Dead and Buryd

Chapter 14: The Side You're On

Georgianna woke before Keiran the next morning. She didn’t have any pressing business except for telling Taye what she had found out in the compound, which she didn’t want to do, but she still clambered carefully out of the bed without waking Keiran and dressed herself. No doubt, if she woke Keiran, he would try to convince her to stay longer and, with the knowledge of the pain she was about to bring down on Taye, she knew it wouldn’t take much convincing before she was back under the covers.

Tripping as she pulled on her boots, Georgianna turned and stared at Keiran for a moment, making sure he wasn’t stirring from the noise. It was easier to leave when Keiran was asleep, even when she wasn’t worried about him tempting her back to bed. There was an awkward moment in the mornings, whenever she was getting ready to leave, Keiran talking to her, when she realised that she would rather stay and spend time with him. So, whenever possible, she preferred to skip out while he was still asleep. She could tell herself that it was better this way.

She slipped through the canvas opening. After a quick check in at Medics’ Way to ensure that there were no emergencies, Georgianna left Belsa territory and walked slowly through the main tunnels.

Every time she saw a blonde head of hair, she glanced to make sure that she wasn’t wrong, that maybe Nyah had been let go. Each look held only disappointment, and before Georgianna had managed to come up with a reason why she shouldn’t tell Taye, she was inside the Carae tunnels, making her way carefully across the uneven tunnel ground.

“Stop there!”

The man walking towards her was not Taye. In fact, Georgianna didn’t think she’d ever met this particular Carae before. He didn’t look particularly happy about the fact he actually had to talk to someone either, looking her up and down with a scowl evident even through the gloom.

“Who’re you?” he asked.

“I’m looking for Taye,” Georgianna answered, trying for a polite smile, but the result a worried grimace.

“That’s who you’re looking for, not who you are.”

Georgianna blinked and shook her head quickly.

“Sorry, yeah, I’m George,” she answered. “Lennox.”

“Well, George Lennox, Taye ain’t here.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, Georgianna frowned and looked sceptically back at the man. He didn’t seem particularly believable at the moment, too quick to turn her away. She didn’t want to call him a liar, but she also didn’t want to walk away without proof that she wouldn’t be able to see Taye.

“Do you know where he is?” she asked.

“Where a man goes is his own business.”

“Okay, can you tell me who will know where he is?”

“I know,” the guard answered with a smirk. “It’s just none of my business.”

Georgianna was getting annoyed. She knew he was only doing his job, but she was already having trouble working out how she would tell Taye about Nyah, let alone having to argue with a guard to get the chance to try to actually do it.

“Will you stop with the fucking mind games?” Georgianna snapped. “It’s my business, alright?”

“What makes you think it’s your business?”

He pressed his fists against his hips, his elbows jutting out across the tunnel. Through the small gap, there would be no way for Georgianna to get past without knocking him. Though, chances were, the man was in a bad enough mood that he might try to shoot her just for trying it.

“Will you stop being a Vtensu and just tell me?” Georgianna demanded, glaring back at him. “It’s important I find him as soon as possible. It’s about Nyah.”

The guard’s smirk vanished and after a moment thinking about it, he nodded. Georgianna hadn’t wanted to use Nyah’s name that way, but she’d been a member of the Carae, and from what Georgianna knew, she’d been a relatively friendly face amongst them. From the guard’s instant drop in attitude, it seemed like Taye wasn’t the only one missing her presence around their section of the tunnels.

“He’s down Oprust,” the guard answered. “Had a deal with some guy.”

“Oppression City is a big place. Can you narrow it down?”

She tried to keep the annoyance at being jerked around out of her voice now that he was actually helping her.

“The Trade Inn, I think.”

“Thanks!”

She returned quickly to the main tunnel, taking the first exit she came to, out into the Oprust district.

 
***

 
The Oprust district in the south-west of the city had always been neutral, used as a trade centre between the different tribes, who would set up stalls of meat and skins from hunting kills they didn’t need themselves. Different herbs and plants people had gathered from the different areas of the trails were dried and crushed down into powders with different purposes. Blankets, clothes and household objects made with the people’s various skills were traded for necessities.

In the very south of the district, families brought livestock to trade. A single sheep wrangled for a flock of chickens saved from coyotes, or a horse foal for a couple of dog pups. Different tribes were known for their different skills and specialities, and while every tribe could get by on its own, Oprust trading was always an excitement because people knew that they could get the best.

When the Adveni arrived, they’d set up buildings, large metal monstrosities that held the different elements of their science. The buildings, or factories as they called them, created food and drinks on a mass scale as was rumoured to have been common practice centuries before, weaponry and special clothing that protected the body from firearms injuries.

In one factory, the Adveni had begun instructing the Veniche on electricity, an invisible force that powered the lights down below in the tunnels and the buildings in the Adveni-controlled areas. In another, they harvested water from the local rivers, purifying it before sending it through large constructed pipes that separated off into each Adveni-made building.

It wasn’t long before the district was renamed by the Veniche. While formally still called the Oprust district, amongst themselves, the Veniche named it Oppression City, a place where, when driven to desperation, A Ven might get work from the Adveni. The work was horrendous manual labour. Workers were forced into cramped areas amongst loud machines, and the money it paid was hardly worth what you had to go through to get it. Yet when a family was starving, Oppression City was often its only hope without resorting to illegal or compromising measures.

The market was still set up each day, but cramped into a single street. It was flooded with people trying to get to the stalls and attempt a decent trade. As such, it had become a haven for thieves and other criminals, who took advantage of those trying to get by. As the thieves moved in and business was forced to be done faster within the market, up popped those who wanted to trick and scam. Dried, crushed lemongrass replaced the rarer quinati, which cured aches and gave off the same smell as the lemongrass. Other such substitutions made trading for good products difficult.

