Chapter 64 Gedeon
GEDEON
The wheels crushed the withered branches adorning the road as Zion drove away, back into the maze of routes tangled with the city’s forest, the labyrinth as perilous as what we were about to do.
“It’s time.” Taking Kali’s hand, I led our group deeper into the forest, closer to the wide open, circular field surrounding Ilasall. The longer we walked, the more budding foliage caressed our shoulders, moss absorbed our steps, and dew rained on our shoulders.
But she held her chin up the entire trek, her sharp jaw resembling a razor. Resolve emanated from her pores, mixing with the scent of rotting vegetation invading the woods.
If not both her and Zion, at least I could protect her. As much as I detested having to send him away, we needed to cover all our bases.
Ilasall had many small gates, the size of double doors or so, serving as access points to the wall so thick crews of soldiers could march inside it.
But only three major gates existed. Their retractable barriers, as high as twenty-five feet, were wide enough for two trucks to pass side by side. Which also meant that the party that controlled these three points would also dictate the outcome of the war.
And to be featured in history books, you had to emerge a victor.
So I had no choice but to suck it up and send Zion to lead the assault from the north.
Ava, east, and Kali and I from the west. The southern part of the fifty-foot wall encircling the city boasted no large gates, diminishing our chances of getting as many people as we could into the city in mere minutes.
For now, I could only hope everyone was primed to go. That the people we had moved through the catacombs during the night had reached their destinations and rallied the citizens opposing the government. That all of them were prepared to lay down their lives today.
No radio contact limited our communication, but we could not risk the city breaking into our channels and ruining everything before we even began.
Trusting my teams to get the job done was all I could do.
Once the thicket thinned out and the concrete wall of Ilasall came into view, sparkles of faulty electrical wiring on top exposing the patrols, we came to a halt.
I didn’t need to glimpse behind me to feel the mass of thousands at my back. As countless legs leaped over the gnarled roots, the forest itself held its breath.
“Here.” Locating the weight in my front pocket, I offered what could be considered a weapon to Kali. “With this, your fists will inflict more damage.”
She took the knuckles from me, the metal smooth and shiny. Yet not a glint bounced off the steel despite the night ebbing away. The sky, as drab as the morning Kali had stabbed me, bathed us in microscopic water droplets. As if nature was aware of our plans, a fog had been called.
Tentacles of mist swirled around our ankles, slithered under our clothes, raised the tiny hairs, coaxed me to check if my semi-automatic handgun was in functional order for the last time.
Stuffing the firearm back into the holster strapped to my upper thigh, I told her, “Keep them on your non-dominant hand at all times.” Otherwise, the metal could affect her aim when she used her own gun.
Mute, she slipped the knuckles on and tested the toy by flexing her fingers. Adjusted her grip. Twirled her hand. Removed and put the wearable weapon back on. Tested it again, too focused to notice our people spreading out, melting into the murkiness, taking their positions around us.
“Kali.” Covering her fist, I pushed it to her side. A droplet of dew dripped off an oak leaf, drenching her eyebrow. “It’s okay to be afraid.” Gods knew I dreaded any outcome where she or Zion ended up in a funeral fire.
Shifting from one foot to another, she ignored the squelching sounds the muddy forest floor emitted.
“No, it’s not.” She gestured to the sea of bodies ready to fight to the death for a chance to dismantle Ilasall’s government.
“Half of them are terrified. But they still stand. They look up to us, Gedeon. Zion and you have learned how to operate without trepidation, but the rest? Fear is knocking at their minds. They know not all will see tomorrow. So they turn to us—to lead them into battle. Me included.”
She tugged the sleeve of her dark green shirt up to her elbow.
The ink, as dark as the deepest hours of the night, twined around her forearm, a depiction of three lush vines tangled around a knife.
“I have the tattoo, don’t I? I’m supposed to know what I’m doing.
What I’m walking into. What’s going to happen.
I can’t let our people down. I can’t show hesitation or doubt.
Or lack of resolve. So, no, it’s not okay for me to be afraid. ”
“It is okay,” I pressed, trying to drill the point into her. “You are fierce, little death, but even the strongest break.” Like how I was going to break the Head of Ilasall, the man who Sadira and Ryder had worked out likely to be—
It didn’t matter. It wasn’t like that discovery would ever change the deal I had made with Kali. I had promised Peter’s death belonged to her, and I never went back on my word.
Stepping into her, I cradled her head, careful not to pluck out any strands carefully tucked into a high bun.
“As long as you keep your chin high and march forward, everyone will follow you. They are not going to balk at you for displaying signs of apprehension. The opposite—it will help them relate to you. And that sense of unity, of the bond formed out of knowing you may never hold someone in your arms again, is what will inspire them to cover your back, take the bullet aimed at you, and do whatever it is necessary for their families and friends to wake up the following day and then the one after that. Having you stand beside them is enough, because that’s all we’ve got—each other. ”
As her hands came to rest on my chest, she scrunched up my shirt, like she did any time doubts warred with logic inside her.
Paying no heed to the neckline digging into my nape, I savored the heat of her palms. “Four months ago, I would have chained you to protect you.” A chuckle rumbled out of me. “Now I know better.”
Like how beautiful she looked with a deadly weapon propped against her shoulder.
“But this?” I placed my hand on top of one of hers. “My pulse is racing because I’m petrified. For you. For Zion. For our people. Only I don’t hide it and never will.” I scanned the tight-lipped smiles our army gave to their comrades. “It’s why they chose to come here today.”
She caressed the old gunshot scar below my collarbone. “Okay.”
“Okay?” I pulled her sleeve down to her wrist to conceal her tattoo. If the city’s military considered her as a fellow for even a minute, convincing her to wear the outfit would be worth it.
