Renegades war, p.2
Renegade's War, page 2
“Don’t be silly. What look?” Aurelia knew she couldn’t fool either him or Dacia but tried to deflect.
“The one where you appear to be carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. Which you do, in a sense, but you’re not alone.” Milton motioned to the team behind them.
So typical of Milton to have this conversation shouting on a bike. Any other person would perhaps bring up something so personal while sitting around a campfire drinking wine.
“I know,” Aurelia mouthed, not about to continue this line of conversation any longer. She turned the handle of her off-roader and left them behind her. Longing for a shower, albeit cold, Aurelia couldn’t wait to get back to the camp.
After about an hour, it was almost dark, which was dangerous. They couldn’t afford to use their headlights or a regular flashlight, and if it turned out to be a cloudy night, they’d have to walk and lead the bikes the rest of the way. Some of their headlights had red-tinted glass, which made it possible to switch them on, but not all.
Aurelia turned a corner, one where she always reduced speed as the path was full of roots from the surrounding trees. She kept the bike at fifteen miles per hour, scanning the ground ahead. She blinked. What was that in the middle of the narrow path just before the next bend? Slowing down, she came to a stop while raising her fist. She let the engine idle and stepped off the bike. Dacia and Milton were at her side within seconds.
“What’s up, Boss?” Milton’s voice held no mirth.
“See it? Over there?” Aurelia pointed.
“An animal or something?” Dacia squinted. She took a step forward, but Aurelia grabbed her arm.
“Wait. We’re doing this by the book. No surprises, right?” Aurelia pulled out her gun, a sleek sidearm with a long barrel. She didn’t have to look to know the other two had done the same. Inching closer to the object on the path, Aurelia forced herself not to tense up. Anything along these parts could be a trap. On most days, she was well aware how incredible it was that they hadn’t been caught yet.
When she had only ten feet left to go, she stopped, again raising her fist. This was no animal or some garbage. A pale hand protruded from a dark jacket, and the last of the sunlight revealed caramel-blond hair.
“It’s a person!” Dacia looked at Aurelia, her eyes huge in her narrow face.
They approached the body on the path with their weapons raised and safeties off. At first, nothing betrayed life in the still form. When Aurelia reached the figure, she saw it had to be the victim of a vicious attack. New bruises and welts on the face, dirt on the clothes, and items strewn across the path told the story of a robbery. It wasn’t common in this remote area, but gangs sometimes showed up in the suburbs of Klowdyn’s major cities and tried to intimidate the locals and force them to pay for “protection,” even attack people who traveled alone.
“He tried to defend himself,” Milton said, pointing at the walking stick still in the victim’s right hand.
Aurelia crouched next to the man. She tugged her gloves off and pressed her finger at his carotid, scanning him for more injuries. She hadn’t been sure of the sex of the unfortunate traveler, but she could tell he was muscular, and the short-cropped hair suggested this was a man. Age or facial features were indistinguishable. She flinched as she felt a steady, if a bit rapid, pulse under her fingertips. Now she saw the faint rising and falling of the man’s chest under the thick jacket.
“He’s alive,” Aurelia said. “Bring Cody over. He’s got the biggest cart.”
“We’re taking him with us?” Dacia gasped. “What if this is a trap?”
“I doubt that.” Aurelia studied the bruised features. “He’s been beaten into prolonged unconsciousness,” she said starkly. “He won’t know where we’ve taken him, any more than the people we help do. Cover his eyes and secure his hands. Make sure you don’t restrict his breathing, and be careful with his neck. He might have internal injuries.”
“All right. Mac can take a look when we get to the camp.” Dacia pulled out one of the blindfolds they had used on the people they’d just helped across the border to Sandslot and tied it deftly around the man’s head. “You do realize he might need a hospital? I mean, Mac’s a miracle worker, but the infirmary isn’t equipped to do major surgery.”
“I know. We’ll deal with that if we have to.” Aurelia hoped they wouldn’t have to risk an unplanned trip to one of the major cities.
Cody came up next to them with his off-roader, and they carefully lifted the injured man onto the cart. They had to fold his long legs, which made the man moan. Clearly his injuries caused him pain.
