Arrival of the Rifted (The Rifted Series Book 1)

by C. C. York

  Reiki finally caved after several hard hours of whining about taking her out for proper exploring on one particularly slow day in the Trades. It was either the whining or Kara's festering mood that prompted him to take her farther than she'd ever been, all the way down to the Dockside outside the Perimeter Wall. Maybe I'll hear the girls' voices again down there.

  Elaine's makeshift map in her journal put the Palace squatting at noon, so the Dockside was somewhere around three o'clock in the bend at the very base of the Tiers. It took even longer to walk there because Reiki stopped, or was stopped, by almost every young woman in the Trades. They finally reached the street that would lead them to the Dockside when Reiki leaned against a stall at its edge to talk to another Pillar out of his league.

  Elaine tapped her foot anxiously against the stone. I'm never going to find out if I hear the voices in the Dockside if we stop every two minutes.

  Reiki's laugh grated her, and she snapped, "You about done?"

  The attractive brunette laughed like Elaine was adorable. Elaine desperately wished that she had pull with water to dump the cascading fountain nearby over her head. Instead, she settled for glaring mutiny at the pair while she tapped her foot on the steps.

  What is wrong with me?

  She thought back to one of the last days she'd seen her parents. Elaine was starving, but the only food in the house was moldy bread, a few cans of expired Spaghetti-O's, and shelves of PBR. Ma had waltzed out of the house hours earlier to load up on the back of a motorcycle with a man Elaine hadn't ever seen. Her Da blared a crap sitcom with the same laugh track set to go off every three minutes. Her head ached, she was hungry, and despite the dark sky outside, the trailer was still hot and sticky. She opened the screen door to hunt down a breeze anywhere but there when her dad scowled at her.

  "Where the hell do you think you're going?" He slurred.

  She was as agitated then as she felt now, which is why she didn't catch herself snapping, "What d'you care?"

  She should have run then, but she didn't have anywhere to run to. Her Da stood up from his recliner and pushed the TV tray away, pills rolling across its laminate surface. She felt the first hit square across her face, but not the second, or third, or the kicks to her ribs. When she came to in a hospital bed, a police officer spoke to her Ma in the corner.

  When the officer left, her Ma came to her side and hissed, "What did you do?"

  She never told Kara or Reiki that the gash on her head was from stitches torn apart. She couldn't walk well those first couple weeks in Efendi, and it was Reiki that waited on her hand and foot with warm broth and water. Reiki and Kara protected her, and their family made her feel safe for the first time in her life.

  Water welled in Elaine's eyes as she juggled guilt with irritation again. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," Elaine mumbled to Reiki when he walked away from the disappointed brunette.

  He shrugged and wore the easy smile he slipped on often. "She's one of many Efendian beauties, but there's only one Dockside to explore."

  They ran down the widening steps, and Elaine relished the salt-tinged breeze she could finally feel. The Dockside is a mess of rotting wood, rank fish heads, and booze-tinged sweat to some. But according to Reiki, it is also a gateway to green-blue seas, opportunity, and kingdoms without walls.

  He chatted animatedly about the goods hauled down from a large boat and sniffed a fistful of coffee beans from an open barrel. He pointed out all the names of the vessels and convinced a bored Airwerker to show Elaine how she could fill one side of the billowing sails to steer the boat ahead of them. It was as bustling as the Trades, but the chaos felt driven by purpose and destination rather than the slow stroll and idle chat of the colorful Tier far above. Throughout it all, Elaine strained for a hint of the voices again, but to her disappointment, she heard nothing.

  Elaine sidestepped a man rolling several barrels with a stick, only to run into another standing atop an upturned crate.

  Sweat poured down his temples and into his black cloak with ripped edges. "Hear me, men! The time of the Edicisi has come! Forfeit your gambling, your disease, and your worries. Make your offerings and await the Rectification!"

  A Waterwerker sitting on the railing of a gleaming jade-toned ship nearby shot a stream of seawater into the man's face. She and several other women laughed at him sputtering on the ground.

