Godling (Kairenz Jistora Book 1)

by Dusks, Rydre

  The moment the tunnel was unveiled Siivash began to step inside, descending a long set of stony steps leading deep into darkness. Stelliot started forward, but I took his arm.

  "Wait a minute."

  He looked up at me, "Siivash isn’t scared, Papa. He’ll protect us. It’s okay."

  I let him pull away from me and follow the dragon. Stelliot was a smart boy. He’d survived this long, even with Velzae getting almost fatally injured. I needed to trust that Stelliot had grown up a lot since I’d seen him last. He wasn’t helpless, even if he was still young.

  Siivash’s yellow gaze lit up the way before us as surroundings grew dark. Its illumination shined across the mineral walls and bounced around in a fragmented display of multiple colors. Several times Stelliot made audible sounds of fascination.

  "What’s down here, Papa?" he asked.

  "Honestly, I don’t know," was my quiet response. "I have never been through here before. But you’re right about Siivash. It’ll keep us both safe."

  Stelliot moved next to me as the tunnel widened near the bottom step and took my hand, walking side-by-side.

  Siivash halted and turned its head my way. I paused after noticing. "...What?"

  Stelliot walked forward and placed a hand on Siivash’s side before looking back at me. "I think he’s worried about you, Papa."

  I frowned. "Worried about what? I’m fine."

  He shook his head. "You look really sleepy, Papa."

  It wasn’t until then that I realized how exhausted I truly was. My real leg felt weak, and the knee of my fake one was tired and sore. I'd kept as alert as I could, however. I hadn't wanted to show weakness in front of my son.

  I sighed, raising my arms in surrender. "Okay, I’m tired. What does Siivash want me to do?"

  Siivash walked a short distance further and moved into a wider opening. It wasn’t a massive cavern, but it did have a wider mouth and a long stone ledge that looked as if groups of people had once sat there to rest. It was rather obvious to me after I saw that.

  "Do we have time for me to sleep?" I wondered.

  Stelliot took my hand again and this time led me over to the stone slab. I was a bit surprised, but felt a little better to know that Stelliot wanted to stay near me. I took off my tailcoat and folded it up after removing some of the heavier, harder objects from the pockets. I then lay down on my makeshift pillow and offered my arms. Stelliot crawled onto the ledge and into my embrace, nuzzling my chest before situating himself and closing his eyes. Siivash crept up to the slab and sank down into its own resting state just a couple of feet away. Within moments, I heard my son’s even breathing and knew he was already asleep on my chest. I closed my eyes, and despite the environment not being the best pick, I drifted off quickly.

  So you found him.

  ...Sylvain?

  It is I, Crow. How far away are you from GreyCross? I need your help.

  You can’t fool me, Sylvain. I know how close you are to Crane. You don’t care about Stelliot.

  There was a long pause. I don’t think you quite fully understand. Crane does not trust me.

  Crane sounds like he doesn’t trust anyone. Forget it, Sylvain. I’m not telling you where I am. If you are honest and understanding, you won’t lay a finger on Stelliot, and won’t let Crane do that either.

  Another pause, though slightly shorter than the first. You think you understand Crane and me? You think you know the effect he has on me? Not just me, but everyone? Crane is a power-hungry sadist, Crow. He has no feelings for anyone but me. But that does not mean that he will spare me if I ask it. If I go against his wishes, he will torture me until I beg for death. And frankly he won’t even need to. I would rather die than upset Crane. The soul inside me is too connected to GaenVrellec's, and I feel trapped by Crane because of it. My inner self sees Crane as the same companion I had when I was a god, but he isn't the same anymore. That is why I need you to come here and take care of him before he catches on that I am a traitor.

  None of this settled well, but I didn’t have enough time to reflect on it. Siivash woke me up.

  A hot spout of smoke struck my face, and I sat up with a jolt while coughing, nearly knocking Stelliot off me. He tumbled back with a loud sound of irritation as I rubbed my aggravated eyes.

  Siivash huffed again my direction, prancing like an equine beside the slab.

  "What is it?" I asked him quietly.

