“Layela!” Josmere screamed and nodded towards the path of the beam. Layela looked up, only to see a continued energy blast
—
a straight purple line, glowing white at the edges, destroying the shop in a slow, horizontal sweep. Petals fell in wisps and streaks of fire, the plants withering as the beam cut straight through them.
It was headed straight for the Pomboms.
“Take cover!” Layela screamed. The explosive plants were hit, the beam ripping them apart and igniting the strong internal gasses. Layela’s breath was knocked out of her lungs as the blast singed her skin further. Ardin was suddenly half covering her, his hair falling by her face. He tried to stay low and keep them both safe.
Then the light came, brilliant and purple with shades of green. The exploding plants screamed like a thousand wailing crickets on a summer night, a shrill and angry shriek that ripped through Layela’s eardrums.
She held her breath and waited for the noise and the pain to stop.
i
“One…oxy…gen…tank…” the merchant stuttered through the computer voice-over, his own covered by the necessary respiratory equipment strapped to him, shielding most of his face. Avienne couldn’t even tell what race he was under all the equipment, but she was willing to bet that he regretted ever leaving home. She leaned closer and realized that while she had assumed his gender to be masculine, she really had no proof.
“Yes, yes,” she said impatiently. “I need one mid-ship compressed oxygen module, and make it really compressed. I don’t want to haul something large around.” The merchant scooted off to the side with a speed she had not anticipated, going to the back to fill the order.
Avienne sighed and leaned against the counter. At least they still had the money for some oxygen. Half the ship
—
probably more than that
—
was cut off because they no longer pumped heat or oxygen to it.
She hoped Ardin would have some luck. They could use that money. It could buy them a lot. Air. Warmth.
Freedom.
She felt giddy at the thought, but an old familiar ache snared her heart as well. The
Destiny
was the only home she remembered, with the only family she had ever known. Could she really abandon them? What if Ardin refused to join her, a fear that kept her awake at night and overshadowed all her imagined futures. Could she really abandon him, her brother and best friend?
She shook her head. At least she could find a nicer place than Collar to live. Most places were nicer than Collar, really.
The store was rocked by an explosion and Avienne crouched as she ran for the small window in the door.
“Blood and bones, Ardin,” she swore as she saw troops past the shuttle, wielding dangerous fire power. Smoke, light and a sickening wail came from what remained of
Sunrise Flowers
.
The merchant came out from the back, apparently able to hear well through the complex contraption. He
—
or she, or whatever it was
—
held the oxygen tightly in its agitated grasp.
“Fi…Fire…Ba…Bad…” the computer voice intoned over and over again in its dull baritone. Avienne walked over to the merchant.
“Fire, yes. Bad, yes.”
So few weapons, so many challenges.
She had one bullet, and a few knives. Not much of an arsenal for so many soldiers.
Yet…She looked around and turned a charming smile on the merchant, hoping it was a male with some care for human females. “I think I’ve changed my mind on the oxygen. Do you have some Glotch gas, as compressed as you can get it in that tank?” She pointed to a cylindrical canister; it would roll nicely.
“And as many personal oxygen tanks as this will afford,” she continued, putting all of Cailan’s money and her profits on the table. The merchant held up two fingers and was off again, moving even faster this time.
She sighed.
There went the money for her well-deserved drink, and she still didn’t even have enough to buy the oxygen masks necessary to save everyone in the shop.
i
“We can’t go out the back,” Ardin said when the plaintive wail ended. The tall display with the colourful song-sensitive Lacile flowers had helped to shield the three from the blast of the Pomboms. Layela could only see the bright smile on a little girl’s face, when she had shown her the song that would make it bloom.
A lifetime ago
, she thought.
The shortest life I have ever known
. Tears welled in her eyes at the smell of burnt and burning plants around her, a bitter odour where before only the sweetest scents had intermingled. Her face was flushed from the heat and her clothing was sticky from sap, the blood of hours of care and love shed so easily. A sob caught in her throat. It was all gone. She felt naked and afraid, without security or haven. She had felt safe here. Only here.
