She launched herself to her feet. "Markus, you're right!"
Without even looking at him, she cast another lightning spell at the nearby hand, which had stopped moving entirely. The lightning crackled in the air, and smoke issued from the hand, growing thicker and thicker. The hand jerked a few times, and Nadia sensed what was coming. She threw herself to the ground moments before the hand exploded, sending shards of metal flying through the air. She raised a shield on instinct, but would it be enough?
A flood of debris rained down on her, some of it penetrating her shield. She covered her head as a few heavy bits collided with her. Some of them burned her hands, and she felt blood trickling down her arm.
Then it stopped. She jumped to her feet and turned to see that Markus had eliminated the other hand. He was covered in blood, though, where some of the debris had struck him.
She rushed toward him. "Markus! Are you all right?"
He struggled to his feet, swaying as blood flowed down his neck. "I'm fine."
She was about to check on him, but then she heard the voice of the Defender.
"Activating emergency defenses. The intruders will die."
Markus still wavered on his feet. "I don't like the sound of that."
"Oh, you don't?" Nadia said. "I thought it was just me."
Two large panels opened on the Defender's metallic body. From each panel, a massive cannon of sorts emerged. Each cannon aimed itself at one of them. Markus and Nadia combined their efforts into one powerful shield.
Pulses of blue energy burst from the cannons. Nadia flinched and squinted against the brightness.
The blue energy collided with their shield. The barrier might have offered some resistance, but it wasn't enough. The energy shattered the shield and collided with them. It felt hotter than the fire in Crayden, and Nadia screamed in anguish.
She could think of nothing but the pain, and she smelled her own burning flesh. After all this, they were going to die.
Then it stopped. Nadia lay on the ground, her body racked with pain. She tried to push herself to her feet, and every inch of her body blazed with searing agony. Her tears stung as they slid down her face. She couldn't move more than a few inches without screaming.
The defender's voice rang out again.
"Emergency defenses have failed. The intruders must die. Activating self-destruct."
At this point, Nadia didn't even care what was going to happen. She was in so much pain that all she could think about was the comfort that would come with death. They'd been foolish to enter these tunnels, and they had to pay the price.
Her eyes could barely stay open. She only wished she could go to death without so many regrets. Warrick was still alive. Kara and Rik were lost in the Shadowed Land. Krinir was out there somewhere, a force even worse than Warrick.
And Nadia couldn't change any of that.
As she struggled to remain conscious, she thought she felt hands against her, but maybe it was her imagination. Markus was surely dead or dying. Maybe she was dead already, and it was her mother leading her into the afterlife.
But if she was dead, why did she still hurt so much?
And why was that pain becoming less intense?
Her eyes came open, and she was looking up into Markus' blue eyes.
"Stay with me, Nadia. Please, you can't die on me like this."
"I-I’m alive," she said, her voice barely more than a croak. To her surprise, her pain had faded away almost entirely. Every movement was still painful, but it was nowhere near the agony she'd felt moments ago.
"Can you run?" he asked.
"I think I can. Help me to my feet." Nadia got to her feet shakily, using Markus for support. He was still covered in blood, but it had already started to dry. As they started running, she said, "What happened? How are you not burned all over?"
"I don't know. I guess my shields are stronger than yours."
"What do you think it meant by self-destruct?"
Markus staggered a bit as he ran. "I don't know, but I have the feeling it's gonna involve a very large explosion."
Nadia pointed ahead. "Look! That door's open." It hadn't been open before, but perhaps the Defender couldn't keep the door closed with all the damage they'd done.
The Defender's voice boomed out again. "Ten seconds to self-destruct. Nine. Eight."
Markus and Nadia kept running. The door was so close, but they were both weak. Nadia gritted her teeth against her pain and ran as fast as she could.
"Five. Four. Three."
Markus and Nadia dived through the door and cradled each other in their arms. The door did not close behind them.
"Two. One. Zero."
The explosion rocked the entire place with more ferocity than Nadia had expected. The sound of it was deafening. As the fire surged toward them, she prayed their shields would be strong enough.
Chapter 12: A Potential Ally
Markus held his shield strong as heat erupted all around them, burning as intensely as the fire in Crayden. He closed his eyes, praying for it to end. Just when he was sure he'd die, the heat finally abated. He looked up, peering through the smoke in the corridor, then got to his feet and offered an arm to help Nadia stand.
She wavered on her legs. "I didn't think we'd survive that."
"Neither did I." He assessed Nadia's burns. "How're you feeling?"
"They still hurt, but I know there's nothing more you can do."
They started down a corridor lined with the same reflective metal as the rest of the underground passage. For the moment, it appeared deserted, but Markus remained tense, checking their surroundings for any traps. At least the alarms had stopped blaring. Maybe their pursuers thought the Defender had killed them.
The corridor continued for a long time, making occasional turns, but there were no branching passages. Twice, they encountered robots like they'd seen before, and they handled them easily. Soon they reached another open chamber.
And stood face-to-face with at least a dozen guards.
