by Chele Cooke
The front room was the last and the worst. The furniture her father had so painstakingly made was broken or missing. The stool he’d always sat on to whittle lay in pieces in the corner. That didn’t make any sense. If they’d needed firewood in the middle of the Freeze then perhaps she could understand it; sometimes people were driven to desperation. But here they had broken things apart for no other reason than destruction. The tears that now sprung to her eyes were not drawn from sadness or loss; they were from anger.
She didn’t see the object until she sent it spinning across the floor from an absent kick of her boot. She watched it rock and lie still, the tiny eye peering up. Zello, the toy wolf her father had carved for her as a child—her favourite—lay on its side. She crouched and picked it up, turning the smooth wood over in her fingers. One of his back legs had snapped off and she figured that someone had trodden on it while moving through the room.
Her father had clutched that wolf so tightly when he had thought she wouldn’t return from the compound. Convincing him that it really was her, and not some cruel spirit sent to haunt him, had been heart-rending. Now, holding the wolf was ripping her in two.
“We should move on,” Georgianna murmured. “It’s obviously not safe here.”
To his credit, Dhiren didn’t laugh or brag about being right. Keiran moved to her, but Edtroka held him back. He shook his head and Keiran’s jaw tightened as he glanced between the two of them.
“Can… Can I stay a minute before we leave?”
“We’ll be in the kitchen.”
Edtroka ushered the others out of the front room. Back in Edtroka’s apartment, Georgianna had often wondered about the lack of personal items. Everything Edtroka owned had been functional. There was nothing that gave any hint to his family or his life before arriving on Os-Veruh. Now, standing in the rubble of her family, she understood why.
Remembering them was too painful. Edtroka’s family were still alive, most of them at least, but they were no longer a family to him. Georgianna knew she would give everything to have her family alive, even if she never saw them. But for them to think of her as a traitor? To want her dead? She wasn’t sure she would handle that any better.
She turned over items strewn across the floor, looking for anything she could salvage, things that would remind her of them. Even though her family were already gone, she couldn’t cut them from her life the way Edtroka had done. Tears of fury and desolation blurred her vision. She wanted to take everything, from the broken stool to the ripped clothes. For anyone else to have them would be wrong. For them to rot in this house, a waste. Even though she knew there was no use for them, she had still gathered an armful of items by the time she slung her bag from her shoulder and opened it to put them inside. Dhiren or Edtroka would probably call her mad but she didn’t care.
Standing, Georgianna walked back to the doorway. There was nothing left for her here. There was nothing left for any of them. The bag hung low, slapping against her calf with every step. In the corridor, she glanced through the open front door and out to the street. She froze.
Ehnisque’s dark hair was knotted tightly at the base of her skull. She looked perfect, despite the storm. Her pale skin shone through the dark rain, in stark contrast to the black of her uniform. She wasn’t as tall as her brother but she was statuesque, standing there in the rain, a small smile already on her lips.
Georgianna placed the bag down just inside the living room door. She didn’t dare look behind to check for the others in case Ehnisque saw. She couldn’t even hear their voices over the pounding of the rain. She stood still, listening and waiting, but there was only the steady beat of the rain.
Ehnisque stared at her, hands clasped calmly. She wouldn’t have come alone. Georgianna already knew that there would be little chance of escape. If she tried to run the Adveni would close in and capture her. They would catch them all.
There was only one option. She would set off the trap herself. If she walked directly into the net then they wouldn’t be able to throw it so easily over the others. They would have time if she could warn them.
It was only fair that the Adveni got the whole Lennox line, wasn’t it? She’d see her father again. He would be furious, she knew, but he would hug her and tell her it was alright.
She wanted to turn and run. She wanted to scream. She wanted to draw out the knife Dhiren had given her and prove he’d been able to teach her something.
Instead Georgianna stepped out to meet Ehnisque Grytsch in the rain.
Ehnisque didn’t move as Georgianna walked forwards. Raindrops pounded her skin like pellets and ran down her face into her soaked clothes. She looked up at the woman. It was almost laughable. Ehnisque was dramatically taller than her. Every inch of her body screamed power and speed; it was a body made for the duty it had been given. The rain rolled off her Tsevstakre uniform as easily as it slipped down her cheeks.
“You won me a bet, Ven,” she said, her grin broadening.
“You’re welcome.”
Georgianna didn’t know where the determination was coming from, but she couldn’t let Ehnisque see her squirm. She would face her like a woman, like a warrior. Her family had been taken from her but she would protect Edtroka from his.
“You see, my men here thought that you wouldn’t be stupid enough to come here, but I knew,” Ehnisque jeered, waving her hand to two more Tsevstakre. They moved through the rain like shadows. “The silly little medic, so sentimental.”
“I hope you got something good for your win.”
“Oh, I did, Ven. I got you.”
“Well, I’m sorry I’m not more presentable for you.”
