Green Eyes

“Feeling better?” Jared asked Selene as he reentered the inn.

“A bit, yeah,” she nodded, standing. “It took a bit to get used to, but it’s not much different than any of my other powers. Less draining and I can’t shut it off, but I can control it.”

“Good,” Jared said. “Because we may need you and your powers.”

“What is going on?” Mara queried.

Jared told them what happened in the square. “And before you ask,” he added at the end, “I already checked the gate on my way back. Brutus has it guarded by 10 of his people.” By his people, everyone understood that to mean sorcerers.

Selene was fuming. “That man is a monster,” she inveighed.

“Would he really massacre an entire Kalashonian town?” Jael questioned.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Jared sighed. “If this was Manasseh, I might be able to dismiss the threat. But Brutus has been a sorcerer for longer than I can recall and is completely amoral and becoming increasingly unstable. Heck, he’d probably destroy the town just for the fun of it. Remember that is why the king wants you alive; to replace him.”

“What can we do?” Selene inquired.

“Nothing,” Mara answered with a sad shake of her head.

“Nothing?” Selene replied incredulously.

“What would you want us to do?” Jared questioned sternly. “Taken on a group of 40 or 50 sorcerers? How long do you think we’d last? Thirty seconds, at most, I’d wager.”

“But we can’t just do nothing,” Selene protested. “I can’t leave these people to be murdered because of me.”

“You have to,” Mara coldly told her. “Selene, this is a fight we can’t win. For that matter, this is a fight we can’t even make a difference in.”

“What if I gave myself up?” Selene couldn’t stomach the thought of 10,000 deaths being on her conscience.

“Then Brutus would turn you into a weapon to be used to annihilate hundreds of thousands,” Jared informed. “You’d lose the battle and the war.”

“I can try fighting him,” she suggested. “You yourself said that I am more powerful than he is.”

“You have more inherent power,” Jared corrected. “But you are only just now discovering that power. Most of it you don’t know how to use. Brutus, on the other hand, has decades of experience to rely upon. Remember how he toyed with you in David’s castle.”

Selene shuddered at the memory. “But I’ve come so far since then.”

“Far enough?”

The Navi slumped back down into a wooden chair dejectedly. She had come so far only to know it wasn’t far enough. “So what do we do?”

“We run,” Mara said. “We get to the Harosheth and then to Jerel. There you will be trained to truly use your power and then you can come back and remove this evil once and for all.”

Cognitively Selene knew they were right. She hated it, but she knew that in the long run it was best for her to stay alive and out of the king’s hand. But knowing that didn’t make her feel any less sick about it.

“The real question here is how do we get out?” Mara crossed her arms and looked pensive. “A task made all the trickier because they can probably sense Selene as much as she can sense them.”

“What?” Selene exploded. “They can sense my presence?”

“Probably,” Jared confirmed. “Remember that sorcerers are the Adversary’s poor attempt at imitating Navi. Most of your powers are mirrored so it stands to reason that since you can sense them, they can sense you.”

“The good news is that their ability to sense you is weaker, the more so since you’re the first Navi in Kalashon in well over 100 years,” Mara amended encouragingly.

“Although there are a lot more of them,” Jared added discouragingly.

“That’s comforting,” Selene huffed.

“In a way, it is,” Mara said.

“How?” Selene dubiously asked.

“Can you pinpoint the sorcerers’ exact locations?” she inquired.

Selene concentrated on the feeling in her gut for a minute. “No,” she decided.

“Then that means they can’t find your specific location,” Mara concluded. “They know that you’re here but not where exactly you are.”

“Except that they have to find us,” Selene caught on. “All we have to do is stay out of sight.”

“Precisely,” Mara nodded. “It’s annoying, but not especially dangerous. Still, we should be careful.”

“What I don’t get,” Jael spoke up, “is why doesn’t Brutus simply do his mind-ripping thing right now and find you that way? Why wait until noon to start?”

