The War for Mare (The Fall of Man Book 3) (12 page)

“I don’t care what you found,” Davis
blasted. “Why did you come here?”

“Because I was human. I sought other
humans.”

“She’s lying!” I yelled. “She found humans
in Hopeland, another community. They brought her here because she
asked to come here.”

“Probably thinking she could do some
damage,” Snake surmised. “But she can’t. She’s powerless.”

“Why do you keep defending her?” I asked
Snake. “She killed Marie.”

“I know she killed Marie!” Snake shouted
louder than I ever heard him yell. “But she also wasn’t ‘her’.”

“This is true,” Nito said nervously. “I’m
not the same.”

“Shut up,” I snapped.

“Tanner,” Davis said calmly, “what do you
propose we do? Yelling gets us nowhere.”

“Kill her. Nito—”

“No!” Nito screamed. “And I am
not
Nito any longer. I am human. I am Madge.”

I rolled my eyes and heard Snake snort
laugh. “That’s funny?”

“Yeah, I would have picked a better
name.”

Finally, Davis put on his shirt. “You want
me to kill her. Like this?” He picked up a gun and put it to her
head. “Pull the trigger, that’s it, end of her?”

“No!” Nito held her hands over her ears.
“Don’t. Please! Davis, you have gotten to know me as a woman. As
Madge. You gave me your life jacket.”

“Thing is, Tanner,” Davis said, lowering the
gun, “I didn’t know who she was. But now it makes sense. What she
did before was horrible, but we need to ask, if she truly wants to
make a change or is different, how she can help us now?”

“She won’t,” I said.

“She has,” Davis replied. “She gave me a lot
of information. And now that we know who she is, we can get a lot
more.”

Tanner looked at me
with such hatred, and rightfully so. He did not understand that the
feelings and compulsions I had as an Ancient vanished along with my
abilities. There was no way to convince him, of that I was
sure.

“How are you able to be human?” Davis
asked.

“She did a bad thing,” Tanner said.
“And—”

“Let her speak,” Davis said. “How,
Madge?”

“Well, I was once human. It was my
punishment for things I had done.”

“Being transformed into human form is
punishment?” Davis asked.

“I think it is a form of humility, to learn
what I did not know and appreciate what I should have known because
I was once human.”

“What did you do?”

I took a breath. I was never one for telling
the whole truth, but I felt I needed to. “I wanted Vala. I wanted
her blood. I did not want to kill or drain her, just have some of
her blood. Iry claimed and protected her and I sent a Savage attack
to her village.”

“You’re able to control the Savages?” Davis
asked.

“In a sense. Not many at a time, and it
wasn’t because I was an Ancient.”

“Then why?”

“For the same reason I needed Vala’s blood,
my mother. She is a Savage, she never returned to her form after
the Starvation period and I knew Vala’s blood would bring her back.
The attack was not to claim lives, it was merely to get Vala. But
it failed and took the sister and killed many humans.”

“The death is the other reason you were
banished?”

“Oh, no, that is all part of the Savage
attack. The other reason is because I turned the child. It is
against the laws to turn a child or to turn an Elder against their
will. But I had to. The Savages were going to kill her. To turn her
was the only way to save the child. I was not given the chance to
explain that. I was banished.”

“Sophie is an Ancient now,” Tanner spat.
“She’ll never grow up.”

Davis scratched his head. “Here’s what I
don’t get. They made you human again. Why not just change her
back?”

“My thoughts exactly,” I said. “Banish me,
yes, but return the child. But I know my father. He will eventually
change her after he gets all that he wants. He wants and needs
Vala, a Mare, in his possession, and he more than likely used the
child to get her to wed Iry.”

Davis turned to Tanner. “Did you speak to
Vala?”

Snake said, “She made a beautiful
bride.”

Davis closed his eyes. “When were you human,
Madge?”

“Many, many years ago. Before the Starvation
period. My parents gave me up to protect me. Like Moses I was
raised by the Pharaohs, my mother and father. They had no intention
of turning me.”

“So you knew Moses?”

