Tabitha Chirrick - Overshadowed

“Shy.” Tayel slowed. “Shy, I can’t. It hurts too much.”

“Okay,” Shy said. “Hang on. Let’s get a little farther.”

Tayel kept pace through the dark, winding hallways until they found a corner nook a ways on, hidden partially by decorative curtains and a stone podium display capped with an ornate vase.

“Sit here, in the corner. We don’t have a lot of time.” Shy slid her knife out of its sheath and cut a long strip from the bottom of the curtain. “Give me your arm.”

“I can do it.”

“Just give me your damn, arm, Tayel.”

Tayel thrust her arm out, and Shy hastily wrapped it, tying the fabric snug with two pieces of curtain tie. It covered the burn, but it did little to help the pain.

“This will cut down on air exposure at least. But you’re going to need medical attention. Otherwise…”

Shy peered out of the nook as shouts echoed up the halls. Tayel knew she’d need burn treatment, but there seemed a lot of other things to worry about.

“Thank you for coming back for me,” she whispered.

“It’s fine.”

“ Fine? Are — are you mad at me?”

Shy kept her eyes on the hall beyond the nook, but Tayel could see her pulse quicken against her neck.

“If anything, I should be mad,” Tayel hissed. “It’s your poor planning that put us here in the first place.”

“I know.”

“You do?”

Shy bared her teeth, took a hasty, deep breath, and blew it all out. “Listen, this is just a bad situation. There were a lot of unknowns, but, you” — she thrust the knife back on her belt — “you did… a good job.”

Tayel caught the princess’ gaze and tried to hold it.

Shy averted her eyes. “Seriously. You made the right call, or whatever. We got the FTL drive didn’t we?” She patted the bulk against her back. “Let’s just get out of here.”

Tayel frowned. “I can’t.”

“Why?”

“I’m not leaving without Jace.”

“Oh, Alhyt.” Shy pinched the bridge of her nose. “Don’t you understand the risk he put on us? We’re probably here because of him, because the guards must have seen our faces after last night. He’s dead or dying now, and there’s nothing we can do to change that. Especially not in the state you’re in.”

“Jace is my best friend — the only friend that ever really mattered to me. When we left Delta, I was all he had, and then I abandoned him to help you. What if I said screw your brother, he made the choice to go after the Rokkir so he deserves to die?”

Shy rapped her fingers on the cobblestone wall. “Look, I get it. I understand how much he must mean to you, but even if we went to — let’s just say he’s in the dungeon — how would we find the key to his cell? How would we win a frontal assault on the guards? You’re injured, and I’m weighed down.”

“ Now you’re planful.”

Shy pressed her lips together, and glared into space.

Tayel didn’t want Shy to go, but she couldn’t leave without Jace. Everything she’d done, she’d done for him. She wanted to give him the chance she’d never have again — to be with his family, to have a normal moment to recover amidst everything that had happened. Even if it was just one minute to say goodbye.

“I’m not leaving him to die here,” she said.

“You don’t even know if he is here. Or if he’s still alive.” Shy turned her head to the hall and straightened.

“But—”

“Shh!”

Tayel tensed. Listened. Armored footsteps drew close. Not running footsteps, though — not like all the other guards. They turned the corner onto the same path as the nook, echoing a little louder, and she and Shy tucked deeper into the shadows.

“…looking for them like everyone else?” one of the guards finished asking. Her voice was muffled slightly, probably by a faceplate.

“With everything going on, she wants to deal with him now,” the other guard said.

“Even with the intruders?”

“Why not? She’s still carrying out the indoctrination, for spirit’s sake.”

Shy frowned. Her eyes darted back and forth across empty space like she was reading something.

“Just seems like maybe we ought to deal with one problem at a time.”

“Adonna asks, Adonna gets. I know you’re new to this post, but you have to know you don’t get on that lady’s bad side.”

“So where are we taking the prisoner, then?”

Tayel perked up. Prisoner . Jace, maybe? She tucked her knees to her chest, trying to feel small as the guards walked past the nook.

“To the indoctrination.”

“Spirits. Why?”

“Who knows with her? Scare tactics, probably. Make him watch, then threaten him with the same fate if he doesn’t talk. Either way, that’s probably going to be his…”

The words trailed away as footsteps carried around the next bend.

Tayel grabbed Shy’s arm. “I think they were talking about—”

“I know,” Shy whispered. She sighed. “Xite. Let’s tail them.”

“Wait. What? Really?”

“Yes, really . I want to know more about that indoctrination.”

“What do you think it is?”

“Not sure, but if it’s what I suspect, then it might answer the question of why my people are working with the Rokkir at all.” Shy peeked out of the nook. “Let’s go before they get too far. And stay quiet.”

“Shy. If the prisoner they’re getting is Jace…”

Shy huffed. “Let’s deal with that if it happens. We don’t have time to argue."

Tayel nodded, and slid out of the nook. Even if Shy was moving forward with a different purpose, she was still there. Tayel wasn’t about to press her greatest source of help.

The prisoner the guards were talking about had to be Jace, and if it wasn’t, then at least they would lead her to where prisoners were kept. She was close. She could save him. He just had to hold on a little longer.

“Okay,” she said to Shy. “Lead the way.”

Tayel and Shy followed the two guards deeper into the castle. The shouts of search parties on the hunt for them dwindled as they descended another flight of steps, but Tayel was under no illusion they were safe. Every turned corner was a chance to be seen. Every long hallway could have been a trap. She didn’t know which was worse: the unending tension, or the unending burning in her arm.

Shy stopped at the next turn. “Wait.”

Footsteps from the guards they were tailing dissipated, moving farther away. Moving down . After they’d disappeared entirely, Shy peeked her head around the corner.

“Coast is clear,” she whispered.

She moved forward into the next stretch of hall where the guards had gone, and placed her hand on a plaque in the wall. A map. Her eyes scanned.

“What are we waiting for?” Tayel asked. “Aren’t we going to follow them?”

“According to this, they went down into the dungeon.”

“Okay. Good. Let’s go.”

Shy grabbed Tayel’s arm, eyes stern. “I’m not walking into a dungeon.”

“Then how are we supposed to keep following them? Don’t you want to find out what that indoctrination thing is?”

“Apparently the only way in or out of there is down these steps.” Shy gestured to the stairwell to her left. “We just have to wait, and when they come up, we can keep going.”

“But what if Jace isn’t with them?”

Shy’s eyes widened with exasperation. “Holy Alhyt, do you ever shut up about him?”

“Do you ever experience empathy ?”

Tayel started at a door creaking open from below. Orange light cast shadows up the spiraling staircase. She met Shy’s gaze, and scurried into the closest nook. There were no curtains, and the space was tiny, but a decorative statue provided the best cover within a quick, silent sprint. Shy squeezed into the area with her. With no room to spare, Tayel became instantly aware of her own breathing.