Within Ash and Stardust

by Chani Lynn Feener

  Unsurprisingly, the South Wing was guarded, and Trystan slowed as he approached, watching the four Tellers there through the camera feed in the corner of his screen. He continued to count off the seconds in his head as he assessed the situation, coming close to the end of his forty seconds.

  He adjusted the timer for the next loop to two minutes, hating that he had to pull the prerecorded footage back that far. It left a lot to chance. One guard simply having scratched their head in a strange way could alert whoever might be watching this area that something was going on. But he wouldn’t have enough time to deal with the Tellers, make it down the hall, and grab the Sutter unless he took this risk.

  Activating his fritz, he made sure the setting was on stun and then took a deep breath. Three seconds before his time ran out, he hit the loop button for the hall with the guards, and twisted around the corner. He fired before they could say a word, catching them by surprise. It was necessary; every single Teller in this place was linked to his father through fittings. If one of them managed to get a message out, Trystan wouldn’t even know until it was too late.

  He had to trust he hadn’t given any of them enough time for that. They dropped faster than he could blink, and quickly he moved deeper into the hall.

  The Sutter was being held in a room on the right, and he rushed toward it. As he approached the door, he pulled up the feed from inside the room, cursing when he noticed that there were now another three Tellers within, watching the Sutter from the back wall.

  With no time to come up with a different plan, he quickly unlocked the door and shoved into the room, taking the occupants by surprise.

  The door closed again behind him and all three Tellers were down on the ground in a split second. His fritz still hovered in the air from when he’d raised it to shoot them, and he didn’t bother dropping it when he turned to stare at Delaney’s wide-eyed friend.

  “Sutter Gibus,” he said calmly, “you’re coming with me.”

  CHAPTER 14

  “Um.” Gibus glanced over Trystan’s shoulder, and when he seemed to realize no one else was coming, he frowned. “No?”

  Trystan growled. “You’d rather stay and remain my father’s prisoner?”

  “Your prisoner, his prisoner…”

  “I’m not taking you prisoner,” he snapped. “I’m rescuing you!”

  Gibus blinked, obviously waiting for the punch line. “I’m sorry?”

  “You should be, for wasting precious time. We need to go.”

  Gibus still didn’t seem convinced.

  “Delaney sent me.” That wasn’t entirely a lie … not really. Besides, what did it matter if he had to lie to the Sutter anyway? There was only one person he cared about telling the truth to, and she’d more than understand his reason for fibbing here.

  “She’s alive?” There was so much emotion in those words, Trystan almost felt jealous.

  Almost.

  “Yes. I’m counting on you knowing something about my father’s plans. Tell me you do?” He’d gotten to the Sutter, and he’d get them both safely out, but he needed to know if the man knew anything useful. If not, Trystan was going to have to come up with a new plan, a way to get to his father’s study after all. He couldn’t leave here without any information.

  He hated having to operate so spur-of-the-moment with all this, but against his father, taking the time to carefully construct a viable plan was out of the question. If Trystan was going to get away with this, he needed to keep moving.

  “Of course,” Gibus said, finally getting into motion as he began shoving things into a bag. “Who do you think perfected the device for him?”

  Trystan pulled back. “What device?”

  “You don’t know?” His eyes widened. “Clean Slate, that’s what it’s called.”

  So Trystan’s assumptions had been right; the Sutter would be useful.

  “We don’t have time for this conversation right now, or for you to pack. We need to go before—” The sound of pounding feet outside cut him off and he cursed, pulling up the footage on his device. Since there was clearly someone out there, and the Tellers he’d knocked out had been discovered, he stopped the remaining twenty seconds of the loop so he could access the live camera feed once more.

  “They must have been doing a sweep of the castle.” It was hard to get a handle on his frustration as he watched two new Tellers checking the pulses of the ones outside the room.

  “Anything you haven’t already packed stays. We’ve got to leave—now.”

  “How?” Gibus eyed the exit, obviously fully aware it was now blocked off.

  “We’re going to go through that door there.”

  Gibus followed his line of sight toward a door in the far right corner and frowned. “That’s a supply closet.”

  “Among other things.” Without further explanation, Trystan strode across the room and yanked the door open. It wasn’t deep, and was cast in shadows with no light switch, so he had to feel around the back wall before finding what he was looking for. A tiny indent no bigger than his pinky.

  He slipped his fingernail in and popped off a panel to expose an opening large enough for them to enter—so long as they bent at the waist.

  “That has not been here this entire time,” Gibus said, and swore at Trystan’s back.

  Trystan didn’t bother pointing out that it wouldn’t have mattered if he’d known about it. A Vakar Sutter wouldn’t exactly have many friends in Kint, let alone Carnage Castle. If he’d managed to find the hidden escape hatch, it would have only led him to more trouble once the Rex caught up with him.

  “Let’s go. And close the closet door.” He walked through first, listening for sounds in the empty corridor ahead of them, as well as to the Sutter following at his back. “This passage stretches around this side of the hall, and will lead us to the end of the South Wing.”

  “Is that where we are?”

