Caretaker

by Josi Russell

  “This way!”

  “I see something!”

  “Catch it!”

  They were gone, and Ethan took the opportunity to slip out and run from the cover of the bushes. He climbed a small hill and ducked against a guard tower. He heard one of the creatures inside, pacing restlessly.

  Ethan slipped around to the side of the tower that faced the statehouse and looked around. From the top of the hill, he could see that the hill he was on wasn’t a natural rise in the land. Another fortification, it encircled the dark shape of the statehouse, forcing any intruders to crest the ring of the hill on their approach, leaving them exposed. The other side of the hill sloped down to a central courtyard, where a huge crowd was gathered.

  Just as day broke, Ethan saw why.

  Chapter 32

  Many of the Others were gathered below in a central courtyard. A line of the big creatures were kneeling, arms outstretched, as three Others stood spaced out in front of them. Something seemed odd about those three, but Ethan couldn’t put his finger on it.

  Before he figured it out, a fourth began to speak. This one also stood in front of the line of kneeling monsters, and he addressed both them and the crowd gathered behind them.

  “The special rank of guard is accompanied by grave responsibility. Each of you has failed in that responsibility. In your failures, be they in the auction house, in the streets, or in the tunnels below the city, each of you has disappointed the ruler and let down your brothers. By allowing the escape of the humans, you have cost the ruler—and all of us—a great deal. For this, you will be punished.”

  Ethan’s eyes widened as the three standing creatures advanced on the line of those kneeling. They raised their own arms, and, with a dark flashing, struck the arms of their kneeling captives just above the smaller claw. Bursts of black light shot from the severed limbs, and the kneeling creatures crumbled and screamed. The crowd roared.

  The screaming was a horrible, strangled sound, and Ethan felt his stomach twist. He watched, horrified and fascinated, as claw severed claw all the way down the line. By the time the punishers had reached the end of the line, those at the beginning were staggering back into their kneeling position, their severed claws littering the ground in front of them.

  Ethan shook his head to clear the dark scene. He knew he needed to move while that crowd was distracted. It would only take one stray glance up here at the tower and he’d be discovered. Once the crowd dispersed, he knew he would never be able to get past the clearing. He took a deep breath and ran, keeping as low as he could, toward the inner wall of the statehouse.

  He remembered the statehouse from his first day on Beta Alora. It towered over him, and as he looked up, he saw the balconies and remembered transporting out of here with Traxoram what felt like a lifetime ago. The harsh light from the suns left Ethan no hope of blending into the wall. As he shrunk against its smooth surface, he saw, for the first time, a pile of crates next to an inconspicuous door in the wall. Ethan ducked behind them just as he caught a flash of movement on the other side of the wall and the door flew open.

  “They’re bringing them in through this service door. Keep an eye on it,” he heard a huge dusty orange creature say. The creature crossed the threshold of the door, the plates over his eyes sliding down as the sunlight hit him.

  “What do we want with corpses in the statehouse?” the other, a sickly greenish one, replied.

  Ethan kept an eye on the door. They left it open but stopped too close for him to slip in behind them.

  “How would I know?” said the first. “I am sickened by the weakness of them. These so-called guards who expire at the loss of a mere claw.”

  So some of the Others who were punished had never risen from the courtyard. Ethan felt sick.

  “It seems our race grows weaker even as the experiments promise such strength.” The words had barely left the mouth of the green creature when the orange one spun on him, raising his huge claw threateningly.

  “How dare you say such a thing?” he growled. “Our race grows ever more powerful until our moment of triumph!” He cuffed the smaller creature roughly, sending him staggering backwards toward the door. The green one caught himself on the doorjamb, glowered at his companion, and then launched himself forward and grappled with the orange creature. Claws locked, they staggered back and forth, roaring with rage.

  Ethan waited a heartbeat, two, then shifted in anticipation of running for the still-open door. Just as he moved to spring, the two twisted, losing their balance and crashing into the crates in front of him, cursing and kicking their way back to their feet. Ethan froze. They were feet away from him. One wrong breath and he’d be caught.

