The Veil Page 44

  He opened and closed his hand a few times and then nodded. “Pretty good. I mean it itches quite a bit but I think that’s a good sign.”

  “It is,” I agreed. “It means that the blood is working. You’ll probably be able to take the bandages off soon.”

  “Good.”

  He was quiet for a moment, and when he spoke again it was in an entirely different direction. “What you did to Lightwarden Udan. Scarlett, it was pretty reckless.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “You think so, after what he did?”

  “Don’t get me wrong, he is a complete dickhead who deserved everything he gets. Not to mention it was absolutely badass and made me fancy you ten times more than I already do.” He sighed, “but being honest, I do think it was a bit of a risky thing to do.” He shifted me off him and sat up, pressing his back against the metal walls, which had worn with age. “We don’t know much about these Fenodarian Lightwardens, but from what I’ve seen of them, I’ve worked out two key things.” He tapped down on each finger as he spoke. “One, they are very hierarchical as a result of their beliefs or upbringing or whatever, and in their opinion the Vengeful are considered lesser, not much more than well-trained cannon fodder they churn out to keep the war from coming to an end. Two, they are quite prideful, and you just punished one of them because of what he did to a couple of Vengeful. I don’t think that’s going to go down very well.”

  “What point are you trying to make, Mikey?” I sat up on the edge of the bed and rubbed the palms of my hands across my eyes. I wasn’t tired – Bloodlings didn’t get tired, not in the conventional sense. But we did get physically exhausted and battle worn, and right now I was both.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. Just that we’d better watch our backs.”

  I rubbed my face again and nodded. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have attacked him, but I did and I don’t regret it. I couldn’t stomach what he did to those Vengeful, regardless of what he or any other morality deprived Lightwardens like him think of their status. I mean Christ Mikey, they’re just children.”

  He placed his good hand on my arm. “I know, and trust me, I’m on your side with this. You know that. I was just saying.”

  I put my own hand down on top of his and gave a weak smile. “I know, and I appreciate your advice. But it’s done now, so it’s a bridge that we’ll have to cross if and when we come to it.” I squeezed his hand and then stood up.

  “Where you going?”

  I gestured down at myself – both my skin and uniform were drenched in Vampire blood. “I’m gonna see if this old rig still has any life in its water system. Try and get some of this grime off me.”

  “Good idea. I might join you.”

  “I really just want to get this shit off me.”

  His face fell. “Okay, I’ll have one after.”

  “Maybe once we’re both clean?” I suggested with a seductive smile.

  Mikey gave me a salute. “As you command, Huntmaster.”

  I gave him a wink and then left the room, running a hand through my fiery hair and groaning when I felt small chunks of either a Hivemind or Bloodseeker – or both – knotted in the wavy folds. I really hope the showers work.

  I reached the corridor that ran between the bathrooms and stepped into one, closing the door behind me with a click. Both the floor and walls of the room were covered with dusty tiles, and a run of hosed showerheads ran along one side, operated by a series of chains. On the other side was a long trough-like basin protruding from the wall at waist height. I leaned over the sink and pressed a button near a corroding faucet. It was jammed fast, so I slammed the side of my fist against it. The tap spluttered into life, releasing a stream of cloudy water into the basin. I ran my hands under the water – which smelled strongly of chemicals, but did what I needed it to. I watched as it lifted the dried blood from my skin and carried it down the drain in swirling pools of dark water.

  Once my hands were clean I unzipped my jacket and held it under the water, using the palm of my hands to rub off the deeper stains from the leather. Luckily the material was designed for battle, and blood was an expected part of that. Like my skin, the evidence of the battle was quickly washed away down the sink. I was still leaning into the basin and washing the grime from my uniform jacket when I heard the door creak open.

  “Mikey, I said I wanted to have a shower alo–”

  My words were cut off by the garrotte that wrapped around my throat and pulled tight against my jugular.

  I’d discovered in my many years of life that when death becomes a real possibility, moving from the abstract to the immediate, strange thoughts enter a person’s head. My strange thought was not how Lightwarden Udan had managed to sneak past the Guardians without them knowing, or why out of everything I had been through in my almost one hundred and fifty years of life that a piece of wire would be how I went out.

