She started to reach out for the shield, as her hand got within a few centimeters she could feel a pulsing tingle over her fingers. Her hand shook so badly, she made a fist and pulled it back. Lebuin gave her an encouraging squeeze with his right hand on her shoulder. She reached out again, and just before she touched it, she saw power in it begin to swirl. She could feel it too. A slight acrid odor came to her too, as if the air was burning because of the interactions. An arc of mana sparked off of it, to the bracelet. It was absorbed and filtered just like the nodules. Her confidence grew, and she concentrated on keeping the channels open to Lebuin.
The hairs on the back of her hand stood up, and the tingling sensation began tickling up her arm. With her open palm, she touched the shield. It buzzed angrily, and in Lebuin’s shared vision, it turned a dark blue. The physical sensation was odd. It felt like she was about to touch boiling water, and tingled like she’d just got a static shock on it. It took all of her self-control to hold steady. She pushed forward until her hand was halfway through the bubble. Its energies parted like water, and with her hand inside it, the device was filtering a lot of mana. The stream to Lebuin’s hand from the sapphire became as thick as a tree branch.
They stood like that for several minutes. Aside from the power Lebuin was collecting, nothing changed.
“Pull your hand out. This isn’t working,” he finally said, his voice full of defeat.
No! We can do this.
She knew she could get through. She grabbed Lebuin’s left forearm and pulled him with her as she stepped through the shield.
He squeaked and stumbled after her.
It buzzed and went red, yet it still parted for them. They ended up standing together before a doorway that had been made invisible by the shield. The door was pure white and set back into the cliff face about half a meter, giving them plenty of space to stand between it and the edge of the shield. The ground there was tiled with a blue and white marble with black trim.
She let go of Lebuin and turned to face him. “Gods don’t squeak, my Lord.”
“The hell they don’t! What made you do this?”
“I felt we could do it. I realized that this,” she said, holding up the bracelet, “is the Yunna Minthra Amia-Dharo tried to tell us about.”
A motion drew their attention back to the shield. The others had stood up and rushed to where it was. She could see them clearly, but they couldn’t see her. They were talking to each other in surprise, pointing. Nigan pulled out a dagger and prodded the bubble. A bright spark flashed over his dagger, and he jumped back, dropping the dagger and shaking his hand like he’d been stung.
“Stay here,” Illa said. Holding her hand before her, she stepped up to the shield and pushed through it.
Instantly, she could hear the others. They stopped shouting as soon as they saw her.
“What happened?” Nigan demanded.
“We couldn’t take it down, but it seems I can walk through it with this. I pulled Lebuin with me. Come.” She held out her hand. They looked at each other, and Nigan volunteered to go second. She had no trouble pulling all of them inside. For each person, she fed the built-up energy to Lebuin before crossing it again, just in case there was some limit to how much the Yunna Minthra could hold. They all looked at the door and marble tiles.
“Well, this is interesting,” Malla said as she tapped the tiles with her dagger. “Not even a speck of dust, and these aren’t glazed ceramic. They look like it, but they’re stronger.”
Lebuin had the silver box out and was holding it up to the door.
“This isn’t magical, but it is pretty complicated. Almost like a vault door. It has a lot of non-magical technologies in it.”
“You know, this reminds me of the doors at the Dolphin and Vestul’s tower. I wonder....” He placed his hand in the upper right corner where Duke had touched Vestul’s tower door. A square section under his hand flashed green and they slid open with a hiss, causing Lebuin to jump back.
Ditani asked, “Why would it recognize you?”
Lebuin shook his head. They all drew their weapons. Lebuin went first. As he stepped in, lights came on, revealing a large room with chairs and benches. There were small round tables, and at the far end was a tall desk with boxes on top.
Lying on one of the benches was a dried husk of a woman. She was perfectly preserved. Her skin was tanned brown, and her hair was dark black with grey streaks.
“This looks like a reception area,” Lebuin commented.
Ditani went over and examined the woman. “She’s an elf.”
The others approached. Ditani was searching her, lifting her white jacket and checking her pockets. She had a device strapped to her wrist and gold rings on four of five fingers. Her ears were pierced, with a pair of blue topaz earrings dangling down.
Ditani said, “She didn’t die of any attack or injury.” He held up a small silver box, similar to what Lebuin held.
Lebuin was standing next to him, pushing buttons on his. Floating in the air before them, an image of a female elf appeared. She was smiling.
“Incredible. That thing can show us what she looked like when she was alive,” Ditani said.
Lebuin’s face was blank, and his eyes revealed his amazement. “No, I asked it to identify her. This is a stored image in the recorder.”
Ditani looked over. “Who was she?”
Lebuin pushed some buttons, and text flowed around her likeness. ‘Vikta-Kulkian, Scientific Director Kiliun Lol, Elracian Senate Scientific Council Chair.’ Along with that came a series of awards, schools, and accomplishments.
Illa’s heart felt heavier than ever and tears blurred her vision. Illa bent down and touched the dead woman. “I’m so sorry, Vikta-Kulkian, we’re too late to rescue you. You were waiting for rescue, weren’t you?”
