Awakening the Mare (Fall of Man Book 1) Read online

  Neither of us was ready. Tanner reached for his bow and I grabbed behind me for my stick.

  The Savage lunged for Tanner and I swung out.

  The stick broke and only mildly annoyed the Savage. What had happened to my training abilities? I tried again and nothing happened. I could only deduct that my argument with Tanner had consumed my mind and my focus. Frustrated, and in my final attempt, forgoing magic and ability, I thrust the broken stick into the throat of the Savage.

  Another dropped down from the sky. An arrow sailed into his head.

  With a turn of my body there was another. One went for Tanner the other lunged toward me. I had no weapon, only my fist, and I struck out as hard as I could. My fist sunk into his blackened flesh, through his chest and my fingers clenched his cold, still beating heart.

  I retracted my hand with force, ripping out the heart. The Savage Sybaris fell to the ground and the cold blood pumped over my fingers. I tossed the organ.

  Before I could comprehend what was happening, more surrounded us. Too many.

  It was raining Savages.

  Tanner was wearing a whistle around his neck. He brought it to his mouth and blew as he launched his arrows.

  I was defenseless. I had nothing tangible to defend myself with, only my being. Drawing myself into the right frame of mind, I concentrated on my hands and focused on delivering whatever I could with them.

  As Tanner fought, so did I. Only I fought differently.

  Feeling as if I pulled from all the energy my soul, I screamed a battle cry and palmed out my hand in the direction of a Sybaris.

  An unseen force struck it and it exploded like the one on the beach. A splash of his remains fell at my feet. I spun to my right and tossed out my hand to the next. He erupted as well.

  That was all it took. The Savages began to flee.

  No, I thought. “No.” I filled with rage. How was I supposed to fight and defeat them if they ran away? That wasn’t beating them, it was only making them scatter.

  “They’re leaving,” Tanner said, lowering his bow.

  I could taste the outrage on my tongue. I wanted to prove myself, I wanted to be a protector. With wrath raging inside of me, I covered my ears and screamed.

  What had happened?

  The ground rumbled and windows that weren’t already broken shattered simultaneously. Glass not only poured from the sky, but so did Savage blood. Black and tarlike, it plopped down, filling the night air with a foul stench.

  I had not even understood what all I had caused and was still processing it when Tanner wrapped his arms around me and pulled me out of the way.

  “Watch out!” he said, pulling me back under cover.

  It was not until we were under the safety of an awning that I knew why.

  It was a downpour of Savage body parts. Limbs, heads, torsos, and legs all dropped down. Remains of dozens, if not hundreds, of them.

  Tanner had blown his whistle for assistance, and by the time the other soldiers arrived, Tanner and I were standing in the silent aftermath of our bloody battle.

  38. Humbled

  Sarge made a comment that it was going to be a long morning, because we had our job cut out for us with cleanup. No other Savages came to our assigned area that night. In fact, Sarge moved me to another quadrant. It was quiet and peaceful the rest of the evening.

  The other soldiers and those on patrol tossed out compliments to me and Tanner about how ‘cool’ we were and congratulated us on the ‘good job’ of taking down so many Savages. Even Sarge handed out compliments.

  After the tedious task of washing the streets and bagging remains, I received word that Davis was waiting on me. I expected that when I met with Davis at the end of my shift I would be greeted with the same high praise. Instead, I was thrown off by his anger.

  Davis didn’t praise me, he scolded me.

  “What were you thinking, Vala?”

  My mind was stifled. I stumbled for words and was at a lack of response. “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know?” Davis roared. “Let me tell me what you were thinking. You weren’t thinking.”

  “I was.”

  “No, Vala, you weren’t.”

  “How can you say that?” I said angrily.

  “You killed… as we estimated, close to sixty of them.”

  I folded my arms. “Then tell me job well done.”

  “I will do no such thing. And you better lose that arrogance right now or, Mare or no Mare, we’ll continue without you.”

  I gasped. “Davis, what did I do that was so wrong?”

  “You didn’t think.”

  “I did. I wanted to kill them. I didn’t want them to flee.”

  “So I am to assume, in your mind, you thought about blowing up all the Savages if you just screamed?”

  I lowered my head. “No, I thought about killing them, but not with the scream.”

  “The scream did it.”

  “I know.”

  “Vala, you didn’t think when you screamed. You blasted them with emotions and lucked out. I’m not talking about lucking out and killing Savages, I’m talking about lucking out and not killing Tanner.”

  That was something I hadn’t even thought of.

  “As once stated in Superman, with great power comes great responsibility. You have a gift, but if you don’t learn to use it properly, you are useless. You can’t run it on emotions, you have to run it on skill.” He moved closer. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I was unable to draw upon the power to use the stick.”

  “Tanner said you struck out with your hands and it worked.”

  “Yes.”

  “And then…?”

  “They ran. They fled and I didn’t want them to flee, I wanted them to die. I got angry.”

  “So a temper tantrum killed them?”

  “I suppose.”

