Black Storm - Red Queen Fan Fiction

Chapter 2 - The Fitter part II

set after Glass Sword chapter 29

Cal wasn't able to believe what was happening. Most of all he couldn't grasp that he was still alive. He had watched, dazed and confused, as Mare had surrendered to Maven and had been dragged off. Cal had heard Kilorn screaming at him to stop this, but he'd been too knocked out to move, let alone control his fire, which had continued to fight his metal restraints on instinct. In that moment, he had wanted to give up. Could he have even achieved anything, if he'd forced himself to stand up and attack? Maybe, but he didn't believe he would have caused much difference. Though, at least, he would have died fighting.

But Mare - she had bargained herself for their lives and Cal couldn't accept that. She was lost in her pain more than ever and she didn't know what she was doing. He'd seen it, just before the Blackrun had fallen from the sky, when she'd finally given in to his comfort. He blamed himself for it. He'd said terrible words to her, true words, but he was the wrong messenger. He'd kept his distance from her afterwards, instead of apologizing and to stand by her as she mourned her brother. He'd been wrong, to break the last bit of trust Mare had maintained for anyone and to turn from lover - if he dared to call himself that - to critic. Yet, he'd still expected her to come to him again, as she had done before, but it seemed as if he'd hurt her more than she was able to forgive at that time. Now he wanted to run after Mare, to save her at all cost and to make up for his mistakes.

But it was too late for this, as Maven had taken precautions against it: Cal and the other guards were still in the cage that was once the Blackrun and a group of sentinels were to keep them in check until the royal transporters have gained enough of a headstart. He was inclined to chuckle at the sight of the aghast faces and postures of the Silvers ordered to stay back as they grasped they were really supposed to let the rebels live - and escape, apparently.

Maven was an idiot to let them survive, to let Mare live as well, and his soldiers agreed with Cal in this regard. O, they were going to rue obeying their usurper king one day, and Cal would take care of that. He was going to save Mare from the horrors Maven wanted her to endure.

But he needed a plan first. He was still in a cage. There were still elite Silvers observing them who might decide to kill them after all. And they were still in the middle of nowhere.

One sentinel, a telkie, had pulled all of their weapons out of their reach and occasionally, she knocked anyone unconscious who dared to resist. But she didn't actually hit them, she did something inside her marks' bodies, a technique he remembered faintly.

Cal caught Cameron watching the sentinel patrolling. He assumed Cameron wanted to disable her ability, but Cal was unsure if she managed to do the same to every patroller at the same time.

It was a risky try, as the sentinel noticed what was going on and she turned to Cameron at once. "I know what you are, Newblood!" she exclaimed and threw a knife at the girl. Cal couldn't react fast enough, but the knife merely grazed Cameron, while another sentinel used a taser against her from behind.

The telkie focused on Cal now. "Oh, I forgot," she said as she began to pull on his sparker bracelet. He tried his best to interfere, but she kept his hands out of the way with her ability. Cal had no fond memories of his limbs acting beyond his control. Finally, she gained hold of the bracelet, put it on herself and turned off the sparking. "My only attire today," she teased him. And then she aimed her gun at Cameron.

"You see," she said, "we knew there was a silencer among the Newbloods. She left many tracks, if someone cared to find them. Maybe I should kill her on the spot, such persons are way too dangerous left alive."

"If you pull that trigger," Cal threatened her in turn, "your precious hand will explode with the gun."

"She's killed my aunt," the sentinel hissed. But she lowered her pistol, finally. "I'm aware of what you can do, traitor prince, and either way, I'm supposed to let you live, for whatever stupid reason." Cal could hear the smirk in her voice. "Well, you've managed to kill Merandus, too, and you have no idea how much my mother rejoiced at that news. That was a service to humanity." She returned to prowling at last.

Probably, Cal should be able to remember such a dramatic person with a penchant for treason, but his head still hurt and he wondered if it even helped to address her as a person. He tried it anyway, without success.

Instead, his thoughts drifted to Maven. As he had suspected, his personal sentinels disregarded him and mistrusted his words. That woman he'd talked to maintained her watch just because she had to expect a last-minute kill order. She didn't believe in her king's bargain with Mare in the least, yet Maven thought he could win Mare back with his sick games? Cal wanted to cackle at the delusions his fiend of a little brother chose to live in.

Eventually, the lead sentinel stopped in her patrol and shrugged. "Time's over!" she shouted. "David Samos, get ready to tear asunder the cage!"

Thereupon she changed her helmet for a respirator and threw teargas into the makeshift jail.

When Cal regained consciousness, only a few of his fellow guards were awake as well. They marveled at their survival, just like him. But while they were too confused and afraid to move yet, Cal rose and assessed the remains of the Blackrun. He was convinced the sentinels had been to careless to search the compartments of the airjet, still filled with weapons, food, clothes and maps. He asserted that really no one had died, as he grapped the still-intact radio.