Baleful Betrayal

by John Corwin

  "Justin," I said and splayed my fingers toward her.

  She hesitated when she saw the fingers, then spread hers in a token gesture. "You may call me Cora."

  "Captain Cora?" I said.

  "We don't use such formalities," she replied.

  I turned to Elyssa and explained in English what Cora had told me in case the meaning had been murky.

  Elyssa tucked away her swords. "I love her hair. It's so vibrant!"

  Cora's lips stretched into a wide smile which quickly vanished. She turned back to Kaelissa. "Is everything in order?"

  "Yes, Cora," the ancient sera replied. "There is another matter to discuss."

  I decided to jump straight in, figuring I couldn't do more damage at this point. "Can you give us a ride to Kdosh?"

  Cora raised an orange eyebrow. "You wish to reach the arch?"

  "Desperately," I admitted. "I have to reach the Alabaster Arch."

  Her eyes filled with interest. "Are you not from this realm?"

  I gave Kaelissa sideways glare. She'd told us these people didn't care about outside affairs, but Cora certainly had a lot of questions. "I'm from Eden," I answered.

  Her lips parted and her eyes widened. "I will gladly help."

  "I thought you said they would be hard to convince," Flava said to Kaelissa. "You said we couldn't gain passage without your help."

  "You made Joss sleep with you," Lanaeia said.

  "I would gladly do it again," Joss said, drawing a chuckle from Otaleon.

  "Kaelissa is right," Cora said. "We prefer to keep to ourselves, but this is another matter."

  "You're aware Cephus usurped power in Tarissa?" I said.

  "Of course," Cora replied. "Even in these troubled times, we travel the world, trading our wares and trading in rumors."

  Flava gasped. "You trade with the Brightlings?"

  "Yes." Cora gave her a sharp look. "Despite what Darklings think, not all Brightlings are evil."

  "Flava doesn't believe that either," Lanaeia said. "But the Brightling Empire has been at the borders of Pjurna, waiting for a chance to invade."

  Cora nodded. "War is the most constant thing in any world." Sadness flickered across her face.

  "Agreed," I said grimly. "We have an army waiting to dethrone Cephus and restore the rightful rulers to Pjurna."

  Cora held my gaze for a moment then nodded. "We depart soon. Gather your belongings and meet back here."

  "I think we have everything we need," I said.

  "Our journey here has been hard," Flava said. "We have lost many loved ones and carry only the armor and weapons on our backs."

  "Very well, then." Cora looked at her crew. "Prepare for departure."

  The people who'd been ready to fight us moments earlier stormed back up the gangplank while the crew with the girls vanished inside the hold, the wooden hull growing in behind them.

  "Come," Cora said, and walked up into the ship.

  I turned to Kaelissa. "Thank you for your, um, hospitality."

  She stared at me for a moment, head tilting slightly to the side, then spoke. "Our paths will cross again."

  I wasn't sure if that was a promise or a threat. "Take care." I turned and led my entourage up the gangplank.

  The decking, a dark-grained wood, was carved into a semblance of dragon scales.

  "This is amazing," Elyssa said, kneeling and running her hand along the wood.

  "Who thought up the idea of a whale dragon hybrid?" I asked. "Do they even have whales on Seraphina?"

  Cora tilted her head slightly and hesitated. "It is a fanciful design, but it also serves its purpose."

  She hadn't exactly answered my question, so I threw out another one. "Is this real wood, or did you weave it from Murk?"

  She turned to her first mate. "Illaena, show them to their quarters."

  The tall sera nodded. "Of course." She didn't even bother telling us to follow her, but marched down a ramp inside the bowels of the whale dragon. A sullen white light suffused the wide hallway below. The wooden walls were carved into the likeness of vines that looked so real, it seemed I could uproot them from the walls. Spiky black trees, complete with limbs and leaves, supported the ceilings, and the doors seemed to be woven from brambles.

  "How cool is this?" Elyssa said.

  Lanaeia ran a hand along the wall and gasped. "I have never seen such lovely work."

  "There is no other ship like the Evadora in the fleet," Illaena said proudly.

  "There's a fleet of sky ships?" I asked.

