Chapter Five

Something brushed the periphery of Gus’s senses. A murmur disguised as an omen. Easily ignored by someone else. Someone bolder and more assured.

Gus, though, was none of those things. She was cautious and had learned to pay attention when the universe spoke.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Anandra asked, tensing as he noticed her expression.

Gus held up a hand, asking for patience as she listened.

Strangers. A lot of them. Their hearts filled with a darkness that was echoed by the wicked thoughts in their heads.

The legs of Gus’s chair screeched as she shoved it back.

Anandra watched with bewilderment as she dashed into her workroom, grabbing the signal scanner from where she’d carelessly stashed it on a shelf.

“What are you doing?” Anandra asked, trailing behind Gus as she stalked through the kitchen and back into the entryway to where the bodies still were.

Please let me be wrong, Gus whispered in her heart.

Waving the scanner over the body, she cursed when it beeped as soon as it passed over an arm.

“You mildew infested swine,” Gus hissed.

Her knife. Where was her knife? She needed it.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have any lying around. There was, however, a pair of garden sheers sitting on one of the table from the last time she’d decided to prune the plants in here.

Gus grabbed them. “You’ll do.”

Adapt and overcome. That was a motto somewhere, wasn’t it?

“What are you—?” Anandra blanched as Gus stabbed the tip of the sheers into the man’s bicep. She wiggled them around, none too gentle as she widened the wound.

You’d be surprised t how durable garden sheers were. They could easily sever a finger. Let alone the branches they were intended for.

Using the scanner as a guide, Gus dug around in the wound until she judged it deep enough. Tossing aside the sheers, Gus stuck her fingers into the man’s bicep and felt for what she suspected was there.

Almost. Almost.

Something bumped against her fingertips.

Got you!

She closed her fingers around the thumbtack sized device, yanking it out and holding it up to the light for study.

“Of course, they were tagged,” Gus growled.

Gussy, you nincompoop of a spiderwort. What were you thinking?

Protocol demanded she scan them for signal transmitters before bringing them into her home. But with everything that had happened and these three’s companions threatening to discover them, she hadn’t had time. Then Caius attacking her as soon as she’d walked through the door had further thrown her off her game, leading to the situation as it stood now.

“What does that mean?” Anandra asked with an expression that said he already knew. Or at least suspected.

“We have to go.”

Gus hurled the tracker back into the container with the rest of the bodies. She was so fucking angry at herself. A moment’s inattention had cost her the home she’d spent years creating.

Moving back into her living quarters, Gus’s thoughts turned from the grief and rage of being driven from her home to what she needed to gather before they departed.

Did she even have time to gather anything?

Possibly.

One of the first modifications she made upon moving in was reinforcing the walls with signal jammers. Her paranoia had led her to go a step further and install them in multiple spots in the docks. It was why the docks were known as something of a communication desert and what made them a popular venue for those clandestine meetings that benefited from absolute secrecy.

She couldn’t completely black out the docks without drawing unwelcome attention, but it should be enough to buy her some time. If she was lucky, the tracker in those men’s arms wouldn’t be able to give off an exact location. It would, however, give their friends a place to start looking.

Needing to know just how much time she had, Gus placed her palm on the nearest wall and waited for it to verify her identity. “Perimeter security feeds.”

Anandra made a sound of amazement as half a dozen feeds featuring the surrounding area popped into view.

Gus scanned them quickly, stilling at the sight of the rather large group of humans systematically clearing the row of containers next to her own. From the way they moved, it was easy to see they had military training at some point.

At the sight of them going in and out of each container on the ground floor, Gus relaxed slightly. Her signal jammers had done their job, only giving them a general location with which to work.

“They’re coming from aft,” Gus murmured.

That way lay the night garden. They’d have to go through it to reach the rest of the complex unless they went around.

Good.

Her dearies would thin the herd before the rest breached her living quarters, giving her a chance to maybe survive.

Gus’s fingers danced over the virtual keyboard, triggering a lock down everywhere but the Tuann gardens and the section she currently stood in.

“That should buy us some time,” she said.

“What did you do?” Anandra asked, turning to keep her in view as she headed for the small cupboard containing her go bag.

“I made it so they’ll have to burn through my security doors to proceed.”

Hopefully, they hadn’t brought explosives.

Since these were pirates though, the odds of that were small. Who cared about little things like law or jail time when your crimes included human trafficking and murder?

Gus grabbed the small backpack waiting there and a couple of cloaks. The first of which she wrapped around Anandra. She fastened the second around her neck, but didn’t raise the hood yet.

“What is this?” Anandra asked, feeling the fabric curiously.

“Something that will protect you.”

Gus didn’t want to tell him that it was made of ethieri. A rare Tuann material carrying anti ballistic properties.

“You ask too many questions,” Gus added.

She wondered if it was a product of his upbringing since she’d never had this many when she was young. Or now, for that mattered.

Gus shouldered the bag and headed toward the Tuann garden entrance.

“Don’t fall behind,” she ordered.

She wasn’t Kira. There would be no sacrificing on her part if he failed to heed her warning.

