Chapter 23

Ican see them on my screens.

The devils are approaching in their black leather uniforms, the golden tresses glimmering on their shoulders. Their weapons catch the last of the sunlight as the horizon melts into rabid shades of red and pink. Their eyes are devoid of emotion, and their boots thud across the dry dirt road, causing dust to rise in endless swirls around them.

They have buggies galore loaded with laser cannons and explosive devices. Aircraft fly overhead and survey the area as they try to breach the black cloud. They can’t. I don’t know how long it will hold them back—it’s a noxious gas with plenty of pigment, but it isn’t impossible to disrupt.

They will figure it out sooner or later. With enough rounds around the city, more violent engine thrusts, and perhaps a favorable gust of wind, and they might be able to dissipate at least some of the cloud long enough for their jets to swing down right over us. For now, they just fly and observe.

They can’t see us over here on the west side just yet. The cloud and the city’s old towers keep us hidden. But I can see them well enough to understand how screwed we are if we don’t maintain our defenses until the crack of dawn.

“Commander, the drones are ready,” Ivo says as he enters the command center, the doors sliding shut behind him. But you’ll have to be careful. Their jets will eventually reach our sector.”

“As long as that mist is up and thick enough, we’ll be fine. I just need to catch an engine heat signature,” I tell him with a slight nod. “How are we doing? Ready?”

“As we’ll ever be,” the boy replies, damn near quaking in his boots. “The positions are set, and the weapons are all loaded.”

“And the mines?”

“Armed and ready,” Ivo says.

I exhale sharply. “How are our men? Are they holding up alright?”

Ivo glances back over his shoulder, doubt dancing in deep shadows across his red face. “Commander, they are terrified; I won’t lie to you. But their daughters and their wives and their mothers are hiding in the Kaos Mountain catacombs. They have every reason to fight for their freedom,” he says. “You have our full support.”

“We’ll do everything we can,” I tell him. “But I need to make sure I find that starship before it breaches the atmosphere. I’ll let you handle the screens for a while. Alert me to any new changes, all right?”

“What changes are we expecting?”

I get up from my seat and point to the northern gate screens. “They’ll reach the labyrinth within the hour, tops. From there, we need eyes on each and every one of them. The guards know to shoot them on sight, but they will make it through. Maybe not all three thousand of them, but enough to make our lives harder. And when they do reach the gate, they’ll send a man out to negotiate our surrender.”

“I presume we’ll shoot him dead.”

“Of course. And then, all hell will break loose,” I reply bluntly. “I’ve got the long-range guns ready; one for the mountain ridge, in case they’ve got troops coming through there as well, and the other prepared for the starship.”

My hands are shaking, so I shove them in my pockets as I leave Ivo in charge of the screens and make my way up to the rooftop terrace. I pass some of our soldiers, and I catch glimpses of their fearful glances. I can almost smell the fear oozing through their pores.

The Kreek boys know what to expect. They’ve been through these fires before. But the royal guard, the new recruits—they’re wide-eyed and have been sheltered for most of their lives. The worst they ever dealt with was a rogue teenager trying to get out of the city. The worst they’ve ever had to do was execute those few rebels who dared go against Solomon’s laws.

Upstairs, I find my drones set up and ready to take off. Above me, the evening falls in shades of deep purple, a spattering of stars twinkle in silence. But the silence is cut short by the distant thuds of war drums.

“And so it begins,” I mutter, remembering movie scenes of other heroes awaiting their demise at the sound of the enemy at their gates.

One by one, I activate the drones and go back to the tablet device, pulling each of their video feeds up so I know they’re all working within their parameters. I only hope the sensors will be able to scan across greater distances. All I need is a blip on the map, a single blip of nuclear energy to confirm there’s a starship there.

Once I’ve got that, I’ll know where to point the long-range laser and do what I swore I would do, even if it costs me my life. The Sky Tribe must never be allowed anywhere near Earth again.

