by D. H. Dunn
It worked like no portal she had ever encountered, and seemed to have a mass of essences intertwined all at once. It felt both warm and cold to her, sending chills up her spine as sweat formed on her brow. She could sense a presence inside the darker swirling mists behind the blues that led home. It was powerful and seductive; it wanted to bleed over into this world, into all worlds.
“Things are not going well back there,” Kater muttered, doing exactly what she did not need him to be doing.
“Focus, Kater!” She had him in contact with the larger portal, using two red crystals to apply the opposite resonance of the Aroha Darad portal, forcing their energies apart.
Thus far it was working, but only barely. Kater fumbled where finesse was needed, he was at the limit of his experience, yet Upala could not manage both.
There was a shower of sparks and colored lightning as the two portals briefly made touched one another. Straining, Upala was able to push a hairsbreadth of shield energy between the two, ceasing the contact.
“We have a problem,” Kater said, staring above them. Upala stole a glance upward.
Carved into the ceiling was a square-shaped opening the same size as a cube. The slightest hint of green light began to color the darkened orifice as she turned away.
“Oh, shit,” she said, appreciating the usefulness of Drew’s word. Things were about to get worse.
Drew pulled Merin down the right intersection from the center of the cross, the clomping sound of the cube gaining behind them. He had only a second to look at the object. About half the size of the original cube, it came up to about his chest. If it was willing to stand still, he might be able to jump over it if he had a running start. It was unlikely the cube would give them those opportunities.
Ahead of them was an open doorway leading somewhere, the room too dark for Drew to make out more than the slightest shadow. At this speed they would be through the doorway in a few seconds, Drew hoping that there was nothing worse on the other side.
“Why this way?” Merin yelled. “Why not back into the machine?”
“More of them back there!”
On either side of them the stone passage gave way to a yawning drop into the darkness. Drew wondered why Orami or Feram never put railings around any of these drops.
Coming too close to the edge, his foot dangled over the nothingness for a second. Merin pulled him straight, nearly pushing him down in her effort to keep him from falling.
The dark entryway loomed, the light from Lhamu’s crystal starting to provide a little more detail. Drew could see something low at the bottom of the doorway, some object at ground level. The pounding of the cube’s surface hitting the stone behind them was like a persistent drum on their heels.
What is that in the other room? He squinted as he ran. Can we jump it?
As they got nearer, the object grew, it was taller than Drew thought at first. It blocked the passage to at least waist level. Drew felt his heart lurch into his throat as he recognized it, his feet carrying him forward.
“A wall!”
Nima ran toward the pipes, her eyes already looking to select the best one to grab first. She could hear the cube’s sides pounding on the stone floor behind her, it had gotten quieter for a second but now it was as loud as before. She could hear the others yelling and saw a flash of blue light out of the corner of her eye to her left. Hopefully that was Upala getting the portal working.
Just a few more steps and she would be at the wall. She began to time her jump, remembering the days when she and Pasang used to race to the old juniper trees at the edge of their farm. He’d usually get to his tree first, but Nima would beat him to the top. It was all about knowing which branches to pick.
She leaped, her eyes fixed on a brass pipe long enough for both of her hands, about half a meter higher. She caught it, yet her fingers nearly slipped away. She had not expected the pipe to be moist, the air in the temple was so dry. She held on, pulling herself up and bending her knees to keep her body as far from the ground as possible.
It was only an arm’s length to a higher pipe from there, a quick stretch and swing and she was three pipes up, about two meters off the ground. She pulled herself into a sitting position, looking down.
Stuck on the ground with no hands to climb with, the cube had come to a stop directly beneath her and just quivered. Nima frowned. The cube looked smaller than before. The quivering continued, the cube now violently shaking. Nima’s anxiety increased as she wondered if it was about to explode.
All at once the shaking stopped, the green object as motionless as when she first saw it.
Nima gasped as the cube became narrower, the sides contracting. At first she had thought it might be shrinking, yet it became clear that was not the case.
It stretched, becoming thinner as it grew taller.
Nima frantically looked for higher pipes she might swing to. None looking reachable as the thinning, green device grew closer, the acid-covered surface reaching for her skin.
The green glow above Upala was getting brighter, he emerald cube in the ceiling would be on them in moments. Sweat poured into her eyes as goose bumps and shivers ran through her flesh. The two competing portals each pushed their energies into her as she tried to manage them.
Kater had done enough, after a fashion he had settled into his own rhythm and had stabilized the larger, darker portal to the point where Upala was able to keep the two separated. The portal back to Aroha Darad was open and ready, they now just needed the others back so they could pass through.
The green glow above her became far more intense, and then she was cast in a deep red light. The larger portal spun, newly out of control as Kater dropped one of the crystals he’d had in contact with it so he could shield them.
She glanced up, seeing the green square rendered darker against the dancing crimson energy of Kater’s shield. The cube’s surface bristled with miniature versions of itself, each small square pounding against the shield, making dozens of different impact points for Kater to struggle against.
