War of the Fathers (12 page)

Adar would have liked better cover than the small bush
he was hiding behind, but it was better than nothing he supposed. So far his
luck had been far better than that of the many others whose bodies he could see
scattered around the town square. He could hear Tere cursing and muttering
under his breath in the bush behind him. If they wouldn’t have been surrounded
by explosions Adar might have been concerned that the Hunwei would overhear Tere.
Adar could just make out a particularly vulgar curse that he’d heard Tere
mutter for as long as he’d known him.

Some things never changed. Over the years Adar had
come to believe that the seeds of Tere’s betrayal had been there all along but it
wasn’t until they were older that they’d finally manifested. Adar shook his
head to clear his thoughts and try to get the ringing to go away.

When the bombs had gone off
and the town square had flooded with Hunwei, t
hey had been close enough
to Arnie's blacksmith shop that they’d been able to hide behind several small
bushes at the side of the building. Adar was doing his best to keep from moving
but found it hard. He hated feeling exposed, it made him uncomfortable, it was
like an itch on his back that he couldn’t scratch. The bush
in front of him didn't offer
much cover, but it was
his only alternative for the moment. The Hunwei were everywhere and moving
would mean capture or death.
If it hadn't been for
all the chaos, the Hunwei would have found them for sure.

Adar was afraid that the ringing in his ears meant he
would be left partially deaf because his head felt like somebody had put a bell
on
him
and rung it for hours.
He fidgeted and was surprised when his hand touched his
arm and came away wet. Cursing, he wiped the blood on his pants and flexed his
arm as much as he dared. I
t
didn't feel like
the wound had
affected his ability to use it. It was small and the blood
would soon clot, so he put it from his mind. He checked the rest of his body as
best he could from his crouch and determined he hadn't sustained any other
notable injuries.

During one of the explosions, Adar was able to see
that Tere had a huge gash on his forehead. The blood from the wound had already
covered half his face but his eyes were alert and Adar believed that was the
worst that he'd suffered. It shouldn't keep them from moving when the time
came.

For a brief moment there, when they’d made eye contact,
it had
felt like nothing had ever happened
between them
and Adar
was reminded of a time
they'd both nearly been killed during a skirmish with some bandits and Tere had
saved him.
He had hopped into the middle of a fight
without looking to the side and Tere had killed a large one eared man who had
been hiding in the brush. Later on in the same battle, Adar had skewered a man
that had come from the ground where he’d been pretending to be dead. Tere would
have died with his head lopped off if Adar hadn’t been there to stop the man.

It was a shame they'd lost their friendship
but t
he regret washed away quickly. It was too late
to go back now. 

A
man's body
fell in
front of Adar and a large armored figure loomed
above
him in the smoke
. The Hunwei glanced down at the
corpse
, looked away, and
brought
something to his shoulder. Fire erupted from the end, illuminating the Hunwei's
armor. Adar frowned, wondering what his chance of survival was if he were to
attack the Hunwei. He decided
to do nothing
because the Hunwei
didn't
appear to have
noticed them. The light from the blasts and the nearby burning buildings reflected
off the
Hunwei's
helmet and the rest of the
armor. It was the first real look that Adar had gotten of the Hunwei. The
creature towered over him and the helmet obscured most of the head
but Adar could see
there was a faceplate that
allowed the Hunwei to see. The light reflected off
of
it
, making it seem to glow and completing the Hunwei's unearthly look.

Melyah! Adar should have dragged Jorad to Rarbon
months ago, back when he started feeling uneasy. He'd been angry with Jorad for
not telling him about his encounter with the Ou Qui, but Adar was actually
angry with himself. He'd had a premonition that this was going to happen and
he'd ignored it.

The Hunwei fired repeatedly. Each time the blast from
the end of the thing he held to his shoulder lit up his armor. After several
more explosions from his blaster—what else could it be?—the Hunwei moved away
from them.

