Niah

I try to keep my eyes open as we charge through the shadows. My heart is racing from the escape. Behind my eyes, I can still see the strange warped faces of the eagrims. Blood sticks in my hair and down my back. It mingles with dust and dirt. I feel like I haven't washed in orbits. Which, I realise, is probably true. I swallow back the spit in my mouth and hug tighter to the soft fur of the tiolf. His pace slows several furlongs from the ring of spheres and I sit up.

Behind me, I can feel the boy's thighs brushing my legs. His knees grip the tiolf beneath us and he guides the beast with confident gestures. "Where are we going?" I ask, but I'm not sure he'll tell me.

"The City Below." I don't really know what that means but I nod anyway. The boy turns to call out to his friends, "Southwest, core three?"

The burly guy calls back, "Yeah, Tye, core three."

"We have a problem," the girl calls.

"What is it, Jenin?"

"A swarm of chortessen."

The boy they'd called Tye turns to Jenin sharply. "Chortessen? Where?"

"They're about three klicks southeast. We should be able to slight past them but we might need to veer westerly."

"Call Farlem back this way," the other boy says. "That kit is far too curious and confident, Jenin. I don't like the way he strays."

The girl nods. "You go on, Tye. We'll round on Farlem and get the kits home."

I feel the dip of his chin as the boy nods. The tiolf beneath us veers off slightly. The other two carry on as we split away.

"Jenin and Blake won't be far behind. They just need to reign in the tiolf kits. They're not as well trained as Ke-am and Selnar so they get a bit rambunctious. I'm Tye by the way." He lifts his hand to me in greeting and I dip my head in response. When I don't give him my name, he says, "Well, you're not Bellamy. Do you have a name?"

I pause, then nod. "Niah." Something in his features feels so familiar. I try to remember where I've seen his honey hair and brown eyes before.

He smiles. "Nice to meet you, Niah." Tye pauses and I think that might be the end of our conversation but then he adds, "You do look a lot like him."

I swallow. "Yeah, so I've been told."

"And you came down in a starship. I saw it." I nod. Although they were statements, I knew they were also questions, but I didn't have any answers for him.

"What about Hart?" I ask instead.

He sighs. "Your robot might cause some problems. There hasn't been much tech allowed. Not since the Shadowfall when the Lord built the cities of light as havens for all of Nar. Now the cities have the only tech allowed although there's plenty of it in them. But no droids. We do our own work."

"We do too, but I guess–" I'm not really sure what I want to say so I shrug.

"He matters to you?"

"He and Wish are all I have." The boy nods and I get a sense that he recognises that loneliness and loyalty.

"Well, now you'll have the Faithful."

"The Faithful?"

"Sure. I mean, you might not be Bellamy but with a starship and his face, maybe you know something of him." I try to keep the wariness out of my face as he talks but he laughs and raises his hands. "No, don't worry. I'm not going to try prying anything out of you. My job is done just getting you away from the Stalkers."

"The Stalkers?"

"Yeah, they're the boundary guards. They mark the shadows between the City of Light and the Outer Rim. Although sometimes they harvest this side of the rim like they did with you. You fell foul of a pit trap. Normally, they catch stray chortessen because they fetch serious staples for food and fabric. I imagine it about blew Hanzor's eyes out to see you and the other girl. Was that Wish?"

I nod, and swallow the lump in my throat. "They took her."

His chin moves against my hair as he nods. "They'll have taken her to the City of Light. I'm thinking they mistook her for you."

"You mean they mistook her for Bellamy."

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"Yeah, that too. And so long as they don't realise their mistake, she'll be okay."

"What about when they do?"

The long pause seems to shout. Then he says, quietly, "Yeah, well, I guess we'll just have to find her before then."

I smile, glancing back at him. "Thanks."