  She ignored the question and slid open a nearby door. "The cabins from here to the end are yours."

  Flava stared at the sliding door. "Why are there no gems to open the doors?"

  "Perhaps you should ask Cora your incessant questions," Illaena replied and stomped away.

  I met Elyssa's questioning gaze, but waited until Illaena was out of sight before speaking. "Riddle me this—why and how is there a wooden sky ship when nearly everything in Seraphina is made with gems and crystal?"

  Flava put a hand to the wood and closed her eyes. "How strange. I sense life within the very walls."

  "The wood is alive?" Elyssa asked.

  Flava nodded. "I have heard of the Mzodi and their flying ships, but never have I heard of one crafted from living wood."

  "Just what I needed," I said. "Another mystery."

  Elyssa nodded "I don't know if you noticed or not, but when I complimented Cora in English—"

  "She understood what you said," I replied. "I don't know about you, but not many Seraphim speak English."

  "Most of us do," Otaleon said, glancing at the exceptions, Nailan and Philas.

  I heard a loud whoosh and my stomach dropped as the ship lurched up into the air. "Holy barf burgers." I grabbed the door frame and hung on until the ride smoothed out.

  Joss looked a bit green. "I think I will go to the deck for some fresh air."

  I felt a bit unsettled myself. "Everyone settle in and rest up. We don't know what's waiting for us on Kdosh and we need to be ready."

  "Agreed," Flava said. She walked down the hall and entered the last door.

  I stepped inside the open door and propped the malfunctioning rocket stick in a corner. A standard cloud bed occupied the middle of the floor, though I wasn't sure we'd have time to utilize it.

  "Now what?" Elyssa asked.

  "Cora," I replied simply.

  "Huh?"

  "I'd like to ask her a few questions." I leaned against the wall and folded my arms. "I'm about eighty percent sure she's not Seraphim."

  Chapter 17

  Elyssa blinked. "Cora's not Seraphim?"

  I shook my head. "Did you see her response when I spread my fingers for an angel greeting? Have you ever seen anything in Seraphina made from real wood besides the trees?"

  "No, but why does that make you think she's not Seraphim?"

  "I can't put a finger on it, but I'd really like to figure it out." I stepped into the corridor.

  "We don't have time to unravel every mystery in the universe, Justin." Elyssa hooked her arm through mine. "Is it really that important?"

  I stopped and turned to her. "If she speaks English, that means she's either from Eden or has spent considerable time there."

  Elyssa frowned. "So what?"

  "What if she's one of Serena's agents?" I glanced around to be sure the hallway was empty. "What if she's a last ditch effort to keep us away from Kdosh?"

  "I see your point." Elyssa rested her chin on the top of a fist. "She could be one of Serena's Arcanes, though it's highly unlikely."

  "I may be way off base," I admitted, "but at this point, I'm not taking any chances. Cephus and Serena have outmaneuvered us too many times. For all we know, this ship is headed in the wrong direction."

  Elyssa gripped my hand. "Then we shouldn't waste any time."

  Something pricked my hand. "Ow!" I jerked it back. A vine on the wall darted out like a snake and struck Elyssa before I could react.

&n
bsp; Her violet eyes went wide. "What was—" her eyes drooped and she slumped in my arms.

  My legs turned to jelly and we both fell to the floor. Just before I lost consciousness, it seemed the deck itself opened like a mouth and swallowed us whole.

  I jerked awake on a bed of rough purple grass in a glade surrounded by crooked black trees. Soft white light shined down from a small moon overhead. Warm flesh pressed against my arm. I rolled over and found Elyssa snoozing next to me.

  "Eden has seen tough times recently," said a female voice somewhere in the darkness. Cora stepped into the moonlight. "The Seraphim War was another interesting footnote in a long history of violence."

  I leapt up and sprang toward her, but vines wrapped around my wrists and legs and pulled me back. With a roar, I ripped loose an arm, but something stung my neck and all the strength left me.

  "Please, Justin, do not struggle." Cora sat on a low boulder, hands in her lap. "I wish you no harm. In fact, I will see you through to Kdosh."

  "Who…are you?" My tongue felt like a slug, the words like melted marshmallows in my mouth.

