Arrival of the Rifted (The Rifted Series Book 1)
Page 11
“It is not my role to get you to believe me. I just need your help.”
“What is your role then, Agnian? Because it sure as Ates isn’t an emissary. You’ve missed every negotiation. You’re looking for the girls as much as I am. Despite what you’ve shared tonight, you are still hiding something.” Alik scanned him again, and the same red hatred simmered under a swirl of mixed emotions. “And you still hate something about me, though I can’t imagine what.”
Agnian tossed his napkin to the table, leaning into her face as he said, “I hate your family for murdering my king. I hate your kingdom for blocking our waters and then stealing our ships. I hate your Duawielders for threatening my people even as they starve. I can’t imagine why you would think I could harbor anything but hate for you when any of those are reasons enough.”
He stalked away, leaving Alik alone at the table and a cafe full of patrons gawking. Grateful for the veil covering her face, she fled the café, refusing to let tears even well in her eyes.
“Stealing our ships?” She asked the air. Threatening his people “even as they starve?” Our trade agreement favors Efendians, but we are rebuilding their kingdom, their trades. We protect them from the Perisiens. We are the only reason they still have a king, albeit a new one. She shook herself as she wound back up the nearest stairwell to the Palace. I’ll deal with that after I find Shauna.
She scoffed aloud, startling a perched fuchsia nightbird. And he knows nothing of Firtina. There is nothing she wants bad enough that she would jeopardize her standing above the rest of the Elite. And what good would it do to allow someone to kidnap Efendian girls? Alik worried the fabric hem at her hip, her thoughts zig-zagging as she strode up the fireorb lit stairs. I should have pushed him more. The Canavar Company is no surprise. I just have to find a way to prove it is them. If what Agnian says is true, the maze of vices could hide that many women. But why haven’t our Eyes seen anything then?
She felt the spray from the Palace fountains when she heard a man singing a lullaby, deja-vu knocking her mind askew for a moment. Where have I heard that before? Unease crept over her shoulders as she spun to see the disembodied voice. A guardswoman called out to her, but she saw no one else.
Voices suddenly began to chant in her mind over the haunting melody. Her Dua overtook her body, blacking out her vision. She couldn't see her hands but knew she cradled her head in them while her mind split open. The trickling fountain, the guardswoman's voice, the distant clatter of Aygir hoofbeats ceased. All noise surrounding her halted simultaneously for a moment before rushing back in a vacuum.
When her vision cleared, the cobblestones at the Palace gate indented her knees. She stood, wiping the blood from her nose on the back of her hand, and told the hovering guardswomen to call her brothers to her study. What was that?
She struggled to get to her study, staying a hand at any guardswoman that tried to help. Her senses were still raw, her Dua sparking. It was as if her entire body screamed at her to focus, to pay attention. What am I missing? Something just happened, as if everything will be marked before and after. And she had no choice but to find out what it was.
Reed
Reed didn't have time to explain his intentions to Monti. Most Itreni lived alone, notoriously jealous of each other, and convinced that they lived in exile outside the Perimeter Wall because of their brethren. I need this Itreni to live alone, he thought as they followed him from the Aygir fields.
The creature swayed ahead of them, its pincer legs poking shallow holes in the dirt like a pockmarked trail. The Itreni opened the grass-covered, round portal camouflaged in the ground just beyond the stables. As it focused on the doorway to its home, Reed scanned the ground for a weapon. The Aygir at his back ruled out striking the creature in the field, but he remembered stories of how well these creatures fought underground. It was one of the few reasons they could survive out here when Garfu and other monsters roamed the valley, and Yurutec tunneled below.
Monti followed Reed the frayed rope ladder into the bowels of the ground. Veins of blue light snaked around the tunnel, lighting their way, and in the dim light, he made out a series of crude iron doors, mismatched in size, on either side of the tunnel. The way was tall enough that Reed did not have to stoop, but he had to walk sideways at more than one narrow point. His nose grazed the Yinka bugs that produced the blue light along the dirt walls. The back of Reed's shirt tugged down in Monti's grip as they walked, and just as he wondered if they should have taken their chances above ground, the Itreni stopped at an intricately carved iron door. The creature's chest heaved in and out, as if it were excited, as it slipped a crooked piece of root into a hole like a key.
