by Domino Finn
Edric pointed at his eyes and then to another pipe. This one was wider than the others. Several arms lengths, maybe. The dragons nodded and descended sharply. Then we swooped up, toward the pipe opening at the bottom. Closer and closer we raced. We were going to go straight up the pipe. But we weren't going to fit.
Ahead of us, Edric's wing's flashed into mist as he entered the opening. Without his wingspan he was an easy fit. I went next on Lilliane's back. She simply folded her arms into her body as her wings disappeared. Our ascent continued unabated. Ribbed walls flashed past us, feet away. Lilliane leaned this way and that to stay centered and on course. I was terrified of dragging her off balance. I held my breath.
I gave it about twenty seconds of an upwards freefall. Then we emerged into a subterranean chamber at the head of the pipe. Individual masses of water, bulging bubbles the size of men, stood in rings around the pipe openings. The four dragons shot several yards into the sky above, spread their limbs and canted to the side, and landed lightly on the floor between the elementals.
Lilliane unclasped my arms with a showy wink. We were surrounded, near as I could tell.
"Don't worry about them," she said. "They're worker aspects. They won't even react to our presence."
I took in the whole chamber. Well after well of openings in the floor. Pipes leading down into the drift. She was right. Every single bulbous water elemental toiled without noticing us. They didn't have eyes or mouths or even limbs for that matter. Not that I could tell. But it was obvious they were focused on the task at hand.
"They're drawing water from the drift," I said.
"It's an ingenious operation," she agreed. "The source of the capital's water. And the reason they harvest so many water aspects."
Tyson grumbled beside me, relieved to again be on solid ground.
"I knew there was a reason the Mother agreed to help you," said Edric. He surprised me by flashing an approving smile. "High Valley doesn't help those who can't help themselves." He surprised me again by clapping my shoulder. "We must leave you know. You've been successfully smuggled into Maqad. What you do from here is your business. If you give even one jinn bastard hell, it'll be worth it."
Jax and Tena laughed bitterly. The rush of traveling through the drift and facing down a behemoth was clear on everyone's face.
"You know where to go from here?" asked Lilliane.
"I have an idea," answered Tyson.
She watched him for a moment, unsure how to respond. Or maybe unsure of something else.
The prince turned to Tyson. "On behalf of the Mother, I deeply thank you for returning the Roman dragon to us. Whatever your purposes."
"And whoever you serve," Lilliane added under her breath.
Edric smiled. "Someday, Tyson, you must tell me where you acquired it."
The volcanic elemental ground his teeth shut in reply. The prince chuckled, then lightly hopped into the drift pipe, disappearing from sight. Jax and Tena followed.
"Maybe we'll meet again, Cisco," said the High Justice. "If you don't get yourself killed first."
"If I don't get killed, I'm not staying in the Aether. That's for sure."
She nodded. "Then perhaps in your world. If the law allows it."
She coated the last statement with sarcasm, showing she put little stock in "the law."
Celestial law. Demons interfering with mankind. I wondered what I'd gotten myself into. Before I could reply, Lilliane stepped into the well and fell from view.
Chapter 24
Tyson waved his arm with a wordless "This way." We ducked into a doorway that led to a similar chamber of the same size. Wells, water elementals—the same operation. It must have been a maze of interconnecting passages and drift wells, but Tyson wasn't bothered by the scale of it. He just plodded ahead as if he'd been here before, knew the way, and set himself on autopilot to ignore the drudgery.
For my part, I couldn't help but be amazed. A single elemental would be a marvel back in my world. I wanted to spend hours studying one. What would happen if I touched them? Could I jump inside the bubble of water? Could they talk? And if so, what did they have to say?
As we navigated the subterranean basements of Maqad, it was still impossible to truly understand the scale of the city. This was infrastructure. A sure sign of something larger. Something planned. But it was just the underbelly.
We headed up a flight of rock steps. Then another. The water elementals gave way to more humanlike workers manning steam chambers. Tyson swiped a white cloak from a wall hanger and dropped it in my arms.
