Grave Read online

  Grave took a certain pleasure in harboring fugitives. The wanted. The ones who authorities itched to get their hands on. He loved to wave his kind in front of those superior faces and let them know they would never be allowed to prosecute.

  “Grave.” Rikar nodded to him from his post next to the door. “Thought you’d be by soon.”

  Grave caught a glimpse of the whip wound around Rikar’s belt, and red fury filled his vision. Memories and images assailed him. Its harsh snap, and the sting of leather on his skin. The sensation of blood trickling down his flesh. The smell of rotten, gore-soaked animal hide. Just as quickly as Grave’s eyes settled on the offensive cords, Rikar pulled the side of his trench coat around to cover them.

  “Sorry,” Rikar said, and Grave shook his head.

  I should be over it by now, I know the whip is for his buchin when the animal wouldn’t gallop or obey command. Still, Grave’s nose wrinkled with disgust. He never used a whip, not even on his personal buchin, and couldn’t fathom doing that to another living creature after what he had been through.

  “Shit,” Rikar cursed and pulled at the edges of his soaked beanie.

  “Forget it,” Grave said, though he knew his friend would still beat himself up for the slip.

  “We have a seeker?” Grave asked to change the subject. Rikar normally stayed at the top of the watchtower and only came down when the gates needed to be opened.

  Rikar was one of the only people who didn’t shy away from him; one of the few who actually looked at him. Grave had met Rikar in the fighting arena, and the two had become close friends. Together, they eventually led the uprising that freed them from their masters. Though Rikar was also genetically mutated, he managed to stay a relatively normal size, and he was still optimistic and friendly. The other man who helped start the sanctuary was another gladiator named Helic. He ran the political and social side of things, and traveled to the many moons that utilized their sanctuary to cut deals for supplies and technology.

  “Yes,” Rikar replied. “Apparently she snuck onboard the cargo ship that came a few hours ago from Yunnika.”

  “Yunnika… That fucking place? Not sure why someone would want to give up their easy, blind life there for a place like this. But I’ll have a look.”

  Rikar shrugged. “You never know. Maybe it’s because of the monarchy. Maybe the woman made enemies with the priest. It isn’t our place to ask. We decided that in the beginning.” He used his tablet to open the gates And Grave slipped through the opening once it was large enough to allow his broad shoulders to pass.

  Sitting atop a wooden supply crate sat a slight woman, covered in dripping wet clothes and a shawl that had stopped offering comfort hours ago. She sat with her arms crossed in a tight hug, and her head tucked into her chest. From where he stood, Grave could see that her entire body trembled as she fought with the wind to stay on her perch. He would have ducked on the side of it himself, but then, he could see why a female would choose the bite of the wind over sitting in the cold mud.

  Through the pouring rain and the darkness, Grave couldn’t make out much detail about her other than that she looked slight and her long, wet hair draped down to her chest.

  He sloshed forward, fully expecting the woman to have the same reaction to him as everyone else did. Instead, she looked up at him and slid off the crate. She took a few steps forward until they were about two arms lengths—his arm length, not hers—away from each other.

  She appeared to study him against the harsh light of the fortress, and he knew that with the light backing him, he appeared mostly shadowed. The searchlight settled on her face illuminating her pale, flawless skin and a small, slightly upturned nose. The light stayed there just long enough for Grave to see that her eyes were a brilliant, deep blue.

  “Um,” she began through chattering teeth. “Are–are you, Grave?”

  Grave nodded. Why would such a small girl be running from a place like Yunnika? Even he thought the place was archaic, and he knew archaic, but still, it was relatively simple living. That is unless you committed a crime against the king, otherwise life there would be easy.

  Curiosity stirred inside him as his mind searched for a crime that would make a young woman such as this one run. It wasn’t considered polite on Kilton to ask why someone was seeking sanctuary, so he would go no further than speculation.

  “I come seeking asylum.” She hesitated for a moment, smoothing down her soaked, muddy skirt as though that would help it regain some vitality. “Please.”

