“Who was it?” Dred asked.
He lied without compunction. “Just an oversized rodent, dying badly.”
He had no way to be sure how long it took, given their relative lack of agility, but eventually, they dropped down from the access panel just inside Dred’s borders. An ominous feeling stole over him when they came to the last checkpoint. Four bodies littered the ground, blood everywhere, and there was no sign of the men who had killed them.
“Grigor?” Jael asked.
Dred shook her head as she knelt. “This looks like Priest’s work. See the holes punched through their palms? It’s a calling card of sorts.”
“A raiding party?” Tam suggested. “If so, we should look for the other incursion site. The Bear mentioned a two-pronged attack.”
“Possibly. I didn’t think they’d organize this quick. We need to move quietly and assess the situation.” So saying, she didn’t unwind the chains from her forearms.
Tam approved of that caution. If things were worse than anticipated, he could lead her away from the danger and find refuge elsewhere. He had scouted more than a dozen locations that few other men were likely to find. It was impossible to store provisions, as supplies were so scarce, but if they couldn’t find Dred, then neither Priest, nor Grigor, could claim they had destroyed Queensland. Tam understood that it was a risk in setting so much power behind one woman, but he felt confident he had read her correctly. She was not a lesser metal, and she wouldn’t crumple beneath the weight before the game played out.
“Follow me,” he whispered to the other two.
They fell in behind him, and Jael went up in Tam’s estimation. Some men saw his lack of stature and tried to shove him aside to get close to Dred. It spoke well of Jael that he was smart enough to understand that Tam’s value lay in something other than battle skill or muscle mass.
The enemy had been careless, leaving bloody footprints all the way to the hall. That let Tam gauge roughly how many lay ahead. He expected a fight, but when they reached the hall, he saw a number of enemy corpses instead. Einar looked like hell, but he was organizing the cleanup. His scarred features showed immediate relief when he saw Dred returning unharmed.
“What happened?” Dred demanded.
“Skirmish.” Einar indicated the damage to the main hall, along with the wounded men being tended. “Twenty-five men. It wasn’t enough to seize control, so I’m not sure what Priest was thinking.”
“I am,” Jael said. “It’s a classic guerrilla tactic. Send pawns to weaken the queen. Weaken with wave after wave of expendable forces. And once your opponent has nothing left in reserve, you send the full might of your army to crush them.”
Dred turned to him. “You sound like a soldier.”
“I’ve been one, among other things.”
That surprised Tam. He wouldn’t have guessed that Jael had enough discipline or self-control to accept orders on a daily basis, but as he mulled what to do with this new information, Dred said, “Good. Then you’ll be in charge of tactics. Confer with Tam while I work with Einar in getting things squared away.”
An admirable allocation of resources. Sometimes Tam wondered if he underestimated her. He didn’t know much about her life before she had been sentenced to life—and death—in Perdition. She made it a point not to discuss her past, and she didn’t ask many questions of other people, either. Just as well. I would’ve lied.
To Jael, he said, “Meet me in Dred’s quarters in a couple of hours. I’ve something to take care of first.”
Still calculating odds and scenarios, Tam hurried off to collect food and medical supplies. He hoped it wasn’t too late for the creature in the ducts, as that would upset all his plans.
Astonishment colored everything for a few, brief seconds, then Jael nodded, though Tameron was already leaving. He had some time to kill, so he went to the hydroponics garden. There were a couple of workers inside, but they took no notice of him. The lights were bright, almost like the sun, and it was the most peaceful place he’d found on Perdition. Little wonder the other leaders wanted to take this oasis and burn it down. For a few seconds, he simply breathed, enjoying the way the plants scented the air. It would be nice if I knew their names, too.
A woman glanced at him belatedly. “Can I help you?”
He shook his head. “I’m just exploring. I’ll be working here eventually, so I wanted to learn my way around.”
“Let me know if you have questions,” she said.
He did have some, and she wound up showing him how to care for some of the vegetables. Therefore, the time went fast. Eventually, Ike ambled in.
“Tam’s looking for you. Just thought you should know.”
Jael swore, thanked the woman for her time, and jogged toward Dred’s quarters. The door swished open to reveal Tam; Jael stepped inside, and the other man indicated he should make himself comfortable. Since the room consisted of a bunk, a couple of hard chairs, and a broken entertainment console, it wasn’t much, but since he was happy to be consulted on anything, he had no comment on the paltry accommodations. The merc commanders who recruited him paid him to march or kill; they didn’t ask his opinion. It occurred to him that he’d only been a part of things in this way once before, and he’d thrown it away in fear the situation would sour. Fear had driven him to trade potential friendship for a payday.
Even in a place like this, he wouldn’t repeat the mistake again. Lab techs had called him subhuman, but he was capable of learning from his mistakes. Of course, they’d said those things because they were rationalizing their choice to experiment on him. Jael was lucky they had never plumbed the full extent of his regenerative gifts or learned how they could be useful to other people . . . or he’d never have left the lab that last time.
They were wrong about me, he told himself. I’m a person. I can learn. I can.
Deep down lay the cold, curling fear that, in fact, he couldn’t. That he was a broken thing, born of mechanical bits, electrical impulses, and a scientist’s meddling. Perhaps I cannot learn. But he meant to try. He had read a story of spirits being refined in pits of fire, so that they were better and stronger when they climbed out. Back then, it had seemed likely they would only be destroyed.
But maybe not. Hope tormented him.
Jael was surprised to identify the anger he felt over the attack. Not because he was so attached to the sentries but because of what it represented. Priest and Grigor were determined to take Dred’s territory. Not on my watch.