The Twelve Zenati Pt. 38

Marcella said nothing. She didn't know any of these men or women, but her fate was inextricably linked to Noah's. She realised he was clever to bring her to the middle of the freakin' desert because even at her most independent, she wasn't dumb enough to strike out on her own in the middle of a damn desert. She seethed inwardly at getting into this situation at all.

A tug on his hand to release Marcella's alerted Noah to the fact that not all was right. Knowing now what he hadn't known so many weeks ago, he moved immediately. He turned, picking Marcella up and carrying her stiff form back to the cave.

"Marcella?" he questioned gently. He was looking down into her eyes, trying to gauge whether she was with him and, if not her, then who.

"Stupid bitch! He knows you're here now," the usually soft and kind voice of Chella exploded within Marcella's head. "She already told you we couldn't go it alone because we were in the middle of the desert! So what were you planning to do? Grow wings and fly us out of here all on your own? Ignore the fact that we love him just as much as he loves us? Regardless of your interference."

"Marcella, I need Marcie right now?" Noah said sternly into the silence as he could see her melting down again before his eyes. "I will keep her safe you can trust me to keep all of you safe. You are mine, Marcella. Now is not the time to fight that instead of working as a team. You need to let Marcie do what she knows is right."

"He knows!" the warrior hissed in her mind, shocked that he wasn't as stupid as she had always thought.

"Of course, he knows. He loves us despite everything you have done to push him away. Now let her come back so they can work together to keep us safe," Chella demanded, trying to undo the binds the warrior had forced on Marcie as they stood listening to the report from Whipper.

"You need me now. She isn't strong enough to do what needs to be done if it comes to that," Marcella said directly to Noah.

"She's stronger than you think and would be stronger still if you worked with her instead of against her. Let her come back to me," Noah demanded, wrapping his arms around her and drew a deep breath. "I need all of you, each and every part. I need the warrior you who takes on everything and everyone regardless of the odds of winning. The soft one who is compassionate enough to forgive the people who would hurt us and my Marcie, who has finally realised there is so much more to live for than she ever knew before because she trusts the love, she found with my family and me. All of you! Just come back and face this final hurdle at my side, together." Noah knew he was being overly dramatic, but he wasn't sure what else to do when faced with the woman he loved retreating within herself and letting her ill-equipped alter egos take over.

"I told you that he would come for me," Marcella snarled, "Now I am stuck here with you in the middle of a desert and nowhere to go or hide!"

"That's right," Noah said as if the thought confused him. Then he smiled. "That's right, isn't it?" he chuckled. "I didn't do it on purpose, but wow, I couldn't have planned this moment better if I tried." He pulled her resisting body tighter against his own. "Marcie, Konrad will take you from me over my dead body," he promised her.

"You don't get it, do you?" she pushed his chest, needing space from him. "That's exactly what I'm afraid of, you idiot. You and all of these people are in danger now because of me!" her eyes brimmed with tears, and the small voice of Chella gasped at hearing the warrior Marcella admit her fears for Noah.

"Well, that's not true," Noah shook his head, stifling his smile of pure joy at hearing her words. "The Varangian has been dealing out damage to the various families of the tables for over a decade now. Sure, you and your sisters were part of his plan, but so were Veronica and Emily Donati, so was Matteo Vitali and some of the Martino and the Farnese clan. You're just a cog in the wheel that the Zenati have given a flat tyre. This isn't your fault any more than any other woman he threatened or their family. This is an egotistical madman finding all his plans failing and lashing out at the family that finally derailed him. My family. The catalyst for our involvement and for bringing you here to us was Olivia. So, if it is anyone's fault that he is lashing out at us, it's Olivia." So he reasoned out as he spoke and pointed his finger at the one person that would ensure that she would fight beside him.

"Olivia?" Marcella asked as if confused.

"If Genesis hadn't found her and discovered who she was, none of this would have happened, and all Konrad's plans would still be in place. We would probably be none the wiser, but he did find her and you and Vivienne arrived to be loved and protected by us," he explained. "This isn't about you. Maybe a little bit, but whether you were here with me or not, he would be tracking down my family and trying to end our holdings in the territory."

