Chapter 27 #2
Task usually doesn’t care. He kills people without thinking, executes on Draven’s orders without question, most of the time.
All with the goal of ensuring the stability of the Consortium.
And yet, something about seeing the way Kit works with her patients, the conversation he had with Tullia, the time he’s spent with the Harts and with the Mids and Lows of Lumaria, has made him more inclined to think about it.
Even if doing this won’t really make a dent.
He doesn’t know how to explain this to Voss, exactly.
So he says, “I just need to do something good. For once.”
Voss nods, though Task can tell he doesn’t full buy his explanation. “And Kit?”
“What about her?” Task feels his heart speed at the thought of her, her laugh flitting across his mind, tangling with the memory of his mother’s.
“I’m not blind,” Voss says simply.
“I just want to help her. Help her brother. That’s all.” This might be the biggest lie he’s ever told, but he’s not about to reveal to Voss that he’s falling hard for a woman he’ll never be able to have.
Voss presses his lips together, frowning and shaking his head. “Whatever you say, Shadow.”
Task hasn’t slept, so when the alarm on his Chronogram buzzes at half past one, he’s already awake, grabbing his surge-saber and tiptoeing toward his door.
He opens it quietly, finding both Voss and Caelinus already in the lounge.
Voss wears a hood over his head, a black mask covering his face; Caelinus dons the same.
Task pulls his own hood up, careful to cover his hair, which always seems to glow in the blackness of night, deeper down here where hardly any light penetrates.
“You ready?” Task murmurs quietly.
The two Guardians nod, and they creep towards the wooden door that leads into the hallway, Task slowly pulling it open.
He peers outside, and sure enough, there is nobody there.
Seems a security oversight if they are still changing the guard at the exact same time every night five years later, but he’s not complaining.
He nods to the two of them and they’re off, winding through the stone corridor, light on their feet to avoid making noise.
It feels too easy that they’d be able to get out of the palace without being stopped, and yet, they manage to duck through the hallways, hidden in shadows, until they reach the corridor that runs along the glass exterior, which will bring them to the airlock. And hopefully a craft.
As they round the corner, Task stops short, spotting two men dressed in the signature green of Aquidium, weapons in hand.
He motions to Caelinus and Voss to stop, trying to blend in with the wall as best he can.
He doesn’t want to hurt anybody if he can help it.
He hopes that Caelinus has rested enough to replenish his power.
He sees Caelinus clock the two guards standing in front of the airlock, raises his brows at him as if to ask whether he can do it.
Caelinus nods once, closing his eyes. When he opens them again, they glow.
A second later, the two men appear to be in a daze, wandering away from the entry down the corridor.
“How long can you hold them?” Task whispers, creeping along the wall to the airlock. Caelinus’ nose is already bleeding steadily, indicating he’s not at full strength.
“A few minutes, probably,” Caelinus responds, wiping under his nose with a gloved hand. “It took a lot to overtake the governor earlier. She’d been trained against Enchanters.”
“Then let’s move, quickly,” Voss steps forward, a lumi-dagger in hand as he leads them toward the airlock.
Task sighs in relief as they approach, noting two unattended crafts hovering outside.
But then Voss swears under his breath, looking at the biopad next to the door.
“We need someone’s iris to open this thing.
Castor, can you get one of the guards back here? ”
Caelinus is glittering a bit in the dimly lit corridor, pinching the bridge of his nose with his head cocked back, trying to stem the bleeding.
“I’m not sure,” he says. “I can feel it waning the longer I have them under. I can try to bring one back, but you should be ready to fight, in case my hold breaks.”
“We’ll be ready,” Task affirms, sliding a lumi-dagger from the sheath at his side.
A guard walks back around the corner, still looking dazed.
Caelinus takes a breath in, ostensibly willing the man to come forward and scan his iris at the door.
Task stands to the side, keeping his breathing even, waiting for any indication that Caelinus’ grip on the man has loosened.
Voss studies him as well, looking between the guard and the hallway, in case they have other visitors.
And then, Task sees it. A slight twitch as the man looks into the biopad, a shake of his head. Caelinus suddenly drops to his knees with a muffled “shit!” The door slides open, but the guard turns and draws a laser-gun from his belt, pointing it directly at Task.
