"Was that something you wanted?"
She lifted one shoulder. "Sometimes. Now I don't. But there were days. Moments. They always looked so happy. If I had to write one, I'm not even sure what I would say. Especially now."
"It might include an explanation of what's going on with your foot. And since we are on that topic, let me see it."
Startlingly smooth. Was there any point in fighting him on this?
Probably not.
Sighing, she reached down to undo her laces, then stopped. Two twisted veins protruded beyond the top of her boot. A sick feeling spread through her stomach, clenching and twisting as she slid the boot off. The growth was unmistakable now. Veins twisted along her ankle and calf. The deep bruising along her heel extended now to the arch and ball, and the veins themselves twisted halfway up her calf.
AaQar's gaze remained fastened on her foot. He bit his tongue. "Ah."
"Well… I guess we don't need pictures to tell it has gotten worse." She released a long slow breath. "Is there suphrite nearby?"
"Not for a long ways." AaQar sighed. He lifted her ankle and examined her foot. "I can make a sedative that will put you to sleep. You shouldn't feel anything. So far as the healing goes, Naatos can handle that."
"What am I doing?" Naatos strode into the circle of light the fire cast.
Amelia turned sharply. She hadn't even felt his approach. Then again, it made sense that her perceptions would be off if she wasn't focusing well. She'd had three whole lifetimes worth of memories poured into her. Why would her mind be working at its peak? She tucked her foot beneath her other leg.
AaQar shook his head, giving her a look that asked why she bothered. "Whatever is wrong with her foot is spreading. I think it may be connected to the unformed ones. And if it is, it is expanding each time she is in contact with them. Based on how it is spreading and how fast they are coming, if we can prevent further spread, we should."
"Let me see." He was already crossing over to her.
"It's not as bad as it—"
He'd already taken hold of her foot and pulled it out. With a yelp, she caught her balance on the log. "Hey, hey, don't get grabby."
His eyes widened as he looked at it, his brow lifting. "That is not ideal. But it's manageable." He spoke in a far smoother and more confident tone. As if this was somehow ordinary.
Managing a crooked smile, she tugged her foot free. "Mindreading aside, your eyebrows spoiled your bluff. I know you're worried. If it's any consolation, it doesn't hurt that much."
"I am glad you are not in pain. I am not glad that this has spread so much in so short a time."
"At least we know I'm not allergic to sex."
He scowled. "Was that a concern?"
She shrugged. "You've got to admit that would be hilarious."
"No. That's not funny."
"My sense of humor is so unappreciated."
"Probably because it isn't one of your strengths."
"Salty."
"What does—" He shook his head. "We're going to have to cut your foot off."
"Well don't tell me gently."
He rubbed his face. "You enjoy tormenting me, don't you?"
"It's one of the perks of knowing you."
Sighing, he studied her. "Is this your way of trying to hide the fact that you're scared?"
"Oh, I'm more or less terrified. I don't remember anything since those three touched me the afternoon this afternoon but apparently the span of this infection or whatever it is has decided to double."
"What do you mean you don't remember?"
"It's all blank. And AaQar tells me I was conscious the whole time."
"Yes." Naatos blinked, then shook his head. "Time is wasting. Let's start with what we can fix. Your foot is coming off. Actually it should come off from the knee."
"I really wish you were joking." She sighed as she pressed her hand to the back of her neck. "All right. So what do you do to prep for Vawtrian surgery?"
"Lay down."
"I need to finish preparing the sedative," AaQar said. "So if you two could avoid getting too far ahead of me, I would appreciate that." He had set a few items out from the packs. "What did you find when scouting?"
Amelia slipped away and changed into her training gear while Naatos answered. The trousers and short-sleeved tunic reminded her a little bit of scrubs now that she thought about it. Not that Jacinda ever allowed grey scrubs at the vet's office. It was all magenta and cyan and purple when she had the order forms. What would she say to this?
As she stepped out from behind the tree, Naatos looked her over. "Why did you change?"
