Firebrand (20 page)

C
hief hit the ground first and cushioned my fall. I landed flat against him. The air was knocked out of me so completely that I couldn't produce a sound when I opened my mouth to scream.

I stared directly upward, but I couldn't see Alice and Jerren at all. Griffin slithered toward me, a mess of ripped clothes and bloody bite marks. The rats still circled the room, snuffling at every gap.

Griffin got close to me. I knew from his expression that he wanted me to do something, but I was dazed. When he didn't sign, I remembered that he was bound.

I couldn't reach the rope around his wrist, so I rolled off Chief, who moaned in response. The knots were secure, but simple. I removed them and Griffin reached down to untie his ankles.

Chief was quiet now, motionless except for his left hand, which he pressed tightly against his neck to staunch the flow of blood. Blood seeped out anyway.

With his right hand, he pulled a key from his pocket. He held it out to me. “Open the door, Thomas. W-we can still get out.”

I stared at the key. “What about the rats? What about your colony?”

Chief knew that he was beaten. He dropped the key onto the ground and eased his hand away from his neck. Blood ran across his tunic in a torrent. A moment later, his head drooped to the side and though his eyes were still open, I knew that he was dead.

One of the rats had found a space in the far corner of the wall. The others were sliding through it too. They disappeared like water into a drain. From there, they could reach the rest of the fort, I was certain. Sumter, Plague-free for eighteen years, was about to become infested.

Griffin was free now, but he was surrounded by broken glass and didn't know which way to turn. When he pulled to a stand, he smeared blood on everything he touched.

There were sounds of fighting from above. Where were Alice and Jerren?

I stepped over Chief's body and reached for a metal ladder built into one of the walls. My back and neck were throbbing, but I began to climb anyway. After a couple rungs, Alice and Jerren appeared above me.

“Get back,” she screamed.

I dropped to the floor and grabbed the key beside Chief. I didn't understand how they'd escaped from Dare, but there wasn't time to ask. Especially not when a loud bang came from above.

Chief's reinforcements had broken through at last. They were too late to save him, but that wouldn't stop them from coming after us.

I tossed Chief's key to Alice. She jammed the key into the lock and forced the door open. The men in the full-body outfits had left. Alice and Jerren passed through. Griffin and I held on to each other and lurched after them.

I looked over my shoulder as we left the room. Dare had climbed down too, and was rifling through Chief's pockets. When he pulled out a folded piece of paper, he froze. Something about the suddenness of it made me pause too. Griffin was trying to pull me out of the room after him, but I couldn't look away as Dare unfolded the paper. On it was a picture, drawn in Griffin's unmistakable style. It was of Chief, his eyes wide open but somehow glassy, as though the old man were looking straight through us.

As the guards appeared above him, Dare's mouth twisted into a smile. And then he laughed.

I was as desperate as Griffin to leave now. We followed a narrow corridor that led outside to the parade grounds. Alice and Jerren sprinted ahead, taking everything in, while I struggled to keep Griffin moving at all. I had my arm tight around him, but the blood made everything feel slick. Every breath he took sounded agonizing.

It was raining again and visibility was poor, but people hurried by, alerted to the new danger. They pounded across the hard ground and splashed through puddles, heading everywhere and nowhere. A siren started slowly and built to a deafening whine.

Guards appeared only ten yards away, but they either didn't see us or weren't looking. They ran among the crowd yelling, “Assemble! Assemble!” Everyone responded by hurrying up the nearest steps to the esplanade. Some tripped and fell, but the stream of people kept flowing from the living quarters below. A couple struggled to light extra torches in the rain.

Panic hung in the air. Everyone seemed to have prepared for this moment without ever believing it could really happen. They clearly had an assembly protocol, but in all their rehearsals, they'd surely never had to deal with darkness and rain and screaming children.

Griffin slumped to the ground beside me, so I helped him back up again. His clothes were sticky with blood. The feel of it on my fingers made me flinch.

He looked right into my eyes.
Me. Solution,
he signed. It almost choked me up that he could be so certain. But as he continued to watch me, I realized it wasn't a statement at all. It was a question.

