Elei's Chronicles (Books 1-3)

by Chrystalla Thoma

  She leaned over him, silky hair brushing his face. “It’s trying to take you over again.”

  “Trying.” He looked up at her, and thought he saw blood dripping down her face, her throat. He shuddered. “But maybe Regina is already controlling you.”

  She bared her teeth in scary smile. “I’ll—”

  “Hera,” Kalaes said hoarsely. “You promised me.”

  Her eyes widened. She sagged and her hold loosened. “What do you see, Elei?” she whispered. “When you look at me, what do you see?”

  He looked at her. The skin of things was back, showing him her dark eyes, curious, angry and concerned.

  “I see your blood,” he said, his voice just a breath. “I see you dying.”

  “Well,” she straightened, “that is not so frightening, is it?”

  “You think? It is scary to me.” He inhaled, and that was a mistake so close to her. Her face distorted, twisting into a grotesque mask. “And what do you see?”

  “I see...” She turned and slid down the wall beside him. “I see murder in your eyes. I see weapons in your hands. I see my death in you.” She sighed and closed her eyes, leaned her head back. “And yours in me.”

  “As long as you don’t follow up with that.” Alendra stood before them, the gun still in her hand.

  Elei blinked at her, then at Hera. “What should we do?”

  She shook her head. “Believe.”

  “In what?”

  “In what we know, what we promised.” She glanced at him sideways. “I promised to be your friend. I promised Kalaes not to hurt you. That’s all I’m hanging on to now. That I know who you are, all of you, even if my eyes tell me otherwise.”

  He supposed she was right. Could he do that? A quick look showed him long fangs, a muzzle like a dog’s. He turned his gaze away. “I’ll try.” No promises. Not fair perhaps, but Rex... Rex often surprised him with its strength.

  She nodded, seeming to accept that. “Good.”

  ***

  “Hera.” Sacmis stood outlined in silver light, against a backdrop of what looked like machines and glass screens, but she was gazing beyond at something he couldn’t see. “Would you look at this.”

  Hera had wandered to the far wall where lights flashed. “What is it?”

  “Do you think we can drive them?” Sacmis asked.

  Drive what? Elei sat up.

  “One moment.” Hera was examining what looked like a data processor. Well, at least it had a screen, lit up now and flashing a message, and what looked like buttons along one side of it. “I think I’ve found a GKL800 point. An information base.”

  “What I’ve found might be more urgent,” Sacmis said.

  Hera grunted, pulled something out the side of the screen — a slim data rod? — and went to join her.

  Another patter of bullets on the closed door behind them. Elei inched up the wall to stand.

  “It’s a dock.” Alendra stood rigid and still, her fair hair moving with each breath. “No wonder nothing is marked beyond this room.”

  Casting Kalaes’ slumped form a worried glance, Elei staggered toward her, and froze, a hand going to his gun. Below his feet opened a hangar full of large vehicles. They weren’t like aircars; in fact, they were unlike anything Elei had ever seen.

  Like fish, scaly and with long tails, lying flat on the concrete floor, the cockpit window in the front like an evil, dark eye. If they had wheels or air cushions, he couldn’t see them.

  Hera appeared at his side. She vaulted over the short parapet, flying through the air, her long hair a dark cloud. She landed in a crouch beside one of the strange vehicles before he even had time to gasp her name.

  “This is our way out,” she said, her voice carrying on the still, dusty air. “This dock.”

  Elei squinted at a reflection on the far wall. It was black and sheer, sparkling like a huge mirror. His stomach cramped. “That’s not a wall.”

  “It’s a window,” Hera said, striding to the vehicle and laying a hand on it, softly, as if not to awaken it. “And a gate.”

  A window. To where? Elei jumped over the parapet, following her down. Deep inside, he knew what lay beyond, but fear didn’t let the knowledge surface. He walked past Hera, past three vehicles parked side by side, all the way to the dark glass and placed both hands on it. It was made up of huge rectangular pieces, held together with steel bands, and so cold it burned his fingers.

  Something flashed behind the sparkling surface — long and silvery, writhing, vanishing back into the dark.

