by Lili Zander
“Nicely done,” Saber says, a rare smile of approval on his face.
“What do we do now?”
“Let’s wait for an hour,” Saber says. “I want to make sure the crowds have time to dissipate.” He pulls a package out of his bag. “Raven gave it to me this evening,” he says. “She said it came from Lula Kenner.”
“Lula Kenner?” I frown, trying to remember what I know about the woman. She’s a little older than Saber. Quiet. Doesn’t say much. Seems afraid of Zimmer. “What is it?”
Saber’s opening the parcel as I speak. “It’s a comm,” he says. “With a number pre-programmed into it.”
Nero looks puzzled. “If she wants to talk to us, why not do it directly?”
“Because Zimmer monitors the comms?” I suggest. “Are you going to call her?”
Saber makes a quick decision. “Yes, I’m going to see what she wants.” He shifts positions so that the skimmer can’t be seen on the comm screen and makes the call.
It’s answered immediately, and Lula Kenner’s face fills the window. “Jarl Saber,” she says. “Thank you for calling me. You’re probably wondering what this is about.”
She certainly gets right to the point. “Indeed,” Saber agrees. “Would you care to enlighten me?”
She nods. “You’ve been on Boarus 4 since SecondDay,” she says. “That’s not a very long time, but it’s surely long enough for you to see that Zimmer rules with an iron fist.”
Zimmer, not Jarl Klaus. Her lack of respect is telling.
“I have,” Saber agrees. “Why haven’t you done anything about it?”
She flushes. “I have my reasons.”
“Which are?” he asks pointedly.
She hesitates, and then seems to reach a decision. “Zimmer has put the man I love in the re-education camps,” she says. “As long as he’s being held captive, I dare not act.”
“He’s human, this man,” Saber guesses.
“Yes,” she replies defiantly.
She’s wasting her defiance. I don’t care who she’s in love with, human or Shayde. Hell, as far as I’m concerned, she’s welcome to shack up with the Oensi.
She takes a deep breath. “You have a reputation, Jarl Saber, and so I’m going to trust you. If he’s still alive, I’m going to break my partner out of the camps. And then, I’m going to tell Jarl Ragnar about the mining accident that Zimmer’s been hiding from the Empress.”
“You think he’ll make you administrator?” Saber asks her.
“I hope so, yes. The people of Boarus 4 deserve better than Zimmer. For a long time, I’ve been too afraid to act, but things may never line up this well again. The Overlord is distracted by the tournament, by his financial woes, by the presence of the Empress’ own half-brother on his colony. This is my best chance to break Joseph out.”
I take a deep breath. All hell is going to break loose on Boarus 4 in the next few days. We need to get Raven off-world before that happens.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“You control the enforcers, Jarl Saber,” she replies frankly. “I need to know if you’ll oppose me.”
“I won’t,” Saber assures her. “But this is your colony. Your battle. I’m not going to join your war.”
He’s right. Our priority is Raven.
“I understand,” Lula Kenner says grimly.
After an hour has passed, we head to the starting line. A light snow is falling, and the contestants’ footsteps are clearly visible.
Most of the tracks lead toward the north, deeper into Glacis, but one set of tracks leads west. I pull out my screen, to try to figure out what the lone contestant was heading toward. “The dump?”
“What?”
I tilt my screen so that Saber can read it. “There’s a dump here?”
“Yes,” Nero nods. “I’ve heard of it. Everything that the colony does not want any more ends up there. The outer sector residents scavenge there for anything they might be able to use or resell.”
In that case, I'm willing to bet these are Raven's tracks. The other contestants are wealthy, and they wouldn't know about the existence of the site. “Let's go find her,” Saber says. “I don't want her to spot us, but let's get close enough so we can intercede quickly if we need to.”
Nero drives the skimmer. As we near the dump, I use a pair of far-glass to catch a glimpse of Raven. “What is she doing?” I wonder out loud when she comes into view. “It appears as if she's building something.”
