The Unfavorable Read online

  “So, you’ll stay then?” Ryder brightens. Micah loosens his grip on my arm.

  “You two drive a hard bargain,” I tease. “I don’t think I had any choice.”

  “Damn straight,” Micah nods, letting go of my completely.

  The murmur and cheers from outside the hut finally die down. With a sigh, I listen for what’s to come next, Micah and Ryder following suit. None of us move, anticipating strategies of war to be discussed.

  “How will we get inside the city?” one of the villagers asks. He must be near the back of the crowd, because I can barely hear him speak.

  A rush of wind blows past me, startling me. Looking in the direction it went, I see Ryder rushing towards the door as he fidgets with something in his back pocket. There’s determination in his stride that almost frightens me. Micah and I quickly follow him out, curious about what he will contribute to the discussion.

  “Aukai!” Ryder calls.

  By the time Micah and I spill out from the hut, all eyes are upon us, even the Elder. Each gaze is hungry for a fight, waiting to be told what to do and who to hit.

  “I know how we’ll get inside the city,” Ryder continues, pride gleaming from his pores.

  “Well, what say you?” Aukai prompts, a hand outstretched to Ryder.

  “I was working in the scroll room before the Loyals came into the Boiler room,” he explains, holding up a thick, folded piece of parchment. “I found an old blueprint from when the city was first built millennia ago. It shows an old tunnel that they used to trade goods that is now hidden.”

  “You’re certain?” the Elder asks, bewildered.

  “Yes,” Ryder confirms, unfolding the paper. “It’s a long way, but it goes straight into the city without having to go through the gate. I didn’t even know about it until I saw these designs, so it hasn’t been used in centuries. I guarantee that they have forgotten about it, too.”

  “My boy,” Aukai comments, patting his large hand on Ryder’s shoulder again. “This is fantastic news.”

  “I want to lead the raid,” Micah volunteers, stepping towards the Elder. “It is my sister they are after. I want to make sure they can never divide us again.”

  “Let it be so,” Aukai agrees, nodding. He turns back to the rest of the villagers before speaking again. “Now we shall feast, for tonight we make our move on Geha. Prepare yourselves for a raid that will be written in their history books. Tonight, we show them we are more than workers, we are free people. Tonight, we stop the tyranny by taking down the man who leads their people into this darkness. Tonight, the Arbiter dies.”

  The crowd hoots and hollers, scattering to prepare food for the feast that was promised them before this evening’s events. Through the cheers, dread finds me. I stomp up to my brother and grab his left elbow tight, turning him towards me.

  “There’s no way you’re going,” I tell him. “If I can’t go back to save these people, then there’s no way you are. I don’t want to lose you either.”

  “Don’t worry, little sister,” Micah comforts, laying his hands on my shoulders. “I’ve been through a lot since I was sixteen. This will be easy. Plus, these people need someone to guide them through a city they know nothing about. I have to be there.”

  “I don’t care that what you said makes sense,” I pout. I’m hoping that acting like a child will get him to feel bad and stay. “I don’t want you to go.”

  “I’ll be back. I need you to stay and guard the hut anyway.”

  “Everyone likes you, no one will try to steal your stuff.”

  He chuckles at my comment, then pulls me into a hug.

  “Don’t you worry, little sister. Everything is going to work out.”

  Chapter 19

  Micah

  Night arrives faster than I expect. I’m leading a total of ten men around the large hill that Geha resides on top of, to find the secret path up to the city depicted in the map Ryder found, that’s somehow remained hidden for so long.

  More men wanted to join us, but I was afraid that too many people trying to infiltrate the city was dangerous. Too many opportunities to get caught. I wanted to only bring five men but Aukai convinced me to bring more. Either number won’t help if we’re caught and must defend ourselves against Loyals, but going in alone is suicide, too.

  As we creep along the outside of the impossibly tall hill, I find myself thinking back to the feast. The three of us – Ryder, Alora, and I – spent the late afternoon eating with Aukai, and he told embarrassing stories of Ryder and me growing up. All the laughing helped Al relax a little, but the tension in her body was still clear in her every movement.

  Whether it was picking up her fork to eat, or simply giggling at something one of us said, her discomfort was evident to me. It pained me seeing her so worried, but I had to be the one to do this. After all the years I should have been there to protect her, this is my opportunity to step up and make up for at least a little of that lost time.

  Even after the food disappeared, the drinks and stories continued to flow until the sun began to fall behind the horizon. It was the best celebration I’ve participated in since arriving in Landow, and they’ve had several feasts. I had a great time, even if it had a sad undertone. Just having my little sister there made all the difference.

  I’m going to come back from this. I have to. I’m not leaving her to fend for herself, with only Ryder to really help her. Aukai is a great leader, but he has to look out for the whole village over one person. She needs me to take care of this horrible situation and come back to take care of her like I should have been these past six years.

  The worst part of the evening was when we left. Ryder didn’t tell Alora he was coming with me until right beforehand. I’m not happy about their infatuation with each other, but it still broke my heart seeing them fight like that.

