by Chele Cooke
Alec took one of the weapons, aiming out of the door. It wouldn’t be the first Cahlven weapon he’d used, but this one was for faster shooting. Keiran’s time spying on the Cahlven for them had served him well. He adjusted the end of the rifle where it pressed into Alec’s shoulder.
Dhiren spotted Georgianna watching them, and grabbed his own weapon. “I think we should get two of those Cahlven jackets, don’t you think, Alec?”
Alec turned, and dropped the end of the rifle to point at the ground. He smiled at Georgianna and followed Dhiren without a word.
Keiran put his own weapon down on the floor beside his feet. “Thought the next hunt I was going on would be for food.”
He reached out for Georgianna. She placed her hand in his and let him pull her close. He wrapped both arms around her and kissed her temple.
“I’m going to need to find somewhere to live,” he said. “Tunnels, Nyquonat, Cahlven ship. All gone.”
Georgianna leaned back against his arms. “So, you’re confident, then?”
“That I can’t live with your dad? Yeah, pretty confident.”
She shoved her hands against his chest, glaring up at him. “You know what I mean.”
Keiran nodded and gathered her close again.
“I know what you mean,” he said, into her hair.
“So, are you?”
“Confident?”
“Yeah.”
He didn’t answer, but his grip on her waist tightened and the pressure of his cheek against the top of her head became stronger. He inhaled. They remained still for a few minutes, clinging to each other. She realised it was all the answer she was going to get, and it reminded her of that carefree man she’d once met. Charming and handsome as sin itself, but not a deep conversation in sight. She missed that Keiran sometimes, but the Keiran she had now was honest and brave and so much better. She had a fondness for that first man. But this was the one she loved.
“I said I’d go to Nyquonat,” she said. “Taye and Nyah are going to join, and I said I’d be there.”
“Yeah?”
“I’ll come back. If Lacie wants to be out of Adlai, I can leave her up there, make sure they have a medic.”
Keiran’s leaned back, lifting her face. “Beck would have to go too. I doubt he’ll be letting her out of his sight once we get her back.” He considered it for a few moments. “I think I could do with a trip. Let Adlai wait.”
Georgianna nodded and leaned into a gentle kiss. “Let Adlai wait.”
Olless appeared at the front of the trail of soldiers, her face bloodied and bruised. Part of her sleeve was burned away and there was a long rip in her trouser leg. As they came closer, Georgianna could see that many of the soldiers were sporting similar injuries. And yet, they held their heads tall, and Olless smiled. She approached Beck and stopped before his pacing, giving a small bow of her head.
“We were successful. We have not begun any lines of questioning. I leave that honour to you.”
The hours since the Cahlven departure had been torturously slow. Beck had wanted to set off for the meeting place immediately, and it had taken her father threatening him with a large knife to keep him still back at the camps. It hadn’t lasted long. Georgianna had recommended the others stay behind. They weren’t needed for this.
Once they were at the intersection, Beck had begun pacing. Georgianna wanted to believe that it had been to keep himself warm against the driving wind, but she knew it was more than that. She’d paced herself at times, though she had at least retreated inside the building to wait. Beck wouldn’t move from where he could see an approach from any direction. When he finally stopped moving and stared down the road, she had known it was time.
Olless stepped aside and the soldiers parted. Dhiren kept a stony expression as he and a Cahlven soldier led Maarqyn forwards.
Straightening up, Georgianna faced Maarqyn as if she, like Dhiren, were made of stone. She would not flinch in front of this man again. Never again.
Maarqyn was sporting a bloodied lip, a blackening eye, and who knew what other injuries. He didn’t limp, as such, but he was definitely favouring his right leg. Pride swelled in her for the Cahlven soldiers, but it was quickly punctured when she realised that Keiran and Alec were not following. Her heart sped and her breathing grew ragged beneath her scarf as she turned to Olless.
“Keiran?” she said. “Alec?”
Maarqyn coughed with his laugh as her voice threatened to crack and break.
Olless smiled behind the mask. “They took a different mission. They will be with us soon.”
