Escapement (The Neumarian Chronicles)

by Ciara Knight

  Dred walked in behind them, his eyes glowing orange. Ryder screamed and clutched his head.

  “No. Stop!” I screamed.

  The cell door swung open and one of the men snapped the collar around Ryder’s neck.

  He fingered the tamer collar secured around his throat and his posture sagged.

  “I warned ya not to try anythin’ now ya’ve gone messin’ everythin’ up.”

  “Why are you doing this?” I asked.

  “Have no choice.” Dred’s voice faded.

  Ryder rubbed his temple and managed to rise onto his knees again.

  “You do have a choice,” I insisted.

  “Give it up. He’ll always be a Neumarian traitor.” Despite the pain etched on Ryder’s face, his eyes challenged Dred.

  Dred spun on his heels and headed for the door, but stopped. “Ya was gonna receive a trial, but now ya’re execution is set for one hour.

  I pressed my palm against the wood wall to steady myself and looked sideways at Dred. “But you said you’d—”

  “That be before he tried to murder us.” Dred’s eyes pulsed orange.

  “But you’re one of us.”

  “I’ve never been a Neumarian. Was born here, me loyalty falls to these people.”

  “But you—”

  “Can’t interfere with Malvak. He’d kill me family for treason.” Grief revealed in his eyes, but his narrowed stare showed his determination.

  “Told you he was a traitor,” Ryder snarled at Dred.

  Dred’s face tensed and he wrapped his fingers around the gun holstered on his hip. “I can’t betray people who never wanted us ‘cause me mother was deformed.”

  “Deformed?” Raeth asked.

  Dred lingered, as if contemplating what to say. “Yeah, me mom was an outcast ‘cause she had a mechanical eye. She be one of the first experimented on.”

  I sauntered over to Dred standing outside her cell door. “Then you know how Raeth feels. We are all outcasts.”

  Dred’s nose rose into a snarl. “Not, him. He be one of them. I do what I can for the wee one there and for you, ya pretty face, but he hangs.”

  “No, please! You can’t.” I fought against the rising flames licking my lungs.

  Dred didn’t respond before he marched from the room, slamming the door behind him.

  I took a stuttered breath. “We have to do something.” Ryder didn’t respond. “Raeth, tell him.”

  Raeth didn’t respond either. She only sat, bouncing the little red ball in front of her.

  “Raeth. Listen to me. You can’t check out now.”

  “Nothing’s left to be done.” Ryder’s words sent a wave of hot fear through my body.

  “Come on, you wanted to fight back. I’ll do whatever you want. We have to think fast.”

  I couldn’t lose him. We had to figure out what was between us, what made our touch so powerful. The way pure happiness consumed me when he came near, his strong lips pressed against mine. So many unanswered questions. I refused to give up on the first thing since the age of eleven that made me feel whole, worth something.

  Even if he never forgave my part in Raeth’s torture, I couldn’t bear the thought of him being executed.

  “No,” Ryder said in a monotone voice.

  “You can’t give up.” My voice cracked from the weight of never feeling him near me again.

  Ryder finally strolled to the bars. “Not giving up. Not on you two.” His hand slid down my cheek sending shivers through my body.

  “What’re you saying? We need to figure out a plan.”

  “Shh.” Ryder pressed his lips to my forehead. “I have a plan.”

  My heart soared. “What is it?” I stepped back to look him in the eyes.

  He cupped my hands and kissed each knuckle. “Plan is for you and Raeth to live.”

  I reached for his collar. “I can remove—”

  He backed away. “No, there’s no time. This is the only way.”

  “And you?” My hands shook. “You, too.”

  “No. You heard Dred. You’ll both be spared. If I try anything else, you’ll both die, too. Won’t let that happen.”

  I stormed the bars. “You’d desert us? Abandon us to our fates here? A life of servitude and prostitution?”

  “You’d be alive,” he whispered.

  “I’d rather be dead, because it wouldn’t be a life worth living. Ryder, I’d rather die fighting by your side than live like that. It’ll be no different from being the general’s slave.”

  “Nothing to be done.”

