Shadows of Glass (32 page)

“Do you have the flare gun?” he asks.

“Yes.”

“When they get past us I want you to shoot it as high in the air as you can get. Find
a line of sight now so you’re ready. We don’t want it to get hung up in the tree.”

“I need to go higher I think.” I glance again at the rovers. The way they dart from
tree to tree makes it hard to decipher what track they will take. They could go between
Alcide and us or they could go around us on one side or the other. Or they could come
straight for us. It is so hard to tell.

“Go on then,” Levi advises as I hand him the crossbow, which he hangs on a stout limb.
“Can you still see them? How far out are they now?”

“Five minutes,” I say as I climb. There is so much going on. I’m trying to watch the
rovers and then I check on Alcide to see where he is and realize I can’t find him
at all, which is probably a good thing. If I can’t see him then hopefully the rovers
won’t see him either. I climb up until I see an opening in the leaves that is large
enough for the flare to fly through, if I shoot it correctly. I brace myself in the
tree and take the flare from the sling around my shoulder. I look down through the
branches and leaves at Levi, who has his eyes focused on me. He should be able to
see them now.

Jonah meows. In all the excitement I’d forgotten about him and now he is standing
at the base of the tree looking up and meowing again. Will he give us away? A branch
snaps behind us and Levi and I both turn in the direction of the sound. Did they hear
Jonah? It is hard for me to see them because I am so far up the tree. I look down
at Levi, who is plastered against the tree trunk with the rifle in his hands as if
he’s trying to become one with the tree. His head is turned over his shoulder and
I know he can see the rovers. He looks up at me and slowly squeezes his forefinger
and thumb together to let me know they are very, very close.

If they heard Jonah and he decides to climb up this tree will they look this way?
Levi must be thinking the same thing. I watch as he tentatively breaks off a small
branch. He holds it out and drops it. It lands on Jonah’s back. He leaps straight
up in the air in surprise and then scampers off and jumps back onto the tree we were
originally on.

“What wus that?” I hear a gruff voice say.

“More than likely ah-squirrel or ah-rabbit,” another one answers.

I freeze in place and realize my hands are shaking. What if I accidentally set off
the flare? The realization that someone will likely die and very soon suddenly grips
me. I don’t want to lose any more of my friends. What if our plan fails and the rovers
get through and attack our camp? What if some of the children are hurt or even killed?

A hundred different scenarios run through my mind as the rovers walk right beneath
our tree. Am I the same person that clubbed one in the head just a few nights ago?
Am I the same person that choked a man to death earlier in the day? I need that brave
Wren to appear, not this cowering coward that is crouched in a tree. I look down at
Levi, who seems to be perfectly poised and ready to react. I cannot fail him. I cannot
fail my friends.

Levi looks up at me and smiles. How can he smile at a time like this? Unless he’s
smiling at me for a reason, which I realize he is. Levi believes in me. He holds up
a finger, signaling me to wait. I hold the flare gun in one hand and keep my eyes
on him, waiting for the sign from Levi.

I count them as they go by. Twenty-six of them, all well-armed with old-looking guns
and knives stuck in their belts. Some of them carry new guns, and I recognize them
as the ones they must have recovered from the battle today. Two of them are women,
who are also well-armed, and one is the guard named Stone, who looks as if he has
suffered greatly at the hands of the rovers.

They come to a stop by the tree with the double trunk where Jonah is hiding.

Please Jonah, be still … “
We should spread out now,” one says. “I can ah-see the lights from their ah-camp.”
Their way of speaking is so strange. It’s the same English that I speak, but the inflection
is so very different, just as Levi’s is different. The rovers sound more garbled while
Levi’s voice is more relaxed.

They are much too close to us for me to shoot off the flare. They would spot us right
away and there are too many of them for us to fight. Yet if they spread out too much,
there is a chance some of them could get through our trap. I keep my eyes on Levi
because if I look at the rovers I might just panic. Levi keeps his finger up and his
eyes on the rovers.

