Destinata (Valguard) (15 page)

“Charlie. How nice to see you again.”

Charlie wondered whether Mikal had told the other
Valguard – who had obviously rejoined him – that she was his daughter or not. She guessed not, he had already been overthrown once, finding out that he had helped to conceive a part human child probably wouldn’t sit too well with them right now. The thought gave her an idea. One that was sure to cause hesitation within their ranks.

“It’s great to see you again too
dad
.”

Her response had caused murmured cries of ‘What?’, ‘She’s his
daughter?’, ‘Disgusting.’
And with the whispers that filled the small crowd she knew her words had had the desired effect but not on all of them. About a third of the Valguard that had accompanied Mikal into the square started to move away, disgust and outrage apparent on their faces. It was quite obvious that the other two thirds either didn’t care or had already known.

“Nicely done child.
Though my men aren’t going to desert me and let you leave no matter what you say. They can’t you see. Where would they be if they did?”

“They may not let me leave Mikal but you may not be as protected as you think. Take a look around. Already they’re disgusted with
you, they can’t even bear standing near you let alone save you if you were in harm’s way.”

She saw the alarm flicker in his eyes before he turned on his own men, silently commanding them to rejoin him and most did, leaving only a few stragglers behind.

“You see, they can’t disobey me now. I’m the new Mayor and they will do as I say until I am either dead or resign from my duties.”

A small smile played across Charlie’s lips. Although it was a shock to hear that the newly appointment Mayor was her father and head
Valguard, she also knew that he was worried about another upheaval from his men and women.

“What could you possibly have to smile
about? Here you stand before twenty-five of my strongest men and there are only two of you. One a runaway traitor, the other nothing but a half-blood child and you are
smiling?
You can’t possibly win, you have nowhere to run. You led us here and in doing so cornered yourself, so why are you feeling so smug?”

M
ikal was definitely worried now and though he put on a brave face his eyes gave away his growing concern. Charlie had him right where she wanted him. And just as her grin broadened to a smile that reached her eyes and her and Zane reached up to fill their ears with bright yellow plugs, the evacuation alarm sounded. The Valguard that had gathered with Mikal cowered to the ground under the loud ringing, their heightened senses making them scream in agony at the pounding their ears were taking. The alarm was set to go off once every five minutes for the next quarter of an hour but Charlie knew within minutes the square would be filled with not only the human residents of Tole but also the Valguard who were no doubt hiding all over town waiting for the fighting to begin.

“What have you done?”

There was genuine concern and fear in Mikal’s voice now.

“You asked me before why I was looking so smug and
my answer is simple. There are 1263 men and women that reside in this town, right now about half of them can’t for the life of them figure out why their lights won’t turn off and combined with the rest of them, are getting ready to assemble right here in the square as per town evacuation rules. We may be outnumbered for now but how long is it going to take the rest of your men to assemble here from their hiding places in town? Five… ten minutes maybe? It won’t matter because by the time they are here every single human in this town will know who and what you are and be ready to fight for the right to live their own lives without you controlling them.”

Already Charlie could see the people that lived closest to town exiting their houses and getting ready to meet at the square, completely oblivious to what was going on. She felt a pang of guilt at what she was about to put them through and for the lives that would surely be lost but they have a right to know that they aren’t as free as they think, that the
Valguard have been controlling their thoughts and feelings for the last couple of decades and she knew that they would willingly fight.

“
Ahhh but you have forgotten something of great importance dear girl. The whole town may assemble here but what are they going to fight with? Their fists? The evacuation plan says nothing about bringing along weapons. They will be unarmed and unprepared; you are sending them all to their death.”

“That’s where you’re wrong again father because not only did we sound the alarm that will bring about your
demise but we were well prepared. You see, I have a friend that is
very
good with computers, it turns out that the Mayor’s personal email account isn’t all that hard to hack into and once you’re in it’s even easier to send an email to every account in town stating that new evacuation rules have been put in place due to recent disputes between countries. Those new rules include coming along to every evacuation assembly armed and ready to fight. Of course not everyone will come armed, there will be those who didn’t receive the email and those who simply don’t agree with such measures but most will and those who don’t will be protected.”

