Sylor

by Elin Wyn

  I looked back down the tunnel, but it was nearly forty feet to try to drag her back through, and I couldn’t vouch for how the inhabitants would react to me bringing her out of here in that manner. The only other option was to take her up and out of the tunnel, out into the open spaces of the outside.

  I rushed back to where the tunnel turned up, climbed my way back up and quickly dug out the rest of the opening. I spent an extra minute enlarging the hole, then dropped back down. I wasn’t entirely certain as to how I would get her out.

  “Nesta?” I shook her. No response.

  I thought about my options again. Back through the tunnel was bad—we would still be underground, and it would take me nearly an hour to get her back above ground. I had to get her up the tunnel and out. I would be able to see what had happened to her in the daylight, the light in the tunnel was too dim for me to see anything.

  I picked her up, slung her over my shoulder and headed to where I could climb. I steadied myself as best I could and slowly, oh so slowly, began my climb. Two steps up and Nesta began to slip from my shoulder. I shifted her back up, took a moment to catch my breath, and attempted the climb again.

  The burning in my shoulders, my elbows, and my legs was excruciating. My arms were shaking trying to hold us up. While Nesta was not particularly heavy, she was deadweight on me, and that deadweight was holding me down.

  I reached up for a handhold, grabbed it, and it fell away. I slipped and Nesta fell from my shoulder and into the crook of my arm. The only thing holding us up was my legs and a vine that I had managed to grab. My breath came in quick bursts as I tried to shift her back up.

  After what felt like ages, I managed to get her back up. I pulled on the vine, felt it begin to move, and pulled as hard and fast as I could. As the vine ripped from the surrounding tunnel wall, I let go and reached up. I caught onto the top edge of the tunnel, gripped a thick clump of grass, and held on for dear life.

  It held.

  It held and I pulled myself up, shifting Nesta to a point where I could begin to push her out. I pushed her up, my arm shaking, my shoulder burning from the exertion. With one final effort, I shoved her as hard as I could out of the hole and pulled myself up after her.

  I laid in the grass, relishing the fresh air and the beating heat of real sunlight upon me. I rolled over to look at Nesta and was relieved to see that she was still breathing.

  I laid back down, closed my eyes, and let a laugh escape my lips. We were alive, and more importantly, we were out. We were outside the dome. Even if we were unable to defeat the vines, we had a way out. There was a way out of our prison.

  “Sylor?”

  I opened my eyes to see Nesta sitting up, her face blocking the light of the sun. “Hi,” I said quietly.

  She fell on top of me, hugging me and thanking me for saving her. I hesitated a second, then hugged her back. “It’s okay. We’re out. We’re out,” I said, a smile spreading on my face as I said the words.

  Nesta

  I sat down on the grass near Sylor, and took a few deep breaths. My head was still spinning, my heart was beating at a thousand miles per hour, and even my vision was blurred. I felt the blades of soft grass under the palms of my hands, and I focused on the sensation to regain some semblance of control.

  “Nesta…” I heard Sylor call after me, his voice sounding as if it were coming at me from the other side of the planet. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah…” I panted. I tried to look at him and smile, but even the slightest movement of my head was enough to make me nauseous. Looking down, my head tucked between my knees, I sucked in a deep breath and closed my eyes. “Just...just give me a moment. I’ll be fine.”

  Sylor didn’t say anything and, for that, I felt thankful. I heard him stand up, his heavy boots crunching the packed earth and grass under them, and realized he was already checking out the perimeter. Always aware, always cautious.

  “Get ahold of yourself, Nesta,” I muttered under my breath, running one hand through my hair. I wasn’t even surprised when I noticed locks of hair were plastered to my face, sweat still running down my cheeks. At least I wasn’t hyperventilating anymore. Both my hands were still shaking, though, and I had to use all my willpower to stop the rest of my body from shaking too.

  Own your fears, I heard a voice say from deep inside my mind, one that drifted out from the vault of memories I had been keeping hidden away. It was raspy and strong, a hint of condescension hiding behind the words.

  Odeon’s voice.

  I remembered the rigorous training he had put me through, and all the bruises my body collected whenever I failed to do whatever he wanted. From memorizing all the hidden routes that connected the different cities, to simple sleight-of-hand tricks I needed to master in order to become a successful member of Sabre, Odeon had been an unforgiving mentor.

  I had been just a bony child when he took me under his wing, his smart and cunning eyes going hand-in-hand with his alluring promises of a full belly and a warm bed to sleep in. Relentless, I met each and every one of his challenges and lessons, and it didn’t take me long to become his second-in-command. He had never made it official, since I hadn’t been older than sixteen at the time, but by then I was pretty much running the majority of Sabre’s operations.

  I was Odeon’s ideal student and, in due time, I would be Sabre’s leader.

  There was just one lesson I had never quite mastered…

  Own your fears, his voice came again, and with it the sound of a key turning inside a lock, a metallic bolt falling in place with a deafening sound. I couldn’t have been older than ten. I was small, but the closet Odeon had locked me in didn’t have enough space for me to stretch my legs. I had to keep my head tucked between my knees, my elbows and feet pressed against the cramped walls that imprisoned me. I couldn’t even move my head, and every breath I took hurt, as it expanded my ribcage and made the closet one size too small for me.

