32
(Silnaday, cont.)
A’mara Complex
.
Laisen was immediately on his feet, the fatigue evaporating in the flood of adrenaline.
He jogged to the Complex foyer and shuddered at the site of an angry mob outside. Several dozen people with weapons aimed at the Complex. Their imprints were angry, hostile, bent on destruction.
He opened the PCS link to hail mode which would call everyone within reach of the Complex. “Everyone to the foyer now! We may be under attack!”
Within moments, half a dozen A’mara stood with him with a dozen more students. “Together,” he said.
“Is Jessten still at the Academy?” Oberti asked.
“Yes,” Laisen answered. “She’ll be here in a minute.” He didn’t know how he knew that part – he just did. “Disarm only. We don’t want deaths in the headlines.”
They went outside as a group and were met with a barrage of veleda fire. That part was easily deflected and several assailants were already on the ground. A moment later, he wondered whether it had been a distraction as he noticed the attackers running around to the sides of the Complex.
<Around the sides!> he mentally shouted to Jessten, knowing that she would do exactly what was needed.
The assailants approached and switched to shaze. Other A’mara were quickly with him, shazes blazing, taking on the assailants. Although most of them seemed to have Kri’enden training, as was to be expected, quite a few of them didn’t, or hadn’t been thoroughly trained, he judged. Despite that, the battle remained intense and lasted longer than he felt they were able to handle; yet they did.
He noticed that someone was now right at his shoulder, but he didn’t waste any thought on who it might be. A distraction like that could cost lives.
Suddenly, the opposing group turned and ran, leaving a dozen dead on the ground. “So much for only disarming,” he said sadly. He shook his head, then turned and looked at all the A’mara.
He realized that it had been Jessten who had been fighting next to him. Before he could talk to her, she was running to a pair of students who lay still on the pavement. Looking at the leya imprints, he could see that one was dead. The other’s imprint was fading. Jessten had her dragonstone out and was holding it over the injured student.
He quickly joined her and held his own dragonstone over the injured young man. The leya imprint grew stronger again.
“I think he’ll live. I’ll take him inside,” Jessten said, carrying the young man.
“Does he need Ra'kate?” Laisen asked, causing her to pause momentarily.
“I think he’ll make it. Ra'kate isn’t here, so I’m going to have to do what I can.”
He nodded and watched her go inside, wishing there was more he could do. He wondered briefly whether he should contact Rami and ask them to hurry. He wasn’t prepared enough and it frustrated him. He would contact Rami later for sure. If nothing else, he would have to find out what to do with the fallen student.
He returned to the young man, cut down in battle. It was the same young man who had challenged him about his anger, he recognized – a boy almost old enough to be a chola. His heart hurt; he could easily imagine it being his own child… and Jessten being the mother. Yet, she was handling it better than he.
His mind lingered on Jessten a few moments as he reflected on the fact that she had been the perfect battle partner, knowing exactly what to do, how to complement his moves, as if she had memorized his every move all those months ago. He lifted the dead youth.
“Laisen, you’re needed to deal with the officials,” someone said, pulling him back to the present.
“Where is the abári?” an official asked, joining him.
“I’m the acting abári. Rami is away today,” Laisen answered.
“Can you tell us what happened? Why are there a dozen bodies littering your premises – and another in your arms?”
“We were attacked,” Laisen replied sensing Jessten’s approach.
“They were trying to destroy our property,” Jessten’s voice said evenly beside him. “I had to disarm several who were trying to burn it – like Hailu copycats.”
“I told everyone to just disarm the assailants, but sometimes when someone is coming at you with a shaze, you do what’s necessary to avoid being killed,” Laisen added, grateful that Jessten had mentioned the Hailu riots.
“Are there more bodies around the side?” the official asked looking sternly at Jessten.
“No, none died by my shaze, though one might have lost a hand, so there may be someone requiring medical attention,” she replied calmly.
The official nodded.
“It is still allowed to defend one’s property, isn’t it?” Jessten asked. “Even if it ends in deaths?”
The official nodded again. “Yes. Though we will want to see your surveillance footage to verify your claims,” he said to her.
“I’m sure that can be arranged – as soon as we’ve discussed it with Rami,” Jessten replied. “Laisen and I are not used to this level of responsibility, so aren’t completely sure what to do in this kind of situation.”
“I will just take this other body off your hands – your abári will know where to find it. Do you know the boy’s name?”
“I’m afraid I don’t,” Laisen replied, feeling slightly ashamed that he wasn’t better prepared. He also admired how Jessten was handling the situation.
“I will find out,” Jessten promised.
The officials began to clean up the mess of bodies and Laisen suddenly realized that Jessten had already gone back inside. His mind lingered on her. She had learned so much since she’d arrived just before Vestharya last year. She had handled everything admirably from the battle to dealing with a seriously injured student to handling officials. He shook his head. Yet, he felt her heart was closed, more tightly than he thought he was doing himself. He wondered if he still had a place there. Perhaps not if she was seriously considering leaving Joton.
As he returned inside, he knew that she was tending to the patient. He joined her again. “How is he doing?”
“As well as could be expected. My dragonstone seems to be doing its job, I think he just needs rest now from the shock,” Jessten answered. “I think we need to contact Rami and Ra’kate now. We can’t wait in case we get attacked again.”
Laisen nodded, knowing she was right. “I will be waiting for you in the Conference Chamber.”
“I will join you as soon as I talk to someone about the dead student,” Jessten promised, heading off towards the education wing.
Laisen felt strangely alone.
♥♥♥
If you have enjoyed this book, I would be grateful if you could put your thoughts as a review on [Goodreads](coming soon) for me.
Buy at: (coming soon to Books2Read, Scribl, LBRY and Lulu - paperback.)
Other Chapters of this set
Birth of the Neví - Chapter 1 on Whaleshares
Name of the Neví - Chapter 1
Mind of the Neví - Chapter 1
Game of the Neví - Chapter 1
Maps and Guides
- Kri'enden & Joton - 830 TCE (New/imprived map coming soon)
- Character Guide and Image Credits
- Calendar and Glossary - for Name of the Neví but these two parts are true throughout.
Writing and artwork copyright myself 2005-2019 – all rights reserved.
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Lori Svensen
author/designer at A'mara Books
photographer/graphic artist for Viking Visual
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