Prestigious

6. Ti Balta Dansa (The Balta Bells)

Tane

My feet were moving under me. I had never run faster in my life; not when I was escaping Earth, not when I was being chased off of the Precipice. He'd been found out. I'd left him in Edent alone, and Palleman had sniffed out the weakness on him. I hadn't meant for this to happen.

The closer I got to him, the worse he looked. Nearly every inch of him was covered in blood. He lay motionless in the dirt, much like Azurael had found me. But he'd been beaten, tortured.

I skidded to a stop and dropped myself next to him, immediately placing my hands on either side of his head. He could not be dead.

"Gaius!" I exclaimed, my voice hoarse. His eyes opened, met mine, and then closed again. A groan pushed past his lips. A black sash wrapped around his arm, soaked in blood. Banished because of me. Beaten because of me.

Palleman's voice, insidious and sleek, rang out sinisterly in my head. It seems the traitor of Listener's Tower corrupted her half-sense without our knowledge. Upon further investigation, we've decided banishment is the only solution. He spoke as if I were not the only one who could hear him, so I assumed I was not. Palleman had to be putting on a show for the other Prestigious who listened in.

Surely, the Prestigious who watched the horrific scene would finally recognize Palleman for what he had truly become. Torture was synonymous with treason in Fismuth. But as I turned my eyes to the formidable wall-top and saw the Prestigious there, only one seemed truly moved. Kelsie.

Just as Azurael had predicted, Kelsie lived and breathed. But the expressions of my brothers and sisters were cold and unaffected by the gruesome scene in front of me. How could they turn a blind eye to the corruption, the evil that stood in front of them?

Instead of focusing on Palleman, I zeroed in on Kelsie. Her thoughts were like reaching arms, begging to help carry my burdens. She stared intently down at me, as if giving me permission to read her. I saw everything. They'd tortured Gaius for information on what he knew, on what he'd seen, on me. He'd told them nothing.

Then Palleman had forced Kelsie to disguise his battered body as uninjured on his walk to the Dardon Wall, just like he'd made her falsify his Infernato. The Flares and Feelers were following Palleman's every corrupt order, down to a blatant disregard of humanity, never mind lustchau.

I turned away, already too overwhelmed to process the events that had led to this half-dead half-sense in my arms. I pressed my forehead to Gaius' and promised that I would get him to safety.

"I should have brought you with me," I said as if it were an apology. He did not respond, but it did not matter. My bull-headed rescue mission had failed miserably. Palleman still had Kelsie and the upper hand of a Watcher's sight. I had gotten my hanaji nearly killed.

I hooked my arms under his armpits and hoisted him into a sitting position. Then, as cautiously as I could, I bent down and slung his arms over my shoulders. With some awkward maneuvering, I managed to get Gaius onto my back.

He cried out in pain when I stood up, and I could feel my heart withering away. There would be no life without Gaius. I would not lose him again.

I walked, focused on keeping my breathing steady, and tuned out the dozens of Prestigious watching me from the wall. I heard someone coming down the hill to help me, but I couldn't look up to see who my savior was.

Unsurprisingly, three pairs of hands came to lift Gaius from my back, but I could not let them take him fully from me. I snatched his hand just as his eyes opened. Those green eyes searched wildly for me, but I pressed his hand to my cheek, and even though he winced in pain, his thumb stroked my skin.