A Blue Star Rising

by Cecilia Randell

  Forrest focused on the man. “Who—” He coughed, his throat dry.

  “Who am I?” The man smiled, gentle. “You don’t need to know that.” He inserted the needle of the syringe into a small port in one of the tubes and injected a silver-green substance. Forrest watched it flow down the tube and into him, and a new surge of adrenaline hit him. Not anger this time, though. Fear. It combined with Vivi’s, and his original feeble jerks became violent. If he couldn’t get out of the restraints, maybe he could knock the bed over…

  It didn’t take a genius to guess that this was the same drug that had rendered nearly a dozen others brain-dead, or just dead. He pushed his hips up and to the side, desperate to stop whatever that was from reaching him.

  The man tutted. Then three more figures surrounded him, pressing him into the mattress. His lungs heaved, and he curled his fingers into claws, snagging where he could on a piece of cloth or a belt or the edge of hard armor as those figures brought up another strap and secured his hips. Then a second was around his middle, and a third cut into his chest.

  The only part of him with any freedom left was his head, and this he twisted, doing the only thing left that he could.

  “Go ahead and secure the other one,” the man told the others, and they floated away behind Forrest. His blood pounded in his ears, so loud he almost missed the snick of a latch. The door was behind him, then. So he just had to get there…

  His thoughts scattered. A moment later they came back into sharp focus. Except he was no longer in the room with the shadowed man.

  There were bars in front of him. They were thick, and when he tried to bite on them, they bit back, the pain sharp against his tongue and fangs. He cowered away from them, then had to try again, this time with his claws. It still hurt, but not as bad. He would test the edges of his prison. Then he would find the weak places.

  And then he would find his pack…

  Then the images splintered, and the bars pulsed with color, pinks and yellows swirling into whites and peaches. They were beautiful. He watched as those colors stretched, connecting to a box on the wall, then down a column into the earth below. He could see it all. They thinned, becoming roots and touching ribbons of other colors, blues and greens and faint, faint purples. These tangled together, then melded into thin streams that shot into the sky before parting once more to touch the stars.

  He stared at the strands, fascinated by their dance. Then he was back once more in the room looking at the aging face of a stocky man, before seeing the bars of his cage.

  There was someone coming, but he couldn’t remember who. But the lights were pretty. He liked the colors. His fingers twitched. He wanted his markers. But even those wouldn’t be the right colors. His claws scratched at the bars. He needed out, out, out. Gold sparks flew up from where claws met metal, then floated up to join their cousins in the sky.

  The colors…

  Chapter 34

  BLUE

  They were getting closer. Garfield’s emotions were becoming eager, the thoughts impatient. Three times she had needed to admonish him to slow down, that the humans couldn’t keep up.

  He’d been excited about something since the middle of the night, but all she could get from him were more thoughts of “pack.”

  For a moment she wasn’t sure if the fruit she’d eaten that morning would stay down. She swallowed, and her stomach decided to cooperate with her. Jason had also found some nuts a few days before, enough that they were able to have a handful of each last night, and again for a mid-morning meal.

  They’d left as soon as the sky began to lighten and the day birds resumed their calls. Blue had ended up spending the night in the hammock. It hung close enough to one of the windows that what light there was filtered in—the jagged edge of lightning and, eventually, the soft light of the moon and stars, or what made it through the canopy. Jason was in the bed, and Felix spread out on the floor.

  She’d waited until they were on the ground to pee. There was a semi-private area in the treehouse, but it was simply a covered hole in the floor, similar to the door, but small and round. The idea of exposing herself when anything could just come up and… She shuddered, remembering the sight. Nope, not happening.

  Of course, going to the bathroom on the ground wasn’t any better. Fighting the guys for enough room to do her business and then figuring out how to clean herself was an exercise in embarrassment. She’d finally cut off a square of her sweater.

  Just ahead of her, Garfield stopped. No crouching, but he definitely sensed something ahead.

