“We’ll be there in five ticks.”
Her next call was to Vellmar, informing her of their medical situation and the transport arrival. “Get everyone onboard the moment that ramp hits the ground,” she said, watching the activity around Micah. “We need to be in the air as soon as possible.”
“Yes, Lancer.”
Wrenching her gaze away from the sight of Micah’s limp body being lifted and handled, Tal looked around. Why had he let himself get caught so far from cover?
Her eye was drawn to the blown-out power panel on the opposite wall, and she walked over to inspect the ruined contents. She didn’t think it was an accident that this panel had been hit. Beyond the melted and scorched area, it shone with the brightness of new metal, an aberration for the dusty old house.
“What were you doing, Micah?” she murmured.
A metal tube led from the panel to the ceiling, where it branched and ran in both directions along the edge. Wires sprouted from it at regular intervals, perpendicular to the main trunks, carrying power somewhere. Her light showed a wiring grid overhead and a regular series of holes drilled into the ceiling. She took a few steps away from the wall, shining her light over the ceiling. The grid reached as far as she could see. Turning in place, she looked at the panel once more, then played her light along the wall. Hidden in the dimness just a few paces away from the panel was something else that didn’t belong.
She stepped to the new metal door, reaching out with her senses and finding herself quickly blocked. At least she knew there was no one directly behind it. This had to be the other exit from the basement, and given her limited empathic reach, she guessed it led to a curving tunnel.
Carefully, she pulled it open a crack and shone her light through. In contrast to the thick, heavy door, the tunnel behind it was narrow, rough-hewn, and barely large enough for her own head to clear. Anyone taller would have to walk bent over. She was examining the oddly thick door when Senshalon walked up.
“Lancer Tal, Gehrain’s awake. He was just knocked out by the crates collapsing on top of him.” He looked down the tunnel. “Well, now we know where the last guard went.”
“Yes,” she said bitterly. “And we don’t have time to give chase.”
Senshalon stepped through and investigated the entrance from the other side. Ducking back into the basement, he said, “There’s old framing around the other side. The door is new, but the original frame isn’t. And that tunnel smells old, too.”
It did. She hadn’t consciously noticed, but the tunnel smelled just as stale and musty as the basement. “So this house was built by someone paranoid, and repurposed into…what? Why such a heavy door?”
“Well, it would stop disruptor fire.”
“It would stop just about anything.” She didn’t have time to think about it anymore. “Go help Dewar with Micah.”
As he walked toward the frantically active group around Micah, she recrossed the basement to where Corlander was crouched by Gehrain’s prone figure.
When she reached Gehrain, he was rubbing his eyes. “Lancer Tal,” he said as she came into his view. “I’m sorry; I couldn’t stop her. She was down the stairs before I even got through the door, and I never could catch up.”
“You did your best,” she said. “None of us thought about a basement.”
“Senshalon wouldn’t tell me about Colonel Micah. Is it bad?”
“May I see him?” Corlander asked.
“Go. Dewar can probably use all the light she can get.” She knelt beside Gehrain. “It’s not good. Dewar is putting him in a pressure sack, and we’re getting him to Redmoon as fast as Thornlan can fly. I’m just glad you weren’t seriously hurt. How do you feel?”
He rubbed his eyes again. “Fine, except for the lights. I must have hit my head pretty hard.”
“Your vision is affected?”
“I think so. I’m seeing pinpoints of light—wait a tick.” His gaze sharpened as he looked at her. “I’m not seeing them on you.” Looking straight up again, he said, “I’m seeing them up there.”
Tal followed his gaze and found a small red light blinking at her, directly over Gehrain. Another blinked a few paces away, and now she could see several others in the ceiling around them, forming an incomplete grid.
“Spawn of a fantenshekken. That’s where the power was going. It was another shekking trap!”
“What? I’m sorry, my brain isn’t in full working order yet.”
“Micah’s was,” she said, glancing back at what she could see of him between the others. “He saved a lot of lives today. Can you stand up?”
“I think so.” He sat up carefully, then took her hand and allowed himself to be helped upright. “I’m fit,” he said as he took a limping step.
Tal thought that might be an overstatement, but she wasn’t about to argue. “Everyone not needed for evacuating Micah, get out of this building now,” she shouted. On the other side of the basement, five light beams sliced toward her. She pointed upward and added, “The whole building is wired to blow. Micah managed to cut the power to most of the charges, but there are still a few operating.” And she didn’t think an attempt to cut the remaining power was something they wanted to chance, not with the panel already partially destroyed. “We have a missing enemy guard, and if she has a backup transmitter, we could be in trouble. Move it!”
“Goddess above,” Gehrain said, staring upward.
Tal heard a burst of voices at the other side of the basement, recognizing Dewar’s in the end. Two shapes left the huddle around Micah and began racing toward them.
She wrapped her arm around Gehrain’s waist and pulled his arm over her shoulders. “Come on. Let’s get you out of here.”
