My palms grew sweaty with anticipation and impatience. When Dorian and Bravi attacked Itzarriol, it was my team's cue to stealthily sneak through Itzarriol to the senate. Chaka promised he had a way that was quick, although he warned it was vile.
"Gomez reporting in." The communicator jumped to life. "We've successfully captured a few of the fallen skimmers. More patrols keep coming, and the skimmer radios report that Irrikus dispatched more groups. Hopefully, we can keep up with the waves."
Reshi let out an appreciative grunt, talking to our group instead of the comm. "They should be able to handle it. Irrikus won't be foolish enough to send all his troops to the farms."
When I first chose members with Bravi, she’d guided me to a handful of sturdy and light-footed companions. Our makers and vampires never appeared to lose focus. They merely nodded as I reported and turned their attention back to our environment.
Chaka glared out at the wall. "The guards haven't been around in a while. They were likely called to help with the trial. Irrikus always demands extra help when a prominent ruler goes to court. Irrikus might suspect a raid." He grinned, a sharp tooth gleaming mischievously. "Thankfully, we have Reshi's technology."
From the many leather pouches arranged in a sash-style belt around her, Reshi removed necklaces and passed one to each of us. One thing this fiasco had taught me was that Reshi was one of the brightest engineers, magic or not, when it came to scavenging enemy technology. She’d pounced on the opportunity to examine the invisibility charms. Arlonne had warned that it was too soon for us to use the charms. She might be right, but we had to try. She and Reshi had grown close during their time together, despite Reshi working on intellectual designs and Arlonne preferring physical brawls. Reshi was tired, but we all were. Besides, we had little choice. We needed any advantage we could get on our way to the glass building. We would be able to turn invisible and hide our auras while still seeing one another.
Dorian said they were moving in. Reshi gave us the go ahead, and we placed the necklaces on. One by one, we blinked out of sight and then popped back into vision.
Chaka stood up. His short but broad form made him a solid-looking figure. Something stirred beneath his robes on his chest. Zach raised an intrigued eyebrow as Chaka reached into his robes to pull out a rustling bag.
"You brought wild critters?" Zach asked curiously.
"Something like that," Chaka said, giving a lopsided smirk. "You'll see once we get to the wall. How did you get over the wall the first time?" He turned to me. I explained to him how we climbed over the trees and onto rooftops. He laughed heartily. "That’s one way, I suppose.”
We followed him quickly, moving at a steady pace. Although Chaka was stout, he was incredibly nimble on his feet. He moved with such ease that I found myself falling behind his every step like a dance. We came to the outer left edge of the wall. He paused, circling an area in the grass. A metallic clank sounded. I was amazed to see a circle of grass rise from the ground and slide over. A foul smell greeted us. Zach grunted in displeasure, and Gina elbowed him to silence him. Below, it looked utterly dark.
Chaka poured the contents of his rustling bag into the grass area. A dozen arachnids spilled out. They had a strong resemblance to scorpions but were completely black with green dots on their sides. The creatures scuttled around the area and then, one after another, dove inside the darkness. "They're my pets. They sense all vibrations through the ground, since they're completely blind. You'll find they have another benefit once we get down there." And with that, he threw himself down. I heard a faint splash below. Reshi followed, and with no other choice, I descended into the sewer system of Itzarriol. I’d take tree climbing over this any day.
A foul stench of sulfur wafted into my nostrils. I pulled my fatigue shirt above my nose. It was completely dark, until suddenly the tunnels lit up with a gorgeous, eerie green glow. The scorpion beasts, crawling along the wall, served as tiny lanterns to illuminate our way. Chaka told us that he’d magicked them to serve as lights in the dark.
"This route will take us straight to the palace. It’s the safest way into Itzarriol. I'm not sure if the old Hive vampires I’ve heard about would have known about this path."
One of our vampire allies, a lithe fellow named Rivo with a shaved head, gave a hiss of disgust. "Maybe that’s for the best. This place is too foul smelling for a vampire to wade through. We need to use a cleansing charm on ourselves once we’re out of this." He held his hands over his nose. It was nice, for once, to lack super senses. Chaka led us behind his pets, who expertly wound their way through a tunnel. Each tunnel had a puddle of dark, murky water filled with dirt, debris, and God knew what else. I tried not to think about it as I aimed for the dry parts.
