Fractured Everest Box Set

by D. H. Dunn

  “You are not here,” Kater shot back.

  “I am sure Drew and Nima will return soon,” Upala said. She was losing control of the situation, she could feel it slipping out of her hands.

  “Then be sure to give them my regards.” Kater strode toward the entrance of the cavern. “I must return to my fortress, to prepare for the oncoming battle against the Dragons. These Yeti would do well not to forestall me.”

  “Prepare?” Upala asked, chasing after him. The last thing they needed was Kater attacking the Yeti. “We should be stopping Tanira, preventing the Dragons from being released in the first place!”

  Kater whirled. “How would we do that, exactly? Where is she? There are fourteen Vaults, which will she go to first? Has she already been to one, or more? She defeated you and Adley easily, how will you stand against her now?”

  “Kater, I only mean that-”

  “The Dragons, Sister! That is the fight we have been researching for, preparing for. That is the fight I was returned to wage-”

  “I returned you Kater,” Merin stepped forward, coming between Kater and Upala. “Never forget that if not for a Rakhum, a quicklife, you would not have this chance at all. And it is a chance, is it not? I saw your fortress, I saw those tapestries. Kater the Hero, I can see the hunger for it in your eyes. This is not about Manad Vhan, or Rakhum, or even Dragons. This is about what all things are about for you. Yourself!”

  Kater stared back at Merin, his lip quivering. Upala was about to try and come between them when he uttered a slight laugh, then turned away again.

  “I will not forget you, Merin,” Kater said as he walked into the shadowed corridor. “When this is over, and the Dragons are defeated, I will find a way to . . . appreciate what you have done for me.”

  As Kater stormed away, Upala put her hand on Merin’s shoulder.

  “I am sorry, Merin. Kater is . . . an abomination. Perhaps we would be better off managing without-”

  “Do not let him abandon us!” Merin said, cutting Upala off. “We do need him. If I was not positive of this I would not have sacrificed my own happiness to restore him. Go after him, you are his sister. Find a way to make him the tool we need him to be, not a rogue fool!”

  Upala sighed. Make Kater listen? Had Merin forgotten she and Kater had been warring for centuries? Yet she was right, they needed Kater for his abilities and his knowledge of the Dragons. Even if he was unlikely to listen to her, she had to try. It was a certainty he would listen to no one else. As worried as she was for Drew and as badly as she needed to see him, she had to go.

  She looked into the taller woman’s eyes, trying not to think of all Merin had lost, and all she might yet lose if they failed. “I will find a way.”

  “I know that you will,” Merin said, her tone softening. “Retrieve your brother and bring him to Rogek Shad. Drew, Nima and I will make for there once the Yeti return them. I would suspect we will be there in two days’ time.”

  “I will be there as well,” Upala said, looking into Merin’s eyes, wishing she could steal some of the woman’s bravery for herself. “We will get your children back, and free your people.”

  Merin nodded, and walked away from her, wincing as she lightly rubbed her paste-covered shoulder.

  Upala ran into the darkness of the cave’s passage after Kater, trying to figure out how she would convince him to work with the rest of them. He was a bastard to deal with, but he was still their best hope.

  “I just don’t understand what you meant!”

  Drew gritted his teeth in frustration, the giant wall of white fur walking in front of him was of no help at all.

  “It is clear you do not understand, Altered. Yet you continue to ask.”

  “This world isn’t ‘real,’ what does that mean? How isn’t Aroha Darad real? It’s all around us. It’s as real as we are!”

  “That you cannot see the difference between that which is real and that which is not, I cannot assist you with. I would suggest you refrain from trying to comprehend, Altered. Perhaps another can give you answers, since mine are insufficient to penetrate your understanding.”

  “Ah, the hell with it!” Drew fumed as the Speaker led them from one damp, stone corridor to another. His anger bounced around uselessly inside himself. He wasn’t getting anything more out of the Yeti, that was clear. He’d have to hope Upala or even Kater might know more.

  After a long series of left and right twists in the cave passages, they arrived at a small chamber. On the way Drew never saw another Yeti or any signs of where these creatures lived when they weren’t out handing titles to people and examining them.