Ditani handed the silver box to Lebuin. He put his away and opened the one Ditani handed him. He examined it and opened its controls. After experimenting, something came up on one of the small displays on the device.
“It’s a scanner recorder, too, but it’s different. I’d say it’s more advanced. There’s a message. The title is ‘Play for the Senate’.”
Lebuin pushed a button, and a new image of Vikta-Kulkian appeared but she looked horribly thin compared to the one Lebuin had shown earlier.
When she started talking, everyone jumped back. She remained steady in the center of the group.
“My deepest regrets, I cannot make this report in person. The record will show it has been forty-three years since the destruction of Elraci. My logs will provide all the data needed. Only five of us are left. Although we can make enough food and water for as long as needed, we’re dying of a form of mana poisoning. We do not have the magical skills or knowledge necessary to stop it. At this point, we have given up all hope of being rescued. No communications, magical or mundane, can penetrate the energy clouds surrounding us. We fear the whole world is gone. I pray we’re wrong and that someday our records will be recovered.”
The projection of Vikta-Kulkian bent over, coughing up green bile. She wiped her mouth with a cloth, which she put into a pocket before forcing herself to stand upright to continue.
“My chief physicist has been working on a theory. His proofs, formulas, and experiments of the last forty years are in the logs. He suggests that a surge of at least 10,210 gigarellums Loeheshian-Mana was directed back into a set of void system generators. Such an event could have caused a cascade backlash through the power systems. Using the last sensor data we trust, his calculations show this happened at the experimental system at Dalpha’s labs in Brinhi Nik. Brandon had suspected Dalpha was doing something dangerous, but he wouldn’t tell me what it was. He swore me to secrecy and set up a secret data feed between her research institute and our systems. The data feed from there was cut off moments before the f
irst wave of destruction hit us. I’ve kept my oath and not shared this with my team.”
With the wave of her hand, Vikta-Kulkian’s image was replaced with a different scene in which a number of people moved around a pair of machines similar to the one Lebuin had shown earlier. They were setting up a series of prisms between two machines and a large golden egg.
A beautiful woman walked into the area, and one of the elves stepped over, bowing to her.
“All is ready for the focused feed. This might backfire, and we can lose years of work.”
“Will the collector be damaged?”
The elf laughed. “I doubt all of Elraci could generate enough power to threaten the collector.”
The woman nodded. “Very well. Evacuate the area. I must have more power than Argos if I am to take lead.”
Ditani was standing with his mouth hanging open.
Lebuin sputtered, “She wanted to take control of the Circle!”
Illa remembered the laws of the Gods. The Circle was the ruling group of the Gods. It never had more than seven members, and the head of the Circle was chosen by the simple test of magical might and control. Whoever could control the greatest amount of magic was the ruler of the Gods. It took them thousands of years to build up power, and in that time, the other Gods made sure those with potential were well-vetted for temperament and wisdom. In their long history, a few possible leaders had been cut short, because they were found lacking of the empathy and lawfulness needed to lead.
There was a God trying to gain enough power to surprise the Circle and take control, but in order to do that, she had to exceed Argos in control. He was the strongest God in history and physically enhanced to control the powers of the new universe.
In the image, the room was vacated, and a sudden flash of light wiped it away entirely. Vikta-Kulkian reappeared. She was crying.
“Three seconds later, the world around this institute was ripped apart. There can be no other explanation. The calculations and this data are undeniable proof this was the cause. Dalpha was trying to regain control of the Circle. We don’t know why. Soon the magical poisoning will kill me. We’ve confirmed there are none alive within 600 kilometers. My husband is already dead, and our children were at our house in the capital only a short distance away. I’m sure most of the country is destroyed. I pray not the world, and I pray this message will be found. I go now to join my ancestors. Vivant et imperii decus est famuli tui Duianna Elraci.”
Her image vanished.
DALPHA! That was Lady Dalpha. She has all those temples, and they do all that work to heal people. My Lords!
Illa felt her knees wobbling. No one said anything for a long time.
Lebuin went and sat down in one of the chairs. Ditani started looking through some cupboards on the side of the room.
Illa sat down next to Lebuin on a small sofa, and Nigan joined her. The warm smell of arit filled her nostrils. She turned around, and Ditani was walking over with a tray of steaming cups.
“Dalpha,” Lebuin said.
Ditani said, “Apparently. Cup of arit?”
Malla took one, as Lebuin did, and drank it down. “That’s amazing. Where did you get it?”
Ditani pointed at a tall square sideboard he’d been exploring. The center of the sideboard had a couple of displays showing rows of small pictures of food items. Next to the displays were a set of glass doors that revealed large empty compartments. “There’s a machine like one that Vestul had. It makes drinks and foods. It’s somewhat different, but it only took me a little effort to figure out how to ask what I needed of it. But we can eat and drink all we need now.”
Lebuin turned to the dead researcher. “She said mana poisoning. What is that?”
Ditani shrugged. “Don’t know. Never heard of it.”
