by Ciara Knight
Penton shook his head. “I’ve heard of that hellhole. No one’s ever left it alive.”
Ryder grasped my hand. “Are you positive, Semara?”
I knew he believed me, but his hope of the rebels being our saviors had just taken a hit. I knew how he felt. The truth had broken my heart, too.
Penton pushed his tray to the side. “Why would Thornton betray Mart?”
“Thornton’s brother was sent to the Tower toward the end of the war. He was innocent. He’s offered to help save Dred. But except for not drugging him, Thornton can’t do anything else. There has to be something we can do.”
“Can’t we tell Gordon?” Penton asked.
“No. Mart’ll learn Thornton didn’t follow orders, and he’ll join Dred and me in the Tower.”
Ryder rapped his fingertips on the table. “I’ve spent a lot of time building relationships with soldiers onboard. If we betray Gordon, they’ll never help us.”
“Yes, not good.” Bendar bit his bottom lip. “Must think other plan.”
Raeth eyed the clock. Time was always our enemy. “Can we get him s-some place s-safe when we dock?”
“According to Thornton, there isn’t anywhere safe to go. The closest place to find sanctuary is in Middle Europe. We’d have to cross terrain full of crazy people and toxic blue haze. Neither sounds great to me.” My head down, I muttered, “I wish Mags were here.”
Ryder rubbed the back of my neck. “Don’t worry, we’ll make it back to Old Chicago someday and see our homemade-bomb-flinging, crazy lady take on more assassins.”
I appreciated Ryder’s attempt to lighten the mood. Unfortunately, I hadn’t gotten to half of what they needed to learn.
Raeth worried her bottom lip. “Okay, s-so our only option is to cross crazy country to M-Middle Europe. M-maybe that captain can help us. He wanted S-Semara bad.”
Bendar ran his fork through the vegetable mash. “Only chance to convince Gordon. Not share how or why.”
“If only Dred had information to help the rebellion we could take to the council,” Penton said.
“Wait, that’s it.” They didn’t know what I remembered. “I had a breakthrough with Gordon on my memories. I’m not the princess.” The excitement inside boiled to the surface. I couldn’t suppress the grin tugging my lips nearly to my ears. “The queen isn’t my mother. I’m her sister, Lanena’s, child. And the queen murdered her.”
Bendar shot an arched brow, worrisome look at Ryder.
“I’m not crazy. I went to Gordon again after I spoke to Thornton. Gordon said if we dug deeper, we might discover something that would keep the council from imprisoning me.”
I shrank from Ryder’s scowl.
“You went alone?”
“Don’t worry. I didn’t endanger the ship…this time.” I couldn’t help but feel proud of controlling my emotions and mastering my gift. “I actually didn’t remember anything useful. I only saw my mom pregnant with me, my dad by her side, and the queen planning something hideous. I think a child put the block on me, but I’m not sure why. I caught a glimpse of him. I wish I had more. Gordon says he’s going to fight to keep me out of prison, though.”
“Why do they want to imprison you?” Clutching Raeth’s hand, Penton frowned. “You’re part of the Triune, the one chance the world has to win against your mother…sorry, the queen.”
Raeth boldly covered Penton’s hand. “Th-they don’t know about the p-prophecy or don’t believe.”
Resting upon the table, Ryder’s fingers curled into white-knuckled fists. “This all doesn’t make sense. If the council wants to take down the queen, they’d welcome us.”
I stroked his thigh, sending heat to counter the increasing cold. “Unless they don’t want to defeat the queen.” We sat silent for a moment, each of us trying to figure out the truth. “Gordon’s worked hard to help me remember something, anything, so I’ll be a viable asset to the cause.”
When Ryder murmured, “Maybe too hard,” alarms pealed in my head.
Bendar cleared his throat, hopped down, walked around the table, then stood between Ryder and me. The pity in his brown eyes spoke volumes.
Apprehension tightened my shoulders. “What is it?”
“Much more to story. But Father want to tell. Rejoin you someday soon.”
“How do you know what my father wants?”
