Guardian (20 page)

“
What did you think I was going to do, leave him here?” I replied. “With them?” Adeodatus dared an affronted expression. “I will do nothing of the kind.”

Meta stepped close, her expression hard.
“I don’t think you understand the risks involved in what we’re about to do.”

I lifted eyebrows at her.
“Of course I don’t. I’m not even from this world, so how could I?”

Meta touched her fingertips to the scars on her right temple. Her expression didn
’t change, her eyes were just as hard, just as weary, but I noticed Adrian and Kasen looked to their feet as she did so. “The Legate is no place to bring a child,” she said, her voice as low as a whisper but far too intense. “You’ve seen the Drones, so you know what they do to unwanted children. What you don’t want to know is what they do to the
wanted
ones. I can tell you, first hand. I wasn’t skilled enough to be sent to the programmers, but I was healthy and strong willed. They like us strong willed. We can take more.” Her fingers followed the scars to her eye. “They used this side of my brain to grow silex integrated nervous networks to be incorporated into the heart mainframe. I had a huge plastic biotube connected to a hole in my head, right here, hooked up to a mini life support all of its own. They only use one hemisphere at a time, because it wrecks the brain tissue after a while. Start with one, suck the life out, then the other.”

She dropped her hand, turned her back on me.

“You can’t move, all strapped and connected and broken like that. But they want you fit, so your brain stays healthy. They’d unwire me, every so often, send me out with the others and make us all run around, work those muscles, pump that blood.” She paused to draw a shuddering breath. “They like us strong, but I was too fucking strong willed for them, even as a young girl. Took my chance and got out, three others with me. They were caught, but I was lucky. Kept going. The guards of Core-1 West found me, almost dead, and brought me here. The Hero helped them fix me.”

Kasen looked up, and his usually expressionless eyes were burning with something like passion, like belief.
“Not lucky,” he said, in that same intense whisper. “Just damned stubborn and far too tough for them.”

“
Do you see why you can’t even think of taking your child with you?” Meta said, her back still turned to me. “Not if you want to keep him safe.”

I knew what the Legate wanted to do to my son, I knew it all too well. But that didn
’t matter, because there was no way I was going to do what the
Other
wanted, and we weren’t going anywhere near the Legate heart.

Not that I was about to say any of that.

“That’s not even taking into account the more than three hundred Drones gathered above us,” she continued. “And Crust has other dangers—” she paused, and pointed to Adrian “—actually, that raises a good point. Can you source us some good quality radiation suits?”

He nodded with a smile.
“Already on it, ma’am.”

“
We will need threaded rounds.” She approached the bosses. “If they can be spared, of course.”

Leola nodded.
“No expense is too great if it aids the Hero,” she said. But I had a feeling she was really thinking about Lad.

Meta glanced at me over her shoulder.
“You will not bring a child on any expedition I lead.” Her tone told me that she had already made up her mind.

That didn
’t mean I’d listen. “He’s coming with me. I will not leave him here, alone.”

Lad finally prised the last of my silex from Core
’s network, and gathered my fragile hands. He turned me gently, away from Meta, and drew me close. “Tan,” he said. “You need to stop arguing. You know Meta’s right. He will be safer here. Safer than we will be, out there. On Crust.”

I couldn
’t believe what I was hearing. Tears welled up in my eyes, and I blinked them away, furious at myself. I tugged my hands, but he held them, not hard enough to hurt me, or crack me any further, but steady. Determined.

“
But—” I whispered. “Lad, please.”

He held my desperate gaze and smiled, softly. Sadly.
“Don’t you trust me, Tan?”

I could hardly breathe.

“She will do as you say,” he said, glancing back over his shoulder to Meta and the bosses. “We both will. But please, for pity’s sake, at least give her some space to say goodbye.”

“
Of course,” Leola said. “We are not monsters.”

