by Chele Cooke
Georgianna lifted her hand away. She walked to Alex, not looking back. He swung the rifle from his side and placed the butt against his shoulder. He lifted the barrel to aim. She heard shuffles behind her as the Veniche, and then the Cahlven, turned away from Maarqyn, leaving him utterly alone. No one would witness his death. He didn’t deserve to have an audience. Only Alec would see what was done.
Alec gave a small nod and settled his cheek against the rifle. Georgianna returned the nod and fixed her gaze on the podium, its own crimes hidden by snow.
The shot exploded beside her. Ringing clouds replaced the cold wind in her ears and she shook her head, trying to clear them from the sky.
Alec lowered the rifle.
She could hear nothing but ringing as she turned. She wanted to trust Alec; he was the best shot of them all. But she needed to see for herself. She needed to know it was done.
Maarqyn lay on his back in the trench the Cahlven soldiers had carved through the snow. His legs were crumpled and bent beneath him. The collar lay broken beneath his neck.
Maarqyn Guinnyr was dead. Her war was done.
She was done.
“So you’re going, too?”
Georgianna kicked into the drift of snow, a small puff rising, only to settle in the exact same spot.
Beck leaned on the wall of the abandoned house he had been staying in and watched the flurry of activity up and down the road.
“Lacie’s never travelled. Not that she can remember, anyway.”
“She went with us before.”
Beck’s eyebrows rose as he looked over at her. With most of his face hidden behind the tight scarf, they were all she could see; though she imagined he was suppressing a smile from the way the the scarf twitched on his cheeks.
“Running for our lives from the tunnels to meet up with the Cahlven,” he said. “It’s hardly the same thing.”
He frowned when Georgianna didn’t reply. “Are you upset, Gianna? Why?”
She shook her head and adjusted the scarf as it slipped down from her cheeks. She would need to tighten the loops before they set off, or she would have to keep adjusting it on the trail. “I’m not upset.”
His eyebrows rose again, and it was Beck’s turn to say nothing. She felt herself crumpling under the stare, like the little girl she had once been, standing before the same expression. Of course, usually that had been when she’d been discovered doing something she shouldn’t. That’s when she used to pray it was Beck’s voice she heard calling her back. While he was terrifying when angry, and the last decade had taught her exactly how well he handled himself, it was much better to be caught by Beck than by her father. Unless she was doing something dangerous, Beck would mostly chastise her while barely concealing a smirk.
These days it was different, but she still preferred Beck’s stern glare over her father’s.
“We said some would be staying here,” she said finally. “And now…”
Beck sighed. “Only those who wanted to stay. I think even we may have underestimated how many would want to leave Adlai and the things that happened here.”
“We should tell Olless.”
“I agree. And we will. Though I’m not sure we are talking about everyone.”
Beck’s gaze drifted away, and settled on a figure across the road. Behind the scarf, she once again imagined he was smiling, but there was a cautious sadness to him as well. “There are other people you should talk to,” he said. “I know plans have been discussed for a long time, but I wouldn’t want you caught out because you didn’t ask for them to change.”
“What?” Georgianna frowned and followed his gaze. He was watching Dhiren. Her face fell. “Oh.” She stuffed her hands further into her pockets.
Beck smiled. “Go on. I can tell Olless of our decision. We’ll think of something.”
Georgianna nodded, absent and unsure.
Her feet pushed into motion, though she wasn’t sure she was ready. She wanted to stop, or turn and run away. The last time she’d tried to talk to him about it, he’d been vague and uncertain himself. He hadn’t said he would stay, not outright. But he also hadn’t said he would go. She liked this vague limbo, where she could still believe he would change his mind, and she didn’t have to risk the knowledge that she would soon have to say goodbye.
He was on his knees by the side of a cart, a trench dug out of the snow around him. With a large hammer in one hand and a collection of nails in the other, he inserted a new spoke into the centre of the wheel and lined it up, using the hammer to drive it firmly in place.
Dhiren glanced up as she approached. He popped the nail he had been holding against the wheel between his teeth, and braced himself against the frozen ground, before clambering to his feet. “These things are going to get stuck in ruts.” He kicked the wheel. “It’ll mean carving a path through the snow before you move.”
“Not everyone can hide their supplies up trees.”
He laughed and nodded. Extracting the nail from between his teeth, he tossed the hammer and the remaining nails into the back of the cart and rubbed his hands together in a shower of dirt and splinters. “It would be useful, though wouldn’t it?”
Georgianna shuffled her feet. “We should leave some things behind. Travel with less.”
“It’d still be better if these were straight rungs. Easier travel on snow. Could make them changeable with some work. Wheels for the Heat?”
Georgianna pulled her scarf away from her face and moved in front of him. “Does this mean you’re staying?” She lowered her voice. “You changed your mind?”
Dhiren looked away, his breath clouding the air between them. He reached up, fingers fumbling with the high collar of his shirt until he wrapped them around a thin leather cord. She recognised it instantly. He’d taken it back from Edtroka’s things; a small token he had created for his lover. It was made of wood, stone, and metal, and she thought it suited them perfectly. “I figured it was best,” he said. “At least while the Cahlven are still working out how this will all work. And the Adveni will come back. Better to know what’s going on, right?”