“At least two reasons,” Jared took this one. “First, he knows that there are very few people who actually have a clue where we are. In fact, there are very few people who knew that we were here at all before tonight. So finding that needle in the haystack would be tediously time consuming. If he simply threatens the city with destruction unless someone comes forward, he increases his chances of getting a quick solution and decreases our chances of escaping.

“Secondly, he doesn’t want mass panic,” Jared went on. “Entertaining as he might find that, the Viceroy isn’t completely insane yet. As long as he dangles a little hope, he can keep people from freaking out. Again his chances of finding us greatly increase if the city is kept calm and orderly.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Jael considered this. “So what’s the plan?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” Jared sighed. “The real trick is going to be getting the horses out. We can sneak over the wall easily enough, I think, but we’ll need the horses. If we have to go on foot to the Harosheth, we’re toast.”

“I believe I can help with that,” a new voice interrupted their conversation.

They whirled around to see Zebulun standing there.

“You are the last person I expected to see tonight,” Jared remarked dryly, unmoved by the new Bats boss’s appearance. “Why would you want to help us? Why not turn us in to Brutus yourself?”

“Several reasons,” Zebulun supplied. “First, Brutus scares the hell out of me. If I tried turning you in, he’d probably fry my brain just for kicks and giggles. That bastard needs to go before he kills us all.

“Secondly,” Zebulun went on. “I’m an opportunist. If anyone is going to get rid of Brutus and Manasseh, it’s you three. In fact, I’m counting on it. So when you guys do overthrow them and set up your own regime, you’ll owe me a big favor. It’s just good business to be owed favors by powerful people.”

“Good to know your motives are so noble,” Jared sarcastically snorted.

“If you don’t want my help…” he started to turn.

“He didn’t say that,” Mara quickly cut off. “What do you have in mind?”

“The army barracks, such as they are, are on the northeastern side of the city,” Zebulun explained. “Obviously everyone knows this. But what most people don’t know is that there is a horse gate leading out to the fields behind the city.”

“This is of course guarded and they’re not going to let three saddled horses just walk out,” Jared crossed his arms. “So how does this help us?”

“Next to the gate are the stables, of course this makes perfect sense,” Zebulun answered. “A couple of my men will cause a stampede in the stables while another man opens the gate. With the gate open, the horses will naturally run out into their pasture.”

“And we ride out with them,” Selene concluded.

“I don’t think it’s that simple,” Jared shook his head.

“No, of course not,” Zebulun agreed. “Three extra horses won’t be noticed. Three horses with riders on the other hand…”

“It doesn’t really matter,” Mara added. “Like Jared said earlier, the hard part is getting the horses out.”

“So how do we get out?” Selene still wasn’t seeing a solution here.

“Over the wall,” Jared answered simply. “It shouldn’t be too complicated. These walls are thin and long so probably not well guarded. How soon can you set this up?” he turned back to the gang leader.

“Not until tomorrow morning,” Zebulun visibly winced. “The problem with this is that we can’t move the horses until then for obvious reasons. At this time of night, horses are rather noticeable and three saddled horses will draw a lot of unwelcomed questions. Even though I imagine the city will be much slower than usual tomorrow, we should be able to get them through unnoticed.”

“Then we have to wait until tomorrow morning,” Mara sighed.

“Why?” both Zebulun and Selene exclaimed at once.

“Your sorcerer detection power,” Jared poked at Selene’s gut. “If we leave tonight, they will know you’ve left. Of course they will come looking for you and we’ll be on foot, out in the open, just the three of us against an entire coven of sorcerers. That is a recipe for disaster.”

“That complicates things,” Zebulun groaned.

“Agreed,” Mara nodded. “I suppose we could figure out some way of sneaking over the wall in broad daylight, but that’s going to be tricky, even for us.”

“Maybe we could use the horse gate again,” Jared suggested.

“We’d need another distraction,” Mara returned. “They aren’t going to go for two stampedes.”

