by Chele Cooke
Dhiren remained close, his hand hanging an inch or two from her leg. There were no reassuring pats on the shoulder, or hand squeezes, but he remained close enough to be in touching distance. She liked that.
Georgianna hadn’t even found out whether they were infected or not, and now she couldn’t bring herself to ask the question.
“The deal was for Beck and the lists,” Alec said.
Keiran shrugged. “Then we change the deal.”
“And what about all the other Ven in there? Why not just change the deal for all of them?”
“How can you be so heartless? This is her family we’re talking about.”
Alec blanched and turned away from them. He rubbed his hands over his hair, scrunching it between his fingers.
As Georgianna lifted her head, she spotted the web of electrical scars over Alec’s neck, usually hidden beneath the hair. She gulped. “Alec’s right.”
“What?”
“Seriously?”
They both whipped around to stare at her, Alec as surprised as Keiran that she’d agreed with him. Keiran moved back towards her, his hands already outstretched to take hers, but Georgianna jumped to her feet and dodged out of the way. Dhiren barred Keiran’s path with his arm and shook his head, warning him off.
“If we change the demands now, the Cahlven will never trust a deal with us. We need to do as we said, keep our word.”
Alec stepped closer. “George, nobody cares what the Cahlven think of us.”
She met his gaze and attempted a smile; she was sure it came out as more of a grimace. “We need Beck. And he deserves to be free. As far as we know, my family are being treated well and are safe. Beck isn’t.”
There was a shuffle within the car behind them, but beside Dhiren leaning back to peer inside, none of them took any notice. Lacie and Jacob were in there with Olless, and while they weren’t the most trained fighters, Olless was surely smart enough to know that getting past them would not be enough to secure her escape.
“Shouldn’t we be asking for more?” Alec said. “Don’t get me wrong. I want Beck safe as much as anybody. He led us for a decade. But—”
“But what?” Keiran pressed him.
Alec sighed and crouched down, resting his elbows on his knees. He rocked back and forth, pondering. “We have Olless. She is worth a lot to the Cahlven. She has more control there than Beck would have here.” He glanced around at their sceptical expressions and groaned. “Let’s face it, guys. We get Beck back, and we’re still exactly where we are now. Stuck in a tunnel without enough supplies to even try to fight this thing. Against the Adveni, we had numbers, we had supplies. Now, we have nothing.”
Keiran waved a hand. “We also had the fact that the Adveni wanted to wipe us out completely, and were holding off to ensure they got every one of us. The Cahlven won’t wait. They’ll pick us off one by one if they have to.”
“That doesn’t change whether we have Olless or not.”
Dhiren pushed himself upright and stepped away from the tunnel car. “I’m the only one who is objective here.”
“How do you figure that?” Alex said.
“I don’t know Beck any better than anyone else under that shield. But the fact is that the Cahlven locked him away and kept him locked away, they must believe he’s a threat.”
Alec frowned and considered Dhiren for a moment. He ground his teeth and scrunched his hands into fists. “So you’re saying we should make the trade?”
“I’m saying that we must weigh up the loss of information from Olless to the information and assistance we may gain from Beck’s return.”
“Olless is like the Colvohan’s right hand,” Alec said. “She knows everything.”
“Then perhaps it is too great a loss for us. Although she’s not exactly forthcoming, is she?”
“We could pressure her…” Keiran said.
Dhiren waved his hand in Alec’s direction and grimaced. “And how well did that work from your owner, Alec?”
Keiran frowned and turned away.
“ Beck’s sick.”
Georgianna jumped and turned back to the doorway to find Lacie clambering down, with Jacob just behind her.
“What?”
Lacie crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot. She shifted her weight and chewed on her bottom lip. Georgianna thought she looked like Jaid in that moment, trying to figure out a particularly difficult medical problem when they’d been on Medic’s Way.
