Chương 5: Shard

Ch 5 - Shard

"You had clear instructions Blue," Crathsun is nose to nose with Erro, jabbing two fingers into his chest, nudging him further into the room with each prod. Erro's calves hit the edge of the coffee table and for a moment Cara thinks he is going to fall back onto its scratched surface. She grips her knees tightly, sitting low in the large armchair Draig had swiftly led her to as they had all bundled back into the bunk house.

She sinks into the seat where the support has long given way under far heavier frames than hers. Old stains mottle the faded brown material, so many that they could be mistaken for an intended camouflage pattern. A large dark stain bleeds out from under her left thigh seeping down into the crease of the arm. She pushes up onto her tip toes, raising as much of her thigh away from the mark as possible. Retreating to her room doesn't seem like a wise move.

Wyndeer had watched Draig escort her to the chair, since then his attention has been on Erro. Like a deer standing alone in open grassland it seems best to remain still and not draw the attention of the wolf. Wyndeer had stripped off his coat in one smooth move and now stands, arms crossed, watching Crathsun express the thunderous emotion that is on the older man's face.

"And what part of those instructions included letting her go outside?" Crathsun continues. She can't see his face but judging by the back of his neck she imagines it is flushed with red. Erro glances behind Crathsun to where Magse stands, then back to Crathsun, "It was just a moment," he begins, but Crathsun cuts him off.

"You'd better not be offering me an excuse, Blue." he growls, grabbing a handful of Erro's shirt in one hand. Erro's heels rise, the toes of his boots taking a ballerina stance on the floor.

"Because if you start giving me excuses, that will make me very angry."

"No, Red." Erro's chin dips towards his chest as he casts his eyes down. Crathsun's arm flexes in response to the additional weight of Erro's sagging shoulders.

"Correct answer," Crathsun hisses before shoving Erro backwards with a force that pushes him over the coffee table and into the couch beyond.

"Magse," Crathsun bellows as he turns. Magse looks unhealthily pale as she takes a small step forward. Behind her Joss stands stiffly in the doorway to the corridor.

"Later," Wyndeer says, putting a hand on Crathsun's shoulder as he turns his attention to Draig, "You took her outside?"

"No. I encountered her outside," Draig corrects. He seems unconcerned by Crathsun's eruption and is casually leaning against the wall just as he had been outside.

"What were you doing outside?"

"Am I not allowed outside either?" Draig counters innocently, his right eyebrow rising with the lilt of his question. Wyndeer's jaw clenches as he repeats slowly, "What were you doing outside?"

"Getting some air," Draig shrugs.

"As it seems was Cara," he continues as if casually recounting a story.

"She was curious about the compound, so we had a little chat."

"You're here to observe not chat," Wyndeer spits at Draig's insolence.

"I'm here to escort." Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

"You," Wyndeer is fighting to control his voice, "are here, under my rank, to observe the successful escorting of her to the Wixam."

"Where needed, I am here to help ensure that she is escorted successfully," Draig delivers the slight with a perfectly neutral face and impassive tone. Wyndeer's jaw is clamped so tight that Cara is sure his teeth must be cracking. She shifts nervously under the tension; her foot nudging at a bag leaning against the chair. Its top flap is open revealing a glimpse of the scattered contents inside including the tip of a glassy yellow shard.

Her arm twitches as she remembers the tingle that had seemed to travel up from the fizzing crystal. She glances up at the group. Wyndeer looks to have decided that ignoring Draig is the best option and is now in a hushed conversation with Crathsun. The others wait stiffly for instruction. She feels herself drawn back to the shard. Presumably the tingle had been a static discharge of some sort. Like the shocks she was forever getting from the metal door handles in her flat.

Before she realises that she had reached for it, the shard is in her hands. It is so smooth. She enjoys the feel of her fingertips sliding across its glassy surfaces. Sees now that it is layered with different yellow hues, some darker amber tones, others the pale warm colour of the clover honey she had recalled when she first touched the shard. Saliva seeps down the inside of her cheeks. She'd never found that honey anywhere else, as if it had manifested only within the cocoon of Gran's house.

"What are you doing?" Wyndeer cuts through her thoughts. She swallows down the saliva as six pairs of eyes stare back at her. She shakes her head, trying to clear her confusion of how it is that she can get so lost in childhood memories when she is trapped by these people.

"Draig, did you give her that?" Wyndeer's stare remains on her as he throws the accusation across the room.

"No," Draig keeps his indigo eyes firmly on her.

"Give it to me," Wyndeer orders, extending a stiff, demanding palm towards her but not moving to retrieve it directly. Her heart is thumping. In the few seconds she has spent examining the shard the room has swung back into the tension and distrust of the night before. She fights hard against the urge to glance at the main door, she knows her path to it is clear, her chair closest to the exit. But Draig is quick, Erro too, and there is no reason to think that the rest of them would be any slower. The Central Hub.

He'd said there was transport there. It is cold outside, what if she can't find it? But it is cold in here, icily cold under their stares.

"Give it," Wyndeer insists with a low growl.

"Cara," Draig's voice is calm with a controlled friendliness, "give me the shard." The smooth sides of the shard press against her skin as her hands tighten and twist around it. His eyes hold her gaze as she rises from the chair. He offers out his hand with an exaggerated slowness. A hand deliberately casual in the same way that she would reach out to befriend a stranger's dog. She looks down at the shard. Is it dangerous, something that might suddenly explode? She'd thrown it on the table.

Draig had dropped it easily back into the bag. Her brow furrows. Precious then, something they want to keep.

'I just want to go home,' she says quietly to him.

"I know," he says kindly.

"The shard, Cara." Wyndeer demands. He is two strides away yet he still hasn't advanced.

"You can have it. I just want to go home," she says again, directly to Draig.

"You can't," the corners of his mouth drop, breaking their perfect flat line. His hand hangs in the air, unhurried, unthreatening, his fingers in a loose curl. Befriending a dog. Her thumb rubs along an edge of the shard as her stomach clenches. She draws in a long, deep breath.

"Cara." Wyndeer's harsh voice jolts through her. It is Crathsun who moves first, stepping to the side as if to close ranks, to contain her.

"No, stay away from me," she demands weakly. Her eyes flick to Erro, the material of his top still creased on his chest. Crathsun pauses. Their silence emphasises the deafening rush of blood to her ears. Wyndeer's outstretched hand makes a small purposeful jerk towards the door. Crathsun starts moving again"Stay away," she orders him with more force. Her breath catches in her chest as she braces for his attack. The shard activates with a fizz, vibrating in her hand before sending a burst of energy up her arm.

Everything retreats from her like a magnet rejecting magnets. The couch slides back and slams against the wall taking a startled Erro with it. The coffee table slides backwards, its corner catching Wyndeer's shin as he too is pushed back. His feet are flat to the floor but sliding like a puck on ice. The others too. Magse and Joss are now pinned to the wall by the circular table and chairs. Crathsun is the one who not only moves backwards but flies upwards as well.

His back smashes into the cupboards with such force that they crack and splinter. Cara drops the shard and runs.