The Witch; Stronghold; Underworld

by Ky Tyrand

  “Great,” muttered Ki’ara. “Are they as scary as they look?”

  “Not really,” said the man. “At least, not in the dark.”

  “What do you think that orange glow is?”

  To’mas frowned, admitting, “Of that, I’m not sure.”

  Ki’ara watched the opening at the far side of the cavern, curious to see if all the monsters would come charging back in. “That’s still the only way out.”

  To’mas nodded, swirling his hand to manifest another orb, though much dimmer than before. This one was barely bright enough to see the ground in front of them.

  With a deep breath, he climbed back onto the ledge and led the way across.

  21

  Petch couldn’t take his eyes from the slice he’d just put into Je’nna’s arm.

  He felt his body go weak as his hand was pulled into position for another pass. His head wouldn’t stop spinning. Petch tried to force the sounds of Sylor’s laughter from his ears. Even the growing clatter of rocks shifting and falling in the other chamber sounded better than this evil man’s cackling.

  The boy’s knees suddenly buckled.

  Were it not for cords of energy holding him upright, Petch would have crumpled to the floor. Instead he just sagged. But the snaky supports didn’t stop him from throwing up.

  Not on Je’nna. Not on Je’nna.

  A turn of the boy’s already spinning head sent vomit spewing onto Sylor, all the way from hip to foot.

  The laughing stopped.

  “Oh, you didn’t…”

  The situation changed before Petch could consider the consequences of further enraging this psychopath.

  An eruption of chaos made it impossible to fathom what was happening, as the passageway was suddenly filled with gray bodies.

  “What the…?” Sylor’s voice grumbled. “Get off me!”

  Petch had no idea what these strange, hairless creatures were, but they all seemed fixated on Sylor’s orange whips of light; clambering and clawing for them, climbing over Sylor to get at the glowing strands.

  The energy bands loosened, and then released.

  Petch suddenly found himself at the bottom of a heavy pile of pandemonium as he fought his way free of the twisted tangle of tendrils.

  He looked for Je’nna through the mass of gray bodies, but all he saw was clawed feet and bony ankles.

  Something closed around his wrist.

  After what the boy had just gone through, his immediate reaction was to fight free from whatever had just caught hold of him. Only when he realized it was Je’nna’s hand did he allow the grip to pull him. Wary of being stepped upon by clawed feet that looked strong enough to crush rocks, Petch followed Je’nna’s arm to the edge of the passage.

  Their eyes met – only for a moment – before the boy’s gaze went straight back to Je’nna’s arm. The blood was flowing freely now, with nothing to cinch it shut.

  As soon as Petch was pulled beside her, Je’nna let go of him and put a hand over the wound. The orange light flickered and strobed between chalky gray legs that hopped up-and-down over Sylor’s energy strands. Still plenty of light for Petch to see blood seeping from under the girl’s hand.

  He made to say something – to apologize, or ask if she was okay, or whatever words would come out of his mouth – but she silenced him with a finger to her lips, before pointing back to the end of the passage.

  Petch got her meaning and followed as she crawled along the edge of the cave, pressed tight to the smooth stone wall.

  Sylor shouted above them as the gray creatures swarmed. There was no question he was caught by surprise, and furious that he’d lost track of his two captives. Je’nna and Petch took full advantage of the opportunity, slipping past the dozens of figures that filtered in from the floorless chamber.

  The invaders didn’t seem the least bit interested in the two escapees. In fact, apart from Sylor’s glowing snake-fingers, the only item they showed any concern for was the light Sylor had tossed to the ground earlier. Two of them were fighting over it, both trying to tromp it out with their feet.

  Je’nna and Petch moved from the violent chaos of the passage, back into the ominous darkness of the hollow chamber that had taken Ki’ara and the Traveler.

  When they reached the ledge, Petch realized he was holding Je’nna’s dagger, still covered in her blood. Despite wanting to throw it away and never lay eyes on it again, the boy wiped the blade on his pants and slid it into his belt.

  Neither of them said a word as they crawled out onto the stepping stones. Both understood what needed to happen. The only way to survive being tortured and killed was to put as much distance between themselves and Sylor as possible. If that meant climbing over a narrow bridge of stones – in the dark, with an unseen bottomless drop on either side – so be it.

  Je’nna did, however, check every now and again to make sure Petch was keeping up. And to his credit, he was. Now more than ever the boy understood the stakes.

  Crawling had been a game changer when it came to traversing the stepping stone bridge in the dark. They could feel across the gaps to the next stone without having to worry about missing a step or toppling over. And they could always lie down if their balance became compromised.

  So, with the terror of what the evil madman would do to them outweighing the fear of falling to their deaths, the pair pressed on, making surprisingly quick work of the narrow bridge.

  Along the way, Petch noticed something warm and wet near one edge of every stone tile. It just happened to be on the same side as the cut he’d sliced into Je’nna’s arm.

  As soon as they reached a small platform on the other side, Petch whispered, “Je’nna, your arm… I… are you okay?”

  The girl leaned herself against the natural stone wall at the edge of the platform. “This?” she scoffed. “Flesh wound.”

