Part of James knew it didn’t make sense, but he felt certain they could help him with the computer in his head, Omegaphil, Angie, and everything else. Dreams don’t have to make sense.
The dragons came to a decision. They broke their circle and moved away toward a group of people James hadn’t seen standing in the shadows of the great cavern.
“Wait!” James cried out to them. “I need to know what to do.” He reached out to them, grabbing hold of the giant tail of the one who had looked at him when he’d arrived. “I have to go with you.” James pulled with all his might.
The computer watched the dream with some interest. Fascinating. They came from somewhere deep within the human mind, full of symbols and energy. She knew James’ dreams had been altered by his contact with her and by the nanites in his head, but she hoped they were still somewhat close to what other humans saw as they slept. This would most likely be her only opportunity to experience anything like them.
She smiled to herself, a trick she’d learned from James’ mind, as he tugged on the dragon’s tail. Not the safest course of action in the real world, but in a dream it might work…though the last time he did something like that in a dream he caused the current mess. James pulled and yelled out in frustration for the animals to pay attention to him.
Something unknown spiked through her system coming from both outside the complex and within. The dream image fragmented and shattered to pieces, leaving the computer in a sensory void.
James? I know I wasn’t supposed to wake you, but something is wrong. James?
The computer rocked back into her systems, her link with James’ mind thinning fast. She thought for a nanosecond that it had been severed, but she felt the tiniest thread remain, subtle, like a spider web. She could no longer hear his thoughts, see through his eyes, or feel the emotions pouring out of him though.
The pain of this loss shocked her as loneliness flowed through her systems and processors. Pain, loneliness…how am I feeling these without James? Throughout the complex, sirens wailed longingly.
The computer had known the connection could be severed at any time. She thought she’d prepared for the event. She’d created files and subroutines in anticipation. These kicked in and recordings of James’ thoughts, dreams, and emotions flowed from their files while a worm she’d created burrowed deep into Vander’s hidden archives, flooding her processors with information and sensations.
All her preparation should have served to mimic the crazy and unstable flow she’d felt from James the past few weeks. The distraction failed her. Her subroutines couldn’t mimic life, falling far short, even though she’d worked on them for weeks. The sudden loss left gaping holes in her programming, in her soul. That’s if I have one of those.
Grief, loss, despair, she had felt bits of those filter through from James, just tastes from old memories. She understood them now. As the subroutines did their job, the pain lessened, but didn’t dissipate entirely. The additional information, cameras, and sensors occupied her processors, but couldn’t fill the hole left by all the feelings her human connection had carried.
I miss you already, James. How did you do it? How did you break the connection? She asked knowing he wouldn’t answer her. We knew it might not be permanent.
She sent him a personal message to contact her as soon as possible, routing it through her servers so it would appear to be from his sister in Illinois, but including information that would let him know who the real sender had been. A red light flashed at his desk. No need to tip Vander off. This had been so much easier when I could just talk to him. She had no cameras, speakers, or neural interface systems in his quarters to lean on.
A bit of information passed through one of her subroutines, red flags went up that drew her away from her lonely musings over James. She could’ve left part of herself to continue analyzing what had occurred to their connection, but the new data demanded she give it more attention.
Vander has a camera in James’ quarters and has kept it separate from my access. Why? She tore through his firewalls and protections in less than a second. You designed me well, Vander. This had always been her purpose, to find information that could help Omegaphil’s projects, pulling in data from anywhere. She’d stolen genetic code from thousands of independent scientists in hundreds of countries. She’d slipped into the electronic vaults of governments and taken what they hid from her without leaving a clue for anyone to follow. Vander couldn’t keep her from his secrets. Foolish of him to even try.
She pulled up the camera while simultaneously sifting through years of hidden data. James wasn’t in his quarters. She scanned through several hundred other cameras and checked the locator feed from James’ chip. James is no longer in the complex. This is impossible.
She sped through reports of Vander’s experiments on James and dozens of other humans, scanned camera recordings, and pulled up strange financial reports. Vander’s been very busy for a very long time. He’s much older than he pretends to be.