  “A fish,” he breathed and took a step back, his heart hammering. The glass was all that stood between him and the depths of the ocean, where the five hells were, where the damned lived in frigid water and agony. “It’s the sea.”

  Alendra was suddenly there, grasping his shoulder. “They’re watercars. If this is a gate, like Hera says, we can take one of their vehicles and drive back to Dakru.”

  Underwater. In the blue. Panic gripped Elei. “Yeah, sure.” He took another step back, brought short by Alendra’s hand. Sailing on the water, that was normal, that was expected, but going through it, like a dolphin, like a stingray... Deep down where sirens swam and the gods reigned.

  The doors behind them rattled with another volley of bullets. He turned. Sacmis was helping Kalaes down a flight of steps Elei hadn’t noticed, leading him to their small group in the hangar. She was always so gentle with him, despite Kalaes’ suspicions, gentle with all of them. Maybe it was about time they trusted her. Maybe her love for justice — or Hera? — was that strong.

  Elei started forward when Kalaes stumbled, Sacmis’ arm around him the only thing saving him from kissing the floor. He slipped an arm around his friend, felt his heartbeat hammering through the soaked shirt.

  “So cold,” Kalaes breathed. “Pelia, cover up the little ones, close the windows. There’re birds outside, they’re trying to get in, and we can’t...” He groaned.

  Oh, shit. Hallucinations? “Hold on,” Elei said. “We’ll be fine.”

  “Where’s Pelia?” Kalaes whispered.

  Elei winced. Okay, a plan, they needed a plan. “We get one of these cars and we go to Dakru. Hera, you think we can drive them?”

  Hera was climbing up the side of a watercar. “Do you think I’ve ever seen anything like this?” Her voice thundered in the empty space. “Let’s see if we can get in first.”

  Always so cool-headed, apart from the moments Regina took her.

  Kalaes shuddered, and Elei tightened his hold.

  Alendra climbed after Hera. A hatch opened low on the side of the vehicle and steps unfolded all the way to the floor.

  “Sobek’s tail,” Sacmis whispered.

  The pounding on the door behind them went up a notch, jerking Elei out of his trance. “Let’s go.”

  Alendra and Hera entered the watercar while the besieged door boomed, sounding like it’d blow up any moment. With Sacmis’ help, he dragged Kalaes up the steps — don’t think, just move — and managed to get him inside. It was dark and cold, the walls and floor covered in a sort of black tapestry.

  Hera stood in a doorway, a frown on her face. “Have they broken through?”

  “Not yet.” Elei panted, hauling Kalaes to a seat with security straps. “Found the cockpit?”

  “In here.” Hera nodded over her shoulder. “Have a look. Maybe you can get the damn vehicle to work, because I cannot.”

  “I need to make sure he’s okay first.” Elei strapped Kalaes in the seat, patted him on the shoulder, pulled his gaze from that white, grimacing face. “Bring down the fever.”

  “What you need to do,” Hera snapped, “is to make sure we get out of here, now.”

  He turned to tell her where to shove it, when Alendra placed a hand on his shoulder.

  “Tell me what to do,” she said, her gaze heavy like gold.

  He wanted to touch her face, inhale her soft smell, fall in her arms and hide. Instead he said, “Would you put some cold compresses
on him? And give him water. And pills.”

  She nodded, her brow furrowing. “There’s not much water left.”

  “Then use it all.” He tried to catch Kalaes’ unfocused gaze. “Hang on, man. We’re going home.”

  He brushed past Hera, and she grabbed a handful of his hoodie as soon as he’d stepped inside the cockpit. She turned him around.

  “Why do you lie to him?”

  “Lie?” Exhaustion warred with grief, and it all turned into a ball of rage. “Lie? We are going home. That’s where I intend to take him once this is over.”

  “He will not make it, Elei.” Her voice was quiet. “You have to see that.”

  “See what?” He grabbed her wrist and forced her fingers to unclench and free him. “He’ll make it. We may not be as strong as the Gultur, but we’ve survived over the centuries.”

