Chapter 8.4

I was meant to attack Vastan's ambassador on his way to town hall. There was only a short walk from his residence, so the window of opportunity was small. Less than a minute. We climbed down the cliff face together, but once we were in town, they split into two groups, Jay taking the Reagen group and Rickon taking the other. They lingered back while I got into a good position to wait. I had to be close enough that I could reach him in time but far enough away that I wouldn't get immediately caught. I chose a vacant looking house a few buildings adjacent from the town hall. But regardless where I chose, there was a large open space between me and the town hall. If there really was a trap, I had to be quick to reach the ambassador in time.

The streets slowly started to fill with people, although curiously, they avoided the city centre and market area. Maybe the market wasn't on today? I started getting a bad feeling, and I began to fidget while waiting for the Vastan ambassador to appear. My eyes lock onto the large doors at the front of the grand building. There were several steps from the front door down to the town centre and pillars of white stone that obscured my vision. But I was confident that I could see him and make a move before they reached the town hall.

Now I was in town, I noticed something strange about the streets in the centre. It seemed like the floor was made from wood, and from somewhere I could hear the gentle sound of lapping water. But I couldn't locate the source, there wasn't any supply of water close enough. It was too late by the time I knew what that meant.

While it bothered me, when the grand doors opened, any other thoughts were banished from my mind and I concentrated on the task at hand. A woman and two guards stepped out and begun to descend the steps. She was middle aged and confident, dressed smartly but moved with ease.

The ambassador must have been the woman. Not that it made a difference. I silently crept closer, using the buildings shadow as cover, and then when she was down the steps, and I was the close enough, I made my move.

The knife was steady in my hand. I ran as fast as I could with the intent to kill. Just before I was in striking range, her gaze locked on mine. But there wasn't a hint of surprise or fear. A shiver ran down my spine and I felt like I'd made a grave mistake.

The floor literally moved beneath me. The ambassador was ripped from my vision and I fell, but there was no solid floor to catch me. I splash into water and surprise and confusion strike me in unawares. The cold shocked me and I gasped, swallowing water. My feet desperately searched for some solid floor, but they sunk further into the cold icy depths. There was nothing there. My arms frantically flail out- trying to grab something or maybe I was just trying to stay afloat, I couldn't really remember. My mind went blank with panic and fear. Water got in my mouth, burning my throat and lungs. I coughed, but then more water got in. I got pulled under, into the cold and dark. In the darkness, I couldn't tell where the surface was, everything was the same. My arms pulled at the water, tugging away until my hands met with air and I thrashed until my face broke the surface and I tasted sweet air again. The ground was above me, but it was too far. When I reached for it my fingers didn't even come within inches of it and there was nothing to push off from. My fingers graze the smooth surface, my nails scratching for anything that could be used to pull me up.

There were the sounds of guns readying above me, then the sounds of a fight breaking out. Gun shots. Although, everything but panic is pushed from my mind as water obscures my vision and intrudes my mouth.

It hurt. My throat burned. My head kept getting pulled under and I was so tired. My body was stiff and cold, my desperate attempts to stay afloat were getting weaker and less successful. I don't want to die. I thought and on my last attempt to reach the street and dark cool hand grabbed mine. I was pulled from the water and dragged onto the pavement, coughing uncontrollably, trying to expel the river water from my lungs.

Relief flooded through me, and I stayed there, lying awkwardly on my stomach, without the effort to move. When the adrenaline wore off, I noticed I was shivering. I looked up at my rescuer, and I saw Shadow stood looming over me, his dark form contrasting greatly against the bright morning sun behind him, making him seem like he was much taller than he actually was.

"Thanks." I sighed. Looking around now, it seemed like the town itself was built on a lake. Although it seemed like it was just for decoration, the parts of pavement made from wood were gone, replaced by deep caveats of dark icy water. While it was possible to jump across them, as they were only about two metres wide, it greatly limited the mobility of anyone trying to pass through the town and completely cut off the town hall from the rest of it. But that didn't stop Dark Moon Squad.