Adrian left to source food—which seemed to consist of tough leather-like strips and strange pellets that looked like gravel—as well as packs for the three guards to carry, and radiation suits. Kasen requisitioned weaponry, and what sounded like a large amount of ammunition. Meta and the bosses discussed routes, escorts, defences and something they called a last resort, but never fully explained. Lad had already began to gather the supplies necessary to keep me alive: baths, and as much silex liquid as he could carry.

Numb, aching and tired right down to my crystalline bones, I carried my son out of the room.

“
Natasha.” Kichlan pushed to his feet and struggled across a street slippery with disintegrating stones. He crouched beside her, touched shaking fingers to her cheek. “What happened to you?”

One of her eyes was swollen, so red and weeping it was forced closed. A great gash ran down her cheek below it. The rest of her face was a horrific collage of bruises, cuts, and burns. They travelled on down her neck, and underneath her armour. Her breastplate was cracked, chunks of metal gouged out, their shape disturbingly close to a hand. Whole pieces of her borrowed carapace were missing from her arms and legs, the hardy leather that had strapped them tight against her body ripped, and in places singed. Her left arm was wrapped in thick, tight bandages, and had been bound against her chest. Her right leg—Kichlan swallowed rising nausea—had to be broken, somewhere beneath all that cloth and leather and steel. It was twisted halfway down her shin so it stuck out, almost perpendicular to the rest of her leg.

She peered up at him. “The veche,” she said. She lisped when she spoke. Her mouth was bloody, teeth missing. “We drove back their Mob, broke through their Shielders, drove their Strikers from the sky. We thought—we thought we had won. I sent messages to the Emperor. I told him, Kichlan, I told him I had won this revolution for him. Oh, Kichlan—” her voice hitched, and she stirred, lifting her right arm and trying to straighten against the wall “—I failed him! How can I stand before his jade throne again, how can I ever hold my head high? I’ve told him that I triumphed and instead, I have failed.”

Devich, still low to the ground and tense, crept slowly closer. Kichlan sent him a warning glance and gestured for him to keep back. He did so, but slumped and hung his head low, like a chastised dog.

“The veche withdrew west, beyond the refugee camps, to the other side of the Keeper Mountain.” She sagged back against the wall, closed her eye. “But the veche was only waiting for their suited soldiers to arrive. You saw it, Kichlan. Our weapons will not work against them, and that suit, well, you know. Nothing can so much as dent it. They drove us back, so few of them, but we stood no chance.”

Natasha swallowed, wincing, and Kichlan wished he had water to give her. She looked thirsty.

“I tried to stop the suits.” She opened her eye again to glance down at her arm. “One of them tried to stick me like a pig. I blew up disks in its face. That glass across the eyes is their only weak spot. Bastard couldn’t see right, but he still got me in the arm instead. Healers had to bind me back together. But there is too much debris now for pion-binding to work. Kichlan, did you know that? They did what they could. Got it strapped it here, like this, so it doesn’t fall off—”

“
Shh.” Kichlan placed a hand on the cleaner skin across her forehead. “Slow down.” He used his Lad-voice on her, the one that had always soothed his brother. It worked long enough for Natasha to draw a shuddering breath, and nod.

“
Yes, I’m sorry.” Another breath. “We are retreating. Crossed the river last night, thought that might be far enough. But they followed. The veche won’t let up until we are dead. Every last one of us.”

Kichlan said nothing, though silently, he agreed.

“But you,” she said, and clarity sharpened her green-eye gaze. “You killed one. We have tried, and only ever cracked the glass across their eyes. But you killed one.” She shifted slightly, looked over his shoulder. “The two of you.”

Devich slunk closer still, head down, belly low and breathing wetly, loudly. He dripped blood; it slid from his silver like water across feathers.

“Who—?” she tried to lean closer, to get a better look at him.

“
We were lucky to have survived that.” He glanced back at Devich. “And I’m not convinced we would again.” An ungainly nod, and he assumed Devich agreed with him. “Do not expect us to become weapons for you.”

