Balance (The Neumarian Chronicles) (30 page)

Is
Ryder okay?

I’m
fine,
Ryder answered
. Dirt’s okay, too. I’m headed back now.

Good
. We can’t afford to be separated
.

Overhead, a
loud pop drew our attention. Blue mist covered the city, settling on the streets.

Men and women
collapsed to their knees then toppled over as they passed out. Soldiers, vagrants, council members, Neumarian slaves, and civilians alike lay, carpeting the streets with their bodies.

Top of third building from the end of the south side street
. Penton’s voice sounded in my mind.

I stepped over several bodies and headed south
, down Main.

Mask on,
Penton met us at the second alleyway.

“N-nice of you to join us.”

He smiled. “Good to see you, too, sweetheart.”

Above the blue mist, explosions from M
andesa’s airships lit the sky as they battled the Wasteland creatures.

I spotted Ma
ndesa where Father said she’d be and yelled, “Give up, Mandesa. You’ve lost. Your ships can’t help us. They’re fighting for their lives. And I’ll melt any assassin that comes close.”

Her
hideous, bone-chilling laugh echoed through the streets. She stepped out onto the ridgeline of the roof and jumped to the center of the street ahead. The blue mist already clearing, she tossed her mask aside.

Behind me, I heard people rousing. They deserved to learn the truth.
Father, tie me into the citywide audio system.

Done
.

Smiling,
I slid my mask from my face and clicked it to my belt, never taking my eyes off her. “You’ve already lost. You just don’t realize it yet.”

“Do y
ou truly believe that by sabotaging one weapon you’ve defeated me? Neumarians,” she snorted as she flipped her hair over her shoulder. You don’t have the stomach for a real war. This is nothing. When I win, this small hic-cup won’t even be remembered. No, I have a better idea. I’ll write about how I saved our planet from slaughter by the Neumarians when you turned a peace conference into a second Great War.” A sickening grin spread across her face.

“
This conversation is meaningless.” Head held high, I strode toward her. “I’m not a weak child anymore, and I know the truth, all of it, including how you murdered your sister, my mother,” I said. “Oh, and you should know, I’m responsible for the capture of your general.”

“Where is he?” she snarled.

Snickering, I returned, “What? Ridgecroft didn’t tell you? Oh, that’s right. He thought the general escaped the Arc when we were attacked. He didn’t. After the terrorist bombing, we put the general on trial. The jury found him guilty and sentenced him to death. It was carried out immediately.”

Her screech
could have shattered windows.

“I look forward to taking you down personally.”

With his mask attached to his belt, Ryder joined me and threaded our fingers together. “We’ll do it together.”

“
Forgive my manners, Auntie. Allow me to introduce you to my husband.”

“You’ll pay for today and the insult of marrying that creature,” she said with a
dismissive flick of her hand.

“You
don’t control me and never did. I am the daughter of Neumarian General Bellator and Lanena Valderak Bellator, Seer to the World.”

“
You were their daughter. Today, you die. And with your death, your father will wither into nothing as he did when I ripped you away from him the first time. That pathetic man actually wept and begged for your return.” She paused, and taking in the square and streets feeding into it. “You think you’ve won, that I’m surrounded? Ha. You know nothing.” She pulled a plastic device, resembling a tamer, from her sleeve.

Instinctively,
I raised my hand to claw at my chest, then stopped. My eyes narrowed on the device. “Get back! Run! Hide!”

“
I see you’ve heard I turned you into a weapon. You’ve also heard I have nukes,” she said, her skeletal grin declaring
I own you
. “That’s all you ever were to me. A weapon first against your mother, then your father and that engine rat. Now, I’ll use you against your husband.”

Ryder shot a
silver stream as I pulled energy from the metal around me and shot flames at her. It sputtered out as a green flash hit our gifts.

“The girl
. She’s still active,” I said, keeping my tone mild.

“Of course she is. She’s the rightful heir to my throne. Although, I’m never going to die, so she’ll
function as a pawn until I transplant my mind into her body.” She moved her thumb to the button.

I tried once more to blast her
metal leg into slag, but the green barrier blocked my abilities.

“It’s time for all of you to die.”
A green field surrounded her body in an aura.

“Down!”
Raeth yelled as sand descended over the city. It pelted Mandesa, buffing her to a high shine.

Ryder and I worked to take her
out of the equation.

But t
he shield was too strong for any one of us.

I looked at him. “I love you.”

Linking hands, we stood together, waiting for Mandesa to release me as a weapon that killed everyone I loved.

He tipped my chin so I
would face him. “I love you, too. If I leave this existence first, know I’ll be waiting for you to join me, dancing on the edge of that lake of yours.”

Chapter Thirty-
Five

I confirmed we were alone. The civilians had taken refuge
from Raeth’s wave of sand in the surrounding buildings. Smiling, I sauntered up to the edge of the green shield. While she coveted immortality and had used science to clone herself, she’d already lost. She stood, trapped in her rotting body. No she cared too much about living to sacrifice herself. All these years I’d lived in fear, but today I saw her for what she was, a coward.