"Where do the other doors go?" Reed asked.
"Places. I wouldn't wander, though,” the Itreni muttered as he pushed open the door. "Not all doors are mine anymore."
It led them into a low roofed room where hair-thin roots from the grasses above dangled from the ceiling. The Itreni muttered to itself as it tapped the walls to wake the Yinka bugs, their agitation flaring blue veins of light within the dirt walls. The small hairs on Reed's neck stood at attention when the light did not reach the dark hallway that jutted off the main room. The base of a tree trunk was the only piece of furniture in the center of the room, and a flat stone boulder served as its seating. The Itreni swayed to a nook carved into the wall like a makeshift shelf and began to slice carrots with a wickedly sharp dagger pulled from the ragged vest it wore.
"What can I do to repay you for shelter and food for the night?" Reed asked as he and Monti sat at the tree stump table. "When I was a boy, I worked with an Itreni and his Aygir that traveled with our caravan. Perhaps I can help you with yours in the morning?"
The head of an Itreni rests on only one socket pivot, similar to owls. Though Reed remembered this, it was still disconcerting to see the creature turn its head almost entirely around while chopping carrots. Even more so as it smiled wide, causing the corners of its mouth to disappear around its round head. Reed held Monti’s thigh in place when she jerked back, though it took everything for Reed to not run for the door as well. He remembered the stories about the Itreni creatures before they wore Efendian clothes and trained the Aygir for the Horde. They fled the woods as the Batiwood encroached, but their bloodlust took years to control.
It answered Reed quietly, "No need. It's been an age since we've had Efendians as company."
"We?" Reed asked, slowly dipping his hand to Monti's back to unclip her gun. He chose this seat so his back would be to the door and face the Itreni and the hallway beyond. He did not miss the fact that the Itreni paused its chopping before continuing.
"A phrase. It's been an age since my Aygir and I have hosted an Efendian."
Dirt rained down from the ceiling as movement scattered across the roof, startling both Reed and Monti.
The Itreni hissed, "Hush!"
Reed pulled her closer so that his right hand palmed the pistol in her holster. The Itreni crept to the iron door a few feet away from Reed, dagger in its hand.
It put an oversized ear to the iron and whispered after a few moments, "Yurutec. They're still above ground. They won't bother us if we are quiet."
Something shifted in the darkness in the hallway off of the main room. Reed yanked the gun from Monti's holster as she bolted for the wall to get out of the way. Reed held the pistol at eye level of the Itreni and demanded quietly, "Who else is with you?"
The creature snorted. "A metal stick? It doesn't even have a sharp edge."
The Itreni kicked its scissor-like legs into the dirt wall next to the door, sinking its pincer points into the wall as it ran up and across the ceiling. It flipped over Reed's head, landing at his back, and yanked Monti into its arms. Its dagger cut a thin red line into her neck, and she stopped struggling.
It yanked her head back by the hair, roaming its eyes over her. It hissed to her, "You have no vials, no flint, which means you are an Airwerker or a Groundwer
ker. Which is it?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Monti shouted.
The Itreni's knobby free hand covered her mouth. "Be quiet, or they'll come."
"She's not Efendian," Reed whispered, as black nails, filed to sharp points, gripped Monti's cheek tighter than before. He didn't have a clear shot, so he held his hands up submissively with the gun loose in his fingers.
"She's...from a village on the other side of Magara. We were on our way to Efendi for Hasateen but got derailed by a Garfu attack near the river. Please. We mean you no harm; we're just trying to get to the Perimeter Wall."
"How unfortunate for you," it whispered. “If she were Efendian, she might have been able to fight back. No one will miss a couple of villagers, and it's been so long since I've tasted meat." It opened its mouth wide at her neck, jaw clicking as it unhinged.