A solitary boom echoes across the city. I freeze, every muscle in my body tensing as I listen for what comes next: the crumbling of stone, the wailing of metal, and a multitude of laser weapons being fired both ways as the war begins to unravel at the northern gates.

“They made it through the labyrinth,” I tell myself, and I can hear my own voice trembling with horror. It’s happening faster than I had anticipated, and it doesn’t bode well for the rest of us. God, I hope Fadai and Yossul can hold them back.

Without hesitation, I take command of my drones on the tablet screen, and they take off, rising vertically first before they’re deployed in a wider radius.

“Come on, help me, winds, please…” I mutter as I guide my little sentinels across the war zone.

I catch brief glimpses of troops on the ground. They’re pouring through the labyrinth with greater ease than I had hoped. It means that whichever Yellow Gang prisoner Shaytan had in his grip sang like a canary for his unbearable misery to end.

The enemy troops seem to know where the traps are. They’re breaching it too fast, and it’s making my heart pump faster, but I cannot linger there, not even for a second.

Fadai and Yossul know what they have to do.

My drones fly farther out, leaving the conflict behind. A couple of jets dart past us, but we’re too small for them to worry about. They’re still trying to get through the black mist, so I’ve got the space I need to push forward.

Within minutes, I’m out of the five hundred-mile radius and going wider. I set these drones on autopilot as well, then carry the tablet downstairs with me.

“How’s it looking?” I ask Ivo once I get back. The entire base rumbles with agitated soldiers moving from one position to another, constantly in motion as they anticipate the enemy coming toward us by the break of dawn. At least they’re ready for whatever is headed our way. “Have they reached the northern gate yet?”

“Yes, but we’re holding up for now,” Ivo replies. Beads of sweat trickle down his temples as he gets out of my seat, and I settle in front of the screens once again.

“Okay, the western ridge seems clear,” I mutter, going over each live footage. “The eastern gates have some activity, I see.”

“The Sky Tribe sent a battalion down there, but the bulk of their forces is focused on the northern gate,” Ivo replies. “I haven’t seen anything at the southern gate yet.”

“And we’ve got the west covered, more or less,” I say. “They don’t really need to surround the city in order to take it. They got accurate intel from their Kreek prisoners, so they know what they’re doing.”

“What do you want us to do?”

I give Ivo a short but heavy glance. “Nothing yet. I need you to stay here. I may have to leave again, and I want your eyes on the screens.”

“Commander, I feel like I could maybe do more…”

“More? As in what, exactly? Would you like to go into the city and join the fight there? Because we’ll need every man we can spare up here when the enemy does reach us,” I shoot back. “Ivo, that excitement making you restless in these dire moments is just the adrenaline kicking in. Do not let it cloud your judgment. We must be prepared.”

He shakes his head slowly. “I’m amazed by how calm you can be, Commander.”

I shrug and take a deep breath. “It’s not as if I have any other choice. If I could, I’d fire every single weapon we have at those bastards. But we have limited resources and a higher goal to accomplish.” Pausing, I look at my tablet device, watching the drones fly farther out, their sensors unable to pick up any nuclear signatures. The longer this takes, the heavier the ball of lead in the pit of my stomach gets. “We’re needed here, Ivo, with clear heads and calm hearts, whether we like it or not.”

The young Sunnaite agrees and settles into the chair beside me. Together, we watch the screens as the battle unfolds.

The Sky Tribe troops came prepared with special diamond-glass shields to divert some of the laser beams, which is how they got through the labyrinth so quickly. Not all of them survived. Parts of the maze are already littered with bodies. I notice the poisoned darts that shoot from hidden nooks in the black walls have been the most effective. Apparently, Shaytan’s prisoner didn’t give up every last detail of our defenses.

