Renegade (16 page)

T
he guard stopped shouting as soon as I touched the rifle. I focused on driving my element along the barrel and into the pirate. He fought back, teeth gritted and gums bared, but didn't fall.

Tarn took one of the rifles from the unconscious pirates and swung it at the man's head. He toppled as suddenly as a tree limb struck by lightning.

“Who are you?” cried Kieran. “You shouldn't be here.”

“Keep your voice down. We're here to rescue you,” said Tarn.

“If Jossi sees you here, he'll hurt my parents. He took them away from me.”

“We know. They're probably with the other clan folk in the hurricane shelter. We're going to free them too.”

Kieran didn't look convinced. “He swore he'd kill them if he had to.”

“We won't let that happen—” She stopped speaking as two more pairs of footsteps pounded along the street toward us. “We have to go!”

“I can't.”

Dennis touched Kieran lightly on the arm. “We're elementals, like you. We can help, but we need to get to your parents right now. Before Jossi knows what's happening.”

The footsteps were growing louder. The men were probably within fifty yards. “You have to go,” I said. “Wait for me before moving in on the shelter. I'll stay here and deal with these men.”

“Not alone, you won't,” said Dennis.

There wasn't time to argue with him. Besides, I was feeling even more sluggish than before. “Let's get these bodies out the way, then. One look at this and they'll raise the alarm for sure.”

Tarn dragged one man behind an upturned table. Then she and Dennis took another, while I pulled the last away from the center of the floor and added him to the heap. We covered them in blankets.

The footsteps outside drew closer, but the men were slowing down. They'd probably noticed that the outside guard was missing, and wanted to be cautious.

“Go!” I said.

Reluctantly, Kieran turned on his heel and followed Tarn through the building.

I picked up two of the rifles. Dennis took the third. “Do you know how to use one of these?” he whispered.

“No. We can't afford to, either. One shot, and Jossi will panic.”

“Maybe he'll send all his men here. We could head around the back to the shelter.”

“Or maybe he'll send them to the shelter instead, and Tarn won't get near the place. Right now, those pirates out on the street are focused on Dare. Let's keep it that way.”

We padded deep into the store and hid behind large cabinets pressed against the wall. I figured that as long as we had a view of the doorway, we'd be able to see the pirates more easily than they could see us.

I was wrong. If I'd thought to look outside, I'd have noticed the amber glow from a pair of torches. As two more pirates crept through the doorway, they had a perfect view of the scene before them.

“Everyone's gone,” said one. “Why'd they leave?”

“Don't be so sure they
did
leave,” replied the other. “Something ain't right here.”

Crouched in the shadow of the cabinet, I watched the glow of their torch flames reflected on every exposed patch of wall. It made it easy for me to track their progress across the room, which is how I knew they were about to stumble upon the bodies of the other men.

I grabbed a tiny glass bottle from the shelf beside me and hurled it toward the back of the building. It crashed against a wall and shattered across the floor.

The torches stopped moving. There was the ominous sound of two rifles being cocked.

“This ain't a good time for playing games, little boy,” came a voice. “We need you to be good, now, you understand? Your momma and papa need you to be good too. They're counting on you.”

The glow of firelight danced on the floor as they edged closer. The area in shadow became smaller. Dennis inhaled slowly and held his breath. I did too.

“Don't make us look for you, boy,” snarled the second pirate. “We got no patience for your kind anymore, you hear me?”

Dennis peered over me to get a look at the pirates. From the angle of his eyes I knew they were right behind me. I braced myself for another attack.

A rush of air came from the front of the building. It converged on the space immediately behind the pirates. They heard the noise before they felt the wind, and turned to face it.

With a flick of one wrist, Dennis extinguished the torches. With a turn of the other, he spun the wind into a twister. As irresistible as a whirlpool, it sucked both pirates in and lifted them half a yard off the ground. Oddly, they didn't cry out as their bodies reeled in space; or maybe they couldn't. When Dennis sent them crashing to the ground with a simple flick of his wrist, I was fairly sure they'd never make a sound again.

