I am the rock foundation of her temple. He gasped in air. I am the doors that protect her tomb. He gasped again. I am her servant, for as long as she has need of me. I belong to Lady Ibilirith.
His vision swam as sweet oxygen finally filled his lungs. When he could speak, he got out a few words. "You... hit like... a little girl."
Mordahi balled his fist. Minard closed his eyes and winced. He wasn't certain he could take another hit, but he sure wasn't going to let the metal-brained freak know that. "Go on... hit me again." He spat blood, half-opening one eye. "Ibilirith watches over me."
"You are right, monk," the scion said, her voice light with mirth. "I am here, watching you and laughing at the level of your indoctrination to the cult your kind has made around me."
He gave her a bloody sneer. "You are not Ibilirith. She is in heaven, with the other divines. She watches over me and protects me, for I am ever her loyal servant."
Imogen ran her fingers over the machine freak next to her. The metal brain's beady red eyes were on Minard, his hand clasped around the hilt of another one of those wretched glowing swords. This one remained sheathed, but the half-human, half-machine seemed ready to ignite it at any moment.
"Minard, please," the quill pusher pleaded. "She is who she says she is."
Minard wanted to spit at the quill pusher but he'd run out of saliva. "You'd say or do anything for her, you stupid guppy." Aemon had always been weak and too infatuated with the scion to see through her lies. The scion had been a courtesan, a woman well versed in the evil of enticing weak men and taking everything they held dear.
Minard knew this for a fact as he'd grown up in the sleazy hollows of Gravelbank Bridge, alongside tricksters, cut-purses and beguiling whores. The scum of the caverns.
He knew how their capricious minds worked.
"Say something like that to him again, and I'll tear out your tongue with my own hands," Imogen snarled, the passkey's glow almost blinding.
Erinie leaned down and put her hand over Minard's mouth. "You need to learn to shut your foolish mouth. Let me talk and try to convince her to let us go. If you keep being so belligerent, we're both going to die!"
Shoving her hand away, Minard nodded, swallowing a bitter retort. The scion isn't Lady Ibilirith. They could beat him, torture him or threaten to kill him, but nothing any of them did would convince him otherwise.
He relaxed and assessed the situation with a calm mind. Mordahi was too close and could cut him in half, like he had the firearm, if he tried to stand and attack the scion. The other metal-brained freak stuck close to Imogen, still holding his sword hilt, ready to ignite.
Erinie scanned the shadows as the harvesters scuttled around them. Minard slid closer to her. If they were attacked, he would try to defend her as best he could. Mordahi followed him, eyes bright, his sword still burning in his hand.
"Tell me what happened since we last saw you," Erinie said.
The scion turned her gaze upon Erinie. "Kara is gone. I have assumed control of her body because it was made for me. Having returned from the dead, I shall set about finishing what I started long ago." She lifted her chin high. "I will go to Stelemia, retrieve my armor, salvage what remains of humanity, then destroy the enemy."
"Salvage?" Erinie pointed at the machine freak standing beside Imogen. "Does that mean turning people into... whatever that thing is?"
"No."
They waited for more, but instead got a dismissive wave. "I have much to do," Imogen said. "The reason I had my children bring you here was to ask what your intentions are." She nodded toward Erinie's firearm. "Do you know what that is?"
"A weapon from the old world."
"Indeed, but it is more than that. It is power." The scion studied the firearm. "What you carry there is called an assault rifle, but maybe it would be easier if you just referred to it as a gun. Now, tell me. How did you know how to use it?"
"My people had ancient files on our computers that spoke of firearms." Erinie hefted the assault rifle. "They are not complicated to use."
"So what do you intend to do with the guns you carry?"
Erinie didn't answer straight away. "Don't tell her anything," Minard whispered, low enough he hoped no one else would hear. He glanced around at their faces. If any had heard, none showed signs of it.
Finally, Erinie said, "Well, first we intend to find the library here."
We? I only want to kill the scion.
