Renegade (30 page)

Xyalis is tinkering with something behind me as I stare at the floor. ‘Tell me how it works,’ I say.

‘The teleporter? It’s very complicated.’

‘Just tell me.’

Xyalis sighs but doesn’t stop whatever it is he’s working on. ‘Think of it like two doors. You have the first in one place and the second in another. When you walk through one,
you come out in the other. Both doors have to be connected to each other. The one in Windsor Castle was dormant because it wasn’t linked to anything.’

‘At any point since you left, the King and his men could have created another door to send them places,’ I say.

‘They didn’t know what they had and probably still don’t.’

‘What about the doors around the country where we sent the Offerings to?’

‘They aren’t hard to create – you just need that initial technology. I’ve had that here for ages. I’ve refined things a little and sent a few boxes out to places I
thought they might be useful – the various rebel groups – but I’ve always kept the method of how it works to myself.’

‘Why haven’t you been using it?’

He sighs again, as if I wouldn’t understand. ‘I’ve had a lot of work to do and it’s mainly been just me. I’ve had to prioritise other things. It is pre-war tech, so
many of the parts are unavailable now.’

I limp across the floor towards the spot where we arrived through the teleport. There is no door, just a box on the floor like the one by the stained-glass window at Windsor Castle. I assume
that Xyalis’ more recent refinements means that it works more like a portal than the earlier prototype around the window. I take a screwdriver and a hammer from a nearby bench, sit on the
floor and start removing the front panel from the box.

‘What are you doing?’ Xyalis calls across at me sharply.

‘I’m just looking.’

The cabling inside the box is tightly packed but I pull it out, separating each of the wires on the floor. I hear Xyalis tut but ignore him as I start tracing the routes to the circuit boards.
He told me what I needed to know to get people out of the castle but perhaps gave away too much. I use his explanations as a starting point and begin to dig deeper into the box. The basics
aren’t too difficult to understand, at least for me, although the scope is what is impressive. In essence, instead of moving computer data across vast areas wirelessly, he has found a way to
move people using roughly the same principle of disassembling and reassembling the information. Much of the equipment was readily available when I was working at the castle, so little of it is
unfamiliar. Now I can see how he has put things together, it is not too hard to get my head around.

The brilliance isn’t so much in the technology – it is in having the idea in the first place.

‘I don’t understand why you need two doors,’ I say, looking across the room to where Xyalis is using a syringe to extract some liquid from the tube I stole for him.

‘You don’t,’ he replies, ‘at least not in theory. The problem is that you need to give an exact location that you want to go to. If you get that wrong – for
instance if you shifted yourself a couple of centimetres too low – part of your body would materialise within the matter.’

Opie puts it best. ‘So you could end up half inside a tree?’

‘Perhaps, but you’d never be inside it. You can’t both occupy the same space, so there would be an explosion. Your instructions would have to be perfect enough to get you to
materialise in an open space slightly above the land. Too low and you’ll explode, too high and you’ll fall to your death. That’s why I created the doors, because it is much
safer.’

‘Have you ever tried it without a second door?’

Xyalis is annoyed, his tone of voice like my mother’s when she tells me off. ‘Of course not. I told you, I’ve had more important things to do.’

I have other questions but Xyalis bangs the desk in frustration, cursing. ‘I’ve been locked out of Windsor!’ he cries, pointing at one of the monitors on his desk. ‘They
obviously found the backdoor I was using to monitor their system. I have no way of knowing what they are working on any longer. Getting you around those cameras must have been too
obvious.’

The accusing tone in his voice has me furious as I hobble across the room. ‘We risked our lives to get that sample for you. Imrin’s stuck there. You haven’t even told us what
you needed it for.’

I drag myself up the steps towards where he is and snatch the tube away. He growls and reaches for it, his eyes fiery and furious in a way I haven’t seen before.

‘What is it?’ I demand.

Xyalis arches his body as if he is about to attack but Opie quickly steps to my side. As Faith edges to my other side, he stops tensing his muscles. I’m not sure he was going to do
anything anyway but I suspect the aggression comes from getting his own way for a long time. If he was serious, he could call his guards to deal with us. Instead he pulls a chair across and sits
facing his equipment, away from us.

