by T. G. Ayer
I’d never felt this way before when moving into the ether and I didn’t like the doubt, the sense of the unknown on what was supposed to be my home turf.
I transitioned fully into the ethereal plane and studied my life-thread, relieved to discover the glowing lines of energy intact and unharmed. But it took mere moments to sense something different about the multiple lines of energy flowing around me.
I was not alone.
A hazy iridescent form shimmered beside me, and I stiffened, mental muscles tense as I made ready to return to my physical body if the presence proved to be a threat.
Though I was pretty certain nothing could harm me in the ether, there was likely an infinite amount of knowledge about the Veil, the astral planes, and the ethereal realms that we were yet to understand.
I held my breath as the energies before me coalesced slowly. Rainbow colors flared, golden embers sparked and soon small flames flickered around the shape of a person whose features undulated until cheekbones, chin, jaw, and eyes, joined to soon become visible.
I found myself facing a slim dark-haired woman, her body encased in dark-red leather and black armor. Even in her ethereal form, her weapons—two short Damascus blades, one in each boot, two curved swords, each housed in a loop at her sides, and a bow-and-arrow fixed to her back—all shone, their lethality evident by the shimmering of dark energy along their lengths.
Despite the danger she should have emanated, she somehow managed to only impart a sense of calm and serenity. A sense of peace I duly shook off as I met the golden eyes of the ethereal form of a djinn warrior.
A Mithrasian rebel warrior.
Chapter 16
I met the rebel warrior’s eyes, still aware that she could be somewhat of a danger to me, and found her watching me, her expression wary. She tilted her head and said, “I did not expect you to understand this method of communication so quickly.”
I frowned, a little confused. “I’m not sure what you mean. I sensed something…like a knock on a door, and I assumed the vibration had something to do with my life-thread. To be honest, this has never happened to me before. The most I’ve ever done is leave a message here and even when that succeeded, I was more than surprised.”
I shut my mouth sharply, aware I may have revealed too much to her. And why had I relaxed so easily in her company? Why did I drop my guard so easily?
She smiled, although her eyes still scrutinized me. “I suppose there will be time in the future to understand your abilities, but for now I’m here to give you a quick status update. Did Saleem tell you anything about our plan?”
I shook my head. “No. My communication with him was cut off before he could tell me anything more. All he said was someone from the rebel army would contact me. I’m assuming that’s you?”
She nodded, lips pursed as she held out her open hand in greeting, her palm swimming with iridescent colors. I shook her hand, the warmth of her life-thread pulsing against my skin.
“I’m Fathima. Saleem has told me much about you and I can understand his fascination.” She winked, momentarily losing her sobriety, though she quickly masked her emotions.
My eyes widened at the revelation. Still, I didn’t question the relaxed energy between us more because it was comforting to not be at odds with a member of a rebel army.
I said, “I don’t think I’m all that fascinating, I just do what I can, and figure the rest out later.”
The djinn warrior let out a laugh, a sound that I felt deep within my bones. “Perhaps we ought to get on with business. We’ve allocated a safehouse just beyond the city walls for your team on your arrival.”
She handed me a small leather folder which shifted from lines of energy to solidity in my hand in much the same way as Saleem’s book had.
“Inside, you will find directions to the first warehouse as well as your contact. He will bear a scar at the nape of his neck the shape of a crescent moon. We have many of them around the city, sympathizers, though not connected to the army. So your presence would not alert any of the security forces. The city itself is quite empty, with little foot-traffic other than the poorest and weakest of our people. Your contact will provide you with food and a safe harbor until we make contact. But we have to be extra careful so we don’t alert security. We will have to wait until you reach the inner city before you and my superiors meet face-to-face.
“Once we meet up with you, we’d like to separate the members of your team and partner them up with our own people. Your knowledge and skills will be valuable and our people can provide you with security within the city. The basic plan is that we get you in and through the city to the palace, then we move into the tunnels and position ourselves. When the time comes, we will receive the go-ahead to storm the castle.”
Literally.
The rebels definitely had worked on putting a plan in place although they weren’t yet in a sharing mood. Either way, together we were going to free Saleem and his realm. But we weren’t doing it ourselves anymore. Which changed everything in terms of our team. The timing couldn’t have been better especially with the price of using the Sharaita hanging over our heads.
“The queen, I’m sure, will be relieved to know that there is a plan in place.” I replied, immediately wishing I hadn’t mentioned her. Who knew how the people felt about a queen who, to their knowledge had gone AWOL leaving them at the mercy of Division 7 and their goons.
Fathima’s head bobbed, though the movement seemed ragged, hesitant. “That brings me to the subject of our Shabhanu. We would like to respectfully request that she remains as far away from the dangers of military action as possible.”
I laughed at that, unable to ignore the picture in my mind of their Shabhanu’s face should she ever come to know of this particular plan. “I’m pretty sure you know her as well as I do, if not better. She’s not going to like it.”
The warrior snorted. “We are well aware of how stubborn our queen is. And I’m happy to say, we have a suitable plan in place.”