Charlie could see Mikal looking for a hole in her plan, looking for a way out, looking for somewhere to run but there was none and there was nowhere to run because by the time Charlie had finished talking, already half the town had arrived and were forming a tight circle around those who stood in the middle of the square. There was pushing and shoving among them, all of them trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on. The next alarm sounded then, ensuring that everyone in town knew that this wasn’t a drill and bringing them to the center of town. Mikal stood shocked at his daughter, unable to move or speak and by the time the alarm stopped ringing and his men once again stood upright, they were greeted by over a thousand sets of eyes staring at them hard, finally knowing that something wasn’t quite right with some of the town’s population and wanting to know what.

Charlie took a deep breath readying
herself to raise her voice amongst the town’s people and confirm their suspicions and lead them into battle.

“You’re all probably wondering why you’re here when there doesn’t seem to be any immediate threat to the town. But there is a threat and it is immediate, in fact
it’s been going on for almost twenty years now. Take a look at the men that stand before me, how they cower at the sound of the alarms how they all wear sunglasses all the time, even right now when there is no need to shield their eyes from the artificial light.” Mikal hadn’t noticed before but as soon as she had spoken the words she saw his face turn to hers searching for the glow that would surely place her among those she was talking about but he found nothing but the deep blue of her normal eyes – having placed contact lenses in before arriving in town - and knowing that she had outsmarted him once again. “These
people
call themselves the Valguard. They have been controlling your thoughts and feelings for all this time and hardly anyone noticed and those who did were sent to their death in the cell that resides under Town Hall anyway. We have stood idle for long enough, it’s time to take back our town. They may be able to take our lives but they cannot have our freedom!”

Charlie’s speech had started uproar among the humans, most of which were armed and angry now. Some simply stood around asking questions but never once doubting what she had said because as she knew it would happen, as soon as she had spoken the words aloud, the fog that shrouded their thoughts on any other day started to lift, they started to see the Valguard for what they really were, they started remembering what life was like before the Valguard moved into the town and remembering what they had made them do since moving to town. They would fight, there was no doubt about it but how many would survive? She could see random Valguard moving in now from all around town, they were pushing through the humans like they were nothing but garbage and she knew from the looks on their faces that they had heard every word of her speech. This was it, the moment she had seen in her visions, the moment that would start the war.

She found Ford’s face in the crowd, desperate for the fighting to start so that he could get his hands on a
Valguard, any Valguard would do. He was still angry she could see it in the set of his face, in the fists that were clenched by his side and by the numerous weapons he had strapped to his body. She had been confused when she first had the vision of Ford running towards the closest Valguard and lodging his knife straight through the heart of his enemy, taking him down with one fatal blow; but even now that she knew the reasons behind why Ford was the first to start the fighting, it didn’t make it any less painful to watch him put himself in the way of danger. All she could do was stare until she felt an arm around her waist, dragging her backwards and away from the fighting that had ensued from the first killing. She was lifted off the ground, her legs and arms kicking and punching at whatever she could make contact with and wondering where in the hell Zane had disappeared to, he was supposed to be there with her, fighting alongside her. Had he decided to join his own race? No, he would never do that, he must be fighting somewhere. The instant that she thought of Zane in amongst the battle her body went limp, she needed to find him, to make sure that he was ok. Her eyes scanned the square but jam-packed with bodies fighting and screaming and running it was no use, she would never find him amongst the bedlam, she would need to get free first.

She started kicking and punching again, but this time with a purpose. In amongst the chaos of her flailing arms and legs her attacker didn’t notice when she reached down to her firm fitting cargo’s and pull a knife that was strapped to her thigh. Bringing it up as hard as she could she heard the screams before she felt the trickle of blood run over her shoulder, the warmth spreading down her shoulder blade before she was dropped to the ground in a heap, her legs not quite ready to support her own weight and collapsing underneath her. She looked up to see how bad the injury was when she felt a sharp blow to the top of her head. Seeing stars she lashed out with her knife again and once again making contact, this time though with what felt like bone. She turned as quickly as possible without making herself pass out and saw that her first blow had punctured the
Valguard’s right eye, where there used to be an eyeball was now just a bloodied and black oozing mess. Her second blow had left a sizeable puncture wound to his shin, which he was now fussing over instead of guarding himself. Charlie took the opportunity to force her knife inwards and upwards to pierce the man’s heart. He took one last breath before falling dead to the ground at her feet where the blood pooled around her shoes. She had no time to stop and take note of who she had killed or to find out whether she had known them well, she needed to get back to the fighting and help the town people fight for their freedom.