Monti heaved her body back into the creature, knocking it against the wall. She dug her thumb into the Itreni's eye and reached for the wrist holding its dagger. She flipped the Itreni's arm up and out as she spun and kicked it hard in its side, the blade hitting the ground with a thud.
Something launched itself from the dark hallway. The second Itreni ran up and over the dirt wall like a spider, landing on top of Reed, and embedded one of its pincher legs into Reed's left forearm. It pinned him down with its other knee on top of his chest, and Reed screamed out in pain. The creature covered his mouth with his clawed hand, its wide mouth hissing like a snake. Monti stumbled back on the ground, the first Itreni stalking towards her with its remaining good eye.
Nausea rolled over Reed from the sharp pain in his arm, but he grazed cold metal with his free hand. He reached, finally hooking his finger on the gun's trigger guard, and palmed the pistol. He fired three rapid shots that echoed tenfold in the compact room, hitting both creatures in quick succession.
The Itreni’s hot blood sprayed over Reed’s face and into his mouth before slumping off him. He wiped his eyes, gagging and spitting out the creature’s blood as Monti scrambled over the dead Itrenis. She ripped her pants and swiftly bound the gash from the Itreni's leg with the fabric.
A flurry of movement across the roof interrupted whatever she opened her mouth to say. Reed hauled himself up to sitting, spinning at the pain in his forearm. “Bokki. They’re coming. Get back to—"
She frantically whispered, "What is, Reed? What is coming?"
His mind reeled as he said more to himself than her, "They heard the gunshots."
Reed shoved Monti to a corner between the table and the wall as movement scrambled past in the underground tunnel beyond the iron door. He pressed his body in front of her, wincing at the pain as he cradled his injured arm.
Reed gave her the gun and whispered, "Yurutec are the mantis-like creatures you first found me with."
At her widened eyes, he murmured, "No sounds until they pass."
Slow, steady guttural clicking, like that of a fishing reel as something large takes the bait off a pole, sounded outside the iron door. Reed felt Monti's breath come in faster and faster against his back, her nails digging into his sides. He grabbed her hand in his right, unable to discern who shook harder. They could just pass. Take the tunnels, he silently pleaded. Keep moving; there is nothing here you want.
Beyond the door, the guttural clicking stopped, replaced by heavy, labored breathing. Quick footsteps scurried in the tunnel on either side of the iron door. A shrill scratch broke through the pounding in Reed's ears, like a claw dragging down an iron slab.
Dirt rained down to the right of the iron door—the compact wall pulsed outwards in spots in the vague shape of a giant claw, pressing in. Dirt fell from the roof into Reed's hair and hands, and something frantically dug at the wall behind them. We’re surrounded.
Reed thought of his mother then.
She sat on a grassy knoll with her soft brown curls tickling his face. Her knee poked out of an apricot-colored dress and pressed next to his scrawny shivering leg.
Her melodic voice washed over him. "Did you know that the hard-brown encasement over this is called a seed coat?" She held the apple seed out to him in her delicate hand. He took it, teeth chattering, and leaned back into the strong base of the tree behind him and against his mother's side.
"This big tree was once wrapped tightly in its seed coat as well." Her arms were warm from the hour they'd sat under the 90-degree Texan sun so he could bring his body temperature back up. "The coat shields against the wind and protects the tiny life inside."
Her low voice soothed him, coached him to hold it in, to bind the roots threatening to break free.
Reed shut the digging out, ignored the guttural clicks coming from all sides, and blocked out Monti's muffled cry at the back of his neck. He gripped the dirt falling into his hands and pictured his mother's face.
He squeezed his eyes shut and whispered, "Hold. Hold. Hold". He recited the litany over and over again, not caring what gods were paying attention so long as they heard his plea. "Hold. Hold. Hold."
He felt dizzy. His mother's face faltered in his mind as blackness crept in. The last thing he remembered before passing out was the iron smell of blood and the image of a wide, dark mouth in the trees opening before him.
***
They always started the same.
It's a typical domestic scene of mundane suburban life. Sometimes it's yard work, fetching the mail, or washing his car. In the way that dreams do, Reed always felt a little bewildered when he first found himself holding the watering hose, but then he settled into the comfort of a routine.
