Chapter Twelve
Time to Leave
I stared out into the night taking in the sights and sounds of the city. No one passing by seemed to be aware of our presence so we were safe, for the moment at least.
I knew that Larc planned to leave when it was a little later in the night, but I had to admit that I didn’t like our chances.
Talaric sat down beside me suddenly.
Somewhat startled I berated myself inwardly for not noticing his approach earlier. Such a lapse in concentration could get one killed.
Talaric could move like a shadow though, when he wanted to, so I didn’t beat myself up to much because I might not have heard him even if I had been fully listening.
He looked as if he was in deep self contemplation. He hadn’t said a word since we had rescued him and Larc. He was still pretty beat up looking and moved a bit stiffly, but he was still a force to be reckoned with.
He always would be. It was more of a question of whether he could ever learn to control it.
Talaric broke the silence, “I want to apologize to you for something. That night when we attacked Rauel I had my men in position, but I held them back because I thought you couldn’t do your end of the job. I nearly got you killed and a lot of other men as well. I’m sorry for that and for not being a better example of an older brother to you.”
Talaric abruptly stood up and move off into the darkness, as if embarrassed too much to stay any longer.
I stared in shock at him as he left. I glanced over to Larc, who had been within earshot of the confession.
Larc smiled and then looked back out into the night. Maybe father had been right to send Talaric along on the mission after all.
If Talaric was willing to mend fences than I could help the process along and drop some of my own grudges.
I jumped up and followed after Talaric through the old church ruins that we had taken refuge in. The church had been burnt to the ground at some point and all that was left was the old building stones of its foundation and basement.
I found Talaric looking out over the city leaning up against an old stone wall.
Walking up beside him I said, “Apology accepted.” And then I offered my hand out to him and after a moment he shook it.
We stood quietly then in the dark.
Talaric spoke up, “I know that Father sent me on this mission more for my own benefit than the mission’s. He wanted me to learn something, to change.”
I paused for a moment and then piped in good humouredly, “Is it working?”
Talaric chuckled, “Yeah it’s working. It’s becoming very clear to me the need to change and be more like father. More like you, when it comes to that. A couple more slugs on the head and I’ll be a changed man.”
I had flushed a little when he had included me and now I thought about what to say to him.
“You know you can’t make the kind of change that you want to and make it stick, all by yourself don’t you? You need the Creator’s help Talaric.”
“I know. It’s hard to start though. I don’t know if He even wants a relationship with me anymore.”
“I would say that the very desire within you to change is God’s way of pointing you back to Him. As mother would put it, ‘Take one step towards the Creator and He’ll carry you the rest of the way.”
Talaric nodded his head and I decided to shut up before I botched it and put my foot in my mouth.
We stood there awhile, until something else I felt burdened to say finally popped out.
“Talaric I think you were wrong about something.”
“What?”
“No offence meant, but I don’t think father would have sent anyone on this mission that he didn’t think wouldn’t become individually critical to the success of the mission.”
Talaric didn’t say anything, but I felt better for what I saw as the truth as it was unfolding before my eyes.
The sound of a kicked over stone connecting with another in the darkness echoed loudly, Talaric and I looked at each other. I was about to turn to fetch the others, when they came up alongside of us in the dark.
“Where did that come from?” Larc asked whispering.
Talaric pointed towards the central area of the church. As if on cue we split up and converged on the area the sound had emanated from.
Evette threw another rock and figured that was enough. She hadn’t heard or seen anything in the dark ruins around them, but she knew they were there. She could sense the raw predatory presence of them, as they encircled her and the children.
She didn’t have to wait long. In the soft glow cast off from the city around her she watched as five tall shadows materialized out of the gloom to form the figures of men that exemplified what the warriors of ancient times must have looked like.
The men steadily closed in on them until they were, but five feet from her and the children on all sides. She did not like the feeling of being trapped, but it was a trap of her own making so she had to live with it.
It was the red haired warrioress from the prison that Larc had a crush on. How had she found us and why where two young children with her?
She looked like she’d been worked over badly since last we’d met. Larc started out and the rest of us closed in likewise, as it appeared that she was alone except for the children.
She looked somewhat apprehensive as we closed in on her, but who wouldn’t be?
Larc did all the talking and he started with the most obvious question in all of our minds.
“How did you find us?”
She looked at Larc and said simply, “I remembered what you told the shop owner as to what your purpose was for being here and when you were leaving the Committee office one of the audio recorders heard a conversation where one of you mentioned that you were headed to a sanctuary. I thought of what you would consider as a sanctuary and this place came to mind. I would recommend leaving this place before someone else comes to the same conclusion.”
