Trials of Conviction, page 42
She waited until she judged him sufficiently far away before dropping to the ground. Only at that point did she realize that she'd forgotten to order the J1N to take cover.
"J1N," Kira hissed, scanning the area. "J1N, report."
The drone appeared under a nearby fern's large fronds. The dull gray of his casing doing a good job of blending in with his surroundings.
"J1N, really? Is that how you've been addressing my body all this time?"
Kira stopped. "Jin?"
"Do you really need to ask that?"
With a glad cry, Kira threw herself at her friend, grateful when he let her snag him for a hug.
"How?" she managed to ask through the tears that wanted to fall.
"Proximity."
Kira nodded, forcing herself to recover a modicum of control. With Elena still in danger, they didn’t have time for an emotional reunion. "Makes sense."
This close he’d be able to connect with the J1N in the same way he did his spawn.
The drone jerked back and forth. "What did you do in here? Everything feels wrong."
"I had to improvise."
"On my body?"
"I judged it necessary. Yes."
"Son of a—we're going to have a long talk later about boundaries," Jin griped, leading her toward the needle like structures.
"What's Elena's status?" Kira asked, ducking under a low lying branch.
"You're not going to like it."
Kira was certain of that. There wasn't much she liked right about now.
"They have her."
Kira ground to a halt. "How did that happen?"
"A very unfortunate series of events," Jin answered, sounding grim. "I don't know whether to call that child brave or stupid."
"What did she do?" Kira asked as she started walking again.
This time her pace was a little faster than before.
"She decided to play spy and landed in a situation over her head."
Jin came to an abrupt stop, bobbing in place as he rotated one way then another.
Kira stepped into the shadow of a tree, suddenly alert as she scanned the forest around them for signs of enemies.
"There you are, asshole," Jin declared, shooting off without an explanation to Kira.
She sprinted after him.
"I did not miss this part of our relationship," she grumbled to herself.
Would it kill him to give her a little warning?
A few minutes later, they left the forest behind and entered the outskirts of the city.
Kira slowed, taking in the cliff to her left, the curved building jutting out of its side, darkened windows making it difficult to know if someone was standing on the other side, watching them. To her right was an immense valley, the city she'd spotted from the air with its black streets and tall towers that seemed to devour the light nestled in it.
The sound of fighting came from up ahead, Jin arrowing straight toward it.
"Slow down," Kira hissed.
Reunited for five seconds and he was already testing her patience.
Kira jogged after him, rounding a corner to find a pulse rifle aimed at her face.
Jin headed straight toward the person holding it. "It's about fucking time, meat sack."
Raider lowered the rifle with a frown. "Jin?"
"The one and only. Were you expecting someone else?"
Raider pointed at the drone as he raised his eyebrows at Kira.
She nodded wearily. "Yeah."
Fierce satisfaction filled Raider's features. "Well done, Tin Man."
Kira regarded the bodies around him. It looked like someone had a little fun while she was busy trying to locate his position. "Taking your anger out on the enemy, I see."
Raider kicked away the Tsavitee reaching for his leg, drawing a knife from the sheath at his spine and embedding it in the Tsavitee's heart. "Just giving them a taste. Why? How many did you kill?"
"Zero. I killed zero."
Because she was more focused on stealth in order not to draw undue attention. Unlike a certain someone.
"To each their own, I guess." Raider wiped the blade on his leg before sticking it back in its sheath. "What about the others? Did you see where they landed?"
"No. You?"
Raider jutted his chin toward the south west. "Finn and Talon landed somewhere around there." He pointed to the north. "Graydon and the rest were in that direction."
She'd suspected they'd wind up pretty far apart, but Raider's words confirmed it.
Getting separated wasn't rare for the Curs. It had happened on many other missions. Although never ideal, she and Raider were trained to operate alone when things like this happened.
"What's the plan?" Raider checked the status of his weapons. "Are we rendezvousing with the others?"
"We don't have the luxury of time. Jin says Elena's situation is critical."
"How critical?"
"The kind where every second counts,” Jin answered, heading toward the cliff and away from the heart of the city.
"What does that mean?" Raider demanded, following. "Isn't your spawn with her?"
Kira brought up the rear, sending one last uneasy glance at the curved structure with its reflective windows.
"No," Jin answered, his voice grim.
Raider sucked in a breath, increasing his pace until he was beside the drone. "You were supposed to stay with her!"
He shoved Jin. Surprisingly, Jin let him.
"Raider," Kira warned.
His eyes were wild as he swung toward her. "He was supposed to protect her!"
"He did his best," Kira said.
Whatever else happened, she was sure of that much. Jin would never have willingly placed that little girl in danger.
At her rebuke, Raider turned away from them, scrubbing his hands over his face.
Kira relaxed a little, satisfied that he wasn't going to vent any further emotions on Jin.
"What happened?" Raider asked when he'd gotten control of himself. "Why weren't you with her?"
They started walking again as Jin led the way through some trees and around strange looking plants to the base of the cliff.
"I was with her. At least part of me was."