“Different mission?”
The crack of knuckles against bone distracted them both. Georgianna jumped, wheeling around. Beck was pulling his fist back for another swing.
“Where is she?” he said. Maarqyn straightened himself, glaring down at Beck. His eyes narrowed, measuring up the man before him. Dhiren kicked him in the back of the leg, bringing Maarqyn to his knees. His hands were bound and he made no attempt to right himself. He kneeled tall. “ Where is she?”
Another punch, and another, and yet Maarqyn remained silent, taking each blow. His gaze moved from Beck to Georgianna, and he licked a drop of blood from his lip.
Beck had removed his gloves. His knuckles were reddening, about to split and bleed. Georgianna leapt forwards and grabbed his arm.
“Beck, we don’t know…”
He shook her off with the strength of a man half his age. Georgianna slipped back, landing on her ass in the snow.
Beck punched Maarqyn again.
“Olless?” Georgianna said, pleading. Olless watched the scene with narrowed eyes. Her race had been an enemy to the Adveni far longer than the Veniche, and she probably didn’t care one bit for a dead one, much less a Volsonnar. “We’ll never find Lacie if he kills him!”
It was all Olless needed. She nodded to two soldiers, beckoning them over to restrain Beck. They moved between Beck and Maarqyn, shepherding Beck away from their captive. Beck hollered insults at them, surprising even Georgianna with the language. The Cahlven soldiers didn’t flinch. She hoped they didn’t know exactly what he was calling them.
Maarqyn spat blood.
Georgianna was so focussed on Beck’s anger, she didn’t see Dhiren move.
A shot rang out through the air.
Maarqyn howled in pain, crumpling into the snow.
“DHI!” Georgianna scrambled over, shoving him away from Maarqyn on his side on the ground. “How could you?”
Dhiren’s smile was as cold as any Adveni. “Easily.”
The bullet had torn a hole through the back of Maarqyn’s knee. Blood soaked into the snow.
“Don’t you help him!” Beck snarled. “Gianna, I swear if you—”
“He’ll bleed out!” she screamed back at him. “He can’t tell us anything if he’s dead.”
Georgianna tore off her scarf and crouched beside Maarqyn. She wrapped the thick wool around his knee, pulling as tight as she could, tying a tight knot above the wound. It wouldn’t hold long, but she hoped it would be enough.
Maarqyn’s laugh was wet and strangled. “And my little bird comes flapping back.”
She wanted to kick him in his teeth, but she backed away before the urge could completely overcome her. “Tell us where Lacie is. It’s the only way you’re getting out of this.”
“He’s not getting out of this,” Beck said.
Maarqyn struggled further onto his side, breathing hard as he stared at Beck through the small gap between the soldiers. “She was all alone. I told my men to bring back whoever was waiting.” He nodded his head back in Dhiren’s direction. “I expected that one. Or perhaps Cartwright. That would have been a pleasure. But imagine my surprise when they bring me a pretty little thing.”
Beck howled and scrambled against the soldiers. They wrestled hard, and Olless ordered two more forwards to restrain him.
Maarqyn coughed, spat out more blood, and then scraped his tongue against his reddened teeth. He
didn’t look injured; he looked monstrous. “I ordered tests, of course. Thought we could use her to overcome the virus the Cahlven scum put in all of you.”
Georgianna’s heart beat harder. No. Lacie couldn’t be dead. He wouldn’t…
Maarqyn righted himself, wrestling back up onto his knees. He gritted his teeth hard against the pain, but held himself tall. “Did you know she hadn’t taken the drugs? Of course you didn’t. You never would have sent her there if you had, right?”
Beck finally stopped struggling against the soldiers. He stared down at Maarqyn.
“What?”
“No,” Georgianna said. “She took them. We all did.”
Maarqyn shook his head. He leaned towards Beck. “Your precious girl didn’t take the drugs. She told me so herself. She was quite forthcoming when I questioned her.”
Dhiren sneered. “Why would she tell you anything?”
