The War for Mare (The Fall of Man Book 3) (3 page)

“No, not really. Come with me.” He grabbed
my hand and pulled me with him.

“Where are we going?” I asked. “Where are
you taking me?”

“To get answers.”

Iry moved with determination, stopping
before a gentleman wearing a golden suit and sipping wine. The
gentleman was scholarly looking and oddly large for an Ancient.

“Yaku,” Iry said to him. “Do you have a
moment?”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Please, come with me.” Iry then led me into
the hall outside the celebration room.

I pulled my hand away. “Iry, what is going
on?”

“You’re bleeding.”

Suddenly, it struck me and I gasped. “Oh,
you want to steal some?”

“Yeah, Vala, right away. I’ll just lick it
off the sleeve of your dress. Give me a break.” He turned his head,
disgusted.

Yaku stepped into the hall. “What’s going
on?”

“I need you to take a look at her wrist,”
Iry said.

“Is he a medicine man?” I questioned.

“No, a seer,” Iry answered. He lifted my arm
and pulled back my sleeve for Yaku to view.

“It’s seeping. Get me a moist cloth,” he
said.

Iry raced off. I said nothing to the
‘seer’.

Iry returned and handed him the cloth.
Gently, the seer cleaned the blood away. After he did, he looked at
Iry.

“Would it be the sister?” Iry asked. “Isn’t
she far too young? Instincts to do this would not have kicked
in.”

The seer shook his head. “These are throng
marks. Notice the distance between both marks. They aren’t healing,
which tells me it is a throng.”

“That’s a very ancient means,” Iry said. “An
elder?”

“Just because the means are ancient, doesn’t
mean it’s an elder, merely someone who got their hands on one. They
are available. Many use them for their private house—”

“Stop,” I said. “What are you talking about?
What is a throng?”

“It is a tiny box, no bigger than your
little finger,” Iry explained. “It’s made of gold. At the bottom
are two needles that, when inserted, create a suction.”

Yaku added, “It collects just enough, and
the potion placed on the needles keeps the wound open for
ease.”

“Ease of what?” I asked.

“Ease in taking your blood on a regular
basis,” Iry said.

I grabbed the cloth and covered my wrist.
“Who would do that?”

“You are a Mare,” Iry answered. “Anyone
would want to. We just need to figure out who.”

I felt violated and vulnerable. Being a
strong female, it wasn’t something I was used to. It was an insane
thought. Was someone sneaking into my room and stealing my
blood?

“We say nothing,” Yaku stated. “Keep this
between us.”

“Why?” Iry asked.

“Because the blood of the Mare isn’t a one
dose wonder. Whoever did this, knows this, and intends to keep the
wound open to get more. They are counting on her ignorance and
yours. Just wait and trap them, because they’ll be back for
more.”

Snake called
himself a tourist, although I wasn’t really sure what that meant.
Another one of those terms that were around before I was old enough
to know what it meant. I learned a lot of them in our stroll.

He said a tourist is someone who visits
different places to look around.

What was the point in that? Aside from
terms, I learned that people did a lot of strange things for no
good reason.

Like walking.

What the heck? How big was the City of the
Ancients? Nine miles? And that wasn’t including what Snake called
Down Town, although one of the Civies overheard us and said that
was where a lot of the human housemen lived and to go there at our
own risk.

That made me curious.

We walked, nine miles up a concrete road and
back down again. My shoes nearly melted, and that wasn’t an
exaggeration. We didn’t go in any of the buildings. We did see a
volcano; it wasn’t real. I think the best reaction from Snake was
when he saw the triangular building. He laughed and said it
figured. A pyramid.

The pyramid building was sandwiched between
the princess castle and the place they told us we could stay. I
hated to admit it, but it was pretty awesome. Like being somewhere
far away, a beach resort that only existed in pictures at the
museum. A place in the world that was never touched by war or
plague.

By the time we made our way back to the
king’s palace, I had consumed two of the fruit beverages. Snake was
right, the drinks gave me courage.

“I think we should take them up on their
offer,” Snake said. “Stay another day or two before we head
back.”

“So you can be a tourist?” I asked.