  The robot turned from us and headed further into the tunnel. I didn’t have time to do anything but help Stelliot up after throwing everything back in my coat, following the dragon as fast as I could. Though I didn’t know how long I’d been sleeping, I felt much more rested and able to think faster on my feet. I let Stelliot ride on my shoulders as I rushed to keep up with Siivash. As much as I urged the dragon to slow down, it didn't.

  Could it be Crane? I thought. Did Crane find out where I am once I left the Plains? That didn't make sense. Sylvain wouldn't have contacted me to ask me where I was if Crane already knew.

  Our progression took us deeper. Siivash finally slowed enough for me to get onto his back with Stelliot in front of me. The machine balked after walking for another hour, and I glanced over its head to see what had stopped it. The further into the tunnels we went, the wetter it got. A massive pool had accumulated from the damp walls and collected in a dip in the pathway. From the darkness, I couldn't tell how deep it went, but Siivash probably wasn't supposed to be immersed in water since he was furnace-powered. The tunnel was much too narrow for the robot to spread its wings and sail over. I supposed this was where vehicle and rider parted ways.

  "But why?" Stelliot complained as I removed him from Siivash's back, having mentioned that we had to leave the robot here. "Siivash will get lonely here all by himself."

  I lifted Stelliot up onto my shoulders after patting Siivash's head. "It’s a robot, Stelliot. It has too much heat and fire inside it that would be extinguished if it waded through the water. It’d stop working."

  "But..." Stelliot stared longingly at Siivash. "It'll be dark and scary up ahead without him."

  I touched Siivash's nose with my hand. "We'll get through, Stelliot. We're heroes, remember? And I'm sure Siivash will catch up to us from a different route. It’s a smart dragon."

  As if to answer me, Siivash turned with a billow of smoke and began trotting back the way we'd come. I waited until it had rounded a corner, the glow of its yellow eyes vanishing, before turning back toward the pool.

  "It's dark, Papa," Stelliot whispered.

  It certainly was. I couldn't see hardly anything, although my eyes had mostly adjusted to our surroundings.

  "It's dark, but darkness isn't bad, Stelliot," I answered him.

  "Uncle Velzae said that darkness makes monsters."

  I began an adventurous journey into the cool water, taking it slowly to avoid tripping or stubbing my feet against anything. "What exactly were those monsters that used to attack you and Siyari?" I asked.

  "Velzae said they are shadow people."

  "Shadow people?" I wondered.

  "Yes. He said only some of the gods can get rid of them, and that Sol made a big mistake and now there is a war going on between Kairenz and the dark place."

  "What's the dark place?"

  "Only me and Velzae can go to the dark place. It's darker than here, and really, really quiet."

  Ah... I knew that place. I'd seen it through Velzae's eyes back in Roavo.

  "So... what do you mean by Sol making a mistake?" I asked.

  The water was up to my waist now, but luckily I hadn't stumbled over anything yet.

  "Velzae said, 'Father Sol started a purification, but now corrupt things are coming out of the darkness. He made a big mistake and now the family is angry with him.' That's all."

  That didn't help much. How could a parental god of all things screw up? I supposed nothing was perfect, but that just didn't sound right. For there to be peace, there had to be challenge placed beforehand to get to that peace. S
o why would SolTansra do anything by accident? And what family? The godly family? Well of course Crane hated SolTansra and many of the other gods, but Crane wasn't responsible for the "shadow people." At least to my knowledge he wasn't.

  The water was up to my chest, and Stelliot's shoes were submerged. I was afraid of this--it was only going to get deeper from here. The ceiling of the tunnel dipped further down, and there was no way we could go any further without holding our breath. I was okay with swimming under the water, but I wasn't sure how okay Stelliot would be, and I didn't want to risk it and didn't want to leave him behind... even for a moment.

  I bit my lip for a second, then decided. I moved backwards, stepping out of the pool and back onto dryer land. I set Stelliot down. "Here's what we're going to do," I started, making sure my boy looked me in the eyes. "We're going to turn around and go see where Siivash went. It may have headed off to find an alternate route."

  Stelliot's eyes were not focused on me. I waved my hand in front of his face. "Stelliot? Still with me?"

