Buzkashi: The Calvary
Jul. 27th, 2006 09:54 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
x-dust.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
xp_logsAnother morning discovery, this time for Nate and Angelo.
There was no time for recriminations, even if there was a part of him that was shouting bitterly at the rest of him that he should have said to hell with custom, and insisted that Rahne and Sooraya be lodged in the house with him and Angelo and Bobby. But when you were relying on the hospitality of strangers, you needed to honor their customs, too.
And if you weren't a broken-brained idiot, you would have sensed it when they were taken. Nathan gritted his teeth, staring fixedly at the dusty road. "Come on, Ashraf..." Bobby would be finishing his call with the mansion, telling them what had happened, and he wanted to head out of here as soon as they knew help was coming. They were entirely too close to the damned Pakistani border. They needed to catch up with the traders before they took the girls too far.
Angelo emerged from the house, face grim, and came to stand beside him. "No sign of our friends yet?"
"Soon," Nathan said, his voice tight. "Ashraf owes me several too many not to break landspeed records getting here." He shouldn't have had to wait. He should have been able to go after them as soon as he realized the girls were gone, and seen if he could use his exoskeleton to hurl the bastards into Pakistan.
"Good. An' then we get to go an' bring them back. If nothin' else... well, Rahne's a British citizen. When we find her, there's always threats of international incidents. Get them to let us take Sooraya, too, to keep quiet... if good old-fashioned violence won't work."
"Trust me," Nathan said with a bleak sort of humor, "there's not going to be any negotiating." He was liable to have to keep a leash on Ashraf, come to think of it. The moment of dead silence on the phone when he'd told him what had happened had been a trifle ominous.
He squinted suddenly at the road, seeing dust rising. "I think that's-" Nathan stopped immediately, his eyes widening slightly. Those were not vehicles, and he gave a sudden, sharp bark of laughter. "Oh, perfect," he said, seeing Ashraf and what looked like about six of his friends riding in, a few extra horses galloping alongside on leading reins. "We can cut cross-country, make up the time. Next best thing to a helicopter in this terrain."
Angelo looked warily at the horses. "Uh, Nate... I know I can ride, but... gallopin'? Cross-country?"
"You'll be fine." Bobby, on the other hand... did Bobby even ride? Well, I guess we're going to find out... Nathan raised his good hand in greeting as Ashraf and his friends rode up, reining in their horses.
"You made good time."
"We don't have a lot of it, if they're heading to the border," Ashraf pointed out, and Nathan smiled tightly, glad they were on the same page. Ashraf's eyes rested on Nathan's sling for a moment, and then he shrugged. "I remembered you riding across worse terrain with two bullets in you."
"I'll manage." Nathan glanced at Angelo. "Go get Bobby," he said. "We're leaving in five minutes."
---
On their way to find the girls, Nate speaks with Bobby about doing what needs to be done.
Nathan steered his horse around Ashraf's and towards Bobby's. They were headed uphill at the moment - very, very steeply uphill - so they weren't galloping, and conversation was possible. "We need to talk about what we're doing when we reach them," he said, his horse keeping pace with Bobby's mare easily.
Bobby was concentrating on not looking like he had no idea how to ride a horse, and he jumped when Nathan pulled up next to him. He did know how to ride, it'd just been a while, and on a very different terrain. "I'm listening," he answered, tension visible in every line of his body, making the horse somewhat skittish beneath him, but he was helpless to stop it.
"It's a convoy of trucks - I got a good look at their vehicles while we were back at the market yesterday. Catching up with them on this road, we'll have the advantage of higher ground, but they will be armed." Nathan's horse fairly leapt up a particularly steep bit of slope, straining at the reins. "If I had my TK, it would be simple. I'd keep them in the trucks, and shield the trucks. Then have Ashraf's people ride down and ask for their guns nicely."
Bobby nodded, his stomach twisting into knots as he waited. He had a feeling he knew what was coming. Shit. "But you don't." It was a stupid thing to say, but he was having a hard time concentrating.
"I don't, no." Nathan gave him a sideways look. "Look, obviously I don't have my telepathy either, or I'd know what was going on in your head," he said more quietly. "It's obviously something. And I feel like shit, knowing I'm about to push you to do something where the anticipation is making you this twitchy. But you're our best bet at preventing this from turning into a firefight, and while you and I and Angelo and Ashraf and his people can look after ourselves... Rahne and Sooraya are down there in the middle of it."