Corlander and Windenal joined them as she led him to the stairs, wondering if she was making the right decision. The tunnel was undoubtedly the safer exit in terms of a potential explosion. But she had no idea what else—or who else—might lie in wait there. Or how long it was, or where it ended. No, better to count on the building staying intact for just a little longer.
She released Gehrain into Corlander and Windenal’s care, watching as they helped him past the damaged steps. When they were clear, she hauled herself up and crouched on the first intact stair. “Dewar, how close are you?” she called.
“Right behind you.” Dewar, Nilsinian, and Senshalon emerged from the dimness, carrying Micah in a clasped-arm sling formation. “I would have preferred waiting for a stretcher from the transport, but…”
“I know. We can’t afford to wait.” Tal reached out and took the weight of Micah’s upper body, backing up two steps until Dewar and Nilsinian climbed past the damaged section and retook their positions. As soon as Senshalon was on the stairs, she turned and hurried to the top. Kicking the rubble out of the way, she led her last Guards out of the bedroom and down the corridor, the back of her neck tingling with every step. Knowing what was right under her feet was disquieting, to say the least, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she emerged through the blown-out front door and saw blessed stars overhead.
The transport crouched in the empty clearing. The only Alseans in sight were two Guards standing watch just beyond the ramp and Vellmar racing toward them with a stretcher.
“Put him on!” Vellmar called over the roar of the engines. “We’re ready to go as soon as we get him in.”
“Have you counted bodies? Do we have everyone?” Tal was taking no chances.
“You’re the last,” Vellmar answered, watching as the others gently lowered Micah onto the stretcher. “Our missing warrior never did appear.”
“She must still be in the tunnel. What I wouldn’t give to drop a shock charge down it,” Tal said darkly.
“Words for Fahla,” Senshalon said. The others murmured their agreement.
Several hands made sho
rt work of the security straps. Vellmar and Senshalon picked up the stretcher and dashed toward the transport at a near run, with the rest in hot pursuit. Tal brought up the rear, and the last two Guards swung in behind her when she hit the ramp. They crowded into the main cabin, the engine noise fading as the door slid shut.
The moment Micah’s stretcher was locked into the equipment rack by the door, Tal called Thornlan. “We’re all in. Get us to Redmoon.”
They were rising even as Thornlan responded. “They’re waiting for us. Estimated flight time is twenty-three ticks.”
Dewar was crouching by the stretcher, holding a medical scanner against Micah’s wrist. “His blood pressure is low but stable. The pressure sack is working. But…” She looked up. “His pulse is erratic. Lancer Tal, I don’t know if he has twenty-three ticks.”
Tal had not taken her eyes off Micah from the moment she had come through the door. Under the bright lights of the transport, his condition was starkly clear, and she could feel the final wisps of denial evaporating. He was going to his Return even now.
“Then we’ll have to convince him that he does,” she said. In two steps she crossed the distance and settled on her knees next to Dewar. “He knows me, and he knows I won’t take no for an answer.”
She reached for his energy points. It wasn’t a perfect match; the oxygenator made it impossible to get her hand in quite the right position on his cheek and jaw, and she was at the wrong angle for the ideal integration of their forehead ridges. But it was close enough.
She leaned over and rested her forehead against his.
A warm, liquid darkness enveloped her. She was Sharing with a mind that was traversing the shadows between life and death. The first time she had done this, back when she was a Lead Guard, the sensation had sent her into a panic. It felt like dying, and she had broken the connection almost immediately, breathing hard and shivering at the idea of going back in. Intellectually, she knew that her body was whole and functional, but as soon as she had connected with her injured Guard, her mind had been convinced that it was losing the body that sustained it. Sharing a second time took every bit of her courage.
She had learned a few things since then. As the darkness pressed in, she forced herself to relax and began floating upward. Where there was life, there was always a surface above which the darkness did not extend.
But Micah’s darkness was deep, deeper than she had ever been before. It seemed as if she had been rising forever, and she felt a moment of panic. What if he had completed his Return already? What if she was too late?
She struggled, a primal fear holding her back. If there was no light at all—
Then she saw it: a slight shading of the darkness to dim gray. Reassured, she let herself relax, and her journey upward increased in speed. The surroundings grew progressively lighter until finally, with an instinctive gasp, she broke through the surface.
Micah.
He was there, a tiny little piece of him that had not yet left. With a shuddering relief she embraced him. He was tired, so tired, but she had strength to spare.
Stay, she thought, projecting it with all her might. Don’t go.
He responded, his exhaustion easing slightly as he accepted the strength she offered. Though she felt herself growing weaker the moment he touched her, she would not let him go.
I’m all right. Just stay with me.
Vaguely, she heard a murmur of voices, but it had nothing to do with her. That was elsewhere, in the conscious world. She could not be there right now. Micah was doubtful; he sensed her draining strength. It was taking everything she had to convince him to stay.
Another presence appeared at the edge of her awareness, sending an empathic plea. Her mind translated the projection into words.
Hold on.
For one wild moment, Tal thought she was hearing Fahla herself. Then she realized that someone else was coming up through the darkness.
Hold on.
It was more powerful this time, and a wonderfully familiar strength burst into the light.
