Half Wild (26 page)

That afternoon Annalise and a group of White Witches walk into camp, carrying heavy loads. Annalise looks tired. She’s supposed to help put up some tents and I ask her to leave her chores for a while but she insists on finishing all her work so I help her. One of the other girls, Laura, looks terrified of me and jumps if I look at her. The other girl, Sarah, can’t stop asking me questions: “Do you have the same Gift as your father?” “Which are the other Blacks?” and “Is Marcus really in the camp?”

I’m relieved when Celia sees me and shouts, “Nathan, the others are training! You should be too!”

I find the other fighters and watch for a few minutes. Greatorex is giving instruction on basic self-defense. She’s good and the trainees aren’t complete beginners. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do so I sit and watch. Sameen is practicing with Gabriel, Olivia with Nesbitt, and Claudia with Greatorex.

They take a break and Gabriel comes over with Sameen. She says, “Hi!” and smiles and keeps glancing at Gabriel. I think she’s already got a crush on him.

Nesbitt is talking to Claudia and Olivia but they keep looking over and smiling at Gabriel too. Gabriel, it seems, has more chance than anyone of winning over White Witches: he just has to smile at them and they go weak at the knees.

Thankfully, Greatorex seems immune to his charms and is still business-like. After a few minutes she says, “Right, let’s partner up again. But change partners. Nathan can join in on this with Claudia.”

“No,” Celia says, striding quickly to us. “I’ll spar with Nathan.”

I say to her, “You sure? You’re looking a bit old and slow these days.”

“I want to see how much you’ve forgotten.”

I give her a smile. I’ve forgotten nothing.

* * *

Later, when it’s getting dark, Annalise finds me where I’ve set up my own little camp on the edge of the trees away from everyone. I don’t have a tent but I do have a small fire and a sheltered spot by a tree. Annalise and I sit together, a blanket wrapped round us both.

She asks me what happened at training. I say, “I trained.”

“I heard you beat up Celia. They had to pull you off her.”

I remember seeing Sarah standing with a group of White Witches after it was over. They’d been watching. No doubt Sarah has been gossiping.

I tell Annalise, “That’s not true.”

And it isn’t, though Nesbitt was making jokes about who would replace Celia when I’d killed her. But mainly I blanked them all out. I was concentrating. Celia landed one good kick. I landed about twenty, not that I was counting.

“Anyway, Annalise, that’s what we do. Celia can heal fine. She’s done worse to me many times. We used to practice fighting every day and she beat me up every day.” I reckon that’s seven hundred times minimum over two years, so there are six hundred and ninety-nine more of those due to Celia.

“I’m glad I didn’t see it.”

Annalise has never seen me fighting, which is good, I think. I take her hand and kiss it as gently as I can. I don’t want to talk about fighting when I’m with her. I say, “And how was your day?”

“Oh, OK.” She tries to smile at me and says, “I know Sarah and Laura were driving you mad but I think they’ll get used to you. It’s difficult for everyone in different ways. They’ve both lost family. Sarah’s parents were killed and Laura’s lost her sister . . .”

And again I think maybe now is the time for me to tell Annalise about Kieran. But already she’s talking about the things they did, sorting out stores and the shortage of food.

I ask her, “Are you OK with doing that? I thought you might want to be in with the healers.”

“Ha! I can’t even make a simple medicine. No, Celia is right to put me in Foraging and Stores. I’m good at organizing things, which is not a strength that a lot of the Witches around here have, and everything has to be made use of and accounted for. If all the rebels come here we’ll need more food and sanitation and tents. Boring but essential. And I can only see that more people will flee as the fighting escalates. That means more mouths to feed. There’ll be babies and children. We might need to set up schooling. It’s complicated.”

I’m beginning to realize that fighting is a lot simpler.

We’re silent for a while and then Annalise says, “I haven’t seen Marcus yet but everyone is talking about him being here.”

“The camp gossip seems to be in full swing.”

