by Joshua King
“I can do whatever I want. The magic of the portal belongs to me and it is my choice how to control the use of it.”
“That’s true,” I said. “The portal is yours and it is your choice what price must be paid. But not that. You can’t take her from us.”
“It has already begun.”
Gora stretched his arms out and the light glinted from the sharp, jagged crystals that made up his body.
“What can I do? You haven’t charged me a price. Choose one. What price can I pay to save Lilly?”
I glanced back to check on her and saw the stone was now over her hip. If the progress continued at that speed, soon she wouldn’t be able to move. I didn’t know how deep the stone went or the effect it was actually having on her body. Gora said she was becoming a part of the mountain, but the stone seemed to be creeping along the top of her skin like it was containing her rather than transforming her. If it was converting her body to solid rock, it would soon get to the center of her body and encase or destroy her internal organs. I knew very little about succubi and what they may be vulnerable to, but I couldn’t imagine even a vampire of my kind could withstand being turned to solid stone.
My offer seemed to intrigue Gora, whose arms lowered back to his side as his head tilted back and forth in a strange, slithering way that made my hair rise up on my arms and the back of my neck. I had his attention, but he hadn’t relented.
“There is no way to restore the mountain, Gora. I know the miners took so much from you, but no matter what you do, you can’t change that. Even if you totally transform Lilly to stone, she won’t replace the pieces that are gone. It won’t be a restoration, it will be a replacement. There has to be something else. There has to be something else I can do for you that will help you.”
22
“There may be something,” Gora finally said.
His voice had gotten softer, but not in a way that was by any means comforting.
“What is it?” I asked.
“After the deaths of the men who came here, the mines went quiet. They have been that way for a very long time, but now they have woken up again. That is something I can’t tolerate. I don’t want anyone in the mines ever again.”
“So, you want me to get the people out of the mine and keep them from going back?” I asked.
“It’s not as easy as that,” he said. That seemed to be a favorite assertion of his and I was getting tired of hearing it. “This isn’t like the first time. Then the people were coming and taking things away. Now they are moving through the mines and leaving things there. I don’t know what it is or why they are doing it. But there is something more.”
“What is it?”
“They’ve blocked one of the springs moving through my rocks. These are my veins and they run with water that is unlike any other water throughout the Underworld. This water is precious and they are destroying it. They have blocked the spring and the water is being spilled and lost.”
“The giants use a spring as a shower,” I told him.
“They treasure the water and allow it to flow back into the source. Those who have invaded the mines let the water be wasted. If you can find out what they are doing and what they have left inside the mines, and unblock the spring to restore the flow of the water, I will stop the spell on Lilly and return her to her original form. Her debt will be paid in full.”
“Done,” I said. “Whatever they’re doing, I’ll find out. We’ll secure the mines and reclaim the spring.”
“I’ll hold you to your word,” Gora said.
“We don’t know how long it’ll take to do this,” I pointed out. “We’ll go as fast as we can, but it might take time. At this rate of her transformation, Lilly will be completely changed by the end of the day.”
“For now, I will pause the process. She will stay the way she is right now until you can come back and prove to me you have done what you’ve promised.”
We stepped toward each other and I held my hand out to him. He examined it for a second and I realized he might not know the gesture. Stepping even closer, I took his hand in mine. The crystals were warm against my palm, but the sharp edges reminded me not to feel too at ease with him. Our hands fell away from each other and Gora stepped back.
“I can barely move,” Lilly said.
“You have to help her,” Brielle pleaded. “Remove some of the stone. Just a small amount.”
“I agree to your terms,” Lilly said. “I know these mountains. When I still lived among my kind in our village, it was close by here. I’ve visited many times, well before I ever used the portal.”
“I remember,” Gora said. “You were so young then, but I can still remember the way you climbed on my rocks and splashed in my streams. It’s why it surprised me when you went through the portal like you did.”
“It’s only a portal!” Ashe snapped. “How can you be so cruel? All she did was go through one time because what it really was had been kept from her and she wanted to know. She isn’t the one who did any harm.”
“Stop, Ashe,” Lilly said. “Thank you, but you don’t need to argue. What I did was wrong in his eyes and that’s all that matters. We are visitors to him and he deserves to be respected. This has to be done. My dues must be paid and even though I can’t pay them fully on my own, I’m willing to do whatever it takes. Leave as much stone in place as you need to, but please just allow me to move enough to help them. You know I know this area.”
“You’ve seen the mine,” Gora said. “You didn’t know what it was then, but you’ve seen it. Bring him to it.”
He reached out for her and let his fingertips run along her hip. As he did, the stone melted away. Her arm and hand remained solid and pale, but she could move and a smile came to her lips.
“Thank you,” she said.
He didn’t respond, but turned and headed further down the tunnel. We followed him back along the way we’d followed and soon found ourselves in another chamber. He walked us to a place near the far side of the space and raised one hand above his head. It moved down in a slow sweeping gesture and as it did, the ceiling overhead opened and rocks tumbled down to form a staircase that led back up out of the mountain.
