Creatures of Snow (47 page)

“Shut up!” Al screamed,
letting what energy was left in his body rise. “We’re the only
one’s who can protect this town. Who else is going to fight for
them?”

Beside him Sara and Lee straightened their
tired and battered bodies with recharged spirits.

“We won’t give up.” Sara
growled and wiped at the deep gash above her eye that bled freely
down the front of her face.

Lee’s face hardened and he stepped closer to
the edge of the barrier. “We will fight until the end.”

“
And then you’ll die, you
idiots.” Roland laughed in disbelief. He backed up further into the
safety of the barrier, sucking up more of its power.

Zero came up from behind
and passed them, out into the open air. “Not today.” Zero formed
his hands into a sign, concentrating his power.

The soldiers that rushed at him were driven
back by a wave of energy that left them blackened and unconscious.
The second line of men and women hesitated. Al leaned forward in
unison with Lee and Sara, all of them ready to strike as soon as
the enemy dared to move.

With a bellowing battle cry the soldiers
charged and the three answered with their own roar of fighting
spirit.

Lee hit head-on into a
dense group of rough and burly foot soldiers. Being raised an Agon
warrior had giving Lee the advantage over his enemy at every
confrontation, and this time was no different. He fought with such
precision and accuracy that all that dared to gather near him were
left in twitching heaps on the ground. Al couldn’t imagine what
would have been like to fight an entire army of Lee’s.

Al’s biggest advantage was
his speed and size, and just as it was with Sara, no one expected
the power that was expelled from each hit or kick. He had been
raised by Marcus Kane, and he knew how to fight when he needed to.
He had managed to keep his Telic powers in check throughout the
fight to conserve energy, but with his physical abilities
weakening, his assets were going to have to be pulled
out.

The confidence that had weaseled its way
into his mind was smashed out as a large rock crashed into the back
of his skull.

“Al!” He heard Sara
screaming.

His vision faded in and
out of focus as he struggled back to his feat. A fist flew at him
but was blocked by Sara as she took the blow to the guts. She swung
back and knocked the man clear off his feat. Al stared in awe at
her strong, straight back.

A shout of rage called his attention behind
him in time to see a scrawny soldier holding a long shard of glass
tightly in his bloody hands running at him with his murderous eyes
trained on Al’s. There would be no time to dodge, he poured the
last of his energy into defense. Bracing for impact, Al squeezed
his eyes shut.

And then…nothing happened. Al’s eyes sprang
back open to see the soldiers all standing still, their arms
falling to their sides as looks of bliss and joy overran their
expressions.

There was a rustling a few
lines back, and then he saw him. There was no mistaking those dark,
wide eyes as he walked slowly towards them with the crowd of
soldiers parting around him as oil from water.

“What is this?” Sara took
a step back. “Con!” She sounded relieved and terrified at the same
time.

“Con.” Al pushed passed
Sara, but was instantly pulled back.

It was Roland who growled the name and spit
it like a curse. “We might need to run.”

“No one is running.” Zero
snapped back.

Con stopped a few yards
away, keeping his distance. “Been awhile, Zero-Eight-Four. Look’s
like ya’ll need some help, eh?” His posture and voice were casual,
but the tension in the air around them was obvious.

“Seraph.” Zero snarled. He
walked forward cautiously, waving off any attempt to stop
him.

“
I go by Con now.” He
returned Zero’s cold stare with a smile.

“What do you want?” Roland
yelled in Con’s direction, but stayed safely behind all of
them.

“Have you seen Soul?” Al
asked, shifting Con’s attention away from Roland.

“How do you think I got
here, kiddo? There is no way we could land that ship here without
getting shot down.”

“Seraph.” Zero said moving
slowly towards him, “You want to help us, that’s why you are here,
right,” He held up his hands, showing he meant no harm, “so please,
help us.”

Al couldn’t believe his ears. Did Zero just
ask for help? It was true that they were in a desperate situation
and he hadn’t really seen a way out of it, but for Zero to plead
must have meant they were truly beat.

Con searched over them.
“You guys are idiots.” he finally laughed, looking back to Zero.
“You thought the few of you could take on an entire battalion?
Seriously?”

“It wasn’t one of our
smarter moments.” Zero sneered.

“
The townspeople are
getting restless. They do not know what is happening out here, and
think we are beaten.” Lee spoke up with urgency in his
voice.

A cruel smile crossed
Con’s youthful face, “Shall we show them that we
aren’t?”

“
Don’t kill the soldiers,
please” Zero whispered too softly for any normal person to hear.
“Just make them go away.”

The skin around Con’s eyes
hardened and his mouth turned down. “You think that’s what I would
do.” All around them the soldiers shifted, putting their useless
guns up against their heads and their rusted knives to their own
throats. “That I would just have them all kill themselves right
here, right now?”

Their scattered circle tightened, Al pushed
his back up against Sara who grabbed strongly onto Lee. The Captain
was suddenly in front of them, his arms outstretched with his
energy surrounding them.

Zero stepped boldly
towards Con.

“Don’t push him. He’ll
destroy the whole town.” Roland whispered desperately behind
them.

“
No.” Al replied in his
own hushed voice. “I don’t believe that.”

Con backed away from Zero,
his dark eyes growing cold, “You don’t know me.” The Soldiers
lowered their weapons and began moving away from them. “You never
bothered to know me. You never cared.”

“If I remember correctly,
it was me that dug you out of that hole all those years ago.” Zero
took another step towards him.

“Because of her. Because
of Oh’May. You did it because your sister told you to.” Con looked
away, out into the mountains, “She’s dead you know.”