I didn't check for a pulse because I didn't want Dennis to know if he had killed them. If we survived, there would be time to weigh the consequences of all that we had done. But that time was not now.

“Come on,” I said, tugging his sleeve.

But Dennis didn't move. He stared at his hands as if he didn't recognize them. No wonder—through a simple series of gestures he'd reduced two men to sacks of flesh and bones.

“We have to go, Dennis. The others are out there with ropes around their necks.” I kicked the pirates. “And these men helped to put them there. We're just defending ourselves. We didn't start this fight, remember?”

Even as I said the words I didn't completely believe them. If Tessa and Dare were telling the truth, this fight went back years. Centuries, even. We'd been born into it, but that didn't mean we weren't responsible. Our kind, elementals, bore as much guilt as anyone.

Tarn's words came back to me then—about how important it was that we not second-guess ourselves. “I couldn't have fought them alone,” I continued. “You saved us, Dennis.”

Still he didn't respond. Didn't even nod.

I slung the two rifles over my shoulders and headed for the main entrance. The view along the street hadn't changed much, although we were a little closer here than we had been earlier. My father, Ananias, Jerren, and Alice remained standing on the crates, looking haggard and forlorn in the soft glow of three torches.

But there was one crucial difference: “What's Dare doing?” I whispered.

Dennis came alongside me. “Kneeling, I think.”

It worried me, that, but I decided that he was probably just playing with Jossi. Tricking him. Dare was a master manipulator. He knew his men better than anyone, their strengths and weaknesses. He'd know how to win them around.

My theory didn't hold up for long. In a flash, Jossi silenced Dare with his rifle butt. There was a faint crunch of wood against bone, and Dare sank to all fours. He had his back to us, so I couldn't see his face, but I was sure he must be bleeding.

Jossi towered over his former captain. Flanked by nine other pirates, he reveled in his power. “You shouldn't have come back, Dare. There's worse ways to die than drowning.” He was shouting, an exaggerated performance that was as unnecessary as striking a man on his knees.

Dare wiped his sleeve across his face. “You don't know what you're doing, Jossi.”

“Says the washed-up man bleeding on the ground.” Jossi turned around to share a laugh with the other pirates. “Says the man who
deserted
us.”

“I didn't—”

Jossi swung his rifle around and caught Dare on the cheek. Dare went down again, and this time he didn't pull himself back up.

“I've been seeing through your lies for years now, Dare. But the other men . . . you got 'em all scared, don't you? Too scared to say anything. Even after all them visions, no one wanted to call you an elemental to your face.” He wasn't shouting now, but his words were just as clear as before. And for the first time, Jossi didn't seem like a desperate bully, but someone who would kill without a second thought. “I knew about you
all along,
you hear me? I knew it the day I watched my brother die—cut to death by a blade what had no business moving. My
brother,
Dare. My only family. And I came to you and I told you what happened, and what did you do? What did you
do
?” He spat at Dare. “You covered for the man who murdered him. This one right
here!
”

Jossi turned around and kicked the nearest crate. Rope tight around his neck, my father braced for the fall.

A
nanias cried out as Father's crate rocked backward. I watched helpless as Father flicked his head and body forward, fighting to regain his balance. The rope bit into his neck.

It seemed like an eternity passed before the rocking stopped and Father was upright again. His chest heaved as he struggled to catch his breath.

Beside him, Jossi slow-clapped admiringly. “That was close, Ordyn. I thought you was a goner that time. You're like a cat with nine lives, ain't you? Or maybe you're just lucky. Lucky to have a friend like Dare.”

The other pirates had been enjoying the spectacle too, but with those last words they grew restless. Whether or not they were answering to Dare, they clearly hadn't painted him in the role of enemy yet. But that's precisely what Jossi was doing.