  “Vala,” Davis placed his hands on my arms, “if you told me that blast of destruction was intentional, I would scream for joy from the rooftops. However, it scares me that you did that.”

  “I’m sorry, Davis, I really am.”

  “It scared Tanner.”

  “I’ll apologize to him.”

  Davis placed his lips to my forehead. “With practice, you will learn to do that intentionally. I promise. Until then, please understand that I am going to have to put you in rural areas not often frequented by Savages.”

  “I understand.”

  “Now…” he moved back, “Sarge said you were looking for me earlier. Did you still want to talk?”

  I had almost forgotten. My eyes widened. I sought out my meal sack. “I think you can change your plan.”

  “What plan?”

  “The one to send the pregnant girl into Akana.”

  “Vala, we need to send her to be chosen. You need to tap into her to see the Ancient City.”

  I pulled the flower from the sack. “Here.”

  “Thank you. This is nice. As I was saying—”

  I giggled. “No, that’s not for you. It was to show you. I received it.”

  “Oh, you have an admirer. That’s very nice.”

  Davis didn’t understand and I guess I wasn’t clear. “No, I got that from Iry.”

  The smile dropped from his face. “The Sybaris educator.”

  “Yes. He came to me and pulled me from a dream.”

  “He pulled you?” Davis asked. “Like, he transported you himself?”

  “Yes.”

  “Vala, this isn’t good.”

  “You’re missing the point,” I said. “It is good. He gave that to me.”

  “This is disturbing. How does this change plans?”

  “Because Iry made an error by giving me that. That flower is from the city of the Ancients. He took me there. I have seen it. I’ve been there. And now... I can go back.”

  Davis glanced at the flower, the smile returning to his face.

  39. Advice from Marie

  What ha
ppened on my first real night of patrol stayed with me and hurt the productivity of my training. Not that it mattered. I was fast labeled the “Sybaris Repellent”, because if I was there, they never attempted to attack. For over a week, I went where they needed me, and walked a boring patrol. The only interaction I had with the Savage Sybaris were in the field training. It lacked the realism and tension of a real attack. That was the training I needed.

  Housing areas that were always hard hit needed only for me to show up one night and the Savages stayed away. I was defeating the purpose. There was no way to destroy them if they did not come close.

  To make matters worse, they started pairing me with the pregnant girl, Mindy. She was nice, but I didn’t understand why they had to send her. Why they had to risk her life and her baby’s life when I simply could work on getting to the Ancient City though transporting.

  Davis simply stated having someone there was best.

  Any gifts that I had were going to waste. I was becoming a pretty good grape picker.

  Marie sensed my depressed mood. She prepared a nice meal before I went on my evening patrol, which coincidentally was at Lyon Estates.

  I adored Marie. She was so kind and different than my mother.

  My mother. I don’t think a day went by where I wasn’t troubled by the thought over what I saw or worried for my sister.

  “Eat. You have a long night.”

  “This smells wonderful.”

  “It’s stew and biscuits.” She joined me at the table. “It's such a warm night and it will be a pleasure sleeping with the windows open for once.”

  My heart sank and I sighed. “Because I scare them.”

  “No, my dear.” She placed her hand on mine. “You protect us.”

  “I want to beat them. I want them all to go away and the only way that will happen is if we beat them into extinction.”

  “You’ll get there. They’re afraid of you today, but who knows what tomorrow brings? They may figure out you aren’t all that.”

  My mouth dropped open.

  “You know I am teasing you.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Why are you still down?”

  “Because I want to fight but… but ... I’m afraid of what I am capable of.”

  “I see.” Marie nodded. “Afraid of losing control again.”

  “Yes, and I can’t even practice that without a real attack. Thing is, I wasn’t focused that night. That was it. I know that was it.”

  “What happened?” Marie asked. “Why weren’t you focused?”

  “I was fighting with Tanner.”

  She crinkled her face with a confused look. “Why were you fighting? I thought you were friends?”

  “Were. We were friends. He gets me so mad.”

  “I think it’s because you like him.”

  “Oh, I don’t like him.”

  “What brought it on? What did he do? He’s typically a really nice boy.”

  I paused in eating and looked at her. “I don’t know why it got me so mad.”

  “What?”

  “I don’t understand why, Marie. I was transporting, I went to the beach and he was there with a girl, they were kissing. I felt this rage in my belly and wanted to scream.”

  Marie sat back. “You were jealous. Jealous, angry, probably hurt.”

  “I don’t understand why.”

  “Because you probably didn’t understand that you were becoming attracted to Tanner. You are still learning how to decipher feelings. You weren’t raised to recognize the signs of ‘liking’ someone. But you feel it and you feel it when they hurt you, whether intentional or not.”

  “Should I not be mad at him?”

  “Oh, I’d be pissed. He did seem to take an immediate liking to you. Then he’s off traipsing about with someone. Who’s the girl?”

  “I don’t know. Please don’t tell him.”

  She held up her hand. “I promise.”

  “So that feeling I get, the warm tummy flopping feeling I had when he looked at me... that need to smile, and my heart beating, that is all part of liking someone?”

