“You don’t know that,” I say. “Did you hide all the maps too?”
With his pale hair sticking out in all directions, Aerro looks like a yet-to-be-discovered nocturne. “I didn’t hide the maps,” he says. “I burnt them.”
“You burnt them?” I echo.
“Don’t you see, I’m trying to protect you. The Great Drae is evil. Look what happened in Haberdine because of her! And she’ll hate—hate—that you can summon such powerful cagic. She doesn’t want competition. And as for you…” Aerro turns to Rutholyn. “Do you really want to be cooped up forever in that gilded cage? Forced to give your energy to spoiled people who will never be satisfied and will always just want more and more?”
“I don’t want to be here,” Rutholyn says softly.
I don’t either. If only I’d taken the coastal route on Theandra’s map. I would have avoided the bridge with the wolievs, and I wouldn’t be arguing with an unstable person now. “Aerro, please, I understand you’re angry with Drae Devorla for making a few mistakes, but—”
“A few mistakes?” Aerro shouts in such a shrill way, I grit my teeth. “You make it sound like she spilled a drink. No. She’s responsible for hundreds of deaths. You have no idea what I saw—or heard. Those people… My own parents. My brother. There was so much suffering… brutal suffering, and you don’t even care. I always thought if I told someone about that day… they’d understand.” Tears gleam on his face, reflecting Flutter’s blue-green light.
“I do care,” I say, of course I do—but Aerro doesn’t know Drae Devorla. He’s never met her in person. He’s never spent hours with her adjusting reservoirs, fixing energy compressors, and checking conductors. I’m sure she was devastated by what happened in Haberdine. Keeping our cityland safe is her life’s purpose.
“You know what I did during that first Bright Month?” Aerro says, wiping away tears. “I dragged bodies out of the shelter. Not everyone survived lingersleeping—I guess they hadn’t eaten enough or drunk enough. I don’t know.” He swallows. “I dragged at least twenty corpses out of there—all on my own. I was only sixteen years old. Do you know how terrible that was?”
“I can’t imagine,” I say softly.
He looks down at the gravel-strewn tunnel floor. “I just want things to go back to the way they were.”
“Come with us then,” I say. “Please. You have an incredible gift. You could help people.”
Aerro shakes his head. “No.”
I look at him for a long moment, at his folded, skinny arms and mismatched clothes, and I feel so sorry for him. But I also can’t force him to see reason, so I put my arm around Rutholyn’s shoulders, and we turn away.
“Wait,” Aerro says.
I glance back to see him making a strange movement with his hand, rolling his wrist. He’s summoning shimmerdark—I’m sure of it. But why?
Rutholyn suddenly yelps, and I see a hoop of dark energy circling her upper body. It tightens, pinning her arms to her sides.
“No!” I shout as Aerro makes Rutholyn stumble toward him. “Stop it!” I try to disperse his shimmerdark ring, but since I didn’t summon the energy, I can’t seem to control it. Shimmerlight doesn’t work that way.
“I won’t hurt her,” Aerro calls. “I’m just taking her back to Haberdine where she’ll be safe—where you’ll both be safe. I know you won’t leave without her.”
Of course I won’t. Frustrated, I drop my leather case and charge toward him, painfully aware that I have no plan. When I fought the nocturnes, my attacks were lethal. But I’m only exasperated with Aerro, and I don’t want to kill or maim him.
“I’m just trying to help you,” Aerro says, retreating down the tunnel and making Rutholyn trail after him. “I’m also protecting myself. If you return to Kaverlee, you’ll tell the Great Drae about me. I know you will.”
I feel helpless. Can you change someone’s mind when they’re this deeply confused? “Aerro, please. I won’t tell Drae Devorla or anyone about you; I promise.” Unable to think of a better solution, I encase his foot in a cagic cube, trapping him and forcing him to stop.
He hisses in irritation. “It’s going to be like that, is it?”
A prickling band of shimmerdark forms around my neck. I suck in a breath and dig my fingers between the ring of energy and my skin, fighting to disperse it. Yet just like before, because I didn’t summon the energy, I can’t manipulate it. “You don’t want to do this,” I croak.
