Numbers Ignite (29 page)

The next morning Selia Dunstrep stood uncertainly outside the bars, one hand rubbing her other arm. “I’m so sorry. I tried.”

“I know.”

“I’m sure the people know it wasn’t you,” she said. “Poor Rutner.”

“But the assembly members don’t, and they’re the ones who count.”

Her expression hardened. “In all my years in the circle, I never saw political maneuvering like this. I wonder what your father would have done right now.”

I’d wondered that myself, many times. He wouldn’t have gotten himself into this situation. He was too smart for that.

Selia looked at the floor. “Well, I’d better get back. They’ll be having the vote soon. I have a few more people to talk to before then. Whatever happens, just know that your clan believes in you, at the very least. You’ll die as Iron Belt Hawking’s son and no less.”

There was a stab of tightness in my throat. “Thank you, Selia. That means a lot to me.”

That evening, the guards escorted me out of my cell. Eight of them. They locked my wrists and chained my ankles, forcing me to shuffle awkwardly along the trail toward the group area above. Mills was taking no chances tonight.

The valley was filled with people again, all waiting for the vote to be announced. Their votes had been counted for the last four agonizing hours. They hadn’t allowed me a vote, of course.

Edyn was conspicuously absent.

They sat me in a chair at the opposite end of the front, my guards settled around me like a human cage. I started to stand, but a guard grabbed my injured arm and shoved me back into place. Pain lanced through my shoulder.

“As you know,” Mills began loudly, “there were three contestants for the position of governor. Our beloved Dean Rutner was murdered yesterday. Ultimately, the vote has now been cast between Vance Hawking, the convicted mass murderer, and myself. We will now announce the results of that vote.”

The head elder stood and handed a paper to Mills. He opened it and held it out in front of him. “The people have voted. They have decided that I will retain my position.”

A smattering of applause echoed across the gathering. It was nothing like the shouting and protesting at my trial. Nobody was surprised.

“Given the situation,” Mills said, “and considering that for the first time in history a convict has issued a challenge, I move that we sentence the convict now instead of tomorrow.” He smiled wryly. “It will save you all a trip.”

A few people chuckled. The assembly chairperson nodded her approval.

Mills spoke louder. “I now turn the floor over to the assembly.”

The spokeswoman stood. Her voice was shaky, but her frail frame held up proudly. “The convict and challenger, Vance Hawking, has been found guilty of grievous acts of murder and terrorism. He is a threat to the safety and unity of our people. He speaks of peace, but his actions display anything but. We had considered charging him with conspiracy to murder Dean Rutner as well, but as he has already been convicted of multiple other deaths, we feel it unnecessary. What is necessary, however, is to carry through on our responsibility as lawmakers.” She cleared her throat. “Vance Hawking, please stand.”

The guards grabbed my arms and yanked me up. I felt something in my shoulder tear.

“You are hereby sentenced to execution. Tomorrow morning, you will stand in front of the firing squad. Thank you all for coming.”

I almost cried with relief when I found the trail in the foothills. It was half covered in desert brush, and the gravel disguised how many people had passed here. But someone had left a note behind, a square cloth stabbed carefully onto a cactus. A symbol. Two squiggly lines with a square in the middle. A bird?

My weak stomach leaped inside. After a weeklong trek through the desert, rationing Coltrane’s food pills and water packets until my hunger became a constant hollow pain, I’d spent two more days scouring the foothills for a trail. Whatever this symbol meant, it was the first sign of humankind I’d seen in a long time. I tore off a piece of my sleeve and tucked it behind the cloth in case Coltrane’s settlement had decided to follow after all.

The trail sloped upward gradually, then became more steep. Tumbleweeds and cacti gave way to bushes and small trees. When I stopped that night, the valley behind me spread out like another world, brown and dead. NORA was out there somewhere, along with Dresden and Konnor and Commander Denoux. It felt like years ago.