  His voice was a thread of a whisper. "They're here."

  I looked around the two of us, taking in the stillness and dark. "Who?"

  His grey eyes finally focused on my face, and I saw how pale he had become. "The shadow people, Papa. They found me."

  A slosh began from the waterlogged tunnel, and I turned my attention to the noise. The liquid sounded like it was receding.

  "The water’s draining," I uttered in bewilderment.

  "I told it to drain because we need to run away," Stelliot replied waveringly.

  "You made it drain? How?"

  "C'mon, Papa. We need to go!" He rocketed into a run down the sloping tunnel and toward the other side.

  "Stelliot, wait! I don't even see anything!"

  "Only I can! And only Velzae can kill 'em, Papa, which means run!"

  I tentatively followed him. I wasn't able to see Stelliot, but I still heard his shouts.

  "No, no, you have to run, Papa! Stay close or it might get you!"

  For a moment I looked through space, trying to see if Stelliot was alright where he was. I decided to pick up a breathless pace behind him, tripping on loose gravel and rocks I couldn't see. There were no sounds that followed us, but I could have sworn I felt eyes on my back. A couple of minutes later I heard Stelliot stop to catch his breath. I slowed and nearly ran into him as he backed up and felt for me with one arm outstretched. I grabbed him.

  "Papa, I'm tired."

  "You've been running like a crazy person, Stelliot. We need to slow down."

  "N-No," he pressed, straightening from my arms.

  "Stelliot, you're running blind. We can't see anything. If we keep going, even at a slower pace, I'm sure it won't attack us."

  "No, Papa, no," he continued. "You don't know them as much as me."

  I wrapped my arms around him and picked him up. "You're tired, and you shouldn't be doing this. It's dangerous. I know Velzae let you run around on your own, but I'm your father and a lot more protective than he was. And you're just gonna have to get used to that."

  There was no more arguing from him. He'd already rested his head on my shoulder. Carrying him while trying to catch my breath made it harder to keep moving forward, but I did it anyway. I continued like this for about an hour while Stelliot slept, walking for quite some time before taking a short rest. Eventually sunlight was visible ahead of us. I progressed faster, for once eager to feel the hot rays of the daylight in Souloroh. The mouth of the tunnel was a little wider than the passageway itself, and I took two steps out, squinting and blinking to ease the discomfort of the bright light.

  This wasn't a desert. I was on another beach, but there were several gangly trees marking the shoreline beside massive boulders. I'd never seen the shores of Souloroh before and would have immediately assumed that I was on the border if it weren't for the fact that I distinctly recognized the type of rock that made up these boulders from studying text books as a teenager. These giant greenish monoliths lining the shore were Tan'stieli stones. This was the shoreline of southern Ifearor.

  16

  The Daliq'ehete

  I cursed under my breath. Stelliot was still asleep on my shoulder, so I wasn't worried about him hearing me. We'd taken the wrong tunnel somewhere. Perhaps the path to Souloroh had been blocked off or submerged somewhere else. I wouldn't have worried so much about being in Ifearor if it weren't for the war. Ifearians certainly were not the kindest to Iasona, and would now be even more inhospitable. I had no choice though. This was my only path back toward home from the Mirrored Plains, and chances were that I wasn't too far from the Souloroh border anyway. All I needed to do was head west.

  My knees buckled the moment I took a step, and I nearly dropped Stelliot. I felt weak and exhausted, then realized the reason I felt so weary was due to a lack of food or water. I hadn’t eaten or drunk anything since leaving Atta’s house two days ago, excluding that single sip of tea at TeilaLouna’s cottage.

  I looked out over the shore, trying to see if there were any structures in the distance. I wanted to keep out of sight if possible. Ifearians could easily mistake someone like me as a spy. Getting into Ifearor without a passport was a crime already, and getting in here without a passport in the middle of a war was worse.

  I stumbled again, this time dropping down to my knees with a gasp. There hadn't been any way for me to gain any energy other than sleep for a few hours, and even then it wasn't enough. The reason Stelliot was still asleep in my arms was probably because he was hungry too. How long had he been in that house without food or water before I found him?