"AaQar said that he needs to check my back as well. These pants are fairly loose, so we can roll it up to the mid-thigh. You can—why are you looking at me like that?"
He set his arms akimbo, failing to hide his smile. "I never expected modesty to be such a deep concern for you. Do you ever intend to let me see you naked?"
"It's not about you or me. If we're attacked again in the night, I don't plan to be naked and helpless." She picked up her boots, folded the socks, tucked them inside, and then knotted the laces. "I'm going to be holding onto these as well. And my gun. And my daggers. And my satchel."
"Well I'm glad your trust issues have improved," he said dryly.
"Out here, how could they not?"
"Here." AaQar handed her the mortar with a grey-green liquid in it. "Drink this."
She accepted it. "Sip or all at once?"
AaQar shrugged. "Doesn't matter."
She took it in two full gulps, then grimaced. "Tastes like swamp water and mold."
"Not too far off." AaQar retrieved the mortar. "Come lay down by the fire. This shouldn't take long."
"How long will this take?"
"When you wake up—"
His voice disappeared down a long tunnel as the darkness spiraled around her once again.
Well, that was fast.
A hall of doors appeared before her. What were these doing here? Hadn't she dealt with these? No, no, of course she hadn't! She stepped back as her own memories flooded back. No! Oh no, no!
Movement stirred behind her.
Her shoulders tightened as dread rippled down her spine.
It was behind her.
It had been waiting.
Working her fingers against her palms, she tightened her hands into fists, then turned.
There at the end of the hall loomed the Ki Valo Nakar, larger than ever, white moon eyes glowing, antlers rising so high into the darkness that they vanished. Anger rippled from it like toxic waves.
Her mouth went dry.
"Little fool," it growled. "How long do you think you can continue this fight?"
She stepped back. "I am not going to Dry Deep. I am not giving in to you. So go away."
It glided toward her through the darkness, the air shimmering around it. "Who are you to defy me?"
"I'm Amelia, and it's my head you're in. So… be polite." She continued to move away down the long dark hall. This had happened so many times. It was going to pounce on her and start screaming sooner or later. And once that happened, she'd have to listen to it demand and bellow and rage.
"We are running out of time," it seethed. "Where are you going? Get back here!"
"Get out of my head!" she screamed. "I don't want you, I don't accept you, and I don't care what you want. Now go! Elonumato help me, you get out of here now!"
It roared. Its voice clawed through her mind as it charged, shaking her to her core.
She lunged backward; the hall tipped. Sliding, she seized onto one of the doorways and dragged herself through into the darkness.
The wall gave way.
Panic surged inside her, choking her as she fell and fell and fell, the Ki Valo Nakar's raging bellows turning into a distant trail of sound.
She flailed as she fell, searching for something, anything in the darkness.
Bright light flared beneath her. She collapsed on a hard surface, jarred to her
soul.
Someone gasped behind her. "Amelia?!"
Her eyes widened as she staggered to her feet. "Matthu!"
69
Strange Paths in Dark Halls
Amelia stared at Matthu in shock. He watched her with equal surprise, eyes wide, mouth open. He hadn't changed hardly at all, though he now wore a loose-fitting sky-blue tunic and comfortable navy trousers rather than his military uniform. His chestnut hair was a bit shorter than before but wilder now. Strength and vitality shone in his face, no trace of weakness or damage remaining.
They stood in a simple room with two bunk beds, one on either side. A large silver cupboard stood in the far corner, a handle-less dresser beside it with a mirror fastened above. Clothes lay in a small pile by the foot of the bed, and a broad but short tinted window was situated on the wall between the beds. A couple thin towels hung on the ends of the beds as well as on some hooks on the wall. A few black and brown boots had been jammed beneath the beds along with metal boxes and a couple stray socks.
"You're all right," she said slowly. The relief warred with her consciousness. How was this possible? Was it really Matthu or just a dream? "I was so afraid for you!"
