Dead and Buryd: A Dystopian Action Adventure Novel (Out of Orbit Book 1) (26 page)

“Nyah, I…”

Georgianna swallowed back the lump rising in her throat. Under Nyah’s desperate gaze, she frowned and glanced back at Keiran. He met her gaze, a curious expression on his face as he took a step towards them. Holding up her hand, telling him to wait, she turned back to look at the house. The man was probably inside right now. She searched the windows, almost expecting to see him watching them.

“If we can’t find the supplies, if we can’t get help…”

Nyah grabbed her arm, holding on in a vice-tight grip.

“You have to find a way,” she exclaimed in a pleading breath. “He suffers far more than I do.”

Scuffing her foot against the dry grass, Georgianna bit on her lip, trying to think of a solution. Nyah glanced at the doorway, a panicked look on her face.

“Gianna… he’s a Belsa!”

 
26
One of Their Own

 
“Absorbers are rare, George. Why under the sun would you need two?”

Georgianna stepped further into the car and perched on the edge of the seat next to Beck.

“We went to see Nyah, the girl we’re trying to help,” she explained. “She says that there is another drysta there with her.”

“That’s risky. Those collars aren’t easy to remove and doing two in one go?”

“I know, but, Beck… He’s a Belsa. I can get you his name. The Adveni is a commander called Maarqyn Guinnyr. Nyah says he’s suffering.”

Beck didn’t meet her gaze as he rubbed his hand through his hair, a heavy furrow in his brow. He shifted in his seat and leaned forward onto his knees, staring at the crate in front of him.

“I’m sorry.”

Georgianna blinked and watched him in confusion. He was sorry? She didn’t understand why he would be saying sorry to her, unless it was an abstract apology to the Belsa under Maarqyn’s control.

“I don’t…”

“I can’t help you.”

“You can’t… You’re saying no?” she spluttered.

He glanced up, disappointed but resolute.

“I have to. It’s too high a risk.”

“But he’s one of yours!”

“You don’t know that,” he sighed. “This man could be lying to seem important to your friend. You know that Belsa are not sold.”

Georgianna turned, leaning across the gap between them. She grasped his arm, looking up at him, pleading.

“Beck, please.”

“Geor…”

“Why?” Georgianna cried. “I don’t understand!”

“Because I’m fighting a war, Georgianna!” he snapped. He shook her from his arm, getting to his feet so fast that he kicked the crate away from them and into the opposite wall. “I can’t risk a dozen good men to save one. You think I want to leave him there? I have no choice.”

She was on her feet right after him.

“You do. You could help us!”

A steely glare met her.

“I need to think of the people I have here. Those absorbers are hard to get hold of, and the time it would take to remove two collars would get all of you killed. I will not lose more men than I would save over this.” His glare, if possible, hardened further. “And you will not drag them in against my orders. Are we understood?”

The silence was bitter. She had always trusted that he was doing the right thing. Not any-more. This was not the man who had snuck them from the camp and taken them to see a mother bear with cubs, even though her father had told her that it was too dangerous. This was not the man who’d sat with her parents long into the night around a campfire.

Georgianna stepped back to the door.

“Not doing everything you can to save one of your own,” she muttered, throwing a glare over her shoulder. “Only thinking of the mission?”

She snorted in derision.

“You fight the Adveni, but you know, Beck… You’re just like them.”

 
***

 
“Shit!”

Georgianna leapt away from the shattered glass as it bounced across the floor. Sitting on the side of the bed, she groaned and flopped backwards.

Keiran grinned as he leaned over, picking up another wheat beer and dangling it over her head. She glanced at him and reluctantly accepted it.

“The drink ain’t gonna calm you down if you keep throwing it around like that,” Wrench said, swigging a mouthful of his own beer.

“I don’t want to calm down.”

“Well, can you throw empty bottles instead?” Keiran asked, patting her on the head. “Some of us might still want to drink those.”

“He won’t help!” she screeched, launching herself back up off the bed. Placing the new bottle down, she crouched in the middle of the small shack and began gathering up the bigger shards of glass.

“We hear you, girl. The marshall’s a bastard.”