Maarqyn’s gaze didn’t leave Beck for one second. He clearly knew the relationship between Beck and Lacie. Was that something else that Lacie had told him? But why? Dhiren was right. Why would Lacie tell Maarqyn anything?
Georgianna scrambled through her memories, trying to remember when Lacie had gotten sick. The more she thought about it, the less she could be sure. She just couldn’t remember.
Maarqyn was clearly enjoying the fact he had them all hanging on his every word. He remained silent, letting the questions drive them mad. He might have been on his knees, but he still had power over all of them.
He smiled and shook his head. “She told me everything I wanted to know so I wouldn’t hurt her for it. After all, she avoided taking those drugs because they might hurt her baby. She wasn’t going to lose it over such a little thing as torture.”
Georgianna expected Beck to blow up. She braced for him to yell about how Maarqyn was lying, or to start trying to punch him again. She expected more than the howl of the wind screaming through the silence in the intersection. They stared at Maarqyn and his smug, controlling smirk. They stared at each other, wondering if what he’d said could really be true. Georgianna’s gaze went to Dhiren, and the moment their eyes met, he shook his head and raised an eyebrow. He lifted his finger to his temple and swirled it in tight circles. The message was clear: Jacob.
There were no other possibilities worth considering.
Georgianna turned back to Beck, and either he’d already come to the same conclusion, or he didn’t care about whether it was true or not.
His murderous glare was fixed as solidly as ever on Maarqyn. “Have you hurt her?” Maarqyn stared back and didn’t answer. “Where is she?” Beck said, louder.
Maarqyn shifted his weight further onto his good leg. Behind him, Dhiren’s gun twitched in his hand, the barrel knocking against his thigh.
The silence went on.
Olless moved closer and laid a hand on her arm. Drawn back away from the others, Georgianna turned to her.
“This is a waste,” Olless said through her mask. “He will not tell us what we wish to know.”
“We don’t have any other options. We have no idea where she is, or how many Adveni are there.”
Olless turned her face down to the snow. She shuffled her feet. “She may be dead already.”
Georgianna shook her head and tugged her hood tight around her face, trying to keep out the freezing wind. She was regretting giving her scarf to Maarqyn, but there hadn’t been another choice. She glanced at Maarqyn and his self-congratulatory stare. He was winning and he knew it.
“No,” Georgianna said. “No. He’d keep her alive. It tortures us far more, knowing we can’t help her. We grieve the dead, but we move on. Beck could never move on from this.”
Olless nodded and returned to the circle. Georgianna was about to follow when a noise distracted her. A metallic clang bounced from the buildings, echoing into a hundred clicks that converged from all directions.
The Cahlven soldiers moved immediately. Olless shifted and drew up her weapon, returning to Georgianna and urging her back into the intersection, protected behind Olless’ aim. The soldiers had all turned outwards, ranks broken from the block they had arrived in, forming a ring around the gathering. Only the soldiers holding Beck didn’t join the circle, though they stood straight, all on high alert.
Olless held up a hand and lifted her thumb and forefinger to the collar of her uniform. She squeezed, and a similar metallic click was returned, quiet at first but gathering into a swarm with the echoes. Even the wind paused to listen to the strange communication.
The swarm quietened temporarily, before a reply drove it back into a frenzy. Three clicks: the first short, the second long, the third short again. Olless moved back from the ring, dropping her rifle to hang down her side. She twisted a metal knot in her collar that Georgianna hadn’t noticed before.
Olless spoke in her own language, but her voice was quiet and certain. A rustling voice replied on the wind, too quiet for Georgianna to hear, even if had been in a language she could understand.
Every eye but the soldiers in the ring watched Olless as she turned and spoke again. She moved to the edge of the ring behind Beck. A swarm of clicks replied. Olless twisted the knot again and returned to Georgianna’s side.
“They are coming,” she said, pointing down the road behind Beck. Her gaze settled on Maarqyn and, around her mask, Georgianna could see the remnants of a smile. “He will not torture us much longer.”
“What?” Georgianna said. “Who’s coming?”
Olless merely pointed.