  A smirk tugged at the corner of Grave’s mouth. No one had ever looked at him and said please unless they were begging for their lives.

  Since she didn’t seem to be a threat, Grave stepped to the side and held out his arm, ushering the female forward. She stared up at him for a moment, blinking against the rain.

  “So… That’s a yes?”

  Again, Grave motioned with his arm for her to proceed forward.

  The woman dropped to her knees and cupped her face. Through the pelting rain, he could hear sobs and see that her small shoulders shook.

  He found himself frozen. Fuck it. He didn’t know why he even bothered to try not to scare people. He hadn’t spoken or made any sudden movements, and he had been careful to keep his distance and not show any signs of aggression. But that didn’t matter. Still, she sobbed in fear of him. He should just growl and pound on his chest as everyone seemed to expect.

  Grave motioned with his head for Rikar, who was watching from his post behind the gate, and within minutes the sound of the other man’s boots sloshing through the mud on his way to join him could be heard.

  “What did you do?” Rikar asked in a teasing voice. Defensiveness tightened in Grave’s chest. He hadn’t done a thing to make this woman cry. Even worse, he didn’t know what he was supposed to do now.

  Rikar walked over to the woman and knelt in front of her. “You all right?”

  The woman wiped her eyes, though the pouring rain had already mingled with her tears. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m just… Thank you for accepting my asylum.” She looked past Rikar to Grave. “Thank you so much, Grave.”

  Rikar helped the woman to her feet, and Grave found himself frozen again. No one had ever thanked him before, or if they did, it was a fleeting thanks as they rushed to get away from him.

  Once on her feet, the woman brushed at her ruined skirt, trying to clean it of mud. She then hugged her shawl tighter around her shoulders.

  “Come with me,” said Rikar. “I’ll get you settled in for the night. In the morning, I’ll show you which house you’ll be staying at and give you a run-down of the place.”

  The woman nodded.

  “What’s your name?”

  She bit her lip, gnawing at it in thought before hesitantly replying with “Nora.”

  “Nice to meet you, Nora. I’m Rikar, and as you’ve probably guessed, that is the infamous Grave. Now, let’s get you out of the rain.”

  Nora nodded and followed him. Grave stepped to the side to allow them to walk past. As they did, Nora wrapped her arms around Grave, or, as much of him as her small arms could manage.

  “Thank you, Grave,” She said again as she smiled up at him with a light twinkling of her dark blue eyes.

  Rikar bellowed with laughter and Grave growled at him. Nora dropped her arms and took a step back. She stared up at his much taller form with uncertainty plastered across her pale face.

  Great, Grave thought. He had officially frightened her now, and she wasn’t even inside the walls yet. Annoyed at himself, he turned and trudged back through the mud to complete his perimeter check.

  5

  Nora followed Rikar through the gates and waited for a moment while he closed them using a flat piece of plastic, or something similar.

  “What is that?” she asked, pointing to the device.

  “It’s a Vantage-b56. Don’t you have these?”

  Nora shook her head. “No. I’m from Yunnika. We don’t have Vantage things.
What does it do?”

  Rikar tucked it into a pocket of his trench coat and continued forward. He was only about a foot taller than her and had a much leaner, less bulky form than Grave. He had a beanie on, and his brown skin seemed even darker in the gloom of the storm. Though she still shivered, Nora found that somewhere along the way she had begun not to notice it so much.

  “It does a bunch of different things,” he replied. “I use it to control the gates, the lights, and motion sensors. But it’s also good for entertainment purposes, information, guides, communication, just about anything.”

  “Oh… How does it work? Is it…magic?”

  Rikar glanced over at her and let out another deep laugh. “Oh no, it’s just technology, though coming from Yunnika I’m sure it seems like magic. You know, we offered the technology to them years and years ago, but their priest turned it down.”

