A World To Lose

by Frances Ellen

  Then there was the floor of the Canyon itself. All along the river that snaked in between the high cliffs were hundreds of tents and horses and carriages.

  And Disciples.

  So many of them.

  Matu looked up. Everywhere above him, the sky had a cloudy, hazy look about it. The veil wasn’t just a single wall. It was like a dome, concealing the massive camp from onlookers and Saluverus’ sensors. The Disciples coming to the Canyon and disappearing weren’t going into the Underworld; they were just going behind the veil.

  “Get back,” Matu hissed.

  Another group of Disciples was heading for the entrance to the Underworld, and where the Asters were standing, they were incredibly exposed. All the Asters shot backwards and leaned against the cliffside of the trail; the Disciples jogged inside the entrance underneath the Asters, without spotting them.

  Once the Disciples had gone, the five of them stepped back onto the middle of the trail to take in the full scope of the Disciple camp. Fires were lit all along the river. There were larger tents with smoke coming out of a hole in the top, which were probably used for production of some kind, while there were also smaller tents, which were probably just for residential purposes.

  Matu risked leaning further out to study the trail near the entrance of the Underworld. There was a guard stationed on each side of the entrance, and then another guard every twenty feet along the trail all the way down to the floor of the Canyon. They were all dressed in stark black uniforms. White lines criss-crossed their armour and weapons; the colour of the North American Underworld.

  “Over there,” Sophie whispered.

  Matu turned to see what Sophie was looking at. She was pointing towards the tent right at the bottom of the Angel Trail. This tent was bigger than any other tent on the entire Canyon floor. It reminded Matu of a circus tent, with multiple turrets and a great circumference.

  A man had just stepped out of the front flaps. He was flanked by two heavily armed guards. Matu’s breath hitched as he saw the man’s hair that reminded him of liquid silver; from this distance Matu couldn’t see much else. But the hair was enough to give away the man’s identity.

  It was Mitrik.

  The North American King.

  “What is he doing here?” Sky hissed. He had only ever seen the North American King in pictures and drawings. Never had he thought they’d see him the second they stepped through the veil. Kings were usually more protective of themselves than that. Sky would’ve expected Mitrik to be somewhere deep in his Underworld territory; probably on some throne some ancient predecessor had made before he was born.

  “He’s cocky,” Lian muttered.

  “That could work in our favour,” Matu contemplated.

  “Or not,” Sophie warned. “He’s doing this for a reason. He’s been gathering these Disciples for the past two months. He knew we’d come sniffing eventually.”

  “Then why is he still here out in the open?” Lian asked. He freed the bow from his shoulder and reached to grab an arrow from his quiver. “I’ve got a clean shot.”

  Sophie reached out and placed a hand on Lian’s bow. “Don’t,” she said.

  “What? We’re never going to get a better chance than this,” Lian objected.

  “Remember what Axel said? No human or Affinite casualties. Those human hikers are down there somewhere. They’ll be dead the second we kill Mitrik. That’s why he’s out here. He knows exactly where we are, but that we can’t do anything to him,” Sophie whispered.

  Sky’s head whipped to his sister. “What? How could he possibly know that we’re here?”

  “That veil we just broke through? It’s like a protective bubble. It was only ever meant to keep us out. Humans can walk right through it, but once they see the other side and want to come back, they can’t. It only works one way,” Sophie explained.

  “But I just broke it,” Matu said.

  “You made a hole; you didn’t break it,” Sophie pointed out. Sky realised then that the veil still existed by the way the sky had a hazy look about it. “Which means we have a way out. But it also means that Mitrik would know the second we got here. We’re the only ones it’d keep out, and so the only ones who would damage it.”

  Sky nodded slowly. “So he knows we’re here. Why hasn’t he raised the alarm yet?”

  “Because he wants us to see something first,” Sophie said softly, speaking her thoughts out loud.

  “Like what?” Lian asked.

