Free Adversaries Together by Daniel Casey

were of the
opinion that they could storm the tower and take him. They weren’t
wrong. Wynne would probably take one out but the other two would be
able to get to him with ease. There was nowhere for him to go, he
didn’t have the strength to keep them at bay. Was the leader
telling the truth? Was this Wynne’s chance to get back to the
world? Or, at least, what was left of it?
    “ Do you know where he is?
Can we talk to him?” The leader called up.
    “ Yes.” Wynne replied
airily.
    “ Landis?"
    “ Yes.” He called down
annoyed.
    “ Can we come up? Can you
let us in?”
    Wynne let out a long sigh, and then snapped
back to the situation at hand, “No.” One of the swordsmen had begun
to drift toward the tower door, so he let loose another harpoon
only this time directly at the supposed civic. In a move whose
quickness stunned Wynne, the swordsman was able to swat it away
before it struck. Well, not entirely, the harpoon did graze
him.
    Wynne cursed, “Move any closer to me and the
next spear will be in your chest.”
    “ There are three of us and
only one of you. What makes you think we can’t take you?” The
swordsman he struck angrily yelled up at him.
    “ You probably can. But I’m
betting that not one of you wants to be the first to
die.”
    “ Landis!” The leader called
up.
    “ What.”
    “ We have Fery.”
    He flinched as if he’d been punched in the
gut. Sickness overcame him and then it was instantly replaced by
rage, “Where? Where is she!”
    “ She’s safe. She’s at the
Union, safe with the rest of us.”
    “ Bring her here. Let me see
her.”
    “ We can’t do
that.”
    “ Why not? You’re lying.
She’s not with you.”
    “ Yes, we do. We found her
after the rovers hollowed the central municipal. She’s been with us
since.”
    “ Why now?”
    “ It took us awhile to
figure out where you were. And then it took us awhile to get
through the city to you.” The third man finally chimed in
scoffing.
    “ That’s weak.” Wynne was
still skeptical.
    “ You’ve seen the city,
Landis. It’s a madhouse, a maze of desperation. I’m sorry we
couldn’t come sooner. But Fery is safe, and she needs you. She sent
us out for you.”
    He winced, he could see his face, and he felt
a surge of guilt and shame. He blinked, shook his head, “You said
the council wanted me? Which is it?”
    “ Can’t it be both, Landis?
Wynne, Wynne, come down, come with us. We can give you a new home
with your daughter; we can give you a chance to rescue the
city.”
    Wynne laughed bitterly, “Can you now?”
    “ He’s gone, Soren, he’s
worthless to us now.” The third swordsmen addressed the
leader.
    Soren turned his head and said in a harsh
tone, “Shut your mouth. We’re not here for what you think.”
    “ Seems like some dissention
in the ranks.” The second swordsman began to inch toward the tower
again, “And if your boy doesn’t want to be skewered he’ll move the
fuck back.”
    “ Light be damned, Garner,
back off. He’s not an enemy.”
    “ The bastard nearly took my
arm.” Garner bit back.
    “ I’ll take out your eye
next, boy, if you don’t hold your tongue.” Wynne
taunted.
    “ Landis, your daughter
needs you, wants you back. But, we need you back more, we…the civic
needs you back. We have a plan to break The Blockade.”
    “ The Blockade can’t be
broken.”
    “ Not from our side,
no.”
    Wynne perked his head up from the spearbow
sight, Soren was looking right at him, and the other swordsmen had
withdrawn.
    “ You have my daughter.
You’re using her as a hostage to get at me.”
    “ We’re not criminals
Landis; we’re civics like you. I’m Soren Redding, third ward.”
Wynne realized he knew of this man, knew the name from his own men
in his own ward.
    “ Redding? Redding’s the man
who quelled the Graft riots?”
    “ Yes. Well, no. The riots
weren’t quelled. They ended in…” Soren stuttered obviously choked
up.
    “ It ended in
death.”
    “ Yes. Yes