  Pack close. Others farther.

  But he didn’t move. Felix came up beside her, once more fully clad in his armor.

  “We’re close. And there are others farther out.”

  He nodded. They were on a thin game trail right now, having come to it a half hour or so before. It followed the general direction they needed, and Blue had been glad for the slightly easier route.

  “Let me do some scouting ahead.” He twisted back. “Jason, stay with them. If I’m not back in twenty minutes…” He shrugged.

  What the hell did that even mean. “If you’re not back, what?”

  “It means something got him, and rather than being picked off one by one, we should return to the tree-hut and wait for the check-in day.”

  Blue jerked back to face Felix again. Garfield growled. “No. We’re here to help. Get the information we need. And at some point, I have to not be left on the sidelines.”

  Felix bent down until they were nose to nose. “Agreed. But you are not there yet. You barely made it up the tree. You have two knives and only semi-adequate skills at not being killed by a bare fist. You make more noise in the jungle than a quacking and fussing pilik. So, if I do not return, you will go back to the treehouse and wait.”

  Blue drew in a breath to argue, but Felix was already gone. Damn sneaky mercenary.

  Jason kept his attention on the trees above them. Garfield could alert them to anything in the underbrush, but what could come at them from above was just as sneaky as Felix. “He’ll be fine, Blue.”

  She wanted to believe that. But inside, she knew that if he didn’t come back, she would be the stupid girl who ran into danger, despite all the warnings. Or at least she’d make a concerted effort to convince Jason to run into danger with her and use Garfield to warn her of most of it. Felix was right; she only had two knives, and could barely climb a tree.

  But this situation was not the same as on Karran, or even Padilra. If Felix was gone, there wasn’t anyone else besides her and Jason. There was no team just waiting to sweep in once they had all the information, and there were no surveillance cameras to show them where everyone was. There was no plan to follow or reassuring clansman to lean on…

  She could wait, she knew that. But she didn’t want to be the kind of person who waited. She also didn’t really want to be the too-stupid-too-live heroine. Ugh. No farking good choices.

  Garfield quivered, droplets of water running off his fur. He wanted to run forward to find his sister and the rest of the pack. But there were other men out there as well. Men who also knew how to be sneaky. He would have to wait for the biggest of the pack to come back.

  Blue sucked in a breath. The clarity of the cub’s projections amazed her. And the randomness and unreliability of them startled and frustrated her. “There are other men out there. Garfield says we need to wait for Felix.”

  Jason gave her a searching look, but held back from commenting on what Garfield did, or did not, say. “That’s exactly what Felix said to do.”

  Blue nodded. “Right. We’ll wait.” She joined Garfield at the edge of the trail, looking into the foliage. Twenty minutes. That’s what Felix had said. She could do twenty minutes. She could. It wasn’t that long. Could he really do a proper scout in twenty minutes? They should give him longer.

  Thirty minutes later—Blue noted Jason had made no move to leave their spot—Garfield chirped at the foliage on the right side of the path an
d Felix appeared. Poof. Magic. And then there was mercenary. Great, I’m going hysterical. Or maybe I’m high on the air. Don’t jungles put off more oxygen? Is there such a thing as oxygen poisoning?

  “I’ve found it.”

  Felix’s words slammed her back into reality.

  “Follow me, exactly. I avoided one guard, but I spotted signs of at least three others. There’s a spot up here we can monitor movements from and hopefully get an idea of what we’ll be up against.”

  Blue jumped in place, and Garfield copied her, chirping. Felix glared. “Quietly,” he hissed.

  They stilled, then followed Felix into the underbrush.

  The spot Felix had found was a hollow formed by a small outcropping of rock and a felled tree. Beyond, the ground sloped sharply. To the left, the slope was more of a cliff, over which drained a waterfall that flowed into a small creek. On the other side of the creek was a clearing. And in that clearing was a concrete building built on thick piers.

