AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Because it is my duty. I have been charged by my chieftess to protect her sister. It is my highest priority to ensure she is safe.”
“And the other people in your unit, your friends, they understood and accepted this? You didn’t act contrary to how they would have expected you to?”
“No. If I had gone to help them, they would have questioned why I was not with Sam, keeping her safe.”
“Okay, so you were acting within mission parameters. You go to the tent, wake her up, and then what?”
“I hurried her away from our encampment.” I know my Brooks’ next question will be ‘why’ so I elaborate. “The marauding tribe was likely after our supplies. I did not know if they knew of Sam’s presence or not. But either way, I believed it to be safer for her away from the main cluster of our tents.”
“Away from all the others in your group who would have fought to defend her as well?”
Again, there is nothing antagonistic in the way she asks this, but there is no room for me to wriggle out of answering either.
“Sam is a very different sort of female to you, my Brooks. She is small, lacks your strength. I feared if I kept her close to the fighting, she could get hurt. Knocked down or trampled. It was also the place I expected most of the marauders to go - to the supplies that we kept at the heart of our camp. I hoped that by taking Sam away from that place, there was a chance that they would never even know she was there. That they would steal what supplies they came for and leave none the wiser.”
My Brooks nods. “Plus, the forest is dark, right? Good for hiding. I don’t know how good your low light vision is?”
“Better than yours, I believe. But yes, the forest is still good for hiding.”
She nods. “So you hurry her away from the camp, and then?”
“And then I was not so fortunate as to avoid attention. Some of Basran’s tribe came upon us. I told Sam to run and then stayed to fight them off.”
“You told her to run.”
“Because staying meant that if I were overwhelmed, she would definitely have been taken. Sending her away - at least she had a chance of evading capture.”
My Brooks watches the memory of the fight play out again, placing her hand at the centre of it with fingers closed, then flicking her fingers wide open. As she does this, the image grows larger, my remembered self now about the size of my forearm, rather than small enough to fit in the palm of my hand. I have never heard of the dreamspace being used in such a way, and were it not for the circumstances, I would be fascinated.
“You fought hard,” my linasha says, freezing the image before sending it backwards again. “Outnumbered, caught by surprise - you had all the disadvantages. Where were the rest of your friends?”
“Caught in their own battles. The marauders had the advantage of surprise and perhaps even outnumbered us - it is hard to say - but they fought with speed, not determination. They struck fast to overwhelm and surprise us so they could take what they could without facing resistance. As soon as we began to fight back with any strength, they soon retreated. No one was badly wounded - on either side, so far as I could tell. As soon as my brothers were able, they came to my aid.”
“But it was too late?”
I nod heavily. “It was too late.”
CHAPTERELEVEN
Brooks
Irun the memory back and forth a few more times, not so much studying Maldek’s actions as his form. The perfectly honed way he moves, gliding through the space around him with deadly precision.
Melee combat wasn’t Mercenia’s thing. Sure, we learned some hand to hand stuff, particularly in the early days when we were too small to be trusted with ranged weaponry, but it was more about discipline and fitness than it was about being an effective fighter. Still, I can tell that the raskarrans attacking Maldek lack the focus and discipline that he has. They don’t want to risk getting hurt, I think. They’ve launched a fast, surprise strike in hopes of overpowering an unprepared enemy, only to be met with someone prepared to give his life for something he cares deeply about.
It reminds me of the tactics we used against insurgents. Strike hard and fast, take them by surprise to reduce resistance, reduce the risk of taking casualties. Whenever we did a mission like that, I loved the speed and precision of it, the way my unit worked together as a perfect team, taking out dangerous insurgent encampments with a perfectly planned out application of force. It felt good. Right.
But from this point of view, the surprise strike looks dishonourable, and I wonder for the first time how many of the insurgents we fought, who engaged in grim battles to the death, were fighting to protect loved ones, things they cherished. In Mercenia’s black and white world, we were good, they were bad - a threat to the way of life we enjoyed and the safety of the citizens it was our duty to protect. The pre-mission briefings painted the insurgents as savage, evil, dangerous.
My mind flashes with memories of the briefing about the raskarrans. All the same language, all the same talking points.
But they were wrong about raskarrans. Some of them, at least. Were they wrong about some of the insurgents, too?
The thought makes my gut churn, but I push the questions down. Focus on Maldek for now.
“You fight well,” I say. “Focused, careful. You take risks, but you aren’t reckless. You win, eventually, despite being outnumbered. And then you go straight to her. You’ve explained your decision-making process every step of the way and it’s all logical, sensible. I don’t think many people could have consistently made good decisions like that under fire. You did everything right, everything you could to keep her safe. So tell me how it’s your fault that you couldn’t?”
Maldek gives a sheepish shrug. “This is what many have said to me.”
