Page 43 of Triplets for the Barbarians

It’s as if I’m not even in my body as we sneak through the eastern alleys of the city, keeping to the shadows and mingling with the chaos of fleeing Sunnaites as we make our way toward the eastern gates.

The guards there have no choice but to let the people leave, if only for the night. The starship’s crash site is a blistering, festering wound on the city’s face, and the radioactive material leaking out of the wreckage is too dangerous to risk it—for the civilians, at least.

These people don’t know where they will go or what they will do, but they’re determined to get as far away from here as possible. Once Jewel hides her face, it’s the perfect opportunity for us to leave undetected, as well. Yossul and I manage to kill one of the guards and steal their buggy. Together with Jewel, we drive south and beyond the cold mountains as fast as the wheels can take us.

We laugh. We remember the explosion. We revel in Jewel’s description of Shaytan and Blaze’s utterly shocked faces. Frankly, I wasn’t sure we’d pull through. I doubted we’d survive the day, let alone be able to look up at the sky and take a lungful of fresh, hot air.

Leaving Pearl City behind, we head back to our base by the Sun River. Soon enough, the news will spread of the disaster.

“Ruby City will be in an absolute uproar,” Jewel says, nestled in the back seat.

I’m driving while Yossul melts in the passenger seat beside me. We’re beyond exhausted, but we haven’t collapsed just yet. We’ll stay upright until we reach the safety of our riverside home. Ahead, the red desert opens with twinkling lights along the right edge of the horizon.

“Ruby City,” I agree. “Yeah, they’ll be pissed.”

“I think they’ll get the news by morning,” Yossul replies. “From what I’ve heard, the other generals were already doubting Shaytan’s capabilities. They despise Blaze and certainly don’t see him fit to be Hull’s partner.”

“They weren’t too happy with the idea of Shaytan and Blaze bedding Jewel, either,” I say, recounting the gossip we picked up while captives in the command center prison. The guards there talked a lot, not caring if we could hear them since they were certain we’d be dead soon.

“Brick by brick, Shaytan’s empire has been crumbling for the past few years,” Yossul says. “We’ve been constantly after him and his people, too. We never gave any of them a chance to relax, to regroup. It was only a matter of time before his peers noticed his flaws, his weaknesses. Tonight only proves their doubts. It will lead to internal strife and turmoil. And once that madness sets in, once the backstabbing begins, neither Shaytan nor Blaze will be able to handle what’s coming. They won’t have the resources nor the energy to contain the rebels within the Sky Tribe while also fighting the Fire Tribe.”

“Worse even, they only have one starship left,” Jewel says, laughing lightly. “I still can’t believe it, though.”

“We were lucky.” I let a heavy sigh roll from my chest. “Sheer luck. We cannot rely on chance like that ever again.”

I’d love to be all giggly and cheerful about what happened, but the truth is, I’m not proud of what we did tonight. Innocent people died as collateral damage when that starship crashed into Pearl City. It will take years for the nuclear waste to clear. There will be radiation-related diseases and plenty of suffering for decades.

Had we been able to follow our original plan, we would’ve activated the ship’s interior isolation panels for each of those nuclear cells. Once our explosive charges went off, those isolation panels would’ve prevented a meltdown and a radioactive disaster. That was the one downside we all dreaded about the long-range laser weapons. Using them would lead to… well, this.

“I’m sorry,” Jewel says, sympathizing with my sadness. “Innocent folks were out there, and they didn’t deserve to get dragged into this. Nobody asked Pearl City if they wanted Sky Tribe leadership, and nobody asked Pearl City if they wanted Fire Tribe leadership, either. They never had a choice.”

“We’re at war,” Yossul grumbles, staring at the open road ahead. Casualties are a part of war. We couldn’t let that starship take off. Someday, we’ll pay for our crimes. I know it. Until then, however, we will stay true to our mission. We will proceed and destroy the last of their vessels. The Sky Tribe will never leave the surface of Sunna again, no matter what it takes.”

I nod slowly, although my agreement is faint at best.

How many more people must die before peace is found? How many more souls must leave this world for both sides of this war to finally reach a ceasefire and a long-term agreement to benefit the people and not any power-hungry generals’ interests?

I’m tired—no, more than tired. I’m wiped. I’m spent. I’m like a candle burning in the wind, my light flickering and soon to be snuffed out.

By morning, we’ll have reached our base. From there, we’ll send messages to each of our allies until the entire system is brought up to speed with the events of the past couple of days. I wonder if the explosion could be seen in the night sky across a greater distance.

It was a good thing Opal City fired that shot early on. Had they waited until the starship was higher, it would’ve obliterated Pearl City with radioactive debris. At least they’ll be able to contain it better under these circumstances. It doesn’t make me feel that much better, but Yossul makes a fair, albeit cruel, point. In times of war, a sense of morality may hinder progress. It may thwart victory altogether.

“Someday, we’ll light candles for all those who perished,” I say after a long stretch of heavy silence. “We’ll throw purple flowers in the river and sing songs to the fallen, innocents and warriors alike. Someday, the suns will rise over a new Sunna, and the mornings will sing hymns of their own. Our blood pours through this world, and we shall honor it. But until then, we keep fighting. No matter what.”

“No matter what,” Jewel says, resting a hand on my shoulder.

Her touch alone is enough to soothe my frayed nerves. My grief subsides as my mind gradually wanders away from the disaster of Pearl City and back to the dark, stone-carved chambers of our home by the river. I plan to spend the next few days buried deep inside my woman. Yossul and I will make love to her, we will consume her and share her, take her and devour her until there’s nothing left of us but shimmering shadows tangled between the soft sheets.

All this pressure gathering in my chest, there’s no other way to let it out but in the adoring arms of our woman. I still can’t believe we managed to get Jewel away from Shaytan and Blaze. For the longest moment, I feared we’d failed her. I feared we’d perish, the last sight of her being in the arms of our enemies.

“Yeah, we were lucky,” Jewel concludes after a while. “We almost got our asses handed to us back there. I guess there will always be lessons to be learned in times of war, huh?”

“Blaze is clearly hard to kill,” Yossul scoffs. “Had he died, we would’ve done things our way, and the starship would’ve never taken off.”

I give my brother a quick glance. “Whatever comes next, we’ll handle it. The Sky Tribe will be furious, though. They’ll be out for blood. We need to let our people know they’ll be coming for any known Fire Tribe settlement. The riverside clusters up north, the Purple Plains folks, Sapphire City most of all. And we have to tighten security and secrecy over Opal City.”

“Shaytan and Blaze saw the laser shot come from the southern sky,” Jewel agrees. “They’ll look down there, though I’m not sure if they’ll think to search as far south as ground zero for the plague infection. Everybody says it’s cursed, so they stay away.”

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