Out of Orbit- The Complete Series Boxset

by Chele Cooke

  “The Adveni accept no Volsonnar by the name of Maarqyn Guinnyr,” he said. “I will have your kin back to you, delivered here, by sundown.”

  He glanced around the ring of Cahlven soldiers.

  Olless jumped forwards, head held high, though she barely reached Tzanlomne’s chest. “Our soldiers will escort you home, Volsonne.” She gave a respectful bow.

  Tzanlomne glared like he’d rather pour poison over Olless, but he nodded just the same. Olless gave the order, and a dozen soldiers moved out of the ring and waited for Tzanlomne to join them.

  Just as he was passing out of the ring of soldiers, Alec stepped forwards. “Volsonne.” Tzanlomne looked back. “Maarqyn Guinnyr is a prisoner now. And, in Adveni tradition, I think he deserves a collar.”

  “So, I hear you’re heading north with the others?”

  Georgianna glanced at Alec and nodded, the brim of her hood flapping against her face. They had retreated to a small building, but it was still bitterly cold. The window glass had long since frozen as white as the snow outside, and they’d been forced to wedge the door open to give them a clear view down the street.

  Beck paced and grumbled under his breath, and refused to come inside. He urged the sun to move faster towards the horizon.

  They suggested that Beck head back to beneath the Cahlven ship with Olless, but he would have none of it. Even Keiran had been loathe to return, but had finally followed the Cahlven soldiers—two with arms around Maarqyn, supporting his weight as they walked—back out towards the camps. Dhiren had gone, too, with a promise that he would inform Jacob of the situation and ensure that the young man would not come back to meet them. Georgianna couldn’t be sure how Beck was coping with Maarqyn’s revelation, and she didn’t want to risk his anger.

  Alec had decided to stay, and Georgianna was sure that while she couldn’t trust Beck’s temper with Jacob in sight, Alec couldn’t trust his own with Maarqyn. He claimed he was staying for protection, but she didn’t believe him.

  Alec popped his head through the doorway to ensure Beck hadn’t walked himself through the snow and into the ground. He retreated, pulling himself up to sit on the counter beside her. “I thought you’d be staying here. You know, keeping the Cahlven in line?”

  He chuckled and bumped his shoulder against hers.

  Georgianna pushed her hood back. The cold bit at her cheeks, but it was better to have sight of Alec without the fur of her hood in her eyes. “Taye and Nyah want to join when they get to Nyquonat.”

  Alec stared at the doorway. “Join. Right.”

  Her eyes narrowed and she turned towards him. “Yeah. Said they wanted me there, so I agreed to go. I’ll come back to Adlai when it’s done. Maybe.” He didn’t look at her. He just stared out at the snow, watching Beck pace past the doorway. “Alec, are you alright?”

  He blinked, let out a heavily clouded breath, and nodded, forcing a smile. “Only maybe?”

  Georgianna shrugged. “It’s a long way.”

  “True.”

  “You know, I thought you’d have been invited to the joining, too. You know, what with knowing Nyah and all.”

  His forced smile strained and threatened to crack. He shifted where he sat and rubbed his hands up and down his thighs. “Probably not gotten to me yet. I was planning on staying here.”

  The clicking noise from the oncoming Cahlven soldiers brought them both to attention. Georgianna jumped down off the counter and fitted her hood back in place. Out front, Beck had stopped pacing.

  Alec pressed a knot in his collar, as Olless had done, returning the click. It sounded so much quieter up close, almost nothing in the air.

  “You should come,” Georgianna said, glancing back at him. “We could all use a celebration.”

  Alec nodded, but his smile was all but gone. “Celebration, yeah. I’ll think about it.”

  He walked out to stand beside Beck, leaving Georgianna more confused than ever as she joined them.

  She hurried to Beck’s side and stood up straight, watching as the procession came down the road towards them. The Cahlven soldiers who had accompanied Tzanlomne earlier in the day were still there, though they now walked in front instead of surrounding him like before. Tzanlomne had brought a dozen Adveni soldiers with him, visible above the heads of the Cahlven. Even though the snow had stopped falling and they had a relatively clear view, Georgianna’s heart sped when she realised she could not see Lacie among them.

