The Judge (14 page)

Chapter 29

“Close the gates! Shields on the doors!” Randolph yelled over the chaos in the palace courtyard.

Connor and Morrigan ran up the long flight of steps leading to the palace walls. Lu, Miyanda, and Katie were already there. Connor looked out past the jungle foliage and saw Vercin’s monster of an army begin to move.

Just like chess. Think a move ahead of Vercin. No, think two, three moves ahead of him. But this isn’t a game… people are going to die today.

Connor stood directly in the middle of the palace wall. He could feel the stones underneath his feet shudder as Randolph and his family braced the gate for impact. He could hear Zheng shouting orders to his men.

Lu was on his left, glaring into the enemy as if he was killing them all in his mind there and then. He was in charge of repelling attackers off that side of the wall. His own family members, members of the Abelardus house, stood shoulder-to-shoulder hefting spears, arrows, and rocks.

Miyanda and her mother were on the wall to Connor’s right. Dark-skinned, violet-eyed warriors stood tall, unwavering with their female leaders.

Connor could feel his heart quicken. The enemy was forming ranks now and it would be only minutes before they came.

“I never thought I’d say this, but I would actually prefer sitting in Miss Jones’ history class than be here now.”

Connor looked over where Katie and Morrigan stood; Katie directly next to him, her eyes full of contained fear. Morrigan was the polar opposite. She was unwavering, strong, and calculating.

“I know what you mean. Miss Jones meant well but I could never make it even halfway through one of her lectures before I fell asleep. That seems like heaven compared to where we are now.”

Katie adjusted the sleeves on her long robe. She dried the sweat from her hands with quick rubbing motions.

“We’re going to be okay, Kat. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

Katie released a long breath. The air came out steady and slow. “I know. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, either. Even though we’re friends now—well, you’re still my best friend—I mean, if that’s not over stepping any boundaries with you and Laren.”

“No, that’s fine. When this is all over I hope we can all spend time together. I want you to get to know Laren. I think you two might be able to be friends one day, too.”

“Maybe.”

Connor could still hear the hint of pain in her voice. He kicked himself for choosing this moment to bring up Laren and Katie’s friendship. He just wanted so badly for them to be able to get along. He loved Laren but Katie was still his friend and someone he didn’t want to lose in his life.

These thoughts made him think of Laren. How she would be dying inside not to be here now. He was sure it was only through her own mother’s words that she was staying in the palace now. Despite her humanity, Connor knew she would want to be out in the fight.

Connor felt a twinge of worry for the doctor. If he failed to procure an antidote for Laren, what was she going to do to him?

The increase in noise volume demanded his attention. He made himself look out again across the horizon at the enemy army. Morrigan had been right in her rough estimation of the enemy number. There were thousands of them. Not just ordinary Elite men and women. These were the very worst their species had to offer. They were murderers, manipulators, liars, and psychos. No official uniform set them apart like the men Connor had seen while rescuing Laren. They wore anything from rags and dirty clothes to suits and fine linens.

Their numbers were massive. Vercin’s army only looked larger as the seconds ticked by. There was no doubt that the defenders inside the palace walls were vastly outnumbered. Morrigan had guessed a ratio of four to one. As the enemy numbers became clearer, Connor was guessing that a more accurate number would be a five to one ratio. The freed inmates of Karnag siding with Vercin had vastly put the odds in his favor.

Glancing to his right and left, Connor knew he wasn’t the only one doing math in his head. Warriors from every family were glancing at one another with large eyes. Even the most battle-seasoned soldier had to know that the odds they were facing were bleak at best. If they were going to stand a chance, then belief in victory and determination to win would have to be at the forefront of all their thoughts. With only moments to spare, Connor turned on the battlements to address his people.

“The time has come when we are forced to sacrifice for what we believe.” Connor turned his back to the enemy army advancing on the wall and shouted above the clamor of war. “We stand here now as men and women who believe in something far greater than any of us. We are here now because we believe in hope. In a future free from a tyrant king’s rule.”

Nods and grunts were beginning to ripple among the crowd. Connor did his best to make eye contact with as many of the defenders as he could.

“If they want a future full of death and slavery, if they want to claim the world and cast it into a time history will remember as a second dark age, then I say let them come and take it. But they will have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands because I will not go quietly!”

