Voices of Humanity

Chapter Forty-Two

As soon as we slipped into the hall I heard a loud scream ring out in the air. It had begun.

    Beside me, the sibla man froze in terror at the sound. I almost felt pity for Kenrick. After all, he'd done nothing to deserve the punishment we devised for Dulane and his family. Then again, he was sibla himself. He'd come here to purchase my fellows for eventual slaughter. I could not simply overlook that truth. He could very well be just like all the rest at heart. For a moment I found my resolve to spare him wavering. I did not have to be the one to commit the deed. If I abandoned him now, the end would come quickly...

     But as I looked in his eyes I saw so much vulnerability. His expression was one of fear, but his gaze focused on me with trust just beneath. He'd chosen to put his life in my hands. I couldn't betray him so callously.

    I considered the layout of the estate carefully in my mind, mapping the whole of the house I knew so well, visualizing the possible routes we might take to avoid the others. Could I simply leave without goodbyes? It seemed wrong to do so. I had been their leader and the one who had enticed all to danger. We had already succeeded beyond my wildest hopes, how could I abandon the celebration and the danger that would follow? And yet the sibla man beside me needed my aide too. He was all alone, helpless without me.

    "This way," I whispered as another scream pierced my ears, high pitched and desperate. The others must have reached the Dulane children. Avaline's face flashed in my mind's eye. An image of her playing with my own child. Then a realization of how quickly she'd gone on to forget Mary so quickly, begging for a new pet as if my daughter was just a used up toy. Still, she and her younger brother hadn't deserved death for her father's sins. No more than Mary had deserved to pay for my indiscretions. I was glad the cries stopped almost immediately. With any luck, the children's deaths had been swift.

    Using the back staircase I managed to lead Magnus to a side door near the foyer. By now the sounds of shouting and gunshots were overwhelming. I smelled smoke leaking through the windows and filling the air with a crispness that reminded me of warm fires in winter but was all too obviously out of place given the season. I knew things would only be worse when we emerged outside.

    "Stay close to me and do exactly as I say," I commanded. The sibla man nodded. So nieve. I wondered what it was like to be that trusting and almost would have envied his innocence were he not in such dire straights.

    The smell of burning was overwhelming the moment I cracked open the door to the outside world. I could see the orange-red glow in the distance. I imagined the nursery was already up in flames given the direction of the thick grey smog filling the air. Dreda had been successful as well.

    "The coast is clear," I whispered to my sibla fugitive as soon as I'd surveyed our surroundings and found no sign of humans within our immediate vicinity. But no sooner had Magnus slipped through the door than I heard the crack of broken twigs underfoot, just to my right. I quickly reached up to put a hand on Magnu's chest, pushing him against the wall of the house and into the shadows.

    "Alice."

    I recognized Gregory's voice immediately as the dark figure coming towards me became more clear.

    "Is it done?" he asked.

    I nodded solemnly. "I stabbed him through the heart," I answered. "I watched him breathe his last breath and his body grow cold."

    I felt a mix of pride and disgust at the memory. I'd wanted Dulane dead. I was not sorry I had taken his life, but at the same time, I did not like the idea of reveling in blood. Cedrick had made a killer of me and I realized this was one more thing I would forever resent among his long list of offenses against myself and my family. It only furthered my commitment to saving the sibla man hidden in the shadows. I'd always known this rebellion would bring me almost certain death, but I would not have my last act on earth be that of murder.