Chapter 16

It feels like a dream.

It’s as if I’m not even in my body as we sneak through the eastern alleys of the city, keeping to the shadows and mingling with the chaos of fleeing Sunnaites as we make our way toward the eastern gates.

The guards there have no choice but to let the people leave, if only for the night. The starship’s crash site is a blistering, festering wound on the city’s face, and the radioactive material leaking out of the wreckage is too dangerous to risk it—for the civilians, at least.

These people don’t know where they will go or what they will do, but they’re determined to get as far away from here as possible. Once Jewel hides her face, it’s the perfect opportunity for us to leave undetected, as well. Yossul and I manage to kill one of the guards and steal their buggy. Together with Jewel, we drive south and beyond the cold mountains as fast as the wheels can take us.

We laugh. We remember the explosion. We revel in Jewel’s description of Shaytan and Blaze’s utterly shocked faces. Frankly, I wasn’t sure we’d pull through. I doubted we’d survive the day, let alone be able to look up at the sky and take a lungful of fresh, hot air.

Leaving Pearl City behind, we head back to our base by the Sun River. Soon enough, the news will spread of the disaster.

“Ruby City will be in an absolute uproar,” Jewel says, nestled in the back seat.

I’m driving while Yossul melts in the passenger seat beside me. We’re beyond exhausted, but we haven’t collapsed just yet. We’ll stay upright until we reach the safety of our riverside home. Ahead, the red desert opens with twinkling lights along the right edge of the horizon.

“Ruby City,” I agree. “Yeah, they’ll be pissed.”

“I think they’ll get the news by morning,” Yossul replies. “From what I’ve heard, the other generals were already doubting Shaytan’s capabilities. They despise Blaze and certainly don’t see him fit to be Hull’s partner.”

“They weren’t too happy with the idea of Shaytan and Blaze bedding Jewel, either,” I say, recounting the gossip we picked up while captives in the command center prison. The guards there talked a lot, not caring if we could hear them since they were certain we’d be dead soon.

“Brick by brick, Shaytan’s empire has been crumbling for the past few years,” Yossul says. “We’ve been constantly after him and his people, too. We never gave any of them a chance to relax, to regroup. It was only a matter of time before his peers noticed his flaws, his weaknesses. Tonight only proves their doubts. It will lead to internal strife and turmoil. And once that madness sets in, once the backstabbing begins, neither Shaytan nor Blaze will be able to handle what’s coming. They won’t have the resources nor the energy to contain the rebels within the Sky Tribe while also fighting the Fire Tribe.”

“Worse even, they only have one starship left,” Jewel says, laughing lightly. “I still can’t believe it, though.”

“We were lucky.” I let a heavy sigh roll from my chest. “Sheer luck. We cannot rely on chance like that ever again.”

I’d love to be all giggly and cheerful about what happened, but the truth is, I’m not proud of what we did tonight. Innocent people died as collateral damage when that starship crashed into Pearl City. It will take years for the nuclear waste to clear. There will be radiation-related diseases and plenty of suffering for decades.

Had we been able to follow our original plan, we would’ve activated the ship’s interior isolation panels for each of those nuclear cells. Once our explosive charges went off, those isolation panels would’ve prevented a meltdown and a radioactive disaster. That was the one downside we all dreaded about the long-range laser weapons. Using them would lead to… well, this.

“I’m sorry,” Jewel says, sympathizing with my sadness. “Innocent folks were out there, and they didn’t deserve to get dragged into this. Nobody asked Pearl City if they wanted Sky Tribe leadership, and nobody asked Pearl City if they wanted Fire Tribe leadership, either. They never had a choice.”

“We’re at war,” Yossul grumbles, staring at the open road ahead. Casualties are a part of war. We couldn’t let that starship take off. Someday, we’ll pay for our crimes. I know it. Until then, however, we will stay true to our mission. We will proceed and destroy the last of their vessels. The Sky Tribe will never leave the surface of Sunna again, no matter what it takes.”

I nod slowly, although my agreement is faint at best.

How many more people must die before peace is found? How many more souls must leave this world for both sides of this war to finally reach a ceasefire and a long-term agreement to benefit the people and not any power-hungry generals’ interests?

I’m tired—no, more than tired. I’m wiped. I’m spent. I’m like a candle burning in the wind, my light flickering and soon to be snuffed out.

By morning, we’ll have reached our base. From there, we’ll send messages to each of our allies until the entire system is brought up to speed with the events of the past couple of days. I wonder if the explosion could be seen in the night sky across a greater distance.