  Felix tapped her on the shoulder, then pointed to a stand of trees to the right. There was a rustle in the lower branches, and she got a glimpse of dark green armor, nearly invisible in the shadows of the leaves. She could only see the man because it was the lower branches, which were sparser.

  Then he pointed out two more, all hidden in various positions around the building, on this side of the creek. One she didn’t actually see, but she believed Felix that he was there. Which also left her with the question, how many were on the other side, across the creek, and beyond the building, hidden in trees at least a football field away?

  Felix made a walking motion with his fingers, then pointed across the clearing. Then he pointed to his eyes, then her and Jason, then the building. What?

  Jason nodded, and Felix stood. Blue grabbed his hand before he disappeared again and frowned, then made a “what-the-hell” motion with her hands. Felix frowned back at her, and she shrugged. She’d never been particularly good at charades, and military hand-speak had never even made it onto her list of things to think about learning.

  He crouched down and leaned in until his mouth was a bare inch from her ear. “I am going to scout around the edge of the tree line,” he breathed, the sound no more than a tickle of air. “You and Jason stay here and monitor for movement at the building. Any guards, anyone. Where they come from, where they go, how many you see.” Then he twisted and glanced at Garfield. “How well-developed is the connection? Could he also look for men and tell you the numbers and locations?”

  Blue shrugged, then shifted to reach the mercenary’s ear. “It’s… unreliable. Sometimes full thoughts, sometimes just a vague feeling. He knows there are sneaky men out there.” She pulled in a breath, the heady air of the jungle giving her an instant of disorientation. “We could try.”

  Felix didn’t move, and they stayed like that, half wrapped around each other. Then he shook his head, brushing her cheek with his. “He will stay with you. Jason knows what to look for. Follow his lead.”

  “How long?”

  “Give me a few hours. Do not risk the comms.”

  Jason had pointed out before they went to bed last night that they had no idea what kind of tracking technology the men they were after had available to them. They had turned off their comms, including the tracking devices. She’d expressed concern about Mo’ata being able to find them, and Felix had answered with, “Do you really think a small thing like no tracking device will stop him?”

  That had been the end of that.

  “No comms,” she agreed.

  Felix stood, nodded to Jason, and poofed into the jungle.

  Blue relayed what he’d said to Jason, leaning in just as she had with Felix, but it seemed those few hand movements really had told the other man what Felix intended. Then she found as comfortable a position as she could and waited.

  She was brushing away yet another beetle of some kind, when Garfield stiffened beside her. Jason shifted, his gaze laser-focused on the building. She tracked where their attention had gone and saw a railed lift positioned between two of the piers being lowered to the ground. Four men, clad in that dark green armor, stepped off, heading toward them.

  “Don’t move,” Jason whispered.

  Not a total dummy.

  The men headed for the same areas Felix had pointed out. When the man in the tree near them was relieved, Blue barely breathed. Garfield pressed into her, whether in warning or reassurance, she wasn’t sure.

  Then the four guards who’d been relieved headed for the compound. She noted the route they took over the creek, a shallower spot where the current kicked up mini-rapids. Then they were on the lift and going up. Was that the only entrance to the building? One of the guards pressed his hand to a panel, and a door, half-hidden in a small alcove, slid open.

  Five minutes later a new group of guards used the lift. This time there were five of them, and they headed to positions where Felix had gone to scout. This was either incredibly good luck, or very, very bad.

  When fifteen minutes had gone by and there were no shots, shouts, or mysterious rustling of branches, she relaxed.

  There were at least nine guards positioned around the building, with the same number inside. She didn’t know how many shifts there were or how often they rotated, but she assumed at least another nine were inside. Twenty-seven guards and one way, that they’d seen in all this time, into and out of the building. There weren’t any patrols around the building, but there was enough clear land surrounding it that they probably didn’t need them. They’d see anything coming long before it made contact. Crappity.

