The Gathering (42 page)

Coeli shrugged and smiled.

"I suppose if I stopped to think about it I might, but I haven't been thinking about it…I've just been going with it.
 
I think it's supposed to get complicated when you grow up, your feelings I mean."

"I guess…do you ever feel older than Rebecca and Rachel?
 
I mean do you feel like more mature?
 
Does that make sense?"

Coeli nodded and laid her head on Chelsea's shoulder.

"My mom always says that people grow at their own rate.
 
I think we've always been older."

Chelsea nodded and pursed her lips as she remembered.

"Yeah, except maybe that one time we put pollywogs down Mr. Tippen's pants."

The girls began to giggle wildly as they recounted all of their escapades.
 
The air was giddy with happy sounds and the messenger watched.

54

"Creegan."

Molly Creegan turned and saw the captain walking towards her in the bright midmorning sun.

"Yes, Sir?"

"Has anyone been able to raise the KMC on the radio?"

"No, Sir.
 
We've been trying all morning, Sir, but no one answers.
 
No one at Salt Lake II has heard from them either."

Sean nodded and rubbed his forehead.
 
The last three days had been more than he had expected for this Gathering and the stress was beginning to build.

"Ok, Creegan, I need you to make sure all the sentries are looking for the Mormons.
 
If they are on time, they should be here soon.
 
This KMC thing is all wrong."

Sean looked over at Molly and realized that for a moment she was that little girl he had raised and he gently took her arm and squeezed it reassuringly.
 
She smiled slightly and nodded.

"Alright then, I'll leave you to organize the watch."

Molly nodded.

"Right away, Sir."

Sean turned and walked down the stone steps of the battlement wall as Molly watched.
 
Taking a deep breath she walked along the wall towards the northern corner of the village.
 
She could see Spirit Hill and remembered the day they had brought her parents there.
 
She had been thirteen when they died from the last of the influenza outbreak.
 

Molly remembered the feeling of utter loneliness she suffered that day until she had felt Alia's hand on her shoulder, then the embrace of a woman who wanted nothing other than to protect a child.
 
She had made Molly feel as if she belonged and that she would be protected.
 
Molly smiled as she remembered growing up in the village.
 
Everyone had taken care of her, but it was Sean Lantry who had become her surrogate father.
 
Alia had decided to let Molly choose where she would live and she chose the barracks.

Every day she had risen with the soldiers and dined with the soldiers, it was a natural progression that she would become a soldier.

Molly remembered the day she joined and Sean telling her that the dynamic of their relationship would have to change.
 
He could show no favoritism and she would have to refer to him as “Captain” instead of “Shad”, her nickname for him.
 
She had never regretted her decision to become a soldier and she knew in her heart that Sean Lantry would always care for her as a father cares for a daughter, and he had told her as much on the day she joined his ranks.

She smiled as she approached Jones.
 
He turned around, chewing on his thumb.

"Well?"

"SL2 should be her soon, we have to keep an eye out."

Jones nodded and then squinted up at her.

"They worried about St. Viviana's?"

Molly looked out over the valley and nodded.

"Yeah… let's let the rest of them know about sharp eyes, huh?"

Jones nodded and they took off in separate directions around the parapet.
 
Eventually the soldiers took their positions around the fortress, watching the distance for any movement.

It wasn't long before they saw them, the members of Salt Lake II riding quickly towards the Fail.

"There… there they are!"

Molly pulled out her binoculars and saw them clearly.

"Open the gate!"

Molly leaned over the edge.

"Yo, Quinn, go get the captain, now!"

Quinn squinted at her and then over at Todd.

"Boy, she's bossy."

Todd smiled.

"Yeah…"

They laughed as Quinn trotted off to find Sean.
 
Molly looked back through her binoculars and noticed that the group heading towards their village was much smaller than she remembered them being in the past.
 
A knot twisted in her stomach and she knew that things weren't right.

Sean's footsteps pulled her from her thoughts.
 
She pointed east.

"There, Sir, just on the other side of the old beacon."

Sean took her binoculars and watched them move towards Lia Fail.
 
He brought the binoculars down and handed them back to Molly.

"Where are the rest of them?"

