The Coalition Episodes 1-4 (4 page)

CHAPTER 9

Aliah

Something moved in the shadowy corner of the living room. Aliah twisted in his chair and strained to get a better look. Lantern light played on the walls and stretched shadows beyond recognition.

"Who's there?" His voice vibrated throughout the expansive room. Zev stepped from the shadows. Aliah sighed. He'd have to get used to the boy's stealth. “So?”

Zev's blonde head bowed toward the stone floor. "Lael is a mess. Rain won't stop. The river's flooding..." His voice sounded thin and strained.

Aliah drummed his fingertips on the chair with his eyebrows raised. When the young man remained silent, Aliah stood up, cupped Zev's chin in his hand and looked into his eyes. "What is it?"

Z
ev coughed a little and took a small step back before answering, "Twenty-one children are missing."

Aliah walked slowly across the room to the door. "Twenty-one exactly? Are you sure?"

"The Mothers found twenty-one pendants...nothing inside them, just laying on their pillows." Zev cleared his throat and continued. "And your friend Shai is out there. She's upset."

"It's the middle of the night, Zev. Go to bed. I'm going into Lael."

Aliah had just grabbed his cloak and opened the door when Zev called out to him. "I completed my first assignment. Delivered both messages just like you asked."

Aliah paused in the doorway with one hand on the doorknob. He nodded, then closed the door and headed towards Lael.

Twenty-one children missing.
His heart raced. So far everything was working according to his plan. But there was someone he had to see before he proceeded with the next phase.

CHAPTER 10

Shai

What was going on? And where was Aliah? He was the oldest Laelite male; the one every Mother looked to in difficult situations.

Shai held onto Sileas's arm and the two of them sprinted towards a group of teens near the river. Two blocks of Infant Houses and several of the Young Children's Houses were at the greatest risk, being the closest to the river. The bridge had a few boards missing and some damage to the railings.

Dawn was still a few hours away, but the entire community was wide awake. Shouts filled the air as the Mothers called out for the missing children. Tangible fear hung over the community like a wet blanket. Nothing had ever broken the community’s routine life before.

As the rain continued to pound the ground, the community lost themselves in a flurry of activity. The teens and older children formed an assembly line along the river, and burlap bags filled with sand were tossed hand-to-hand, then stacked along the river banks. Shai stood in the line, muddy from head-to-toe, teeth chattering, passing sandbags to the others.

"Shai?" A woman's voice rang out amidst the clamor, sounding both frightened and relieved. A slender woman wearing a thin shawl and oversized leather boots hurried over. "Shai, is that you? I was so worried! When I couldn't find you at the Hill House I was afraid that you were missing too!" Darkness hid her features but her voice cracked with emotion.

"Eliana! I'm okay. I was at the House but came into town when I heard what had happened. Are you alright? How are the rest of the children?" Shai reached forward, her cold fingers briefly touching the Mother's arm.

A sandbag landed on the sloppy ground as she missed the next one passed to her. The boy to her left grunted when she apologized, then he stooped to retrieve the bag.

"I'm fine and the children are okay. We're all worried though. We counted twenty-one missing. We have all the pendants that were left behind. The Watchers have never taken more than one recruit at a time for their initiation and they've never broken the Pendant Rule before. Something is wrong."

Shai’s stomach clenched. The population had always been strictly monitored: six thousand and three hundred. Eliana was right; something was terribly wrong.

Where are you, Aliah? You should be here helping.
What if Sileas was right? At eighteen he was past the age of eligibility. He was the oldest male in Lael. Shai always thought he had never been recruited so he could help the Mothers raise the children, and she often teased him, calling him 'daddy' and 'father': names she’d heard in her Old World thoughts.

Dread washed over her in a cold wave. What if Aliah was not only a Watcher but the Head Watcher, the Recruiter?

She gritted her teeth as she hoisted another sandbag onto the bank; her back muscles screamed.

She knew Aliah better than that. Sileas
had
to be wrong.

CHAPTER
11

Aliah

The rain was coming in torrents by the time he reached a large cave buried beneath a thick growth of ivy. It was past Lael's south boundary fence, in the Borderless. Its location made it the perfect hiding spot since community laws prevented anyone from venturing outside of Lael.