"Put this on. Keep your head down."
I threw the long cloak over my shoulders and hooded my face. It did a good enough job of making me blend in, but the fabric ran a little short. My red alligator boots clashed below the high hem. But who said jinns couldn't make fashion statements?
Tyson went incognito himself. For the first time in the Aether, he shifted into his human form. Wide-shouldered in an elegant white suit.
The stairway took us another level up before ending, forcing us to navigate the next floor. The walls and ground were natural. Rock formations, not dissimilar to the palace in High Valley but lacking the layer of polish. It gave the impression that we were still outside, in the sense that a sewer or subway tunnel is outside. Some level of shelter without the niceties of modern living.
The halls on this level were wide but barren. Access tunnels, used when needed. Probably built with the berth to shuffle machinery and cargo back and forth. Regular doors dotted both walls. Indeed, a train of several floating cargo beds approached us, a wispy elemental at the head and tail, no doubt carrying the load. That's also when we got our first glimpse of security. A featureless golem made of sand wore a pointed bronze breastplate. A curved sword of the same metal was hooked horizontally into the breastplate as if sheathed on a magnet. The only other piece of metal on the thing was an upside-down triangular mask with eyeholes. No eyes, strangely enough. The elemental itself was nothing but sand. With and without form at the same time.
So these were the so-called officiates.
Tyson's gait stuttered for only a second as he made his decision. He stepped to the side and continued advancing. As before. Another boring day. Nothing to see here. Despite wanting to get a closer look at the officiate, there was something sharp and intrepid about it. I didn't want to risk it. I stared at my boots as we slid past the convoy. Each of its steps grinded like dirt against metal. I could feel its eyes on me.
Time slowed. Adrenaline beat through my system. Something was wrong. We walked unmolested for another ten seconds.
I picked up the pace slightly, pushing against Tyson's back and hoping he got the message. Then metal scraped against metal behind us. I turned to see that the convoy had paused. The officiate had drawn its sword. It made a quick chirp, like a question. Not a language as far as I could tell but clearly addressing us. I turned to Tyson to catch him slipping sideways into an access door.
Genius plan.
I wasn't feeling especially creative so I rushed in after him. As we slammed the door shut, the chirp repeated, but it was long and drawn out this time. An alarm whistle.
"This is gonna be the shortest undercover operation ever," I said.
Tyson burst into a sprint.
I waved my hand, thickening the shadow on the floor, gumming it up for anybody who tried to pass. It wouldn't stop anyone for good, but it would give us time. I barreled after the volcanic elemental (who was faster than he looked). We darted through a perpendicular tunnel and into another room. Our scramble almost came to a halt in a utility closet, but we quickly found another door that led into a warehouse of sorts. The floor was busy with worker elementals. We were ignored as we raced past. We climbed a metal staircase that led to an inner chamber, and suddenly we were in a drab office suite.
I mean, it wasn't like a cheesy strip-mall dentist's office or anything—1980s carpet, bland art decorating the walls, waiting room music—but it was the Aether's versi
on of that. A dull workplace with absolutely no soul. A place where coworkers probably complained about Mondays and lunch meetings and printer toner. Our appearance seemed to be the highlight of the day because all the employees stopped what they were doing and watched us with rapt attention.
Luckily, they were either too busy or too bored to do anything but watch. We hustled through the corridors without objection, and even the officiate's chirps were out of range. Tyson found an outer doorway. Daylight. The next thing you know, we were on the streets of Maqad, an early morning sun blazing down from above.
Color me impressed.
The capital city was a cross between a French castled village and a Brazilian slum. Stepped buildings towered over each other in rows, all artistic masterpieces made of stone with tiled and tented roofs and elaborate entryways. As the structures piled higher they became more makeshift and tattered. Open patios walled with battered cloth. Patchwork modifications. There was a lot more metal than I'd seen in other Aether structures, too. The larger buildings had skeletons strong enough to support the rampant outgrowth.
