Fractured Everest Box Set

by D. H. Dunn

  Merin nodded, releasing a sigh. She looked up at her queen, taking the woman’s hand. “My husband had a phrase he liked: ‘It is a strength to admit weakness.’ In truth, the blame is not all yours. Your brother launched the attack on our people, on the library. Not you.”

  “No,” Upala said, shaking her head. “My single focus allowed that to happen. I allowed others to make decisions I should have made, others to guard that which I should have been guarding. The cost of my errors―your husband, your children―it staggers me.” Merin stood silently, tears on her cheeks. “I do not ask you to forgive me,” Upala said, kneeling in front of her attendant. “I only ask that you allow me a chance to correct what I can back home. Our home.”

  “I―” Merin stopped, choking on her words. “Kad would forgive you. I don’t know that I can.” She put out her hand, Upala took it and Merin helped the taller woman to her feet.

  “I can honor his memory and sacrifice, though―the sacrifices of all our friends. I don’t need to forgive you to work with you,” Merin said.

  Upala nodded, releasing Merin’s hand while allowing her own to hang in the air for a moment. She then placed both her hands in her robe and walked slowly toward the door to the antechamber, Merin taking a place beside her.

  “I suggest we be going,” Upala said.

  Pasang bounced nervously from one foot to the other by the door as everyone walked toward him. Nima thought about the friends who would stay forever in this room―about Wanda and Kaditula. Their sacrifices would mean nothing if she and Drew and Pasang didn’t make it back.

  If all went well, she might be back in Nepal in hours. They’d likely be back on Everest, with a difficult descent ahead of them, but she was confident they could manage. Then they could seek rest and refuge in the Temple before heading back to their father and the village.

  And then? Nima didn’t know what would come after. Pasang would be safe, but what would he do? There would be the farm to look after, and Awa’s failing health. Wanda’s words came back to her, asking her when Nima’s choices would be about what Nima wanted.

  Drew came up alongside her, pulling her out of her thoughts. He put an arm around her shoulder, offering his strength. She could feel nervousness in his movements. The look his eyes confirmed it. He was afraid.

  “Nima, I . . .” He stopped, rubbing his chin the way he did when he couldn’t find the words he wanted. Like a door opening in her mind, she could guess what he was going to ask her.

  Nima held up her hand, smiling. “You are not coming with Pasang and me. You are going with them. With Upala.”

  Drew blinked for a moment, his face frozen. He then broke out in a broad grin, laughing. “I always think you know what I’m thinking―now I’m sure. It’s not what you think though, this is not about her.”

  “I know she’s the woman you met in Kathmandu, but, yes, I know this is not only about her. You think it’s about Merin and Kaditula, but it’s not about them either. It’s about you, Drew.

  He took a step back, putting his hands up. “Whoa! No, this is not about me. I just want―”

  “You just want to help them,” Nima finished for him with a laugh. “That is what makes you happy, helping people. It is your gift, Drew. It is about you. You are going to help and make a difference. That is what makes you feel alive, and I love you for it.”

  He pulled Nima in for an embrace, his grip so tight for a moment she had difficulty breathing.

  “You saved me, little sister,” he whispered into her ear. “You pulled me up and out.”

  “Be happy, big brother,” she said back, kissing him on the cheek as he slowly released her. “You deserve it.”

  Nima turned toward the long passageway, the dark shadows of its lengths beckoning.

  “Let’s get going,” Nima said. “We all have somewhere to go.”

  28

  “It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves”

  —Edmund Hillary

  Drew paused for a moment in the antechamber, Upala and Merin already pushing ahead to the next room. He watched Nima and Pasang run down the hallway to their left, the floor lined with the same rubble of books and furniture most of Upala’s stronghold seemed to contain.

  Pasang was in the lead, showing more confidence than Drew had ever seen in the boy before. The man, Drew corrected himself. Pasang had emerged from his time in the Under altered. Much like a sailor fresh out of boot camp after his first battle. The scared look in Pasang’s eye was gone now.