  Suddenly, four other Alorans appeared, dragging a sledge with the shells of the dismembered and dishonored creatures from the courtyard. The fighters scrambled to attention. In front of the sledge strode Nakthre, sneering derisively at the two door guards.

  “What is this foolishness?” he barked. “Has there not been enough punishment for one day? Are you asking for more?”

  Both shook their enormous heads.

  “Have you any idea how easy it is to slip past guards who are more interested in their own petty squabbles than they are in the good of their society?”

  The guards mumbled apologies.

  “Statehouse Guards should hold themselves to a higher standard,” Nakthre chided. “Now, you are to bear these bodies to the sixth level immediately. They are to be examined to see if their encounters with the energy pulses weakened them to the point that they could not withstand their punishment.”

  “Yes, Nakthre.” The guards took over and pulled the sledge toward the door. On it were four or five dead creatures, piled unceremoniously atop each other, with arms and legs dragging in the red dirt. Ethan assumed that they were very heavy since the two burly creatures strained to move the sledge.

  One of the creatures with Nakthre stepped forward. “Perhaps I could help you transport them the rest of the way,” he said.

  Nakthre laughed. “Idiot!” he said, “How long have you been commissioned?”

  The creature cringed slightly. “Only a few weeks, sir.”

  “Ah. That explains it. Only Statehouse Guards are allowed inside. You’re a Grounds Guard. You’ll stay out here where you belong.”

  Without speaking, the red creature stepped back to his comrades, nodding.

  “Get that to the sixth level immediately,” Nakthre growled. Then he motioned to his contingent and stalked away. The three Grounds Guards followed him silently.

  Ethan watched them shrink into the distance and then disappear into the crowd far across the wide lawn. He turned his attention back to the door.

  The Statehouse Guards continued to struggle toward the door with the sledge. As they strained, one blade of the sledge caught on a rock, and the whole thing tipped sideways. The largest of the dead creatures rolled off the heap and smashed the front crate inches from where Ethan was concealed. Ethan felt the tremor as it hit the ground. The guards swore and disentangled themselves from the yoke of the sledge. They began to struggle with the hulking carcass, grunting as they attempted to lift it back onto the pile. Ethan cringed at the screeching, grating sound of their plates scraping against those of the dead guard. He closed his eyes briefly against it.

  Suddenly, he heard a sharp crack. His eyes flew open just in time to see the dusty orange creature stagger back, the head of his dead comrade in his claws. He winced, dropping it and stepping involuntarily backwards.

  “What have you done?” the green creature snapped.

  “It just came off! His armor is brittle. Perhaps because of the blast?” The orange creature made a sound of disgust and then nudged the head with one blunt foot. “I hope we’re not going to have to pick up pieces of them all the way up to the sixth level.” He scooped up the head and tossed it onto the sledge, where it rested in the crook of another corpse’s arm, and then he moved back to help the other guard. But before they had time
to try lifting the body, a frantic contingent of Grounds Guards loped up to them.

  “What luck! You’re Statehouse Guards!” one creature said excitedly.

  “What luck for whom?” the orange creature growled.

  “We have been sent from the watchtower to convey this prisoner to the Statehouse Guard.” Ethan craned his neck but couldn’t quite see past the two Statehouse Guards.

  “Find someone else. We already have a job.”

  “This prisoner is to be taken directly to the High Stateroom,” the Grounds Guard said with a tantalizing note in his voice.

  At this, the Statehouse Guards exchanged a glance. “The High Stateroom?”

  “Traxoram himself would thank you for your service.”

  “Well, perhaps we could do that first and then come back for these,” said the green Statehouse Guard.

  “I think that would be a wise career move.”

  “Let’s have a look at this prisoner.” The orange Statehouse Guard growled. A Grounds Guard stepped forward, and Ethan stiffened as he saw the prisoner.

  Tesuu dangled limply from the beast’s claw.