Bendar bowed his head. “I was there. Boy in your dreams. Always been with you.”
Chapter Twelve
As I wiped the sleep from my eyes, I strode from my room. All night, I’d tossed and turned reviewing our plan. Ryder made me promise not to take any midnight walks. We couldn’t afford for one of us to be thrown in the brig. If that happened, our plan would never work.
One of my earliest memories was to honor my word. A promise was sacrosanct and never to be broken. And Ryder knew that, too, especially when all I wanted to do was grill Bendar and discover the truth. I thought he’d been with me since my arrival on the queen’s ship. Now, I knew he’d watched over me since I was born. He’d sworn he would explain everything once we escaped Upper Europe’s council. I hoped I was wrong, but I feared I wouldn’t last that long.
A medic gave a quick nod and continued by me.
Had he noticed Dred wasn’t fully unconscious? No, he couldn’t have. If he had, an alarm would have been raised and Thornton would be in the brig. I splayed my fingers then fisted them, trying to stop the shaking.
A tapping of metal tipped shoes warned me of Captain Gordon’s approach, then he paused before me. “You look exhausted.”
“Thanks.”
“What happened? I told you to miss our session and get some sleep. Obviously that didn’t happen. Nightmares again?”
I swallowed hard. “No. The fear of what’ll happen to my friends and me when we dock today.”
Gordon’s fingers circled my wrist, holding me prisoner, unable to move. “Semara, I’ve promised I’d convince the council of your value and I have. You’ve nothing to worry about. You’ll be going straight to the city. As you wanted, you’ll be working with them to plan strategies for us to gain our independence and ultimately free your people, too.”
How I longed to believe him.
“Ryder will be by your side also. They’ve asked to speak to him. They were impressed with what he’s accomplished, not only in keeping you alive but while here. That he’s a runaway slave and accomplished all this surprised them even more.”
If he spoke the truth that meant our escape plans needed to change. But could I trust him?
No. More than ever my skin crawled at his touch and my techno implant buzzed an alert.
Entering the lift, I took several deep, calming breaths. The doors opened onto the bridge. Officers and crew were busily pushing buttons, reading reports, and scanning…
Wait. I could scan the docks as we approached. While I wanted to believe Gordon spoke the truth, the survivalist inside screamed to double check.
“Excuse me, sir.” I bolted to my station, relieving the man from the previous shift.
Mart scowled as I passed. “Now she wants to do her job.”
For once, the desire to engage in trivial banter didn’t surface. Swiveling my chair to face the viewfinder, I discretely bypassed the connection from it to the screen and displayed a direct view of the ocean. Glancing up from the coordinates inputted, I directed the scan to the docks.
“Approaching land. All personnel to their stations,” Captain Gordon’s voice boomed over the speakers.
A lieutenant reviewed reports with Mart, her attention diverted for the few moments I needed. I leaned over and scanned ahead, rotating the large knob on the side to amplify the distant blur. After a few clicks, I saw the underground docks.
“What are you doing?” Mart snapped.
I willed myself to sit up straight and face my accuser. At seeing her chastising the lieutenant instead, I clicked the knob a few more times to zoom in further.
As Mart finished with the lieutenant
, I minimized the screen, showing the original one, and busied myself with typing reports on my halo pad. She brushed passed and hovered over the station a level back. Unable to turn and observe her without drawing attention, I continued with my report, willing her to once again move to the front of the bridge.
Scab spun from his station to face the center of the bridge, the blue streaks in his hair appearing a dark green under the bridge lights. “Captain Gordon, we’re being hailed.”
“Mart, join me,” Gordon ordered as he settled in his chair. “Put it on screen.”
Once all the connections were properly secure, I pressed the large gold button and a dock worker came on screen.
I lowered my eyes to the bronze circle eyepiece and held the side of the viewfinder, blinking as I turned the focusing knob a few clicks. Then with small covert movements, I swiveled the joy stick until the focal point rested on the docks. A legion of men in uniform stood, weapons ready.