Water seeped into his leather boots and his hooded cloak had done little to shield him from the rain as he ran. He breathed heavily and pushed aside the thick ivy from the mouth of the cave, then slipped inside the narrow opening of the rocky hide-away. A dim light at the end of a long tunnel illuminated the interior just enough for him to reposition the ivy concealing the entrance with cold, numb fingers.

He blew into his cupped hands as he ducked his head to avoid hitting the low ceiling while he walked towards the light. Tufts of moss splotched the wet walls and floor of the cave, muting his footsteps and filling his nose with a damp, earthy smell.

Turning left at a fork, he followed the narrow tunnel until it led to a large cavern. Voices of children and their soft laughter echoed in the dark recesses, thawing the chill around his soul.

"Aliah!" A small tow-headed child ran to him and wrapped her chubby arms around his leg. He tousled her soft curls, and winked at her as she peered up at him with large, grey eyes, before she ran to join the rest of the children huddled around a fire in the center of the cavern.

Low wooden benches lined two curved walls, serving as both bed and chair. Three large, metal buckets filled with water stood on one side of the cave while several more were placed on the opposite side.

Aliah made his way over to an older woman who sat rocking an infant. "Mother," he whispered. Her dark curls were damp against her neck and she turned her face towards him. She smiled and two deep dimples appeared in her cheeks. She had always been beautiful.

"How are you? How's Shai?"

He ignored her question and pulled the blanket back from the infant's face and sucked in a deep breath. The baby had pink cheeks, dark hair, and eyes that made Aliah's heart skip a beat. They weren't the typical Laelite grey but a piercing shade of blue that sparkled in the firelight. Like Shai's.

Aliah chewed his lip and watched his mother stroke the infant's cheek.

"He came with the other children Ellersly brought tonight," she said softly.

Aliah paced the earthen floor. The baby was a surprise, and that meant there were twenty-two children he was responsible for. He knelt in front of his mother.

"Do they still have their pendants?" The question caught in his throat. He knew the answer.

She gave him an apologetic smile. "The pendants were left behind. This is the only child Ellersly didn't bring from Lael. Somehow he was taken from the Camps, so he wouldn't have a Laelite pendant yet." She smoothed the baby's black hair. "We are all better off without those cursed things."

Aliah rocked back on his heels then sat hard on the ground, his head in his hands. "I sent Ellersly a message to get the children out of Lael, but removing their pendants was never part of the plan. Whose suggestion was that?”

“It's better this way," his mother said, without looking at him.

What kind of an answer is that?
Aliah raised his head, his eyes following Mara's peaceful rhythm as she rocked the baby. Her gentleness had made her the favorite Mother among the children when she was in Lael. Aliah hardly remembered the day she was escorted from Lael to live in the Borderless, but even now his chest ached with the hollow feeling her absence had made.

He picked up a handful of gravel, and squeezed it until the stones bit into his skin. Then he dropped each pebble one by one onto the ground beside him.

"I hate the pendants.” He told the ground. “I hate that they control who lives and who dies. But the worse thing is what might happen to these children. Their pendants should never have been left behind."

He thought of Shai, in the House, without hers. It was strange to think of her without it since the only ones who wore no pendant were those who were exiled to the Borderless.

Mara met Aliah’s eyes. "The pendants don't control life. You have to believe that."

"Well I don't." He didn't tell her the thoughts he had sometimes, the fragments of pictures in his mind, of a time when no one wore them. Before Lael had become dreary and grey.

He blinked away the thought. He was being silly. There was no
before
. Lael had always been grey and the pendants had always been part of life. He touched Mara's arm. "There's... there's something I want to talk to you about. It’s why I came."

Mara's eyes widened. "What? You have it? You have the Book?"

Aliah's shoulders drooped under an invisible weight. If he felt any heavier he'd sink into the ground. The only thing that mattered to her, the only thing she ever liked to talk about, was the Book.

Aliah shook his head. "The Book, the Book."

She gave him a confused look.

"You don't remember? The Book is in a vault in Lael. No one can get to it except for the Leader and the Mother who does the Readings."

Mara nodded her head "Ah, yes. It's a beautiful Book isn't it? You know who wrote it don't you?"

Aliah sighed. "Yes, I know who writes in it. He's the same one who punishes us if we break any of his Laws. I don't think it's very beautiful."