“We asked Olless to look at Beck’s records,” Lacie said. “And he’s been tested. There are notes that he’s reacting badly.”
Dhiren stepped forwards and laid a hand on Lacie’s shoulder. “Lacie, I don’t think this changes the decision the way you would hope. If Beck is indeed sick, it sways the scales of usefulness in Olless’ favour.”
“What?” Lacie wrenched herself out from underneath Dhiren’s hand, red hair flying as she turned on him, more furious than Georgianna had ever seen her.
Jacob recognised the danger and jumped to Lacie’s side, wrapping an arm around her stomach. “He’s being practical, Lace. We need to be practical.”
“But he said—”
“I know, I know.”
Jacob eased her back a few steps, but the fire didn’t leave her eyes, and her cheeks stayed as red as her hair.
Dhiren, at least, had the sense to retreat and fall silent.
“We can’t keep both,” Alec said. “If we’re going to make this trade, we need to just make it. We didn’t let Grystch trade himself, though it would have benefitted us. We shouldn’t let Beck take the fall, either.”
“Let me go,” Lacie said.
“What?”
“Let me go in Olless’ place.” Five sets of surprised eyes stared back at her. “I’m Olless’ size. It would fool them long enough to get Beck back, and then you’d still have Olless for information.”
Keiran grimaced. “We’d also have our dead bodies as soon as Beck realises we’ve handed you over to the Cahlven.”
“He’d understand.”
Jacob shook his head and held Lacie closer. “No. He wouldn’t. You’re the most important thing in the world to him.”
“They’re right,” Georgianna said. “Beck would never forgive us. It’s too dangerous.”
“But—”
“No.” Georgianna took a deep breath, steadying herself. She brushed her hair back and nodded, more to herself than any of them. “No, we’re getting Beck back. Olless will tell us nothing that can help us, and we all owe it to Beck to get him out of there.” Dhiren gave a resigned nod and climbed up into the tunnel car. “Where are you going?”
He looked back. “To get as much information as I can from Olless before we have to give her back.”
“Are you sure you’ll be able to get back in?”
They had left the others at the car, and walked a long way down the tunnel before they took a seat and leaned against the rough wall. Keiran had immediately wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in against him. Georgianna knew that she could have fallen asleep just as they were. Even with the news that her family were alive and under the Cahlven shield, with Keiran beside her, she was more relaxed than she’d been in months. But Keiran couldn’t stay, and so while sleep nibbled at the edges of her consciousness, she pushed it away, in the hope of spending just a little more time with him.
“Well, it depends on Olless, doesn’t it?” Keiran said.
“Maybe you should just stay, give up the ruse. We’d have you and Beck back.”
Keiran turned and kissed the top of her head. His breath washed down her cheek, warm and rhythmic. “We need someone inside, George.”
“I know. But what use would that be, if Olless just tells the Colvohan that it’s all been a lie? They’ll lock you up, just like they did with Beck.”
He chuckled and nudged her hair with his nose.
“Then you’d better send Dhiren to kidnap Olless again.”
Georgianna leaned awa
y and twisted to look at him properly. She clambered up onto her knees and shuffled closer, taking his face in her hands.
“How long do we have to do this?” she said. “I don’t want my whole life to be this fight.”
Keiran tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and gave her a sad smile. “I don’t want it either, George, but what choice do we have?”
“We could run. Dhiren’s been wanting to for months. He’s used to living alone. He knows how to survive.”
“Before or after we invade the shield to get your family back?”
“After. Obviously.”
He smiled. “And then, once you see the Veniche who are sick… Before or after you decide you have to help them, too?”
Georgianna groaned and dropped her head to stare down at her knees. He was right. She’d not left with Dhiren because she knew she couldn’t leave the Cahlven and Adveni to claim control over the rest of the Veniche people. And that was before she knew that this sickness wasn’t just a virus outbreak, but something the Cahlven had planned.
She looked up at him. “What can we do?”
