Galactic Gale

Chapter Sixteen

Dump

Amara said nothing during their trip. Alone, in the corner of the carriage shuttle, she refused to join Kael and Nona in conversation. The redness around her eyes had not dimmed and her cheeks were flushed, the colour startling.

Only two guards sat with them, one on either side of Nona. She had introduced both to Kael when he had entered, as well as the drivers, but Kael had long since forgotten their names. There was too much on his mind.

Wind. Floating balls of garbage. Amara ill and Nona doing her best to get him out of Uterca. It was hard to filter through his thoughts, to pick which ones he should focus on first.

This part of the city was dark, and Kael stumbled down the steps of the stationary shuttle. He hit the ground on uneven feet and stared at his shadow covered surroundings.

Crashed ship indeed.

Kael understood how the magisters and other officials had presumed the mess had been caused by a ship blowing up. Metal shards were everywhere – lodged in the side of buildings, sticking up from the shattered pathways. Scraps of all shapes and sizes, blots and wiring, crates and empty tins and cans, covered every surface.

And the smell. The smell was by the far the worse. It was as if the air had turned rotten.

"Nine citizens were killed, one traveller," Nona said. Flanked by her guards, she led Kael and Amara through the site. "Fourteen are in hospital. These garbage balls were rather big. Much bigger than the stars."

Her comment caught Kael off guard. The crew of the Rapid had not spoken much of the star storms, only making small jokes about the incident now and then. They had been in agreement; the storms were over, and they were lucky to have survived them. There was no need to keep bringing the past into the present.

Silently, Kael had made his own promise not to make jibes about the unnatural occurrences. It had been his fault the storms had been created – not directly, but his fault all the same. Had he not created the blueprints and ideas to make the station capable of conducting the storms, Lezorith and his people would not have been able to build their master weapon.

"Speed?" Amara asked. She lowered herself to the ground and picked up a stray sheet, running the fabric through her fingers.

"Faster than your rusty old ship," Nona pipped, throwing her hair over her shoulder.

"That rusty ship saved your life."

Kael held up his hands. "Nona, please. You wanted our help."

"Something like that." Nona crossed her arms, but her glare was lifted from Amara.

"This wasn't a shipping incident for sure." Amara stood and dusted off her trousers. "This is garbage. Waste. Someone deposited their rubbish on your golden city streets." A ghost of a smile lingered on her face, and Amara raised her eyebrows at Nona. Not many would taunt a princess.

"You mean someone tried to kill Retch with their leftovers." Sensing a fight was on the horizon, Kael stepped between them and pretend to inspect a shattered energy crystal. It was likely there were some valuables scattered amongst the waste.

"Taking out the trash with trash," Amara mussed.

One of Nona's perfectly sculpted eyebrows shot up. "Trash? Retch is your kind of people. He's a criminal."

"He's a gangster."

"Is there a difference?"

"Is there a difference between a princess and a spoiled glass of milk?"