Chapter Ten
Heidi trudged across the rock with her arms folded. Her face and hair were filthy and the tracks of her tears could clearly be seen in the dirt on her face. She hadn’t bothered to try and wipe any of the dirt away or smooth down the rat’s nest that was her hair. The bombings had stopped and people had calmed down. It seemed that since they were in a mountain that the casualties had been reduced because people had managed to retreat into the caves for cover, but there were still plenty of injured and dead people strewn about. And there was no telling how many people were trapped inside caves, unable to escape. Heidi tried to keep her eyes focused forward so as not to become overwhelmed by the devastation.
People with medical training that were not injured were attending to those that were. Some uninjured men were attempting to dig some of the caves open and search for survivors. She searched the base as she reached the middle of it and her eyes stopped when she saw the hot spring. It had been completely demolished and dried up.
Her mouth became a thin line. She wanted to cry at the sight of it, but she felt like she had no more tears left in her.
“Miss Grace!” a voice called out suddenly.
She turned to see Sgt. Trist approaching, carrying a medkit. He had a bandage on his head that was stained with blood, but otherwise appeared to be unscathed. She sighed with relief and hugged him unabashedly when he reached her.
“You’re okay,” she said.
“Yes,” he responded, patting her back awkwardly. “Are you injured at all?”
She shook her head and pulled away from him. “No…” she answered. “But Lt. Hugo is dead.”
Trist’s face fell. “Dead?”
She nodded. “I pulled him out of headquarters before it collapsed but he was mortally wounded.” She sighed and looked down at the ground. “There was nothing I could do.” She pointed back the way she’d come without looking up. “His body is back there.”
Trist frowned and pressed his lips together. “I’ll take care of it,” he responded finally. “By the way, Lt. Hathaway is looking for you.”
“Is he okay?” she asked.
“He’s not injured if that’s what you mean,” Trist responded. “But he’s super pissed.”
“Yeah, I’m starting to hate Ezar more and more, too,” she answered.
Trist chuckled ironically. “No, I meant at you.”
“Me?” Heidi asked, astonished. “What did I do? This isn’t my fault!” She waved her hand around to indicate the destruction of the base.
“No,” Trist explained. “I think he’s mad at you for going after Chris.”
“What?!” she cried. “Why?”
Trist shrugged. “Put yourself in danger.”
“I couldn’t just leave him in there to die when I thought there was a chance to save him,” Heidi argued.
“Hey, you don’t have to tell me,” Trist answered. He clapped her on the shoulder and headed off in the direction of Hugo’s body.
Heidi sighed in annoyance and began trudging again in the direction that Trist had come from. On the way, she bent over and ran her hand through a small puddle of water and then used it to wipe the dirt and grime from her face and hands as best she could. It only took her a few more minutes before she found Dexter rounding up more injured people and trying to coordinate lifesaving efforts. He stopped abruptly when he saw her approach.
“There you are!” he snapped. “Where the hell did you go?! You should have stayed right next to me! You could have been killed!”
“It’s not my fault the blast knocked us apart,” she returned.
“Don’t give me that crap!” he yelled angrily. “I saw you go in headquarters and then I saw the entrance to it completely collapse! What the hell were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that Lt. Hugo was inside and if someone didn’t go in after him that he could be trapped in there and die,” she replied. “Besides, we got out the other side.”
“And he’s okay?”
She frowned and looked down at her feet. “No,” she admitted softly. “He was mortally wounded and I didn’t realize it until we got out of headquarters. It was too dark inside and I didn’t see his wound.” She paused, averting her eyes. “He’s dead.”
Dexter growled furiously and shook his fists in frustration. “You see?! You risked your life for nothing! You could have died!”
“I didn’t know at the time that he was wounded that badly,” she argued. She faced Dexter again with her arms folded. “I had to try and save him!”
“No, you didn’t!”
“I can’t believe this!” she snapped. “You’re a soldier. Isn’t it your motto to never leave a man behind?!”
“But you’re not a soldier,” Dexter returned. “You need to stay close to me so you don’t get hurt!”
