Page 68 of Lucie
Chapter Thirty-Three
Reminisce
Lucien stood on the parapet and stared out across the vast, empty landscape in front of the compound. Except it wasn’t empty of life. Around sundown there had been maybe two dozen or so Bloods standing out there, perfectly still like statues. Watching the soldiers who stared back. Not making any sort of threatening move or even advancingtoward the compound.
As darkness enveloped them, the numbers increased. And when the broken moon finally managed to shine its partial light across the barren scenery, there was no way to count how many figures were out there.
Eerily silent, as if patiently waiting for a sign or signal.
“What are they doing?”
Renkenmoved up next to him. The ex-mercenary grunted. “Hell ifanyone knows.” He held out a piece of jerky to him. “Want some?”
Lucien sensed the man was checking him out, and knew why. “No, thanks. And I’m not sick,” he told the man. “And, no, I don’t know why I haven’t come down with the virus. I thought at first that maybe being a half-breed might have something to do with maybe me having a slight edge against contracting it. But whenJohnagot sick…”
“How’s she doing?”
“They tell me she’s getting worse. That she’s exhibiting moreMutahsymptoms than Normal symptoms. Mom’s full-on ill. Iain’s doing all he can to keep their lungs emptied out, but he says it’s an uphill battle.”
Renkenleaned over to gaze down at the ground more than a dozen yards below. It was difficult to pierce the shadows down there. They had no fires or lit torchesto see by, as everything made of wood had been burned months before. What tumbleweeds and other combustible stuff that had been blown into the compound over the years had been scavenged and taken to the main dining hall to use as tinder.
“You andJohna, it’s gotten serious between you two.”
“Yeah.” It was all he would admit. He couldn’t tell the man how terrified he was of possibly losingher, either from the virus or the maddening if she managed to survive.
Straightening, the warrior crossed his arms over his chest. “You know, thirty years ago I wandered from compound to compound. I used to hire out my sword to any battle lord who’d pay me. Made a decent wage out of it. Saw a lot of strange and scary shit. But I wasn’t happy. Oh, I thought I was, but a little voice inside mekept insisting there was something else out there, someplace else I needed to be. A place I could finally call home.
“Then I got wind of this battle lord who’d had the audacity to take aMutahto wife. But she wasn’t just any so-called filthyMutah. She was a huntress with this incredible ability with a bow and arrow. Some of the stories I heard about what she could do, and what she’d done—Istarted to wonder how much of it was true, ifanyof it was true. That’s when I decided I needed to go to this compound and see for myself.”
“You were a doubter.”
“Damn right, I was.”
“Is that when Mom shot an arrow through the handle of your mug as you were drinking from it?”
Renkenchuckled. “Yeah. And no one batted an eye when she did it. Right then and there I knew I belonged at AltaNovis. Of course, it took some time before your dad and his men learned to trust me.”
“They thought you were there on a temporary basis?”
“At first, they did. Even though I never asked for any kind of pay, other than room and board, they suspected I’d eventually leave.”
Lucien snorted. “How long did it take for them to finally accept you?”
“When the Bloods destroyedBearingerand kidnappedyour father,Attywanted me to be part of the rescue party to find him and bring him back. She let the soldiers know she trusted me explicitly, and from that moment on I was one of them. It was like, once I got her seal of approval, all doubt vanished.”
“Tell me about Echo.”
Renkenraised an eyebrow at him. “You’re wondering about the age difference, right?”
“I was told she was kept as aslave by Mink when that self-proclaimed Blood goddess overran AltaNovis. That she was twelve when she stabbed Mink in the neck, which enabled my Mom and Dad to finally defeat her.”
The grin that splitRenken’sface reflected a mix of emotions. The man bowed his head as he reminisced. “Funny thing, Bloods don’t call themselves that. They call themselves the New People. Echo’s family and compoundhad been razed some years back, but for some reason Mink decided to spare her and use her as her personal slave. Echo was beaten and starved, and God knows what else. She won’t tell me. But she survived. And when they arrived at AltaNovis, and she realized your parents might be her only hope of salvation, she took matters into her own hands. And, yes, she was only twelve at the time. To me, shewas this pathetic little kid, all skin and bones, but with these big brown eyes. No telling how long she’d been with the Bloods.
“Fortune and Tory took her in as one of their own to raise her, and right off the bat you could tell she was a fighter, all full of vinegar and piss. Fortune told me she’d have these horrific nightmares at night, when she’d wake them up with her screaming. She stilldoes, but only every once in a while.
“Like everyone else in the compound, we watched her grow up. She’d hang out with the soldiers, just to listen to them tell their tales, but mostly she’d go out into the field and watch them during practice.
“Then, one day, I was cleaning my sword, and a pair of boots planted themselves right in front of my nose. I looked up, and there was this beautifulyoung woman with huge, brown eyes staring down at me. She wanted me to give her lessons using the sword, and I realized, ‘Oh my God. She’s grown up.’ She wasn’t this gangly little slip of a girl anymore.
