by Dan Allen
Heavy footsteps sounded from the direction of the warship’s first landing site.
“Dana!”
“Ryke, over here.”
Ryke ran toward her. He stopped and nodded to the aliens. “Hope those big metal mechanodrons back there weren’t yours.”
“Not ours,” Monique said.
“Good.”
Dana gasped. “The thunder bison got them?”
Ryke spun his staff and stuck it in the ground. “I might have helped a little.” He smiled proudly. “It’s hard to hit a target when you aren’t the only thing moving your weapon.”
“Ryke is a warlock,” Dana explained. “He can move things with his mind.”
“It wasn’t pretty,” Ryke said. “For the mechanodrons.”
Dana looked to Jet. His eyes were closed. “Jet!”
He didn’t wake.
“We’ve got to get him to the sanctum—wait. Someone is coming.”
From the direction of the city, Kaia and Mirris bounded up on two greeders.
“These are the people from the other worlds,” Dana said, pointing to Jet and Monique, who crouched over his still body. “He needs medicine.”
“I’ll take him by wagon,” Kaia said. She turned her greeder to reveal a two-wheeled cart with a makeshift bed tethered to her greeder’s harness.
“I’ll bring Dana,” Mirris volunteered.
“Okay. I’ll wait here for the next satellite to come around this side of the planet,” Monique said. “I need to let Decker know I’m down here.” Her eyes moved from Dana to Jet. “I really hope you know what you’re doing.”
Dana swallowed. “Me, too.”
Chapter 33
It’s all going to be over soon, Dana told herself as she stepped into the stiflingly hot exalting chamber. Just finish this. Then you can heal Jet . . . and Forz.
“The mechanodron is here.” Remira said, from inside the chamber. “I just added the sap.”
“Does it work?” Dana whispered. She would soon find out.
The temperature in the geothermally heated chamber was extreme. Breathing felt almost like drinking a scalding liquid. Dana lay down in the center of the low-ceilinged chamber and rested her head in the cooling pan.
It wasn’t yet offering any cooling.
Kaia looked into the ka’s goblet. “The bloodstone has already begun to melt.” Her voice the tone of a nurse performing a medical procedure. “It’s bigger than the last time I saw it. What’s happened to it?”
“Conquest,” Dana said. “The colony now reaches to the canyons above Norr.”
“Holy Veil of the Creator . . . can she even consume it all?”
“She has to try,” said Remira. “A partial transfer would cause a bad first judgment.”
Dana looked around the chamber. “I wish Ryke was here.”
“Ryke must stay away from the chamber, for his own sake. Now listen to me,” Remira said. “Once enough ruling sayathi unite to form a new bloodstone in your body, you will sense them, but you will not control them.”
Dana didn’t understand what she was saying.
“Listen to me, Dana,” Remira held her gaze. “The first judgment is made by the sayathi. And it can be deadly.”
“Who—”
“Korren is meditating outside the chamber. Once you connect with the ruling sayathi, you must reach him first, not Ryke.”
“Why Korren?”
“Korren was chosen when you were. It is our hope that your first contact will pass without incident.”
Dana could hardly believe her ears. “Pass?”
“If the host is unsuitable, the sayathi will compel any Xahnan bound to the collective to kill the host.”
“Kill me?” Dana suddenly understood why they had not chosen Ryke.
“I’m sorry I didn’t mention it earlier. But you’re not one to balk at a risk—I hope.”
It was true, but that didn’t make it any less terrifying. Her heart beat quickly within her. “I’m scared.”
“We’re all scared,” Kaia said.
“The bloodstone has completed the melt,” said Remira. “We must begin.”
Kaia lifted Dana to a sitting position. The cup that sat in the corner of the sacred pool was handed to her once again. This time instead of green-glowing water, it contained an iridescent, sap-like liquid.
“Quickly,” Kaia urged. “Consume it all before the ruling sayathi are destroyed by the heat and contact with air.”
Dana brought the cup to her mouth. A bitter salty flavor touched her lips. Her mouth filled with the viscous liquid. The urge to gag rose up as she tried to swallow.