They disperse, six going right, which is the direction of the pony pen, six going
left, which is where Alcide and his partner wait. Six go straight and six hang back
with the prisoner a few very long moments before they continue on. They walk so quietly
that if we had not seen them I wouldn’t know they were there.

Levi must time this right. If they get too far ahead of us they will be on top of
the rest of the guards along with James, Adam, and Peter. I keep my eyes on Levi until
he moves his finger. It is time for me to shoot the flare gun. I extend my arm into
the air, aim for the opening in the leaves, and pull the trigger.

Lyon told me to be careful about not looking at the flare, but I cannot help myself.
I’ve never seen one before. My eyes follow the smoke trail as it moves into the sky.
I hear a muffled womp noise and suddenly dancing red sparks fly out in every direction.
It’s a beautiful sight, except for the fact that it signals danger.

I hear shots ring out before the sparks disappear. I look down and realize that Levi
is gone. I climb down the tree as quickly as I can while I hear shots and shouts ahead
of me. Jonah appears by my side and follows me as I move forward, using the same technique
as the rovers by dashing from tree to tree until I see someone before me.

It is one of the women. She holds an old-looking pistol to the head of Stone, who
is lying face down in the forest floor with his hands still tied behind his back.
The woman keeps him pressed down with her foot on his spine. She is dressed in a hodgepodge
of clothes and skins, and she has a belt slung crosswise over her shoulder and waist
with several small knives stuck in it. Her hair is wild and tangled and her arms bare.
One has a long scar that stretches from her shoulder to her elbow.

And I have no weapon except for the empty flare gun that I still hold in my hand.
But just like with the rover who stole the goat, I have the element of surprise and
another hefty branch that I spy close by. Her attention is ahead of her, where the
fight is crashing in the forest. I pick up the branch and on silent feet I move toward
her until …

Crack!
I stepped on another branch that cracks loud enough for her to hear. She turns and
swings her arm up with the gun aimed right at my heart. All I can do is react. I fling
the branch at her and it hits her arm, just as she pulls the trigger. The gun discharges
with a sharp sound and something stings my upper arm. I throw myself at her, catching
her across the chest and we roll on top of Stone and then over. I land on top when
we finish the roll and with both hands grab the arm that still holds the smoking pistol.
She tries to wrench it away and I slam her arm to the ground so hard that she drops
the gun. I reach out to grab it and she claws at my face with her other hand. I manage
to grab the gun long enough to fling it away when she bucks me off and kicks me hard
in the chest. I fly back, and before I can catch my breath she is on top of me with
a knife in her hand. I manage to grab her wrist, and she brings her other hand down
on the hilt of the knife and presses against me. She has her knee buried in my left
armpit, trapping that arm so that I cannot move it.

Her face is intense, with a scar along her cheek. Her hair is wild with feathers and
beads tied into the locks. She grins evilly when she realizes that I am now at her
mercy, and her teeth are blackened at the roots and gums. Her stench is nearly as
overpowering as her strength. I try to buck her off, but I can’t. She is bigger than
me, stronger, and, with the clarity of a sudden bucket of cold water, I realize that
I will die soon.

I don’t want to die. There is too much left unsaid, too much undone, too many people
that have already died, and I have to make sure their deaths have meaning for the
rest of us. The tip of her blade comes closer and closer to my face.

“I’m ah-going to cut your ah-nose off, bitch,” she says and I believe her. I push
upward with all my strength and the muscles in my forearm cramp with the effort. I
hear Stone moving behind me. He grunts, and I realize that he is trying to stand or
move or do something to help me but my time is quickly running out and he might not
make it. Suddenly I hear a yowl and something strikes her face. She shrieks as Jonah
claws at her and topples her over. She forgets about me and she raises the blade to
stab him. My left arm is suddenly free and I grab the wrist of the hand that holds
the knife. I leverage myself up and fall prone across her legs as she falls backward
in an attempt to get away from Jonah, who is a writhing pile of fury. I hear his growls
and his yowls and her screeching. I wrestle the knife from her hand and it flies away.
I know she has more on her belt around her back. With one hand she tries to bat Jonah
away and with the other she reaches beneath her.

