Tabitha Chirrick - Overshadowed

Tayel closed her eyes against the rattling. Balcruf’s orders and the booming thunder of explosions blurred together. Forces pulling her left and right as the car wound a snake-like path through the snow made her head spin. Every shudder made her tense, until, when her muscles could tighten no more, she pulled into herself. The screeching metal and rain of debris felt far away, just sounds in a void she wasn’t truly part of.

The rover sped forward. Tayel sucked back into her seat, opening her eyes as the wind was knocked out of her. They passed into the mothership’s shadow and veered to follow the curvature of the city wall, now close enough she couldn’t see the top of it. The closer they got, the fewer explosions rocked their car. Rokkir vessels angled away from close proximity to the wall, flying toward rovers more exposed instead. Guilt and relief battled inside her as they left the fight behind.

“Almost,” Balcruf growled. “There! Where the wall is lighter in color.”

The driver pulled up within a few yards of the immense structure, and the rover came to a halt. Dozens of other cars which had escaped the fray gathered and stopped around them.

The side doors slid open. Tayel shivered at the draft, content to make it seem her teeth chattered from cold rather than fear. She unclipped her harness, helped Jace with his, and jumped out into the snow. Her boots dropped through two feet of the stuff before landing on something solid. It was like her calves were ensnared in ice. She clipped her weapon to its strap. A ship roared overhead.

“Get to the wall!” Shy yelled.

Tayel sprinted forward, but the ship’s delivered payload knocked her off her feet. The shockwaves wracked her bones as snow from the bomb site came down on her like a waterfall. A few pounds of it turned to ten, twenty, thirty, and in seconds she struggled to breathe. Shouts and cries turned to muffled hums. Adrenaline spiked through her. She clawed at the snow, pushing forward on her hands and knees until she broke free.

“Tayel!” Shy ran to her, gripping her arm with both hands and tugging her out from under the rest. “Hurry. Can you walk?”

Tayel nodded quickly. She fought the numbness in her limbs as she ran the rest of the way to the wall. Three Varg attacked a light patch in the structure, digging their claws in and pulling away chunks. Others checked their weapons or dragged the fallen to safety, while others still manned the parked rovers’ trebuchets, keeping Rokkir ships off everyone’s backs.

“What’s happening?” Tayel asked when she reached the wall. Cold radiated off of it, its blue surface entirely made of ice.

“They’re trying to dig through,” Fehn said. “Are you okay? We saw you go under.”

She waved his concern away. “Thanks. I’m fine.”

“For now, maybe. There’s no way they’ll make it through before the ships kill us.”

“C-can we help them or something?” Jace asked.

Three other rovers arrived, letting out a dozen more Varg. A Rokkir ship touched down a hundred yards away to let out a handful of troops, setting the precedent for more vessels to begin landing. Tayel grit her teeth.

“You four.” Balcruf jogged up carrying a lit torch. “When the wall falls, we’re the first to go through.” He waved them to follow.

“How long will that take?” Shy asked.

He didn’t answer. Up ahead, six feet of wall eroded in a small avalanche, catching the three diggers under its weight. Varg pulled their brethren free. The erosion revealed a tunnel behind where the soft-packed snow had been stacked. It angled steeply downward — under the city.

“We go now,” Balcruf commanded. He ran forward.

With the army of Rokkir landing behind them, and the still frequent rumblings of dark aether bombs, Tayel didn’t argue. She followed his lead. The tunnel was wider than she expected, wide enough to run three across. Balcruf’s torch spread light over the whitish blue walls, and the ceiling dripped from the heat. He counted heads as everyone funneled in.

“Isn’t it bad that the Rokkir can see us going in?” Jace asked.

“Do you have an alternative?” Shy countered.

Balcruf nodded to himself as the last of his kin made it inside. “We have ways to go. Keep up.”

Running. Of course. Tayel gestured Jace ahead. He wasn’t the best runner on a good day. With a broken wing and devices and tools in tow, he would need a push every now and then to keep going.

“Hey.” She touched his shoulder. More than anything, she wanted to offer him a break, but stopping wasn’t an option.

“I’m okay,” he said.

Tayel hoped so. She hoped it wasn’t just bravado covering up regret. Balcruf set a light pace, whether for consideration of his short-legged allies or concern for the structure of the tunnel, Tayel wasn’t sure. In either case, being away from the explosions and Rokkir forces was a relief. Running, she could do. She could do it for hours.

They ran for long enough she started to guess the distance. Every now and then they’d pass an offshoot tunnel, foregoing it to remain on the main path. One of these would be the one the majority of the Varg would take to execute the other half of this crazy plan. She blew out a long, labored breath. With everything she’d just been through, it felt like they should have won already. But there was still so much more to do.

She imagined the great crystalline structures in the city above them, the wide cobblestone streets, the famous buildings from the movies or flexi-screens she liked to browse at Top Sector shops. Maybe they’d passed under the cryotech facility or the galactic embassy where Modnik’s visitor’s had to land. It was fleeting to think about, knowing in reality all those places were probably destroyed.

Balcruf slowed at a turn that gave way to what looked like a dead end, but Tayel wasn’t making that bet. The wall ahead was solid, but light in color. Probably more soft-packed snow to dig through.

“We’re here,” Balcruf said. He gestured to the wall, and two Varg ran to it, digging in with their massive claws.

Tayel didn’t have the energy to brag she’d guessed as much.

“Once we’re outside, do not speak,” Balcruf said. “Follow our lead to the roof, and when the patrol comes…”

“We’ll be ready,” Shy said.

“Good.”

The blood drained from Tayel’s face as the reality of her upcoming task set in. Talking about it that morning seemed easy — easier than convincing Jace to stay behind, but the idea of taking down a Rokkir patrol now made her stomach twist into knots. Shy smiled at her — a quick assuring thing rather than a warm gesture, but it did nothing to help Tayel’s nerves. Just reminded her what she had to lose.

The wall to the outside fell. She stepped aside to let the Varg follow Balcruf, and followed after everyone else, stepping from snow to wet cobblestone and the feeling of open sky above her.

Shattered glass littered the alleyway. Across from her, the brick building didn’t have a single window intact. To the right, a massive green crystal marked the end of the path, and to the left, the city street, its light poles unlit and its walkways abandoned.

Fehn tugged on Tayel’s sleeve and pointed up. The Varg climbed a steel water drainage pipe, making their way up the stout two story building.

Jace stared upward. “There’s no way.”

Balcruf whipped around and shushed him. He cocked is head at Jace’s puffed feathers, then knelt to the ground. He tipped his head toward his back. Shy nudged Jace forward until, with a frantic look in his eyes, he grabbed a talonful of Balcruf’s overcoat and held on. He huddled close as the two of them ascended.

Shy went after. She climbed a few feet before Tayel walked toward the pipe. Angle brackets fastened the metal to the brick, leaving enough room for a foot. Up the wall, Shy nested her boot in a bracket and moved to the next one.