That was something to be grateful for, anyway. Bobby didn't want anyone in his head at the moment. "It's just nerves, Nathan," he lied, not wanting to admit to the real problem. "I'll be fine, you don't have to worry about me. Just…tell me what you need me to do and point me at it." And pray things don't get out of hand.
For a moment, Nathan wavered. He ought to give Bobby the option to not do this, but it was quite literally the only way he could see to minimize the number of bullets flying around. Perhaps prevent flying bullets altogether. Help was still hours away, and if the traders got over the border and into Pakistan with the girls, the situation was going to be a thousand times more complicated.
It really wasn't a choice. And if it was, Bobby had already made it. Whatever issues he was having, he was clearly prepared to do this anyway. Which spoke well for him, but didn't really make Nathan feel like any less of a bastard.
"First thing," he said, keeping his voice low and calm as the horses continued to climb, "is that wherever we do catch up with them, you stay up on the ridge. I'll have Ashraf leave someone with you. You'll need the clear view of the whole convoy, and you don't ride well enough for a gallop down these hills. No offense intended."
"None taken," Bobby assured him quickly. He was uncomfortable enough with the idea of what he knew he was going to have to do, one way or another—doing it on a galloping horse plunging down the side of a mountain was a scenario he didn't even want to picture.
"The goal is to keep them in the trucks. If you can ice up the sides of the vehicles, keep them from getting out, I'll ride down with Ashraf and his men and do precisely what I said we would have done if it had been TK rather than ice being used." There would probably be a few who did get out, even if Bobby acted quickly. There might even be a few who fired from the trucks, even if they were trapped and sitting ducks. This wasn't a foolproof plan, but it was the best they could manage at this point.
"Ice up the sides." Bobby closed his eyes, his palms suddenly damp with sweat. "Got it." He could do this. Just because he'd managed to shove enough raw power out of himself to stop a tidal wave didn't mean he no longer had the control for a job with more finesse, right?
Of course, if he was wrong, he'd probably end up killing people. People including Rahne. Shit--don't go there, Drake. Not productive. He vowed that no matter what happened today, as soon as he got back to the mansion he'd start some serious powers work. He should have done it right after San Diego.
"You're going to be fine," Nathan said, not missing the brief change in his expression. "Remember the fair?" he asked suddenly. "You've got that level of finesse, even when you're under emotional stress. Don't let yourself forget that."
The fair had been a year ago, though. San Diego was just weeks ago. Still, the reminder made him think of Terry and he broke into a small smile. She believed in him. He wouldn't let her down--wouldn't let any of them down.
He looked over at Nathan, his heart still fluttering nervously, but his expression was calm as he nodded. "I'm ready."
---
It's all on Bobby to make or break it, now.
The road seemed impossibly far below the ridge where they finally stopped. They were no longer in the foothills, but in the Hindu Kush itself, and the peaks around them were snow-covered on their upper reaches even in July, their summits disappearing into the clouds. Nathan reined in his horse, saying something to Ashraf, who immediately leaned towards one of his riders. The man nodded and wheeled his horse around, bringing it in beside Bobby's.
"Hamid," the man informed him - gruff, in terms of introductions, but all they really had time for. Nathan and Ashraf were talking again, and then the two of them, Angelo, and the other riders were starting down the slope at an alarming rate, heading right for the line of dilapidated trucks moving along the road.
This is it, Bobby thought, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. First things first, he had to put a stop to the trucks.
He opened his eyes, narrowing them as he focused on the tires. He extended one hand, fingers splayed, and the ice almost seemed to bloom beneath the trucks, growing up the sides at what seemed to Bobby an alarming rate. "Shit," he whispered, pulling back again as the trucks became immobile.
"~Impressive,~" Hamid murmured in Farsi. "~Truly impressive.~"
Bobby had no idea what he'd just said, so he ignored him, shifting his attention to the doors of the trucks. He had to work fast, and much more precisely now. There were people inside, if he got carried away someone could be hurt. Blowing out an anxious breath, he tried to carefully freeze the doors closed.
It wasn't working. He was holding back too much, people were already getting out. Trembling faintly with nerves, Bobby pushed a bit harder, whimpering under his breath without even being aware of it.