  “Yes.”

  Gibus was silent a moment as they practically crawled forward, and then said, “Did she really send you?”

  “In a sense,” he admitted. “I came for information and realized you’re our best chance at getting what we need. Delaney knows where I am, and she’s been talking about rescuing you nonstop the past few days so … This seemed logical.”

  “Two birds, one stone.” When the Zane gave him a confused look, he chuckled. “It’s an Earth phrase.”

  “I really must update my hebi. I don’t do well with much of their slang.” And Delaney used it frequently enough that that was a problem. He wanted to be as close to her as possible, even if that meant adding nonsense to his translator.

  Ruckus didn’t seem to have the same issue.

  They were coming close to the end of the passage, so Trystan pulled up the camera footage there, letting out an irritated curse when he saw that the entire area was now crawling with Tellers.

  “What’s wrong?” Gibus asked, attempting to poke his head around the Zane’s larger frame to see for himself.

  “The discovery of those bodies has caused a complication.” He paused, taking a moment to come up with another plan. There were two other exits, and he quickly checked the halls, noting that the one outside the nearest door was currently empty.

  Without a word, Trystan began moving again, bringing them straight to it. He fiddled with the latch and then pressed a palm against the wood, turning to the Sutter. “Once we’re out there, be very quiet.”

  He checked the screen one more time to ensure the hall was still empty, only to discover that the connecting one no longer was. If they entered, they’d be completely blocked off. Unless …

  Not giving himself time to reconsider, Trystan grabbed the Sutter and rushed into the hall. Quickly, he crossed to the other side and lifted a metal slab set in the center of the wall. He motioned to the other man to get in, and received an incredulous look in response.

  “You aren’t serious? We’re going down a garbage chute?” Gibus frantically shook his head. “Are you mad? We�
��ll be burned alive before we even reach the bottom.”

  Trystan ground his teeth, the sounds of approaching steps already echoing toward them. Twisting the device around so the Sutter could see the screen, he showed him that he’d already disabled the heating mechanisms in the garbage disposal, which would allow them to slide down safely.

  To avoid polluting the planet, trash on Xenith was incinerated the moment it was tossed out. Most places, like homes with children, had preventive measures included to avoid a child accidentally falling in or hurting themselves. While there hadn’t been a child in Carnage Castle since Trystan had grown—he avoided bringing Dom here like the plague—those measures were still programmed into the system, and all he’d had to do was access them.

  “Well then.” Gibus nodded and then without any more complaints, grabbed the edges of the chute, pulled himself up, and entered feetfirst. The sound of his body sliding down the metal was a faint whisper of fabric, soft enough that there was no worry of it being overheard on other floors.

  With not a moment to spare, Trystan followed suit, needing to pull his shoulders in tightly in order to fit. The clanging of the chute door was unavoidable, as he was already sliding away from it. The surface of the chute was kept slick and shiny, so he dropped quickly, one second at the top, the next hitting the bottom with a heavy thump that knocked the wind out of him.

  A thick cloud of dark ash puffed up around him, and he noted that the Sutter was already coughing loudly a second before he joined in. It was hard to see through the black cloud, but he struggled to move in the direction he believed the room’s door was, slipping a few times in charcoal piles as he did and trying not to think about what he was now covered in.

  The room was on the basement level of the castle, circular, and visited only once every month, by someone whose job it was to clear out the ash and soot. Fortunately, there was only about a foot of it to wade through, so the door was still visible once Trystan got close enough to it. His hand gripped the metal handle and twisted.

  “Hurry up,” Gibus urged, suddenly at his back. He was rubbing ash from his eyes, smearing black marks across his cheeks. It was thick in his curly sable hair as well, and had stained his lab coat.

  The lever wouldn’t budge.

  Trystan clenched his jaw and adjusted his footing. Just as he was about to get nervous, the handle gave, creaking as it finally twisted to the left.

  The two of them toppled forward, spilling out onto the main floor along with a pile of ash. When they stood, they left smeared handprints and footprints on the ground, too many for them to take the time to clean up.

  “Looks like there’s no covering our tracks,” Gibus stated, poorly attempting to dust himself off. All he did was make the mess worse, and Trystan rolled his eyes.

  Holding up a hand to keep the Sutter from moving forward, he pulled the device from under his arm to check the screen. He needed to rub away soot first, but surprisingly it was pretty clean, enough that he could check the single stairwell that led down to this level.

  The room they were standing in now was empty save for a couple of heavy-duty shovels and three large wheelbarrows. Its only purpose was taking care of the trash, so other than those tools, the space remained untouched. They didn’t have to worry about guards down here, so Trystan took a moment to catch his breath and consider their next move.

  This was far from his original plan, which had been to sneak through the secret passages to the garage. If they left like this, they’d trail ash with them. But there weren’t any rooms nearby, nothing on the level above that would contain fresh clothes.… They were just going to have to take their chances.

  “Wait.” Gibus stopped him just as he went to take his first step forward. “If you didn’t know about Clean Slate, what information did you come here for?”

