The War for Mare (The Fall of Man Book 3) (13 page)

“If they’re gone,” Tanner said, “why don’t I
feel like the threat is over?”

“It’s not,” I said. “Something is up. Davis,
I can stay in Angeles City and help with this. Let me. You can
place a guard on me. You can… put the boy, Tanner, as my guard. He
hates me. He’ll make sure I do no wrong. Let me help.”

Davis sighed, I believe in deep thought. He
was a leader, and a good one. He was having an internal debate and
I could tell he wanted me to stay, but he had to make a decision
based on the desires of his people.

We arrived back in Angeles City, and I knew
something was up when Snake approached with urgency. I thought for
sure it was something else. A Savage attack, maybe they found them
elsewhere, or Day Stalkers. I was not expecting what I heard.

“Davis!” Snake ran up to us out of
breath.

“It was a bust,” Davis said. “They weren’t
there.”

“I figured that,” Snake said.

“How?”

“Well, I was told they probably were.”

“By whom?” Davis asked.

Snake looked at me, then Tanner, then back
to Davis. “Vala. She’s here.”

Snake was holding
down the fort when Yaku and I arrived in Angeles City.

“My God, this is a surprise! What brings you
here?” Snake asked.

“I wish it were for pleasant reasons,” I
replied. “Where is Davis? I’ll tell everyone at once.”

“He’s out destroying the Savage camps.”

“That would be a waste. They are not
there.”

“How do you know?”

“A feeling,” I explained. I introduced Yaku
and since I didn’t feel like explaining the impending war to Snake
then again to Davis, we spoke of other things. Not once did he
mention any new addition to Angeles City.

When the convoy with Davis returned, I was
excited. It was good to see him. Even at a distance, Tanner looked
disgruntled. Then, I saw
her
.

A sickening feeling hit my stomach. It
gnawed and twisted. It had to be a mistake. The woman just looked
like Nito, who had been banished.

When she stepped forward a little closer, I
knew it was her. How was it possible? Why was she with my friends?
Did they even know?

“Davis!” I screamed. “Step away. Do you know
who that is?”

“Vala—”

“
You
. How
dare
you?” When last
I saw her she had turned my sister, caused my mother’s death, and
killed my friend. Our battle wasn’t finished. I was ready to
continue. Only this time I would be victorious.

I had my walking stick that I used as my
weapon. I pulled it from my back satchel and raced toward her.

Tanner moved out of the way.

Surprisingly, Davis halted me. “Vala,
stop.”

“What is she doing here? She was banished.”
I looked more closely at Nito. “And I see banishment has caused you
to age.”

“She’s human now,” Davis said. “You can’t
use magic on her. That is an unfair fight.”

I laughed. “Marie was human. Did that stop
her
?” I raised my stick and Davis snatched it from my
grip.

“Enough.”

“Fine, I need no weapon. She has hurt us
enough. I’ll tear her apart with my bare hands.”

Nito folded her arms defiantly. “Then you
will do so without a fight from me. I will not strike you or fight.
Not while you’re with child.”

Upon her words, I froze. How did she
know?

It was the final
straw, the final breaking point in my journey with Vala. Not only
did she marry that Iry guy, but now she was carrying his child.
Unless the Ancients figured out a new way to conceive, Vala had
taken her relationship to the next level.

I didn’t believe it at first when Madge said
it, until Vala stopped cold. I knew by the look on her face the
information was correct.

“How do you know?” Vala asked Madge.

“You carry the mark. The dark spot on your
chest where you heart is, that is the mark of pregnancy. Shall I
say congratulations?”

I really don’t know what Vala’s response was
to that, since I left. I walked away. I left the street and walked
into the headquarters’ building, plopping down in defeat onto
Davis’ desk chair.

What was I thinking? Did I truly expect that
Vala would be mine? How foolish did I come across?

“Tanner,” Vala called softly. “Tanner, look
at me.”

“Do you know how hard it is?” I asked. “You
said you married him because of your sister.”

“I did.”

I spun the chair to face her. “Then why did
you give yourself to him?”