  “That is not...” She shrugged, looking down. “Not the point. He’s too far gone. The marks have spread down his back. Palantin is eating at his insides. He cannot keep liquids down and he’s burning up. His fever is too high. Soon he’ll stop responding and his organs will shut down. I’m only being realistic, Elei. He’s as good as dead.”

  A growl rose in Elei’s throat. “Don’t say that!” He shoved her backward until her back hit the wall, his heart booming. He didn’t look at her, not wanting to see what Rex would show him. “Don’t you ever say that. I’m taking him home.”

  And that was that, as far as he was concerned, the odds be damned.

  ***

  The cockpit smelled of nepheline, a whiff of powdery mold and sharp dakron fumes. He expected clouds of dust to rise when he fell into one of the two pilot chairs, but only a small puff enveloped him, tickling his nose.

  Sacmis came to stand behind him and Hera took the other seat, silent and scowling, her small mouth pursed as if to keep any words from spilling.

  Good. He wanted to smash the strange controls he saw before him, take a club at the windows, shred the chairs until the anger ran out of him like water. But no such luck.

  He stared at the panels, trying to decide what to do.

  “Is this not like a seleukid panel?” Sacmis said.

  “I hope you’re not asking me,” Elei muttered, kicking the base of the console. “Pissing seleukids.”

  “Is it Rex, making you act like this?” Sacmis asked, her breath warm against his neck.

  He suppressed a shiver. “Like what?”

  “You know what I mean. This violent. You seemed quiet before. Unassuming.” When he looked up at her, startled, she looked away. “Well, at least not so aggressive.”

  “When? When you put a gun to my head at the hospital, or when I put a gun on yours later?” He winced, clamped his mouth shut. He’d meant to agree with her, not... not this.

  But she only nodded, as if it confirmed what she thought — and didn’t it? She moved to stand behind Hera.

  He hung his head, trying to focus on the unfamiliar controls, wondering not for the first time what he really was like when Rex or telmion didn’t have the upper hand. If he’d like what he found.

  “These,” Hera said, “look promising.” She was stroking a cluster of buttons that looked like a spider’s eyes.

  “And what are they for?”

  “Buoyancy,” Sacmis said, “most probably. Ballast control, to stay underwater. Ah, here is air filtering.”

  He ran his fingers over a few switches, similar to those of an aircar. “And this should be,” he flicked it on, “the start up button.”

  The engine rumbled to life.

  Hera flicked him a wide-eyed glance. “Good,” was all she said, and she leaned over to switch on the thrusters. “But what about the gates? How are we getting out?”

  Shit. “A remote. There has to be a remote button.” Or else the panel was outside somewhere, and it was too late.

  “The helicopters in Bone Tower had a lever hidden near the panel,” Hera said, “to open the hangar ceiling. It could be a similar thing.”

  Sacmis was already moving, checking two lockers chock full of manuals, and then under the seats and along the sides of the panel. A snick sounded.

  A huge metal door slid aside, opening into another chamber. Exchanging an uneasy look with Hera, Elei pushed back his shoulders and let out a long breath. He grabbed the acceleration lever, nodded to Hera to release the brakes, and they lurched forward.

  Gods, but the vehicle glided as if on oil. Did it run on dakron? He cast a worried glance at what seemed to be the fuel dial. It looked full. If that was what it was. Which he didn’t really know. Pissing hells.

  They rolled into a much smaller hall, a claustrophobic box with neon green bars shedding light on the opaque walls. A set of double, heavy metal doors faced them. Carved designs decorated their surface. Elei could make out fishtails and ships. Probably some divine battle.

  Underwater. In the five hells. Where they were.

  He swallowed around a knot of fear. “Now what?”

  He’d barely said it when the doors behind them closed, and the carved ones in front opened, and the sea rushed in.

  His hands scrambled at the arm rests. The water poured from openings all around, rising, covering the windows. Hera was muttering the names of gods, and Sacmis held her arm like a lifeline. Alendra stumbled into the cockpit, her face ashen.

  “Is this it?” she said. “Are we out?”

  “Not yet.” Elei forced himself to breathe.

  The doors were open all the way now. The chamber was full of water.

  “When?” Alendra came to stand by his shoulder.