  “What about that?” It was the first time Nathan had spoken since they stepped through the veil. While the others had been fixated on the King standing right below them, Nathan had apparently been looking around the Canyon.

  Sky followed his brother’s pointing finger. Just a bit further along the river, but heading towards the large circus tent, was a line of people in chains.

  Humans. There was no mistaking them. They were all wearing similar shorts and t-shirts. And they were all wearing bulky boots that would’ve been perfect for hiking up and down the Grand Canyon trails. Some of the hikers had baseball caps on to shield their heads from the sun.

  Sky counted seven of them. He knew a total of fifteen humans were missing. Sky looked around the Canyon floor, but saw no other prisoners. His gaze returned to the seven they’d spotted. Their wrists were in handcuffs and their ankles were shackled as well. They shuffled along the riverside. There were two Disciples leading the hikers, two Disciples on either side of the third hiker, and another two Disciples bringing up the rear.

  The Asters watched as the seven hikers were brought up to Mitrik, who was still standing in front of the circus tent. He seemed to be speaking to them, but there was no way Sky would be able to hear what was being said. Not from this distance, anyway. And Sophie’s whispering wasn’t helping.

  “Will you shush?” Sky snapped at her. But when he looked over, he saw that Sophie’s Band was glowing and he realised she must be reciting a spell. When she was finished, she pulled back her hair from her right ear, and angled her head towards the Disciples and the King below them.

  “What are they saying?” Matu whispered. He also realised that Sophie had cast a spell that would improve her hearing to such an extent that she would be able to hear what was being said far below.

  Sophie didn’t answer. Sky turned his attention back below and saw that the Disciples were herding the humans towards the beginning of the trail that led up to the entrance of the Underworld.

  “They’re being taken to the cells,” Sophie told them. “Tonight, they’ll be the first in the ring.”

  “The ring?” Matu repeated unbelievably.

  Sky stared at the circus tent below them. It wasn’t the King’s quarters like he had assumed. No, the King was keeping something inside it, and it would be revealed tonight. Back in the Dark Ages, when the Kings each ruled a different continent of the Surface, humans were enslaved and Affinites were hunted for sport. Sky had heard that sentence about a thousand times in his history classes.

  Humans enslaved, and Affinites hunted for sport.

  But humans and Affinites had more uses: entertainment. The Kings’ fighting rings had been legendary. Humans were put up against humans, or Affinites against Affinites, or Disciples against either humans or Affinites. Bets were placed, blood was shed and people were killed. All for entertainment.

  It surprised Sky that Mitrik was busy resurrecting this tradition while also trying to reclaim the Surface of North America. The fighting rings were not the first thing that came to Sky’s mind when he thought of a King’s uprising. But here Mitrik was, having his first round of humans ready for this evening’s entertainment. Perhaps it was a way for the King to show the Asters and Affinites how easy it had been for him to set this up. He was cocky. And extremely sure of himself.

  Sophie turned to her brothers, her face a mask of worry. “We need to get them out.”

  “Well, obviously,” Sky snorted.

  Lian spoke before Sophie could snap something back. “What�
�s the plan? We can’t make a stand out here; there’s too many eyes watching.”

  “We save them from the inside and work our way out,” Matu decided.

  Sky peered over the edge and could just about see the entrance to the Underworld. He could see the start of a dark corridor behind the two men standing guard. “I can shimmer us just inside.”

  “We still have the guards to worry about. They’ll notice us the moment we appear,” Matu said.

  Sophie peered over the edge. “Those doors can close. If we’re fast enough, we can lock them out.”

  “And lock ourselves in,” Sky pointed out.

  “Can’t you shimmer us out?” Lian asked.

  “I probably can. But each Underworld comes with its own surprises,” Sky warned.

  “I can get us out via a different route if we need to,” Nathan said. “I can make a new corridor and doorway.”

  Sky nodded at his brother.

  “They’ll still come after us when we get out,” Lian said thoughtfully. “If Sky’s shimmer doesn’t work, we’ll need to create a diversion for Nate’s way to work.”