  Odeon kept me locked in that closet for three days.

  I didn’t say a word back then, nor did I cry. Had I cried for help, Odeon would’ve just kept me locked in there for weeks. So I just braved it out. Somehow, I survived the ordeal...and at the time, I thought that would be it. Just one more challenge I had overcome.

  Then came the nightmares.

  I dreamt of being buried alive, of walls closing in on me, tightening around my body so much that I couldn’t even draw a breath. The underground was my home, but Odeon had turned me into a claustrophobic.

  “Hey, hey,” I heard Sylor say right beside me. “It’s okay, Nesta. I’m right here.” He draped one arm over my shoulders, pulling me against his body, and only then did I realize that tears were streaming down my face. I gritted my teeth hard to stifle a sob, but rested my head against Sylor’s chest all the same. His presence felt reassuring, and the sound of his beating heart somehow soothed me.

  “Thank you,” I whispered, wiping the tears off my face with the back of my hand. I took a deep breath, raked my hand over my face, and forced a smile upon my lips. Pushing myself off Sylor, I looked straight into his eyes. He returned my gaze, his expression one of concern, and I found all the fear I had felt before vanishing.

  I didn’t know what it was about Sylor, but I felt safe around him. He was my captor, the one that had put me in this stupid situation of having to save the city, and still...I couldn’t help but feel this damned connection with him. Was that the reason why I had followed him this far? I could’ve left him behind, back when we were at the tunnels...and yet, I hadn’t.

  “Much better,” Sylor whispered, his soft smile drawing my eyes. Reaching for me, he stroked the skin under my eyes with his thumb, wiping my face of whatever tears remained there. I felt my heart skip a beat as I felt the touch of his skin on mine, and my eyes were immediately drawn again to the way his lips were slightly parted…

  I held my breath then, and the world stood still.

  Then, when his eyes fell on my lips, a wave of embarrassment crashed
against me. What the hell was I doing? Why was I feeling so damn vulnerable around him? No, I wouldn’t allow myself to be that kind of person.

  “So,” I said, looking away from him as I cleared my throat. “It’s a long way to Duvest. We should get going soon.”

  Sylor

  To have seen her panic, to have been reminded of pieces of my past because of it, I better understood her now. I hazarded a guess that, since she had grown up in the underground, she had been used to the standard-sized tunnels and warrens that were under the city, but when she had gotten into the smaller tunnel, something had gone wrong and brought her to that level of panic.

  Now I understood her shaking and hesitation when we were digging our way out, and I better understood how much effort she had put into helping me, in guiding me, in staying with me long enough to find a way out. The respect that I had slowly been gaining for her due to her unending perseverance and unrelenting drive had increased a hundredfold now that I knew she had pushed herself as far as she had in order to aid me.

  She had come to me for comfort after our escape and had placed herself in my care long enough to tell me what she was afflicted with, what it was that had caused her to fall into a panic. Now, I felt as though her protection was even more my responsibility than before. She would need me, and I was determined to be there for her.

  During my times in the war against the Xathi, I had seen many a warrior, many a hardened soldier, come to be the same as Nesta was in the tunnel. There were many times that the battle, the war, the death and destruction, had come to be too much for someone. The panic that raged with a soldier’s mind overwhelmed them, made them ineffective.

  There were many within the military that branded those men as cowards, but I knew better. I had seen my own atrocities during the war, even committed some of my own against the Xathi, convincing myself that they were not truly such atrocities because the Xathi were mindless beasts.

  Not everyone was born with a similar constitution, some were stronger than others. I had been lucky enough to have been born a very strong individual. I had been able to withstand seeing what I had seen thanks to training from both my father and my commanders.

  Nesta, I assumed, had no such training, no such upbringing. She had grown up in a place that looked as though the people had all they could do to survive, for that was all there was, survival. There was no chance to thrive, no chance to become stronger, better, smarter, and to find a way into a better life. There was only survival, and if you couldn’t survive until the next day, you were left behind. And something had happened to Nesta down there that had created this feeling of panic within her. I wanted to know about it so I could better help her, but I also knew that I could not ask, that if a person was ready to speak about their problems, they would be the one to begin discussing it.

  Since she had not volunteered to do so, I knew she was not yet ready. “So,” I started as we both sat on the grass. “Why Duvest?”

  I could see the relief on her face. She had apparently been expecting me to ask about her condition. A light smile played on her face as she answered me. “Duvest has a special sort of marketplace where we can get the toxin, hopefully.”

  I was a bit confused. “I’m not sure if you would know this, but Duvest was damaged quite badly during the final Xathi confrontation, as well as the initial attack from our friend here,” I explained, as I slapped my hand on the outside of the vined dome.

  I got on my comm and signaled General Rouhr.

  I advised him of our status.

  “Proceed with the rest of your mission then, Sylor,” he said to me. “And good luck.”

  I grunted and looked over at Nesta.