Xyalis’ tone is softer when he speaks next. ‘How many samples of the cure did you get?’

‘Four.’

‘Did you get the applicators we talked about?’

Opie reaches into his pockets and takes out the three devices he found, placing them on the counter.

‘I’ll show you how it works,’ Xyalis adds, picking up the first one.

He flicks a mechanism at the top of the applicator and I hand him the metal cylinder, which he slides inside. It looks straightforward, but he shows me a number of checks that need to be done
before the trigger can be pressed. Without them, if the tube isn’t correctly aligned, it could cause serious harm to the person being injected. I fit the tubes into the other two applicators,
leaving us one spare.

‘That should help to cure whatever is wrong with your friend,’ Xyalis says wearily. ‘Now can I have the other one back?’

‘What is it?’

‘It’s a sample of the King’s blood.’

For a moment, I am not sure how to react. I’d assumed it was some sort of chemical, or ammunition. I reluctantly roll it across, my fingers only letting it go as he starts to pull it from
me. ‘Why did you want us to steal that?’

‘You said you wanted revenge. This is something I’ve been sitting on for a little while. It will help you get what you want.’

I shake my head. ‘I’ve changed my mind. If I wanted revenge, we could have killed him this evening. It’s not about that – it’s about making life better for my
brother and everyone else younger than him.’

Xyalis stares at me but doesn’t seem bothered what my motives are and I realise he has manipulated me again. It was never about my revenge – it was about his. He sent me to get the
blood because he didn’t want to risk his own life.

He turns back to the desk, taking a few drops of the King’s blood and placing them into a solid-looking metal box that has a timer on the front. ‘What do you need it for?’ I
ask.

Xyalis reaches under his desk and presses his thumb to a scanner on the front of a safe. When it pops open, he reaches inside and takes out a thin black metal tube that looks like it is made of
borodron. On the top is a thick metal cap with a push-down button.

‘Now I’ve got his blood, I can separate the cells and the plasma until I have the component parts. That will give me the data I need and then all I have to do is pour his blood into
this and press the trigger.’

‘What will it do?’

Xyalis licks his lips, his hands flashing around the worktop before they return to the keyboard. ‘One of my specialities before the war was biological attacks. Pressing the button will
cause a chemical reaction. You’ll have to be close enough to him – perhaps within ten metres or so – because it is his blood. Combined with the substances already in the tube, it
will enable you to literally boil his body from the inside.’

His tone is perfectly steady, no hint of remorse that he is talking about doing this to a fellow human – no matter who that might be.

Opie shuffles uneasily next to me. We can both see Xyalis is holding something back.

‘What else?’

He peers away from the bench, looking into my eyes as if asking why I’m so concerned. ‘Everyone who shares his blood type within a twenty-mile radius will die in the same
way.’

I feel a shiver rock through me and can barely get the words out. ‘But that will be thousands of people . . .’

He looks away and shrugs, dismissive and unconcerned. ‘This is a war, Ms Blackthorn. There will always be casualties.’

I cannot sleep, lying awake and staring at the ceiling with the knowledge that I have put a weapon in the hands of someone who is willing to kill thousands of people just to
settle a score. The fact that I ever uttered the word revenge as my motive disgusts me. This isn’t about me; this is about Colt and Imp – and everyone else who will come after them.

Time crawls as evening becomes night and then early morning. Opie and Faith played along wonderfully as I told Xyalis that I was with him – that sacrificing so many people was a price
worth paying. He was delighted, beaming with joy, telling me that we would plot more in the morning. This is the man who didn’t even notice Imrin had been left behind and is now a prisoner in
Windsor Castle, a place he was so instrumental in getting us away from. He went back for me and I failed him.

But at least I care. Xyalis is concerned for no one but himself, joyously saying how he didn’t know the King’s blood type and that this is the only way he could ensure that his plan
works.