Taking the lead again, Aurelia, followed by Dacia, kept driving toward the camp. Behind them, Milton rode next to the cart, keeping a close eye on their new acquaintance. Aurelia turned her head back a few times, and each time, Milton gave her the thumbs-up.
They made it back to camp just as the mountain area grew black. Dark clouds hid the stars and the half moon, but the camp had indirect lighting from inside the cave system. Some of the caves were natural, but for the most part, the tunnel system in the mountain was painstakingly manmade—some by smugglers from centuries ago, and some by themselves. They couldn’t risk campfires at night being visible from the sky when the authorities of Klowdyn sent their agents up in helicopters to look for them. During the day, they moved around under camouflage nets while in the camp, and at night, they returned to the caves, where they lived in roughly chiseled alcoves.
The camaraderie and passion for their mission kept them, the Tallawens, a close-knit group. Dacia always maintained it was the group’s love and complete loyalty to Aurelia that made it possible to live this way for months on end. Aurelia knew her crew was loyal, but also that all of them had an individual reason for putting their lives on the line for the freedom of others. She certainly did.
Tom, this camp’s young leader, approached them, relief clearly visible on his face. “That was in the nick of time,” he said and smiled. “Everything all right?” He shoved his fingers through his shock of curly red hair.
“For the most part,” Aurelia said and dismounted the bike. “We found an injured man by the forest. He’s in bad shape. Mac around?”
“She is.” Tom looked over his shoulder. “Carla? Get Mac, please.”
A young woman merely nodded and stepped back into the cave system. Aurelia walked over to Cody’s bike and crouched by the cart. The man lay on his back with his legs bent, covered by a blanket, and someone had also sacrificed their sweater to place around his neck for support.
“Shit.” Tom joined her. “Someone did a number on him, didn’t they?”
“Yeah. We just have to hope he’s not bleeding internally.” Aurelia placed her fingertips against the man’s neck again. “Pulse is fast but strong. Always something.”
“And who do we have here?” a husky female voice asked from behind. “Ah. Another one, eh, Aurelia?” Mac, their medic, knelt by Aurelia’s side, pulled out a flashlight, and shone it into the man’s eyes. The pupils contracted and revealed blue-green irises. “Good. Equal reactions on both sides. So far, no signs of a subarachnoid bleed.” She rose after taking his blood pressure and pulse. “He’s stable at least. We better move him into the infirmary.”
Aurelia motioned for Cody and Tom to pull the cart toward the cave. The infirmary, which was entirely Mac’s domain, was a larger dwelling at the end of the right-hand tunnel. A string of bulbs lit the space as they made their way inside. Several large diesel generators provided power to the cave system, which they could thank Tom’s engineering skills for.
Together, they lifted the bruised man up onto the main gurney, where Mac began cutting off his clothes. “I don’t need all of you in here. You stay and assist me, Aurelia, and Tom too. The rest of you look like you’re starving. Go eat. Bring something back for Aurelia when you’re done.”
Aurelia knew better than to argue with Mac in her quarters. “You heard her,” she said, nodding at her team. Dacia frowned but relented when Aurelia motioned with her thumb toward the exit. “If there’s cheese, I’d love some with cucumbers.” Sometimes Aurelia felt the Tallawens lived on sandwiches alone.
“Got it,” Dacia said and left.
After cutting through the sleeve seams, Mac pulled at the man’s jacket. Tom held on to his shoulders as she and Aurelia tugged it off. The plain gray shirt underneath was blood-soaked around the lapels in the front, but otherwise clean.
“Looks like most of the blood came from his nose. Let’s check that out first.” Mac dampened a washcloth and began washing the blood away, revealing red swellings and bruises that Aurelia knew would darken the next few days and then become multicolored. “Hm.”
“What?” Tom leaned in to look.
Mac didn’t answer but unbuttoned the shirt and parted it in the front. Aurelia blinked. “He’s a she.” She lifted her gaze to the bruised face and then looked down at the tank-top-covered chest. The tank top was formfitting and clearly showed that this was indeed a woman lying unconscious before them. Examining the woman’s face again, Aurelia now noticed the long, thick, gold-brown lashes that lay in perfect semicircles against the bruised skin under her eyes. It was impossible to judge the shape of her nose, but her narrow lips were curvy.