Saber takes the glasses from me. When he looks through them, a smile breaks out on his face. “She is clever,” he says, sounding proud. “She's making an ice boat. They used to do that back on Old Earth, you know. She's going to use the wind to propel forward.”
He hands the glasses to Nero with a chuckle. “At the rate she's going,” he says, “She's going to win the tournament with one hand tied behind her back.”
“That's not necessarily a good thing,” I remind Saber somberly. “Zimmer cannot allow Raven to win, remember?”
Nero looks tense as well. “If the attacker is Shayde,” he says, “Then he'll attack at daybreak. We can fight him. But what if the attack comes from humans? What if it happens during the day? We won’t be able to protect her.”
Saber shakes his head. “I'm willing to bet Zimmer won’t use humans,” he says. “He doesn’t trust them. He treats them as slaves, not allies. There is no way he’ll entrust such an important task to them.”
I really hope that Saber is right.
We watch in silence as Raven finishes her boat, and then tests it out, setting her course due north. A gust of wind fills her sail, and she sets off, faster than I'd have thought possible.
Nero guns his skimmer, and we follow a safe distance behind.
Eventually, just after midnight, she stops and sets up camp. Hours go by, and we wait, alert and watchful. Nero and Saber take turns with the far-glass, keeping an eye on her tent. I look at my screen.
Finally, at five in the morning, I see something that makes me sit up. “It's Olaf,” I tell them. “The Overlord's second-in-command. “He's in a chopper, heading this way. And he’s got company. Five enforcers and five dogs.”
He's going to attack Raven. I know it.
Trouble.
It's not Olaf I'm worried about. It's the enforcers and the dogs. If we can't defeat them before sunrise, Raven will be left unprotected.
Nero's already pulling his light mask over his face. He jumps into the skimmer. “Let's go.”
17
Raven
The attack happens at daybreak.
I've just gotten out of bed. I think I hear something when I'm packing my sleeping bag away, but I can't be sure. So I continue what I'm doing. I eat a protein bar, saving the dried berries to use as bait. Before going to bed last night, I’d made a hole in the ice and set up my fishing rod. I’m lucky. I’ve caught a fish, one that’s as long as my forearm.
I start to clean it. The wind whistles around me, and I feel very alone. One day with Saber, Nero, and Zeke, and I’m already missing their cheerful banter. Not good. Not good at all.
When this is all over, I tell myself, maybe you just need to go out more. Stop being such a loner. When Ana asks you to have a drink with her, instead of declining, try saying yes.
But that’s not it. The truth is, I’m attracted to the three vampyrs.
I’m so lost in thought that I don’t notice the five enforcers until it's too late to run.
It's not the enforcers that make me freeze with fear, however, and it’s not even the barking dogs that they hold on straining leashes. It's the Shayde walking toward me, a mask covering his face. Even though I can’t see him, I know that great hulking build anywhere. Olaf.
“Well, well,” he says. His voice sounds eerie through the mask. “If it isn't everyone's favorite contestant.”
I wish I had a stick, but then I remember Saber’s words. The Shayde are faster and stronger than humans.
There is nothing I can
do. I cannot win this battle. “What do you want?”
He sneers. “Why, to kill you, of course.” His voice turns conversational. “You had to have known that opposing the Overlord’s will was a very unwise thing to do, Raven Unnuk. Your parents tried to do that when they stood up against Jarl Klaus’ father, and where are they now?” His teeth bare into a cold smile. “Oh wait. I forgot. They are dead.”
I clench my hands into fists. “Do not talk about my parents.”
He laughs, amused by my anger. “Don't worry, Raven. In a few minutes, you're going to join them.” He flexes his shoulders. “This would be a lot easier if we didn't need to make it look like an accident,” he says. “But with Jarl Ragnar prowling around, we need to be cautious.”
Deep breath, Raven. Saber said that the Shayde couldn’t be defeated by speed and strength alone. But Olaf doesn’t have a reputation for being particularly bright. Is there any way I can trick him?