I swallowed my gasp, but couldn’t stop my stumble fast enough and knocked my halo pad to the ground. Freezing, I glanced around me. Everyone on the bridge now faced me, even the dark-haired man in a dock hat on screen.
No words formed on my lips. Shock and terror at the army waiting for our arrival left me mute. With a silent, jerky nod, I forced myself to blush and quickly retrieved my pad.
“Nevende dekel,” Mart mumbled and redirected her attention to the screen.
I settled onto my stool as if nothing was wrong and took a deep breath. With everyone’s attention back on the screen, I stole another glance through the viewfinder. Three lines of men, twenty per row, weapons both holstered on hips and clasped at their chests. I was right. It wasn’t a welcoming party. And much as I’d like to believe it was for safety reasons due to the Middle Europe’s captain making a threat against the Freedom, I knew better.
“Semara,” Captain Gordon called. “What are you doing?”
“Just working on my report,” I said. A glance at the screen told me the connection had been terminated. Obviously, I hadn’t heard his initial address.
“You’re relieved.”
“Sir?”
“You’re relieved.” He motioned forward the young sailor standing at the back of the bridge with his hands clasped behind his back.
“Yes, sir.”
“That’s not necessary.” I slid my fingers up the console without looking and felt for the switch to flip the view back to normal.
“I gave an order, Semara. Go to your quarters.” His cold, distant gaze extinguished my last lingering hope I’d been wrong. “Or do you need an armed escort?”
“Armed escort?” I asked, my voice weak and barely audible to my ears.
“When we dock in less than an hour, you’re to meet the council.”
Right, like I really believe that.
Mart stomped toward me with a pierced eyebrow arching. “Ye up to something.”
Reaching for my halo pad, I moved the joy stick. Without a word, I stood.
Mart leaned over the viewfinder then straightened, her glare searching for the truth in my eyes.
She saw it. Contempt.
“Yes, sir. I’ll be ready when we dock.” Pivoting and with shoulders back, I strode to the lift. As Mart and the captain watched, I hit the button to the quarters deck. Once the doors slid shut, I pressed the button for the engine room.
My stomach floated. After a pause on my quarter’s floor, the lift traveled to the depths of the ship. I’d only been on the engine room level once and hadn’t wanted to ever return. But Ryder needed to know what I’d just discovered. Our escape, heck, all our lives depended upon it.
The doors slid open and I stared at a room much larger than I’d remembered. A labyrinth of brushed silver, bronze, and gold tubes lined the walls and panels in the center of the room. Men stood on gangways touching halo pads and adjusting gauges, levers, and dials.
I exited the lift and ducked behind a massive corrugated pipe that ran the length of the long room. Tiptoeing, I moved along the gangway. Muffled voices filtered through the sound of grinding gears shifting. All I knew about engines was they were so loud it was impossible to distinguish who was talking. After two turns, I came to a three-way branch in the gangway. To the left, a large group of men hovered over a screen, casting white light onto their faces. Ahead, steam blocked my view. To the right, I spotted a couple of men. Staring at my halo pad, I walked forward through the mist, praying Bendar would pop out of a hatch as he did when I was a child on the queen’s ship or I’d come upon Ryder.
“Hey, you,” a man yelled over the hum of the tube at my side.
I turned and faced the man, his hair plastered to his face from mist and sweat. Tools hung from the large belt wrapped around his waist as he shuffled toward me. He pressed his gloved hands together and stopped a few paces away. His eyes narrowed. “You’re Ryder’s girl, aren’t ya?”
I scanned his features and thought I recalled Ryder describing a friend with a scar down his right cheek. “Harold?”
His eyes lit as if he’d just met a long lost relative. Then his expression morphed into fear as he scanned behind and in front of us. “Whatcha doin’ down here, luv?”
“I need to find Ryder or Bendar. It’s urgent. Please, can you help me?”
He swiped the dripping sweat from his forehead with the back of his glove. “I can’t take ya to him. Too many people ’round and ya not supposed to be down here. I’ll take a message to him though.”
I didn’t have a choice. I had to trust he was truly Ryder’s friend. “Ryder said you’d help us. We’re going to need it sooner than we thought. And I have to hide now.”