  Tzanlomne brought the Adveni to a stop in the intersection, leaving a wide space between them. The Cahlven soldiers approached. One nodded to Alec as they moved to stand behind them.

  When everyone had come to a halt, Tzanlomne glanced around, then moved aside. Lacie peeked out from between two Adveni soldiers, dressed in an Adveni coat and hat that was far too big for her small frame. She waited, head held low, watching them through her lashes. Her lips flickered into a cautious smile. Like any ex-drysta, she waited patiently for her permission to move.

  Tzanlomne ushered the two soldiers away from her, placed a hand on the back of her shoulder, and led her across the gap.

  Beck rushed to meet them. The moment he was within arms’ length, he grabbed Lacie by both shoulders, pulling her into a tight hug. Lacie wrapped her arms as far as they would reach around Beck’s frame, which was made bigger by the thick freeze clothes, and buried her face into the crook of his neck. He murmured into her ear until Lacie’s body shook with sobs.

  Georgianna and Alec moved forwards to meet them. Georgianna touched Lacie’s elbow, but didn’t dare think of breaking the two apart. Lacie peered at her over Beck’s shoulder, her eyes wet with tears.

  “As promised,” Tzanlomne said, his voice emotionless. “We have not harmed her.”

  Beck pulled back and took Lacie’s face in his hands, inspecting every inch. “They didn’t hurt you?”

  Lacie shook her head. “I’m okay.”

  Beck pulled her back into the hug.

  Georgianna shared a look with Alec behind Beck’s back. What should they do now? After all, they’d not had a reply from the Adveni as to how they would proceed. Nor had they discussed what would happen to Maarqyn, should Lacie be returned to them. She doubted Tzanlomne would want him back as Volsonnar, having been given the chance to elevate his own position, but she didn’t want to assume they wouldn’t fight for him to be returned in one way or another.

  Georgianna stepped in front of Beck and Lacie, clasping her gloved hands together. She was proud that her trembling hands were a reflection of nothing more than the cold. Despite having first met Tzanlomne when he tried to purchase her from Edtroka, she felt little unease facing him now. “Thank you. This can’t have been your idea of your first act as Volsonnar.”

  Tzanlomne’s lip barely twitched, but it was enough for Georgianna to know her comment had amused him. She took another step forwards. “You have been busy in finding those Maarqyn trusted to hold Lacie, and in ensuring her release. But I do have to ask, Volsonne, whether you have had time to consider the Adveni position here.”

  Tzanlomne’s eyes narrowed, and he glanced back at his own soldiers. When he looked back at Georgianna, it was with the same blank, emotionless expression as when he’d informed them that Lacie was unharmed. “I had been a part of those who considered the offer while under Guinnyr. But his betrayal of these terms now makes me reconsider.”

  She clutched her hands tighter, waiting. A large cloud of hot breath on the cold air announced Alec’s presence. His arm pressed against hers.

  “With your agreement, we would like to return to Os-Veruh,” Tzanlomne said.

  “Return?” Georgianna said.

  Tzanlomne nodded. “We will leave, at least temporarily. We will then send an envoy, like the Cahlven have chosen, once the wash is done. But for now, I believe that our absence from Os-Veruh is in everyone’s best interests.”

  Georgianna’s voice caught in her throat. She stared at him as the realisation of it all came down upon her.

  T
hey had won. Everything they had wanted since the Adveni arrived, and they had it. Yes, the Adveni would come back, but it would be on their terms.

  They had won.

  She was sure she stared at him like that sixteen-year-old girl had once stared at the Adveni ships hanging in the sky.

  She nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat. “That’s a sensible decision, Volsonne.”

  “If you are agreeable?” he said.

  She expected him to be peering past her at Beck, or even checking with Alec, but Tzanlomne kept his gaze fixed on her. Georgianna straightened, determined not to shrink back from the responsibility.

  “We are,” she said.

  Alec nudged her elbow. When she looked at him, he stroked his thumb and finger at the sides of his neck.

  Georgianna turned back to Tzanlomne. “There is the matter of your former Volsonnar.”

  Tzanlomne raised a hand, pointing to the sky as if he, himself, had just remembered the topic. He waved back to one of the soldiers, who dug into their jacket and extracted a gleaming black collar.

