Awakening the Mare (Fall of Man Book 1) (18 page)

“Believe me. With everything I am, this is
not a lie. Leave now. Leave tomorrow. But leave before the warning.
Reach out to me, I’ll meet you.” His head lowered. “Please.”

“Iry…”

“I have to go. That odd boy you like is
coming and attempting to be heroic.” Iry sidestepped from in front
of me.

“Get away from her!” Tanner yelled as he
raced across the fields.

“Watch,” Iry said.

Tanner raised his bow and fired without
hesitation. The arrow sailed straight to and thru Iry.

“See?” Iry smiled. “Think about it.” And then
he faded.

Out of breath, Tanner reached me. “Where’d he
go?”

“He wasn’t really here, it was a
transportation image.”

“I wasted an arrow.”

“It’s over there.” I pointed.

He grabbed my arm. “Are you okay? Did he hurt
you? Did he say anything to—”

“No, I… I have to see Davis.”

“Let me get my arrow and I’ll take you. With
that thing coming here, it can’t be good.”

I didn’t respond, but more than he knew,
Tanner was right. It wasn’t good.

Tanner seemed mad at me because I was
speaking to Iry. He led me like a prisoner to the horse and cart
and took me to find Davis in the city.

Davis was, of course, where he always was
during the day: at his headquarters.

Tanner badgered me for information, but I
thought it was important that Davis hear it first. I guess this
irritated Tanner, because he grew angrier with me with each passing
minute. Hand on my arm, in a manner I didn’t like, Tanner took me
to the headquarters and led me inside.

“We have problems.” Tanner announced.

Davis cleared his throat and stood from his
desk. “Did she blow up more things?”

I yanked my arm from Tanner. “I am not your
criminal and I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Oh, yeah? How about communicating with the
enemy?”

“I was not communicating with the enemy. It
was out of my control.”

“Hold on.” Davis held up his hand. “Both of
you sit.” He nodded to the chairs near his desk.

Again, Tanner reached for me and I stepped
back, taking my seat. “Tell him to stop treating me like this.”

“Tanner,” Davis said, looking at him, “stop
treating Vala like that.” He turned to me. “How is he treating
you?”

“Like a criminal.”

“What happened?” Davis asked.

I tried to answer, but Tanner spoke at the
exact same time and his words mixed with mine, so we both started
talking louder to be heard.

“Enough!” Davis yelled. “Tanner, five words.
What happened?”

Tanner counted on his fingers as he spoke.
“She met with the enemy.”

Vala,” Davis said. “Five words.”

“Iry transported to see me.”

“Iry?” Davis asked “The boyfriend?”

“The enemy’s your
boyfriend
?” Tanner
asked.

“He is not my boyfriend. He is my former
educator.”

“Then why is he bringing you flowers?”
questioned, Davis.

“He brought you flowers, too?” Tanner peeped
out. “Wait. When? So this isn’t the first rendezvous?”

“It was one flower. One. And he brought it to
track me,” I said. “He gave me the flower so he could find me. But
I gave it to Davis, so he kept going to him.”

“That’s interesting information,” Davis
stated. “That it can be an object, not just a person.”

“Davis,” Tanner snapped. “We have a problem.
Really, this guy is a Sybaris. How many times has he come to
her?”

“Four,” I answered before Davis could. “But I
never summoned him, and this is the first time he came outside of
sleep. Because of the flower.”

“She was standing there talking to him like
it was a nice visit,” Tanner told Davis. “She was smiling.”

“He said something funny.”

“Really?” Davis asked. “What was funny? I’m
not being sarcastic, I’m curious as to what Sybaris humor is
like.”

Tanner mumbled, “Probably along the lines of
‘why did the pig cross the road’.”

“What Iry said that made me smile was how he
kept ending up with Davis when he tried to find me,” I said.
“That’s all.”

“Tanner,” David said, “why are you so
mad?’

“Because she isn’t afraid of him. She is nice
to him. I’m beginning to wonder if maybe she isn’t a set up.”

“Oh, stop,” Davis said sharply. “She’s not,
and don’t let me hear you say that again. Vala, did Iry say why he
came?”

