Reaping the Aurora

by Joshua Palmatier

  As they approached the building that housed the Nexus, Kara said, “Allan, the currents of the ley are stronger here.”

  “I can feel it. The sphere has shrunk as well.”

  Kara shot a glance toward its edge. He was right. It now had only a ten-foot radius. Her skin prickled as a wave of claustrophobia passed through her. “We need to be careful when we enter the building. The corridors may make it too strong to pass, like in the tunnels underground.”

  “I’ll warn you if it gets that strong.”

  The doorway appeared, Kara hesitating at the entrance. But Allan said nothing, so she stepped inside, the sphere becoming even smaller. She could sense the ley geyser ahead as she followed the corridor, passing rooms and intersections, the flow of the ley shifting around them as the currents changed. Only toward the end, before they reached the central chamber, did Allan warn them to move quickly, to get past a particularly powerful corridor where the ley was swift. In that section, Grant and Kara were forced to hunch down, their tight bubble of protection shrinking further.

  But as soon as they stepped out into the center of the Nexus, the strength lessened and they were able to stand upright. They could see nothing of the vastness of the interior dome, the ley blocking the view, but inside the sphere the floor was covered with shards of the shattered crystal dome, some of the blocks as large as Kara herself. The eddies here swirled around the geyser at the center, where ley shot out of the pit with tremendous force, enough to propel it hundreds of feet into the air. The floor trembled with its force, a subdued shudder Kara felt in her teeth. Trapped inside the dome, the roar was ten times louder than what they’d heard from outside, a hundred times louder than at the University.

  “We need to get as close to the pit in the center as possible!” Kara shouted over the cacophony.

  “I think I can hold the ley at bay! It’s stronger than outside, but not as strong as some of the tunnels or corridors we’ve been in! Just don’t fall in!”

  Cautiously, they edged forward, making their way through the fallen crystals, climbing over them when necessary. The velocity of the current increased, rotating like a tornado, trying to drag them up into the geyser, but Kara kept pushing forward.

  She pulled up short when the lip of the pit appeared, Allan bumping into her from behind. The force from the geyser was so strong it formed an indentation into the side of Allan’s sphere.

  “We’re here,” she said.

  Allan leaned forward. “Now what?”

  Kara shifted to one of the shards, sat down, and centered herself. She stared at what they could see of the geyser, not certain she could even delve into its depths, it was so strong. She might simply be carried away or burned out by it, as had happened to some of the Wielders caught unawares in the nodes before the Shattering. She’d manipulated the ley when it was this violent before, when repairing the distortion over Erenthrall, but she’d had the help of the Wielders at the Needle then.

  “Now we find out if Marcus and Morrell have managed to fulfill their parts of the plan, because if they haven’t, we’ve fought our way to the Nexus for nothing.”

  Kara braced herself and plunged her mind into the ley, then gasped as it seized her and attempted to spin her up into the geyser, away from the source of the ley that she’d sensed when her powers as a Wielder were first beginning to manifest, when Ischua had tested her in Halliel’s Park so long ago. She fought back the memories of Ischua, of her father, who’d taken her there, as she dragged herself down into the pit. She had to keep to the side, the current farther in too strong. Even then, the deeper she moved into the channel she’d used to pierce the distortion over Erenthrall and heal it from the inside out, the harder it became. It would be impossible for her to get all the way to the source itself, not without help from Marcus and the secondary Nexus, but she didn’t need to go that deep. Not yet. All she needed to do was get to the ley line that led to the Needle.

  Crawling down the side of the pit, she bypassed the chamber where the Primes had once manipulated the crystals that had augmented the power of the ley before shunting it out into the city of Erenthrall. Beneath that, multiple tunnels branched off on all sides, the larger ones leading toward larger hubs like the Needle or even the Baronial nodes like the ones beneath each of the Three Sisters in the Northern Reaches, the smaller ones angling toward the district nodes here in Erenthrall. She paused at each one long enough to verify it didn’t connect to the Needle, then moved on.

  When she found it, she gathered herself—not knowing how long it would take for Marcus to sense her, to react, if he was even there—and said, “I’m preparing to reach out to the Needle.”