I wanted so much to be strong for him, but I wouldn't lie to him again. He'd see through it at once. So I just pulled him closer and kept moving.

As people streamed upward, the grounds began to clear. Others emerged from various parts of the fort, torches in hand. They walked a few yards apart and kept their lights close to the ground, eyes scanning for rats. It helped us that they were distracted.

We kept to the perimeter as we approached the casemate where my father and Ananias and Tarn were being held captive. It was far away enough from everyone that we couldn't see the Sumter families congregating. We could hear them, though. The sound of children's crying grew louder.

Jerren led the way now, jogging toward the casemate, gun raised. Neither guard heard him until he was beside them, with the barrel pointed at one guard's head. The man obediently dropped his gun, and as the other guard recognized Jerren, he did too.

Alice joined Jerren and retrieved the men's guns. Once I'd helped Griffin to sit against a wall, I searched the guards' pockets. I found a ring of keys and began trying them one by one in the lock, which clicked on the fourth try.

I'd just got the heavy door open when the guards dropped their torches. The light was extinguished, and in the confusion, the second guard bolted into the darkness. Jerren turned momentarily, giving the first just enough time to retrieve his weapon. Unable to see his target clearly, Jerren threw himself at the man, pinning him against the bars just beside me. Tarn reached through the bars and wrapped her hands around the guard's neck.

He struggled for a moment, but he was being suffocated. With no other choice, he dropped his weapon.

Jerren shoved him away from us. He fell to the ground. Once he'd caught his breath, he jumped up and ran into the darkness.

With the door open, everyone staggered out. Ananias and my father leaned against each other for support. When they saw Griffin they hugged him. It was lucky they couldn't see the extent of his wounds, or they'd have panicked for sure.

“We have to hurry,” said Jerren. “There'll be reinforcements soon.”

While he led everyone toward the main gate, I looked around for Dennis and his mother. I'd hoped they were at the back of the casemate, hidden from view, but they weren't.

I caught up to my father and brothers. “Where's Dennis?”

“No one knows,” Ananias muttered. “They weren't with us when the guards rounded us up, and they haven't come since.” He grimaced. “What happened to Griffin?”

“They set rats on him.”

Father inhaled sharply, but he and Ananias kept moving.

We continued through the main gate and along the jetty. Nobody had taken the cutter yet, so I helped everyone climb in. They pressed against the sides to make room for me, but I untethered the rope and kicked the boat away from the jetty.

“Thom?” cried Alice. “What are you doing?”

“We can't leave without Marin and Dennis.”

“We
have
to.”

“No. If I leave them here, I'll never be able to face Rose again.”

Alice stood suddenly, ready to join me, but Jerren pushed her back down. He leaped onto the jetty beside me. “I'm the one who knows this place,” he said. “Alice, get one of the catamarans and come back for us.”

Alice seemed caught between anger and concern. “All right,” she said, grabbing one of the oars. “Be quick.”

Tarn took the other oar, and what remained of our colony began the short but arduous journey to the ship. Behind us, the noise grew louder as reinforcements arrived. Fighting back was no longer an option.

We should've run away right then. Neither of us moved, though, because we were too busy staring at the ship. When we'd left it, it had been anchored a hundred yards to the northwest. Now it was almost due north of us. And it looked as if it was drifting away.

T
here wasn't time to go back through the main gate. The guards were approaching, and the glow from their torches rose above the fort walls in a hazy arc. Even if we made it back inside, they'd see us.

“This way,” said Jerren, breathless.

He ran toward the enclosures. I was fairly sure I knew what he had in mind, but I hoped I was wrong. He'd said it was impossible to climb the perimeter wall unless you knew where to put your hands and feet. What would make him think any differently now?

Sure enough, he stopped at the low point of the wall. “Climb on my shoulders,” he said.

“Again?”

“It's how Alice and I got up earlier.”

“I'm heavier than Alice.”

“Just do it!”

I placed my feet on his shoulders and rested my hands against the wall. With an enormous effort he pushed upward. “Above you and to the right, there's a gap in the brick. Reach for it,” he instructed me.

