“How will we get out, though?” Rian asks.
Abaven doesn’t answer, but pulls us through the doorway he appeared through earlier, the one I thought led to a bathroom. There’s a courtyard beyond, backing onto other entrances. It’s crowded too, though. And there’s Gerel.
“Gerel, what the hell are you doing?” snarls Abaven.
“You can’t let Skylier leave,” she says. “Look at all the sick people. We need her here. Together we can cure them.”
There are mutters and murmurs and all eyes look at me with a mixture of hope, desperation, and anger. People are inching toward us, and I can tell it’s the kind of crowd that could turn nasty with the tiniest provocation. Then I see Madison among them. Madison! She’s pushing forward, arm outstretched like some of the others are doing now. Like just touching me will cure them. I feel hands tugging and pawing at my cloak.
“You stupid girl,” says Abaven. “Are you mad? Don’t you realize what you’re doing?”
“Don’t you realize what you’re doing?” Gerel snaps.
“But surely this is why we’re protecting them,” says someone from the crowd, a woman. “Why else put Cavern in so much danger?” The crowd stirs even more. People are getting closer.
“Get out of the way,” says Abaven, and pulls Rian and me forward again, into the crowd that’s suddenly surrounding us on all sides.
“Go any farther and he’s dead,” Gerel barks. I realize Abaven isn’t holding Rian’s wrist anymore, and I see the knife in Gerel’s hand pushed against his throat as she holds him in front of her. His eyes are wide.
Skylier!
CHAPTER FOUR
Skylier
Rian! Don’t move, don’t do anything stupid.
Believe me, I hadn’t planned to.
“Gerel, kill this boy and your life here is finished, you know that,” says Abaven levelly. “Drop the knife and this doesn’t need to go any further.”
“Things are changing here, Abaven,” says Gerel, knuckles turning white as they grip the knife handle. “These people agree.”
Some members of the crowd are looking a little less sure of things now that a knife is out, but not all of them.
“What’s happened to the strong, loyal Gerel I remember?” Abaven asks, clearly trying to reason with her.
“What’s happened to the Abaven who used to care about his people?” she counters. There are murmurs of agreement.
With a twinge of horror, I wonder if Abaven can actually win this. I’m about to open my mouth to say I’ll do whatever she says, if only she spares my brother, but the blue flash of a blaster gun stops me. Suddenly there’s screaming, pounding feet, and confusion. I’m on the ground, Abaven’s weight pulling me down.
“Warning shot,” he hisses in my ear. “Get Rian.”
I jump up. I can’t see Rian, or Gerel for that matter. There are moving bodies everywhere, people running this way and that trying to get out of the courtyard. Soldiers tramp through Enoch’s doorway, guns powered and pointing.
“All public meetings are banned!” a soldier shouts, and shoots another warning shot. They must have seen the crowd outside Enoch’s front door and come to investigate.
“Come on!” Abaven grabs my arm and I see Rian ahead of him.
We squeeze through the throng of bodies. I’ve no idea what happened to Gerel, but Rian is out of her grasp. While the stampede is heading toward an alleyway on the other side of the courtyard, we duck into one of the other entranceways. It must be someone’s house, but there’s no one here.
“Quickly!” Abaven must know Cavern’s networks like the back of his hand, because we’re out of that apartment and into the next before I can even start to guess who lives here.
This is my first taste of what a true rabbit warren Cavern is. We dash between sleeping quarters like they’re corridors, sometimes disturbing people, but mostly tramping through without meeting anyone. All of a sudden we’re out on one of Cavern’s high platform streets. The main square below is full of soldiers.
“Through here,” says Abaven, and I swear someone below will see us. Abaven swings into a goods lift shaft, and we follow. There’s a narrow ledge just inside that I balance on, terrified I’m going to fall.
I can’t do this, I say to Rian.
Now this is more like it, Rian’s saying at the same time. Of course he did this kind of thing all the time in his Games Training.
The shaft is about the width of two people. Abaven is already holding on to the rusty metal chain suspended in the middle, no doubt attached to the goods lift down below.