  “My father’s working with the Tars,” he said, then headed toward the metal stairs that led up to the next level.

  “And the plan once you got proof?”

  “Use it to stop him.” Without waiting, he started up, checking the screen every other step to make sure they were still clear above. The stairs led to an open floor plan with three doors. He made for the one on the left, the one that would take them to the main garage.

  When they entered, his eyes took in the room quickly, darting to the back at one of the vehicles closest to the door.

  “Get the garage door open,” he ordered Gibus as he ran over toward a car, already accessing its controls using the device in his hands. The doors clicked and the headlights flashed on before he’d even reached it. He slipped into the driver’s seat and connected his device to the control panel at the center.

  There was no steering wheel, no pedals like on Earth cars. He’d gotten a good look at a few of them the last time he’d visited, while searching for Delaney. He’d had to drive one, even, in order to get to her at the beach.

  The sound of crunching metal at his back clued him in to the fact the Sutter had successfully opened the garage door, and he quickly clicked away at the device, taking over the control panel with ease.

  Gibus slammed into the side of the car, jolting Trystan, then yanked the door open and dropped into the passenger seat, a bit out of breath. A second later he explained why.

  “We’ve got company.”

  Trystan’s head whipped over toward the exit and he swore. A group of Tellers was making their way into the garage, weapons drawn and aimed in their direction.

  “Hold on,” Trystan ordered, then brought the car to its highest setting. A dangerous gamble, seeing as how they were still in a contained space, but they didn’t really have the luxury of bringing the engine to a slow purr, as was recommended.

  The garage door wasn’t all the way open yet, and he debated whether they’d have time to wait it out. As if in response, a zee cracked against the bulletproof glass of the car, followed by another, and another.

  Trystan hit the black button on the center console, and the car shot backward so quickly, they were both thrust forward and then slammed back against their seats. The rear of the car busted through the bottom of the garage door, scraping against it, and he had the fleeting thought that his father was going to be livid that he’d ruined the paint job.

  Which was idiotic. Because, really, that was the least of their concerns.

  As soon as they were out on the road, he pressed his palm against the center of his device and spun the car around so they were facing forward. Tapping his middle finger increased their speed, and they rushed forward, even as he moved his pointer and activated the thrusters at the sides of the vehicle.

  The car shot into the air like a cannon, shaking them roughly as it did because he’d rushed the process. A few alarms rang, and lights on the dashboard flashed in warning, but within a minute they’d calmed and the car had leveled itself off.

  “They’re getting ready to follow!” Gibus yelled. He’d twisted around in his seat and was staring out the back window.

  “No,” Trystan said, hitting another few buttons on a side program he’d already started on his device, “they are not.”

  All at once, the engines of every vehicle within the garage shut down. They got a fleeting look at the Tellers struggling to figure out what was wrong before the dented garage door dropped like a lead weight with a loud bang, sealing them inside.

  Gibus let out a celebratory whoop, and righted himself in his seat.

  The corner of Trystan’s mouth turned up.

  “If you ever repeat this, I will deny it”—Gibus held up a finger—“but that was fantastic!”

  Trystan grunted, mostly to cover up the fact that he wanted to chuckle and agree.

  “So,” the Sutter said, and settled more comfortably in his seat, “where are we going?”

  “I have a few places the Rex doesn’t know about.” Of course, he’d never had to hide after committing treason, but … first time for everything. “We’ll stop at one of them first, lie low. I’ll have to find a ship, something u
ntraceable, and then once it is safe, I’ll take you to the others.”

  To Delaney.

  Who better be okay.

  If anything happened to his Lissa, he’d burn all the royals to the ground.

  CHAPTER 15

  “We’re doing everything we can, Lissa.”

  “That isn’t good enough!” Delaney spun away from a Vakar Teller, Verus—one of three who’d been waiting in the study when they’d arrived forty minutes ago. So far, they’d been absolutely useless. “There’s got to be a way we can get in touch with him.”

  They’d tried Trystan a dozen times through his shing—the only device not connected to the ship he was on—but he’d yet to respond. They were way too far away for their fittings to connect, and contacting the Rex was completely out of the question. The Zane was in danger, and there was absolutely nothing she could do but stand here twiddling her thumbs.

  “How far is Carnage from here?” she asked, pacing in front of the fireplace. It was as far from the cluster of people as she could get, and she needed space to think.

  The Basileus’s office, now Tilda’s, looked exactly as it always had. A fire was even going in the hearth, filling the room with the smell of burning wood and sugar. It used to be enough to give Delaney some semblance of comfort, but her worry for Trystan was too great.

  Ruckus was currently leaning against the edge of the desk, the Tellers nearby. He had other followers, those loyal who’d worked under him during his time as Ander, and even those who’d fought with him in the war and trusted his judgment. The tentative plan was to get a message to them that he was alive and planning something with Tilda. Have them start looking into the Tars themselves, wherever they were currently stationed. They had to be delicate with who they shared this news with, which meant going through the list Ruckus had given Sanzie and checking up on their previous actions to be certain they were trustworthy.