"Mother says they are more dangerous than the Great Shadow." He glanced into an empty window as they went by. "She also said I shouldn't enter any of the big buildings, as there are faces living inside them that will hurt me if I enter."
Faces? Kara recalled the station that had made her feel uneasy. Had she almost run into something like these faces? Or one of the beasts the boy's mother had warned him of?
The street ended at a large intersection filled with dozens of frozen vehicles. They picked their way through them, regularly looking over their shoulders to make sure nothing trailed them. "What are these things?" Semira's eyes were on a truck that had rolled onto its side.
Kara knew the answer even though she had never seen a vehicle with her own eyes until arriving in this visiondream. "It's a truck, and the smaller ones around it are cars. People used to use them to get from place to place, much like traders in Stelemia use ox-drawn carts."
"How do you know that?" Sasha led them around the toppled truck.
"I have memories from a person who used to live in this city, long ago. You know her as Imogen."
He sucked in his cheeks. "Mother never said you would know things. She told me you would be as defenseless as a baby."
"A baby?" Kara glanced at Semira with a wry grin. "Well, your mother is wrong. I have power here, power I never had outside this world." And my sister knows it!
Semira threw back her head. "I had power while living among the Knives of Dwaycar. But here, the Lost Sun has forsaken me."
"You will see your Lost Sun when it rises over the horizon." Kara swept her gaze over the cloudy night sky. "The light of it will drive away the dark and give rise to a new day."
Her sister turned away and muttered something under her breath.
Suddenly, Sasha froze mid-stride. "What is it?" Kara asked, her keen eyes scanning for danger.
"I sense something and it knows we are here."
At the tone of his voice, a chill as cold as the concrete beneath their feet passed along Kara's spine. Something more felt than seen leapt down at them from a fifth-story window. It landed in the middle of the street, no more than twenty feet from them, as silent as a falling snowflake. Even with her extraordinary vision, Kara could barely make out what it was.
All she saw was black on black and eight small red eyes burning like firelight shining through holes in a black wall. A dark mist rose off its body and spread across the ground around it, like molten wax. All eight of its eyes narrowed as it let out a deep, throaty, chittering snarl.
"A shadow beast," Sasha cried, letting go of Kara's hand.
As Sasha's warming essence withdrew, Kara was enveloped in a deep, numbing cold. With insane speed, the shadow beast lunged at them. Just as quickly, the tingling feeling radiated down Kara's arm and sent forth an invisible bolt of energy that slammed into the monster and threw it back. Snarling, it rounded on them again, its eyes raging slits of flame shrouded in a dense foggy shadow.
"I can't see it," Semira screamed, backing into the shredded wheel of the truck.
Sasha tugged on Kara's arm. "Run!"
The shadow beast leapt at Kara, but she threw it backward again with another bolt of energy. It landed on its feet, barely seeming to feel the jolt. It scuttled forward, roaring a throaty, chittering growl. Kara's heart pounded. She no longer felt so self assured.
What if her power was not strong enough to kill it?
Kara's next jolt was stronger than the last and sent the creature sailing through the air to smash down onto a car. The vehicle was crushed under the beast's weight, spraying broken glass everywhere. Hope surged in her. Had she killed it this time?
Snatching Semira's arm and grabbing Sasha's outstretched hand, Kara urged the boy to get moving. The shadow beast's legs started to flail about as it fought to regain its feet.
Divines curse it. It was still alive!
Kara got a vague impression of what it looked like before they raced through the ruined cars and onto the sidewalk, ice crunching under their feet. The zhuk beetle icons in Radashan Crevice. That was what the shadow beast looked like. Except with eight legs, long fangs and eight eyes. It was a beast that belonged with the monsters in the Great Dark. But there was something indistinct about it. Like it was not really there. And yet it was.
Maybe Imogen's memories might hold the mystery of the shadow beast locked away somewhere, but now was not the time to search for it.