  Nima was close behind her brother, her hand clutching the pocket that held the crystal Upala had given her. Her head darted from side to side as she checked the many passageways leading to other rooms in the complex. The portal back to Nepal was ahead of them, the road back home.

  Had he only known her for a few months? It seemed now to Drew that he had known Nima all his life, and seeing her small form dwindling in the distance made him feel empty. At least she would be going home.

  Home for them, but not for Drew. Sometime during the descent, he had made his decision, and he was surprised at how at peace he was with it. He would never see his father again, never have an opportunity to explain, assuming the old man would even listen. He’d never sit by Artie’s grave, or his Mom’s.

  But it was all right. With Upala and Merin there was an opportunity to start over, to help them rebuild their home. Maybe in the process of that, he’d find one of his own.

  He glanced one last time at Nima as she ducked into one of the rooms with her brother in tow. Drew couldn’t let go of the fear he felt for her, if only there had been time to escort her. She was, after all, his little sister.

  “Drew.” Upala’s voice, sounding like bells echoing through the walls. She and Merin were waiting by the passage to the next room, something Upala had referred to as the mirror room. The portal to their world, Aroha Darad, lay just beyond.

  Upala was not as he remembered her, not completely. She was just as beautiful as she had been that night in Kathmandu, and the same mixture of strength and need was there. She was a woman who could help and be helped, two things he had needed. Still needed.

  But there was a new pain in her eyes as she looked at him across the room, waiting by the doorway with Merin. It was a pain that was familiar to Drew, one he had seen in the mirror many times. Guilt and remorse, companions as loyal to Drew in their own way as Nima had been. Maybe he could help her learn to live with her demons, and she might do the same for him. Anything was possible.

  He was not sure what lay ahead for him and Upala, but Drew was certain of what was behind; memories of the dead he couldn’t save and of the living he could no longer face.

  Upala and Aroha Darad were unknowns, but they represented a future with options. A chance to atone for his crime, if such a thing were possible.

  Now all that lay between Drew and that possibility was Kater.

  Upala and Merin were both crouched by the doorway, peering into the mirror room. Drew did the same. The room was not dissimilar to many spaces he had seen in the Under. Like all of Upala’s library, it was littered with damaged books and bookcases, shattered wooden tables and chairs. It was also riddled with dozens of portals, on the floor and ceiling as well as the walls.

  What Drew hadn’t seen before, what was new was what the portals showed, that which made it obvious why Upala called this the mirror room.

  Every portal was open and active, and each seemed to show a different view of the room itself. To Drew, most of them appeared designed to translate directly to another portal only feet away. Even in the low light, it was difficult to look at. His eyes were constantly tricked into seeing reflections of other sections of the room.

  “Why?” Drew asked turning back to the pair, shaking his head to clear his vision. Noting both Upala and Merin had kept their voices low, he did the same.

  “If you are asking why we wait,” Merin said, “I suspect Kater is waiting for us in that room. My queen―” Merin stopped for a moment and took a breath.
“Upala suspects her brother has not had enough time to study how to open the portal back to Aroha Darad. This room, however, is a direct path to the portal.”

  “So, ambush us here,” Drew whispered, sneaking another look into the mirror room. “It’s the perfect place. Three against one evens the odds a bit though.”

  “Perhaps your question is, why did I make this room,” Upala added, pulling the hood of her cloak forward, over her head. Drew wondered if she were cold, or if she did it to avoid eye contact with Merin. “This was my first attempt at creating my own portals, rather than uncovering those that existed naturally. The best I could manage were portals that reflected an area only an arm’s length or so away. I found it easier to increase the distance if the target of one portal was another and―”

  Drew held up his hand. “I get the idea. All right, so if Kater’s in there, what’s our best move? Upala, we’ve seen your brother’s abilities: shields, fire from his hands. Can you do the same?”

