Under the Never Sky (11 page)

“Hurt me again, I hurt you back harder,” he said through clenched teeth. She felt the rumble of his voice where their ribs pressed together.

He firmed his grip around her waist and quickened his pace up the slope, his breath a muffled hiss at her side. Warmth gathered where their skin touched, making her nauseous. She didn’t think she could bear it anymore when they crested the slope.

By the light of the Aether, she saw a darkened opening in a smooth wall of rock. She’d have laughed if she could. Of course it would be a cave. Rain poured over the mouth in a solid sheet of water. The Outsider set her down inside.

“Back under a rock. Must feel like home.” He disappeared into the cave.

Aria limped back out into the pelting rain. She stared down at the way they’d come, a hillside so broken with rock it looked like it had teeth. She saw no other way, downhill or up, that looked manageable. She climbed down anyway, using her hands and her good foot to move over rocks made slick with rain. Aria pushed herself to hurry before the Outsider returned. Her foot slipped, wedging into the space between two large slabs. Aria tugged and turned, but the crack wouldn’t let her go and she was fading, the last of her strength seeping into the cold rock against her back.

Aria tucked herself into a ball and had two thoughts. First, she was plunging to a place far deeper than sleep. And second, she hadn’t gotten far enough away.

Chapter 12
PEREGRINE

T
he girl had passed out by the time Perry got the fire started. She seemed to do that a lot. He freed her foot from the slabs. Then he carried her into the cave and wrapped a blanket around her. A stone fell out of her hand. He guessed she’d meant it as protection from him. A decent thought. Might have worked for half a second.

He remembered her scent from the night in the Dweller fortress. A rancy mix of must and flesh at the brink of decay. It had surprised him earlier, when he’d come across it in the valley. Led him right to her. Here, in the closed space of the cave, her odor was strong enough to bring a sour taste to the back of his throat. He lay down as far from her as he could without leaving the fire’s warmth and slept.

He woke before sunrise to the hush that always followed an Aether storm. The girl hadn’t moved. It was a cold morning, the weather heading fast toward winter. Perry got the fire going again, moving slow. Even breathing too deep brought daggers to his side.

He hadn’t been in this cave since Vale deemed this area forbidden, but found it well stocked by traders who used the cave as shelter when they came through the valley. He found clothes and jars with nuts. Dried fruits that were still edible. He even found a healing compound. Perry spread it on the girl’s feet, seeing that only one cut looked deep. She could use stitches. But he’d never been good with a needle, and she was going to die one way or another. Besides, he didn’t need her walking. Only alert long enough to talk.

Perry checked the cut on his side. Only a short slice on his skin where he’d been hit, but he’d bruised a few ribs. He also had five stripes of torn flesh on his chest, thanks to the girl. But his body would heal and grow strong again, unlike Talon’s.

He ate, then sat looking at the flames, torturing himself by remembering everything that had happened. He’d lost Talon. Something he thought impossible. Now he needed the impossible to happen again. He needed to get Talon back.

Perry had done what he had to, leaving the Tides. But when he thought of how he’d run, his face went hotter than fire. He had spent his life dreaming of being the Tides’ Blood Lord. The tribe would think him a coward now. They’d be glad to have him gone.

When he lay down to sleep, the girl still hadn’t moved. He wondered if she’d ever wake.

Perry hunted the next morning. The hurt in his ribs made him sweat cold, but sitting about would’ve felt worse. He coaxed a rattler from a hole, speared it through with an arrow. He cooked and ate the rich meat, but felt nauseous afterward. Like the snake had come back to life in his gut.

By nightfall the girl began to stir with fever. Perry burned some dry oak leaves to mask her Dweller scent and stayed awake through the night. He needed to be ready if she came around. She might have information about Talon. And there was the eyepiece to find out about. He hoped it would give him a way to contact the Dwellers who’d taken Talon.

She opened her eyes the next afternoon and scurried away from him, pressing her back against the opposite wall. Her legs snapped together beneath the blanket.

Perry smirked. “You’ve been passed out two days and you’re worried about that now?” He shook his head. “Relax, Dweller. Last thing you bring to mind.”