  She wanted him to stay with her since I was already leaving, and she didn’t trust anyone else. It broke my heart seeing her cry like that. In the end, he convinced her that he had to come along, too. He said he needs to make sure she’s safe and that no one would try to use her again. So that she can live free of restraint and do whatever she wants with her life.

  I couldn’t say no to letting him come along. He would have followed the group even if I had denied his request to be involved. There was no ignoring the determination and conviction practically shooting out from his gaze like a bullet to save my sister.

  Still, I’m relieved that Al agreed to stay with Aukai in his hut. He didn’t come along because of his importance as the leader of the village. He needs to keep the morale of those back in Landow high. I know that he’ll make sure she stays safe within his hut.

  I needed that reassurance before leaving. If I had allowed her to go back to my hut alone, I know she would have done what she could to get back to the gate and turn herself into the Loyals to save the Unfavorable. She’s exactly like me in that sense.

  This way, Aukai will keep her occupied, even if this mission remains persistent in the back of her mind. He’ll distract her long enough so that time seems to fly by for her. She will barely notice that Ryder and I are gone. It’s a specialty of his. He did that for me on more than one occasion after I’d gotten my ass kicked by Loyals.

  With Alora safe with him, the chosen nine other men are walking behind me. Someone grunts from stumbling over a tree root in the dark, and it brings my focus back to the risky, and potentially deadly, task at hand.

  Ryder is at my heels to my left keeping my steady pace, squinting at the parchment with the blueprints to get every possible second to continue memorizing it before entering into enemy territory. It’s too dark to see, but he’s too determined to quit at this point.

  He already had the damn thing memorized before we left Landow, so he’s just anxious. I’ve never seen him nervous before. Most of the men are, though. I can hear how restless they are in their strides and grumbling. Some of them are probably questioning why they decided to come along in the first place.


  “Stop! Here!” Ryder suddenly yells, startling me.

  I almost fall into the hill from the shock of it all, narrowly missing a massive boulder of old rock and dirt that is seated against the side of the hill.

  “Really Ryder?” I groan, complaining. “I really should have made you stay back with Alora and Aukai…”

  He glares at me through the final orange rays of light peeking through the trees over the horizon. I brush myself off as if it’ll remove some of the caked-on dirt, knowing that it’ll never actually work. I’m simply attempting to ignore him.

  I don’t achieve my goal, however. His gaze doesn’t waver while I pat at my sleeve. With a sigh, I abandon the dirt and return my attention to him to find him still staring at me.

  “Shut up, Micah,” he growls, more calmly than I anticipated. He turns away from me, pointing at the huge boulder I almost cracked my head on. “There’s a tunnel on the other side of this massive rock. It’ll lead straight up to the city. We just need to figure out how to move it enough for us to file through behind it.”

  “We would have missed it if it weren’t for that blueprint,” I mumble to myself, feeling a little bad about my earlier reaction. “Thanks for that, Ryder.”

  He nods, grateful, our earlier agitations forgotten with the reminder of the danger we are about to face once we get up to Geha. I’ve never seen such a large blockade, though. The only way to move it is for all of us to push it out of the way, and I’m not even 100% sure that it’ll move at all. If that doesn’t work, then we’ll be going home a lot earlier than expected.

  “Alright everyone,” I announce, getting everyone’s attention.

  Being the leader was never something that interested me growing up, but it comes to me naturally. I almost don’t recognize the authority resonating within my tone.

  “We’re going to move this boulder,” I continue. “Everyone get into position on this side.”

  The group of ten men follow my instructions and move into position. I take my spot near the hill, Ryder on my left with his shoulder lying against the grass, and the other eight spread out around me.

  A few fall in line to my right, while the rest take spots underneath Ryder and me to try and push at it from that angle. It looks like we have every section of the boulder covered, I just hope it’s enough to move it. These men are strong from working countless hours on fields and in the Boiler room, but this rock is massive. I can’t say I don’t have my doubts.

  “On the count of three,” I start, feeling anxiety pump slowly through me. “Don’t hold back anything – use all your strength against it. One…two…three!”

  I’ve witnessed amazing things living with these men over the years, but I have never seen them collaborate like this before. I’m so dumbfounded that I almost forget to do my part and push with them. It’s slow moving at first. Literally.

  It doesn’t budge, but we all continue to push until, finally, it begins to slide away from the grassy wall of the hill, leaving a trail of mud where grass used to be centuries ago. Back before this thing was moved here in the first place. It must have taken some kind of crane to put it here, and ten ‘Unfavorable’ men moved it.

  When the boulder is displaced a foot to the right of the newfound hole in the side of the hill, our strength as a group diminishes and our progress comes to a resounding halt.

  The three men closest to the ground collapse face first into the dirt, two more turn 180 degrees and slide down the boulder into a sitting position, and three others take a few steps away from the rock to regain their composure.

  Ryder and I lean against the hill, breathing heavily but not nearly as winded as the other men. I want to keep pressing forward, for the sake of my sister’s freedom, but I can’t afford to lose my only support in this endeavor from pushing them to giving up on me. On Alora.

  No, I can’t think about that. It’s way too painful. I’m not letting her go back there ever again. Not after she chose to stay in Landow.