He moved the cord back and forth, and a glint of weak sunlight bounced off the polished stone. Her gaze was drawn to it; she was almost unable to look away. But she realised it wasn’t the stone that had caught her attention. Attached to a different hoop around the cord, a small pure wood token hung around Dhiren’s neck.
Georgianna leapt forwards, grabbing the necklace before he could think to stop her. She tugged it free of his fingers and peered down at it. A small perfectly carved coyote head hung beside Edtroka’s token. It was unmistakable, and it was undeniably her father’s work.
“My da’ made this,” she said.
Dhiren extracted the necklace from her fingers and peered down at it for a fond moment before he tucked it back inside his jacket. “Yeah. Halden heard me telling the kid about it and asked him to make one.”
He stared past her shoulder, and if Georgianna wasn’t mistaken, his ears were pinker than they had been a few moments before. She tried to conceal a smirk. “You’ve been spending a lot of time with Brae.”
“So?”
Perhaps it was the blush slowly creeping up his neck, or his quick demand to know why it mattered that he was spending time with her nephew. Or maybe it was the coyote head, carved by her father. But Georgianna got the feeling that she’d been left out of something; something that other people had already picked up on. She wondered if that was why Beck had suggested she talk to him. Because he already knew the answers.
Georgianna’s smile was getting harder to control as Dhiren pouted and stared in any direction other than her face. “Dhi…” she said slowly, teasing. “Is there something going on between you and my brother?”
His ears and neck reddened even more. He leaned over the side of the cart, grabbing the hammer. If she didn’t know him so well, she might have thought he’d threaten her with it. But he swung it at the wheel, bashing the spoke he’d placed. �
�Nothing’s happened.”
“But you like him.”
He didn’t answer.
She could have teased him. She could have demanded answers, or made threats about not hurting her family. But instead, Georgianna beamed. She reached out and squeezed his shoulder. “I’m glad you’re staying. Really glad, Dhiren.”
He nodded, but didn’t look at her.
As she walked away, back towards the house, she wondered if he thought she would see it as replacing Edtroka, or if she would think it was too soon. Her brother’s heart was on the line, but Georgianna felt giddy with the excitement of it. Her brother was a good man who had been alone far too long in mourning. Dhiren was a good man, too. One of the best she knew, once you got past the slightly murderous aspects of his history. His rough edges would be smoothed by Halden’s gentle appreciation, and Halden would never be more fiercely protected than he would be with Dhiren.
If this was in the cards, then she approved. And if Edtroka could have had a say in it, she thought that he’d approve of Dhiren’s happiness as well.
Tohma peered around the kitchen for the best place to set up. He crossed his legs at the ankles and, in one graceful movement, slipped from standing to sitting on the floor. Despite being in a house full of Veniche coming and going, he wore no mask over his nose and mouth, and he showed no discomfort at being in close proximity to them.
Did he know more about the viruses than they did?
Georgianna plonked down beside him, rather less gracefully.
He opened up the case he had brought with him, the petal sides unfolding onto the floor in front of them. Inside, a set of half a dozen grey units were lined up in two neat rows. Tohma picked out the one closest to him and held it out for Georgianna. He pulled another from his pocket.
It was entirely grey, with winding rivets carved into the smooth surface.
“With all Veniche moving north,” he said, “it was decided that a method of communication would be necessary.”
“We’re still not sure how long we’ll be staying up there,” Georgianna said, turning the unit over in her hands. “I may be returning soon.”
“It is of no matter. This method will be beneficial to all for a long time, no matter where you go.”
“So it’s like a tsentyl?”
Tohma stared at her with a blank expression. She pulled out the cube from her pocket and held it out on her palm.
Tohma’s eyes bulged and his mouth opened into an ‘o’. He laid the Cahlven device in his lap and plucked the tsentyl from her hand. “Oh, yes,” he said, his enthusiasm returning with force. “Yes, exactly like this.” He grinned at her. “Though with no painful side effects.”
“You promise?”
“On my own life,” he said. “And that shows you how sure I am. If I was not sure, I would promise with the life of my new Colvohan.”
Georgianna chuckled, accepted the tsentyl back from him, and slipped it back into her pocket. “Good to know.”
Returning his attention to the device in his hands, Tohma turned it over and held it out between them. Georgianna cradled her own, turning it over and around to ensure the rivets matched up with the ones on Tohma’s. She’d never taken a close look at the device Olless had in the tunnel, nor the one Naltahn had used, but she was sure they hadn’t held such clear carvings. Maybe they had been given them more clearly marked versions for ease.
Tohma squeezed the device with his finger and thumb on two small panels between the rivets on the side. Georgianna did the same, and the panels vibrated beneath her fingers. A flash of deep orange light rippled out from underneath, making the rivets shine in burning rivers across the surface.
Tohma squeezed again and lifted the device to his lips. “Georgianna Lennox.” He dropped his device into his lap and turned towards her. “Squeeze again, and then say my name.”
