Fractured Everest Box Set

by D. H. Dunn

It was maddening, to be filled with such base emotions when there was so many serious problems in front of her.

  “I am experiencing similar problems,” she said. “I want to be with you, Drew, but not to this point of distraction. I will continue to research this as well, until you are well enough to travel to Rogek Shad to continue our investigation into this attack.”

  “I feel fine,” he said, stretching his arms out. “I can’t explain it of course, I’ll leave that to you. But I’m as anxious as you are to get some answers here. Most of the guards here were not killed by Sinar, so I want to find out who did.”

  She shook her head as she crossed her arms.

  “I could have predicted that response,” Upala said, smiling. “But you need your rest, no matter how ‘fine’ you feel, we should wait at least one more day. I should leave you to that.”

  She took a few steps towards the hallway, glancing into the shadows beyond. It would be easier to stay here with Drew, the idea was tempting. Yet nothing would be served by that but her own desires, and she help no one by hiding from the dark.

  She stopped, turning back to him. He had resumed sitting on the cot while leaning against the wall.

  “Drew, Thank you for listening to me speak of my concerns about my past and the things I have done. I have to fix this, somehow. All I have done to Merin, to the Rakhum. I have to make it right.”

  “That may not be easy, you know,” Drew said. “Or even possible.”

  He stopped, looking down at his chest where just days before a hole had been, a wound that should have killed him instantly.

  “Yet in this world of yours, a lot of impossible things seem to happen. Whatever you try, I will be there to help you, however I can.”

  As if the stone underneath her were a bit more solid, she felt stronger as she stepped back into the cold halls of the library. They were dark and empty as before, but she felt a bit less alone.

  Chapter 8

  Drew watched Upala’s form disappear into the shadows of the hallway, her footsteps echoing on the stone until they faded to silence.

  He wanted to get up, get off this cot and start looking for some answers. Yet the weight of all the questions and issues kept him rooted in place, as if his mind couldn’t focus on one thing long enough to get his legs moving.

  He was alive, and no mystery made less sense to him than that. His arm healing on its own was one thing, but the concept that he could somehow recover unscathed from an attack as savage as Sinar’s was too vast, too hard for him to even try to explain.

  In essence, his miraculous recovery was easier to accept than his other problems, if only because it seemed too hard to understand.

  The strange attractions between himself and Upala were another matter. There was something unnatural to them, an added intensity to what he was sure was his honest feelings. For now, they were under control, but he was concerned about the future.

  He was about to ponder his growing understanding of the issues between the Rakhum and Upala when a familiar face emerged from the darkness of the hall.

  “I apologize,” Merin said. “I was unsure if you were awake. I was merely checking on you. I am relieved to see you are recovered, but perhaps I should leave you to your rest.”

  “No, no,” Drew said, shaking his head with enthusiasm. “Please, Merin. Come in. I don’t really want to be alone right now, actually. Having a familiar face would really be a help – take a few things off my mind for a moment.”

  She stepped into the room, the light from the fire illuminating the dark expression on her face.

  “I am not sure I would be good company right now. My own mind is quite weighed down.”

  Drew motioned her forward with his hands.

  “I’d be happy to hear about it.” She looked back at him, skepticism in her brown eyes. “No, really. Just because I’ve apparently forgotten how to die from holes in my chest doesn’t mean I forgot how to listen.”

  The corners of her mouth turned up slightly, Drew thinking he had not seen her smile since Kad had fallen.

  “You have an odd habit of displaying mirth at unusual times, Drew Adley.”

  Drew nodded.

  “Where I’m from it’s called ‘gallows humor’. Not everyone likes it. Now please, what’s going on?”

  Merin paused for another moment, then took a few steps further into the room. She glanced over her shoulder at the hallway beyond, dropping her voice as she spoke.

  “It is my daughter, Arix,” Merin said with a sigh. “We have been arguing. She is upset about losing her father, and about the killings here. I cannot blame her, yet I do not know what to say. These moments were better handled by Kad. Kad could fix many issues with just his words, but my words are clumsy.”

