“Hello again,” Orrian says to my mother, allowing himself a small smile as he crosses to her cell.
She collides with me as soon as Orrian opens the cell door with a gentle click. It has been so long since I have been in her loving embrace. My arms easily connect behind her back, she’s lost a worrying amount of weight. But it’s ok, finally, after so long, we’re back together again. We cry openly now, Randall is waiting patiently by our sides until Mother drags him into the embrace. The three of us stand there in each other’s arms, we could have never let go had Orrian not spoke up.
“Ok. There’s an army at the gates and we need to get you all out of here,” he says, addressing his people. There are maybe fifteen tribespeople and as many prisoners from elsewhere. Who knows what those other prisoners did to get in here? They may be cutthroats, thieves, and other genuine criminals. There’s no time to check them all now, by helping us, this can be their second chance. I hope they don’t waste it.
“What if we want to fight!” a woman calls out. I look around for the source, of course it’s Medea. She doesn’t look any different apart from perhaps a slightly more yellowish tint to her skin. She stands before her king defiantly, unbroken and undefeated. Around her there are cries of agreement.
“If you want to fight, stay with us. It is your decision,” Orrian says. His people immediately begin flocking behind him as they show their support. Orrian is forced to refuse several sickly prisoners as they try to join the fighters. We need the numbers, but he’s clearly not willing to let the more vulnerable of his people throw their lives away.
Orrian turns to face the twins who had been among the first to join his side.
“I need you two to go with them,” he says.
“What? No! We can help!” Astera starts, Horas remains quiet by her side and I remember his distaste for violence.
“You are helping. I need fighters to protect the rest of our people whilst you escort them out of here,” Orrian turns in our direction. “Randall, can you lead them back the way we came in?”
Randall nods.
“I can’t go with you,” I say turning to mother, Randall overhears and rounds towards me.
“What do you mean? Yes you-” Randall begins.
“I know,” Mother cuts in gently. “You need to go with him,” she nods over in Orrian’s direction. He still sorts through his people, getting them ready to either fight or escape. Randall looks pained.
“I’m coming with you then,” he says.
“No,” I object. “You need to lead them back to the moat.”
“Damion can do that,” says Randall
“Damion needs to come with us. They need you with them, make sure Mother gets out of here safely,” I instruct. Randall takes a moment before reluctantly agreeing.
“Be careful though, kid,” he says, passing me the blades from his own waist.
I move to join the fighters, handing out mine and Randall’s spare blades to those who are still unarmed.
“Is everyone ready?” Orrian calls out over the top of the whispers. “Let’s go then.”
Orrian leads those who will be fighting through the tunnel first. I give Mother one last squeeze as she kisses me on the cheek. I nod to Randall before he too pulls me into a quick embrace. I stumble past the twins as he pushes me towards Orrian. Astera gives me a sad smile and Horas pats me on the back as I pass.
I end up next to Tharrin, only a few heads behind the king, there’s a rumble from behind as the second group begins to follow. We reach the top of the stone steps without problem, but Orrian hesitates at the iron gate leading to the outside courtyard.
The archers are loosing arrow after arrow, our army must be directly behind the walls. In front, several rows of colony soldiers wait in front of the raised bridge. They’re going to notice us as soon as we come out.
“We need to distract them,” Orrian whispers backwards. “We need to try and get inside the gatehouse, if we can lower the bridge the army outside can join us.”
The people in front of me nod in understanding. Orrian pauses for a breath before swinging the iron bars aside.
The young king stands with his back against the wall as his people begin rushing past him. In the noise of the conflict outside the walls, their bare feet scraping on the pavestones are silent. They charge the closest ranks of the colony soldiers, leaping onto their backs before they even know that there’s another threat.
I emerge into the daylight, sword in front of me, when Orrian pulls me to one side. Similarly, he grabs Damion by the scruff of his neck and drags him next to us.
“No, we wait,” he says. “We need to go after Breyden.”
The fighters are among the colony soldiers, they slash and roll between the feet of their Halpians. The archers have noticed us too now, but our people are too involved in the conflict that they cannot target us without risking hitting their own men. They return to the outside where it would seem there is a considerably larger supply of targets. One of the archers falls to the ground, Robyn and her group must be inside the city now as well.
Randall charges past us, leading the second group. My mother is at his side and Astera and Horas follow closely behind them. As they run towards the path that we had come from, the children emerge from behind their door and join their number.
One of them falls to the ground, the archers finally have targets that they can take aim at. I watch as an arrow flies from one of the narrow slits in the gatehouse, narrowly missing Sage Malach as he hurries after the others. The group passes around the building and disappears.
With no one
