Malachiax rubbed his face before running a hand through his hair. "I don't understand."
"There's no time to explain." He stood up with difficulty, then offered his hand to his cousin. "Let's collect the spheres and get out of here."
"Do you know where they are?"
“Yes.” Durgin jumped into the shallow fountain pool and pushed a button located at the base of the statue. There was a low rumble before the stone parted in the middle, revealing a square metal box with symbols carved on it.
"That’s it?"
"Yup. Now let's go before my father senses they’re gone."
Chapter 30
Samiah paced back and forth in front of her companions, waiting impatiently for Durgin to return with Malachiax. She had already bitten her nails to the nub, a terrible habit she’d thought she had overcome but clearly had not. The lack of action was making her anxiety levels rise through the roof. The others were busy studying the manual the lab technician had given them, but Samiah couldn’t concentrate on anything until Malachiax was safe and sound by her side.
Once in possession of the H5s, they had been able to reach Samiah and Malachiax’s place without incident because Samiah took them through the outskirts of the city to avoid bumping into any patrols. Not taking the most direct path had cost them precious time. When they’d finally arrived in Samiah’s apartment, Lochiana explained with only a few words what needed to be done. Femror still hadn’t looked one hundred percent well, but at least he had been up and walking. Together they’d grabbed any supplies they would need for their trip back to Mora.
A noise out in the distance brought Samiah to the present. She squinted in its direction until she saw a dual-seat hover approach. Samiah could only see the glow from the ride’s thrusters until the vehicle stopped a little ahead of the group, and she recognized Malachiax’s wild curls.
She let out a choked cry and ran toward him. He jumped off the hover and met her halfway, catching her easily in his arms, burying his face in the crook of her neck as his entire frame shook. She noticed his clothes were wet, but she filed her questions for later. All that mattered was that he had come back to her in one piece.
“I thought I would never see you again,” she said.
“Me too. But I’m here now. I promise we’ll never get separated again.” He cradled her face between his hands and kissed her hard, as if he wanted to make sure she was indeed there.
"Did you get the spheres?" Lochiana asked, and Malachiax broke the kiss to look in his cousin’s direction.
"Yes." Durgin tapped the burlap sack hoisted over his shoulder.
A loud whoosh over their heads made them all look up. A shimmery veil was slowly unfurling in the sky, expanding toward the city’s boundaries.
"Fuck! They've ignited the dome. We must hurry.” Durgin made a beeline toward one of the H5s. He caught the long side-glance Gary gave the dual-seat hover and added, “We can’t take the hover. It’s not powered by solar energy and will stop working as soon as we’re out of Argamanx relays’ reach.”
Reluctantly, Samiah let go of Malachiax and climbed onto her mount. The H5 stood eerily still, not acting at all like a regular animal. The lab technician had said they weren’t robots, but they sure acted like they were.
“We’ll cut across the forest until we reach the city limit. It’s not the quickest path, but it will be the only one not patrolled by my father’s forces.”
“How do you know that?” Femror asked, drawing attention to himself and his sister.
Durgin’s eyes widened, and his jaw slacked open. Samiah, in her worry over Malachiax, had completely forgotten that most Arcadians didn’t know about the Draki’s existence. Durgin scanned the warrior before his gaze shifted to Chrysa. Samiah noticed his reaction to her, and if she had to guess by the sudden stiffness of Femror’s back, so did he.
Mal’s cousin smiled lazily, still staring at Chrysa, before he replied, “Because I compelled the soldiers responsible for this section to take a very long nap.”
At least he didn’t make the mistake of calling Femror and Chrysa lizard people.
Malachiax kicked his mount’s hide, and when it didn’t respond, he let out a frustrated sigh. “Come on, move.”
“They don’t respond to that,” Samiah said, but before she could add to it, Durgin approached Mal and quickly explained the control panel.