“Sorry, I’m beginning to sound like Sarah, aren’t I?”

I kiss her and say, “Definitely not.”

Marcus watched me fight but left straight afterward. I say, “He’s not exactly sociable. He likes to be alone.”

I look into the trees, where I met him hours ago, when I was looking for a place to make my camp. He told me he was going to stay away from everyone. “There’s too much staring for my liking.”

Now I say, “I think it’s a good thing he keeps away from people.”

“You haven’t told me what happened when you went to meet him. I didn’t think you’d be gone for so long. I thought you’d maybe talk for a few minutes.”

“Same here.”

“So what did you do for a whole week?”

“You really are beginning to sound like Sarah,” I tease her. “He’s my father, Annalise. I just spent time with him. It was good, for both of us, I think. He’s not what I expected.”

“No? But he sounds dangerous. He attacked Gus? Caroline, one of the healers, told me he cut Gus’s ear off.”

Before I can reply she continues, “You are so different from him. He’s so much a Black Witch, so violent.”

“He can be violent,” I say. “Violent and impulsive. Everyone knows that, including Gus. Anyone who annoys him is stupid. But that doesn’t mean people won’t be stupid. Marcus won’t change. But at least he’s on our side.”

“Tell that to Gus.”

I think I’m best avoiding Gus for a while. I don’t tell Annalise that Marcus attacked Gus because Gus attacked me. And I’m not sure how different my father and I are.

I say, “So I think that’s enough gossip for one evening.”

“Well, there is one more piece of gossip I have to tell you about.” And now she’s grinning. “Guess?”

I shrug.

“All the girls have crushes on Gabriel.”

“Ah, nooooo!” I pull the blanket over our heads and hold her to me, saying, “Please, no more.”

She laughs but carries on. “It’s his hair. They were talking about it for hours; how he tucks it behind his ears, how it falls forward, how it curls. They also like his eyes and his lips and his nose, his shoulders and his legs. But mainly it’s his hair.”

“Do they know they’re wasting their time?”

“Wasting their time because he’s only interested in boys? Or only interested in one boy?” And she points her finger at my chest.

I remember kissing him, holding his hair. But I say, “He’s my friend, Annalise.”

“I know,” she says, and kisses me gently on the lips.

And I kiss her more.

Later she falls asleep in my arms but I stay awake, just holding her and feeling her warmth against me.

I know I’ll have to leave soon. And in a few hours I’ll be fighting and it’ll be bad and here I am now holding Annalise. All of it feels unreal.

She stirs and asks, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s fine.”

“You’re gripping me so tightly I can hardly breathe.”

“I didn’t mean to wake you but I’ve got to go soon. I’m not supposed to talk about it but . . . I’ll be back later.”

Now she grips me tightly, wrapping her legs round mine. After a while she says, “When we were in the Red Gourd in Basle, you said . . . something.”

I reply in a whisper, “And I remember you said something too.” I pull the blanket over our heads so it’s totally dark. I want to be brave and say it before she does. My lips are close to her ear, brushing it as I whisper, “Annalise, I lo–”

“Time to go, partner!” Nesbitt flings the blanket back. “Oh, sorry to interrupt, mate. Thought you were asleep.”

Nesbitt leads me to the cut, which is a short walk into the trees, two minutes from where Annalise is in bed. Annalise and I said a quick good-bye. She looked worried about me, which was sort of nice and sort of not. I told her I’d be OK but really I haven’t got a clue what’ll happen. All I know is that Marcus is on our side and that has to be better than not.

I’ve thought about using my Gift and being in animal form for the fighting but I know that isn’t right. That’s for a different sort of combat. This is more tactical, human stuff, all the stuff that Celia has trained me in. I asked Marcus about it and he said the same thing. After the week with him I know I can control that part of myself, my Gift, and I can transform as quickly as Marcus can, but it’s not a Gift for war.

At the cut Nesbitt says, “Seems your dad’s checking up on you.” And he nods over to the far trees. Marcus stands, half hidden, and he holds his hand up in a gesture of “good luck” or “see you soon” or something. I hold my hand up too.