  Though the orange light continued to flash from the opening across the bottomless chamber, this side was completely dark. Petch couldn’t see Je’nna, or her cut. But he knew she was lying about how serious the injury was.

  “The goo…” he said to her. “The green goo that you put on my arm. Where is it?”

  “Um,” Je’nna searched, struggling to get at it without removing the pressure from her cut. “It’s on my side,” she said. “I can’t reach it.”

  “Of course not,” muttered Petch, as he reached in to try and help. He knew full well that, even bleeding to death with a wound that he’d given her, Je’nna was still messing with him.

  Sure enough: “Hey, touchy fingers,” she snipped, “I said my side!”

  “I’m sorry,” sighed Petch. “I can’t see a thing in here.”

  “Gods, I wish I could see what color your cheeks are right now.”

  “Same color as your arm,” admitted the boy, before adding, “I can’t find it.”

  “It’s right here,” she chuckled, handing it to him.

  Petch let out a breath as she pressed the tube into his palm. He was pretty certain that girls made no sense. Even scary ones that were at risk of dying.

  “Just open it,” said Je’nna. “You’ll get it everywhere if you try to apply it, and probably end up barfing.”

  As much as Je’nna’s words stung and embarrassed him, Petch was thankful to hand the opened container back to her. He couldn’t bear the thought of feeling the severity of what he’d done to her.

  “It wasn’t your fault,” Je’nna told him, as if she knew what he was thinking.

  “Still,” said Petch, trying to fight the lump in his throat, “I’m sorry.”

  “I know,” she said. “No need.”

  “What are those things?” asked the boy, as he glanced across the chamber.

  The commotion was still in full swing at the other end of the stepping-stone bridge, with Sylor shouting his rage and firing his blaster. Though the man was around the corner, out of sight, they could see silhouettes of the gray creatures near the entrance to the passage, ahead of the dancing orange light
. Some of them were even flying out the opening, tossed over the ledge and into the dark abyss.

  “I don’t know,” said Je’nna, as she slapped a sticky bandage over her gooey mess. “But they seem to be after the light. I wonder how long it will take Captain Creepy to figure that out.”

  As if on cue, the orange cave opening went dark.

  The blaster file continued, as did Sylor’s shouting. A moment later, the sounds of chopping and squealing took over, as Sylor fought his way forward.

  “Time to go,” said Je’nna, pulling herself to her feet.

  It wasn’t going to be easy in the dark, especially when they didn’t know where they were going. But if they could get far enough ahead of Sylor, Je’nna would be able to use her Night Vision. In the meantime, they would have to feel their way along the walls and floor and hope they didn’t set off anymore traps.

  “Do you think Ki’ara…?” Petch began, but he couldn’t find a way to finish his sentence.

  “Are you kidding me?” said Je’nna, in as strong a voice as she could muster. “I don’t know what it would take to kill that girl, but if she’s got her Princess heart set on saving her Guardian, it’ll take more than a little tumble to stop her.”

  22

  Ki’ara and To’mas made it across the narrow shelf of rock without incident, before creeping through the opening at the other end of the chamber.

  The passage was short, terminating around a sharp bend, at which point it opened to a much taller chamber. Steep walls of stone towered up on every side, to a ceiling so far above that they were only able to see it because of the flashing orange light near the top.

  “This is it,” said To’mas, pointing up to the flickering light. “That’s where we fell from.”

  “But, what is that light?” asked Ki’ara.

  To’mas shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  Whatever it was couldn’t be good.

  “Let’s go,” said Ki’ara, urgently.

  Though the walls were steep, they remained climbable, with plenty of ledges and protrusions, each holding a fine layer of sand and chunks of loose and broken tiles – remnants of the collapsed floor.

  The pair hustled as quickly as they could, with Ki’ara using her G.R. to help To’mas keep pace in some of the more difficult locations. But he was getting heavier with every lift. Ki’ara tried to convince herself that it was only because she was getting tired.

  From here, she could see the silhouette of a line high above, cutting across the cavern from one side to the other. Ki’ara knew, without a doubt, she was looking at the bridge of stone tiles that they had fallen from. But it was still so far away.

  Ki’ara found herself filtering through a mix of noises, trying to make sense of what they could be. The sound of running water was the only thing she could easily recognize. But the way things were echoing, she couldn’t tell if it was coming from above, or through the walls. Perhaps a bit of both. Regardless, it was loud enough to blend and overpower everything enough that it was difficult to pinpoint what the other sounds were… There was an odd splatting noise that occurred every so often, which seemed to be coming from below. But the one she was trying to identify the most sounded like… shouting?

  The Princess couldn’t take it any longer. “I have to go on ahead,” she told To’mas. There was no need to mention that the man was slowing her down.

  To’mas nodded. “Find your friends. I’ll catch up.”

  “You’ll be alright climbing the rest of the way?”

  “Yes,” said the man. “I’ve scaled far worse than this.”

  “Thank you, To’mas. I’ll be back for you as soon as I know they’re safe.”

  With that, the girl opened her G.R. and launched.

