Etherno

by Aaron DeMott

“Find anything?” Onryo asked.

  “Where are the others?” Onin looked around. The other girls weren’t anywhere in sight. One of the potted plants outside the hotel door was tipped over on it’s side. “No one’s in trouble, are they?”

  “Well, Saija and Cerina are fine,” Tannin said. “But when we were on the beach, a group of giftlings got attacked. Two of them were hurt, and the third was carried off. Cerina and Saija are with the two that got hurt. Come on.”

  Onin and Onryo followed Tannin down the street to a coffee shop. The shop was nestled in a row of tourist shops that lined the street. A decorative fence partitioned off an area in front of the shop that had umbrella covered tables for patrons to enjoy the beach air while they ate. Most of the tables were turned over.

  A small crowd had gathered out front. Tannin pushed his way through to the front. Police tape barricaded off the entrance. The coffee shop had a hole blown in the front of the building where the door used to be. Two people, a man and a woman, sat on the steps and had blankets wrapped around their shoulders. Saija and Cerina knelt next to them. Saija was talking softly to the woman, and Cerina awkwardly patted the man’s shoulder.

  Tannin waved his police badge at one of the officers, who lifted the tape for Tannin, Onin, and Onryo to go through. Onin squatted down in front of the victims. Both of them appeared to be about his age. Made sense. There were a lot of college kids at the beach this week. If it was the Natas that attacked them, and if they were giftlings, these two fit the profile. The one on the left was a male with black hair, brown eyes, and a crooked nose. The girl had blond hair, blue eyes, and fair skin.

  Onin nodded to them. “Hi, I’m Onin. We’re with the Dabrath police. Are you two okay?”

  “I’ll be fine.” The male took a shaky breath. “Just scared. Do you know where they took Shanay?”

  “Why are the Dabrath police here?” the blond girl asked. “That’s a hundred miles away.”

  “We’ve had some attacks happen there at ABG that match the profile.” Onin smiled in what he hoped came off as a friendly way. “Can you tell us what happened?”

  The man shuffled on the step. “We —Shanay, Tina and I— came up to relax and swim for the week. Then this freak snow storm hit. The three of us decided to sit it out in the coffee shop. We were sitting here talking when three guys dressed all in black blew a hole in the side of the building and walked in. They looked around, grabbed Shanay, and tried to leave. We put up a fight, but…”

  “What kind of gifts do you have?” Onryo asked.

  “Not anything helpful.” Tina, the blond girl, shrugged. “I can help plants grow a teeny bit faster, and Rob can influence micro-magnetic fields.”

  “Comes in handy fixing electronics.” Rob sighed. “No good at all in a fight. These guys were using fire and ice powers—”

  Onin and Onryo exchanged looks. Fire and ice meant it was probably the same Natas that had attacked them.

  Rob looked up them. “I thought that someone only had one gift?”

  “Ordinarily, yes. What gift does Shanay have?” Onin asked.

  “She’s really powerful.” Tina looked up. “She can generate energy beams and stuff.”

  “She put up a good fight.” Rob’s voice dropped to a whisper. “But these guys were scary good. They took us down pretty fast and carried her out of here.”

  “Did you see which way they went?” Onryo asked.

  “North.” Rob and Tina spoke at the same time.

  Onryo nodded and jumped into the air.

  “Onryo, wait!” Onin said.

  She ignored him and flew north. Onin growled, generated two large servitors, and sent them after her.

  “Is she going to look for Shanay?” Tina asked.

  “Probably. We should go after her.” Onin stared up at Onryo’s rapidly shrinking silhouette, blew out a breath, and turned back to Rob and Tina. “If there’s anything else you remember, please let an officer know about it, okay?”

  They nodded.

  Onin turned to face Tannin, Cerina, and Saija. “Well, guys, let’s go after Onryo.”

  They ducked back under the police tape and headed back in the direction of the hotel.

  “We should pack some supplies.” Cerina wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. “Those mountains look cold.”

  Chapter 11

  Enough is Enough… Until it's Too Much

  The wind whipped around Onin and chilled him to the bone—and they had only reached the foothills of the mountains.

  “Can I go back and get a coat?” Tannin said. He was still only wearing his t-shirt and jeans.