I nodded. “Yes. Two reasons, one of which
concerns me. The other night when he gave me the flower, I
mentioned about my mother giving her blood. He came to tell me that
she was telling the Sybaris I was returning and was taking bribes
to influence my choice. She also was offering her blood as a good
faith measure.”

Tanner audibly scoffed. “Oh, please, he’s
lying. Whose mother would do that?”

Davis simply answered, “Hers,” then looked at
me. “What else?”

“Nito, the highest of Ancients,” I said. “She
wants me and has called for me. Iry said she is going to send Day
Stalkers as a warning if I don’t return, and she’ll keep sending
them until I do.”

“Did he explain to you why he was telling you
all this?” Davis asked.

“Yes, he said I should return to Akana on my
own, be offered up in the ceremony, and choose him.”

“Did it dawn on you he was lying to get you
to go?” Tanner asked.

“It did,” I replied. “I don’t know what to
believe. Davis?”

Davis folded his hands and calmly looked at
me. “I have to say he’s lying. Vala, this former educator is
obsessed with you. You are a Mare, he wants that. He’s pursuing
you. He told you the Day Stalkers were coming just to get you to go
to him, that’s all.”

“What about my mother?”

“Well, I might believe that, only because I
knew your mother. But the Day Stalkers aren’t coming,” Davis said
assuredly. “They are far away. North and East. How are they going
to get here? We went to great lengths to draw them away.”

“Why would she use the Day Stalkers though?”
I asked. “Why not say Nito was sending Ancient soldiers? He
specifically said the Day Stalkers.”

“Why do you want to believe him?” Tanner
snapped.

“Because he’s always been different. Even
though I never trusted him, he’s not the same as other Sybaris. He
tried to be sincere and honest with us students.”

“You are important to him,” Davis said. “He
needs you, wants to claim you, and will say anything to get you. I
wouldn’t be surprised if he wants to have a child with you.”

“Sybaris don’t mate.” I said.

“Not with each other they don't,” Davis said.
“But they can mate with humans. There have been incidents where
Savage Sybaris have had their way with a woman and impregnated her.
The results, well,” he exhaled, “the mother dies during birth and
the child is a deadly abomination.”

“What happens to the child after the mother
dies?”

“We were merciful. Let’s leave it at that,”
Davis said. “It had to be done.”

“Davis, I have lived in Akana a long time,
and I never heard of interbreeding. They choose human children,
raise them, and then turn them.”

“They never had a Mare, Vala. It’s been said
that if a Civilized wants ultimate power, all he or she has to do
is mate with a Mare. The child will be special. And it’s never
happened. He wants you so he’ll tell you anything to get you.
That’s it. Simple enough.”

“So there are no Day Stalkers coming?”

“I promise you,” Davis stated. “They aren’t
coming. It’s impossible.”

Davis looked so certain. I hoped he was
right. While I had never been close to a Day Stalker, I’d heard
stories. The thought of them scared me to death.

There was something uncertain in Marie’s eyes
after I told her about the reassurance I received from Davis in
regards to Iry’s warning. Did she think otherwise? I asked her
about it and she shook her head and smiled.

The next morning, when I returned from my
patrol, she was different.

“Vala, can you not take your morning nap?
There’s something I want to do with you.”

“Absolutely,” I told her. “I can skip
it.”

“No, no. No need to skip, just delay, you can
forgo the fields today. I know Mindy has been attached to your hip
since Davis wanted you to get to know her. You need a diversion
from that. Also, it’s warm outside, and instead of picking, you can
squash grapes.”

“Oh! I have been waiting to do that. Season
five, episode twenty-three of
Lucy
. Thank you!”

“You’re welcome. This is very important, and
it’s our secret. Can you keep a secret?”

“Yes. What are we doing?”

She lifted what I called a ‘saddle sack’ from
the table, and waved for me to follow her. We walked outside and
headed to the back of her property where the stables were.

“You can ride, right?” she asked.

“Yes, I’m pretty good.”

“Excellent.”

“Are we going off alone?”

“Yes. I want you to see something and it can
only be experienced through me. Again, this is our secret and what
I am going to tell you has to stay with you.”