He lifts a shoulder in a depreciative shrug and turns his attention to guiding the tiolf through the darkness. It's an almost effortless task because the beast seems to know the way. Even so, I feel better because it feels like he's on my side. They both are. And with a lesser beast and this strange boy, maybe anything is possible. Maybe we'll find Wish. And maybe we'll manage to complete the mission and save Nar too.

The dark world around us seems like an endless roll of hills and dunes. Before another few furlongs pass, Blake and Jenin catch up to us with the trail of kits in a more or less orderly straggle. I breathe a sigh of relief when I catch sight of Hart still strapped to a young tiolf's back. Tye smiles against my hair and heat rises in my cheeks. "He's fine," he says, "and we're almost there."

I peer forward, wondering if I can see the 'there' he's talking about. Ahead of us, are more hills and dunes. The tiolf beneath us slows his pace. He circles a small flat valley in the dunes around us.

Tye draws him up and slides down his side. The chill of night air down my back makes me shiver. I flush again, realising Tye's body had been keeping me warm.

I glance around at the barren nothingness surrounding us. "Here?"

Tye glances up at me with a grin. "Yep, here. You right to get down?"

My muscles ache and I'm not sure how much strength I have left in me but I grit my teeth and force myself to nod. Gripping the tiolf's fur, I lift my leg over his back and slide down to the ground. The dirt beneath my feet shifts slightly and I brace myself so I won't fall. The cool breeze over the thin weave of my sleeper suit makes me shiver again.

"Here," Tye says, dropping his own black coat over my shoulders. I delve my arms into its warmth and pull the cowl over my head. It smells like him. The heat of it – the heat of him – wards off the cold. I glance a shy smile up at him, hoping he can't sense my thoughts, before his attention is drawn away.

Blake jogs toward us and together, he and Tye reach down into the dirt and pull back a hefty shingle of wood. I feel my mouth drop open as I realise they're uncovering a secret entrance to what must be a very big chamber under the ground. There's no light from the darkness below. What little light penetrates the Shadowlands shows only a glimpse of stairs leading into the blackness beyond.

Jenin whistles to the tiolf and they lumber toward us. "Steady," she calls to them as they loll into her like overeager chortessa pups.

Blake gives an odd pitched hoot into the hollow. It echoes down what sounds like a very long tunnel. Moments later, an answering squawk sounds back to us. Deccas after, a flicker of torchlight creates a warm glow against the black rock.

"About time, Tye. The ruckus you guys set off at the Outer Rim beat you back here. Lyris has been beside herself." An older man appears through the darkness. His face reflects the light. His dark hair is the same colour as the rocky staircase. His blue eyes remind me of Wish, although his are perhaps a shade or two darker than her icicles.

"Sorry, Tannan," Tye replies, "Wasn't all us, though."

"So I heard. Eagrims. What a night for them to be out hunting, huh?" The older man winks. I sense there's more to what he's saying but I'm not sure what it is.

Tye raises an eyebrow. "From the northeast ridge?" Tannan nods. "Nicely done! Although you played it fast and loose with our lives, Tannan. How could you be sure they wouldn't attack us?"

Tannan shakes his head. "You? You've been a shadow-compy since those eagrims were fledglings. You and Janin between you could handle a few eagrims and probably have them eating out of your hands. You've got the quietest mind I've ever heard."

Tye gives his cute half smile to that but I glance at Tannan, wondering if I heard him correctly. He turns his blue-eyed gaze on me as if sensing my thoughts.

"What's this then?"

I bite my lip, not sure if he's asking me. Tye steps closer to me. His fingers brush my back, as if he had planned to touch me there and changed his mind. "This is Niah. She's the one I told you about."

Tannan turns his gaze on Tye with a frown. "You said you'd seen the spitting image of Bellamy. Not a girl who could pass for his daughter."

Tye lifts a shoulder. "With a furlong between you, light from behind, and the Captain's coat over her shoulders you wouldn't pick it yourself." Tannan returns his eyes to me and I lift my chin at the way he scrutinises my face.

"I'm not Bellamy," I say, as if I need to clarify that point.