I almost tripped on a fallen body lying at my feet, as I searched for the rest of the squad. They were face down with his arm drooping into the water, presumably dead, or near death, with the amount of blood seeping into the pavement from under him and inking the water pink.

In fact, there were bodies everywhere. Half a dozen near where I stood and a couple more scattered near the town hall. I couldn't see Dark Moon Squad, but I could still hear the distant sounds of a battle. I wondered if they'd killed Vastan's ambassador or if she'd got away; almost drowning had taken more time than I thought and I had no idea of the current situation.

I gave myself a run up and leaped over the water channel. My knees hit the side of the pavement, jarring my entire body, and dipping my feet back in the water, but I managed to keep my grip and climb up the other side.

The channels wove themselves throughout the streets nearest the centre, seemingly cutting them off from the rest of the town, and fragmenting fights. It made fighting more difficult for Dark Moon Squad, who specialised in close quarters combat, whereas the enemy tended to use guns. Behind the town hall there were more bodies, mostly dead, but if not, badly hurt. Thankfully, there weren't any towns folk, who seemed to have enough sense to stay away from the fight.

Although I was moving, I couldn't do anything to stop my teeth from chattering. The sun was high in the sky at mid-morning, but it was cold this time of year, and every brush of wind sent needles down my nerves. From behind the town hall, a narrow boat appeared, using the channels as an escape, and I caught sight of Vastan's ambassador. I swear she look right at me and I was about to call out to the nearby Squad members when her eyes glanced upwards to something behind me, and on impulse I swerved around just as a knife was heading towards my back.

I dropped my knife when I was drowning, so I didn't have anything to defend myself with. Instead, I parried his attack, and grabbed his wrist, twisting underneath me, pulling him down, and striking him with my other hand below his chin. I kneed him and kicked away his knife when he dropped it. It plopped in the waterway. Then I scurried away before he could attack again and leaped over the last channel. I almost lost my footing, if it were for Shadow's hand on my back, pushing me forward.

I glanced back to where I last saw the boat, but it was nowhere to be seen. A lot of Vastan's people had been badly hurt or killed, and I recognised the uniform of some Reagen soldiers mixed in as well.

"We've done our job so let's go!" Rickons voice boomed over the battlefield. So Reagens ambassador was dead. Or at least one of them was, considering I saw Vastans ambassador make a run for it I had to assume Reagen took the fall. So we'd probably ruined the chances of a three way alliance, just like they wanted.

Then we were running with gun fire at our heels. We spend through the streets, past the citizens who seemed to be unaware of the battle that was going on in their town, while the others occasionally fought off a solider who managed to catch up. Thankfully, Jay knew where we were headed and I only had to follow them, weaving through the narrow passageways until we were on the edge of town, where water blossomed from under the it, forming a massive lake with only a thin strip of land to navigate. At our end was just wide enough for narrow road and a few pieces of foliage to trim it, but I could see that it flared more as it reached Reagen, and there were more trees- more places to hide in ambush. We were extremely vulnerable until we were fully across and I had a really bad feeling.

I had a sudden realisation, just as we were about to start crossing. "Wait! I think it's a landmine field." I skidded to a halt with tremendous fear blossoming in my stomach. If they knew we were coming they would probably set a trap in our only escape route.

"There's no reported landmine in this area. It's the only way across." Quin argued, but he trailed to a stop next to me.

"it could be another Reagen trick."

"Well then, get us out of here kid." He shoves the can of paint into my hands, taking it from the bottom of his bag. I remember how scared I was when I'd first done this, but since then I'd survived three times. Shadow appeared next to me and I let him lead the way, taking note of the little pangs of dread that appeared when I was about to misstep. I could hear the men slowly advancing behind me, but after I was about halfway there, Shadow started acting strange. He stopped his advance, so I did too.

"What's wrong?" I whispered to him. He turned to face me, although his back was almost identical to his front, somehow, I knew he was facing me. I could see hesitation in his demeanour. I wondered if we went the wrong way or if there wasn't any safe way through. The pass was widening at that point, there should have been more opportunity to move freely, but I felt like something was wrong.