Molly shrugged and Sean moved back down the stairs, ordering Quinn to get Alia.
 
She had been dealing with the cryptic information the unicorns had given them.

Soon the Mormons made it to the village.
 
As they entered, Edward Nyland approached Sean and Alia.

"We need to talk."

Alia noted the paleness of his face.
 
Alia took Edward's hand and they walked towards the castle, as Bill and Sean followed.
 
The four of them entered the Great Hall.

The Nylands recounted what they had seen at St. Viviana's.
 
Alia sat quietly in her chair as she listened.
 
When Edward had finished, he put his face in his hands.

"It was horrible.
 
I've never seen anything like it…not even during the War.
 
They were butchered!
 
Tortured…I don't think I can ever get those images out of my head."

Bill grabbed his father's shoulder and squeezed, then looked at Alia.

Her skin was ashy and pale.
 
Sean, who had been looking out the window, turned and saw her.
 
He walked over and knelt by her side, gently placing his hand on her arm.

"Alia?"

She looked at Bill and Edward and shook her head.

"My dreams…"

She placed her hand over Sean's and frowned, then stood and walked over to Edward Nyland, laying her hand on his arm.
 
He slowly looked up at her and she sat beside him.

"I'm so sorry, Edward."

She stood up and walked slowly out of the room.
 
She had denied her dreams of late, but it was all too obvious that they were trying to prepare her.
 
The unicorns, the dreams, she felt that old familiar knot in her stomach, that old tension and she wanted to throw up.

Sean watched her as she ascended the stairs towards her room.
 
He knew there was something amiss, but he took Edward and Bill to their quarters, assuring them that they would deal with the massacre as soon as possible.
 

Once he had stowed the Nylands he returned to the castle.
 
A raven watched him enter the building and then flew to the woods.

55

The Fail was buzzing with news of St. Viviana's.
 
Everyone wanted confirmation about the events, but the Mormons would say very little about what happened.
 
A meeting in the Main Hall was called so all visiting leaders could discuss what had happened.
 
Alia asked Beverly Watson and Elena Petrulengo to join them.

Everyone gathered quickly.
 
The dignitaries spoke in whispers about the rumors that had been circulating around the village.
 

Alia entered the room with Edward Nyland, Grant Turner and Larry Hearst.
 
Aaron Levine stepped up to greet them.
 
Alia smiled to see him and clasped his hand.
 
She then walked forward, stood at her chair and raised her arms.
 
The room fell silent.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, if we might take our seats and bring this meeting to order."

The leaders took their seats, Beverly and Elena sitting to the immediate right of Alia.
 
Alia glanced around the room and leaned forward, placing her hands on the table in front of her.

"Most of you have now heard the rumors that St. Viviana's was attacked and that as far as we know, there are no survivors.
 
I would ask Edward Nyland to recount what he knows.
 
Edward."

Alia sat down as Edward stood up and recounted their grim discovery at St. Viviana's.
 
When he had finished, the faces around the table were solemn and pale.
 
Alia stood up and took a deep breath.

"I believe that whoever is responsible for the massacre at the KMC is also responsible for the bizarre attacks on Scott Forrester and Jerry Turner."

Justin Roberts stood up and leaned on the table.

"I'd like to venture my opinion, Alia.
 
I believe that your village has been marked by the devil.
 
Satan's works are all about us."

Alia smiled crookedly and leaned on the table, as several of the other leaders nodded and whispered in agreement.

"I see, and what about St. Viviana's, Justin?
 
They were all upstanding Christians, why them?
 
No, I think that whoever is behind this wants us to turn against one another, playing on our beliefs and our faiths as well as our intolerances."

Grant Turner stood up.

"I think Alia's right.
 
Most of us live in villages where religion is our commonality.
 
What better way to stir the pot than at a Gathering, when we're all here together and being forced to tolerate one another?
 
Hell, for some of us, tensions run high and those individuals have a hard enough time being good about abiding by the rules."

Larry Hearst looked over in the direction of Justin and Stephan and then at several of the other fundamentalist leaders.
 
They all shifted in their seats and several cleared their throats.
 
Aaron Levine stood next to his friend and placed his hand on his shoulder.