“Down this way,” he says. “Ease yourself down, or you’ll burn the skin off your hands.”
He’s already climbing down, foot over foot, hand over hand. Rian isn’t far behind him.
Don’t think about it, says Rian. Just do it.
I gulp. Don’t think about it? Are you mad?
I hear voices approaching, though, and I’ve no desire to hang around and see if they’re chasing us. I take a deep breath and shift my weight onto the chain. Immediately I feel as though I’m going to fall. I cling to the rope, feeling weak and queasy.
What are you waiting for? Rian’s mind calls up to me.
I can’t do this! I realize my eyes are squeezed shut tightly.
You can. And it doesn’t matter if you can’t, because you have to.
My hands slip and I fall a couple feet before regaining my grip. My palms hurt, but I keep easing myself down.
Are you OK? Rian’s mind calls up from far below.
I’m fine, just fine, I reassure him.
The insides of the lift shaft smell sharp and metallic. Rust is on the walls and sticking to my hands. It feels like we’ve gone about a mile already, and I’m feeling so weak that I don’t know how much longer I can keep going.
How much further?
Rian doesn’t respond. The light from the top of the shaft is now a faraway twinkle. The darkness down here is so dense that it starts to play tricks on my mind. How wide is this shaft? It feels both uncomfortably narrow and like it could be as wide as an ocean. I stop and put a hand out, wrapping my legs round the chain. I touch the wall—it’s still only half a foot away. It’s slimy with mold. The air has started to smell older as we’ve descended lower. Dank, rotten. My leg slips and I clutch the chain again. We must be nearly there. I keep going.
“Careful,” comes Abaven’s voice from not far beneath me. I can hear scraping and grunts of effort. “We’re just below you. I’m opening the hatch in the top of the goods lift. Hang in there. There’s only space for two of us here.”
There’s a loud clang. “Got it,” I hear Abaven say, and some shuffles and a thud as the two of them land inside the lift itself. I arrive a second later, and my feet hit something solid. I sigh with relief and grope about to find the hatch and lower myself in. I feel like I might collapse.
It’s still dark, but I pick out Abaven wrestling with a door on the side of the lift.
“These things haven’t been used for years,” says Abaven. He leaves the door open and we all tumble out into the most awful stench I have ever come across.
“Where are we?” I gasp.
“The sewers,” says Abaven. “Come on, we’ve got to keep moving.”
It feels like we’re miles below where we started, deeper underground still. I hear Rian gagging.
This is the worst! his mind cries. I think I’m going to be sick!
I put my hand out and brush the wall. There’s something wet growing all over it, and I pull it back abruptly.
“Yuck,” I say.
“Have you got any light?” Rian asks.
“Trust me, you’re better off not seeing,” says Abaven. “Put your hand on my shoulder and follow me. This ledge is quite narrow and the sewer runs right next to us.”
“How do we get out of here?” I ask as we shuffle behind him, feeling my shoulder rub against the disgusting wall.
“There’s a boat just along here. We’re ne
arly there,” says Abaven.
“Why would there be a goods lift up from the sewers?” Rian asks.
“It’s actually a rubbish lift,” says Abaven. “But now we recycle everything we can, so they’ve fallen out of use. With any luck the guards won’t have thought of guarding the sewer exit.”
“Did you say boat?” I ask. “We’re not going to have to get in that stuff, are we?”
“It’s boat or swim,” says Abaven. “This ledge runs out in a few yards. Here we go.”
We stop shuffling, and I take a big gasp, realizing I’ve been holding my breath. I immediately regret it. I sense Abaven fiddling about with something just in front of us.
“Take my hand,” he says, “and step in carefully. Put your foot there and try not to over-balance, or you’ll fall in.”
“Eww,” says Rian, going first. I hear a slightly metallic clang and a gentle slosh.
“Your turn, Skylier,” says Abaven as I take his hand.
“Don’t fall on me,” says Rian.
