The War for Mare (The Fall of Man Book 3) (17 page)

When I reached my building, I was barely in
position when they descended on us.

They came over the mountains, a smooth,
velvet force, shiny and black, rippling our way, catching the light
of the special moon as they moved.

“Arm yourselves!” I shouted and raised my
arms.

The force of the incoming Savages moved the
air violently, whipping my hair back and pelted sand so hard at my
face it stung.

“I can’t see!” Gosho shouted. “I can’t
see!”

“Use your ability, Gosho! Tap in!”

If it wasn’t for the lights of the city I
would not have been able to see either. They hit us hard.

Somehow in my mind, I didn’t comprehend how
many fifty thousand were. Even though I saw them at the canyon, it
was a whole other experience to have them attack us in force.

I tried to see Vala, and there was a circle
of protection around her, an invisible force field. As high as she
was, the Savages came for her, bouncing off and flinging back.

My sights on Vala were disrupted when the
first Savage smacked into me, knocking me off balance.

I quickly gained my footing, spun, and took
him down.

“You all right, Madge?” Burt asked.

Another Savage hit me.

“Stand your ground!” Burt said. “I can’t do
this alone.”

“You’re not alone,” Iry said.

“I’m trying,” I said. “I lost my staff.”

“You don’t need it.”

Left and right they came for me. My arms
swung out, creating energy waves that blasted them to bits with
when I hit them. I found my rhythm. That was what I needed to do,
find a rhythm. Once I had that, I was good to go.

Then I heard a scream.

Gosho
.

I hurriedly turned and saw him in the mouth
of a Savage. Another came and they fought over him, tearing him
limb from limb.

“I can’t see below. Are they all in?” I
asked as I fought.

“Almost,” Burt said. “Vala, get ready.”

“I’m ready. I’m focused,” Vala replied.

“Snake!” Burt called out.

“Finger on the button. Damn if this isn’t
the coolest way to communicate.”

That was when I realized, I hadn’t heard
from Iry.

“Iry, check in,” I ordered.

“I’m a little busy right now.”

Did he need help? We couldn’t lose another.
Burt was not only battling, he was leading communication and
placing the protection around Vala.

I peered ahead to Iry’s position, two
buildings up. Savages encompassed him. He was fighting hard, but
was having a difficult time.

Just as I thought to join him, I felt a slam
to my back and I dropped to my knees.

“Almost all in,” Burt said. “Madge?”

I tried to get up and I was stomped back
down.

I heard the growling squeal from behind me,
drawn out and loud, almost like a form of communication. Again, I
tried to get up when the force hit my spine. Using all that I had,
I ejected back, flinging the beast from me.

Once I gained my bearings and momentum, I
spun around prepared to fight, only to see my mother standing
across the roof.

She was in a hybrid human/ Savage form,
nearly as big as Anubis. She cocked back her head, extended her
arms, and roared. She was ready to attack.

In a runner’s position, one knee still to
the roof, I kept my eyes on her.

“You took me by surprise once,” I said.

She charged my way.

“It won’t happen again.” On my final word, I
grabbed my staff, leapt to my feet, spun the staff to gain its
power and drove it into her heart. It was not an easy deliverance.
Her skin was rough and hard. It lodged in her and wouldn’t move. I
couldn’t retract it, and she wasn’t dying. She kept fighting,
making it more difficult.

Her arms swung out and with each jolt of her
body, she moved me with her as I clung to the staff. When she
jerked to her left, she sent me flying and I landed on the
roof.

She grabbed the staff, and through the
corner of my eye, I saw a Savage grab Iry.

I felt invincible.
Nothing could touch me. The joint force of protection around me
kept me safe from any Savage coming my way. I knew by the power of
that force, it was more than just Burt and I. I sensed the power of
the gatekeepers.

The last of the Savages poured into the city
and they formed a giant moving mound below, squirming around like
maggots on a carcass. A few bounced up and down, but they were all
there. It would be only a matter of minutes before they realized
they weren’t devouring flesh, but only visions created by the
gatekeepers.

