Graveyard of Empires Page 25

  “Maven, it’s good hearing from you,” she said to her sister on the other end of the connection.

  Maven looked hideous. She was wearing her stupid overly-dramatic self-conscious outfit: a black cloak sagged low to hide her face and a plastic breathing mask, fogging gently each time she took a breath. She didn’t like to let people see her face and hadn’t since she was a child. Since the accident.

  Her sister had always been rather theatrical.

  “Alyssa…” Maven said, her voice lilting in disdain. “What do you think you are doing?”

  “Serving the council, dear sister,” she said. “Performing an audit to ensure our funds are being spent wisely.”

  “At my Academy?”

  “It was quite the investment.”

  “It isn’t ready yet,” Maven said. “You shouldn’t be there.”

  “I just want to help.”

  Maven laughed and shook her head. “I know exactly what you want.”

  “Little sister, why do you insist on treating me like an enemy? I want to help you and be there for you. I’ve never done anything to hurt you.”

  “Sure,” Maven said with a noncommittal shrug. “But I’m telling you, you shouldn’t be there.”

  “And why not?”

  “Because my students are undergoing a training exercise,” Maven said. “It could be dangerous.”

  Alyssa laughed, holding her stomach. “Oh,” she said through gasps, “that’s rich.”

  Maven didn’t respond. Alyssa couldn’t see her face, but she knew her sister was angry. She could tell by the precisely controlled breaths through the breathing mask. She had the look of a wounded animal, weak and pathetic.

  “You didn’t ask,” Maven said.

  Alyssa smiled at her sister. “Easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission, dear sister.”

  Maven shook her head. “Alyssa, please just turn around and head back—”

  Alyssa closed the communicator, ending the connection. She couldn’t help but giggle a little. Her sister was such a stuck up little cow sometimes. It was nice to put her in her place.

  Once she’d managed to embarrass Maven’s Academy to the Council, they would have no choice but to close it down and withdraw support.

  Alyssa’s headache began to recede. The call perked up her spirits. After a while, she relaxed in her chair and closed her eyes. She was confident that the engineer wouldn’t step out of line for the duration of this trip so there wasn’t anything to worry about.

  “It’ll all be worth it,” she reminded herself, “when I can close Maven’s Academy for good.”

  3

  Jayson waited on the tracks, tree limb dangling in his left hand and heart beating like a drum. He stood in a loose stance, ready to move if the train didn’t slow. If the engineer was paying attention, he might even bring the train to a stop. That would make the job really easy.

  But as the train drew closer it also grew larger. He started to rethink his plan. It wasn’t traveling quickly, but it wouldn’t take much speed to be faster than him. He felt like an ant standing before a charging behemoth.

  He bit back nerves and anxiety and focused on the task at hand. His objective was to get to the engineer, subdue him, and bring the train to a halt. If he was lucky, the man would think he was a hapless stranger and offer assistance. That would make Jayson’s part in the plan easy.

  Tricia’s job was to make sure the train was empty and locate medical supplies. Once they had things under control they would patch Richard up and have the train continue on its way, delivering them to the Academy.

  It sounded easy. But he had to admit there were certain things he’d overlooked. What if the engineer didn’t give up easily? What if the engineer was armed? Reasonably, why wouldn’t he be armed? They were in the middle of the forest at night. What were the chances the guy would want to help them?

  Jayson would have done just about anything for a real weapon. But wishing he was armed with more than a wooden stump wouldn’t do him any good.

  “Who the hell hijacks a train,” Jayson said to himself as the train pounded closer, “with a stick?”

  Twenty meters away, it became apparent that the train wasn’t going to stop. The engineer either didn’t see him or planned on running him down. That was okay, Jayson supposed. If the engineer didn’t know he was there, all the better.

  It was moving at about eighteen kilometers per hour, he guessed. He could sprint and keep up with it for a few seconds at least.