“Very well. Striking man. Wonderful
man-scent like you, Davis. Not quite the kisser you are.” I looked
over when the boy hissed.

The man Snake laughed.

“Tell me about Moses,” Davis said.

“Unlike the stories you are told, he knew he
was human. He did not discover he was a Mare until he was banished
and returned to bring us down. At that point I was not yet an
Ancient, and as I said, my parents had no intention of turning me.
Then Moses started tossing out his powers left and right. He wanted
to free the humans. My father tried to speak to him. I tried to
speak to him, let us work together. Until they poisoned the
children of Egypt. The first curse. After that, I hated him. How
can a man who claimed to be so humane be so cruel to innocent
people? And there were many innocent people in Egypt, not all were
bad. The children… they did not need to suffer. Finally, he led his
people out of Egypt, beginning the Great Starvation. Those of us
humans that were raised by Ancients used all that we could of our
own blood to keep the Ancients alive. It was why I turned. I had no
choice. After feeding so many, I was no longer human. Soon all the
humans that remained were Ancients and we vanished into the
darkness until we could emerge again.”

Snake whistled. “Now we have the other side
of the story. They always say there’s two sides.”

Davis stood up. “I’m at a loss.”

“Our biggest threat,” Snake said, “is not
the Ancients. You know that.”

“She said she could control the Savages,”
Tanner said.

“No.” I shook my head. “Not anymore. I doubt
it.”

“Davis,” Tanner pleaded, “she brought the
Day Stalkers. She doesn’t deserve to live. If she can control the
Savages, then maybe we let her go. Banish her from here, send her
back to Hopeland, they seemed to like her.”

“How do we do that?” Davis asked.

“We are destroying that Savage camp. Take
her there when we do. If she controls them, it will help us, get
her to lure them into daylight. If not, then she will be their last
meal.”

Iry was
apprehensive, yet was understanding as I prepared to go to Angeles
City. My escort would be Yaku, because the king felt I needed more
of a spiritual protector than anything else.

“I know I cannot go. I wish I could.” Iry
fiddled with my dress, straightening it.

“You need to stay here with Sophie. Please
watch my sister.”

“With everything I am,” Iry said. “I just
would feel so much better if one of the warriors were going.”

“I am quite the warrior, Iry.”

“That you are, and you are still my
wife.”

“Maybe that is the reason you don’t want her
to go,” Yaku said. “You may be her husband. You may have her hand,
but another there has her heart.”

Iry cringed. “That is so wrong on so many
levels. I can’t believe the king entrusted you to protect her.”

“I will have you know,” he said,
straightening his robe, “I was a grand warrior in my day.”

“Yes, when peacetime warriors fought with
words.”

“I see this is turning into a battle of
insults, I’ll just leave you two be to say your goodbyes.” Yaku
lifted his bag and walked out.

“The transportation will take you all the
way to Angeles City. You will contact me when you get there.”

“I will project to you, yes.”

“Find Davis. Tell him, and then a plan needs
devised.”

“I am aware. We will not be defeated. Man
has great will. He emerges from the ashes.”

“So do the Ancients.”

“Iry,” I said, “if need be, you’ll flee with
Sophie, right? You’ll go somewhere safe?”

“If there is such a place I will find it.
Good luck. Speak soon.” He leaned forward and pressed his cheek to
mine. “Be safe.”

I slowly pulled back and lifted my bag. A
part of me was scared to return to Angeles City, thinking. They
either wouldn’t believe me or would just say let the Savages
destroy the Ancients. After all, that was their original plan.

Just before leaving, I paused at the door.
Iry stood in the center of the room, he looked saddened.

“I’ll return, Iry.” “I know.”

Again, I started to leave and stopped. “Yaku
said another has my heart. Before coming here, I would have said
that to be true.”

“What about now?”

‘Now… things may be different.” My smile
wasn’t a happy one, it was one to convey assurance.

It was time to leave. Time to go to Angeles
City and prepare for the war, one neither of us expected.

