by JA Huss
The screaming begins anew and then they are gone.
Ash sits down on the bed and he pulls me between him and Isten. "OK, Junco – you're gonna fly up and down the mast today with Isten. Things get vertical from here and you'll need new skills for the rest of the fights." He leans past me to see Isten. "Make her walk around in the observatory, Is. That will probably help with Fight Four, don't you think?"
Isten nods. "Yeah, I'll make it relevant."
Ashur looks back to me. "And don't fuck about, Junco. The levels are nothing like you've had or think they will be, so don't get complacent. Besides, if you die I'll have to kill all those pledges, and we wouldn't want that, would we?"
I smile. "I owe you. I know this is purely for my benefit."
Ash's face softens. "I get it, Junco. You have a big heart for someone who has probably killed more people than Is and me together. Just don't expect them to actually live, OK?"
I nod.
"Except for Kush. He might make it."
My eyebrows go up. "Really?"
He shrugs. "I think so, yeah."
And then he kisses me on the head and walks out.
I look over at Isten and my face gets hot. "He likes you, Junco. Whatever you said to him last night after we dropped you off," he hesitates and shakes his head, "made him very fucking happy."
I track back to find what it might be as I dress in my uniform. But only one thing stands out.
I didn't sleep with Kush.
Isten and I spend the entire day in the mast. At first I can barely manage it. Oh, it's not bad going from level three to level four. Or even level four to level five. But the span of space between five and six is just as enormous today as it was last night. I end up clinging to an aging architectural detail on the side of the wall before Isten comes to my rescue. This happens several times, actually. Then the flight from six to seven feels insurmountable and he has to tow me up in the light G to even make it to the observatory the first time. I can only imagine the horror inside these massive levels to require such vertical expansion.
And then he makes me fly down in a dive that reminds me of ancient dogfights. The first time Isten has to grab my uniform shirt and yank me back up to him so I don't splat on the hard stone floor. He makes me glide down slowly after that.
From the bottom we start the process all over again and I struggle back up, gradually with each assent I manage to go a little further. But in no way would I ever be considered an expert flier.
We're resting on the platform underneath the observatory when Isten catches me eyeing the church. "You want to go in there or what, Junco? You've been staring at the place the whole day."
I soar down to the sixth-level platform and land clumsily in front of the large door. I wait there until Isten reluctantly follows. "I went in last night." I wait to see his reaction, but he holds it in. "I prayed to her."
Isten laughs. "She's not real, Junco."
I shrug. "I found these prayer cards in the back, right? And the one I chose was called Acceptance of Fate." I look up at him. "It was an old Earth poem. Don't you think that's weird?"
He shakes his head. "So they stole some poetry from Earth? That sounds typical to me."
"I was raised in church, did you know that?"
He smiles. "Yeah, I know. But this isn't your religion anyway, so don't waste your time. This is some really old-ass shit, Junco. Before Crage and Inanna, before all the Seven Siblings. She's ancient – something else entirely."
"So why does she have a church here?"
He steps off the ledge and flies upward to the observatory before calling back to me, "Who cares? Let's go practice walking in the gravity curve."
I flap frantically to make up to the top one more time, but no matter how hard I try Isten has to push me the remaining hundred yards. I step onto the landing and we climb the steps together.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I don't close my eyes when we enter and I'm immediately sorry because this shit is just wrong. I can't tell what is up and what is down and my head begins to spin.
"Close your eyes, Junco." I do and things calm down. My feet float up off the ground and I feel my stomach lurch. "Keep them closed, then when you're ready open them and decide where is up and where is down, OK?"
I nod.
"There are couches all around us."
"I know."
"Oh, I forgot you spent the night with Kush up here."
I huff out some air. "I did not sleep with Kush, Isten. Fuck, you guys think I sleep with everyone."
He laughs. "Not true. Anyway, just pick a couch and then I'll follow you."
I open my eyes and choose up, then use my wings to adjust my body a little and pick a new up. I head for a couch and stand next to it.
Isten comes up next to me and pushes me back and then gravity takes hold and I'm lying down, not standing.
It's still weird.
He climbs in next to me. "You know what this place is for, Junco?"
I shake my head. "Well, I'd guess it's to look at the stars, but something tells me that's not right."
He lets out a little laugh. "Technically, of course it is to look at the stars, but Fledge is filled with superstitions and the observatory is one of them. People come up here to be reminded about how little they matter in the universe."
"That's dumb."
"Just listen. You're supposed to come up here with someone you love, which is why we jumped to conclusions with Kush. Anyway, you're supposed to cling to each other and tell each other stories about your life. Did he tell you stories, Junco?"
I shake my head. "No, we fell asleep."
"Oh, well, he blew it. But I'm not gonna." He pulls me close. "I fully intend on telling you stories."
I laugh. "Yeah, like what? Not a myth, I hope." I look up at him questioningly.
"No, my first kill."
"Oh."
"I can't get the image of you out of my mind, Junco. Six years old and being sent on missions like that."
"So how old were you?"
He smiles down at me. "Eight."
"That's pretty young too."
"Yeah, but I wasn't told to do it, I just lost my temper."