She examined the dark granite walls. Then the steel cases of supplies stacked to one side. When she looked at the dwindling fire, she followed the thread of smoke toward the mouth of the cave.

“Yeah,” Perry said. “That’s the way out. But you’re not leaving yet.”

She turned to him, her gaze catching on his Markings. “What do you want from me, Savage?”

“Is that what you call us?”

“You’re murderers. Diseased. Cannibals.” She flung the words at him like curses. “I’ve heard the stories.”

Perry crossed his arms. She lived under a rock. What did she know about anything? “Guess we’re well-named, Mole.”

She watched him with a look of disgust. Then she touched her throat with a skitty hand. “I need water. Is there water?”

He took his leather waterskin from his satchel and held it up.

“What is that?” she asked.

“Water.”

“It looks like an animal.”

“It used to be.” The pouch protecting the bottle inside was made of goat hide.

“It looks filthy,” she said.

Perry unstopped the cork and drank deeply. “Tastes fine.” He shook it so the water sloshed around. “Lose your thirst?”

The girl snatched it from his hand, darted back to her spot. She shut her eyes and drank. When she was done, he raised a hand. “Keep it.” No way he’d drink from it now.

“Why were you out in the open?” he asked.

“Why should I tell you?”

“I saved your life. Twice, by my count.”

She sat forward. “You’re wrong! I’m
here
because of you. Guess who they think let you in?”

That surprised him. He shifted his back on the cool rock, wondering what had happened after he’d left her that night. It didn’t matter. He’d done what he could. Now there was only Talon to think of.

Perry slid his knife from the sheath at his hip. He checked the edge of the blade with his thumb, turning it so it caught the firelight. “I don’t have time to waste, Mole. Don’t think it would take much to make you talk.”

“You don’t scare me with that.”

Perry inhaled deeply. Her lie was acrid and sharp, bringing a bitter taste to his mouth. She wasn’t scared. She was terrified.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked.

“Your scent.”

Her lower lip quivered. “You drink from a rabbit and you think
I
smell?”

Perry knew what was coming when she started laughing. He caught the shift in the air like the drag of a dark tide. She wouldn’t be laughing for long.

He went outside and sat on a smooth boulder. It was a gray dusk, pulling a cold night in its wake. He sat and breathed and tried not to imagine Talon sobbing for his home like the girl in the cave.

Chapter 13
ARIA

T
o calm herself, Aria tried to pretend it was a Realm. A Paleolithic Realm. She was in a cave, after all. With a fire, which she avoided looking at for the memories it brought of Ag 6. But there were also steel cases to one side. And the navy blue blanket around her was made of fleece. And the glass jars lined up near the fire had metal screw-top lids. Too many things that broke the Stone Age illusion.

This was real.

Aria stood and winced at the pain in the soles of her feet. She pulled the blanket around her and listened for the Savage. Only the piercing rhythm of her headache broke the silence. Had she been infected with disease? Would she die in this cave, wrapped in this blue fleece blanket? She drew a few slow breaths. Thinking like that wouldn’t do any good.

There were supplies by the Outsider’s leather bag, but she wasn’t going to touch any of his things. She hobbled to the steel crates. Broken pieces of plastic and glass mixed with bottles of medicine. They were useless to her now. All the expiration dates reached back more than three hundred years, to the time of the Unity, when the Aether had forced people into Pods. She found one sterile bandage that had yellowed with time, but it would serve.

Aria drew up the blanket and gasped. Her feet were already bandaged. The Savage had tended to her feet.

He’d touched her.

She gripped the edge of the case, steadying herself. This was a good sign. If he’d tended to her feet, then he couldn’t mean her harm. Could he? The logic was sound, but just thinking of him brought a fresh wave of fear.

He was a beast. Immense. Muscular, but not like Soren. The Savage reminded her of the Equestrian Realms, how every movement in a horse showed a chorus of lean muscles rolling and shifting beneath skin. He had tattoos, just like in the stories. Two patterned bands around each bicep. When he’d turned his back, she’d seen another design on his skin, some sort of hawk with wings spanning shoulder to shoulder. His hair looked like it had never seen a brush. Snarled blond ropes, all uneven in length and color, coiling in every direction. As he’d spoken, she could’ve sworn she’d glimpsed teeth that were slightly too
canine.
But nothing was more hideous than his eyes.

