Book 3, Chapter 113 - A Gift to the Wastelands (1/2)

Sandbar Station had become a lifeless settlement. Open a window, and all you saw were patrolling Elysian soldiers. Its entrance had become an impromptu execution site and heads were stacked high in three separate piles. Ash from the incinerated corpses were carried on the wind and kept the city in perpetual haze.

Adder’s bar still had no patrons.

But that didn’t mean it was empty. Twenty or thirty children were busily cleaning the place with duster cloths, happily working. Even at their young age they knew the bar was their only refuge. On the other side of that door was certain death.

There was no such thing as a free meal, so everyone contributed how they were able. Otherwise, their option was starvation and pain.

Luciasha watched over the children, who averaged about ten years old, each striving to prove their worth. She couldn’t help but feel sad for these homeless children who’d had their roots cut out from under them. They were hopeless, without a place to feel safe or loved. Only someone who had experienced it for themselves could ever really understand what they were going through.

“Rest, all of you. We aren’t expecting any patrons.”

But just as Luciasha said this, there was a loud bang behind her.

An Elysian officer kicked the door open and a squad of men with swords and bows poured in. Without a moment’s pause they started flipping over tables and smashing furniture. The sudden ferocity made everyone in the bar freeze.

Children scattered, hiding wherever they could under tables and behind the bar.

Adder’s henchmen were afraid for their necks, but remembered what the boss had told them. They stood, attempting to stop the soldiers from causing further damage. “Stop! You can’t-”

Shtick – thunk!

Crossbow bolts fell upon the man before he had a chance to finish his thought. In an instant the unfortunate man was a pincushion, with bolts sprouting all over his body. The others who thought of getting in the soldiers’ way shouted in fear and surprise and thought better of it.

Luciasha was also terrified. Did these soldiers not realize this was Adder’s bar? He had a token of a high-ranking demonhunter, when did soldiers start to disregard the authority of demonhunters?!

“Adder has been declared a traitor and an enemy of Skycloud. Everyone here is considered an accomplice and will be given no quarter. Gather them up!” The officer stood in the center of the bar, shoulders back and his hand on his sword. He gave the order in a cold, callous voice. “Kill anyone who resists.”

Luciasha’s face went white as a sheet.

Obviously something had happened to her adopted father, and his name wasn’t going to protect them. Without it, the bar was no longer safe.

The children knew this was bad. They cried and ran in a panic, trying to escape. Soldiers raised their crossbows, aiming for the tiny bodies.

Filled with a courage she didn’t know she had, Luciasha threw herself in front of them. “Don’t kill the children! They’re innocent. I’ll go with you.”

“It’s not up to you to decide who is innocent!”The officer’s face was cruel and disdain dripped from his voice. “Leaving these rats alive is only inviting trouble down the road. The evil of the wastelands must be erased, kill all of them!”

“No!” Luciasha screamed in despair.

But the order was given. Soldiers leveled their weapons, placed their fingers on their triggers. But just as they were ready to fire, a streak of light burst through the bar from outside. It tore directly through the officers head, to the other side of the room and left a fist-sized hole in the wall.

The other soldiers froze for a moment before shock and anger overtook them. They stared unsure of how to react as their officer, now missing two thirds of his head, tumbled backward. All that was left of his skull was bits of brain matter and his lower jaw.

“Who?!”

The soldiers turned around and were stunned at what they saw. Those soldiers left outside to catch stragglers were dead to a man, brutally hacked to death. Whoever or whatever had ended them was definitely a highly trained killer.

“Careful! It’s an ambush!”

For the first time since taking control of Sandbar Station, they were under serious attack. Elysian soldiers were trained not to fear anything, so with stoic expressions they whipped around and aimed their weapons toward where the attack had come from. Without even knowing their target, they fired a volley.

The hail of arrows fired toward the partially opened door. In an instant it was blasted to splinters.

One of the higher ranked among them quickly dropped his crossbow and pulled the changeable weapon that was standard Elysian equipment from his back. He kicked open the ruined door and charged outside, but before he died without even spotting his foe. The soldier’s head was easily severed from his neck and went flying through the air, while his body stumbled five or six steps forward before realizing what had happened.

“Heathens! Everyone, charge!”

Fury spurred the soldiers on and they filed outside to hunt their attackers. They were met with blades faster than the eye could follow, as a dozen figures clad in black cut them down. Only two of the men in black were slain by the time the Elysians were dead. Clearly there was a great discrepancy between the capabilities of these two forces.

A man appeared among them. Large, wrapped in a black cloak with his hair cut short and scars across the corner of his eyes. Average in appearance, but something about his presence left a deep impression. A warm, lopsided grin was stuck to his face. “I’m sorry. I was gone for a while.”

“Father!”

Luciasha threw herself into Adder’s arms.

After three years together Adder considered Luciasha no different than a daughter. Nor did it matter who Adder was, to Luciasha she was father. For him, he’d never met a purer and more unsullied spirit thans hers. To her, he was the unshakable mountain that shaded her and lifted her up.

Adder patted her head. “Come with me.”

She raised her head and looked at him with surprise and concern. “Where are we going?”

“The Sandbar is no longer safe. We need to find somewhere else.”

“But the children...” She looked back at the kids who were just starting to peek their heads out from hiding. “I can’t just leave them here.”

“Asha, you’re a good girl. I know this is hard, but in order to protect people you need to have the strength and the means to do it. We can’t take this many with us.”

Luciasha bit her lip. She knew there was truth to what her father was saying, but how could she face these dozens of tiny faces and tell them they were being abandoned?

“ “We have no more use for the bar. Tell them they can take whatever food they can carry. At least it will give them a chance. Whether or not they make it will be up to them from now on.” Adder gently took his daughter by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes. “You need to understand, saving someone isn’t as simple as providing food and a warm place to sleep. Eventually they will need to learn how to strive for themselves.”

Her work with these children was done, she knew that. While Luciasha might not like it, she didn’t have any right to talk back to the man who had given her so much. She begrudgingly nodded her head. “Alright, I’ll do as you say.”

He smiled. “Actually I’ve prepared a gift. A gift for all the wastelands. Will you join me in witnessing this moment?”

Luciasha nodded.

A man in red robes strode up to their side. “This place leaves a thread, enough for demonhunters skilled in tracking to follow. Should we raze it?”

“No. We called this place home for five years. I want to leave it here, a monument to what was. As for the Elysians, you don’t need to worry. I wouldn’t make such a careless mistake.”

Adder picked his way across the corpse-strewn street while the others followed. A team of ox-driven carts were waiting to bring them away from the outpost. As they made for the exit, the caravan passed by Cloudhawk’s shop. Waiting outside was a small girl with tattered clothes and brilliant blue eyes.

“Azura, when Cloudhawk comes back tell him I had to go. Tell him not to worry.”

She didn’t answer. The small girl watched in silence as the caravan trundled away into the distance.

***

Blood red hues painted the evening sky as the day drew to a close. The undulating desert stopped where razor-sharp mountains groped for the clouds.

Luciasha followed Adder to the rocky desert mountains, where from its peaks one could see far into the distance. Up here the dunes looked flat, and spread to the limits of ones vision where it met the burning sky.