by Lea Linnett
“Complicated? He helped us.”
“He’s an alien,” Noe retorted. “You can’t expect them to let him roam free in our base.”
Bree stared at her. “You’re joking, right? You know him!”
“I know!” Noe hissed. “I even kind of like him, okay, but you’ve gotta back off! People are nervous.”
“Nervous?!” Bree shrugged off Noe’s grip, marching up to Luis and pulling him around to face her. “Luis, you don’t understand. He did so much for me while I was trapped there. He was the only one who would listen, the only one who cared.” She took a deep breath, grasping for her last resort. “He helped me find out what happened to my mom.”
“To Tori?” For a moment, real shock took over Luis’ face, but then his green eyes sharpened. “She’s alive?”
“Well, I… I don’t know. But I know that they had her, same as me, and that she escaped with the help of a levekk and these other aliens called solayans. One of them helped me, too.” She stared up at the older man, and begged, “Please, Luis.”
He sighed, running a hand through his short, gray-flecked hair as he watched his soldiers subdue Marek. “His imprisonment will be temporary, if what you say is true,” he finally said. “That’s all I can say.” He nodded once, and the soldiers moved away, marching Marek in the direction of the Barracks. “Now, come and tell me what really happened.”
Angry retorts were on the tip of her tongue, but from the look on Luis’ face, she knew they would be of no use. She wouldn’t get them out of this by fighting.
She’d have to talk her way out.
At least Marek had given her plenty of practice at that.
27
Marek should have known that humanity would hate him as much as the levekk did.
He moved sedately back and forth in the tiny cell in the tiny jailhouse—a new word for him—that they’d locked him in. He’d been inside since dusk, and the sun was only just rising again over the horizon to the east, illuminating his cell in deep pinks and oranges.
The room was made from wood wall-to-ceiling, as was much of the humans’ world that he’d seen so far. Thick, iron bars covered the entrance to his cell in a grid-like pattern, and there was a thin set of furs in the corner and a pot for his waste. Other than that, the cell was bare.
Marek’s mind was strangely blank, too. He’d half-expected this welcome, had even anticipated that it might be worse, so the humans’ reaction was more of a disappointing confirmation than a shock. To them, he looked like an enemy, not an ally. Here, his plateless brow and lack of claws meant nothing compared to the scales covering his skin and the shape of his pupils. They were well within their rights to be cautious—violent, even.
He had been foolish to hope for more, but he was at peace with what he’d achieved.
Because he had gotten Bree home, and he knew that she was safe now—from the mine, from Urek, from everything. That was enough.
There was a hiss and a pop, strangely muffled, as if the sound came from far away. Then, the entire cell lit up green. Marek frowned, crossing to the window just as the light fizzled out.
His eyes narrowed. That had not looked natural.
The door to the jailhouse suddenly opened, the flood of morning light making his guard jump. The man had been napping by the fire—a regular one rather than the blue mesilisi flame—happy to ignore Marek once he’d gotten his fill of staring at him, but now he shot up in his chair as two familiar figures stepped into the jailhouse. Noe shooed the guard outside, a gun glinting on her hip, but Marek barely noticed. Bree hurried over to his cell, the bow and quiver she still wore banging against the door as she slammed against it.
“Are you all right?” she blurted, her fingers threading through the criss-crossing bars. She still wore her heatsuit, rather than the treated animal hides that the others seemed to favor, and he knew she probably hadn’t slept since he last saw her. “I thought—”
“I am fine.” He placed his hands over her own. “No one has harmed me. They are only frightened.”
“They’re idiots,” Bree said, making the woman behind her roll her eyes. “They don’t see that you’ve suffered at their hands. That you’re human, like us.”
“I am levekk, as well,” he said softly. “They are right not to ignore it.”
“The alien’s right,” Noe said, her voice hard. She eyed their linked hands and sighed. “I’m gonna go see what that weird light was about. You guys… talk.”
