Chapter 17
Chapter
Seventeen
Britta
A shudder wracked my body as a blast of frigid wind whipped though my cloak like I was wearing nothing.
As the door slammed behind us with a resounding thud, Kann took the lead and hurried us from the building and deeper into the dense forest surrounding it. The scent of pine sap mixed with salty sea air from the distant coast, making it hard for even me to believe that all this was fake. The simulation was incredibly detailed, if I did say so myself, with even the prickly needles on the bushy shrubs snagging my cloak as we passed, while leaves and fallen tree needles crunched under our feet as we walked.
I cast my gaze behind me for a last look at the looming, black walls of the academy. In its ancient version, it looked even more like a fortress than a school.
Turning toward Kann, I pulled back on his arm. “Where are we going?”
He hitched in a breath, and when he exhaled, a cloud puffed around his face before evaporating. I marveled at the detail that Zav must have included, even forgetting for a moment what I’d asked Kann.
“I’m putting some distance between us and the Academy Master.”
I scowled at this. “Shouldn’t we stay close to where we entered the simulation?”
The Drexian cocked his head at me. “It doesn’t matter where we are. When they disable the program, the holochamber will be the same size as always and the door will be right there.”
I knew that, but there was an irrational part of me that wanted to stick close to what was familiar. It was also getting harder to convince myself that my surroundings were merely a simulation created by light and energy.
“Shouldn’t we find a place to wait it out safely?” I swung my head to take in the forest. “Without freezing to death?”
“Don’t blame me for the temperature.” Kann used his free hand to rub his arm. “I never specified that it would be so cold.”
“Didn’t your planet used to be colder?” I remembered Zav saying something about this when we’d been designing the simulation and he’d been talking about the environmental accuracy.
Kann blew out another visible breath. “Maybe.”
I was suddenly very aware that he was still holding my hand, I slid it from his and pinned him with a serious look. “I didn’t do as much work on this program as Zav, so before we go any farther, maybe you should tell me what else I should know.”
“Like?”
I waved a hand toward the building we’d left. “Like the Drexians who you designed to be scary.”
“I did not design them that way,” I said. “That is how they are described in historical texts.”
I tapped one foot on the crackling dried leaves. “What else did you pull from the historical texts?”
“This challenge was called the Silent Hunt because the cadets were supposed to be released onto the academy grounds and be tracked by instructors, so the quieter they could be, the better their odds of escaping capture.”
I stiffened, wondering if we were being tracked now because we were talking. "We need to learn to communicate without making noise.”
Kann studied me. “Do humans have some telepathic abilities I'm unaware of?"
I shot him a look. "No, but…” An old memory surfaced—playground games with my friend Sara. "I learned some sign language from a friend in school. She was deaf."
His brow furrowed. “There are people on your planet who cannot hear?”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “Of course. Don’t tell me that Drexians are so perfect that no one is ever born blind or deaf.”
“They are, but our medical procedures cure them.”
“Well, we’re not that advanced. People must learn to adapt to their challenges.” I gave him a pointed look. “Which means I can now teach you how to sign.” I demonstrated the sign for 'quiet'—one hand to my mouth, finger to the side, then both hands moving down and out. “This means be quiet.”
Kann watched intently, his golden eyes focused as he mimicked the motion.
I nodded. “Not bad.”
"What's the sign for 'run'?" he asked.
I closed my eyes for a moment, remembering Sara teaching me that one so we could evade the mean boys who liked to play a full-contact version of tag. "Ah!" I made finger guns with both hands, hooked the back one over the front, then wiggled the front finger forward while moving both hands ahead. “Run.”
Kann's eyebrows lifted, amusement flickering across his features, but he copied the movement perfectly.
"Good," I said. "Now we can tell each other to be quiet and run for our lives."
He laughed, the sound low and grim. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Someone should disable the program soon."
I tried not to worry, but I felt certain our absence had been noted. If one, or both, of us had been tracked back to the holochamber, the simulation should have been turned off. If it wasn’t, that meant there was a problem. I did not want to think about what that meant.
“We should keep moving,” Kann said, then he made the sign for quiet.
I grinned. “You’re smarter than you look.”
His mouth fell open, but I could tell his outrage was manufactured. “What does that mean?”
“I’m only saying that you’re full of surprises, Blade,” I whispered as I followed the path he cut through the woods.
He held a branch back for me. “I’ll take that as a compliment coming from an Iron.”
A snap of a twig that did not come from either of us made me go still and silent.
I was quickly reminded that this challenge was called the Silent Hunt. We were supposed to be silent, and we'd been anything but.
I darted my gaze around, looking both for whomever was hunting us and for a place to hide. I didn’t see even a hint of movement. Had I imagined the noise?
Then there was another rustling crackle of leaves and a strong arm coiled around my waist and jerked me behind a tree.
Kann’s lips were so close to my ear that a tremor went down my spine as he held me tight to him and whispered. “Don’t move.”