Al’s heart dropped into
his stomach. He had known it, he had felt it for a while now, but
to hear it meant he had to face it. He didn’t realize he had
stopped breathing until he felt Sara’s arms slowly wrapped around
him from behind in the most comforting gesture.

Zero backed towards them,
but never took his eyes off of Con as the soldiers began to drift
away from them. Within minutes they were left with an eerie
silence, alone with Con.

“They will return to base
with news that the issue has been resolved and the occupation is to
end. This town will be safe as long as the people stay quiet.” Con
spoke blandly, his voice steady and stale as he watched the last of
the soldiers amble out of sight.

“What happened with Soul?”
Al asked again, not afraid to let all of his emotions out into his
words. “What happened to my mom? We were too late, right. He killed
her. The Man of Mist.”

Con tilted his head
sympathetically, “I don’t know,” He smiled kindly at him, “All Soul
said is that she has passed on, and that I needed to make sure you
were safe.” Con began to turn, “As for the Man of Mist.” His gaze
shifted up into the night as if listening to something far away.
“That issue has been resolved for the time being.”

“What does that mean?” He
demanded, rushing towards Con, but Zero stopped him before he could
get too far.

Beside Con, Soul appeared.
Blood covered his mask and hands, and Al could only assume that the
black, wet material of his clothing was soaked in it as
well.

“I can’t stop it.” Soul
didn’t acknowledge them, his only focus was Con.

Con pointed to Roland, “Take him.”

“No, I need you.” Soul
said, and then leaned towards Con, whispering to him.

With a nod of understanding Con placed a
hand on Soul’s shoulder before looking back over to Al. “Meet us at
your mother’s house. Follow the trail on the northeast side of town
into the forest.”

“What’s going on?” Al
didn’t like the way Soul was rocking back and forth, like he used
to do when they were small and he was afraid.

“It’s Sky.” Lee said, his
eye’s trained on Soul. “You’re afraid for him.”

“No!” The Captain shouted
and ran towards them. “Soul, what’s going on?”

“Where’s Sky?” Al
screamed.

Before the ring of his own
shout left his ears they had disappeared. His legs lost their
strength and his knees hit the dirt of the street. Zero was yanking
him to his feet before he could settle into his sobbing.

“
Get up. We’re not done
yet.”

Chapter
Thirty-
Nine

The dark in the light and the light in the
dark. That was his existence for what seemed an eternity. There was
nothing and everything, there were voices in silence. He wasn’t
anyone anymore, he just was.

“
Sky!” It sounded just
like his brother. “Skyden, wake up.”

But he was awake. He hadn’t fallen asleep,
in fact, he was more awake then ever.

“
Just let him be for now.”
That sounded like Con. “It’s gonna take some getting used to for
him. How’s Zar?”

“He’s up.” Soul’s voice
came back. “Hey, Zar! Eww, don’t lick that!”

Sky’s eyes snapped into
focus. He was sitting up somehow, and outside of Oh’May’s home. The
only thing in front of him was a little gray loax, its head tilted
adorably. It almost looked just like the one he had seen earlier on
the stoop, but this one had a strange symbol branded into the shiny
fur of it’s forehead.

Did you miss me?
It was Zar’s voice, and it was technically inside
his head…but it was somehow different than before.

“What happened?” Sky found
his own voice strange in his ears. Like it was a bit too
loud.

Soul sat down beside him
with a relieved sounding sigh. “Everything’s gonna be fine. All
thanks to Con.” Soul lifted up his mask, Sky was surprised to see a
smile underneath it. “He’s a genius.”

Con chuckled and plopped down on the other
side of him, “I told you I get that a lot.”

“You were almost consumed
by the power of the Snow, but he was able to bind it once again to
Zar, but instead of holding him inside your body like before, he
transferred him to this.” Soul gestured to the loax, “This amazing
creature’s soul had moved on, and we are greatly indebted to it for
the use of his former body.”

“
So Zar…”

“He has his own body now
and is still the warden of your power.” Con patted the little loax
on the head. It pulled away and pulled a paw over where Con had
touched him in the cutest little way.

“
As far as everyone else
is concerned, Zar is still trapped inside your body and the mark is
sealed. If anyone catches you using your powers you can still maybe
spin it like the seal is weakening, or Zar is gaining power.” Soul
explained, looking straight at him to make sure he was
listening.

“So wait.” Sky looked over
at Con who was trying to make the loax-Zar play with a bit of
string. “Doesn’t this void the whole ‘you don’t know if it’s my
power or not’ loop hole? Isn’t he supposed to have to kill me
now?”

“I play by my own rules,
my friend.” Con laughed and continued to dangle and slide the
string in front of Zar, who was fighting the urge to catch it. “I
like you and I really don’t want to kill you.” He shrugged, and
then leaned back against the house. “Besides, I really don’t see
you as a threat. Not yet anyway.” He let a sly smile creep across
his face.

Soul pointed Sky’s
attention back at the little animal, “Now, the loax are powerful
little animals; they can shape shift into other life forms for
short periods of time, they are great at tracking, and are loyal
pets if you train them right.”

I’m not a pet.
Zar stretched out on the ground and rolled to his
back so Con could scratch his belly.

“You’ll need to keep him
safe though – if anything happens to him your power will be
released and like I said before, we just can’t have that yet,
you’re not ready. He can however, control how much you have
depending on your situation.” Soul looked down the road, his eyes
alert.

“You’ll both have to get
used to how much is too much and how little makes you a weak little
cry baby.” Con added.

“
How do you control your
power then Soul?” Sky followed Soul’s gaze and could sense it –
they were coming. He could hear them in the distance, worried
voices and hurried steps.

“Years of training…and
this.” Soul pulled down his mask and pointed to the symbol etched
into its surface. It was the same as the one on Zar’s
forehead.