Aria was accustomed to eyes of all colors. There were fads in the Realms. Purple had been the popular color just last month. The Savage’s eyes were bright green but also reflective, like the eerie gaze of a nocturnal animal. And she realized with a shudder, they were real.

She turned, biting her lip as she looked around. A
cave.
What was she doing here? How had this happened? The fire had dwindled. She could no longer see the wall she’d sat against. She didn’t want to be in this cave in the darkness, with no noise and nothing to see. She fastened the navy blanket into a toga, belting it with gauze so she could move better, and then went outside.

She found him sitting on a rock at the edge of the jagged slope where she’d fallen. He had his back to her, hadn’t yet heard her. Aria stopped within the cave’s mouth, a dozen feet away. She didn’t want to move any closer so she stood, hugging the blanket close to keep it from shifting with the wind.

He was shaving down a long piece of wood with a knife. Making an arrow, she guessed. A caveman fashioning his weapons. The tattoo on his back was of a falcon, judging by the sleek head. The eyes appeared to be masked with darker plumage. In the Realms people used moving designs. They chose new ones whenever they wanted. She couldn’t imagine having an image on her skin forever.

The Outsider turned and glared at her. Aria glared back at him, hiding a jolt of fear. How had he known she was there? He slipped his knife into a leather sheath at his belt.

She stepped closer, careful not to limp and to keep a good distance between them. Aria pushed a strand of her hair back behind her ear. She realized he’d handled the knife with the same habitual ease.

The Aether flowed in gentle ribbons of blue light, swirling above scuttling gray clouds. She wasn’t fooled this time. She knew how terrible it could be. Below she saw the valley they’d crossed in the storm, mottled with uneven light.

“Is it twilight?”

“Dusk,” he said.

She glanced at him. Wasn’t twilight the same as dusk? And how did he manage to drawl such a brief little word?
Dusssk.
Like the word could go on all day. “Why did you bring me here? Why didn’t you just leave me out there?”

“I need information. Your people took someone from me.”

“That’s ridiculous. What use could we have for a Savage?”

“More use than they had for you.”

Her breath caught as she remembered Consul Hess’s lifeless eyes and empty smile. The Savage was right. She’d served her purpose. She’d taken the fall for Soren and been put out to die. Out here, with this beast.

“So you want to get into Reverie? To save this person? Is that what you were doing that night?”

“I will get in. I’ve done it before.”

She laughed. “
We
disarmed the system. And that dome was damaged. You got lucky, Savage. The walls protecting Reverie are ten feet thick. There’s no way you could ever get through them again. What’s your plan, anyway? Are you going to hurl dung patties? Or maybe use a slingshot? One well-aimed stone would probably do it.”

He spun and came toward her. Aria darted aside, her heart leaping into her throat, but he strode past her, disappearing back into the cave. Moments later he stalked back out. His eyes gleamed as he held something up.

“Is this better than a dung patty, Mole?”

For long seconds, Aria stared at the curved object in his hand. She never saw Smarteyes off people’s faces. Seeing one in the possession of a Savage, she nearly didn’t recognize it.

“Is that mine?”

He nodded once. “I took it. After it was torn from you.”

Relief shot through her limbs. She could reach her mother in Bliss! And if the recording of Soren was still there, she could prove what he and his father had done to her. She looked up. “It’s not yours. Give it to me.”

He shook his head. “Not until you answer my questions.”

“If I do, then you’ll give it to me?”

“I said I would.”

Aria’s heart pounded. She needed her Smarteye. Her mother would rescue her. She could be on another Hover within hours on the way to Bliss. With Lumina’s help, she’d expose Consul Hess and Soren.

She couldn’t believe she was considering helping an Outsider get into Reverie
.
Wasn’t that treason? Hadn’t Hess practically accused her of that very thing? She’d never do it. Whatever he asked about this missing person, she’d give him false information. She’d tell him what he wanted to hear and he would never know otherwise.