“Let her go!” Rutholyn pulls on Aerro’s arms. Now that he’s wrapped shimmerdark around my throat, she’s free. Glowy Pony also trots frantically around me.
“You’re right; I don’t want to hurt anyone!” Aerro’s pointy jaw stiffens, and his eyes widen. “But I will if I have to. Don’t make me. Swear you’ll stay.”
How can I promise anything when I can’t breathe? A dark, fuzzy blanket seems to cover my thoughts, yet even now, it still seems wrong to kill Aerro. If I don’t do something, though, I soon won’t be able to do anything.
Maybe that’s the answer—I need to make sure Aerro can’t do anything.
I knocked Rutholyn unconscious in the guidebox while fighting the wolievs. Surely, I can do something similar to Aerro.
My strength fading, I create a large cube of shimmerdark behind his head. And as my aching lungs seem to shrivel, I smack the cagic shape against the back of his skull. His head whips forward, and when it recoils, his eyes roll back too. And oh, thank the realms, the shimmerdark band around my throat loosens.
Aerro collapses to the tunnel floor.
And I fall to my knees, gasping in frigid tunnel air and feeling tremendously lucky.
Rutholyn throws her arms around me. “You’re all the way fine!”
“I am,” I say, and now that Aerro isn’t actively controlling the shimmerdark around my neck, I’m able to wave it away.
I look over at Aerro. He’s now lying crumpled on the dusty tunnel floor. His arms and legs bend awkwardly to one side, and thankfully, his chest still rises and falls. I hope he’ll recover, but I’m not going to wait around to make sure he does. I stand up, feeling dizzy.
“I don’t like what just happened,” Rutholyn says, watching Flutter land on Aerro’s shoulder.
“Me neither,” I say, picking up my leather case and creating a disc of shimmerdark for us to ride on—the faster we leave, the better. We climb onto the warm energy, and then I move us swiftly down the tunnel. Glowy Pony gallops along beneath us, and it takes me a long time to stop shaking.
I expected Aerro to be upset when we left, but I didn’t think he’d become violent. And even though I’m furious he tried to strangle me, I’m also sad he thought that was his only option.
I look back to make sure he isn’t staggering after us, but all I see is darkness.
Every now and then, our gliding disc of shimmerdark passes bolted maintenance doors; they must lead to the surface. I’m almost tempted to leave the tunnel to put more distance between us and Aerro. Yet I’d rather risk another fight with him than battle nocturnes.
A few hours pass, maybe three or four, and Aerro doesn’t reappear. I suppose he still might be lying in the tunnel slowly freezing to death, but I hope he’s simply come to his senses and is letting us go.
Every so often, Rutholyn and I stop to stretch our legs, and the third time we take a break, I notice the tunnel looks different. Instead of plain gray stone, we’re surrounded by a checkered pattern of orange and red bricks. I hope that means we’re close to the city. I finally let myself imagine what I’ll do when we arrive: travel directly to Triumvirate Hall to speak to Drae Devorla, and also bathe and put on fresh clothes. Then I’ll take Rutholyn to the Dining Pavilion and feed her something wonderfully decadent, like syrup pockets with cracklings.
But not long after I notice the brick walls, the tunnel suddenly ends. I’m so surprised, I barely stop our transference disc in time. Both Rutholyn and I tumble off.
“No…” I say, helping Rutholyn to her feet. “No, no,
no!” This tunnel should connect to Kaverlee’s subtrain system. I was prepared to deal with a sealed gate, but not solid dirt. The tunnel was never finished. It must have been abandoned after Haberdine’s disaster.
Realms, we must be close!
“What should we do now?” Rutholyn asks, and her little voice echoes off the curved walls.
“We keep going—outside,” I say, closing my eyes and trying not to feel too disheartened. We almost avoided facing more nocturnes, but here we go again.
I turn to Glowy Pony. “Are we at least near the city?”
He nods.
That’s a relief. “How do we get out of this tunnel then?”
Glowy Pony trots off into the darkness and Rutholyn and I follow him. After backtracking a short distance, we come to one of the access doors. Several wooden ramps cover a set of concrete stairs and two old barrows stand nearby. This must have been where labor agency workers hauled dirt out of the tunnel. What an exhausting task.