I ran my hand across the bricks, floundering for the hole. “Got it,” I said, jamming my right hand into the space.

“Good. I'll get your right foot to the next hole.” He shifted slightly to the right and pushed my foot up a little, finding the space. I was sure he was going to drop me, or I'd fall, so I tightened my grip and attempted to take more of my weight. A moment later, I felt my foot slide into another gap. “Now push up and feel around. Above the bricks are rows of planks, with studs sticking out. They're there, trust me.”

I did trust him, but I was distracted. The guards' footsteps drummed on the jetty, which meant they'd be launching a second cutter to go after the first. Those who couldn't fit inside would be circling around the perimeter walls, searching for anyone left behind.

Jerren had already caught up to me. “Right hand up a little,” he whispered. “Left foot too.”

When I pulled up now, I could just get the fingertips of my left hand over the edge. One more foot adjustment and I heaved myself over the wall. Jerren followed right behind me, but not before a series of shouts from below made it clear that he'd been spotted.

“This way,” he said, pointing toward the battery. “We'll take the same route as earlier.”

“Wait!” There was something on the battlement just in front of us. It was so dark that I could barely make it out.

Then it squeaked. Straightaway, there was an answering squeak from another rat. I didn't stop to see how many of them there were coming toward us, I just ran back in the other direction.

“Keep low,” said Jerren. “Stop when we're directly over the main gate.”

I did as he said. When we reached the main gate, guards were filing out of the fort directly below us. They stayed in pairs, one with a gun and the other with a torch. Every single pair headed toward the battlements where we'd climbed the wall only moments before.

“Just keep going north,” whispered Jerren. “They're all looking at the south wall. It's our only chance.”

Again, we kept low and sprinted. My entire body ached, but I kept going until we were circling around to the esplanade. There we paused in the shadow of the bank where Rose and I had hid that same morning.

The armed guards who weren't searching for us had formed a tight perimeter around the other Sumter colonists. Men, women, and children sat huddled beside the monument, large eyes peering out into the darkness, fearing the worst. Rain drummed against the ground as the siren split the air.

Dennis and his mother were in the crowd too. While everyone else kept their focus on the familiar sight of the fort grounds, Dennis stared in our direction. I hoped he had seen us, but there wasn't even a flicker of recognition.

“Why don't they make a run for it?” Jerren asked. “Everyone's too busy to notice.”

I glanced over my shoulder. In the distance, the ship had moved farther still to the east. The foresail had been lowered. Had everyone from the cutter made it on board? If not, who was sailing it?

Tentatively I raised my hand, hoping to get Dennis's attention. His eyes shifted toward me and he blinked. Slowly, he raised a hand in response. Then he tilted his head toward his mother and shook his head from left to right.

“I don't get it,” said Jerren. “What's he saying?”

I felt my entire body deflate. “She doesn't want to come,” I mumbled.

“What?”

“She told us this morning that she was with this colony now, not us.” I punched the ground. “Chief didn't separate her from the others . . . she
chose
to stay.”

Just then, Dennis's mother turned her head and noticed the ship sailing away. I held my breath as she narrowed her eyes, deep in thought. Maybe she would change her mind. There was still time.

Instead she looked away again. She'd made a decision and she would stick by it.

Only, I couldn't let her do that. Not for Rose's sake. Or for Dennis's.

“We have to do something,” I said. “The ship is leaving.”

Jerren bowed his head and said nothing.

“Did you hear me?”

“What do you want me to say? It'll be suicide to rescue them.”

“It was almost murder to leave Rose with Kell, but that didn't stop you.”

“Hey, I'm here with you now.” He clenched his fists and stared ahead. He was breathing fast. “Look, I'm sorry for that. I was wrong. And whatever happens from now on, I want you to forgive me.”

I met his eyes. There was fear in them. “Forgive you for what?”

“Just . . .
please
.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me out into the open to get the attention of the guards.

He was double-crossing me. I couldn't believe it. Not after everything we'd been through.