“She is indeed.” Mac gently rolled their mystery guest toward her, allowing Aurelia to pull the shirt off her. “Her back seems unharmed.”
“At least she wasn’t shot.” Tom made a wry face, and Aurelia knew what he meant. When it came to injuries, gunshot wounds were always their main concern, especially if the bullet didn’t go straight through.
“Most of the injuries seem to be to her head and face,” Mac said, deftly examining the rest of the woman. “Several blows, which individually might not have caused much harm, but this one,” she pointed to the woman’s temple, “is what worries me the most. The bone here is thin, and that’s quite the contusion. I bet she’s been attacked from different angles, perhaps by more than one person. She’s muscular.” Mac pointed at the woman’s well-defined arms. “She looks like she’d be able to defend herself.”
“Unless they had guns,” Tom said.
“Yes. Unless.” Aurelia dampened a new washcloth and soaked the dried blood in the woman’s short hair. Wiping it off as best she could, she then helped Mac put a clean shirt on her and remove her boots and pants. The three of them lifted her carefully and placed her on one of the cots. Tucking the blankets around the woman, Aurelia looked up at Mac. “Any idea when she’ll regain consciousness?”
“No clue, honestly, and her being knocked out this long is worrisome. She’s probably concussed, but I don’t see any signs of internal bleeding, which is encouraging. Do you have any indication who she may be?”
“None. We all thought she was a guy. I’m going to place a guard at the entrance to the infirmary,” Aurelia said, turning to Tom. “We can’t rule out anything at this point.”
“On it.” Tom nodded briskly and left. Within minutes, a tall woman stood by the opening, rifle ready in front of her.
Aurelia rose and looked down at the woman in the bed. The undamaged part of her face suggested she might be a striking individual. What had she been doing alone in the wooded area? Or had her assailants taken her there to settle a score? Perhaps this was a botched attempt to kill her? Unnerved, Aurelia flipped her long hair back over her shoulders. “Let me know when there’s a change, Mac.” She strode out of the infirmary and walked to the junction of the two tunnels that served as the common area. Chiseled-out benches provided seats along the perimeter. Dacia came up to her, carrying sandwiches and a mug of ale.
“Hey, how’s he doing?” Dacia pointed at one of the benches.
“She is still unconscious, so pretty much the same as before.” Aurelia sat down and bit into one of the sandwiches. “Ugh. No butter, huh?” The bread was dry, and the thin slice of cheese tasted a little stale.
“I know. Cook says his delivery people find it harder and harder to get through the hills. They constantly change their routes, and some of them are damn long. He’s getting some supplies tomorrow, though, so lunch should be better.”
“Good. It’s not just the nutrition. You know that.” Aurelia washed the dry piece of bread and cheese down with the cool ale. “If we can’t keep our people well fed, morale will start going down the drain, and that’s when people start making mistakes.”
“I know. I know. So does our cook. He was quite frantic about it tonight. Milton had to reassure him this isn’t his fault.” Dacia sipped from her own mug. “At least our stockpile of ale is plentiful. We Klowdynians can always go the extra mile for an ale.” She bumped Aurelia’s arm with her own. “But you, you poor Sandslottish goddess, you’re probably doomed.” Dacia crinkled her nose.
“Oh, please. I can drink anyone under the table on this stuff.” Aurelia grinned and drank some more. Her stomach twitched at the well-meant jibe from her friend. Sandslot, the neighboring country, had been her home until she was four. Whereas Klowdyn kept its people in a strong harness, dictating their lives down to minute details, Sandslot was the opposite. There, people were free to follow their dreams, travel, choose their careers, and have as many children, or none, as they pleased. In Klowdyn, it was mandatory for healthy women to give birth once—no more, no less.
