Windrunner's Daughter (30 page)

Orel shook his head, hands around his own throat, as if his palms could soothe the bruising.

“If you do …” Raw crouched.

Wren coughed as Orel nodded his understanding.

Then Raw touched the discarded wings. “If you stay quiet, I’ll get these back to you. Colm can bring them.” His face hardened. “He
will
be coming back, one way or another.” Then his expression softened again. “I just want to get home, do you understand?”

Orel nodded again, it was all he could do.

“He won’t tell.” Wren pulled at Raw’s shoulders and he grimaced. “Sorry.” She whipped her hand away. “Can you put wings on over your injuries?”

Raw showed his teeth. “You just lead the way.” He swung the wings up with a flourish that made swirls in the darkening air.

Wren’s gaze lingered on the two wing-sets lying broken on the floor. “Are they still alive, the last Runners?” she whispered; then she coughed again.

“I doubt it." Colm looked at Orel. “But if they are, will you hide them?”

Orel rolled to his knees and nodded. “I only wanted to save the Runners. I’m glad you’re alive.” He raised one hand to Wren.

Wren looked away from the offered hand. Her fingers crept to her lips as if the ghost of his traitorous kiss remained.

Jay put his arm around her. “We’re getting out of here now, right?”  

Wren smiled at him with tears in her eyes. “I want to go home, even if Chayton ...”

“We all do.” Colm hustled her towards the corridor then looked back to Raw. “You coming?”

Anxiously, Wren twisted and caught the look of agony on Raw’s face as he tried to put his arms through the straps on Orel’s wings. She almost went to him but Colm whispered in her ear. “Leave him alone. He doesn’t want you to see.”

Wren bit her lip. “But he’s hurting.”

“That’s what he doesn’t want you to see.”

Finally Raw caught up, the wings tightly fastened around his chest and a forced smile on his face.

Together they headed down the passageway, leaving Orel alone with the two broken wingsets.

The small group hesitated before the door in the Lister’s office. “Everyone else escaped this way,” Jay murmured.

Finally Colm nodded and, gesturing Wren to stand behind him, he opened the door. But his sharp inhalation sent Wren darting round him. Had they walked into a trap? When her eyes were able to take in the scene outside, shock stiffened her limbs.

Fire had eaten away the protective canopies that once hung over the settlement. A few dangling threads were all that remained and those hung like trailing corpse-cloth.

Smoke had blackened white stone with giant charcoal smears. Triumphantly it coloured the air, blotted out the sun and brought a fake twilight to the inner walls.

Wren’s chest tightened and she realised the air was thinning: the fire was eating up the O
₂
as fast as it could be pumped into the biosphere.

In the distance she could see Runners leaping from rooftop to rooftop, aiming themselves at the wall.

As Wren stared, the roof of one of the nearer houses collapsed in on itself, its concrete weakened by the heat. The Runner on top of it vanished as if he had never been there. The noise that should have been an almighty crash seemed nothing more than a dying sigh, and it was only then that Wren realised the whole scene was backed with a roar so loud it ceased to be noise and became instead, part of the beat of her own blood tearing through her veins, faster and faster with her panicked heartbeat.

Jay’s arm closed around her. “It’s …” he fell silent.

Wren nodded and Raw’s voice filled the dismayed silence. “What have I done?”

“You?” Wren turned to him. “
You
did this?”

“I couldn’t come up with anything else. I needed a distraction to get you out.” His voice trembled with horror. “I set a fire among the fuel tanks. I didn’t think it would spread like this -”

“Look.” Jay pointed and they instinctively stepped backwards. In the square before them the ground had cracked over a ruptured O
₂
pump and fire was being whipped into a vortex, fed by the burning fuel underneath.

The whirlwind built higher and the flames twisted. Wren couldn’t tear her eyes away.

“Wren!” Raw grabbed her and she looked down to see her feet trembling on the edge of the doorway. She had been walking towards the fire.

“What do we do?” Jay was biting his lip so hard his teeth were breaking the delicate skin.

Colm shook his head. “We can’t go out there. There’s no way we’ll reach the platform on the wall. The rest of the Runners might, but we’ve waited too long.” He dragged them back inside.

Before the door shut behind them a line of houses imploded, one after another, as if sucked empty from the centre. Another of the Runners disappeared in a blur of debris.