  Drew took a moment, trying to push many other thoughts away, problems and worries that clamored for his attention.

  “I wish I knew what advice to offer,” Drew said. “But I didn’t think I’d be alive to offer any advice, so my mind is a bit preoccupied.”

  “Without Kad.” Merin stopped, pulling the small wooden chair to herself and nearly collapsing into it. “I do not know, Drew. I came back for my children, but if not for them I may have just stayed in the Under. Without him, where is the sun? Does the beauty around me matter? I have never felt so lost.”

  It was easy for Drew to call up his memories, they were always just behind the curtain, even when he didn’t want them. Seeing his ship sink, knowing his brother Artie was lost with it. Dad’s anger, over both Mom and Artie, leaving Drew no one to turn to and no way to move on. A hole inside himself deeper than any Sinar could create, and this one refused to heal.

  “I wish I could tell you it gets better with time,” Drew said. “I hear it does, but I still think about my brother every day. I don’t think it is supposed to be easy. If it is, I haven’t figured out how to do it.”

  There was no point lying to her, she wouldn’t be helped by hearing what she wanted to hear. She stared at him, intensity coming to her eyes.

  “In the Under though, I watched you Drew. The others looked to you for support. Wanda, Nima and her brother. You shouldered that burden as if you carried none of your own.”

  He supposed it was true, but it hadn’t been a conscious choice.

  “I don’t know about that. It took all of us. You were plenty strong too, Merin. It was a tough situation and we all did what we had to do.”

  She shook her head.

  “No. You did what you knew how to do, Drew. What you had been trained for by your military. My children, they look to me now for the strengths Kad possessed. He was the soother, the explainer of life’s mysteries. My role was to provide the structure, the framework. Kad … Kad painted the colors in our lives.”

  “That is beautiful way to look at him,” Drew said. “He was pretty amazing.”

  It was hard to think of his own parents speaking of each other the way Merin spoke of her lost husband. Like everything with Dad and Mom, their relationship seemed complicated and hard to understand.

  “Thank you,” Merin said. “He was. Yet now Lam asks me the same questions I ask myself, and I have no answers for either of us. And Arix … she is so angry.”

  “All I can offer is this,” Drew said, standing. The stone felt like ice on his feet. “You can’t control how other people feel, and you can’t be someone you’re not. Be yourself, Merin. Tell them you love them and don’t be afraid to let them see you’re hurting too.”

  Was I myself to Dad, he wondered. Neither of us showed anything but anger. Maybe I should have taken some of this advice myself, but it’s a bit late now.

  “Show them you care for them, Merin. That’s never a bad place to start.”

  She looked at him for a moment, the emotion in her dark eyes difficult to read. She then took a few steps forward, embracing Drew in a gentle hug.

  “I am glad you survived, Drew Adley.”

  “Me too,” he said with a grunt. She was stronger than she looked. She releas
ed him, taking a step back.

  “The fact that you are alive at all seems the work of a deity to me, and I am glad for it.” Merin reached out, placing her hand on Drew’s and giving it a squeeze. “Whatever is the cause, even Upala, I am grateful.”

  “Thank you,” he said. “Despite what you might think, I understand how you must feel about her. I haven’t known the Upala you have, but I can see signs of who she was. To change after all of that time--I cannot imagine how hard it would be.”

  “It is hard for me,” Merin said, nodding. “It is very challenging. As I’ve said, in the past Kad did most of the talking. I’m too prone to say my thoughts directly. Kad was better in that area, there was nothing direct about him. Still, Upala has seemed earnest in her desire to determine what is happening to you and to determine why this Sinar attacked you.”

  “Here is what I can say.” Merin turned away and walked nearly to the doorway, facing the hallway as if she were summoning her thoughts from the darkness beyond. “I have known Lady Upala for nearly ten years. Longer than my son has been alive. I have never known her to care for another, or to show any interest in something that was not connected to her research. Until now, until you. After encountering you, she emerged from that crystal changed in some way. She has much to answer for, to me and to many of her people, but she seems willing to hear it. That does count for something to me.”

