Page 63 of Triplets for the Barbarians

Tension fills the air, thickening it to the point that I can barely breathe. Laser weapons are pointed both ways, while above us, the night sky unravels with shades of dark purple and misty gray. The poisonous cloud has scattered, and Sky Tribe jets continue to fly above in widening circles.

It's only a matter of time before they see our base by the mountain.

“I don’t recall inviting any of you bastards here,” Yossul says, raising his chin as he points his weapon directly at Shaytan. There are too many guards between them, however. Too many lasers waiting to be fired, all of them aimed at my brother. “I suggest you turn around and get the hell out.”

“Oh, Yossul, you resilient piece of shit,” Shaytan laughs wholeheartedly. “You’ve been hiding this veritable gem from us for quite a while, I’m told. So many women here to serve our future species. Withholding resources. Not a good look, my friend.”

“And you’re still hell-bent on plunging our great nation into the dark ages, I see,” Yossul replies, then raises his voice so all of Shaytan’s men can hear him. “I need everybody to understand that we are now in possession of a cure for the plague. While your armies are busy pummeling Sapphire City, our people are trying to safeguard the one thing that will save our honor and our species.”

“You’re lying again,” Blaze rolls his eyes, growing increasingly restless at Shaytan’s side.

“We have proof. We have Solomon’s own notes. It took our scientists a while, but we’ve managed to develop a cure,” Yossul insists. “There’s no need for this violence anymore. We can stop killing each other and enslaving our precious women. We can stop invading other worlds to take their women against their will. Can you not see how insane this is? How far we’ve gone in the wrong direction? No wonder Sunna is suffering; no wonder we’re dying!”

Shaytan raises a hand to draw the focus of his men back to him, but even I can see the doubt settling in some of them. “Pay no attention to the Kreek scum. They will say anything to get us to drop our weapons so that they can kill us first. We’ve won so many battles; we’re so close to victory and absolution! We cannot let them win! We’ve buried too many of our brothers already. Their deaths would be in vain!”

The soldiers rumble and roar in agreement, yet some I see exchanging glances, getting lost in the agitation. Our side doesn’t have the numbers, clearly. There are about fifteen hundred Sky Tribe fighters left, while we’ve barely got four hundred still standing. We don’t have jets or explosive devices as powerful as theirs. And I can’t get a clear shot. I’ll have to get closer and closer to death.

I only hope my brother will forgive me for what I’m about to do.

“Drop your weapons,” Shaytan tells Yossul. “Drop your weapons, and you will be spared a slow and painful death, Yossul Kreek. Your men will be imprisoned and subject to trial. Should they be found guilty by a jury of their peers, they’ll meet an honorable end. Should they be deemed worthy of a pardon, they’ll spend the rest of their miserable lives serving the new lords of Sunna. But if you continue with this, I will see each of you slaughtered right here, right now.”

“You have no right or authority over Opal City,” Sarin says as she emerges from behind a line of Fire Tribe fighters.

I gasp as I see Neya and Leela come out, too. All three are wearing simple black tunics and pants with gold tresses and buttons elegantly strapped around their waists with regal, bejeweled chains. They are also carrying laser weapons. Their black hair is pulled back into tight buns, and their eyes are filled with burning determination.

“We command Opal City,” Neya adds. “And we urge you to leave us be. Go out there and fight your war until you’re all dead. Maybe then our species will have a real chance at survival.”

“You have killed so many innocent people already,” Leela says. “Your very presence is a stain upon this great city. We have kept it and our subjects safe while you were busy murdering and robbing civilians, while you were busy lying to yourselves about how you’re doing some kind of divine work. You’re miserable scum, all of you! Look at yourselves!”

“Armed with more death and destruction, blowing our streets and precious buildings apart just so you can hang your fancy flags upon our ruins,” Sarin shouts. “Look at yourselves, so-called men of Sunna! Your ancestors are spinning in their graves as we speak!”

Silence falls over the western gate for minutes before Blaze bursts into heavy laughter. “Oh, I think Shaytan and I will take these three spicy bitches as our personal servants,” he says. “We’ll put a baby in the human whore and bless the queens of Opal City with our seed as well. Maybe then they’ll learn their place in this world.”

“Or maybe I’ll just turn your balls to ashes right now,” Neya hisses and points her laser weapon at him. For a moment, I can actually see the fear glistening in Blaze’s eyes before Shaytan snorts a dry chuckle of his own.

“Your Grace, don’t do something you’ll thoroughly regret later,” he says. “This won’t end well for any of you. There are more of us here than you can handle, and there will be more troops coming once Sapphire City falls. You will not stop us. You might as well join us.”

Leela scoffs. “We’d rather die free women.”

And before anyone can stop her, she fires the first shot. The laser beam darts right past Blaze’s head, however, and hits one of Shaytan’s guards.

All hell breaks loose.

Shaytan gives the final order, and his men become unhinged. A field of deadly light stretches out between us as the queens take cover, as my brother jumps into the fight, as I try to figure out what Shaytan and Blaze’s next steps will be. Either way, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that I may not survive this.

But I can at least take some of these bastards down with me.

The battle is beyond violent. Our fighters are relentless and unforgiving. I suppose having nothing to lose does tend to bring out the worst in all of us, and the worst in all of us is what we need if we’re to keep the Sky Tribe away from Jewel.

I have no idea what she’s up to. I don’t even know what time it is, but I can see the dawn rising timidly in the east.

I melt into the gruesome skirmish, shooting my way through a thinning crowd of enemy troops. They’re too close together for their engineers to detonate any of those terrible explosive spheres, but they’ll get to that soon enough.

Shaytan joyously participates in the carnage while Blaze keeps hacking and slashing through the front line of defenders to reach the queens. They’re determined to take the women down first, to humiliate them, and to dismay the others into submission.

I shudder to think what they’ll do once they reach the Kaos caves where the innocents are hiding.

“Fadai, you lucky bastard!” Yossul exclaims as he takes a mercenary out and meets me halfway across the bloodied battlefield. “You look like shit.”

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