Paling even further, if that was possible, Natasha leaned back against the wall.
“Is that what you think of me now?” She stared up at a sky heavy with battle-smoke, staining crimson, now, as evening approached. “Can’t I just be pleased that you’re still alive, without trying to use you for my own gain?”

Kichlan didn
’t answer. He wasn’t sure how to.

“
But there are more.” Her eye closed. “And they will not rest, until we are all dead.”

As if on cue, an explosion rocked the street. Another flash of that too-bright, all-destroying dragon fire. A few blocks away, perhaps.

Devich growled. “Go—” he splattered. “Go, go—”

“
Yes.” Kichlan pushed himself to his feet again. “I couldn’t agree more. Help me with her?”

Between them, Kichlan and Devich lifted Natasha. Devich was not comfortable on two feet. With his elongated body, it was probably easier to balance on all fours, closer to the ground. But he did as he was asked, and wrapped one of his silver-strong arms around Natasha
’s waist. Kichlan slung her right arm across his shoulders and balanced his stub against her back.

<
We can fight them. Defeat them. Absorb them. No need to run
>

A crash, different to the dragon light, sent stone and dust up into the air. Only a street away this time. If that.

“It’s coming for me,” Natasha whispered. “Run.”

“
Come on.”

Together, Kichlan and Devich carried Natasha at a jolting trot, not quite the run he would have liked, but faster than she could have crawled herself. She groaned as the movement jarred her wounds, but Kichlan couldn
’t help that. She looked up to Devich’s warped face, close to hers.

“
Do I know you?” she asked, words almost as slurred as Devich’s own speech.

“
Now is not the time!” Kichlan snapped.

Silver crashed into the ground beside them, and Kichlan lost his balance. Only Devich kept them upright. He spun, crying out—somewhere in the middle of an animal roar and a human scream—bringing them face to face with another suited soldier, rapidly approaching, leaping down from the high remnants of a building roof, and throwing punches of silver as he went.

Another smacked at Kichlan’s feet. He leapt backwards only to be jerked to the side as Devich tried to dive for cover. Still entangled, all three fell, and Natasha screamed at the sudden weight on her leg.

“
Get up!” Kichlan yelled at Devich. “Help me with her!”

Devich cowered, hands over his face like he could block the world out, like the suited soldier wouldn
’t exist if he just didn’t see him.

“
Other damn you!” Kichlan turned to meet the soldier, stretching his suit into another sword. “Tanyana says to get up,” he cried, desperate. “She says to pick up Natasha again and run. We have to run. Will you do that? For Tanyana?”

“
Tany—?”

“
Oh,” Natasha gasped, recoiling from Devich. “I do remember you.”

The soldier struck out, two tight, fast blows. Kichlan parried them both, his movements so fast and smooth with the suit inside him.

<
Please confirm protocol?
>

“
Not now,” Kichlan muttered, through his clenched jaw. “No more fighting. We have to run instead. Do you understand that, you bastard? Run?”

<
Confirmed. Analysing routes
>

Devich lurched forward, scooped up Natasha in both hands.
“Run?” he asked.

<
Simulated Flare signal found. Viable option for evac. Shall we proceed?
>

“
Yes!” As Kichlan turned, started to run, Natasha stunned him again. Even broken and barely conscious, she drew a clay disk from her armour and threw it at the suited soldier.

It blew a hole in the street, sent more dust and stone showering into the air. And they ran. Ducking, weaving, in and out of ruins, Devich in the lead and Kichlan fighting to keep up, his suit still extended; a ready sword unsheathed.

<
Incorrect direction
>

Kichlan slowed at the tugging in his bones, a pressure from the suit.
“What?”

<
Turn left. Suggest increase in movement speed
>

“
Devich!” Kichlan called, all too aware of the soldier still behind them. The disk could only slow it down. “This way! And hurry!”