  "What's a Rectification?" Elaine asked, chomping on the smoked fish Reiki passed her from a Dockside vendor.

  He held his fish stick in between his teeth while he wrapped his dark hair into a high bun off his neck. He said around the stick, "It's the same bokki Kanne Da'Neen makes up at night."

  He bought her a cold, pink-hued drink that tasted like sugared cranberries and himself a dark, frothy ale from a neighboring vendor. They sat on weathered barrels-turned-tables outside of a rowdy bar before he continued.

  "The thing is, Kanne Da'Neen's stories are just stories. Some men, and some women mind you, put their faith and rage into a false god like the Edicisi. Instead of listening to folklore, they hear prophets, and instead of making the best of what they have, they wait for a monster to even the playing field."

  "I don't get it. What good does a monster like the Edicisi do for them?"

  Reiki leaned back against the stone wall to face the rows of various ships and boats wading in the emerald sea a few paces away. "Legend says that the Edicisi can gain power by eating Dua from Duawielders. He can suck up their talents temporarily by touching them and use the power against them."

  He nodded towards the damp-haired man climbing back up to his pulpit. He had a crudely drawn white skull on the back of his cloak, its bone jaw gaping wide. She shivered in the heat.

  "That's why, in every story, the Edicisi is always scooping up something in his mouth. He's draining the power from the Efendian Duawielders."

  Elaine thought back to the smiling grandmother stamped all over Low Town and the stories Kanne Da'Neen told of the soft-spoken nature goddess. "But if Yapi is so kind and peace-loving, why would she make the Edicisi?"

  "Dua is derived from nature, and in nature there is always balance. Our Efendian ancestors had a hard time explaining why only women are blessed with Dua when men are not, so they fabricated this immortal being that drags himself up from the Batiwood every thousand years or so to even out the Tiers. Some believe that the Edicisi is the rightful ruler of this land, and outside these walls, some of the other kingdoms would love to see an Efendi without the advantage of an Ordu of Duawielders...regardless of who replaced our Queen."

  "What is 'ordu'?"

  "It's the host of Duawielders Firtina commands when she is at war."

  That sounds awesome. "Why does Firtina allow the Edicisi to be honored by Hasateen then?" Elaine idly stacked the coins Reiki gave her and tried to figure out which ones bought the tart drink she'd downed.

  Reiki laughed and pointed out the two smallest black coins. "I'll answer another hundred of your questions if you fetch me an ale when you get your fizz cup."

  She dashed off, and when her hands were sticky with overflowing foam, they toasted.

  Reiki continued, "They're not really honoring the Edicisi at Hasateen. It's more of a decoration to go with the spooky feel some of the Hasateen parties favor. Queen Firtina would never allow even that if she thought he was real."

  "But that guy thinks he's real?" Elaine asked.

  "He wants to believe he's real. The Edicisi of our stories only comes to take his rightful place as ruler when the Efendian Queen is deemed unsuitable by the Goddesses. Queen Firtina's grandmother started the tradition of dressing like the Edicisi during Hasateen as a lark, and it caught on. And yet, you will rarely find anyone openly worshiping the Edicisi."

  He raised his glass to gesture to the cloaked man now shouting about deliverance and justice on his crate. "That man has a death wish. Queen Firtina is not known for her tolerance of anyone discussing a change in leadership, parti
cularly because there are now several Pillars of powerful houses that could challenge Princess Alik for the throne when Firtina dies."

  "So what's with the cups of blood?" Elaine asked, remembering the cup she accidentally knocked over on her first walk with Kanne Da'Neen. She'd seen a few more tucked under eaves since then and thought it was a disgusting way to decorate for a holiday.

  Reiki paused with his beer halfway to his mouth. "Where did you see cups?"

  "I dunno. Stairs to the Trades, saw another in a cluster around the bend—the one with the garden, you know?"

  He shook his head and watched the colorful sails bob in the harbor for a few minutes. Elaine learned a while back that the Hadishis let go of the best information if given enough time. So she waited.