Lebuin pulled at his beard staring at the dead husk. “We need to stock up and get out of here. I think it might be something like a sickness I read about called radiation poisoning. It’s very dangerous. It changes the body, and if it doesn’t kill you outright, it causes you to die of terrible sicknesses. We need to find Ticca and get out of here. We have what we came for.”
Carda’s eyebrows went up. “What exactly do we have? Aren’t we looking for something to stop the Nhia-Samri?”
“Lebuin, you broke the last golden thread on Vestul’s journal a couple of days ago. Did it explain anything else that’s now clear to you?” Ditani asked.
Lebuin shook his head. “Vestul’s journal is no help for this.” He looked off into the distance. “Elraci burnt because Dalpha was trying to generate enough power to take control of the Circle from Argos, using their magic generators passing the mana through Loehesh filters. The Nhia-Samri have fifty, or maybe 100, of these generators now, and the Gods, through us, just found this out. Except the Nhia-Samri generators are producing Loeheshian-Mana or something close to it, possibly making them more compatible with the collectors, or whatever Dalpha was up to. That means Dalpha might be trying again.
“We’re trying to prevent a catastrophe of which no one was able to discover the cause. What if it was that Dalpha found out about the new and more powerful generators the Nhia-Samri built and secretly tried again? She could already be making preparations, thinking she has solved whatever went wrong the first time or that the new generators are compatible. We have to get out of Elraci and warn Duke. Worse, I just tried to send a message to Argos to warn the Gods, but I’m blocked right now. I think this place has some rather potent shields, which means we need to get away from here, so I can warn the Gods. I must tell them of what Dalpha did and might be doing again.”
They took time to refill all their water containers. Ditani figured out how to get a number of foods out of the machine like jerky, trail bread, and some hard candies to take with them. The machine had an amazing selection of foods, and they all had one of the best meals of their lives. Nigan even got the steak dinner he had asked for.
They stuffed Lebuin’s pack with as much food and water as they could without making it impossible to get anything else out. Then they left as they came, except that Lebuin kept the new recorder, giving the one from the Nhia-Samri base to Illa. She put it into her pouch with the precious box.
After exiting the shields, Lebuin stood, looking south. “Ticca is alive, and she knows where we’re going. We could wait here or go to the capital.” He turned to Ditani and Illa. “What do you think she would do?”
Illa was just about to answer when three Nhia-Samri appeared out of nowhere around Lebuin. One of them was her father. She froze at seeing him again.
Before Lebuin could even make a sound, her father struck Lebuin’s head with the base of his odassi, as a female touched him with her glowing hands. The third snapped a golden collar around his neck from behind him. Lebuin crumpled. Illa started to draw her weapons when something hit her hard in the back of the head. The last things she saw were more Nhia-Samri than she could count, swarming the team.
Chapter 15
Hidden Agendas
Ticca
The desert returned to Ticca’s vision. The heat blasted her, and the weakness of her limbs almost made her fall. Through willpower alone she managed to stay on her feet. Looking down at her empty hands, she let out a mournful sigh.
Why can’t I bring something back from the vision? Illa brought that box back. The thought of Illa made her feel a little better. At least I know they’re still alive. Lebuin was so happy to see me. They must’ve thought I died.
The sunset was turning the crystal desert sands into bright tones of orange and red, like a raging fire.
Her belly was rumbling and digesting. She felt full for the first time in eight days. The water and food I had in me came back, so that’s good.
She knew it wasn’t enough. She would need generous amounts of water for a couple of days to get
herself to a healthy level of hydration again, but she knew she’d bought herself another day. Her routine was keeping her alive longer than anyone in recorded history had managed.
Of course, I have to live long enough to tell someone. I can see the tales now: ‘Ticca, the Dagger who beat the desert.’
She was courting deadly heat exhaustion and dehydration. Her head pounded, and she felt as if her arms and legs were weighted down with heavy irons. It took fierce effort to keep moving.
The routine was standard: Wake up early, try to eat as many bugs as she could catch, suck water from the dew trap she made the night before, follow the road till the sun is a quarter up, find any scrub brush, dig a shallow rut under it, lie in it, nap through the height of the day’s heat, drink the little water collected in the canteen the night before, eat anything she can find, follow the road from early evening till the moons come out, find a gully with some scrub, build a dew trap collector, build a fire if possible, visit with Kliasa while sleeping, and repeat. The only reason she wasn’t dead was because of the potent healing of Kliasa’s magical boots.
The road she was following had scattered remains of different kinds of carriages. She’d torn open a few of them and salvaged a number of items that were giving her the needed tools to stay alive. The most important was the cloth of the seat coverings. She’d used them to help make the dew collector and a fire bundle. Finding enough scrub to keep the bundle going was another matter.
As she walked, she tried to recall every bit of survival knowledge she had. Even Daggers who were experts in desert survival had died in the Circumveni Desert. It was the deadliest place in the entire world. Still, it was beautiful. If she had Lebuin’s temperature shielding, she would be a lot better off. But even with the shielding, the desert would suck the moisture out of the body at a rate most wouldn’t believe. She worried that the rest of the team might discount its effects.
Thread Skein (Golden Threads Trilogy Book 3) Page 40