by Cooke, Chele
“Is that,” Georgianna paused. “Was that your owner?”
Jacob nodded.
“They can give you shocks through the collar. If you do something that displeases them.”
Georgianna frowned gently and carefully reached out. Jacob flinched, cowering a little as she came closer. She took her time, moving forward to take the bowl from his lap. The young man became as still as a statue until she moved a little further away.
“Do you mind?” Georgianna asked, holding the bowl up towards him.
Jacob kept his head down, but he glanced at her curiously. Georgianna indicated his wound.
“It’s older, but maybe this will still work for you.”
Staying still for a moment or two, Jacob finally nodded. Georgianna carefully scooped up some of the paste on two fingers and placing the bowl between them, she used her other hand to reach out and gently brush the hair back from Jacob’s neck before she smeared the paste over the wound. The entire time Georgianna was touching him, Jacob remained as still as if he had been made out of the stone his name spoke of.
“I don’t know anyone who has been through the things you have,” Georgianna lamented quietly as she scraped the last of the paste from her fingers into the bowl, taking a dressing and placing it carefully onto his neck. Gently, as to not restrict his breathing, she wrapped a thin bandage loosely around his neck to keep it in place.
Jacob didn’t say anything.
Finally pulling back, Georgianna held out the bowl for him to take. Jacob took it, a small smile flitting across his lips.
“So, when you got those wounds,” Georgianna said slowly. “How did you know about the hyliha?”
The smile, so small and inconspicuous at first, split into a broader grin. He seemed proud, something she had never seen in Jacob before. The only time she’d seen him smile was when he was playing Erpal with Lacie. This was more measured. It wasn’t a sudden smile of enjoyment, but of memories.
“I was training as a herber,” Jacob answered, finally turning his head to look at her.
“Really?”
Jacob nodded.
“That’s great. You know, we’ve been looking for someone to help out,” Georgianna suggested suddenly. “Maybe once you’re feeling better, once you’re up to it, you could take the job?”
Dropping his head immediately, Jacob looked like the young boy again, so scared and unsure of himself. He dipped his finger back into the paste and began drawing patterns into it, smearing it against the bowl.
“I only trained for three years,” he answered. “I’m not…”
“You’re more than what we have, Jake, and I know a couple of people in the camps. I could bring them here, maybe make a deal for training.”
“I… I don’t know where my parents…”
Georgianna shook her head. The usual arrangement for training was that parents would accept someone to train in exchange for another family accepting their own child for training. Either that or payments in trade were made every season. Georgianna’s parents had paid highly in furniture for Georgianna to be trained as a medic. Not to mention that her father took in two boys to train in carving and carpentry.
“I’ll do it,” Georgianna declared. “I’ll take a trainee so that you can train.”
Jacob’s shy nature seemed to vanish for a second as he stared at her, open mouthed, his eyes wide in surprise.
“You’d do that?” he asked.
Georgianna smiled and nodded.
“Of course I would,” she answered.
“What are you doing?”
Georgianna turned in surprise as Keiran climbed into the car. Smiling brightly, Georgianna got to her feet and moved over to him.
Keiran looked down at Wrench in concern for a few moments until he realised Georgianna was next to him. Turning his head, he pressed a soft, slightly absent kiss against her lips, quickly turning back to Wrench.
“What happened to him?”
“Hit with a copaq,” Georgianna explained, reaching up and touching her fingers to Keiran’s arm.
“He okay?”
“He’s going to be fine. Turns out, we’ve got a pretty great herber here.”
Keiran threw a glance over to Jacob, who, at the appearance of someone new, had retreated into himself again, keeping his attention on the bowl in his lap. Georgianna gave Keiran’s arm another squeeze.
“You alright?” she asked. “What you doing here so late?”
Keiran frowned distractedly, his tongue swiping out to wet his bottom lip. Georgianna wondered why he was even awake at this time. She knew he hadn’t been on duty, they’d discussed it the night before, so why wasn’t he asleep?
