Keepers of the Moon

Chapter 14. Sean

Indigo

Night had fallen swiftly, the fires finally ceased due to the torrential rains, temperatures had dropped. Rain had long turned to snow. After Einar spoke somehow all the panic had fallen away, all that remained in our little sanctuary was a growing anger.

A willingness to fight.

Not one of us had thought about surrendering, to give in to Einar’s demands. No one would believe that Domhnall fled. He had just been send away by Sir Macintosh. Ben and I could testify for this. Not that it was needed. They all shared an unwavering trust in the courage of their King. While I heard plenty of things about Domhnall, about that he was weak and didn’t know how to lead, yet not one story made him to be a coward. He was just another broken man, in a broken world.

And all of that was Einar's fault.

After about half an hour of silence the fighting therefore just continued. We could hear it faintly, the small explosions of bullets being fired in the distance. I was overjoyed to see that Sir Macintosh and his sister were still here and fighting against the enemy. He hadn’t talked to any of us, he just passed in a hurry, followed by a dozen men. While I’d come to respect the man, I always thought of him as a soft and kind-hearted spirit. The way Brian always talked about him. "He's all bark." The way Sean looked now couldn’t have been more different from that picture. He was dawning a military uniform, yelling out concise orders to his people, he was in full control and covered in blood. I didn’t even want to know what he had done to survive, to get the King out. But it was comforting to know that we weren’t completely abandoned.

Ben had talked briefly to him, but came back even grimmer than he already was. He didn’t tell me what was wrong, but whatever news he had gotten, it wasn’t good. Sir Macintosh's face revealed nothing. As time passed more and more weapons were handed out. All of these weapons carried the Nordlys emblem and there was something poetic about this. About fighting back with their own equipment.

They had brought this upon themselves.

It also meant that Sir Macintosh was at least having some succes in his quest to stop the enemy.

I had a feeling it was around midnight when things started getting out of hand. More bombs went off and it sounded like it came from the outside this time. The fact that they kept pressing on, meant that they believed the King was still inside. They all knew, that the only way to truly claim victory on Caledonia, was to kill or at least capture the King. They wouldn’t get that far however. Not today. We could hear the fighting closing in on us and we were already gathering ourselves, when Sir Macintosh came back. He was with considerately less men than the last time I saw him. My heart was hammering inside my chest, ready for whatever was coming. This day full of adrenaline highs and lows was putting more strain on my body than I could ever imagine. Even with the chaos unfolding it felt like I could sleep for a century and then still be tired. Sir Macintosh however was wide awake and already rounding everybody up. With weary feet I got up from the old leather couch and rubbed at my painful knees. Ben groaned beside me, but also managed to get up.

‘They’re going to break through here, we all need to move. The last place that hasn’t been penetrated yet seems to be the kitchen. We will make our stand there. Come on lads! Move those feet!’ In a rush of silent apprehension everybody got up. My legs could barely carry me, but my hands were steady and wrapped around my weapon. Ben had given me a crash course on how to use it and it felt less like a dead weight. Though I was still uncomfortable using it.

Under the cover of darkness we scurried through the deserted castle, though we expected to be surprised by the enemy around every corner. Sean made up the front, I could see his large shadow moving ahead of me. He was followed by some of his men, while others closed the line. I had moved further toward the back, just behind Ben. I was holding onto the hem of his shirt, since I had difficulties keeping up in the dark unfamiliar corridors. All I could see were the faint shadows in front of me and the growing orange glow of a new fire spreading behind us. I kept kicking stray furniture or rubble left near the walls. I was certain that I had broken several toes hitting a particular heavy cabinet, but I kept pressing on without complaining. The rapid explosions of gunfire was now everlasting and we could hear people shouting. It was impossible to know who was shouting, though it was clear that it was coming closer. Through all the sounds around me, I could still hear the hammering hearts of the people close to me. The way their anger and hatred was now mixed with fear. Mixed with the primordial need to survive. It was always difficult to tell what people would do in these kind of situations. Unless you had ever had the need to truly fight for your life, you wouldn’t know how you reacted. Some people turned into heroes, while most just fled and went into hiding. And there were those who’d do anything to survive, even if it meant killing their friends. The hardest part was that you couldn’t even blame them, this was not something you could turn off. This type of fear was the one thing you couldn’t control. You could only let it consume you and hope for the best. I knew now that I was at least willing to fight in this situation, just as the girl who saved me. An act of bravery, without hesitation and completely on instinct.