There! The ice was creeping over the doors, frosting the windows along the edges just a moment or two before encasing them in ice. With a little more confidence, he strengthened the bond, thickening the ice, closing his eyes as he eased off again, almost limp with relief. He'd done it.
---
Nate and Angelo make use of some specially-trained horses to come to the rescue.
The only way to do this was to do it fast. Nathan did not want a protracted firefight, not when he was fresh out of TK with which to catch bullets. He was blessing every god he didn't believe in on most days that they had Bobby, and as he saw vehicles on the road far below stop dead, their wheels locked in ice, Nathan grinned tightly and steered his horse down the precipitous slope at far too rapid a pace. The mare was nimble, though, and took the slope fearlessly. Just like he'd expected.
Ashraf and his friends were northerners. Their horses were, too. And if there was one thing horses from northern Afghanistan were taught to do, it was to play buzkashi. Galloping right into people was second nature to them, but Nathan gave his horse a quick signal with his knees and it turned just enough so that it didn't quite trample the man who leapt from the nearest vehicle, struggling with his rifle. Just almost.
Angelo, on the other hand, was doing all he could to stay on the horse after that mad gallop. He clung to the saddle as it slowed, apparently following the lead of Nathan's horse.
Nathan saw the driver trying to get out of the other side of the truck and urged his horse around to the other side, giving the mare another quick signal. She very happily kicked in the driver's side door with her back feet, and the driver sagged back against the seat, bleeding from glass cuts to his face.
Angelo decided at that point that the best place for him was on the ground, dismounting quickly to stand on the opposite side of the truck to pull open the opposite door and start hauling the driver across. They had questions for him, after all.
Nathan wheeled his horse around, grinning again as he saw ice creeping up the sides of some of the trucks, trapping people inside. Ashraf's men, who'd followed him down nearly as quickly, were looked almost affronted at the lack of action, although they rapidly set about 'encouraging' the shivering traders to hand out their weapons. When you were being held at gunpoint in a vehicle you couldn't get out of, there really wasn't much choice in the matter.
"~Where are they?~" he asked the bleeding driver, who pushed against Angelo, clearly trying to get away.
Angelo's response to this was to twist the man's arm behind him, quickly and efficiently, and hold him. "~Answer him~", he told the driver in his basic Farsi, hoping he'd understand.
"~In the rear truck... gah! Curse you!~ was the choked reply.
"~They'd better be intact,~" Nathan warned him. "~Because we're taking any bruises out of your hide.~" One of Ashraf's man approached, taking the driver from Angelo and pushing him over to join the handful of others who had gotten out of the vehicles and were being herded together into one spot. "Come on," Nathan said to Angelo. "Let's go get the girls."
"Already on my way," Angelo said as he turned to hurry towards the rear truck.
---
Safe and relatively sound, Sooraya has one last decision to make.
To say that Sooraya's life had taken a dramatic and drastic turn in the past 24 hours would've been a relatively accurate statement. She had gone from slave to free to slave again, and after a strange and otherworldly rescue, was free once more.
And now she was expected to get onto that thing. Sooraya stood some ways off from the dagger-like machine settled in the valley, eyeing it warily as she considered her options. She knew she stood little to no chance at surviving if she stayed here, but stepping onto that didn't seem like it was all that safe or comforting, either. She twisted a finger in her volumnous robes, hoping that perhaps they would forget all about her in the rush to get out of the area.
"~Sooraya?~" Nathan approached slowly, his good hand palm-up, unthreatening. "~It's all right,~" he went on, holding her gaze. He'd told the others to back off and let him handle this, so they had a few minutes here. He wasn't going to drag her aboard the plane, in any case. "~Do you remember what I said?~" he asked. "~About the place where you could be safe, with others like us? If you want to come with me now, that's where we're going.~"
Sooraya certainly remembered, though it still seemed like some sort of dream rather than a reality to look forward to. "~In that,~" she stated, her voice slightly unsteady. "~Is it safe?~"
"~Perfectly.~" Gray eyes remained on her, steadily. "~I've ridden in it through worse weather and worse conditions than anything we'll be seeing today, many times. And here I am.~" He offered her a faint, encouraging smile. "~Some of the young mutants who've ridden in it to get where we'll be going look back on it as their first good memory of the school.~"
The school. Yet another idea Sooraya was having difficult adjusting to. "~I think that's a place where I don't belong,~" she told Nate soberly.
