Kilorn

And he loved many people silently, and perhaps with time history would have seen it bloom. Now he would bare the curse that love brings.

Chapter Music: Fight Together, Stand Alone

Our jet moves sickly across the sky towards Archeon that lays in the distant shadows. My stomach churns as we get closer. Seeing Archeon is no comfort to me, because if I can see it they can see us just as clearly.

I've never really thought about death before today. But the feeling of it hangs in the air, choking everyone with its presence. It's a reality many of us in this damn jet will face by the end of the day. I remember when I had that hope when we were all still on the run from Maven's forces. That somehow we were invincible. That we were going to make it. We were supposed to. But then Mare was taken, and it was a sharp reminder how far hope will get you.

Even in the air, we won't be the main targets. Cal, Farley, Gisa, Cameron, Julian, and I are packed into a smaller jet three times the size smaller than the vessels that fly in front of us. We're on a different mission then everyone else. They'll be the ground forces, but we'll be infiltrating. The flying squad, Farley had called us when we boarded in the early morning hours . Our unit is only tasked with two things: capture Mare, and stay alive.

I nearly hugged Cal when he told me the deal he worked out with Farley. Could have even given him a big smack on the lips. I chuckle. When I heard of the deal I screamed against the salt-bitten wind. I screamed until my voice went hoarse and I couldn't jump any higher. If there's one thing I'm sure about today, I'm going to live long enough to be able to see her again. If anyone kills me before that, I'll kill them for it. Or I'll just haunt them until the end of their days... either method works for me.

There's just enough seats for all of us, even a spare. Saved for Mare. We'll need it when she comes back with us. Sitting next to it is Farley. Her eyes haven't moved off a silver chain in her hands. I saw it before we boarded, a small picture of Clara is inside. I could see it in Farley's eyes it was hard to say goodbye to her daughter.

"May I say a few words?" Cameron says, looking up at us. Farley nods, sticking the chain underneath her shirt.

"Whatever happens today...to any of us. I'm thankful the ones by my side in the end are my friends."

"We're on a friends basis now?" I say with a small laugh.

"Shut up, Warren," she snips, throwing a blow at my shoulder. I catch it with a hand, winking at her. She yanks her arm away with a huff. She hates it when I flirt, but it's very amusing to me.

Above us, the alarm rings out. Cal walks out of the pilot pit leaving the co-pilot to their own duty. "It's time," he grumbles. I peer out the window, the other planes are beginning to swoop towards the ground like winged beasts. Then they squeeze out of existence as their Newblood teleporter pilots land them. It's our turn now as our jet lurches forward. I squeeze my eyes shut, grabbing onto the arm of the seat as I feel my insides turn inside out. When I open my eyes back up, we've landed. I feel like I could puke, but Farley has already beat me to it. Gisa has taken on a whole new shade of green as we stumble out of the jet.

Outside, the battle has already started. There's only a handful of soldiers left, but a new hundred bodies lay in the large Archeon square. Silverblood stains the stone, but there's red in there too. A few of our soldiers have already fallen. But this can't be it. Most of our army is here, and not even half a legion of Nortan soldiers lay in the square. There is a Silver Greeny still fighting, raising long arms of wood and stone to send our way. But they aren't a soldier. They wear no uniform, only the green of their house. A civilian. And they're fighting alongside another, and another, and another. This isn't even their army and we have met battle. A smaller group of soldiers stay hidden in the shadows, and in front of them stands a woman I've seen before on the broadcasts next to Mare. Her armour is pure metal, as if she's forged from the same stone of it. Her silver hair tied into a long braid at her back.

"Evangeline," Cal growls next to me. She doesn't seem to see us, and her troops retreat back with her leaving her people to die at our hands.

"Follow her," Farley orders.

Evangeline takes us behind Whitefire palace, through the gardens, and through the door. We loom outside, watching the two soldiers who are guarding it. Farley brings her gun to her eye, but Cameron raises her hand to the gun. She brings a finger to her lips, too loud, she mouths. She turns towards the unsuspecting guards, and they go down clutching at their hearts. We move towards the door, but I see the hesitation in Cameron. I don't want to become a monster, Kilorn, She said to me before we left, After this, I'm leaving for Montfort. Live a life I can be proud of. Does that make me a coward? I told her no, but I saw the pain etched in her features. She doesn't want to abandon anyone to this fight, but she can't breathe war anymore. You could never be a coward for guarding your own heart, Cam. After we get Mare, I'll leave with you. She had smiled at that and boarded the jet with a swing in her step. Now she looks at me as we run to the door. I think she remembers that same moment now.