“Now what?” Wren cried.

“Now what, indeed?”

Wren whirled. Behind them Erb, the Lister and another two council members had entered the room, cutting them off from the corridors. They were laden with bulging bags: books electronic tablets.

“The records!” Colm whispered.

“We have to save what we can. I think the labs are safe enough
for now
.” The Lister scrubbed a hand over his bald head. “The fuel tanks are on this side.” He thrust a bag at Wren. “Hold that.”

She fumbled the sack as he opened his drawers, dragged out paper after paper and stuffed them inside.

Erb swayed. “This is yer fault.” He pointed at Wren. “You brought this on us with yer blasphemy.”

“Stow it,” Jay snapped. “That’s superstition and you know it.”

“I know nothing of the kind, the Designers-”

“Why haven’t you vented the O
₂
?” Raw leaned over the desk. “This fire could be out, if you just vented the Oxygen.”

“And how would we do that?” Erb spat.

“Open the damned airlocks,” Raw stabbed a hand at the window.

“Can’t.” The Lister grabbed the bag from Wren and slung it over his shoulder. “Emergency protocols went into force the moment the alarm went off. We’re on lock down.”

“What kind of emergency protocols won’t let you open the airlocks?” Raw tore at his hair.

“How are the Runner’s going to get out?” Wren cried.

“They aren’t.” One of the other Councillors, a thin tired looking streak of a man smiled with the small triumph. “They’re as trapped inside the Dome as we are for a change.”

“By the
Skies
.” Colm raged. “Everything’s going to burn.”

Raw caught his arm. “Not necessarily.”

The Lister sneered. “If yer waiting for the fuel tanks to empty …”

“No.” Raw shook his head. “Think - the solar panels.”

“What d'you mean?” Erb’s chin wobbled as he shuffled nearer.

“Open the solar panels on the top of the Dome. The O
₂
will vent that way.”

The Lister let out a loud bark of laughter. “On the top of the Dome! Listen to yerself. It takes days to build the scaffolding to get up there.”

“You don’t
need
scaffolding.” Raw shoved Wren forward. “I can get the panels open - with Wren’s help.”

“And how are you going to get up there?” Colm shook his head.

“We fly.” Raw lifted one arm so that his new wings rippled. Another explosion rocked the room and Erb fell. Colm caught Wren and steadied her.

Erb looked up at him. “You can do this?”

“Of course he can’t,” Colm snapped. “Idiot Grounders. You can’t fly
inside
a Dome. There’s no wind.”

“Wren can.” Raw pulled her from Colm’s grasp. “We’ve out-flown a storm, we can do this.”

“I don’t know -”

Raw wheeled to the Councilmen. “Let us try. If don’t make it, you’ve lost nothing. You want us to die anyway.”

“And if you do make it?” Erb licked thick lips.

“You let all the Runners out as soon as the airlocks cycle open again.”

“Including the two of you I suppose.” The Lister sneered.

“Obviously.

Erb narrowed his eyes at his fellows. Then he put his soysage fingers into his tunic and lifted one of his pendants. The other two Councillors pulled out their own.

Wren was too scared to look. But Jay gasped. “They’re white, Wren.”

“I don’t care what colour they are. This is a Runner decision and you’re not going out there.” Colm blocked the doorway.

Gently Wren touched his arm. “Raw’s right. If we don’t try this, the whole Dome burns – us too. It’s our only chance.”

“You
can’t
fly inside a Dome,” Colm repeated.

“I’d rather die trying than sitting here,” Wren snapped. “If we take off from the top of the pyramid, we’ve got a chance.”

“Then I’ll do it,” Colm decided. “I’m the most experienced Runner.”

Wren shook her head. “I’m lightest. I stand the best chance of getting up there. And Raw has to try too – he’s the only one who knows how to programme the solar panels.”

Colm ground his teeth. “We’re going up the pyramid with you.”

Wren nodded. “It’s probably safer up there, than in here.” She cut her eyes at the Councillors.

Colm caught her hand in his. “I don’t think this is a good idea. You’re not a Runner.”

Raw snorted. “You’ve never seen her fly.”

Outside the fire raged on. Raw stepped out of the door, threw his arm over his face and ran.

“Sodding
Grounders
.” Colm bit off another curse, released Wren and hurled himself after him.