The glance Keiran threw in Wrench’s direction at his words was surprised but thoughtful.

“He’s one of our own. We should be helping,” he added.

Georgianna placed the shards of glass on the upturned crate next to the bed. She stared down at the men lounging on the bed, and frowned. Them saying that Beck was being unreasonable was all well and good, but unless they could find a way to convince the marshall to change his mind, they wouldn’t be able to do anything. Even freeing Nyah was looking less likely. Would she be willing to leave without the Belsa held with her?

“Look, Casey not being on side is a setback, but it wasn’t like he was all giddy to help in the first place,” Keiran said dismissively.

“We only have one absorber.”

“So we find another one,” Keiran answered.

“It’ll take longer.”

“Move faster,” Wrench replied.

Georgianna wasn’t sure that they were taking her seriously. How was it that they weren’t more worried? Their plan had just fallen flat. Beck refusing to help had devastated her. She’d been so sure that he would say yes, that he would be keen to save a Belsa, one of his own. She couldn’t go back to Nyah and say that they couldn’t help the unknown man.

Wrench and Keiran had debated the identity of the Belsa, but they’d lost so many, both to the compound and the ground, that names and fates became muddled together.

“Who will I get to help Taye?” she asked finally.

“Are we not good enough anymore?” Keiran asked.

“Beck said I couldn’t drag any Belsa into it.”

Keiran and Wrench exchanged an amused glance.

“Good thing we offered then, isn’t it?”

 
***

 
The dappled light from the oil lamp flickered across the roof of the tunnel above their heads. The oil was getting low, the bright flames slowly receding towards the wick. Georgianna watched the light play in the darkness, frowning.

“It doesn’t matter who it is, George,” Keiran murmured, brushing some hair away from her face.

“We still have to go back.”

She glanced at him to find a frown on his lips. He rolled further onto his side, shaking his head.

“It’s too dangerous. You’ve been there twice already.”

“But we have to tell them, they have to be ready.”

Keiran cocked his head to the side as he considered it. Turning towards him, Georgianna propped herself up on her elbow, resting her head in her hand. She wasn’t sure whether Keiran was worried about her, or the plan failing, but either way, it felt nice knowing he thought about those things. She’d been spending more and more nights with him recently, and when she wasn’t there, she missed the familiarity of having him next to her. She was quickly finding it harder to sleep when his breath wasn’t there to lull her into her dreams.

“Taye’s too jumpy,” he said slowly. “It was difficult convincing him to stay back last time, he won’t again.”

Georgianna nodded.

“We don’t tell him then.”

Keiran raised an eyebrow, his frown melting into a smile.

“You’d be a good Belsa, all secrets and sneaking around.”

“Maybe I’ve just known you too long. You’re a bad influence.”

He laughed, an infectious chuckle that soon had Georgianna giggling with him. They melted back into the bed, and as fast as the laughter had come, it was gone.

“I could do a delivery again,” Georgianna suggested.

“Too suspicious,” he answered, shaking his head. When Georgianna turned her head to look at him, he was staring at the ceiling with a faraway look. “I’ve got some contacts. Maybe I can find out Guinnyr’s schedule, get a time when he’ll be out.”

“Is it a girl?”

Keiran didn’t answer, but as Georgianna was considering whether or not to push him on the subject, the oil in the lamp finally gave out, and they were plunged into darkness.

 
27
One Dead, One Drysta

 
“Did she tell you where he was going?” Georgianna asked.

She didn’t look at him, her gaze fixed on her boots. As it had turned out, she’d been right, Keiran’s contact had been a woman. She cleaned floors in the Headquarters, and according to Keiran, had a keen ear for secrets. Georgianna appreciated the help, even if she hadn’t appreciated standing ten feet away while the woman flirted and asked when she could see Keiran again.

“Had some big-shot meeting.”

“You know who with?”

“Does it matter?”

Georgianna raised an eyebrow as she lifted her head to look at him. It was his turn to avoid her gaze, his lips set in a resolute line. She frowned.

“Who is it?”

He huffed and shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Volsonnar.”

Georgianna forgot to walk. She stood in the middle of the path, staring after him as Keiran took a few more steps before realising she was no longer with him. He turned around, curious, as she gaped.