As the guards reached for their guns, he pulled me down so that we were kneeling. Then he raised his free hand and turned it around like he was sculpting the air. I wanted to run away, but his grip on me was painfully tight.

There was something else too: a strange feeling, as if he was trying to feel my power. Or wanted me to channel energy
through
him.

I was so shocked, I couldn't react. But then calmness swept over me and I knew what to do. I focused all my energy on his hand twisting above us. I studied the way his fingers moved so deliberately. Then came the sound of the siren—piercing, deafening—as if he'd collected its energy and focused it just on us.

As suddenly as it had started, it was over. The sound that had been inside my head and pulsating through my body disappeared so completely that the silence that replaced it felt unreal. Not total silence, though. It was like we were caught in a bubble, where the ocean could be heard again, and even the cries of the men from below. Everything except the siren.

Now something was happening to the men advancing on us. They dropped their weapons and pressed their hands against their ears, lips pulled back, teeth gritted. And when that wasn't enough, they staggered backward, tripping in their haste to escape. Children were screaming at the intensity of the sound—the siren, I guessed. Nothing would make it stop.

I was already growing weak. Surely Jerren wouldn't be able to keep it going much longer. I looked over my shoulder, hoping against hope that there was somewhere left to run, but we'd trapped ourselves on the esplanade.

Marin and Dennis still wouldn't leave the group, but they were on the edge of it now. The group was leaving them.

Jerren moved his hand again and something shifted. It was like he was diverting the sound away from Marin and Dennis. While everyone else cried out from the noise, they clearly weren't affected. They may have considered themselves part of this new colony, but now they stood out entirely.

The Sumter colonists were retreating. One lunged at Dennis, probably hoping to hold him hostage until Jerren stopped. But Dennis wormed free, and the man jammed his hands against his ears again. A couple tried to edge toward Marin, but one look at their furious expressions and she stepped away. And with that small gesture, her new life on Sumter was over. At best, she and Dennis would be shunned; at worse, killed.

Marin grasped Dennis's hand and strode toward us. She wouldn't look at me, but I didn't care. We weren't doing this for her.

Jerren was shaking from the stress. His control was weakening—I could see it in the way that the men on the perimeter of the group were able to break free, tearing their hands away from their ears. They looked at the guns lying a few yards away.

The wind was strong and seemed to be nudging us toward the edge of the esplanade. I didn't want to be forced that way, but there was nowhere else to go. Below us, the harbor churned, throwing waves against the boulders at the base of the wall. Even worse, the ship was to the northeast now. It was sailing away from us. Stranding us.

But then I spied another boat—a catamaran. I didn't need to see Alice to know that she was sailing it. She was almost flying, and when she turned about, the sail dipped so low, I was sure she'd capsize. Instead she threw her weight backward, stabilizing the craft.

“Can't . . . hold,” muttered Jerren, panting.

Could Alice see this from the boat? Did she have any idea that Jerren was an elemental too?

As Marin and Dennis reached us, I struggled to take stock of the situation. My mind was as sluggish as my body. I remembered that the pipe I'd swum through had been fully submerged, so it must have been high tide. That meant we'd have deeper water to jump into, as long as we cleared the rocks.

“Step back,” I said, tugging Jerren until we toed the edge of the wall.

“If we jump, we'll hit the rocks,” shouted Dennis.

“Or get shot here.”

Dennis looked at his mother and then at me. Finally, as the guards lunged for their guns, he pulled me away from Jerren. I was too tired to resist. “Give me your element,” he said, voice low.

I stared blankly ahead. “Can't—”

“Give it to me!”

Energy trickled through me as Dennis stared at the sky. In what felt like a full strike but must have been only a moment, he turned the wind directly on the approaching guards. Hit by a wall of air and horizontal rain, they collapsed as one.

Before they could get up, Dennis yelled, “Turn around.”

Alice was maybe thirty yards away. She was sailing close to the rocks—too close really—and moving fast. I fought to stay awake, stay conscious.

“Now!” yelled Dennis.

He flicked his wrist again, turning the wind onto us. It hit me from behind with the force of a blast, toppling us all and sending us out into space. I was laid out horizontally as I landed with a crash.