They were off after that, following Durgin through the forest that hugged the Seven Sisters. If her calculations were correct, they should cross the city limits within ten minutes. Samiah glanced at the sky once more and saw that the dome’s edge had already vanished from view, which meant it was getting closer to the ground. She had never seen it in use before, but she had read about it. Once the dome was shut, no one could come in or out of the city.
The path became steeper as they went up a hill. Samiah knew it be to be the final stretch. Unfortunately, the dome had already touched the ground in some parts, and like a curtain, it was closing in.
"Faster! Faster!” Durgin urged from the head of the line.
Samiah glanced down at her control panel and saw her H5 was already going at maximum speed. There was a red button near the speedometer, but she had no idea what it was for since she hadn’t bothered reading the manual. Mal kept pace with her, but she then noticed Gary’s mount decrease speed and fall behind.
“Gary!” she screamed.
“Something is wrong with my mount. I can’t make it go faster.”
Samiah locked gazes with Mal and immediately knew what he intended to do. “No!” she yelled through the bond. He shook his head before he turned around and went after Gary. She was furious at him, not for wanting to help their friend but for leaving her behind after he had just promised to never be separated again. Not this time, my love, Samiah thought as she steered her mount to the right and back to where they’d come from.
Malachiax leveled her with a glare when he caught her approach, which she promptly ignored.
“How can I help?” she asked after she circled around and rode on the other side of Gary’s H5.
“Loop your reins around Gary’s. We’re pulling him with us.”
Samiah did as Mal instructed, and together they managed to help Gary’s mount gain speed. They were still going slower than they should, though. She looked ahead and noticed the dome had almost closed; all that was left was a sliver that kept narrowing with every breath she took. We aren’t going to make it, she thought in despair. There was barely any room left for two mounts to go through side by side, much less three.
As if he was reading her desperate thoughts, Mal yelled, “We can make it, come on.”
“On the count of three, press the red button on your control panel!” Gary yelled.
“What? What does it do?” Samiah looked at her friend.
“Just trust me. One, two, three, go!”
Many things happened all at once. Samiah and Malachiax locked gazes right before they pushed the red button on their respective control panels. Their mounts lurched forward with a jerk and Samiah almost lost her balance in the process. There was a loud snap just before Gary’s mount fell behind once more. He had untied himself. Samiah and Malachiax could do nothing because they were already at the dome. Malachiax brought his H5 flush against Samiah’s, and together they needled through the opening.
Her pulse was pounding in her ears when Samiah looked over her shoulder. The opening had sealed shut. The dome was complete. She let out a choked sigh when she saw that Gary had made it as well.
“Shit. I honestly thought you weren’t going to make it.” Durgin brought his mount closer to Samiah and Mal.
“It was close,” Mal replied, while Samiah narrowed her eyes in Gary’s direction. Something wasn’t right. He was curled over his H5 and holding one arm close to his chest.
“I think Gary is hurt.” Samiah tried to steer her mount in her friend’s direction but the H5 wouldn’t move. “What’s wrong with this thing?”
“Did you p
ush the red button?” Durgin asked.
“Yes.”
“That’s why.” He didn’t elaborate before he took off in Gary’s direction. Lochiana and the rest huddled around Samiah and Malachiax and waited.
“What happened to him?” Samiah asked to no one in particular.
“It’s his hand. He lost his hand,” Chrysa replied.
Chapter 31
Samiah watched as Chrysa bound Gary’s wound with the expertise of a true healer. It had been a clean, precise laser cut and as it was, it had already partially cauterized. She thanked the Sacred Powers that they would not have to deal with blood loss on top of everything else. In regular circumstances, they could have tried to reattach the extremity, but unfortunately, his hand had fallen on the other side of the dome. Even if it hadn’t, they didn’t possess the necessary equipment to preserve it until they had access to a healer’s facility.
