Page 51 of Into Orbit
‘First Guard! First Guard!Ashton!’
Elswyth straightened as the call tore through the Forest. ‘Juniper?’ she said in confusion.
The engineer wove through the heartree’s canopy, her face flushed green, her eyes wide with distress. ‘Lady – Hamadryad – I’m so sorry,’ she babbled. ‘But First Guard, we need – you need – sorry –heneeds –’
‘Take a breath,’ Maeve said sharply. ‘Take a breath, Juniper.’
Juniper paused and closed her eyes for a moment, inhaling before straightening her shoulders. ‘First Guard,’ she began again, her voice steadier. ‘There’s been an incident, sir. It seems that two unidentified beings took Rosa and Bough’s uniforms during the ice drop and boarded our ship in the guise of our guards. They –’ she swallowed ‘– they took Doctor Willow Unclaimed, sir.’
I froze. My hearts beat in my ears as I stared at her, unmoving; across the ship, the emergency siren began to blare.
Juniper stared at me, stricken. ‘First Guard, sir?’
‘Ashton.’ Maeve said, and turned in my arms. ‘Ash.’ I fixed my eyes on her as she searched my face. She turned back to Juniper. ‘What else, Juni?’
Juniper swallowed again. ‘Ah. They, um, had a Roth weapon.’
I felt her words like a blow.
I set Maeve and Elswyth carefully aside and stood, every muscle tight as stone. I would find them, findWillow, and when I did, I would tear those Roth into a thousand tiny pieces fordaringto lay a hand on the male I loved. ‘Then those Roth have begged for death,’ I said calmly.
‘He said you should stay,’ Juniper blurted. She twitched when my eyes turned to her, but she didn’t back down. ‘Doctor Willow, I mean. He said two things.’ She held out her screen, where I could see Willow being pushed through the hangar by a being dressed in Rosa’s uniform. Rage darkened my vision when I saw the gun pressed to the back of my beloved’s head. ‘He said to tell Maeve, um, some stuff, and that he was sorry –’ Juniper’s eyes flickered to my human ‘– and he said that you should stay with the Hamadryad. Sir.’
My hands clenched into fists as I watched the Roth mutter something before striking Willow on the temple; I snarled aloud as Willow crumpled and was bundled unceremoniously into the Pod.
A soft cry cut off the harsh sound; I turned to see Elswyth clap a hand over her mouth to muffle the sound. She raised her eyes from Juniper’s screen to glance at Maeve and I by turn.
‘The Forest was right,’ she choked. ‘Therewasstill something wrong.’ A moment later, I blinked against a swirl of white light as she returned to her heartree.
Soft fingers touched my hand. ‘What will you do?’ Maeve said quietly.
‘Go after him,’ I answered gruffly. ‘I can’t let –’
‘Oh, green gods,’ Juniper whispered, cutting me off. ‘Oh,no.’
She wasn’t looking at me, though; she’d turned away, and her eyes were on the Forest.
Which was slowly turning from its verdant shades of green to a dull, dead brown.
WhenIwokeup,everything was black.
I groaned, tentatively stretching out my limbs. My arms and legs were fine, and other than a stiff shoulder – it was pressed uncomfortably against a hard, cold floor – my torso was unharmed.
My head, however, was not.
I sat up slowly, raising a palm to my skull. The skin was split just behind my left ear and raised with bruising, my hair caked with drying blood, but it didn’t feel as if the bone had broken. It throbbed like a solar flare regardless. I probed it with my fingertips until I was sure the wound was knitting, then wiped the blood on my shirt.
‘They got you good with that one,’ a deep, amused voice said. ‘He had to knock you out for the flight to the ship, but he didn’t mean to hit you so hard. He’s not so bad, the one that dragged you here, despite that pool of green you’re lying in.’
I started in surprise at the voice.
‘Oops. Sorry about that. You’re safe, I promise. Well, you’re safe, relatively speaking. You could be far less safe. Perhaps. I’m not really the best judge of these things.’
I peered into the darkness. ‘Where are you?’
Two glowing golden orbs appeared a few spans away. I hissed, inching back.
‘Had my eyes closed. Hang on a heartbeat.’
