Taboo Online

Red Hound did not allow the branded leader to leave the steel depot immediately.

The prisoner remained inside a ceramic containment frame while medics treated the damage caused by his own anchor harness. Separate restraints immobilized his torso and both arms, while the segmented gauntlet around his marked hand prevented his fingers from closing into another pattern.

Every section of black machinery removed from the chamber was sealed before the evidence crews carried it upstairs.

Nobody attempted to cut the brands from the leader’s body.

Whatever those marks had become, removing them could wait until the Bureau understood what doing so might trigger.

The eight captive workers had already been transported to a hospital. All seven collaborators were secured, no new heat signatures had appeared anywhere inside the depot, and engineering teams had confirmed that the receiving system could no longer function.

Engineering had destroyed the twelve Ashline sockets and isolated the hardwired Route Nine connection, leaving the outer frame completely dead.

Red Hound studied the operation board one final time before removing the steel depot from the active-threat list.

"Notify North Basin before we move him."

Nobody needed to ask why.

Aelira had required notification before captured Ruinborn elites or critical evidence were moved from cleared sites unless an immediate danger made waiting impossible. Red Hound had honored that agreement throughout the hunt.

The last prisoner would receive the same treatment.

The liaison officer sent a simple pictogram sequence to North Basin.

BRANDED LEADER.

ALIVE.

CAPTURED.

GATE CLOSED.

TRANSPORT NEXT.

The answer took several minutes.

AELIRA ACKNOWLEDGED.

THALEN RETURN.

PRISONER ALIVE.

Red Hound showed the response to Thalen.

The Rootkeeper read it twice before looking toward the containment frame.

The man inside had helped destroy his kingdom.

Months earlier, perhaps even days earlier, Thalen might have walked toward him anyway. This time, he did not.

He pressed one fist against his chest, turned away from the prisoner, and headed for the transport assigned to the task group.

Luke watched him from his field chair.

"He wanted to kill him once."

Lauren remained beside the chair with one hand resting lightly against it. "Yes."

"He didn’t even go near him."

"He had an order from his Queen."

Luke followed Thalen with his eyes. "That probably wouldn’t have stopped me a few months ago."

Lauren was quiet for a moment before answering.

"No. It probably wouldn’t have."

She did not turn the observation into another lesson.

Luke appreciated that.

The field medic crouched beside him and removed one sensor from the ceramic sleeve before attaching another near his elbow.

"Try moving your fingers."

Luke looked down at his right hand.

His smallest finger responded first. The movement was weak, but it happened. After several seconds, the next finger bent slightly as well.

The others barely moved.

"About the same," he said.

"Any numbness?"

"Still there."

"Cold?"

Luke waited before answering, making sure.

"No."

The medic studied the readings.

"The abnormal signal is still inside your wrist. Nothing has disappeared just because it stopped reacting."

"I know."

"You’re going back to Shaw before anyone gets excited and decides this means you’re fixed."

Luke settled the hand against his sling. "All right."

The medic looked up at him.

"What?"

"I expected an argument."

Luke glanced toward the ruined chamber below. "I’m too tired."

Lauren’s fingers brushed his left shoulder.

"That explanation is becoming useful."

"I can argue later if everyone misses it."

The medic stood before Luke could prove the point.

A faint warmth moved through his weakened bond with Lauren beneath her touch.

Their resonance still lacked the strength it had once possessed inside Powerforge, but he could feel her relief clearly enough.

The known part of the Ruinborn Hunt was finally ending.

Neither of them was ready to guess what came after it.

The task group returned to North Basin without any of the prisoners.

The hammer wielder, decay wielder, masked woman, and branded leader remained at separate Bureau containment sites chosen for their abilities and medical conditions.

None came anywhere near the Heartroot.

Lauren sat beside one of the nearest silver roots and placed her palm against the bark.

Meaning opened around her.

Aelira’s presence reached her immediately.

The Queen remained on her medical cot beneath the Heartroot, although she was sitting upright now. Fresh bandages showed beneath the damaged edges of her clothing and armor, while the Thornmender beside her watched every movement with the patience of someone already expecting Aelira to ignore medical advice.

Red Hound stopped outside the nearest root line.

Four secure feeds opened on the Bureau display beside him.

The hammer wielder appeared first, restrained inside a reinforced containment room.

Another feed showed the thin decay wielder under medical observation, with both hands isolated from anything living.

The masked woman occupied a third site. Segmented ceramic restraints still enclosed her fingers so she could not form another thread pattern.

The final feed showed the branded leader unconscious beneath medical monitors, his marked hand sealed inside its own containment shell.

Red Hound looked toward Aelira.

"All four are alive."

Lauren carried the message through the Heartroot.

The Queen’s gaze moved slowly across the screens.

Hammer.

"Alive."

Decay.

"Alive."

The woman with the threads.

"Alive."

Aelira’s fingers tightened against the silver bark.

And the branded one?

Red Hound looked toward the final feed.

"Alive."

The Queen closed her eyes.

Lauren felt no relief through the Heartroot and no satisfaction either. Grief passed through the connection instead, quiet and heavy enough that she did not need words to understand it.

Hundreds of elves had survived the fall of Lethariel, but many more had not. The four people on those screens had helped turn the kingdom into something its survivors could never return to.

When Aelira finally answered, her composure had returned.

Good.

Luke had expected something harsher.

Lauren had not.

Aelira looked toward the four prisoners again.

The dead answer nothing.

Red Hound gave a small nod. "That’s why they’re breathing."

The Queen’s attention moved to Thalen.

The Rootkeeper stood several yards behind Red Hound with the ceramic guard still covering one arm and the Bureau-issued cutter secured at his waist.

Aelira spoke to Thalen in their own language.

Lauren did not translate.

Thalen lowered his head as he listened. Whatever passed between Queen and Rootkeeper remained between them.

When he finally straightened, Aelira turned toward Red Hound.

He will continue.

Lauren translated.

Red Hound glanced toward Thalen. "As the task-group representative?"

As my representative wherever your people continue investigating those who destroyed Lethariel.

Red Hound considered the wording.

"The temporary task group was authorized for the Ruinborn Hunt. That operation is ending."

Aelira’s expression did not change.

Does your investigation end because you caught four people?

"No."

Then neither does his responsibility.

The senior Bureau official near the command post shifted uncomfortably before speaking.

"Any permanent foreign liaison arrangement requires approval above field command."

Lauren passed the statement through the Heartroot without softening it.

Aelira’s reply came cold and precise.

Then seek approval.

Red Hound looked toward the official.

"That sounds reasonable."

The official returned a long stare.

Red Hound ignored it.

"He completed three off-root drills, operated under Bureau command during multiple city actions, assisted in three elite captures, and followed capture orders when killing the target would have been easier. Put all of that in the recommendation."

Thalen could not understand the English conversation, but his wrist display showed enough accompanying pictograms for him to recognize his own name and the field-protocol designation.

He looked toward Aelira.

The Queen gave one small nod.

Formal approval would take longer, but Thalen had already accepted the duty.

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