“You tell me. I was never that good at coming up with the plans. I just follow orders.”
“That’s not true. You came up with the Mykahnol plan.”
“And look where it got us.”
“Even if they hated us and banished us for it, the Cahlven at least respected us for that.”
He raised an eyebrow. “And look where it got us.”
Georgianna slumped down beside him. Keiran pulled her into his lap and wrapped his arms tight around her. “I don’t know how long before I have to go back. Every conversation we’ve had these last months has been about this war. I just… I just want to be with you, George.”
She wound her arms around his shoulders and held herself close to him, fingers tracing across the back of his neck. “You’ll be able to look for my family when you go back?”
“Of course I will.”
“But—”
Keiran found her lips. He covered them with his own and held her against him, kissing her until they were both gasping for breath. He broke away for a moment, smiling. “Stop talking. I’m going to need something to remember once I’m locked in that Cahlven cell.”
The message came through in the early hours of the morning, and it was Dhiren who awoke them, running through the tunnel and almost tripping over their legs. He stumbled to a stop, bracing against the wall and staring in the other direction as Georgianna sat up and brushed her hair back out of the nest it had become.
“What is it?” she said.
“Olless’ thing is going nuts.”
“Olless’ thing?” Keiran said, sniggering to himself. Georgianna rolled her eyes.
“Her tsentyl,” Dhiren said, waving a hand. “Her communications device. It’s flashing and beeping and won’t shut up. It’s got your name on it, George.”
Georgianna scrambled to her feet, helped pull Keiran up off the ground, and followed Dhiren back down the tunnel to their little camp.
Everyone had congregated outside the tunnel car, shifting their weight and watching the noisy, flashing device in Olless’ hands. Olless sat in the doorway, the Cahlven blanket still wrapped around her. Only her feet, her head, and her hands poked out.
“Can’t you stop it?” Georgianna said.
Olless frowned and glared up at her. “Yes. I could have listened. I suppose politeness is not cherished when you live in an underground tunnel.” She rolled her wide eyes. “I thought it best to let you listen first hand since it has your name on it.”
Georgianna ignored the slight, though it seemed she was the only one. The others glared at Olless, sneering and muttering under their breath. Maybe it was because they’d been subjected to Olless’ patronising tone overnight, while she and Keiran had at least been able to take a break.
“Open it,” Georgianna said.
It wasn’t like a tsentyl, and it didn’t change shape, but with a push of two little buttons on the side, another display made of lights flickered up above the device. Olless swiped her finger through one, then a second.
The disembodied voice of the First Colvohan filled the small chamber in the tunnel. “Come to the place where you passed through the shield at sun high with Olless. We will bring your Marshall. You may bring two others with you. We will be watching. Bringing more will result in the trade being abandoned.”
The voice faded, along with the lights from the device, plunging them back into a silent gloom. Georgianna nodded to herself.
Alec chewed on his lip. “The shield is massive. How do we know where—”
“Your pass,” Keiran said. “He knows you were almost caught.”
“Which means he probably also knows I came to see you,” Georgianna said. “I still don’t like the idea of you going back there.”
He took her hand and squeezed. “We agreed,” he said, suddenly grinning. “Though, I suppose if you want to kidnap someone less annoying next time, I won’t hold it against you.”
Olless got to her feet in such a fluid movement it was like water rearranging itself. Dhiren jumped forwards, but she waved him away. She took off the blanket and folded it in half, and then in half again before laying it in the doorway where she had just been sitting. “During the trade, they will expect movement through the shield.” She turned to face them. “The detection of bodies passing through is limited at best and can only be detected to a segment, not a specific location. Mr Zanetti should position himself close enough that he can pass through and be considered as part of the trade by those monitoring the shield’s stability, but far enough away that the delegation coming for the trade will not see him.”
Dhiren’s mouth dropped open; he resembled a suspicious fish.
“Are you helping us?” Alec said. “You’re not going to tell them about Keiran coming here?”
