Tabitha Chirrick - Overshadowed

The helmsman returned with Adonna. “Sir!”

“What do we do, Ruxbane?” Adonna snapped.

“We evacuate.”

Her feathers puffed, and her eye ridges narrowed dangerously, but her silence only showed she also understood it was the only option. She nodded once.

“Go to the labs; give our people an escape route,” Ruxbane said. “I’ll provide escape for everyone here.”

“And after everyone is safe?”

Ruxbane turned to the helmsman. “Tell people they have sixty seconds to be up here and ready to leave.”

“But sir,” the man squeaked, “It will take thirty minutes at least to purge the data, and our backup drive hasn’t finished—”

“I will ensure our ship’s information won’t be compromised,” Ruxbane said.

The man paled but sprinted to a station, relaying Ruxbane’s command through the deck’s intercom.

“You didn’t answer my question,” Adonna said.

“Once you’ve finished saving our science teams, return to the isle and request extraction for our forces here,” Ruxbane ordered. “We have what we came for.”

She squawked. “But we could bring back more Rokkir to stop this!”

“It’s not worth the risk.”

“This ship — this pinnacle of our people’s invention isn’t worth the—”

“This ship’s purpose is complete, pinnacle of invention or otherwise.”

“So you’d waste this resource?”

“ People are resources, Adonna, and you would waste them fighting an enemy already beat,” Ruxbane snapped. “This is not where we spill blood. This is not the end of what we’ve come to do.”

Adonna closed her beak over a half-uttered word and averted her eyes. “Understood.” She opened a portal, and Ruxbane watched its other half appear onscreen in the labs. “I assume you won’t leave behind what we did come for.”

“The Varg? I’ll take care of it.”

Adonna lingered for a breath longer before disappearing, and Ruxbane opened a portal of his own. Not to the doomed ship’s labs, but to the floating isle, where his people would be safe. The assembling command deck crew looked to him.

“Everyone through,” he yelled.

One by one his people disappeared through the wavering black until all of them had gone. Ruxbane closed the path with a flick of his wrist as he walked to the main station on the bridge. He brought up the security terminal and with override access granted to him by his position, ended the whir of sirens and swirling orange lights. Finally, it was silent.

Ruxbane picked up the tablet he’d dropped earlier and watched his cure’s path through the ship.

The sirens had stopped minutes ago, leaving only the sound of their footfalls to echo dully off the gray walls. No maps were etched into the corridors like in Castle Aishan, and with every aimless step, they ran deeper into the mothership. The architecture had become less angular. The ceiling stretched higher, and the hallways widened. The lights had dimmed to a grayish hue akin to an early Elshan morning. It all made Tayel’s skin crawl.

Jace slowed to a stop. “It’s” — he gasped for air — “it’s no good. We aren’t getting anywhere. I need to — to take a break.”

“Keep pushing, Feathers.” Fehn squinted down to the end of the hall, where one circular black door much like all the others in this place stood unopened.

“We’ve been going upward and inward,” Shy said. “We’re bound to find the command center soon.”

“I think we could all use a minute to rest, though,” Tayel said.

“I think if we stay put, we’ll be captured and have much more than a minute.”

Balcruf spun on his toes to the path behind them. “Shh!”

Tayel flinched. She held her breath, and dared herself to trace his gaze. Nothing. No one. Just the empty hall they’d left behind. The feeling of being watched crawled over her.

“See something?” Shy asked.

“No,” Balcruf murmured. “Smell something.” He sniffed the air a second time. His eyes shot wide and he turned back around, whipping his crossbow to firing level.

Tayel followed suit and went rigid with shock. Ruxbane stood outside the door at the end of the hall, hands behind his back. He watched them, expression blank. A chill skittered down her spine.

Balcruf lowered his weapon an inch. “Human?”

“No.” Shy slid her compacted polearm out of its sheath. “Rokkir.”

Ruxbane gave a closed-lip smile, a see-through cover for the snarl which twitched underneath. “A pleasure to be in your presence yet again, princess.”

She extended her weapon to full length. “Charmed.”

Tayel remained a statue, willing the Rokkir leader not to see her. She shouldn’t have come. She’d put everyone at risk. It was like her nightmares were coming true, but she’d been too stupid to say anything when it would have mattered.

Ruxbane’s gaze fell on her. She tried to lift her hand to the mag baton’s handle over her shoulder — to put on the same display of force as Shy — but her fingers only twitched.

His eyes narrowed. “Tayel.”

It was like she’d been punched in the gut. Air hissed through her teeth, but she couldn’t inhale, leaving a cry stuck in her throat. Her allies eyes fell on her, some stunned, some confused, some concerned. It was hard to match what with who as she met Ruxbane’s stare as best she could.

“I invite you to come with me,” he said. “I won’t harm you, and I can keep you safe.”

Tayel frowned. Keeping her safe wasn’t what she’d expected, but as genuine as he sounded, it did nothing to sway her unease.

“She isn’t going anywhere with you,” Shy spat.

He smirked.

Jace grabbed Tayel’s sleeve. “Don’t. He’s just trying to trick you. Whatever he wants, it’s not good.”

“This could go much more peacefully than you intend,” Ruxbane said.

“ Peacefully? ” Balcruf snarled. “After the atrocities you’ve committed against my kin, you are favored I don’t keep you alive when this is over so every Varg gets a piece!” He lifted his crossbow.

“Careful,” Fehn warned. “He—”

Balcruf fired.

Ruxbane snapped his hands forward. Two portals materialized — one in front of him and one in the wall beside the Varg. Balcruf’s bolt flew into one and out the other, puncturing his shoulder. His agonized howl shot adrenaline through Tayel. She wrenched the baton off her back and grabbed Jace.

“Run!” she yelled.

“But” — he flicked his eyes to Shy and Fehn charging forward — “that room he came out of, I think it’s—”

Tayel yanked him out of the way as Fehn flew past, the dark trails of aether which had hit him evaporating against his chest. He skidded across the floor. This couldn’t be happening. This was everything she was afraid of — everything that wasn’t supposed to happen at all. A shadow flickered under her feet.

“Watch out!” Fehn whipped her and Jace aside with his own dark aether as the portal opened beneath them.

Tayel lost hold of Jace. She flew through the air, flailing her arms for balance. The floor came up to meet her, stiff and cold. She rolled shoulder over shoulder. Even when she stopped, the world kept spinning. A ball of darkness soared over her, a perfect shadow against the overhead lights, and Shy shouted something, her low voice blending with the ringing in Tayel’s ears and the distorted twang of materializing dark aether.

Ruxbane’s boot stomped beside her head. She lurched forward to stand, getting in half a stride before he grabbed her wrist. Her arm pulled taut. She went with the momentum, swinging left with her whole body until coming to face him, bringing the full swing of her mag baton with her. It connected with his face. He reeled back. His grip disintegrated.