  Jayson stepped off the tracks to his right letting it approach. It would breeze right past him only a few feet away. The engine compartment had five steps with handrails along the sides. It was built similar to trains he’d seen on Eldun, so he guessed the rails would be sturdy. His plan required that he catch hold of those rails and pull himself on.

  A second flitted past.

  The train’s floodlights almost blinded him as the train barreled closer. He heard a shout as the engineer finally spotted him, but it was already too late. The train suddenly sounded louder as the engineer cranked up the speed. But it would take too long to build enough to outrun Jayson.

  Jayson’s body kicked into high gear as adrenaline coursed into his veins. The world seemed to slow down around him. It always shocked him, at times like this, just how fast the human mind could work. He could see, hear, and process information at a much higher level of functioning than normal.

  Another second slipped past.

  Jayson forced himself to breathe in deep steady breaths. He turned with the train still a ways off and began sprinting along the tracks, his pace slightly under that of the trains. It reached him and flowed right past, thunder filling his ears.

  He reached out with his right hand and caught the closest handrail. It was smooth and ice cold to the touch. He clenched down on it, increasing his pace to fall into step with the train.

  But he was too slow. The train was traveling faster than expected, and he missed a step. As a result, he tripped and banged against the side of the engine. His knee hit hard and exploded in pain, but he bit it back and focused on what he was doing. He dropped the stick and used his left hand to keep himself off the ground.

  He barely kept hold of the rail with his right hand but managed to lift himself off the ground. After a few seconds, he caught the other handrail with his left hand and leveraged his body onto the step. His knee throbbed but he didn’t think he’d done any permanent damage.

  The engine door flew open, nearly knocking him off his perch on the steps. A short man in grease-covered overalls and a brown hat glared down at him. “What the hell?”

  Jayson didn’t answer. He forced himself forward, half-crawling up the steps, and hit the man about the waist with a tackle.

  “Hey!” the man shouted, hitting his back hard against the panel inside the engine. He launched a punch at Jayson, but it was slow and off-target. Jayson caught the man’s wrist and leveraged down, forcing him to sit. The engineer collapsed into the chair, raising his hands defensively with a look of horror on his face.

  “How do you stop this thing?”

  The guy stared at him like he was crazy. Jayson raised his fist and the man cowered. Then he nodded toward a double lever on the front control board. Overtop it was a plaque with the word ‘brake’ on it.

  “Oh,” Jayson said.

  “Look, I don’t want any trouble,” the guy said.

  “I know,” Jayson said with a shrug. “It’s nothing personal.”

  Then he slammed the engineer’s head against a flat panel beside the controls.

  4

  Alyssa was on her feet as soon as the train began slowing down.

  “What the hell?”

  They were already moving at an abysmal pace, so why the hell was the engineer stopping? She didn’t know where they were—the entire forest looked exactly the same—but she was certain they weren’t at the Academy. It was supposedly all the way up in the damn mountains.

  And she’d given orders
to the engineer not to stop until they were there. Something must have gone wrong. Or at least, something better have gone wrong. If she found out the engineer was willfully disobeying …

  A second later the lights buzzed in the cabin, flickered, and went out.

  “Oh, for crying out loud!”

  She headed for the exit, determined to punish the short man for his insolence. There was only light from the stars above, so moving wasn’t easy.

  A few steps away from the door it suddenly slid open.

  “You’d better have a damned good reason—”

  A tall black woman rushed inside the open doorway. She had a long face, large lips, and curly black hair. She looked haggard, and her clothes were stained and shredded.

  She also looked strong and intelligent with narrow eyes and a strong jaw. Alyssa was wholly unprepared. She cursed and stumbled back, grabbing for the holdout pistol in her boot. The woman pursued.

  Alyssa ducked out of range. The gun came loose from her boot, but she didn’t have time to draw and fire. She dodged a punch and kicked out with her right foot. She didn’t hit anything, but that wasn’t the objective. She was aiming for the woman’s ankle, forcing her to give ground or suffer a debilitating injury.