  Nora nodded. Hayme always said that their God didn’t like interference with technology. After living in the castle for a few months, Nora honestly didn’t think that was the reason Hayme didn’t allow technology of any form. If he did, would it overthrow him? Or introduce new ideologies? She didn’t understand politics. Back in her small village, there just wasn’t much politics to be had. The people were all either farmers, laid track for the new rail line, or built houses. They weren’t politicians and had no reason to learn what the priest Hayme or King Mighton did and why. Her small town had been perfectly happy paying their taxes and going about their lives. That was until the king selected her to be his new bride.

  Nora gritted her teeth at the memory. She shouldn’t have even been at the market that day. She was supposed to be harvesting yissin and tilling the land for the next round of crops. But her father had needed a few supplies and her sister, who normally handled that type of thing, wasn’t feeling well, so Nora volunteered to go in her place. King Mighton had been browsing the market for something that day, and well… He found her instead.

  The memory threatened to pull Nora’s anxiety to the forefront. Had her family received her warning in time or did the king send his men to punish them?

  She followed Rikar down a paved street lined with small bungalows. They reminded her a bit of her home. Lights dotted the streets standing upon large, antique-looking black poles. In the center, a large rock glowed instead of a candle. It maintained its brilliance even in the downpour. She wanted to ask Rikar all about it but worried she was already giving the impression of an uneducated woman, so she kept her curiosity to herself.

  “How long have you been here?” she asked Rikar.

  Though his steps were much longer than hers, Nora found it easier to keep pace while on the road instead of slopping through slimy mud. Her skirt hung heavy around her waist, and she had tightened her belt many times to keep the fabric in place.

  He laughed. “Oh, a while. Probably forty years or so. Grave, Helic, and I started this place.”

  Her mind did the math, but the man in front of her didn’t look old enough for his timeline, let alone over forty. Of course, it wouldn’t be polite to ask about his age, and she needed to make a good impression.

  Instead, she asked, “Is Grave mute?” Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. Why had she asked that? What an awful question. And did it really even matter? No!

  Rikar bellowed with another round of laughter. “Oh, by the moons, no. He’s just…quiet.” From the way that last word lingered in the air, Nora knew it was meant to be a substitute for much more.

  Nora bit her lip and stirred that around in her mind a bit before storing it away for later.

  “Is… Grave can’t be his real name… Right?” Again, heat stung her cheeks with embarrassment. Why did she keep asking about Grave? Was she simply attempting to deflect the attention off herself hoping that Rikar wouldn’t ask any questions, or was it something else?

  Rikar arched an eyebrow and amusement played over his face. “That you’ll have to ask him yourself.”

  A roar sounded through the howling wind, and Nora froze. If there had been any color left in her skin by this time, she was certain it had now washed away.

  “What… What was that?” Nora whispered.

  Rikar pulled out the tablet and swiped the screen. Grave’s voice filtered through the device. “It’s close.”

  “Shit. I’ll be back at the gates in a few minutes.” Shoving the tablet back into his soaked cargo pants, Rikar pulled down on the edge of his beanie and took hold of Nora’s arm. Yelling to be heard above the pelting rain, he told her to follow the road and go to the large cabin with the green light. “Miss Yulle will help you.”

  Nora nodded, her lips trembling from the cold. “Wh–what was that?” she asked again, unsure if she really wanted to know the answer.

  “It’s a wulgor,” Rikar said and ran in the direction of what she assumed was danger. He turned to her and cupped his hands around his mouth to project his voice. “Let’s just say these walls aren’t only meant to keep us in but to also to keep other things out.”

  Another roar rang through the air, and Nora raced down the muddy street, her soaking skirt clinging to her legs. She squinted against the rain, looking for a green light as Rikar had indicated.

  “Hey!” a voice called.

  Nora stopped and looked over to see two people running toward her. She bit her lip. Should she run? Who were they?

  “You new here? You looking for Miss Yulle’s place?”

  Miss Yulle! Nora released a breath. “Yes, I’m told I need to go to the cabin with a green light.”

  The two sopping people stopped just on the other side of the road, one male and one female. Both wore drenched clothing, and Nora had a hard time seeing most of their features through the rain, but both were tall and slender, maybe related.

  “Yeah, let us show you,” the female said, reaching her hand out in greeting. “I’m Marci, and this is Freg.”

