I nodded slowly, because if she was, we could finally get ahead of these fuckers. We would have our warriors out, armed, and waiting before the Moles even showed up. For once, we might be able to save people instead of organizing mass funerals!
But what if she was wrong? That was what scared me the most. Because if she got this wrong, the backlash would be swift and harsh. It might even be more than I could stop - but I'd do my best to protect her anyway. After all, I'd made a promise.
Sixty-OneAyla
That afternoon, Zasen took two of the copies of my calendar and headed out. Kanik found something called a ruler, and then helped me to make more that were straight and even-looking. Rymar found pens with different-colored ink for me to use to make the important days stand out.
Over dinner, we showed Zasen the new version. He praised me for working so hard at it, and then announced Drozel had his doubts but was willing to mount a defense on that day. The worst case, Zasen said, was nothing happened. The best case might allow us to finally stop the Moles.
And when he said us, Zasen made it sound like I was included.
But the next day, both Zasen and Kanik headed out right after giving me the daily dose of venom - which no longer made me breathless. Evidently, there was some training session they wanted to attend. For all the militia members who protected the town, they explained. Drozel ran it, so they were going to take the chance to work on tactics for offense instead of defense.
And Rymar was focused on cleaning up the office. Not just the piece of paper he'd thrown at me, but the entire office. I offered to help, but he'd waved me off. This was his duty, he'd assured me. I'd done mine, which meant I could spend another day reading my book and catching up on all the things I'd missed.
The history book was interesting, too. It talked about the technology people had once taken for granted, including things learned from outer space. There were pictures of science laboratories where miracles had been made - like Dragons. Chapter after chapter explained how once-great nations had fallen, talked about something called Gahnek, and discussed how countries had been replaced with tribes of people who had banded together.
Some had grown bigger, taking in others, like the Reapers. Others had been isolated because they were too different, like the Dragons. Various religious groups had called it the end of times, and many had reacted in drastic and unpredictable ways. Locking themselves in survival bunkers was mentioned, but so were mass suicides to offer their souls to God.
I wasn't sure how long I'd been lost in my book when the sunlight began to dim. I knew it wasn't early enough for the sun to set, and the color of the light was all wrong. Confused, I peeked out the window to see the sky was filled with clouds today. More than I'd ever seen before, and quite a few of them were dark. That made the house cool off a little more, which was nice. I managed to read a few more chapters, and then something outside changed again.
The wind picked up, slamming into the house like it was solid. Wood creaked. Windows rattled. My heart began to race, but another check proved it wasn't anything to be worried about. Dust blew through the street, whipping vibrant green leaves and dusty brown debris along with it. Some of it swirled, making little eddies at the edge of the road. The trees were all swaying, proving they were more flexible than I realized.
I watched for a while, but when nothing else happened, I convinced myself there was nothing wrong with returning to my book. The sound wasn't too loud, and when I tried to read again, I could smell something different in the air. I couldn't even explain the scent, but it seemed to come with the wind whistling at the edges of the door.
When a sound boomed loudly in the distance, I gave up on reading and went to open the back door. That was the direction the noise had come from. I barely released the latch before the wood was wrenched from my hands, banging against the wall with the force of the wind. Yelping in surprise, I scrambled to close the door again, unable to see anything but a mass of trees all swaying as if they were possessed and a sky turning ominously dark over them.
Was this the Devil rising up like the Elders had predicted? Was that boom caused by the gates of Hell opening? For a moment, I thought about bracing the door closed, but Zasen and Kanik were out there somewhere. I wished they'd come back, but I couldn't even tell if it was late in the day. The sky was so different. There weren't any shadows to judge by - and then that sound came again.
This time it was closer.
I spun to head back to the living room, but that didn't seem to make it any better. Now something was pattering against the front windows. It was sharp, like little bits of dirt or rocks. I'd seen glass break once before, and if it was hit too hard, I was sure the windows would do the same.
So I turned my feet towards the bedroom. There, the wind was quieter, but the window had the same problem as the one in the front. Starting to feel my panic rising, I turned for the bathroom, only to hear the entire house creak in protest. I gasped, my feet stopping somewhere between the two doors, and then bright lights flashed from every window the house had.