“I suppose you have a good reason for being here.” Larc asked.
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
She paused for a moment and then said, “It’s no longer safe here for the children. Their caretaker is dead and they’re not safe while there here with me. I want you to take them back with you to your world and raise them as your own.”
After a shocked moment of silence shared by all of us Larc asked, “And why would we do that?”
“Because I can lead you to what you came here for, the Bible.”
“You know where there’s a Bible?”
“Yes.”
“Is it near here?”
“No, it’s several days journey in land from here. I doubt that there’s a Bible to be had any closer to the city than the place I know of. I will guide you there and back if you promise to take the children with you.”
“You do not wish to go as well?”
“I would neither presume to ask that given what I’ve done; much less do I deserve such a second chance at life. I will stay here and see you and the children clear.”
I looked at her in surprise. She didn’t know how her humble speech had impacted us. We all had a role model in mind, who had sacrificed everything in the pursuit of saving the lives of children.
Her selfless statement and offer to see us clear was a sure statement of her worthiness to go back with us in my opinion. If I wasn’t mistaken Larc was thinking the same thing.
Larc responded, “I accept your offer.”
She seemed to visibly relax some of the tension that she exhibited and it was clear to see then that she was scraping the bottom of the barrel energy wise.
She seemed to gather herself, “We should leave now while it’s still dark and the city hasn’t been blocked off.”
“I agree.” Echoed Larc.
Larc knelt down and looked at the two little children, who clutched tightly to either of Evette’s legs and smiled kindly, “We have to move quickly and you both look very tired. These nice men,” He gestured to Orhanin and Thanic, “are going to carry you, okay.”
Evette looked like she wanted to say something against his statement of intent, but refrained from doing so.
Orhanin and Thanic stepped forward and picked the little children up gently and started off into the dark. Larc rose back up to his feet and reached out a hand to pull one side of Evette’s jacket to the side.
The light colored shirt she wore had dark spots all over it that I took to be blood. Evette snatched her coat flap back out of Larc’s fingers and covered her shirt back up.
“You need some attention given to that as well as these.” He said gesturing to her wrists, which clearly showed the signs of having been chained harshly.
What had they done to her after we had left?
“I’ll be fine!” Evette said defensively.
She turned to follow after the children, but before she could even put up a struggle Larc stepped forward and scooped her up in his arms. She went stiff as a board and was about to protest loudly, when he cut her off.
“You’re about to collapse and no doubt would after ten steps. If you want us to honor the bargain then you have to let us take care of you so you can lead us to the Bible!”
She didn’t say anything, but she didn’t relax much either. There was scarring there that went further down then just skin deep I thought speculatively to myself. Talaric glanced at me and I could tell he was thinking the same thing I was.
He whispered to me, “He’s gonna have a real time of it trying to convince that one to be his woman!”
I nodded.
She didn’t know it but she had probably never been safer from the danger of brutish men in her life than she now was in Larc’s arms. She had better get used to it, because I doubted that Larc was ever going to let her go again.
Thirty minutes later we were in a side alley along a main street that had vessels parked all along it. Evette motioned to be let down, which Larc did so.
She turned to me, “Do you have a slim dagger that I can borrow?”
I glanced at Larc and he nodded.
I pulled one out from behind my neck and handed it to her. She approached the vessels parked along the street. She avoided the ones that were shiny and newer looking and instead headed for a big one that showed some age and rusty dents on it.
She glanced around and after seeing that the coast was clear she jammed my knife down into the door next to the window and fiddled around with it for a moment.
Something popped up and she withdrew the knife and motioned for us to come closer. The doors of the vessel opened to reveal two rows of seats behind the driver that Larc, Orhanin, Thanic, Talaric and the two children piled into.
The message was clear I was elected unanimously to be driver once again. I gritted my teeth, as I slid into the driver’s seat with Evette sitting across from me. I reached for the little metal key, but it wasn’t there.
Now what?
I glanced over at Evette and saw her extend the knife out to me and gesture towards my feet.
“Get down and you’ll see several wires. Pull them out and I want you to strip off the outer coating on the ones I show you and then touch them together.
I did as she directed me and the vessel came to life.
What a resourceful woman!
She was rather handy to have around. I moved the vessel out into the street and what I feared would happen did!
The annoying little alarm only different in sound, but none the less annoying started ringing again. I pushed the pedal to stop and the vessel stopped abruptly in the middle of the street. Everyone was looking at me.