“That's right,” Jossi told them. “Remember how all this started? How we burned down the colony on Hatteras, and took them Guardians prisoner? Sure you do. But maybe you're forgetting how Dare only picked a fight with one man: Orydn. Beat him up something good, I'll grant you, but only 'cause he knew I had other plans for old Ordyn.” He crouched down beside Dare. “It's true, ain't it? You knew I was going to kill him. I had a
right
to kill him too. An eye for an eye. So you got to him first. Even stuck him in a cage on the ship. Gave him his own special guard, so you could keep an eye on him.” Jossi bore his teeth like an animal, snarling and braced for a fight. “You
spared
him, Dare. You know full well he killed my brother, and you spared him anyway.”

Dare raised his head, but didn't even attempt to get up. “I told you before: Life is too precious to waste.”

“Says who? If life's so damned precious, why in the hell is almost everyone dead?” Jossi slapped Dare's cheek, a pointless action to remind everyone that he was in charge. “We don't need you no more, Dare. We have our own solution, see? And before the night is out, we'll probably have
your
solution too, wherever he is. As for life, it'll carry on just fine—without you, and without my brother's killer. Or his son.”

Jossi strode over to Ananias. He raised his rifle and prepared to strike my brother when Dare cried out, “Don't do it! . . . Please.”

Jossi spun the rifle around and rested it across his shoulders. “I've got to tell you, Dare, I never knew you were so sentimental. Makes me want to keep you alive after all. Makes me think you ought to be around to see what kills these elementals first. I mean, they ain't going to stand on them crates forever, right? Plague's coming to all four of them, I can guarantee you that. As for Ordyn, I can't decide if he'll choose to fall first so he don't have to see his own son die, or if he'll try to hang on, hoping for one more miracle.”

Dennis pulled me back. I hadn't even realized I was edging forward. “We have to help them,” I said. “There isn't time to rescue Kieran's parents first.”

“If we release his parents, all the clan folk get out too,” he said. “That's a lot of extra people to shake things up.”

“The clan folk will be guarded.”

“And so are
they,
” Dennis protested, pointing down the street.

Having silenced Dare, Jossi walked along the row of crates. He kicked each one, and watched Ananias and Jerren struggle to keep their balance. Then he came to Alice.

“Who dies first?” he asked her.

Alice didn't answer.

“Ordyn, maybe? He's old. A murderer too. Or what about his son? Or this one?” Jossi nodded at Jerren. “He ain't one of your clan, even I can see that. You ain't going to tell me you'd feel sorry for a boy who has no right being here in the first place, are you?”

He stood back and waited for a response. Perhaps he thought that Alice was the weak link. It was clear that he expected her to answer.

Still Alice said nothing.

“Time's a-wasting, girl.”

Alice lowered her eyes and stared at him. It was a look of defiance. A look of challenge.

Jossi flicked his rifle around so that the barrel faced her. “Have it your way.”

Before Jossi could fire, or kick her crate out from under her, Dare staggered up and ran headlong into him. The older pirate even got in a punch that sent Jossi reeling. But as he raised his fist again, a shot rang out.

Dare tumbled to the ground. This time, he didn't get up.

Beside me, Dennis gasped. “We have to get help.”

With Dare lying on the ground, possibly dead, I knew that he was right. It wasn't going to be enough to steal Jossi's secret weapon—we needed to rescue Kieran's parents so that he'd turn the rats against the pirates.

We hurried back through the building. It was pitch-black, and with each step we seemed to crush something on the ground. But there was no one inside to hear us, or to threaten us. No one to avoid.

At the back of the building, we fought through bushes and weeds in pursuit of Tarn and Kieran. As we slipped past the openings between buildings, the pirates' voices grew closer and louder. Several people were speaking at once. Jossi had established control, but whoever shot Dare seemed to have upset the new balance of power. The confusion worked to our advantage, but I hoped that Dare hadn't paid for it with his life. Alice had kept him alive for a reason. Having lost so much else, she deserved a chance to know her father.

Finally it seemed as though the commotion was coming from behind us, which meant that we were getting near to the hurricane shelter. Sure enough, two shadowy figures stood in the cover of a small tree just ahead of us. Tarn shifted branches to get a clearer look at the open street beyond, especially the low stone shelter on the opposite side. Kieran was looking to the west, toward the mainland bridge, as if he were watching something that no one else could see.

