Authors: William Bernhardt
The Black Sentry (20 page)
He laid his hands flat and pushed himself up from the table
. “My friends–it is time.”
Daman had no trouble waking early the next day because he barely slept.
The next morning, before daybreak, the Resistance team began its assault on the fortress at
Balaveria. During the night, a small cadre lit bonfires and began the process of inflating the balloon. By morning it was ready to travel, and the wind blew in the right direction. Drake and his team of scientists checked the ballast and made last-minute adjustments. Will and his ground assault team waited for instructions to march. They would leave first so they could be in position before the balloon arrived.
Standing on a small rise in the center of the clearing,
Daman saw the Old Man quietly overseeing everything. There was a light in his eyes and excitement in his voice–but also, he noted, a certain sadness in his expression.
Before he left to join
the troops, Xander approached he and Brita. “Best wishes,” he said. He took Brita’s hand and clasped it tightly.
“And the same to you,” she replied
. “Success.”
Xander nodded
, then sidestepped to face his former master. He cleared his throat awkwardly. “I–uh–hope all goes well for you.”
“Of course
. We will all do our best.”
He noticed
Brita’s eyes burning down on him. He knew what she wanted. Xander was reaching out to him, aching to be his friend. And once again, he pulled away. Perhaps if he...
T
oo late. Xander rejoined the rest of his team. A moment later, Will and his troops disappeared into the forest.
“You k
now,” Brita said, “you may never see him again.”
“I know.”
In the past few days, his world had been turned upside down. So much that he had been taught about the Sentinel, about the Rebels, about Balaveria, had turned out to be false. And yet, with each new revelation, he’d managed to adjust. In fact, each time he learned something new, from the Old Man, from Drake, from the Resistance, he seemed to instinctively understand that it was true.
With one exception
. He couldn’t stop thinking of Xander as a slave.
“Do you think you’
ll have a problem with great heights?” Brita asked.
Hi
s brow wrinkled. “I would prefer not to fall from great heights, if that’s what you mean.”
“Please try to be serious
. This is important. Some people fear heights. I’ve read about it. It causes nausea, dizziness. Do you think you might be one of them?”
“Why would you
—”
“I remember when we were in t
he tunnel. You didn’t take well to small, enclosed places.” He couldn’t deny that. But surely this would be different. At least, he hoped it would be.
“Oh well,” Brita said
. “We’ll know soon enough. By the way–happy birthday.”
Her words took him
by surprise. It seemed like an eternity since he left Merrindale. But in fact, as he traced their progress backward in his mind, he realized–
She was right
. Today was his sixteenth birthday.
“Interesting way to celebrate, wouldn’t you agree?” Brita said, tilting her head toward the balloon
. “Still, it’s got to be better than the Winnowing.”
He had almost forgotten about the dreaded event that had been his principal obsession for mon
ths. He spent so much time practicing with Mykah–and losing. Now his friendship with Mykah had been severed. Mykah was the enemy, another cog in the black machine that opposed everything the Resistance hoped to accomplish.
H
e had avoided losing the Winnowing–by running away from it.
“It’s time,” Brita said, pointing toward the balloon
. “Climb aboard.”
*****
With some effort, Daman hoisted himself into the small wicker basket. As soon as they were both on board, the tethering ropes were released, and the balloon glided up into the sky. Brita controlled the fire, carefully covering it and uncovering it to lift and guide the balloon. Despite her lack of experience flying without a tether, she steered with precision and accuracy. The wind was strong and in their favor, promising to bring them to Balaveria even sooner than they expected. He hoped the ground troops were ready.
Brita
kept the balloon as low as possible to prevent it being spotted from a distance. Every so often a tall tree or outcropping of rock would come into their path. She would do everything she could to maneuver the balloon around it. More than once, he thought they were not going to make it, only to have her lift the balloon at the last possible moment.