As she headed outside, Bree fumed.
“Luis wants to keep you here for three weeks,” she said, her voice sharp with anger. “He says that’s how long the levekk kept me, so that’s how long they’re going to take to decide.”
Of course. They would want information as well, just like Urek had. It was how soldiers worked, and if anything was clear to him, these people were soldiers. Scared soldiers who lived in fear of an enemy they’d never been given the opportunity to use their skills against in any real way.
“I will cooperate,” he said, but Bree was shaking her head.
“They shouldn’t punish you like this. You helped us.”
“And you have helped me.” He pressed his brow to the cage. “As have your people. I’m alive and unharmed. And you are safe. This is better.”
“What’s better would be you and me out there in the wilderness,” she hissed. “Looking out for each other. All these goddamn cages are—”
A sharp crack sounded from somewhere outside, and they both whipped around.
Bree’s hand went to her bow where it was slung across her chest, but she froze as a deep rumbling set in, one that sent a ripple of unease up Marek’s spine. “Is that an earthquake?” she asked.
“No.”
She turned to him questioningly, and he gritted his teeth. For a moment, he hoped he was mistaken, but the deep growl was growing louder, vibrating the dust that lay on the floor of the jailhouse. Then, a high-pitched whine joined the noise, and he was sure.
“The hell is that?” Noe asked as she burst back into the jailhouse, her gun drawn.
Bree squeezed Marek’s fingers through the bars. “Marek?”
“It is a hover transport,” he said, his heart pounding. “Urek is here.”
28
Bree’s heart stopped. “How is that possible?”
“I do not know—”
“Holy shit, they’re landing in the fucking square!” Noe said as she peered out the window, cutting Marek off. “Bree, come on!”
“Wait!” Bree’s hands were still in the cage, her thoughts caught between the Invaders spilling into their camp and Marek’s artificially warm fingers. “Noe, let him out! He can help us.”
“No fucking way! He could have brought them here—”
“Are you serious?” Her stomach in knots, Bree turned on her friend. “After everything we just went through, that’s what you think?”
Noe sighed. “I know I didn’t bring them, and I know you wouldn’t, Bree. He’s the only logical suspect.” To Bree’s surprise, she then turned to Marek, her blond brows pinched. “Sorry.”
Marek blinked at her, shocked to silence, and Noe’s focused returned to Bree. “Now, come on. I need you out there.”
She headed for the door, flinging it open, but Bree’s feet were rooted to the floor. She didn’t want to leave him, but knew she had no choice. This was the very thing she’d spent years of her life training for. This was the threat she’d been trying to avoid ever since she woke up in the mine with Urek breathing down her neck.
Her people were in danger.
“Bree.” Marek’s eyes were fierce when she turned to him. “Do not go out there. You will be safer here with me.”
Her breath hitched. “Why would I be safer?” she asked, and Marek frowned.
“Out there you are just another human. In here, I can tell them to stop. Urek will not want me killed.”
“But why would they listen?” His words scared her, and his overly calm demeanor scared her m
ore. He was back to the sharp, analytical bearing that had incensed her, and she could almost see him looking through the forcefield of the observation room all over again. “Did you bring them here?” she asked, the words slipping out, and Marek drew back.
“Bree, no. I wish no harm against your people. They will spare me because I am Urek’s brother. Because I am levekk,” he said fiercely, and the words stabbed at her, even though she knew they were probably true. “I care only about keeping you safe.”
“I…”
She didn’t know what to think. Her instincts told her to trust him. Everything they’d shared, everything they’d whispered between them for the past few weeks was truer than anything she’d ever felt before. But the edges of that conviction were fraying. It was all too convenient, that the Invaders would show up now after years of nothing.
Was this why Marek had suggested they go out into the wilderness? Was he trying to spare her people, or just her?
“Bree. Stay with me.”
“I have to help them,” she said, shaking her head. “They’re my people. I can’t abandon them.”