If anyone had more children than that and was found out, all children but the oldest were sent to relocation schools, much like the one Aurelia, Dacia, and Milton had gone to. Unlike most of their schoolmates, they hadn’t been adopted. Nobody ever told them why, but Aurelia had gone from missing her parents, to wishing for someone to belong to, to being relieved that she had managed to escape the school with Dacia and Milton when they were eighteen. Now, seven years later, she was the leader of the Tallawens, a renegade group that smuggled Klowdynian refugees and dissidents over the well-guarded border to Sandslot.
Gazing into the foaming ale, Aurelia thought about the mystery woman in the infirmary. Bringing her into their midst might change everything.
Chapter Two
She had no idea where she was. Staring up at what had to be some sort of ceiling, even if it looked more like bedrock, she blinked several times to clear her vision. Muted lights showed metal shelving and counters to her left. Slowly turning her head, she blinked again and managed to make out two beds, none of them occupied. A figure dressed in dark clothes stood by another counter at the far end of the room with their back to her.
“He-hello?” she managed to mutter and then moaned as her head began to pound.
The figure pivoted and walked up to her. Behind the person, another form appeared, this one carrying something. A rifle?
“Good. You’re awake.” A woman leaned over her and shone a small flashlight into her eyes. She blinked and moaned again as the light seemed to stab her brain. The woman didn’t seem fazed but turned to the person behind her. “Send someone for Aurelia.”
The other person nodded and left.
“Can you tell me your name?” the woman asked.
“Um. Sure.” Searching her foggy brain and trying to disregard the throbbing pain that seemed to fill her entire head, she shifted restlessly. “I’m…my name’s Blue.”
“And your last name?”
Blue began to shiver. “Blue, eh…” Everything in her mind seemed to fade back into a gray mist. “Just Blue?” Feeling ridiculously apologetic, Blue looked up at the stern woman. “Where am I, exactly? And do you know my name?” Her aching body and head suggested she was injured and perhaps the woman had asked her these questions to ascertain if she was concussed.
“No clue, dear.” The woman straightened. “Ah. Aurelia. Our guest is conscious, if a bit foggy.”
Blue turned her head again and had to grip the side of the thin mattress not to fall off the bed because of the violent vertigo that hit her out of nowhere.
“Hey. Easy.” A clear voice spoke as a steadying hand was placed against Blue’s shoulder. Another woman, this one appearing much younger, leaned over her, and a mane of long, black hair fell toward Blue and hid her from the world. It caressed her aching cheek, and for an insane second, Blue wanted to turn her head again, despite the threatening vertigo, and hide her face in the silky masses.
“Oh, sorry.” The woman flipped the hair back over her shoulders and then sat down on the side of the bed. Now the muted light hit her and revealed an oval face with olive-tinted complexion and black eyes. Her lips were full, and faint dimples added to her beauty.
“I’m Aurelia.” The woman patted Blue’s shoulders lightly and then let go.
“My name is Blue.” Pushing at the bed with her elbows, Blue tried to sit up. Immediately, Aurelia’s hands were back against her shoulders, holding her down.
“Just be still for a bit, at least until Mac here has had another chance to examine you. You’ve taken quite a beating, and we can’t be sure about internal injuries yet.”
“Someone beat me up?” Blue swallowed, her throat so very dry. “May I have some water?”
“Of course.” Aurelia reached for a pitcher on a low stool next to the bed. After pouring some water, she supported Blue’s neck as she sipped it. “Better?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“To answer your question, yes. That’s what we think must’ve happened. My friends and I came across you on our way home. You were unconscious, and we brought you with us.”
“I see.” But Blue really didn’t. “And where am I?”
“Somewhere in the Klowdynian mountains.” Aurelia shrugged, which made her hair billow around her shoulders. “Sorry, but I can’t be more specific right now, as we have no idea who you are.”
“Don’t I have an ID card on me?” Blue looked down at herself and only now realized she was wearing nothing but a thin shirt and briefs.
“I meant to go through your pockets later.” Aurelia motioned toward a counter across the room. “We might as well do that now.” She rose, moving lithely. Her surging dark hair shifted around her like it was a separate entity. Blue estimated that Aurelia was about five foot four, but something about her made her seem taller.