“Excuse me,” she said. “I believe I have plenty of training in my head, as you’ll recall…” She tapped her skull. “I think I can take care of myself.”
“It doesn’t matter!” he huffed. “Training is no match for field experience!”
“Really?” she demanded. “Then why are you making me shove it in a bunch of recruits’ heads to form an army then?”
Dexter clenched his fists tighter and set his jaw, breathing heavily through his nose. His nostrils flared in anger. He had no good argument in response. “You just… you shouldn’t have left my side,” he said finally. “Don’t do it again!”
Heidi scoffed in annoyance. “You can’t tell me what to do,” she returned. “As you so aptly pointed out, I’m not a soldier. I’m not one your Privates that you can just order around.”
“I’m just trying to protect you,” Dexter argued. “You could have gotten killed!”
“So what?” she responded. “I’ve done at least 90% of the training you needed, probably more. You have your army. You said I was an asset to the rebellion only and I’ve done my part. What difference does it make if I get killed now?”
“What kind of a thing is that to say?!” he demanded. “I don’t want you to get hurt!”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t,” he responded. “I have to have a reason?”
“Yes,” Heidi snapped, stomping her foot in anger and frustration. “There’s always a reason. Why can’t you just say what it is? Why can’t you just be honest with me? Why can’t you just say what you’re thinking?!”
“What are you talking about?” Dexter huffed. He turned and started to walk back towards the injured he had been tending to earlier.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” Heidi yelled as she stalked after him. “Don’t walk away from me!”
He didn’t turn back to her.
“UGH!!” she growled. “You are such a coward!”
He stopped abruptly and turned back around toward her, fury blazing in his eyes. “What did you say?”
“You heard me!”
He stomped back towards her. “You mean because I don’t want you to get hurt now I’m a coward?”
“I mean because you can’t open up to anyone,” she replied. “You close yourself off to any kind of human connection. You act like when you kill Ezar things will be all better but life is fleeting. There’s always going to be an Ezar of some kind lurking around the corner and you can’t cut off your emotions just to keep from getting hurt again.”
“You’re one to talk,” he said. “Traveling from place to place your whole life. Never settling down and even trying to make a real home.”
“I didn’t have a choice about that,” she argued. “My aunt forced it upon me.”
“It seems to me that once you reached the age of adulthood, she couldn’t force anything on you,” he returned. He pointed his index finger directly at her. “Maybe you’re the coward.”
Heidi felt white hot fury burn in her chest. “Fine…” she growled through gritted teeth. “But then you are, too. You make no s
ense. One minute you let me see all the pain and agony you experienced watching your parents murdered and then the next you completely shut down. Why would you let me see something that raw and personal to you and then hold back something else?”
“Maybe I just don’t want to hurt you with my thoughts again like I did when you saw what happened to my parents,” he said. “Did you ever think of that?”
“No,” she retorted. “I think you’re trying to keep from hurting yourself again.”
“What exactly is that supposed to mean?”
“You know exactly what it means, Dex!”
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No, I don’t!”
“Yes, you… UGH!” Heidi yelled and threw up her hands. “You drive me absolutely crazy sometimes!”
She turned on her heel furiously and stomped away. Dexter stared after her, grinding his teeth together for a moment.
“Heidi!” he shouted suddenly.
“What?!” she responded angrily.
He used the entire length of his long legs to stride towards her swiftly. She stopped and turned back towards him just as he reached her.
He threw his hand forward and grabbed her wrist. He pulled her in close and cupped his other hand around her cheek. Before she knew what was happening, his mouth connected with hers. He kissed her deep; he kissed her fervently. His breath intermingled with hers and she felt like her head was spinning.
He was still holding her wrist as he kissed her and she wound her other arm around his neck. His hand slipped down her wrist and his fingers wound themselves in between hers. Suddenly her brain was flooded with a million thoughts at once, so many she couldn’t discern between them or focus on any single one.