We gathered a
team of six, along with Nito, or Madge as she wanted to be called,
and headed North to where I had discovered the huge Savage
camp.

The plan was to set the explosives around
the trees, and have Madge deliver the explosives in the city. If
she succeeded without being killed, I agreed to send her to
Hopeland. If she didn’t, then oh, well, she got what she
deserved.

It was the last of our prepared explosives
so I hoped it was enough. The Savages would be killed by the
sunlight, so once they fled their shelter, it was over.

It sounded simple enough. An easy victory.
We could have done it earlier had we known where they lived. Now we
did.

Madge was quiet. She didn’t say much. Once
we arrived, Davis went over her task at hand.

“This is heavy. Are you sure you can lift
it?”

“Really, Davis?” I barked.

“Tanner, we gave her the task. She has to be
able to do it.”

“I can do it,” Madge promised. “I’ll make
myself do it. I believe the Gods are with me.”

“God,” I corrected.

“Gods,” she said.

“Enough!” Davis snapped. “Madge, good
luck.”

“I will not scream, so when I do not emerge,
you will know they got me.”

“You’ll scream,” I said.

“Oh my God, Tanner!” Davis yelled at me.

“What? She’s a killer. I wish all you people
would remember that.”

“I remember,” Madge said. “This is why I am
trying to make a good difference in this mess. The Ancients never
meant to hurt man. We never wanted their demise. The Savages forced
you into darkness, not us.” She lifted the explosives.

“Watch the wire,” Davis instructed. “We
don’t want that falling out. Get into the city, call out, get their
attention, then get out.”

“It’s not that far in,” I said. “If you stay
in the daylight they won’t come for you.” “Thank you for telling me
how to be safe,” Madge said.

“Only because I want the explosives
set.”

Madge walked toward the wooded area. “Davis,
when I return, I seek only your forgiveness, if that is possible. I
treasure our time together and will do so always. You are
special.”

“Thanks.”

After she entered the overgrown wooded area,
I asked Davis, “What the heck happened between you two?”

“Not much.”

“So, uh, how come she has to wear that life
jacket everywhere? She does know it won’t help her in the Savage
camp, right?”

“I haven’t a clue why she won’t take it
off.”

The wire wiggled and moved, indicating that
she was walking. It stretched about as far as it would go, then
stopped. I knew she made it into the city.

We waited.

A few moments went by, no sign of flying
Savages, no calls or screams out. After a bit, we determined that
she had been killed.

Why was Davis sad? It irked me.

“Get ready to blow this place,” he ordered.
“On my call.”

“Wait!” someone shouted.

Madge was emerging from the trees, and both
Davis and I walked over to her.

“What’s going on?” Davis asked. “What
happened?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “They’re gone.
They’re all gone.”

I did not blame the
boy, Tanner, for not believing me, but he took things to extremes.
He even racing inside to see for himself. Was he a fool? For not
trusting me, did he not think if I were lying that he was running
into his own demise?

I followed him just to show him.

I informed Davis that there were no Savages
and that I had looked in the structures and even the tower of the
church that Tanner mentioned. There were none. Not even their
droppings were fresh. Remains of any meals had long since rotted
over and didn’t smell any longer.

Because there was no sign of Savages, they
collected the explosives and we headed back to Angeles City.

“They have been gone at least a week,” I
said.

“Where would they go?” Davis asked.

Madge replied, “I do not know.”

“Do you think they are looking for more
food?” he asked.

“One would think there is plenty of food
supply here,” Madge said. “It is odd that they left.”

“There are people in the Straits. I know
they don’t attack there. Why and how is that?”

“Seers. They create a false vision. The
Savages only see water. Therefore they cannot see the people or
smell them.”

“So they wouldn’t go there.”

“Even if they did, they’d have to contend
with the Savage camps out that way.”

“How many?”

“Two that I know of are on this side of the
country. They are bigger than this one. They fly east to get food.
But I am sure they invade the territory of other Savages.”

Davis asked, “Could they have died?”

“Possible.”

“I knew it. I knew something was up when
they didn’t attack.”