“Stab her!” Stone yells. “Get the knife and stab her.”

The knife that flew out of her hand is within my reach. I roll off her legs and grab
for it just as her hand comes from beneath her body with another knife. I know without
a single doubt that she will kill Jonah without flinching and I will not let that
happen. I swing with all my might at her arm with the blade in my hand, and I feel
it drag against her bone as I slice it open. At the same time she flings Jonah away
with her other hand and shrieks in anger and pain. Her face is covered with blood.
She turns to me and launches her body at me in an explosion of fury and pain. I brace
the knife in my two hands and turn it outward and up. Blood from her arm spatters
my face as she comes at me swinging the blade. She lands on me and the breath is knocked
from my body, but I manage to keep the knife in my hands and turned. Her scream ends
midbreath as she slumps on top of me.

Stone is on his feet and he kicks her off of me. I feel the knife go with her, but
I manage to hold onto it, even though my hands are now covered with blood.

“Finish her,” he yells. “Finish her now.”

She lies on her back and gasps, over and over again. From the amount of blood, I know
I hit her heart when she landed on me.

“Finish her!”

I jab the knife into the hollow of her throat and yank it out. Her face contorts and
I hear her final breath rattle in her throat.

Once again I have killed someone.

22

“
Cut me loose.”
Stone turns his back to me so I can cut his bonds. “Quickly before someone comes.”
I don’t have time to think about what I’ve done. He is right, someone could come our
way. I don’t know how much time has passed. It could have been an instant, but it
feels like an eternity. I slice through the things that bind his wrists. The knife
is slick in my hands because of all the blood; still, I manage to cut them off without
injuring him.

“Are you hurt?” he asks as soon as he turns around. He takes the knife from me and
wipes it clean on the woman’s pants. He flips her over and takes the rest of the knives
from her belt.

I bend down and wipe my hands on her pants also to clean off the blood. It’s hard
to get them clean. I know some is on my face too. I swipe at it with the back of my
hand and then try to clean them again. I don’t think I’m having much luck. Jonah runs
to my side and I rub his head. He saved my life. Who would have thought that a cat
could save someone’s life?

“Lass? Are you hurt?”

I blink. “No. Wait.” I can feel the sting of scratches on my face but there is more.
I look at my right arm. My jacket and beneath are torn and there is blood on the fabric.

He takes my arm and looks between the tattered and bloody edges. “You got creased
with the bullet is all. It is nothing more than a scratch. You’ll be fine. What’s
your name?”

“Wren.”

“Pleased to meet you, Wren. I’m Stone. Thank you for saving my life.”

“You are welcome,” I say. He pulls me to my feet.

“Feel like helping the rest?” He hands me a knife while he picks up the pistol. “Damn,
it’s nothing but a single shot,” he says. “Worthless antique.” He pokes around her
body and finds a small leather bag. “More ammunition,” he explains as he stuffs the
pistol in his belt. “Ready to go?”

I nod. Shots are still being fired ahead of us. There were twenty-five of them, now
twenty-four. How many are left? How many of our people are hurt?

“Tell me if you see anything,” Stone says. “I hear you can see in the dark.”

“I can.” I follow him onward and Jonah falls in beside us. Stone walks in a crouch,
keeping his head down, and I do the same, staying behind and to his left.

“Did you shoot the flare?”

“I did.” I realize he’s talking to me to keep me grounded after my near-death experience.
“Lyon thought they might attack and he assigned a shiner with a guard so we could
see them coming.”

“Who were you with?”

“Levi.”

“That boy is deadly in a fight,” Stone said. “He learned a lot from the year he spent
with the Sioux.”

“I can only imagine.”

Stone holds up his hand and we both stop. Beyond us a battle is going on. Four against
one, and the one is Levi, who is using his rifle like a club. They are coming at him
so fast that he hasn’t had time to reload. He pulls one of his pistols from his belt
and shoots one who runs at him with a raised ax and quickly turns and blocks a knife
strike with the barrel of his rifle while another charges at him from the back. I
don’t know how he manages to duck away from him but he does. There are too many of
them and he will die unless he gets help.