…can’t stop thinking about you…
…absolutely crazy…
…such a cute laugh…
…dying to kiss you…
…never met anyone else like you…
…completely exposed even without the mind-reading thing…
He pulled away as abruptly as he’d come towards her to kiss her. He dropped his hands from her and took a step back. She couldn’t hear his thoughts anymore. For a moment, she stood with her hands out and up, as if waiting for something to drop into her arms, and then she dropped them abruptly to her side. He stared down into her eyes, his breath coming in short bursts, and she looked back up at him.
For a moment, their eyes were locked. Both were expressionless, breathless, and speechless. Dexter suddenly grinned brightly at her. A smile played at the corners of her mouth as well.
He stepped towards her and bent his head to kiss her again when…
“Lieutenant!”
He jerked away from her quickly as Trist approached.
“Yes…?” Dexter responded, trying not to sound too annoyed.
“It’s Commander Trevana,” Trist answered and held out a comconsole to Dexter.
Dexter took it. He glanced over at Heidi and frowned, but pressed a button on the comsonsole and then focused on it. “Commander?”
Her face appeared on the screen. “Lieutenant,” she said. “I got your message and I am fully ready to inform you of the nature of Sgt. Dugan’s mission…”
Heidi pressed her lips together and looked down. Lt. Hugo had already revealed that information to her and she had yet to share it with Dex, though she had every intention of doing so. There just hadn’t been a proper moment yet.
“I need you, Trist, and Heidi to return to base 65 immediately,” Trevana continued.
“Commander, in case the Sergeant didn’t tell you, we’re in the middle of a crisis here,” Dexter responded. “And Chris is dead.”
“I realize that,” Trevana answered sadly. “Sgt. Hyuin should be able to handle everything there. I need the three of you back here immediately.” She leaned her head forward significantly. “That’s an order, Lieutenant.”
It was maddening sitting in the vehicle wearing all of the concubine garb as they traveled as quickly as they could back to base 65. Heidi’s eyes kept flickering over to Dexter and he was frequently glancing back at her as well.
The anticipation was killing her and finally she reached a hand out from under her garment and wound her fingers through his. He jumped slightly in surprise.
I want to talk about that kiss…
We will! Just not now! You have to keep your hand concealed!
He pushed her hand back under her garment and looked seriously into her eyes. He shook his head significantly and turned his face back towards the front. Heidi frowned beneath her veil and sighed heavily. It was going to be a long few days journey back to base 65.
They finally arrived three days after they’d left Hugo’s base in the mountains. By this time Dexter was driving and Trist was in the back seat with her. He pulled in to the base after identifying himself and stopped the vehicle.
Heidi quickly pulled her veil and headdress off as Trist and Dexter climbed out of the vehicle. She followed them, intending to take Dexter’s hand and speak with him telepathically the moment she was out of the vehicle. But when she got out, she saw Commander Trevana and another man approaching them.
“Kyle!” Dexter exclaimed at the sight of the new man.
“Hey, man!” the young man greeted. He was about Dexter’s age but about a foot taller with darker hair and much leaner than Dexter, though Dexter’s extra bulk was totally muscular.
Dexter laughed heartily and embraced him, slapping him energetically on the back several times. “What the hell, dude?” Dexter said. “I tried to send you a message a few months ago and never heard back from you.”
“Yeah, I know,” the man—Kyle apparently—responded. “So where’s this mind-reader girl anyway?”
Dexter pulled Kyle back towards Trist and Heidi.
“Hey, Red, this is Lt. Kyle Bookman,” Dexter introduced him. “Kyle, this is Heidi.” He turned back to her. “He’s the one who led the prison break I told you about. I contacted him about your aunt.”
“Oh!” Heidi exclaimed. “So… have you heard from her?”
“Yep,” Kyle responded. “She came with me.”
“Came with you where?”
“Here,” he answered.
Heidi’s eyes widened in astonishment. “She’s here?!” she cried. “Where?”
As if on cue, Reboa emerged from around the corner of headquarters. She was a bit surprised by the large crowd in front of headquarters but her eyes widened when she saw Heidi. She smiled brightly and tears began streaming down her face.
“Aunt Reboa!” Heidi cried and ran across the lawn to her.