He
quickly understood what Brita meant when she talked about fear of heights. Everything seemed different up here. Different and disorienting. The trees below were like twigs. The people were tiny colored dots, ants scrambling around anthills. It was like a tiny model of a world. And it was so far down...
He
turned away and crouched down in the basket. His stomach churned.
For
some perverse reason, Brita smiled. “My books were right,” she said, apparently pleased. “You look a bit green.”
“Green?” he croaked
. His throat felt dry.
“In the face
. Don’t worry. It will pass. If you think you’re going to be sick, though, please hang your head over the edge of the basket.”
He
peeked over the side and almost instantly felt his stomach churning again. Would the whole journey be like this? He didn’t feel able to fight a mouse, much less the Black Sentry. He imagined himself falling, falling, and finally splattering on the ground...
He looked away
. Right now he would give a great deal to be on solid earth. Even if he had to be inside a tunnel.
He noticed B
rita struggling with the fire.
“Is there a problem?” he asked.
“No. I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine.”
“It’s—just–harder than it looks. Easier when you’re tethered to the ground. That’s the problem with not being able to practice in the air.”
He
offered to help, but she said there was nothing he could do, and he supposed that was probably correct. His part would come later, when they reached the tower. He touched the glittering red key that hung around his neck.
They
enjoyed several moments of calm, pleasant sailing. Then he saw a black shimmering cloud hovering before them. “Up!” he cried.
“Wh
at?” Brita said. “What is it?”
“Up
! Or down. Quickly!” Too late. An instant later, they were surrounded by birds. A huge dense flock of them. He didn’t know what kind they were, but they were large and solid black, and there appeared to be hundreds of them.
They were everywhere, all around them, smashing him in the face, crashing into the balloon
.
Crouching for cover, he
had a horrible thought. “Brita–what if they damage the balloon?”
Brita didn’t answer
. He presumed she thought he already knew the answer to that question. Which he did.
The birds
whipped around the basket in a bizarre frenzy. The balloon spun, swinging wildly back and forth.
He
clutched his gut. He’d felt queasy before, but this was something else entirely. He didn’t know how much of this he could stand.
And then he felt the bottom drop.
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t know.
” Brita said. “But we’re falling.”
And falling fast
. An upward current of air whipped his face. He’d left his stomach somewhere far behind, but he knew he had to ignore that and try to help Brita. Because at this rate, they would soon hit the ground, just as he’d imagined. Falling, falling, falling...and then splattering down hard.
“Did they puncture the balloon?” he
shouted. The whipping wind made it hard to talk.
“No,” she
shouted back. “But the fire is down. Some of the birds crashed into the brazier.”
He scooped dead birds out of
the brazier, then poured on more firewood.
Brita glanced over the edge of the basket
. This time, it was her face that looked green. “If we don’t get that fire up quickly, we’re dead.”
“I’m working on it.
”
Together, they poured all the
coals and wood they had into the brazier. The small flame licked against the fresh fuel. The fire increased, but slowly.
“Use the flint!” Brit
a cried.
Daman fumbled with the flint
but it was hard work. Brita should’ve chosen Xander, he thought. Xander was much better at this than he was.
H
e managed to toss out a few sparks. The fire grew. He felt the descent slow till the balloon fully inflated again. With a huge whooshing sound, they shot back into the air.
And not a moment too soon
. Glancing over the edge of the basket, he saw that they were barely above the treetops. A few more moments and they would’ve been dead.
“Th
ank goodness that’s over,” he said, wiping his brow. “How much longer do you think until we—”
H
is question was answered before he asked it. Across the horizon, plainly in view, he saw huge, tall, serrated walls, black walls that extended as far as the eye could see. It was a fortress the size of a village, strong and impregnable, with a gleaming black tower dead in the center, a tower that rose so high it looked as if it touched the sky.
It could only be one thing
. Balaveria.
They had arrived.
Xander spotted them first.
“Look!” he said, pointing up at the sky
. “They’ve made it.”