  Ki’ara flew into the air, rocketing herself up the steep stone wall. But a certain amount of trepidation kept her close to the rockface. The fact that Dark Matter could so easily explain her companion’s fluctuating weight didn’t slip by her, and it was too much to ignore. This cavern was far higher than the balcony she’d fallen from. And there was no Abnukadin nearby to help her heal if she took another hard landing. At least if she made smaller jumps toward the ledges, she stood a chance of catching hold of something should her G.R. fail.

  And it was a good thing she had considered this, for it wasn’t long before the hi-tech Grav-Regulator faltered.

  It had been about the halfway mark when the girl stopped trying to convince herself that it was only her imagination. Ki’ara knew the device wasn’t giving her as much lift as she was accustomed to.

  But it still helped.

  On the steep wall, even a little push was better than nothing, allowing her to make short hops from ledge to ledge.

  At one point she landed in a cove between rocky columns, where the pocket around her seemed to partially mute the sound of water, allowing the shouting to become crystal clear. Even from such a distance, Ki’ara recognized the voice. The sound of pure evil.

  Though she had been certain that someone with Dark Matter was up there, knowing it was Sylor sent a charge of adrenaline through her entire body. She had hoped he was dead, and that the New Gods had sent somebody – anybody – else. Just hearing Sylor’s voice had a way of imposing a subconscious battle in her head and heart – one that made it so she had to force herself to move toward him rather than away.

  Je’nna and Petch being unaccounted for was enough to turn the tides. Ki’ara pressed forward, scrambling up the rockface as fast as she could.

  Rage.

  That was all Sylor felt at that moment.

  He didn’t know what these strange little creatures were, and he didn’t care. They had caused him to lose two of his captives, and that in itself was reason enough for punishment. But every moment he spent shooting and hacking and stomping these rodents, was a moment that the true prizes were escaping.

  The little gray monsters seemed to lose interest the moment he retracted the straps. It was the light they were after, and nothing more.

  “Out of my way, vermin!” shouted the man, in combination with about a thousand obscenities, as he bulled his way through the remaining figures that hopped around him. At least three more of them got kicked over the ledge as he neared the stone bridge.

  With his helmet closed and scanners activated, the trail of his escapees was clearly marked. The heat signatures remained on the stones, but it was the blood that stood out plain as day. Regardless, there was no question that they’d come this way. There weren’t a lot of options.

  Ignoring the fact that one misstep would send him to his death, Sylor made his way out onto the narrow bridge.

  23

  The chamber widened near the top, where Ki’ara discovered the source of the water, and the trap that had caught her and the Traveler. Atop a sloping ledge, a powerful waterway lay waiting for anyone who fell from the square-tile walkway as they neared the end of the bridge.

  The frothy water entered through one side of the cavern and dropped down a steep channel, before curving around a bend and disappearing back into the rockface on the other side. A sharp ridge seemed to be the only thing separating the underground river from the rest of the chamber, preventing it from spilling over the route she’d just climbed.

  It was a lucky thing that Ki’ara and To’mas had almost made it across the square-tiled path. If the pair had dropped from an earlier point, they would have plunged to the rocks far below, rather than being swallowed by the river. With Ki’ara’s G.R. not functioning, that would have certainly killed them both.

  Now that she was closer, Ki’ara could see that the bridge of stepping stones was actually built atop a natural formation of arched rock, which stretched across the chamber from one side to the other. Square-chiseled columns rose off the top like teeth, or a giant comb, with the flat tops of the towers forming the walkway.

  Ki’ara had no idea how the rest of the false floor had been held in place, but it was completely gone now, including any indication of how it had been sus
pended prior to the Traveler’s misplaced step.

  Though she still didn’t want to go anywhere near the rapidly flowing water, the only way to avoid it was to climb all the way across the chamber to reach the ledge at the other end of the bridge.

  Up until only a moment ago, the opening there had been the source of the flashing orange glow. It was dark now, and Ki’ara had no idea what that meant. But she knew Sylor was up there. And she suspected her friends were, too.

  There were only three ways Je’nna and Petch could have gone from the bridge. The first was back the way they came. That was the direction the orange flashing had been coming from, and the way that made the most sense. When the floor fell out, the two of them were much closer to that end than the other. And, knowing how Je’nna felt about heights, it only made sense that she would go back. Especially without knowing where Ki’ara had been leading them. Once she and To’mas fell, there would have been no reason for Je’nna and Petch to go any farther.

  But there was a chance… It was possible they had gone across; perhaps trying to get away from Sylor. Ki’ara wasn’t sure what lay ahead beyond the bridge. She hadn’t had an opportunity to check her mother’s memories. More danger, no doubt.

  Ki’ara just hoped that they were safe, whichever direction they chose.

  The third way, well… Ki’ara would have noticed their bodies at the bottom.

  At least she’d narrowed it down, but Ki’ara wondered if she could get even closer…

  The Princess reached out, searching for her connection to Je’nna’s guns. She wished she’d thought to do it sooner, before getting so close to the Dark Matter that it muddled her link, and ability to sense Blue Energy.

  But perhaps she wasn’t too close just yet…

  Ki’ara could sense something.

  It was faint, and not in the direction she would have guessed, but Ki’ara was certain that it was Blue Energy.