"~Why?~" Nathan asked steadily, still not looking away. "~It's a very different place, Sooraya, I won't lie to you. You'd see strange things, strange people... but they're good people. They believe that no matter how different you are, you're still human.~"
"~Still human, but...~" Sooraya swallowed, dropping her eyes to the ground. "~I am a woman. I have not had any schooling. I do not belong in a place of learning.~"
"~I had little schooling myself until I was your age.~" Or little that he remembered, and he didn't think he needed to go there with Sooraya just yet. "~What's needed is the desire to learn, Sooraya. That's all.~" He paused. "~Do you want to learn?~" he asked her.
The girl glanced up, her expression obviously torn. All her life, her goals had been simple: To be safe, to stay alive. Learning had never even entered the picture; it hadn't been an option. "~I think so,~" she said at last, uncertainly.
"~This is all so hard for you, I know, Sooraya,~" Nathan said more softly, and knew what he had to do. If she was going to choose to come, and she had to choose... it had to be her choice...
He reached out a hand. "~Trust me,~" he said, almost imploringly. "~Please. Come with me now, see if this is a place you could be happy. If it's not... I swear I'll bring you back here. I'll find your people for you. But right now, after what's happened... I think coming with me is the best thing you can do.~"
It shocked Sooraya when her feet shuffled forward, bringing her closer to the tall man whose eyes, she realized now, were kind and gentle. But she found that she believed him, and his words did make sense. There was no place for her here, at least not now. Maybe in time she could find her clan, with his help. But for now, she simply had to trust him, and choose.
"~I will come,~" she said, slipping her small, trembling hand into his. "~Take me with you.~"
One more thing that needed saying. He took her hand, squeezing it very gently. "~Until we find your clan again,~" he said, "~you're part of mine. I swear. I'll look after you as if you were my own blood, no matter what happens.~" Nathan smiled down at her, then drew her towards the Blackbird. "~It will be all right,~" he told her softly.
Sooraya followed him obediantly despite the pounding of her heart. Though she was still beyond terrified at the new path she was going down, it reassured her to know that at least she wasn't going alone.
There was no time for recriminations, even if there was a part of him that was shouting bitterly at the rest of him that he should have said to hell with custom, and insisted that Rahne and Sooraya be lodged in the house with him and Angelo and Bobby. But when you were relying on the hospitality of strangers, you needed to honor their customs, too.
And if you weren't a broken-brained idiot, you would have sensed it when they were taken. Nathan gritted his teeth, staring fixedly at the dusty road. "Come on, Ashraf..." Bobby would be finishing his call with the mansion, telling them what had happened, and he wanted to head out of here as soon as they knew help was coming. They were entirely too close to the damned Pakistani border. They needed to catch up with the traders before they took the girls too far.
Angelo emerged from the house, face grim, and came to stand beside him. "No sign of our friends yet?"
"Soon," Nathan said, his voice tight. "Ashraf owes me several too many not to break landspeed records getting here." He shouldn't have had to wait. He should have been able to go after them as soon as he realized the girls were gone, and seen if he could use his exoskeleton to hurl the bastards into Pakistan.
"Good. An' then we get to go an' bring them back. If nothin' else... well, Rahne's a British citizen. When we find her, there's always threats of international incidents. Get them to let us take Sooraya, too, to keep quiet... if good old-fashioned violence won't work."
"Trust me," Nathan said with a bleak sort of humor, "there's not going to be any negotiating." He was liable to have to keep a leash on Ashraf, come to think of it. The moment of dead silence on the phone when he'd told him what had happened had been a trifle ominous.
He squinted suddenly at the road, seeing dust rising. "I think that's-" Nathan stopped immediately, his eyes widening slightly. Those were not vehicles, and he gave a sudden, sharp bark of laughter. "Oh, perfect," he said, seeing Ashraf and what looked like about six of his friends riding in, a few extra horses galloping alongside on leading reins. "We can cut cross-country, make up the time. Next best thing to a helicopter in this terrain."
Angelo looked warily at the horses. "Uh, Nate... I know I can ride, but... gallopin'? Cross-country?"