I placed my hand over my heart. “I
swear.”

I adjusted the saddle on Roughneck, the
horse. I liked him. Even though his name was harsh, he was gentle
and he reminded me of Casey. His coat was silky light brown and he
had a white streak of fur against his chest. I ran my hand down his
mane, thinking of my Casey. A part of me believed my horse had not
been killed, just subdued with the poison of the arrows. I hoped
that, I really did. I hoped that Casey rose, shook off the fog of
the drug, and rode off to freedom.

Like me.

Marie didn’t say much, just that we had about
an hour’s travel. We rode at a good pace, toward the mountains. We
approached a hill, trotted up to the top, Marie leading the way,
then we stopped.

From where we stood, we could see small,
quaint town nestled in the green mountains. There was something
different about it, however.

It wasn’t overgrown with trees and foliage.
It looked like a normal town with only spots of green. None of the
houses were buried or hidden under trees or vines. After a decade,
surely a regeneration of nature would have occurred. Nature was
stubborn. Like man wanted the world back from the Sybaris, Nature
wanted to reclaim its land as well. This town was barely touched by
the process.

I didn’t see anyone, not a soul, not even an
animal. “Do people live here?” I asked.

“Not anymore. At one time, in its peak, there
were twenty-five hundred people that lived here. Before the event,
not even a thousand people lived here.”

This made quickly look at her. “It got
more
people after the event?”

“Yes.”

“Is it cursed?”

“Why do you ask that?”

“Because even in Lyons Estates, homes are
overgrown. Nature took over. Where is the high grass, the vines,
the overgrowth of the foliage?”

“It’s there,” Marie replied. “Just not much,
because it’s only been empty a few years.”

“Did you live here?” I asked.

“Yeah, I lived here most of my life. This is
home. I’ll explain it all.” She snapped the reins to her horse and
trotted down the hill to the town.

As we drew closer I could see that life was
gone. The barren town was exhibiting the beginning signs of natural
regeneration. There was a main street blocked by old trucks.

I kept a few paces behind Marie, sensing her
sadness. She stopped the horse and peered to her right.

“The pit,” she said.

I looked over to see a huge black circle. It
looked like the remnants of the biggest bonfire I could ever
imagine. “What is it?’

“It’s where we burned the bodies.” A snap of
reins and she trotted a little closer to town.

She slowed to a complete halt and dismounted,
tying the horse to the handle of one of the trucks.

I did the same.

She grabbed her saddle sack. “This way.” We
walked down a narrow street of little homes. The third one in, she
froze.

“This is your home.”

“Yes.” She breathed out in her answer. She
had such a look of reflection and remorse on her face, I felt it.
“When the sickness hit America, we were spared. The war started and
freakish natural disasters happened. People claimed they were
brought on by weapons.” She shrugged. “I didn’t know, because it
never touched us. We believed, you know, we were spared by God.
News traveled that the west was the best place to go and people
came. Most people, like your mother, went further south toward
Mexico. But a lot of people made a pilgrimage here and we welcomed
them.” She walked up the path to the simple one-story home and to
the door. “This town did well. When Los Angeles fell to violence,
we survived. When earthquakes flattened the northwest, we didn’t
feel a shake.” She opened the door. “When the Savage Sybaris
constantly stalked Los Angeles, it was as if we were invisible to
them.”

I followed her in, stepping right into the
living area. It looked untouched, very dusty. There was a mantel
over a fireplace and on it were photographs. “Your husband,” I
said.

“That’s Leo.” She walked to the photographs.
“He was all I had in the world.”

“Why did you leave these here?”

“I had Leo. I didn’t need the pictures. But
that’s one of the reasons I am here.” She reached for the pictures,
paused to look and smile at them, then placed three in her saddle
bag. “This is all I need. One of the reasons I brought you here,
Vala, is because I know I am safe with you. The other thing I want
to do… well, just follow me.”

She headed back to the door.

“Don’t you want to take anything else?” I
asked.

“This is all I want. Everything else is
here.” She pointed to her temple. “As you will soon know.”

We left her home, leaving the door open, and
started walking back down her street toward town. As soon as we hit
the town square, the scenery told of a different story.