“I’ll figure that out along the way,” said Will.
WILL’S RULES FOR LIVING #14:
BEING BRAVE MEANS BEING AFRAID AND GOING AHEAD WITH IT ANYWAY.
They crossed the bridge at a trot, Will and Elise in the lead, riding cautiously. There were no guardrails on either side and the last thing they needed was for one of the horses to bolt and take someone over the edge into the lake. Will noticed a number of large, ominous shapes swimming alongside the bridge just under the surface as they crossed. Some sort of river beasts, trolling for an easy meal.
None of them wore their helmets at first; Will didn’t want to limit anyone’s vision if there were monsters around, particularly Ajay’s. Nick looked a little uneasy on his horse—he confessed that he’d never actually been on one before—but Will figured his freaky agility would quickly help him learn how to make it work. Ajay rode behind Jericho, his arms wrapped tightly around Coach’s waist. He kept his eyes closed until after they’d cleared the bridge.
They passed another small building similar to the ones back in the garrison on the other side, but it had been left unguarded. The road was entirely paved with stone here and ran straight ahead for about half a mile before dropping out of sight down a hill. Will signaled them to halt, waved Jericho to the front, and asked Ajay to take a look ahead. At the coach’s direction, Ajay stood up on the back of their horse and steadied himself with his hands on Jericho’s shoulders, while Jericho held the animal dead still.
“The road ahead of us is clear to the highway,” said Ajay, staring ahead; then he peered to his left. “It’s clear, too, for the moment. The back end of the big column is about…two miles ahead. They’re moving rapidly and I don’t see many stragglers.”
Will let the thought come to him instead of trying to force it. “We’ll cross over and head north of that road for a while, then ride parallel to it toward the Citadel. Once we get close to the highway, put your helmets on.”
“What do we say if one of them stops us?” asked Nick.
“Unless you recognize their language, don’t say anything. There shouldn’t be too many soldiers traveling off the road, but if there are, act like you own the place. Anyone else we run into will just think we’re a small squad on some kind of mission.”
“But what do we want to make them think we’re doing?” asked Elise.
Will glanced at Ajay. “We’re transporting a prisoner to the Makers. One of the ones Hobbes has been looking for, the humans that snuck into the zone.”
“Oh dear God,” said Ajay, sinking back down behind Jericho on the horse.
“That’s not actually what we’re doing, Ajay,” said Elise. “You’re going to be fine.”
“You say that now, but what about when they’ve got me drawn and quartered over a cauldron of molten slag?”
“Dude, chill,” said Nick. “We’re not letting anything happen to you now. You’re riding with the Bear.”
Jericho reached back and patted Ajay on the knee. “Next time, I’ll let you watch me change.”
“Really? Oh, that would be most excellent.”
That prospect seemed to settle Ajay down enough to proceed. Will rode on ahead at an easy canter. The land gradually transitioned from the flats near the water to the gently rolling green hills they’d seen in the drone’s pictures. If it was possible to put the reasons why they were here out of his mind, Will thought, he could almost think of this part of the zone as pleasant. Maybe it was just the abundance of green—it was soothing and seemed more like home, even knowing it was all fake. Whatever the reason, he was grateful for every bit of peace he could hold on to right now, and he greedily soaked it in, feeling himself settle down as he rode along.
After Will crested the largest hill, the highway came into view, a long gray ribbon cutting perpendicularly across the landscape ahead. Elise rode up alongside him, looking out at the road.
I’m still working with Ajay on this, she sent to him.
Is he getting it?
A little bit, but more importantly it’s keeping his mind off what’s ahead of us.
Good idea.
“What do you think their plan is, Will?” she asked out loud, looking off into the distance toward the unseen Citadel. “What did you see in that photo? I know you saw something.”
“I can’t be completely sure. But if it’s what I think it is, what they’re planning doesn’t line up with what Franklin and the Knights believe is going to happen. At all.”
He didn’t really want to say any more.
Tell me, she sent.
He could feel her staring daggers right into his mind and knew there was no point in withholding anything from her, especially something as explosive as this. He glanced back and saw that the others were still about a hundred yards behind them.
“I think they’re building something that’s going to give them their own way back in,” he said quietly. “That’s what is in that photo. I don’t know what it is, exactly, or how it’s supposed to work. But my guess is it’s going to be big enough to send that whole army across.”
He heard her take a deep breath, and when he finally looked over at her, he didn’t see the righteous fury he’d expected that news would inspire. She looked vulnerable and frightened.
What is it? he sent.
“I’m looking around at this terrible place, and I’m thinking about that—sorry, I know he’s still family—bat-shit crazy old grandfather of yours. And if there’s some kind of disconnect between those two sides about what’s coming next? My money’s on the Makers.”
“I think you’re right,” said Will. “But you’re wrong about one thing: He’s not my family. You guys are.”
Elise looked away, hiding her face. He wondered if she was blushing or embarrassed and if, as usual, he’d said too much.
You okay? he sent.
No matter what else happens to us from here on out…She turned and looked at him, a look that pierced him to his core, a look he knew he’d never forget.
I love you for saying that, Will.