The sight that greeted her heading back into the square was shocking to say the least, there were hundreds dead already, she couldn’t tell the Valguard bodies from the human, she could only hope that at least some of the Valguard had gone down in the fight for the town.

All around her the fighting continued, the wounded desperately trying to get somewhere safe. The
Valguard had rid themselves of the sunglasses that had always adorned their face so at least if she couldn’t tell the dead apart she could still tell the living apart. Not that it would have been so hard even if they had kept their sunglasses on but now their eyes were like brightly shining beacons calling her to them. She ran forward, reaching to her left side where she had one of the beautifully intricate swords that had previously hung on Zane’s basement wall strapped in at the top and bottom. She released the top strap at her thigh as she ran, freeing the sword in one swift movement and bringing it down to meet the blade of a Valguard that she didn’t recognize. In their training sessions they had found that Charlie was a natural with a sword in her hand and it wasn’t long before she had mastered the blade just as it didn’t take long to run the Valguard through with the glistening length of steel. It wasn’t a fatal blow but he wouldn’t getting up for a while. Freeing the knife from her right side once again she felt it tear through muscle cartilage and bone before piercing his heart. She watched as he coughed up a mouthful of blood, took one last breath and the light disappeared from his eyes. Sure that this moment would come back to haunt her many times over she moved on before she could think about it too much and went in search of her friends.

She found Zane only a few meters away, fighting one of the elder Valguard. He was having a hard time of it and she could see that his face was bloodied and bruised. Fighting back the tears that threatened to spill over she charged forward and drove her sword through the Valguard’s back, the tip stopping just before it reached Zane’s own chest.

While the
Valguard who Charlie recognized as Hamish from the fruit and vegetable shop flailed his arms behind him trying to reach the sword to remove it, Zane grabbed her by the arm and started to drag her away.

“Zane!
Let go! What are you doing?”

“We need to get you out of here Charlie. It’s a blood bath.”

“I can see that, so why are we running away? Ford and El’ and Matt and everyone in town is in there, we need to help them.”

“No, we need to hide you. You’re the only one who can stop this, you can’t get killed.”

“No! I said I would protect them.”

“Charlie, they’re all scattering, either back to their homes or to find somewhere to hide for the night. It may have only just started but everyone is exhausted already. Even the
Valguard are running but I don’t think for a minute that this is over. They are letting the humans regroup and become content before they move in on them again.”

“How do you know that Zane?”

“Because I am a Valguard. I know how they think and you would too if you were to allow your Valguard blood to take over.”

There was no
way in hell Charlie would ever let that happen consciously. She knew that it was happening anyway but it wasn’t by choice. She had no idea whether one day it would take over completely and she would become just as cold as they were but she would fight to the end and she found solace in the fact that Zane was a full Valguard and he was still good.

Looking around her now as she was being dragged away from the fighting she could see that he had been right.
People and Valguard alike were scattering like mice. Most were terrified and bloodied and wounded but still able to run. She thought of all the poor children that had been quickly shuffled into Town Hall when their parents had realized what was going on. How many of those children wouldn’t have parents coming to collect them tonight? She stopped the thought short knowing that this would be the one thing amongst many others that would break her and she couldn’t break, not now.

She must have blocked out everything but the sound of her shoes on the pavement as she ran because the next thing she knew she was sitting in the old, warn lounge chair that had belonged to Kara.

“Why are we here? Shouldn’t we be at home?”

“Home definitely isn’t safe. They don’t even know this place exists. If they did, Kara probably would have been dead years ago. They didn’t like the fact that she had the gift of foresight, she knew what they were but being blind and old they never really worried about her too much. That isn’t to say they wouldn’t have killed her if they had found her though.”

Charlie put her head in her hands, covering her eyes to block Zane’s view of the tears that had started rolling at the mention of Kara’s name. She hadn’t done much fighting tonight but the excitement of the day and the small amount of fighting that she had partaken in had taken its toll on her mind.

“I’m so tired but how can I sleep not knowing whether Ford and El’ and Matt got back safely and hopefully had the sense to move into the shelter? How can I sleep when there are still people dying out there?”

Zane took Charlie’s hands away from her face and placed a finger under her chin, gently tilting her head back so her eyes were in line with his.

“
There was almost no one left in the square by the time we were out, they’re going to be fine. And Ford is smart enough to get them to safety ok?”