She forced a swallow, then another. She continued as Remira’s hand coaxed the cup higher. The last of the melt slid into her mouth and down her throat. The mass of molten sayathenite seemed even heavier in her stomach.
The moment Dana swallowed, Kaia laid her back down. Her head fell into the pan of water. In the corner of her field of view she could see the arm of Forz’s mechanodron turning slowly.
Dana prayed the device would keep her alive.
“We can’t stay with you,” whispered Kaia. “It’s too hot.”
Dana gave a small nod as a massive ache formed in her stomach. She cried out in pain as Kaia gave her hand one last squeeze.
Alone.
Dana’s breathing became shallow and quick.
Don’t let me die. Don’t let me die.
Her stomach cramped horribly.
Dana calmed herself. It was now a race to see how quickly the sayathi could move into her bloodstream and reform their colony, and how long her body could sweat before heat exhaustion and dehydration killed her.
Dana put her thoughts on Jet and Forz. She had to survive this. It was the only way to help them. Dana fixed their faces in her mind. But it was not enough. The world spun. Once again vertigo assaulted her.
I’m going into shock.
Dana glanced up at the twin mechanodron arms in the corner of her vision, one spinning quickly to maintain its own temperature, and the second moving more slowly, dribbling small crystals into the reservoir of water which circulated through the pan that Dana’s head lay in.
Though it was wet against her head, the pan did not feel cool. The humidity in the chamber was so high that neither the water, nor the sweat on her skin, would evaporate quickly.
Dana’s stomach felt as if a belt were tightening around her, the cramps increasing in intensity. She resisted the urge to roll into a fetal position. She had to lie still. If the sayathi were disturbed as they built their new colony, the process would only take longer.
Minutes passed like hours. Dana lost all sense of time, feeling only her breath growing more rapid and shallow. Dizziness swallowed her. The muscles of her legs cramped, seizing angrily.
Dana cried out in pain as the calves of her legs knotted. The pain only added to the urge to vomit. It became almost unbearable. Dana choked down heave after heave, and with each one the convulsions of her stomach became more violent. Soon she would lose all control. The precious ruling sayathi would be lost.
Help me!
The tone of clicking changed in the mechanodron beside her head. Its arm began turning more quickly.
It was running out of crystals. It would continue to speed up, cooling the water behind her head.
As the water behind her head began to siphon away heat, a sharp pain flared in the center of her forehead, burning over the recent scar from her collision with Ryke’s staff and her blood sacrifice. More blisters of pain erupted on her temples, behind her ears, the back of her neck, her shoulders. But even this burning was nothing compared to the viper’s embrace. Dana accepted the pain, welcomed it. For within her she felt a new presence, one far more elegant than the sayathi that already swarmed within her.
It was purer, more vulnerable, old and young in one, wise and utterly ignorant. It was searching, probing outward, reaching for its own.
The mechanodron arm continued to accelerate, dumping m
ore cooling crystals in the pan. The burning on Dana’s forehead intensified.
The crystal—it’s forming!
Dana’s breathing eased. The burning spread across her forehead, to her shoulders and arms. She hoped the crystals weren’t forming in her bloodstream.
Suddenly, the sayathi presence swarmed her mind, an invasion like nothing Dana had ever experienced. The collective raided her essence, stripping back every wall of self-defense, unveiling every insecurity, every secret desire, ransacking banished memories. It was a kind of torment Dana had never prepared for. Every wrong, every mistake, every weakness was exposed like bare skin before the heat of a smith’s stoked forge. The colony tasted this essence, the guilt, the weakness, the selfish desires.
Dana wept at her imperfect past. So much of it she had hidden away. Two precious tears rolled from the corners of her eyes.
Dana’s mind was no longer separable from the pull of the colony. In a rush toward ecstasy, Dana’s mind crashed through the veil, and the sayathi collective stretched out in a torrent, thrusting their will into the nearest reservoir.
It was Korren they sensed—she sensed.
Dana felt Korren’s body as one with hers, knees folded, eyes closed. He fell forward. Dana forced his lungs to breath. She forced his legs to stand.
