Haven 6 (31 page)

She kicked a clump of moss and mud from the toe of her boot. “You’re no less than Striver, just as I’m no less than any of those genetically planned people on the
Heritage
. The only thing holding you back is self-doubt.”

“Self-doubt is the story of my life, but I didn’t give it to myself, those around me—”

“Stop blaming them.” Eri’s voice came out harsh and she turned and gave him an apologetic look. “When you start taking responsibility for yourself, you’ll control your own destiny. It happened to me. I used to let all those people on that ship tell me who I was, what I did for a job, and how I couldn’t have a lifemate.”

She snorted in disgust. “Once I stopped listening to them, I found myself, and I found Striver.”

The mention of Striver made a hole ache in his gut. Here he was with his brother’s love. Striver didn’t deserve this.

Eri walked toward him and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “I believe in you, Weaver. I think you can figure things out and do the right thing.”

Lasers pinged through the trees. They ducked, listening to the direction of the fire. Eri whispered, “We’re close.”

She moved, but Weaver caught her arm. “Don’t go in too fast. They’ll think you’re one of the Lawless.”

Eri held up her arm, showing her locator. “I have this.”

“What if they don’t see it until they’ve shot you dead?”

“I know my own people. I’ll be careful.”

They inched closer to the laser fire. Weaver realized if he wanted to take responsibility for something, he should start with Eri. He was the one who’d taken her out here, putting her in danger. “Wait. I know a better way.”

She creased her eyebrows in suspicion. “We don’t have much time.”

“You won’t have any time if you get yourself killed. Now come on.”

They backtracked into the forest. He led her up an incline to a ridge where the battle sprawled below them in all directions.

The
Heritage
cut into the ground, leaving a path of destruction in its wake. All of the trees a mile around had collapsed or burned to ash. The earth steamed, smoke rising in strings to the twilight sky. Bush fires illuminated the clearing in a molten red light. Bodies lay everywhere, bent and curled up, some on their backs staring blankly at the sky. Lawless fired at the belly of the ship where members of the attack team pushed toward the jungle. To Weaver, it looked like pandemonium at the end of the world.

Eri pointed to her people spreading in a semicircle from a ramp connected to the ship. “Look! Their uniforms blend with the foliage much better than mine had, and they’re wearing helmets and vests that repel the arrows. Litus advised them well.” Pride filled her voice.

“Maybe they won’t have such a hard time fighting the Lawless?”

A deeper buzzing sound came from the forest and a stream of golden light shot out, spreading in all directions as it spiraled through the air. The first row of men spun into particles of swirly light and disappeared.

“Holy Refuge.”

“Jolt.” Eri uttered his name as if the man were an inevitable evil. She wiped sweat from her forehead, her jaw tense.

Just as Jolt’s forces pushed ahead, Guardians dove through the sky, dropping nets to slow them. Weaver clenched his fists as anxiety crept up his spine. It wouldn’t be enough. Unlike the Lawless’s usual bows and spears, the lasers could fire through the netting, so even if they lay tangled, they could still cause damage.

“We have to help them.” Eri tugged on his sleeve. “Or Jolt will make them all disappear.”

War cries rang out from the east. Another force emerged from the forest. At first Weaver thought it was more Lawless, then his heart clenched in recognition. Striver led others from his village into the thick of the battle. Carven and Riley followed him, and behind them, Riptide ran with a spear.

Not her. Anyone but her.

Weaver leapt up, adrenaline spiraling through his limbs. “Let’s go.”

Eri nodded and scrambled to her feet. She whipped out her laser and input the code. Her eyes shone with fierce determination as the gun buzzed to life. “I’m ready.”

Striver bellowed a war cry as he led his team into the pandemonium of lasers, arrows, and death. Fires crackled around them, casting faces in a hellish glow. The air stank of smoke, scorched leaves, and blood. The soles of his feet burned as he crossed the charred ground to ambush the Lawless from the side. His heart coiled like a tight fist. This was the end-all to centuries of war.
Do or die.

Ash stinging his tongue and throat, he turned to Carven and Riley running beside him. “Take out the Lawless men with the lasers. One by one.”