Letting out a low laugh, I replied, “If you ask me, the only plan likely to work is if we knocked her out for the duration of the mission.”
Fathima gave me a look that was so filled with guilt, I ended up giggling.
And I didn’t giggle.
“Okay,” I said, trying to keep a straight face. “I am going to pretend that you didn’t just confirm what your plan is. Just do what you have to do, and whatever you do, don’t tell me about it because the woman can read my mind.”
Her eyebrows shot to her hairline and her mouth opened slightly. Then she took a deep breath. “I will ensure that my team is well aware of that. And perhaps you ought to find a way to keep her out?” Her tone was sharp, as though rebuking me for not having figured out a way already.
With our conversation coming to an end, I asked, “Has anyone been in contact with Saleem? I need to know he’s okay. He’s entirely cut off from me—down in the dungeons, I’m told.”
Fathima gave me a reassuring glance. “Don’t worry. He is okay. I’m assuming that Shahbanu would’ve explained how the stone works?”
I nodded. “Has someone seen him in the last few hours?”
“Yes, we have an agent inserted within the security team watching him. The prince is alive and is showing no sign of giving up. Only problem we have right now is access to the dungeons is a little bit more complicated from the tunnels beneath the palace.”
Frowning, I asked, “I thought the tunnel network gives access to the palace? We’ve believed the tunnels to be the only way inside.”
“It is, but there have been numerous rockfalls beneath the palace. Saleem gave us details of its condition—he’d been through sections we didn’t know of. A recon team confirmed it’s in a bad state. Many of the access points cannot be breached, and the entrance to the dungeons is one of them. We are working on clearing the debris and on locating a second option. The north tower is a possibility but that would require crossing the length of the palace to reach the d
ungeon entrance. We’d rather not endanger our teams unless we have no other option. Too risky.
“We will update you with the details as soon as we have it. Since you know how to leave a message in the ether, let’s keep communication to this plane. I shall deliver an update soon, though it will be brief…just enough for you to know what’s going on. I will give you more details when you arrive with your team.”
I sighed with relief. “Our team is ready to go, probably in the next few hours.”
Fathima straightened, relief also revealed in her face. “One last thing, Saleem has given us a brief idea of the number on your team, but if you can give us an update, we could provide additional weaponry for you.”
I nodded slowly, aware now that those numbers were about to change. “Oh, just a heads-up that Sentinel, the opposing agency to Omega also has a presence on our arrival. If you can help by giving them a location to keep them out of our way, that would be helpful.”
She smiled. “I really like the way you think. I’ll leave a message here soon.”
“Yeah, I’m not certain we can trust them. I’m not entirely sure if they’re working with Omega, and they haven’t actually been helpful so far. And I’m not about to trust them now especially when Saleem’s life is in danger.”
She nodded and in the silence I heard how my words could have been misconstrued.
“That’s not to say that the lives of the citizens of the city are not as important,” I said hurriedly.
Fathima raised a hand in a kind of flourish/wave, her expression sober. “You don’t need to worry about that. Prince Saleem has told us enough about you—we know you really do care about all people of Mithras. And on behalf of our entire realm, I would like to offer you our thanks. Our commander has told me to provide you with the reassurance that you and your team will be rewarded for your efforts.”
I shook my head and frowned. “I’m not in it for rewards. I’ll just be grateful if everyone comes out the other end of this safe and sound.”
She had already begun to fade away and the last words I heard before she had completely disappeared were, “He was so right about you. Like father like son.”
Chapter 17
After Fatima had left, I’d barely given myself time to shovel down the risotto before calling Logan to arrange for a team briefing, stressing that it would be a two-part meeting, one with him and Kai, to be followed by a team update.
I was relieved that we now had a legitimate reason to leave the younger team members behind, and was also hoping we’d be able to reduce the numbers even further when the danger of the Sharaita was revealed.
“So what’s so serious that we had to do a double meet?” asked Logan. He sat in the chair behind the desk, while Kai had a butt-cheek propped on its edge. Logan’s forehead furrowed and I knew he was worried that something had changed with our departure dates.
I was half-sitting on the table that held the pieced-together map, listening to my heart as it raced along at top-speed. “Two things. First, Aisha requested a portal access point be located to help with the transition through the Veil—which Horner is going to get for us. Two, the rebels have made contact—which means we have our safehouse location in Kamsin.”
“And why do neither of those sound like a good thing?” asked Kai, an eyebrow curving.
I pursed my lips. “Well, one is good-bad and the other is bad-bad...”
“Mel!” the pair replied sternly.
I gave in and brought them up to speed first on the rebels already having an army at their beck and call, and that a small squad was all we needed to go free Saleem.
“Please tell me that’s the bad-bad,” said Kai warily.
“Sorry. It’s the Sharaita that’s going to be a problem. And my gut tells me we won’t be able to get through without it. Aisha is hiding something, I’m not sure what but I think it has to do with the power required for the magic to work. Otherwise why would she ask for a boost?”
Logan’s voice was low as he replied, “You may be right. But what’s the price? I figure it would be blood or something. The Veil likes blood, from what I hear.”