  "That's a little different. Dressing like the Edicisi is a joke, but the cups are meant to be an offering to his Handmaiden Rifters."

  "The witches that skinned people for his cloak?" Elaine shivered again. "They drink blood, too?" Stories of ghosts and monsters never frightened her much, but witches scared the heck out of her.

  "I don't know what a 'witch' is, but the Handmaidens are based on true stories of a dark time in Efendi. Some women had the power to move unseen and shift to new places across the land with only a thought, though they were rare. They were only called Handmaidens in the stories about the Edicisi. The real ones were called Rifters, but they were hunted to extinction a long time ago."

  The fizz cup in Elaine's belly suddenly settled about as well as a stone dropped on a pile of chicken eggs. She took a few moments to gather her questions and ignore the chills scampering across her body. "What's the difference between that power and regular Dua?"

  "It was unnatural. Duawielders have to use the elements already found in nature—they can't fabricate their werk from nothing." He swigged the ale before continuing.

  "See, Rifters only had to use their minds to go anywhere. I'm not even sure I would call what they do 'Dua' really. Because they could travel without restrictions or laws, unknown to anyone, they were dangerous. Some of them became notorious criminals. A particularly crazy Rifter went on a killing spree murdering dozens of Efendians, including children, before being caught and killed.

  "After that, the Iktidars declared a kingdom-wide hunt to kill any Rifters found. A few probably escaped to Magara or the islands beyond Efendi, though they were hunted worldwide. Some might have been desperate enough to shelter in the Batiwood, and every decade or so, people claim they've seen a Rifter in the Tiers, and another Hunt begins.

  "Are there any left?"

  "No. I can't imagine there are any left. It's hard to hide as a Rifter. Nature takes something from everyone, and they began to show physical signs of the toll."

  Reiki brought their glasses back to the vendor, and the pair walked across the cracked gray wood pocked with watermarks towards the stairs. Elaine fiddled with the hem of her linen shirt, her heart racing and palms damp with sweat.

  "What kind of signs?" Elaine asked, dread and anxiety warring in her belly.

  "Well, for one, most of them acted crazy. They talked to themselves, swore they heard voices in their head. Duawielders can get sick if they don't use their talents, and Rifters were no different. The ones trying to hide would not Rift for prolonged periods to avoid detection, so they got sick and weak. The Iktidars learned that if you tied down a Rifter with a chain made from a particular metal, they'd be unable to Rift. After enough time, their minds gave out, and they'd either die from insanity, or their bodies would begin to decay from the inside. That's part of how the cups of blood fit in—apparently drinking it revived them."

  Reiki continued, not noticing Elaine's shallow breathing or face paling. "Anyway, avoid people putting those cups out. That is something that could attract the Iktidars' attention, and the last thing you'd want is to find yourself in front of Queen Firtina."

  Alik

  Alik lifted the wayward curls that clung to her neck under the sun’s oppressive heat. This is a waste of time, she thought. She stood from the table, the abrupt movement startling the emissaries and threatening to topple her chair. It’s been three days since Shauna disappeared, three days of trade negotiations I’ve barely heard, and three days of Agnian skipping every meeting.

  Alik sat in the meetings with Damari’s Eyes the previous mornings. They’d turned up little about the missing women and now tracked all of Agnian’s movements as well. Despite her brothers’ opinions, Alik was convinced he had something to do with it. Yet they'd found nothing. She stalked inside from the outdoor terrace, leaving the heavyset emissary calling after her with a question she hadn't heard. She spent most of the morning scanning each emissary, trying to read what lies they were telling her but ended up with only a splitting headache.

  I need sleep, she thought. She snuck out each night, scanning the crowds within the Tiers with her Dua, but was no closer to finding Shauna and the others than she was the night Shauna disappeared. Haunting images of a dark mouth gaping wide from her nightmares hung over her like a blade on a feather. I know the dream means something, but what? A woman dressed in soft white and walking on silent feet bumped into her, littering the floor with Alik’s papers. Alik managed to swallow the curse halfway out of her mouth when she realized who ran into her.