No, it wasn’t her doing it. It was the sayathi.
He opened the metal door and came to her side. What she saw through his eyes made her gasp.
A great jewel shone in center of her forehead with blue-green opalescence.
Korren did not speak. His mind reached into hers, pushing the idea into her as easily as a knife through the skin of a fruit.
This is first judgment.
Something about his voice seemed wrong. Dana knew it not from intuition, but from the taste of the words. She was sensing something new, something she had never before had access to.
His emotions.
Bitterness.
Chapter 34
Korren’s words again sliced into her consciousness. Dana felt instantly violated.
“It seems you have passed,” Korren said aloud. “The sayathi have not compelled me to kill you.”
Why is Korren not smiling? Why is he not happy for me? Why isn’t he helping me up?
“She is weak from dehydration.” Korren’s lips turned up slightly. “And she hasn’t made contact with the collective yet. This won’t be hard. Once she is dead, the bloodstones will be safe to remove.”
With a jolt, Dana realized it had been Korren’s private thought. He was plotting to kill her.
“But first,” Korren spoke aloud. His hands emerged from the pockets of his robe. One held a small waterskin flask, and in the other a bag. He upended the bag into the mechanodron, refilling its reservoir of cooling crystals. Then he removed the lid to the glass fuel sap canister and topped it off with more fuel sap from his waterskin.
He’s resetting the mechanodron—for himself!
Korren reached into his pocket and drew out a knife. He was going to cut out the bloodstone.
Dana thrust herself into his mind and to her astonishment found no thought of loyalty to Vetas-ka. All she found were fragments of thoughts and memories, all directed to the Pantheon—their demand for absolute loyalty, their terms, and their promise of support. Korren was in the pay of the Pantheon.
So, the Aesican congress of supremes was a racket! Those loyal to their unified will were given power. Those who did not—perhaps assassinated?
That meant Aesican cities were not actually free to choose their own supreme. The situation was far from the ideal she had imagined in Norr.
And Korren, it seemed, had promised loyalty to the Aesican Pantheon. Through him as ka, the Aesican Pantheon would control Shoul Falls.
Perhaps Vetas-ka had discovered that and tried to get the stone first. And Sindar had likely fled to keep it from the Pantheon of Aesica. He might not have even known about the Vetas-kazen until it was too late.
Korren loomed over her, his long back bent over by the low ceiling of the cavern and his face a mask of impassive cruelty.
Dana’s breath caught in her throat. She wasn’t holding it—Korren was. His adept ability seized the bones in her ribs and diagram, preventing them from moving air.
“Judging by your current state, your time is running out.” Korren said aloud. “Thank you for saving the bloodstone, Dana. The Pantheon appreciates your sacrifice.” His face formed an odd sort of expression that hinted at remorse, but only enough to make the wild conviction behind his intent more terrifying.
Dana gathered all the will she could muster and thrust herself into the veil, calling out for help.
Ryke!
From the effort, Dana lost all sensation for a moment. Only the beat of her heart told her she was still alive. But she was still helpless.
Footsteps came, quick and powerful. They sounded through Dana, as if she were the mountain and Ryke were running through her.
Korren raised his knife and leaned over Dana’s forehead.
Ryke!
Ryke’s clear-thinking mind reached into hers. “I can’t reach you in time. No one can. You have to defend yourself.”
How?
“Use my gift.”
Dana’s consciousness slid into Ryke’s, and to her astonishment a new connection to the veil opened before her, like another limb. Dana flexed it, feeling Ryke’s powerful will course through this new means of transferring control.
Korren knelt over Dana and thrust the blade toward her forehead.
Drawing on Ryke’s power, Dana willed the knife to turn. It twisted in Korren’s grip, diving toward the wrist of his other arm.
The knife sliced across his wrist. Korren gave a shriek of pain. Reflexively, he dropped the knife and clamped his hand over the gash. The running blood spread between his fingers.
