The Uprising (The Julianna Rae Chronicles) by Aral Bereux Page A

looked down at her, stepping as he went along the curling wood, taking each step with guarded caution. He didn’t release her from his gaze for a moment.
    Julianna tiptoed to glance over his shoulder. In its day she would have fancied it a quaint farm house, and on the land, probably a very productive one too. She could hear the sound of running water breaking through the trees from the other side of the trail, too.
    The prisoner slid from the bike and onto the ground with a thud, and groaned. Fresh blood seeped into the dust and he slipped back his world of darkness.
    ‘J Rae,’ Caden snapped her back. His abruptness caught the attention of the entire camp. ‘No way to treat an animal. Pick him up, tie him down over there, and give him some water.’ He nodded to a tree. ‘We need him alive.’
    For real, for really fucking real C Mads? This is bullshit. Total bullshit and horse shit and everything else in the mix.
    Caden angled his cool stare against her as everyone else watched for a reaction. His body leaned forward, forcing her into his shadow. Julianna conceded. She edged around her bike, grabbed the prisoner under his thick arms, and heaved. The heavy weight landed between her legs, and she scurried back in surprise.
    She sat. Her shoulders curved. Smoke curled through his parted lips where the freshly lit cigarette hung, and he waved out the match before flicking it against her boot.
    ‘He’s too heavy,’ she said. ‘I need some help.’
    He took a long drag and stared. ‘Your pet, you look after it, little one.’ He said coolly, and continued to look down at her with an authority she wasn’t all too comfortable with. 
    ‘I said I need some help. You’re my watcher ; you’re supposed to help me.’
    His lip twisted to the corn er. ‘But you work so well alone.’ He removed the cigarette hanging to flick the lose ash onto the ground. ‘We’ll stay here, until we can think of a safe way back to the city. So, I need you to take him over there, and secure him so he can’t escape.’
    She followed his nod to a large oak tree behind her.
    ‘If that’s okay with you? And if it’s also okay with you, give him some water. Questioning is much more effective when the prisoner is conscious. He’s had nothing since his capture.’ He raised his glare. ‘But only if it’s okay with you, apprentice .’
    Caden waved a hand dismissively in Daniel’s direction; his cigarette emphasized his intent for him to stay away. Daniel turned on his feet and wheeled his bike down to Bas, instead. She wasn’t permitted anyone’s help.
    ‘ You were helping me last night.’
    ‘You were sick, now y ou’re not. Now we’re back to having your pissy little power struggle with me.’
    She dusted her hands and pulled under the noc’s arms, dragging until she lost balance against a sharp rock. She reached around to her back. A slippery line formed along the graze on her skin, stinging under her touch. She cursed Caden’s amusement as he watched her stand for a third time. The sweat beaded on her forehead, though the sun rested below the horizon, and she stood over the prisoner with frustrated hands propped on her hips, as the fever threatened to return.
    ‘Standing like that leaves you open for an attack,’ Caden warned. ‘Use your abilities to move him.’
    ‘I don’t have any,’ she snapped. ‘I’m not a watcher.’
    ‘Well , apprentice ,’ he took another long drag, perching the cigarette between his thumb and finger. ‘We both know that’s bullshit now, don’t we?’
    ‘To hell with you, Caden. Fuck you.’ she said and grabbed the heavy arms, again.
    ‘In time, sweetheart I have no doubt you will, but not on the first date, huh,’ he turned.
    His cigarette was back between parted lips and his hands deep inside his pockets. He ambled to the men concealing their bikes behind a thicket of trees and overgrown hedging, not looking back once to see her final struggle with the prisoner.
    The tree stood