  "Forgive me, my Pillar. Please, let me," Mara handed the papers back to Alik and left without another word. Alik opened the note she slipped in and hurried to her study.

  A map of the Tiers dominated her study wall now, littered with pins marking the last-known locations of the missing girls. 125, she thought, 23 more since First Night. All of whom are missing from Tiers above the Trades now. She touched the pin representing Shauna. The Elite can’t ignore this anymore, yet still, no word from Mother or her advisors on any progress made. Alik gritted her teeth at the memory of her mother’s advisor shutting the door in her face at the council meeting the day before.

  She ran a hand over the map, marking the latest missing girl’s Dua in a note beside her pin. Where are you, Shauna? She rubbed at her eyes, willing them to see something she missed before.

  Damari entered without knocking. He looked over the strewn papers and her haggard appearance.

  Say something, Alik dared silently.

  "Agnian is a dead-end, Alik. Mara confirmed this morning that he spent the last two nights stalking the streets before winding up at the same tavern, alone."

  "Stalking?" She asked.

  Damari said, "Mara's words. He seems to be looking for something every night, and yet each night, before half night, he's back at The Kech until sunrise."

  Why do I know that tavern? Alik thought through her recent conversations with Damari, the advisors' half-hearted updates on the missing girls, and her secret romps through the Tiers as a teenager with Shauna. Her chest constricted at the thought of Shauna’s laughing eyes and terrible dancing.

  "That's it! I know that tavern. Shauna took us dancing there one night while her mother was still alive. Her mother worked at The Kech but quit when it became a haunt for the Canavar Company's trolls. Agnian must have ties to them."

  Damari looked wary. "I have multiple Eyes within Canavar Company now. It’s not them. And Taavi can't put any more men on it. Firtina has specifically forbidden his involvement and has sent them to try to flush out the Magarans."

  "What? Why would she do that? It's the middle of Hasateen, and we have a crisis on our hands for Atessake!" Alik threw her hands up in the air, upending a platter of forgotten food from the night before.

  "You told her, then?" Taavi asked before the door was even shut. "It's been weeks since the Magarans last met with our patrols. The treaty is clear: They must report each week. Add the fact that there are packs of Yurutecs within sight of our perimeter and—"

  "Just keep nodding, Taavi. No objection from her favorite child, isn't that right?" Alik mocked. "The Magarans are constantly pushing back; that's nothing new. Someone is coming in and going ou
t with—" Alik stumbled at whether or not to use the word "dead," and she fought off tears while starting again. "Someone is leaving with our countrywomen. Dozens, potentially, at a time. And if they're not leaving, they're hiding them here, and you're off like it's any other day on patrol."

  Taavi's neck flushed red before the color flooded his face. "You're not the only one who loves Shauna, Alik. Damari has been out every night since she disappeared, and he is working on less than five hours of sleep, total. I've had every man at my disposal combing the Tiers and No. One. Has. Seen. Anything."

  Alik folded her arms level with Taavi's stomach, glaring up at him. "Girls do not just disappear into thin air, yet somehow, that's exactly what happened."

  "There are some women who can disappear into thin air," Damari said quietly, diffusing the tension between his two older siblings.

  "Oh, right. I can just see Mother’s face if I tell her I think it's a Rifter. I might as well tell her the Edicisi is here to claim the throne," Alik said.

  "They were eradicated decades ago, for one, and I think I would have felt something as powerful a Rift right next to me." Flashes of chasing a girl through the Silos in her dreams came to mind, but she shook her head.

  "No. We focus on the evil that's in front of us and not buried in folklore. Damari, I'm going with your Eye tonight to watch Agnian. Taavi, don't start—" Alik held a hand before Taavi.

  He tossed his hands in the air on par with his little sister's temper. "Think, Alik. Girls are going missing all over this kingdom. Someone took Shauna while she was next to you. Has it occurred to you that maybe they missed and were aiming for you?"