Steel Scars (9 page)

Barrow all but shoves me. I think he looks relieved, but that can't be right. Especially when a dog howls not a hundred yards away. And the trees above us seem to bow, their branches reaching like cloying fingers.
Greenwardens. Animosi. Swifts. The Silvers will catch us both
.

“Farley.” Suddenly both his hands are on my jaw, forcing me to look at a shockingly calm face. There's fear, of course, flickering in his golden eyes. But not nearly enough for the situation. Not like me. I am terrified. “You have to promise not to scream.”

“Wha—?”

“Promise.”

I see the first dog. A hound the size of a pony, its jowls dripping. And next to it, a gray blur like the wind made flesh.
Swift
.

Again, I feel the squeeze of Shade's body against mine, and then something less pleasant. The tightening of the world, the spin, the
tipping forward through empty air. All of it compounds and contracts, and I think I see green stars. Or maybe trees. I feel a familiar wave of nausea first. This time I land in a streambed instead of on concrete.

I sputter, spitting water and bile, fighting the urge to scream or be sick or both.

Barrow crouches over me, one hand raised.

“Ah, don't scream.”

Sick it is.

“I suppose that's preferable at the moment,” he mutters, kindly looking anywhere but my green face. “Sorry, I guess I need more practice. Or maybe you're just sensitive.”

The gurgling stream cleans up what I can't, and the cold water does more for me than a mug of black coffee. I snap to attention, looking around at the trees bowing over us. Willows, not oaks like where we were just seconds ago.
They're not moving
, I realized with a swell of relief.
No greenwardens here. No dogs either
. But then—
where are we?

“How?” I whisper, my voice ragged. “Don't say pipes.”

The practiced shield of Shade Barrow drops a little. He takes a few steps back from me so he can sit on a stone above the stream, perching like a gargoyle. “I don't quite have an explanation,” he says as if he's admitting a crime. “The best—the best I can do is show you. And, again, you have to promise not to scream.”

Dully, I nod. My head swims, still off balance. I can barely sit up in the stream, let alone shout.

He heaves a breath, his fingers gripping the stone until his knuckles turn white. “Okay.”

And then he's gone. Not—not from running away or hiding or even falling off the rock. He just simply
isn't
. I blink, not believing what I see.

“Here.”

My head turns so quickly I'm almost sick again.

There he is, standing on the opposite bank. Then he does it again, returning to the stone, taking a slow seat once more. He forces a tentative smile without any joy behind it. And his eyes are wide, so wide. If I was afraid a few minutes ago, he is completely petrified. And he should be.

Because Shade Barrow is Silver.

Muscle memory lets me draw my gun and cock the hammer without blinking.

“I might not be able to scream, but I can shoot you.”

He flushes, somehow his face and neck turning red.
An illusion, a trick. His blood is not that color
.

“There's a few reasons why that won't work,” he says, daring to look away from my pistol. “For one thing, your barrel's full of water. Two, in case you haven't noticed—”

Suddenly he's by my ear, crouching next to me in the stream. The shock of it raises a shriek, or at least it would if he didn't clamp a hand over my mouth. “—I'm pretty fast.”

I'm dreaming. This isn't real
.

He hauls my dazed body up, forcing me to stand. I try to shove him off but even that makes me dizzy.

“And three, the dogs might not be able to smell us anymore, but they can certainly hear a gunshot.” His hands don't leave my shoulders, gripping each tightly. “So, are you going to rethink your little strategy, Captain?”

“You're Silver?” I breathe, turning in his grasp. This time I right myself before I fall. As in Corvium, the nausea is wearing off quickly.
A side effect of his ability. His Silver ability. He's done this to me before and
I didn't even know it
. The thought burns through my brain. “All this time?”

“No, no. I'm Red as that dawn thing you keep going on about.”

“Don't lie to me.” I still have the gun in hand. “This has all been a trick so you could catch us. I bet you led those hunters right to my team—!”