“Heidi!” Reboa exclaimed. She embraced Heidi excitedly and they held one another and cried for several minutes. “I thought I’d never see you again!”
“I thought you were dead,” Heidi responded, wiping tears from her face. She pulled back to look in Reboa’s face.
Reboa placed her hands on either side of Heidi’s face in delight.
“Oh, I have so much to tell you!” Heidi said. “And I want to know what all happened to you since the last time I saw you!”
“Yes, of course,” Reboa said. “Let’s go somewhere and talk.”
Heidi glanced back. “Is that okay?” she asked, looking directly at Dexter.
Dexter frowned slightly but nodded. “We can talk later,” he responded.
Heidi bit her lip and nodded. She inclined her head towards him and widened her eyes to say “we will talk later”. She then turned and began walking with Reboa.
They walked slowly around the camp and Reboa told Heidi how after the three Imperial guards had taken her, two more showed up at the house to take her into custody for keeping a valuable asset to the empire hidden from the Emperor. She was so distraught over losing Heidi, she didn’t resist at all.
They immediately took her to the Imperial prison where she was for three days. While she was there, she was trying to figu
re out a way to get out and get to Heidi. She still wanted to keep her promise to Kuma. She heard about Lt. Bookman’s plans to break out of the prison and asked to join him. He agreed if she chose to join the rebellion, so she said she would. After all, she wanted to rescue Heidi and the rebellion seemed to be the only viable option for accomplishing such a task.
The prison break was messy and several people died, but she, Bookman, and fifteen other rebels escaped alive and made it to Bookman’s rebel base number 39. It was an outerlying prison, one that wasn’t kept as closely guarded, so they were successful. If it had been a more closely-guarded prison, it’s likely all the attempted escapees would have died. As it was, only about half of them died.
When they got to Bookman’s base, she immediately began asking about how to go after Heidi but Bookman told her there were more important matters he had to attend to. However, the next day he reported that he’d gotten a communication from Dexter saying that Heidi was alive and at rebel base number 65.
“I wanted to come to you immediately, but Kyle wanted to be sure we wouldn’t be followed,” she added as she sat down on a tree stump next to Heidi. “Also he soon heard that you were moving around from base to base so he suggested that we stay put and see if you would come to us. After waiting for months, not knowing if you were safe, I finally insisted that we come here. He had promised me we would and I was going to hold him to his promise. So we came finally and found out that you were in that attack on that base in the mountains. I was terrified that you were dead but they told me you weren’t and I begged for you to be brought back here.”
“It’s unbelievable, Aunt Reboa,” Heidi responded. “I’m so relieved to know you’re okay.”
“You have to tell me what’s been going on with you, though,” Reboa insisted. “They said you’re helping them build an army or something.”
Heidi nodded. “My gift…” she explained. “It’s grown so much since I’ve been here.” She quickly related all that had occurred to her since the last time she’d seen Reboa. Reboa’s face grew more and more concerned as she heard the story.
“What’s wrong?” Heidi asked. “I know that face.” She pointed to Reboa.
Reboa frowned and looked down at her hands. She was silent for quite awhile. “I suppose that you had to grow up sometime,” she said finally. “I just—I had hoped I could protect you longer. But maybe it was a mistake.” She sighed and nodded. She looked up at Heidi. “Yes, it was a mistake. I should have allowed you the opportunity to let your gift flourish. We should have joined the rebellion long ago. I just wanted so badly to keep you safe and so often members of the rebellion are killed. I made a promise to Kuma that I would keep you safe.” She bit her lip and paused for a moment. “I deliberately kept you from developing your gift and that was wrong of me. That’s why it started expanding out of nowhere when you developed that crush on that boy. Your gift is tied to your emotional state. So it grows when your emotions grow.” She swallowed. “I think that’s why it’s growing so rapidly now—because of this man you’re spending so much time with.”
“Dex?” Heidi asked.
Reboa nodded. “You’re developing feelings for him,” she said. “And it’s making your gift grow quickly—maybe quicker than you can handle.”