  She raised the pistol, trying to draw a bead, but the woman didn’t hesitate. She stepped inside Alyssa’s defenses and launched a kick at her stomach.

  Alyssa managed to avoid the brunt of the attack but it still clipped her side. The hit rocked her and sent stars shooting across her vision. “Bitch…” she moaned, sucking in a breath.

  Alyssa twisted her hips and swiped with her leg, tripping her opponent and forcing extra distance between them.

  It bought some time, but not enough. Alyssa knew she was in trouble. She drew a short ragged breath of cold air into her lungs, but she could feel her body crying out for lack of oxygen.

  The woman braced herself against one of the seats and bounded back into the fray. She caught Alyssa’s hair and punched Alyssa on the wrist holding the gun with two sudden jabs. Hard. The gun fell, bouncing down the aisle to come to a rest near the open door.

  That attack was followed by two more rapid strikes. The woman was fast and a lot better trained than Alyssa, and without her eyes adjusted to the lack of light she was doubly at a disadvantage.

  The first attack hit her on the jaw. She took that one in stride, still in the fight. The second clipped her nose, sending an explosion of red through her vision. The cabin swam and she cried out in pain, stumbling back and furious.

  Alyssa felt more than saw her opponent moving, heading for her gun. She was angry, as angry as she’d ever been. She channeled her emotions into focused determination, gathering it as energy in her implant. She knew the woman had picked up her gun and that she would use it without a moment’s hesitation.

  But Alyssa had no intention of letting that happen.

  “Drop it,” Alyssa growled, throwing her power behind the command. The words barely came out with so little air in her lungs, but they were just a pattern for her thoughts. What mattered was the mental bridge she’d built.

  The woman tried to resist, but Alyssa batted her mental defenses away as thought they were a child’s sand castle. This woman had never practiced mental defense. She’d doubtless never known how dangerous it could be to enter a battle of wills against someone like Alyssa. As a result, she was unprepared.

  Most people were.

  The gun clattered to the floor with a soft thud.

  The cabin fell quiet. The only sound ragged inhalations as the two women struggled to breathe.

  A rush of pride surged through Alyssa as she felt the woman mentally cower from her. Such utter domination of another human being was savagely empowering. Whenever she cast power through the implant it was a lustful, sinful experience. She loved every second.

  “Walk to me,” Alyssa purred, tasting blood on her lips. The woman did, only the slightest tremor in her steps. “Good girl.”

  As she grew closer Alyssa could see her eyes. They were wide with terror. The woman knew everything that was happening, but she could only watch. She had no control over her own body. The best part wasn’t turning the woman into a mindless puppet; it was that the woman knew who was doing it to her.

  “Kneel.”

  Slowly, the woman lowered herself to her knees, lips shaking.

  Alyssa hauled her arm back and slapped the woman across the face, open handed. It stung her palm and a few fingers went numb, but she felt another surge of primal pleasure. She did it again. And again, this time with the back of her hand.

  “You stupid hussy,” she growled, hitting the woman one more time. She walked past the woman to her gun, swaying her hips. She was back in control, and it felt good.

  She scooped the gun up, feeling its comfortable weight, and strode back toward the kneeling woman. She was screaming in her mind, thrashing to regain control over her body. But it meant nothing. She wasn’t strong enough, and Alyssa held her mind in a vice grip.

  “You picked the wrong fucking train, bitch.”

  She leveled the weapon at the back of the woman’s head, savoring the moment.

  Which turned out to be a bad idea.

  She was so focused on killing the woman who’d hurt her that she didn’t notice anything else. She never heard anyone else slip into the cabin. Never saw the figure come up behind her.

  “Step off, whore,” a man said. She cursed and spun, raising the gun and lashing out through her implant, but too slowly. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him standing there. He had sunken brown eyes and a beard and was wearing dirt and blood covered clothing. He looked to be on death’s door.