“It’s much more complicated than you think,
Tanner.”

“It’s not complicated, Vala. You sleep with
the guy or you don’t. You care for him or you don’t. I think I got
to know you pretty well. You wouldn’t just give yourself to him if
there wasn’t something there.”

“You’re right.”

“I knew it.”

“But there is more. There is a reason I had
to be with child.”

“What? To feel
whole
? Another lame
ass reason to stay with Iry.”

“Well, if that doesn’t sound like a jealous
rant, I don’t know what does,” Snake’s voice echoed across the
room. “Why are you giving this girl such a hard time?”

“She’s pregnant,” I said.

“What business is that of yours?” Snake
asked. “She is married, Tanner. Married. Although, I never knew a
pregnancy to be noticeable that soon.”

“She’s pregnant by an Ancient,” I said.

“I need to be,” Vala said. “I
had
to
get pregnant.”

“For what reason?”

Then Madge’s voice entered the room.
“Strength. She did it for strength.”

“Who asked you?” Vala snapped. “You have no
right to intrude on our conversation.”

“You are not in love with Iry,” said Madge.
“You let him choose you to avoid me, you married him to help your
sister, you got pregnant by him to gain strength because there is
no greater force or stronger than a Mare who is pregnant with an
Ancient’s child. Now you are here, with child, and you bring a
seer. Quit playing the childish games, stop trying to spare this
boy’s feelings and tell us why you are here? What is going on?”

By this time Davis also came into his
office. “I’d like to know that as well.”

“It is my armor,” Vala said. “My protection.
There is a war greater than any of us can imagine. It is on the
horizon and we need to all join forces.”

I listened to the
Mare describe her visions, what she felt was going to happen, and
it was then I realized she had no business being in the battle. She
had the ability, but one key factor was missing. Experience.

Even the boy Tanner had the experience. Vala
did not. She had lived sheltered all of her life, she had knowledge
of what to do but did not know why. She had no historical basis for
her fight. As the old saying goes,
to defeat the enemy is to
know the enemy
.

“Then it would be safe to assume the Savage
camp north of Ancient City is vacant as well,” I said.

“Could they be gathering there?” Davis
asked.

I shook my head. “No, that is not big
enough. She describes Savages as far as the eye can see. That is
far too many to gather there. They need to be hidden during the
day.”

“We’re only talking three camps,” Davis
stated. “Right?”

“The East side of this country may be dead,
we could include those camps as well. More than likely it is
somewhere closer to whatever the first target would be.”

“They move in waves, getting bigger as they
go,” Snake said. “But if they have no more people to eat or turn,
they are at their max in size.”

“Man failed to stop the movement,” I said.
“It opened the door for us to our abilities, but if what is
described is real, then our abilities will not be strong enough.
The gatekeepers at each community use their sights to veil the
humans in each Strait. Same as with Ancient City. But it pushes
them to the limit. Any more than one camp for each place, and we’re
not strong enough.”

“What about her?” Tanner asked, pointing to
the Mare. “I watched her obliterate dozens with one scream.”

“Can she do the same to thousands?” I asked.
“More than likely not. In her current strength she may be able to
hold them back, but at what cost, her life? And yes, that is a
possibility.”

Davis shook his head. “What are our
choices?”

“Find them where they are and destroy them
there,” Snake suggested.

“How?” Davis asked.

“They may be on another plane,” Vala said.
“Maybe not on this Earth.”

“Nonsense,” I argued. “They can’t do
that.”

“Even with Anubis?”

“Not even he can mass tens of thousands of
Savages on another plateau. No, they are here, in this country.
They can fly, but must stop every so many feet, hence why they do
not fly over water. They can’t swim.”

“The water breaks them apart,” Snake
said.

Davis snapped his finger. “Snake, you said
they hit in waves. Do you think they’ll spread out and hit
everywhere at once or will they hit one spot at a time?”

Snake shook his head.

Then Davis looked at me. “What do you
think?”

Before I could answer, the Mare got
defensive. “Why are you asking her? She will mislead us.”