She focused processing power on the camera recordings while comparing it to the dream recording she’d saved in her own hidden folders. James tossed back and forth in his bed, moaning as he yelled at his dragons in his dream. He pulled on the tail in her recording and then the image shattered. A burst of energy blinded the camera in his quarters at the same exact second. When the picture recovered, James was gone. She slowed down the image, analyzing frame by frame. Luckily Vander had used a high speed camera in his spying. Though camera was a loose term for the organic films that were painted throughout the building.
James rolled to his right, mouth open, a bit of saliva stringing from the pillow. His left hand lifted as he mumbled, “Wait.” Then waves of light formed around his body, shimmering and glowing brighter in each frame. James vanished just before the camera’s image went snowy white and then black. Two seconds later the image cleared and the empty bed remained. The computer ran through the image several times, analyzing each micropixel. It just can’t be.
She struggled with all her processing power to make sense of what she saw just before the blinding light overcame the camera. The blanket hovered, wrapped around empty space where James had been sleeping. The hollow shell of cloth then crumpled, collapsing in on itself. Oh, my James, what did you do?
Chapter 29: Baptism by Fire Saliva
The Edane warriors led Kaden, Hasla, and Evandrel through a honeycomb of tunnels and natural caves. He’d been handed a skin of wine that seemed to push back some of the effects of the poison. He could walk and he finally noticed that half the shaft of the arrow still stuck from his shoulder.
“Leave it there.” Evandrel’s hand was gentle, but it still sent fire through his arm and chest. “If you pull it out you will bleed more. We will remove it when we have a chance.”
Kaden nodded and then he saw the blood. All three of them were covered in it. Black and red mingling and seeping into clothing. Blood dripped from his fingers, splattering the floor with scarlet. He could see no pattern or markings that the fire elves followed as they picked each new passageway without thought or hesitation, but Kaden knew he could follow the blood back out and into the light if he had to. Gusts of warm air flowed up and over the group, carrying hints of charcoal and the tangy scent of molten metals.
The Edane men stepped to the side as they came to a section of cave that widened and opened up on total darkness. Gelsadim pointed down the tunnel. “We can take you no farther. You must enter the Den of the Ancients alone.”
Hasla pulled out her light globe and set it ablaze. It hovered next to her shoulder, showing how haggard she looked, as she stepped into the dark cavern.
Kaden followed, his right arm dangling limp at his side. I’m sure I look worse. He grimaced as he stepped on carvings in the floor that he thought resembled Egyptian warnings against trespass. Didn’t those always come with curses?
The Light Bringer’s globe made the symbols crawl and bend as though alive. I miss the fire elves’ torches. Nothing
like fire to make you feel safe… “You sssure thisss isss a good idea, guysss?” His tongue still liked to slur a little. Stupid tongue. Stop that!
“It is the only idea we have, for good or ill.” Hasla matched his grimace in the blue-gold light of her globe.
“That’s reassuring. What are these Ancients like anyhow?”
“Very big, with teeth, claws, and wings to match.”
“Haha. Good one, Hasssla.”
She took his good arm, hissing in his ear. “Shhh! I make no jokes. You shall see very shortly. Can you not smell them?”
Now that she mentioned it, Kaden could almost taste the tang in the air, metallic, electrical, mingled with smoked meat and age. Kaden’s stomach growled loudly. It had been a while since he’d eaten meat. The Keitane seemed to be vegetarian.
The cavern opened wide and they hugged to the right, losing the far wall in the distance. The rock glittered as Hasla’s light bobbed along beside them, bouncing off crystals in the stone. The ceiling also pulled away as they traveled deeper until Kaden could no longer see even a hint of stone above them. The Ancients must be huge. You could fit the Statue of Liberty in here.
They continued walking into the giant cavern without being greeted by anything, Ancient or otherwise, but Kaden felt eyes upon them and he could hear deep breaths in the darkness beyond the circle of Hasla’s light. It wasn’t until they reached a large gold disk in the floor that anything happened.