As everybody sleeps, the electrical hum of power drops as my thinkwatch signals that it is the early hours of a new day. I don’t know if they have been sleeping but, after an hour on low
power, I whisper loudly for Faith and Opie to get ready. Within seconds they are on their feet, bags on their backs. The uniforms are gone and we are dressed for a night of walking. Two more people
willing to do anything for me.

We creep through the metal corridors as quietly as we can until we reach the quarters that Xyalis’ guards share. There is a sensor next to the door but it is not as sophisticated as the
ones in Windsor Castle. It could be because Xyalis doesn’t have the materials, or perhaps because he doesn’t feel under threat. Either way, I lever the front panel off and pull out the
cables, using my knife to slice through them all. The only way the guards will be able to get out is by crawling through the air filtration system – or, if they can manage it, brute force
through the sheet metal door. Whichever option they take, we will be long gone by the time they figure it out.

Faith has strapped my ankle as tightly as she can, blocking off much of the pain, but it is still hard to walk on as we move as quickly as we can through the corridors until we reach
Xyalis’ sleeping quarters.

Opie can be as soft as the tortoise I gave to Imp but here he is fearlessly brutal, wrenching Xyalis out of his bed throat-first. He is shocked and angry as he is dragged kicking and screaming
along the corridor. We tell him that we have taken care of his guards, so the shouting counts for nothing, but it doesn’t prevent him howling non-stop.

As we reach his lab, Opie hurls Xyalis up the stairs with such force that his head bounces off the top one and lulls to the side. He is still conscious but only just.

‘Open the safe,’ I order.

He stares at me, confused, pale and panicked. ‘What are you going to do?’

‘I’m taking the weapon.’

‘Are you going to use it?’

I am furious he could even think I would, but keep my voice calm. ‘Of course not. You’re barbaric.’

‘You said you wanted revenge!’

‘I was wrong – killing all those people isn’t right, even if I did want vengeance.’

I can see in his face that he doesn’t understand. For him it is about defeating the King and getting his own way – nobody else matters. We are pawns in his plan.

Like Opie’s father was in mine.

I suddenly understand what Imrin was trying to tell me – that manipulating Evan in the way I did is the way things like this start. Before you know it, everyone else is just someone you
can use to get what you want.

Xyalis tucks his thumbs into his fists and pushes himself against a wall. ‘I’m not opening it.’

I look towards Faith but don’t need to say her name before she marches towards Xyalis and wrenches his arm forward.

Be the myth
.

I speak harshly and coldly: the way he did when talking about killing thousands of people. ‘If you don’t open the safe voluntarily, we’ll cut your thumb off and open it
anyway.’

Faith tugs the knife from her belt and places it on the ground so Xyalis can see it. He splutters in fear, trying to shuffle away before Faith grabs him again. He tries to kick her away but Opie
steps forward menacingly. I can see the gash on Xyalis’ head from where he hit the step as blood seeps into his hair.

‘It’s your choice,’ I add.

He doesn’t move, sniffling and sobbing on the floor until Faith reaches forward and picks up her knife. As she tosses it from one hand to the other, he yelps in self-pity and crawls to the
safe before pressing his thumb to the sensor on the front. The door swings open and he pulls the black cylinder out.

‘It’s already primed,’ he says, cradling it to his chest. ‘All you have to do is get close to Victor and then press the trigger.’

‘Give it,’ I demand, holding my hand out.

He continues to cradle it until Faith stands and takes a step towards him. The fact he is so terrified of a girl half his height would be laughable if he wasn’t holding a weapon that could
cause such destruction. Before she can take another step, he pushes it into my hand.

‘You know what he’s like. You can still use it. There’s a safety catch on the bottom and then you press the trigger.’

I take it from him and put it in my pocket. ‘When we’re away from here, I’m going to take it apart and destroy it. You’re an evil man.’

I take a step towards the door but he wails after me. ‘You can’t go!’

I walk away with Faith on one side and Opie on the other, ignoring him. We are about to pass through the door and leave for good when it slams down in front of us, sealing the room. Xyalis is
crumpled over the control panel, madness in his eyes. He has spent years planning his revenge and isn’t about to let us walk away like this.