Chapter 70
Allie
The ground shook as the civilians stomped their feet, cries now hoarse from demanding revenge.
The candles had been replaced with torches, blazing in the darkness like they wanted to light up the night on fire.
The warriors, freshly returned from the brutal war, stood between the civilians and the fortress, stoic and unrelenting.
But their faces contorted as the shouts kept growing. Aunts, grandfathers, and friends roared in their faces.
Asking them to fall back.
Screaming that they weren’t on their side.
“These warriors risked their lives for them.” I fisted and unfisted my palms, the effects of the truth serum lessened, but not totally gone from my veins. “If that isn’t being on their side, I don’t know what is.”
“People who don’t see the horrors others have to face will never understand.” Dax tsked. “They just see their own pain. Nothing else matters.”
I shook my head. “I ache for them, I do. But this isn’t right.”
The turmoil billowed, gaining momentum.
The crowd pushed against the warriors who were reluctant to push back.
I clenched my jaw, feeling Ryker’s composure crack in the dungeons. I didn’t know what was worse, him facing Nadya after all she’d done or me watching this unruly gathering hungry for blood.
Even hers.
“They’re not being totally unreasonable,” Dax muttered. He’d been holding onto the dagger strapped to his belt since we’d returned. “Nadya needs to pay for what she’s done.”
“And she will,” I said with absolute conviction. “But spitting at their own people to get inside the fortress isn’t helping anybody.”
More cries.
More shoves.
Krynn fell to the ground, no arm to soften the drop.
I rushed out the doors before I realized what I was doing, my power surging forward.
“Enough!” I splayed my hands to the sides, a great blue light spearing and quieting the night. Only when shocked silence remained did I allow them to fall to my sides. “Help him up.”
“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Krynn said as the two warriors closest to him helped him. He staggered back on his feet, still unbalanced.
“What were you planning on doing, trampling him to death?” I asked, my voice echoing in the stillness.
“We deserve justice!” one of the braver voices shouted, followed by a chorus of agreement from those who hadn’t had the balls to speak up first. Always easier to be a follower, wasn’t it?
“And you will get it,” I said. “But not by attacking your own. These warriors have risked their lives to protect you and this is how you repay them?”
“Give us the girl, then!”
More shouted in agreement, lifting their torches high.
“Nadya will face your laws for what she has done.” I licked my lips and sighed. “I know nothing–absolutely nothing–can make up for you losing your children. But she will be tried and you will get your chance to see justice fulfilled.”
“How do we know you’re not just hiding her?” another tear-soaked voice cried out.
I clenched my jaw. “Has the Commander ever failed you? Has there been one single person in this entire city who hasn’t been treated fairly? Ever?”
I got only grumbles as a reply.
“Then why are you so scared this situation won’t be as just?” I asked. “Spirits are high right now, I understand–”
“Things are changing! We now have to live next to the trolls!” another voice bellowed. This one didn’t sound pained or vengeful–they hadn’t lost a child, they just wanted an opportunity to scream their grievances, emboldened by the situation.
I swallowed my groan.
Not again with the trolls. “What do they have to do with anything?”
Said trolls were keeping to themselves right now and staying as far away from this chaos as possible. Smarter than us selfish people.
“You brought them here and forced us–”
“Forced you to what, exactly?” The anger which had barely bubbled to the surface when I drank the truth serum was now on the brink of spilling over. “How have your lives changed with them here?”
More mutters, disgruntled but incoherent.
“They shouldn’t be here!”
“But they are,” I said. “And they have done nothing to you. They faced the soldiers at the rim for you. And this is how you repay them?”
The murmurs lessened, but didn't vanish.
“Once we secure Solkar’s Reach, they will return to their own homes. If you had been attacked, you would have wanted them to help you in your day of need.”
“No, we wouldn’t–”
“Don’t lie.” The blue tendrils twisted around my wrists. “Every being in this world would do just about anything to survive–perhaps even swallow their pride and stop believing in grim tales.”
Shocked whispers began to brew in the gathering. I doubted anyone had spoken to them so plainly in their lives. Treating them with gloved hands wouldn’t help us. Not right now.
Dax was right.
I needed to show the part of the leader, not just play it behind the scenes.
The Blood Brotherhood respected power. Visible, tangible power.
“The crater’s changing!” another voice, this time more powerful. “We all see it!”
“Is it,” I said. “And we can stand together and face it or try to tear each other down in the meantime.”
“But–”
“This crater–” I said pointedly. “Has protected you. You have been safe for generations, without a care in the world, until the plague. Even after, you managed to rebuild. It must have been hard, to have to live on after your younglings were taken away, in ways I cannot imagine.”
The crowd still murmured, still bitter.
“How would you know?” a bold voice resounded. “You’ve only been here a few months.”
I could have reminded them of my own losses.
Pain was universal, after all. And none of them had woken up without their family or Clan in a foreign land.
But they indeed only saw their own problems.
“Yet I still risked my life to protect yours,” I said.
Silence.
“She did.” Ryker stepped next to me, as stoic as ever. “Like the warriors you’re shouting at. Like me. So you could sleep better at night. And I don’t regret it. It’s my duty and I will keep doing it, as long as you allow me to.”
His voice thundered through the night.
“I am treating her the same way I would any of you, if you had committed her crimes. Her trial will be fair,” he said gravely. “It brings me no joy, I admit, but it must be done.”
He took my hand in his, gaze never leaving the crowd.
We stood together in front of so much animosity, some fair, most not, facing all of the city.
“The Huntress speaks the truth,” he went on. “We managed to rise after the plague. That does not mean the deaths we’d endured will be forgotten. But we found the strength to go on and we will again. And I was there to witness it. Guide you through it.”
His grip on my hand hardened.
“So now I ask you, why are you so eager to destroy that balance we have worked so hard for?” he asked.
“This is what Nadya wanted. To unbalance us. To sow dissension and make this crater more vulnerable to attacks. Why are you letting her win? Your fury, which is earned and shall be avenged, only rewards her if you act on it now. We don’t become what we hate. ”
More silence.
“I will not lie–troubling times are coming.” He tilted his chin up. “We need to stand together against our true enemies or crumble under our own fear. Just as I led the Blood Brotherhood army, I will lead you to victory when the time comes.”
Just as a sigh of relief bubbled in my throat, Ryker went on, shocking me and the crowd.
“If you don’t believe me, you are free to leave.
The Capital will receive you with open arms, though I’d caution against joining any of the Northern Clans.
We know very well how they operate and I’d hate for any of you to be used as cannon fodder. ”
I inhaled sharply, pressing against that wall of energy between us. His caressed mine back, but didn’t give any hint of what truly bubbled underneath the surface other than a restlessness that felt so strange on him.
The civilians gasped in surprise, watching him with wide eyes.
“No takers?” he asked coldly. “Anyone else want to take the mantle of Commander and go to war or face the Northern Clans?”
Only stunned silence followed.
“Thought so.” He narrowed his gaze, unflinching. “If you don’t want to believe or follow, you’re free to leave. If you stay, let me do my duty. Now go home, mourn your lost loved ones. Let them go to our ancestors in peace, not chaos.”