Blaze (The High-Born Epic) (53 page)

             
“Sold,” the man in the suit shouted.

             
Pam began screaming and clutching James as two visored soldiers walked up to them.  James locked his fingers around her as she did the same.  One of the soldiers grabbed her and the other hit James, but he held fast.  The two High-Born began pulling them away from one another, and one of the solders hit James three more times and Pam was suddenly torn from his grasp, kicking and screaming.  James fell to his knees and began begging the soldiers, but the man in the suit just kept calling out numbers as the visored soldier held James in place.  Harold saw a High-Born in the crowd walk up the stairs of the stage and claim Pam.  She was kicking, screaming, and crying as he drug her away with no more effort than it would have taken Harold to drag Ollie.

             
Harold and Gabby watched for several more minutes, but the images just quickly sped up to show just a small glimpse of each individual of Foxx Hole as they were taken off the stage.  He saw Annie-Jane and Willie get separated, and he saw Aunt Nean being taken as well.  He watched everyone he had ever known auctioned off into individual places of slavery, and he found himself fuming before it was over.

             
After about twenty minutes of each face rapidly passing by the camera it stopped.  The Kristall began rapidly spinning again and Harold and Gabby watched as the flickering images of Foxx Hole’s children appear all around them.  Most of them were sitting down and crying, and even caught a glimpse of a distraught Sarah.  The scene did not last long, and it wavered out of sight and the member of the High-Born Dragon Corps reappeared above the Kristall.

             
“The fools of this village dared to defy our law!  And now they have been scattered to the four winds!  Let this be a lesson to all who would defy High-Born law!” he shouted.  “And let this be a lesson to any and all who would dare challenge the authority of our rule!”

             
“For we are the High-Born, and we were born to overcome!” the crowd shouted.

             
“As a warning to any and all communities that see this!” he swept his arms outward.  “Know that if you defy or challenge us that you will be sold into slavery immediately!  And as further punishment, your children will be left behind to fend for themselves!  And they shall do so without the assistance of High-Born food!  The village you just witnessed shall never again receive any goods and anyone who tries to escape shall be dealt with by the detection grid!  It has been raised from stun to kill!  Imagine seeing your children devolve into cannibalism as these here shall!  As further recompense for those slaves who have been scattered, we will revisit this village on occasion, and record a few minutes of footage, so that all may relive the foolishness of their defiance!”

             
“For we are the High-Born, and we were born to overcome!”

             
The High-Born Dragon stalked across the sky and clenched his fist in front of him.

             
“To those villagers who have seen this Blaze and this Aireon, they too shall feel the full measure of our might, and they too shall fall before us, as all of our enemies have!  For we are struck from the mold of humanity’s perfection!  We are the penultimate beings!  We were made for one purpose!  To wage war, and let all who defy us know that we are coming!”

             
“For we are the High-Born, and we were born to overcome!”

             
“And to those who have seen the re-emergence of our old enemies, do not assume that their recent, malicious endeavors will succeed.  They have done nothing except harden our resolve!  As they fell in by-gone times, they too shall once again succumb to our power and know that the High-Born are their masters!”

             
“For we are the High-Born, and we were born to overcome!”

             
The Dragon walked back across the sky and stretched his hand out as he waved it out towards the invisible crowd.

             
“And as for the village that you just witnessed... it was not the only one to feel our righteous justice!  The murder of our kin in New Pylos and Cyrene will not go unanswered!”

             
“Oh, no,” Gabby said as the crowd of High-Born on the screen began cheering and whistling.

             
And the Kristall projected down into Foxx Hole a scene from Marksville.

             
“Gabby,” Harold said.  “I am so sorry.”

             
Gabby just nodded, “I don’t know why we thought we could avoid this.”

             
They looked around the town circle at the crowd of Marksville as one of the weekly speeches ended.  Harold looked to the ground as the soldiers and mechanoids marched in behind the crowd.  They watched for several minutes, and the only difference between the scene from Foxx Hole was that the people were different, but the result was the same.  Gabby only watched for a few minutes and then looked at Harold.

             
“Take us back to the gunship,” she said.

             
“You don’t want to know who bought them?” he asked.  “Then we – ”

             
“—Already ahead of you, hottie,” she said.  “Don’t worry.  We’re going to find every last one of them... Take me to the gunship now.”

             
“Okay,” he replied and they flamed out of sight...

             
...And after two more quick air-burns, Harold and Gabby appeared near the gunship.  Gabby quickly opened the door and as they started walking inside, she turned to Harold.

             
“I’m going to get a recording of that Vista,” she said.  “Why don’t you go say goodbye to the kids and Sarah.  I’ll be in the town circle when you’re ready.”

             
Harold nodded as she shut the door.  Then he turned and looked down the road to Aunt Nean’s house and air-burned towards it...

             
...And flashed into sight just outside the front yard.  He could hear sticks hitting each other in the back yard, and he rounded the corner to see Cooper and Scott sparring with their makeshift swords.  They did not know he was watching, and he took the opportunity to see how good they had become. 

             
Scott leaped at Cooper, who took a step back and swatted away his thrust.  Cooper spun, using the momentum from his parry, and swung at Scott’s arm.  But Scott quickly snapped his stick and blocked the swipe, and they both leapt away from one another.  They held their swords in front of themselves, and paced around one another in a circle.

