No, no, no! Tayel panicked, dropping to the ground in a heap. She writhed to a stand and bolted. The guard’s footsteps echoed off the cement behind her. She sprinted faster, but every turn, the footsteps came closer.
“Shy!” she screamed.
She needed help. She needed Shy. She couldn’t do this on her own. A wave of fire flashed over her shoulder and her eyes went wide. The guard was an aetherion. The heat built nausea at the back of her throat. Her vision blurred. She had to go faster. She had to get out of there n—pain.
Tayel screamed. She seized, then collapsed, her chin knocking to the cement. Blinding pain emanated from her left arm. She frantically grabbed the blistered skin and reeled, the contact sending shocks up through her elbow and into her teeth. She rolled onto her back, still screaming, streams of hot tears blurring her vision. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t think.
The aetherion guard stepped over her, fire at his fingertips. His mouth moved, but Tayel couldn’t hear him. She blinked tears out of her eyes. He turned his head to where they’d ran from, and her breathing hitched. There were more guards. The pain vied for her attention. No, there were a lot more guards, and they were coming here.
She kicked the aetherion’s ankle. It gave under the force. His cry broke through her fog. He fell forward. She shoved him to the side, but his hand closed around a fistful of her hair and pulled her to the ground. He maneuvered over her, pressing his knee into her chest.
“Get off!” she yelled.
He leaned in more, pressing the breath out of her.
A wrench came down on his head from behind. His eyes rolled backward, and he slumped to the side. Shy stood over him, placing the enormous tool on her belt.
Her expression morphed from rage to a deep-set frown and softened eyes. “Tayel.” She stepped forward, but snapped her head to the sound of their other pursuers returning. “Can you move?”
Tayel grit her teeth. She took Shy’s offered hand and stood, her body screaming for her to do anything but. “Barely. Shy, thank—”
“No time.” Shy gripped Tayel’s hand harder and led the way.
The guards’ clamor returned, echoing through every row of ships. They called out a name over and over — probably the aetherion-guard’s. Their calls fell to desperate shouts as seconds ticked by without response. Tayel swallowed the bitter taste in her mouth.
She moved where Shy led her, watching the bulky object tied by cloth to the princess’ back. By its shape and size, Tayel guessed it was the FTL drive. Her distraction hadn’t been for nothing after all, but she couldn’t bring herself to be happy as a stronger wave of pain came over her. She and Shy picked up speed at the sight of the door that led to the rest of the castle. The rushing air stung — a million tiny daggers across Tayel’s blistered skin. She bit her cheek to stifle a cry as they ran through the door, but the pain carved deeper, the heat unbearable.
“Shy.” Tayel slowed. “Shy, I can’t. It hurts too much.”
“Okay,” Shy said. “Hang on. Let’s get a little farther.”
Tayel kept pace through the dark, winding hallways until they found a corner nook a ways on, hidden partially by decorative curtains and a stone podium display capped with an ornate vase.
“Sit here, in the corner. We don’t have a lot of time.” Shy slid her knife out of its sheath and cut a long strip from the bottom of the curtain. “Give me your arm.”
“I can do it.”
“Just give me your damn, arm, Tayel.”
Tayel thrust her arm out, and Shy hastily wrapped it, tying the fabric snug with two pieces of curtain tie. It covered the burn, but it did little to help the pain.
“This will cut down on air exposure at least. But you’re going to need medical attention. Otherwise…”
Shy peered out of the nook as shouts echoed up the halls. Tayel knew she’d need burn treatment, but there seemed a lot of other things to worry about.
“Thank you for coming back for me,” she whispered.
“It’s fine.”
“Fine? Are — are you mad at me?”
Shy kept her eyes on the hall beyond the nook, but Tayel could see her pulse quicken against her neck.
“If anything, I should be mad,” Tayel hissed. “It’s your poor planning that put us here in the first place.”
“I know.”
“You do?”
Shy bared her teeth, took a hasty, deep breath, and blew it all out. “Listen, this is just a bad situation. There were a lot of unknowns, but, you” — she thrust the knife back on her belt — “you did… a good job.”
Tayel caught the princess’ gaze and tried to hold it.
Shy averted her eyes. “Seriously. You made the right call, or whatever. We got the FTL drive didn’t we?” She patted the bulk against her back. “Let’s just get out of here.”
Tayel frowned. “I can’t.”
“Why?”
“I’m not leaving without Jace.”
“Oh, Alhyt.” Shy pinched the bridge of her nose. “Don’t you understand the risk he put on us? We’re probably here because of him, because the guards must have seen our faces after last night. He’s dead or dying now, and there’s nothing we can do to change that. Especially not in the state you’re in.”
“Jace is my best friend — the only friend that ever really mattered to me. When we left Delta, I was all he had, and then I abandoned him to help you. What if I said screw your brother, he made the choice to go after the Rokkir so he deserves to die?”
Shy rapped her fingers on the cobblestone wall. “Look, I get it. I understand how much he must mean to you, but even if we went to — let’s just say he’s in the dungeon — how would we find the key to his cell? How would we win a frontal assault on the guards? You’re injured, and I’m weighed down.”
“Now you’re planful.”
Shy pressed her lips together, and glared into space.
Tayel didn’t want Shy to go, but she couldn’t leave without Jace. Everything she’d done, she’d done for him. She wanted to give him the chance she’d never have again — to be with his family, to have a normal moment to recover amidst everything that had happened. Even if it was just one minute to say goodbye.
“I’m not leaving him to die here,” she said.
“You don’t even know if he is here. Or if he’s still alive.” Shy turned her head to the hall and straightened.
“But—”
“Shh!”
Tayel tensed. Listened. Armored footsteps drew close. Not running footsteps, though — not like all the other guards. They turned the corner onto the same path as the nook, echoing a little louder, and she and Shy tucked deeper into the shadows.
“…looking for them like everyone else?” one of the guards finished asking. Her voice was muffled slightly, probably by a faceplate.
“With everything going on, she wants to deal with him now,” the other guard said.
“Even with the intruders?”
“Why not? She’s still carrying out the indoctrination, for spirit’s sake.”
Shy frowned. Her eyes darted back and forth across empty space like she was reading something.
“Just seems like maybe we ought to deal with one problem at a time.”
“Adonna asks, Adonna gets. I know you’re new to this post, but you have to know you don’t get on that lady’s bad side.”
“So where are we taking the prisoner, then?”
Tayel perked up. Prisoner. Jace, maybe? She tucked her knees to her chest, trying to feel small as the guards walked past the nook.
“To the indoctrination.”