I climb up the ramps and attempt to open the door. Unsurprisingly, the handle won’t budge. Either I’m too weak or it’s too rusty. I suppose I could melt the latch with hot shimmerdark, but as furious as I am with Aerro, I’m not going to let nocturnes into his shelter. So instead I create a shimmerdark mallet and bang on the latch until, squealing, it finally turns.
After that, I use a large block of energy to shove the door open, for the hinges are stiff too, and then Rutholyn and I enter another brick-lined tunnel. This one is smaller and slopes upward, and I see a pale circle of moonlight at the far end.
Again, Glowy Pony leads the way. As he climbs out into the snow, sparks pop and sizzle at his feet.
After shutting the door behind us, I lumber out into a knee-high snowdrift and Rutholyn follows in my trampled wake.
I hate being out in the open again.
But at least I can see Kaverlee City. It’s just beyond a rocky plain and several spreadfarm buildings, perched on a sloping hill beside the Silkord Sea.
“Is that your home?” Rutholyn asks, pointing with her mitten.
Is Kaverlee City my home anymore? The word home doesn’t feel right. I suppose I’d like it to be my home again, and it is comforting to see those strong walls topped with a glowing star net. Even more cagic blazes on the far side of Kaverlee, in the Expansion District. There, the city outgrew its stone walls, so the barriers are made of projected shimmerlight. They’re exactly like the walls that failed in Haberdine.
I’ve never seen Kaverlee from the outside during the Dark Month, and it’s beautiful. I notice movement at the base of the walls, though, which must be nocturnes attracted by the sounds and smells of the city. I’m not sure how we’ll get past them.
“What was that?” Rutholyn says, her voice trembling.
“What was what?” There doesn’t seem to be anything around us aside from quiet snow. Yet I summon a shimmerdark shield just in case. “Did you see an owleck?”
Rutholyn shakes her head. “No… something’s near me.”
“Glowy Pony, do you see anything?” I ask.
But even though Glowy Pony’s usually excellent at locating things, he seems distracted by the deep snow. He picks his way toward us as if each step is uncomfortable. I suppose cagic and water don’t mix, so cagic and ice must be a bad combination too.
I examine the low mounds of white surrounding us. Maybe Rutholyn is imagining things. She is tired after all.
But then a nearby snowdrift ripples, almost like a saucer of milk, and seconds later, Rutholyn screams.
18
The Barrier
No!” I snatch at Rutholyn’s arm as she sinks into the icy white, catching her by the wrist.
She wails in pain.
Flustered and not sure what else has grabbed onto her, I slam my shimmerdark shield down into the snow.
Icy white sparks spray outward, and the edge of the cagic shape connects with something solid. Then a massive, ribbon-like nocturne whips up out of the snow, and realms, it’s a senneck. It’s also still clinging to Rutholyn’s foot with a ring of needle-like teeth, and it waves many spiky legs as it tries to tug her from my grip.
“Let go!” I yell. I always thought the name senneck came from snake, but this thing looks more like a centipede. It’s also completely white, so it must be able to mimic its surroundings. No wonder I didn’t see it.
“Help me! Oh help!” Rutholyn screams.
“I’m trying!” I bash the monster with my energy shield again, and I can hit it harder now that it’s no longer cushioned by snow.
The creature whinges and screeches and slithers backward, releasing Rutholyn.
Bright red blood soaks her stocking and shines wetly on her left boot, but I’m happy to see that she still has two feet.
“Run!” I tell her, pulling her upright and shoving her toward the city. “I’ll catch up. Glowy Pony, keep her safe!” I suppose he can’t do much, but at least she won’t be alone. I then take two precious seconds to unstrap my leather case and toss it aside.
The senneck lunges at me. I shape shimmerdark into a sharp, flat diamond and attempt to heat it up. But the nocturne moves so quickly, I don’t have enough time.
I leap sideways into a snowdrift, away from the senneck’s toothy, round mouth.
I also quickly glance at Rutholyn. She’s limping toward the city, good, and Glowy Pony’s at her side, weightlessly trotting across the snow. I don’t like that he’s visible, but it probably doesn’t matter. At this distance any Shieldbearers on watch will surely assume he’s a black cat or dog.