"No, no. It was never meant to record infractions. Elchai is good and kind. He wrote it for the future. He wrote it before everything… fell apart."

Elchai.
He cringed at the mention of that name, but remained silent and let his mother talk even though he disagreed. Anyone who discouraged Mara’s gentleness and sent her away to live outside of Lael wasn't a good and kind leader, but a tyrant. But Aliah never argued with his mother. Ever since her exile she lived in a reality only she could see.

Mara rose to her feet, holding the infant tightly against her. "This one's a Kentite. I'm sure of it."

Aliah dropped his chin to his chest. A long, slow sigh escaped from his lips. "Why do you think that? Does he have a brand?"

With trembling fingers Mara unwrapped the thin blanket the infant was swaddled in and exposed his tiny chest. Aliah peered over her shoulder at the baby’s rosy skin, unblemished by even a single freckle.

Aliah shook his head. "He's not a Kentite. See? No brand. The Sectors of Edan don't exist. It's just a story."

"No. This one was born in the Camps. His father wouldn't have been able to brand him there. But look at his eyes. His heritage is Kentite for sure. Sector Seven, the same as Shai." Her eyes searched his, insistent.

Aliah frowned. The Sectors had been a story passed around long ago. A history lesson, a forbidden subject in Lael. No one but Mara spoke of those old stories.
Until Zev.

He stood up and brushed the rocks and dirt from his trousers then took one of her hands in his. "You once told me that every Edanite child is branded by their father according to their Sector.” He swallowed around the lump in his throat. “But if the Sectors once existed, they don't anymore. You've told me many times about the War that destroyed every Edanite a long time ago, Mother. The Sectors are gone. There's nothing out there but the Borderless land."

"No, Aliah... I..." Aliah shushed her and squeezed her fingers. He dropped her hand then turned to face the fire.

Her voice behind him was soft.” I thought you protected the Sectors, but if you don’t, then why did you bring all these children here? Why did you bring me here? I was happy living out there in the Borderless. Away from Lael."

Away from me.
Aliah pinched the bridge of his nose to lessen a dull throb that pulsed behind his eyes. "I did it to send a message... to the Leader. Because of Shai. She was sent to live on the Hill... until she goes with the Leader on Recruitment Day."

"The Hill House? Oh Aliah, no!"

Aliah spun around; his mother's eyes shone with tears, her face looked rosy in the firelight. It seemed that every time he saw her she lost a little more of the drab, grey pallor of her skin and eyes.

"I know, Mother. That’s why I planned this.” He spread out his hands. “It’s part of the plan to get her out of Lael before he comes for her. I need to take her somewhere safe... She's the reason I became a Watcher. So I could protect her," he whispered, the effort hurting his throat. "And she doesn't even know."

Mara’s eyes widened. "You need to show her the Book. If she sees it, I mean
really
looks at it, she’ll understand." She stepped towards him. "You'll just have to show her. You have a good heart, Aliah. Your father would be so..."

"
Don't!
Don't talk about him, Mother. Please don't." He turned on his heel and walked towards the narrow tunnel. "I will see you tomorrow night," he called over his shoulder. Raw emotions pricked his eyes. And the past seemed intent on haunting him.

Mara's voice followed him down the dark corridor and out to the entrance.
"Just look in the Book, Aliah. Then Shai will understand.
You
will understand."

His eyes stung but he shoved grief and regret deep inside the hole that had swallowed his heart. He stepped outside the cave and repositioned the ivy.

It had been awhile since he'd seen his mother. She looked different. It was her eyes mostly. But then, before tonight, he'd only seen her from a distance, sitting with her homeless friends around a camp fire as he went on the fire-raids and confiscated Laelite items from the exiled. It felt good to be with her again even if their conversation left him troubled.

Why did she keep insisting that he read the Book? He couldn't get his hands on it if he tried. No, the only thing worth worrying about right now was Shai. He needed to get her away from Lael before she was taken from him for good to live with the Leader somewhere in the Borderless that stretched for endless miles.

He pulled the edges of his cloak tighter and wrapped his arms around himself as he bent his head against the biting wind. By the time he had slipped back through the cut in the fence, the bleak sun had begun to rise.

Now there were only twenty days left. It was time to kidnap Shai.