Phoenix pointed an elongated finger at Riley’s chest. “Your actions decide your fate.”
The floorboards outside the hut creaked with footsteps. Hope rose in Striver’s chest. Maybe Carven had come to bail him out—he could think of a millions reasons Carven could fabricate to whisk him away from these circular arguments. Or maybe it was Eri herself? His heart jump-started.
Mars rushed in, the broad woman pushing through the ferns, and Striver’s stomach sank. Not only was it not Eri, but from the crushing look on her usually stoic face, something had gone terribly wrong.
Phoenix straightened up. “Dear visitor, what brings you here?”
“It’s Eri.” Mars caught her breath between words. “She didn’t come back last night, and I can’t find her anywhere.”
A thunderbolt jolted through Striver, almost stopping his heart. He leapt up from his seat, knocking over the tweed stool. “When was the last time you saw her?”
“After the celebration. We were walking back to our tree hut and she said she needed time to think. I thought she’d snuck into this council chamber to go after you, so I came to look here first.”
“She’s not here. Nor has she stopped by.” The feathers on Phoenix’s wings prickled out behind him as if he itched to fly. “I’ll check the surrounding area.”
A sick feeling stung Striver’s gut.
Weaver? Has he escaped?
It made perfect sense his brother would attack the one person who had come to mean everything to him. Striver knew just where to look. “I’ll check for Weaver.”
Eri awoke bleary-eyed to the jungle pressing in on all sides in a vicious tangle. Had she passed out before she reached the hut? She didn’t remember drinking any pearl-berry ale.
Unless someone slipped it in my water canteen.
“Morning, curly locks.”
Her sight adjusted to the bright light as she recognized the edged voice. Weaver sat cross-legged beside her, twisting reeds around a long black branch. No, it wasn’t a branch any longer; he formed a bow. Sharp-tipped arrows were strewn around him.
Eri yanked her arms and kicked, but he’d tied her hands and feet. Nausea rose swiftly and she coughed, dry heaving until her stomach settled. Her neck throbbed as the attack came back to her. After saying good-bye to Mars, she heard something above her head and thought it was another one of those cute little furry black birds that Striver called swillow wisps. As she looked over her shoulder, an arm collided with her neck. She ducked, feeling like she moved in slow motion. A heavy weight landed on top of her, knocking her to the ground. Pinned down, she felt the familiar prick of the coma dart on her neck.
Anger rose inside her. “What are you doing? Where are we?”
He grinned, tightening the ties on the bow. “We’re on the other side.”
“The other side of what?”
He pulled the bow back and released an arrow into the jungle. The shaft tore through a giant leaf and landed in the hollow of a trunk. “The wall, boar brain. What other side is there?”
Eri tore her gaze away from the arrow to glare at him. “The other side of sanity. You’re going to get us both killed.”
Weaver hung the bow over his shoulder, looking like he’d done it a thousand times. He probably had. Whereas Eri’s laser gun felt like a foreign substance in her hands. She checked her holster, but it was empty.
“Calm down, sweetie. I got it covered. Jolt can’t hurt a hair on my head, and once he finds out you’re the only one who can decipher those symbols around the golden liquid, he won’t touch you, either.”
“You’re crazy. People have lost themselves in that stuff for centuries. Didn’t you hear Soren’s tale?”
And your father’s, for that matter
. But she didn’t want to make him angry by bringing up touchy subjects.
“Yeah, and with you, I’ll finally unlock the code. I’ll learn how to control it.”
“Then what? You’ll push in everyone from the
Heritage
?”
He gave her a sour glare. “I’m not about to give away my whole plan to you.”
Which clearly meant he had no further plan at all. Eri wiggled around, trying to find a weakness in her bindings. The ropes cut into her skin, rubbing it raw. She couldn’t feel anything in her right thumb, and her left foot had pins and needles prickling all over.
Cyber freaking hell.
And she had been so close to telling Striver the truth. After the intimacy they’d shared in that dance, she knew she could trust him. If only they’d had more time alone. Even now she could taste the saltiness of his lips on hers. She licked her bottom lip, feeling cracked skin. Dehydration, along with the other effects of the coma dart, would continue all day if her last episode were any indication. Even if she tried to run, she’d pass out and fall flat on her face.