  Upala looked down, her face retreating even farther into her hood. “I have never succeeded in summoning the flame. Not with any real effect or potency, I’m afraid. Were I less exhausted I could summon a shield to protect us, but in my current state it would be folly to trust my protection.”

  She looked past Drew into the maze of portals. Some showed Upala’s face staring back at him. Her eyes looked haunted as she looked across at the efforts of her labors.

  “Kater has always been more of an aggressor than I,” she said quietly. “My time spent researching was perhaps more poorly used.”

  “Then our best strategy is to simply run through,” Merin said, her tone thin and razor sharp. “You and I both know the way, Upala. If your brother is in there, he may be unprepared for us. If he is not, we do not waste time here when either he or Vihrut might disrupt us.”

  “Good a plan as any,” Drew said. He was anxious to move, to act. If the path to Aroha Darad was only a short dash away, better to move and deal with what they found than sit and debate. All they were doing was giving Kater more time.

  He smiled to himself, knowing Nima would have already been through the door if she were there.

  Merin put her hand on Drew’s shoulder. “Drew, your decision. To come with us, I mean. If Kad were here he’d know what to say. For myself, I don’t know how to―”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Drew said, cutting her off with a smile. “It’s what I want.” Merin looked back at him for a moment, then gave him a grin in return. In that moment, she reminded Drew of her husband. He looked forward to meeting their children.

  “Let us be on, then,” Upala said. She lowered her head and ran into the room, Merin and Drew right behind her.

  They ran forward, each of them taking care to avoid slipping into the many portals that lined the floor of the room.

  For a moment, Drew wondered why Upala felt the need to place the gateways in such inconvenient locations. Perhaps they had moved during her library’s descent into the Under? A question for another time, reminded himself.

  More than once he glanced sideways or up into the ceiling, looking for Kater, only to see his own image looking back at him from another perspective. The disorientation was sending his stomach into knots of nausea. He slowed his pace, his eyes bouncing between Upala’s back and the floor to avoid falling into a stray portal.

  When Kater’s attack came, he was barely aware that it had happened. He was running, then suddenly he was on the ground laying amongst an overturned desk. His right arm was burned, a red handprint marking his bicep.

  There was a second crash while he was still struggling to regain his senses, the twin voices of Merin and Upala crying out in unison.

  He pulled himself up, trying to look through the maze of bookcases and portals to find the old man. All he caught was a glimpse of Kater’s leg passing through one of the gateways to his left and a hint of familiar laughter.

  “He’s here!” Drew yelled out, searching the room for Merin and Upala.

  “Upala is injured!” Merin yelled back. He found them quickly. Upala was pinned under a heavy bookcase. Merin was holding the wooden structure up as best she could, while Upala pushed a shield of glittering red dust around them both.

  “I can keep this weight off Upala, but I cannot get her out!”

  Drew gritted his teeth. Just as Kater had planned it, no doubt. Incapacitate the only member of their group he had reason to fear, and then deal with the “ants,” as he had called them. It had worked even better than Kater had likely hoped, keeping Merin occupied in the bargain.

  He stood and scanned the many pulsing ovals around him, knowing Kater could be inside any of them. He could attack from above or below. Drew was so disoriented he could barely stand, the effect of the windows back into the room being present everywhere he looked.

  He suspected Kater was still injured from his clash with Vihrut, but the old man could just wait for a break in Upala’s concentration to finish his sister off.

  Tired as she was, he was surprised Upala could raise her shield at all.

  As Drew’s stomach continued to churn and boil, he reminded himself of the advice he had given Artie on his brother’s first day out to sea. “Focus on the horizon. Find something to steady your vision.”

  Drew scanned the room, both for his adversary and for opportunities. He looked from one portal to the next, and a pattern began to emerge. Perhaps Kater had given him a gift after all, an opportunity he could use. Now he just needed to get the old man to come out and face him.