Roars and yells erupted from the crowd. His followers bellowed and screamed their defiance. Randolph and his family started pounding weapons on their shields in beats of three when Connor paused to take a breath. The beats spread across the rest of the palace as Connor continued, shouting at the top of his lungs.

“If they want to take our futures, then let them come!”

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.

“If they think they can take our hope, then let them try!”

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.

“I say let them come!”

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.

“Let them come!”

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.

A cheer that shook Connor from the inside out ripped across the palace. Connor took a deep , clearing his hoarse throat. He knew they were ready now. Fear and worry had melted from their hearts. Grim determination was painted across the faces of all inside the walls. Adrenaline pumped through every vein at dangerous speeds.

Connor checked the progress of the enemy. The front lines were almost in range. They marched twenty across the path leading to the palace. More were spread out on either side of the jungle.

The Elites of Karnag were close enough to see details. Every one of them carried a large, intimidating gun. A short black barrel with a huge revolving chamber behind it made it look like a giant revolver.

Connor raised his right hand as he signaled for his men to cover their faces. Connor wrapped a black cloth around his own nose and mouth.

So far Vercin was making the moves they had predicted. He was confident the same virus that had turned Laren human would work on them. What he hadn’t anticipated was that his own doctor would be so eager to help. Even beyond helping, that he would have worked so fast that all the defenders in the wall would be immune now to the virus.

Just like chess.

Connor raised his opposite hand, signaling all the defenders on the wall to hold. The sky was a rippling mass of grey clouds still threatening rain. But the air was soon filled, anyway. Not with rain but with canisters of gas launched into the air and over the wall.

Chapter 30

The grenade launchers made loud thumping noises as they catapulted thick metallic canisters into the air. Hundreds of the containers sailed over the palace walls like tiny shooting stars. Each one of the containers brought with it a tiny tail of gas. When the canisters made contact with the ground, that tail of gas turned into a giant plume.

Smoke filled the palace courtyard and walls. The small metal tubes released giant clouds of toxic gas into the atmosphere. Connor drew his hood as smoke ran across his body and seeped into his eyes.

Watering tear ducts hindered his eyesight for the briefest of moments before he blinked away the gathered moisture. One hand over his mouth and the other protecting his head from the flying containers of gas, Connor took in the scene around him.

Hundreds of gas containers lay on the ground shooting out smoke. Still more flew through the air. The defenders stood, resilient to the virulent gas that should be able to render their Elite gene dormant. It was now nothing more than a nuisance. Still, it was quite a nuisance.

Even with his mouth and nose covered, Connor found himself wanting to cough. The smoke was seeking its way through the cloth covering his mouth. His eyes continued to water despite his best efforts at blinking through the onslaught.

Minutes passed as the enemy continued to fire round after round of the air-borne virus. Connor looked for Katie. She was standing a few feet to his right, her own bandana wrapped around the bridge of her nose and mouth.

Katie noticed Connor watching her and gave him a weak thumbs up. Despite this sign of affirmation, Connor knew her eyes were stinging just as much as his.

Connor coughed involuntarily as smoke entered his lungs.

When would it stop? When would Vercin be content that his plan was working and attack?

While Connor was debating whether or not to pull the men back until the canisters stopped coming, the air was still. No more metal cans flew through the air. For the briefest of seconds, all was quiet. The moment passed too quickly. Suddenly the air was filled again. This time not with smoke but with battle cries as the monsters of Karnag attacked.

Connor watched as they came. Aided by their Elite gene, they made short work of the space between them and the castle wall. They ran with wild cries, eager for the taste of blood. Howls ripped the air as Elites gave in to their own urges. These were men and women who didn’t give a second thought to controlling their Elite gene. These were the people who gave in to their beasts within, to the primal rage that set them apart from humans.

More animal than men, the enemy approached. Connor knew they expected a massacre instead of a fight. They had been told by their leader that the gas would inhibit their enemies’ Elite gene. That this would be a slaughter, not a fight. They were in for a rude awakening.

Connor had ordered the men on the wall not to engage the enemy as they approached. No spear or arrows or rocks collided with the enemy as they surged forward. The element of surprise would be their greatest ally. Connor had no intention of losing whatever advantage they had.