"Olivia, we need to go help, Olivia!" Marcella struggled in the circle of his hands as if she had forgotten everything else when hearing about Olivia again.

"No, we need to help ourselves, and Olivia and Gen need to help themselves now. No one is alone, and we do not need to rush off to rescue anyone because other people are already doing that. Listen to me, Marcella. You are the one who needs help now. You need to be safe and secure. Stay with me, and just for once, trust me to make sure everything is going to be okay," Noah pleaded with her, not letting her pull from him physically or mentally anymore. "I need my Marcie, so we can do what needs to be done together."

Marcella stared at him. She was stunned by his calm reasoning when all she wanted to do was fight and howl at the unfairness of it all. At the genuine heartache, she felt not just for her sisters and herself, but everyone caught up in this madman's plans. She took a deep breath as her alter egos fell back under the crushing truth of his words. This wasn't about her. She wasn't the star of the show, only a bit player that would be cast aside once her role was complete like in any long-running series. Blinking slowly, Marcella focused on Noah. She knew him well now, and she could admit if only to herself that she loved him and didn't want him in harms way any more than she would wish to see Olivia or Vivienne there.

"Tell me what needs to be done," she said slowly, not willing to bend to him totally or apologise but at least willing to hear his plans and help where she could.

"Marcie?" he asked uncertainly.

"No, Princess Puking Petunia," she rolled her eyes. "You act as if you don't know me," she shrugged, understanding why he was acting that way but not willing to acknowledge it.

"Sometimes I feel I could live with you for my entire life and never truly know you," he gave a half-smile and bent his head to kiss her, his arms wrapping around her torso. "Let's go see Whipper and find out the latest news." He led her back outside into the sun, confident now he had headed off the danger her warrior personality might have presented for them.

"They may know the general area we are in but not this spot, and let's face it. It's hard to find even for those that know where it is," Vinnie was saying to the group of men around him. "I say we sit tight. If the ghost walkers coming towards us aren't threats, then we remain hidden here in the mouth of this canyon. The only structure is the shed, and that's hidden enough to be out of sight of an ariel sweep.

"You're right," Whipper agreed as many of the men nodded. "Keep the scouts on rotation. Let's not let any one of the groups surrounding us get a jump on us." He turned to acknowledge Noah as he re-joined their group with Marcella at his side. "The group to the south looks like a combined group of men from the tables. Our scout recognised Valdemar among them and a Donati man who used to race bikes," he said as if asking Noah if he knew anything about it.

"There was a group meeting at Cameron's corner or Poepell's, one of the corners anyway to find out what the guard or the Tartar were doing. Maybe they have noticed the other movement toward us and are trying to intercept?" Noah suggested.

"Call him to see if there's a signal. They may not know they are riding into a war zone," Whipper warned. "Or at the very least, they could have better info than us."

"I suppose the secrecy of our location is a moot point now?" Noah fished his phone from his pocket and turned it on.

"Seems that way," Vinnie grumbled.

*****

"Leighton!" Vivienne said urgently. "Gideon, is not answering. He would never not call to say good night or good morning. Somethings wrong, I know it! Please, you must find him for me, or I am going back to Darwin to find him myself!" She declared adamantly.

"Stop! Breathe! Tell me slowly when the last time you heard from him was, and we will start from there," Leighton said, trying to soothe his sister.

"Leighton, if you ever talk to me when I am panicked, you won't make it out alive. What is wrong with you? The only appropriate answer right now is, Yes, Vivienne!" Lydia scolded her husband.

"Yes, Vivienne," he stated. "Your phone please?" he held out his hand and looked at the last call from Gideon and then turned to leave, saying over his shoulder. "I'll do what I can to find him." Hardening himself against the gasp of his wife and the cry from Vivienne. Explosions had rocked the northern capital all night. His chances of getting accurate details from the city right now were slim, and his primary contact in the family was the man he was searching for and couldn't reach. Entering the room, he had gathered his brothers in; he looked at them and drew a deep breath.

"Does anyone have contacts in Darwin that can locate Gideon Zenati for us before Vivienne loses her mind or goes into premature labour?" He asked into the expectant silence. Half a dozen men pulled out phones and began contacting the people they knew.

