Horde (Enclave Series) (3 page)

One of the men nodded as our escort led us through the warren. This was old-world construction, patched and shored to retain functionality. We didn’t have the means to build like this anymore, however. The size and shape of the structures was uncannily similar, one house after another stamped out with complete precision.

“It’s eerie,” Fade said beside me.

“More like a child’s model than a real town,” I agreed softly.

“This way. I’m Morgan. If we have to wake the colonel, I can’t guarantee how well your news will be received.” His tone held an odd, amused note that I couldn’t interpret.

I didn’t expect it would be glad tidings, so that hardly mattered, but the leader’s reaction could determine whether we succeeded. Morgan led us to a large building with a long front porch; there were lights affixed all over the top of it, which made me think it was some kind of headquarters. Inside, it bore out that initial impression with tables and chairs littered with papers, some of which had yellowed with age, others appearing to be recently manufactured. I could tell the new sheets came from Salvation, as they carried its imprint in the form of a tree thrice encircled. So among other things, Soldier’s Pond relied on Salvation for stationery, which was a fancy word for paper, according to Momma Oaks.

Candles burned, the wax crackling down into saucers, and there were a few lamps unfamiliar to me. They gave off an unpleasant smell as they burned, the flame flickering inside the glass like a trapped firefly. There were chairs too, where a few tired, worried-looking men were sprawled. I wondered which one was the colonel—and what a colonel was. It must be a title, similar to Elder Bigwater, since he wasn’t actually the oldest man in Salvation, unlike down below. Maybe he played a role like the Wordkeeper’s, consulting on important matters. But none of my speculations proved to be right when the colonel turned around; I could tell this was the person we sought by the way Morgan approached, and I smiled, both pleased and chagrined.

I let Salvation change the way I see the world. This never occurred to me.

It should have. Both Copper and Silk had played powerful roles down below. This woman was younger than Momma Oaks, but not quite as young as Ruth, Rex’s wife. I didn’t know how old that made her, but compared with the men around her, she seemed young. She wore her dark hair up in a complicated twist, and her clothes were crisp, despite the late hour. Likewise, her eyes were dark, ringed in faint shadows that said she hadn’t slept much recently. Sharp features lent her an aspect of intelligence; we’d find out whether that was true once we spoke.

“Report, Morgan.” Her tone was brisk but not impolite. In my time in Salvation I’d come to note the difference. Yet her eyes held warmth that belied her words. “What’s the latest word in the territories?”

I figured she must mean all the lands described on Longshot’s maps. Somehow I resisted the temptation to see if that word appeared anywhere on his papers. Instead I fixed my attention politely on Morgan, who was saying, “They come from Salvation, bearing news. I thought it best to bring them to you at once, Colonel Park.”

“I imagine it’s nothing good, but speak,” the colonel said.

There was nothing for it but to lay out the problem. “Salvation is under siege … and Longshot died in the first onslaught. I’m sorry to carry such bad tidings if you were fond of him, as I was.” I pushed past the lump in my throat, the fresh awareness that I’d never again hear his rasp of a voice or see his eyes crinkle as he smiled. “The town’s surrounded and the Freaks—Muties, I mean—are armed with fire. We don’t have the manpower to fight. So Elder Bigwater sent us to request reinforcements, and you’re the nearest settlement.”

Given my experience with people in positions of authority, I expected Colonel Park to say I was crazy and that I should eat some soup, then go to bed. Once again, I was wrong. Nothing in my experience prepared me for her reaction. She slammed a hand down on the nearest table, knocking over some pencils in a cup, scattering papers on the floor.

“I
told
you,” she snapped at the men looking on with dawning horror.

Reinforcements

“You knew about Salvation?” Stalker asked, seeming incredulous.

The colonel shook her head. “I noticed a difference in Mutie attack patterns around here. Then they all moved off. I said it meant they must be planning something, but my advisors thought I was being an alarmist.”

So not only did she believe us, she’d foreseen the progression. This would save us a lot of time begging and trying to convince somebody who didn’t believe the world could change. Some of the tension left me, though none of the exhaustion. I was conscious that every moment I spent talking was one that Salvation lost, and I remembered the men on the walls, gray-faced with fatigue and firing gamely on, even as Smith fought to keep up with their ammo usage. Without Stalker’s help, that might prove beyond his powers. We had to get back right away.

