Tye

I grit my teeth as I cling to the ledge on the tower sphere. The metal has a cool chill to it. It absorbs the sunless nights of the Shadowlands rather than the artificial suns in the City of Light. When her face appears in the glass, I nearly lose my grip on the ledge.

I wonder for a moment if I've climbed the wrong tower but it's not every circuit a Stalker hauls in an otherworld catch, and she looks too much like the young girl to be unrelated. But this is no Bellamy; it's no little girl, either. She is beautiful, with a shock of white-blonde hair so clean she can't have spent more than a circuit in the murk. Her face is free of lines as if she's never squinted at catacomb ash or the harshness of the City of Light's twin solars. Who is she?

She seems equally surprised to see me but I figure it's probably due to the half furlong between me and the void of darkness below. Tannan had said only a mind-sapped moon-skitter like myself would be fool enough to climb it. I glance at Jenin and Blake, who were fool enough to climb up here with me.

Jenin rubs the fingers of one hand down her thigh. "Eagrim's beak, my hands are like ice, Tye. I don't know how I let you talk me into this kind of crazy."

"At least I didn't ask you to ride an eagrim to get up here, Jenin." I grin at her because we both know that no one has managed to tame an eagrim yet. If anyone could it would be her. She laughs like she knows it.

"You daring me?"

Blake leans over. "Here." He holds out a pair of fingerless chortessa gloves. The soft fur is sure to warm Jenin's hands and ward off the chill. She smiles in gratitude and it's the kind of smile that stops a guy's heart. I look away, glad that the bitter wind prevents a flush from rising to my cheeks. It's none of my business what those two share but it still feels kind of weird to be a third wheel around them.

My gaze is captured again by the soft curves of the girl in the glass. Her eyes are fixed on me and she's mouthing something I can't hear. I point to my ear and shake my head to let her know I can't hear a word of what she's saying.

"How are we going to do this Tye?" Blake asks. He waves a hand at the glass. "The fitting is pretty solid. That's bound to be tempered glass so you can't expect to break it."

I shake my head.

"No, here." I wedge my leg against the rim of the building so that I can free up both arms. It feels pretty solid and secure to sit into the grooves of the structure like this but a breath hisses from between Jenin's teeth when I let go of the ledge and reach over my shoulder. I wink at her. "Relax, Jen. I'm good." I unhook the blaze-cutter I have strapped to my back and lift it over my head.

Blake grins at me as he takes the heavy tool. "Hey now, that's a plan!" He grips the cutter under one arm, clinging to the ledge with the other as he manoeuvres himself into a reasonable position. I'm glad he's got more muscle than me because I wouldn't be able to one-hand it. "Better get her back." He says, lifting his chin to indicate the girl in the window.

She's watching us, her eyes wide. I gesture for her to get back and she takes several steps backward. Almost soundlessly, the plasma cutter makes light work slicing through the metal remaining against the rim of the glass.

"Look there," Blake says, lifting his chin again to point to some harsh metal scoring against the frame. The corner of his lips lift in a half grin. "This girl's really something. Probably planned on digging her own way out of there. Coming out the way we're going in."

Jenin leans forward, peering at the scratches in the metal. "At least she won't argue about having to climb down with us if she was planning an exit this way anyway."

I smile because they're right and it's pretty cool that we're actually pulling off this rescue. She's just an otherworld chit, friend of Bellamy or not, so it's not like we have any particular loyalty or cause to saving her. Of course, the Faithful do have a loyalty to Bellamy. But since we know he was taken to the city, it's the young girl and her droid I thought we'd be freeing before the Stalkers could kill them.

I glance in the window again. The older girl is fussing with the droid. Her fingers move so fast across the console that I wonder if she can possibly have a sense of what she's typing. Blake makes a final cut in the glass and the frame falls away. I swing back before it cracks me one. Jenin gasps, swinging to the side, and Blake leans back. The glass drops out and we watch as it plummets down the length of the tower and crashes to the ground far below us. It shatters into a scatter of shards. The noise of it is almost nothing compared to the blaring screech coming from the droid.

Instead of waiting for the hot metal to cool, I leverage myself and swing down into the room from above. My feet plant on the floor with a heavy thud and this time I'm almost glad of the racket the bot is making. "Shut it up!" I say, rushing forward.

"I'm trying!" Her fingers are still scrawling across the droid's console. She shakes her head. "Nothing but a bug-riddled scrap rocket."

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The droid's face lights up in a scatter of blue symbols that fizzle and fade to nothing but two round orbs. They blink. "What in the nine-voids, it's a Sentient?"

"Oh, thank all of Nar. Hart, can you hear me?"

It tilts its head. "Affirmative." Then, before it can say more, another scatter of blips and bleeps jangle from it. "Oh, excuse me." It lifts a hand to its face as if covering its mouth. "I appear to have a malfunction."

"No kidding. Can you at least get up? We need to get out of here."

The droid seems to ponder that a moment, then twin blue jets fire up beneath it. The spluttering hover-tech is probably twenty narcycles pre-Shadowfall. At least it's functioning.

The girl turns to me. "Tell me we're getting out of here."

I grin at her and tip my head back to the window. "How are you with heights?"

She laughs and my breath catches. I lick my chapping lips, wondering at it, as she says, "I've no idea." The jangle of the door freaks us both out and we glance back at it as it swings open. Hanzor's ugly head seems to precede the rest of him into the room.

"What the baull-scat?" he cries. "Tye! You sly shadow-compy. What the hell?" He turns and shouts down the corridor behind him, "Guards! She's escaping!"

Quick to react, the girl says, "Can't be worse than my last meal." She nudges the platter of food, flicking it with a nimble foot. It flips up and splatters across the front of Hanzor's chest. He swipes the tray away with a splutter as she darts to the window. The metal is still red with heat in places but cooled in others.

