An Echo of Things to Come

by James Islington

“Which way?” Fessi asked.

  Davian closed his eyes. The Essence light vanished as he reached out with kan; the power was too difficult to handle here to do both at once. After a few moments he was able to make out Ishelle’s Essence signature, pulsing faintly off to their left.

  “Down here,” he said grimly, gesturing to the entrance that led toward their friend.

  They pressed on, barely breathing as they crept forward, only too aware that the dar’gaithin would be somewhere nearby, too. But there was no movement, nothing to give them cause for alarm. The bowels of Talan Gol were damp, hot, and silent.

  After a few more minutes of walking, Davian finally let out a long breath as he spotted light up ahead.

  He extinguished his ball of Essence and nodded toward the opening in the tunnel. The light was bright, even from this distance. “Another way outside?”

  Fessi frowned, squinting and shaking her head. “We’re too far underground,” she said quietly. “That has to be Essence.”

  They crept forward until they reached the entrance, then both stopped in stunned silence.

  In front of them was another huge cavern, completely bathed in a hot, hazy yellow glow.

  And it was draped in lush green life.

  Fessi let go of Davian’s shoulder for a moment, and time crashed back into him as he stared. What appeared to be a permanent haze of rising steam hung over the thick, vibrant jungle that stretched away below them. Bright flowers poked out from among the willowy, waist-high grass and lofty trees, though these trees were unlike any Davian had ever seen. Broad leaves that looked to be at least a foot long glistened as they beaded with sweat. Thin, patterned trunks supported foliage that seemed too heavy for its wiry branches. Everything rustled and moved, though there was no breeze to speak of.

  Davian quickly siphoned some of the life from the nearby foliage, replenishing his artificial Reserve. Beside him, Fessi caught her breath, then rested her hand on his shoulder again. Everything slowed.

  Davian wiped a bead of sweat from his brow, noting that the damp heat in here was even more stifling than in the tunnels. He shook his head dazedly. This was in complete contrast to everything that he’d seen outside, everything he’d seen since entering Talan Gol.

  “She’s really somewhere in here?” murmured Fessi, dismayed.

  Davian nodded, seeing immediately why she was concerned. The undergrowth was impossibly thick below, the only visible path through it looking narrow and winding. They wouldn’t be able to see more than a few paces ahead once they climbed down amid the trees. Using kan would help, but it seemed that dar’gaithin couldn’t be sensed that way. If there was trouble waiting for them, they may not know until it was far too late.

  “How much longer can you keep us outside of time?” he asked quietly.

  Fessi hesitated. “A few more minutes. Maybe.”

  Davian grimaced, but nodded. “Let me know if you need to rest.”

  They clambered down the short incline and into the jungle. Davian did his best to use kan to scout ahead, but it was all that he could do to keep a fix on Ishelle’s position. They crept forward, doing their best to disturb as little of the foliage as possible as they moved.

  After a while, Fessi cocked her head to the side.

  “Do you hear that?”

  Davian paused and then nodded, frowning. It was an odd buzzing noise, low and constant, nearly unnoticeable.

  The two Augurs pressed on, the strange noise growing louder and louder as they drew closer to Ishelle’s position.

  “She’s just up ahead,” said Davian eventually, whispering despite there not being any evidence of anyone else around.

  Suddenly the trees gave way to open space, and both Davian and Fessi stopped dead at the edge of an enormous clearing.

  Though the sight had been hidden by the close-set trees, the air here was dark with flying bodies. Gray-yellow wings blurred as eletai hovered and darted everywhere in jerky, violently agitated movements. Davian flinched as a fight suddenly erupted in the air not far from them, eletai claws scratching and blades ejecting from bodies until one fell in a spray of viscera, quickly hidden by the long grass.

  On the ground, moving with calm purpose, were several dar’gaithin. Davian shivered as he watched one slither to the spot in which the eletai’s body had fallen, retrieving it and carrying it carefully over to a stone table a little distance away. Several more eletai were on other tables. Some were motionless, while others writhed weakly.