Somehow, we find Evangeline in the hallways again, ringing orders to her soldiers. "The Queen is in the throne room, protect it at all costs." When we arrive at a hall with arching doors on a main corridor, I see Cal nod to Farley. This is it. Evangeline disappears through the doors, but the seven soldiers stay at the door.

"There are other ways in. We can take a different entrance," Cal whispers to Farley.

"If we do that, they'll come in after us and then we'll be outnumbered. Best we take care of them now. Julian," She looks over to him, "You're up." Cal flinches away from Julian as her steps in between Farley and him. He wasn't happy Julian was coming. I didn't understand why he was coming at all. But I've seen what his Silver abilities are and what they can do. He is our key to bringing Mare safely back to the Guard.

He's not like the rest of the Silvers, hungry to use their power to make those beneath them bend and break. I've only ever seen him use his once, and that was only on the request of Mare. I saw him hesitate then to command people's actions, and I see him hesitate now.

He walks towards the soldiers anyways, only a small red sash around the hip to tie him to the Guard. He rounds the corner, out of our view. I listen to every beat of silence.

A voice that isn't Julians speaks up from the direction of the door, "Julian Jacos under the Queen's orders we-" the voice falls short and Farley waves us forward. When I turn the corner five of the soldiers sit on the floor, heads turned towards Julian. He holds another one's head to look straight into his eye, while keeping the other trained on the other five. That's all Julian needs to control the soldiers. Eye contact and his own voice.

"Unlock the doors," He whispers to one. The soldier nods sluggishly, as if they don't even understand their own movements. Like being pushed into a haze, the soldier stumbles forwards and reaches for the handle. They lift their hand in the air to unlock the metal lock as only a Magnetron could do.

Then the sound of a sharp whiz slices through the air and I watch as Cam crumples to the floor. I fall next to her, propping her head up in my hands. She looks up at me, reaching for my arm. Hot, sticky blood stains her torso. It leeches onto my fingers, my arm. "No no, no," I choke out, "Shhh, you're going to be okay. You're going to be okay, Cam." I feel her hand squeeze my hand.

"What hit her?" Farley growls, kneeling beside me. Cam raises one finger towards the open hall, and at the end of it stands Evangeline. She twirls a thin blade of metal. Next to us, the soldiers wake up. One jumps at me, flinging me away from Cameron. I see Julian gain control of the rest, but the one on top of me has learned fast and keeps their head turned from Julian's gaze. Her hands are framed by muscular, stone arms. A Strongarm. They find their way to my throat easily enough, crushing at my wind pipes. My vision spots, turning the palace ceilings into nothing but sick darkness. I reach for the pistol at my hip, turning it up towards their heart.

The bullet penetrates their face instead, and their blood spits across my own. I feel their body slump over me and I roll them off. I cough and breathe all at once, crawling to Cam. My hands shoot forward, feeling my way across the floor to her.

My hands do not find her first. They find a lake of Red blood.

I nudge her, tracing the line of her lip with my bloody fingers. Her eyes stare up past me, emotionless and dead. But that link, that tether that I always felt towards her, felt severed. Because Cameron was dead.

"No," I whisper. I fold my head into the crook of her neck, breathing in her smell of earth and forest. I think back to our promises. To disappear with one another to Montfort. To leave the war behind and help away from the battlefield. It was a beautiful dream. A dream that has been stabbed in the heart by Evangeline. I have no physical wound, but I feel as if I've been stabbed too. Maybe I have and I don't know it yet. Maybe this is what death is.

"My gift to you," Evangeline trills. I look up towards her.

I scream, "You bitch. You Silver bitch. You-!" She smiles darkly, waving her hands at the lock of the door. I feel hands underneath my arms, forcing me to let go of Cam and to stand. I fight against it until I realize what Evangeline has done.

The metal doors open to us. Inside, I see Mare, the Lakelander Queen, and Wren Skonos. Their armor glints at us as thunder rolls outside.  There was only one way Evangeline knew we were out here. She knew from the start that we had followed her. Was it a plan to do this?

I can feel it in the darkest parts of my own heart. They trusted we would get into the palace, that we would head straight for Mare, and we did not disappoint.

Evangeline sends a sheet of metal at us, forcing us to dodge it by going through the doors. I'm going to kill her for this. I watch as she steps over Cameron's body with a smile and the doors close behind her. Cal has turned into an inferno next to me, Gisa has an array of daggers in her hands ready to fly.

Mare stands from the throne, a gleaming suit of purple with silver bolts arching across her chest. Around her arms, purple sparks jump. Her hair is up, braided in the way she has always liked it back in the Stilts when the summer got too hot to do anything else. She isn't that girl now, and I realize as I stand looking at her smile down at us that Mare Barrow of the Stilts was dead.