Chapter 45 #2
A crack exploded inside the ring, and this time the fight was over. Vega landed what would have been the killing blow. Arlet’s mirage faded away as Vega pressed one of the tips of Arlet’s swallow—her double-edged sword—over her heart.
Vega twisted the handle and held it outstretched for Arlet to take as she helped her best friend up.
Bridger made sure neither Meyer nor Khort were going to jump at each other the second he moved out of the way and hit the button to bring the shield down. It fell like someone had popped a bubble.
“You bitch!” Arlet said with a laugh, wiping the water from Vega’s storm out of her eyes. “How did you do that?”
Vega threw her head back, laughing like that was the most fun she’d had in years. “I can see through your mirage when I’m in your head.” Vega hugged Arlet, pulling her back to inspect her for injuries.
Bridger let them have their moment, but he didn’t miss the way Khort watched every move Vega made—the way his eyes longed for her to look his way.
“Meyer, we need Ardor. All of Ardor. We have to claim something Marlena can’t have. A place to set up the rebellion, to house the people who flee. A place for the people in the mines to recover. If your parents are going to stay with Marlena, they can go be with her in Aeris.”
Through an almost locked jaw, Meyer said, “I get it when you say it like that, but when Scales over here starts talking, nothing but a bunch of bullshit spews out.”
“Getting along for fifteen minutes was too hard?” Arlet asked, her hands resting on her hips as the girls approached, soaked from head to toe like they’d survived a tornado. Vega pushed her wet hair off her forehead, raising a brow at Bridger.
The shield Bridger had slid around himself, Khort, and Meyer extended to let Vega and Arlet in, but no one else. The rest of the room was silent around them, despite the training facility buzzing with early morning activity.
“Toddlers. Everyone keeps acting like toddlers.” He grumbled his annoyance.
Vega smiled softly, rolling her eyes. She was healing quickly, her split lip barely swollen.
“Fine. We take Ardor,” Meyer agreed with a grumble, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Do you think the people in the mines are going to be on our side just because we set them free?” Khort asked, actually bringing up a great point. “No offense, but I can imagine you’re not one of their favorites.”
Bridger had sentenced a few people to the fates of the mines…
It was either that or death—some would call his decision merciful.
“I think with the right person there to lead them, they’ll remember who the real enemy is,” Bridger answered, having already thought this through.
“Leo,” Khort said with a surety Bridger was glad he had.
“Leo,” he agreed. “A person for them to follow. The one who escaped back to save them.”
Everyone needs a martyr.
Bridger had learned a lot about what people wanted and what they needed over the course of his time as commander of Tolevarre. People wanted something to fight for and to believe in… no matter what side of the line they lay on.
People believed Marlena would keep them safe. So they stayed.
Others saw through her facade and got out as fast as they could because they believed in a different type of world.
But the one thing above all else was that the people of Tolevarre wanted to feel seen, to know they weren’t forgotten.
The people, the criminals, deemed so by Marlena, who were locked away to mine coal to fuel Tolevarre’s richest and most powerful, were going to fight—Bridger had to make sure they were fighting for the right side, not becoming another problem they had to fix.
“We need bodies in this war.” Bridger held a hand out, stopping Khort from arguing what he knew he was going to: These are people, not bodies!
“And their lives are no less important than all the others we are going to lose. The people in the mines are some of the strongest fire-wielders and metallurgists ever. We don’t want to have them as a separate enemy, but leading an army isn’t easy, Khort.
You have to make decisions based on the overall likelihood you’re going to win.
You have to make decisions based on the fact people are going to die and you can’t control who it’s going to be or when.
” Bridger didn’t feel fear when it came to leading armies.
He knew what happened in wars. His entire existence was based around leading people into them…
but there was one life he was set on saving over all others—and it went against everything he’d been bred to believe.
I will save her. “You have to stop thinking you can save everyone, or you’ll lose the war. ”
Vega said nothing, but he could read the look on her face, knew why her lips were pulled to the side in a tiny smile. She was proud of him.
The calculated monster he’d had to become didn’t scare her.
“You all understand that, right?” His gaze grazed over the group of people standing around. “We can’t control fate. We can’t control who we lose.”
