36. Hope
36
Hope
R egardless of how many vessel changes Marcus guided them through, the sounds of the moving cellholts kept closing in. Hope, Aurora, Nina and the courtrades hadn’t heard any alarms, but that didn’t mean that the roixers weren’t somehow communicating between cellholts.
Even if they were now under Corentre, the abundance of cellholts around them was too much. There was no way that it wasn’t because they knew the intruders were on foot, and they were hunting for them. That’s what they had become, Hope thought with a mental snort: prey for the roixers. Shame her goal was the Organ Mandor and not just a few dozen of his roixers, because otherwise she would have been interested in finding out who was prey for who.
The perfect memory of Marcus was admirable, so was his sense of orientation. He kept guiding them towards the east in as straight a line as possible. Or what Hope wanted to believe was the east. He had explained that they were at the right latitude to where the tunnel was waiting for them. They just needed to advance a few miles more, until the correct longitude, to find it above them.
A wave of panom power threw them to the ground as the vessel they were in moved and attached to another. Before they had time to stand up, the other end of the vessel disconnected. Hope saw the circular shape of the other vessel closing in with their usual blue-tinged walls, as if they had magically extended their tissues to make up for the loss in space.
The dark waters around the vessel net didn’t enter the intra-vessel space, though. They respected its interior, and as soon as the end connected to another vessel, another burst of panom power shot through their bodies, leaving them on the floor.
“Two vessels pushed in a row,” Aurora said angrily, standing up with one movement and walking towards Marcus.
“I’ve noticed. Thanks for stating the obvious,” Marcus snapped. Aurora’s lips became a thin line, but she crossed her arms and kept silent.
Marcus turned to face the twenty-four beings waiting for his master plan. Marcus always seemed to have a master plan, or resources and experience enough to make up an improvised one. Hope could have sworn his eyes showed a glimpse of doubt. Or was that fear?
“We are very close,” he started, but the expressions of his audience must have been disbelieving, which wasn’t a surprise, considering how many times they’d heard this by now, so he added, “We are a few vessels away.”
“A few vessels away means five vessels away or fifty vessels away?” Jessica asked, tilting her head.
“I think closer to ten, but we have a…” Marcus swallowed, as if trying to find words with more positive connotation than big fucking problem . He finally went for, “slight complication.”
“You are lost,” Aurora said, with the authority that her years as Roix Reigner must have given her. Or perhaps the authority that she had always had in her. The voice of someone used to be listened to and not argued with.
“I’m not,” Marcus said. Aurora’s eyes narrowed. The silence emanating from her was pure rage. The sight of her mother’s tense body, the scar on her neck, the weapons securely tight against her tight, black clothes, and most of all, the severity of her face… It was terrifying.
Marcus must have agreed, because he added, “I’m a bit disoriented, that’s all. It’s impossible not to be when the memorized static image of the vessel’s net ingrained in my brain might not be accurate. Not anymore.”
“We knew it was a living map from the beginning, and the vessels moving were one of the major risks,” Hope said, crossing her arms as well. “Another major risk is the cellholts approaching, trying to find us, so what about we postpone this blaming debate for later?”
Because those were noises getting closer again. From a few different areas, but some of them seemed pretty close.
“And what? We run blindly, looking at the ceiling of the vessels until we see the damned tunnel?” Jessica spat.
“Unless you have a better idea,” Marcus said. “If a cellholt appears in front of us, we use shadows.”
So Hope and Aurora would have to fight in the dark, and Nina would hopefully manage to not get killed between shadows, weapons, and vehicles. A brilliant plan.
Not waiting for anyone else to discuss this further, Marcus started running again.
He was changing vessels often, but trying to gravitate around the same area. When a vessel led them to a louder noise, he ordered a 180 degree direction change, running back to where they had entered it. A few minutes later, there was still no sign of a tunnel, and no doubt that this was only going to get them caught. The chances of miraculously finding the tunnel while playing hide and seek with the roixers were close to none.
As if the Fifth had read Hope’s mind, a cellholt ran past the end of the long and thin vessel they were in. It was about two minutes away at their running speed. This vessel led to many others, so they could potentially escape before the cellholt changed course and was on them.
Marcus extended his hands, and shadows slipped from his fingertips into the bit that connected both vessels. The bit that cellholt would enter to chase them. Aridian extended his hands as well, and so did other courtrades, the shadows becoming as thick as they were black. A physical black wall now stood where the opening had been. A thick wall that would buy them a few more minutes.
Another cellholt ran past the other end of their vessel, and Hope felt her heart clench like a fist. This one was close enough to identify around ten roixers wearing their usual bright red uniforms inside the vehicle. And that loud screeching sound… That was the cellholt stopping.
They were too close. Too damn close to be safe. Hope didn’t dare take her eyes from where the cellholt would appear any second now, or maybe the roixers would come on foot. She didn’t need to look at Nina to see the fear emanating from her, or to know that Aurora’s eyes were cold, calculating.
A few courtrades were sending their shadows towards that end of the vessel corridor they stood in. Another physical block. Another few minutes it would buy.
But that would be no help if the tunnel they were looking for was in those vessels, or any others that derived from them. They were lost. And the net of vessels… It was a dangerous labyrinth.
The tunnel was the only way out of this trap. Daring to believe the shadow blocks could stand against forces from the other sides, Hope turned to Marcus. His face was pale, utterly grave. The deep frown on his forehead made him look older.
That they were not running yet was the only real indicator that Marcus didn’t know where to go. That he didn’t know what to do.
Hope bit her bottom lip, inhaling sharply. There had to be a way to find the tunnel. She refused to believe their fates were doomed because the roixers had found them. There had to be an alternative. There was always an alternative. But right at this moment, what she desperately needed was what she had always rejected.
She needed help.
The noise of another cellholt approaching through one of the smaller vessels leading to theirs was evidence. The bangs coming from the shadow blocks, caused by either the roixers hitting them or the cellholts being driven over and over against them, were evidence. The third shadow block being created by the courtrades, this time led by Jessica, to cover the connection to the smaller vessel where the noise was emanating from, was proof.
There were only three small open vessels left where they could start running towards. They were not fully trapped. Not yet. But they needed help. She needed help in order to save Nina and her mother. In order to save herself. The seconds were ticking as fast as the hits against the shadow blocks were banging, as fast as other vehicles were approaching.
She needed help . And she needed it now .
A bird with blood-red wings appeared from one of the smaller, still-open vessels. Its speed was supernatural, and its loud cry roared in Hope’s blood. Her body reacted to the intense cry, to the racing wings, to what this presence could mean. But there was no time to think about any of that. There was only time to run.
So Hope shouted, “Follow her!” and started running towards the bird, trying to keep the pace. She was aware of Nina and her mother following her closely behind. She could also identify Marcus, Jessica and Aridian’s jagged breathing sounds.
The red bird flew high, its wide wings almost touching the ceiling of the vessels. Its turns from vessel to vessel were sharp, determined. Every vessel it guided them to was empty. The noises of the cellholts around them were still louder than what it could be deemed safe, but the bird kept guiding them through smaller vessels. Vessels where cellholts wouldn’t even fit. Where the pack of them had to stretch out in order to make their way through.
But Hope didn’t have time to care about every member of the pack. As long as Nina and her mother were behind her, she would keep running. She would keep chasing the bird that might be their salvation.
The bird that had now turned upwards and disappeared from the vessel through a vertical tunnel in the land.