Fledge (23 page)

He looks down on me. "Nah, Juncs. We have to work as a team, to survive the shit on 313. Poisons, weather patterns, orbital fire – shit like that."

"And you all, the 039, were all on the same team?"

"No, see, this is how it works. They airdrop us all off – like I said, there were sixty of us or so. Then you have to get from one end of the asteroid to the other before your air and supplies wear out. So, when you get there you're not a team, right? Just a bunch of guys. But if you make it to the end, the guys you make it with – that's your team. The conditions create the winners, get it? Create the team."

I nod.

"And we were the ones who lived. Me, Arel, Ryse, Rikan, Braun, Mish, Ashur, and Tier. That was it. Out of sixty guys. We were the only ones left."

"And how did Tier become captain?"

Isten smiles. "He's the strongest, the most ruthless, the smartest. And the most reasonable, caring, and hopeful. He's the perfect fucking Aves warrior, Junco – they were talking about making him Archer. So they gave him the command. He saved every one of us during Fledge. We owe him every second of life we've lived since we were kids."

"And you'll just let him be killed, Isten?"

He frowns. "We're doing what we can."

"It's not enough."

"Maybe not, but that's what we've got." He stays silent for a few minutes, perhaps he's mad at me for questioning him. Or maybe he's just thinking. Eventually he gets back around to our conversation. "You know why Lucan didn't send you to the Aves Warrior Fledge even though it started at the same time?"

I shake my head.

Isten pushes me back a little so he can see my face. "Because, Junco, if you went through all that shit with another group of guys, you wouldn't belong to us anymore. You'd belong to them. You'd make your own team and not be part of our team. And Lucan couldn't stand to let you go. He said that, Junco. To each of us. That's why we're worried about these kids you're helping. It's not supposed to be this way. There are no teams in the General Fledge. You're not supposed to bond with them. You're
our
nine. You understand what it means to be the nine?"

I shake my head. "No."

"The team hardly ever gets to nine. I mean, it does happen, but it's so rare, no one even thinks about having nine – not including your science contact, right? Layla is our science contact, but she's not a part of the team because that only includes us warriors. To have a real ninth member is special. It's powerful. It carries a lot of meaning around here. And you're the nine. We voted you in and even Lucan agreed."

"Only as long as we include Tier, and he's gonna be found guilty, I'm told. For not killing me. And Lucan will let him die."

"He's doing what he can, Juncs. He really is."

"Tier hates what he is, you know that right?"

Isten is quiet now.

"He told me, quote,
I feel like I've lived a hundred lifetimes of misery. And when I wake up each morning I don't want to keep doing it, Junco. When I wake I ask myself, how much longer before they will just let me die?
Unquote."

"But, Junco, he saved you because he wanted you. He wanted you to be with us. We talked about it for years. You can't even comprehend how much planning went into making the decision to disobey and get you here."

"Except Tier will not be here so I won't be the nine for long, will I? That's pure bullshit, Isten. Just let me do it my way."

He sucks in his breath. "Junco, do you have any idea of the cost?" He looks at me, the fun gone, the pain in full force. "It's higher than you might think. It's higher than anything you can imagine. And don't fucking pray to that stupid Fallen Archer again, either. For fuck's sake, that's all we need, her sacrificial spirit fucking things up at the very last fucking second."

When we fly back down the pledges are already back in the dorm and Ashur is watching the screens, waiting patiently. Isten says goodbye and leaves, while I go sit down next to Ash. "How'd it go?"

He smiles. "You first."

"Pretty good, I guess. My flying will not win trophies, but it'll have to do." I smile back, but my heart's not in it.

"They did OK, Junco. Kush is pretty good and Wyrd is all right. The girl, Tessen, could be helpful. But that little Kete, she won't be back tomorrow night." He looks at me hard. "And I do not want you to save her, you understand?"

I nod. "What about Joll?"

"Oh, shit. That kid is beyond useless. I have no idea how he survived so far."

We sit in silence for a while, watching some movie on the screen. Ashur must like horror shit, because it's another screaming half-naked girl running from some crazy demonic thing.

"You wanna go get some food, Junco?" He looks over at me, his face kind.

"Sure." I smile. "We can do that."

We grab a train back to that pub we were at before and it's like our fight never happened. We eat and talk about stuff that has nothing to do with Tier, or the Fledge, or death.

And it's nice.

Normal.

Chapter Twenty-Four

There are no patterns on the floor this time. Instead the Fourth Fight begins with all seventy-five of us being stuffed, one at a time, inside capsules. When someone gets in the lid slides shut and the capsule is shuttled somewhere out of sight. I look at Isec to see how he's taking it, but he's calm. Calmer than I've ever seen him in fact. I squeeze his shoulder as we wait our turn. "You doing OK?"

He smiles back at me. "Yeah, sure. Why?"

I shrug. "Well, usually you're freaking out. And this is completely different from all the other starts."

"I feel good, Junco. No matter what happens, I'm OK with it."

I nod. "All right." He turns away from me and I let out a sigh. They grow up so fast. I have a feeling Ashur has something to do with this, but whatever it is, I'm grateful. He's come to terms with the fights, and that's a good thing.

I think.

Kete is first to be stuffed in the capsule. She's screaming like the spring wind on the prairie. I don't move to calm her. I believe Ashur, she's done and there's no sense in making it worse.

Tessen is next and she gets in without incident.

Isec is next and he turns. "See you when we're done, Junco."

I smile. "Fight hard, friend."