She spurred her horse and galloped on ahead, moving as one with the animal, looking like she’d been in that saddle her entire life.
Will kicked up his speed to try to follow but he knew he’d never catch her. He knew she wanted to get to the highway first, and he knew exactly why: to make sure it was safe for the rest of them to cross. That’s how she was going to deal with her fear, which was as good a remedy as any, and he couldn’t argue with it as a tactic. That warrior side of her had come into such full expression since they’d arrived here that he wasn’t even worried about her safety, in spite of what he was allowing himself to feel about her. It was hard to imagine anything she’d find waiting on that road that could pose much of a threat to Elise when her powers were fully engaged.
He also knew how hard it was for her to express anything as tender as what she’d just said to him and that she might feel the need to do something violent in response.
Will turned back to the others and waved them onward. He felt a burst of that same violent impulse erupt inside him; he wanted them all to pick up their pace, confront whatever forces were waiting out there, and get down to it. Maybe it was just the effect of seeing that fire in Elise’s eyes, but the way he felt right now, he was ready to take on that entire army and the Makers, and they could throw the damn Knights in as a bonus.
With Will leading them, they reached the road five minutes later where it crossed through a small wood. Elise was waiting for them, standing in her stirrups, a wild look in her eye as she stared ahead down the road.
The bodies of a squad of black-armored soldiers were scattered around the site like broken toys, at least ten of them. A couple of them had been tossed up into the branches of the trees, as if they’d been caught in a hurricane.
“What happened?” asked Ajay.
“They left behind another greeting party for us,” she said. “Hiding in the trees.”
“Nice work, sister,” said Nick. ??
?Next time save a few for me.”
“Ajay, can you see how far Hobbes and Brooke or any of the others are ahead of us?” asked Elise.
Ajay popped up behind Jericho on the horse and peered ahead. “I see a small group of riders on the highway, maybe three miles ahead. It looks like they’re hurrying to catch up to the back of the column.”
“We’ll keep heading this way,” said Will, pointing to the north of the road. “Just far enough to get us out of sight where Ajay can keep an eye on the road. But we need to move faster now. Everybody good with that?”
They rode hard and straight, heading north on a diagonal away from the highway, all of them bearing down. Both Jericho and Elise leaned into the gallop, peerless riders, and their horses were so big and powerful they chewed up the ground, pounding ahead. Even Nick—who already seemed to have gotten the hang of basic horsemanship—kept pace with them, using his legs to clamp onto the saddle, whipping the reins back and forth like some cowboy he’d seen in a Western. Will struggled to stay at the front of the pack.
A few minutes later, Will signaled a halt, and although he couldn’t see it, Ajay looked back and confirmed that he still had the highway clearly in sight to the south.
“And it’s a good thing we crossed when we did,” he said, looking farther back to the left. “There’s another column moving up from the rear.”
“Onward,” said Will.
He led them straight ahead at a steady gallop, paralleling the road. The green grass and gentle hills he’d enjoyed ended not long afterward, giving way to a flat hardpan of dirt and blasted rocks. That range of mountains loomed over them off to their right now, and the ground gradually tilted up toward them. These were cold, black, and barren peaks. They projected their harsh weight down on the whole region and looked as if they’d thrust brutally out of the earth in the last hour.
Big round rocks began to dot the landscape, some of them immense, and soon there were so many they had to slow down and pick their way through them. Will was grateful for the cover they offered from distant unseen eyes but the place made him uneasy. He felt like the rocks themselves looked angry, cast off by those mountains as they continued to assert themselves. In the distance, echoing down from the mountains, they could hear what sounded like the grinding and tearing of almost constant landslides, boulders clacking off each other as they tumbled downward in some titanic bowling alley. Will half expected to see a barrage of them come barreling down the canyons at them at any moment.
The sky turned ever blacker as they rode on, the constant twilight they’d grown accustomed to now more like perpetual dusk, a grim shroud drawn over the land. They had to slow their pace to a canter. Jericho took the lead now so Ajay could keep an eye ahead and direct their path forward through the rocks.
As they cleared a dense cluster of boulders, a sliver of light appeared on the horizon, a slight glow that gradually dimmed upward as they rode toward it.
I…see…campfires…
Will heard the words slip into his head. He looked over and saw Ajay grinning at him from the back of Jericho’s horse. Will gave a slight shake of his head.
You are a quick study, he answered.
I…told…you…
Will glanced the other way over at Elise, riding alongside him, focused grimly on the light in the distance.
He can do it.
I know.
Great work, that’s incredible.
I didn’t have that much to do with it.
Granted, it’s like talking to a two-year-old—okay, the world’s smartest two-year-old—but it’s still kind of startling.
Be glad, she answered. We’re going to need all the help we can get.
They soon passed through the boulder-strewn area onto a flat, dry, featureless plain, devoid of growth or life of any kind. Will thought it was as if the Makers had lost interest in creating anything other than utilitarian ground this close to their home, nothing more than a way to get from here to there. They picked up their pace again, the cold glow from the camp cutting through the gloom and lighting up half of the horizon ahead of them.
