Renegade (9781743535240) by Wilkinson Kerry

Author:Wilkinson, Kerry [Wilkinson, Kerry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781447262206
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia Pty

16

I feel a stabbing pain shoot through my foot as I dash forward and tread on a sharp, loose stone. Imrin catches me and together we rush to the wooden board, throwing it aside. I head through the gap first, expecting a bloodbath – Jela, Faith, Pietra and Hart, any or all of them, tortured and dead as the two Kingsmen I voted to spare stand and sneer.

Instead, the drips of blood get thicker and larger, leading to a corner that is veiled in darkness. I smell the bodies before I see them. Both Kingsmen are dead, one with a gash that seems to go the entire way through his stomach; the other has had his throat slit. I turn away, not wanting to see any more.

Imrin peers around me at the bodies but says nothing.

‘Is there anything to say where they’ve gone?’ I ask.

‘I didn’t see anything.’

Together we search the other three corners of the crumbling room but there is nothing except the trail of blood. Outside, I check the walls for anything that may lead us in the direction of the others but the four of them have vanished. In the distance, the faint sound of the siren still chirps from the plaza. By now the Kingsmen must have realised I’m not on the communications floor. They will probably be checking the rest of the footage but I have set anything incriminating Reith to be deleted within the next few minutes.

I use the wood to re-block our improvised doorway and then follow the trail of blood towards the main path, looking from side to side to see if there is anything I’ve missed. Imrin is checking the underside of the hedges as the panic within me begins to build. There is no way they would have left without giving us some clue where they were going – not unless they had no choice. Could they have been captured? Have they had to run away? Is anyone hurt?

I know we don’t have long before we have to get completely away from the city as well but that only adds to my unease as I pace quickly along the path. Eventually I return to the house, slowly walking along the trail of blood until, finally, I see the crumpled, drenched remnants of a daisy in the centre of the largest puddle.

Crouching, I pluck the tiny flower from the ground and wipe as much of the blood away as I can. The petals are now a dyed pink, the centre a bristling shade of orange.

That is all it takes for me to know they are all right. For whatever reason, they had to leave quickly, and I can imagine Jela’s cool head taking control as they thought about how to safely let us know where they were going.

The second daisy is close to the wall at the edge of the path. I have already walked past it a few times but now I am looking for it, the bright white of the petals are practically glowing in the late-morning sun.

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