  The Speaker stepped to the side, allowing Drew to see Nima and Lhamu inside the small room,

  Even though he had seen her before, the girl was just as astonishing the second time. Somehow the infant had become a teenager, and a teenager who now chatted away with Nima. As if that made perfect sense.

  They were sitting together on a stone table, looking more like sisters than two strangers from different worlds. He watched them for a moment from the passage, just happy to see Nima smiling and talking in an animated fashion. Nima was discussing one of their climbs in the Himalaya, it had been just Nima, Drew and Pasang. A simple time. Lhamu listened to it all with wide eyes. Drew caught the girl miming Nima’s hand motions more than once.

  He laughed, causing both of them to look up. His little sister was now a big sister. She hopped off the stone table at the sight of Drew, running up to him.

  “Lhamu, this is my friend, Drew!” she said to the girl, the smile in her voice so strong Drew could see it. “He’s like my big brother and if there is anyone here you can trust, it is him!”

  “Thank you for the vote of confidence, Nima.” He smiled at Lhamu, the girl hopping off the table to stand next to Nima, again mimicking most of her actions.

  “He is tall,” she said, looking up at Drew. “Yet not as tall as the Speaker. You say we can trust him, but you trusted Tanira, did you not? How do you know he will not ‘turn bad’ as you say she did?” Lhamu continued to smile up at Drew, though now he suspected she was doing so because Nima was.

  “I’ve known Drew a lot longer than I did Tanira,” Nima said. “He and I have been through-”

  “This conversation can wait.” The Speaker pushed his way past Drew, entering the room and taking a stance directly behind Lhamu. “What are your intentions regarding the Foretold? You translated her to this world. Where do you plan to take her?”

  “That was rude,” Nima said under her breath.

  “We are here to stop a woman named Tanira,” Drew said. “A Rakhum. She intends to release the Dragons and use them against the Manad Vhan, specifically Kater and Upala.”

  “Upala the Sentenced.” The Speaker leaned forward, towering over Drew. “Kater the Trusted. You would put the Foretold central to conflict between these and the Dragons. It would not serve our rocha to imperil the Foretold thusly.”

  “We can’t just stand by and allow the Dragons to go free, Speaker. The Rakhum would be caught in the middle just as you say Lhamu, uh I mean the Foretold would be.”

  “Move the Rakhum if the battle might imperil them so. Ill might be gained from the Dragon’s freedom, yet the ill of the Manad Vhan is fact. The Sentenced is Manad Vhan. The Deathbringer was Manad Vhan.”

  Deathbringer was surely the Yeti’s title for Sinar. Not a good name to be associated with. The room suddenly felt even smaller.

  “Who cares who is what?” Nima asked, poking the Speaker’s fur with her finger. Lhamu’s eyes followed Nima’s face. “If the Dragons get released, people are going to die. If someone is going to be hurt, you should do what you can to stop it!”

  “Arrived, the Foretold cannot be permitted to be in danger. You may leave if you wish, but it is not within our rocha to-”

  “Am I not allowed to make my own decisions?” Lhamu poked the Speaker in the fur too, the huge beast going silent as soon as she spoke. “If I want to go with Nima, ar
e you going to stop me?”

  The Speaker paused. The crystals on his back pulsed briefly, then returned to their solid-white coloring.

  “Our interpretation is malleable,” he said. “If the Foretold wishes to enter a path of harm, it is not within our rocha to prevent her. Therefore we will mold the rocha. We will ensure the Foretold is not harmed if that is within our ability. In doing this, the rocha is stable again.”

  “Great, great,” Drew said with a sigh. “So, what does that mean?”

  “The Foretold may depart as she sees fit,” the Speaker said. “I will accompany her to ensure our rocha remains stable.”

  Nima grinned, Lhamu quickly copying her. Drew did not smile, but nodded with approval. Having a Yeti along could certainly be useful, as long as they managed to navigate the logic maze of whatever his ‘rocha’ was. In addition, it would give Drew more opportunity to question the Speaker further.

  “What is your destination?” the Speaker asked. “I would prepare supplies and assistance for your companions.”