Ajay abruptly held up his hand and called a halt and they slowed to a trot. Fifty yards ahead, the edge of the plain dropped off abruptly. Will dismounted, handed his horse to Elise, and walked forward until he came within sight of the edge of a cliff. He realized they were on top of a wide bluff, perched over and looking down on a huge, bowl-shaped valley below. The main highway provided the only practical entrance into it, through a narrow neck far below to his left. A similar bluff rose up across from them on the other side of the bowl. Both bluffs ran all the way around the rim of the valley, until they both bumped up against the obstacle that provided its northern perimeter.
The wall.
The photos they’d seen from the drone hadn’t prepared them for actually laying eyes on the Citadel. The quality of the construction didn’t surprise him—smooth, seamless, brutal, and unadorned—but the scope of the complex was almost beyond imagining. The wall wasn’t simply tall; it was hundreds of feet high, blank and oppressive, and it angled slightly forward so that it seemed to exert its own gravity on the valley below.
Will looked back at Elise. Keep the horses quiet. The rest of you need to see this.
Elise gathered the horses together and, he assumed, communicated something to them that left them calm and willing to wait patiently. Then she and the others walked up beside Will. The moment they all saw the hellish vision, the entire party immediately dropped to their knees, as much in shock as in an effort to stay out of sight.
That glow they’d seen rose from a thousand campfires. Gathered around them, from wall to canyon wall, the entire bowl was carpeted with a sea of malignant armies. There were many distinct encampments, but from here they all blended together in waves of motion and sound and gleams of dangerous metal, rising from the dread valley.
“Monstrous,” said Ajay softly. “Monstrous.”
“I don’t scare easy, right?” whispered Nick. “But in this case I might have to change my shorts.”
“That’s part of what those walls are for,” said Elise. “To inspire fear and awe.”
“Like I said,” said Jericho. “That’s how they keep the peasants in line.”
“At least we have a better idea of what we’re up against,” said Will.
“Us against all that?” asked Nick. “Dude, you need a checkup from the neck up.”
The encampment appeared to cover every square inch of the valley, and more regiments of foot soldiers were marching down the road to join them, their footsteps stomping out a martial drumbeat. There didn’t appear to be enough room to pitch another tent on unoccupied ground, other than the line of the stone highway that cut through the teeming throng all the way to the walls.
“I see Hobbes,” said Ajay.
“Gimme a break,” said Nick. “How can you pick out one dude in all that mess down there?”
“He’s on that central road,” said Ajay, pointing down. “Riding toward the wall, about halfway through the valley. With a much larger escort this time.”
“What about Brooke?” asked Will.
“She’s riding right behind him.”
“Guess there can’t be that many blondes down there,” said Nick.
“Actually, there is an entire battalion of some kind of creatures with golden hair over that way,” said Ajay, pointing to the left near the canyon wall. “Although it’s covering their entire bodies.”
“Awesome,” said Nick, taking out his binoculars. “Sounds like yetis.”
“Are Hobbes and Brooke heading toward an entrance?” asked Jericho.
“Yes,” said Ajay, creeping forward a bit. “Where, as you might imagine, there is a pair of massively impressive gates set in the wall.”
“Yep, definitely yetis,” said Nick, looking through the binoculars.
“Would you please try to stay focused,” said Jericho.
“Dude, it’s yetis,” said Nick, but then he swung the gl
asses over toward the gates. “Hey, you’re right, I can sort of see Brooke, too. And if you don’t mind my saying so, she looks kind of hot in that armor.”
Will craned his neck up to see a little better; he couldn’t locate Brooke, but he could just make out the shape of the gates, the only disruption in the unbroken smooth line of the walls. He took out his own binoculars and sighted them along the road until he spotted movement. As he adjusted the focus wheel, he caught a flash of long blond hair against dark armor.
Seeing her there, riding into the middle of that darkness, Will’s heart sank and questions filled his head. How had he so badly misjudged her? How could she have fallen so far into whatever level of madness was required to put her there in that terrible place at this particular time? What good could she think was ever going to come from what she was doing?
“Are the gates opening?” asked Jericho.
“Not the massive gates themselves,” said Ajay. “It appears there’s a smaller entrance or door built into them. Wide enough to admit a couple of riders.”
“Get me to a church,” said Nick, staring through the glasses. “Would you look at those knockers.”
Elise punched him on the shoulder. Nick lowered the glasses.
“What?”
“You know what,” she said.
“I was talking about the doors,” he said, offering her the binoculars. “Look for yourself.”
“There are indeed two immense rings of steel attached to large plates on the gates,” said Ajay. “Which I suppose you could mischaracterize as ‘knockers.’ ”
“See?” Nick asked Elise.
“Although I suspect they’re purely ornamental,” said Ajay.
“Aren’t knockers always ornamental?” asked Nick.
This time Will punched him on the shoulder.
“I wouldn’t say that,” said Jericho. “Some of those jamokes down there are definitely big enough to use them.”
“Knock, knock,” said Nick. “Who’s there? Boo. Boo who? Hey, what are you so upset about?”
“I am going to throw you off this cliff,” said Elise.