Olless straightened up and stared at him. “I have not decided. But you took me for information, and this is the information I am giving you. Whether you choose to use it or not is your decision, not mine.”
She stood, hands clasped together in front of her, and let her gaze wander over each of them in turn. Georgianna fidgeted and glanced at Dhiren, Alec, and Keiran. There was something else they had to consider. “He said we can have two come with us. I’d suggest Dhiren and Alec. Lacie, Beck will only get nervous if you’re there, and he’d probably skin us alive for pelts if we gave you a gun and asked you to guard. Jacob, I assume you’d want to stay with Lacie?” Jacob nodded. Surprisingly, so did Lacie. “That’s fine. Better to have him happy to see us.”
Alec laughed and moved over to join her. “He’ll be thrilled to see you. Far more than our ugly mugs.”
Jacob gathered up the blanket Olless had left in the doorway, nodded to the Cahlven woman, and took Lacie’s hand, leading her over to the other tunnel car. Given the size of their lodging, they would soon be sharing it with Beck. That was, unless Georgianna was sent over to join them. Either way, they wouldn’t have the privacy they had grown accustomed to over the last months.
“You think we’re safe?” Alec said. “Going there, just the three of us?”
Dhiren shook his head and took up Olless’ previous position in the doorway, bringing his foot up to rest on the metal rim. He wrapped both arms around his leg and rested his chin on his knee. “It’s certainly not ideal. But then what is, these days?”
Alec nodded. “True.”
“It is what it is,” Georgianna said. “If we tried to show up with more, the Colvohan wouldn’t come to meet us, and they most likely have more surveillance around the shield to show them when we’re coming.”
“That is true,” Olless said.
“So how am I supposed to get through the shield close by if they’re watching?”
“There are houses passing through the shield all around there,” Georgianna said. “If you can get into one close by, which shouldn’t be difficult as most are abandoned, you could get from house to house and pass
through.”
“Won’t they be watching the whole area?”
“They would not expect you to arrive early with a hostage in tow,” Olless said. “If you go early enough, it is probable that they are not watching the location yet. You could get into position.”
Keiran sighed and moved closer to Georgianna. “So, you’re saying I should leave now?”
“It would be preferable, yes.”
Keiran took Georgianna’s elbow and led her back a few paces away from them.
“Are you sure about this?” Georgianna said. “Should we even trust her?”
“We don’t have a choice.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Neither do I.” He leaned down and kissed her. Georgianna clung on for a few more seconds, taking deep breaths of the scent she would miss the moment he was gone. “I’ll see you again soon, okay? Trust that. Trust me.”
Georgianna buried her face in the crook of his neck and nodded. “You know I do.”
Keiran hugged her tight. He released her and moved back, clapping Alec and Dhiren both on the shoulders. “Let me know what’s going on. Soon as you know.”
Alec gripped his shoulder and smiled. “We will. Be safe.”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
Before Georgianna could stop him again, get in one last kiss, or take one last breath of that scent which would have made it so much harder to let him go, he was jogging into the black of the tunnel, his footsteps fading to nothing.
Olless looked overburdened and drowned in Dhiren’s coat, but she had expressed her gratitude for its warmth as they trekked to the shield for the meeting. Dhiren had brushed off the gratitude, but Georgianna kept a close eye on the Cahlven woman, and despite her clear dislike of walking in the snow, she kept pace with them, and didn’t look like she was considering running away. For the first ten minutes, Alec had kept a tight grip on her arm through the bulky coat, but even he appeared to have realised their hostage wasn’t going anywhere. They were heading to free her, after all.
They had not discussed again whether they trusted Olless’ information about how to pass through the shield, nor whether she might tell the Colvohan about Keiran the moment she was away from them. Georgianna didn’t want to give Olless the impression they didn’t trust her. Not that they did trust her, but maybe giving Olless the benefit of the doubt might sway her further to their side.