My fingers gripped the wheel hard, as I turned to look over at Evette. “You as a person of this world can surely tell me why there is the need for this incessant and annoying alarm, when the vessel is operating perfectly fine!”
She stared at me like she couldn’t believe I was serious, but when she saw I was one corner of her mouth quirked up slightly. She lifted one hand and tugged at a strap that was across her body.
Where had that come from?
I turned to the side and saw a matching strap along my side of the vessel. Pulling it out I clipped it in like hers was and the ringing stopped.
Oh thank God for that!
I looked over and gave Evette a look of utter appreciation. Her quirked up lips had made it to a full smile. The smile was very becoming, bruises and all.
Larc was a very lucky man and so was she, because he would make her smile a lot more.
Larc’s voice spoke up from the backseat, “Now that we have that issue resolved could we continue on with the mission?”
I glanced at the mirror that showed me the back rows of the vessel, “If anyone else would like to drive this vessel you can go right ahead. Who wants to try it?”
There were no volunteer replies. Point made.
I let off on the stop pedal and gave it power. With Evette’s directions we were past roadblocks and out of the city with a minimum of pain involved.
We had been out of the city for roughly an hour, when I noticed in the darkened interior of the vessel that Evette seemed to be tense about something. Her hand was white knuckled where it gripped the side of her door. Was she in that much pain?
“Evette are you okay? You seem very tense about something.”
Her hand lifted and pointed out the window ahead of us at a little sign that was coming closer and closer. It read simply, ‘55 mph’.
I looked over at her not understanding the significance. She pointed to the center display in front of me. The red needle was between 80 and 100. I let off on the pedal on the floor and watched as the red needle fell down around the 60 mark.
I heard a barely discernible ‘Thank you.’ from the vicinity of Evette. Glancing over at her I thought maybe it would be best if I kept over in the right lane again too.
It just made more sense to move around on the wide road then it did to stay glued to a narrow lane, but we didn’t need to attract attention to ourselves. Thankfully we seemed to be the only ones on the road.
All in all I didn’t think things were going too badly. We had gotten out of the city virtually without any incidents.
My eyes drifted to the cabbage junks still hanging on to the wipers of the window before me. It hadn’t been my fault that the person had chosen to step onto the street when I was driving down it in one of these fast vessels.
Didn’t the people of this world respect how fast these vessels could be?
Why would someone step out in front of one?
It had been a foolish mistake to make and the bags in his arms had paid the penalty of it, as he had narrowly missed a similar fate. Hopefully he would learn his lesson and stay off the roads from now on.
After another couple of hours the sun started to make its way up into the sky before us. Evette directed me to pull off onto a side road. After a while we pulled off that road onto a dirt one. There was a blockade of wire and wood across the road ahead of us.
There were signs that said the area was off limits and that trespassers would risk death by entering. I glanced at Evette still unsure of how much I was willing to trust her.
“Drive around the barrier.”
I drove around the barrier through a grassy field and then back up onto the road. Soon the buildings of a small town emerged, but there was no sign of life anywhere.
The town had a lonely sad feel to it that I didn’t care for, like it had witnessed something that nothing should have.
“What happened here?” Larc asked.
“In the early days after the disaster when the Committee came to power there was a Committee member who had a gripe against a man who lived in this town. The townspeople were put at gunpoint in order to force them to tell the whereabouts of the man. They insisted that they didn’t know the man or where he could be found. A story was started that the townspeople were part of an organized rebellion against the new confederation and they were all taken out and shot as traitors. We passed the mass grave back in the field.”
“The children too?” Thanic asked incredulously.
Evette looked out her side window for a moment before answering, “After the disaster that split the country there were too many parentless children for the state to care for with its limited resources. The order was given to get rid of the excess children. It is a crime to be a child without a parent. Parents who can’t afford to keep their children or just don’t want to care for them anymore leave them out on the street for the state officials to dispose of.”
“These children?” Asked Thanic in reference to the children they had brought with them.
Evette nodded.
After a moment she asked, “Is it the same on your world or is it better?”
“Better! Much better, at least in our country it is.” Larc intoned deeply in reply.
We pulled up to the town.
“Did they find the man?” Larc asked.
“Later it came out that the man came from a town one county over with a similar name and that he had died three months prior in a car accident. To bury the mistake the committee declared the town to be off limits and placed motion activated bombs throughout it so the supposed rebellion could never rise again. Years later with resources even tighter the Committee came back and collected the bombs back up. The people living in the vicinity still think the towns rigged to blow. We’ll be safe here during the day.”
I asked softly, “How do you know so much about this?”
“I was part of the team that came back for the bombs.”