******

Valdemar and the men he rode with pulled up in a tiny town that was not much more than a T-junction, but it had a communications tower, and that was all they needed. The men drank deeply from water bottles and snacked on what they carried in their saddlebags as they held their phones to their ears, collecting and disseminating information from their individual tables.

"It's a race, they reckon, and we aren't in the lead. So I'm guessing you know all about coming from the back of the pack," Red teased Lawrence Donati.

"Foreign concept for me, but luckily Zenati's taking the lead on this side of the invisible line," he chuckled as they all finished their calls, made sure their tanks were full and their bodies hydrated before they took off again.

Valdemar added little to the conversation of his fellow riders. They all knew the risks and that it was a race to the hidden canyon in the red desert of central Australia. Only he knew that it wasn't a two-man race now. People came at Noah and Marcella from four different directions. With his family being assailed on all sides in Darwin and the large family property, there was little help coming aside from himself and those he rode with into the desert. He just hoped that the bonds of the twelve would hold out when faced with a common enemy.

*****

"Alright, thanks to Orlando and Pietro, we now know who two of the five groups heading toward us are and that they are on their way to help us," Whipper announced. "We also have access to a satellite that old Ernie is trying to read for us as it updates."

"The bikers from the south?" Noah asked to confirm what he already knew.

"They are the mechanics from each of the tables. They are making good time on their machines as you would expect. We thought they were half a day away, but I would say half of that if they keep up their speed," Vinnie nodded from where he stood behind Ernie, who constantly updated a map on a pinboard he held on his desk near the computer. He used different coloured pins to denote each group. "Your father and his generation are coming from the north with the watchers that have gone through the process again."

"Good, so the east and west are the Varangians?" Noah again was seeking to confirm his thinking.

"We believe Konrad is part of the road train coming from the southwest, but there seem to be two distinct groups travelling in the same direction. One using what passes for roads down that way, the other one going cross country trails," the elderly Ernie spoke, looking hard at the screen before him as he spoke and then pushing pins into the pinboard map to show the progress. "I'd say your father will be late to the party as for the others who can say who'll get here first, but I imagine we'll have visitors within the hour."

"Time to put our plans into action," Whipper said, and the camp immediately began to break down around them. They could defend, of course, but in the vastness of the Never-Never, they were the experts and had little to fear compared to those who came for them. They would give them shadows to chase as sure as they created big dust clouds on the horizon surrounding them.

Marcella watched in amazement as men and supplies disappeared into the caves and behind rock forts, leaving only Ernie, Vinnie and his computer set up still working just within the shed, which could be closed at the last minute. The ringers took to their vehicles, and Marcella climbed into a small, armoured vehicle with a claw-like arm used to capture and steer the wild bulls of the bushlands. She crowded into the back with Noah as two ringers took the front. Unless something untoward happened, no one should even know they were within the truck as it sped over the hard-packed dirt unhindered by the ground cover or low scrubby bushes.

Placing her hand in Noah's, she tried to give him a smile of reassurance that she was fine and not about to lose it again. She knew he had faith that these men knew the land they were on better than anyone else and they would be safe. She also knew his agreement to ride hidden in the back with her was made with her in mind. She knew he would rather be at the front leading the charge, but was meeting this threat at her side just as he had demanded she be at his side.

"Noah, you good, bro?" AJ, the passenger in the front, asked.

"Yeah, good," he squeezed Marcella's hand.

"He'd be better in your seat but doesn't trust me not to hold your hand," she lifted her hand entwined with Noahs.

"Fair enough, I wouldn't trust you with all this either," he chuckled and flicked his dark curls from his face. "It's a burden I have to live with and why I keep Dougy around to help fight the women off."

"No," Dougy groaned and shook his head. "Just no."

"Which way are we headed?" Noah asked, heading off that conversation.

"We're heading toward the southeast," he said cheerily. "I heard Larry Donati was with the bikers. I want him to sign my shirt," he pulled a racing jersey from the glove box and waved it around.

"Yeah, good luck with that," Noah chuckled. "I take it that Val's leading them in-country?" he clarified even though he knew it was true.