“I will not mislead you. Why would I want
the Savages to rule this Earth?”

“Because your mother is one.”

“My father is not, and to answer your
question, Davis, before the child rudely interrupted me, they will
not separate. Like a pack of dogs, they will stick together.
Separated, they stand too much of a chance to be fought and
possibly defeated, together they are unstoppable.”

“What we need to do is get them all in one
place, then,” Davis said. “To do that we need to either find out
where they are or find out what they are up to.”

“I am safe to transport there now,” said
Vala. “Before I ran the risk of Anubis grabbing me and bringing me
there. But not now. I can see them.”

“Then what?” I asked. “Will you recognize
where they are? You only get a few moments in projecting, even with
the embryo feeding you. No, you can only see what they are doing. I
can not only do that, I can find out the plan.”

Vala laughed at me. “They’ll eat you
alive.”

“Not if I’m an Ancient again. We go to the
Ancient City, convince my father to turn me so I can go.”

Again, the Mare laughed mockingly. “And if
we believe your intentions are good, that you are doing this not to
be Ancient again, what makes you think they’ll tell you
anything?”

“Because one of them is my mother, and I’ll
also come bearing a gift.”

“What would that be?”

I smiled. “Your blood.”

I hated her. It
didn’t matter to me that she had turned human, that Nito was giving
information and assistance, or that she was wearing Davis’ life
jacket as a symbol of her commitment. She was still Nito. She was
till the same vile person that destroyed so many lives.

Yaku was finding Angeles City enjoyable and
was taking in, as he said, ‘the sights’ while we planned our return
trip to Ancient City. I found a moment alone to reach out to
Iry.

“You’re coming back? So soon?”

“Yes. We need to speak to the king. We need
his help in the plan.”

“What is the plan, Vala? Is there one?”

“We’re working on it.”

“And the other?” Iry asked.

“Other what?”

“Other plan in case that one doesn’t
work?”

“I don’t know, Iry, but you are not going to
like who is coming back with us.”

And then I told him. The first thing out his
mouth before I was drawn back was about Sophie. If the king made
Nito human, then surely he could return Sophie.

I was making sacrifices. I agreed to give my
blood as a bargaining tool to Nito. I would use that, because
simply, we were trying to save everyone. If it were just Angeles
City, it would be easier. The king would need to see that.

I ran to the group as they were discussing
plans.

“Done checking in with the husband?” Tanner
asked sarcastically.

It wasn’t worthy of an answer.

“I’ll take this map with me,” Davis said.
“When Madge returns from her visit with her mother, we can plot out
a plan. Until then, Snake you come with us. I’ll have Boss work on
boats. We get people out into the ocean. Far out. Madge, what would
be a safe distance from the Savages?”

“As far out as you can. Take no
chances.”

“We’re gonna need firepower,” Snake said. “A
lot of it, if we’re gonna get them in one place, and that is still
no guarantee.”

“We need to finalize the plan. Until we know
what and where it is happening, we’re at a standstill. Tanner, I
need you to head back to Hopeland. Get those people out of there
and recruit.”

“Won’t they be safe? They’re underground?”
Tanner said.

“From one or two,” Snake answered. “When
they mass, they’ll tear through the ground. I’ve seen it.”

Yaku entered the room announcing, “The
transport is ready. Your village is beautiful and green.”

“Thanks,” Davis said and rolled the map.
“Let’s head to Ancient City.”

“Oh, you’re gonna love it there,” Snake
said. “Take a moment to enjoy it before it’s gone.”

“I will.”

Tanner shook his head, then followed Davis
and Snake out, only after he glared at me.

Then
she
approached me. “Vala, you
and I will work together. We will battle this cause as a
union.”

“Yes, we shall. Make no error, Nito. When
this battle and war is finished and we are victorious…” I moved
closer to her, “so help me God, by my own hand I will see to your
death.”

“I’ll have one of
those fruity drinks for you,” Snake told me before he left. “And
Tanner, not having Vala isn’t the end of the world. Savages
destroying us is. Think about that. And you still have that cute
little number in Hopeland you can chase.”