13. Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Thirteen
Judging by the vid-capture on the screens, Ursa was still about halfway down the tower, and making rather slow progress.
Fair enough, considering he was scaling a smooth concrete wall with nothing to grip on to—a daunting task, even for an accomplished climber.
To make matters more difficult, the walls were built at a slant, so they widened as they rose, meaning he also had to work against gravity.
Ursa is nothing if not resourceful, though.
Somewhere, he’d found two metal rods he was using to make his way up the wall.
He’d slam one rod deep into the concrete, dangle there while he prized the lower rod out of the wall, then thrust the latter rod up a bit higher, and repeat the whole process.
It was an impressive but slow, laborious task.
The three of us watched him in silence for a long time—me and the two guards, that is. The guards probably ought to have done something, only it was clear they were utterly astonished at what Ursa was attempting to do, much less that he was actually managing to pull it off, even at a snail’s pace.
Once the shock had worn off, one of the guards went onto the balcony and peered over the edge. Ursa must have still been far enough away that the guard didn’t perceive him as an immediate threat, because he turned back to me with a look of befuddlement. “What the hell is he trying to do?”
“Rescue me, I’d imagine.” I tried not to let my pleasure make me sound too smug, but it was hard not to be thrilled. I was being rescued! How romantic. Pressing my lips to try to hide my smile, I confessed, “We’re in love.”
Obnoxious behavior, perhaps, but I hadn’t gotten to tell many people.
I suppose I could have told the Achaeans, but one doesn’t want to complicate one’s living and working situation by talking too much about romantic entanglements.
1 But none of that mattered now. My heart was so full it might burst out of my chest.2 Ursa had come for me.
The two guards, unfortunately, did not seem to find Ursa’s gesture as stirringly romantic as I did. “We should shoot ’im,” the guard nearest to me proclaimed.
“You should not!” I returned, aghast.
The nearest guard gave me an exasperated look. “He’s trying to break into the tower! That’s what we’re here to stop.”
“He’s only trying to break into the tower because I’m in the tower,” I returned sensibly.
The guard on the balcony raised an eyebrow at me. “You’re only in the tower because you were trying to cause a distraction so people could rob the factory.”
Ah, yes, I was going to have to sacrifice that high ground. I offered my most placating smile. “Listen, gentlemen, we could go in circles all day, but if you would just let me leave, you have my word that he’ll come with me, and no harm will come to you.”
The nearer guard narrowed his eyes. “I have a better idea. We shoot you first, then once your little boyfriend gets up here, we shoot him, too.”
Dreadfully unpleasant man. I could see there was no point in trying to have a civil conversation with him.
As he crossed the room to me, unholstering his pistol so he could aim it at my forehead, I attempted to keep my voice calm as I looked beseechingly to the guard out on the balcony.
“I can see why you might think that would be a good idea, but—but!” I’m afraid I did let a bit of emotion come through in my tone as the gun was pressed up against my temple. “We’re worth much more money alive.”
I don’t know where the words came from, honestly. It’s not like I was intentionally planning to tell a falsehood, it just slipped out of me. I suppose that sort of thing can happen when one is being threatened with imminent death.
But as soon as the words left my mouth, I realized the sense in them. The guard outside was clearly intrigued by the idea of money; though I couldn’t see his face, I’d guess the guard inside was, too, since he hadn’t gone through with shooting me.
So I barreled on. “I know I must have tricked you with my troubadour costume and excellent command of medieval music, but I’m afraid I’m quite an important person.
My father is a warlord on Elysium, you see, but I fell in love with a rival soldier, and we escaped here to Newearth.
But if my father were to learn I’m still alive, I’m sure he’d be very grateful to whoever gave him word of where I am. ”
I held my breath, waiting to see if the two men would buy my patently ridiculous story. After a moment of tense silence, the guard nearest to me cleared his throat. “That’s a good reason to keep you alive. Why should we keep him alive?”
Unfortunately, that was the moment my brain decided to run out of pure bullshit. “Uh,” I said eloquently.
Suddenly a figure lunged up over the edge of the balcony, grabbing the outside guard.
Ursa! I’d been so busy distracting the guards that none of us had been tracking just how far he’d gotten.
He’d made marvelous progress in much less time than I would have expected; he must have gotten the hang of things as he went along and picked up his pace.
Anyway, that’s neither here nor there. Ursa pulled the outside guard over the railing and dropped him down the side of the tower.
His curdling scream filled the air, only to be silenced after a loud thunk.
I supposed it wasn’t very likely that he’d survived that.
I did feel sort of bad about it, since he’d been the kinder of the two guards—or at least, the one who seemed far less eager to kill me, which had understandably ingratiated him to me.
But I couldn’t dwell on that for too long.
Taking advantage of the second guard’s distraction, I threw my body to the side, tipping over my chair and knocking him down in the process.
Swearing violently, the guard squirmed underneath my chair, trying to push me off.
He would most definitely shoot me now if he managed to get free.
In a blur of movement, Ursa rushed into the room.
He dragged the man out from underneath my chair, and I heard the sound of grappling and grunting.
My back was to them, and I was still cuffed to the chair, so I couldn’t see what was going on, but there came swearing, a frantic shout, and then a loud crack.
My heart was racing. I felt sick to my stomach from all the carnage I’d just witnessed, and also a little dizzy from being tipped over.
I’d been so caught up in all the action that I hadn’t given too much thought to my wrists, but now I could feel how the cuffs were digging into my skin.
The burn I’d been ignoring for so long started to become unbearable.
I wanted, more than anything, to get away from this place.
To be home with Ursa. Not back at the ship, but back on Earth, in our cave, just the two of us.
“Ursa?” I called out.
A breath of pure relief escaped from me as he came into view.
There hadn’t been much doubt that he’d been the one to defeat the guard and not the other way around, but until I saw him for myself, anything felt possible.
His face was a mask of worry as he took me in, his eyes roving over my body to assess my injuries.
“I’m all right,” I told him, “just cuffed to the chair. Can you get me out? The keys must be around here somewhere . . .”
Ursa didn’t even bother to look, just took hold of one arm of the chair and ripped it free, crushing it into smaller and smaller pieces until he could slide it through the loop of my cuff.3 Then he repeated the process with my other arm.
When I was fully free, Ursa pulled me into a sitting position. As soon as he’d done so, I lurched forward, throwing my arms around him. “You came for me,” I whispered.
Ursa said nothing, just tightened his arms around me, holding me like he might never let me go.
1. “Don’t defecate where you eat,” as the Old Earth saying goes.
2. In the romantic, not horrifying, sense.
3. I think it’s safe to say the bear algae was even more potent than I’d initially realized, even in such a small dose.