THE KEEPERS RISE

Chapter 16 - Out of Sync - Part 5

*Remember to click the play button to listen to the soundtrack as you read!*

Trycho stared blankly at the wall, adjusting to the darkness that he and Archimedes Quin had been thrust into. As soon as the door slammed shut, he sat and held his head in his hands. "There's no way this can end well," he wavered. "If I'm right, and Nicolai is working with the Light, he won't rest until he has the information he needs."

Archimedes was standing stock-still in the center of the room, right where a Red Wolf had let go of him. Running his fingers through his white hair, he asked in a low tone, "Why do you suspect that the Red Wolves and Light Council are allied?"

"Well, you must have heard the guards talking about the four Keepers that escaped. Both Dameon and Nicolai have been hot on the trail of the Keepers, and it makes little sense that Nicolai stole half of them from under Dameon's nose. Nicolai is power-hungry, but he's not a fool."

"I hate it when you're right," Archimedes said with a sigh, sitting next to the anthrod. "That would certainly explain the recent flurry of Red Wolf attacks."

Trycho nodded, moving a wing out of Archimedes's way. "I don't think I have to tell you what Nicolai is looking for," he chirped.

Archimedes tightened his jaw. "No. He won't get it, though."

Glancing around the room, Trycho was dismayed to find no obvious furniture. Even the door looked like part of the wall now that it was closed. "We won't be here for very long," he worried, standing and crawling up the slick metal wall on all six legs. "Even these foul mercenaries would put cots in a real cell. This is only meant to contain us."

He eyed the featureless walls, tight corners, and lack of vents with growing anxiety. The only item of interest was a flickering, cube-shaped light. Since the two Dark mages were in the Gray, they could see fairly well with the foggy photons it emitted. Trycho climbed onto the ceiling and approached the light, black cloak hanging straight down, and found that it was hastily wired but otherwise useless.

Flipping and catching himself with a few wing beats, Trycho dropped to the ground, wincing at the sudden impact. He had forgotten that the Red Wolves had confiscated his gauntlets. "I can't believe they had the nerve to take our stones, along with everything else. I thought that was against the law of war."

"Only if they keep them. But I imagine that's what they intend to do."

Trycho made some adamant-sounding chirps and started pacing. "They took my staff, too." He paused, then added, "At least it'll stay in one piece."

Archimedes shrugged. "Knowing the Red Wolves, who can say."

"Always the optimist, I see," Trycho said, voice dripping with sarcasm. He stopped and stared at the door as if willing it to open. "We're on Myusaria," he trilled pointedly. "Did you notice?"

"Yes. It looks different." Archimedes desperately wanted to say more, but he knew it was quite likely that they were being monitored. He leaned his head back and shut his eyes as Trycho continued thinking out loud, trying to find a moment of peace in his swirling thoughts. In the back of his mind, he swore he could sense something. A voice was crying out. A girl lay huddled on the floor.

"Are you all right?" Trycho said suddenly, snapping him out of his reverie.

Archimedes stared up at Trycho nervously. "How long was I out?"

"Just a minute or so. You haven't been listening to me, have you?" Archimedes slowly shook his head. "I'm sorry, you must still be tired," his friend murmured, sitting again.

"I'm awake enough," Archimedes said a little adamantly. "Don't worry about me."

Trycho fiddled with the edge of the exoskeleton on one of his arms. After a long silence, he said, "I'm willing to die for the Dark Council. Are you?" Archimedes nodded sharply. "Then we have nothing to worry about, really, beyond our own resolves," Trycho said in a vain attempt at encouragement.

"I worry about the Keepers. They were thrown into the midst of all this without any sense of right and wrong."

Trycho's hand dropped back to his side. "If some of them are on the run, there may be hope. I wonder what happened to the other four, though."

"I don't want to think about that," Archimedes muttered.

When a squad of Red Wolves opened the door to the cell again, they found that the light had gone out. One of them stepped cautiously inside, cupping a hand around her glowing cape clip with her other hand on her laser rifle. "I know you're in here," she said in a sing-song tone.

When the room remained silent and still, another Red Wolf strode in and put a hand on her shoulder. "Face it, Marnie, they've escaped. We'd better just tell Nicolai now, or he'll be even more furious."

Archimedes held his breath, hardly believing their good luck. He watched from above as the two Red Wolves swept the room, never bothering to check the ceiling. Trycho slightly adjusted his grip and looked at the Dark Councilor clutching his thorax with something resembling a sly smile.

"This is as high-security as our cells get," Marnie complained, crossing her arms dramatically.

The man pulled her arm towards the door, but she refused to budge. Wiping a lack of sweat off of his forehead, he said, "Nicolai will have our hides if we don't report to him right away. Come on."

Archimedes glanced up and saw that Trycho's legs were trembling. His strength was wearing thin. With a few hand gestures, Archimedes laid out a plan of attack. Trycho nodded and shifted the Dark Councilor to the side, and Archimedes counted down on his fingers.

On zero, Trycho dropped Archimedes squarely on top of Marnie, taking the other Red Wolf for himself. In a quick tussle, they snatched away their laser rifles, and Trycho aimed his through the doorway while Archimedes kept the two Red Wolves in the cell at gunpoint. "Let us go without sounding an alarm, and nobody has to get hurt," Trycho hissed.

All of the Red Wolves looked remarkably unfazed, and Trycho caught one of them smirking. He didn't have time to wonder why before a cloaked Red Wolf behind him shoved a gas mask over his mandibles. He startled and scraped at its tight seal, but in seconds, he had drooped into the Red Wolf's arms.

Archimedes barely dodged a similar sneak attack and backed up into the cell wall, waving the laser rifle back and forth wildly. "I'm not afraid to use this," he warned, cocking it.

"I'm sure you're not," a familiar voice said from outside as the squad closed in with their own weapons raised. "I know how little you Dark folk care about meaningless death. The question is, do you know how long that rifle takes to charge?"

"Don't play games with me, Nicolai," Archimedes said, squaring his shoulders. He watched in concealed horror as an officer tossed away Trycho's mask and the anthrod was lugged out of the room.

A Red Wolf suddenly lunged for Archimedes, and he reflexively shot her in the shoulder. In an instant, the squad was on top of him, pinning him down. He struggled, trying to fire the gun again, but just as Nicolai had warned, it took far too much time to recharge. A deceptively comfortable mask suctioned over his nose and mouth, and he coughed as a thick, bitter gas filled his lungs. He promptly went limp. "Oh, the fun is only beginning," Nicolai chuckled.