I grab Nesbitt’s wrist and he slides his hand through the cut and we’re on our way. I manage to stay standing at the other side; bent over, but standing. Nesbitt is on his feet in a second and sets off at a swift jog. Well, it’s swift for him.

I follow a few steps behind. It’s dark and still, and even though I can’t see as well as him I can sense the path, and following Nesbitt is easy. I’ve only just started to warm up when we get to the airfield. It’s in darkness and I can make out little more than the pale shape of three hangars side by side, a hundred meters away. We follow the fence along until the hangars are aligned to our right. Nesbitt stops and produces some cutters from his jacket and sets to on the fence. My job is to hold the fence so it doesn’t rattle or shake. When he’s got a gap big enough to get through he indicates to me to wait while he has a scout around. I nod.

He runs to the hangars, keeping crouched low, and disappears behind them. The lookout guards are on the fence further round the other side. If they patrol the circuit it’ll take them twenty minutes, I reckon, but, as Nesbitt said, they don’t look like they’re going to be doing that even once.

After ten or more minutes Nesbitt appears round the back of the furthest hangar and he runs to the middle hangar and then the near one and then toward me. I keep my eyes on the guards but they’re so still they might well be asleep.

Nesbitt stays on his side of the fence, flattened to the ground as I am now.

“Well?” I whisper.

“Can’t see in. They’ve covered over all the cracks in the walls. There are no lights on in there. I could hear voices in one hangar but that was empty last night.”

“So there could be a load of Hunters here that weren’t there before?”

“Or new recruits, or they’ve moved them from the other hangar. I don’t know.”

“Shit!”

“What do you think?”

“I think you should go back and have a proper look.”

Nesbitt swears at me. “I have had a proper look.”

I shake my head. “Well, you’re telling Celia.”

We have to wait about half an hour before Nesbitt has the pleasure of doing that. Celia runs to us, swift and silent despite her size; she always has been surprisingly agile. Behind her follow Claudia, Gabriel, Sameen, Greatorex, and Olivia. Marcus brings up the rear.

Gabriel drops to the ground by my left side and Celia to my right.

“Well?” she asks me.

“Things have changed. Nesbitt wants to tell you.”

She talks through the fence to Nesbitt. They talk so quietly that I can’t make out what they’re saying.

I can see Celia raise her head and look around and Nesbitt runs off again to the hangars.

I whisper to Gabriel, “Something’s changed. Not sure if it’s for better or worse.”

“You worried?”

I shake my head. But inside there’s a part of me that’s anxious. Even with Marcus around there’s always the chance of a stray bullet or a lucky shot or a Hunter with a special Gift or something.

Nesbitt has disappeared round the farthest hangar. A light comes on inside the nearest one, a faint glow under the door at this end. It’s getting light on the horizon too. The Hunters are beginning to wake. We should be attacking any minute but we’re far from ready and at this rate Nesbitt is going to get caught. So much for an easy first mission.

I keep my eyes on the hangar where I expect Nesbitt to reappear but still he doesn’t. Celia turns to me and says, “You and Gabriel to the first hangar. Marcus is to take the guards and follow to the furthest hangar where I will be. Greatorex takes the middle.”

Marcus goes through the fence first, then he turns invisible. The rest of us slither through and I set off with Gabriel and Sameen, fast.

I reach the door ahead of Gabriel and kick it in with so much force it almost hits me back in the face. I’m stunned by what I see, though. It’s not an empty hangar—there are three rows of bunk beds extending the full length. Enough to sleep nearly a hundred people. All the beds are empty, or so it seems, but we have to check. I drop to the ground and look under them. It’s so new and unused that there’s nothing here. But I can’t see to the far end and now I wish Nesbitt was with me.

Gabriel says, “Sameen, stay here. Guard the door. I’ll take the right. Nathan, you take the left.” And he runs past me down the right-hand side to the far end of the hangar, shouting, “Empty. Empty. Empty. Empty.”