I step and topple into the metal craft. It doesn’t feel very big, and I wonder how all three of us are going to fit in it. The boat is tossing with the gentle current.
“I’m going to untie it and jump in,” says Abaven, “so watch out. We’re going to be moving as soon as I let go. Lie as flat as you can; the ceiling gets pretty low pretty quickly.”
The boat rocks as Abaven jumps in and his body slams into me. I crouch lower in the boat, and after a second, sense us drifting away from the bank. The three of us are cramped in together, sitting hunched.
“Lie down, or you’ll lose your head in a minute,” warns Abaven, and I feel his body on top of me as he pushes Rian and me flat against the bottom.
There’s a whooshing sound as we pass into the tunnel.
“The sewage level is high here,” says Abaven, “and the tunnel roof is only a couple of inches above the sides of the boat.”
“It’s cozy,” says Rian. I can feel him beside me in the bottom of the boat. Abaven squashes us both down and I can hardly breathe.
The air is so putrid that I think I’m going to be sick. And the space is so small with the three of us in it that I suddenly realize what the claustrophobia Madison always complains about must feel like. I try to keep my breathing low and steady, but I can feel the panic.
“You’ll be OK.” Abaven’s voice is gravelly in my ear. His chest is pressed against me and I can feel his breath on my face.
Are you enjoying this? Rian’s mind asks.
Shut up, I think. Of course not.
We lie there silently for what feels like an eternity as the slow-moving current carries us out of Cavern and Purenet Sanction itself. If we talk, the closeness will feel unbearable, so we don’t. I concentrate on breathing small, shallow breaths and try to forget Abaven’s body-weight against mine.
Eventually the air smells less putrid, and what feels like the sweetest breeze in the world hits my nose.
“Not far now,” says Abaven.
Suddenly there’s light, or at least I think there is, and Abaven’s weight stops crushing me as he eases up and catches hold of something. The boat jolts and I feel like we’ve stopped.
“You can sit up now,” he says. “There’s a grate up ahead, so the boat can’t go any farther; the sewage river is churning through it.”
I sit up with relief, feeling stiff. As I sit up, I can see the grate ahead, the morning light trickling through. I can hear the faint cries of sellers on the outer edges of Purenet Sanction. Abaven holds his hand out and helps Rian and me out of the boat. The ceiling is tall again here, and there’s another ledge beside the sewage stream to stand on. The river carries on past the grate, whose bars are wide enough to let large objects through. I peer out.
“I don’t understand. How are we at ground level?” I ask. “I thought Cavern was underground, and we must have been going down for a mile before.”
“This side of the Sanction is on a hill. Cavern’s built into an old cave system inside it,” Abaven explains.
I squint out beyond the grate.
“How do we get out?” Rian asks.
“Squeeze between the bars,” says Abaven. “The wasteland is just outside. Stick to the left side of the river.”
“What about you?” I ask.
“This is as far as I come,” Abaven replies. “I need to restore peace in Cavern.”
“You can’t return to that mob!” I exclaim.
“That’s just Gerel and a few people who support her,” says Abaven. “The Committee will have my back. Go to the place where we found the Hosts. Can you see where we are?”
I stick my head out through the bars and scan the area. “Yes,” I say. I’d hoped I’d never have to be back here.
“Gavyn will find you,” says Abaven.
“What about you? How will you get back?” Rian asks.
“This boat is attached to a rope,” Abaven says, fishing out something disgusting from the river. “I just pull myself upstream. I need to go now, and you’ve got to meet with Gavyn. Don’t hang around!”
The boat slips away, Abaven hauling at the rope. We look out through the grate.
What if Gavyn doesn’t find us? Rian’s mind asks.
He will, I say, because I have to believe it.
And even if he does, how will being prisoners of Purenet help save mother and Callie? Rian asks.
CHAPTER FIVE
Dax
My digger hurtles down the hill with Trinity next to me. Hayden, Lowell and Reznor—leader of the Grounders—are not far behind. The ocean is about a mile ahead, twinkling in the sunlight. I can’t wait to get there and wash the blood off me from the battle in the mines.