Georgianna used to shop in the Oprust for supplies. It was easy and she liked giving the business to those who needed it, but the more dangerous trading became, the more she relied on the Carae and people she knew for her medical needs. Sure, the Carae may have charged her more, and they also took advantage by selling the mind-altering substances that people became so dependent on over time, but at least she knew what she was getting, especially by dealing with Taye, who she knew would never knock her over for a scammed sale.

The Trade Inn was one of the few remaining bright spots in Oppression City. Before the Adveni it had been used as a place to get specially made delicacies, sweets that most couldn’t make. Yet, as time wore on, and less people had the ease to spend money on such luxuries, they slowly began selling other food. It became a place for workers in the district to stop in and get a meal on their short breaks.

One of Georgianna’s reasons for liking the Trade Inn was that Oz, the owner, had worked in one of the Adveni alcohol factories for a time and now brewed the stuff in the back room, selling it at a much cheaper price. Many complained that the alcohol Oz brewed was akin to the oil used to clean the machines in the factories, but from how much business the place received, it seemed no one cared enough about that to turn it down.

Taye was sat at one of the back tables when Georgianna walked in. A watered-down wheat beer sat in front of him despite the time not really being appropriate for drinking. Before him, a man was hunched close, his hand jangling with coins whenever he moved. Taye leaned in too, obviously arguing with the man, but as the man got up to leave, Taye made no effort to stop him.

Georgianna quickly busied herself at the counter as the man passed, giving Taye enough time to pocket something that had been placed on the table, before she went over and slipped in opposite him.

“Georgianna!” He seemed surprised at her arrival. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you.”

He didn’t answer, but drank a mouthful of his beer and placed the glass back on the table. She shifted her bag onto the chair next to her and rested her elbows on the wooden table top.

“I went to the compound.”

Taye’s interest was piqued. He leaned across the table, almost knocking over his beer in his hurry to wrap his fingers around her wrist, pulling her hand towards him.

“Did you get it to her?” he asked. “What did she say?”

Georgianna gulped. This was the moment she’d been afraid of. She didn’t know how to say it. She didn’t know whether she should be blunt and simply tell him, or if she should calm him down and explain slowly. Carefully, Georgianna reached into the side pocket of her bag with the hand Taye wasn’t clutching between his own, and pulled out the small packet.

Taye’s gaze shot to it and his excited expression faded instantly to one of confusion.

“Gianna…”

“Taye, I…”

“But we had a…”

“She wasn’t there.”

Staring at her in shock and confusion, he released her hand.

“Nyah was…”

Georgianna paused. Taye’s face was so readable, always had been. She wondered how in the world he got through sales with a face as clear as a sign post. Yet, there it was, staring at her, waiting for her to admit what she knew.

“She was sold. Three days ago.”

He was on his feet almost before she realised what was going on. Leaping up, she grabbed him by the arm, forcing him back towards his seat. Perched on the edge of his chair, looking ready to jump up again at any moment, he glanced between Georgianna and the packet still lying on the table.

“To who?”

She shook her head and released his arm, letting him slide farther back.

“I don’t know. I was told by an inmate.”

“They could be lying!”

“Why would someone lie about that?”

Taye frowned at the table.

“I don’t know.”

She watched as he slipped into silence, head bowed, one finger slowly tracing the rim of his glass. For the first time in a long time, she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. His mouth curved into a determined frown, and she pursed her own lips together, wondering what to say. She couldn’t tell him that the idea of finding Nyah and freeing her was ridiculous. It would be catastrophic if he wasn’t already thinking it. On the other hand, he would be angry if she suggested he was doing the right thing in leaving it be if he were already planning an attack. So Georgianna stayed quiet.

“Who would know where she is?” Taye asked, not looking up.

Georgianna furrowed her brow and shrugged.

“The guards at the compound, I guess. Apart from that…”

“You’re allowed in there, maybe they’d…”

Her mouth dropped open as she realised what Taye was suggesting. She could still see the look Edtroka had given her, as if he was suspicious of something. There was no way he would not realise something more was going on if she started asking questions.

“Taye! Do you know what you’re asking of me?” Georgianna replied, glancing over her shoulder to make sure nobody was around them.

“To be a friend, Georgianna!” Taye snapped back under his breath.

Georgianna’s nose wrinkled as a snarl threatened to hiss through her teeth.

“Friend?” she repeated. “And when you have this information, you’re not going to go straight after Nyah? If anything happens to her, they’ll suspect me immediately!”

“So?”

“So I don’t want to be buryd, Taye!”

Taye pushed his chair back sharply, stood up, and leaned over the table.

“You have it so sweet. You’re allowed into the compound, a decent living in that bar. You need to remember whose side you’re on!”

Georgianna could do nothing but stare open mouthed as Taye got up from his chair. She thought about how she helped the Belsa, that she was a good daughter to her father and a good sister to Halden. She helped her friends and did what she needed to in order to live. How was she on the Adveni side? She detested what they were doing in that compound, how they pulled families apart with their drysta yard.

No, she had to believe that Taye was just angry, that he was upset about Nyah and he was looking for the easiest outlet. That had to be it. Georgianna was positive that she wasn’t helping the Adveni any more than Taye was.

Taye stepped around the table, snatching up the packet and pocketing it. For a moment, Georgianna thought he was going to leave her there without another word, leaving them both angry with each other, but as she stared stubbornly at the other wall, Taye leaned over her.

“I’m getting Nyah out! You can either help me or not, but I’m getting her out.”

Georgianna didn’t have a chance to reply before he was gone from the Inn. She sat at the table with Taye’s abandoned beer, staring through the grimy window long after the door had slammed closed behind him.