Will and the rest of the ground assault team turned
their heads upward. They crouched out of sight, hidden by a rock outcropping about two hundred yards from the front gate of the fortress. The last safe haven. If they moved any closer, they would be spotted by the patrolling Sentry stationed inside the high fortress walls.
The j
ourney had not been a long or difficult one. They had not encountered any Creepers or Sentry squadrons. But Xander knew he was not alone in his uneasiness about the impending battle. Their success was critical to so many. But their plan had too many gaps, too many uncertainties. Too many things that could go wrong. There would be danger at every point–and no one would be more vulnerable than the hapless ground team, trying to combat an enemy secured behind tall stone walls. If this did not proceed according to plan, they’d be destroyed.
A slave was not normally called upon to take initiative,
to make decisions for himself, to plunge into danger. But today that would change. He was determined not to shrink from the challenge.
The balloon
arrived, an unmistakable patchwork bulb sailing across the sky. They were early. The balloon was much too low, barely higher than the fortress walls. The Black Sentry stationed inside could not help but see it. And when the balloon was this low, it was vulnerable to attack.
“Up,” Xander
whispered under his breath. “Get it higher.”
Will placed his hand on Xander’s shoulder
. “We’re all thinking the same thing,” he said quietly. “But I don’t think she can hear us.”
Nonetheless,
Xander kept his gaze fixed on the spinning balloon rapidly approaching the fortress walls. “Up,” he repeated. “Rise.”
*****
“We’ve got to get this balloon higher,” Daman said urgently.
“Do you think I don’t know that?”
Brita shot back.
“Is there anything I can do?”
“Not unless you can reduce your weight instantaneously.” She dropped ballast bags, lightening the load. “Those birds did some serious damage.”
“Perhaps we should turn
around. Come back later. If they see us now—”
Too late
. He heard a loud cry beneath him. He leaned over the edge of the basket and saw three Black Sentry posted along the wall of the fortress. One pointed into the air–directly at the balloon.
“
We’ve been spotted.”
“We’re in the air
. What can they do to us?”
He
didn’t know, but he feared they might be more resourceful than he was. “We have to rise higher.”
“
I’m doing everything possible. I’ll get us to the tower windows. It just takes time.”
Which
was the one thing they didn’t have. More of the Sentry gathered. The front gate opened. A horde of Black Sentry poured out.
“They
’re leaving the fortress,” he said.
“
Why would they leave the safety of the fortress?”
They had their answer soon enough:
for ammunition. The Black Sentry combed the area outside the fortress, picking up rocks and sticks, anything in sight–and throwing them at the balloon.
A lar
ge jagged rock whizzed by his head. “We must get higher.”
“We
are
higher!”
“
Not high enough.” A large stick sailed past him, lengthwise like a spear. It was sharp on one end. It could easily have punctured the balloon. “Can’t we go any faster?”
“W
e’re rising as fast as we can, but—
ahhk
!” A rock thudded into the small of Brita’s back.
“
Are you all right?”
“Fine,” she said, gritting her teeth and tossing off another ballast bag.
The balloon rose faster now. Soon they were high enough that, even if a Sentry was strong enough to pitch a rock that high, it was unlikely to do any damage.
“Thank goodness,” Brita said, massaging the sore spot on her back
. “Soon we’ll reach the tower windows. Until then, we should be safe.”
“I’m not so sure
.” He leaned over the edge of the basket.
“
What do you see?”
He tried
to think how to describe it. Another Sentry squad had emerged, and the leader held something in his hands, something with a semi-circular shape and a thin shaft through the center. He didn’t know what it was. But the hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach told him it was probably a weapon.
“Let me
look.” Brita moved to the edge of the basket.
“I’m worried about the Sentry
standing on the—”
“I see him.
” Her voice was oddly flat.
“Do you know what he’s holding?”
“I certainly do. I’ve seen many pictures in my books. It’s a bow and arrow.”