“That, and see what all we have to take on.
We’re here, Tanner. We are in the City of the Ancients. We didn’t
know where this place was and now we do. Which means there is no
reason for Vala to stay.”

“So we can take her?”

“If she wants to go.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Look around.” Snake held out his hand.
“This place is clean, beautiful, and buzzing with life. Nothing
like Angeles City or the Straits. Would you leave here?”

“It’s not what I imagined,” I admitted.

“Me either. I kind of thought the Ancients
would live dark and sinister.”

“I thought it would be sandy.”

Snake looked at me curiously.

“Seriously. The pyramids, their past...”

“Well they did return to the desert,” Snake
said. “They hate large bodies of water. Funny considering…”

“What?”

“Holy crap.” Snake smacked himself in the
head. “Holy crap!”

“What!”

“The city has power. You’ll see tonight. It
gets its power from the Hoover Dam.”

“Alright.”

“A dam, bright boy, is a huge concrete wall
that holds back a huge body of water. They live one explosion away
from being flooded into oblivion.”

“This place could be flooded?”

“Well, not flooded, but the pressure of the
water would crush them."

“So we can win the war against the Ancients
without losing a human life. Why don’t we blow this dam up
now?”

“Because it’s not that simple, and there are
people here, lots of humans. We don’t want to risk their lives.
Flooding the Ancients will come after we remove the Savages. That
is our bigger threat. These people aren’t.”

“How can you say that?”

“They live in comfort. They like the
pampered life. More than just flooding them must occur, we just
have to starve them. To do that, history must repeat itself.”

“How do we do that?”

“Get Vala to be what she is supposed to be.
She is the new Moses, and we will have her lead the people out of
this place. Then maybe we’ll flood it.”

“Maybe?”

“Maybe. This could very well be a great new
home. For now.” He peered ahead. “Right now we have a party to get
to, Vala to speak with, and more drinks to be had. We shouldn't
dawdle.”

He placed a firm hand on my back and we
started walking toward the palace. The fruit drinks had calmed me,
and it was time to face Vala again. Only this time more
rational.

If the leader Davis
had been an Ancient, I would have guessed him to be a mature four
thousand years old. It took a little over a hundred Earth years for
an Ancient to show a year’s worth of aging. An Ancient could be
either born or made. On Earth, many Ancients raised human children,
watching them grow up much faster, and then turned them when they
reached an age of maturity, and never before.

Unlike Ancients, once a human was turned,
they did not age. Ever. Turning them before maturity cursed them or
damned them to live in youth.

However, there was a way out, and it was one
of the reasons I felt my punishment was far too harsh. Just as
easily as my father banished me, he could return the child to her
human form if she didn’t die in the turning process. Vala’s sister
didn’t. I supposed keeping her that way, as a child, kept the Mare
with them. He should have been thanking me.

So until that time I could earn my return
passage to the City I was stuck with peasants.

None of them dressed in attire that was
presentable. They were only mildly clean, which was unnerving. The
people of Hopeland spoiled my vision of what humans were like
outside the Straits.

When I returned to power, Hopeland would be
my pet secret. Burt would be my main houseman. Although, Davis was
strikingly handsome for a human. As pleasing to the eye as he
appeared, I quickly learned he was a ruthless leader, a tyrant who
commanded his way. Once I arrived in Angeles City, to my surprise,
he told another man with regards to me, “Give me a second to get
things situated then bring her in to me.”

After he left, I asked the man, “Why are you
taking me to him?”

“He needs to know whether or not to bunker
you.”

I wasn’t familiar with the term, ‘bunker’,
but I was certain, knowing human men, it wasn’t a pleasant
experience. In fact, I was convinced that he wanted me alone to
have his way with me. Even with an aging human appearance,
according to Burt, I was desirable.

Being led to the chambers of Davis worried
me some, but I would stay firm. He was seated behind a desk when I
walked in, and held out his hand, pointing to a chair. “Have a
seat.”

I sat apprehensively.

“You know why I wanted to see you, right?”
he asked.

“I think so.”

“Good. This will be easier as long as you
fully cooperate. It will be done quickly.”

