Rise of the Mare (Fall of Man Book 2) (5 page)

Davis had explained her reasoning,
and before I left the sea, I resolved to accept it and wait for her
return or for Vala to contact us.

It was the beginning of the war. One
I had waited my lifetime to see, and the first shot would be fired
by a lone girl who wandered into our city and into our lives.

Having been up all night, I didn’t
realize how tired I was and the feeling of ‘burn’ against my face
was what woke me. The sun was beating down on me. I jumped up,
looked at my watch, and saw it was two PM. I had been gone eight
hours at least. Now, Davis wasn’t going to be mad, he was going to
worried.

I rushed back to the car, hoping I
had enough fuel, started it, and took off.

The first part of my route was
frantic with thoughts on how I would talk my way out of it, maybe
even lie. I could tell him I got a vision from Vala and she was in
trouble.

Nah. He’d ask why I didn’t wake him
and instead just stole the car.

I went through every excuse in the
book except for the truth. I didn’t want to tell him that I was
being sappy and needed to try one more time to stop her.

I had made it to the cabin and back
on the old highway. A single lane had been formed in the growth;
the rest of the highway was just as much a part of the forest as
the trees.

Just over the slight grade, I saw
someone in the middle of the road.

At first I thought it was a Minnie.
Maybe he had arrived the day before and was walking in the daytime.
Had he run into Vala? More than likely she had told him the
way.

I slowed down as I approached him,
halting the car maybe fifteen feet from him..

Was I not thinking? Maybe I was
tired. How did I not know?

I placed the car in gear, opened the
door, stepped out, and called, “Hey, guy.”

He stopped and turned.

A Day Stalker.

Never had there been a Day Stalker in
those parts, it was never even a worry. He snarled at me and lunged
my way. I quickly jumped back in the car, pulled the door shut, and
his hand slammed on the window as I threw the car in gear and sped
off.

My heart raced and I struggled to get
a breath. I couldn’t believe he was there. I hit my hand against
the steering wheel in frustration. Why didn’t I kill him? Why did I
run? Lifting my head, I glanced to the rearview mirror to see if he
was still there, and not only did my foot instinctively hit the
brake, I nearly jumped from my skin when in the reflection of the
rearview mirror I saw Nito.

She laughed arrogantly. “Soon, hero
boy, soon.” Another laugh.

Even though a part of me know she was
an apparition, I grabbed for my crossbow on the passenger seat and
spun around.

She was gone.

I heaved out a few breaths, eyed the
Day Stalker still on the road and somewhat disoriented, and then I
turned back around.

When I did, I knew I was in
trouble.

The entire road was lined and packed
with Day Stalkers.

We traveled to Akana by way of
motorized vehicle. However, Iry stopped a short distance from the
village because he felt it best not to draw attention to my
homecoming by driving in.

I had to think about what he was
saying, then I recalled my last day at the village, when I had
caused such a disturbance. Perhaps I wouldn’t be welcome, and maybe
even shunned.

We left his ‘car’ at the edge of the
fields, walking in from the back past the stables. I felt a sense
of heavy sadness as I walked by where I used to house my horse
Casey. He helped me flee Akana and was struck with poisoned arrows
as I made my escape. A part of me wished that I would see his head
poke out of the stall, that somehow, he had miraculously lived.
Sadly, the stall was empty. Casey’s sacrifice was my ticket to
life, but also my loss.

No one was in the fields or around at
all. The time of day was working time and I found this odd. No
horsemen, tailors, wheat grinders, no one.

Then the sound of voices cheering
carried to us as we neared the main community circle of Akana.

We approached from behind my home. I
was prepared to go inside through the back door, when I heard
Nito’s voice rising above the crowd.

“Do I not provide?” she asked. “Am I
not kind to you?”

“Yes!” the crowd cheered.

“Then listen to me. You have been
warned. The Elders ignore what I have said!” she shouted. “She
needs to be imprisoned, for your safety. For the safety of us
all!”