The words meant noth
ing to him, but he felt a clutching at his heart just the same. “Could this...bow and arrow harm the balloon?”
“Oh yes,” she said quietly
. “Oh yes.”
*****
Down on the ground, Xander saw the archers line up on the fortress wall.
“But how could it harm them?”
Xander asked.
“I’m no scientist,” Will replie
d, “but I know the bow acts as a means of propulsion. It can fling the arrow up. And the arrow has a sharp point.”
“It could puncture the balloon?”
“Or worse–it could puncture Daman or Brita.”
Xander’s jaw clenched
. “We must attack now.”
“We can’t
. Our stunners are useless. We have no weapons.”
“
Daman and Brita have no weapons. We can’t just sit here while the Black Sentry kills them.”
“We must wait
until the Pulse is disabled. That’s the plan.”
Xander
saw the leader of the Sentry draw back his bow. The arrow shot up into the air. Not only did it reach the balloon–it actually flew too high, missing the balloon by inches.
“If we don’t act fast, they will have no opportunity to disable the Pulse.
” Xander pointed toward the front of the fortress. “The gate is still open. Some of the Black Sentry are dawdling outside, watching the show. We’ll never have a better opportunity.”
He
felt a strong hand clamp down on his shoulder. He turned to see who was behind him.
The Old Man
had come with the ground assault team to observe–although all parties agreed he was too valuable to put at risk in the actual battle.
“We must stick to our plan, Xander.”
“But Daman and Brita are in danger.”
“I know how you feel,
son. I never like seeing my friends at risk either. Nonetheless, we must keep to our plan. Everything depends on it.”
“But
—”
The Old Man held up a finger
. “I’m sorry, Xander. We will wait.”
*****
“Get us out of here!” Daman cried. He’d seen the first arrow pass overhead, too close to the balloon.
All the ballast bags were gone
. They’d sailed over the fortress walls, but they were still several feet from the tower windows. “I’m trying,” Brita said, “but the wind isn’t cooperating.”
“Never mind the t
ower. Just get us away.” He watched as the Sentry leader put another arrow in his bow and fired it. The arrow soared forward, coming so close he ducked. The arrow lodged in the basket. “Hurry!”
“Now we’ve gone too high,” Brita muttered
. “We’re above the tower.”
“There is no such thing as too
high right now.” He watched the Sentry load another arrow. “We must–”
Before he could finish, the arrow soared upward, making a high-pitched
singing sound that stung his ears.
And the next sound he
heard was a hiss.
He
stared up at the balloon. “Does that mean what I think it means?”
She
nodded grimly. “We’ve been hit.”
*****
“The arrow hit the balloon,” Xander said. The rest of the troops murmured in assent. “Did you see it?”
Will an
d the Old Man nodded.
“
They’ll never make the tower now.”
W
ill looked at his friend. “He’s right, Rico. They won’t reach the Pulse generator. It’s over.” He addressed the troops. “Prepare to return to our base.”
Xander’s eyes were wide
. “But we can’t just leave them.”
The Old Man laid his hand gently on Xander’s shoulder
. “Even if they survive the crash, they’ll come down within the walls of the fortress. They’ll be captured immediately. There’s nothing we can do for them.”
“I won’t accept that.
”
“Do you think I like it
? I don’t. But we have to face the reality of our situation. There’s nothing we can do.”
“There
is,” Xander said, shoving the Old Man’s hand away. “We can attack.”
There was an a
udible murmuring from the team. Whether they agreed with him or thought him ridiculous, Xander didn’t know.
“Xander, I know you’re young, but try to look at this with a mature
—”
“
I will not abandon my friends.”
Will frowned
. “We’ll have time to discuss this later. But the Sentry will soon be searching to see if there are other Rebels in the area. We must go.”
“No.
” Xander clutched his useless stunner. “If you won’t come with me, I’ll go alone.”
“Xander, don’t
—”
Xander shot out
from the brush, running at top speed, straight toward the open gate of the fortress.