Korren looked at her with rage in his eyes. Dana’s windpipe closed. Blood pounded in her head. Spots filled her vision as Korren’s will clamped on her neck in a choke hold. Dana didn’t know how to resist. Then a force pulled at the stone in the center of her forehead, yanking it upward.
He’s going to tear it out of me with his will!
Instinctively, Dana channeled Ryke’s gift, drawing on it as deeply as a drowning person gasped for breath. “Get away!” A burst of kinetic force slammed Korren back against the wall of the cavern. His skull cracked against the stone, but his gaze did not blink. Dana cried out as the force on the stone in her forehead intensified. Then Ryke burst into the chamber.
Korren turned toward the new threat, but his will was being channeled into preventing Dana from moving. With one hand clenched on his bleeding arm, he had no chance to defend himself.
Ryke’s staff swung, connecting with Korren. The kazen’s consciousness disappeared instantly from Dana’s mind.
Ryke knelt. She felt her body lifted. Fresh cool air enveloped Dana as Ryke carried her from the cavern.
“Dana-ka, you have to lower your temperature,” Ryke said.
“I can’t.” Dana delved into herself but found no way to force the sayathi to cool her. She hadn’t yet found that connection. She didn’t know which kazen or acolyte had it.
“Well, there’s an easy way.”
Dana gasped as Ryke waded into the chill waters of the underground river that ran through the sanctum. The water enveloped her, painfully at first, until Dana realized that she no longer ached at all.
Dana’s thoughts spread beyond her body, soaring once again through the veil, seeking her colony.
Suddenly it was as if her mind lit with thousands of candles, first eager acolytes and guarded kazen, then children, parents, grandparents—every soul in Shoul Falls.
The brilliance overwhelmed her.
Something wet touched her lip, and Dana opened her eyes to find Ryke’s hand offering her water.
Ryke poured the luxurious liquid into her mouth. Dana swallowed small amounts at time, conscious of the pulse of excitement that rose from the twenty
thousand wills bound to the ruling sayathi within her.
“I’m tired, Ryke,” Dana whispered.
“Yeah, but you’re alive.”
“Thank you,” Dana whispered. “Is Jet here?”
“In a room nearby,” he said. “Can you heal him?”
“I think I need Kaia. But I’m really . . . really . . .”
As Ryke stepped out of the river, the sounds of approaching feet filled Dana’s ears. But she could resist fatigue no longer, and she slipped into a welcome slumber.
She woke, feeling as though she had slept for days, and found herself in a room—obviously in the sanctum, but one she had never been in. It was lit by lanterns and well furnished. The roar of the falls reached her through the wooden door.
Oh no. I slept too long! Jet could be dead.
Dana reached out and touched the veil, a ripple spreading through the thousands of bound wills, echoing back from all those who were conscious—it was still daytime.
Dana numbered her new family. Wishes and greetings welled up en masse, but there were no desperate pleas, yet. Perhaps the people of Shoul Falls were merely being polite.
Dana appreciated it.
A single query touched her mind.
“May I enter, Dana-ka?” The words reached her through the door as well. Kaia was speaking aloud, but what she had sensed with her mind included not only words, but her intent and anxiety as well.
“Enter.”
It seemed like a nice formal thing to say.
The door opened, and Kaia stepped in. “Are you feeling well, Dana-ka?”
Dana sat up on her elbows. “Fantastic, actually. How long did I sleep?”
“About seventeen minutes.”
“What?”
Kaia shrugged. “You’re a supreme, Dana-ka. You’ve got better things to do than sleep.”
“Alright. Let’s take care of this alien.”
Dana followed Kaia quickly through the dim corridor. Her long sleeves were still damp with the sweat of her ordeal. In a small cavern lit by three glow candles, Jet rested on a clean white blanket.
“The spray used by the alien is similar to caiman elixir. It stopped most of the bleeding,” Kaia explained. “But there’s damage to an organ in his abdomen. It has a lot of blood vessels. Perhaps it is a liver—but judging by the larger size, it appears they only have one, not two like us. I don’t think it’s a very good idea to only have one liver. But I’m not the Creator. Anyway, if that organ dies, he will die.”