“Bree!” he yelled after her, but she was already pulling her bow from her back, her hand on the door.
She pushed through it into a wall of sound.
Gunshots, shouting, the twang of bows being fired from the walls above. But instead of aiming outside as they were supposed to, the humans’ weapons were trained inward, firing upon the three hulking, black spaceships that had landed in the center of the Barracks. The metal glinted in the sunlight, reflecting it in a way that was unlike anything else on Earth, and she saw two smaller ships circling above, their engines whining over the sounds of battle.
Down below, her people rushed everywhere, tracking great pits through the snow that others followed, but as they converged on the vehicles, other figures rushed out to meet them.
The front line was a wall of massive shapes, their mottled gray skin reflecting the light. Solayans. They towered over even the largest of her people’s fighters by more than a foot, and they fought with their hands, bludgeoning anyone who dared to come close. She saw an arrow catch one in the shoulder, but the solayan kept moving as if he’d barely felt it. Another was shot in the eye and howled louder and more gutturally than a wolf. Bree hoped it wasn’t Silas.
Behind them, the levekk followed, their scales covered head-to-toe by black heatsuits, their faces obscured by masks. They held weapons that put the humans’ guns to shame, and Bree ducked as one of them fired into the crowd, the burning hot projectile of energy zooming past her and hitting a wheelbarrow a few feet to her left. The wood cracked and fizzed, a small flame igniting.
“Bree, get up on the wall!” Noe screamed, and she turned to find her friend taking cover behind a house. “Go, now!”
She went. She had trained for attack since she was twelve—earlier than most of the others—and her body responded to the direct order without thought. Her feet carried her away from the fight, away from the clang of steel swords on alien armor and towards the nearest ladder. Some part of her remained in the jailhouse still, her thoughts fractured and her heart aching, but she forced herself on.
Whatever Marek had or hadn’t done, he wouldn’t be alive to prove it either way if one of those bolts of energy sent the jailhouse up in smoke.
More yelling greeted her when she made it to the top of the wall, and she raced past crouched bodies, some of whom were clutching burns, some aiming their bows over the side and some just hiding. She ran until she found a good vantage point, a clear shot down into the fray, and drew an arrow from the quiver still tied securely at her hip.
There were bodies on the ground already. Some of the buildings were on fire. The air pulsed with screams and weapon fire, but as Bree nocked her arrow and drew it back, the world went silent. Her focus narrowed down to the point of her arrow, looking for a clear shot.
But there were none. The bodies below were a whirling mass, and some were fighting in the shadows of the spaceships, making it difficult to find a safe target. Finally, she aimed at one of the solayans, loosing her arrow with shaking fingers. It caught the alien in the leg, making him bellow, but he was still standing, and a part of her felt relief.
This wasn’t like hunting. She didn’t want to kill them. The sub-species were as much victims as she had been, and they fought because they had to. The real enemies here were the levekk who fired upon her people from the shadows of their spaceships, but how could she be sure that they delighted in the carnage, either?
She couldn’t let herself hesitate. She might not want to kill anyone, but if she could keep them off her people, and their shots away from Marek, that was enough. The bow sat steadier in her hand at the thought, the arrows pointing with more precision, and she focused on loosing as many as she could, aiming them in an arc around her people to keep the aliens at bay.
But still they advanced. They were so much larger, their armor and weaponry engineered to perfection. Her people were skilled, but more and more of them fell to the ground, and the panicked yelling of her fellow archers on the wall grew louder and louder.
She didn’t notice the large figure behind her until it was too late, and she cried out as her bow was knocked from her hands. Her body moved on instinct, trying to keep her feet under her, but claws dug into her heatsuit and hauled her off-balance. Then, a flash of burning pain as the claws ripped into her shoulder, and when she tried to fight the attacker off, a hand whipped across her face, rattling her vision.
“Yumin shekra. Lisira ve!”
That voice was familiar, and she looked up to find Peris standing over her, teeth bared.