The roadways were narrow and packed. Jinns and elementals passed in carts and frequented various roadside establishments. Everything was so huddled and claustrophobic it took me completely off guard when we walked right up to the edge of the world. A short stone wall was all that was between us and a drop into the drift hundreds of yards below. Nothing but open sky. Okay, new rule: Eyes on the ground in the floating city.
From this vantage, the sprawl was more vividly realized. What I had assumed were concentric rings of land were really a series of smaller islands, not unlike the Florida Keys. Small but firm bridges crisscrossed between the stray rocks, connecting them in a spiderwebbed network. These bridges were mostly wide enough for a person at a time. Any hauling of goods or work traffic needed to route through the main roads around the ring where larger bridges were available.
The chaotic scribble of streets was the perfect place for two shifty pedestrians to get lost in. A few alleyways, a hopped wall, a bridge or two, and even I couldn't tell you where we'd come from. Just like that, one moment to the next, we relaxed our pace.
"We did it," I said with relief. "We're here."
Tyson nodded, pressing ahead with long strides.
"So what's next?" I asked. "What's the master plan? Which, by the way, you've kept quiet about for too long now. I've been way forgiving about that."
"You want to hurt Connor, don't you?" he returned.
"Of course. But I need to know where we're going."
Tyson pointed. "The center of the city."
Okay, if I made it sound like the place was a maze, that was true. But there was a small measure of order to it. There was a central island. The concentric rings of land circled it, leaving no doubt as to the location of the center. And if that wasn't enough, a tower loomed over the entire city so vast in stature that you could see it from anywhere. The grand centerpiece. The seat of power and guidance and governance for all residents.
The tower rose up as a straight spire, but up close its patchwork structure was apparent, just as with all the other buildings. Sails and fans hung from windows, balconies jutted out into the sky, boxy sub-buildings protruded from smooth walls—it was a masterpiece of the absurd. A hundred disparate buildings were glued together into a massive column. A city taken to its very extreme at the nucleus.
"The tower?" I asked. "What are we gonna do, file a police report?"
He stopped at the ridge of a highway. A double-wide bridge of rock crossed over from our strip of land to the innermost ring. "It all leads to the tower," he said obliquely. Then he hopped down onto the road and headed across.
I sucked my teeth. Tyson obviously wasn't a team player. He didn't like sharing details. It was a wonder he ever worked with the Covey at all. But he was being ordered then. I wondered if he was similarly enthralled now.
Lilliane had suggested as much. Tyson had a master. Tyson had his own motivations. Why was I so blindly accepting his were aligned with mine?
I'd killed his allies, after all. Kita Mariko, the paper mage. The elemental had a close bond with her. It still seemed to affect him. Everything that had driven me thus far had been for revenge. What if the same thing was driving Tyson?
Part of me wanted to ditch the plan. Leave the big lug to his own grumbling devices and say screw it. But where did that leave me? Stranded in the Aether, that's where. Literally between angels and demons.
Besides, that revenge thing I mentioned? It was a strong force. A part of my being now. Something I couldn't turn away from. I'd walked out of traps unscathed before. If Tyson was leading me into another, it might get me closer to Connor than I was now. Was that so bad?
It didn't look like I had much choice. And this was coming from a guy who hated having his arm twisted.
I blew out a sigh, frustrated but futile, and crossed the bridge ahead.
It turned out the inner ring wasn't directly connected to the tower. We got a firsthand view of that as we rounded the expensive residences lining the lush block. Green grasses and plants, out of place against the sudden drop of sky beside them. Various drawbridges and gates led across to the tower. My inclination was that we were looking for an easy way in. My inclination was wrong.
"This is it," announced Tyson, stopping at a metal gate across the street. A large villa and yard were protected behind a high stone wall. The only view inside from the street was through the bars of the gate.