  “Then we split up,” Sophie said. “After we free the humans, we split up. One group to draw the Disciples away and the other to get the humans out.” She was still peering over the edge. “The humans have gone through the entrance. There are no additional guards going with them.”

  Matu reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “I’ll call David to be ready at the top.” He held the phone to his ear and walked away from the group, whispering to David.

  “We only need to get the humans to the veil,” Sophie realised. “Inside, they are under Mitrik’s protection. Those Disciples leading the humans, they’re lower ranked. They won’t dare follow us outside of their King’s protective bubble.”

  “What if we’re followed by higher-ranked Disciples?” Sky asked.

  “I doubt they’ll follow us further either. It’s just another move in his chess game. He showed off the humans, and we’re taking them back. Mitrik isn’t a fighter himself; our parents found that out during the war against Astaroth. He likes violence, sure, but he doesn’t fight himself. He’s more strategic than that. He’s just waiting for us to show our hand.”

  Nathan frowned. “Then those humans are a trap for us.”

  Sophie looked at him for a moment. The thought had crossed her mind, too. But they were humans. The Asters couldn’t exactly leave them to be put up against each other or up against Disciples in Mitrik’s fighting rings. They had to rescue them, and the Asters would have to deal with whatever trap was laid out for them afterwards.

  “Are we ready to go?” Matu asked, re-joining them after his call with David Hughes.

  Sky checked the fastenings of the backpack one last time, making sure they would not get in the way during a fight. Once he was sure, he exchanged looks with all of his siblings, to see if they were all ready and knew what the plan was. Each and every one of them was ready. Their eyes were alert, and they had their hands on the hilts of their signature weapons.

  Sky grinned. The anticipation of a fight waiting to happen was humming through his body.

  Matu nodded. “All right. Then let’s go.”

  Chapter 16

  Getting in wasn’t the problem. In fact, it was even easier than they had anticipated. The second Sky shimmered the five of them in right behind the two Disciples standing guard, it was only a matter of seconds before Lian and Matu had killed both guards, pushed them forward and out onto the trail, and closed the doors behind them.

  The doors just looked like two pieces of rock, but they fit perfectly in the space that was the doorway to the Underworld.

  But there was no lock.

  As easy as they had been to close, it would be as easy to open them again.

  “Nate; reinforcements,” Matu commanded.

  Nathan came up close to where Lian and Matu were now leaning against the doors so that the Disciples on the other side couldn’t break in. Their appearance, followed by the murder of the two guards, didn’t go unnoticed. It had never been the plan to remain invisible. Mitrik knew they were there. It would only be a matter of time before everyone else knew, too.

  Nathan’s Band glowed green, and from the sand rock walls suddenly tiny green vines poked through. In a matter of seconds, the vines grew larger, longer and thicker. They grew all across the doors, until there was only a wall of green where before there had been the two large rocks that had filled up the entrance to the outside.

  Nathan dropped his hands and nodded. They could hear the Disciples on the other side of the doors trying to bash their way in, but with a green wall like this, Sky had no doubt that they would be bashing and pushing for a long while. Sky didn’t exactly know how strong Nathan’s magic was, but by the way his brother had been training the past few weeks, Sky was pretty sure those Disciples would need a battering ram.

  They hurried down the corridor. They were not long behind the seven chained humans who had been taken through the entrance into the Underworld. This wasn’t like when they had gone into the South American Underworld with a tracker that led them right towards Josephine Stewart and the other captured Affinites. Here, the Asters had no way of tracking the humans, so the best they could do was to run quickly after them, and hope they wouldn’t lose them.

  The sound of chains clattering on the rocky ground helped them along. As softly as they could, the five Asters hurried through the corridors. As they turned one corner, they were suddenly faced with a group of five Disciples.

  The Disciples were dead seconds after they recognised the Asters for who they were. The Asters were clinical and fast, and moved on very quickly, Sky leading the way.

