Dead and Buryd: A Dystopian Action Adventure Novel (Out of Orbit Book 1) (18 page)

“Her name is Nyah Wolfe, she was Kahle,” she continued. “Twenty-three, blonde.”

Edtroka nodded, his lips curved into a momentary frown before he shrugged.

“Gone eight days,” he answered. “Maybe nine, this heat makes it hard to remember.”

She nodded enthusiastically.

“That’s right. She was in the block for an assault.”

Edtroka let out a laugh, a gruff sound that didn’t suit his face. Georgianna looked at him properly. His eyes, the mottled brown of yapoque leaves after they had been dried for smoking, held more warmth than she’d noticed before, and his features were almost delicate. High, curved cheekbones on a slim face above a pointed jaw and a straight nose led the gaze directly down to the bow of his lips. She blinked and glanced down, forgetting about his face as she realised he had about five methods of killing her strapped to his uniform that didn’t include his bare hands. Her gaze settled on his slim fingers, capable of killing a person with ease.

“She wa…”

“E’troke!”

The voice came out of the crowd and despite the difference in the pronunciation of his name, Edtroka turned his head towards the sound. As Georgianna fell back a step, not wanting to get caught in the middle of a conversation between two Adveni, she wondered whether the difference in pronunciation was because she’d been saying it wrong. Yes, Edtroka had introduced himself as such, but Georgianna knew that there were certain pronunciations Veuric tongues never got right when it came to Adtvenis words. Maybe Edtroka’s name was one of them, so he’d just given up trying.

“Tzanlomne,” Edtroka greeted the newcomer with another fixed, polite smile.

The man was short compared to most Adveni, almost a head shorter than Edtroka, but with dark features to rival the taller man and a wider stance, he seemed to demand as much respect as the guard. Georgianna averted her gaze, but unfortunately not fast enough.

“That one, how much?”

Edtroka looked over his shoulder at Georgianna and shook his head.

“She’s a medic, not drysta.”

The man, Tzanlomne, snorted in derision and rolled his eyes. Edtroka’s word meant little as he reached out, grasping Georgianna’s chin in a grip so tight that she thought his fingers might crush straight through her jaw. She jerked backward away from him, but his grip was too tight, holding her still with one hand while he waved the other dismissively.

“I don’t care what she was, E’troke,” he answered. “I care what you will sell her for. She’d make a nice addition.”

Tzanlomne barely looked at Edtroka. He turned her head this way and that, his gaze travelling over every inch of her face. He reached out and tugged the ribbon from her hair, watching as it fell in a tumble of messy blonde waves over her shoulders.

“I won’t, and she wouldn’t,” Edtroka snarled through gritted teeth.

She struggled against him. Grasping his wrist, she tried to pull his grasp away from her face. Tzanlomne’s grin of approval slid into a sneer. He grasped her hair in a tight fist, yanking her head back.

Georgianna yelped and her ribbon sailed silently to the ground.

“Now, E’troke, I have my ways, you might as well be part of the…”

Edtroka cut him off by snapping something in such rapid Adtvenis that even if Georgianna had known more than a few names and swearwords, she still wouldn’t have understood. It was no more than a few sentences, but the snarl on Edtroka’s lips, or perhaps the words that hissed forth, were enough to make Tzanlomne narrow his eyes and turn his attention away from his new potential toy.

She could barely see Edtroka from the way she was held, but she felt the extra fingers in her hair as Edtroka pried Tzanlomne’s hand from her. Tzanlomne released her and Georgianna hurried back a few steps. She rubbed her fingers over her skin, glancing to Edtroka to find his face twisted into a murderous mask. Tzanlomne took a step back, and when Edtroka’s expression didn’t soften, he turned, stalking away through the crowd.

Georgianna watched with cautious curiosity as Edtroka glared after Tzanlomne. She didn’t dare ask him what had been said in Adtvenis though she was dying to know what had transpired between the two Adveni men. Once Tzanlomne had disappeared into the crowd, Edtroka turned back to her, the frown still present on his pursed lips.

“Everything alright?”

Edtroka gave a dismissive wave of his hand.

“Vtensu varsonnir!” Edtroka answered without any more explanation.