"Your adventure ends here," said one of the guards. Before Markus and Nadia could react, two of the guards created force fields around them.
"How'd you get ahead of us?" Markus asked.
One of the guards stepped forward. He looked like the commander. His posture was intimidating, and his blond hair was shaved short. "Did you think the entrance you used is the only way into these passages?"
"Are you going to kill us?" Nadia asked.
"If we wanted to kill you, you'd be dead already." The commander shook his head. "You have done a great deal of damage down here. You have any idea how much it cost to build the Defender? I'm afraid you won't get a comfortable prison this time."
Markus felt the crushing weight of failure as they marched alongside the guards, confined by the force fields. They crossed the open chamber, then climbed a series of walkways much like those they'd used to descend before. Soon they reached another door, which the commander opened by placing his hand against it.
They stepped into another room containing all kinds of computers, then exited that room, entering one of the palace's many corridors. Markus didn't recognize where they were, only that there were no other people here. This had to be a restricted level of the palace.
One of the guards turned to the commander. "Shouldn't we inject them with new tracking bots, sir?"
"We should, but we don't have any with us. Don't worry. I'll take care of it."
The guard nodded his agreement, and they continued through the corridors. They went down a nearby set of stairs, entering a portion of the palace with dimmer lighting. This area contained doors with barred windows. It looked clean, but it was still a dungeon.
The guards shoved Markus into one cell, then forced Nadia into the one beside it. As soon as Markus crossed the threshold, he felt a strange vibration in his hands. Then his TWs started to burn, and he scrambled frantically to remove them. By the time he threw them on the floor, his palms were bright red.
"T
he force field around the cells has disabled your weapons," said the commander.
Markus glared at him. "Does it have to burn so much?"
"That should be the least of your concerns. After everything you've done, you are likely facing execution. The president gave you a choice, and you disobeyed him."
"Don't we get a trial?" Markus asked.
"In matters like these, trials are a luxury we don't have." The commander slammed the door in Markus's face, and he felt more trapped than ever. At least he'd had Nadia back in the dungeon in Warrick's palace. Now he was all alone in a small cell.
He called out to Nadia, but the walls must have blocked all sound because she didn't respond. Dejected, he slumped against the wall. How could everything have gone so wrong so quickly? How would they ever find their way out of this?
Markus's cell contained a toilet and a sink. It was better than Warrick's dungeon, but it felt worse. In a way, he looked forward to his execution. At least then he wouldn't be trapped in here. His chest tightened when he thought of spending the rest of his life in this cell.
He had no idea how much time passed. He could not see the sun, could not check a clock. No one came to feed them, and his stomach grew more and more unhappy. Though he knew he should conserve his energy, he paced his cell.
Eventually, he grew exhausted. He settled down on the hard bed, trying to ignore his growling stomach and racing thoughts. Sleep proved elusive.
He lay awake for hours, wondering what they could have done differently. If they died now, Karin's sacrifice would be pointless. After all they'd been through, they couldn't die like this. There had to be a way out of this situation, but he wasn't seeing it. Once again, he felt lost and overwhelmed in this strange world of technology.
When the door to his cell opened, he sat up abruptly. The commander stood in the doorway, beckoning him forward.
"Come quickly," the commander said in a low voice. "We don't have much time."
"What? I don't understand."
"No time to explain. Follow me."
Markus trailed after the commander, stepping out of the cell. Nadia stood a few steps away, glancing around nervously. Markus gave her an encouraging smile, but it probably looked more anxious than anything.
The commander walked along the corridor of prison cells, but he didn't lead them toward the stairs they'd taken to enter this area. Instead, they reached another set of stairs at the end of a corridor. These stairs led them deeper into the ground.
"Where are you taking us?" Nadia whispered.
The commander held a finger to his lips.
Soon they reached an even darker level of the palace that looked as if no one had set foot there in a long time. Was this where they'd be executed? That didn't make sense, though. If the commander wanted to execute them, there'd be no need for all this secrecy.
They reached a door with a red handprint on it, and the commander touched his hand to the door. It glowed green, and the door swung open.
"Get inside," said the commander.
Markus and Nadia hastened through the open door, and the commander followed behind them, closing the door. They'd entered a small storage room full of crates.
After a moment, the commander said, "Sorry for all the secrecy, but we had to get somewhere we don't have cameras watching and listening."
"What's happening?" Nadia asked.
"I'm part of the resistance," said the commander. "Karin contacted me before she helped you. She believed her plan would work, but she wanted me to help you in case it didn't. So I took the lead on the search for you in the tunnels, and I made sure we forgot to bring more tracking bots with us. Now you can escape without being detected."
"What about you?" Nadia asked. "Won't they know you had a role in this?"
"That's why I'm coming with you. I've known that I'd have to blow my cover at some point. Helping you is as good a reason as any."
Markus shook his head. "I still don't know why we're so important."
"You are vital to the fight against Krinir. You are perhaps some of the most important people in the world, even if you don't know it yet."
"I'm tired of everyone telling us we're so damned important," Markus said. "When do we get to read these Webs of Fate ourselves? It feels like we're being manipulated."
