Chapter 88
Eighty-Eight
Ayla
The sun was just lighting the sky when I saw the entrance to Lorsa. Holly had already caught back up - and earned herself a ride in the cart for all the running she'd just done. Pepper had kept pace beside the horses, along with a few other dogs, including Xav's Demon.
And Chlo didn't slow the cart at all.
On empty streets, we raced into town. I saw our house on the right, but in the distance, there was a gigantic plume of smoke rising into the air. When we passed Saveah's house, I saw the front door was open, and my heart began to race.
"Zasen?" I begged, not sure what he could tell me to make this feeling stop.
"Go to City Hall," Zasen told Chlo. "All of us!"
Chlo let out a sharp whistle, then gestured in a weird wave, but the cart kept going. Unfortunately, the further into town we got, the worse things looked. A few of the canopies in the market had been torn and pulled down. I saw bodies on the side streets, and too few of them wore black.
When we reached City Hall, charred siding still smoked. Empty water buckets had been discarded around the area. I didn't see flames, and the plume was a pale grey color, but still billowing.
Around the building, dozens, maybe hundreds, of people stood.
They all looked exhausted, filthy, and tattered.
Wounds were visible, but so was grime, yet everyone was looking the same way - at some sort of disturbance.
People were flailing like they were angry.
Chlo stopped the cart, but Zasen, Rymar, Kanik, and I hopped over the sides, refusing to wait for the back to be lowered.
Holly followed me, and Pepper dragged herself to my side, proving she was exhausted yet still wouldn't leave me.
And people were screaming. Arms were in the air, looking like they wanted to hit, but only pointed instead. Some shoved. Others shoved back.
"Enough!" Jerlis roared. "I told you they would come."
People turned, realizing we were here, and like a sea in the Bible, they all parted. There, Jerlis, Drozel, and Omden stood around Sylis as if protecting him. The man's face had blood splattered across it, and Lessa was right behind them, looking almost as disheveled.
"We're too late?" I asked.
"Ayla!"
The sound of Tamin's voice cut through the crowd, and the boy rushed at me in a streak of teal and black, not slowing until he slammed into me, hugging me as hard as he could.
"Hey..." Zasen said, crouching down to his level. "It's over now."
"Mama's gone," he whimpered.
Everything stopped. It was as if the world held its breath for a moment when those words sank in. My skin shivered as the fear and horror of the child's simple statement destroyed all the expectations I'd had.
"I need to know exactly what happened!" Zasen demanded, standing and turning to the crowd.
Saveah was gone? The Moles had taken her? Had she sacrificed herself for her children? Was she even alive, or had they killed her? No, they wouldn't do that to a perfectly good blonde, pale-skinned woman, would they?
So for now, I was going to believe she was alive. Just like our mother, they'd taken her to quarantine, but Saveah would know what to expect. She'd be ready. She would understand how and when to resist, and when to cooperate.
She also had to believe I wouldn't leave her there.
Because I had the code. Tobias had just given me the code.
More than that, he'd given me the formula for the code!
It was all based around a date, so every door down there must follow the same pattern.
2063. April 4th, 2063. That date meant I could save my sister before they did to her what they'd done to our mother!
But Tamin didn't need to know any of that. My nephew only cared that he was scared and alone. "I'm here," I whispered to him, hugging him as hard as I could. "You're okay, Tamin. I've got you and you're okay."
"But Mama..."
There was no way to make that better, so I simply cradled his head against my stomach, making sure he didn't need to feel alone.
It was Drozel who finally answered Zasen. "Around four this morning, screams woke me up. How the fuck did they get past you, Zasen?"
"They split their forces," he said. "Tobias alerted us so we could capture the smaller one, and he said they were coming, but they were supposed to hit tonight. They always come at sundown."
"Not this time," Omden grumbled.
"Shit," Kanik breathed. "They're learning."
"They're desperate!" Rymar said, moving forward. "And what's the problem here?"
"That Mole..." someone sneered, pointing at Sylis.
"He fought for us!" Drozel yelled. "Us! That's Mole blood on him."
"I don't want their kind!" another called out.
"Then leave," Rymar said, turning to the voice. "This is Lorsa. This is our home, and we are not Moles. We don't pick and choose people because they look like us - or remove them because they don't. We do not torture, or hunt people, or kidnap women! We are a place of laws!"
He turned to the other side. "And I know this was bad." He paused, glancing back. "They took my family this time. My sister-in-law!" And he pulled in a hard breath. "But they forgot one thing."
He marched to Jerlis, and the pair shared a look. Jerlis nodded and stepped back, letting Rymar take control of this. I got the impression it was because whatever Jerlis had been doing? It wasn't working.
So Rymar turned to Sylis, dropping a hand on the man's shoulder. "What did you do when they came?"
"Drozel said to stay inside and guard the women," Sylis explained in English - then he stopped and tried again in Vestrian.
"Drozel say to stay inside. I was to protect the women.
