Martyr (The Martyr Trilogy) (18 page)

“No…,”
I said, realizing I was telling the truth.  “No…love?  No!  I didn’t love her. 
I’ve never loved anyone before.”

“Before…,”
she repeated.  The fragment of a smile appeared again.  Then she gulped an
uneven breath.  “Reya’s my mother.  That means Tal-Makai was my father!  Who
are you, Justin?  Are you my father?  Is it wrong for me to even think…”

“Tal-Makai
was not your father,” I explained.  “Reya told me your father died before you
were even born.  She only met Tal later, after you had gone to live with her
family.  Anyway, I’m not Tal-Makai.  I may or may not be ‘Martyr’, but
Tal-Makai and I are not the same person, any more than Reya and Mana are.” 

I
could see Maya’s eyes welling up again at the mention of these names.  I
dropped to sit beside her, shuffled close.  “Maya, I don’t love Reya, and she
doesn’t love me.  And I never loved Mana.”

She
was quiet for a moment, apparently thinking, and then, quietly, “Mana…what was
she like?”

“I
don’t remember,” I said.  Maya turned her face to me, her eyes filling with a
different kind of tears, and pressed her lips warmly against mine.

17

The
ride back to the dam was infinitely more pleasant than the last one; we shared
a deer, and Maya let me drive.  She was very chatty all of a sudden. 
"I am still a little mad at Reya - my mother," she said.  "And
I want to know more about my Dad."
 
"Of course," I said.  " Give Reya a chance to explain
herself.  Maybe you can at least make up for lost time with
her."
 
"I'll think about it," Maya said.  "Justin, your foot
really doesn't hurt any more?  I may have been upset with you, but
I never wanted to see you hurt like that."
 
"Like that?  You had a better idea how to punish me?"
 
"Oh, I had plenty of ideas!  Just none I would have actually
inflicted.  I felt bad enough about the way I knew I was hurting you with
my silence.  I was still trying to figure out Jager's game at that
point, and when he did that I so wanted to put a few crossbow bolts through
him!"
 
"Thanks," I said.  "But if you were that worried about me,
why'd you leave me to fend for myself against the ravages of the wild
when you first found out about your mother?"
 
"Idiot, do you really think I would have done that?  I
was doubly bound by my heart and my sense of duty to keep you safe. 
I circled around behind you as soon as I was sure I was out of your
sight.  Then I followed at a stealthy distance, fuming all the
while.  I saw that you were headed to camp, and when I was sure you were
safely there, I backed off and made for the chopper instead.  I would
never just leave you, know that." 
 
"Oh." I was touched.  "And just now?  You knew I would
be able to keep up?"
 
"I made sure you could keep up.  Had to practically make my deer walk
on its knees to do it, too.  Yeah, I wanted you to follow me."

“I
will always come for you, know that,” I said.

“I
do know that,” she replied cheerfully.  And after a moment, “I wanted to thank
you for all the things you showed me through your vision.  Especially the bits
from your life, girlfriend notwithstanding.  How come you never told me you had
done combat training?”

“Honestly,
it wasn’t exactly combat training.  In my world lots of people do that sort of
thing for fun, and to get in shape.”

“To
get in shape…for combat,” she said.

“No,
just to be strong,” I said.  She looked puzzled.  The concept of training the
body as an end in itself was completely foreign to her.  I couldn’t think of a
better way to explain it without making my world seem like an incredibly
shallow place.

“Well
anyway,” she said, “I was impressed with the way you moved, the control you had
over your body.”  I felt her thighs momentarily tense against mine and then
relax.  “That strength and training can certainly be applied to real combat.” 

“It
can’t hurt,” I agreed.

“If
you wouldn’t mind, I would like to see more of your life sometime.  You know,
since I don’t get to meet your family and all.”

“Sure,”
I said.  But immediately I began to question the wisdom of this idea.  Maya was
the person she was at least in part because of the circumstances of her life. 
I had to wonder if she would have retained the same child-like innocence had
she grown up in my neighborhood.  I doubted it.  I changed the subject.      

“So,
how many of them do you think there are?  In Kuro’s camp, I mean.”