  Nora smiled at them and reached out with her own hand, closing the distance with a few steps. “It’s nice to meet—”

  Marci grabbed Nora’s hand and yanked her close, pinning her hands behind her back. “You got anything good on ya?” Marci hissed.

  Freg roughly patted down Nora’s sides, looking for any pouches of goods. Thankfully, Nora had her small bag tucked inside her boot, but it was only a matter of time before they found it.

  Letting loose a scream, Nora thrashed against Marci’s hold, but the other woman managed to keep her grip. She slapped a hand over Nora’s mouth, and Nora bit her but didn’t do much damage through the thick gloves.

  “You little bitch!” Marci hissed and kicked Nora’s ankle, causing her to buckle with a muffled cry, but Marci kept her from falling to her knees in the mud.

  “Let her go, Ruf and Sal,” another woman’s voice floated through the air. “This is not how we treat snubs. I’m reporting you to Grave and Rikar. You can’t continue to do this. Leave now, or I’ll make it much worse for you.”

  Marci, or Sal as Nora just discovered, growled, then after a moment of thought, tossed Nora roughly to the side. She took a large step to try and catch herself but ended up stumbling into the mud.

  The woman hoisted Nora to her feet, and the two watched Ruf and Sal race off into the darkness beyond the street. Nora shuttered and hugged the shawl tight around herself, more for a bit of security than anything else.

  “Oh, dear. Are you all right, child?” the woman asked as she looked Nora up and down. She was a short, heavy-set woman with a long purple cloak over her broad shoulders. Her long golden hair with threads of silver had been twisted into thin braids on either side of her face.

  Nora nodded. “I’m fine. Thank you.”

  “Rikar should have escorted you to me. I’m Miss Yulle. I’m sure you were on your way to see me. You’re new, yes?”

  “Yes.”

  “Thank goodness, I heard you scream. Rikar should be ashamed. Men,” she scoffed. “He knows better. Sal and Ruf pick on every snub who comes by, this will be their last time though,
I’m done with it.” Miss Yulle grabbed Nora by her hand and tugged her down the road.

  “There was a roar, and Rikar said he had to go.”

  Miss Yulle waved her hand. “Oh yes, a wulgor, I heard it too, but that’s no reason to leave a lady out alone in the dark. Besides, Grave could have handled it.”

  Miss Yulle opened the door to a cabin and pulled Nora inside. Warmth wrapped around her frozen limbs, and she found herself sighing in relief. All around were large chandeliers, but instead of candles, they held large glowing stones in artistically twisted metal. The room smelled of vanilla and ruij, and there were several tables scattered around the open area with cots lining the walls.

  “This is the visitor’s center, so to speak. You can sleep on one of the cots, and I’ll get you some dry clothes and a cup of warm hackrum. But first, we need to get you dry. Rikar and Grave seem to be able to run around in the dark and the rain without falling ill, must be the nanos.” Miss Yulle mused for a moment, then went back into an animated fashion. “But you certainly can’t.”

  The door opened, and Rikar stepped inside. Nora turned to look at him from halfway across the room where Miss Yulle stood, pushing her toward what Nora assumed was the washroom.

  “Hey, glad to see you made it!” Rikar said in a cheerful voice.

  Miss Yulle huffed and halted so abruptly that Nora nearly fell when the woman’s weight was no longer against hers.

  “Shame on you, Sir. You left this poor woman out in the rain, alone, at night.” With each accusation, her pitch rose.

  Rikar winced and scratched the back of his head, looking almost boyish for a moment. “Sorry.”

  Miss Yulle swatted his arm. “And you should be. Ruf and Sal tried to rob the poor dear.”

  “Ruf and Sal? I spoke with them several times and gave them several punishments. I’m sorry, Nora. I didn’t think they would pose a danger to anyone anymore. Most people don’t want to get kicked out of here, so they behave relatively well.” Rikar pulled out his tablet and pressed a button. “Hey, Grave. Ruf and Sal tried to rob the snub.”