I did not need to be superiorly
intelligent to know she was speaking about me. Iry tried to stop me
from showing my face and walking to the circle, but I pulled from
his warning grip.

“
You must encourage the Elders
to place her with me to be in a secure place!” Nito shouted,
inciting the crowd. “If she is free, she will cause death,
destruction, hunger, and famine. She is cursed! When the reign of
terror and murder stalk through the night and take your young,
blame
her
…”
She swung her arm to point at me as I slipped into view. “They will
come for her, they follow her, and in turn they will come for
you!”

Iry stepped in a protective stance in
front of me when the crowd turned my way. “This girl is no such
thing!” Iry yelled. “Nito speaks lies through her greed. She wants
the power this girl possesses.”

The entire town gasped as if what Iry
said was blasphemous. In fact it was; he had spoken out against
High Princess Nito.

“Educator,” Nito spat, walking toward
him. “You are nothing. You are the lowest of the low of the
Ancients. You are not above being excommunicated.”

“
You
are not in a position to do so,” Iry
stated.

The sound of my little sister’s voice
cut through the tension.

“Vala!” She yelled. “Vala!”

I gasped in joy over the sight of my
little sister, Sophie. She didn’t fear me, she ran to me and I
crouched own with extended arms. She slammed into my chest,
greeting mine with a huge embrace. I took her in my arms, holding
her tight, and lifting her against me.

Maybe I should have sought out my
mother, however, my sister was the one I needed to hold.

“You’re back,” she said. “I knew
you’d come back.”

My mother emerged from the crowd. Her
lips moved silently, then finally she spoke my name. “Vala.”

I clutched my sister tighter. The
crowd just watched.

Nito inched closer. “Your time draws
near, Mare.” She cocked her head and spoke loudly. “Akana, tomorrow
is ceremony. Tomorrow, encourage the Elders to hand her to me, for
the longer she is free, the more danger she poses to you.”

She cast a snide look my way, my eyes
locked on hers. There was a psychic tension, an underlying
challenge between us. She turned in a dramatic fashion and walked
off.

I held on to my sister in the face of
dozens of cold stares from those I knew as neighbors.

My mother kept her distance. Not that
it surprised me. Maybe she was in shock.

Iry insisted that Nito’s words were
lies and she was using the people of Akana. In any event, Nito had
to be stopped. I firmly believed she was an important figure to
defeat in the war against the Sybaris. Her demise was my goal, and
one I was certain I would reach.

We killed a lot of Day Stalkers the day they ascended on Lyons
Estates. The rest left when Nito did. I would say I found them on
the remains of highway whatever it once was called, but how did
they get so far on foot? The only reason I put them together and
associated them with Nito was because her apparition appeared in
the car, warning and taunting me as if to say, “Turn around. Look
what I have for you.”

The last time she brought them, she
was physically there.

Of course, now the Day Stalkers were
there, directly in front of me, blocking the road. There had to be
hundreds, if not a thousand. I couldn’t see where they ended.

They had not spotted me yet. There
was no way I could go through them, nor could I veer off the road
because the wooded area was too thick. My only hope was to turn
around and try to find an alternate route.

My fuel was low. I had just enough to
make it back to Angeles City. I had to weigh my options, choose my
battle, use the fuel to find an alternative route, and possibly
have the car die out or try to make it through. Surely, I didn’t
have enough arrows to fight. I was a dead man, even with my skills,
if I tried to make it through them. I turned around the car and
when I did, they noticed me.

I expected as they all stared my way
for them to turn and I’d be like the pied piper and lead them
away.

However, I watched them through my
rear view mirror as they only looked briefly and then the horde
continued on their westerly course.

Straggler Day Stalker swung out at my
car as I passed him, even he too, kept his westbound focus.

I looked, eyes glancing to the map as
I drove for some alternate route. Every time I would think I’d come
across one, or see an old exit sign, it was overgrown.

About fifteen miles out, almost at
the bait shop, my salvation arrived.