Upala could hear him grunting in effort as, with one hand, he kept the green cube at bay, and struggled to control the dark portal with his other. All of Upala’s energies were focused on maintaining the Aroha Darad’s blue portal’s isolation from the other and keeping it open.
She cast a hopeful look out at the stone intersection, hoping to see the others running toward them. There was no sign at the crossroad of paths of Drew, Merin, or Nima, and no time to look for them in the shadows.
A fresh wave of exhaustion ran through her. Like Kater, she was running out of strength and they were running out of time.
With Merin at his side, Drew stared at the green shape as it toppled toward them, end over end. Faintly, far across the room, he could see the tiny form of Nima hanging from the pipes on her wall.
His mind worked frantically, trying to think of an option. There was a narrow space on the stone walkway on either side of the cube, but not enough to stand on. One slip and they would fall to their deaths.
The cube was too high to jump. If he knew how to create the shields Upala could, he might be able to move it, but he had no idea if he could, let alone how.
One option remained. He bent his knees, pressing his boots into the stone. If Kater had moved it, maybe he could too.
Just pretend it’s a tackle dummy. That’s made of acid.
With a yell he ran forward, turning his head away and leaning his shoulder in. He prayed he had picked an angle that might knock the cube right off the stone platform, and took one last breath before impact.
He slammed into the side of the cube, arresting its movement with the force of his blow. The acid began burning into his arm and shoulder instantly. He screamed from the pain, his mind overwhelmed by the agony, but the cube was moving.
Yet they were slowing. He could see the edge through his blurred vision, the green shape was about a quarter off the side. Just a little more would do it. He strained everything he had against
the pain, but the cube would move no further.
Then a new shout joined his own, a female scream in his ear. Merin appeared alongside him for just a moment, her sturdy form hammering into the cube. Drew felt the object moving and leaned in even harder, the acid eating into his side.
After another heartbeat, the cube toppled over the side of the stone passage and tumbled into the dark depths below.
Through pain and blurred vision, he looked around for Merin. He was on one knee, his right hand on the stone. His left arm was bunched against his chest, his whole left side was on fire. He could feel his pulse pounding in his veins.
“Drew!” she yelled, but it was hard to hear her over the rush of energy running through him, his new healing trying to put him back together. Her right arm came under his, helping him up.
“Lhamu?” his voice sounded like a wheeze.
She said nothing, or if she answered, he did not hear her. Yet over her shoulder he could see the child’s tiny head still looking back and forth, the glowing crystal casting moving shadows as she did so.
Merin offered her shoulder, Drew throwing his arm around it and allowing her to lead him back through the intersection.
He could see the swirling blue of the portal through his blurred vision. A small relief built inside him even as more waves of exhaustion crashed upon the shores of his injury.
He prayed Nima had made it, his last thought as his mind shut down.
Nima hung from the copper tube, feeling the metal continuing to bend as it struggled to support her weight. There was a second pipe just out of her left foot’s reach. If she could brace herself on that, she might reduce the strain on the metal tube she held on to.
There were no more pipes in reach, nowhere left to go. She was at least three meters above the stone floor. The green cube had stretched and thinned itself into a pole and still it bent toward her, wobbling back and forth as it tried to reach its prey.
No matter how far up she moved, it continued to twist toward her. She felt like she was right back in the trees of the forest again, an angry grun waiting for her, but there was no Tanira here to save her.
She stretched with her left leg, but there was no reaching the other pipe without letting go of the one she was on. The green pole continued to twist toward Nima, it would reach her in moments.
The pipe in her hands twisted again, it would break at any moment.
She would have to jump, have to hope that when she let go of the pipe, she might be able to grab the one by her left foot and slow her fall.
Protect me Chomolungma, Nima prayed. She waited until the line of green wobbled away from her and released her grip.
She fell, heart pounding. Reaching out with her right hand, she managed to catch the second pipe, slowing her fall but wrenching her arm in the process.
She cried out, landing roughly on her side on the stone.
Nima scrambled to her feet, the green pole whipping into the stone behind her just as she did so. It brushed against her leg, searing through her pants and eating into her flesh.
Yelling, she charged toward the intersection and pushed herself to move even faster. She could only hope it would take the cube enough time to put itself back together.
She took the corner of the intersection as fast as she could. She could hear voices calling for her. Looking up at the end of the platform Nima could see the mists of the blue portal twisting and arcing.
Relief washed over her as she saw Drew along with Merin bearing Lhamu, the three of them entering the portal and vanishing. Upala and Kater were waving for her to hurry, shouting over the noise of the magical vortex.
Nima scrambled onto the platform, Upala’s arms pushing her forward. Her face touched the cool, blue mists and she was transported away.
Upala watched as Nima ran through the portal, vanishing in a burst of azure energy. She was injured, as Drew and Merin had been, but they had all made it.