"Where have you been?" He stepped closer, looking her up and down, every bit as confused as her. "What are you even? I can sort of see through you. We've been looking everywhere for you! Or—I mean—" His face twisted. "I've been looking for you. Kepsalon said you'd be joining us soon. He also said that you're doing good."
Whether a dream or not, she had to treat this as if it were real. She glanced back over her shoulder, half expecting the Ki Valo Nakar to follow her. "I'm on Ecekom. Somewhere a couple days from a place called Dry Deep. Where are you?"
"Darmusky."
"Darmusky. Not Darmoste?"
He hesitated, his brow furrowing as he dragged his hand through his hair. "Yeah, someone said it used to be called that. You wouldn't believe what's happened."
"Tell me quickly. And you're sure you're on Ecekom?"
"Definitely on Ecekom. This place is nothing like what the stories said and nothing like what I thought. It's—it's—I mean look!" He flung open the window and stepped back as he gave an almost wild gesture. "The sky is purple."
She raised an eyebrow. Yes, that was definitely a purple sky. An ugly city sprawled out beyond the window, dusty and ashy. A deep heat pushed in along with the sounds of mechanical whirrings, engines revving, people shouting, and bells ringing. "What year is it here, Matthu?"
"Um, 1678 since the Chasm."
"What's the Chasm?"
He shrugged dramatically and let his arms fall to his sides. "I don't know. That's just what they say for the year. That or the Chasm 1678. These people do a lot of weird things though. There are people who make things move with their minds, and they stab you to make sure you're not a Vawtrian. But really the Vawtrians here are nothing like Naatos and his cadre. They're not that different from us. Phobos only has two shapes he can use, and he's considered one of the best. Ren can't shift at all. And Cerena, she can only turn into a rabbit, which really is horrible because it only happens when she's scared or nervous. This place isn't a good place for rabbits."
"No." She tried to take in as much as she could, committing as much of the scene to memory as possible. "No, I don't imagine anywhere on Ecekom is good for rabbits." An idea sprang into her mind. "The Grey Season! Do you know when it is? Do you even know what that is?"
He nodded, his expression growing far more somber. He appeared much older than seventeen now. "They say it's three weeks out. And it sounds awful. Folks from the country circles are coming in for shelter. There was a huge earthquake just yesterday."
There hadn't been any earthquake near them. AaQar had said Darmoste was a month away or so, and depending on the strength of the earthquake, they should have at least felt something. Then again, maybe they had and she had just not been conscious for it. But that was a good marker for comparison.
She pinched her brow. "Okay, um… tell me the nearest landmark near you. The nearest thing that maybe I could see a couple days away."
"The mountains make a cradle like this." He demonstrated with his arms. "They said that Darmusky is in the center of that. And there's a city underground as well. It's incredible. It may be dirty and violent and terrifying here most of the time, but it's not all bad. And I'm almost a Golden Fox."
A low rumble in the back of Amelia's mind warned her that her disappearance hadn't been as complete as she'd hoped. Drawing her hand over her eyes, she tried to focus. "But you're safe. And everyone else—"
"Yeah, Shon's good. So is Kepsalon. He's the only one who didn't act surprised. We came through the Tue-Rah. Some of the other Ayamin were going to go through as well, but we haven't seen them. You're sure you're good?"
"Yeah…" She smiled a little.
Something crashed in the back of her mind. The Ki Valo Nakar was coming. "More or less," she said. "Don't worry about me. I'll find you if I can. I don't know if we're in the same time anymore."
"Huh?" Matthu gave her an incredulous look.
"There's just a lot of things I don't know."
"Yeah… I don't know what you're doing either." He looked her up and down. "You're sure you're all right? There's something weird with your eyes."
"What?"
"They're going white. Like moons."
"Crespa!" She spun to the mirror over the dresser. No reflection peered back at her. Matthu's eyes widened as if he had just noticed. "That's—this really isn't—all right." She released a tight breath, her chest tightening. "I'm fine. Just stay safe, all right?"
"Yeah, but what about you? Are you going already? Where's the rest of you anyway?"