Gary eyed the stump with a somber gaze, but other than that, Samiah couldn’t read the Jackurian’s expression. She considered for a split second, peering at his aura, but she decided to respect her friend’s right to grieve without being spied on.
He refused to take any painkillers, for it would affect the Razor’s Blood effect. Durgin had also offered to take away some of the pain using his gift, but Gary flat-out refused. It had been the angriest Samiah had seen her friend react.
While Chrysa finished patching Gary up, Durgin went to investigate what had happened to Gary’s H5. In the end, it had only been a matter of a loose wire.
“What the fuck are these things, anyway?” Femror eyed his own mount with distrust. “I’ve never seen animals that could be controlled by technology.”
“You wouldn’t see them running out in the wild because they are one of a kind. My father’s most prized possession. Well, I guess not anymore since we stole them from under his nose.” Durgin smiled and glanced in Chrysa’s direction. The young Draki didn’t notice his stare.
“Will you quite ogling my sister? She’s not a piece of meat.”
Durgin whipped around in Femror’s direction and frowned. “I’m not ogling anyone. I was checking on her progress with Gary’s wound. We need to hit the road.”
“I’m done,” Chrysa announced.
“Gary, are you going to be okay to ride?” Malachiax tapped the man on his shoulder.
“Yes. I can hardly feel any pain anymore. Thank you, Chrysa.”
The Draki princess smiled before she turned toward her mount. She touched the animal’s nose and began to whisper soft words Samiah didn’t understand.
“What is she doing?” Durgin continued to watch her.
“Something you Arcadians would never be able to comprehend.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Durgin glared at Femror.
“If I have to explain it, then you don’t deserve to know.” Femror jumped back onto his ride with tremendous grace. Samiah envied his agility.
Durgin opened his mouth to offer a retort, but Malachiax touched his shoulder and with a simple but stern glance told Durgin to can it.
They rode hard as they fled Argor, but Samiah’s heart wasn’t relieved that they had managed to escape—it was heavy. After a while, she looked over her shoulder and saw in the distance the shimmering dome that now surrounded Argamania. Her breath caught, and she slowed down until she completely stopped. Her eyes prickled, and she bit her lower lip to keep from crying. Malachiax stopped next to her and, without a word, threw his arm over her shoulders. She leaned on him and together they stared at the only home they had ever known. The life they knew was over. Even if they managed to close the portal, there was another threat to contend with, perhaps even greater than the Myserians.
Lord Droom.
“We’ll come back someday,” Malachiax said.
Samiah wanted to believe his words, but she found it impossible. She turned to him and smiled tightly. “I hope you’re right.”
They turned around and rejoined the others. They kept traveling through the Argamanx Forest as long as possible until the trees gave way to open fields. The first rays of sunlight broke on the horizon, the sun redder than orange, painting the sky a deep blood red. A fitting sight for that savage dawn. They avoided the small villages on the way, but even from the distance, they could see that those places had been abandoned in haste. Samiah hoped those Argorians had made it to the city.
They were going up a hill when Samiah first heard the thundering sound of thousands of feet stomping hard on the ground. A shiver of dread ran down her spine. She turned to Malachiax and saw the same apprehension in his gaze.
Once they reached the top, the vast land of Argor spread before their eyes. The vantage point gave an obstructed view of the mountains in the distance and of the army of people in the valley below. Samiah sucked in a breath as her stomach bottomed out.
"For all the Sacred Powers," Gary said.
"Fuck!" Durgin rubbed his face and held his reins tighter.
"What do we do now? The only way around that army is hiking up the mountains," Samiah said. She didn't need to add that such a move would be mean leaving their precious mounts behind.
"We must travel through the Valley of Bones," Chrysa said as she stared out at a shadowed portion of the land in the distance.
Samiah could hear a pin drop, for nobody said anything for several minutes. The Valley of Bones was a wasteland, deadly. Flash sandstorms were known to hit suddenly, offering anyone caught in the middle zero chance of survival.