  “And you call Dred a traitor. You’re the traitor.” The words flew from my mouth before I could stop them, but I didn’t care. My hands burned and I wanted to melt the bars between us and shake him until he’d listen.

  I reached for the bars and he lunged at me, grabbing my wrists through the openings.

  “No. Stop.” Ryder pulled my body against the bars and he stared me down. “Semara, listen to me.”

  “No, I won’t.” My muscles fatigued as I struggled against his grip. “I won’t lose you. Not when I’ve just found you,” I sobbed.

  “I don’t want to lose you either,” he said, his voice softening.

  I wanted to tell him how I felt something for him the first time I’d woken in his arms. How my body longed for his touch every minute of every day.

  Ryder released my wrist and brushed my hair from my eyes. “Know this sounds crazy. A Kantian princess and a Neumarian slave, but I thought we had a shot.” He half chuckled and his eyebrow arched.

  He’d said Kantian instead of Slag. That had to mean something.

  Ryder’s chest rose and fell with a deep breath. “Semara, I think I’m—”

  The door swung open and four guards entered before Dred stormed in. “Malvak orders ya all to the platform now.”

  My stomach flopped. “No. It hasn’t been an hour.”

  “Malvak’s orders changed.”

  “You said they’d be spared,” Ryder argued.

  “They be ordered to watch.”

  Dred’s words stung like a laser through my heart. “No, please. You can’t. It’s too soon.”

  Ryder still clutched one arm and wouldn’t let me go. “Semara, listen to me.”

  “No, I won’t. This isn’t going to happen. I’ll tell Malvak who I am and order your release.”

  “Not wise.” Dred shoved the key into Ryder’s cell door.

  I had to do something, anything to stop this.

  “We need you, Semara. You’re the only one left in this war-torn world who can protect Raeth. Please, I promised my folks before they were murdered I’d take care of her. Once I’m gone—”

  “Don’t say that.” Tears stung my eyes and I wanted to pull him against me and disappear.

  Ryder reached through the bars and held the back of my head so our foreheads touched. “Once I’m gone, you are her only family.”

  “Enough, it’s time,” Dred ordered.

  The guards rushed into the cell, bound Ryder’s wrists, and dragged him from the cell. One guard grabbed Raeth by the arm and did the same to me. Dred stood at the outside of my cell, door open, waiting for me to exit.

  “I did all I could,” Dred said with a heavy, deep tone. He bound my wrists and stepped back. “Sorry, Malvak ordered—”

  “You could do more. Trust me, you’ll regret this later. You’ll go to sleep each night with Ryder’s face haunting your dreams. I’m still tortured by making a wrong choice when I was only twelve.”

  I shoved past him and went out to the center of town. Acid rose in my throat at the sight of the noose hanging from a wood beam. It had to be wood. If it had been metal, I could’ve melted it and bought some more time.

  Maybe I could try Ryder’s plan and incapacitate Dred before he stopped me, then get his gun and take a few down. If we could find cover and some metal we’d have a chance.

  I watched Dred out of the corner of my eye as we approached the platform.

  “Don’t
try it, pretty face. I’ve trained for years to be a faster draw with me powers. Ya don’t stand a chance. All you’ll accomplish is ya own death.”

  I lifted my chin, determined to fight. “I can’t stand by and watch him die.”

  “Ya don’t have a choice. None of us do,” Dred insisted.

  “You do. Let me use my powers and the three of us escape. Otherwise, you’ll have innocent blood on your hands.” I pleaded.

  Wind whipped through the village. Creaks echoed from the skywalks. Water swished through the steel waterways above. Cannons and barbed wire lined an exterior wall. It was a fortress.

  Mother had been right to fear them. Even if I freed Ryder, how could we get out? I suspected the walls were electrified. Maybe I could short out the wires, but I’d need Raeth’s help to demolish the wall.

  Even if we managed to break through the wall, then what? We’d have to get a ship and figure out where we were.

  There had to be a way to save him. I had to be missing something.

  A horn sounded and people came out of homes and buildings, flooding the street to watch Ryder’s execution. Didn’t they see they were no better than the council?