Da lady came with the child, and we had to go after him, so I protected the women.
" Then he stood taller. "And I killed them.
They want me dead because I am not like them. "
"How?" Rymar asked. "What makes you not a Mole, Sylis?"
I swore the man looked proud. "I have friends. Drozel. Omden. Meri. Lessa. They are my friends, and I don't care if that's not done. I don't care if I shouldn't be friends with a woman. That is the Mole way, and me Dragon now!"
"Not yet," Rymar said.
"I dunno," Jerlis countered. "I think we should let Boris decide, but if the Scribes agree, then this man should be a Dragon, because he is not a Mole!"
"I am not!" Sylis yelled. "I kiss men. I do not eat Dragons! I will never take women, and women should be free! Moles would kill me for that. Moles would make me pain. Dragon? Dragons make me a man instead!"
"Close enough," Rymar agreed. "Where the Moles would call him an abomination, we call him a man.
Just a man, and we offer something they can't understand.
" He turned again, making sure he addressed everyone in the crowd.
"We are the not the villains. This? This hurts, and we will fight back, but we will never become like them, do you hear me? "
And the crowd mumbled.
"Do you hear me?!" Rymar roared.
"Yes!" they called back this time.
But there was one question no one had answered yet. "Did they capture women or just take bodies?" I called out.
And from the side, a woman replied, "I saw them struggling with a woman."
"Me too!" another said.
A man added, "They were putting manacles on them and taking them past the fields."
"What fields?" I asked, looking at Kanik.
Instead of answering me, he stepped forward. "The west side?"
"They came from the west," Drozel said. "Through the mountain pass."
"Fuck!" Zasen snarled. "They went all the way around us. Now they know it's there."
"But that's a problem for another time," Rymar said before he nodded toward Jerlis. Then he turned to look at me. "Because we finally know how to get in there."
"I'm going," I said, refusing to lift my voice.
"What?" Kanik asked, whipping his head around to gape at me.
It wasn't that he hadn't heard me, but rather he didn't believe his own ears. Those two little words were bigger than most of these people realized, but Kanik? He understood what I was saying.
"Ayla, you can't go back. You know what they'll do to you."
"I don't care." Gently, I caressed the back of Tamin's head. "Tobias is being held at the Reaper's camp, right?"
"He is," Kanik agreed.
I nodded, thinking quickly. "I know the code. I can do this."
"Not here," Zasen hissed like he was trying to convince me not to talk about this.
"Then where?" I asked. "Should I keep it a secret that we finally have the one thing we need to finish them? Should I hide the fact that there's actually hope to save the people taken tonight? Should I pretend like I'm completely okay with getting here late? Zasen, they took my sister!"
"And you aren't thinking straight yet!" Zasen shot back.
"She is," Rymar said.
"I am," I agreed.
Kanik reached down to palm the back of Tamin's head. "She's also right."
Rymar thrust out an arm at me. "And our Phoenix is going to rise. She's going to burn. We know how to get in, and do you know what that means?" he asked the crowd.
I did, so I said, "It means we can save our loved ones. That comes first, and I know exactly how to do it. They made a big mistake when they took my sister."
"No," Rymar said. "They made their big mistake when they let you leave.
You did this, Ayla. You're the one who made us realize that our strength?
It comes from the Reapers who rode with us.
It's from the Moles who have come here for a better life.
More than all of that?" He made his way toward me.
"They fucked up bad when they thought you women were worthless. "
I nodded, deciding I liked that, then called out, "I am going to save my sister!" My words were for everyone here. "And then I'm going to make them all pay."
"And we're going to help," Rymar promised.
The crowd murmured in agreement.
"Say it again," Rymar whispered to me.
So I said a little stronger. "I'm going to make them pay!"
"Louder," he encouraged.
"I am going to make them pay!" I yelled.
"Only two things rise after death," he said softly. "Messiahs and phoenixes. I happen to prefer the second, but I bet you can use the first, because they will pay, Ayla. I'm not going to lose anyone else."
"Will you help me?"
He clasped the side of my neck, those beautiful turquoise eyes holding mine. "I'll hold Zasen down so he won't stop you."
"And then?" I asked.
"You know what to do," he assured me. "You always do, Ayla. That's how we've made it this far."
"But this is different," I said softly, not wanting this crowd to hear my fear.
He bent his head so his brow pressed against mine.
"Ayla, the prettiest things have thorns.
That's why we didn't initially trust you.
It's a truth Dragons have always known, but Moles need to learn.
Poisonous things have bright colors. Roses have thorns.
Pretty things have a way to protect themselves. So do you. It's time to use it."
"I just want Mama," Tamin mumbled against my stomach.
"Me too," I said. "Me too, Tamin, but that isn't going to be easy."
"Yet the hardest things are the ones worth doing," Rymar reminded me. "You save them, we'll save you, and together, we'll find a way to finally save Lorsa for good."