  The sun was almost directly overhead when Garfield grew more and more restless.

  Bad.

  She gathered him close.

  Bad. Bad, bad, bad. He squirmed. Need get pack. Now, now, now.

  Her grip tightened. If he ran out there, the guards would see him long before he even made it across the creek. And since they had Vivi, they’d know exactly what Garfield was. Then they’d find her and Jason and…

  No. She tried sending it again. Not yet. Need plan.

  Wait largest of pack?

  Yes. Yes, we need to wait for Felix. She wished she knew how much Garfield understood.

  Images came. Vague, but alarming. Shadowed rooms, bars, and straps. Needles and tubes. But they were mixed, bars over tubes and paws and limbs, twisting into a horror of wrong.

  Her breath sped up, and her stomach twisted. Not the fruit this time. They needed to get down there, now. There wasn’t time to wait for a rescue or for anyone to rush in with weapons blazing to save the day. “Jason,” she whispered. “Jason.” This one was more of a hiss. He bent toward her. “We need to get in there now.” She gripped his arm, allowing Garfield to wriggle free of her hold. “It’s wrong, something is happening. We need Felix, and we need to get down there now.”

  Jason’s gaze darted from her to the piquet cub and back. Then he drew a breath and pulled out his comm. He mumbled something. It sounded like, “I hope I don’t regret this.”

  We probably all will. Blue didn’t care. Garfield wasn’t freaking out, not like he had earlier. This was a warning—an eager, scared warning, but a warning. Whatever they were doing to Vivi and Forrest was messing them up. And if they were doing it to Forrest, they were doing it to Levi. She could lose both of them in a moment.

  Five minutes later Felix appeared, a fierce frown aimed her way.

  She jumped up and pressed as close as she could get. “If we don’t act now, we lose them.” The words were melodramatic, but true.

  Felix studied her, probably searching for signs of hysteria or panicking female. She met his gaze, keeping hers as steady as she could. Beside her, Garfield stretched up and patted the mercenary’s leg, the movement urgent.

  Go, go, go.

  “It’s Garfield, but… he showed me some of what Vivi must be seeing. And they’re doing… something. There were needles and tubes and straps and… then it all became mixed up.” She kept her voice low, not even su
re Felix could hear her, but he nodded.

  Others too far. Too far.

  “Guys,” Jason hissed, then moved closer. “I just got a message. From Mo’ata. They’re here, but they were also delayed by the storm. They landed north of the compound, on the other side, and are about five hours out still.”

  Too far.

  “Garfield says they’re too far.”

  The moment hung there. Did they try to go in? Did they wait for backup and additional men? Did they risk a fraction of success now, or almost-sure success later? Could she live with herself if something happened to Forrest or Levi while they waited? Could she bear it if Felix or Garfield or even Jason were injured—or worse—if they attempted to go in now?

  It was an impossible choice.

  And then she didn’t need to make it.

  “We’ll go in,” Felix said, and Garfield gave a growl of approval, no squeak in it. “Jason, tell Mo’ata. We are not going to attempt to bring down the whole operation, so tell them to hurry. But we are going to see if we can stop whatever is being done to the others now and buy some time. Tell them, then turn the comm off again. I don’t want anyone in that building tracking us. Not yet.”

  Jason nodded and typed furiously at the small device.

  Felix gave her a fierce grin, one full of savage delight and so close to the first smile he’d ever given her at that inn on Karran. “Ready to be bait again, pet?”

  “For this? Yes. And don’t call me pet.”

  “This time, you will be a ferocious one.”

  Blue looked down to where Garfield now paced the length of the fallen tree. “Will there be carnage?” She didn’t know what to call the sensation that filled her, but she wanted blood, specifically from the men who were hurting her family. Under that was a solid determination.

  She was about to be too-stupid-too-live, and it was going to be glorious.

  “We will make sure of it.”

  “Done,” Jason said. “What’s the plan?”