Kira held her silence, for once not upset at Jin’s tendency of replicating his spawn. He could have created an army and she would have been okay with that.
"Was?" Raider asked, latching onto the important part of that statement.
"There's something about the room she's in. I don't know what it was, but it severed my connection. Every spawn I've attempted to send in has met with a similar fate."
They arrived at a section of the cliff covered in a mass of vines.
"I think you need to tell us exactly what happened," Kira said.
"I will. But first—" The drone pulsed, using its anti gravs. Slowly, the carpet of vines parted to reveal the entrance to a dark, dank cave. "We should go save our troublemaker."
Raider regarded the entrance doubtfully. "The Tsavitee are hiding my daughter in a cave?"
"Don't be ridiculous, meat sack. Elena's not in the cave. The cave leads to Elena."
This time, Raider wasn't the only one to look at Jin in confusion.
"You're going to have to do a better job of explaining," Kira said.
Jin made an irritated sound. "I will, but can I do it while we're moving?"
Kira gave him a doubtful look before ducking into the cave, moving to the side to let Raider and Jin join her.
"Start talking," she ordered as Jin arranged the vines so they hung over the entrance again.
A whistle echoed against the walls as a metal bird flew out of a nearby passageway. It landed on Jin's casing, twisting its head back and forth to look at them out of first one eye and then the other.
"Elise used her contacts among the generals to have Elena inserted into a crèche with their young."
Oh, thank God. Of all the places Elena could have ended up, that wasn't the worst. Kira had spent several sleepless nights over the last few weeks, envisioning her niece being hurt. Tortured and ripped apart at the Tsavitee's whims.
To learn she was instead sent to a crèche was a relief she barely dared let herself feel.
"Although the training methods in a crèche are brutal, they're not as bad as what we went through as children. Actually, they're pretty similar to Roake's."
The metal bird took flight from Jin's sphere, arrowing back into the passage it had just come from. Jin started after it, Kira and Raider following.
"What happened to change things?" Kira asked.
"A few days back Elena drew the attention of a Sye."
"How did she manage that?"
"She tried to break into an Osiri's lab."
Kira's horrified gaze swung to Jin. "Please tell me you're joking."
"I'm not," he said in a grim tone. "I don't think she knew what she was doing. Elise covered for her. Unfortunately, the Sye saw the two of them meeting afterward. It aroused the Sye's suspicions. Enough for them to go poking into Elena's background."
"Sye," Raider said, looking at Kira. "That's what Odin is, isn't it?"
At her expression, he swore.
"How long have you known Odin was a Tsavitee?" Raider asked.
"Odin's not the enemy."
The very fact they were standing here proved that.
"Are you sure about that? Don't forget how we met that Sye.”
There was a sneer on the last word.
Kira regarded him calmly. "I think I'm more familiar with Odin's motivations than you."
Raider shook his head, not bothering to argue with her. "Finish the story, Tin Can."
"Today, Elena decided to play spy. I think that's what the Sye was waiting for. Because somehow we ended up back in the Osiri's lab. That's when I lost contact with her."
Jin's worry permeated every word. Her friend was antsy, his desire to head straight to Elena clear.
"How does the cave fit?" Raider asked, struggling for patience.
"Oh, that. Somehow, this cave is connected to all the towers. Though I'm not quite sure how." Jin flew under a particularly low hanging section of the ceiling. "I think it's similar to the passageways we used during the adva ka. Remember them?"
Kira nodded slowly. "I do."
They'd been weird, warping time and space in unexpected ways. Sometimes looping in on themselves. Other times sending you to unexpected destinations that shouldn't have been possible given the length of time you'd been traveling.
The chamber where the lenacht had been born was like that too. So easy to stumble upon when it wanted to be found. But later, no amount of searching had enabled her or anyone else to find their way back. Like it had never existed in the first place.
"Elena dropped off my scanners for a time right before she entered the lab. I think that's because she wasn't actually here but rather somewhere in between."
Raider scowled at the drone. "Can you at least try to make sense?"
"Think of it as a pocket dimension. One that acts like a maze. She's here—but not."
Raider stared, irritation growing on his face.
"And this cave connects to the same place," Kira said uncertainly.
"That’s correct."
Raider stopped, forcing the other two to as well. "Let me see if I understand the current plan. We're going to venture further into the deep, dark cave system, hoping to stumble upon what you're calling a pocket dimension—I can't believe I just called it that—in hopes it will lead us to my daughter." Raider gave them a look. "With no backup or any real idea of what we're going to do when we reach her."
"Sounds about right." Kira and Jin glanced at each other. "Problem?"
"Nope." Raider shook his head and strode toward where Jin's spawn was circling. "Just wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page."
Jin snorted. "You mean the one dripping in our enemies' blood?"
"That's the one," Raider muttered.
Jin shot forward. "Oh good. Glad that's settled."
They didn't talk much after that as they moved through the tunnels. The ecosystem changed the further inside they got, giving credence to Jin's theory that there was something unexplainable about this place.