  I wrung my hands and pulled at my rope bindings that rubbed my skin raw.

  The smell of animals and desert sand carried on the wind.

  A tall man appeared on one of the skywalks with a fluffy cape of animal fur lining his huge frame. I couldn’t make out his features, but he definitely had a tattoo running across his forehead. A reflection of sunlight off his face indicated some piercings.

  “This here Neumarian is charged with bringing the council’s wrath to our land. Do we wish to sacrifice our way of life and be enslaved to the council?”

  “No,” the crowd yelled back as if in a trance.

  “Terminate the prisoner and send his body as a gift to the queen.”

  “No!” I cried out and ran for the platform. “You’re wrong. We only wish to go in peace. The queen doesn’t know we’re here. We brought a gift!”

  I ran up the steps, but a guard snagged my hair, knocking me down so hard the wood cracked against my shoulder. A pain shot down my arm. Ryder shouldered the man and raced to my side. “Semara, please, don’t do this.”

  “I can’t watch you die,” I managed through sobs.

  The guards tore us apart and placed Ryder on top of a box.

  I fought with all my strength and drew heat from my core to my hands, but the mind splitting pain made me collapse. I lay on the floor of the platform forced to watch the noose being secured around his neck.

  “Proceed with the execution.”

  The guard kicked the box out from under Ryder and the rope snapped tight around his throat.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The tamer collar protected Ryder’s neck from breaking. Unfortunately, it also pressed against his esophagus, cutting off his airflow. His feet flayed about trying to find purchase on something…anything.

  Noise swirled around me, loud chants from the crowd that lusted for his death.

  The rope swung and turned with his fight. He reached for the rope but his wrists were bound too tight. His limbs convulsed, but the crowd continued to cheer. Finally, his joints froze in place and his body stiffened.

  “No!” I cried out. Heat radiated through my body. The world moved in patterns, but I only made out Raeth storming the platform. We clutched each other close. Heat soared through me.

  Dred shot back off the platform. Raeth shouted, but I couldn’t make out her words through the thunder in my ears. My breath plumed in smoke.

  Ryder’s body smashed onto the platform, vibrating the wood beneath me. His body lay limp, sprawled out across the planks.

  The thunder subsided and I realized the cheering for his death had stopped. Instead the only sound permeating the air was water swooshing through the steel overhead waterway and machine gears grinding away at their jobs. Everyone else was face down in the sand with arms outstretched overhead.

  I swallowed despite my throbbing throat. Did they figure out I was a princess, and they bowed out of fear?

  Ryder lifted his head and crawled to our side with his eyes wide and questioning.

  “Wh-what just happened?” Raeth asked.

  “I don’t know.” The words tore like knives slicing my windpipe. Even to my ears, my voice sounded raspy and faint.

  “Look.” Raeth pointed up at the skywalk.

  Malvak stood with his hands grasping the wood railing. His face twisted in obvious disdain.

  The people prostrated in front of us were breathing, but none moved.

  “Did we do this?” I whispered.

  Ryder rubbed his red and bruised neck, but didn’t release me. “Looks like the temple monks back in the Mining Territory during one of their worshiping ceremonies.”

  I clutched his hand in mine. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear they were worshiping one of us.”

  Malvak cursed overhead, smacking his fists against the railing, and then stomped off down the skyway into the greenish-brown building on the far side of town.

  I looked around for a clue about what happened but only found singed rope threads littered around the sand covered, cracked wood platform.

  Smell of burnt rope sent a chill through my body. Ryder tugged at the collar.

  “Let me,” I whispered, placing two fingers on the tamer collar.

  Raeth kneeled by my side. “Sh-shouldn’t we run or s-something?”

  “Run where?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I know.” I gestured at the wall.

  Another whistle blew. No one except Dred moved. His head popped up and he glanced our way before placing his forehead against the sand again.

  Ryder struggled to stand with Raeth’s and my help. Something had happened. My powers had worked somehow, and by the sight of frost on Dred, Ryder’s had too. Not to mention the sand covering the platform and the bodies of those on the ground below. Raeth must have done that.