Meyer included—Bridger couldn’t ensure he’d live… Meyer knew too, but he was still standing by Bridger, ready to fight against the entire sanctum he’d been taught to defend.
“Understood,” Khort said, not looking happy about it.
Bridger could feel he got it, at the very least.
“We need to act fast. Marlena has probably already thought of the mines at this point. Look how quickly she snatched the shifters up, swooping in to play savior one minute, only to betray them the next.” Vega added.
Marlena could curse another set of people, forcing them to follow against their will. Knowing Vega could take the gods and their powers from Marlena made it hard to argue against using them.
Bridger was more concerned with what holding the gods inside for too long would do to Vega. If it was this bad at two… Bridger couldn’t imagine what was in store as that number grew.
Vega deserved a chance to enjoy the world she fought for.
And Bridger was set on making that happen.
With the piece of knowledge he’d obtained this morning in the bathroom with Vega, he might have an upper hand he hadn’t expected to have.
“Tomorrow. We waste no time. Get our groups ready, strategize, and we move out early morning.” He scanned the circle one last time. “Anyone opposed?” He waited for Khort, because if it was going to be anyone, it’d surely be him.
To Bridger’s surprise, he said nothing, only shook his head. “Good. Now, back to this morning’s agenda. Train… and then we tell Leo.” Bridger let the shield down, and the rattle of weights, echoing voices, and sounds of the facility returned.
“Okay, so who’s next?” Vega asked, raising that scarred brow of hers. She wiggled both at Meyer, always ready to toy with him.
Bridger chuckled, the rumble deep in his throat. “Me.”
Sparring with Vega was like returning to a dance he hadn’t done in years.
Sure, they’d battled and spent plenty of time trying to kill each other over the course of the last forty years, but it was different stepping into a ring with someone when the outcome wasn’t the other’s death—when it was to test how well they knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses, Vega and Bridger excelled.
“Hi,” Vega purred, rolling her shoulders as they settled on opposite sides of the mat.
“Hello, Kitten. Are you ready to play?” he responded, cracking his neck with the cock of his head to each side.
The shield locked into place, making the outside world disappear.
It was just Vega and Bridger… and he was ready to see how much she’d paid attention. He extended his hand, and Vega took it, never breaking eye contact.
She let Death come to play, nibbling at his fingers like a playful pet.
Clouds rolled around them, forming like they had with Arlet. The vapor clung to Bridger like a cloak, making him feel wet all over.
“Born ready.” She let go of his hand.
For every strike Bridger threw, Vega blocked. It went blow for blow for a while, both of them taunting the other with a move they’d already seen coming.
What turned the tides for Bridger’s win, though, was his new ability to wield Vega’s electricity as a weapon… to be able to force her lightning into a sword.
Though she’d seen it happen a few times before, Bridger using it against her threw her off, and he was able to land what would have been a killing blow.
He swung the electric sword over his wrist and held it out, the tip hovering over Vega’s heart.
“You know better than to let a surprise throw you off.” Bridger scolded lightly, letting go of her power.
The lightning traveled back down his leg and slithered across the floor until it found Vega, disappearing inside her.
“If you fight every battle with one of those, I think you’ll shock people to death and won’t even need to draw blood.” Vega shook her head with a light chuckle.
The rest of the day flew by.
Bridger had Khort and Arlet pinned next in under three minutes. They’d never been able to read Bridger like Vega had, but the best thing that had come out of today was the bonded learning they could also wield Vega's power.
When in shifter form, Khort could pull bolts of lightning from the sky like his own fire and Arlet could manipulate them to strike where she wanted.
They were all truly connected.
Everyone’s mood lifted after training, seemingly moving on from the terror of their morning. But it was still at the forefront of Bridger’s mind while he went about his day…
While he’d technically deserted his official title as commander of Tolevarre, he knew things needed to be documented for years to come.
When people looked back on this part of Tolevarre’s history, Bridger knew how important it would be for them to have firsthand accounts of every detail transpiring during these times.
He mulled over a leather bound book unrelated to what he’d spent most of the day doing, telling himself the light research was to give his mind a break.