Page 52 of Red Demon

More in the crowd drew weapons, pressing in, jeering.

“Get out of our town, Solonstrong,” Galen said.

Atalia had already disarmed Falma. She pressed her knee into the guard’s back, her sword to her neck, poised to strike. I was so shocked I’d stopped watching Austin. He tried to run, but there was Meragc, running to intercept him, slashing at his leg. Ruan came alongside, aiming at Austin’s neck, slicing with a spray.

I looked back at Atalia. Falma bled out beside the ghost girl, a clean blow through the skull.

My head reeled, unable to process what was happening.

“They both knew,” Atalia called to the crowd. “These guards knew this girl held a ghost in her mind. They have paid for their crimes.” I took a few steps to the body of the girl by Atalia, her skin having lost all trace of the blue magic, the bright veins. She slept there in dirty clothes and hair, but otherwise, like any child might sleep.

“Go or die, Solonstrong!” Ruan roared. “You killed both that child and the Attiq-ka!”

“Kill him!” the crowd jeered, pressing around me. I stood straight, grateful for my height that I could see. The governor protested as a dozen swords prodded him back.

The gate rumbled open. Voices chanted as the crowd shoved Mira’s father out onto the open road.

Chapter 24

Battle Plans

Ireassured myself of two things. One: Solonstrong could walk to the North Barrack by the afternoon, if he kept a good pace. I wouldn’t have to tell Mira I had a hand in killing her father. Two: whether retribution came our way via a horde of ghosts or a unit of Z’har soldiers led by Solonstrong, my instinct was to run, and take my taam with me. But Galen was methodical as usual, gathering the entire militia in his shop for a calm discussion. I could see his decision already in the tightness of his jaw. The events of that morning caught me off guard. I would not be unprepared for this battle too.

“I could have helped the girl if the governor did not interfere,” Atalia told Ola and Vann, the two youngest in the militia. She swept aside Ola’s unbrushed hair from her shoulder and stroked her cheek in reassurance.

Just then, Galen’s massive hand slammed onto the counter, stealing the breath from my anxious lungs and silencing the nervous chatter echoing throughout the shop. “Alright, let’s get our heads clear and quick. Where is Elder Varen?”

Varen, a geriatric healer who worked out of the temple, was the only Elder who I’d never seen at a militia practice.

“Varen is at the temple exchanging messages with the barrack,” Meragc said. “I’ll connect with him afterward.”

“Good, na.” Galen’s gaze lingered on each of our worried faces. Ruan, her fiery auburn braids across her breast, gripped the hilt of her dagger a little tighter. Plato, usually the most stoic among us, wore a concerned crease between his brows.

Galen cleared his throat. “Let’s recap facts. A ghost who claimed to bring a warning from the Pathfinder approached our gate. Our former governor forced that child’s body across our khels, killing both their minds: child and Attiq-ka ghost. We punished those responsible.”

“The ghost could have fled,” Meragc said.

“To what host? Spirits cannot survive long without a mind,” Atalia said.

I blinked. “How do you know all this?” I’d been with the Asri almost seven years, and that day I felt as lost as the day I arrived.

Galen raised his hands in silence. “I figure there are two ways to look at this. Either that ghost is a messenger for a deceased Pathfinder or not. Let’s say she is, even if it’s suspicious that she wouldn’t name the specific Pathfinder whom she served. Maybe she lost that memory, and means well.” He paused, letting the weight of his words settle. “In that case, how can we trust if the ghost is correct about the threat? Or the escape path? All she gave us was a vague warning that ruren-sa will overwhelm our khels and that, of all places, we should head to the Bend.”

Ruan scoffed. “The khel is fine. We just watched it do exactly what it was built for.”

A chorus of agreement rose from several others.

“Maybe there’s Chaeten tech we don’t know about. Some of them still want us dead,” Vann said, knowing better than to meet my gaze with that shit.

“And which Chaeten faction is teaming up with Asri ghosts, Vann?” I challenged. A murmur rippled through the room, most taking my side.

Galen held up his hand for silence. “We don’t know the specifics; but I think we have enough evidence to conclude that was a fragmented soul, if she has any left of one at all.”

“Do you think the ghost is ruren-sa?” Ruan asked.

Our little crowd of a dozen murmured again. Galen’s dark eyes flickered. “Ae, what I’m leaning toward.”

Acid in my throat. In the ghost war, those spirits killed two out of three people alive on the planet, mostly Asri, but Chaeten too.