"I can explain once we reach headquarters," said the commander. "By the way, my name is Daniel." He held out his hand, and they both shook it in turn. "What happened to Karin down there? How'd she die?"
"It was the Defender," Nadia said.
"I'm astonished that you two managed to defeat that machine. All of us in the resistance have avoided that part of the tunnels. You succeeded in doing what we haven't even attempted, what many others have died in trying. If that doesn't convince you that you're special, I don't know what will."
Markus felt sick when he thought of their battle with the Defender. It could have easily gone the other way. "I didn't feel special down there. I was just fighting for my life."
Daniel glanced at Nadia. "I'm sorry we didn't do anything for your burns."
"They're not that bad. Markus healed most of the damage."
"We'll see if we can heal the rest once we reach headquarters."
"And how are we going to do that?" she asked.
"Look down at your feet." Daniel pointed toward a slight indentation in the metallic floor. "That's another entrance to the tunnels. I know you don't want to go back down there, but it's our best chance to escape the palace."
He pried the trapdoor open, revealing darkness below.
Markus's stomach churned as he looked down into the opening. "You sure about this?"
"To tell you the truth, I have no idea what we'll face down there. This is a part of the tunnels we haven't explored." He hadn't quite met either of their gazes.
Markus groaned softly. "That's not what I wanted to hear."
"Well, there's no sense waiting around," Nadia said. She slipped into the opening, found the ladder leading downward, and began her descent. Markus followed, feeling a little shaky as he stepped from rung to rung. Once Daniel entered the tunnel, he closed the trapdoor, plunging them into complete darkness. Markus's chest felt tight.
"Just keep making your way down," Daniel said. "Don't think about anything."
"At least it's too dark to look down," Markus said. "Rik would appreciate that." He felt a twinge of sorrow as he thought of Rik. Yes, Rik was resourceful, but how long could he last in the Shadowed Land? It felt like an eternity since Markus had last seen Rik.
"I've reached the bottom," Nadia said, her voice echoing in the chamber. Soon Markus and Daniel placed their feet on the rocky ground.
Markus couldn't see anything in the dark, but this place felt more like a cave than a manmade tunnel. Was this even part of the same tunnel system?
Light burst from Daniel's right palm, casting a yellowish glow upon the walls and revealing that they had, in fact, entered a cave.
"I almost forgot," Daniel said. He reached into a small pack he carried with him and pulled out four TWs, which he handed to Markus and Nadia. They strapped the weapons onto their hands as they had before.
Nadia pointed to their right. "That's the only passage I see."
Daniel nodded. "Then that's where we'll go."
Their steps echoed as they entered the passage, which twisted along as they followed it for the next few minutes. The caves seemed deserted for now, but that surely wouldn't last.
"What is this place?" Nadia asked.
"Not sure," Daniel said. "This entire tunnel system is enormous."
"All I know is I want out of this place," Markus said, feeling as if the darkness were pressing in on him. He tried not to think about the weight of all the rock above them.
Nadia placed a hand on his shoulder. "Is something bothering you."
"Don't worry. It's just that feeling of being trapped."
She offered him a faint smile. "I can't say I like it much either."
They stepped
out of the passage and into the largest cavern Markus had ever seen. Electrical lights illuminated their surroundings, but that wasn't enough to see the cavern's edges. Strange whirring and clanking sounds filled the chamber, and something in the air made Markus's arm hairs stand on end.
"I don't like this place," he said.
Daniel frowned as he examined their surroundings, an intricate maze of platforms and elevated walkways. "I still don't know what this place is, but there's a lot of power in the air here. We should avoid using magic if it all possible. It could set off a reaction that will make the whole place explode."
"I don't understand," Nadia said. "If you know so little about this place, why did you choose to go through here? There had to be another way out of the palace." Her gaze became intense. "You can't even know that this place has an exit."
"How do we know we can trust you?" Markus asked.
"I got you out of prison, didn't I?"
"But maybe you have your own reasons," Nadia said. "We can't know if you're actually part of the resistance, or if we should even support the resistance. You're asking a lot of us. I'm grateful that you got us out of prison, but you need to tell us something more if you're going to ask us to trust you."
"You have no choice," Daniel said. "The only way out is the way we came in, and you can only open it with my handprint." He tugged at his TWs and threw them on the floor. "Oh, and I don't actually need those. I'm a full sorcerer, immortality and all."
"What do you want from us?" Nadia asked.
"I want your help."
Chapter 13: The Machine
"Our help?" Nadia asked. She had no idea how they could help an immortal sorcerer. Yes, they both had the innate talent for sorcery, but they hadn't made the Pilgrimage. Surely Daniel was in a position to help himself.
"I might have lied to you a bit about this place," Daniel said.
Nadia glared at him. "All right. Which parts weren't true?"
"I've been down here before. Some of us in the resistance have explored this place. You see, this place holds the key to victory against the New Earth Empire, and by extension against Krinir himself."
World in Chains- The Complete Series Page 104