  She turned back, walking closer to the center of the room, farther from the small fire that burned in the corner, the distance framing her in shadow.

  “That being true, Drew, I still do not trust her. She has not given me reason to, and a few compassionate sunrises does not erase winters upon winters from before I was born. She is still Manad Vhan, and I am still Rakhum. The god and the mortal.”

  Merin took Drew’s hand. He felt the rough edge of her skin, so similar to his own. The hands of a worker, of someone who had fought and bled for people she loved. A mortal.

  “Yet while I cannot trust her, I do trust you, Drew. I have seen the fire with which you and Nima fought for us in the Under, I have seen the pureness of your heart. You need to see if you trust her, and follow that guidance, not mine.”

  Drew felt the same conflict with himself that he saw on her face. He had seen Merin during what he was sure were the worst days of her life. Despite the depths of her mourning, she was here trying to help him and give him her honest perspective. Her strength was humbling.

  “I appreciate you telling me what you think,” Drew said. “About Upala, I mean. It means a lot to me, I know you are angry at her.”

  “Before, my anger was with her actions. Or lack of actions. Now, after the Under.” She let out a deep sigh, her voice shuddering. “After Kad. It is deeper, more unfair.”

  Between Upala’s revelations and Merin’s opinions, he felt compressed. This small stone room seemed like it was closing in on him. He needed time to think, to work through everything that seemed to be changing, both within his body and with his view of this new world he found himself in.

  “I think I could use some fresh air,” he said. A few moments outside felt like they would do him good, just to be able to look upon familiar mountains and try to clear his thoughts.

  “That is understandable,” Merin said. “I would join you, yet I know I must speak with my daughter again. Arix and Lam ask questions, ones they have the right to answers to. If only I knew what those answers were.”

  Drew clasped her shoulder as they walked towards the hallway together.

  “If anyone has all the answers, Merin, I haven’t met them.”

  She nodded, as the darkness of the hallway engulfed them both.

  Drew sat at the edge of the small, snowy plateau outside the entrance to the lower library. He had left the tiny, dark room hours ago, headed for the outside and what he hoped would be a fresh perspective.

  Being alone on the mountain for a few hours was indeed helping to clear his head, as he tried to come to terms with all that had happened to him. Once the sky began to lighten, he had studied his arm and chest, both of which now sported impressive scars but no other damage.

  Before, the healing had merely kept him from being maimed, now he was sitting and walking around after an attack that should have killed him.

  Not only had he gained the ability to shrug off mortal injuries, between Sinar’s strange interest in him and his own growing obsession with Upala, Drew’s mind was overwhelmed.

  Here in the cold winds he could look out on the familiar sight of mountains he knew and hope to make sense of it all.

  Drew picked up a small stone and tossed it off the side of the mountain, watching as it bounced and careened off the rocks below. If only his doubts and fears were so easily cast away.

  Sinar was a concern, especially now that the man had failed to get whatever he needed from Drew. He would be back, and it was unlikely any of them could handle him.

  Then there was his growing focus on Upala. He had dreamed of her while he healed, strange dreams that were thick and difficult for his memory to penetrate. Even now, thoughts of her came to him constantly, like a song he could not get out of his head.

  Worst of all were the changes in himself, his body. He was alive when he should not be, and heaven knew there were people who deserved to come back from death more than he did. How could he be worthy of this change, and what was he changing into?

  The sun was just peaking over the rise of Mount Pumori. Or whatever they called it here, Drew reminded himself.

  He heard the small clearing of a throat behind him. Looking up, he saw Trillip standing a few paces back, donned in heavy tan robes and bearing a pair of covered, clay mugs in his hands.

  “Tea,” he said. “Warmed it up by the fire. I often have it myself as I watch the sunrise, and when I saw you out here I thought to acquire a second cup.”

  The tall, thin man offered Drew one of the clay mugs, which he accepted. The warmth felt good against his palm, and the aroma of the tea leaking through the ill-fitting cover was refreshing.