"Careful, it's hot."

"Grips are here and here," Blake says as she steps close to the frame.

She nods. Then, with an agile gracefulness, she swings herself out of the window and onto the ledge below. She glances back at the robot, Hart. "Can you follow?" she asks, glancing behind him as Hanzor snarls and reaches for the weapon at his hip.

"Affirmative." The droid jets slightly, then proceeds to hover over the edge of the window frame and horizontally down the surface of the sphere as if it were as easy as hovering across the floor.

"Magnetic?"

"Must be," she says. We both glance back as a rush of guards charge into the room. Hanzor's grip tightens around his plasma pulser as he straightens and levels the weapon at me. No more time to waste. I jump out the window, gripping the ledge with my fingers. A flash of searing plasma flashes past above me.

"Come on!" Jenin and Blake are already moving. Hart leads the way, able to move down the building's struts and spokes as if it's a straight path. He seems completely oblivious to the horde of men after us. I glance back to see Hanzor roaring from the window.

"Get them you daft fools! They're not worth a staple if you let them escape!"

Several guards climb over the ledge above us and begin to move down the building. They move swiftly and I start to worry that we're not moving fast enough. "Come on!" I dart and weave between the ledges. My fingers are still aching from the climb up. My legs are on fire. My breath is heavy, fast, and rasping against the chill air and haze of murk.

Ahead of me, the girl shivers. Each move seems to take more and more out of her and she's slowing. I catch up, passing her slightly. "Next grip is just to your right, footfall about two inches down. That's it, you've got it," I call. She nods, her face full of gratitude as I guide her down the best path.

We both gasp and lean in close against the cold metal as a swoop of wings glides close to our heads. Claws rasp on the metal, then the creature launches again. It grinds the metal beneath its claws as it takes off.

"Eagrims!" I hiss.

The flock squawks and hisses with high-pitched echo-sonics. I freeze and hope that the girl does the same. Risking a glance up I see her frozen in place. She quivers, her eyes wide and scared. Even from here, I can feel her mind racing. In the distance, another eagrim howls. I whisper up to her, "Quiet your mind. Their sonics pick up your movement but lesser beasts also sense your emotions. Still your thoughts."

She draws a long breath and closes her eyes. As she releases the air in her lungs, her quivering arms steady. I grin, admiring her grit and control. She's got this. She's good.

The men above us shout. Clearly, they don't have quiet minds. I sneak a glance, see them wave their arms to ward off the giant winged beasts. A splatter of blood slicks down on us as an eagrim sinks thick fangs into a guard and wrenches his body away from the tower.

Another guard misses a step and plummets past us. His body connects with Hart, slamming into the back of the droid. They both tear away from the tower and freefall to the ground. Metal and meat hit the ground with a sickening crunch. The girl freezes.

I shake my head and say, "We've got to keep moving." She shakes her head. "Look at me," I say, willing her to look down at me. When her strange eyes fix on mine, I'm suddenly not sure what I was going to say. My breathing catches so I force myself to concentrate on each slow breath. I tune out the frenzy of the eagrims feasting above. Instead, I focus on her, on the next step. "One step at a time, follow me, move where I move." She nods and we both trace a path down the tower.

Beneath us, Jenin and Blake touch the ground before we do. They glance back up to the men scrambling down the side of the building. Plasma pulses burst through the sky but we're not the targets. Instead, the eagrims soar and glide to avoid the blasts. They swoop, claiming feast upon feast. Heavy bodies take flight in their talons as they carry the Stalkers off to their distant nests. Some men still move steadily on, climbing down the tower and away from the chaos of their comrades. Some move more cautiously than others.

I feel the ground under my feet and reach out a hand to help the girl touch the surface. She stumbles into my arms as she lands.

"I've got you." I swallow, surprised at how good it feels to have her in my arms. She's slim, her body cool in my arms. My chin brushes the soft silk of her hair. Some hint of madness suggests that I just stand there, holding her, but I steady her on her feet and step away.

Ke-am nudges forward, dropping his head to rub his snout against us. She gasps and moves to step back, but I reach to steady her again. I don't think she's quite got her feet under her.

"It's okay. This is Ke-am. He's our ride." She nods and I help her mount him.

"Wait! Hart."

She moves to dismount again but I shake my head. "No, sit tight. I'll get him."

"Forget him," Jenin calls, "He's just a droid. He'll be forbidden in the City anyway. We've got to go!" She points at the handful of guards still fending off eagrims on the tower above us.

The girl glares at Jenin. "We can't leave him. He's my–" she pauses as if she's not exactly sure what to call him and instead says, "I need him."

Jenin sighs and mounts up on her tiolf as Blake joins me. Together, we strap the droid to one of the tiolf kits, Farlem. The little tiolf seems to feel quite proud about carrying a passenger. He prances in place as I try to tie off the final binding. "Hold still, buddy." He quivers but I get the strap tied.

I turn back to Ke-am. The girl is settled tight against his shoulder blades. She clings to his fur as I climb up behind her. Blake has already joined Jenin, both mounted on Ke-am's mate, Selnar. Their kits stalk around us, gazing up at the guards and eagrims. One munches on the mangled corpse of the Stalker who missed his footing.

"Come on! We've only got a small window before they finish off what's left of those eagrims and come after us," Blake says. I nod, nudging Ke-am, who lopes into long strides away from the tower and back out into the Shadowland. Selnar and the kits match pace beside us. The girl, her energy spent, is heavy in my tired arms. I tighten my grip around her. Ke-am's broad shoulders cradle us as we cover the furlongs between the Outer Rim and the nearest entrance to the City Below.