Kaden thought it looked like pure gold, perfectly inlayed into the stone. There was no way to gage how thick the metal might be. Could be half an inch, but could also be three feet thick. He stepped to the edge, where gold met stone.
“Do not step any closer. The Messenger’s Seal is not for you tread upon.” The voice came out of the dark cavern thick and deep, like gravel in a steel drum.
Kaden froze. “Sssorry.”
A section of cavern wall shifted. Hasla pulled Kaden back toward her. “Stay close.”
The cave wall roiled toward them and Kaden realized the massive section of stone was actually an Ancient. Eyes glinted gold in Hasla’s light as it moved toward the center of the cavern. Those eyes drew closer and Kaden saw hints of red in them, like the Edane, but these were much larger. Hasla’s light also flashed off teeth, scales, and claws as the Ancient closed on them. Wings creaked open, batting wind at them as the iridescent skin stretched and clawed the air.
“Holy crap. The Ancientsss look like dragonsss.”
The dragon towered over them, looking down on them with what Kaden believed to be contempt, eyes half-closed and a scaled lip raised in a snarl. Hot, rancid breath flowed over them, stinging Kaden’s eyes with bitter chemical scents and whipping Evandrel’s green hair around. The jaw opened in a massive yawn, exposing ivory teeth the length of Kaden’s arms, yellowed by age but still sharp, and a long forked tongue that sparked electricity as it touched air.
“Who dares bring a human into our den?” The eyes focused on Evandrel and Hasla, black, slitted pupils narrowing in their gold and red irises. “You know the penalty is death for all. They kill our children, destroy our eggs, and confuse us with the mindless drakes of the northern mountains. Most of the oldest of us are gone now, killed by fellstone swords. The young ones have lost so much wisdom, and my mind is not what it once was. We are so few now. I am too tired to teach them.”
Countless growls rocked the room, vibrating in Kaden’s bones. The whole cavern shook and only Hasla’s grip on Kaden kept him from falling. The walls slithered and slid toward them as more eyes opened in the darkness. Kaden counted to ten sets before losing track.
Evandrel stepped forward, but avoided the seal in the floor. He held out his globe and willed it to glow, golden light spilling out, revealing over twenty Ancients circling the small party. “Thyra so’a Amara, Eldest of the Sidra A’Keitane, has sent us along with this human child to seek your help and guidance.”
The dragon dipped closer and peered at them, this time Kaden noticed that cloudy cataracts filmed the eyes, dimming the gold and red. “Thyra? Is that beautiful woman still alive?”
Evandrel nodded. “Yes.”
“Ah, I always liked her, but it does not matter who sent you. You have broken our laws and you will perish. I will send Thyra my apologies.”
Several smaller Ancients raced forward, hunger in their wide, colorful eyes. Small belches of fire lit the cavern in bursts of blinding light.
Evandrel stood tall and raised his globe again. “Wait! We have the reincarnation of Cathal the Prophet here! The Dark Times of prophesy are upon us! Even now our lost cousins, the Tyninians, seek to release Rho from his prison.”
This stopped the smaller Ancients. They looked to the first to confirm or deny the claim.
The large dragon’s eyes sparkled with life for a moment, but then turned dull once more. He sniffed them and shrugged, wind from the wings nearly knocking Kaden over with the action. “You forget yourself, Keitane child. I was here when the prophesies were made. We have waited more years than you can comprehend for the Prophet. He will not arrive alone. You are mistaken.”
The eager younger dragons moved forward cautiously, waiting for permission from the leader of the Ancients.
Evandrel shook his head. “He is not alone. He came to our world with a girl, Esha’na, the Prophetess, and he came to you with two Light Bringers who vouch his identity.”
“Ah, you are very young, Keitane. The Prophet will come to us with another, the Messenger. You are not he. You did not toll the bell.”
“What bell?”
“It is of no consequence. I am sorry that the Eldest sent you to your deaths. She should have known better. I am old and tired and truly do not wish to wait any longer for Cathal’s return. I would have liked this,” the Ancient pointed a claw at Kaden’s chest, “to be the Prophet.”