I dropped to the ground, instinctively covering my head. Cowering there in the hall, I tried to take slow, deep breaths, but just as I began to regain my composure, another boom sounded, and this one was almost right on top of us. I flinched, shielding my head again.
That was when the impacts moved from the windows to the roof. Loud, heavy clinks and thunks landed all over, sounding like something trying to break through. What started as a few quickly turned into too many to count. More of those lights came, and the banging and booming chased each one.
I was sure the Devil was here. Terrified he might find me, I opened the storage area under the stairs and crawled in. There, I curled into a tight ball, pressing my face into my hands, and tried my hardest to stay quiet. It didn't work. The fear took over and a sob broke free, but I didn't know what to do! There was nowhere to hide. No, wait. I knew where Zasen kept the weapons!
Forcing myself to my feet, I rushed to the closet in the main room, wrenched open the door, and grabbed the first two things my hands found. One was a krael and the other was a skinning knife. Shutting the door quickly - but as silently as possible - I hurried back to the linen closet and tucked myself into the corner.
Unfortunately, where I'd picked was right in line with one of the windows in the bathroom. Whatever made that booming sound had to be tall enough to look in through those, so I forced myself to lurch forward, grab the sliding door, and pull it closed. Finally, I was out of sight. If I stayed quiet, maybe this would all pass? Maybe, just maybe, I wouldn't be destroyed for my sins and sent to Hell to suffer for all eternity?
But that hadn't worked when the Moles had come. They'd found me in here. The Devil surely would too! All I had to defend myself were the blades, which wouldn't be as easy as using a bow. I wouldn't let it stop me, though.
The booming happened again, but this time it didn't stop. One rumble turned into five, almost as if they were rolling across each other. When the light flashed, the sound came at the same time. It had to be some weapon. Outside, I could hear a wail like millions of souls being purged, and there was the rustling of a million feet.
I would be brave, I told myself even as tears began to run down my cheeks. My throat was so tight, I felt like I couldn't breathe, and my heart was racing twice as fast as when I drank venom. My hands were trembling, and each time the sound came, I flinched in place, struggling not to cry out with the all-consuming terror that had taken over.
Then feet tromped down the stairs. "Ayla?"
A squeak escaped my lips, but it was too much. The thing heard me! Those steps started moving again, and a second later the storage closet door slid open. I thrust up both of my weapons only to have Rymar lift his hands and take a step back.
"Ayla..." he breathed, patting the air gently. "It's okay," he mumbled over and over. "It's just a storm," he said, pointing up just as the booming came again.
I whimpered, but he gestured for me to set down my weapons. Nodding to show I understood, I tried - I really did - but they were supposed to keep me safe. Still, Rymar wasn't scared. He didn't seem to mind the sounds at all, so I had to trust him. Trembling, I placed the krael on one side of my feet and the knife on the other.
Rymar quickly hurried into the cramped space and dropped to his knees before me. "Oh, Ayla," he breathed. "I'm so sorry. I didn't even think about it. This is just weather."
"What?" I asked.
So he pushed both of my blades up against the wall, moved behind me to sit on his butt in the corner, and then opened his arms like a parent would for a child. I didn't need to even think about it. I pushed myself into his arms, and he tugged me so my back was up against his chest. Then he pressed the side of his face against the top of mine.
"I don't know what's happening!" I whimpered. "Rymar, is it the Devil?"
"No..." he promised. "It's just weather, Ayla. Just a storm. This happens all the time. Well, more in spring and fall, but it's perfectly normal."
"But it's so loud!"
The sound boomed again, making me jump in place. His arms tightened, but his mouth moved beside my ear. "Thunder," he said gently. A moment later, three different flashes of light happened one after the other. "Lightning," he said, holding up a finger until a triplet of booms happened. "Thunder. See? Normal."
Those were words I knew. They were things I'd read about. His calmness made me feel like I could finally relax, but I still didn't understand what was happening to the roof, so I pointed up.
"What's hitting us?"
"Rain," he told me. Then he grunted softly. "And hail. That's frozen rain. The hail comes with the start of the storm and will stop soon. Then it will just be rain, which makes the grass and trees grow."