“I had to go meet a friend,” he answered. “Heard about Wrench as I was coming back into the tunnels.”
“Bit of a late meeting,” Georgianna said with a snort.
Keiran’s gaze flickered over to Wrench and he remained silent for a moment, as if he didn’t want to comment on why he had been out so late. Georgianna frowned and quickly looked away. She was pretty sure she knew who he’d been meeting. Well, not who, but at least what kind of meeting it had been… most likely one that didn’t involve a lot of words. If that was the case, it wasn’t really surprising he was coming back so late. Georgianna moved over to Wrench and placed the back of her hand against his forehead. His temperature had come down drastically since they’d put the paste on and given him the water. Jacob really did know his stuff.
“He’ll be fine,” she reiterated. “Jacob gave us a new method which is working far better than our usual.”
Keiran nodded.
“That’s good!” he answered. “You know how he got shot in the first place?”
“Cornered on a scout.”
Georgianna, Keiran, and Jacob all looked at Wrench in surprise as he groaned the words, his eyes fluttering open. He reached up, rubbing his hand delicately over his face, and his lips curved into a smile.
“Hey,” Georgianna muttered, brushing her hand over Wrench’s forehead again. “How’re you feeling there, hero?”
“Like I was trampled by a horse,” Wrench answered. “But better. That kid’s a genius.”
Georgianna glanced over her shoulder at Jacob, smiling at the young man. Back to staring at his knees, Georgianna saw Jacob grin briefly.
“You were on a scout?” Keiran asked.
“Yeah.”
“Why didn’t I know about it?” he asked, frowning as he took a seat on the edge of Wrench’s bed, down by his feet.
“Casey’s orders,” Wrench explained in a gruff voice. “Needed a couple of guys to see what was going on at that new building.”
“The one on the way to the Camps?” Georgianna asked. “What is it?”
“Dunno,” Wrench answered. “I was hit before we had a chance to get a decent look.”
She frowned. What was it that would be so important in an unfinished building that Beck would want people scouting it out? The Adveni erected dozens of buildings every year and hardly any of them were ever scouted. Well, as far as she knew, anyway. Perhaps Beck sent scouts to each of them, but usually there were no problems?
“Well, your temperature has come way down,” Georgianna explained. “You want to try sitting up for me?”
Wrench nodded, but it was a difficult process getting the man upright. In the end, Keiran had to get up off the bed and take hold of Wrench’s hand, placing his other arm behind the man’s shoulder to help him sit up.
“Aww, you two look so cute together,” Georgianna mocked, bringing another small smile from Jacob in the corner.
Keiran and Wrench glanced at each other before looking at Georgianna, Keiran quickly moving away as Wrench adjusted his position on the bed, leaving room at the end for Keiran to take a seat again.
“Fuck off, George,” Keiran scoffed under his breath, leaning back against the wall.
“No, it’s adorable that you worry,” she assured him.
“Only ‘cause Casey’ll have h
is ass if I keel over,” Wrench chuckled, quickly regretting it and holding his hand to his injury.
Georgianna rolled her eyes as she took a seat, perched on the edge of the bed next to Wrench’s legs. She took a rough count of his pulse. He already looked so much better. The sweat was gone and his breathing much more even. The hyliha was definitely working better than anything Georgianna could have done.
“Hey,” Keiran piped up from behind her. “What happened down the dwellings? I haven’t seen you.”
Wrench gave Georgianna a curious look, and Georgianna knew immediately that despite the fact Keiran and Wrench were friends, not to mention Keiran being Wrench’s superior, Keiran had not told his friend about Georgianna being tangled up in a drysta escape attempt.
Georgianna waited a few more seconds, keeping a track of how many thumps of blood she felt passing beneath the skin before she finally released Wrench and noted down the number on the papers Jaid had set up.
“We saw her,” Georgianna explained. “She’s got a collar on. Taye wasn’t happy.”
“Yeah I bet,” Keiran grumbled.