“The ones who are dead aren’t ‘out’ Zane, their dead and it’s my fault.”

“It’s not your fault! You said it yourself, this day was coming anyway. Eventually people would have figured it out and it would have started anyway.”

“Yea but they could have
had years or…”

“Or months, or weeks, or days.
The fact is, it’s happening now and all we can do is try to stop it before it gets too far. But we’ll talk about that in the morning, for now you need to sleep.”

She followed him warily to a small bedroom at the back of the cottage that was the only room in the place that wasn’t filled with Kara’s clutter.

“Yours?”

“Yea. Kara set it up for me when I first came to town.”

Stripping to her underwear Charlie crawled into the queen sized bed beside Zane but sleep didn’t come easily. It was early morning before Charlie settled with her head on his chest, her mind still full of guilty thoughts and what if’s. She vaguely remembered a soft kiss on her forehead as she drifted off but even that couldn’t keep the nightmares away.

She woke up a couple of hours later screaming and tangled in the bed sheets. Her body sweating profusely and hands shaking, she gasped for air, desperately seeking some place to hide from the terrors that had plagued her dreams. Jumping at the touch of Zane’s hand on her arm, she turned ready to punch before realizing she was safe.

“It’s ok. You’re here with
me, no one will hurt you here.”

Relaxing and realizing that she had made a complete fool of herself at the same time, she ran from the room to look for the bathroom. She stripped off as quickly as possible and ran the warm water over her head trying to forget the images that seemed to be permanently burned into her mind. Her mother’s blue face in the dirty tunnel of Town Hall, Ford’s unseeing eyes, his body sprawled out in the middle of
the square, El’s beautiful red hair matted with blood, lying beside her brother and still clasping hands with Matt who was laid protectively over the top of her. The worst image of all though and the one that was on repeat was the light slowly fading from Zane’s eyes as his bloodied hands clutched her face, a sword – her sword – protruding from his chest.

Opening her eyes after washing her hair she was shocked to find Zane standing beside her in the shower dripping wet and as naked as she was.

“Sorry, I couldn’t leave you alone.”

His presence in the shower though a shock was welcomed and without a thought for the fact that they were both completely nude she grabbed him in a vice like hug and didn’t let him go. They escaped the confines of the shower when both their hands and feet were considerably shriveled and the h
ot water had started to run out, it was nice while it lasted but they had to return to reality at some stage.

Putting her underwear back on, she slipped back into the bed once again resting her head on Zane’s chest.

“I’m sorry… about the shower. I shouldn’t have held you like that after how much I’ve hurt you.”

“Don’t be sorry Charlie. I’m not. And besides, it was me that climbed in with you remember?”

They didn’t say another word and this time although her mind was still reeling from the nightmares, she drifted off into a dreamless sleep, wondering whether tomorrow would be much the same as today or whether Zane had other ideas.

Charlie wished that she could pause that precious moment between sleep and waking where there was not a care in the world, where no one had been hurt and her thoughts hadn’t had a chance to catch up with her yet, instead it dragged out with every single scene from the night before including her nightmares replaying in her head over and over again until she couldn’t stand it anymore and she woke Zane.

The morning was bright, the birds sang outside the windows and they could hear the constant scurrying of small forest creatures running around outdoors. The perfect day. For what though? Would there be more killing today? Talking? Fighting? Hiding?

“Morning.”

“Hey. What’s the plan?”

“Firstly Breakfast. And then we’ll talk about it.”

Breakfast was agonizingly slow, or so it felt anyway. Zane pottered around the cluttered kitchen while Charlie waited patiently on the stool at the counter to be served breakfast for the second day in a row and thought that if circumstances were different she could really get used to this treatment.
The normalcy of being served breakfast was what appealed to Charlie, not the fact that it was Zane handing her the petite bowl of cereal or the fact that besides the sounds of the animals all was quiet outside and one could assume that right now the Valguard weren’t planning on the best way to kill her, the only thing that appealed to Charlie was that it was just a very normal part of life and right now she needed a little morning normality.

After breakfast she
was the first to speak, she could see that Zane didn’t want to be the first to disturb the quiet, serene morning they’d had and he certainly wasn’t going to be the first to make the emotions of the night before come flooding back into her mind. What he didn’t know though was that those images hadn’t left her, not even once since waking.