“I promised him I would. Not fair about the prison thing and all. Ya have friends of the Triune on this ship. We wants to help ya.”
“Thank you. There are sixty plus men with loaded weapons waiting on the docks. With that kind of fire power, we can’t escape as arranged without hurting others. We need a new plan.”
Grim faced, he nodded. “Meet in the mess hall. Won’t be pretty, but I think I’ve gotcha a way off. Scoot now, before ya caught.”
I leapt and hugged him tight. Maybe it wasn’t the smartest move considering Harold smelled as if he hadn’t showered since Freedom left port in the UK. But I didn’t care. I’d just discovered Ryder was right. We not only had friends, allies, aboard ship, but because of them, we might survive.
“Ah, shucks. Ya make me blush. Now, get on.” He shuffled to the three way fork and waved me forward. I hoofed it to the lift and headed for the infirmary level.
Whatever Harold could do for us, it had to be better than being met by a platoon of armed men.
A few minutes later, I found Thornton with two medics. “Sorry to interrupt, Lieutenant Thornton. I’m not feeling my best and Captain Gordon thought you might be able to help before we dock.”
Unable to stop myself, my gaze scanned the room searching for Dred. He wasn’t there. As Thornton approached, his brows arched in warning, and I swallowed hard.
“Why’re you really here?” His whispered tone was harsh as he held a medi-scanner to my forehead.
“Change of plans. We can’t go through the armory. There’s a squad of armed men waiting on the docks.”
“Dred’s already in the cargo hold. What are you going to do?” Thornton placed the scanner down. “Your blood vessels are dilated. Are you suffering from a headache?”
“Yes. It’s blinding. Captain Gordon said you might have something for it.”
No sooner did I say Gordon’s name, then the two medics seemed to lose interest in me and returned to packing crates with empty supply boxes and soiled bedding.
“Don’t know the exact plan yet, but we have some help. Keep Dred where he is. Mart wanted him there anyway, so it shouldn’t draw attention. Make sure he’s in the box labeled infirmary waste.”
“He is. He’s also alert. Be sure you succeed. If the council doesn’t trust you now, then if they catch you making a run for it, they’ll send yo
u directly to the Tower.”
I nodded at his warning. Both of us knew that even if I stayed, I’d never see the council.
Thornton handed me a small canister. “Take this and get some rest, young lady.”
I nodded then sauntered from the room. After a few steps, I bolted to my quarters. I shredded my mattress ticking and used it to make a body, then covered it with my thin blanket. After grabbing the three ration bags we’d managed to put together with the help of Bendar’s special skills of infiltrating small spaces, I turned off the light and eased out of my room.
With purposeful steps, I made my way through the crowded halls to the back ladder that led up to the next level. A smile broke free as I remembered how this secret spot was discovered. Raeth and Penton had found it when trying to find a place Ryder wouldn’t interrupt them.
I poked my head through and discovered Penton in the corner running inventory on his halo pad. “Thank goodness. I had to find you. We need to get Raeth and get to the mess hall.”
“That’s not—”
“Change in plan. Heavily armed men are waiting for us on the docks. We need a new escape route. I’m not sure you know Ryder’s friend, Harold, but he and his friends believe in the Triune. He’s said he’ll help us.”
Penton’s thin arms reached behind one of the gun cases and freed his ration bag. “Okay, let’s go.”
“Docking in five minutes. All personnel ready for docking,” Marts voice boomed over the speakers.
I fought the desperate need to escape the ship fast and without a plan. Instead, I shoved my fear deep inside and slid down the ladder. Penton followed and took the lead, occasionally raising his hand for me to stop. Each time, his Triune tattoo peeked out from under his sleeve. He was a good guy. I hoped when this was all over Raeth and he would find happiness.
We hid in the corner of one hall waiting for guards to pass for several minutes.
“Relax. Don’t want to leave a trail to follow.” Penton pointed to the wall behind me. Melted silver goo slid down the wall and sweat from the heat I’d generated stained the back of his jumpsuit.