"At eight? You lost your temper and killed someone?"
"I was on Earth with my foster family. They send us at five, you know that right?"
I nod. "Tier told me about his."
Isten sits up a little at this. "Really?"
I nod. "It was the quick version, he said."
He's silent for a few moments, like I caught him off guard. "Well, I wasn't supposed to be killing anyone, I was just supposed to live with this family until I got called back. Usually it takes about ten years before they want you back to Fledge. But I saw something and when I tried to tell someone about it, you know, to make it stop, they didn't believe me."
"What did you see?"
"My foster brother molesting my little sister."
"Oh, shit."
"Yeah, so I followed him one day and took a rifle with me. My family had guns all over the house, ya know. This was Texas. Anyway, I followed him out to this pasture where he was fucking around with another girl, his own age this time at least, and I shot him in the head while they were getting it on. I got away with it too, on Earth anyway. Hid in the bushes, the girl never saw me, got home before anyone noticed, cleaned the gun, put it back. It was pretty fucking simple. But I confessed in my next report and they pulled me. Called me home to Fledge out early."
"Well, I'd be proud of that kill, Isten. At least you helped someone."
He looks over me and grins. "Do you know who you killed that day on the slopes, Junco?"
I shake my head. "No, I never did ask."
"Well, we looked it up after you told us that. And it was the President and First Lady of Sovienna. They were some fucked-up people, so if that memory ever gives you nightmares, well, I can show you what they did to children for decades before you showed up and put a stop to it."
"Hmm. I don't have nightmares anymore, Isten. They're all gone."
"That's great, Juncs. But if they ever come back, you gotta ask yourself if it's worth it, right? Because from what I can tell, you killed a lot of very bad people over your career."
I lean into him a little.
"Anyway, when I got back to Amelia they put me in a holding status, because you can't go out in the regular population until you Fledge, you have to stay in the clutch. But it just so happens that there were like sixty other guys in the hold with me. All guys who had fucked up their fosters for whatever reason for another. It was like an epidemic that year, they checked the food supply and all kinds of things even, that's how weird it was.
"So, they had to have a special Fledge to make room – we call it the Fuck-up Fledge. I was in the Fuck-up Fledge and so was everyone else in the 039. Tier, for killing his father. Ashur for killing a teacher at school. They were the oldest and most experienced." He laughs. "They were both twelve."
"So you all Fledged out together? And you all survived it?"
"Well, we didn't know each other at first. When we got to 313–"
"What's 313?"
"Oh, it's the asteroid that hosts the Aves Warrior Fledge. It's got like half an atmosphere, after a thousand years of terraforming if you can believe it, but very thin. You have to wear suits or you'll die within hours."
"Did you have to kill each other?"
He looks down on me. "Nah, Juncs. We have to work as a team, to survive the shit on 313. Poisons, weather patterns, orbital fire – shit like that."
"And you all, the 039, were all on the same team?"
"No, see, this is how it works. They airdrop us all off – like I said, there were sixty of us or so. Then you have to get from one end of the asteroid to the other before your air and supplies wear out. So, when you get there you're not a team, right? Just a bunch of guys. But if you make it to the end, the guys you make it with – that's your team. The conditions create the winners, get it? Create the team."
I nod.
"And we were the ones who lived. Me, Arel, Ryse, Rikan, Braun, Mish, Ashur, and Tier. That was it. Out of sixty guys. We were the only ones left."
"And how did Tier become captain?"
Isten smiles. "He's the strongest, the most ruthless, the smartest. And the most reasonable, caring, and hopeful. He's the perfect fucking Aves warrior, Junco – they were talking about making him Archer. So they gave him the command. He saved every one of us during Fledge. We owe him every second of life we've lived since we were kids."
"And you'll just let him be killed, Isten?"
He frowns. "We're doing what we can."
"It's not enough."
"Maybe not, but that's what we've got." He stays silent for a few minutes, perhaps he's mad at me for questioning him. Or maybe he's just thinking. Eventually he gets back around to our conversation. "You know why Lucan didn't send you to the Aves Warrior Fledge even though it started at the same time?"
I shake my head.
Isten pushes me back a little so he can see my face. "Because, Junco, if you went through all that shit with another group of guys, you wouldn't belong to us anymore. You'd belong to them. You'd make your own team and not be part of our team. And Lucan couldn't stand to let you go. He said that, Junco. To each of us. That's why we're worried about these kids you're helping. It's not supposed to be this way. There are no teams in the General Fledge. You're not supposed to bond with them. You're our nine. You understand what it means to be the nine?"
I shake my head. "No."
"The team hardly ever gets to nine. I mean, it does happen, but it's so rare, no one even thinks about having nine – not including your science contact, right? Layla is our science contact, but she's not a part of the team because that only includes us warriors. To have a real ninth member is special. It's powerful. It carries a lot of meaning around here. And you're the nine. We voted you in and even Lucan agreed."
"Only as long as we include Tier, and he's gonna be found guilty, I'm told. For not killing me. And Lucan will let him die."
"He's doing what he can, Juncs. He really is."
"Tier hates what he is, you know that right?"