  Slowly he walked forward, keeping his eyes on the portals above and below him. To his right, there was a gateway embedded in the wall, to his left, a stone column. He stepped around a portal on the floor, making sure not to look at its twin directly above him.

  Kater was being coy. He had the advantage, but Drew suspected he was still wary of Upala. He was being strategic, hiding and waiting for his moment. The stakes were as high for Kater as for them, he was fighting for his own survival, after a fashion. Drew needed to take control of the tempo and draw Kater out.

  It was time to do what he did best, keep the focus on him. He’d just pretend Kater was Jang.

  “Hide and seek doesn’t seem to be your style, Kater.” Drew listened as his voice bounced around the room, echoing off the walls and bookcases. The many portals around him throbbed and pulsed, but there was no response.

  “Drew, what are you doing?” Merin called. He could see her arms shaking as she struggled to hold the heavy bookcase off Upala. Even through the red brilliance protected them, Drew could also see the exertion that keeping the defense up was having on Upala.

  “Calling out a coward, that’s what I’m doing!” Drew yelled back. “Gave his big speech about how he’s some kind of god and we’re all just bugs, but that’s not what I’ve seen.”

  Then Drew caught a glimpse of Kater, the flame from his hands catching his eye. Kater ran from one portal to another off to Drew’s left. Maneuvering, hiding. It was a sound tactic, but Drew needed to get him to stop thinking.

  “Kater told me how he’s going to be a big hero back home, spend his life getting ready for the great return of the dragons. Is this how you will fight them, Kater? From the shadows like a coward?”

  “Silence, Adley! You insect!” The booming voice was unmistakable, though Drew couldn’t pinpoint the location. Kater’s words seemed to come from everywhere at once, still keeping his distance.

  While he could feel the old man losing his cool, Drew needed to push harder. “Some hero! I mean, what has Kater really done, Merin? Kater didn’t kill Kaditula. That was a brave man sacrificing himself. That’s a hero. He didn’t kill Perol, that was a poor, betrayed woman being loyal to her troops. He didn’t kill Wanda, Wanda gave her life to stop him and free his sister.” His voice broke for a moment as he thought of Wanda. “Sacrificing herself for the people she loved. That’s a hero, Kater. But who do you love? Who would you sacrifice for?

  Drew cried out, a sudden searing pain
in his shoulder. He jumped away from the pain, feeling fingers grasping at his flesh but failing to gain a hold.

  He whirled, but there was no one there. Nothing except another burning hand print on the remains of his shirt. His skin burned underneath, but Drew smiled. It was working.

  “He answers!” he cried out, clapping his hands. His shoulder hurt like hell, but he’d been in pain before. He’d live. “The god deigns to communicate, and yet again fails to make his point! You’re no god, Kater. You are the insect, living in fear of us. You may have power, but we have courage. You threw Jang to his death, but when you fell, who saved you? Me! I saved your ass from becoming just one more body rotting in this hole!”

  Drew turned toward Merin, taking one step forward. He kept in his mind where everything was. The portal in front of him, where he hoped Kater would come from, and the alignment of the two behind him.

  “The bug saved the god, and now the god hides from the bug! Dragons? That’s a joke. You won’t even face me! You’re just wasting our time. Come on, Upala, let me help you with that.”

  One more step, that was all he could afford to move away from his chosen spot. When the portal in front of him flared to life, he almost let out a sigh of relief.

  Kater charged forward, flames pouring from his hands like a deluge. Drew could make out spittle steaming on Kater’s beard as he screamed in rage, whatever words he might have been saying lost to Drew in the roar of the conflagration rushing at him.

  He was almost upon him. Drew reminded himself one last time where all the key elements were. His left and right feet were placed correctly, his arms out feinting a block. The correct portals directly behind him, the ones that had shown him the opportunity. The way out of this mess. One portal on the floor and one on the ceiling, each showing an exact image of the other.