  Instead it was why I was always getting ambushed in bathrooms.

  I pushed my hands against the wire, trying to force it away from my throat, but it was so thin and sharp it started to slice through my fingers too. Gasping and struggling, I caught sight of my reflection in the dusty mirror above the basin, and the person standing behind. The person with their teeth gritted and eyes wide in frenzied rage wasn’t Lightwarden Udan.

  It was Lightwarden Elissa.

  “You crossed the line when you attacked one of us,” she hissed. “Now you have to pay the price.”

  I tried to reply, but only a choking sound escaped my lips as the sharp wire continued to cut into my throat. It kept trying to push the wire away from my jugular, until I felt the razor sharp strand start to bore into the bone of my index and ring fingers. Dark blood was seeping down my chest, landing in a puddle at both of our feet.

  I jumped up and kicked out against the sink basin, forcing the Lightwarden backwards. Her feet slipped against the blood and we were both sent crashing down onto the tiles – me on top of her. I heaved my head backwards, feeling the bone of my skull shatter her nose. As she reached for her bloodied face, I rolled off her and stood up, clasping a hand over the deep wound at my throat. I was lucky I didn’t need to breathe, because if I did, I’d already be dead.

  Lightwarden Elissa used the wall to steady herself and climbed to her feet, tossing the wire into the sink and drawing what looked like an empty knife hilt from a holster at her side. She pressed a button and a six-inch oak blade flicked into place. I drew my own Pinknives, trying to ignore the agony of my seeping throat, which felt like I’d gargled napalm. I wanted to call for support from Mikey and the others – or even my Gargoyle Protector, but the wire had dug its way right into my voice box. I could barely speak; screaming was out of the question. So instead we stalked around each other in the bathroom, weapons raised and eyes narrowed, both looking for an opportunity to strike.

  “So, Lightwarden Udan sent you for revenge?” I croaked as I circled around the smears of my own dark blood that had painted the floor tiles.

  Lightwarden Elissa shook her head. “No. He is a weak coward. When I was tending to his wounds, he told me he regretted killing those insignificant Vengeful and that he got what he deserved from you. He said that that he was going to put what you did to him behind him and focus on the greater good of the mission. His weakness angered me, but not nearly as much as your audacity. So I chose to make the decision for him.”

  “How exactly do you expect to get away with trying to kill me on a moving Lightshuttle?”

  “Easily. I’ve already set this heap of junk to stop at the next station. I will kill you quietly and then use a Slumber Bomb to render everyone in the dining compartment unconscious. I will take Lightwarden Udan and leave. By the time anyone wakes up and realises you are dead, we will be long gone.” She lunged at me and I trapped her knife with my own blades. She hacked out again and I dodged to the right, stabbing out with one of my own knives, its slim blade pushing through the thin gap in her plated armour and sinking into the soft flesh just below her armpi
t. The Lightwarden made a gasping sound and sank back, clasping her hand to her side, scowling when it came back covered in blue blood.

  “Stop this, now,” I wheezed. “Just put down the weapon and we can sort this out. Fighting isn’t the answer – we’re both on the same side, we’re trying to achieve the same thing!” Each word I spoke felt like it was brimming with fire, and a series of racking coughs escaped my lungs.

  “We are not on the same side!” hissed the Lightwarden, her purple eyes flashing with indignation. “You are not Luminar. None of you are, apart from that Urisk cretin…and I’ll be dammed if I’ll accept one of those cowardly species as my equal. You are outsiders from another world. You Guardians don’t represent us any more than I represent humans. You don’t understand our plight, yet still my Highwarden has sent my kin and I to assist you on this fool’s errand, when we should be back in Fenodara, standing with our own and defending against the inevitable Umbra attack. Hades’ forces are powerful beyond imagination, and you think that a handful of Guardians, Lightwardens and Luminar can break into his colosseums and free the slaves, steal an enemy Skyship and then join the others to kill Hades? The plan is insanity. It will never work!”

  “It can work. Alexander Eden defeated The Sorrow, and that was a supposedly indestructible force. He can defeat Hades as well.”

