When War Calls(142)

‘Yes, we’ve heard. We will be ready. You don’t have to worry about that. The force they bring from the south will not even be half of what they could bring across the Quartun Bridge at any moment. We have fended them off for years; we will not fail simply because they attack from another direction.’

‘General,’ said the driver. ‘There is news.’

‘What is it?’ asked Ryan.

‘Waikor has been defeated.’

Jaden moved quickly forward. ‘What?’ he asked.

The driver continued. ‘The Alliance made a second attack. The entire city is now in their command.’

‘When did this happen?’ asked Ryan.

‘Early this morning,’ said the driver. ‘There was a distress call.’

‘Survivors?’

‘Unknown, sir.’

‘I have to go,’ said Jaden.

Ryan turned to Jaden. ‘Brother, think for a moment,’ he said, signalling for a cool head to prevail in his hot-headed younger brother. ‘Even if they survived, it will not be long before they are dead.’

‘I can’t stay here. I have to go,’ repeated Jaden.

‘Jaden, please, you would be throwing away your life. I can’t let you do it. You have to let it go.’ Ryan became silent as he saw the shudder of pain pass through his brother. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—’

‘I have to try,’ said Jaden desperately. ‘You said you would give me transport.’

‘Yes, if the city was not under Alliance rule but—’

‘Ryan, I have to find her!’ Jaden yelled.

Ryan raised his hands in defeat, showing that he had no intention of fighting his brother on the issue. ‘I will not argue with you, I am just trying to help you make the right decision.’

‘There is no decision, I must go to her, now.’

The two brothers stared at one another, Jaden with piercing intensity and Ryan with regret and pity. But it was not long before Ryan gave in.

‘It will pain me greatly if I am to lose you as well,’ said Ryan. ‘At least be careful. Don’t try to get revenge on your own. We can help you do that when they come for us.’

Jaden nodded and Ryan seemed satisfied, knowing he would not be able to contain Jaden any longer.

‘Driver, take him to the airfield. I will send orders for him to be taken to Waikor from there.’

‘At once, sir.’

‘I need you to come back,’ said Ryan as Jaden hopped into the vehicle once more.

‘It was good seeing you again,’ said Jaden, and with a final bow to one another, the vehicle raced south toward the airfield at the very back of the city.

Almost an hour passed before they reached their destination, and as Ryan had said, a helicopter was waiting there for Jaden. Jaden said nothing as he was taken aboard and seated. He was almost oblivious to what was going on around him, so lost had he become in the possibilities of what may have happened at Waikor.

As the helicopter lifted into the air, Jaden asked the pilots to rouse him once they had landed, but not to disturb him until then. He then lifted the crystal around his neck to between his eyes and entered the city of ruins. He walked straight back into the single door, where a stairway had formed leading upward. He followed it into another room, and as if the crystal had read his desires, he was standing on open planes of red dirt, with countless forces of military personnel and vehicles stationed around him. None moved. He was entranced in his own thoughts of men, women and children lying lifeless—the families of Waikor, slaughtered by the very people who had killed his own family. He moved among the wreckage of buildings that had risen from the ground and then toward the edge of the battlefield. Tears welled in his eyes at what he knew was about to come—the frail, bloodied body of the one he loved, left dead under a crimson sky as fighter jets continued to circle like vultures around the carcass.

He closed his eyes, unable to bear the sight, and tried to contain the hurt boiling inside him. He opened his eyes then to an evil world, of trees without leaves, black and covered in oil, the ground dry and cracked, and the sky as red as the blood that had been spilled before him. Bullets had begun to pierce the tender skin of people who had brought no harm to others, and Jaden felt something inside him break, as if a cord had simply snapped and whatever had been on either end was now flying in opposite directions away from him.

As the military forces began to move in on him, the endobraces ignited brighter than they ever had before, and Jaden was in the centre of waves upon waves of red and orange energy flowing out on to the battlefield.

The Alliance would now pay for their crimes.

With a shout of utter hatred, Jaden blocked the missiles being fired at him, causing them to explode on contact with his shield. Bullets disintegrated and artillery shells were vaporised as Jaden’s power came forth. He then raced into the heart of the battle, causing men and machines alike to be sent high into the air as he passed.