“The Volsonnar? He’s important enough to have meetings with the leader of the Adveni?”

He hurried back to her, shushing her as her voice cracked. He slipped his hand into hers, entwining their fingers, and tugging her into a steady pace.

“We knew he was a big shot, George. Keep your…”

“Stop there!”

They froze, hand in hand on the path, not even daring to look behind them as a pair of boots approached. Keiran squeezed her hand, and she could feel the beads of sweat dripping down her wrist and between their palms.

The Adveni stepped around them, eyes narrowed and suspicious as his gaze travelled over them both.

“What are you doing out here?” the Adveni asked.

His moss green uniform was plated with dark grey armour that glinted and shone in the sunlight as he moved. Georgianna licked her lips. Agrah.

She wished they’d brought a delivery with them, or they’d told Taye so that he could have brought some product along. As it was, they didn’t have anything. She didn’t even have her medic’s bag, not that it would have made a difference. The Adveni had their own medics, they wouldn’t have called a Veniche.

“Personal call,” Keiran answered as smoothly as if it had been the truth.

The Adveni raised an eyebrow.

“You know people in this district?”

Keiran chuckled, a deep and knowing laugh. His grin spread broadly across his lips, and he nodded. He released Georgianna’s hand and slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her against him.

“Not yet. She was purchased.”

“You’re olcinyty?”

The Adveni gave her all his attention as his gaze slipped down her body. He smiled briefly, but his eyes remained cold and suspicious. Georgianna gulped as she tried not to sneer at Keiran for suggesting that she was a prostitute.

“Yes, Volsonne,” she nodded.

The Agrah didn’t look convinced, he reached behind him, digging into his pocket.

“Come on, wouldn’t you hire this if you got the chance?” Keiran suggested, hugging her a little tighter. “She’s very good.”

“And why are you here?” the Adveni asked, looking at him.

Georgianna beamed suddenly.

“We work as a pair.” She stepped between Keiran and the Adveni guard, reaching back and grasping Keiran’s hips. “Our clients have an… eclectic taste. One they’d rather keep private from the Adveni-run places.”

If the Adveni was shocked, he didn’t show it. In fact, as he looked at Keiran, his smile became almost curious. It took everything Georgianna had to keep herself from letting out her nerves by laughing.

“Can we pass, Volsonne?” she asked.

He looked back at her for a moment before nodding. As Georgianna passed him, she trailed her finger down his arm, putting on a giggle as Keiran took her hand and tugged her along.

“You made me gay?” he hissed as they rounded the corner.

Georgianna sidled up against him.

“Bisexual,” she giggled, kissing his shoulder. “And you started it by saying I was olcinyty.”

Keiran grinned, and dropped the conversation.

 
***

 
Keiran wiped the sweat from his brow and flicked it from his hand into the dry dirt. They’d been outside the house for over an hour, and hadn’t seen evidence of a single person inside. Knowing that there was an Agrah patrol out, they’d switched locations four times already, including once ducking into a bush to avoid an Adveni rounding the corner.

“I’m just going to have to knock on the door,” Georgianna said, picking a twig from her hair.

“You can’t be serious.”

“We can’t stay here all day just waiting for someone to happen to come out. Plus, Maarqyn will be back soon.”

Keiran reached out to grasp her wrist, but missed as Georgianna hurried across the road towards the house. He swore under his breath and ducked back.

A panel was mounted on the wall next to the door with a dozen buttons, each marked with a different Adveni symbol. She stared at it for a few moments, finger hovering over the buttons. In the end, she banged three times on the door instead.

“Get that!”

Even though it was distant, Georgianna could hear that it was the same man who had called Nyah back from the window on their first visit. Her eyes widened in panic, and when she turned to look back at Keiran, he was shifting his weight from foot to foot, looking like he was ready to run.

She took a step back, ready to run herself, when the door opened.

Nyah’s expression mirrored Georgianna’s panic as she stepped forward, pulling the door behind her, leaving just a crack open.

“Gianna, what are you doing?” she breathed.

“We were told that your owner had a meeting.”