Knowing my army was coming, I continued to maintain eye contact.
“Why destroy such a weapon as me?”

Shaking her head, Ma
ndesa tut-tutted. “Silly girl, I don’t need you. You’ve been replaced with a younger, better version. One I can transplant myself into.”

I met her grin. “So, I’m the nuke you claim to have.”

“Yes.”

“
You’re lying. While at the Arc, I underwent many examinations. Besides, if I had metal inside me, I’d know. My gift, remember?”

She fingered her device. “Really?”

Ryder wrapped his arms around me and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “If it weren’t for the child, that shield wouldn’t protect her from me, let alone a nuke. Time she met her fate and judgment of the afterlife.”

Her
sickly smile thinned to a line of orange painted lips. The device, clutched in a death grip, remained pointed at my chest. “Whether there’s a nuke inside
your wife
is irrelevant. She’s a weapon none the less.”

“No, I’m not. My mother warned me from the grave that I was a weapon or a savior.” In that moment I realized what she me
ant. My love could be a tool or a weapon used against me. Fear of loss crippled people, but embracing our fate was powerful. “I choose savior.”

Fire licked at my shoulder, as if my Neumarian mark longed to release it in vengeance of a
ll my ancestors she’d murdered.

She lifted her chin and shouted,
“Release the army!”

A fast clicking sound
, followed by stomping and tapping, catapulted us into fight mode. Ryder placed his back to mine and I scanned the area. Thousands of small creatures, resembling spiderats, skittered along the sides of buildings. People covered half in metal half in skin, swarmed from the alleyways.

“You like my pets? They
’re former friends of yours. Most of them are from the Mining Territory.”

Turning,
Ryder’s arm brushed by my ears. He blasted silver energy at the shield. It ricocheted off, striking and killing some of the grotesque monstrosities.

A rebellion
ship roared low overhead, fragmenting the green shield. It performed a roll. As it ascended, another plane did a fly-by, blowing her cyborg creations into pieces.

“It doesn’t stop there.” She pressed the button
.

W
e froze, moving only our eyes as we waited for her next revolting creation to be unleashed upon us.

“You’re not the only one
who communicates with animals.” She clicked the hand-held device and a sermechtapede shot into the air, arched, and dove toward the street. We scattered. Ryder fired.

Stop. No
! A loud squealing raged in my mind. “The device!”

Make stop
, the sermechtapede begged, its voice slithering through me. Yet, it continued its descent.

“The device, it’s driving them mad. Destroy it before they kill us all
!” I screamed, holding my head. Unable to handle the splitting pain, I disconnected from my implant.

Penton and Raeth joined us. He and
Ryder sandwiched us between their backs. Kneeling, they fired repeatedly at Mandesa’s creations and the Wasteland creatures.

The sermechtapede opened it
s mouth as it extended its pincers. Its razor teeth closed on Ryder’s gun arm. It amputated and swallowed it.

Screaming,
Ryder crumpled to the ground, blood spurting from the remainder of his bicep. As I dropped to his side, Penton continued firing at the creature. If we didn’t get help soon, we wouldn’t have to worry about my being a stealth weapon. The Triune would be inside the sermechtapede.

Over my head,
several explosions boomed. The sermechtepede that had taken Ryder’s arm exploded. Glancing up, I saw Mags standing behind me, her heavy caliber weapon smoking.

Cupping my hand over the stump, I tried to cauterize it. Nothing.
Where was that child? Why hadn’t Father or Dred neutralized her, or failing that, locked a slave collar around her scrawny neck?

Penton ripped his vest off
and tossed it to me. “Use this and apply pressure to slow the bleeding.”

I
wrapped it around the remainder of Ryder’s arm and, with Raeth’s help, pressed on the gaping injury. Watching Ryder’s skin whiten, I shot a killing glare at Mandesa. “If I survive this, you’re dead.”

Before she could respond, the flapping of
billowing sails announced the Scavengers’ arrival. Their ships looked like old sailing vessels, except they flew—fast. Barbed wire ringed the deck. Dred stood in the center of the quarterdeck, shouting orders. Side hatches flipped open. The barrels of cannons and other long range, heavy caliber weapons thrust out of the openings and rained fire. Each shot hit Mining Territory creations and Wasteland creatures. Pieces of their decimated bodies smashed down on us.

Terrified screeches and squeals filled the air. Spiderats scurried back to the Wasteland. S
ermechtapedes tore through the streets then plunged into the earth, racing home. The few remaining cyborg-like creations milled around in confusion.

My gift flared, searing Ryder’s skin of his opened wound into a closed stump. He howled and held his arm tight to his chest.

As Dred’s ship continued to pound anything that neared us, I pointed to the emerald shield surrounding Mandesa.