Reed's neighbors walked by on the sidewalk, smiling faces and sweaty children on bikes. The humming would start innocently enough. Sometimes it was the neighbor's kid drawing chalk flowers in the driveway next to him. Other times, Reed realized it was he who started the chords as he shuffled mail. Then the feeling of wrongness would seep in like spilled ink bleeding onto the edge of a clean paper. His dream state waking up, realizing this is not real. His neighbors would sing in chorus, sometimes chant, but always, the androgynous voice would sing the lullaby loudest. Staci, arms wet to the elbows, whispered, "They're coming for you."
Reed woke up to Monti shaking him.
"OhThankChrist," Monti breathed. "You're awake."
In the faint light, Reed realized that Monti dragged the dead Itreni bodies to a far corner of the room at some point. He jerked upright as everything rushed back to him, dizziness threatening to overwhelm the fight or flight reaction hammering in his bones.
He said in a rush, "The Yurutec. Where are they? What happened?"
Monti lightly tapped the walls with her fingers as she walked to the makeshift kitchen. The blue lights flared brighter, and Reed shuddered at the dark stains on both of their clothes and the floor steps away from him. She grabbed some bread from a nook in the wall and brought over a few carrots.
She sank next to him, pulling her knees to her chest and eating her half of the meager provisions. "I don't know. One minute those things were barreling down the walls, and it felt like they were just about to break through. Then all of a sudden, the walls held. They beat on the walls and the iron door for several minutes before finally leaving."
“Which, funny enough,” she continued, “could be the most terrifying moment of my life aside from the time I was sucked into a vortex and into this hell.” Monti huffed a mirthless laugh even as she swiped at fresh tears. “Oh wait, that was only yesterday."
She covered her face with shaking hands, and Reed awkwardly patted her back, lost as to what to do to stop her crying. She said in a rush, "I thought you were dying and that I'd be left down here alone and I didn't know what to do, or what would happen if I opened--" she broke down in sobs before she could finish.
He ran a hand over her hair and tried to think of something to tell her so she wouldn't be so scared. There’s nothing to tell. She should be terrified every moment she’s in this hell. We have to get the fuck out of here.
He nodded at her resolve. "We can't stay down here. It was moonrise when we came here. How long do you think I’ve been out?"
"Well, their bodies got stiff a couple of hours ago. I don't know if their chemical makeup is anything like ours, but if so, I'd guess 5 hours or so."
Reed huffed out a laugh, “I didn’t expect that answer.”
She shrugged, "I watch a lot of SVU."
"And the self-defense moves?" He asked.
"My dad is the warden of your prison. Self-defense lessons took priority over piano lessons for my sisters and me."
He ignored the other questions volleying through his mind. "Do you remember the kingdom you saw in the distance before we came down here?" He continued at her nod, "An Aygir is the best weapon we have while we're outside of that Perimeter Wall. They're too tough to eat, so the Garfu leave them alone, and the Yurutec usually fear them. They’re also the fastest way for us to travel out here. We likely have another day and night ahead of us before we can get to the Magaran mountains, so we'll need to take one. That's our first goal."
Even as a tear spilled over her cheek, Monti nodded, and something about her resolve struck Reed’s core. She’s here because of me. I don’t care what it takes; I am getting this woman out of this hell. He cupped her face in her hands, willing his false bravado to be assuring and his touch something she could lean on.
He spoke more confidently than he felt. "There we'll find my mother's friend. She was a Rifter, and I know she'll help me again. Get an Aygir, get to the Rifter, get the hell out of here."
She moved out of his hands and back into her personal space. "You forgot one. Get an Aygir, get the Rifter, get my dad, and then get the hell out of here."
Reed before the Rift would have just left Monti. The likelihood of finding his mother's friend after all these years was hard enough; finding her father within Efendi after the Horde picked him up was a joke. A familiar pain blotted out the pain in his arm. I’ve failed enough women in my life; I am not leaving her in this place. If I tell her that her dad is likely already dead, she might lose it.