by Emerson Fray
Chapter 26
“Forgive me for asking,” Sheridan began as she and Ren made their way to the Absolution, “but how is this going to help us?”
“Naomi was trying to tell me something,” Ren replied. Her pace was faster than Sheridan’s, her excitement about discovering something making her body ache with adrenaline.
“I knew that.” Sheridan stepped over a large fallen tree and offered her hand to help Ren up. Ren ignored it and climbed over on her own. “Do you know what it is?”
“Nope.”
“So we’re going to a ship covered with Monarchy soldiers to try and beat them to whatever Naomi knows is there? Without any idea what that is?”
“Pretty much,” Ren replied, her breathing becoming laboured. “But we can send some away.”
“I still don’t like our odds.”
She didn’t have time to try and change Ren’s mind, though Ren knew she wasn’t about to do that. They were already approaching the crash site of the Absolution, surrounded by a section of the Scow Army. A twig beneath Ren’s foot snapped, surprising them.
The two nearest soldiers held their weapons up, whirling towards Ren and Sheridan. Ren instinctively raised her hands, hoping to show them she had no weapons while Sheridan stepped forward, her hands already on her kamas. Ren shouted, “It’s okay, I’m—”
One of the soldiers recognized her and lowered his weapon. He nodded his head to the other one as more soldiers came from around the ship. “It’s the Admiral’s daughter; the Princess.”
Ren’s skin crawled. She could tell it even made the soldier uncomfortable to say; he’d probably never said the word “Princess” in his life. But instead of correcting him as she’d done to so many other people she just nodded and forced a smile on her face. “You’re wanted back at the manor, Naomi—ah, the Lieutenant—has new orders.”
He hesitated as another soldier came around the ship. Ren added, “You’d better hurry, it looked important. We’ll be fine—Sheridan is a Sotarian.”
All the soldiers exchanged looks of concern, although Ren knew it wasn’t for her wellbeing. They didn’t know how to take an order from her. Her jaw tensed as she waited, trying not to urge them but wishing they’d start moving. Finally another woman came around the ship. “What’s going on?” She eyed Ren, making Sheridan eye her back.
“Orders to head back,” the first soldier replied.
“What are we waiting for?” she questioned. She pointed towards the woods. “Get moving!”
“Yes, sir!” the others said in unison. They began marching back to the manor, followed quickly by the woman. She gave a curt nod to Ren and Sheridan as she walked past and nothing more.
When they were finally out of sight Sheridan asked, “Who was that?”
“No idea,” Ren confessed. “Someone that probably knows Naomi, though. Come on, we should hurry, too.”
As Ren began to move towards the Absolution a cold feeling of dread swept over her. This was where she’d killed Garret, and where Sheridan’s own brother had been murdered. She squeezed her eyes shut and reopened them, seeing the world a little differently.
She waited for Sheridan to say something, to ask about what had happened even though she knew Sheridan never would. Kian had tried to kill Ren, and that was it. That was all Sheridan needed to know to write her brother off—but it still must have hurt. Ren’s hands began to shake when she felt Sheridan press a palm against her back.
“I’ll go first,” Sheridan said, letting her hand slide away. Ren nodded, licking her lips.
“The uh, the entrance should be on the right,” Ren stated. “The top entrance at least—it’ll be kind of hard to get in at the angle.”
Sheridan started walking, leading Ren around the ship. It was on the opposite side of where she’d almost died and where the water was no longer pouring in. Her eyes scanned the top of the ship where she saw a small EMF generator to divert the water out of the hull. The crashing water smashed against the invisible field before being forced to the left of the ship, where Ren hoped it would flood away all the memories she had of this place.
“Are you coming?” Sheridan questioned. She was already up two rungs and had opened the hatch to crawl inside. Her eyes met with Ren’s, and Ren nodded again.
“Yeah,” she replied. Because what else could she say? “Sorry your brother died here after he tried to murder me”? Ren didn’t think Sheridan would be the kind of person to accept that apology—because it wasn’t one that was necessary. Still, as Ren dragged her feet over the dry rocks she couldn’t help but feel the tension in her stomach.
Climbing inside the ship was easier than it had been getting out. It had been dried and cleared of most debris, letting her and Sheridan slip easily down the shaft and into the very same room she’d Transported into before.
Sheridan’s nose wrinkled slightly as she surveyed the area. Ren ended up doing the same, finding the stench of stale water and something that had died nearly overwhelming. “Let’s head down,” she said, trying not to breathe through her nose. Finally she began to lead Sheridan, since she was the only one with any experience on the ship.