  “We’re facing an ice giftling.” Cerina rolled her eyes. “You didn’t think to dress warm?”

  Tannin stuck his tongue out at her.

  “Why are we walking, anyway?” Tannin kicked a stone out of the path. “Can’t Saija just portal us there?”

  “For at least the tenth time—” Saija spun around and poked Tannin in the chest with her crutch. “I can’t portal to an unknown destination.”

  “Tannin, we’ve talked about this.” Onin sighed and stepped between Tannin and Saija. “You’re supposed to be looking for tracks or other clues about the kidnappers. If you whine one more time, I’m going to ask Saija to portal you a hundred yards above the ocean. Now shut-up and look.”

  Tannin was cranky today. Usually it was Cerina that complained. He looked up at the sun, frowned, and pulled out his phone. Oh. It was past noon. That would do it.

  “Tannin, did you eat anything today?”

  “Uh… no. I was going to get breakfast from one of those snack carts along the beach, but I fell asleep, and then all this happened.”

  “Lunch break.” Onin shrugged off his backpack. “I think I brought some trail rations. Anyone else have anything?”

  “Rations? Eww.” Saija made a face. “Wait here.” A portal opened beneath her, and she dropped out of sight.

  “Where’d she go?” Tannin asked.

  Onin ignored him. He looked around. The path they were on now was dirt that was starting to turn to stone as they progressed higher into the mountains. The trees had started to thin out—there were still lots of them, but it wasn’t the dense forest anymore. He spied a group of boulders off to the left, trudged over, and sat on one of them.

  Tannin and Cerina sat down next to him. Onin pulled off his left boot and dumped the loose dirt out of it. He put the boot back on rummaged through his backpack.

  “Might as well get some ration bars out,” he said.

  A portal opened above the trail at the same time Onin reached into his backpack. Saija dropped out of it. She had four Sandwich Masters deli bags tied onto her crutches.

  “Sandwich Masters?” Tannin’s face lit up. “Are those for us?”

  “Yup!” Saija untied a bag and tossed it to him.

  “Sweet!” Tannin ripped open the bag and pulled out the sandwich. “Twelve-inch Meat Insanity, how’d you know?”

  “Not that hard to guess. Here—” She tossed a bag each to Onin and Cerina.

  Onin peeled the tap off the wrapper and unfolded it. Turkey and bacon, yum.

  “Thanks, Saija. How much do we owe you for these?” Onin said.

  “My treat.” Saija flashed him a smile. “You can pay for the next meal.”

  Onin was about halfway through his sandwich when a servitor came zipping over the horizon and stopped in front of him. A few seconds later there was a warm blast of wind. Onin spun around. Onryo dropped to the ground and folded her wings to her back.

  “Got any food for me?” Onryo said.

  “Sorry.” Saija wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Didn’t know where you are, or when you’d be back.”

  Onin broke off half of his sandwich and held it out to her.

  She stared at him for a second before she grabbed the half-sandwich. “Thanks.”

  “Find anything?” Onin said.

  “Footprints, torn bits of clothing, the occasional broken boulder,” On
ryo said.

  “So Shanay’s putting up a fight,” Saija said.

  “Looks that way.” Onryo shrugged. “I didn’t see anyone, though, so they’re either hiding, or they’re farther ahead of us.”

  “So, what do we do now?” One corner of Cerina’s mouth pulled down. “It could take years to search these mountains. If we can’t find them, we might as well go home.”

  “If it was you they kidnapped, would you want the rest of us to give up?” Onin said.

  Cerina kicked at the dirt and shook her head.

  “I didn’t think so.” Onin stood and grabbed his backpack. “I’m going to generate servitors for each of us who needs one, and we’re going to fly up and down this valley in a V-formation.”

  “I thought we needed to walk to look for clues,” Tannin said.

  “Onryo’s seen the stuff we were looking for from the air after all, and we’re pretty sure they’re ahead of us. If we all go up and look, maybe we’ll have a better chance of spotting one of them trying to duck behind a bush. Or something. Either way, we can cover more ground that way. Anyone have any better ideas?”

  “Actually—” Saija raised her hand. “I might know where they’re taking her.”

  “Now you decide to tell us this?” Cerina rolled her eyes.