A quick glance back at the intersection behind them showed the split green cube reforming itself, even as a second cube pounded above them against Kater’s shield.
Behind them, the large, dark portal continued pushing against her. She could feel its hunger to be opened, to allow free whatever might be pushing on the other side.
“Kater!” she yelled. Just the effort of speaking exhausted her. “We have to go! Get in there!”
She could see his teeth gritted, he always did that when he was most frustrated. Crimson energy poured from his hands, reinforcing his shield.
“When you nod you’re ready,” he shouted back to her. “I will drop the shield and we go. You have to move right away!”
She glanced up at the second cube pounding against his energy and out in the chamber where the reformed green cube now toppled toward them. She took a deep breath and nodded.
“Now!” she yelled, turning to twist toward the portal opening. The red light above them winked out as Kater turned as well, a sinister green object now hanging overhead. The dark portal roared into life as she released her control of it, streaming to infect the crisp-blue swirling in front of her eyes.
She jumped into the portal right after her brother, the edges of her vision turning green and blue, hoping she had held their path home open long enough.
The energy of the translation took her away, her body and essence twisting and turning, stretched between worlds as her very being was torn and reformed.
There was an audible rush as she landed on the other side of the translation, her body dropping down onto the cold, brown dirt, landing flat on her stomach.
Pulling stale air into her empty lungs, Upala placed one hand on the ground and then the other. Flexing muscles that ached for rest, she pushed her head up to see where she had arrived.
In the low light, she could make out the others. She counted five slumped bodies on the dirt with her, some moaning.
It was dark, but not so dark she could not recognize where she was. The damp air, the dripping water and the cold. . . They were back in the cave of the Yeti.
As dozens of the creatures walked out of the shadows, closing in with anger on their faces, Upala found she did not lack the energy to be afraid.
8
Tanira gripped the lavender fur of the Dragon, her legs clamped around the creature’s long, thin neck. Even with the layers of cloaks and furs Reylor had brought, the wind cut through them, the cold cutting like knives against her skin. Still, she smiled even as she worried the tears in her eyes might freeze. With Reylor behind her and the Thread under, she smiled a smile only she could see. With clouds above and below her, the view was simply too beautiful.
To be in the sky, to be like the bird she once called friend, it was a secret wish fulfilled. A desire not borne of the Line, or her father, but a dream that was all her own. A Tanira dream.
The mountains of her world sped by below as the beast’s great wings beat through the air. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that Reylor still had his head down and eyes shut. Tanira wondered if he had even been told of this part of his mission. They had left Ish Selot only moments before, the Thread confirming it could bring them to the Vault of the Voice before nightfall.
Just one day earlier she had been on another world, in another place. Her thoughts drifted back to the temple, to the great machine she had seen, but she knew she was not opening the door to that memory. There was another’s touch in her thoughts, guiding her gently to secrets it wanted to unlock.
She slammed the door shut in her mind, laughing softly.
“You persist in looking for things inside my head, creature. I have been trained to keep locks in my mind since before I could walk.”
“The attempt must be made,” the Thread said. “I shall continue to make them.”
She had studied the Dragons for years, it had been a major focus of her teens. Her father had grilled her endlessly on each Dragon’s disciplines, their weaknesses and favored tactics. Everything the Line had been able to glean from the ancient Manad Vhan texts they u
ncovered for Kater and Upala.
The Thread’s mental skills were its primary ability, its ability to link the other Dragons together allowed them to work with military precision.
“You have been trained,” the Thread continued, his tone pleasing. “Yet your companion has not. Such secrets he has, should I reveal them to you? Perhaps we could trade?”
Tanira turned to look at Reylor, knowing the answers to how she was to use the Helm were locked away in his head. She could not tell if Reylor even heard the Thread, his head still down and his hands clutching the Dragon’s mane so tightly they shook.
“If I tell you what I know,” Tanira said, “I have no leverage against you, Thread. Reylor will give me his secrets when I need them, that is the will of the Line.”
“You need no leverage to convince me to war against the Manad Vhan, little Rakhum. I would be flying to the City of Sands now, were it not for your request to reach Ish Kalum.”
“You are mighty, but I doubt you would face a nation of Manad Vhan on your own.” They passed through a cloud, the white vapors rushing past and blotting out the world. For a moment, a heartbeat, there was no Line. There were no Vaults or Manad Vhan, no secret plans or ancient angers. Just the sky and the wind and Tanira.
Too soon, they emerged again from the clouds, the snowcapped peaks and meandering glaciers below returning.
“Perhaps,” the Thread said after a time. “Yet the choice confuses. Why the Voice? There are more powerful Dragons closer, even if you did not wish to risk Terminus on Ish Rav Partha, there is the Weight on Ish Hochyu.”
Another attempt at opening a door. The Thread was clever. The Weight’s time would come, but she did not need to let the Dragon know of that.