"You'll be fine." Bobby, on the other hand... did Bobby even ride? Well, I guess we're going to find out... Nathan raised his good hand in greeting as Ashraf and his friends rode up, reining in their horses.
"You made good time."
"We don't have a lot of it, if they're heading to the border," Ashraf pointed out, and Nathan smiled tightly, glad they were on the same page. Ashraf's eyes rested on Nathan's sling for a moment, and then he shrugged. "I remembered you riding across worse terrain with two bullets in you."
"I'll manage." Nathan glanced at Angelo. "Go get Bobby," he said. "We're leaving in five minutes."
---
On their way to find the girls, Nate speaks with Bobby about doing what needs to be done.
Nathan steered his horse around Ashraf's and towards Bobby's. They were headed uphill at the moment - very, very steeply uphill - so they weren't galloping, and conversation was possible. "We need to talk about what we're doing when we reach them," he said, his horse keeping pace with Bobby's mare easily.
Bobby was concentrating on not looking like he had no idea how to ride a horse, and he jumped when Nathan pulled up next to him. He did know how to ride, it'd just been a while, and on a very different terrain. "I'm listening," he answered, tension visible in every line of his body, making the horse somewhat skittish beneath him, but he was helpless to stop it.
"It's a convoy of trucks - I got a good look at their vehicles while we were back at the market yesterday. Catching up with them on this road, we'll have the advantage of higher ground, but they will be armed." Nathan's horse fairly leapt up a particularly steep bit of slope, straining at the reins. "If I had my TK, it would be simple. I'd keep them in the trucks, and shield the trucks. Then have Ashraf's people ride down and ask for their guns nicely."
Bobby nodded, his stomach twisting into knots as he waited. He had a feeling he knew what was coming. Shit. "But you don't." It was a stupid thing to say, but he was having a hard time concentrating.
"I don't, no." Nathan gave him a sideways look. "Look, obviously I don't have my telepathy either, or I'd know what was going on in your head," he said more quietly. "It's obviously something. And I feel like shit, knowing I'm about to push you to do something where the anticipation is making you this twitchy. But you're our best bet at preventing this from turning into a firefight, and while you and I and Angelo and Ashraf and his people can look after ourselves... Rahne and Sooraya are down there in the middle of it."
That was something to be grateful for, anyway. Bobby didn't want anyone in his head at the moment. "It's just nerves, Nathan," he lied, not wanting to admit to the real problem. "I'll be fine, you don't have to worry about me. Just…tell me what you need me to do and point me at it." And pray things don't get out of hand.
For a moment, Nathan wavered. He ought to give Bobby the option to not do this, but it was quite literally the only way he could see to minimize the number of bullets flying around. Perhaps prevent flying bullets altogether. Help was still hours away, and if the traders got over the border and into Pakistan with the girls, the situation was going to be a thousand times more complicated.
It really wasn't a choice. And if it was, Bobby had already made it. Whatever issues he was having, he was clearly prepared to do this anyway. Which spoke well for him, but didn't really make Nathan feel like any less of a bastard.
"First thing," he said, keeping his voice low and calm as the horses continued to climb, "is that wherever we do catch up with them, you stay up on the ridge. I'll have Ashraf leave someone with you. You'll need the clear view of the whole convoy, and you don't ride well enough for a gallop down these hills. No offense intended."
"None taken," Bobby assured him quickly. He was uncomfortable enough with the idea of what he knew he was going to have to do, one way or another—doing it on a galloping horse plunging down the side of a mountain was a scenario he didn't even want to picture.
"The goal is to keep them in the trucks. If you can ice up the sides of the vehicles, keep them from getting out, I'll ride down with Ashraf and his men and do precisely what I said we would have done if it had been TK rather than ice being used." There would probably be a few who did get out, even if Bobby acted quickly. There might even be a few who fired from the trucks, even if they were trapped and sitting ducks. This wasn't a foolproof plan, but it was the best they could manage at this point.
"Ice up the sides." Bobby closed his eyes, his palms suddenly damp with sweat. "Got it." He could do this. Just because he'd managed to shove enough raw power out of himself to stop a tidal wave didn't mean he no longer had the control for a job with more finesse, right?
Of course, if he was wrong, he'd probably end up killing people. People including Rahne. Shit--don't go there, Drake. Not productive. He vowed that no matter what happened today, as soon as he got back to the mansion he'd start some serious powers work. He should have done it right after San Diego.