Sasha led them down an alley, then another. The beast raged somewhere behind them. Racing down another alley, gray buildings looming around them, they sped on until they came to a wire fence with barbed wire at the top. Sasha pointed to a hole in the side of the structure to their left.
Kara frowned at him. "I thought you said there were faces inside the buildings."
"Not this one."
She didn't bother asking how he knew for sure. Climbing through the hole, she found herself in a frost-encrusted storage room, with icicles hanging above her head. Semira came in, followed by Sasha who led them deeper inside. The chittering of the shadow beast faded, until they could no longer hear it.
They stopped in a hallway and took a moment to catch their breaths. "We need to hurry," Sasha said, starting to head off again.
"Wait." Kara tugged on his arm. "We need to make a plan for how we're going to get your mother. How far away are we from where she is being held?"
"A few miles."
"How many enemies are there?" Semira asked.
Sasha bit his lip. "I think... at least ten."
"Ten." Semira shook her head. "Why are we even bothering to save a woman we don't know? Why should I go up against such odds for someone who doesn't want me here anyway?"
Kara glared at her. "I don't know who his mother is, but if we rescue her she might be able to tell us how to leave this world."
Semira turned away and kicked at a broken piece of tile. Sasha clasped his hands together and shook them. "So how do we rescue her?"
How could Kara come up with a plan? She didn't know the layout of the building where his mother was being held, didn't know how much of a threat the servants were, nor had any experience in planning rescue missions. Doing a cursory search of Imogen's memories revealed nothing. Perhaps Imogen had no experience with situations like this either.
Do I have sufficient control of my power to face off against so many enemies? Before they'd encountered the shadow beast, Kara would have been certain she had. Now she wasn't so sure.
The only one of them who might be able to come up with a viable plan would be Semira. She was the one experienced in combat. "Will you help us?" Kara demanded, holding a fist behind her back. I hate having to show this wretch that I need her. But what choice do I have?
Semira glanced at her. "Why should I?"
"You're the fighter. Tell us how we can defeat the servants and rescue her."
They heard a high-pitched hiss from back at the alley. They were running out of time. If the shadow beast found them again, Kara wasn't certain she could hold it back.
She dug her nails into her palm. "Please, Semira."
Her sister stared at her. "We run in and fight to the death."
Kara bared her teeth. "Not all of us want to die. Think of something better."
Semira rolled her eyes. "Two of us should create a distraction, while the other sneaks in." She frowned at Sasha. "I will need you to be with me so I can keep warm, for you and I will be that distraction." Now she pointed at Kara. "And you, half-blood, will use the time we buy you to find a way in, kill any remaining servants with your power, then rescue his mother."
"Then what?"
"You can come and help us." Semira shrugged.
"You'll need a weapon."
Her sister snatched up a shard of tile with a jagged edge. "This will have to do."
The shadow beast hissed again, this time closer than before.
Sasha grabbed both sisters' hands, and started down the hallway. They reached the end and entered a ruined department s
tore.
Kara watched Semira out of the corner of her eye. Would her sister's plan work? It seemed to make sense.
"We will split up when we are closer to the lair." Sasha led them to the front entrance of the building. He scanned the road outside. "I can't see anything. Maybe it is still in the alley."
The wall behind them exploded as a huge black shape burst into the room. Sasha screamed and dragged Kara and her sister out onto the street. They raced along the sidewalk, their misted breaths trailing after them.
The shadow beast smashed through the front windows and scuttled after them, close on their heels. Soon it caught up, and Kara had to turn and blast it with her power. It flew backward, sliding along the ground and smacking against a streetlight. She ran on, not waiting to see if she'd hurt it.
"Now what do we do?" Sasha cried. "How can we fight the servants and the shadow beast?"
Their plan had been ruined before it had even begun.
Kara caught up to them and took Sasha's hand, his warmth flooding through her. "What do we do, Semira? Please..."
A bellow of rage followed them down the street as the creature vented its frustration. It smashed cars aside and broke glass as it hurried to catch up to them.