“Then you can probably imagine how things are,” I said. “How soon can you send some men with us?”

A man with a mustache spoke for the first time. “We can’t just send our standing forces off on a whim.”

“It’s
not
a whim,” Tegan snapped.

Another advisor agreed: “Saving Salvation might mean losing Soldier’s Pond.”

“This could be what the Muties want. How do we know their gambit in Salvation isn’t a diversion? The minute we weaken our entrenched position, they’ll attack,” the last councilor predicted.

“They’ll come for you eventually,” Fade muttered.

“Enough.” The colonel infused her tone with cold finality.

“Have you made a decision?” I asked.

She sighed, looking tired. “Unfortunately, it’s not up to me. Something this significant must be put to a vote.”

“Then call an emergency meeting,” Tegan suggested.

I agreed with her. We couldn’t afford to let people sleep. The colonel considered, then nodded at Morgan. “Go wake up the rest of the council. Get them here in the next half hour. These four need an answer, either way. I suspect you’ll be returning home to fight, regardless of the result.” She addressed the final statement to us.

“Yes, ma’am.” Fade had internalized lessons about respectful modes of address faster than I did.

She put a hand on my shoulder. I was glad she didn’t choose Fade for this gesture, as it wouldn’t end well. “Are you hungry? The least I can do is feed you while you wait.”

“That would be welcome,” Stalker answered.

Colonel Park turned to one of her advisors. “Get something warm for them to eat. There should still be soup on the hearth in the mess.”

Within minutes, we all had hearty stew and bread to clean the bowls with. I perched on a chair at the edge of the room, and the others followed suit. It was quiet while we ate, then shortly thereafter, five more people stumbled into the room, three men, two women, which gave equal power to both genders. I was pleased to see that parity, even as I finished my meal.

“What’s the meaning of this?” a gray-haired man demanded.

Succinctly, the colonel summarized what I’d told her, then she added, “We need to vote at once as to whether we’re sending aid.”

A round, motherly-looking woman with fine blond hair put her fingers to her mouth in alarm. “If the Muties have organized, it won’t be long before they march on us.”

“My thoughts exactly,” the colonel said.

They debated for a while. With a full stomach and an aching heart, I didn’t attend to the proceedings. It only mattered what they decided, not how they came to consensus. Tegan slipped up beside me, looking determined. Wordless, she indicated my wound and I offered my arm for her to treat. I bit back a curse as the cleansing liquid trickled over the scratches, deep runnels across the top of my arm, adding a counterpoint to the healed scars on my inner forearms, courtesy of the enclave. I was proud of those six scars still, though maybe I shouldn’t be.

When she was finished, she smeared salve on me and bandaged the injury with quiet efficiency. Then she whispered, “Fade won’t let me treat him.”

“Let me try.” Once, he’d permitted me to do so. I didn’t know whether he would, now.

Tegan handed me her supplies and I crept over to where Fade sat, propped against the wall. The ongoing debate washed over me, bits of argument about the viability of offering support to a settlement with whom they had no such defensive accord, only trade agreements. Then the counter-argument came, mostly about how if Salvation fell, Soldier’s Pond would be next. I stopped listening again as I stilled. Fade opened his eyes, dark and wary in the candlelight. The flickering shadows painted his face hollow beneath his cheekbones.

“Your shoulder will fester if it’s not cleaned and wrapped,” I said softly.

His flinch was nearly imperceptible, then he pushed out a breath. “I’d prefer you to do it.”

Happiness sang inside me. He still trusted me more than anyone else, whatever his other problems might be. “Then brace. It will sting, but I’ll make it fast.”

And I did. Much as I would’ve liked to touch him more, I kept our contact quick and impersonal. He hissed when the antiseptic ran into the punctures, but he didn’t move other than to curl his fists. He shut his eyes, his throat working, not against the pain, I didn’t think. By the time I finished, he wore a sheen of cold sweat on his brow.

“Did it hurt that much?” I asked.