Maya
shrugged.  “Beats me.  But I’ve seen plans for a similar type of dam, and there
isn’t a ton of space inside.  Most of it has to be solid concrete.  Perhaps
most of them stay in the town below.”

As
we neared the dam we could already smell the aroma of roasting meat.  Knox was
tending to a pair of large, barrel-style steel grills, while Jager and Kaire
chatted with Kuro nearby.  Corvus leaned against the wall next to the dam
entrance, tracing lines in the sand at his feet with the tip of a spear. 

Unexpectedly,
Maya raised both of her hands in the air.  “My beloved and I are one,” she
declared, loud enough for all to hear.

“And
one in Him,” the others said in unison.  Only Corvus remained silent.

“OK,
that was…different,” I said.  “What was that all about?” 

Maya
gave me a pinch, more playful than painful.  “What do you think?  I was
announcing our marriage!”

“Announcing
our…I’m sorry, what now?”

“Our
marriage, silly.  Announcing it.”

“Yeah,
um…ok,” I said.  “We can start talking about that, maybe eventually set a
date…obviously, not right now, there’s so much going on, what with the war, and
the end of civilization…”

Another
pinch.  Less playful.  More painful.  “Sweetheart,” she said, speaking with
slow deliberation,  “I was announcing our marriage.”  She caught my vacant
expression, so she clarified.  “I was announcing that we are married.”

My
jaw must have dropped a little.  I don’t think she liked that, judging from the
third pinch.  “That we are…um…Darling, can we talk about this?” 

“Justin! 
Haven’t you ever seen a marriage before?” she asked.  I didn’t get a chance to answer,
as Corvus chose that moment to interrogate Maya.

“Where’s
your pack?” he inquired without lifting his head.

“Not
that it’s any of your concern, but I got what I needed,” answered Maya.  That
was true enough.  He didn’t need to know that she was referring to her
emotional needs.  Corvus’ permanently snarling lip lifted a little higher, but
he said nothing more.

Kuro
shot him a warning glance and stepped past him to where Maya and I stood. 
“Come, friends, I want to give you the tour,” he said to us.  We followed him
into a lobby of sorts, itself surprisingly large.  Near the far end was a wall
spanning the width of the chamber, clearly not in keeping with the room’s
architecture, and of more recent origin.  It seemed to be pieced together out
of steel scrap, a patchwork of welds, rivets, and bolts.  Despite its makeshift
appearance, it seemed quite sturdy.  In its center was a large, round hatch
that resembled the door to a bank vault.  For all I knew, that was where it had
come from.  Kuro opened it with a swing of the handle and swung it outward,
then ushered us through.  Beyond was a second, smaller chamber, another, less
formidable door, and then a long, curving hallway that followed the contour of
the dam.  A yellow light issued from far down the hall, just out of sight
beyond the bend of the passage.  There opened several steel doors off of this
hallway at regular intervals, but Kuro pointed us instead to a lift close at
hand.

“That
can’t still work,” I said.  Kuro pressed a button on the panel, and a
mechanical rumbling issued from somewhere deep within the concrete walls. 
After a short pause, the door slid open, and Charr stood within.

“Oh!”
she exclaimed, not really surprised.  “I was just trading up.”  She held a
short but very sharp-looking silver blade before her face, turned it to catch
the light, smiled, then stepped out and waited for us to enter. 

“Anything
can work if Charr has a hand in it,” Kuro boasted as the door slid shut once
more.  We descended to an indeterminate depth, and emerged into another long
hallway.  This time I could see the first light, and it appeared to be
electrical.  I hadn’t seen a lot of that since I’d left home.  I supposed if it
could survive anywhere, it would be here where there was a constant natural source
of energy.  Kuro led us past a number of doors before directing us to a door on
the right, and we entered a room whose walls appeared to be composed entirely
of bladed weapons of every conceivable kind.  A closer inspection revealed that
this was not entirely true, as tucked in among them here and there could be
found various wooden staffs, clubs, long bows, and a few crossbows.  A few
items exceeded my working knowledge of ancient weaponry. 