  The clanking of the metal chains around the humans’ ankles came closer and closer. As soon as Sky felt they were only a few feet away, he slowed down. They had come to the end of a corridor and Sky made himself stop. He peered around the corner and saw what he had expected. The humans weren’t guarded heavily. The six Disciples that had been around them before were now accompanied by only two more. The humans were standing still while one of the front two Disciples was busy opening a large metal door. Sky knew that they had to free the humans before that door was opened. He couldn’t shimmer to a place he had never seen before, or didn’t know the coordinates of. He couldn’t shimmer to the other side of a locked door without knowing what the other side looked like. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that these Disciples were going to lock the humans up inside. The Asters had to act now.

  Sky turned his head and whispered, “Eight. Two in front, two back, four centre.”

  The other Asters nodded. Sky placed his hand on Sophie’s shoulder, and readied himself for a shimmer. He waited for Nathan to unsheathe the second broadsword from his back, and for Lian to free the dagger from his wrist. Lian’s bow and quiver were slung across his shoulder. In these close quarters the bow was useless.

  Both boys nodded to Sky when they were ready. Matu didn’t need to draw any weapons – he was already wearing his knuckle knives – and Sophie already had her hand on her rapier sword.

  Sky nodded once, and shimmered. He and Sophie vanished, and appeared right in between the metal door and the Disciple trying to open it.

  “Surprise,” Sky said, grinning as utter shock appeared in the Disciple’s eyes. He was dead before he could reach for his weapon. Sky trusted that Sophie finished off the other Disciple near the front. He used his magic of Speed and shot past the first two humans who looked absolutely bemused, and drove his short spear straight through the heart of one of the four Disciples. Lian was there too, his dagger slicing through a female Disciple’s throat.

  There was a crunch behind Sky and without looking he knew that Matu had taken on the two rear-Disciples by himself. Nathan was on the other side, and after a few swings of his two broadswords the final two Disciples were dead on the ground.

  Sky smirked. There was blood on his face, but he didn’t mind the stickiness of
it. The five of them worked as a perfect fighting machine, and he loved it.

  “Who are you people?” one of the humans gasped.

  Sky turned and found a man, probably in his forties, staring at him. His skin was grey and his lips were dry and crusty. Sky didn’t want to think about how long these humans had been kept without water or food. Even if Sophie healed all of them, she couldn’t exactly fill their stomachs with food to give them energy. And somehow, they would have to get out of here while being chased by Disciples.

  “Long story,” Sky said dismissively. “Which you won’t remember.”

  He turned to Sophie, who had picked up the keys that had been dropped by the Disciple in front of the metal door. There were only three keys on the ring, one large, presumably for the door, and two smaller ones. Sky walked towards her just as she tried the first of the small keys in the locks around the ankles of the human closest to her. The lock sprang open with a click.

  Sophie then stood up and tried the other key on the handcuffs around the woman’s wrists.

  “Won’t work,” the woman rasped. Sky looked up and stared at her. Her dark hair was dusty and tangled. Her skin was pale like the man further back, and she looked tired, so very tired.

  “Why not?” Sky snapped.

  “He gave the keys for our wrists to the white-haired man with the weird eyes,” explained the man who had spoken to Sky before. “Said they’d be taken off in the ring. What was he talking about?”

  Sky stared at the man for a moment. “You don’t want to know.”

  Sophie had turned her attention to the ankles of a younger woman, possibly in her thirties, who was the second in line.

  “You’re very cryptic in your answers,” the man said pointedly.

  Sky shot the man a dangerous look, but before he could say anything else to shut him up, Lian intervened.

  “What’s your name, sir?” Lian asked.

  “It’s John,” the man answered. “You have to help my family—my family…”

  Sky looked at the other humans in the group. There were a teenage boy and girl of about sixteen years old at the back. In front of them stood John and another two men of a similar age – one Caucasian and the other looked Chinese. And then at the front were two middle-aged women, also Caucasian and Chinese.