He tilts his head to one side. “I think I’ll just drain your body of blood,” he says. “I’m sure you'll taste like the common gutter bug that you are, but it can't be helped.” He leers at me. “Come here,” he says, his voice layered with compulsion. “Offer me your neck.”
Damn it. I can’t fight his order.
I look around desperately, hoping for some way out. There isn't any. The five enforcers must have been chosen for their loyalty to Olaf, because they look unmoved by my plight. The dogs are baying and tugging at their leashes, and I know they are trained killers, and they will tear me to pieces.
Even if there's some chance I managed to defeat the vampyr, I still have to get through five enforcers and five attack dogs.
There’s no way out. I’m going to die here, on Glacis. Ironic, really. I managed to survive ten years in the re-education camps, and I thought I was finally free. But the ice deserts will still claim me.
I must obey Olaf, but it doesn't mean I have to hold my tongue. At this moment, faced with my impending death, defiance is the only thing I have.
I look around insolently. “Five enforcers, five dogs, and one Shayde to take out one human woman,” I sneer. “What's the matter, Olaf? Were you afraid of me?”
It’s almost time for the sun to rise. If I can keep Olaf talking just long enough… The vampyrs can’t fight their need to sleep during the day, and sunlight will burn their skin. Can I delay the inevitable?
Of course, the sun doesn't affect the enforcers, and it certainly doesn't affect the dogs. I’ll still have to fight my way through them.
“Now, Raven.”
No human can resist the compulsion. It is one of the things that have helped the Shayde rule us. My feet start moving involuntarily, and though I tried to fight the pull every inch of the way, I can't stop myself. I make my way to his side, and dutifully offer him my neck.
Saber, Zeke, and Nero never used the compulsion to make me do something I didn't want to do. That thought strikes me out of nowhere, and I finally realize what Joanna was telling me. All Shayde aren't equal. Olaf is like the Overlord—greedy, cowardly, and ruthless—but Saber, Zeke, and Nero are very different men. Better men.
I hear Olaf’s fangs drop. I feel his hands around my neck, and then he bites down. Sharp pain explodes through me as he starts drinking.
In a way, I'm lucky, really. There are many painful ways to die. Under the circumstances, drinking me dry seems about as good as it gets.
“What is happening?” Olaf gasps. He lets go of me, and my knees buckle, and I almost fall to the ice. He backs away, his eyes wide and staring with horror.
The weapon. The blood disease. I'd forgotten about it.
Boils begin to form on his skin. Large pustules that get bigger and bigger as I watch. Olaf falls to the ground, clawing at his masked face, shrieking in agony. The enforcers seem like they’re in shock. None of them react, and none of them try to help him.
I’m frozen in horror. I can’t stop watching. The boils burst and a greenish liquid leaks out. My stomach heaves as the corrosive fluid seems to burn Olaf, eating him from the inside out. He's quite literally melting in front of my eyes.
His screams of pain go on for a very long time, and then he finally goes silent.
His death seems to snap the enforcers from their shock. “Kill her,” one of them growls. “Release the dogs.”
I grab the fishing rod, though it's too thin to use as a weapon. This is it, Raven. Don't go out without a fight.
Then they’re there. With an angry shout, Nero jumps into the fray, throwing his body in front of me, just as the first dog springs forward. His face is covered with a mask as well, the same kind of mask that Olaf wore. Some kind of technology, maybe, that allows the Shayde to be out in sunlight?
Saber and Zeke are right behind Nero. Saber grabs an enforcer by the neck and throws him away from me. The man flies through the air for nearly six feet before landing hard on the ice.
Zeke plants himself in front of me. “We only have minutes,” he says urgently. “The sun will burn us, and our bodies are fighting deep slumber. Take my gun.”
“It’s not allowed,” I respond instinctively.
He laughs without humor. “It doesn’t matter now,” he says. “The only thing that matters is keeping you safe.”