Vercin’s army hit the outside wall with skull-cracking force. The entire wall shook as maddened beasts collided with steel and iron.

“HOLD!” Randolph screamed.

Connor could hear him through the sound of war as he and his few dozen family members supported the inside of the gate with shields and their own body weight.

The gate holding for the moment, Connor turned his eyes on the rest of the army seeking a way over the high palace walls. Even with their strength and dexterity, the wall was much too high for any Elite to jump in a single bound, but it seemed Vercin had taken this into consideration. Grappling hooks appeared out of nowhere as climbers sought anchoring spots.

Along with this new threat were those holding metal spikes in their hands along with footwear that reminded Connor of the spikes mountain climbers wore. These crampons were strapped onto boots with metal spikes protruding out at dangerous angles.

Aided by their Elite gene and blood lust, Vercin’s soldiers were scaling the stone wall just like a climber would a snow topped peak. With each step, a spike was driven into the side of the wall with a hand or a foot.

Still Connor held. Left hand in the air he could practically feel the eyes on him. His heart was beating at a thunderous pace. Sweat was forming on his brow under the dark hood he wore.

Not yet. You only have one chance at this. They think you’re weak, that you can’t fight. We need to take out as many as we can before they can regroup. Just a few more seconds.

A wicked looking grappling hook flew by, just inches past Connor’s head. The hard steel hooks rattled across the wall’s stone surface and caught on the battlements. Connor saw the rope grow taut.

He could feel his hand shaking as he grabbed his black war axe in his right hand. He drew his knife from the sheath at his waist with his left. Everything burned a bright red as Connor found the force inside of him that made him different.

Still he waited.

Finally a hand reached the top of the palace wall, followed by another. Then the very top of a head.

“NOW!” Connor shouted at the top of his lungs. His throat was dry and scratchy from the smoke but he must have been loud enough because a noise like thunder answered him. Elites of the five families roared as one and the battle for the fate of human and Elite kind began.

Chapter 31

Connor almost felt sorry for the man who had climbed the rope directly in front of him. He only saw the leather-beaten face and sunken-in orange eyes for the briefest of seconds before he slammed a fist into the man’s surprised face. The blow knocked him backward and sent him plummeting to the jungle floor below.

Morrigan and Katie lit the sky with gigantic bolts of energy that reminded Connor very much of lightning. Connor couldn’t be more proud of Katie as he glanced her way. She was standing beside Morrigan, her brow furrowed, sending sizzling energy bolts into the grouping of enemy soldiers below who had begun battering the iron gate.

All around him yellow, red, and orange eyes fought the enemy back. Lu was leading his family as they hacked at ropes and threw back those who had scaled their side of the wall.

To his right, Connor could see Miyanda, spear in hand, ordering her orange-eyed warriors to throw spears and shoot arrows at the enemy below as fast as they could.

More ropes were thrown over the center of the wall. More heads crested the middle of the battlements. Connor hacked at ropes left and right. Whenever a head was seen, his fist soon followed. Connor couldn’t help but think of the game where moles popped up out of various holes and it was up to the player equipped with a hammer to knock them back down.

As the minutes wore on, Connor thought about how easy it would be to end life. How easy it would be for him to slice or stab an attacker instead of cutting the rope or knocking them to the ground. Even as these thoughts came, the memory of his dreams came as well. The picture of the man’s face Connor had killed in the Catskill forest rescuing Laren and Lu still haunting him. 

Connor ignored the thoughts of killing, instead he continued to slash at ropes and bully attackers back down the high wall. The section of the wall was held by himself and the red-eyed members of his own family.

Although he didn’t know the warriors personally, they fought side by side like they were involved in a war every weekend. Grunts passed between them, nods of warning, or shouts of danger.

The preferred weapons of the men and women he fought with were swords and axes. They wore thick leather armor with the occasional animal pelt draped across their shoulders. They reminded Connor of Vikings. Men and women who had led normal lives until the call to arms was announced. They had traded in their everyday clothes and embraced their heritage, the culture of the Elite race and the history that came with it.

As the minutes wore on, Connor knew their plan was working. Where eager faces had crested the walls and ropes thrown up by the second had been, now those below were not so eager to come up.

No doubt the enemies who were readying themselves for the ascent up the wall had seen what happened to those who reached its peak.