Isten is quiet now.
"He told me, quote, I feel like I've lived a hundred lifetimes of misery. And when I wake up each morning I don't want to keep doing it, Junco. When I wake I ask myself, how much longer before they will just let me die? Unquote."
"But, Junco, he saved you because he wanted you. He wanted you to be with us. We talked about it for years. You can't even comprehend how much planning went into making the decision to disobey and get you here."
"Except Tier will not be here so I won't be the nine for long, will I? That's pure bullshit, Isten. Just let me do it my way."
He sucks in his breath. "Junco, do you have any idea of the cost?" He looks at me, the fun gone, the pain in full force. "It's higher than you might think. It's higher than anything you can imagine. And don't fucking pray to that stupid Fallen Archer again, either. For fuck's sake, that's all we need, her sacrificial spirit fucking things up at the very last fucking second."
When we fly back down the pledges are already back in the dorm and Ashur is watching the screens, waiting patiently. Isten says goodbye and leaves, while I go sit down next to Ash. "How'd it go?"
He smiles. "You first."
"Pretty good, I guess. My flying will not win trophies, but it'll have to do." I smile back, but my heart's not in it.
"They did OK, Junco. Kush is pretty good and Wyrd is all right. The girl, Tessen, could be helpful. But that little Kete, she won't be back tomorrow night." He looks at me hard. "And I do not want you to save her, you understand?"
I nod. "What about Joll?"
"Oh, shit. That kid is beyond useless. I have no idea how he survived so far."
We sit in silence for a while, watching some movie on the screen. Ashur must like horror shit, because it's another screaming half-naked girl running from some crazy demonic thing.
"You wanna go get some food, Junco?" He looks over at me, his face kind.
"Sure." I smile. "We can do that."
We grab a train back to that pub we were at before and it's like our fight never happened. We eat and talk about stuff that has nothing to do with Tier, or the Fledge, or death.
And it's nice.
Normal.
Chapter Twenty-Four
There are no patterns on the floor this time. Instead the Fourth Fight begins with all seventy-five of us being stuffed, one at a time, inside capsules. When someone gets in the lid slides shut and the capsule is shuttled somewhere out of sight. I look at Isec to see how he's taking it, but he's calm. Calmer than I've ever seen him in fact. I squeeze his shoulder as we wait our turn. "You doing OK?"
He smiles back at me. "Yeah, sure. Why?"
I shrug. "Well, usually you're freaking out. And this is completely different from all the other starts."
"I feel good, Junco. No matter what happens, I'm OK with it."
I nod. "All right." He turns away from me and I let out a sigh. They grow up so fast. I have a feeling Ashur has something to do with this, but whatever it is, I'm grateful. He's come to terms with the fights, and that's a good thing.
I think.
Kete is first to be stuffed in the capsule. She's screaming like the spring wind on the prairie. I don't move to calm her. I believe Ashur, she's done and there's no sense in making it worse.
Tessen is next and she gets in without incident.
Isec is next and he turns. "See you when we're done, Junco."
I smile. "Fight hard, friend."
He climbs in and lies back and before I know it he's shuttled up and out of view.
My capsule comes and I climb in, settle on the hard pad, and watch the capsule close above me. It moves fast and jerks from side to side. The capsule stops and is loaded into some mechanism below. Then I hear a loud click and everything goes still, the only sound my own breathing.
And then I'm accelerating hard. I feel the bullet catch on something below my back and my feet slam into the floor of the capsule and I'm shunted out of the tube and into free-G. I twist in the air and create back thrust with my wings to slow myself down. I hear screams as people smash into the wall and then the smell of burning flesh.
They've been electrocuted.
For a moment I'm stunned still, and then I see her. Dead, her mouth open, her eyes wide, and she's wet herself. Kete is finished before the fight even starts.
I snap out of it and begin killing as I pass through the air. I leave the SEAR tucked away. No sense in complicating things unless I have to. Enough people are dead from the launch.
I swim though the air and take stock of what's happening here.
There is a single transparent partition that divides the arena into left and right halves. Except it is better described as top and bottom. Except that doesn't work either, because the gravity well is on the surface of the partition. Towards the floor, except the floor is relative.
It's a mirror image.
I swim down to my floor and get my feet planted on the ground. Only one other fighter has made it so far so I charge towards him as he shouts encouragement to a friend. I swipe my razors over his throat and he falls dead just as his buddy is floating down towards me. I grab him by the leg and swing. He goes careening off and hits the wall, the electricity surges though him and his body sends off sparks in all directions.
I hear screaming and look down to the other side of the partition. I see Isec fighting for his life, his small razors slashing and to my delight, hitting their mark. He looks good and I smile.
A girl comes at me hard from above and knocks me down. I scramble up before she can get the gravity under control and kick her in the face, my talons clawing her skin off as they pass through her flesh. I walk towards her as she flails half in and half out of the full force of the well. She screams at me to leave her alone.
"Honey, you picked the wrong girl to attack if you're looking for mercy." I pull her by the foot and she tries to kick me. I bring her down to the ground and twist her neck and then fling her up and let her float away.