  “But yet he is not here is he? He is on the other side of this planet, moving in a different direction,” she sneered. “We won’t make it anywhere near that colosseum before we all perish. Understand this Bloodling, this journey is a death sentence. It may come sooner, or it may come later, but it will come. The way that I see things, Lightwarden Udan and I have both suffered the humiliation of being forced to ride and die with you, and then to cap it all off, you attack him when he was doing what is necessary to keep us alive. ”

  “You mean sacrificing children?”

  “Yes! And I would do it a thousand times over to keep my own safe.”

  “They are your own!” Most of them are Pixies or Elves. Literally your own species.”

  “They are not equal to us!” she hissed and swiped out with her blade. I tried to dodge but wasn’t fast enough. Searing pain swept down the back of my arm. Smoke curled up from the wound and I felt a wave of nausea rush through me as the blade’s deadly material reacted with my skin.

  “You really are an arrogant bitch, you know that?” I hissed. “I’m done trying to reason with crazy. You want to fight, then let’s fight.”

  A smile spread across Lightwarden Elissa’s lips. She rushed forward and delivered a fierce kick to my stomach. I was sent flying back into the tiles, which cracked with the force of the impact. The Pixie closed the gap and snapped out a fist towards me. I jerked my head to the side and her knuckles reduced a whole tile to shards. I jammed my elbow into her temple and then grabbed one of the metal shower hoses, ripping it from the wall and wrapping it around her throat. I drew it tight, my muscles straining as she bucked and thrashed, trying to get me off her.

  “Not so much fun being on the receiving end is it?” I croaked as her fingers clawed at the hose, and her feet skated on the tiles. Her arm flashed upwards and I gasped as pain radiated through my shoulder. The dagger was buried to the hilt above my collarbone and released thick, coiling smoke that stunk of my own burning flesh. Instinctively I bit her, and a high-pitched scream escaped Lightwarden Elissa’s lips as I tore away a section of her cheek. The Lightwarden lurched forward with incredible strength and speed, flipping me right over onto my back. She staggered away, clutching her ruined face with one hand and tugging the hose free from her blue flushed throat with the other.

  A ragged breath came from my throat as I slid the dagger out of my shoulder and pressed the switch on the side, flicking through the materials until it released a diamond blade. I holstered my own Pinknives and stood up, crouching into a fighting stance and raising the blade at an angle, tip pointed towards the Lightwarden. At the same time, I could feel the Lightshuttle starting to slow, the squeal of its breaks filling the shower carriage.

  “Enough of this,” the Lightwarden hissed. She swept her bloodstained shoulder cloak away and revealed a Coffin Nailer gun. My stomach lurched when I saw her slide it free from its holster. “I wanted to do this quietly, but it looks like we’re almost there.” She raised the weapon and pointed it right at me.

  Fear rolled through me as I stared down the barrel of the launcher, loaded with six deadly stakes.

  “Think about this Lightwarden Elissa,” I appealed. You don’t want to be the one who put your Highwarden’s agreed plan in jeopardy just because you have a personal issue with me. I’m pretty sure that’s treason. Don’t you have any honour?”

  Something close to shame flashed across the Lightwarden’s face, and I knew I’d hit a nerve. “Listen–” I tried to continue.

  She shook her head. “No, it’s too late for honour now…I’ve made the decision. This is a doomed plan Huntmaster. At least this way, Lightwarden Udan and I have a chance of making it out alive and returning home. Where we belong.”

  “You’ll never make it.”

  “Maybe not. But you definitely won’t.”

  My hands tightened on the hilt of the blade, as Lightwarden Elissa cocked the gun. What happened next, happened all at once, and was over in a split second. I threw the blade at the same time that Lightwarden Elissa fired the stake. The blade toss was aimed perfectly, but it missed, clattering into the tiles behind her. This happened because the Lightwarden was no longer in the same spot. She was collapsing towards the floor, a low moan escaping from her throat as she fell unconscious. The stake shot was also aimed perfectly, but the blow to the back of her head that had knocked her out had also altered the launcher’s trajectory a split second before she pulled the trigger. Instead of hitting the centre of my throat, the wooden spike hit my shoulder and sent me thundering backwards into the tiles, where the combined total of my injuries overcame me, and I slipped down to the floor.