Ehnisque’s laugh sounded so much like Edtroka’s that it threw Georgianna off. She didn’t want to compare this woman to Edtroka. Although they resembled each other physically, their characters were completely different. Edtroka wanted to help people, where Ehnisque was best at destroying them, at least from what she’d seen.
“Did you do this to the house?” she asked. “A taunt to draw me out?”
Ehnisque looked past her and through the open doorway.
“While I would love to have claimed that carnage, I cannot.” She leaned closer, her dark eyes sparkling through the rain. “Though, I cannot claim to have stopped it, either. We took bets on whether you’d cry, too.”
Georgianna gulped and steeled herself against the cold and the anger that would have her body tremble. Ehnisque straightened and looked over her head at the doorway.
“Who else is in there?”
“No one.”
“You always have someone, Ven. Some pathetic man willing to hurt himself for your pretty face. Is it my brother this time or have you abandoned him?”
“You said it, Ehnisque. I’m silly and sentimental. I wanted to see my home. I came alone.”
Ehnisque motioned for the two Tsevstakre soldiers to move forwards.
“Check the house,” she said. “If there is anything more than a bug in there I want it dead or in front of me. If it’s E’Troke, I want him alive.”
Georgianna turned away from Ehnisque and watched as they advanced. They slipped towards the house, their weapons raised, moving soft and slow, silent. She gritted her teeth. If they went too far then they would find the others. They would trap them and submitting to Ehnisque would be for nothing.
“Do you really think your brother would be stupid enough to come here?” she demanded, returning Ehnisque’s cruel smirk. “After all, he was smart enough to outwit Maarqyn for years. He outwitted you, too, didn’t he? Even your father, the vtensu Volsonnar wasn’t smart enough to see his betrayal. So, if you think he’s stupid enough to come here it makes me wonder how your family ever took power.”
Ehnisque’s fist flashed forwards and there was a second where Georgianna didn’t even register the motion. Then, like thunder, the pain cracked through her. Georgianna covered her face and howled as loud as she could, doubling over in pain. She howled and swore, stamping her foot.
<
br /> “You dare talk about my family like that?”
Had it been enough?
Straightening up, she dabbed her thumb under her nose and scrunched her face to test the pain. It hurt. She faced Ehnisque again. The Adveni was sneering down at her.
“Yes,” Georgianna said. “You mentioned mine.”
“Your pathetic excuse for kin are where they belong.”
Tonguing her teeth to make sure none of them were wobbling, Georgianna swiped across her lip with the back of her hand. She couldn’t taste blood, just rain and fury. She was digging her own grave. It would never be planted with grass or given a marker, but the least she could do was deny the Adveni the satisfaction of forcing her to it, kicking and screaming. She would go willingly, and take many of them into it with her.
“And soon your psychotic friends will be where they belong,” Georgianna said. “Say, how is the commander?”
“You stupid little—” Ehnisque grabbed her by the collar, pulling her forwards.
“Stupid little what, Ehnisque?” She grabbed Ehnisque’s wrist, driving her nails down into the flesh. “A stupid little Ven that he obsessed over more than he did you? And you call me pathetic.”
The Adveni drew her fist back but, before she could strike again, she glanced over Georgianna’s head and her snarl of rage turned into a grin of triumph.
“Stupid little Ven,” she said. She glanced down at her. “Did my brother not tell you that you should know your hand before you bluff?”
Georgianna jerked back, trying to look over her shoulder. Ehnisque tugged her closer.
What if they hadn’t heard her? What if those Tsevstakre were dragging them out? No, she would have been able to hear them fighting. Dhiren and Edtroka had taken on guards by themselves. They would have been able to fight the two soldiers. They would have at least tried. She knew they would. Ehnisque would have been more worried; she would have grabbed her and used her to make them stop.
She would have heard it.
“You’re too sentimental,” Ehnisque said. “That’s why you’ll never win.”
She feared it was Edtroka. He’d wanted to hand himself in to give the Cahlven time. He’d even offered to sacrifice himself within the compound. What if this was how he finally got his way? He’d had the tsentyl powered up for too long, he’d said it himself. Perhaps it had been his plan all along to ensure his capture.
Ehnisque released her. She spun around.
It wasn’t Edtroka. Two soldiers were coming out of the house and between them, not fighting or shouting but walking calmly, to meet his fate, was Keiran.
Georgianna’s heart fell further the closer he came. He stared past her at Ehnisque. She could see the same determination in his face that she had tried to use to mask her own fear. She wondered if he was scared.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?”
“If you’re stupid enough to need—”
“Quiet!” Ehnisque snapped. “You will hold your tongue or I will cut it in two.”
She pointed at the door.
“Were there others?” she demanded. “Did you see anything?”
“There were multiple treads inside,” one of the soldiers said. “We called in for Vosqra and Dtron to move around back to try to cut them off, but nothing so far.”
“Who was there?” Ehnisque said to Keiran, her voice as sharp and cold as broken ice. “Who were you with?”
