Chapter 23: Tale 3, Ch 2: The Bridge over Silver River

“It’s about time,” Tane said as Cory sat down, his face deep in thought. “You did the right thing, Captain.” Tane looked directly into Cory’s eyes. She thought out to him.

“What’s the matter with you?” Tane’s voice said in his mind. “You’d better stop blubbering like a little girl every time something happens.”

“He didn’t have to die,” Cory whispered.

“If he’d told his leaders about the path we’re taking, they may realize we have to cut through their lands. They may want to learn about our mission. Or worse, they may try to attack in force. You know how more frequently these attacks have come. It might be time to end that treaty,” Tane thought to her more inexperienced companion.

“I don’t think it’s our mission to favor one group over another,” the inexperienced one said.

“I didn’t ask you to come because I wanted you to think. You’re here to stop any attack by these underground warriors. You’re my protection. We’re here to help develop this planet. Soul doesn’t need a Red, of all people, trying to put sugar in our engine.”

“I didn’t come here to help your development,” Cory bit between his teeth.

“Oh yes, that’s right. You’re a part of that particular group of Reds. Well you’ll change your mind before you leave Soul.”

Cory’s defiance seemed to have no effect on Tane.

His mind was racing. Cory felt a pain of sincere guilt at what had just happened. It was his fault the man had been in that position. He had pretty much killed the man himself by knocking him out. He’d solved the situation, yes, and prevented any danger from arising on the journey. But at what cost?

They continued their journey along the dusty roads and went higher and higher into the lush hills. At the top of one of these hills, Cory looked out the window and saw the winding Silver River. Its sparkling waters shone in the sun as the wide river eased through the green and wind-blown hills.

It had been several hours since the incident, and not much conversation had occurred. Tane looked happy for the peace and Jesson seemed to be lost in the contemplative anger in his mind. Cory felt terrible, and vowed that no matter what the cost he’d think before he acted.

No more jumping about, he thought. I’ll just end up killing people again if I don’t use more caution. Cory sighed. It wasn’t the first time he’d made that vow.

“Captain,” Tane said calmly.

“What?” Jesson replied.

“There are two men in the road up ahead. I think they might be guarding the bridge.” Tane’s silver and white bracer glistened as she closed her eyes and scanned the area with her power. Cory assumed she was searching for more threats.

“More Sonofs?” Jesson asked, looking tired and irritated. He searched out the front window and scanned the approaching hills. The river cut two high, rock and grass-covered hills in half, making a very deep valley with a bridge in the center. It was an old, stone bridge that crossed the Silver River at its thinnest point in the valley. As the trucks went down the hill, Jesson could barely see two men standing before the stone bridge as if to block their path.

“Captain, I must tell you that if we tolerate any further delays we might not make it,” Tane said.

“I understand the situation,” Jesson said with a bite and jumped out the door as the convoy pulled to a stop.

Tane still looked as serene as ever, but licked her lips before looking to Cory. “Follow what I say,” she said, and got out.

Cory nearly shouted back at her in defiance but didn’t want to look like a new recruit. He popped his elbows and jumped out of the truck.

In front of the convoy, the crossbowmen already had their weapons on the two lone men. Jesson made his way toward them, accompanied by Tane, as the pikemen got into position. “Easy, men,” Jesson said as he approached the bridge.

“Stop!” one of the Sonofs said as Jesson walked on the bridge. Jesson didn’t respond. He simply kept walking toward them. “I said stop.”

Jesson got right in the man’s face and said, “I need to pass through here. Understand one thing. You are a man. You probably weigh about two hundred pounds, and by the look of you it’s mostly muscle.”

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The Sonof actually looked prouder at this as Jesson motioned toward the truck behind him.

“That is a truck,” he said. “It’s eight hundred pounds of metal, wood, and a really big battery, and moves. It doesn’t take a scientist to figure out that if you’re standing there when I move my truck you won’t like the outcome. I won’t hesitate to do this.”

The Sonofs remained calm. “Please, we don’t want to fight here,” one tried.

“Of course you don’t,” Jesson snapped, and remained breathing into the man’s face. The Sonof didn’t seem to care.

“But you have killed one of us. So we won’t let you cross this bridge, since it is on our part of the land. You have lied on the treaty, making it void,” the Sonof said, apparently angrier about the lie than the death. He still spoke with that sing-song manner Sonofs had.

The one being faced down hadn’t moved a muscle.