He concentrated heavy fire at t
he shield. It shimmered and thinned, but a moment later it regained strength. With a wave, Dred tossed a rope over the side and rappelled onto the roof of the council building somewhere behind Mandesa. The moment he landed, Dred’s ship tacked and followed the fleeing creatures, concentrating its firepower on the sand, forcing the beasts from the city.

Terrified I’d lose Ryder, I couldn’t concentrate on the battle. Leaning over him, my nose almost touched his. “You’re bleeding out, Ryder. If that kid isn’t blocking your abilities, why haven’t you healed yourself?”

“Can’t grow back arm. If I seal it, can’t reattach.”

The pain drilling through my skull each time Mandes
a directed one of her little creatures to do her bidding, made me want to throttle Ryder. “It’s being digested inside the sermechtapede. You aren’t getting it back. Don’t you dare leave me over a stupid arm! You’ve got another one.” I looked up at Penton, tears washing my face.

His brow creased.
“Ryder, snap out of it. I’ll make you a new arm, like Raeth’s leg. It’ll be perfect. And if Mandesa can make a clone, I can make a replacement arm.”

“
Please, Ryder. W-we need you,” Raeth sobbed.

Eyes closed,
Ryder sealed all the blood vessels and arteries, then skin covered the opening.

Penton
grabbed one of my weapons from me and blasted a cyborg-like creature that had either gotten brave or was obeying Mandesa’s orders.

At the same time, I spotted the
SB-06.
It plummeted in a spiral, disappearing from sight. A moment later, a column of smoke rose over the eastern edge of the city. I prayed Fallon lived.

Seeing several of the
cyborg creatures slip past the queen, I climbed to my feet. Taking hope from Ryder’s healing and that Dred had finally found the hell child, I reached for my gift. Energy seeped into me. Sighing, I focused on the approaching menace and released my gift. Molten metal hardened, incasing them.

At
Ryder’s cough, I helped him roll onto his side.

Holding
his left hand out in front of him, he drained the life out of four advancing cyborgs.

Marty, Mod
s, Dirt, and Tinker returned from the alley and zig-zagged toward us. Just as they arrived, one of the few remaining spiderats clicked closer. From the rear, assassins completed boxing us in.

Marty shouted orders and t
he guards quartered the area. Before I could tap into my gift, one of the spiderats jumped onto him. Using a knife, he stabbed it. As he knocked it away, another landed on his shoulder. Its stinger pierced his neck. Green venom surged through his veins. His mouth fell open in a silent scream.

Helpless, I watched a florescent
spider web of death cover the skin of his face and his body. A second later, he dropped lifeless in the street.

“I’ll finally get t
o watch the precious Triune die,” Mandesa cackled.

Shaking with anger, my gaze met Raeth’s and
Ryder’s. A tsunami of sand swirled around the emerald shield, waiting to pummel Mandesa.

“
That scavenger monster might be able to overpower her ability to block your gifts, but you’re pathetic curse won’t break this shield.” Mandesa sneered. “I have the most powerful Neumarian that’s ever walked this Earth. No one can break her. I should know. I made her.”

Raeth smiled.

“Yes, yes,” I snarled. “We know. She’s your clone. But together, as the Triune, nothing can stand against us.”

The emerald shield rippled then w
inked out of existence. “No!” Mandesa shrieked at the same time a grinning Dred trotted up to us.

“Blocked the
wee girl’s power and general slapped a slave collar on her.”

Raeth grabbed my hand
as I clasped Ryder’s remaining one. Our powers merged. Whipping through our bodies, metallic flavors merged with sandy grit and melded with the stench of decay. Energy flooded us. My implant sparked. A supernova of light, energy, and flames soared and swirled around us, yet it didn’t burn.

Spiderats, assassins, hunters, and Ma
ndesa’s cyborg creatures fled. She tried to escape, but couldn’t move. Her mouth opened, but in the roar of the Triune’s power, I couldn’t hear her.

Without a stutter or hint of hesitation, Raeth sp
oke. “The Triune unleashes the power you have sought for so many years. I buried it so deep I couldn’t speak. I retreated into my own world to control it. You created the Triune. Your actions gave me this power. Power I share with these loved ones.” Raeth’s soft voice was just above a whisper, yet it spread to everyone in the city. It was as if she’d linked with the city’s audio system. Clear speech, confidence, and power welled within her and us. We three merged into an existence of pure love and determination, of freedom and equality. We each wanted what the others craved—an end to death and destruction.

Mandesa’s metal-enhanced body sagged and
shrank in on itself. Her face aged.

I blinked
. For a split second, a sad, lonely, frightened little girl stood there, her silver-blond hair reaching to the small of her back. Blinking again, Mandesa’s body turned to molten metal, but instead of the metal hardening, it turned into a whirlwind of black ash that a gust of wind caught, propelling it out to sea.

Hands still linked,
Ryder twisted to my right, Raeth to my left, while I stared straight ahead. Our power increased exponentially. Like a dervish, the light of a sun going supernova pulsed as it orbited us. Each tendril of power I could feel, taste, touch, hear…know.