Similar explosions came from all around as Adar
examined the dead man several feet in front of
him
.
A hole had been burned all the way through his chest. Light from a ship passing
overhead showed the ash, mixed with blood, flesh, and bone that covered the
ground where the man had fallen.

Adar didn't dwell on the scene before him and instead
surveyed the town square. Flames burned everywhere he looked. The fire, the
continuing blasts from the Hunwei weapons, and the light from the roving Hunwei
ships above them lit up the town square to the point that he had a good idea
what was going
on even though there was smoke
everywhere
.

As he viewed the scene
around
him, trying to formulate some semblance of a plan, he gradually became aware of
the smell. It had probably been there for some time, but the smell of burning
flesh and smoke from the fires began to assail him to the point that he finally
noticed. With everything else going on, he hadn't been paying attention but now
that he
finally did, it
made him feel weak in
the stomach. He set his jaw and calibrated his mind as he swallowed down bile.
He needed to rescue Jorad.

While
some of the
Hunwei were firing blasters and killing everything they came across,
most
were gathering people into the middle of the
town square. Adar remembered
hearing from
Semal
that the Hunwei had taken many slaves.
He assumed
that this was to be the fate of those that were being rounded up.

The explosions weren't coming quite so often now but
they were still occurring at a steady rate.

Tere growled. Adar looked at the man that had at one
time been like a brother and wasn’t surprised to see that even now behind the
fear in Tere’s eyes, the anger and hatred burned. One small oath was all that
kept Tere from trying to kill him. Adar doubted that even the Hunwei would be
reason enough to stay his hand. What was an oath to Tere anyway?
Wouldn't
Tere see this as his final opportunity to
get revenge on Adar?

“
Did you see w
hat
happened to the others?” Adar asked, he hadn't been able to find Karn, Tarner,
or Lous in either the forming group of slaves or
among
any of
the
nearby
bodies.

“They were behind me when the explosions started,”
Tere said. “I saw Tarner
trip but
I can’t find
his body.”

They fell silent again for some time;
as they watched
the mass of swarming people in the square
grow substantially. There were now a sizable number of Hunwei patrolling the
outside perimeter but the people in the square far outnumbered the Hunwei
surrounding them.
If they were all to run, a majority
would be able to escape.

“The gods have cursed us.” Adar surveyed the crowd,
hoping Jorad wasn’t there. If he could get his hands on one of the Hunwei
weapons and figure out how to use it, they might have a
chance at getting away
.
Their swords
wouldn't do much good unless they were right on top of a Hunwei.
Tere
mumbled something Adar couldn’t make out but he didn’t ask for a clarification.

“Tarner,” Tere said a few minutes later while pointing
to the prisoners. “You see him?”

Adar nodded as he recognized the sharp angular face of
Tarner. He was surprised to see that Tarner was still armed with his sword, but
with the armor the Hunwei wore, maybe an armed man wasn’t much of a threat to
them.

“Never figured he'd end up this way,” Tere muttered.

“The others are probably there as well.” Adar scanned
the crowd, looking to see if he could spot Karn and Lous. He recognized most of
the people and while he didn't know many of them by name, he knew who they
were. He felt a sharp stab of guilt when he noticed the women and children that
were among the captives
. When Adar recognized
Soret in the crowd,
he growled quietly
as he
examined everybody close to her, trying to see if Jorad was
there as well
.
Adar
couldn't
find
him
and
was unable to spot
Soret
again
. If Jorad had managed to escape from the town guards, his first
thought would be for Soret.

Adar hadn't thought of trying to rescue Tarner or any
of the others, but seeing Soret changed his mind. If Jorad was there, Adar had
no choice but to go get him and everybody else. If Jorad wasn't there, he'd
never forgive Adar for leaving her.

“
I'm going in
,” Adar
took a deep breath as he stood.
Causing a stampede
might prove a challenge but he'd make it happen one way or another. The odds
were in their favor but they'd have to act quickly before more of the Hunwei
congregated around the captives.

“We can’t just walk out there,” Tere hissed from the
bush.

“Doubt they’ll stop us from joining them.”

“What’s your plan?”