I focused east and on the body of water. I
could feel the power of it, the force in which I pulled. Only
briefly did I lose it when I was drawn into Nito’s mother’s eyes
and saw my attack on her.

“Focus, Vala, focus!” Burt said.

It was hard. I was torn between pulling the
water and seeing a rooftop battle from the eyes of the aggressor.
And then that vision was gone. I felt free, it lifted from me and I
knew Nito had been victorious.

Pull. Pull.

Almost there. My body trembled as I gave it
my all. It felt as if I were trying to release something and it
wouldn’t give. No matter how hard I tired, I would get it to a
point and it just wouldn’t cross the cusp.

“Burt!” I cried out. “It’s not working!”

“Get it now, Vala! They’re gonna leave.
They’re onto us!”

I looked below where the Savages stirred.
Then with every drop of emotion, with everything I had, from deep
within my soul I cried out as loud as I could and raised my arms
high.

The ground rumbled. It rumbled so hard it
shook me from my stance. I felt the release and with it was the
vision of the rolling wall of water making its way over the crest
of the mountains. In seconds it hit the city. Sounds of rushing
water filled the air along with cries of dying Savages.

My scream of struggle was about to turn into
a scream of triumph until I saw the Savage snatch hold of Iry and
lift him from the building.

“No!” I raced to the edge of the railing of
the Needle Building. My intention was to try to get him, and I was
ready to leap when I saw Nito.

She sprang forward in a flash, intercepting
another Savage before it too could get Iry, then with her momentum,
used a building as a springboard and in her second jump, grabbed
Iry from the grip of the Savage.

He looked like a rag doll in her grip, but
she didn’t let go.

She jumped on the railing before me and
lowered him to the roof’s surface.

He was covered in blood. Ancient blood,
which was thick and deep.

His body was mangled, yet he was still
alive. He twitched and jerked, gasping for breath. I dropped beside
him and pulled him to me.

“You can save him,” Nito said from the
railing. “You can save him. With your blood. But it will take too
much. You will turn.”

I peered up to her. “Nito! Watch out.”

Anubis flew in from behind her, and Nito was
ready. He grabbed hold of her and she shoved back, clinging with
him as they both fell all the way down and into the rushing water
below.

I lowered my head.

It was over, but not without loss.

“Vala,” Iry said weakly.

His skin began to turn black. I could see
the Savage infection raging through him.

“Kill me now,” he said. “Don’t let me turn
into one of those. Please.”

“Iry, I’m so sorry.” I ran my hand down his
face.

“Take care of our child,” he said, his words
breathy. “K… kill me now, Vala.”

“I can’t. I did not know my father. Our
child will know his.” I reached down to my thigh and to the knife I
kept there, took hold of the knife, and sliced my arm.

“No,” Iry said,

The black infection crept up his face. Time
was running out.

“Take it. Now. Please.” I put my arm to his
mouth. “Take it.”

He shook his head.

I allowed my blood to flow across his lips
until he opened his mouth and I held my arm there. I was the only
one with a choice at that moment, kill him or save him. I chose to
let Iry live.

My life would be
different from that moment on. The water rushed through the city
for an entire day until it was safe enough to come down from the
Needle Building. The sun returned after nearly an entire day of
darkness.

Iry was alive. He had healed entirely and I
had turned. My senses had heightened and that was the main thing
that told me I was no longer human. It was a decision I made and
one I wouldn’t regret. I couldn’t.

When I came down from the building and Davis
arrived, he knew as soon as he looked at me I had turned.

Before he could ask how or why, he saw Iry.
His clothes were still tattered and torn and Davis never broached
the subject with me. I sensed he understood.

Snake lived through it, and so did Burt.
While we didn’t use the explosives, the Ancient City was destroyed.
Uninhabitable.

It was time to move on. I was certain there
were still Savages out there. We didn’t conquer them all, just our
section of the world. My transformation came with a new era— Humans
and Ancients living together as one, and as equals. After all, we
had fought for our lives as one.