The senneck dives toward me again, and this time, I create a bar of energy in the air. Grabbing onto it with my gloved hands, I sail away.
I need to be on the attack, not on the run. So when the senneck streaks toward me a third time, I stand my ground and send a large cube of shimmerdark into the fleshiest part of what must be its face.
The senneck’s bulbous head flops backward, shuddering. I feel momentarily triumphant, but then the creature darts toward me again, knotting its long body around me, trapping me.
“No, no!” I yelp, and I look around for Rutholyn, afraid that an owleck will carry her off. Thankfully, she’s still trudging through the snow. Yet she’s moving so slowly, too slowly.
And while I’m distracted, the senneck tries to bite off my head.
Yelping, I cover my face and hair with shimmerdark, and just as quickly, I extend the edges of the energy down around my body. I’m essentially surrounding myself in a sleeve of cagic, forcing the senneck to loosen its grip. I then expand the shape so the nocturne must either unravel or be torn apart. After that, I release the shimmerdark tube, replacing it with a cagic bar, and holding onto that, I whisk myself up and away. Hastily, I search the white landscape for Rutholyn, and I spot her on a distant hill. But she’s down on her knees now. What’s wrong with her? Surely she’s not that tired.
With a whistling shriek, the senneck races after me, slicing a curving line through the snow. Again, I don’t have enough time to heat any shimmerdark.
Wailing with frustration, I create a large, flat wall of energy in the monster’s path instead. The senneck crashes into it with a wet crunch.
And Rutholyn—she’s lying down and Glowy Pony’s darting frantically around her.
Something’s wrong. I wish I could be beside her rather than here.
But I can’t do anything helpful until this nocturne’s dead.
Leaping onto an energy disc and clinging to it, I transfer myself backward, narrowly avoiding the writhing senneck as it tries to coil around me again. Well, I can attack like that too. Reminded of Aerro’s cagic hunting tactics, I jump off my energy disc and create a large hoop of shimmerdark between myself and the senneck. As soon as the monster slithers partway through it, I shrink the loop, pinching the creature around the middle. The senneck makes a horrible sucking sound, and it wriggles as if it’s fallen into boiling water. Wincing, I shrink the energy, squeezing it tighter and tighter as the nocturne fla
ils its long body, straining to escape.
But then—ugh—the senneck’s middle bursts with a gloppy spray of dark sludge, and the two separated halves fall twitching into the discolored snow.
I don’t wait until they lie still. I quickly form another energy disc and throw myself onto it. I then glide over the cold, white ground to Rutholyn.
When I reach her, she’s trembling violently, and her skin is ashy and gray.
“Rutholyn.” I push her dark curls out of her face and try to sit her up. “What’s the matter? What’s wrong?”
Her eyelids flutter and she murmurs, “Xylia… Shimmerlady.” Then her head slumps forward.
Poison. There must be venom in senneck bites—I had no idea. She needs a doctor. “Hang on. Kaverlee is so close. People there can help you.”
I unclasp her traveling case to make her lighter, and then drawing a horizontal circle in the air, I create another disc of shimmerdark.
Glowy Pony nudges my leg, either impatient or concerned, but it just makes me realize how frustrated I am with him.
“Why didn’t you warn us about the senneck?” I struggle to pick up Rutholyn. “You always know where everything is; why not that?”
Glowy Pony backs away from me looking hurt as I place Rutholyn onto the shimmerdark disc. Then clamoring onto it myself, I whisk the two of us toward Kaverlee as fast as I can. I hope the Shieldbearers will realize we’re harmless, but then what? They can’t risk unsealing a gate with so many nocturnes surrounding the city. And how will I get past those monsters? I have no idea.
“Stay awake Rutholyn,” I plead with her as we hurtle forward. Snowflakes streak past us on all sides. Both our knit hats fly free and my eyes sting.
“Just a little farther,” I say, huddling over her, trying to shield her from the bitter wind. We pass farm buildings that are only used during the Bright Month, and then we’re sailing over the nocturnes: bearcurs, wolievs, catterns.
Shimmerdark Page 18