"I don't know." She twisted around as that sliding sensation tugged at her legs. "I'm figuring out the mindreading. I think it's about to pull me back in."
"You don't—your eyes don't look good, Amelia. You look strange."
Her throat tightened as she fought to stop the pull, but whatever had allowed her to pass through this doorway was not permitting her to remain. "Be careful, Matthu. Something bad happened in Ecekom where I'm at. Like an apocalypse. They say that the Grey Season is going to be so bad, it'll destroy everything. If the Tue-Rah is working, get out and get off. You and anyone else you can get to leave."
"It isn't working. The Culbar tore it down and ripped it apart a long time ago."
"What?!" She tried to dig her heels in. The room was fading, Matthu's voice grew more distant.
"The temple's gone. The Tue-Rah too. At least the place to control it. They even dug out the foundation. And they filled it with Vawtrian corpses. They were angry about the former Paras. It's really creepy. You can see all the bones. They sealed it with something like glass."
"Do you know who is in the grave?"
"Nope." He shook his head, then he paused. "Amelia, you're fading even more. Are you—"
The darkness swallowed her again as she skidded into the black hall once more. The Ki Valo Nakar whirled about on the other end. "Get back here!" it bellowed. "This can't wait any longer!"
She lunged through the next doorway. Once more there was no floor until one rose up from the darkness. This time she wasn't back in Matthu's room but in a strange bone-white chamber with filtered light. A familiar figure clad all in grey with his hair wild and his stance aggressive stood near a narrow window.
"What are you doing here, pinchat?" he seethed. "Have you come to torment me?"
Nope. Not Vorec. Dream or not, she didn't need to talk to him.
She put her hands on the wall. How did she stop this? How did she get out of here?
His lip curled with disgust as he glared at her. "Miserable backbiting whore. May all the suffering of all the worlds pour through your skull."
The hall blinked back into existence, then flipped upside down. She crashed against the ceiling.
Now at the other end of the hall, the Ki Valo Nakar charged again, shrieking like a banshee.
G
ritting her teeth, she flung herself into the next doorway.
This time she found herself in a dim chamber with sand on the floor. Dozens of people lay sleeping. Not on mats or beds. Just sand. Men, women, children. The coarse stone walls were uneven and ridged, suggesting that this was a cave.
Stooping down, she tried to see who the sleepers were. The only source of light came from a couple golden orbs fastened into the ground. But these revealed only enough to provide the barest of details.
The pulling resumed. Though she dug her feet in to stop, whatever force that seized her refused to relent. It dragged her back.
A horrid pattern developed. Each time it pulled her into the hallway, the Ki Valo Nakar was closer. It attacked, narrowly missing her or falling back when the hall twisted. Twice it nearly seized her. And each time she lunged or army-crawled into another doorway. Whatever distance she managed to create between them at the end was shortened at the start of the cycle.
Each door took her to a different place. Strange people appeared. Rooms of all sorts. A gladiatorial ring in one. A slave market in another. A fashion show with clothing of living flames. A desert with black-barked trees half buried in white sand. Sometimes no one was present. But no matter what was there, she never stayed long. Sometimes only a few minutes, sometimes seconds.
That force that dragged her back each time was relentless, either ripping her back or evaporating her. Either way, she found herself back in that hallway again and again. She flung herself through yet again, desperate to wake up.
"Leave me alone!" she screamed, her voice ragged and raw.
The Ki Valo Nakar braced itself against one of the doorways, then pounced.
She dove to the side. Tripping, she fell on her face and skidded into this next place, a familiar combination of Rubies and Diamonds perfume, rose petals, and pineapple incense filling the air. Was it possible? Had she—
"Amelia!"
Jacinda tried to fling her arms around her but passed through her, falling over the dresser. "What are you doing here? And what's going on with you? Are you dead? You look like a ghost!"
She almost burst into tears with relief to see her friend, all memory of the Ki Valo Nakar fading. "Jacinda?!"
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