He climbs in and lies back and before I know it he's shuttled up and out of view.

My capsule comes and I climb in, settle on the hard pad, and watch the capsule close above me. It moves fast and jerks from side to side. The capsule stops and is loaded into some mechanism below. Then I hear a loud click and everything goes still, the only sound my own breathing.

We were near the front, so the wait takes forever.

And then I'm accelerating hard. I feel the bullet catch on something below my back and my feet slam into the floor of the capsule and I'm shunted out of the tube and into free-G. I twist in the air and create back thrust with my wings to slow myself down. I hear screams as people smash into the wall and then the smell of burning flesh.

They've been electrocuted.

For a moment I'm stunned still, and then I see her. Dead, her mouth open, her eyes wide, and she's wet herself. Kete is finished before the fight even starts.

I snap out of it and begin killing as I pass through the air. I leave the SEAR tucked away. No sense in complicating things unless I have to. Enough people are dead from the launch.

I swim though the air and take stock of what's happening here.

There is a single transparent partition that divides the arena into left and right halves. Except it is better described as top and bottom. Except that doesn't work either, because the gravity well is on the surface of the partition. Towards the floor, except the floor is relative.

It's a mirror image.

I swim down to my floor and get my feet planted on the ground. Only one other fighter has made it so far so I charge towards him as he shouts encouragement to a friend. I swipe my razors over his throat and he falls dead just as his buddy is floating down towards me. I grab him by the leg and swing. He goes careening off and hits the wall, the electricity surges though him and his body sends off sparks in all directions.

I hear screaming and look down to the other side of the partition. I see Isec fighting for his life, his small razors slashing and to my delight, hitting their mark. He looks good and I smile.

A girl comes at me hard from above and knocks me down. I scramble up before she can get the gravity under control and kick her in the face, my talons clawing her skin off as they pass through her flesh. I walk towards her as she flails half in and half out of the full force of the well. She screams at me to leave her alone.

"Honey, you picked the wrong girl to attack if you're looking for mercy." I pull her by the foot and she tries to kick me. I bring her down to the ground and twist her neck and then fling her up and let her float away.

I run over to the edge of the partition and do a handspring and fling myself over the other side, grabbing at the floor so I don't drift off, then bring myself upright. This side fared much better in the initial launch and they have a lot fewer casualties. A big guy rushes at me immediately, but Tessen is there and she grabs him by the throat and digs in her claws. He's choking when we kick him off and point him at the wall.

I see Isec, still fighting off kids twice his size, and Tessen and I launch upward, swim across, then flap like demons and launch ourselves at his attackers. They go down. I grab the nearest boy and stomp on his mouth and watch the blood spurt out, then swipe my razors over his throat to end it quickly.

Isec comes and stands next to me and Tessen and we just watch. We are alone on the floor. Even when we look below our feet, there is no one there.

They never even understood what it was.

So we stand there like spectators.

Whole minutes go by before the buzzer goes off and we are floating, then swimming, over to the exits. This time I don't hesitate, I jump off the fourth floor and sail down to the dorms. Tessen, Isec, and I wait in the lounge to see who makes it.

We laugh hysterically when we count up the living and find only Kete is missing.

Ashur really did his job with these guys because it only takes seconds and we barely remember who she was.

Ashur shows up sometime that afternoon when I am sleeping on my bunk. He nudges me awake and then slips in next to me. I smile at his good mood.

"Just Kete, then?"

I nod and he's happy. "You did a great job, Ashur. It was amazing."

He sighs. "Let's go somewhere, Junco."

"Where?"

"The city. Wanna go to the city with me?"

"Am I allowed?"

"I'm your captain, remember? I make your rules. Only Lucan can tell you no above me."

"Will Lucan care if we go to the city?" I study his face to see what he's up to, but he just flashes me a smile.

"He told me to take you out, Junco."

"Really?"

He picks up a bag from the floor and hands it to me. "No uniform for you. Tonight you're not a soldier."

I hold my breath at his comment and feel something.

"You OK?"

I nod as I exhale. "Yeah. It's just – thank you for that, Ashur."

He shrugs. "It was completely inappropriate for Lucan to say that about you being a better soldier, Junco. And when I told him you said maybe you'd rather just be a woman, well, you really know how to pull his strings because he fell all over himself to try and clarify. I said he should take you out and treat you nice, but he said it would make things weird. So, apparently, me taking you out isn't weird."

I look at him sideways. "Well, it sort of is."

"Yeah, it is, but I don't care. Go get dressed." He pushes me until I fall off the bed and then he kicks me away with his boot.

I practically rip the bag open in the dressing room. Inside is a card from Layla. The clothes are tailored to my uniform specs, so they should fit perfectly. I am relieved to see that they are not fancy. If I had to wear a dress in front of Ashur all night I'd be too embarrassed to have fun. But Layla has made me a pair of jeans, a fitted black jacket with a thick belt that cinches my waist, and a pair of knee-high black boots.

It's pretty perfect for being picked out for me on a foreign world. She's right too, once I figure out how to get the jacket to seam up they are the best-fitting clothes I've ever worn. Besides the uniform, of course. There's some make-up in the bag so I paint a little bit on. I'm not usually a make-up girl, but fuck it. I might as well make the most of it.

Tessen comes in when I'm brushing my hair. "What's going on, Junco?"

I smile. "Ashur's taking me out to the city tonight."

"Ohhh, what I'd give to have a date tonight. You have no idea."