"You're going to be fine," Nathan said, not missing the brief change in his expression. "Remember the fair?" he asked suddenly. "You've got that level of finesse, even when you're under emotional stress. Don't let yourself forget that."
The fair had been a year ago, though. San Diego was just weeks ago. Still, the reminder made him think of Terry and he broke into a small smile. She believed in him. He wouldn't let her down--wouldn't let any of them down.
He looked over at Nathan, his heart still fluttering nervously, but his expression was calm as he nodded. "I'm ready."
---
It's all on Bobby to make or break it, now.
The road seemed impossibly far below the ridge where they finally stopped. They were no longer in the foothills, but in the Hindu Kush itself, and the peaks around them were snow-covered on their upper reaches even in July, their summits disappearing into the clouds. Nathan reined in his horse, saying something to Ashraf, who immediately leaned towards one of his riders. The man nodded and wheeled his horse around, bringing it in beside Bobby's.
"Hamid," the man informed him - gruff, in terms of introductions, but all they really had time for. Nathan and Ashraf were talking again, and then the two of them, Angelo, and the other riders were starting down the slope at an alarming rate, heading right for the line of dilapidated trucks moving along the road.
This is it, Bobby thought, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. First things first, he had to put a stop to the trucks.
He opened his eyes, narrowing them as he focused on the tires. He extended one hand, fingers splayed, and the ice almost seemed to bloom beneath the trucks, growing up the sides at what seemed to Bobby an alarming rate. "Shit," he whispered, pulling back again as the trucks became immobile.
"~Impressive,~" Hamid murmured in Farsi. "~Truly impressive.~"
Bobby had no idea what he'd just said, so he ignored him, shifting his attention to the doors of the trucks. He had to work fast, and much more precisely now. There were people inside, if he got carried away someone could be hurt. Blowing out an anxious breath, he tried to carefully freeze the doors closed.
It wasn't working. He was holding back too much, people were already getting out. Trembling faintly with nerves, Bobby pushed a bit harder, whimpering under his breath without even being aware of it.
There! The ice was creeping over the doors, frosting the windows along the edges just a moment or two before encasing them in ice. With a little more confidence, he strengthened the bond, thickening the ice, closing his eyes as he eased off again, almost limp with relief. He'd done it.
---
Nate and Angelo make use of some specially-trained horses to come to the rescue.
The only way to do this was to do it fast. Nathan did not want a protracted firefight, not when he was fresh out of TK with which to catch bullets. He was blessing every god he didn't believe in on most days that they had Bobby, and as he saw vehicles on the road far below stop dead, their wheels locked in ice, Nathan grinned tightly and steered his horse down the precipitous slope at far too rapid a pace. The mare was nimble, though, and took the slope fearlessly. Just like he'd expected.
Ashraf and his friends were northerners. Their horses were, too. And if there was one thing horses from northern Afghanistan were taught to do, it was to play buzkashi. Galloping right into people was second nature to them, but Nathan gave his horse a quick signal with his knees and it turned just enough so that it didn't quite trample the man who leapt from the nearest vehicle, struggling with his rifle. Just almost.
Angelo, on the other hand, was doing all he could to stay on the horse after that mad gallop. He clung to the saddle as it slowed, apparently following the lead of Nathan's horse.
Nathan saw the driver trying to get out of the other side of the truck and urged his horse around to the other side, giving the mare another quick signal. She very happily kicked in the driver's side door with her back feet, and the driver sagged back against the seat, bleeding from glass cuts to his face.
Angelo decided at that point that the best place for him was on the ground, dismounting quickly to stand on the opposite side of the truck to pull open the opposite door and start hauling the driver across. They had questions for him, after all.
Nathan wheeled his horse around, grinning again as he saw ice creeping up the sides of some of the trucks, trapping people inside. Ashraf's men, who'd followed him down nearly as quickly, were looked almost affronted at the lack of action, although they rapidly set about 'encouraging' the shivering traders to hand out their weapons. When you were being held at gunpoint in a vehicle you couldn't get out of, there really wasn't much choice in the matter.
"~Where are they?~" he asked the bleeding driver, who pushed against Angelo, clearly trying to get away.