  Chapter 33

  Ethan was frozen for several minutes after the door closed behind the Statehouse Guards and Tesuu. He realized now that it was Tesuu that had created the commotion when he was cornered in the bushes, Tesuu that had drawn the guards away from him.

  If he wanted to help his little friend, he had to get to the High Stateroom, and to do that he had to get inside.

  Ethan glanced around. The Grounds Guards had gone back over the hill after transferring Tesuu to the Statehouse Guards, so he was alone, but he had heard the energy shield switch on around the door as they’d passed through, so he knew it wasn’t worth the risk of being seen to try to breach it. He put his fingers to his temples. Without the attenuated grooming laser, there was no hope of going through the wall, and an energy pulse would have the Others on him in seconds.

  He stared at the load of dead creatures that lay baking in the sun in front of him. They gave off a sharp metallic smell. His eyes lighted on the huge beast still lying on the ground.

  And then he saw it. The emptiness inside the shell. The neck hole was easily two feet in diameter, and beyond, where he had expected to see gore, he saw the smooth shining interior of a hollow shell. He quickly calculated how much of that space his body would take up.

  Cautiously, he slipped out from behind the crates and crept toward the fallen leviathan. Without another thought, he plunged his head inside the beast and worked his shoulders through the opening. Slipping his hips and knees in, he crawled to the very bottom of the beast’s torso. It was tight, but when he pulled his knees to his chest there was still space enough behind him that he thought he might avoid detection.

  The stench inside the dead beast was overpowering, and the suns beating down on the shell had sweat dripping off Ethan in minutes. But this was his only chance, so he waited.

  At last the beasts returned, grumbling about their cursory meeting with Traxoram, and heaved the carcass with Ethan in it back onto the sledge. He heard them grunting as they strained to get their cargo moving.

  “It would take seconds to transport this garbage to the sixth level,” the orange creature complained.

  “And seconds more to end up on the floor with them. Transporting in the statehouse is forbidden until the city is secured again. The ruler will take no chances of being surprised.”

  The orange one swore as they continued to struggle with the weight. “It would almost be worth it.”

  Ethan had to brace against the inside of the shell to keep from sliding out, and by the time they reached the sixth level, he was as exhausted from that effort as they sounded from theirs.

  When the sledge came to a stop, Ethan heard the green creature wheezing for breath. “At least this is our last duty of the day. I’m ready for the shift to be over.” He laughed derisively. “For such an important delivery, I would have expected the researchers to at least be here to receive it.”

  “They probably don’t even know we’re coming. Everything is top priority to Nakthre. Let’s leave them and get back to the High Stateroom. I want to see what becomes of that Zumiin. Traxoram seemed anxious to find out how it had survived this long.”

  “We can’t get back in without official business.”

  “Katarem is on duty. He’ll let us slip into the balcony.”

  There was a pause and then a grunt. “It’s worth a try.”

  He heard their heavy tread as they crossed the room and Ethan waited. One long breath. Two. At five he reached for the gaping hole that was this creature’s neck and slipped his hands out. Grabbing the shell, he pulled and slid his head out. The height and breadth of the room, compared with the cramped inside of the shell, made him reel for a moment, and he sucked in the cool air greedily.

  This was a lab room, with tables and diagnostic machines along the wall. Vicious-looking instruments gleamed back at him from the cabinets.

  Ethan shuddered to think what the researchers would do if they found him here. He pulled himself the rest of the way out of the shell and clambered down the pile of bodies, then he crouched a moment on the floor, listening.

  The voices of the Statehouse Guards who had brought him in were fading outside the high, arched doorway. On impulse, Ethan moved after them.

  As he slipped along the long hallways and up the transparent stairs, following the sounds of the creatures’ grumbling, Ethan noted that the statehouse looked just as he remembered it. Vast and dizzying, the rooms stretched around, above, and under him. He kept his eyes on the immediate hallway, not wanting to run into any other beasts. Twice he had to duck into doorways to avoid oncoming creatures, but he made his way to the High Stateroom behind the Others who had gotten him in.