“I
said
no screaming.” His mouth hangs open, drawing ragged breath past his teeth. He's so close I can see the blood vessels spindling through the whites of his eyes. They're red.
An illusion, a trick
, rings again. But memories of him come with the warning. How many times did he meet me alone? How many weeks has he worked with us, passing information, relaying with the blood-Red Corporal Eastree? How many times did he have the opportunity to spring a trap?

I can't. I can't make sense of this
.

“And no one followed me.
Obviously
no one can follow me. They found out about you on their own. Something about spies in Rocasta, didn't quite catch it all.”

“So you're still safe in Corvium, still
working
for them? As
one of them?”

His patience snaps like a twig. “I told you, I'm not Silver!” he growls, an animal in that quaking second. I want to take a step backward, but force myself to stand firm, unmoving, unafraid of him.
Though I have every right to be
.

Then he shoves his arm out, drawing back the sleeve with shaking fingers. “Cut me.” He nods, answering my question before I can ask. “Cut. Me.”

To my surprise, my fingers shake just as badly as his when I draw the knife from my boot. He flinches when I press it to his skin.
At least he feels pain
.

My heart skips a beat when blood swells beneath the blade.
Red as the dawn
.

“How is this possible?”

I look up to find him staring at my face, looking for something. By the way his eyes flash, I think he finds it.

“I honestly don't know. I don't know what this is or what I am. I only know I'm not one of them. I'm one of
yours
.”

For a blistering moment, I forget my team, the woods, my mission, and even Shade standing in front of me. Again, the world tips, but not from anything he can do. This is something more. A shifting. A change. And a
weapon
to be used.
No, a weapon I've already wielded many times. To get information, to infiltrate Corvium. With Shade Barrow, the Scarlet Guard can go anywhere. Everywhere
.

You'd think, with all my breaches in protocol, I'd try to steer away from breaking any more rules. But at the same time,
what's one more going to do?

Slowly, I close my fingers around his wrist. He still bleeds, but I don't mind.
It's fitting
.

“Will you oath yourself to the Scarlet Guard?”

I expect him to smile. Instead his face turns to stone.

“On one condition.”

My eyebrows raise so high they might disappear into my hairline. “The Guard does not bargain.”

“This isn't a request to the Guard, but to you,” he replies. For a man who can move faster than the blink of an eye, somehow he manages to take the world's slowest step forward. We stand eye to eye, blue meeting gold.

Curiosity gets the better of me. “And that is?”

“What's your name?”

My name
. The others don't mind using their own, but for me, there is no such thing. My name holds no importance. Only rank and designation truly matter. What my mother called me is of no consequence to anyone, least of all me. It is a burden more than anything, a stinging reminder of her voice and the life we lived in early days. When the Colonel was called Papa, and the Scarlet Guard was the pipe dream of hunters and farmers and empty soldiers. My name is my mother, my sister Madeline, and their graves dug in the frozen ground of a village no one lives in anymore.

Shade looks on, expectant. I realize he's holding my hand, not minding the blood coagulating beneath my fingers.

“My name is Diana.”

For once, his smile is real. No jokes, no mask.

“Are you with us, Shade Barrow?”

“I'm with you, Diana.”

“Then we will rise.”

His voice joins mine.

“Red as the dawn.”

    
THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE HAS BEEN DECODED

    
CONFIDENTIAL, SENIOR CLEARANCE REQUIRED

    
Day 34 of Operation RED WEB, Stage 1.

    
Operative: Captain REDACTED.

    
Designation: LAMB.

    
Origin: On the move.

    
Destination: RAM at REDACTED, COMMAND at REDACTED.

    
-Leaving CORVIUM, heading to DELPHIE. Stopping at WHISTLE points
along route.

    
-Plan to be in Stage 2 within a week.

    
-Advise CORVIUM operation that CORVIUM officials believe there are “bandits and deserters” in the woods.