<><><><>

In the wake of the aftermath, with nothing
left, it was time to find the others to deliver the good news. As
Snake said, water flowed downstream, and the vehicle placed by the
mountain was safe. We needed to walk to it and the walk would do us
good.

On our silent journey to the car, Snake
stopped.

“What the heck? Is that a mirage?” he
pointed outward.

In the distance I saw a tiny moving dot of
orange. It moved in no particular direction.

“No,” Davis said. “The life jacket.”

“Can’t be,” Snake said. “Ancients can’t
handle water.”

“Look at her,” Davis laughed.

“I’ll be. Our Madge put that twenty pounds
back on again. Think its water weight?” Snake asked, and then
laughed. “Get it? Water weight.”

“How is that possible?” I asked Iry.

“She asked to be human again when the battle
was done. That’s all I can think of,” Iry replied.

“Should we go help her?” Davis asked. “She
looks like she’s struggling.”

After a moment of thought, I replied,
“Yes.”

And like we were about to do with our lives,
we changed our direction and headed toward that orange life
jacket.

Much had transpired between Nito and me.
Would I ever forget? Never. Forgive her? Possibly. She saved Iry,
placed her life on the line for the human race and for that, I
could at least look at her as human and call her by her human name
of Madge.

It was the dawn of a new age, and going to
save her was the first real step to putting it all behind us and
moving forward.

She was unsteady, stumbling as she walked.
When she saw us approach, she dropped to her knees, peered at us
gratefully and cried. She was confused, unsure of exactly what all
had transpired. She knew only that she had battled and had fallen.
When she landed, she moved with the water and ended up far from
Ancient City.

Madge was certain of one thing. Davis had
given her the life jacket and she repeatedly conveyed her
gratitude. Then as we approached the vehicle she was certain of
another.

“You have turned,” she said to me. “You are
now an Ancient.”

“You were the one that told me it was what I
had to do,” I said. “Do you not remember?”

She shook her head. “No. Why did I tell you
that?”

I simply nodded at Iry. “You saved your
husband,” she said. “You turned for him. Well…” she smiled. “I
underestimated your feelings for him.”

“We both saved him. You pulled him from the
clutches of the Savages.”

Madge seemed surprised to hear that. She was
different… or maybe it was me. Perhaps I saw her differently. I
supposed I would view the world through Ancient eyes and a human
heart. It gave me a huge advantage that I needed.

Even though we arrived at our transport, our
day and struggles were far from over.

We needed not only to take Burt to Hopeland,
but to find the king and have him return Burt to his human form. He
didn’t want to stay Ancient.

The destination of the Ancients following
the exodus was a place called Washington State. Davis was confident
the Ancients were close but not there. We had to find them. They
hadn’t ever been outside their city, and were roaming around, lost.
I could feel it.

Most of the residents of Angeles City were
on boats. Tanner was with them.

I was scared to face Tanner. He harbored ill
feelings for me over my marriage to Iry and our child. I could only
imagine how he would feel when he found out I had turned.

There was so much to consider. We were all
refugees and at the beginning of a new journey. The Straits were
still populated with humans that relied heavily on the Ancients. We
had to organize, regroup, prepare.

Snake commented that the king could return
me to my human form. I wasn’t sure I wanted that, or if being a
human Mare was best. In my Ancient form I was more powerful, and we
needed that.

Anubis was a God. He wasn’t dead, he merely
moved from this realm and more than likely would rebuild his army.
He’d do it differently. He wanted this world once and he’d come for
us again.

We were but one sector of the world; we
conquered and secured it.

There were still millions of Savages out
there and undoubtedly they weren’t giving up. Neither was
Anubis.

We had to recharge, rebuild, and rethink our
strategy.

We had been victorious in our battle, but a
single battle was all it was. One of many to come.

It wasn’t the end, it was the beginning.

The real war had just begun.