“Mass exodus. Unless you want to leave Tarner.” It
didn’t seem like a good idea to mention that Soret was Adar’s reason for the
insane plan.

He stepped out of the shadows and walked towards the
crowd. Tere followed
him before he got too far,
cursing as he caught up to Adar
. As much as possible Adar avoided
looking down at the bodies. The remains of the women and children would rile
him up and he couldn’t afford to lose control of his temper. They hadn’t made
it five steps when he heard snarling from behind.

Adar turned and faced the Hunwei, looking up into the
faceplate of the creature; he was able to see the orange eyes that
glowed behind it
. The Hunwei motioned with his
weapon towards the center of the square. Adar eyed the blaster, it might be his
only chance to get one, and he was tempted to try, but then he’d have to run if
that failed. He doubted the Hunwei would let him live through the attempt.

“Just on our way there,” Adar said.

Tere smiled. “You’re not excluding us from all the
fun.”

The bulge of one of Adar’s daggers dug into his side
and he ached to try to slip it through some of the gaps in the armor he had
noticed, but he turned and marched towards the crowd of captives. Tarner and
Karn found them when they joined the group.

“Fools!” Tarner said. “Should have run when you had
the chance. Now we’re all stuck.”

Tere said something but Adar didn’t hear and he
wondered if the ringing in his ears would ever go away. He noticed Soret and
headed in her direction. The people were scared and many showed signs of shock.
Several of the people he moved by lay on the ground. Whether they were passed
out or dying he didn't stop to check. They had to act quickly if this foolish
plan of his was going to work.

“Be prepared to run,” Adar said as he made his way
through the crowd. “Run when I attack. Pass it on.” Too many stared numbly back
at him, but several nodded. He repeated the message many times as he moved,
hoping that the Hunwei couldn’t understand their language.

When he got to Soret, she was crying and it took
several attempts to get her to speak. He noticed that she was staring in the
direction of her home and through the incoherent rambling, he gathered that her
house had exploded with her parents inside. He couldn’t get her to say anything
more and Jorad wasn't with her.

Another explosion filled the air and there was a flash
of light from several streets away. The light illuminated another crowd of
people that the Hunwei were herding towards them. Praying that Jorad was safe,
Adar took Soret by the arm and returned to Tere and the others.

“Karn, can I trust you to get her out of here when the
time comes?” Adar asked, nodding his head to Soret.

“Sure.” Karn looked disappointed with the assignment,
no doubt he'd been gearing up to fight. Adar almost reconsidered, Karn was big
enough he could probably wrestle a Hunwei to the ground by himself, but getting
Soret out was important. Adar didn't want Jorad suffering through the pain of
her death while trying to pass the trials in Rarbon as well.

Assuming they even made it that far.

Adar called as many of the people around him as he
could and explained if they all ran at once, most of them could escape. His
words were met with disbelief and doubt. Tere, Tarner and Karn all supported
him and eventually they'd managed to convince a sizable group to run.

“When we going to do this?” Tarner asked.

Adar examined several of the nearby Hunwei. One was
close enough that Adar could take him in the eye with his dagger because his
faceplate was up. He pulled it out and threw; it hit the eye and bounced off, falling
harmlessly to the ground. The Hunwei turned towards Adar and brought up his
blaster.
Melyah take me
, he thought, wondering if he’d imagined the
whole thing. The dagger had hit the eye with enough force to kill a man.

“Down!” Adar knocked Soret to the ground first and
landed on top of her. The blast from the Hunwei went into the crowd. The other
Hunwei nearby started firing as well. Adar scrambled off Soret and charged the
closest Hunwei, diving into his legs. Pain shot into Adar’s arms and chest, like
he’d decided to charge a statue but luckily the Hunwei wobbled. Digging in with
his knees, Adar pushed the Hunwei just enough that he lost his balance. As the
Hunwei fell, Adar grabbed for his blaster. The Hunwei yanked it out of reach
and slammed the butt of it onto Adar’s head who howled even as he latched onto
it again.