Unnecessarily,
Kuro announced, “This is our weapon room.”  He looked at me specifically.  “You
will be trained in all manner of weapons and fighting styles.  Ultimately, you
must find a weapon that feels right for you.  You may choose anything from this
room, and switch at your leisure.  Charr keeps her private collection
elsewhere.”  I saw Maya trying to edge closer to the door through which we had
entered, as Kuro’s attention was presently focused on me.  I was already
unbuckling my belt to remove the Caretaker’s blade, which was outshined by
pretty much everything in this room.  I let it drop with a clang to the
concrete floor, and selected a broad, two-handed staff with a curving blade
that extended almost halfway down the length of the weapon.  It was like the
one I had seen Tal-Makai wield in Reya’s vision-memory.  I looked up at Kuro,
who was grinning.  “Nice weapon,” he said.  “You’re welcome to hold on to it,
but I want you to start…”  He strode across the chamber and chose a straight,
duel-edged sword with an unassuming guard.  “…with this.”  He tossed it to me
and I caught it by the hilt, hefted it.  It was surprisingly light and
well-balanced for its length.  “Maya…,” he started, suddenly aware of her again
a fraction of a second after she had reappeared in the doorway, grinning
suspiciously.  “You’re welcome to choose something for yourself as well, though
I suspect you already have a good idea how to use most of them.”  Maya nodded. 
“Your big friend as well,” he added, obviously referring to Doog.  “What’s his
weapon of choice?”

“He
likes to throw sharp, heavy things,” she said.  “Axes mostly, or knives if they
have enough heft.  If the target is advancing toward him, he wants to stop it
in its tracks.  Or preferably send it back a few steps.”  I shuddered to
imagine the force of a throw that would actually reverse the forward progress
of a running opponent.  But if anyone was capable of throwing an axe that hard,
it was Doog.

“You
should be able to find something like that here as well,” said Kuro.  “And for
all of you, Charr can customize something if you don’t find the perfect match. 
A weapon should feel like an extension of not just your body, but also of your
mind and spirit.  With your preference for the crossbow,” he lifted his chin at
Maya, “I imagine Charr will take great delight in making something special for
you.  Maybe let you see how she does it, if you’re lucky.”  Maya grinned
widely.  “So,” he concluded, “you can access this room at any time as long as
you are staying with us.  I just ask that you don’t take more at any one time
than you plan to carry.  We don’t want any weapons going unaccounted for.”  I
knew that wouldn’t be an issue for Maya, whose modus operandi was to only keep
what she could physically carry on her person.  “The sleeping quarters are down
here as well.  You can basically just find any empty room and make it your
own.”

“Where
is everyone else?” I asked abruptly.

Kuro
looked confused.  “Everyone else?”

“Yeah,
the rest of your camp,” I clarified.  “Surely you few are not the only
resistance in this region.”

“Let
me make myself clear about this,” Kuro said.  “We don’t belong to any camp.  We
are not affiliated with any other resistance group.  Here there is just me, and
my students.”

“Why?”
Maya piped in.  “You and your soldiers are exceptionally strong and skilled, but
is there not an even greater strength in solidarity?  Why not join with others
of like mind?”

“Well,
now, there you’ve hit it precisely on the head,” said Kuro.  “There are no
others of like mind.”

“What
do you mean?” I asked.

Kuro
explained, “We represent the last remnant of an ancient sect that is all but
forgotten.  As you may know, the religion of Chaer-Ul has never been bound to
the written word.  Chaer-Ul communes with men at his own times, and in his own
ways.  The faith has always been passed down verbally; parents to children
around the hearth, open sharing of information between camps.  The message has
thereby been preserved with a high degree of accuracy, and through the
instrumentality of the puurr-deer, faithfully passed even to the most remote
outposts.  Thus what may be known of Chaer-Ul is readily available to any who
would seek it without impure motive.”  Maya and I looked at each other.  Nobody
had to say that Magus’ motives were less than pure. 

Kuro
continued, “However, long ago a manuscript was found.  The details of its
discovery have been lost with time, and at some point, the manuscript itself
disappeared.  It was believed to pre-date any known verbal communication from
Chaer-Ul.”