Tool

Chapter Sixteen

Aurelia recognized it immediately. Garda.

Nicholas turned around. "What?"

"You heard me."

Garda stood, stunner raised in his hand. Another, taller man had stopped a step or so behind Garda.

Aurelia looked on helplessly, begging Nicholas with her eyes to help her.

"I'm afraid Aurelia won't be going with you," her companion said.

"Look, clone, let me take the girl, and you can go on your way. No problem. Don't make me shoot you," said Garda, waving the stunner.

"She doesn't want to go with you," Nicholas said.

Aurelia wondered why he wasn't fighting, how come no military combat techniques he'd said they all learned. Garda took a step towards Nicholas, who held up his hands. "Leave now," Nicholas said.

His eyes were flashing, and Aurelia could see his muscles were twitching with the effort of holding himself back.

In a flash, Garda was on him, flinging himself at the clone and wrapping him in a headlock. "I say you and me fight it out like men, then." He swung a fist to connect with Nicholas's cheek.

Nicholas struggled but still didn't attempt to fight.

"Aurelia," he said quietly, "I need you to tell me to hurt them."

What the hell? Nicholas had relaxed his body so the chokehold loosened.

"Aurelia," he said again, equally calmly.

Sensing movement behind her, she tried to turn but was too late. The other man already had her wrist and was twisting her arm back behind her, tearing at her chest.

"Aurelia, tell me to hurt them," repeated Nicholas.

An arm came around her neck, a hand cupping her chin and pushing her head up, and Aurelia didn't know what was happening anymore. She screamed, and the hand squeezed. She could barely breathe, and her eyes dimmed. "Hurt them!" she heard herself cry.

It seemed like minutes but must have been only a second before the hold around her slackened. She turned in time to see the tall man fall to the ground, Nicholas standing over him. She sank, herself, and saw Garda equally incapacitated.

"What . . ." she began.

"They're out of it but not dead," Nicholas said curtly. "I've tied their wrists; should take them a while to get free. In the meantime, we walk."

He pulled his pack onto his shoulders and set off, not waiting to see if Aurelia was following or even how she was feeling.

She dragged herself up and trudged after him, wondering what the hell had happened. Why Nicholas was suddenly acting so strangely. She found that as her muscles loosened, she could fall into a rhythm and walk fairly easily, though slowly. Nicholas set a medium pace but kept a few paces between them.

She stared after him. Fine, then. Let him be that way. Whatever had happened, he was sulking and didn't want to talk to her. Whatever. She gritted her teeth and concentrated on walking.

***

After a couple of hours, Nicholas stopped and allowed her to catch up. He didn't speak, simply handed her a canister of water, made sure she drank, and set off again, still keeping a distance between them.

It wasn't until they stopped late in the day, when Nicholas had already begun the process of setting up the dome, that he finally spoke. "It'll be about an hour before the dome's solid. You can't take your breathing suit off," he said.