“Who we talking about?” Wrench asked.
“Pretty thing. Carae that used to sell down Rion,” Keiran answered. “What’s her name?”
“Nyah,” Georgianna offered.
“Oh yeah, I remember her.”
“She was sold, her boyfriend wants to get her out.”
“And she’s got a collar?” Wrench asked, sucking in a breath. “Tough break.”
Georgianna frowned and nodded, looking absently down at the notes for a few moments before she glanced back up at Wrench.
“Weren’t you the one who got Lach’s off?” Georgianna asked.
“And mine,” Jacob piped up.
All three looked at him. When he realised they were all watching him, a deep pink blush rose almost immediately into Jacob’s cheeks. He kept his gaze fixed on Georgianna instead of the two men he didn’t know properly.
“Well, he did,” he assured them.
“Yeah, I’ve done a couple,” Wrench confirmed.
Georgianna pushed herself off the bed, chewing on her bottom lip as she began pacing. Since discovering that Nyah had been given a cinystalq, she’d assumed it would be much more difficult to get her away from Maarqyn. The whole point of a cinystalq collar was that it could be tracked to a location. They’d need it off before they even considered bringing her back to Belsa or Carae territory. However, if Wrench could disable it and get it off, maybe it would be easier than they thought. Wrench was a good friend of Keiran’s, and the fact that Keiran was his superior would mean convincing him to remove a drysta collar would be much easier.
“How long does it take?” Georgianna asked.
Wrench shrugged.
“Depends. It’s difficult and quite precise, so I’d need to see it.”
“But you can do it?”
“Can, yes,” Wrench answered sceptically, narrowing his eyes.
“What does that mean?”
“Will you do it?” Keiran asked, reaching out and slipping his arm around Georgianna’s waist, pulling her a little closer.
Wrench gazed at them, glancing occasionally over to Jacob before he sighed and threw his hand up on the side that hadn’t been hit.
“Well, I guess I owe you now, huh Med?” he answered.
It was only because she was sitting on Keiran’s other side, and his arm was wrapped around her, not because she would have hurt Wrench, that Georgianna didn’t leap into his lap and throw her arms around his neck. Suddenly, getting Nyah out didn’t seem quite as impossible as it had before.
“I take it this means that you’re not done helping your friend,” Keiran suggested.
She shook her head.
“I have to help him.”
He nodded as if he’d expected as much. He knew who she was, that she couldn’t stand to see people needing help and doing nothing about it. It was who she’d been when she met him, and it was still who she was now.
The first time they’d met, she’d helped him even though she wasn’t supposed to be working. The fact that it had been her fault he needed treatment in the first place was neither here nor there. He should claim some of the responsibility there since he’d been the one sneakily trying to grab a feel of her ass and had accidentally grabbed hold of the knife in her belt. Still she felt bad that she’d forgotten to make him aware of the weapon in the first place.
Keiran pushed himself up a little and pressed a kiss gently against her temple, brushing her hair out of the way. Yes, he knew who she was. She helped Wrench, she helped the Belsa, and she would help Taye now that she knew that they might be able to pull it off without all being carted into the compound as criminals.
23 Pillars of a Plan
Heat still rose in chest-tightening waves, even after the sun had set. Out of the city and away from the towering buildings the Adveni had erected in its centre, there was nothing to shield the ground from the baking rays, leaving it to expel the heat throughout the night once the sun had disappeared over the horizon. Georgianna lay on the ground, her head resting on Keiran’s shin as he cleaned a pistol in his lap. Wrench, still a little sore from his injury, but doing better than anyone would have expected after a copaq wound, was sipping dark berry wine, swirling the liquid around in the bottle every time he lowered it.