“
That was my last one,” Natasha gasped, as Devich overtook him. “I have no more weapons left.”

But Kichlan wasn
’t listening to her. He was focused on the suit instead. “This way!” Devich obeyed. Every turn, every corner, through ruined streets, beneath hollow houses.

The suit guided him.

<
Signal strength increasing. Approaching simulated Flare. Charged and ready
>

Devich skidded to a halt at the edge of a great crevasse, the underground storeys of what must once have been a large building.

<
Down
>

“
Keep going!” Kichlan cried.

Devich crawled down the shattered and dangerous bones of a stairway. A gulp of air, and Kichlan followed.

Above them, the suited soldier launched himself straight into the crevasse. Hooks lashed out from his hands, caught in stone and earth and halted his descent. He swung toward Devich, already far below Kichlan and crawling quickly.

“
Watch out!” Kichlan cried. It echoed down the semi-collapsed hallways. “He’s coming for Natasha!”

Devich glanced up and growled so deeply Kichlan swore he could feel it through the stone.

<
Reconfirm protocol?
>

“
That’s not helping,” he hissed at his own arm.

“
Kichlan!” Natasha cried.

He peered down. Devich held Natasha in one arm while he turned to face the suited soldier. Teeth bared, chin wet with his own saliva, he snapped and struck out with silver claw-tipped hands. But the soldier simply held back, suit-power at the ready.

“Other curse you,” Kichlan whispered.

And let go.

He dropped, fast. Air rushed past his ears and a scream he could not contain was snatched from his mouth. He lashed out at the wall with one hard spike, slamming to a sudden halt against stone, right beside Devich and Natasha. His free hand extended into a whip that harried the soldier, slicing at his hooks and forcing him to retreat to the far side of the crevasse.

Pale, frightened, Natasha shook her head at him.
“Learn that from Tanyana, did you?”

“
She was much better at this than me.” Kichlan swallowed sudden nausea. “Devich, come on. We have to keep going.”

Still growling, Devich nodded, and began to descend.

Kichlan paused, face pressed into the stone, as he struggled to catch his breath.

For a moment, he could see Tan, as clear and vivid as though she was hanging on the stone beside him. She was smiling, that wild look she sometimes got, when he knew she was feeling the tug of the power inside her. He
’d never really liked that look. It always meant she was about to do something dangerous, and foolish, and she’d come out more scarred and even more distant than before. It reminded him too strongly of Lad.

Her eyes shone as she grinned at him.
“Don’t worry, Kichlan,” she said, in a voice that wasn’t her own, and yet sounded so familiar. “We’ve got you now. We’ll look after you.”

<
We have been found
>

Kichlan opened his eyes and shook his head.

“Nice of you to come to us. You did make it easier, old boy.”

Kichlan glanced around. Where was that voice coming from? All he saw, for his trouble, were glimpses of doors. More doors. Doors crawling their strange and shadowy way up from the cracks in the fallen building, and all, it seemed, converging on the suited soldier.

<
Guardian program’s reaction to weakening produced by the simulated Flare is below the preferred scale. Requires maintenance. Please make a note
>

Kichlan cleared his throat, and said,
“Hello?” No reply.

Devich and Natasha were far below now, and there was no point hanging there listening to imaginary voices. He had no other way of climbing, really, so Kichlan pulled his silver spike from the crevasse wall and dropped, again. Not as far, not as fast, and this time he managed to direct his left arm, slamming it against stone several yards down and dragging himself to a stop.

“Not a perfect solution,” he whispered. Actually, it was pretty terrifying. But at least he was moving.

The soldier swung forward again, silver lashing out. Kichlan spun, ready to defend.

But something got in the way.

It was—a flicker of doors. A sudden cluster of them, right where the soldier was heading. And he did not fly straight through them as though they were not real. Rather, the soldier smacked against them. His silver crumpled—that same ripple Kichlan had seen on Tan
’s suit, when she was attacked by the open door.