by Elin Wyn
I wasn’t a good woman, either. I semi-gently nudged Juda’s body out of my way and stared at the shelf. He’d walked straight to that rack, no looking around, and no hesitation. Whatever he wanted, it was here. And if he wanted it, it was likely valuable.
Boxes flew as I searched, more thoroughly than he’d bothered to, trying not to think about Davien facing Xavis, or his strange behavior when he’d left. Rati was right, he just had his head in the game.
There, something felt odd. A small cloth bag, nothing special, but a touch heavier than I expected. I ran it through my hands again. Near the bottom seam, something flat and hard stiffened the fabric.
I found a cheap knife on a nearby shelf and slit it open. A comm chip, no markings, paired with a credit chip. Not enough to get us off-planet. Not nearly enough. My fist clenched around the chips. There had to be more.
A cough sounded from near my feet. “Kara? What are you doing here?”
Juda blinked, messy blond hair now free from the hood, falling half over his eyes in a way I’d thought cute, once upon a time. Now he just looked like a half-grown boy-man.
“I could ask the same of you.” I snapped. “And since I’m not the one tied up on the floor, I think I will.”
For the first time since I’d met him, he looked something like ashamed. “I fucked up. There was something that got mixed in my tithe that shouldn’t have been there.”
“You mean, my credits?” Even if it ended up with Davien and me being a pair, the fury over Juda’s betrayal lingered.
“Well, yeah. Figured you’d make it back.” He shrugged, and I could have choked him for his nonchalance. “You always do. No, this was serious.”
“You wouldn’t know serious if it hit you.”
Juda’s eye’s narrowed. “Yeah, well, I’m not the one going around with one of Xavis’ hit men.”
That time I ‘nudged’ him a little harder, just once. Or twice.
“Start again, but don’t get personal. You really don’t want to do that.”
“Fine. Look, you’ve got to help me.”
“No, I don’t. You’re a jerk who stole from me. And I can’t believe you’re working for Bedrock.”
“Just little jobs, mostly running messages, making a few credits where I can. Old sneakernet stuff, right? Avoid the comms monitors. And that’s where I fucked up.”
He took a long breath. “I had a chip I was bringing from one bigshot to another. But the guy taking the tithe took the bag with the credit spike in it when he logged me through. I couldn’t figure out how to get it back without causing a scene.”
Juda looked down, mumbling. “They don’t think Xavis has read it, but if it gets fed into a system, it’ll compromise all kinds of stuff.”
I eyed him disbelievingly. I’d actually thought this idiot was attractive? “What ‘kind of stuff?’” I asked, not bothering to hide the sarcasm that fairly dripped from my voice.
“I don’t know.” He looked frantic. “You gotta believe me, Kara, they don’t tell me much.”
A short bark of laughter escaped me. “I believe that perfectly well.”
I thought about the chip I’d found, held the bag up in front of him. “Any chance this is it?”
He squirmed in his bonds. “Yes, you’ve got it! Give it to me!”
“Shut up, Juda”. I turned away from him. I needed to think.
“But...”
“Shut up, or I’ll walk out of here with the bag,” I promised.
He was quiet. Maybe he finally realized he’d pushed me too far.
Whatever I thought about Bedrock, I didn’t want them betrayed to Xavis. Other people shouldn’t pay for Juda’s stupidity.
However, I didn’t want him complicating my life any further. And I still had a room to search for something, anything, valuable.
I slipped the two chips into my jacket, then turned back to him.
“Here’s the deal. I have my own job going on. I don’t need you in my way.” I placed the bag twenty feet from him, the knife on top. “You can cut yourself free, take it, and get out.” I stood up, walked back into the further reaches of the room. “But shut up about it, or I’ll gag you, as well.”
It wouldn’t take me ten minutes to reach that knife. Juda would be out of my hair for another hour. Muffled grunts were all I heard for the next few minutes until another whisper in my ear.
“Kara, we have a problem.”
“What?
“I found that Hunter.”
“Great, but unless you find the bag as well, he’s not much good to us.”
“Kara, he’s here.” Fingers of ice sliced my belly.
“Where?”
“The hall. I just broke into the cameras. Davien just walked in.” Rati sounded frantic. “Kara, the Hunter is there.”
Davien
The stairwells were quiet as I descended to Xavis' reception hall on the deepest level.
Hoyt and Bani must have already moved the littles. It was for the best that they'd gone, safer to be anywhere but here, and they deserved a better place to play, but I missed catching my little flying girl.
Maybe I'd stop by and check on Mavi when this was over, before we left. I stopped frozen, mid-step. What was I thinking?
More importantly, what was I doing, getting this attached to Kara?
Kara's startled announcement that the creep on the floor was her ex had thrown me. Was that the sort of person she should be with? Maybe not that one, he was obviously a loser. But, shouldn't she be with someone who was at least human?
I ran my tongue over the tips of my teeth and tasted blood. And someone not as likely to drag her into the middle of a war?
She hadn't listened before. Once we were free of Xavis' threat, I'd make her understand. It was for the best, even if it killed me inside.