“Go now,” he said. “Return when you’ve fulfilled your task.”
We climbed up the stairs and with each step I felt like he was going to change his mind and make the steps collapse so the debris would bring us back down to him. Finally, though, I could feel the outside air and inhaling filled my lungs with the scent of plants and sunlight rather than the cold stone deep within the mountain. As soon as we were away from the steps, the ground closed around them, leaving the space looking like nothing had happened.
“Are we really going to do this?” Jaxxim asked.
“Seriously?” I asked. “Did you really just ask that question? You are standing there not three feet away from a woman who looks like an amputee who tried to steal a prosthetic from a sculpture garden, wondering if we’re actually going to follow through with the one thing that might save her? Not to ignore the fact that I gave my word and you think I should be able to just toss that away without it meaning anything. We’re just going to go ahead and put a pin in that and revisit it later if our regularly scheduled program doesn’t run over. What I’m curious about is what’s going through your mind right now when you look at Lilly. You think she can just go about her life made partially of stone and it won’t matter? She can just adapt to a new mineral composition?”
“I only meant you were in such a hurry to leave the giants because you want to get to Malakan and keep progressing with your Sanctification,” he said. “He might have told the giants to expect us and entrusted Valmont with more instructions for us, but I highly doubt he had any idea any of this would happen.”
“We came here to the mountain for the first step in my Sanctification, but there’s a reason Malakan chose the way he sent us. He didn’t have to lead us to the train and the village so we could go to the inn and use that portal to
get here. There were much simpler ways. He made that decision deliberately and I believe it was so we would find Lilly. She’s meant to be a part of our group and that was the only way we’d find her. Now we have to do what needs to be done to protect her.”
“Why can’t we just ask the giants for help?” Bex asked.
“What do you mean?’
“Gora is obviously still loyal to the giants. He referred to them as his family and he must be who the first giant grew up with. I don’t think they do a lot of interacting, but they are important to him to the point that he overlooks Malakan using the portal. Valmont gave you that necklace so you could call for his help when you need it. Call him and let him talk to Gora. He can speak up for us and may be able to sway Gora.”
“No,” Lilly said. “That’s not how this needs to be done.”
“She’s right,” I said. “Gora is angry because of the way he was treated by the miners. Trying to manipulate him by using the pity of the giants isn’t going to make the situation any better. This needs to be handled on his terms. We all knew the risks of using the portals at any point in this journey. It’s not like it was a surprise. You all have told me that going through the portals carries a price and sometimes that price is very high. This is our price for using the portal to get here. Traveling that way is what Malakan wanted from us, and maybe willingly offering ourselves to Gora’s price is, too.”
“But Gora never said this was the price for us,” Bex pointed out. “He said if we could take care of what is happening on the mountain for him, Lilly’s debt will be paid in full. There was no mention of any of us or what he might think we owe him.”
“We will owe him nothing,” I told them confidently. “Together we will find the mines and who has decided to take them over again. When we get rid of them and whatever it is they are packing, then figure out how to fix the spring and get the water flowing again, we go back to him and use it as leverage to get him to release all of us from our debt.
“I’m with you,” Bex said.
“Still am,” Bugs agreed.
The women nodded their agreement and I turned to Jaxxim.
“I promised my loyalty to you once, Hayden, and I meant it. If this is what you think we need to do, then I’ll be there with you.”
“Thank you, Jaxxim.” I looked at Lilly. “You know these mountains. What’s next? Where do we go?”
“Gora brought us to an area of the mountain that is closer to the mines, but it is still a distance. We’ll have to travel there by foot,” she said.
“But you can show us the way?”
“I think so.”
“Then let’s go.”
We started across the mountain in a tight cluster, not yet comfortable enough with this leg of our travels to spread out too far from each other. I didn’t know what to expect ahead of us. The mines could be hiding anything, but I was prepared to do whatever it took to save Lilly and calm the wrath of the mountain. Having a tab open with him wasn’t something I wanted any part of for any longer than was absolutely necessary.
23
Hours later we had been traveling at the same rhythm for so long we barely noticed the sound of Ashe’s phone ringing. It blended in with the white noise of everything else around us and it wasn’t until I noticed the hint of the light flashing over the top of her pocket that we realized she was getting a call. Fishing it out, she answered.
“Ty?” she said a few seconds later. “What’s wrong?”
She pulled the phone away from her ear and hit the button for speakerphone.
“I haven’t heard anything from you in a while, so I thought I’d check in. Have you heard from Darian?”
“No,” Ashe said, then gave him a quick recap of what had happened since we were in Solomon’s Fang. “What’s been happening there?”
“The Prime still hasn’t been seen anywhere in Solan City or the outskirts. There are rumblings now that the Council doesn’t even know where he is and people are getting restless.”
“They should be. Whatever Darian is doing, he’s doing it without the guidance or approval of his advisors, and considering they have been there through the other horrors he has committed, that is a frightening prospect,” Aurora said. “Even the ones who are still loyal to him or don’t know what he’s done have to be getting suspicious now.”