I get up and go slightly slower down the left aisle. But I see no one; there are no corners to hide in. Gabriel meets me at the far end and we come back, running and double- checking. As we reach Sameen gunfire bursts out from another hangar.

Five Hunters run from the middle hangar toward the gate. And I’m chasing them, going for the fastest one first. I tackle her, my knife in my hand, and slit her throat in a single movement. She was a novice; she didn’t even fight. The girl behind is now running past me and I tackle her, punch her. She’s out cold. I look round and see Gabriel has shot one of them, two I think, as there’s only one still upright. Sameen caught her but she’s knocked Sameen back.

The Hunter starts to run but I’m in her path and I catch her, swing her round, and stab her in the stomach, ripping upward. I let her body drop to the ground and notice Marcus coming toward us from the gate. He passes the unconscious body of the Hunter. The second one I got. She’s starting to groan.

Marcus goes to her and breaks her neck.

More shots coming from the hangars. Marcus heads to the far one. I run to the middle one with Gabriel and Sameen.

Olivia is at the doorway. She looks terrified. She says, “They’ve shot Greatorex. She can’t get out.”

Greatorex is inside the hangar on the floor, surrounded by dead bodies of trainee Hunters. She’s alive because she’s being protected by a body lying on top of her. More gunfire comes from the far end of the hangar.

I say to Gabriel and Sameen, “I’ll crawl in and grab Greatorex. You two’ll have to pull us both out.”

Gabriel shoots at the back of the hangar while I slide in along the floor as low as possible, the bodies around Greatorex providing cover for me too. I grab Greatorex’s wrists. They’re thinner, more delicate than I was expecting. She’s light.

“Pull!” I shout. Gabriel and Sameen drag us out. The Hunter’s body comes with us. But we slide out and onto the grass and then roll to the side.

Greatorex has been shot in the leg. Olivia cuts her trouser leg away to look at the wound.

“How many in there?” I ask.

“Four, I think,” Greatorex replies. She looks like she’s going to pass out.

“What do you want to do?” Gabriel asks.

“Not commit suicide,” I say. “Wait for Marcus.” The hangar next door has gone quiet and we don’t have to wait for long.

Celia, Claudia, and Marcus join us.

“Are we all clear here?” Celia asks.

“No,” Gabriel replies. “There are four more inside here, at the far end. Fully armed.”

Marcus says, “Don’t come in for a few minutes.” Then he goes invisible and we wait.

There’s a blast of lightning, and the far end of the hangar is in flames and then there’s a burst of gunfire, and another and another.

Finally it goes silent. We hold the door of the hangar open to see in. The only movement is of flames and smoke.

Marcus appears beside me. “Five of them,” he says.

Celia looks at Gabriel and says, “Do a body count, now. And make sure it’s right. If any are alive I want to keep them that way. I want to talk to them.”

Gabriel and Sameen disappear and Celia moves to check on Greatorex.

Nesbitt limps over and slumps down on the ground beside me. His face is bruised and one eye is swollen shut.

“Where were you, partner?” I ask.

“One of the Hunters came out and saw me when I was scouting about. Bloody expert in kung-fu or something, she was. Took me ages to sort her out. What did I miss?”

I’m tempted to make a comment about lots of people dying but I’m too tired.

“Greatorex got shot in the leg. It’s lucky none of us got killed,” I say.

Gabriel and Sameen return at a run, sliding to the ground beside us. Gabriel says, “Twenty-two. Four older- looking Hunters, so I guess they’re the trainers, and eighteen younger ones. All dead.”

“A few more than ten recruits and two Hunters,” I say. Though I can’t blame Nesbitt. I’m angrier at Celia for taking the risk. If Marcus hadn’t been with us it would have been harder for sure. Some of us would be dead.

Celia says, “We need to get Greatorex back to base. Start collecting whatever we can use. We go in ten minutes.”