  He glanced at Hera who nodded at him, and pushed the acceleration lever once more. “Now.”

  Silvery bubbles ran up their sides as they slid through the door and eased out into the sea. Darkness swallowed them and panic rose again in his chest.

  “Where in the hells are the headlights?” Elei fumbled at the panel, accidentally switching on the heater. “Dammit.”

  “Calm down,” Hera said.

  The headlights turned on, flooding the water before them and washing everyone’s faces in white. He slumped back in his chair.

  “Set course to Dakru.” Sacmis leaned over Hera, staring into the dark sea. Lightning movement outside, an opalescent cloud twisting and turning, sweeping by; shoals of squid. A jellyfish, expanding like a glowing mushroom cap, floated at Elei’s left, its four long tentacles trailing below. Small, luminous fish drifted by.

  “It’s the abyss,” Hera murmured.

  He barely heard her. The wall — or cliff? — along which they had been driving, soared in a sheer face that seemed to go up forever into the deep blue. Down, too. Flat, white fish floated off their vertical roosts as they approached, like doves flying off the sea cliffs back at Ost. Rectangular and square shapes stood out in relief on the face of the cliff. Gates? Or windows?

  His hand shook on the steering lever. He tipped the lever to the right, maneuvering closer to the cliff face. So smooth. And yet not entirely, no, made up of panels, screwed together with bands of what looked like dark metal. In fact, he could swear he saw letters and symbols engraved here and there. He swerved closer.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Hera slapped her hand over his and they veered to the left. “We’ll crash, damn you.”

  He didn’t let go, though. “Hera, this...” He swallowed hard as he pushed the lever up, speeding. Unlike the bays and coves he knew were above, along the coast, the wall was even, sleek, unwrinkled like young skin, curving delicately, perfectly. Endlessly. “This is huge.”

  “It’s an island, Elei,” she said patiently. “It’s meant to be huge.”

  “Not the point.” Was she being dense on purpose? “This can’t be natural, Hera.”

  “We said—”

  “Geomanipulation.” Elei gritted his teeth. “I remember. This isn’t it.”

  “I beg your pardon?” Hera lifted a fine brow.

  “It can’t...” More panels, more letters, more perfection. Met
al. Gates. Windows. “It can’t ever have been natural.”

  Hera snorted. “It cannot go on forever. I’m sure that, after a while, we’ll see the natural rock.”

  He withdrew his hand then, let her have the steering lever. They cruised alongside the endless wall. He just stared, hands gripping the arm rests, as the foundations of Ert slipped by, majestic and huge and so artificial-looking. Strange that Kalaes wasn’t commenting.

  Elei jerked out of his seat. “Kalaes.” Cold washed down his spine despite the heaters blasting hot air. He stepped out into the back cabin and found Alendra kneeling at the other boy’s side. She glanced up when he dropped to his knees. Her gaze was bleak.

  “How is he?”

  “He won’t wake up,” she said, her voice cracking. “He won’t... Gods, Elei, what shall we do?”

  Through the mind-numbing fear, he had a bright, fleeting wing of a thought that he could love her, for worrying for Kalaes, for sitting there by his side instead of gawping at the wonders of the deep.

  “Kal.” He shook Kalaes’ shoulder, watched horrified as the tousled head lolled forward. “Did you manage to give him water?”

  “Some.” She wiped a hand over her face, and he could swear he saw a film of tears in her eyes.

  “Compresses?”

  “Here.” She pressed a soaked cloth into his hand. “I only just took it off him to wet it.” She swallowed. “Is he really your brother?”

  Elei paused, fingers clutching the rag. “Yes, he is.”

  And that was the only essential truth in the world.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The cockpit was quiet when Elei returned, Cat licking his leg in one corner, and Hera at the controls. He sank into the co-pilot’s seat and tried to focus on the control panel. His eyes were blurry. He wiped a hand over them.

  Hera didn’t seem to register his presence. She stared straight ahead, her hands gripping the arm rests in a white-knuckled hold.

  “Hera?” He laid a hand on her forearm and she recoiled, twisting to clutch at his wrist with bone-grinding force. He tried to pull away. “What is it? Where’s Sacmis?”