Chapter 315 - Picking up grandpa

Chapter 315: Chapter 315 - Picking up grandpa

Grandpa Rue had been awake long before sunrise.

There had been little point trying to sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, his mind returned to the glowing flower sitting carefully on the table beside him.

Jian’s face still hovered above its opened petals.

His grandson looked different.

The black hair Grandpa Rue remembered had become blond, and there was now a green gem between his brows. His features had matured too. He wasn’t the young man Grandpa Rue remembered worrying over anymore.

But those eyes were the same.

Grandpa Rue had recognized him immediately.

"Grandpa."

The little girl’s sleepy voice pulled him away from the projection.

She stood near the doorway with her hair sticking up on one side, hugging a bundle of clothes against her chest.

"You said we’re leaving today."

"We are."

"Then why aren’t you packed?"

Grandpa Rue looked down at the single bag beside his feet.

The girl followed his gaze.

"Oh."

From behind her, Quangya appeared carrying another bag. "She’s been awake for five minutes and already asked me six times when we’re leaving."

"I only asked four times!"

"Six."

"Four!"

Grandpa Rue chuckled and reached over to close the glowing flower. The projection of Jian disappeared as the petals folded together.

He carefully placed it inside his clothes.

They didn’t own much. Years of moving from place to place had taught them not to. Anything that couldn’t be packed quickly wasn’t worth keeping.

For years, that had simply been their life.

Move when they were told to move. Never tell strangers where they had come from. Never ask too many questions. Trust only the soldiers who carried the Crown Prince’s mark.

At first Grandpa Rue had hated it.

Then he’d realized those precautions were the reason all three of them were still alive.

A soft sound came from outside.

Quangya immediately stiffened.

Grandpa Rue put one hand on the girl’s shoulder before looking through the narrow crystal window.

A royal craft was descending through the trees.

The tension left his body.

"They’re here."

The little girl immediately ran for the door.

"Wait!"

Grandpa Rue caught her before she could throw it open.

Even now, after learning Jian was back, old habits remained.

He waited until someone knocked.

"Rue?"

He recognized the voice.

Only then did he open the door.

The Farian soldier standing outside smiled. "Ready to go home, old man?"

Grandpa Rue’s throat tightened.

Home.

He hadn’t considered any place home since leaving Earth.

But Jian was there.

That was enough.

"Yes," he whispered. "Take me to my grandson."

The craft rose above the forest less than twenty minutes later.

The little girl spent the first half hour with her face pressed against the window.

Gia stretched beneath them in shades of blue, silver and green. Crystal forests glittered under the twin suns, and distant rivers shone like golden threads cutting through the landscape.

"Is the palace bigger than this forest?"

"No," one of the soldiers answered patiently.

"Does Brother Jian have his own palace?"

"He has his own wing."

"What’s a wing?"

Quangya groaned and leaned his head against the seat.

Grandpa Rue smiled quietly.

For once, he didn’t mind the endless questions.

He sat near the window with both hands folded over his cane. Every few minutes, his fingers moved toward the flower hidden inside his clothes.

Soon.

A few more hours and he would see Jian.

He wondered if his grandson would still throw himself at him like he used to. Jian was a prince now. Perhaps princes were expected to behave with more dignity.

Grandpa Rue snorted softly.

Not his Jian.

The thought made his eyes sting.

He turned toward the window before the children could notice.

He had cried enough over the last few years.

The pilot’s voice suddenly came from the front.

"That’s strange."

Grandpa Rue looked up.

One of the soldiers immediately became alert. "What?"

"Our route just changed."

"Changed?"

"Navigation redirected us twelve degrees west."

The soldier stood. "Who authorized it?"

"No one."

The relaxed atmosphere inside the craft vanished.

The pilot’s hands moved quickly over the crystal controls.

"Switch back to the palace route."

"Trying."

A warning symbol appeared across the front panel.

Then another.

The pilot’s expression changed.

"Navigation isn’t responding."

Grandpa Rue instinctively reached for the little girl.

The soldier beside him touched his communicator. "Contact the capital."

A pause.

His face hardened.

"No signal."

Quangya stood. "What’s happening?"

"Sit down."

"But—"

"Now."