It was a good thing Opal City fired that shot early on. Had they waited until the starship was higher, it would’ve obliterated Pearl City with radioactive debris. At least they’ll be able to contain it better under these circumstances. It doesn’t make me feel that much better, but Yossul makes a fair, albeit cruel, point. In times of war, a sense of morality may hinder progress. It may thwart victory altogether.

“Someday, we’ll light candles for all those who perished,” I say after a long stretch of heavy silence. “We’ll throw purple flowers in the river and sing songs to the fallen, innocents and warriors alike. Someday, the suns will rise over a new Sunna, and the mornings will sing hymns of their own. Our blood pours through this world, and we shall honor it. But until then, we keep fighting. No matter what.”

“No matter what,” Jewel says, resting a hand on my shoulder.

Her touch alone is enough to soothe my frayed nerves. My grief subsides as my mind gradually wanders away from the disaster of Pearl City and back to the dark, stone-carved chambers of our home by the river. I plan to spend the next few days buried deep inside my woman. Yossul and I will make love to her, we will consume her and share her, take her and devour her until there’s nothing left of us but shimmering shadows tangled between the soft sheets.

All this pressure gathering in my chest, there’s no other way to let it out but in the adoring arms of our woman. I still can’t believe we managed to get Jewel away from Shaytan and Blaze. For the longest moment, I feared we’d failed her. I feared we’d perish, the last sight of her being in the arms of our enemies.

“Yeah, we were lucky,” Jewel concludes after a while. “We almost got our asses handed to us back there. I guess there will always be lessons to be learned in times of war, huh?”

“Blaze is clearly hard to kill,” Yossul scoffs. “Had he died, we would’ve done things our way, and the starship would’ve never taken off.”

I give my brother a quick glance. “Whatever comes next, we’ll handle it. The Sky Tribe will be furious, though. They’ll be out for blood. We need to let our people know they’ll be coming for any known Fire Tribe settlement. The riverside clusters up north, the Purple Plains folks, Sapphire City most of all. And we have to tighten security and secrecy over Opal City.”

“Shaytan and Blaze saw the laser shot come from the southern sky,” Jewel agrees. “They’ll look down there, though I’m not sure if they’ll think to search as far south as ground zero for the plague infection. Everybody says it’s cursed, so they stay away.”

“We’ll be prepared,” I say. “We’ve made it this far.”

So close to a conclusion, yet that horizon still feels so far away. It was never meant to be easy. Our fathers knew it, and we understood it from the moment we took over the Fire Tribe. We inherited this war, but we’ll be the ones to end it, one way or another.

The hours pass in silence as Jewel dozes off in the back seat. Yossul takes my place behind the wheel, and I manage to get some shuteye, as well. But his trembling voice awakens me with a terrible feeling quickly settling in my stomach.

“Wake up,” he says. “WAKE UP!”

I snap open my eyes and immediately understand. We’ve reached our home base, except… we don’t have a home base anymore. It was leveled and then some. The entire wall of the riverside plateau was bombed to smithereens, blown away, and carved out—our tunnels, our rooms, our shelters. It’s as if the wall itself regurgitated and spilled out into the stream.

“No,” I whisper as Yossul pulls over on the other side of the river.

Jewel is as pale as a sheet of paper, unable to speak. The sight before us is beyond horrifying. Everything burned and molten, charred and fractured. Steel rods and blackened stones jut out like unnaturally bent limbs. Fires still burn here and there. Bodies. So many bodies. Our brothers. A handful of our Kreek sisters, too.

“NO!” I cry out and fall to my knees as soon as my feet touch the ground.

The grief hits me like a wall of bricks, my heart breaking over and over as I struggle to take it all in. The Sky Tribe must’ve found our base while we were away. The attack must’ve been sudden and brief. Those present didn’t stand a chance. So much death, so much pain.

Our hidden hangar is destroyed, too. Whatever bombs they threw at it, they were powerful enough to crack open the dirt and melt the sliding roof right down. The shuttles and the aircraft were reduced to carbonized bits and pieces scattered across the ground.

“This can’t be,” Jewel mumbles.

We make our day down to the water, then cross and try to understand what is left. It smells of smoke and burnt flesh. Of violence and destruction. Of savagery and failure. The Sky Tribe came in with a mission. They executed it flawlessly, and our people didn’t even have the sliver of a single opportunity to get out and warn the others.

“They blew up the telegraph station, too,” Yossul says once we reach the topside of the riverbank, our shelter unraveled at our feet. “I don’t see any survivors.”

“How many do you think were here when they hit it?” I manage.