Durgin turned to Chrysa and asked, "What do you see, Princess?"
There was no mocking tone in his question, but still Femror growled at Durgin.
Chrysa closed her eyes and shuddered. "I cannot see anything. I've been denied the sight."
Durgin's jaw clenched as he stared once more in the direction of the Valley of Bones.
"I say we risk it. We don't have any other options. If we hide and wait until the army passes through, we might be too late to save Argor or the planet," Malachiax said.
"I agree," Femror replied.
When no else opposed, Malachiax said, "Let's do it."
With every hard gallop of her mount, the sound of the Myserians weakened until Samiah could no longer hear it. But putting distance between herself and that walking terror didn't ease the tight grip of fear around her heart. She had heard the stories of the Valley of Bones. The desert of yellow-colored sand occupied a grand part of the Argor territory. Trying to cross the wasteland out in the open was a foolish idea, for the temperatures were almost unbearable. But the desert had received its fame and name due to its unpredictable sandstorms.
Before the ground changed from dark soil to soft sand, Samiah had already begun to feel the shift in the atmosphere. The air had become dry and hot. The heat wasn't anything Samiah had ever experienced before; it was a smothering blanket that made it hard to draw air into her lungs. She also sensed the impact on her mount by the change in its breathing. It had become more labored, and without being prompted by Samiah, it began to slow on its own.
Samiah glanced at her companions and noticed the same phenomenon. She wished for a scarf or a piece of cloth to wrap around her head to prevent her from collapsing from a heat stroke. She could rip part of her top off, but that would leave her back partially exposed to the scorching sun. She was thankful that she had at least brought a pair of shades.
Malachiax rode next to her, his stoic expression revealing nothing but determination. She knew he must have already developed one of his excruciating headaches.
"Are you okay?" she asked telepathically. He turned his face and gave her a rueful smile. No, he’s not okay, she thought.
"How much longer until we cross the desert?" Samiah asked anyone who could answer.
"I flew over it once. My guess is we're past the halfway mark," Gary replied.
Samiah was beginning to think the Sacred Powers would grant them this blessing and allow them to cross the valley without any issues. But that had been foolish thinking. Wh
en had things gone their way since they’d started the journey?
They heard the storm before it broke on the horizon, a dark cloud of sand bearing their way. The wind changed, swirling Samiah's hair across her face.
"What do we do?" Gary asked.
"Gattica. We head to Gattica," Chrysa replied, as if they had any idea what she was talking about. She took off to the left, going up a sand dune without waiting for any of them.
“Fuck!” she heard Femror yell.
They followed Chrysa, for what other option did they have? So far, the Draki princess hadn't let them astray.
When they reached the top of the dune, there was nothing down below besides more sand. No shelter in sight. Behind them the sandstorm roared, getting closer. Chrysa didn't miss a beat and kept urging her mount to go who knew where. The wind was getting stronger now and gusts filled with sand hit Samiah's face. She dared to look over her shoulder and saw only swirling darkness fast approaching. The sandstorm would swallow them within a minute. Samiah faced ahead once more and could only make out flashes of the red attire the princess wore. Then suddenly she vanished.
Samiah would have cried out but the sandstorm finally caught up with her. She couldn't see anything, and her body felt like it had been pierced by a thousand needles. She closed her eyes and braced for the worst.
Chapter 32
The silence that followed the raging storm was deafening. Samiah opened her eyes and found herself inside a vast cave bigger than Central Gateway Station in Argamania. Stalactites of all sizes and shapes hung from the light gray rock ceiling and shimmered wherever the light touched them.
"Tandrum's wrath! Where the fuck are we?" Femror said as he appeared suddenly out of thin air, followed by Malachiax, Gary, and Durgin.
"I don't know," Samiah replied as she gazed in awe in every direction. "Where's Chrysa and Lochiana?"
"Down here. You have to come see this," Lochiana replied from somewhere below.
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