They needn’t have worried. Exhausted and in pain, Layanna put her back against the disgusting rear bulkhead and slipped down it till she rested on her rear, eyes staring faraway but not seeming to see anything.
Hildra swore and pounded the iron bars with her one hand. Avery wondered where Hildebrand was. With Ani?
The cell was dark, and he picked his way to the back of it with care, feeling things snap and squelch beneath his feet and trying not to think about what they were. Things moved in the darkness around him; he heard scuffling, scuttling, a squeak. Finding Layanna, he sank beside her.
“Ani,” he said. “How is she?”
It was Hildra that answered. “She’s fine. I hid her in the vents while blondie was off botching your rescue attempt.”
Layanna didn’t rise to the bait.
“Will she be safe there?” Avery said.
Hildra didn’t reply, but Janx’s large head moved up and down. “They won’t look there,” he said. “I never did.”
“Thank you,” Avery told Hildra, meaning it. His eyes burned. Ani, be well.
“That’s somethin’, at least,” Janx said, and in the darkness Avery could see the big man lean his back against the bars. “Glad the little one’s alright.”
“She’s tough,” Hildra said. “She almost wouldn’t go.”
Layanna still refused to say a word. Avery squeezed her hand, but she didn’t squeeze back.
“What is it?” he whispered, then paused. “What do they mean to do to us?”
At first she didn’t reply, and he thought he’d have to ask the question again, but then she turned to him, and what he could see of her expression was blank, lifeless. She had lost all hope, he realized—and not just for themselves.
“Sacrifice,” Layanna said at last. “That’s surely what they mean to do with you. As for me, it will likely be something else—first, at least.”
A scream echoed in the background, held for a long moment, then faded.
“Sheridan,” Janx said. “That bitch arranged this.”
Avery could feel the big man’s accusing glare even in the darkness. He knew they all blamed him for this, for saving Sheridan’s life, and he knew they were not wrong to do so.
“How did she know these pirates worshipped the R’loth?” he said.
“That’s most of ‘em these days, at least in these parts,” Janx said. “Back when Segrul—the admiral of the pirating fleet—back when he told me I had to infect myself if I wanted to continue on, that’s when I knew it was time to bail on the life. I got out just when he was leadin’ the great purge to kill all non-infected or infect them.”
“I remember your story,” Avery said, half surprised—but only half—to discover it was more than just a story. “And now that Octung’s navy is broken, the R’loth are relying on the pirates to be their muscle on the sea.”
“Different players, same game.”
“Think that bitch is celebrating with ‘em right now?” Hildra said.
“I doubt it,” Avery said. “I don’t see her mixing with them very well. But as to whether she’s been taken in by Segrul and his crew as an ally, that’s an excellent question.”
“Segrul runs a hard lot,” Janx said. “If they didn’t know her, they might’ve raped her, slit her throat and tossed her overboard by now. If I’d been runnin’ things, we would’ve kept her alive for ransom if nothing else. She is an admiral.”
“But if she’s the one that called for them to attack us ...”
Another scream rose, then fell. Layanna, still just a shadow in the gloom, hung her head.
“Not all’s lost,” Avery told her. “We can still reach home again and use the Starfish tissue to devise some defense against it. The R’loth are obviously desperate. Octung’s power is broken, and the R’loth themselves have been lamed by the Device. They have to appeal to their gods for aid. That’s what you told me, right? All we need to do is escape.”
For the first time, Layanna turned to him, and even in the darkness he could see the wetness in her eyes.
“How?”
“I don’t know. Those whip weapons ... what were they? I thought the Device disrupted most extradimensional devices.”
“No,” Layanna said. “Only devices along a specific frequency—the weapons my people gifted to Octung, mainly, though there are some wider repercussions. Your race needs extradimensional devices, Francis. Seafood processors, defensive generators, air purifiers, and more. The Device only disabled, mainly, the Octunggen weapons.”
“So what are those whips if not a weapon?”
“They ain’t machines, Doc, and they ain’t Octunggen,” Janx said. “Made to be used by fishermen if they bring up something they couldn’t normally handle in their nets. Blurfish, deadeyes, whatever. Things in the sea too warped and weird for knife-work. Why, I’ve seen a blurfish take out five men before we could get it out o’ the boat. They’re not all ... here.” He rapped the metal bulkhead, indicating this world, this reality. “Part of ‘em exists outside, y’know? And the parts ya can’t see can slit you six ways to dead in half a second.”
“I believe you.”
“Remember, I was a fisher for a while, and I’ve seen so much weird shit come outta the sea I could write a book on it.”
“Yeah yeah,” Hildra said.
“Many a time we didn’t have the venom whips, and we paid for it,” Janx went on. “Alchemists from Seerwan make ‘em, and sell ‘em dear to the larger fishing companies. They’re made out of the tentacles of a certain breed of huge jellyfish, soaked in Atomic energy and kept stored in barrels filled with jellyfish poison to keep ‘em charged up. In my time as a fisher, which weren’t long, thank the gods, I only saw a few o’ the things, never at once, and they was bought used, dried out and hardly worked. Still, they were a great help. Now to see four fresh, charged-up ones together ... Well. Segrul knew his prey. Knew what he was after. He came here just to get you, darlin’, and he prepared for it. Someone paid for those venom whips, in coin or blood, mebbe both.”
“Don’t worry about them,” Avery told Layanna. “If we can just get you to the sea, you’ll be fine. Won’t you?”
Hesitantly, she nodded.