"You will not find the library here," the scion said. "Long ago, my brother Dressen and his sycophants took everything with them after they cruelly murdered me and fled this city."
"How do I know I can trust your word?"
"I am Ibilirith, remember?" Imogen continued to sneer. "You think a divine like me would lie?"
Minard wanted to race over, wrap his hands around her throat, and scream at her to stop calling herself Ibilirith. But he knew he would die long before he reached the scion. My lady, Ibilirith. I'm sorry I'm weak. I should kill her here and now for her heresy but if I did so, Erinie would die with me. Please give me the guidance I need.
His lady had always given him the strength he needed; she had always guided him through peril. No doubt, she'd do so here.
"Where did they take the library's contents?" Erinie asked. "It might be useful in the days to come."
"I don't know," the scion replied. "You would have to ask my brother."
"Your brother." Erinie paused. "You mean Dwaycar, don't you?"
She's not Ibilirith! Minard raged, though he kept it to himself and made sure his face remained passive. I am the rock foundation of her temple. I am the doors that protect her tomb.
"I know him as Dressen."
The quill pusher cleared his throat. "According to our religious teachings, Dwaycar is your twin brother."
Erinie nodded in agreement. "Where is he?"
"Dressen left Annbar half a day ago. I assume he will retrieve his armor and return to kill me." The scion pounded her fist against a crate. "My brother inhabits the body of a young woman. The one who killed the old man who traveled with us."
For someone who dared claim they were a divine, Imogen sounded like a petulant child.
Erinie took in a startled breath. "You mean Semira?"
"I don't know her name, nor do I care. Like Kara, she was made to be a host."
"A host?"
The scion let out an overlong, irritated sigh. "Oh, the barbarous times I find myself in. Look, I haven't got the time to explain history to a dark-dwelling dimwit."
Minard almost jumped out of his skin as a metallic bird flew down and perched on her shoulder. Imogen patted it. "You are starting to bore me. My children and I will gather what is left of the guns and whatever else is in the armory and take it with us for the coming war."
"And what about us?" Erinie asked.
"This man wanted to kill me." The scion scowled at Minard. "I don't want an unstable, hairless zealot like him anywhere near me."
"Good," Minard hissed before he could stop himself.
The quill pusher put a restraining hand on the scion's leg but she batted it away. "I will be merciful, only for Aemon. You two are free to go anywhere you wish—except back to Stelemia. If I ever see either of you again, I will take you both and send you back here to undergo the metamorphosis."
Minard did not understand what undergoing the metamorphosis meant, but it didn't sound pleasant. But then nothing here sounded good. What horror awaited them all, now that the scion had opened the wards and unleashed the harvesters?
"Time is growing short and I have things to do." The scion picked the quill pusher up. "Keep your guns. Aemon and I need to go and retrieve my armor."
No! She's going to the temple and I can do nothing to stop her.
The metal brain beside Imogen shifted from foot to foot. "Mother, you are letting them keep their weapons? Why?"
"There's plenty more where they come from, sweet Indalius. While I go to oversee the work being done of the highway, you
stay here and explain to them how the guns function, then send them on their way. If they try to come after me, capture them and bring them to Ardamus."
Indalius bowed his head. "Yes, Mother."
Imogen turned her back to them and strode away, robbing Minard of any chance he had of killing her. Aemon watched them over her shoulder, his tears glittering like droplets of blood in the glow of the passkey. Take care, brother.
When they were gone, Indalius turned to them. "Now let me show you how to work your weapons."
CHAPTER 8
KARA
Before Kara could stop her, Semira hurled her chair at the boy. It passed through him and bounced along the concrete platform outside, until it fell onto the tracks with a loud clang. Kara was about to hurl hers too, but the boy raised his hands in surrender. "Don't bother. It'll pass through me like the last."
Semira went to pick up a broken plank of wood, but Kara stopped her. "Wait, let's find out what he wants first."