  While they needed to figure out where Tanira was and where she was going, Drew knew determining that answer would likely involve a long and frustrating conversation with Kater. Best to do that on the way to Rogek Shad, where Merin could be reunited with her children.

  “Nalam Wast and Rogek Shad, the Rakhum settlements,” Drew said. “About two day’s walk from here if I remember correctly.”

  The Speaker nodded, the crystals on his back pulsing again for a moment.

  “Your companions are being prepared, and the necessary supplies gathered. If you accompany me, I will return you to the Trusted, Respected, and Sentenced. Then I will recover your countryman.” Turning with surprising grace in the narrow confines of the cave, the Speaker walked away from Drew, Nima and Lhamu quickly following behind.

  “Countryman?” Drew called, hurrying after them. “There is no one here except my companions from the portal.”

  “Incorrect, Altered. I will bring you the Quarry, our captive, so that you may retrieve him.”

  By the time the Speaker brought Drew back to the portal chamber, the room was filled with tightly wrapped bundles of cloth. He assumed these were filled with the supplies the Speaker had mentioned, though how the Yeti would know what supplies they might need was not a question he wanted to ask. He had asked all the questions of the Speaker he could take for one day.

  Merin walked up, accepting a careful embrace from Nima and, with some awkwardness, one from Lhamu as well.

  “I was about to ask after you,” Merin said, looking in Drew’s direction. “Then more of the Yeti arrived bringing all that you see here. They would answer none of my questions though, it seems only the Speaker will. . . speak.”

  Drew nodded, looking around the room. He was disappointed to see only Merin here, more so because he thought he could guess why.

  “Kater left?”

  Merin nodded. “Upala went after him. She assured me she would meet us in Rogek Shad in two days, with her brother or without him. That is where I intend to go now, even if I go alone.”

  Drew shook his head. “That is where we are all going, Merin. We’re going to bring you to your children. Besides Rogek Shad is as good a place as any to decide how we’re going to approach this.”

  “I want Merin to see her children too,” Nima said. “But if we don’t stop Tanira soon it might become too late.”

  “Tanira is bad,” Lhamu chimed in, looking at Merin with an expression Drew couldn’t quite read. “She cannot be trusted.”

  “It’s not raining Dragons yet,” Drew said. “If we were to try and beat Tanira to any of these Vaults, as I understand it, we have to go north to where they’re all located. Rogek Shad is on the way. Additionally, we will have company on our trip. The Speaker is coming along, apparently to make sure Lhamu is protected.”

  “He will not be the only one joining you!”

  Drew turned to the familiar voice coming from the passageway, as the Speaker entered with the Yeti’s captive, who was exactly who Drew had hoped it would be.

  “Trillip!” Merin shouted, running over to greet her fellow Rakhum. Trillip was as tall and thin as Drew remembered him, but looked to be in good health. He accepted Merin’s one-armed embrace with a surprised grunt. Drew ran over, slapping the man on the shoulder, taking care to not touch Merin’s wounded side.

  “It is great to see you, Trillip. I really was worried we had lost you back at Kater’s!”

  “It is great to be seen, Drew,” he said with a smile, releasing Merin. “Great to see both of you. I will look forward to hearing about your exploits on another world, and meeting your new companions!” Polite as Drew remembered him, Trillip bowed deeply to Nima and Lhamu.

  Nima giggled, Lhamu quickly following suit.

  Trillip began glancing around the room, a questioning look on his face.

  “Upala is off retrieving her brother,” Drew explained, nodding at Trillip’s shocked expression. “Yes. Kater. That will be part of our long story. You have one to tell us too, after we left you in Kater’s fortress, I assumed those Yeti would tear you to pieces.”

  “Why would we injure him, Altered?” the Speaker asked, Drew actually detecting a note of offense in the big creature’s deep voice. “He was not Sentenced, he merely protected her. Following his own rocha, which we respect. He was Quarry alone. He has been retained, pending the return of the Sentenced or his demise. We have not harmed him.”