  “There,” said Davian suddenly, pointing.

  Ishelle was crouched not too far away at the edge of one of the stone tables, out in the open, somehow thus far undetected by both the eletai and the dar’gaithin. She was gazing in silence at the scene, her eyes wide with horror.

  Fessi and Davian moved around the edge of the clearing and then dashed toward her; despite everything outside of their bubble moving in slow motion, Davian couldn’t help but flinch every time one of the eletai buzzed close, their protruding black blades flicking dark bile into the grass whenever they abruptly changed direction.

  Fessi and Davian reached Ishelle, and Fessi placed her free hand on the Augur’s arm. In a moment, Ishelle was moving at the same speed as them.

  “Ishelle.” Davian kept his voice low; even in the bubble, he had no idea how sharp these creatures’ hearing was. “What in fates—”

  “Wait. Just wait.” Ishelle turned to Davian, but her gaze was distant. “Can’t you hear them?”

  Davian and Fessi exchanged a concerned glance. “Ishelle,” said Fessi softly. “It’s incredibly dangerous here. We need to get away.”

  Ishelle didn’t respond.

  Davian grimaced and then cautiously, tentatively reached out to her mind with kan. Under normal circumstances he would never think of doing so without her permission—but there was clearly something wrong, and they didn’t have time to follow proprieties.

  He almost flinched back from the contact straight away. Ishelle’s mind was … scattered. Disordered, more chaotic than any other mind he’d ever touched before. It was as if she was connected to a thousand different voices, all communicating with her.

  He took a deep breath. Concentrated.

  How do we get across? It was Ishelle’s voice, frustrated, yelling into the noise.

  There were a hundred different answers at once.

  You cannot.

  The ilshara cannot be passed.

  To try is death.

  But as many whispered back a different response.

  There are doors. Secrets and doors and tunnels and gates.

  We can show you. We can take you.

  Wait. Wait and it will be gone forever. Wait.

  Telesthaesia. While it is this weak, Telesthaesia will work.

  Then suddenly the sense that a thousand pairs of eyes were on him, and all spoke in unison.

  One intrudes.

  He gasped and broke the connection as Ishelle blinked, shaking her head as if coming out of a daze. She went pale as she looked around, then back at Davian and Fessi.

  “How did we get here?” There was an edge of panic to her tone. “Davian, I don’t remember coming here.”

  “Stay calm.” Davian didn’t know how reassuring his tone was, given how nervous he was himself at that moment, but couldn’t think of what else to say. He and Fessi both took an arm and began pulling Ishelle back into the forest. “Let’s just get out of here, and we’ll worry about … whatever this is later.”

  There was movement above them but Davian didn’t pay it any attention; with the swarm of eletai everywhere, one was bound to eventually fly overhead.

  Ishelle pushed him aside too late.

  A gleaming, wetly black blade came slicing down, scoring along his shoulder and down his arm in a blazing, fiery trail of agony. Another blade caught Fessi across the back; she screamed as the time bubble collapsed and everything snapped into regular motion again. Davian stumbled to the side and against one of the viscera-covered stone tables, his ha
nds suddenly covered in the gooey yellow liquid.

  Immediately the thrum of eletai overhead increased a thousandfold, drumming violently into his head. He felt dizzy, and not just from the pain.

  He forced himself to focus, snatching some Essence from the foliage nearby and using it to heal the wound before it could bleed too much. He did the same for Fessi, then helped her to her feet.

  “Get us outside of time again,” he said to her urgently.

  Fessi closed her eyes, then went pale and shook her head in a panicked motion. Davian’s heart dropped. Whether it was from fear or from some other problem, Fessi wasn’t able to use her ability.

  The buzzing sound suddenly intensified, and Davian looked up to see hundreds of eletai had ceased their irritated, jerky movements and were now drifting.

  Coming toward them.

  “You are not here.”

