by Love, Aimee
“You don’t want to be involved in this,” I warned him darkly.
“It’ll be easier if you don’t struggle,” he said, taking a wary step back.
I darted forward, bringing my flat of my hand up against his nose. Blood spurted.
“Easier for who?” I asked, then felt something like a sledgehammer come down on the back of my skull and the world fade away to black.
Chapter Nine
Bound
I awoke naked and groggy, one arm and both legs already bound to the frame of the bed. Sebastian was busily at work on my free hand, looping the rope around it.
“Stop struggling,” he whispered. “You’re only digging yourself in deeper.”
I wanted to come up with some plucky rejoinder, but all I could manage with my head pounding was a simple, “Fuck you.”
He finished with my hand and began slipping off his own clothes. I closed my eyes, pretending resignation while testing my bonds. They’d done a horrible job on my legs. I knew that simply pointing my toes and pulling would free them, but my wrists were snug and tight.
“What are those?” I heard Julian ask but I wasn’t paying much attention. The knot above my right wrist was close enough for me to get my finger on and I pulled at it, slipping it looser with every tug, a centimeter at a time.
“Just a scratch,” Sebastian said. “I got it on the last trip out.”
I worked at my hand and risked a glance. Julian was crouching down in front of Sebastian, examining the wounds I’d sealed. I wasn’t sure if I should curse or rejoice. It certainly wasn’t something I wanted him explaining to Titus, but it bought me time.
“Those look like puncture wounds,” Julian was saying.
The knot slid a half inch and I pulled at my hand, slipping it through one of the loops. The rest slackened and I went to work on the other hand.
“Just a silly accident,” Sebastian said tersely.
My left hand wasn’t nimble enough and the knot was too tight, as much as I struggled, I knew it wouldn’t come free unless I could get my right hand over to help work it loose.
“They’re completely healed,” Julian said. “They look like they’ve been stitched but there are no marks and I certainly would have remembered doing it…”
Another glance.
Julian was standing now, and he and Sebastian both had their backs to me. I couldn’t see Titus, they were blocking me and if I couldn’t see him…
“It happened last time I was out on the ice,” Sebastian told him. “It wouldn’t stop bleeding so I burned it.”
I pulled my right hand free and reached over to my left, digging into the tight coil with my nail.
“Hey!” Someone yelled.
The knot was loose, but not loose enough. I slipped my legs free and opened my eyes. Sebastian had turned. Everyone was looking at me. Everyone but Quince. He was coming down the ladder fast, the lid to one of my crates gripped tightly in his hand.
I drew my leg back and kicked Sebastian hard in the neck. He made a satisfying gurgling sound but kept his footing and grabbed at my leg, pinning it to his side with one huge arm. He was as naked as I was and to spite all that was going on, I gaped at his bare chest. His scar, starting at his hairline and running all the way to his jaw, continued at the shoulder and went all the way to his hip bone.
I heard a loud thug and saw Titus crumple. Quince, wielding the lid like a broadsword, swung it around for a second hit, bringing it slamming down onto Titus’ already inert form.
Julian half turned and his eyes went wide in panic, unsure of who to help or how. Quince took a step toward him and I threw all my weight against my wrist, felt a moment of pure agony as something in my hand dislocated, and then I was free.
My left hand throbbed uselessly, but I brought my right up and clipped Sebastian in the jaw. He was oblivious to the melee behind him, still trying to hold my leg with one arm and fend off blows with the other. I wrenched my leg free, pushing off from the bed and spinning around to bring my other leg up into his solar plexus. He gasped and I pushed him aside, grabbing Quince and diving for the ladder.
Julian watched us go, clearly realizing he should be doing something, but unsure of what. His nose was still red and swollen where I’d hit him before, and with Sebastian and Titus down, he must have known he didn’t stand a chance. He might have called for help, but I knew as well as he did that Titus would be unlikely to thank him for exposing us.
“Get the hatch,” I yelled to Quince as soon as I was up and dashed to my crates. If they thought I’d been trouble before, they were in for a rude awakening. I heard the hatch slam and the bed sliding across the floor as I dumped out the first crate and pulled up the false bottom.
“Mother fucker,” I screamed, looking down at nothing. Sebastian must have seen me when I’d gotten out the med-kit and come up one of the nights I’d fallen asleep downstairs to have a look. The bastard had cleaned me out. I dumped over the second crate, already sure of what I’d find. Nothing. I checked the last one, just to be sure. My med-kit was there, but nothing else.
I grabbed the med-kit and pulled out two tabs, dropping them on my tongue and waiting until I felt the numbness set in to pop my hand back into alignment where I’d damaged it freeing myself. It was still sore and a little swollen, but all the fingers seemed to work.
There was a rustle of movement from downstairs and then a bang as someone tried to open the hatch.
Swearing under my breath, I pulled on a onesie and tossed a sweater to Quince. Bless his heart, he had thrown every piece of furniture onto the bed and was now sitting on it, flinching every time it sprang up from the assault from below.