"Maybe we don't fight them at all," Semira said, her breath coming fast.
Sasha shook his head. "What do you mean?"
"We go with my first plan." She glanced over her shoulder at their pursuer. "We could race into the servant's lair with the shadow still in pursuit and they'll be forced to not only deal with us—but also the beast. Unless they are allies."
"No, the shadow beasts eat the servants too." Sasha led them through a park with frozen dead trees, the shadow beast steadily gaining on them. "Your plan might work. We run in, hurry past the guards, then Imogen who is Kara uses her power to break through the chains binding Mother, while the monster keeps the servants busy."
"That sounds crazy," Kara said, not liking the idea of running into a nest of enemies while already being pursued by another.
"What choice do we have?" Semira's tone suggested she didn't expect an answer.
Kara couldn't think of a better plan. They clearly wouldn't be able to lose the shadow beast. Her power didn't seem to be enough to kill it and she was too tired to keep throwing it back. Worse, she hadn't slept since arriving in the visiondream. How much further could she run?
Resolving herself, she said, "Let's do it."
THEY'D GONE THE BETTER part of a mile and entered the outskirts of an industrial area when the shadow beast finally caught up with them. "We are almost there," Sasha wailed. "Buy us time!"
Kara let go of them and pointed her hand at the monster as it smashed through the side of a brick building, sending debris spilling into the street. It took a moment for the tingling sensation to come and a moment more for it to shoot down her arm. The beast was only a handful of feet from her when the power threw it back.
"Keep running," Kara cried.
The other two started off and Kara was about to follow when the creature leapt high into the air and came at her along the side of a ruined building. Kara couldn't believe how fast it moved, its eight shadow-shrouded legs a blur. She blasted it with another bolt, but it barreled on toward her.
Panic set in, and Kara backed away. Her power was not strong enough. The monster was almost on her. In seconds it would—
No, it can't end this way...
Something flew past her shoulder and struck the beast in the face. It dropped from the wall, screaming in its deep, throaty, chittering cry. Kara almost fell over a broken piece of concrete. A metal pole had gouged out one of the creature's red, glowing eyes.
Yet still it moved with ferocious speed, tearing out the pole with one of its long, black limbs and hurling it aside.
A hand grabbed Kara's shoulder and shook her. "Get moving," a voice shrieked.
Semira.
Kara spun around, the beast roaring behind her, and raced after her sister and Sasha. What are they doing? "I told you both to run."
They raced headlong toward a large corrugated iron factory door. The door stood half open and unguarded. Chittering, the shadow beast charged after them, now blinded in one eye but even more frantic in its pursuit. Kara heard it smashing through cars, vans and trucks.
When they arrived at the door, Sasha slowed his pace and let Kara catch up. "You go first. The servants are in here somewhere. You need to keep them off us while we hurry to find Mother."
Kara took the lead and ran into the building, her hand ready to unleash her power upon anything that moved. Inside was a cavernous void filled with pipes, large metal tanks and catwalk walkways. She glanced left, then right. "Which way?"
"Not sure," Sasha replied. "But I sense Mother that way." He pointed toward an office overlooking the factory floor on the other side of the building. Kara started toward it, the shadow beast no more than fifty feet behind them.
As they ran through narrow walkways between the metal tanks, Kara tried to keep the office in view, while at the same time scanning everywhere for signs of the servants. Semira and Sasha kept close, the former having marginal dark-vision and the latter seemingly seeing as well as Kara.
The shadow beast bounded up onto a catwalk and followed them from above. They'd just passed between two tanks when something moved to block their path. All Kara could see was a black human-like figure imposed over the darkness behind it. On instinct she fired a bolt of energy at it.
The shadow-thing dissolved as if it had never been there.
Racing through the spot it had been, Kara caught sight of more of the figures and they were closing in from three sides. The shadow beast howled in exaltation and leapt down from the catwalk and landed right in front of Kara, blocking her path.