  He also looked to be swinging what looked to be a very large tree limb…

  …at the back of the head.

  It was a wrecking ball against her skull. She heard something snap.

  Suddenly she was on the ground. The world was spinning.

  And everything went black.

  5

  Jayson heard a resounding crack from inside the passenger car as he dragged the unconscious engineer to the car. He cursed and dropped the man unceremoniously to the ground, rushing toward the sound.

  The door was still open and there was a trail of blood on the ground that he followed inside. The lights were dim and flickering, but he could see well enough. Richard was lying near the aisle at the end of the trail of blood, groaning in pain and clutching a broken tree limb. Tricia was holding his head in her lap, crying.

  Next to them on the floor was a woman he’d never seen before wearing a miniskirt. Her face was covered in blood. She looked vaguely familiar but he couldn’t place her from memory. She was attractive, minus the matted hair and blood staining her face and neck.

  “Are you okay?” Jayson asked, kneeling next to Tricia. She didn’t respond. “Tricia! What the hell happened?”

  Still nothing. She opened her eyes, but they didn’t focus on anything. Jayson glanced around and spotted a white and red medical kit on the wall. He hurried to it and jerked it down. It was heavy, which was good. That meant it was stocked. He unsnapped the sides and opened it.

  He sighed in relief to see the clean supplies and set the kit on the ground next to Tricia. “Hold him. This is going to hurt.”

  She still didn’t reply, but she did reach down and grab hold of Richard’s hands. Jayson cut his bandages loose, revealing Richard’s wound. Somehow—probably when he boarded the train—he’d managed to tear the wound open even farther. What the hell was he thinking, climbing on the train like that?

  The cut was dirty and ugly with faint red lines tinting the edges. Infection, but only just begun. With luck, it wouldn’t do any permanent damage.

  Jayson coated a towel from the kit in alcohol and set to scrubbing the wound clean. With how bad off Richard was he barely moaned.

  Once satisfied the wound was clean Jayson set about closing it up with clean supplies. He found stables and sealed it closed and cleaned the outside with a
foaming disinfectant. He wrapped Richard’s entire side with gauze.

  He found some antibiotics in the kit and after a little struggle managed to get Richard to swallow them. There were also a few vials of painkillers, so he injected a low dose and laid him out on the floor at the front of the cabin. His eyes were closed but the grimace on his face loosened up as the medicine took hold.

  Throughout all of it, Tricia barely moved. She was rocking gently and paying no attention to the outside world. Her eyes looked more haunted than normal, and he wondered what had happened to her. What could have happened to her in those few moments to be so devastating on her psyche?

  “Take care of him,” he said to her. “We need to get moving.”

  She still didn’t respond. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “Tricia! We don’t have a lot of time. Get yourself under control.”

  Tricia looked at him, crying and distant. “She…she took me…I couldn’t…”

  “Richard is going to die,” Jayson said. “Unless we help him. We need more antibiotics to fight his infection, and we aren’t getting them here.”

  Her eyes focused a little bit, and she looked down at Richard. He was breathing peacefully now, but shallowly. “He saved my life.”

  “Then don’t let him die.”

  She looked up, unconvinced, but she did nod.

  Jayson found another roll of tape in the kit and set about tying up the woman and the engineer. He did take a few moments to bandage the wound on the back of the brunette’s head, just to make sure it wasn’t too bad. He didn’t know who she was, and Tricia didn’t seem able/willing to tell him. Best not to let someone he didn’t know die. At least not yet.

  “Watch them,” he said. Tricia didn’t look at him, but she did nod again.

  Then he headed back up to the engine. He took a few minutes to familiarize himself with the controls. There were a lot of knobs and dials, but after a few minutes of trial and error, he managed to get the engine up and running.

  It shuddered to life and started grinding forward once more.

  Jayson sat in the chair.

  All at once the exhaustion hit him. The adrenaline poured out of his body, leaving him a weak and lifeless husk. He was starving, weak, and sore throughout every muscle.