  “That’s the beginnings. Just wait until you feel love. And you will. You will also feel that tummy flopping for someone else. I promise.”

  “You don’t think I’m being silly?”

  “You’re never silly,” Marie said. “Except when you laugh like ALF.”

  “Ha…ha-ha… ha.”

  She reached out and tapped my nose.

  “I want to feel that. I saw it on television. I want that,” I said.

  “That’s not silly, Vala.” She reached out and squeezed my hand. “That is human.”

  I stared with comfort into Marie’s warm eyes. We had gotten close in the short time I had grown to know her. I had never had a conversation with my mother like I did with Marie. We had honest conversations; I was glad she was in my life and hoped she stayed there for a very long time.

  40. Warning

  Working and farming the fields had to be done early in the morning. The weather was far too hot to be out in the elements, even with thin clothing.

  Mindy, the pregnant girl, suffered from the heat. Her face was red and, despite drinking water, she wasn’t cooling down. I worried because she was with child.

  I worried about her a lot. She would be leaving soon and I tried to convince them not to send her. I knew what happened to newborn babies, especially when they were male.

  I heard a sigh and looked over to Mindy. She was balancing the basket on her stomach and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. A purple stain smeared with her sweat.

  “Take a break,” I told her.

  “No, I’m fine.”

  “Go sit by Tanner, he is in the shade.”

  “Do you mind?”

  “No, not at all. And eat some grapes. Fruit is good for you.”

  Dirty as it was, she popped a grape in her mouth and headed off toward Tanner.

  I didn’t understand why he was suddenly in the vines with us. Tanner usually worked other fields. Maybe Marie was trying to get us to talk. I did speak to him, nothing more than a simple greeting, and I certainly didn’t share any more jokes with him.

  I moved slowly down the vine of grapes. It wasn’t easy work and it was tedious. I knew that portion of the vineyard would have to be cleared by the next day. I reached for a bundle of grapes and examine them. They looked ripe. They would be used for making wine. I couldn’t wait to stomp them. In fact, as I held the grapes, I started laughing because my mind flashed to Lucy and the winemaking episode.

  “Vala,” someone called softy.

  My heart jumped and I spun around.

  “Iry. What…?”

  “There you are. Do you know how hard you are to find?”

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, shifting my eyes around.

  “I’m not really here per say. I’m transporting, like you. Who on Earth did you give that flower to? I kept following it and every time I tried, I ended up in the room of some big man with graying hair and a guitar.”

  That made me laugh. “Davis.”

  “You just smiled.” Iry said. “I don’t think I’ve seen you smile much. You look beautiful.”

  I lowered my head.

  “This sun and training, it has done well for you. And… the lack of sleeves works, too.” He winked.

  My eyes widened. “Why are you here?”

  “I’m here to be serious. You said something the other night.”

  “What did I say?”

  “About your mother. Vala, she… this is going to be difficult to say, or to believe. She is… placing you for bid.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “That means she is giving assurance to many well-off Ancients that you are coming back and she will convince you on whom to go with. Nito has taken over. And in good faith exchange, your mother is giving her blood.”

  “Why would she do that? Why would she want to sell me out?”

  “I don’
t know. But there’s more. Nito has said enough is enough. I overheard her say she is sending a warning.”

  “To who? To me?”

  “For you,” Iry said. “She is going to force you to come back. To do so she is going to send a Stalker attack here.”

  “Stalkers don’t attack here.”

  Iry raised his eyebrows. “Leave, Vala. Come back on your own. Don’t let them come for you. Don’t let them warn you. It will only hurt these people you have grown to like. Don’t do that. Just leave.”

  “I can’t leave, Iry. And do what?”

  “Come back to Akana. You’re marked. Your passage is secure after the sea. Come back, and choose me.”

  I laughed in ridicule. “You’re lying. You’re doing this so I come back and you can choose me. You want me to believe Nito can scare me into coming back, then I return and still get a choice? How are her warnings valid?”

  “She’ll make sure you don’t walk through the gates of Akana.”

  “You said safe passage.”

  “That’s because I will provide it. I will come out and meet you.”

  “I can’t believe what you say. You are lying.”

  “No, Vala, I am not. Nito wants you back. She’ll send the Stalkers and then let you know it was her. She’ll keep sending them until everyone here is dead.”

  “No.”

  “Then she’ll go after your mother…”

  “No.”

  “Your sister.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “Believe me. With everything I am, this is not a lie. Leave now. Leave tomorrow. But leave before the warning. Reach out to me, I’ll meet you.” His head lowered. “Please.”

  “Iry…”

  “I have to go. That odd boy you like is coming and attempting to be heroic.” Iry sidestepped from in front of me.

  “Get away from her!” Tanner yelled as he raced across the fields.

  “Watch,” Iry said.

  Tanner raised his bow and fired without hesitation. The arrow sailed straight to and thru Iry.

  “See?” Iry smiled. “Think about it.” And then he faded.

  Out of breath, Tanner reached me. “Where’d he go?”