  “If I am disturbing you, um, sir, I can--”

  “Sit down, Trillip, please. You’re not disturbing me, I’m glad for the company. And the tea.” He removed the lid and took a sip, the taste a cross between ginger and a sweet flavor that was not quite honey. It was excellent, and he could feel his insides warming. “I get the sense you don’t know what to call me, there seems to be a real passion for titles here. I’d prefer if you just called me Drew.”

  “I would be happy to if that is your pleasure, Drew.” Trillip remained standing beside him, but his posture seemed to relax a bit.

  Drew laughed softly as he sipped his tea, the liquid’s warmth already beginning to diminish from the cold. The valley below now had the full light of the rising sun, a clear view devoid of the fog from the previous day. Much like the Khumbu valley, the lands below were still in a bowl, partially created by the massifs that contained the mountains Everest, Lhoste, and Pumori among others.

  Unlike the barren and cold wasteland he was used to, this valley was green and verdant, a fertile land with visible farmson both sides of the river that originated from the Khumbu and flowed south, out of the region.

  “Could you tell me more about what I am looking at, Trillip? I can see two distinct settlements, one on each side of the river.”

  “Yes, of course,” Trillip said, now sitting next to Drew. He pointed toward the lands to the west of the river, where Drew could see many huts and large tents in addition to a few stone structures. It was the closer of the two concentrations of buildings, but even this one was little more than dots with no sign of people. “This is the settlement of my people, Rogek Shad. It is less organized than Nalam Wast, which is the home of those who live under Kater’s direction. That is the darker space, farther down the Umbuk river.”

  “There seems to be more haze in that area,” Drew commented. “Not just due to Kater’s personality, I take it?”

  Drew expected Trillip to laugh, but the man si
ghed instead.

  “The haze is due to the processing that is done in Nalam Wast, Kater being more interested in the use of the raw materials his people are pulling out of the ruins and mines. I’m told he has quite an efficient digcart system running from the mountains on his side of the valley. Thus the air in his lands can be oppressive at times, and those clouds of dust do pass over Rogek Shad at times.”

  Trillip pulled a large amount of air into his lungs and seemed to be holding it inside. Drew chuckled as the man slowly released his breath, letting it escape in a slow hiss.

  “Trillip, I’m sensing there is more you wish to say here.”

  “My sigh is one of frustration, Drew Adley. The relationship of our two peoples, the Rakhum, to the siblings Kater and Upala may not be as simple as you might think.”

  Drew scratched the back of his neck, feeling a slight chill from the wind pass over him. “I’ve been getting a sense of that already. I can see some hostility toward Upala from Merin, though I have not noted any from you. I would expect you to be just as upset.”

  “It is fair to say that the situation is-” Trillip looked out over the valley, as if the words he sought were laying there, “--fluid and nuanced. I do not begrudge Miss Merin’s feelings, and she knows my lady in ways I do not. Before this day, I had only laid eyes on her a handful of times and we had never spoken.”

  “It seems to me she has been a hands-off ruler, that’s a type of leader I could have used more of.” Drew thought back to his time in the Navy, when many petty officers would oversee his work down to the last detail, even when he had demonstrated more than enough competency.

  “To many Rakhum the Manad Vhan are as gods, as much a permanent part of the land as the mountains or the river. Rakhum die by the generation, but Upala and Kater are always here. Even the splitting of our people into two societies committed to their service feels to many like legend rather than history.”

  “Upala is the god on high, I take it?”

  “Yes. There are many in Rogek Shad who have never even seen her. I have argued with some of my fellows against the possibility that she doesn’t even exist. Some believe she is a construct created by Coordinator Harliss to legitimize her leadership. Children are taught that Upala taught us agriculture and craftwork, the healing arts and scouting, yet when the monsoons flood the plains she is not there. Her name is invoked in service of expeditions, for help in the libraries and old Manad Vhan temples, but she provides no shelter from the winter, no defense against beasts or armies.”