             
Suddenly, Scott sprang forward with a shout and Cooper leaped to his left, stabbing for his stomach.  However, Scott was surprisingly quick and he spun away again.  But Cooper pressed the attack, and advanced on him.  Their sticks crashed together three times rapidly, and still they had not hit each other.  Harold allowed himself a small smile.

             
“They’re actually pretty good,” Harold whispered as he turned to go back in the front door so they would not see him.

             
He lightly opened the door, and stepped through to see Sarah sitting at the table with her head in her hands.  As he gently closed the door behind him, he saw Sarah look up.  She smiled weakly at him, but at least her tears seemed to have stopped.  As he sat down, he reached across the table to her waiting hands.

             
“It was worse than I thought,” he said.  “Have the young’uns seen it?”

             
“No,” Sarah said.  “I haven’t let them.”

             
“That’s probably for the best,” Harold replied.

             
Sarah just nodded.

             
“I’m going to make sure that no one else in this village sees the video,” he continued.  “Just as soon as we get what we need from it.”

             
“What do you need from it?” she asked.

             
“We’re going to find the High-Born that took them, and track them down,” Harold answered.  “What else can we do?”

             
“Harold,” Sarah said.  “We have to be realistic... these young’uns can’t make it without us... You can get by the detection grid and find us food... Momma and daddy are gone– ”

             
“– Sarah,” Harold looked her in the eyes.  “Don’t ask me to stay– ”

             
“–Harold,” Sarah pleaded.  “They are all gone!  There is nothing... not even you can do about it– ”

             
“– Sarah, please,” Harold said.  “This is hard enough as it is... You don’t know what I can do... Until the other day, even I didn’t know what I was truly capable of, and you have no idea what Gabby can do... we actually have a chance together.”

             
Sarah looked up and seemed to almost cry, “Harold... you can’t leave me here... alone.  There are only a few of us older ones... And none of them can get us the food we would need... And I can’t hold this together without you... if you go and die... we all die.”

             
Harold looked down at the table, and just gently rubbed the backs of her hands with his thumbs.  He shook his head, and he could feel tears coming to his eyes.

             
“Sarah,” Harold forced his tears away.  “Let’s say that I stay, and let’s say that I get us all the food we need.  What’s going to happen in a few weeks when the High-Born come back to make another one of their disgusting Vistas?”

             
“I don’t know,” she answered.  “But at least we would have each other until then.”

             
“Until then?” he asked.  “They will destroy everything then... that’s what they’ll do.”

             
Sarah broke down and dropped her face onto his hands.  Harold let his head hang as her tears wet his fingers.  Harold felt the tears returning, and he stroked the back of Sarah’s beautiful black hair with as much tenderness as he could muster.  They sat like that for several minutes, and she sat up and looked at him.

             
“I’m coming back, Sarah,” he said and smiled.  “Scott may be a kid... but he’s right...they can’t win because they aren’t good.”

             
Sarah puffed and shook her head, “This isn’t a picture book, Harold!  There are over 300 children here!  We don’t have enough food to last much more than three or four weeks!  We will all die if we– ”

             
“—We will all die anyways, Sarah!” Harold nearly shouted.  “Don’t you see that there is nothing to do but fight!  Gabby and I will find weapons, and bring them back to y’all, and teach y’all how to use them.  We’ve got to take the fight to them.  It’s the only way anything will ever change.”

             
“We could run,” Sarah answered, choking back her tears.

             
“Run to where, Sarah?” Harold asked.  “I’ve seen it out there... there’s nowhere to run... they control everything and they will find us no matter where we go... and at least with y’all hiding in Scott’s bunker, y’all have a chance because the High-Born don’t know about it.  It will give Gabby and I a chance to collect the things we need to fight them... because there is no one else to help... we are it!  If we don’t change it, no one else will!”

             
“What about those things we saw the other night?” Sarah asked clinging tightly to him.  “Maybe we could run and find them... they will help us.”

             
“The A.I. Drones?” Harold shook his head.  “The High-Born in the Vista said that they had returned... I’m sure they’ll make life miserable for the High-Born, and they will give them a good fight... because we saw them attack the other night... but I’ve got a feeling that the High-Born are just now really about to show us what they can do.  And I didn’t want to ruin Cooper and Scott’s happiness, but they’re false hope, Sarah.  They would turn on us as soon as they had the chance... they turned on humanity once, they would do it again.  We can only rely on ourselves.”              Sarah kissed the back of his hand, and her tears began drying.  Her grimace slowly became a weak and sad smile as she sat silently.  Harold looked into her eyes as he kissed the back of her hand, and they sat there in silence for a few minutes just looking at each other.

             
“Harold,” she said.  “If anyone has a chance.  It’s you.”

             
A scuffing noised came from behind them, and Harold turned to see Ollie looking at him from around the corner.

             
“Please don’t go, Harold,” she said as she ran to him and hugged him.

             
Harold sighed as he wrapped his arms around her and put his chin on top of her head.  She had her head buried in his chest, and he could feel her crying.  Sarah just looked out of the window while Ollie cried.  Harold rubbed her head and stroked his fingers through her hair for a little while.