Angelo's response to this was to twist the man's arm behind him, quickly and efficiently, and hold him. "~Answer him~", he told the driver in his basic Farsi, hoping he'd understand.
"~In the rear truck... gah! Curse you!~ was the choked reply.
"~They'd better be intact,~" Nathan warned him. "~Because we're taking any bruises out of your hide.~" One of Ashraf's man approached, taking the driver from Angelo and pushing him over to join the handful of others who had gotten out of the vehicles and were being herded together into one spot. "Come on," Nathan said to Angelo. "Let's go get the girls."
"Already on my way," Angelo said as he turned to hurry towards the rear truck.
---
Safe and relatively sound, Sooraya has one last decision to make.
To say that Sooraya's life had taken a dramatic and drastic turn in the past 24 hours would've been a relatively accurate statement. She had gone from slave to free to slave again, and after a strange and otherworldly rescue, was free once more.
And now she was expected to get onto that thing. Sooraya stood some ways off from the dagger-like machine settled in the valley, eyeing it warily as she considered her options. She knew she stood little to no chance at surviving if she stayed here, but stepping onto that didn't seem like it was all that safe or comforting, either. She twisted a finger in her volumnous robes, hoping that perhaps they would forget all about her in the rush to get out of the area.
"~Sooraya?~" Nathan approached slowly, his good hand palm-up, unthreatening. "~It's all right,~" he went on, holding her gaze. He'd told the others to back off and let him handle this, so they had a few minutes here. He wasn't going to drag her aboard the plane, in any case. "~Do you remember what I said?~" he asked. "~About the place where you could be safe, with others like us? If you want to come with me now, that's where we're going.~"
Sooraya certainly remembered, though it still seemed like some sort of dream rather than a reality to look forward to. "~In that,~" she stated, her voice slightly unsteady. "~Is it safe?~"
"~Perfectly.~" Gray eyes remained on her, steadily. "~I've ridden in it through worse weather and worse conditions than anything we'll be seeing today, many times. And here I am.~" He offered her a faint, encouraging smile. "~Some of the young mutants who've ridden in it to get where we'll be going look back on it as their first good memory of the school.~"
The school. Yet another idea Sooraya was having difficult adjusting to. "~I think that's a place where I don't belong,~" she told Nate soberly.
"~Why?~" Nathan asked steadily, still not looking away. "~It's a very different place, Sooraya, I won't lie to you. You'd see strange things, strange people... but they're good people. They believe that no matter how different you are, you're still human.~"
"~Still human, but...~" Sooraya swallowed, dropping her eyes to the ground. "~I am a woman. I have not had any schooling. I do not belong in a place of learning.~"
"~I had little schooling myself until I was your age.~" Or little that he remembered, and he didn't think he needed to go there with Sooraya just yet. "~What's needed is the desire to learn, Sooraya. That's all.~" He paused. "~Do you want to learn?~" he asked her.
The girl glanced up, her expression obviously torn. All her life, her goals had been simple: To be safe, to stay alive. Learning had never even entered the picture; it hadn't been an option. "~I think so,~" she said at last, uncertainly.
"~This is all so hard for you, I know, Sooraya,~" Nathan said more softly, and knew what he had to do. If she was going to choose to come, and she had to choose... it had to be her choice...
He reached out a hand. "~Trust me,~" he said, almost imploringly. "~Please. Come with me now, see if this is a place you could be happy. If it's not... I swear I'll bring you back here. I'll find your people for you. But right now, after what's happened... I think coming with me is the best thing you can do.~"
It shocked Sooraya when her feet shuffled forward, bringing her closer to the tall man whose eyes, she realized now, were kind and gentle. But she found that she believed him, and his words did make sense. There was no place for her here, at least not now. Maybe in time she could find her clan, with his help. But for now, she simply had to trust him, and choose.
"~I will come,~" she said, slipping her small, trembling hand into his. "~Take me with you.~"
One more thing that needed saying. He took her hand, squeezing it very gently. "~Until we find your clan again,~" he said, "~you're part of mine. I swear. I'll look after you as if you were my own blood, no matter what happens.~" Nathan smiled down at her, then drew her towards the Blackbird. "~It will be all right,~" he told her softly.
Sooraya followed him obediantly despite the pounding of her heart. Though she was still beyond terrified at the new path she was going down, it reassured her to know that at least she wasn't going alone.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}