Broken Wings (17 page)

Easy for him to say.

He grabbed her before she could
object. Raea gasped as he hoisted her over his shoulder. The
crystal dangled from its chain by her chin.

["All right?"] Leksel
asked.

"Just peachy," she muttered while
hanging over his back.

["What?"]

["Fine."] And wishing he understood
English. Probably better that he didn't.

Corsa checked the binding on her
wrists. ["Comfortable?"]

Did she detect a hint of
sarcasm?

Based on the smirk when Raea lifted
her head, that was indeed Corsa being sarcastic. Lovely. Raea
dropped her head to Leksel's muscular back and the wing he pulled
aside. ["What do you think?"]

Gah! Did he have to bounce her like
that? What if he dropped her?

["Be still and keep quiet. You're
supposed to be unconscious."]

Whatever.
Just get it over with.
Her
arms ached already. The sooner they found two Shirukan, the sooner
she and Cris could change clothes and move freely, a big
improvement over this.

They exited the room. Somewhere
behind, the sound of footsteps occasionally rushed and quieted.
Cris followed as he promised. So far, so good.

The floor blurred too close for
comfort with each step Leksel took, nauseating her into closing her
eyes. They walked in silence through several corridors and
corners.

["At this rate, we'll be at the
shuttle bays before we meet anyone,"] Corsa whispered.

["That wouldn't work. We'd never get
past like this."]

A few seconds later, he stopped. A
squeeze on Raea's legs was his only warning before she heard the
tromp of boots. Many boots.

They stopped. Raea relaxed and let her
head hang.

["Sir!"] She didn't recognize the
voice.

["We have her, Lieutenant."] Leksel's
voice carried a harsh authority.

He outranked a lieutenant?
Maybe he really could pull this off. Raea fought the smile fighting
to escape.
Just listen. Do
nothing.

["Sir, if you don't mind, where's your
tri-comm?"]

Leksel shifted. ["Crystal fire! It
must have come off during the fighting."]

His wings tightened around her,
closing off the world. They reminded her of the smell from the
recycling area, that hint of waste and dankness she awoke
to…yesterday? That had to be the longest day of her
life.

["But we neutralized them all,"] Corsa
added.

["Send your squad to retrieve them."]
Leksel's wings loosened around Raea.

["Yes, sir."]

The clatter of boots
hurried past. Raea pinched her eyes closed.
Stay out of sight, Cris.
A good bet
Leksel thought the same. He might not get along with the younger
rebel—a true rebel in all ways, probably because of his youth—but
he kept him close and depended on him.

Her stomach ached. How long
had it been since she ate? Not long, but she hadn't eaten much of
the bitter mush.
Please get this over with
quickly.
Hanging over Leksel's shoulder
upside down and now getting hungry threatened to sicken
her.

Before the steps faded, the stranger
said in a low voice, ["Lieutenant Hourall to Central
Command—"]

Raea caught the flash of movement from
Corsa and a couple thumps of bodies hitting the ground.

["You should have waited."] Leksel set
Raea on her feet a little too hard, his scolding glare fixed on
Corsa. He knelt down and tapped the captain's tri-comm, a moment
later yanking it from the man's face with a scowl.

["He would have alerted them that we
had her."] Corsa knelt over one of the bodies and grabbed the
wrists.

Leksel pulled off the shackles with
more force than necessary and scraped her hand. ["Now they'll
suspect something's wrong."] He growled the words, while hiding the
horrible shackles in an inner pocket of his jacket.

From behind came the rush of running
steps. Raea looked up as Cris joined them.

["Hurry and change. We don't have much
time."] Leksel snapped the words at Corsa, who dragged one of the
bodies back to a nearby door.

Cris tapped in a code on the pad. The
door slid aside and Corsa, Leksel, and Cris dragged the three
Shirukan into a small, dimly lit storage room, if the shelves and
cylindrical containers were any indication.

Leksel said nothing more, but
proceeded to undress one of the two men. Corsa scowled while
undressing the woman.

["And how are you feeling?"] Cris
directed his words at Raea, seeming unfazed by Leksel's and Corsa's
disagreement. The tension was palpable between the two. Raea
welcomed Cris's nonchalance.

["Hungry, and a bit lightheaded,"] she
said.

["You were upside down for quite a
while."]

["Here."] Leksel threw a black coat at
Cris. ["Start changing. They probably tracked his signal before I
killed it. We only have a few minutes before others show
up."]

Cris unfastened his shirt in back and
slipped it off. Raea warmed and turned away. Awkward was an
understatement in the small room.

The muscling was different than
humans, but the extra bulge on his back, like hers, was necessary
to control the wings. Cris didn't have much else.

Elis did—she'd seen it when she
treated his cut and felt it with her arms around him—but he'd flown
most nights, using those muscles. How long had it been since Cris
had flown?

Why did she care? She missed Elis. He
was so much better looking, although Leksel was probably more
attractive physically. His personality left a lot to be desired,
though. She shuddered—she did not just think that.

["Raea."]

She caught the jacket Corsa threw at
her. Wait. Undress there? In front of all of them?

["Your turn."] Cris winked and started
pulling off the grungy, loose pants he wore.

Hell no! Raea turned away. She'd wait.
If he thought he'd get a chance to see her nearly naked, he had
another thing coming. No way would she undress in front of him. He
and Leksel could leave while she changed. ["In your
dreams."]

Cris chuckled.

Leksel left the captain in a body suit
and tossed the black jumpsuit to Cris.