  "I am simply a person who remembers when the world was young, when the world was whole, when the world was torn asunder." She smiled. "I was once a queen, but am now banished from my own realm. A mother, torn from her own child."

  My mind, foggy from the drug in my blood mustered an idiotic reply. "But you look so young."

  Cora ran her fingers down a silver chain around her neck and rubbed a green pebble at the end. "Ever am I so."

  "Unnhh," Elyssa groaned. She jerked to a sitting position, eyes glowing violet. "Justin, where are we?"

  "Safe," Cora said. "Please, child, let me explain."

  The stuff I'd been injected with wore off, and my head cleared. This time, I opted not to attack the strange woman. "What realm are you from?"

  "The land of Lyrolai, the forest, the glen, the glade—all the lands of the forest folk." Cora tucked the pebble back into her shirt. "Like the others, our realm was fractured from Earth during the Apocryphan war. Many lives were lost, and our mortal brethren were separated from us."

  "You're elves!" I gasped.

  Her brow furrowed. "The fairy tale creatures you refer to were perhaps born out of our legend." Cora shrugged. "Lyrolai, the realm of forest, where our folk lived in harmony with nature, was chosen, unbeknownst to us, as the center point for a great undertaking."

  "I'm lost," Elyssa said. "You're from a realm called Lyrolai?"

  "Once it was thusly named," Cora replied. "The Sirens saw the sundered realms slipping far apart, never to reunite. They unilaterally decided this was unacceptable. Using the ancient magic taught them by Posthanied, they ripped our realm apart to create an anchor stone which now holds all the realms in tight orbit."

  Elyssa and I exchanged confused looks.

  I rose slowly so as not to draw another stinger. "The Sirens destroyed Lyrolai and killed everyone there?"

  "Not everyone," she said. "The broken land now exists in eternal twilight. No longer Lyrolai, it is now called the Glimmer."

  The Glimmer? "How did you get into Eden?"

  "It was not easy. The rift between the Glimmer and Eden is guarded, but I discovered a way around the sentinels." Her fingers found the green pebble around her neck again. "I went through a crack in the world and emerged in a place you call Queens Gate."

  "A pocket dimension?" My jaw went slack when I realized what this meant. "The pocket dimensions are in the Glimmer?"

  "Not precisely." She released the jewelry and pressed her palms together. "The Glimmer touches all the realms. What you call a pocket dimension is actually where Eden intersects my realm. In a sense, it is a juxtaposition of our two worlds."

  "But it's underground," I reminded her. "How does it have a sky?"

  "Think of it as a fractured part of your realm, a remnant of when the world was whole." Cora pressed her fingertips together. "Everywhere the Glimmer touches another realm, you will find these pocket dimensions."

  I was a bit disappointed to discover they weren't actually in a separate dimension after all, but it raised a whole host of other questions. "Can you show me how to reach the Glimmer?"

  "Perhaps someday," she said with a smile. "I believe you have bigger fish to fry."

  Elyssa pursed her lips. "Sounds like you're good with the English lingo."

  Cora nodded. "I lived in Eden for many centuries, and I have always been quick with language."

  "How long have you been in Seraphina?" I asked.

  "Months," she said. "I slipped through an Alabaster Arch once the Grand Nexus was repaired. The sky fishers found me on Kdosh and took me to their home." Her eyes lit with delight. "I knew at once I would rather spend my eternity here than in Eden. The mortals have all but ruined a once beautiful wilderness. Now it is the land of concrete, its natural splendor marred."

  "You said you have a child?" I asked.

  Cora's smile faded. "A daughter, but she lives in the Glimmer. Once I decided to remain here, I returned to the edge of the realm to gather seeds from my homeland so I could recreate it here." She waved an arm toward the moon, and it grew brighter until its glow illuminated a vast space filled with crooked black trees, thorny vines, and large glowing flowers.

  I said the only thing that made sense right then. "We're in a flying whale-dragon ship with a forest in its belly, run by angel pirates with an elf pirate as their captain!"

  Elyssa blinked a few times. "What do you mean by pirates?"

  "They hijack gems from the sea," I said. "I guess it's legit and all, but basically we're now officially sky pirates."