“Striver won’t let you get away with this. He’ll come after us.”
“Let him. We’re going straight into the Lawless territory. He’d be a lunatic to follow us.”
Weaver whipped out a knife and adrenaline coursed through Eri’s body. She bit her tongue to keep a tough look on her face.
Weaver bent over her and cut the bindings on her legs. “Now you can walk. I was getting tired of carrying you all the way. You’re not as light as you look.”
Eri moved her feet, feeling blood rush to her toes. The thought of him touching her sent a feeling like spiders crawling all over her back. She couldn’t imagine being nice to him ever again, even if he was Striver’s brother.
“You’re not as bright as you look.”
“I’ll consider that a compliment.” Weaver kicked over the remains of his campfire. “Time to meet your new family.” He hoisted her up and her head spun. It took all of her concentration not to vomit again as she steadied herself and stood without his help. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing her helpless.
He scanned the woods behind them. “We’ll be near the patrols soon. Let me do the talking and don’t say anything.”
He pulled her ahead, and she fought to keep her balance with her hands tied behind her back. Using the tip of her finger, she clicked on her locater, muting the sound. Now it would transmit the coordinates of her location to Litus and Mars back in the village. Thank goodness the device had been embedded in her arm since birth. Weaver would have to cut through her skin and muscle to pry it out, and she doubted he’d go that far.
Unless he sees me using it.
Eri paused. Did she really want them coming after her? If Weaver was right, Jolt wouldn’t lay a hand on her, and she could get information they or the
Heritage
might need. All she wanted to do was ask Striver to save her, to see him again, hold him again. Eri stopped her heart from gushing; she needed to be brave. Signaling him would only put him and his village in more danger. Now
she
needed to be the hero.
Eri typed slowly, feeling the buttons and counting the right number to reach each letter behind her back.
I ok. I spy.
Weaver yanked on the rope tied to her waist. He gave her a suspicious glare and she pretended she was adjusting her boot with her knee.
“No wasting time.”
Biting her tongue to avoid spewing out a mean response, Eri raised her nose up in the air and followed him. She hadn’t wasted a second.
…
Striver fell to his knees in front of a hole in the wall that was twice his height. Not only had Weaver taken the one person who meant everything to him, he’d also destroyed the only obstacle holding the Lawless back.
Event horizon. The point of no return.
This time his brother had gone too far. For the first time in his life, Striver didn’t think he knew him anymore. He’d failed him—they all had. Sadness rose up in dual amounts with the anger edging its way in.
“How did he do it?” Mars walked ahead and ran her hands along the crumbling edge.
“He used Eri’s laser.” Litus spoke up behind them. “If you set it to the right frequency, it can blast through anything.”
Litus’s arm beeped and he held up his locator. “Hold on. Eri’s trying to send me something.”
Striver rose and stood beside him, looking over his shoulder. Anything connecting him to Eri was invaluable. Numbers flashed by along with some sort of code.
It was his turn to look to Litus for help. “What does it mean?”
“It’s her coordinates!” Litus’s face lit up then darkened. “They’re on the move.”
“Where are they?” Striver stared at the screen. “Where are they going?”
Litus brought up a mini map of the area and pointed. “Here. Bearing due west.”
Damn Refuge and all its leaves.
“They’re heading directly into the Lawless city, not to the cave. He’s too smart. He knows we’ll follow him there.”
“What’s he planning to do? Kill them both?” Mars stomped over like she could pull Weaver right out of Litus’s locator and eat him on the spot.
“Revenge?” Striver ran a hand over his hair. “I’m not sure.”
“No, it’s got to be more than that.” Litus stared at the screen, narrowing his eyes. “Eri has something that he needs.”
“Her laser?” Mars thought aloud. “No, they already have a bunch of those, and he could have just taken it from her and left her here.”
“It’s my fault.” Striver gripped his bow against his chest, pain rippling through him. “I shouldn’t have trusted him.”
“Hey, now.” Litus put a hand on his arm. “We do the same on the
Heritage
. We tend to our own no matter what undesirable symptoms they exhibit. Every life is precious. Every one of us holds the history and the future of mankind in our DNA.”
