards strategically placed around a new grouping of tents, some of the command leaders’ tents Sara guessed, she walked through their unofficial blockade. They didn’t stop her as the twitching disc led her to her own and Sara realized that even with her minor rank, she was now considered one of those leaders.
For the moment she let that go as they approached the tent she knew as hers from the way the disc was heating up and Sara finally spoke.
“New assignment?” she said casually, carrying the weapons and accessories she hadn’t allowed to be burned by the hot springs attendant they’d passed on the way out.
Juggling the sword in her crossed arms was awkward, but she had no way else to carry it until she could wipe the dried blood from several days ago out of the grooves in the metal hilt.
Ezekiel knew better than to offer to carry them himself after she’d barely let him hold them for more than a few seconds.
“Yeah, this time I’m scouting with Reben. It’s not bad.”
“Far out?” Sara said.
“Not too far,” he replied. “Within a half-day ride of the encampment, and the scouts switch off the farther perimeter checks in a daily rotation.”
She nodded. “That’s good.”
“Yeah,” Ezekiel said, rubbing his nose. “The captain seemed to be trying hard to keep us from being surprised again.”
Sara glanced at his face at his mention of Barthis but didn’t react. It was good to get the common soldier’s view of how things were going.
Besides, she thought with a guilty conscience, she hadn’t yet told Ezekiel about her surprise promotion.
Bringing it up at the moment just didn’t seem right.
“You?” he asked.
Then again, why not? she thought as she reached her tent.
Biting her lip, Sara said, “This is me.”
His eyebrows rose. “This is a command tent.”
“I know,” she said. “Come on. I’ll tell you inside.”
He shrugged and followed her in.
Exhausted, but at least clean, Sara stepped into her new tent, which was larger and more opulent than the last, including its own desk and chair arrangement catty-corner to the bed.
As she thought about what to tell Ezekiel, who followed her in, she put her larger weapons on the bed and prepared to start the cleaning process with her knives.
That was her first mistake.
Her second was not telling Ezekiel to run when she could.
But what was done was done.