Her sister glared at her but backed against the wall and watched expectantly. Kara turned to the boy. "Who are you? How did you know my name?"
He held up the lamp so they could see him better. "My name is Sasha."
The boy looked no older than eight, wearing colorful old-world clothing, with short brown hair and innocent little blue eyes. She'd have taken him for one of the ghost children she'd seen under the church of the One God in one of her previous visiondreams, but those children hadn't even been aware of her existence.
"I don't think mommy will be happy to see her." He studied Semira with a dark expression. "Not after what she did."
Kara had no idea what the boy was talking about and Semira didn't seem to either, for she stared at him with a blank expression. "What are you talking about?" Kara asked.
Sasha's eyes met hers. "You are Imogen, who is Kara. My mother sent me to find you." He took an urgent step forward. "She needs help!"
"Your mother?" Kara slowly lowered the chair. "Who is your mother?"
"You met her before. She told you about this place and of Imogen."
Kara blinked. "You mean the ghost woman?"
He shrugged. "I don't know that name. I just call her Mommy."
Kara's heart leapt into her throat. "Where is she? What happened?"
"The untamed servants took her. They fell on us when we were coming to find you and they dragged her away. I think they want to hurt her so she will tell them where she hides the man from outside."
"The man?" Kara was struggling to make sense of what the boy was saying.
"Yes. He came here some time ago. Mommy was told to keep him hidden."
"Told by whom? I don't understand."
"The tree told her to hide him." He glanced back out the door. "If we don't hurry, the untamed servants will come for you too. I'll show you where they have taken Mommy so you can help me free her."
Almost nothing of what the boy had said made any sense, but his mother could be the ghost woman. When she'd left Kara the last time they'd met, the ghost woman had said she had to return to the people she'd hidden. "How did you know I was here?" Kara asked. "I've been waiting—"
He shook his hands in exasperation. "We need to hurry, I can explain later. Please, mommy needs us!"
"Alright." His desperation was having an effect on Kara too. She felt the need for urgency. "Semira comes too."
Sasha frowned. "But Mommy will not like it."
"Well, she'll have to deal with it. I won't leave her behind."
Semira sneered at her. "Why do you want me coming with you? I don't like you, and you don't like me. We'd be better off parting ways."
Because you might be useful to me. You might remember something Dwaycar knew that will help me take back my body. Kara cleared her throat. "Because you're my only link to the real world."
Does it matter if I use my sister and discard her when I no longer have need of her? It wasn't like there was much worth saving in Semira. She was nothing but a twisted, self-loathing murderer who would kill Kara without a second's thought.
After all, Semira had almost killed her once already.
Her sister narrowed her eyes distrustfully as she seemed to think Kara's statement through. Eventually she inclined her head toward the door. "Go. I'll follow."
When they'd trailed the boy out onto the platform, he led them toward the tracks, Kara close on his heels and Semira some distance behind them. Hopping off the platform, he started heading down the rail line leading toward the center of the city, his little lamp held before him.
A short distance later, he stopped at a door in the wall of the subway tunnel. With a twist of his hand, he tore it off its hinges. With his invisible grip, he hurled it away and motioned them to follow him through the opening. They stared at his hand, which glowed with pale light. "I have powers here. Mother doesn't know why."
Semira glanced at Kara, no doubt reminded of Kara's own power in the visiondream. They followed Sasha though the broken door and entered a long hallway that stretched beyond Kara's keen eyesight. As they began to walk down it, she asked, "What are these servants you spoke of? Are they anything like the Great Shadow?"
"No, these are smaller and look like the shades of men. Mommy says they aren't cut from the same cloth as the shadow that flies."
"Not cut from the same cloth? What does that mean?"
"The Great Shadow was always a predator, but these shadow servants once aided those who created this place."
"They don't anymore?"
He shook his head. "Mother said, in the many years since the creators perished, the servants have gone mad. Now they've turned on everything that isn't like them."