  Movement, a Wolf’s breath snuffling against her face, and a sharp command from Grant. Allan said, “We’ve got your back here.”

  She threw herself into the ley conduit to the Needle, letting the current take her. If Marcus and the other Wielders weren’t there to support her, she didn’t think she’d be able to return to her own body.

  But, of course, if they weren’t there, it wouldn’t matter. The Three Sisters would quicken and destroy them all.

  In the heart of the Needle, Marcus paced back and forth before the Nexus. The Wielders had cycled through holding the crystals in position and keeping the stream of ley that protected them from the attack on the Needle active in shifts, those coming off a shift collapsing into rough, fitful sleep, those going on clenching their jaws in grim determination. Even those who had sided with Iscivius and Irmona had fallen into line without protest. They could all hear the screaming and fighting in the city outside the tower. It came in waves, getting louder and closer, everyone inside the pit tensing in anticipation, then fading again, all through the night. They had no way to determine what time it was, since their only exit had to be kept submerged in ley, but he knew outside it must be at least midday. He was exhausted and hungry, but he couldn’t sleep, not when he didn’t know when Kara would show up. It had taken a combined argument from Artras, Dylan, and Jenner to convince him that he couldn’t maintain constant vigil inside the ley, that he’d burn himself out. And even then, he’d only allowed them to spell him for a few hours at most.

  Outside, the raucous fighting surged louder again, sharp and sudden. From their own vigil over Hernande, Artras, Cutter, and Marc lifted their heads.

  “It sounds as if they’re right outside the Needle,” Artras said. “Perhaps even in the stellae garden. How can they even be fighting still? They’ve been at it all night.”

  Cutter rose, tested his bow, and shifted closer to the base of the stairs. “It’s a large city, with many places to hide. If both Devin’s men and the Gorrani have made it through the walls, it may take days before one side has rooted out all of its enemies.”

  “It’s a bloodbath up there,” Marc added.

  No one responded, the pit settling back into the despondent, fretful silence that had persisted through most of the night.

  Marcus halted his pacing, stepped toward Artras and Hernande. “Any change?”

  “He’s still unconscious, barely breathing. His heartbeat is exceptionally low. I don’t know—”

  She cut off as Marcus spun toward the Nexus. He heard her stand.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “It’s Kara. She’s here.”

  The tension in the room ratcheted up as Marcus stepped forward to the pit. Everyone trapped here with them grew suddenly alert. Artras and Dylan shifted forward to his side. The Wielders holding the crystals grew alert. Those not on duty shook those slumbering awake. Everyone edged toward the pit.

  Dylan cleared his throat, his voice still coming out ragged. “What do we do?”

  Marcus stretched his hands out, reaching for the Nexus with his mind. “We send Kara our support. Get ready to reverse the direction of flow of the ley line from Erenthrall. We’ll feed all other lines coming into the Needle into that. Everyone
not currently supporting the Nexus, be prepared to step in if someone collapses or needs to drop out.”

  The Wielders began to spread out around the pit, but Marcus dove into its center, letting the ley swirl around his mind. He could sense Kara’s presence as she inspected the crystals above, as she surveyed the ley lines that were currently active. They were receiving ley from the line that led to the Hollow and the northern lines, as well as the lines that shot out to the west and whatever was left of the Demesnes, but the lines leading east to Tumbor and Farrade were dead. The ley they were receiving was being funneled out to the southern lines, toward the Horn and the Gorrani Flats.

  He waited until Kara had swept through the entire Nexus, taking stock. On the ley, he could sense her exhaustion, knew she could probably sense his own. When her presence settled before him, only a vague disturbance in the ley, he said, “Are you ready?”

  “We’re all ready,” Dylan answered.

  “I was speaking to Kara.”

  Then he realized: Kara couldn’t hear him. They had no way to communicate. Every time they’d manipulated the ley before this, their physical bodies had been in the same room, but not now.

  A ripple of frustration passed through Kara’s presence. She hesitated . . . then shot back toward the line leading to Erenthrall. She didn’t make it far—the velocity of the ley was too great—but her intention was clear.