Jael had been watching the discussion with interest. It amazed her how Jared and Mara were always at least one step ahead of everyone else. But there was one thing that they had not thought of, not yet anyway, and it was that idea that was beginning to bounce around her head. If it worked, she could not only give them the distraction that they needed, but potentially save the entire city as well. If it didn’t…well they were all dead anyways.

The only thing that held her back was Deborah. Succeed or fail, Jael would die, that much was already written in stone, but she didn’t want to leave her little girl motherless. The innkeeper looked at the former slave. Mara had been so good and kind to Deborah, could she become Deborah’s new mom? Yes, Jael decided, she could and would.

The debate continued on but she was no longer listening. She knew there was no answer to their dilemma; not for five people anyway. Sooner or later they would arrive at the same conclusion that she had. Would they be willing to make that choice? It didn’t matter, Jael concluded. She had taken that choice from them.

“Come on sweetie,” Jael took her young daughter by the hand and started for their room. “It’s time for bed.”

*******

Jael didn’t sleep a wink that night. Instead she had sat on her bed watching Deborah sleep in her smaller bed, knowing it was the last time she was going to see her little girl. Already she had packed a small bag of belongings for her, ready for her escape, one Jael would not be making.

An hour and a half after sunrise, she heard Zebulun and his men come for the horses. She decided to wait another half an hour before implementing her part of the ruse. Getting up, Jael gently kissed her daughter goodbye, trying to ignore the tears dripping down her cheeks before making one last sweep through the inn.

This had been her home for over six years. For the most part it had been a good home. Jael had made a life for herself here; a good and honest life which was more than anyone could’ve expected of her. She had given birth to her daughter here and watched her grow, if only a little. But now, like all things in life, it must come to an end.

She wasn’t scared, something she found odd. Indeed she was strangely peaceful. Her fate was sealed and Jael had decided to accept it with the grace and dignity that life had tried so hard to deny her. If there was such a thing as a good death, Jael concluded, then this was it. Setting a note on the counter for the others, Jael headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” Selene’s voice arrested her.

Jael froze. She had been hoping to avoid this; at least it wasn’t Jared. Slowly she turned around to find the younger woman’s emerald eyes scrutinizing her carefully.

“You’re going to turn yourself in to Brutus to distract him, aren’t you?” Selene declared after a moment.

“How did you know?” Jael was too surprised to deny it.

“I saw it,” Selene seemed a little caught off guard herself. “I saw your whole plan like it was a picture. I guess I can read minds.”

“Then there’s no point in hiding it,” Jael resigned.

“Jael don’t,” Selene ran forward and grabbed Jael’s arm. “If you do this, you’ll be killed.”

“I know,” Jael nodded calmly. “But you guys need a distraction to get away and I’m giving it to you and maybe even saving the city besides.”

“There has to be another way,” Selene shook her head. “We’re all getting out of here.”

“Have you thought of one?” Jael questioned.

“Well no, but there has to be,” she protested.

“Selene you are out of time and options,” Jael told her. “I’m your best, maybe only shot of getting out here alive.”

“But…” Selene balled her fists in frustration as tears threatened at the corners of her eyes. “But we were going to save you; I was going to save you.”

Jael looked at the younger woman and smiled. She had never met anyone as pure hearted as Selene. The world needed many more like her.

“Oh Selene,” she said warmly. “You are truly the most remarkable person I have ever met. One thing you will have to learn is that no matter how powerful you are, you can’t save everybody. Sometimes you are going to have to let people go.”

Selene absorbed Jael’s words. She knew that the older woman was right and that was what was tearing her apart. She had to let Jael go.

“I’m sorry,” she said, enveloping Jael in a fierce embrace.

“Me too,” Jael let the tears roll as she returned the hug. “Just promise me that you’ll protect Deborah.”

“I will,” Selene swore. “I promise.”

Getting control of herself, Jael let go of Selene and straightened up. “Goodbye, my lady Navi,” she said with a formal bow. “May we meet again in a better world.”

Then without a glance back, Jael vanished into the morning, leaving Selene standing alone and helpless.

*******