  She flashed me another smile. “I know, but this little market will still be there…I think.” Her confidence was bewildering, but I wasn’t going to complain. If she was certain that the market was still there and we were still going to find the toxin, I was not inclined to complain. “Come on,” she motioned to me as she got to her feet. She held out a hand, and I took it. While she wasn’t strong enough to pull me to my feet, I certainly appreciated the gesture.

  I showed her the direction we had to take in order to reach Duvest, and she took the lead. After nearly a mile of following one of the more well-used trails, Nesta took us off the trail. I struggled to see the reasoning behind it, but we had switched to what looked to be a tiny animal trail, barely cut through the forest floor.

  “Why are we taking this pathway?” I asked her as I stepped over a fallen moss-covered log.

  She looked back at me and winked. I felt myself mesmerized by her. She was certainly different than any of the other human women that had been part of our dealings. As we continued walking, she pointed out several small little pods that were hanging from trees or protruding from other plants. “Do you see these? Don’t touch them, not unless you have to,” she cautioned.

  “Why not?” I asked. I studied one of the pods a little closer. It was small, half the size of my foot, and they came in various colors. Some were green, others brown, and still others were a sort of purple color. Each had a tendril attached to it that pulsated every few seconds.

  “They emit a sort of gas, or repellent, to keep predators away.” She came over and pointed at one. “You see how their tails contract like that?”

  I nodded.

  “If it gets faster than that, then it’s either feeling threatened and about to spray, or it’s getting close to full and about to spray.” She grabbed my arm and gently pulled me away. “Either way, it’s a stink that will stay with you for months.”

  “That bad,” I commented, my eyes a bit wide in wonderment.

  She nodded. “Mm-hmm. If they spray due to a threat, there’s a little something added into it that makes it burn. I’ve been lucky, but I knew people that weren’t so lucky. Scars pretty bad, too,” she added as she led the way.

  “Is it really that bad?” I asked as I followed her down the trail.

  “I’ve used them to keep people off my tail before,” she admitted.

  Impressive. “Really? So why aren’t these trails used more often?” The fact that I had never seen these pods on the main trails, the main roads, suggested that the pods were much more comfortable in seclusion than in the open.

  Nesta essentially mirrored my thoughts. “The trails are generally only used by those of us that know about them and want to stay away from others. The pods are sort of the same. They’re only on these small animal trails, from what I’ve seen.”

  “No one else knows about these?” I asked.

  She shook her head as she ducked under a low-hanging branch. I, however, wasn’t as nimble, or small enough to simply duck. I was forced to get down on my hands and knees and crawl underneath. As I gained my feet, I looked up to see Nesta laughing at me. “What?”

  She shook her head. “It’s fun to watch you have to crawl when I can just duck. Guess that’s your punishment for being so big and tall.”

  “Yes,” I responded. “Now, what about my question?”

  “What question?” she asked me.

  I let out a soft snort. “The one where I asked if anyone else knows about these,” I said, indicating the trail with a wave of my hand.

  “Oh,” she shrugged. “Lots of people know about them, but not the people you’re probably thinking of. If you’re wondering if ‘normal’ people,” she made an air-quote motion with her hands, “know about these trails, I’m going to assume that if they do, they don’t use them because they’re scared to use them. They’re not big, they’re not well-traveled, so they’re most likely not safe to the general public.”

  I had to admit that her answer seemed the most plausible. A regular person would most likely look at the tiny animal trail and bypass it because it was so small. Most people were much more willing to take the well-used path than the new one that no one knew about.

  Nesta and the people that she lived with were interesting people. They had chosen to live underground, below the city,
and scrounge and scrap their way through life. Instead of coming above ground to live, they came above to get what they needed in order to survive. It bewildered me as to why they would choose to live that way.

  What had driven them below ground in the first place? What had caused these people, several generations strong, to take themselves beneath the city to live? I understood, partially, why Nesta and her generation, as well as the younger ones, stayed; they knew nothing different, nothing better.

  Apparently, they did come above ground, but none of them…maybe a few…chose to stay above. They always returned to the underground lives that they had known.

  Nesta was an enigma, someone that confused and confounded me. She was strong, mentally, and stubborn. She was resourceful, confident, and—to a degree—arrogant.

  She was also underfed, unprepared, and unable to properly care for herself.

  I found myself struggling to keep my mind on anything other than her. She was a mystery that I was desperate to solve, and from our two brief moments of closeness, a mystery that I wanted to know everything about.

  She seemed to be in her element out here, in the forest, more so than she was when she was leading me about in the underground. I wondered if I would be able to convince her to stay above when all of this was finally finished.

  Nesta

  “There,” Sylor said, pointing into the distance. “The walls, can you see them?”

  Using my hands to shade my eyes from the sun, I peered into the distance and, just like Sylor had said, the walls of Duvest rose up from the ground in all their majesty. Their bland surface contrasted with the lush green from the forest, marking the start of more civilized grounds.

  “I see it,” I finally replied. Walking faster now, I led the way down the small hill we were on, twigs and low-hanging branches whipping at my shoulders as we went. Sylor followed me closely, making so much noise that there was no doubt in my mind every creature in a five-mile radius knew exactly where we were. His body was powerful, yes, but it sure as hell wasn’t built for stealth.