  Were the people of Oasis scared because we could use our powers even with Dred there? This could be the opportunity we had been waiting for. Yet, the look on Malvak’s face before he stormed away meant he wasn’t frightened, merely annoyed.

  “Dred, you will help us leave this place,” Ryder ordered in an authoritative voice, but Dred didn’t move.

  I let go of Ryder’s hand and went to Dred’s side, kneeling next to him. “We need your help. What is going on?” I glanced back.

  Raeth leaned Ryder against the half splintered post he had swung from moments before. “Rise Dred, I order you t-to t-take us to M-Malvak.”

  Ryder grabbed Raeth’s arm. “What’re you doing?”

  “T-trust m-me brother.” Raeth maneuvered the two steps down and rested her hand on Dred’s shoulder. He rose from the ground, but no one else followed.

  Ryder crawled to the end of the platform and stumbled down the stairs into my arms. “She’s crazy.”

  Raeth smiled. “Not at th-the m-moment.”

  We followed Dred through the still crowd and into the brownish-green building. Sulfur and oil nearly choked me. Ryder coughed, still clutching his rope burned throat, but the bruise was already fading.

  We walked through an assembly line of weaponry before we headed up two flights of stairs.

  I clung to the cold, smooth metal railing and hoisted myself up each step. Fatigue was setting in along with lack of food and water. I needed something soon or I’d collapse.

  Dred pushed open a heavy green door with iron bars on the window and entered a room. Guns and swords lined the walls. A large desk stood at the end of the room, where the satchel Ryder had brought rested.

  Malvak sat at his desk with his face pinched tight. “What be the meaning of this? Ya dare bring these traitors to me presence? It be a trick. The lot of them overcame your weak mind.”

  “No. You’re wrong. No one entered me mind,” Dred argued as he stepped back away from the oversized gorilla behind the desk.

  “W-we demand
th-that you release us.”

  “Demand? Ha! Ya do be a fool.”

  Raeth stood with shoulders back, staring the man down. “W-we are no f-fools. W-we’re worshiped by your people.”

  “So, what if you are? Ya be of no use to me. Send them back to jail.”

  “Wouldn’t advise it, sir. They’d still be praying for the Triune to deliver them.”

  “Triune?” Malvak pounded his hand against the metal desktop, sending a ripple through the floor and up my already weak legs.

  Triune?

  “No such thing as Triune. It’s an old folk tale made up to give people hope.”

  “I saw it with me own eyes. Their powers mixed to one.” Dred lowered his head and half bowed to us.

  These people thought we were some sort of mythological being that brought the dead back to life? Something called a Triune? The Neumarian’s weren’t saying thank you when I’d removed their collars, they thought we were this thing, too.

  “You fool.” Malvak shoved his chair back and stomped around the desk. Dred stood straight and prepared himself for punishment but Malvak stopped. His right eye twitched and I knew it was nothing good. “They only used gifts to stop ‘im from dying. Nothing ya couldn’t do.”

  “Just let us go, Malvak. We won’t make trouble for you,” Ryder said.

  “Once at Oasis ya can never leave, but that doesn’t mean ya can steal me people away. They follow me, and will never worship ya.” One half of his mouth curled up in a grin, the other scarred half with a silver hoop didn’t budge. “I know what I has to do now.” Malvak lowered his hand and stepped away from Dred.

  “Me people need hope, so I’ll give it to them. I think it be time for a celebration. Go ring the bell. Let the people know there’ll be a grand ball in honor of Triune tonight. Everyone should wear their finest.”

  Dred didn’t move. His gaze darted between us all. It wasn’t a good sign.

  “After the celebration you will free us?” I asked.

  “No. Ya see the gift ya brought was fine. Would’ve let ya leave with that payment until the queen sent word. I keep ya here and she’ll leave us alone forever. If I let ya leave, she finds and destroys me town.”

  My chest tightened, the world swayed under my feet. My mother. Always my mother following me to the ends of the Earth. I glared at him. “Then there is nothing to celebrate. She’ll only betray and murder you.”