They’d decided on a spot outside the city to talk to Taye. While the tunnels would have been acceptable, Wrench had been antsy to get out of Medics’ Way and Georgianna had been cooped up underground most of the day. This wasn’t the type of thing you could discuss in the Oprust district, not knowing who would turn you over to the Adveni for a few coins. So they had left instructions for Taye and headed south out of the city, a good half-hour’s walk towards Keiluck Forest. They had considered going as far as the forest, but even to the wary Belsa it seemed over-cautious to walk two hours out of the city in both directions just for a conversation. Instead, they had chosen to meet under the southern Mykahnol pillar, knowing that most gave the towers as wide a berth as possible whenever they could.
The Mykahnol pillars weren’t actually dangerous. If anything, the towers themselves were a safety measure. However, no Veniche living in Adlai could think of the pillars without thinking of the device that they were installed to control. Aimed at the centre of Adlai, at the centre of every city in fact, the Mykahnol weapon was more destructive than any that the Veniche had ever seen before the Adveni arrived. It was capable of wiping out a city in a single blast and, if the Adveni were to be believed, without the pillars reigning in its power, the force of the blast would continue until it consumed the whole of Os-Veruh. The four pillars, installed equidistantly around Adlai, provided some kind of electrical lasso, or unseen force that held in the blast.
No Veniche person had proof that the destruction would continue without end if the pillars were not in place, but many had seen the pillars contain a Mykahnol blast, Georgianna included.
It had been near the end of the fighting, when most people were giving in to Adveni rule. Many fled south, hoping that they would be able to find their own small corner to live out their days. However, as they neared Nyvalau, the weapon was detonated. Even from two days’ travel away Georgianna had seen the blast, a humungous cloud that rose into the air like a field mushroom, the crackle of electric green lightning flashing in a sphere below it. They’d sheltered for three days, waiting out the aftermath that was sure to come, but when no such force hit them, they continued south only to find that their entire southern lands had been levelled, a great canyon in its place where some began to rebuild their lost Freeze homes.
From the information skittering through the different tribes, the Mykahnol was the last resort of the Adveni. Should they choose to leave Os-Veruh for good, they would detonate every Mykahnol as they left, destroying everything they had ever built on the planet in the fast-growing cities. The pillars weren’t something people talked of often, not wanting to think about what would h
appen if the Adveni made good on their threats. However, staring up at this one , as it towered ominously, silhouetted against the sky, Georgianna wondered if the force of the blast would continue past their world if the pillars were not in place. Perhaps it was not for Veniche protection and survival that they had been put in place, but for that of the Adveni.
Keiran had picked up some bottles of dark berry wine. Though Georgianna thought it was best they all remained sober while they sorted out a plan, Keiran and Wrench had talked her down because surely liquid was good while out in the heat. She had tried to explain that actually, berry wine made the heat’s effects on the body worse, but before she’d even finished talking, Wrench had one of the bottles open and was drinking large, unhealthy mouthfuls. So, she had instead resorted to staring up at the pillar as they waited for Taye to arrive.
“Took me a long time to find you guys!”
Georgianna lifted her head, spotting Taye walking towards them. His lightweight jacket had been shrugged off and he carried it instead, swinging it from one hand.
“Well, didn’t want to make it too easy by sitting right on the path next to a giant erection,” Keiran answered sarcastically, glancing first at the pillar and then off to his left where the path was trodden into the ground not ten feet from where they had camped out.
Taye threw a glare in Keiran’s direction before coming over and slumping down next to Wrench. Wrench, far more cheerful now he’d drunk a decent amount of berry wine, offered the bottle. Taye looked at it sceptically before he shrugged and took it, glugging down a mouthful as he reached into his pocket and tossed Wrench a small linen pouch.
The other opened it and peering in, let out a laugh.
“Oh, brilliant!” he cheered, lifting the pouch and taking a deep sniff. “Yapoque?”
“Foinah,” Taye corrected, glancing at Keiran. “Your usual, right?”
Georgianna turned her head, glancing up at Keiran as he looked at Taye in surprise. She blushed and quickly looked away. She’d told Taye that Keiran smoked cigarettes made from foinah leaves when he could get it. Of course, they were harder to get than yapoque, but better.