As she walked towards the far door, Ren kept taking peeks at Sheridan. It was a rare, if not the only, moment that Sheridan was experiencing something new; she peered at the foreign equipment with wider eyes, barely giving away her curiosity. Ren wondered whether Sheridan had looked at anything else like that when she wasn’t paying attention.
When she came to the door Ren glanced back and forth down the hallway. There were small bulbs hung along the walls, the army’s way of lighting the area. Ren thought they were rather primitive, and barely bright enough to reach the floor. The floor slanted towards the left, so she let it lead her now.
“What could be down here?” Ren mused aloud. Unheard of technology? “No… Naomi wouldn’t know about it then.” A weapon? “Probably not if the Monarchy missed it.”
“Ren?”
“Maybe it’s some kind of evidence.” Ren came to the stairs, something she’d forgotten had even been in scows. She shoved the door open, finding the stairwell was still soaked with water. It dribbled down the steps from somewhere overhead, but thankfully it was not the entire waterfall. “Evidence of what though?” she asked as she peered up.
“Ren.”
“Hmm?” She turned to find Sheridan looking at her, eyes narrowed. “What?”
“I should go first.” With careful steps, Sheridan stepped past Ren and began to descend. “Whatever we’ve been sent to retrieve could be dangerous.”
Ren felt that if it were dangerous the Monarchy would already have it. She couldn’t wrap her mind around what might be hidden down in the bottoms of the scow. Naomi was so insistent that it must be something useful, but what? Ren held onto the slick railing and began to follow Sheridan down, watching her feet as she went. The stairs were deadlier than Ren liked, forcing her centre of gravity back just so she didn’t fall. It felt like if she let go of the railing that she would crash forward and never stop falling.
“I was talking to myself, wasn’t I?” she asked, desperate to keep her mind off of Garret or Kian as she moved.
“You were,” confirmed Sheridan.
“Why didn’t you stop me?” Her foot slipped and she almost toppled over, barely catching herself before she smacked into Sheridan. Sheridan flinched and began to spin but when she saw Ren was fine she stated, “I’m used to it.”
Regaining her balance Ren paused. “Used to it? How often do I talk to myself?”
Sheridan looked down the remaining steps. Peering over the railing she stated, “Quite often. When you read, when you’re over thinking something, when you’re happy or upset or—”
“Okay, okay, I get it!” Ren held up her hand and looked over the railing, watching as they descended further into darkness. The steps seemed to go on forever as the lights faded into black. “I didn’t realize I di
d it that much.”
“Elian does it as well.”
Thinking of Elian made worry rush over Ren. How was he doing with the Husher device? Had the Monarchy already found him and Enn? And what was Abetha doing to handle Keturah?
Ren had more and more questions piling up in her brain and by the time they reached the bottom of the stairwell she found herself sighing. She stared at the water that stopped them from going any further, unsure of how many flights were too flooded to even get to. Considering how far they’d travelled she didn’t think it could be many.
“We stop here, I guess,” she muttered. There was only one door to choose, and since it was as low as they could go, she tried to pull it open. One tug told her it wasn’t going to budge. She looked back up. “We could try going back up a couple of flights to see if there’s another way down…”
Sheridan nodded her head to the side, signaling for Ren to move. She flexed her fingers before wrapping them around the handle and gave two large heaves before the rusted bolts holding it up shattered and the door came clean off. The door fell into the water with a splash before sinking to the bottom of the steps.
“Or we could do that,” Ren said. On the other side of the door was a black space, a pit of nothing to reward them for their trouble. Ren looked at the sunken door and saw some kind of writing had been torn off, destroyed by years under water.
“What would normally be in this area?” Sheridan asked, poking her head into the darkness.
“No idea,” Ren admitted. “An infirmary maybe? Something important—that door was sealed off. Or at least it had been.”
Ren stole one of the bulbs off the wall. The heat it emanated made her realize how cold she’d gotten walking down into the scow, and she sucked up the warmth while she could. Sticking the light in front of her, she found the doorway had led to another hallway. This one was perfectly dry, no water had seeped in.
Sheridan began moving a couple feet ahead of Ren. The closer they got to what Ren hoped was the end, the faster Ren began to realize what Naomi had been so adamant about finding. She didn’t voice her thoughts until they made it to the end of the hallway where Ren read the notice on the door.
“What does it say?” Sheridan asked.
Ren smiled lightly. “That we found a way to beat the Monarchy.”