“Layela,” Josmere whispered, the Berganda’s green eyes searching out hers. Layela tried to smile, but failed, barely managing to stop the tears from shedding.
“We need to go. Now,” Ardin said.
“Give her a moment,” Josmere snapped. “You have no idea what she went through for this.”
“I know what she’ll go through if we don’t get out of here now!” Ardin retorted.
“There is no other way out,” Layela answered, breaking the two up. She gave Josmere a wry smile. “It was something Yoma hated about this place.”
Plan your exits
. Always plan your exits. It was too late now to regret not following her sister’s advice.
“We might have a better chance with the back, if they’re even still there,” Ardin mused, looking toward the back door.
“I would rather die than fall into the hands of that Kilita,” Layela spat venomously. Josmere looked at her with surprise. Layela had never revealed to Yoma and Josmere what had happened while she had been held captive years ago, choosing to let them draw their own conclusions.
“Advance!” The cry came from outside the shop, beyond the melted bars that had once protected it from petty thieves.
“I can’t believe I’m about to lose this contract,” was all Ardin could whisper, and Layela was too busy frantically trying to think of an escape route to ask him to elaborate. The soldiers were near, their boots scraping on the pavement outside, their stealth non-existent as they stepped over broken shards of glass.
Glass.
She could fight with glass, but it would cut her as much as her assailants.
As though reading her thoughts, Ardin handed her the gun she had dropped earlier and clutched his own close to his chest. Josmere removed her gloves. Ardin looked at her in disbelief and was rewarded with a nasty look.
Ardin shifted, and so did the two friends, waiting to attack as one. They could figure out loyalties later.
Then a woman outside yelped in delight and a shot was fired. An explosion ripped through the broken windows and the air turned a bright yellow, powdered specks falling and dancing around them like snowflakes. The air was burned and ripped out of Layela’s lungs. She gasped, her hands reaching for her throat as she dropped her gun and desperately tried to find a pocket of air. Tears streaked down her face as her eyes burned and her body suffocated and grew numb.
She turned at the touch of a hand on her back, recognizing Avienne despite the dust and the air tank in the woman’s mouth. She offered Layela a tank of her own, gesturing for her to breathe quickly and give it back to her. Layela gulped greedily, taking a deep breath before giving the small tank back to Avienne, who passed it to her brother. She motioned to Josmere to offer her some of hers.
“Don’t worry, I’m fine,” the Berganda said, unaffected by the strange acrid gas Avienne had unleashed upon them. Ardin signalled to his sister to lead the way and he handed the oxygen to Layela. She gulped again and passed it back to him, and they both stood and followed Avienne.
With little oxygen and too many wounds, running was out of the question, so they staggered after Avienne, Josmere somewhere behind them. The yellow air stung Layela’s eyes, but Avienne’s lack of concern comforted her. The woman might be reckless, but she certainly didn’t strike her as stupid enough to render herself blind.
Wisps of white suddenly graced the thick yellow air, and the sight of the soldiers littering the streets, their lips blue and eyes wide open and accusing, made Layela forget for a moment that she couldn’t breathe. The white mists dissipated as quickly as they had come, and the bodies were gone, leaving in their stead only writhing soldiers, clutching their throats on the ground, some still standing and bent in two.
She had seen how it would end for them, in but a few moments. She felt some sadness at their deaths, but quickly hardened her heart. Mama Knot had been a friend too, and they had probably destroyed it with their energy weapons. And the Booknots that Mama Knot had loved so much that it had smothered them. And the Lacile, with its gentle glow on cold nights, and the Growall’s perseverance…She staggered under the weight of loss, realizing that there was nothing for her to go back to now.
Ardin felt her weaken and his arm was around her in an instant. He passed the oxygen back to her, and for a moment, she leaned into his strength and let herself be partly carried. The burden of shattered dreams was too much for her to bear alone.