Task dives to the left as the guard shoots, the laser narrowly missing him. He taps the gauntlet at his wrist, activating his energy shield. It won’t completely stop a laser-gun or a surge-saber, but it provides an extra layer of protection.
“Amber. Code amber,” the guard is saying into the Chronogram at his wrist.
Task quickly glances behind him, glad to see that Voss is one step ahead of him, dragging Caelinus by the underarms through the open doorway and toward the awaiting craft.
He plunges the lumi-dagger beneath the guard’s right arm as a barrage of laser-fire is absorbed by his energy shield.
He feels his shield break at a point near his right shoulder, and he steps back, trying to catch his breath as the man holds his punctured side and shouts.
They outnumber the guard three to one, and they can make it, so long as they get out of here before reinforcements come. And if Task can get one step closer, make physical contact with the man, he can use his pain echo.
He hears footsteps thundering in the distance, but before he can consider his next move, time seems to slow, and he thanks his bloody stars that he has Voss with him, while simultaneously wishing Voss wasn’t forced to invoke this.
The footfalls grow more languid, and he’s able to stab the guard with the lumi-dagger once more, before turning and running to the waiting craft.
Voss has managed to get the top hatch open, depositing Caelinus inside, and he reaches down to haul Task up the side.
His other hand is cast toward the distance, palm held out as he warps time.
Like others in the Eight Great, time warping comes with unpleasant side effects.
They were always taught that Odite sought to balance the power gifted to the Nexarians with an equivalent physical or mental drain.
To be blessed with such power alone would be dangerous.
For Voss, it means that every time he uses his power, he sacrifices an equal percentage of his life.
Task clambers up the side of the craft, pushing Voss into the hatch as he pulls it shut over them.
“Castor, can you steer this thing?”
Caelinus pants for breath, but seems to pull himself together as he examines the control panel in front of him. “I think so, yes.”
“Walther, let it go,” Task says, turning to his friend. “Please. We’ll be fine.”
“We need five more minutes,” Voss says, his eyes still trained on the distance. “It will give us lead time to get to the Trench.”
“Not to mention they’ve alerted the rest of the Aquidian force that we’ve beat a hasty exit, so the guards at the Trench are going to know they have company.
And I’m useless right now,” Caelinus adds, still breathing heavily and wiping at his nose as he steers the craft out of its dock, through the glass panels that shield the palace from the water.
Task groans, glancing over his shoulder and out the window at the rear of the craft. He doesn’t want Voss to manipulate time much longer, can’t stomach the idea of him shaving more minutes off his life. “Please, Voss. Release the hold.” His voice is more desperate than he’d like.
Voss slides his eyes to Task. “Lest you forget who we’re doing this for, might I remind you of the woman you’ve left behind on the Polaris? We’ve committed to it now. We’re not half-assing it.”
Task wants to fight him, but he also admires the commitment in Voss’ eyes. Maybe at one point, Task would have let Kit’s planet die. One less ruler in the Consortium to cause Draven problems. But now — now he wants to save it. For her.
They are quiet the rest of the journey to the Trench, Caelinus navigating the craft through the gloomy waters, the only light that of their headlights. He cuts them when they are about a foot away. Task stands near the front of the craft to survey the entry to the jagged opening in the seafloor.
They saw where the guards were situated earlier, when they’d come with the governor. There should be two stationed at the top, and four around the pagadium stores, all in hovering crafts.
“You sure you’ve got nothing left?” Task asks Caelinus over his shoulder. They could really use his power right now.
“Maybe a few minutes,” Caelinus says. “But I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel here.”
Task takes a breath, not wanting to ask Voss to use more of his power, but knowing it’s the only way they’ll make this happen.
If Task can’t physically touch the guards, he won’t be able to take them out.
The crafts between them make it difficult to accomplish that, unless he can somehow board them.
Voss meets his eyes, and nods once. “It’s alright.”
Caelinus steers the craft closer, and immediately, the two guards hovering near the top of the Trench sense their presence, snapping their headlights on to scan the waters around them. It will only be a matter of seconds until they discover the rogue craft floating before them.