At the northern gates, I see our men on the walls, firing at will. Lights dance across the screen in flashes of white and red, and plumes of black smoke rise here and there. We’re taking serious hits, but the last-minute support from the rest of the Fire Tribe is coming in handy. The newly arrived fighters are remarkably good snipers and are able to take many mercenaries down before they even attempt to breach the gates.

It’s not enough, though.

Our men fall to their deaths from the top of the walls, one at a time, as Sky Tribe snipers come up from behind their front line and unleash the wrath of their laser weapons upon them. In horror, spot Fadai as he comes down from the wall and joins the Fire Tribe warriors below in one of their flanks.

“Shit, they’re going to breach!” Ivo exclaims, watching the screens with equal horror.

The Sky Tribe engineers emerge with laser cannons strapped to their shoulders. These dangerously capable weapons release single-fire beams so concentrated and thick that they melt the gate hinges in mere minutes.

I can almost hear our men from above shouting at the ones below to move farther back now that I realize what’s about to happen.

Heat swarms through me like a billion fire ants as I see the black smoke tendrils rising from where the massive steel hinges used to be just before the gates fall backward. Some of our men are crushed underneath, and it makes my stomach churn—yet I cannot look away.

“They’re in,” I whisper.

The Sky Tribe troops pour into Opal City, eager to gun down as many of our fighters as they can, but ours aren’t the feeble kind. The Kreek boys are on the front line, as always, shouting and roaring and coming at them with everything they’ve got. The clash is bloody and violent, and my eyes lose track of who’s who. I only see bodies crushing against one another, beams of bright light shooting left and right, fighters falling in pools of blood, and soot spreading across the granite cobblestones. I see death in a strange mélange of slow motion as my brain registers every gory detail.

I finally spot Fadai, who’s like a panther in full swing, moving like a shadow as he takes down his opponents. He is calm and calculated, firing his laser weapons and slitting throats in between. I don’t know how he can keep his intense focus, but I’m sure the inner fire of Sunna has helped plenty.

We’ve been drinking that stuff like water for days, which is probably why I’m so highly functional at this point and able to process so much information in such a short time.

“It’s about to get worse,” Ivo says, pointing to the corner of one screen.

“Oh, no…” I mumble, recognizing the two men.

It’s Blaze Pyrin and Shaytan Hull. Of all the places in the world to be right now, they chose Opal City. My teeth chatter as I try to steady my erratic breathing, the implications of their presence causing my blood to freeze in my veins.

Shaytan is a deadly man in the field. He’d risen high in the ranks precisely because of his battle skills. Blaze plays dirty—deadly dirty. I worry about Fadai now more than ever. These two are heavily armed and armored and surrounded by a throng of equally threatening guards.

They’ve come for us, and something tells me they won’t stop until they get us, dead or alive.

And I’m too far from the conflict to do anything.

Should they come knocking, I’ll need to be ready. I give Ivo a pale smile. “Buddy, we have to adjust our defense strategy.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’ve got the big boss in the house. That means he’s headed right this way, and I’m his prized trophy. Had it only been his troops, I might’ve played it differently. But Shaytan and Blaze mean a different kind of business. So, with that in mind, how are we doing in terms of explosive devices and any items that could be turned into explosive devices?”

The sheer terror on Ivo’s face tells me he understands precisely what I intend to do. We did talk about this possible scenario. We just hoped it wouldn’t come to this. As it stands, however, fate has something else in store for me, so I must adjust my course accordingly.

I need to find a way to stay alive and in possession of one functional long-range laser weapon until morning.

That is precisely what Shaytan and Blaze will try to prevent.

Suddenly, a red flash appears on one of the surveillance screens. “Wait, what was that?” I ask, short of breath.

“North gate,” Ivo replies.

The explosion is huge. I see bodies scattered across the ground and patches of molten cobblestone. Everything is black, so much black. Fires burn and spread with frightening speed. Fire Tribe warriors desperately try to stop the flames from burning them alive.

It’s about to get worse.