Heidi frowned. “Didn’t you just decide it was wrong to try and hold me back just to keep me safe?” she argued. “And I’ve been handling it fine for months while you’ve been away.”
“Yes, you’re right,” Reboa said. She sighed and contemplated her next words for a moment. “I think it’s time I told you the truth about what really happened to your mother…”
Heidi sat up straighter. Her lips parted slightly but she didn’t say anything. She inclined herself towards Reboa to listen intently.
Reboa took a deep breath before she began: “It had been months that Ezar’s men had been coming after her. Ezar wasn’t the Emperor yet, he was only the temporary Viceroy of the people, but he was gaining power and Kuma and I knew it was only a matter of time and complacency of the people before he controlled everything. He had sent men after your mother before but we had always managed to escape before they caught us.
“But then she met your father. He seemed like a great person at the time, but he was really an agent for Ezar. He used her shamelessly and left her after discovering how great her gift was. He actually helped her expand her gift while he was around because she was falling in love with him and, as I said, your gift is tied to your emotions.
“She didn’t discover she was pregnant until after he’d disappeared and when he returned and discovered she was pregnant, he vowed to take you back to Ezar. He planned to raise you under Ezar and make you his puppet, I suppose.”
Reboa shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut. “So to protect you… your mother killed him… with her gift.”
Heidi’s face twisted in puzzlement. “What?” she asked. “How could you just read someone’s mind to death?”
Reboa sighed and looked directly into Heidi’s eyes. “I honestly don’t know. I was there and I witnessed it and I know it was tied to her gift because she grabbed his head and used her mind, but I honestly don’t know what she did. I can tell you what I saw… She grabbed his head like she did to read someone, but his face turned grey and lifeless and blood came out of his eyes and ears… and then he was dead.”
Heidi was stunned. “What did she say happened?”
Reboa shook her head. “She swore up and down that she couldn’t remember what she’d done. She said all she knew is that she felt extreme fury and couldn’t let him take you. The next thing she remembered was hours later after we’d fled. I had to grab her hand and pull her along because it was like she was in a trance. And our fleeing did no good. Ezar and his men kept coming after us. As far as we knew, your father was the only one who knew of your existence and they were only after your mother. So… eventually Kuma said that I should take you and get away from her.”
Reboa swallowed and tears welled up in her eyes. Her voice broke as she spoke. “I told her I didn’t want to leave her but she insisted that you would be safer with me because they wouldn’t come after us anymore. She made me promise that no matter what happened I would protect you and keep you from Ezar. She made me promise before I knew what her plan was.”
Tears were now streaming down her face. “That same day Ezar’s men came again. She forced us to hide from them. You were only a year old and you had fallen asleep so that’s how I managed to keep you quiet. She went out to confront the men that came. She said something like they would never get her no matter what. She would never serve that bastard Ezar…”
Reboa was crying so hard as she spoke that Heidi almost didn’t understand her next words. “Then she stabbed herself in the heart.” Reboa dropped her head into her hands and sobbed.
“She killed herself?” Heidi asked, astonished. Tears formed in her eyes and spilled over as Reboa nodded.
“I watched her from our hiding place, forcing myself not to scream or cry out,” she said. “I had to stay quiet so I wouldn’t wake you and so they wouldn’t find us. They left after she was dead and, to my knowledge, they never knew you existed.”
Heidi’s hand covered her mouth absently and tears streamed down her face. “I’m so sorry, Aunt Reboa,” she mumbled through her tears. “I never knew.”
Reboa shook her head. “No, I never wanted to tell you,” she said as she tried desperately to pull herself together. “I never wanted you to know your mother killed herself. She did it to protect you and me, but…” Reboa shook her head again and dropped her head back into her hands, sobbing.
Heidi leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her aunt. She pressed her cheek to Reboa’s.
It’s all going to be okay. The rebellion is going to take down Ezar soon. Very soon. I know it.
Reboa’s head snapped up. “How do you know?”
; Heidi frowned. “I just do,” she said. “I can’t tell you their plan. I promised a dying man I would keep his secret. But the Emperor’s reign is coming to an end. I swear it is, Aunt Reboa.”