In the strengthening light, I can better see exactly what this train is bringing back to Cardinia. What had looked like bits of steel and stone hauled back in cars now take on the recognizable shape of specific types of pillars or stone blocks with letters carved in them. With a start, I realize that these are artifacts of Mara that the Federation must think are worth keeping. They are trophies.
I look on grimly, recognizing one enormous stone strapped into its own car as the stone usually suspended over the Striker arena’s gate. On it is engraved one of their mantras: MAY THERE BE FUTURE DAWNS. Still another car carries two pillars with carvings indicative of the Early Ones’ writing. Finally, there is the car that the others will be targeting, the one loaded with prisoners.
I wait until the light has fully brightened. Somehow, the arrangement of soldiers and workers milling around out here makes me uncomfortable. I see a few teams walking alongside engineers, all inspecting the objects tied to the cars. There’s a woman with them too, and I recognize her as Mayor Elland of Cardinia. She must have come here to Mara to inspect what they’ll be bringing back to her city.
None of it feels right. Usually, if the Premier is headed somewhere, the patrols are more structured, ordered into neat rows to await his arrival so they can easily and safely usher him to where he needs to go. I’ve seen it plenty in my lifetime.
But they aren’t out here. Neither is the Premier.
Had they changed their minds? Is the Premier not on this train after all? If that’s the case, it will make this mission an easier one for us. Talin won’t be at his side, a weapon we cannot defeat.
The light changes more. I exchange a brief look with Adena and the others near the station. They appear as confused as I am. We stay where we are until steam and smoke finally begin to pour from the train. It is going to move.
I watch as the massive machine yawns and roars, as the soldiers shout to one another and back away from the train. Then I tense for the first detonation of the cylinders hidden under its tracks, ready to move.
It doesn’t come.
Neither does the second.
The explosives don’t work. This is my first thought as I turn my eyes to meet Adena’s stricken ones. But when I look closer at the tracks, I notice that it’s not that the spheres she created do not work.
It’s that they have been removed. Someone has cleared away all of them since we planted them last night.
My blood runs cold at the same time I look up to see General Caitoman emerging from the front gate. Behind him march several patrols of soldiers.
They look unsurprised, ready to attack, and to my horror, I realize that there is an entire ring of soldiers who have been waiting for us already. They appear all along the edges of the train station now, along with the hulking shapes of Ghosts.
This is the moment when it finally dawns on me that they knew we were coming. We’ve walked right into a trap.
Part of what makes you a Skyhunter is the rush of rage that fills you in the seconds before you attack. Now, as I gear up to move, I can feel that same rush coursing through my veins with blinding heat. Talin had told me of how my eyes glow, transforming me from a young man into something monstrous. Along with this fury comes fear.
I hate the rush. I hate the feeling. And yet, every time it appears, I can’t help but want more of it, hoping that if it swallows me completely, I’d never have to know the destruction I’ve created. Better to hide, right? Better to lose yourself.
I close my eyes; the world around me narrows into a funnel of light.
Then I stand and extend my wings. If the others at the station see me now, they should know I am directing every bit of the soldiers’ attention to me. The guard closest to me freezes, her eyes wide in terror at the sight of me. She waves frantically to the team behind her, but it’s all she has a chance to do. I brace myself, then surge toward the train. If there is nothing we have to stop the train with, then I will have to attempt to inflict the damage myself.
Soldiers dart out of my path as I hurtle toward the train’s massive wheels. My bladed feathers clip against their giant metal spokes, and sparks fly. The hit sends ripples of agony through me, but I grit my teeth and saw desperately into the wheels again.
My attack is no explosion—but the force of me throwing all my weight against the train makes the entire structure rock sideways with a loud groan. The wheels’ spokes bend sharply at the impact, scraping hard against the wheels themselves and bringing the train to a halt.
The others seem to sense immediately what I’m doing, because when my attention shifts to them for a moment, they are already out from their hiding places and rushing into battle in an attempt to get to the train car. I see the blur of Jeran’s figure. He reaches one of the patrols first and twists, blades flashing through the air. Nearby, Adena leaps against the train station’s shed, scales it in an instant, and launches herself off, gun firing.
I turn to face the Karensan soldiers. All the while, my mind whirls with the same question. They knew. They knew. How did they know?
The soldiers have no time to react. All they can do is lift their blades. Some of them point their guns at me, but I slide into a crouch, one of my wings shielding me from their barrage of bullets. I seize the first soldier by the collar and fling him aside; I grab his fallen blade and swing it viciously at the second soldier.
From behind them comes the gnashing of rotting fangs. Ghosts.
They don’t target me, but turn their attention on the Strikers who have come with us on the mission. I narrow my eyes, bare my teeth, and hurtle into them.
Near the end of the train tracks, an explosion rocks the earth.
The blast is so powerful that I feel the heat scalding my back. One of Adena’s bombs. I guess they didn’t catch all of them.
Screams erupt from the gate, where the patrol has been thrown back. Flames roar against the entrance’s frame. Silhouetted against the chaos is Adena herself, running alongside Tomm and Pira as they draw near to the train car of prisoners. I glimpse a flash of Aramin’s uniform darting through the grass.
Knives are in my hands, cutting through skin and flesh before I am even aware of my own attack. I spin through soldiers and Ghosts alike in a whirlwind of blood. The blades of my wings slice through the air until they strike bodies. I wince at each impact, but the pain fuels me now, and the threat of death pushes me to keep moving.
Some of the Ghosts are newly formed. They look more human than the others, their forms smaller but their rage fresh, their bodies flush with strength from the intense agony of breaking down. I grit my teeth, hating the look of them. It’s like looking at a person who is no longer a person. Like watching the soul of your sister rot before your eyes.
Soldiers are pouring toward us from every direction now. There are far too many of them for us to face. They seem not only to know that we would stage this attack, but that I would be among them.
We have lost this battle. The others have to get out of here.
I push off from the ground and charge into a patrol of soldiers heading for the others. A bullet hits my shoulder and rockets me backward. I grimace and look in the direction of my attacker. It’s Caitoman himself. His hit can’t penetrate the steel under my skin, but it leaves a small wound anyway. I whirl to focus on him.
Far at the other end of the train, I see Jeran sliding the train car door open and slicing through the ropes of the first prisoner he sees.