  I wait until the men start coming back as a group on their own before making any indication that I’m on edge waiting for us all to move up to Geha. Impatience kicks me off the hill and opens my mouth to address everyone.

  “I know that wasn’t easy,” I coach, trying to inspire the fire they had when we first left Aukai’s hut.

  They gather around me to hear my speech, recovering their tenacity and vigor the longer I speak.

  “But we opened up a passage to Geha that has been holed up for centuries. We did that – the so-called Unfavorable. Remember why we are here. These people, the Favorable, have held their supposed superiority above us, but now we have an advantage. It’s time we end the oppression they’ve forced on us!”

  My fist shoots into the air above me to emphasis my terribly made point. I know most of the men probably don’t understand what oppression even means, but they hoot and holler in response anyway. Their minds are back on track. Ryder is at my side, grinning like a fool knowing full well I’m simply attempting to get the ball rolling again, so to speak. I don’t care, though. It worked.

  “Alright,” I project, commanding everyone’s full attention again. “The entrance looks to only allow one man through at a time, so I suspect the passage is just as narrow. Form a line and file through behind Ryder and me.”

  I wait for a nod or grunt from each of the other men to make sure they comprehend my instructions. Once I’m confident they are all on the same page as me, I duck into the dark passageway.

  Immediately, clay stairs begin ascending before me. They start so abruptly that I trip and almost fall on my face from my foot slamming into the clay unexpectedly.

  A torch would have been fantastic right about now, but it would have become too much of a sight risk once we make it to the city. Townspeople are asleep, but there are always Loyals walking about looking for anyone breaking curfew.

  Geha doesn’t change quickly. I still remember the different patrols and how to get around them. It came in handy late at night when I would surprise Skylark with a visit. Alora doesn’t even know that I used to sneak out at night. Before I was deemed Unfavorable.

  With this knowledge, though, I will not allow Loyals to keep us from killing Cloudore. After that is complete, we can handle whatever comes at us as it happens. Together. Alora and I.

  The climb becomes steeper with each step. It is a moot point, though. It is so dark within the tunnel that it takes several minutes before I begin to see the outlines of the clay stairs in front of me. They fade into the darkness as they near my feet.

  It’s clear that my followers aren’t as fortunate as I am, however. Grunts and grumbles bounce off the walls, past me and up into the unknown stretching out before me. I would be worried about being heard by Loyals, but I know I don’t have to.

  Even if I hadn’t committed the map to memory before leaving Aukai’s, the way the complaints echo above me speaks volumes about our position within the tunnel. We have an exceptionally long climb before we reach anything close to Geha.

  The only worry I face is the men giving up before we get there. It is, quite literally, my worst nightmare at this point, which is why it keeps coming back to the forefront of my thoughts though I try to keep it from consuming me.

  Especially during such a time where the silence allows the mind to wander. Not even the constant groans and startled cries from stumbles can keep my fears at bay. The further we ascend, the greater my anxiety becomes.

  A whisper behind me begins to gnaw at my worried mind. The men are bickering. I understand why; the darkness is so interminable that I can’t see very far. I can’t see my feet climbing the stairs. I can’t even see the tunnel walls on either side of me, only feel the smooth surface against the back of my fingers as they brush against the clay.

  If I’m having trouble seeing with my advanced sight as a man who was meant to be Favorable, I can only imagine the difficulty the Unfavorable are having.

  Still, the mumbles become louder with every step. If we’re
anywhere near the city, there is no question that Loyals will hear them. They’re all used to hard work, but none of them have trudged through the dark to save someone’s freedom.

  To them, this is just revenge over years of mistreatment – something they are used to. It isn’t personal like it is for Ryder and me. This may not be worth the trouble for them.

  “Quiet down, guys,” I call down behind me. “We should reach the top of the tunnel soon. We don’t want to get caught before we’ve begun the difficult part of the mission. We can do this, we just need to stay focused.”

  Thankfully, that does it. The grumbles stop completely, and our progress accelerates. Our climbing speed increases exponentially for several minutes before the group as a whole slows its pace. Frustration keeps me going.

  Frustration with becoming an Unfavorable, being away from my sister for so long, the reuniting only to have her taken away from me again. Now the frustration of dealing with men who don’t get why this must happen, and they will never fully understand.

  I’ve been able to cope living with the Unfavorable for so long that I’ve developed a patience for these men. However, my patience is starting to fail me.

  I run my hand along the clay above me. Part of the reason is that I hope the dreadfully long tunnel will end, the rest is knowing it has to end soon. With the rate at which we’ve been climbing and the steepness of the incline, mathematically we should be close. Ryder may know better than I after spending so much time memorizing the blueprints, but I’ve always been able to trust my intellect.

  It’s been a long trek, almost an hour now of climbing and hiking the infernal clay, but the passage into Geha is within three meters now. I know it. Numbers don’t lie. A few more steps brings the entrance within two meters now. Then one.

  The instant my fingers touch wood, I stop, whistling behind me so the rest of the team follows suit rather than running into one another. The change from clay to wood takes me a bit off guard, even if I was anticipating it. Hoping for it.