For just one moment.
i
Through the thick haze, Avienne somehow found the shuttle, waving at them to make sure they followed her. Ardin and Layela were just coming into sight when a soldier stepped out from beside the shuttle and threw Avienne into it. The side of her head bounced off of the metal, her oxygen flying away. She didn’t lose her footing, using the momentum of her rebound to turn and hit the large soldier, only to be met by a grinning Glotch, tall, scaly and as yellow as the air, who easily sidestepped her blow.
A Glotch, here? Of all the rotten luck!
Avienne pulled two knives free, but her eyes stung and the tears were making it hard to aim. She let the blades fly, not needing to see to know that she had missed.
Her body was already weakening, already begging her to take a deep breath, but she fought back, knowing the instant she let the atmosphere into her lungs and began coughing, he would down her.
“Cute little one, aren’t you?” The Glotch grinned, its large yellow teeth and protruding canines clear even with her impaired vision. She let another knife fly. Again, no luck, and he was getting closer.
Ardin was nowhere to be seen, and she guessed he had not seen the encounter.
Dying this way is too stupid!
her mind screamed as she lunged at him. This filthy little planet would not be her grave. She had so much to live for, so many things still to do!
She hit the soldier as his arm struck out, catching her hard across her ribs and blowing all the remaining air out of her. She knew it was over the second she instinctively drew in air, the atmosphere burning the soft tissue of her lungs. Her entire body convulsed, the taste of bitter metal coating her failing senses.
That’ll teach me to play with dangerous chemicals,
she thought as the Glotch picked her up. He grinned again; she coughed and her body heaved.
“Let me taste those final breaths,” he whispered, bringing her mouth close to his. Anger gave her limbs new life. She pulled a knife free and jabbed it into one of his yellow eyes. He screamed and threw her to the ground, where she gasped, her lungs and eyes burning.
“I’ll kill you now, before this air does, fire-girl.” He pulled the knife out of his eye, thick yellow blood oozing down his cheek. Avienne feebly kicked at him as he sauntered towards her, but with little effect. He grinned and stood over her, the knife dripping yellow blood on her cheek.
Really stupid way to die!
A shot fired and the Glotch’s eyes widened. Another one and he lurched and fell, half on top of Avienne, crushing her aching lungs. She tried to push him off, but her limbs barely moved, sleep teasing her weakened mind and blackness dancing in the yellow atmosphere all around her.
“Men.” Josmere shook her head as she pushed him off Avienne. The Berganda handed the oxygen to Avienne, who weakly brought the canister to her mouth, but she couldn’t force her tired lungs to take in the air. She realized her hand was cold, and she dropped the canister, unable to even hold it.
“This is a bit of a funny twist,” the Berganda said as she picked up Avienne with a strength the smuggler would never have imagined the slight green woman to possess. In what felt like seconds stretching into eternity, Avienne was in the shuttle, surrounded only by clean oxygen, and being injected with an oxygen compound directly into her blood.
“Enough fun for you yet?” Ardin asked as he looked down at her, his narrowed eyes failing to hide the worry and care in them.
“What’d I miss?” she heard Lang slur in the background, and was glad that she managed to grin before passing out.
C
HAPTER
9
T
he shuttle skimmed the surface of the land, its thrusters aimed down to keep them afloat. The gentle hum of the recycled air was the only noise in the cramped quarters. The restricting space contained only four seats. Lang slumbered in his seat, his stench beaten back by the large quantities of chemical cleaners Ardin had poured, while mumbling his distaste, on the shuttle floor.
The shuttle glided effortlessly and the autopilot indicator blinked softly on the dash, its light dim and barely reinforced from a few other lighted settings. Only the red light of Collar pulsated the shadows into life.
Avienne coughed from the front seat, where she had sat quietly after waking from her ordeal. She had yet to swear once.
Layela sat in the seat next to Lang at Josmere’s insistence.
“Your lungs took a beating, too,” Josmere had whispered after dragging Avienne on board. Layela had been too weary to argue.