I smirked. “Well, this piece of the Veil likes her sacrifices a little more permanent.”
The office was silent for a long moment. Then Kai coughed. “Define more permanent. I think I know what you’re saying but for now I’m in denial.” She waved a hand at me to continue, the movement pulling her sleeve’s hem up high enough to reveal a gleaming bronze armband wrapped around her wrist. I’d only caught sight of it for a second before Kai tugged her sleeve over it and folded her arms, expression inscrutable.
Though curious, I let it lie, deciding to interrogate her at another time. I rubbed my forehead and then pressed my fingers to my temples. “We do have to provide the blood consecration of the artifact to get us through the Veil, but once we return we must pay the final price—exactly what we won’t know until later. Horner was evasive, but I’m guessing the Sharaita will require us to choose a life to sacrifice. Unless we choose one ourselves.”
Kai blinked and Logan got to his feet. “Well, it’s not as though we weren’t already aware that someone could die on this mission,” he said, his tone hard to define.
Was he trying to gather the courage to say he’d give his own life? I didn’t think so since he had a whole kingdom to look after, but with his friendship with Saleem, I wasn’t certain.
“This is different, Logan.” Kai’s tone was cool, though her expression was pained—she was as conflicted as Logan was.
I cleared my throat. “I’m just glad we can finally kick the kids off the team with a legit excuse,” I muttered.
“True,” Kai said, pushing herself to her feet. “And we give the rest of the team the choice.”
Logan began to pace. “Who do you think will decline?”
It didn’t take me long to throw Natasha’s name in the hat. “I’m thinking this is dark magic, blood magic. She won’t want to dabble in it.” I remembered her hesitation when dealing with dark magic in the past.
“Anyone else?” Logan asked hopefully
“I don’t see any of the Ni’amh remaining behind,” said Kai softly.
I didn’t argue with that. Not just yet. “That’s five of us, eight with Logan, Drake and Aisha.” I looked at Logan. “Lacroix?”
He shook his head. “Pretty sure he’s also a no-go. He’d be breaking some kind of overlord tenet, I think.”
I bounced my knee. “That’s eight instead of thirteen. But I’m still not satisfied.”
“I know Drake wouldn’t budge, but what about Nerina and Cassie?” Kai offered, squinting at me.
I groaned. “This entire mission started off with Saleem in need of help and us being the only people who knew about his situation. But now, there’s a rebel army, armed to the hilt, with plans in place and the means to get to him. If anything, we’re just going along for the ride.”
“That’s where you are wrong,” said Aisha as she walked in with Baa’ruk in tow.
I got to my feet, scowling.
“Don’t make that face, Melisande dear. You need to know that you are the only one able to track Saleem.”
I made a strange sound in the back of my throat, then looked over at Logan who shrugged. Then I faced the djinn queen. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Aisha gave a regal wave of her hand. “There must have been a point after you met when he either jumped somewhere with you, or felt the need to allow you access to his thread. Saleem is a djinn warrior, powerful enough to protect himself from detection within the ether. But you’ve found it perfectly easy to track him whenever you wished to.”
Eyes wide now, I took a breath, running her words through the chaos that was my thoughts. “Wait just a hot second. Have you never tried to contact him in the ether before?”
She lifted her chin the tiniest bit, just enough to let me know I’d put her on the defensive. She sniffed. “No. I didn’t dare. He’d have tracked me back to the estate
in an instant. It was safer that I stay away. But I did try recently, and I suspect he’s recoded the magic.”
“Recoded the magic?” I said, the words coming out on a monotone.
“Yes. When a djinn with Saleem’s level of power is trained to hide himself from detection, he learns there are many ways to create the protective shield. But, the more time he would spend in the astral plane, the quicker the spell will fade away. A spell can last up to a decade, sometimes longer if an experienced adult performs the spell for a younger djinn.”
“So you created his shield when he was a boy?”
“Once when he was born, and the second time when he was thirteen. Both times, both his father and I merged our power to form the protection. But the rate of degradation increases the older the subject gets so the second round perhaps lasted until recently.”
“And you would have access to him because you were the one who created the spell. But now that he would have had to repair the shield, he effectively shut you out?”
“Exactly.” Aisha smiled, though her lips were thin and the creases at the corners of her mouth were taut. Guess she had more secrets hidden away, but I had to appreciate that she’d told me his one. Now she was nodded and tapping her lip. “Which is why I am certain your presence is essential, whether the rebels know of the shield or not.”
“I didn’t get the feeling from Fathima that they felt our presence was unnecessary. I’d assume if the rebels had everything under control they’d have at least told us we’re not needed. Or given us the impression that we can come along but to stay out of the way.”
Aisha took a nasally breath and straightened to clap her hands. “Now that we have that out of the way, did you find us a portal?”
I proceeded to update the queen on the Sharaita and the payment it required. And I wasn’t surprised when she shifted her gaze to Barry, her eyes darkening.
The demon tilted his head and smiled at her, then met my eyes. “I’m afraid I will be unable to go with you, given the nature of the Sharaita. The Nahra forbids the use of the blood of a demon as a sacrifice.”