Something in the soldier’s voice made him obey immediately.

The craft suddenly jerked.

The little girl screamed.

Grandpa Rue grabbed her and pulled her against his chest as the entire cabin tilted sharply to one side. Bags slid across the floor, striking the opposite wall.

"What was that?"

"We lost one of the stabilizers!"

The pilot fought with the controls.

Another warning sounded.

"Second stabilizer is dropping!"

The soldier beside Grandpa Rue cursed and rushed toward the front.

"Emergency beacon."

"Not responding."

"Then manually activate it!"

"I am!"

The craft dropped.

Grandpa Rue’s stomach seemed to remain somewhere above them.

The little girl screamed into his chest.

"Grandpa!"

"I’ve got you."

He wrapped both arms around her and pulled Quangya closer with one hand.

"Stay down!"

Outside the window, the beautiful landscape was rushing toward them far too quickly.

They were descending toward a forest unlike the one they had left behind.

The trees were enormous and almost entirely black. Their trunks looked like polished glass, while thin crystalline branches stretched between them in tangled webs hundreds of feet above the ground.

One of the soldiers looked through the window and went pale.

"Not there."

The pilot glanced back.

"What?"

"Pull up! That’s the Veyr Forest!"

"I can’t!"

The engines screamed.

Grandpa Rue heard the name whispered among the soldiers, and he didn’t need to understand Gia’s geography to know it was bad.

The pilot managed to lift the nose seconds before they struck the canopy.

"Brace!"

Grandpa Rue bent over the children.

The first impact tore through the craft with a deafening crack.

Black crystalline branches shattered across the hull. The craft spun violently, throwing everyone sideways despite the restraints. Something struck Grandpa Rue’s shoulder, but he tightened his arms around the little girl instead of letting go.

Another impact.

Then another.

A section of the ceiling ripped open.

Cold air roared through the cabin.

One of the soldiers was thrown against the wall and went limp.

"Hold on!"

The craft smashed through the final layer of branches and struck the ground.

For several seconds, there was nothing but noise.

Then silence.

Grandpa Rue opened his eyes.

His ears were ringing.

Dust and tiny fragments of black crystal drifted through the ruined cabin.

The little girl was crying beneath him.

That was good.

Crying meant alive.

"Quangya?"

"I’m here."

His voice came weakly from beside them.

Grandpa Rue forced himself upright despite the pain in his shoulder.

"Are you hurt?"

"My head."

There was blood near Quangya’s hairline, but he was conscious.

The little girl clung tightly to Grandpa Rue’s clothes.

One of the soldiers groaned nearby.

Another didn’t move.

The pilot hung over his seat with blood running down his face.

"Is everyone alive?" someone shouted.

Answers came from different parts of the wreckage.

Not enough of them.

Grandpa Rue held the children close as one of the surviving soldiers forced open the damaged side door.

Outside, the forest was almost unnaturally dark despite the morning sun.

Black glass-like trees towered around them. Pale green moss glowed along their roots, casting faint light across the ground.

The soldier stepped outside and immediately raised his weapon.

"We need to get away from the craft."

The pilot coughed. "The beacon?"

"Dead."

"Communication?"

"Nothing."

The soldier looked toward the shattered navigation panel.

His expression became grim.

"This wasn’t an equipment failure."

Grandpa Rue heard him.

"What do you mean?"

The man hesitated before looking at him.

"Someone locked us out of our own navigation system."

Grandpa Rue’s blood ran cold.

Before anyone could say more, something moved between the trees.

The soldier spun around.

Everyone went silent.

For several seconds, Grandpa Rue saw nothing.

Then one of the black trunks seemed to shift.

A long translucent limb slowly unfolded from its surface.

The little girl buried her face against Grandpa Rue.

Another shape moved farther away.

Then another.

The soldier backed toward the wreckage, weapon raised.

"Everyone who can walk, get out. Now."

Grandpa Rue tightened his grip on his cane.

He had been only a few hours away from Jian.

So close.

He looked into the dark forest as more nearly invisible shapes began moving between the trees.

"Stay close to me," he whispered to the children. "Whatever happens, don’t run."

Far above the forest, the damaged royal craft’s final signal flickered once before disappearing completely.