I clenched the vials of dust. Such small, fragile things to weigh against the balance of our lives. Kara might not find any more upstairs, but I was sure that, with her thief's instincts, she'd find enough of something else valuable to get us off-planet.
Or, at least, her and Bani. Once the bargain was over, there was no reason I couldn't just keep working for Xavis as an enforcer. That had been my plan from the beginning, to work and save up to buy passage. It would be a good, uncomplicated plan to go back to.
For the first time since I'd started working for Xavis, only silence greeted me when I stepped into the small room leading to the reception hall.
Maybe Xavis had gone on one of his tirades, and everyone was hiding. Not uncommon. Anyone who could get out of his sight did, when he was in that mood.
I shook my head. That sort of lack of impulse control must be a recent development. I couldn't imagine how he'd made it to the top of the scheming pile of criminals infesting Ghelfi City with that temper. Maybe it was at the same time he’d decided to use the hoverchair - an odd combination of laziness and intimidation technique.
I pushed open the doors to the hall and took stock. It was quiet here, too.
Maybe it wasn't just Xavis' lack of focus I should be worrying about. My own failure to pick up strangeness in my environment would get me killed faster.
The monitors around the hall were unmanned. Only Xavis himself remained, upon his dais, inspecting something on a side table beside him. The background of deep scarlet curtains threw his bulk into sharp relief.
“Xavis,” I called out. “I've come to settle our deal.”
He jerked back in his chair, as if his mind had been elsewhere. “Davien, my boy. I'm happy to see you.”
His voice had a brightness I'd never heard before. I stopped halfway across the floor, senses stretched out as far as I could. Something was seriously wrong.
“I'm pleased that you were able to uphold your end of our bargain.” He floated towards me in that damn hoverchair. “You're one of my best men, and, despite her occasional inconveniences, Kara is a talent I'd hated to be Wasted.” He tittered at his bad joke.
“I have your four vials. So her
tithe is paid, and we've met the deadline, right?”
He waved his hand, eyes glittering. “Of course. Everything’s back to normal.”
Sure, I thought. I still couldn't hear anything out of place, but every nerve screamed that it was time to be somewhere else.
Xavis stopped mere inches from me, hand outstretched.
I placed the vials in his palm and made a quick nod. “Now that this is out of the way, I'll leave you to your evening.”
I’d started to the door when he called out. “Wait.”
I froze.
“Our deal was for the vials that Kara had stolen, and that she claimed a mysterious helmeted figure had stolen from her in turn, was it not?” His voice oozed with malice.
“Right,” I gestured to the vials in his hand. “Half of that eight would be those four.”
“But these can't be those vials,” he continued, a greasy smile curling his lips.
“How do you figure that?” I fought the urge to stiffen, to brace for a fight. So far, he didn't have anything on us, giving the game away with my reaction would be a fool’s move.
“Dust knows no provenance, as I'm sure you've heard. But some things do.” He floated back towards his dais and picked up a small satchel from the table next to him
“Like this.” He ran his finger over the strap, flipped open the flap to show me the twinkle of eight vials in their pockets. I didn't recognize the bag, but I didn't have to. It had to be Kara's. But how could it be here?
Unless.
“Perhaps you've already been introduced to my guest?”
Xavis beckoned and, out of the shadows of the drapery, a Hunter silently emerged.
Oh shit.
It stopped by Xavis’ chair, but I could feel the full force of its attention from beneath the black helmet. "Results of the Daedalus Experiment are to be returned to Base," it finally said.
“Hmmm…” Xavis mused. “That doesn't sound pleasant. And it would leave Kara without her new defender.”
My gut clenched, and I readied for the fight.
“It's a deal. He's yours.”
Kara
“Make it go faster,” I muttered, pacing the lift tube like a cage.
“I’ve already taken all but the safeties off the controls,” Rati answered. “Just a few more seconds.”
“Can you at least warn Davien, somehow?” I begged her.
Her voice was grim. “He already knows. Xavis nearly ordered that thing to fight him.”
My heart clenched. Davien hadn’t even had a chance to finish healing from the last fight with that thing. It would kill him.
And I would be powerless to do anything other than watch.
Wouldn’t I?
My thoughts spun. If Xavis could order it to fight, he could make it stop. I just had to make it worth his while.
I leaned against the comm panel Davien had pushed me against, felt the scorch of his lips on mine all over again.
Xavis would want me back in the complex, under tighter control.
Would that be enough?
I could increase my tithe - didn't know how, but I’d find a way to manage it.
There was nothing Xavis loved more than money. He didn't need to do anything further to Davien.
Davien could get out of here, surely he had some credits saved. I could make more, get him off-planet.
And I'd stay here. Promise Xavis anything, if he'd just stop the fight.
The lift tube finally freed me to burst into the hall. My stomach rose to my throat, mind dizzied as I tried to keep up with the shapes of Davien and the Hunter as they grappled, rolling through the room.
I knew Davien wasn't human. Really, I did. But it wasn't until I watched him fight the Hunter, both of them moving at super-fast speeds, ducking punches that left holes in the walls and would have killed a normal man, that it really sunk in.
And I didn't care.
I had to save him.