The trees were abuzz with worry as Gus darted beneath their canopy, making her way back to Caius’s side. He lay as still and unmoving as he’d been earlier when she’d first placed him here. Kneeling beside him, she scanned his body with a critical eye. Not much healing had been done in the hour or two she’d been away.

Moving him was out of the question. As was leaving him behind.

That left her in something of a bind. Unable to fight. Or run.

She could call one of the cargo trawlers and have it meet her outside. Admittedly, not a great option since trawlers were as slow as Titan’s admin staff.

In a foot chase, she’d be caught immediately.

Gus was still agonizing over her nonexistent choices when the branch of the choko tree Caius lay under brushed her cheek. She looked up to find it offering her a tiny, glistening dew drop that was nestled on the very tip of the branch. Inside the white flower it had forced into bloom.

“No.” Gus recoiled in horror. “I would never ask that of you.”

She knew what that drop represented. What it was. The tree’s essence. Its soul’s breath given form and substance. Offered freely with no expectation of return.

Because of Gus. Because of her needs.

“Put it away,” Gus pleaded.

That drop would fast track Caius’s healing, turning what should have taken hours into mere minutes. The price, however, was the tree’s lifespan. Her oldest and dearest friend. The first Tuann tree she’d nurtured. The one that had brought peace to her soul, quenching her loneliness after an eternity of thirst.

The tree’s branch tipped, that dewdrop clinging to its flower for one poignant second. Gus made a raw sound as the drop fell.

Down.

Down.

It splashed onto Caius’s forehead, absorbing instantly. His cheeks flushed with improved blood flow. The wounds on his torso began to heal right in front of their eyes. His bruises faded and his breathing steadied.
As fast as he recovered was how quick the tree withered. Its branches becoming brittle and dry. It flowers shriveling. Leaves falling one by one.

Gus crawled forward to press her hands against its trunk in a futile attempt at replacing what was lost.

It wasn’t enough. Her pool much too small. The tree’s needs far too great.

The choko tree blocked her attempt, brushing the only branch still remaining against Gus’s cheek. A final goodbye.

The words “Don’t go” remained locked behind her lips. Unsaid but not unheard. She felt the tree’s joy. Its lack of regrets. Death wasn’t something its kind understood. There were no endings. Only new beginnings.
The branch withered. But not before making one last offering.

A seed. Its child.

She took it, tucking it into her pocket. She rolled to her feet, stepping back to watch her friend’s end. Its essence gone. Locked in Caius and the seed she’d received.

There was an explosion from the perimeter. They must have discovered the doors on that side of the container bank were all welded shut and decided to expedite matters.

Gus knelt beside Caius. “I’ve sacrificed a lot on your behalf. Its time for you to wake up. Otherwise, you and the boy will die.”

Gus probably would too, but she doubted he cared about that.

It happened in an instant. Caius’s eyes opened. He went from unconscious to conscious. No down time. No where am I? Or what’s happening?

Just a fully alert Tuann who was looking at her as if deciding whether her life was worth preserving.

“Finally,” Gus said, composing herself.

She made no offer of assistance as Caius sat up. Slowly. Gingerly. His forehead creasing in confusion at the lack of pain. Frowning, he swept a gaze over the forest, taking in trees that would be as familiar to him as en-blades and synth armor.

When he was asleep, Gus missed how attractive he actually was. Now that he was awake, it was inescapable. Unpleasantly smacking her in the face every time she got a glimpse of that annoying expression of his.

Structurally, his features were symmetrical. Though a little too sharp. The small imperfection making him that much more intriguing. Perfection and boring beauty, giving way to something with personality and character.

The way he carried himself read playboy. There was a cockiness that had probably gotten him into trouble more than once. Gus bet it was the reason for that knick in his eyebrow too.

But there was more to him, Gus sensed. His roguishness a mask for something else. Something real and treacherous. And maybe just a little lonely.

“You poisoned me,” Caius said.

“I sedated you.”

There was a difference.

Caius finally looked at her.

Fear tried to crawl up the back of Gus’s skull before she suppressed it. There were scarier things in this universe than an upset Tuann. No matter how deadly that Tuann might be.

“You were emotional. I thought a time out would be in everyone’s best interests,” Gus said.

“You are very brave.”

And very stupid.

He didn’t say that, but Gus heard it all the same.

“I’m about to be very dead if you don’t get your ass in gear.”

They all would be.

Caius’s gaze drifted back to the trees. “I recognize these. They’re Tuann.”

“Are they?” Gus asked, playing dumb.

Caius’s gentle tone wasn’t fooling her. This man was considering whether to kill her or not.

That was gratitude for you. Save a life. Get dead for your trouble.

“How did you get them?” Caius asked in that oh so reasonable tone.

“She’s a wanderer,” Anandra volunteered, missing, or ignoring, the tension that was building.

Gus stared Caius down, not looking away as she held her breath.

After a moment, he smiled, the look in his eyes deepening with an awareness that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. “Not quite.”

“Can we discuss what I am or am not once we get out of here? There isn’t much time.”

Caius held out an arm in a silent demand for help. “By all means.”