A random memory of Imogen's came to Kara. It was of a large gathering of people sitting around a giant table in the world of the visiondream. The men were dressed in dull black suits, the women in utilitarian dresses with drab colors and no ornamental flare. Some were black-skinned, others white and others shades in between. Behind each hovered faceless figures, which appeared more shadow than real. Imogen stood before them all, giving a speech on something the memory didn't show. The faceless figures whispered into the ears of the seated people as Imogen spoke.
Kara understood. They were acting as servants to the people and explaining, if necessary, what Imogen was saying.
The memory dissolved and Kara was back in the corridor, following the small boy. He led them up a set of stairs and opened another door with his strange, invisible power. They exited the station into an alley between two tall buildings. It was dark still, and an icy breeze made the two women shiver. Sasha watched them, seemingly unaffected by the chill.
"So cold," Semira said through chattering teeth.
"How do you expect us to travel when we can't stop shaking?" Kara's power couldn't hold back the cold. "We need to wait for the sun to come up and drive the chill away."
"We don't have time to wait for sunrise," Sasha said.
"But we'll freeze to death." Kara looked up at the star-filled sky. "What about the Great Shadow or the servants? I can see in the dark, but Semira's vision isn't as good as mine, which means she won't be able to defend herself if we're attacked."
"I can help with the cold." He held out a hand. "Take it."
Kara didn't see any reason not to, so took it. Instantly, warmth ran up her arm and passed through her body. After a moment, she stopped shivering. "I am sharing my very essence with you," the boy said.
"Will it hurt you?"
Sasha shook his head. "Not hurt... but it will slowly weaken me."
"For how long? Will you recover?"
An unreadable expression crossed his face, and then it was gone. "I will be fine."
"What about Semira? Can she take your lamp and hold your other hand?"
He stared at Semira, who lingered just inside the doorway leading back into the station. "I will not let her touch me, but my essence will pass through you and into her."
Kara motioned for her sister to come out. Semira didn't move. "Come on,
I feel warm now," Kara said. Her sister glanced back down the stairs. Come on, you stupid fool. "There's nothing for you back there. Come with us."
The chattering of Semira's teeth was loud in the otherwise silent alley. When her sister didn't move, Sasha started tugging on Kara's arm. "Leave her then. We need to hurry and save Mommy."
Kara let herself be led away. They reached the end of the alley and still her sister hadn't emerged from the station to join them. Cursing softly under her breath, Kara said, "Wait, I won't leave her. I'll drag her out by her hair if I have to."
Sasha frowned. "She hurt people. She hurt Mommy. She deserves to stay here and die."
Kara was surprised by the anger in the boy's voice. "How do you know what she did?"
He looked up at her. "Mommy and the man from outside told me all about her. He is a guest in our home."
"Guest?"
"You will meet him after we rescue my mother." He bounced up and down. "Hurry up, we need to go."
Suddenly, Semira ran from the station. As she went past, Kara grabbed her arm and stopped her. "What is it?"
Semira was breathing hard, eyes wide. "Something is coming up the stairs. I couldn't see what it was." Then she gaped at Kara in disbelief. "I feel warm now."
"Keep hold of me," Kara said.
They heard scratching sounds coming up the stairs.
"We need to leave, now," Sasha cried, dragging Kara out of the alley with strength that belied his little size. Kara kept hold of Semira as the boy led them down a rubble-and-ice-filled street. The scratching sound grew more distant and then disappeared all together.
"What was back there?" Kara asked.
"I don't know," Sasha replied. "It might have been one of the servants or it might be one of them."
"Them?"
He headed down a side street. "There are other things here, indescribable things. Some are shadow beasts, but then there are other monsters. Mother said they were created from the dark imaginings of those that made this place, but they are few in number now. I've never seen one, only felt their dreadful presence nearby. When that happens, I run and do not stop until I can no longer feel them."
"How dangerous are they? Did she say?"
The Lost Sun Series Box Set 1: Books 1 and 2 (Lost Sun Box Set) Page 50