“We have to go now,” I told him, running into the bathroom and pulling up the drain, I grabbed the screwdriver and then used the door handle as a foothold and sprang up to my perch.
Quince watched as if I were mad.
“Come on,” I told him. “It wont take them long to get past that.”
I gave him my good hand and helped him up, then turned to the window. I hadn’t always been idle when I sat here for weeks on end. It wasn’t designed to open, but all but two of the screws were already gone, vanished down the drain, and the ones that were left were so loose I unscrewed them with a single twist. I pushed against it, having no luck against the ancient seal, then swiveled around and brought my feet up, kicking out with as much force as I could manage in the tight space. I felt the seal give and a rush of cold air assaulted us.
Quince helped me push it the rest of the way free and then stuck his head out, watching the window fall down to the ground below. I poked my head out beside his and examined the drop. It was only a story and a half to the snow drifted up against our building, but a story and a half looks plenty far when you know you’re about to have to jump it.
I went to shove the screwdriver into my pocket and realized that in my haste I’d grabbed a suit that didn’t have any. I could have given it to Quince, but thanks to Sebastian’s treachery, it was the closest thing to a weapon I currently possessed and I wasn’t willing to relinquish it, even to an ally.
I shoved it between my breasts and hoped that I didn’t impale myself as I landed.
I pulled Quince’s head back inside and looked him straight in the eye as the pounding against the hatch intensified.
“I’ll go first,” I told him. “But you have to follow me. You hit Titus,” I reminded him. “If you don’t jump, I’m afraid they’ll do something horrible and I couldn’t live with that. You understand?”
He nodded gravely.
“And Quince? Thank you.”
He grinned and my heart nearly broke.
It was so dark out with the coming storm that I’d nearly forgotten it wasn’t even lunch time yet. I dropped down from the window, feet first, and tucked and rolled when I
landed, coming easily back to my feet. Quince faired slightly worse, landing hard and staggering, but I was there to steady him and he shook it off gamely.
Left to my own devices, I had no idea what I’d have done. But the unexpected participation of Quince in my little revolt opened up a whole world of possibilities. I wasn’t happy about bringing the boy into harms way, but it was certainly helpful.
My first priority was to get us hidden. The sky looked like it might open up any moment, and even if it didn’t, without shelter or warm clothing we wouldn’t last long exposed in this climate. The lights from the buildings of the colony beckoned, but we couldn’t risk being seen and they would certainly all be checked anyway.
I took off across the ice, down the only path I knew, checking to make sure that Quince was behind me. We hadn’t gotten far when I heard a shout behind us and risked a glance back.
Sebastian was leaning out the missing window, screaming for us to stop. I grabbed Quince’s sleeve and started to run. When we got to the cliff, I followed its edge until I found the ladder the led to the ledge where the sled was kept and started down.
I saw Quince hesitating at the top but didn’t have time to explain it to him. They couldn’t see the ladder from our building, it was behind an outcropping, and anyway they would never suspect us as having gone this way. They wouldn’t even begin to look for us in the caves below until they’d checked every last building above, and that would buy us precious time. He must have come to the same conclusion on his own because he started after me, albeit reluctantly.
The climb seemed shorter than it had that first night, and when I got to the ledge I ducked into the arch there, grateful to be out of the wind. Quince joined me shortly and I took his hands, blue from the cold, and rubbed them between my own.
“Can you drive it alone?” I asked him, pointing to the sled.
His eyes went wide and he shook his head.
“Not now,” I told him. “I know we can’t go out in this weather, but later. Could you get us back out onto the ice if you had to?”
He nodded hesitantly. Good enough.
“Where are the supplies from the drops kept?” I asked next.
He pointed inside, deeper into the tunnels.
“You deliver them, right?” I asked, wanting to be sure. “You know where they all go?”
He nodded again.
“All right,” I told him. “I’m looking for a silver case. There’s one in every drop. It’s small and the seal has the Colonial Board’s insignia on it. Do you know the one I mean?”
He nodded.
“Take me to it,” I told him.
He shook his head adamantly.
Well shit.
“Quince, the case contains a transmitter. I can use it to call for help.”
Which wasn’t exactly the truth. I could call and help might indeed come, but it would never arrive in time to be of any use to the two of us. Still, I had to get some word about what was going on here to the outside. I’d been waiting to report until I had real answers, and now with Sebastian having taken my transmitter and done who knows what with it, the diplomatic case was my best chance. I asked him to take me to the case again and again he shook his head.
“Quince,” I sighed. “Do you know what else is in that case? It has diplomatic papers from the Colonial Board, promising you full legal status, a seat on the council, everything. They’ve been trying to reestablish communications with you for over a generation. They’ll fix the power satellite. They’ll send whatever you need. Your leaders have been ignoring them because they like things the way they are. Quince. That case means an end to the countings.”
He rolled his eyes, clearly wanting to tell me something important.
“I know you can talk,” I told him simply. “I heard you laugh during the movie and when I first got here you yelled that I was awake. Sebastian and Julian were still outside. It had to be you. Just tell me what the problem is.”