Something like this, you expect a security console or something. A speaker. A camera. A giant lock at the very least. Not here. Instead, standing at the meeting of both swinging gates was a single mound of earth shaped into humanoid form. Its rocky skin was littered with compacted soil. Its face, clay. But the security guard wasn't the only precaution.
I squinted. In the sunlight I couldn't fill my eyes with shadow, but I could barely see the air shimmering between the metal bars. I followed the distortion to the planes above the stone walls. Some kind of force field protected this place.
"Okay." I crossed my arms. "How do we get in?"
Tyson smiled for the first time in forever. "Easy."
He walked right up to the earth elemental and grunted. The clay man bowed and stepped aside. The magical field flickered brightly and vanished. Then the metal gate opened on its own, no pistons or anything.
Tyson turned around. "You coming?"
I crossed the street and frowned as I stepped into the yard, wary of active wards. "What... did you just do?"
"I merely asked for entry," he replied. "Cisco Suarez, welcome to the Aether home of Connor Hatch."
I stood stunned as the earth elemental moved to close the gate. We were here.
Chapter 25
The ease with which Tyson Roderick strolled into Connor's estate was troubling. It was the first real confirmation of the itch I'd been feeling. Lilliane's warning. The jinn hunters leaving him alone. This entire time, I'd thought Tyson was a rogue elemental. Outcast and alone.
But what if he wasn't?
Smoke rose from his eyes as his skin smoldered. His face hardened. His clothes burned away.
"You still work for Connor," I muttered, taking a step away.
The metal gate clinked into place. The earth elemental paused, now on our side of the gate. He watched us with a puzzled expression.
Tyson spun with a closed fist. I jumped backward but he wasn't going for me. He smashed the security guard square in the chest, sending him into the gate. The metal screeched off its hinges; the earth elemental splayed out in the street. He hadn't had time to get the force field back up.
"Watch for more," screamed Tyson.
The figure of dirt and rock in the street didn't crawl to its feet. It simply grew upward, a mound of dirt rising into shape. He lowered his head and stepped toward Tyson, but the volcanic elemental let loose a spray of lava from his mouth. The clay man sizzled, melted into a mound, and hardened into a glassy crust.
I checked
the yard but it was clear. The tall double doors of the house, however, cracked open. Two glowing beings of fire casually stepped outside.
"What is this?" I yelled. "What are you doing?"
The big man turned to me, that stupid grin plastered across his face, like once the joy was here, it was never leaving. "Having a little fun," said Tyson. Then he charged the doorway.
The fire elementals transformed into spears of flame, darting off the porch at opposite angles to surround Tyson. I sprinted forward and one turned to me. A flaming hand jutted my way and sent a crackle of fire.
I lifted my palm and willed the snowflake tattoo to life. Turquoise energy answered in an instant, forming a two-foot semi-spherical shield. My magic easily deflected the fire.
Tyson swung a fist at his opponent but the fire was immaterial. His arm passed right through without effect. The fire elemental, in turn, seared Tyson's rockskin. It was accustomed to standing up to magma, so that did little damage as well.
I was in a similar stalemate. In the bright sun of the Aether, there wasn't a whole lot I could fight with. My shield, however, deflected whatever fire came my way. The difference was I would eventually be a step too slow and get burned. And that was an experience I wasn't looking forward to repeating.
I charged the fire elemental, feinting with a haymaker. He flinched away but only partially, coming at me with a spray of fire. I gritted my teeth, ducked my head, and barreled right through the being. So fast the intense heat did little more than singe my clothes. On the other side, I threw off my burning cloak and rolled onto the covered patio.
Tyson had meanwhile retreated the opposite way, to the street. His opponent barraged him with searing missiles that had little effect. Tyson grunted and lifted the dead mass of the security guard and heaved it at the pursuing elemental. A shockwave of magic—superheated earth—roiled through Tyson's arms as he threw. The dead clay of the earth elemental broke apart into dust and showered the burning attacker, smothering him with dirt. Tyson belched a layer of lava and buried the fire man, extinguishing him in an instant.