  “Kara needs us to reverse the flow now.”

  Dylan shouted at everyone to prepare, while Marcus reached for the crystals and centered himself on the flows. He didn’t know how she’d let him know if anything else was needed, but they couldn’t worry about that now.

  “Reversing the flows . . . now!”

  Seizing the power of the ley, he rotated the angles of the crystals above the pit, altering the refraction of the ley and shifting the currents in the pit below. For a moment, the ley was in flux, gouts of it shooting up from the pit into the chamber as it adjusted, but the new positions of the crystals held.

  The ley swirled around him in chaos, then settled into its new directions. With a rush, the ley from the north and west redirected itself into the Erenthrall conduit. Marcus shouted in triumph as it caught Kara’s presence up and swept her back toward the true Nexus. It may not have been done with the instinct or finesse Kara had with the ley, but it had worked.

  Now all they had to do was hold it.

  And pray that Morrell had been able to recreate the nodes in Tumbor.

  “It’s Captain Lienta!” someone on top of the wall shouted. “Open the gates!”

  Cory huddled with Lienta, the Temerites, and the mentors and students from the University as the gates ground open far enough to let them all slip inside. They’d spent the night circling the Needle, heading far out into the plains to bypass any of the Gorrani or any of Devin’s men, a maneuver that Lienta said Kara and the others had done when they’d escaped the Needle during the Kormanley takeover. They needn’t have worried. The Gorrani and the others were focused on the attack on the Needle, the glow from the fires seen far out onto the plains on the low cloud cover overhead. But the clouds were breaking now, late morning sky and sunlight shining through.

  Cory watched the surrounding ridge and the barren grasses to either side as they filtered through the gates, not relaxing until the heavy wooden doors had thudded closed behind them all. Exhaustion struck, like a physical blow. He staggered, one of Lienta’s watchmen catching him. The man shouted, the students crowding around muttering cries of concern. Mirra was sobbing as she clutched his other arm, attempting to help hold him upright. He protested, tried to push them away, but his arms had no strength. His entire body trembled, and when he tried to stand upright, his knees gave out beneath him.

  “Step back. Step back, I said! Give him room. Can’t you see he’s exhausted?” Cory was shocked to see Sovaan shoving through the crowd. The administrator halted before him, expression stern, as Mirra and the others fell back slightly. Lienta came up behind Sovaan.

  “Lay him down on the ground,” the Temerite captain ordered. As the watchman who’d caught Cory lowered him down gently, Lienta shouted, “Someone fetch a stretcher. And water and food!”

  “I’m fine,” Cory mumbled. Not even his voice had any strength.

  Sovaan knelt beside him. “Like hells you are, boy. You’ve pushed yourself too hard, getting us out of that prison, then through the gates. All that after the punishment they’d put us through with that gas? It’s a miracle you didn’t collapse earlier.” He gave Cory a cursory scan. “Are you hurt? I never even thought to ask.”

  “No. Just tired.” He coughed, a harsh, hacking sound, and realized his entire chest still hurt from the aftereffects of the gas, but there wasn’t anything anyone could do about that. He didn’t think any of them would fully recover from that, unless Morrell could heal them.

  Someone arrived with a stretcher and some water. Lienta handed it off to Sovaan, leaning over the mentor’s shoulder as he helped Cory sit upright so he could drink. The water soothed his throat, cool against the residual burn damage. Sovaan pulled it back before he was done. “I’ll give you more, but you have to drink slow. I don’t want you vomiting it up. Then it’s less than worthless.”

  Watchmen were setting the stretcher down next to Cory. As soon as he was finished drinking, they hoisted him up onto it, then lifted him. He tried to relax against the jostling as they followed Lienta through the Temerite section of the outer city to the embassy. Sovaan stayed beside him, his gaunt appearance making him statelier somehow. Or perhaps it was the weariness blurring Cory’s eyes.

  He started when someone grabbed his hand, swung his head to find Mirra on his other side. She twined her fingers through his and gave him a strained smile.