“I wish I was there with you,” Ty said. “It doesn’t feel right not being a part of this.”
“We do, too, Tybalt,” I said, slipping in the name I’d teased him with since we first met.
“But you can’t be,” Ashe said firmly. “You have to be there to guard the portal. There’s no one else who can do it. Until Darian is no longer in power or releases you from your post, you are the portal keeper and you have to fulfill your duty.”
“Duty isn’t good enough anymore, Ashe,” Ty snapped. “I’m tired of serving Darian and I’m done with it. I won’t serve him any longer, not even in this way. You have three more days. Then I’m leaving my post. I’ll seal the portal and travel between the worlds will just have to stop until this is all over. There’s more I should be doing than standing around in a basement waiting for someone who wants to go on a day trip to New York.”
Ashe looked up at me and I met eyes with each of the others. We nodded.
“Call us when you’re ready and we’ll tell you how to get to us. Until then, can you tell me how to get in touch with my parents? I haven’t spoken to them since the fire.”
“Their phone has been disconnected,” Ty told me. “They’re in deep hiding, but they’re safe. There’s no reason to think they aren’t. I’ll let you know if I hear anything about them.”
“Thank you.”
“See you in a few days.”
Ashe hung up and slipped the phone back into her pocket. With a renewed sense of urgency, we pushed on.
Lilly telling us Gora had led us out of the inside of the mountain closer to the mines had given me some hope that this journey wouldn’t be too long. By the time we’d walked most of the way through the night, stopped for a short break, then continued on into the morning sunlight, I had long since given up that hope. We finally found ourselves on a plateau large enough for us to stop for a rest. Jaxxim and Aurora paced near me, and I got the feeling that both were gearing up for something. Maybe they could sense something about to happen, or maybe they were just nervous, but I felt it too. To me it felt like energy, rising from the soles of my feet, and burning its way up my spine, making me want to move and fight, and keeping my mind on the sharpest of alerts.
Bugs sat on a flat rock that overlooked the valleys below us and munched on a fruit that looked like an apple but was a deep purple and had tasted like mango and peach when I had one at the bonfire. Suddenly he turned to me, his eyes wide, and he dropped the fruit on the ground. Something had rumbled in the ground below us, and it sent a shockwave from where he sat to where I stood a dozen or so yards away. A second one rolled below us and was enough to alert everyone else. A third shook the ground in the direction we were headed, and I instinctively took out my sword.
The ground spewed up, rocks and debris sent in all directions as a massive burst exploded from inside the mountain. The force pushed me back and I fell into Jaxxim, and both of us went down hard on our sides. There was a hole in the ground in front of us now, and I looked around to see my group all in various positions of recovery. All had been knocked aside, and Ashe had a long, deep cut along her arm from a piece of debris.
I jumped to my feet to go examine what had caused it but had gotten no more than a few steps when a gigantic claw, as large as an SUV, came from inside the hole and landed on the ground in front of me. I stumbled back, amazed, as the arm that carried it came into view. It was long, and skinny, like two flagpoles connected by a ball in the middle, and it came to rest on a body that looked like it was made of sheet metal. Another claw came from the other side and the creature they were attached too climbed out of the hole and revealed itself in the sunlight.
A single, massive eye searched us, and tiny legs below the body scurried to pull the creature a little closer to us. Its head was like a mountain sitting on top of a battleship, and behind the head, I saw its most lethal weapon. A colossal spike on the end of a long tail like a scorpion’s whipped back and forth like a dog ready to play. Only I was fairly certain I couldn’t toss the discarded piece of fruit and ask this thing to fetch. I watched it for a moment, hypnotized, until a massive opening under the eye stole my attention. As it stretched, I could see razor-wire-like teeth, and two slithering, slimy tongues. A green mucus spilled from it, and oozed to the ground where it sizzled, suffocating the plant life it touched and burning it like acid. The claws raised as if it was hailing us for a moment, and then the tail whipped in a circle and the spike of it dove into the ground in front of the beast. The spike dug deeply into the ground, and when it removed itself, it left a hole six feet deep.
Chaos ensued as everyone drew weapons and scurried to find a place to fight with higher ground. Bugs shot past me and fearlessly past the monster, who seemed not to notice. Its lone, yellow eye stared unblinkingly at Aurora. Without warning, it darted toward her, the hundreds of tiny legs underneath working in unison and covering yards of ground in almost no time. Aurora dove behind a large rock and the creature skidded to a halt, the eye spinning around madly. Jaxxim took the opportunity to charge the beast and swung his sword in an arc that had the power of a vampire Shade behind it, but it did nothing but clang limply against the hardened shell. The creature didn’t even seem to notice as it spun itself the opposite direction. Toward me.
Its eyes were still searching, and I wondered what it was looking for. It had charged Aurora but was totally baffled when she hid in the darkness behind the rock. Now it seemed to be looking right at me, but not seeing me yet. I decided I would take my chance to use another means of attack. I balled my fists in my center, focusing my magical energy in them and then brought them back before pushing them forward, shooting blasts of raw magic at the creature.