Coming Back Down

Sic Semper Tyrannis

  "I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever wake up." I popped off while sitting on the window seat and twirling my knife. A warm breeze came in from the window, but the curtains blocked anyone from seeing me where I was. "Scream, and you'll be dead before your little guards can even make a move." My voice was low and calm as I raised my head to look right at the woman sitting up in her bed.

  I saw her eyes go to the gun on the nightstand, and I clicked my tongue.

  "Come now, Diyoza, we both know you wouldn't pull the trigger in time."

  "How did you get here?"

  "The valley or your room?"

  "Both."

  "I'm quiet, and I know how to get shit done." Turning, I planted both feet on the floor and pointed at the blonde woman with the tip of my blade. "There are many things you don't know about me, so I advise you to listen closely to what I'm about to say." Standing up, I saw her tense as her face became firm. "We're not going to surrender. Oh, but don't worry, neither are you. Well, not you personally because I'm going to kill you."

  Diyoza shot to her feet, but I was on her in an instant with my knife pressed to her throat while my other hand was on the back of her neck. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed, but I noticed something strange now that she was standing. Taking a step back with the blade still to her neck, my free hand dropped down and pulled her jacket to the side.

  "....You're pregnant." There was a tense silence as she swallowed again, and my mind was racing now as I looked down at her swollen belly. Diyoza had to be at the end of her second trimester or already in her third. She had been using the bulky armor to hide her pregnancy this entire time. "Well....this certainly changes things."

  "So you'll kill men and women but draw the line at children?"

  "I'm not a complete monster."

  "Could have fooled me."

  "Shut up and listen because I'm really not in the mood to kill a pregnant woman. We're to talk- Leader to leader." I locked eyes with Diyoza as her brows furrowed. "Mother to mother." Slowly lowering the knife, I took a step back.

  "You? A mother?"

  "I know, hard to believe. Harder to believe if you actually knew me."

  "No, no. That actually makes sense." Diyoza tilted her head and sat back down on the edge of her bed, resting a hand on her belly as I looked down at her. "So, you're not surrendering? That makes things rather difficult."

  "Not really. Neither side can afford a war, nor can we risk the land." I sighed and sat back down on the window seat as the curtains rolled from the wind. "You see, we aren't actually a single united clan. We are many clans that make up Wonkru under the lead of a Triad."

  "Wonkru?"

  "It means One Clan." I rested my elbows on my knees, still having the knife in my hand as a precaution. "You and yours weren't here for the fun with the natives when the 12 stations came down, but it all ended with a death wave from some nuclear reactors fucking up. That's a story for another time if the chance ever arises. But now we are a single clan run by me, the rightful Heda by Conclave, Octavia, the lovely lady you've already come to know rather well, and Roan, the King of the former great Azgeda."

  "You're going to have to explain to me what a Heda is and what the Hell 'Azgeda' is." I sighed and rubbed my chin.

  "The clans I mentioned earlier are each ruled by a designated leader or royal depending on how they govern, however, all clans are joined under the rule of a Heda- a commander. A conclave is how they decide the new Heda after the previous one has died or is rendered incapable of leading. There's a lot of politics that I won't delve into right now, but one of the clans was Azgeda, or Ice Nation, and that is where Roan's kingdom was."