Tannan tilts his head. "No, I suppose not, but you're darn close. And from a starship, Tye tells me. The Elixr? Not many ships would carry a name like that."

I glance away. "No, I suppose not."

A sudden splutter and whoop startles us all and we turn to see the young tiolf lope toward us. On his back, head spinning and face screen a swirl of confused symbols and letters, is a very worked up and noisy Hart.

"What's this then?" Tannan asks. "Tech?"

Tye lifts his hands to his ears. "Noisy tech. The derpy bot makes a nine-voids worth of racket. No idea how we're going to hide him from the Stalkers. Might set off an alert through the whole of the Outer Rim if he ever got close to the city."

Hart's face clears and his eye orbs blink into place. His hover jets flare and the tiolf startles, whimpers, and tries to dart away, but with Hart still strapped to his back everywhere he dashes the robot goes with him. "I do believe I'm experiencing some minor turbulence issues," Hart says. I sigh because clearly he's still not in his right mind, or circuits.

Jenin steps forward and calls to the tiolf. "Farlem, here boy." The tiolf stalks toward her, his tail down and ears flat. As he reaches her side he tips his head to give Hart a low growl. "Hey, none of that boy. He's our friend." She tugs on the straps binding Hart in place and the droid sinks from the tiolf's back and clunks to the ground.

"Oh dear," he says, righting himself with a push of his hands and a flare of his jets. Once upright he blinks his eye orbs and glances around. "Ah, Narians. Hail and well met. I am Harttade, a Hybrid Autonomous Research, Telemetry, Teleportation, and Defence Engine."

Tannan raises an eyebrow and turns his gaze back on me. "A Sentient? Those were outlawed near to two hundred narcycles ago." I swallow and bite my lip.

"Outlawed?" Hart blusters. "Outlawed! But I am state-of-the-art! A necessary component of the function of the Elixr and our quest for the cure." He stutters into silence with a blink. His head turns first one way and then the other as he takes in the five Narians in the room. "Please disregard my statements. They are classified." He turns to me. "Niah, we must return to the ship."

I shake my head. "We have to get Wish back."

Hart blinks in that dull-faced way he has about him. Then, with a hiss of a sigh, he says, "She is not necessary to our mission. You are still capable of completing the objective."

I shake my head. "We needed help, remember? Maybe these people can help us."

He falls silent and even the twin orbs of his eyes disappear. I start to wonder if he is malfunctioning until he finally blinks his eyes open again. "Affirmative. Proceed with mission."

"Okay then," Tannan says, shaking off what he's heard.

Tye steps forward, putting a hand on Tannan's arm. "The other one, they mistook her for Bellamy because of the coat. We should go get her, too."

Tannan grimaces. "More strays, Tye?"

Jenin frowns. "Didn't you hear the droid, Tannan? They're on Bellamy's mission. They came in the Elixr. They have the cure. This is what the Shadows and the Faithful have hoped and prayed for these past two hundred narcycles."

His lips stiff, Tannan nods. "Fine. Lyris would kill me if I didn't at least tell her about this. You know, Tye, the things we Faithful do for you. Sometimes I think you ask too much."

Tye places a hand on Tannan's arm. He meets the man's gaze, sharing an unspoken word before saying, "You know I don't ask for more than I give."

Tannan nods. "Yeah," he says quietly. "And for all you give, you're worth the Lord's ransom." One corner of his lips lift in a wry smile. "Which I guess is exactly what you're worth now." He winks. "So, what do you need?"

Blake, who has been quiet up to now, runs a hand through his murk-stained hair. "Right now, the most important thing is probably to get us all cleaned up, fed, and rested." He turns to Tye and waves his hand up and down to indicate the state of us. "You won't get past the Outer Rim covered in eagrim's slop, and if you're set on rescuing the other one then you'll want to head into the City of Light."

"Right," says Tye. I bite my lip, not wanting to wait but not really having much choice.