Gus eyed him warily, not fooled. With the essence he’d received from the choko tree, he should be in good enough shape to get up on his own.

Caius’s lips curved upward as he caught the refusal on her face. “I thought you were in a hurry.”

That didn’t mean she’d be complicit in her own slaughter.

A husky laugh left Caius at whatever he saw on her face. “So cautious, jani.”

Gus’s eyes narrowed. Translated, that term meant little goddess. An oddly sentimental term of endearment, given what he’d been contemplating a few seconds ago.

“Reminds me of anther woman I know,” he purred.

Gus bristled. He meant Kira.

Seeing Gus wasn’t going to help, Anandra was eager to step forward, fitting himself under Caius’s arm. The boy struggled, attempting to lift the much heavier man and failing.

“Thank you, azala,” Caius said.

So the commander had a gentle side. How disturbing.

Caius climbed to his feet, careful to let Anandra think he was helping.

“Hurry,” Gus urged.

Caius pushed Anandra away gently, indicating he’d move under his own power from here on out.

Gus’s thoughts turned to planning their escape route. If they could get to her workroom, they could take one of the maintenance tunnels to a different section. There was a hatch hidden under her fridge for exactly this purpose. So she could escape quickly and quietly with no one the wiser.

This particular tunnel wasn’t on any map either, making it the perfect avenue for escape.

A second explosion came from the direction of the night garden, rocking the forest around them.

“They’ve breached the living quarters,” Gus murmured, a little in shock.

That was quicker than she’d expected. The night garden should have delayed them a little longer. For them to make this kind of progress, they must have abandoned those affected by the garden’s poison.

The unmarked tunnels were out of the question now. They were cut off.

“I take it that was where we needed to go,” Caius mused.

“Yes.”

“From your expression, I’m assuming there isn’t another exit,” Caius guessed.

Gus glanced at him. “Not an orthodox one anyway.”

There was a question on his face as she changed directions. Guided by instinct and memories from when she’d created this place, Gus navigated to one of the green house’s exterior walls.

“Make a hole,” Gus ordered Caius, pointing at a spot between two sets of flowering vines.

One was an asqel with rose-like blooms dotting its stems. The dsali on the other side was considered something of a nuisance in most plant circles for how quickly it grew and how hard it was to get rid of, but Gus was partial to the blue veining on its leaves.

She’d also taught it the perils of exceeding the space alloted to it on its second week in the habitat.

“You want me to break down your wall?” Caius asked with enough skepticism to make someone unfamiliar with his capabilities doubt themselves.

“That’s what I said.”

She was pretty sure she hadn’t stuttered either.

Caius studied her out of the corner of his eye. “Why don’t you do it?”

Gus allowed herself a small, humorless smile. “My soul’s breath doesn’t lend itself well to such large scale destruction.”

If it did, she wouldn’t be preparing to flee her sanctuary.

“It might be wiser to stand our ground rather than flee,” Caius tested.

“I counted at least forty humans out there. Can you hold out against that many?”

“Perhaps if I had help.”

Gus’s eyes narrowed impatiently. “The boy would die.”

“The boy? Not you?”

“I would probably die too.”

She hadn’t mentioned it because she thought it wouldn’t carry much weight with him.

“Something tells me you’re being falsely modest, my lady,” Caius purred.

Gus wasn’t but it was good he thought so. It might mean he was less likely to test her boundaries.

“Will you do it or not?” Gus demanded.

She jumped, her hear shooting into her throat, as the wall exploded outward.

Caius sauntered toward the hole he’d made. “Give yourself credit, jani. No one has incapacitated me as easily as you did with your poison.” He paused to aim a predator’s smile at her. “You’re the first.”

Caius’s words left Gus cold as she took in the destruction. He’d done this without the aid of a katta or one of the runes the Tuann needed for focus. Just intention and power.

Alerted by the growing commotion from the other side of the green house door, Gus tugged Anandra behind her before pausing to take one last look at her home.

Her sanctuary.

Briefly, she wondered if fleeing was the wrong move. With the kind of destructive ability Caius had just demonstrated, it was possible he could hold his ground against the army coming for them.

A part of her, a piece so deeply buried that she was barely aware of it, yearned to make these intruders pay for their trespass in blood and pain. To protect what she’d created with her own hands.

“The way is clear but I’m sure that won’t be the case for long,” Caius called from outside.

The brief inclination to stay and fight vanished without a trace. Stuffed deep into the corners of her heart where she no longer looked.

Pride. Stubbornness. Those were things reserved for others.

Not Gus. Never her.

Abandon the things precious to her or die a pointless death. That was what Gus knew. That was how she survived.

Anandra’s hand slipped into hers. Its weight warm. Comforting. “Are you crying?”

“No.”

Tears weren’t something Gus was capable of anymore. Somewhere in those years she didn’t like to think about, they’d run dry. If she ever had them in the first place.

Gus tugged Anandra’s hood up to cover his head and face before doing the same with hers. “Caius is right. They’ll have heard that and will be coming.”

Anandra’s hand in hers, Gus walked out of the place she’d once considered home, uncertain if she’d ever return.

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