Suddenly, the painful tug in my stomach got worse and I let out a little gasp. Behind me Nathan caught up, and impatiently hissed "Hurry up kid!", shoving me forward. It wasn't especially hard, but the ground was uneven, and I tripped. The paint can slipped from my fingers and I fell sidewards, hitting the floor, as a tiny clicking sound echoed through my entire body. That little snapping sound turned my blood cold, I froze, and immediately my body started going numb.

"what's up you little shit?" he hissed, although he'd only been with the squad for about a month now, I noticed that he had dangerous personality and etched his name into my mind. This is why- I should have been more careful.

I couldn't make any sound come from my mouth, my throat was instantly dry, my heartbeat thumping in my ears as blood rushed to my head. I knew what that sound meant, even though I'd spent all these years eluding such an occurrence, I instantly knew the implication of that tiny noise.

"Answer me!" he screamed, his face was going red, he was an easily angered man, and he hadn't heard the noise. The rest of the squad restlessly bundled round, and Nathan prepared to give me a beating.

"NO!" the sound escaped my mouth just as he throws the kick, I'm hit in the stomach and I lose my even grip on the mine. I skim across the floor as the mine explodes, and I'm thrusted into the air. The world is at turmoil, my visions spins over and over, sound erupts either side of me, ringing in my ears, dirt spills out from the ground and the sky turns dark sprayed with little droplets of red mist and dirt. Rock flies in every direction, and I, like another piece of debris, fly through the air. I tumble over like a rag doll, hitting the ground, three, four, five times. When I finally stop, I can't hear the screaming over the ringing in my ears, my vision is red with the blood from the cuts on my head, and my body is on fire. I feel my breathing go out of control, I heave in short sharp breaths that catch in my throat as fear sets into me.

I can't move, my limbs won't obey me, they lay limply where they fell like a useless bag of meat, while my nerves scream out. From where I fell, all I can see is the bloody tips of my fingers caught underneath my head, but I can feel grit stick to the blood on my body, and I know I'm hurt pretty bad.

"Help me." I whispered meekly, and I hear someone approach. When they're close enough I see its Jay who'd escaped the blast. I can't move my body to see if anyone else had survived.

"Why did you think I would help you?" Jay askes curiously. I can't hear his voice, but I can read his lips when he's close enough.

"you helped me once before." I managed to reply.

He sighed, "you see that's the problem with helping someone once, they'd expect it again and again." He commented with a bored tone, "I would never do something that would jeopardise myself. I don't have morals." He replied flatly.

A shiver went down my spine. I couldn't feel any emotion off him- he was completely cold.

"you saved my life." I muttered in disbelief.

"Because I wanted to. I was curious of what sort of experiment you were, the things I'd seen you do- I wanted to see more. But that's it, I'm afraid you've severely misjudged me, boy. I'm a selfish human being, I don't do anything I won't benefit from. What can I get from helping you this time?" There wasn't any malicious intent in his words, there was only indifference and boredom. But that was almost worse.

"I don't understand." I whispered; my mind was fading with the pain. I was confused.

He knelt down to my level and sighed like it was a nuisance to explain. His impassive manner made me shudder. Half of his men were dead, and he didn't show an incline of concern. "let me tell you a story then. It'll help you finally understand what it means to be part of Dark Moon Squad. As you know, Garlantia frequently condones the use of human experimentation. The success rate is not very high I have to admit, but those that are a success far outweigh the failures. Rickon, Quin and I were originally part of a different squad, but because of our commander's mistake, we were all but wiped out. The three of us survived to take the blame. In our lowest moments we were offered a way to restore our honour. The procedure was designed to remove human emotions, it failed somewhat, or rather the entire concept was flawed, but we survived, and we could still be soldiers. But normal squads wouldn't take us after what happened and so Dark Moon Squad was created for that purpose, we're a collection of failed experiments waiting to die in the line of duty. When you were given to us, I thought you too were another failed experiment, but I was yet to work out what type."

My voice wouldn't work, when he gets up to leave, as an afterthought he chucks my pistol which had flung free from its holster during the explosion, in my direction. It lands inches from my fingers. "There's your mercy." He says, before disappearing from view. I hear him heave one of the men over his shoulder, but I can't see who it is. Then he's gone.