from that direction, and there was a very small postern gate set where the wall turned away from the hill.
Two dozen humans, alerted by their representatives on Theron’s council, had gathered there, a few with rifles and others with packs, moving restlessly as Hera spoke to Emma and Cullen. Sergius was there as well, still wearing a cowl and gloves but dressed in clothing more practical for travel in the bush. He avoided Damon’s gaze and passed through the gate first.
Damon hesitated, torn between the desire to follow the Opir and his implied promise to remain with Alexia and the humans. If he left, he’d have to tell Alexia of his concerns, and that would help nothing. All he could do was wait. And watch.
Hera, dressed much like Sergius, nodded to Damon and Alexia and followed him, taking point. Half the humans followed her, Alexia went next, and the second half trooped behind her with Damon taking up the rear.
The caves in question were less than a kilometer away, but no one in the group let his or her guard down for an instant. Damon walked in a zigzag pattern to cover the most ground as he kept watch. Once Hera called a halt to listen to the rustle of something large moving in the bushes, but it turned out to be a brown bear, which reared up on its hind legs to watch them pass. The sun sank below the horizon, and a jay scolded in the pine branches as they walked beneath.
“Nothing,” Alexia whispered, falling back to join Damon. “Either the strike force hasn’t arrived yet, or they’re watching before they make their move.”
And even if they were not yet in the vicinity, Damon thought grimly, Expansionist or perhaps even Council agents might be. If his instincts about Sergius proved wrong, the Opir would eventually return with a report on any movement to the east toward Erebus.
“You go ahead now,” Damon told Alexia. “Keep the others safe.”
“You come with
“Damon!” Hera cried from somewhere ahead of them.
All the humans fell flat as they had been instructed, except for Emma and Cullen, who had their own rifles and immediately took up defensive positions. Damon and Alexia joined them, standing back-to-back with their rifles ready.
They knew in a very short time that they were surrounded.
Hera was first to appear, hands raised, with an Opir in daygear driving her at gunpoint ahead of him. The fact that he wore the suit told Damon that he had anticipated being out in daylight, though dawn was very far away. And by the number of weapons he carried, he expected to fight.
“It seems we were a little too late,” Alexia whispered as a half dozen other suited Opiri approached from every direction.
She felt behind her for Damon’s hand, and he squeezed her fingers. They both realized what was likely to happen to them, no matter how hard they fought, but Damon knew that Alexia was thinking of the humans. At best, they would be taken back to Erebus to resume their former lives as serfs. Damon guessed that some, like Emma, would rather be dead.
They still might be.
When Sergius strolled out to meet them, his helmet tucked in the crook of his arm, Damon knew how thoroughly he’d failed. He should have acted the moment he had felt those “vague” suspicions about Theron’s former disciple. He should have fully recognized the rebellion in Sergius’s eyes. Resentment, not only against Theron, but against his place in the world.
He should have killed Sergius at the very beginning.
“Damon,” the Opir said. “Agent Fox.”
“Sergius,” Damon said, his voice eerily calm. “How long have you had this planned?”
“Not long.” Sergius smiled, though without the mockery Damon would have expected.
“It just happens that the opportunity has come to act, and delaying would be foolish and unnecessary.” He signaled to his agents, who closed their circle around the humans.
Hera’s captor shoved her close to Damon and Alexia.
“Put down your weapons and no one need be hurt,” Sergius said. He dropped his helmet into the grass at his feet and casually brought his rifle to bear on Alexia. “Do as I tell you, Damon, or I will kill your little friend.”
“I’m getting a little tired of being called ‘little’ by upstart Freebloods,” Alexia said as she tossed her rifle down and removed her other weapons. “Am I too far off in guessing you knew Lysander?”
“Not at all, Agent Fox. We were working together, but unfortunately he never made our last rendezvous.” He met Damon’s gaze. “He knew his work was dangerous.
Damon, I will not ask you again. Throw down your weapons.”
He removed his rifle, pistol and knife and tossed them out of reach. Sergius was in a talkative mood in spite of the precarious situation, and Damon intended to take advantage of his bad judgment.
“We know Lysander was working for the Expansionist Faction,” he said. “Are you?”
“Not originally. I was recruited to become the party’s agent in the colony after I discovered what Theron’s once-noble philosophy had become.”
“A double agent, you mean,” Alexia spat.
“Lysander was my contact. We both, however, determined the Expansionists’ goals were not necessarily our own.”
“And these others?” she asked.
“Fellow Freebloods who agree that our kind should no longer rely on any faction in Erebus to grant us what we have earned.” He shrugged. “A pity Lysander didn’t survive.
He said he had an opportunity to obtain something that would be highly valuable to us in furthering our plans.”
His eyes narrowing, Sergius stared pointedly at Alexia. “I was under the impression that this thing Lysander sought had something to do with you, Agent Fox. I know the Expansionists had assigned him to kill you and Damon. Perhaps you know what he was after?”
Damon felt Alexia stiffen. “I have no idea,” she said.
“Why am I under the impression you are lying?” He clucked his tongue reprovingly.
“No matter. We will have plenty of time to talk it over.”
“Where?” Alexia asked. “In the middle of the firefight that’s probably about to happen any moment?”
“Oh, we intend to stay out of the way,” Sergius said. “We have no stake in Eleutheria or what Aegis and the Council do to each other because of it. Our only goal now is to wait them out and then move our resources—” he nodded to the humans “—to our new home.”
“Your own colony,” Damon said, noting the positions of each of Sergius’s followers without turning his head.
“I must credit Theron with giving me the idea,” Sergius said. “When we smuggled the serfs out of Erebus, he led me to believe that his colony would be one where Freebloods seeking to found their own households would be able to claim a certain number of humans in exchange for helping establish the settlement.” He laughed derisively. “But, you see, once Theron had begun, he became obsessed with a new way. Freedom.
Equality.”
He glanced again at the humans, whose expressions ranged from defiant to dull acceptance, with Emma and Cullen among those who looked ready to fling themselves at the Opiri and die happily. “Theron’s dream has no hope of surviving, but we intend to learn from his mistakes. When we found our own settlement, it will be truly Opir.”
“A society based on brutality and involuntary servitude,” Damon said, the rage beginning to smolder in his chest.
“Outrage, Damon? From you, when you so perfectly illustrate both these qualities?”