I gasped.

“What’s wrong?”

“I know what you want from me.”

“And how is that a bad thing?”

“Arrogance does not become you.”

“How is getting all I can from you
arrogant?”

“You
would
think that.”

“Excuse me?”

“No, I will not.”

He tossed up his writing utensil. “What am I
missing?”

“Manners.”

“You want me to ask you for it. I am.”

“No, you are not. You are demanding. It
shouldn’t be an option.”

“Look, toots,” he said, “It’s not an option.
Either you give it to me, or you don’t. Everyone goes through this
process.”

“Even men?”

“Men, women, doesn’t matter. Everyone has
to—”

“Beast. I came here to help the cause. Not
bow down subserviently to your primal needs.”

“
What?”

I sat up in the chair boldly. “I am spoken
for. Burt would not like it.”

“What the hell…?” He held up his hand.
“Wait. Do you think you have to be… intimate with me?”

“Isn’t that what you want from me?”

“No. I want your background story, not your
body.”

“So it is only male bodies?” I asked.

“No! What is wrong with you, lady? Geez.” He
shook his head. “Why would you even think that?”

“I was told you would be deciding whether or
not to bunker me.”

“
Bunker
you. Not bunk
with
you. Bunker you means to put you in a bunker and process you. Some
people need to learn what it is like to be human again. Be
reintroduced to civilization. You know, the old world before it all
went to pot, and to the Sybaris.”

I cringed. Sybaris was such an ugly word. I
had to pretend it didn’t bother me. Plus, he was wasting his time.
While I wasn’t ‘truly’ human, I was very in tune with the
humans.

“Well,” I told him with confidence, “I am
quite sure you will find I do not need to be bunkered.”

“Good. Let’s see.” He grabbed his pen. “Will
you answer questions now, or is there another type of
misunderstanding we need to go through first?”

“Ask away.”

“What is your name?”

I couldn’t blurt out ‘Nito’, certainly.
“Madge,” I said. “I think I told you that.”

“You did. Okay, Madge what?”

“Madge from… another place.”

“No, I mean your last name.”

“My previous name before Madge.” I grew
worried. How did he know?

“Oh my God. No, I mean. My name is Blake
Davis. You are Madge… who?”

I stared.

“Your second name. Last name.”

I shook my head. “Just Madge.”

“You don’t have a last name, or you don’t
remember your last name?”

“I don’t have one.”

“You have to have one.”

"Why would you ask me if I forgot it, if
having one wasn’t an option?”

"We’ll move on ... just Madge.” He wrote
something down. “Where do you come from?”

“Before I got here?”

“Yes.” “I cannot tell. I will not tell. They
are a hidden band of people who are kind and want to remain hidden.
They are human, though.”

“There’s another group of humans alive close
by?”

“Yes. And they are clean and civilized.”

“We are too.”

I shook my head. “Oh, no, you may think
that. But when you see Burt and his people, you will know
otherwise.”

“Okay. So you lived in this clean
place?”

“No, I stayed there. I lived elsewhere.”

“Now, we’re on to something. Where? I’m
gonna guess… the Straits.”

“Yes.”

“Esperanza?”

Just on the chance he would ask if I knew
the Mare, I chose another location. “No. Tekana.”

“There’s another strait called Tekana?”

“Oh, yes. A beautiful area beyond
Esperanza.”

“I never knew that.”

“Now you do.”

“And you came from there to find us.
Why?”

“I told you, to join the rebellion. Now,
have I proven that I don’t need bunkering?”

He hummed and bobbed his head. “Maybe.
You’re a little off, but… okay. Tell me five things you miss about
the old world.”

“What I miss about the old world?”

He nodded.

I took a moment to think. I was reaching
back to my childhood, but to me, childhoods were all similar. “Oh,
I know. I miss being fanned.”

“Excuse me?”

“The days of my mother fanning me when it
was too hot to function. I know …” I waved out my hand with a
smile, knowing he was probably judging my mother. After all, what
good mother fans her child instead of having the servants do it?
“It’s odd. But it was a great bonding ritual. She would fan me. I’d
giggle.”