He took a deep breath.
“Where is the case?” I asked, hoping if he had a simple, one word answer to give me it would be easier.
He closed his eyes and pointed, not deeper into the caves or up to the colony, but out and down, into the ocean.
“Titus destroys them,” I said, it hadn’t been question, but he nodded anyway. Well, of course Titus wouldn’t want something like that slipping into the wrong hands. Shit.
He looked crestfallen and I realized how horrible it must all seem to him. To have hope, finally, after so many years of terror and then to have it pulled away.
“It’s okay,” I assured him. “There are at least two more transmitters on this planet. We’ll just have to think of a way to find them.”
He looked at me quizzically, but I didn’t have time to answer. There were voices outside, calling to each other in the wind, and they were getting closer.
I put my finger to my mouth to tell him to be quiet, realized how stupid that was, and dialed up my hearing and my starlight vision. I didn’t dare look out, since even the slightest glimpse of me would let them know they were on the right track, but I didn’t need to. With my hearing amplified, I could hear the scrape and scuff of boots coming down the ladder.
I grabbed Quince’s sleeve and pulled him deeper down the tunnel. The night we’d arrived here, Julian had gone this way, so I knew it would lead us somewhere and right then, anywhere seemed preferable to where we were.
I led Quince along, thinking furiously. I knew Titus had a transmitter, since he’d used it to contact black marketeers and send for me. And Sebastian had mine, even if he didn’t know what it was. He’d taken it out of the false bottom of my crate and I was willing to bet he hadn’t destroyed it. I felt sure I’d be able to get either one of them to talk if I could get them alone, but that was going to be hard armed with nothing but a screwdriver.
We were deep inside the mountain when I heard new voices. Quince had one hand on my shoulder and the other against the wall and he nearly stumbled into me when I stopped to listen.
I put my mouth next to his ear and whispered.
“There are people ahead,” I told him, “but I don’t think they’re looking for us.”
We hadn’t passed a single branching and with a storm coming I doubted anyone would be heading to the ladder or the sled. Quince seemed to concur, since he just put his back against the wall and waited. I had hoped that the tunnels would be more of a maze with lots of branchings and disused rooms we could hide in, but the only thing we’d passed so far were more of the vents the spiders used.
Soon enough the voices faded away, but they raised the question of where we were going to hide. With pursuit probably not far behind us, and the populated tunnels close ahead, I was going to have to come up with something fast. We couldn’t hope to blend in with the inhabitants. Even if Titus had chosen not to raise a general alarm and only grabbed a few trusted lieutenants to help track us down, which seemed likely, we would still stick out. My onesie was alien enough on its own, but it also left little to the imagination with regards to my gender. If we were seen, even from a distance, the jig would be up.
I made a command decision, and even though I knew it was something Quince wasn’t going to like, I felt certain it was the only way.
“Come on,” I whispered, pulling him back the way we’d come. When I got to the closest vent, I pulled myself up into it and wiggled around so I was facing him. Taking his hand, I tried to gently pull him in with me.
He balked, as I’d known he would, and braced his legs against the wall, refusing to be dragged in.
“Quince,” I told him quietly. “If they catch us they’ll give us to the spiders anyway, or just kill us some other way. At least this way we have a weapon and a fighting chance.”
He tried to pull away but I held on, refusing to give up.
; “I don’t want to leave you here to face an angry mob alone,” I warned, “but I will. You’ll be safer with me, and I’m going this way.”
I hoped he wouldn’t call my bluff. The truth was there was no way I was leaving him behind, not after he’d risked his life to save me, but I didn’t like the idea of making a stand. Even if I could kill everyone who was chasing us, I didn’t want to. They were only pawns in this, and if they were given all the facts and asked to make an informed decision, might even choose to be my allies. I couldn’t risk them listening to reason though, not with Titus egging them on and Sebastian probably more than a little angry about the beating he’d received.
Quince, bless his heart, didn’t make me force the issue. He boosted himself up and nodded to me to go first.
I squirmed around so I was facing the right way and started down the tunnel.
“Keep hold of my ankle,” I whispered back and felt him comply immediately. I marveled at his bravery, following a virtual stranger into a black pit full of creatures he loathed. I only hoped that I could keep us both alive long enough for it to matter.
The tube was a horrible place. It had so many twists and turns that even with my vision amped up, I could never see more than a dozen yards ahead. The viscous slime that coated the walls made the downward slopes the worst, since we couldn’t get any purchase and ended up sliding down them on our bellies. After almost an hour, according to my not very accurate watch, we were coated from head to toe in the gunk and thoroughly exhausted.
I’d hoped that the tube would lead to some sort of open space, a den or nest that we could hole up in for a while, but it just seemed to go on and on forever. It branched often, going straight up or down as often as it did from side to side, and I checked my watch frequently. With no satellites to link to and no magnetic north to point out, the best it could do was show me the path I had been traveling, but that was good enough.