“Get the hell off me!” Bree screamed, struggling even more fiercely and drawing a litany of curses from the levekk. Along the wall, someone noticed them, but the fighter was snatched from behind and thrown to the wooden deck. All the humans were going down, the levekk and solayans rapidly subduing them.
She fought Peris’ grip, but she’d paused too long in her shock. Sharp, metal restraints covered her wrists with a soft shik, and then Peris hauled her to her feet.
“Urek, salak neirakass. Nassik yassira.”
29
Marek slammed his open palm against the wrought-iron bars, grunting at the pain. The metal rang loudly enough to hurt his sensitive ears, but the structure wouldn’t budge. Next, he tried prying apart the boards on the walls, but without sharpened levekk claws on his fingers, he couldn’t get purchase.
He needed to find Bree. Needed to pull her into his arms and get them both away from his people, who seemed to find ways to put her in danger no matter what Marek did.
If Urek got his hands on her…
“Fuck!” he yelled, the human expletive coming naturally to him. How could he have been so stupid? He’d thought she was safe, that getting away from the mine would solve all their problems. Her people had escaped notice for centuries before Bree’s mother was caught. What had changed?
How had Urek found them? He’d known something wasn’t right when Urek locked them in the mine—that it wasn’t like him. But he’d foolishly thought that maybe he’d finally been awarded some of the luck that the levekk around him had always seemed to have in luxurious amounts.
Now, Bree was out there in a battlefield, and he’d allowed himself to be locked away, hidden where he couldn’t protect her.
Time crawled in the cell. The noise of battle outside was harsh and endless, and while he’d never been a soldier like Urek, he recognized the whiz and sizzle of laser rifles firing. He knew now the telltale thunk of arrows hitting their targets.
He gritted his teeth, cataloging every shout and cry, listening out for Bree’s voice, until finally, the cacophony faded. The thud of footsteps slowed, the screams of pain were replaced with muffled protests, and the high-pitched whine of hover engines ceased as the ones that circled overhead touched down outside.
The battle was over, and Marek’s only comfort was what he knew from the Constellation’s history. Hi
s people had always tried to keep casualties to a minimum, as the more sub-species they captured, the more workers they would have later. He hoped Bree would be one of the survivors.
He needed her to be.
It didn’t take long after the fighting ceased for the heavy wooden door of the jailhouse to swing open, and Peris walked in, her clawed feet scoring the floor. “You missed the fun,” she said with a sneer as she approached, regarding his prison with a lazy calm. “Urek wondered where you were hiding.”
“If I could have joined the humans in wringing your neck, Peris, I would have.”
She scoffed. “And yet, Urek has ordered me to release you. It is unfortunate that he does not see you for what you really are,” she said, her eyes narrowed. “Human.”
“Urek is the one who will not let me forget it,” he spat. She shook her head.
“He has given you many chances to prove him wrong,” she said, weighing the heavy lock hanging from his cell door in her palm. After giving him one more caustic look, she slipped her claw into the keyhole, breaking the mechanism. She stood aside as the door swung open. “Be careful. This might be your last one.”
When he didn’t immediately move, the female clicked her tongue, and he stepped cautiously from the cell. His breath stayed locked in his lungs as he moved through the jailhouse and out the door, where it rushed away from him.
Urek stood mere feet away with his back turned, ordering around levekk and sub-species alike as they gathered the humans to one side. To Marek’s relief, the casualties did indeed seem low. Three humans lay ignored in the snow alongside the lifeless bodies of a solayan and a levekk. The rest appeared simply unconscious, and were being dragged to lay by their fellows, who sat with their hands and feet bound in a large group under armed guard.
He scanned their faces for Bree’s and found her kneeling by the large bonfire that sat in the center of the humans’ camp, which was now extinguished. Noe and the one who appeared to be their leader—Luis?—were beside her, and the male was injured, bleeding from a wound in his side. All of them were bound.