She seemed to understand the underlying question as she continued with, “I’m not proud of much that I’ve done professionally, but I did what I had to survive and to ensure the survival of others. Working for the Committee was advantageous to get what needed done, done.”
She was mistaken if she thought I was judging her. In fact she seemed in some ways a saint in comparison with the others I had seen of this world so far.
Something inside of her must be tormenting her over the guilt of some past actions of hers.
Larc asked, “There were others that you protected?”
A softly spoken, “Yes” was the only reply that she gave.
Her simple answer seemed to underscore with gravity the personal hell this woman had been through over the past day or so. I watched a single tear slide down her bruised face before she hastily wiped it away.
Orhanin asked, “What are their names?”
“The boy’s name is Tyrone. I don’t know what the girl’s name is. She’s new.”
I pulled the vessel up between two buildings and shut it off. We made our way out of the vessel and into one of the adjacent buildings.
It was eerie to say the least. Dust covered over top of everything, but the everything in question looked as if it had been all left out yesterday.
Thanic went about making food for the children and the rest of us from a supply we had pretty much stolen while in the city. All matter of dishonest practices were afoot on this holy mission it would seem.
Would the Creator really honor our mission I wondered?
Talaric had the first watch and he went off to explore the town for any hidden dangers. I decided to join him.
Larc searched around the store for anything that might prove useful. Evette had sat down on a box and had seemed to space out into some form of semi consciousness. She looked about ready to fall over at any moment.
He found a rack of clothes and leafed through them glancing from the clothes in question to then meassuringly glance over to Evette’s back mentally judging the fit.
A button down shirt looked like it would work and he pulled it out giving it a good shake to clear it of dust and hopefully any spiders that might be residing in it.
Orhanin had disappeared, but now reappeared carrying several items that made it clear to Larc that they were both on the same mission. Their eyes met and Orhanin pointed upward to the second story meaningfully.
Larc nodded and gave him the shirt.
Larc went over to Thanic and picked up one of the water jugs they had brought from the city. Thanic glanced up in question of the action.
In a low tone Larc responded, “Keep the children with you. Take them outside if you think it best.”
Thanic’s eyes drifted to Evette and then back to Larc and he nodded his understanding.
Larc went upstairs to see how Orhanin was coming. He pretty much had everything set up. Larc went back downstairs trying to mentally prepare himself for what was to come.
Evette was still sitting where she had been, but her head was bent over farther. She was asleep. Larc leaned down and scooped her up gently and she startled awake. She glanced up at him, but he didn’t offer her any answers as to what was going on.
As he climbed the stairs she clamped up in one tight ball of muscled tension and in aggravation Larc said, “Relax, I think you know me better than to think I would be that kind of an animal!”
Evette studied him closely, she didn’t know how, but she did know him enough to know that he was better than what she was thinking him capable of in her panicked thoughts. She wanted to resist anyway, but she really didn’t have the ability to do even that still left in her.
He carried her into a room with a big bright window in it. Two chairs and a stool were arranged before it. Orhanin was sitting in one of the chairs in front of the stool and had a small table pulled up beside him with stuff laid out on it.
What were they intending on doing to her?
Larc set her down on the stool facing Orhanin and before she could hold onto it, her coat was whisked away by Larc.
Larc sat down behind her and as she started to rise his hands on her shoulders pulled her back down gently, but firmly. She wasn’t going anywhere.
She was trapped!
“I’ll kill you if you touch me!” Evette intoned vehemently, as she gave Orhanin a baleful stare of promise.
The big man didn’t seem impressed by her threat. He looked at her for a moment and then glanced down and folded his hands together and after a moment he began to talk softly in a gruff tone, as one who didn’t often talk much about private matters would. “Once upon a time I was married to a woman that held my heart in the palm of her hand. We had a little girl. I was away on a mission. It was always hard to leave them, but it was my job as a warrior. While I was gone some bad men in the area came into my house and violated both my wife and my little girl, for several days. When I got home my little girl was dead and my wife only had enough life left in her to tell me how much she loved me and who had done this evil thing. She died in my arms a few moments later and with her the last of everything I ever loved was gone. It took me seven years to tract down all those responsible for the death of my family, but I found them and I made them pay one by one until justice was done. I of all men walking upon the world of any of my Lord’s creation would never molest a woman, but if you think I am you have my permission to kill me with my own knife.”
Orhanin drew a knife from his belt and pressed it into one of Evette’s hands. Her fingers closed around the handle reflexively, but it was obvious the story had made its full impact on her.
The shirt Evette wore was heavily spotted with blood and