Sandstorm. Could I catch him? He
trotted at a good pace down the road, and I turned the car sideways
to block him.

I stepped from the vehicle, held up
my hands and Sandstorm came to a halt.

‘Good boy, good boy.” I grabbed his
reins and walked him back to the car, grabbed my crossbow, map, and
bag, shouldered them both, and mounted the horse.

I lifted a marking pen from the bag,
and circled where I believed I was according to the last exit sign
I saw. After I replaced the pen, I leaned down to his ear and
whispered. “We’re gonna go home, boy. Get me there.”

With a snap of the reins, we took
off. We stayed the course, embedded deep in the wooded area that
ran perpendicular to the highway, only having to divert a few times
over old buried cars and buildings. I successfully made it past
then ahead of the Day Stalkers at full speed, hoping that I wasn’t
wearing Sandstorm down. I headed back on the road. Once there, we
kept a steady trot all the way.

Worries of Savages consumed me as the
sun began to set, just as I made it to the confines of Angeles
County. Usually it was marked by a handmade sign, but this time
there were three large hay carts and atop them, four soldiers.

I reined in Sandstorm when one of
them called out, “Davis! He’s back!”

After dismounting, I walked toward
the new barricade. Davis rushed through. At first he stopped,
stared at me, and then he raced toward me.

I knew the anger would come. First he
greeted me with gratefulness, grabbing on to me and embracing
me.

“My God, you’re alive! Oh my
God.”

“I’m fine. I’m sorry. I’m so
sorry.”

He placed his huge hand on my face
and said sternly, “What were you thinking? Huh?”
“I wanted to see if I could stop her. I’m sorry, Davis. I am really
sorry.”

Davis closed his eyes, stepped back,
and nodded. “Okay. Okay. You’re alive. That’s what’s
important.”

Davis looked bad. Worn, as if he had
been out personally searching for me. He probably was.

“I shouldn’t have. It was stupid.
Then I fell asleep. There’s something important I need to
tell—”

“I thought they got you,” Davis
said.

“Who?”

“The Day Stalkers.”

“You know?”

“Of course I know. We’ve been
battling them all day. The attack came a couple hours after sunup.
When you weren’t around, when we found a car missing, and you
didn’t return, I thought they got you. There were a lot. We… got it
under control. “

“For now,” I said nervously.

“What do you mean? We finished
fighting. It’s clear.”

“That’s what I need to tell you.
That’s why I didn’t have the car. I couldn’t get through the road.
There’s a ton of them heading this way.”

Davis looked beyond me, then up to
the sky and groaned. He didn’t need to say it, I knew what he was
thinking. It was the same thing as I was. The Day Stalkers would be
approaching, and sundown wasn’t far off.

Sundown meant Savages.

Savages and Day Stalkers at the same
time. It was something that had never happened.

Sophie never left my side. We
slipped into our home despite the fact that our neighbors were
yelling for me to leave, to turn myself into Nito and spare
them.

Iry had to return to his home, I
suppose to tend to his slaves and harem. He promised he’d be back
for the ceremony, but since he had graduated a level, he wasn’t
permitted to live among us.

Before leaving, he did tell me, “I
believe you are feeling lost without your new friends. Do they know
your ability?”

“They know I have abilities.”

“Perhaps when all is quiet you should
reach out to the leader. Let him know you made it back.”

I acknowledged his suggestion and
then he left for the evening.

I would try to make contact with
Davis later when the house was still and quiet.

After the evening meal, Sophie and I
cleaned up and sat together on her bed.

“I missed you, Vala,” she said. “I
missed you so much.”

I hugged her. “I missed you too.”

“Mother said you were lost.”

“No, I wasn’t. I was safe and fine
and discovering the whole world out beyond Akana.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s different,” I told her.
“Out there, everyone is different. They look different, act
different... They laugh and sing and play music even when they are
scared. They are not controlled by monthly ceremonies.”

She looked at me with confusion. What
I said was a little over her head and she didn’t quite understand.
She was only four years old.