Jace slowed to a stop. “It’s” — he gasped for air — “it’s no good. We aren’t getting anywhere. I need to — to take a break.”
“Keep pushing, Feathers.” Fehn squinted down to the end of the hall, where one circular black door much like all the others in this place stood unopened.
“We’ve been going upward and inward,” Shy said. “We’re bound to find the command center soon.”
“I think we could all use a minute to rest, though,” Tayel said.
“I think if we stay put, we’ll be captured and have much more than a minute.”
Balcruf spun on his toes to the path behind them. “Shh!”
Tayel flinched. She held her breath, and dared herself to trace his gaze. Nothing. No one. Just the empty hall they’d left behind. The feeling of being watched crawled over her.
“See something?” Shy asked.
“No,” Balcruf murmured. “Smell something.” He sniffed the air a second time. His eyes shot wide and he turned back around, whipping his crossbow to firing level.
Tayel followed suit and went rigid with shock. Ruxbane stood outside the door at the end of the hall, hands behind his back. He watched them, expression blank. A chill skittered down her spine.
Balcruf lowered his weapon an inch. “Human?”
“No.” Shy slid her compacted polearm out of its sheath. “Rokkir.”
Ruxbane gave a closed-lip smile, a see-through cover for the snarl which twitched underneath. “A pleasure to be in your presence yet again, princess.”
She extended her weapon to full length. “Charmed.”
Tayel remained a statue, willing the Rokkir leader not to see her. She shouldn’t have come. She’d put everyone at risk. It was like her nightmares were coming true, but she’d been too stupid to say anything when it would have mattered.
Ruxbane’s gaze fell on her. She tried to lift her hand to the mag baton’s handle over her shoulder — to put on the same display of force as Shy — but her fingers only twitched.
His eyes narrowed. “Tayel.”
It was like she’d been punched in the gut. Air hissed through her teeth, but she couldn’t inhale, leaving a cry stuck in her throat. Her allies eyes fell on her, some stunned, some confused, some concerned. It was hard to match what with who as she met Ruxbane’s stare as best she could.
“I invite you to come with me,” he said. “I won’t harm you, and I can keep you safe.”
Tayel frowned. Keeping her safe wasn’t what she’d expected, but as genuine as he sounded, it did nothing to sway her unease.
“She isn’t going anywhere with you,” Shy spat.
He smirked.
Jace grabbed Tayel’s sleeve. “Don’t. He’s just trying to trick you. Whatever he wants, it’s not good.”
“This could go much more peacefully than you intend,” Ruxbane said.
“Peacefully?” Balcruf snarled. “After the atrocities you’ve committed against my kin, you are favored I don’t keep you alive when this is over so every Varg gets a piece!” He lifted his crossbow.
“Careful,” Fehn warned. “He—”
Balcruf fired.
Ruxbane snapped his hands forward. Two portals materialized — one in front of him and one in the wall beside the Varg. Balcruf’s bolt flew into one and out the other, puncturing his shoulder. His agonized howl shot adrenaline through Tayel. She wrenched the baton off her back and grabbed Jace.
“Run!” she yelled.
“But” — he flicked his eyes to Shy and Fehn charging forward — “that room he came out of, I think it’s—”
Tayel yanked him out of the way as Fehn flew past, the dark trails of aether which had hit him evaporating against his chest. He skidded across the floor. This couldn’t be happening. This was everything she was afraid of — everything that wasn’t supposed to happen at all. A shadow flickered under her feet.
“Watch out!” Fehn whipped her and Jace aside with his own dark aether as the portal opened beneath them.
Tayel lost hold of Jace. She flew through the air, flailing her arms for balance. The floor came up to meet her, stiff and cold. She rolled shoulder over shoulder. Even when she stopped, the world kept spinning. A ball of darkness soared over her, a perfect shadow against the overhead lights, and Shy shouted something, her low voice blending with the ringing in Tayel’s ears and the distorted twang of materializing dark aether.
Ruxbane’s boot stomped beside her head. She lurched forward to stand, getting in half a stride before he grabbed her wrist. Her arm pulled taut. She went with the momentum, swinging left with her whole body until coming to face him, bringing the full swing of her mag baton with her. It connected with his face. He reeled back. His grip disintegrated.
Tayel’s arm tingled from the impact, almost numb. She backpedaled, but Ruxbane shook his head clear — recovered. Her heart sank. He lunged toward her, just as Shy swept his ankle from behind with her polestaff. He crashed to the floor. Tayel had a moment’s fleeting relief before he snarled. He lashed out a reciprocal blast of aether that knocked Shy against the wall. She slumped against it, her staff clattering to the floor as Ruxbane fell through another portal to evade another of Balcruf’s bolts.
Tayel ran to her. “Shy!”
“I’m fine,” Shy gasped. Her arms shook as she pushed herself up.
“No you’re — why aren’t you using the prototype?”
“Tayel, look out!”
Ruxbane grabbed Tayel by her hair. She cried out as he pulled her backward, her scalp burning with pain. She swung wildly with the baton and missed, digging her heels into the floor as he tried to maneuver her into the wavering portal he’d opened against the wall.
Fehn rushed him. Ruxbane lifted his arm to deflect the incoming blast with one of his own, giving Tayel leeway. She elbowed him in the ribs as the two gatherings of aether collided, and the collateral blast finished off his hold. Her hair came free as he lurched back. She stumbled for balance as Fehn, then Shy, then Balcruf ran past her to enter the fray. That left… Jace.
She scanned the hall. She spun around.
Past the fight, the clashing aether, the zipping bolts, the swinging polearm, Jace ran through the only door at the end of the hall — the only one Ruxbane could have come out of. A wave of dread made Tayel sick. She stumbled into a jog, a run, a sprint. Her legs weighed a ton each and the mag baton weighed twenty, but she sped past the fight, skirting it by inches. If the command center rested beyond that door — if Jace went into a Rokkir command center by himself — she couldn’t complete the thought. Fear pushed her harder, and she dashed through the open door, baton ready to strike.
The room beyond was half the size of a magball field, tall and circular. The high ceiling and curved black walls gave it the illusion of space, but working stations at the edges of the room limited maneuverability. To her right and left, grated platforms stood at a second story level, where more work stations were built on top. A single staircase led up to a door at the back of the room, and beside it, Jace’s red feathers stood out in stark contrast to the dark decor.
His talons shook as he unscrewed an access panel, moving from one corner to the next with Locke’s multi-tool. Bolts clattered to the floor.
“Tayel!”
Tayel half turned to pinpoint Shy’s cry from the corridor when a portal opened in the wall beside the staircase — beside Jace. Tayel screamed to warn him, but her cry only alerted Ruxbane as he stepped out. He followed her gaze to Jace, and snatched him up by the throat, knocking away the fiber cutter sphere. Jace squawked. Tayel’s fear of Ruxbane vanished. She charged.