    
-Enclosed is detailed information about Air Fleet grounded in DELPHIE, procured by newly oathed operative Aide B (designation: SHADOW) still in CORVIUM.

    
-Suggest Corp E be oathed as well.

    
-I am and will remain SHADOW's SG contact.

    
-SHADOW will be removed from CORVIUM at my discretion.

    
-CORVIUM overview: Killed in action: G. TYE, W. TARRY, R. SHORE, C. ELSON, H. “Big” COOPER (5).

    
Missing in action: T. BOREEVE, R. BINLI (2).

    
Silver casualty count: Zero (0).

    
THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE HAS BEEN DECODED

    
CONFIDENTIAL, SENIOR CLEARANCE REQUIRED

    
Operative: General REDACTED.

    
Designation: DRUMMER.

    
Origin: COMMAND at REDACTED.

    
Destination: RAM at REDACTED.

    
-Air intel good. DELPHIE Operation in motion.

    
-Train transit online between ARCHEON and City #1.

    
-Begin 3 week countdown for Operation DAYBREAK.

    
RISE, RED AS THE DAWN.

    
—Your girl has balls. —DRUMMER—

    
—The girl gets our people killed. —RAM—

    
—Worth it for her results. But her attitude leaves something to be desired. —DRUMMER—

    
THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE HAS BEEN DECODED

    
CONFIDENTIAL, SENIOR CLEARANCE REQUIRED

    
Day 54 of Operation RED WEB, Stage 2.

    
Operative: Captain REDACTED.

    
Designation: LAMB.

    
Origin: Albanus, NRT.

    
Destination: RAM at REDACTED.

    
-CAPITAL VALLEY WHISTLES coming online. In ALBANUS to open removal with oathed WHISTLE operative WILL.

    
-30 assets removed in 2 weeks.

    
-SHADOW still operating out of CORVIUM. Intel: legions are being rotated off the trench lines, leaves gaps.

    
RISE, RED AS THE DAWN

I hate this stinking wagon.

The fencer, old Will, burns a candle, as if it can do anything for the smell. It only makes it hotter in here, more stifling if that's even possible. Besides the stench, though, I feel at ease.

The Stilts is a sleepy village, without much cause for concern. In fact, this happens to be Shade's own birthplace. Not that he talks about home much, other than his sister. I know he writes to them, though. I “mailed” his latest letter myself, leaving it at the post only this morning. Faster than relying on the army to get a letter through, he said, and he was right. Only two or so weeks since he wrote it, rather than the usual month it takes for any kind of Red mail to get anywhere.

“So does this have anything to do with the
new cargo
you've been having my compatriots ferry downriver and overland? To Harbor Bay, yes?” Will glares at me, eyes so bright for someone his age. But his beard looks thinner than it did last month, as is his body. Still, he pours himself a cup of tea with the still hands of a surgeon.

I politely decline the offer of hot tea in an even hotter wagon.
How is he wearing long sleeves?
“What have you heard?”

“This and that.”

Wily to the end, these Whistles. “It's true. We're beginning to move people, and the Whistle network has been integral to that operation. I'm hoping you'll agree to join the same.”

“Now why would I be stupid enough to do that?”

“Well, you were stupid enough to oath yourself to the Scarlet Guard. But if you need more convincing. . .” With a grin, I pull five silver tetrarchs from my pocket. They barely touch the small table before he snaps them up. They disappear between his fingers. “More for every item.”

Still, he does not agree. Putting on a show like the other Whistles did before I eventually won their agreements.

“You would be the first to refuse,” I tell him with a slick smile. “And our partnership would cease.”

He waves a hand, dismissive. “I do fine without your sort, anyways.”

“Is that so?” My smile widens.
Will is no good at bluffing
. “Very well then, I'll go and never darken your. . . wagon again.”

Before I can even get up, he stands to stop me. “Who are you planning to move?”