“Can you see Death?” I ask Trinity as she stares out at the ocean with wonder.
“No. We left it at the battlefield.”
“Good.”
“Death will return. It always does,” Trinity says flatly, as if she were commenting on how hungry she is, not on her dark shadow of Death that follows her.
“Stop over here,” says a voice behind me. It’s Trinity’s father, Spiro. He leans into the digger’s cockpit, pointing with his skeletal arm to a spot just to the left. The man is all muscle and bone. I heave the wheel and start to slow down. Spiro hangs out of the window and signals to the others.
The digger isn’t happy about being commanded to stop after it’s gotten into its stride. It coughs and splutters, and then gives up. I hop out, feeling my wounds and wincing as I land. Spiro lowers himself carefully out of the digger. There is a squad of injured tribespeople in the back of the digger that we rescued from the mines. Spiro limps over to check on them, then comes to join us in a huddle away from the trucks, as he requested.
“What’s happening?” Hayden asks. We’re hidden just out of the sight of a harbor nestled in the cliffs farther away down the slope.
“We can’t travel any farther with the diggers, or we will be seen,” says Spiro.
“How are the injured?” I ask.
“They will live,” says Spiro.
I take a deep breath. This is the moment to announce the plan to everyone else.
“Spiro, let me offer you my deepest gratitude for showing us the safest way to reach the Aurum ship,” I begin. “We’re going to change the plan before we go any farther,” I say carefully.
“What are you talking about?” demands Reznor. This isn’t going to go down well with him.
“Spiro, you promised us an army if we helped rescue your people from the mines, isn’t that so?” I ask.
Spiro nods. “And you’ll have them,” he says. “We’ll be ready and waiting for your return from Cader Sanction. As planned.”
“We will not have time for that plan,” I say. “Once we start gathering fighters in Cader Sanction, people will suspect something’s happening and put a stop to things. We need to get a head start. Hayden and I will go alone on the ship to Cader Sanction. Reznor and Lowell, I need you to head back to Purenet with the Enl
ighten tribe and build an army. Go to Cueva first.”
“Hold on,” Reznor growls. “Who are you to suddenly give out all these orders? You’re talking about an uprising, not a rescue mission,” says Reznor, frowning.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while,” I say. “It’s not just about our kidnapped people anymore. An uprising is the only way to get them out. They’ll never let us just sneak back in and rescue them. Even if we were successful, they’ll come back and hunt us all down.”
“Cueva will help,” says Lowell. “Once they find out Purenet has been lying to them and keeping them sick with poisoned food, they’ll understand the only way to be free is to rise up.” The kid has more balls than any of us would have thought on the day we meet him in Cueva.
“How will a bunch of sickly Cueva people be of any use to us?” Reznor demands.
“Not all of us are sick. It’s mainly the old people who couldn’t fight anyway. Cueva people are Purenet’s secret weapon. We’re stronger than most,” Lowell protests.
I look at everyone. We don’t have time to debate this.
“Trinity, you should go back with the Enlighten Tribe, the ones who stay at the pyramids,” I say. With the army gone, they’ll need her skills to guard in case there’s an attack.
“No. I’m going with you,” Trinity says to me.
“Trinity, I will not lose you again,” says Spiro.
“I can’t.” Trinity’s eyes are almost pleading with her father. “You must see. I don’t have a choice. I must protect Dax and Hayden. It’s a matter of honor.”
“I can’t let you go again,” says Spiro, although his voice is weaker, like he’s begging.
“It’s my decision,” says Trinity.
I back up a couple of steps. I’m not arguing with her. I’ve seen what she’s capable of.
“We could do with your skills,” I admit. “Reznor, are we agreed?” I turn to him. “How’s your arm?” My eyes stray to the stump left by the cannibalistic Caribes a couple days ago. Reznor is indestructible, but I should have made sure he was strong enough before committing him to another battle.
Captured Memories (The Sanction Series Book 4) Page 3