Dennis and I crouched down beside them. “Are you all right, Kieran?” I asked.

He didn't answer. I wasn't sure he'd even heard me. I didn't press him, though—there must have been so much going on inside of him.

Tarn pointed across the street. “There's only one guard.”

“Where are the others?” I asked.

“They left when they heard the gun go off. What happened back there?”

How to answer? Tarn had loved Dare once. How would she react if she believed that he was dead? “I-I don't know,” I said. “I couldn't really tell.”

Tarn saw right through my hesitation. Her face fell. Too late it occurred to me that she was contemplating the even more horrific possibility that Alice had been the victim.

She shook her head once, shutting out all doubts and concerns. “Let's move. One guard at the door is better than three, and the others won't be gone long.”

“Then take this.” I handed her a rifle. “There must be more guards inside the shelter.”

Tarn held the rifle at arm's length. “I don't know how it works.”

“You swing it,” said Dennis. “It hurts.”

Tarn didn't say anything to that. She seemed preoccupied by Kieran. He was staring at the street, but his head was moving very slightly, as if he were tracking an animal . . . or a rodent.

Tarn froze, but it was a few moments before I heard the faint clicking and shuffling as rats surged toward us. At first there were only a dozen, then hundreds, thousands, and finally a mass of rats so wide that they blanketed the street. Kieran wasn't following the rats with his eyes, either. He was
directing
them.

“What are you doing?” I snapped.

Once again, he didn't reply. Maybe he was trying to help, or attempting to stop us before we could jeopardize his deal with Jossi. I touched him lightly on the shoulder to get his attention.

Kieran flinched. On the street, the rats responded with a series of squeaks.

Dennis shrank back. He'd already been sick from Plague once and knew better than any of us how it felt. Instinct told me to keep my distance too, even though I'd already been exposed. Any battle in which we were so badly outnumbered was a battle we should avoid.

The pirate who was standing guard outside the hurricane shelter looked at the swathe of black approaching from the west. He held his post for a moment longer, and then ran, shouting, toward the intersection.

There was no time to lose.

I jumped out from behind the tree and sprinted across the street a couple yards ahead of the advancing rats. The door to the hurricane shelter was open and heavy footsteps were pounding up the stone staircase inside. I slid the rifle off my shoulder, stepped inside, and swung. I caught the pirate in the ribs. He tumbled backward down the stairs.

In the torchlight from below, I saw other pirates watching me. They raised their rifles, but not before Dennis pulled alongside me.

I just had time to grab the stair rail as a gust of wind whipped through the doorway. It pulled my feet from under me and funneled down the staircase, blasting the men below. They were scattered across the floor, their rifles strewn about like driftwood after a storm.

As I ran down the stairs, I expected to see the clan folk joining our attack. Instead, they watched me with the same wary expressions they gave the pirates. Precious moments passed before they claimed the weapons for themselves.

Having decided that I was the lesser threat, some of the clan folk pinned the pirates to the floor. Others fled from the shelter, dragging screaming children away before pirate reinforcements could arrive. Kieran appeared beside me and together we pressed against the tide of evacuees.

“We'll find your parents,” I assured him.

No answer again. Whatever his motives in bringing the rats, we'd forced his hand. At least now he would be reunited with his parents. Jossi's greatest weapon would be ours. Whether or not we could save the other elementals, we could end this conflict.

“Kieran!” A woman was shouting from the back of the shelter. She waved her arm back and forth to get his attention.

As Kieran hurried to meet her, the other clan folk parted to let him through. It wasn't a mark of respect, either—they were scared of him. Maybe they'd never known what he could do. Maybe he'd kept it hidden, or had been too far from Roanoke to use the element effectively. But now they'd seen the rats firsthand, and they wanted no part of him.

It didn't matter. His mother was calling to him. All would be well.

It wasn't until they came together that I noticed how old the woman looked—too old to be his mother.

“Where are they?” cried Kieran. “Where are my parents?”

She looked away. Her lip quivered. “They're gone, child. The pirates took them away.”