Tears prick my eyes, and it’s hard for me to focus. Grief curdles the blood in my veins, tightening a knot around my heart, squeezing until I struggle to breathe. Jewel holds my hand, but I can barely feel her touch at this point.

“I’m afraid to try counting,” Yossul admits. But I can’t see or smell any sign of life anywhere around us. If anyone survived, they’re not here anymore. And if we’re to warn Sapphire City and Opal City, we’ll have to head northeast to the second telegraph station—the desert one.”

“When did this happen?” Jewel asks.

Her gaze wanders everywhere. And when it stops, tears flood her eyes. All she can do is keep looking around, out of focus, out of sync, in a desperate bid to keep herself from falling apart. She’s crumbling on the inside, and I know the guilt is eating away at her.

“We couldn’t have done anything about it,” I say and wrap my arms around her. The minute she relaxes in my embrace, I sense her whole body caving in and her very soul breaking as she starts sobbing like a little girl. “I know, baby, I know. I’m sorry.”

“We weren’t here,” she wails, holding on to me for dear life.

Yossul sighs and gently caresses the back of her head. “They would’ve killed us, too. They brought in the big guns. They carefully planned and executed this mission, Jewel. It’s better that we weren’t here. Clearly, they attacked when no one could see them coming, either by a diversion or by pure luck, I don’t know. I don’t even know how they found out where we were.”

“Oh, I think they kept a Yellow Gang member alive,” she hisses and pushes herself away, cursing under her breath as she starts kicking rocks with the steel tips of her boots. “They must’ve tortured him long and hard enough to get this information out of him. They destroyed your clan!”

“They didn’t,” Yossul replies firmly. “We’re still here, Jewel. They didn’t kill all of us. And as long as there’s a Kreek drawing breath, we can fight them.”

“We should’ve seen this coming,” I mutter. “I don’t think it should have shocked us the way it did.”

“Nobody wants to see something like this coming,” my brother snaps. “Dammit, Fadai, we’re at war. We swore we’d never get too emotionally invested in any of our relationships. Not with our friends, not even with one another, especially knowing we could die at any given moment!”

But that is precisely what has happened with the three of us, isn’t it? We’re beyond emotionally invested. We’re so deep in love with Jewel, and she is so deep in love with us that we can no longer fathom an existence without one another.

Even as we stand here, the rubble of our whole world scattered at our feet, I find peace knowing that we’re still breathing. That we can go on from here. Our whole clan is likely dead, and it’s something we’ll never truly recover from. But we’re alive.

I can’t look away. Everywhere my gaze lands, I see suffering. Ghosts to rise, someday. Echoes of a bloody past. The promise of an even bloodier future. The more I look, the clearer everything becomes. All the chaos and all the hacking and slashing, the whistling of laser weapons, the screams and the agony… we thought we’d be safe down here, if only for a while. We were safe.

Until we weren’t.

“The hurt was inevitable,” Jewel declares with a tremble in her lower lip.

I’d give anything to kiss the hurt away, but I know it wouldn’t be enough. I doubt anything will ever wipe it all off the canvas of our lives. “And we will keep hurting, one way or another. The only thing we can do is make sure no one else goes through something like this ever again. Our brothers knew this day might come. We all knew it.”

“Shaytan will pay,” I reply. “He will pay for each of these souls and all those he wasted before them. We never killed the way his people do. We were never this savage or heartless.”

“Weren’t we?” Yossul mumbles.

There are ghosts in our past, many angry at the things we did long before Jewel and her friends came to Sunna.

Finally caving in, Jewel falls to her knees and starts crying her heart out. I’ve never seen her so soft and so broken. Seeing our Kreek family obliterated, knowing we could’ve done better, somehow.

Yossul and I share Jewel’s heartache, though she’s the only one who’s actually manifesting it. Her wails pierce the morning sky, reverberating across the river plateau and drowning out the howling of the southern winds and the murmurs of the steaming water.

The whole world comes to a halt as my brother and I kneel beside Jewel and wrap our arms around her. We hold her close and tight, our hearts intertwined as she lets it all out. Every year spent here, every day she has sacrificed so her friends and our people could live better and longer, so our species wouldn’t die out.

We hold her close as she releases every emotion she’s been holding on to. It’s been raging inside her, pent up and simmering in a rising heat. She’s reached the real boiling point, and I get it.

We take one step forward, and then we’re thrown back two.

At every turn, the Sky Tribe finds a way to embitter each of our victories. We keep winning battles, but at the rate at which we’re losing our people, I fear there will be no one left with which to win the war.