Then I heard it. The coming of silent footsteps, running in the darkness. I stopped dead in my tracks and someone behind me walked into me. The man cursed silently and I covered his mouth. With an annoyed gesture he tried to move away from me, but I hushed him. Ben had also stopped as he had felt that I released him.

‘What’s wrong?’ His whisper was barely audible, but it sounded like a hammer on an anvil next to my ears.

‘Footsteps, down the hall. Coming from behind.’ My mouth was dry and my hands were suddenly sweating. I swallowed hard. A renewed rush of adrenaline coursed through my body. The sudden rise of terror made me lose my balance, but Ben was there. Steadying me with strong, but shaking hands.

‘You’re right. We need to move right now!’ The soldiers on the back started rushing us further along, but then there was a commotion at the front of the group. Without a warning the corridor suddenly bathed into the bright yellow light of exploding flames. I heard Sean yell something incomprehensive and then everybody started shooting. Ben landed on top of me as he ducked away from the spray of concrete and the shattering bullets. The man behind me collapsed to the ground, his mouth still formed into a wordless, soundless scream of surprise. Then the soldiers at the back also started shooting toward something that came from behind.

They had closed us in.

I heard them too late.

Ben pushed me down onto the ground with such force that I felt my spine whining about the weight. His hands were on my head and I felt his hot breathing in my neck. My heart throbbed painfully against the cold floor and I was blinded by my own tears. I tried to get a hold of my weapon, but it was stuck between my body and the cold, stone floor. My fingers were bend into an awkward position and I groaned in pain. Everything around us turned into chaos, there was the deafening sound of explosions mixed with screams of terror, anger and pain. Smoke burned in my eyes and I couldn’t breathe. My lungs were set ablaze and now I could feel the heat of the flames setting the hallway on fire.

I should have been scared.

I should have felt something.

But it was all just happening.

My brain couldn’t process it.

I was completely numb.

Suddenly Ben rolled of me and the rapid fire of a gun ricocheted in my head. Before I even knew what had happened I was back on my feet. Ben was slumped against the wall, but his own weapon was smoking in his hands. Someone in black armour was slowly sliding to the ground. A quick look showed me that Ben was the one who shot and that he looked fine. I aimed and shot two others fighting at the front with Sean and his men. Most of the bullets missed, but I got one of them in the small of his neck and the other in both his legs. Ben finished the job on the second guy.

Bodies were piling up and the smoke mixed with the smell of blood. The brave nameless girl was lying face down in a rapidly growing puddle of blood. More men poured into the hallway and started shooting wildly. Instinctively I reacted and started shooting too. I had steadied myself against the wall and watched as the men were taken by surprise and took cover around a corner. One of them didn't make it.

‘We have to get out of here.’ Ben shouted, his voice hoarse and strangely subdued. I looked around quickly and saw a door on our right. A way out. I plunged my elbow into Ben’s stomach to show him what I saw, though the adrenaline gave me a little bit more strength than I’d anticipated. Ben coughed but recovered quickly once he saw the door. I could also see that a few people left standing had also seen the door. While firing blindly at our enemies we scrambled to the door and found ourselves in a tiny corridor with a low ceiling and some very small, narrow windows. The faint moonlight set everything in a ghastly white light. The blood on my hands turned black. Sean closed the door behind him and started throwing some stuff against it. I sprang into action and helped him move a heavy table. The walls were smoother than in the other corridor and it was incredibly cold. The orange glow of the flames leaked from underneath the door, but the penetrant smell of the smoke was les persistent. The door would never hold. But it did give us some time to find refuge. It did nothing to black out the thundrous sound of the fire and the shouting of the soldiers. The chaos was following us. 

Sean’s eyes met mine as we put the table against the heavy wooden door. I couldn’t truly place what they were saying. There was sorrow in them, but also surprise.

‘Why aren’t you on the bus?’ This was the first time today that I could discern a trace of fear in his voice. He hadn’t really paid any attention this night to the people in the communal room, because this was apparently the first time that he noticed that I was still here.

‘Couldn’t get on. Children are safe though.’ My voice also sounded strangely subdued.

He shook his head, eyes unwilling to let me go. I was taken aback by his sudden fear, it was concerning. We needed him to be steady and strong. Now he looked like he was about to lose his marbles.