Georgianna squeezed, lifted the device in front of her, and took a breath as the device shuddered in her grip. “Tohma.”
Another pulse of light, green this time, rippled beneath the panel surfaces, but Tohma appeared pleased.
“What did we just do?” Georgianna said.
Tohma began to close up the box with the other devices. “We paired the zeb so that they can locate each other. I suppose it is like codes to tsentyl. Once I am in command centre, I can update connections, and send them to you with contact for Olless and other Cahlven you need.”
“Zeb?” Georgianna said. “Really? That’s what it’s called?”
She was used to the Adveni and the Cahlven having such complicated names for their technology. This was almost cute. Tohma frowned, looking puzzled. “Zeb is real name,” he said, as if trying to decide whether it was the truth or not. “Real name is complicated and mouthful. Even Cahlven call Zeb.”
She supposed it was as good an answer as she was likely to receive. She doubted she’d remember the long name, anyway.
“And I can contact anyone by squeezing these panels and saying their name?”
He shook his head and took the device from her fingers. “They are pairing panels to import data. It is this panel for contact.”
He pointed out a panel that looked to Georgianna like any other panel on the zeb in her hand, then collected up his own and held it out on his flat palm. “Say my name and hold that panel. You must keep contact until I answer.”
She placed her thumb over the panel and held it there, applying only light pressure. The panel vibrated in a steady, regular pulse. She lifted it up. “Tohma.”
In Tohma’s palm, his zeb let out a series of beeps in a happy little tune. The lights from under the panels rippled in a rainbow of colours. He placed his finger on a panel lower down on the device. “Hello Georgianna,” he said, his voice coming from beside her, and out of the device in her palm.
He beamed and pressed yet another panel. The lights and vibration faded away.
“You’re going to need to give me a diagram for all these buttons,” she said.
Tohma chuckled and nodded. “That can be done. I will ensure you have it before you leave.”
Georgianna tucked the device into her pocket, next to the tsentyl. “You’ll definitely be here when we come back?”
“Of course. In fact, I may be part of the Dalsaia that come north.”
“North?” she said. “I thought the Cahlven were staying here?”
His eyes narrowed in suspicious confusion. “Yes. Olless discussed bringing supplies north if you required.”
“Oh, right. I didn’t know.”
“Then maybe I see you earlier than you expected.” Tohma patted a hand awkwardly on her knee before extracting himself from the floor. He picked up the box and cradled it in his arms. “I must pair these with others.”
Georgianna nodded and got to her feet. “I should get back to packing.”
Tohma shuffled his feet for a few moments. He put the box aside and enveloped her in a brief hug. Georgianna froze in surprise, and then patted the back of his shoulder. “I am glad I stay here,” he said. “With you all.”
“Me too, Tohma. I’m really glad you decided to stay.”
He beamed and collected the box, muttering to himself as he left the kitchen in search of the next person to pair a zeb with. “So much to do. So much to do.”
Georgianna patted the pocket with her new communications device, and returned to the front of the house to see what her father needed doing next.
Georgianna trudged through the snow, laden with a large backpack. She realised how much she had missed the days before the Adveni came. Of course, that had been before she was considered old enough to carry her fair share of the supplies on the trail. Before their horses and carts had slowly been sold off or dispatched to other purposes. And before they’d travelled north in the depth of the freeze.
Up past Lurinah forest, it was the kind of bright, fierce cold that even the sun could not touch and the wind could not make worse. But everything was still and untouched, and beautiful. The freeze sun was blind
ing as the rays bounced off the snow and, even behind the old, cracked goggles, Georgianna felt she may never get rid of the pinched expression of squinting too hard against the glare.
She walked behind the cart being pulled by four men. Their chatter had long since faded to wishes for horses, and then to nothing, with only their breath clouding in the frozen air. Her father had muttered under his own breath, assuring everyone that he wasn’t too old to pull the cart. He even laid a hand on the side every so often to give the impression he was helping.
Dhiren’s suggestion of rails instead of wheels had turned out to be incredibly useful, and so, in the end, even her father had given up on his help, and instead put his attention to ensuring Braedon didn’t become a nuisance.
Some groups had moved off from the main trail of people, travelling a dozen or two miles out to the side of the train in an effort to hunt. Keiran and Alec had each joined a hunt, taking their zeb to ensure they could keep in touch. Halden had been reluctant to leave Braedon for so long, as the group he joined with Alec were intending not to return to the main trail for a few days at the least. But he finally relented after much assurance from their father that his son would be fine, and that the best thing Halden could do was help find horses to train. Dhiren had gone, too, and it seemed to Georgianna that he was relieved to be away from the hoards of people and into a smaller group, out in the wilds where he was most comfortable.
In between long days of walking, Georgianna had been called upon most nights as a medic, moving about the camp. The first night, Lacie had helped her; she knew Jaid was somewhere in the trail, but she was keen to stay near Si while they were moving. But Beck had been quick to put a stop to her assistance, claiming she needed more rest. Lacie clearly hated being unable to help, but it was easier to accept it than fight Beck.