I climbed the rest of the next day, spent the night shivering under a tree, and then walked all the following day. The trail wove through thick trees and heavy shade, and my journey became a blur of sage-green and brown. Though foggy, mind was constantly aware of leaves rustling in the wind and the never-ending ache in my sore leg. A few times I heard animals, but it didn’t worry me. I’d already survived a snakebite. If a larger animal decided to make me dinner, it wouldn’t get much more than a small, slowly-starving girl. Occasionally there would be a tree with the same squiggly picture I’d seen earlier, carved as if by a sharp rock.

And then the trail ended.

The meadow had once been full of long grass, but it had been trampled down. Empty food and water packets littered the ground, and a child’s shoe sat overturned near the edge. I picked it up and studied it. It was NORA-issued, a light tan, but the sole had been worn nearly through.

I followed the edge of the clearing, looking for the trail to pick up again. Whoever had camped here had obviously moved on. They had to be up higher—near the peak, maybe. Surely there was some sign of where they’d gone. I searched the trees for more symbols.

Nothing. No trail.

I sat on a rock and dug through my pack, hoping some nourishment would help me think. There was only one water packet left and an empty pill container.

I could do this. There had to be a river or stream up here somewhere, and there were plenty of animals. I’d eaten meat before. Of course, I hadn’t had to chase it down. Even if I knew what to do with a dead squirrel, there was no way I could catch one in my weakened state.

I slid off the rock and lay flat on the rocky soil, too exhausted to do anything else. My thoughts were like a dozen threads of different colors weaving together and then exploding into shards of memories. The mysterious, shadowy figures at the abandoned city and their strange boxes. The underground settlers and their peace pact. The orange flowers, crushed into pieces in my pocket. Had it all been for nothing?

That night, with the leaves rustling and forest animals scurrying around me, the nightmare changed. It took place at what remained of the palace in NORA, hundreds of bodies littering the ground like bent and seeping food packets. On the ground in front of me lay the empress, her body broken. Her mouth twisted into a smile. “You think you’ve won here, but you haven’t. Their lives were far better under my rule than they are now.”

“Dresden is smart,” I told her. “He won’t change what needs to be changed, but at least he knows what he’s doing.”

“And they’d be worse off with you in charge?” Tali snapped, standing next to me, beautiful and alive. She was standing now, her arms folded, a smirk on her face. She chuckled. “Treena, quit being so dramatic. You tried to help, and it didn’t work. So try
again.
”

“You don’t get it. I only hurt people.”

Ruby appeared. She looked younger, full of energy and life. “You’re a leader. It’s in your blood.”

Dresden appeared beside her, wearing his new emperor robes. “Please come back. Something big is coming, and we need you.”

“What’s coming?”

He looked directly into my eyes. “You already know.”

It came to me then. Those strange soldiers in the desert with their quiet aircraft and choppy language. They weren’t NORA soldiers trying to ambush the settlers, as Coltrane had thought. They were foreigners trying to conquer NORA.

And I’d left them exposed and unaware.

I looked at the group. With the exception of the empress, I loved all of them in their own way. And they believed in me, every single one.

If I tried again, I’d probably fail, maybe even make things worse. But if I quit now, there was no chance of them getting better, either.

I closed my eyes and clenched my fists, face turned to the sky. “I can’t do this alone.”

“You won’t be,” Tali said. “There are more people on your side than you know. Go now, before it’s too late.”

I startled awake and threw my arms over my face, rolling away from the source of the storm. A sudden wind picked up dirt, leaves, even rocks, and threw them toward me like a tempest. So loud. I stumbled to my feet and away before I realized it wasn’t a storm at all. It was a chopper.

It looked like a military model but was painted gray, the same color as the sky. I stepped farther back as the chopper began its landing sequence. It hovered a meter above the ground, then centimeters, then hit the ground. The door opened before the motor cut out, and a team of civilians leaped out, ducking to avoid the still-moving blades.

I sighed with relief. No uniforms. These had to be settlers. “Do you know where the settlers have gone? I came to join them, but…”
But I’ve changed my mind.
The realization settled into my chest. Sometime between last night and this morning, I’d decided to try again. As soon as I could gather the supplies, I’d return to NORA and warn them about the impending attack.

“No way,” a man said, slowing as he approached. He stopped in front of me, eyes wide. The rest of them circled me. “You guys, this is the runaway successor. The one who destroyed the palace.”