  Alec gasped. “I was joking.”

  The soldier delivered the collar, handing it over to Alec. He stared at it, stunned.

  “Guinnyr broke our laws, as well as the ones set forth during that agreement,” Tzanlomne said. “We accept any punishment you deem suitable.”

  Beck stepped forwards, shepherding Lacie behind him. “And if we kill him?”

  Tzanlomne smiled a bland, emotionless smile. “Then may his body make crops grow.”

  He bowed, pressed his fist to his chest in the traditional Adveni salute, and turned on his heel, marching away. The soldiers didn’t succumb to any Veniche pleasantries, but they saluted as one unit and followed their Volsonnar.

  Georgianna watched them go. She watched them down the road until they rounded the corner and were out of sight. Still she watched, wondering if maybe this had been some trick, and they would return at any moment to tell them they’d changed their minds.

  They didn’t. And it took Lacie asking to see Jacob to shake themselves from their stupor.

  The Adveni were leaving. Os-Veruh was theirs again.

  Except for one Adveni.

  They still had to decide what to do with him.

  Two large Tzelik ships hung low to the ground above the buildings on the other side of the city and, during the long walk from the camps, Maarqyn would not take his gaze from them. Georgianna glanced back frequently, loathe to admit that she wondered what he thought about when he looked on those sleek dark ships.

  The Cahlven had fixed his leg, taking out the bullet Dhiren had shot into his knee. They’d used something that would allow him to walk unaided, but she imagined he was already in a lot of pain. His face didn’t show it.

  His hands were bound behind his back, his limp severe, and yet Maarqyn still looked nothing short of the powerful commander she had first met after Alec and Nyah’s escape. He walked between the soldiers, head held high, though his limp and the icy ground made for a slow journey.

  Beck and Olless led the way into Javeknell Square, an ocean of untouched snow sweeping out before them. Waves were frozen in mid-break against the remnants of the podium. Georgianna once again felt good that she’d argued against Alec’s idea that they make this an open invitation. They were not Adveni. This was not a spectacle to be cheered and jeered. They were doing what needed to be done. The Veniche and Cahlven there would be enough.

  They didn’t need an audience.

  It was hard-going through the square, where the snow was up past the knees. A soldier moved in front of Maarqyn, clearing a path. They led him out to the centre of the square.

  Georgianna crept closer to Dhiren. He stared at the ground, his jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed, hands stuffed deep into the pockets of his coat.

  She entwined her arm around his, sliding her hand into his pocket until their gloved fingers interlocked. “Are you okay?”

  Dhiren nodded, though he would not look at Maarqyn. The Cahlven soldiers had led the ex-Volsonnar to the exact place Edtroka had begged for his father’s mercy. The place that mercy had been denied.

  “You don’t need to be here,” Georgianna said.

  Dhiren looked at her, emotionless. “Yes, I do. And so do you. No running now, little bird. We made a deal.”

  She nodded. “Ehnisque and Maarqyn, and we’re done.”

  “That’s right.”

  She laid her free hand on his chest, squeezed his hand inside his pocket, then extracted herself from him. He was right. This had to be done.

  Keiran joined Beck and Olless. While Georgianna had expected Beck to take the lead, the Marshall led them to a position further from Maarqyn, spectators of what was to come. Cahlven soldiers lined the other side. Maarqyn now stood at the end of a tunnel of his enemies. True, he could turn and try to run, but he wouldn’t get far and he knew it. They all knew it. Perhaps it was why he stood still, waiting to accept their judgement with Adveni pride.

  Georgianna dipped her hands into her own pockets, and her fingers drifted along the curve of smooth metal in one pocket, and the sharp corners in the other. She waded through the snow to stand in front of Maarqyn.

  “Ever wonder why they keep sending you to do their dirty work, Little Bird?” he asked, looking down at her.

  “I volunteered.”

  Maarqyn chuckled and shook his head. “Not for this. You are a medic, after all.”

  “I used to be, and maybe I will be again one day, but not now.”

  Maarqyn glanced around at those waiting on them. “You don’t have it in you.”

  “Perhaps not.”

  Georgianna took her time in removing one glove and then the other. She tucked them carefully into her pocket while Maarqyn watched her every move.