“Xavis,” I screamed, running to the dais, forcing my attention away from the fight. “Stop it!”
“Why should I do that, little one?” He floated towards me, attention still over my shoulder.
“Because you don't get anything out of it? And I can make you a better deal.”
“Really?” He flicked his eyes to me. “What would do that?”
“Increase my tithe.” I ran the numbers in my head, gave up, and blurted out something that sounded reasonable. “Fifteen percent more for the next twelve payments. It’s far more than you'd get just by having him killed.”
I could hear the battle raging behind me, but I couldn’t look. All that mattered now was keeping Xavis' attention on me.
“Fifteen percent,” I repeated. “You know I can do it.”
“Twenty,” he replied, eyes glittering.
“Seventeen,” I countered.
“Seventeen, for twenty payments.” His hungry expression sickened me, but there was no choice.
“Done,” I said before he retracted the offer.
He handed me his hand, and I shook it, my belly turning to lead.
I'd never be free. Honestly, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to pull off that much of an increase in the tithe. But Davien would escape, and take Bani with him. It would be worth it.
“My friend,” Xavis called out. Obviously, the Hunter either didn’t hear him or didn’t care, because the fight continued, the figures slower now, but unyielding.
The Hunter and Davien’s arms locked around each other in a grotesque parody of an embrace. With a sudden twist, the Hunter gained the advantage and flung Davien against the far wall.
He hit with a sickening thud, and my heart caught in my throat. He didn’t stand. He didn’t move. I couldn’t see if he was even breathing.
I pulled against Xavis’ grip, but he refused to relent.
“My friend, a word.” The mildness of his words underscored the violence soaking through the room.
The Hunter stopped mid-step, then turned slightly towards Xavis.
Davien didn’t move. I couldn’t pay attention to anything but his battered form.
“I’ll see that he’s secured.” Xavis tapped the control panel of the hover chair, and three of his soldiers entered the room, standing over Davien’s body.
“But I’ll double the payment for the weapons, if I could ask you to do me a favor. Just to make a little point.” His hand squeezed mine painfully, bending it back against the wrist.
“You need to understand you can’t bargain with me. I own you, and everyone in Ghelfi City.”
“I’m sending you a set of coordinates.” He tapped again, and I blinked away tears, either from the pain or watching Davien’s chest slowly rise and fall, I wasn’t sure.
Wake up, wake up, I breathed.
“Destroy the building there, and I’ll double the payment for the weapons.”
No response from the Hunter.
Xavis’ mouth tightened in annoyance. “You do want to get the best price, don’t you?”
Seconds stretched until the Hunter replied. “If the experiment is not secured, the payment will be tripled.”
Xavis nodded. “Agreed.” Another twist to my wrist. “You see, Kara, there’s no way out. You think I don’t know what happens in my own domain?”
Mind reeling, I could only stutter. “Where are you sending it?”
“Filthy little traitors, thought they could leave. No one leaves,” Xavis answered.
Leave? Oh, Void. “Not the refinery?” I whispered.
“Why not?” Xavis shrugged as the Hunter walked out of the room, implacable doom in its march.
“I hear you,” Rati whispered in my ear. “I’ve got bots on the way, but I don’t know if it’ll be enough.”
“How can you do this?” I gasped.
“Children are expendable.” Xavis shrugged. “I thought you, of all people, knew that.”
Bastard.
“You don’t own me. You don’t own anyone,” I hissed. Fuck the pain. With everything I had le
ft, I pulled him towards me in that stupid chair and punched him between those piggy eyes.
“You bitch,” he screamed, as he released me to frantically stab at the controls, moving back to the safety of his dais. “Kill her!”
The three soldiers moved to form a half circle, herding me like easy prey.
Turning their back to Davien, who rose behind them like a thing of nightmares. Blood streamed down his face, split by a mad grin, showing all his pointed teeth.
Before two of the soldiers could turn around, he’d tossed them aside like playthings. He shook the third until my scream caught his attention.
“The Hunter. He’s after the children!”
He flung the final soldier against the foot of the dais and turned his wild eyes on me.
“What about you?” The words came out in ragged gasps, but he glared at Xavis, now cowering in his chair.
“I’ll be right behind you. I’m safe,” I promised. “Don’t wait for me.”
I leaned into his chest, heart breaking. I didn’t know if he’d survive another bout with the Hunter, but neither of us could live with ourselves if we didn’t try.
His arms wrapped around me, and he breathed in, nuzzling my hair as if it could give him enough strength. In seconds, he released me and turned away to race through the door.
“Rati, help him,” I begged.
I started after him, knowing that at only human speed, I’d never catch him, only be there to witness the aftermath.
Xavis cackled hysterically behind me. “I own you. Never forget it. The only way out is the one your mother took.”
I spun, words hot in my throat, then stopped.
In the depths of the scarlet drapery, a flicker caught my eye. A flash of a pattern that didn’t want to resolve. Apparently, Bedrock had decided to strike.
I left Xavis to his fate, and ran to follow mine.
Davien
I flung myself onto the street outside the complex. The Hunter was long gone.
But I didn't need to follow him, I knew where he was going.