Adrenaline surged through his body. He’d waited his entire life for this moment, his chance to face the Lawless and ensure the safety of his village. They’d had skirmishes in the past, but this battle encompassed the brunt of both their forces. Without the attackers on the
Heritage
to even out the odds, their dwindling army could only hide behind their crumbling wall.

“Over there!” Riptide pointed to a man shooting golden light from a high-tech gun. The front line of colonists disappeared like dust in the wind. Striver slowed, stretching his arms to hold his army back.

“Holy Refuge!” Carven wiped his forehead. “The men. They’re gone.”

Eri had warned them. Still, seeing men reduced to thin air stole his breath away. Striver turned to Carven. “Can we beat this?”

“We have to.” Carven tightened his fingers around his bow.

Striver scanned the battlefield. “Not from a direct assault. We’ll have to break into teams and distract them.”

Carven nodded. “Riley and I will sneak up from the back and clear you a path. We’ll meet in the center.”

Striver put a hand on Carven’s shoulder. “Be careful.”

“It’s not me you need to worry about.” Carven winked and took off into the forest.

Riley nodded at Striver. At least they were civil enough to fight together. “Look after my sister.”

“I will.” Striver checked the rest of his team. Litus and Mars ran down by the ramp, rejoining their team. Hopefully they could merge their forces in the middle. Fighters from his village waited on his command. They’d follow him to the end of Refuge, if they weren’t already there.

“I’m going to take him down.” Riptide tightened her grip on her spear.

“Wait for the group,” Striver shouted, but Riptide had already run out of earshot.
Dammit!

He circled past a clump of Lawless releasing arrows at the ship’s hull. The Lawless on the edge of the fight turned in their direction and shouted warning cries to their friends.

That’s it. We’ve been spotted.

Was it enough of a head start to get close to the men with lasers?
It has to be.

Arrows whizzed by Striver’s head, and he ducked as he ran. He had to reach Riptide in time to cover her assault. Carven and Riley had disappeared in the chaos.

A man with a green-painted face and leaves threaded through his hair jumped in Riptide’s path. He brandished his flint blade and grinned, exposing yellow teeth. As he ran at her, Riptide brought her arm back and threw her spear. The weapon sailed in an arc and landed in the man’s chest. He crumpled to the ground face-first. More Lawless surrounded her, blocking her path from the targeted gun.

Striver raised his bow and sent twin sailing arrows in two different directions. Two attackers fell before reaching Riptide, giving her time to reclaim her spear. A third man threw a blade at her throat. She ducked and lunged with her spear as Striver reached for another arrow.

Riptide was too close to the Lawless man, giving Striver no choice but to put his bow down. He sprinted forward, hoping to reach her before more Lawless crowded around them. Heart pumping on overdrive, he watched the man grip her spear and try to yank it from her hands. Riptide screamed, pulling the spear toward her chest. Still gripping the spear, the man pushed her back.

“Riptide!” Striver threw himself forward through ash and embers. “I’m coming!”

The attacker tossed Riptide into a stand of ferns that had somehow survived the crash. He jumped in after her. All Striver could see was the palms shaking as they moved.

Striver leapt over a dead colonist’s body and slid down an incline.
Weaver would never forgive me.
Somehow, even though his brother had betrayed him and stolen his own love, he still couldn’t bear to fail him.

When he reached them, the man lay on top of Riptide, lifeless. Shock stung Striver’s gut. Had they killed each other?

He pulled the body off her. Riptide opened her eyes and grinned. She held her cooking knife, the end bloodied.

“I don’t think he’ll go with your famous boar roast stew.” Striver offered his hand and she gripped it. He pulled her up.

She smiled, and her white teeth shone wild in the firelight. “I guess I’ll have to keep looking, then.”

Carven and Riley had cleared a path to one of the Lawless men equipped with a laser gun. Striver retrieved his bow and nodded at Riptide and they ran toward the gun before the Lawless man turned the barrel on them.

A woman clothed in leaves turned, eyes widening. “Techno hoarders! Take them out!”

The man with the laser gun quirked his head and whirled in their direction, vines flying around him as his disguise came apart.

“We’re not going to make it!” Riptide shrieked as she ran.

