Morgan Rice - A Reign of Steel

Now all of Stara’s plans, her entire future, had crumbled before her eyes, thanks to her awful family. Matus was the only rational one left of her bloodline. Yet Stara wondered what would become of him, of the four of them. Would they just rot and die here in this cave? Eventually they would have to leave it. And her brother’s men, she knew, were relentless. He would not stop until he’d killed them all—especially after Reece had killed her father.

Stara knew she should feel some remorse at her father being dead—and yet she felt none at all. She hated the man, and always had. If anything, she felt relieved, even grateful to Reece for killing him. He had been a lying, honorless warrior and king his entire life, and no father to her at all.

Stara glanced at these three warriors, all sitting there looking distraught. They’d been silent for hours, and she wondered if any them had a plan. Srog was badly wounded, and Matus and Reece had been wounded as well, though their injuries were minor. They all looked frozen to the bone, beaten down by the weather of this place, by the odds against them.

“So are we all going to sit in this cave forever, and die here?” Stara asked, breaking the thick silence, no longer able to stand the monotony or the gloom.

Slowly, Srog and Matus looked over at her. But Reece still would not look up and meet her eyes.

“And where would you have us go?” Srog asked, defensive. “The entire island is crawling with your brother’s men. What chance do we hold against them? Especially with them enraged at our escape and your father’s death.”

“You got us into a pickle, my cousin,” Matus said, smiling, putting a hand on Reece’s shoulder. “That was a bold act of yours. Possibly the boldest act I’ve seen in my life.”

Reece shrugged.

“He stole my bride. He deserved to die.”

Stara bristled at the word bride . It broke her heart. His choice of that word told her everything—clearly, Reece was still in love with Selese. He would not even meet Stara’s eyes. She felt like crying.

“Do not worry, cousin,” Matus said. “I rejoice my father is dead, and I am glad that you are the one who killed him. I do not blame you. I admire you. Even if you nearly got us all killed in the process.”

Reece nodded, clearly appreciating Matus’s words.

“But no one answered me,” Stara said. “What is the plan? For us all to die here?”

“What is your plan?” Reece shot back at her.

“I have none,” she said. “I did my part. I rescued us all from that place.”

“Yes, you did,” Reece admitted, still looking into the flames rather than at her. “I owe you my life.”

Stara felt a glimmer of hope at Reece’s words, even if he would still not meet her eyes. She wondered if maybe he did not hate her after all.

“And you saved mine,” she replied. “From the edge of the cliff. We are even.”

Reece still stared into to the flames.

She waited for him to say something back, to say that he loved her, to say anything. But he said nothing. Stara found herself reddening.

“Is that it then?” she said. “Have we nothing else to say to each other? Is our business done?”

Reece raised his head, meeting her eyes for the first time with a puzzled expression.

Stara could stand it no more. She jumped to her feet and stormed away from the others, standing at the edge of the cave, her back to all of them. She looked out at the night, the rain, the wind, and she wondered: was everything over between her and Reece? If it was, she felt no reason to go on living.

“We can escape to the ships,” Reece finally said, after an interminable silence, his terse words cutting through the night.

Stara turned and looked at him.

“Escape to the ships?” she asked.

Reece nodded.

“Our men are down there, in the harbor below. We must go to them. It is the last MacGil territory left in this place.”

Stara shook her head.

“A reckless plan,” she said. “The ships will be surrounded, if they have not already been destroyed. We’d have to get through all of my brother’s men to get there. Better to hide out somewhere else on the island.”

Reece shook his head, determined.

“No,” he said. “Those are our men. We must go to them, whatever the cost. If they are attacked, then we will go down fighting with them.”

“You don’t seem to understand,” she said, equally determined. “At morning light, thousands of my brother’s men will litter the shores. There is no way past them.”

Reece stood, brushing off the dampness, a fire in his eyes.

“Then we shall not wait for morning light,” he said. “We will go now. Before the sun rises.”

Matus slowly stood, too, and Reece looked down at Srog.

“Srog?” Matus asked. “Can you make it?”

Srog grimaced as he stumbled to his feet, Matus lending a hand.

“I will not hold you back,” Srog said. “Go without me. I will stay here in this cave.”

“You will die here in this cave,” Matus said.

“Well then you will not die with me,” he replied.

Reece shook his head.

“ No man left behind ,” he said. “You will join us, no matter what it takes.”

Reece, Matus, and Srog walked up beside Stara at the edge of the cave, gazing out into the howling wind and rain. Stara looked the three men over, wondering if they were crazy.

“You wanted a plan,” Reece said, turning to her. “Well, now we have one.”

She shook her head slowly.

“Reckless,” she said. “That is the way of men. We will likely die on the way to the ships.”

Reece shrugged.

“We will all die one day anyway.”

As they all stood there, watching the elements, waiting for that perfect moment, Stara waited for Reece to do something, anything, to take her hand, to show her, even in the smallest way, that he still cared for her.

But he did not. He kept his hand to himself and Stara felt herself hardening, crushed inside. She prepared to embark, no longer caring what fate had in store for her. As they all stepped out into the darkness together, she realized that, without Reece’s love, she had nothing left to lose.

Alistair stood on the ship, terrified, arms bound behind her, her heart pounding as dozens of sailors closed in on her from all sides, a look of lust and death in their eyes. She realized that these men all aimed to rape and torture and kill her, and that they would take delight in doing so. She marveled that such evil existed in the world, and for a moment she struggled to understand humankind.

Her entire life, she’d always been known, everywhere she went, as the most beautiful girl—and more than once it had gotten her into trouble. She just wanted to be left alone. She had always just wanted to look normal, like everybody else. She never wanted to attract attention—and she certainly did not want to attract trouble.

Erec, swinging high overhead in the net, shouted down, helpless, infuriated.

“ALISTAIR!” he yelled again and again, trying frantically to squirm out.

The sailors below laughed, taking great delight in his capture, and his helplessness.

Alistair looked at them and felt a great anger; she forced herself to be bold, fearless.

“Why would you want to hurt me?” she asked, her voice filled with compassion. “Don’t you see that your behavior only harms you? We are all part of the same planet.”

The men laughed in her face.

“Fancy words from a stupid girl!” one of them yelled, as he reached up a big beefy palm, swung it high, and prepared to smack her across the face.

As he lowered his hands toward her, something strange happened to Alistair. A sensation came over her, one she’d never experienced: it was as if the entire world slowed down, the man’s hand moving at a snail’s pace in midair. As she focused on it, it seemed to freeze. The entire world seemed to freeze. She saw every particle in fine detail, saw the very fiber of nature in the spirit and souls of these men.