‘No you don’t understand. You need to go! You can’t stay here. I made a promise! You can’t be here.’ Both his hands were now on my shoulders and he was shaking me violently. I felt the wounds on my arms ripping open again and dust and smoke burned through my skin. All I could see was panic in his eyes, though there was something amiss. I tried to get out of his steel grip, but he didn’t let me go. Instead he turned me around and with one hand still on my shoulder marched through the corridor. Ben and only 3 others followed closely in silence. Someone yelped as the door suddenly shook in its hinges. They were trying to break in. There was no time to lose. We started running, our heavy footsteps sounded hollow in the empty darkness. But this time we did have some light accompanying us. Ben seemed to know where he was going, because he skidded to a stop and kicked down another door. There was no room behind it, just a long spiralling staircase. He peaked inside for a second, while we caught up with him. Or breathing sounding very harsh in the echoes created by the tunnel. The chaos finally slowing down.

‘It’s empty.’

All six of us started climbing down the narrow stairs, with shaking, scrambling feet. The steps were smooth and slick. The air was stuffy and really cold, it smelled of mould. This stairwell hadn't been used in a very long time. There were tiny, narrow gaps between the stones of the outer wall. There was barely enough room to fit the gun through. Easy to shoot someone, hard to get shot yourself. But neither of us was shooting now. We were running. We couldn’t hold Nordlys back, we had already lost this battle. I knew it.

Sean Knew it.

But we were still alive.

And as long as I was breathing there was hope.

As we went down the winding steps I got more and more dizzy. And I felt Sean wavering too. He steadied himself with his remaining hand, but refused to let go of my shoulder. I was about to tell Ben that we needed to slow down when he stopped and opened another door. Light suddenly poured in and we were all blinded and averted our eyes.I took a few steps back and nearly lost my balance. Sean pulled me back up. I could hear people yelling and black, armoured arms pulled Ben and someone else into the source of light. I heard him scream and I tried to jump down to help him.

‘Hold them off!’ Sir Macintosh’s voice shattered my eardrums and his concrete grip pulled me back. I was fighting him, but it was no use. Like a ragdoll he tossed me into another room. I scraped both my knees when I hit the ground. My head was spinning and I was yelling profanities to Sir Macintosh as he pulled me further along another corridor. Ben was in trouble and he just left him! We needed to do something! But Sean was relentless and his strong arms were bruising my skin.

The door that we left behind shattered and the blast knocked us of our feet. Sean protected me with his body and started shooting over his shoulder. The walls shattered as bullets whizzed past us. One landed just a few centimetres of my face.

The firing temporarily stopped and Sean rolled off me. But to my greatest fear he didn’t get up. Instead he was slumped against the wall. There was so much blood. His hand was no longer on my shoulder. In his eyes I saw fear. He felt like he failed and there was regret.

‘No, no, no, no. Sir! Come on! We need to go!’ I tried to pull him up, but I wasn’t strong enough. He shook his head and grabbed my arm. With the last of his strength he pulled me close to him.

‘Go, survive! Find Domhnall. You have to survive!’ There was a burning desire in his voice, but he was growing paler with each passing second. This wasn't happening, this couldn't be happening. It was all just a bad dream. It had to be.

‘No, please. Sir! We need you!’ Finally fear settled in my bones, I could hear it in my voice.

‘Nah, I’m done for. If you see Brian, tell him… tell him…’

I vigorously shook my head. This wasn’t happening.

‘No, you can tell him yourself! You can’t leave him.’

He gripped stronger until my arm felt like it was falling off. There was a crazy stare in his eyes, desperation filled the corridor.

‘Promise me. Survive, tell Brian that I’m sorry. That I love him.’

Realising that I wasn’t going to win this fight, I just nodded. I was failing to fight back tears and all strength had left my body. I could not fulfil this promise. I could not get out. I knew this.

‘I will. I promise.’ But I was already talking to air. Sean had stopped breathing, his hand now limp around my arm. Panic overwhelmed me but was soon followed by an intense feeling of grief. All my friends were gone. Abi was still alive, but everybody else was gone. I wouldn’t get to see her grow old. She wouldn’t ever remember me. That was the most painful thought that I could ever have imagined. The little innocent girl, that had gone her entire life without a family, would never grow up with me. She would think I abandoned her.

And I did.

‘Liar.’ I turned around to a familiar face. Blood rushed from my face, my heart hammered against my ribs. Tane was towering over me, dressed in all black but unarmed. The sleeves of his turtle-neck jumper rolled up. On the inside of his wrist was a small tattoo of a turtle, like the one I'd seen on Mo Bhean. His eyes were cold and looked at Sir Macintosh with disdain. I wanted to fight him as anger flashed through me, but I couldn’t even get up.

‘You have a meeting with your King. We should get going.’