I’m here. Hold on to me.
Tal reached out, her own weariness easing instantly at their touch, and Micah relaxed in their embrace.
CHAPTER 37:
Counting heartbeats
Vellmar had seen and done a great deal in her career, including taking part in the heaviest fighting of the Battle of Alsea. She prided herself on being cool in any situation. But her jaw nearly came unhinged when Lancer Tal dropped to her knees and lined up the energy points on Colonel Micah.
The colonel was dying. Vellmar knew it, and Lancer Tal definitely knew it. She couldn’t possibly be considering—
Oh, shekking Mother, she was. Vellmar felt a chill as Lancer Tal lowered her head to complete the Sharing.
Her oath holder was insane.
She bent down to Dewar and whispered, “Is that safe?”
Dewar was already pulling a second medical scanner from her pack. “Was anything about this mission safe?” She held the scanner to the Lancer’s exposed wrist and swiveled her head back and forth, checking first one patient and then the other.
Vellmar was about to request a more specific answer when Raiz Opah joined them.
“Dear Goddess, I didn’t know it was this bad. I was hoping she was reacting that way because it was Colonel Micah.”
“It’s not good.” Dewar didn’t take her eyes off the scanners. “I don’t know if she can hold him. She may not have enough time.”
“I didn’t even know this was possible. How can she Share if he’s not conscious?”
Something had caught Dewar’s attention on Micah’s scanner. Frowning at it, she said, “Until the Return, everyone has some part of consciousness, even if we can’t see it on this side. She’s looking for it now.”
“When will we know she’s found it?” Vellmar asked.
“When her heart rate and blood pressure start dropping.”
A dead silence fell over everyone within hearing range.
“Guard Dewar,” said Opah in a clear and too-precise voice, “Exactly what did you mean when you said she might not have enough time?”
Dewar had a flawless front, but when she looked up, the nervousness showed on her face. “No one knows precisely how this procedure works. Somehow, the connection of the minds translates to a connection of the bodies. Lancer Tal is using her own strength and health to bolster Colonel Micah’s. Theoretically, if she stays too long, she could drain herself past the point of recovery. But I’ve never heard of that happening. And the Lancer knows her limits.”
“Do you mean she’s done this before?” Lancer Tal’s caste record, or at least the parts of it that Vellmar was allowed to access, hadn’t been nearly detailed enough for this.
Dewar checked the readouts again. “Yes. Once that I’ve personally witnessed, and—”
A gasp from the Lancer startled all of them, and her body stiffened before slumping.
“She found him,” Dewar said. “His pulse is steady again.” She waited, watching his numbers. “And it’s slowly climbing.” She turned to the Lancer’s scanner.
“Well?” Opah’s voice was unnaturally calm. “Is she sliding?”
Dewar nodded.
“Can you extrapolate the rate and predict whether she has enough time?”
“I think so. But I’ll need to watch the rate for another two ticks.”
Opah settled onto the floor just behind the Lancer, closed her eyes, and visibly relaxed.
Recognizing the technique, Vellmar stepped around her and crouched down. “Do you know what you’re doing?” she whispered.
“No. But I know I can’t sit here and do nothing. I’ve already done plenty of that this evening.”
Apparently, both of them were insane. But Vellmar had to admire her courag
e. She glanced at Dewar, still reading the scanners, and tried to wait patiently.
“She’ll have to back out before we arrive,” said Dewar at last. “He’s drawing too much strength from her. But it might be enough. He may be able to hold on after that.”
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Andira, it’s that mights and maybes are unacceptable. Especially when it comes to someone she cares for. Do you have a third scanner?”
“No. Raiz Opah, I really cannot advise—”
“Then don’t. Tell me what to expect.”
When Dewar looked to her for help, Vellmar could only shrug. “She’s the Bondlancer. In reality, if not yet in name.”
“Thank you,” Opah said without glancing at her. “Guard Dewar?”
Outranked and outflanked, Dewar gave up. “I only know what I’ve read. It will feel like you’re Returning. Your mind will fight it, but the more you fight, the longer it takes. You have to make yourself relax, and then it will happen naturally. You’ll float to the surface.” She gestured with her chin toward Lancer Tal and Colonel Micah. “Somewhere in there, you’ll find a light above the darkness. That’s where they are. He may not want to stay. But so far he’s staying with the Lancer, and that’s a good sign.”
“Salomen.”
They looked up at the unexpected voice. Herot had hobbled over with the aid of a crutch and stood looking down at them, fear etched in his face. “Please,” he said. “I just got you back. Please don’t go.”
Brother and sister stared at each other, and the occupants of the main cabin collectively held their breath.
“You’re here because all of these people risked their lives for you, Herot.” Opah’s voice was sharp enough to cut glass. “I will not stand by and let one of them die if I can do something about it. And let me tell you this: if Colonel Micah goes to his Return, then you will have finally created a mess that nobody can clean up. Andira will never forgive you, and I cannot forgive anything that would hurt her so badly. So you had better pray.”
Without a Front: The Warrior's Challenge (Chronicles of Alsea Book 3) Page 27