“That treaty doesn’t specify this circumstance,” Tane said, walking on the bridge with a click of her thick shoes on the white stone. “Since the death was done on a mission where—”

“It doesn’t matter,” the second man, the one being faced down, said in a quiet tone. “You must go another way, or wait until we’ve decided that you’re not a threat to us.”

Cory stood by the front truck and watched this display. He had the sudden urge to do what he’d done before and knock the men unconscious so they could pass easily. That would solve the problem for the others, but the men might be killed. Cory didn’t want to go through that again, not twice in one day. So he leaned on the big wooden wheel, resolving to wait.

“Friend, I’m not entirely sure you know the depth of this situation,” Tane said diplomatically, and calmly approached the two men, pulling Jesson back in a soft, motherly tug. She was all confidence as she spoke. “If you will—”

“You are a Prophet. White I’m assuming, since you don’t carry a weapon,” the first man said.

“I know you have come to help this world. But I won’t help you,” the other Sonof said. “Traveler kind, give them their peace. Traveler ungrateful, show none.” The Sonof pondered the words as he said them.

“Poetry isn’t exactly the most intimidating way to talk, Sonof,” Jesson said, unimpressed.

“It’s the way we are,” the first man said. “Unless you want to give a harsh penance for your murder, I suggest you leave.”

For a while, Jesson stared at the two men. Then he turned as if he’d made up his mind and found himself facing Tane. Her calm look seemed to penetrate into his mind. Though Whites couldn’t control other people’s minds, they seemed to have a simpler, more animalistic way of standing that accomplished basically the same thing. Her unmoving intensity apparently made Jesson change his mind, whatever the decision, and he turned back to the two Sonofs.

“We will pass through here. Know that,” Tane said.

Jesson’s face grew hard and he nearly snarled. “What are your names?” he asked.

Suddenly, the two men bolted to opposite ends of the bridge.

The captain shouted, “Loose,” but his men already knew the order when the Sonofs moved. Crossbow bolts shot out. The two Sonofs moved too fast, though, and the first was already over the side and falling toward the slow-moving river before the bolt harmlessly struck the stone in a white puff of dust. The second was just as fast, but a bolt struck him through the leg. He tripped over the low railing and fell into the river far below.

Cory didn’t see if he survived. “What did you do that for?” he shouted, then put his hands over his mouth.

“I second the question, Captain,” Tane asked. “You didn’t have to try and kill them.”

“They were in our way,” Jesson snarled as he ran over to the edge, not seeing the men who’d dove under the water. “What else could I have done?”

“I’m not here to hold your hand, Captain,” Tane said, crossing her arms under her chest. “But you could at least be intelligent. I was hoping you’d realize the situation and bribe him off. It’s obvious secrecy has been lost, but I knew that would never last.”

“How am I supposed to know all that? If I’d…” Jesson stopped when he heard a loud, musical whistle. It played in a rapid tune and stopped suddenly. “No.”

From the crest of the other side of the hill, heads and then bodies came out holding gigantic tower shields and roughly worked short swords. A large group of spearmen with thick brown tassels on their weapons and a group of green-dressed hunters wielding large slings joined them. None wore armor, but they all had the layered clothing of Sonofs.

“Pikes, line the bridge. Crossbows, get the extra ammunition and line up behind. Blades in the middle,” Jesson said, and exploded at Tane as his meager force lined up to face over two hundred enemies. He grabbed the Prophet by the shoulders and shook her. “You knew they were there! You could sense them!”

Tane’s stare was ice cold. “Yes. You’d have gone around to the fjord had I told you, and that would have taken too long,” she said. “Now put me down.”

Jesson complied, only because he wanted to line up next to his men. Tane looked ready to bite through steel. As she walked back, a single shot from a sling flew towards her. Without even looking back, she created a shield around herself and the stone bounced off, harmlessly splashing into the river.

“Steady, men!” Jesson shouted, then leaned over to whisper to the Prophet. “So what do you propose now?”

“You have the protection and support of the Sevens Prophets, Captain. I will shield your group, small as it is, from any attack. Cory will dispose of the enemy,” Tane said with a cold confidence, and nodded to Cory.

Cory instinctually pulled out his dagger and raised it. As he leveled it on the stiff and ready Sonofs, all wearing that layered red and brown mix of clothing, he hesitated.

“The sun is at your back and this is good ground. The battle won’t last long,” Tane said, all business as she pulled a strand of hair away from her eye.

“This is wrong,” Cory said.

Before someone could respond, the shrill whistles came again. With a shout, the mass of men and women charged down the hill toward the bridge.