Aegis Rising (42 page)

“Why are you doing this?” Kody shouted to Hutar.

The building grew quiet as Hutar fixed his gaze on the other boy. It was obvious to see the abhorrence that was simmering within him as he looked at Kody. “Because,” he said, “you do not belong here. There is no plausible way a ragtag group of
outsiders
are to be the ones to fulfill
our
prophecy. Handing you a right that could have only been for our people is blasphemy. It is taking away our traditions.”

Jag, struggling for air, wheezed out, “It’s not our fault your Elders think we’re the ones.”

“Hah! The Elders know nothing. They are old and flawed. Their minds are clouded with desperation for a savior, a miracle. They will take any coincidence and make use of it as much as they can. Senile, that is what they are. Senile, and therefore unreliable. A new group of Elders must come to get rid of these current incapable ones.”

The five were stunned into silence by the contempt in Hutar’s voice. Tegan stammered, “But they’re your Elders! Everyone trusts them!”

“They follow the old ones blindly. They do not think for themselves. They do not realize that the Elders’ old age is affecting their decision-making and is slowly corrupting the villagers’ thoughts and poisoning our traditions. The people have two eyes, but they cannot see.”

Kody was baffled. “The Elders are always thinking about what is best for the people. They’re caring. They look out for you guys.”

“Look out?” Hutar roared and lunged forward at Kody, delivering a right uppercut. Kody, caught by surprise, stumbled back against the wall and slid down. Hutar towered over him, nostrils flared, fists balled. “They killed off my family. I only ever knew my father and uncle. They were the only people I had in my entire life. When Tayoka could have saved my father, he refused.” He paused, his eyes distant. “Of that four-man expedition the Elders sent out, my uncle did not return.” He struck Kody in the stomach with his foot and the other boy rolled onto his side, shocked by the blow. “They killed the only people that ever mattered to me,” he said, choked with grief and anger. “They need to be gotten rid of, just like you pests.”

Jag, trying to worm his way out from the chokehold, was held down firmly by another youth who’d caught the boy’s attempt to free himself. Short of breath, he managed to voice out, “What do you mean, ‘be gotten rid of’?”

Hutar looked over at him, a disturbing smile slowly transforming his features. “We have poisoned the Elders’ personal water supply,” he responded, almost gleefully. “All they will have to do is take one drink and they will soon be choking out their last breath.”

With the bombshell dropped, the five stared at Hutar in horror. Their mouths opened, but there were no words to describe their outraged thoughts.

“I have spoken enough,” Hutar said. “Relsuc!”

One of the youths looked at Hutar and was addressed by his leader in their language. Relsuc grinned nastily and stepped toward Jag, unsheathing a knife from his belt. Jag started thrashing but the youth who was holding him in the chokehold was steady and didn’t let him slip away. Jag glared at Relsuc. Relsuc fingered his blade, testing its edge, then sprang at Jag.

Out of nowhere, a heavy clay mug hurtled across the room and crashed into Relsuc’s wrist, the force of the impact causing the mug to shatter into a thousand pieces. Relsuc screamed, dropping his knife, and clutched his wrist. His hand hung limp and he fell to his knees, sputtering curses.

Those who saw it happen were stunned into silence. At the other end of the room, Aari slowly turned to look at Mariah. She wore a cross look on her face but there was a smugness that gave away what she’d just done.

Kody, who’d been left unguarded after Hutar had kicked him, saw his opportunity and dove for Relsuc’s knife. He grabbed it and rolled toward the youth holding Jag. He raised the knife as he got to his feet. “Let him go,” he thundered furiously. The youth looked at Kody, distracted for a second, and Jag found his chance. He twisted out of the youth’s grip and, in a fluid motion, delivered a roundhouse kick to his head. The training he had been undergoing had truly fortified his speed and strength. The impact knocked the youth back against one of the others, who held him. He hung his head, dazed and unsteady. Jag quickly retreated with a back somersault to the bar counter and crouched, hands on the edge, ready to spring into action again.

Aari, realizing everyone’s attention was focused on Jag, jammed his elbow backward into Aesròn with all his might. He heard the youth gasp out heavily. Aari reached back, wrapped his arms around Aesròn’s neck and flipped him over his shoulder. The youth crashed down on his back in front of Aari and Mariah. He lay there, winded.