  I hadn't made it far before I heard a call from somewhere further up the beach. As I looked I spotted a fair Ifearian woman clad in a crimson military uniform, toting a rifle. She was quick to point it in my direction, and as she did three other soldiers appeared around her, coming out from behind the Tan'stieli stones with their guns pointed my way.

  "Elkeka mu'ut safo sto'th!" the female soldier shouted, her blond brow furrowed, and I worried that she really intended to shoot me.

  I didn't understand Ifearian. I was fluent in Anli and Iasona, and knew most of New Soul, but Ifearian was completely alien to me. It didn’t follow any Souloran roots like Iasona did, so I had no option but to hope that she understood either New Soul or Iasona.

  I raised the hand that wasn't supporting Stelliot and spoke in the tongue of Souloroh. "Please, I'm not an enemy. My name is Kro. I'm from the Gasaidiatt, and this is my son--"

  "Iasona!" she interrupted, jabbing her gun my way as the soldiers came closer.

  I shook my head. "No--"

  "Iasona Strejc!"

  One of the other men touched the tail of my coat with the barrel of his rifle.

  I mentally cursed myself. Strejc tailcoats were one-of-a-kind, and any Ifearian against Iason would immediately recognize one.

  "Shtu'apo vuda ki'hi," the woman declared.

  I didn't make any sense of it.

  "Vuda ki'hi! Anyaso!"

  Seeing my blank look, the woman spoke a few sentences to the men surrounding me, and one of them turned to me.

  "Empty pockets," he ordered. "You have Strejc weapon, empty pockets."

  His New Soul was choppy but clear. As Stelliot roused, I dug into my deep pockets and pulled out what I could, tossing my Jux into the sand, along with my phone and other items. Stelliot straightened with a groan, then saw the Ifearians with guns and wrapped his arms tightly around my shoulders.

  "Papa...?"

  "Please," I said again to the soldiers. "We just came from the Cantor-Ifearor tunnels. We're very tired and hungry, and we mean no harm."

  The woman spoke again before I could explain further, and the man translated for me.

  "You bring to guard-house and talk. You live because you have child. Ifearian kill no child."

  Well... that was good news. I wasn't shot full of holes because I was carrying my boy. All of this was new to me. I had known Va'th for several years,
but had never asked him much about Ifearor. He'd told me he'd left his home country in his early twenties because he hated the government. I figured it must have been bad for him to be pushed to go into the totalitarian Iasona society instead.

  I struggled into a stand up from my kneeling position, placing Stelliot down to walk. The soldiers picked up my belongings and stowed them away before forcing me to trudge with them up the beach and past the massive bluish boulders. Stelliot held onto my coat tightly as we walked, staring at the soldiers with big eyes full of curiosity and confusion.

  "Where are we, Papa?" he asked.

  "We took a wrong turn somewhere," I uttered. "We're in Ifearor instead of Souloroh."

  "Where's Ifearor?"

  I didn't answer him, because the female soldier glanced back at Stelliot and me, hissing something in our direction. I figured she was telling us to shut up. I squeezed Stelliot’s hand in reassurance that I’d try answering him later.

  The soldiers walked us up to a dirt road past some more gangly beach trees. It was blazingly hot and humid here--something I was entirely unused to. I was accustomed to dry heat, but the humidity made it difficult to breathe without feeling like I was suffocating. Stelliot didn’t like it either, and I could see his little chest heave with gasps every minute or so. However, despite the awful humidity, Iason had a certain beauty to it. It smelled of fresh plant life and sea breeze, and many birds sang in the trees.

  Trucks were parked alongside small buildings set up along the coastline. It looked like a small town that had been abandoned to make room for the military. The soldiers walked me past several stationed groups of others of their kind and into a small police station that had been converted into a military report center. The front office was set up surprisingly like Radley Stone's, and for a moment it unnerved me terribly. But this was not Stone sitting on the other side of the desk. Instead a woman sat there, appearing calm and aloof. I knew Ifearor had a strong belief in female leadership, since the country was run by a woman as well.