“Oh, yes we are.” Striver still had the arrow he’d drawn before. He slid to a halt and brought up his bow. As the barrel of the laser zeroed in, he focused on the hand attached to the trigger.

One shot, that’s all I need.

Taking a deep breath, Striver released the arrow, and it soared across the battlefield, severing the man’s finger when it reached its target. He screamed, dropping the laser. Golden light shot into the sky, dissipating as the laser hit the ground.

Riptide had reached throwing distance of her spear. Not wasting a second, she pulled her arm back, muscles bunching, and let the weapon sail. The shaft pierced through the Lawless man’s neck, and he went down, holding his own blood in his hands.

Carven and Riley reached the gun and disabled it, pulling the energy cell from the back and emptying the golden liquid until it seeped into the earth. Striver breathed a sigh of relief, but his reprise was short lived.

One down, nineteen more to go.

…

Eri followed Weaver, scrutinizing every step he took with a skeptical eye. Deep down in the secret recesses of his heart, he had some amount of good, yet she still doubted his shifty intentions. Why would he help her after throwing her to the Lawless like he didn’t care whether she lived or died?

Unless she had something he wanted.

The ship. Of course. He wants access to the ship.

The sickening truth soured her stomach. If it came down to it, she’d be forced to fight him. No way could he gain control of the
Heritage
. She bit her lip, hoping that time would never come. For now, he was the only ally she had by her side.

They emerged on the southern side of the battle, just underneath the
Heritage
’s right wing. Eri and Weaver snuck underneath the metallic frame, hiding in its shadow. Eri ran her fingers over the metal. She’d lived her whole life inside that frame. Although the ship took up a large patch of what had been dense jungle, it looked insignificant compared to the wild world of Haven 6.

Laser fire pinged around them and they ducked instinctively, although no one fired at them.
Yet.
The one thing the colonists had in their favor was the Lawless’s inexperience with lasers. Their aim was as good as their manners.

“Over there.” Eri pointed to the ramp. “I need to enter the ship through that hatch.” She had to slip through the guards and confront the commander—alone.

“All right, all right. I’m thinking.” Weaver rubbed his chin, eyes skittering across the battlefield.

Eri tried to follow his gaze, but the chaos was thick and ever changing.
What’s he looking for?

Jolt and his team of laser-wielding Lawless had pushed ahead, meters from the ramp. Eri counted eleven lasers besides Jolt’s. Pride swelled in her chest. Striver and his group must have taken some of them down.

Colonists fired lasers from inside the ship. If Jolt reached the ramp, they wouldn’t be safe for long.

“We have to distract Jolt.” Eri shook her head. “If he sees me run for the ship, he’ll fire.”

“Look! There’s Striver.” Weaver pointed to the far side of the battle, where Striver and a team from his village picked off the laser-wielding men from the back.

Relief coursed through her. Striver was still alive and fighting, but he had no chance against the commander’s blind rage. She had to reach her, stop her from giving the Delta Slip order. “We can’t wait for them. We won’t make it in time. Once Jolt gets to the ship, he’ll be unstoppable.” Eri suddenly felt protective.
Aquaria is in there.

“What do you want me to do? I have no weapons besides my bow.”

Eri shrugged. She wasn’t about to hand over her only laser. “If we don’t do something now, the battle is lost.”

“Doesn’t your ship have more firepower?”

“Like I said before, it’s a colony ship, not a galactic battle cruiser. We didn’t come to fight a war.”

Weaver spread his hands out over the battlefield. “Could have fooled me.”

Eri pulled on her hair. They were wasting time bickering like children. She moved out of the shadows. “I’m going by myself. You don’t have to help me.” She checked her laser, making sure the weapon buzzed with a charge.

“Yes, I do,” Weaver stated coolly, adjusting the bow on his back and pulling out a handful of arrows.

“What?” Eri choked like she’d swallowed a bug. That was the last thing she expected form his mouth. “Why?”

“I can’t stand seeing Riptide and Striver out there, sacrificing their lives. This is all my fault. I figured out the code to those weapons, I unleashed the golden pool’s power. I owe it to you, to Striver, and to every damned person in that village I betrayed.”