Blood Curse - Red Queen Fan Fiction

chapter 13

Mare POV

Half a dozen maps are spread on Farley's desk, some of them drawn by Guard members, all of them filled with annotations and battle plans. I'm supposed to be briefed about my orders for the next day, yet my eyes stray to the other maps, depicting the regions of Norta, the Lakelands, Piedmont and Monfort. A few weeks have passed since the colonel joined Volo Samos's campaign against the Lakelands with a few hunded soldiers, their progress from Corvium to Detraoen's outskirts drawn onto the map in thin black lines.

"Mare." I look up, Farley's back from changing Clara's diapers. She points to the Archeon map. "Your role is to take over the eastern power plant; Ella and Tyton are in the north and south west," she explains. "Estimated time for the blackout is 0800 but you'll have to radio each other to coordinate the timing." She pauses. I nod, yet she already goes on. "I suppose there'll be room for deviations because of other assaults."

"Can't you finally be clear, Farley?" Her hesitation with details is getting annoying. "What other assaults? Who else is there? What will they do - what will you do?"

Her expression doesn't waver but she chews on her lip. "We make utmost use of our teleporters," she reports in a neutral, detached tone. "You'll be brought to a safe house outside of the city before the teleporters will transfer you to your destination, with stays in other safe houses in between. They've done this for days, and our Silver allies are already in Archeon and preparing. The movements are necessary to hide the operations. The Lerolan faction and I have coordinated a double assault against Archeon's infrastructure, while several chosen operatives -"

"The Lerolan faction? You mean Cal."

She frown before she nods. "Yes, Cal. And Anabel Lerolan and her seconds. I've communicated with them the whole time." She shrugs. "Would you have liked to ... talk to Cal as well?"

I say nothing.

"Mare?"

"I don't know, it's just - it's strange. You plan with him while I can't bear - can't know - if I even want to talk to him again." I shake my head. "And what did your spies tell you about Maven?"

She takes a sharp breath to confirm my jab. I wave off. "I don't want to know. You aren't letting me kill him either way."

"No," she says, finally insistent. Then she sighs. "But I don't have the right to stop you, not if retribution is what you crave."

I lean over the desk, my hands pressed on the maps. I stare into her eyes, five seconds, ten seconds. She gives in and looks away. "I know my orders," I mutter. "You gave them for a reason after all, so who am I to act against them?"

Her relief is audible. "Right," she says, clearing her throat. "Thanks. Now, your flight goes at 0400, then you'll deactivate electricity in the east, depending on the charge against Whitefire by a few chosen operatives."

"I hope Cal won't act against his orders," I say.

"Hopefully," she agrees. But she's too stressed to smile. Or too doubtful.

"In exchange for my trust," I ask, "you might tell me where you're going tonight?"

She ponders.

"Don't tell me you just want to avoid all the teleporting?"

"What? No, I'll - " She's interrupted by Clara's new wailing. Farley dashes to her cot and picks her up. "I have to feed her," she calls to me. I know it's a dismissal but my curiousity remains.

I don't receive more of an answer when she brings Clara to us the same night. Farley is wholly occupied by Mom who either cuddles Clara or pesters and scolds Farley about her mission. They've had these talks before, but Mom is especially insisting tonight. We all know there's more at stake than in the skirmishes before. Gisa huddles close to me and holds my hand, but she doesn't speak. Kilorn's on my other side, reminding me that I'll have to protect hm tomorrow. He's in the team coming with me to the power plant. Strangely, it fees less like a burden than I assumed it would. His joking tone is full of trust in me and I'm determined to live up to it. I retire just when Farley's about to leave with her team, giving Clara a last kiss and murmured goodbyes. Even Dad hugs her.