  Ethan had lost count of the corners they’d turned and the floors they’d climbed when he heard the volume level in front of him increase. Instead of just the two voices of his guards, he heard multiple voices clamoring. He pressed close to the wall and slid forward.

  Peering around the corner, Ethan saw a pair of huge doors wide open. Through the doors flowed a crowd of Others, paying no attention to the few Statehouse Guards stationed there who were trying to stop them.

  “You cannot enter!” one of the guards bellowed as he was jostled aside by the throng.

  “I am a senator,” a creature in the crowd shouted back, cuffing the guard as he passed. “I will enter the High Stateroom at my whim. And I will see these proceedings.”

  More of the Others were pouring in from what looked like two main concourses emptying into the vestibule in front of the huge doors.

  “I’ve got to get in there,” Ethan said under his breath. Tapestries hung along the vestibule walls, and without thinking, Ethan darted to the nearest one and slipped behind it. There was a slight space here, just enough for him to lean against the wall and slide along sideways without touching the tapestry in front of him.

  It smelled dusty behind the tapestries. The smell reminded him of waking up on the lakeshore outside the city. Part of him wished he were back there now.

  He made it to the doors, and as he peered out, he saw that the desperate guards were beginning to pull them closed. In an instant, Ethan slid out behind the last beast to squeeze through the doors, and he slipped in as the smooth door thudded behind him.

  He was totally exposed, but his back was pressed to the now-closed door, and all the creatures around him were straining to see what lay ahead in the center of the High Stateroom. A hush fell on them as Traxoram’s voice filled the room. Even though Ethan’s view was blocked by the broad backs of the creatures around him, he heard and felt Traxoram’s anger. Waves of animosity flowed from the ruler of the Others.

  “You will not talk, eh? You think we have no ways of finding out what we want to know? Perhaps this will encourage you to talk.” Traxoram was quiet for an instant, and then a strangled scream echoed through the room.

  Was that t
he cry of Tesuu? Ethan fought waves of nausea.

  “Now will you tell me?” Traxoram asked. “I know now how you escaped, but you must tell me how you got back in. I am surprised at how far into the city you were able to come. How is it that you made it as far as you did?” Traxoram waited for an answer.

  Every being in the room was quiet but the prisoner. A small choking, weeping sound filled the silence.

  “And what of your mate?”

  Ethan shook his head slightly in confusion. Tesuu’s mate was dead. Why didn’t he just tell the ruler that? There were no more Zumiin left on the planet. Why torture Tesuu for such an insignificant detail?

  And then, in one horrible instant, Ethan knew why. As Traxoram focused his energy once more and the anguished cry reverberated again through the chamber, Ethan knew the prisoner Traxoram was torturing wasn’t Tesuu, and he couldn’t avoid crying out himself.

  “Kaia!”

  As the beasts in front of him turned shocked masks toward him, he threw himself forward, clawing through the crowd as Traxoram’s cruel laughter filled the room. He scrambled out of the mass of creatures to see the small, dark figure of Kaia Reagan crouched on the floor under the weight of the Others’ shackles. Beside her, in a small heap, lay Tesuu. Ethan could detect no movement in the little being, not even the rise and fall of his breath.

  Almost immediately, Ethan was immobilized. He felt his body overtaken by the paralyzing weight of the shackles. Traxoram’s anger multiplied the intensity of the bonds, and Ethan felt the weight of that anger crushing the breath out of him. He knelt, folded over, without the ability to even lift his head to look at Kaia.

  “So, you’ve returned for your cargo,” Traxoram hissed. “We knew you would. Your tricks at the auction were of little consequence. We anticipated your return, though I admit your turning up in my High Stateroom is a bit of a surprise. But your cunning did you no good in the face of your emotions, did it? If I had known her pain would bring you rushing into the open, I would have held my interrogation sessions on the balcony, where you could have heard her screams throughout the city. Perhaps that would have brought you more quickly and saved her some of the pain.”