Connor knew his plan had succeeded. Vercin assured his men that the virus inhibiting the Elite gene would work on their enemies. That all they had to do was crest the wall and they would be free to take revenge on those who had imprisoned them for so many years. This, however, had not been the case.

Instead of finding humans choking on smoke, the inmates of Karnag  found a group of warriors enhanced with the Elite gene. Even as the last of the smoke was thrown from its canisters, the palace defenders remained ready to die for a cause in which they whole-heartedly believed.

Amidst the screams and yells, Connor kept a careful ear out for anything out of the ordinary. He knew that he had to be ready for anything. Connor saw that the defenses were holding. Lu on his left and Miyanda on his right were throwing back eighty percent of their attackers. Those who did make it over the wall were soon overwhelmed and dealt with severely.

It seemed as though neither Lu nor Miyanda shared Connor’s beliefs on sparing life. Blood spattered their ends of the walls. Connor’s stomach twisted as he witnessed Lu exact revenge for his father and Miyanda do the same for her grandmother.

Connor’s eyes blazed red as he controlled his urge for more power.

Not yet,
he told himself,
You don’t need to tempt fate yet. Control it now, there will be plenty of time for that later.

Seconds seemed like minutes and minutes like hours. With the clouded sky hiding the sun, it was impossible to tell how much of the day past. It felt like he had been on the wall all morning.

The muscles in his arms bulged as he swung over and over again. Dozens, maybe a hundred ropes were hacked. Time and time again Connor forced the attackers off his wall.

Sweat from the exertion fell down his face and chest. Connor tore off the scarf that had been protecting his nose and mouth from the smoke. The smoldering canisters had all but burned out. Only the lingering taint of the toxic fumes permeated the air.

The dark hood also came off, hanging from his back. Pushing and shoving attackers back, Connor tried to listen past the sound of war. He didn’t know how he would know the plan had worked, but he would know.

Then it happened. A lone horn was blown long and loud over the chaos of battle. The inmates of Karnag looked at one another, confused. Loud battle cries and screams of pain rang out from across the jungle.

Their plan was working. Connor and the defenders on the wall had managed to fend off the first attack. Now it was up to Zheng and his warrior monks to successfully carry out the second part of their plan.

As soon as the fighting had started, Zheng had led his monks out the rear of the palace grounds and around the fighting. The Island was their home and King of The Island and his men knew the terrain better than anyone else. They moved quickly through the thick jungle interior to the enemy encampment. Taking the enemy by surprise, their goal first and foremost was to rescue Orion.

The way the horn pealed and the enemy army hesitated during the attack, Connor knew Zheng and his men had arrived at the enemy camp.

Get in and get out,
Connor whispered to Zheng and his men.
They’re coming for you now.

Sure enough, the attack on the wall ended. Connor couldn’t see or hear Vercin through all of the moving bodies, but he knew he was down there somewhere. The tyrant king would be furious. Connor had to keep himself from laughing at the expression he imagined on Vercin’s face.

A cheer rose up past the sound of metal and the screams of war. A cheer from the defenders as hugs were passed around and grins exchanged.

“They’re leaving! We did it!” Miyanda said, watching the fleeing enemy.

“They’ll be back. They’ll be back soon,” Morrigan warned, wiping the sweat from her brow.

Connor felt his adrenaline slow as his eyes dilated from red to brown. They had fended off the attack and that was something to be happy about, but how happy could he be, should he be, when so many lay dead and wounded?

Looking over the wall, Connor saw the battlefield littered with dead and dying bodies. Most of the limp forms belonged to the enemy, but only most. Defenders that had been torn off the wall or pulled down were out there as well.

Connor pushed all the feelings of worry and doubt aside. He pulled his eyes from the dead and dying bodies and focused on what was next. He knew the only way to prevent more death was to prepare for what was coming.

Vercin was a proud and stubborn leader. He would not take defeat very well, much less Orion’s release if Zheng and his monks were successful.

Connor sheathed his knife and placed the war axe in his shoulder sling. Elites along the wall were already in movement. The celebration of victory had been short-lived as Lu and Randolph’s voices could be heard ordering their men to prepare for the next onslaught.

Connor hurried down the long flight of stone stairs carved into the wall and headed for the gate.

When he arrived at the steel structure, his heart sank.