It was an insult, one Georgianna had learned a few years before. Vtensu could be used in a number of ways, but as an expletive, it was very similar to the insult ‘bastard’. Varsonnir, however, was specific. You had to listen carefully, as a Veniche anyway, to hear the difference from Volsonnar, the name for the Adveni leader much like the Elder of a tribe. Varsonnir, on the other hand, was reserved for someone who thought they were more important than they were.

From Edtroka’s insult, Tzanlomne was a self-important bastard, and Georgianna found herself grinning.

“Well, thank you,” she muttered.

“For?” Edtroka asked, looking at her in surprise.

“For not selling me.”

He laughed again, the same gruff burst that in Georgianna’s opinion didn’t suit him.

Glancing over his shoulder in the direction Tzanlomne had disappeared, Edtroka reached out and took hold of her elbow.

Georgianna tugged her elbow back away from him. She didn’t feel as safe as she had before. The man had cared little whether she was legally for sale, and if other Adveni were the same, what would it take for Edtroka to turn a blind eye and accept the payment? She was in the compound already, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to create some charge that stripped her of her legal registration as a free Veniche.

Edtroka’s grasp, while not as tight or restricting as Tzanlomne’s, was just as unbreakable. He kept hold of her arm and began leading her through the crowd towards the compound doors.

“Even if you were up for sale, he would not have you,” Edtroka told her with a wicked grin. “I would be in front of
him
in the queue.”

“Is… Is that a compliment?”

“Perhaps.”

Georgianna couldn’t help but notice the glances she received as she was half-tugged towards the walls of the prison. Maybe it was because she wasn’t out here often, or because she was being held onto by a guard of the compound, but she received more than a couple of curious looks before they slipped through the door and into the cool relief of the compound corridor.

The shadows that flung themselves through the corridor stunned her into blindness once the door swung closed with a bang. She blinked rapidly as she was tugged along. Edtroka seemingly had no problem with the sudden shade, or knew the corridors too well to need sight to navigate them. Surging forward, he turned them down a slimmer corridor that ended in an open door. With her sight slowly returning, she glanced over her shoulder, any exit now out of sight.

Fear surged through her as she wondered whether Edtroka’s protection of her in the yard had more to do with his own desires. Had she asked about a drysta’s whereabouts to an Adveni who’d been looking for a reason to keep her in the compound? Was that where he was taking her now?

As they proceeded through the open door, Edtroka made no effort to close it behind them. Instead he released Georgianna’s elbow and marched across the small room, collecting up a jacket. Georgianna stood just inside the doorway watching him, her hands clenched before her. She wondered whether he was retrieving the device that opened the block door, or perhaps a pair of binding cuffs before he took her back to the yard. He dug into one of the pockets of the jacket, and pulled out a tsentyl, swiping his thumb casually across it.

She didn’t feel any more reassured, wondering if he was registering her capture. Glancing over her shoulder through the open door, Georgianna wondered how far she could run before the guard would catch her.

She’d never reach the gates, and even if she did, Edtroka could easily send a message to make sure the other guards knew not to let her pass.

“The girl, she related?” he asked, barely glancing up from the device as it opened onto his palm.

“Who?” Georgianna asked in surprise, looking at him again.

Edtroka glanced up, raising an eyebrow.

“You wanted information on a sale, right?”

She blinked, staring at him for a moment before she realised what he was talking about. The run in with Tzanlomne had driven Nyah from her mind. Now the memory was back, she nodded.

“Nyah.”

Edtroka nodded, but didn’t look up as he moved his thumb over the tsentyl again.

“Not by blood,” Georgianna answered. “I grew up with her and a friend, though. I just…”

Lifting his head, Edtroka fixed Georgianna with a hard glare, one that immediately told her that she was not to argue with him.

“You just want to make sure she is safe.”

Georgianna paused, taking a slow deep breath before she nodded.

“That’s right.”

“Maarqyn,” he answered. “She was bought by Maarqyn Guinnyr.”

“Maarqyn,” Georgianna repeated. “Who is he?”

Edtroka shook his head as he slid the tsentyl closed and stuffed it back into the pocket of his jacket. Slinging the item over the back of a chair, Edtroka perched himself on the edge of the table, watching her like a hawk hunting for prey.