Finally, we stopped at a dead end. The scorpion beasts crawled up the side of the wall and clacked their legs against something solid and metallic. Chaka snapped his fingers, and one of them scuttled to dislodge a piece of leathery fabric from a bundle at the top. The fabric unfurled to reveal a weathered rope. Chaka pulled on it, testing its strength.
"It's been a while since we've had any reason to use these tunnels as a large group." He yanked and climbed up the rope easily with one hand. In his other, he held open his pouch, and his scorpions trotted happily back into their bag. He pressed up against a metal circle, and a stream of light hit us. Reshi climbed the rope next and, using one of her arms, helped the rest of us out of the sewer.
Heat was the first thing that greeted me. It was worse than the smell. Immediately, sweat poured from every pore.
"The energy boiler room. Watch out for hot steam. They use furnaces to burn the soul energy from the farms here. They have enough to last a while, but Irrikus is probably furious about the supply being cut off from the farm," Chaka relayed. “I’d suggest we could shut it down, but it has too many magical protections.” It was difficult to hear him over the clank of machinery and piping scream of steam, but we followed dutifully to the door. Blissfully, we hit a patch of cool air and left behind the broiling heat.
I heard a soft murmur of voices to our left, but otherwise the area seemed deserted. Reshi turned off the skimmer radio, so nothing would call attention to us. Chaka quickly pressed an icy burning stone against each of our hands, taking care of our terrible scents.
We said nothing, following Chaka as he led us through a series of winding hallways. We froze as footsteps thundered toward us, too fast. We were out in the open, with nowhere for us to hide. This was the first test of Reshi’s invisibility charms.
"It's the stadium," a hunter snarled at two of his peers as they sprinted past us. I leaned just enough to avoid him, my heart slamming in my chest. We paused for a beat, then pressed forward. We saw no other hunters in the halls after that; everyone who wasn’t part of the fighting force had hunkered down. The attack was officially underway.
Please be okay, Dorian. Take care of Laini.
Finally, Chaka led us down the narrowest hallway yet, which came to a dead end. I watched him dubiously as he pawed at the stone wall until his hand finally found something. His fingers pressed down a hidden stone button perfectly concealed within the surface. These must have been the servants’ halls. A panel of the wall slid away, and we slipped inside.
It was oddly quiet. "The other spies aren't here today. They knew to stay away." He yanked the door open, and we came to a servants' area, with a kitchen and long dining room carved out of dreary gray stone. We made our way through the halls until we reached the inner quarters of the palace.
Chaka turned a corner, and suddenly his necklace let out a distinctive glimmer of sparks. What the hell is that? He glanced down at the necklace as color drained from his face. The charm was malfunctioning. My heart stopped. Reshi cursed and threw herself backward, yanking me back with the rest to hide in the corridor.
Chaka was left stranded, alone and visible, as a guard walked into the hallway. My heart came back to life, pounding like a sledgehammer. We all could lose invisibility any seco
nd. I was so grateful that it had been Chaka and not a vampire, who would’ve been out of place in the senate. I took refuge with Reshi, Zach, and Rivo behind an enormous statue of Irrikus in a reclining philosophical pose. The others pressed themselves against the wall. Half of our invisibility charms had failed, judging by the glimmer coming off the necklaces. My gut churned with dreadful anticipation. Not good. Reshi gritted her teeth tightly together.
Chaka froze as the guard descended upon him. They were so close I could see them both in profile.
“What do you think you’re doing here?” the guard barked. “You’re not supposed to be in the rulers’ private quarters with the lockdown going on.”
Chaka’s face was as calm and collected as an undisturbed pool in a garden. He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “I’ve been sent on a personal errand by one of the council members, the Iron Lady. She had an incident with a servant speaking out of turn. It did not end well for the servant.” He cast a knowing look at the guard, the kind two weary servants would exchange. I marveled, admiring Chaka’s quick thinking and acting skills. “Unfortunately, her carpet was bloodied in the process. I must fetch supplies to clean it before the stain sets and dispose of the remains.”
