Chapter 38: Meet me in Saint Louie

The council chamber is crowded with all the elders and the returned travelers. We are the last ones to file in. I give Saul a gentle pat on his arm and Nimrod gives him a reassuring smile.

"What is she doing here?" Napoleon bellows out, even before Melville can get two words in.

"I can hurt you." I say, looking him calmly in the eye.

"Nosis." Nimrod touches my shoulder and pulls me back against him.

"Fine." I stick my tongue out at Napoleon and give Nimrod a peck on the cheek as I head out of the room. Nimrod snags my sleeve and pulls me back before I get two steps away.

"I believe Chronos should sit in on the telling. She has insights." He tells the assembly.

"Agreed," Melville says and shoots Napoleon a look of, don't argue, you will lose.

I give Melville a nod of thanks. Nimrod leads me to a bench, we sit down. The council begins.

"How went your mission?" Melville addresses the returned travelers.

The curiosity is ripe in the room. Saber looks grimly around at the assembled faces.

"We had partial success." He crosses he arms over his chest and flexes his muscles.

"What do you mean, Partial?" Napoleon bites out.

"We got to Saint Louis in good time, but that is where we ran in to problems." He pauses to think. "The city's a mess. Even if it didn't get a direct hit. It has been fought over by the inhabitants for the last 100 years."

"And they were none to happy to see us." Holiday pipes in. Saber gives him a silencing glance.

"We were able to find a hospital and a few items. But we got ambushed." Saber continues. "Everything that we collected was destroyed in the fight."

There is a general groan of despair from the elders.

"There are other cities." Melville reminds them. "Pray continue."

"What we did learn was that they attacked us because they thought we were someone else."

I perk my ears up at this statement, a case of mistaken identity.

"The inhabitants," Saber names the two parties. "The Twisters and the Nightingales, have been fighting over the territories, lately there has been a new party. Heavily armed, uniforms and vehicles. We matched a lot of that description, so they attacked."

"How is it you are alive?" The Tanner asked.

"It was thanks to Saul's quick thinking." Saber gives Saul a nod. "He jumped out of the Hummer and went to pull the wounded out of the line of fire."

"I only did what was needed." Saul is so sweet, he is humble about his gift. It makes him caring to the point of stupidity.

Saber frowns darkly at him. "If Saul had obeyed orders and stayed in the hummer, like he was supposed to..."

Saber doesn't finish the sentence. I wink at Saul, to let him know that I thought he did good, he give us a cheeky grin back. Looks like I am a better influence than I thought.

"To make a long story short, the Nightingales were so impressed, that they called a cease fire. And then we had time to talk with them."

"And this took you 5 days?" Napoleon asks in a testy voice. His disdain for the protectors story is blatant.

"No, what took us 5 days was that the Twisters and Nightingales started to help us on our search. And we ran into a group of the third party. They were every thing that the Saint Louisans said."

"Were you able to find out who they are?" I pipe in to ask. This is just too much of a coincidence.

"They fled when we enter the engagement."

"Did they know who you were?" I am now dying of curiosity.

"I don't know, but once they saw us, they ran. I didn't think much of it at the time, but you might be on to something Chronos." Napoleon looks at me with serious eyes. He must be thinking the same thing I am.

"What do you mean?" Tanner asks not follow our train of thought.

"The coincidences, are just too striking." Napoleon replies. "We attack one group and now, someone new runs at the sight of us. I don't like it."

"It suggest whomever has been harassing the Compound is well informed. and are well organized." I get into the fray. "And that you are now to be feared. Or possibly contained. I can only guess, that after taking out the Brutes, and then showing up in Saint Louis they might believe that we are acting on an agenda of conquest. This would play against what ever plans they have, either for Saint Louis or for the Kindred." I postulate. "Of course it could just be a wild coincidence too." I give them an innocent wide eyed grin.

Nimrod takes this opportunity to lay an hand on my thigh. Tingles run down my leg, he is trying to distract me. I almost pull his hand off, but it is so nice, that I let him stay.

"If you are right, and I am not saying you are Chronos, what are we going to do about it?" Seattle speaks up for the first time.

They look at me, I look at Napoleon. The ball is in his court.