Mariah, thinking quickly, focused on the two burning torches beside them and forced them to tip over onto Aesròn. A guttural cry was torn from the youth as the oil spilled onto his chest and the fire spread over him. He rolled around, howling in torment and fright as the fire spread to his upper body.

Seizing a chance, Mariah threw the glass door open and almost chucked Aari out onto the deck. “Go! Warn the Elders about their water!” she yelled before jumping away from the torches and Aesròn as he tried to grab her, even with his clothes on fire.

The village youths all watched Aesròn in flames, shock apparent on their faces. Matikè, who had stood rooted to the ground at what had just happened, broke out of her daze. She hurriedly grabbed a large container of drinking water and ran to Aesròn. As she dumped the water onto him, the oil and fire spread off Aesròn and onto the floor. Part of his face was blackened and his hair was mostly burnt off. His shirt was holed and smoldering.

The friends, minus Aari, gazed around at the faces of the youths. The natives’ shocked expression twisted into one of pure vehemence. The youth who had exchanged blows with Jag earlier looked at Jag, who was still perched on the countertop. He bellowed and flew toward him. Jag braced himself and waited until the very last moment before rolling away. The youth was too far into his trajectory to change course and landed on the hot stone grill. He let out a cry of pain as he felt his palms and chest sizzle and his skin burn. He rolled off the grill, flailing, and landed roughly on his side.

Hutar missed that entire scene, transfixed as he was on Aesròn as Matikè tried to tend to him. Aesròn had grown to be Hutar’s right-hand man. They were nearly alike; the way they thought, the way they carried themselves, the way they were usually undefeated. Seeing him downed was almost as if Hutar was seeing himself go down. The thought infuriated him. He looked past his two comrades and over at the fire that was beginning to spread to where Mariah was standing at the side of the hall.

“Witch,” he hissed. He saw Tegan trying to make her way over to Mariah but a youth grabbed her hair and pulled her down to the ground. Hutar looked back at Mariah and saw her standing still, focusing. He couldn’t afford another one of her tricks and tore toward her, leaping over Tegan and her captor on the floor. Tegan saw him coming and, with perfect timing, kicked up her legs from where she was pinned to the ground. Her action sent Hutar hurtling off his course as he crashed into Mariah. Mariah tried to scrabble away but Hutar managed to grab her feet and yanked her down.

Jag, who was crouched on the counter, saw Mariah in Hutar’s grasp. In one bound he took off like a coiled spring and landed on Hutar, trying to wrestle him away from his friend.

While that was happening, Matikè pulled Aesròn away from the fire that was now burning toward the rug where the youths had been playing music earlier. The flames quickly jumped onto the wall and crept toward the log beams that held up the roof.

Matikè dragged Aesròn to safety beside Relsuc, who was still clutching his broken wrist near the front door. She looked around, seeing the four outsiders. She paused. There were supposed to be five. Then she realized that the glass door to the deck had been left unguarded. Barking at the other girl to follow her, she grabbed the bow and quiver that she’d stashed behind the bar and sprinted past the fire and through the open glass door to give chase to Aari.

Aari was racing like he never had before. “Gotta get to the Elders, gotta get to the Elders,” he muttered, driving himself forward.
At least no one’s following me.
Almost as if on cue, something whizzed past him, so close that he was sure it had nearly nicked his right ear. In a delayed reaction he stopped and ducked, then looked behind him. He could just make out two female forms running toward him. He knew he was being hunted and quickly bent double, making a run for the bridge leading to the other side of the village. The moon darted in and out of the thick clouds, casting a dim, gloomy light around him. Aari wished he was Jag, who was endowed with the power of speed, agility and strength. Though he could sense the marvelous physical training working to his benefit now, the two phantoms on his tail were relentless.

In the old community hall, Relsuc, Aesròn, and the youth who had been badly burned on the hot stone grill were sitting out the fight, much as it pained them to do so. The youth on whom Jag had landed a kick to the face had battled to remain conscious and won in the end. He was now trying to wrestle Kody to the ground. Kody was still holding Relsuc’s hunting knife and was jabbing it at the villager to keep him away, saying “poke-poke-poke” with every jab and infuriating the youth.