Four enforcers are down. The dogs, recognizing a stronger foe, are retreating. Nero is locked in hand-to-hand combat with the last enforcer. Yesterday, when he taught me how to fight, he’d moved so fast that he was a blur. Today, he seems mortal. The sun, the pull of the slumber—these things have taken away the natural advantages of being Shayde.
“Fuck,” Zeke swears, a note of pain in his voice. “Raven. You have to take the gun. Now.”
The sun starts to rise on the horizon, and rays of light hit the ice. With a groan of pain, Saber falls to his knees, clutching his face. At my side, Zeke screams as his mask begins to dissolve.
I grab the gun from Zeke’s hands. Forgive me, Great Spirit, for what I’m about to do. I've never killed anyone before. With shaking fingers, I lift Zeke’s gun and point it at the fighting men. I wait until I have a clean shot, and then I fire. The enforcer falls back, blood gushing from his chest.
But I don't care about him, not now. It's the three vampyrs I need to save.
They came for me. I would've died without them.
It's time to return the favor.
Moving as quickly as I can, I roll their bodies onto the piece of plastic. Saber’s saying something. I crouch next to him and put my ear against his mouth. “Our packs,” he says, sounding strained and weak. “On the skimmer. Get them.”
My pulse races. He sounds like he’s at death’s door. Please don’t let them die, Great Spirit, I beg. Please.
I can’t fall to pieces. Their survival depends on me. “Okay,” I tell him, squeezing his hand. I'm quite proud of how steady my voice is. I carefully tuck the tent around them, covering their faces and their bodies with the fabric. The fabric blocks light. Hopefully, it'll keep the sun’s rays away from them, long enough that I can get to shelter.
Doing my very best not to look at the half-melted body of Olaf, or the dead enforcers scattered around me, I look around to see if I can spot their skimmer. There it is, due west of here. The noise of the wind must have prevented me from hearing its sputter as they pulled up. Then again, I didn't hear Olaf approach either. I might be able to survive on Glacis, but so far, I'm not doing very well fending off my enemies.
The dogs, at least, had the good sense to run away.
I half-run, half-slide to their skimmer and drag their packs back, loading it onto the plastic at their feet. When that’s done, I take a quick look at the map that was in my pack, the one showing the locations of the five flags. If I am where I think I am, there’s a shelter not too far from here.
No ice boat for me today. My tent, which functions as my sail, is keeping the vampyrs from being burned. I tie the rope securely to the end of the plastic and hoist the other end over my shoulder.
The shelter
is less than an hour’s walk from here, thank the Great Spirit. Something’s finally going my way.
18
Nero
My head is pounding, and my face feels like it's on fire. I feel like death.
The memories slowly return. We had light masks on, but they were practically useless. They lasted less than five minutes before the sunlight started penetrating.
Why am I alive? The last thing I remember was fighting with an enforcer, willing my body to resist the tug of slumber. It felt like I was moving through mud. Everything was slower. My limbs refused to respond to me.
I thought it was the end.
Where am I? I open my eyes, sighing in relief at the welcome dimness. I try and sit up, and I must make a noise, because someone immediately moves next to me.
It’s Raven. She’s here, apparently unhurt. An intense flood of relief fills me. “You need to rest,” she whispers. Her voice sounds thick and strained, as if she's been crying. Her eyes are red-rimmed, and her face is blotchy.
I ache to comfort her. I want to kiss away her tears and make it all better. I don’t know what to do with my emotions, because they’re new to me and bewildering. Sex, I understand. The rush that comes from a well-fought battle? I know how to handle that feeling. But this tightness in my chest, this feeling of intense vulnerability, this ache when I see her hurting? Uncharted territory.
It’s too much to process. “There is a salve,” I say instead. “In my pack.”
She's crouched next to me, but at my words, she gets up and leaves my field of vision, returning a moment later with a pack in her arms. “Is this it?”
“That’s Zeke’s pack,” I reply. “It doesn't matter. He'll have the salve too. Look for a small bottle with a yellow liquid.”
She bites her lip and rummages through the pack. “This one?” she asks, pulling out the salve.