  Her fingertips burned with the cold. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the black collar. His eyes widened in recognition. She bent it back, opening the gap between the two edges.

  It looked so innocent in her hands. The metal was as cold as the wind, not warming to her flesh. It would have been a beautiful and intelligent piece of technology and craftsmanship had it not been for its nefarious purpose.

  “On your knees.”

  He scoffed. “I’m not kneeling before you, before any of you.”

  Georgianna met his gaze. “I will have them force you.”

  He didn’t move.

  She took a step back, and waved the Cahlven soldiers forwards. They rushed to Maarqyn’s sides, grabbing him by the arms and yanking him down. When that didn’t work, one of them kicked him in the back of his injured knee. He crumpled and crashed through the snow to the frozen ground below. Held still by the soldiers, Maarqyn glared vicious murder at Georgianna as she approached.

  She slid the collar around his neck. His skin was hot; far hotter than she would have been comfortable with as a medic. At least it wouldn’t be an issue long enough for her to worry about an infection. A buzz of electricity sizzled through her fingertips as the ends of the collar met.

  Maarqyn’s jaw clenched and he raised his chin. “Do you think I’ll beg forgiveness?”

  Georgianna shook her head. “I doubt it.”

  He leaned forwards as far as the Cahlven grips on his shoulders would allow. “Going to carve symbols into my skin and send me on my way, like the good Veniche do?”

  “No. You’re an Adveni. You will suffer Adveni punishments.”

  His bravado showed no signs of failing him. “My actions are not crimes by Adveni laws.”

  Georgianna pulled her gloves back on and took another step away from him. She shrugged. “If that makes it easier, Volsonne…”

  Alec came to her side. He looked down on Maarqyn without pity.

  Georgianna placed her hand on Alec’s shoulder. “When Edtroka stood where you are now, there were two Adveni who helped him. They put collars on themselves and confessed their crimes.”

  Maarqyn twitched and shrugged away from the Cahlven soldiers. They
waited for Alec’s confirmation before they retreated to their posts. “I have committed no crimes.”

  “It doesn’t matter. We thought we would do this your way. But if you have no preference—”

  “You don’t have it in you! You’re weak and pathetic. You would rather risk yourself than hurt another person, or didn’t you tell them about your little offer when you realised I had the girl?”

  Georgianna tried to keep her expression blank, but she was cracking. He was on his knees with a collar around his neck, but still he knew just where to press to make things hurt. She straightened up and ignored Alec’s shocked look in her direction.

  “My actions are not important. But since you have nothing else—”

  He sneered. “Stalling now? You won’t push that button. You don’t have the strength to hold it down while someone screams and begs for it to stop. You begged for it to stop. Do you remember that?”

  Her mouth and throat were painfully dry. She remembered the cinystalq shocks as Maarqyn had questioned her about Alec and Nyah. She remembered the lightning that chased through her bones, looking for the lies. She remembered the crying and screaming.

  She remembered begging him to make it stop.

  She glanced at Alec and nodded. He retreated a few steps through the snow. Dark remnants of blood had been left in his footprints. She looked away.

  She could not break down. Not now.

  Not in front of this man. Never again.

  “You’re right,” she said. “I don’t have it in me to torture a man.” He looked smug; as smug as anyone could look while on their knees with a collar around their necks. Georgianna stepped forwards to meet him and looked down at his face. “But then, when searching for justice, we Veniche look at who has been hurt the most. Who has been hurt the deepest, and without mercy or cause.”

  Maarqyn’s smug expression faltered. His eyes narrowed.

  Georgianna continued. “Every time you hurt me, Volsonne, there was a purpose to it. You wanted information from me, and my pain would give you the answers you wanted. I can almost understand it. But Nyah, Maarqyn? Alec? You made them suffer for fun, for no cause other than your own sadistic amusement.” Maarqyn’s gaze shot over to Alec, and his head whipped around, trying to spot Nyah. “She’s not here. We made the offer, but she declined. She didn’t need to see you suffer in order to move on. She is a better person than I am.” She leaned in closer and laid her hand on his shoulder. “Goodbye, Commander. May whatever life you go to treat you better than the way you treated others in this one.”