Tegan managed to free herself from her captor after crashing a knee into his groin, causing him to limp away from her in retreat.

Jag had succeeded in pulling Hutar away from Mariah, but Hutar wouldn’t let him win. With Hutar still pinned to the ground and Jag holding on to him from behind, the villager took a breath, coiling himself tight as the muscles in his arms rippled in preparation. He then pushed up with such force that he sprang vertically and left the ground with Jag still hanging on to his back. They crashed into a log beam above them, smashing Jag’s back. Jag’s grip on Hutar immediately loosened. Hutar landed on his feet and watched with satisfaction as Jag came crashing down to the floor and lay unmoving.

At the other side of the village, Aari was beginning to get lightheaded from running flat out as he shot past the gathering square, past the greenhouse and past the stable. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the two girls chasing after him. From their fast-paced, steady gait they didn’t look anywhere near as tired as he was.

Another arrow whipped past Aari and he saw it bury itself deeply into a tree several yards ahead of him. At that point he decided it was best to duck between the trees instead of remaining on the straight path. He continued running until he saw the shapes of the
neyra
in the Elders’ cluster.
Almost th—

Something wrapped around his left ankle and he stumbled. “Oof!” He tried to shake free but saw that there were two spherical weights holding him down.
A bola!
he realized, panicking. It was the instrument that some of the people used to tangle up the legs of prey. It had only wrapped around one leg, though. As Aari got to his feet and started a limping run, one of his pursuers grabbed the back of his shirt but couldn’t get a firm grip. He writhed away from her, hearing a frustrated hiss from the huntress behind him, and ran as fast as he could with the weight of the bola around his ankle. As the trees cleared he could see the Elders just walking into their
neyra
. “Wait!” he yelled, not sure if they could hear him.

The two phantoms chasing him came to a halt and looked at each other. They knew they couldn’t catch Aari now without getting caught. Reaching a silent agreement, they turned and fled; not back toward the old community hall to warn their friends, but to sneak back into their shelters and pretend they were never a part of anything.

Aari saw Tikina just about to close her door and, with his legs on fire and hardly a breath left in him, charged to the door before it closed and shoved it inward. He tumbled into the shelter to see a very surprised Tikina looking at him. “Don’t drink the water! Don’t drink it!” he rasped before collapsing onto the floor, barely able to breathe.

Tikina dropped down beside him and called for Nageau. “Why should we not drink our water?” she asked, helping Aari sit up.

“There’s poison . . . in . . . in the water,” he panted, worsening the light-headedness. He tried to swallow but his mouth was too dry. “. . .  In every single one of the Elders’
neyra
.”

Tikina looked at her mate in alarm. Nageau looked back, then went to a secluded corner of the shelter. From there, he sent out a telepathic blast to the other Elders that stopped them immediately in their tracks. As he told his companions about the water, Tikina pressed Aari. “What is going on?”

“Old community hall . . . Hutar . . . he tried to poison our drinks.” Aari could barely form coherent words. “There’s a fight happening there . . . I don’t know how the others are holding up . . .” He closed his eyes and collapsed back down from exhaustion.

In the community hall, Kody was keeping the youth he was tangling with at bay as he continued jabbing the knife forward.
Stalemate
, he thought. He needed to gain leverage. He chanced a quick look around and saw Mariah by herself standing against a wall, catching her breath. “Mariah!” he yelled. “Help!”

She looked up. When she saw him, she pushed herself away from the wall. Focusing on a chair that had fallen on its side, she willed it to move. The chair began to shake and the wobbling motion quickly grew. Then in the blink of an eye the chair launched itself across the room. But rather than hitting the youth, it nearly smashed into Kody. The chair shattered against the wall behind him, leaving her friend to stare at her in disbelief.

“Are you kidding me?” Kody roared. She shrugged apologetically. He stabbed the knife forward again as the youth tried to duck around to his other side. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a motion and turned to look. Hutar was running at Mariah from behind, with a knife in his hand larger and deadlier than the one Kody was holding—and she didn’t know the threat was fast approaching.