  The words came from behind Davian; he turned to see the eletai on the table—its organs still visible—had somehow woken and was staring right at him. There was horror in its eyes as well as its tone. “You are not here.”

  “You are not here.” The words came from another eletai high above.

  “You are not here. You are not here. You are not here.” The air was suddenly filled with the whisper, over and over and over again, stunned and fearful and angry. The eletai in the air burst into motion, flying upward in a cloud, away from Davian and the others. They hit the roof; Davian thought that he could see them clawing at it, as if desperate to escape.

  Davian and Fessi didn’t watch for long; the unsettling commotion had attracted the attention of several dar’gaithin, which were slithering their way rapidly toward them. Fessi grabbed one of Ishelle’s hands and Davian took the other, together forcing her to move, retreating into the jungle once again as the strange refrain chased after them.

  “You are not here,” whispered Ishelle as they ran.

  Davian restrained a shiver as he looked across at his friend. Ishelle’s expression had been vacant again but she suddenly snapped back to alertness, looking a combination of terrified and determined, shaking off his hand and pouring speed into her step.

  They reached the exit to the cavern unhindered; a quick glance behind them showed that even if the dar’gaithin had spotted them—and Davian wasn’t sure how they could not have—then they weren’t pursuing. The Augurs slowed as the twists and turns of the narrow tunnel meant possibly running into other oncoming enemies, and Davian eventually brought the other two to a halt, pulling them to an out-of-the-way corner and with some difficulty managing to form an invisibility mesh around them.

  Fessi realized what he was doing and gave him a tired nod.

  “What in fates is going on?” she whispered, the question directed as much at Davian as it was at Ishelle.

  Davian just shook his head in bafflement, but Ishelle looked at the ground.

  “I … I can feel them,” she said softly. “The eletai. I can sense them. There’s … something seriously wrong with me.”

  The other two were silent as they stared at her, trying to comprehend what that meant.

  Eventually, Davian shook his head.

  “We need to get you away from here. Far away from here,” he said grimly.

  “I agree, but … I don’t see to where unless we can figure out a way back across the Boundary,” said Fessi.

  Ishelle shifted uncomfortably.

  “There is a way.” She hesitated. “The eletai told me.”

  Fessi gave her a skeptical look, but Davian nodded to her in confirmation.

  “I heard it, too,” he said quietly. “I don’t know whether it can be trusted, and not all of them seemed to agree, but … she’s right.”

  “Telesthaesia.” Ishelle said the word quietly. “That was the way that they seemed most certain would work. That’s how we can get back.”

  Davian and Ishelle exchanged glances. “What does that mean?”

  “It’s armor.” Ishelle sighed. “Telesthaesia is what they call the Blind’s armor.”

  It took them twenty minutes to creep their way back to the room near where they’d first entered the underground warren.

  The armor, much to Davian’s relief, was still there—though a laborious search of the room showed that it was the only set. Twice during their rummaging they’d had to conceal themselves as dar’gaithin slithered by, but none appeared to register that anything was amiss, and none entered.

  After a while, Davian sighed and looked at the others ruefully.

  “It looks like there’s just the one.” He rubbed his face tiredly. “One of us will have to wear it. Get across and see if the door’s still there.” He didn’t really believe that it was, but it was important to stay positive.

  “And if it’s not?” asked Fessi quietly.

  “Then we find some more of the Blind. We take their armor.” Davian did his best to sound confident. “For now, one of us should wear it. It’s easier than carrying it, and it’s not particularly heavy.”

  “I’ll wear it.” Ishelle shrugged awkwardly. “We know it blocks kan, so maybe …”

  Davian and Fessi both nodded, immediately understanding. If the armor blocked kan, it might just stop the eletai from communicating with her, too.

  It didn’t take long to equip the armor to Ishelle; it was quite light, and remarkably flexible despite the hardness of the scales. Davian shivered as Ishelle put the last piece on. If she added the sight-blocking helmet, she would be indistinguishable from the countless attackers that he’d fought atop the Shields at Fedris Idri.