  Cora's forehead pinched into a confused V. "We aren't pirating anything."

  "Well, you kidnapped us for one thing," I said. "Pirates kidnap people, though I'm totally fine with being kidnapped by sky pirates."

  "Anyway," Elyssa said, steering things back on course, "Why did you kidnap us, Cora?"

  "The crew believe I am a Seraphim like them," she said. "They treat me like family but I fear their opinion might change should they discover I am not like them."

  "You grew this ship out of wood from the Glimmer and they still think you're one of them?" I asked.

  "They believe it is another form of Seraphim magic," she said. "A lost art."

  "Your secret is safe with us," I assured her. "Just get us to Kdosh."

  "We will arrive within the hour," Cora said. "Unfortunately, you will find another problem waiting when you arrive."

  "I knew it." I pounded a fist on my leg. "There's a crystoid blocking the skyway."

  She tilted her head slightly. "I don't know what a crystoid is, but, no. The pedestal powering the skyway on Kdosh was destroyed. We can provide you with the gem to repair it, but it will take a week."

  "A week?" I threw up my hands. "I saw workers rebuild houses in a few hours. Why would it take so long to repair the pedestal?"

  "The pedestal takes no time at all," she said, "but linking the gem to aether and charming it to create the skyway takes a very delicate touch and a team of skilled magic weavers."

  I thought back to what one of her crew had told me. "The Mzodi have a fleet of sky ships, right?"

  "Yes, though they are nothing like the Evadora." She pursed her lips. "You wish the Mzodi to provide transport for your army."

  "Can you?" I asked, trying not to sound like a beggar but failing.

  "I will speak with the others," she said. "Many of them prefer to leave civilization well enough alone."

  "Those girls you took from Kaelissa," Elyssa said in a soft tone. "Do you do that because of your daughter?"

  A tear trickled down Cora's cheek. "I can provide happy homes for the children forsaken by Kaelissa, though I failed in my own right as a mother."

  "Why don't you go back to the Glimmer and get your daughter?" Elyssa asked.

  "My travels to Eden unleashed a great evil in the Glimmer." Her face paled. "If I return, my sweet Evadora will die."

  "That's your da
ughter's name?" Elyssa asked.

  "Yes." Cora traced a finger along a vine. "The ship and her name are all I have of my home realm."

  I sensed another quest on the future radar and did my best not to care. As usual, I couldn't resist. "What's this evil in the Glimmer? Could our army help you conquer it?"

  Cora's eyes widened. "No. You would throw away the lives of all who tried to interfere." She raised a hand and the black vines beneath my feet writhed, weaving together into a nearly perfect semblance of Cora, complete with flowing hair and blinking eyes. "Imagine your fight is not with people, but with the land itself. A forest of death, or"—the arm of the vine statue extended and a drop of venomous-looking fluid dripped from a thorn at the tip of the finger—"eternal sleep in twilight."

  "This evil could defeat a massive army?" I said. "What if we burned the forest?"

  "Absolutely not!" Cora shouted. She gaped at me in horror. "Such a crime would be even more evil than the one who sits on my throne."

  Elyssa leaned forward, eyes pensive. "Who sits on your throne?"

  "My reflection," Cora murmured. "In every account she is me, but without mercy, without kindness." She blinked as if coming from a trance. "The Glimmer has a perverse effect on my people, granting them immortality, but taking from them every trace of emotion. It was only in Eden I once again discovered how to feel."

  I grimaced. "What a living hell. Eternity without feeling?"

  She nodded. "Yes. Our oracle told me the balm to our wounds lay in Eden. If I found love, it would lead to our salvation." Her lips trembled. "I found love, but it only led to my exile and the ruin of my realm."

  "Evadora's father?" I asked. "Was he your love?"

  "Yes." Cora's voice trembled with misery. "It is too painful to speak of."

  Elyssa stood. "I'm so sorry." She walked slowly to the grieving woman and put a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe the oracle spoke of another love."

  Cora wiped at her red eyes and nodded. "Perhaps. There are many possibilities, but prophecy often lacks specifics."

  "Tell me about it," I muttered. "There was a time I felt like everything I did was already decided." I chuckled wryly. "Things turned out okay before going to complete crap again."