An ice-cold shiver ran down my spine. First, at the fact that finishing off a servant’s life and cleaning it up might be not unusual. Second, of admiration that Chaka was so excellent at manipulating the hunter prejudice against lower castes.
The guard scoffed. “She does have a temper. Very well, be quick about it and get back to your quarters.” He stalked off, his heavy armored boots clanking against the ground.
Chaka waved us forward to the next corridor. Our necklaces sparked back to full life, granting us invisibility once again. Reshi cursed under her breath, shaking her head.
"It's okay. There was no time to work out the bugs," I assured her, knowing that she was likely beating herself up for the failure of the necklaces. "No one got hurt. Let’s keep moving." We had invisibility back, for the moment. I had no idea how long it would last. Arlonne was right about the charms potentially failing, but there was no turning back.
We were almost to the central command room. Chaka explained that there were two entrances. The main entrance was around the corner, likely under heavy guard. We were going to use a side room. He'd only been inside once, and it had been empty, save for generators that probably served to power the control room. The side room had a connecting door to the control room.
As we turned the corner, we came to a stumbling stop. A line of eerily quiet revenants stared at us. Their eyes had milky films over their completely black whites and irises. Chaka sucked in a breath.
Three pairs of eyes stared blankly ahead as they took a step forward. They didn’t act as if they could see us, but it looked like they weren’t seeing anything with those black, dead eyes. Everyone went silent. A tense stalemate moment lapsed between us. Reshi frowned, shooting me an urgent look. It looked like they weren't activated… Her charms were meant to conceal our auras. The revenants were standing in front of the door to the side room. Two of them moved forward, silently, walking like zombies. We backed up into the wall as the revenants advanced, but they made no move to hurt us. If we had to fight our way through, it was best to see if they were truly on autopilot or not. Maybe this was a patrol maneuver built into their gem control? For a moment, one looked as if they might just turn around and retreat back to the door.
But the third revenant joined them, standing in the center. Her eyes held the same dreamy sleepiness as the others, but her face sparked to life with sudden clarity as she smiled slowly. She acted like she was waking up from a dream. She was a woman, but when she muttered something her voice was distinctively masculine… and familiar.
"Zach and Lyra." The voice was warped, straining against the revenant's throat. It sounded as if the poor creature hadn't had water for weeks. My hackles raised. A feeling of fury swept through me before I understood why. The tone was wheedling and sad. Where had I heard it before?
"Yes, it is you. Zach, I see you. Of all the faces to see in the Immortal Plane… You're under some kind of spell, I see." The revenant vampire turned to me, her lifeless eyes out of tune with the tone of overfamiliarity and contrite pity. "Lyra, I'm sorry. I hope you can forgive me for everything that's happened. I never wanted this conflict with you two. Everything has gone wrong… but I can fix it. I have a plan. I know it'll be the hardest thing for you to do, but… you have to trust me."
The gears in my mind churned into place. She's… she's… I recognized the voice in some primitive part of my brain. It was one I hadn’t expected to hear again. My words were lost in my tight throat, but Zach found his.
"Uncle Alan?" His voice cracked.
I heard it now, even with the distortion of speaking through a revenant.
It was our uncle’s voice.
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Lyra
It was him, yet that was impossible. Confusion flooded me, but it was quickly overtaken by anger. This was a cruel trick. It had to be. Or another betrayal; neither is good. Gina clapped her hand over her mouth in disbelief. Reshi shot me a questioning look as our allies, including Chaka, stared in confusion. They clearly were lost. Though I knew Reshi had heard of Alan’s exploits, she couldn’t possibly have expected him to be a disembodied voice coming from a revenant.
"What's happening?" Zach demanded. His eyes narrowed. Anger blinded me for a moment. I wanted to yell at Zach to stop asking questions. It had to be a trap, but I found myself unable to speak as the revenant calmly folded her hands, as if to say that her body was no threat at all.