  “Are you going to be able to move?”

  Ishelle tested her limbs gingerly, then nodded. “It might get a little warm once we’re outside, but I’ll manage.”

  They made their way once again along the passageway, Ishelle surprisingly quiet despite the armor. As they approached the dark upper cavern, though, a chill went through Davian.

  There was an angry buzzing coming from up ahead.

  He paled as they reached the entrance. Dark shadows flew everywhere in the dim light; what he’d initially mistaken for stalactites were gone, the eletai that had evidently been asleep now awake and just as active—as agitated—as those below.

  “You are not here,” came a faint cry from above, repeated mournfully by others.

  He glanced at the others.

  “Fessi, are you able to …”

  Fessi hesitated. “I … think so. Not for long, but I think so,” she said weakly, her injury from the eletai attack evidently still affecting her.

  She grabbed both his and Ishelle’s arms; suddenly the whining hum faded and the jerky motions of the shadows overhead slowed.

  “Let’s go,” she said with a tired nod.

  Their journey through the cavern was a tense one; Davian flinched and ducked several times as creatures buzzed close, but none actually seemed to notice their passing. Ishelle, thankfully, remained lucid throughout.

  They finally reached the far end of the cavern and broke into a slow jog, heading for the blindingly bright light of day up ahead.

  When they reached the entrance, though, Davian’s overwhelming sense of relief was short-lived.

  “Fates,” muttered Fessi in horror.

  A short distance away, along the great flat valley, an army marched toward the Boundary.

  Davian swallowed as he took in the sheer scale of the force from their slightly elevated position. There were thousands of them. Eletai darkened the sky to the west, but down on the ground were even more monsters—dar’gaithin and something else, distant, crawling on all fours in a scuttling, insectlike motion.

  And among them strode people, soldiers wearing the Blind’s armor. Telesthaesia.

  Davian watched the soldiers for a long few moments, a sudden, faint flicker of hope breaking through the dismay. As bad as this situation was, at least they knew where they could find other sets of armor now. Other chances to get back.

  “We need to warn everyone.” Davian turned to see Fessi
staring out over the mass. “This army won’t reach the Boundary for another few hours; we can get there in two if I can get enough rest.” She glanced at Ishelle. “One of us needs to get back across. To tell Asha that she needs to seal it now.”

  Ishelle shook her head. “We need two more sets of armor first.”

  Davian’s stomach churned as he thought it through.

  “Fessi’s right. We can’t risk getting caught just to save ourselves—not when one of us can already make it back. The two of us who stay will just have to figure out something else,” he said quietly. “If that army gets through, it won’t much matter which side of the Boundary we’re on.”

  There was silence as the two young women processed that thought.

  Eventually, Ishelle nodded.

  “Then let’s get moving,” she said heavily.

  Chapter 48

  Asha shivered as a frigid breeze gusted along the small plateau, transfixed by yet another fluctuation of the Boundary across the water far below.

  Flashes of bright green and yellow burst deep underwater, small explosions that she knew were probably more of the tek’ryl that Scyner had told her about trying to get through. A heart-stopping moment of translucence allowed her to see beyond the shimmering curtain of energy, into Talan Gol itself, though it quickly faded to cold blue and white again. Not that there was much to see. A coastline comprised mostly of cliffs. Barren land. What looked like the ruins of a single structure, perhaps a lighthouse, though it was distant enough that she could barely make it out.

  She shifted, trying to make herself more comfortable. She was perched on the top stair of the pavilion’s opening, her back to the darkly glinting mass of steel that lay waiting in the shadows. Scyner had already shown her how to activate it, and she’d otherwise forced herself to examine it closely, to do her best to understand its function and prepare herself for what was to come.

  It hadn’t helped. The sight of it still only brought home just how little time she had left.

  “We cannot afford this delay.”

  Asha glanced to her right, over at Scyner, who was pacing back and forth even as he warily watched the display below.