  “I was hoping I was wrong.” Saija shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself. “Or that’d we’d catch them first. If they’re bothering to kidnap her instead of kill her outright, they want her for something. I’d guess either to ‘borrow’ her gift, or to turn her into a Natas.”

  “How does that gift borrowing thing work?” Onryo asked.

  “I don’t want to bring up a painful subject, but remember when you were fighting me, and I was using portals, fire, and ice against you?”

  “We—” Onin gestured to Onryo. “Well, Kasai and I at least, think of it as fighting the Natas that was controlling you, not as fighting you.” He looked over to Onryo. She nodded.

  “Huh. I’m not sure I could be so… forgiving…” Saija took a deep breath, and squared her shoulders. “Anyway, there are are areas in these mountains that make a person more… receptive… to a Natas. I’m not sure how that works. The kidnappers might be taking Shanay to one of these spots.”

  “Let’s go check them out,” Onryo said.

  “Wait. We need to plan. How many places like this are there, how far away are they, what do we do to stop whatever the Natas might do to her?” Cerina said.

  “If that really is the Natas’ plan, we have to get there as soon as possible. These ceremonies are… messy.” Saija grimaced.

  “We can always just force the Natas out, right?” Tannin said.

  “Not really. You—” Saija paused and swallowed. “—and I, were extremely lucky. You have to do a lot of damage to a vessel to get a Natas to abandon it. I made one little mistake, or you wouldn’t have hurt me at all. You have to do that damage all at once because the bond between the Natas and the vessel has to be disrupted somehow… as I said, we got lucky.” She shivered. “I, more than you. Have I thanked all of you for that lately? And have I mentioned I’m the only vessel I know of that hasn’t died after the Natas left?”

  Everyone was silent for a second. Onin swallowed. They had to save Shanay from that fate. He glanced over at Onryo and resolved not to let that happen to Kasai. Or any of the rest of his friends.

  Onryo launched herself into the air. “Let’s go.”

  Onin generated three servitors. They floated over to hover above Tannin, Cerina, and Saija. Energy tendrils descended from each one to pick up a different person. Onin generated four more for his hands and feet, and he ascended to join Onryo in the air.

  “Saija, point where you want us to go,” Onin said.

  Saija pointed north-northwest, and they flew over the landscape. They set down on top of a large boulder. No one was in sight.

  “So, are we too late, or is this the wrong spot?” Onryo said.

  “Is this boulder covered in rust stains?” Tannin leaned over and picked at the reddish-brown that covered the top of the boulder.

  “No.” Saija’s face had a greenish tint to it. “No it is not.”

  “Well what is it? It’s like it’s been splashed on here, and it’s a dark red…” Tannin’s face drained of color. He jumped down from the boulder, scuffed his feet in the dirt, and vomited into a nearby bush.

  “Huh, thought he was tougher than that.” Cerina’s mouth pulled up into a smirk, but her face also had a greenish tint to it.

  “Cerina!” Saija hissed through clenched teeth.

  “Next spot, let’s go,” Onin said.

  They launched into the air, and took off to the west this time. The next four sites hadn’t shown any signs of being used… recently.

  “If they aren’t at any of these sites, where else might they have taken her?” Onin asked.

  “I don’t know.” Saija pursed her lips and tapped a finger on the the side of a crutch. “There’s a few more sites I know of. Let’s check those before we give up.”

  Onin nodded. Saija led them to a tall mountain that rose above the other peaks in the range.

  “There’s a place on the other side of that mountain.” Saija pointed to the peak. “We have to go up and over it to get to the spot.”

  “Can’t you just portal us there?” Tannin asked.

  “I could, but that’d dump us right in the middle of what’s going on. We want to sneak up on them, right?”

  Everyone nodded. The wind picked up and the temperature dropped as they approached the summit. Saija led them around the mountain, and into a valley on the other side. Instead of getting warmer as the altitude decreased, the cold grew more intense.

  “It’s freezing here,” Cerina said.

  “Probably the right place, then,” Onin said.

  “There.” Saija pointed to the entrance to a cave. “That’s the place.”

  They landed a hundred yards away and slightly downhill from the cave. Two boulders were on either side of the entrance. No guards were in sight.