“No.” His fists came to rest on his thighs and he wouldn’t look at me. “When you touch me—when
anyone
touches me—I’m back there, in the pens. I feel it all over again.”

“We’ll work out a way to fix it,” I promised.

“How? This is why I told you we can’t be together. I wasn’t strong enough to keep them from taking me and I’m not strong enough to shake this off. I can’t—”

“You can,” I cut in. “Maybe not today or tomorrow. But Tegan’s doing better. She said you need time … and I have it to offer. I
promise
we’ll figure it out.”

As his head swung my way, his dark eyes burned into me. “Why?”

“Because I love you.” It was easy to say it this time now that I understood what it meant. Then I quoted his own words back to him. “Not just when it’s easy. All the time.”

“No more deals with Stalker?” That told me he still cared; despite the pain, his feelings for me hadn’t changed.

“He won’t touch me again. Whatever’s at stake, I’ll find another way.”

“If you had any idea how much I want to hold you—”

“I’m not going anywhere, Fade. You’re my partner. I choose you. I always will.”

After that, I simply sat beside him, listening to him breathe. It wasn’t enough, but it was more than he’d let me do before. Step by step, he would let me back in. My eyes closed and I tipped my head back against the wall. Stalker jostled me eventually—and by the angle of the light, a few hours had passed. They must’ve talked until nearly dawn.

The colonel finally said, “No more discussion. It’s time to vote.”

“Seconded,” said the gray-haired man.

“All in favor of sending reinforcements, say aye and raise your hand.”

The result came down in our favor, four to two. I exhaled slowly and closed my eyes in relief; until this moment, I hadn’t realized how worried I was that we’d fail. Fortunately Colonel Park paid attention to the world she lived in and was willing to accept change even when it didn’t mean good things for her town. I wished the elders in the enclave had been more like her.

But it still wasn’t as fast as I would’ve liked because then they had to debate how many men they could afford to send without critically crippling Soldier’s Pond. The endless talking was making me antsy, so I rolled into my blankets and went to sleep. I figured somebody would nudge me awake when it was time to move. This time there were no nightmares at least.

By the way my body felt, it couldn’t have been more than an hour before Tegan touched my shoulder. “It’s settled. We’re taking fifty soldiers back to Salvation.”

For the number of Freaks we faced, it wasn’t nearly enough, but I couldn’t complain when they were endangering their own citizens to help us. Shoving the hair out of my face, I rolled to my feet and collected my belongings. Everyone else was assembling outside. Fade and Stalker stood on opposite sides of the yard, and I didn’t think I was imagining the narrow stare Fade offered the other boy. Though he’d claimed he didn’t care what I did or with who, obviously that wasn’t true.

Morgan stood at the head of the men given to our cause. In the dawn light, I saw that he had long dark hair, lightly sprinkled with silver, but his face didn’t look as old as I’d first thought. He had lines at the corners of his eyes, but they came from humor, I thought, or sunshine, not the endless march of years. His mouth turned up at the edges as if he found it difficult not to smile, an expression echoed by the warm gray of his eyes; they were like smoke, warm and changeable.

Right now, he was giving orders to his men. “Infantry in good condition can cover thirty to forty miles a day on foot. We have to move at least that fast in order to prove of any help to Salvation. If any among you thinks he can’t sustain that pace for whatever reason, speak now.”

“I’ve got a bum foot,” a man said. “Broke it a few years back and it didn’t heal right. I’d only slow you down.”

“Thanks for your honesty.” Morgan turned to someone I took for his second in command.

The big, burly man responded by calling out another name, and a new soldier took the dismissed one’s place in the formation. Unlike the guard in Salvation, these men were well trained. I could tell by their body language that they had drilled together extensively and fought real battles beyond the walls. Many of them had Freak scars, claw marks on faces or forearms, visible badges of their courage and skill. Touched by her valor and willingness to risk trouble for our sakes, I strode over to the colonel.

“I can’t thank you enough, sir. You don’t know what this means for us.”

“God grant it’s sufficient,” she said, “but it’s all we can do. Otherwise we’ll be too weak to defend, should the Muties turn their ambitions west.”