  “That is true,” Trillip said. “They have actually treated me quite well, other than not allowing me to leave. Of course, I thought I might have to live the rest of my life here, which was an unsettling prospect. Apparently though, with Upala returned I am released.”

  “Well then, I don’t think there is much left to do but head out.” Drew noticed Merin had already picked up one of the bags of supplies, carrying it with her unburned arm. Nima and Lhamu were strapping packs on, the Speaker waiting by the passage.

  Drew laughed, drawing a questioning look from both the Speaker and Lhamu. A Sherpa, a Caenolan girl, a Yeti, two Rakhum and himself, whatever the hell he was. If they couldn’t stop Tanira with this group, at least it would be interesting.

  Chapter 11

  Nima sat next to Drew while he stared out at the Umbuk River. All around her the landscape was familiar, with mountains and plains just where they should be. Aroha Darad just seemed to be a warmer version of the world she knew, only with different names and a lot more magic.

  After a day’s walk from the Yeti cave, they had stopped here by a small grove of trees that clustered together like an island in the middle of a flat, yellow sea of tall grasses. She and Lhamu had looked around in wonder at all there was to see. She and the girl had taken turns peppering Drew and Merin with question after question.

  With each step, she grew fonder of Lhamu and more protective. As a baby, she had represented her last connection to Val, a living example of what a life for her in Caenola could have been. That had been less about the child and more about Nima’s imagination, as she saw the three of them roaming the undiscovered realms of Sirapothi, taking blank maps and filling them in with their experiences.

  Now Lhamu was a person, or she was becoming one. It was clear that she was using Nima as her guide to understanding things. At first, Nima had thought this to be quite humorous, as Lhamu would copy whatever little movement or action she might take, especially those that had to do with interacting with the others.

  As the day wore on, Nima became more concerned. What if I teach Lhamu something that is wrong?

  Lhamu might get hurt because of her or, worse Lhamu might copy the risks she took, not even understanding the dangers Nima often jumped into.

  How can I help Lhamu when I’m so used to only worrying about danger to myself?

  The river’s water whipped by, driven by a strong breeze from the north. Directly in front of the river bank was a stone wall with many cracks and breaks in it. A larger wall was on the other side of the riv
er, and Nima could see the faint hint of a few buildings.

  “Over there,” she said. “That’s Nalam Wast, right? Kater’s city.” Her voice sounded odd to her, weaker as if her words could be washed away with the raging water.

  “Yes,’ Drew said. “Though it looks abandoned. Last time there were guards patrolling that wall. It worries me that they are not there. We’ll know more once Merin and Trillip get back from scouting it. Either way we will know more tomorrow when we reach Rogek Shad.”

  He grabbed a stone from the ground and tossed it into the river. It landed without a sound.

  “How are you doing with Lhamu?”

  Nima looked back at the small campsite they had pitched deep in the trees. Lhamu was stretched out on top of a blanket, sleeping as if there wasn’t a thing in the world to worry about. The Speaker stood just behind her like a sentinel, turning his head every few moments to scan the horizon.

  “She’s sleeping,” Nima said. “Not bad for someone who was a baby yesterday, huh?”

  “That’s not what I meant, Nima. She was just an infant when we left Sirapothi, now she’s … that.”

  Nima watched her sleeping form on the grass, the dim light from her head crystal glowing softly. Drew wasn’t wrong, it was a huge change. A baby was one thing, but Lhamu was now a younger person, and one she was responsible for. Much like she was for Pasang, her brother who was now a world away.

  “It’s weird, yeah,” she said, watching the waters of the river race by. “But it happened. Just like what happened to you. If I were her, I’d be scared. I’d want people to accept me for who I was, not wonder what had happened to me.”

  Drew put his arm around Nima, a feeling of safety and strength enveloping her. She felt him kiss her softly on the head.

  “This is a weird trip you and I are on here, little sister. Just don’t forget, you’re not alone. I’m always at the other end of your rope.”

  She leaned into him, wishing once again that Drew had been a part of her life when she had been younger. Maybe things for her and Pasang could have been better, if there had just been this source of acceptance that they could turn to. Perhaps that was something she could offer Lhamu, maybe that was how she could help.