“I can’t explain to you right now,” Alan said. “You need to come to my location.” He waved his hand, and I imagined him like a puppeteer lurking somewhere to pull strings on a marionette. A sour taste entered my mouth as the memory of betrayal crashed over me. He wanted us to find him and talk, like he hadn’t committed massive treachery by aligning himself with Irrikus from the beginning?
I let out a furious, mocking laugh. Anger boiled inside me, the likes of which I hadn’t felt since I’d stopped injecting Dorian’s blood. He thought we were dumb enough to blindly follow him after everything he did? He was part of the reason the Immortal Council was so successful with their attacks in the Mortal Plane. His greed had played perfectly into the Immortal Council’s plan.
“Not a chance,” I snarled. “You’re trying to lure us into a trap. If it’s even you we’re talking to.”
Alan’s revenant spread her hands in a friendly manner. It was unnerving to see her body move, completely controlled by Alan somewhere else. “I know you’re skeptical, Lyra. It’s completely understandable, but I can help you. I know why you’re here. You can follow this revenant. I control the trio in front of you.”
“Why should we?” I stiffened, hating how warm he sounded. I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw his revenant puppet’s body.
“You’re here to take down the Immortal Council, of course,” he said. A hardened edge sank into his tone. There was anger in him. A fury at Irrikus, for using him? Perhaps Irrikus found it amusing to keep him as a revenant handler, forcing Alan to work even if he wasn’t needed. “I want the same thing, and I have a plan.”
Zach’s eyebrows shot up, and he looked my way, scanning my face for some kind of cue on what to do. My brother had held on to hope longer when it came to Alan, although it had dwindled to almost nothing after everything that happened in the Chicago HQ. Still, my heart was hardened by the memories of what Alan had done. I held no warmth toward him, and his familial connection held no sway over me. He’d cut those ties himself when he tried to hunt us down, back in the days of the old Bureau and their foolish board.
“We don’t have much time,” Alan warned abruptly.
Ingo, one of our vampires, tensed. “There’s dark energy approaching,” he warned swiftly. As he spoke, the distant clamor of approaching guards sounded down the hallway.
"Sweep this wing," a
guard hollered. "Hurry. We need to go to the ground floor next. Check everywhere."
Another one, closer to the door, grunted in complaint. "Irrikus must be paranoid after the attacks. Nobody could get this far into the senate."
The first guard growled. "Stop complaining and get on with it."
My heart raced. We were still invisible, but the revenants had us lined up against the wall as if we were about to be executed by firing squad. Without pause, Alan's revenant turned and leapt away from us.
"The revenants have already done a sweep inside here," he said, as someone rounded the corner. A guard glanced briefly down our hallway, his large, bulging eyes flickering to Alan's revenant. "There's nobody here."
"Good." The guard slammed the door shut so hard that the walls vibrated. Footsteps continued down the corridor. The revenant turned on her heel and gave an unsettling smile that I'm sure was meant to look trustworthy.
"See?" Alan said. "I could've given you away, but I didn't. I'm being honest with you. I want to help you, and I can get the revenants to guide you upstairs to find me. No tricks."
No tricks. He had some nerve saying that after everything he did. Instantly, I was reminded of Inkarri promising that she wouldn’t hurt us. But Alan had little honor. Trusting him was like putting my head into a shrieking decay’s mouth and trusting it to be nice. Still, he had us trapped, since he could call upon the revenants to grab us or alert the guards to our presence if we refused. I bit my lip as Zach and Gina glanced at me.
"I've heard tales of this Alan," Reshi muttered. She crossed her arms and raised an expectant eyebrow at Zach and me. "Perhaps Irrikus hasn't been so kind to him, in this confinement." That's right. A few people had heard about our battle with Alan after the Chicago HQ fight. It was a long, sordid history that had made its way through the camp folklore for the newer recruits, something that gained Zach and me credibility among the vampires and all castes. They knew we had fought our own kin and defeated him, because he was on the side of Irrikus. Reshi was the only one to realize who it was, though, as the others assumed that he and the other board members were taken somewhere or killed.
Darklight 7: Darkfall Page 19