Her gaze snapped between them. Keiran’s jaw tightened and he stared right back. Georgianna held her tongue and kept it in one piece.
Ehnisque shoved Georgianna, sending her splashing down onto the soaking ground. Pain shot up her back.
“I said, who was there?”
“No one,” Keiran said. “It must have been the looters’ footprints.”
“That house has been empty for a week.” Ehnisque said. “My men have seen to that.”
Georgianna got to her feet and stood next to Keiran. The backs of his fingers brushed hers. He twitched.
“They saw you approaching the house. There were more of you. They told me there were five.”
“Maybe your men count as well as you do your job,” Georgianna said.
Ehnisque smacked her with the back of her hand. Georgianna staggered back as Ehnisque beckoned the soldiers closer.
“They do not move. They so much as sniff and you put a bullet in their knees. I need to report this to the commander.”
She turned away as the soldiers flanked them, both clamping a hand down on their arms. Ehnisque pulled a tsentyl from her pocket and swiped it open. She stabbed it forcefully with her finger, as if it had been the one to insult her, and within moments, a monotonous tone buzzed through the air.
Georgianna looked at Keiran. He pressed the back of his hand against hers and returned her gaze out of the corner of his eye. He gave a tiny almost indiscernible nod. She didn’t need to ask. He knew what she was afraid of and he knew what she wanted. He’d always known what she wanted.
Edtroka, Dhiren, and Alec were gone.
The cell was dark, with only slivers of light squeezing through the tiny window at the top of the back wall. The bars across the entrance were thick and so close together that there was no chance of getting an arm through the gap, let alone being able to twist and unlock the door. Ehnisque had hooded both of them the moment they left the camps and Georgianna hadn’t been able to keep up with the turns they’d taken. After entering a building, they had been shoved down a flight of stairs and they were now deep underground. Even Edtroka wouldn’t be able to blow out a wall and help them escape.
Keiran had finally stopped pacing. He sat against the wall, hands clasped in his lap. He closed his eyes and rested his head back against the wall, but he was too stiff to be asleep. Georgianna kept mobile, hopeful that her pacing might relieve some of the tension and help her to forget her fear. She ran her hand back and forth along the bars as she walked, listening for footsteps amid the random melody of fingers against metal.
“It was stupid!”
She returned to her tirade with the same fervour as the first time she’d let the words tumble from her. Keiran sighed and cracked one eye open.
“I shouted so that you would know to run,” she said. “You should have run.”
“So you’re angry with me for sacrificing myself after you… sacrificed yourself,” he said. “Don’t you think that’s a little hypocritical?”
“I wanted you to run. What benefit is there in both of us being here?”
“Alright.” He pushed himself further up. “Let’s discuss the benefit of you sacrificing yourself to a man who has already expressed interest in buying you and torturing you for information.”
“It would have given you the chance to get away.”
“And when you offered to stay with the brothers in the compound? Whose benefit was that for?”
Georgianna spun on her heel so fast that she smacked her elbow into the bars. Hissing, she cradled her elbow in her hand and glared down at him.
“That’s got nothing to do with this.”
“I think it has everything to do with it,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Let’s say it does.”
Georgianna rolled her eyes and went back to pacing.
“This isn’t getting us anywhere.”
Keiran’s laugh was brash and bitter. He flung his arms out and beamed a belittling grin.
“Look around, George! Nothing is getting us anywhere. And since you seem so intent on proving how stupid I was for giving myself up, I think I deserve the right to do the same.”
“If you think I am so stupid, why did you follow, then?” she hissed, pleased for a moment that she had the upper hand.
“Do you really need to ask that?”
She stopped, staring through the gap in the bars and not daring to look back at him. The corridor was as dark as their cell. She couldn’t even see the doors from here, just the black of the stone walls. The empty gloom looked
almost comfortable, quieter than the questions and desolations running through her head.
Georgianna couldn’t ask him again why he had followed her, because she didn’t know she could bear to hear the answer. After spending weeks wondering and worrying about the gap opening up between them, she knew what he was going to say, but didn’t want to hear him say it. She didn’t deserve it; not after everything that had happened. Her family were gone because of her. She didn’t deserve the comfort of knowing Keiran had walked into this hell to protect her. If anything, that made it worse. She had lost her family and she was letting Keiran follow her to a grave.
“You’re meant to be one of the leaders, Keiran,” she whispered. “You were meant to be… you were meant to help us win and rebuild. I’ve lost everything, already.”
Keiran frowned as she turned to look at him. She could see his eyes through the darkness, bright and sad. He rubbed his hands against his thighs.
“You really think you have nothing to lose?” he asked. “What about the people losing you?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
They’d been so distant, so angry. Despite the good they’d done, she wanted to rewind it all so she could have him back again; go back to when things had been simpler. Or, at least, when it had been easier to lie. She couldn’t lie any more.
“The point is, any of the others would have received an instant death sentence. They don’t know about me.”
She looked away from him. He’d followed her because he thought she was safe. Her lungs filled with stones.