“No one you should be pressing for information, Med,” he said. “My advice: find out your friend is okay from a distance and then leave be. Your pretty neck will be the better for it.”

Georgianna’s eyes widened as she looked back at Edtroka. She didn’t want to think that Maarqyn was really that dangerous, or that he would hurt Nyah. She knew better than most that only a small number of dreta got through unscathed. Even if they weren’t physical wounds like Jacob’s, they were always there.

“Thank… Thank you for telling me.”

A shudder moved down her spine when Edtroka’s gaze didn’t falter from her face. She took a step back and his lips flickered into a momentary grin.

“No need to thank me.”

She didn’t like the sound of that. Taking another small step back, she was again wondering how far she could run when Edtroka shrugged, almost chuckling.

“Dreta owners are public record. I could have sent you into the city to find out from them, but they ask more questions and… well… not a problem.”

Georgianna froze. Had she really just worked herself up over nothing? Every look, every motion, she’d thought meant something else. She almost didn’t know what to do now. She’d worked this whole thing up in her head as such a problem when, as it turned out, it was almost as if it were a common occurrence.

Edtroka pushed himself quickly up from the edge of the table. Georgianna didn’t think anything of it until a hand clapped onto her shoulder, making her jump. She turned her head, looking up at one of the other guards.

“What you doing here?” he asked. “E’troke?”

“I’m guessing she’s looking to be let onto the block,” he suggested. “Got turned around, right, Med?”

Looking between the two guards in surprise, Georgianna hesitated for a moment.

“Yes, Volsonne,” she answered, glancing at Edtroka with a cautious smile.

“I’m going that way anyway,” Edtroka said, patting the guard on the front of his shoulder as he passed through the doorway into the corridor. “I’ll take her.”

The guard shrugged and removed his hand from Georgianna’s shoulder.

“Thought you’d have known better, Medic,” he warned.

Georgianna nodded.

“Yeah, me too,” Georgianna replied.

She followed Edtroka down the corridor, wondering why, if it was all public record, Edtroka had lied to the other guard. However, the guard was right about one thing. When it came to the compound and asking about things that went on within it, she really should have known better.

 
18
Into the Northern Quarters

 
“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” Georgianna asked, looking over her shoulder for what felt like the hundredth time.

Taye nodded, though she didn’t think he seemed all that sure about it, the way he kept looking around. She frowned, chewing on her lip as she stared down the street, the houses melting into each other.

“It was the eighteenth?”

“Yes, Gianna, will you give it a rest already?” Taye hissed irritably. “I know where I’m going.”

Frowning and gritting her teeth, Georgianna resisted the urge to roll her eyes. It was fine him telling her not to worry, but he wasn’t the one who had asked the questions about Nyah, and to an Adveni no less. If something happened, who did Taye think they would suspect? She had done her part, she was doing it. She’d found out who Nyah had been sold to, Taye couldn’t ask more of her than that.

She remained silent, even though she itched to get a straight answer from him. Crossing her arms over her chest, her fingers drummed against her skin. Silence stretched between them like rubber, threatening to snap.

Who knew how long they would have before an Adveni spotted them and asked them what they were even doing in this district? Taye had brought some ‘product’ with him, an insurance plan so that, should they be asked, he could say he was delivering a purchase. He’d even memorised the street name of a client so that he could lie convincingly. However, the best option was that they were able to come, see the house, and then move away without being seen.

“Who did you say gave you this?”

Taye turned his head to glare at her in disbelief, a huff of indignation whistling through his teeth.

“Suns girl, you don’t give up, do you?”

She shook her head.

“I think I have a right to be worried,” she grumbled, stuffing her hands into her pockets. “We’re in Adveni territory, Taye. Or had you forgotten with all these nice buildings?”

The buildings were nice, almost annoyingly so. It was just that little bit harder to hate the Adveni when you were surrounded by their technology. Georgianna didn’t venture into the Adveni sections of the city very often apart from the Rion, but even there the bright lights bouncing off smooth, polished surfaces were hard to ignore. Everything was sleek and well made, smooth lines and sharp corners. It all looked very… technical.