It felt alive. And not just because of the creatures she could sense infesting the cavern around her.
There was something in the atmosphere. As if it was trying to feed off her fears.
It was subtle. Constantly lapping at her psyche, draining her just a little more the longer she lingered.
"I don't like this place," she said softly.
Raider walked across the stone bridge to the other side of a luminescent pool. "What's there to like?"
"Not that way," Jin shouted, zooming toward Raider.
Looking startled, Raider froze. "What is it?"
"Look." Jin used his anti-gravs to toss a stone at the ground in front of Raider. It sank, breaking the illusion of rock. Ripples spread out, causing a faint luminescence in the water. When it settled again, it looked exactly like the rest of the cave floor. "That stuff is toxic. It destroyed a dozen of my spawn before I figured out what was going on."
"And you're just now telling me this?" Raider asked in disbelief.
"There wasn't reason to before. There is now." The drone sailed across the room, disappearing into an alcove after his bird. "This way."
Raider joined Kira. "Is it just me or is he flightier than normal?"
"He's just got a lot on his mind."
"I hope you're right," Raider muttered softly to her back as she followed Jin. "I really do."
"Which way?" Raider asked a short time later, staring at the pair of identical tunnels in front of them.
"I don't know," Jin admitted.
Kira sent him a startled look. "I thought you said you knew the way."
"I did." Jin corrected himself. "I do."
"Then—" she prodded.
"I can tell Elena is in that direction, but I don't know which tunnel will lead us there."
Raider cursed, kicking the wall as he paced away from them.
"How is that possible?" Kira asked, ignoring her friend’s outburst.
Jin's bird landed on his casing as he hesitated. "It's this place. It's affecting me."
"Your spawn?" Kira guessed.
"I've lost track of several of them. Everything keeps getting turned around."
That wasn't a good sign. Kira and Jin had never spoken of it directly, but she knew his connection with his spawn was similar to what a biological might have with their limbs. They were an extension of him. His hands and feet.
It shouldn't have been possible to lose track of them. Just like you wouldn't with your own limbs. Unless you had a spinal or neurological condition preventing those signals from getting through.
Kira nodded at the tunnels. "But you're sure she's that way."
"Yes."
Raider turned back to them. "We split up."
"No." Kira didn't even have to think about her answer. "Absolutely not."
"Jin said it himself. She doesn't have time for us to do this slow. You take one. I take the other. We get in. We investigate. Then we rendezvous back here."
"That is a stupid plan," Kira told him.
"Yeah, but it's the only one we've got." Raider considered the tunnels, indicating the one to the right. "This one is mine."
"Fifteen minutes. Then we meet back here."
Despite his distracted nod, Kira could tell he wasn't really listening, his focus on the tunnel and what waited on the other side.
"Raider." Kira waited until she had his attention. "If you find her, you wait for backup. You don't go in alone."
"Sure thing, Nixxy. Just like you would if the situation was reversed."
Kira watched him disappear into the tunnel with a feeling of resignation. "Why do I get the feeling he's not going to wait?"
"Probably because you wouldn't be able to either," Jin quipped.
With a growl, Kira headed into the tunnel on the left. "Come on, Jin. You're with me."
"Who else would I be with in a situation like this?"
Twenty Eight
Elena – Osiri Lab
"Mom!"
Fear rushed through Elena at the awful silence that answered her. She didn't know if Elise was dead or simply unconscious. And the not knowing was tearing her apart.
"Answer me, Elise," Elena cried, thrashing against her bindings.
Why did the Osiri have to be so inventive? Hadn't they ever heard about giving someone a fighting chance?
And this bone pick! Why was it so useless?
She'd thought when Fyr slipped it into her hand that it might be her beacon of hope. But no. All it had done was poke a hole in her thigh when she’d tried to cut herself loose.
"I won't call you egg donor in my head anymore. So please say something."
"She's not dead. You can stop screaming," Fyr told her.
At the reminder that she wasn't alone, Elena went still. She'd almost forgotten about him.
"How about you release me instead?" Elena tried hopefully.
Fyr's snort was tired. "I don't think so."
Elena shifted on the bed until she could spot Fyr out of the corner of her eye. "What do you have to lose at this point? They betrayed you. As long as you remain in the Osiri's control, your future will be nothing but the pain you warned me about."
The general boy was sitting on the edge of the platform near Elise's prone body. His shoulders sagged and his head bowed in a posture of defeat.
It was strange to see him so down trodden when he'd been nothing but arrogant not too long ago.
"They didn't betray me."
"It sure seems that way to me."
He needed to take a good look at his situation. From where Elena was lying, he'd just been stabbed in the back, assassin style, and was now bleeding out from a mortal wound.
"This is just how things happen sometimes," Fyr said, sounding like he was trying to comfort himself. "This is our fate. It's always been our fate."
Elena rolled her eyes at the ceiling. Boy, these generals sure were dramatic.
"You do what you want. I'm getting out of here."
And she was taking her mother with her. For that matter, her siblings too.
"You're tied to a bed."
Regrettably, that was true.