The snow had stopped falling, and from down the road, a group of Cahlven soldiers approached, led by two who looked out of place, though they wore the same jackets. She peered closer, eyes narrowing as they came closer and she could pick them out. Keiran and Alec had an easier lope than the soldiers: longer, hunter’s strides, used to the snow. They wore grim expressions and multiple injuries. Just behind them, another outlier in the group came into view. Georgianna gazed on in surprise.
Tzanlomne was not as tall as Maarqyn, nor as built for war, but he was still almost a head taller than Alec and Keiran as he lifted his chin and surveyed the surroundings. He also wore injuries, but they were minimal, and he carried them well. Clearly, unlike Maarqyn, he had complied quickly.
Georgianna resisted the urge to run to Keiran and check that his injuries were superficial. He was still walking, and that was the best answer she could hope to receive right now. She turned her attention to Maarqyn, watching as he focussed on the oncoming group and realised who was among them. He barely moved, and yet she could see the murderous distrust written into his expression.
The ring of soldiers parted, letting the newcomers into the group. They shifted and moved as one, letting the other Cahlven soldiers join them in their barricade. One by one, every second soldier turned inwards, protected from inside and out.
Alec moved closer and, after throwing a cautious look at Beck, restrained by Cahlven soldiers, turned to Maarqyn and the bloodstained snow. “Who couldn’t resist?”
Dhiren raised the hand holding the gun and waved. Alec’s gaze flickered down to the scarf and back up to Maarqyn’s paling face. “Hello, Varsonne.”
Maarqyn sneered. “Cartwright.”
Alec raised an eyebrow. “This scene is so familiar to me. And yet I bet you never thought you’d be the one on your knees.”
“You trying to protect the helpless girl and unable to do so? Yes, it is familiar, isn’t it? How is Nyah now? Back with that boyfriend of hers?”
Alec’s expression broke into narrowed eyes and reddened cheeks. He turned away and waved Tzanlomne forwards. Maarqyn’s gaze followed his kin as he moved to join them.
Alec kept his back straight and his gaze on Maarqyn. “Your Volsonnar has broken the agreement made here. He has taken a Veniche by the name of Lacie.”
Tzanlomne nodded to show he understood.
Alec glanced at Beck, but was met with a grim nod, instructing him onwards. Georgianna wondered if Beck was too angry to s
peak coherently with Adveni, to even consider making deals. Not that she’d known. Alec had clearly known better than to think for a second that Maarqyn would back down without sufficient force, and apparently physical force wasn’t going to cut it.
“As you can see, your Volsonnar is now a prisoner of the Veniche and the Cahlven. Your security is compromised. You are in a position to take his command.”
Georgianna tugged the collar of her coat up over her mouth, hiding the squeak of surprise that wanted to spill out. She wasn’t the only one. Maarqyn’s glare of suspicion turned to fury. He wrestled to get himself onto his feet. Dhiren shoved a gun against the back of his head, keeping him on his knees.
Alec carried on as if nothing were out of place. “I know your protocols. As Commander of the Agrah, you stand as next in line, should the Volsonnar fall.”
“He isn’t fallen,” Tzanlomne said. “It is not my command.”
Alec smiled: a cold, cruel smile that promised punishment. He looked remarkably similar to Maarqyn in that moment. “But he is compromised. And you have two options. Either you bring the Adveni forces against the Cahlven and Veniche, a race that carries blood lethal to the Adveni, risking untold casualties all for the benefit of one man…” He paused, letting the words sink in. “Or, you report that the Volsonnar is compromised. You return his prisoner to us, and the Adveni now fall under your command.”
Tzanlomne looked both terrified and excited at the prospect. Maarqyn began shouting in Adtvenis. Dhiren appeared to be considering bringing the gun down on the back of Maarqyn’s head to shut him up.
Georgianna stepped forwards and pulled her coat away from her face, ready to speak. Tzanlomne shouted back at Maarqyn. They were shouting so fast, and with so much venom, that she considered asking the soldiers to get between them instead of restraining Beck. But before she could open her mouth to voice the thought, Tzanlomne turned to Alec, his expression hardening.