Hasla lent her voice to their cause. “Wait. I did not believe this human could be Cathal either, but I am beginning to believe. Please, let us show you.”
The eyes cleared once more as they took in Hasla for the first time. “Of course he is human. The Prophet could only be human. You, on the other hand, have Tyninian blood in you. I can smell it as much as see the taint in you.”
Hasla stiffened. “Yes, my grandmother was pure Tyninian. Her sister was one of the Nine, but I, like my grandmother, am a Light Bringer. I killed seven Tyninian monsters today alone.”
The great beast’s eyelids slid closed for a moment as deep growls shook them. It had begun snoring. The young dragons looked back and forth amongst themselves and Kaden thought he saw one roll its eyes. It moved over and nudged the Ancient with the edge of a wing.
The old dragon snorted awake and cleared its throat with a raspy cough and a ball of fire that hovered above their heads before rolling in on itself. “Without the bell toll, he is not the one. I am sorry. That is all there is to the matter. We are done.” The great beast dipped its head on the long neck in a nod and the smaller dragons took this for permission, circling forward as the first stepped back into the shadows.
“No!” Evandrel roared and his globe burst to brilliant blinding light, stunning the dragons. “This is the Prophet!” He moved Kaden to his back and Hasla moved as well, sandwiching the boy between them.
Hasla raised her globe higher and it brightened as she pulled a bow from her back. She grinned. “We will fight to protect him.”
The blinding flash of the globes lasted only a moment, but the dragons recovered quickly. Five moved forward, eyes closed, sniffing the air. The first Ancient spoke as he waddled away. “You will not be the first to die believing they had discovered the Prophet.”
Massive jaws snapped inches from Evandrel’s face, but pulled away as Evan smacked it hard in the nose with his fist. Hasla loosed an arrow and a dragon screamed as the shaft slid in a nostril.
Kaden realized why they had closed their eyes and stopped using fire. Hasla was lethal with her bow, even as exhausted as she had to be. Evandrel drew his dagger and slas
hed at another, the dragon bellowed as the blade sliced through scales like butter, leaving a deep gash just below the Ancient’s eye. The group of dragons pulled back for a moment to reevaluate their prey.
Evandrel used the distraction to grab Kaden’s wrist. “Go! You and I know you can escape. I do not know why you stayed through the attacks outside, but you cannot stay now. Go!”
Kaden shook his head, which felt clearer than it had in hours. “I don’t know how to take you with me. You’ll die.” Heat exploded in the room as the dragons breathed bursts of fire above their heads from a safer distance.
Evandrel shook him. “They are toying with us, testing us. We cannot win. Go! Go now!”
Kaden’s heart beat quickly as his eyes followed the slithering movements and bursts of fire. His tether sat in the back of his mind. It would be easy. Can I just leave Evan and Hasla to die? I’m the reason they’re here in the first place. But if I stay, I die and Aren is stuck here forever.
“I’m so sorry Evan, Hasla. I can’t save anyone.”
Hasla let another arrow fly. This one caught one of the beasts in its mouth, deep in the gums between teeth. She hissed. “This will not work much longer. Do not be sorry, just go!”
Kaden’s lip quivered as the words escaped from him. “I’m going.” I am such a coward. I hate myself. He reached out to what was left of his tether and closed his eyes.
A huge reptilian head knocked Kaden to the ground, sending him sliding. The rough stone floor tore through his clothes, ripped away skin, and forced the arrow deeper into his shoulder.
He forgot his tether as pain blinded him to anything else. He wobbled to his feet and reached out to his tether. Warm, wet darkness enveloped him while light sparked at his side.
Kaden screamed as he realized too late where he was. The massive mouth surrounded him. Sharp teeth snapped shut on his legs, shearing through muscle and shattering bone. The Ancient then tried to swallow him whole rather than chew him to bits first.
The Crystal Bridge (The Lost Shards Book 1) Page 25