She skidded to a stop, her powers forgotten. The beast's burning red eyes filled her vision and shadows moved around them. Semira's plan had failed and now they would all die.
CHAPTER 9
AEMON
"Where are you taking me?" Aemon asked as Imogen left the warehouse and went back into the Dead City proper. He still had not gotten used to the idea that one of the divines cradled him in her arms—even if the divine was nothing like she had been made out to be. Imogen stole Kara's body. She is no divine.
"There's a road we'll follow that'll take us to Stelemia. You have already trod it before, on our way to Annbar."
So, the Dead City was named Annbar. A strange-sounding name. But what road could she be talking of? "Do you mean the highway with the broken bridge?"
"Yes, that one, though when I was alive, the bridge wasn't broken."
"Do you know why it might have been blown up with explosives?"
Imogen's face darkened. "My brother's work, no doubt. Perhaps when he and Radashan fled down it with the people of Annbar, they blew it up behind them." She began crushing him in her arms and he found it hard to breathe. "Those filthy traitors."
Aemon wriggled. She was stronger than she had any right to be. "Ease up a bit. You are hurting me."
She glanced down at him, fury radiating in her eyes. "You won't betray me, will you Aemon? I can trust you, right?"
All Aemon wanted her to do was ease up on the pressure. "No... I would never betray you."
Finally, she relaxed, allowing him to breathe again. Asura studied him from atop Imogen's shoulder, her eyes glimmering. In the dim light around them marched a whole host of metal men, their bodies lit by the glow of their eyes. Many had clearly visible human parts. Skulls, bones, brains, hearts and in some cases, skin. The most revolting one of all was the one with the skin of a human head draped over a metal skull.
Aemon licked his lips, building up the courage to start asking Imogen more questions. When they exited the last concrete corridor of Annbar and started down the highway, he looked up at her and asked, "Who made your army? What are they?"
It took close to a minute for Imogen to answer. "They are my Life-Infused children, my Secondborn. I designed them long ag
o to be the saviors of humankind and the next step in our natural evolution into something greater than what nature bequeathed us." She shook her head. "Some people didn't share my vision for the future of humanity, my brother among them, so they slit my throat and left me to rot. I can still feel the blade cutting in, my blood gushing over me." She turned away to watch her children.
The fact Imogen looked like Kara and spoke with her voice made it hard for Aemon not to empathize with her. There had been pain in Imogen's words as she had spoken of her own death. How must it feel to remember your own death? What had happened to her in the time between now and then? No, she is not Kara. I cannot let myself feel anything but contempt for her. She stole Kara's body and now Kara is gone.
They began to pass shattered walls, rock piles and jagged fractures in the road. "Soon we should run into a large cave-in that blocks the highway," Aemon said. "What are we going to do when we reach it?"
"My children are already clearing it away," Imogen replied.
He tried to ask her another question, but she put a hand over his mouth to silence him. A few hours later they reached the cave-in. Most of it had already been cleared, but now the machines were widening the road. Imogen continued on, and they passed a group of floating platforms hovering several inches off the stone surface of the highway. Aemon stared at them in amazement.
How did they float like that? Had Kara been right in believing in magic? No, there has to be another explanation.
Imogen must have seen his look of wonder. "They are cargo lifts and are designed to carry vast amounts of weight."
Her Secondborn began removing strange-looking equipment from one of the cargo lifts and turned them on the rubble-filled tunnel. Red beams of light shot out from the tools, pulverizing the rock to dust. "Those are tri-laser macerators," Imogen explained. "They break down matter at a molecular level."
"I have no idea what that means," Aemon said. Molecular? Another strange word he had never heard before. "They look powerful. Can they be used as weapons?"
Imogen hurried on, leaving the worker machines behind. Asura stretched her wings, then took flight and landed on the shoulder of Indalius, who had returned an hour earlier, and had kept watch on Imogen from the shadows. "They can be at close range, but that isn't what they are designed for. Macerators are tools used to break up dense material like stone or metal. They were also used to excavate this road."
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