“Yes.” Kali cracked her knuckles, the release of air similar to a song of bullets. “Let’s do this.”
I cleared my throat to ensure my voice boomed across the ocean of bodies surrounding us. “Gather up.”
The disquiet permeating the atmosphere lifted. Ears perked up. Feet stomped. Crunches of dried branches, rustles of leaves, and swishes of clothing marked the beginning of war.
“Oh, shit.” Standing beside us, Jayla doubled over. “Cramp, cramp, cramp.”
Kali jumped to our friend. “What? What is it?
“I think my period just started.” Even the freckles adorning Jayla’s skin seemed to lose all color.
Faint footfalls betrayed Sadira elbowing her way to us. Her soft features wrinkled as she frowned at Jayla. “Are you sure it’s not just nerves?”
“I’m not anxious.” Jayla clutched her stomach, her yellow sweater out of place in an ocean of dark outfits.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. This was going to take a while.
Resigning to a short delay, I leaned against a maple tree. “Your forehead is shiny.”
“And you look like you’re about to vomit,” Sadira added as she tied the multitude of her thin ebony braids into a low ponytail.
“Well, thank you for the compliments.” Glaring, Jayla rubbed her lower abdomen. “It’s not like it’s you who will have to fight with the floodgates of hell open between your legs.”
Ryder popped up beside me. “Is your period really that bad?” he asked, tousling his tight caramel curls. They bounced around his shoulders, wild and untamed.
At this point, I doubted they had ever been touched by a hair tie. Apparently, war or not, his hair needed to breathe.
“Imagine someone stuffing their hand into your guts and squeezing and kneading and squishing everything that’s inside. Non-stop. For hours on end.” Jayla scowled at her crotch. “Give it fifteen minutes, and my thighs will be soaked. Thank the gods my pants are black.”
Ryder winced, the prospect of fighting in pain an unfamiliar concept to him. We had protected him as much as we could, identical to Sadira. Tech people were hard to come by, but today, we had to throw everything we had at Ilasall.
The splintered bark snagged on my shirt as I crossed my ankles. “You didn’t know your period would start today?”
Kali threw her arms in the air. “We’re not clocks, Gedeon.”
Her attempt to kill me with her glower curled my lips upward.
“I swear, our uteruses can detect the worst occasions possible,” Jayla seethed. “Like when you go to the seaside—your period will arrive earlier or later, specifically to ruin your day at the beach.”
Sadira clapped Ryder’s shoulder. “Imagine if your balls would shrivel up any time you went near Greyn. That’s what periods are—a curse of nature.”
My fists clenched to avoid cupping my groin. Based on Ryder’s expression, I wasn’t the only one cringing at the notion of losing my balls.
“Greyn?” Ryder’s eyes bugged out, like a cornered animal. Blood abandoned his cheeks, as if the rising fog was consuming the planes of his face.
Sadira sighed. “Yes, we know about you two. Get over it,” she said, then twisted on her heel, marching back to her spot in the fifth row, where she and Ryder had set up camp to disable the city’s gates remotely.
“If we are done with…all that.” I pushed off the maple tree. “Then get back in line. People are waiting.”
“I wish dicks bled as well,” Jayla groused as she stalked back to her place at the front, five yards before the treeline and the wide open, circular field leading to Ilasall.
A mist danced above the blanket of grass like a thick cloud, obscuring the shape of the city, the west gates ahead looming like a manifestation of oppression.
In less than an hour, the sun was going to emerge on the horizon, but for now, gloom had tucked us under its wing.
According to our intel, this early, an unusually low number of soldiers guarded the gates and trudged atop the wall, dutifully making their rounds.
Kali’s idea of poisoning the military’s water supply had worked.
Only a third of their armed forces had shown up, the majority too ill to arise from their beds.
Unfortunately, it also meant part of our contacts, our friends who had infiltrated Ilasall’s army, had succumbed to the destruction of the poison.
But war and collateral damage were inextricable. Winning without sacrifice was an impossibility.
It was living your life with the knowledge the undesired deaths had occurred by your order that slowly killed you in the end.
I checked the watch on my wrist. The scratched-up glass blurred the clock hands pushing forward, but it couldn’t hide the truth: we had thirty-eight seconds left until showtime.
Thirty-seven.
I nudged Kali with a hand on her lower back, her spine ramrod straight. “Ready?”
Thirty-four.
She gave a curt nod, her resolve not wavering from what lay before us—the future.
Twenty-nine.
We stepped out of the treeline and into the exposed field. Nature's wetness coating the grass slickened the rubber soles of our boots, threatening to snatch our balance.
Twenty-four.
I raised my arm high for all to see. A gust of wind twirled between my fingers, attacking, retreating, probing what it had come into contact with.
Twenty-one.
My chest deflated as I narrowed my focus to fall solely on the enemy.
Seventeen.
I took a deep breath. Humidity wafted up my nostrils, invading my bloodstream, the mist a drug of steadiness to me.
Thirteen.
I exhaled the last bit of tension tightening my shoulders.
Nine.
My next inhale built a wall of ice between my brain and heart, separating my feelings and reasoning.
Five.
War was all about precision. Emotions could cost lives in battle.
You had to fold them into neat circles, no loose edges or corners, stack the rings on top of each other and then crumple the cylinder into a ball.
Once done, all that remained was to file the surface until its smoothness reflected the light instead of absorbing it, and then shove it down, so deep into the recesses of your being you could not locate your emotions anymore, not even after the fight was over.
You had to detach yourself entirely.
One.
Together, with my last exhale, I dropped my arm.