  A frantic Mikey appeared over me, diamond apotrope blades activated on his knuckledusters, which he had slotted over his good hand.

  “Shit, Scarlett are you okay?” he gasped, keeling down next to me.

  I gave a barely conscious nod, pressing my hand against the side of his face. “You saved me again,” I croaked.

  “Don’t talk.”

  He gave me an apologetic look and then used his bandaged hand to safely yank the stake free from my shoulder. I gave a loud hiss – venom dripping from my teeth – and had to resist the urge to attack Mikey. He tossed the stake aside and then pressed my hand to the wound, using it to stem the flow of dark blood that was seeping from the smoking hole.

  “Did you hear her scream?” I asked, as I struggled to remain conscious.

  He frowned down at me and then looked around at the room. “No I didn’t hear anything. I think the rooms are all soundproofed.”

  “How…how did you know she was attacking me?”

  “I opened the door and saw her pull out a gun on you. Didn’t need to think about it.”

  It was my turn to frown. “But then… why did you come here?”

  A sheepish expression swept over his face and he gave an awkward smile. “I was going to join you for that shower.”

  I didn’t even have the energy to roll my eyes and I didn’t even want to. I was acutely aware of how close my actions had taken me to death. If Mikey hadn’t walked in just when he did then I would definitely be dead. I need to be more careful. This is a different world with different rules and I need to adapt my attitudes if I’m going to survive. I glanced up at Mikey and felt a burst of emotion as I looked at his shimmering eyes and grinning lips. It’s not just me I have to look after now.

  “I’m just glad you came when you did,” I croaked, taking hold of his hand.

  “Tell me what you need.”

  “Blood. And tell the others what happened.”

  He nodded and stood up, pausing near Lightwarden Elissa. “What do you want to
do about her?”

  I looked at the Lightwarden who was lying in a heap on the tiles. A lump was already forming on the back of her head and her wounded cheek released a stream of blue blood that mixed with mine and created a dark purple stain on the floor.

  “Tie her up. I haven’t decided what to do with her yet.”

  32

  Alex

  ‘You are dangerous.’

  Lightwarden Garrat’s accusation echoed through my mind as we continued our journey to Concavious. The more I thought about what he had said, the tighter my stomach knotted. He’s right. Nearly everything bad that has happened is because of me. The Sorrow coming through the Veil, the attack on the Warren and Midnight’s death. Rachel revealing herself as a traitor. Sophia’s curse. Mikey’s curse. Yeth attacking the Warren, blowing up the Prolesium and now potentially posing as one of us. The fact that we had to come here in the first place and ended up getting scattered around the world as a result. All of these things are a result of either my actions, or just my presence. He’s right…I am dangerous.

  I leaned with my shoulders hunched over the side of I’orin, staring down at the Biomote and the dark waves of the ocean beyond, the hiss of static escaping Gabriella’s Vocal-link sounding like a burst gas pipe. I broke the connection and then changed the screen to the countdown timer.

  5d: 23h: 46m: 22s

  The knots in my stomach grew tighter until they felt like a bag of snakes writhing around in my gut.

  A whole day gone.

  I let out a sigh and closed my eyes, trying not to let my feelings overwhelm me. According to Captain Garrat, we were still making good progress to Concavious. The strange battle with the Hydra had been over in less than an hour, and the damage to the ship thankfully hadn’t extended to the engines. I just feel so hopeless being so far away, and every minute that disappears is one less that they have to live. Even if we did reach the Abyss or Shadowrise in time and somehow managed to break into each of them, there was no guarantee that Lilith was even keeping them there – it was just as possible that they were being kept in the Glacium, all the way over on the other side of the world. I swore under my breath. I should never have bought anyone to this place; I knew it was a mistake the moment we arrived. I was so desperate to find my dad that I didn’t weigh up the consequences properly. I knew deep down that coming here was a massive risk, but I didn’t allow myself to think about it enough. I didn’t think that I could lose two of my friends. That I could lose Gabriella…that cost is far too high.