“You think you can do this?” Jay’s face was pale, but colour slashed over his cheekbones as if he’d been slapped. He was terrified.

Wren kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll get us out of here. Home by dinnertime.” She pulled him forward.

He hung back for a breath then lurched to her side. “Home for dinner,” he smiled.

The moment Wren stepped from the protection of the lintel the full force of the heat blasted into her.

“Come on,” Jay yelled and she whipped round to face him. His face was already scarlet from the heat.

She doubled over and began to cough. Jay grabbed her arm and started to drag her. “I was wrong, we can’t do this.” She turned to go back inside but Colm blocked her. He threw his arms around her waist and tossed her upwards. She gave a short shriek of surprise, but did not come back down. Instead, another set of hands closed around her wrists and she was pulled upwards. When she realised Raw was already on the first floor of the pyramid, she started to scramble with her legs. It had to be cooler up there.

It was - barely. Desperately she inhaled while holding Raw’s shoulders to keep her upright. But when she started to let him go, he held her more closely. She frowned up at him and he glared at her in unreadable silence.

Finally his hands tightened on her back. “I saw him kiss you,” he snarled.

Taken aback Wren stared up at him. “You
saw
that?”

“So this is only fair.”

He shifted his grip so one palm was flat on the back of her head. His fingers splayed in the sticky curls that were all that remained of her hair while his other arm circled her back. Then he tipped her, taking her balance so that she had to grip his shoulders.

Her mouth opened in a tiny shocked oh and his lips found hers.

Orel’s kiss had made her tingle; Raw’s ignited a furnace low in her stomach and set her on fire. The heat from the inferno below matched the flames that blazed in her chest and she dug her fingertips into his shoulders.

Raw’s breath was sweet on her tongue and instinctively she licked into his mouth, seeking more of the taste of him. Their tongues entwined and Wren moaned and clutched him harder.

He was her anchor, solid and good and a little broken. She needed him.

Wren forgot the danger they were in as she wrapped her right leg around his. He groaned into her mouth and his hand started to move, finding the bare skin on the nape of her neck.

She shivered and moved her own hands. Trusting him to hold her she found his back and the ridge of muscles beneath his wings.

He gasped into her mouth and pulled away.

“W-what?” Wren’s head spun. She squinted up to see that Raw was shaking. Only then did she remember his injuries. “I hurt you!” Concerned she jerked her hands away.

“No.” Raw grabbed for her wrists, his eyes flashed and Wren was sure he was about to kiss her again. Her lips parted in anticipation.

“A little help here.”

Wren turned to find Jay’s face level with her boots. His cheeks were red and his eyes streaming. Guiltily Wren dropped to her knees and hauled him up by his wrists. A second later Raw helped Colm.

Wordlessly they stared at one another. Then Raw’s great hand slid into Wren’s. Her fingers convulsed on his knuckles and she inched nearer to his side then, as one, they turned to look at the colony.

From this vantage point the extent of the devastation could be seen. Half of the colony seemed to be burning and the biosphere itself shuddered as the panels began to overheat.

“Where is everyone?” Wren murmured.

Jay shook his head.

“Keep climbing,” Colm coughed. Wren nodded and he helped Raw boost her up to the second floor.

Like automatons they climbed, helping one another up floor by floor. Wren’s eyes watered constantly, but as they got higher the air cleared slightly.

She looked back down and her hand closed around Raw’s. “I see them – the Vaikunthans.”

   Raw turned his head and nodded. “Makes sense.”

    “Where?” Jay leaned back and almost overbalanced. Colm’s arm slammed into him, flattening his wings against his back and pinning him to the wall.

“At the river.” Wren pointed.

Hundreds were huddled along the icy river, their O
₂
canisters glittering. Wren couldn’t help looking at Raw. His eyes were filled with tears.

“You couldn’t have known,” she yelled.

Raw looked at her. “I could have. I didn’t think hard enough. I didn’t care.”

“We’re going to save them.” Wren squeezed his hand. “Come on.”

Chapter twenty-five

Raw boosted Wren up onto the top of the pyramid, the flat roof was just wide enough for them to run a take off. She stood and looked over the colony. She had thought it would feel as if she was at the top of the world. She’d never even seen a building with eight stories before, let alone climbed one. But the wall still loomed over them, cutting the horizon short beneath the broken sphere, and the feeling of being hemmed in was as strong as ever.