“Enough with the lecture, Lieutenant.” Mars peered through the hole. “We need a plan.”
“We can’t just storm in there.” Striver tried to calm his frustration. Every second, Eri slipped farther away from them. “They outnumber us. Even if we brought our entire village, and they were all experienced warriors—which they aren’t—we couldn’t win. We can’t sneak in; Weaver knows all our faces.”
Litus’s locator beeped again. “Wait. There’s more.”
This time the locater displayed a simple message. Striver read what she’d sent and a kernel of pride formed inside him. Eri was fighting back.
“I say we wait it out. Let time take its course.” Although Litus stood tall and still, a storm brewed in his eyes.
“What do you mean?” Striver put his face right up to Litus, standing on tiptoes. Phoenix’s observations from the council room rushed back to him. “What are you not telling me?”
Litus sighed and rubbed the sides of his head as if weighing whether or not to speak. “The
Heritage
will attack the Lawless lands. With their fire power and technology, coupled with my own tactical advice, there’s no way a less-advanced civilization, no matter how savage and brave, can withstand such an onslaught.”
Mars shook her head. “And Eri’s going to be right in the middle of it? I don’t think so. What if they torture her for information?”
“If they wanted information, they would have targeted me. I was alone and unguarded all night.”
“What could that weasel possibly want with her?” Mars’s braid had fallen in her face and she blew it back.
“It’s got to have something to do with what she does.” Litus ran his finger over the screen. “No offense to Eri, but why would anyone want a linguist?”
“The symbols,” Mars growled. “The stupid etchings around the golden liquid. I heard Weaver talking to one of them. He’s supposed to crack the code.”
“Can she do it?” Striver’s heart sped. If she failed, they’d kill her.
“If anyone can, she can.” Litus’s faith in Eri showed right in the hard edges of his chin. “The question is: Do you want them to know?”
“Who cares about the liquid?” Mars shrugged. “I just want Eri to be safe.”
“Cracking the code of a language takes time. If they want her to decipher the symbols, she’ll go back to the cave. None of the fighting will happen there.” Litus put a hand on his heart. “You know this is hard for me as well; she’s my sister-in-law. All I want to do is rush to her aid. But realistically, those Lawless lands are going to be a warzone, and Eri’s smart enough to use any attack to her advantage. Besides, once the forces are on Refuge, they answer to me. I can give a team her coordinates and send them right to her.”
Striver’s insides twisted as he stood in inaction. He was the leader of his people, and he had to weigh that against his own personal agenda. When he took the position, he never thought those two responsibilities would collide, and that’s all they’d ever done. “How soon is this attack going to happen?”
Litus raised his eyebrows. “Soon.”
“So we do nothing, even after she saved us?” Mars kicked a stone, and it bounced off the wall.
“She wouldn’t want us rushing to our deaths.” Litus crossed his arms.
“I can’t do it. I can’t sit by while Weaver takes her into the most dangerous place on Refuge.” Striver felt like jumping right out of his skin, becoming a Guardian and flying himself over those woods to find her. If only he had the freedom of choice.
Litus turned to Striver. “I’ve thought a long time about this, and I think you should gather your own people together with any weapons you might have. No matter what happens, whoever wins this war will come after us next.”
Weaver tugged on the rope tied around Eri’s waist, leading her across the Lawless lands to their sprawling metropolis west of the wall. Guilt weighed him down more than her floundering steps.
I’m not going to kill her. Just use her to identify the symbols.
So why did he feel like the worst criminal to ever steal on Refuge? He glanced back as she stumbled over a tree root and caught herself on the next trunk, leaves falling in her hair. She looked like a fairy-tale character stuck in the wrong story. Like Pearl Berry Jamboree thrown into Isaac the Swamp Monster’s fester pot.
Isaac the Swamp Monster. He hadn’t thought of him in years. It was his favorite fairy tale growing up. Isaac was a castaway. No one liked him, and the other animals called him names. Weaver pleaded with his mother to recite the story every night, making the
squish squish
noises as Isaac stomped through his swamp.