"Yeah, as if any of those southern city slickers would know which was up out here. There ain't no road signs or nothing," AJ chuckled. "Dougy here is one of the best trackers around," he punched the driver's arm lightly. "We'll be right, don't you worry, Marcie." he nodded and smiled widely at Marcella. Even with Noah's verbal slap in the face that he had delivered earlier, she still felt like this was all her fault, and she pushed down the guilt and focused on what they were doing.

They heard the low rumble long before they saw the colour of dust that low rumble made on the horizon. Assuming that was the group of bikers they were headed towards, Dougy adjusted their trajectory somewhat and headed towards it a little slower than before. It wasn't like he could hide the dust cloud his truck kicked up from the dry red earth, so he knew they had been seen for better or worse.

"Wait!" Noah cautioned. "I don't think that's the men we were hoping to meet," he pointed to the dust cloud, his gut telling him to get away from it as fast as possible. "Boulders? Ridges? Any cover at all nearby?" He asked.

"Yeah," Doughy spun the wheel, changing direction so fast. Noah felt his neck jolt with the movement and tightened his arm around Marcella, who had stiffened beside him.

"What the fuck!" AJ yelled as he was jostled around in his seat.

"Whip says he got oracle sight, and if he wants to hide, we fuckin' run for the hills," Dougy said, not looking away from the rough terrain in front of him.

"You good?" Noah asked Marcella looking at her pensive expression. She was unnaturally quiet, and he knew he should be more worried about what was going on in her head, but right at that moment, he just wanted to keep her safe. "This truck was built for this terrain, and Dougy is one of the best ringers in the territory. So we will be fine until back up arrives."

"I'm good, and there's just nothing I can do right now. I have no idea where we are even to try to make suggestions let alone tell you what to do," she shrugged, feeling completely helpless and hating it. "Would you be happy if I was yelling to be let out or telling you to go fuck yourself because that's about as helpful as I can be right now?" Her anger simmered just below the surface now.

"Ah, there's my feisty kitten," he grinned. "Stay angry. That's what you will need to be if they catch up to us," he chuckled.

The rumbling they had heard from a distance grew louder, and the distinctive thump of blades became apparent. AJ climbed up, hanging out of the window to see for himself.

"Chopper, flying low and closing fast, we won't be able to see through the dust storm it's creating soon, so time to choose. Stop and make a stand here where we can prepare or trust Dougy to get us beyond the ochre pits to make a stand with the wall at our backs," AJ gave them the options he thought best. He got a grunt from Dougy, who seemed to lean forward as if he could make the truck go faster with the movement.

"The Pits," Noah agreed and looked at Marcella. "We are heading west towards the McDonald ranges now. The pits are more like a tall wall of rocks surrounded by desert sands, not actuals pits."

"Okay," Marcella nodded, then snarked. "So, this is a sightseeing tour then?"

"In a way, a little rushed, but we can come back and do some camel racing or visit Uluru if you've never seen it up close," he shrugged.

"Wait, we're close to Uluru?" she gasped wide-eyed. "I didn't realise we were that far south. So the Alice is close by?" she asked.

"That's subjective at best, but we are southeast of the Alice heading west if that helps. So close in the outback can be hundreds of kilometres away, unlike the city where close is just around the corner or something like that," Noah said as if putting some thought into it as they raced and bounced over the scrubby terrain head for what looked to Marcella like a rocky outcropping.

"Okay, sure, we'll have a honeymoon in the desert," she snarked again. "Once we overthrow the evil madman and restore order to the world like the superheroes we are," she rolled her eyes.

"Damn fucking skippy!" AJ agreed. "I told you I should have brought my cape, but you said no, we won't be facing off against the enemy today," he punched Dougy's arm.

"Arch-villain," Dougy corrected. "But go ahead and punch me again and see what happens. You could get lucky after all," he growled, spinning the wheel as dust kicked up around them, making visibility almost impossible. Then, slamming it into reverse, he drove backwards, breaking suddenly and then sitting with the truck idling as he turned to look at Noah. "Rainbow Serpent at your back if you have a miracle in your pocket, now's the time to bring it out."