["Raea."] Corsa tapped her shoulder
and handed her a black flightsuit. ["Here. Ignore Cris."] Her warm
breath blew on Raea's ear, and she lowered her voice. ["Hurry now,
while he's busy dressing. I'll stand behind you."] To her relief,
Corsa opened her brown-gold wings, forming a barrier between them
and the men.

Raea hurried to slip off her pants and
pulled on the bottom of the flightsuit. She removed her arms out of
her shirt and pulled up the front of the suit before exposing
herself. The clothes smelled strange, a faint fishy odor, but she'd
have to tolerate it if she hoped to walk through the city
undetected.

Now for her shirt. Pulling her wings
through the tears would be trouble. She'd torn it once and had used
it since for when she flew at home, to spare her other shirts.
Maybe she could leave it on.

["Here."] Corsa did something and the
shirt fell off her wings. One of her favorites too. Debbie wasn't
going to like her leaving an expensive sweater behind, as she
hadn't been happy when she tore it to fly the first time with
Elis.

It was gone now.

Corsa helped her fasten the back piece
of the jumpsuit between her wings and showed her how to slip the
jacket on over them. With the center piece open and her wings
folded, Raea had only to lift it over the top joints and stretch
her wings slightly to free them. The last part was the flap of
material that came up between her wings and secured on the collar
behind her neck. She finished fastening the front and the belt as
Cris pulled on his second black glove.

Wait until Elis heard about this—if
she saw him again.

["Last part."] Corsa handed her the
gloves from the woman who lay dressed like the man in only a body
suit.

Raea pulled them on.
["Done."]

["Not quite."] Leksel made an
adjustment to the collar of her flightsuit, two fingers along her
throat. After a moment he stepped back and adjusted her belt, gave
a final tug of the jacket and grimaced. ["A bit big, but it'll have
to do."]

The boots were another matter. Cris
already wore the same black boots as the rest.

Leksel held up the woman's boots to
her. ["You'll have to hide your clothes, and probably leave them.
Shirukan don't carry bags, except on special assignment, and then
rarely."]

How did he know all this?

Raea sat down to take off her shoes
and put on the boots. Oddly, they fit almost perfectly. She
strapped them on like she had seen Corsa and Leksel do earlier and
stood up.

Leksel gave an approving nod, or at
least she thought he looked satisfied with her. ["Now, say
nothing—your accent would raise too many questions—and stay with
me. You and Cris are tyros, cadets. It's not unusual for cadets to
shadow officers as part of their training. You will obey Corsa and
me without question. Understand?"]

And what if he asked her to do
something questionable?

His dark eyes burned through her.
["Understand?"]

["Yes."]

He stared unblinking. Oh, for heaven's
sake. Did she have to say it? Fine. ["Yes, sir."]

["Cris?"]

["Yes,
sir
."] The mocking tone made Leksel
scowl, but he turned to the door. He and Corsa set their tri-comms
on their cheeks, the detail they had forgotten when they rested
last.

Raea's stomach
grumbled.
Easy stomach.
They better eat soon.

["Follow me."]

Corsa picked up a step beside Leksel,
and Raea matched Cris's stride behind them.

* * *

Valdas caught her reflection in the
black screen above the panel. Only a faint scar, but a scar she
couldn't hide. Damn him!

Footsteps halted behind her.
["Sir."]

Now what? The rebels had escaped
minutes before she arrived at their last known location. She had
arrived in time to find the Shirukan stunned but recovering by what
could only be a Starfire blast. A neutralizer would have knocked
them out for hours. This left them dazed for some time, but not
nearly the effect of a neutralizer. The regular soldiers had been
another matter but no worse off.

She wanted those rebels, not just the
Crystal Keeper.

["We received a message from
Lieutenant Hourall. It cut off."]

What? She turned to the woman in the
gray and black uniform. Could the rebels have attacked? No
soldier—Shirukan or not—would have cut off their message
voluntarily. ["Where did it originate?"]

["Blue four-niner, sir."]

Blue sector. Near the south dock. It
had to be them. Now she knew the area where they were, and they
likely had the Crystal Keeper. They had come up from the recycling
area, where the materials blocked all scans.

She could track the Keeper
now.

["Scan the area for traces of
Starfire."]

["Yes, sir."] The black-winged captain
passed the message to a young man at one of the panels circling the
room. Valdas waited while a three-dimensional grid of that section
of the city formed in the air above his hands.

A green wall passed through it,
highlighting clusters of yellow dots, three of them around one
green. Found her.

[Heading for the transport
dock…]
They intended to smuggle her out of
the city.

Not if Prime Commander Alshouan Valdas
had anything to do with it. ["Stop all outgoing traffic. No one
takes off unless I directly authorize it."]

["Yes, sir."] He keyed in the command
and passed the message on through the tri-comm.

Now, she had them.

__________

Escape
from Naviketan

Raea followed two steps behind Leksel
through the corridors. A blue line ran along the top of the walls
now, and they passed other Inari. In fact, the crowds thickened as
they went. Inari everywhere!

Raea wanted to stare, but she had to
pretend to be a Shirukan. They wouldn't stare. But to think she was
on a different world and not one human in sight! Josh would be
gawking at everything. Oh, man! He'd love it there.

She missed him, and the way
he always talked about his Dark Angel. She should have told him
about Elis, and her, being different, being "angels". He deserved
to know. It
was
his
obsession and she was his friend. If she ever made it home, she
would tell him. Or maybe she'd let Elis show him. He'd like
that.

Cris nudged her arm. Now
what?