  “Do we have a plan?” Onryo said.

  “Saija—” Onin looked over his shoulder at her. “What are we likely to find in there?”

  “Depends on whether they want to steal her powers or turn her into a vessel. Either way, it’s not going to be pretty. We’ll probably all want to barf. Lots of blood and evil. If any of the Natas are coming at her with some of those artifacts from the museum, don’t let them touch her at any cost. If any of them are, uh, in her… it’s too late, run away, and run away fast. We’ll probably be outnumbered—”

  “How? Five of us, four of them,” Tannin said.

  “The ceremony needs at least one more person, but can use up to four more for ‘best’ results. Also, they’ve stolen those artifacts, which are going to boost their powers.”

  Onryo nodded. “So we go in, grab Shanay, and get out as fast as possible, right?”

  “Right.” Onin nodded. “Let’s go.”

  Onin crept up to the cave. The entrance was dark and foreboding. Or perhaps that was just his imagination. The opening was about as tall as he was. Shadows filled the cave. Onin took a deep breath and tried to ignore the queasy feeling in his stomach. Still no sign of a guard. He crept forward past a shrug and peered into the cave. The darkness seemed to soak up all the light in the cavern. Onin generated a servitor, and the light it gave off helped a little.The tunnel extended about forty yards in before it either dipped down or turned. No guards were inside. Onin waved the others forward and led the way in.

  The only sound was the water dripping from stalactites. The cave got darker as they made their way inside. It felt as though the darkness was sucking up the light from the servitor. Must be his imagination. Right?

  They rounded the corner and the tunnel dipped down. The murmur of voices came from ahead. Onin reabsorbed the servitor, and they inched forward in the darkness. A few yards later, Onin stopped. A light shone from around another corner. He leaned
forward.

  Seven men in long black robes stood in a circle. They chanted as they shuffled around. The chanting sounded a like the language of the monks, but the echos in the cavern distorted it enough that the words blurred together.

  The circle shifted, and Onin saw a stone table. A girl was laying spread-eagle on the table. Her hands and feet were tied down, she was covered with blood and she appeared to be completely naked. Occasionally she twitched or moaned.

  His gut twisted in horror. Onin ducked back around the corner.

  “Well?” Onryo whispered.

  “There’s a girl on a table. She—” Bile rose in Onin’s throat. He swallowed and took a breath. “She’s covered with blood.”

  “Oh no.” Saija’s face paled. “The ceremony has already started. Did you see any artifacts or anything in or on her?”

  “Hard to tell. There’s a circle of men in black robes around her. I could only catch glimpses of her between them.

  Saija bit her lip and rubbed her palms together. “I don’t know. We might be in time, or we could be too late.”

  They all crowded around Onin to peek around the corner. The circle of robed men had split into two, half of them clustered at the foot of the table, and the other half at the head. There was a lot of blood covering the girl. Onin’s stomach heaved. He swallowed and forced himself to watch. Were there any artifacts on her? Some patches near her breasts, neck, and legs looked like they might be a small artifact—or possibly just an extra bloody wound.

  One of the men at the head of the table clapped his hands over his head. The girl started thrashing and screaming. One of the men at the foot of the table took a step forward, reached out and pulled something long and dripping blood out of the girl. She screamed again, louder this time. Another robed figure stepped forward and took the object, and held it aloft. It was a stake about a foot long. Hard to tell through all the blood, but it might be one of the objects from the museum.

  “We need to go—now,” Saija said.

  Onin’s leg muscles tensed. He sucked air rapidly and reached behind him to clutch Onryo’s hand. The room grew darker. The first man climbed up onto the table and lay down on top of the girl. She yanked at her bonds, and writhed around trying to escape. The person holding the stake said something, and another figure came around to the opposite side of the table. He reached across, and both of them held the stake. They yelled something and both slammed the stake through the man and down into the girl. She screamed loud enough to make Onin’s ears ring. The darkness in the room seemed to coalesce into a point above the stake, then it sank down through it and into the girl. Her entire body went stiff then she lifted her hands and feet up slowly. The cloth binding her limbs to the table snapped. The girl flung the dead man off from her and pulled the stake out from her chest. She handed it to one of the other figures.