  He must have nodded off briefly, for he found himself being settled onto the floor of a mercantile house that had obviously been repurposed as an embassy. The watchmen dispersed as Lienta gave out new orders and Sovaan called the students and Jerrain away. Mirra gave Cory’s hand a squeeze, and he managed to smile in return.

  Then he was left alone. He stared at the intricate details of the painted ceiling overhead, marred where sections had cracked or fallen away during the quakes. He could hear conversations going on all around him, reports on the fighting relayed from the wall and the edge of the chasm, orders and advice being exchanged. He heard Lienta’s voice, and the Matriarch’s, along with her assistant Janote. After a while, his eyes drifted shut, the voices fading into a soft murmur.

  Until he heard someone mention the Three Sisters.

  His eyes snapped open. “What was that?” he said, but no one was listening to him, and his voice was too weak, too cracked and ragged from the damage done by the gas for anyone to hear his words.

  He rolled onto his side, realized they’d set him down beside a desk. He could see the wheels of the Matriarch’s chair and the boots of at least five watchmen, huddled in discussion. He cursed. No wonder he’d been forgotten; no one could see him here. He reached for the desk, snagged its edge, and pulled himself upright.

  Gathering his strength, he heaved himself onto his feet, leaning so heavily on the desk it shifted a few inches forward with a loud scrape.

  Lienta and the men surrounding the Matriarch started, Janote reaching for his waist, to what Cory had no doubt was a concealed weapon. A few of the watchmen reached for blades as well, but Lienta stayed them with a hand.

  “Cory, what are you doing here?”

  Cory ignored the question. “What did you say about the Three Sisters?”

  One of the watchmen hesitated, but both Lienta and the Matriarch nodded approval.

  “One of the three is flashing.”

  “What do you mean flashing?”

  “Flickering steadily. It’s been pulsing at an increasing rate for weeks now, but this morning it changed. We aren’t certain when—we’ve been focused on the
activity at the Needle, plus there was cloud cover—but it’s definitely flashing now.”

  Cory bowed his head, his exhaustion like the weight of a thousand pounds of stone on his back, but when he raised his head, he said, “Take me to the roof. I need to see it.”

  They abandoned the stretcher, two watchmen supporting him, an arm over a shoulder of each. Traversing the stairs was awkward, but eventually they made it to the roof.

  The sounds of fighting rose through the columns of black smoke pouring out of the city on the far side of the chasm, but Cory’s gaze shot toward the north, where the lights of the Three Sisters burned on the horizon above the purplish haze of the Steppe’s mountains and the Reaches. Two of them were pulsing, at different rates, the one on the left significantly slower than the one on the right, but the third—

  The third was definitely flashing, its light far more intense than the other two.

  Cory sagged, his body dead weight, his mind recalling Dalton’s vision.

  “What’s happening?” Lienta asked, although Cory suspected that he already knew.

  “The distortion there is quickening.”

  “How long do we have?”

  Cory shrugged. “At most, a few hours. Probably less than that.”

  “What about Kara? Can she stop it?”

  Cory looked up to the scattering clouds above and the smear of the comet’s white tail.

  “I have no idea.”

  Kara rode the surge of ley from the Needle all the way to Erenthrall. When she drew near the Nexus, she gathered herself, seizing the power of the ley and using it to create a shield against the raw chaotic power of the geyser. Moments before she shot into the well of the pit, she recognized that something there had changed, something subtle and fundamental, but she had no time to search and figure out what.

  She launched from the tunnel across the roaring currents of the geyser, propelled almost immediately upward. Her presence shot from the shattered dome of the Nexus through the broken towers of Grass and into the midday sky. Pummeled on all sides, she retained her link to the ley line leading to the Needle, pulled up short, like a tether. She reached for the major lines connecting to the other nodes to the north—Ikanth, Severen, Dunmara—and those stretching East toward Temer and the coast. She snagged the line leading to the newly awakened node near the Hollow, even though it wasn’t as strong, then added in the lesser lines that threaded throughout Erenthrall itself. With each connection, her presence steadied at the apex of the geyser. Each provided her an anchor, but she was still thrown about. The force from the geyser was too strong; only the strength provided by the power being fed her by Marcus at the Needle allowed her to maintain control.